Movies & TV Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Qapla’! — Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s “Vox in Excelso” By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on January 29, 2026 Credit: Paramount+ Comment 67 Share New Share Credit: Paramount+ Well, it’s about damn time. While the Klingon Empire played a big role in Discovery’s first two seasons, when it was taking place in the twenty-third century, they were never even mentioned after they vaulted forward into the thirty-second at the top of the third season. Over the course of the final three seasons of Discovery, we learned the far-future fates of so many of Trek’s various alien species—Vulcans, Romulans, Trill, Andorians, Tellarites, Orions, and others in less detail, but at least knew they were still around—but nothing about the Klingons at all. The characters of Lura and Jay-Den in Starfleet Academy are the first we’ve heard of any Klingons in the thirty-second century, and we still didn’t get any notion of the status of the Klingon Empire. In “Vox in Excelso,” we finally get some information, and it’s heartbreaking. The Burn apparently completely destroyed the Klingon homeworld of Kronos. The Klingon Empire, which has been a superpower in the galaxy ever since we first saw them in the original series’ “Errand of Mercy” in 1967, is now a nomadic, broken people, refugees stumbling through the galaxy trying to survive. Jay-Den, we learn, lived on Krios (established as a Klingon colony in TNG’s “The Mind’s Eye”) with his parents and brother. In these days of the Klingon Diaspora, Klingons have clung even more firmly to their warrior ethos, and the importance of learning to hunt. The latter is particularly worth noting. Klingon proclivity for hunting was established in TNG’s “Birthright, Part II” (one of your humble reviewer’s favorite episodes), but as we saw it with the empire at its height, it was an indulgence, a sport. But for Jay-Den and his family, it’s a necessity to survive. The Klingons of the thirty-second century are also completely uninterested in accepting charity. Since the Burn was reversed, the Federation is finally in a position to help them, and at the top of this episode, a ship carrying a bunch of Klingon refugees has suffered catastrophic mechanical failure. But the Klingons aren’t interested in help. They want to fend for themselves. Back in DS9’s “The Way of the Warrior,” Sisko quoted Curzon Dax as saying that the only people who can handle Klingons are Klingons, and this episode embodies that observation. (Your humble reviewer established that Curzon said that after living through the Betreka Nebula Incident, an event referenced in that same DS9 episode, and which I explored in the novel The Art of the Impossible.) Credit: Paramount+ In fact, Ake employs that truism, as she reaches out to Obel, a now-very-old Klingon diplomat she has a pre-Burn history with, played with gusto by David Keeley, whose scenes with Holly Hunter are magnificent. The pair of them have an obvious and fond history, which appears to be at least partly sexual. It’s especially entertaining to watch them together, as Keeley has a foot of height on Hunter and that’s before you realize that Keeley is wearing big stompy Klingon boots and Hunter is, as it the character’s wont, barefoot in most of their scenes together. Obel, however, is unwilling to accept the Federation’s charity. There’s a world very much like Kronos called Faan Alpha that the Federation is willing to give to the Klingons, but they won’t accept it. Obel does, however, offer to find out if Jay-Den’s family was among those who died in the refugee ship disaster. (Why nobody ever brings up the Federation’s aid to the Klingon Empire after Praxis’ destruction in The Undiscovered Country, which is what led to the Federation-Klingon alliance, is left as an exercise for the viewer.) Because this is the series at a school, we have to have the cadets learning stuff, and the focus this time around is on a debating competition, run by the EMH. This causes two separate problems for Jay-Den. One is that he absolutely detests public speaking and tends to freeze up. The other is that he wishes his debate topic to be the Klingon Diaspora. The EMH is reluctant at first, but eventually agrees that the topicality of the subject because of the loss of the refugee ship is exactly why it should be discussed. We learn this week that Caleb is an expert debater, which, honestly, isn’t that much of a surprise, as being a fast talker would be a requirement for living on your own on the run from the age of six onward. At first he offers to partner with Jay-Den, but the Klingon views that charity with the same disdain that Obel does. Instead, Jay-Den winds up debating the point against Caleb. We also see Darem learning how to be a team player by aiding Jay-Den—though, of course, his primary goal is to assist in his hated roommate Caleb losing—by showing him some Khionian meditation techniques. Credit: Paramount+ Indeed, the notion of people helping each other while saving face is all over this episode. It’s writ small in Darem using sticking it to Caleb as an excuse for why he helps Jay-Den. It’s writ larger in Jay-Den’s backstory. Jay-Den’s desire to become a physician is at least in part due to watching his brother die from wounds that could be healed with Federation medicine. Or, indeed, any medicine better than what Klingons can provide for each other in the state they’re in. That same brother also wanted Jay-Den to pursue his dream—unlike their parents. When he goes on his first hunt, Jay-Den refuses to kill the bird he’s is chasing, as he does not wish to become a warrior. His father angrily grabs the bow and arrow and shoots at the bird in a rage, missing it by a mile. His parents then abandon him on Krios, leaving him to go to Starfleet Academy on his own. It takes a come-to-Kahless conversation between Jay-Den and Lura to make Jay-Den realize the truth there. Klingons in a rage don’t get careless—it focuses them. Klingons are used to rage, so if his father missed the bird, it means he did it on purpose. Again: charity through deceptive means that allows the person providing the charity to save face while still doing the service. Jay-Den’s father missed on purpose, under the cover of rage, and then departed, which not only respected Jay-Den’s wishes that the animal not be harmed, but also gave him the impetus to follow his dream and go to Starfleet Academy. But it also allowed his father to maintain his honor as a warrior. That scene also gives a bit of Lura’s backstory. Her parents were part of a group of free Jem’Hadar and Klingon warriors, who apparently wandered the galaxy beating each other up or something. I’m really hoping we learn more about that group, because it sounds like a fun bunch… In the end, Jay-Den is able to win the debate by passionately arguing that Klingons need to be allowed to be Klingons. That when they’ve lost everything, it’s even more important to hold onto what they can hold onto, in this case, their honor, and their spirit. And in the end, Ake and Vance are able to work out a way to show charity without forcing the Klingons to accept it as such. They summon Obel to Faan Alpha and declare the refugees to be trespassing in Federation space. Vance, in essence, declares war on the empire. What follows is a hilariously and deliberately lame-ass space battle in which weapons fire bounces off shields with no physical damage to the ships (at one point, a damage report is given as “shields at 95%,” which I’m fairly certain is the highest that number has ever been in a line of dialogue describing shield damage), in which no one is killed, and for which the awesome Klingon leitmotif from The Motion Picture is played on the soundtrack. After only a few minutes, Starfleet surrenders. Obel declares Faan Alpha to be the Klingons’ as spoils of war. Charity given. Face saved. As someone who has adored the Klingons since being blown away by Michael Ansara’s Kang and John Colicos’ Kor on the original series, and who has written a significant amount of Klingon fiction over the decades, I absolutely loved this episode. Writing the Klingons as a broken power and reduced to being refugees is a good choice, as it shows the negative consequences of the Burn to a people we’re invested in as viewers. And it also reminds us that just reversing the Burn isn’t the complete solution for everyone. One of the hallmarks of Star Trek has always been that the compassionate solution is preferred to the violent one. This is a lovely example of a solution that is both violent and compassionate—fitting for a story about Klingons, truly—and still embodying the hope for a better future that has been baked into Star Trek since the beginning.[end-mark] The post Qapla’! — <i>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy</i>’s “Vox in Excelso” appeared first on Reactor.