FULL SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1, Episode 10, "Rubincon."
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1's finale is very much focused on the urgency of the task at hand. However, it also features a sneak peek at what's to come for the show's main characters. While being forced into battle stations aboard the USS Athena, Sandro Rosta's Caleb Mir and company get their strongest sense of what active Starfleet service could be like one day.
"Rubincon" ends the season with the cadets completing their first year at Starfleet Academy. With most spending at least four years in training before their first official posting, it's safe to say it'll be a while yet before we see the cadets leave the Academy behind. Regardless, "Rubincon" makes it especially clear what they'll be doing after they graduate. Below, I'll list the roles all the cadets were unofficially fulfilling aboard the USS Athena in the season 1 finale, setting up their specialties down the line.
1. Genesis Lythe as Captain
This is one of the more obvious, inevitable developments. Bella Shepherd's character has made no secret of her desire to become a Starfleet captain one day. Although the show has thrown her a curveball or two so far when it comes to fulfilling this goal, Genesis is elated when Commander Reno (Tig Notaro) leaves her in charge while needed elsewhere. While not a command officer, Reno still holds the highest rank on the ship at the moment. Still, Genesis does a respectable job of holding down the fort, which bodes well for her future career. The only remaining question is which path she'll take to reach the big chair.
2. Darem Reymi as Helmsman/First Officer
George Hawkins' headstrong Khionian has shown flashes of a desire to lead, primarily in Episode 3, "Vitus Reflux." That said, it was immediately proven that he has work to do in that regard. So, it does sort of make sense that Genesis left Darem in command when she left the bridge. What's a little more unexpected is his apparent talent for piloting starships. As far as I remember, the season 1 finale is the first time this ever becomes a factor. Still, he does a good job, even if this skill comes out of nowhere. If he does want to become a captain like Genesis one day, we at least have a clearer picture of what his Starfleet career will look like until then. Pilots can, and regularly do, reach the rank of captain.
3. Caleb Mir as Chief Engineer
This one rhymes, which is fun. That's not especially relevant, though. This is one posting that has been pretty clear from the beginning. Sandro Rosta's character was immediately established as a tech-savvy rebel who's been on the run for a very long time. Being at the Academy has (mostly) tamed the rebel within, but the skills he gained from sheer survival have remained intact. Making him anything other than a Starfleet engineer would be a waste of his talents.
Thankfully, the season 1 finale seems aware of this and places him under Commander Reno's tutelage in "Rubincon." She's one of Starfleet's finest engineers, after all. He's voiced no desire to be a leader, although this could change. Regardless, it's refreshing that Caleb, who is essentially the show's main character, has no obvious designs on the captain's chair. That would have been a very obvious writing choice. Leaving the captain's chair open for Genesis means the journey of a Starfleet engineer can be more freely explored.
4. Jay-Den Kraag as Chief Medical Officer
This is another glaringly obvious inevitability. Played by Karim Diané, Jay-Den immediately sent some of the more sensitive Trekkies into a whirlwind of keyboard clattering, objecting to the idea that a Klingon would choose science over a Bat'leth. But even warriors need doctors. If anything, they need them more than most. So, it's only logical that a certain percentage of the Klingon race favors becoming medical experts rather than seasoned fighters. Jay-Den isn't the first non-warrior Klingon, and he won't be the last. He'll make a brilliant Starfleet Chief Medical Officer someday, though. With the Doctor (Robert Picardo) in no fit state to fulfil his duties in "Rubincon," Jay-Den is impressive while filling in.
5. Tarima Sadal as Communications Officer
Zoë Steiner's Betazoid character makes her a very viable option for this position, although her initial choice of the War College makes her transition to Starfleet Academy an especially stark one. Despite opting to train as a soldier, her immense mental abilities posed too much of a risk. Tarima certainly still seems to be finding herself, but being tasked with all the same things a comms officer would be asked to do in "Rubincon" softly answers the question of what her future holds after graduation. It doesn't hurt that she can read minds, either.
6. SAM as...Science Officer?
Kerrice Brook's Star Trek character has abilities as a photonic lifeform that make her something of a sentient Swiss Army knife. Other than exploring what it's like living among organics, she's voiced very little of her post-graduation desires. Like Tarima, she seems a little unsure of herself, but that's mainly down to the massive changes her program has recently undergone. Still, she's capable of pretty much any technical task thanks to her hyper-advanced origins. Stabilizing Omega is what she's primarily tasked with in "Rubincon," and it's not an easy thing to do. Still, she succeeds where many others would have failed. Her wide range of abilities would make her an indispensable science officer, but other departments like tactical and operations would suit her just as well.
Starfleet Academy's season 1 finale forgets about its other "main" cadet
There are a lot of characters in Starfleet Academy, with the cadets only making up a portion of the roster. As a result, can be tricky to tell whether certain figures are supposed to be more important than they are. This phenomenon is no more accurately represented than by Romeo Carere's Ocam Sadal. One minute, he seems like he's part of the core group of cadets, and the next, he's nowhere to be seen. "Rubincon" pushes him out of the picture completely.
There hasn't been a lot of information about Ocam, even though he's been lurking on the peripheries of the story for a while now. He wasn't aboard the Athena during the Omega crisis, so it's hard to tell exactly where he would have slotted into the patchwork crew. As it turns out, he wasn't needed. The ship had just enough people to save the day. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2, on which production has now wrapped, needs to do a better job of establishing how important (or dispensable Ocam is supposed to be.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1 is streaming now on Paramount+.