The First Duty

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Star Trek: TNG episode
"The First Duty"
Wesley Crusher struggles with whether loyalty or truth is "The First Duty".
Episode no.	119
Prod. code	219
Airdate	March 30, 1992
Writer(s)	Ronald D. Moore Naren Shankar
Director	Paul Lynch
Guest star(s)	Ray Walston Ed Lauter Jacqueline Brookes Richard Fancy Shannon Fill Richard Rothenberg Wil Wheaton Walker Brandt Robert Duncan McNeill
Year	2368
Stardate	45703.9
Episode chronology
Previous	"Cause and Effect"
Next	"Cost of Living"

"The First Duty" was the 119th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the 19th episode of the show's fifth season. It was first broadcast on March 30, 1992.

In this episode, while visiting Starfleet Cadet Wesley Crusher at Starfleet Academy, the crew of the Federation Starfleet starship USS Enterprise learn of an accident that claimed the life of a cadet.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Enterprise returns to Earth to visit Wesley at Starfleet Academy, where ship's Captain Jean-Luc Picard is slated to deliver the commencement address at the Academy's graduation ceremony. When the Enterprise arrives, Picard is disturbed to hear that Wesley was involved in a training accident that claimed the life of a cadet named Joshua Albert. Wesley's mother, Enterprise Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher, is keen to comfort her injured son, but Wesley asks his mother and Picard to leave him when his squad leader, Nicholas Locarno, a fourth-year cadet, comes to his room.

Locarno is there to ensure that Crusher tells the same story as the other squad members: that Albert caused the accident that took his life. An apparently gifted and charismatic leader, Locarno had persuaded the other four members of Nova Squadron to take part in an illegal and dangerous flight maneuver that Locarno believed would make Locarno and the squad heroes if successfully executed. Having failed at the cost of Cadet Albert's life, Locarno convinces the surviving members of Nova Squadron to cover up the facts about the accident and to place the blame on Albert in order to preserve their careers.

The Commandant of the Academy tells Picard that the accident happened near Titan, a moon of Saturn, when Nova Squadron was conducting seemingly routine maneuevers such as the diamond slot formation. However a Saturn orbital satellite recorded the squadron in a different formation and standard data analysis has failed to elicit the facts of Nova Squadron's accident. Picard asks the Enterprise crew if they are willing to assist in the investigation, and the crew agrees to help in order to assist the Commandant and the other officers serving on the tribunal to discover the facts of the accident.

On board the Enterprise, Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge and Operations Officer Lt. Commander Data analyse the flight recorder from Wesley's ship, but can recover little. The only thing that seems strange is that Wesley disengaged the plasma clamping-lock mid flight. Data remarks that this is usually only done in a flight-hangar because you risk igniting the plasma in flight. Picard is shocked when he realizes that igniting the plasma was exactly what Wesley meant to do.

Picard summons Wesley to his office, where Picard shows Wesley a computer simulation of five ships arcing, forming a five-pointed star shape, and then flying over each other to ignite their plasma trails. Picard demands to know if Wesley recognizes the formation, and Wesley replies that it's called a 'Kolvoord Starburst' - which has been illegal since a training accident a century before, which claimed the lives of all five cadets. Picard informs Wesley that he and the Enterprise crew now know that Nova Squadron was attempting the illegal maneuver, and demands that Wesley tell the truth about the accident. Wesley refuses to answer Picard. Picard, angered at his protege's moral cowardice, tells Wesley to own up to his actions, or Picard will be forced to tell the tribunal the facts. He reminds Wesley that a Starfleet officer's first duty is to the truth.

Rattled, Wesley leaves Picard and calls his squadron commander and says he is going to own up. Locarno attempts to dissuade him, reminding Wesley and the other squad members that their loyalty to each other is the higher calling.

During the tribunal, Wesley sees Joshua Albert's father's pain and knows that he cannot continue the lies and the coverup. He tells the tribunal the facts about the accident. Locarno responds by owning up to everything and assuming full responsibility for the coverup.

Locarno is expelled from the Academy for initiating the coverup, and the other cadets lose a year's worth of academic credit, but are allowed to remain at the Academy, in part because Wesley ultimately told the truth about the accident. Later, Locarno informs Wesley that he took responsibility to demonstrate the loyalty he'd expected from Crusher when he'd asked Crusher to back up his coverup. Locarno still believes that the squadron's first duty is to each other, and acted in accordance with his belief when he assumed responsibility.

The incident leaves Wesley Crusher disheartened. Picard, relieved that Wesley did the right thing, encourages his protege, telling him that while Crusher has a great deal to make up for, he knows Crusher will soon earn back the regard of his fellow cadets.

[edit] Trivia

This is not the last appearance of a member of Nova Squadron; Sito Jaxa would later appear in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Lower Decks", when it emerges that Picard wanted to give her a chance to redeem herself and to ensure that she received a posting.
The character of the Squadron leader, Nick Locarno, would lay the groundwork for the role of Tom Paris in Star Trek: Voyager. In fact, the same actor, Robert Duncan McNeill, plays both characters. It was originally intended for Nick Locarno to be a character on Voyager, but various outside issues necessitated creating a different character, Tom Paris, whose background and personality was based in part on Locarno's.