Guide:Cadet Squadrons
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Star Trek has often told stories about life at Starfleet Academy, from the eponymous 2026 show to various flashbacks, stand-alone episodes, and other depictions of Academy life for Starfleet officers. Bravo Fleet has always treated the Academy years as an important phase in any character’s life, and it is only inevitable that some members will wish to write stories about cadets at the Academy in the year 2403.
Because there is no dedicated Academy sandbox, nor any form of BFMS command dedicated to cadets or the Academy, it is not always clear how one may write about Starfleet cadets in Bravo Fleet. This guide outlines how to incorporate cadets into your stories, or how to focus your stories around them, while abiding by Logistics and Intelligence Office Policies.
Cadet Writing
The Intel Office has provided various resources to inform the depiction of Academy life for characters and their backstories, with articles dedicated to Starfleet Academy in general and the Mellstoxx III campus - the main satellite campus for the Fourth Fleet - in particular. But what are your options if you want to write cadet characters?
The clearest option is to create a cadet on the Starbase Bravo sandbox. In this case, you would be writing and roleplaying as a single cadet character, an Academy senior cadet who studies on the Mellstoxx III campus but also serves aboard the starbase to gain hands-on, professional experience.
This option has several clear limitations: an emphasis on the environment of Starbase Bravo, the writing of only one character, and the requirement that this character be a senior cadet. What if you want to write an ensemble of cadets, like you write the ensemble of a starship’s senior staff on your other commands? What if you want to depict the whole journey from freshman year through to graduation? What if you want to set the story aboard a starship or in traditional campus life?
Despite the lack of a Mellstoxx III sandbox or a command type of ‘Academy squadron,’ you can still do this.
Assigned to a Starship
The easiest way to write cadets on your own command is to simply have a cadet unit assigned to one of your ships. They might be midshipmen on a tour, or a class might be based on your ship. This last choice is more suitable to a larger starship, such as an Odyssey or Galaxy, which might believably hold the facilities and staff to maintain a permanent class of cadets. A ship with a squadron of cadets - rather than midshipmen - aboard will probably be one less likely to find itself in regular peril, either through its size and prowess (such as the Galaxy class, a ship which may have civilian family members aboard already), or the nature of its assignments. Starfleet are unlikely to assign sophomore cadets to a tactical escort.
An alternative is the ‘cadet ship’ - a ship akin to the Valiant in DS9 or the Protostar by the end of PRO, which is crewed predominantly by cadets. This is more likely to be a small ship, like the Protostar class, and perform simple duties where cadets can gain the field experience they need to grow as officer candidates.
How permanent these cadet squadrons’ assignments are is up to you. Perhaps this is only a semester aboard a ship before they return to their home campus. While it may seem unusual for cadets to spend their entire training period in service aboard a starship, Prodigy has given us an example that suggests this is not wholly impossible. It may be exceptional, but characters in our stories often are.
But from a California to a Protostar to an Odyssey, all manner of ship classes can be home to a cadet squadron - as the place they conduct the entirety of their learning, or merely for a period.
Satellite Campus
If you own a starbase command, it is potentially in orbit of or in proximity to a habitable planet, perhaps a Federation colony. Aboard the starbase or planetside, there could be a minor Academy satellite campus, home to several classes of cadets.
This satellite campus is likely associated with Mellstoxx III, the main training facility for officer candidates for the Fourth Fleet. It might be a fully rounded academy, taking cadets through their entire training from arrival to graduation, or it could be a subsidiary facility for more specialist training, a place where cadets spend some time to hone particular skills before returning to Mellstoxx III.
The Mellstoxx III campus is home to 10,000 cadets - this satellite campus should be smaller. That still leaves capacity for a vast and diverse student cohort, or a leaner, more focused environment. Some training could be incorporated with starbase operations - like how Mellstoxx III cadets can serve aboard Starbase Bravo - or aboard another of your commands, with classroom learning taking place at the campus alongside training excursions aboard a starship. There may still be a dedicated ‘cadet ship,’ available whenever the cadets need it.
Using Mellstoxx III
Every story in Bravo Fleet must be linked to a BFMS command, and Stories published on a BFMS command must be about that command. While characters can spend time off-ship, they should be fundamentally linked to the command, normally by being a ship’s crew.
This is to say that you should not create the characters of a cadet squadron, assign them to your California class on BFMS, and then depict them as full-time students based out of Mellstoxx III who never see the ship to which they, according to BFMS, ‘belong.’
You can, however, create this cadet squadron and base them off Mellstoxx III - but they routinely use the command to which they are assigned. Perhaps this is a full-time training ship available for their use; perhaps it is an active duty starship where they regularly conduct training alongside the fully qualified crew as needed. The ship is a part of their training, one of their homes - but not their only home.
They may otherwise spend most of their time at the Mellstoxx III campus - living in dormrooms, taking classes, etc. This may even be where the majority of Stories are set, with the link to the ship something that only happens occasionally. It should be a key feature of the group of students’ ‘identity,’ however.
This is an exception to how Stories on a command should work. It is permitted because the cadet experience is a part of Trek stories, and because the Mellstoxx III campus is a developed fleet canon location particularly suited for stories that are not easily served by one-off visits. This exception does not permit you to, for example:
- Tell long-term Stories on your command about a civilian settlement that has nothing to do with your starship.
- Tell long-term Stories on your command about the characters who live or work aboard a starbase that you do not own.
A starbase command or civilian ship command are the appropriate platforms for this.
Depicting Mellstoxx III
Mellstoxx III is the home of 10,000 cadets. That means there is ample space for you to write your cadet squadron, which could have as many as sixty members, as a sub-community within the wider campus. They are mentored by their own command-grade officer and will have various instructors, some of whom they see more regularly than others.
This is to say that Mellstoxx III is big, and so multiple writers can flesh out the immediate worlds of their cadet squadrons without worrying about stepping on each others’ toes. Even if five members depict five full cadet squadrons all based on Mellstoxx III, that is barely more than 1% of the cohort. It is entirely believable that they have different instructors (even for the same classes), live in different parts of campus, and visit different facilities and off-campus sites for leisure.
Obviously, some information is established in the campus article - Commodore Ison Bale is the chancellor, an NPC you can depict in your stories if you need to. You shouldn’t decide who is the head of a department or faculty, but you don’t need to; your cadets are never going to have a reason to unavoidably interact with them. You can create characters who are instructors, even senior instructors, and are part of a teaching body of hundreds of officers.
This setup presents opportunities for collaborative writing - your cadets might spend time with cadets from another member’s squadron, or be taught by another member’s instructor character. While this might help develop a rich member canon for the campus, it is in no way expected or required when writing a cadet squadron based on Mellstoxx III.
If you are writing stories set on Mellstoxx III, you must adhere to the same rules as depicting any other fleet or Trek canon locations. It should not be significantly changed or undergo any peril or conditions which affect the whole campus.
You may wish to monitor mission briefings on Starbase Bravo if you set stories on Mellstoxx III, even if you do not write on the sandbox. There is every chance, particularly during fleet-wide events, that circumstances on SBB may be relevant to those at the campus. Depict these developments appropriately in your story.
Other Campuses
While you can base your stories on Mellstoxx III, you should not do the same for locations such as San Francisco. You can, however, have your characters visit there, or other Academy satellite campuses. This could be for events or training, treating them as mission locations just as you would for traditional starship stories. If your cadets are permanently based on a starship, it is possible for San Francisco to be their home campus - but the moment you have them visit the campus more than occasionally, consider basing them out of Mellstoxx III instead.
Cadet Squadrons
As per the Academy article, all cadets are part of a training squadron, which is their home and cohort from the beginning to the end of their training. A cadet squadron is the ideal formal unit to define your ensemble of cadets. It explains why these characters live and study together, and why they may be assigned to the same training missions aboard a starship together. While a squadron is normally between 48 and 64 cadets, this may be smaller for groups assigned to a ship, particularly a ship like a Protostar class.
The article outlines how most cadets won’t be a part of elite squadrons, such as Red Squadron - and certainly, your squadron should not be the Red Squadron. It would be sensible to assign your squadron a random number, or have the squadron named for the training ship on which they serve. For instance, the squadron aboard the USS Caliburn would be Cadet Squadron Caliburn. If they are reassigned to a different training ship, you should simply rename the squadron. If you no longer own the command, you must rename the squadron.
This cadet squadron could have its own traditions and trappings; its own badge, motto, and so forth. Famous historical officers might have served in the squadron (though these should not be canon characters). A cadet squadron can have its own identity, culture, and community, just like any starship crew.
A cadet squadron assigned to a starship or with a training ship they regularly use might have a certain specialty. A science-focused squadron might make use of a surveyor; a squadron of would-be pilots on a ship with a lot of smallcraft. This informs the culture of the ship and squadron both.
It is up to you whether your cadet squadron are specialists in one area, cadets on a dedicated career track - or generalists who haven’t yet found their way, or a diverse and well-rounded group able to take on a variety of training challenges. Once you have a home for your cadet squadron, the rest of their story is up to you!