In this review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact #3, with training exercise derailed, the cadets split into groups to tackle a new school project that includes surviving a dangerous storm, inscrutable aliens and the inability to talk.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact #3
Writer: Layne Morgan
Art and Main Cover: Coralí Espuna
Variant Cover: Elizabeth Beals
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: June 24, 2026
This review contains spoilers
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact #3 begins as Commander Kelrec, head of the War College has crashed on the alien planet in an effort to save his cadets. The mysterious aliens free the injured and barely conscious Kelrec from the wreck. Elsewhere, Caleb Mir figures out a texting hack to join in on the silent conversation between Tarima and Genesis Lythe. The three agree to locate the downed ship and then find Jay-Den and Kyle who left earlier.
Aboard the U.S.S. Athena, Captain Nala Ake fumes over Kelrec’s rash decision to mount a rescue as now there is another life in the balance. The atmospheric storm around the planet is destabilizing to ships, so Ake presses her crew to work up a solution to reestablish contact.
Back on the planet, Caleb, Tarima and Genesis discover the crashed shuttle and deduce that the aliens retrieved the pilot (unaware that it is Kelrec). The trio formulate a rescue plan. Elsewhere Jay-Den and Kyle spot the aliens carrying the unconscious Kelrec and decide to follow them. Amid a series of strange sounds, the pair discover the unconscious Kelrec propped up against a glowing machine that they believe created the energy field that has cut off contact.
Jay-Den and Kyle silently plan a rescue unaware that Caleb, Genesis and Tarima have a similar idea, (by using a hologram of Captain Ake as a distraction). The aliens discover the group and one of them swings an axe that misses cadets but damages the machine.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact #3 ends as the force field shuts down, the cadets’ voices return and Commander Kelrec realizes that his EVA suit’s oxygen reserves are almost gone.
Analysis
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact #3 certainly packs a lot of story into a comic with minimal dialogue. Writer Layne Morgan figures out a clever (and literal) hack for Caleb Mir and his friends to maintain communication through texting while Jay-Den and Kyle’s growing bond provides a beneficial side-effect that allows them to understand each other.
Between the cadets’ personal logs (inner monologues?) along with HUD text chats, sign language and good old-fashioned writing in the sand, Morgan finds unique loopholes around the “Lost Contact” theme on the remote planet. The only true dialogue unfolds on the U.S.S. Athena between Nala Ake, The Doctor and the crew, but for the most part this feels like rehashing previous issues exposition. The Athena crew is spinning their wheels here.
The premise for the series (and the training exercise) prompts the cadets from both schools to work together and problem solve amid a plethora of unplanned obstacles from a communication blackout to a dangerous planetary storm. The cadets’ hacks are inspired and true to each character, but personality clashes and lack of communication still create problems, primarily with the mysterious aliens.
The storytelling in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact #3 gets a major boost from the work of artist Corali Espuna and colorist Nora Serrano, whose collaboration sets the tone and the backdrop for the unusual design of the alien world, the characters, the aliens and their machine. Portions of the story rest solely on Espuna’s and Serrano’s efforts to great effect, providing a distinct and sumptuous visual experience without dialogue or captions. Espuna’s sense of pacing also builds out the tension.
Neil Uyetake’s lettering completes the effort, providing rhythmic audio/visual plot points during the communication black out. Uyetake’s sound effects create a strangely compelling visual ear worm.
Final Thoughts
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact #3 provides a fast-paced and suspenseful (but also light-hearted) middle chapter that moves the story along reasonably well (for most of the characters), while dazzling readers with standout art, color and sound effects.
