When Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 gives Lt. Erica Ortegas' (Melissa Navia) her long-awaited spotlight episode, the helmsman's Starfleet history could show Star Trek: Discovery's Klingon War in a new light. Ortegas styles herself as the best pilot to ever graduate from Starfleet Academy, and she may be just that in the mid-23rd century. Erica honored her fallen comrades during Strange New Worlds season 1's Starfleet Remembrance Day, and this could tie into the Klingon War of 2256-2257, which was waged just a couple of years before Strange New Worlds began.
It's very likely that Erica Ortegas is a veteran of the Klingon War. Prior to becoming the helmsman of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Erica served on the USS Palenque. Ortegas lost many of her crewmates on the Palenque, which must have happened during the Klingon War. If this proves to be the case, Erica's wartime experiences could bring a much-needed first-person account of the devastating conflict. Although the USS Discovery fought some battles with the Klingons, much of the Klingon War happened in the periphery during Star Trek: Discovery season 1. Audiences found out that Starfleet lost 10,000 personnel and the Klingons controlled 20% of Federation space through spoken dialogue, not by seeing it up close. Further, Pike's USS Enterprise was kept out of the war by Starfleet. Ortegas' past could give the Klingon War a new perspective and personal immediacy that Star Trek: Discovery didn't provide.
Strange New Worlds Must Reveal More About Chapel & Ortegas' Friendship
Along with Ortegas' Starfleet backstory, Strange New Worlds season 2 will hopefully reveal more about Erica's friendship with Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). In Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 5, "Spock Amok," Erica and Christine bantered over the Nurse's love life when Ortegas witnessed an "entertaining" incident of Chapel dating another woman. Somehow, that occasion ended with Nurse Chapel dodging phaser fire to escape. Ortegas could also be Christine's needed confidant if she discloses her romantic feelings for Spock (Ethan Peck), and the love triangle with the Vulcan's fiancée, T'Pring (Gia Sandhu), that Chapel is caught up in. Erica's POV on Chapel's entanglement with Spock would also probably be hilarious.
Like Ortegas, Nurse Chapel also needs her own spotlight episode in Strange New Worlds season 2. Christine's past is an intriguing mystery, and she came aboard the Starship Enterprise as a pioneer of the technology to surgically alter humans into other aliens, which hasn't come into play since Strange New Worlds' premiere episode. Chapel obviously has a fascinating story of her own that needs to be told, and it must tie into Erica's since they were obviously close friends before they served together on the Enterprise.
Strange New Worlds Season 2 Will Explore Pike & Ortegas' Relationship
Happily, Melissa Navia has already indicated that Strange New Worlds season 2 will show more of Lt. Ortegas' witty repartee with Captain Christopher Pike. There's obviously a story there as well since it's unusual for a starship Captain to be so informal with his helmsman. Pike and Ortegas must have their own fascinating history, and it's possible Chris was a mentor to the young Erica during her Starfleet Academy days or early time in the service. But since Pike and the Enterprise were kept out of the fighting during the Klingon War, Erica Ortegas' status as a war veteran could provide a much-needed new context for Star Trek: Discovery season 1's controversial galaxy-wide conflict when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 spotlights Ortegas, at last.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 premieres in 2023 on Paramount+.