This article contains spoilers for “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” season 1, episode 6 — “Come, Let’s Away.”

“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” introduces a heavy-hitting villain in its very first episode. Dangerous and loathsome space pirate Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti, whose favorite “Star Trek” movie won’t surprise you) is a Klingon-Tellarite hybrid who loves to sow chaos and discord. Braka returns as a key player in “Starfleet Academy” season 1, episode 6, “Come, Let’s Away,” where he seems to be the only person who can help rescue a group of cadets from the dangerous and violent Furies. In reality, however, Braka plays Starfleet like a violin to orchestrate a massive, destructive heist.

Apart from pulling off a crime that further establishes him as the Big Bad of the show, Braka uses his brief moment as a perceivably untouchable MVP to lord over Holly Hunter’s Nahla Ake (a character with a cool connection to “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” herself) at every turn. In the episode, he also reveals what his main motivation is: pure, petty revenge, plain and simple.

We already knew that Ake and Braka have a bad history, as Braka helped Caleb (Sandro Rosta) and Anisha Mir (Tatiana Maslany) escape the long hand of the law, and Ake was the judge who sentenced him to prison. In “Come, Let’s Away,” Braka reveals the full extent of his disdain. He’s now entirely fueled by his hatred toward the Federation in general, and Ake in particular, and he’s preparing a personalized (and presumably nefarious) surprise for her.

The sort of personal hate Nus Braka thrives on is rare among major modern “Star Trek” villains. Sure, plenty of the franchise’s antagonists have disliked its protagonists, but Braka is different because he’s all about that hatred and vengeance. Outside it, his big dream amounts to little more than the ability to continue his space pirate antics.

This small-scale villainy is especially noteworthy in the post-“Star Trek: Discovery” era of the property. “Discovery” rolled out a laundry list of massive, existential dangers, from the destructive Dark Matter Anomaly and the dangerous Breen to notable Mirror Universe threats Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) and Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). Moreover, it seemed that almost every antagonist on the show was chasing one large-scale destiny or another — and over time, that made it easier to mentally check out since those same threats were simply too big and sweeping to become invested in.

By comparison, its villain game is one of the many ways that “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” punches above its weight class. After the rogues gallery on “Discovery,” a “Star Trek” antagonist like Nus Braka — himself a capable but ultimately petty pirate — is nothing short of refreshing.

“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” is streaming on Paramount+.