Union Point

**Union Point** was the academy and training school of the Planetary Union, probably located on planet Earth.

Potential officers studied as cadets before taking an officer's exam in the hopes of graduating and advancing to the rank of Ensign within the Union.

## Description

Union Point offered classes in interspecies diplomacy, temporal theory, interplanetary law, advanced engineering,, astroarchaeology and medicine.

Entry into Union Point required first completing an entrance exam, the passing of which was described as being a "mountain to climb." Kelly Grayson noted that certain day-to-day activities in the management of people, such as "ass-kissing," were not part of the exam, but nevertheless part of the mundane busy work required to keep a Union vessel functioning.

Cadets live with roommates while staying at the school.

Three professors from the 2390s are known: Marcos, a flight instructor; Fincher, who taught Kelly Grayson interspecies diplomacy; and Lamarche, who taught Gordon Malloy and Ed Mercer astroarchaeology.

Lamarche was removed from his position as professor at Union Point due to his crackpot theories about the Zankon, and he was shunned by the scientific community. His date of removal was probably 2416, when his expedition to find the lost fleet of the Zankon began.

### Flight school

Union Point emphasized flight instruction in its flight school. Marcos had worked as a flight instructor. (He later became Captain of the USS *Roosevelt*.) One of Marcos' students was the promising young Ed Mercer, who graduated top of his class.

Gordon stated that "on day one" of flight school, students were instructed never to pilot a shuttle out of a vessel flying at quantum speed as it was extremely dangerous.

## Trivia

* Ed received a B-plus in temporal theory, which he defended by pointing out that no one got an A in the subject since nobody really understood time travel.
* Kelly Grayson recalled an anecdote from her time at Union Point, drinking all night and reporting for duty the next morning. She was still tipsy when the ship she was on broke gravity on Rhealon 4. As she was not buckled in, she went sliding down the corridor "like a luge", which she found really fun.
	+ The next day, she convinced other cadets to strip down and grease up. When the ship broke gravity, they went through the main conduit in their underwear like a Slip 'N Slide. Unfortunately, Kelly slid into her commanding officer, resulting in her cleaning toilets.
* Kelly told Ed and Darulio that during her student years she overheard Professor Fincher bragging to a bunch of people about how he thought she wanted to hook up with him. Enraged, she pushed him into a pool.
* Gordon Malloy recalled taking out a shuttle with his roommate while at Union Point, which they turned into a party bus. To cover their tracks, they used a tractor beam to neutralize the shuttle's ion trail, rendering them completely invisible - only to be caught after the shuttle plowed into a tree when they had attempted to land.
* Gordon and Orrin Channing attended flight school together.
* The Union Point seems to be a direct parody of Starfleet Academy. In addition, it derives its name from the United States Military Academy also known as West Point.
* According to Gordon, he and Ed sat beside each other in every class they took together.
* Lamarche nearly failed Gordon for cheating on the final astroarchaeology exam.
* Ed Mercer graduated at the top of his class at Union Point, while John LaMarr's advanced engineering scores were off the charts.
* The Union Point program appears to last two years, as Alara Kitan left home three years before being posted to the Orville. Assuming she spent one year in-grade as an Ensign, that leaves only two years in Union Point. However, it is admitted that the Union fast-tracks Xeleyans.

## Appearances

* *Episode 1x01: Old Wounds* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 1x03: About a Girl* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 1x08: Into the Fold* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 1x09: Cupid's Dagger*(mentioned only)
* *Episode 1x11: New Dimensions*  (mentioned only)
* *Episode 1x12: Mad Idolatry* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 1.5x03: The Word of Avis, Pt. 1* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 2x09: Identity, Pt. 2* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 2x10: Blood of Patriots* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 2x12: Sanctuary* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 2x13: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 2x14: The Road Not Taken* (mentioned only)
* *Artifacts, Pt. 1* (mentioned only)
* *Episode 3x02: Shadow Realms (mentioned only)*
* *Episode 3x05: A Tale of Two Topas* (mentioned only))

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Episode 1x09: Cupid's Dagger
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *Episode 2x13: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow*
3. ↑ *Episode 1x03: About a Girl*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Episode 1x11: New Dimensions*
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Artifacts, Pt. 1
6. ↑ *Episode 3x02: Shadow Realms*
7. ↑ *Episode 3x05: A Tale of Two Topas*
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 *Episode 2x12: Sanctuary*
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Episode 2x09: Identity, Pt. 2
10. ↑ Episode 2x10: Blood of Patriots