It’s really no secret, Robert Duncan McNeill’s character on Voyager is directly tied to his appearance as Cadet Nicholas Locarno on The Next Generation’s “The First Duty” Season 5, Episode 19. The premise of the episode is that Starfleet Cadet, Wesley Crusher is involved in an accident that claimed one of his fellow cadet’s lives when their squadron decided to go against Starfleet rules and attempt a banned formation in flight school. The squad’s leader, Cadet Nicholas Locarno is the one behind all this, and after the loss of a fellow cadet, Nick instructs his team to lie to the inquiry panel to save their own tails and put all the blame on their deceased friend.

Wesley, having the generally good moral compass he does, isn’t keen on lying to the panel of Starfleet Admirals, however he is also pressured by Locarno into believing that the team must stick together. It’s not until Captain Picard figures out what the squad was attempting, and threatens to out the cadets to the inquiry panel, that Wesley ultimately does come clean about the whole ordeal. In the final scene of the episode, we’re told that Locarno ended up taking all the blame for the incident and the brunt of the punishment as he continues to believe that the team comes first…before the truth.