Rudolph ("Rudy") Ransom was the Human Starfleet officer commanding the USS Equinox who was found to have violated the Federation's Prime Directive during his starship's journey through the Delta Quadrant.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Ransom was an exobiologist who gained acclaim by making first contact with the Yridians, a species the Federation previously thought were extinct. He was promoted to a captaincy after this achievement.
In combat situations, Ransom tended to use stealth tactics, avoiding contact and waiting out his enemies. While on patrols and surveys, he was successful in avoiding combat with hostile starships on two occasions by using similar tactics. In 2367, Ransom hid in a nebula near planet Epsilon IV from a Klingon bird-of-prey for three days until the Klingons ceased searching for him. He repeated this in 2369, when he hid in the atmosphere of a gas giant until a pursuing Romulan starship gave up looking for him. (VOY episode & novelization: Equinox)
The Delta Quadrant[]
In 2371, Ransom's Equinox was pulled into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. After about a week spent in the Delta Quadrant, he had to give the order to continue going through Krowtonan Guard's space, which caused the death of 39 crewmen, half of his complement. This decision affected him for the rest of his life.
In five years of being in the Delta Quadrant, Ransom continued to try to get Equinox and what remained of his crew home. After Equinox's dilithium was depleted, and the crew ran out of food for sixteen days, Ransom entered orbit of M-class planet where Ransom and his crew received aid from the planet's inhabitants, the Ankari. The Ankari then showed Ransom and his their "spirits of good fortune", which were Nucleogenic lifeforms from another dimension. Ransom was able to trade for one of their summoning devices.
In late 2375, a distress call from Equinox was received by USS Voyager, another vessel trapped in Delta Quadrant, flying a similar course. Voyager discovered Ransom's ship and crew were being attacked by the aliens which materialized through subspace rifts onto the vessel, with many more crewmembers killed by the strange lifeforms. (VOY episode & novelization: Equinox)
Appendices[]
Connections[]
| USS Equinox personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Rudolph Ransom - (CO) • Maxwell Burke - (XO) • Marla Gilmore - (CE) • Noah Lessing - (SD) • Emergency Medical Hologram - (CMO) • Thompson • David Amantes • John Bowler • Dorothy Chang • Edward Regis • William Yates • James Morrow • Brian Sofin • Angelo Tassoni | 
|
Background[]
Captain Rudolph Ransom was played by John SavageMA.
References[]
External link[]
- Rudolph Ransom article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.