Starfleet Rangers

Created By: Kathleen Sky as Modified by Jay P Hailey
Number of Members: A few tens of thousands
Nature of Members: Highly trained and competent sentients in Starfleet
Organization: Military
Game Role: A group of characters to engage in down and dirty planet side adventures
World Role: Starfleet recon/frontier law enforcement special forces troops
Relative Influence: Large - A single Starfleet Ranger can affect the course of a colony planet's history
Public or Secret?: Public, but not widely known
Publicly Stated Goal: To enforce the law on the frontiers of the Federation and to walk in the dark places.
Relative Wealth: Large. Starfleet has a huge fleet of ships and bases
Group advantages: As members of Starfleet Starfleet Rangers can call in back up from Starships and mass numbers of Starfleet people... but would it get there in time? probably not. Law Enforcement authority - The Starfleet Rangers are the law on the frontier.
Contacts: Starfleet Command, Federation civilian law enforcement agencies
Special Abilities: Starfleet Rangers are the most highly trained and competent individuals Starfleet can locate and refine. Starfleet Rangers have a reputation for extreme competence Starfleet Rangers specialize in local area knowledge and cultivating information sources
Group disadvantages: Starfleet Rangers are severely undermanned for their mandate.
       Rivalry with Starfleet Marines (Almost always friendly/competitive), Starfleet intelligence (Often not very friendly), and Starfleet special response teams (Usually friendly competitive)
       Criminals and criminal organizations make special efforts to eliminate Starfleet Rangers.
Special Disadvantages: Their reputation can be difficult to live up to.
Those who favor them: Starfleet Command, Colonists who like law and order, Federation civilians who like the idea of adventurous Starfleet officers cleaning up Dodge City
Those opposed to them: Criminals and criminal organizations. Starfleet intelligence (would rather have their intelligence source for intelligence purposes, not law enforcement) Some civil liberties groups feel that Starfleet Rangers have too much power and autonomy and are subject to abuse (They may well be right)
Area of Operation: The fringes of the Federation where local law enforcement is thin.
Headquarters Location: Starfleet Command, San Francisco, Earth
Public Face: Competent beings who go into the dark places and shine the lights
Notable Members: Richard Russell, mentioned in ST-OM 10, "The Trudge".
       George Reid, the “Lone” Ranger. Some people claim he is a legend made up of bits from the adventures of many Rangers and placed into a slick package. Others claim to have met the man himself, to have been rescued by him, or even to have been captured by him. the closer you are to Earth, the more the former holds sway. The further out you go, the more the latter holds sway.
History of the Group: This group has it's roots in the Earth Force's deep space search and rescue (The Notorious Space Rangers of the 2130s and 2140s) and Andorian Deep Space Scout organizations.
       When The Federation was formed and Starfleet inaugurated. Earth forces Deep Space Search and rescue ships, personnel and mission were incorporated into Starfleet. As time wore on, more colonies and more people fleeing to the frontier resulted in a culture of lawlessness and near anarchy.
       While all Starfleet ships are tasked to uphold Federation law and Support local law enforcement when requested, Starships have to keep moving to fulfill their function. The Space Rangers morphed into a group of special law enforcement agents, tasked with bring law and order to frontier colonies on the verge of collapse and anarchy.
       In small ships, a group of Rangers, or in extreme circumstances as few as two rangers will arrive on a world and begin operations designed to bolster the rule of law as describe din the Federation Charter. These agents will stay on any given planet for months or even years until a cadre of local law enforcement has been trained to take over for them.
       During the 4 years war, Ranger detachments on colonies over run by Klingon forces stayed behind to act as scouts and insurgents tying down Klingon resources. They had some success at this role, and it became part of their informal training ever since.
       Rangers must often battle local criminal. organizations and corrupt local officials so extensive training in guerrilla tactics and survival skills comes in handy Many Rangers became adept at moving among the underworlds of colonies they worked on, often making contacts and gathering information that Starfleet intelligence desires.
       Rangers typically are reticent to share their information with Starfleet intelligence since this information may be used at any time, to pursue rather vague and esoteric aims rather than the direct aims of the Rangers.
       Starfleet Marines often serve alongside Rangers as their back-up and SWAT team. After long service together, Marines and Rangers often cross pollinate rather severely. Starfleet Marines who haven't served on the frontier, and Starfleet Marine Corps command officers often argue that the mission of the Starfleet Rangers could be turned over the Marines. Experienced officers from all branches pass this by.
       Starfleet Intelligence officers often claim that the effort allocated to Starfleet Rangers could be better put to use pursuing intelligence.
       Starfleet ships are often called upon to reinforce Starfleet Ranger squads. Starfleet Rangers consider line Starfleet officers pampered science wonks (even though many know better). It seems to be a Starfleet Ranger tradition to look down their noses at line Starfleet officers.
       Starfleet Rangers recruit from all branches of Starfleet, but candidates must pass rigorous screening and training. It is a voluntary berth. Rangers who tire of it, burn out or suffer from metal or physical injuries usually transfer back to their former branch. Many people claim that Starfleet Rangers represent too much training and effort into too few people. There are never enough Rangers to go around, so they are always in demand.
       The Success of this program is debatable. But colonies who have a squad of Rangers in residents love them.
       The missions of these people are modeled more on old west Federal Marshals or Texas Rangers than on modern day US Army Rangers. But their training is modeled from American Special forces training.
 
 

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and situations are fictional. Any resemblance to persons, places, or situations living or dead is coincidental.

© Garry Stahl: 1997-2006 unless other Copyrights apply. All rights reserved, re-print only with permission.

 
 
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