Olen Rhinehart

Olen Rhinehart
Name:	Olen Rhinehart
Rank:	http://www.startrekfreedom.com/images/pips1/teallt.jpg Lieutenant (SG)
Awards:	http://www.startrekfreedom.com/images/rib20.gif http://www.startrekfreedom.com/images/char_awards/rib04.gif http://www.startrekfreedom.com/images/char_awards/rib02.gif http://www.startrekfreedom.com/images/char_awards/rib20.gif
Gender:	Male
Species:	Human
Age:	26
Position:	Counselor, Acting Third Officer
Ship:	USS Rosenante NCC-924650
Status:	Active

Olen Rhinehart is chief counsellor and acting third officer aboard the USS Rosenante under the command of Captain Susan Rivers. He is a quiet and retiring man, much given to contemplation and reflection rather than action. His lifelong passion has been the study of philosophy, and by virtue of that, the acquisition of surer and more certain knowledge - not only of himself, but of the world around him. He also takes a keen interest in theology, which often seems anachronistic in these most humanist and secular of times. Although maintaining no particular religious faith himself, Rhinehart believes that the religious texts, and the ideas of theological scholars - thinkers such as St Thomas Aquinas, Subramuniyaswami and Nagarjuna - have much left to teach us yet.

USS Champlain

Rhinehart's first assignment was as a counsellor aboard the USS Champlain, a modified Galaxy Class explorer. The ship's mission was to explore the largely unknown Beta Quadrant of the galaxy, in support of the 52nd Fleet's ongoing war against Admiral Doenitz. He made rendezvous with the vessel on Stardate 2407.02.24, ahead of its official launch. Its first task was to investigate the Federation colony Ivor Prime, which was believed to have been the target of a Borg attack some 30 years previously. It was to be assessed for suitability to house refugees from the conflict with Doenitz.

Deep Space 5

En route to Ivor Prime, the Champlain was diverted to the Doenitz-loyal space station Deep Space 5, in order to capture it for Admiral Robert LoDona and the 52nd Fleet. Following a successful infiltration, Rhinehart was able to convince the station commander, one Captain U'gaeth, to relinquish command and surrender with virtually no loss of life on either side.

As a result of his actions on this mission, Rhinehart received a promotion to Ensign (SG), and was awarded a Captain's Commendation.

Ivor Prime

Following the liberation of Deep Space 5, the Champlain's mission began in earnest - tasked with investigating the colony world of Ivor Prime as a potential home for refugees of the civil war. The planet's status had been unknown since contact was lost in the wake of a Borg attack in 2373, some 30 years ago. Wolfe and his crew feared the worst, but upon transporting to the surface, found the colony queerly deserted and undamaged. It was soon discovered that the colonists had been transported by one Dr Laura Schell, a senior theoretical physicist, to an incorporeal dimension in order to evade the Borg's impending attack. After Captain Wolfe was accidentally transported to the same void, the crew were able to return him, along with a number of the colonists, and left the colony in the hands of a reconstruction task force following in the Champlain's wake.

Rhinehart was left with some serious concerns over crew cohesion and communication efficiency following this mission, a trying experience for all concerned.

The Hephaestus Principle

A week after the Champlain left Ivor Prime, the crew were once more assembled on the bridge. An unexpected warp vessel had been discovered deep in uncharted space, and adding to the mystery, it exhibited a Federation warp signature. Wolfe explained that the chances of a coincidence were vanishingly small, which led Rhinehart to wonder if the vessel might be the Wyvern, the nebula class ship that seemed to be dogging them around the galaxy. Failing that, the infinitesimally tiny chance of coincidence all but ruled out the possibility that the vessel could be anything other than Starfleet, but Wolfe was insistent that the crew should prepare for first contact, a plan that seemed, on first impressions, to fly in the face of available evidence.

Rhinehart risked reproach by questioning the captain's reasoning publically, but was left dissatisfied by the exchange, and increasingly concerned over what he saw as the CO's abstracted state of mind and his mercurial command style. It seemed to Rhinehart that Wolfe had been subtly different since his return from the Ivor Prime void, and he worried deeply over what to do about it. In the meantime, the Champlain set course for the nearby planet of Irlix, assumed to be the source of the mysterious warp-capable vessel.

A day later, it appeared that perhaps Rhinehart had been correct in his concerns about the captain. Caught off guard by the Irlixians firing upon them, the Champlain was blind-sided by the USS Wyvern as she retreated, and was attacked mercilessly. But Wolfe seemed stricken with paralysis, almost catatonia. It cost him, and the ship, his life. A photon torpedo strike near the bridge left the command chair a devastated wreck, the explosion of which burned Rhinehart badly and hurled him bodily into the wall. For him, the mission was over.

Beyond Vengeance/Crossroads

While the Champlain battled the Wyvern, Rhinehart battled for his life. Fast action on the part of CPO Nathan Fuller and his team bridged the gap between life and death for the counsellor and brought him back from the brink. In sickbay, tended by Doctor Henna-star and Nurse Telstra, he was revived a mere matter of hours after his incapacitation, the worst of his physical wounds on the mend. Mentally though, it was another story. His concussion had triggered a traumatic retrograde amnesia that seemed oddly selective. Rhinehart could recall nothing of his identity, and nothing of the other crew members, yet retained his training and professional insights. This led him to conclude that his loss of recall had been, at least in part, psychological in nature. He concluded that he had dissociated, but without anything further to go on, was left floundering in a stranger's skin. Returning to Starbase Geneva for repairs and shore leave, the ship, and Rhinehart, passed to the command of Captain Susan Rivers, in preparation for a combined fleet offensive aimed at bringing about the war's end.

Do Not Go Gentle

As the fleet prepared to merge and move on sector 001, Rhinehart eased back into his work uncertainly. Now chief of department, he had a small staff under his command and an enormous job to complete. As well as providing the standard crew evaluation required by the new captain, Rhinehart was tasked to conduct in-depth research into the confidential psychological files of Doenitz-loyal command staff, seeking information that could be exploited tactically. Initially perturbed at the ethical implications, he nevertheless agreed to the captain's request in light of the extraordinary attrition they were likely to face, and any possibility, no matter how slender, that it might be ameliorated.

The task occupied much of his department's time over the next three trying months. At the same time the crew was drilled relentlessly in preparation for their next mission: to act as the speartip for Task Force 19. It was a mission that would cause great ambivalence and dread in the amnesiac counsellor, not a warrior by any means. As the ship neared its destination, meanwhile, the existence of a certain black-market video clip came to his attention via his assistant Dorga 'cha Nooras, and thus to the attention of the captain. The contents of the video proved to be the key that unlocked the morass of his suppressed memories, bringing them back to his consciousness in a deluge he could not decipher or decode. He began mind-melding therapy sessions with Lt. Dorga which helped him to reclaim the incoherent memories as his own.

As his therapy continued, he found himself forming an attachment to the capable Klingon/Vulcan counsellor that went deeper than mere professional courtesy, but in the immediacy of battle, he felt it inappropriate to share that fact. It was a mistake he would come to rue, and vow never to repeat. As the Champlain gathered impetus for the forthcoming fleet action, his mind and heart were occupied with little besides dread. He was not a warrior at heart, and found himself by turns resentful and petrified by the uncomfortable mould Starfleet was forcing him to occupy. His philosophical misgivings were many, but, like the rest of the senior staff, he suppressed them long enough to see the Champlain's part in the mission completed. It ended with the destruction of that vessel only a few short months after her launch, and the narrow escape of the bridge complement. Though the action resulted in victory for the 52nd Fleet, the cost of the conflict was too great to be so easily dismissed.

Picking Up The Pieces

Now stationed aboard the USS Hypatia, a long period of reflection and reassessment began for Rhinehart. Long and sober contemplation led him to the conclusion that, in light of the devastation the civil war had wrought, Starfleet was not an organisation his conscience would allow him to serve. His natural conclusion then, had been to resign his commission, and re-establish contact with his estranged mother, his one surviving relative. Unlike many others, however, who would struggle for months to ascertain the whereabouts and health of their families scattered across the galaxy's warzones, it was excruciatingly easy for Rhinehart to discover that his mother had in fact been killed during the 52nd's final onslaught on Earth, and his childhood home had been razed to the ground. He used his leave to journey there anyway, to inter his mother's remains and say his final goodbyes, and then to turn his mind to the question of 'what next?' He returned reluctantly to his duties, buying himself time to think things over. During this period, his application to complete an accredited PhD with the Institute of Tellarite Excellence (which had been working overtime to rebuild after the devastation it had suffered), was accepted. Once again, he made plans to resign his commission, with the aim of travelling to the institute in order to take on a quiet research and teaching role. It was not to be, however. Several attempts at drafting his resignation went uncompleted, and he spent many uncomfortable nights attempting to convince himself he was committed to the path he had chosen.

An eventual discussion with Susan Rivers, confirmed to Rhinehart that his explorer's heart was not yet satiated. She, too, wanted no further part in any conflicts, internecine or otherwise, and was pulling every string she could to ensure her next assignment was one of peaceful exploration, in line with Starfleet's original charter. She hinted that she was optimistic about being offered command of a brand new, first-of-her-class ship, specifically tooled for deep black exploration, and added that she was building her command team, and many of the former Champlain crew were among her selections. On that proviso, she offered him the chief counsellor's position. In spite of his misgivings, he found himself accepting before he truly realised what he had done.

Contacting the institute, they agreed to postpone the teaching role indefinitely, but offered him the chance to complete his PhD remotely via subspace contact with his supervisor. Rhinehart accepted, and settled then into an uneasy, yet busy, anticipation of the many changes that were to come.

USS Rosenante

In early 2408, the crew officially stepped aboard their new vessel, the USS Rosenante. The ship resides on the bleeding edge of the state-of-the-art, and is a marked departure in almost every regard from the Champlain's modified Galaxy-class spaceframe. Within Starfleet, the Rosenante has come to respresent the renaissance of Starfleet's roots in the wake of the war, and it is hoped that its planned mission of exploration will demonstrate Starfleet's best intentions to the Federation as a whole.

A Fine and Private Place

Almost immediately upon his arrival on the new vessel, Rhinehart was blind-sided by yet another change. Last minute roster shuffles had removed Captain Rivers' first choice for third officer. Instead, the role was offered to him, along with a promotion to full lieutenant and several decorations for his part in the war's final, decisive battle. Perhaps sensing his moral ambivalence about Starfleet and his future within it, the role was offered on an 'acting' basis until he felt comfortable adopting the mantle completely. Preparations for Rhinehart's bridge command exam were hastily completed, and he passed the test with few apparent problems, although he himself felt it was one of the most difficult experiences of his career so far.

Meanwhile, the Rosenante took aboard a committee comprised of survivors of the Ivor Prime debacle, including the outspoken Dr Laura Schell, who, since Rhinehart had last seen her, had received a nomination to overall leadership (pending full election) of that colony's survivors. In keeping with their mission of exploration, the Rosenante was to undertake a systematic survey of suitable class-M worlds as candidates for resettling the Ivor Prime colonists, and, ever mindful of the precarious PR position of Starfleet in the aftermath of the war, they traveled with Hal Stanza, the award-winning FNN correspondent who had lionised the 52nd Fleet and won the admiration of many pre-eminent Starfleet officers with his report on The Final Flight of the Champlain.

After a brief launch ceremony, the Rosenante departed for the Optima system. En route however, they were diverted by a horrifying distress call, picked up during the early portion of Rhinehart's third-ever bridge watch.

Hobbies

Rhinehart is generally more interested in intellectual pursuits than physical. He is a quick study, and keenly interested in all branches of knowledge, although his specialities are philosophy, theology and psychology. He enjoys writing - although his relationship with his keyboard is sometimes fractious - and is currently working on a secret literary project in which he unburdens some of the angst he often feels towards himself. He is a connoiseur of tea, and spends inordinate amounts of time grooming his beard, of which he is justifiably proud. He is currently pursuing a psychology PhD by way of intermittent subspace contact with the Institute of Tellarite Excellence.

Socially, he feels he has missed the boat somewhat, in terms of cementing informal bonds of friendship with his crewmates, although it is apparent that he has earned the professional respect of most. Meanwhile, his romantic life continues be bumpy: After his on-again off-again frisson with Lt Cdr Brianna Frazier ended with her injury and subsequent abrupt transfer from the crew, he found himself growing closer to his assistant counsellor Dorga 'cha Nooras following their mind-meld. The possibility of a relationship seemed nullified, however, when cha'Nooras was promoted to second officer of the USS Boudicca and transferred before Rhinehart could summon up the courage to share his feelings. As of this writing, he remains single.

Awards

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  Awarded the Captain's Commendation for his part in the liberation of Deep Space 5, 2407.03.05

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  Awarded the Captain's Commendation for actions during and after the battle for the MDP, stardate 2407.07.09

• 

  Awarded the Cross of Fire for actions above and beyond the call of duty during the battle for the MDP, 2407.07.09

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  Awarded the Ribbon of Sacrifice for injuries sustained during battle with the USS Wyvern, 2407.03.13/14