Who is Rachel Garrett?

In 's third-season premiere episode, "," Raffi Musiker is given her only lead in the mysterious Starfleet Intelligence case, Operation: Daybreak — "the Red Lady." Musiker soon discovers the Red Lady is actually a red bronze statue of Rachel Garrett. The statue is unveiled at a dedication ceremony ahead of at the Starfleet Recruiting Center.

Unfortunately, Musiker's discovery comes too late and her emergency hails go unanswered as the site is attacked with stolen quantum tech swallowing the Recruitment Center whole right under it. And just as quickly, a portal opens above with the building reappearing as it falls out of the portal towards the ground.

Who is exactly is Rachel Garrett, and where does she belong in Starfleet history?

Introduced in the fan-favorite third-season episode, "," Rachel Garrett is captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-C in the mid-24th Century.

Garrett and the Enterprise-C vanished in 2344 following a torpedo explosion near Narendra III opened up a temporal rift and pulled the Enterprise-C in.

The ship re-emerged 20 years later in 2366, and with its disappearance and reappearance, created an alternate timeline in which the Klingon Empire was at war with the Federation.

Pulled into this altered future, Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D learns that this mysterious ship is its predecessor, the Enterprise-C, under command of Garrett. The Enterprise-C was responding to a distress call on a Klingon outpost when it was attacked by four Romulan Warbirds. Somehow, in the middle of the assault, the ship broke the space rift.

To correct the timeline of this altered future, Picard needs to send the Enterprise-C back through the rift in order to change the course of events, which resulted in the loss of 40 billion lives during the Klingon conflict. In facing the Enterprise-C's tragic destiny, their valiant yet sacrificial attempt to aid the Klingon outpost will have been viewed as an honorable act with the Klingon Empire.

Unfortunately, in the attempt to course correct, a Klingon attempt kills Captain Garrett. Lt. Richard Castillo subsequently assumed command of the Enterprise-C, returning it through the temporal rift back to its proper time so history could be substantially restored.

As the Enterprise-D positions itself between the Enterprise-C and the Klingons, the rift closes returning them to its original time, as they head for a cultural exchange program with a Klingon delegation.

Who's to say how much of history is a result of Garrett's bravery and sacrifice.