Ramón Gutierrez

Adolescence (2345 to 2363)

Son to Rick and Olivia Gutierrez, Ramón was born and raised in San Quentin, Mexico.  His parents were both biologists who worked to maintain the abalone population that were nearly decimated in the 20th century due to over-harvesting.  These particular mollusks were necessary to keep the kelp population in check, as well as contribute to the formation of complex coral reef structures that helped provide necessary habitats to a plethora of other marine species that dwelled in the region.  Ramón spent his childhood playing along the shores of sandy beaches, surfing, and assisting his parents with small but helpful aspects of their work.

Starfleet Academy (2363 to 2367)

Ramón decided to join Starfleet and was accepted into the Academy at San Francisco as he was approaching his 18th birthday.  Electing not to follow in his parents’ footsteps but rather forge his own path, he was nevertheless not entirely sure where that path would take him.  This ultimately landed his studies in the more broad areas of service that Operations covered.

His final year as a cadet had him serving his cadet tour as an acting Ensign aboard the USS Firebrand.  Only a few months in to his tour, the Freedom-class scout he was serving aboard found its self pulled in to the Battle of Wolf 359.  The Firebrand was one of the many vessels lost during this engagement with the Borg, and during the call for evacuation Ramón found himself forced to take charge of his small group of injured evacuees as they fought to force their way past fallen bulkheads and make it to an escape pod.

USS Leeds and the Dominion War (2368 to 2375)

Cadet Ramón Gutierrez decided to take a leave of absence in order to process the horrible experiences that he and the other survivors of that engagement had lived through.  He returned home to the familiar beaches of San Quentin.  By the following year, he was ready to pick himself back up and return to service.  With a fresh pip on his collar, Ramón was given his rank of Ensign and assigned to the USS Leeds.

The Federation was gearing up at this point to prepare for further Borg ordeals, a goal that would be affirmed when the Borg made their attack on Sector 001.  Still haunted by the events of Wolf 359, this was the point where Ramón focused his career on serving with the ship’s security detail.  As he spent his service anticipating a looming conflict in the coming years, Ramón would find that the enemy he would eventually face would come in the form of zealous Jem’Hadar shock troops rather than cybernetic drones bent on galaxy-wide assimilation.

The war with the Dominion was a brutal affair that would test the mettle and morals of Ramón and the rest of those who suffered through it alongside him.  None of them had signed up to Starfleet to do soldier’s work.  But for two long years, that’s precisely what Ramón and his crewmates did.  Ramón had helped hold or retake worlds, infiltrate ships, repel boarders, and everything else in between.  By the time all was said and done, and the Founders were signing the treaty that would formally end the entire war, Ramón was finished with all of it.  At this point he had made Lieutenant, and this would be where he resolved to end his career in Starfleet and return home.  Perhaps he would eventually follow his parents’ calling after all.  It was never too late to change his mind.

Counseling (2375 to 2402)

Ramón did resign his commission and return home to San Quentin.  He spent a year in the aftermath of the Dominion War intent on burying the entire ordeal and moving on.  But Ramón could not stop dwelling on the things that he had seen and been a part of.  Misery loves company, and eventually he found himself drawn to others who were likewise having trouble coping in the aftermath of their experiences.  As opposed to swallowing it all down in silence, it was healing in a cathartic way to openly share with others who had also experienced similar trauma.  They understood where he was coming from in a way that his family and nobody else could.  The more Ramón reached out to find and talk to others, the more he was beginning to recognize a different sort of need within Starfleet to be met.

Ramón Gutierrez had finally found his calling.  Before the following year was up, he reinstated his commission and was assigned to Starbase Bravo and the 4th Fleet.  There he completed all studies and formal training required to pivot his career to Counseling where he traded his gold colors for teal.  While many might find his mannerisms to be rough hewn and blunt, Ramón has nevertheless managed to win over those he offers his counsel to with a direct, sincere, and honest approach.  Over the course of 27 years he would spend his time at Starbase Bravo before eventually being transferred over to Starbase 72.  His new calling has not seen him climb many more rungs in the ladder of rank and file, but by the time he made it to the headquarters of Taskforce 72 he would sit at the rank of Lieutenant Commander.  Ramón was not thirsty for rank.  He was only concerned with the work, and making a difference.

USS Fresno (2402 to Current)

Following the events of the Blackout and the conflict with the Vaadwaur, there was a directive to send more counselors to the crews of ships who might be short in supply when it came to that manner of support.  With roots and an expertise in post-conflict trauma, Lieutenant Commander Ramón Gutierrez volunteered to be transferred to one of the vessels that had seen action against the Vaadwaur.  He wanted to specifically go to a ship that had gone up against the Vaadwaur with a crew whose skillset would not fit the role that the conflict would have forced them to accommodate.  The top brass with Task Force 72 did not disappoint, and pointed him to the USS Fresno.  The engineering vessel’s Chief Medical Officer had been doubling up with counseling duties, and Ramón was to step in and assume the chief position of that role instead.