Section 31’s Only Starfleet Officer Doesn’t Know They’re Doomed

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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Section 31.

In Star Trek: Section 31, Lieutenant Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl) is eager to move up Starfleet’s ranks, unaware that her tragic future is already set. A Star Trek movie unlike any other, Section 31 follows Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) as she teams up with a Section 31 team to stop a devastating weapon from her past. Since its premiere on January 24, 2025, on Paramount+, Section 31 has received mostly negative reviews, but Kacey Rohl’s take on Rachel Garrett was one of the bright spots.

Despite its lackluster reviews, Star Trek: Section 31 introduces some compelling new characters to the Star Trek franchise, but one character should be familiar to Star Trek: The Next Generation fans. Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O’Neil) made her Star Trek debut in TNG season 3, episode 15, “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” as the doomed captain of the USS Enterprise-C. Little has been revealed about the character since her appearance in TNG, but Section 31 offers a look into her life as a young Starfleet lieutenant.

Star Trek: Section 31’s Lt. Rachel Garrett Doesn’t Know She’s Doomed

Rachel Garrett Remains Blissfully Unaware Of The Fate That Awaits Her

Despite being stuck with a Section 31 team, Lt. Rachel Garrett maintains her positive view of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. Garrett may be a “top-tier science officer” now, but she has dreams of becoming a captain one day. Not only will Garrett achieve her goal of becoming captain, but she will also get to command the jewel of Starfleet and Star Trek’s most famous ship. Garrett’s time in command of the USS Enterprise-C will be cut tragically short, however, when she sacrifices her ship to save a Klingon outpost from certain destruction.

Rachel Garrett in black Starfleet uniform in Section 31 and Captain Picard in Star Trek TNG season 1

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Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise” takes place in 2366, twenty years after Captain Garrett’s command, but sees the USS Enterprise-D encounter the Enterprise-C of the past. When Garrett’s Enterprise emerges from a temporal rift (from the year 2344), it drastically alters the future, plunging the Federation into a war with the Klingons. Captain Garrett must make the ultimate sacrifice to restore the proper future, but Lt. Garrett of Star Trek: Section 31 has no idea about her eventual fate. Still, Section 31 offers glimpses of the captain Garrett will become; even as a lieutenant, she is willing to risk her own life to save others.

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Rachel Garrett Remained A Starfleet Hero Long After Her Death

By 2344, twenty years after the events of Star Trek: Section 31, Rachel Garrett will be in command of the USS Enterprise-C. When Captain Garrett answers a distress call from the Klingon outpost at Narendra III, the Enterprise-C arrives to engage four Romulan warbirds. At some point during the fight, the weapons fire opens a temporal rift, which the heavily damaged Enterprise inadvertently drifts through.

Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou and Kacey Rohl as Rachel Garrett in Section 31

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Upon arriving in 2366, Captain Garrett eventually learns that her actions at the Klingon outpost that day prevented a devastating decades-long conflict with the Klingon Empire. Although it means almost certain death, Rachel agrees to return through the fissure to restore the proper future. Tragically, Captain Garrett is killed before the Enterprise-C even enters the rift, when three Klingon Birds-of-Prey attack both Enterprise ships. In the end, Lt. Richard Castillo (Christopher McDonald) takes the Enterprise-C back through the rift, saving the future Federation from a catastrophic war.

Captain Garrett’s legacy continues to inspire future Starfleet officers.

Decades later, Captain Garrett’s legacy continues to inspire future Starfleet officers. As revealed in Star Trek: Picard season 3, Starfleet constructed a statue of Captain Garrett at the Starfleet Recruitment building on M’Talas Prime. Unfortunately, this statue was destroyed in a terrorist attack on the Recruitment building, but Starfleet will hopefully rebuild it. Star Trek: Section 31 helped fill in some of the gaps in Rachel Garrett’s story, but it remains to be seen if viewers will see any more of her Starfleet adventures.