Portrait of a Character – Ruby Brannagh
Ruby Brannagh is an extension of canon.
Origins
This character is Star Trek: Enterprise canon, and is part of the episode, First Flight. Since she did not have a canon surname, I used the actress’s real name.
Portrayal
As in canon, Ruby is played by Brigid Brannagh.
Ruby Brannagh (Brigid Brannagh)
About all that is really known about her in canon is that she owns the 602 Club, and had romances with both Tripp Tucker and Malcolm Reed (Reed writes her a fairly generic good-bye letter in the canon Shuttlepod One episode, thereby revealing that their relationship wasn’t terribly meaningful for him).
In Intolerance, I reveal that she also had a fling with Travis, which is a plausible supposition.
In Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before, she makes eyes at Jonathan Archer but there’s no evidence that anything happens.
Personality
My grandmother’s shotgun says I can. (Brigid Brannagh)
Feisty and sexy, Ruby might not necessarily have the greatest judgment.
As I write her, she defends her bar but not her person, and ends up in a heap of trouble in Shell Shock, where she nearly dies.
Relationships
Aside from flings, Ruby doesn’t seem to have anyone. And one of those hookups almost gets her killed.
Mirror Universe
It is unknown whether she has a Mirror Universe counterpart, although there are no impediments to her existing there.
Brigid Brannagh as MU Ruby (image is for educational purposes only)
Maybe she does. And she might even be on the Defiant. However, given the large number of lower class Mirror Universe women who are little more than hookers (in my fanfiction), it’s a bit more likely that a woman like her would earn her money and dubious privileges by engaging in more earthy pursuits.
Quote
“We split a tablet of methylqualone, and began drinking from a bottle. At least, I thought he had had a half of the methylqualone, but maybe he didn’t.”
Upshot
So characters aren’t necessarily wise and they don’t always make the right decisions. Ruby is one of those people.
