Anyone who has read Twin Worlds knows that Raina Wolfe is a strong character in her own right, and hardly a sidekick to Tucker McLeod. Perhaps the only person who didn’t know that right out of the blocks was me.
In writing Twin Worlds, I knew I wanted a foil for McLeod, and someone from the Central Federation. As I developed her charter, I made Raina Wolfe Andoran, and a third generation Central Federation officer. This is such a strong tradition in her family that her advanced training officer after graduating from the academy was her father–who didn’t cut her any slack. She was ranked highest in astrogation, tactics, weapons and flight at the academy, and second in physical training. She was also ranked highest in deportment and graduated first in her class, yet she never held a command position among the cadets. It seems that Wolfe was a by-the-book cadet, who didn’t suffer fools gladly, and her superiors didn’t believe she would be a good cadet leader.
Despite stellar evaluations from her commanders and 360 degree evaluations from her subordinates and colleagues, Wolfe has never held a command position within the federation, but the reason has nothing to do with her academy performance. Both the Central Federation and the Star Alliance encourage service within the other service, but the Central Federation doesn’t count service on Star Alliance vessels as time in rank. Since Wolfe decided to serve two full tours on Star Alliance vessels, she has essentially “lost” six years of service. As a result, many of her contemporaries from the academy have passed her in rank and responsibility. One of the early scenes in Twin Worlds features Wolfe reflecting on her decision to serve within the Star Alliance. She questions whether her career in the Central Federation is permanently stalled, and if she would be better served retiring now and starting a second career. While mulling this over, Wolfe is finally promoted to Su-captain and her first starship command.
Wolfe has an interesting relationship with Tucker McLeod. They’ve served together for about half their careers on Alliance and Federation vessels and at other star bases. They were friends in the beginning though Wolfe viewed McLeod as too unconventional for her tastes. This all changed when McLeod initiated the self-destruction of his starship near the Andoran homeworld. Wolfe didn’t take too kindly to her friend threatening to destroy her home, and this caused a rift between the two officers. Time and working closely together healed the rift, and Wolfe and McLeod are good friends by the events in Twin Worlds.
Perhaps Wolfe’s defining moment in Twin Worlds is when she decided to leave McLeod behind to recover from his surgery rather than taking him with their team to the space dock. Many military organizations take pride in “leaving no one behind,” but Wolfe decided that the mission could not be compromised by McLeod’s weakened condition. It’s a decision that McLeod agrees with wholeheartedly.
It surprised me that some of my friends saw Wolfe as a more central protagonist than McLeod, but no matter: if there was ever a strong and equal pair, it’s Tucker McLeod and Raina Wolfe.
