Winston Redfield

> *"You must never let them see you bleed, Mister Ravi. Never."*
> - Admiral Redfield to Lieutenant Commander Jasper Ravi
>
>

Vice Admiral **Winston Redfield** was a senior officer of the Centran Defence Force, the commanding officer of the CSV *Shabayev*, and a defence consultant to the Avalon Exploratory Initiative.

## Biography

### Early career

The young Winston Redfield joined the Centran Defence Force. Redfield came under the mentorship of Darius Farren in his career, and owing to Farren's guidance, became single-mindedly focused on his career. Redfield became acquainted with future CDF senior officers like Anthony Hadleigh and Ariana Hawker, but was never particularly close with either of them. He was eventually given command of the CSV *Barricata*.

Under Redfield's command, his ship came in the top rankings in every fleet wargame for six years in a row. His tactical studies became required reading at the CDF's Harcourt Academy. Redfield's determination to excel, however, meant that he frequently denied his own crews shore leave to ensure that they would be selected for ceremonial duties. Redfield's focus on his career was such that his personal life suffered, and he reluctantly chose not to marry.

Redfield ultimately rose to the rank of Vice Admiral. He served during the Frontier War, but primarily in a logistical capacity, working with Keeper's Dance Fleet Yards to keep ship's operational and stocked up throughout the conflict far from the frontlines. He primarily worked around the Keeper's Dance System. He was decorated after the Battle of the Atamara Crossroads, although he later admitted he was barely present for the battle, being awarded the Order of Whitecourt merely for showing up. In the Frontier War's aftermath, Redfield was involved in the *Huntress*-class Ambush Corvette project at Keeper's Dance Fleet Yards before it was abruptly cancelled to provide resources to the Avalon Exploratory Initiative.

### Avalon Exploratory Initiative

#### Lost in CDC-41-Gamma

By 0304 PCU, Vice Admiral Redfield was assigned to lead the CDF contingent of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative, with the CSV *Shabayev* as his flagship. After Captain Cassandra Farren turned down the Defence Adjutant position, Vice Admiral Redfield was selected for the position by Director Elizabeth Ancelet.

Following the jump through Edric's Gate to CDC-41-Gamma, the Avalon Expedition Fleet was scattered and the *Shabayev* was one of many ships unaccounted for. With Redfield missing, Director Ancelet temporarily replaced him as Defence Adjutant with Lieutenant Jasper Ravi, and later with Captain Farren.

Redfield and the *Shabayev* spent over two months separated from the *Avalon*. In that time, he successfully re-established contact with two CDF ships, the *Bracewell* and the *Republic*, as well as a Gatehauler. When his fleet encountered the *Golden Opportunity*, a wrecked Merician freighter from the Expedition Fleet, Redfield issued orders that it was to be stripped of useful materiel. However, Redfield countermanded orders from his Executive Officer, Commander Lewis Harper, that Marines who were caught looting the dead were to be disciplined, on the grounds that it would negatively affect morale. Redfield additionally refused to spend expend any additional time in conducting funeral rites for the *Golden Opportunity's* crew, on the grounds that the fleet could not afford to expend any more resources before re-establishing contact with the *Avalon*.

#### Contact with the Advari

Two months after arriving in CDC-41-Gamma, Redfield's force captured Castian Vadric, an Inquisitor of the nebula's native Holy Advari Empire who had been assigned by Empress Valendra the Sixth to investigate the Avalon Fleet. Brought aboard the *Shabayev* for interrogation, Redfield ordered that the injured Vadric be denied medical treatment until he cooperated.

However, his interrogation was interrupted when two Advari ships attacked the force. Attempting to withdraw to the safety of the Callandra Nimbus, Redfield ordered the Gatehauler abandoned, and the *Bracewell* and the *Republic* were destroyed by Advari fire, leaving the *Shabayev* the only survivor. The Gatehauler was subsequently captured by the Advari and brought within the Aegis of Invia for analysis. Following this encounter, Redfield became convinced that the Advari posed an existential threat to the Tantalus Cluster.

#### Attempted coup

> *"Is it the crew of some tattered cargo schooner that I find here? Without discipline? Without courage? Surely you, who would give so quickly into despair cannot be sailors of the Centran Defence Force? I do not ask you not to be afraid. Fear and despair are not the same. We are alone and far from familiar stars, we face an implacable and alien enemy, and the price for our failure may well be the end of our civilization. Under such circumstances, fear is inevitable! I do not ask that you banish your fear. I ask only that you be ready to give it purpose! Do not despair, but find your courage! Atop your courage the Sapphire Flag has flown farther from the waters of Centrum than ever before, and atop your courage it shall fly farther still!"*
> - Redfield suppressing the brawl aboard the CSV *Shabayev*.
>
>

After escaping into the Callandra Nimbus, the damaged *Shabayev* unexpectedly encountered the *Avalon*, which prompted scenes of celebration on the platform. Redfield swiftly made his presence known, issuing a field promotion to Lieutenant Jasper Ravi, neglecting to tell Director Elizabeth Ancelet about his Advari prisoner, insisting that the fleet should prepare to move to the Vitrified Planet to begin harvesting operations, and ordering civilian vessels to assist in repairs to the *Shabayev*. Reviewing the fleet's logs, Redfield became increasingly convinced that Ancelet's leadership was inadequate for the situation, believing that only luck had spared the fleet from disaster. Redfield invoked Section 24-D of the Uniform Code of Conduct, removing Elizabeth from command and seizing the Avalon Expedition Fleet for the sole purpose of striking back against the Advari. Elizabeth Ancelet and Captain Cassandra Farren were placed under arrest.

The situation in the Avalon Fleet swiftly passed out of Redfield's control: Vadric continued to refuse to respond under interrogation. When Redfield ordered that the fleet prepare to move the the pulsar system, several captains of the civilian ships refused to accept his leadership without hearing from Elizabeth Ancelet. When Marines were deployed to take control of the *Kestrel*, it manoeuvred to prevent them from docking, and Redfield proved unwilling to order a forced breach. Furthermore, in an effort to expedite repairs aboard the *Shabayev*, Commander Harper ordered double shifts, which provoked a brawl in the ship's dining hall among exhausted CDF sailors. This proved impossible to contain as the *Shabayev's* Marines had been re-deployed to secure the fleet's civilian ships.

Despite feeling increasingly overwhelmed, Redfield left the *Avalon* under Ravi's command and crossed to the *Shabayev*, where he successfully put down the brawl with a single speech to the ship's crew. Recognising that he could not command the respect of the civilian fleet, Redfield chose to release Elizabeth Ancelet and Cassandra Farren from the brig and restore them to command. However, he re-iterated his concerns about Elizabeth's leadership and insisted that he be included in all command decisions from then on, a condition that Elizabeth accepted.

#### Return to civilian leadership

Redfield's advocacy for moving the fleet to the pulsar system was accepted by Ancelet, where over a period of four months, the fleet established harvesting facilities that they christened "the Greenhouse". Redfield brought his logistics talents to bear on the effort, significantly decreasing Director Ancelet's workload. With efforts to harvest the planet's flora proceeding apace, Redfield advocated for an aggressive effort to seek out the fleet's lost Gatehaulers, without which it could not return to Tantalus. A Gatehauler was subsequently recovered when the *Guinevere* rescued Merician ships led by Maxine Blake.

Following the rescue of Frontier Union ships led by Omar Maalsuwda, the fleet had recovered three of four Drift Gate components, and became aware of the location of the last: the component Redfield had had to abandon and had been seized by the Advari. Redfield agreed with Maalsuwda's opinion that the fleet had little choice but to attack the Advari to recover the Drift Gate component, a conclusion that Director Ancelet reluctantly accepted.

### Raid on the Aegis of Invia

Redfield lead the distractionary component of the Raid on the Aegis of Invia, leading his ship and the Frontier Union Militia vessels *Hotstepper* and *Tserekai* against the Lightship that defended the enemy facility. When the mines that formed the Aegis of Invia appeared to still be active, Redfield devised an emergency solution; using sustained fire, he and his cohort carved a gap in the minefield for the Gatehauler and *Guinevere* to escape through. Redfield's plan was a resounding success, with very few casualties reported both in the Marine boarding party and the distraction fleet.

### The calm before the storm

However, shortly after their victory at the Aegis, the Expedition leadership became aware of a fleet of encroaching Lightships headed straight towards their position. Redfield was present amongst the gathered fleet leaders, answering questions with the few answers he had to give.

In the days following, as the Advari vessels edged ever closer, Redfield decided to forgo decorum, and celebrate amongst his crews out of uniform. He was approached by a drunken crewman outside the *Avalon's* bar, who after some pushing opened up that he was scared of the battle to come. Redfield admitted that he too was scared; and that was nothing to be ashamed of.

Shortly after, Redfield himself opened up to Cassandra Farren, apologising for what he saw as a vast overestimation of his abilities and service history that he had both allowed to perpetuate and perpetuated himself. He explained that he hadn't done much of note at all during the war, being primarily responsible for logistics far behind the frontlines. He even explained that his Order of Whitecourt was essentially fraudulent - he had received it for merely showing up to Atamara, even after the battle had all but ended.

Cass however refuted his entire argument; she pointed out how no ships in the CDF could've fought the battles they fought, nor won the battles their won without people like Redfield performing essential roles. She realised that Redfield's mentality was coming directly from her father, and sets out to deconstruct it, telling Redfield that he did matter, he always mattered.

In the depths of the night, just before the Advari are upon them, Redfield and Maalsuwda made a bet that the last one of them back to Tantalus would pick up the bar tab.

### The Advari strike back

As the Advari began their assault on the *Avalon*, Redfield commanded his ship and support craft to screen the enemy fliers as they approached. However, when the Lightships begun launching a barrage of missiles alongside their flier compliments, Redfield ordered all ships to switch to swivel guns and focus on taking down the seemingly endless incoming barrage.

As the *Shabayev* - and the rest of the fleet - continued to be worn down and run out of ammunition, Redfield ordered his ship to start loading langrage on recommendation from Commander Harper. As they lost the *Tserekai* and then the *Hotstepper*, Redfield ordered the limping *Rodrigo* to retreat through the Return Gate, which Captain Maalsuwda eventually agreed to. Redfield soon after ordered Commander Harper to do the same, taking the *Shabayev's* Blackbox with him by lifeboat back to Tantalus, so those back home could know what they did there; "good and bad".

Finally, as the toll on the *Shabayev* continued to grow, Redfield and his crew saw the *Avalon* turning about. When he attempted to reach Lieutenant Commander Ravi, the young officer simply told Redfield his plan to utilise the *Avalon's* main drive plume offensive, before telling Redfield to flee the blast zone. Immediately the Admiral ordered it, and the *Shabayev* narrowly avoided being destroyed.

It's unknown what happened to Redfield and the *Shabayev* shortly after this, as the *Guinevere* made her push towards the Gate and fled. However, as Meds reported no other signals besides the *Guinevere* shortly after the *Avalon* went down, it's likely the *Shabayev* was lost with all hands.

## Personality

> *"I may speculate about what might have been, but I never doubt. Darius would often say that you must never let them see you bleed. It's something you'd be wise to remember. To the eyes of their troops, a commander must be more than human. Infallible, steadfast, and entirely confident. No margin for doubt or regret. A commander wields the moral authority to send members of his crew to their deaths. For a crew to accept that, they need to have complete faith that it's for a greater purpose, that the man leading them can only have done it for the right reason."*
> - Vice Admiral Winston Redfield.
>
>

An ambitious, career-minded military officer, Winston Redfield tends to project a confident, stern and intimidating demeanour towards those around him. Generally seeing things from a military frame of mind, Redfield takes a condescending and dismissive attitude to those outside the CDF, and has little regard for personal or ethical boundaries in achieving his objectives. Sacrificing much of his personal life for the sake of his career, Redfield reluctantly chose not to marry.

A stern taskmaster, Redfield drives those under his command to excel and frequently assigns his crews to extra duties to achieve this. He holds to the belief that an officer must appear completely unflappable and utterly self-confident to his subordinates, managing to put down a mutiny aboard the CSV *Shabayev* through sheer force of personality. Despite this, he is not incapable of acknowledging mistakes, and chose to end his attempt to seize control of the Avalon Expedition when it became clear that the civilians of the fleet would not accept him as their leader.

Redfield's acceptance of civilian leadership showed a marked shift in his personality, as the Admiral slowly became more accepting of things outside the realm of his comfort zone of proceedure. This is exemplified in *Observer Effect*, when he both decided to mingle amongst his crew out of uniform, and opened up to Cass about the exaggerations he'd made to his service record. It appears that, at his heart, Redfield was a gentler soul, shaped like many within the CDF by figures such as Fleet Admiral Darius Farren to be distant, "great men".

## Behind the Scenes

Winston Redfield was mentioned in *The Sojourn* Season 1, Volume 1, but first appeared in Volume 2, voiced by Jimmy Lockett.

Redfield has been compared to *Battlestar Galactica's* Admiral Helena Cain. According to *The Sojourn* Casting Call, Redfield is; *"An ambitious, bureaucratic and nationalistic career military officer. A long service history but with quite little actual combat experience. Confident, stern and intimidating, Redfield is a serious danger when threatened or undermined."*

## Appearances

* Volume 1
	+ "*The Cold Divide*" (mentioned)
	+ "*Inclement Weather*" (mentioned)
* Volume 2
	+ "*Theirs Not to Make Reply*" (first appearance)
* Volume 3
	+ "*Theirs Not to Reason Why*"
	+ "*Contact, Wait Out*"
	+ "*Beneath The Banner*"
* Volume 4
	+ "*Where Angels Fear to Tread*"
	+ "*Observer Effect*"
	+ "*Forlorn Hope*"
* Anthology Shorts
	+ "*Golden Opportunity*"

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Forlorn Hope*
2. ↑ Casting Call (made 18th November 2020)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 *Theirs Not to Reason Why*
4. ↑ *Beneath The Banner*: Cass is confirmed as Defence Adjutant again, suggesting Redfield no longer holds the position.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 *Theirs Not to Make Reply*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 *Observer Effect*
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *Contact, Wait Out*
8. ↑ *The Cold Divide*
9. ↑ *Inclement Weather*
10. ↑ *Golden Opportunity*
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 *Beneath The Banner*
12. ↑ Casting Call Document