Ensign Ro (TNG episode)
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| Star Trek: TNG episode | |
| "Ensign Ro" | |
 Michelle Forbes as Ensign Ro (center) |
|
| Episode no. | 103 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 203 |
| Airdate | October 21, 1991 |
| Writer(s) | Michael Piller Rick Berman |
| Director | Les Landau |
| Guest star(s) | Michelle Forbes Scott Marlowe Frank Collison Jeffrey Hayenga Harley Venton Ken Thorley Cliff Potts Whoopi Goldberg |
| Year | 2368 |
| Stardate | 45076.3 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Darmok" |
| Next | "Silicon Avatar" |
Ensign Ro is a fifth season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, introducing the recurring character Ro Laren, and her race, the Bajorans.
The Solarion Four settlement is destroyed, and the Bajorans claim responsibility. The world of Bajor was annexed by the Cardassians generations ago, and the Bajorans have been refugees ever since, and apparently some of them are using terrorism to draw attention from the United Federation of Planets.
Picard meets with Admiral Kennelly, who tells him that the Bajoran responsible is a terrorist named Orta. Picard's mission is to find Orta, and to send him back to the Bajoran settlement camps where he can do less damage.
Kennelly assigns a controversial person to assist Picard: Starfleet Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran whose reputation is very poor. Kennelly insists she can help and she comes aboard the Enterprise.
Despite a difficult attitude, Ro works with the crew to locate Orta. Ultimately, they head to the third moon of Vallor One where they believe he is based.
Meanwhile, Ro receives a secret communication from Admiral Kennelly and tells him all is going according to plan.
The next day, the Away Team prepares to beam down, but discover Ensign Ro had preempted them by beaming down six hours ago. They follow her, and are promptly captured by Orta and his people. Orta, who was disfigured by Cardassian torture, tells them that he felt abducting them was necessary, and says that the Bajora were not responsible for the attack.
Picard find himself inclined to believe Orta, but confines Ro to quarters for her unauthorized beam down. Guinan, who has befriended Ro, goes to see Ro and after learning there is more to what is going on that meets the eye, convinces Ro to talk to Picard.
Ro reveals that she is on a secret mission by Kennelly to offer Orta Federation weapons in exchange for returning to the camps. Given her experiences, she no longer knows what to do or who to trust. Picard decides that the best course might be to actually take Orta back to the camps, and see what occurs.
As the Enterprise escorts a Bajoran cruiser to the camp, however, two Cardassian ships cross the border and demand the Enterprise leave the ship to them. Picard initially refuses, and is given an hour. Kennelly, far from helping, insists that the Cardassian treaty is the more important issue, and orders Picard to withdraw.
Picard withdraws, and the Bajoran cruiser is destroyed. However suspecting a chain of events like this might occur, Picard had ensured no one was aboard, and had the ship operated remotely. Picard informs Kennelly that the Bajoran ships are so old and obsolete that they were incapable of attacking the Solarion Four settlement, and suggests that the Cardassians staged everything, hoping to find someone like Kennelly, naive enough to help them solve their problems.
With the mystery solved and the mission accomplished, Ro accepts Picard's offer to remain in Starfleet and join the Enterprise crew.
[edit] Trivia
- When Ro first steps onto the Enterprise, Riker criticizes her for being out of uniform because she is wearing an ornate Bajoran earing. Oddly, no one has ever questioned Worf for wearing a Klingon sash (nor is this pointed out during this episode).
- It is revealed in this episode that the Bajoran system of naming has the family name preceding the given name, which is similar to that of some Earth cultures, such as Japan. Commander Riker is ignorant of this convention at their first encounter and addresses her, incorrectly, as "Ensign Laren".
[edit] External links
- Ensign Ro article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Ensign Ro (TNG episode) at StarTrek.com
