Ro Laren

Ro Laren is a recurring fictional character on Star Trek: The Next Generation, played by Michelle Forbes.

Forbes appears in six episodes of The Next Generation:

• "Cause and Effect"
• "Power Play"
• "Conundrum"
• "Disaster"
• "The Next Phase"
• "Preemptive Strike"

Michelle Forbes declined the opportunity to portray 'Ro Laren' in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The role was eventually filled by the character of Major Kira Nerys. Ro Laren was also intended to be a main character in Star Trek: Voyager, as a former member of Chakotay's Maquis crew - when this didn't pan out, her character was replaced by B'Elanna Torres.

Fictional character biography

According to her personnel file seen in the episode "Conundrum", Ro was born on January 17, 2340 on Bajor to Ro Talia and Gale, and attended Starfleet Academy from 2358 to 2362.[1]

As a Bajoran, her family name comes first. When she first joins the crew of the Enterprise-D, Riker addresses her as "Ensign Laren". She corrects him, saying that Laren is her given name and Ro is her family name. She is then referred to as "Ensign Ro."

Ro joins the crew as a troubled young Bajoran officer who had been court-martialled while serving on the USS Wellington, for disobeying orders on an away mission, resulting in eight deaths. She was imprisoned on Jaros II, but Picard is forced, by an admiral, to give her a second chance and makes her one of his crew.

Once past her initial hostility, Ro forms friendships with several Enterprise crew members, including Ten Forward bar manager Guinan, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge and Commander William Riker. Of Bajoran descent, she has a great dislike for Cardassians. In her first episode, entitled "Ensign Ro", she is given a full pardon in exchange for going on a secret mission to help stop dissident raids, in order to protect a treaty with Cardassia.

In "The Next Phase", Ro and La Forge are presumed dead after a transporter accident while returning from rescue operations on a disabled Romulan ship. Upon regaining consciousness they discover they have become invisible and intangible to everyone but each other, "cloaked" in an unexpected manner. At first, Ro believes they are dead, converted to a ghostlike existence, which awakens a number of Bajoran spiritual beliefs she thought she'd abandoned decades earlier. By invisibly observing the crew of the Romulan vessel, Ro and La Forge soon discover that the accident, as well as the damage to the Romulan ship, is the result of a Romulan weapons test, and that the Romulans are now performing a subtle act of sabotage that will destroy the Enterprise-D the moment that ship accelerates to warp drive. After discovering and defeating a similarly-cloaked Romulan operative, Ro and La Forge find a way to alert the crew and return to normal, warning Picard and averting disaster.

In the episode "Rascals", Ro, Picard, Guinan and Keiko O'Brien are transformed into adolescent versions of themselves, while retaining their adult intelligence. As children, they foil a Ferengi plot to steal the captured Enterprise and sell the crew as slave labor. During this episode, some of the unpleasant backstory of Ro's original childhood is revealed. The adolescent Ro is portrayed by Megan Parlen.

In her final episode, entitled "Preemptive Strike", the newly-promoted Lieutenant Ro is asked by Starfleet to infiltrate the rebel Maquis, who are undermining the Federation treaty with Cardassia. During the mission she becomes increasingly sympathetic to the plight of the Maquis and, in the end, she betrays Starfleet and joins the rebel group. Picard sees this not only as the end of his professional relationship with Ro, but as a personal betrayal of him. Ro does not appear again in any of the canon Star Trek series and films, so what happened to her after she left Starfleet for the Maquis is a subject for the novels (which the copyright holder Paramount has treated as less canonical than the series and films).

Novel appearances

The character of Ro Laren is further developed in the novels. They agree that Ro continued to fight for the Maquis until its destruction. According to Abyss, during this time she crashed on Sindorin and was rescued by Ingavi colonists.

After the demise of the Maquis the novels diverge. In Behind Enemy Lines, Ro comes to Picard as a refugee on the Bajoran vessel "Orb of Peace". However this account, and her relationship with Picard in general, is contradicted in the "relaunch" series. According to Avatar, after the Dominion's destruction of the Maquis, Ro continued to fight in resistance cells until the Dominion's retreat to Cardassia, and had no contact with Picard. The "relaunch" has been the basis for DS9's publishing line as of Avatar in 2001, and therefore Paramount's official canon. (This is of course subject to future decisions Paramount might make.)

After Sisko's disappearance, Ro returns to Bajor where she is given a commission in the Bajoran militia. Not finding a place there, she is reassigned to DS9 as Chief of Security. When Bajor finally joins the Federation, Ro intends to leave her post to escape punishment for crimes she committed with the Maquis, but is convinced by Picard to accept a pardon and rejoin Starfleet. She is granted the rank of lieutenant and remains on DS9 as station's Chief of Security. She begins dating Quark.

External links

• Ro Laren at Memory Alpha