Profile
A native of Bajor, Ro Laren never followed Starfleet regulations too ea-
sily. Early in her Starfleet career (as documented in her debut episode
"Ensign�Ro"), Ro was involved in an incident which has not been specified
during her tour on the starship Wellington. Whatever orders Ro failed to
follow on Garon II at the time, it cost the Wellington eight crew members
and Ro was court-martialed and imprisoned for her actions (or lack of them).
Starfleet Admiral Kennelly later bailed her out for a secret mission to
escort Bajoran leaders to a summit with Cardassian�diplomats to resolve a
long standing three-way dispute between the Bajora, who held a grudge
against the Federation for not assisting when the Cardassian's �drove the
Bajora out of their native territory decades earlier. Upon her assignment to
the Enterprise, Ro soon discovered that Kennelly was actually trying to draw
the Bajora into the Cardassian's line of fire to eliminate them. With the
aid of Guinan, �Ro told Picard�what her actual orders were, and the Bajoran
leaders were saved by a plan formulated by Picard�and Ro. Kennelly was
exposed and court-martialed, and Ro decided to remain on the Enterprise
instead of returning to prison. Her abrasive nature occasionally causes
personality clashes with other members of the ship's crew - particularly
Commander�Riker, who initially considered her presence on the ship to be a
disgrace (though an alien attack erased the crew's memories in "Conundrum"
and Riker�and Ro were seen to be attracted to one another).
Ro's past with the Cardassian's �keeps her suspicious of them whenever she
encounters them. When she was only seven, Ro was forced to watch Cardassians
torture her father to death. The Cardassians�and Bajora have been mortal
enemies since the Cardassians �overran Bajor and other worlds colonized by
the Bajora, enslaving the people and bleeding the planets dry of their
natural resources. The remaining Bajora are nomadic and impoverished, and
certainly not able to wage anything like a full-scale war with the Cardassians.�
In "Ensign Ro", it was also implied that the problem of Bajoran/Cardassian
relations presents decisions the Federation seems to be procrastinating.
Whether to risk the already uneasy peace with the Cardassians�to defend the
rights of the Bajora, or to simply try to turn away when the Cardassians�
take another swipe at the Bajora, is apparently a decision the Federation
isn't ready to make, but a Starfleet team manning "Deep Space 9" near Bajor
may be enough of a presence to deter Cardassian interference, and may
eventually lead to admission of the Bajora into the Federation.
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