Ronnie Harper

Ronnie Harper was the pilot of the SS Clydesdale.

Ronnie, which was short for Rhododendron, was born and raised on Earth along with her older brother, Mike Harper, where their parents owned a ranch in Kentucky. She applied and was accepted into Starfleet Academy. Early into her post-graduation career, though, she was forced to leave Starfleet. At that time, Mike took her onto the Clydesdale as his pilot.

Ronnie had a one-night stand with James T. Kirk, after which he didn't remember her name. She confronted him about this when she saw him aboard Starbase 6. This led to a second one-night stand, after which he once again did not remember her name.

Unlike the rest of the crew, Ronnie was nauseated when the ship entered The Well. ("Back to the Well" [TOS])

When the Clydesdale crew was captured by the USS Ventus, Ronnie came under the control of the Light being, which Dr. Janet Corbair was able to remove from Ronnie by dubiously ethical methods. ("Busted" [TOS])

Ronnie was very good at card games and always won. During downtime while in orbit over Lehrer Colony, she displayed this ability to Dr. Corbair, who secretly scanned her with a tricorder while she was playing. ("Looking Out for the Little Guy" [TOS])

The tricorder scans proved what Corbair already suspected: Ronnie had a high ESPer rating. After Corbair was beamed off of the surface of Ceti Alpha Five by a Section 31 ship. Corbair made bargain with Agent Talbot: her life in exchange for a method to create super beings out of people with high ESPer ratings. She had Section 31 bring Ronnie on board for Corbair to use in her experiments. Ronnie at first did not believe that Corbair meant her any harm and that it was all part of some escape plan. But Corbair had Ronnie bound in a test chamber then began the process of bombarding Ronnie with energies similar to the Galactic Barrier. This put Ronnie through incredible agony; however, she did gain near omnipotence. While this was happening, the Section 31 vessel was critically damaged in combat and sent crashing to the surface of Ceti Alpha Six.

Ronnie used her powers to send Corbair back to the Candelar Acres rehabilitation colony and wipe any knowledge of her work or the Clydesdale from Corbair's mind. As far as the galaxy knows, Corbair was never released from Candelar Acres and has over 40 years remaining in her rehabilitation plan. She also saved the Clydesdale from destruction and restored the ship back to normal. Before leaving to explore the galaxy and maybe establish a new civilization, she talked to Mike one last time and convinced him that he could do so much more with his life and really help people. He took her words to heart, sold the Clydesdale to Wodak, and talked to Commodore Scott Enwright about joining Starfleet. ("The Khan Job" [TOS])