Lieutenant Ruth Rigel was a small, blonde, heavyset officer in Starfleet.
Biography
Doctor Rigel served as chief veterinarian on board the Federation starship USS Enterprise in 2269. She was an expert in feline animals, but confessed to knowing less about reptiles and amphibians. Leonard McCoy believed she had the face of a Michelangelo madonna.
She was uncomfortable hearing Katalya Tremain's bigoted remarks about Spock, and avoided her during the mission to Arachnae. Rigel was assigned to the landing party, but additional care required of a mongcat delayed her and McCoy from beaming down, leaving them aboard when a Romulan warship arrived in orbit. (TOS novel: Vulcan!)
Later that year, Rigel joined a search team on Delta Gamma IV, examining a species of telepathic rodent. When a variety of non-humanoid ambassadors came aboard, she was temporarily promoted to full physician, and helped McCoy and Jabilo M'Benga conduct several autopsies during the mission. While generally cheery and almost unflappable, she was nervous at having to pretend to be an exobiology specialist for the sake of diplomacy. (TOS novel: Death's Angel)
