See
The Cage (TOS)
Played by
Majel Barrett, but credited under the name
Majel Lee Hudec in the pilot episode.
First officer of the
USS Enterprise under Captain
Christopher Pike. We never learned her name – she was only referred to as "Number One" – which led to all sorts of fan speculation. Her reserved nature caused some to think that, like the
Vulcans, she was from a race that suppressed their emotions, but I never bought that. She was just a tough, no-nonsense officer, a rarity from a woman in 1960s
sci-fi. At the climax of the pilot, Number One sets her weapon on overload in a suicidial maneuver to prevent the
Talosians from using her and Captain Pike to breed a race of slaves.
This woman does not fuck around. But she was not destined to stay around, as most of the crew of the pilot episode was abandoned, and Majel Barrett was given a short skirt and mooned after
Spock for three seasons as
Nurse Chapel. Sigh. We wouldn’t see that kind of
asskicking from a woman again on
Star Trek until
Tasha Yar.