Updating Seven’s Story
Seven of Nine had a unique position among the crew of U.S.S. Voyager that we were excited to bring to Star Trek Online: Delta Rising. Assimilated by the Borg as a young girl, she spent more of her life as tertiary adjunct of Unimatrix 01 than as a human. After her liberation by Voyager, acclimating to life onboard the ship was often confusing for her. And, unlike the majority of the crew, she had no burning need to return to a home of which she had no memories. Voyager was her home.
Despite having some doubts about whether or not she wanted to go to Earth, Seven did her part to get the crew home. And after arriving in the Alpha Quadrant, she did her best to help the Federation, leading a task force intended to prepare the Federation for a Borg attack Seven knew would come.
In 2385, after more than a decade without a Borg sighting, Starfleet disbanded the task force, declaring that the Borg were no longer a threat. Angered by what she thought was a dangerously reckless decision, Seven left Starfleet service and accepted a researcher position with the Daystrom Institute. The attack on Vega Colony and the return of the Collective in 2409 vindicated Seven’s position, but she chose to remain at the institute.
After the Iconian gateways discovered at the Solanae and Jenolan Dyson spheres reopened the path to the Delta Quadrant, Admiral Tuvok wanted to gather as many experts as he could to help ships of Operation Delta Rising. Who knew more about the Delta Quadrant than his Voyager crewmmates?
At his request, Seven has agreed to return to the Delta Quadrant. While she refused a Starfleet commission, she agreed to take a role as a science adviser to the fleet. Currently, she is on the U.S.S. Callisto, which is investigating an outpost found near Turei space.
Creating Seven in STO
We were pretty excited when we heard we were going to get Seven of Nine into the game. She is one of the most interesting characters the Star Trek universe has created. Superbly played by Jeri Ryan, she steals your attention with her commanding demeanor and, of course, her undeniable beauty. With this in mind, we knew it would be very challenging to make a game character that reminds us of the real version.
Towards that end, we looked up tons of reference and watched a lot of Voyager episodes. Then, as we began sculpting in Zbrush, we would periodically show the work in progress to the other artists here to get their take on the result, always aiming at both getting the likeness and her signature attitude by making adjustments based on the feedback. It has been my experience that good things happen when you try to look through other eyes than your own from time to time.
We think we did pretty well. She is such a wonderful iconic character, and we really enjoyed making her. Jeri Ryan did such an amazing job with the dialogue, so I know players will have a great experience seeing her back in the Star Trek fold. We can’t wait for you all to play through the hard work we have done. It’s rewarding when you find out your efforts paid off in a positive, fun experience for others, and I’m pretty sure this will.
Joining the fun at Star Trek Online is easy and free. Just visit startrekonline.com, register for a free account and then download and install the game. Once you've done that, just log in with your new account and you're ready to discover the entire Star Trek Online universe.
