10 Utterly Devastating Star Trek Endings That Came Out Of Nowhere
8. Drone
Was anyone ready for Drone? Voyager's fifth season gives us an episode that effectively puts Seven Of Nine in maternal mode, helping raise and care for a rapidly aging 29th-Century Borg Drone. This is barely a year after Seven joins the ship, with many bumps along the journey.
Seven becomes the caretaker here, educating the Drone, who chooses the name One, and helping to guide him to individuality. It is perhaps the best example we've ever seen of the Borg maturation chamber - although this one could easily test positive for steroids.
One's advancements signal the Collective, who send a ship to assimilate him. Though he manages to defeat them with relative ease, the resulting explosion mortally wounds him. He refuses life-saving care, reasoning that his continued presence on the ship will encourage the Borg to send more ships, thus endangering his new family.
It is Seven's pain that we focus on, after One's death (with the tragic 'You will adapt' he says as he dies), when she returns to Cargo Bay 2, looking into a mirror that she had been using to practice her smiles. There are no more smiles for her, not for a long time, and the screen fades to black.