Star Trek: 10 CORE Seven Of Nine Moments
3. Starfleet Says No
Imagine that, after four years of learning to be human again and becoming part of the Starfleet family that liberated you from the Collective, you arrive back in the Alpha Quadrant only to find that that same crew are the outliers, and the institution they serve feels very different.
That was the case for Seven of Nine when Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant in Endgame. Rather than welcoming her with open arms, Starfleet treated her with mistrust and barely concealed hostility. Though she petitioned to join the organisation properly, she was denied that request. Her former Borg status was considered too high a risk, and Starfleet is famously sketchy about that sort of thing.
Despite Janeway putting her career on the line for Seven, and even threatening to resign her commission should Seven not be granted one, it was no use. Seven opted to walk away rather than put her family's careers at risk.
From that point, she moved away from Starfleet and joined the Fenris Rangers. This organisation aimed at helping those colonies and people along the periphery of Federation territory, often left without aid, and even more often forgotten. For over a decade, she rose through their ranks to become one of the most infamous Rangers among them. It took, ironically, the arrival of another sect of the Borg, a galactic event, and a field commission from Admiral Jean-Luc Picard for her to finally become an officer.