Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ro Laren
2. She Left The Maquis By Choice
The third season of Star Trek: Picard stunned audiences with the revelation that Ro Laren, now a Commander, had returned to Starfleet. At first, it's very suspect - is Ro, in fact, a Changeling in disguise? Well, spoiler alert, but no - this is the original article in the flesh!
The big question is of course how did she wind up in the service of Starfleet again? Well, she explains how - which also gives the audience a crucial idea of the timeline of her return. She says that she chose to leave the Maquis and turn herself over to Starfleet, at which point she served prison time, before being recruited by Starfleet Intelligence.
In the fifth season of Deep Space Nine, the Maquis storyline came to a brutal end as they were all but wiped out by the Dominion. Blaze Of Glory sees their leader, Michael Eddington, sacrifice his own life to ensure his friends' escape. Ro had to have left before this point, which introduces questions.
Picard was still a captain at this point, commanding the Enterprise-E. It does seem a little implausible that the news of her return wouldn't cross his desk, no matter how many times he was sent to the Romulan Neutral Zone.