Erin Hansen " " We have deviated from our flight plan , crossed the neutral zone , disobeyed a direct order to return . Our colleagues obviously think we are insane . " " Erin Hansen was a Human exobiologist and the mother of Annika Hansen , the Human female who became Seven of Nine . She and her husband Magnus were the first Humans to closely study the Borg . Prior to the ' s first encounter with the Borg , the Federation had little knowledge of their existence , based on encounters with surviving members of species that had been destroyed by them such as the El - Aurian s . However , empirical data on the Borg was very scarce . For example , there were descriptions of cube - shaped vessels , but no information on what Borg individuals looked like , other than rumors that they were cybernetic ally enhanced . The Hansens ' mission . In 2353 , Magnus and Erin Hansen petitioned the Federation Council on Exobiology to support them on an independent research mission to study the Borg . The Council agreed , providing them with a vessel , the , despite security concerns expressed by Starfleet . They made their preparations and , on stardate 32611 , with Annika in tow , they set off . They made a stop at the Drexler outpost in the Omega sector , as recorded in the logs of the space station Deep Space 4 . After leaving the station , however , they deviated from their flight plan , disobeyed direct orders to return and crossed into the Romulan Neutral Zone , effectively leaving the protection of Federation space . After tracking stray readings and sensor echoes for eight month s , the Hansens were able to locate a Borg cube . The " Raven " trailed the cube , following it into a transwarp conduit all the way to the region of the Borg ' s origin , the Delta Quadrant . The Hansens designed new technologies to allow themselves to study the Borg more closely and prevent the Borg from detecting them . They developed multi - adaptive shield ing that made the " Raven " virtually invisible to Borg sensor s , and bio - dampener s to mask their bio - sign s while on Borg vessels . Magnus visited Borg cubes in person to observe first - hand the behavior and interactions of Borg drone s . He and Erin also transported regenerating drones onto the " Raven " for study . The Hansens became very well - versed and comfortable in their endeavor , even giving them nicknames such as " " and " Needle Fingers . " They continued exploration of the Borg for over three year s , collecting ten million teraquad s of data . Assimilation . Then , in 2356 on stardate 32634 . 9 , the mission came to a disastrous end . A subspace particle storm damaged the " Raven " s multi - adaptive shielding , putting it offline for 13 . 2 second s . The Borg detected the " Raven " and deemed it a threat . Pursuit of the " Raven " began and attempts to escape them by masking the ship ' s warp trail failed . The Borg caught the ship and assimilated the Hansens and their daughter , who later became known as Seven of Nine . The " Raven " itself was partially assimilated , but the Borg chose not to keep it , and it eventually crash land ed on an M - class moon orbit ing the fifth planet of a yellow dwarf star in the region controlled by the species known as the B ' omar . The Hansens ' field note s , contained in 9 , 000 - plus log entries , were retrieved in 2374 by the Federation starship from the wreckage of the " Raven " . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Erin Hansen was portrayed by actress Nikki Tyler in and and by Laura Stepp in and . For the first portrayal of this character , Nikki Tyler filmed her scenes on second unit on Thursday on location at the grassy area in front of the Paramount Administration Building on the Paramount Pictures lot . She is listed as " Mother " on the call sheet and had a makeup call at 7 : 15 am and a set call at 8 : 45 am . She filmed her scenes under second unit director Michael DeMeritt with fellow actors David Anthony Marshall and Erica Bryan and their stand - in s Keith Rayve , Cameron , and June Jordan . Tyler is also listed as " Mother " on the call sheet and in the end credits of her second appearance , the episode " The Raven " . For this episode she filmed her scene on Monday on Paramount Stage 16 . Erin Hansen ' s appearance in " Scorpion , Part II " was not scripted , with the shooting script of " The Raven " being the first teleplay to feature the character . The script of " Dark Frontier " describes Erin Hansen much more significantly than " The Raven " ' s script , however , introducing her by stating , " " She looks early to mid - thirties , has a dry sense of humor and an astronomical I . Q . " " Apocrypha . The Pocket TOS novel " " gives her mother ' s name as Elaine Bergstrom , a security officer aboard the in the 2270s , whose death Seven helps to prevent by destroying a time / space travel device before it can be used or hunted for by the Orions .