Raven

A raven

Data's paintings

File:USS Raven Dedication Plaque.jpg

The dedication plaque of the USS Raven

A raven (Corvus corax) is a small bird native to Earth.

When Data was experiencing his first dreams in 2369, images of ravens played an important role in his visions. In order to explore the images in a creative way, as Captain Picard suggested, Data created a number of paintings depicting ravens. Data's creator, Doctor Noonian Soong, later appeared in Data's dreams and explained that Data was the bird. (TNG: "Birthright, Part I")

In 2372, during a security drill on Deep Space 9, Odo morphed into a raven in order to escape his pursuers. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")

In 2374, Seven of Nine began experiencing hallucinations that included a raven, caused by proximity to a Borg resonance frequency. She described the bird as follows:

The feathers are black, wingspan approximately one half meter. The eyes are yellow and it has a powerful, triangular beak. When it looks at me, I am paralyzed. I cannot move. It seems to know me, but I don't understand how that's possible. It's merely a bird, an inferior form of life, but the sight of it fills me with fear.

From this description, Captain Kathryn Janeway realized that Seven was describing "a member of the Corvidae family, like a crow, or a raven." The USS Voyager crew later found that the bird represented the USS Raven, the starship where Annika Hansen had spent most of her youth. (VOY: "The Raven")

External link

• Raven at Wikipedia
• Corvidae at Encyclopaedia Britannica