Seven of Nine being just a commander of her own ship is odd

When Star Trek: Picard revealed its latest trailer for the final season, it showed Seven of Nine in the Captain’s chair but she’s no captain.

The final trailer for Star Trek: Picard has arrived and in the trailer, we get to see a lot for the first time. We get to see the cast of The Next Generation in action for the first time, even if it was in limited action at the time. We saw the plot of the season; a rescue mission to get Beverly Crusher back. We even get to see the ship they’ll be using; the U.S.S. Titan. the Titan, however, won’t be captained by William Riker, the Star Trek character most associated with the ship, no instead we’ll see Seven of Nine take the reigns.

Seven of Nine is back in the Federation and has taken her place as the new captain of the U.S.S. Titan, yet much like Benjamin Sisko before her, she’ll be taking the helm of the ship as merely a Commander and not as a Captain.

To be clear, there’s a difference between being a ship’s captain and being a Captain of rank. Usually, the two go hand in hand but they are not mutually exclusive. For example, When James Kirk took over the Enterprise in Star Trek 2009, he was the ship’s captain but he was merely a cadet turned temporary lieutenant. He took over the ship in a time of need.

Is there a simple way to explain Seven of Nine’s commander status in Star Trek: Picard?

As this rescue mission seems fully backed by the Federation, it’s very likely that Seven of Nine was given the reigns of the Titan due to her familiarity with Picard at this point. And with both men being Admirals, it would make sense that Starfleet feels comfortable with her at the helm considering who she has on board with her.

It is odd though that she’s still not a captain in the series. Sisko took over Deep Space Nine as a commander but earned the rank of captain during his time there. Many, however, seem to agree that there is a difference between being the captain of a Federation ship and being in charge of an outpost.

So even though it does make sense that Seven of Nine isn’t a captain yet, it’s still a bit odd.