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Zero, also known as Zero the Third, was a Medusan who lived during the late 24th century. Like other Medusans, Zero was an energy-based non-corporeal lifeform, and as such, they identified as genderless, as they lacked a body.

As a Medusan, Zero possessed telepathic powers, often stating what others were thinking with or without their permission. They also had their species' natural aptitude for navigation, though until they found the Protostar, they had never piloted a starship before. (PRO: "Lost and Found")

Quick Answers

What kind of lifeform is Zero from Star Trek Prodigy?

Zero, a character from Star Trek Prodigy, is a Medusan, a genderless, energy-based non-corporeal lifeform. They have telepathic abilities and a natural talent for navigation. Previously held captive by the Diviner, Zero escaped and joined the U.S.S. Protostar crew, vowing to avoid causing harm.

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What unique abilities does Zero, the Medusan character, possess?

Zero, a Medusan, is an energy-based, genderless lifeform with telepathic abilities, often revealing others' thoughts. They also have a natural aptitude for navigation, demonstrated when they piloted the Protostar, a starship, for the first time.

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How does Zero's genderless identity impact their character development in Star Trek Prodigy?

In Star Trek Prodigy, Zero is a Medusan, an energy-based non-corporeal lifeform, identifying as genderless. Their unique identity enhances their character development, reflected in their telepathic skills and navigation expertise. Previously used as a weapon, Zero escaped and pledged to avoid causing harm. Their intelligence and curiosity are displayed through their enjoyment of a mystery holodeck program.

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What is Zero's role in navigating the Protostar in Star Trek Prodigy?

In Star Trek Prodigy, Zero is a Medusan telepath who plays a crucial role on the U.S.S. Protostar crew. After escaping the Diviner's captivity, Zero pledged to cause no harm and joined the Protostar crew. Their intelligence and curiosity are instrumental in navigating the ship. They communicate vital information to Janeway and report on the inoperable status of the Living Construct weapon aboard the Protostar.

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Has Zero ever piloted a starship before the Protostar?

Zero, a Medusan, was abducted by Kazon slavers during their galaxy exploration and subsequently bought by The Diviner. At the Tars Lamora prison colony, Zero became 'Fugitive Zero'. In 2383, Zero assisted Dal R'El in acquiring the USS Protostar. This was Zero's first experience piloting a starship.

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Biography

Early history

Part of a group of Medusans who left their homeworld long before the 24th century to explore the galaxy, Zero was kidnapped from their hive mind by Kazon slavers as they explored a planet. (PRO: "Preludes")

Zero was bought by The Diviner and held at the Tars Lamora prison colony, where other slaves were forced to look upon the Medusan unprotected to brainwash them. Zero managed to escape and fashion a makeshift containment suit for themselves to safely interact with corporeal lifeforms. They became a rebel fighter known as "Fugitive Zero". In 2383, Zero helped fellow prisoner Dal R'El take possession of the recently-discovered USS Protostar. (PRO: "Lost and Found", "Kobayashi")

USS Protostar

While settling in as the Protostar's navigator, Zero didn't always hit the right buttons on the console, but they did manage to successfully pilot the ship out of Tars Lamora, ride the shockwave of an exploding star, and land the ship on the surface of a planet. Zero tended to say out loud whatever Dal was thinking, generally to his dismay. While trying to avoid capture by The Diviner's faster ship, Zero realized that the Protostar got its name from the actual miniature protostar contained in its proto-core, allowing them to engage its proto-drive to escape. (PRO: "Lost and Found", "Starstruck", "Terror Firma")

When Gwyn felt out-of-place on the ship after she had chosen to side with the Protostar crew over her father The Diviner, Zero shared with her the loneliness they had felt when they were separated from their hive mind. They cheered Gwyn up and gave her hope that she too could find a place in this ragtag crew. (PRO: "Kobayashi")

When the ship was affected by a tachyon storm and the crew ended up separated in different phases of oscillating time, Zero analyzed the situation and drew up schematics for a warp matrix that could be used to normalize time throughout the ship. While Zero didn't have enough time to actually build it in their fast-moving time phase, the schematics they provided allowed them to work across time with their friends so that the others could build the warp matrix and save the ship. (PRO: "Time Amok")

When the crew returned to Tars Lamora to liberate the other prisoners, in order to keep the Diviner from hurting anyone again, Zero revealed themselves to The Diviner, thus driving him mad. Unfortunately, Gwyn caught a glimpse of Zero's reflection and was left in a near-catatonic state. Fortunately, Zero was able to heal Gwyn, although she was unable remember her last conversation with her father. (PRO: "A Moral Star, Part 2")

Guilt-ridden over what they'd almost done to Gwyn, Zero made it their mission to help her recover her lost memories. Though Gwyn did experience flashbacks, the details of the last conversation she had with her father remained elusive. Later, when the crew arrived at Federation outpost CR-721, Zero took Gwyn to the station's sickbay, which they believed would have better equipment than the Protostar. After placing Gwyn into a biobed, Zero stepped out. At that precise moment, the Diviner's weapon was activated, and the station's systems turned against itself, with multiple systems malfunctioning, including the doors to sickbay. Momentarily trapped in her biobed, which was filling with water, Gwyn caught some glimpses of memory, and was able to cut herself loose using her heirloom. When Zero was finally able to enter the room, Gwyn announced that she remembered everything – most importantly the devastating weapon living construct hidden onboard the Protostar. (PRO: "Asylum")

Though the crew located the Diviner's weapon, they couldn't find a way to disarm it. Not long after, they came across a dormant Borg cube. Though Hologram Janeway strongly advised them to leave the area, citing how dangerous the Borg were, the crew decided that, since the Borg had accumulated knowledge from across the galaxy – they might have information on how to disarm the weapon. When the crew failed to get information directly from the dormant cube's vinculum, Zero volunteered to be assimilated since Medusans, like Borg, were of a hive mind. Though initially unable to resist the lure of assimilation, they were saved when Gwyn reminded them that they were already a part of a collective on the Protostar. Back on the ship, Zero reported that they did learn something about the weapon. It was called a living construct and could neither be deactivated or removed. (PRO: "Let Sleeping Borg Lie")

Zero served as medical officer again when Dal fell victim to the same mysterious curse that the Enderprizians warned them about. Zero attempted to find a cure for this mysterious disease but was limited since they didn't know exactly what they were dealing with. After investigating the gallows, the crew informed Zero that dilithium-based toxic runoff was the cause of the illness plaguing Dal and the village. Armed with this information, Zero was quickly able to synthesize a cure. (PRO: "All the World's a Stage")

Eventually, thanks to the living construct, the Protostar crew no longer had control of the ship and was headed for the heart of Federation space, where it was met by an armada of Starfleet vessels. When Starfleet vessels, contaminated by the living construct, began attacking one another, Dal decided that the only solution was to destroy the Protostar. When Jankom Pog stated that that would destroy everything in this solar system, Rok-Tahk countered that it wouldn't if they set the ship to explode as it was going into proto-warp. Unfortunately, since the self-destruct was off-line, the core would need to be detonated manually. Dal volunteered to go down with the ship. but Holo Janeway declared that she should be the one to stay behind.

As Zero and the others escaped on a bare-bones shuttle that Rok built using the vehicle replicator, the Protostar destroyed itself in mid-jump, disabling the living construct.

A month later, the Protostar crew made it to Starfleet Headquarters on Earth, where they found themselves in front of a Starfleet tribunal where they faced various criminal charges, such as stealing a Federation starship. Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway argued on their behalf that the kids did everything in an effort to warn Starfleet. Thanks to the admiral's impassioned speech, all criminal charges were dropped. Although they weren't allowed immediate entrance into Starfleet Academy as they hoped, the crew, with the exception of Gwyn, who'd decided to go to Solum to try to unite her people, were permitted to serve under the admiral as warrant officers-in-training. Honoring Gwyn's mission, Zero christened her The Unifier. Starfleet officers built a new and improved containment suit for Zero to replace the original suit they had made. (PRO: "Supernova, Part 1", "Supernova, Part 2")

USS Voyager-A

Six months later, Zero was assigned to the USS Voyager-A along with the rest of the former Protostar crew. Although engrossed in their new medical studies under The Doctor and initially unwilling to indulge in Dal's shenanigans, Zero was the first one to realize that the command crew were up to something and united their friends to find out. The Protostar crew discovered that the senior officers were secretly planning to rescue Chakotay through the wormhole opened by the Protostar's destruction using the Infinity, a ship specially built for the purpose. After it was clear that the crew had caught on, Janeway revealed that Starfleet Command thought that the rescue mission through time was too dangerous and it was in danger of being scrapped, so the crew agreed to keep the secret. However, a scuffle with Nova Squadron led to the Infinity accidentally being launched into the wormhole early, with some of the Protostar crew and Maj'el aboard. (PRO: "Into the Breach, Part I", "Into the Breach, Part II")

Arriving on Solum in the future, the makeshift crew discovered that they had arrived hours before Chakotay and Adreek-Hu were due to launch the Protostar through the wormhole into the past. The crew were captured by the Vau N'Akat and imprisoned with the captured Starfleet officers, eventually realizing that they may be caught in a predestination paradox where they were the ones to help Chakotay escape and launch the ship into the wormhole, setting up the events that led to them discovering it on Tars Lamora in the first place. However, due to Dal dropping his disruptor in the melee, Chakotay was instead able to escape with Adreek aboard the Protostar, resulting in the ship not getting sent to Tars Lamora, altering the timeline and creating a temporal paradox. (PRO: "Who Saves the Saviors")

After getting a message to save Gwyn from a mysterious entity and discovering that the paradox was causing their friend to phase in and out of existence, Zero worked with Maj'el to turn their spaceship into a makeshift timeship, forming a bond with the Vulcan cadet in the process. The crew managed to send the Infinity back in time to present day Solum where they rescued Gwyn and returned to Voyager where The Doctor was able to build a temporal stabilizer as a temporary solution to Gwyn's condition. On the return journey, Maj'el told a flustered Zero that they were the most logical in their band of misfits, something that Zero had trouble finding a response to. (PRO: "Temporal Mechanics 101")

Zero later worked with the others to decipher the message that the entity had left with Murf, hampered by everyone's inability to understand what their friend was saying. Even Zero's telepathic powers couldn't allow them to understand their friend, forcing the crew to figure out a way to translate what Murf was saying, largely while an exasperated Zero distracted The Doctor by feigning interest in his holonovel, Love in the Time of Holograms. Zero later took inspiration from the novel to create holo-duplicates of the crew with the help of Jankom and Rok in order to fool Janeway and Voyager's crew into thinking that they were still aboard while the Protostar crew had actually stolen the Infinity to chase after the mysterious entity whom they believed to be Chakotay. The three succeeded in creating holo-duplicates so perfect that the duplicates actually believed that they were the real crew - Hologram Zero even had the ability to read the minds of the other holograms, just like the real Zero could with the real crew. Maj'el, feeling guilty for brushing Zero off after their return to Voyager despite the friendship that they had formed, distracted The Doctor for the crew, earning her Zero's thanks and buying the crew enough time to steal the Infinity and escape. In the process, Maj'el also revealed to Zero that she found them fascinating, leaving them tripping over their words. (PRO: "Observer's Paradox", "Imposter Syndrome")

While using an abandoned Borg transwarp conduit as a shortcut, the Infinity was forced to land at the Kazon training facility, and all but Zero and Murf were captured. The alarmed Zero subsequently found the wreckage of a number of ships nearby, including the USS Cairo and another Excelsior-class starship. Confronting First maje Ekthi, Zero and Murf freed him from mind control, but were captured by the rogue AI behind the deception. With their friends in danger, Zero destroyed the AI by ramming into it with their containment suit, but at the cost of damaging the suit beyond repair. (PRO: "The Fast and the Curious")

While lamenting their inability to contribute due to their broken containment suit, Zero received an unexpected telepathic message that drew the Infinity to Ovidia IV, a planet where a number of non-corporeal lifeforms lived, including other Medusans. Though they were not initially informed of all the risks, Zero received a new synthetic body that allowed them to move around in a humanoid physical form and feel sensations for the very first time. When it was finally revealed that their body could break down if they left the planet, Zero nevertheless decided to disembark to remain with their friends, who had become Zero's adoptive family. (PRO: "Is There in Beauty No Truth?")

The message from the mysterious entity led the Protostar crew to a time ziggurat on a hidden planet. There, they encountered Wesley Crusher, who revealed that the crew were critical to repairing the broken timeline and saving the prime universe from destruction. Hiding out from the Loom, the crew and Wesley were joined by Maj'el, who was quite surprised by Zero's new body. Due to her special bond with Zero, Maj'el had been a part of an away team from Voyager searching for them, before she defied orders to return to Voyager in order to continue the search by herself. When Wesley's machine determined that Maj'el was the missing seventh variable that they needed to fix the paradox, she joined the crew's mission. (PRO: "The Devourer of All Things, Part I", "The Devourer of All Things, Part II")

Return to the Protostar

The portal that Wesley sent the crew through led them to Ysida, where Chakotay and the temporally-displaced Protostar had been marooned for ten years. Reigniting Chakotay's broken spirit, the crew worked together to repair the ship's impulse engines and warp drive and launch the Protostar into space once more. Needing to build a new proto-core in order to reach Voyager 3,000 light years away, the Protostar visited a Class M planet nearby which was overrun by mutated tribbles. Although they succeeded in retrieving the bosonite needed to build a new proto-core, Zero's leg was injured in a tribble stampede, an experience they found both novel and also painful. When Hologram Janeway was unable to heal the injury, Zero recognized that their body was already breaking down just like they had been warned it eventually would. (PRO: "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part I", "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II", "A Tribble Called Quest")

The Protostar's rendezvous with Voyager inadvertently created an interphasic rift, splintering the ship into a number of alternate realities. Rok and Zero accidentally got separated from the rest of the crew early on, ending up on a Voyager crewed by the Enderprizians and captained by Tuvix. This worked in their favor, as they missed out on the others' harrowing visit to the mirror universe. After the rift was sealed and everyone was reunited on the correct Voyager, Zero commented that they had just been getting used to Tuvix's Vulcan-Talaxian cuisine. (PRO: "Cracked Mirror")

Although The Doctor attempted to help Zero, he conceded that the damage to their leg was irreparable, meaning that Zero would soon require a containment suit once again. However, The Doctor suggested that Starfleet's recent advances in artificial physiology could be used to give Zero a new containment suit in which they could retain the ability to feel physical sensations. Accepting both the good and the bad that would come with being able to feel, Zero asked Jankom to build their new suit rather than having The Doctor contact the Daystrom Institute for help. Although Jankom was surprised at the request, Zero explained that Jankom's skills were unparalleled, and they had hoped that he "could give it the old Jankom touch." Jankom agreed to Zero's request, and The Doctor sent over some schematics to help. (PRO: "Ascension, Part I")

When Asencia launched an attack and most of the crew returned to the Protostar, Zero remained behind on Voyager to help the injured Grom. After Voyager's hull was breached by a temporal weapon that rapidly aged anyone who came close, Zero chose to sacrifice their failing physical form in order to save the ship, since Zero's Medusan physiology made them the only one capable of approaching the weapon. Zero managed to retarget the weapon onto Maj'el's Nova Flyer, allowing her, Zeph and Dal to use it to destroy the Rev-1 with the Boothby Supernova. Although rushed, Jankom was able to build Zero a new containment suit using the Protostar's vehicle replicator. While the new suit was outwardly similar to Zero's original design, Jankom perfected it and included sensory inputs so that Zero retained the ability to feel physical sensations as they had wanted. (PRO: "Ascension, Part II")

Battle of Solum

Voyager and the Protostar were sent to Solum to stop Asencia from launching a war against the Federation with her new weaponry, a war that the Federation might well lose. Since Zero and the Protostar crew were not Starfleet personnel, and thus were neither bound by the Prime Directive nor likely to spark a war with their interference, they were sent to Solum to find the source of Asencia's temporal weaponry. After learning that Asencia had captured both Wesley and Ilthuran, Zero went with Gwyn, Murf, and Rok to rescue Wesley. Unfortunately after saving him, Asencia captured Zero and their entire team. However, to Asencia's dismay, Gwyn and Dal acted fast and beamed Wesley and Ilthuran back to Voyager. (PRO: "Brink")

Asencia brought the Protostar crew to an arena to execute them by feeding them to a captive Loom. Meanwhile, Janeway, Chakotay, The Doctor, and Wesley launched a daring rescue mission. Zero telepathically coordinated with Janeway so that she could blow a hole in the arena wall to allow the Loom to escape, doubly freeing Zero and their friends. As Solum descended into the civil war that the Diviner had been trying to prevent with his mission, Janeway agreed that the Federation would help save the planet from Asencia. (PRO: "Touch of Grey")

With Asencia poised to launch an attack on every major Federation base across three quadrants using multiple spacetime rifts, Wesley and Rok realized how they could use the technology Asencia had developed to turn Asencia's spacetime rifts into a wormhole that could send the Protostar back in time to its proper place in the timeline, both preventing the invasion of the Federation and fixing the temporal paradox. Doing so would require finding the correct spacetime coordinates to send the ship to, which Zero likened to finding a needle in a haystack, lost in the outer galaxy with only a telescope.

After much effort, Zero, Maj'el, Rok, and Wesley came up with the proper spacetime coordinates to use to open the wormhole, realizing that maybe their present selves were actually the ones who created the wormhole that sent the Protostar to Tars Lamora in the past all along. The team sent to the surface of Solum used Asencia's technology to open the wormhole, closing the rifts that Asencia had created, destroying her attack fleet. Everyone prepared to send the Protostar back in time, only to have the Loom swarm out of the wormhole. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part I")

Running out of time, Voyager escorted the Protostar into the wormhole, allowing it to safely pass through. Before beaming to Voyager, Dal left a combadge on the bridge's floor for his and Rok's younger selves to find, and Chakotay had The Doctor copy Hologram Janeway to an EMH backup module so that her program could be saved this time. The Protostar was successfully sent back in time to Tars Lamora, repairing the broken timeline and saving the universe from destruction. Afterwards, Voyager landed on Solum to make peaceful first contact with the Vau N'Akat, leaving the Federation and the Vau N'Akat facing a brighter future together. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II")

USS Prodigy

Zero later received a field commission to ensign and, alongside the rest of their friends was posted aboard the new Protostar-class ship, the USS Prodigy. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II")

Legacy

In 3195, Commander Zero the Third was listed with other luminaries of Starfleet Academy on a commemoration wall in the USS Athena. (SA: "Kids These Days" set decoration)

Personal Interests

Zero frequently enjoyed a mystery holodeck program, set in a lighthouse, which begins each time with them receiving a letter at midnight. The letter would reveal the object of the mystery and provide the first clue towards its discovery. They would then be led on a series of puzzles that must be solved in order to solve the mystery. (PRO: "Ghost in the Machine")

Relationships

Maj'el

Despite their rough start, (PRO: "Into the Breach, Part I", "Into the Breach, Part II") Maj'el and Zero quickly became good friends during the mission of the Infinity to the future thanks to their shared high intelligence and logic-oriented minds. (PRO: "Who Saves the Saviors", "Temporal Mechanics 101")

After returning to the USS Voyager-A, Maj'el shunned Zero and her other brief former shipmates in favor of her friends in Nova Squadron, although she expressed hesitation and remorse for these actions. Maj'el later made up for it by distracting The Doctor for Zero and the others, allowing them to steal the Infinity and follow a mysterious message received by Gwyn. Maj'el used this opportunity to let Zero know that she found them fascinating. (PRO: "Observer's Paradox", "Imposter Syndrome")

Maj'el later cited her bond with Zero as a reason for going on the away mission to the time ziggurat, even deliberately disobeying direct orders to return to Voyager to continue the search on her own. Upon reuniting with Zero, Maj'el was both surprised and impressed with the Medusan's new corporeal form. If it hadn't been for their bond, they would not have discovered that Maj'el was the missing seventh variable that would allow the USS Protostar crew to save the prime universe from destruction. (PRO: "The Devourer of All Things, Part II")

When Zero was forced back into a containment suit, Maj'el expressed concern for their safety and helped Zero experience the feeling of touch for the first time in their new form. (PRO: "Ascension, Part II")

Zero and Maj'el shared a Vulcan finger-touch at Starfleet Academy following the Battle of Solum, on First Contact Day. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II")

Holograms

• On the Protostar holodeck, Rok-Tahk watched a holographic recording of Zero and the entire Protostar crew trying to solve the fox, chicken and grain problem teambuilding exercise holoprogram. (PRO: "Time Amok")
• On the Protostar holodeck, the entire Protostar crew watched a recording of The Diviner revealing the Vau N'Akat's history to Gwyn in the Solum-1 holoprogram, before Dal and Zero intervened. Zero's holographic appearance was brief, before the real Zero hastily ended the recording. (PRO: "Let Sleeping Borg Lie")
• An independent Holo-duplicate of Zero was created to fool the USS Voyager-A crew. Due to a glitch, they switched personality and vocal mannerisms with Hologram Dal before Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway deactivated their program after the deception was discovered. (PRO: "Imposter Syndrome", "The Fast and the Curious", "Is There in Truth No Beauty?")

• Zero was part of a malfunctioning holoprogram in which they were present along with Gwyn and Rok-Tahk. (VST: "Holograms All the Way Down")

Appendices

Appearances

Background information

Zero was voiced by Angus Imrie.

According to their official Nickelodeon description:

Zero is a Medusan: a species of body-less, genderless, energy-based lifeforms whose true appearance can drive anyone insane. To protect everyone, Zero made a containment suit from castoff materials. Curious and intelligent, Zero is a telepath who just wants to help those around them. Before teaming up with the U.S.S. Protostar crew, the Diviner held Zero against their will to be used as a weapon, but Zero escaped and vowed to do no more harm. [1]

External links

• Zero at StarTrek.com
• Zero at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works