After years of rumors and classified reports, the United Federation of planets finally began
to comprehend the true extent of the Borg threat, when Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the
USS Enterprise-D were visited by Q, a member of the Q species from the Q continuum, seemingly
all powerful beings who observed the universe and sometimes manipulated events as they deemed
necessary. Fascinated by humanity and curious about their potential, this rogue Q developed
a somewhat amicable though antagonistic relationship with Captain Picard, seeking him out in 2365,
after a rift developed with the other members of his species, leading to his exile from
the Continuum. Hoping to spend some time amongst their crew, he offered his omnipotent services
to Captain Picard, who rejected the proposal, believing the Federation should explore, learn
and develop at their own pace and in their own way.
Deciding that Picard needed a stark lesson in the dangers awaiting them, Q transported
the Enterprise 7000 lightyears away, far outside Federation borders, and introduced them to
a mysterious cube shaped ship, populated by the members of the Borg species, describing
them as a relentless and merciless cybernetic beings with the power to destroy the Federation.
Hoping to teach Picard a lesson about their overconfidence and vulnerabilities, Q explained
that the further Starfleet travelled into deep space, the closer they would come to
encountering the Borg and other perilous threats. In fact the Borg had already launched limited
attacks in the Alpha and Beta quadrants, responsible for the disappearance of the USS Tombaugh
in 2362 as well as the Destruction of several Federation and Romulan outposts along the
neutral zone in 2364. Yet because these attacks left no witnesses and occurred before the
events of 2365, they went without explanation, leaving most entirely unaware that Borg raids
into their space had already begun. Losing 18 crew members during their first
experience with this hostile species, Captain Picard put aside his pride and pleaded for
help, at which point Q returned them to their original location. Although the Enterprise-D
survived this initial encounter, it was less than two years later, in 2367, that this same
Borg cube was spotted in Federation space, heading towards Earth. Once again, they engaged
the Enterprise, this time capturing and assimilating Captain Jean Luc Picard, in order to use his
knowledge of Federation technology and tactics to their advantage. Although their initial
plans for the Picard Drone were to make him a leader and counterpart to the Borg Queen,
he demonstrated significant mental resistance to the assimilation process, and so was instead
given the unique designation as Locutus of Borg, so he might act as a representative
of the Collective and facilitate the conquest of local species.
Refusing to consider surrender, an armada of 40 Starfleet ships led by Admiral J P Hanson,
engaged the Borg Cube at the Battle of Wolf 359, leading to the greatest loss in federation
history. Despite spending the last 2 years preparing for this invasion, the Borg were
far more advanced than anything they’d face before, leaving 39 of 40 Starfleet ships destroyed,
while thousands were assimilated or killed. The Cube meanwhile, was practically undamaged
and continued towards Earth. Eventually the threat was eliminated when Picard was recaptured
by the crew of the Enterprise, who then used his Borg implants to communicate with the
Cube, creating a malfunction which caused the ship to self-destruct. Although the physical
changes to Captain Picard were quickly reversed, the memories remained and haunted him for
many years to come.
Though the Borg threat diminished for a time, the crew of the Enterprise saw an opportunity
to strike back when they discovered an injured but still functional drone in 2368, hoping
to place a virus within its systems before sending it back to the collective. Yet their
plans were derailed when the Drone recovering from his injuries and learned he was no longer
connection to the Hive Mind, causing his individuality to re-emerge. Taking the name Hugh, the Drone
started befriending members of the crew, eventually convincing Captain Picard they could not use
him as a weapon of mass destruction. Though they offered him asylum, Hugh understood the
Borg would not stop pursuing him, and so ultimately volunteered to re-join the Collective, in
order to protect the Enterprise crew. And while they did not realize it at the time,
Picard’s initial plan to strike a blow against the Borg succeeded, as Hugh was changed during
his time aboard the Enterprise, and thus returned to the Borg with the memories of his individuality
which then spread to other drones, causing a severe disruption to ship operations. Hoping
to contain this threat to Collective cohesion, the Borg cut off Hugh’s ship from the rest
of the hive mind, leaving its Drones confused and without purpose. When the ship was then
discovered by the android Lore, brother to Data, he saw great potential in these lost
drones and took advantage of the opportunity by installing himself as their new leader,
thereby bringing order to chaos. Yet the new found individuality of these drones was not
easily overcome, leading many to follow Hugh in rebellion against Lore’s selfish and
untrustworthy leadership. With Lore defeated, Hugh became the leader of a new and independent
Borg collective. Learning more about their enemy with every
encounter, the Federation successfully upgraded their ships, technology and tactics allowing
them to better defend themselves in 2373, when the Borg launched yet another invasion
against Earth, resulting in the Battle of Sector 001. Despite suffering heavy losses,
the Federation managed to destroy the attacking Borg cube, only for a smaller spherical ship
to emerge from within, escaping the explosion. Believing the vessel was headed for Earth,
the Enterprise E gave chase, but to their astonishment, the sphere opened a temporal
vortex and travelled to the year 2063, with Picard and his crew close behind.
Hosting the Borg Queen onboard their ship, they planned to Assimilate Earth before Humanity’s
first contact with the Vulcans, thereby preventing the creation of the Federation. Yet their
efforts were undone by the Enterprise E, which destroyed the Borg sphere, killed the Borg
Queen and ensured the success of First Contact. Eventually Picard and the crew were able to
duplicate the temporal vortex that brought them to the 21st century, and returned to
their own time. Despite yet another victory against the Collective,
this encounter resulted in significant unforeseen consequences, as some of the debris from the
Borg sphere landed on Earth, buried in the snows of the Arctic Circle. The wreckage was
then discovered less than a century later in 2153, when researchers uncovered a number
of frozen but still functional Borg drones. Unaware of the threat posed by these cybernetic
beings, the Borg were removed from the ice, allowing them to eventually awaken, assimilate
the research team, steal a ship and launch into space. Learning of this strange occurrence,
Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the Enterprise NX 01 confronted and destroyed
the vessel, preventing their escape, but could not stop them from sending a signal to Borg
space, which they calculated would take 200 years to arrive at its destination. Therefore
this was likely the original catalyst which taught the Borg about Earth and brought them
to the Alpha Quadrant in the first place. Since Q was aware of these events all along,
transporting the Enterprise E to meet the Borg in 2365 may not have been a reckless
game for his own amusement, but was actually meant to serve as a warning, giving the Federation
time to prepare for the inevitable threat fast approaching.