"Q Who?", from the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, is the episode that introduces the Borg.

Plot

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, after having hot chocolate spilled on his uniform by a young ensign named Sonya Gomez, is once again abducted by Q.

Q takes Picard aboard a shuttlecraft outside the Enterprise to warn him of the dangers in this region and advise him to turn back. When they return to the Enterprise, they materialise in Ten Forward, where a heated argument ensues between Q and Guinan, hinting at a two-century-long history of enmity between the two.

Q requests to be added as a member of the Enterprise crew, arguing that his services will be needed if they continue to explore at the present rate. Picard rejects Q's offer, stating that human-kind makes its own way in the universe without omnipotence to aid them. Enraged by this perceived hubris, Q sends the ship 7,000 light years away to System J25 as a lesson in refusing the Q. A planet is identified nearby, its cities having been destroyed. The damage to the surface was identified later as the same as the damage from the planets in the Neutral Zone that belonged to the Romulans in the final episode of the first season. Shortly after their arrival, they are greeted by a large, cube-shaped vessel that Guinan identifies as belonging to the Borg.

The crew is then startled by the sudden arrival of a Borg drone that beamed itself aboard despite the fact the Enterprises shields are raised. After it accesses a few of their records, they are forced to kill it, but a second drone appears, this time protected by a force field which is immune to phaser fire. After completing the work of the first drone and stripping it of serviceable parts, it leaves without making any attempt at communication. Only after this do they receive a signal from the alien vessel. The message warns the Enterprise crew: "We have analyzed your defensive capabilities as being unable to withstand us. If you defend yourselves, you will be punished." The ship subsequently locks onto the Enterprise with a tractor beam which slowly drains the ship's shields. The Enterprise is able to disable the tractor beam with phaser blasts, causing noticeable structural damage to the Borg vessel in the process, but not before the Borg use a laser-like beam to slice out a section of the ship's saucer section, resulting in the loss of 18 crewmembers. Picard then sends an away team to investigate the vessel. When they learn that the Borg are able to use their collective power to regenerate the damaged sections of their ship, the away team is immediately beamed back. The Enterprise attempts to flee, but the Borg cube pursues them. The Borg are about to overtake the Enterprise, so Picard swallows his pride and turns to Q for help. Q, satisfied not only that his words are finally being heeded, but that Picard is actually asking for help, returns the ship to its original location. Since Q rebuked Picard's stubborn refusal to heed his warning, (thus introducing the Borg to the Federation), the Enterprises now compromised computers revealed the location of Earth. Picard and Guinan surmise over a game of 3D chess that it would then only be a matter of time before the Borg arrived at Earth.

References

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