The history between Humans and the Borg Collective spans a period of centuries. It began with a predestination paradox when a Borg sphere from the future attacked Zefram Cochrane the day before his historic warp flight and continued well into the 24th century.
The Borg and First Contact
On April 5, 2063, Zefram Cochrane launched in the Phoenix, Humanity's first warp-capable vessel. The flight attracted the attention of a passing Vulcan survey ship, whose crew decided to make First Contact with the Human race later that very day. (Star Trek: First Contact)
A year later, Dr. Cochrane gave a commencement address at Princeton University. It it he diverted from his prepared statements and started talking about "what really happened at first contact." He said that aliens had come from the future to enslave the Human race, but were stopped by a group of Humans who were also from the future. As Cochrane was known not only for his imaginative stories, as well as his frequent drinking, no one took the story seriously. He ended up recanting his statements only a few years later. (ENT: "Regeneration")
What was unknown to the public for centuries was that Cochrane's story was in fact very true. A Borg sphere had come back in time from the year 2373 in order to prevent Humanity's first warp flight and in turn, prevent the founding of the United Federation of Planets a century later. The sphere was pursued and subsequently destroyed by the Federation starship USS Enterprise-E, but not before a small contingent of Borg drones beamed aboard the Enterprise and began assimilating the vessel. Thanks to the efforts of the Enterprise crew, the Borg were vanquished and the flight of the Phoenix went forward as history recorded. (Star Trek: First Contact)
2153 Incident
The Borg transport attacks Enterprise
Ninety years later, an arctic research team uncovered the remains of the Borg sphere destroyed by the Enterprise. Also found in the debris were two frozen Borg drones, which quickly began regenerating. Not knowing the threat these two drones possessed, the research team allowed the process to go unhindered. This proved to be a critical mistake: the two drones assimilated the research team when they regained consciousness. They then stole the research team's transport and set a course for the Delta Quadrant.
Starfleet ordered the Enterprise NX-01 to pursue. Enterprise caught up to the transport as it was attacking a Tarkalean freighter and quickly drove it away. Although Doctor Phlox attempted to treat the survivors, they eventually succumbs to the nanoprobes that had been injected into them during the Borg attack. Captain Jonathan Archer was forced to blow the two new drones into space when they tried to take over the ship before resuming pursuit of the Borg vessel.
Enterprise again caught up to the transport and during the subsequent battle, the transport managed to activate the program the Tarkalean drones had set up to disable the vessel. Captain Archer and his security officer Lieutenant Malcolm Reed beamed over to the Borg vessel and attempted to rescue the research team, although it did not take them long to realize that this was beyond their abilities. After disabling the transport, the two officers returned to Enterprise and destroyed the transport with a full spread of photonic torpedoes, thereby ending the crisis.
Unfortunately, it was revealed that shortly before the Borg vessel was destroyed, the drones transmitted a message to their territory deep in the Delta Quadrant, with an estimated arrival time predicted for sometime in the 24th century, assuming it would arrive at all. During this incident, the Borg never identified themselves by name. Over the course of the next two centuries, this incident would be gradually forgotten as Enterprise resumed its exploratory mission and continued to pave the way for the founding of the United Federation of Planets eight years later. (ENT: "Regeneration", "These Are the Voyages...")
The Hansens
Over the next several decades, rumors about the existence of the Borg, mostly from El-Aurian refugees who fled their homeworld when it was assimilated around 2265 began to spread among a few Federation citizens. These rumors gave Starfleet enough cause to open a classified file on the Borg in 2293. (TNG: "Q Who"; VOY: "Scorpion", "Dark Frontier"; Star Trek Generations)
Two exobiologists prone to these rumors, Magnus and Erin Hansen, became interested in locating and studying the Borg. In 2353, they departed in the starship USS Raven with their young daughter Annika. After tracking only stray readings and sensor echos for over eight months, the Raven finally located a Borg cube. While studying the cube, the Raven was pulled into a transwarp conduit that pulled the vessel 60,000 light years into the Delta Quadrant, the Borg's native territory.
The Hansens managed to create several new technologies and strategies that allowed them to study the Borg undetected for the next two years. In 2356, the Raven was hit by an ion storm which damaged the vessels multi-adaptive shielding - which had allowed the Raven to remain undetected during the Hansens' studies. The Borg perceived the Raven as a threat following this incident, and subsequently assimilated the Hansen family. (VOY: "The Raven", "Dark Frontier")
Attacks along the Neutral Zone
In 2364, the Borg assimilated several outposts on both sides of the Romulan Neutral Zone. Neither the Federation nor the Romulans were familiar with the Borg at the time and were unable to conclusively determine who was responsible for the attacks. It was clear, however, from the level of destruction that the attack was from a species that was by far more powerful than either the Romulan Empire or the Federation. The outposts were not simply destroyed, they appeared as if some great force scooped them up from the planet surface. (TNG: "The Neutral Zone")
It was not until the following year, when the entity known as Q hurled the USS Enterprise-D 7,000 light years to a region of space assimilated by the Borg. An analysis of system J-25 found signs of an advanced civilization, but the cities appeared to have been removed in a manner identical to the loss of the Neutral Zone outposts. A Borg Cube intercepted the Enterprise and drained its shields using a tractor beam. The Enterprise responded by firing phasers at the Borg cube, causing significant damage. The Borg regenerated and repaired its hull while the Enterprise attempted to flee. Unable to outrun the Borg ship, the Enterprise fired again on the Borg Cube, but Borg had adapted to Federation weapons. Several direct photon torpedo hits had no effect on the Borg ship. Just as the Enterprise was about to be assimilated, Q returned the ship to Federation space. (TNG: "Q Who")
Invasion
In 2366, a Borg Cube entered Federation space and assimilated the New Providence colony in the same manner as System J-25 and the Neutral Zone outposts. Shortly thereafter, The USS Lalo encountered the Borg Cube and reported their position shortly before it went missing. The USS Enterprise-D proceeded to the Lalo's last reported position where they exchanged fire with the Borg Cube. The Borg boarded the Enterprise and assimilated Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Now armed with Picard's tactical knowledge and experience with Starfleet, the Borg ship proceeded to Earth for the assimilation of that planet.
The Federation now considered itself in a state of war. Starfleet mobilized an armada of 40 starships led by Admiral Hanson to intercept the Borg Cube at Wolf 359. The Enterprise was unable to pursue the Borg any further due to battle damage and could not join Starfleet at the Wolf system. Hanson decided that Picard would be considered a casualty of war. The armada would use all its firepower to destroy the Borg ship. No attempt would be made to rescue the captain. The resulting Battle of Wolf 359 turned out to be a disaster. The Federation fleet was decimated. The Borg ship was undamaged. The Enterprise, finally repaired, intercepted the Borg ship and rescued Captain Picard in a daring raid. Using Picard's interface with the Borg Collective, the Enterprise was able to initiate a regeneration protocol that in essence put the Borg crew "to sleep". The Borg Cube self destructed shortly thereafter. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds")
Encounters with Hugh
In 2368, the USS Enterprise-D encountered a crashed Borg scout ship with one survivor - a Borg drone nicknamed Hugh by the crew. The Federation still considered themselves at war with the Borg and the Enterprise developed a computer virus that could be implanted in Hugh. The virus would then spread throughout the Borg Collective until the entire collective was destroyed. However, once Hugh was isolated from Collective, he began to shows signs of individuality. Captain Picard no longer felt justified in using a free being as an act of genocide against his own people and did not deploy the virus. Admiral Alynna Nechayev was outraged, stating that Picard's duty as a Starfleet Officer was to safeguard the lives of Federation citizens, despite whatever reservations his conscience may hold. Nechayev also ordered Picard to seize any future opportunity to destroy the Borg. (TNG: "I Borg")
When the Borg attacked the Federation outpost Ohniaka III in 2369, Captain Picard also questioned his own decision not to deploy the virus. However it was later discovered that the attack was not from the Borg Collective but rather a group of disconnected drones that were following orders from Lore. Once Lore was killed, the attacks stopped. (TNG: "Descent")
Second invasion
The second major battle occurred in 2373. A Borg Cube destroyed the Federation colony on Ivor Prime and was on a direct course for Earth. Admiral Hayes mobilized a Federation fleet in the Typhon sector to engage the Borg. Hayes felt that having a man who was previously captured and assimilated by the Borg on the front lines would introduce an "unstable element in a critical situation". Therefore he ordered Captain Picard to take the USS Enterprise-E on a patrol of the Neutral Zone, in case the Romulans decided to take advantage of the situation. The Federation fleet intercepted the Borg cube and opened fire in the Battle of Sector 001. The Cube quickly broke through the defense perimeter inflicting serious damage and casualties on the fleet. The Flagship sent a distress signal to Starfleet Command, requesting reinforcements. Captain Picard, hearing the distress signal, ordered the Enterprise back to Earth in violation of Hayes' orders. When the Enterprise arrived, the Federation fleet had taken heavy losses. A number of ships had been destroyed including Admiral Hayes' flagship. Many more, including the USS Defiant were severely damaged. Captain Picard took command of the fleet and used his knowledge of the Borg to determine a vulnerable point in the Borg's defenses. He ordered the fleet to target the same section and fire simultaneously. After the fleet concentrated a heavy barrage of torpedoes and phaser fire on the weak point, the Borg Cube was destroyed. (Star Trek: First Contact)
USS Voyager
USS Voyager had a series of skirmishes over a five-year period from 2373-2378 during which time the ship was engaged in a number of primarily defensive battles with the Borg Collective. The conflict, which would have logically been expected to be a one-sided affair between the lone Federation starship and substantial elements of the Collective began when the Template:ShipClass vessel entered Borg space in 2373. (VOY: "Scorpion")
A pivotal strategic move in the conflict was Voyager's support of an insurrection against the Borg known as Unimatrix Zero. (VOY: "Unimatrix Zero", "Unimatrix Zero, Part II")
Borg-Species 8472 War
- See main article: Borg-Species 8472 War.
Voyager's original plan was to by-pass Borg space in an effort to evade the Collective, however this tactic failed and the ship engaged the Borg several times. Other than a brief alliance of convenience against the greater common threat of Species 8472, the Conflict might best be described as a series of running battles. At one juncture in that temporary period of cooperation, the Borg assigned "Seven of Nine" to represent them in council with Captain Janeway. The Captain learned from Seven that Species 8472 was only trying to prevent being being assimilated and, to that end, had launched a defensive war against the Collective. With the help of Seven of Nine, Voyager successfully escaped and made it out of Borg space. However several Borg drones were still on Voyager including the former Human Seven of Nine.
Seven of Nine
Seven of Nine as a Borg drone
Seven of Nine, born Annika Hansen, was taken and assimilated by the Borg Collective at the age of six. Her parents were captured along with Annika; they are presumed to be the first Earth Humans to undergo the assimilation process. Following the temporary alliance against Species 8472, Voyager left Borg space with several drones, including Seven of Nine, still on board. Despite previous agreements and cooperation, Seven of Nine and the other Borg attempted to seize the ship from Janeway. In the process, all Borg onboard were killed except Seven of Nine, who was severed from the Hive mind. Her re-humanization began almost immediately: her body began to reject her Borg components and cellular structures, forcing the ship's doctor to surgically remove the Borg implants in her body and allowing her human structures to regain control. Seven of Nine accepted her humanity and began life as a crewman aboard Voyager, greatly affecting the outcome of the ship's future encounters with the Borg and boosting the crew's confidence in their ability to fight the Collective despite the unfavorable odds.
With Seven of Nine a crew member, the former drone helped the Voyager crew even the odds in future encounters with the Borg by using her extensive knowledge and residual Borg technology. She partially assimilated portions of Voyager, including major ship's systems; the hybrid technology proved to be much more efficient. She also helped to create weapons that countered the ability of Borg drones to adapt to Federation firepower.
Dark Frontier
Unimatrix Zero
Unimatrix zero
Within the Collective a virus broke out, creating a shared virtual reality known as Unimatrix Zero in which Borg drones were able to become individuals again. Years pior for Seven of Nine being liberated from the collective she too lived in Unimatrix zero and was romantically involved with another drone named Axum. The Borg Queen was initially unable to detect the virus; over several years it spread amoung thousands of Borg. The Borg Queen immediatley began deactiviating drones in order to contain and destroy the virus, but Axum was able to contact Seven and ask her to help him and the former drones. Seven reported this information to Captain Janeway and, using a mind-meld performed by Commander Tuvok, Janeway was able to enter Unimatrix Zero; within the construct the Starship Captain and the infected drones developed and instigated the plan for a resistance movement against the Borg Collective. The Borg Queen did eventually uncover the plans and initiated a strategy to stop the rebellion. She visited Unimatrix herself to witness it first hand.