Captain Picard is awoken from a Borg driven nightmare by an incoming message from Admiral Hayes. A colony has been destroyed and long range sensors from Deep Space 5 indicate the BORG. Picard seems aware of their presence.

In a meeting with his senior staff, Picard informs his crew of their new orders - to patrol the neutral zone incase the Romulans decide to take advantage of the Borg incursion. Although his crew object, Picard follows his orders and patrols the neutral zone.

In a mission update with Commander Riker in his ready room, Picard informs him of the reason they are out here. Starfleet isn't sure how Picard will cope if he were to face his assimilators. They don't want any uncertainty in the upcoming battle - even though Picard is the best person to lead the fight.

Counselor Deanna Troi informs the two men that Starfleet has engaged the borg. After listening to Starfleet losing, Picard decides to disobey his orders and help. His crew offer no resistance.

At the battle site, Lt. Commander Worf is in command of the Defiant. Seeing the odds stacked against him, he plans to ram the Borg cube. Luckily the Enterprise arrives just in time, and beams the crew of the defiant aboard. With Admiral Hayes' ship destroyed, Picard takes command of the fleet. He manages to direct the fleets attack to a weak spot in the cube and the ship is destroyed, not before a borg sphere is released.

Worf joins the crew on the bridge of the Enterprise, which flies in pursuit of the sphere. The sphere creates a temporal vortex..and disappears. The crew of the Enterprise discover that the Borg have gone back in time and assimilated earth. Caught in the wake of the Vortex, the Enterprise is unaffected by the changes in the timeline. Picard decides to follow them back, inorder to repair the damage that has occurred

Lily drags Zefram Cochrane out of the Bar. She refuses to go up in space with a drunken co-pilot. She notices a bright light in the sky - The borg have arrived and are firing at the surface. Lily and Zefram run for cover.

The Enterprise arrives and blows up the sphere. Data manages to work out the date: April 4th 2063 - the day before first contact. The borg planned to stop first contact. Picard leads an away team to survey the damage caused, and to see if Zefram Cochrane is still alive.

Data and Picard check out the Pheonix - Cochrane's Ship. It has been damaged in the assault and is leaking radiation. They are intercepted by Lily who fires upon them before passing out due to radiation poisoning. Beverly takes her back to the Enterprise for treatment, and geordi is called down to help fix the Pheonix

Picard hears the Borg collective inside his mind and transports back to the Enterprise with Data, leaving Riker in charge on the surface.

Once on the ship, Picard realises that the Borg are converting engineering into a hive. They must have beamed over whilst the shields were down. After the Borg attempt to take over the main computer, Data locks the core with a fractional incription code. Picard comes up with a plan to rupture a plasma coolant tank which will vapourize organic matter on contact - thus eliminating the borg.

On the surface, Riker has found Troi, who is drunk. Luckily she has found Cochrane. She insists that the only way she could get to talk to him was if she drank something called Tequila. She also denys that she is drunk. After struggling to a seat she falls into unconsciousness.

On the way to engineering, Picard and Co encounter little resistance - but once they get there, that is a different story. The borg onslaught results in regrouping on deck 15, and Data being taken.

The Borg are on the verge of getting into sickbay which forces Beverly to awaken Lily, and activate the EMH in order to escape.

Whilst crawling through the Jefferies tubes, Lily goes off on her own, eventually bumping into Captain Picard, and takes him hostage. She wants him to get her out of there, and with a phaser pointing at him, he has little choice.

On the surface, Geordi shows Cochrane the Enterprise throught his telescope, and Riker convinces Cochrane to help them by conducting his flight tomorrow as planned

In Engineering, the Borg Queen introduces herself to Data who is strapped to a table. She informs him that she is the collective. She shows him that they have grafted organic tissue onto his endoskeletal structure. The Borg Queen reactivates Data's emotion chip.

After convincing Lily that she isn't in Montana anymore by showing her the Planet Earth from a window, the captain escorts her throught a corridor. He explains what has occurred between his time and hers. Lily comments on the size of the ship and wonders how much it all costs. Picard explains that there is no money in the 24th century and that to better himself is his only motivation.

Picard realises that he needs to disable one of the borg in order to find out their plans, so he heads to the holodeck - and puts on a Dixon Hill program "The Big Goodbye" after shooting at some Borg to get their attention

Inside the Holodeck he asks for 'Nicky the Nose' and when he finds that he isn't there, realises that it is the wrong chapter - He needs chapter 13. When the Borg eventually enter the Holodeck, Picard is dancing Lily across the Dancefloor to 'Nicky' in order to obtain a Tommy Gun. Picard then disables the Borg with the Tommy Gun and enjoys it. Lily notices that the Borg were infact his crew members. He obtains a neuroprocessor and heads to the Bridge.

Back on the surface, Cochrane is overwhelmed by the attention that the Enterprise personnel are giving to him. He discovers that he is some great historical figure and can't handle it.

Cochrane flees into the woods after being told about the statue of him. Riker and Geordi follow in pursuit and are forced to stun him.

Picard arrives on the bridge and explains the Borg's plan. They intend to build a interplexing beacon on the deflector dish in order to contact the Borg living in this century. Earth will be an easy target for them. As they couldn't get to a transporter or shuttlebay, Worf, Hawk and Picard put on environmental suits and take a space walk.

Worf feels a little ill, but they eventually reach the deflector dish. Picard decides the best course of action is to release the dish, as firing at it could ignite antiprotons and destroy half of the ship.

The three men head to the maglocks and begin the release sequence. The Borg at first offer no resistance..but as it becomes clear what Picard and co are upto, they decide they should be stopped. At first the phaser rifles are enought protection but the Borg soon adapt.

Worf ends up in hand to hand contact with the Borg and his environmental suit is damaged. Hawk is attacked and assimilated. Picard floats over to Hawk's maglock to finish the cycle. Hawk then attacks Picard, but luckily Worf saves the captain with his phaser rifle. Hawk is killed. Worf then fires at the floating deflector dish, destroying the beacon and the borg on it.

The situation on the Enterprise is getting worse. The Borg have adapted to all the frequencies of the phasers. Worf suggests blowing up the enterprise, Picard disagrees and an argument follows. Picard refuses to destroy his ship and orders Worf off his bridge.

Picard retreats to the observation lounge to attempt to modify the phasers. Lily follows, wanting some answers. Picard explains about his assimilation and that the Federation has made too many sacrifices to the Borg and they should pay for it. Lily compares Picard to Captain Ahab - obsessed by revenge. After careful consideration, Picard has to agree. If he continues with this course of action, it could destroy him and his ship.

Picard returns to the bridge to activate the auto-destruct sequence and evacuate the ship. He also apologises to Worf. Just as Picard was about to leave, he hears Data calling to him in his head.

On the surface, the Pheonix is prepared for launch with Cochrane, Riker and Geordi as it's crew. With music blaring the Pheonix launches.

Picard and Lily say goodbye. She realises that Picard isn't coming and he explains that he has to rescue Data.

Picard heads to Engineering where he meets the Borg Queen. She wants him to give himself freely to the Borg, to her, so that she can have a partner, an equal. He offers himself in exchange for Data, but Data doesn't want to comply. Refusing to leave, he follows the Borg Queens instruction to deactivate the self-destruct and give her computer control

As the Pheonix is almost ready for warp, Data locks on the quantum torpedoes and fires. The torpedos sail past the Pheonix and miss the target. The Pheonix is able to make its flight. Data has headed toward the plasma coolant tank and smashes it with his arm. As engineering is flooded with gas, Picard climbs to safety. All organic matter is destroyed - the borg queen is dead.

Zefram Cochrane celebrates his historic flight that night. To the Enterprise crews delight, an alien ship lands nearby. The doors open and an alien steps out - it is the Vulcans. Cochrane makes first contact and introduces them to alcohol and rock 'n Roll.

Picard and his crew make a discrete exit, after he says goodbye to Lily. With his crew aboard, they set off back to the 24th century where their future was waiting for them.

© 2001-2 Emma Rouse-Deane