TREKCORE > MOVIES > STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT > Synopsis

Captain Jean-Luc Picard realizes he is daydreaming when he believes he is back aboard the Borg ship that invaded Federation space six years earlier. As he goes to wash his face, he notices something moving inside his cheek. To his horror, a horrible Borg implant sprouts through the skin. But, he realizes that is actually a dream he is having as he naps. Awaken by the beeping of the intercom, Admiral Hayes appears on-screen and tells him that Deep Space Five has picked up the approach of the Borg.

As the U.S.S. Enterprise senior staff plans for battle, Picard interrupts and tells them that they've been ordered to the Romulan neutral zone to guard against possible Romulan attack. Picard shares his comrades outrage, but, Starfleet's orders stand. As they patrol the zone, they hear the com-traffic of Starfleet losing their battle with the Borg. Realizing he has to help, he disobeys orders and orders the Enterprise to Earth at maximum warp.

As the U.S.S. Defiant prepares for a suicide run against the Borg ship, the Enterprise arrives and draws their fire. Beaming the Defiant survivors aboard, Picard assumes command of the battle fleet. He orders the ships to focus their fire on a seemingly inconsequential part of the ship. The attack is enough to destroy the Borg ship. As it explodes, a smaller Borg sphere emerges from the debris and continues towards Earth. As Lieutenant Commander Worf returns to the Enterprise bridge after having been transferred to Deep Space Nine the year prior, the Borg ship generates a temporal vortex and travels through. The Enterprise follows through and is caught in a temporal wake. As the readings on the viewscreen change, so do those on the sensors. Data scans Earth and discovers high concentrations of methane, carbon monoxide and flourine, with a population of over nine billion. . .all Borg.

Picard realizes that they went back in time and changed history. As Beverly wonders why the Enterprise wasn't affected, Data hypothesizes that the temporal wake must have protected them. As the vortex begins to collapse, Picard realizes they must follow the Borg back to prevent them from changing history. As the Enterprise emerges from the vortex, they find themselves arriving on April 4, 2063; the day before first contact. As they see the Borg sphere firing on a missile complex in Montana, they realize that they travelled back to prevent Zephram Cochrane from making his warp flight in his warp ship. Picard orders the Borg sphere destroyed. As it explodes, some of its debris heads towards the northern polar region. . .

Picard, Data and Beverly lead a rescue team to the surface. Upon arrival they find that many people have been killed, but the warp ship is still intact. As they survey the historical ship, they are attacked by a woman with an automatic weapon. Data jumps down to stop her, but, she faints as a result of radiation poisoning. Beverly beams back to the Enterprise with her to administer medical attention. Picard orders Commander Riker to beam down with a search party and Commander La Forge to beam down with a repair party.

While Counselor Troi can't find Cochrane anywhere in the complex, Picard realizes he can still hear the call of the collective in his mind. As he calls the Enterprise, he finds that humidity and temperature have risen on deck 16. Beaming back to the ship with Data, Worf claims that contact with deck 16 has just been lost. Picard orders the deck sealed and deduces that the environmental conditions in main engineering are comparable to those of a Borg ship. He realizes that the Borg have invaded the ship and plan to assimilate the Enterprise and then Earth. Suddenly, the ship's systems begin to re-route to main engineering. Data quickly locks out the main computer with an encryption code, keeping the Enterprise in their hands.

Beverly revives Lily, the woman she was treating, in the sick-bay and quickly evacuates as the Borg pound on the door, attempting to gain entrance. Activating the Emergency Medical Hologram as a distraction, they escape, but Lily breaks away and goes off on her own. As Picard prepares to lead a commando team to engineering and puncture a plasma coolant tank that will liquefy the Borg, Troi and Riker find Cochrane on Earth.

Charging to engineering, the commando team is overpowered by the Borg and Data is taken hostage. Escaping into a Jefferies tube, Picard is attacked by Lily, who steals his phaser. She orders him to get her away from all that is happening and Picard reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile, in engineering, Data discovers the Borg trying to break into the locked computer. As he boasts that they will be unsuccessful in breaking the code as well as assimilating him, an unseen voice tells him that discovering his weakness is only a matter of time.

Back on Earth, Riker, Troi and Geordi reveal the truth about who they are and what needs to happen to Zephram Cochrane. He agrees to go through with his flight while on the Enterprise, Picard reveals the same to Lily. She believes him and follows him through the corridors of the ship. As they round a bend, they discover the Borg assimilating the walls and panels. Taking refuge in the holosuite, Picard activates his Dixon Hill program to allow him to shoot the Borg with a holographic tommy gun. Ripping at the dead Borg's attire, Picard discovers the neural processor, a memory chip containing a record of all the instructions that particular Borg has been receiving from the collective. He discovers that they plan to transform the deflector dish into an interplexing beacon that will allow them to contact the Borg in the 21st century in the Delta Quadrant, call for reinforcements and assimilate humanity.

In engineering, the voice reveals itself to Data as the mysterious Borg Queen, the only individual Borg. She tempts him with human flesh and blood in exchange for the Enterprise encryption codes. Data initially resists and attempts to escape, but he finds he likes the sensations of real flesh and blood too much. Realizing she has him ensnared, The Borg Queen offers him a kiss to keep him in her clutches.

On the hull of the ship, Picard, Worf and Lieutenant Hawk attempt to disengage the deflector dish particle emitter from the hull. They are eventually successful, at the cost of Hawk's life. With the deflector dish destroyed, The Borg Queen realizes they must alter their plans. She orders her drones to completely assimilate the Enterprise. At the same time, the Starfleet crew discovers that their weapons no longer faze their adversaries. Worf believes the only option is to abandon ship and activate the auto-destruct sequence. Beverly and Lily agree, but Picard does not. He claims Worf is a coward and tells him to get off the bridge.

Escaping to the observation lounge to try to reconfigure his phaser, Lily pushes for him to carry out Worf's plan, but Picard refuses to surrender the Enterprise to the Borg. He will not sacrifice anything more to them. Lily points out that Picard is behaving not unlike Captain Ahab in the novel Moby Dick. Picard realizes that she is right and refuses to suffer the same fate as Ahab and agrees to Worf's plan.

As Cochrane, Riker and Geordi prepare for the warp flight, the Enterprise crew abandons ship and activates the auto-destruct. Picard claims he cannot leave, not while Data is being held captive in engineering. As the escape pods jettison, Picard enters the Borg Collective in engineering. There, he finds that The Borg Queen had survived the destruction of the Borg ship from six years earlier. He propses that she let Data go in exchange for him becoming Locutus again. She agrees and lets Data go. Picard tells him to leave, but Data refuses.

Picard is astounded and horrified to find that Data is obeying The Borg Queen as she orders him to deactivate the auto-destruct sequence and enter the encryption codes, giving her command of the Enterprise. As he pleads with the android, Data joins sides with The Borg Queen. "He will make an excellent drone" Data says.

As the captain is restrained he watches in horror as Data fires the quantum torpedoes at the warp ship. However, to Picard's surprise, the torpedoes miss! As The Borg Queen spins in horror, Data punches open the plasma coolant tank. As the corrosive gas spills into the room, Picard climbs for higher ground. The Borg Queen grabs onto him, but a Data's hand emerges from the gas cloud and drags her to her death. At the same time, the warp ship jumps to warp.

As Picard expels the gas from the room, he finds The Borg Queen's skull and spine wriggling on the ground, struggling to survive. In fit of silent rage, Picard grabs it and snaps in two. As Data calls to him, he finds the android slumped up against the warp core, his new human flesh burned off by the plasma coolant. He admits that part of him is sorry The Borg Queen is dead and that for a time, he was tempted by her. Picard asks how long and Data replies "0.68 seconds, sir." While that may be a short time for humans, for an android, it is nearly an eternity.

As the Enterprise crew is recalled back to the ship, Picard and Beverly beam down to Earth to join Riker, Troi, Geordi, Lily and Cochrane as the alien ship that detected that warp signature lands on Earth. As the group of aliens disembark, they remove their hoods to reveal their pointed ears and extend their hands in their greeting of "live long and prosper." Cochrane tries to duplicate the gesture, but can't get his fingers in the right positions. However, he offers them the human equivalent, a hand-shake.

As the Enterprise party prepares to leave, Picard says good-bye to Lily. She tells him she envies him and the world he's going to, but Picard tells her that he envies her and the new world she's about to step into. With a soft kiss, she whispers "I shall miss you, Lily." As she watches the party beam away, she looks towards the sky as the Enterprise sets a course for the 24th century, where their future is waiting for them.

Written exclusively for TrekCore by Kyle C. Haight