“I Borg” is episode twenty-three of season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is charting a star cluster for possible colonisation when Data detects a transmission coming from a moon orbiting the fourth planet. Lifesigns are indeterminate but the atmosphere is capable of supporting life. It could be a distress call, so Riker, Worf and Dr Crusher beam down. The doctor can detect one life form with weak life signs. There’s wreckage and when they uncover the being, it’s a Borg drone.
Riker contacts the captain; they’ve found a Borg male adolescent who’s badly injured. Data reports no Borg activity in sensor range. The captain wants the away team to return to the ship. The doctor says the Borg will die without treatment; Riker says the captain understands that. The Borg usually collect their dead. The doctor says he isn’t dead. Maybe not, but the transmission is probably a homing signal and the Borg will be on their way.
Dr Crusher wants to stabilise the Borg. Captain Picard warns that any intervention could alert the Borg. The doctor thinks they’re already past that. Worf suggests killing the drone, making it look as if it died in the crash, hiding any evidence they were there and leaving. It looks like the captain considers that, but instead agrees to beam the drone aboard. He wants Geordi to neutralise the homing system. Worf reports four more drones, all dead. Picard orders the living drone be transported to a holding cell. Not sickbay. He leaves the bridge for his ready room and Troi follows. She wants to check he’s okay, given his experiences with the Borg. The captain says he’s fine.
The drone is in the holding cell when the captain arrives. The drone’s cranial implants are damaged and Geordi thinks he can make new ones. Picard asks if Geordi could alter the drone’s root programming. In order to introduce an invasive program. When the drone returns to the hive, it could infect the entire Collective.
Geordi is briefing the senior staff on what he could do; the Borg would suffer total systems failure. Dr Crusher asks what that means. She knows; she just wants it made clear that the Borg would be wiped out. She’s told they are at war, even if there’s been no formal declaration. The doctor says wars have rules and you don ‘t attack civilians. Except the Borg don’t have civilians. Dr Crusher doesn’t see a collective consciousness when she looks at the drone; she sees a living breathing boy who’s hurt and needs their help. The captain says they face an enemy determined to destroy them with no hope to negotiate a peace. Until that changes, they will do everything they need to survive.
The Borg has regained consciousness and he’s cut off from the Collective. The Doctor thinks he must be hungry. Borg implants synthesize all they need biologically, but that needs energy. Geordi will put a power conduit in.
The captain is fencing with Guinan. They talk about the Borg. She doesn’t understand what he’s doing, and makes a point about not feeling sorry for the drone.
Geordi connects the power conduit in the holding cell, guarded by Worf. The Borg approaches and tells them, they will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. Geordi is less impressed by one Borg. The Borg says that we are Borg. Geordi asks who we is. There’s only one of him. What is its designation? Third of Five. Geordi explains the power conduit.
Geordi is talking to the doctor about the Borg and rationing energy to make it cooperate. The doctor is still not impressed. Geordi says they need the Borg’s cooperation to figure out his command pathways. The doctor comments about needing the Borg to cooperate in the destruction of his kind. She may be helping, but she doesn’t have to like it.
The Borg and a guard are transported in; Geordi introduces the drone to the doctor. The drone asks what a doctor is. On the explanation, he replies that the Borg reabsorb their fallen. They will be assimilated. First, though, Geordi wants him to answer some questions. The Borg asks their designations. Geordi gives their names. The drone asks if it has a name. Does it want one? They end up calling him Hugh.
The more time people spend with Hugh, the more doubts arise about the rightness of what they are doing. And more Borg are on their way, which means time is limited. Given that Borg have no concept of individuality, and the episode title contains such, it can be guessed what happens. And the captain isn’t as over his experiences as he told Troi.