“Unimatrix Zero” is episode twenty-six of season six of Star Trek: Voyager and the season finale.
A Borg drone in an alcove at Unimatrix One looks to be in REM sleep. When it activates, it’s brought to the Borg Queen. She tells the drone it has a disease, one of many with this affliction. They want to cure the drone, but need a better way to identify those with the affliction. The testing method is too slow. Help her find the interlink frequency that binds them all together. They can put an end to this quickly and efficiently. She disconnects him from the hive mind, but the drone doesn’t remember. She decides to have the drone deactivated and his cortical array brought.
Seven of Nine is in a forest. There are others there. One disappears and another greets her as Anneka. She wakes in her alcove, then heads to sickbay. The Doctor tells her this is a milestone; her first dream. He wants to know more. Both the forest, and the person who greeted her by name, seemed familiar. She doesn’t want to dream again. The Doctor tells her this is a natural step in developing her humanity, and gives her something to monitor the next dream.
Tom arrives on the bridge to be told he’s late. By 22 seconds. Take his station. There’s a box on his seat; he’s being reinstated back to lieutenant. Harry says there’s no box on his chair. Harry has a point. Then they receive what looks like a distress call. They arrive at the asteroid it came from, which appears to be a colony. Rather, was. It’s been destroyed. By the Borg. There’s a cube on the edge of the system.
Seven is a bit apprehensive about returning to her alcove, but she does. She dreams of the forest again. Only the man who greeted her by name says this isn’t a dream. He brought her here, and here is Unimatrix Zero. Seven says there is no Unimatrix Zero. Who is he? Here, he is Axum. The name sounds familiar to Seven. A child calls out and they go see; it’s a boy who Seven deduces has just been assimilated. Axum explains they come here during their regeneration cycles; they can exist as individuals. Seven used to come here before she escaped the Collective; she has the recessive mutation too? Seven doesn’t remember anything and asks about the mutation. Only one in a million Borg have it.
Seven asks why she was brought. The Collective are trying to identify them. It’s a lengthy procedure, but nearly 200 of them have been found in the last few months. It’s only a matter of time before enough are found to isolate the interlink frequency. Seven can help stop them stop the Collective; they’ve designed a nanovirus that masks the biosigns of the mutation. But they need someone to release it, and when they complete their regeneration cycle, they have no memory of Unimatrix Zero. Seven is not part of the Collective.
Axum is explaining to Seven when another individual appears, one Seven remembers. Seven is willing to help, but can’t do this alone. She’s part of a starship crew and has to inform her captain. A Klingon, Korok, is concerned. He tells Seven she puts her starship at risk, and them as well. A woman intervenes; Seven remembers her. Laura. Human, assimilated at Wolf 359. Laura tells Seven she doesn’t have to look part Borg here. Seven will speak to her captain.
Seven briefs the senior staff. They only need to infiltrate a single vessel and she’s willing to do it alone. The Doctor confirms this wasn’t a dream; Seven never reached REM sleep. Axum says there could be tens of thousands of Borg like them. Some believe it began as a random malfunction that spread to others. Seven’s understanding is that Starfleet responds to a distress call when they receive one. Harry says she’s right; this is no different.
Captain Janeway wants to learn as much as she can first. She lacks an interlink node but Tuvok thinks he can do a bridging of minds, melding top the captain and Seven and joining them together. The Doctor is concerned. Tuvok, who has never done this before, states the Doctor’s logic is impossible.
Meanwhile, the Borg Queen is finding more and more drones and steadily closing in on Unimatrix Zero. The captain has another idea for the Borg affected as well. There are quite a lot of them. Massively outnumbered, still, but they could form the core of a resistance.
The story continues in season seven and “Unimatrix Zero, Part II”.