Question about Seven of Nine's parents

[doesitmatter]

Annika Hansen was assimilated twenty years before Voyager separated her from the Collective. Her family was from Earth and was observing the Borg.

But Q introduced the Enterprise to the Borg only ten years before Voyager met Seven of Nine. And no one had ever seen anything like them.

How could the Hansen's have been studying the Borg a decade before they were discovered? It confused me when the episodes aired and now that I'm watching the reruns it still doesn't make sense.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Annika Hansen was assimilated twenty years before Voyager separated her from the Collective. Her family was from Earth and was observing the Borg.

But Q introduced the Enterprise to the Borg only ten years before Voyager met Seven of Nine. And no one had ever seen anything like them.

How could the Hansen's have been studying the Borg a decade before they were discovered? It confused me when the episodes aired and now that I'm watching the reruns it still doesn't make sense.

Clearly there were rumors as Magnus mentions in his log in the episode that probably came from races that encountered the Borg most notably the El Aurians. So with these reports the Hansens became curious and set out to find proof of their existence. They encountered a cube that they shadowed and ultimately took them to the Delta Quadrant where they were eventually assimilated.

No one obviously would know what became of the Hansens and no one ever learned they encountered the Borg. I'm sure when they were never heard from them their colleagues probably assumed they were destroyed by some spatial anomaly which as we know are plentiful in the Trek universe.

 

[Ro_Laren]

There are other examples of mistakes with the Borg timeline in the Trek universe. For example, in the VOY episode Infinite Regress we see Seven manifesting personalities of other Borg drones. One of her personalities is of a Starfleet officer from the USS Tombaugh that was assimilated 13 years before the episode (the assimilation was in 2362 and Q introduced Picard & company to the Borg in 2365).

And of course can we really say that Q introduced the Borg to the Federation when the remnants from the Borg Sphere of First Contact were discovered by scientists in the Enterprise episode Regeneration? You could argue that Earth wasn't a part of the Federation at the time of the episode (which it wasn't since the Federation hadn't been founded yet), but that really doesn't matter. Unless all records of the Borg in Antarctica were lost, all debris destroyed, and everyone involved had amnesia then the Federation officials should have been informed of the Borg when it was founded. Or maybe the humans on Earth were a part of some conspiracy to cover up the Borg (a la Roswell).

 

[doesitmatter]

Thanks! The El Auriens help a lot.

 

[Anwar]

Also the Borg had been attacking the Federation before Q formally introduced them. They were the ones who destroyed the Fed and Romulan outposts along the Neutral Zone in the first season of TNG.

 

[crouteru]

The time travel events of Star Trek: First Contact and Enterprise episode 'Regeneration' could also help to explain how the Hansen's knew about The Borg before Picard and the TNG crew's first meeting with them.

 

[Timo]

Or maybe the humans on Earth were a part of some conspiracy to cover up the Borg (a la Roswell).

Never attribute to malice what is best explained by incompetence...

I see no fault in a timeline where a truly alien and secretive species is "encountered" piecemeal over several centuries. Naturally any information about such a species would be gathered gradually, in the form of rumors that only slowly attain any sort of solidity.

We have to remember that any encounter with the Borg is likely to end in assimilation (unless Q snaps his fingers to help you á la "Q Who?"), so the news wouldn't reach Starfleet or the Federation. Say, the Tombaugh was probably simply listed "missing, presumed lost for causes unknown".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[nx1701g]

And of course can we really say that Q introduced the Borg to the Federation when the remnants from the Borg Sphere of First Contact were discovered by scientists in the Enterprise episode Regeneration? You could argue that Earth wasn't a part of the Federation at the time of the episode (which it wasn't since the Federation hadn't been founded yet), but that really doesn't matter. Unless all records of the Borg in Antarctica were lost, all debris destroyed, and everyone involved had amnesia then the Federation officials should have been informed of the Borg when it was founded. Or maybe the humans on Earth were a part of some conspiracy to cover up the Borg (a la Roswell).

They never identified themselves as The Borg in the course of the episode. The only remote reference to the name was in Archer's reading of the speech by Cochrane where he told the real story of first contact to I believe the Princeton graduating class.

 

[Timo]

What would the records say about the "Regeneration" incident? Techno-zombies from hell sprung up from Antarctic ice, commandeered a research support vessel, attacked a Tellarite transport, and finally succumbed to justice dished out by the Enterprise. That as such wouldn't result in revelation of the existence of the Borg or anything - it would be just another bizarre episode in a long series of "yes, there really were space aliens all along, and some were here on Earth, and now we know".

What the records might state that would have significance to later research would be that Dr Phlox identified a type of nanotech that turns people into these techno-zombies. But how versed would we assume somebody like Picard to be in obscure medical notes from two centuries past?

Remember that our heroes and sidekicks face bizarreness like this every second week. And supposedly they are just one starship crew out of hundreds to do so. Minutiae like this are easily lost in such a torrent of information.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The time travel events of Star Trek: First Contact and Enterprise episode 'Regeneration' could also help to explain how the Hansen's knew about The Borg before Picard and the TNG crew's first meeting with them.

No, not really, since those episodes were simply part of the original timeline all along. A predestination paradox, as it were.

 

[Unicron]

I've never been entirely happy with the Hansens, or with "Regeneration." I think the only reason the producers referenced FC was to try and explain the continuity issues "Regeneration" created, since it was just a ratings stunt anyway. I'd have less problem with the Hansens if they didn't have a perfect model of a Borg cube, or if they didn't already know the Borg were cybernetic or had a collective structure. Sorry, but I don't think even the El-Aurians knew that much about the collective. And I don't see why they'd bother telling the Hansens if they weren't willing to share this same info with the Federation.

 

[exodus]

I've never been entirely happy with the Hansens, or with "Regeneration." I think the only reason the producers referenced FC was to try and explain the continuity issues "Regeneration" created, since it was just a ratings stunt anyway. I'd have less problem with the Hansens if they didn't have a perfect model of a Borg cube, or if they didn't already know the Borg were cybernetic or had a collective structure. Sorry, but I don't think even the El-Aurians knew that much about the collective. And I don't see why they'd bother telling the Hansens if they weren't willing to share this same info with the Federation.

How many decades had passed from the time when we saw the El-Aurains reaching Earth in "Generations" to the time Picard encountered them? Any info the El-Aurain's gave would be outdated by Picards time. The Federation doesn't even have updated info on the Romulans. Plus, why would the Federation worry about a group of beings far off in the Delta Quaderant that had barely come to the Alpha Quad. and never posed any threat until WOLF359? Besides, why assume the Hanson spoke directly with any of the El-Aurains?

The info the Hansen & Seven had was far more current.

 

[LeadHead]

Here's the way I see it.
Regeneration: An Alien species springs to life from the wreckage of a ship in the ice. They steal a ship and run away, attacking another alien ship before being caught and destroyed. The incident was probably classifed and nobody outside of the Starfleet personnel involved would know about it.

The El-Aurians: A group of refugees heading into the Federation tell stories of an invading force that destroyed their world that sounds familiar when Starfleet investigates. The story of the Borg may have circulatated among soem circles. Never reaching mass circulation.

The Hansens: Some Starfleet ship on a deep space Mission detects some unusual readings that they transmit back to starfleet. Starfleet rather than makin it an official investigation, recruits some civilian scientists to analyze the data and attempt to form conclusions. The Hansens beliveing the Borg to be a real species and an interesting study take the Raven and go in search of them. The Hansens didn't let the information out because they were dependent on Starfleet for their ship.

Q Who?: The Borg had recieved a signal from the Regeneration Borg, but nothing else. The Signal would have seemed foreign in some manner since it was from Borg in their future. Q sent the Enterprise to Borg Space, a Borg Drone Boarded the Enterprise. Accessed and downloaded the Database, realizing the signal that was recieved was about them. Increasng the importance of responding to it. No to mention, wondering how the hell the ship made it that far and escaped from right under their clutches.

 

[Anwar]

Actually, the Borg responded to the Regeneration signal by going to the NZ outposts and destroying them, Fed and Romulans ones. Then deciding they had nothing to offer they left, got to J-25 and encountered the ENT-D. Now intrigued as to how the Feds could get there when the data taken from the NZ outposts said otherwise, they sent the drone.

 

[Unicron]

I agree, exodus. Personally I like to think of the NZ strikes as scouting engagements, completely separate from the later VOY or ENT eps. The Borg would have undoubtedly considered the Romulans and the Federation to be inferiors, but still potential targets.

It's worth noting too that Guinan says in "Q Who?" that Q's actions effectively sped up the first contact with the Collective, sooner than it should have happened.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Well Maurice Hurley had originally planned for the Borg to wipe out the Romulan Empire and the attack on The Neutral Zone outposts was building up to that.

I will say there are probably any number of valid interpretations and ways of reconciling the various episodes from TNG, ENT, VOY.

 

[Unicron]

That's true. I'm glad they didn't decide to wipe out the Romulans, as they're underused already.

 

[Timo]

I'd have less problem with the Hansens if they didn't have a perfect model of a Borg cube, or if they didn't already know the Borg were cybernetic or had a collective structure. Sorry, but I don't think even the El-Aurians knew that much about the collective.

To be sure, the Cube model and the knowledge were only shown after the Hansens had spent some time on their quest. The immediately following log entry suggest they have been underway for eight months, so the Cube model might have been created only after new information had been gathered. And the Hansens do seem to be working on a lead of some sort, rather than just flying blindly about - so they might have an eyewitness statement or two to go by, enough to get the surface of a Cube and the basic nature of the Collective right.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Unicron]

Fair enough. However, there's a distinction between getting detailed info, and going on rumors as Magus claimed he was doing. Either of them is plausible, but I don't think they're both likely.

 

[dave_R_treker]

The time travel events of Star Trek: First Contact and Enterprise episode 'Regeneration' could also help to explain how the Hansen's knew about The Borg before Picard and the TNG crew's first meeting with them.

In the Enterprise episode Regeneration, we never here the borg use the word borg, when the Enterprise and the Borg craft made contact, it went right into " you will be assimillated resistance is futile", there was no "we are the borg" like we have always heard"