<P> In the novel Before Dishonor by Peter David, Admiral Janeway is assimilated while exploring a supposedly "dead" Borg supercube and is later transformed into the Borg Queen . She is later stopped by Seven of Nine, who introduced a virus into the Borg ship . This leads to the events of the Destiny trilogy . </P> <P> In the Mirror Universe novella The Worst of Both Worlds by Greg Cox, the Borg are led by a king . </P> <P> The Borg first appear in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second - season episode "Q Who?", when the omnipotent life - form Q hurls the Enterprise - D across the galaxy to challenge Jean - Luc Picard's assertion that his crew is ready to face the unexplored galaxy's unknown dangers and mysteries . The Enterprise crew is quickly overwhelmed by the relentless Borg, and Picard eventually begs for and receives Q's help in returning the ship to its previous coordinates in the Alpha Quadrant . At the episode's conclusion, Picard suggests to Guinan that Q did "the right thing for the wrong reason" by showing the dangers they will eventually face . It is suggested that the Borg may have been responsible for the destruction of Federation and Romulan colonies in the final episode of season one, "The Neutral Zone". </P> <P> The Borg next appear in The Next Generation's third - season finale and fourth - season premiere, "The Best of Both Worlds". In the third - season cliffhanger, Picard is abducted and subsequently assimilated by the Borg and transformed into Locutus, the Latin term for "he who has spoken" or "he who speaks". "Locutus" is the Borg method of describing the former Picard as the representative of the Borg in all future contacts related to humanity . Picard's knowledge of Starfleet is gained by the collective, and the single cube easily wipes out all resistance in its path, notably the entire Starfleet armada at Wolf 359, which consisted of 40 starships, some of which were sent from the Klingon Empire . The Enterprise crew manages to capture Locutus and gain information through him which allows them to destroy the cube . Picard is later "deassimilated", a process quite different from what happened to Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager (Seven of Nine had to be completely "re-schooled" on humanity, while Picard merely needed to be reminded of humanity . This could be because unlike Seven of Nine, Picard was assimilated for only a short while, while Seven of Nine was assimilated as a child). </P>

When did the borg first appear in star trek