20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek: First Contact
7. The Defiant Was Originally Going To Be Destroyed
During the Battle of Sector 001, earlier scripts had Deep Space Nine's U.S.S. Defiant be destroyed by the Borg, but concerns from several key Trek creatives caused this to be changed in later drafts.
For starters, DS9 showrunner and executive producer Ira Steven Behr took major exception that one of the series' ships was going to be flippantly destroyed in a film that didn't even feature DS9's main cast members.
Writer Ronald D. Moore agreed with the destruction being unnecessary, and so the decision was made to give the Defiant a stay of execution.
All in all, though, the inclusion of the Defiant does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity - a crumb of fan service without the personnel who would've actually made it worthwhile.