Time travel, natural cosmic disasters, epic scale space battles and even omnipotent beings the Federation can handle it all. Right? The Borg one of the most ruthless and dangerous enemy race ever encountered in the Star Trek universe. Their existence presents the Federation with a near-insurmountable foe. The problem how do they defeat an enemy that can adapt to their attacks with a reaction time that seems instantaneous, can absorb their strengths and use them against them? Well, quite frankly, they're not supposed to, but to the crew of the Enterprise and the rest of the Federation - the Borg were introduced to demonstrate a note of humility; a reminder to the viewing audience that it's not so easy in the era of the 24th century and that there are things that will dirty the hands of the indulged and pampered officers and crew of Star Fleet. But, a greater threat than the champions of the Federation is supposed to provide greater entertainment. When the Enterprise, and other notable ships, resisted this overwhelming enemy, great stories resulted. In the first encounter with the Borg ("Q-Who?" Season 2), it was quite clear that the omnipotent super-being, "Q", meant to rub some dirt in Jean-Luc Picard's aristocratic nose. By refusing Q's request to join the crew of the Enterprise on the basis that his experience was not needed, Picard virtually invited Q to prove him wrong. The Enterprise was placed in an unwinnable position with an enemy they knew nothing about and it was up to Picard's admission of weakness and dependency to get Q to remove them from the situation. Which he did, but more importantly than the encounter was the realization that the Borg would be coming. This set the scene for five future incidents that illustrated that resistance was far from futile - and just damn entertaining.