Star Trek: The Next Generation1987

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge:
If this works the way I think it will, once the invasive program starts spreading, it'll only be a matter of months before the Borg suffer total systems failure.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
Comments?

Doctor Beverly Crusher:
A question. What exactly is "total systems failure"?

Lt. Commander Data:
The Borg are extremely computer-dependent. A systems failure will destroy them.

Doctor Beverly Crusher:
I just think we should be clear about that. We're talking about annihilating an entire race.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
Which under most circumstances would be unconscionable. But as I see it, the Borg leave us with little choice.

Commander William T. Riker:
I agree. We're at war.

Doctor Beverly Crusher:
There's been no formal declaration of war.

Counselor Deanna Troi:
Not from us, but certainly from them. They've attacked us at every encounter.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
They've declared war on our way of life. We're to be assimilated.

Doctor Beverly Crusher:
But even in war, there are rules. You don't kill civilians indiscriminately.

Commander William T. Riker:
There are no civilians among the Borg.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
Think of them as a single collective being. There's no one Borg who is more an individual than your arm or your leg.

Doctor Beverly Crusher:
How convenient.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
Your point, Doctor?

Doctor Beverly Crusher:
When I look at my patient, I don't see a collective consciousness, I don't see a hive. I see a living, breathing boy who has been hurt and who needs our help. And we're talking about sending him back to his people as an instrument of destruction.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
It comes down to this: we're faced with an enemy who are determined to destroy us, and we have no hope of negotiating a peace. Unless that changes, we're justified in doing anything we can to survive.