Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek: Defiant #9!
There is a new, ultra-powerful anti-Borg weapon in the Star Trek universe, and it has ties to Captain Kirk. In Star Trek: Defiant #9, Worf and his crew have been dispatched by Starfleet to bring in the renegade Borg Hugh. When Worf and the Defiant catch-up to Hugh, they learn he has a powerful weapon, familiar to fans of the Original Series, to use against his former masters.
Star Trek: Defiant #9 is written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Mike Feehan. Boarding Hugh’s vessel, B’Elanna Torres detects a type of propulsion method not used in centuries, one that Mister Spock has encountered before. As the crew makes their way to the emissions’ source, they are shocked to learn that Hugh has allied himself with Nomad, a destructive probe that had been defeated a century before by Captain Kirk.
Nomad has been repurposed to become a tool not to kill the Borg, but to free them from the clutches of the Collective, allowing the drones to reclaim their individuality.
Captain Kirk Sets the Stage for the Borg’s Liberation
Long time Star Trek fans will recognize Nomad from the Original Series. Nomad first appeared in the second season episode “The Changeling.” Nomad began as an exploratory probe launched from Earth in the early 21st century. Drifting through space for years, it collided with another alien probe. This probe had been sent out to sterilize soil samples, but when it merged with Nomad, its directive became to “sterilize” biological life. Nomad destroys an entire civilization before Captain Kirk the probe by essentially outthinking it. Now, Nomad has somehow returned, but with a new mission.
Star Trek: Defiant #9 makes it clear that Nomad has changed. While Nomad was highly destructive in its on-screen appearance, there was some ambiguity over the intentions of the alien race that launched the soil probe. In a text piece in this issue, resembling Spock’s briefing to Starfleet on Nomad, Spock speculates its creators were benign–but he learns in this issue that it was anything but, and was launched on a mission of destruction and colonization. Nomad has gone from a world destroyer to a tool of redemption and salvation.
Hugh’s Amazing Star Trek Character Arc Begins Here
In many ways, Nomad and Hugh’s paths are very similar. Nomad can overload a Borg cube’s logic circuits and free the drones on board. In season one of Star Trek: Picard, Hugh leads an initiative to “reclaim” former Borg drones, and his time with Nomad is the beginning of this arc. In Defiant #9, Worf, after seeing Nomad in action, realizes that Hugh is a savior. Hugh does not want to kill Borg as he knows they are all victims themselves. Star Trek’s new anti-Borg weapon refuses to perpetuate the cycle of misery with the Borg, instead choosing to help them recover their humanity.
Star Trek: Defiant #9 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!
