- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [Quoting "Moby Dick"] And he piled upon the whale's white hump, the sum of all the rage and hate felt by his whole race. If his chest had been a cannon, he would have shot his heart upon it.
- Lily Sloane: What?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "Moby-Dick".
- Lily Sloane: Actually, I never read it.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Ahab spent years hunting the white whale that crippled him, a quest for vengeance, but in the end, it destroyed him and his ship.
- Lily Sloane: I guess he didn't know when to quit.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: Captain, I believe I am feeling... anxiety. It is an intriguing sensation. A most distracting...
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Data, I'm sure it's a fascinating experience, but perhaps you should deactivate your emotion chip for now.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: Good idea, sir.
- [beep]
- Lieutenant Commander Data: Done.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Data, there are times that I envy you.
- Lt. Commander Worf: The Defiant?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Adrift but salvageable.
- Cmdr. William Riker: Tough little ship.
- Lt. Commander Worf: Little?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I'm about to commit a direct violation of our orders. Those of you who wish to object, you do so now. It will be noted in my log.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: Captain. I believe I speak for everyone here, sir, when I say...
- [pause]
- Lieutenant Commander Data: To hell with our orders.
- Lily Sloane: Jean Luc, blow up the damn ship!
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: No! Noooooooooo!
- [Smashes glass and model ships with his phaser]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And *I* will make them pay for what they've done!
- Lily Sloane: You broke your little ships.
- [leaving]
- Lily Sloane: See you around, Ahab.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Initiate auto-destruct sequence. Authorization: Picard, 4 7 Alpha Tango.
- Dr. Beverly Crusher: Computer, Commander Beverly Crusher. Confirm auto-destruct sequence. Authorization: Crusher, 2 2 Beta Charlie.
- Lt. Commander Worf: Computer, Lieutenant Commander Worf. Confirm auto-destruct sequence. Authorization: Worf, 3 7 Gamma Echo.
- Computer: Command authorization accepted. Awaiting final command.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Destruct sequence: Alpha 1. 15 minutes, silent countdown. Enable.
- Computer: Auto-destruct in 15 minutes. There will be no further audio warnings.
- Dr. Beverly Crusher: So much for the Enterprise-E.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: We barely knew her.
- Dr. Beverly Crusher: Think they'll build another one?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Plenty of letters left in the alphabet.
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: [very drunk] Look. He wouldn't even talk to me unless I had a drink with him. And then, it took three shots of something called "tequila" just to find out that HE was the one we're looking for! And I've spent the last twenty minutes trying to keep his hands off me! So don't go criticizing my counseling techniques!
- Cmdr. William Riker: Alright.
- [laughs]
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: It's a primitive culture! I'm just trying to blend in.
- Cmdr. William Riker: You're blended alright.
- [Troi is drunk]
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Timeline? This is no time to talk about time! We don't have the time!... What was I saying?
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: I gotta take a leak.
- Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: Leak? I'm not detecting any leak.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Don't you people from the 24th century ever pee?
- Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: Leak! I get it. That's pretty funny.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Excuse me.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Please! Don't tell me it's all thanks to me! I've heard enough about the great Zefram Cochrane! I don't know who writes your history books or where you get your information from, but you people got some pretty funny ideas about me!
- [smirks]
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: You all look at me as if I'm some kind of... saint, or visionary or something!
- Cmdr. William Riker: I don't think you're a saint, Doc. But you did have a vision. And now we're sitting in it.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: You wanna know what my vision is? Dollar signs, money! I didn't build this ship to usher in a new era for humanity. You think I wanna go to the stars? I don't even like to fly! I take trains! I built this ship so that I could retire to some tropical island... filled with
- [smirks]
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: naked women. THAT'S Zefram Cochrane. THAT'S his vision. This other guy you keep talking about, this historical figure? I never met him. I can't imagine I ever will.
- Cmdr. William Riker: Someone once said "Don't try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgements."
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: That's rhetorical nonsense. Who said that?
- Cmdr. William Riker: [smiles] You did, ten years from now.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: The economics of the future are somewhat different. You see, money doesn't exist in the 24th century.
- Lily Sloane: No money? You mean you don't get paid?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity. Actually, we're rather like yourself and Dr. Cochrane.
- [the Vulcans have landed to meet Cochrane]
- Vulcan: Live long and prosper.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Thanks.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: [about the Borg Queen] She brought me closer to humanity than I ever thought possible. And for a time, I was tempted by her offer.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: How long a time?
- Lieutenant Commander Data: 0.68 seconds sir. For an android, that is nearly an eternity.
- Lily Sloane: You gotta go?
- [Picard nods "Yes"]
- Lily Sloane: I envy you... the world you're going to.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I envy YOU... taking these first steps into a new frontier. I shall miss you, Lily.
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: If you're looking for my professional opinion as ship's counselor: he's nuts.
- Cmdr. William Riker: I'll be sure to note that in my log.
- The Borg: We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
- Holographic Doctor: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
- Dr. Beverly Crusher: Twenty Borg are about to break through that door. We need time to get out of here! Create a diversion!
- Holographic Doctor: This isn't part of my program! I'm a doctor, not a doorstop.
- Dr. Beverly Crusher: Well, do a dance! Tell a story! I don't care! Just give us a few seconds!
- [the Borg break in as Crusher and her people escape through an airduct]
- Holographic Doctor: Ahem, according to Starfleet medical research... Borg implants can cause severe skin irritations. Perhaps you'd like an analgesic cream?
- [Picard takes the phaser from Lily, and inspects it]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Maximum setting. If you had fired this, you would have vaporized me.
- Lily Sloane: [sheepish] It's my first ray gun.
- Cmdr. William Riker: Doctor, tomorrow morning when they detect the warp signature from your ship and realize that humans have discovered how to travel faster than light, they decide to alter their course and make first contact with Earth, right here.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Here?
- Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: Well, actually, over there.
- Cmdr. William Riker: It is one of the pivotal moments in human history, Doctor. You get to make first contact with an alien race! And after you do... everything begins to change.
- Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: Your theories on warp drive allow fleets of starships to be built and mankind to start exploring the Galaxy.
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: It unites humanity in a way no one ever thought possible. When they realize they're not alone in the universe, poverty, disease, war - they'll all be gone within the next fifty years.
- Cmdr. William Riker: But unless you make that warp flight tomorrow morning before eleven fifteen, none of it will happen.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: And you people, you're all astronauts on... some kind of star trek.
- Borg Queen: [Data fires quantum torpedoes at Cochrane's ship and inexplicably misses his target, outraging the Borg Queen] DATA!
- Lieutenant Commander Data: Resistance is futile!
- [Smashes the warp coolant, flooding Engineering and destroying the Borg]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Mr. Worf... I regret some of the things I said to you earlier.
- Lt. Commander Worf: "Some"?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: As a matter of fact, I think you're the bravest man I have ever known.
- Lt. Commander Worf: Thank you, sir.
- [Picard puts his hand on the Phoenix]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: It's a boyhood fantasy... I must have seen this ship hundreds of times in the Smithsonian but I was never able to touch it.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: Sir, does tactile contact alter your perception of the Phoenix?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Oh, yes! For humans, touch can connect you to an object in a very personal way, make it seem more real.
- [Data also puts his hand on the Phoenix]
- Lieutenant Commander Data: I am detecting imperfections in the titanium casing... temperature variations in the fuel manifold... it is no more "real" to me now than it was a moment ago.
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: [observing from a catwalk] Would you three like to be alone?
- Cmdr. William Riker: We finished our first sensor sweep of the neutral zone.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Oh, fascinating. Twenty particles of space dust per cubic meter, 52 ultraviolet radiation spikes, and a class-2 comet. Well, this is certainly worthy of our attention.
- Cmdr. William Riker: Captain, why are we out here chasing comets?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Let's just say Starfleet has every confidence with the Enterprise and her crew - they're just not sure about her Captain. They believe that a man who was once captured and assimilated by the Borg should not be put in a situation where he would face them again. To do so would introduce "an unstable element to a critical situation."
- Cmdr. William Riker: That's ridiculous. Your experience with the Borg makes you the perfect man to lead this fight.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Admiral Hayes disagrees.
- Lt. Commander Worf: Sir, we have lost the Enterprise. We should not sacrifice...
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: We have not lost the Enterprise, Mr. Worf. We are not *going* to lose the Enterprise. Not to the Borg. Not while I'm in command.
- [Riker, LaForge and Cochrane have made humanity's first warp speed test flight]
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Is that Earth?
- Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: That's it!
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: It's so small...
- Cmdr. William Riker: It's about to get a whole lot bigger.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: It's not too late. Locutus could still be with you. Just in the way you wanted: an equal. Let Data go, and I will take my place at your side. Willingly, without any resistance.
- Borg Queen: Such a noble creature. A quality we sometimes lack. We will add your distinctiveness to our own. Welcome home... Locutus.
- Borg Queen: Brave words. I've heard them before, from thousands of species across thousands of worlds, since long before you were created. But, now they are all Borg.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: I am unlike any lifeform you have encountered before. The codes stored in my neural net cannot be forcibly removed.
- Borg Queen: You are an imperfect being, created by an imperfect being. Finding you weakness is only a matter of time.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Mr. Worf, do you remember your zero-G combat training?
- Lt. Commander Worf: I remember it made me sick to my stomach.
- [realizing what he's getting at]
- Lt. Commander Worf: What are you suggesting?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I think it's time that we took a little stroll.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: You want to destroy the ship and run away, you coward.
- Lt. Commander Worf: If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand.
- [Lily and Zefram had a few too much to drink at a bar]
- Lily Sloane: You're going to regret this tomorrow.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: One of the things you should have learned about me by now is that I don't have regrets.
- [leaving the bar, Cochrane pulls Lily back]
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Come on, Lily. One more round.
- Lily Sloane: [pulling Cochrane off her] Z, you've had enough. I'm not going up in that thing with a drunken pilot.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Well I sure as hell am not going up in there sober.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Six years ago, they assimiated me into their collective. I had their cybernetic devices implanted throughout my body. I was linked to the hive mind. Every trace of individuality erased. I was one of them. So you can imagine, my dear, I have a somewhat unique perspective on the Borg, and I know how to fight them. Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do.
- Lily Sloane: I am such an idiot. It's so simple. The Borg HURT you, and now you're going to HURT them back.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: In my century, we don't succumb to revenge. We have a more evolved sensibility.
- Lily Sloane: BULLSHIT! I saw the look your face when you shot those Borg on the Holodeck. You were almost ENJOYING it!
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: How dare you.
- Lily Sloane: Oh, come on, Captain. You're not the first man to get a thrill from murdering someone! I see it all the time!
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: GET OUT!
- Lily Sloane: Or what? You'll kill me like you killed Ensign Lynch?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: There was no way to save him.
- Lily Sloane: You didn't even try! Where was your evolved sensibility then?
- Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: Look, Doc, we can't do this without you!
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: I don't care. I don't want to be a statue.
- Cmdr. William Riker: Doctor...
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: You stay away from me!
- [runs off]
- Cmdr. William Riker: We don't have time for this.
- [pulls out a phaser and stuns Cochrane who falls in a creekbed]
- Cmdr. William Riker: [to Geordi] You told him about the statue?
- [Cochrane, Riker and LaForge are on board the Phoenix, preparing to go into warp]
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Engage!
- [Riker and LaForge grin at each other knowingly]
- Cmdr. William Riker: Deanna! Deanna!
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Will, don't turn off the that...!
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Who is this jerk? And who told him he could turn off my music?
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Will Riker, Zefram Cochrane.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Is he a friend of yours?
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Yes.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Husband?
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: No.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Goood.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [looking at the Phoenix] Isn't it amazing? This ship used to be a nuclear missile.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: It is an historical irony that Dr. Cochrane would choose an instrument of mass destruction to inaugurate an era of peace.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I don't have time for this.
- Lily Sloane: Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your little quest. Captain Ahab has to go hunt his whale.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: What?
- Lily Sloane: You do have books in the 24th century?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: This is not about revenge.
- Lily Sloane: LIAR!
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: This is about saving the future of humanity!
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: A group of cybernetic creatures from the future have traveled back through time to enslave the human race... and you're here to stop them?
- Cmdr. William Riker: That's right.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Hot damn! You're heroic.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: [to Riker] I've got a 4-alarm hangover. It's either from all that whiskey, or your laser beam. Or both. But I'm ready to make history.
- Lily Sloane: [threatening with a phaser] You want to help me? Get me out of here!
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Alright. You want a way out? Here it is.
- [Picard opens window, revealing the Earth far, far below]
- Lily Sloane: What is this?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Australia. New Guinea. Solomon Islands. Montana will be up soon, but you may want to hold your breath - it's a long way down!
- [Picard asks the Borg Queen to exchange Data for himself]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Let him go. He's not the one you want.
- Borg Queen: Are you offering yourself to us?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Offering myself...? That's it, I remember now! It wasn't enough that you assimilate me... I had to give myself freely to the Borg. To you!
- Borg Queen: You flatter yourself! I've overseen the assimilation of countless millions. You were no different!
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: You're lying. You wanted more than just another Borg drone. You wanted a human being with a mind of his own, who could bridge the gulf between humanity and the Borg! You wanted a counterpart! But I resisted. I fought you.
- Borg Queen: You can't begin to imagine the life you denied yourself.
- [last lines]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Mr. Data, lay in a course for the 24th century. I suspect our future is there waiting for us.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: Course laid in, sir.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Make it so.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Now this, Dena...
- Deanna Troi: Deanna.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: [as he pours Deanna a drink] ... is the good stuff.
- Cmdr. William Riker: Dr. Cochrane...
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: To the Phoenix... may she rest in peace.
- [both drink, then choke]
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Oohh... Okay, that wasn't so good.
- [tosses bottle away]
- [as Deanna counts down the Phoenix's ignition, Cochrane -- believing earlier that he'd forgotten something -- snaps his fingers]
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Oh, God! Now I remember!
- Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: What?
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: [checking his pockets] Where is it? We can't lift off without!
- Cmdr. William Riker: Geordi, we've gotta abort!
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: [suddenly finds a green disk] No, no! Wait! I found it!
- [slams disk into player]
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Let's rock and roll!
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Seven... Six...
- [she rips off her headphones as Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" blares over the stereo and the Phoenix takes off]
- Cmdr. William Riker: [looking up at the moon] Look at that.
- Dr. Zefram Cochrane: What, you don't have a moon in the 24th century?
- Cmdr. William Riker: Sure we do. It just looks a lot different. There are 50 million people living on the moon in my time. You can see Tycho City, New Berlin, even Lake Armstrong on a day like this.
- Lieutenant Commander Data: [with his grafted flesh burned away] I imagine I look worse than I... feel.
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Bridge to Captain Picard.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Go ahead.
- Cmdr. Deanna Troi: We've just received word from the Fleet. They've engaged the Borg.