"Descent" is the 26th episode of the sixth season and the first episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 152nd and 153rd episodes overall. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode they once again encounter the Borg. The episode, which was aired on television in 1993, features a guest appearance by astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. He appears in the show's opening on the holodeck in a card game with android Data, as a holographic version of himself. Plot Part I On the holodeck, Lt. Commander Data plays a game of poker with holographic representations of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking. Data explains to Newton that the game is an experiment for understanding "how three of history's greatest minds would interact" in such a setting. He suspends the program when a red alert is issued from the bridge. The responds to a distress call from a Starfleet outpost. Riker, Worf, Data and a security guard form an away team and they find the crew of the outpost dead. They are suddenly attacked by a group of Borg, who kill the "red shirt" security guard. Riker notices that, in contrast to previous encounters, the Borg are armed with energy weapons and refer to each other as individuals. Data experiences anger while fighting a Borg and breaks the Borg's neck. One Borg begins talking to himself about the nature of the away team members and appears to signal a withdrawal when he sees that Data is an android. Meanwhile, in orbit, an unidentified ship fires on the Enterprise, which returns fire. The alien ship beams up the remaining Borg from the outpost and flees, with the Enterprise in pursuit. The Borg ship suddenly enters a vortex and disappears. On the planet surface, Riker asks Data what happened, but Data can only explain that he felt anger. The away team is beamed back on board and Admiral Nechayev arrives to take command of the situation. She reprimands Picard for not destroying the Borg when he had the chance ("I, Borg") and orders him to do so if another opportunity presents itself. Data continues to try to understand what caused his behavior on the outpost. He tries to experience emotion again through simulations of the event, but