The Enterprise-E arrived at the battle, in violation of orders, as the Borg entered orbit. Captain Picard was able to use his knowledge of the borg to locate a weak point on the hull, and by concentrating the firepower of the few remaining ships on that spot the cube was successfully destroyed. However, the Borg launched a spherical escape pod of some kind as the cube was destroyed, and this ship generated a temporal vortex in order to go into the past and assimilate Earth there. The sphere attacked the launch site of Zephram Cochranes warp ship, damaging the vessel and killing many of the support staff. They hoped that this would prevent First Contact between the Humans and Vulcans, thus preventing the creation of the Federation. The Enterprise followed the sphere through the vortex and destroyed it, although a group of Borg transported to the Battlecruiser and almost assimilated the ship. Eventually the Enterprise crew where successful in both overcoming this attack and correcting the damage done to the past.