Still on its journey home, the Voyager enters Borg space only to find the Borg Collective on the losing end of a desperate war against a bio-technical race designated as Species 8472. While investigating a defeated Borg armada, Harry Kim becomes infected from brief close contact with an 8472, an infection that starts to eat him alive from within. Janeway turns to her Leonardo da Vinci holodeck program for inspiration and devises a risky plan to book safe passage through Borg space by working together with the Borg to defeat Species 8472. As they begin negotiations, Species 8472 attacks.
—statmanjeff