Hugh Hugh , formerly Third of Five , was a former Borg drone who was rescued by the in 2368 . Capture . Hugh was found in the Argolis Cluster at the crash site of a Borg scout ship . Hugh himself was critically injured . He was brought back to the " Enterprise " - D for medical attention by Dr . Beverly Crusher under protest from Captain Picard . Upon arriving on the " Enterprise " - D , Hugh was placed in the brig and kept under guard at all times . He had trouble adapting to his new environment , having been cut off from the resources of the Collective for the first time in his life . Where there had been millions of voices in his head , there was now only his own . Dr . Crusher eventually nursed him back to health , and chief engineer Geordi La Forge found a way to nourish the drone similar to the regeneration alcoves on a Borg ship . Captain Picard saw this as an opportunity to destroy the Borg once and for all . He ordered La Forge and Lieutenant Commander Data to devise a method to destroy the Collective through an implanted program or file in Hugh , much as Data had done to a Borg cube through Captain Picard ( as Locutus ) two year s earlier . Dr . Crusher did not agree with this course of action , because they were talking about exterminating an entire race – even if it was the Borg . New - found individuality . As Hugh spent more time with the " Enterprise " - D crew , he learned many things . La Forge taught him that Human s did not want to be assimilated into the Collective , which contradicted what Hugh had been taught by the Collective . La Forge gave Hugh his name , through a mispronunciation of the word " you " , and became Hugh ' s first ever friend . Guinan , who originally wanted nothing to do with Hugh , taught him that resistance is not futile . Guinan ' s homeworld had been destroyed long ago by the Borg , but the fact that Guinan was still alive was proof of her lessons to Hugh . Picard eventually confronted Hugh . Hugh immediately recognized Picard as Locutus , and Picard took the role of Locutus while talking to Hugh , to simulate the authority that Hugh was used to . However , La Forge , Guinan , Dr . Crusher and other members of the " Enterprise " - D crew had produced a profound effect on Hugh . When Picard reminded him that resistance is futile , Hugh replied that resistance was " not " futile . When Picard told Hugh that La Forge will be assimilated , Hugh stated that La Forge did not wish to be assimilated . When Picard said that this was irrelevant , Hugh specifically said that he ( as Hugh used the word " " I " " rather than " we " ; his second use of a singular pronoun ) would not assist in the assimilation of La Forge . Picard was stunned that a Borg drone would say such things . Picard decided that he could not send Hugh back with the file that would destroy the Borg . He offered Hugh asylum on board the " Enterprise " - D , but Hugh said that the Collective would not stop looking for him until they found him . Hugh agreed to go back to the crash site , and to be taken back into the Collective , to protect the " Enterprise " - D from harm . ( ) After the " Enterprise " - D . Hugh ' s new found sense of individuality proved to be almost as deadly to the Collective as any file stored in his memory could be . His experiences on board the " Enterprise " - D were spread to other drones , and eventually Hugh ' s cube fell into a complete state of disarray . The Borg ' s sense of shared identity had been disrupted , and they were no longer able to function . The Collective disconnected Hugh ' s ship from the hive mind and left the cube drifting in space until 2370 when it was discovered by Lore , Data ' s brother . Lore took advantage of the confused drones and assumed leadership of the group . He brought order to chaos , and allowed the drones to maintain their individuality but was able to control them . Lore " promised " to create the Borg crew in his image , running tests on various drones , leaving them with awful injuries . Hugh disapproved of Lore ' s leadership , finally realizing that Lore had no clue how to keep his promise to the drone crew , and while Lore had acquired a ship and had built a base on a remote planet , Hugh took a group of drones underground and became a leader himself . Hugh and the drones loyal to him assisted the " Enterprise " - D crew in rescuing Picard , La Forge , and Troi and recapturing Data from Lore . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Hugh was played by actor Jonathan Del Arco . Hugh ' s designation used the ordinal " Third , " while the character Seven of Nine used the cardinal " Seven . " The concept behind Hugh was used by the creative staff of " Voyager " in the form of One . The name " Hugh " is a pun , as it sounds like the English word " you , " conveying the message of individuality . In the original German TV frame , this pun was only partially transferred , as he was consistently called " Du " ( " You " in English ) . In repeated airings , as well as on the DVD , the name was changed to " Hugh . " In the Italian version the pun was transferred : the Borg was called Tug , as it sounds similar the Italian word " tu " ( you ) . In the Japanese version , the you / Hugh pun did not make sense and he is instead given the name " Blue . " In the Czech version , the pun was transferred by calling him " Tim " which is very similar in pronunciation to the Czech word " ty " meaning " you " . In the French version , Hugh is called " Lou " . Apocrypha . Hugh appears in the Shatnerverse novel " Avenger " , where his group of Borg are able to save the resurrected Captain James T . Kirk by removing the Borg nanites that were damaging his system after his rebirth . Hugh meets the crew of the " Enterprise " - E in the novel " Greater than the Sum " , where he sacrifices himself to help the " Enterprise " stop a new group of Borg created by the evolution of a Borg cube and the assimilation of Admiral Kathryn Janeway . Hugh appears in the " Star Trek Online " ( STO ) expansion " Delta Rising " as a leader of the Cooperative . The Cooperative is a faction of liberated Borg drones whose mission is primarily to free more drones from the Collective . While the Cooperative shares the Collective ' s goal of achieving perfection , they do not force it upon anyone and any Borg they liberate is free to choose what they want to do afterwards , including returning to the Collective .