Wolf 359

Several destroyed starships at Wolf 359

Wolf 359 (also CN Leonis) was a star located in the Wolf system, about 7.8 light years from Sol, in the constellation of Leo.

The real Wolf 359 was a flare star that modern scientists have determined was a red dwarf, spectral class M6, massing 0.093 of Sol with absolute magnitude +16.56.

Battle of Wolf 359

Main article: Battle of Wolf 359

Wolf 359 is most notable as the site of the first large-scale engagement between Starfleet and the Borg. In 2367, a fleet of forty ships under the command of Admiral Hanson engaged a Borg cube commanded by Locutus at the Battle of Wolf 359. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D had been assimilated by the Borg, and as Locutus, unwillingly provided them with a decisive advantage through his knowledge of Starfleet technology and tactics. This led to the Federation fleet, tasked with preventing the advance of the Borg to Earth, being quickly overwhelmed and utterly destroyed. Of the forty vessels that engaged the Borg cube, thirty-nine were destroyed, resulting in approximately eleven thousand deaths. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II")

After the disastrously one-sided engagement, the Borg cube advanced towards Earth. It quickly breached the Mars Defense Perimeter by defeating the much smaller and weaker force available there and took up position over the Earth as it prepared to assimilate Humanity.

The Enterprise-D had been disabled in a previous contact with the Borg that took place shortly before the battle at Wolf 359. Had she been able to join the fleet there as planned, it is very likely that she, too, would have been destroyed. Ultimately, the Enterprise was able to destroy the Borg cube and end the threat by turning Picard's knowledge of the Borg, gained as Locutus, against them.

Among the ships lost at Wolf 359 were the USS Melbourne, command of which had been offered to Commander William T. Riker, and which he had declined.

Also lost was the USS Saratoga, on which then Lt. Commander Benjamin Sisko was serving. Sisko lost his wife Jennifer in the destruction of the Saratoga, and Sisko long blamed and disliked Picard for his role in her death. (DS9: "Emissary")

Star chart of surrounding area

On several occasions in 2364, viewscreen readouts aboard the USS Enterprise-D showed the location of Wolf 359, in the form of charts from the Enterprise-D library computer. (TNG: "The Naked Now", "The Last Outpost", "Conspiracy")

Appendices

Background

The Enterprise computer's star chart was a drawing by Rick Sternbach that had originally been published, years earlier, on page 77 of the non-canon reference book Spaceflight Chronology. This chart showed Earth commercial and exploration routes after the use of warp drive began. Wolf 359 was not a destination on any of the routes.

According to the Star Trek: Star Charts, on page 45, this star was located in the Beta Quadrant.

Apocrypha

In non-canon sources, comics of the DC TNG volume 2 series mention Wolf 359 was maintained as a wreckyard of the doomed ships, as depicted in the stories "The Worst of Both Worlds, Part I!" and again in "And Death Shall Have No Dominion". Star Trek Online also depicted such a memorial.

External links

• Wolf 359 at Wikipedia
• Template:NCwiki
• Wolf 359 at the Internet Stellar Database
• Wolf 359 at SolStation.com