Continuity mistake: The registry on the shuttle that brings Paris to Voyager keeps changing between "NCC 71225" and "NCC 1701-D".
Continuity mistake: Tuvok and Paris' rank seems to skip around during the first season. Despite being listed in the credits as 'Lieutenant Tuvok', Tuvok starts the show as a Lieutenant Commander, with the signatory three collar pips, one black and two gold. At certain points, however, he is seen with only two gold pips (signifying Senior Grade Lieutenant). After season one he remains a Lt. Commander with no reason for the lack of continuity offered. Similarly, Paris starts the show as a Senior Grade Lieutenant, but sometimes instead of two gold pips he has one gold and one black, the signifier of a Junior Grade Lieutenant. After season one he is always presented as a Junior Grade, excluding his brief demotion to the rank of Ensign in a later series.
Continuity mistake: In sickbay, when Kim tells the captain he's analyzed the tricorder, the tricorder is open. In the next shot it's closed.
Chosen answer: Before Q sent the Enterprise to the beta quadrant to officially contact the Borg, there were already indications that the Borg was beginning to reach Federation territory. There were remarks towards the end of the first season of the Next Generation that several of the furthest Federation outposts were being attacked by some unknown enemy. They suspected the Romulans, but when contact with the Romulans was re-established, they learned that it was not them. The Hansens had simply figured things out much earlier than anyone else in the Federation. They learned about the Borg nine years earlier, but Starfleet mainly took notice when their outposts started getting wiped out. It is logical to assume that there were indications of Borg scouting parties and research efforts well before that.
Garlonuss ★