Continuity mistake: When Tom explains to Alice why he can't leave the Voyager, he has a three-day beard. Later in the ship, when Alice convinces him to turn on the neurological interface, he is cleanly shaved. But in the next scene he has his beard back again.
Continuity mistake: When Harry uses the scanning tool, the lights alternate between flashing from top down to bottom up and back between angles.
Continuity mistake: When future Kes is talking to Neelix in the kitchen, when he says he's already reserved the holodeck, he's holding the smaller container. In the next shot, the smaller container is on the counter and he's holding the bigger pot.
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 ★