At the end of the 1994 film Star Trek: Generations, The tried and true USS Enterprise-D lands in Veridian III after a collision with a rogue Klingon ship. The ship was damaged beyond repair, and the crew walked away, completely unsentimental about the ship's destruction. They were just happy to be alive. In the 1996 follow-up film, Star Trek: First Contact, the same crew was assembled aboard the all-new USS Enterprise-E, a Sovereign-class ship that was slightly smaller, but faster and much better armed. The crew remained aboard the Enterprise-E through the events of 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, the fourth and final film starring the characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Enterprise-E was also severely damaged at the end of "Star Trek: Nemesis," though it appeared to be repairable this time around. After the events of Nemesis, the ship just continued its mission with Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) in command. However, it will have to go on without Riker and Troy (Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis), who got married and moved to the USS Titan. Also, Worf (Michael Dorn) became an ambassador and Data (Brent Spiner) died.

The Enterprise-E would not be mentioned in any (canonical) Star Trek sources until an episode of Star Trek: Picard 21 years later. In the episode "Võx" (April 13, 2023), it will be revealed that Geordi, as a side hustle, has been collecting old parts of the Enterprise-D and reassembling it in his space garage. Geordie (LeVar Burton) suggests they use D for a mission, since E has become unusable for some unspecified reason. Everyone looks to Worf, who quickly contributes, “It was no my fault."

That, amusingly, is the only information viewers get about the Enterprise-E's fate. We know that Worf had something to do with its destruction or disappearance. But what actually happened to the Enterprise-E? We may have a few clues we can follow from an episode of Star Trek: The Prodigies and confirmation from one of the show's writers.

The antagonist of the first season of Star Trek: The Prodigies was an evil Palpatine-like slaver called the Diviner (John Noble), whose scheme was incredibly complicated. His planet was visited by Starfleet, who offered them a peaceful place in the ever-growing galactic community. That offer, however, threw his planet into a violent civil war that killed most of the population. In retaliation, the Diviner traveled back in time, located an ultra-fast Federation ship called the USS Protostar, and hid an insidious computer virus on it.

The virus spreads through ship-to-ship communication and infects the ship's weapon systems, forcing them to target other Starfleet ships. At the end of Prodigy's first season, the show's protagonists deliver the Protostar back to Federation space, not knowing until almost too late that the Diviner virus is on board. Several Federation ships gather around the Protostar and the virus begins to spread. Starfleet ships begin attacking each other. Many explosions begin.

In what seemed like a wink to the Trekkies, the Enterprise-E was in the fray. This fits into the Star Trek chronology, as Nemesis takes place in 2379 and Prodigy takes place around 2384. According to Una McComack's non-canon Star Trek: Picard novel The Last Best Hope. Picard left the Enterprise-E in 2381 and gave command to Worf, although those events are not confirmed in any on-screen canon.

However, a fan theory (covered in an inverse article), claims that Worf was not in command of the Enterprise-E, but on the newly built USS Defiantalso seen hibernating around in the dreaded fire among the Prodigy Starfleet. Worf previously commanded the Defiant on "Deep Space Nine," so it was logical to assume that he would command the one on "Prodigy."

The Defiant is seen firing at the Enterprise-E, causing no small amount of damage. If Worf commanded the Defiant, and his ship — while under the influence of the Diviner virus — destroyed the Enterprise-E that day, well then, Worf would have every reason to be defensive in "Star Trek: Picard." That was it no his fault.

Of course, as "Deep Space Nine" fans know, the Defiant was destroyed in 2375 and replaced by a Defiant-class ship called the USS São Paulo, but it doesn't take much imagination to see the new ship. crossed himself in defiance in honor of the old ship. Indeed, in "Star Trek: Picard" the new Defiant was seen preserved in a starship museumso it stands to reason that the Defiant should be around for the events of Star Trek: Prodigy.

In a Facebook group called "Star Trek S***post", a fan theorized that Worf was aboard the Defiant and blew up the Enterprise-E. One of the Star Trek: Prodigy writers, Aaron J. Waltke, was a member of the group, and he responded (jokingly) that "This is canon." Inversna reached out to Woltke for further clarification, and he responded with the following comment:

"There are a few things we know to be true in the mystery surrounding the fate of Worf and the Enterprise-E. First, Picard was no longer the captain of the Enterprise during the Romulan evacuation (as described in "Star Trek: Picard"). Second, on Defiant was present at Gamma Serpentis in the battle with the Living Construct (on "Prodigy"), where it lost control and destroyed other Starfleet ships. A fleet of Sovereign-class ships were damaged or destroyed there, including the ship USS Sovereign and a suspicious looking ship Enterprise-E.

Some non-canon sources say that the Enterprise-E continues beyond the events of "Prodigy", particularly in a list of Instagram posts called Picard Diaries. Those logs state that the Enterprise-E was on a mission as late as 2386 and that Worf was in command at the time. No further details were offered, except that Worf returned from that mission and the Enterprise-E did not.

However, those Instagram posts don't fit as neatly into the established Trek canon as the "Prodigy" connection does.

It's just a theory, but it's a good one.