The Borg

The Borg
Borg Logo

History	Social Structure	Anomolous Culutres
Technology	Assimilation	Editors Comments

ROGUES GALLERY OF BORG
BORG SHIP PICTURES

Hostile Race

Description	Augmented Humanoid, Bipedal
Size	Medium
Skin Pigment	Any (pale)
Hair	None evident
Distinguishing Features	Terran-like
Series	TNG : "Q Squared", VOY: "Scorpion", ST:FC
Planet of Origin	Unknown
Quadrant	Delta
Background	Dependent on biomechanical implants that grant them greater physical strength. They would die if these are removed. Most have a cybernetic arm which can be used as a tool or phaser, and a laser-sight eyepiece over their right eye. Borg children are born without mechanical implants, however these are soon added to them, making them dependent on them.

HISTORY (theory)

Federation Anthropologists have theorized that the Borg started at the latest during Earth's 20th Century. Based on the fact that they are led by a Queen it can be presumed that it started because of one woman. The pre-Borg era on their homeworld must have seen the invention of mechanical implants that were designed to held people with handicaps. These devices would be thinks that could replace a severed limb, but unlike a prosthetic limb, they would have close to the same characteristics of a normal limb (i.e. the ability to control it like it was that person's natural arm or leg).

Presumably a woman with severe cranial and back damage received replacements for those areas with these new implants, and sent the lady on her way. Some time later this woman may have found that she could manipulate computers without a keyboard, mouse or touch screen, but with he thoughts and a transceiver. After this discovery she may have found a way to take over her planet, redesign all the implants so that they all had a transceivers in them. This allowed her to take over all the members of her race that had implants, and force them to as she wished. After she had completely taken over her planet and assimilated the population, then she must either have desired to control more, or the resources of the planet were in short supply. She did two things that assured her immortality. The first was to replace most of her body with cybernetic components. The other was to clone herself. These clones were identical in every way the this woman, and were also known as the Borg Queen, but under the control of the original Queen.

These clones were then given a compliment of Drones, their own ship, and orders to search the galaxy for other species and planets, and assimilate the best features of them. In this way the Borg were able to control more space with out the need to move every Borg with the Queen. The cloned Queens on the ships extended the reach of the homeworld Queen to an infinite area.

The Borg were responsible for the near-extinction of the El-Aurian people in the late 23rd century. The first known contact between the Borg and the Federation was in 2365, when the being known as "Q" transported the Enterprise-D out of Federation space into the flight path of a Borg vessel. Warned by Guinan that the Borg will now come to the Alpha Quadrant, the Federation began preparing for the next encounter. The anticipated Borg attack came in late 2366, when a Borg vessel entered Federation space, heading for Earth. Starfleet tactical planners had expected at least several more months before the Borg arrival, and thus were caught unprepared. Enterprise-D captain Jean-Luc Picard was captured by the Borg at the beginning of this offensive. He was assimilated into the Borg collective consciousness and became known as Locutus of Borg, providing crucial guidance to the Borg in their attack. Starfleet massed an armada of some 40 starships in hopes of stopping the Borg ship at Wolf 359, but the fleet was decimated with the loss of 39 ships and 11,000 lives, including the U.S.S. Saratoga. As Locutus, Picard explained that the Borg purpose was to improve the quality of life in the galaxy by providing other life-forms the benefit of being part of the Borg collective. Following the rescue of Picard from the Borg ship, a last-ditch effort to implant a destructive computer command into the Borg collective consciousness was successful in destroying the Borg ship in Earth orbit.

By 2368, at least two more Borg vessels were found to have reached Federation territory when a crashed Borg scout ship was discovered on the surface of a moon in the Argolis Cluster. One surviving Borg, designated Third of Five, was rescued from the crash by Enterprise-D crew personnel. This Borg, named Hugh by the Enterprise-D crew, was nursed back to health. During Hugh's convalescence, Enterprise-D personnel developed what they termed an invasive program, which, when introduced into the Borg collective consciousness, was designed to cause a fatal overload in the entire collective. In the process, Hugh befriended Geordi La Forge, a friendship that provided an argument that this invasive program, effectively a weapon of mass murder, should not be used. Hugh was then returned to the Argolis crash site, where he was rescued by another Borg scout ship.

Following the return of Hugh, Hugh's new sense of individuality began to permeate a portion of the collective. The results were dramatic: Deprived of their group identity, individual Borg were unable to function as a unit. The unexpected arrival of the android, Lore, changed this. Lore appointed himself the leader of those Borg, and promised them he would provide them with the means to become completely artificial life-forms, free of dependence on organic bodies. In 2369, Lore led the Borg in launching a major new offensive against the Federation. Utilizing transwarp conduits, they entered Federation space in a ship of an unfamiliar design and attacked a Federation outpost at Ohniaka III. During this offensive, the Borg attacked with uncharacteristic anger, later found to be due to Lore's influence. The offensive was halted when Lore was dismantled by his brother, Data.

In 2373, the Borg launched a second attempt to assimilate Earth. Although the Federation Starfleet was successful in stopping the Borg attack, a single Borg sphere escaped into a temporal vortex, to Earth's 21st century. In the past, the Borg attempted to prevent space pioneer Zefram Cochrane from making Earth's first faster-than-light flight in 2063. The crew of the Starship Enterprise-E, following the Borg sphere into the past, ensured that Cochrane was able to make the critical first warp flight. In doing so, the Enterprise-E crew destroyed the Borg queen, the central nexus of the Borg collective.

On stardate 50541, the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager discovered a Borg corpse on a planet in the Delta Quadrant while trading with Sakari colonists for the mineral gallicite.A few weeks later, in the Nekrit Expanse, the Starship Voyager discovered a planet of former Borg drones that had somehow broken away from the collective five years ago. Unfortunately, in a free society, the former drones reverted to destructive ethnic warfare. The survivors asked Voyager personnel to help them reactivate a derelict Borg cube ship in order that a new collective could restore harmony to their society. (In an alternate quantum reality visited by Worf in 2370, the crew of the Enterprise-D did not recover Captain Picard from the Borg. In yet another reality, the Borg had taken over most of the Federation, with a heavily damaged Enterprise-D being one of the few ships remaining.

BORG SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Very little is actually known about the inner workings of the Borg social structure except to say that it closely resembles a hive in organization and operation. Assimilated Borg are designated drones and, as the name suggests, spend their lives working for and defending the rest of the collective. Different drones are equipped with different hardware for specific tasks, and are no more than automatons working endlessly to serve the Borg Queen. Virtually nothing is known about the role of the Queen. Unlike social hives the Borg Queen's primary purpose is not thought to be breeding but rather as a central reference point around which the collective will and purpose of the hive revolves. It remains undetermined what function this role would play in the collective consciousness of the hive, whether it is necessitated by the sheer number of Borg and the vast distances that separate them or if it has evolved under some other forces.

Capt. Picard first encountered the Queen during his assimilation as Locutus though he was not to remember the episode until the Battle of First Contact several years later. More puzzling still is the fact that the cube on which Locutus met the Queen (shortly before the Battle of Wolf 359) was destroyed along with all Borg aboard, yet years later the Queen returned as she had been. It is unclear at this point whether the Queen encountered aboard the first cube was the same physical entity or merely a representation of the collective center of the hive. It is possible that several manifestations of the Queen exist. This could operate by either projecting the presence of the Queen who in fact is centrally located in Borg homespace or by the physical existence of different representations of the Queen, all of which would maintain a unique link to both the collective and the True Queen.

	ANOMALOUS BORG CULTURES There are three known anomalous Borg cultures. The first was established on Stardate 45854.2 when the Borg drone known as Third of Five, or Hugh, was returned to the collective with his recently acquired sense of individuality intact. The result of his return to the Collective proved disruptive. Unable to operate cope with the concept of self-awareness the Borg cube was derelict in space and soon encountered the Soong type android Lore. The encounter with Lore eventually led the Borg to settle on a planet where they attempted to modify themselves in Lore's image. The Enterprise-D discovered this culture and after the dismantling of Lore allowed the surviving Borg to continue to explore their new identities on their own.
The second Borg anomaly exists in the Delta Quadrant as the self-identified Borg Cooperative. The Cooperative consists of members of various races who were at one time or another assimilated by the Collective. After an electrostatic discharge disabled their cube several Borg found themselves separated from the Collective. Cannibalizing various pieces of their cube several of the survivors beamed to a nearby Class-M planet and began a new life. After separation from the Collective they discovered that their Borg implants and altered appearances began to revert to their normal state. Unfortunately the elation at being separated from Borg was soon overtaken by age old divisions of race and new fears of unknown species. The USS Voyager NCC-7012, lost in the Delta Quadrant, encountered this culture. In an effort to restore order to the planet and preserve the life they had made for themselves a group of former Borg used a small neural generator to re-establish the neural link that unites Borg. The former Borg then proceeded to use Commander Chakotay to return power to the abandoned cube and establish a planet-wide neural link, thereby reuniting everyone who had been a former Borg. In appreciation for the help that they obtained, unwillingly, from Voyager the newly named Cooperative destroyed the cube and isolated themselves to develop on their own.
The third is the unique individual Borg known as 7 of 9. She is an assimilated Human, rescued from the collective by the Starship Voyager. Currently serving onboard Voyager. Recently a fourth anomalous culture evolved upon Voyager following an accident. Several of 7 of 9's nanoprobes were fused with the EMH's portable emitter from the 24th Century, the result was a "super-borg". A Borg sphere detected the existance of the new Borg and investigated. Voyager's crew was successful in overriding the new Borg's programming, and the new Borg sacrificed himself to destroy the sphere to prevent them from assimilating himself and Voyager.

BORG TECHNOLOGY
Borg Sphere

Borg technology is highly advanced, as evidenced by their ability to assimilate other species with relative ease (see below) and their use of high concept engineering beyond current Federation understanding. The Borg exhibit a high degree of intelligence and adaptability in their tactics. Most means of defense or offense against them were found to work only once, almost immediately after which the Borg developed a countermeasure. The Borg are known to use transwarp drive in their vessels which are typically cube shaped and which, to date, have conformed to exact measurements. The Borg cube is largely ungeneralized in design, reflecting the collective state of the hive itself. Each cube contains powerful weapons technology far beyond current understanding as well as carrying smaller Borg vessels such as the sphere encountered at the Battle of First Contact.

Remarkably the Borg are able to repair their vessels without the need for spacedocks. The collective established by the linked Borg is used to focus a cube's power directly into repairs and even major damage by phasers and torpedoes can be repaired without much delay. Possibly even more impressive is the fact, supposed though not tested, that the a Borg cube can continue to function while up to 90 percent of its structure is destroyed or otherwise inoperable.

The use of the collective also allows for the Borg to react more swiftly than conventional starships. Literally the collective thinks and acts as one with its ship. The benefits of this extend to the level of individual Borg drones as well where the neural field generated by the collective allows both major and minor wounds to drones biological and technological components to heal with great rapidity.

ASSIMILATION

Each Borg is tied into a sophisticated subspace communications network, forming the Borg collective, a shared consciousness in which the idea of the individual was nearly a meaningless concept. The sole purpose of the Borg Collective is to find and assimilate all other species. The drive to assimilate exists for several reasons and on several levels. First and foremost assimilation is the means by which Borg gain all knowledge of other races and cultures. By assimilating an individual Borg absorb all the knowledge and experiences of the individual into the collective thereby adding to their own knowledge and expertise. Secondly, assimilation is the primary means of reproduction and advance for Borg. New drones are created by assimilation solely. The Borg operated by conquering entire worlds, assimilating the civilizations and technology thereon. Individual members of assimilated races were implanted with sophisticated cybernetic implants, permitting each individual to perform a specific task as required by the collective. Thousands of worlds across the galaxy were conquered in this fashion. There is evidence of Borg infants, though it is undetermined at this time as to whether or not assimilated Borg are capable of reproduction or if the infants are non-Borg who begin a modified assimilation at an early age. Thirdly all Borg technology is the result of assimilation of advanced species.

There are at least two similar but distinct methods of assimilation. The most commonly used method begins on the microscopic level. Injection tubules carried by all Borg drones pierce the subcutaneous layers and inject nano-probes into the subjects bloodstream. The nano-probes are programmed to attack the subjects blood cells and re-program, assimilate, them according to their own Borg template. Thousands of such probes can be injected in seconds making the initial stages of assimilation nearly immediate. Thus begun assimilation continues throughout the subjects body. The probes, working together, form a large connected network that effectively lays the groundwork for connection to the collective as well as bio-technological interface with Borg cybernetic implants and attachments.

After this initial stage assimilation continues with the alteration of other areas. This may include the addition of modified extremities, optical and aural implants, and Borg adaptive energy technologies. All assimilated Borg are provided with a neural implant that is not removable once installed. This implant is the primary connection between any drone and the rest of the collective. It relays all orders to the drone, maintains a record of those orders, and coordinates all the drones activities.

The second method of assimilation is very similar to the first but differs in several important aspects. The primary example of this variation of assimilating technique is Locutus of Borg. The assimilation of Locutus differed from ordinary Borg assimilation in that both its physical approach and impact were far less radical than an ordinary assimilation. In the case of Locutus attention was paid to keep physical alteration to a minimum. Where as in a normal drone the addition of optical or aural implants and extremity modification would begin with the removal of the original organs in Locutus care was taken to preserve as much of the original biology as possible. Thus the addition of Borg extremities did not result in the loss of original components. Nor, seemingly, was the Borg neural implant introduced, or possibly a modified version was used as it was later removed from the recovered Jean-Luc Picard. Beyond speculation there is no known reason for the differing methods of assimilation.

However, Capt. Picard is on record as stating that Locutus was designed to bridge the gap Locutus of Borg

between humanity and Borg. If this is the case it would of course be desirable to modify the assimilation process in such a manner as to preserve as much of the original human condition, physical and mental, as possible while still incorporating it into the collective. It can be argued that such an assimilation ultimately adds more to the collective by preserving what is lost by the assimilation of the rest of the subjects race.
Of course speculation such as this must remain speculation, but encouraging signs of its truth would be found in the discovery that the Borg follow this revised assimilation with at least one member of every (or a significant number of) species they encounter. In all cases of assimilation or near assimilation that have resulted in a subject being recovered and restored to his or her original state there have been lingering effects. Aside from the obvious psychological and physical damage it appears that restored subjects maintain a sub-conscious link with the collective. This was evident in the Battle of First Contact when Captain Picard used the remnants of his link to gain an advantage on the Borg by allowing himself to hear their plans. Likewise in the case of Commander Chakotay, the Cooperative used residual traces of his link to the collective to forcibly manipulate his actions. It is unknown to what extent this latent connection can be used by either the subject or Borg, or even whether the lingering effects are permanent or temporary.

EDITORS COMMENTS:
Most people feel that the Borg are unstoppable, but they are far from perfect. And as invulnerable as they seem they do have two weaknesses.

The first and most obvious for those who have seen First Contact is to kill their Queen. That method is not always easy when you have the entire Hive protecting her. Without the Queen the Borg drones in her control would die. As seen in the dramatic ending to First Contact even the drones that were standing on the walkway above engineering started to die when the Queen did even though they didn't come in contact with the coolant leak.

Potential problems with this theory is examples of Hugh and Picard. Hugh's ship did not have a Queen on board, thus the Borg must have devices that allow them to sustain an individual collective without a Queen for short periods of time. The reason Hugh didn't die right after he woke up is because he didn't have to go through the immediate withdrawal of losing the Collective, therefore it didn't effect him the same way. Picard didn't die because he had started to disconnect himself from the Collective before it was blown up. It did effect him violently [TNG-Best of Both Worlds II] but, it wasn't enough to kill him.

The second method to kill the Borg is solid/matter weapons, in other words a non-energy weapon. This is supported in First Contact where Picard killed the Borg drones on the Holodeck with a "Tommy" Gun. Worf was able to cut off the arm of a Borg while in 0-G on the Saucer. This should not have been possible if they had been able to adjust. Further evidence that the Borg are vulnerable to this type of weapon there is the fact that Picard ordered his people to fight in hand-to-hand combat after the Borg had permanently adjusted to all phaser frequencies.

The Borg roam the galaxy in large Cube shaped vessels, turning all that they capture into fellow Borg by assimilating them. Few have succeeding in resisting this, but Data was able to in the movie First Contact. Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Enterprise in TNG, was once assimilated by the Borg, becoming Locutus. Most Borg have no concept of individuality, and are linked to the Borg Collective.

Some information provided by ST: Continuum, Memory Alpha, and Starbase Sigma

ROGUES GALLERY OF BORG

BORG SHIP PICTURES