XENOLOGICAL DATABASE

Borg

The Borg Collective is composed not of one species, but thousands of species linked together in a group mind. The Borg are on a quest to reach perfection by assimliating species into the Collective. Individuals assimilated by the Borg are first injected with nanoprobes, which take over cellular functions and prepare interfaces for implants. These implants are mechanical devices which rewrite the person's DNA, augment natural senses and abilities, and link the individual mind into the Collective's consciousness. The individual's personality is processed and repressed by the Collective, which extracts all relevent information. The person is then known as a drone and assigned a specific task within the Collective, such as Tactical or Adjunct Drone. On a larger scale, an entire species is assimliated in much the same manner. A Borg vessel will send a Scout Drone to extract relevent information about the species' culture and technology. If is is determined that the species would add to the Borg's perfection, it is targeted and given a designation. A Borg vessel (or group of vessels) is dispatched to the species' homeworld. Vessels, cities, and individuals are assimliated. On occasion, if a targeted planet contains only a small amount of technology, the Borg will simply remove it from the planetary surface.

The Borg are organized in an interlinked hierarchy. Drones onboard a Borg vessel are linked by the vinculum, a device which stores their memories and relays commands from the rest of the Collective. A series of subspace signals connect all drones and vessels within each unimatrix through a number of root commands. Each unimatrix is linked to the Unicomplex, the central location from which the Collective controls drones and vessels. Essentially, each drone is a conduit through which the Collective operates and the Collective is the essense of all those billions of minds thinking as one.

Within the Collective, the concept of the individual is meaningless. However, the Borg do realize the value of individual characteristics. The Borg Queen, who serves as a single voice for the Collective mind, is capable of interaction on a one-to-one basis. Her function is to convince an individual to willingly give himself to the Borg. This is the only way a charcteristic such as 'nobility' can be integrated into the Collective. This counterpart to the Queen has more autonomy than a normal drone.

Borg tactics are predictable and organized. The Collective's usual strategy is to overwhelm its enemies. Because of the melding of organic and synthetic, the Borg have the ability to analyze and adapt to almost any defense or offense. The vast amount of technology at the Collective's disposal makes it virtually invulnerable to direct assault. However, the interdependant nature of the Borg can be used against it. The Collective is also capable of extrapolating new tactics from experience, but cannot learn about a species that it cannot assimilate.

The original Borg species was organic, but eventually integrated synthetic parts into their bodies. The Collective's goal is to assimliate all species into the Collective, believing that it is improving their quality of life. The Collective has existed for at least 300 years, encountering over 10,000 species, 6000 of which have been assimliated or sampled. Species assimliated by the Borg Collective include the Cataati, Brunali, El-Aurians, Farn, Parein, Sakari, and Species 116, 125, 149, 259, 262, 263, 571, 6339, and 10026.

THE BORG COLLECTIVE AND HUMANS

Earth's first encounter with the Borg took place in 2063, when a Borg sphere that had traveled back in time from the year 2373 attempted to change history by preventing Earth's first warp flight and first contact with Vulcans. The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E followed the Borg to the past and repelled the Collective, even after the Queen attempted to assimilate Lt. Cmdr. Data.

The debris from the sphere was discovered in the Arctic by a research team in 2153. Two drones regenerated and assimilated the team, hijacked their ship and attempted to reach the Delta Quadrant. The drones were intercepted by S.S. Enterprise NX-01 after they attacked a Tarkalian freightor and were ultimately destroyed. However, they were able to transmit a message to the Collective containing Earth's coordinates. The incident was apparently an isolated one, warranting no special attention among the many new contacts made by Enterprise.

In 2355 unconventional Federation exobiologists Magnus and Erin Hansen petitioned the Federation Council on Exobiology for permission to embark upon a mission to test their theories on an as-yet unknown species: the Borg. It is possible that the Hansens were inspired by the records of the NX-01's encounter with a "cybernetic species" two centuries earlier. Although their theories remained ignored by the rest of Federation science, the Hansens were allowed to take the U.S.S. Raven NAR-32450 deep into the Beta Quadrant. There, they intercepted a Borg Cube and were inadvertantly taken to the Delta Quadrant with it. The Hansens were initially able to avoid detection, but the Borg eventually became aware of their presence and assimilated them and their young daughter Annika. This incident brought Humans, Species 5618, to the Collective's attention, perhaps confirming the veracity of the message from 2153 that may have piqued the Collective's interest in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

In 2364 the Borg reached the Romulan Neutral Zone and assimilated several Federation and Romulan colonies. Neither power knew who was responsible and both remained unaware of the Borg. The first official contact came in 2365 when Q flung U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D in the path of a Borg cube heading for the Alpha Quadrant. The Enterprise escaped with Q's assistance, and the Federation began preparations for the anticipated attack. That offensive came in 2366-67 when a single Borg Cube entered Federation space. After the Borg Queen assimilated the unwilling Jean-Luc Picard, the cube destroyed a Starfleet armada at Wolf 359. Picard, then called Locutus, managed to overcome his assimilation long enough to assist his crew in destroying the cube.

The Enterprise-D again encountered the Borg when a scout ship crashed in the Argolis Cluster in 2368. The Entersprise rescued and later returned a single drone, Third of Five, who had gained a level of self-awareness. This self-awareness spread throughout Third of Five's unimatrix. These "rogue" Borg came into contact with the android Lore, who arganized them into an army bent on destroying organic lifeforms. They launched an offensive against the Federation in 2369-70, which the Enterprise-D managed to curtail with Third of Five's help.

In 2373-4 U.S.S. Voyager NCC-74656 became embroiled in the war between the Borg Collective and Species 8472. Voyager intimidated Species 8472 into retreating back to Fluidic Space. In the process, Voyager took a Borg drone called Seven of Nine, formerly Annika Hansen, onboard. The Queen allowed Seven of Nine to stay aboard the ship, intending to reassimilate her after she had inadvertantly gathered information to better the Borg's chances of assimilating Humans. In 2375, the Queen retrieved Seven and attempted to extract the information from her. But by that time, Seven had become too Human and escaped permanently from the Collective. In 2377, Seven of Nine was contacted by a group of drones who could disconnect themselves from the Collective and exist in a virtual reality known as Unimatrix Zero. With Voyager's assistance, these drones gained the ability to permanently break away from the Borg and formed a resistence movement to battle the Collective.

Later that year, Voyager discovered a Borg transwarp hub (one of only six), which allowed the Borg to travel to almost any point in the galaxy. Admiral Janeway arrived on the ship from an alternate future timeline to assist Voyager in using the hub to reach Earth. In the process the transwarp hub and the Queen at the Unicomplex were destroyed. The Unicomplex itself was severaly damaged. The fate of the Borg Collective after Voyager's return to Earth is uncertain, and Humans remain the only species the Borg have not been able to assimilate.

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