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"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

Insignia of the Borg Collective

The Borg were a pseudo-species of cybernetic beings and were seen by many as the most dangerous force in the galaxy. No single individual exists within the Borg, as they are linked into one mind and only have one goal: perfection. (Star Trek: The Next Generation; Star Trek: Voyager)

Physiology

The Borg assimilate beings from every species they consider worthy (with the exception of some species on whom assimilation attempts fail, such as Species 8472). For this reason the physiology of Borg drones varies.

Their organic bodies are enhanced, and some parts are completely replaced with cybernetic implants. The nature of these implants is determined by the drone's intended function, for instance, a tactical or medical repair drone. Every drone is equipped with a homing device and has the ability to assimilate beings using nanoprobes. It also has its own unique translink frequency by which it keeps in contact with the hive mind.

See also: Borg drone and Assimilation

Culture

The Borg have no culture in the traditional sense of the word. Their sole purpose was the assimilation of other beings in their pursuit of perfection. Being a Collective, members lose any sense of individuality. The moment someone was assimilated, their individuality was integrated within the Borg hive mind and would be a part of the Borg Collective.

Art, music, leisure, wealth, political conquest... all were irrelevant to the Borg. However, they held a near-reverence for the Omega molecule, which they considered to be an expression of perfection. The molecule itself was known throughout the Collective as Particle 010. Although they tried to create the molecule themselves, only one drone ever witnessed the molecule in its stable form, for a few seconds. Because of their failure to create it, every drone within the Collective was required to assimilate the molecule once discovered.

A Borg drone of Cardassian origin

While part of the Collective, assimilated beings were referred to as "drones". Stripped of their individuality, their former names were replaced by designations such as "Two of Nine" or "Third of Five", combined with the area they performed their duties such as Unimatrix 01. After performing its duties, a drone could be redirected to perform another duty or to regenerate in its alcove until needed for something else. There was no way to avoid the Collective.

Although the drive for perfection made the Borg assimilate other beings, they did not assimilate everyone. The Collective was not interested in species they did not see as having something to offer them, a biological or technological characteristic that would enhance the power of the collective or advance the pursuit of their ideal of perfection. The Kazon were a species the Borg did not assimilate because they were considered useless. They also referred to species not by their name but by a number, presumably the order in which they were encountered by the Borg.

Since the Borg added lifeforms to their Collective via assimilation, there was no need for procreation. Because no differentiation was made between children and adults when assimilating a race, there were juvenile drones. Unlike non-Borg species they did not need to go to school to obtain knowledge. The moment they joined the Collective they could access its entire memory. However, when they were too young they were placed in maturation chambers where they remained for seventeen cycles before they would serve the Borg Collective.

The Borg Collective knew neither fear nor pleasure, but they did 'care' for their drones. When a drone was injured in some way, the Collective tried to repair it. Their linkage to each other made it possible to heal both organic and artificial parts. When a Borg ship was damaged, the Collective attempted to retrieve it. If a drone becomes isolated or lost and sends out a distress signal, the nearest ship will answer and endeavor to retrieve the drone and return it to service. If, on the other hand, a drone's injuries were beyond repair, it was deactivated and stripped of usable parts. After a drone is salvaged in this way, its comrades will activate a self-destruct mechanism which vaporizes the drone's body, most likely to prevent enemies from gaining Borg technology.

Although the Borg Collective was made up of at least billions of drones, they spoke as one. Despite this they sometimes chose a single drone to speak for them. Examples of this are when Seven of Nine was selected to deal with Captain Kathryn Janeway during the Borg-Species 8472 War, and when Locutus was chosen to help assimilate Earth.

There is also the Borg Queen, a role that is still not fully understood. She appears to have control of the collective, as well as independence that the other drones do not. When Data encountered her, he asked her what her role in the Collective was. She replied, "I am the one who is many. I bring order to chaos." Data did not understand this, and thought it a contradiction. She replied "You imply disparity where none exists. I am the Collective.". Magnus Hansen compared her to a Queen of an insect colony.

See also: Hive mind

Spacecraft

Borg vessels were among the most powerful in the galaxy. Highly decentralized, they had no bridge, living quarters or engineering section. All drones collectively operated the vessels under the general direction of the Collective.

While each of their vessels is highly unique in its design, all Borg vessels shared common elements. These included the ability to repair any spacecraft structure that was damaged in battle, as well as a Vinculum (which is the core of every Borg vessel) that was used to interconnect all the drones on board and to purge any individual thought. A critically-damaged Borg vessel would self-destruct, destroying all vital technologies, such as any transwarp coils.

Borg vessels had a force field and were equipped with, among other things, a tractor beam and phaser-like weaponry. Because they were controlled by the Collective, a threat could be neutralized very quickly. For instance, to block any incoming phaser fire the force field frequency could be changed before an opponent had time to tune the phaser frequency and destroy the vessel.

The atmosphere of a Borg vessel, as all other Borg constructs, had a constant temperature of 39.1° Celsius and a relative humidity of 92%. Air pressure was about two kilopascals above that of Federation starships. The quantity of tetryon particles were a sign a Borg atmosphere was present in a structure. Borg ships had few doors or airlocks, unlike Federation ships. A significant quantity of the atmosphere was held in the ship by force fields. This was dangerous since a substantial power loss, however unlikely, could depressurize part or all of a vessel.

Later, the Borg used a new way to travel through space, transwarp conduits. These conduits were connected to each other utilizing a transwarp hub. This gave the Borg the advantage that their vessels could reach any part of their realm, or any destination in the galaxy for that matter, within a very short time. By 2378 they had a least six transwarp hubs. One of them was situated within a nebula in the Delta Quadrant. It was discovered by the Federation starship Voyager, which used it to get back to Earth and then destroyed it.

History

The Borg always have and probably will continue to assimilate species they consider worthy into their Collective. Not only have the Borg assimilated starships, but entire planets they encounter. After assessing the target's tactical strengths and weaknesses, and their worthiness of inclusion into the Borg Collective, the assimilation process begins.

Very few species can resist them or stay out of their way. Because of this, the Borg are present in several quadrants of the galaxy. They have assimilated many species. This is what some survivors or people who have dealt with them have said or compared them with:

"You can't outrun them, you can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains. They regenerate and keep coming. They are relentless."

- Q

"In their Collective state, the Borg are utterly without mercy, driven on by will alone: the will to conquer. They are beyond redemption, beyond reason."

- Jean-Luc Picard

"It is my opinion that the Borg are as close to pure evil as any race we've ever encountered."

- Amasov

"My mind keeps going back to the Borg... how I despised their...indifference as they tried to exterminate us. And I have to ask myself... would I be any different if I destroyed another universe to preserve my own?"

- Benjamin Sisko

"You know, in some ways you're worse than the Borg. At least they tell you about their plans for assimilation. You're more insidious... you assimilate people and they don't even know it."

- Michael Eddington (to Benjamin Sisko, Commander of Deep Space 9)

"The Borg Collective is like a force of nature. You don't feel anger toward a storm on the horizon, you just avoid it."

- Arturis

"The Borg wouldn't know fun if they assimilated an amusement park."

- B'Elanna Torres (to Seven of Nine and Tuvok, about recreational activities)

"The Borg--Party poopers of the galaxy."

-The Doctor (to Seven of Nine)

"If the Continuum has told you once, they've told you a hundred times--DON'T PROVOKE THE BORG!"

-Q (to his son, Q (Junior))

Although the Borg are a powerful species who continuously strive for perfection, they have their flaws and even faced extermination.

Technology

Although the Borg could, and did, develop and construct new technology, such as a harmonic resonance chamber, they also assimilated technology from other species and used it for their own purposes.

Ship technology

• Autonomous regeneration sequencer
• Central plexus
• Cortical processing subunit
• Cutting beam
• Data node
• Distribution node
• Interplexing beacon
• Maturation chamber
• Power distribution node
• Regenerative shield
• Reticular node
• Tractor beam
• Transwarp coil
• Transwarp drive
• Transwarp hub
• Vinculum

Drone technology

• Alcove
• Borg drone technology

Tactical vulnerabilities

"All right, remember, people, it’s time on target that counts with the Borg. They’re tough but attrition hurts them as much as us."

— Lieutenant (JG) Kanril Eleya before engaging Borg probes at Vega IX (Bait and Switch: "From Bajor to the Black, Part II")

Borg starships tended to travel straight to their objective, targeting only ships blocking their path and rarely firing on more than one at a time. While constant frequency remodulation helped to counteract Borg adaptation to energy weapons and defeat the shield-draining effect of their tractor beams, over the course of its conflicts with the Borg the Federation learned that coordination and sheer weight of firepower were the true keys to victory. In 2367 forty Federation starships engaged a Borg cube in ones and twos at the Battle of Wolf 359 and were summarily slaughtered. By contrast, at the Battle of Sector 001 in 2373, at least a dozen ships were able to maintain continuous engagement even after the fleet flagship was destroyed in the opening volleys, with the cube's shields on the verge of failure by the time the USS Enterprise arrived to help deliver the killing blow. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"; DS9: "Emissary"; Star Trek: First Contact; Bait and Switch: "From Bajor to the Black, Part II")

The Defiant-class escort was specifically designed to work in such post-Wolf 359 tactical doctrines, meant to be cheaply fielded in large numbers in order to swarm and overwhelm Borg vessels. However, due to technical problems in the prototype and the lack of hostile Borg sightings for several years following the battle, the class was shelved until first contact with the Dominion in 2370. (DS9: "The Search, Part I"; The War of the Masters: "The Silence Ends")

In infantry combat Borg drones tended to ignore anything that was not a direct threat and advanced slowly in a skirmish line, and were only rarely equipped with ranged weapons. As such they were vulnerable to grenades and grenade-like devices such as overloaded phasers. Other effective weapons included firearms and blades, as the drones' deflector shields provided little protection against kinetic energy-based weaponry. Data and members of Species 8472 were capable of killing drones bare-handed. (Star Trek: First Contact; Bait and Switch: "From Bajor to the Black, Part II")

Despite these improvements the Borg remained formidable adversaries. In 2409 a Borg fleet destroyed the Vega IX colony and much of the Thirteenth Fleet; only nine thousand civilians and five starships escaped. In 2410 Kanril Eleya commented that she suspected her Galaxy-class USS Bajor could probably take a cube, "but I’m not eager to test that, you get me?" (Bait and Switch: "From Bajor to the Black, Part II", "A Voice in the Wilderness, Part I")

See also

• Borg species designations
• Borg species
• List of Borg
• Borg spatial designations
• Borg starships
• Borg philosophy
• Borg language
• Borg Attack at Sector 654

External links

• Borg article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
• Borg article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.