Borg

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Borg
Four Letter Code	BORG
Federation Status	War
Planet of Origin	Unknown, but assumed to be somewhere in the Delta Quadrant
Encountered	First confirmed encounter was by USS Enterprise-D Stardate 42761 (2365). Several earlier encounters unconfirmed.
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	P
List of Named Borg
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A cybernetic life-form thousands of years old which is part organic, part artificial life. The borg are an incredibly powerful race of cybernetically enhanced humanoids from the Delta Quadrant. Different Borg are built for different functions - warrior, navigator, repairman, or leader. Each Borg is linked into a collective mind where the concept of the individual was meaningless. The Borg are highly adaptable, any tactic that works on them will only work a limited number of times, as they will quickly develop a countermeasure. The Borg exist entirely to assimilate other races into the Borg collective. The Borg are responsible for the destruction of many Federation neutral zone outposts, several colonies, and 39 starships at the Battle of Wolf 359.

A single Borg has pasty white skin with black and dark grey cybernetic implants covering most of their body. The Borg have a singular goal, namely the consumption of technology, rather than wealth or political expansion as most species seek. According to their spokesman, in the form of an assimilated Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Borg only want to "raise the quality of life" of the species they "assimilate." Androids, for example, they view as primitive and obsolete. Once an individual is assimilated they are almost immediately implanted with bio-chips that link their brains to a collective consciousness via a unique subspace frequency emitted by each drone. This collective consciousness is experienced by the Borg as "thousands" of voices they are collectively aware, but not aware of themselves as separate individuals. Consequently, they never speak in singular pronouns, referring to themselves when required as merely "Third of Five," for instance. The Borg ingest only energy to drive their technological system via an energy conduit port. Their bio-chips synthesize any organic nutrients needed.

Among the many advantages their collective consciousness affords them, the Borg hive-mind allows for near-instantaneous adaptations to shield and phaser frequency modulations in combat; they are also able to regenerate and repair their massive ships with the power of their collective thoughts alone. The hive-mind drones do not register as individual life-signs when scanned, only as a mass reading and then at a bare minimum. The sick and injured are not healed but "reabsorbed" by the removal of the receiver piece, which leads to self-destructive dissolve. When shipboard during dormancy in their regenerative mode, power is minimal and the vessel's EM field cuts off. They have a knock-out drug or procedure for humans, using a drill-tap placed behind the left ear, that works immediately but wears off in less than a minute.

Background

While initially beleived to be first encountered by the USS Enterprise-D on Stardate 42761 (2365) in an encounter precipitated by the entity 'Q'; some 7,000 light-years past explored Federation space in the Delta Quadrant (TNG: Q Who?), the events of ST: First Contact have led to an earlier undocumented encounter with the Borg during the mid-22nd century (ENT: Regeneration). Earlier encounters are unconfirmed such as the attacks on outposts near the Romulan Neutral Zone in 2364 and reported sightings investigated by the USS Raven in the 2350's.

See Also

• Borg on Wikipedia
• Borg on Memory Alpha