One theory of mine (if you want to go down the Borg Are Really Clever path) is that the Borg have a cunning (yes!) plan.
Look at it this way. The Borg show up out of the blue in 2365, with about 5 cubes, and invade the Federation. They get a certain level of tech, and all is good (for them).
Now, look at it another way. They turn up in 2364 and assimilate a couple of places. Federation (and Romulans) investigate. They panic a bit. No doubt R & D money goes up.
The Borg encounter the Enterprise in 2365. The Enterprise reports back to Starfleet. R & D goes into overdrive (and I'll admit that the Borg didn't plan this step, but it did work out for them).
Now, the Borg send along a single cube in 2366. Their thinking is that if a single cube is enough, then the Federation is obviously rubbish at research, and there is no point in putting off assimilation any longer. However, if the Federation has advanced enough to stop the cube, then obviously they are genius inventing people. This also plays into the Borgs' hands (and twitching thingies). The Borg could send a fleet to sector 001 and assimilate the Federation any time they wanted, but by sending only a ship at a time, they keep the Federation on their toes, and get them developing tech at a much faster rate.
So, when the Borg do eventually get around to assilating the Federation, they get the benefit of years of paniced research into anti-Borg weapons. This will make the Borg a lot stronger than if they'd just assimilated them at the start.
Of course, this whole theory depends on whether you are taking the "emotionless force of nature" early Borg, or the "shock troops of bald woman" later Borg.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
I'm not sure there is too much they can do following the NZ investigations, as far as R&D...considering no one knows who did it, and thus no one knows WHAT to do to even prevent it or what exactly they are preventing or where to even begin. Especially since it seems as though that point was lost except for the brief notes of reference in "Q Who" and "BoBW" as the Borg 'footprint' or what have ya...
-------------------- Hey, it only took 13 years for me to figure out my password...
Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
posted
I thought I would bring this up as syndication just re-ran "Dark Frontier" and I caught something about 'Starfleets concern about security' while watching part of it.
Upon further investigation, I noticed on the "official website" a somewhat plausable explaination as to why the Borg were not more common-knowledge during the 24th Century despite the El Aurians and everything else ("Regeneration" events aside)....
quote: Re: U.S.S. Raven....
At least 10 years prior to the U.S.S. Enterprise-D's first encounter with the Borg, the Federation had some knowledge of the existence of the Borg, based on encounters with species who had been affected by them (such as the El-Aurians, whose homeworld was destroyed 90 years before).
However, such knowledge was not made public among the Federation because information was too sketchy and unconfirmed to hold briefings with Starfleet personnel. (For example, there were descriptions of cube-shaped vessels, but no information on what Borg individuals looked like, other than rumors that they were cybernetically enhanced.)
Two of the people privy to these rumors were Magnus and Erin Hansen, who petitioned the Federation Council on Exobiology to let them travel deep into unknown space on the U.S.S. Raven to observe and study the Borg. Their petition was granted ca. Stardate 32611, in spite of Starfleet's concern about security issues, and the Raven departed from Deep Space 4 toward the Delta Quadrant.
I know it sounds like the writers trying to weasle their way out of Voyager totally fucking up Borg continuity (or the web content advisors covering the writers asses), but I think I can almost buy this as an explaination for the consistant 'fallback' of the date of 'first contact'.
Obviously this was writted before "Regeration" but this seems to sum it up pretty well..."not made public among the Federation because information was too sketchy and unconfirmed".
I guess that leaves us to ponder that perhaps Starfleet either was not overly concerned about a threat located so far away with localized (of the time) threats like the Klingons and Romulans. Or, maybe it was just something they didnt feel they needed to worry about, and treated it skeptically like current governments do regarding UFOs!
-------------------- Hey, it only took 13 years for me to figure out my password...
Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
posted
It just makes ne wonder why the Romulans have not been given a friendly little visit by the Borg. Unique tech there to be sure.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
Actually, they did get visited. In the TNG Episode "The Neutral Zone", it is heavily insinuated that his is what happened to outposts on both sides that had "disappeared". It's the reason that the Romulan's make their appearance again after some years (I forget the exact amount of time) of being "absent". It's not until 2nd Seasons "Q Who" that we actually meet the Borg, and then in "Best of Both Worlds, Part 1" the disappearance of the outposts from "The Neutral Zone" is brought up again.
Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged
posted
I know, but why did they never get their own cube gunning for their main world while the Fed got two? I suppose the borg could be suckered if the colonies they assimilated had no real tech and were agricultural in nature. They just would'nt be intrested in hydroponics.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
Well, we saw a Romulan who'd been assimilated before "Unity."
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
