In the Star Trek fictional universe, various Borg starships are observed, all appearing as simple geometric solids with greebled exteriors and being very generalized and decentralized in design.
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Borg cube
| Borg cube | |
|---|---|
 a Borg Cube, as seen from the Main Bridge's viewscreen on board Enterprise NCC 1701-D. |
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| First appearance | Q Who? |
| Affiliation | Borg |
| References | The Best of Both Worlds Star Trek: First Contact |
| General Characteristics | |
| Armaments | Cutting beams Torpedoes |
| Defences | Regenerative hull Subspace field |
The archetypal Borg cube is a variety of immense, cubic starship that functions as part of the Borg Collective. It was first seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Q Who?" upon the Borg's first contact with the Federation Starfleet in 2365. The cube appears to be the principal spacefaring unit of the collective, by far the Borg craft most often seen on-screen and the type of vessel used in both the episode The Best of Both Worlds and the film Star Trek: First Contact. Cubes are popularly believed to number in the millions or greater; however identification numbers cited on-screen (e.g., 461, 630, and 1184) seem to indicate smaller numbers. These ships' low numbers may just be coincidence or may not be the ships' complete registries. The design of a Borg cube is determined by the materials at hand and what is currently needed for a ship. The only unifying principles of design are a roughly cubical shape, a decentralized/generalized arrangement, a size of several thousand metres per edge, and a hosting of tens or hundreds of thousands of drones. Erin Hansen, the mother of the future Seven of Nine, one of the first humans to see one, was amazed that it was 29 cubic km in volume. This number sizes the length, width, and height dimension at over 3 km. Common capabilities of cubes include high warp (transwarp) capabilities, self-regeneration and multiple redundant systems, rapid adaptability to almost every seen assault, and various beam (tractor beams and cutting beams) and missile weapons. Cubes have been known to carry sphere ships in cavities covered by large slide-away hatches in the outermost layers; however, it is unknown if this is common. Two basic styles of cube have been seen. The first, seen in The Next Generation, had an outer layer composed of a thin, mostly perpendicular framework of greebles, allowing a yellowish glow to emanate from within. The second, seen in Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Voyager, has a more solid-looking exterior with perpendicular and diagonal greebling, and less of a noticeable green inner light, possibly indicative of a new assimilated technology or a new tendency to employ more physical armor in protecting cubes, although no recognition is made in dialogue of the differences. (In actuality, the differences between the two types are due to enhanced detailing and use of computer-generated imagery between series.) Borg cubes are as powerful as they are immense, with a single cube being capable of annihilating entire fleets of advanced (e.g., Federation Starfleet) ships, and are matched by few others (e.g., "Species 8472"). In Star Trek: First Contact, the atmospheric pressure aboard a Borg ship is described as being two kilopascals above what would be normal on a Federation starship, relative humidity is an average 92%, and its internal temperature is 39.1°C. In the apocryphal game series Star Trek: Armada, the Borg cubes are equipped with a "holding beam" power. It basically is used to immobilize an enemy ship while sending Borg drones over to assimilate the ship's crew. The cube vessels seen in the game are much weaker and smaller than their TV counterparts to balance game mechanics.
Borg probe
First seen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Dark Frontier", this small oblong-shaped Borg vessel was about half the size of an Intrepid-class Federation starship, having about the same amount of firepower, and capable of transwarp speeds. In 2375, a Borg probe confronted the USS Voyager in an attempt to assimilate the ship and its crew. Voyager fought back, and at one point during the battle the probe was forced to remodulate its shields. During this vulnerable moment, Voyager beamed a photon torpedo aboard the probe which detonated near the power matrix, resulting in the probe's destruction. The probe left behind eight kilotons of debris, from which Voyager salvaged a variety of equipment including two power nodes, 12 plasma conduits, and what appeared to be an auto-regeneration unit made of some kind of lightweight polytrinic alloy. Also found was a servo-armature from a medical repair drone, which included a laser scalpel, biomolecular scanner, and micro-suture all rolled into one instrument. A transwarp coil was recovered, but it had self-destructed beyond repair by fusing its field regulator (per Borg protocol when a vessel is critically damaged). Also salvaged from the debris were a couple of data nodes which contained tactical information that Voyager used to locate a disabled Borg Sphere and plan a "heist" of a working transwarp coil. The probe is referred to as the "Interceptor" in the Star Trek: Armada series of computer games.
Borg Queen's ship
The Borg Queen uses this ship to direct all Borg operations. This ship is contained within the Unicomplex, the Borg's base of operations. This type of vessel has only been seen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Dark Frontier". The weaponry of this ship includes both fore and aft torpedo launchers. Like the Borg cube it can travel at transwarp speeds, allowing it to outrun its enemies if needed. One such ship was destroyed when the USS Voyager collapsed the transwarp conduit the ship was traveling in. It remains unknown if any more exist. Within the Star Trek: Armada computer game series and various other games, this type of ship is referred to as the Borg Diamond.
Borg scout
The Borg scout ship is cuboid in shape but considerably smaller than its counterpart, the Borg cube. The Borg scout ship is only several metres in length, width and depth, and holds a crew of five. A Borg scout ship was found by the crew of the Enterprise-D on a moon in the Argolis cluster in the episode "I, Borg" (TNG).
In the game Star Trek: Armada, the Borg Scout is depicted as a very small and quick ship that is shaped like a cone. The shape changes considerably between the original Armada and Armada 2.
Borg sphere
The sphere ship was first seen in the movie Star Trek: First Contact, where it was stored within a Borg cube ship under a large slide-away hatch and used as an escape vessel upon the destruction of the cube. This particular sphere was seen to be capable of time travel. It is unknown if other sphere ships are commonly carried aboard cubes or commonly possess time travel capabilities. It was later found in the Arctic in the episode Regeneration of ST:ENT. They are equipped with reactive armour. These vessels carry a complement of 10,000 borg drones. Borg spheres were also seen in several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. During the episode "Unimatrix Zero, Part 2", a Borg Sphere is shown firing both phasers and disruptors. In the Star Trek: Armada game series, they are depicted as light cruisers that have the ability to rapidly regenerate their shields for a short period of time, while in the Voyager episode Dark Frontier Seven of Nine refers to one as a scout ship.
Borg tactical cube
The Borg tactical cube ship is visually a variant of the standard Borg cube with the additions of extensive large, solid pieces of armor attached to the exterior.
It was seen in the Star Trek Voyager episode "Unimatrix Zero, Part 1". It is unknown as to what type of weapons this ship possesses only that it can fire both phasers and torpedoes.
The only tactical cube observed was destroyed via a self-destruct sequence initiated by the Borg Queen, in an attempt to kill Captain Janeway as she was still aboard, having released the nanoprobes virus. The type is also featured in the Star Trek: Armada II video game, where the only difference between tactical and regular cubes was improved offensive and defensive capabilities. The tactical cube was also featured in Star Trek Legacy, in which it is a more powerful and larger Borg Cube.
Rogue Borg ship
In the two-part TNG episode "Descent", a group of rogue Borg began attacking Federation outposts and colonies in several outlying sectors with a new type of vessel, informally known as the rogue Borg ship. This unusual design was asymmetric, totally unlike the previously encountered Borg cube. However, the vessel was still heavily armed and massively armored, and capable of great destructive power. Only one ship of this type has been observed; the ship attacked the research outpost on Oniaka III, as well as the MS-1 colony, using previously-unknown transwarp conduits to appear suddenly over the target and launch a quick attack. A schematic variant of this design was briefly seen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Scorpion, Part 2", which recounted the brief alliance between the Voyager crew and the Borg in their fight against Species 8472. Referred to as a "multikinetic neutronic mine", the drone Seven of Nine proposed it to Captain Janeway as a high-yield weapon for delivering enhanced nanoprobes after having deemed Starfleet photon torpedo as insufficient. This design is also seen in the game series Star Trek: Armada, which refers to it as an 'Assimilator' class. Its function is to assimilate or destroy any alien ship or station it encounters. However, this is not canon.
See also
External links
- Borg starship classes article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
| Star Trek starship classes |
|---|
| Starfleet: Starfleet starships |
| Akira | Ambassador | Constellation | Constitution | Danube | Defiant | Excelsior | Galaxy | Hope | Intrepid | Miranda | Nebula New Orleans | Nova | NX† | Oberth | Prometheus | Saber | Sovereign | Steamrunner | Wells | Other Starfleet ships |
| Other |
| Andorian Imperial Guard: Kumari | Borg Collective: Borg starships | Cardassian Union: Cardassian starships | Ferengi Alliance: D'Kora Jem'Hadar: Jem'Hadar starships | Kazon Sects: Kazon ship classes | Klingon Empire: Klingon starships Romulan Empire: Romulan starships | Suliban Cabal: Suliban cell ship | Vulcan: Vulcan starships | Xindi: Xindi starships |
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† – Pre-Federation |
