8 May: The Borg

30 years ago, in 1989, The Borg first appeared in Star Trek. They are cybernetic organisms, linked to a hive mind known as "the Collective".

1. For the first series of Star Trek: The Next Generation, there wasn't really a regular antagonist such as the Klingons and the Romulans in the Original Series. The Klingons were now allies of Star Fleet. Originally, the Ferengi were going to fulfill that function, but they were eventually deemed to be too comical and not a convincing threat. The Borg were much more powerful and frightening and so they became the regular enemies instead. The Borg were initially going to be insects but budget restraints led to them being portrayed as humanoids with a hive mind.
2. The Borg do not procreate - their population grows as a result of assimilating other species. The appearance of Borg children and even babies on episodes of Star Trek is due to there being children and babies on the planets or star ships they assimilate. Young children are placed in maturation chambers until they are old enough to be useful.
3. Individual Borg are known as drones. They usually have one eye replaced with a sophisticated ocular implant and one arm replaced with a prosthetic one which will have a number of tools built in, such as weapons or medical scanners.
4. Borg drones don't say much. Typically the only words they might utter come from the hive rather than from the individual and usually are some variation of their catch phrase, "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile". They don't have body hair, and their skin takes on a pale Grey hue. Since they are not seen as individuals, they don't have names, either. If they need to be identified they will have a numerical designation such as "Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01." This particular drone was dispatched to Voyager in a rare incidence of the Borg negotiating and co-operating with another species. Seven of Nine became a member of Voyager's crew.
5. They assimilate other species because their ultimate goal is to achieve perfection. They do not refer to other species by name but rather assign each one a number. Humans are 'Species 5618'. They are fussy about which races to assimilate. They regard the Kazon, for example, to be technologically inferior and not worthy of assimilation. There is even a species for which resistance is not futile - Species 8472 is the only race shown to be capable of completely rejecting assimilation attempts. So far.
6. The collective consciousness allows the Borg to adapt quickly to any obstacle they encounter. All drones are linked to it and receive constant supervision and guidance from it. The mental energy of the collective can heal injured drones, fix technology or communicate ways to deal with any tactics used against them.
7. We don't know the origin of the Borg, just that they have been around for thousands of years. Some offshoots of the Star Trek franchise have come up with different stories explaining where they might have come from, but there is no definitive origin story in the main canon. Yet.
8. Most Borg spacecraft are cubes made from titanium alloy. Most are known as Borg Cubes due to their shape, although there are such things as a Borg Sphere and a Borg Diamond as well. Their craft will have warp drives, weapons, tractor beams and transporters. They also have the ability to regernerate. What a Borg spacecraft won't have is a bridge (because the hive mind is controlling it), living quarters (because drones don't need to eat or sleep) or even an engineering section. The temperature on board is a constant 39.1 °C (102.38 °F) with 92% humidity.
9. The creative team behind Star Trek soon realised that a hive mind making collective decisions wasn't the type of villain audiences preferred to relate to. Hence they came up with the idea of the Borg Queen, the embodiment of the hive mind. Whether she is their ruler or simply an avatar is unclear - evidence exists in Star Trek episodes for both. However, she provides a focal point for viewers.
10. In one episode, Captain Jean-Luc Picard is assimilated into the Collective, creating Locutus of Borg (meaning "he who has spoken", in Latin). The Borg used him to communicate that the Borg only want to "raise the quality of life" of the species they "assimilate."

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

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Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two