Borg starships

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.

Borg cube

The archetype Borg cube is a variety of immense, cubic starship that functions as part of the Borg Collective. It was first seen in the 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 Battles of Wolf 359 and Sector 001. 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 people to see one, was amazed that it was 29 cubic km in volume.

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 First Contact and 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. (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 (i.e., "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, humidity is an average 92%, and its internal temperature is 39.1ºC.

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 scout ship and plan a "heist" of a working transwarp coil.

The probe is referred to as the "Interceptor" in the Armada

Borg Queen's ship: "diamond"

The Borg Queen uses this ship to direct all Borg operations. This ship is contained within the Unicomplex, the Borg's base of operations. The weaponry of this ship includes both fore and aft torpedo launchers. Only in the event of an emergency will the Borg launch this ship, making onscreen appearances rare. Like the Borg cube it can travel at transwarp speeds, allowing it to outrun its enemies if needed.

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 2.5 million metric tons in mass, 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).

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. The sphere was later 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 ST:ENT in Regeneration in the Arctic.

Borg spheres were also seen in several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.

In the Armada game series, they are depicted as light cruisers.

Borg tactical cube

The Borg tactical cube ship is a variant of the standard Borg cube with the additions of large, solid pieces of armor attached to the exterior. Presumably it possesses more power, weaponry, and deflector shielding. It was first seen in Star Trek Voyager episode "Unimatrix Zero, Part 1".

The type is also featured in the Armada II video game.

Rogue Borg ship

In late 2369, 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 asymmetrical, 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 Ohniaka 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 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 torpedoes insufficient.

It is speculated the vessel seen in "Descent" is actually a Borg mine or minelaying vessel that had been "liberated" by the android Lore (although exactly how Lore could have accomplished this is unknown). This would account for Seven of Nine's familiarity with the design as well as its appearance in the Borg database. Also, since it is later revealed the Borg use transwarp conduits to quickly move from place to place, the presence of this technology also tends to indicate this is a Borg vessel "under new management." The unusual hull shape -- not being a standard geometric shape as is common in other Borg vessels -- might indicate this hull type was originally created by an alien race later assimilated by the Borg.

The ship is referred to as an "Assimilator" in the Star Trek: Armada games.

Ship environmental systems

In addition to housing regeneration modules which allow drones to regenerate (sleep) and maintain their systems, Borg ships have environmental systems. Borg ships generally maintain a constant temperature which is comfortable to most humanoids (Starfleet personnel not observed sweating or shivering), and an oxygen mixture atmosphere. Although it is unclear whether the Borg have a need for these accommodations, they are probably needed to perform the process of assimilation on other beings.

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