Borg designations = ranks?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Voyager' started by Melakon, Jan 20, 2013.

  1. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Location:
    Melakon's grave
    Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One, is of course the most well known Borg designation. But what do these designations actually signify?

    Is the Unimatrix number indicating a region of space, or her group of 9 drones? Memory Alpha says the term is used interchangeably. Due to all the qualifiers (Tertiary Adjunct), there must be millions or billions of drones designated as Seven of Nine throughout the entire Collective.

    Was she the equivalent of 3rd Officer for her group of 9? Or for Unimatrix Zero One, whatever it was?

    It seems like the meaning of designation was purposely left vague, maybe just to drive us crazy thinking about it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2013
  2. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2012
    Location:
    JirinPanthosa
    I see Borg designations more like positions in a collectible set.

    Like, how a set of action figures may say "Janeway: 1 of 10, Chakotay: 2 of 10", etc.

    A borg unit is like a squad, a group designed to carry out a specific purpose. There are nine Borg required to perform that function, and Seven's role in that happens to be delegated the seventh role.
     
  3. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Location:
    Melakon's grave
    I started thinking about this a few weeks ago, because of "Survival Instinct", which I've not seen in years, and maybe only once. She has the highest number (7), and bosses the others around until they start regaining their individuality. It suggests there were an 8 and 9 in the group originally, with perhaps higher authority than she.
     
  4. Brit

    Brit Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2008
    Location:
    Texas
    Yes I would buy the higher authority idea because in the Raven flash back portions of Unimatrix Zero we do learn that the designation Unimatrix one indicated drones working with the Queen
     
  5. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    After Dark Frontier, Seven had a new job, which means that she had a new designation.

    "Princess"
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2013
  6. Brit

    Brit Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2008
    Location:
    Texas
    You are right, infact I kind of believe that was her designation all along.
     
  7. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 10, 2005
    Location:
    Confederation of Earth
    I think if there's any meaning to the designations, it's just the order in which the drones are introduced to the group. The Borg don't have any apparent use for ranks. All drones are equal, but openings within a subgroup can be filled at any time.

    Meaning, "Seven of Nine" would not have been less important than One through Six, or more important than Eight and Nine. That just happened to be the order in which those positions became filled.
     
  8. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Location:
    Melakon's grave
    Checking character bios, I see my authority theory is incorrect. Two of the other three lower number survivors were Primary and Secondary Adjuncts, so should have been able to countermand Seven's instructions.

    I guess it was just her bossy nature coming out.

    Looks like you're right, Mr. Laser Beam.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2013
  9. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    When Seven gave her team of engineers Borg designations in the Omega Directive, Harry slacked off and buggered about.

    She demoted him.

    Which was conveyed by a "higher" designation number.
     
  10. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 10, 2005
    Location:
    Confederation of Earth
    ^ She was probably just bullshitting him.

    I mean, in a collective, all drones are supposedly equal. Logically speaking, then, questions of rank or importance could never apply...
     
  11. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Location:
    Melakon's grave
    Guy, it's logic like that which explains why you and Mr. Laser Beam are Admirals.

    We really need a :salute: smiley for cases like this.
     
  12. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    It's not about rank.

    It's about how important the work that is given to each drone that can be trusted to do well because there's a spectrum of how good each engineer is and who can be trusted to do good work more or less than the others.

    Considering Harry's Hissy fit he certainly thought it was real slap in the face.

    :)

    Okay, demotions go down. And she assimilated the tactic from Janeway... Who had Janeway demoted in Season 4?
     
  13. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Location:
    Melakon's grave
    Maybe Seven was foreseeing Tom's demotion in Season 5.
     
  14. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    A lot of her crew would have been demoted to make way for the Maquis.

    Poor Joe.
     
  15. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2011
    Location:
    Lost in the EU expanse with a nice cup of tea
    Well at least that explains a little why Seven was such a martinet in Survival Instinct. I always wondered why the others didn't say: who the frak put you in charge?