The Borgs interest in the Federation because of Q?

[Timo]

I like to think the Federation was under constant low-level surveillance by the Collective, with a bit of scouting here and there and a bigger base-scooping mission every few centuries or so. The Borg also were clever enough to use their intel to choose their targets, so they struck the RNZ where mutual distrust would keep the Feds and the Romulans from finding out what really happened. Plus, the contested border would have a nice concentration of technologies, even if a bit outdated due to the stalemate nature of the conflict.

And yes, IMHO the fact that the E-D managed to escape the Borg at J-25 piqued their interest, warranting a new scouting mission. But it may have been delayed by other factors besides there possibly not being a transwarp conduit - sure, the Q-boosted getaway was interesting, but the Borg had other things to do in this big galaxy, and the Feds weren't getting away or anyth... Well, yes, they were getting away, that was the point, but for a Collective that thinks in millennia, there wasn't that much hurry. Especially after it was soon discovered that the Lalo wasn't getting away in the same fashion.

So "Q Who?" hastened the schedule of scouting, but beyond that it probably didn't much change the position of the UFP in the Borg "to do" list. The scouting did its job, the new situation was satisfactorily assessed (no actual alliance with Q to fear, a nice pace of tech development, suitably stimulating attempts at resistance), and emergency measures such as an immediate full assimilation invasion were not needed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vanyel]

I like to think the Federation was under constant low-level surveillance by the Collective, with a bit of scouting here and there and a bigger base-scooping mission every few centuries or so. The Borg also were clever enough to use their intel to choose their targets, so they struck the RNZ where mutual distrust would keep the Feds and the Romulans from finding out what really happened. Plus, the contested border would have a nice concentration of technologies, even if a bit outdated due to the stalemate nature of the conflict.

And yes, IMHO the fact that the E-D managed to escape the Borg at J-25 piqued their interest, warranting a new scouting mission. But it may have been delayed by other factors besides there possibly not being a transwarp conduit - sure, the Q-boosted getaway was interesting, but the Borg had other things to do in this big galaxy, and the Feds weren't getting away or anyth... Well, yes, they were getting away, that was the point, but for a Collective that thinks in millennia, there wasn't that much hurry. Especially after it was soon discovered that the Lalo wasn't getting away in the same fashion.

So "Q Who?" hastened the schedule of scouting, but beyond that it probably didn't much change the position of the UFP in the Borg "to do" list. The scouting did its job, the new situation was satisfactorily assessed (no actual alliance with Q to fear, a nice pace of tech development, suitably stimulating attempts at resistance), and emergency measures such as an immediate full assimilation invasion were not needed.

Timo Saloniemi

Thank you for your input.

 

[Jeffe525]

^^Thing I always wondered, with the Queen being from Species 125, what did the Borg do for a Queen before they met that species?

From my understanding, the Borg designates a queen from time-to-time based on current needs. The species selected from may be insignificant. It may also be the case that the Borg evolved from a consortium of several hundred races, not unlike the Federation, and species 125 was one of those first races.

Either way, I think everyone is on to something here. It seems to me that the Federation and the Borg were circling each other for a while and, if anything, Q just facilitated a meet-n-greet that benefited Picard more than it did the Borg.

If the Borg's interest was peaked by the Enterprise's sudden disappearance, it was probably short-lived. The Borg would have quickly discovered that the disappearance/ extreme velocity was beyond the Federation's abilities and contributed the anomaly to external forces.

And it's very plausible that one of the Borg's objectives with humans was to learn more about Q, but I think its primary interest stemmed from the Federation's unique ability to consistently resist them under the most unlikely conditions.

However, there is a clue that Q is weary about the Borg. In VOY, Q scolds his son telling him, "If I've told you once, I've told you 1,000 time, DON'T PROVOKE THE BORG!" This could indicate that the Q are in fact vulnerable to those intelligent enough to develop a way to invade whatever quantum realm they exist in.

To expand this one step further, we could speculate that maybe this is what the Borg were trying to do when they accidentally discovered fluidic space and Species 8472.

 

[Timo]

The species selected from may be insignificant.

It doesn't appear insignificant to the Queen, though: she only appears to approve of exactly two body shapes, those in the likeness of Alice Krige and Susanna Thomson. But the Queen seemingly exists in order to emulate certain non-Borglike personality characteristics, such as initiative, cunning, and even lust. Vanity may be among the desired features, and a preference for specific body forms may be part of that.

[qujote]And it's very plausible that one of the Borg's objectives with humans was to learn more about Q, but I think its primary interest stemmed from the Federation's unique ability to consistently resist them under the most unlikely conditions.[/quote]

The Borg interest in Picard specifically could stem from the Q connection, as we lack evidence that the Q would interact with any other mortal that way. That other Q from "Death Wish" did find fancy in other humans, though, and the Q in TNG occasionally brag about toying with other species, so I doubt we're seeing much of a pattern here. And it's not as if the Borg really did have a thing for Picard - it's more like Picard ran into them twice or thrice as part of his Starfleet duties. Until ST:FC, where the Borg may have played Picard for a sucker, luring him into the past to kick-start Cochrane's stalling warp project and, along with that, the whole Federation thing...

Is the UFP ability to resist unique? Janeway's big kaboom at the conclusion of VOY is probably the only thing that really hurt the Collective, or even hindered it in achieving its short-term goals.

However, there is a clue that Q is weary about the Borg. In VOY, Q scolds his son telling him, "If I've told you once, I've told you 1,000 time, DON'T PROVOKE THE BORG!" This could indicate that the Q are in fact vulnerable to those intelligent enough to develop a way to invade whatever quantum realm they exist in.

That's a intriguing point. If the Borg are that powerful, tampering with time and quantum realities, it's unlikely their dealings with mankind really register much in the Collective history. Sure, the Queen may be in histrionics about Janeway, but that's her task within the Collective, to get emotional about things...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Jeffe525]

The species selected from may be insignificant.

It doesn't appear insignificant to the Queen, though: she only appears to approve of exactly two body shapes, those in the likeness of Alice Krige and Susanna Thomson. But the Queen seemingly exists in order to emulate certain non-Borglike personality characteristics, such as initiative, cunning, and even lust. Vanity may be among the desired features, and a preference for specific body forms may be part of that.

Yes, that's what I was saying, that the queen is only a part-time assignment (from what I understand). But good point on the vanity thing - that would play a role in which Borg is tasked to be queen, so long as the Borg understand the complexities of subjective beauty as defined by the applicable culture she's assigned to deal with.

Is the UFP ability to resist unique? Janeway's big kaboom at the conclusion of VOY is probably the only thing that really hurt the Collective, or even hindered it in achieving its short-term goals.

Well, at the very least I would say it's unusual. So far as we know, 8472 is the only other species to kick as much Borg ass as the Federation. And how often do you think they lose a transwarp hub to sabotage? Since there's only a handful in the Milky way, I'd say probably not that often.

 

[Timo]

Unfortunately we only have two Borg experts to refer to, Seven of Nine and Locutus. And the former isn't volunteering much information, while the latter has been fooled big time at least once by the Collective that drafted him, and might be an unreliable witness with little access to the facts.

Neither Annika Hansen nor Jean-Luc Picard has ever said the Borg consider humans special or the UFP a grave threat, whether they are speaking freely or under the influence of the Collective. In the former state, they don't like to talk about it; in the latter, they are all business, simply insisting that resistance in all its forms is futile.

Behind all that uncertainty, secrecy and propaganda, the UFP might be crucially important to the Collective, or then something far less interesting than the agricultural planet from "Child's Play". Or then it's routine for the Borg to be facing fantastically dire threats every decade, the torch just passing from threat to threat as matters warrant - yesterday it was the 8472, now it's Janeway, tomorrow it will be the Pakled Multiversal Supremacy, or the Armpit Hair Growth Subroutine for all we know. After all, the Borg do spend a lot of effort digging up new trouble, and might even be incapable of evolving without finding some!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tim Walker]

I think that the Borg's interest in our side of the galaxy was sparked by an encounter with a very advanced artifact.

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Balok's_cube

The Federation probably seems quite primitive, in contrast.