Borg Fanfiction without elements from First Contact and particularly Voyager Voyager

[Unimatrix Q]

I'm searching for quite some time for fanfiction stories about the Borg without the much despised elements from First Contact and Voyager like the Queen, Nanoprobes or the dumbing down to space zombies for example. Stories i especially would like to read are about the Borg as they were introduced during "Q Who", where they were presented as only interested in technology and the whole assimilation issue didn't even exist.

So far i found nothing at all. Which is really curious, considering the fact that many fans don't like what became of the Borg since that movie and especially Voyager.

Because of this, i opened this thread for discussing this issue, collecting links for fanfiction meeting these criteria and hopefully to inspire some writers to make such fanfiction too. Instead of just the ordinary 0815 Voyager Borg stories.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I would say if you want to see that sort of story then take a crack at it yourself.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

If i only had the talent for writing a compelling story. I've got more of a talent for finding or developing new ideas or looking at things from a perspecive that allows me to see story details and lore in a way that makes it easier for me to see connections and possible stories that many people who are gifted writers, way better at writing than i could ever hope to be, often apparently are unable to see.

Sometimes i really wonder why such talented people aren't using their gifts for really interesting stories instead of often doing similar stuff to what was already made by others before.

 

[Tarek71]

I didn't really prefer the earlier, pre-Queen Borg. Not sure why they would care much about technology from a civilization that is evidently significantly less advanced than themselves. Would we attack a 19th Cent coal-powered civilization for their antiquated tech?

The Queen gives an antagonist that the protagonists can interact with more directly and face off against. And the idea that they are improving quality of life for all species and are thus justified in forced assimilation since this brings these species closer to perfection makes more sense to me. At least in terms of why they bother with species whose tech is not as advanced as their own.

 

[Blip]

I prefer the original Borg. They were ruined by the introduction of their scenery-chewing 2D villain Queen. The "visible antagonist" argument was a cheap excuse given out at the time by TPTB to get around their own inability to write for the traditional Borg, and holds no water since it reduced a nigh unstoppable, monolithic force of nature into an army of cheap zombie minions under the control of a capricious witch.

On the "antiquated tech" point:- who says they didn't ignore lesser-evolved species? The Federation pretty much represented the pinnacle of Alpha Quadrant technology, and during its first encounter the Enterprise proved it could give the cube a bloody nose. This enticed them to seek out the source of Fed tech to find out what else they could assimiliate. I expect anything else they come across is either ignored (or discarded after initial probing) or broken down into useable material.

I see no problem with the Borg assimilating people for information/expertise; cherry picking the "good ones" and discarding the rest (and perhaps breaking down any unwanted individuals, together with other carbon-based life, into nutrients for the drones... ). All of this adds to the soulless, coldly calculating, horrific nature of the Collective; or at least it would if First Contact and Voyager hadn't messed it all up.

 

[SolarisOne]

My opinion: take the Queen away, but keep the assimilation aspect.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

My opinion: take the Queen away, but keep the assimilation aspect.

But please no nanoprobe using Borg Zombies. Assimilation, if it happens, should be a purely surgical procedure.

 

[Blip]

But please no nanoprobe using Borg Zombies. Assimilation, if it happens, should be a purely surgical procedure.

I have no problem with nanoprobes being used for the initial stage - it's a scary way to go; the victim's flesh and mind being taken over ("eaten alive") by the cybernetic parasites. And at the very least, it serves to quickly pacify the enemy - as well as, I'd expect, paralyzing intended assimilees.

I do agree that the assimilation should be completed surgically though. And just imagine: the victim -assuming they aren't already wired to the Hive- being able to feel every sensation throughout the procedure...

 

[SolarisOne]

I have no problem with nanoprobes being used for the initial stage - it's a scary way to go; the victim's flesh and mind being taken over ("eaten alive") by the cybernetic parasites. And at the very least, it serves to quickly pacify the enemy - as well as, I'd expect, paralyzing intended assimilees.

This could have very well happened to Picard off-screen in TBOBW.

 

[Tarek71]

Human augmentation should make drones lightning fast as well as strong. The walking zombie is a BS idea. A lot scarier if they can out run cheetahs. No escape on foot. They swarm and overwhelm. There has to be a better way of mass assimilation than one at a time surgery or sticking them with tubes one by one. They could be released into the atmosphere, air burst munitions, fired from projectile weapons, etc. And of course drones should be individually armed and fire back. They should certainly not ignore intruders until they start sabotaging shit. Assume the worst and detain on sight. That was idiotic.

It's not an inability to write that causes the Queen to exist. It's a great improvement to have someone to interact with one to one. The Queen should definitely stay. They dont care about antiquated tech. They are on a mission to perfect all species whether they like it or not. Cure all disease, end suffering, pain, aging, racial and ethnic strife. One Borg hive for all races, colors and peoples. They think they are doing us a favor. They couldn't care less about our shitty fission or liquid fuel rocket garbage tech.

 

[Blip]

I don't see a need for the "staggered zombie walk" epitomised in FC (they should be moving more smoothly if anything), but I also don't see a need for drones to be sprinting or doing robot parkour up the walls (maybe some creepy-ass spider walking?). A big part of the original appeal was their inexorably methodical nature; they didn't need to run because they'd just keep coming.

I do agree about the lack of attention paid to intruders on Borg vessels. Away teams should have to be substantially more stealthy, and at least avoid getting seen by any drones that are not either regenerating or focused on tasks (so, avoid getting in their direct line of sight). And no active tricorder scans! If discovered, the Borg would inject them and, depending upon their technical worth, either fully assimilate or dump them into the liquidation and nutrient extraction system.

Weaponising the drones (Note the key word "drones" - they're mindless automaton workers) would turn them into a 2D cartoon brute of a villain IMO. The Borg survived just fine without this originally, and there are brutes a-plenty in the Alpha Quadrant already...

So far as I can see, no one here has said that the Borg should care about low-grade tech. The unwanted stuff can be either discarded or broken down into useful elements. Just like their unfortunate victims.

As far as the Queen is concerned, sorry but no: It was an inability to write - it's the same reason we got a deluge of corny "action movie dialogue" strewn throughout First Contact, and why character-driven stories fell by the wayside on Voyager under Braga's hand.

The first two outings for the Collective needed no such villanous mastermind at the wheel; they were written as a monolithic, cataclysmic force of nature. Even with Locutus, the reaction felt by the crew was that the Borg had taken Picard; he was never treated as some kind of evil mastermind - wasn't truly viewed as the face of the enemy, by anybody save the grief-stricken survivors of Wolf 359.

Nor is the "face of the enemy" trope applied in a disaster movie: There may be assholes included on the side to drive conflict, but an unstoppable earthquake or volcano etc doesn't need a figurehead for the audience to boo and hiss at, or to explain its motivations.

What you've just described reduces the Borg into the kind of Brannon Braga-inflicted caricature we've had to endure for the past 25yrs. Give me a Collective to be afraid of, not one that'll be more inclined to fire pew-pew lasers interspersed with scenery chewing monologuing!

 

[Tarek71]

The need for superior speed is far greater efficiency. They can be fast and relentless, it's not an either/or proposition. Increasing the time for escape for the enemy, to reload and regroup is an inherently bad idea.

Our own soldiers are armed. That doesnt make them "2D cartoon brutes". It makes them far more lethal. That's why weapons were invented. To greatly enhance lethality. Of course, if taking them alive for assimilation is a priority, the weapons can be designed to be less lethal. Assimilation weapons that stun, paralyze and deliver the nanoprobes would make sense. But they would still carry weapons.

Antagonists who can interact personally with the protagonists exists in the immense super majority of stories, including the vast majority of the best written novels and films in history. The idea that a personal antagonist with which you can have one to one interaction represents a failure to write falls at the first fence. You dont have to agree that it improves the Borg dramatically, but it's not a failure to write.

What I have described is quite different than what Braga created, and far more menacing and fearsome than any iteration of the Borg including what you have described. The Borg were not scarier in their first appearances on TV than in FC. And I am not sure how making them appear to be a "force of nature" makes them less drone-like. That sounds like the epitome of being a de-personalized drone. A wave of unarmed, walking zombies (dont run!) isnt much different than FC and certainly doesnt inspire greater fear than in the film, not least because they have those aspects.

 

[Blip]

The need for superior speed is far greater efficiency.

Efficiency at what?? Seems you're missing the point.

They can be fast and relentless, it's not an either/or proposition.

Yeah, definitely missed the point. They don't need to be fast, because they're unstoppable. They're the stone-cold serial killer stalking his prey with all the time in the world, because they're the one with the upper hand. And en masse, they're equivalent to the lava flow you can only hope to flee from.

Our own soldiers are armed. That doesnt make them "2D cartoon brutes".

You're comparing apples to oranges; I'm not talking about the protagonists. And again, you're missing the point: The Borg don't need cliché "pew-pew rapid fire action!" Their level of technology as originally portrayed was vastly superior. Yes, Starfleet can lob as many photon grenades and compressed phaser bursts as it likes, but the Borg should be rapidly adapting and thus largely impervious to it. FC watered down their ability, not least to give the Enterprise-E its grand "uber powerful new ship" entrance.

Antagonists who can interact personally with the protagonists exists in the immense super majority of stories, including the vast majority of the best written novels and films in history.

And yet here we had one of the best Trek -nay, best scifi- villains ever concocted, until they got watered down with the over-used antagonist trope. Why? Because Moore and Braga were incapable of writing a Borg story without a corny villain centrepiece shooting its mouth off. Bear in mind, this isn't the only time Braga's writing has been seen to be lacking - he was always about spectacle and cliché rather than intelligent scifi or character-driven stories. Note also that one of the highest-grossing films of all time is a disaster movie...

What I have described is quite different than what Braga created, and far more menacing and fearsome than any iteration of the Borg including what you have described.

No, it really isn't. You've taken Braga's version and added a few gimmicks. And as long as you keep a hammy, scenery chewing lead villain, the forbidding and unfathomable nature of the Hive is lost. This is another 2D villain, no more scary than the average Trek fare. Obstinately declaring otherwise won't make it so.

The Borg were not scarier in their first appearances on TV than in FC.

The concept was - only the 80s tv budget failed to deliver (despite the production team's talented efforts).

And I am not sure how making them appear to be a "force of nature" makes them less drone-like. That sounds like the epitome of being a drone.

What on earth are you talking about? I've never suggested that the two are mutually exclusive. For a start, those descriptions are at entirely different scales - you're doing the equivalent of comparing macroscopic features to microscopic ones.

Mindless wave of unarmed, walking zombies (dont run!) isnt much different than FC and certainly doesnt inspire greater fear than in the film, not least because they kept those aspects.

Again, FC watered their abilities down at the same time as giving them a facelift. I'd rather an inhuman army of unfeeling, unstoppable, technologically superior drones controlled by an unfathomably alien intelligence, than a stampede of pew-pew laser wielding, badly written generic robot minions.

 

[Tarek71]

Efficiency at what? You shouldn't have snipped the following sentence. Giving those you are attacking more time to escape, regroup, reload, etc is an inherently bad idea. The Borg are not unstoppable. They've been stopped. Increasing the speed, ferocity and power of the assault would greatly increase the difficulty in stopping them. Your idea that arming your forces and increasing the speed of their attack does increase how formidable or fearsome they are is obviously nonsensical. As is the idea that speed and weapons are "gimmicks", but a herd of walking zombies is not.

Weapons arent "pew pew" and certainly not a "gimmick". They are used by real armies, air forces and navies in the real world, because they greatly increase the lethality and power of your forces. The Borg using them would greatly increase their ability to overwhelm and defeat adversaries, just like the real world.

Individual Borg were just as depersonalized, robotic and drone-like in Q-Who as in FC. Thousands of monotone voices speaking in machine unison doesnt really do much to show how much less drone like they were. The introduction of the Queen doesnt change that or them in any substantial way. They certainly weren't any more scary. And she was introduced for the same reason Locutus was. To give a personal one to one antagonist to communicate with, as opposed to the mechanical chorus of thousands of drone voices.

They arent a force of nature. Nothing is more one dimensional than tornadoes, volcanoes and hurricanes. Fundamental questions of all characters include who are they and what do they want? Tornadoes arent a who, and they dont want anything. What I would add would make their attacks far faster, far more powerful and make them a lot more fearsome. But they are nothing as one dimensional as an earthquake.

Robot minions is exactly what we saw in "Q Who?". How being a robotic minion to an "unfathomable intelligence" makes them less minion-y than if the Intelligence is the Queen is a mystery to me. In any case, the "inhuman" army I described is a lot more powerful and capable than what you are describing (walking, unarmed zombies) or what was shown in Q Who or any subsequent appearance.

 

[Tarek71]

FC didnt "water down" the Borg in any way. We have no reason to think the Cube in Q Who would have performed any better. I am not a big fan of the "versus Debates" but I think the Warsies did a good job of demolishing the idea that a Cube could adapt to anything. There has to be an upper limit to the power generation and energy storage of a cube. Even if they could figure out how the Death Star works and the physics of the beam it fires, that doesnt mean they can survive a hit. The cube might need power generation thousands or tens of thousands of times greater than is physically possible for it to achieve in order to make their shield strong enough to withstand a full power hit from the Death Star.

The Borg adaptability is no different from our own or the Federations. They might achieve great rapidity by linking highly advanced supercomputers and billions of minds to allow them to process data at a huge rate and speed. But in principle they are doing what we do. Analyzing data, trying to figure out the tactics, weapons of the enemy and devising defenses against it. But physical limits remain.

It's possible that a single Borg ship simply cant generate enough power to beat 80-100 Federation ships. These are ships that have also been improved since the Federation can adapt too. Individual drones would have the same limitations. Those personal force fields must have an upper limit in how much energy they can generate and how powerful a hit they can take.

 

[SolarisOne]

It's possible that a single Borg ship simply cant generate enough power to beat 80-100 Federation ships. These are ships that have also been improved since the Federation can adapt too. Individual drones would have the same limitations. Those personal force fields must have an upper limit in how much energy they can generate and how powerful a hit they can take.

This is something I REALLY wish the writers had taken note of.

 

[Tarek71]

This is something I REALLY wish the writers had taken note of.

Exactly. In this case, their shields should work like ship shields. They weaken the more and harder they are hit (shields down to 82%, 57%, etc). And whatever portable unit each drone has to power their shield is being drained with every hit it takes, no matter the "modulation". They can say something like drones have been observed to take 12-15 shots from the standard phaser rifle before their power cells are drained and the shield collapses, making them vulnerable again to direct fire. Or whatever. Some kind of physical limit.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The closest I can think of is the profic Vendetta by Peter David. It's a sequel to "Best of Both Worlds" and involves a Ferengi assimilated to become the Borg's new Locutus-esque mouthpiece.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

The closest I can think of is the profic Vendetta by Peter David. It's a sequel to "Best of Both Worlds" and involves a Ferengi assimilated to become the Borg's new Locutus-esque mouthpiece.

Yeah. It's the best ever written take on the Borg in novel form imo. The Borg never were as scary as in this book.