A Borg Changeling?

[Preserver's Child]

Hello everyone! New here and I guess I'll just dive right in! So, these questions have crossed my mind a few times...

Can Changeling's be assimilated? If not, what's Borg protocol for an unassimilatable species?

Would the Changeling's "great link" lend them to being receptive to the Borg's "collective" ideology?

Would they perhaps become allies or if not, maybe... frenemies?

Would the galaxy collectively wet their pants if they did align?

Of all "solids" it seems to me the Borg would be most capable of understanding the Changelings and vice versa.

 

[shivkala]

There are no canon answers to some of these questions.

As far as Changelings and the Borg...

Spoiler

The DS9 novel Misson Gamma: Lesser Evil which takes place after the series finale features a Changeling that was found with Borg nano-probes in it. They explain due to the morphogenic matrix Changelings have, the Borg cannot assimilate them.

It's thought that this attempt was an experiment, of sorts, by the Borg into a possible Gamma Quadrant, one they found to be a failure, so they pursued other possibilities.

The Changelings were all about control. They even say, you don't fear what you can control. The Borg are uncontroable, so I doubt they'd be open to an alliance, were the Borg to offer an alliance.

As for the "unassimilatable species" you'd want to look at Species 8472 from Voyager. The Borg went as far as making a deal with Voyager in exchange for their help in defeating Species 8472. So, not exactly frenemies, more using another enemy to strike at them.

Seeing as how powerful Species 8472 was and the fact that they had no love for the Federation after this, a Borg/Species 8472 alliance would probably cause the galaxy to wet their pants. However, due to the enmity on the part of Species 8472 towards the Borg and the Borg being more pragmatic (if they can't assimilate us and aren't a threat, we're not interested), not to mention the Borg's solution for dealing with Species 8472 was to annihilate them, I doubt an alliance would work or that they'd seek such an alliance with the Dominion.

 

[Paul755]

I gotta think if they couldn’t assimilate the Changlings they would simply destroy them and take the technology.

 

[Preserver's Child]

That's an interesting note from that book! That's pretty much how I figured it'd go. Very cool!

And species 8472 were awesome, loved their faux San Francisco, imo they're aren't enough space cities like that showcased in trek.

 

[shivkala]

It's a good book, at that (I love the re-launch books).

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Similar goals, ie: bringing order to the chaos of the galaxy, but different means to that end. Subjugation vs Assimilation.

 

[Finn]

No. However, I’d be curious about the handful of the hundred that would have ended up inside Borg Space whether if it was already Borg when they were sent there, or areas that were conquered later on.

 

[Gelnon]

The Dominion is huge and given enough time they'll have bred legions of J'em Hadar soldiers, the Founders, well some could infiltrate a vessel as drones, i'd love to see a feature length episode with this content

 

[somebuddyX]

I read a cool fanfiction once where a Borg cube dropped a payload of nanoprobes on a Founder planet and it began assimilating them, so ever since it's been part of my head canon that they can

 

[Orphalesion]

Eh I'm in the camp that says they can't be assimilated, due to their unique physiology. I feel like they'd just be able to flush the nanites out of their bodies or something.

The more interesting question, in my opinion, is if there was a Borg invasion of the Dominion...would the Founders with their mastery of genetic engineering be able to create J'em Hadar that are protected against assimilation?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

.would the Founders with their mastery of genetic engineering be able to create J'em Hadar that are protected against assimilation?

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the Jem'Hadar were always designed to be Borg-proof.

 

[Farscape One]

In a sense, the Jem'Hadar are by design assimilation-proof.

I highly doubt the Borg would want drones that are biologically completely dependant on a drug.

 

[Paul755]

I’d bet the Borg nanoprobes would just re-write the Jem’Hadar DNA/cells so that they aren’t dependent on the white. I mean, human/Klingon/Romulan drones don’t eat or drink.

The question is would the Borg want to assimilate an entire species that is nothing but a warrior race? It’s not like there are Jem’Hadar scientists, philosophers, etc... what would they really add.

 

[Farscape One]

Needing to eat and drink is a bit different than the Ketracel White dependency.

And besides, it's been established the Borg implants basically generate energy for the nutrients the biological components require. (Pretty sure "I Borg" mentioned this.)

I suppose that means the Borg can do the same for the White dependency, but given how that is ingrained directly in their genetic structure, I doubt it.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I’d bet the Borg nanoprobes would just re-write the Jem’Hadar DNA/cells so that they aren’t dependent on the white. I mean, human/Klingon/Romulan drones don’t eat or drink.

The question is would the Borg want to assimilate an entire species that is nothing but a warrior race? It’s not like there are Jem’Hadar scientists, philosophers, etc... what would they really add.

Borg shock troops? Their nanoprobes could be programmed to supply them with a Ketracel White equivalent.

 

[Preserver's Child]

Wow these are some awesome ideas!

Jem'Hadar assimilation is a truly terrifying thought but what about Weyoon and his fellow overseers? Telekinetic borg, now that would be game over... kinda surprising that they haven't already assimilated a species with that ability, it would definitely "add to their perfection".

 

[JoseNoodles]

I don't think species with psychic powers of any kind retain that power when assimilated. I'm sure Vulcans and Betazeds have been assimilated, but we never seen anything like drones with psychic powers. I think assimilation somehow overrides any psychic species' ability to use those powers, maybe even by intention. The Collective might deem such powers useless towards their goals and a waste of brain matter.

 

[Preserver's Child]

Well, the species you mention are all telepathic, that ability becomes moot once assimilated since all borg are linked with digital telepathy and gain any mental knowledge they want from outsiders through assimilating them. Telekinesis would be a different matter, short of something like Wesley Crusher's micro-tractor beam I don't know of any technological comparison to that ability in an individual.

 

[JoseNoodles]

Drones have personal force fields. Maybe they can project them outward to repulse a person or object? I think Seven of Nine did something like that once, but I'm not 100% sure. I might be misremembering.

 

[SurvivorJoe]

What would happen in a potential Dominion and Borg encounter has always been one of the things I've wondered about since DS9 & Voyager ended. They must have encountered each other at some point. I suppose it could have been cool if towards the end of DS9 they had a 1-off episode where in the middle of the Dominion War a Borg cube comes sailing into the Alpha Quadrant and all the major powers have to deal with it. (Hey if they can take an episode off from the main war to play a game of baseball, why can't they fight the Borg too? )

This whole conversation reminds me of the second DS9 novel "The Siege" (the first original DS9 story since the first book was an "Emissary" adaptation) . It was long before anybody came up with The Dominion and is probably even less canon than most of the novels since I think it was being written while the series itself was still in pre-production, but early in that story a Borg cube attempts to come through the wormhole from the Gamma Quadrant and gets torn apart in transit, so only debris comes out the other end in the Alpha Quadrant. It's been many years since I read it, but I seem to recall a scene where Jake was really freaked out about it, and Ben sort of brushed it off and said the Borg would just send out a message to the rest of the collective that the wormhole was unsafe and should be avoided, so it was no big deal because it probably wouldn't happen again.