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Can somebondy explain the Hansons to me?

There is one piece of evidence most miss when this topic comes up; granted it is VERY easy to miss. In "Scorpion, pt. I." When Janeway looks at her monitor concerning the Hansens and Starfleet's knowledge of the Borg, the classified database file begins on Stardate 9521.6. Since Stardates from the movies on are pretty much chronologically fixed, this would place the database in the same year as "Generations" (which is Stardate 9715.5). As others have said above, Starfleet knew of the El-Aurians before "Generations", thus some knowledge of the Borg must have leaked. One would assume that since they were so very far away in the Delta Quadrant and because nothing was heard of them, the file got buried and forgotten after nearly a century or deemed a non-imminent threat by Starfleet Security.

However, and this is the part that is hard to swallow, the Federation Council of Exobiology's intrest in the Borg remained active up to the year 2353 when they allowed the Hansens to study them. Despite the USS-prefix registry seen on the Raven in "Dark Frontier", I go with the NAR-prefix as seen in the episode "Raven", denoting that the craft was a civilian vessel. The Hansens did not wear uniforms and seemed to be working independantly of Starfleet itself. They obviously weren't flying blind either since they knew what to look for, where to go and Magnus even had built a model Borg cube before ever facing them.

So the real question is why did Starfleet Security disregard the Borg, rendering them little more than a piece of historial trivia (and consequently High Ranking officers like Picard in the dark about their existence), while a small somewhat inconsequential branch of science not only kept the topic alive but allowed civilians not only access to the information but also deemed them capable to carry out such a reckless mission?

Well starfleet command was never that bright most of the time.
 
Notice that the hansons called the borgs,borgs,think thee writers of this episode didnt think it out very well,the federation science council knew about the borg before starfleet did.a big question is why didnt the FSC tell starfleet about the borg?.
 
^^Certain people thought the same about Al Qadea before 9/11....
 
Almost every episode of Star Trek should have ended with the protagonist swearing a blood feud and intending to spend the next 200 years hammering home a final victory after initially being humbled by Kirk, Picard, Sislko or Janeway... How long does the federation stay completely ready for an imminent threat fails to manifest?

Exactly how many weeks should they put themselves out like that when there's more crap happening on thenose on the boarder on the opposite of the empire?
 
The Hansons were the typical push the envolope type explores. The did not follow their flight plan, they disobeyed direct orders to return to the BQ, they broke all the rules, and they should be commended for it. Discovery sometimes requires one to act and think on the fly, and the hell wth regulations. It was their research on the BORG that gave us much needed information on them, the only problem I have with their techinque was brining their daughter on this one way mission with them...


And THAT is the bit that I can't wrap my brain around. You can handwave their knowledge of the Borg and ability to develop anti-Borg tech, but why in the hell would anyone bring their young daughter on this mission? There is no way that makes any sense. It's like a hastily-thrown together RPG character background.
To be fair, they do cover this ground in a couple episodes ("Raven" being the big one that comes to mind, I think) where Seven tries to figure out why her parents were so retarded.

Long story short, while they loved their daughter, they loved their research more. They were selfish, and it cost them their lives.

I have seen far worse parents in the real world.
 
'Selfish' is a relative term, and virtually everything we do could be classified as selfish (depending on the perspective).
The ENT-D crew with families on-board are then no exception.
Taking their families to a star-ship on a potentially dangerous mission of exploration.
What ... 200 years of historical background in star-ships that went on deep space exploratory assignments is not enough?

Anyway ... First Contact and Regeneration explain the Hansens just fine.
The Enterprise-D being unaware of the Borg is easily chalked up to basic crew ignorance on the subject matter (whether intentionally by SF itself or not is questionable).

In any event, the data of the NX-01's encounter with the Borg (who were not named by the way in the episode) could have been in Enterprise-D computer, but given the NX-01's crew limited exposure to the drones and the time period the said events took place in, I think it would be reasonable to conclude the crew of the D itself (and their captain) were never informed of those events.

More extravagant explorers such as the Hanses were more about pursuing theories that others perceived as mere 'rumors' or something that any other scientist would proclaim as 'impossible'.
They were unconventional.

Let us also remember that Hanses to my recollection were mentioned by Janeway to have been one of the most noted Federation scientists (before they decided to pursue their theories of the Borg that is).
Which also explains why they might have access to some of the data that others would not.

SF had no idea that the signal would even REACH the Delta Quadrant in 200 years as T'Pol mentioned at the end of Enterprise episode and possibly deemed this unknown cybernetic race as something that doesn't present an imminent threat.

The El-Aurians on the other hand ... when they were rescued ... SF again could have concealed the knowledge of the Borg.
The Hansens could have easily heard those rumors of the Borg from El-Aurians and SF could have easily buried any information on them so the info would be known on a need-to-know basis.
 
Well, they had that mega-hit with "Mmm-bop-bop-bop-mmm-bop" but then their star was fading and they just dissapeared. Lost in space, I guess. Just like they had moved to another planet or been transported to another galaxy. Definitely out of transporter range, if you know what I mean. ;)

Damn, you so stole my joke... I was dying to crack an Mm-bop joke or two... :lol:
 
I agree with those that said that the Hanson's were selfish. I think it was irresposnsible of them to go off alone in the Delta quadrent and chase after(Study) the Borg. If they did not have seven then fair enough it was their lives and they could do whatever the hell they wanted to do with it. Not only did they put seven in danger but they deprived her of many things such as contact with other children, a deccent education, access to proper medical care, stability etc.

I dont think their actions even compare to those of parents who served as officers in starfleet and had their children living with them on starships.
 
Ah, dunno: the kids aboard the E-D didn't always strike me as getting lots of social exposure, either.

Perhaps the Hansons themselves had enjoyed a childhood similar to the one they were exposing Annika to, and had found it satisfactory or even beneficial?

As for Starfleet not being interested in the same things civilian researchers were, I wouldn't wonder a bit. Like Sherlock Holmes, they might have learned to abhor preconceived notions about their adversaries: much better to face every enemy with an open mind and react with all due haste when enough data existed. Which happens to be the Borg way, too...

Timo Saloniemi
 
Kirk was killed rescuing a few thousand Ellurian refugees from a Borg Invasion, and they were granted sanctuary in Federation space.

There must have been a couple of these listeners who were chatty about the events leading up tot he death of Captain Kirk in the hundred years leading up to he Events in Q Who, especially towards the officious lot who had to decide if it was worth taking them in?

Which may tie into Admiral Hanson's sugestion that 'they' Starfleet has known that the borg have been comming for a long time.

or does it go back futher???
remember the BORG never Identified them selfs AS The BORG in that Enterprise Ep.??

perhaps the Hansons were section 31???
 
I'm a bit more suspicious about all those episodes where the aliens of the week give their name, address, and an abstract of their cultural traits and current policy in their introductory paragraph, before Picard or Janeway manages to get in the obligatory reference to the United Federation of Planets and its peaceful intentions.

In the general case, I'd think aliens wouldn't volunteer information like that. The first contacts would be more like those in "Silent Enemy" or "Arena", full of secrecy and misunderstanding and precautionary violence. The Borg are a good example of how it "really" would go: after a century of intermittent contact, all that Starfleet or the Federation has is a set of rumors, a word or name here and there, a shape, a possible sensor reading from an unverified sighting.

The Borg and the Ferengi would be pretty similar in that respect: both would have wide reach and would be eager to grab things, but hesistant to reveal themselves, and always ready to spread disinformation and propaganda in support of their (from the hero POV) nefarious cause. So in both cases, it would make sense that the timespan from first encounters to full exposure would be on the order of centuries.

Timo Saloniemi
 
Despite the USS-prefix registry seen on the Raven in "Dark Frontier", I go with the NAR-prefix as seen in the episode "Raven", denoting that the craft was a civilian vessel.

The USS wasn't a pre fix it was part of the name of the ship USS Raven, the NAR prefix was on the registry number as per normal Starfleet ships. We can assume that the Hansens borrowed the ship off Starfleet just like UESPA used Kirk's ship for some missions of science.
 
Heck, how could StarFleet not have known about the Borg when Guinan's people were refugees? As far back as Kirk's time, right?

Easy:

Space is big, and they probably hear incredible stories about monstrous species beyond their borders all the time. More than likely, a lot of the time those kinds of horror stories are probably told as propaganda by their enemies. Think of those stories about India and China -- the myths and nonsense that Europeans would hear in the Middle Ages and think true.

And it's not like every Starfleet vessel would have instant access to every random rumor of mysterious aliens beyond the Federation's borders that every Federation vessel has ever recorded. I mean, think of the sheer amount of data that gets received by your topical business office -- it's impossible to keep track of it all, and Starfleet's guaranteed to get infinitely more.

There is one piece of evidence most miss when this topic comes up; granted it is VERY easy to miss. In "Scorpion, pt. I." When Janeway looks at her monitor concerning the Hansens and Starfleet's knowledge of the Borg, the classified database file begins on Stardate 9521.6. Since Stardates from the movies on are pretty much chronologically fixed, this would place the database in the same year as "Generations" (which is Stardate 9715.5). As others have said above, Starfleet knew of the El-Aurians before "Generations", thus some knowledge of the Borg must have leaked. One would assume that since they were so very far away in the Delta Quadrant and because nothing was heard of them, the file got buried and forgotten after nearly a century or deemed a non-imminent threat by Starfleet Security.

However, and this is the part that is hard to swallow, the Federation Council of Exobiology's intrest in the Borg remained active up to the year 2353 when they allowed the Hansens to study them. Despite the USS-prefix registry seen on the Raven in "Dark Frontier", I go with the NAR-prefix as seen in the episode "Raven", denoting that the craft was a civilian vessel. The Hansens did not wear uniforms and seemed to be working independantly of Starfleet itself. They obviously weren't flying blind either since they knew what to look for, where to go and Magnus even had built a model Borg cube before ever facing them.

So the real question is why did Starfleet Security disregard the Borg, rendering them little more than a piece of historial trivia (and consequently High Ranking officers like Picard in the dark about their existence), while a small somewhat inconsequential branch of science not only kept the topic alive but allowed civilians not only access to the information but also deemed them capable to carry out such a reckless mission?

1. We don't know that the Federation Council on Exobiology is a government institute. It could be a private organization that just likes to use the name "Federation," the same way, say, Federal Express or the American Broadcasting Company or the Council on Foreign Relations are not government organizations.

2. "Dark Frontier" seemed to imply that it was the Hansens who were interested in the Borg and petition the Council to help them study the Borg, not that the Council was driving that issue.
 
...Yet the contents of Hotel Royale were immediately available in the database. :eek:

Timo Saloniemi
 
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