Dark Frontier Episode, Borg Shields?

[mysticgeek]

At the beginning of Dark Frontier, Voyager beams a torpedo on the Borg cube. Genious tactile maneuver really.

However, with the Borg able to adapt shielding on-the-fly, how was that possible?

I mean, Tom says that Harry Kim did it while the Borg was modulating its shielding...but it makes me wonder.

Thinking of Borg shielding...it seems any time Star Fleet encounters the Borg, they are able to beam aboard with ease.

Anyone have theories or information on why this is possible?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Borg shields could simply be different enough from SF shields that beaming through is doable. Or it's the "Borg aren't worried about anybody" mentality, they never have their shields up early on in an encounter.

That maneuver reminded me of star Fleet Battles and the T-Bomb (transporter bomb). I witnessed a SFB game where a T-Bomb was beamed onto the lead Fed ship, which blew completely up, then the explosion took out the next ship, etc. etc.

I think at least six ships went away because they were so close together. The guy was seriously pissed.

 

[RoJoHen]

It follows the whole "They'll ignore us until they consider us a threat" thing. The Borg are powerful and arrogant. Nobody can hurt them, so why bother turning the shields on? It's just a waste of energy.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Okay, I can sort of buy it (not entirely) but it doesn't make any sense -- you'd think the Borg would have internal sensors and would not only detect the transport taking place (or even the signal coming from Voyager to them and know it's not a humanoid) but immediately be able to either transport it back or out to space but also encapsulate it in internal shields, much like we've seen in TNG.

And even then, unless I am misremebering, it's a Borg cude. We saw in TNG's "Q Who?" for example, that a cube can take multiple hits and still function. I think in one episode either Data or Shelby mentioned that their data suggests the cube can still function even with 70 to 80% of it damaged. And it self repairs.

Voyager should have used every transporter room on board and every pad on each one and beamed over as many as they had.


The luck they had with the Borg often bordered one suspencion of disbelief.

 

[RoJoHen]

The torpedo was beamed onto a small Borg scout ship, not a cube.

Keep in mind that Voyager also had Seven of Nine aboard. Her knowledge of Borg systems would have been invaluable in all of their encounters, whether or not the on screen dialogue made that apparent.

 

[Ember]

Borg are efficient. If they sense no threat, they don't raise their shields, it'd be a waste of power which goes in stride with being efficient. Try to approach their logic as a computer does, with simple IF, THEN, ELSE statements.

The transporters were probably pre-programmed to send that torpedo at the very nanosecond the shields were remodulated, as the human brain and hand would take too long to beam over the torpedo.

 

[Timo]

In "Best of Both Worlds", explicit mention was made of the Borg at first having shields that were no hindrance to beaming, then adapting and erecting shields that did stop transporters (necessitating the launching of a transporter-equipped shuttle to penetrate the shields first). But despite erecting this latter type of shield, the Borg still didn't react immediately to transporter activity within their ship. They let Data and Worf grab hold of Picard and beam him out.

Was that the Borg deciding against action as they perceived no real threat? Or the Borg just being too slow on the uptake? They did try to shoot down the shuttle afterwards, even though its departure ought to have been an even lesser threat than the initial invasion.

I gather the big point here is that the Borg can be outmaneuvered, especially if they are let to believe they face an inferior threat or no threat at all. The Borg can learn new specific tactics, but they don't change their overall strategy in this particular respect - they either refuse to become more quick-witted, or are incapable of becoming that.

As for the opening scene where the first scout sphere is defeated, we don't learn whether that scout was as badly damaged to start with as the second scout they attacked. Perhaps Janeway only preyed on suitably weakened opponents, and had determined that the shields on this one could not stop the torpedo once suitably tickled, even when regular Borg shields could?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[xvicente]

In "Best of Both Worlds", (...) the Borg (...) try to shoot down the shuttle

That bothered me much. Did they want Picard/Locutus or not?