A very entertaining review, Sam. 
A couple of clarifications I'd like to make:
EXT. GLACIAL TERRAIN - CRASH SITE - DAY (OPTICAL)
A Starfleet SHUTTLE is landing near the three Habitat Modules. The modules have been ravaged. The excavation site is gone; the Borg debris has been taken away. The transport ship is nowhere to be seen.
As for the "doubling" of their speed: the Borg left Earth orbit at warp 3.9 (59c on the TOS scale). When they carved up the Tarkalean ship, they took a number of engine components and enhanced their warp drive again, allowing them to reach warp 4.8 (111c). Okay, it's not exactly double... Trip rounded up.
A couple of clarifications I'd like to make:
The Borg removed all useful technology from the crash site. This was the scene as written in the final draft script:
EXT. GLACIAL TERRAIN - CRASH SITE - DAY (OPTICAL)
A Starfleet SHUTTLE is landing near the three Habitat Modules. The modules have been ravaged. The excavation site is gone; the Borg debris has been taken away. The transport ship is nowhere to be seen.
In an earlier draft, we saw the dead drones dematerialize/disintegrate, as they often did in TNG. This shot was cut for pacing and budget concerns. Maybe we should've kept it for clarity's sake.
Phlox's technique may only be effective in the initial stage of assimilation, which was prolonged because of his physiology. In any case, it seemed to us that defeating Borg nanoprobes (and restoring an assimilated person) never seemed to be much of a problem in the TNG era, as Picard, Janeway, Torres and Tuvok were restored without too much trouble.
After their recent experience, it would be pretty clear to Archer and Starfleet that the alien technology was incredibly dangerous. It's my belief that Starfleet would've destroyed any remaining technology and/or corpses.
I have it on good authority that a Drone's first task, when separated from the Collective, is to reestablish that connection. As for the "urgency" of their final communication... we don't know what else the Drones actually said in their message. For all we know, they may have only been reporting their position.
When Enterprise first encountered the Borgified transport, Archer asked T'Pol how many HUMAN bio-signs were on board: she reported there were nine. Later, she made it clear there were twenty-nine TOTAL bio-signs on the transport (the humans plus the Tarkaleans, plus any other poor souls the Borg had run across).
Trip was briefing Archer on the scans they took of the Transport during their first firefight. These scans were already out-of-date as the Borg were continuing to upgrade their ship with technology from the Tarkalean vessel. Maybe the line would've been clearer if Archer had said: "Let's hope they didn't have time to upgrade their weapons... since we last saw them."
Trip was referring to the twelve hours since Enterprise's first encounter with the Borg, not the time since the Borg had left Earth. We kept Enterprise's position deliberately vague. We also never said how long it had been since the transport left Earth. Conceivably, the events in the Arctic could've been weeks or months earlier.
As for the "doubling" of their speed: the Borg left Earth orbit at warp 3.9 (59c on the TOS scale). When they carved up the Tarkalean ship, they took a number of engine components and enhanced their warp drive again, allowing them to reach warp 4.8 (111c). Okay, it's not exactly double... Trip rounded up.
Reed was referring to the hull plating polarization, not the physical hull plates.
In "Q, Who," when their ship was damaged, the Drones entered their alcoves to use their combined abilities to repair their ship. This is why the Drones were beamed back to the Transport.
Enterprise is the only ship in Starfleet capable of intercepting a vessel at warp 3.9 or higher; the rest of the fleet is zipping along at a leisurely warp two.
We're going to reveal in a future show that T'Pol enjoys slurping down a juicy sandworm every now and again; a vegetarian has to get her protein from somewhere.
