Well, I'm in the middle of an adventure with my gaming group. Following the STO/novels timeline, the Borg have attacked the Alpha Quadrant and Picard and Seven are leading the Federation fleet. The characters' ship, the USS Rising Sun, has been drawn in. In a desperate measure to destroy a Borg cube, the Captain and engineer enlisted the help of a dimension-walking NPC aliennamed Gurrrps (the name sounds like an extended belch, and yes, it's inspired by GURPS) to help carry a photon warhead over to the cube. It succeeded, but Gurrrps was wounded as they were leaving and mis-stepped to an alien world . Amnesiac, he wandered off. The characters were captured by small ferocious teddy bears. (Sigh... yes, they're Ewoks).
Meanwhile, the Science Officer was left on the Rising Sun. It took damage in an attack, and the NPC XO was injured, The Science Officer was now in command. Soon after, the Borg managed to beam him off the bridge. He was taken to a large triangular chamber, and the Borg Queen made her usual entrance and assembly sequence. She addressed him by name, and he suddenly recognised her. The new Borg Queen used to be a Romulan spy disguised as a Vulcan on the Dyson Sphere, and the last they saw of her was when she was assimilated. She pontificated in true Borg Queen tradition and had him assimilated.
Next week, we're getting together for the next session. Role-playing allowing (God knows players can always do the unexpected, and I usually allow them to take the lead) the characters should be able to capture the Science Officer and have his implant removed. I've taken a "ex-Borg" template and figured out a set of character modifications for craeting such a charter in play, and will apply these to the Science Officer (again, preuming the players don't do something else like killing him or destroying the cube he's on somehow).
The session went well, and proceeded as planned. The other PC successfully rescued LCdr. Seth and brought him to the HoloDoc for de-Borgification. He'll be about 6 months in rehab, and will have the following adjustments:
I like the fact that you're taking a sensible time-frame on Seth's rehab; after watching First Contact again recently and the 'eew, gross!' assimilation scenes, I've been reminded of the VOY story where Janeway, Torres, and Tuvok allowed themselves to be assimilated... and the next episode, they're right as rain after a little out-patient treatment from the EMH.
Even with 24th century medical tech, that's stretching my 'suspension of disbelief' beyond snapping point!
It went well, no railroading needed. The players all acted as I assumed they would. Comes from gaming with the same group for nearly 25 years! The next session takes them back to the Dyson Sphere for the payoff in a series of events I set in motion several years ago. I keep a log of events just so I can do this sort of thing with some lip-service to continuity, unlike (so it seems sometimes!) the writers on the show.
Borg Assimilation
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