We are the Borg...

[Shran]

...We will add your Biological and Technological needs to our own. We will work in Peace toward a common goal of diplomacy and goodwill. Lower your shields and prepare for negotiation. Hostility is futile."

Why would the Borg say that?

Well... Saturday, my players are going to hear it and I need a reason!

HELP!!

[Njxt]

Because they need help from the Federation to fight the big bad ugly nasty "we kick borg's ass" S8472 ?

[C5]

A few possible explanations....

- Parallel universe where the Borg are the only peaceful power in the Galaxy. They came to this one to find help against the bloodthirsty Federation who keeps answering every offer of peace with utter violence (I know, it's not original at all, but what can I say, I love parallel universes)

- A virus has infected the Borg (or at least a few Cubes), and changed their primary goal to a more peaceful one. Of course, the Collective is expected to do its best to dispatch these faulty units.
For a twist, you could even add that the virus will eventually kill them, and the Borg will eventually be asking for help... while knowing this could restore them to their previous state.
Another twist would have the whole Collective being affected... and now suddenly finding itself surrounded by powerful ennemies who want revenge and the end of all that is Borg...

- The Borgs that Lore tried to use to destroy the Federation, and who are now led by Hugh, reformed a Collective, only with much more benign objectives. They of course will have trouble with some neighbours who might not believe that these Borg will not try to assimilate them... or who just want revenge.

- The players have been sent in the past and are faced with a strangely primitive Cube... Could these Borg be the forebears of the Borg they know, and will they try to alter the future ? Or at least try to understand how did they turn the way they now are ?

- The Borg have devised a new tactic to assimilate the Federation. They have modified some of their main routines in order to have people willingly join the drones ranks (for instance, the assimilated people could keep their personalities). Of course, the old routines are ready to be restored once they're sure they have a solid enough grip on the Federation.

Uh, that's all for now. Hope you'll find some interesting ideas in there.

[Evan van Eyk]

Maybe they assimilated too many peaceful Vulcans, or Betazeds, or something like that. Or they encountered a whole new species, which made that happen...

[KillerWhale]

Maybe they're drunk.

(Erm. Sorry. )

[Tobian]

it could just be they are like the Martians in Mars attacks - "We come in peace" as they continue shooting

I also quite fancied doing the old 'Borg from the past' idea - exploring the Borg before they became so demanding. It may well have begun just like that, and more and more worlds would have resisted their offers and they became more and demanding as time went on.

[Phantom]

I like the parallel universe idea the best.

[JonA]

They could've assimilated a bus load of flower power hippies high on marijuana who fell through a wormhole on their way to Woodstock..... (you ever see the Voyager episode The 37s).

"Hey, we're, like, the Borg man. We just want, like, peace dude. So chill out man and don't be so heaaaaavy. Or we'll assimilate you. Peace."

Hmmmm.

Maybe not.

[Dandelionhead]

The ship's translator program obviously has a few bugs in it...

-Dandelionhead

[Owen E Oulton]

Two words: "Mirror universe."

[Captain Sonek]

A couple of possibilities....

- It's the Ex-Borg "Cooperative" from the Delta Quadrant that Voyager. Perhaps their Borg nanoprobes reasserted themselves, but their individuality has altered this branch of the Collective. Maybe they decided to allow the nanoprobes to reassert themselves, and become full Borg again, in the interests of the Cooperative.

- The Borg have assimilated a Vulcan or Vulcans and added the ability to negotiate. A similiar situation comes up in the Peter David novel Vendetta, when the Borg assimilate a Ferengi and aquire the ability to "deal".

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by Captain Sonek
The Borg have assimilated a Vulcan or Vulcans and added the ability to negotiate. A similiar situation comes up in the Peter David novel Vendetta, when the Borg assimilate a Ferengi and aquire the ability to "deal".

Yeah but that was a Locutis type Borg, not a basic drone. They needed his skills, parts of his personality, and some measure of individualism intact IMHO.

AS far as to the origanal question, I'm with Owen on this "Mirror Universe"

[Capt. K. Vaughn]

I'd have to go with the Mirror Universe angle myself and that might be an interesting twist for my Challenger reunion game.

Hmmm...I'll have to think about that.

Regards,
CKV.

[Liz Not Beth]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[hellsgate]

I like this idea quite a bit! Here's a further idea:

- The Borg Virus in question is an ultra-paranoid Section 31 Virus created & distributed by both the Founder Blood Screenings on Earth & Voyager's attack on Unimatrix 001. The screenings during the very brief period of Martial Law on Earth when Admiral Leyton tried to seize control of Starfleet/The Federation at-large. Including Locutus Of Borg's / Jean Luc Picard's own nanite technology. Communicated through normal everyday human contact from person to person, from handshakes & hugs to sex....like body lice & STD's.

- Distributed further by pardoned former-Maquis carrying out the conditions of a special series of clauses in their "parole", as agents of Starfleet Intelligence aiding & abetting Commander Chakotay & Hugh's New Democratic Collective. Purpose: To re-claim assimilated persons whom desire to go home again. To defeat the Dominion, using whatever technological means to defeat the Jem Hadar that Starfleet recovers from the emancipated ex-Borg drones.

- The flashpoint is Terok Nor/DS9 during the Dominion War. Spread further by individuals such as the Koln-Ma (Extreme Militant Bajorans,) from our own universe crossing over & back again, to facilitate aiding the Cardassian-Klingon Alliance "Resistance" who've spread the Virus to "their" Borg.

http://www.angelfire.com/ak4/startrekfanfiction/Introduction.html