The Borg Cometh

Cryptic has announced the first post-GA content to be added to Star Trek Online, and The Borg figure highly in their plans it seems.

Expect a lot of contact with the Borg in Star Trek Online. An entire “season” of Episode Missions is dedicated to combating the Borg and managing their influence on the universe. In addition to squaring off against the hive mind, you’ll also have to contend with other factions that attempt to utilize or work with Borg technology to achieve their own ends. You may even find yourself making friends with enemies to work against the great threat the Borg pose.

Borg interior concept art

The announcement included the following faction appraisals.

The Federation says:

The Borg

Cmdr. Bradden

Starfleet Intelligence

The Borg are an implacable force. They are, or were, one of the greatest threats the Federation has ever faced.

To call the Borg a race would be inaccurate. To call them a plague upon existence might possibly be understatement. They are cyborgs, biological life “enhanced” with technological advancements. They target and assimilate other races they deem of worth. Sometimes they choose their victims because of a technology they want to get their hands on. Sometimes they target interesting biological traits. Always, they target any race they consider a threat.

Assimilation entails a complete loss of self, of individuality. It destroys entire races. The assimilated become a part of the Borg Collective. Among the Borg, there are no individuals and the Collective rules all. The only possible exception to this is the Borg Queen. It is unclear whether she rules the Borg hive mind, or whether she is merely an instrument of the Collective.

The lack of distinct identities makes the Borg an uncanny opponent. They have no personal fears, no emotional weaknesses. They are also quite willing to sacrifice tremendous numbers of their own, because there is no true loss. Add that to their vast amounts of technology and they become nearly undefeatable. Nearly.

We almost lost the Earth in their first fully fledged attack against us. Since then, we’ve faced them several more times. The starship Voyager in particular came into contact with them repeatedly, thanks to having been stranded in the Delta Quadrant, which we believe to be where the Borg originated.

Thanks to the work Voyager did, we have far more information about Borg technology. It may be that Voyager also damaged the Borg and their transwarp hub severely enough during their last encounter to destroy the Borg. Or, at the very least, set them back several centuries.

Certainly that was the reasoning behind dissolving the Borg Task Force in 2385. I find myself less sanguine about this conclusion than many of my peers. Recent information leads me to believe that the Borg are not so quiescent, and that we may soon have cause to regret our complacency.

While the Klingon Empire gets straight to the point:

Cmdr. Korak

Klingon Intelligence

The Borg are a plague. Pasty white bastards, with their Collective. They have no bravery. Where there is no self, no burning desire to live, there is no courage. If you don’t even know what fear is, then you cannot conquer it!

They also have no honor. The Borg may offer their hands in treaty, but never doubt they shall turn on you should it benefit them!

We have not seen the Borg in many, many years. But we do not delude ourselves. Never trust an enemy is gone until you have shattered his bones in the wreckage of his own home. Besides, I have heard things. Rumors, if you will, that they are infiltrating the Alpha Quadrant. They’re cunning. Cunning and untrustworthy. If they are here, and I have no reason to believe they are not, it will be a grand fight to destroy them.

There are, of course, screen shots out there about this new content along with this video:

Coming soon to a star system near you!