A Commander clapped in her hands. “Please pay attention and eyes focus up front.” She looked to the small group of medical personnel gathered for the briefing and preparing work for their mission in the Delta Quadrant. “My name is Commander Denon Maohn. I am like you all are medical officers in service of Starfleet with the same privilege that everyone has, complaining patients of mild headaches and finger pains.” She saw everyone laugh a bit about that; good, she had broken the ice. “But we also know why we are here…” She tapped a button as the images of Borg appeared on the screen, and a holographic 3D model drone appeared in the middle of it “The Borg Collective. A topic I would rather not talk too often about, but my specialization is dealing with victims that got added to the collective on a non-volunteer basis."

The people looked at each other a bit concerned or were focused on the images. “The Borg are the cybernetic species from the Delta Quadrant. Within this collective, no actual individual exists except the Borg Queen, who hopefully died for real at the hand of Captain Picard”. Taking a deep breath as Denon looked at the drone. “Scientists believe their ultimate goal is to achieve perfection through forceable assimilation of diverse sentient species, technology, and knowledge. As a result, the Borg Collective are the most feared species out there to not underestimate at any cost."

Everyone was looking at the Commander with great concern and knowing what they were signing up for. A few officers were swallowing nervously or shaking their legs as a nervous tick. “Now, the most important thing for you guys to know is the progression of this all. Upon assimilation, the drone will go through a few phases. It will stop to grow hair; its skin will turn into a greyish-colored skin as a result of its inorganic implants.” She taps the side of her head. “You can see the nanites spreading as black veins over the body spreading and draining that pigmentation.”

Denon stood next to the drone. “These implants are either installed onto the victim” Pointing at the mechanical arm, “Or grown within the body with the advanced help of the nanoprobes in the bloodstream.” She noticed people taking notes and nodded to that as a good sign. “The implants vary from drone to drone based on their species and function within the collective. Their neural communication and coordination are almost the same in every drone.” She started to pace around to continue her story.

“What happens when the drone assimilation is completed?” A voice came from the back. Denon looked in that direction, seeing Commander Viamame sitting there. 

“Interesting question, Commander.” When the implants have grown or been put in place when they have received their attachment like vision improvement" She pointed at the drone eye attachment. “Or arm device” Pointing at the cuter at the arm of the drone. “The drone can function long without shelter, nutrition, or even air.” She pointed her finger in the air as she continued her walk. “The only requirement they do have is the supply of energy to keep themselves operational and their vitals going. This supply was provided during the regeneration cycles that the drones have to do regularly in specialized alcoves, depending on the age of these drones” 

Raising her hand, Viamame raised her voice “What would that mean if a drone is damaged? What would happen then?”

“Then the drone is returned to being reviewed and repaired. If deemed unrepairable, the drone will be dismantled, and useable parts will be used on other drones.” It was a harsh truth, but the Borg Collective was aimed at perfect efficiency, and Denon shrugged at the idea of what happened to the drones. “Keep in mind. They do not value individuality. They think like a collective and act like one.”  

Taking a deep breath as Denon crossed her arms over each other, “Some techno gibberish, but vital for you to know. As said before, a neural transceiver is placed in the brain to be connected to the collective. They have a personal force field to protect themselves from most energy-based attacks. A cordial processor that allowed the drones to process vital information very quickly. And their neural processor kept a record of everything they experienced and the orders they received from the collective.” 

She looked puzzled for a second. “There is an urban myth that drones have failsafe that can deactivate them or even vaporize their body. However, we at DEI have not found any evidence of this.” Denon shrugged as it was an excellent exploit to consider. “They must operate in a constant temperature of 39 Celsius and 92% relative humidity. Plus, an atmospheric pressure of about 102 kilo pascals. So, if you noticed these critical points on your ship, congratulations, you have Borg on your ship that has started the assimilation process.”

Everyone started to mutter to each other as Denon clapped in her hands. “Attention, please! I am not done.” Denon walked back to the front and turned around. “Borg Tactics are pretty simple. They will ignore intruders until they are deemed invasive or, worse, a threat to the collective. When encountering an enemy, they will figuratively and literally dissect that ship. Learn its technology, take the crew, and gain their knowledge.”

“How do they even manage this all?” A question came from the crowd.

“Good question. We still do not fully understand the Borg structure as it is pretty complex. But the rundown is that you have drones stripped of any free will, doing the bidding of the collective. These drones are unified into matrices, large units usually assigned to sectors and their duties. These are further divided into adjuncts, and these groups are eventually compiled into an unimatrix. In the middle of an unimatrix was the Borg Queen, the closest thing to an individual that the collective has.” Denon took a breather and knew the follow-up on this. 

She raised her hand again. "Now, don't get it mixed up that the Queen did not impose her individuality onto the collective. It is the collective that displayed the will of the Borg" Denon thinks for a moment, looking around. “Science and DEI go with the hypothesis that the Queen functions as a processor for the collective mind to regulate and assign information where necessary to impose order on the chaos of billions of minds within the collective.” Denon felt she was providing too much non-essential information and shrugged at her conclusion “Back on topic, you will receive information and medical logs from experts in the field on how to reverse this process. If a drone is reversed to its usual self, they are to be placed under the evaluation of the counseling department and reassigned from your ship. xB, as we call them, are former members of the collective. Treat this carefully, all of you. These people will have to endure a lot and have a long rehabilitation process. That is all. Good luck out there".

Everyone started to move out of the room in groups or solo. Viamame was looking at the drone as she got a poke from the side, seeing the nurse standing there. “Let go, Commander, we have a lot to check on” The nurse spoke, joining her fellow nurses. “The Borg are a scary bunch,” she told her co-workers as if they were students. Viamame shrugged and followed them, giving a nod to Denon.