Borg cube

File:Borg cube.JPG
Type:	Cube
Volume:	28 Km3
Speed:	Transwarp
Armament:	Torpedoes, Cutting beams, Tractor beams
Defenses:	Deflector shields, Subspace field, Electromagnetic field

The Borg cube was the primary vessel of the Borg Collective. It was extremely large, measuring 28 cubic kilometers in volume and carrying up to 129,000 Borg drones. It was one of the most powerful vessels in the galaxy. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")

Structure

File:Borg cube interor.jpg

An interior view of a Borg cube

File:Borg cube interor2.jpg

An interior view of another section of a Borg cube

Borg cubes were highly decentralized in structure. No specific bridge, living quarters or engineering section was observed. All vital systems were spread throughout the ship, which, along with the presence of a regenerative outer hull, made it highly resistant to damage and system failures. In 2366, Commander Shelby estimated that a cube could stay operative even if 78% was destroyed. Information and Collective communication were routed through power waveguide conduits and distribution nodes. Its exterior design consisted of perpendicular and diagonal greebling, allowing a characteristic green light to emanate from within. (TNG: "Q Who", "The Best of Both Worlds", "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II")

The internal pressure aboard a Borg cube was two kilopascals above what would be normal on a Federation starship. The humidity was on average 92%, and the temperature was at 39.1 °Celsius. (Star Trek: First Contact) The atmosphere contained traces of tetryon particles. (VOY: "Infinite Regress") The infrastructure was made of tritanium, an ore known for its extreme hardness. (VOY: "Endgame")

Borg vessels were also capable of transwarp velocities, through their network of subspace corridors and hubs. However, when a Borg cube traveled through these corridors, the temporal stresses were extreme. To keep the different sections of the vessel in temporal sync, a chroniton field was projected through specially designed conduits. (VOY: "Shattered")

Operation

The Delta Flyer in the hangar bay of a Borg cube

Borg cubes were typically manned by "thousands of drones," and could vary in capacity anywhere from 5,000 to 64,000 to 129,000 drones. (VOY: "Collective", "Unimatrix Zero", "Dark Frontier")

Starfleet personnel encountered Borg nurseries aboard at least two cubes. (TNG: "Q Who"; VOY: "Collective")

The main tactic employed by cubes when engaging another vessel was to seize it with a tractor beam and render its defenses useless by draining its shields. Thus, the cube could perform any type of action, ranging from destruction to assimilation, on the defenseless ship. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds"; DS9: "Emissary")

Following the failure of enemy shields, the cube usually engageed a cutting beam to slice sections of the ship for assimilation.(TNG: "Q Who"; ENT: "Regeneration") The cutting beam could also be used as a weapon to destroy vessels showing resistance. During the Battle of Wolf 359, USS Melbourne and USS Saratoga were annihilated by cutting beams, after their shields had been drained by the tractor beam. (DS9: "Emissary")

The cube weaponry also included disruptor beams, torpedoes, and shield neutralizers. During the 2366-2367 incursion, a cube obliterated three ships of the Mars Defense Perimeter with torpedoes. The concentrated fire of three Borg disruptor beams was able to reduce USS Voyager's ablative hull armor integrity, a highly advanced future Starfleet defense technology, to 40%. (VOY: "Endgame") During the first contact in system J-25, three shield neutralizer energy bursts disabled the Enterprise's shields. The cubes could also use dispersal fields to disrupt the sensor and transporter function of enemy vessels. (VOY: "Collective"; TNG: "Q Who")

Support vehicles

Borg Sphere emerges from a Cube.

Ships up to the size of a Borg sphere were able to be docked inside a Borg cube for assimilation, supplies or escape purposes.

At least one Borg cube, and possibly others of its class, contained a Borg sphere. The only known recorded purpose of a sphere disengaged from a Borg cube was for escape. The sphere is the only documented support vehicle a Borg cube possessed. (Star Trek: First Contact)

Encounters

The first officially publicized Federation contact with a Borg cube took place in 2365, when the USS Enterprise-D encountered a single cube in System J-25. However, civilian researchers onboard the USS Raven had previously tracked a Borg cube a decade earlier in 2353. (TNG: "Q Who", VOY: "The Raven", "Dark Frontier")

Every Starfleet encounter with a single cube resulted in heavy losses. 39 out of 40 ships were lost at the Battle of Wolf 359 in 2366, and dozens more in the incursion of 2373. (TNG: "The Drumhead"; Star Trek: First Contact) Normally a single Borg cube was capable of eliminating all the elements of civilization from an entire planet.

When the USS Enterprise-D experienced malfunctions due to Wesley Crusher's nanites in 2366, sensors erroneously detected an approaching (nonexistent) cube. (TNG: "Evolution")

Thousands of cubes were estimated to exist in Borg space in the Delta Quadrant; the largest grouping of cubes directly observed by Starfleet was fifteen, by the crew of the USS Voyager in late 2373. (VOY: "Scorpion") When describing the assimilation of his world, Arturis said that hundreds of cubes surrounded his homeworld before its destruction. (VOY: "Hope and Fear")

Ships of the class

• Named:
  • Cube 461
  • Cube 630
  • Cube 1184
• Unnamed:
  • Unnamed Borg cubes

Appendices

Appearances

• TNG:
  • "Q Who"
  • "The Best of Both Worlds"
  • "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"
• TNG films:
  • Star Trek: First Contact
• DS9: "Emissary"
• VOY:
  • "Unity"
  • "Scorpion"
  • "Scorpion, Part II"
  • "Hope and Fear"
  • "Drone" (on astrometrics screen)
  • "Dark Frontier"
  • "The Voyager Conspiracy" (on astrometrics screen)
  • "Collective"
  • "Child's Play" (on astrometrics screen)
  • "Unimatrix Zero"
  • "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
  • "Inside Man" (on astrometrics screen)
  • "Q2"
  • "Endgame"

Background

Photograph of the Borg cube studio model

In the script for "Q Who", the Borg cube is described as being "box like, with none of the aerodynamic qualities associated with most spaceships including the Enterprise. This is a case of form following function."

The original concept for the Borg cube was conceived by Maurice Hurley and designed by Rick Sternbach. The original studio model was built by Kim Bailey of Starlight Effects from "the simple embellishments that Rick Sternbach and Richard James had created based on the description of the cubical ship given in the script." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, Star Trek Encyclopedia)

Apocrypha

Borg cubes make appearances in the Star Trek: Armada and Star Trek: Armada II games. In the second game, a "fusion cube" and "tactical cube" are seen, and used by those playing as the Borg. The first consists of eight regular cubes connected to each other and is the size of a planetoid, such as Pluto. The second are eight larger, armored cubes connected to each other and is the size of a planet, such as Mars. Both are designated battleships and hold the assimilator beam device and three "captured" special weapons taken from a enemy race.