Captain's log, stardate 41986.2. We have arrived at the edge of the Neutral Zone, where we now have an opportunity to learn firsthand what happened to our distant outpost.
A dark planet hung silently on the screen as the Enterprise took orbit and completed its scans. Soriana could sense the nervousness of the crew; no one wanted to encounter the enigmatic Romulans.
"Captain, there is nothing left of Outpost Delta Zero Five," Data announced.
La Forge frowned. "Must have been one hell of an explosion."
Data assessed, "Sensors indicate no evidence of conventional attack."
Picard rose from his seat, pacing towards the close-up picture of the gouged ground where a colony should be. "Can you determine what happened?"
"The outpost was not just destroyed," Worf offered. "It's as though some great force just scooped it off the face of the planet."
"Could it have been a natural phenomenon?" Picard asked.
"Insufficient information, sir," Worf replied.
"Captain, permission to leave the bridge?" Data asked. "I have a hypothesis regarding a potential identity for the attackers."
"Granted, Mister Data, but please be swift. Mister La Forge?"
"Sir?"
"Set course for the next closest station."
*****
"Any problems with your three unexpected patients, doctor?" Picard asked as they settled into the observation lounge for Data's briefing.
"None. All three took to medical stasis easily as soon as they were thawed and their injuries healed," Crusher reported. "They will be in perfect health when they are woken up on Earth."
"Isn't that a shock for people? To wake up after so many centuries?" Yar asked.
"It can be," Crusher agreed, "but between temporal anomalies, ancient cryo-ship recoveries, and the like, Earth's Society for Ancestral Repatriation handles over a thousand people a year. They have a variety of techniques, including extensive use of simulated holo-environments, to ease people into it. They should be fine."
"So, Mister Data," Picard transitioned the conversation, "who are we dealing with?"
The display showed two images - a pale humanoid with a tangle of black technology occupying half of his face, and a massive cube-shaped vessel. "The Borg are a technologically advanced entity originating in the Delta Quadrant," Data explained. "They are a single collective consciousness, dedicated to perfecting themselves by adding the biological and technological qualities of other races to their own."
"Like the Federation," Soriana commented.
Data paused to consider. "Metaphorically, perhaps. But, unlike the Federation, the Borg is not a voluntary alliance, and makes no effort to preserve the uniqueness of the races it absorbs. They forcefully infect every intelligent life form they encounter with nano-technology that overrides their conscious minds, making them serve the will of the collective." He shifts the display to show a diagram of a Borg nanoprobe. "Technology is similarly added, with any new unique devices propagating throughout the Borg network while the rest is converted into Borg technology."
"Why haven't we heard about this before?" Picard asked.
"Information on the Borg is not classified. It is available in a variety of Federation databases," Data explained. "However, according to what little information we have, the Borg are still in the process of assimilating sectors of the Delta Quadrant, and have had only extremely limited contact with Alpha and Beta Quadrant species. They are not viewed as an immediate threat."
"If there has been so little interaction," Yar asked, "how do we know anything at all?"
"Much of what we know comes from accounts of El-Aurian individuals," Data explained. "They are a Delta Quadrant species. In 2265, the El-Aurian system was assimilated by the Borg, and many refugees eventually made their way into Federation space. Starfleet Research approached several such individuals to learn what they could about the Borg."
Data changed the image again, this time to a wrecked structure buried in snow. "The rest of our information comes from the logs of a team of research scientists that encountered a crashed Borg vessel on Earth in the year 2153, and the logs of the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 after they were brought in to deal with the thawed Borg and the resulting assimilated persons and craft."
"The Borg have been on Earth?" Geordi asked incredulously.
Data nodded. "But in over three hundred years, there have been no further reports of interaction between the Borg and humans, or any Federation species."
"Well, then," the captain leaned forward slightly, "perhaps we're overdue."
Captain's log, stardate 41986.4. The Romulans' initial hostility was greatly tempered when we offered to share with them all of our records involving this new threat, the Borg. While I have no illusions that we will form anything resembling a genuine alliance any time soon, the existence of a greater common threat has always been an excellent method to make allies out of enemies. Only time will tell exactly how great of a threat these Borg turn out to be.