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Assimilation Star Trek

Assimilation Star Trek: Encyclopedia - Assimilation Star Trek

In the Star Trek fictional universe, assimilation is the process which the cybernetic Borg use to integrate a being into the collective structure. Prior to approximately 2372, assimilation was initiated through means that are less obvious, but may have required temporary restraint of the being until appropriate key cybernetic tie-ins are in place, allowing the collective to compel the being ...

Assimilation Star Trek: Encyclopedia - Assimilation Star Trek

Assimilation (Star Trek)

In the Star Trek fictional universe, assimilation is the process which the cybernetic Borg use to integrate a being into the collective structure.

Prior to approximately 2372, assimilation was initiated through means that are less obvious, but may have required temporary restraint of the being until appropriate key cybernetic tie-ins are in place, allowing the collective to compel the being to accept all further modifications and structural attachments.

Inference can be made that, roughly between 2370 ("Descent") and 2372 ("Star Trek: First Contact"), the Borg assimilated or developed a technology allowing faster assimilation. Subsequent to this development, several or most drones were fitted with tubules on the digits of one appendage. Had the technology already been held by the Borg in 2366, likely they would have used it to assimilate Picard rather than merely administering a stun drug or energy on his abduction from the bridge. Locutus/Picard, and other Borg, could then have used them on other Enterprise personnel, either when Locutus was taken to the Enterprise or when the Enterprise crew boarded the Borg ship. Similarly, on entering transporter range of Earth, drones could have quickly begun assimilation, if they had had the nanoprobe injection technology.

Since approximately 2372, judging from its first use in "First Contact", the process is started by a Borg drone injecting nanoprobes into the target's neck using the drone's assimilation-tubule. When the nano-probes are injected into a body, they start to transform the body cell by cell. The process can be treated as an initialization procedure of a drone.

The nanoprobes by themselves are able to incorporate an individual into the Borg collective and assemble some macroscopic cybernetic implants, but many larger-scale accessories (such as tool-laden artificial arms and specialized sensors) are subsequently installed by more conventional surgical means. In the early Borg episode Best of Both Worlds Captain Picard's assimilation appeared to follow a different pattern than was seen in later episodes.