Control panals

[Mikey]

"Where's #1!"

"We want... information."

[Deepcrush]

We know.

You do? Damn. Knew I shouldn't have bought the cheap tin foil...

Damnit man, you've got it all wrong! The tinfoil actualy amplifies the brain-controling waves. It's all a government conspiracy! Don't you see????

Rochey, would you come with my friends and I...
8) 8)

[Mark]

I guess I mean that if it wasn't for Data being able to connect to the Borg via Locutus and putting them all to 'sleep', then the Borg may have assimilated Earth (assuming Riker's plan to ram the Enterprise into the cube wouldn't have worked as well).

Of course, if Data HADN'T been on the E-D, it would have been destroyed before getting tossed off to the DQ by Q, and drawing the Borg's attention, thus Wolf 359 never would have happened, and the Borg would likely have been the Romulan's problem.

[Captain Seafort]

Of course, if Data HADN'T been on the E-D, it would have been destroyed before getting tossed off to the DQ by Q

Probably in the second episode - it was only Data's speed and hand-eye coordination that saved the ship then.

drawing the Borg's attention, thus Wolf 359 never would have happened, and the Borg would likely have been the Romulan's problem.

I wouldn't have said so. The first attack passed right through the Neutral Zone, and affected colonies on both sides of the border. Where the second one would have struck isn't clear, but assuming a similar origin point and approach there's a 50/50 chance it would have hit the Federation, with no warning and no head-start on new weapons and tactics. Even if the Romulans had borne the brunt, once they were subdued the Feds would probably have been next on the list.

[Mark]

But thanks to the E-D......the Borg made a direct line straight for Earth, instead of on that wandering course they were on............................

[McAvoy]

Eventually the Federation would encounter the Borg. You could also make the argument that the Borg threat prepared Starfleet alittle for the Dominion.

[Mark]

Until then, the Borg had just scooped up some outposts along the Neutral Zone the ship that did it was never seen or heard from again, so I don't know what we can infer from that, other than it just went on it's way, bypassing the main of the Federation. And remember, without Voyager the Borg would have been wiped out by Species 8472, so there is no reason to think the Borg would have HAD to stumble across the Federation before being obliterated.

[Reliant121]

However, as pointed out, it is a double edged sword. While the Federation made a few blunders, and suffered at the hands of the Borg, it prepared them as a whole for the blood bath of the Dominion war. Somehow i dont think the Fed's woulda lasted as long as they did against the Dominion without that prior preperation.

[Mark]

Ok, that I can't argue with. Without direct Borg influence, we never would have gotten the Defiant and the Sovereign.

[Sionnach Glic]

Or the Akira and Prometheus and Lakot-refits probably. Starfleet would have remained utterly unprepared for combat.

[Tyyr]

Instead of 95% unprepared for combat.

[Mark]

Wow.....so as it turns out, encountering the Borg was GOOD for the Federation

[Mikey]

Until then, the Borg had just scooped up some outposts along the Neutral Zone the ship that did it was never seen or heard from again, so I don't know what we can infer from that, other than it just went on it's way, bypassing the main of the Federation. And remember, without Voyager the Borg would have been wiped out by Species 8472, so there is no reason to think the Borg would have HAD to stumble across the Federation before being obliterated.

Given the Borg's subsequent OCD obsession with humanity, I think they would have progressed naturally from their initial encounters along the Nuetral Zone to a direct attack on Earth sooner or later anyway.

[Mark]

Unless they found something more interesting along the way. To be honest, the fact that they never encountered that FIRST Borg ship (the one that hit both the Romulan and Federation bases) has nagged at me for YEARS like a damned hangnail. Either IT was destroyed by something (or someone) or it found something more interesting that the Federation down "yonder".

[Mikey]

IT was destroyed by something

This is possible without having to suppose a new, unseen "big bad." Remember, all the while that this initial cube was raiding settlements, people were shooting back at it. Given enough return fire, attrition will affect even a Borg cube.