[Spoon-business] Assimilate this!

["Baron von Skippy" <baronvonskippy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I propose:

{
__The Borg__

     Daybreak, the Grid: As dawn rose, the attack began. For days, the two 
armies had performed an intricate dance across the Grid, performing little 
feints here and there, working closer and closer together, until finally the 
dance ended. Today the contest would be decided. The two armies flooded into 
one another, and the crash of swords, twang of bows, and somewhat 
anachronistic roar of speeder engines and laser cannons filled the valley. 
Neither side gave ground without exacting a tremendous cost for it. The 
flanks held, the lines were unbroken. The battle looked like it could go on 
all nweek. It would have, but the author didn't feel like writing about a 
week-long battle. On to the deus ex machina!
     It was afternoon. The battle had slowed as parts of the line rested, 
allowing each other a break before going at it again. The speeders were 
mostly refueling or destroyed, although several battalions behind the lines 
were being entertained by a wild dogfight between two squads that had run 
into each other. As a cloud blocked out the sun, they watched one of the 
speeders tumble to earth, engines flaming...
     It never hit the ground. From nowhere, a bright green tractor beam 
lanced out, grasping the speeder and dragging it skyward. One by one, the 
soldiers on the ground looked up to see the lone speeder being inexorably 
pulled into the cloud.
     The very dark cloud.
     The very dark and... cubical cloud?
     A sound, like a million voices whispering in harmony, or three voices 
run through a nifty synthesizer effect...
     WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND DROP YOUR WEAPONS. YOU WILL BE 
ASSIMILATED. YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS WILL BE ADDED 
TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO FIT OURS. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
     The remaining speeders turned to run. Three were caught in other green 
beams and drawn into the cube. Another was pulled apart as a brilliant white 
cutting beam effortlessly dissected it in midair. The others turned to 
fight, loosing bolt after bolt from their cannons. The first several blew 
chunks out of the cube's hull. The next several dozen met impermeable energy 
shields. A barrage of energy beams and missiles knocked the speeders out of 
the sky.
     As the armies on the ground made ready to flee, the first drones 
apeared amidst the masses, materializing swiftly and almost silently. 
Several of the more fearless soldiers killed drones near them, then the 
ground troops, with a great shout, attacked the hundreds of drones appearing 
amidst them. The battle might have ended quickly, but for the endless stream 
of fresh Borg troops arriving from thin air, slowly but surely driving 
forward through the massed troops ahead of them. The circle of Borg grew and 
grew, until finally, the armies around them began to fall back in disarray. 
Defensive procedures were enacted. Dwarves began entrenching furiously as 
Insects and Faeries attempted to distract the Borg, and a hail of arrows 
streamed from far-off Elves. However, no new tactic seemed to work more than 
once. No matter what was tried, the Borg found a defense against it. An 
organized retreat soon became a rout, with the Borg only not obliterating 
the fleeing troops because the fastest they moved was a slow purposeful 
plod.
]]

Add a line to the chart in 1326.B:

{
Borg   500 BNS   50     250          3       None      No
}

Add a subsection to 1326.B.3:

{
B.3.10. Borg
At the beginning of each nweek, each Borg army regains .08 Strength. If this 
would raise the Strength of a Borg Army above 1, that army's Strength 
becomes 1.
}

[[
     For some reason, the Borg army stayed put, although the cube floated 
away. Scouts observing from afar brought back reports of the Borg searching 
through the dead and wounded, apparently for wounded, but for what reason, 
no one knew. Whenever a wounded soldier was found, a drone would crouch 
beside it for a few seconds, then get up and walk away. Because of Borg 
patrols around their perimeter, no scouts could linger long enough to see 
what was really going on. They did not see that a few minutes after a drone 
visited a body, that body would rise from the ground and march off to be 
fitted with new implements. The drones were injecting nanites into the 
still-living bodies, assimilating them into the collective. Within 48 hours, 
the Borg had assimilated every live body on the battlefield, nearly 
replacing their losses while leaving their enemies broken.
]]

Add to 1326.B.3.10.:
{
After a battle where the enemy army retreated from or was destroyed by a 
Borg army, that Borg Army may Assimilate, which adds to its Strength a value 
equal to half of (Strength of enemy Army at beginning of battle - Strength 
of enemy army at end of battle), or .25, whichever is lower. The Strength of 
the Borg Army may go above 1 as a result of this ability. When a Borg army 
Assimilates, it may not move for three ndays.
}

[[
     (As I don't really have a conclusion to this - mostly it's a crash 
course in what the Borg are for any non-Trekkies out there, I'll just end 
this like Star Trek always does.)

     Then Starfleet threw dozens of ships at it, all of which were 
destroyed. Then the Enterprise kicked the Borg's asses. Roll credits.
]]
}

[[BvS]]

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