Known as a great power throughout the Delta Quadrant and beyond, the Borg Collective were
a species of cybernetic-humanoids who grew their ranks and advanced their knowledge by
assimilating distinct life forms and technologies, resulting in the conquest of countless worlds
and systems.
Suppressing individual identity, the Borg shared information and thoughts through a
collective consciousness, allowing them to act a singular unified entity.
Obsessed with achieving a state of perfection, they pursued a policy of focused aggression
and ruthless expansion, where they assimilated anything deemed useful and destroyed any direct
opposition.
By the late 24th century, the Borg held vast holdings in their native Delta Quadrant, but
by the end of the century suffered a number of significant defeats and catastrophes, dealing
a significant blow to their numbers and crippling their continued efforts for expansion.
One such catastrophe, came in the year 2373, when the Borg discovered Fluidic Space, an
extra-dimensional realm home to a species never before encountered, whose physiology
they described as the Apex of Biological Evolution.
Eager to add their biological and technological distinctiveness to the Collective they broke
through the dimensional barrier through quantum singularities created by a modulated graviton
beam.
The species they designated 8472, otherwise known as the Undine, were the sole occupants
of Fluidic Space, so when the Borg invaded their territory, they deemed it an unacceptable
threat and set out to exterminate the enemy.
Unprepared to face the might of Species 8472, the Borg soon learned they evolved to possess
a great number of advantages such as telepathy, great physical strength and size, reaching
3 meters tall, did not require sleep, were able to survive in the vacuum of space, produced
a biogenic field which made them nearly invisible to sensors and possessed an immune system
that destroyed any foreign substance entering their body.
This made them immune to assimilation and nanoprobes in general, the main weapons and
tools of the Borg.
When engaged in close range combat, Species 8472 fought with their claws, lashing out
in the hopes of merely making contact so their cells might infect the enemy and consume them
from the inside out.
If captured, or in terrible pain without hope for rescue or recovery, Species 8472 was even
able to end its own life, by releasing a cellular toxin into their bloodstream.
Their ships were organic beings, heavily armored and shielded, capable of warp speed and operated
by a single pilot.
Entirely outmatched in their first encounter, the Borg lost every ship sent into fluidic
space.
But that was only the beginning, as Species 8472 then followed them into the Delta Quadrant
seeking to cleanse the milky way galaxy of all lesser, weak, impure lifeforms, starting
with the Collective, to protect themselves and their home from further contamination.
Unable to assimilate their enemies or their technology, the Borg could not gather more
information and adapt to the situation, lacking any effective method or strategy to defend
themselves, resulting in massive casualties during the 6 month conflict, losing ships,
planets and entire systems.
Yet as the war verged on the edge of catastrophe for the Collective, everything changed when
the Federation Starship Voyager entered Borg Space.
In the midst of a potentially decades long journey back to the Alpha Quadrant, Voyager
mapped out a route they called the Northwest Passage where they detected no Borg activity
and so hoped to pass through their space unnoticed.
Yet this proved impossible, as they unknowingly entered a warzone, discovering 15 destroyed
Borg Cubes and a seemingly abandoned 8472 bioship.
Sending an away team to investigate, they learned the Borg were destroyed by a species
they could not identify and set to examining the alien ship.
However the ship’s pilot soon reappeared injuring and nearly killing Ensign Harry Kim,
before they beamed back to Voyager.
The creature then powered up its ship and fired at federation ship before going to warp.
Kes, a telepathic member of the Voyager crew, informed the Captain that she sensed this
was a new, extremely hostile species bent on cleansing the galaxy of impure races.
Janeway then set her crew to learning all they could to defend themselves against this
new threat.
Ultimately, it was Voyager’s holographic Doctor that found the solution to their problem,
discovering a way to create a possible weapon while treating Harry Kim and examining the
remains discovered from the battle site, by modifying borg nanoprobes so they might neutralize
the infectious cells of Species 8472.
Using the Doctor’s knowledge as a bargaining chip, Janeway took Voyager directly into a
Borg system, where she negotiated with the Hive mind, offering to share their newly discovered
weapon in exchange for safe passage through Borg Space.
The offer was accepted, and for a time they worked together, creating weapons and defences
to use against their common foe.
A Borg representative, designated 7 of 9, tertiary adjunct of Unimatrix 01, was even
assigned to work with the Captain on one of their ships, to facilitate their collaboration.
To safeguard against Borg treachery Janeway refused to share all the details about their
work and had the Doctor’s program ready for deletion, which would destroy his knowledge
of the technology and make it impossible for the Borg to continue without them.
Yet before they could make sufficient progress Species 8472 launched a brutal attack that
forced the Borg to sacrifice their vessel in order to evacuate a small group to Voyager
so they might escape and continue the work.
Seven of Nine was one of the Drones transferred and stated that the loss of their ship changed
the perimeters of their deal, demanding that Voyager travel to the nearest allied ship,
which was a 5 day journey deeper into Borg Space.
Yet Captain Janeway was in a medically induced coma from an injury suffered in the attack
and so Commander Chakotay, the first officer took command, refusing to alter course, thereby
breaking their treaty with the Borg.
Never on board with the plan to begin with, he would not take the risk of moving deeper
in their space as he suspected they would eventually break the agreement and assimilate
the crew.
Making matters worse, Species 8472 then launched a massive attack in the heart of Borg space,
destroying over 4 million drones, and so Seven of Nine took desperate action, accessing voyager’s
systems to open a rift and launch the ship into Fluidic Space.
In this way, Voyager would have no choice but to finish the weapon and defend themselves
against hostile enemy vessels.
Captain Janeway then awoke and was angered by Chacotay’s decision to break the agreement,
once again making peace and working with the Collective, through their representative 7
of 9.
Completing the project, Voyager’s weapons and shields were modified with the new nanoprobe
technology, and they at last defeated Species 8472, eliminating 4 of their ships.
7 of 9 then brought Voyager back to the Delta Quadrant, and they once again engaged the
enemy, destroying another 13 bio-ships.
Janeway then demanded Species 8472 return to their realm or else face further destruction,
and so the remaining bioships fled back into Fluidic Space, ending the war with the Borg
and Voyager Crew victorious.
Realizing the Borg no longer required their federation allies, Seven of Nine attacked
them and attempted to assimilate their ship.
But they anticipated this betrayal, with Chakotay already connected to a neural link with Seven
of Nine, an ability acquired during his time on a world populated by former Borg drones
escaping the collective.
He used this link to distract and disrupt 7 of 9, just long enough for the Voyager crew
to short out her station and knock her unconscious.
Janeway then ordered the ship to continue its journey to the Alpha Quadrant, with 7
of 9 confined to sick bay.
In the aftermath of the Borg-Species 8472 War, at least one member of the Fluidic Space
species was left behind after their retreat.
Trapped in the Delta Quadrant, where it was pursued for months by Hirogen hunting parties,
until encountering the Voyager crew, who captured it in the hopes of returning it to Fluidic
Space.
Yet 7 of 9, the former Drone now member of the Voyager crew, still held a grudge, refusing
to allow its escape, instead sending it to a Hirogen ship where it might be killed.
When a Borg rebellion began, and a number of drones regained some part of their individuality
to fight against the collective, the rebels spoke of possibly reaching out to Species
8472, so they might unite against their common enemy.
Greatly shaken and disturbed by the creation of Nanoprobe Warheads, Species 8472 were convinced
the Federation would one day enter Fluidic Space and exterminate their kind, and so prepared
another invasion force, this time building an exact replica of Starfleet Headquarters
on Earth, and then using their technology to assume human form, so they might learn
to mimic their enemy and plant agents in the heart of Federation Space.
But the Voyager Crew discovered one of these site, leading to negotiations where they learned
Species 8472 was only ever trying to defend themselves, implying that the harsh words
spoke during their initial encounter, of extermination and weakness, were merely words of war, spoken
against what they perceived to be an invasion force threatening their very existence.
They then agreed to a technology exchange, ending the hostilities between their species,
at least temporarily, and so Species 8472 returned to Fluidic Space.