We Are the Borg Priority Tasks

This article is an Out of Character article relevant to Bravo Fleet's second 2023 Fleet Action, 'We Are the Borg.' For an overview of Mission Briefings, please consult the main article.

Priority Missions can be taken by different writers, and provide fodder and guidance for major scenarios for the FA plot

Priority Tasks are non-unique Mission Briefings. Where Key Missions and Special Assignments are unique storylines, Priority Tasks are story prompts which do not specify any unique locations or are missions multiple ships could undertake. While less developed than other briefings, they provide more detail and guidance than the generic story prompts on the main campaign briefing.

Multiple members may write the same Priority Task, telling their own variations on these prompts in different parts of the galaxy in different ways. You may, but do not need to, complete the mission briefing form if you wish to write a Priority Task. Doing so may help the Intel Office monitor which stories are being written and which ideas are popular.

The Priority Tasks are also valuable resources for any writer, as they summarise some of the more common scenarios taking place across the galaxy. They can be drawn on as a reference even if a member is writing a different story.

Missing Ship

Ships can go missing for a myriad of reasons

Somewhere beyond Federation space, a valuable ship has gone missing, and Borg involvement is suspected. Your ship has been assigned to investigate and find out the true cause.

Briefing

The rise in Borg activity took the galaxy by surprise. Deep in the Delta or Beta Quadrant, a handful of ships have gone missing. These may be Starfleet ships on missions of exploration, Federation colony ships pushing deeper into the Beta Quadrant, minor civilian survey vessels, or ships of local powers friendly to the Federation. Your ship has been assigned to investigate, find the fate of the missing ship, and, if possible, rescue the crew.

The Borg are suspected of being responsible from the beginning of this mission. This could be for any reason you choose, but most likely, long-range sensors or a final report from the lost ship mentioned a Borg sighting nearby. Your ship will be expected to proceed with caution, knowing it may be too late.

The fate of the ship is up to you. Perhaps the missing ship was indeed attacked by Borg, the vessel destroyed and its crew assimilated, and all you find is the wreckage or a lone survivor. Perhaps the ship hid from the Borg, and for some reason, could not signal its survival. Perhaps something else completely different went wrong. What matters is that your ship is heading into possibly the gravest danger to try to save people.

Key Points

• This mission can be undertaken by multiple members completely independently - all manner of different ships may have gone missing.
• The exact location and the nature of the missing ship are yours to decide. Remember that the Federation doesn’t colonise the Delta Quadrant, but the details are up to you.
• If you are rescuing a Starfleet ship, please adhere to Section 1.5 of the Command Policy on the use of non-registry ships.
• If you’re rescuing an allied ship, pick someone appropriate to the region. You could be trying to find a lost ship of the Romulan Free State in the Beta Quadrant, or a ship of the Turei Alliance in the Delta, for example.
• The fate of the ship is up to you. Suggestions are listed above, but what happened doesn’t even have to be because of the Borg.
• If a ship has been defeated by the Borg and its crew assimilated, the investigation ends there. Your ship will not engage the Borg and stage a rescue mission.

Borg Encounters

The Borg are, at minimum, a threat in this mission. For whatever reason, it is known that contact was lost with the missing ship somewhere in the vicinity of a Borg ship or Collective space. Your crew know they are heading into a possible encounter with the Borg on this rescue mission, but are ordered to under no circumstances engage the Borg.

It is possible to write this mission never seeing the Borg. Perhaps locals report sightings, perhaps they are spotted on long-range sensors, and that could be terrifying enough. Even if they are responsible for what happened to the missing ship, your crew may find nothing but their shadows on the wall and traces of where they have been. Remember that less is more in a tense story like this - the fear of the Borg can be more effective than encountering the Borg themselves.

Otherwise, encounters with the Borg should be limited to hiding from and evading them. Perhaps the missing ship went dark in a nebula to hide from a Borg Cube, for example, and has been unable to flee because the Cube is still nearby. Your story then could revolve around trying to draw the Cube away from the nebula so the missing ship can escape - and then your crew have to escape, too. If the Borg show up in this mission, they should be a juggernaut who can be survived or evaded but not beaten.

The Wrong Hands

Many governments would use Borg technology for their own gain

Defunct Borg devices across the galaxy have activated, sending a homing signal. One such signal has been detected near the territory of a power unfriendly to the Federation, who have sent their forces to investigate. Your ship has been dispatched to beat them there, securing Borg technology so it does not fall into the wrong hands.

Briefing

The homing signal on Borg devices believed deactivated has drawn attention from more than just the Collective as their ships recover lost technology. Locals have also investigated, perhaps looking to secure these devices for their own ends. This technology varies from the implants on xBs to devices in laboratories investigating (legally and otherwise) Borg science to the wreckage of lost Borg ships. One such signal has been detected by Starfleet near the territory of a power unfriendly to the Federation.

Starfleet is loath to allow anyone, especially their rivals, to secure dangerous Borg technology. This local power has clearly sent ships to respond to the signal, and your ship has been dispatched to beat them there.

This mission focuses primarily on a race against a power of the Alpha, Beta, or even Delta Quadrant in securing Borg technology. It is up to you who this rival is, but they should be someone Starfleet does not want to see get this equipment - including (but not limited to) the Breen, a hostile Romulan warlord, or the Devore Imperium. Orders are not to secure the technology at all costs, but there is a high chance this rival will turn hostile if someone tries to thwart them.

How this challenge resolves is up to you, as well as what it looks like. The lost technology could be difficult to access, such as from a Borg ship lost in or near a stellar phenomenon that must be navigated. Or perhaps the signal isn’t from near rival territory, but behind it, and your ship has to slip across borders under these exceptional circumstances to secure Borg technology.

This story could be a tense thriller in a battle of wits against a rival, a treasure hunt as your ship follows this homing signal, or an outright fight against a foe whose use of Borg technology could be devastating.

Key Notes

• Where this story takes place is up to you. Borg homing signals could originate from all over the galaxy. The rival power is also up to you, but should be appropriate to the location, and to the political circumstances of the government. The Breen, Tzenkethi, Kzinti, or Devore are obvious choices. It could be justified with the Cardassian Union, the Gorn Imperium, the Romulan Free State, or a Romulan warlord faction. It’s less likely to be the Klingon Empire or the Romulan Republic, allies of the Federation.
• What the homing signal leads to is up to you as well. More guidance follows in the section below, but it is your choice whether the signal is a McGuffin, there to drive the plot, or if the nature of the Borg device is more important to the story.
• Your ship should not be starting wars or shooting first. However bad or tense or hostile events get, the situation should be able to be justified as a small border encounter to be smoothed over later.
• This story does not have to end in success! Your ship might be beaten to the prize, and that could still be interesting.

Borg Encounters

There are no direct encounters with the Borg Collective in this mission. However, the nature of the technology the homing signal leads to is up to you. It could easily be a Borg scout, wrecked by something - most likely a stellar phenomena or accident, perhaps after it was compromised by the neurolytic pathogen - with unknown tech aboard. That would be a tempting enough prize.

You can be more ambitious. Perhaps the homing signal leads to a group of xBs who need protecting, or an illicit cybernetics lab in the old Neutral Zone conducting illegal research. Or perhaps not all technology aboard this wrecked scout was completely destroyed, and once it has been brought aboard a ship - yours or your rivals - something activates and attempts to take over/destroy/compromise your ship. That could provide a story saying something about hubris, if your rival beats you to the Borg technology, only to be destroyed when trying to harness powers beyond their understanding.

There must be no active drones, no active ships, but the corpses of drones and the wreckage of ships can be found. This could be used to a spooky effect, as the hunt ends not only in beating your rival to the prize, but finding out what befell this Borg presence in the first place.

The Scout

Even a Borg probe should not be underestimated

A Borg probe has been sighted near Federation or friendly territory. It has not yet engaged, its mission unknown. Your ship has been sent to investigate.

Briefing

Somewhere near the Federation or an ally, a Borg probe - a small scout ship - has been detected. It skirts borders, seemingly investigating the area without engaging or approaching. Your ship has been ordered to investigate but not engage, to ascertain its intentions without triggering hostilities, and to issue an early warning if the probe sets an intercept course anywhere.

Your ship may follow, run long-range scans, or gather information about sightings from locals who will be terrified of a Borg ship coming so close. Trying to track down the probe could be the first phase of the story. Upon approach, your ship may wish to try to stay hidden or avoid the probe’s direct attention, but may learn that so long as you stay out of the probe’s way, it will ignore you - the Borg are taking the stance they were once famed for, of disregarding anything that is not a threat or obstacle. From there, your ship should monitor or investigate the probe. Guidance on how to do so is included below. It will become clear that the probe is travelling from place to place, running scans.

The why is up to you. Perhaps it is simply updating the Collective’s records. Or perhaps it is looking for something specific - a phenomenon of interest, a resource-rich location, or even a world to target. Your crew may end the story not understanding what the probe is after, or if they do, understanding why.

How this story ends, and what its climax is, is also up to you. The probe could just be a creepy Borg ship passing through that you try to not draw the ire of, too mysterious to ever be understood. Perhaps it finds something it is looking for, and acts. This could range from finding a mineral-rich asteroid belt and beginning a mining operation, to finding a black hole of peculiar readings, surveying it, and leaving.

If your story is happening in the Delta Quadrant, its intentions could be more malicious. Perhaps it spots a world worthy of assimilation, or a strategic location to be destroyed. This is still just a probe - it will not unilaterally make any great tactical moves - but that is slim comfort to a tiny colony or outpost.

Key Points

• Where this story takes place is up to you, and that affects the possible storylines. If it is on the Beta Quadrant frontier, the probe should be only investigating, providing a tense mystery. In the Delta Quadrant, the probe could be more aggressive and dangerous.
• The point of the story is the tension of not knowing what the Borg will do, and trying to observe them without drawing undue attention. This is not a military mission, but an investigative one.
• It is up to you to decide what the probe’s intentions are. This may be a mystery beyond your crew’s understanding, or it could be a clear sign of the Collective seeking out resources (or assimilation targets).
• How your crew studies the Borg is up to you. They could follow it, gather information from those it’s passed by, board the ship, or leave their own probes to monitor its behaviour.
• This story should not end with a fight. Or if it does, it’s an end to your crew as well. Even a small Borg probe is highly dangerous.

Borg Encounters

The encounters with this Borg probe should be limited to observing it as it conducts its mission and tries to investigate. Your ship can be near the probe solely because the Collective is adopting the traditional stance of ignoring ships or people unless they are the mission objective or threaten the mission objective. So long as your ship stays out of the way of the probe and its drones, they can follow it all they like - the Borg don’t care.

There are multiple means of investigating the probe. Perhaps by following it, or even boarding it - again, not triggering hostilities as the Borg ignore you so long as you do not interfere with their work. This should be tense and terrifying; even a small Borg ship is a tremendous possible threat, especially for an away team.

The probe may take action your crew wants to stop - such as targeting an outpost for destruction and assimilation. If you want to be really drastic, it might spot an inhabited world and send out a signal that would summon a larger Borg ship for a full assault. Again, stopping the Borg here cannot end in a straight fight, but this is perhaps a chance for something more dynamic - trying to sabotage the probe, trying to lure it away or trick it. These more violent encounters must be limited to the Delta Quadrant, which adds another possible element - what if your ship fails? What if the Borg identify a Delta Quadrant world for assimilation, and all your crew can do is watch helplessly?

The best outcome of this mission is that the Borg want something your crew is willing to sacrifice. Anything else would end in death or defeat.

What They Left Behind

Once the Borg have exhausted a location's resources, they move on

The Borg Collective appear to have been pulling back all manner of assets. Your ship is sent to investigate somewhere they are known to have been, and see what was left in their wake.

Briefing

From their territory in the Delta Quadrant to installations deep into the Beta Quadrant, the Borg have had all manner of holdings and infrastructure. Your ship has been sent to investigate one such location - it is up to you if your crew knows the Borg have withdrawn from it or not, but when your ship arrives, they will find no sign of any active Borg presence there or anywhere nearby. This location could be a formerly assimilated world, it could be an old starbase installation, or something as mundane as a mining facility.

It is up to you how orderly this withdrawal was. Perhaps you find a world that sensor records stated for years buzzed with Borg drones, only to find it now scoured completely clean. Perhaps a facility has been shut down and abandoned, but for whatever reason, the Borg have left some assets behind - technology, internal systems, even drones disconnected from the Collective.

The ‘why’ is up to you, and is a mystery for your crew. Perhaps it looks as if the Borg are consolidating their territory, especially in the Delta Quadrant, and pulling back to holdings they can keep. Perhaps some consequence of the neurolytic pathogen made a ship or facility lose contact with the Collective, and what is left is a confusing shell of what was.

It is also up to you what your crew does about this. Perhaps this is nothing but a terrifying exploration of where the Borg once were, and your crew sees the devastation in their wake of a dead, abandoned, once-assimilated world. Perhaps this is a horror story of trying to secure information or technology on an abandoned Borg facility that is not completely dead. Or perhaps this is trying to destroy such a place so it can’t fall into the wrong hands.

Key Notes

• The location and nature of this abandoned Borg location is up to you: a formerly assimilated world in the Delta Quadrant, an outpost in the far-flung reaches of the Beta Quadrant. It cannot and will not be close to Federation territory, so your ship has gone a long way for this mission.
• How much Borg are left is up to you, dictating the tone of this mission: a dispassionate scientific examination, or a tense exploration of a volatile and dangerous place?
• If Borg technology is left, what is to be done with it? Remember that the Collective often returns to recover lost technology, and keeping it could be dangerous.
• Is anyone else interested in this abandoned location?

Borg Encounters

The true Borg Collective will not be encountered in this mission. At most, you may find a facility ravaged by the neurolytic pathogen - or something else - that has been cut off from the Collective. This could mean for a volatile and dangerous place as computer systems and drones try to act like they once did, or perhaps this is a rescue of some potential xBs. Former drones may be perhaps reasoned with - can a Borg facility’s internal security systems, disconnected from the Collective but keeping their core programming, and perhaps sent haywire by the pathogen?

The idea the Collective might return for any technology left behind is a fear and a threat and should add a sense of pressure to a mission, but is not a reality for this story. At most, a distant ship might be spotted on sensors to add urgency.

If a planet has been deliberately abandoned by the Borg, this should be a serious mystery - why are they pulling back? That’s not for your crew to find out, and they may learn deeper into the mission of other locations like it. The Collective is active but after decades of weakness, they’re moving their borders. That should be concerning.

Laying Low

There are ways to hide from the Borg...

A location on the edge of, or just beyond, Federation space is asking for assistance: a Borg Cube is in the sector, and they’re directly in its path. Through scientific trickery, help the location hide itself from the Borg’s notice.

Briefing

A remote location has detected a Borg Cube in the local area and fears they will become its target. Your ship is nearby and has responded to render assistance. Fighting off the Borg is impossible, so the best plan is to hide the location from their attention - shroud it completely, or make it look uninteresting to the Collective.

The nature of this obfuscation depends on the nature of the location. It could be a remote colony at the edge of Federation space, a small research outpost in deep space, or even the large world of a friendly power of the Delta Quadrant. Some are easier to hide than others, and come with additional challenges - even if you can shroud a large settlement from Borg sensors, can you guarantee nobody will break cover and try to run as the locals panic?

Regardless, you must manage the people asking for help and then hide them. Create sensor blinds using local phenomena or technology. Shut down subspace communications or power signatures. Then lie low and wait in excruciating tension for the Borg to pass. You might expand this idea by trying to deliberately distract the Borg. Create or find a more tempting target nearby. Use your ship in a dangerous gambit to draw them off. The choice is yours.

Key Points

• The location of this mission is up to you. It could be a remote Federation colony or research outpost in the Beta Quadrant, it could be affiliated with Federation allies, it could be a wholly neutral or even nominally hostile location in need of help.
• Managing these people in need is as much part of the mission as the ingenuity to help them hide. The Borg scare people. Scared people are not often cooperative.
• There are a plethora of possible canon or original technologies that could help hide somewhere from the Borg, or at least make it look uninteresting - you wouldn’t be cloaking a planet, but you might make it look uninhabited. If in doubt, just say that there’s a nearby stellar phenomenon you can use in some way to help shroud the target.
• This mission is a race against time and perhaps unruly civilians with the Borg bearing down on your location. Even once you’ve finished your shroud, it’s time to wait and see if the Borg pass you by, where even the wrong breath might draw their attention.

Borg Encounters

This mission does not necessitate a direct encounter with the Borg. The Borg are the looming threat instigating the action as your ship tries to hide from them. They could be never seen on-screen, or only spotted from afar as they pass the key location by.

If you do integrate the Borg directly in your story, this mission isn’t about beating them on any tactical basis. The best you can do is try to lure them somewhere else, which involves a different kind of trickery. Trying to use their own technology or priorities against them to save the location is a valid option, but this is a story of surviving the Borg, not ‘beating’ them.’

The Underworld

The black market for Borg technology thrives

Homing signals of Borg technology have been going off across the galaxy. For decades, a black market has thrived off securing Borg technology for illegal cybernetics research. These criminals cannot be allowed to secure such devices, and your ship has been sent to stop them.

Briefing

For the past thirty years, especially after the Federation outlawed research on synthetic life and the xBs appeared as a community, illicit cybernetics research based on Borg technology has thrived. This has included not just illegal research, but the abduction and murder of xBs for their implants, and is particularly rife in the former Romulan Neutral Zone. Now that homing signals are activating on lost Borg technology across the galaxy, this criminal enterprise is stepping up to seize these goods before Starfleet can, and your ship has been charged to stop them.

The exact shape of this mission is relatively open, but could take the form of one - or more - of the following:

• Beating salvagers to the source of a homing signal before they can arrive and harvest Borg technology to sell on the black market;
• Protecting xBs from mercenary squads hunting them;
• Locating a hub of black market trade of this Borg technology and shutting it down;
• Tracing an illicit cybernetics research lab - possibly one where xBs have been murdered.

Your story could take several of these points as your ship tries to dismantle a crime ring. This is made only more volatile by the sudden fervour gripping this black market enterprise with an influx of Borg technology from the homing signals. Everyone wants a piece of the action, and they know the bubble will burst some day - so criminals are quicker to take risks, looking to get rich today and lay low tomorrow.

Key Notes

• This mission provides a framework and prompt for several possible stories to be told about the criminal underworld. They, and what they will do in pursuit of these prizes, are the focus. Starfleet cannot allow this illegal and unethical practice to continue.
• While these people are dangerous, this mission is about law enforcement. Starfleet officers should seek to make arrests and dismantle criminal enterprises, not go in guns blazing and murder people, even if they are dangerous pirates.
• xBs are particularly vulnerable to these criminals, a much-hated corner of society nobody much wants to protect - sometimes, even Starfleet.
• This mission can take your ship from the wreckage of Borg ships to taking down mercenary groups on rough frontiers to black market hubs both seedy and glamorous to gruesome illegal cybernetics labs either in remote worlds or hidden in plain sight. It is an opportunity to show how far the Federation still has to come in bringing the light back to places they abandoned after the Attack on Mars.

Borg Encounters

There are no direct encounters with the Borg Collective in this mission - the Borg technology drives the plot but is not necessarily the point. You may consider the role of specific devices in this story - perhaps the black market has got their hands on something particularly dangerous which must be recovered. Perhaps long-dead devices are coming back to life, adding an extra veneer of challenge or threat in places like illegal cybernetics labs or even black market auctions. But there will be no threat of assimilation, no Borg ships, and no Borg drones.

Advance Party

Drones are using homing signals to transport past Federation lines

In response to one of the active ‘homing signals’ emitted by abandoned Borg technology, the Collective has come to recover it. Rather than a ship, only one or a handful of drones have responded - and will stop at nothing to bring this device home.

Briefing

Across the galaxy, Borg technology separated from the Collective has activated to emit a homing signal. In old graveyards of lost Borg ships and facilities, in Starfleet research centres, in illicit cybernetics labs, and even in the bodies of some xBs, a beacon has activated calling the Collective to recover what it lost. The response is not always a ship, however.

The Borg have limited technology to transport a drone, or drones, over vast distances. The active homing beacons overcome its limitations, giving them precise coordinates for their destination. If the target is unsuitable or unworthy of sending a ship - if the device is located deep in Federation territory or appears only small, for example - these advance parties of one or a handful of drones are being transported across the galaxy. They arrive in stations, labs, frontier outposts, advance to recover the devices, remove any obstacle, and beam out with their technology.

Wherever your ship is, you are responding to such a situation. Perhaps your crew are responding to a Starfleet research facility’s request for help as they find themselves boarded. Perhaps an xB on a remote colony world has found their implants now emitting the signal and is asking for help, knowing the Borg will come soon. Perhaps your ship has recovered Borg technology and now drones are coming for your ship.

What will you do to stop the Borg? And, more importantly: can they be stopped?

Key Notes

• This Priority Task is ideal for people who want to engage with Borg drones directly.
• It is up to you where this takes place - from lost Borg ships to hubs of the black market to research labs, devices are waking up and emitting the homing signal.
• Remember that your characters don’t necessarily know there isn’t a Borg ship incoming, or even nearby. Perhaps reports have come in of this happening elsewhere, so they know that an active homing signal may mean an incoming drone attack. But it hasn’t happened everywhere. Perhaps this comes out of nowhere for your characters, taking everyone by surprise. Use your characters’ knowledge to adjust the tension to your needs.
• You may control how high the stakes are. It may not be that important if the Borg recover some technology - perhaps not worth dying for. What would they do to an xB? Is this device something Starfleet doesn’t want the Borg getting their hands on?
• Drones don’t have to beam in on top of the device. They might have to work through a facility, a station, a ship, to get to the device.
• Your crew might figure out a way to deactivate the homing signal or destroy the device, but once the Borg are aboard, they will see the mission through by scouring the location and at the least confirming its destruction.
• How do you stop them? Do the Borg win? At what cost to your crew?

Borg Encounters

Only drones will be encountered in this Priority Task - the fewer, the better. This is not a story about being boarded by a horde of drones and fighting in the corridors; rather, this is about a handful of unstoppable enemies coming to take what they view as theirs. The drones may use blunt force, moving through any obstacle, and replenishing their numbers if they fall. Or they may seize control of a facility, a ship, to make their task easier - turning the environment against your characters. Ideally, this story should feature as few drones as possible.

It is up to you what device they are coming to recover. It might be nothing but old implants, or advanced Borg weaponry. Once they have what they want, they will depart - your crew, the location they are at, or anyone else nearby, are not targets for assimilation.

This is not a prompt for an action story - it’s a horror story about being under siege from an implacable enemy who cannot be stopped.