I always thought they were Vorlon rip-offsBenRG wrote: So, as with the Vorlons, you would expect the Shadows to use their direct millitary capability (spider cruisers, dart fighters and those crab-thing scouts, and don't forget the death clouds) to oppose the Borg. We don't know about the minuate of Shadow technology, but it is organic, so it might be vulnerable to nanoprobe action like Species 8472 (who were, after all, Shadow rip-offs).
The creatures themselvesare more like Shadows (multiple legs), but the Vorlons and
Eights both loved their squids...
Anyhow, I'm deviating from the topic. The Borg could be expected
to try and assimilate the Shadows, but it's a false dichotomy to
suggest that assimilation and warfare are mutually exclusive.
The Borg were indeed "fighting" the Eights, but trying to assimilate
them all the while too.
I agree on the inflexible count, but not fully inasmuch as theirThe Borg are highly inflexible, and they base their defensive technology on frequency-based adaptation.
shields are "adaptable" only to frequency-based weapons. They're
said to alter their "shield geometry" as a form of "adaptation"
in "Dark Frontier,"
I don't necessarily see adaptation is all that relevant, anyway...
frequency windows are something a foe like the Federation can
exploit, to be sure, but Borg shields are quite strong to begin
with; e.g., good resistance to photorps and other DET weapons.
That the Shadows *don't* utilize back-door weaponry, so to
speak, means they should simply be striking the standard Borg
combat deflector the way a photorp would (though with
arguably more energy, and far more intensity of course).
From the White Stars, though, which are tough little ships,There is no indication of frequency 'windows' in Shadow energy shields (which can resist a powerful particle beam for upwards of 15 seconds).
but their firepower may not exceed the terawatt range. Consider
Sheridan's comment that the Excalibur's weapons test
demonstrated "not much more firepower than your average
WS." Said test only shattered a "small asteroid," which is
admittedly of unknown size; but even when the main guns
are tested, we're looking at a sub-megaton range weapon.
You know, the one that costs a minute of the ship's entire
output!
Borg ships are substantially superior to their Starfleet counterparts
as a rule, and we have a pretty good idea of what most Starfleet
ships are capable of (the biggest and best, at least). Depending
on how powerful you think photorps might be, even a pretty
low estimation should mean that the more powerful Borg ships
should be able to do Shadow spiders in without a heap of trouble.
Take, for example, the GCS. Let's say a photorp yields 200 kilotons
maximum, just for the sake of this discussion. A GCS's maximum
fwd. firepower for most purposes would be a 5 photorp volley
(10 in "Arsenal of Freedom" but those were all over the place IIRC).
That's a megaton volley.
If a cube could only better upon this by a factor of two or three
(hardly unreasonable given its victory at Wolf 359), you're then
rapidly approaching the point at which a cube could very easily
subdue a spider. Remember, spiders can be pulverized instantly
by less than 60 megatons ("Into the Fire"). They're no longer combat effective long before then, however, as evident by the fact that
they shrivel up--even when not jammed--under fire.
In fact, in spite of their purported regenerative abilities, Spiders
have been disabled by having a number of their spines clipped
off. Narn cruisers seriously hurt a Spider in this fashion in
"The Long, Twilight Struggle," so much so that another Shadow
ship had to haul its buggy ass off the battlefield.
I would not want to battle spiders in a Borg probe or scoutship
(tiny cubes sorta seen in "I, Borg"), but give me a cube, and
I'll wipe the floor with the Shadow cruiser.
Offensive psi abilities? If they were dealing with a lone enemyNor is there any reason to beleive that Shadow weapons have a particular 'frequency'. I think that the Shadows would have a considerable space combat advantage.
At an infantry level, a Borg drone would be able to beat a Shadow's invisibility camoflage by adapting to the right scanning frequencies. However, the assassination of Kosh 1 shows that the Shadows apparently have powerful offensive psychic capabilities. I don't see how the Borg could detect or counter these.
or small group of Borg, somehow severed from the Collective,
maybe that'd be worthwhile (though honestly I've never heard
of Shadows demonstrating any fancy psi-powers).
It might not be as easy to pull this trick on a vast group mind,
though.
Possibly, but the SPK is itself far from invulnerable. It takes advantageThe big unanswered question is how the Death Cloud's energy field-dampening effect would effect Borg technology. If it works, and the Borg cannot adapt to it, then it would be a war-winning technology. As part-machine, the Borg would not be able to fight effectively if their power systems were compromised or dampened.
of the fact that many of its opponents in the B5 continuity can't shoot
at it until they're well inside the cloud; i.e., B5 weapon ranges are
usually limited to several thousand kilometers.
We know the Borg can do better than that. We've certainly
never seen them engaging fleets of starships at thousands of
kilometers, but we have seen them score a direct hit on the E-D
from outside a nebula with a "gravimetric guided charge." We've
seen them fire weapons at orbital distances with a fair degree of
accuracy, though those particular weapons were very weak. And
though unseen, we know they have the capability to pull a small
city from a planet's surface into space: "...it is as if some force
just scooped all of the machine elements off the planet's surface!"
(Worf, "Q Who?").
As such, they don't *necessarily* have to be inside the cloud to
blast the PK's command center, though if they met the PK with
a large enough force, this wouldn't necessarily be a problem.
When in doubt, accelerate several ships into the cloud at
maximum thrust, then when the "energy dampener" takes effect,
if at all, inertia will carry you forward. If the missiles pick off
the lead ships, which they certainly would, you've still got a
few in the rear to rapidly plow into the heart of the cloud and
ram the CC.
All of this assumes, of course, that the power drainer described
is accurate. I've heard conflicting interpretations of this capability.
It well could, though of course it'd have very little to do with spaceAs I say, it is difficult to be certain. I would suspect that the Shadows would win after a long, destructive war that would lay most of the Beta Quadrant to waste. However, if the Borg were able to assimilate a significant number of Shadows and their bioships, then the war would go to the Collective. Everything depends on the anti-virus (literally) capabilities of Shadow biotechnology.
I'll be generous to those misguided First Ones and assume that a Shadow Bioship could resist assimilation. The war goes to the visitors from the B5 multiverse.
engagements, which I think would heavily favor the Borg (at least
until one gets to the sticky PK issue, and even then I think it's
primary advantage might be nullified).
As for assimilation, as with adaptation, I think it's a non-factor.
The Borg might figure out a way to assimilate a Shadow ship,
though it's probably unlikely. There's very little they could
learn from the thing that might help them dispatch the Shadows
more easily, IMO.
