The recent thread about the potential Star Trek series set after the TNG/DS9/VOY era sparked off an idea I'd toyed with a few years ago. I'm not one to work with other's ideas generally, because of creative limitations, but this was an idea that hit me a long time ago and I think it has potential.
Firstly, this may contradict some of the unfortunately canon facts established in Voyager and First Contact. Too bad. This comes from a slightly more sane perspective than the Star Trek writers (I hope)-- in many cases, the only resemblance is some of the characters and aliens.
Ok, enough rambling. The idea here is that we're dealing with something at least a thousand years past what we've seen-- 3200-3300's minimum, though I haven't fleshed out any specifics.
This is going to be predicated on two ideas-- one, that the Borg (the original badass Borg, the Borg in "Q Who?", BOBW, and Peter David's "Vendetta" novel; I refuse to work with what Voyager made them) will continue to expand exponentially, absorbing more territory and technology.
The second is that the Federation, or whatever power exists in the Alpha Quadrant, decides that the Borg have to be stopped, ultimately, and they send a dedicated a task force to the DQ with the express goal of wiping them out once and for all.
The task force is led by a holographic mind-copy of none other than James T. Kirk. I couldn't resist the nostalgia. I know it's campy, and no I do not know how this copy was obtained, but bear with me. I know Picard might have been a better choice, but c'mon. This is Kirk; I want ass-stompings to occur. His co-commander is none other than Data, whom I assume is not only still functional, but has become all but indistinguishable from a human in terms of personality-- maybe a bit more.
Breaking with Trek tradition, this will be a specialized military force, with dedicated support staff, ground troops, and naval officers; the all-star command staff won't be going on away missions. The personnel consist of the usual mix of AQ species, and a fair amount of liberated drones consisting of species from all over taken during raids on Borg assets.
Technology-wise, these guys have quite a bit. Transwarp-equipped vessels, artificial wormhole gates (large enough for cap-ship travel), phase-cloaks, and energy-production capabilities well in excess of simple M/AM reactors. Phaser technology has been refined quite a bit to make it more of a brute-force weapon as opposed to relying on NDF chain reaction effects. Similar upgrades have been made in shielding and armor. Troops are given a "wiretap" that has limited access to the Collective's datastream. There are no more central computers-- distributed networks and AI's are the rule. Same goes for robotics technology; Data isn't the only functional robot anymore. And yes, there is body armor!
Again breaking from the traditional Trek model, the bulk of the fleet will be a carrier/fighter model. There are also a few heavy command ships/battleships, and smaller monitor/gunship-types (think Defiant), but the bulk of their forces are dedicated carrier groups. There are no explorers here. This group is pure military.
The scenario-- this task force is all but cut off. For whatever reason, the Federation isn't there anymore. They might have sublimed, they might have been destroyed, I don't know....in any event, I want these guys to be cut off from any main civilization, and considering the ship speeds and wormhole tech, it isn't practical to have them just "far away."
The task force is stationed in a massive base in a nebula near the outer rim of the galaxy-- thinking somewhere in the vicinity of where Voyager was dropped off, but literally right on the outer rim of the galaxy. Starfleet has refined their rapid-fabrication technology to the point that this base can churn out ships at a respectable rate-- nothing excessive, but they can do a number. I'm also thinking of some kind of von Neumann probe used for recon purposes and automated weapon manufacturing in Borg systems.
The actual story I worked up revolved around a rescued drone and his attempts to find stragglers from his destroyed civilization; it was much more of a character-driven story than a plot-driven one. Nevertheless, I think there's a good bit of room for storyline development along with character-based stories.
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I like the idea. So why aren't you writing it? 
I don't like the holographic Kirk thing. Actually the whole "photonic" lifeform thing shits me about current trek. It might be better to have a holographic Kirk or Picard as an advisor who the real Admiral/Supreme Commander sees for advice. Make an actual use for the holodeck instead of having it as a malfunction plot-device of the week.
Another thing that troubles me is the implication that the Federation is somehow defeated in the background. I like the idea of the battle fleet being cut off from their home, but not the idea that the Federation has actually fallen. An idea might be the fleet uses a transwarp conduit to get to it's "beachead" area, and for the early parts of the mission they can communicate reasonably well, until they lose access to the conduit - think the jumpgate from B5 - maybe the Borg attack and the conduit is destroyed, thus sealing the fleet in the DQ.
In any case the idea is intriguing.
I don't like the holographic Kirk thing. Actually the whole "photonic" lifeform thing shits me about current trek. It might be better to have a holographic Kirk or Picard as an advisor who the real Admiral/Supreme Commander sees for advice. Make an actual use for the holodeck instead of having it as a malfunction plot-device of the week.
Another thing that troubles me is the implication that the Federation is somehow defeated in the background. I like the idea of the battle fleet being cut off from their home, but not the idea that the Federation has actually fallen. An idea might be the fleet uses a transwarp conduit to get to it's "beachead" area, and for the early parts of the mission they can communicate reasonably well, until they lose access to the conduit - think the jumpgate from B5 - maybe the Borg attack and the conduit is destroyed, thus sealing the fleet in the DQ.
In any case the idea is intriguing.
blah...I actually did write out most of a first draft for it, but due to my poor backing up habits and a crashed HD, it is alas no more 
I was just wanting to share the concept here in hopes that perhaps others might be interested in doing something with it. It's not often that you go to see an all-out war in Trek (with effective tactics and technology, that is), nor get to see Kirk vs. the *real* Borg.
Not that I've given up mind you, just that it's something others might be interested in exploring; there's potential for a big "war arc" as the task force begins the truly monumental task of exterminating the Collective, as well as smaller stories based around rescued drones and all that.
My thinking on the holographic Kirk in command was based on two ideas-- that the computer/AI technology of the time is advanced to the point where such an entity could realistically fill such a role, and that Kirk just kicks *that* much ass. Though I do agree with you about holograms being somewhat contrived as a concept in Trek, and I could probably do with that character being relegated to an advisory role. Still, it worked nicely in the draft I came up with, so who knows-- maybe it can work without seeming silly, if approached right.
As far as the Federation's fate-- I have reasoning for that also. This whole idea came to me in a dream; it was Babylon 5-esque in the feel it had. All I saw was a lone Borg cube creeping slowly through space against a dark blue nebula, when several smaller vessels appeared racing towards it. They fired on it, causing pretty heavy damage. What I remember most was the feel of isolation-- like somehow, these guys were out there, alone, with no possible hope of backup, as the Federation's last stab at the Borg before they departed wherever they went. Additionally, it gives these guys more leeway in the kind of things they can pull off; there's no more prime directive or exploration mandate. With the way they're laid out, and the growing influx of ex-drone aliens that hate Borg and don't know jack about "Federation enlightenment," there's room for some truly un-Star Trek-like events.
Cheesy? Damn right it is. But I'm a sucker for melodramatic plot points like that, and I'm big on using odd dream imagery like that to serve as seeds for plots. I set to fleshing out just how such a scenario could arise. It just wasn't practical to have the Feds still be there with the kind of propulsion technology these guys would be using, and with the kind of stories I was wanting to come out of it....if anybody has a solution short of sublimation to an Elder race or utter destruction, I'd be glad to hear it.
I was just wanting to share the concept here in hopes that perhaps others might be interested in doing something with it. It's not often that you go to see an all-out war in Trek (with effective tactics and technology, that is), nor get to see Kirk vs. the *real* Borg. Not that I've given up mind you, just that it's something others might be interested in exploring; there's potential for a big "war arc" as the task force begins the truly monumental task of exterminating the Collective, as well as smaller stories based around rescued drones and all that.
My thinking on the holographic Kirk in command was based on two ideas-- that the computer/AI technology of the time is advanced to the point where such an entity could realistically fill such a role, and that Kirk just kicks *that* much ass. Though I do agree with you about holograms being somewhat contrived as a concept in Trek, and I could probably do with that character being relegated to an advisory role. Still, it worked nicely in the draft I came up with, so who knows-- maybe it can work without seeming silly, if approached right.
As far as the Federation's fate-- I have reasoning for that also. This whole idea came to me in a dream; it was Babylon 5-esque in the feel it had. All I saw was a lone Borg cube creeping slowly through space against a dark blue nebula, when several smaller vessels appeared racing towards it. They fired on it, causing pretty heavy damage. What I remember most was the feel of isolation-- like somehow, these guys were out there, alone, with no possible hope of backup, as the Federation's last stab at the Borg before they departed wherever they went. Additionally, it gives these guys more leeway in the kind of things they can pull off; there's no more prime directive or exploration mandate. With the way they're laid out, and the growing influx of ex-drone aliens that hate Borg and don't know jack about "Federation enlightenment," there's room for some truly un-Star Trek-like events.
Cheesy? Damn right it is. But I'm a sucker for melodramatic plot points like that, and I'm big on using odd dream imagery like that to serve as seeds for plots. I set to fleshing out just how such a scenario could arise. It just wasn't practical to have the Feds still be there with the kind of propulsion technology these guys would be using, and with the kind of stories I was wanting to come out of it....if anybody has a solution short of sublimation to an Elder race or utter destruction, I'd be glad to hear it.
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