Borg cube The Borg cube was a type of starship used by the Borg Collective in the 24th century . It was the primary type of vessel for its fleet . Encounters . The first officially publicized Federation contact with a Borg cube took place in 2365 , when the encountered a single cube in System J - 25 . However , civilian researchers on board the had previously tracked a Borg cube twelve years earlier in 2353 . ( ; ) Every Starfleet encounter with a single cube resulted in heavy casualties . At the Battle of Wolf 359 in 2367 , an armada of forty Starfleet ships was assembled to stop a cube ; thirty nine of those ships were lost in a matter of minutes . Dozens more were destroyed stopping another cube in the incursion of 2373 . ( ; ) Normally a single Borg cube was capable of assimilating all elements of civilization from an entire planet . When the USS " Enterprise " - D experienced malfunctions due to Wesley Crusher ' s nanite s in 2366 , sensors erroneously detected an approaching cube . ( ) Millions of cubes were estimated to exist in Borg space in the Delta Quadrant ; the largest single grouping of cubes directly observed by Starfleet was fifteen , by the crew of the USS " Voyager " in late 2373 . ( ) When describing the assimilation of his world , Arturis said that hundreds of cubes surrounded his homeworld before its destruction . ( ) Seven of Nine stated to Captain Janeway that the nebula concealing the transwarp hub contained at least 47 Borg vessels . ( ) Technical data . Design . Borg cubes were described as massive in size , measuring over three kilometers along an edge and possessing an internal volume of 28 cubic kilometers . ( ) In 2366 Commander Shelby estimated that a cube could remain functional even if 78 % of it was rendered inoperable due to the decentralized and redundant nature of its key systems . ( ) Propulsion systems . Borg cubes were capable of both warp and transwarp velocities , thanks partly to the Borg Collective ' s network of transwarp corridor s and hubs . When a Borg cube enters a transwarp conduit , it projects a structural integrity field ahead of itself to compensate for the extreme gravimetric shear . ( ) To compensate for the extreme temporal stress while traveling through these corridors , and remain in temporal sync , a chroniton field was also projected through specially designed conduits . ( ) Borg cubes did not present with the twin warp nacelle configuration utilized by nearly all warp - capable species , and the technology by which a Borg cube achieves warp speed is unknown . A Borg cube ' s maximum warp factor appeared to be greater than that of a " Galaxy " - class starship , as the " Enterprise " - D , during its first encounter with a Borg cube , was not able to maintain its distance from one such vessel when it attempted to flee . ( ) Tactical systems . Though Borg cubes possess a multitude of energy weapon emitters and projectile launchers , initial scans of a Borg cube performed by the " Enterprise " - D determined that the vessel had no weapons systems of any known design . The primary tactic employed by Borg cubes when engaging another vessel was to seize it with a tractor beam that would also drain its shields . Once locked on , the tractor beam of a cube could drain the shields of a starship within seconds , and hold it immobile against the full force of its warp drive . ( ) Once the target ship was defenseless , the cube could perform any action ranging from destruction to assimilation . ( ; ) The Borg could also use the tractor beam to destroy unshielded enemy vessels without the use of any additional weaponry . ( ) The standard deflector shields of Starfleet vessels could resist the tractor beam if the crew of the ship in question cycled the shields through different energy frequencies , but only for a short time . ( ) Following the failure of enemy shields , the cube could engage a high - energy laser cutting beam to slice sections of the ship for assimilation . ( ) If assimilation was unwarranted , the cutting beam could also be used as a weapon to destroy resisting vessels . During the Battle of Wolf 359 , the and the were annihilated by cutting beams . The cutting beam could either slice into a ship with pinpoint precision , or it could be used to disintegrate large portions of an enemy vessel . Additionally , it could be fired with the tractor beam as a single attack , with the cutting beam manifesting inside the area of effect of the tractor beam . As demonstrated on the USS " Melbourne " at Wolf 359 , combining the weapons in this fashion could destroy even a shielded enemy vessel within seconds . ( ) Another tactic that could be used to disable enemy ships was to fire a type of missile weapon , the primary function of which appeared to be to drain a target ' s shields . These missiles appeared to be reserved for situations in which using the tractor beam was not feasible , such as an enemy vessel being out of range . Three such missiles were capable of disabling a class vessel ' s shields . A hit from the weapon at an unshielded target could disable its warp drive without otherwise damaging it . ( ) The cubes could also use dispersal field s to disrupt the sensor and transporter function of enemy vessels . ( ) The Borg were capable of transporting through the active shields of both " Galaxy " and " Intrepid " - class starships . ( ) ( ) In addition , a Borg cube ' s weaponry also included other destructive beam and projectile weapons . During the 2366 - 2367 incursion , a cube obliterated three ships of the Mars Defense Perimeter with projectiles . ( ) Similar projectiles were used to destroy a and a starship during the Battle of Sector 001 . ( ) The concentrated fire of three beam weapons was able to reduce ' s ablative generator - deployed armor hull integrity , a highly advanced future Starfleet defense technology , to 40 % . ( ) Borg cubes did not appear to utilize traditional energy shields . Instead , they seemed to employ a subspace electromagnetic field that could be altered to adapt to enemy weaponry . This made destroying Borg vessels exceedingly difficult , as most weapons employed against them tended to either not work at all , or to become completely useless after a few shots . ( ) This problem could be overcome to a degree by varying the frequency and modulation of the energy of the weapons in question , but even this tended to fail after a short time . ( ) Borg could also adapt to explosives , such as photon torpedoes , with ease . The Borg could similarly adapt their weapons to the technology of their opponent ' s defenses . During their second encounter with a Borg cube , the crew of the " Enterprise " - D was able to prevent a Borg tractor beam from locking onto them by rapidly modulating the energy frequency of their shields . However , less than half a minute later , the Borg adapted the energy of the tractor beam to compensate for the rapidly shifting energy of the shields , and all further attempts to use this tactic failed within seconds . ( ) The drones on board a Borg ship , through unknown means , could essentially will it to repair itself . During the " Enterprise " - D ' s first encounter with a Borg cube , it inflicted damage to approximately 20 % of the Borg vessel , only for the ship to repair virtually all of that damage within 20 minutes . This process could occur even while the ship was at warp speed or while it was engaged in combat . ( ) Starfleet ' s two engagements with Borg cubes were extremely costly . In the first case , at the Battle of Wolf 359 , the Borg had assimilated Jean - Luc Picard mere hours before and had gained access to his vast knowledge of Starfleet tactics and operations . As such , the battle saw 39 out of 40 ships destroyed with virtually negligible damage to a Borg vessel . The Borg vessel then continued nearly unimpeded to Earth , and was stopped only by the ingenuity of the " Enterprise " - D ' s crew . ( ) However , a similar engagement a several years later saw a similarly large Federation fleet perform considerably better against another Borg cube . Though it suffered heavy casualties , the fleet managed to inflict heavy damage to the cube ' s outer hull and cause the vessel ' s power grid to begin fluctuating . The vessel was eventually destroyed primarily due the intervention of Captain Picard , whose residual telepathic link to the Collective furbished him with knowledge of a ( presumably ) battle - induced weak spot on the Borg vessel , which was subsequently targeted by the entire fleet . ( ) Due to the adaptive qualities of the Borg electromagnetic field , the only quasi - reliable way of destroying a Borg cube was to use a weapon so powerful that just one or two shots would destroy it . Such weapons included the modified deflector weapon of a " Galaxy " - class starship , transphasic torpedoes , and the energy beam weapons of Species 8472 . ( ) However even weapons such as these could be adapted to . Another tactic that appeared to have at least some measure of success in combatting the Borg was to utilize unfamiliar evasive maneuvering sequences in order to keep the Borg tractor beams in particular from draining a ship ' s shields . ( ; ) Support vehicles . Ships up to the size of a Borg sphere were able to be docked inside a Borg cube for assimilation , supplies or escape purposes . At least one Borg cube , and possibly others of its class , contained a Borg sphere . The only known recorded purpose of a sphere disengaged from a Borg cube was for escape . The sphere is the only documented support vehicle a Borg cube possessed . ( ) Interior design . Borg cubes were typically manned by " thousands of drones , " and could vary in complement anywhere from 5 , 000 to 64 , 000 to 129 , 000 drones . ( ) Borg cubes were highly decentralized in structure with no specific bridge , living quarters or engineering sections . All vital systems were spread throughout the ship , which , along with the presence of a regenerative hull , made it highly resistant to damage and system failures . ( ) Information and Collective communication were routed through power waveguide conduits and distribution node s . Its exterior design consisted of perpendicular and diagonal grids , struts , and weaponry , allowing a characteristic green light to emanate from within . ( ) Some vessels are equipped with maturation chamber s . ( ; ) The internal pressure aboard a Borg cube was two kilopascal s above what would be normal on a Federation starship . The humidity was on average 92 % , and the temperature was at 39 . 1 °C . ( ) The atmosphere contained traces of tetryon particles . ( ) The infrastructure was made of tritanium , an alloy known for its extreme hardness . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Ronald D . Moore suggested that the vulnerable spots on the Borg cube in were waste extraction . Although no Borg cubes appear in , the cube design of Borg vessel was referred to in the final draft script of that episode , which commented that a corridor aboard the transport " Arctic One " was to be " almost indistinguishable from one on a Borg cube . " Apocrypha . Borg cubes make appearances in the " " and " " games . In the second game , a " fusion cube " and " tactical fusion cube " are seen , and used by those playing as the Borg . The first consists of eight regular cubes connected to each other and is the size of a planetoid , such as Pluto . The second is composed of 8 tactical cubes connected to each other and is the size of a planet , such as Mars . Both are designated battleships and hold the assimilator beam device and three " captured " special weapons taken from an enemy race .