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The Borg Tesseract was a four dimensional cube of cubes, cutting through the time-streams like a butcher's knife. The tesseract was one of many constructed for the battles of the temporal cold war, where the line between cooperative, collective, and Xb had blurred. This tesseract in particular had been assigned a special purpose, to carry the memories of the collective far from the prime timeline, so that the memory of those assimilated from species now lost from history would not be forgotten. The tesseract plotted a course through splinters and loops, where its wake would be smoothed by the currents of the timestreams. In one such loop, it made the tactical acquisition of several biologicals from the starship Voyager. Naomi Wildman and Icheb were assimilated as young adults, in a timeline where janeway and chakotay had dies some years previously. A copy of Voyager's EMH had been acquired from the time of the temporal cold war, and a number of romulan refugees that would have otherwise perished in the Hobus supernova.
The tesseract rested from its journey near unimatrix 01, where the tesseract collective determined that it was necessary to assume primary direction of the local collective in order to effect a timeline split and bring the whole closer to perfection. The child that would have become the borg queen was instead assigned to maintenance tasks, and the drone formerly known as Naomi Wildman assumed the role of Borg Queen. Using cloaking technology derived from numerous species, the borg construct a series of stealthed probes to dispatch to the other quadrants. These probes are symerical x-shaped craft, crewed by as few as a dozen drones, and equipped with advanced holmatrixes and projectors in order to emulate local vessels for docking at stations where shields prevent transporter insertion. The drones crewing the stealth probes are given purely subdermal implants, allowing them to pass as unmodified organics to casual observation. They are also trained to function as individuals to conceal the nature of the collective, through a combination of calling on collective memories and operating inside of subspace jamming fields that disrupt the Borg hivemind.
One such stealth vessel encounters the Raven, the Hansen's research vessel, and assimilates the Hansen family. Annika hansen becomes three of three instead of seven of nine, as her parents continue their previous research, only this time with the borg collective riding along in their heads. Annika applies to and is accepted to starfleet academy, in time to be posted to Voyager on its maiden voyage.
Among the Drones deployed to the stealth probes is the third of five known as Hugh. Hugh's stealth probe shadows the enterprise, and alters the fate of many by interfering here and there.
Among the divergences are the forced assimilation of Tasha Yar's homeworld, the capture and assimilation of noonien soong and the rogue android Lore, and the integration of exo-comps into the collective.
Hugh delivers the collective's apologies to Guinan for the forceful assimilation of her people. Guinan is furious at the borg, but doesn't ban them from her bar. She relays the threat of the borg to the captain, but adds that they have changed much, and are not to be underestimated or trusted.
Hugh becomes friends with Geordi and Data, and the trio occasionally perform music for the crew. Doctor crusher is given the opportunity to study Borg medical archives, which helps her speed of treatment of several cases.
When the cardassians cause trouble, the Borg swoop in and crush their union, leading the cardasians to seek shelter with the federation. The federation, through captain Picard, negotiates a cease fire between the Borg and Cardassians. The station of Terok Nor is partially assimilated, and a borg defense network established in the Bajor system. Since the battle of Wolf 359 does not occur in this timeline, Sisko arrives on Terok Nor with his wife and son as captain of the USS defiant, a patrol craft charged with making sure the Borg aren't assimilating the Bajorans en masse. Certain Bajorans have been assimilated, to be sure, but they are primarily members of the resistance who had suffered injury and been given Borg prosthetics uppon the assimilation of Terok Nor.
When the dominion starts sending spies through the wormhole, they determine that the Borg are highly resistant to changeling infiltration and capable of subverting Vorta and JemHadar. The Bajor system is considered to much of a hassle to invade, so the dominion focuses on espionage to capture local research and technology.
Voyager arrives in the delta quadrant and is forcefully assimilated on arrival as Annika conducts expedited repairs, overwriting the undeveloped EMH with the collective's copy of the Doctor from the future. The intrepid class starship is reconfigured to incorporate many elements of a stealth probe, and captures the caretaker's array, then goes on to assimilate the Ocampan homeworld. Kes is retrieved from the kazon, who flee fron the Borg or perish in battle. Neelix is assimilated as well. Voyager sets out on a return trajectory to the alpha quadrant, assimilating technology and biology as it goes. The Vaadwaar are assimilated prior to awakening from stasis, and the videen are assimilated through an exploit in their portable transporter trchnology. The phage itself is deconstructed by nanoprobes and added to the collective's archives.
Species 8472 is avoided by voyager, as the vessel instead takes a more direct route through Borg territory.
Having studied Icheb's biology and adapted, the cube from which the original voyager retrieved him is not lost, and his family is successfully assimilated. The local iteration of Naomi Wildman is raised by the Borg aboard Voyager, and then assigned to the Borg tesseract where her counterpart prepares her to take over as Borg queen when the effects of being in a non native timeline finally take their toll.