Skulle Borgen assimilera till sista varelsen?

Beviset i detta fall verkar vara motsägelsefullt. I Q Who när Borg introduceras den enda planet som Företaget ska skanna om alla dess känsliga populationer hade tagits bort:

A survey of the only Class M planet in the system reveals that while there was once a civilization there, it has been ripped away from the planet, "identical to what happened to the outposts along the Neutral Zone."

Faktum är att alla federationskolonierna som angripits av Borg hade inga överlevande:

When the Enterprise arrives at the edge of the Neutral Zone, they find that a number of outposts have been completely obliterated. There is no evidence of conventional weapons or attack. The Neutral Zone

"Captain's log, Stardate 43992.6. Admiral Hanson and Lieutenant Commander Shelby of Starfleet Tactical have arrived to review the disappearance of New Providence colony. No sign remains of the nine hundred inhabitants." The Best Of Both Worlds

I avsnittet Voyager Barnens uppspelning hade dock Ichebs ras attackerats av Borg. Deras en gång avancerade civilisation decimerade och reducerades till ett spridet agrariskt samhälle. Trots att deras planet ligger vid ingången till en Borg-transwarp-kanal, när Borgen förstärkte sin civilisation, så absorberade de inte helt klart eller dödade alla invånare. Faktum är att Brunali verkar bli attackerad ganska ofta och har vidtagit extrema motåtgärder för att försöka göra sig oförtröttliga för assimilering.

Voyager arrives at the Brunali homeworld. Seven is present on the bridge, helping to take scan data of the planet's surface. The planet is Class M, usually the mark of a very idyllic world. But there is a huge problem: a Borg transwarp conduit less than a light year away, which Seven detects. This explains Ensign Harry Kim's scan data of the population distribution: only scattered settlements, each with less than 10,000 people. This region of space is a Borg thoroughfare; the Brunali people live in constant, extreme danger.
...
Seven, Icheb, Tuvok and Captain Janeway beam down to the surface. The view is both breathtaking and foreboding; on the horizon is the ruin of an apparently technologically advanced city. Before them is a vast, deep canyon, as if the ground, and whatever was on it, had been literally scooped up and away.
...
Seven inquires as to how the Borg got [Icheb]. He sadly tells her: Since the Borg first attacked, they have been careful to hide any new technology, so that passing Borg cubes would pass the planet straight.
...
Seven asks the question the entire bridge crew gets in mind from that statement: Alone, on an unarmed transport? They respond that they are using the only weapon they have against the Borg, not having powerful starships like Voyager at their disposal: their genetic expertise.
...
Leucon angrily explains that every time they begin to rebuild, to make progress, the Borg come and take it away. ... "You have no right to interfere!" Leucon shouts. "We're trying to save our civilization!" Yifay pipes in. Janeway glares at them icily. Seven accusingly tells them that they are trying to do so by depriving Icheb of his future. "If we don't stop the Borg, the Brunali have no future!"

Det enda beslutet jag kan komma till när jag överväger detta bevis är att Borg i vissa fall går ut ur vägen för att inte helt utrota en art, troligen när den tävlingen visar potentialen för ytterligare framsteg senare. När det gäller federationskolonierna och utposterna som förstördes i Next Generation, ansåg Borg sannolikt att dessa små bosättningar inte var slutet på deras art, och som sådan var det ingen anledning att inte assimilera varje sista person där.