Memory Alpha
Advertisement
Memory Alpha
Phaser with rotating frequencies

Worf firing a hand-phaser equipped with a phaser adapter

The phaser adapter was an anti-Borg modification chip added to phasers used by Starfleet in 2367. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II")

In 2366, it was discovered that Borg systems were vulnerable to phaser blasts on a resonance frequency spread in the high narrow band. The Borg adapted to compensate for this weakness after Captain Jean-Luc Picard was assimilated as the Locutus. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds")

In 2367, based on a suggestion from Wesley Crusher, a chip known as the phaser adapter was designed. It would automatically re-tune phasers to a random setting after each discharge. Using the adapter, phasers were set on a rotating modulation, to allow at most twelve shots to penetrate Borg shielding before they adapted. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"; Star Trek: First Contact; VOY: "Scorpion")

A similar technology was invented in 2375 by Species 10026. The Borg adapted by triaxilating their deflector shield geometry to absorb the energy of the modulating phaser pulses. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")

The apocryphal Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force and Star Trek: Elite Force II video games feature a rifle weapon developed by the crew of USS Voyager, known as the infinity modulator or I-MOD (β), in which this modulation technology was perfected and Borg drones were not able to adapt their personal force fields to its blasts.

Advertisement