If it took more than “safety protocols off” then the federation would have never existed due to earth being assimilated/destroyed by the Borg right around the time they discovered warp flight. And if they waited for after that flight, they could assimilate the passing Vulcans, too, though all they’d have to do is warp with the enterprise after taking that over and someone would have come to give them some ships to get started with.
The big question would have been if the new alpha quadrant Borg faction would have joined the OG Delta faction or would have been a rival.
Though I’m not sure why the Borg adaptive shields didn’t stop the bullets, since they were energy-based rather than ballistic, and wouldn’t have been designed to use phasing to defeat enemy shields.
If it took more than “safety protocols off” then the federation would have never existed due to earth being assimilated/destroyed by the Borg right around the time they discovered warp flight. And if they waited for after that flight, they could assimilate the passing Vulcans, too, though all they’d have to do is warp with the enterprise after taking that over and someone would have come to give them some ships to get started with.
The big question would have been if the new alpha quadrant Borg faction would have joined the OG Delta faction or would have been a rival.
Though I’m not sure why the Borg adaptive shields didn’t stop the bullets, since they were energy-based rather than ballistic, and wouldn’t have been designed to use phasing to defeat enemy shields.