Why did the Zhat Vash fleet not kill the jettisoned drones in outer space?

Question

Why did the Zhat Vash fleet not kill the jettisoned drones in outer space?

• We know from First Contact that drones can even work in outer space without a space suit.
• We know from the Voyager episode "Mortal Coil" that Borg can revive drones up to 73 hours after death with their nano-probes.

It would be surprising if the Zhat Vash were not aware of this, because:

• Oh is Zhat Vash and has probably access even to secret information in Starfleet and for sure pulled important stuff about all (partially) artificial life.
• They did a lot of medical work on the Artifact with Borg drones.

They should be aware that probably some or all of these drones could be reactivated by Seven. Because of their fear about all artificial life, they should have destroyed them before they left.

Answer 1

The Borg aren't the Zhat Vash's problem. If a live Borg cube starts rampaging through Romulan space, the Romulan fleet will come out in force. It's the seductive nature of artificial intelligence, where it was too late when it developed past tipping point and turned upon its creators, that the Zhat Vash defend against.

Consider also, as a secret organization, the resources they can call upon without revealing themselves are limited. The AI home world likely lies within Federation space. If Picard had carried out his orgininal plan and had a squadron waiting for them to defend it, they might lose. Worse, if his knowledge that the Romulans, not the AIs were behind the attack on Mars, became public, they would be risking an all out war with the Federation if they had support in force. So they need to act quickly.

As Narissa says of the Borg drones:

Do they frighten you?

Something far worse is coming Centurion, if I fail in my mission.

To Narissa, the Borg are disgusting but they aren't her target, they're just in her way. Once she has beamed out they can be left behind. Possibly that was a miscalculation - Chekhov's phaser and all that.