borg star trek origin

Borg history

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The history of the Borg shows the gradual development of the Borg species.

• 2.1 2024 incursion
• 2.2 First Contact incursion
• 3 22nd century
• 4 23rd century
• 5.1 2347-2350
• 6 External link

A Borg Queen

The origin of the Borg is vague. What is known is by hearsay, brief contacts with Borg survivors, and even the Borg itself.

The Borg originated in the Delta Quadrant . ( Star Trek: First Contact ; VOY : " Dark Frontier ", " Dragon's Teeth ") According to the Borg Queen , the species known as the Borg started out as normal plain lifeforms ; ( Star Trek: First Contact ) they had been developing for thousands of centuries before the 24th century , and over many years, they evolved into a mixture of organic and artificial life with cybernetic enhancements. ( Star Trek: First Contact ; TNG : " Q Who ")

By 1484 , the Borg had assimilated only a handful of star systems of the Quadrant and they had many encounters with the Vaadwaur ( VOY : " Dragon's Teeth ") but by 2373 , the Borg had assimilated thousands of systems. ( Star Trek: First Contact ; VOY : " Unity ", " Scorpion ", " Scorpion, Part II ") Their territory was intersected by a narrow corridor of space filled with gravimetric distortions , eventually nicknamed the " Northwest Passage " by the crew of the Federation starship USS Voyager during the Borg's conflict with Species 8472 . ( VOY : " Scorpion ") The farthest border of the Borg realm within the Delta Quadrant seemed to be the Nekrit Expanse . ( VOY : " Fair Trade ", " Unity ", " Distant Origin ")

The Collective had their own territory and ventured out, beyond it, on exploration missions. ( TNG : " Q Who "; VOY : " Dragon's Teeth ", " Unity ") At one time, Voyager was thrown 9,500 light years, beyond Borg territory and ten years closer to Earth. ( VOY : " The Gift ") Over the next four years, the starship still encountered Borg vessels. ( VOY : " Collective ", " Child's Play ", " Unimatrix Zero ", " Unimatrix Zero, Part II ", " Endgame ") Since the Borg had such extensive transwarp networks throughout the Milky Way Galaxy , they could effectively project their presence anywhere in a comparatively short amount of time. ( TNG : " Descent ", " Descent, Part II "; VOY : " Dark Frontier ", " Inside Man ", " Endgame ") While the Borg did have a large expanse of their own territory, it was finite, and any forays elsewhere were simply invasions of other territories. ( TNG : " Q Who ", " The Best of Both Worlds "; Star Trek Generations ; DS9 : " Emissary "; VOY : " Blood Fever ", " Hope and Fear ", " The Raven ")

Within the Delta Quadrant, the Borg had a vast structure called the Unicomplex . This structure was made up of thousands of sub-structures and housed many of their vessels . It was believed the Unicomplex was the Borg headquarters. ( VOY : " Dark Frontier ")

When the Borg started using transwarp hubs , ( VOY : " Endgame ") they could appear anywhere in the galaxy, giving them the ability to assimilate species with little or no warning at all and within very short periods of time. Their vessels were equipped with specially designed conduits to withstand the temporal stresses when traveling through transwarp conduits . Borg starships had the ability to travel through time . They once tried to assimilate a species by traveling back in time. ( VOY : " Inside Man "; Star Trek: First Contact )

Temporal incursions [ ]

2024 incursion [ ].

In 2024 , a Borg Queen from 2401 of an alternate timeline arrived aboard the CSS La Sirena , having helped the crew travel back in time in order to correct history. ( PIC : " Assimilation ")

This Queen eventually began sharing a body with Dr. Agnes Jurati and sought to take the La Sirena to the Delta Quadrant and begin the Borg invasion of the Alpha Quadrant four centuries early. Jurati eventually convinced the Queen that the better solution was to take the ship and create a new, better Borg Collective made out of mercy and choice. After reassimilating Seven of Nine in order to save her life, the merged Borg Queen and Jurati departed in the La Sirena for the Delta Quadrant. ( PIC : " Mercy ")

First Contact incursion [ ]

Zefram Cochrane's Phoenix

Although the Borg were normally not active in the Alpha Quadrant in 2063 , a Borg sphere traveled back in time from 2373 to the Earth of that year. The craft's occupants had the sole purpose of preventing First Contact between Humans and Vulcans , thereby helping the Borg to assimilate the Human species. The sphere attempted to achieve their outcome by firing on Zefram Cochrane 's launch base in Montana where he was developing the Phoenix , the spaceship that historically performed the first warp-powered flight, subsequently bringing Earth to the attention of a passing Vulcan vessel. ( Star Trek: First Contact )

A Federation starship also from 2373, the USS Enterprise -E , thwarted the Borg attempt by destroying the Borg sphere as it was firing against Cochrane, and a section of its broken hull landed in Earth's North Pole . ( Star Trek: First Contact ; ENT : " Regeneration ") But at some point earlier, some Borg drones (including the Borg Queen ) transported aboard the Enterprise and began to assimilate the ship and many crewmembers . They used the Enterprise as their base of operations in an attempt to continue their objective to alter history and also attempted to build an interplexing beacon on the Enterprise deflector dish to contact the Collective of the 21st century . Finally, they tried to prevent First Contact by firing against the Phoenix during its first flight, but were prevented and defeated by Captain Picard and Data . The Queen and all the remaining drones perished aboard the Enterprise ; their organic components were dissolved by very corrosive plasma coolant and the Queen's artificial spinal cord was broken to ensure that she was dead. ( Star Trek: First Contact )

The next year, Zefram Cochrane, during his commencement address at Princeton , revealed his unusual experience. He mentioned cybernetic creatures from the future , whose ultimate goal was to enslave the Human race , who tried to stop his first warp flight , if it weren't for a group of Humans also from the future. No one seriously believed Cochrane, well known for his imaginative stories while intoxicated , and he recanted his claim a few years later; although a record of his speech still remained. ( ENT : " Regeneration ")

22nd century [ ]

By 2145 , and after assimilating thirteen species, they learned of the existence of the Omega molecule which they referred to as Particle 010. The Borg believed the Omega to exist in a flawless state and regarded it with near-reverence and all Borg were ordered to assimilate it at any cost. They managed to synthesize a relatively stable single molecule of Omega, which resulted to the destruction of 29 Borg vessels and 600,000 drones. They designed a harmonic resonance chamber that could theoretically stabilize the molecule, but never had enough Boronite to synthesize more Omega molecules. ( VOY : " The Omega Directive ")

Borg sphere debris

In 2153 , the remains of the Borg sphere that was destroyed in 2063 were discovered in Earth's Arctic Circle . The A-6 excavation team discovered the Arctic debris field where much of the Borg sphere remained, severely damaged and buried under a glacier . After traveling to the wreckage, the team also found two frozen drones in the ice , and allowed them to regenerate. The Borg drones assimilated the entire team of scientists and commandeered their transport Arctic One , continually enhancing its warp drive and installing a weapons system .

Three days later, the Borg left Earth. Although they managed to assimilate several Tarkaleans , who tried to do the same to Denobulan doctor Phlox , the crew of the Starfleet ship Enterprise NX-01 , which included Phlox, was successful in preventing the Borg drones, of which there were more due to the original drones' assimilation of the Tarkaleans, from reaching their homeworld and resuming their attempt to enslave Humanity. Enterprise was responsible for the destruction of the assimilated arctic transport and every Borg drone aboard the craft.

However, the ship's captain , Jonathan Archer , having determined that the cybernetic aliens had probably been the same as in Zefram Cochrane's Princeton commencement address, also learned that the Borg had sent a subspace message before their destruction that contained spatial coordinates pinpointing Earth's location. Because Phlox had momentarily been a part of the Borg's hive mind , he had heard the message. However, the signal would take two hundred years to reach its destination, deep in the Delta Quadrant, alerting the Borg there.

During this encounter, no member of Starfleet learned the name of the Borg. ( ENT : " Regeneration ")

23rd century [ ]

In the mid- 23rd century , the Borg assimilated the homeworld of the El-Aurians . Only a handful of survivors managed to escape and tried to find refuge on other worlds. ( TNG : " Q Who "; Star Trek Generations )

The Enterprise -B tries to rescue El-Aurian refugees

In 2293 , two starships, the SS Lakul and SS Robert Fox , were carrying El-Aurian refugees to Earth when they became caught in an energy ribbon that caused the destruction of both ships. ( Star Trek Generations ) However, 47 El-Aurians from the Lakul – including Guinan , who later served as Ten Forward 's bartender aboard the USS Enterprise -D – were saved when they were beamed aboard the USS Enterprise -B by Montgomery Scott and took with them the story of their species' dealings with the Borg. ( Star Trek Generations ; TNG : " The Child ", " Q Who ")

Starfleet had no record of the name "Borg" and no connection was made between all these events, the cybernetic beings found 140 years before , and those who had attacked the El-Aurians. Therefore, it was not until the time the Lakul survivors were retrieved that Starfleet first became officially aware of the Borg and opened a file on them on stardate 9521.6. ( ENT : " Regeneration "; VOY : " Scorpion ")

24th century [ ]

2347-2350 [ ].

Erin and Magnus Hansen

Annika Hansen

During the years 2347 through 2350 , the Borg were studied by Human exobiologists Magnus Hansen and his wife Erin . Together with their daughter Annika , they ventured out in the USS Raven to seek the Borg. At this point, Starfleet did not believe the Borg were real and instead dismissed them as "rumors and sensor ghosts".

On stardate 32623.5, a Borg cube exiting a transwarp conduit encountered the Raven , which at this point had changed its course without informing Starfleet. The Raven was beyond the Romulan Neutral Zone and disobeyed a direct order to return. At 2,000 kilometers , the cube scanned the Raven and found it no threat, unwittingly proving Magnus' theory that the Borg would not attack as long they were no threat or a target for assimilation. The Borg vessel turned away and was followed by the Raven at a distance of five million kilometers, matching the cube's heading and speed.

After three months, on stardate 32629.4, the Borg cube opened a transwarp conduit and traveled to the Delta Quadrant, the Raven following in its wake. Unknown to the Borg, the Hansens developed new technologies to keep hidden from Borg sensors , such as multi-adaptive shielding to hide the Raven and a personal bio-dampener so someone could visit a Borg vessel without being detected. Without the Borg's knowledge, the Raven was now very close to the cube while Magnus Hansen studied them. He witnessed how two drones from another sub-unit de-activated a drone who was damaged beyond repair when a plasma conduit exploded, removing its usable components.

Some time later, the Borg cube linked with another vessel and received over fifty thousand new drones. The Hansens stealthily beamed over newly arrived drones to identify them. A tactical drone , a former Ktarian male, was beamed over to the Raven while he was regenerating in his alcove . Because its previous designation was Three of Five Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix One, this drone was tagged with a subdermal probe so he could be traced by the Hansens. Magnus believed this drone worked for the Borg Queen and searched its cranial transceiver logs for evidence.

Once Magnus Hansen even stayed overnight within the cubes maturation chamber when the Raven 's transporters failed.

In 2350 , the Borg detected the Raven and perceived her as a threat when it was visible on their sensors for 13.2 seconds. This occurred because the Raven was hit by a subspace particle storm which knocked out their multi-adaptive shields. The Borg cube required three hours to track down the Raven because Magnus masked their warp trail . The cube exited a transwarp conduit only 3.2 light years from the Raven and intercepted it in less than an hour.

The Borg assimilated the Hansens. From then on, Annika Hansen was known as Seven of Nine , and was a Borg drone until she was rescued in 2374 by USS Voyager . In 2375 , father and daughter met once again, although Magnus was still a drone serving in Unimatrix 01 . It is unknown what happened to the drone formerly known as Erin Hansen. The USS Raven was partially assimilated and crashed on a remote moon in B'omar space. ( VOY : " Dark Frontier ", " The Raven ")

In 2362 , the Borg assimilated the crew of the USS Tombaugh , which was under the command of Captain Blackwood . ( VOY : " Infinite Regress ")

In 2364 , the Borg were believed to be responsible for the destruction of several Romulan and Federation outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone in sectors 30 and 31 . This became evident when the Enterprise -D encountered a similar outpost with an almost identical signature a year later. ( TNG : " The Neutral Zone ")

The Borg extracts a part of the USS Enterprise -D

In 2365 , a Borg cube traveling near System J-25 , seven thousand light years away from Federation space, detected a starship. The sixth planet in that system, a Class-M , seemed to have the same characteristics as some Federation and Romulan outposts near the Neutral Zone. Their cities were removed from the planet's surface. When the Borg cube arrived, it scanned the unknown vessel.

The strange vessel hailed the Borg, which went unanswered. The Borg transported a drone to the engineering section of the unknown starship, right through the vessel's shields . The drone either did not notice or ignored the lifeforms present and walked towards a com panel . Before he could reach it, a phaser shot knocked him down. Moments later another drone materialized and continued towards the panel. Again he was fired upon but this time his personal shield negated the shot. After the drone extracted information from the com panel, it reached over to the fallen drone and removed some components, after which both drones dematerialized.

After the Borg analyzed the information, they knew with whom they were dealing, the Federation starship USS Enterprise -D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard . They also concluded that the Enterprise -D's defensive capabilities were insufficient. The Borg hailed the Enterprise and told them to not defend themselves as they would be punished for it, interrupting Picard's greeting, and they locked a tractor beam onto the ship. The beam held the starship in place and drained their defensive shields.

The Borg cube was fired upon by the Enterprise when it tried to escape, but to no avail. After eighteen seconds, their shields were gone and the Borg used a cutting beam to remove a part of the ship, saucer sections 27, 28, and 29 on decks 4, 5, and 6. Again the cube was fired upon by the Enterprise . This time, the Borg released the tractor beam; they had sustained twenty percent damage.

An away team from the Enterprise boarded their vessel and watched how a drone performed some tasks. As the away team scouted the ship, they found a Borg maturation chamber and also noticed that the Borg vessel was repairing itself. Immediately, the away team was beamed back to the Enterprise .

When the Borg discovered the Enterprise running, they gave chase. Although the Enterprise was reaching warp 9 , the Borg easily matched their speed and even gained on them. Photon torpedoes fired by the Enterprise detonated harmlessly, causing no damage to the cube.

The Borg fired weapons at the Enterprise designed to drain their shields and was still closing in, even though the Enterprise seemed to have reached her maximum speed. After a second shot, the Enterprise again fired photon torpedoes at the Borg, but without any effect. After the Borg fired their third shot, the shields of the Enterprise were gone and they were able to knock the ship out of warp. After the Enterprise lost warp speed, the Borg immediately re-established their tractor beam, but without any warning the Enterprise broke free and sped away from the Borg.

Unknown to the Borg, the entity known as Q had returned the Enterprise to its original position. He was the one who brought the ship in contact with the Borg in the first place. ( TNG : " Q Who ")

The Borg encounter the Enterprise

In 2366 , the Borg sent a cube to the Alpha Quadrant on a mission to assimilate Earth.

Within the Alpha Quadrant, the Borg first assimilated the nine hundred inhabitants of the Federation colony New Providence . Analysis of the soil revealed the same magnetic-resonance signature the Borg left on the hull of the Enterprise -D the year before. This proved the Borg were not only responsible for the destruction of the New Providence colony, but also the Federation and Romulan outposts in 2364 .

The Borg cube continued its journey and encountered the USS Lalo while on a freight run to Sentinel Minor IV . Although the Lalo managed to send a distress call to starbase 157 , they were assimilated as well.

Two hours later the Borg cube noticed the USS Enterprise -D and altered its course to intercept, with a speed of warp 9.3. When it reached the Starfleet vessel, the cube dropped out of warp and hailed Captain Jean-Luc Picard personally. The Borg informed him to lower the shields and to transport to the Borg vessel. If Picard failed to comply, the Enterprise would be destroyed. After Picard accused the Borg of aggression against the Federation, the Borg told him that the Enterprise was no match for the Borg cube.

The Borg tried to lock a tractor beam on the Enterprise but failed. Within a few moments the Borg adapted to the modulating shields of the Enterprise and locked the tractor beam, draining the ship's shields. Although the Enterprise fired torpedoes and its phaser banks against them, the tractor beam remained in place. Then the Borg began to cut into the Enterprise hull, causing a decompression in engineering, but the Enterprise managed to break free when Lt. Commander Data, as suggested by Cmdr. Shelby, randomly fluctuated the phaser resonance frequencies while firing upon the Borg vessel. The Borg cube immediately started pursuing the fleeing Enterprise .

When the Enterprise hid within the Paulson Nebula , the Borg had trouble locating them and decided to wait. To force the Enterprise out of the nebula, the Borg launched magnetometric guided charges into it. The cube again locked its tractor beam onto the Enterprise as it tried to flee the nebula. A drone was beamed to the Enterprise bridge and tried to reach Picard, but was shot down by Chief of Security Worf . Two more drones were sent, and one of them captured Picard as the other one threw the charging First Officer Riker against a bulkhead . After this skirmish, the drones transported back to the cube with Picard.

Then the Borg cube disengaged its tractor beam and left the Enterprise behind, resuming its course for sector 001 .

Locutus of Borg

In the Borg cube, Picard was told that he would serve to introduce the Borg to Federation culture. Despite his arguments, Picard was told that strength, self-determination, even death, were irrelevant. Resistance was futile; Picard was chosen to speak for the Borg. Some time later, the Borg detected an away team inside the Borg cube. They were trying to locate Picard and to sabotage the cube, but the Borg sent drones after them. While drones were pursuing the away team, they ran into their captain, who had been assimilated, and were forced to flee. The Borg cube was forced out of warp by the away team's sabotage, but the Borg restored their warp capability within a short period of time.

Then the Enterprise was hailed by the Borg. Their former captain introduced himself as Locutus of Borg and told them to surrender. The Enterprise 's navigational deflector was used as a weapon and fired at the cube for several seconds, to no effect. Locutus coldly stated that his resistance was hopeless. The knowledge Picard possessed was part of the Borg Collective. After this, the Borg resumed their course towards Earth.

The Borg cube was met and engaged by Starfleet at Wolf 359 by forty starships. The Battle of Wolf 359 was a disaster for the Federation; all but one ship was destroyed with the loss of eleven thousand lives, and the Borg vessel immediately returned to its previous heading towards Earth.

While en route , the Borg were contacted by Riker, now captain of the Enterprise -D, who offered to end the hostilities and to prepare for assimilation. Despite that the Borg had Picard, they had not foreseen that this was a ruse and that Picard's knowledge had been used against them. When the Enterprise engaged the cube the Borg did not notice the shuttle which was closing in on them. When the Borg noticed that Worf and Data transported to the cube, they were too late to prevent the kidnapping of Locutus. Although the Borg lost Locutus, they again resumed their course for Earth.

Locutus was brought to the Enterprise , where Data investigated how he was connected to the Borg. There, Data found an opportunity to stop the Borg.

The Borg cube self-destructs

The Borg dropped out of warp when they reached Sector 001. They were tracked by Jupiter Outpost 92 and attacked by ships launched from Mars , but the Borg vessel continued its way towards Earth.

The Borg cube was stopped when it was ordered to enter its regeneration cycle. This was done by Data, who connected himself to Locutus and ordered the regeneration command, effectively putting all the drones to sleep. The command also started a self-destruct mechanism which destroyed the cube.

The Borg not only lost their vessel, but also Locutus when his link with the hive mind was severed when the cube exploded. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ", " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II "; DS9 : " Emissary ")

The Borg attacked the Brunali homeworld . ( VOY : " Child's Play ")

In 2368 , a Borg scout ship crashed in the Argolis Cluster with only one surviving drone, Third of Five, although critically injured.

The drone was found by the USS Enterprise -D who gave it medical attention after placing it within a subspace dampening field to prevent any contact with the Borg hive mind.

Picard knew the Borg would investigate the crash and wanted to take advantage of the situation by implanting a hostile program into the drone. When it was re-integrated within the Borg Collective, the program would destroy the Borg from the inside, like a virus . However, this plan was abandoned under pressure of Doctor Beverly Crusher and Geordi La Forge , who had doubts. Instead, the drone was allowed to grow as an individual, since it no longer was a part of the Borg Collective. It even had a name, Hugh .

Eventually Hugh was returned to the crash site with his individuality intact. After he was rescued by a Borg vessel, the former drone was re-integrated within the Collective, but the Borg could not cope with his individuality. As a result, the Borg vessel fell into a state of disarray, and drifted through space until it was found by Lore , Data's brother. ( TNG : " I Borg ", " Descent ")

Freed drones

Later that year, in the Delta Quadrant, a Borg vessel crashed and its survivors, the drones with the designations Two of Nine , Three of Nine , Four of Nine , and Seven of Nine regained their individuality. Because Seven of Nine had been assimilated at a very young age, she could not cope with her individuality. So, she decided to create a small collective between the four of them when the other drones refused to await their rescue and to rejoin the Collective. This action created a collective within a collective. ( VOY : " Survival Instinct ")

Also in the Delta Quadrant, a Borg cube traveling through the Nekrit Expanse was hit by an electrokinetic storm, killing most drones on board. 80,000 surviving drones lost their connection with the hive mind, causing the reappearance of their own identities. These survivors transported themselves to a nearby class-M planet. Because they had found their individuality again, they also regained the hatred towards other species they had before they were assimilated into the Borg Collective. This resulted in conflicts between the different species. However, a small group of roughly 800 survivors tried to live in coexistence, calling themselves the Cooperative . ( VOY : " Unity ")

Emblem of the Rogue Borg led by Lore

After the Battle of Wolf 359 , the Borg had sent in more expeditions to Federation space. By 2369, these expeditions had resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Federation citizens. ( TNG : " I Borg ", " Descent ", " Descent, Part II ")

A group of Borg had been disconnected from the Collective after integrating Hugh's sense of individuality into the hive. These were discovered by the Soong-type android Lore and styled himself their leader, gave them individual names, and began cruel experiments on them, attempting to replace their organic brains with positronic components. These Borg became more violent – murdering their victims instead of assimilating them – and directed his followers to launch attacks on targets in Federation space. The Enterprise was lured to them and Lore managed to kidnap Data and manipulate him. The captured crew of the Enterprise helped the rogue Borg group to overthrow Lore. ( TNG : " Descent ", " Descent, Part II ")

The Borg attacked the Brunali homeworld for the second time. ( VOY : " Child's Play ")

In 2371 , the Borg assimilated Species 6339 , a humanoid warp-capable species located in the Delta Quadrant , grid 124, octant 22 theta. Eleven billion individuals were assimilated , and only a handful managed to escape. ( VOY : " Infinite Regress ")

Former drone and Starfleet officer Riley Frazier

In 2373 on stardate 50614.2 Commander Chakotay of the starship Voyager answered a distress call from the ex-Borg known as the Cooperative .

Chakotay was injured and Ensign Kaplan was killed after they landed the shuttle. Chakotay was cared for by Riley Frazier , a former drone and Starfleet officer, who used the Borg link to heal Chakotay's wounds. The Cooperative forced Chakotay to re-establish the neural link , via their residual link by which the Cooperative healed him, by starting the neuro electric generator on board the heavily damaged Borg cube for a few minutes. This revived the dormant drones on board, but the New Cooperative was able to trigger the cube's self-destruct. ( VOY : " Unity ")

On stardate 50893.5 a single Borg cube was sent to assimilate Earth. This was the Borg's second attempt, and on board was a Borg Queen. During this attempt the Borg tried to alter Earth's past by traveling to the year 2063 and preventing First Contact with the Vulcans . The skirmish that followed with Starfleet became known as the Battle of Sector 001 .

Although the cube was destroyed by Starfleet, a Borg sphere contained within reached Earth and successfully traveled to 2063. Following the destruction of the sphere by the Enterprise , a contingent of drones (including the Queen) attempted to hijack the Enterprise and began assimilating the ship and crew, but their attempts were thwarted. ( Star Trek: First Contact )

Borg vessels being attacked by Species 8472

On stardate 50984.3 the Borg faced their destruction after they invaded Species 8472 's fluidic space with intent to assimilate this species. Unfortunately – for the Borg – Species 8472 DNA encoding was so dense that nanoprobes could not assimilate their cells . Species 8472 responded with an all out attack on the Borg. They used the "Northwest Passage" in Borg space as their entry point, via a quantum singularity , and destroyed any Borg vessel they could find.

The Borg had lost millions of drones and thousand of worlds when, after assimilating a Starfleet probe in the Delta Quadrant, fifteen of their vessels encountered USS Voyager . One of the Borg cubes scanned Voyager with a polaron beam and when finished joined the other vessels en route to Species 8472.

In the following battle all fifteen Borg ships were destroyed. Unknown to the Borg at the time, Voyager had found those ships and one of the vessels who destroyed them, a Species 8472 bio-ship . On one Borg cube, Species 8472 had stacked Borg remains on each other, as if to scare them off. As far as Species 8472 was concerned, "the weak will perish".

In five months the Borg were attacked more than a dozen times and lost every single time.

A few days later a Borg cube encountered USS Voyager and locked a tractor beam on her and informed the crew that they would be assimilated. Instead, the Borg were offered an alliance. The Borg Collective learned that Voyager had found a way to attack Species 8472 on a microscopic level. The Doctor had discovered a way when he was treating Harry Kim, who was infected by Species 8472 cells. In turn for free passage of Voyager through their space , the Borg would gain their knowledge.

Although at first the Borg would not negotiate with Voyager they became interested when they received a sample of Voyager 's technique to attack Species 8472. They beamed Captain Janeway on board their vessel and asked her what she wanted. At first the Borg refused Janeway's plan to give them the technology after Voyager cleared Borg space and made clear that it was essential for their and her survival. When Janeway told them there was no alternative other than her proposal, the Collective agreed. If the Borg did try to assimilate Voyager , The Doctor would destroy the data on how to attack Species 8472. The Borg would need to work together to develop a weapon while escorting Voyager through their space.

At this time the cube came under attack from Species 8472, who were attacking the nearby planet. The cube managed to escape and took Voyager with it, still attached to the cube via a tractor beam. The Borg/Species 8472 conflict extended to the year 2374.

Seven of Nine

Two Borg drones escorted Janeway and Tuvok . Janeway asked them to join her at grid 92 of sub-junction 12, near the center of the Borg cube, where they would work on the weapon. For efficiency, the Borg wanted to link Janeway and Tuvok with the Borg Collective, as they found verbal communication primitive and inefficient, via a neural transceiver . Although Janeway told them that they worked better via verbal communication and as individuals, not linked into the Hive mind , the Borg were not interested. Only when Janeway suggested that they choose a single Borg to speak for them like Locutus, and threatened them that the deal would be void otherwise, did the Borg listen. The Borg choose Seven of Nine to speak for them.

The Borg concurred with Janeway's suggestion for a large scale weapon but dismissed using photon torpedoes. Instead the Borg devised a multi-kinetic neutronic mine , a weapon of mass destruction. The Borg heard Janeway's objections, that it would take too long to fabricate the necessary nanoprobes and by that time the Borg would have lost the war, among other things. The Borg agreed based on their present situation.

While studying Voyager 's data on the bio-ship, the Borg ship was hailed by Commander Chakotay and they were informed that Species 8472 seemed to be in telepathic contact with Kes . Which might suggest that they already would know about the plans to attack them. Upon hearing this the Borg altered course. Although this would postpone an attack the Borg asked Janeway for the modified nanoprobes so they could start constructing a prototype weapon. Janeway refused, she first wanted to have left Borg space, and did not budge even when the Borg threatened to send five hundred drones to Voyager . Voyager 's crew would fight to the death if this would happen and the Borg would lose the nanoprobes.

The Borg dropped their demand and told Janeway and Tuvok to develop a launching system. Moments later Voyager and the Borg cube were attacked by a single bio-ship. To prevent the destruction of Voyager and their nanoprobes the Borg cube positioned itself between Voyager and the bio-ship. After the first hit the cube crashed deliberately into the bio-ship, destroying both of them. Before their destruction the Borg Collective beamed Seven of Nine, together with some drones, Borg alcoves , Janeway and Tuvok to one of Voyager 's cargo bays .

The Borg explained, by means of Seven of Nine, that they destroyed their vessel to protect Voyager . Because of this the Borg wanted to modify their agreement with Voyager and demanded to be brought to the nearest Borg cube some forty light years away. Unknown to the Borg Commander Chakotay, who was now in command because Captain Janeway was severely wounded when the cube was hit, was altering their agreement.

The drone Seven of Nine was brought to the captain's ready room . Here the Borg learned that the agreement was changed and they would be transferred to a planet or moon with the modified nanoprobes. When the Borg optioned to assimilate Voyager , Commander Chakotay told them if a single drone would leave the cargo bay he would decompress that entire deck . A drone floating in space would not pose a threat. The Borg told him that Humans were erratic, disorganized, every individual entitled to their own small opinion, every decision debated. They lacked harmony, cohesion, greatness. This would be their undoing. The Borg suspected something like this might happen before they entered Janeway's agreement.

Back in the cargo bay Seven of Nine was ordered to take control of Voyager and to enter the realm of Species 8472 when Matrix 010 , Grid 19 was attacked by bio-ships. Eight planets were destroyed, 312 Borg vessels disabled and 4,000,621 drones were killed. The Borg took control of the navigational deflector and created a singularity which pulled Voyager into the realm of Species 8472. Although the cargo bay was decompressed by Chakotay the drone Seven of Nine survived. She informed Chakotay of their situation and to prepare for combat with bio-ships. At that time Chakotay realized that the Borg started the war and not Species 8472. In their search for perfection the Borg made a grave tactical error.

High yield warhead detonation

When Seven of Nine met Captain Janeway, The Doctor had healed her wounds, on the bridge . She was told Voyager would fight Species 8472 on their own territory. She would work together with Tuvok on the modified nanoprobes and to adapt Voyager 's weapons and defensive systems. Voyager was attacked by four bio-ships and fired their nanoprobe enhanced photon torpedoes, destroying all four ships. Afterward Seven of Nine brought Voyager back into the Delta Quadrant where they again were attacked by bio-ships. When Voyager 's high yield warhead exploded thirteen bio-ships were destroyed and the other ships fled. This forced all remaining bio-ships in the Delta Quadrant to return to fluidic space.

After Seven of Nine regained full contact with the Borg Collective they broke their alliance with Voyager . The Borg had prevailed and Voyager and its crew would be assimilated. Seven of Nine took over helm control via her assimilation tubules . Unknown to the Borg Commander Chakotay made a link with Seven of Nine via a neural transceiver to distract her, via images of her past and reminding her of her Humanity . This gave Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres the opportunity to create a power surge which knocked the drone unconscious and permanently severed her link with the hive mind .

This ended the Borg/Species 8472 war and left the drone Seven of Nine stranded aboard USS Voyager . ( VOY : " Scorpion ")

In mid 2374 , the Borg assimilated Species 116 , after they had managed to elude the Borg for several centuries. ( VOY : " Hope and Fear ")

23 outposts were assimilated in a matter of hours after which hundreds of Borg vessels attacked and assimilated the Species 116 homeworld. About ten or twenty thousand were able to escape. Arturis was one of them. He blamed Captain Janeway for the assimilation of his world because the alliance between Voyager and the Borg prevented the Borg's destruction, and he tried to get Voyager assimilated. ( VOY : " Hope and Fear ")

A Borg of 29th century technology in a maturation chamber

In 2375 , the Borg were contacted by a 29th century Borg drone. The existence of this drone was the result of a transporter accident where Seven of Nine's nanoprobes interacted with the mobile emitter of The Doctor. Afterward, Ensign Mulchaey 's DNA was used to create its Human form. It would be the first time a Borg drone was reproduced instead of assimilated. The drone's designation was One , and its curiosity caused it to seek contact with the Borg Collective.

The Borg detected a proximity signal in Unimatrix 325, Grid 006 (somewhere in the Delta Quadrant) and a Borg sphere altered its course accordingly. Via a transwarp conduit , it could reach the coordinates within approximately three hours.

The Borg made contact with Voyager . After a scan they used a tractor beam to hold Voyager and hailed them, informing them of their oncoming assimilation. Suddenly the tractor beam disengaged because Voyager 's shields were re-modulated. A moment later they were fired upon but the Borg were able to invert Voyager 's phaser beam with a feedback pulse, taking out their warp drive .

One transported himself into the Sphere and told the Collective to stop the attack on Voyager . The Borg told him he would be assimilated and that resistance was futile. When One tried to reach a Borg alcove , drones tried to stop him, but they failed. The Sphere's navigational controls were taken over by One and he directed the vessel to a nearby proto-nebula . Although the Collective warned One to stop and terminate his interface with the Borg Collective, he steered the Sphere into the nebula, causing the Borg vessel to implode.

One survived the destruction. Although severely wounded, he would not allow treatment because he felt that as long he was alive, the Borg Collective would try to assimilate him. ( VOY : " Drone ")

The pathogenic virus

On stardate 52356.2 a Borg cube was destroyed in the Delta Quadrant. Its debris field was about 120 kilometers wide. This happened after they assimilated a Species 6339 vessel. The vinculum of the cube was infected by a synthetic pathogenic virus which was carried by members of this species. Unknown to the Borg, this virus was specifically designed to attack them.

Although normally the Borg would investigate a destroyed Borg vessel, it is unknown if they did so with this one. Future events suggest Species 6339 were not successful in re-introducing the virus into the Borg Collective . ( VOY : " Infinite Regress ")

Between stardates 52542.3 and 52619.2 a Borg probe in the Delta Quadrant detected the Intrepid -class Voyager in Unimatrix 424, Grid 116. The Borg informed them of their imminent assimilation and although Voyager could match their firepower, the Borg attacked. During this skirmish the Borg's primary shield matrix went off line and a photon torpedo was beamed on board. Although a drone tried to disarm it, the torpedo detonated. Because the detonation took place near their power matrix , it caused a chain reaction which destroyed the entire ship, killing everyone on board. Unknown to the Borg, Voyager salvaged eight kilotons of debris in search for components they could use. Although Voyager 's crew found a transwarp coil , it was of no use to them because it was damaged beyond repair. They did find data nodes , one of them containing tactical data and Borg ship movements. At this point, they devised a plan to steal a transwarp coil from the Borg.

Eight light years away, a heavily-damaged Borg scout ship, traveling at warp 2, was regenerating after it was hit by an ion storm . This had damaged a great deal of the ship and shields, weapons systems and transwarp drive were off line. Three days later the Borg vessel was joined by Voyager , who had masked their warp signature to prevent detection by the Borg.

Although Voyager tried to hide, they were detected. The Borg contacted Seven of Nine via her neural transceiver and she was told the Borg knew about Voyager 's plans to infiltrate the Borg sphere. They threatened to destroy Voyager if Seven did not return to the Borg Collective . The Borg found Seven unique and wanted her back.

At 0600 hours, the sphere detected a vessel, a Federation shuttle , and tractored it into a docking port along the central radius for assimilation. When they dropped their shields an away team from Voyager beamed over to the Borg sphere. Unknown to the away team Seven of Nine was contacted while they were en route to the transwarp coil.

An explosion in one of the corridors brought the sphere defensive shield down and one of their transwarp coils was transported to Voyager . While the away team fled to their assembly point Seven of Nine remained behind. At the same time the sphere charged its weapons and altered course for Voyager . Although Janeway tried to convince Seven to go back she had no choice other to leave her when a force field was erected between them.

The Borg Queen in 2375

When the away team left, the Borg sphere opened a transwarp conduit and traveled to the Unicomplex. There, Seven of Nine, escorted by two drones, was welcomed home by the Borg Queen.

The Queen explained to Seven that her escape from the Collective was not really an escape but that she was allowed to leave. In fact she was the only drone ever to leave the Collective. Her experiences on Voyager would add to the Borg perfection and she was told to regenerate in an alcove, to order her thoughts. When Seven's regeneration cycle ended the Borg had enhanced her visual cortex and added a neural processor adjunct, designed to increase her synaptic efficiency. Her memory was also assimilated by the Borg. The Borg did not want another drone , but instead wanted the individual Seven of Nine for the sole purpose of assimilating Humanity. The Borg failed the first time and with the help of Seven of Nine's human perspective they hoped to assimilate the Humans definitively.

The Borg forced Seven of Nine to help assimilate Species 10026 , all 392,000 of them, just to remind her what it was to be Borg. Upon arrival at their homeworld the Borg were attacked by them. Although the Borg had already assessed the strength and weaknesses of species 10026 the Borg Queen was willing to destroy the ship they were on simply to coerce Seven to come up with a solution. After the shield geometry was altered their ships were no longer a threat to the Borg. Because of Seven's hesitation to monitor the assimilation process in the primary assimilation chamber she was assigned to help with repairs on the shield matrix .

While en route, Seven was injured, but two Borg drones healed her wounds. She even stopped someone who tried to avoid assimilation. Afterward she managed to beam several members of species 10026 to a damaged vessel . Seven was told by the Queen that species 10026 was already enhancing the Borg perfection but she detected the refugees Seven beamed onto the ship. The Queen used this moment to force Seven to abandon her Human sentiments, such as compassion and guilt, about the destruction of a species. To make clear that they were one. To Seven's surprise the Queen let the vessel go. When Seven asked her if she thought compassion was irrelevant the Queen did not answer.

Unknown to the Borg, Voyager had devised a plan to rescue Seven of Nine.

Seven of Nine was given the task to program nanoprobes for a new mode of assimilation, via a biogenic weapon detonated in a planet's atmosphere , which would release nanoprobe viruses causing a gradual assimilation of the target species. This weapon was meant for highly-resistant species. Because the species in question was Species 5618 , Humanity, Seven refused to cooperate. Even a threat to turn her into a drone could not persuade her. When Seven accused the Borg of murdering her family the Queen denied, stating they were given perfection. She then made a drone step forward, Seven of Nine's father, Magnus Hansen.

At that time Seven's interplexing beacon received a message from Captain Janeway telling her that they were on the way to rescue her. Because Seven was linked to the Borg Collective the Queen also knew they were coming.

The Borg found Janeway's shuttle within a few moments. They used technology the Hansens developed and the Borg assimilated: multi-adaptive shielding. Although the Borg had detected the vessel, with three lifeforms and a hologram on board, the Borg Queen tried to persuade Seven to rescue them. Unknown to the Borg, Tuvok and Captain Janeway had entered the unicomplex and were on their way to the Queen's chambers. When the Borg finally tracked the Federation shuttle and locked a tractor beam on it Seven tried to attack the Borg Queen but was stopped by her. At that moment Captain Janeway walked in and threatened to destroy the Queens chambers if she did not let Seven of Nine go, willing to die herself. After the Queen ordered drones to assimilate them Seven told Janeway to destroy the power node above the Queen's alcove. This would disrupt her command interface. After this the shuttle Delta Flyer was able to beam them out of the unicomplex.

Several Borg cubes pursued the fleeing shuttle. When it opened a transwarp conduit a Borg Queen's ship followed them in. The Borg vessel gained on them while it fired at their engines. When the shuttle entered normal space Chakotay ordered a full spread of photon torpedoes to collapse the transwarp exit aperture . The Borg Queen's vessel was destroyed by the collapse of the aperture.

Voyager managed to get twenty thousand light years, a good fifteen years closer to the Alpha Quadrant, out of the Borg transwarp coil before it failed, as was noted in the captain's log on stardate 52619.2. ( VOY : " Dark Frontier ")

The Borg attacked the Brunali homeworld for the third time. ( VOY : " Child's Play ")

By 2376 , after Seven of Nine had been rescued from the Borg Collective, the other drones escaped from the Borg and had their implants removed on Inavar Prime . The drones went in search for Seven of Nine to break the link which held their Collective intact. Although the link was finally severed, they only had a month to live due to the extensive integration of the link. ( VOY : " Survival Instinct ")

In that year a Borg sphere detected a 9.8 warp signature strong enough to penetrate subspace . The location of this signature was the Brunali homeworld, less than a light year from a transwarp aperture. When the sphere exited the aperture it detected a Brunali transport vessel and the USS Voyager .

The Borg locked a tractor beam on both ships and informed the occupants of their upcoming fate: being assimilated by the Borg. Although Voyager fired her phasers the Borg vessel kept both ships locked.

When the Brunali transport vessel was tractored inside the Borg sphere it exploded, causing severe damage to the sphere. This gave Voyager the opportunity to escape. Unknown to the Borg, Voyager had beamed a photon torpedo on board the vessel set to detonate when it was inside the Borg sphere. ( VOY : " Child's Play ")

Unimatrix Zero

In 2377 , the Borg became aware of Unimatrix Zero when its interlink frequency and carrier band were found by the Borg Queen herself.

Unimatrix Zero was a virtual construct made by Borg drones with a genetic mutation. The Borg perceived this mutation as an illness and wanted to eradicate it. To protect themselves the Unimatrix Borg devised a nanovirus which would make them undetectable by the Borg Collective but they were unable to introduce the virus into the Collective. So they contacted the former drone Seven of Nine for help. Together with the crew of USS Voyager the nanovirus was improved so they would be aware of Unimatrix Zero after leaving it.

In an effort to destroy it the Borg Queen sent drones into Unimatrix Zero, and even visited it herself. When she became aware of Captain Janeway's plans she tried to tempt her by sending Voyager directly to Earth, as long as she would not interfere between the Borg and Unimatrix Zero. Janeway refused.

The central plexus of a Borg cube was infiltrated by a Voyager away team, whose members were assimilated by the Borg but retained their individuality because The Doctor had prevented the link with the hive mind. After they released the nanovirus the Borg started to lose contact with drones. The Borg captured Captain Janeway, now a Borg drone, and she was interrogated by the Borg Queen to give her an antidote. The Queen even destroyed some cubes on which she could no longer hear a few drones to persuade her.

The destruction of Unimatrix Zero

Although the Borg could not stop the nanovirus they managed to alter it. The virus would also stop a drone's autonomic functions, making it die within minutes. The Borg Queen gave Janeway an option: make the drones return to the Collective or let them die. Although Janeway ordered her first officer that Unimatrix Zero could no longer exist the Queen was fooled. It was an order to destroy Unimatrix Zero.

The Borg already lost control over a Borg sphere which was now under the command of Korok , a Klingon Borg drone and former occupant of Unimatrix Zero. Together with Voyager the Sphere destroyed Unimatrix Zero by interrupting the interlink frequency via their modified deflectors .

This action caused the Borg to lose control over several vessels in the Delta and Beta Quadrants . One of those ships was a Borg scout vessel at the edge of the Beta Quadrant. The Unimatrix Zero drones would make up a resistance movement under the same name. ( VOY : " Unimatrix Zero ", " Unimatrix Zero, Part II ")

A transwarp hub

In 2378 , a Borg cube almost collided with the Voyager when it left a nebula , located in Spatial Grid 986 , within the Delta Quadrant. Although the Borg noticed the Federation vessel, they did not pursue it. Voyager immediately left the nebula upon this encounter.

Some time later, the Borg Queen monitored a viewscreen conversation between Captain Janeway and an Admiral Janeway, who had entered the Delta Quadrant via a temporal rift . She had traveled back in time to bring the crew of Voyager home.

The Borg Queen contacted Seven of Nine when she entered her alcove to regenerate and mentioned the visitor from the future, Admiral Janeway. She knew Voyager was about to return to the nebula and wanted to know why. The Queen warned Seven that if Voyager would enter the nebula they would be assimilated.

Despite this warning the Borg found Voyager entering the nebula again and they sent three Borg cubes to intercept. Although the Borg fired their weapons, and even tried locking their tractor beam , Voyager kept moving on, unhindered. It seemed they were protected by some sort of new armor . While the Borg tried to adapt, the lead cube was fired upon by Voyager with two transphasic torpedoes . The cube exploded almost immediately. The Borg called off the attack on Voyager when the second cube was destroyed. When Voyager reached the center of the nebula they discovered a transwarp hub. At this point the Borg noticed that Voyager turned around and left the nebula. Unknown to the Borg, Voyager 's crew was planning to use and destroy the transwarp hub.

A future Kathryn Janeway with the Borg Queen

Several cubes scanned Admiral Janeway's shuttle when she entered the nebula and used the transwarp hub, but the Borg did not intervene. In the Unicomplex, the Borg Queen was visited by the future Admiral Janeway, who was connected to the hive mind via a synaptic interface . The Queen was told by Admiral Janeway that Captain Janeway was determined to destroy the transwarp hub. Admiral Janeway was willing to help the Borg if a cube would tractor Voyager and transport it back to the Alpha Quadrant. The Borg Queen appreciated that Admiral Janeway wanted to protect the Voyager collective but she wanted her shuttle and its database in return. The admiral's former offer, how to adapt to their torpedoes, was found insufficient. The Queen didn't trust Admiral Janeway because she had already lied to Captain Janeway. Meanwhile, the Borg had found Janeway's position and beamed her into the Queen's chambers.

The Borg Queen congratulated her with hiding right on the Borg's doorstep. When she asked Janeway if she planned to attack the Borg from inside the Unicomplex Janeway didn't answer. A few seconds later the Borg Queen assimilated Admiral Janeway.

The Borg detected that Voyager had entered aperture 823, transwarp corridor 09 of the transwarp hub. When vessels were redirected to intercept, the Borg Queen shook and parts of her chamber started to explode. It turned out the Borg were infected with a neurolytic pathogen , which was carried by Admiral Janeway and designed to disrupt the Hive mind, to bring chaos to order. This infection also caused the destabilization of the force fields surrounding the transwarp conduits, making it possible for Voyager to destroy the transwarp hub.

While the Queen detached an arm from her body, the pathogen started to affect her, she managed to send a Borg sphere after Voyager . After this, the Queen lost a leg and fell to the floor. She told the partially assimilated Admiral Janeway that Captain Janeway would die, that way the admiral's actions would not happen as she would not exist at all. After this her cybernetic parts detached from her organic part and the Queen died, causing a cascade effect throughout the Unicomplex which started to explode.

The Sphere sent after Voyager managed to attack the ship. Moments before Voyager 's shields and armor went down, she turned around and entered the sphere itself. When the Borg sphere left the transwarp conduit in the Alpha Quadrant, it was met by a fleet of Starfleet ships. Although it was fired upon, it was not damaged, but suddenly exploded. Voyager emerged from its wreckage. After Captain Janeway made her excuse about their surprise entry, they were welcomed home by Admiral Paris . ( VOY : " Endgame ")

Admiral Janeway's pathogen proved to be devastating to the Borg, decimating the Collective and bringing it to the very edge of destruction. As a result, the Borg Queen began focusing on evolution rather than assimilation. ( PIC : " The Last Generation ")

In 2384 , a Borg cube rendered dormant by the neurolytic pathogen was encountered by the USS Protostar . The crew proceeded to venture into the cube in order to access the vinculum to gain information on how to remove a weapon called the living construct from their ship. When the Medusan Zero volunteered to be assimilated to get the information, this act caused the cube and the drones aboard to wake up. The crew barely managed to escape as they helped Zero to break free from the Collective, who then managed to put the Borg back to sleep. ( PRO : " Let Sleeping Borg Lie ")

By the 2380s the Borg had assimilated Sikarians and acquired their spatial trajector technology, which they began integrating into the queencell of Borg cubes. ( PIC : " The Impossible Box ")

At some point the Romulan Imperial scout ship Shaenor and its twenty-six passengers were assimilated by a cube in Romulan space. The cube subsequently suffered a submatrix collapse and was separated from the Collective. The cube was captured by the Romulan Free State and became known as "the Artifact ", site of the Romulan Reclamation Site under the Borg Artifact Research Institute and Borg Reclamation Project . ( PIC : " Remembrance ", " Maps and Legends ", " The End is the Beginning ", " The Impossible Box ")

In 2401 , an atypical Borg Queen reached out to Admiral Jean-Luc Picard seeking membership in the Federation. Much to the Federation's confusion, thus Borg Queen was vastly different to the Queens that had been encountered before and the Collective wasn't nearly as outwardly hostile. However, once aboard the USS Stargazer , the Queen began assimilating the ship and through it, the Stargazer's fleet. In response, Picard activated the ship's auto-destruct , stopping the assimilation. ( PIC : " The Star Gazer ")

After being returned from 2024 to 2401 by Q , Picard stopped the explosion, having deduced that the strange Borg Queen was actually a Queen from an alternate timeline that had merged with Dr. Agnes Jurati in 2024 and had set out to create a kinder Borg Collective, one based on mercy and choice. The Borg had sought out the Federation's help to stop an energy wave that threatened countless lives and by combining the shields of the Federation fleet and the Borg ship, the two former mortal enemies were able to stop it. However, the Borg didn't know the source of the energy wave or the massive transwarp conduit that emerged from it, only that it was a threat to everyone. Picard granted the Borg Queen's request to grant the Borg provisional membership in the Federation so that the Borg could be "the Guardian at the Gates" watching out for whatever this new threat was. ( PIC : " Farewell ")

The Queen, ravaged by the neurolytic pathogen

Later in 2401, while investigating the actions of Vadic and her rogue group of Changelings in their theft of certain items within the Daystrom Institute , Commodore Geordi La Forge, Data and Dr. Beverly Crusher discovered that the transporters on Starfleet ships had been altered to insert Picard's Borg-modified DNA into everyone who used them. This was discovered too late as Jack Crusher , Picard and Crusher's son who was also being chased by Vadic and her group, discovered a Borg cube in Jupiter and confronted the Borg Queen, who convinced him to join her as "Võx" upon revealing his origins. With Jack in her control, the Borg Queen used his powers to assimilate the youth of Starfleet during Frontier Day , taking control of the various Starfleet vessels under the Fleet formation mode protocol. Picard and his team escaped the USS Titan -A at the cost of Captain Liam Shaw 's life with Seven of Nine and Raffaela Musiker staying behind to try and reclaim the ship. Escaping to the Fleet Museum , the group pressed back into service the USS Enterprise -D as it was the only ship not connected to Fleet formation. ( PIC : " Võx ")

The end of the Borg Collective

In an attempt to return to Earth, Borg signals were picked up in Jupiter, leading to the Enterprise to investigate, where they were confronted by the Borg Cube. Picard, Riker and Worf entered the cube with the former intending on rescuing Jack and the latter two intending on passing on the location of the transmitter. In the heart of the cube, Picard confronted the Borg Queen, deformed by the Neurolytic pathogen and revealing that the damage it caused ravaged the Collective down to this single Cube. Terrified and furious, the Borg Queen intended to turn those she assimilated into breeding stock and destroy any and everything that could possibly harm them. Upon revealing where the transmitter was located, Data was able to pilot the Enterprise inside the cube and find it, however, they realized that destroying it would destroy the cube and everyone inside. Reluctantly, they opted to destroy the cube. In a last-minute gamble, Picard hooked himself up to the collective to confront Jack. When Picard revealed that he would stay with him as the cube was destroyed, Jack snapped out of the hold of the Borg and freed himself and Picard. Thanks to Riker's telepathic connection to his wife Deanna Troi , the four were teleported back to the Enterprise and escaped while the Borg cube was destroyed, killing the Borg Queen in the process. Following Crusher's reconfiguration of the transporters to remove the assimilated DNA, the threat of the primary Borg Collective was brought to a final end. ( PIC : " The Last Generation ")

External link [ ]

• Borg history at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

The Borg – history and origins of Star Trek’s most terrifying villain

If you love Star Trek, you're going to want to know all about the history and origins of the Borg as the most fearsome and mysterious villains in the franchise.

James Osborne

Published: Oct 13, 2023

What are the Borg in Star Trek, and what do we know about their mysterious origins and timeline? Let’s get straight into it: there’s a lot to cover.

The Borg are undoubtedly the most terrifying threat faced by Starfleet and The Federation, and they’ve helped to define Star Trek in the cultural consciousness since The Next Generation season 2, which marked their introduction. While they’re best remembered for battling all the best Star Trek characters across the various TV series in the franchise, if you’re rewatching the Star Trek movies in order , you’ll eventually come across them there, too. Their terror isn’t just confined to the best TV series of all time (TNG, in our humble opinion), and their broad history merits some proper investigation. Here’s everything you need to know about the horror of the Borg.

The Borg and their origins in Star Trek explained

The Borg are a cybernetically enhanced collective of various species, all assimilated into a single hive mind.

Other than the Borg Queen (as well as rare exceptions like Hugh and ex-Borg like Seven of Nine), there were no single individuals within the Borg. Instead, much like an ant colony, every Borg drone acted in mindless service of the queen.

Each Borg drone was also enhanced with cybernetic implants replacing limbs and other biological body parts in order to gain a technological advantage over their opponents and give them additional abilities to analyze technology.

The Borg traveled across the galaxy through Transwarp conduits, which connected various regions of space, in their Borg cube starships. A result of millennia of assimilating various technologies from alien races, the Borg cubes were exceptionally powerful vessels that could withstand assaults from multiple Starfleet ships.

The origin of the Borg is mostly vague, remaining one of Star Trek’s greatest mysteries. But here’s what we do know: they emerged from the Delta Quadrant, having evolved over millennia as an organic and biological race that steadily incorporated technology into their being.

We also know their conquest across the galaxy was slow at first but expanded exponentially as their technology improved and as their numbers grew. To be honest, part of the intrigue and allure of the Borg, and what makes them such brilliant villains, is the ambiguity that surrounds them.

Every time some element of them has been explained (and even, arguably, the introduction of the Borg Queen), it de-mystifies them, which makes them just a little less terrifying. So, to us at least, the less we know about the origins of the Borg, the better.

A complete history of the Borg

The history of the Borg as we know it is long and expansive, but here’s what you really need to know.

First of all, the Borg have been involved with Earth for centuries, beginning with the discovery of a destroyed Borg sphere from 2063 in the Arctic Circle. However, it wasn’t until three centuries later that official first contact was made between The Federation and the Borg in episode ‘Q, Who?’.

In the episode, Q set Picard’s USS Enterprise on the path with the Borg as a punishment for Picard’s perceived arrogance in the year 2365, a year after they were believed to have attacked a series of outposts in the Neutral Zone. Since then, the Borg have targeted The Federation in an attempt to assimilate the technological and biological distinctiveness of the interstellar government.

In the year 2366, this culminated in the Battle of Wolf 359 as the Borg attempted to assault Earth, assimilating Picard along the way. In 2373, the Borg traveled back to the year 2063 (leaving behind the sphere in the Arctic Circle) to prevent humanity’s first contact with the Vulcans. They were pursued by the crew of the USS Enterprise-E, who stopped the Borg plan.

There were multiple instances of Borg involvement with Janeway’s USS Voyager in the following years, spurred on by the arrival of Seven of Nine on the ship. In 2378, this came to a head when a version of Janeway from the future traveled back into the past and used future technology to speed up Voyager’s return to Earth, nearly destroying the Borg along the way.

In 2401, the Jurati-Borg reached out to Picard seeking a temporary alliance, and later in the year, the remnants of the main Borg faction attempted to assimilate Starfleet through a new strategy using Picard’s DNA. However, this plot was foiled, and the Borg Queen was finally killed.

Key dates in the history of the Borg:

• 2063 – The Borg arrive in Earth’s past
• 2364 – The Borg destroy outposts along the Neutral Zone
• 2365 – Q instigates the first meeting between Starfleet and the Borg
• 2366 – The Battle of Wolf 359
• 2373 – The Borg travel back to Earth’s past in 2063
• 2378 – Janeway deals a crippling blow to the Borg and brings Voyager back to Earth
• 2401 – The Jurati-Borg seek peace with The Federation, and the last Borg remnant attacks Earth for the final time

Have the Borg ever been defeated in Star Trek?

The Borg have been ‘defeated’ a few times now, but after the end of Picard season 3, we really can now say: yes, the Borg have finally been beaten.

The last vestibule of Borg strength was led by the semi-destroyed Borg Queen, who spent years rejuvenating her strength from inside her giant Borg Cube. She was hidden inside Jupiter while concocting a plan to assimilate Starfleet from the inside, making Earth and The Federation finally susceptible to being conquered. She was destroyed, though, by Picard and the senior staff of the Enterprise-D after Jack Crusher rejoined his father’s side.

However, that doesn’t mean that all Borg have been defeated. Firstly, we have the Agnes Jurati faction of Borg as established in Picard season 2. They still exist, though are a benevolent presence rather than a malicious one. Secondly, we know that there will still be pockets of Borg scattered throughout the galaxy, across each of the quadrants they’ve branched into.

Anything otherwise wouldn’t make sense: they were interconnected, yes, but their reach was so vast that there’s bound to be some remaining scouts and drones spread across the galaxy. Without the Borg queen, though, whether or not they can re-organize themself into a coherent presence and threat remains to be seen.

Certainly, there could be some story left to tell with these scattered individuals, though, even if it isn’t quite the same Borg threat we’ve all gotten used to.

Are the Borg Star Trek’s most important villains?

Since The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 concluded TNG season 3, the Borg have presented the most serious, consistent threat to the Star Trek galaxy, positioning them as the franchise’s most important villains.

They continued to have a presence in TNG, something which would be picked up in the second Picard-led TNG movie, First Contact. Here, they traveled back in time to assimilate Earth in the past, prevent the development of warp technology, and interfere with the first meeting between humans and Vulcans.

The Borg also posed a notable threat in Voyager, menacing the ship as it attempted to escape from the Delta Quadrant. Famously, Janeway formed a pact with the Borg to defeat Species 8472, before ultimately dealing them a devastating blow in the grand finale Endgame.

Still recovering from the combined impact of Janeway and Picard’s actions, the Borg would again return as villains in Star Trek Picard season 3 (and 1 and 2, but let’s just not go there). Now, though, it looks like the Borg’s time as Star Trek’s most important villains could be over after their huge defeat at the end of the season seemed to show them being defeated for good. It could very well be time for new Star Trek villains to arrive.

That’s it on the Borg: for more, see our guide on how to watch the TNG Borg episodes in order if you really want a treat. Or, learn about the Star Trek The Next Generation cast , before checking out the status of Strange New Worlds season 3 and Star Trek Legacy .

You can also see what’s new on Paramount Plus , and swap sci-fi franchises to learn about the upcoming Marvel movie The Marvels .

James Osborne After graduating from the University of York with a degree in archaeology (inspired by Captain Picard), James worked with the news team at Screen Rant while contributing features to Vulture, The AV Club, Digital Spy, FANDOM, and the official Star Trek website. Now, he writes about all things sci-fi and fantasy at The Digital Fix with an 'Enterprise-D ambiance' playlist on loop. He's a seasoned expert on all things Star Trek , Lord of the Rings , Star Wars , and Yellowstone , and is more than willing to share his hot takes on TNG which he believes is the greatest series ever made.

A Complete Timeline of the Borg in Star Trek

The Borg are among Star Trek's most terrifying villains, having assimilated Captain Picard and Seven of Nine, but what is their timeline of events?

Quick Links

The creation of the borg through star trek: enterprise, star trek: the next generation is when starfleet engaged the borg, star trek: voyager traveled through borg space and almost destroyed them, the borg returned in star trek: picard for one last battle.

Throughout the six-decade history of Star Trek , there have been many iconic villains, but perhaps none more so than the Borg. Created by Maurice Hurley, the head writer for Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, the Borg began as an organic species looking attain perfection. They achieved this by merging their organic bodies with cybernetic components. Individuality was erased, creating a hivemind culture of beings that sought only to assimilate more species and their technology in the search for perfection. They are led by a queen, a singular consciousness that can occupy multiple bodies.

The Borg are incredibly powerful and are known to travel via transwarp. They are even capable of time travel, though they don't do it very often. Given all that the Borg have going for them, it's no surprise that they were meant to be the ultimate villains Starfleet could never reason with. Over time, these villains became more complex and some even became Federation allies. Yet, the Borg have a long history in the Star Trek timeline, predating the earliest human space travel.

How Did Star Trek: Enterprise Become a TV Series?

The Borg have existed in their modern form since at least the time of the 15th Century on Earth. During the USS Voyager's travels in the Delta Quadrant, they met members of the Vaduwaur species who had been in stasis for more than 900 years. They had "many encounters" with the Borg who, by this time, had assimilated a few star systems in the Delta Quadrant. However, given the Vaduwaur didn't see them as their worst nemesis, they weren't as advanced as the Borg in the 24th Century.

In 2063, a Borg Sphere emerged from a temporal rift to prevent the Humans from making first contact with the Vulcans. The USS Enterprise-E followed them and destroyed the sphere, though a number of drones beamed aboard their vessel. Captain Picard defeated them, and Zefram Cochrane made his first warp flight . Some 90 years later, in Star Trek: Enterprise , remnants of the sphere were found in the North Pole. A handful of drones were revived and escaped in a space vessel. They were pursued and destroyed by the NX-01 Enterprise, but not before sending a message about Earth's location to the collective in the Delta Quadrant.

10 Star Trek Time Travel Stories That Changed Canon

The El-Aurian Guinan was saved by the USS Enterprise-B in 2293, along with fellow survivors of her people. Her planet had been assimilated by the Borg, and this was when Starfleet learned the species' name. Erin and Magnus Hansen, tried to study them in the late 2340s before they and their daughter Annika, Seven of Nine, were assimilated. In The Next Generation Season 2's "Q Who," the omnipotent being sent the USS Enterprise-D thousands of lightyears away from Federation space where it encountered a Borg Cube. They were only concerned about technology at the time, but this meeting led them to Federation space.

One year later, in 2366, the Borg sent a single cube to assimilate Earth. They captured Captain Jean-Luc Picard and assimilated him, giving him the name "Locutus." He was meant to demoralized Starfleet to prevent humans and the rest of the Federation from fighting back. He was freed of their control, but not before the Battle of Wolf 359 which destroyed 39 ships and killed 11,000 people. Among those were the wife of Commander Benjamin Sisko and the crew of the USS Constance of which Captain Liam Shaw was one of ten survivors. Commander Data briefly connected himself to the collective, ordering the Borg drones to enter regeneration and initiating the self-destruct sequence.

In 2368, the USS Enterprise-D encountered the Borg again, discovering a crashed scout ship. The drone Third of Five survived . Picard wanted to use the drone to implant a deadly virus into the collective. However, separated from the collective, the drone became an individual named "Hugh." He was returned unchanged to the collective, though Hugh's individuality caused a meltdown in the collective. A year later, Data's brother Lore found the cube and became their leader. He tried to replace their organic minds with positronic brains like his. The rogue Borg eventually overthrew him with help from the Enterprise. Five years later, another Borg cube was sent to Earth and was eventually destroyed, but not before sending the Sphere holding the Queen back to 2063.

How Did Star Trek: Voyager Become a TV Series?

In 2373, the USS Voyager entered Borg space on their journey home from the Delta Quadrant. At the same time, the Borg tried to assimilate Species 8472, which hailed from a dimension of "fluidic space." The assimilation didn't work and war broke out. Because 8472 was so hostile, Captain Janeway was able to enter into an alliance with the Borg to help defeat them, specifically with the help of the ship's holographic Doctor. The Borg betrayed them, which Janeway anticipated. The drone Seven of Nine was freed from the collective and became a member of the crew. Though she wished to rejoin the collective and tried to do so twice, she eventually chose to stay with Voyager .

In 2375, a transporter accident involving the Doctor's mobile emitter (based on 29th Century technology) and Seven of Nine's Borg nanoprobes. A drone was "grown" in the tank and designated One. The Borg tried to assimilate him and he willingly ended his own life. Later that year, the USS Voyager salvaged a transwarp coil from a destroyed Borg vessel. This led the Borg to enact a trap meant to bring Seven of Nine back into the collective as a replacement for Locutus. Janeway and the crew rescued her. A year later, while trading with the Brunali, Voyager was attacked by Borg vessel. However, they hid a photon torpedo in a captured Brunali vessel that destroyed the Borg ship, allowing Voyager to escape.

In 2377, Seven of Nine was reunited with other Borg in "Unimatrix Zero," a digital plane where drones retained their individuality. Captain Janeway used this opportunity to plan an attack on the collective and start a resistance movement. Captured by the Borg, many of Voyager's crew were assimilated. Thanks to the Doctor, they retained their individuality freeing thousands of drones and starting a Borg civil war. In 2378, a time-traveling Admiral Janeway showed up on Voyager with a plan to get the ship home. The plan succeeded, but the Admiral was assimilated. She carried a virus that decimated the collective to nearly the point of destruction. Five years after the return of the USS Voyager, the rag-tag crew of the USS Protostar found a Borg Cube, but they let sleeping Borg lie .

The Picard Blu-ray Underscores Why Each Season Needed the Borg

A Borg Cube that assimilated a Romulan vessel suffered a submatrix collapse, and it was captured by the Romulan Star Empire. In 2399, the ex-Borg Hugh led the Borg Reclamation Project on a ship dubbed "the Artifact." To stop a plan by a cult of anti-synthetic Romulans in the Tal Shiar, Seven of Nine created her own mini-collective and led the Artifact to crash on a planet populated by synthetics. It's presumed the surviving xBs (as they were called) joined the society on that planet. Hugh, however, was killed in the attempt.

In 2401, a Borg vessel of unknown origin appeared and asked to speak with Admiral Jen-Luc Picard. The Queen of this collective was Agnes Jurati, who was assimilated by the Borg Queen of an alternate timeline who took Picard and his allies into the past to save the future they knew. Jurati convinced the Queen to create a new kind of collective in which individuality was maintained and assimilation was voluntary. This new collective applied for provisional Federation membership to stand guard at a rift in space through which a still-unknown threat would emerge.

Also that year, the near-dying Borg Queen allied with Changeling terrorists angry with the Federation after the Dominion War. They infiltrated Starfleet, adding a DNA sequence to Starfleet transporters that would assimilate anyone under the age of 25 once they received a coded message. That message was sent by Jack Crusher , the son of Picard and Dr. Beverly Crusher. He was assimilated by the dying Borg Queen and named Võx. New technology added to modern Starfleet vessels allowed these new Borg to assimilate the ships in moments. Using a rebuilt USS Enterprise-D, the command crew of that vessel saved Jack and destroyed the remaining Borg, seemingly defeating them once and for all.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

Star Trek: What Are The Origins of the Borg?

What is the mysterious backstory of the Borg, and what made them the nefarious villains they are?

Wild and wonderful creations have stemmed from the Star Trek franchise over the years, from the plethora of real world influencing technology , to a rich and diverse socio-political infrastructure. However, some of the most interesting aspects of this world's stories are the villains. These are often not the run-of-the-mill villains; rather, they are rich and complex cultures or beings that have relatable backstories, from the memorable Khan to Dul Dukat. They are not just evil, but rather warped and transformed through years of pain or necessity. The Klingons, the villains of the Original Series, are prime examples of this. They began as wild, animal-like antagonists, only to later join the Federation and become not just understandable and relatable, but creating one of the most beloved characters in the entire franchise: Worf. One of the biggest villains however, the Borg, is shrouded in a thick veil of mystery, their origins never fully explored.

This enigma of where they came from makes them all the more scary. Up until the questionable introduction of the powerful Borg queen in Star Trek: First Contact, they appeared to be akin to a computer virus. They were not necessarily good or bad; they just followed the most logical route to achieve perfection, without fully understanding the consequences of their actions. The queen and her distinctiveness skewed this slightly, giving them a much more nefarious persona. Regardless of whether this was a good choice or not, they still never, despite the film featuring them as the main antagonists, fully fleshed out their origin story.

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Not only does the film not do this, but there is very little information to be found within canon. The biggest answers come from outside the official universe, usually from the books. Specifically, the Destiny trilogy of books by David Mack opens up an entirely new and exciting series of post- Nemesis storytelling. There is a lot of content and buildup to the Borg origin story , spanning books such as R esistance, Before Dishonor, and Greater Than the Sun. However, it pretty much starts with the Starfleet ship the Columbia being attacked by Romulans. The ship is heavily damaged, with their warp drive and long range communications offline, with no method of repair. Desperate, they crawl their way to a nearby star system and are greeted by a race of beings called the Caeliar.

The Caeliar are a reclusive race of highly advanced beings, who are suggested heavily to be some of the first sentient beings into the galaxy. They surpass anything the Federation has ever experienced before. Each and every member of their society is effectively immortal, having altered their biology to the point where their bodies are made out of something called catoms. The catoms are a form of programmable matter, similar to nanotechnology but far more advanced. This tech allows each member of their race to join together in an advanced hive mind, but one where they are still able to keep their own individual consciousness. They do this not only to power themselves and keep their bodies from deteriorating, but they have also found a way to harness omega particles, the very same particles the Borg are repeatedly obsessed with obtaining — a little foreshadowing going on here.

A lot more happens in the book, but the next most notable event is the accidental supernova of their home star. The city quickly evacuates, beginning calculations to escape using subspace corridors, as these beings have evolved far past the need for primitive warp drives . The Caeliar, being the good people they were, considered the safety of the crew of the Columbia to be paramount, and thus sent the ships containing the Starfleet officers first. In their rush to save them, however, they did this before the calculations were complete, and the ships were scattered across various different points in space and time. One of these ships, heavily damaged by the subspace corridor, crash-landed on a planet in the Delta quadrant, a few thousand years earlier.

Most perished during the crash, with only a few Caeliar and Starfleet officers surviving. The Caeliar found themselves in a tricky situation. Unable to generate the omega particles that powered the catoms they were made of, it would only be a matter of time until they died. Taking it in turns, one Caeliar after the other chooses to sacrifice themselves to give the remaining Caeliar an influx of catoms, until eventually there remained just one. Damaged and on the brink of death, the last of them became desperate, and approached the three surviving Starfleet crew members to broker a deal. She proposed that they merge together, harnessing their biological processes in order to power her catoms, and in return she would share all the knowledge she had, joining together as one hive mind. The officers refused, but in a desperate act of someone on the brink of death, she overpowered them. Thus, the first three Borg drones were formed.

Upon merging together, and forming the first stages of a primitive Borg collective, she does what the Borg do best and evaluates the minds of those she has assimilated . She decides that the scientist and engineer are the most useful to her, and that the poor tactical officer is expendable. She then orders her two drones to kill and consume their once friend in order for them to survive, and continue powering her catoms. They eventually come across others, natives to the planet, and assimilate them too, the first of many species to become victims of the Borg.

While this is all unofficial backstory for the Borg, it’s the best that can be provided with the little information audiences get through the main series of TV shows and movies. It seems that writers are afraid of giving the Borg any official origin story, fearful that anything they write might tarnish or take away from the fantastic villain they have in front of them. The mystery of the Borg is something that can be seemingly mined forever, as even the first and second seasons of Picard show . This said, the story given to readers by David Mack does justice to the Borg. It shows almost heartbreakingly how such an advanced civilization of morally good people can be broken, through fear as desperation, into becoming some of the most feared beings in science fiction history.

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'Star Trek: Picard’: The Borg Storyline So Far, Explained

"Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated."

“When it comes to seeing Picard again, the first things that come to mind are Data and the Borg.”

That’s what Star Trek: Picard Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman recently told THR about how they approached bringing back Patrick Stewart ’s most iconic character -- along with one of Star Trek ’s most popular villains. Both Data and the Borg play key roles in Picard ’s unfolding mythology, which finds Picard’s deceased friend and his most lethal enemy looming large over an intricate plot that involves a massacre on Mars where androids helped kill thousands of Romulan refugees, resulting in a Federation-wide ban on androids (AKA synthetics). Complicating matters is the reveal of a derelict Borg cube that plays home base to both what’s left of the Romulan Empire and several inactive Borg drones.

The latest episode of Picard , “The Impossible Box,” reveals more about the role that the race of cybernetic beings hellbent on assimilating various cultures into their hive-mind collective plays in Picard’s return to television after a 26-year absence. Here’s what the “Resistance is futile” baddies are up to, and how they got there:

The Borg Are Back...ish

The Borg have been a considerable thorn in both Picard and the Federation’s side since the captain and crew of the Enterprise-D first encountered them in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Two episode, “Q Who?” Their cold, unrelenting mission to assimilate entire alien races and worlds, in an effort to add their victims’ biological and technological distinctiveness to their own, reached a boiling point when they kidnapped and assimilated Picard 30 years ago, in the Season Three TNG cliffhanger “The Best of Both Worlds, Part I.” There, Picard was turned into Locutus, whose role in the collective was to act as a voice and figurehead to oversee the Borg’s assimilation of Earth. Thankfully, that plot to turn humanity into drones failed -- as did their second attempt in the 1996 feature film Star Trek: First Contact .

But the emotional scars from Picard’s brief experience as a member of a race using him to kill his own species took longer to heal than the physical ones. In fact, Picard recently revealed in its fifth episode, “Stardust City Rag” that Picard has yet to feel like he has regained all the humanity the Borg took from him 30 years ago. Ironically, that which he has lost is something the Romulans are helping ex-drones (“Ex-B’s”) get back on the Borg cube they have acquired, which the Romulans call the Artifact.

It’s there that Picard is forced to come to terms with his trauma, and those who inflicted it upon him, by stepping onto a Borg cube for the first time in three decades. There, he not only reopens old wounds for himself, but also discovers a sense of hope in a place that's home to those driven to take it away.

Welcome to the Borg Reclamation Project

Sometime after the loss of their homeworld and the explosive (and fatal) end to Picard’s efforts to relocate the Romulans to a new home, the Federation’s oldest enemy laid claim to a damaged Borg cube. They renamed it “The Artifact” and began working on salvaging Borg tech from inactive drones, as well as “rehab-ing” former drones of various races back to a way less “assimilate everything” existence with the Borg Reclamation Project.

The Executive Director of the project is a former drone himself -- Hugh ( Jonathan Del Arco ). Picard helped free Hugh from the Borg when he was the drone designated Third of Five in the classic TNG season five episode, “I, Borg.”

At first, Picard plotted to use Hugh as a “Trojan Horse” and deliver a virus that would break down and destroy the Borg’s hive mind. As more of Picard’s crew members got to know Hugh, and see his humanity come through, Picard had a change of heart and let Hugh go. They would reunite later in the Season Seven premiere of Next Gen , “Descent, Part II.” “Impossible Box” reunites Picard and Hugh for the first time in over 25 years, and in doing so, we learn that the Borg are able to be rehabilitated. There is hope for their victims as they attempt to re-enter their lives, which sparks Picard to challenge his inner (and justified) prejudices against the alien race that still haunts him after all these years.

Helping Hugh and his efforts is Soji, played by Isa Briones . Soji recently lost her twin sister, Dahj, at the hands of Romulan operatives wanting to destroy her because she is an advanced android; a perfect mix of biological elements and Data’s positronic components. Soji is also an advanced “Synth,” but only recently discovered that about herself. Given that the Romulans hate androids, Picard came to the Artifact to protect her, since she is in the crosshairs of a Romulan spy named Narek. He is using her, and the Borg Reclamation Project, for less than altruistic reasons.

Why? Because the Romulans only have two speeds: Shady and super shady. Their hate for androids and any synthetic life is long-standing; there are no androids in their culture. (So it’s especially ironic that they would make their base aboard a ship full of that which they loathe.) Narek and other Romulans--conspiring with Federation brass as well--believe the Borg’s collective consciousness, along with Soji’s brain, can help them locate the secret Synth homeworld and wipe out the Synths that are still alive after the Federation ban.

Through Hugh and Soji’s efforts, we learn something new about the Borg: The Collective is like the iCloud for this race of interconnected beings. From the moment aliens or humans are assimilated into it, they join a chorus of thousands in service of the hive mind. Once disconnected from the collective, like Hugh was, they are free of those voices. But Picard tells us that what is never silent are the echoes or imprints that individual drones take with them. This mess of overlapping voices, speaking as one mind, operates in a “Time is a flat circle” sorta way.

For example: “The Impossible Box” puts Picard and Hugh in “The Queen’s Cell,” a room they have never seen or been in but know of, like it’s been there all this time. It is the private chambers of the Borg Queen, last seen trying to destroy Captain Janeway and her crew aboard the lost starship Voyager as they warped to get back home in the Star Trek: Voyager series finale, “Endgame.” It’s in this room that Hugh introduces Picard to an advanced tech belonging to a race Janeway encountered in the first season of Voyager . This tech allows for long-distance transportation with a range of up to 40,000 lightyears. The reason for this tech was to spirit the Queen away in case of an emergency, and the episode all but implies that the Queen survived her explosive demise at the end of “Endgame.”

Hugh and Soji have also discovered that the collective share a common narrative full of archetypal information from past experiences but it is just as relevant and timely to them as present day news is to humans. What exactly Hugh and the Romulans want with this info is unclear, but all signs point to it paving the way to more mysteries being uncovered about Soji, her ties to the rogue synthetics the Romulans are hunting, and the future of the Borg.

Given that the Borg have been a cancer for Stafleet for over 30 years, it is safe to assume that, whatever happens next for Star Trek: Picard, this aspect of Picard’s past will play a significant role in shaping his future.

Fictional faction in Star Trek / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Summarize this article for a 10 year old

The Borg are an alien group that appear as recurring antagonists in the Star Trek fictional universe. The Borg are cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) linked in a hive mind called "The Collective." The Borg co-opt the technology and knowledge of other alien species to the Collective through the process of " assimilation ": forcibly transforming individual beings into "drones" by injecting nanoprobes into their bodies and surgically augmenting them with cybernetic components. The Borg's ultimate goal is "achieving perfection." [1] [2]

Aside from being recurring antagonists in the Next Generation television series, they are depicted as the main threat in the film Star Trek: First Contact . In addition, they played major roles in the Voyager and Picard series.

The Borg have become a symbol in popular culture for any juggernaut against which "resistance is futile," a common phrase uttered by the Borg.

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Published Apr 24, 2017

Star Trek 101: The Borg

Star Trek 101, StarTrek.com 's newest regular column, serves two functions: succinctly introduce Star Trek newcomers to the basic foundations and elements of the franchise and refresh the memories of longtime Trek fans. We're pulling our entries from the book Star Trek 101: A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where, And Why , written by Terry J. Erdmann & Paula M. Block and published in 2008 by Pocket Books. An invaluable resource, it encompasses The Original Series , The Animated Series , The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , Voyager and Enterprise , as well as the first 10 Trek feature films. Today, we learn about the Borg...

The Borg collective is an amalgamated group of many subjugated races: human, Klingon, Vulcan – you name it. The Collective assimilates every sentient being it encounters, improving the individual by removing “imperfect” organic body parts and replacing them with technologically superior artificial ones – such as eyes that emit laser beams and hands that double as buzz saws.

What the Collective lacks in free will, it makes up for in wholehearted dedication. All members dress the same (basic black, with complementary circuitry and tubing)., act the same (zombie-like), and spout the same party line: “You will be assimilated” and “Resistance is futile.”

Their most common form of transportation is the gigantic and deadly Borg cube, armed with powerful energy weapons and capable of self-repairing damage almost immediately.

Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann are coauthors of numerous books about the entertainment industry, including Star Trek 101; Star Trek Costumes: Fifty Years of Fashion from the Final Frontier; Star Trek: The Original Series 365; and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion . They currently are writing the latest in their series of Ferengi novellas, which (so far) includes Lust’s Latinum Lost (and Found); and Rules of Accusation . Their most recent non- Star Trek book is Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History.

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Star Trek: Discovery needs to make its Borg connection canon

Its revised origin story would hugely improve both the borg and the show.

By Swapna Krishna

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Spoiler warning: major plot reveals from season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery ahead.

While the Klingon War and the Mirror Universe dominated Star Trek: Discovery ’s first season, the second season — which concluded on April 18th — set off on a different path. The Federation starship Discovery spent the season tracking seven mysterious red signals, each of which led toward some greater purpose. A powerful being the protagonists dubbed the Red Angel also appeared alongside these signals, but its nature and its intentions were unclear. So much was unknown, but it was clear the Angel had a mission.

As the season progressed, Discovery learned new tidbits about the Red Angel. The ship’s crew joined forces with Section 31, the covert arm of Starfleet, to unmask the truth behind the signals. Along the way, the crew learned the nature of the Red Angel. But it wasn’t until protagonist Michael Burnham found her brother, Star Trek series stalwart Spock, that the season’s real threat became clear. The Red Angel was trying to stop a devastating future that would see the end of all organic sentient life. The real enemy was the head of Section 31, an AI called Control.

The Discovery writers have threaded many hints and fostered quite a bit of speculation on what Control might be — or specifically what it might become. It seemed as though   Discovery was giving us the origin story of the Borg through this story of a rogue AI. Through post-season interviews, writers and producers have said this isn’t their intention . (Though this may be a smoke screen. Remember when executive producer Akiva Goldsman definitively told us Spock would not be appearing on Discovery ?)

However, even if it wasn’t planned, this is a golden opportunity to rewrite the Borg’s history in a more relevant, satisfying way. The writers have already laid the groundwork by drawing on the Borg’s tropes and characteristics. Filling in the rest of the blanks would give Discovery a chance to leave a lasting impact on Star Trek canon — and would make the Borg more resonant as a story tool.

A new, more specific Borg origin story would highlight the conflict at the crux of the entire Star Trek franchise: the fight between our principles, our best selves, and the hubris of humanity’s darker side, which is what created Control in the first place. Like all Star Trek crews, Discovery ’s characters are standing up to fight against the results of humanity’s worst insecurities, and the possible Borg connection is a major part of that narrative. Discovery won the battle in season 2, but the war against human nature can never be won, and it’s a source of endlessly relatable, relevant conflict for Trek shows in particular.

For those familiar with the Borg’s history, it’s easy to notice the similarities between Control and the Borg. The Borg are a collective machine intelligence that assimilate organic life to add to their knowledge. The organism / machine hybrids are called “drones,” and when sentient people become drones, their individual will is completely overwhelmed by the collective mind. The sheer numbers of the Borg, and their ability to adapt to any weapons or ploys used against them, make them terrifying villains. The Federation has been able to thwart them thus far, in the series The Next Generation and Voyager , and the movie First Contact . But its victories have often been due to ingenuity, skill, and sheer luck.

There are just too many links between Control and the Borg to be a coincidence. Control was originally a threat-assessment system housed at Section 31 headquarters. Starfleet admirals relied on it to make decisions during the Klingon War. After the war was over, Section 31 began accelerating development of the artificial intelligence so it could prevent future wars.

Naturally, giving an unshackled AI that much power backfired. Control began to seek out greater control over its human creators, and greater sources of knowledge to fulfill its mission. It set its sights on Discovery because the ship now holds a vast amount of data collected from a dying alien sphere that spent 100,000 years roaming the galaxy, collecting information. With the history stored in Discovery’s data banks, Control could achieve sentience.

This event was what the Red Angel, traveling back from the future, sought to prevent. If Control acquired that vast knowledge, it would eventually decide that all organic sentient life in the galaxy was a threat and wipe it out.

The bulk of the second half of the season was focused on keeping this data from the artificial intelligence. Control became increasingly desperate to acquire it. To achieve its goals, the AI assimilated Captain Leland, the head of the Section 31 ship assigned to the Discovery, in a scene hauntingly reminiscent of Captain Picard’s transformation to Locutus of Borg on Next Generation . The effect of Control’s takeover of Leland, seen in an unguarded moment, looks eerily familiar to longtime Star Trek fans.

The language Control uses is also familiar. At one point the AI, in a holographic Leland shell, says “Struggle is pointless,” a cousin to the Borg catchphrase “Resistance is futile.” The Discovery crew also references nanobots and drones that Control employs to force machines and creatures to do its bidding.

According to the movie Star Trek: First Contact , the Borg evolved on a distant planet, presumably in the Delta Quadrant, which is the center of their collective. But Discovery ’s new origin story is the one that should be canon. Through the second-season finale, the writers neatly addressed all the criticisms that the show doesn’t respect canon; it’s been virtually erased from its original timeline, thanks to Starfleet’s orders to erase all records of the ship and its crew from data banks. But allowing Star Trek: Discovery to rewrite the Borg origin story will give the show a lasting impact on the franchise, and a clearer reason to exist — a significant stake in the larger Trek narrative.

At the end of the season, Control has about half the sphere data. The rest is safe, as Discovery shepherds it into season 3. That might be enough to avoid or at least slow the devastation the Red Angel is trying to prevent, to stop Control from evolving into a sentient intelligence intent on genocide. Perhaps it just means Control will instead evolve into an AI that wants to use organic life to further its own purposes, instead of destroying it altogether. The Borg’s origins are vague; it would be easy enough, after the events of the end of season 2, for whatever is left of Control to retreat and evolve in a different way.

Either way, it’s naïve to assume that the epic battle that closed out Discovery season 2 was the end of Control, even if Starfleet is claiming it was. The computer program housed itself inside Section 31 headquarters, Airiam (the augmented human officer aboard Discovery), Discovery’s own computer systems, a Discovery probe, and every Section 31 ship it could find. Of course, there are pieces of it that weren’t destroyed. Control will be able to rebuild itself. Perhaps it will flee to the Delta Quadrant to do so.

It’s not just that this new origin story makes sense, given the clues Discovery has given us. This retooled origin story needs to be confirmed in the third season and beyond. Star Trek is often thought of as a utopia, but even in the future, humans will be humans. We will fall prey to our worst impulses and sow the seeds of our own destruction. Turning Star: Trek Discovery into a larger story, a meditation on human nature, rather than just the tale of a rogue AI, would be a more profound statement, and would open countless new doors for storytelling in the Star Trek universe surrounding the Borg, arguably the best villains of the franchise.

Discovery excels when it shows both the best and worst of us. It would make sense, then, that in trying to prevent humanity’s utter destruction by the Klingons, the Federation would have inadvertently created its own worst enemy. This is a constant conflict throughout the Star Trek franchise, the internal and external struggle between our worst selves and our best selves. Making the Borg a physical manifestation of humanity’s impulse to act rashly from a place of fear would be both a poetic turn of events and the kind of incredible, daring storytelling that this franchise has shown itself capable of over and over again.

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Screen Rant

Star trek reveals the mind-blowing origin of its 'conspiracy' parasites (they're not just aliens).

At long last, Star Trek has revealed the mind-blowing secret origin of one of it biggest loose ends: the parasite aliens from "Conspiracy."

• The "Conspiracy" aliens, from another dimension, threaten the Star Trek universe with their terrifying agenda and overwhelming numbers.
• Spock's mind meld backfires as the crew of the Defiant battles to free infected crew members from alien parasites.
• Star Trek: Defiant #14 reveals the origin and menace of the "Conspiracy" aliens, connected to a long-standing franchise plot line.

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek: Defiant #14!

The “Conspiracy” aliens have returned to the Star Trek franchise, and for the first time, their mind-blowing origin has been revealed. Worf and the crew of the Defiant are waging a valiant stand against the parasitic aliens on a remote Starbase. As they fight off the creatures in issue 14, Mister Spock makes a shocking discovery about where the aliens come from–and their agenda.

Star Trek: Defiant #14 is written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Angel Unzueta. B’Elanna Torres has been taken over by one of the parasites, and the crew of the Defiant is trying to free her from its clutches. Spock hits on an idea: use a mind meld to disrupt the parasites. The others protest, but Spock presses on. His mind meld backfires, and does not free B’Elanna. Instead, Spock learns the creatures are not from another planet, or another galaxy. Instead, they come from another dimension.

Furthermore, they have an enormous queen that towers over Spock.

The "Conspiracy" Aliens Nearly Did What the Klingons and the Romulans Have Failed to Do

These terrifying aliens are an existental threat to the star trek universe.

“Conspiracy” was the finale to the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation , and it would go on to become one of the Star Trek’s franchise's biggest dangling plot lines. For over 30 years, fans have clamored for the aliens to return, and for the show to explore their origins. The parasitic creatures attempt a takeover of Starfleet, but are thwarted by the crew of the Enterprise . Many years later, the aliens have returned, taking over Starbase 99 and infecting its crew. Previous issues teased the true nature of the parasites, and now it has been confirmed.

Star Trek: Defiant’s current storyline, “Hell is Only a Word,” has already positioned the “Conspiracy” aliens as terrifying entities. A text piece in a previous issue revealed the horrifying physical changes that can come over a host, particularly if they are infected with a queen. Furthermore, Defiant has drawn parallels between the parasites and the Borg , particularly in terms of social structure. The aliens have an agenda, one of conquest and subjugation. Their ability to infect a host and function discreetly is one of their greatest advantages. They used this effectively in “Conspiracy.”

Star Trek vs Alien Crossover Was Meant to Give Picard His Ultimate Challenge

The "conspiracy" aliens are legion--can the federation hope to stop them, the parasites could easily overrun the federation--and the galaxy.

Now the secret of the “Conspiracy” parasites is revealed: they are invaders from another dimension . Spock had a vision of this dimension, and it was overrun with parasites. Their numbers are great, and would easily overwhelm and infect any type of resistance. There may be enough parasites to infect everyone in the Federation and beyond. Finally, the parasite’s queen, standing several stories tall, is a horrific and disgusting sight. Worf and the crew of the Defiant are outnumbered, so they must find a way to close the gate, lest the “Conspiracy” aliens return to menace the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: Defiant #14 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!

Star Trek: Jean-Luc Picard's Best Friends

• Jean-Luc Picard formed lifelong bonds with various individuals, both romantic and professional, who influenced his eventful life in different ways.
• Picard's relationship with Raffi Musiker was troubled but integral to protecting the Federation from threats like the Borg and the Romulans.
• Despite their love/hate relationship, Q and Picard shared a special bond, with Q choosing to spend his apparent last moments with Picard.

Jean-Luc Picard is one of Star Trek 's most famous characters, second only to James T. Kirk . After assuming command of the Starship Enterprise in 2263, Picard honored the Starfleet mission statement by seeking out new life and new civilizations, including the Borg, the Tamarians, and the powerful Q Continuum. Yet while Picard was an excellent commander, his stoic nature limited his social life aboard the Galaxy -class Enterprise -D during his appearances in the Star Trek franchise.

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Despite his somewhat introverted personality, Picard formed lifelong bonds with several individuals. Some of these relationships bordered on the romantic, while others were purely professional. However, each came to influence Picard's eventful life in their own way.

Picard's Mentor At Starfleet Academy

• Played by Ray Walston

Boothby, a groundskeeper at Starfleet Command , served as a mentor to many cadets who attended the nearby Starfleet Academy, including Jean-Luc Picard. Boothby could be relied upon for excellent advice and even helped to save Picard's career after the young cadet was nearly kicked out of the Academy.

Boothby was such a fixture of Starfleet Command that the mysterious Species 8472 created a replicant of the gardener as part of a training simulation in the Delta Quadrant. Nor was Boothby's guidance limited to Picard; he also provided boxing lessons to a young Chakotay.

Picard's Most Influential Professor

• Played by Normal Lloyd

Jean-Luc Picard's penchant for archeology was encouraged by Galen, one of his professors at Starfleet Academy . The two men were so close that Picard stated that Galen was like a father to him, although they grew apart when Picard chose a career in Starfleet over a life as an archeologist.

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Picard and Galen reconnected in 2369, although the former was soon assassinated by Cardassian-backed forces. This convinced Picard to finish his mentor's work, leading to the discovery of a shared evolutionary history for many of the galaxy's species, including the Klingons, Cardassians, and even the human race itself.

Raffi Musiker

One of picard's most resourceful allies.

• Played by Michelle Hurd

Raffaela "Raffi" Musiker worked with Jean-Luc Picard to evacuate Romulan civilians from their devastated region of space. However, interference from Starfleet and several clandestine groups caused Raffi to grow increasingly paranoid. Despite her difficulties, Picard sought her out in 2399 as he knew that he could rely on her to help him with his investigations into an apparent Romulan conspiracy.

The resulting investigation vindicated Raffi and restored her friendship with Picard, which had become strained by their respective departures from Starfleet. Raffi's relationship with Picard, while routinely troubled, proved integral to protecting the Federation from threats like the Borg and the Romulans, and it is therefore fitting that she joined the crew of the Enterprise -G in 2402 as the starship's executive officer.

Picard's Surrogate Son

• Played by Evan Evagora

Picard first met Elnor while assisting in the evacuation of Romulan space following a devastating supernova. Although Picard had frequently clashed with the Romulans during his time aboard the Starship Enterprise , he spent a significant amount of time with the young Romulan, acting as the child's father figure. However, their relationship grew strained after Picard was called back to Federation space as a result of the 2385 Synth attack on Mars.

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However, the two eventually reconciled, and Elnor was able to utilize the training he'd undertaken as a member of the sword-wielding Qowat Milat to assist Picard against a Romulan secret society, the Zhat Vash. Elnor later joined Starfleet thanks to Picard's guidance.

Picard's Best Frenemy

• Played by John de Lancie

It may be more accurate to describe Q's friendship with Picard as a love/hate relationship, as the powerful entity often caused mischief aboard the Enterprise -D. However, Picard's apparent dislike of Q concealed a deeper feeling that, at points, came close to friendship. Q did help Picard throughout his life, such as by showing him how his recklessness as a young man was integral to his present success.

Indeed, Q chose to spend his apparent last moments with Picard rather than die alone. This final wish demonstrated that, for all of their mutual animosity, both Q and Picard recognized their special bond.

William Riker

Picard's right-hand man.

• Played by Jonathan Frakes

Picard and Riker's relationship was initially frosty; shortly after the executive officer came aboard the Enteprise -D, Picard challenged him to manually dock the starship's saucer to its secondary hull, a difficult test of skill. However, the two men warmed to one another during their years aboard the Enterprise , and Picard was one of the guests at Riker's wedding to Deanna Troi in 2379.

However, Riker did not let his friendship with Picard blind him when faced with tough dilemmas. When Picard was assimilated by the Borg in 2366, Riker did not hesitate to open fire on the Borg cube, even though the action endangered Picard. Their relationship was always secondary to their dedication to Starfleet and the Federation, but Riker and Picard demonstrated one of Star Trek 's best working relationships.

Picard's Closest Confidante

• Played by Whoopi Goldberg

The mysterious Guinan was far more than just the bartender aboard the Enterprise -D. As an El-Aurian , she had seen her home planet destroyed by the Borg, and recognized the threat posed by the Collective. This allowed her to offer counsel to Picard prior to the Enterprise 's disastrous encounter with the Borg in 2366. She attempted to assuage Picard's concerns that the Borg would overwhelm the Federation by pointing out the tenacity of life.

The exact nature of Guinan and Picard's relationship is shrouded in mystery (both describe it as being more than a friendship), as is its origin. The pair pretended to have met aboard the Enterprise -D, although Guinan joined the starship on Picard's request. One questionably canon novel suggested that their first meeting involved an encounter with Cardassian master spy Enabran Tain. However, regardless of its foundation, Guinan and Picard's friendship is one of the franchise's firmest.

Picard's Android Savior

• Played by Brent Spiner

While Data's closest friend throughout The Next Generation was undoubtedly engineer Geordi La Forge , both the TNG movies and Star Trek: Picard emphasized the friendship between Picard and the android Commander Data. When the Borg attempted to alter the course of history, Data resisted the Borg Queen's offer of an alliance and saved Picard's life. He would repeat this act in 2379, when Data sacrificed himself to save Picard from the destruction of the Scimitar .

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Data's sacrifice haunted Picard. In 2399, Picard encountered Data's simulated "ghost", allowing him to gain a measure of closure. A resurrected version of Data assisted Picard in his final battle against the Borg in 2401, demonstrating that not even death could stand in the way of their mutual admiration.

Beverly Crusher

The love of picard's life.

• Played by Gates McFadden

While Captain Kirk has gained a reputation as a ladies' man, Captain Picard stayed laser-focused on the Enterprise -D's exploratory mission throughout The Next Generation . However, he was interested in one particular woman: Doctor Beverly Crusher, the Enterprise -D's long-term chief medical officer . Their relationship was complicated by the fact that Picard had sent Beverly's husband to his death, which perhaps stopped their friendship from growing into something more during their time together aboard the Enterprise .

Despite the lack of romantic consolidation, Crusher was Picard's closest friend aboard the starship. They regularly ate breakfast together and relied on one another for advice in times of need. For example, Crusher sought advice from Picard during her romance with the Trill diplomat Odan. Star Trek: Picard hinted at a more romantic, if short-lived, relationship between the pair, although, for the most part, they were simply very close friends.

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