The Borg are regarded as one of (if not) the most imposing enemies in Star Trek.
Whenever a long range sensor contact reveals itself to be the solid silhouette of a Borg
cube there is an undeniable menace that comes with their implacable façade.
Much of their fear is generated by their unemotional consumption of everything that makes an individual
who they are as well as the sheer level of power that their constant adaptation and assimilation
has brought them.
Now there are some things that are far beyond even the Borg, for example the Q for their
level of power and deific like status, or Species 8472 who are just too alien in tech
and biology for the Borg to assimilate.
But there are a myriad of pieces of Science Fiction tech out there that could doom all
if the Borg did ever manage to wrap their assimilation tubules around them.
Of course plot wise even if the Borg do acquire a ground-breaking new piece of tech, chances
are that they will not implement it completely and it would be a the whims of the plot.
So let’s hope the Borg do not assimilate the power to break the 4th wall.
But in my opinion, here are (6) technologies, species or information that would be disastrous
should the Borg assimilate them.
Let’s start with the obvious, species 8472.
The Borg are unable to assimilate these beings from another dimension because their biology
quite simply resisted and destroyed any foreign material that entered it, including the Borg
nanites that would otherwise begin the process of assimilation.
Should they ever find a way to adapt to this natural defence, the Borg would not only be
able to begin assimilation of the species itself, but all their technology which is
also biology based, and shares enough similarities with 8472 themselves to have that same immunity.
Alongside some incredibly powerful shared weaponry, this has made this species a true
threat to the Borg and diverted many of their resources to combatting and monitoring them.
Although the Borg do manage to develop a countermeasure to their ships with the aid of Voyager, assimilation
remained thankfully beyond their grasp.
As of 2377, we know that the Borg were still engaged in operations against Species 8472
even along the Beta Quadrant and victory against them would not only bring them a new wave
of advancements, but also free them up to resume their focus on other things.
The Voth are one of the Delta Quadrant’s most ancient species, descended from the Hadrosaurus
of Earth and have had millennia to develop their space faring technology.
Although they have not progressed as far as one may have thought, given the literal epochs
of evolution they have lived survived their technology is still superior to the Federation’s
and easily the Borg.
Their large scale city ships that rival even a Borg cube can not only match the transwarp
tech of the collective, but have large scale transporters than can disable a starship and
beam it into a secure hanger where it is at the Voth’s mercy.
Imagine of the Borg acquired this level of advancement with dampening fields and transporters,
they are already adapt at probing for a weakness and exploiting even the smallest transporter
opportunity to beam in their drones, and their ships are spacious enough to consume a vessel
even if not built for that purpose.
With this tech, they could simply approach, disable and relocate an entire ship without
the struggle of tractor beams.
Fortunately the sheer scale of the Voth’s technology is the reason the Borg have not
prevailed against them, and likely will not for some time.
Iconian Gateway technology is a relic of their fallen Empire (which canonically is not as
fallen as it may seem).
They were primarily known for their ability to create gates that could transport an individual
to any location without the need for a receiving platform and return again.
Finding one of these intact gates became a concern for the Federation when both the Romulan
Star Empire and the Dominion began researching them and they are littered throughout the
galaxy.
The Borg have already assimilated spatial trajector technology from the Sikarians which
is similar to this, but has a number of limitations.
I assume this is why such trajector tech is only utilised occasionally by the Borg as
an emergency escape for the Queen if she is currently residing on a cube.
Iconian gateways effectively remove all these limitations, truly opening up the ability
for the Borg to appear anywhere at any time, and if apocrypha is included, this would easily
expand their reach to beyond the confines of the Milky Way galaxy.
What if the Borg managed to assimilate a Founder of the Dominion though?
It is never mentioned on screen, but I think it likely that the Dominion have encountered
the Borg at some point.
The Dominion is at least 2000 years old, often mentioned as older and a massive power by
itself and the Borg have been expanding their space for centuries in every direction.
Given their expansive transwarp network too that does reach into the Gamma Quadrant, then
I would not be surprised to see the odd Dominion report of a Borg threat.
Fortunately for the Founders, it is incredibly rare for them to leave the Great Link of their
homeworld which is buried far inside Dominion territory.
Their military is nothing to be shirked either, considering the trouble they gave the Federation,
but for arguments sake, what if a cube made it to their home, assimilated a Founder on
a mission, or found one of the missing 98 changeling infants.
This is not really adding anything new to the collective in terms of technology, but
they are bound to learn something from their morphogenic matrix and a Terminator T-1000
drone would be horrifying.
Not to mention the centuries of shared information and expertise in genetics that the knowledge
of a Founder would bring.
The Doomsday Machine or Planet Killer was a device with an unknown but possibly extra-galactic
origin.
What is more terrifying about the prospect of them acquiring such a device is not its
destructive potential, but its defensive.
The Borg do not usually resort to wanton destruction of things in their way, the much rather prefer
to assimilate for destroying an enemy they could study teaches them nothing.
So it’s not that the Borg with another terrifying superweapon is enough by itself.
It is that the assimilation of such a weapon might reveal how to forge Neutronium armour,
such as the hull of the Doomsday Machine.
Such a material is impenetrable to most technology, certainly anything the Federation has and
an armoured cube covered in such a material would be the truly terrifying prospect.
The Travellers are an organisation that keep an eye on their interpretation of the tapestry
of the universe and maintain that consistency.
The individuals themselves can be of any background or species it seems, but the abilities they
develop can be cultivated and honed with training.
These abilities are all cultivated in the mind and allow the traveller to simply step
through reality and time at will.
They can literally think themselves out of regular space time, and into another era,
location or even reality, but they are biologically mortal and still susceptible to injury and
exhaustion.
If the Borg managed to assimilate one of these individuals, it is possible, however unlikely
that they might learn just how the Travellers achieve their mental manipulation of space
and recreate those effects.
Imagine a Borg army that could appear wherever it wanted at whim and not only that, cross
dimensions and parallel universes too.
In theory, all that is needed then is a single Collective of any universe to learn this,
then they could travel to others to claim them, even joining with the other collectives
of those realities.
That, in my opinion, is the most terrifying prospect for the Borg to assimilate and the
only reason I can think they have not already, is that the travellers are elusive by nature,
powerful enough to avoid such a scenario, or that the Borg would be incapable of replicating
their mind powers.
So that is my list of things the Borg really should not acquire for the sake of the entire
Star Trek galaxy.
Fortunately, many things on this list remain beyond the Borg’s grasp for a reason, but
should that reason be overcome by their insistent adaptation, then there would be trouble ahead.
What other things can you think of?
I deliberately avoided things like the Douwd and Organians as I think they are too powerful
to be threatened by them, so I tried to focus on the more attainable threats.
Thanks for watching, I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you next time, so long and goodbye!