One of the major political entities of the Delta Quadrant is the Borg Collective. The Borg are a race of cybernetic humanoids linked together to form a mass-mind; any ship maintains subspace links to the mass-mind on the Borg Homeworld. They were first encountered in 2365, and unbeknownst to all had been raiding Romulan outposts for at least a year previously. They returned two years later, and one ship nearly destroyed the Federation after obliterating a large Starfleet armada at the Battle of Wolf 359. The Federation is still recovering from these losses.

In 2368 a smaller Borg scoutship was found crashed on the surface of a moon in the Argolis Cluster. The only surviving Borg, dubbed "Hugh", was going to be used as a vector for an invasive program designed to destroy the Borg cybernetic mass- mind. However, it was argued that this would be tantamount to genocide, and Hugh was released with a more deadly weapon in his mind - the concept of individuality. Any Collective forces with which he linked assimilated the concept, and were completely helpless. They were natural prey for rogue Soong-type android Lore, who provided the necessary leadership and formed "Hugh's Borg" into a task force for the invasion of the Federation. Fortunately this invasion was forestalled by the destruction of Lore.

Given that the Borg Collective is driven by the need to assimilate other races, it seems virtually certain that they will be in contact with the Federation again. How far the concept of individuality will spread is open to conjecture. One way or another, though, they will no doubt be back, and harder to stop than before. In 2376, the USS Galaxy, under Captain Robert E.L. Price "The General" successfully negotiated a 'cease fire' with the Collective that ensured Borg 'peace' in exchange for Federation non-use of Multi-Phasic torpedo technologies. The Borg Drone, Three of Four, was assigned to Price's ship to monitor the Federation's compliance. With his promotion to Admiral in 2378, Three of Four became a permanent fixture at Starfleet Command. It is unknown how the Collective will respond to the 'Project Archangel' inspired Tactical doctrines and Technology 'refits'; of Starfleet.

CURRENT STATUS: TREATY IN EFFECT, PROBABLE HOSTILE