In Star Trek, Section 31 is the Federation’s “dirty tricks division,” a branch of Starfleet Intelligence answerable to no authority and charged with using extreme methods to stop existential threats. Ironically, it has created as many dangers as it has destroyed, most notably Control: the central antagonist in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 that came close to extinguishing all life in the galaxy. That has fueled an intriguing pair of fan theories, which posit the Borg are a creation of Section 31 that has turned on humanity like Frankenstein’s monster. Although several unpleasant in-canon sticking points derail the core of the theory, it’s nevertheless quite elegant. And some of the spinoff theories actually fit within accepted canon.
The core theory, hatched during Discovery‘s second season, holds that that Leland — a Section 31 agent who merged with the synthetic components of Control — becomes the first “proto-Borg” and uses the Red Angel suit to travel back in time to the Delta Quadrant and lay the foundation for the Borg Collective. The problems with the theory largely stem from subsequent Discovery episodes, which never bring the Borg into the equation: Control is a creation of Section 31, not the Borg.
But even without that, the theory can’t hold up to established canon. To begin with, the first introduction to the Borg, in Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 Episode “Q, Who?,” states they know little to nothing about the Federation. Subsequent retconning muddied those waters a bit — Seven of Nine’s parents, for instance, went looking for the Borg based on rumors — but the episode makes it clear the Borg and the Federation had no contact before that moment. That’s borne out by Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, episodes 15 and 16, “Dark Frontier,” in which the Borg refer to humanity as “Species 5618: Humans,” just one of many rather than any manner of source or origin species.
Despite that, the theory touched on several viable lines of inquiry, as did a second thread, which suggested that the spore drive is a creation of Section 31 using stolen Borg technology. That, too, isn’t plausible. However, the second theory touched on the same ideas as the first: Section 31, using forbidden experimentation, inadvertently creates the Borg who are sent further into the past to start the Collective.
The common points — time travel and the Section 31 connection — offer suggestions that don’t go quite as far as the fan theories but are a lot more feasible in the face of the current canon. For instance, while the Borg may not have originated with Section 31, they traveled to the past during the events of Star Trek: First Contact. Borg survivors of that movie reappeared in Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 23, “Regeneration,” and left Collective technology behind. It’s entirely possible that Section 31 appropriated such tech for their own use, which gave them an edge in their clandestine manipulations and allowed the breakthroughs that resulted in Frankenstein creations like Control.
That’s speculative, but it highlights the potential that both theories touch on. Section 31 is supposed to look into strange and dangerous technology like the Borg. With Discovery’s heavy emphasis on time travel, it makes connections between the black ops division and the cybernetic hive-mind not only more plausible but more interesting. Section 31 is supposedly due to receive its own series featuring Philippa Georgiou in the lead. Perhaps it will tug on some of the threads that these theories laid out.
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