Star Trek Picard: How does the new Borg technology work?

This article contains spoilers for Episode 9 of “Star Trek: Picard” Season 3!

• The Borg are back in Episode 9 of Star Trek: Picard Season 3!
• With new technology they succeed in almost the complete assimilation of the federation.
• Humans can be assimilated without any cybernetics at all, because the Borg use biogenetic technology.

Star Trek Picard: Watch Now❯

The ninth episode of the third season of Star Trek: Picard has brought back Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) nemesis, the Borg. With Jack Crusher and the help of the changelings, the Borg are able to assimilate much of Starfleet and kill many of the non-assimilated. But how does their new technology work?

In “Starship Enterprise – The Next Century” Jean-Luc Picard was assimilated by the Borg, but was detached from the collective again through a rescue operation. The cybernetic bits were removed and Picard was reinstated for service in Starfleet. But apparently not all Borg technology was removed from Picard’s body.

As we learn in Episode 9 of “Star Trek: Picard” Season 3, he was implanted with biogenetic Borg technology that could not be detected by scans and passed it on to his son Jack (Ed Speleers).

Only in Jack’s body could these cells fully develop, so that Jack could become a Borg drone even without detectable cybernetics. Jack is used as a kind of transmitter, sending out orders. The counterpart to his genetic modification by the Borg is found in Picard’s body.

While the biomodification became a transmitter of sorts in Jack, it was still a receiver of sorts in Picard, which also explains why Picard was still able to hear the Borg voices even after his disengagement from the Borg collective.

The changelings stole Picard’s corpse from Daystrom Station in order to extract his DNA and eventually feed their code into the transports of every Starfleet starship. As a result, everyone who allows themselves to be beamed carries this genetic code after the beaming process and also becomes a recipient.

Since the technique only settles on immature frontal lobes of the brain, however, anyone over the age of 25 is safe from assimilation.

Expected on April 21, 2023 and the finale of “Star Trek: Picard” on Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video. But don’t worry, there are more new films and series from the “Star Trek” universe to come. We have an overview of all “Star Trek” new releases!