I never understood why the Borg went after Alpha species... the Gamma Quadrant is closer to them (according to fan maps) and is larger than the alpha quadrant. Why cross the entire galaxy to chase humans and klingons when they can go after countless gamma species?
shareJust a theory but it probably has something to do with first contact. The Borg queen saw Data as the perfect target hundreds of years before they invaded the alpha quadrant and probably wanted to assimilate humans at any cost. Although this doesn't make sense in the TNG timeline, I figure the Borg see humans in general as a major threat so they must be assimilated ASAP. It also sort of makes sense in the Voyager timeline. I realize Voyager and TNG share the same universe but the story of TNG came before first contact.
shareActually, who says they haven't. They have vast resources. They probably have conquered many species in the Gamma Quadrant. We just haven't seen it.
shareI believe the Borg prioritized the United Federation to the top of their assimilation 'queue' because of the unexpected appearance of the USS Enterprise 1701-D in System J-25, over seven thousand light years away from Federation space. To the Borg, they have no idea how suddenly this race of mostly humans was able to suddenly 'transwarp' deep into the Beta Quadrant and then disappear just as quickly.
This of course, was done by Q, the full purpose of doing--we may never know, but as Picard said, the Federation encountered the Borg MUCH sooner than they otherwise would have.
That said, we never hear about the Borg attacking the Romulans, Cardassians, Breen, and the Klingons except for the small Romulan & Federation neutral zone outposts being destroyed in the early run of TNG. I think all of us would have loved to see a Dominion vs. Borg encounter sometime in DS9, though it never happened.
Actually at the end of the episode, Q revealed that the Borg were already on their way to the Alpha quadrant. His little trick gave Picard a heads up to the approaching threat.
shareI was almost expecting it to happen. The Borg encounter the Dominion, and these unique changelings - assimilating this species will greatly add to our own perfection! Suddenly they become a priority target and the founders are forced to make peace with the Federation so they can stand together against their mutual enemy. You could see them breeding a super-intelligent version of the Vorta, or something like that, to develop new technologies rapidly and give them a steady stream of surprises for the Borg. The showrunners didn't go that route of course, but it was my own pet theory at the time for how the war would be resolved.
shareThere is an Enterprise Episode featuring Borgs which kind of explains this in a wibbiliy wobbily timeloop scenario.
sharethe Gamma Quadrant is closer to them (according to fan maps) and is larger than the alpha quadrant.
Maybe Imac7065 meant that the Gamma Quadrant has more inhabited planets ripe for assimilation. So not a larger volume of space, but a larger target for Borging.
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