Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek #32!
Star Trek has created a new universe that is so horrible, I am rooting for its equivalent of the Borg. A benevolent Borg might seem to be a contradiction in , but the android Lore has created a universe where up is down and down is up, including a Borg collective that is committed to liberation, as seen in Star Trek #32, the penultimate chapter of The Lore War.
The Lore War will come to a conclusion in Star Trek: Omega, which serves as a capstone to the last two and a half years worth of stories.
Star Trek #32 was written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Davide Tinto. Captain Sisko and his ragtag group of rebels have made their move against Lore, who has propped himself up as a god in this new reality. Sisko and his forces are ed by the Maquis and Free Syndicate. In this new reality, the Maquis are still freedom fighters, but have Borg implants.
As Lore’s reality comes crashing down around him, these Maquis/Borg mashups begin “assimilating” people, freeing them from Lore’s control.
They even use the Borg’s catchphrase: “resistance is futile.”
Lore Has Shaken Up the Entire Star Trek Universe
Hostile Star Trek Races Like the Orions Are the Good Guys
The Lore War is the culmination of a story that began nearly three years ago. In 2022, IDW, who had held the Star Trek comics license since 2006, relaunched the line. In Star Trek #400, Kahless II began slaughtering the universe’s gods, starting with Gary Mitchell. The Bajoran Prophets sent Ben Sisko back to stop Kahless. Sisko recruited a team to help him, including Lore. Yet, Lore betrayed Sisko and company, taking off for parts unknown with Kahless’ ship and crew. Lore went quiet for a short while, but returned with his most evil plan yet.
As seen in Star Trek: The Lore War #1, the world Lore has fashioned is a distorted mirror of the classic Star Trek universe: good people such as Shaxs are recast as villains and Sisko is a factory worker, producing food cubes.
In Star Trek #24, Lore destroyed the Realm of the Gods, also known as “the Pleroma,” and in the wake of its destruction, Lore created a new reality. As seen in Star Trek: The Lore War #1, the world Lore has fashioned is a distorted mirror of the classic Star Trek universe: good people such as Shaxs are recast as villains and Sisko is a factory worker, producing food cubes. Lore is the unquestioned god of this new reality, but there are those who oppose the android, such as Sisko and Worf.
Nymira is one of many characters created just for IDW's new Star Trek comics.
Yet perhaps the most interesting part of Lore’s creation are those who oppose him, as they are traditionally villains in the Star Trek universe. The Orion Syndicate, often at odds with Starfleet, are the “good guys” in Lore’s new reality. Nymira, the morally dubious Orion medic who helped Worf and the crew of the Defiant, is the leader of the Orions, here called “the Free Syndicate.” Likewise, Kahless II, whose careless actions led to this crisis, becomes one of this reality’s saviors, helping pull Sisko out of his fugue state.
The Borg of Lore's Version of Star Trek Might Seem Like the Good Guys
Yet These "Good" Borg Still Assimilate People, But It Is For Good
And the Borg oppose Lore as well, a testament to the twisted dynamics of the reality the android has created. Early promotional images for The Lore War showed an assimilated Spock, but did not provide any context. As revealed in the early installments of The Lore War, these Borg arose when they tried to assimilate the Vulcans. The Vulcans weaponized their katras to overwhelm the collective. Once in control, they began executing guerilla warfare against Lore, and now their agendas align with that of Ben Sisko as well as the Free Syndicate.
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While it may be tempting to cheer on these new, seemingly benevolent Borg, the reality is they employ the same extreme tactics the Collective has always used, such as assimilation. Star Trek #32 depicts these new and “good” Borg injecting their victims with nanoprobes, much like the Prime Borg. Yet what really gets me is that these Borg are trying to help liberate Lore’s subjects and lead a revolt. That the only other option to living under fascism is assimilation has put me in the horrible position of pulling for the Borg.
Star Trek #32 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!
