Matalas didn’t explain how the Changelings and the Borg first came into cahoots, or how they were able to form their partnership, so Trekkies have to take it for granted that the two groups of villains met at some point, compared grievances with the Federation, and hatched a mutually beneficial plot. The Borg revealed to the Changelings that the corpse of Admiral Picard was being held at a Federation black site, locked up in a vault. Picard’s consciousness was shunted into an android body at the end of “Picard” season 1, so his dead organic body was fair game for storage.

The Borg also revealed that a deadly brain ailment embedded in Picard’s gray matter was actually the aforementioned Borg gene, only mistaken for a disease. It was left behind from when the Borg assimilated Picard several decades before. The Changelings stole Picard’s dead body, extracted the gene, and then infiltrated dozens of Federation ships. Using many, many Federation transporters, the Changelings were able to implant the Borg gene into the brains of anyone who beamed anywhere. A wrinkle: the implanting only worked on anyone under the age of 25, as they were more susceptible to brain gene manipulation.

Once infected with the Borg gene, the Borg Queen could “activate” the Federation’s youth, assimilating them all at once, and forcing them to attack their commanders. The Changelings and the Borg would get to see the Federation fall.

The team-up is odd from the outside, but Matalas felt it was organic, writing:

“The Changelings/Founders and The Borg have a lot in common. They both have had Starfleet attempt to wipe them out with weaponized viruses. ‘DS9’ and ‘Voyager.’ They both are kind of like a Hive. It seemed like the perfect Team-up.”

Perfect? Hm…