Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Borg
9. Before The Borg, The Butt Bugs (And Other Schemers)
Just when you thought it was safe to put down the mealworms and take off the fakery Doctor Crusher stuck to your neck, it's the bluegills (aka the butt bugs) again!
Given Maurice Hurley's original concept for the Borg, it is perhaps not surprising that, according to Michael and Denise Okuda in Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future, in the early days of development, plans were hatched for the episode Conspiracy, and the butt bug parasites therein, to lead to the introduction of the Borg. There is little more known about the idea than that, and, evidently, the bluegill-Borg connection was dropped before Q Who. Moreover, if the butt bugs ever did end up meeting the Borg, who'd be assimilating whom?
If that weren't enough nefariousness for you, let's bring in the Romulans! According to The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, The Neutral Zone, also written by Maurice Hurley, was originally intended to be the "first of a multi-part story" which would have seen the Federation and the Romulans join forces to fight the Borg. There was a Writers' Guild strike at the time, however, so that story arc had to be abandoned — picked up, in a sense, 30-odd years later in season one of Star Trek: Picard.