I would have decided that the Enterprise encounters a dead Cube. There is no power and all the Borg inside are dead. After an investigation, they realize that there is a deadly species that not only resisted assimilation, but dealt the Borg a heavy blow militaristically.

It would be the season 6 cliffhanger in place of Descent, basically Voyager’s Scorpion but several years early. Though it would probably result in Seven of Nine never becoming a character.

Another idea I’ve had recently is a system of worlds that are thriving and even more technologically advanced than the Federation. The catch is the Borg come by every stellar year and cull large numbers of people in exchange for peace.

We get a flashback to thousands of years ago when the Borg were not monsters but just augmented humanoids. They approached this species when they had just discovered space flight and offered their enhancements as a gift. Some accepted and others did not, causing a schism. Somehow, as the Borg became more forceful, the ones who rejected assimilation reached a deal which let the Borg take their sick and infirm and criminal class in exchange for leaving everyone else alone.

Obviously, the status quo is found to be untenable and Starfleet steps in to push the Borg out, making enemies of the new race. Stargate Atlantis did a story like this with the Wraith.

Something with an alien species that wants to join the borg. Maybe their home system is in a bad way, or they just believe in the Borg's ideals.

Do you just let them throw themselves in and destroy their society? What about people who don't want to join? What if them joining the Borg is strategically bad for the federation?

Maybe this was done and I forgot

Dance party.

Obviously.

(Also, I would find a way to link any future Borg stories with Conspiracy so that didn't go unresolved forever.)

This is probably controversial, but i always disliked how the Borg seemed to assimilate for the sake of assimilation? It was sometimes explained as their way of growth or achieving perfection, but that always rang a bit hollow as a motivation.

If I could write a longer term direction, it would be interesting as a quasi-justifiable thing; have the Borg be the boogeyman in the dark of space, until we find out its collective drive to assimilate is a way to insulate itself against some greater evil.

I've always liked stories of eldritch horrors lurking in the depths of space, so one way you could do this, is for there to be something lurking in subspace; warp drive weakens the fabric of space holding it back, which explains the Borg using transwarp conduite instead. This horror would be able to easily subvert individual minds to its needs, but the collective acting as a whole could resist it.

A "bad guy" doing bad things for an understandable reason is much more interesting that them just being straight-up evil. So in general I would aim for something like that.

"NO SKINTIGHT BODYSUITS!"

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