text:
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
- See Picard for other articles with titles that contain, either by relationship or by coincidence, this character's surname.
- This character is a member of the Picard family.
- This character is a member of the Howard-Crusher family.
- For the mirror universe counterpart, see Jean-Luc Picard (mirror).
- "I've never known anyone with more drive, determination or more courage than Jean-Luc Picard."
- —J.P. Hanson, 2367[src]
Jean-Luc Picard was a 24th century Human man, born in the year 2305. He served in Starfleet and was well known throughout the Federation and beyond for his skills, intellect, command ability and having averted innumerable disasters and crises affecting individuals, starships, planets, interstellar states and the very fate of the universe.
In 2333, Picard was serving as second officer on the Federation starship USS Stargazer. He took command of the starship following the death of his captain, and was subsequently promoted to Captain. He commanded the Stargazer for 22 years, until she was lost in an attack by unknown aliens, later learned to be Ferengi. Picard was assigned command of the USS Enterprise-D from the year 2364 until the vessel's destruction in 2371 and later assumed command of the USS Enterprise-E, from 2372.
In one timeline, Picard retired from Starfleet in 2385 after the end of his command and in that same year became the Federation ambassador to the planet Vulcan. In another timeline, Picard would remain as captain of the Enterprise, taking on an increased political role within the Federation from 2380 to 2385. However, at his own request, he would proceed to take the Enterprise on a new several-year deep space exploratory mission, taking himself away from the forefront of Federation politics.
Early life
Jean-Luc Picard, the second son of Maurice Picard and Yvette Gessard Picard, was born in La Barre, France, on Earth on July 13, 2305. His mother Yvette would steep tea to the robust flavor which he continued to savor as an adult. His aunt Adele also left an impression on his taste in the beverage. From an early age, Jean-Luc and his elder brother Robert Picard fought constantly, but shared friends such as Louis Blanchard and Claude. (TNG episodes: "Conundrum", "Where No One Has Gone Before", "Family", "Ensign Ro", "Schisms"; TNG comic: "The Gift"; TNG novel: Perchance to Dream)
- The video game The Transinium Challenge lists Picard's birth place as Paris, France, Earth.
Jean-Luc's interest in history and archeology began in 2313, when he was forced to escape to a small parish church to escape the bullying and torment of his brother. He was so captivated by the church that he wanted to know everything about the building. (TNG novel: Guises of the Mind)
When he was young, one of Jean-Luc's aunts gave him an astronomy text. Maurice said that it was too advanced for a boy of his age, but the section of color photographs captured his imagination, and Jean-Luc dreamed of being in space "amongst objects of such rare elegance." (TNG novel: Here There Be Dragons)
As a youth, he auditioned for a school production of Romeo and Juliet in order to get closer to the girl playing Juliet. Though hoping to be cast as Romeo, Jean-Luc ended up playing the role of the nurse. (TNG novel: Q-in-Law)
Starfleet Academy
Picard first applied for admittance into Starfleet Academy at the age of 17 in 2322. He failed the entrance exam, due in part to his problem with mathematics. Picard's friend Donald Varley convinced a crestfallen Jean-Luc that he belonged in Starfleet. The following year, Picard passed the exam, and was admitted into the Academy as a cadet. (TNG comic: "The Noise of Justice")
In his first year, Jean-Luc was supervised by Cadet First Lieutenant Ivan Gruzinov, and began taking extra math tutoring at Cal Tech in Old Pasadena with Adrienne Tillstrom. Picard also made good friends with Cadets Marta Batanides and Corey Zweller, and some adversaries, including Cadet Morgan Korsmo. He was the top scorer in his marksmanship course. (TNG episodes: "Coming of Age", "Tapestry"; TNG novels: Nightshade, Grounded, Vendetta; TNG comic: "Hidden Agendas!")
At one point during his Academy career, Picard, along with Zweller, risked possible expulsion and imprisonment for bringing the comatose Batanides to the black-market genetics laboratory on the world Yrskatdon, after discovering that the only known cure for Batanides's Fetal Incompatibility Syndrome was a banned genetic resequencing procedure. (SA comic: "Judgment"; TNG novel: Rogue)
Picard was an excellent shuttle pilot at Starfleet Academy. (TNG video game: Echoes from the Past)
In 2324, Jean-Luc won the 41st Starfleet Academy Marathon against a number of competitors, and became the first freshmen to win the marathon, beating many favorites, including Fergus McLeod and David Gold. (TNG episode: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"; ST short story: "The Footfalls of Tradition"; SCE eBook: The Belly of the Beast)
Picard later credited Ivan Gruzinov as the man who ultimately "drummed him into shape." (TNG novel: Blaze of Glory)
After graduating from Starfleet Academy in 2327, Ensign Picard and his friends, Batanides and Zweller, awaited their first assignments at Starbase Earhart.
While on the base, Picard was stabbed through the heart and nearly killed after brawling with three Nausicaans after a game of dom-jot. Picard's friend Anson Peters was also there and was the person who did not panic, getting help and performing first aid. "Jeannie" - as his friends called him - received an artificial heart at the starbase's medical center. (TNG episodes: "Samaritan Snare", "Tapestry", TNG comic: "Honor Bound!")
Looking back at his personal Graduation Day photo, Picard thought of himself as a mischievous "damn fool", even though Beverly Crusher said otherwise and that his youth was what made them lifelong friends and not the man he is today. (TNG movie: Star Trek Nemesis)
On his first shakedown cruise, his department head was Phillip Boom. (TNG novel: Balance of Power)
Early career
After a few weeks of recovery, Ensign Picard was assigned to the USS Antares with his former supervisor, Ivan Gruzinov. (TNG novel: Blaze of Glory)
In 2328, Picard was granted a special shore leave to run an elite, long-distance race on a barren planet in the Elyrion system. Unfortunately, he did not finish in the top five. However, during his time on the planet, he befriended a young Zartani named Nuadra Demmix, and also gained experience with the Ubarrak. (STA novel: Oblivion)
Around this time, as lieutenants, Picard and Robert DeSoto served together and became friends. (TNG episode: "Tin Man")
In early 2329, Picard was assigned to a starship under the command of Captain Anton Manning, where he was assigned as flight controller. Later that year, Picard attended the wedding of Ambassador Spock and Commander Saavik, of the USS Armstrong. (TOS novel: Vulcan's Heart)
- The preliminary artwork for a Picard figure from McFarlane Toys shows Picard having the rank of ensign while serving aboard the USS Reliant.
The Stargazer
- There are two alternate takes on the missions which propelled Picard into command of the Stargazer:
- The Valiant
In 2333, Picard was a lieutenant commander, and second officer of the USS Stargazer under the command of Captain Daithan Ruhalter. The Stargazer was ordered to investigate the threat of a Nuyyad attack from beyond the galactic barrier. After crossing the barrier, the Stargazer was attacked and crippled by the Nuyyad, which left Captain Ruhlater dead, and first officer Commander Stephen Leach in a coma. Picard assumed command and got the Stargazer to safety at Magnia colony.
While undergoing repairs at the colony, the Stargazer's crew, uncomfortable with such an inexperienced commander, mutinied. Picard managed to quell the mutiny and appointed Lt. Gilaad Ben Zoma as first officer and Lt. Vigo as tactical officer.
With the mutiny resolved, Picard had the Stargazer refitted with enhanced Kelvan weaponry and defended the Magnians from a Nuyyad attack and destroyed one of their weapons depots, before returning to Federation space.
Following the successful completion of the mission, Admiral Mehdi promoted Picard to captain and placed him in permanent command of the Stargazer. (TNG novel: The Valiant)
- Legacy
In 2333, Picard was serving as first officer on the USS Stargazer when the ship was monitoring a fight between the Romulans and the Vulcan T'Uerell's ship. As she was vastly outgunned and outnumbered, T'Uerell activated a Borg device, which destroyed an unpopulated planet and caused large pieces of debris to break off from the planetoid and head for the Phidian system, which had a population of hundreds of millions of people. The resulting shockwave from the planetoid's core hit the Stargazer, killing Captain Ruhalter. Picard took command and headed to a starbase. After the ship was somewhat repaired, the Stargazer took a task force inside the system to destroy much of the debris. Later, the task force saved three heavily populated planets; Phidian I, II and III, with the help of modified sensor pods armed with phasers, which the task force dragged into orbit using tractor beams.
Later, a huge piece of debris broke off the planetoid and headed for Phidian III. Picard realized that he would not be able to break it up with his ship's phasers and photon torpedoes, but could destroy it by using the ship's tractor beam to drag other debris into the larger piece's path. After obliterating the immense piece of debris, the system was saved from annihilation. Picard was then promoted to Captain and command of the Stargazer. (ST video game: Legacy)
First tests of command
Following the Nuyyad encounter, Stargazer proceeded to Starbase 32, where Picard and Ben Zoma attended a meeting of Starfleet captains and admirals. Admiral Arlen McAteer ordered Picard to find and apprehend the pirate known as the White Wolf, who had been haunting the Beta Barritus system.
The Stargazer succeeded in traversing the systems, magnetic vortex belt while tracking White Wolf, but instead encountered the Constellation-class USS Cochise. Captain Greenbriar of the Cochise informed Picard that White Wolf was actually the famed exobiologist Emil Carridine, who was protecting a Prime Directive world. Picard decided not to apprehend Carridine, but returned to Starbase 32 with White Wolf's cargo, which angered Admiral McAteer. (STA novel: Gauntlet)
Over the next few months, tensions between Picard and McAteer continued to mount. Following his failure to apprehend White Wolf, McAteer ordered the Stargazer to survey the Egreggedor system. Defying orders, Picard diverted the ship to Gnala at the request of his chief engineer, Phigus Simenon. The reptilian Simenon needed to return home so that he could participate in the traditional competition amongst males of his people that allowed the winner to be the one who fertilized the next generation of his clan's eggs. (STA novel: Progenitor)
Picard first met the El-Aurian woman named Guinan while on an undercover assignment in the orbital city Oblivion. In the years that followed, Picard and Guinan would form a friendship that Guinan once described as, "Beyond friendship, beyond family". (STA novel: Oblivion)
McAteer eventually held a competency hearing for Picard a few months later, but he failed to strip Picard of command, and Picard remained in command of the Stargazer.
After the competency hearing, Admiral Mehndi assigned the Stargazer to a long-term mission of exploration in uncharted regions of space. (STA novel: Maker)
A seasoned captain
In the early 2340s the Stargazer returned to Earth for an extensive overhaul and refitting. While nominally still in command, Picard was given a temporary assignment in Paris, where he met and courted the future Jenice Manheim. On 9 April 2342, the day before the Stargazer was due to depart spacedock, he arranged to meet her at the Café des Artistes, but in the end he never showed up. (TNG episode: "We'll Always Have Paris")
In 2343, Picard first met Lieutenant Elias Vaughn of Starfleet Intelligence. The two would meet several times over the coming years, including a coup on the planet Darnak VII.
In late 2343, Picard was forced to order the Stargazer to retreat after an intense battle with a vessel from the newly aggressive Cardassian Union. (TLE novel: The Art of the Impossible; ST comic: "Divided We Fall")
In early 2344, the Stargazer underwent several weeks of repairs and upgrades following the Cardassian battle at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards on Mars. It was during this time that Picard first made the acquaintance of Beverly Howard, the fiancée of his good friend and shipmate, Jack Crusher.
Soon after, the Stargazer rescued Ambassador Spock, who was undergoing pon farr and had escaped from the Romulans with the help of a Romulan defector, Subcommander Ruanek. (TOS novel: Vulcan's Heart)
In 2345, while en route to Alpha Pensura, the Stargazer received a priority message from a Gorn ship. The Gorn requested that the starship divert to Vontalimar IV. Arriving at the planet, Captain Picard met with the Gorn leader, Keeyah, who declared war on the Federation, because of their expansion in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
Not wanting to drag the Federation into a war with the Gorn, Picard challenged Keeyah to talk and negotiate through their differences instead. Picard's challenge was successful and war was averted, for the time being. (TNG novel: Requiem)
In 2345 or 2346, Picard became romantically involved with Miranda Vigo. It apparently was not an exclusive relationship (at least on her part), and after they parted ways she bore a son, Jason, for whom Picard was not the only possible father. However, Picard was completely unaware of this development until 2370. (TNG episode: "Bloodlines")
In 2348, Picard attended the wedding of Jack and Beverly Crusher in San Francisco. It was here that a Romulan spy named Manathas gathered the genetic material from Picard that was eventually used to grow the Picard-clone, Shinzon. (TNG novel: Death in Winter)
In 2349, the Stargazer was ordered to the Debennius system after a series of terrorist attacks threatened to destabilize the region. The Stargazers response to the attacks resulted in the death of Thallonian terrorist, Mendan Thul, son of General Gerrid Thul, who vowed revenge against Picard. (TNG novel: The First Virtue)
In 2353, the Stargazer was dispatched to the planet Xenex to talk with the Xenexians in an attempt to stop further bloodshed against the Danteri, who were seeking Federation membership. Picard and Jack Crusher met with a 19-year old warlord named M'k'n'zy of Calhoun. Picard was very impressed with M'k'n'zy, and he encouraged him to enter Starfleet Academy. (NF novel: House of Cards)
Shortly after the assignment to Xenex, the Stargazer was the first Federation starship to encounter the Nensi phenomenon, a ball of energy and matter thought to have its origin in a special category of supernova. The encounter caused multiple systems failures and began an overload in the ships starboard warp field generator.
In order to save the ship, Picard reluctantly ordered Jack Crusher and chief of security, Peter "Pug" Joseph to sever the starboard warp nacelle from the ship with laser rifles before it could explode.
When communications went dead, Picard went out to investigate. He found his two officers apparently rendered unconscious after successfully detaching the nacelle. Unfortunately, he only had time to bring one officer back to the ship before the nacelle exploded. He chose Joseph, who was closer.
Picard later traveled to Earth to personally deliver Jack Crusher's body to Jack's widow, Beverly, and their son, Wesley. (TNG novel: Reunion)
The Battle of Maxia
In 2355, while exploring the Maxia Zeta system, the Stargazer was approached by an unidentified vessel (later revealed to be Ferengi). The vessel attacked the Stargazer causing severe damage, and the Stargazer crew was only saved when Picard performed what became known as the Picard Maneuver, which destroyed the Ferengi vessel. The Stargazer was so badly damaged that the crew was forced to abandon the ship and leave it for dead. (TNG episode: "The Battle"; TNG novels: Reunion, The Buried Age)
This became known as "The Stargazer Incident." (TNG video game: The Transinium Challenge)
According to The Transinium Challenge video game this is considered the first time Picard's name ended up in the headlines and that up to this point, his record was clean.
Following the loss of the Stargazer, Picard faced a brutal court-martial hearing by JAG officer Phillipa Louvois. Picard and Louvois were romantically linked at the time and Picard in fact, asked for Phillipa to be his defense attorney but he found that she was already assigned as assistant trial counsel for the prosecution and as such, she was ruthless in her prosecution of Picard. In fact, she was so relentless that after using a bedroom confession against Picard in court, (which left Picard absolutely stunned as to her betrayal), Louvois was removed from the case and she promptly resigned from Starfleet before she could be formally censured. (TNG novel: The Buried Age) Nonetheless, the grueling hearing found Picard innocent of any negligence, however his relationship with Louvois was ended. As a result of his actions at the Battle of Maxia, Picard was awarded the Grankite Order of Tactics on Stardate 38946.2. (STA short story: "Darkness")
Interim years
Following the court-martial hearings, Picard, who was feeling at ends following the destruction of the Stargazer, began to wonder if starship command was really for him. He decided to visit his former second officer Elizabeth Wu on the Hydra IV colony. Wu had left the Stargazer in 2336, but Picard had kept in touch with her over the years, and desired the perspective of someone who had been in Starfleet, but left it behind.
Picard's craft crash-landed on an uncharted and unexplored planet. There, he encountered a group of Rhitori, whose ancestors owed their freedom to the Stargazer responding to their distress call over 20 years prior. The incident made Picard realize all the good that he had done, and could continue to do, as a starship captain. Picard decided to remain in Starfleet. (STA short story: "Darkness")
Soon after, Picard began guest lecturing at Starfleet Academy, as well as transferring between numerous assignments. (TNG novel: Doors Into Chaos)
Picard also enrolled as a Ph.D. student in archaeology at the University of Alpha Centauri in 2355. Three years into this program, he was teaching an introductory class in archaeology when Guinan paid him a visit, and questioned whether he really wanted to avoid going back to commanding a starship.
During his time at the University of Alpha Centauri Picard assembled a group of archeologists who wanted discovered some survivors of the ancient race of Manraloth. Picard fell in love with the first survivor they were able to rescue from a time stasis field. Not remembering her past, she accepted the name "Ariel". Picard and Ariel spent many months together putting together a team of Starfleet specialists who would eventually search for other Manraloth. Knowing that he could achieve their goal only with the help of Starfleet, Picard rejoined the fleet and was given command of the Miranda-class USS Portia. For this mission he recruited Lieutenant Data as his science officer.
After they found other survivors, Picard realized that Ariel (who in the meanwhile regained her memory, and remembered her true name: Giriaenn) had tricked him by using his feelings for her.
The Manraloth planned to destroy the Federation in order to save the galaxy. It took Picard three years to hunt them down, but in 2363, he lead a fleet of seven starships to prevent the Regnancy of the Carnelian Throne from accessing the Manraloth archive.
The fleet, which was made up of the USS Cybele, USS Thelian, USS Tecumseh, USS Malinche, USS Victory, USS Puttkamer and the USS Nautilus, assembled in the Mirfak system before travelling at high warp to the Kirisha system where they engaged the Carnelian warships.
The Manraloth realised that their plans were wrong and evolved into the next stage of being. Soon after that Picard accepted to take command of the USS Enterprise-D. (TNG novel: The Buried Age)
Before moving back into a starship command role in 2364, Picard served as the special liaison officer to the Federation President. (FASA RPG module: Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual)
The USS Enterprise-D
Picard was ferried from Starbase 52 and assumed command of the Enterprise-D on stardate 41124.0 in 2364, on the order of Rear Admiral Norah Satie. Also assigned to the Enterprise as chief medical officer was Jack Crusher's widow, Beverly Crusher. (TNG novel: Reunion; TNG novelization: All Good Things...; TNG episode: "The Drumhead")
Upon arriving on the Enterprise, he was greeted by his second officer Lieutenant Commander Data, who escorted him to the bridge. Upon arriving on the bridge, he informed the ship's computer that he was taking command of the ship, and began the Captain's log of the Enterprise. (TNG novelization: Encounter at Farpoint)
During his first day as Captain of the Enterprise, Data interrupted Picard 12 times with questions or requests regarding starship operations. Picard eventually asked Data if he intended to check with him before breathing, and told Data that he was not a Captain that needed to be made aware of or approve every little detail involved with running the ship. (TNG novelization: Relics)
Soon after taking command of the Enterprise-D, Picard and crew had their first encounter with omnipotent being known as Q. Q accused Picard and the humanity he represented as being unworthy of further access to the stars and put Picard and members of his crew on trial. Picard challenged Q to allow his crew to be tested as a barometer of humanity's progress. After Picard solved the mystery of Farpoint Station, Q agreed to let the Enterprise, and by extension, humanity itself continue its explorations. Q warned them, however, that the trial wasn't over. (TNG novelization: Encounter at Farpoint)
In mid 2364, the Enterprise met with a Ferengi vessel in the Xendi Sabu system commanded by one DaiMon Bok. Bok presented the long-lost Stargazer as a gift to Picard. Bok claimed to have found the starship adrift. Bok was actually the father of the Ferengi DaiMan defeated by Picard at Maxia-Zeta all those years prior, and his 'gift' was actually part of an elaborate plan of revenge. Bok was arrested by his own crew for engaging in such an unprofitable venture as revenge. (TNG episode: "The Battle")
The Enterprise was present when the Romulans returned to the galactic stage in late 2364, after a 53 year absence, since the Tomed Incident of 2311. (TNG episode: "The Neutral Zone")
In early 2365, the Enterprise was ordered to chair negotiations between the Klingons and the Kreel, after the Kreel had taken over an uninhabited planet designated DQN 1196 that contained a stash of advanced weaponry, and had begun attacking Klingon ships. The situation was very intense, as relations between the two adversaries were never good, but Picard and the Klingon Ambassador, The Honorable Kobry, managed to keep the situation on an even keel for the most part.
In the end, the weapons, and thus the point of contention, vanished when the weapons creators, the advanced race known as the Cognocenti, finished their tests on the species involved in the affair and moved on. (TNG novel: Strike Zone)
Soon after, the Enterprise was summoned to the planet Raimon to attend the death ceremony of the planet's Primarch, Sarlis Gaspadral, an old friend of Picard's. When the Primarch was murdered, Picard was accused of the crime. Commander William T. Riker fought in Picard's place in the societies traditional trial by combat, and was nearly killed himself before the identity of the true killer, Lutina, the Primarch's daughter, was revealed. (TNG comics: "Return to Raimon", "Murder, Most Foul")
When the USS Yamato, under the command of Captain Donald Varley was destroyed by an Iconian computer virus in 2365, Picard and the Enterprise raced to find Iconia and stop the virus from destroying his own ship, and as it turned out, a cloaked Romulan warbird that had been stalking them. (TNG episode: "Contagion")
Picard and the Enterprise first encountered the Borg in System J-25 of the Delta Quadrant after a tense argument with Q. The Enterprise barely survived the encounter, and it was only with Q's help that the starship returned to the Alpha Quadrant. (TNG episode: "Q Who")
The Enterprise was assigned to transport Ambassador Sarek to Legara IV, in order to conclude his negotiations with the Legarans, which took nearly 100 years to complete. During the voyage it was discovered that Sarek had contracted Bendii Syndrome, and that his emotions were starting to control him. Picard volunteered to mind meld with Sarek, so that he could act as an emotional anchor for the Vulcan as he concluded the talks, which were successful. (TNG episode: "Sarek"; TNG novelization: Unification)
The Borg kidnapped and assimilated Picard in late 2366. The Borg intended the Picard-drone, designated as Locutus, to act as a liaison between the Borg and humanity. Using Picard's knowledge of Starfleet procedures, Locutus led the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359 which resulted in the loss of 11,000 lives and 39 starships.
The Borg were stopped when Picard's first officer, William T. Riker, captured Locutus and managed to use Locutus' link to the collective against the Borg. (TNG episodes: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I", "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"; TNG novelization: Star Trek: First Contact)
In early 2367, the former surviving crew of the Stargazer gathered aboard the Enterprise to travel with Captain Morgen, the hereditary leader of the planet Daa'V, to his coronation ceremony. During the voyage, attempts were made on the lives of both Morgen and Captain Ben Zoma. Evidence was planted implicating Idun Asmund as the killer, and she was confined. Enterprise Chief of security Worf investigated further, and discovered that the would-be killer was actually Dr. Carter Greyhorse. Greyhorse had grown despondent since the death of his lover, Idun's twin sister Gerda Asmund. Greyhorse was seeking revenge on those he believed to be responsible for Gerda's death. (TNG novel: Reunion)
Later that year, the Borg launched a renewed assault on the Federation, sending several ships into the Alpha Quadrant. The Borg were defeated by the woman known as Delcara, who had commandeered an ancient Doomsday machine built by a long-forgotten race. Delcara used the weapon viscously in her personal vendetta against the Borg. In the end, Delcara proved to be as big of a threat as the Borg. Delcara vanished, never to return, after attempting to use her vessel to break the Warp 10 barrier. (TNG novel: Vendetta)
In 2368, Picard was disabled by an alien probe while onboard the Enterprise. He woke up as a resident of the planet Kataan, being called by his wife as "Kamin". During a time period of approximately 20 minutes, Picard lived as Kamin during the planet's final decades. After five years since his first experience on Kataan, he accepted his life as a Starfleet officer had actually been some kind of illusion created by his own mind. During his life as Kamin, Picard devoted most of his time on playing flute. He was married to Eline and later had two children, daughter Meribor and son Batai, and one grandson, Kamie.
One day, Kamin was called by his family to witness "the launching", which only he seemed not to know about. As he witnessed the event, he recognized that the probe being launched from the planet's surface was actually the same probe that disabled him during his time on the Enterprise decades ago. Kamin's family then explained to him that that probe was launched so the Kataanian people would not be forgotten after their planet was destroyed. Picard then regained consciousness on the bridge of the Enterprise. Shocked and disoriented, Picard realized he had lived an entire lifetime in only a few real-time minutes. After the Enterprise is able to examine the probe's interior, they find a flute inside, the same one which Picard played while living as Kamin. He kept the flute for himself so he would always have a memory from his experience as Kamin. (TNG episode: "The Inner Light")
In this same year, Picard went undercover on Romulus to investigate the activity of ambassador Spock on the planet. Following this mission he returned to the Enterprise to find correspondence from an old friend, Dr Marjorie Devarona, inviting him to join an expedition to recently discovered ruins on the planet Rajatha Prime. Picard gladly accepted and left Commander Riker in charge of the Enterprise for a week whilst he joined the expedition. (TNG novelization: Unification; TNG comic: "Captain's Pleasure")
Shortly into his visit the team discovered a collection of harmonic diamonds, unknown to them at the time the gems stimulating areas of the brain associated with primitive emotions, including anger, envy, and greed, they soon began to affect the team. By the next morning the expedition's comm. had been sabotaged and Dr Devarona had been killed. Picard had not touched the diamonds himself so remained unaffected but the rest of the group consumed by greed and suspicion gradually killed each other through the day. In short time only Picard and the first person to touch the gems, Gest, survived. As Gest made her move to attack Picard an away team from the Enterprise arrived, alerted by the lack in communications from the expedition. Per Dr. Devarona's last wishes Picard had the valuable diamonds invested in funding archaeological digs across the quadrant. (TNG comic: "Captain's Pleasure")
In 2369, Captain Picard met with Benjamin Sisko, who had been assigned to Deep Space 9 to assist the Bajorans in joining the Federation. Sisko was initially wary of Picard due to Jennifer Sisko having been killed aboard the USS Saratoga when Picard led the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359 as Locutus. Following Sisko's encounter with the Prophets in the Bajoran wormhole, Sisko seemed to forgive Picard. (DS9 episode: "Emissary")
Picard decided to act as a secret benefactor for Jake Sisko after reading that Jennifer Sisko had died at Wolf 359. (DS9 novelization: Emissary)
At some point, Picard and the Enterprise received a report from Captain Buck Stratton of the USS Yandro, indicating that retired Captain Scotty had responded to a distress call; Scott and the Goddard contacted the Enterprise directly, asking if Picard's offer to share their library computer was still available. While Scott was aboard, Guinan met with him and found herself uneasy about his presence and told her suspicions to the Captain, who agreed to speak with him only to discover the Goddard had departed. The shuttlecraft boarded a Klingon bird-of-prey and headed for the Arhennius star and appeared to be preparing for a gravity slingshot back through time. Guinan insisted they must follow, and when they emerged, they found themselves in 2293, and realized Scott intended to save his former commanding officer, James T. Kirk.
Guinan offered no further assistance, and Picard became cross with her; without her guidance, they decided to head towards Earth. En route, they came to Andor and found it surrounded by a Borg fleet, slowly assimilating the planet; Guinan revealed that they would find Earth similarly assimilated and the Collective entrenched in the Alpha Quadrant. A vessel, the D'Zidran hailed them, revealing the alternate versions of Tal and Guinan. When asked to explain their presence, Picard explained they were from an alternate reality, but lied that they were searching for alternate universes where the Borg had been destroyed.
Picard met with the alternate Guinan, who then convinced Tal to issue a fleet-wide alert for Scott. A vessel, the Wisdom had located the time traveling engineer and contacted the Enterprise, revealing the Sarek of this universe, now leader of the interstellar Alliance, who agreed to rendezvous with the Enterprise. While waiting for the Wisdom, while trying to sleep, Picard experienced the whispers of the Borg Collective, and he discovered a Borg spy amongst Sarek's crew, but could not determine their exact identity. Picard convinced Sarek to allow them to beam over and scan the Wisdom's crew, and the spy - a Narisian named Baltior now possessed by the Borg Queen - attacked when she realized she was revealed.
With the Borg aware of their presence, and the Queen remembering false visions of seeing her own death at his hands, the Borg moved to destroy Picard and the Enterprise. Sarek logically but incorrectly assumed that the Borg would not deviate from their typical behavior of ignoring all starships that did not engage the Borg directly, but Kirk convinced Picard to act rather than delay when a Borg cube came for them. After this cube was destroyed via a secret weapon of the Alliance, the sensor shield around the Sol system lowered and they could see Earth assimilated, the cradle of the Borg in the Alpha Quadrant, as thousands of cubes emerged. Picard set a course for the Nexus, but Kirk instead convinced them to head for Gateway to utilize the Guardian of Forever. Suspecting that Kirk himself was the key to the altered timeline, he offered to kill himself, but Guinan insisted he could not, but must be returned to the Nexus, and the Enterprise doubled back for the energy ribbon. The Enterprise was successful in returning Kirk to the anomaly and the timeline returned to normal. (Star Trek novel: Engines of Destiny)
At stardate 47111.1 the Enterprise was involved in the discovery of the Unity Device. Captain Picard worked together with the Garidian Captain Pentara and the Chodak Admiral Brodnack to send the Device into the future, feeling that the galaxy was not ready for such advanced technology. (TNG video game: A Final Unity)
In late 2370, the Enterprise was sent to the Gorn homeworld to attend a peace summit with the Gorn. Enroute, the Enterprise encountered a long-abandoned alien station. When the starship approached, the station's systems became active and transported Captain Picard back in time to Cestus III in 2267, four days before it was attacked by the Gorn.
On arrival at the outpost, Picard gave the false name of Dixon Hill to the commander of the outpost, Commodore Travers. In his time on the base, Picard was successful in preventing the base's reactor from exploding and witnessed first hand the brutal attack made on the outpost by the Gorn. Picard was eventually recovered from the past by the same transporter technology that sent him there. Following Picard's return to the 24th century, the Enterprise continued on to the Gorn homeworld. (TNG novel: Requiem)
At stardate 47993.3 Picard, with the research assistance of Data discovered a conspiracy within Starfleet that was using findings reported in the Enterprise's logs to create offensive weapons and tip the political scales in the Federation's favour. Picard somehow tracked this conspiracy to a secret complex on Earth and sent an away team of his senior staff to infiltrate it and reveal the conspiracy to the rest of Starfleet, with orders to destroy it as a last resort if necessary. (TNG comics: "Space Seeds", "An Inconvenient Truth")
Meanwhile Picard contacted Admiral Nechayev to inform her of his findings but received a cold reply warning him off taking the matter further. Picard (correctly) suspected the admiral might be involved in the conspiracy and went to talk to Mr. Boothby to ask his opinion on her and the conspiracy. Boothby confirmed rumours of a shady group within Starfleet, but was not sure whether or not Nechayev could be trusted.
Just as Boothby departed to go back to bed Picard found himself under attack, from a Tellarite lurking in the shadows. He made a dash through the flower beds but was unable to avoid the assassin's phaser beams. Fortunately just as a beam pierced his torso he was beamed away.
He materialised within the conspirator's complex, and was greeted by one of the conspirators. After a brief debate on both mens' ethics Picard's away team arrived to rescue him, but in response more of the conspirators beamed in to even the numbers. At an apparent stalemate Picard ordered Geordie to activate the explosive charges the team had set, but they failed to detonate - the conspirators had deactivated them moments after the away team set them. The conspirators then beamed away leaving Picard empty-handed. (TNG comic: "An Inconvenient Truth")
After the destruction of the Enterprise-D at the world of Veridian III, there was a brief hearing at Starfleet Command, in which Picard was cleared of any negligence or wrongdoing. It was announced that there would be another starship Enterprise built, the USS Enterprise-E, and it was assumed that command of the ship would be given to Picard. (TNG novel: Triangle: Imzadi II) Picard also sent word to Ambassador Spock on Romulus about Kirk's body. After the Ambassador removed Kirk's body from the Veridian gravesite, Picard met him at a place of burial in Iowa, and both men interred Kirk there. (TNG comic: "Spock: Reflections")
The USS Enterprise-E
The USS Enterprise-E, was launched in early 2372, but Picard wasn't offered the command as expected. Instead, command of the Enterprise went to Captain Morgan Bateson. Picard was ordered to go into Cardassian space and confront Gul Madred and negotiate for the release of Federation prisoners.
En route to Cardassia Prime, Picard relived some adventures of the USS Enterprise, under the command of James T. Kirk, on the vessel's holodeck. Kirk's adventures persuaded Picard that negotiation would be useless. Picard began planning to kidnap Madred and demand the prisoners' release. His move was successful and all Federation prisoners were released into Picard's custody.
Picard and the prisoners were later successful in regaining control of the Enterprise-E after the ship had been captured by the Klingon renegade Kozara, who attempted to use the ship to invade Cardassia. Following the Enterprise-E's recapture, Morgan Bateson turned the ship over to Picard's command. (TNG novel: Ship of the Line)
Old loyalties
In early 2373, Picard was reunited with Marta Batanides and Cortin Zweller, when the Enterprise-E was ordered to Chiaros IV to find the missing USS Slayton. The Enterprise-E was tasked to complete the Slaytons mission to convince the Chiarosians to join the Federation instead of the Romulan Star Empire.
Enroute to Chiaros, the Enterprise-E rendezvoused with the USS Thunderchild and took aboard Admiral Batanides and Ambassador Aubin Tabor. Upon reaching Chiaros, Ambassador Tabor was killed in the first diplomatic meeting. Afterward, Captain Picard learned that the first diplomatic team from the Slayton, led by Commander Zweller, had been taken prisoner by Chiarosian rebels.
The Enterprise-E crew managed to rescue the prisoners and learned that the Slayton had been destroyed after discovering a cloaked Romulan experimental facility that was studying a subspace singularity near Chiaros IV. The singularity was a huge potential supply of energy to whoever controlled it.
Picard soon discovered that Zweller was an agent of rogue intelligence agency Section 31, and that Zweller's true mission on Chiaros was to make sure that the planet joined the Romulan Star Empire. In return from the Romulans, Zweller was to receive a list of all Tal Shiar agents currently operating in the Federation.
Picard allowed Zweller to complete his mission and Chiaros joined the Romulans. However, Picard, Data, and Lt. Sean Hawk managed to sneak aboard the secret Romulan facility in a stolen scout ship and destroy the base and the singularity it was studying, depriving the Romulans of their prize.
Picard felt betrayed by Zweller and handed him over to the USS Tian An Men to face charges, but those charges were cleared by Admiral Connaught Rossa. Picard strongly protested, but he was powerless to do anything. Afterward, Batanides swore that she would do everything in her power to bring down Section 31. (TNG novel: Rogue)
Making first contact
In early 2373, the Borg returned to the Alpha Quadrant and attacked Earth with a single cube. Picard, taking command of the Federation's fleet, destroyed the Borg cube, but not before it sent a small vessel into the past to change Earth's history by preventing Zefram Cochrane's first warp flight in 2063.
Picard and the Enterprise followed the Borg to 2063 where Commanders Riker and Geordi La Forge assisted Cochrane with his historic flight.
On the Enterprise-E, Picard confronted the Borg Queen, and fought off a Borg attempt to assimilate the ship and crew. After being assured that the timeline had been saved, The Enterprise-E returned to the 24th Century. (TNG novelization: Star Trek: First Contact)
After the Enterprise-E's return to 2373, she was docked at McKinley Station, and the crew was quarantined, scanned, and decontaminated for any possible Borg infections. While the Enterprise-E orbited Earth, Captain Picard and Lt. Commander Ranul Keru took a shuttlecraft to Bradbury City on Mars to return to personal effects of Lt. Sean Hawk, who was killed in the battle with the Borg, to his parents. (TNG novel: Rogue)
Collapse of the Thallonian Empire
In late 2373, the Thallonian Empire in Sector 221-G collapsed and thousands of refugees were yearning to escape. The Enterprise was one of the first ships on the scene and was responsible for transporting refugees to Deep Space 5.
On arrival at DS5, a meeting was held aboard the Enterprise, between Admirals Alynna Nechayev and Edward Jellico, Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Thallonian prince Si Cwan, and Danteri Ambassador Ryjaan. The meeting was to discuss the future of Thallonian space, to which all parties had different ideas. Captain Picard and Admiral Nechayev's suggestion was that a single Federation starship be assigned to the region, and with some negotiation, the plan was implemented.
At Picard's suggestion, command of the ship in question, the USS Excalibur, was given to former Starfleet officer, Mackenzie Calhoun, whose commission was reinstated with the rank of captain. (NF novel: House of Cards)
The Dominion War
Behind enemy lines
In early 2374, the Enterprise saw extensive action along the front-line in the Dominion War. After extensive battles with Jem'Hadar forces, the Enterprise received a distress call from the Ambassador-class, USS Aurora. They proceed to the scene and engaged several Cardassian vessels, which they dispatched, but not in time to save the Aurora. During the battle, the Bajoran vessel Orb of Peace, containing Maquis refugees, including Ro Laren*, arrived and aided in the battle.
Picard had the Maquis beamed aboard and Ro informed him that the Dominion was using slave labor in Sector 283 to construct an artificial wormhole. Completion of the project would allow the Dominion access to the Alpha Quadrant without needing to use the Bajoran wormhole. Picard agreed that they should investigate, and they left in the Orb of Peace donning Bajoran disguises. Meanwhile, Commander Riker took the Enterprise to be repaired at Starbase 209, and left Lt. Commander Data behind in the shuttlecraft Cook to monitor the captain's process.
After dodging several patrols, the Orb of Peace made it to the OK Corral station in the Badlands. In the Badlands, the crew liberated slaves from the Cardassian tanker Tag Garwal. The slaves were mining corzanium from a black hole for the Dominion, for the construction of the wormhole. Among the survivors are former Enterprise-D personnel, Sam Lavelle and Taurik. (TNG novel: Behind Enemy Lines)
As they proceed to Sector 283, the progress of the Orb of Peace was impeded by a Changeling who had taken the form of Taurik. Data managed to rescue the Orb of Peace and destroy the artificial wormhole by using the shuttle's escape pod as a meteoroid. The crew was later rescued by the Enterprise and proceeded to Deep Space 9, which has recently been liberated by Captain Benjamin Sisko and a large task force. (TNG novel: Tunnel Through the Stars)
- Certain elements of the above story, mostly pertaining to the relationship between Ro and Picard, are in contradiction with later stories told in the post-finale Deep Space 9 fiction.
The Return of Q
In mid-2374, the Enterprise arrived at Betazed and took aboard Professor Lem Faal and his family. The Enterprise was assigned to transport Faal to the edge of the galaxy, so that Faal could conduct experiments based on his life-long research to break through the galactic barrier using a specially designed wormhole probe.
Just before the test was about to be implemented, Q arrived on the Enterprise, along with his mate and child, q. He immediately vanished with Picard and took him through time to view his own personal history, and view its relevance to the current situation. Meanwhile, the Enterprise came under attack by the Calamarain, a species that had a grudge against Q. (TNG novel: Q-Zone)
When Picard and Q return to the Enterprise, Professor Faal (under the control of 0, another omnipotent being), launched the wormhole torpedo into the barrier and allowed 0 to return to the galaxy. 0 immediately hunted down Q, but Q was able to unite with the Calamarain and defeat 0. (TNG novel: Q-Strike)
Gorn Crisis
In late 2374, Starfleet Command dispatched Captain Picard and the Enterprise to the Gorn Hegemony, to gain their support in the Dominion War. On arrival at the Gorn homeworld, the Enterprise crew discovered that the Black Crest faction had staged a coup and overthrew the government.
The Black Crest aimed to expand Gorn territory and launched several attacks on Federation outposts. Thankfully, Commander Riker and a Klingon task force were defending the outposts, and the attack was repelled. Meanwhile, Picard remained behind on the Gorn homeworld to try and solve the situation. (TNG comic: "The Gorn Crisis")
The Battle of Betazed
In early 2375, the Enterprise was fighting Dominion forces deep inside Federation territory following the invasion of Betazed in late 2374. The Enterprise had suffered damage following the Battle of Rigel, but managed to dock at Starbase 133 for repairs.
A few weeks later, while docked at the starbase, Commander Elias Vaughn boarded the Enterprise on a top-priority assignment. Vaughn told Picard that the Enterprise was to lead a small Starfleet task force, comprising the USS Defiant and three Saber-class vessels, the USS Tulwar, USS Katana, and USS Scimitar, to attack the Dominion station, Sentok Nor in orbit of Betazed. While Vaughn was to lead a small team to the prison facility on Darona to free the murderer, Hunt Tevren, whose skills were needed by the Betazed resistance.
The attack on the station proved a success, and the Enterprise managed to rescue a large number of Betazoid slaves before the station self-destructed. However, the Katana was lost in the battle.
Vaughn's team was also partially successful, they managed to find Tevren, but he later died in battle with Jem'Hadar soldiers. Fortunately, before he died he taught some of his telepathic secrets to Commander Troi. Using the information gleaned from Troi, the most powerful members of the Betazed Resistance used their telepathic powers to empathically overload the minds of the Jem'Hadar occupation forces. Betazed was liberated; however, 1,200 Betazoid telepaths died from the strain of the attack. (TNG novel: The Battle of Betazed)
In mid 2375, the Enterprise proceeded into the Briar Patch to the planet Ba'ku, after Commander Data had appeared to have malfunctioned and sabotaged a joint Starfleet-Son'a duckblind mission on the surface. Eventually Picard and the Enterprise crew learned that Ba'ku's metaphasic rings were like a fountain of youth, and Admiral Matthew Dougherty and the Son'a leader, Ru'afo were determined to have the planet. Picard and the crew staged an insurrection and stopped the 600 Ba'ku from being transplanted from the planet, and discovered that the Son'a are actually Ba'ku. (TNG novelization: Insurrection)
The Battle of Ricktor Prime and Gul Madred
The Enterprise was at the forefront of the allied forces at the Battle of Ricktor Prime in 2375. It was one of only four of the six allied ships at that battle to survive, though the day was won. After the battle, while en route to meet with a Klingon civilian, the Enterprise received a distress call from a Cardassian Akril-class vessel, the Pakliros.
The ship had suffered catastrophic engine damage, and there were only two survivors: Glinn Driana and Gul Madred. Driana died of radiation poisoning; Picard had Madred placed in the brig, and insisted on conducting the interrogation himself, over the objections of Troi and security chief Lieutenant Padraig Daniels.
Despite their positions being reversed from what they had been on Cardassia six years prior, Madred continued to manipulate Picard, including trying to get him to use his desire to see Driana against him. Eventually, with Troi's help, Picard ceased speaking to Madred, and stopped allowing the gul to continue to victimize him. (TNG short story: "Four Lights")
The Raid on San Francisco
In 2375, Picard was on Earth visiting his niece, Amarante Lebel, when she graduated from the Academy and the Enterprise was on a short-range mission. At the same time the Breen Confederacy launched an attack on Starfleet in San Francisco, destroying Starfleet Headquarters. Then, Picard led a group of newly graduated officers into Bunker SF-Zero-One, which housed backup controls for headquarters, then coordinated between the Enterprise and Columbia in an effort to stop the ships still pounding San Francisco, but they were engaged by DP-7, a weapons platform responsible for the defense of North America. Picard determined that there was someone aboard the platform, so he beamed aboard, stunned the Breen agent, and disabled the platform; allowing Enterprise and Columbia to destroy the Breen ships. (TNG short story: "Eleven Hours Out")
Post-war crises
Mission to Gemworld
In late 2375, the Enterprise was due to conduct a low-gravity survey of planet Primus IV, when they were summoned to Gemworld, home planet of Lieutenant Melora Pazlar, who was temporarily assigned to the Enterprise. Upon arriving on Gemworld, Captain Picard and the crew discovered that a dimensional rift was streaming dark matter onto the planet and destabilizing the artificial planet's support program.
Picard and the crew needed to obtain the crystal key shards from all of the races on Gemworld that were required to power down the planet's protective shell, and allow the Enterprise to power the force fields. The Alpusta seized control of the Enterprise and attempted to use its phaser banks to destroy the rift. The plan is thwarted, and the situation is resolved when Counselor Troi managed to contact an entity in the rift and convinced it to close the rift. (TNG novels: Gemworld, Book One, Gemworld, Book Two)
Dead zones
In early 2376, while attempting to rescue a Federation cargo hauler that had become stranded in the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Enterprise was the first of many ships across the galaxy to encounter a warp dead zone. Captain Picard soon learned that the dead zones were affecting the entire galaxy, and took aboard Ambassador Spock and the infamous Romulan mass-murderer, T'sart.
Spock believed that T'sart held vital information about the phenomena. However, T'sart was poisoned by a Klingon governor named Kalor before he could talk. Picard suspected that they needed to travel into Romulan space, so he sent Commander Riker, Counselor Troi, and Data in the runabout USS Kaku into Romulan territory to obtain a sample of barantium from a Romulan station to mask the Enterprise's warp trail. However, Commander Folan of the IRW Makluan anticipated the action and rigged the station to explode.
Ambassador Spock managed to convince Commander Folan of the threat of the dead zones and he allowed the Enterprise to travel to the Caltiskan system. Upon reaching Caltiskan, the Enterprise (along with several other Enterprises from around the multi-verse) penetrated the alien sphere that was responsible for the dead zones and shut the sphere down. (TNG novels: Dead Zone, Forever Dark)
Badlands mission and Jem'Hadar attack on DS9
In April of 2376 the Enterprise was assigned to patrol near the Badlands in response to rumored Breen activity. Traveling aboard the Enterprise was Commander Elias Vaughn, who confided in Picard about his thoughts of retirement. Picard suggested Vaughn would not be happy sitting back and letting worlds go by, and suggested he turned to writing or teaching.
After three weeks of the patrol, the Enterprise discovered a lost Cardassian freighter, the Kamal. Commander Vaughn led an away team to the freighter and discovered one of the lost Bajoran Orbs, the Orb of Memory, whose mind-affecting properties affected the entire away team. After recovering the Orb, Picard ordered a course set to starbase Deep Space 9 in the Bajoran sector, to return the Orb to the Bajoran people and have the Enterprise repaired after being damaged by the Badlands' plasma activity. (DS9 novel: Avatar, Book One)
The Enterprise arrived at the station in the aftermath of a Jem'Hadar assault, and a planned Federation Alliance assault on the Dominion. Picard had time to enjoy delivering the recovered orb to Kira Nerys before the Enterprise and station personnel were called into action again to stop a Jem'Hadar assault on the station's fusion core. After the crisis was averted, Vaughn chose to stay behind on DS9 and fill the vacant post of station's first officer. Before the Enterprise departed Picard suggested each Federation ship in the allied task force, which had arrived shortly after the incident, donate an energy generator to the station to provide power until a replacement for the fusion core, which was destroyed by the Jem'Hadar, could be found. Also before departing, Picard took the opportunity to make peace with Ro Laren, who was then serving as a chief of security on the station. (DS9 novel: Avatar, Book Two)
Gateway crisis
In early 2376, beings claiming to be the ancient Iconians opened up their entire network of Gateways, and began offering the technology to the highest bidder.
Captain Picard, given his prior experience with Iconian technology, was summoned back to Earth and conferred with Starfleet Command over the matter. Admiral William Ross temporarily re-assigned Picard to command the Saber-class USS Marco Polo on a mission to unite the Alpha Quadrant powers against the "Iconians".
Picard and Deanna Troi managed to assemble a fleet of seventeen vessels from various races to confront the "Iconians". During the confrontation, Picard discovered that, as suspected, these aliens were not the Iconians at all, but rather a race known as the Petraw. Picard discovered that, although the Petraw figured out how to activate the Gateways network, they did not know how to shut it down.
In an act of desperation, Picard stepped through a gateway aboard the Petraw ship in an attempt to make contact with the real Iconians. Upon meeting the real Iconians, Picard learned that they employed a non-intervention policy similar to the Prime Directive, and would not intervene in the matter. They did, however, send Picard to a world where the systems Master Resonator was located, which would close down the Gateway system. On the world, Picard managed to obtain all of the resonator keys and was returned to the bridge of the Enterprise.
The various keys were sent to different ships, and the ships were sent to specific gateways. The simultaneous use of the keys at the various gateway locations shut down the system, ending the threat. (TNG - Gateways novel: Doors Into Chaos; TNG - Gateways short story: "The Other Side")
Return of the Borg
In mid 2376, the Enterprise was leading a colonization effort in the Barissa Sector, when they received a distress call from the USS Premonition. Upon arriving at the Premonition's coordinates, they found her under attack by two Borg Spheres. After destroying the Spheres, the Premonition's captain, Thaddius Deming, informed Picard that he was from a future where the Borg had assimilated the Alpha Quadrant and that the attack was about to begin, starting with Starbase 612.
Captain Picard would also learn that the Borg had used genetic samples from himself to recreate Locutus of Borg who served as the leader of the Collective's assimilation forces within the quadrant.
Upon arriving at the starbase, the Enterprise found that the base had been attacked. With Picard's assistance, the station was able to get its defenses back online and stop the Borg from assimilating the base. However, the crisis was far from over, with rumours that the Borg were also attacking the Klingons, and had forged an uneasy truce with Romulan Admiral Sela, who had allegedly established control of an Omega particle.
Problems grew worse for Picard and Starfleet when they learned that Ambassador Spock, who was to negotiate a truce between the Klingons and Romulans so they could help repel the invasion, had been assimilated en route. Picard was charged with defending Earth from the invasion, which he discovered was led by Locutus, after the Borg assimilated a clone of Picard.
The Borg were successful in assimilating Earth, but the Enterprise traveled back in time via the Premonition's temporal systems. The Enterprise managed to stop the assimilation of Spock and help him forge an alliance with the Klingons and Romulans, and with their help stopped the Borg assimilating Earth.
Following this, Picard led a joint Federation/Klingon/Romulan task force into the Delta Quadrant and destroyed Unimatrix 001 by destabilizing the Omega particle. (TNG video game: Armada)
Genesis wave
In late 2376, Starfleet lost contact with many worlds in Sector 4368, including Outpost Seran-T-1 and the planet Haken in the Hivernia system. The Enterprise was dispatched to the area to investigate and found that worlds that had once been inhabited, but are now lifeless terraformed worlds. The Enterprise discovered the Genesis Wave moving away from the worlds and set out to investigate.
After the destruction of the Pellean Principality, Dr. Leah Brahms was rescued by the Enterprise. She was the only survivor from Seran-T-1, because she was testing an experimental phase-shifting suit. Realizing that the suit could be the answer to surviving the wave, the suit is replicated en masse and tested at the waves next target, Persephone V. The test proved successful, and after the reformation of Sarona VIII, the wave was plotted as heading toward Earth and the Romulan Star Empire.
After rendezvousing with Admiral Nechayev and the USS Sovereign, the decision was made to make a stand on the Bolian colony world, Myrmidon. Starfleet constructed shelters on the planet to protect the population and used interphase generators from the Romulans to protect them. (TNG novel: The Genesis Wave, Book 1)
A tenuous Federation-Klingon-Romulan alliance was created and managed to assemble 40,000 vessels to form a "Ring of Fire" around the wave and dissipate it.
It was discovered that the wave had been activated by a species of Moss Creatures who were to use the transformed worlds as their new homeworlds. (TNG novel: The Genesis Wave, Book 2)
After repairs to Enterprise were completed at Starbase 302 in early 2377, the Enterprise was one of many starships assigned to clean-up operations. Soon after, a portable version of the Genesis Device fell into the hands of a zealous Bajoran Vedek named Yorka, who believed it to be "The Orb of Life", one of the Bajoran Orbs of the Prophets. The Enterprise caught up with Yorka and confiscated the device on the planet Solosos III. (TNG novel: The Genesis Wave, Book 3)
The Enterprise was then sent to the planet Aluwna, a planet transformed by the Genesis Wave that managed to save its population in a series of transporter satellites. Once there, they assisted a group of Klingons that included Ambassador Worf and his son, Alexander Rozhenko, and humans that included Dr. Leah Brahms take on the dangers of the transformed world and restore its population from the satellites. (TNG novel: Genesis Force)
Strange bedfellows
In mid-2377 (Stardate 54522.2), the Borg once again returned to menace the Alpha Quadrant. The Enterprise and a small task force was sent to investigate a reported Borg presence in the Regula Badlands along the Romulan Neutral Zone. On arrival, they discovered a large Borg presence.
Shortly after, the Enterprise rushed to Starbase 176 after receiving a distress call stating that the Borg had attacked. The Enterprise arrived in time to restore the base and its defences into for the second Borg wave. This time, the Borg attacked the base with assimilated Starfleet vessels. The Borg were stopped and the assimilated vessels were retaken, including the Nebula-class USS Douglass.
Using information gathered from the Douglass' sensor logs, Starfleet began to gather forces along the Neutral Zone as a staging ground for an attack into the Delta Quadrant, with the Enterprise leading the way. The fleet entered the transwarp portal and began the offensive in the Delta Quadrant. The invasion was a success as the Borg were caught unaware and their plans defeated.
As the Enterprise led the fleet back towards the Alpha Quadrant, the Borg mounted a counterstrike. Species 8472 arrived in the middle of the battle, and began attacking the Borg. Most ships managed to escape back home, but Species 8472 destroyed the Transwarp Portal and stranded the Enterprise in the Delta Quadrant. Picard was forced to form an alliance with the Borg Queen to stop the Species 8472 in exchange for getting the Enterprise home. As a result, a massive Federation-Borg task force entered fluidic space and defeated Species 8472. Following the battle, the Enterprise and the other surviving Federation ships, were returned to the Alpha Quadrant. (TNG video game: Armada II)
The fall and rise of Jean-Luc Picard
In early 2378, Picard was one of several Starfleet officers present at the first official debriefing of Captain Kathryn Janeway after her ship, the USS Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant. Picard was also on the short list of high-ranking officers that may have been involved in the sale of intelligence and technology to the Orion Syndicate. (VOY novel: Homecoming)
Incident at Rashanar
In 2378, the Enterprise, along with the USS Juno, was assigned to patrol against pirates and scavengers at the site of the Battle of Rashanar, one of the deadliest conflicts of the Dominion War. From the start of the mission, things went completely wrong for Picard and the Enterprise. First, the captain's yacht, the Calypso, was stolen by the Androssi, and then the Enterprise had to deal with the strange anomalies in the region.
Acting solely on the word of his second officer, Data, Picard ordered an attack on what appeared to be the Ontailian heavy cruiser Vuxhal. In response to the attack, the Ontailians destroyed the Juno with all hands. (TNG novel: A Time to Be Born)
Upon returning to Earth, Picard's competence as captain was called into question. Picard was relieved, and Riker assumed command. Picard was eventually allowed to return to the Enterprise under the supervision of Counselor Colleen Cabot, but only in the role of observer.
On Admiral Nechayev's orders the Enterprise returned to Rashanar and discovered that the "Onatailian" ship that they had destroyed was actually a shapeshifting creature. With some help from fledgling Traveler Wesley Crusher, the Enterprise vanquished the creature. Picard re-assumed command of the Enterprise. However, in order to save face with the Ontailian government and preserve their Federation membership, "official" blame still fell on the shoulders of Picard. (TNG novel: A Time to Die)
The Dokaalan
Now in poor favor with Starfleet Command, Picard was ordered by Admiral Nechayev to investigate a 200-year-old distress signal sent by the Dokaalan. Starfleet fully expected the race to be long doomed, as the Dokalaan homeworld was breaking apart at the time of the signal. However, it was felt that the current political atmosphere of the Federation would benefit if the "tainted" Captain Picard were far away.
Upon arriving at the Dokaaalan system, Picard was astonished to find that a portion of the Dokaalan people had managed to save themselves in a series of asteroid outposts. Picard offered the service of the Federation to assist in their efforts to terraform another planet in the system to their needs, and uncovered a plot by the Satarrans to steal that world from them. (TNG novels: A Time to Sow, A Time to Harvest)
The Bader and Dorset
The Enterprise was then ordered to the distant planet of Delta Sigma IV, a world co-inhabited by the Bader and the Dorset, two races that had traditionally been adversaries.
When it was discovered that a Starfleet-created medication was restoring the aggressive natures of the two races, thereby cancelling the calming effect of the planet's atmosphere, Picard, Riker, and Riker's father Kyle Riker struggled to find a workable solution. (TNG novels: A Time to Love, A Time to Hate)
When Kinchawn, the ruler of a minor world named Tezwa, threatened war with the Klingon Empire, Picard and the Enterprise were sent in to mediate. Kinchawn, however, was not interested in mediation. He attacked the Klingon fleet with advanced nadion-pulse cannons, which killed over 6,000 warriors.
The weapons were of Federation origin, and Picard was ordered to take the planet out from under the nose of the Klingons, and destroy the weapons. To this end, Picard contacted Ambassador Worf, his former chief of security. Worf obtained the command codes for the Klingon fleet and provided them to Picard, which enabled him to defeat the Klingon fleet without ever firing a shot. (TNG novel: A Time to Kill)
After the removal of Kinchawn, who managed to escape custody, the Enterprise remained at Tezwa acting as peacekeepers in the unstable region. an action made more difficult by the insurgency started by Kinchawn and his loyalists.
Picard and his crew eventually managed to trace the origins of the nadion pulse cannons all the way to the office of Koll Azernal, Chief of Staff to Federation President, Min Zife. Picard, and those of his crew who knew the truth, agreed to maintain their silence on the matter, as if it were to be discovered that 6,000 Klingons had died due to orders of the Federation President, war with the Klingon Empire would have been inevitable. Soon after, Zife resigned from office, and disappeared from public view. (TNG novel: A Time to Heal)
A year after the Rashanar incident, the Enterprise, and Picard in particular were forced to endure a grueling inspection from Starfleet Command. The inspection team included Captain Wai-Lin Go, Doctor Toby Russell and Betazoid Sabin Genestra, all of whom had some sort of personal grudge against Picard or his crew. The legendary Montgomery Scott, fearing that Starfleet was putting together a "stacked deck," volunteered for the last spot on the inspection team. The Enterprise and crew passed the inspection with flying colors, and were returned to grace with Starfleet Command.
Soon after, the Enterprise was assigned to help the Klingon Empire find their missing Emperor, who had replaced himself with a hologram, and found a secluded world on which he could pass his days painting landscapes. (TNG novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace)
The Borg time wave
On stardate 56344.5 in 2379, Picard and his ship were one of three that experienced the aftershock of the time wave created by the Borg. Picard was the first to learn about the Borg's plan to change their history when Geordi was partially assimilated by the Borg. (TNG comic: "Alien Spotlight: Borg")
In late 2379, Captain Picard and the Enterprise were diverted to Romulus by Admiral Kathryn Janeway. Picard's mission was to greet the new Romulan Praetor, Shinzon of Remus. After a tense first meeting, it was discovered that Shinzon was a clone of Picard, previously part of an attempt to infiltrate the Federation. It was revealed that Shinzon needed Picard's DNA to stop himself from dying, and continue his mission to destroy Earth with his thalaron weapon aboard the Scimitar.
The Enterprise promptly left Romulus to warn Starfleet, but was pursued by the Scimitar, which cornered the starship near the Bassen Rift. Even with the assistance of Commander Donatra and the IRW Valdore, the Reman vessel soon overcame the Enterprise. In an act of desperation, to prevent the Scimitar reaching Earth, Picard ordered the Enterprise to ram the Scimitar. The tactic left both ships severely damaged, but the Enterprise at the disadvantage. To save his crew, Picard had Geordi La Forge transport him to the Scimitar to destroy it from within before it could kill the Enterprise' crew with its thalaron weapon. He ended up dueling with, and killing Shinzon, but was left stunned as Shinzon's corpse rested upon him. Fortunately Data had reached the Scimitar and attached an emergency transporter device to Picard, sending him back to the Enterprise. Data then fired a phaser into the Scimitar's thalaron core, destroying the vessel, and sacrificing his own life to save Picard and the Enterprise. (TNG movie: Star Trek Nemesis)
New beginnings
A few weeks after the Shinzon encounter, Picard was sent on a mission to the Romulan planet, Kevratas. Picard was joined by two former crewmates from the Stargazer, Pug Joseph and Dr. Greyhorse. Their mission was to bring hope to the dreary, plague-ravaged planet. However, their unofficial mission was to track down Dr. Crusher who was also sent to the planet as part of her work for Starfleet Medical, before being presumed killed.
Upon hearing of Beverly's presumed death, Picard finally realized how much Beverly meant to him. Upon her rescue, Picard finally told Beverly how he felt about her. After many years of denying their feelings for the other, Picard and Beverly Crusher began a romantic relationship. (TNG novel: Death in Winter)
Confrontation with T'Uerell
In 2380, Picard and the Enterprise headed into a final confrontation with the Vulcan T'Uerell, a Vulcan who had been working with the Borg, inciting conflicts throughout local space, for two hundred years. Picard, with the assistance of Admiral Kathryn Janeway and her old starship, the USS Voyager. met with T'Uerell and learned of her true intentions; She planned to conquer the Alpha Quadrant with the Borg. She believed that everything she had done, including the deaths of many Starfleet personnel, have been for the greater good. Picard and Janeway attempted to convince her otherwise, but she refused. Janeway left the system and told Picard that "[she'd] be back with some friends" and ordered Picard to defend Federation colonies from assimilation. Picard succeeded, and then ordered that the ship be taken to Deep Space 9.
T'Uerell and the Borg cubes made their way to Bajor and Deep Space 9 where Picard and his task force helped defend the Klingon and Romulan forces under threat of attack. With the loyalty Picard garnered, the Romulan and Klingon starships placed themselves under his flag. The forces engaged T'Uerell and her Borg allies and were victorious. With that, T'Uerell escaped with the Enterprise in hot pursuit.
T'Uerell fled to a star system with many Borg vessels, with Janeway noting that she would not be able to leave, because of all the ships surrounding her. After destroying a Borg tactical cube, the Federation/Klingon/Romulan forces, along with the Enterprise and its task force, engaged T'Uerell. After destroying the strain that protected her, all ships opened fire. T'Uerell's ship could not stand the intense weapons fire and was finally destroyed, thus bringing to an end 221 years of unending conflict. Picard heard T'Uerell calling out to him in her final minutes, though could not tell whether it was the Vulcan or the Borg in her who was calling. (TNG video game: Legacy)
Recruiting the hazard team
Soon after, on a visit to Starfleet Academy, Captain Picard viewed a holodeck training session featuring Lieutenant Alexander Munro, who at the time, taught small unit tactics at the Academy. After talking with the young Lieutenant, he learned of the USS Voyager's hazard team, and decided that he could put such a team to great use aboard the Federation's flagship. Not long after, the Captain had Munro, prospective recruits, as well as other officers who'd served on the previous incarnation of the team transferred to the Enterprise to restart the Hazard Team.
Not only did the team end up saving Picard's ship from Idryll invaders, but it also helped in lifting a cover-up perpetrated by the Attrexian people, (which proved that the Idryll had been a star-faring race many millenia ago) and located and exposed a Romulan militant group known as the "Empty Crown," which sought to overthrow the Romulan government. Captain Picard stated that he would personally recommend that Hazard Teams be deployed throughout Starfleet, and he commended Lieutenant Munro for his valor and heroism as the team's leader. (TNG video game: Elite Force II)
Return of Locutus
After completing repairs, and months of shakedown, the Enterprise was sent on a new mission, to peace talks between the Trexatians and Repoki. However before they began the mission Picard once again heard the call of the Borg. The collective's voice told him that the Borg were constructing a huge new cube with which they intended wipe out Humanity. Equally disturbing, they were building a new Queen.
Disobeying the orders of Admiral Kathryn Janeway and the advice of his new counselor, T'Lana, Picard set forth to confront the Borg. After an away team was brutally slaughtered by Borg who now attacked on sight, Picard came to the conclusion that, due to his experience as Locutus, only he could get close enough to the Queen to stop her.
To this end, he ordered Dr. Crusher to transform him once again into a Borg; only this time an inhibitor chip would prevent Picard from being fully assimilated. Picard underestimated the Borg Queen, who alerted her drones to Picard's presence. The inhibitor chip was deactivated, and Picard was Locutus once more.
Fortunately the crew of the Enterprise came up with a plan, and after being briefly forced to leave the cube when it attacked, returned to destroy the Borg and rescue Picard. The Enterprise, under command of Worf, (serving now as Picard's XO) approached the cube under cloak, using a specially built cloaking device under authorization from Janeway. The Queen was stopped by Dr. Crusher when she injected the Queen with a serum that reversed the Queen's development, and sent the Borg into stasis, leaving the cube in a state of hibernation, and Picard with potential consequences to face for his disobeyal of orders. (TNG novel: Resistance)
End of the universe
A short time later, while Picard's fate still awaited, the Enterprise was sent on a mission of exploration to the planet Gorsach IX. Arriving at the planet the first away team soon discovered it was an artificial construct, and shortly after their return to the Enterprise Q paid a visit, although he revealed nothing of the nature of Gorsach or why he was visiting.
Per Worf's suggestion, Picard ordered a policy of ignorance towards Q when he appeared, which he upheld himself even when Q appeared in his and Beverly's bedroom, shifting appearances in order to seem to be former lovers of the both of them. That policy was held until Admiral Janeway informed the Enterprise that Gorsach had become the epicentre of a series of rifts which were opening all over the galaxy and Q decided to chime in on the conversation.
Picard decided to lead a new away team down to the planet to try and find the cause of the rifts. On the planet, like the other members of the away team, Picard found himself in an alternate version of his life where he worked as a civilian archaeologist under Professor Richard Galen; he was absorbed in this reality, but knew it was somehow not right.
Sensing the reality he was in was actually a construct, and manipulating time as he had been taught by Anij on Baku, Picard stepped out of that reality back to Gorsach, where he was whisked away by Q to the astral void. There Q filled in Picard on what Gorsach was: a plug in the universe to prevent catastrophic entropy—the end of the universe. Q then returned Picard to the place he had just broken into.
In the nothingness of somewhere Picard could hear Q talking to Them (those who controlled the fate of the universe). As Picard listened, Q explained to Them the potential he felt in humanity had, how they had grown so quickly, and how Picard had managed to get past the tricks of Gorsach and find himself there. But They were not convinced and decided this universe, like many before, was just too dull and they would end it and start again. As Picard floated in nothingness hearing the disembodied beings discuss the end of the universe, he found the whole situation utterly absurd and burst out into laughter.
Presented with a laughing Picard, They reappraised their view on the universe and decided to allow it to continue to exist. Picard found himself back on Gorsach, the end of the universe prevented. (TNG novel: Q & A)
Evolution of the Borg
Not long after, Picard and the Enterprise visited Vulcan, where Picard was guest at the opening of the Sarek School of Diplomacy and Ambassadorial Studies, as was Ambassador Spock. While there, a small craft landed and delivered Seven of Nine, who had come against the orders of Admiral Edward Jellico to give Picard a warning: the Borg were active once more and humanity was again at stake.
Picard decided to defy Jellico's orders to return to Earth, and instead set course for Trophy World, where he hoped to reactive the Doomsday machine, an ancient Borg weapon. Several of Picard's crew disagreed with this course of action, and plotted to remove the captain from command. They were prevented from executing their plan, though, and Picard's plan was ultimately successful in destroying the Borg supercube over Earth. (TNG novel: Before Dishonor)
Not long after, Admiral Necheyev invited Picard to Starfleet Headquarters, in order to make a gesture of reconciliation and appreciation toward the captain. Around this same time, Crusher raised the question of her and Picard having a child together. Picard was resistant to the idea, in part due to unresolved emotions he retained from his experience as Kamin, and in part due to his fears about the Borg. Ultimately, he and Crusher did conceive a son in late 2380. (TNG novel: Greater Than the Sum)
Early 2381 saw the start of a new Borg offensive, one which Picard, via his link through Locutus, recognized as greater than any previous threat. The Enterprise was again the only vessel to be equipped with transphasic torpedoes and saw considerable front-line combat. Understanding that the Borg were no longer interested in assimilating humanity, but rather in exterminating it, he began to become depressed. This began to concern his senior crew, most notably Beverly, who recognized the signs early on and spoke with Geordi La Forge. In the face of their captain's introversion and melancholy, his crew was able to trace the source of the invading Collective to the Azure Nebula where they were drawn into a trap, having to send out a general distress call. (ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)
The timely arrival of Ezri Dax and the USS Aventine through a subspace tunnel to the nebula saved the Enterprise. After defeating the immediate threat, Picard ordered the two crews to investigate the tunnels to find ways to mine the nebula and collapse them to prevent further Borg incursions, despite the protests of Captain Dax and the feelings of several of his senior staff who considered the tunnels to be too valuable as an exploratory tool. However, scientific analysis performed by Dina Elfiki and Gruhn Helkara determined that attempts to collapse the tunnels could cause catastrophic reverberations, and the dynamics of the supernova remnant proved to thwart any attempts to create a minefield. After consulting with Admiral Nechayev and requesting reinforcements, Picard ceased production of the self-replicating mines and instead had the ships focus on opening the tunnels, hoping to locate the staging area of the Borg. The Enterprise and Aventine would traverse tunnels individually at first. However, after the arrival of an allied fleet of several hundred ships, the Enterprise and Aventine traversed one of the tunnels together, and ended up near the Carina Arm near the median between the Delta and Gamma Quadrants, where they fought and were boarded by Hirogen hunters. The Hirogen used effective tactics, neutralising the power of the Starfleet ships. Two hunters eventually reached the bridge, at which point Worf and Choudhury had Picard escorted from the bridge. However the Alpha discerned the captain and attempted to kill him, but was stopped by Worf. During the battle Picard's ready room was consumed in fire, providing a new source of depression for him. After the fight, as the subspace tunnels began to collapse, the two vessels returned to the Azure Nebula, finding not the fleet they left behind, but a graveyard of ships. Finding survivors on Voyager, Picard learned there was an invading armada of over seven thousand Borg cubes. The Borg Queen spoke to Locutus through his link, taunting him. Captain Dax impulsively decided to chase the Borg, and Picard set course to chase the Aventine to attempt to cease their foolish attempt to be heroic. (ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals)
Dax was convinced to stand down, and soon after the Titan arrived under the command of Captain Riker. On board was the mysterious former Earth Starfleet Captain Erika Hernandez, who quickly realised the connection of the Borg to the mysterious alien race the Caeliar. However, in the face of the Borg Armada, and the imminent destruction of his entire civilisation, Picard had descended further into depression. He opposed the plan of Captains Riker, Dax, and Hernandez to seize a Borg scout ship and try to use the latter to usurp the Queen. He would go on to oppose their subsequent plans to summon the Caeliar city-ship of Erigol, at whose heart existed an Omega molecule generator of supreme attraction to the Borg, to the nebula. However he acquiesced their plan, and when Erigol arrived and revealed its presence to the Borg, the Queen summoned her entire armada to the nebula. Distrusting the abilities of the Caeliar, Picard instead ordered the creation of a thalaron radiation generator. This would have the effect of destroying the organic components of the Borg drones and queen (as had been advised to the Federation President by Seven of Nine earlier in the crisis). However, the order was still in contravention of Federation treaties with the Klingons and Romulans, among others. The order was refused by Chief Engineer La Forge, who argued that the order not only was illegal but also trampled upon the sacrifice of Data two years before. Galvanised by La Forge, Picard relented and abandoned the weapon. Another brief point of healing was a conversation he had with Riker concerning the traumas they faced about fatherhood. Ultimately, whilst Picard strategised with Riker and Dax on the Enterprise the Caeliar used their massive power to summon the Borg earlier than their expected arrival. There in the nebula the three ships witnessed the Caeliar defeat the Borg Collective (or rather the domination by the Queen in particular). The Caeliar liberated the trillions of Borg drones who remained, and drew them into the Caeliar's gestalt, effectively ending the Borg once and for all. The union of the Caeliar and the drones had the effect of eradicating the last remaining traces of Locutus from Picard's psyche and finally freeing him of its influence after fifteen years. In the face of freedom, Picard collapsed and cried without control on the bridge. Worf and Riker attempted to shield the bridge crew from this sight, and Beverly soon joined them. But the captain was unaware, caught in the embrace of the Caeliar, and more so, freedom. After the end of the brief but traumatic war, the captain and husband could look forward to the birth of his son. (ST - Destiny novel: Lost Souls)
2381 - After the Borg
Reconstruction of the Federation
During the subsequent reconstruction of the Federation, Picard's actions attracted controversy from Starfleet Command due to his decision to 'abduct' Governor George Barrile, the Prime Minister of Alpha Centauri to show him the scale of the damage caused to planets such as Pacifica during the invasion, thus encouraging Barrile to reconsider his decision to withdraw from the Federation due to the current lack of support after seeing other planets in worse shape than his own. Admiral Leonard James Akaar contemplated promoting Picard to admiral in recognition of his unorthodox position in Starfleet's chain of command – able to defy multiple orders and get away with it because his actions always resulted in the best possible outcome – as well as the recent losses sustained to the admiralty, such as the deaths of Admirals Kathryn Janeway and Owen Paris. Picard, though, remembered the advice that he had received from James T. Kirk during their brief meeting in the Nexus: to never accept a promotion that would take him away from the Enterprise, as it was when he was in the captain's chair of that ship that he was best suited to make a difference. Listening to Picard's reasoning, Akaar decided to leave Picard where he was in memory of his infamous namesake, reflecting that the Federation may need another James T. Kirk more than it needed another admiral at this time. (TNG novel: Losing the Peace)
Birth of Rene
In late 2381 Picard became a father with Beverly, as she give birth to their son Rene Jacques Robert Francois Picard. (TNG - Typhon Pact novel: Paths of Disharmony)
Secession of Andor
As part of the new political brief of the captain during this period, in October 2382, Picard led a mission to Andor, to aid a Federation conference seeking to aid the Andorian reproductive crisis. However the event turned into a dramatic blow to the Federation, as it became clear that the Yrythny genetic material obtained by Lieutenant Thirishar ch'Thane in the Gamma Quadrant could not heal the Andorians. Political tensions had already ran rampant between the incumbent Progressive Party, led by the Presider Iravothra sh'Thalis, and the nationalistic Visionist Party. Despite working closely with sh'Thalis, Picard and the Enterprise were unable to stop the slow dissolution of trust in the Federation. Matters came to a head when the Tholians revealed to the Andorians that the Federation had for over a century possessed knowledge of the Shedai Meta-Genome, a vast reservoir of genetic knowledge, which they claimed could heal the Andorians. This resulted in the expulsion of sh'Thalis, the defeat of her government, and the ascension of the Visionists to power. The Visionists immediately held a referendum of Andor's continuing membership of the Federation, which they sought to prevent. Stung and wounded by the weight of the perceived betrayal by the Federation, a slim majority of the Andorian population voted to secede from the Federation - in the words of sh'Thalis, 'act[ing] while in the grip of grief and shock'. (TNG - Typhon Pact novel: Paths of Disharmony)
The Venette Convention
In 2383, Picard would be appointed to a tense negotiation with the Venette Convention, a pacifist compact of species who were being courted by the Tzenkethi Coalition to join the Typhon Pact. Also present at the negotiations for the Khitomer Accords were Ferengi and Cardassian negotiating teams. The negotiations came to a dismal end for both groups as the Venette leaders rejected each for their duplicity and apparently violent inclinations. (TNG - Typhon Pact novel: Brinkmanship)
The Fall
In 2385, Picard and the Enterprise were sent to Cardassia to assist Starfleet where needed and to await for the arrival of President Nanietta Bacco from Deep Space 9, at which point the Enterprise would return her to Earth after a round of negotiations finalizing the Federation withdrawal of Cardassia. While waiting however, Picard received news from Admiral Akaar that Bacco had been assassinated, but told him to hold his ship at Cardassia for the moment. Upon President Pro Temp Ishan Anjar taking power, Picard found himself ordered to stay put and to relay orders to Commander Margaret Fry of HARF that the Federation would be staying indefinitely and that Cardassians were no longer allowed on the Federation facility. While waiting for the next move, Elim Garak contacted Picard for assistance, informing he suspected he'd be assassinated after a visit with the Cardassian Castellan Rakena Garan. Specifically, he believed he would be targeted by the True Way, who had been encouraging increased anti-Federation sentiment by gaining direct and indirect control of prominent positions. Among those positions compromised were the head Cardassian Intelligence Bureau and the Cardassia City Constabulary. The True-Way had since been chipping away at Castellen Garan. As Garak finished his meeting and got back into his skimmer, it exploded, Garak being transported out only seconds before he would have died. Later, Picard would assist Garak, Arati Mhevet, and Ravel Dygan in drawing out those responsible for the growing anti-Federation sentiment on Cardassia. The plan worked and a Pro-Federation replacement had been found for the CIB, Constabulary, and Castellen's position. Though not against the Federation, the Castellen had been caught in a trap that would end with her impeachment and victory for an anti-Federation Castellen known Evek Temet. After the crisis had been averted, Picard was dispatched to Ferenginar by Anjar. Though confused, as Ferenginar wasn't having any problems he knew of, Picard took the Enterprise and went anyway. As the Enterprise departed, Picard would receive a consoling letter from sh'Thalis of Andor regarding the demise of Bacco. (ST - The Fall novel: The Crimson Shadow)
The actions Picard took during the events on Alpha Centauri led to him being appointed with an increasingly political role within and without the Federation in the ensuing years, a situation he would reflect on in 2385. After the truth behind the fate of Ishan Anjar became known and Baras Rodirya - who had impersonated Ishan for over a decade - was arrested and removed from office, Picard approached Admirals Riker and Akaar to discuss his career options. At that meeting Riker and Akaar offered Picard a multi-year mission of exploration of an area of space that had only been charted by unmanned probes. (ST - The Fall novel: Peaceable Kingdoms)
After the assassination of President Bacco and the uncovering of Baras Rodirya, Captain Picard and the Enterprise headed out to the Odyssean Pass to explore. They encountered a derelict spaceship, the Arrow; Worf helped investigate the ship, a massive police weapon based on a planet killer. Caught between a conflict between two neighbouring systems, Picard resolved to pacify the two systems through diplomacy. (TNG novel: Armageddon's Arrow)
By June, the Enterprise had returned to missions of exploration of the Odyssean Pass. The ship happened upon a planet that appeared to come from nowhere. An away team headed by Worf discovered the world was called Ushalon and it is occupied by a small science team from the Sidrac race, experimenting with alternate dimensions. These include one with an alternate Enterprise-D and an alternate 2266 Romulan bird-of-prey, all of which come into the dimension occupied by the Enterprise-E. Ultimately the crews of the three ships worked together to return them to their original dimensions. (TNG novel: Headlong Flight)
Although Riker had assured Picard that he would keep the Enterprise focused on its mission of exploration, he was forced to break that promise when the ship was called upon to serve as a transport for the heirs of the House of Kruge on the centennial of the deciding battle, as well as collecting Emperor Kahless. Despite his distaste for the heirs and the assignment as a whole, Picard did his best to rise to the responsibility even after the gathering was decimated by the Unsung, a group of Klingons descended from discommendated soldiers, and Kruge's newly-discovered heir, Korgh, attempted to make Starfleet the scapegoat for the Unsung's actions. Despite this, Picard was able to turn the tables when he realized that the Unsung were aided by the Circle of Jilaan, prompting him to contact Ardra and arrange for her help in discrediting their actions. (TNG novels: Hell's Heart, The Jackal's Trick, The Hall of Heroes)
Towards the end of the year, the Enterprise encountered Sralanya, where Picard became aware of Earth's history with alien encounters before First Contact. Specifically, he discovered that the native race; the Eizand had been visited by an expedition from Earth in the 21st century. The expedition which was sponsored by the United States government's alien defense initiative under the command of Majestic 12. The agency repaired and retrofitted an Eizand ship that had crashed on Earth. Subsequently, a group of astronauts left on a mission to launch a nuclear preemptive strike on the Eizand home planet. The astronauts decided not to launch their nuclear payload and ejected it into space. Later, the astronauts were used as scapegoats to cover up that factions within the planet's government started a nuclear war. When the Enterprise arrived at the planet, their away team was taken into custody and were to be tried as representatives of Earth for starting the war. Consequently, members of the away team were killed and the Captain and the remaining members were freed from custody and went on the run with members of a resistance movement who wanted the truth about the war exposed. (TNG novel: Hearts and Minds (novel))
Section 31 revelations
Near the end of 2386, the public was made aware of Section 31 when it was revealed by the journalist, Ozla Graniv, and its members prosecuted. The incident on Tezwa was one of the most troubling aspects of that revelation. Most damning was that his captain, Jean-Luc Picard, had been party not only to the forcible removal of Min Zife in 2379, but also his assassination by Section 31. (Section 31 novel: Control)
Following the events at Sralanya, Admiral Akaar debriefed Picard, addressing the unusual nature of secret history involved there. Abruptly, the admiral turned to Min Zife. "Tell me about Min Zife, Captain." While Akaar was glad 31 was finally being punished, he had been stunned to learn that respected officers, including his predecessors such as Edward Jellico and William Ross, as well as trusted admirals like Alynna Nechayev and Owen Paris were involved in its activities. Most disturbing was Picard. Akaar revealed that Picard's role in the removal of President Zife from office became public. However, since he was not involved in the subsequent cover-up and assassination of Zife and his conspirators, Admiral Akaar promised to shield him from the worst of the fallout, but made it abundantly clear that Picard would never be promoted to Admiral or advance beyond Captain of the Enterprise (though Picard stated that he had no desire to advance to the admiralty in the first place). Akaar warned Picard that he was on a tight leash, and that Picard must do his "duty". (TNG novel: Hearts and Minds (novel))
Path to 2409
After the increased in Borg activity in 2381, Picard was placed in charge of Starfleet's anti-Borg defenses. He recruited Seven of Nine to analyze technology brought back by the Voyager crew in order to develop defense of possible re-occurrences of Borg activity. (ST website: The Path to 2409)
Picard's final mission as captain, as well as the Enterprise's final mission before returning to Earth for a one year refit, was to assist the population of the planet Khitomer in 2385. On stardate 62230.13, the Klingon Empire announced that it was expelling all non-Klingon residents there as a "safety measure." It gave the residents fourteen standard days to leave the planet, but Chancellor Martok agreed to extend the deadline after speaking with Picard. Picard and the Enterprise lead a contingent of ships to Khitomer, assisted in the evacuation, and the former residents were safely settled on Federation colonies. (ST website: The Path to 2409)
Ambassador Picard
After returning to Earth, a personal request from the president of the Federation and a great deal of personal reflection, Captain Picard resigned his commission with Starfleet. After a three-month sabbatical in France, Picard took his place as the Federation Ambassador to Vulcan. (ST website: The Path to 2409; ST comic: "Countdown, Number Two")
In 2386, alongside various past and present Enterprise crew, Picard testified regarding Data in order that the android be reinstated to Starfleet. (ST website: The Path to 2409)
When the Enterprise-E arrived at Vulcan, with the Romulan mining vessel Narada in tow, Picard arranged so that the High Council would put aside their prejudices and allow Spock to make his case regarding the Hobus supernova. Despite their best efforts, the Council could not be convinced to give the red matter to the Romulans. After had Nero set off, Hobus erupted with the shockwave of the detonation threatening to destroy Earth and Vulcan in a matter of weeks. After Geordi La Forge had been called on and the Jellyfish procured as a vessel to launch the red matter, Picard received several Starfleet reports of ships from all the major galactic powers being destroyed when they neared Romulan space. Suspecting Nero, Picard contacted Worf and requested he intercept the madman with his fleet. When the Jellyfish was ready for launch, Picard boarded the Enterprise to join Worf's fleet. Upon arrival, they found the Narada to have been augmented with Borg technology, the Klingon fleet in pieces and Worf near death. Nero offered to return Worf to them, provided they lowered their shields. Though Picard convinced Data to do so, the Enterprise was crippled as a result, leaving her unable to pursue the Narada. Once repairs were complete, the Enterprise arrived to a collapsing singularity with no sign of Spock or Nero. Concluding that Spock had always known his journey would end like this, Picard led the crew in mourning their departed friend. (ST comic: "Countdown, Number Four")
As the Enterprise limped home, Picard was visited by Q who informed him that Spock still lived, the black hole having sent the Vulcan into another timeline. When Q attempted to discuss this timeline however, Picard cut him off, being of the belief that the various timelines should remain separate from one another. Scoffing, Q took his leave despite Picard's attempts to call him back. Q later reappeared, enveloped by the energies of a Prophet. Flatly, Picard said he didn't want to know. (TOS - The Q Gambit comics: "Part 1", "Part 6")
The following year, Worf invoked Picard's name during an interview with Jake Sisko. Worf stated that he believed Picard to have spoken openly about the events with Nero. Picard later worked with Federation President Nanietta Bacco in 2389 to deal with damage regarding the Vulcans' knowledge of the Hobus supernova. (ST website: The Path to 2409)
2393 saw the opening of the El-Adrel IV linguistic research facility at which Meltha invoked the names of Picard and Dathon. (ST website: Startrek.com)
In 2402, Picard retired back to France at the age of 97. He was honored by Sokketh who resigned from the Federation Council to take Picard's role as ambassador. (ST website: The Path to 2409)
Personal life
Picard was an amateur archaeologist from an early age, and the interest would last all his life. Even as a Starfleet Captain, he often pondered what his life as an archaeologist would have been like; his knowledge of ancient artifacts and cultures often proved valuable during his command of the Stargazer and Enterprise. (TNG episodes: "Rascals", "The Chase", "Gambit"; TNG novel: The Devil's Heart)
During his younger days, Picard enjoyed flying solar sail spacecraft. He sailed the near-Earth courses at Lambda Scorpii and L2 Puppis, among others, and almost qualified with a crew for the three-kilometer cup. (TNG comic: "Ill Wind")
In his youth Picard was dissatisfied with life as a farmer and never wanted to help around the vineyard. Later in life he expressed disappointment that he never got involved, and he relished the opportunity to help work the land when he visited The Armada, an agricultural colony, in 2365. (TNG comic: "Space Seeds")
Alternate realities
In an alternate timeline created when the USS Enterprise-C was accidentally sent through a temporal rift from 2344 to 2366, the Federation had been at war with the Klingon Empire for almost 20 years as the Enterprise-C's disappearance resulted in the destruction of the Klingon colony Narendra III. Picard was still the commanding officer of the Enterprise-D in 2366 but it was a warship rather than a vessel of exploration. It was the first Galaxy-class warship constructed by Starfleet and was capable of carrying over 6,000 troops. By 2366, 40 billion people had died in the war and, although it was not generally known, Starfleet believed that surrender would be inevitable within six months.
Guinan was the only member of the crew who was aware of the change in the timeline. She informed Picard that the Enterprise-C had to be returned to its proper place and time in order to restore the timeline, in spite of the fact that its crew would be faced with certain death as this would involve re-entering a firefight with a fleet of Romulan vessels. Despite his reservations, Picard agreed to Guinan's plan. After Captain Rachel Garrett was killed in a Klingon attack, Picard placed the ship's only surviving senior officer Lieutenant Richard Castillo in command and approved the Enterprise-C's mission to return through the temporal rift in 2344.
As the Enterprise-C prepared to return to its native time, it was attacked by three K'vort-class battle cruisers and the Enterprise-D laid down cover fire. The ship suffered heavy casualties, including its first officer Commander Riker, and it was about to be destroyed by a warp core breach when the timeline was restored to its original state. (TNG episode: "Yesterday's Enterprise")
In another alternate timeline created by Q, Picard managed to avoid the fight with a trio of Nausicaans on Starbase Earhart in 2327 which, in the proper timeline, resulted in his being stabbed through the heart and its replacement with a bionic implant. However, when Q returned him to 2369, Picard found that he was a lieutenant, junior grade and the Enterprise's assistant astrophysics officer while Thomas Halloway was the ship's captain. Lieutenant Worf was his immediate supervisor.
When Picard told Commander Riker and Counselor Troi that he had aspirations for command, they informed him that these hopes were unrealistic as, during his long career, he had always played it safe and had never stood out from the crowd. With Q's assistance, Picard realised that his brush with death as a young man had taught him how fragile life was and had brought his life into focus. Q allowed him to travel back in time once again and restore the timeline to its original state. Picard was never certain whether what he experienced had been real or a near-death hallucination. (TNG episode: "Tapestry")
In the alternate timeline created by the formation of the red wormhole which began the War of the Prophets in 2375, Picard rose to the rank of Fleet Admiral. The USS Enterprise-E was destroyed in the Battle of Rigel VII, after which Picard began work on Project Phoenix as a way of combating the universal threat formed by the Bajoran Ascendancy. He was present at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards for the project and would gradually suffer the loss of his mental faculties due to Irumodic Syndrome which made him confuse certain people with others of his past. Captain Nog served as his aide during the project.
He journeyed back in time with Nog and Vash deep into Bajor's past where he took the name Shabren, the Bajoran mystic who told prophecies of the future for events to come. (DS9 novel: The War of the Prophets)
In an alternate timeline accessed by an Androssi device installed on Empok Nor, Picard was executed by Gul Elim Garak during an extended Federation-Cardassian War. (SCE eBook: Lost Time)
In another alternate timeline, Picard had his mind transferred into an android body resembling his own. He was still operational in the mid 2400s and was involved with an exploratory mission in the Gamma Quadrant. (TNG - Myriad Universes novel: Brave New World)
In an alternate timeline in which Khan Noonien Singh won the Eugenics Wars and Humanity underwent genetic engineering en masse, Princeps Senior Jean-Luc Picard was the commanding officer of the Earthfleet Dreadnaught-class warship Illustrious in June 2376. Picard, who was known for his cold-blooded nature, was the personal agent of Tiberius Sejanus Singh, the Imperator of the Khanate of Earth. This led him to be dubbed as "the Khan's Dagger."
After several other Earthfleet vessels were destroyed in Sector 221-G by a local coalition of warrior cultures, the Khan sent Picard to patrol the sector. In a matter of months, Picard was able to force the peoples of Xenex, Thallon and Danter to surrender unconditionally by using increasingly brutal tactics.
After the discovery of the Botany Bay carrying 87 men and women from 2010 by Princeps Julian Bashir of the Defiance was reported to the Khan, he ordered Picard to rendezvous with the Defiance in order to prevent the Botany Bay crew from revealing the truth about his grandfather Khan Noonien Singh to his followers. (DS9 - Myriad Universes novel: Seeds of Dissent)
In several alternate realities visited by Lieutenant Worf in 2370, Picard was still the captain of the Enterprise-D. In one reality, however, he was killed during the Borg Incursion of 2366-2367 and was succeeded as captain of the Enterprise-D by William T. Riker. (TNG episode: "Parallels")
In another reality, Picard never joined Starfleet and became a professional archaeologist. In 2380, he and his mentor Professor Richard Galen explored the Phnodra ruins on Phnadrux.
In another reality, Picard was the captain of the FSS Enterprise in 2380. Data was his first officer, Geordi La Forge was the operations manager and second officer, Wesley Crusher was the chief engineer and T'Lana was the ship's counselor. Riker had taken command of the FSS Aries in 2365 and Deanna Troi moved to Qo'noS after she married Worf, who was serving as the Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire.
In another reality, Picard was the captain and only crewmember of the USV Enterprise. The ship was hardwired into his brain.
In another reality, Picard was the first officer of the US Enterprise in 2380 while Wesley Crusher was the captain. Miranda Kadohata was the operations manager. The ship had previously been commanded by Edward Jellico, who had made Picard second officer after his work on the survey of Selcundi Drema had brought him to Jellico's attention. After Data was killed by the Reman usurper Vkruk in 2379, Picard became first officer. In his early career, he had been friends with Captain Crusher's late father Jack Crusher.
In another reality, Picard was the captain of the United Earth Space Probe Agency vessel Enterprise before it was captured by the Klingon Empire and became the IKS Qu'. He was made a slave and kept in shackles on the bridge. By 2380, he was the only surviving member of the ship's original crew. Riker's throat was cut, Data was disassembled, Geordi was gutted, Tasha Yar was shot while attempting escape, Deanna and Beverly Crusher were violated and then strangled and Michael Argyle was decapitated. General Worf was the commanding officer of the IKS Qu' in 2380.
In another reality, Picard was likewise the captain of the USS Enterprise-E in 2380 but his first officer was Commander Martin Madden and the ship's counselor was Hedril. The Picard of the primary universe noted that he had never heard of Madden.
In another reality, Picard was the captain of the USS Stargazer in 2380.
In another reality, Picard was the captain of the USS Sovereign in 2380.
In another reality, Picard was a lieutenant commander aboard the USS Enterprise-E in 2380 while Thomas Halloway was its captain, Data was the first officer, Lieutenant Christine Vale was still at tactical and Riker was in command of the USS Titan. This seems to be a similar, if not identical, timeline to the one which Q had shown Picard in 2369, as it is mentioned that Lieutenant Commander Picard had worked extremely hard since Riker and Deanna had evaluated him, and that Riker had given him bridge duty as a final parting gift before leaving for the Titan. Despite his relatively senior rank, Picard was still a junior officer. (TNG novel: Q & A)
Starfleet service record
|rank or rate
|assignment insignia
|rank insignia
|Starfleet Academy
|student officer
|shipped out from Starbase Earhart
|junior officer
|under Captain Jan Rosenstrum
|USS Stargazer
|second officer
|lieutenant commander
|commanding officer
|Extended leave of absence
|USS Portia
|commanding officer
|Starfleet Tactical
|Head of Long-range Threat Assessment and Response Division
|Starfleet Headquarters
|Starfleet liaison to the Federation President
|USS Enterprise-D
|commanding officer
|Celtris III infiltration
|USS Enterprise-D
|USS Enterprise-E
|Preceded by:
Daithan Ruhalter
|commanding officers of the starship USS Stargazer
|Succeeded by:
|Preceded by:
Thomas Halloway
|Commanding officers of the starships Enterprise
|Succeeded by:
William T. Riker
|Preceded by:
William T. Riker
|Commanding officers of the starships Enterprise
|Succeeded by:
Edward Jellico
|Preceded by:
Edward Jellico
|Commanding officers of the starships Enterprise
|Succeeded by:
Morgan Bateson
|Preceded by:
|commanding officers of the starship Monitor
|Succeeded by:
John Lewinski
|Preceded by:
Morgan Bateson
|Commanding officers of the starships Enterprise
|Succeeded by:
William T. Riker
|Preceded by:
William T. Riker
|Commanding officers of the starships Enterprise
|Succeeded by:
|Stargazer personnel
|USS Stargazer (NCC-2893)
|Ang • G. Asmund • I. Asmund • Ben Zoma • Bender • Caber • Cadwallader • Carriello • Crusher • Durand • Grace • Greyhorse • Hanta • Iulus • Jiterica • Joseph • Kastiigan • Ki'hiut • Kochman • Kotsakos • Leach • Lisuni • Maisel • Merritt • Morgen • Nikolas • Obal • Paris • Pfeffer • Picard • Pierzynski • Refsland • Ruhalter • Satran • Schuster • Simenon • Stroman • Suranyi • T'Moni • Ulelo • Urajel • Valderrama • Vandermeer • Vigo • Werber • Wu • Yojaleya
|USS Stargazer (NCC-2893-A)
|Hendry • Rackham
|ISS Stargazer
|Reginald Barclay • Deanna Troi • Jean-Luc Picard • Data • Natasha Yar • Sam Klock • Khushal • Geordi La Forge • Jack Crusher
|Terran Rebellion starship Stargazer
|Gerda Idun Asmund • Gilaad Ben Zoma • Andreas Nikolas • Phigus Simenon • Montgomery Scott
|USS Portia personnel
|Bowman • Ryallen Colla • Data • Kilif • Johanna Kolbe • O'Brien • Picard • Shawn Rider • Vejar
|USS Enterprise-F personnel
|25th century (from 2409)
|Jirelle Kav • Kyona • Phillipa Matthias • Kirayoshi O'Brien • Savel • Va'Kel Shon • Tem Inasi • Samuel Winters
|alternate timeline 2382-2388
|Krueger • Geordi La Forge • Tom Paris • Jean-Luc Picard • William T. Riker • Deanna Troi
|alternate timeline 2408
|Blair • Data • Hauman • Lamont • Margolin • Tucker
|Academy Marathon participants
|Chiang • Dorgath • Drager • Gareth • David Gold • Nikolas Kyprios • Fergus McLeod • Estrella Miyakawa • Jean-Luc Picard • Reggic Sipanos • Stemon • Telegar • T'Soron
Captain Jean-Luc Picard was portrayed by British actor Sir Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987-1994, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine pilot episode "Emissary", Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). The 12 year-old Picard in TNG episode: "Rascals" was portrayed by David Tristan Birkin in 1992, Marcus Nash portrayed Ensign Picard in TNG episode: "Tapestry" in 1993, while Tom Hardy portrayed Cadet Picard (as well as Picard's clone, Shinzon) in a photograph in Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002.
External links
- Jean-Luc Picard article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Jean-Luc Picard article at Tardis Data Core, the Doctor Who wiki