Hi all, Ric here with part one of a lore breakdown of the Star Trek Timeline from the year 2379
to the Romulan Supernova that destroyed many systems in Romulan space including their adopted
homeworlds of Romulus and Remus. So I finally got my mitts on a copy of Star
Trek Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack and reading through the prequel to Picard
set in the expansive gap of time between Star Trek Nemesis and the Romulan Supernova, this
book adds a lot to the timeline moving forwards and sets up a far more familiar Starfleet
in a universe yet un-sundered by the cataclysmic event. This video series contains information
and spoilers from the aforementioned book, Star Trek Picard and the Picard Countdown
series. For the purpose of keeping this video on topic, I’ll just quickly add that the
book continually refers to the exploding star as simply the Romulan Star and never specifies
which system it was in, just that Romulus was in danger. It does allude both to it being
the Romulan Sun and also not . In other sources, namely Star Trek Online and Countdown the
point of origin is named as the Hobus System but for the course of this video, I’ll just
call it the Romulan Star, as really it makes little difference. The book also never identified
the Starship Verity with a USS affix, let alone as an Odyssey class although this is
how it is portrayed in the comics. Again, there is a variation of the class present
in Star Trek Online, but neither of these have appeared on screen.
Supposedly, these prequel sources are to be considered canonical content, however we have
been told certain materials in the past were canon that were later contradicted so take
that as you will, but I’ve been burned before. So to give some background knowledge to this
book, the Dominion War ended in 2375 leaving the United Federation of Planets in a rather
poor state and seeking to rebuild its forces and lives. The Klingons however remained allied
to the Federation but were likewise severely hurt by the conflicts. The Romulans for the
most part retreated back beyond the Neutral Zone to likewise rebuild their forces and
the Federation began to re-establish the former Neutral Zone treaties and embargoes now that
the war was done. This status quo was seen in Star Trek Nemesis.
The Enterprise NCC-1701-E had been kept out of the Dominion War for the most part engaged
in diplomatic missions to remain true to the core of the Federation’s mandate, much as
the original Enterprise had been assigned during Pike’s era of the Klingon Conflicts.
In the aftermath of the war however, Cardassia Prime was decimated by the Dominion and Starfleet
offered to assist in rebuilding them as it had with the Bajorans who were finally admitted
to the Federation. Cardassian relief lightly taxes the Federation’s resources but sees
great success in stabilising the Alpha Quadrant power.
In 2379, the new Romulan Praetor Shinzon, a supposed Reman and hero of the Dominion
War among the Remans overthrew the senate and extended an invitation to dialogue with
the Federation. This was covered in the film Star Trek: Nemesis which culminated in the
reveal of Shinzon’s hoax and the death of Lieutenant Commander Data.
Captain Picard continues to remain in command of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E with Commander
Worf stepping into the role as executive officer following Data’s death and Captain Will
Riker’s reassignment to the USS Titan. Here he remained until 2381 when he received a
call from Starfleet command concerning a classified briefing he was to attend back at San Francisco,
Earth, Starfleet’s HQ. In a meeting presided over by the Federation
President, Starfleet Commander in Chief Fleet Admiral Bordson and Captain’s Clancy and
Picard, Lieutenant Commander Raffi Muskier of Starfleet Intelligence’s Romulan Affairs
department presents them with intercepted communications about a supernova which will
destroy dozens of inhabited systems. Captain Picard immediately calls for Federation
intervention to help the Romulans evacuate while Captain Clancy argues that the Romulan’s
are probably going to take care of it themselves. The issue stems from the fact that Picard
wishes to commit as much as possible to the evacuation saying that with 900 million lives
on the line, they cannot afford to take half measures. Picard’s impassioned speech wins
over the CnC who promoted Picard to Admiral and gives him command of the evacuation efforts.
He has just under 6 years to manage his task, not just evacuate Romulan planets, but also
help create in infrastructure to support the refugees.
Meanwhile command of the Enterprise E is transferred and Worf, who is promoted to Captain however
the vessel will not take part in the operations as it and its namesakes have too much history
with the Romulan Star Empire. They also hope that seeing a Klingon (former enemies of the
Federation) in command of the Flagship will help placate the Romulans. Commander Geordie
La Forge requests a transfer to Utopia Planetia to manage the production of evacuation vessels.
After a week of negotiating, Captain Clancy has secured passage into Romulan space for
Admiral Picard beginning with the Tavaris IV, Ectis II and Insitor V colonies to evacuate.
Picard recruits Lieutenant Commander Raffi Musiker for her candid manor and specialist
Romulan knowledge as his XO and is assigned the new USS Verity NCC-97000.
Meanwhile on Utopia Planetia, Several Starfleet vessels are refit to expand their crew capacity
as a first step in producing new vessels. This includes the Wallenberg-Class USS Nightingale
and the USS Dignity which were both former colony ships. However, LaForge encounters
pushback from the shipyards personnel who are being forced to abandon personal projects
and other construction work to focus on helping the Romulans. Some engineers resign in protest
but most are on board, even with all hands on deck however, LaForge realises that there
aren’t enough personnel to create the critical, unreplicatable and delicate components needed
in some ship systems. On top of this Romulus’ position on Starfleet’s
assistance is inconsistent and some are worried that the Federation will take advantage of
the status to cripple the Star Empire. After 2 weeks into the project, Commander
Estella Mackenzie, the foremost Bio-neural gel pack expert suggest the use of bio-neural
circuitry to create an android workforce of non-sentient synthetics in order to speed
up production. Around this time Agnes Jurati meets Bruce Maddox at the Daystom Institute
who is soon approached by LaForge to begin work on the Synth workforce.
Maddox objects as the Synths project is not true sentience and he wishes to pursue Doctor
Noonien Soong’s work on positronic brains despite his lack of a breakthrough in this
field. Eventually Maddox acquiesces. The Cambridge Institute of Astronomy observes
that the supernova will be larger than expected and there is seemingly no natural cause, this
information is relayed to Admiral Picard on the Verity who notes former marked safe zones
are no longer viable relocation sites. It is also noted however, that several Federation
colony worlds are. When the rescue fleet arrives at the first
safe zone of Arnath, a Romulan-setup colony world, Picard finds the accommodations the
Romulan Empire has prepared to be unacceptable and Arnath a barren lifeless world. Despite
pressure from the Federation and Admiral Picard in person to the Romulan Government, the Romulans
demand that the USS Verity deposit its Romulan refugees and continue stick to its agreed
upon parameters. Adhering to the Prime Directive, Picard is forced to resettle is refugees against
their will to the harsh planet below and this eats away at his conscience for the remaining
year his fleet spends evacuating other worlds. Some in his fleet suspect that the Romulan
Senate is using the crisis to do some unethical housekeeping and there is a political element
deciding who gets to live where. By 2382, Maddox has constructed the Daystom
A500 model synthetic. Although exactly what was needed and a technical marvel, they were
little more than low grade simulated intelligences in a humanoid shell. They would be capable
of manufacturing the complex starship components but nothing much else. Maddox regarded them
with a mixture of revulsion and resignation, calling them little more than “toys” and
sincerely wished to return to his positronic research and pursuit of true artificial life.
Despite his misgivings, the A500s would be ready to begin production within the month.
Soon Utopia Planetia goes into full manufacturing mode within the next year and with the increase
in turnover, LaForge is able to assemble the new ships in record time. Over the year, Utopia
Planetia churns out many ships aiming to have constructed 2000 by the end of 2383 and they
are on track. This endeavour sees breakthroughs in ship production but for the most part,
it’s eating many of the Federation’s resources and suspended a lot of other projects as they
work against the clock. The Federation is also unwilling to pull it’s remaining ships
back from active duty for evacuation missions that would take many months of transport and
they are also limited by the amount of heavily-armed Federation ships the Romulans will allow into
their space. On top of this, there have been concerns raised that Starfleet wants to avoid
coming off too aggressive by charging in and the Romulans are still not being consistently
cooperative. Meanwhile, the Federation colony world of
Torrassa reaches out to Admiral Picard and offers itself as willing to accept Romulan
refugees. Picard, still concerned with the intermittent level of care provided by the
Romulan Star Empire agrees to relocate some civilians across the Neutral Zone without
asking the Federation for permission, ordering the USS Dignity to cross into Federation space
with its Romulan evacuees. This has immediate ramifications and begins
to stir up the colony worlds closest to the Neutral Zone who begin to speculate if they’ll
be asked to volunteer their own worlds. Others in Starfleet, Captain Clancy among them, point
out that there are likely Tal Shiar among the evacuees and Admiral Bordson protects
Picard’s decision to angry Federation Councillors and Romulan diplomats alike. With this action,
that would indeed save lives in the long run, Picard unintentionally began to create cracks
in the goodwill he had amassed in the rescue effort.
So that’s part one of the Current Canon(?) Star Trek timeline. Like I said, supposedly
the prequel materials are to be considered accurate and so far have lined up with the
show and even if not, I thought the Last Best Hope was a good read. It begins with the quote
from Peak Performance where Picard says to Data, “It is possible to commit no mistakes
and still loose,” and throughout this book we see everything the Federation tried, within
reason to assist the Romulans and how problem after problem gradually sapped moral for Picard’s
rescue initiate. We see how the Romulan paranoia and secrecy downplayed the severity of the
situation in fear of losing control and how the continued to vilify Starfleet even as
Picard tried to help. From a character standpoint, we get to spend a decent amount of time with
LaForge, Maddox and other characters with early discussions with the TNG crew too. Raffi
surprises as we witness her as a Starfleet officer, before her job took her away from
her family and she lost herself in conspiracy and it’s a refreshing change to see her
more upbeat. Funnily enough, I think those dislike Star
Trek: Picard’s focus of Starfleet’s darker, sterner side would find this book a refreshing
change, or at least some much needed context. But then if you’ve already been put off
Picard by this, then you have no reason to read this book. For people who enjoy focusing
on the Trek universe as a larger whole, there’s a lot here to chew on and I’ll continue
my review in part two. As honestly I’m only halfway through as of writing this.
Anyway, I’ll conclude this video in its next part from 2383 to 2387 when the Romulan
Star/Sun/Hobus whatever explodes and takes with it many Romulan lives. So until that
video, thank you for watching this timeline and until part 2, or any video in between,
I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you later. Thanks and goodbye!