Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard

This post is dedicated to the memory of Sir Patrick Stewart (1940-2026)

Leader, diplomat, officer, archaeologist, pulp detective story afficionado, vintner, peacemaker, Jean-Luc Picard was many things.  From promising Starfleet officer he would go on to command two starships Enterprise and become one of the most renown and revered officers in Starfleet and Federation history.

Early Years

Born in La Barre, France in 2305 to Maurice and Yvette Picard, family owners of Chateau Picard Vineyard.  Jean-Luc had a somewhat rocky relationship with his older brother Robert.  Around 2316 Yvette Picard died by suicide, a memory which Jean-Luc would try to hide for the rest of his life.  In 2323, much to the displeasure of his father Jean-Luc entered Starfleet Academy.  During his academy years Jean-Luc would take an interest in archaeology, becoming a top student of professor Richard Galen.  In April 2323 he won the academy marathon at Danula II, the first freshman to do so.  During his senior year Picard undertook flight training aboard the USS Leondegrance under Captain Nyota Uhura.  In 2327 Jean-Luc Picard graduated at the top of his class.  While waiting at Starbase Earhart for his first assignment her was nearly killed after being impaled by a knife during a fight with several Nausicaans.  In an emergency surgery he would receive an artificial heart.  Following his recovery he would be posted to USS Reliant as a night shift flight control officer.  

USS Stargazer

In 2330 he would he transferred to the USS Stargazer NCC-2893 under captain Nathan Ruhalter.  Also assigned to the Stargazer at this time was Picard's academy friend Jack Crusher.  In 2333 Jean-Luc Picard, now a Lieutenant Commander would assume command of the Stargazer during a crisis after Captain Ruhalter was killed and the first officer was left in a coma.  Picard would retain command after the incident and would go on to command the ship for 22 years, rising t the rank of captain during that time.  In 2353 Jack Crusher would die during a mission aboard the Stargazer.  Picard would personally bring his body home to his wife Beverly and four-year-old son Wesley.  In 2355 the Stargazer would be lost after it was severely damaged in an attack by an unidentified vessel and had to be abandoned.  During the battle Picard destroyed the attacking vessel in a unique momentary warp jump, subsequently known as the Picard Maneuver.  Picard would face court-martial for the loss of the Stargazer and would be cleared of any wrongdoing.  He would be awarded the Grankite Order of Tactics for the Picard Manuever.

USS Enterprise-D

After several years of desk jobs and short term commands Jean-Luc Picard would be assigned as captain of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.  During his 7 1/2 years in command he would make first contact with Q, the Ferengi and the Borg among many others.  In 2366 Picard underwent a mind meld with Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan to allow the Ambassador, suffering the effects of Bandi Syndrome to complete his negotiations with the Legarans.  In 2367 after engaging a Borg Cube to delay it's approach to Earth Jean-Luc Picard was kidnapped by the Borg and assimilated into the collective.  Now known as Locutus of Borg he was forced to lead the Borg ship in the Battle of Wolf 359, in which the Borg cube destroyed a fleet of 39 Federation ships, resulting in nearly 11000 casualties.  The Enterprise-D crew would rescue Picard and use Locutus to destroy the Borg Cube, with a bit of help from Picard himself.  Although he would be de-assimilated and fully recover physically, the mental and emotional scars of Locutus would stay with Jean-Luc Picard for the rest of his life.  In 2367 and 2368 Picard would, at the request of Chancellor Kem'pec serve as arbiter of succession, overseeing the installation of Gowron as the new leader of the Klingon Empire.  In late 2368 an energy beam from an alien probe would render Picard unconscious.  The beam would transmit decades of memories of a man named Kamin from the long dead world of Kataan into Picard, which Picard would experience in the space of less than 30 minutes.  In 2369 during an undercover mission to Celtris III Picard was captured by Cardassians and tortured by Gul Madred.  Shortly after this event he would oversee the assignment of Commander Benjamin Sisko and commanding officer of the newly established Deep Space Nine in the Bajor sector.  That same year Picard would be attacked on Lenara III, an energy weapon discharge would fuse his artificial heart, leading to his death.  In the afterlife he met Q, who after showing him an alternate reality in which he never ended up with an artificial heart and thus never rose to command the Enterprise, returned him to life.  In late 2371 Picard would encounter Q again, this time being made to solve a temporal paradox involving his past in 2364, the present and a possible future in 2395.  In mid 2371 tragedy would strike when Picard's brother Robert, along with wife Marie and son Rene would die when a fire gutted Chateau Picard.  Shortly afterward Picard would end up inside the Nexus energy ribbon where he would meet the long presumed dead legendary captain James T. Kirk.  Using the Nexus temporal properties Picard and Kirk returned to Veridian III and defeated the El-Aurian scientist Dr. Tolian Soran, preventing him from destroying the Veridian star and millions of people of Veridian IV in the process.  During these events the Enterprise-D was attacked by the Duras sisters in orbit and the ships stardrive section was lost, the saucer crash landing on the surface.

USS Enterprise-E

In 2372 Jean-Luc Picard was assigned as commanding officer of the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E.  In late 2373 Captain Picard disobeyed orders and took the Enterprise E into battle against the Borg, becoming the critical part Starfleet's victory at the Battle of Sector 001. The Enterprise followed a Borg sphere launched from the cube just before its destruction through a temporal vortex and stopped it from altering Earth's history by preventing first contact with the Vulcans in 2063.  In 2375 Captain Picard again disobeyed orders, albeit unjust ones this time, and led an insurrection on the Ba'ku planet to prevent the Son'a and a rouge Starfleet Admiral from forcibly relocating the Ba'ku from their home planet.  In 2379, after serving as best man at the wedding of USS Enterprise-E first officer William Riker and Counsellor Deanna Troi Picard was ordered to Romulus in response to an invitation by the new praetor, Shinzon.  The invitation turned out to be a ruse, Picard was captured by Shinzon, a failed Romulan-made clone of Picard.  Picard escaped and the Enterprise battled Shinzon's ship and prevented it from using a deadly thaleron radiation weapon, at the cost of extreme damage to the Enterprise and the death of Lieutenant Commander Data.

Romulans

In 2381 Jean-Luc Picard stepped down as commanding officer of the USS Enterprise and accepted a promotion to rear admiral.  Admiral Picard, aboard the USS Verity would head up evacuation efforts in the Romulus system in preparation for the impending supernova of Hobus.  The evacuation efforts would be halted in 2385 when synth workers at Utopia Planitia would (under what would later turn out to be Romulan Zhat Vash control) attack the shipyards, killing thousands and critically damaging the fleet of evacuation ships being constructed there.  In the wake of the attack Starfleet Command cancelled the evacuation and banned all synthetic lifeforms.  In protest Admiral Jean-Luc Picard resigned.  He would retire to Chateau Picard for 14 years.  In 2399 he was approached at the vineyard by Dahj Asha, a synth (android) being pursued by Romulan Zhat Vash agents.  After Dahjs death Picard with the help of former Starfleet officers Raffaella Musiker and Cristobal Rios, cyberneticist Agnes Jurati (and others) aboard the freighter SS La Sirena begins an investigation that reveals the Zhat Vash connection to the Mars attack and outs Commodore Oh as the leader of the Zhat Vash.  Picard's body dies as a result of irumodic syndrome which he has suffered from for several years.  His conscience is transferred into a synthetic "golem" body by Dr. Alton Inigo Soong, sone of Dr. Noonien Soong.  The following year Admiral Picard returns to Starfleet duty as the commandant of Starfleet Academy.  

The 25th Century

In 2400 Admiral Picard, on a training mission aboard the Sagan class USS Stargazer encounters a Borg signal and summons a Starfleet Armada.  the Borg take control of the Stargazer and Picard orders self destruct.  Moments before the self destruct Picard, Raffi Musiker, Rios and several others find themselves in an alternate timeline in which a xenophobic Confederation of Earth replaces the UFP.  Learning that Q is responsible for altering the timeline Picard and the others travel back in time aboard SS La Sirena via a temporal slingshot maneuver and prevent the early death of an astronaut Renee Picard, an ancestor of Jean-Luc.  Picard with the help of Q comes to terms with the death of his mother.  Before his apparent death Q sends La Sirena and its crew back to the 25th century and the Borg threat is diffused with the revelation that these Borg are controlled by a new queen, the former Agnes Jurati. The following year Picard, again retired to the vineyard, received a message from Dr. Beverly Crusher.  With Captain Riker and the help of Commander Seven of Nine Picard commandeers the USS Titan NCC-80102-A, successor to Rikers command to help Dr. Crusher.  They rescue the doctor, as well as a young man named Jack Crusher, the son of Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard, conceived during their shore leave together 20 years ago.  Beverly's ship and the Titan were attacked by the Shrike, a ship of unknown design captained by Vadic, a Dominion changeling captured during the Dominion War and subjected to torturous experiments by Section 31.  Vadic captures the Titan and demands Jack be turned over to her.  After the Titan crew and members of Picards old crew defeat Vadic they discover another threat: the Borg.  Vadics changelings and the remnant of the Collective were working together to take over Starfleet during the upcoming 250th anniversary Frontier Day celebrations at Earth.  According to records made by Dr. Alton Soong before his death Picard's irumodic syndrome diagnosis was incorrect, what he suffered from was in fact an effect of his Borg assimilation, the changes it made to his DNA, changes that were passed down to Jack.  While the Titan fought against the fleet at Earth Picard and his former crew took the restored USS Enterprise-D (saucer section, mated to the drive section of USS Syracuse) to counter the collective's supercube at Jupiter.  The Enterprise crew successfully destroyed the Borg ship and rescued the partially assimilated Jack Crusher (who was being used as the command signal).  The following year after seeing a fast tracked Ensign Jack Crusher off to his new assignment, the USS Titan-A now rechristened USS Enterprise NCC-1701-G Admiral Picard returned to retirement for good.