It’s been eight months since the first Star Trek: Picard novel arrived, telling some of the backstory of Jean-Luc Picard’s transition from Enterprise captain to Romulan-refugee-wrangling admiral — and now the next chapter of the Picard book series has been revealed!
Following February’s The Last Best Hope, next January brings Star Trek: Picard — The Dark Veil from author James Swallow, which centers around Captain Will Riker and Commander Deanna Troi — seen in “Nepenthe,” one of the fan-favorite episodes of Star Trek: Picard’s first season.
Set after the time of the synthetic’s attack on Mars in 2385, the new novel follows Riker and Troi on the USS Titan — where the pair ventured off to in Star Trek: Nemesis after leaving the Enterprise-E.
Here’s the official synopsis from Simon & Schuster’s digital catalog:
Within the United Federation of Planets, a terrorist strike on the shipyards of Mars has led to the shutdown of all relief efforts for millions of Romulans facing certain doom from an impending supernova.
But when the USS Titan is drawn into a catastrophic incident on the Romulan-Federation border, Captain William Riker, his family, and his crew find themselves caught between the shocking secrets of an enigmatic alien species and the deadly agenda of a ruthless Tal Shiar operative.
Forced into a wary alliance with a Romulan starship commander, Riker and the Titan crew must uncover the truth to stop a devastating attack—but one wrong move could plunge the entire sector into open conflict!
As this story takes place before Riker and Troi retired to planet Nepenthe, following the death of their son Thad, The Dark Veil very well may feature the young Troi-Riker child as part of its narrative — as Picard showrunner Michael Chabon noted on Instagram earlier this year that Thad was about 15 years old upon his death.
Author James Swallow shared a bit of detail about the setting of the novel, along with what connections it may have to the Star Trek: Titan novel series:
‘The Dark Veil’ is set a year after Jean-Luc Picard’s resignation from Starfleet (as seen in flashback in the episode “The End is the Beginning”) and several years before Will and Deanna retire from the service (as mentioned in the episode “Neptenthe”).
I have to give a big Vulcan salute to Jim Salvati, the amazing artist who created the cover… It was a thrill for me to revisit the Titan once again – I’ve previously written about the ship and its crew in my novels ‘Synthesis,’ ‘The Poisoned Chalice’ and ‘Sight Unseen’ – and a unique challenge to write in the ‘new’ continuity set up by ‘Star Trek: Picard.’
Long-time fans of the Titan series will notice some differences, but also some familiar faces too…!
The cover art for The Dark Veil is based upon two production photos: one of Captain Riker on the USS Zhang He bridge (in reality, Jonathan Frakes on the USS Discovery bridge set), and a Deanna Troi photo, taken during Marina Sirtis’ time on the Star Trek: Nemesis set.
Of course, this artwork was likely produced without knowledge of the final episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks’ first season, where the Luna-class bridge of the USS Titan was seen for the very first time in “No Small Parts.”
While many (including our team) were predicting a Seven of Nine, Hugh, or Cris Rios-centric story for the second Star Trek: Picard novel, it does make a bit of sense — while filming on the second season of Picard is still months away at best — to set the book around a pair of characters not vital to the television show’s primary storyline, to avoid conflicting character beats that might be overwritten when Picard returns to television.
James Swallow’s Star Trek: Picard — The Dark Veil is scheduled for a January 2021 release, and can be preordered today at Amazon US in both hardcover and eBook formats — and fans in the UK can preorder here.