by James Swallow

Pocket Books, out now

The USS Titan is drawn into an incident on the Romulan-Federation border, with Captain Riker, his family and his crew caught between the shocking secrets of an enigmatic alien species and the deadly agenda of a ruthless Tal Shiar operative.

Seven years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis and one year after the ‘Mars Incident’ and Jean-Luc Picard’s resignation from Starfleet, James Swallow takes us beyond Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson’s Picard: Countdown comic book and Una McCormack’s The Last Best Hope novel to fill in some more of the back story that prologues the Star Trek: Picard show.

While he does appear a couple of times, this is not a story about Picard, but the Rikers on the USS Titan. Will is in command, supported by Deanna, with young child Thad in tow. Swallow’s novel is informed by TV episode Nepenthe, taking a number of its plot points and retrofitting them to his narrative in a very organic way. At no point do you feel that he’s winking at you, saying ‘Did you see what I did there?’

The main story follows the Titan helping a new race (to us anyway) the Jazari as they prepare to launch a generation ship that will take their race to the far side of the galaxy. But an explosion on a reclamation platform tears a hole in sub space that needs an immediate repair, which is where the Romulans decloak and offer to help. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Romulans it’s their duplicitous nature, and are we to really believe that they are helping out purely from friendship?

Star Trek: Picard has established the new extra-secret Romulan order of the Zhat Vash, and the terrifying prophesy of the Admonition, both of which are carefully woven into the story alongside other references that hold the story in its timeframe. Swallow builds up the tension as both the Romulans and Jazari reveal their respective true hands – we can at least rely on Starfleet to be straight-talking – leading to an exciting standoff in the stars.

Verdict: An exciting and authentic addition to the Picard canon, filling in more fascinating background to this rich seam of the Star Trek universe. 8/10

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