Before he commanded the Starship Enterprise, Jean-Luc Picard was the captain of the deep space exploration vessel, the "U.S.S. Stargazer," on an incredible twenty-two year voyage. Now Picard is reunited with his old crew for the first time in over a decade, on a mission to see his former first officer installed as ruler of the Daa'Vit Empire. The reunion turns deadly when a ruthless assassin begins eliminating the "U.S.S. Stargazer" crew one by one. Picard's present and former shipmates must join forces to solve the mystery of the Captain's past, before the killer strikes again.

Twenty years before the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation, a young Lieutenant called Jean-Luc Picard takes command of his first ship, the USS Stargazer... The USS Stargazer, a long-range exploration ship commanded by Captain Ruhalter, is assigned to pick up descendents of the survivors of the USS Valiant, a ship that was lost at the far edge of the galaxy in the very first Star Trek Original Series episode. The evacuees claim that a deadly invasion force from outside the galaxy is nearing the United Federation of Planets. When they are ambushed by the invaders, Captain Ruhalter is killed, leaving a young Lieutenant, Jean-Luc Picard, in charge of the ship in the midst of a deadly confrontation. Picard must swiftly learn to be an effective Captain; while dealing both with a crew that has not yet come to trust his judgement and with hostile aliens more powerful than anything the Federation has encountered before.

Long before he took command of the starship Enterprise, Captain Jean-Luc Picard led another proud vessel through the uncharted regions of the galaxy: the U.S.S. Stargazer. Thrust unexpectedly into the center seat, the twenty-eight-year-old Picard must live up to the challenges of starship command—and a crew that hasn't yet learned to trust him. The pirate known as the White Wolf has been wreaking havoc across several sectors, and the inexperienced Picard has been given the assignment to stop him. Surprised at getting such a challenge, Picard soon learns that he is expected to fail in his duty and have his captaincy disgraced before it can even begin. Given an untested crew and an impossible mission, Picard must beat the odds and apprehend the White Wolf—but the pirate keeps a shocking secret that leaves Picard to make a deadly decision.

Thirty years before the days of Star Trek: The Next Generation®, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was thrust unexpectedly into command of another proud vessel: the U.S.S. Stargazer. Surrounded by a crew he doesn't entirely know or trust, the young Picard must answer the challenges of leadership.... While Picard and his senior staff accompany Chief Engineer Simenon to his homeworld of Gnala to undergo a ritual, his second officer, Victoria Wu, is left in command of the Stargazer. Responding to a distress call from a nearby star system, Wu finds herself in the middle of a mystery involving a damaged ship and a peculiar interstellar phenomenon—one that threatens to destroy the Stargazer if she can't learn its secret. Meanwhile, on Gnala, Picard must help his friend undergo the ritual—and find out who is trying to sabotage their chances of completing it before they're all killed!

Identical twins Gerda and Idun Asmund lost their human parents early in life and were raised as warriors on the Klingon homeworld. They were taught to face every danger shoulder to shoulder—regarding each other as the only certainty in a dangerous and uncertain universe. The Asmunds continued to depend on each other as helm officer and navigator on the "Starship Stargazer," peril and adversity forging a bond between them as strong as tritanium. But that bond is tested when a transporter mishap deposits a mysterious visitor on the Stargazer—a beautiful woman from another universe who resembles Gerda and Idun as closely as they resemble each other. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard pits the "Stargazer" against a savage alien species in a gallant attempt to send their visitor home, Gerda comes to suspect the woman of treachery. But she has to wonder—is she following her Klingon instincts or succumbing to simple jealousy? Gerda needs to find out—before Picard and his crew pay for their generosity with their lives.

In 1893 a time-traveling Jean-Luc Picard encountered a long-lived alien named Guinan, who was posing as a human to learn Earth's customs. During this "first encounter," Picard saved Guinan's life, a favor she would never forget.Five centuries later, Captain Picard, now commander of the "Starship Enterprise" (TM), brought Guinan aboard as the ship's "bartender." The hope was that her wisdom and inner peace would provide a moral grounding for Picard's crew as they experienced the dangers of space. Because he hadn't yet made his trip through time, Picard had no knowledge of his nineteenth-century meeting with Guinan. But he did remember a different first encounter with the mysterious El-Aurian—a tumultuous adventure in which Picard and Guinan would risk their lives in a maze of interplanetary intrigue, with the future of the known universe at stake. This is the story of that fateful meeting, and of a Guinan very different from the woman we think we know—a person wracked by pain and longing, shaken to the roots of her soul. A Guinan who yearns for oblivion.

Without warning, a Starfleet ship is overwhelmed by a mysterious, alien aggressor—one who appears to possess an intimate knowledge of the vessel's tactical technology. Then a second Starfleet ship is attacked. And a third. Twenty-eight-year-old Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the "U.S.S. Stargazer" — a "Constellation"-class starship—is ordered to help form a desperate line of defense against the aggressor. But it seems nothing can stop the aliens' headlong plunge into the heart of the Federation. Or rather, nothing in "front" of them can. Trailing one of the alien attack formations is a tiny Starfleet shuttle with a half dozen crewmembers aboard. One of them is Picard's first officer and best friend, Gilaad Ben Zoma. Another is Arlen McAteer, the ambitious admiral who has made it his business to relieve Picard of his command. Can Ben Zoma and McAteer work together to unlock the secret of the alien assault? Or will their differences sabotage their effort—and deprive the Federation of its last hope for survival?

Ensign Andreas Nikolas, heartsick over the loss of his Mirror Universe lover, has resigned his post on Jean-Luc Picard's starship, the "Stargazer," to seek a home on the freighter "Iktoj'ni."All he wants of his new life is a chance to forget his troubles. And that's what he gets—until the "Iktoj'ni" is taken over by a monstrous alien with unbelievable powers and a disdain for all forms of life. Without saying why, the alien sends the freighter hurtling toward a part of space inhabited by the Ubarrak, the Federation's deadliest and most xenophobic enemy. And Nikolas, who fears that the incident will start a war, can't convince his captor to turn back. Picard's only hope of stopping the alien menance is Serenity Santana—a woman who once abused his trust in the name of her people's survival. Now she's back, asking for the captain's trust a second time. Picard desperately needs Santana's help in his struggle to save his galaxy. But will she justify his faith in her—or once again twist it to serve her own shadowy ends?

Jean-Luc Picard. His name has gone down in legend as the captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer and two starships Enterprise. But the nine years of his life leading up to the inaugural mission of the U.S.S. EnterpriseTM to Farpoint Station have remained a mystery—until now, as Picard's lost era is finally unearthed. Following the loss of the Stargazer and the brutal court-martial that resulted, Picard no longer sees a future for himself in Starfleet. Turning to his other love, archaeology, he embarks on a quest to rediscover a buried age of ancient galactic history...and awakens a living survivor of that era: a striking, mysterious woman frozen in time since before the rise of Earth's dinosaurs. But this powerful immortal has a secret of cataclysmic proportions, and her plans will take Picard—aided along the way by a brilliant but naive android, an insightful Betazoid, and an enigmatic El-Aurian—to the heights of passion, the depths of betrayal, and the farthest reaches of explored space.