Jean Luc Picard
Captain
Picard was born in 2305, in Labarre, France. The son of Maurice Picard and Yvette Gessard Picard and the younger brother of Robert Picard. The family was steeped in the French tradition of vintners (and like all makers of wine they had good years and bad years). As a young boy, Jean-Luc enjoyed building ships in bottles. One of his early efforts was a Promellian battle cruiser which he would eventually encounter in real life. His preoccupation with the stars was discouraged by his father but this hobby was the first step in Jean-Luc's trip to the stars. He also enjoyed the Smithsonian Institution and viewed the Phoenix (the Human's first warp capable vessel) on several occassions.
Picard was very proud of his family history. A Picard fought at the battle of Trafalgar. Another Picard won the Nobel Prize for chemistry. Picards were also among the first settlers of the Martian Colonies. However, there were less illustrious ancestors. One of them, Javier Maribona-Picard took part in the infamous crushing of the Pueblo Revolt (1692).
Eventually, Jean-Luc applied to Starfleet for a place in the Academy. It was 2322, and he was turned down. A year later, when he turned 18, he applied again and this time was accepted. He was an outstanding student and in his first year, Picard became the only freshman ever to win the Academy marathon on Danula II. He also won top academic honors as well. However, Picard also commited a serious offence whilst at the Academy. He credited the groundskeeper, Boothby, as the person that made it possible for him to graduate. Boothby helped him with the advise to "do the right thing". Picard graduated with the rest of his class in 2327.
After the graduation, Picard attended a small celebration with two of his friends at the Bonestell Recreation Facility of Starbase Earhart. At the celebration he got involved with some Nausicaans over a game of dom-jot that had been played by his friend, Cortin Zweller. This turned into a fight between the three friends and three Nausicaans and the young Ensign Picard received a Nausicaan knife through the back and into his heart. This necessitated a cardiac replacement procedure which meant that Picard would have an artificial heart for the rest of his life. The heart required regular routine replacement, most recently in 2365. Complications in the procedure at Starbase 515 necessitated emergency assistance by Dr. Katherine Pulaski. Picard had an incident where he was phasered at close range. During the medical procedure he discovered that the Nausicaan incident went a long way towards shaping the rest of his life. Q gave Picard the chance to change the outcome and when Picard took the chance he was not happy with the way his life turned out. Q did relent and allow Picard the opportunity to reverse his decision.
After leaving Starfleet Academy, Picard met Ambassador Sarek for the first time at his son's wedding (Spock). This was one of the few times that Picard was awestruck, meeting one of the people who had helped shape Starfleet. Also, early in his career, he distinguished himself on Milika III. Picard led an away team which saved an endangered ambassador.
Picard had a number of romances during his early life. Janice Manheim (future wife of Dr. Paul Manheim) was one strong attraction for Jean-Luc. However, he feared the commitment and broke off the relationship in 2342. They were to meet again in 2364. Another romance was with Phillipa Louvois who would become a Starfleet prosecutor. In 2344, Jean-Luc met Beverly Howard and fell in love with her. However, Beverly was involved with Picard's best friend, Jack Crusher and eventually Jack and Beverly married. Later, Picard had to break the news of Jack Crusher's death to Beverly. After that, he never felt he could approach her with a romantic proposition. They did, however, remain very close and Beverly found out about his feelings in 2370 when she became attached to Picard via a psi-wave device. In 2346, he met Miranda Vigo during a shore leave to Earth. They had a rapid affair and then parted. They promised to keep in touch but they never did. In 2370, Damon Bok tried to use Jason Vigo against Picard. He resequenced Jason's DNA to make it appear as if he was Picard's son.
Lieutenant Picard then took a position on the bridge of the USS Stargazer. When the ship's Captain got killed, Picard took control of the situation and took charge of the ship. For his services in the emergency, Picard was made Captain of the USS Stargazer and remained so for the next twenty years. In 2355, the ship was nearly destroyed by an unprovoked attack near the Maxia Zeta Star System. The attackers were, at the time, unknown. Later, they were found to be the Ferengi. The Stargazer only escaped complete destruction when Picard came up with a new tactic for attacking the assailants. Now known as the Picard Maneuver, it is required course work at Starfleet Academy. Damon Bok was the Captain and he always blamed Picard for the death of his son in the battle. The surviving crew of the Stargazer (including Picard) escaped in a shuttlecraft. They drifted for weeks until they were rescued. Starfleet procedure was followed and Picard was court-martialed for losing a starship. He was cleared of all charges. The prosecutor was Phillipa Louvois.
Picard became the Captain of the USS Enterprise-D in 2363. The ship was newly commissioned and Picard was also able to have his choice of crew. His mission was similar to the original USS Enterprise, to seek out new life and new civilizations. In 2364, Picard was offered a promotion to the Admiralty by Admiral Quinn. He believed that starfleet was being influenced by alien intruders and wanted people he could trust at Starfleet Command. The offer was to take over the Academy, but Picard declined it, stating that he was more useful to Starfleet where he was.
Picard met Sarak again in 2366 during an ambassadorial mission. Sarak was inflicted by the Bendii Syndrome which caused him to lose emotional control. Sarak mind-melded with Picard in order to allow Picard to help control Sarak's emotion. The diplomatic mission with the Legarans was historic and concluded successfully.
One of the most profound incidents of his five year mission was meeting the Borg. Q was the instigator of the first meeting. This led to the Borg noticing the Federation and they decided to come to the Alpha Quadrant to investigate. When they arrived, they met the USS Enterprise-D. Picard was captured by the Borg and assimilated into the collective. This turned Picard into Locutus and gave the Borg access to a depth of experience and knowledge about the Federation. This information was used at Wolf 359 when the Borg cube destroyed 39 Federation vessels. Picard was rescued by an away team from the Enterprise and Dr. Beverly Crusher managed to surgically remove the Borg implants. Data managed to get the Borg cube to self destruct. However, many people now viewed Picard with distrust (and sometimes hatred) because of this episode. One of these was Benjamin Sisko, who's wife was killed at Wolf 359. But the incident did provide Picard with an insight into the Borg that would prove to be useful in later life. Jean-Luc returned home to Labarre for the first time in 20 years after this in order to recuperate. Robert Picard now ran the vineyard with his wife Marie Picard. Jean-Luc also met his nephew, Rene Picard for the first time. Picard almost accepted a job with the Atlantis Project, but his time at home revealed to him that he belonged on the Enterprise.
In his early years, Picard was very interested in Archaeology. At the urgings of his teacher, Professor Richard Galen, he almost decided to be an archaeologist. In 2369 Richard Galen came to Picard to try and get him to join him on his latest endevor. Picard again declined. Shortly afterwards, Richard Galen was murdered and Picard took up his teacher's quest. It led him towards a secret buried in a genetic code. It also led him towards conflicts with the Cardassian, Klingons and Romulans. On the final planet of their quest, the four species met and the final piece of the jigsaw was obtained. It was a genetic hologram which explained the origin of all the humanoid species in the quadrant. This was probably the greatest archaeological discovery of all time.
Also in 2369, Picard handed over command of the Enterprise to Captain Edward Jellico. Picard then went on a top secret mission with Beverly Crusher and Worf to a Cardassian installation. Here, he was captured by the Cardassians who had devised the whole set-up as a trap to get Picard. He was tortured by Gul Madred who wanted intelligence information about Starfleet. Picard was released before telling him anything, but he admitted that the Cardassian had almost broken him. Picard then regained command of the Enterprise (probably much to the crew's relief!).
Picard was an extremely experienced Captain. However, he was to live another life as well as his own. In 2368, the Enterprise encountered a probe from a long dead planet called Kataan. The probe contacted Picard's mind directly and in the space of 25 minutes, Picard lived the life of a man called Kamin. This included falling in love with his wife, Eline, and becoming the father of two children, Meribor and Batal. Picard, as Kamin, lived a full and long life in the town of Ressik and learned to fulfill his musical interests. Once Picard was removed from the probe's influence he retained all the knowledge and skills of the "other" life. That's the reason picard plays flute.
As a diplomat, Picard was often called upon to deal with other species on a political level. One of the most important missions was involving himself with the Klingon High Council. When K'mpec was dying, he had K'Ehleyr arrange for Picard to become his Arbiter of Succession. This meant that Picard had to choose the next Leader of the Klingon Empire. His choices were Gowron and Duras. When K'Ehleyr discovered that Duras had poisoned K'mpec, Duras killed her. This would have been enough for Picard to accept Gowron, however, Worf took it one step further and claimed his Right of Vengence and killed Duras. Having accepted Gowron as the new Leader of the High Council, Picard was able to use his influence in future dealings with the Klingons.
Picard had various other romantic interests during his time on the Enterprise. The main one was Beverly Crusher, but this was never a fulfilled love. He met Vash on Risa and had an archaeological adventure together. However, she was a renegade and a wanderer so they could not settle together. Q even tried to get involved in the relationship by plunging them into a fantasy adventure together, Picard as Robin Hood and Vash as Maid Marion. Eventually Vash left with Q for the Gamma Quadrant. His music led to an affair with Neela Daren who was a member of the crew. This had to be stopped as Picard felt it interfered with his duties as Captain. The Captain had a very close confidant in Guinan. She was able to guide him when others wouldn't or couldn't. Picard learnt to trust her instincts.
Eventually, Q showed up again. This time it was a test for Picard and humanity. Picard was alternately switched between the past, the present and the future. An Anti-time anomaly was threatening the existance of the Human species and Picard had to figure it out. The solution presented itself after Picard managed to get all three versions of the Enterprise together at the same point in space (although at different times). Together, all three ships (and all three crews) managed to avert the disaster. Q later admitted that although he was not responsible for the anomaly, he did want to see if Picard had the capacity to expand his mind to the problem. Apparently, humanity was still in the process of being judged by the Q Continuum. This episode finally saw Jean-Luc join Will Riker and the rest of the senior staff in their weekly game of poker.
In 2371, Picard was struck by grief. His brother and nephew were killed in a fire. And shortly after this the Enterprise was destroyed at Veridian III. Dr. Tolian Soran was attempting to destroy the Veridian sun in order to return to the Nexus. On Guinan's advise, Picard entered the Nexus to seek help, and the help he found was Captain James T. Kirk. Kirk had been missing for 78 years and was presumed to be dead. Together they returned to Veridian III to stop Soran. Kirk was killed in the attempt and Picard built a small cairn on the planet to hold his remains.
The USS Enterprise-E was launched in 2372, again with Picard as the Captain. In 2373, the Borg came to visit again. Picard was ordered to the Neutral Zone to keep an eye open for Romulans. He disobeyed the order and came back to lead the attack against the Borg Cube. Although they destroyed the Borg Cube, a Borg Sphere escaped and went through a time portal to Earth's past. The Enterprise followed. They ended up in the past at the time of humanity's first warp ship launch. Here, Picard not only saw the Phoenix again but met Zefram Cochrane himself. Picard and the rest of the crew managed to prevent the Borg from disrupting the trip and Earth's First Contact continued as it was supposed to.
Picard was again conducting diplomatic functions when he got a call from Starfleet that Data was out of control. Picard and the Enterprise rushed off to the Briar Patch to find out what was happening. Data was on the Ba'ku homeworld and it was discovered that Starfleet and the Son'a were attempting to remove the local inhabitants from the planet in order to use the planets special properties, a "fountain of youth" effect. Picard and some of the crew then led the resistance against the attempt to take over the planet, Picard becoming attached to Anij in the process. Picard managed to convince Admiral Dougherty that he was wrong and eventually the Enterprise managed to stop the plans. Admiral Dougherty was killed by the Son'a and Ru'afo, the leader of the Son'a was killed by Picard. Picard left Anij with a promise that they would be protected and that he would return. Could this be the "real thing" this time ?
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