Star Trek: Picard – Stargazer Recap
By Kieran Burt.
Star Trek: Picard – Stargazer’s second issue has come out, and it’s a more action heavy issue, answering explaining what happened to Jenjor VI, where the citizens are and who’s attacking Picard and his team when they beam down to the surface.
But before any of those questions can be attended to, the comic opens with a flashback to the Romulans. It turns out that they returned to Jenjor VI after Picard told them to leave, and enslaved the Remans into working for them. The Romulans made the planet radioactive after extensively mining the csylium on the planet, and they’re quite happy to just leave the planet.
A Reman slave begs the Romulans to take her daughter with them, but they deny to take her passage, saying that because she’s Reman she’ll be fine. It just goes to show why the Romulans are the villains of Star Trek, they don’t care about other aliens.
Back in the present day, Seven of Nine, Picard and the rest of the Stargazer crew are attacked by another raiding party, and find out that the marauders are Reman. Once the marauder is quickly dealt with by Seven of Nine, she explains to Picard and the others that their comms are jammed, and that the Romulans are responsible for the state of the planet.
Seven of Nine also reveals what she’s doing on the planet. She’s helping the Jenjoran’s the local species of the planet, survive underground against the remaining Reman. Seven of Nine proposes a rescue mission, to evacuate all of the citizens onto the Stargazer and launch a surprise attack on the Reman. It’s here that Picard’s caring instincts kick in, and demands in on the plan.
But unfortunately for them, the Reman have plans of their own too. It isn’t revealed immediately what this is, creating a small bit of anticipation.
Seven of Nine and Picard get to chat before the attack commences, and this is the introspection for the issue. Seven of Nine and Picard talk about their motivations for being on the planet, and both conclude that while their means differ (Picard still wants to negotiate, Seven of Nine wants to blow the Reman up),they both feel compelled by their pasts.
Picard tries to leave with Seven of Nine, but in a humorous engagement gets told to stay behind. It’s small moments of leadership that show Seven of Nine can command a vessel, though prefers to use violence over diplomacy.
Seven of Nine and her group attack the Reman hideout, getting ambushed constantly. However, as a Reman helpfully points out they are too late to stop their plan, cutting back to the Jenjoran settlement. It turns out the Reman plan was to attack it once Seven of Nine left, and enslave the Jenjoran’s, taking revenge on a peaceful species that have done nothing wrong. It’s fitting that the leader of the Reman is half Romulan, as she shares the same uncaring nature.
Turning back to the Stargazer, the crew try fruitlessly to reach Picard, but to no avail. Before they can try another method, they are interrupted. A strange ship decloaks, and anyone who’s watched Star Trek: The Next Generation will be able to hear the iconic sound of a Romulan D’Deridex warbird decloaking, dwarfing the Stargazer. And it’s commanded by Praetor Xenius, the same Romulan who subjugated slaves on the planet in the past. The comic leaves audiences on this cliffhanger, to be resolved in the next issue.
The more action heavy comic didn’t skip out on giving answers to last issue’s mysteries and tease a showdown not only on the ground but in space too. Despite the less humorous moments than the last issue, there is a focus on the introspection with Seven of Nine and Picard. This is shaping up to be the key relationship within the comic, and hopefully is focused on more. Next issue is likely to continue the action heavy focus, both in space and on the ground.
