I'm assuming his command of the Reliant ended in 2364 immediately before "Encounter at Farpoint." Either that, or he just got the award later.
The latter sounds quite possible - otherwise, wouldn't this award have the dates of his service aboard that ship, the ones he's being commended for? That is, a starting date and an ending date?
2364 could well be when the
USS Reliant Remembrance Association got around to honoring the now-famous Captain Picard for his early years as Ensign Picard aboard that vessel. Exactly because he now
was famous.
He at least had to have been in command of the Reliant when he first met Tasha per dialogue from "Legacy."
Not really.
1) There's nothing in the episode to suggest Picard was in command of "his" ship, any more than Tasha was of "hers".
2) There's no reason to think this was the
Reliant anyway.
3) There's no reason to think Picard ever commanded a
Reliant. The text on the knickknack only speaks of a "distinguished record of service" on that ship, for a man who in 2364 would have been formally known as Captain Picard.
I'm more curious as to why Picard never mentioned this command before.
Why mention it? But the cut scene from "Measure of a Man" could be our reference if we want to, separating the
Reliant from command for good.
Actually the design is incredibly out of place, since it's Eaves concept art of an Enterprise-E-era ship for an aborted video game.
...Heavily refined for this appearance. Basically, we see an
Excelsior saucer coupled to an angular secondary hull that has warp nacelles and humungous impulse engines. FASA is rife with those, for its late 23rd or early 24th century; we have no competing information from onscreen sources, other than
Excelsior saucers being a big thing during both the "NCC-2000-something era" and the early 24th century.
Timo Saloniemi