Picard and USS Reliant

[Herbert1]

In an early draft of the script for "The Measure of a Man", it is revealed that while Jean-Luc Picard was an ensign he served with Sojiro Nakamura when he was a lieutenant aboard the USS Reliant, not the Miranda-class NCC-1864, between 2327 and 2329.

Has Picard's service aboard Reliant been acknowledged and has the class of Picard's Reliant ever been established? Was she yet another Excelsior-class starship? Antares-class starship? Another Constellation-class starship? Apollo-class starship? Constitution or the Constitution-variant shown in "Booby Trap"?

 

[ProwlAlpha]

In the novelization of Unification, an Ensign Gretchen Naylor transferred from the Reliant to the Enterprise. In the novelization of FC, there is a USS Reliant that fought against the Borg and in one of the Ship of the Line Calendars, there was a USS Reliant docked at DS9, but it was a Miranda class with the registry of NCC-1864.

In the Stargazer novels, a USS Reliant was mentioned in Gauntlet and Oblivion.

 

[EmperorKalan]

From Memory Beta on that period (and what there is touching on it):
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Jean-Luc_Picard

Early Career
After a few weeks of recovery, Ensign Picard was assigned to the USS Antares with his former supervisor, Ivan Gruzinov. (TNG novel: Blaze of Glory)
In 2328, Picard was granted a special shore leave to run an elite, long-distance race on a barren planet in the Elyrion system. Unfortunately, he did not finish in the top five. However, during his time on the planet he befriended a young Zartani named Nuadra Demmix, and also gained experience with the Ubarrak. (STA novel: Oblivion)
Around this time, as lieutenants, Picard and Robert DeSoto served together and became friends. (TNG episode: "Tin Man")

In early 2329, Picard was assigned to a starship under the command of Captain Anton Manning, where he was assigned as flight controller. Later that year, Picard attended the wedding of Ambassador Spock and Commander Saavik, of the USS Armstrong. (TOS novel: Vulcan's Heart)

(the recovery mentioned at the beginning was his artificial heart implantation)

It's not exactly a well-defined period (and looks to be incomplete as well).

 

[Herbert1]

I guess if a writer were to write a story during this period they would choose USS Antares rather than Reliant as established by Simon Hawke in Blaze of Glory. With the registry of USS Hermes being NCC-10376, we can speculate if Picard's Antares was Antares-class or if the Reliant was Antaries-class as well. It is disappointing though that it is yet another starship named Antares.

 

[EmperorKalan]

I guess if a writer were to write a story during this period they would choose USS Antares rather than Reliant as established by Simon Hawke in Blaze of Glory.

Not necessarily. They could make the Antares assignment short (or ignore it altogether) and transfer him to the Reliant. His ship wasn't specifically named in the 2329 scene in Vulcan's Heart, and I don't recall it being named in Oblivion either.

 

[ProwlAlpha]

Here is my list of ships named USS Antares, it is quite confusing thank you very much MJF.
USS Antares, Antares Class (USS Hermes NCC-10376 class) with the registry I would think it would be an early 24th Century Starship. Which was classified in Star Trek Encyclopedia. According to the Stargazer Novel: Progenitor, a Stargazer officer was formerly an science officer on the vessel, but the ship was decommissioned prior to 2333. During this time, Picard and Gruzinov served on the ship.

USS Antares, Constellation class in 2333 according to Stargazer novels Gauntlet and Enigma

USS Antares, Miranda class, around the 2370s, the vessel was a trainer and Geordi La Forge was an instructor according to Star Trek Orion Rendezvous, which was a live action planetarium show.

 

[ProwlAlpha]

Anyways, another writer will make up another ship to fit in that timeline. You should like at Riker's pre-Enterprise career history. He was jumping ships like there was no tomorrow.

 

[CharlieZardoz]

Well there is no canon explained answer to this however using available info we might extrapolate a plausible ship that Picard may have served on.

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/USS_Reliant_%2824th_century%29

According to this bit of "non-canon" it was also a Miranda class. However here is more info.

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcar...ss-starship-uss-reliant-ncc-1864-sheet-18.jpg

This was a list of ships named Reliant in Starfleet history according to the blueprints.

Now looking at these registry numbers the number for the constellation class and ambassador class doesn't work with established canon registry for those ship types. If we want to have some fun however the 22699 is a good fit for a Miranda class.

http://database.alpha-command.com/index.php?title=Miranda_class

Yes another bit of info aout there gives the second Reliant NCC-26450

So in my opinion if we take this info as semi-factual the ship Picard served on was either a Miranda class ncc-22699/26450 or perhaps an excelsior class ncc-2460/44686. I admit it isn't much to go by but until Mike Okuda and co. decide to re-write a comprehensive registry list for all starships this is the closing thing to an answer I can find based on an answer for you