Love it or hate it Picard season 3 is undeniably a departure from the previous two seasons and I for one lament this fact so for quite some time I have been ruminating on what season 3 would look like if I were in charge.
Now I'm not a writer. Like at all. I can concept, I can bullet point but that is the maximum I can achieve. 10 episodes is surprisingly difficult to come up with a stable amount of plots for, especially in the middle.
Some of these ideas are still currently little more than blurbs and I'm definitely going further than the show would be allowed to do in regards to some inclusions and I'm driving the plot to line up with STO.
Episode 1: Vita Nova
Seven of Nine is a provisional commander in a gold uniform taking the diplomacy kobayashi maru as part of her final official Starfleet training, she's up for position as first officer of the nearly completed Titan-A captained by the very anti-Borg Liam Shaw who is very unsupportive of her development. She quits the programme believing herself to be better suited to action, explosions and living by her own rules. She returns to La Sirena with the un-merged Rios holograms.
Picard gives a commencement address for the newly starting class of 2402 including Kestra. Her parents get a cameo with her. Sidney La Forge is mentioned to have just graduated but is not seen, nor is her family. A LaForge cameo too would be too much.
The Aetherian portal has closed, the Borg Singularity is being repurposed into a colony with its members officially granted citizenship. Borg with few enough implants are offered eligibility to join Starfleet. The term Liberated Borg is suggested as an alternative to xBs.
Jurati is on the Stargazer (retconned to NCC-2893-B) now under the command of Captain Mekara helping to remove all the Borg components and Starfleet decides to never infuse their ships with Borg tech again for the inevitable day the Collective will return.
Raffi is still an instructor at the Academy and still in a relationship with Seven.
Elnor is attending his classes and has a Xindi-Primate boyfriend, he has been accepted to the pre-command track programme though he isn't sure he's suited for leadership. Picard mulls an undeclared specialisation to give cadets more flexibility.
Picard and Laris are enjoying a happy relationship. Laris has volunteered for humanitarian work on Vashti while Picard is at his busiest working as Chancellor of the Academy.
In deep space the Ross class USS Verity explodes.
Episode 2: Crosshairs
The Stargazer is sent to investigate the destruction of the Verity. Picard joins them as the Verity was his old command during the Romulan evacuation. Jurati remains on the Stargazer to assist Picard. Elnor insists on joining as Picard was on the Verity when they first met so he feels a connection to the ship. Raffi joins to keep Elnor safe afraid of losing him again.
In deep space La Sirena is attacked by Hirogen vessels operating in territory formerly occupied by the Romulan Empire and not too far from the communication network Voyager destroyed. Seven pilots La Sirena to rendezvous with the Stargazer sensing something is wrong as the Hirogen attack was far too calculated.
Romulan assassins disguised as Risian attendants attempt to assassinate Mackenzie Calhoun during his shore leave but are defeated in an aerial phaser fight using Risian floaters.
Romulan assassins attempt to kill Soji, Altan Soong sacrifices his life so she can escape.
In the wreckage of the Verity a Romulan data storage device is found with a set of co-ordinates in it.
La Sirena, Calhoun's shuttle and Soji's shuttle rendezvous with the Stargazer.
Episode 3: The Husk
Realising a pattern to these attacks, Picard's old command the Verity, on La Sirena the ship that he was on when he faced and exposed the zhat vash, Soji the Romulans' mythical destroyer and Mackenzie Calhoun whose application Picard sponsored and no stranger to Romulans himself, Picard orders the Stargazer to get to safety and to make sure everyone he was close to is as far away from danger as they can be. Calhoun after blaming Picard for this situation cools off and volunteers to get the Enterprise-E to safety as he knows the new captain (per STO Worf defects back to the Klingon Empire in 2400 so he is no longer captain of the E and the ship remains in service until 2408).
Calhoun reveals he knows of Seven as Harry Kim was his chief of security in the 2380s.
On board La Sirena the season 1 and 2 cast are reunited and head to the co-ordinates in the data storage device, there they find the wreckage of a Kiith class warbird.
Investigations of the warbird reveal it was one of four ships of its class that attacked Narendra III and destroyed the Enterprise-C. There is fragmented footage of boarding parties capturing and interrogating survivors including Tasha Yar.
Picard knows there's only one Romulan with a connection to Tasha Yar.
La Sirena receives a distress call from Laris on Vashti.
Episode 4: A Prisoner of Promise
La Sirena arrives at Vashti which is under attack by Hirogen forces.
Biogenic weapons poison Vashti's ecosystem.
Warbirds from the Free Romulan State evacuate everyone.
Picard is beamed to the Valdore and reunites with Praetor Donatra
Seven and Jurati discover the biogenic weapons are modified Borg nanoprobes, designed to temporarily assimilate and then terminate.
Doctor Bashir, a civilian doctor at this point, is on Vashti on the same humanitarian mission as Laris.
Episode 5: Queens' Gambits
Donatra begins mobilising the forces of the Free Romulan State, she is aware of rumours of Sela's shadow operations with remnants of the Tal Shiar.
T'Rul is name dropped as a commander but does not appear.
Jurati believes she can locate where the weapons were created.
Laris and Soji take a shuttle to Facility 4028 and interrogate Narek (Hannibal style) to see if he knew anything about Sela's plans. Narek attempts to emotionally and psychologically torture Soji, Laris turns the table on him thanks to her Tal Shiar training and it is discovered Narek knows nothing. Soji reveals she was playing along with the torture and he can't hurt her anymore, she says a warm smile with Laris and they leave Narek alone in his cell completely powerless and irrelevant.
La Sirena discovers and is able to sabotage the research facility that constructed the nanoprobes. The facility is revealed to be where the Narada was modified. The facility is run by General Nedar aka Comodore Oh who escapes.
Episode 6: Silence Between the Stars
A catch your breath episode, everyone has returned to La Sirena and they are in pursuit of Nedar and reflect on their lives and how they got to this point. Seven is struggling to process the Romulans using Borg technology and Soji is worried she was saved just to die.
A visit to the holodeck to help them all re-unify, recharge and see light at the end of the tunnel. Jurati appears fully human on the holodeck. Picard requests Robin Hood, finally admitting that some of Q's games were fun and making peace with his memories.
Rios is generated as the face for the Sheriff of Nottingham and smokes a cigar forcing everyone to realise they never actually gave themselves a chance to grieve and mourn Rios properly since he didn't die in front of them and they've had the holograms with his face still there. They conclude Rios would have wanted them all to have fun together.
Raffi receives a call from her son and feels ready to answer it knowing just listening is sometimes the best thing.
The episode ends with Elnor receiving a mysterious transmission.
Episode 7: Demarcation
Arriving at Rator III, Nedar's flagship joins the rest of the Romulan fleet Sela reveals herself and how she not only has the remnants of the Tal Shiar on her side but has managed to gather enough forces of the old Star Empire to effectively rebuild it in exile and has declared herself Empress of the Romulan Star Empire, she challenges the validity of the Free Romulan State and the Romulan Civil War begins.
Elnor grapples with the fact that he was offered an ultimatum between joining the forces of Sela's Empire or being declared persona non grata and when the Empire comes to power a kill on sight order will be issued should he ever set foot in Romulan space again. Elnor eventually decides to refuse the offer.
Sela meets with Nedar and communicates with Hirogen alpha Vanator to co-ordinate strategy. Vanator reminds Sela of the hunting grounds his people were promised, Sela reassures him he will plenty of strong prey.
Episode 8: Eden Sinks to Grief
Unrest across the Free Romulan State and other refugee sites erupts as some long for the glory days of the Empire and some lash out due to their fear of what Sela's reign will bring them.
Laris returns to Earth to help comfort the Romulans who work on Picard's vineyard. Elnor joins her.
Picard and Elnor give joint speeches, Picard at a refugge site and Elnor on Earth. Picard talks about not being stuck in the past and not giving in to one's fears. Elmor talks about how home is not just being around people who look like you or share your culture it's about being around people who choose to care about you.
Episode 9: All Our Tomorrows
Picard and Calhoun petition Fleet Admiral Jorel Quinn (Clancy resigned following the collapse of Klingon relations after being a voice supporting that their invasion of the Gorn Hegemony be declared illegal and denouncing their claims of Undine manipulation) to join the fight against Sela's new empire.
Quinn maintains that it is an internal matter despite being reminded Sela's agents attempted to assassinate Federation citizens in Federation space.
Quinn reminds them that the assassins left no trace of their actions and so the Federation Council would not be swayed by hearsay. He does remind them however that interference by an unaligned party like the Fenris Rangers would have nothing to do with the Federation and the Romulans could not use it against them as long as any Starfleet officers weren't on the same ship. A ship being on the border monitoring the situation for the safety of the Federation would also be okay. The Stargazer is dispatched.
Sela's fleet engages Donatra's fleet and the battle begins.
Episode 10: Greater Than the Sum
La Sirena interferes with attemps to attack the Valdore directly
Hirogen forces attack the Stargazer as it is not proven they are working for the Romulans it is considered an independent battle, the Achilles class USS Excalibur NCC-1664-B under the command of Calhoun (who captained the Ambassador class 1664-A before this one too) arrives to assist the Stargazer. They destroy the Hirogen battlecruiser, scattering the rest of the pack which retreat back into romulan territory.
Nedar's flagship the Dhailkhina proves too powerful for La Sirena to keep off balance and launches a devastating attack on the Valdore. The Rios holograms deactivate themselves to save power and activate a new Emergency Command Hologram near identical to the original Captain Rios. The ECH offers Seven words of encouragement and beams her to the Stargazer. The ECH sets a collision course with the Dhailkhina destroying it and La Sirena.
In the last few seconds before its destruction Nedar beamed from her ship to the Valdore and has injected herself with Borg Nanoprobes and acted as a typhoid mary. She takes over the engine room and sets a course for Borg territory as she begins assimilating the Valdore and its crew including Donatra.
The Romulan Free State is declared null and void and the Star Empire is fully reborn. A small flotilla led by the Deihu carrying senator D'Tan and others warps away into exile vowing to find a new Romulus and create a better society for Romulans and Remans free of the opressions of the past.
The Stargazer burns out its main deflector to mask the warp trail of the escaping flotilla, taking advantage of a loophole claiming it was damage suffered during the Hirogen attack that Sela surely had no knowledge of.
Picard assures everyone failure is not the end and that even after a dark day such as this the sun will rise again.
With La Sirena and the Rios holograms gone the crew mourn the last connection they had to him. Picard takes them to the Academy where he has had a building renamed the Cristobal Rios Flight School, Raffi replicates a cigar and places it on the dedication plaque.
Elnor returns to his studies and his boyfriend and is ready for the pre-command track programme. Raffi realises that in two years he will be graduating and needs to be out there on his own.
Jurati returns to her Collective promising she will always be there for her friends.
Seven is waiting for a transport and hears someone coming, she expects it to be Picard and declares that she isn't in need of a speech but it turns out to be Janeway who praised Seven for all she's been through and shows her that she embodies the best of all sides of Starfleet even though she couldn't see it before.
Seven is now a full commander and Picard takes her to the Exeter class Titan-A on board the Enterprise-E so she can ride in style. On board the Titan she is welcomed by Captain Shaw who shows her a lot more respect now.
From the spacedock Picard watches the Enterprise and Titan warp away, it is revealed Nog is captain of the Enterprise. Picard heads back to Earth ready to continue guiding the next generation.
The last shot as Picard's voiceover closes out the show would show fading transitions between the Stargazer-B, the Titan-A and the Enterprise-E with the Enterprise going to warp being the very last shot of the series.
I hope you enjoyed my ramblings as I said writing is not my strong suit but my feelings are well documented on how I would have preferred a Picard season 3 be more in tune with the other seasons and keep the cast and so this is what I came up with.
Now I'm not a writer. Like at all. I can concept, I can bullet point but that is the maximum I can achieve. 10 episodes is surprisingly difficult to come up with a stable amount of plots for, especially in the middle.
Some of these ideas are still currently little more than blurbs and I'm definitely going further than the show would be allowed to do in regards to some inclusions and I'm driving the plot to line up with STO.
Episode 1: Vita Nova
Seven of Nine is a provisional commander in a gold uniform taking the diplomacy kobayashi maru as part of her final official Starfleet training, she's up for position as first officer of the nearly completed Titan-A captained by the very anti-Borg Liam Shaw who is very unsupportive of her development. She quits the programme believing herself to be better suited to action, explosions and living by her own rules. She returns to La Sirena with the un-merged Rios holograms.
Picard gives a commencement address for the newly starting class of 2402 including Kestra. Her parents get a cameo with her. Sidney La Forge is mentioned to have just graduated but is not seen, nor is her family. A LaForge cameo too would be too much.
The Aetherian portal has closed, the Borg Singularity is being repurposed into a colony with its members officially granted citizenship. Borg with few enough implants are offered eligibility to join Starfleet. The term Liberated Borg is suggested as an alternative to xBs.
Jurati is on the Stargazer (retconned to NCC-2893-B) now under the command of Captain Mekara helping to remove all the Borg components and Starfleet decides to never infuse their ships with Borg tech again for the inevitable day the Collective will return.
Raffi is still an instructor at the Academy and still in a relationship with Seven.
Elnor is attending his classes and has a Xindi-Primate boyfriend, he has been accepted to the pre-command track programme though he isn't sure he's suited for leadership. Picard mulls an undeclared specialisation to give cadets more flexibility.
Picard and Laris are enjoying a happy relationship. Laris has volunteered for humanitarian work on Vashti while Picard is at his busiest working as Chancellor of the Academy.
In deep space the Ross class USS Verity explodes.
Episode 2: Crosshairs
The Stargazer is sent to investigate the destruction of the Verity. Picard joins them as the Verity was his old command during the Romulan evacuation. Jurati remains on the Stargazer to assist Picard. Elnor insists on joining as Picard was on the Verity when they first met so he feels a connection to the ship. Raffi joins to keep Elnor safe afraid of losing him again.
In deep space La Sirena is attacked by Hirogen vessels operating in territory formerly occupied by the Romulan Empire and not too far from the communication network Voyager destroyed. Seven pilots La Sirena to rendezvous with the Stargazer sensing something is wrong as the Hirogen attack was far too calculated.
Romulan assassins disguised as Risian attendants attempt to assassinate Mackenzie Calhoun during his shore leave but are defeated in an aerial phaser fight using Risian floaters.
Romulan assassins attempt to kill Soji, Altan Soong sacrifices his life so she can escape.
In the wreckage of the Verity a Romulan data storage device is found with a set of co-ordinates in it.
La Sirena, Calhoun's shuttle and Soji's shuttle rendezvous with the Stargazer.
Episode 3: The Husk
Realising a pattern to these attacks, Picard's old command the Verity, on La Sirena the ship that he was on when he faced and exposed the zhat vash, Soji the Romulans' mythical destroyer and Mackenzie Calhoun whose application Picard sponsored and no stranger to Romulans himself, Picard orders the Stargazer to get to safety and to make sure everyone he was close to is as far away from danger as they can be. Calhoun after blaming Picard for this situation cools off and volunteers to get the Enterprise-E to safety as he knows the new captain (per STO Worf defects back to the Klingon Empire in 2400 so he is no longer captain of the E and the ship remains in service until 2408).
Calhoun reveals he knows of Seven as Harry Kim was his chief of security in the 2380s.
On board La Sirena the season 1 and 2 cast are reunited and head to the co-ordinates in the data storage device, there they find the wreckage of a Kiith class warbird.
Investigations of the warbird reveal it was one of four ships of its class that attacked Narendra III and destroyed the Enterprise-C. There is fragmented footage of boarding parties capturing and interrogating survivors including Tasha Yar.
Picard knows there's only one Romulan with a connection to Tasha Yar.
La Sirena receives a distress call from Laris on Vashti.
Episode 4: A Prisoner of Promise
La Sirena arrives at Vashti which is under attack by Hirogen forces.
Biogenic weapons poison Vashti's ecosystem.
Warbirds from the Free Romulan State evacuate everyone.
Picard is beamed to the Valdore and reunites with Praetor Donatra
Seven and Jurati discover the biogenic weapons are modified Borg nanoprobes, designed to temporarily assimilate and then terminate.
Doctor Bashir, a civilian doctor at this point, is on Vashti on the same humanitarian mission as Laris.
Episode 5: Queens' Gambits
Donatra begins mobilising the forces of the Free Romulan State, she is aware of rumours of Sela's shadow operations with remnants of the Tal Shiar.
T'Rul is name dropped as a commander but does not appear.
Jurati believes she can locate where the weapons were created.
Laris and Soji take a shuttle to Facility 4028 and interrogate Narek (Hannibal style) to see if he knew anything about Sela's plans. Narek attempts to emotionally and psychologically torture Soji, Laris turns the table on him thanks to her Tal Shiar training and it is discovered Narek knows nothing. Soji reveals she was playing along with the torture and he can't hurt her anymore, she says a warm smile with Laris and they leave Narek alone in his cell completely powerless and irrelevant.
La Sirena discovers and is able to sabotage the research facility that constructed the nanoprobes. The facility is revealed to be where the Narada was modified. The facility is run by General Nedar aka Comodore Oh who escapes.
Episode 6: Silence Between the Stars
A catch your breath episode, everyone has returned to La Sirena and they are in pursuit of Nedar and reflect on their lives and how they got to this point. Seven is struggling to process the Romulans using Borg technology and Soji is worried she was saved just to die.
A visit to the holodeck to help them all re-unify, recharge and see light at the end of the tunnel. Jurati appears fully human on the holodeck. Picard requests Robin Hood, finally admitting that some of Q's games were fun and making peace with his memories.
Rios is generated as the face for the Sheriff of Nottingham and smokes a cigar forcing everyone to realise they never actually gave themselves a chance to grieve and mourn Rios properly since he didn't die in front of them and they've had the holograms with his face still there. They conclude Rios would have wanted them all to have fun together.
Raffi receives a call from her son and feels ready to answer it knowing just listening is sometimes the best thing.
The episode ends with Elnor receiving a mysterious transmission.
Episode 7: Demarcation
Arriving at Rator III, Nedar's flagship joins the rest of the Romulan fleet Sela reveals herself and how she not only has the remnants of the Tal Shiar on her side but has managed to gather enough forces of the old Star Empire to effectively rebuild it in exile and has declared herself Empress of the Romulan Star Empire, she challenges the validity of the Free Romulan State and the Romulan Civil War begins.
Elnor grapples with the fact that he was offered an ultimatum between joining the forces of Sela's Empire or being declared persona non grata and when the Empire comes to power a kill on sight order will be issued should he ever set foot in Romulan space again. Elnor eventually decides to refuse the offer.
Sela meets with Nedar and communicates with Hirogen alpha Vanator to co-ordinate strategy. Vanator reminds Sela of the hunting grounds his people were promised, Sela reassures him he will plenty of strong prey.
Episode 8: Eden Sinks to Grief
Unrest across the Free Romulan State and other refugee sites erupts as some long for the glory days of the Empire and some lash out due to their fear of what Sela's reign will bring them.
Laris returns to Earth to help comfort the Romulans who work on Picard's vineyard. Elnor joins her.
Picard and Elnor give joint speeches, Picard at a refugge site and Elnor on Earth. Picard talks about not being stuck in the past and not giving in to one's fears. Elmor talks about how home is not just being around people who look like you or share your culture it's about being around people who choose to care about you.
Episode 9: All Our Tomorrows
Picard and Calhoun petition Fleet Admiral Jorel Quinn (Clancy resigned following the collapse of Klingon relations after being a voice supporting that their invasion of the Gorn Hegemony be declared illegal and denouncing their claims of Undine manipulation) to join the fight against Sela's new empire.
Quinn maintains that it is an internal matter despite being reminded Sela's agents attempted to assassinate Federation citizens in Federation space.
Quinn reminds them that the assassins left no trace of their actions and so the Federation Council would not be swayed by hearsay. He does remind them however that interference by an unaligned party like the Fenris Rangers would have nothing to do with the Federation and the Romulans could not use it against them as long as any Starfleet officers weren't on the same ship. A ship being on the border monitoring the situation for the safety of the Federation would also be okay. The Stargazer is dispatched.
Sela's fleet engages Donatra's fleet and the battle begins.
Episode 10: Greater Than the Sum
La Sirena interferes with attemps to attack the Valdore directly
Hirogen forces attack the Stargazer as it is not proven they are working for the Romulans it is considered an independent battle, the Achilles class USS Excalibur NCC-1664-B under the command of Calhoun (who captained the Ambassador class 1664-A before this one too) arrives to assist the Stargazer. They destroy the Hirogen battlecruiser, scattering the rest of the pack which retreat back into romulan territory.
Nedar's flagship the Dhailkhina proves too powerful for La Sirena to keep off balance and launches a devastating attack on the Valdore. The Rios holograms deactivate themselves to save power and activate a new Emergency Command Hologram near identical to the original Captain Rios. The ECH offers Seven words of encouragement and beams her to the Stargazer. The ECH sets a collision course with the Dhailkhina destroying it and La Sirena.
In the last few seconds before its destruction Nedar beamed from her ship to the Valdore and has injected herself with Borg Nanoprobes and acted as a typhoid mary. She takes over the engine room and sets a course for Borg territory as she begins assimilating the Valdore and its crew including Donatra.
The Romulan Free State is declared null and void and the Star Empire is fully reborn. A small flotilla led by the Deihu carrying senator D'Tan and others warps away into exile vowing to find a new Romulus and create a better society for Romulans and Remans free of the opressions of the past.
The Stargazer burns out its main deflector to mask the warp trail of the escaping flotilla, taking advantage of a loophole claiming it was damage suffered during the Hirogen attack that Sela surely had no knowledge of.
Picard assures everyone failure is not the end and that even after a dark day such as this the sun will rise again.
With La Sirena and the Rios holograms gone the crew mourn the last connection they had to him. Picard takes them to the Academy where he has had a building renamed the Cristobal Rios Flight School, Raffi replicates a cigar and places it on the dedication plaque.
Elnor returns to his studies and his boyfriend and is ready for the pre-command track programme. Raffi realises that in two years he will be graduating and needs to be out there on his own.
Jurati returns to her Collective promising she will always be there for her friends.
Seven is waiting for a transport and hears someone coming, she expects it to be Picard and declares that she isn't in need of a speech but it turns out to be Janeway who praised Seven for all she's been through and shows her that she embodies the best of all sides of Starfleet even though she couldn't see it before.
Seven is now a full commander and Picard takes her to the Exeter class Titan-A on board the Enterprise-E so she can ride in style. On board the Titan she is welcomed by Captain Shaw who shows her a lot more respect now.
From the spacedock Picard watches the Enterprise and Titan warp away, it is revealed Nog is captain of the Enterprise. Picard heads back to Earth ready to continue guiding the next generation.
The last shot as Picard's voiceover closes out the show would show fading transitions between the Stargazer-B, the Titan-A and the Enterprise-E with the Enterprise going to warp being the very last shot of the series.
I hope you enjoyed my ramblings as I said writing is not my strong suit but my feelings are well documented on how I would have preferred a Picard season 3 be more in tune with the other seasons and keep the cast and so this is what I came up with.
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