What was going on in 2386 regarding the Romulan Supernova?

[Yistaan]

Has any novel covered this? I put this here because it ties deeply with both Picard and Trek 2009, and didn't know which of those forums to put this. I know most literary/game tie-ins focused on a Hobus Supernova and all that was steamrolled by Picard's revelation that it was the Romulan sun going supernova. Even the recent Autiobiography of Spock has been steamrolled by SNW. We also know from All Good Things that Romulus existed in the anti-time future, meaning that the supernova either never happened or was averted in that timeline. The IDW comics give an explanation for this by having the Romulans try to cloak their system after the Dominion War, ruining their sun (and that comic run has now been steamrolled by a certain Starfleet Academy episode). STO is still on the Hobus explanation unless the remade missions have altered it (haven't played in a while), regarding some Iconian sabotage of a star.

Here's what we know from screen canon. Sometime before 2385, it was learned that the Romulan sun was going supernova. Jean-Luc Picard made at least one appearance in the Romulan Senate hall (must have been pretty weird for the Romulan senators since in-universe he looks just like their deceased Praetor Shinzon even though to us viewers we see them differently as Stewart and Hardy) rallying the Romulan Senate to trust the Federation's evacuation fleet being built on Mars to save them. We also know that several Federation worlds threatened to secede over the Romulan aid.

What can we conclude? The supernova wasn't exactly a secret. We know that the Romulan Senate, presumably the Tal Shiar, and government higher ups knew about it. The Federation knew about it and was evacuating people. We DON'T know how much the general Romulan populace knew. Maybe the Senate hid it to stop a panic.

In April (thanks Short Treks) 2385 the Zhat Vash reprogram Fed synths to destroy Mars' shipyards and the evacuation fleet. The Fed rescinds its offer of evacuation. Ambassador Spock proposes a new plan using red matter and the Jellyfish commissioned by the Vulcan Science Academy to somehow use red matter to stop the supernova (he's also destroying Romulus' sun but let's just ignore that for now).

We know Nero is a miner. However, the Picard writers have also stated that their intention was to give more weight to Nero's hatred against the Fed by writing in the rescinded evacuation offer, so somehow or other Nero knows that Romulus is on a ticking clock and the Fed isn't going to help. He presumably also learns enough about Spock's plan because he's there to intercept him when it fails.

Nero is captain of a ship as seen in the 2009 film, the Narada. (Any mention of Borg enhancements were only in the non-canon Countdown comic and cannot be assumed at this point). The ship is very, very large. We see wide open spaces in all scenes in the ship, not Romulans packed together barely fitting.

Nero presumably had at least 18 months to plan for Romulus' eventual destruction (which happens in 2387) going by the above information. The Romulan Senate at least would be panicking and trying to hitch a ride and presumably enough escaped to build the Romulan Free State seen in Picard (we know that one Senator in Picard that Elnor killed at least escaped).

What exactly was going on in 2386? Did the Romulans have that much faith in Spock's plan that they just didn't bother to evacuate on their own? Did they prioritize the politicians first? We know Nero had a ship. Why did he not just grab his wife and keep her on the spacious Narada with him? Yeah his planet and everyone else might still die but in the 2009 film he seemed mainly upset about her.

Did the Romulans ground all non-political ships in 2386 meaning that Nero couldn't take the Narada with his wife aboard earlier until the last minute? Was Nero himself so confident of Spock's plan that he didn't bother having plan B to keep his wife on the Narada? In that case, shouldn't he be blaming the Romulan government or himself instead of the Federation?

Thoughts?

 

[BillJ]

What exactly was going on in 2386? Did the Romulans have that much faith in Spock's plan that they just didn't bother to evacuate on their own?

"The Last Best Hope" by Una McCormack. Probably the best piece of material to come out about the Romulan supernova.

 

[Yistaan]

My recollection was that that novel ended pretty soon after the attack on Mars and didn't really cover what I'm asking but I'll look again.

 

[BillJ]

My recollection was that that novel ended pretty soon after the attack on Mars and didn't really cover what I'm asking but I'll look again.

Novel goes into detail about the how's and why's of the evacuation. Picard even commands the ship leading it, the USS Verity.

 

[Yistaan]

My post is asking what the Romulans, particularly Nero, was doing AFTER the evacuation fleet was destroyed. There was at least a year (a year and a half since the Mars attack was in April 2385) between the Mars attack in 2385 and Romulus exploding in 2387. It's literally why I put 2386 in the subject line. The USS Verity and whatever Picard and the evacuation team were doing before the Mars attack becomes irrelevant after the attack on Mars.

 

[BillJ]

My post is asking what the Romulans, particularly Nero, was doing AFTER the evacuation fleet was destroyed. There was at least a year between the Mars attack in 2385 and Romulus exploding in 2387. It's literally why I put 2386 in the subject line. The USS Verity and whatever Picard and the evacuation team were doing before the Mars attack becomes irrelevant after the attack on Mars.

There is the IDW comic Nero.

 

[Yistaan]

I suppose that still works. It claims Nero offered his wife to leave on the Narada but she didn't want to give birth on a mining ship. Most of the details that were decanonized by Picard etc. aren't in that comic although the Narada having Borg heritage is a big part of it still.

 

[BillJ]

I suppose that still works. It claims Nero offered his wife to leave on the Narada but she didn't want to give birth on a mining ship.

I liked Nero in Star Trek (2009), but I never had an overwhelming urge to know anything more about the character. For me, he was an entertaining one-off.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Knowing the Romulans, the elites were no doubt packing up and moving out to other worlds. The hoi polloi were probably being fed all sorts of lies saying everything is fine, nothing to worry about, go about your business, ignore the Federation propaganda and oh, can you help me load my stuff into this ship.

Don't know why the Senate would be freaked out by Picard looking like Shinzon. Picard is a well known Galactic figure. Should be the other way around. Any one who survived/missed the thalaron attack would be wonder why this guy looked like Picard. Given Shinzon's reputation as a soldier, he might be well know himself. Wasn't it the Senate who came up with the clone plan anyway?

Eventually the Senate and Praetor would let the common folk know and agree to the evacuation. That might be when Nero finds out. So maybe he makes a beeline to the home system from where ever he's been mining, arriving too late.

 

[Yistaan]

I'm not sure Picard would be that recognized in Romulus minus the connection to Praetor Shinzon. We have no indications that the Romulans took part in Wolf 359, Picard's biggest infamous act. The Romulans only recently came out of isolation in TNG. Ambassador Spock seemed to be going around Romulus openly without disguise in Unification and if the average Romulan doesn't recognize him, it's unclear if they'd recognize Picard.

It's possible that Nero somehow learned of the Fed fleet etc. after the fact after Romulus was already gone but it's not clear when there would be time for that to be the case. He interecepted Spock immediately after Romulus' destruction and then got sent a century into the past.

This was already somewhat of an issue even before Picard since IDW felt the need to explain it by having Nero's wife refuse to join him on the ship over not wanting to give birth on the Narada. However Picard extending Nero's potential awareness of the situation by at least 18 months nullifies IDW's explanation. It's possible that the Romulan govt covered up the situation during those 18 months but if Nero blames the Fed for rescinding the offer 18 months ago and didn't find out until 18 months later because the Tal Shiar covered it up, he should be even more mad at the Romulan govt than he would be at the Fed and rushing to blow them up in the 2009 film.

 

[BillJ]

he should be even more mad at the Romulan govt than he would be at the Fed and rushing to blow them up in the 2009 film.

File it under, "people are not logical".

 

[Nerys Myk]

The Romulans only recently came out of isolation in TNG.

And who did they come out to?