Star Trek: Picard — The Dark Veil
{4.5/5} “For some time, Romulan ships have been coming across anonymous caches of survival resources and material, left near border worlds where the refugees have been relocated. Medicines, replicators, and the like. Deposited there by some unknown benefactors, who have diligently scrubbed out any evidence of their origin. Almost as if a handful of Starfleet captains have decided to provide what meager help they can, even if their leaders order them to do otherwise.”
Star Trek: Picard — The Dark Veil by James Swallow, published in 2021
The Jazari have decided to leave their homeworld in a generation ship and head for the far side of the galaxy. When an accident aboard their ship is about to cause massive damage, Captain Riker aboard the Titan jumps in to assist. But the Titan’s efforts are not enough, and then the Titan is about to be destroyed — when a Romulan ship shows up to help. Meanwhile, on the Romulan ship Othrys, Commander Medaka has his hands full with a Tal Shiar officer questioning his every move.
This book takes place 7 years after Nemesis, and 1 year after the synth attack on Mars. We see what happens on the Titan, of course, but also from the Romulan point of view.
At one point Riker seeks advice from his old friend Jean-Luc Picard. We also meet Riker and Troi’s 5-year-old son Thaddeus.
It’s about what happens when a person who thinks that all synths are evil comes into contact with them, and when that same person lies to convince their crew to attack.
One more quotation: “It would be easy to succumb to bleaker thoughts, to consider every action too small to matter in the face of something immeasurable. But the truth was, every tiny moment of selflessness, every iota of effort put toward something better, was a grain of light in an ocean of darkness.”
I’ve read 8 books by Swallow. I previously reviewed Star Trek: Coda — The Ashes of Tomorrow.