OCTOBER 26, 2020 - It may be awhile before fans will have a chance to watch the second season of Star Trek: Picard, but a new prequel novel coming from publisher Simon & Schuster should help to ease the wait. Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil is the second prequel novel to the Picard series, following Una McCormack’s The Last Best Hope, which was released in February of this year. A report from TrekCore.com this weekend brought us details of the new novel, set to come out in January of 2021.

Set between the Utopia Planitia Shipyards attack and the events of Picard season one, the novel’s synopsis reads: “Within the United Federation of Planets, a terrorist strike on the shipyards of Mars has led to the shutdown of all relief efforts for millions of Romulans facing certain doom from an impending super­nova. But when the U.S.S. Titan is drawn into a catastrophic incident on the Romulan-Federation border, Captain William Riker, his family, and his crew find themselves caught between the secrets of an enigmatic alien species and the deadly agenda of a ruthless Tal Shiar operative. Forced into a wary alliance with a Romulan starship commander, Riker and the Titan crew must uncover the truth to stop a devastating attack—but one wrong move could plunge the entire sector into open conflict!”

Author James Swallow, who has previously written Star Trek adventures aboard the U.S.S. Titan, also shared some further insight into the novel on his blog. “It was a thrill for me to revisit the Titan once again,” he wrote. “And [it was] a unique challenge to write in the ‘new’ continuity set up by Star Trek: Picard. Long-time fans of the Titan series will notice some differences, but also some familiar faces too…!”

The cover art for The Dark Veil was designed by artist Jim Salvati, with portraits of Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi and Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker based on production photos from Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Picard, respectively.

Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil is set for release on January 5th, 2021. Hardcover and e-book editions of the novel are available for pre-order now from Amazon and other retailers.