Rogue Elements (Star Trek: Picard #3)

by John Jackson Miller

Modern starship design sought to eliminate any sensation of movement passengers might experience as a result of the forces applied during flight. Perfection at that usually required the helping hand of the helm operator, massaging the inertial dampers as needed. It was why few vessels needed to worry about harnesses and seatbelts—and why, during battle, so many officers wound up wishing for them. Whoever was at the helm usually had other things to worry about.

“Nothing unreal exists. It’s the First Law of Metaphysics from Kiri-kin-tha, a student of Surak. A major element of Vulcan teachings.”

where might all our lives go, if we regularly rethought how we were distributing our hours and energies?

The human cleric John Wesley warned, “Beware you be not swallowed up in books; an ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.”

The truth is too simple: one must always get there by a complicated route.” I have traveled far in life, measured in light-years and experiences; it is my humble hope that this text helps you find your road. —Jean-Luc Picard Utopia Planitia Shipyards Mars

“We’re all as common as the things we surround ourselves with. Don’t be common.”

“It’s a mistake to underestimate the book,”

did you call the ship?” “La Sirena,” Rios answered. “The La Sirena.” “No, just La Sirena. The La is already a the

“It tells me people are fallible, even with things that they should take the most care with—and it says that under all the scars, there is still beauty.”

This poor guy is being asked to prove his devotion to a set of ideals—only to be asked by the Big G to do something that is completely against them.”

“In that one word, nothing, it’s a father telling his son things are going to be all right, not because they will be, but because he desperately, fervently hopes that they will be.

This Kahless was a holodeck creation; a historical profile filtered through Verengan’s initial preferences and their later conversations together. And yet he seemed to care, and that caring affected him. Artificial gravity was still gravity.

In ninety-nine years of alliance, two words had united the Federation and the Klingon Empire in a way that no others had. “General Chang” stood for deception and dishonor, for shame and hate.

“You speak of right and wrong as if there is some way to tabulate one’s accounts and arrive at a balance. No such arithmetic exists, known to the living—or the dead.”

“You should do a great deed, young Rios. Not because it will solve your problem or make right a wrong.” Kahless showed his teeth. “You should do a great deed because you should always do great deeds