Any franchise that has run as long as Star Trek will eventually get the opportunity to right some wrongs. In the past year alone, we’ve seen the always-ensign Harry Kim promoted, and Wesley Crusher honored as a Starfleet legend. Yes, they both happened on the now-canceled Starfleet Academy, which wasn’t to every fan’s taste, but the new release still allowed for some legacy housekeeping that improved canon lore overall. And in a different – but objectively excellent – new release, more of that good work has been done.
While Star Trek: Picard‘s third season was mostly great, one issue that fans didn’t universally agree with was the decision not to bring Wil Wheaton’s Wesley Crusher back to reunite with his mother or his half-brother Jack Crusher. Though it’s a disappointing admission to make, we could never have seen Wesley at the heart of the story of Captain Picard’s legacy, and Jack being his actual son was a better fit. But the decision not to give Wesley more of a part in Picard’s swansong, and relegating him to only the Season 2 cameo that felt more like fan-service was a bit of a letdown in retrospect. But new Picard novel Star Trek: Picard: To Defy Fate brings Wesley into play as a main character in a mission alongside his surrogate father.
There aren’t enough great Wesley Crusher stories in Star Trek. The over-hated TNG character tends to be relegated to a footnote in lore, despite a growing fandom that has appreciated him more in recent years than the contemporary reaction. Prodigy Season 2 gave him a chance to shine, of course, but like Captain Sisko’s post-Deep Space Nine story with the prophets, Wesley’s most interesting story was never told. We know that he went off with the Traveler, and that he, too transcended his original human form, but his adventures deserved more attention in Trek canon. Bringing him back for the Picard novel is a great step towards justice.
To Defy Fate actually opens with Wesley leaving the Enterprise, before a time-jump takes the story to the moments after the end of Picard Season 3, before the coda when Seven of Nine is promoted to Captain of the Titan-A. Faced with a time-travelling threat who is intent on changing major events in the Star Trek timeline, Wesley reunites with his mother, Jean-Luc Picard, and Raffi Mussiker to jump through time to revisit some of the greatest episodes in Star Trek history. It effectively acts as a greatest hits that requires a fair bit of franchise knowledge, but that’s not a bad thing for novels.
So not only do we get a story rich in old lore, but we also get to see the Crushers’ reunion, and an actual adventure uniting Wesley and Picard, and more of a reflection of Wesley’s powers as a Traveler. Various releases have dealt with that, including Picard Season 2, of course, but none have faced him off against an adversary essentially doing the same thing in opposition. We also learn a bit more about the organization Wesley works for, the Aegis, and both the nature and morality of their mission. And the villain’s desire to change time to save their own family offers an interesting counterpoint to the idea of Wesley as a sort of multiverse protector. All in all, To Defy Fate is a great addition to Star Trek lore that should fill the gap for fans looking for new stories.
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