The buried age - Christopher L. Bennett

THE BURIED AGE unlocks the mysteries of the untold missing years in Captain Jean-Luc Picard's life between the loss of his first command, the USS Stargazer, and the launch of his career as captain of the Enterprise. The book follows his loss of faith and his attempts to find a new direction in life, leading him on a journey that shapes him into the man readers and viewers know him as in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.

At the same time, through Picard's archaeological pursuits, a "buried age" of the Trek universe is unearthed to reveal the prehistory of the galaxy stretching back hundreds of millions of years and an ancient cataclysm that shaped the galaxy as it stands today.