8 Reasons Reading 'The Last Best Hope' Is Essential To Understand Star Trek Picard

The planet Vashti was the greatest success story in the saga of the Romulan relocation. Together with the Qowat Milat and their leader Zani, Picard works to relocate many refugees on the planet. This is one of the few times when the settlers were welcomed with open arms and the offer of peaceful co-existence.

Vashti was the political weapon of the relocation movement, whether declared as such openly or not. As the years go by, the planet begins to thrive as the settlements work together, aided in no small part by Zani and her sisterhood.

Picard becomes close to her, keeping and giving council. She helps to allay his worries that Starfleet is not doing enough and that the Romulan government is blocking their efforts. It is during these visits that he comes to know Elnor, developing a relationship with him akin to father and son.

On the last visit as depicted in the episode Absolute Candor, Picard is called away with the news of the attack on Mars. What is certain is that, with the relationship that he had built up with these people, he very much did intend to return to Vashti. It may not have been his home but he had come to think of his friends there as family. The greatest victory in the relief effort became, ironically, the single sorest reminder of a life's work that was destroyed overnight.