Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 2 - "Penance"
A new Star Trek reality was introduced in Star Trek: Picard season 2 with numerous profound and shocking changes to Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), his motley crew, and the United Federation of Planets. Thanks to Q's (John de Lancie) interference, a divergence in time at some point in 2024 Los Angeles changed reality going forward and rewrote the entire history of Star Trek. Now, it's up to Picard and his friends to time travel back to 2024 and set the timeline back on its proper path.
Star Trek: Picard's Confederation reality is, apparently, First with Vulcans on April 5, 2063, as seen in Star Trek: First , never happened, nor did anything that followed - at least not how Trekkers it.
Curiously, Q placed the fault for the Confederation reality on Picard's shoulders and claimed that this dark and twisted future is his "penance" for Jean-Luc's inability to change. Star Trek: Picard season 2 will be an examination of the choice Jean-Luc made throughout his life to remain alone and never have a lasting romantic relationship, focusing instead on exploring the stars. Q insinuated that Picard is somehow intrinsically linked to how and why the Confederation exists. As Picard and his motley crew attempt their own time travel to hopefully change reality back to the Prime Universe of Star Trek we know, here are the monumental changes ushered in by Q meddling with time in Star Trek: Picard season 2.
The Federation Became The Confederation Of Earth - Every Change
In Star Trek: Picard's new Confederation reality, the human race never boldly went to the stars to explore and found the United Federation of Planets. Instead, humans became ruthless and xenophobic and created the Confederation of Earth. In many ways, the Confederation is similar to the Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe. Both trumpeted the superiority of homo sapiens and set forth to conquer, enslave, and massacre Star Trek's alien species like the Klingons, Vulcans, etc. The Confederation's slogan is "A safe galaxy is a human galaxy."
Another interesting change is a statue of Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) in 25th century San Francisco Bay. Soong must be descended from Dr. Noonien Soong, who may or may not have created Data in this reality, but Adam's role in the Confederation has yet to be revealed. As a more militaristic organization, Confederation Headquarters is located in San Francisco instead of Paris, , where Federation Headquarters was established. San Francisco is also home to Star Corps Headquarters, the Confederation's name for Starfleet, and Star Corps Academy. The Confederation also has different ranks that derive from the Army instead of the Navy so iral Picard is now General Picard, Captain Cristobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) is now Colonel Rios, etc.
Earth Is Dying From Climate Change
Q, who voluntarily aged himself, taunted Picard that in the Confederation reality, the Earth is a "corpse" being kept alive by the Confederation. In the Prime Universe, the human race not only ended hunger, war, poverty, and dependence on money, but they also saved their homeworld from the perils of climate change. Not so in the Confederation's reality, where the Terran homeworld is covered by some sort of shield to keep climate change from destroying the planet. The Confederation's priority is obviously interstellar military conquest and not healing the wounds humanity has inflicted on their own world.
Chateau Picard Uses Romulan Slaves And Androids
Obviously, the name "Confederation" has a loaded connotation derived from the Confederacy of the United States Civil War in the 19th century. Like the Confederacy, the Confederation owns slaves and utilizes slave labor. General Picard uses Romulan slaves in his chateau as well as androids like Harvey (Alex Diehl), who is identical to the rogue synthetic the Zhat Vash used to attack Mars and the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards in 2385, as seen in Star Trek: Picard season 1. Picard searched for Laris (Orla Brady) in the Confederacy universe but the Romulan never worked with him and Harvey's investigation showed Laris is already dead in this reality.
General Picard's Starship Is The CSS World Razer
General Picard is the "greatest hero" (i.e. the most bloodthirsty warmonger) of the Confederation. He wiped out countless alien species and conquered numerous planets aboard his flagship, the CSS World Razer. "CSS" must stand for "Confederation Starship" just as "USS" stands for "United Starship" in Star Trek's Prime Universe. The CSS World Razer appears to be General Picard's USS Enterprise-D, judging from the painting in his study. Although it could also be the Confederation's version of the USS Stargazer, since "World Razer" is a sinister rework of that moniker.
The Confederation Has Wiped Out Most Of Star Trek's Aliens
The Confederation decimated Star Trek's alien races, and Q even explained the shocking deaths of Picard was to Spock and Sarek in the Prime Universe.
Vulcan is currently at war with the Confederation (with General Sisko leading Earth's forces from the front lines), but the Romulans seem to have been humbled by fascist humans. Still, there are pockets of Romulan resistance fighters on Earth that count Elnor (Evan Evagora) among them, and they demolished several buildings in Okinawa before Confederation forces took down the dissident Romulans.
All Of The Changes To Seven Of Nine
In the Confederation's reality, Annika Hansen (Jeri Ryan) was never assimilated by the Borg and became Seven of Nine. Instead, the entirely human Annika rose to become the President of the Confederation. To Annika and Seven of Nine's Prime Universe love interest, Raffi Musiker's (Michelle Hurd), chagrin, President Hansen is also married to a man who goes by the title the Magistrate (Jon Jon Briones). Because she was never turned into a Borg, Seven underwent the most profound changes of Picard's motley crew, and President Annika Hansen lived a completely different life that has had a devastating effect on the galaxy.
The Borg Queen Is The Last Borg
The Confederation did what the Federation has never been able to do: defeat the Borg. Not just defeat, but the human race completely annihilated their cybernetic adversaries. The only Borg still living is the Borg Queen, who is kept imprisoned in Confederation headquarters and is overseen by Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), one of the foremost experts on synthetic lifeforms. The Borg Queen beat Picard and the Federation in the Prime Universe, but now, in the Confederation's reality, she has been dismantled. The Queen's mind is also damaged from the deaths of the Collective but she retains her trans-temporal awareness. The Borg Queen realized the changes in the timeline and recognized President Hansen as her Prime Universe counterpart, Seven of Nine. Also, the Confederation has no time travel technology, although the Borg did. This indicates that the xenophobic humans didn't make the Federation's mistake and harvest Borg technology, which the Borg Queen used against them in Star Trek: Picard season 2's premiere.
Eradication Day Is The Confederation's Darkest Holiday
The Borg Queen was meant to be executed on Eradication Day, the Confederation's twisted holiday where alien races are put on display for public execution. Eradication Day may have replaced the Prime Universe Federation's special holiday, First Day, which celebrates Zephram Cochrane meeting the Vulcans on April 5, 2063. Another famous Star Trek holiday is Captain Picard Day, which was celebrated by the children aboard the Enterprise-D to honor their brave captain. Considering Picard and President Hansen went rogue and abducted the Borg Queen instead of executing her, it had to mark the worst Eradication Day ever for the Confederation.
Soji Is Missing In The Confederation Reality
It shouldn't go unnoticed that Soji (Isa Briones) is missing from Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 2, "Penance," and from the Confederation reality altogether. Soji was left behind with the Deltans on Raritan IV before the Borg attacked the USS Stargazer and Q intervened and altered the timeline in Star Trek: Picard's season 2 premiere. Even though Soji is the ideal substitute for the Borg Queen to safely calculate Picard's time travel via slingshotting La Sirena around the sun, the super-intelligent android was never mentioned in "Penance." It's possible that Soji was never built in the Confederation reality. But if Soji does exist, then it's likely she retains her Prime Universe memories and personality the way Picard and her other friends do. Soji's absence may turn out to be a plot point and important to Jean-Luc changing reality back to normal in Star Trek: Picard season 2.
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.