Picard Maneuver
The Picard Maneuver is a battle tactic invented by Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard. In 2355, Picard was in command of the USS Stargazer when it was attacked by an unknown alien vessel, later determined to be of Ferengi origin.
During the engagement which came to be known as the Battle of Maxia, the Stargazer, which was holding station several million kilometers away from its adversary, suddenly accelerated to warp 9 directly towards the Ferengi ship. Because the enemy was only equipped with light speed sensors, they had no way of knowing that the Stargazer had moved until it was too late. When the light from the newly-moved ship reached the Ferengi ship's sensors, the light from its previous position was still arriving, so the Ferengi saw two Stargazers. Even if they had figured out that the new image was the genuine one in time, it would have been too late, as the Stargazer opened fire as soon as it dropped out of warp, and the Ferengi ship had no time to maneuver out of the way before the phasers and photon torpedoes hit. The Ferengi ship was destroyed. This technique was so successful that it was named after Picard, and there was no known defense against it until 2364.
In 2364, Lieutenant Commander Data calculated the only known defense to the Picard Maneuver, by scanning for gaseous displacement as an indicator for when the Stargazer had moved. This defense was used when Picard attempted to use the Picard Maneuver against the USS Enterprise while under the control of a thought maker deployed by DaiMon Bok.
The USS Stargazer at rest.
The Stargazer accelerates to warp 9.
The Stargazer briefly appears to be in two places at once.
The USS Enterprise-D thwarts the Picard Maneuver.
The Picard Maneuver later became required reading at Starfleet Academy. (TNG: "The Battle")
Background[edit]
Behind the scenes, it became common practice to refer to Patrick Stewart's habit of tugging his uniform shirt down when standing up as the "Picard Maneuver" (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion).
