[Starfleet Headquarters]

(San Francisco, Earth 2385 14 years ago. Admiral Picard meets his officer, Raffi, outside the building.)
RAFFI: They give you a hard time? They start with the ships?
PICARD: Straight out, just as you predicted.
RAFFI: You were ready with the inventories from Beta Antares and Eridani A, which shut them up.
(Picard sighs and shakes his head.)
RAFFI: So they hit you with manpower.
PICARD: Mmm hmm.
RAFFI: But you had the reserve rosters I got from Tanaka in personnel.
PICARD: I laid it all out. By using reserve duty officers and mothballed ships, we could maintain the evacuation, though to a severely reduced level.
RAFFI: Not if we use synthetic labour.
PICARD: All synthetic lifeforms are banned, throughout the Federation, effective immediately. All active units are dismantled and all research is halted.
RAFFI: Well, that's crazy. It makes no sense. Synths don't just wake up one morning and turn homicidal.
PICARD: They said it was a fatal code error in the operating system.
RAFFI: That's bullshit. Something's off about this whole business, JL. It doesn't add up. I smell the Tal Shiar.
PICARD: Ah. The Tal Shiar. Raffi, why would the Romulans attack a fleet built expressly to rescue them?
RAFFI: I can't answer that. Yet. But I do know that there are billions of people out there in the Beta Quadrant that are in the burst radius of a supernova. It's not their fault that a bunch of A500s went rogue on Mars.
PICARD: You're absolutely right. Mars is burning. Tens of thousands are dead. And nobody is thinking, nobody is listening. They're just reacting.
RAFFI: Wait a minute. What happened in there, JL?
PICARD: They said that our plan was unfeasible. Half of them never wanted to rescue the Romulans in the first place. And the rest are... are just frightened. I never dreamed that Starfleet would give in to intolerance and fear.
RAFFI: What happened in there?
PICARD: I said that either they accept the revised evacuation plan or my resignation.
RAFFI: Are you serious? Well, what did they say? Jean-Luc?
PICARD: They accepted my resignation.
RAFFI: Hell with them. We'll figure it out. We'll find a way.
PICARD: To mount a multi-world evacuation of tens of millions of Romulans without Starfleet's support?
RAFFI: There has to be something. Some last, desperate, wild solution, JL. That's what you do.
PICARD: My resignation was the last, desperate, wild solution. I never believed that they would accept it.
RAFFI: Of course you wouldn't. Now what? You're gonna go back to your chateau and write your memoirs? I can't do this without you, JL. (comms message on PADD) Oh. The CNC wants to see me. That's great. That's great. You tender your resignation, and my ass gets fired.
PICARD: Raffi?

[Vasquez Rocks]

(Present day)
RAFFI: A synthetic girl.
PICARD: There were two of them. One of them is already dead. I only hope that I'm in time to save the other one. Raffi, I need a ship and a pilot, and I have to find Bruce Maddox.
RAFFI: Wow. I don't even know what to say.
PICARD: Yeah. It's a lot to take in.
RAFFI: I mean, the obvious way to go would be, you have some goddamn nerve. But I gather you... you already heard that from your buddy Clancy, right? Pro tip for future reference. On your next top secret, unauthorised, synthetic girl rescue mission, try not telling the CNC of Starfleet exactly what you're planning on doing. I don't remember you being such a chatterbox back in the day. I mean, I saw your interview.
PICARD: An unmitigated disaster.
RAFFI: Yeah. I saw you, sitting back in your very fine chateau. Big oak beams, heirloom furniture. Yeah, I'd show you around my estate, but it's more of a hovel, so that would just be, you know, humiliating. But my entire life for the past 14 years has been one long slide into humiliation. And rage. Also a fair amount of snakeleaf-induced paranoia, so some things never change. Mmm. Hmm. Might have been nice to hear from you a time or two in there, JL, not because you think I know an off-the-books pilot with an unregistered starship. Just to say hi. See how I was doing.
PICARD: I know.
RAFFI: Because I was not doing good. I lost my security clearance. I lost
PICARD: Don't, Raffi.
RAFFI: No, don't. Just don't touch me.
PICARD: Raffi. Raffi!

[Artifact]

SOJI [on screen]: You are free now, my friend.
(A male humanoid we last saw as full Borg walks through the cube.)
HUGH: I really don't know what to say, Doctor Asha. Your work here has always been excellent, but speaking to a Nameless in his own language? Outstanding.
SOJI: You taught me that even a few words in the mother tongue can be soothing, even in an unconscious state.
HUGH: There is no more despised people in the galaxy than the xBs. People either see us as property to be exploited or as a hazard to be warehoused. Our hosts, the Romulans, have a more expansive vision. They see us as both.
SOJI: I hate it.
HUGH: You're different.
SOJI: Thank you.
HUGH: I've decided to let you have your interview with Ramdha.
SOJI: Oh, my God, really?
HUGH: You've been pestering me about it for a long time. After today, I'm inclined to grant your request. Tell me, why?
SOJI: How much do you know about Ramdha before she was assimilated? Have you read her Romulan dossier?
HUGH: Of course not. Wait, have you? How did you manage that?
SOJI: I just sort of asked to see it. Usually I find that if I ask people for help, they're happy to give it.
HUGH: That has not been my experience. In particular with Romulans.
SOJI: Ramdha was the foremost expert on ancient Romulan myth. She wrote books about it.
HUGH: And this interest of hers links you to her work how?
SOJI: There is ample evidence for the therapeutic utility of a shared mythical framework.
HUGH: Thirty minutes. As an experiment. Then we'll see how that goes.

[Vasquez Rocks]

(Raffi is downing the bottle of wine without using a glass.)
PICARD: It makes total sense that you're angry. I disappointed you. I neglected you. And I wasn't there when you needed me. I'm truly sorry.
RAFFI: I don't care.
PICARD: Raffi, there is a unit of Tal Shiar synth hunters operating on Earth, openly. That could not happen without Federation complicity.
RAFFI: I'm listening.
PICARD: You always said there were Romulan-Federation connections I didn't see.
RAFFI: I was talking about Mars, JL. The Romulan rescue. Those aren't connections I just see, like people see angels or... or ghosts. I have evidence. I have concrete evidence that a high-ranking Starfleet official conspired to allow the attack to go forward, to put an end to the rescue mission.
PICARD: Raffi
RAFFI: Which they opposed.
PICARD: Raffi, they had no reason to sabotage their own rescue.
RAFFI: What do you think happens when there's a cover-up? They conceal it.
PICARD: That's why I need your help. I need your mind. Your ability to see things others don't see.
RAFFI: No. No, no, no, no. I will not go down another rabbit hole with you, JL. No, never again.
PICARD: Raffi...
RAFFI: No. Go. Get out of here, please. Please.
(Picard starts to walk away.)
RAFFI: I have a pilot for you. His name is Rios, and he'll be in touch.
PICARD: Rios. Thank you.
RAFFI: Now go.

[Daystrom Institute, Okinawa]

(Outside, listening to opera. Agnes suddenly realises someone is there, and takes out her earbuds.) AGNES Hi.
(I thought Oh is supposed to be Vulcan, with a protective inner eyelid, but she is wearing sunglasses...)
OH: Doctor Jurati? Commodore Oh, director of Starfleet Security.
AGNES: Okay.
OH: I'd like to talk to you about your two recent visits with Admiral Picard.

[Artifact]

HUGH: She's here to meet with Patient 4822 stroke 2.
GUARD: She'll need authorisation.
HUGH: This unit is operated by the Reclamation Project. It is under the direct authority of its executive director. Me. Open up.
(They are let through a forcefield. The guard accompanies them. It is a social area for the mentally challenged.)
SOJI: All the disordered are Romulans?
HUGH: The only Romulans ever assimilated, as far as I know.
SOJI: Ah.
HUGH: There she is.
(A red-haired woman sitting at a table playing patience with triangular cards. Hugh and Soji go over to her.)
SOJI: Hi.

[Vasquez Rocks]

(Night. Raffi gets an incoming transmission on her PADD.)
RAFFI: What?
PICARD [on screen]: You're doing the research, aren't you?
RAFFI: No.
PICARD [on screen]: I'm sending you everything that Daystrom had on Bruce Maddox.
RAFFI: I don't want it.
PICARD [on screen]: Carry on.

[La Sirena]

(Picard beams aboard a somewhat open place small spaceship, although bigger than a shuttle or runabout or Delta Flyer.)
PICARD: Captain Rios?
EMH: Oh. Hi. Hello.
PICARD: Picard.
EMH: Yes, sorry. Of course you are. I'm afraid you might be too late. Right, then. Come on.
(They walk up to the bridge area. A man, identical to the EMH, is shirtless and lighting a cigar. He has a piece of metal stuck in his collarbone.)
EMH: So, what seems to be the problem?
RIOS: Are you kidding me? Hey.
PICARD: Are you...?
RIOS: Chris Rios. He's just an EMH.
EMH: Just.
PICARD: I'm er...
PICARD: What happened to you?
RIOS: I didn't die.
EMH: Medkit.
(One appears on the console. Hologram or beamed in?)
RIOS: Aguardiente.
(A bottle and glass appear. Rios pours a drink and offers it to Picard.)
PICARD: No, thanks.
(So Rios throws it onto his wound.)
RIOS: What you want to do is take the giant hunk of tritanium shrapnel out of the hole in my shoulder. That's just a guess. Please, sit.
(Picard pauses by the captain's chair, then goes to the left hand seat instead, picking up a copy of The Tragic Sense of Life by Miguel de Unamuno.)
RIOS: Toss it anywhere. So, where are we going, Admiral? Raffi says you have no idea.
PICARD: I'm working on it.
RIOS: When are we leaving?
PICARD: As soon as possible.
RIOS: You breaking any laws or intending to?
PICARD: I don't know. I'm not in the habit of consulting lawyers before I do what needs to be done. You?
RIOS: I'm not in the habit of consulting anybody about anything. Especially a lawyer.
EMH: There we are. Now for the dermal regenerator.
RIOS: Leave it. Give me that. Get lost.
EMH: He never gets any nicer.
PICARD: Duly noted.
RIOS: Deactivate EMH.
PICARD: I need a pilot. Raffi says you're the best around.
RIOS: I never argue with Raffi.
PICARD: Ha. Wise man. You were the XO of a heavy cruiser.
RIOS: The ibn Majid. You never heard of it because it doesn't exist. Starfleet erased it from the records.
PICARD: Do I detect a certain bitterness toward Starfleet? You must know that Starfleet and I long since have parted ways.
RIOS: If you say so. I really don't give a damn.
PICARD: Oh, really? I see this ship is impeccably maintained. Every bolt and clasp and fitting in place. Everything stowed in regulation Starfleet order. I don't know what happened to you, Rios, or to the ibn Majid. But five minutes on this ship, and I know precisely what I'm looking at. You are Starfleet to the core. I can smell it on you.
RIOS: That's just my tragic sense of life. Raffi warned me you were a speechmaker. Look, Admiral, hire me or find another pilot. Do not try to get inside my head.
(Meanwhile, Raffi's research has turned up something - Crypto Algorithm Identification: Gorn Egg. She shuts it down immediately.)

[Rios' quarters]

(Another look-alike hologram appears, with a touch of an Irish accent.)
ENH: The navigation sensors are back at maximum range. Whatever it was, it scraped off pretty easily.
RIOS: Mmm hmm.
ENH: So, are we excited? Intimidated? Maybe a teensy bit starstruck. Jean-Luc Picard. Chief contact with the Q Continuum. Arbiter of succession for the Klingon Empire. Saviour of Earth from Borg invasion. Captain of the Enterprises D and E. The man even worked alongside the great Spock.
RIOS: You are an emergency hologram. We no longer have a navigational emergency. Why are you still here?
ENH: Well, someone is experiencing an acute moodiness overload. Picard is a good man, Captain Rios. He's on the side of the angels. It's been a long time since you helped out somebody like him. Hmm? A very long time.
RIOS: Please, spare me the juvenile Sunday school morality.
ENH: And spare me the angsty teenage moral relativism.
RIOS: I already had one grand, heroic captain in my life. The last thing I need is another one. Ten years on, I still can't close my eyes at night without seeing the last one's blood and brains splattered all over a bulkhead. Deactivate ENH.
ENH: Oh, no, no, you...

[Patio]

(Standing under the same stars that Rios can see from his quarters.)
PICARD: The familiar smell of harvest time. Wood smoke, mown hay and that heavy sweetness of the grapes.
LARIS: And you won't miss it, any of it, one bit.
PICARD: Oh yes, my dear. I will miss you and Zhaban and Number One. I tried my best to belong to this place, but I don't think I ever truly felt at home here.
LARIS: I suppose you always had one eye on the stars.

[Artifact]

(Ramdha lays another card.)
SOJI: That looks like a door.
HUGH: Very close. I think that one's called shaipouin, which means
SOJI: A false door. Traditional Romulan houses always have a false front door that's never used. You have to go around the back.
HUGH: You're kind of a know-it-all, aren't you?
(Soji gets a chair and sits behind Ramdha.)
SOJI: (Romulan) If certain people requested entry, would it be granted?
RAMDHA: You may sit.

[Patio]

(Zhaban brings a bag from the kitchen.)
ZHABAN: For the road. Bread, Roquefort, Madame Arnaud's terrine d'oie. Far beyond the power of any replicator, I should think. And last of the plum...
(He drops the fruit, they all bend to pick it up just as laser bolts are fired at where they were standing.)
PICARD: They killed the alarm.
LARIS: Take 'em.

[Study]

(Zhaban and Laris grab impromptu weapons as Picard hides under the desk. They disarm the first two assassins in through the door and use the weapons on the next ones. Laris is being overpowered when Picard steps in to get a gun and start shooting too. Finally all the attackers are down.)
LARIS: All right? All right.
(Another figure enters and gets shot, followed by Agnes carrying one of the honking big weapons.)
AGNES: Maybe... maybe... maybe it was on stun.
LARIS: Romulan disruptors don't have a stun setting.
AGNES: Okay.
(She puts the weapon down quickly.)
PICARD: It's all right. Thank you. It's all right. Come.
(They tie one of their attackers to a chair after removing his helmet. The weapons are neatly stacked away. Picard brings Agnes a glass of wine.)
PICARD: Here.
AGNES: Her name was Oh.
PICARD: Chief of Starfleet Security. A Vulcan.
AGNES: You know her?
PICARD: No, but I hear that she's very good at her job.
AGNES: She... She wanted to know why you came to see me, and I'm sorry, but I told her. Seemed too important not to. And anyway, I'm a terrible liar.
PICARD: Of course. It's all right.
AGNES: There's one thing I didn't tell her, though.
(Zhaban moves to kill their captive.)
LARIS: Zhaban.
ZHABAN: We've no time, Laris. They'll send others.
LARIS: (Romulan) We are not like them anymore.
(She sprays something in the captive's face.)
LARIS: Admiral, he's conscious.
PICARD: Let's talk.

[Artifact]

SOJI: My name is Soji. I'm working with Hugh on the reclamation project, but I'm an anthropologist by training.
(Romulan) My presence is an intrusion. Forgive it.
HUGH: Ramdha has good days and bad days.
SOJI: We all do. Can you tell me about the cards, Ramdha? The pixmit? How do they work? Do you tell fortunes with them? It's kind of a mandala, is that it? Do the images have a connection to Romulan mythology?
RAMDHA: Mythology? I hate that word. In Romulan, we have no such word.
SOJI: What's a better word? Scriptures? Sacred stories? Legendarium?
RAMDHA: The news.
SOJI: I love that. That's perfect. The idea that former Borg might be able to create a mythol... a shared narrative framework for understanding their trauma, rooted in deep archetypes but as relevant as the day's news. That's just what I'm hoping to do.
RAMDHA: I know you.

[Study]

PICARD: Why is the Tal Shiar on Earth? Are you Zhat Vash? If you answer my questions, I will release you.
ZHABAN: This is pointless.
LARIS: Yes, because he's a stubborn northerner, like you.

[Artifact]

RAMDHA: I remember you from tomorrow.
SOJI: No, Ramdha, we've never met. Okay, what was I doing when you met me tomorrow? One of the things that makes you so special, Ramdha, is that you were on board the very last ship ever assimilated by this cube.
HUGH: Is that true? How do you know that?
SOJI: You were on board the Imperial scout ship Shaenor with 25 other passengers. You encountered this cube. You were assimilated. But then something went wrong. What happened, Ramdha? Do you know? What caused the submatrix collapse?

[Study]

PICARD: Why did you kill that girl? Why did you kill Dahj Asha?
OPERATIVE: She's not a girl.

[Artifact]

(Ramdha has a card with two female figures on it.)
RAMDHA: Which one are you?

[Study]

PICARD: Just help me understand what is happening.
OPERATIVE: She's not what you think she is.

[Artifact]

RAMDHA: Which sister are you?

[Study]

PICARD: Why did you kill her? Is there another one like her?

[Artifact]

RAMDHA: Which sister are you? The one who dies or the one who lives?

[Study]

PICARD: Where is she? Where is the other one?
OPERATIVE: You'll never find her before we do, qezhtihn!
(Laris punches him, knocking the chair backwards.)

[Artifact]

(Ramdha grabs the guard's sidearm.)
RAMDHA: I know who you are! You are Seb-Cheneb. You are the Destroyer!

[Study]

OPERATIVE: She's the end of all! She's the Destroyer.
(He bites down on something, spitting green acid onto Zhaban's jacket. They rip it off him as it and the operative dissolve into dust.)
PICARD: Damn.

[Artifact]

(Ramdha puts the gun to her own head.)
SOJI: No!
(And knocks the table over to get it off her. Guards grab Ramdha.)
HUGH: Let her go! She's fine. He's the one that needs to be disciplined. Get him out of here. Get him out. And make sure your own sidearms are fully secured.
(All the other Romulan ex-Borg are staring at Soji with hatred.)

[Soji's quarters]

MOTHER [hologram]: Hi, sweetie.
SOJI: Mom
MOTHER [hologram]: Sweetie, what's wrong?
SOJI: Mom. Mom, is Dahj okay?
MOTHER [hologram]: What?
SOJI: Is she okay?
MOTHER [hologram]: Yes, sweetie, Dahj is fine. I just heard from her today. She sounds like she's doing great. She's thinking of adopting a puppy. I'm not sure that's the best idea, but you know Dahj. When she makes a plan, you can never talk her out of it. I don't know. Sometimes I think I should tell her the opposite thing to do...
(Soji passes out. Later she is woken by the doorbell.)
SOJI: Enter.
NAREK: Are you all right? Hey, what happened?
SOJI: I have no idea. I mean, if you had asked me five minutes beforehand, I would have said I didn't know anything about a Romulan ship. I would have said that I'd never even heard of the Shaenor, or that Ramdha was on it.
NAREK: And would that have been the truth?
SOJI: I have probably read every unclassified document that there is pertaining to the history of this cube. It must have been in there somewhere. Even Romulan censors have to slip up sometimes. Do you believe me?
NAREK: Can you keep a secret? (whispers in her ear) I may be falling in love with you.

[Artifact]

RIZZO: I'm back.
NAREK: So are your ears.
RIZZO: I can smell her on you. The smell is remarkably carnal. She really is an extraordinary piece of machinery. What's she told you?
NAREK: Nothing yet. I'm not sure what she consciously knows, but I'm sure she has no idea what she truly is. And given what happened on Earth, I think we should keep it that way as long as possible.
RIZZO: Earth was a miscalculation.
NAREK: Your miscalculation.
RIZZO: Which is the only reason I agreed to let you pursue this highly questionable...
NAREK: Far more subtle.
RIZZO: ..approach. Good luck, brother. And see that you don't fall in love.
NAREK: Nice to see you looking like yourself again.

[Study]

PICARD: You said you told Commodore Oh everything about our conversation except for one thing. What was that?
AGNES: That I'm going with you, to look for the girl, Dahj. The other Dahj. You are going to look for her, right? That's what Oh thought, that you were planning to get a ship and a pilot and go off looking for the second synth. Are you?
(Comms badge beeps.)
PICARD: You're early.

[La Sirena]

RIOS: Nope. My sources tell me...
PICARD [OC]: What sources?
RIOS: ..it's about to get very hot chez vous.

[Study]

PICARD: It's already hot.
RIOS [OC]: Hotter.
AGNES: Is that your pilot?
PICARD: Mmm hmm.
AGNES: Okay. You have to take me with you, and here's why.

[La Sirena]

AGNES [OC]: A, I just killed a man to save your life. B

[Study]

AGNES: You are a good, decent man, capable of empathy and pity, and I am a scientist who has spent her entire life imagining a miracle, knowing that it could never come to pass, and now it has, and it's real, and I have to see her. And, C, I don't know how much it costs to go where you're going

[La Sirena]

AGNES [OC]: or how much this guy charges.
RIOS: I'm expensive.

[Study]

AGNES: But I'm Agnes P. Jurati. I'm the Earth's leading expert on synthetic life, and I promise you, if you take me with you, I will more than earn my keep.
RIOS [OC]: Time to go.

[La Sirena]

(Agnes and Picard are beamed aboard.)
PICARD: Raffi? What is this? Ah, sources.
RAFFI: I found Maddox.
PICARD: Where is he?
RAFFI: I tell you, you promise you'll take me with you?
PICARD: I would be honoured to have you join me.
RAFFI: Oh, no, no, I'm... I'm not joining you. Never again. I'm just hitching a ride.
PICARD: To where?
RAFFI: Bruce Maddox is on Freecloud.
PICARD: Freecloud. Yes, of course.
AGNES: Why do you want to go to Freecloud?
RAFFI: Have we met?
AGNES: Agnes Jurati.
RAFFI: That's it? You're just gonna let Agnes here hitch a ride on your top secret mission?
PICARD: Doctor Jurati is the Earth's leading expert on synthetic life.
RAFFI: You didn't even ask me to run any kind of security check. Not even the most basic.
PICARD: Why do you want to go to Freecloud?
RAFFI: I'm under no obligation to tell that to any of you. And once we get there, you're on your own.
AGNES: Who are you, lady?
RIOS: Can we go already?
PICARD: Yes, fine.
(Picard stands next to Rios in the captain's chair. They look at each other, then...)
PICARD: Engage.
(Cue Next Generation music and La Sirena jumps to warp.)