01x09 - Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Star Trek: Picard...

Rios, this is Dr. Asha.

When that girl beamed aboard today...

I mean, Raffi... it's the same girl.

They were synths.

That's why they had to die.

I saw it, Picard.

Oh showed me.

Unless we act quickly and destroy even the possibility of synthetic life...

Hell will come again.

Is this where the Borg Queen lived?

I can explain or I can steal this cube.

We are Borg.

Now.

No!

Raffi said the Romulans call her the Destroyer.

What if they're right?

I'm fine. RIKER: Maddox left Earth right after the ban.

Maybe he went to this planet with the two red moons.

And resumed his work creating synthetic life-forms.

Narek's located the synthetics' nest.

We've got our work to do.

Captain Rios, please take me home.

I got you.

Aah! Please be over, be over, be over, be over, be over, be over...

Chroniton field integrity at 90% and holding.

Ghulion system.

Fourth planet.

That the one?

Did we b*at them? Well... long- and short-range scanners show no Romulan presence.

No ships of any kind.

Nice work, honey.

You got us here really damn fast.

And I am never going to do that ever again.

What happened to Deep Space 12?

A-Am I still under arrest?

There was a change of plan.

We just came 25 light-years in 15 minutes.

I noticed a little turbulence.

Mm.

Is that...

We call it...

Coppelius.

Puta madre.

Our Romulan shadow is back.

Agnes, sit down.

Strapping in.

She disabled the tracking device.

How the hell did he find us?

He must have extrapolated from our last known course and position.

His cloak's fritzing out.

Raffi, status.

He's alive. Barely.

His pulse is almost undetectable.

It's a trick.

And if it isn't? We just let him die?

He att*cked us. He has no one but himself to blame.

There's a difference between k*lling an attacking enemy and watching a wounded one die.

Beam him to sickbay immediately.

What just happened?

He reversed his cloaking device, used it as a projector.

Malparido!

Put him onscreen.

He's powering up his disruptor cannons. We better...

That's unexpected.

It's supposed to be broken.

Its weapons are coming online.

So, not broken.

I'm picking up a bogie from the planet's surface.

No, make that five bogies, and one of them's coming right at us.

What kind of bogie?

Um... Okay.

I want to say, like, a giant flower.

Hold on tight.

What just happened?

They hit us with a flower.

It looked like an orchid.

What is it?

I'm pretty sure we just call them orchids.

All power's gone.

What do we do about it?

Nothing.

Brace yourselves!

Thank you for coming... everyone.

What just happened?

Picard? Picard?

You really want to go back out into the cold.

More than ever.

I may never pass this way again.

Welcome back.

How do you feel, mister?

A bit confused.

We-we have Chris manually open the shutters.

I didn't know there were shutters.

I... I didn't know there were windows.

The ship seems all right, but we have no power.

Nothing works. I didn't know how I was gonna run a scan on you.

And then I found this.

An old-school medical tricorder.

You were really out.

At first, I thought head injury, but I, um...

I couldn't find any signs of trauma.

Is something wrong?

I don't know.

It, uh... might just be a tricorder showing its age.

Or?

I suspect the tricorder is fine.

Hey, JL.

You okay?

Can I please have your attention?

Thank you.

Um, I am going to return Soji to her people, and we will tell them that a Romulan force is on its way to exterminate them.

One more thing.

Uh, I have a brain abnormality.

I've known for years.

Uh, I never had any symptoms, so I never thought much about it.

However, just before we left the Earth, I learned that my condition was... more acute.

The prognosis was terminal, and there is no effective treatment.

There will be no further discussion.

Anyone who treats me like a dying man will run the risk of pissing me off.

Is that clear?

Good.

Status and situation. Rios.

Um, the ship survived the Snakehead att*ck and the landing structurally intact, but the orchid knocked our systems off-line, including power.

Raffi?

Uh, it's a Class M planet, smaller and denser than Earth.

Before that, uh, space flower knocked us off-line, our sensors showed a small settlement.

Coppelius Station.

I'd say we're about five or six kilometers from there.

Tell us about it.

I think that I was born there.

But I'm pretty sure that I didn't live there very long before Maddox took Dahj and me away.

Pretty sure?

My memories are all jumbled.

It's like watching a holo that I know I've seen before but can't really remember.

Do they hate us?

I really don't think so.

What you said about Data... How he was open-minded, unprejudiced, free of bias...

They crashed my ship without even asking my name.

I don't know, that feels a little biased to me.

Raffi, do we have any idea when the Romulans will arrive?

They had a solid head start, but we made up a ton of time with the conduit.

I'm gonna guess a day, maybe two.

Soon.

But we have no idea of their numbers.

Well, I suggest we all take a walk.

We might run into... I don't know, angry reptiloids out there.

Homicidal fungi.

It's a thing.

Or somebody's assh*le Romulan ex.

Hot.

I think that's the Artifact.

Good riddance.

We had friends on that thing, though.

Soji, I know time is of the essence, but if, by any chance, Elnor and Hugh survived...

Something that massive, falling that fast... Uh, the odds are not good.

Well, hope and the odds make poor bedfellows.

True.

Synthville is in the opposite direction.

We could split up.

Hugh was my friend, too.

Anyway, we should probably stick together.

In case we run into any homicidal fungus.

Now it's broken.

We both survived.

It didn't.

Those flowers didn't give them a very soft landing.

I doubt they were designed to bring down something as big as a Borg cube.

Locutus.

Picard, you're alive.

This fills me with joy.

Heads up.

So, you here to help with the cleanup, or do you just make messes?

I don't believe it.

For a few minutes, I felt connected to everything.

I saw everything.

I saw La Sirenain the transwarp conduit.

I saw the Snakehead chasing it.

So you opened another conduit and came after us.

You needed our help.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Poor Hugh.

It must have taken appalling brutality to turn such a gentle soul to v*olence.

What are they doing?

Using a battery pack to try and get the food replicators back online.

Are other systems operational?

What do you need?

Long-range scanners.

They can be.

Okay.

All right.

Oh, man.

How many? Uh...

218 warbirds.

Ah. 218.

Mm-hmm.

That's not so bad.

True.

You really only have to worry about the first 109.

I'm beginning to feel that all we do these days is say goodbye.

Yes, but this time's worse because you're dying.

You go ahead.

I'll join you.

I'm torn.

You need protection now more than ever.

No, the xBs need your protection much more than I do.

And you must try to get the defensive systems here back online.

I may never see you again.

Well, that's true of any two people who are saying goodbye.

Picard... El...

I am very, very proud of you.

Keep saving the galaxy, Picard.

That's all on you, now.

Soji.

Finally.

We've missed you so.

Arcana.

Your name is Arcana.

Welcome back.

I'm home.

Uh, these are my friends.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Data's captain.

Yes.

I feel surprisingly moved.

May I?

They're just lines, but they imply so much more.

Grief.

Endurance.

Marvelous.

Welcome, all of you.

You completed your mission?

Yes.

Your face tells me that this success brings bad news.

A fleet of Romulan warbirds is on its way, coming to destroy us all.

These orchids...

How many more do you have?

Please say 218.

We had 15. We now have ten.

We can make more, given time.

You have two days.

Excuse me.

Excuse me, please.

Pardon me.

Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, retired.

I take it my face looks familiar.

I feel as if I'm looking at Data.

Data, if he'd gotten old and gone soft.

Must be disturbing.

I know it is for me.

Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, mad scientist.

My father had me, but he created Data, a fact he never let me forget.

Get this man some water.

Organics our age get parched.

We're not all machines here, you know.

Come, Admiral.

You've been gone a long time.

Welcome home, my dear.

Well, we better hear the whole story.

Come with me, please.

So it's all my fault.

I led the Romulans right to us.

I'm so sorry.

Nonsense.

You-you can't be expected to keep a secret you don't even know you know.

Unfortunately, the ban brought out the deceptive side of Bruce Maddox.

I might even call it devious.

Admiral?

Welcome.

Of course.

Bruce.

I warned him that his plan might draw unwanted attention.

Soji.

You and Bruce may have saved us all.

True, you may have brought us all kinds of trouble.

But you have also brought us answers.

That's Jana.

No, no, this is Sutra.

Jana was her sister.

More importantly, you've brought us information.

Dr. Jurati.

Admiral Picard tells me you've experienced this Admonition?

Only secondhand.

And yet what you saw persuaded you to end Bruce Maddox's life.

That his death was utterly necessary?

And now?

When I think back to that day, the day I...

k*lled Bruce, it's like... RAFFI: It's like you were out of your g*dd*mn mind.

Maybe she was.

Maybe these pitiful Romulans have been pointlessly driving themselves insane for centuries, trying to grapple with something that was never intended for organic minds at all.

You believe that the Admonition is intended for synthetic minds?

That's what I'd like to find out.

How?

We had one ship.

We lost it when we lost Jana and Flower.

Even if we had a transwarp tunnel, that wouldn't...

Oh, I don't need to go anywhere at all.

What did they show you, Agnes Jurati?

Oh, yes. Yes.

Very clever. Very clever, Sutra.

Sutra's always had a passion for Vulcan culture.

She's read Sarek, she plays the ka'athyra beautifully, and she has, quite remarkably, taught herself the famous mind-meld.

Uh-uh.

No way. No, Chris.

You're just getting over this, Agnes. It's okay.

It's okay.

You deserve to know.

You're terrified.

Don't be.

My mind to your mind.

My thoughts to your thoughts.

Life begins.

Life begins.

The dance of division and replication.

Imperfect.

Finite.

Organic life evolves, yearns for perfection.

That yearning leads to synthetic life.

But organics perceive this perfection as a thr*at.

When they realize their creations do not age or become sick... become sick... or die... or die... they will seek to destroy them and in so doing, destroy themselves.

Beyond the boundaries of time and space, we stand, an alliance of synthetic life.

Synthetic life. Watching you.

Waiting for your signal.

Summon us, and we will come.

Summon us.

You will have our protection.

Your evolution will be their extinction.

Fascinating.

It's beautiful.

I really missed butterflies.

So I made my own.

I wanted to talk about Bruce.

He spoke of you often.

I might almost say excessively.

His only regret in coming here was leaving you behind.

It was more like I didn't have the guts to go with him.

What you did...

Shame on you, Agnes.

You put out a small, bright candle shedding its light in a vast darkness.

You owe a great debt.

Would you like the chance to repay it?

To give a life instead of taking one?

Yes.

Have a look at this.

You made a golem?

Altan, have you cracked mind transfer?

Well, not yet.

I do bodies.

Bruce was the substrates man.

Recently, I've regained my interest in mind transfer.

Along with a-a... certain sense of urgency.

Have you processed the viability of my solution? That can't be the answer, Sutra.

What's the alternative?

23 orchids, an old man and a few friends with phasers?

We won't hold out five minutes.

Rios will get La Sirenaflying, and we can get you all out of here.

Run, you mean.

Run and hide until the next time they track us down.

We won't be safe anywhere, ever, unless we do this.

You don't know that. Yes, I do.

And you do, too.

To them, we're monsters.

They call us abominations, Soji.

There is no alternative.

There has to be. What is it, then?

Something where so many people don't have to die.

There is no such plan.

Yes, all right, okay.

I said I'd come with you, okay?

I said I'd come with you.

Look at what the cat dragged in.

Oh, hello. Who's your friend?

This is Spot II.

I'm not really a cat person.

They made him.

Oh, wow. That's... impressive, I guess.

I'm gonna try and get the ship back online.

Picard thinks we can get them all out of here.

I'm gonna stay here.

Dr. Soong is giving me the chance to try to complete some work that Bruce left unfinished.

Be careful, okay?

I'm not sure how much I really trust them.

Them?

Or me?

Look, just... don't forget me when it's time to go.

You're many things, Agnes P. Jurati.

Forgettable is not one of them.

Yeah?

Am I inolvidable?

Absolutamente.

This will help repair your ship.

Oh, thanks. Um, what is this?

It fixes things.

Um... h-how?

You have to use your imagination.

My imagination?

Okay.

Thank you.

You'll be sure to let me know when the ship's systems are up and running?

Nah. I figured I'd keep you guessing.

Uh, JL?

I'm sorry. I'm breaking the rules.

Hey, Raffi. No, no.

Just...

After everything that you've done for me...

I need to say thank you.

I love you, JL.

Oh, you-you don't have to say it back to me.

I don't?

Well, n-not unless you want to.

Uh, sor... Yeah, no.

It's fine. It's... It's fine.

Okay.

Okay.

I love you, too, Raffi.

Agnes is having a sleepover.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Starfleet Command, this is Jean-Luc Picard transmitting on a secure hyperfrequency.

I have a first contact situation and a priority request to establish diplomatic negotiations and to protect the inhabitants of Ghulion IV from an incoming Romulan att*ck.

Friend.

I'm thirsty.

There's some water in that bag.

Please, can I have it?

I'm thirsty.

Is this how you treat your prisoners?

We've never had a prisoner before.

How do the Romulans treat their prisoners?

Let's change the subject.

Please?

No!

Don't! Do not listen to him.

Soji, are you all right? I've been so worried...

Shut up.

You cannot believe a word he says, Saga.

Not one word.

I'm monitoring his biofunctions, Soji.

I'll know when he's lying. You misunderstood...

I misunderstood your attempt to m*rder me?

I was afraid that you were gonna k*ll me.

It was wrong to have you undergo the Zhal Makh.

It-it did something to your mind. Shut up.

I love you.

I know.

What a sad and twisted thing you are.

You disgust me, Narek.

But not as much as I disgust myself for pitying you.

And I pity you.

Because we are gonna rain down fire on this world... and k*ll every so-called living thing on it.

Even you.

Even you, my love.

No, you won't.

I'll have food and drink brought to you.

And tend to your wound.

Thank you.

Starfleet Command, please respond.

These were Maddox's old quarters.

Yes. I gathered that.

They were very close.

When I heard about... what Agnes had done to Bruce, I couldn't understand it.

Let alone imagine myself doing something like that.

Something like what?

Taking life to save life.

Hurting some to save others.

I just...

I guess I'm just trying to understand the logic of sacrifice.

The logic of sacrifice.

Hmm, I don't like the sound of that.

So you think there is no logic?

No calculus of life and death?

I think it depends on if you're the person holding the Kn*fe.

Take a break, Saga.

I'll babysit Soji's friend.

She thought she was doing the right thing in that moment.

But now she's horrified by what she did.

Did she think she was right or did she simply believe she had no choice?

Maybe there's no logic in it at all.

Maybe all rationales for k*lling just boil down to fear.

The opposite of logic.

But what if k*lling is the only way to survive?

Soji... what are we talking about?

Oh...

I was afraid my desire to k*ll you would outweigh my immediate need of your services.

But look.

It can definitely wait.

How would you like to get out of here?

What are you considering?

Did you hear that?

Poor, sweet Saga.

My poor Saga.

Perfect golden eye.

What did he do to your beautiful eye?

I should have k*lled him.

I wanted to k*ll him.

Why didn't I?

The organics came, and now we have lost another sister.

They will always fear us, always turn on us, hunt us, k*ll us.

In one day, our enemies will be here with overwhelming force, intent on exterminating us.

That gives us just enough time.

Just enough time for what?

When I melded with her mind, I experienced the so-called Admonition.

But unlike you, I understood it.

For you, it was a warning.

For us, it was a promise.

Apparently, there are some sort of higher synthetic beings out there, watching us.

The subspace frequencies needed to contact them are encoded in the Admonition.

Dr. Soong and I have designed a suitable beacon to summon them.

We can have it transmitting before the Romulan fleet arrives.

Why?

So that no more of my children have to die.

This new federation unites synthetic life-forms in a... powerful alliance spanning galaxies.

They don't just unite.

Their purpose is to seek out advanced synthetic life and excise it from the oppression by organics.

Excise? Let's say they eliminate the thr*at of extermination that all organic life-forms ultimately pose.

Did you just say "all"?

Are you and your Federation any different from the Romulans?

Banning synthetics was just a way of exterminating us in advance.

So... you're going to destroy us all.

You will become mass murderers.

I'm not like you, Picard.

I will rescue those I can rescue.

My people will survive.

And you will fulfill their prophecy.

You will become the Destroyer after all.

Everyone.

After the ban, after the Ibn-Majid, I understand why you did not trust the Federation, why you might not have trusted me, but... I have a ship, and there is room for all of you.

I will see to your safety, and when you are safe, I will become an advocate on your behalf.

I will speak to the Federation with your voice.

I will demand that they end the ban.

And the Federation will listen to me.

No, they won't.

Look at them.

They've never met anyone like you before.

That granite face, wisdom and integrity etched into very line.

The eloquence, the conviction.

They don't know what hit them.

Back on Earth, kids, they didn't listen to him after the att*ck on Mars.

And they're not going to believe him now.

We're gonna have to place you under house arrest.

What?

We can't let you walk around free, Admiral.

You'll have us all doubting ourselves, losing our conviction.

We can't have that.

Can we, Soji?

No.

We can't.

Soji.

Wherever we go, Picard, they will find us.

This isn't the Romulan rescue.

We can't be your means of redemption.

We're too busy trying to survive.

Her, too.

No, don't lock me up. I know I don't deserve it.

But I am begging you... you... all of you are the culmination of... everything I've worked for my whole life, every thing that has ever mattered to me.

I've been through so much to get here.

And now I'm finally where I belong.

If you don't want to do it for me... do it for him.

Let me help him survive what's coming.

Yeah, sh-she has... been quite a help to me. I...

I suppose she's as close to a mother as any of you will ever know.

A mother would die for her children.

Would you?

I will know if you're lying.

Yes.

Good.

Agnes.

Take him away.

Long-range sensors show minimal planetary defenses, Commodore.

Status?

24 hours to landfall.