03x03 - Part Three: Seventeen Seconds

[bunniefuu]

♪ ♪
[PEOPLE SCREAMING IN DISTANCE]

COMPUTER: Starfleet Command
has terminated investigation.

- Disengage.
- RAFFI: You brokered a deal

for stolen portal tech.

You smell like Starfleet.

Prove it.

[GRUNTS]

[BOTH GRUNTING]

WORF: I told you do not engage.

Welcome to the Ryton system, gentlemen.

SHAW: This was you.

You are relieved of duty
for insubordination.

VADIC: I am Captain Vadic.
You are harboring

one Jack Crusher,

and we are taking him.

- RIKER: Weapons?
- MURA: photon torpedoes.

antimatter missiles. And something

loaded in primary position
in the bay, sir.

Technology unknown.

RIKER: The Shrike is not a ship.

It's a guillotine.

We both know that Beverly
would never permit this.

- Because you know her so well.
- Who is your father?

I never had one!

Are you not seeing what I'm seeing?

Do the math, Jean-Luc.

The boy stays here.

You are going to get us all k*lled.

Why are you doing this?

Because he's my son.

Tactical, full power to forward shields.

La Forge, get ready to fly.

[GIGGLES] Follow him.

- If they're looking for a fight...
- They'll have to find us first.

[ALARM BLARING]

Captain, she's still on us.

Helm, evasive.

Fire.

[SPEAKING ALIEN LANGUAGE]

[GRUNTING]

[ALARM BLARING]

[ALERT BEEPING]

One more time.

This is your fault.

Jack, don't.

[RUMBLING]

They're gonna need us.

Sir, we have reports
of widespread damage...

shields, weapons.

Engineering, take whatever
power you need.

Prepare to warp.

We can't warp away as long
as we're inside this thing.

We're losing visual on the stern.

Send somebody down to look out
the g*dd*mn back windows.

Soon as we shake her,
we break for the exit.

Sir, engineering reporting

we've taken hits
to our warp field coils.

We can't outrun them on impulse alone.

Nebula interference.

Deeper we go, worse it gets
for external sensors.

If she wanted to destroy us, she could.

She's strategic.

She knows we're blind. We can't run.

She'll peck away at us
until we surrender.

We need to hide, Captain.

Damn it.

La Forge, go deeper.

No sign of the Shrike, sir.
We've lost contact.

And there go the sensors.

We lost her.

For now.

♪ ♪

["ROLLIN'" BY J CLEARWATER PLAYING]

PICARD: A toast,

my friend.

To your newborn son.

Ah. To Thaddeus.

And to parenthood.

Regarded by many
as life's greatest challenge,

but I have no doubt

your son is in capable hands.

[CHUCKLES] Cheers.

Because he'll be looked after
by the wisest of souls.

Someone endowed with great kindness,

patience...

and unconditional love.

I don't know what to say.

His mother.

Are you all right?

Yeah.

You said on the call that
the delivery was touch-and-go.

Well, we were on the Titan, of course.

They hailed me from sickbay.

"You better get down here, sir,
right away".

The tone of voice,

- it was not what you wanted to hear.
- Mm-hmm.

It took seconds to get down there.

The longest turbolift ride of my life.

I thought I was losing him.

My unborn son.

His whole future flashed
in front of my eyes.

And in that moment...

... you became a father.

That's right.

And everything you've read...
the books and the poems

about fatherhood...
goes right out the window

the moment you see your kid.

- [LAUGHS]
- He's so...

so small and so fragile.

You just know that you've got to...

got to take care of them at all cost.

You'd burn the world to save them.

I am so

very happy for you, Will.

I hope one day you get to have
this feeling, too.

- Nothing like it.
- [PADD CHIRPS]

- Oh, sh*t.
- [LAUGHS]

Oh, enjoying whiskey and cigars, are we?

Well, I haven't brushed
my hair in hours.

And your son just vomited
all over Engineering.

- Projective vomit. Four feet in the air.
- [LAUGHS]

They should study him for science.

I'm sorry, imzadi. I'll be right there.

Bring the whiskey.

- I wish you luck, Captain.
- Thank you, Admiral.

[ALARM BLARING]

- Stern, report.
- VESCO: Negative, Captain.

- Still no sign...
- No visuals of the Shrike.

SHAW: Update from engineering.

Still working on repairs.

They estimate at least two hours

before warp will be operational again.

What now?

Energy surge from the nebula, sir.

Electrical and biological signatures.

Well, that's fun.

Anyone else want to throw
more weird sh*t at me?

La Forge, Mura, Esmar.

You just pulled a -hour
watch. You're relieved.

Get some rest while you can.

["AVE VERUM CORPUS, K. "
BY MOZART PLAYING]

[SIGHS]

[DOOR CHIMES]

- Music off.
- [MUSIC STOPS]

I just wanted to check on you.

MALE [OVER P.A.]: Engineering personnel,

Deck for auxiliary
generator damage help...

I'm charged with insubordination

and confined to quarters, but thanks.

My father is one of the greatest

Starfleet engineers that ever lived.

People were fine with me
following in his footsteps,

but the moment I
decided to be a pilot...

[SCOFFS] Oh, boy.

- This sounds rehearsed.
- Uh...

People didn't think I belonged, either.

"She's here 'cause Starfleet
couldn't say no

to Geordi La Forge's daughter".

One of the few ways
my dad and I are alike...

we have a hard time making friends.

But when we do,

we know their value.

Shaw may call you insubordinate
for helping yours,

but my dad wouldn't.

Thank you.

Go rest, ensign.

Yes, Commander Seven.

[INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER P.A.]

Just a couple of cracked ribs.

Healing up nicely. You will be fine.

- Excuse me.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Watch it.

- She's injured.
- I'm fine.

Dr. Ohk, put me to task.

It would take me longer
to explain to you

how everything has changed
over the last years

than do it myself, but thank you.

MALE [OVER P.A.]: Dr. Ohk to
Engineering. Dr. Ohk to Engineering.

[DOOR WHOOSHES OPEN]

[DOOR WHOOSHES SHUT]

You are good to go.

Just take it easy.

FEMALE [OVER P.A.]: Repair crew
to starboard thruster control.

Repair crew to starboard
thruster control.

Jack, what do you say you and I...

Nothing she has to say
can't be said in front of me.

BEVERLY: It's okay.

FEMALE [OVER P.A.]: Repair - ,
please report to Engineering.

Repair - , please report
to Engineering.

Two months before I left the Enterprise,

do you remember our shore leave
on Casperia Prime?

The waterfalls?

A perfect day on borrowed time.

They called you back early.

That's how it always was with us.

There was always a clock.

That day, maybe more
than any other, because...

... we both knew we were at the end.

I didn't.

I didn't know I would
never see you again.

That I would wonder for years

what it was that I had done. [SCOFFS]

Having no idea that
it was really all about

what you had done.

We ended our relationship.

Our romantic relationship.

For the... [CHUCKLES]

the fifth time.

Well, I got pregnant that night.

[BEVERLY SIGHS]

I wanted to tell you.

Then...

- ... why didn't you?
- I struggled over telling you.

I wanted him to know you,

but then refugees from Kalara V,

angry about Romulan relocation,

kidnapped you and held you
for nine days.

Oh, so my only window was for nine days?

Then I tried again, but this time

two Reman assassins intercepted the ship

in the Donatra sector and held
a disruptor to your head.

- And-and how is that...
- Then only days later,

Starfleet asked you to negotiate
with the praetor

and a photon grenade
detonates meters from you.

And that is when I knew

it would be like that forever.

It will be what it always was:
attempts on your life.

And you never thought...

if you had told me,

it all might have been different?

Jean-Luc, when the galaxy
comes calling for you,

you are not put-upon by it, you love it.

Don't tell me you would
have walked away.

Beverly,

you made the choice for me.

You don't get to condemn
people before the fact.

Over and over,

you told me how you never
wanted to have a family.

That you could never be a father

because you were too afraid
you'd be like your own.

Don't take my past and use it to justify

and rationalize your actions.

How dare you take my confiding in you

about my father... about my fears...

and use it to cut me out

of the biggest decision of my life.

What could have been had I known?

Hmm?

What might I have been?

A father?

A husband?

I know now I would never

have been my father.

But I could have learned
that years before.

When Jack was on his way,

I was terrified.

All I knew

was that if you're the son

of Jean-Luc Picard,
there's a target on your back.

I lost my parents,

then a husband,

then my son Wesley,

all to the same stars that own you.

As a mother, your whole being

is about protecting your child.

I-I thought I could protect mine.

I didn't know...

if I could protect yours.

MALE [OVER P.A.]: Ensign Bernardin,

please report to the
deflector control room.

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

Can you please stop
looking at me like that?

- Like what?
- Like I'm the outcome of some science experiment.

Sorry to tell you kid, but you are.

I spent two decades in a spaceship

watching you get cooked up
before you were born.

It was subtle at first,

- but that resemblance to your dad...
- No.

No, please, don't.

He's not "Dad".

- He is one of the finest men I've ever known.
- Is he?

Let's just say that
in my time on this universe,

I've always found one thing to be true:

the bigger the legend, the more
disappointing the reality.

[CHUCKLES]

We're all faulty.

Just human.

I heard he's positronic.

- He's still the same man.
- [DOOR WHOOSHES OPEN]

- [INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER P.A.]
- [DOOR WHOOSHES CLOSE]

[DOOR WHOOSHES OPEN]

- [DOOR WHOOSHES SHUT]
- It seems accusatory stares are contagious.

People have a right to know who or what

they're putting their lives
on the line for.

I didn't ask them for that.

- I never would.
- I know.

But now you've... you've got to own it.

The best thing you can do is give them

a reason to feel good about it.

Look, I...

I don't know much about you.

Sometimes my mother...

she'd start telling a story
about all of you.

And her eyes would... would light up.

And then she'd get sad and...

... stop.

Have you got a family, Riker?

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

Feel free to call me Captain.

And yes.

I have a wife and a daughter.

And I had a son.

PICARD: What do you know
about the ship out there?

BEVERLY: Nothing.

Jack and I help those in need

on worlds Starfleet has forgotten.

We've had trouble now and then,
but nothing like this.

You said, "Trust no one". Why?

We were on a supply run to Sarnia Prime

and Jack was jumped by Fenris Rangers.

Then Klingons boarded us a day later.

They were trying to take him.

Then went to Starfleet,
and still they came for him.

Everywhere we go, someone turns on us.

You are the only one I can trust.

Why do they want Jack?

I don't think it has
anything to do with him.

I think it somehow has
something to do with you.

I know nothing about this Vadic.

No, neither do we.

But that's no bounty hunter ship.

That's a warship

with Jean-Luc Picard sized
enemies behind it.

I must get back to the bridge.

Jack.

His accent...

[SCOFFS]

He went to school in London.
Never shook it.

Maybe it's in his DNA.

Didn't I deserve a chance?

Didn't he deserve a chance
to get to know me?

When he was old enough, I told him

who you were and where to find you.

I encouraged him to meet with you.

He decided not to.

[DOOR WHOOSHES SHUT]

[INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER P.A.]

Walk with me, Will.

RIKER: What did Beverly say?

It's immaterial.

Immaterial?

That's your son.

Our survival is the only
thing that matters.

I've placed the crew of this ship
under unnecessary danger.

All our efforts must be focused here.

Jean-Luc, talk to him.

Moments with your kids...

You never know what you might regret.

God knows...

Will, it's irreparable.

I owe this ship's captain an apology.

MALE [OVER P.A.]: Repair crew
to starboard thruster control.

Repair crew to starboard
thruster control.

B-Bridge, visual contact of the Shrike.

Bearing . , meters and closing.

- Battle stations!
- [ALARM BLARING]

That's impossible.

How the hell did she find us?

Aah!

Again.

[GRUNTING]

Aah!

You. You.

You got us into this.

You are gonna get us out.

Computer, transfer command.

Captain William Riker, pro tem.

Authorization: Shaw- - -Bravo Delta.

- COMPUTER: Command transfer authorized.
- Get him to sickbay.

[GRUNTS]

Captain, we still have visual.

She's right behind us.

Admiral, can you roll and not fire

a single photon torpedo
halfway between us and them?

Key the phasers, light it up.

- The concussion should...
- Torpedo away.

[GRUNTS]

It worked, Captain.
We may have shaken her.

Thank you, Jean-Luc.

Will, I think it might be time

you called me Number One.

REPORTER: An update on
yesterday's devastating att*ck

on a Starfleet recruitment
building that left dead.

Starfleet intelligence has now confirmed

that Lurak t'Luco, a Romulan
dissident, is to blame.

While authorities would not
divulge details

on the w*apon used in the att*ck,

they say that they are confident
that t'luco was working alone,

believing this to be
an isolated incident.

["LES TROYENS" BY HECTOR BERLIOZ
PLAYING IN DISTANCE]

♪ ♪

I don't know who the hell
you are, but...

I am Worf, son of Mogh,

House of Martok, son of Sergey,

House of Rozhenko,

bane to the Duras family,

slayer of Gowron.

I have made some chamomile tea.
Do you take sugar?

Uh... Worf.

Y-You're a legend.

Pi-Picard, you know, he used to
talk about you all the time.

You're exactly as I imagined you to be.

Also, not so much.

I have learned of late
that one must access calm

as much as fire.

So I have been, as humans say,

working on myself.

You know, the-the last thing
I remember, that...

that Ferengi was going to k*ll me.

SNEED: But I will take your money.

And they'll take your head.

Aah!

It is not your time to join the dead.

- Aah!
- Oh...

You...

You're my handler?

You're Starfleet?

My concerns align with theirs.

Think of me as...

a subcontractor.

There is something coming.
Some kind of att*ck.

There was an att*ck.
The recruitment center.

Using stolen weapons from Daystrom.

I fear that was only the beginning

- of something much bigger.
- That's what I told you.

So why would you order me to disengage

when I'm obviously right?

Because I thought you would
get yourself k*lled,

or nearly so.

And I, too, was obviously right.

[GROANS]

Withdrawals.

From the narcotic
you ingested in your eye

before I saved your life.

You blew my cover.

You had already accomplished that.

Why do I do this?

My life, my family,

my sobriety.

What's wrong with me?

You almost d*ed on a mission
that everyone told you

- you should not work.
- Yeah, thanks.

Pile it on.

I've heard worse from
bigger legends than you.

You have the heart of a warrior.

And the instincts.

There is something coming.

I have known it for a while.

You have served me well.

Uh-uh. Wait. [CHUCKLES]

Where-where is all this, uh,
past tense coming from?

Because I am not done here

and I do not need a babysitter.

I've been undercover for months.

- I have my finger on the pulse.
- Raffaela,

I know who paid the Ferengi to lie.

A human by the name of Titus Rikka.

Multiple criminal underworld contacts.

You and I

will track this individual together.

And then we will find out
who stole those weapons,

learn the next phase of their plan...

and stop them.

Cool.

PICARD: Vadic should be
as blind as we are.

It might give us a tactical advantage.

No, we should continue to evade
until warp is operational.

She's finding us anyway.

Engineering is now estimating
just under minutes, sir.

So, only defensive strategy.

Given our limit,

and what we've seen
of her capabilities, yes.

But given the likelihood
that we are forced

to re-engage...

[SIGHS] This isn't the Enterprise.

What I've seen, the difference between

the Titan and the Shrike...

the only option we
really have is to hide.

Of course, I'm...
I'm open to your input.

Thank you, Captain.

RIKER: La Forge, keep us squirrelly

- and hidden long enough to buy us time.
- Yes, Captain.

Almost there.

We're gonna get you scanned. Here we go.

Hey, look at me. Look at me.

You're gonna be okay. All right?

You may have lost a bit of blood,

but here's some good news:
we got plenty.

So you're gonna be
absolutely fine, I promise.

- Thank you.
- Okay?

- Yeah.
- Let's get you over this way.

Captain? Captain, stay with me.

- Captain.
- [GASPING]

- What can I do to help?
- Help with the others.

They're fine. They're stable.

I don't like what I'm seeing here.

Shaw, are you having trouble breathing?

Does this hurt? What about this?

- Now.
- [PAINED GASP]

He's bleeding internally.

No. I ran the imaging scan.

Imaging doesn't always pick up
delayed bleeding

from concussive injuries.
We need to work on this.

Jack.

- Get him on his side. Go.
- [SHAW GROANS]

How-how is she finding us?

I'm so sorry, sir.

I never meant for any of this to happen.

How does she keep finding us?

- Stern, report.
- VESCO: Still no sign of her.

- Warp status?
- Less than ten, sir.

Science, have you been tracking

- these energy pulses?
- Yes, sir.

I'm reading both electrical
and biological signatures.

I don't believe that this is a nebula,

but some kind of unknown anomaly.

There's been nothing like it

ever reported by Starfleet.

So, going straight through it
is not a recommended option?

Definitely not, sir.

Are you suggesting we turn back?

Logic suggests it would be unwise

to go any deeper.

La Forge, change course.

Inform Engineering however long it takes

to get us outside this nebula
is exactly how much time

they have to be ready to warp.

All hands, remain at battle stations

and prepare for maximum warp.

- We'll attempt to outrun the Shrike.
- I have to get to the bridge.

- I need to speak with them.
- We're at red alert. Turn around.

Sir, I estimate we're moments away from

approaching the outer edge.

Engineering says warp is a go.

Set course for the nearest starbase.

Comms, ready an emergency SOS,

then prepare to go to warp.

T'VEEN: Effects of the nebula
dissipating.

Soon as we're clear, La Forge.

MURA: Scanners are coming on line.

Sir, she's on us.

Ready the device.

Their weapons systems... My God.

They're giving off
energy readings like...

like nothing I've ever seen before.

Fire!

RIKER: What the hell is that?

SIDNEY: Sir, we're going right through.

SIDNEY: She's pulled us
deeper into the nebula.

MURA: Some kind of portal w*apon, sir.

Dimensional folding,
interspatial singularity.

La Forge, punch it. Try it again.

Again.

- SIDNEY: Sir, she's pulled us back in again.
- Damn it.

Will, she's corralling us,
holding us in the air

so that she or that energy surge

can cr*pple us until we're defenseless.

Now is the time to fight.

Turn us around, take us back in.

[LAUGHING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

I told you to stay back.

WORF [OVER COMM]: It is not
in my nature to stay back.

Also, you look conspicuous in that hood.

Says the Klingon in warrior gear.

It is not warrior gear. It is casual.

Seriously, where do you wear that...

to a Tuesday beheading?

Welcome. You are now entering...

I'm glad to see that
you are feeling better.

I'm not. I just bring it
when the moment calls.

It is calling.

Behind you!

Rafaella, we have been discovered.

He is getting away.

Which way?

On your right.

- RAFFI: I see him.
- WORF: Take the alley.

By the stall, now.

I'm losing him.

[CROWD EXCLAIMS]

Beheadings are on Wednesdays.

[GRUNTING]

[ALARM BLARING]

Sir, I can't shake her.

The Shrike keeps pushing us deeper.

We're running out of chances
here, Captain.

I am well aware.

[DOOR CHIMING]

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

- What are you doing here?
- We need a word. - Hey, you...

You were a Fenris Ranger, right?

- [SCOFFS] I don't have time for this.
- Blood in the water.

Come on, oldest trick in the book.

Blood in the water.

That's how the Shrike keeps finding us.

Somehow,

we're leaving a trail of breadcrumbs.

Now, you know there's any number
of things that can do this.

Invisible, subtle,

and easily detectable by enemy ships.

There's no need for long-range
sensors, only a...

Mass spectrometer.

Verterium. It insulates the warp coils.

Yes! Yes, that's-that's it.
That's what I'm saying.

We have a leak.

We have to be sure. Come with me.

Sorry, Commander, the captain's
orders still stand.

You're confined to quarters

and I can't allow you to leave.

Yeah, the thing about that is...

You're insane.

[GRUNTING]

Oh. Gas leak. Smells like verterium.

Here. It's poisonous in gaseous form.

- Exposure will k*ll you.
- [COUGHS]

JACK: Well, the way things
have been going lately,

it might need to join the queue.

SEVEN OF NINE: Someone deactivated
atmospheric diagnostics.

The ship's computer
can't detect the leak.

[GAS HISSING]

JACK: Looks like short-range
phaser fire to me.

SEVEN OF NINE: It's not
damage, it's sabotage.

There's still a lot
in this room and the tube.

I'm gonna check another
chamber. Stay here.

We need to know how long
it'll take to clear the system.

Hansen to bridge.

We know how the Shrike's
been following us.

We're leaking verterium.

Someone did this on purpose.

We have a saboteur.

T'VEEN: Captain, we're getting too close

to the center of this nebula,
and by quick estimate,

a strong, sizeable
inner gravitational well.

If we get pulled into it...

You heard her, La Forge.

Aye, Captain.

Will, if this was sabotage,

we can use it to our own advantage.

- As a diversion.
- Yes.

Stop the leak, create a dead end
to the Shrike's trail.

Pivot hard, race out of here.

No. Use it to set a trap.

Instead of fleeing, we end the trail

and reposition behind the Shrike.

We'll have her dead to rights.

It makes tactical sense
but, no, you said it earlier...

we can no longer risk
the lives of this crew.

As soon as the leak is fixed,

we're gonna make a final run for it.

Tell Engineering
to prepare for warp again.

This leak gives us only one advantage:

she doesn't know that we know
that we're being tracked.

I understand, you're amped up,
you have a son on board

- and it's affecting...
- Will, why?!

I'm taking this ship

and her crew home.

JACK: You can't be in here,
there's a leak...

- [GRUNTING]
- COMPUTER: Warning. Dangerous level

of verterium exposure.

Oxygen required immediately.

Warning. Dangerous level
of verterium exposure.

Oxygen required immediately.

Warning. Dangerous level
of verterium exposure.

SEVEN OF NINE [OVER COMM]:
Jack, I shut off the leak,

but it'll take a minute to dissipate.

Coming back to you now.

COMPUTER: Dangerous level
of verterium exposure.

SEVEN OF NINE: Jack?

COMPUTER: Warning. Dangerous level...

SEVEN OF NINE: Jack?!

COMPUTER: Oxygen required immediately.

- Warning.
- SEVEN OF NINE: Jack!

RAFFI: I'm having a real hard
time balancing the whole

work/life thing.

And then you decided to help

get people k*lled.

I'm gonna start pulling off
your fingernails,

just to make me feel better.

Why are you already sweating?

Raffaela.

You may keep your fingernails.

We know that those deaths
were not your fault.

Oh, hell no.

He is not getting off that easy.

Have you ever seen
how far a Klingon warrior

- can shove a sword up someone's...
- I do not do that anymore.

I am wiser now.

I was once like her.

Maybe you, too.

Irrational, violent.

Things change with perspective.

- Oh, my God.
- There is no righteous cause.

No good, no evil.

You believe in your fight.

And take it from someone
who has fought many.

Your anger is your enemy.

We are all the same.

I think I feel my chamomile tea
coming back up.

A fight is rarely worth dying for.

I have no ill will towards you.

Just tell us what we want to know.

Who broke into Daystrom?!

[GRUNTING, STRAINING]

Withdrawal's a bitch.

The headaches pounding your skull.

Your skin feels like it's
been doused with acid.

You know, after a while,

some people coming off that stuff...

they beg for death.

Trust me. I know.

No one knows you're here.

You don't leave

until we know what you know.

[GRUNTS, COUGHS]

[GASPING]

Connect the branches.

[SEVEN OF NINE SPEAKING
INDISTINCTLY, ECHOING]

Jack!

Jack, wake up, wake up.

Come on, get up, get up. Let's go.

Seven to the bridge. Picard.
Jack's injured.

I'm taking him to sickbay.

Go.

What happened to him?

Verterium gas exposure.

Oh, my God. Oh, he's fading.

Sickbay.

[ECHOING] Come on, Jack.

Jack, breathe.

[INDISTINCT, ECHOING CHATTER]

[STIMULATOR WHIRRS]

[STIMULATOR WHIRRS]

♪ ♪

[STIMULATOR WHIRRS]

♪ ♪

[GASPING]

BEVERLY: That's it, baby.

That's it, that's it.

RAFFI: g*dd*mn it!

You better start giving me
answers right now.

Who stole weapons from Daystrom?

- Romulans.
- Bullshit!

This wasn't the Romulans.

I swear, I will let you die in agony

unless you tell me who
broke into Daystrom.

- I did!
- Who with?

Like-minded souls.

Enemies of the Federation. [GRUNTS]

Why blame the Romulans?

Because it was never
about the portal w*apon.

We just wanted to keep
Starfleet spinning. [GRUNTS]

It was misdirection
from the very beginning.

To distract us from...

Something else being
stolen from Daystrom.

Something more dangerous.

Something more valuable.

That's all I know! Now let me go.

Okay, so that's not withdrawal.

Tell me, how long have you
been away from the Great Link?

RIKER: He's stable?

Yes.

Will, we cannot run any longer.

We must engage and protect this ship.

I am protecting this ship
by avoiding its destruction.

I understand this instinct
to be fearful of loss...

Fearful of loss?

You are out of line.

We cannot allow it to make us weak.

Sit down, Admiral.

Will, how many times
must your strategy fail

before you change it? It's not working!

Sit down, Admiral.

I'm the captain of this ship.

MURA: Sir, for a moment I think
I detected the Shrike.

Wherever she is, she's close.

WORF: You wanted us to release you

before you gave away your true self.

I know your kind.

After a while it becomes too difficult

to maintain your solid shape.

What my partner mistook as withdrawal

was merely your need
to regenerate in liquid form.

It's too late,

Klingon.

Human. Solids.

Your worlds are on the verge
of destruction.

Soon...

your Federation will crumble.

- [GRUNTS]
- What is happening?

Aah!

He is a Changeling.

Don't let it get away.

JACK: I was att*cked.

His face... it moved.

As a Changeling would.

WORF: In the past, the Changelings
were a powerful enemy

of the Federation, united in purpose.

But when the Dominion w*r
ended, there was a schism.

A t*rror1st faction broke away,

unwilling to accept defeat.

I was contacted by a close friend

within the Link, a man of honor.

He informed me of this rogue group.

But if Starfleet were to
acknowledge their existence...

We would be reigniting the Dominion w*r.

They can look and sound
like anyone, any species.

- What is it they want... a second w*r?
- No.

I believe they may be
planning another att*ck,

and Starfleet could be the target.

What could be so big that they
would use a portal w*apon

like that as just a distraction?

Perhaps it is as you said.

To draw attention from
something else that was stolen.

The real w*apon.

We should get to Daystrom Station.

It may be our only hope for answers.

You and I, Raffaela,

are now partners.

Sir, the leak is gone.

The Shrike's trail is cold.

RIKER: Great. Let's get us out of here.

La Forge, prepare for warp.

SEVEN OF NINE [OVER COMM]:
Sir, Jack was ambushed.

He thinks it was a Changeling.

T'VEEN: Sir, we have
just had an expl*si*n.

Warp energy is falling to zero, Captain.

We lost a power conduit.

We are unable to go to warp.

Will, turn the ship around and fight.

We'll lose.

We're out of options, Captain.

We fight or we die.

Bridge, prepare to att*ck.

La Forge, arc us around
for a rear as*ault.

Coming around.

If the Shrike followed the trail,

we should be coming up right behind her.

She's already turned.

Will, now.

Fire everything we've got!

No...

[GRUNTS]

Engines down. Ship not responding.

[ALARMS BLARING]

The Shrike... it's retreating.

T'VEEN: We're sinking, Captain,

towards the gravity well.

SIDNEY: I have no control.

We're heading right for it.

Will...

RIKER: Remove yourself from the bridge.

You've just k*lled us all.