02x08 - Mercy

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Star Trek: Picard". Aired: January 2020 to present.*
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Follow up series that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.
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02x08 - Mercy

Post by bunniefuu »

Previously on Star Trek: Picard...

[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]

BORG QUEEN: I think I'll steer
the ship for a while.

JURATI: No. Wait...

- I'm in control.
- Not anymore.

SEVEN OF NINE: A Borg Queen loose
in Los Angeles.

RAFFI: She's not the Borg
Queen... don't say that.

SEVEN OF NINE: Nanoprobes multiply,
Queen gets stronger.

Less and less Jurati.

We're witnessing the birth of a new queen.

We're supposed to save the future,

but we might've just doomed it.

- My life's work.
- You're scaring me.

I let myself believe you were the one.

You'd make it.

Why don't I remember this?

Or any of these?

SOONG [ON VIDEO]:
This one will be the last.

I will do anything

to make sure she survives.

Kore.

Dad, what did you do?

PICARD: He's saying it's about me,

but it's deeply urgent to him.

That's unexpected.

You can't really want me to summon a Q?

[INDISTINCT WHISPERING]

[SCREAMING]

It didn't work.

[ENTRY BELLS JANGLE]

GUINAN: We're closed.

One drink and I'm out
of your hair, please?

We could all use a dash of extra

with all this ordinary.

- PICARD: What is this?
- WELLS: Law enforcement.

I'm gonna need you two to come with me.

- [BIRDS CALLING]
- [PANTING]

[BOY SCREAMING]

[PANTING]

[WHIMPERING]

[PANTING]

[SCREAMS]

- [BUZZER SOUNDS]
- [LOCK CLICKS]

Oh, finally!

Uh, it's, uh, Wells, isn't it?

I...

Uh, don't worry.

It's just an interview.

I don't like the word "interrogation."

All right.

Let's see.

Question one.

Are you an extraterrestrial life-form?

[LAUGHING]

I can truly say...

I am not.

[STAMMERS] What are you writing?

Well, you're laughing, so I'm making note

that your species has humor.

This is absurd.

Look, we have cooperated

and now we'd like to leave.

You can leave as soon as you
tell me about your plans

to sabotage the Europa mission.

GUINAN: And there it is.

This guy is buckets of crazy.

This is super "off the books."

We're in a basement

with a bunch of broken filing cabinets.

That camera's not even plugged in.

You're right. [LAUGHS]

This is super "off the books."

In fact, no one even knows you're here.

In this FBI field office basement.

And things do tend to disappear down here.

Hopes, dreams.

As of today,

aliens.









[WINDS BLOWING]

[CAR HORN HONKING]

[TRICORDER TRILLING]

We tracked Jurati to a dive bar.

- Okay, I'm coming to you.
- No!

No, you got to stay on La Sirena.

Are you out of your mind?!
There's a Borg Queen...

[QUIETLY]: loose in L.A.

You think I don't know
how bad this could go?

It's .

People have trouble with revolving doors.

They can't handle a Borg Queen.

She's more than a Borg Queen.

Agnes is in there.

Maybe.

You need to go through
every operating system

and make sure she didn't
Borgify anything else.

And figure out a way to contain

her majesty once we find her. Out.

Abnormal life signs,
but they're too far away,

- or diminished to pinpoint.
- So she's anywhere

in a -block radius?

That's not good enough.

You're gonna have to Borg up, lady.

No cranial implant equals

no Borg proximity transceiver...
I can't track her.

I meant analog... you are her.

Loose with legs.

What do you do?

I don't know, Raffi.

I'm not Borg.

You are Seven, right?

And who is that exactly to you?

You know what? Never mind. Hey!

Uh, could I ask about your window?

You a cop?

You don't want to talk to the police?

I've seen how they deal with nutcases.

Not exactly delicate.

That's why I want to find her

before the police do. She's not well.

No sh*t.

She's my sister.

We're trying to get her into
a facility. If you could help...

She left here with a guy.

Big, red beard.

Which way?

She went that, turned the corner.

Thanks.

- How's that for analog?
- I...

Believe me, we would be thrilled

to see the rocket safely launch tomorrow.

Uh-huh.

I've got a lady friend with the city,

sh**t me an email anytime something odd

pops up on the CCTV.

Like when someone shimmers into
existence on a downtown street.

Dropped your image into our database.

And, uh... boom!

One of six known trespassers
at the Europa Gala.

I put this all together...
I think, why would aliens

crash a gala for a space mission?

GUINAN: You don't seem like the kind
of guy they send in

to break t*rrorists.

Not getting
"FBI's Top Interrogator" vibes.

Something else put you in that chair?

Tell me, Agent Wells...

...what makes you the man for this job?

Think of me as just a good, old-fashioned,

dedicated civil servant.

GUINAN: Work a lot.

Don't sleep.

Comes in all wrinkled
with your huge mug of coffee.

I'm a bartender.

I've seen your kind before.

This is personal.

That's, uh... quite a bruise

on your hand, sir.
Looks like it's from an IV.

I was dehydrated.

After all, I'm only human.

You certainly are.

Thank you, folks.

That'll be all for now.

- [BUZZER SOUNDS]
- [LOCK CLICKS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

If he believes that we are tampering

with the Europa Mission,

then Q has no need to stop Renée

from boarding the ship at all.
The authorities

will just simply scrub

the whole launch.

And we will have broken the future

on our own.

Frustration got the better of me.

I know now...

this one will be the last.

I need to get in there.

Aspectus, extrapolate D video

to D environment.

What are you hiding, Dad?

Patience, mon petit.

Who the hell are you?

A friend. A fire-starter.

A simulacra...

a living program... planted here

when I hacked into your father's system.

Waiting for you to arrive
at this very moment.

So close to the answers you seek.

I'm sorry the others didn't make it.

Looks like you were
the strongest of the bunch.

That's a human genome.

What was he...?

Am I...?

Am I an experiment?

He created you.

But locked you in a prison.

I'm sending you the key.

Are you brave enough to use it?

[BEEPING]

AUTOMATED VOICE: Delivery available
in environ-safe airlock.

People are so easy when they trust you.

I knew exactly what to say to that guy.

It's like his face was a map.

- No wonder I'm president.
- [LAUGHS]

sh*t.

Doesn't mean Jurati's
not in there somewhere,

- trying to fight.
- Well, if she is,

she's losing.

I'd want nothing.

In her shoes.

I'd want nothing except...

that connection.

If you felt it,
it's hard to think of anything

except... getting it back.

It's good. Good, just...
all right, all right.

Just-just keep going.

She hasn't been able
to assimilate or we'd know.

She can't have what she wants, so she...

tried to recreate
that feeling of connection.

One-on-one.

RAFFI: Mm, why k*ll him?

Because it didn't work.

She didn't feel anything one-on-one.

It wasn't enough.

She grew frustrated, angry.

Took it out on...
what couldn't satisfy her.

Wow. [CHUCKLES]

I mean, that's incredibly spot on.

Can you not?

That I can "access her,"
it's not impressive.

- [STAMMERING]
- You could just be a little less

happy that I'm defective.

Okay, I-I'm gonna try not
to take you personally now...

You manipulate.

Everyone has to be exactly
where Raffi wants them.

You think we don't see it, but we all do.

This is probably his phone.

What's in cell phone batteries?

Um, uh, here.

Um...

Lithium ions.

They're a-a stabilizing metal.

High energy storage... whoa, whoa, hey.

You all right?

When you're assimilated,
the Borg inject you

with stabilizing metals, so your
body can handle nanoprobes.

I can still remember the smell.

I was six.

I can taste it now.

If we can't contain her...

are we gonna have to k*ll Jurati?

[LOUD BANGING NEARBY]

- [NEARBY THUD]
- [METAL CLANGING]

[LOUD BANGING]

Jurati!

That's it, stop!

[GRUNTING]

[WHIMPERING]

[GRUNTING]

JURATI: No...

No!

[GRUNTS]

[SIGHS]

- [BUZZER SOUNDS]
- [LOCK CLICKS]

The thing is, obsession's only obsession

until it pays off.

Then it's diligence.

Sorry... what?

IV bruise.

Clearly you wouldn't
have gone to a hospital.

So I got to thinking clinic,

clinic... where have I heard that recently?

You know who else went to a clinic?

Your buddy.

He was arrested during
a Homeland Security raid there.

He also made this, uh...

completely innocuous statement.

Would you mind reading it out loud?

"I'm stuck back in a particularly

"primitive past,
trying to correct the timeline

"with a ragtag group of misfits,
including one cybernetic queen

"that I'm fairly certain is
just in it to wipe out

"all of humanity with her old cohort...

"...a crusty old admiral who,
if I understand it correctly,

is now a flesh-and-blood robot."

Well, clearly he has been subjected

to barbaric interrogation techniques.

So, couple of things.

Wiping out humanity?

Be good to circle back to that.

And... I just had

said clinic searched.

How long you think it's gonna be

before my guys figure out
this technology's

not from Earth, hmm?

Ma'am.

If you wouldn't mind accompanying

my colleague down the hall?

I'm gonna focus on your uncle.

- [BUZZER SOUND]
- [LOCK CLICKS]

RICARDO: This is Spaceman Sonic
to Planet Mars.

You can run, but you can't hide.

Pew, pew, pew, pew!

Launch missiles!

Hey, no.

Are you sure this is okay?

Oh, he can't hurt anything.

Ship's in diagnostic mode for another hour

rooting around for any stowaway.

Borg subroutines.

You guys hungry?

Anything you want.

Anything?

- Four cakes!
- Ricardo!

[LAUGHS]

[CHUCKLING]

RIOS: Oh.

[RIOS SPEAKING SPANISH]

- Mmm.
- RIOS: What's your life like...

- together?
- Chaos.

The effect of which will surely...

screw him up in a potpourri of ways.

I work so much.

when I get home, I just let him
stay up in my bed watching TV.

He's a nut.

He loves cooking shows.

I had a different upbringing.

Boundaried.

Reserved.

I'm not perfect, but I'm not that.

He's a nine-year-old
who's obsessed with plants.

You're...

How about you?

I'll never see you again.

I would like to have more
in my memory bank

than all the times I saved your ass.

I'd like to think we saved each other.

[CHUCKLES]

At this bar, you tell me something.

About yourself.

I've known you
for ten years, and it just...

[SIGHS]

...it brings me to tears.

I never knew that.

That's what I want you to tell me now.

Before you fly away.

A fundamental, deepest truth

that, in another life,

it took me a decade to learn about you.

That, um...

the moment I fell for you...

I...

RICARDO: Mom?

My tummy hurts.

Your fault.



WELLS: Details!

What are your intentions
regarding the Europa mission?

None, I assure you.

I'm not naive.

I know I'm out-brained.

You found Earth, speak the language.

Clearly you're eons more advanced.

But listen to me.

Everyone has pain receptors.

Your alien tech?

Paperwork's been filed.

Other people know now.

So talking to me is as good as it gets.

The boys up the line arrive,

they get their answers another way.

Then they cut you into pieces,

shove you under a microscope,

and the gist of your existence

will be redacted report and rumor.

They are coming.

And to them,

you're nothing but a pig in a jar.

- [BUZZER SOUNDS]
- [LOCK CLICKS]

This way, sir.

You?

You summoned me?

You must be Q.

Took your damn time.

And you are that multi-celled,
sanctimonious,

droning shrew known as Guinan.

Right, it's the st century.

Our paths have yet to cross.

I thought the summoning didn't work.

"Summoning"?

The summoning is a sacred ritual.

Not a chat by which you bipeds

exchange the nauseating minutiae

of your pathetic lives.

When the ritual stalled, I felt something.

Emptiness and fear.

I thought it was me.

But it wasn't.

I feel it on you.

You're dying.

Another quality I sincerely loathe

about your species.

Empathy.

I knew you could k*ll each other.

- But otherwise, aren't you...
- Immortal?

So I believed.

Yet now...

for the first time as I look

across the temporal horizon,

it darkens.

You think I'm dying.

I prefer to believe
that I am on the threshold

of the unknowable.

When I first I felt it,

I thought to myself, "This is good.

This is new."

Infinite life, after all,
has its drawbacks.

And so I prepared myself

to be enveloped in the warm

glow of meaning.

Well, that moment

has yet to come.

Not even a glimmer.

Dying stars burn brighter

as they spin towards extinction.

I, on the other hand, seem to be simply

disappearing...

into nothing.

Why do you think it took me
so long to get here?

That's why you walked in here today?

Why you're using humans
as your game pieces?

You see that?

I'm honestly trying
to vaporize you at this moment.

This thing you're doing to Picard,

it's how you're hoping

to find... meaning in your life?

I now have a lifetime.

Can a single act redeem a lifetime?

Why bring him to the past?

I did not bring him into the past.

He did that on his own.

There are many forms of time travel.

But he's trapped here.

The trap... is immaterial.

It's the escape that counts.

I'll see you when I see you...
unfortunately.

- [BUZZER SOUNDS]
- [LOCK CLICKS]

Humans.

They're all trapped in the past.

[DOOR CLOSES]

[SEAGULLS CALLING]

[INSECTS TRILLING]

[EXHALES]

Hey.

Last night, uh...

KORE: Was all your talk
of fixing me a lie?

Because no matter what...

...I was never going to leave
this house, was I?

Like Persephone?

Persephassa?

Despoina?

Prosperina?

[SIGHS]

Like Kore.

Different names for the same girl.

Daughter of Zeus.

Father of the gods.

My creator.

Explain your experiment...

Dr. Soong.

Technically...

...you were

created through somatic

nuclear cell transfer and gestated

in a proprietary medium.

How many before me?

Lives of the first dozen were...

measured in hours.

The next few in days.

Your predecessor

almost made it to her fourth birthday.

And then came you.

I did everything,

sacrificed everything for you.

You should've d*ed before you were six.

But when you didn't,

when you continued to live
despite defects...

to thrive...

I couldn't help but hope.

And with hope

came success!

I mean, look at you.

"Success"?

- Not love?
- Well...

of course I love you.

Stop! You don't.

You love your work!

You told me stories of a mother.

It made you happy.

It wasn't real!


"Real"?

[SCOFFS] Real?

Reality is a construct
of simple-minded fools,

who can't function
in the absence of boundaries.

Real.

[EXHALES]

Anyone can procreate.

You exist because

I willed it.

Of course I...

of course I love my work.

That doesn't mean I don't love you.

I want you to look inside, Dad.

If I walk out that door right now,

what are you afraid of losing?

Me?

Or your legacy?

[HUFFS]

[AIR HISSING]

[SEAGULLS CALLING]

Kore, stop! You'll...

[CHUCKLES]

The grass feels nice.

Freedom.

From you.

You don't get to walk away from me.

You don't exist without me.

No, you follow me, I call the cops.

You know, maybe it's you

who doesn't exist without me.

- Raffi, let me see your neck.
- Oh, no.

I'm good. I'm all right, come on.

She's...

She went over there and...

Ooh. No. I'm-I'm almost all right.

Just... [EXHALES]

She could've k*lled me easily.

I know.

Mercy is not a Borg quality.

No.

It's a Jurati quality.

She's still in there somewhere.

And she saved your life.

So what next?

She kickstarted her endorphins,

ate a bunch of batteries.

She'll use the metals in her body

to create primitive nanoprobes.

- That gives her the ability to assimilate.
- Then what?

I don't know.

With imperfect metals comes
imperfect assimilation.

This is a means to an end,
some short-term plan.

- Well, plans require resources, so...
- Right, so...

Whatever she needs, how does
she find it? She has no tech,

or it would've shown up on our scanners.

Unless it's not our tech.

Maybe she used that guy's cell phone.

Can we jump the battery
with our tricorder?

You know, when you said
I manipulate people...

- I'm sorry, I was...
- I do!

I do.

It's contradictory
that you're in need of Seven

staying on Earth and fixing her ship
so she can leave.

Uh, I wouldn't say "in need."

My sense is you're doing this
to appear less wanting,

but it is, in fact, quite transparent.

Okay, just, you know, shh, mm-mm.

See this? This is supposed to be a lesson

on deflector shield maintenance.

So you don't fail
basic tactical engineering.

You know you're gonna have to take

that class if you went
into the security program.

I wouldn't make a good security officer.

I've never been covert.

I prefer a more straightforward

vocation... there's honor in truth.

[CHUCKLING]: Oh, yes, that's right.

"Choose to live."

[CHUCKLES]

You and honor.

[SIGHS]

Get a new thing.

You and undercutting anything real

with nihilistic and self-protecting humor,

- get a new thing.
- Oh, oh, okay.

You're getting good with those comebacks.

Don't' worry.

I'll take care of all your classes.

Zani contacted me.

They need me on Vashti.

I could delay Starfleet for a year.

It'll bring me much honor to repay a duty

to the Qowat Milat.

That's...

Wow. [CHUCKLES]

I thought you wanted
to follow in my footsteps.

We had a plan.

Vashti is...

I mean, it's-it's not
really you anymore, is it?

It's so not the young man I see

in front of me, but-but you know what?

If that's what you want to do,
I don't know,

I mean, I'm sure it'll be

fine, right, you know?

I don't know.

Hey... it's your life.

I'm the reason Elnor stayed
at the Academy.

I couldn't lose him, too.

He stayed...

for me.

And then he d*ed in my arms.

[SIGHS] Raff...

- [MUTTERING]
- [TRICORDER TRILLING]

Search history.

What could she be looking for there?

Whatever she needs.

- [EXHALES]
- [DOOR OPENS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

I assume a lecture
on the futility of resistance

is not going to be necessary?

Am I dreaming?

Or is this a nightmare?

Ultimately...

that's up to you.

[SIGHS]

Why were you at the gala?

Look, the launch is in hours.

If you don't give me something now,

I'll call Mission Control myself.

- [ELECTRICITY CRACKLING]
- [MACHINERY WHIRRING]

[ECHOING]: Picard...

GUINAN: All humans

are stuck in the past.

Stuck.

All humans are stuck in the past.

Stuck... in...

the past.

What the hell's happening here?

Stuck.

In the past.

I know a haunted man

when I see one.

The things we hold onto.

The pieces of...

emotional shrapnel

that drive us all our lives.

What is it for you?

What is your moment?

What am I to you?

Perhaps...

an exchange...

of truth.

You?

You're the thing I've waited my whole life

to come face to face with.

The thing in the night.

You're the monster in the dark.

- [BIRDS CALLING]
- [INSECTS TRILLING]

Maggie.

Maggie.

Here, pup.

- Ma...
- [WHIRRING NEARBY]



Uh...

[SHOUTING]

[PANTING]

[WHIMPERING]

[GASPS]

WELLS: He grabbed me.

His whole hand was gonna...

pull my eyeballs out.

His-his fingers were

going into...

through my skin and then...

I don't know.

They-they vanished.

[PANTING]

Just like you.

And at... at that moment, I knew.

I-I wouldn't walk the earth
like other people.

Because if they were there then...

...they'd be back.

And here you are.

Show me

what he did with his hand.

His-his hands, he...

he wouldn't let go, like he was

pushing into my head.

Are you certain that it wasn't

like this?

He wasn't a monster.

He was... a Vulcan.

And...

he wasn't trying to k*ll you.

He was trying to...

...mind-meld.

Trying to erase the memory

so you wouldn't be haunted like this.

Clearly, it failed.

And now

for my truth.

I am human.

But I am from the future.

The th century,

to be precise.

And I am here

to save Earth.

To save the entire galaxy,

in fact.

But to do so,

it seems

I need your help.



COMPUTER: Transporter subroutine booting.

What's wrong?

Error... transporter off-line.

Did I break it?

No, no, no.

Someone else.

Hey, let's go find your mom.

Rios to Raffi.

We got big problems.

Still no Picard?

Q was talking about you.

But he was talking about all of you.

- It's what special about humans.
- Yeah.

Our inability to escape the past.

The opposite.

When something inside you is broken,

it stays with you.

You live in the past until
you're able to reconcile it,

even if it's painful.

[LAUGHS] You do the work...

because you want to evolve.

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

I almost forgot how unique

that is in the galaxy.

Any idea

what Q meant when he said

it was about the escape not the trap?

Like I said,

he seemed crazy.

And dying.

How long till the launch?

I'm sensitive to the space-time continuum.

I'm not a clock.

- [BUZZER SOUNDS]
- [LOCK CLICKS]

Whole life built around this job.

Still... knew I'd get the axe one day.

You've been fired?

- Why?
- The man who cried alien.

And was wrong

once again.

But paperwork was filed.

Oh, I lied.

I knew if I gave them proof, uh,
they'd sideline me,

send you to a m*llitary site.

I wanted to be the one who proved it.

At least I thought I did.

Kind of a waste of a life, though.

Maybe not.

My species...

we believe in an ebb and flow to things.

That our destinies run apart and together.

And that time is not

what we think it is.

And that some moments are meant to happen.

Even at great cost.

Perhaps you had to be that boy.

So I could be this man here

letting you go?

Something to think about.

- [BUZZER SOUNDS]
- [LOCK CLICKS]

You two should get moving.

I never thought I'd say this, but I...

almost can't wait to meet you.

[SPEAKS FRENCH]

Your primitive satellites are
excruciatingly slow.

What do you want?

Mm, faster satellite.

You're quite famous in a version
of where I come from.

But your potential is wavering.

Who else has more
to gain or lose right now

- than Adam Soong?
- [CHUCKLES]

Nothing more to lose, I'm afraid.

Only a legacy.

He took everything.

You'll get over it.

You're currently

at a fork in the proverbial
road... two futures.

One leads to you bringing humanity

back from the edge of extinction.

They will call you
"the father of the future."

Your statues will grace capitols.

Or you die alone, no glory.

Forgotten in a pool
of your own -proof vomit.

[STAMMERS] How do I, uh...

guarantee that other path?

Renée Picard either boards
a spaceship and makes

a discovery that renders
your work obsolete.

Or...

doesn't.

If she doesn't,

I've seen the result.

Earth in your time finds itself

in ecological freefall.

The man they turn to...

is you.

If only you're given the opportunity.

You lose a daughter,

but become godfather to a world.

Any moral tethers I should know of?

I can get us into Mission Control.

First things first.

There's a man who will stand in your way

as he know stands in mine.

- Picard?
- Very good.

Here's the arrangement.

g*dd*mn it, Picard! Where have you been?

Never mind. Rios says
the transporter's jammed.

The interrupt code is Borg.

Jurati.

I can get you face-to-face
with him in a matter of minutes.

I can also provide you with...

appropriate means to dispose of him.

RAFFI: She's with Soong.

- And we know where she's heading.
- There's only one reason.

Jurati would want
to take over the transporter.

What do you need from me?

Your records indicate

you have access to
the raw ingredients I require.

Once I have the ship,

you can have your legacy.

The Queen is coming for La Sirena.

She wants a -year jump-start

on assimilating the galaxy.

We have to defend that ship

if we are to make our way home.

We'll use Tallinn's transporter. Let's go.

Good luck.

And you, my friend.

She'll be assimilation ready,
be sure of that.

So if she's coming for the ship,

she's not coming alone.

Thank you, General.

They look perfectly adequate.

Spearhead Operations.

All of them are ex-Special Forces.

Best of the best.

MERC: So...

is someone gonna tell us
what the hell you want with us?

Don't worry.

It only stings for a moment.

Who's in the mood to add
a little of their biological

and technological
distinctiveness to our own?
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