02x09 - Hide and Seek

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Star Trek: Picard...

PICARD: The tunnels...

- You said, "Don't go."
- Maman!

Thousand ways to die down there.

- [GASPS, WHIMPERS]
- It was hours before I found you.

Your mother suffered.

She needed help, but she wouldn't accept it.

YVETTE: You have to get
me out. Please, Jean-Luc.

All of that was part of Q's plan?

That you experience those memories?

You know there's more to that story.

Whatever it is, it is irrelevant

with what we are trying to fix.

RAFFI: We fix time...

- does it bring Elnor back?
- I don't know.

- If you want to talk...
- You know, what I want

is to try to figure out
how to fix the time line

and not talk about how it felt
to watch him die.

RIOS: I want to show you something.

Welcome to La Sirena.

I would like to have more in my memory bank

than all the times I saved your ass.

Before you fly away.

What's wrong?

COMPUTER: Error... transporter off-line.

Rios to Raffi.

We got big problems.

[GRUNTING, GASPING]

JURATI: No...

No!

You're currently at a fork
in the proverbial road.

Two futures.

One leads to you bringing humanity

back from the edge of extinction.

Or you die alone.

Renée Picard either boards
a spaceship and makes

a discovery that renders your work obsolete

or doesn't.

There's a man who will stand in your way

- as he now stands in mine.
- SOONG: Picard?

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.

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

Jurati would want to take over
the transporter.

The Queen is coming for La Sirena.

She wants a -year jump start
on assimilating the galaxy.

JURATI: Once I have the ship,

you can have your legacy.

We have to defend that ship

if we are to make our way home.

SEVEN OF NINE: So if she's coming
for the ship, she's not coming alone.

Don't worry. It only stings for a moment.

[THUNDER CRASHES]

[WIND WHISTLING]

♪

They're activating the transport remotely.

I can't stop it.

They're here.

- Who's here?
- We have to get off this ship.

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

I'm sorry I ever brought you into this.

I need to get you to safety.

Weapons.

- Wait, wait, wait! Move, move, move, move!
- [TERESA GASPING]

♪

Well...

we've looked better.

Starting to feel more like myself.

[THUNDER CRASHES]

If the Queen means to take over the ship,

we have to defend it,

- no matter the cost.
- Defend it with what?

- Oh.
- Oh.

- That's all you brought?
- Lucky we even had time to get these.

All right, we recon. Fortify our position.

We set traps with whatever's available.

- Okay, but how much time do we even have?
- None.

- Go hide back there.
- Come on.

- Is she coming?
- She's already on the ship.

And there's more. Lots more.

♪

♪

♪

♪

Stark Trek: Picard S E "Hide and Seek"

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

- Take cover!
- Go, go!

She means to pin us down
while she takes the ship.

I won't let you take this ship.

There you are.

I could still sense you in there.

Still feel you chattering about.

Do you know what it feels like
to put my hands

on my friend's throat and not be able to do

a g*dd*mn thing about it?

A bit like hanging limbless, powerless.

I've been poking around
in that trash dump of a mind.

Wow, by the way.

'Cause I had to know why.

Millions of species, planets,

and still you always needed more.

Perfection takes time, dear.

This was never about perfection or evolution

or any of that bullshit.

It was never enough,
because you're just like me.

Lonely.

To share your own crude
colloquialism, bullshit.

Then why haven't you k*lled me?

Stop. Stop.

You take this ship, you let Soong win,

in years, the Confederation

wipes out your entire collective.

So myopically linear.

You see the branch but not the tree.

We know of the Confederation's thr*at now,

and we will prepare.

Time...

is on our side.

COMPUTER: Error... key
code required for access.

JURATI: Whoops. You
know that, uh, signal you use

to puppet around your Borg?

Well, I used it to slap a fractal lock

on the ship's systems.

Welcome to the world's biggest paperweight.

I'll scrape that key out of our mind, woman.

Except I'm not an idiot
and I didn't memorize the code.

I couldn't stop you, but I could stall you.

Turns out this ship can make a hologram

from anyone who's ever been on board,

including an Emergency Combat Hologram.

How may I be of service?

I encoded the digital key in the
SAFEST PLACE I COULD FIND: him.

Hiya, Elnor. Let's play keep-away.

With pleasure.

[GRUNTING]

♪

RAFFI: She brought an army.

No, she made one.

Those aren't people out there. They're Borg.

Cover your eyes!

YOUNG PICARD: Mother?

YVETTE: Yes?

Can we play a game?

What sort of game?

Play anything you want.
Just don't break anything.

Maurice, must you be such a curmudgeon?

It's a lovely day.

MAURICE: Wars have
been fought on lovely days.

Industry and discovery
don't reserve themselves

for a slight chance of rain,
so I've been told.

- Curmudgeon.
- [CHUCKLES]

This is your work, is it? This
is what you're teaching him.

- How to make fun of his dad.
- It's common knowledge.

- Is it?
- Mm.

MAURICE: He's a smart young man.

Terribly bored.
Far too much time on his hands.

♪

And how are you these days, my darling?

I notice, uh, lately that...

...you've been somewhat more present.

[QUIETLY]: Maurice.

You haven't had an incident
for some time now.

That's good.

That's very good.

Maybe times are changing for the better.

Maman? What game shall we play?

How about hide-and-seek?

You stand here, like so.

Cover your eyes.

And count to five, and come find me.

YOUNG PICARD: One, two...

[WEAPONS f*ring]

Come on.

I count nine.

- [DISTANT GROAN]
- Eight now.

But there's more coming.

Go inside.

On three. One, two...

three! Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!

[GROANS]

[PANTING]

Tallinn, beam Rios, Teresa
and the boy to safety.

- TALLINN: What about us?
- We've got to save the ship.

A Borg with advanced technology
in this century...

can you imagine the damage
she would inflict?

I'll get them to safety,
but I'm coming right back.

Tallinn, please! Now!

Now, turn it off.

Go, go, go.

Lay him down. Put a blanket on him.

He's in shock. I'll be back.

You can't go back.

I can't not.

No, no, no, no, no.

Damn you, Picard.

They've locked me out.

I can't help them.

PICARD: He's wounded.

He'd only get himself k*lled
trying to help us.

We can't push forward.

We go around.

Tallinn, lay down suppressing fire.

We retreat through the château,
then split up.

Split up?

We have twice as many chances

to get to the ship if we divide and conquer.

We flank 'em in the field
and then take the damn ship.

Do it.

♪

♪

SOONG: Picard!

Wait.

Fire, and you'll receive far worse in kind.

Or you can hear my offer.

I'm not... [SIGHS]

Well, I wasn't a violent man, Picard.

This is all very new to me.

Or the promise of legacy

revealed the rot that is hidden
underneath it.

I know a future worth fighting for.

So do I.

SOONG: Look, you're outnumbered.

And my new friends back there...

well, I've heard you're familiar with them.

So I guess you help her take the ship,

and she destroys the Europa Mission

from orbit tomorrow, and you...

have a future.

So, why this parlay?

The enemy of every experiment

is the rogue variable, the unknown.

That is what you are to me.

So do us both a favor.

Stand down.

Surrender.

I take the path of
least resistance to the future,

and you and your friends can still have one.

What if we refuse?

Then we take a far muddier path,

and you will die running.

YOUNG PICARD: Maman, where are you?

YVETTE: It's just a game.

Hide-and-seek. Find me.

Maman!

Hide-and-seek, indeed.

You'll have to find us first!

So be it.

Fire.

[WEAPONS f*ring IN DISTANCE]

RAFFI: We need to get to the ship.

[THUNDER CRASHES]

♪

[GRUNTING]

- [STRAINING]
- [Kn*fe SQUISHES]

[PANTING]

- We got to get out of here.
- Okay.

Soong no doubt has got
this place surrounded by now.

So, what do you suggest?

Can't go in, can't go out,
but we can go down.

There are a series of tunnels
underneath this house.

But where was the entrance?

Think faster,

or the memory will escape
through the hole in your head.

YOUNG PICARD: Maman? Where are you?

Mother?

Mother, I know it's you.

I know.

[BOTH LAUGHING]

My boy.

Maman?

Yes.

Yes, I know.

Why don't we continue somewhere less bright,

somewhere your cleverness
has fewer senses to draw from.

We have to go.

It's just a game...
hide-and-seek down below.

But, Maman, Papa's forbidden me
from going down there.

We'll go.

Everything will be better.

I won't be sad.

You want to be with me?

Then let's go.

- Hurry.
- It's dangerous.

You're my light, Jean-Luc.

The light that always draws me out.

Guide your own way.

Find me.

♪

Ah.

- [LATCH CLICKS]
- SOONG: Picard!

In here. Quick.

Now.

[THUNDER CRASHES]

♪

♪

Mother?

Mother, where are you?

This isn't fun anymore.

Maman?

I've seen this place.

In your mind.

What happened here?

During the Second World w*r,

the French Resistance converted this place

as a storage for munitions

and a way of communicating with the front.

And then they locked it all away
when the Nazis invaded.

That's not what I meant.

In your memory,
this place felt unusually dark.

What happened?

I followed my mother down here...

playing hide-and-seek.

And...

I lost her.

Or rather, she lost herself.

Yeah, this is a very dangerous playground.

Oh. [CHUCKLES]

My father used to say,

"There are a thousand ways to die."

MAURICE: Thousand ways to die.

Yvette? Jean-Luc?

Jean-Luc!

Jean-Luc!

These tunnels should lead to a hatch

on the other side of the vineyard.

From there, we can take back the ship.

Let's go.

[CLATTERING NEARBY]

Come on.

Time to arm up. We still got a job to do.

Listen to you. You sound like a captain.

You know, you should have joined Starfleet.

I tried... after Voyager.

Starfleet shut me down because...

You were Borg?

Janeway went to bat for me,
threatened to resign, but...

I gave it up, went full Ranger.

- [WEAPONS f*ring IN DISTANCE]
- [CLATTERING]

[SIGHS] All right.

We have a dozen Borg
between us and the ship,

a -yard sprint across open terrain,

and all we have is a Kn*fe and a corkscrew.

And an ice pick.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

You really would make a great captain.

- When we get out of this...
- We're not getting out of this.

Nope.

Probably not.

♪

[WEAPONS f*ring]

You can't hide forever, you know.

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

Hello.

[DEVICE BEEPING]

[RIOS GROANS]

RIOS: How is he?

Fast asleep.

Half of him is terrified,
and the other half thinks

that was the coolest thing he's ever seen.

Reminds me of myself.

God forbid.

What are you doing?

If I can rewire the subroutines,
then maybe I can

regain command access to this panel.

I would like to rewire your brain.

Teresa, I have to get back.

And you'll get your friends k*lled

because you're too injured to help.

Just because we anesthetized your wound

doesn't mean your arm is fine.

Now, sit down.

Which of these thingies
will help me extract a b*llet?

That one... the tricorder there.

- Really?
- [RIOS GROANS]

An entire ER fits in your pocket?

Pretty cool, huh?

You have no idea what
this is like for me, do you?

A miracle cure... surrounded by miracles,

knowing win or lose,

I'll have to let them go.

♪

Show me your arm.

[GROANS SOFTLY, MUTTERS]

[DEVICE TRILLING]

♪

So, where are you, Picard?

♪

[CHUCKLES]

Search for other entrances.

YVETTE: Jean-Luc?

YOUNG PICARD: Maman? Are you in here?

[WIND WHISTLING SOFTLY]

You won.

And I'm lost.

Let's go back up, okay?

Have tea, eat supper.

And tonight, you can teach me
more constellations.

Stars.

[CHUCKLES]: Yes, yes.

Did you know that
space is so vast, so infinite,

it takes billions of years
for that tiny pinprick of light

to make that lonely journey
from its star to our eyes?

The brilliance you see
in the night sky, Jean-Luc,

that exquisite light,

it's just an echo, really,

of a star that has long since faded.

Like me. [CHUCKLES]

When you remember me, Jean-Luc, promise...

promise me you will ignore
the coldness of a dying star,

and remember instead her light

and the infinite love
she so very much had for you.

MAURICE: Yvette! Yvette!

Jean-Luc! Where are you?

PICARD: Remarkable. I only saw this once,

and that was through the eyes of a child.

And it's how you remember it?

YVETTE: Come on. We have to go.

It's just you and me.

Maman! Maman!

More or less.

Jean-Luc! Thank God, there you are.

TALLINN: What became of your mother?

PICARD: I found her,

but my father took her
and locked her in that room.

YVETTE: Please!

Let me out, Jean-Luc.

Please.

Only you can save me.

[ECHOING]: Only you can save me.

Let me out.

Let me out, Jean-Luc!

PICARD: So I opened the door.

- [CLATTERING]
- What was that?

They found us!

There. That door.

It's locked.

PICARD: Yes!

Get away.

[g*n CLICKING]

- [SIGHS]
- [g*n DROPS]

- [GROANS]
- [BODY THUDS]

Told you you couldn't hide forever.

Who said I was hiding?

[GASPS]

Raffi?

Elnor? [GASPING]

I'm not Elnor.

At least, not exactly.

But real enough to say
how good it is to see you.

I've missed you, Raffi.

- [BANGING] - SEVEN OF
NINE: We don't have much time.

Maybe if I can access the ship's systems...

ELNOR: Seven, the systems are locked,

for which I am the key.

Jurati concealed the coding
engram within me to secure it.

She's still in there fighting the Queen.

- Elnor, can you give me access?
- Hang on. Hang on.

If we unlock the ship's main systems,

she can access them.

We'll be giving the Queen
exactly what she wants.

And if we don't, we have no way
to defend against her.

Just trust me, I have an idea.

- Ship's system unlocked.
- All right.

I need to open a hatch and clear
a pathway to the transporter.

Stand by.

E-Elnor, wait.

L-Listen to me.

Look, I... I know you're not really him.

I know that.

I didn't keep you with me

because I was afraid
of you being by yourself.

I kept you back...

because I was frightened of me being alone.

ELNOR: Raffi...

I share the recollection
of Elnor's final breath,

enough to know that his last thoughts of you

were not of blame...

but of love.

All right, the way is clear. Let's go.

Which way?

The left goes deeper into the château.

The right goes to the fields. Come on.

Oh. No.

- All right.
- This way!

Come on.

Accessing transporters.

Uh, whatever you're doing, do it faster.

I'll hold them off as long as possible.

Seven?

♪

Well, we seem to be regaining the advantage.

Are we nearly out?

There's an exit in the solarium. Come on.

Your plan was successful.

I detect only one Borg still on board.

- Seven.
- I see her.

Transporting her to the brig.

She has a transport inhibitor.

[GRUNTING]

Three against one hardly seems fair.

Jurati, please don't make us do this.

I know you're in there.

I know you can fight.

We've got you dead to rights.

Do you?

[GRUNTS]

[GROANS]

Seven! No!

Computer, transfer primary controls to me.

[GROANING]

JURATI: Computer, set
course for the Delta Quadrant.

We have additional years
to expand the collective.

RAFFI: She's gonna die
if I can't stop the bleeding.

Don't do this.

I have absorbed millions of languages,

and there are a few common words among them.

Love, certainly.

Hope and fear.

And one more common still.

- Futility.
- [GRUNTS]

Species thrive without love.

Kingdoms conquer without fear.

But it is the imperfect nature
of all organic things

to fight an unwinnable battle

against an undefeatable foe.

Death.

[GROANING WEAKLY]

PICARD: Now we can get to the ship.

[DOOR OPENS]

I'm no stranger to lost lab rats.

To catch one, you don't
follow it through the maze.

You force it to the surface.

[GROANING, PANTING]

Why am I crying?

JURATI: Those aren't your tears.

They're mine.

Those same chemicals
you used to take control...

dopamine and adrenaline...
aren't just produced

by a few drinks and a torch song.

Sadness, loss, despair.

Basically, what happens
when you hurt my friends.

That cooks the same neural soup,
only this time,

it allowed me to wrestle some control back.

Impossible.

You might be well on your way

if you had just shown a little mercy.

[YELLS]

[STRAINING]

PICARD: Soong.

You don't understand the future
you're about to create.

Thriving, prosperous.

I'm told we're beloved across the galaxy.

Feared.

[DEEP WHIRRING]

What is this?

The history of the Borg.

Well, the only history
that matters... the ending.

How it always ends for you.

A lone Borgslayer, a united Federation,

they come for you... for your top-shelf,

overreaching, Icarus-worthy arrogance.

If prattling on is your choice
of w*apon, I can wait.

- You can't be sad forever.
- Do the math.

In this or any other universe,
you always lose.

That's why you fight so hard.

You live with the death knell
of your species

across infinite timelines.

You fear loss, just like we do.

You long for what we all long for.

Connection...

longevity, discovery.

Only you offer it without choice.

I'm saying...

what if we ask for it?

You and I.

Finally, the semblance of a point.

The galaxy is filled with lives
that need saving.

One of them is lying at your feet right now.

SOONG: We have to create our own destiny.

Captains of ships and captains of industry,

to men like us,

love and fear...

the same thing.

A means to an end.

BORG QUEEN: You'd have
a cohort pulled from the dying?

Recruit from derelict ships?

Flotsam of space?

You'd have us collect scraps?

And offer second chances.

What if we take this ship
and build a better Borg?

A real collective based not
on assimilation but salvation.

Think about it:
a Borg collective that embraces

the uniqueness of its members.

You ask us to embrace weakness.

I'm positing that what
you've written off as weakness

is actually strength.

Cooperation.

Your proposal is absurd.

But not entirely un-intriguing.

Imagine, members who would fight
harder for what they chose.

Who would lose no battles
because they made no enemies.

Who would not be discarded and replaced.

Attachments could grow and deepen.

Like Seven.

- Didn't you love her once, too?
- [GASPING WEAKLY]

And wasn't she...

the best of what we could be?

Somebody who used her Borg half

to serve the best of her humanity.

Let's build a universe of Sevens.

Let's start with this one.

SOONG: Shame, really.

In another future,

I imagine we might have become friends.

Goodbye, Picard.

COMPUTER: System rebooting.

- Think I've got it.
- COMPUTER: Ten percent.

What if I don't want you to get it?

- What if I don't want you to go?
- %.

What if I want to see your face again

or something crazy like that?

Teresa, I don't belong here.

Why? The future has enough heroes already.

- Don't you think?
- %.

Believe me, I've thought about it.

I really have.

This isn't my time line.

- The future's yours. It's his.
- %.

I'm just trying to protect it.

What if your future is here

and it was always supposed to be?

COMPUTER: %.

♪

%.

Teresa, I...

[GRUNTING]

RAFFI: No, please.

Please don't-don't do this.

Please don't.

[GRUNTING AND GROANING]

[GROANING WEAKLY]

[GROANING]

[GROANING]

[GRUNTING]

- [WHIMPERS, GROANS]
- No, you're k*lling her!

[GROANING]

[YELLS]

I bet you don't have to be from
the future to fire this thing.

No.

But you do need to have
the right DNA to unlock it.

You hold it too long, and, well...

boom.

JURATI: She'll live.

But there is a cost in saving her.

RAFFI: Jurati?

Is that you?

Yes.

No.

I think we are becoming something new.

Something better.

RAFFI: Seven...

I have to get to the ship.

You're welcome, by the way.

YVETTE: Let me out, Jean-Luc.

Please.

PICARD: So I opened the door.

I'm having the strangest memory.

TALLINN: Follow it.

See where it leads.

PICARD: There are moments in time

we wish we could travel back to.

Memories.

Pieces of life better lived in reverse.

In those moments,

tragic endings might rewind
into joyful beginnings.

Moments of loss into those of gains.

I... remember now,

in a cloudy moment of extreme melancholy,

my mother hung herself here in this place.

And for all I've lived,
all I've seen and done,

I suppose this is the moment

I've kept myself from remembering,

this moment I am so powerless to reverse.

My mother was ill, I'm told,

but I only ever thought she was...

inspired.

That night, my father
had locked her into her room

for her own safety.

Perhaps for mine, as well.

But she begged me to help her,

told me how much she needed me,

how much she needed my help.

And this is the part
I've spent my whole life

trying not to remember.

I thought I was saving her.

So, after he fell asleep,

I let her out, you see.

If only I had left that door closed,

she might have become an old woman.

I used to imagine seeing her older,

offering me a cup of tea...

...and asking for a chat.

This skeleton key

migrated all over the house.

I wish, that day,
it hadn't ended up in my hand.

I loved her.

Desperately.

Love can be a source of great grief

and immense pain.

Of tremendous guilt.

A reason to run from ourselves

or away from each other.

Love can be a curse.

But always and completely...

...it's a gift.

[YELLS]

♪

SEVEN OF NINE: I've been this, I've been...

...Seven much longer than I was ever Annika.

It was just nice to...

...be ordinary.

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

Well, that's impossible.

Because no matter how you come...
Borg or human...

you are the most extraordinary
person I know.

You know, all your life,
you've been running from these,

from this.

And I can't help but wonder

how much more you'd be capable of,

how much more you could be,

if you just stopped.

JURATI: It's time to go.

We can't let her do this.

Whatever she promised, we can...

Whoever you are now,

half of you is our friend.

Maybe in time, all of you could be.

In time, perhaps.

But now a deal must be honored.

A ship for a life
is more than a fair exchange.

And please inform your admiral,

the future will have no need
for a Borgslayer.

At least not from us.

And tell him this:

The mission must not be postponed.

To succeed, there must be two Renées.

One who lives

and another who dies.

♪

♪

- She took my ship.
- My ship.

She gave it to the Queen... Jurati...

i-in exchange for Seven's life.

PICARD: Seven.

Are you all right?

I'm myself.

Well, we've lost a friend,

but we've regained ourselves.

And we will need all ourselves

if we are to succeed.

Soong is still in the wind.

And he's definitely not the quitting type.

TALLINN: Your ship may
have slipped through his fingers,

but he'll find other means
to stop the Europa Mission.

- And Renée.
- SEVEN OF NINE: Or worse.

Picard, before Agnes left,
she had a message for you:

In order to succeed,
there must be two Renées.

One who lives and another who dies.

I refuse to accept an outcome
that has not yet occurred.

Come. We have work to do.