[Bridge]

(Hiding in the Chin'Toka Scrapyard.)
SEVEN: Where is Captain William Riker?
TUVOK [on screen]: I'm afraid I have no knowledge of Captain Riker's whereabouts.
SEVEN: You're certain?
TUVOK [on screen]: From what I've ascertained, there is no official record of Will Riker being taken into Starfleet custody.
(His speech pattern is being analysed.)
SEVEN: When was your last contact with Admiral Janeway?
TUVOK [on screen]: Not recently. However, I assume she is preoccupied with the logistics of Frontier Day, as we are a mere 36 hours from the festivities. The entire fleet is assembling in the Sol System as we speak. Such an unprecedented celebration would no doubt require her complete attention.
SEVEN: Admiral Picard and I have tried to reach her. Everything we've seen, from Commander Ro's investigation to the theft at Daystrom, indicates a coordinated effort by the Changelings to infiltrate Starfleet in key positions. Tuvok, the entire Frontier Day ceremony is in danger. Can you please help us reach others that we can trust?
TUVOK [on screen]: Given your current status as fugitives, it will be difficult.
(Voice analysis inconclusive.)
SEVEN: I understand the complexities of this issue are... like a house of cards. Much like our games of Kal-Toh.
TUVOK [on screen]: I need not remind you, you have beaten me countless times.
(Seven relaxes.)
TUVOK [on screen]: Seven, if you are willing to arrange a meeting, I can assist you in locating allies. Those whose gatekeepers are not compromised.
SEVEN: I know a safe place. Aklion 7. I once underwent a procedure there to stabilise my neural pattern.
TUVOK [on screen]: Of course. Any location you desire.
SEVEN: A Vulcan would never go to Aklion 7 after the anti-Kolinahr demonstrations. And my neural pattern? It was stabilise by a mind meld on Voyager, by my friend, Tuvok.
GEORDI: Trace activated! Subspace relays five and six are down. I can't slow them.
SHAW: Hansen, we got to shut it down.
SEVEN: Only the real Tuvok would know we played Kal-Toh, which means he must have told you. What the hell have you done with him?!
TUVOK [on screen]: All I can tell you is, when we are done with him... when we are done with all of you... death will come as a relief.
GEORDI: Relays are almost down. If I can't kill the signal soon, they're gonna find us.
PICARD: Where is Will Riker? Is he alive?
(The Changeling on screen morphs.)
RIKER [on screen]: Me, Admiral? I'm as good as dead. Just like you.
PICARD: Geordi.
GEORDI: Disconnecting. Admiral, we can't keep doing this. Maybe it's time we just accept it.
PICARD: We're on our own.

[Observation]

PICARD: Geordi, were you able to contact Mister Worf?
GEORDI: He and Raffi are monitoring Starfleet Security at Exo-port. They confirm there's no mention of Will in custody.
PICARD: Damn it.
GEORDI: They're on their way back here now. And not a moment too soon. Short of junkyards like this, I'm running out of places to hide us.
PICARD: And we're running out of time to expose this conspiracy to Starfleet. Frontier Day is just hours away.
CRUSHER: So, I have been weighing the morality of something. These new Changelings, whether they've evolved or found some other means of replicating our physiology, it makes them unique. Perhaps there's a way we can exploit that uniqueness.
GEORDI: You mean fashion a weapon against them.
CRUSHER: Yes, or at the very least a tool to identify and root them out.
GEORDI: So what's your moral dilemma?
CRUSHER: The solution might be biological, and targeting a species on biology alone is tantamount to genocide.
PICARD: Like the virus used against them in the Dominion war.
CRUSHER: Exactly. I know we're desperate, but I am concerned about crossing a line.
PICARD: Well, see what you can find. We'll weigh the morality if and when this becomes actual. I was supposed to be part of the Frontier Day ceremony. My participation as an admiral in the fleet exercises requires genetic confirmation of my identity.
GEORDI: You know, considering the theft of your body from Daystrom, I'm wondering if they're not trying to use yours and maybe even Jack's DNA to create some kind of perfect doppelgänger Jean-Luc Picard.
PICARD: I am fearful of the same thing.
CRUSHER: Your DNA is yours, and Jack's is Jack's. But is it possible that a DNA sample from a relative could be used to complete an incomplete DNA sequence?
PICARD: We need more information.
GEORDI: Well, there is someone on board who does know more.

[Sickbay]

PICARD: Lieutenant, I understand that you have been making some progress on Mister Data.
ALANDRA: Well, sort of. We at least think we've identifiedthe source of the problem.
GEORDI: Let's show him. Er, cognitive functions only.
DATA: Captain. Geordi? I'm no longer on the Enterprise. The Scimitar...
PICARD: That was many, many years ago.
DATA: Mmm. That would explain why...
LORE: You're so old. Time has been very cruel to you.
GEORDI: And here's the problem, Admiral. You remember Lore?
PICARD: Data's brother. But surely he was deactivated.
GEORDI: Archived is more like it. Simply put, this unit is currently home to both Data and Lore simultaneously.
DATA: I apologise for the outburst, Captain. I am not in complete control of this body.
LORE: Nor am I in complete control of my utter revulsion at your ancient face.
ALANDRA: So, has Lore always been this arch?
LORE: Did the tree move, or did the apple just fall far from it? When you're constantly subjected to these self-righteous, self-proclaimed heroes spewing their morality as if vomit were somehow virtuous, then sometimes, dear, a little bend, a little arch, a little antagonizing flare is required.
GEORDI: Lore has a perverted sense of what it means to be human. We were able to access the architecture of this unit's positronic brain. It contains four identity matrixes. Soong and B-4 operate as a memory file only. But there is a clear partition between the Data and Lore personality profiles. Essentially, they're both in there, each one fighting for dominance.
PICARD: Why would Altan Soong do this?
GEORDI: Perhaps Soong was hoping that the personalities would integrate themselves. It may be an effort to give Data the one thing he always wanted.
PICARD: To be human.
GEORDI: It's possible that the answers to humanity and free will the Soongs have been asking all these centuries is here, now, in this Data. But the partitions suggest that Soong feared that Lore would consume all aspects of Data.
PICARD: Data, if you can hear me, we need your help.
LORE: Why would I help you, Picard?
PICARD: Data. Old friend, tell me why the Changelings have stolen my body. What might they be using it for?
DATA: Extraction. Soong research indicates an anomalous form inside Jean-Luc Picard. Previous diagnosis of Irumodic Syndrome is in question.
PICARD: What is it?
DATA: Additional research re...
LORE: Establishes an inferior Picard. A perfectly imperfect Picard, through and through.
DATA: Help me. Help me, Captain. Please. Help me, Captain.
PICARD: This is too much. Years ago, Data asked me to let him go, to die in peace. And now he's asking for my help? We have to do something. Could we free Data by erasing Lore?
GEORDI: Jean-Luc, this new positronic body is infinitely more complex than the Data that I used to know. This is more art than engineering. The metaphasic figures are too immense. With the help of the ship's computers, I can hopefully analyze the barrier and restore Data, but if I lift that partition and Lore prevails... we might lose Data. This time forever. I don't think that's something that I can live through again.
PICARD: Me neither.

[Shrike]

FACE: Frontier Day is almost upon us. We are running out of time. Report.
VADIC: The associates of Jean-Luc Picard are unexpectedly firm in their loyalty, and I don't anticipate them breaking in the time we have left.
FACE: They must! Do not fail me. Your physiology is not as special or complex as you believe. You are by nature malleable, made to bend. Their kind is beholden to a singular flesh. Dismember one in front of the other. Do whatever is necessary. The hour of Starfleet's fall nears. We must have the boy, or you and your kind will find your own existence meaningless.

[Turbolift]

VOICE [OC]: (sotto) ..connect us.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Attention, all cadets. Duty logs have been updated to reflect new rotations, effective...
JACK: What are your quarters like? Nice?
LAFORGE: No. I'm an ensign. They're standard. Small. Very small.
JACK: 'Cause you know, half the ship's empty. Well, I've found myself a... a cracking little suite. I'd love to er... hang out sometime, if you're... Or not. It's, it's fine. Totally fine.
LAFORGE [OC]: Is he flirting? Those eyes. He is charming. At least be subtle first. Touch my hand or...
(Jack touches her hand.)

[Corridor]

LAFORGE: Why did you do that?
(In Jack's head.)
LAFORGE [OC]: At least be subtle first. How did he know to touch my hand? How did he know?

[Bridge]

JACK: Admiral.
PICARD: Jack. How are you doing?
ESMAR: Captain, another long-range trace attempt from Starfleet.
SHAW: Ignore it like the rest.
SEVEN: Hold on.
(Subspace match - Shrike.)
SEVEN: Sirs, this is a Compromised Prefix Code.
JACK: What's a Compromised Code?
SHAW: It's a code that a captain in distress can give that will ping his designated starship. It will give the enemy the location of the ship, but it lets us know that the captain's been caught.
PICARD: And compromised. It's Will.
SEVEN: The frequency matches the Shrike.
PICARD: Vadic has him.
SHAW: Esmar, block the signal. Do not let them find us.
ESMAR: Aye, sir. Scrambling comms.
JACK: Can I have a word with you?

[Observation]

JACK: I don't really know what's going on with me, but... I know isn't anything good.
PICARD: Tell me.
JACK: Well, I've caused of all this. And now... Riker was good to me from moment one, and now he's in trouble. And he... he's got a wife and a, and a child and... Maybe we let the Shrike find us. I'll trade myself for him.
PICARD: No. Absolutely not.
JACK: Do you have any idea what it's like knowing that people have died, are dying, will die for what? For me? It's not worth it. I'm not worth it. I've always felt... different. Like... like there's something wrong with me, deep, deep down inside. And I don't even know how to begin to explain this to you, but it's like I can... hear, up in my head.
PICARD: What are you hearing, Jack? You don't deserve any of this.
JACK: Maybe I do.
PICARD: I'm not giving up on you, Jack. Don't you give up, either.
JACK: Well, I don't want to. I love a good fight when it's fair, or when it's not and I'm the one who's cheating, but we have never had the advantage here.
PICARD: What if... we actually do? I think I know how we can get Vadic.

[Shrike]

(Open space, Alpha Quadrant.)
ALIEN: Having trouble reading them. Maybe radiation from that Vulcan warship.
VADIC: Jack's alive. The slippery... Subspace transmissions?
ALIEN: Just one, a recording.
FEMALE [OC]: This is VSS T'Plana. We have engaged the fugitives and exchanged fire. We have disabled their warp core. They are incapacitated. I'm hailing the station. Get weapons back online. We are sending you our last known coordinates.
MALE [OC]: Torpedo, incoming...
ALIEN: Both ships are dead in the water.
VADIC: Prepare a boarding party. Shuttle. No transporters.
ALIEN: It could be a trap.
VADIC: He's right there. Right there! I can almost... touch him. Don't you hear that? Don't you? Ticktock, ticktock goes the ancient clock. We are out of time. We... are... going.

[Corridor]

VADIC: Life signs scattered like rats. Oh, hello. I thought you'd be taller.
JACK: You're too late. Everyone's dead.
VADIC: Not everyone, darling boy. I just want to take you to a better place.
JACK: What the hell does that mean? What place?
VADIC: It will be so much better to show you than to tell you.
JACK: You'll have to catch me first.
(They've set a trap at an intersection.)
JACK: Ready? Now! Alpha, go!
LAFORGE: Drop Bravo!
(Forcefields zap into place.)

[Bridge]

SHAW: Go.
SEVEN: Dropping Bravo.

[Sickbay]

JACK: Drop Charlie.

[Bridge]

SHAW: Holy shit, we got her.
SEVEN: Jack, move.

[Sickbay]

(Vadic stops one of her crew shooting at Jack. Jack shoots and runs.)

[Corridor junction]

JACK: Run! Deck 14, ready Delta and Echo.
(LaForge picks up an alien.)
JACK: Drop Delta and Echo. Now, now! Well, technically speaking, that worked perfectly. I mean, they're trapped.
LAFORGE: Well, so are we.

[EPS Control]

GEORDI: Hang on, Sidney, we're gonna transport you out of there. I can't get a lock. Something is interfering with the transporter. Damn it. What the...? Who's doing this?
(He goes to another panel, and a door closes behind them.)
ALANDRA: Er... Dad?
GEORDI: Lore.

[Sickbay]

(Vadic whistles 'Three Blind Mice'.)
CRUSHER: You look so at ease. Relaxed. Not even trying to slip out. Which is good. Because it's hermetically sealed, so it would be a challenge, even for you. So you are the one who has been hunting us all this time. You must really want my son. Why? You know, I took an oath to do no harm, but you should know I am rethinking that promise.
VADIC: Aren't you adorable? I was under the impression this would be more of an interrogation, only now it seems you've given up your endgame before the start. No hope for me. Unless... And now I see. He's to play understanding to your cruel. I'm bored already. Good luck to us all.
PICARD: We know what you stole from Daystrom, and have a fairly good idea what you intend to do with it. Frontier Day? Where you'll use my body and Jack's blood to make a near-perfect double of me?
CRUSHER: We also know about your evolved physiology.
VADIC: What about your son? Do you know all about his physiology?
CRUSHER: What do you want with Jack?
VADIC: Me? Nothing.
PICARD: Answer the question.
VADIC: He's not for me. We could bond over that, since he was never really for you, either.
CRUSHER: What the hell does that mean?
PICARD: Captain Vadic, I will speak plainly. There is no escape for you. Your best hope is to be forthcoming. True, my understanding recognises the travesty of the Dominion war.
VADIC: Do not compare the atrocities committed by your side to the warfare executed by mine.
CRUSHER: There never would have been a war had Changelings not initiated it.
VADIC: Necessity. Solids like you were coming, and you ruin every world you touch.
PICARD: Name one.
VADIC: Mine. We were barely out of the gates of war and your Federation turned to genocide.

[Bridge]

VADIC [OC]: A virus.
PICARD [OC]: We gave your people a cure.

[Sickbay]

VADIC: Is that the tale of your history books? Hmm. You created a cure, yes, but Starfleet voted not to give it to us. One of our own had to steal it. Would you like to hear more about where my appetite for your brutal, inevitable extinction comes from? I got it from Starfleet. You gave me the ability to mimic your blood, hold my form, pass every test. And you did so while inflicting more torment on me... and those I loved. So don't tell me I have no regard for love... or innocence... or pain.

[Corridor junction]

LAFORGE: Dad, I don't know how long we have.
GEORDI [OC]: Lore is taking over all major systems.

[EPS Control]

GEORDI: Security, transporters...
ALANDRA: Why is Lore doing this?
GEORDI: Chaos. He loves the chaos.

[Corridor junction]

COMMANDER: How will you feel when she dies for you, solid?
LAFORGE [OC]: Why is he looking at me like that?
LAFORGE: Jack!

[Sickbay]

VADIC: Do you like the symphony?
PICARD: I wasn't aware that you had music in the Great Link.
VADIC: Oh, we don't. But during my time as a prisoner of war, I learned about a great many things about solids. Daystrom Station was my captive home during the war, with nine of my brothers and sisters kept on shelves. Project Proteus, they called it. The symphony I discovered didn't have brass and strings, but... but rather the squealing of wheels down a hall. The squeaking of boots on concrete. Creaks of cage doors. Screams of all tempos, pitches. And whistling. She whistled, while she injected us, exposed us, inflicted us with more pain than any being should ever be expected to endure. And all to turn us into weapons. Perfect, undetectable spies, able to drop into any species and spread chaos. Happy ending, though. Through those experiments, you created the perfect monster. Us. How very human.
CRUSHER: So you evolved from the biological experiments.
VADIC: And I'm able to pass it on to any who want to join our cause. We link, they accept a shorter life, eternal pain, for the ability to fool those who took everything from us.
PICARD: I didn't know.
VADIC: How remarkable it is that an enlightenment species can ignore each other's pain. Do you think she'd have kept your son from you if she could feel your loss?
(Morphs into Jack.)
JACK: And you, Mother. Are you prepared to lose another son?
(Morphs back into the scientist she killed.)
VADIC: The Federation took my family. Now I will take yours.

[Corridor junction]

LAFORGE: Dad, shield regulators are failing. You have to beam us out of here now.

[EPS Control]

GEORDI: Data, I know you're in there, and I know you can hear me.
LORE: He can't fight me. He's gone.

[Sickbay]

CRUSHER: Ah, she's too calm, too confident. She has a plan. And if we allow her to slip out, she will take...
PICARD: Our son.
CRUSHER: As long as she and her soldiers are on board, she is a threat. Anything she told us, she wanted us to know. Jean-Luc, she took the face of her torturer. Why?
PICARD: To remind herself of her hate. You're right. She's an executioner for her cause. We won't get anything more from her.

[EPS Control]

GEORDI: Data, I know you're in there, so I need you to listen to me because life rarely gives you second chances to say what you should. Okay? Data, you made me better. You did. You made a better man, a better father, a better friend. And when you died, it broke me. But, see, you... you put me back together, you repaired me. The memory of you.

[Sickbay]

PICARD: Are you and I so fundamentally changed that we're willing to compromise everything... everything that we've believed in?
CRUSHER: Yes, I think I'm losing my compass.
PICARD: But right now, she's our prisoner. CRUSHERL The moment we allowed her to board, we invited death onto this ship.
PICARD: Well...

[EPS Control]

LORE: Appealing to my brother's memories of friendship... very powerful.
GEORDI: What do you want, Lore?
LORE: No more than you want for your children. Nothing more than these Changelings want. Survival. It's... human nature, pal. Allow me to level the playing field. The enemy of my enemies... Well, you know the rest.
GEORDI: No, no, no, no, no. He's got full control of the ship.

[Bridge]

T'VEEN: Captain, we're losing control of our ship's security system.
SEVEN: Get the forcefields back, now.
(In Sickbay, Vadic goes liquid and escapes. In the corridor, a forcefield splits up LaForge and Jack, who have to fight the aliens.)

[EPS Control]

GEORGE: Data, I know you're in there, and I know you can hear me.

[Corridor junction]

(Jack kills an alien but the other one slams LaForge into the forcefield.)
JACK: Sidney!

[EPS Control]

GEORGI: Goddamn it, Lore, let her go!

[Corridor junction]

LAFORGE [OC]: Jack. Jack, what should I do? Jack!
JACK [OC]: Turn around. Roll!

[EPS Control]

GEORDI: Data. Open the door. Data, please.

[Corridor junction]

JACK [OC]: Back. Right. Roll. Fire.
(LaForge kills the other alien.)

[EPS Control]

(The door opens.)
DATA: I am here, Geordi. I will try. Accessing field regulators now.

[Corridor junction]

LAFORGE: What... What was... I felt... What... Was that you in my head?
JACK: Sidney. It's me, Jack. Please, you have to trust me.
(Three Blind Mice.)
JACK: We have to go.
LAFORGE: Yeah.

[Sickbay]

CRUSHER: Vadic said her people were subjects of Project Proteus. Reference that against the Daystrom manifest and here. Here it is. The formula they were exposed to contained Thelomium-847. A stabilising agent with a hundred-year half-life.
PICARD: That means in theory...
CRUSHER: Each of them should contain trace amounts.
PICARD: We can track them. Picard to Shaw. Vadic and her men are proceeding across Deck Nine.

[Corridor]

PICARD [OC]: Don't let them reach the bridge access lift.
SHAW: On it. Engaging fire.
(His two crewmen get killed. He thinks he's killed an alien but it gets up behind him and throws him into the turbolift.)

[Bridge]

SHAW [OC]: Blow the turbolift!
T'VEEN: Lift Deck Nine. Lift Deck Eight.
ESMAR: If they take the bridge...
SEVEN: They're not taking the bridge.
T'VEEN: They're here.
SEVEN: Weapons ready.
(The turbolift door opens, and an injured Shaw falls out. While they're looking at him, Vadic and her aliens reform behind them and take over.)
VADIC: Open a channel, would you? Please. I should like to address my ship. Attention, crew of the Titan. You've proven yourselves worthy, I suppose. Not without guile. But what defence is formidable against the formless? I warned you it would end this way. You could have spared yourselves then where you are now. I did this not out of cruelty, but mercy. To be mutable, fluid, means knowing what the river knows. That there are many ways to the same sea. So here we are, where we were always going. To bring Jack Crusher where he most belongs. I am Vadic, Captain of the USS Titan. And, Jack, my dear, if you can hear me, it's time you learned who you truly are.