Naseema skulked through the abandoned cube and made sure to avoid being seen by the ex-borg survivors congregated on the ground level. Even heavily damaged, the cube was still enormous, and it would take her days, if not longer, to search the entire vessel. She didn't have that kind of time. Multiple systems were already operational, and she knew if the cube's weapons systems were among them, it could either be used to their advantage or as a devastating blow against them, depending on who was in control. She guessed whoever hid here to help Narek, would want to stick close to active parts of the facility. She followed the gentle hum of the operating systems farther up and eventually found an area, isolated from the survivors, that appeared to function as a shelter.

Now, we're getting somewhere.

She took a quick reconnaissance of the shelter but didn't find any indication of who Narek's ally was or where they were now. Then she heard footsteps. She melted into the shadows and held her breath as she waited for whoever it was to show themselves. Narek's accomplice was a tall, slender Romulan woman with long hair. Naseema tried to make out if she was armed and spotted the disruptor holstered on her hip but was unable to spot any other weaponry. However, the Feeonix knew her enemy well enough to know that if she was Tal Shiar or even Zhat Vash, she would have other defences hidden elsewhere on her person. The Romulan woman walked over to a lit console and began to work with the holographic interface. Naseema waited until she was sure her enemy believed she was alone and then came out of the dark with her weapon drawn.

"Choose to live," she said as she approached the woman and kept her peripheral vision sharp against the darkness around her, in case there were others. The Romulan woman, Narissa, looked up, and when she saw Naseema, she raised her hands with an expression on her face that indicated she was more annoyed than afraid.

"I suppose you're the one who rescued the freak?" she asked.

"You are correct," Naseema confirmed. "And I have become rather fond of him, so I would appreciate it if you could manage to avoid the name-calling."

Narissa snorted in response. "I know who you are," she said. "You're supposed to be dead...Naseema."

"Well, as you can see, I am very much alive," the Feeonix replied. "Am I required reading at the military academy now or simply a personal interest of yours?"

Narissa snorted again. "You're the only one who would have the audacity to violate both our space and the treaty of Algeron. You did negotiate that cretinous colouring book, did you not?"

"That was a very long time ago," Naseema said. "A lot has changed since then, and from the looks of it, you're not so committed to peace yourself. Now, toss your weapon over here."

Narissa narrowed her eyes and unholstered her disruptor. She laid it on the floor and slid it towards Naseema with her foot. Then, the Feeonix kicked it over the side, and they both heard it clatter as it landed on a lower level.

"I'm not sure what the point of that was," Narissa remarked. "It's not like I could use it against you."

"I just like that sound," Naseema replied.

"I hope you realize you're dooming us all right now," Narissa told her. "I came here to stop what's coming and if you kill me-"

"If you are referring to Ganmadan, I have already heard that pitch from your comrade," Naseema interrupted. "I did not buy it from him, and I am certainly not interested in hearing your take on it either."

"And how is my dear, baby brother?" Narissa asked with a sneer.

Naseema's eyebrow twitched as her expression changed, and her voice hardened. "You are the one who murdered Hugh," she said.

"He initiated an open insurrection," Narissa replied with mock innocence. "I was merely acting in the best interests of the Romulan people."

"Right."

Her rage was building to the point where she had to commit a portion of her focus to keep from torching Narissa right then and there. As badly as she wanted to kill this Romulan assassin painfully, she needed to keep her cool. She hadn't been able to get the look in Elnor's eyes when they'd argued, out of her mind, and she didn't want him to think she was a monster.

"Move," Naseema instructed and waved her weapon in the direction she'd entered. Narissa rolled her eyes but kept her hands up, did as she was told, and led the way down to the next level.

"You may as well just kill me," Narissa told her. "We're all going to die when my fleet arrives to rain fire down on this miserable planet anyway."

"As much as I would enjoy that, I am not going to kill you," Naseema replied. "This is not over yet, and you and your brother can spend some time in our custody before it is."

"What's the matter?" Narissa asked. "Don't want your compatriots to find out what a cold-blooded psychopath you actually are? We're not so different, you and I, you're just on the wrong side."

"Are you that much of a fool?" Naseema answered. "You are willing to sacrifice your own life over some alien prophesy that you do not even understand. Your admonition was not intended for organic minds to comprehend. It is a warning, yes, but not for you, and thanks to your irrational actions, you have provoked the very thing you were trying to prevent."

"You're the fool if you seriously can't see what a threat those abominations are to the rest of us," Narissa retorted. "Even greater than you or those gross half-meats wandering around on the ground."

"Stop talking, I am tired of listening to you," Naseema told her.

Narissa looked over her shoulder at the Feeonix. "Well, at least my brother will appreciate your hospitality," she said with a smug laugh. "I think he enjoys fucking them almost as much as you do." She was trying to provoke Naseema into making a mistake and attacking her, and it worked.

Naseema growled, put her foot into Narissa's back and shoved. The Romulan stumbled and went down on one knee. Letting out an irritated sigh, Naseema stopped to wait for her to get to her feet, but instead, Narissa spun around and kicked the disruptor out of the Feeonix's hand. Naseema swung her elbow out and caught Narissa across the face as she came in for another hit. Instead of engaging in a hand to hand contest, she knew she couldn't win, Narissa pulled one of the small blades hidden in her belt, and flung it into Naseema's neck. The Feeonix stumbled back and gagged on the blood filling her throat. Narissa moved in on her, grabbed the tiny knife, and stabbed her again before she rammed her foot into Naseema's stomach. The Feeonix came back with a high spin kick, hit Narissa in the face again, and went at her with a right hook. Narissa caught her arm and drove the knife into her side before she took off running. Injured but not bad enough to slow her down, Naseema chased after her. They exchanged several more blows before Naseema finally sent her flying with another well-landed kick. Blind with rage, she advanced on her again. The orange rings in her eyes flared outwards, and the air around her started to crackle. Narissa grabbed a sharp length of scrap metal from the floor and thrust it out. She used Naseema's momentum to impale her through the chest. The Feeonix gasped, sprayed blood from her mouth, and Narissa got to her feet, still holding onto the metal bar. She shoved forward, forced it out through Naseema's back, and then used all the strength she had to drive her backward, embedding the metal spear into the wall. Naseema snarled and struggled to free herself, but Narissa knew the Feeonix was at least temporarily trapped. Narissa let go of the first bar and grabbed another, wider one. She slowly forced that one into the Feeonix's gut and out the other side, then used a violent kick to drive it into the wall as well while Naseema howled in pain. Her adrenaline pumping, Narissa grabbed a third bar and tried to drive it into Naseema's chest, but the Feeonix managed to deflect the assault, and the bar ended up through her shoulder instead.

Her chest heaving from the effort, Narissa stood and watched Naseema gasp for breath and struggle to free herself as blood poured from her mouth and nose. The Romulan wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve and smirked at her gravely injured opponent. "So sad," she taunted. "There is nothing more tragic than misguided heroism."

"Fuck you," Naseema spat, barely able to bring her voice past a strained whisper.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance," Narissa told her and looked her over one last time before she disappeared into the labyrinth around them. Naseema tried to pull the bars from her body, but Narissa had done far to good a job of pinning her to the wall. Before long, she ran out of strength and finally lost consciousness.

When Elnor reached the Artifact, it loomed over the land like an ancient, long-abandoned castle. Occasional flashes of lightning lit up the early morning sky, and the stark contrast of the foreboding cube against the bright desert made it seem even more terrifying than he remembered, but he pressed forward. Once inside, he crept around in the dark with no idea where to even start looking for Naseema. Also, wanting to avoid attention from the ex-borg, he made his way to a higher level and stayed almost completely hidden. He used the same method she had and followed the quiet hum of the cube's computers deeper into the maze of chambers and corridors.

He prayed he wasn't too late to find her. Anger was a feeling that could be channelled, used to strengthen one's resolve, but blind rage was a dangerous liability. He was convinced she would either do something she would regret or have a fatal lapse in judgment. He also knew he was taking a huge risk by going after her. It was possible she would kill him by mistake, but it was a risk he felt compelled to take. He didn't have a lot of friends, to begin with, and he was becoming very attached to her. The idea of losing her was enough to make his stomach hurt.

Just as he reached the centre, he heard the sound of someone coming in his direction and deftly disappeared into the shadows above him. He held his breath and watched as Narissa passed by him, completely unaware of his presence. As much as he wanted to avenge Hugh's death, killing her wasn't why he'd come here, so once he was sure she was gone, he dropped, and headed in the opposite direction.

He needed to find Naseema first.

A few minutes later, he heard more footsteps, but there was nothing above him to climb. He drew his weapon and held his back against the wall to wait for whoever it was to come around the corner. As they appeared, he grabbed the arm, swung them out into his line of sight, and brought his tan qalanq to their throat.

"Feldor stam torret!"

Looking at the person who now pointed a phaser at him, he was shocked to see the familiar face of Seven of Nine. Her eyes as wide as his, she let out a sigh of relief and lowered her weapon."You scared the shit out of me," she said with exasperation.

"Sorry," he replied and dropped his sword to his side.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm looking for Naseema," he told her. "She came here to find a Tal Shiar assassin, and I followed her."

"Naseema? As in former Federation Ambassador Naseema? The Feeonix?" Seven asked. "Hasn't she been dead for twenty years?"

Elnor shook his head. "She rescued me from here a few days ago and brought me to this planet. She lives here with a bunch of other Feeonix and the synthetics."

"You're the one who sent the s.o.s." Seven realized.

"She found me first," he said with a nod. "Have you seen her?"

"No, but I think I've seen the Romulan she's looking for," Seven told him. "I've been trying to follow her and find out what she's doing here, but she's a slippery one."

"I saw her too," Elnor replied.

"Well, if you want to find Naseema, let's go this way," Seven said and motioned to another corridor.

As they made their way further into the cube, Elnor told her what happened there before his rescue. "The woman I saw, she was the one who murdered Hugh," he revealed.

"I found his body near the Queen's cell," Seven replied. "I thought he was the one who triggered the s.o.s. Once we find your friend, we'll track Hugh's killer down and finish what you started."

He liked that plan and readily agreed. They moved up to the next level, and Elnor was woefully unprepared for what they found. He gasped, horrified by the image of Naseema's body secured to the wall like some lunatic's art project and ran to her.

The reality was worse than anything he could have imagined, and he knew the Romulan who murdered Hugh had done this. Killing an enemy was one thing, but how someone could inflict such cruel violence on another...it was an act of pure malevolence. He hated that woman, but even as he felt the rage roil up inside him, he knew it was a mistake to give in to it and forced it back. Rage and hatred were why Naseema was now in this position, and he couldn't help her if he let those feelings win. He had to stay calm and keep his focus on saving her. He wasn't going to lose another friend to this terrible place.

He tried to heave the largest of the bars out of the wall but couldn't get enough leverage. He squeezed himself between the two lodged in her torso and lifted her head. She came to as he touched her but didn't realize it was him. She shot her hand out and grabbed his throat. When she opened her eyes, she saw the big brown ones staring back at her, wide and alarmed. It took her another few seconds to realize who the eyes belonged to, but once she did, she released him and tried to speak.

"Elnor," she said with a wet wheeze. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you," he replied, his face still aghast. Seven came over then and took hold of the bar in her shoulder.

"We're going to get you out of here, but it's not going to feel good," she told Naseema, who nodded weakly. Then Seven braced her foot against the wall and yanked the bar free. She tossed it aside and looked at Elnor. "Come here and help me," she told him.

He wiggled himself away from Naseema and grabbed the next bar, opposite Seven. Together they pulled it from the wall, and it exited Naseema's body with a hideous sucking sound. The final one was wider and denser than the first two, and when they freed it from her body, Naseema dropped to the floor, blood seeping from the gaping holes in her torso. Elnor fell to his knees beside her, yanked out the knife in her side, and cradled her head with his hand as he experienced the most gut-wrenching deja-vu of his young life.

Seven came up and stood behind him. "I'm sorry, kid," she said sadly.

"No," he replied with determination. "She's not going to die." He hauled Naseema to her feet and slid himself under her arm. He hugged her against his body as Seven looked on in amazement.

Naseema, alive and astoundingly still conscious, touched her arm as they passed her. "There is a Zhat Vash assassin here," she heaved, and made a gurgling noise in her throat, barely able to pull in enough air to speak. "She is trying to get the weapons systems online."

Seven, inspired by Elnor's unyielding conviction to save the Feeonix, nodded. Then she looked at the young Romulan. "Get her home," she told him. "I'll deal with our murderer." He swallowed hard, his eyes still full of determination and nodded back at her. Then, with Naseema secured in his arms, he headed straight for Coppelius Station.

They only made it a kilometre before Elnor had to carry her. She was surprisingly light for a being with such dense bones, but he was becoming tired as they approached the settlement. He intended to stop at La Sirena so they could rest for a few minutes and maybe get some help from Rios' EMH, but the ship was gone, so he kept on towards the Station without pause. Nobody was watching the gate, and he carried her right to the center of the village, where everyone congregated, their eyes fixed on Soji. Jagger, who stood at the very back of the crowd, glanced over and, after doing a double-take, raced over and helped Elnor rest Naseema's feet on the ground. He looked the young Romulan up and down, appalled by how much blood was on Elnor's jacket. Rios, also in the outskirts of the group, hurried over as well, his expression just as stricken as Jagger.

"What the fuck happened?" Jagger asked, but Naseema was distracted by the holographic image Soji was talking to and didn't seem to hear him.

"Is that Jean-Luc?" she gasped. "What the hell is he doing?"

"Stealing Rios' ship to save all our butts," Jagger told her. "Essie and Luka showed up with the entire fucking cavalry, just in the nick of time, and you'll never believe who they brought with them."

Rios and Jagger held onto Naseema's arms as they moved closer to the podium, and she placed a bloodied hand on the pillar next to her to steady herself. Elnor stripped off his blood-soaked jacket and discarded it on the ground as if it were on fire as they helplessly watched the drama unfold. Arcana came over to place a reassuring hand on Elnor's shoulder and looked at Naseema with concern.

"You are badly injured," she said, her gold eyes wide and worried.

"Arcana's right, Naseema, we need to get you inside," Jagger insisted. "You're in a bad way, a really bad way. I mean, Jesus Christ, I can see right through you." She turned to look at him, struggling to breathe. Her balance wavered, but before she could respond, Soji's suddenly alarmed voice caught her attention again.

"Can't you get him to the med lab or a sickbay on one of your ships?"

"What is happening?" Naseema asked as her eyelids began to sag, and Jagger knew she was about to lose consciousness. He didn't know if he should answer her. Everything was happening so fast. Picard told him about the brain abnormality, and he knew the inevitable was upon them.

"I'm dropping the transporter block!" Soji cried. "I'll beam you guys right here!"

"Jagger?" Naseema gurgled, blood now filling her throat.

Then, the sudden transporter beam that appeared in the square attracted everyone's attention. The entire place fell silent as Picard and Dr. Jurati materialized on the ground. Picard, decumbent on his back, with Agnes on her knees beside him, her hand cushioning his head. They disappeared from Naseema's view as Raffi, Soji, Rios, and Juliet crowded around them, all on their knees. The small community of synthetics stood peripheral to the devastated humans, unsure of what they should do, and keeping their distance. Elnor moved towards the small crowd but stayed on his feet. He seemed in a daze and had finally succumbed to shell shock.

What was happening? Too much commotion. Too much violence. Too much hatred and fear...and blood. So much blood. It was all over him. Is this what the galaxy offered? Pain and suffering, and death? He didn't know what to do. He wanted to help, but his feet wouldn't cooperate. He wanted to call out, but he couldn't find his voice. His eyes searched for something, someone to focus on. Jagger, who seemed so cool, and collected, was stricken. Picard. He needed Picard. Picard was on the ground. Why wasn't anyone helping Picard? Why was everyone so quiet? There were too many tears. He was exhausted. His whole body ached. His thoughts were jumbled. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. He wanted to go home.

Jagger left Naseema and Arcana to stand behind Agnes. He leaned forward, his hands on his knees, and ruefully watched as the life slipped away from the man he'd known and respected for decades.

"Picard is dying," Arcana told Naseema tenderly as the Feeonix took a few steps towards the huddled group. Arcana reached out and tried to steady her as she staggered to one side, no longer able to catch her breath.

Picard spotted Elnor and lovingly said his name as he reached out to him. Elnor, eyes wide and traumatized, forced his feet to move and went to his mentor. He knelt beside Agnes so Picard could caress his cheek. Then, the old man looked at Raffi, who cradled his head in her lap.

"Raffi," he said as his voice started to fade.

Raffi did her best to smile at him."Yes, JL, I'm right here."

"You were quite right."

"About what JL?" she asked as tears streamed down her face, but Picard didn't answer her. He exhaled a gentle sigh as his head rolled to one side, and they all realized he was gone.

Naseema could hear the sobbing nearby even though her vision was failing. "Captain?" she murmured as she blindly took one more step forward before she lost consciousness and pitched forward. Jagger heard the sound of her collapse, and Arcana's worried voice say Naseema's name. He straightened himself up, glanced over at them as he wiped his tears away, and saw what had happened. He ran over to them. Elnor, still in shock, turned as Jagger went by him. His eyes found the source of Jagger's distress, but all he could do was watch, paralyzed, as Picard lay dead beside him, and Naseema a few meters away, face down in a pool of her own blood.