In the Enterprise sickbay Beverly stood with Picard, Riker and Deanna. The Reman knife is under a protonmicroscope and other medical readouts and analysis are visible.
"There's no doubt, Captain. Right down to your regressive strain of Shalaft's Syndrome. He's a clone." shesaid.
"When was he, created?" Picard asked.
"About twenty-five years ago. They probably used a hair follicle or skin cell."
"I think a skin cell's the more likely of the two." he said touching head.
"Why?" Riker asked.
"Believe me, Number One; I'm going to find out. Contact Starfleet Command and inform them of the situation. I need to know where the hell he came from. Deanna."
He left with Deanna following.
In the corridor,
"I would say he's been trained to resist telepathy. What I could sense of his emotions were erratic, very hard to follow." Deanna said.
"Is he sincere about wanting peace?" Picard asked.
"I don't know." Then she stopped him. "Sir, the strongest sense I had was that he's more than curious about you. He very much wants to know you." She looked at him deeply. "The same way you want to know him."
"How could I not?"
"Captain, don't assume he's anything like you are. You should resist the urge to think you know him.
"I not only know him, Deanna, I am him and he is me!"
Then he left.
That night in Riker and Deanna's cabin Riker was hard at work over a series of padds. He has been working for hours.
"Will, you need to rest." she said while he continued to work. "As ship's counselor, I'm recommending you get me sleep."
Riker tossed a padd on the desk. Rubs his eyes. Looks up her.
"Some honeymoon." he said.
She smiled and went to him.
"We have time." she said and kissed him. "Come to bed."
Then she pulled him up.
"Imzadi, what am I going to do with you?" he asked.
They kissed deeply. She pulled him across the room and they fall into the bed.
It was passionate, erotic. Her arms undulate around him sensually... her fingers snake through his hair, but something is wrong. Riker's hair is now blond.
She started back, her eyes growing wide.
Riker was gone. She was now embracing Shinzon!
"Imzadi. This is so good." Shinzon said.
"No!" she said as he caressed her face.
"He can never know you as I know you... He can never touch you as I touch you."
"This isn't real."
"Can you feel my hands... are they real? Can you feel my lips, my loins?
He kissed her neck - but when he raised his head again. It was the monstrous Viceroy! Holding her. Caressing her. She is frozen in horror. But is it the Viceroy at all?
Shinzon's voice seems to come from the Viceroy's lips:
"I'm with you, Imzadi..."
And then it was Shinzon again, kissing her.
"I'll always be with you now. Now and forever..."
"You sick bastard!" she said and pushed him away.
"Deanna?! What's with the name calling?" someone else said.
It was Riker. She stared at him, then clung to him desperately.
At the Romulan senate the Byzantine splendors of the Senate loom before us.
At the Romulan senate chamber heavy drapes are drawn against any hint of the sun. Shinzon in a conference with the Romulan Commanders and Senator Tal'Aura. Commander Donatra watched him closely.
Commander Suran was angry, pacing. Shinzon stands. His Viceroy lurks in a corner.
" ... then I don't understand the reason for the delay!" Suran said angry.
"You don't have to understand." Shinzon said.
"And bringing the Enterprise here?! What possible purpose could that serve?!"
"I have a purpose."
"Then perhaps you will enlighten us?"
"Silence, Romulan!" Shinzon snapped then regained his composure. "You must learn patience, Commander. Do you know where I learned it? In the dilithium mines of Remus. Spend eighteen hours every day under the lash of a Romulan guard's whip and you'll soon understand patience."
Suran carefully bowed his head.
"Praetor."
"Now go. I have some personal business.
Suran and the others then left.
Donatra turned just as she was leaving the chamber and saw the Viceroy going to Shinzon. And then do something odd.
The Viceroy put his hand on Shinzon's chest, leaned very close and talked to him quietly. This is an ancient form of Reman telepathic medical diagnosis.
This strange sight perplexes Donatra. The doors closed, blocking her view...
In the corridor Donatra spoke quietly to Suran.
"How long before he has us in the dilithium mines?" she asked.
In Data's cabin at Enterprise the B-9 sits placidly in a chair, staring forward.
Then, as if a switch was thrown, he moved. He quickly rose and went to a computer console. He efficiently started punching in commands at an amazing velocity.
On Romulan senate chamber Picard and Shinzon sat alone in a corner of the sweeping Senate chamber. The remains of dinner before them.
"And when I was ready they were going to replace you with me, an exact biological duplicate. Put a Romulan agent at the heart of Starfleet to influence your command structure. It was a bold plan." Shinzon said.
"What happened?" Picard asked.
"As happens so frequently here on Romulus, a new government came to power. They decided to abandon the plan - frankly, I think they were afraid I'd be discovered and it would lead to war. They weren't ready for that."
Picard poured a glass of Romulan ale.
"Romulan ale - I'm surprised. I can't stand it." Shinzon said.
Picard smiled.
"You'll acquire a taste for it."
Then they looked at each other.
"It's not quite the face you remember." Shinzon said.
"Not quite. I envy the hairline."
"A lifetime of violence will do that. My nose was broken four times. And my jaw... But so much is the same. The eyes, you recognize the eyes."
"Yes. The eyes have it."
"Our eyes reflect our lives, don't they? Yours are so confident."
"How did you end up on Remus?"
"They sent me there to die. How could a mere human survive the dilithium mines? It was..." Then he stopped trying to find the words. "... I was a slave. And a monster."
"The only thing the Romulan guards hated more than the Remans was me. But one man took pity on me: the man who became my Viceroy. He taught me how to survive. And in that dark place, where there was nothing of myself, I found my Reman brothers. They showed me the only kindness I ever knew."
He glanced to the Romulan crest on the wall.
"For thousands of years the Romulan Senate has met in this chamber and dictated the fate of its sister- planet... But the time has come for us to live as equals."
"You're doing this to liberate the Remans?" Picard asked.
"No race should be a slave to another." Picard was impressed with Shinzon's quiet words. "You don't trust me."
"I have no reason to."
"Of course you do. If you had lived my life and experienced the suffering of my people... you'd be sitting where I am now. At least I hope you would."
"And if you had lived my life you would understand that there is a great responsibility in representing the Federation. I can't let my personal feelings unduly influence my decisions."
"All I have is my personal feelings. I wasn't raised with the ideals of the Federation. But I'm trying to understand them now. To live up to them. To live up to you." Shinzon stopped. "I want to know where I come from. The Remans gave me a future. You can tell me about my past."
"There's so much, and so much of it is dull..."
"Were we always explorers?"
"No. I was the first Picard to leave Earth. It caused quite a stir, In fact. But I had spent my whole life..."
"Looking up at the stars." Shinzon said finishing the sentence.
"Yes."
"And you dreamed about what was up there. About..."
"New worlds." Picard said finishing the sentance.
They both reached for a carafe of water at the exact same instant then stopped.
"After you, Praetor." Picard said.
"Age before rank, Jean Luc." Shinzon said smiling.
Picard smiled, poured a glass.
"So I'm not as tall as you expected?" he said.
"I always hoped I would hit two meters."
With a full head of hair.
Shinzon smiled.
"There is that."
They sat here quiet.
"Shinzon... I'm trying to believe you."
"I know."
"If there's one ideal the Federation holds most dear it's that all men, all races, can be united. From the first time the Vulcans came to Earth we've sought a future of peace. Nothing would make me more proud than to take your hand in friendship. In time. When trust has been earned."
"I'm honored to think I might someday speak with such eloquence." Then Shinzon stopped. "In time, Jean Luc."
"In time."