Later in the Senate Chamber Picard was gone. Shinzon sat, thinking. His Viceroy enters.
"This is a mistake." Viceroy said.
"He's gentler than I thought. And he has a sense of humor." Shinzon said.
Viceroy looked at him stern
"Don't forget our mission, Shinzon. We should act. Now. Time is running out."
"My time. I'll spend it how I choose." Shinzon snapped.
"We'll return to the Scimitar. Prepare yourself for the bonding."
On the Enterprise bridge Picard emerged from the turbolift. Data, Worf, Geordi and Wesley were waiting at the bridge engineering station.
"Sir, we've had an unauthorized access into the main computer." Worf said.
"Who was it?" Picard asked.
"It's going to take some time to find out- the data stream was rerouted through substations all over the ship." Geordi said.
"What programs were accessed?"
"That's what we don't get- it's mostly basic stellar cartography: star charts; communications protocols; some uplinks from colony tracking stations. It's not even restricted material." Wesley said.
"Set up a security program to detect any unusual data stream rerouting. If it happens again, we want to be ready." Picard said to Worf.
"There's something else. I was reviewing the sensor logs..." Geordi said grim then he referred to some readouts on his console. "When the Scimitar decloaked there was a momentary spike in the tertiary EM band- there- You're not going to believe this but it's Thalaron."
Picard was shocked.
At the sickbay later Picard stood, concerned, with Beverly, Geordi and Data.
Monitors showing Thalaron research are visible.
"...I thought Thalaron radiation was theoretical." he said.
"Which is why our initial scans didn't pick it up. But he's got it, Captain." Geordi said.
"As I remember, Thalaron research was banned in the Federation because of its bioqenic properties."
"It has the ability to consume organic material at the subatomic level. I can't overestimate the danger of Thalaron radiation, Jean Luc. A microscopic amount could kill every living thing on this ship in a matter of seconds." Beverly said.
"Understood. Keep on it. I need to know what he has and how to neutralize any threat. Give me options." Picard said then left.
Data thought for a moment.
"Doctor, will you excuse us for a moment? Geordi, please come with me." he said.
He and Geordi headed out while Beverly returned to some medical displays showing Thalaron research, her expression deeply concerned.
Picard was sitting at his desk in his cabin, flipping through an old photo album. He stops and stares at one of the pictures deep troubled. We finally see the photo: Young Jean Luc Picard.
A serious, unsmiling cadet at Starfleet Academy. The face before him bears a disturbing resemblance to Shinzon.
Then the door comm chirps.
"Come..." he said and Beverly entered. "...Beverly, come in."
"You're working late." she said.
She sat, noted the picture of Young Jean Luc.
"Remember him?" he asked.
"He was a bit proud as I recall."
"He was a damn fool. Selfish and ambitious. Very much in need of seasoning."
"He turned out all right." Then he rose, went to a window, gazed at the Scimitar in the distance. "I so wanted to believe Shinzon. "But the Thalaron radiation can't be explained away. Whatever he's after, it's not peace."
"Is he very much like you were?"
"Yes."
Then Data interrupted on comm:
"Data to Captain Picard. Geordi and I have identified the source of the unauthorized computer access. And, I believe, we have also discovered an opportunity to gain a tactical advantage." he said.
"On my way..."
Beverly then stood up.
"Jean Luc- whatever you were - right now you're the man you've made yourself. He's someone else." she said.
"I wish I could believe that, Doctor."
Then he left.
Deanna was alone on the turbolift when a voice made her spin.
"Imzadi..." Shinzon said and stood across from her.
"You're not here." she said.
Then he moving to her.
"Very logical, Deanna... But your heart doesn't constrain itself to mere logic. ...Your heart longs to discover me. To know me..." Then he kissed her. "...To leave all of this behind and be with me."
He pushed her against the wall, with passion and almost violence.
"No..." she said.
"I can feel your desire, Deanna..."
She forced herself to concentrate... to resist telepathically... it is a mighty effort... this Romulan is hot. And the world around her appears to be changing... bending...
And she was momentarily in a cabin on the Scimitar. Although entirely a telepathic experience, it is as if she has actually traveled.
She saw Shinzon kneeling over a small flame, she realized she was looking through the Viceroy's eyes.
On the Scimitar, Shinzon looked up at the Viceroy/Deanna:
"I can feel your hunger to know the Reman ways... the old ways." he said.
Then the world changed again...
Deanna was on the turbolift. Shinzon pressed against her, whispering:
"Don't fear what you desire..." he said.
She forced him away from her and was alone. She sunk to her knees. Overcome with emotion.
The Viceroy, in a kind of trace, knelt before a small flame in his cabin.
Shinzon knelt across from him. The Viceroy raised his head.
"The bond is broken." he said.
"Find her again."
"No- this is wasting time."
"Do as I tell you!"
A Reman officer interrupted on comm:
"Praetor, we've received the transponder signal." the officer said.
"On my way." Shinzon said.
He then began to go but suddenly stopped, a wave of illness overtaking him.
The Viceroy put his hand on Shinzon's chest. A strange moment as the Viceroy shut his eyes and felt Shinzon's chest. His mind... probing.
Then the Viceroy looked up at him, grim.
"It's accelerating. You have no more time for games." he said.
"Have the doctors prepare. I'll be on the bridge." Shinzon said then left.
Shinzon stood with some Reman engineers on the bridge.
"Transport." he said.
An Engineer activated a transporter and the B-9 materialized.
"Welcome home." he said then looked at engineers. "Begin the download."
Reman engineers went to the B-9 and opened the panel in his neck, begin connecting computer conduits to the extra memory port we saw earlier.
Shinzon went to a replicator unit.
"Tea, hot." he ordered.
A cup of tea appeared then he took it and sipped as he watched his Engineers connecting the conduits to the B-9.