On the Enterprise Data was at work in Astrometry. Cartographic projections of star systems ebb and flow on a large screen before him.
Picard entered the room.
"Show me our current position." he said.
The images before them quickly changed to show another sector and a blip representing the Enterprise.
"How long until we reach the fleet?"
"At our current velocity we will arrive at sector 3274 in approximately 40 minutes." Data said.
The images before them change to show sector 3274, blips denoting Starfleet ships moving into position.
Picard gazed at the projection of stars before them for a moment.
"For now we see but through a glass darkly... He said he's a mirror." he said quietly.
"Of you?" Data asked.
"Yes."
"I do not agree. Although you share the same genetic structure, the events of your life have created unique individual."
"But so much is the same. On a biological level he is... and I will not accept the idea that there is nothing I can do. I have a responsibility to try to make a human connection with him."
"He would deny a "human" connection is possible. He considers himself entirely Reman."
"He may have already rejected my humanity, but you also have a twin."
"No, sir, it is not possible. The B-9 is physically identical to me, although his neural pathways are not as advanced. But even if they were, he would not be me."
"How can you be sure?"
"I aspire, sir. To be better than I am. The B-9 does not. Nor does Shinzon."
"We'll never know what Shinzon might have been. Had he stood where I did as a child? And looked up at the stars."
Picard's words lingered in the air for a moment.
Then the projections before them sputter with static for a moment flickering.
"We are passing through the Basin Rift. The projections will return when we have cleared it." Data said working controls.
"It's interfering with our uplink from Starfleet cartography?"
"Yes, sir. The Rift effects all long-range communications -"
"Commander Riker, evasive maneuvers!" Piccard said urgently to comm.
But it was too late.
The ship quaked, a photon torpedo blast - the Enterprise was under attack.
Disruptor beams appear from nowhere - streaking through space - slamming into the Enterprise's warp drive. The Enterprise recoiled, dangerously dropping out of warp in a furious lurch.
The Basin Rift was a strange area of electromagnetic distortion. Energy patterns crackle through space.
In the Scimitar bridge Shinzon sat in his command chair.
"Target weapons systems and shields. I don't want the Enterprise destroyed." he said.
Blasts were streaking from the Scimitar - slicing into the Enterprise.
"Can you learn to see in the dark, Captain?"
Picard and Data emerged to the Enterprise bridge from the turbolift as the ship rocked.
"Report." Picard said.
"He's firing through his cloak. We can't get a lock." Riker said.
"He disabled our warp drive with his first shot. We've only got impulse." Geordi said at the engineering station.
"Long range communication is impossible as long as we're in the rift-" Worf said.
The ship shuttered again.
"Worf, prepare a full phaser spread, zero elevation. All banks on my mark. Scan for shield impacts and stand by photon torpedoes."
"Aye, sir." he said.
The ship rocked again.
"Fire!"
The Enterprise fires her phases simultaneously - the energy beams shoot into space -
And the Scimitar's shape is momentarily illuminated as one of its shields is hit.
Photon torpedoes immediately shoot from the Enterprise - but pass harmlessly through the area where the Scimitar's shields were momentarily illuminated.
"You're too slow, old man." Shinzon said entering commands in his chair console of the Scimitar. "Attack pattern Shinzon Theta."
The invisible Warbird made a dramatic run straight over the Enterprise - firing steadily down as it sweeps past it; is a brutal, close range assault -
The bridge Shook violently under the ruthless attack-
"We are losing dorsal shields -" Data said.
"Full axis rotation to port! Fire all ventral phasers!" Picard said.
The Enterprise instantly complied - Rolling completely over to the left, firing phasers up as Shinzon's invisible ship streaks above it -
A few lucky phaser shots from the bottom of the Enterprise - now shooting upward - manage to momentarily illuminate the bottom shields of the Scimitar as it sweeps past above.
"Minimal damage to the Scimitar." Worf said.
"Defensive pattern Kirk Epsilon. Geordi, get those shields online." Riker said to Helm.
"Counselor Troi, report to the bridge." Picard said to combadge.
"Unless we can disable his cloak we're just going to be firing in the dark." Riker said.
"Agreed." Picard said.
"Sir, we're being hailed." Worf said.
"On screen."
Shinzon appeared on the view screen. He is on the bridge of the Scimitar.
"Captain Picard, will you join me in your Ready Room?" he asked.
In the Enterprise Picard was standing in his Ready Room. A flickering light shimmered across the room. And a perfect holographic representation of Shinzon appears before him.
"You can't trace my holographic emitters, Captain. So don't bother. And you can't contact Starfleet. We're quite alone." Shinzon said.
"We are."
"It's just the two of us now, Jean Luc, as it should be... Your ship and mine... You and me."
"Why are you here?"
"To accept your surrender. I can clearly destroy you at any time. Lower your shields and allow me to transport you to my ship."
"And what of the Enterprise?"
"I have little interest in your quaint vessel, Captain. If the Enterprise will withdraw to a distance of one hundred light years, it will not be harmed."
"You know that's not possible."
"I know... you'll all gladly die to save your home world."
"Look at me, Shinzon! Do you feel the blood pumping inside you? Your hands, your eyes, your nature, are the same as mine. Buried deep inside you beneath the years of pain and anger is a capacity you've forgotten. It's the one way our mirror can reflect the two of us exactly because it's the very thing that truly defines us. To be human is to try to make yourself better than you are."
Picard looked at him deeply, relentlessly refusing to give up.
"I know you as well as I know myself, Shinzon. There was a time you looked at the stars and dreamed of what might be."
"Long ago."
"Not so long."
"Childish dreams, Captain. Lost in the dilithium mines of Remus. I'm what you see now."
"I see more than what you are."
Picard stepped toward him.
"I see what you could be." he said and Shinzon slowly backed away as he continued to move toward him relentlessly. "The man who is Jean Luc Picard and Shinzon of Remus won't exterminate the population of an entire planet! He is better than that!"
"He is what his life has made him!" Shinzon said desperate in turmoil.
Picard could sense this and proceeds quietly:
"And what will he do with that life?"
Shinzon looked at him, questioning.
"If I were to beam to your ship... let you complete your medical procedure, give you a full life... what would you do with the time?" Shinzon didn't respond. "You once asked me about your past. Your history. When I was your age, I burned with ambition. I was very proud and my pride often hurt people. I made every wrong choice a young man can... But one thing saved me... I had a father who believed in me. Who took the time to teach me a better way. You have the same father."
"Yes."
"So if I gave you my life, what would you do with it? Would you spend the years in a blaze of hatred as you are now? Or could you change? Could you try to remember a mother's touch you never felt? A father's words you never heard? Could you do that?"
"I don't know." Shinzon said quietly.
"But you want to."
Shinzon doesn't respond. But Picard knows he has made a connection. For this brief moment reconciliation is possible. He proceeds quietly:
"Let me tell you about our father."
Shinzon looked at him with an aching sadness. What might have been.
"That's your life... not mine." he said quietly.
"Please."
"It's too late."
"You can still make a choice! Make the right one now!"
"I have no choices! I can't fight what I am!"
Shinzon backed away, unable to fight his nature
"I'll show you my true nature. Your nature. And as Earth dies - remember that I'm forever Shinzon of Remus! And my voice will echo through time long after yours has faded to a dim memory." he said and ended the transmission and his holographic image flickered and faded away.
Picard stood alone, drained.