After La Sirena has lifted off with the Borg Queen aka Jurati, Tallinn intends to make sure on her own that Renée Picard goes on the Europa Mission. The admiral anticipates that she wants to sacrifice her life and joins her. At the launch site, she convinces him to let her fulfill her lifetime's mission. Tallinn proceeds to the quarantine section to talk to Renée Picard. In the meantime, Seven, Raffi and Rios have arrived in Soong's house where they discover drones that are about to launch, apparently programmed to destroy the rocket. They are wired to explode if they are tampered with. But Raffi thinks she can take over control of them. Soong himself is at the launch site and demands to speak to the astronauts. Renée Picard approaches him, saying that a strange woman stalked her. Soong shakes her hand, thereby infecting her with a lethal neurotoxin. But the woman he poisoned was actually Tallin in disguise. She dies in Picard's arms, still witnessing the successful launch of the rocket. In the meantime, the drones have lifted off, and thanks to Raffi's rewiring Rios manages to have them collide with each other. Back in his house, Soong witnesses how the real Renée reports how her mission is on track, and then how all of his files are being remotely deleted by Kore. He pulls a folder from his drawer, labeled "Project Khan". Kore receives a message to meet with a person, who turns out to be Wesley Crusher. He invites her to become a Supervisor or Traveler. At the château, Picard puts back the key behind a brick, for him as a boy to be found in the future. Q tells him that it was the right decision to make. He confirms that he is dying but that he doesn't want to die alone. He is going to send Picard's crew back to the 24th century, which will probably kill him. But Rios chooses to stay behind with Teresa and Ricardo. Picard hugs Q, and finds himself back on the Stargazer, as the Borg Queen is tapping the systems. He halts the countdown for the self-destruct. The Borg Queen turns out to be Jurati. She needs control of all ships to create a shield strong enough to block the eruption of a massive anomaly. The admiral puts Seven in command and orders all ships to stand down. It turns out that in this timeline Elnor is alive and back on the Excelsior, to Raffi's delight. The shield bubble created by the fleet holds and saves the lives of billions. Jurati's Borg apply for provisional membership in the Federation to guard the anomaly, which they rate as a threat. At Guinan's bar, Picard learns that Rios and Teresa lived a happy life together, and that Ricardo worked out a method to clean up Earth's atmosphere based on an alien organism found by Renée Picard on the Europa Mission. The admiral returns to his château. Laris is preparing to leave but he asks her to stay.

• E09 Previous