The Shrike follows the Titan into the nebula and damages the warp engines of the Starfleet vessel. Deeper in the nebula, Captain Shaw thinks that his ship is safe from the enemy's sensors. The repairs to the engines continue. Picard and Beverly take the chance to talk about Jack and about their relationship, for the first time in 20 years. Then the Shrike reappears and attacks again, this time injuring the captain. Riker takes over command of the vessel, with Picard acting as his "Number One". The admiral drops a torpedo and detonates it halfway between the Titan and the Shrike, shaking off the enemy for the time being. In sickbay, Beverly recognizes that Shaw has internal bleedings that the scans did not indicate and manages to stabilize him. Shaw can hardly speak but briefly talks to Jack, expressing his concern about how Vadic was able to find them. Riker now attempts to escape from the nebula and warp away, but the Shrike is on his heels. Vadic orders to use the portal weapon, which brings back the Titan into the range of the Shrike's weapons. Jack Crusher consults with Annika Hansen, who is confined to her quarters for insubordination. She thinks that verterium leaking from the engines may give away their position. She and Jack investigate the engines and find that they have been sabotaged. Riker takes the Titan back into the nebula, which turns out to be an anomaly with a high-gravity region in the center that the ship has to avoid. Picard and Riker consider to use the fact that they now know about the sabotage for their advantage. As Hansen is checking another section for verterium leaks, Jack is attacked by a shapeshifter, who reopens the verterium valve and exposes Jack to a high dose of the gas. On M'Talas Prime, Worf and Raffi team up to apprehend a man named Titus Rikka, who paid the Ferengi to lie about the sale of the weapon. Raffi is irate when the two interrogate Rikka, who would not talk, whereas Worf is waiting patiently. Finally, after several hours, Rikka has to reveal his true, liquid shape. He is a Changeling, and belongs to a rogue faction of the Great Link that seeks to take revenge on the Federation. He says that the stolen portal weapon was just a distraction. Seven finds the unconscious Jack and takes him to sickbay. Picard rushes to sickbay too, horrified that he may lose his new-found son. But Jack is successfully resuscitated by his mother. As he returns to the bridge, Picard urges Riker to fight instead of continuing to run away. Then an explosion caused by the saboteur rocks the ship and interrupts warp power. On Picard's suggestion, Riker fires torpedoes at the Shrike, but thanks to the portal weapon these are directed back towards the Titan. The ship is adrift now, and is pulled into the center of the anomaly...

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