Picard stops at Vashti to recruit Elnor, a young Romulan raised by the Qowat Milat, and La Sirena is rescued in a fight by Seven of Nine.
Picard has Rios divert to Vashti, a planet where he once helped resettle Romulan refugees. There he had befriended a boy, Elnor, and promised to return, but abandoned him after resigning. Elnor has grown up among the Qowat Milat, warrior nuns sworn to absolute candor, and at first refuses to join Picard, then changes his mind when locals hostile to Starfleet attack.
In orbit, La Sirena is attacked, and a ship that comes to its aid is damaged; its pilot, the former Borg drone Seven of Nine, is beamed aboard. On the Artifact, Soji investigates the Destroyer prophecy. Michael Chabon wrote the episode and Jonathan Frakes directed.