Picard learns of the Zhat Vash and asks Starfleet for a ship to find Soji, while Soji grows close to the Romulan agent Narek aboard the Artifact.
Searching Dahj's apartment with Laris, Picard learns of the Zhat Vash, a secretive Romulan group that hates synthetic life, and finds Soji's location. Aboard the Artifact, a Borg cube where Romulans remove Borg technology from former drones, Soji becomes involved with the Romulan agent Narek.
Picard, who has a terminal brain condition, asks Admiral Kirsten Clancy for a ship and is refused. Starfleet security chief Commodore Oh is secretly working with Narek's sister Narissa, who led the assassins. Picard decides to go on his own and approaches his former first officer, Raffi Musiker. Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman wrote the episode.