Battle in the Bassen Rift The Battle in the Bassen Rift was a conflict fought in 2379 between the , assisted by two warbird s of the Romulan Star Empire , against the Reman warbird " Scimitar " , a unique and heavily armed spacecraft commanded by Shinzon . Shinzon was a clone of Starfleet Captain Jean - Luc Picard , the " Enterprise " s commanding officer , and had developed a vendetta against his originator . The resultant battle was a fierce engagement which ended with the defeat of the " Scimitar " , only thanks to sabotage from within the Reman starship itself , and left the " Enterprise " and the pair of warbirds severely damaged . ( ) Prelude . Shinzon , allied with the Remans , led a " coup " against the Romulan s , assassinating most of the Romulan Senate and assuming the role of Praetor himself . Soon thereafter , Shinzon made overtures to the Federation , requesting that an envoy be sent for face - to - face meetings on Romulus , ostensibly to establish peace with the Romulans . Admiral Kathryn Janeway sent the " Enterprise " - E on the mission , as it was the closest available starship . However , Starfleet did not learn until later that Shinzon had secretly arranged for the " Enterprise " to be the starship that would be sent , by placing a lure for the " Enterprise " crew , in the form of the Soong - type android B - 4 on Kolarus III . Shinzon specifically wanted to divert Picard to Romulus , because he required a complete transfusion of Picard ' s blood in order to survive . Because his temporal RNA sequences had not been activated , his cellular structure was slowly breaking down . Shinzon also wanted to learn more about his counterpart and their " shared " identity . However , the crew of the " Enterprise " - E soon managed to see through Shinzon ' s deceptions . They determined that the " Scimitar " was equipped with a thalaron radiation generator , a type of biogenic weapon that could effectively destroy all life on a starship or an entire planet in a matter of moments . Although Shinzon managed to capture Picard via transporter , Picard quickly escaped with the assistance of Data , who had masqueraded as B - 4 . Once Picard and Data were safely aboard , the " Enterprise " departed Romulus at maximum warp . The battle . The " Scimitar " pursued the " Enterprise " while cloaked , waiting for the right moment to strike . Shinzon himself continued to deteriorate both physically and mentally . On the " Enterprise " , Picard and his senior staff realized that the " Scimitar " had to be destroyed , lest it continue to threaten the Federation with its massive weaponry and its planet - destroying thalaron weapon . Fortunately , they also realized that Shinzon needed Picard ' s blood quickly , or he would die due to his unstable genetic structure ( Shinzon had been created with the intention that he would be rapidly aged at a certain point to match Picard , but he had never received such a " signal " and his body was thus breaking down ) , meaning that Shinzon would be forced to attack the " Enterprise " before launching any other campaign . The " Enterprise " was ordered to rendezvous with Star Fleet Battle Group Omega near the Bassen Rift , where it would have the support of other starships . However , Shinzon had been planning ahead – when the " Enterprise " s subspace communication s with Starfleet were disrupted by the rift , the " Scimitar " quickly launched its attack . Firing while still cloaked , the " Scimitar " quickly disabled the " Enterprise " s warp drive with a single volley and left it stranded , outgunned and unable to call for help . Although the " Scimitar " remained cloaked , the " Enterprise " was able to briefly locate and land some hits on the " Scimitar " by firing all the " Sovereign " - class starship ' s phaser banks at a zero degree elevation , scanning for shield impacts to attempt torpedo strikes , although the " Scimitar " was too fast for the " Enterprise " to reliably land hits . The " Enterprise " s retaliation inflicted minimal damage to Shinzon ' s starship while the " Scimitar " was able to weaken the " Enterprise " s dorsal shields . A brief ceasefire ensued where Shinzon projected a hologram of himself into the captain ' s ready room , where he offered Picard the chance to give himself up so that nobody else on the " Enterprise " would have to die . Picard refused , and the battle was set to resume . As it looked as though hope had all but disappeared , two Romulan " Valdore " - type warbirds decloaked between the two starships . Commander William T . Riker initially feared that these starships were more hostiles , but his anxieties were relieved when Commander Donatra , CO of the " " , hailed the " Enterprise " , informing Picard that the Empire considered Shinzon ' s attacks a matter of " internal security " and offered to assist in destroying the " Scimitar " . While triangulating fire between their three starships , the warbirds and the " Enterprise " were able to score several direct hits on the Reman warship before the " Scimitar " s superior firepower disabled the warbirds . On the " Enterprise " bridge , ship ' s counselor Deanna Troi offered a means of tracking the " Scimitar " through its cloaking device – by telepathically contacting the Reman Reman Viceroy ( who had previously contacted Troi in the same way ) , triangulating his position and disabling the starship ' s cloaking device . With several quadrants of the " Enterprise " s deflector shield s failing , Shinzon then ordered that a boarding party be beamed aboard the " Enterprise " to bring him Picard . However , the Reman troops were quickly pinned down by " Enterprise " security personnel on Deck 29 . The viceroy , who was leading the boarding party , was ultimately killed in the assault by Commander Riker . During the battle on Deck 29 , the " Scimitar " fired a spread of photon torpedo es at the " Enterprise " , destroying the front of the Federation flagship ' s bridge , causing an explosive decompression , which killed Lieutenant Branson before an emergency force field was erected to seal the hull breach . With the battle deteriorating into one of sheer attrition , it appeared that the " Scimitar " would win thanks to its superior weaponry and shielding – the " Enterprise " had depleted its complement of photon torpedoes , and phaser s were only operating at four percent , while the " Scimitar " s shields were still running at seventy percent . However , Picard wryly commented that , in his youth , his first evaluation at Starfleet Academy had suggested that he was extremely overconfident – a trait he attributed to Shinzon as well . In order to stop the " Scimitar " , Picard ordered the " Enterprise " to ram the enemy starship at full impulse when Shinzon moved the " Scimitar " into position in front of the " Enterprise " so that he could look directly at Picard when ordering his surrender , plowing the two opponents together . Although the " Enterprise " sustained critical damage in the ramming maneuver , the " Scimitar " remained primarily operational , though the starship ' s disruptor s were disabled . Picard tried to sacrifice the " Enterprise " by activating the auto - destruct sequence , but it was off - line due to heavy damage . In a final act of desperation , Shinzon ordered the activation of the thalaron radiation weapon , and ordered that every living thing on the " Enterprise " be killed . Picard ordered Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge to beam him aboard the " Scimitar " so Picard could stop the weapon from firing . Just after transport , however , the transporters malfunctioned , making it impossible to bring the captain back . Data decided to launch a daring rescue mission ( being unaffected by the vacuum of space ) , hurling himself across the gap between the two starships to board the " Scimitar " as well . On the " Scimitar " , Picard battled his way through the bridge , before he and Shinzon engaged in a final confrontation in the thalaron generator room as the seconds counted down towards the firing of the thalaron weapon . Picard managed to kill Shinzon in hand - to - hand combat with barely thirty seconds remaining in the countdown . At this point , Data arrived on the bridge and beamed Picard away using an emergency transport unit , and firing on the thalaron radiation generator with his phaser , destroying the " Scimitar " and sacrificing himself to save the eight hundred men and women aboard the " Enterprise " . Aftermath . The battle ultimately brought about a greater understanding between the Federation and the Romulans , as the two former enemies had fought side by side in battle . The valor with which the " Enterprise " fought against Shinzon greatly impressed the Romulans , and the Romulans ' decision to assist the " Enterprise " also impressed Starfleet . Lieutenant Commander Worf , a man who harbored deep hatred for the Romulans , even observed that the Romulans had " fought with honor " – very high praise coming from a Klingon . Following the battle , newly - promoted Captain William T . Riker of the led a Starfleet task force to the Romulan border to engage in preliminary talks for a peace accord between the two sides . It was hoped that this development would lead to greater understanding and a new era of peace in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant s . ( ) Appendices . Background information . screenwriter John Logan wanted this battle to be fought with a fleet of ships , instead of just the four vessels that fight in the final version . However , having the battle incorporate a fleet proved too costly . ( " " , issue 31 , p . 9 ) In the first draft script of " Star Trek Nemesis " , this conflict took place " over Earth " ( repeatedly phrased that way in the script ' s stage directions ) . The battle was storyboarded ( at least partly ) by Conceptual Artist Tom Southwell . ( " Storyboarding the Action " , " Star Trek Nemesis ( Special Edition ) " DVD ) To depict the battle , a total of forty CGI shots were created by Digital Domain . ( ) Apocrypha . " Star Trek Online " s description of the Bassen Rift ( called in - game by its Romulan name , " Great Bloom " ) states that , even thirty years after the battle , the area continues to be irradiated with traces of thalaron radiation left over from the " Scimitar " s destruction .