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Hawk looked at the empty table near the windows where he and the false-Linda had sat, what now seemed a lifetime ago. Again, he cursed himself for not detecting the deception, for not taking action earlier. Even now, he still felt helpless.

He’d had security teams doing continuous phaser sweeps and blood screenings for nearly a day now, with no results. He honestly didn’t expect any. There were too many areas of the ship that, for technical or safety reasons, they could not phaser-sweep. There were too many places to hide and to move about the ship.

The Enterprise had hundreds of kilometers of Jefferies tubes, ducts, conduits, service areas, and other hidden spaces through which a Changeling could travel. For all they knew, a Changeling could even assume some form that would allow it to safely travel through the plasma in EPS conduits. Perhaps that was why the Changeling had been so interested in the Enterprise schematics. For a liquid shape-shifter, they provided an invaluable road map.

He hoped the fact that she-it- had been studying Sovereign plans caused it to take a few wrong turns.

When they were finished, Hawk moved into the corridor, where his escort, Ensign Shreff, waited, antennae waving nervously. Shreff was a tall, quiet Andorian with a fierce devotion to duty that Hawk found admirable.

“Where next, sir?”

Hawk realized that he didn’t know. He was out of ideas. “Back to the security office, I suppose.” On their way back to the turbolift, they passed Riker and Troi in the corridor.

Riker stopped him. “How goes the search, Mr. Hawk?”

“Not well, sir. Frankly, I’m beginning to think this is an exercise in futility. If the Changeling is sufficiently motivated to stay hidden, we’ll have to take the ship apart plate by plate to find it.” He thought about what Picard had said about trying to understand the alien. But how was he supposed to know what a morphing blob of gelatin might want?

Then it came to him. He blinked in sudden understanding.

Troi tilted her head curiously. “I don’t need to be an empath to know you’ve thought of something significant, Lieutenant.”

He nodded. “Commander, I think I have an idea of what the Changeling is after. Captain Picard said the Changeling wanted to ‘neutralize’ the Enterprise, not destroy it. At first I thought that was simply a matter of keeping us trapped here near the Mira variable star, but now I think it’s something else entirely.” He gestured back down the corridor, toward the entrance to Ten-Forward.

“When I talked with the Changeling in Ten-Forward, it showed great interest in the Sovereign schematics I was looking at. She traced its lines on the screen in a way that was sensual, bordering on sexual.”

Riker frowned. “I don’t understand, Lieutenant. You’re saying it’s in love with the Enterprise?”

“In a manner of speaking, Commander. For a shape-shifter, what would be more attractive, more important than shape? Than form?” Hawk’s voice rose in excitement. “I think it finds the Enterprise’s shape pleasing in a way we really can’t understand. It’s not sex, but it’s close. It’s like- “

Troi smiled. “Chocolate.”

“Yes! Exactly. Like chocolate for some people. Or fine wine. Or a beautiful painting. A sensual pleasure so fine that it’s worth preserving, even defending.”

Riker shook his head. “Interesting theory, but even if it’s true, it doesn’t explain how it expects to neutralize the Enterprise.”

“I’m afraid that might be my fault. I unwittingly talked with ‘Linda’ about the significance of the shakedown logs as the final documentation of a ship’s design-its operation, capabilities, and weaknesses.

“If the Changeling could obtain a copy of those logs and return them to the Dominion and their allies, the Enterprise’s value as a front-line warship would be compromised. We wouldn’t dare put the E, or any of her sister ships, against the Dominion fleet for fear they would have learned some weakness or characteristic they could exploit. The Federation’s mightiest warships would be relegated to