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Picard stepped onto the transporter pad. His security escort started to join him. Picard signaled him away. “Once again, this is something I must do alone. Geordi, try not to put me inside a bulkhead.”

“I’ll do my best, Captain. Next stop, nacelle control.”

“Energize.”

There was the familiar whine of the transporter, the peculiar sensation of flickering in and out of existence, and he was in the control room at the rear of the starboard nacelle, looking forward through a force field at the warp coils. On the other side of the force field, deadly drive plasma flooded the space. On the EnterpriseD, this opening had been covered by doors that could be opened only for ninety seconds at a time before the force fields began to fail. With the new design, the doors were an emergency measure, and under normal circumstances could be left open indefinitely.

He turned, phaser ready, and watched the hatch for the Jefferies tube that provided access to the room. He waited several minutes, but finally the hatch slid open, and the Changeling, in liquid form, flowed into the room.

Picard aimed the phaser.

Becoming aware of Picard with whatever senses it possessed in its natural state, the Changeling again assumed the form of Addison. “You won’t stop me, Picard.”

He lowered the rifle slightly. “I don’t intend to. And I’m sure by now that I don’t need to. You no longer have the chip containing the shakedown logs for the Enterprise.”

“I had to travel through a duct. There was- “

“A micron-filter not listed on the inaccurate schematics you’d previously studied, a recent field modification. You see now how useful the shakedown logs can be.”

“Are you taunting me, Picard?”

The captain reached to his belt and produced the chip Geordi had given him. “I want you to understand exactly what it is I am doing for you.” He looked around the room. “I had to keep up appearances down below, but they can’t monitor us here. If this were discovered, my career with Starfleet would be over.”

The Changling laughed. “You mean to tell me you’re selling out your precious Federation, Picard?”

“Not by choice, but I’ve come to accept the inevitable. The Federation is doomed, and defeat by the Dominon is inevitable. Why should I and my crew suffer in a hopeless war? Better to sit it out on the rear lines and hope we survive to see Dominion rule. I contrived to take the shakedown logs from you, but now I offer to give them back.”

“I tried to destroy your ship, Picard. Why do you choose to trust me now?”

“My people have already found and disabled your sabotage device. Even if you were of a mind to withhold information from me, I doubt you had time to plant a backup, or that you had any reason to. We’d never have found it in time if you hadn’t told us where it was.”

“True. But the logs do me no good if I’m still trapped on this ship. Do you offer me escape as well?”

“The Enterprise is already moving at full impulse away from the star and out of the nebula. We should reach a zone safe enough for you to leave the ship in the next five minutes.”

He pointed at a console next to the force field opening. “This panel will briefly deactivate the force field. After I’m safely in the Jefferies tube, use it. This room will flood with plasma, but I’m assuming you can change into some form that can survive it long enough for you to travel the length of the nacelle inside the warp coils, through the Bussard collectors, and out into space.”

The Changeling approached him carefully, then took the chip from his outstretched hand.

It held the chip in its palm for a moment, inspecting it, then the rectangle sank into its flesh, safely secreted inside its body. “Very good, Picard. You succeeded in manipulating me, deceiving me. You have started to think like a Changeling, and that is a very dangerous thing in itself. Perhaps even more dangerous than this ship.” It studied him for a moment. “I’m sorry, Picard. You’ve succeeded in saving your ship, but you didn’t save yourself.