Spirit Walk_ Enemy of My Enemy (Book 2) - Christie Golden [64]
“I need to get off this ship,” “Kim” said firmly. “And you’re either going to help me or die. Do you understand?”
Kaz nodded. The Changeling hauled the Trill to his feet. “Come on.”
As he and Kaz strode swiftly down the corridors, the red alert blaring, the Changeling went over his options. He could transport down, or he could take a shuttle. He decided on the latter. It wouldn’t get him there quite as quickly, but he needed more than one ship to make good his escape with the creatures.
Kaz, wisely, said nothing. Nor did he appear to be planning to bolt. The Changeling approved of both courses of action.
He regarded the Trill intently as they stood in the turbolift, committing his image to memory in case he had to impersonate the doctor at any point. Kaz felt his gaze and gave him stare for stare. Despite himself, the Changeling grinned.
“Which Kaz is looking at me,” he asked, “Jarem or Gradak?”
“Does it matter?”
“Kim” shrugged. “It might.”
“How about both?”
“That’s fine. You know, Doctor, the Trill were always the one species that I thought was most like our people.”
Kaz looked skeptical. “We’re not shape-shifters,” he said.
“No, but you understand being more than any one individual. You’ve got the memories of a dozen people inside you by this point, right?”
Kaz’s blue eyes narrowed. “How did you know that?”
The Changeling let Kim’s face smile. “I make it my business to know things.”
The turbolift came to a stop. The Changeling tightened his grip on Kaz’s arm. “You’ve been behaving properly until now, Kaz. Don’t do anything stupid, or, believe me, I will not hesitate to kill you or anyone else we run across.”
“Just like you killed Ellis?”
“Figured that out, have you?” The doors hissed open. “I’ve killed a lot more than Ellis, Doctor. Many, many more than him.”
Paris dropped out of warp close to Loran II. He had expected to be at least somewhat nervous now that the moment had arrived, but instead he found himself calm and focused. Voyager was on his viewscreen and he hailed the ship.
“Delta Flyer to Voyager, Tom Paris commanding. Request permission to dock, Voyager.”
As he watched, he noticed a shuttle leaving the ship and heading directly for the planet, and his calm demeanor slipped. Please let that not be the shape-shifter, he thought. He had still received no response from Voyager, and with each second that ticked past, his anxiety grew.
“This is the Delta Flyer, Tom Paris commanding, come in, Voyager.”
He wasn’t sure exactly what he was expecting—the shape-shifter masquerading as Chakotay to respond, or maybe Kim. Instead, Lyssa Campbell’s voice, strained and taut, replied.
“Delta Flyer, assist us in intercepting the shuttle. Repeat, intercept the shuttle! Our tractor beam is off-line.”
She didn’t know he knew, didn’t have time to explain, but she trusted him to hear the urgency in her voice and respond.
He did.
He maneuvered the Flyer on an intercept course, forcing the shuttle, which presumably contained the shape-shifter, to veer sharply to starboard in order to avoid a collision.
“Delta Flyer to the Carrington, I have orders from Starfleet Command for you to surrender. Stand down immediately.”
The response was a phaser blast that sent sparks flying on the console and almost knocked Paris out of his seat. Swearing, he began to lock his own phasers, when a voice chilled him to the bone.
“Paris, listen to me.” It was Harry’s voice. “I’m being kidnapped. There’s a Changeling, he’s pretending to be Kaz right now and—”
“Tom, don’t listen to him.” Kim again, sounding weaker, this time coming from Voyager. “He’s pretending to be me and he’s taken Kaz hostage.”
“Got it,” Paris replied shortly, and changed the target. If he could knock out the engines and weapons on the Carrington, they might have a chance at saving their friend. He’d never encountered a Changeling personally, except for Odo aboard Deep Space 9 very briefly, and had certainly never seen one in full-on shape-shifting mode. He’d always thought that if such a thing occurred, he’d be able to tell the real one from