Spirit Walk_ Enemy of My Enemy (Book 2) - Christie Golden [85]
At last they were done. Kaz stepped back and then wondered what he should do next. He glanced over at Chakotay.
“How’s he doing?” Kaz asked the EMH.
“Better than well,” said the hologram in a puzzled tone of voice. “He’s in perfect health. Better than he was when you performed his physical. I can’t explain it, Doctor.”
“Don’t try,” Kaz said, “just accept.”
Following a hunch, he turned back to Sekaya and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“Sekaya,” he said softly, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but it’s all right now. You’re healed. Your body’s whole, it’s safe to return to it. You can let go now.”
Nothing. Then, suddenly, Sekaya’s chest heaved as she took in air. Her pulse began to beat and her brain waves to register again. Quickly Kaz glanced at her vital signs and shook his head. Just like her brother, Sekaya was completely healthy.
“Kim to Kaz.”
“Go ahead.”
“Paris has returned to the planet and has prepared the stasis chambers for transport.”
“Excellent. Beam them directly here. I’ll revive them once we’ve finished surgery.”
The EMH looked at him quizzically, but Kaz shook his head and put his finger to his lips. “When will we be leaving Loran II?” Kaz asked.
“I’ll send an away team down in the morning to conduct a final investigation on Moset’s lab. We’ll have to see if we can find anything useful, anything that might help the colonists.”
“Good idea,” said Kaz. “It’s late and we’ve all been through a lot.”
“My thoughts exactly. How is the surgery coming?”
“Well, but I need to get back to it.”
“Of course. Kim out.”
“Doctor, why did you lie to Lieutenant Kim?” the EMH asked.
“Long story,” Kaz said, realizing he had already chosen his path. He had fulfilled his obligations. Everyone in his charge was safe now. It was time to fulfill another obligation, one from years past.
“I’m going to keep you activated in case anything goes wrong,” he told the EMH. “There will be four stasis chambers materializing here momentarily. Everyone will be all right until I return.”
“Where are you going, Doctor?” the EMH inquired.
Over his shoulder Kaz replied, “To tie up some loose ends.”
Kaz sat alone in the dark, in the wreckage of the laboratory. He was exhausted, but he was not about to let physical weariness stand in the way of what he was planning to do.
The driving need to get Chakotay and Sekaya proper medical attention had outstripped all others, but now that need had been met. Both were safe. He could return before the away team beamed down in the morning, and do what he had come to do.
Moset wasn’t gone, and Kaz knew it.
It was easy for Paris to leap to the conclusion that the two former allies had escaped together, and Kaz had opted not to disabuse the lieutenant commander of the notion. The Changeling—Katal—might have had the good luck to evade the wrath of his own creations and flee in a cloaked vessel, but Moset would hardly be welcome on that ship after turning on his partner. And Moset would want to get to the creatures before Voyager did, in order to continue his work.
Kaz was surprised at how calm he was. His heart wasn’t racing, his palms weren’t wet; he was focused and intent.
He stayed that way for a long time, the phaser that Katal had dropped held in his hand. How long, he didn’t know; time had no meaning here. Only revenge had meaning.
He heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall; slow, careful. Cautious. Wary of a trap.
Kaz closed his eyes and saw himself by the ocean again.
“So here we are,” Gradak said.
“Yes,” Jarem Kaz replied. “Here we are.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Jarem regarded Gradak evenly. “Because you lost your wife to Moset, and your people to Katal. And neither of them is going to pay the price they should.”
“You sure about this?”
Jarem nodded. “I’ve never been more certain about anything. This is for you to do.”
Kaz’s eyes snapped open. And Gradak Kaz saw out of them.
A faint light, bobbing in the darkness. The crunching sounds of glass under feet.