know."
Shaking his head, he headed for his office. As the
door opened, he found Bashir perched on the corner
of his desk talking to Werron, who sat in one of the
two chairs. Bashir leaped to his feet, looking guilty.
Good, Sisko thought, but he didn't let that show.
"It's nice to meet with you again, Vedek Werron,"
Sisko said, nodding politely to the Bajoran.
"I feet the same way, Emissary," Werron said.
"I am afraid I have a very hectic schedule. I am still
looking into Gul Mekkar's history, so I have nothing
to report on that front, if that's why you're here."
"It's not," Werron said.
Sisko no dded. He'd suspected as much. "Very
well," he said. "I can only spare you a few minutes,
however. Do you mind if we dispense with formalities
and come right to the point?"
Werron frowned a little, and for a second Sisko
thought he might have offended him. But then Wer-
ron too nodded.
"I think that may be best," he said.
Sisko listened intently as Werron argued that Mek-
kar must be a changeling infiltrator. Sisko didn't
believe it for an instant himself, considering how all
the ambassadors had passed Bashir's surprise DNA
scans, but he allowed himself to accept the idea for an
instant. If Mekkar had been replaced, might that not
explain his constant delays and incessant demands?
Several times now they had almost thrown the negoti-
ations off track.
"It occurred to me," Bashir said, "that one or more
of the ambassadors might have been replaced after we
scanned them."
"They've been under such close supervision," Sisko
began, shaking his head, "that I find the possibility
difficult to believe."
"Then explain this to me," Werron said. "Why
would a notorious war criminal like Mekkar return to
Bajoran space? The real Mekkar would never have
dared such a thing. The real Mekkar would have
known we would find some way to bring him to
justice."
That argument did make a certain amount of sense,
Sisko thought. He reflected for a moment on the
possibility and had to admit that, remote as it
seemed, it still worried him. He frowned. Perhaps he
could turn it to his advantage, though. Werron
seemed determined that Gul Mekkar had to be guilty
of something.
"You're certain he is a changeling?" Sisko said.
"Yes," Werron said firmly. "I would stake my
reputation on it."
"You just have," Sisko finally said. "We will test
Gut Mekkar. However," he added, "if Mekkar and
the other Cardassian delegates turn out to be real
Cardassians, I will ask you and your followers to leave
the station until the negotiations are over."
"And if they're changelings?" Werron demanded.
"If they're changelings, you'll be a hero," Sisko
said. Playing to a Vedek's vanity had often worked for
him in the past. "You'll be the one who uncovered the
plot, when all of Starfleet couldn't."
Werron mulled that over. "Agreed," he finally said.
Sisko rose. "Very well. If you'll leave Dr. Bashir
with me to make the arrangements, we'll contact you
as soon as we're ready to begin. You do, I trust, want
to be present when the tests are carried out."
"Yes." Werron turned and strode purposefully from
the room. Sisko thought he detected a bit of a strut in
the Bajoran's walk.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bashir asked as
soon as they were alone.
"You tell me, Doctor," Sisko said. "You brought
Werron here, remember?"
Bashir sighed and shook his head a little ruefully.
"He had me half believing Gul Mekkar had somehow
slipped past my DNA scan," he admitted. "I kept
trying to picture ways the delegates might have fooled
my equipment."
"And did they?" Sisko asked. He wanted to know
the truth, no matter how painful to Bashir.
"I just don't know anymore," the doctor said with a
helpless shrug. "Are you really going to test Mekkar
again? Singling him out may simply enrage him
further."
"I realize that. Which is why I intend to test all the
delegates again." Sisko leaned back. "And this time,"
he went on, "you're going to take blood tests as well as
DNA tests, just to make certain. And when none of
them turns out to be a changeling, I'll have Werron--
and all the other Bajoran troublemakersmoff this
station for the duration of the peace conference,
which will be a load off of everyone's mind."
CHAPTER
21
WORF BURST FROM his locker the moment he heard
the changeling give the order for Snoct's execution.
Blood roaring in his ears, he dove forward, phaser
firing.
Some distant and more primitive part of him
thought, this was what a Klingon lived for, the
may'boq--the battle fever that came with fighting. It
sent his emotions soaring and filled his body with an
almost electric energy.
His first shot hit the Jem'Hadar holding Snoct by
the back of the neck.
The universe seemed to be slowing down around
him, Worf thought. He felt the thudding rhythm of his
heart pumping blood in his chest. Colors blared with
vibrant energy as his sight narrowed to the targets
ahead of him.
He fired his phaser a second time, jagging to the
side. The second Jem'Hadar warrior began to crum-
ple. Then Worf fired at the copilot, who dodged,
drawing his own weapon. As the pilot started to aim,
Worf dove toward the floor. If he could get under his
guard long enough to fire a second shot...
The changeling began to shimmer with a strange
golden light, body rippling like wind on a lake. He was
shape-shifting, Worf realized. He hesitated a fraction
of an instant, torn between two targets. Go for the
Jem'Hadar, a voice inside him said.
A phaser blast from behind Worf struck the copilot
in the chest, throwing him back against the bulkhead
with a thud. That shot had come from Kira, Worf
realized.
Worf turned his dive into a forward roll, coming up
in a kneeling position. He snapped off his third shot,
striking the changeling, but it didn't seem to have any
effect. He would be a more difficult target, Worf
realized, climbing to his feet.
The changeling returned to humanoid form and
folded his arms. He regarded Worf with an expression
of intense curiosity.
"A Klingon," he heard it murmur. "Superb."
The may'boq began to pass, and the room dropped
back into normal focus again. Worf frowned, trying to
think. It was hard after the battle fever. He still heard
a faint murmur of blood in his ears, and it left him
charged for combat.
"Thank you!" Snoct Sneyd called in a shrill voice.
"Good friends!"
>
"Idiot," Kira snapped at the little alien. She stalked
forward and pushed the pilot's body out of the way,
then slid into his seat. Worfkept his phaser trained on
the changeling, covering her. She began taking read-
ings off the instruments.
The changeling didn't seem to be making any
hostile moves, so Worf took a final cleansing breath
and walked forward as normally as he could. It felt
good to have stretched his battle muscles, but the
changeling represented a huge problem for him. What
would Captain Picard have done? Better still, what
would Captain Sisko do?
Delegate, he thought with a mental cry of triumph.
Both captains had different strengths, but one trait
they shared was the ability to let others pitch in and
help.
"Odo," Worf said, "what do you recommend we do
with the prisoners?"
"There's only one who matters," Odo said, looking
at the changeling next to him.
"Then you have learned something from our time
together," the changeling said smoothly. "There are
only two of them, Odo. Help me capture them. The
Alpha Quadrant can be yours, too."
The changeling began to shapeshift, and Worf
snapped up his phaser, thumbing the controls to a
lethal setting. Would it be enough?
Then Odo stepped between them.
"No," he said to the changeling. "I have rejected all
you stand for. These are my friends. I won't betray
them."
The changeling slowly returned to his normal hu-
manoid form. "You are still young, Odo, but you will
only have so many chances to rejoin your people."
'Tve made my decision," Odo said firmly.
"Perhaps you will regret it." Worf thought he heard
a note of disapproval mixed with disappointment in
that smooth, alien voice. "No true changeling has ever
harmed another. I will not fight you over two solids.
You are truly not one of us, Odo. Perhaps something
will be done about that."
Odo seemed to relax a little. "You will not be
injured," Odo promised.
"Unless you try to fight or escape," Worf added. No
sense making their intentions unclear, he thought.
Odo might have qualms about hurting a fellow
changeling, but he didn't. He was more than ready to
meet any danger this one posed.
The changeling inclined his head slightly. "Then I
will rest." He swirled into a new shape, a gracefully
sculpted mound with the faintest hint of head and
arms, and solidified in that form.
Worf stared at him distrustfully for a second. How
could you guard against something like that sneaking
up on you? You couldn't, he realized. He'd have to
rely on Odo to keep the changeling under control.
But that still left the three unconscious Jem'Hadar
to worry about. They, at least, offered no real threat at
the moment. But they would be regaining conscious-
ness soon, and he wanted to be ready.
"I have cord in my pack," he said to Snoct Sneyd.
"Get it and we will tie them up."
"Gladly!" the little alien said. It scampered to the
back of the shuttle on all fours.
Worf seized the first Jem'Hadar he'd shot and
dragged him into the middle section of the ship. In a
moment Snoct Sneyd rejoined him with a coil of light
rope. Worf drew his knife, cut a length, and began
binding the warrior's hands behind his back.
Kira lifted the ship from the spaceport and headed
east at top speed. They couldn't very well take the
Jem'Hadar or the changeling with them to Daborat V,
she thought, so they'd have to dump them somewhere
out of the way.
Calling up the planetary survey on the ship's com-
puter, she studied the information. The colonization
of Skovar IV hadn't been completed, she saw; the
large southern continent on the other side of the
planet hadn't been settled yet. That should do nicely.
What better place to leave them? The changeling
would, of course, make it back to civilization in less
than a week. All he had to do was turn into a fish and
swim or a bird and fly. But that would give them all
the time they needed to get to Daborat V and finish
their mission.
She punched in the destination coordinates and
activated the autopilot. Now, she thought, rising and
heading aft, to see about helping Worf...
Half an hour later, the great southern continent
came up below them. Kira took back control and
slowed the ship, scanning the shoreline for a suitable
landing place. She didn't see one. Huge waves
pounded against jagged black rocks, and tall obsidian
cliffs topped by dense jungle rose from the ocean.
Well, nobody said stranding captives had to be easy,
she thought. She headed inland, over the tush, ver-
dant green jungle filled with exotic life-forms. Bird-
like animals with bright red and yellow wings flitted
among the trees, and she could see several enormous
creatures with six legs crashing about, their bulbous
red heads jutting above the tops of the trees as they
nibbled leaves from upper branches. They reminded
her for an instant of the extinct giant reptiles of
Bajor's past.
The jungle wouldn't be a safe place to leave their
prisoners, she decided, so on she flew until the jungles
gave way to sprawling yellowish green grasslands
threaded by blue streams and rivers. More leathery-
winged birds flapped out of the way as she brought the
ship down, and smaller reptiles with six legs bounded
away in herds.
"This is it," she called back. "We'll leave them
here."
Abruptly the changeling shifted into his humanoid
form. He stared out the viewport, then looked at Kira.
She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, as though he
were dissecting her with his eyes.
"This is little more than an inconvenience to me,"
he said.
"I know," Kira answered, "but it's better than
killing you, which is the alternative."
He smiled thinly. "I don't think you could do that."
"Unlike Starfleet officers, I have no qualms about
killing when it's necessary."
"I don't doubt your ethics," he said in a voice that
chilled her. "I doubt your ability." Turning, he strode
quickly into the passenger compartment. Odo fol-
lowed, and after a second's hesitation, Kira did, too.
Somehow, she believed the changeling. She'd seen
enough people try to kill Odo over the years. What
must a fully mature changeling be capable of?.
Snoct and Worf were carrying the unconscious
Jem'Hadar down the ramp and laying them out on the
grass. The changeling stood nearby, watching without
a trace of emotion. He might have been supervising
the unloading of bags of grain, for all he cared, Kira
thought.
"Auron," Odo said. "Will you be all right?"
; He sneered a little. "Of course. Nothing here can
harm me."
Odo nodded once. When they had off-loaded the
last Jem'Hadar, Worf and Snoct returned to the ship.
Kira followed, then lastly Odo. He didn't like strand-
ing the other changeling here, she realized as she
closed and sealed the hatch.
"Don't worry about him," she said.
"I'm not."
Kira returned to her seat, strapped herself in, took
the controls, and lifted off smoothly. She circled
around once to see what the changeling--Auron, Odo
had called himmwould do. She could see him staring
up at her, with the three Jem'Hadar lying on the
ground just behind him.
Suddenly he changed form, becoming a huge
winged beast. He flapped his leathery wings until he
caught an updraft, then soared high into the sky.
Banking, he headed east for the other continent and
civilization.
The least he could have done was untie the
Jem'Hadar first, Kira thought. Knowing them, they
would doubtless be able to work their way free in a
few hours, but nonetheless, it showed how little he
thought of "solids," as they called other life-forms.
They were disposable in his philosophy.
She shook her head. Not her problem now. They
still had their mission to finish.
She punched in the course for Daborat V, and as
they left the planet's gravitational field, they went to
warp.
Twelve hours later, they entered the Daborat
system. Kira shut off the autopilot and resumed
manual control.
The planet grew rapidly in the viewport. It looked
like a beautiful class-M world, with deep blue oceans,
three major land masses, and large polar ice caps.
White clouds dotted the atmosphere. Bajor, she
thought, would look like this again someday.
A second later, a light series of tones sounded.
"Daborat V spaceport control to unidentified ship," a
voice said. "Please identify." "Odo!" she called.
He jogged into the cockpit. "What is it, Major?"
"They're hailing us."
"Put them on. I'll take care of it."
"I sure hope this works," she muttered to herself.
They had almost literally bet everything on Odo's
being able to get them past the security checkpoints. If
not, they would have to run, come back later, and try
to sneak a landing.
She activated the viewscreen, and a Jem'Hadar
warrior in a black uniform different from the others
Star Trek - DS9 - Heart Of The Warrior - Book 17 Page 17