“That attitude is why she’s willing to do the same for you,” Janeway said. “Fortunately, with a little luck, you won’t be gone for seven years if you are assigned to another starship.”
“And thank God for that,” Tom said, and meant every word.
The Changeling materialized on the surface of Loran II. Meticulous as ever, he had checked belowground, with equipment untroubled by the technology that so disturbed Starfleet’s, to make sure there would be no troublesome Starfleet officers in the area to witness his appearance. He’d deal with them soon enough, but for now he needed solitude in order to complete his plans.
Lying on the ground beside him, eyes closed, pale face turned up to the sky, was the real Commander Andrew Ellis. The Starfleet officer was one of several humanoids that the Changeling kept in stasis, ready to be produced when needed at moments like this. His breathing was starting to deepen as he worked his way back to consciousness. Ellis had been in stasis for many years now; it would take him at least several seconds to revive.
Which would give the Changeling more than enough time to put his plan into action.
He hesitated as he looked down at the face that was so familiar to him. He had been impersonating Ellis for seven years now. It had been in this body that he had been—
The recollection of the lost years, of the agony of what he had been forced to endure, sent a shudder of rage and loathing through him. A second ago he had been thinking of Ellis with compassion, almost as a companion on a long, bitter journey. Now suddenly the Solid represented everything against which the Changeling had been struggling for so long, and his task, far from being a difficult one, suddenly seemed easy. Seemed enjoyable.
He had brought with him a long, sharp scalpel. It was something that was normally out of place in a high-tech science laboratory, but fortunately for the Changeling, Moset liked to utilize more “primitive” technology from time to time. And for the Changeling’s purposes, a laser scalpel wouldn’t quite do the job.
Ellis was coming out of stasis now. His breathing grew steady, and beneath the still-closed lids his pale blue eyes darted about. A hand twitched.
The Changeling struck. With more pleasure than he thought he would experience, he leaned over the human and began to lacerate him with the knife. The first few cuts weren’t deadly, and Ellis’s eyes flew open at first shock of pain. He struggled, still groggy, still unable to coordinate the movements of his limbs in order to defend himself and save his life. He stared up into the face of a Starfleet captain, that utter shock costing him precious nanoseconds.
It was a lost battle from the beginning. The Changeling had had enough of the game and quickly darted in and slashed Ellis’s throat. Scarlet fountained onto the ground as Ellis spasmed. Quickly the Changeling stepped back. He didn’t want Ellis’s blood on him; not yet, anyway.
It took longer than he expected for Ellis to die. Finally the human lay still. His eyes were wide open, staring at nothing.
“Good riddance,” muttered the Changeling. “I was you for too long, Ellis. Now I’ll never have to wear your pale, pinched face again.” He was tempted to kick the body, but refrained. He had a job to do.
The Changeling imagined how he might look if he had been attacked by the creatures. Gashes on his face, certainly. On the throat, too, but not too deep. He wanted the look of a narrow escape. Nothing too extensive, nothing requiring Kaz’s tender loving care upon immediate return. Just some cuts and slashes…
The wounds began to appear as he visualized them. Two claw marks raked his face and continued down his neck. Was Chakotay right- or left-handed? He realized he didn’t know and cursed himself for not being more observant. To be safe, he created a few shallow scratches on both lower arms, as if he had held them up to protect himself.
Three across the abdomen; enough to tear the uniform and bleed a little, but nothing to arouse real worry.
Excellent.
He tapped his combadge. It was time to begin the performance.
“Chakotay to away team,” he said, his voice tense but still calm, still in control. “Report.”
Silence. The Changeling frowned. Perhaps his creatures had not obeyed his orders to frighten, not kill.
“Kim here.” His breathing was ragged. “Captain, we’ve come under attack.”
“I know, so have we. Any casualties?”
“Sir? Are you on the planet, too?”
That’s right, thought the Changeling. “Ellis” never told them that Chakotay and Sekaya had also taken a shuttle down.
“Affirmative. I repeat, any casualties, Lieutenant?”
“Negative. Patel’s been hurt pretty badly, but I think she’ll make it. Niemann, Kaylar, and I were all knocked unconscious and we’re scratched up. Are you all right?”
“We lost Ellis and Sekaya,” the Changeling said, putting just the right amount of grief and stoicism in his voice.
“Sekaya? Oh, Captain, I’m sorry,” said Kim, sincerity radiating in every word. The Changeling shook his head, grinning. They were so easy to manipulate, these Solids.
There’ll be time for grief later. Where are you right now?”
“We’re where Commander Ellis told us to report, at the main habitation area of the colony.”
“I want everyone back to the shuttlecraft immediately. Prepare for liftoff the minute I join you. We’ll have to—damn it!”
He pulled out his phaser and fired at a tree.
“Captain, what’s going on?”
“I’m under attack!” It was difficult to keep the amusement out of his voice. This was simply too much fun. But he deserved a little fun, after the years of pain he’d suffered. After all the Solid nonsense he’d been forced to put up with.
“Do you need assistance?”
“Negative! Get back to the shuttle!” cried the Changeling, still firing. “Chakotay out!”
Smiling, he replaced his phaser and looked down at Ellis’s body.
“Time for you to make your last journey, my friend,” he said, lifting the body easily.
Brendan Niemann was treating Patel with the medikit when Kim trotted back to them. She was able to sit up now, though she looked very weak. She had obviously lost a lot of blood. Her eyes widened at the expression on Harry’s face.
“The captain?” she asked.
“He’s here, and he’s under attack. He wants us to get back to the shuttle and he’ll meet us there.”
Kaylar didn’t miss the fact that Kim had not mentioned anyone else. “Commander Ellis?” she asked, her voice catching slightly.
“Dead,” said Kim bluntly. “And…and Sekaya, too. She came down with him.”
“Poor Captain Chakotay,” said Patel, her voice faint.
“Poor you if we don’t get you to sickbay soon,” said Niemann. “Can you walk?”
“I think so,” Patel said, but the minute she got to her feet she went pale and her knees buckled. Fortunately, she was a small woman and Niemann was a large man. Gently he picked her up in both arms. She winced, but made no sound.
“All right, Patel?”
She nodded.
“Let’s go,” said Kim, and headed back toward the shuttlecraft. Inwardly he felt sorrowful and sick. He’d made fun of Ellis, along with everyone else, and now the man was dead. Killed on his first mission as first officer. And Sekaya—she wasn’t even Starfleet. She’d just come along on the mission to help her brother. Kim thought bitterly that his second assignment on Voyager was shaping up to be at least as rough as his first.
He stayed on point. Niemann followed, carrying the injured Patel as carefully as he could and still move quickly. Kaylar brought up the rear. She and Kim both had their phasers out. Kim’s nerves were strained and he tensed, ready to fire as they made their way back to the safety of the shuttlecraft, where they would await their captain and, perhaps, the bodies of their fallen comrades.
One thing Kim was certain of: the colonists’ homecoming, once a joyfully anticipated occasion, had turned into a nightmare.
THE MOMENTS TICKED BY, and still no sign of Chakotay.
Kim stood in the open doorway of the shuttle, phaser at the ready, scanning the area for any sign of his captain and friend. Kim was worried. The last he’d heard was that two people were dead and Chakotay was under direct attack, and the captain hadn’t answered any subsequent attempts to contact him.
Two more minutes, Kim told himself. Then we go after him. I’m not going to leave him here.
Just as he turned, mouth open to issue the order to Kaylar to locate Chakotay’s signal and start a rescue—or, he thought grimly, a recovery—attempt, he heard a sound from outside.
Whirling, his phaser in his hand, Kim saw the figure of Chakotay hastening toward the shuttlecraft. Kim’s relief at seeing his captain alive was mitigated by what Chakotay carried in his powerful arms: the limp body of First Officer Andrew Ellis.
Chakotay glanced over his shoulder as he ran toward the safety of the shuttle, indicating to Kim that the danger was still out there. He stepped aside as Chakotay hurried up the ramp into the shuttle and cried, “Kaylar, get us out of here! Now!”
“Aye, Captain,” the young security officer replied. Her fingers flew over the controls and the shuttle lifted off quickly, if not exactly smoothly.
“There’s no interference from the storm this time.” Patel’s voice drifted to Kim’s ears. She sounded sleepy, and he saw how heavily she slumped against Niemann’s broad chest. Kim was glad they were leaving. Patel needed more help than they could give her with the medikit.
It took a second for her words to register, and then he realized she was right. Trust Patel, possibly dying of her wounds, to be thinking about such things. There’d be time to analyze and ponder the whys and wherefores of the weather patterns on this planet later. Right now Kim was content to simply be grateful that they were able to leave so quickly.
He assisted Chakotay in placing Ellis’s bloody body on the floor as gently and respectfully as possible. Chakotay looked at the face of his first officer for a moment, then reached down and closed the unseeing eyes.
“What happened?” asked Kim. He was aware that his voice was hushed.
“Probably the same thing that happened to you, from the looks of it,” said Chakotay, eyeing Patel with concern. “We were attacked by several strange-looking creatures.” He swallowed, then continued in a voice he obviously kept steady with an effort. “They…they got Sekaya first. Ellis was closest and he tried to defend her. I was the farthest away and I had the time to react, to fire on the creatures and drive them away. But by the time I reached Sekaya, she was dead and Ellis was fatally wounded.”
“Captain, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
“Nothing to say, Harry. But thank you.”
Kim hesitated. “I’m glad you were able to recover Commander Ellis. But what about Sekaya?”
“I’m—I was—the closest relative she has in this area of space. According to our customs, I had the right to decide what to do with her body. I made the decision that the living were more important than the dead, that I should leave Sekaya behind in order to try to save Ellis. Unfortunately, he didn’t live much longer after that.”
“We can go back for your sister’s body, too, if you would like. Give her a proper burial. I mean, if you want to. If that’s what your tribe does.” He realized he probably sounded like an idiot, but he didn’t care. Chakotay knew him well enough to know the sincerity that lay behind the clumsy words.
“I know we could, but I don’t think we should. We need to get Patel to sickbay. How badly injured is she?”
“I’m not a doctor, but she lost a lot of blood. We were able to close the wounds, but there’s some internal damage and a few ribs are broken.”
Chakotay smiled sadly. “Then once again, Harry, the living are more important than the dead.”
“We could come back later,” Kim insisted.
“No. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do before I decide whether anyone comes down here again. And those creatures…well, let’s just say that I’m not sure what kind of shape my sister’s body would be in by the time we found it.”
Kim was confused. They could lock on to even a trace of Sekaya’s DNA and transport whatever remains there were. Kim hadn’t done much talking with Chakotay about his beliefs and tribal traditions, but he knew that the people of Dorvan V had taken their chances with Cardassian occupation rather than abandon the planet that had become their home. It made sense to him that if someone died, his or her wish would be to be taken home and buried in that place, that land that was obviously so sacred to Chakotay’s people.
Maybe Chakotay was worried that it might look as if he was exploiting his position as captain. He’d recovered Ellis, but not Sekaya; granted the honor of a proper “burial at sea” for his first officer, but not for his blood sister. It was just the kind of noble gesture Chakotay would make.
But he didn’t have to. It was an unnecessary sacrifice. Kim thought about arguing the point.
Chakotay touched Ellis’s hand one last time, rose, and slipped into a seat beside Kaylar, taking over from her. Kim grabbed the medikit and followed.
Chakotay looked at him. “Put that away, Lieutenant,” he said. “I’m fine. The wounds are superficial. Nothing that can’t wait.”
Kim made a little noise of amused exasperation. First Ellis, now Chakotay. There must be something about being first or second on the rungs of the command ladder that made you want to refuse medical treatment in all but obvious emergency situations.
He couldn’t help but glance back at the mutilated body of Ellis. Strangely, Ellis’s face seemed younger in death than in life to Kim.
A thought occurred to him. “Sir,” he said to Chakotay, “what were you and Sekaya doing on the planet?”
“Ellis had found something he wanted us to see,” Chakotay said. “Something he thought might be of archeological interest to us.”
“What?”
Chakotay turned to Kim and there was anger and pain in his eyes. “Does it matter now?”
“No,” said Kim, “I guess not. But I—”
Patel sighed softly and her head rolled onto Niemann’s shoulder. The small motion grabbed Kim’s attention instantly.
“She’s unconscious,” Niemann said in answer to Kim’s unspoken question, after quickly placing two fingers on Patel’s throat to check for a heartbeat.
“We’ve got to get her to sickbay,” said Kim to Chakotay, who nodded acknowledgment.
“Voyager is in visual range,” said Kaylar.
“Chakotay to Voyager.”
“Campbell here, Captain.”
“Open shuttlebay doors in preparation for emergency docking. Notify Dr. Kaz that we’ve got wounded.” He paused. “And dead.”
“Aye, sir. Shuttlebay doors open.”
Chakotay maneuvered the shuttle to a swift, smooth landing. The minute they touched the deck he said, “Everyone to sickbay. Let’s go.”
Kaz was nervous as he awaited the arrival of the injured and wondered as to the identity of the dead. He could feel Gradak just below the surface of his conscious mind; subdued for the moment, but seething, awaiting the time when he could shoot to the surface and share his torment.
You stay where you are, Kaz thought, and wondered if this was how people who were beginning to go insane felt. But no, this “multiple personality disorder” he had was not a manifestation of a traumatized brain, but a literal truth. Joined Trills did have multiple personalities inside them. They just didn’t usually manifest quite so vigorously.
But once the sickbay doors hissed open and his eyes fell upon the limp form of Devi Patel, looking like a child as she was carried by the large Niemann, his mind snapped to attention. He needn’t have worried; Gradak fell back before the medical emergency and Kaz quickly had Patel stabilized.
Once she was out of danger, Kaz turned to Chakotay. “You look like hell,” he said, “all of you.”
“Thanks
,” Kaylar said wryly.
Kaz gestured that they should all sit on the beds. Chakotay shook his head. “I’m fine.”
Kaz raised an eyebrow, but a quick look at Chakotay revealed nothing dire. Chakotay could be treated last if he wanted.
“What happened?” Kaz asked as he began to examine Kaylar. “Who was…?”
“We were attacked by several strange creatures on the planet,” Chakotay said. “Kaz…they got Ellis. And Sekaya, too.”
Kaz looked at Chakotay, deep sympathy flooding him. “Chakotay…damn. I’m so sorry.” He also felt more than a twinge of guilt. I’m sorry, Ellis. Sorry for everything.
“I’ve ordered the body put in stasis,” Chakotay continued. “When all this is over, we’ll give him a burial with full honors.”
“I assume you want Sekaya in stasis as well,” Kaz said, thinking about the beautiful woman he’d met only briefly. She had all her brother’s charm and charisma, and he’d hoped to get to know her better.
“I had to…to leave Sekaya on the planet.” Chakotay rubbed his eyes and sighed.
“We can go back for her,” said Kaz.
“Maybe later, after all this is taken care of,” said Chakotay.
Kaz looked at him searchingly. Over the last six months he’d gotten to know the captain pretty well. Chakotay was under real strain right now.
“Captain,” the doctor said, keeping his voice formal, “I think perhaps you ought to have a seat on one of the beds and let me examine you.”
“I said I’m fine,” Chakotay snapped. At once he softened. “Sorry. Treat them, Kaz. I’m going up to the bridge, and then I have to talk to Fortier and tell him his brother and the other colonists were probably killed by monsters and that I can’t allow him to return to the home he and his people loved. I’m not looking forward to that.”
“I understand,” Kaz replied.
Chakotay started to leave, then turned. “By the way, I want you to delay the autopsy on Ellis.”
Kaz frowned. “That’s standard operating procedure, sir. I’m required to perform it.”
Spirit Walk, Book Two Page 3