Sam checked for life-signs inside the ship. Nothing.
Vaughn stepped out from behind his tree, scowling as he walked toward the opening, where Nog was already climbing down from off his perch.
“Sir, I’m sorry, I really thought it was humanoid,” Sam said, joining his shipmates.
“I was thisclose to shooting that thing,” Nog said. “What was it anyway? A bird?”
Vaughn shrugged. “Look on the bright side, Sam. You weren’t that far off. It was a biped.”
Sam smiled ruefully. “Coulda sworn there was something humanoid in there. But readings are clear now.”
“Then let’s check it out.” The commander tapped his combadge. “Vaughn to Defiant.”
“Dax here. Go ahead.”
“We’ve located Objective One, Lieutenant, and are proceeding inside.”
Nog was spooked.
It wasn’t even the wreckage of the Dominion ship that troubled him, although that had certainly had its share of creepiness. Moving through the smashed interior had been like navigating one of Uncle Quark’s pleasure mazes in the holosuites, except that the surprise in the center was something out of a nightmare instead of a dream come true.
Nothing on the ship worked, so they had only their wrist beacons to cut the gloom. In numerous places much of the vessel’s inner workings had broken through bulkheads, making a number of corridors impassable. Complicating matters was the tilt of the ship, which caused the decks to slope almost twenty degrees to starboard. Worse still, the hull plating topside must have ruptured, because steady trickles of water could be found in a number of places, streaming through much of the ship and completely flooding the lowermost decks below ground. The stench of decomposition wafted up through the deck plates into the upper levels, where small animals and fungi seemed to be thriving in the dark.
They had to cut their way into the bridge, which had been one deck above the level into which the away team first entered the vessel. Though the bridge seemed to have suffered less structural damage than the rest of the ship, it was by far the most grisly: Eight Jem’Hadar and one Vorta had fallen in a heap against the starboard side, presumably killed in the crash. Nog had spent several minutes just staring at a Jem’Hadar skull, feeling strangely numb.
As with the rest of the ship, nothing on the bridge functioned. Whatever secrets its databanks once contained were beyond recovery. But based on observations of the damage throughout the craft and tricorder readings they’d taken along the way, Nog and Bowers had agreed that the ship had most likely been shot down. Unfortunately, any residual energy left by the weapons used against the ship had long since dissipated, so it was impossible to say who their attacker had been. If it had indeed been a Federation starship, there was nothing here to prove it.
Vaughn seemed impatient, even restless. Having found nothing useful during their inspection of the wreckage, the commander told Nog and Bowers to complete their scans of the ship and to search the surrounding terrain for additional clues that might explain its fate. Vaughn would move on toward the source of the transponder signal alone. Bowers hadn’t liked that idea, and said so, but the commander made it clear it wasn’t open to discussion. That was when Nog’s anxiety began to escalate dramatically.
It was difficult to pinpoint, but the longer they walked, the more Nog became convinced that something wasn’t right with the forest. He felt like they weren’t alone, that something was nearby, watching them. Bowers had continued scanning for life-signs, but found nothing unexpected within range of his tricorder. The nearest of the larger creatures they’d detected from orbit was to the north, kilometers distant. Locally, there were only small lizardlike animals, dense plant life, and a few green-quilled avians like the one they’d seen earlier hopping among the treetops.
But something else was out there. Nog could feel it in his lobes. A presence…
“Sir,” Nog said to Bowers, “I think something is watching us.”
Bowers surveyed the terrain and frowned. He tapped his combadge. “Bowers to Defiant.”
“Dax here. Go ahead, Sam.”
“Lieutenant, anything new on sensors?”
“Negative. Atmospheric interference is still playing havoc with our scans.”
“How’s our transporter lock?”
There was pause on the other end. “Chao reports the locks are solid. Is anything wrong?”
“Not yet. But stand by. Bowers out.” He frowned and turned back to Nog. “How sure are you?”
Nog shrugged uncertainly. “It’s just a feeling,” he admitted.
Bowers seemed to consider that for a moment, then checked his tricorder one more time. “Still nothing. But let’s assume you’re right. What do you think you’re picking up on?”
Nog squinted his eyes and listened to the sounds of the planet. After a moment he shook his head and resumed scanning. “I’m not sure. I’m probably wrong. But I can’t shake the feeling that—” He stopped, staring at his tricorder.
“What is it?” Bowers asked.
“I’m picking up a large creature about two-hundred meters north,” Nog said. “One of the sauropods we detected from orbit.”
Bowers nodded and checked his phaser. “We’ll search elsewhere till it moves on. Keep track of it.”
“Sir,” Nog said, “that’s not the problem. When we scanned this area the nearest of its species was kilometers away. That animal didn’t wander in. It just appeared out of nowhere.”
Sam examined the tricorder log with a growing sense of disbelief. One second the forest area had appeared as normal. The next, as Nog had reported, the animal had simply appeared out of nowhere.
“A hundred and ninety meters,” Nog said, his voiced hushed. He was tracking the current position of the animal while Sam tried to ascertain its origins.
“Incredible,” Sam said.
“A hundred and ninety-five meters,” Nog said. “Staying within a range of two hundred ten and one hundred and seventy meters so far, sir.”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
Nog took his eyes off the readout to look at him for a second.
“You know what makes no sense? That humanoid on the ship disappearing. The crane that flew out—now that came from nowhere. One hundred eighty meters.”
Sam replayed the animal’s appearance again.
“One-sixty.”
Bowers considered the situation.
“The humanoid disappeared, and then the crane appeared. When this animal appeared, there was a crane in the area…and itdisappeared.”
The animal had advanced to one hundred fifty meters, but Nog said nothing.
“I think it’s a changeling,” Bowers said quietly.
Nog nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“It must have been on the Jem’Hadar ship and survived the crash.”
Nog nodded again. “There was a Vorta among the dead on the ship,” he said. “They don’t always travel with the Jem’Hadar, but there’s usually one around a Founder. Should we notify the commander?”
Bowers hesitated. “We don’t have a lot to go on. And the commander…I don’t think he’d appreciate speculation right now.” He exchanged a look with Nog that said a lot more than either of them could voice aloud. The commander’s behavior on the mission had been unusual, and Bowers liked a certain amount of predictability in a senior officer. “We need more proof.”
“It must want something,” Nog said, tracking it again. “It’s risking detection every time it changes shape.” He looked up. “It’s definitely following us, sir. It’s at a hundred meters now.”
Bowers peered through the trees, but saw nothing through the dense forest. “It’s interested in us. That’s good.” Nog’s expression said clearly that he disagreed. “At least we don’t have to chase it across half the planet.”
“True.”
“On the other hand, I don’t think it’s going to walk up and submit to a blood test.”
Nog smiled. “Maybe not. But we know a phaser set at 3.5 should cause it to revert back into its liquid state—if it isa Founder.”