Hell, maybe I’ll just sign on to a freighter myself, Stinson remembered thinking at the time. And somewhere in the back of his mind, had there also been the idea that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t remember to seal all of the hatches on whatever hulk he ended up crewing? There seemed a sickly sort of poetry in that.
Stinson had never revealed all of that to anybody—not even to the counselors he’d eventually ended up seeing. One man—a gardener on the Academy grounds—seemed to intuit it. The man never mentioned it outright, but he said enough to finally get Stinson to take a hard look at the choices available to him. He returned to classes and exercises, redoubling his efforts to excel. The time away cost him—he dropped from first in his class to third—but not nearly as much as walking away would have.
“Commander,” Slaine said from the tactical console on the port side of the bridge, “we have sensor contact with an object dead ahead.”
Stinson blinked, realizing that he had allowed his thoughts to wander far from the current mission. He stood up just to get on his feet, to allow the simple physical act to help him clear his mind. “Is it the shape-shifter?” he asked. “Or is it a vessel?”
“Analyzing the scans now, sir,” Slaine said. “It’s moving at warp, about the size of a runabout. I’m detecting . . . organic tissue.”
“It’s the shape-shifter then.”
“Possibly,” Slaine said. “Commander Candlewood, what do you make of these readings?”
The science officer had clearly been examining the incoming sensor scans, because he responded without delay. “As you indicated, there is organic tissue, but I’m not detecting any biomimetic material,” Candlewood said from his position beside Slaine. “At least, nothing that corresponds to a Changeling.”
“But would we detect biomimetic material if the shape-shifter has become something else?” Slaine asked.
“No,” Candlewood said.
“Sir,” said Lieutenant Tenmei from the combined conn and ops panel forward of the command chair. “The object is within visual range.”
“Maximum magnification,” Stinson ordered.
On the main viewer, the starfield did not change, but in the center of the screen, a shape became visible. It looked bulbous, with a brownish cast. Two spiked appendages protruded forward from its body. It traveled with a gentle up-and-down sort of motion, and Stinson thought he saw wavering movement behind it, almost like that of a fish’s fins.
“What is that?” Tenmei asked.
“Commander, I have a match in the species database,” Candlewood reported. He worked his station, and a complete overhead view of the entity appeared on the right-hand third of the main screen. As Stinson studied it, the image shifted, showing it from different perspectives. It looked more or less as he’d envisioned it, with two long, sinewy tendrils emerging from the top rear of the entity’s main body, and a third trailing out of the bottom rear. “Chief O’Brien reported seeing a creature of this type a decade ago. He and—” Candlewood looked up from his console. “Chief O’Brien and Odo were aboard the Volga when they encountered a creature of this type, but it turned out to be a shape-shifter who called himself Laas.” The science officer consulted his displays again. “Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew also reported seeing this type of creature emerge from the wormhole just before it collapsed two years ago. It was Odo.”
Stinson put all of the information together. “We’ve been told that scientists brought what they thought might be a shape-shifter to their research facility,” he said. “They couldn’t confirm that, or even if it was or had been a living being, until Odo linked with it. Then it came alive, altered its shape, attacked the scientists, and escaped into space, where it used gravity to leave the system and go to warp.” He paused, allowing a moment for everybody to consider the sequence of events. “It’s as though that entity out there learned to change its form from Odo, and possibly to that specific form.” He pointed toward the main viewscreen.
“Could it be that the entity acquired the ability to change its shape from Odo?” Candlewood asked.
“That doesn’t sound quite right to me,” Stinson said. “But what do I know about Changelings . . . or shape-shifters . . . or whatever we should call that entity?”
“One thing we do know is that Changelings can communicate large amounts of information when linked,” Candlewood said.
“Right,” Stinson said. He returned to the command chair and sat down. “Commander Candlewood, is there any record of communication with either Laas or Odo when they were in the same form as that entity?”
“Checking,” Candlewood said. He worked his station, before adding, “Negative. In both cases, there was no communication with the Changelings while they were in that form.”
“All right,” Stinson said. “Lieutenant Viss, it sounds as though you’ve got a difficult job. Open hailing frequencies.”
“Hailing frequencies open,” said Viss. The communications officer, a member of the aquatic Alonis species, wore a formfitting environmental suit, the helmet of which interpreted the underwater chirps and clicks of her native tongue into Federation Standard.
“This is Commander Wheeler Stinson of the U.S.S. Defiant, to the entity moving alone through space,” he said. “We wish to speak with you. Please respond.” He waited, but he did not expect to receive a reply. After several attempts went unanswered, Stinson said, “I know it’s possible that the entity the shape-shifter is emulating is capable of receiving and sending subspace transmissions, or that the shape-shifter could form the necessary components to do that, but how likely is it?”
“There’s really no way to tell based on the limited information we have,” Candlewood said.
“Right,” Stinson said. “So how can we establish communication?”
“I suggest visually,” Viss said. “Flash a light in front of the creature in a sequence simple enough to be understood, yet complex enough to be an indication of intelligence and not just a random natural occurrence.”
“How can we do that?” Stinson asked.
From the tactical console, Slaine said, “I can tune the shields to emit flashes of light.”
“Will that impact our ability to defend ourselves?” Stinson wanted to know.
“No, sir. I can restore the shields to normal operation almost instantaneously,” Slaine said.
“Let’s try it,” Stinson decided.
“I just need to know the sequence,” Slaine said.
“I advise either a simple geometric progression—one flash, two flashes, four, eight—and then repeat,” Viss said. “Or, alternatively, a Fibonacci sequence, where each number equals the sum of the previous two: one, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, and then repeat.”
“Let’s start with a geometric progression,” Stinson said. “Lieutenant Tenmei, bring us out of warp and hold our position in the entity’s path. Dalin Slaine, rig shields as needed.”
The crew acknowledged their orders and set about their tasks. The bass vibration that accompanied Defiant’s faster-than-light drive began to fade. Stinson had never really cared for that sound, that feeling of a starship slowing and stopping. It always felt to him like an interruption in his personal journey; he preferred racing into his future at full speed.
“Thrusters at station-keeping,” Tenmei said. “The entity is still traveling toward us at warp.”
“Shields are ready, Commander,” reported Slaine.
“Viewer to normal,” Stinson said, and the screen reverted to showing an empty field of stars. “Initiate geometric sequence.”
Slaine echoed the order as she operated her controls. Stinson did not expect to be able to see the results of her handiwork, but light-blue flashes did momentarily blot out the view on the main screen. One, two, four, eight. One, two, four, eight.
After the sequence had repeated a dozen times, Viss said, “Nothing, sir. No response.”
“Even if the entity is perceiving our signal,” Candlewood said, “and even
if it wants to respond, it would have to have the ability to do so, and in a way that we could detect.”
“I’m scanning across subspace and radio frequencies,” Viss said.
“Sensors are open to all forms of electromagnetic radiation,” Slaine added.
“Understood,” Stinson said. “Keep trying.”
The crew waited, but nothing happened. Eventually, Tenmei said, “The entity will reach our position in five minutes.”
“All right, let’s try something else,” Stinson said. “Lieutenant Tenmei, bring us about. Lay in a course parallel to that of the entity. I want to travel alongside it.”
“Aye, sir.”
Around Stinson, Defiant woke from its slumber. The sonorous beat of the warp drive rose and filled the bridge. Stinson watched as the stars visible on the viewscreen began slipping to port as Tenmei brought the ship around. Once the image stabilized, Stinson said, “Show me the entity.”
On the viewer, the spacefaring creature appeared, almost in profile. Stinson watched the graceful wavering of the tendrils, moving like eels through the sea. As it came fully abreast of Defiant, Tenmei said, “We are matching course and speed with the entity. It is still headed for Bajor.”
“Dalin Slaine, set phasers to one one-hundredth intensity,” Stinson said. “Fire across the path of the entity, just as we did with the shield flashes: one shot, two shots, four, eight.”
“Yes, sir,” Slaine said. She worked the tactical console, then said, “Ready.”
“Fire.” Feedback tones sounded as Slaine triggered the ship’s phasers. On the viewscreen, a beam of amplified, coherent light sliced through space ahead of the entity. After a three-second pause, two of the yellow-red beams followed in quick succession, then after another gap, four shots, and then eight.
“I’m detecting no change in the flight of the entity,” Slaine said.
“Communications is not picking up anything,” said Viss.
“Sensors remain clear,” Candlewood said. “If it’s attempting to respond in any way, we’re not finding it.”
“All right, I guess we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” Stinson said. “Are the shields up full?”
“Aye, sir,” said Slaine.
“Lieutenant Tenmei, bring us to within range of our tractor beam,” Stinson said. “Maintain relative course and speed.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Commander Nog,” Stinson said. DS9’s chief of operations crewed an engineering panel off to starboard, beside Viss. “Can we use the tractor beam to pull the entity out of warp?”
“Yes, sir,” Nog said. “Once we have a lock on the entity, we just need to drop the ship to sublight speed.”
“Lieutenant Tenmei?” Stinson said.
“Understood, sir,” Tenmei said.
The image of the entity on the viewscreen grew as Defiant neared it. Finally, Tenmei announced that the ship had closed the distance. “Commander Nog, engage tractor beam.”
“Engaging tractor beam.”
On the viewer, a hazy white cone of light swept out across the entity. The creature immediately attempted to veer off. Defiant rocked with the effort, but the beam held.
“Slowing to sublight speed,” Tenmei said. The sound of the ship changed from the resonant beat of the warp drive to the higher-pitched whine of the impulse engines.
“The entity is trying to get away,” Slaine said. It began moving wildly from side to side and up and down inside the white light.
“Sheering forces are increasing,” Nog said. “I’m not sure if the tractor beam can hold.”
“Increase power to the beam,” Stinson said.
“Increasing power,” Nog said. On the viewscreen, the brightness of the beam increased, and the entity’s movements quieted. “I think we have it. Power consumption—”
Suddenly, the entity moved with lightning speed—not out of the tractor beam, but back along its path. Several of the crew spoke at once. Numerous thoughts rose in Stinson’s mind: to order the ship away from the entity, to fire the ship’s weapons at it, and to reverse the tractor beam so that it would repel rather than hold. “Cut the beam,” he said. “Evasive maneuvers.”
Stinson saw the white cone of the tractor beam vanish from the viewscreen, and the pattern of stars beyond the entity begin to shift. Then Defiant rocked hard, inertial dampers momentarily failing. Stinson was nearly thrown from the command chair, and he saw Nog and Viss hurled onto the deck. Both scrambled back into their seats, the task a bit more cumbersome for the communications officer because of her environmental suit. The lighting panels in the overhead winked off and then back on.
“Slaine, report,” Stinson called out. “Were we fired on?”
“Negative. The entity has rammed the ship,” Slaine said.
“Phasers, full power,” Stinson said. “Fire.” He expected to hear the tones that accompanied the firing of the ship’s weapons, but instead, Slaine turned toward him in her chair.
“Commander, we can’t,” she said. “The entity is no longer in the form we saw it. It has reverted to a liquid or semiliquid composition and is in the process of enshrouding the Defiant. If we fire while it is in contact with the hull, we could damage the ship.”
“What is the condition of the shields?” Stinson asked.
“Shields are intact,” Slaine said. “The shape-shifter penetrated them as if they weren’t even there.” Stinson thought to ask how it could do that, but considering that it could change its form, it must have been able to constitute itself in a manner that allowed it through the shields—perhaps it had even made itself essentially into a shield.
“I could reverse the polarity of the tractor beam,” Nog suggested. “Try to push it away.”
“Do it,” Stinson said.
“Reversing tractor beam,” Nog said, and a whine accompanied his efforts at his engineering station.
“It’s moving one section of the shape-shifter away from the hull—” Slaine began, her words encouraging, but then she stopped herself short. “The shape-shifter has opened a hole in its body around the tractor emitter,” she said. “The beam isn’t even touching it, just shooting out into space.”
“Cut tractor,” Stinson said.
“Cutting tractor beam,” Nog said.
“Damage report,” Stinson said. “What is that thing doing to us?” He glanced over at the main viewer and no longer saw the stars. Rather, the screen had gone blank. No, not blank, Stinson realized. Covered.
“The shape-shifter has completely coated the exterior of the ship,” Slaine said, confirming Stinson’s suspicion. “It’s encasing the Defiant like a second skin.”
“Why?” Stinson said. “What is it trying to do?”
“There’s no increase in pressure on the hull,” Nog said. “I am detecting a subspace variance . . . but nothing that puts the ship at risk.”
“It doesn’t appear to be doing anything now,” Slaine said.
“Lieutenant Tenmei,” Stinson said, “full stop.” As the flight controller acknowledged the order and worked her console, the ship quieted.
“Thrusters at station-keeping,” Tenmei said.
“The shape-shifter has opened holes in itself to allow our thrusters to function,” Slaine said.
Stinson stood up and walked toward the tactical console off to port. “What would happen if we opened the doors of the shuttlecraft hangar?” he asked. “Would the containment field be able to keep the shape-shifter out of the ship?”
“Considering how it penetrated the shields, my guess is no,” Slaine said. “But why would you do that?”
“Because then we could face it,” Stinson said. “Perhaps try to find some way to communicate with it . . . tell it that we mean it no harm, that we only want to ensure that it has no designs on attacking Bajor or Deep Space Nine.”
“But what if it does?” Candlewood asked. “What if it is heading for Bajor or Deep Space Nine specifically so that it can attack?”
“Then we try to
understand why it wants to do that,” Stinson said. “We try to negotiate with it.” He turned and looked across the bridge, to the communications console. “Lieutenant Viss, any suggestions on how—”
“Sir,” Slaine said, “I’m detecting energy readings within the shape-shifter . . . and inside the ship.”
“What kind of energy readings?”
“They read like . . . like scans,” Slaine said. “Like sensors. It’s doing no damage, but I think we’re being probed.”
“If we did open the hangar bay doors, and even if it entered the ship that way,” Candlewood suggested, “maybe we could launch the shuttlecraft. We know that the tractor beam had some effectiveness against the shape-shifter. Maybe the shuttles could tow it away from the Defiant’s hull.”
“If the shuttlecraft can even get past the shape-shifter,” Nog said. “It could just as easily wrap itself around a smaller vessel as it did around the Defiant.”
Stinson nodded. “We need other suggestions,” he said. “How can we communicate with the shape-shifter, and if we can’t, then how do we force it off of the ship?”
“We could try sending an electrical charge through the hull,” Nog said. “We could try that as a method of communication, and if that fails, we could increase the power. That might not hurt it, but maybe it would rattle its cognitive processes.”
“What if we took the ship to warp?” Candlewood offered. “Would that have any effect on it?”
“I’m not sure if we can even go to warp with the shape-shifter surrounding the ship the way it is,” Tenmei said. “It could have an impact on our warp-field generation. Even if we can reach faster-than-light velocities, there’s no guarantee that we could maintain a stable course.”
“Study the problem,” Stinson said. “See if we can go to warp safely, and if not, determine what we need to do to make that happen.”
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Ascendance Page 23
