"We have been on a red alert status," T'Nia commented with a raised eyebrow.
"For the past six hours!" Prichard retorted.
"So... are you even aware of the Cardassian ship we destroyed an hour ago?" Tony asked.
Prichard looked at Tony incredulously. "Actually, no. It would appear communication is a bit of a problem on this ship." He turned his gaze to Commander Kirk.
This wasn't even close to how Stephen wanted this meeting to start. "I'm sorry, Colonel." He offered weakly. "Having another military group aboard still takes some getting used to."
Prichard wasn't convinced. His superiors warned him that Starfleet might wind up treating his men like typical security guards. He had been on guard about that ever since. Having half his starship contingent nearly shot apart didn't help. "I see," he said sarcastically. "But I'm here now. How come?"
Kirk took a deep breath. He wasn't expecting the Colonel to be difficult. "We have delegates being held hostage by the Dominion on Cardassia. We've been given orders to eliminate the Dominion threat before it can get itself fully established again. We've been told the lives of the Cardassians and our people are expendable." Stephen pressed a button on the computer display in front of him. A slowly rotating, three dimensional display of the government building appeared on the main screen on the wall behind Stephen's chair. He stood up, turned around, and pointed to the large room three floors underground. "We're pretty sure they're being held in this room."
Prichard squinted at the screen, then turned to Kirk. Sam was pretty confident he knew why Kirk was getting so many details on the holding locations, even though his mission apparently didn't involve rescuing them. His people weren't there to be used at Starfleet's whim. The fact Kirk would even call him in here to suggest such a thing was rude. Being a former Marine, Sam was hoping Stephen would have known better. "I suppose you're wanting us to go in there and get 'em out, right?" He sat back and folded his arms in defiant observation.
Ah, Kirk thought. That was the problem. He defensively raised his hands. "No, no... nothing like that." His look softened as Prichard gave him a look of utter surprise. "Look, Colonel... you're the most seasoned officer we have aboard. I just wanted your advice. I'm guessing you've been in situations like this."
Sam dropped his arms and offered a weak smile. "I see. That'd require me stop acting like a horse's ass and take my foot out of my mouth, wouldn't it?" He folded his hands on the oblong, wooden table to the chuckles of the people in the room. Prichard's smile grew a bit. "Alright... what have you got so far?"
Thinking he finally had Prichard on his side, Stephen continued. "Well, using our sensor mask, we can get pretty close to Cardassia without anyone confronting us. We can get the shields around the building down in pretty quick order. From there, we're kind of lost. We can get our five delegates out, but that leaves close to fifty Cardassian leaders at the mercy of armed Jem'Hadar, who are in the room."
"You'll forgive me, but so what?" Prichard asked. "These Cardies made their choice." He was part of the secondary invasion force after the Battle of Cardassia, when the Cardassian military turned sides. He led one of the Marine detachments that liberated Cardassia IV from the Dominion battalion stationed there. He had lost several good people that week. He had also lost several good people when he was still a Captain during the original Cardassian War over a decade earlier.
"Well, Sir... that's the thing." Kirk answered. "I don't think they're all involved. I think it was a coup. That's why there are so many from the Detapa Council being held prisoner with our people."
Prichard nodded. "I'll buy that. Next question... how come you're bucking orders? If your higher-ups say 'forget the hostages', how come you're not?" He leveled a suspicious eye at Stephen. He was pretty sure he knew the answer; he just wanted to hear it.
Kirk met his gaze. "Because we don't leave our people behind, Sir." Prichard practically beamed. "And... Cardassia will survive beyond this. They'll remember what we do here."
Sam nodded. "Good answer." Stephen knew what the colonel was doing. He was poking him to see where his loyalties really were... what his true reasons were. Apparently, the colonel agreed with his logic. Stephen sat back down.
The conversation, and underlying test, left the other occupants in the room dazed. Richards was the first to speak up. "Uh... we figured we can't get our people out by themselves, but we can't transport everyone out at the same time, either. We can't just beam out the Jem'Hadar, either. So, we can't think of a way to separate our people from them before they start shooting."
Kirk added, "We also have a small issue of Dominion ships that will become very unfriendly once we start shooting at the government building. Our transporter will be useless once we raise our shields."
Prichard scratched his unshaven chin. "I can see where this could be frustrating." He thought for several moments. "You're gonna have to knock 'em all out."
Kirk waved a finger. "You know, I'd thought of that. I pulled a stunt like that on a Romulan ship awhile back. The problem here is; anything we'd try would knock out everyone in the room. Unfortunately, the Jem'Hadar would recover from stun grenades or gas a lot faster than anyone else in the room."
"Yeah... I know." Prichard admitted. "You're gonna need us. Once everyone is sleeping, we'll need to get in there, deal with the Jem'Hadar before they wake up, and set up a perimeter. Then, you can beam everyone up."
Richards wasn't sure he liked this Marine colonel. He was over-confident, self-centered, and presumptuous. Even so, this might be their best bet, although, personally, he would have preferred if they had just stuck to the mission. He didn't WANT the Federation group to die, but there was a bigger issue; mainly, the resurgence of the Dominion in the alpha quadrant. "You know," he started cautiously, "that sounds great and all, but we can't get everyone out of there at once, and like we said, they'll start shooting as soon as we open fire on the building."
"I realize that, Commander," Prichard replied condescendingly. "We're gonna have to hold 'em off until you clean house. How long to you reckon that'll be?"
Kirk shrugged and looked at T'Nia. "What do you figure... fifteen, twenty minutes?"
She considered the question for several moments before answering. It really wasn't in her nature to make guesses. T'Nia would much prefer actually running the various scenarios through the computer and having it generate time estimations. Unfortunately for her comfort, Stephen Kirk was more spontaneous than that. Her observations were leading her to believe this Colonel Prichard was the same way. Perhaps it was the Marine experience. "I would say that is a reasonable estimation as long as the extent of their forces was what we observed prior to our departure."
"Okay," Prichard mumbled. He pointed to the screen. "How many baddies to you figure are in the room?"
"We counted fifteen. There could have been a few more off-screen."
Richards interrupted. "But I counted over two hundred in the viscinity; in the upper levels and across the street. They'll all be on you pretty quick."
Prichard winked at Kenyon. "Then I guess we'll have to set up our defenses pretty darn quick, huh?" He stood up and turned to Commander Kirk. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna head back to my people and draw up a plan that'll keep the baddies at bay for twenty minutes. You work on getting us out of there." He headed for the door.
"Colonel?" Stephen called out. Prichard turned around questioningly. "Will you be using your corvettes?"
"I'd like to," the colonel answered, "of course one of 'em's pretty shot up."
"I'll have our maintenance guys fix it up as best they can." Kirk nodded.
"I'd be much obliged." Prichard added with a smile. "I'll have our plan to you within two hours." He spun on his heel and left the room.
"Well, THAT was an interesting conversation," Tony commented once the door was closed.
"I really don't like his attitude," Kenyon added.
"He certainly seems... confident." T'Nia added.
"I felt about useless here," Tom Kelly commented.
"That's about to change," Kirk countered with a grin.
Tom nodded. "So I gathered. I'll have the maintenance folk start crawling over that marine ship as soon as I leave."
"I need you to oversee it personally, Tom." Kirk insisted.
Tom smiled. He took it as a compliment. "No worries. Am I allowed to cannibalize?"
Kirk nodded. "Just leave our primary systems alone." Tom nodded. "All right, people. I think we might actually have a plan." Even Stephen was impressed with that statement. He considered it for a moment. Yes... they really DID have a plan. He smiled. This was just crazy enough to work... maybe.