Chief Engineer Tom Kelly had heard Colonel Prichard's request to lock down the ship at the same time as everyone else. He begged Commander Kirk to be allowed to get to main engineering before it was locked down. Reluctantly, Kirk approved. The turbolift had taken him down and across to deck ten. He knew he had almost three hundred meters to clear before he would reach the oversized double-doors of main engineering. He sprinted as fast as he could, knowing if a Jem'Hadar was near him, he'd never reach the door. Thankfully, he seemed as though he succeeded. He ran through the doors as the slid open with a low hum and as they closed, he began a series of keypresses on the panel in the entryway.

He made it.

Breathless, he turned to see a group of perplexed engineers dutifully standing at their various stations on the lower and upper level of the large room. Seeing the other door, he pointed to an ensign standing near to it and snapped his fingers and pointed to him. Tom had forgotten his name. "You!" He called out. The young ensign, barely in his twenties, pointed to himeself. Tom nodded. "Lock down that door!"

"Yes, Sir!" the startled ensign yelled back. Nervously, he fumbled around the key controls for the door until a blinking red light appeared on top.

Lieutenant Kelly looked around his engine room. Although the red alert siren had been turned off, the numerous flashing red lights scattered along the walls in a regular, eerie red. He counted a dozen people in the large, mostly white and gray colored room. They all looked at him with anxious eyes. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, get down here. I've got some information for you." he announced in his Australian accent, raising his hands. The five people on the second level scampered down the stairwells and elevator.

He motioned everyone closer. Ensign P'rr's obliged to a rather uncomfortable extent. He looked at her and rolled his eyes. "We have a situation. Shortly before the Warlord destroyed a Dominion escort ship, they beamed aboard three Jem'Hadar soldiers. One is dead and another one's injured badly. Unfortunately, once these nasties are shrouded, they disappear from our biosensors and our personal shield systems don't work." The group began whispering among themselves. He motioned with his hands for them to be quiet. "Look, I can tell everyone's bugged... it's alright. Everyone's locked up tighter than a relay clamp. The Marines are sweeping the ship looking for them. We just need to sit tight and make sure nothing gets in here."

The feline ensign wrapped her arm around his bicep and pointed towards the walkway above the central distribution center. "What about the Jeffrrreies tubes up therrre? They'rrre not securrred yet." The group stared nervously at the two grates, expecting some horrible monster to come through at any moment.

Tom squinted at the grates for several moments. "Yeah, we'll need plasma torches on... wait." He smiled and rubbed his hands together. "I have a better idea." Gently, but firmly, he removed P'rr's' paw from his arm and pointed to the weapons locker by the near door. "Grab a pair of phasers from the locker." P'rr's nodded, and dashed with amazing speed to the weapons locker. Just like an earth cat, she bounded back to the group and handed them to Lieutenant Kelly. He nodded. "Thanks." He handed them to a pair of ensigns in front of him. "Take these and head up there. Sit yourselves down in between the tubes. Sit back to back. If you see a grate move, shoot right at the opening, wide setting." The pair looked at each other nervously, then back to their commander. He ushered them off. "Come on... off with you. We'll set a trap for these little buggers." The group smiled, still nervous. "If they want in here, they're in for a big surprise." He nodded, trying to bolster the morale of his group. After all, most of them were fresh out of the Academy. For over half his crew, this was their first assignment... not that he had a WHOLE lot of experience himself. Compared to the rest of them, however, it was a lifetime. "Alright, gang. Get yourselves back to work. Even if these Jem'Hadar never show their ugly faces in here, we're in for a major firefight in a couple of hours."

Slowly, the group went back to their duty stations, but at some point, they all turned back to look at the grates of the Jeffries tubes occasionally. Slowly, casually, Tom wandered over to the double doors on the left side of the room, opened the weapons locker, and retrieved a phaser himself... just in case.