"Or someone is attempting an escape." Picard replied with a smile. "This is our time to act." There was another violent shudder followed by the a momentary loss of power to the room. Sirens went off all around as emergency lights came on. People in the room began screaming as chaos ensued. Picard seized the opportunity and lunged at the nearest Jem'Hadar, throwing an elbow into his chest. The Jem'Hadar backed up a step, then looked menacingly at the middle aged admiral.
Gerak found another soldier rushing to the aid of the one Picard was fighting. Taking the element of surprise, he rushed the oncoming soldier and caught him broadside. The impact threw both to the ground. Gerak began wrestling with the soldier for his weapon, yelling, "This is our time... fight for your freedom!" The screams became louder as the cardassian prisoners engaged their captors.
Picard made a grab for the Jem'Hadar's weapon as he brought it to bear. The soldier gave Picard a head butt that sent him to the ground, dizzy. As he raised his weapon, he felt considerable pressure on his arm. Looking back, he saw a vulcan holding his forearm. Turning around, he looked Ambassador Solek in the eye. "I've always wanted to kill a vulcan." He slowly raised his arm, despite the ambassador's grip. Using the Jem'Hadar's preoccupation with freeing his arm, Solek skillfully, used his foot to kick the back of the warrior's right knee. Solek, using his free arm, grabbed the soldier's face and used the momentum of the fall to drive the back of the Jem'Hadar's head into the ground. He released his grip on the warrior's arm, then drove his hand into the the Jem'Hadar's chest. The Jem'Hadar cried out in pain, loosening his grip on the rifle he was holding. With a quick twist of the wrist, Solek grabbed the rifle and wrested it from his oppoent's hand. He pointed the rifle at the Jem'Hadar. "Apparently, you will need to learn to live with disappointment." He pulled the trigger.
Picard was about to get up when he heard the doors on either side of the room open, meaning reinforcements were coming. Then, above him, he saw the silvery shimmer of a transporter beam. As the shimmering faded, he saw several oval objects momentarily hovering in the room. One quickly fell to the floor near him. It was a stun grenade... with the pin removed. "Oh, no," he remarked as the grenade went off. The last thing he remembered was seeing a blinding light and a painful pop in his ear.
As the grenades went off, the room began to shimmer with the light of a large transporter beam. As the concussion of the grenades faded, so, too, did the ribbons of sparkling transporter light. In the center of the room, where a dozen or more unconscious bodies laid, dozens of Starfleet Marines stood, huddled close together, surrounding their equipment. The hostages and hostage-takers they had replaced were safely aboard the Warlord. Near the top of the pile, Colonel Prichard quickly surveyed the situation before him. "What the hell was happening here?" he asked as he saw unconscious cardassians laying over Dominion soldiers. Then, the main lights came back on. He saw the two pairs of side doors open and Jem'Hadar soldiers standing in the openings. Using both hands, he pointed out both doors. "Delta team, Epsilon team, secure those doors! Tonok, get those transport inhibitors set up! Move it, move it, move it!" As he was barking orders, two Jem'Hadar turned the corner into the room from the left doors and began firing. They were quickly put down by Delta team, who quickly dropped to a crouch.
Tonok quickly ordered his people to remove four long, metallic, pointed cylinders from a case that had been transported down with them. A pair of marines each took an inhibitor and performed a duck-and-run to each corner of the room. As they pressed a switch on the side, each cylinder began blinking a red light at the top of the point to indicate it was active.
"Ironhide, set up that communications relay." Prichard pointed to a square device on the floor with a dish atop it, no more than a half-meter on each side. Captain Connor quickly obeyed. "Lucky, have your men back up Delta and Epsilon and get working on the barricades. Clear the halls and set 'em up there. Frosty, wake up our hostages and deal with our sleeping uglies. We're not in the mood for prisoners."
The sound of weapons fire quickly filled the room as red beams of energy impacted the walls near the doors. "Come on, people, let's move it!" Prichard yelled. He ducked down and started unpacking weapons from the large case next to him.
Lieutenant Wilma 'Lucky' Thackery yelled first and loudest in her Irish accent. "Avrool, have your men back up Delta team! Chappel, you back up Epsilon. Push the uglies back into the front room! Lerrie, your men are with me. Break out these shield barriers. We need them set up as soon as we have a hole in the halls. Let's go!" The Tellerite Sergeant Arvool huffed his men into the halls to back up Delta team. Corporal Chappel quickly hustled his team to the right side doors to back up Epsilon team.
Lieutenant Curtis 'Frosty' O'Shea grabbed his group commanders closely to him. "Ross, Henderson, you get your people and wake up our sleeping beauties. As soon as they're able, give them a weapon from the locker over there. Merriweather, take your men and trash the uglies. Be quick about it... they'll wake up faster than anyone else."
Sergeant Ross and Corporal Henderson grabbed their teams, pulled out small packages from their belts, and began waving them under the noses of the hostages. The more than slightly Sergeant Merriweather looked quizzically at Lieutenant O'Shea. "By 'trash the uglies', you mean...?"
Curtis grabbed the big sergeant, turned him around and pushed him towards his group. "I mean vaprize them! Make them go away! I don't want to see them! Got it?"
"Yes, Sir!" Merriweather rumbled off to his group, who turned up the settings on their phaser rifles and began executing the unconscious Jem'Hadar. One by one, they were quickly reduced to a small, smoking spot on the floor.
His men nodded to Captain Tonok, who in turn looked to Prichard. "Colonel, the inhibitors are set up. Nothing is getting in or out using a transporter beam."
Prichard nodded. "Good. That'll keep 'em from pulling the same stunt we just pulled." Just then, more disruptor fire filled the hallways again, forcing the marines back into the room. Prichard motioned to the doors. "Grab some grenades and have your men light up the halls. We need some space."
"Yes, Sir." Tonok replied monotonously. Tonok motioned for his two teams to gather. Reaching into the weapons locker, he removed several stun grenades and handed them to his people. "Assist in clearing the halls for the barricades." The six people eagerly grabbed the grenades and raced to the doors.
Sergeant White grabbed a pair of grenades and removed the safety pins. "Fire in the hole!" He yelled. The eight marines filling the doors ran back into the room as White tossed the grenades down the hall. There was a momentary flash of light. White grabbed another pair of grenades from the private behind him and repeated the process. At the other door, Sergeant Cofiss did the same.
Lieutenant Thackery yelled to her two groups. "Move out! Set up the barricades!" Arvool and Chappel walked their teams out the halls under cover fire from the Marine teams next to the door.
Prichard took another look around. The hostages were quickly waking up and the Jem'Hadar in the room had been quickly dispatched. The transport inhibitors were working and the barricades were being set up. Everything was going according to plan. He turned to his senior officers. "Alrighty... all we need to do now is dig in and wait for the Warlord to give us the all-clear."