Lieutenant Gannon was busy looking at the tactical display on his front console. Behind him, the side door open, his communications specialist was firing a phaser rifle madly at a large, square building on the left side of the street as the Sting Ray swept past. In the seat to his right, his tactical specialist was using the forward-mounted pulse phaser to tear up the road between the council building and the government building. Although they had taken some unsually heavy fire from some Dominion weapons, their shields were holding. The Sting Ray sped past the conflict area. Thankfully, the cardassians who had been protesting scattered as soon as the civic sirens went off. The wind noise was almost deafening, even with their helmets on. "Did any get across?" Gannon yelled.

The specialist ducked his head back into the long corvette. "I don't think so, Sir," he yelled back, "not this time."

"Fantastic, guys!" Gannon yelled. "If you can punch the front of that building down, we just might be able to block them off entierly. It looks like their holed up in there." Looking at his panel display, he saw the Manta Ray quickly coming up on the street he had just passed. Grabbing the control stick, he began swinging the nose of the corvette around for yet another pass. Then, the communications panel began beeping and lighting up. "Who the hell wants to have a conversation with us NOW?" He yelled rhetorically. Pressing a few buttons on his own panel, he routed the communications through his station as he continued the turn. "This is Gannon," he announced into his helmet microphone.

"Lieutenant, this is Lieutenant Davies of the Warlord," the strikingly female voice on the other end announced softly.

"Lieutenant, I'm a little busy right now," he yelled back over the wind rush. "What's the problem... and speak up."

"Lieutenant Gannon, a Dominion battleship will be entering the upper atomosphere of Cardassia in ten minutes. There are almost two dozen cardassian prisoners aboard. It'll crack air approximately fourteen hundred kilometers from your current position. Commander Kirk was wondering if you'd be able to transport them aboard your corvettes before the ship broke apart."

Gannon looked incredulous. "You're kidding, right?" The ship completed its turn. He began to dive one more time. This time, several Jem'Hadar had taken position in some upper windows of the council chambers and began firing weapons again. The small, but potent purple beams impacted the forward shields in a shower of purple and white sparks. "Uglies at ten o'clock!" He yelled.

"No, Lieutenant, he's not kidding," the female voice replied, somewhat dismayed.

The comm specialist began firing at the upper windows as the tactical specialist continued his assault on the first floor. Gannon shook his head. "I'll ask the captain, but I'm not promising anything. Sting Ray out." The corvette sailed past the crowded street as another barrage of purple weaponsfire impacted the shields. "These people must be crazy." He said aloud. "Perry!" he yelled at his comm specialist. "Get in here and get Captain Connor on the horn."

"Aye, Sir." the specialist answered. He ducked back inside and pressed a wall control to close the hatch. With the door shut, the wind noise vanished entirely. Rushing to his seat, he tapped several buttons. "I hope their communications relay is set up or the inhibitors won't let..." He was interrupted by a voice in his earpiece. "Captain Connor? This is Specialist Perry of the Sting Ray. Lieutenant Gannon has something to ask you." He tapped several more buttons on his panel.

"Gannon? What's going on?" The voice of Captain Connor asked impatiently.

"Captain, I was just contacted by the Warlord. The battleship's wasted and going down, but it's got prisoners aboard. It'll hit air in ten minutes. They want me to break off support and try to secure the prisoners."

Gannon could hear the muffled sounds of talking, but couldn't make out the words. Some talking was louder than others, but still indiscernable. "What's your status?" Connor finally asked.

"We're taking pretty light weaponsfire right now. They threw some heavy stuff at us in the beginning, but I haven't seen it for awhile. Both ships are in good shape with at least seventy percent shields remaining."

"Okay... are the uglies getting reinforcements across?"

"Not now, no. We shot up the east side of the council building pretty bad and tore the road to shreds. It'll take 'em awhile to dig themselves out and when they do, it'll be slow going without cover to get across."

"How many prisoners are there and how far away do you have to go?"

"Fourteen hundred klicks away and two dozen prisoners."

There was more muffled discussions. "You won't have enough time to get them by yourself. Make one more pass and trash the east side of the building, then take the Manta Ray with you. God only knows why the Feddies want to play hero, but we'll go along with it for now. Connor out."

Gannon turned around to his comm specialist again. "Get me Featherly. We're gonna play hero."