It happened so suddenly. The sound of distant explosions, panicked screams and weapons fire had jarred Vail O’Donnell awake. Her years of active service during the Cardassian War flooded back to her instantly, and in a matter of moments she had pulled on her shirt and boots, crossed the small room to the door and flipped the lock. Something airborne roared past the window as she pulled on her jacket, and she bolted back across the room to look out onto the street below. Strange ships streaked overhead, small and fast. Definitely built for combat. she thought to herself, bitterly. She ducked reflexively as a group of them razed the street, firing weapons at some target in the distance. She tapped the combadge on her chest. “Lieutenant O-Donnell to Leif Erikson crew, come in.” Silence. She tapped it again, “Scott? Tom? Bema? Anyone? Stardust City is under attack from something, but I can’t tell who.” Still, there was no reply. Vail picked up a belt from the floor beside her bed, which held her phaser, and a large combat knife, and cinched it around her waist.

The sound of boots met her ears next, rhythmic and heavy. Vail slammed the curtains closed and flattened herself against the wall, peering out through a gap. Marching up the street was a column of hulking bodies wearing impressive green body armor. She took note of the well drilled manner with which they moved. This was a heavily disciplined army moving on the citizens of the city, for sure. A number of soldiers from the column broke off and headed towards the entrance of the hotel she was currently inside, another group headed into a building across the street. “Time to go, I guess.” she said to the empty room as she crossed to the door, and opened it as quietly as possible. She turned down the hallway, heading for the stairs. A muffled shout came from below, in a language she had never heard before. She opened the door to the stairwell, and heard the heavy boots making their way up towards the first floor, followed by a door banging open. She crept into the stairwell, and deciding it best to avoid detection, she headed up the stairs to the roof. The stairwell echoed with the sounds of people being rounded up and moved downstairs as she reached the top of the stairwell. Crouching low, she took out her knife, and jammed it into the door frame. With effort she was able to wrench the door open, more loudly than she would have liked, and she stepped outside into the early morning air.

Keeping as low as possible, Vail moved to the edge of the roof, looking down onto the street below. People were being rounded up into groups outside, and marched off towards the intersection at the end of the street. She watched as one of the ships swooped low to the ground, slowing down to hover over the heads of the most recent group of civilians forced into the middle of the intersection. The street lit suddenly with a yellowish-green light, and the group was gone. The ship took off towards the outside of the city, and Vail stepped back away from the edge. She crossed to a ladder that descended into the alley behind the row of buildings, swung her legs over, and began the climb down. When her head was level with the roof, the door of the stairwell crashed open, and one of the mysterious soldiers stepped out onto the roof. She ducked, hoping he hadn’t seen her, and hastened her climb, jumping the last few rungs and her boots landed with a thud on the ground. She looked up to see if she had been spotted, but saw nothing.

She skulked along the alley, dodging from trash receptacle to staircase until she came to the end where it met with a street. She peeked around the corner and saw another group of people being corralled into an intersection. Pulling her head back quickly, she listened for the sound of an approaching ship. Seconds later, the yellow-green glow lit up the street again. In the alley opposite, she saw another person hiding, and the two made eye contact. He raised a hand and beckoned Vail to follow him. She peeked around the corner again, and saw the streets were temporarily empty. Pulling her phaser, she took a deep breath and ran across the street, skidding to a halt and tucking herself into a stoop. A voice called out behind them in that same strange language she had heard in the hotel. Bolts of energy whipped past her, crashing into the stone of the building to her left, and chunks of the wall showered her in dust and debris. She turned and fired back blindly, causing the large figure to dodge out of the way. Seizing the chance, she grabbed the arm of the person who called her over and they ran down the alley, Vail periodically firing her phaser behind her. More energy bolts hit around them, making small craters wherever they hit. They ducked into a narrow passage between two buildings, squeezing their way through until they came out the other side. Not wanting to lose this potential advantage, the picked up and ran again, back in the direction they came for a while, then turning again. After what seemed like an hour, the pair finally stopped, breathing heavily. Vail held her breath, straining to hear the sounds of approaching attackers, but none came. She sank down onto the cold ground, catching her breath. Another few minutes went by, but the street remained quiet.

“We need to get underground.” the man panted, getting to his feet. “I know the way. Follow me.”

“What’s underground?” Vail asked, as she also stood up.

“There are tunnels. They’re kind of a secret, so they probably won’t know of them yet. The syndicates use them to move stuff around the city” He replied.

“Alright then” said Vail, holstering her phaser and dusting herself off, “Lead on.” She followed him along the streets, which were getting increasingly dilapidated. They walked for at least another ten minutes, past dingy storefronts and empty lots of rubble where buildings used to be before they came to and old boarded up building.

“Around the back.” said the man, waving Vail onward with his hand. They rounded the building and came to a rusty old door, held closed with a length of chain and an old padlock. The man stepped forward, seized the chain with one hand, and pulled. Without undoing the lock, the chain pulled free from the hole in the door, and the door swung open with a loud squeal. They waited for a few seconds to make sure no one had raised the alarm, and Vail slipped inside. The man stuck the end of the chain back through the hole, and then closed the door behind them, plunging them both into darkness. Vail pulled a flashlight out of her pocket and switched it on. The dim light bounced off the walls, revealing a deserted store room, strewn with old mannequins and empty crates.

“This way” he said, taking the lead and moving through the room. He reached a second door and opened it, revealing a steep staircase that descended below the floor. At the bottom was a long tunnel, seemingly hand dug, although a very long time ago. They followed it as it wound slowly back and forth, descending even further into the surface of the planet. The smell down here was that of damp earth, old timbers, and long dead fires. Eventually, there was a glow of light that appeared at the end of the tunnel, and they found a hole in a cement wall. Through the hole opened into a vast concrete cavern of huge pipes, between which were small hovels and stalls. A whole other city existed below the streets, teeming with life. Vail gasped as they walked through, amazed at how many people seemed to live down here. “It’s not always this crowded.” The man said. “Most of these people are from the surface. There are tunnels down here all over Stardust.”

“O’Donnell!” said a familiar voice, and Vail whipped around to see who it was.

“Tom!” Vail cried. Tom Sargent came wading through the crowd towards her, and she moved likewise towards him. When they met, they hugged briefly, then broke apart.

“We tried to get through to you, but….” Tom started

“I know, Comms are down. Basic military tactic, to be honest.” Vail interjected, nodding her head. “Is anyone else here?”

“Scott and Bema are over here.” Tom said, and then his face fell, “We haven’t heard from Garion or Sriarr yet, but they weren’t in the city. They were camping out by the ship. Hopefully they made it back there.”

“Okay, well lets regroup with Scott and Bema. We can make a plan to get the hell out of here.”