Free Star Trek by Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore

single storage locker staged near the hatch, his muscular frame much larger than the bin itself. It was enough, however, to prevent anyone from getting a shot without being exposed to return fire.
    â€œDonovan and I will secure the door,” Ross said to Aldo, “and on my signal you run and you don’t stop running until you get behind those modules next to the hatch. Once we regroup, we’ll figure out what to do next.”
    It was a risky plan, but Donovan understood it for what it was, an off-the-cuff attempt to capitalize on the meager advantage Ross had fashioned from the situation. Regardless of the risk, it was still betterthan staying where they were and waiting for Mogad’s men to beat them with their superior firepower.
    â€œGo!” Ross hissed as he pushed away from the cargo module, firing his phaser without truly aiming the weapon as he moved. Donovan mimicked the commander’s actions, firing at movement beside one of the storage lockers positioned along one nearby bulkhead. Cloaked in shadow there, the Cardassian fired in retaliation but it was a shot that went wide as Donovan fired again, sending the soldier into retreat.
    As he and Ross crossed the open area toward the door, firing as they went, the hatch itself opened without warning to reveal Hu’Ghrovlatrei. The Cardassian near the door swung in the direction of the new threat but he was too slow to stop Ghrovlatrei, who leveled a Cardassian disruptor at him and fired. Energy washed over the soldier’s body and he crashed unconscious to the deck.
    â€œGood timing,” Donovan said as Ghrovlatrei joined him behind a larger cargo container.
    The Efrosian nodded. “I though you might need some help.” She shifted to her left to make room for Ross as the commander situated himself behind the storage module. On his signal, the three Starfleet officers aimed their phasers back into the shuttlebay, their lines of sight crossing over one another to create overlapping fields of fire.
    â€œLet’s go, Aldo!” Ross called out, and Donovan saw the freighter captain and members of his crew begin to head in their direction.
    From his vantage point, Donovan saw Giancarlo Corsi hunkered down behind a lone storage module near where he had been standing when the fighting broke out. He was watching his friends heading for cover, and Donovan could see from the look in Giancarlo’s eyes that he was sizing up the situation and the energy bolts flying around the room, watching for his own opportunity to dash to safety.
    â€œCome on, Gi!” Aldo yelled as he ran toward the door.
    Giancarlo shook his head. “Get everybody else!” he yelled back, keeping himself protected behind the cargo container.
    Using the disruptor he had recovered to protect his friend’s retreat, Dillone remained in the hiding place he had found for himself and laid down a ferocious blanket of covering fire. Ross and Donovan added their own weapons to the mix, and the chamber echoed with the fierce storm of the continuous energy discharges as, one by one, those members of the
Hope
’s crew who had not fallen during the firefight worked their way toward the rest of the group.
    The Cardassians in the room were answering the heavy weapons fire with their own. Energy boltsslammed into the bulkhead near the door, and Ross and Donovan both ducked down to present as small a target as possible.
    Aldo was the last of the crew to get across the danger area, turning back to his brother once he had reached the protection of the cargo modules. “Gi!”
    Seeing that his friends were safe, Giancarlo turned to run toward them. Weapons fire exploded from two different points in the room, and Ross and Donovan renewed their efforts to provide cover as he dashed across the dangerous open area separating him from the rest of the group. One disruptor bolt hit the deck near Giancarlo’s left foot and he dodged to the right to avoid it. The