The sounds of fighting got louder the closer they got to the center of the small town. 

“Shhhh,” Saar warned his little group, herding them into a little alley like a mother duck with her chicks and standing protectively at the front as he leaned around the corner to look down the main street. Shit. There was a full on battle going on between Jem’Hadar and—

“Starfleet,” he breathed, his eyes widening as he spotted the distinctive uniforms in second storey windows, and then the Jem’Hadar piling through the doors below. 

“Oh bollocks! Stay here!” he threw over his shoulder and launched himself forward before common sense could kick in about what an epically bad idea this was. What did he think he was? Some kind of super-shady special forces soldier? He wasn’t. He never had been. He was just a retired guy with too much time on his hands and… his knees were really going to hate him tomorrow. Holidays were over-rated. Next time someone suggested he take a holiday, he was buying a book instead. Yeah, that sounded like a plan. Less chance of the sodding Jem’Hadar trying to kill him that way. 

“I‘m too old for this shit,” he grunted as he ran forward onto the main street, trying to keep as much in his rifle scope as he could at the same time as trying not to fall over his feet. The last time he’d done any combat training was years ago, on a holodeck. And even when he’d been in uniform, he hadn’t done this ground stuff… he’d been far more comfortable on the bridge, in ship to ship combat. 

Bloody hell, he was so going to die. He scowled. That would be inconvenient. What would happen to his little group in the alley if he was stupid enough to get himself killed? 

The sound of breaking glass and a bellow made him whip around just in time to see two figures fall from a window. A big guy in a fleet uniform and a Jem’Hadar. They hit the ground, the uniform first and he winced. That had to have really hurt. 

But the guy was still fighting, trying to throw his opponent off. The Jem’Hadar reared back, his face contorted into a snarl as he lifted a kar’takin over his head. 

Saar was not a seasoned soldier, but he didn’t hesitate. His finger squeezed the trigger with a lover’s touch and the energy bolt hit the dominion fighter in the center of his chest. He dropped his shock blade, a look of surprise on his face, then toppled backward. 

The fleet officer pushed the body the rest of the way off and was on his feet in an instant, with way more grace than a man that big should have. 

“Thanks for the assist,” he rumbled, eyes narrowing as they flicked over Saar assessingly. “Commander Bennett, with the Resolute. You with local forces?”

Saar shook his head as the two of them hit the wall. The fight wasn’t over yet, and being out in the open was always a bad idea. 

“Captain Ket,” he introduced himself quickly. “Retired starfleet. I was taking a vacation.”

“You picked a hell of a place for it, sir. You alone?” Bennett raised an eyebrow as Jem’Hadar piled out of a nearby building, bellowing as they ran toward them. 

Saar tried not to think about what had happened to the people wearing fleet uniforms that had been in the window on the second floor as he started firing at the same time as Bennett. The big weapon on the commander’s shoulder cut a bloody swathe through the Dominon fighters in seconds. 

“Tell me about it,” Saar sighed and scrubbed at the back of his neck as the other member’s of Bennett’s team emerged from the remaining buildings. 

It appeared they had been victorious against the Jem’Hadar. This time. 

More would come. They always did. 

But… he eyed the monster gun attached to Bennett’s arm and shoulder, and the hard looks on the faces of the men and women around them. They looked like they were here to kick ass and take names, for sure. 

“No, I’m not alone. I have a small group of survivors with me. About ten. In the alley on the left. We’ve been on the move since the first attack, staying out of the way.”

Bennett frowned, surprise evident on his face. 

“You’ve been tracking the Jem’Hadar’s movements?” he asked, then motioned to one of his team. “Go fetch the group from the alley down there,” he ordered, then turned back to Saar. 

“In a way?” Saar shrugged. “It wasn’t difficult. More a case of working out where they’ve been and staying in those areas, hoping they won’t come back. Been trying to get ahead of them, but that ran the risk of running into them… and there’s only one of me.”

“Okay, so you can tell us where they’ve already hit. That could prove useful. How long have you been here?”

Saar’s eyes narrowed, worry rolling through him until he saw his little group being led out of the alley, surrounded by some serious-looking, heavily armed starfleet personnel. 

“About three weeks. I was hiking over the foothills back there,” he nodded to the south of the town. “Which meant I was out of the main areas when the first troops dropped. I’ve been picking up survivors since.”

“You’ve done well to stay alive,” Bennett said, as the civilian group joined them, their dirty, ripped clothes and their nervous air hinting at what they’d been through. “The gen—my captain, sorry, is going to want to talk to you. And we need to get all you guys to safety. Follow me please…”