The damaged shuttle set down hard on the planet's surface amid dense foliage. Of the four on board, three were injured, one seriously. "Report," barked the injured team leader.
     "Sir, we're in some sort of magnetic well, impervious to outside sensors. We're lost, sir!" dramatized Ensign Nog, falling prey to his innate sense of tragedy.
     "Not quite Ensign," shivered Lieutenant Ezri Dax. "Before entering the atmosphere, I modified the engines to emit a tachyon particle trail."
     Benjamin Sisko, a streak of blood running down his forehead, carefully rose from the ground amid the loose panels and dangling structural beams of the shuttle's cabin. "Good job Dax," he complimented, steadying himself against the bulkhead. "Along with the residual particles left by the Jem'Hadar's phased polaron beams, it's just a matter of time before they finds us."
     Benjamin negotiated his way up to Ezri. "How are you old friend?" he inquired, crouching beside her.
     "I've been better Benjamin," she quivered. "Think I'm losing a lot of blood. Can't stop trembling."
     "We're gonna get through this," he whispered before turning his head in Nog's direction. "Nog! Have a look at the Chief!" he commanded.
     "Already on it Sir!" replied the young Ferengi, bending over an unconscious Miles O'Brien at the front end of the vessel.
     An electrical ark crackled over the navigation controls, terrorizing the already fidgety ensign. His arms fanned out as he yelped.
     "Arrrrrghh!" moaned Chief O'Brien, getting back to his senses. "What's all this commotion?"
     As Nog was explaining the situation to Miles, Sisko was examining Ezri's condition.
     "I won't lie to you Dax. It's serious," he notified. "You have multiple plasma burns on your legs from a ruptured EPS conduit and fragments of that conduit cut through your skin."
     "I understand Ben. You need to go. Now!"
     "Dax... I know where you're going and I won't..."
     "Listen to me Ben!" intensified Ezri. "The Jem'Hadar will soon be barging through this door! I can't stand and you can't escape carrying me around. Be reasonable Ben! With unattended wounds, it's too risky for me to move! Just leave me and go!" she grumbled.
     Captain Sisko turned his head around to look at the two embarrassed officers standing behind him. "What do you think Chief?" asked Sisko in an even tone.
     "We stay and fight!" was his prompt answer. "Won't we Nog?" demanded O'Brien, using his elbow to poke the Ferengi.
     "Sh-sh... Sure!" stuttered Nog, straightening his back in an unpersuasive attempt to appear valiant.
     "Come on lad, let's set up a defense perimeter," instructed Miles.
     "Yes Sir!"
     Benjamin glanced back at the disapproving face of Ezri and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't live with myself knowing that I left you behind old man," he murmured gently. "And you know it to be true."
     Ezri's facial expression softened when she declared: "We'll have to work on that 'old man' appellation Benjamin. Jadzia didn't say a word but..."
     "Shhhh... Another time Ezri, another time."
     While Sisko was administering first aid, O'Brien and Nog were rummaging through the debris to gather type three phasers, micro-charges, detonators and trilithium resin canisters. Then they forced the hatch open to mount a surprise party for the Jem'Hadar. Out into the jungle they went.
     An explosion startled Lieutenant Dax awake. The dim light that had filtered through the window when they crash-landed had now completely vanished. The consoles appeared to be blank. She lay under an emergency blanket in total blackness. "Ben?" she whispered. Another explosion shook the earth and flashed a red glow inside the cockpit. Ezri felt helpless, drained of energy, she couldn't even slither if she wanted to. She heard some distant screams and then nothing. After a few minutes of listening to her shaky breath, she fell back to sleep.
     "Dax wake up!" The voice was distant. "Come on Dax, wake up!" It was Ben's voice, mixed with phaser fire.
     Ezri felt her body being lifted from the ground. As if in a dream, she struggled to open her eyes. Light was now filling the wrecked shuttlecraft. She tried to speak out but lacked the strength to.
     Benjamin whirled her out of the cabin and into the forest. "Stay with me Dax!"
     Leaves, branches and twigs hampered their escape route. Jem'Hadar soldiers were closing in. Bringing up the rear, Nog and Miles were trying to repel them with phaser fire. The quartet of exhausted Federation officers made it to a meadow. Before long, they would have no place to hide.
     "USS Rio Grande to Sisko, prepare for emergency beam-out," announced Kira Nerys.
     "In the nick of time Major!" asserted the Captain blissfully. "Hang on Ezri, we're going home."
     Ezri managed a hint of a smile before the runabout flew over the clearing and dematerialized the crew.