[4thdimension]

Scott Ortiz materialized on a great plateau of dark gray lava, the Dreadnought class vessel dead ahead. He tensed as his head's up display chirped, several red icons popping up on the topographical map in his view screen. He breathed heavily, condensation momentarily blurring his face plate. Ortiz dropped to one knee, drew a bead on the nearest target, and fired.

The blue transphasic phaser beam penetrated the Hirogen's armer, cut through it's body. The Hirogen flew backward, the hole in it's midsection widening as the beam continued unabated. Ortiz released the trigger as the dead alien hit the ground. He stood, waiting for a reaction from the Hirogen force, fearing that the attack wouldn't be detected. He needn't have worried.

As Lance Corporal Gates materialized and his head's up display began ticking off the presence of Hirogen hunters in the area one by one his suits lateral sensors detected a transphasic burst to the west. His own target was much farther away, patrolling the very edge of the huge Dominion ship, apparently unaware that one of his brethren had just been cut in half. Gates was sure that would soon change. He tapped the side of his face plate, the sensors taking this as the instruction to increase magnification. The Hirogen was tall, approximately eight and a half feet. Gates was glad that he wouldn't have to get close. He began to run, his anterior tractor system erasing his tracks from the ground behind him as he went. As far as the Hirogen were concerned, he didn't exist. Yet.

Brian McCormick was the closest to the Dominion vessel at touch down. He checked his sensor read out to see that Ortiz and Gates were already on the move. He shifted his view downward, settling on the communications icon. Three seconds later Ortiz answered.
"McCormick?" Ortiz's voice was strained, as if he was running at great speed.
"I'm reading over one hundred Hirogen on the vessel now sir, have you picked that up yet?" McCormick heard Ortiz grunt, and a moment later heard the high pitched wine of his Phaser rifle.
"Yeah McCormick, look, I'm a little busy here!" An explosion sounded through the com link, it sounded like it had gone off feet from Ortiz's position. "The cloak is working fine, they don't know what hit em! Converge on my position, relay that to the rest of the team. Input instructions to charge the infiltration point upon convergence. Ortiz out."

McCormick looked to the right for a moment until the Order Confirmation icon blinked green, telling him that he had relayed his understanding to Ortiz. He began to run east, the servos in his legs doing most of the work for him, he covered the distance quickly. The marine came upon a boulder, behind which crouched two Hirogen hunters, their plasma rifles moving in unison, attempting to lock onto an unseen target. Each time the blue phaser fire appeared out of no where the Hirogen would pull the rifles to their eyes trying to draw a bead, then the phaser fire would appear from another position. One of the hunters stood, pulled a blade from his leg, and charged.
Two seconds later a second blue beam torched from thin air to the right, catching the hunter dead center. The Hirogen still crouching behind the boulder tapped a stud on his plasma rifle and began talking in rapid, unintelligible sentances. McCormick toggled his phaser rifle to stun, and fired at the back of the Hirogen's neck. He thought of the gaping hole in the Dominion ship becoming highlighted in his head's up display and his suit made it so. A moment later his team mates began to glow in a steady pulse, he was closing on them. Ten blobs of blue converged on a single point in front of the Dominion ship.

The Star Fleet Marines looked form one to the other, then around the plateau. Hirogen ground transports careened over the hill to the west, dozens of Hirogen hunters trailing close behind from all directions. Air transports screamed over head, and a moment later the ground around the marines shattered into debris. They ran toward the breach in the hull, phaser rifles at the ready.