"Oh, my god!" He screamed. He quickly cut the control stick to the right, which turned the Sting Ray in between the cruiser and the Manta Ray. Another purple polaron beam ripped across his ships bow, causing the entire ship to shake. Alarms sounded as the tactical specialist attempted to discern the damage. Gannon kicked the speed to three quarters impulse as he watched the Manta Ray veer directly down. He headed for a nearby asteroid. "Report!" he screamed at the person to his left.
"Shields down to thirty percent, inertial dampeners offline and we've lost a secondary power coupling. I wouldn't recommend getting hit again, Sir." He answered sarcastically.
Gannon shot him a quick look. "I'll keep that in mind. How's the Manta?"
A few quick taps of his console gave him the answer. "Must have been a near miss, Sir. Their shields are at forty-six percent. I don't see any other damage than that."
Gannon nodded as he rounded the asteroid in front of him. He powered down his sublight engines to hide behind the asteroid. "Is the Manta Ray making a break for it?"
The specialist nodded, but looked worried. "Yes, Sir... but the cruiser is pursuing."
"Great," he countered angrilly as he powered the engines back up. "Fire all weapons on that cruiser as soon as you've got a solution."
"Sir?" the tactical specialist queried. He had thought they had gotten away cleanly.
"We need to buy them some time... make them chase us." The Sting Ray rounded the asteroid and slid into a small clearing. Ahead of them, they could see the Manta Ray swooping from asteroid to asteroid as the giant cruiser maneuvered through the rocks to get a clear shot. It expended several shots of their weapons destroying large debris that impeded its progress. As the Sting Ray skirted around another asteroid, they came up underneath the cruier. "Fire!" Gannon yelled.
The weapons locked with a high-pitched beep. Two, small, white, fast-moving twinkles of light sped towards the belly of the cruiser. The torpedoes struck hard against the deflector shields, making them glow. That was followed by six, quick pulses of red light from their pulse phasers. As if the ship itself appeared annoyed, it came to a stop and began to pitch itself upwards to bring its rear weapons to bear on the small Corvette. Recognizing the move, Gannon quickly increased speed and ducked behind another asteroid and reduced speed. "Damage?" He asked, knowing it would be minimal.
"Their shields are down to ninty-four percent," the specialist answered defeatedly.
Gannon shrugged. "This may take awhile."
"We only have two more torpedoes, Sir."
"Then... this may take a long while."
The specialist panicked. "Sir! They're targeting the asteroid!"
"Whoa!" Gannon yelled, kicking up the speed again. "Time to find a new home." The Sting Ray sped away as the Jem'Hadar cruiser fired at the asteroid, pulvarizing it with a single shot. The concussion rocked the Corvette as it slid around another asteroid.
"Now they're targeting this one!" the specialist panicked.
"Calm down!" Gannon yelled. "These guys just don't play fair." He turned the Corvette downwards as the asteroid exploded behind them, rocking the ship again. This time, however, another purple beam rocketed past their front window, impacting a large rock just above them, shattering it. The explosion sent two large chunks into their direction, causing Gannon to hit the side thrusters to avoid one rock and slide around the second rock. "We need to find a rock they can't shoot," he said rhetorically as he looked around. "What's the status of the Manta Ray?"
The specialist looked at his console and shook his head. "I can't see it any more, but the cruiser is still firing in their general direction."
"Okay... we need to become more of a pain in the neck. Power up the phasers and torpedoes again." He powered up his engines as yet another burst of purple energy destroyed the asteriod they were hiding behind. "I'm heading for that big rock over there," he said pointing upwards and to his right. "When we swing around, lock and fire really quick. We won't have much time."
Elegantly, the sleek Corvette bobbed and weaved its way through the asteroid field towards a rock almost the same size as the cruiser. Slowly, firing several different directions at once, it attempted to fire at the fleeing Manta Ray while clearing a path to the Sting Ray and firing in the Sting Ray's direction. As the Sting Ray finally rounded the destination Gannon was hoping for, he brought the ship to an emergency stop while spining it completely around with maneuvering thrusters. Without the dampeners, it was a bumpy ride that slammed the three person crew hard to the right. "Get ready," he said. With a pound against the maneuvering controls, the ship suddenly lurched hard to port, barely clearing the planetoid they were behind. The Jem'Hadar cruiser was approaching the planetoid slowly, coming upwards. They had one more clear shot at its belly. "Fire!"
Torpedoes and pulse phasers streaked from the underside and wings of the Corvette, squarely impacting the underside of the ship. Even as the weapons launched, Lieutenant Gannon was reversing the engines to duck back behind the planetoid. Two purple polaron beams shot past the front of the ship; the second impacted the side of the planetoid sending debris everywhere.
"Nice hit," Gannon commented. His shipmate smiled weakly knowing their ship would never be able to bring down a ship this size.
"Their shields are down to eighty-eight percent," he offered.
"Not bad," Gannon replied, nodding. "Are they firing behind them any more?"
The corporal looked out the top window as Gannon maneuvered the Sting Ray under the planetoid further. "Doesn't look like it,"
"Well, that means either the Manta Ray was destroyed, or they got away," he said almost to himself. "Let's hope for the latter." He took a deep breath as he moved his ship around the planetoid, keeping it between them and the cruiser. "In the meantime, load the phasers again. I might be able to get you a couple more shots."
"You're kidding, right?" the specialist asked incredulously.
Gannon shrugged. "Hey, stranger things have happened." He was desperately hoping the Manta Ray had gotten away safely and was bringing what the Marines had nicknamed "Big Daddy."