"This is hopeless," the communications specialist admitted.
Gannon didn't want to admit the accuracy of his crewman's statement. Something was horribly wrong about this whole thing. They had been playing cat-and-mouse for almost ten minutes. For a ship with the kind of firepower that battle cruiser was packing, that was nine and a half minutes too long. They should have been blown to pieces. "Hey, we're still alive, aren't we?" He offered.
"They're targeting the asteroid!" The tactical specialist yelled. It was a familiar announcement.
Gannon was already moving away from the asteroid as it blew, once again rocking the Corvette. Once more, the collision alarms sounded. Once more, the communications specialist turned them off. He slid behind yet another large chunk of planet. "This should give us some cover," he commented, letting out a deep breath. "Keep your eyes peeled, though."
The crewman to his left looked at him desperately. "Come on, Lieutenant. We can't keep this up forever. Our impulse engines only have so much fuel."
"I don't think we have to," Gannon countered. His mind was putting pieces together as he scratched his chin.
"Huh?"
"Put the pieces together, Corporal," with a burst of the maneuvering jets, he slid farther underneath the giant, slowly spinning rock. "That ship could have blown us away as soon as they saw us. They didn't." Using the maneuvering thrusters, he rotated the ship into a tight orbit around the rock.
The corporal behind him looked puzzled. "Then why didn't they?"
Lieutenant Gannon shook his head. "I'm thinking we're not the target. We're the bait." As the Sting Ray skirted around the rock, momentarily, they saw the back of the battle cruiser as it sailed silently over the top of the rock. "Whoa..." he remarked, drawing back on the thrusters. They had managed to get off one more round of pulse phasers, which was more of an annoyance than damage, before deciding to just duck and run... hoping someone would come to their rescue.
"Then, if we're just bait," the tactical corporal remarked sarcastically, "let's just fly out in front of them and test it. At least we'd get this over with."
"I had no idea you were such a defeatist," Gannon countered. "Actually, I had considered doing just that," he admitted, "but then I figured we'd better not press our luck in case the captain of that ship is only kind of an idiot." The tail of the battle cruiser gone from view, Gannon edged the ship over the apex of the rock. The view before him almost made him cry.
The communications specialist was the first to voice what they all saw. "It's the Warlord!" He screamed, pointing ahead.
"Thank god," Gannon breathed. "Can you hail them?"
The corporal shook his head. "We're still being jammed."
Gannon thought for several seconds as his ship slowly sailed around the rock again. "I'm gonna risk it," he concluded. Activating the upward thrusters, he pointed the ship to another, smaller rock. "I'm going to try to make for the Warlord and close the distance."
The tactical specialist began staring intently at his scanners. They were so close to being saved, he didn't want to get shot NOW. "Sir, it's coming up over the top. We'll be in their firing arc in just a few seconds."
"Gotcha." Not even taking his eyes off the front window, he slid the Sting Ray behind a smaller asteroid and braced for the inevitable warning that would follow. Before him, the image of the Warlord was growing rapidly as it closed the distance. "Are they locking on the asteroid?" Gannon asked. His hands were on the engine controls, ready to move out.
"No, Sir," came the surprised reply. "They're on an intercept course for the Warlord. They're moving off!" He was almost giddy.
Gannon let out a sigh of relief. After several moments watching the giant bat-shaped ship close on Warlord, he commented, "I thought they were smarter than that. Then again, I guess they don't know just how badly outmatched they are."
"Sir!" The tactical specialist yelled. "I've got a ship decloaking! She's about six thousand kilometers off the starboard bow. It's another battle cruiser!"
The three stared stunned, at the image of another giant gray bat wavering into their field of vision.