The large, gray, bat-shaped battle cruiser slid through the asteroid field; purple polaron beams occasionally slicing through rocks endangering it's progress. Occasionally, the gunner found time to fire a shot at the pursuing Starfleet ship. The cruiser dove and banked ever closer to the larger chunks of rock as the Warlord continued its pursuit. The Warlord, nearly twice the size as the cruiser, had a more difficult time maneuvering through the asteroids. Red pulse phaser beams frequently shot from various red rings both atop and underneath the elongated saucer section of the ship taking aim at various spinning and flying rocks as it continued its pursuit of the Dominion vessel.

Inside, the bridge crew couldn't help but move their bodies in concert with the images they saw on the viewscreen as Ensign Bristol continued mirroring the cruiser's movements. The primary shields had already been struck twice by asteroids and subsequently lowered. The occasional strike by a polaron beam also further lowered the shield's staying power. T'Nia had gotten in her fair share of shots as well. The second neutron cannon had been held back, but she managed to secure a few hits with torpedoes while targeting oncoming rocks.

The pursuit had continued for several minutes. The Warlord's primary shields were down to forty percent. The Dominion ship's shields were already down to twenty-seven percent. For some reason, however, it continued to flee. Commander Stephen Kirk scratched his head in confusion. Although he had never been involved in a battle during the Dominion War, he had read plenty of their tactics. The Jem'Hadar simply never fled and never surrendered. Why this ship was running eluded him... especially since no other ships seemed to be in the viscinity. Even the broad-spectrum tachyon burst, designed to identify cloaked vessels, turned up empty.

"Why don't they turn and fight?" Kirk asked rhetorically.

Colonel Prichard turned towards him. "You don't have to be a genius to realize when you're completely outmatched."

Silently, Stephen was grateful to have the Colonel there. Although his methods were suspect, and liable to be the subject of many questions once they got home, Stephen was at a complete loss for alternatives until the Colonel incapacitated the captain. That gave Kirk the freedom to take control without repurcussions from Starfleet. "That shouldn't matter," Kirk countered. "The Jem'Hadar don't think that way. They're bred for combat. They don't retreat and they don't surrender."

"Then perhaps they're not retreating," T'Nia offered from her tactical console without turning around.

"Well, this is a lousy combat strategy," Prichard commented. The viewscreen displayed a rather imposing looking rock over ten times the volume of the Warlord coming up quickly. The image became dizzying as the image spun around then slowly sank away from view.

The crew let out a collective sigh of relief. "That was awfully close, Tyler," Kirk offered. Another polaron blast streaked past the viewscreen and impacted the shields to the left of the camera. T'Nia responded by sending two torpedoes back towards the cruiser. One torpedo slammed into a neighboring planetoid. The second, however, struck the cruiser's rear shields straight on.

"Nice shot!" Commander Richards offered. "Its aft shields are down to eightteen percent. We've caused some minor damage to the impulse engines and taken one of the polaron cannons offline."

Kirk shook his head. "This just isn't right. They're not fighting and they don't run. So if they're not fighting or retreating, they're either leading us into a trap of some kind... or... " as if divine inspiration had claimed part of his mind, another more sinister alternative came to him. His eyes bulged. "Oh, no..." he whispered. Instinctively, Stephen stood up and stared at the viewscreen.

"What is it?" Kenyon asked.

"Tyler!" Stephen's voice sounded distressed. "Get us out of here! Get us back to Cardassia Prime... hurry! Go, go, go! T'Nia, clear a path for him." He sank back down into the captain's seat. He began shaking his head slowly.

"What are you thinking?" Prichard asked him.

Kirk turned to face Richards first. "I think we just screwed up."

A look of shock came over Richard's face, as well as the rest of the crew. "What do you mean?"

"I think they're just trying to keep us busy. They're a diversion... and we fell for it... and we left our peace delegation completely undefended on Cardassia Prime." A sense of defeat washed over the crew.

With agonizing slowness, the Warlord made its way out of the asteroid field. The Dominion ship eventually disappeared from sensors. Prichard gently grabbed Kirk by his shoulder. "I get the awful feeling you might be right," he admitted, "and I'm a jackass for not considering that possibility. However, I'd be an even bigger jackass if I didn't remind you I have two ships out there that need to be brought back in. I'd hate to leave them out here with a ticked off Dominion battle cruiser."

"Oh, crap!" Kirk exclaimed. "I completely forgot. Tyler, get us clear of this debris and sit tight. The Manta Ray should be in the system now. Once we get them aboard, get us back to Cardassia Prime. I think we're already too late to be of any help there, but we need to try."