The three person crew of the Sting Ray watched anxiously as the two large, bat-shaped battle cruisers closed in on the Warlord. At first, Lieutenant Gannon smiled eagerly as the two Dominion ships fired a number of purple beams at their home ship, expecting a devastating reprisal from the Warlord. His smile quickly evaporated as the return fire didn't come. Instead, all three faces showed signs of grim concern as the two cruisers continued an unrelented assault on the four-engined figure between them.

"Sir, they're flanking the Warlord!" The corporal behind him screamed.

Cleaning out his ear with his finger, Gannon partly turned around. "I see that, Corporal," he announced in frustration.

"The Warlord isn't firing back!" the corporal added.

Gannon turned completely around to face his communications specialist. "Have you always had this flair for the obvious?"

The corporal looked down. "Sorry, Sir."

Gannon shook his head. The three of them had been through initial training together, but this was their first official combat sortie. Although it didn't surprise him that they were panicked, it was still frustrating. He felt like he was babysitting more than commanding. "Just stick with your post, Corporal." He turned back around to watch as the two Dominion starships continue their attack without rebuttal.

"Should we go help them?" his tactical specialist asked.

The Lieutenant was truly confused by the Warlord's strategy. It was now officially flanked and had been fired upon for several seconds without even attempting to take evasive action. Eventually, Gannon shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I guess so."

"They ARE our ride, after all, Sir." the corporal to his left commented.

"Yeah, yeah." Gannon powered up the impulse engines. "Phasers still charged?"

"Full power, Sir," he answered.

"Well, if nothing else, we'll give them something else to shoot at." Gannon offered. The elongated form of the Sting Ray slid out from behind a floating asteroid and gained speed as it powered its way towards the conflict. "Fire as soon as you have a clean shot."

"Which one am I firing at?" the corporal asked.

Gannon shot him a sarcastic look. "Does it really matter?"

The corporal acquiesced. "I guess not."

The three were pleasantly surprised when they watched the Warlord backup and pivot towards the cruiser to their right. A long stream of green spheres rocketed from the side of its hull they couldn't see and impacted the front of the cruiser. From behind, they could see part of the top of the battle cruiser begin to fold in on itself. The cruiser listed upwards from the impact. Moments later, three torpedoes shot from the underside of the saucer section and impacted the aft section of the underside of the cruiser, causing the impulse engines facing them to explode.

Gannon put the Sting Ray to a full stop, then reversed course. "We're just gonna back up here and enjoy the fight from the cheap seats." The cruiser exploded in a shower of sparks seconds later. The three cheered as Gannon announced, "And that's what happens when you mess with Big Daddy!" The three slapped each other's hands in celebration.

"Check it out," the tactical specialist pointed to the front window. "The other one's chickening out." They watched as the remaining battle cruiser blasted its way deeper into the asteroid field with the Warlord in pursuit.

Gannon fired up the impulse engines and spun the Sting Ray around to follow the Warlord. "May as well tag along," he announced. "That was kind of fun to watch."