Bridge, Norris
        "Solid phaser hits again, Sir. I estimate with a fully overloaded photon and another phaser volley, we'll finish this thing off." Giles was starting to calm down at last.
        One part of the ship wasn't so calm. The sensor officer broke in. "Captain, I'm getting a reading, astern! I think it's . . ." his voice trailed off slightly. "Sensor contact to our rear, Sir, closing fast. It's that Snipe we drove off, coming in hard!"
        Amazing how fast one can go from joy to dread, thought Captain Harris. "Target that Snipe, ready full phaser volley and the photon!"
        Guns pounded the console before him in frustration. "Sir, the systems are just not reacting fast enough! That field from Igneous is still too strong."

        "Signal from the Romulan, Sir!"
        "On screen."
        Harris swung around to see a sardonically smiling subcommander's face. "Congratulations, Federation! It looks like you have fought well. Too bad it is all in vain. We don't have the forces in this area to take that mining station from you, but we can at least make sure you don't get it either."
        He snapped an order aside, and Harris punched up a split sensor screen just in time to see a huge glowing torpedo emerge from the Snipe. He fought for options, only seeing reflected in Giles's face that they didn't have any. No shuttles left for weasels, caught dead slow, and that plasma was angling toward a down shield. He noted dully that the Snipe had carefully maneuvered into the blind spot Norris had so painfully carved for safety.
        "What a pity the monster was too much for you. We could not
pass up, what is the Earth phrase? Such a gift-wrapped present. Goodbye." The screen snapped off.
        "Launch log buoy. People, it's been a pleasure and honor," stated Harris. He was shaking hands with Giles when the plasma hit, and never felt the phasers that followed.

Sensor room, Xanadu

        Tombaugh and the others watched, somewhere between stunned and shocked, as the Snipe headed away, and the shadow of Igneous grew closer, only a few minutes away.
        At least I won't have to listen to the wind any more!