S.P.E.C.T.O.R – [A Sci-fi space adventure with fantasy elements]

”I am detecting six hips on an intercept course from two different directions. They are likely from two different patrol groups that detected the missile launch and are coming here to investigate. Both groups consist of one medium and two small class ships.” Spector said to inform Adam

”Looks like the cat’s out of the bag.” Adam said before saying, ”Tactical analysis.”

”Minimal threat, while all six would prove time-consuming, they are of no immediate threat,” Spector replied.

[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): What’s she made of if a six v one is no threat to that ship?]

[Superhearofangirl (Earth): Sugar and spice, and all that’s nice.]

[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): Huh?]

[Superhearofangirl (Earth): That’s what little girls are made of, and the ship’s AI has a female voice, right?]

[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): ???]

[Gunlovergirl (Earth): …]

[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): …]

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Soooo anyway…. The streamers’ ship does indeed appear to be highly advanced; however, pirate ships aren’t normally too much of an issue for mercenaries, as long as they equipped their ship well.]

”Time to earn those credits,” Adam said as he piloted Spector to head directly towards the closest group.

Once he entered range, Adam started firing his 3 Laser repeaters, all targeting a separate ship as he continued to fly straight towards them.

Soon, he was within range of the two small class pirate ships since they were faster than the medium class, and they opened fire on him before being shortly followed by the medium class when it was within range.

Adam has Spector perform barrel rolls and sideways loops to avoid the enemy fire while his own ballistic repeaters continued their assault.

They continued firing at each other until Adam had the Spector streak past the two smaller ships and fly straight towards the medium-sized one. 

The chat watched as Spector’s 3 Laser repeaters focused their fire on the medium-class ship ahead, while two small compartments opened on the rear of Spector to reveal a ballistic repeater in each, which started firing at the two small-class ships that were now behind Spector and were turning to re-engage.

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): So his ship has rear-mounted ballistic repeaters.]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): I know they use ammo, but what else makes them different from his laser repeaters?]

[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Yeah, I thought energy weapons were better since he didn’t have to worry about restocking on ammo?]

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Both weapons have their pros and cons. As we have already said, the disadvantage of ballistic weapons compared to energy weapons is that they require ammo. However, ballistic weapons’ benefit is that shields are unable to stop the ammo from impacting the hull completely, unlike with energy weapons. Even though the shields do stop a certain percentage of it, some of the ammo always manages to break through the shield and damage the ship’s hull.]

[Beczontop (Imperial Down): Sometimes it also just comes down to cost; ballistic weapons might be cheaper to buy, but their running cost is way higher because of having to constantly stock up on ammo. What a lot of people like to do who are just starting out or don’t have many credits is buy second-hand laser weapons. These have a way cheaper initial cost, and they don’t have to worry about purchasing ammo.]

[Lizziethetruepower (Palalxia): That’s why the Mercenary Hall is always willing to buy weapons mercs claim off defeated ships, as we can always sell them on for a small profit. It helps the new mercs get affordable weapons, the older merc makes money from selling the weapons, and the hall makes a small profit from essentially being the broker.]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): Most of the time, you will only find ballistic weapons on ships owned and operated by those who can afford the cost of replacing ammo, such as the military or defence force, corporations or those ridiculously rich and powerful families.]

While the chat was talking, Spector’s laser cannons had managed to tear through the shields of the medium-class ship and were now impacting heavily on its hull, while one of the ballistic repeats had managed to hit and damage one of the small ship’s thrusters, slowing it down.

”Eat this.” The captain of the medium ship said before half a dozen seeker missiles were fired from its missile rack.

Adam had Spector sharply turn to the left away from the medium-class ship while having the ballistic repeaters target it and open fire. 

”Deploy countermeasures,” Adam instructed.

”Affirmative, deploying thermal countermeasures.”

The chat watched as several of the small hexagon-shaped spheres similar to what Cooper used before emerged from the back of Spector, before they started to blink and emit a thermal signature the same as Spector.

The missiles the medium-class pirate ship fired got confused and impacted the thermal countermeasures before exploding. Once they did, Adam turned and focused his laser repeaters on the ship again, causing them to tear through its hull, and soon enough, it exploded.

”Two thousand credits in the bag,” Adam said happily before he turned Spector and had its laser repeaters fire at the small class pirate ship that had lost a thruster.

[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): I thought it was only 1,000 for a medium-class ship?]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): You’re forgetting that the Palaxia Defence Force has agreed to double all his rewards from this mission.]

[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): Oh right.]

The small class pirate ships’ shields and hull were no match for Spector’s 3 laser repeaters, and it was quickly destroyed along with the other small class ship soon after.

Adam turned the Spector again and had it charge towards the other pirate group that had been heading towards him.

[Devil_Prince_Asura (Deverinian 9): Those smaller class ships are really no match for his ship.]

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): It’s not overly surprising, larger class ships always have greater firepower and defences than smaller class ships, the smaller class ships just try to make up for it with greater manoeuvrability.]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): In grand ship battles, like you will see when the fleet arrives, ships normally focus on fighting other ships in their own class. While you may occasionally see a larger class ship attack a smaller, or a smaller ship assist a larger in fighting another larger class, the majority of ship combat is against ships in the same class.]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): It is only in the sort of situations the streamer has been in so far, where he is alone against multiple opponents, that you see confrontations between ships in different classes.]

[Ayato_Kanzaki (Earth): So, what you mean is we’re unlikely to see the streamer singlehandedly attack and destroy a cruiser or bigger ship?]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): While it’s possible that we might see him attack a cruiser class ship if the pirates have one, I doubt he would be able to destroy it, the shields on a cruiser are far more powerful than what a medium class ships firepower should be capable off, only several ships together can normally take one down.]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): … While in general I agree with what Lord Malacross says, I’m also not sure when it comes to the streamer. If it were any other ship, I would say there is very little chance unless he teamed up with several other ships to take on the cruiser or a bigger class, like Lord Malacross said. However, with the streamer, I dare not make that claim; his weapons already appear to be more powerful than what a medium-class ship should be capable of using, and we don’t know what other tricks he’s hiding.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): You think he is hiding even more powerful weaponry?]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): I’m not sure, but call it a gut feeling. My gut is telling me that we have only seen the tip of what his ship is capable of.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Interesting, I hope you are correct because it will make this even more interesting and entertaining.]

[OfficialLorelie (Imperial Down): While I can’t speak about his ship’s weapon capability, I can say that just his ship’s living conditions and amenities are far better than any other medium-class ship I have travelled on.]

While the chat had been talking, Spector had already entered firing range for the two small class pirate ships, and Adam had targeted all three laser repeaters onto one of the ships that was currently having its hull ripped apart after its shields fell almost instantly.

Spector swept past the two small pirate ships as Adam concentrated the fire of the 3 laser repeaters on the medium-class ship and had the rear ballistic repeaters attack the already badly damaged ship, causing the ammo to rip holes in its hull before it eventually exploded.

After the small ship was destroyed, the ballistic repeaters opened up on the final small ship while the laser repeaters continued attacking the medium-class pirate ship, which didn’t have any missile racks this time and could only return fire with lasers, which barely deteriorated Spector’s shields.