[b]Planet N-1, Orbit[/b]
As one ship moved to divide the Explorer and the cargo ship, efforts to contact the intruders were given up, and they fired upon the vessel now labelled as a hostile. In short order, the Explorer reached extreme engagement range, and the two beam cannons mounted on the front lashed out. Typical firing arrangement; the beams would fire a short distance away from the target, and then it would sweep directly across the ship to the opposite side. With two cannons, it was more of a scissor-fire.

As the Explorer closed into optimum firing distance, the ship slowed its advanced, and two large boxes, larger than a school bus, extended from the surface of one of the plates of armor. The boxes sat for a moment, and then a torrent of missiles launched, launching a rain of armor-piercing and high explosives, alternatively. The missiles would fire for seven seconds out of their launch bays, split into two parts, in which the missile will maneuver away from its other half and away from other missiles, and reactivate when close to the target, jetting forward. 

As the Explorer did so, the cargo ship un-latched from half of its segmented payload, 'dropping' about six of the dozen containers that were connected to its "spine," and slowly pulled up and turned away. The containers continued on the same course, heading towards the two eager ships as the cargo ship readjusted course away from them, away from the planet, and began accelerating to escape.

(Don't take control of the containers, please, goodies inside I wish to reveal.)