[b]Planet N-1, Orbit, Battle of First Contact[/b]
The Explorer sped up, as the smaller ship approached in an attempt to ram. As the Explorer did so, it angled itself ever so slightly, in a way that would force the enemy ship to not meet the sword-like edge of the front of the ship, but rather a glancing blow. As the ship accelerated and altered direction, distance was closed- fast. Just as the other ship was upon them, firing rounds that dented and even begun penetrating the thick armor of the Explorer, the ship extended the missile turrets, and fired a salvo from each turret at what was a ludicrous range, so close there was no chance to dodge or miss the little missiles. As soon as they fired, they locked on, split, and accelerated towards the ship.

Of course, if the Explorer had the speed and maybe the latest armor, then it could just ram the enemy ship and very possibly split it in half, however, the captain didn't want to do that. Instead, he fired the missiles at the ship, and watched with interest as this ship, too, lit up with explosions detonating a small distance from its hull, as if there was a shell around the ship, that eventually faltered and allowed the missiles to get through and detonate against the hull. 

Of course, shortly after and before it was completely destroyed, it hit the Explorer's hull. Ordnance and some burning slag impacted the hull, scarring and destroying a little of the armor, though the last few straggling swarm missiles actually missed the smaller ship, due to the interference from the Explorer, and hit the ship's titanium alloy armor instead, making small craters of different penetration and width. Then the next wave of plasma hit, splashing against previous plasma burns and making new ones, deepening some of the damage. In return, the first wave of Swarmer missiles closed in on the plasma ship, and the Explorer began to both close the distance with the plasma ship, and turned one of the side Swarmer turrets to begin targeting the next closest enemy ship, despite it being far out of range.