Of all the mass flying through the void of space, the first to reach its target is the point defense system of the pirate mother ship, the small coil gun pinging the iron nickel asteroid as it approaches, hard enough to fragment the enormous rock. Yet, easily twice the size of most of the fighters in the fray, the fragmented rock retains a great deal of its momentum, only in smaller packets, slamming hard against the port side of the foe, hard enough that some of the side panels begin to buckle, while the ship's course itself is deflected, the collision of two enormous billiard balls.
The next to strike is the missile fired by the tiny Kiranthi, the missile flaring to life and meeting its destiny, the port exhaust of the armored vehicle. For a significant moment, the vessel's thrust is off axis, twisting it further off both the collision courses set, its own and that of the Benjamin Franklin, the second's bulk missing now by mere meters. Thinking better of the encounter, that large vessel begins to limp away, the better to prey another day, even as the dataprobe claps to its hull, though its viral load does little.
Two of the remaining fighters, too, as their mothership retreats, turns to flee, the others, perhaps more greedy than wise, peel away from the wounded freighter's body, and stabbing out towards the Benjamin Franklin, raking at it with their guns, the weapons managing to do serious damage, bulkheads sealing as the rail slugs penetrate into the bay area. It brings them close enough as well that Kestral is able to engage, though his own burst of rail slugs are flung out into the stars, as they wing past his target.
