It was like David and Goliath, except without pebbles. There was much more of a plasma cannon feel to it.
Hi. My name is unimportant. By that I mean, it doesn't matter. My parents didn't hate me. Well they did, but that's also unimportant. My job as captain of this resource processor is to suck up the minerals that the harvesters collect and turn it into money so some guy I never met can build ships. How my processor does this was never really explained to me, but money exchanged hands and now I don't care.
My story begins early one morning. I think. Truth be known, the clock is broken and I sleep in weird patterns anyway. The great thing about deep space, turn off the lights and boom. Night time. Needless to say, I had just woken up and was very busy sitting on my arse doing sweet F A whilst the harvesters did all the work. I can't believe they pay me for this. Turns out, it's hazard pay.
Sometime during the night, a fight had happened a little way off from here. I know this, because I had to get up to turn the radio off. Damn pilots screaming all the time. How am I meant to get my beauty sleep, eh? Well, I decide it might be an idea to turn the radio back on after I woke up, because of the fact nine plasma bombers were sat just outside my ship. They had actually been there as I slept, and for about half an hour after I woke up. What can I say, I am unobservant.
The gist of it was, this fight they had left our main fleet scattered about the place. The bombers needed to refuel and repair, but the carriers were too far away and the support vessels were in need of a little repairing themselves. On account of being blown up. Desperation caused them to venture over to my little asteroid field operation.
Turns out, this was the luckiest thing to have happened. No, really. The fight had also screwed over the enemy, see, so they were out for every advantage they could get. Whilst I was asleep, I found out later, one of their harvesters popped up in the asteroid field, saw us and made itself scarce. It had told their main fleet where we were. They couldn't let us keep mining now, could they? Oh no, they tried to come after us. And it is here that the story gets interesting.
In my account of the story, I was calm and collected throughout. Those bomber pilots, they are all liars. Got that? Freakin' liars. So are the guys piloting the harvesters.
Those guys from the enemy side we captured, too. Liars.
The bad part was this. The enemy came after us. The total number of enemy ships was about 9. They were eight ion cannon frigates, and a destroyer.
The good part was this. The guy in charge of them? He was a moron.
The first three ships, ion cannon frigates, came in through the belt. The bomber pilots immediately leapt into action, heading into the field and a little to the right, so they turned on the frigates and pelted their sides with plasma fire. This was a good idea, because those ion frigates have a nice little design flaw. Since the whole hull of their ship is weapon, they can only fire forwards. As long as the bombers can keep to one side, those frigates can't hit 'em. Keeping to their sides is a piece of cake on account of the fact they are in an asteroid field. They can barely manoeuver. It took a while, but all three of the went bang.
Just behind, another three frigates were moving in. The bomber pilots, they did the same again. Kaboom, three dead frigates. All the bombers were fine, not a single one had been hit.
So, they come back to me and quickly dock up to suck up some fuel. For the record, I did not mind this. Those were brave boys, to do their job they need their fuel. I wasn't worried that if they took too much I wouldn't be able to run.
Got that? Wasn't. Worried.
Final three enemies were coming in. They was getting close, right? Because of the bombers refueling these bads were strolling in unchallenged. Two frigates were flanking the destroyer. This destroyer had ion guns on it, and turrets to shoot back at the bombers. But those guys, they weren't afraid. Within minutes, one of the frigates was a flaming wreck, and the other was slowing down on account of his engine giving out. But that destroyer, he is coming right for me.
Then he slows up a bit. He aims up a bit. He shoots, ok, right at me. I might have been worried at this, but I certainly didn't scream over the radio for my momma. Except, see, he didn't fire at me. He fired at one of our carriers who I hadn't noticed had jumped in just above me.
The destroyer is backing away as all these inties and bombers go shooting over the top of me, and an explosion just behind means they ain't going for his frigate buddy.
But you know what the best bit about the whole encounter was? The enemy loses 9 frigates and a destroyers, because they was fighting in a place they weren't designed to be in. Our losses, zip. Zero. Nada.
I added up the costs, too. The amount of money they threw at us in that raid was more than the amount of money we defended ourselves with, even with the carrier. Our ships, they were all tier 1, bottom of the pile technology against some pretty natty hardware. The guy in charge over there must have been drop kicked out the navy faster than you can say "only Homeworld let's you out fight the other guy with inferior weapons, in every other RTS the most expensive army always wins."
How many other times are you going to see that? A bunch of the best hardware available, losing to the worst.