Everyone with a sound mind knew that a small ship's only chance of beating a large one was to close in and launch a torpedo strike. That was why most small vessels in the navies of various nations had systems specifically enhanced for torpedo attacks. Some extreme destroyer and light cruiser designs even downplayed their main guns, but always made room for proton torpedoes.
Put simply, the Marauders were just pirates on a larger, more organized, elite, and standardized scale. Their living conditions meant they didn't equip small combat craft, which put them at odds with the naval development strategies of most nations. They weren't good at torpedo attacks, nor did they have any dedicated torpedo ships.
What was the price of making a medium-sized warship with the tonnage and dimensions of a heavy cruiser do a destroyer's job? It had indeed launched its proton torpedoes, but because it had come so close, its own hull had inevitably entered a relatively dangerous position.
Four of the twelve groups of turret-mounted turbo lasers on the sides of the Throne locked onto the flamethrower ship at once. In the brief two or three seconds while their positions were offset, these linked gun batteries from the Toth Consortium fired more than a thousand shots. Countless bolts of blaster fire swept over the ship like a dense rain of arrows.
Yu Lian estimated that the ship had taken at least a hundred blaster bolts. When it staggered out of the explosion, nearly all the turrets and installations protruding from its hull had been blown away. One side of its armor looked like the surface of the Moon after a meteor shower, riddled with craters and still ablaze.
It had clearly lost its balance. The whole ship swayed drunkenly as it listed and lurched past