This is a starship combat for Stoff's character tournament

CARRIER GANTRITHOR
vs
ASGARD SCIENCE VESSEL "DANIEL JACKSON"

The Gantrithor exited hyperspace in the system nearest to the Mutara nebula, his sole crew member, executor Tassadar, scanned the cloud of dust to better figure out how to carry out his mission.

Said mission was to destroy the nebula, as it was said that the radiation within it could disrupt most electronic devices, including energy shields, weapon targeting systems and radar imaging, all systems that were primordial for protoss space fleet. Recent intelligence reported that the zerg were planning to use this nebula as a rallying point to launch attacks upon the rest of the system, their biological nature making them as deadly within it as in open space, unlike just about any protoss vessel which would try to engage them within it.

Thus, before the zerg could establish a hive cluster here, this nebula had to be destroyed. He could not do it with his carrier, but once he'd have all the necessary readings, the protoss scientists could design a mean to get them rid of it.

Suddenly, his long range scanner picked up another vessel in the area, which was moving toward his ship. The other ship was much smaller than his own and his design was unlike any other he had ever encountered. It was surrounded by an energy shield and his scanner showed him that there was only one life sign on board. He was about to contact the ship, which was now in range of his interceptors drones, should he choose to launch them, but he was beaten to it, a transmission came from the smaller vessel.

"Greetings stranger, I am Thor, supreme commander of the asgard fleet" a calm voice came in his mind, the audio signal being converted in psychic waves by the ship computer, who in turn transmitted his thoughts in the form of audio communication back to the other ship: "Greetings, commander Thor, I am executor Tassadar of the protoss, may I ask the reason of your presence in this system?" he inquired. Though the prospect of meeting an unknown race, one that seemed as advanced as his at that, thrilled he templar, his mission had to come first and he had to know if this stranger was an obstacle.

"I am currently mapping this nebula, as my people plan to use it to set an ambush for our long time foes, the replicators."

It was as Tassadar had feared; it was not in this being's best interest to let him destroy the nebula.

"I am here on behalf of my people to analyse the nebula's composition so we can find a way to destroy it, my people's greatest foe, the zerg, plan on establishing a base here, and they would suffer no disadvantage within it, making them untouchable." He informed the asgard truthfully, perhaps they could come to an understanding.

"I cannot allow that, my people face extinction at the hands of the replicators and this nebula is currently our only viable mean of destroying them. You will not destroy it." The calm, but now slightly threatening voice answered.

"And I cannot risk the zerg establishing a base where they are untouchable! Listen commander…" he started.

"Supreme commander, and there is nothing else to talk about, I will protect this nebula, even if it means keeping you from reaching back your people." Thor answered.

"Very well then, I will see this nebula destroyed, even if it means I have to dispose of you, prepare to defend yourself." Tassadar announced.

Communication was cut and Tassadar released the eight interceptor fighters waiting in the docking bay, setting them on the asgard vessel. The robotic fighters immediately started strafing around the ship, shooting relentlessly with their twin laser cannons.

Upon seeing the eight interceptors, Thor though he might have bitten on more than he could chew, the Daniel Jackson was not a warship, it was a science vessel, it was equipped with asgard shielding and pulse cannon, true, but it still didn't pack the fire power of the O'neil class battlecruiser. The robotic fighters flew past him, unleashing a salve of lasers upon his shields. He felt none of the impact, but his tactical reading showed him that, though the individual fighter was rather weak, the eight of them striking at once from all direction was very taxing to his shield, he had to end this quickly.

He opened fire upon Tasadar's carrier, but his pulse lasers struck the ship's shield and made no damage. The Daniel's Jackson's rate of fire was too slow, the eight fighters who were even now circling around him like a swarm of insect, relentlessly hammering his shields, would get through his defences long before he could pierce the Gantrithor's shield, he had to change his strategy.

He launched evasive manoeuvres, but they mitigated very little of the damage, the interceptors where too fast for him. The huge carrier lumbered behind them, Thor deducted that it was simply a launch platform for the interceptor and had no weapon of its own. Thor targeted one of the fighters and, when it veered to perform its strafing attack, he opened fire on it. A single blow from the asgard laser took it out, causing the scrap metal from the drone to crash upon the Daniel Jackson's shield. Though the carrier's shield and hull could sustain heavy fire from his weapons, the fighters were lightly armoured and shielded. They were fast, but they were entirely computer controlled. Thanks to his tactical screen and his own tactical genius, Thor had managed to isolate their attack pattern and program his weapon system to take them out one by one with very little chance of missing, in fact, he took down a second one shortly afterwards.

The small grey alien had calculated everything, the interceptor's speed, their attack pattern, his rate of fire, the position and range of his own weapons, the speed of the laser pulses, his shield resistance, he had it all figured out, if he kept gunning down the fighters one by one this way, they would bring his shield to a critical level, but not pierce them, then the Gantrithor would be defenceless, having no weapon system to finish the job. This fight was already won. He shot down a third one.

And then another interceptor came out of the Gantrithor, quickly followed by another.

Upon seeing this, Thor saw fit to borrow one of his human friend's expressions.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" he cursed, though his tone was still calm.

The Gantrithor could produce interceptors as fast as the Daniel Jackson could destroy them; Tassadar knew it and had let the asgard commander believe he had him figured out. Thor had let the interceptors eat away his shields, thinking once he had taken them all out he would be out of trouble. Obviously the asgard's calculation had not included the robotic facility inside the ship that could create more interceptors as the others where destroyed, now, with his shield about to fail and interceptors coming out as fast as he took them out, the asgard would soon be defeated.

That is, he would have been if he had not charged straight for the nebula. As he made a run for it through the cloud of stardust, a blue beam shot forth from under the ship twice, each time causing one of the wrecked interceptors floating around to disappear.

Tassadar sent the interceptors after him, but the science vessel was not using tactical impulse flight, it was charging at full speed, sacrificing manoeuvrability and weapon power to outrun the drones, who could not follow since they could not stray too far from the carrier, lest they would be out of range of the main computer that controlled them.

And thus, the Daniel Jackson found refuge within the nebula. Tassadar followed him, but as soon as he entered, the very reason why he wanted it destroyed crippled his ship. He lost imaging, shield and most of all, the targeting system that allowed the interceptors to find their mark. He recalled them back on board, were truly useless within the nebula. He manoeuvred the ship to get the Daniel Jackson, who was similarly malfunctioning, in sight through the bridge's bay window. The asgard though him powerless within the nebula, but once more his lack of knowledge of the protoss would cost him dearly. Without his shield, the science vessel could not hold off Tassadar's psychic powers. He reached out with his mind from his ship's bridge to Thor's

"It would seem you have led this battle to a standstill, supreme commander Thor." He commented psychically.

"Indeed, neither of our ship is capable of manual targeting, it is not the first time the asgard technology proves "too advance" for the situation. Our people have that in common it would seem."

"Yes, it would seem our people have much in common, unfortunate that we must fight over this nebula."

"Unfortunate, yes, but it is a matter for survival for both our races. There can be no other way."

"But surely you have realised now that my ship is superior, you cannot hope to win, as soon as you leave this nebula, my interceptors will finish you."

"I do not consider myself beaten yet, you will find that there is more to the Daniel Jackson than meets the eye soon enough."

"Perhaps, yet now that your shields are down, you are no longer protected from my psychic powers, which are not hampered by the nebula, you will not take me by surprise." The protoss concluded.

He focused his mind to probe the asgards thoughts, but after several minutes, he found himself unable to do so.

"Though we have not developed psychic abilities of our own, my people's mental defences are, I'm sure you will agree, quite powerful." Thor said tauntingly in the one bit of his surface thought he allowed Tassadar to read.

"This is ridiculous; will you stall the end until our life support system runs out? You are the supreme commander of your people, a warrior, have you no honour, will you not face your end with dignity?" Tassadar challenged him.

"Very well, we shall resume our battle, let us go back in open space and bring this to an end." Thor thought.

Surprised by the asgard's compliance, Tassadar manoeuvred the Gantrithor out of the nebula, followed almost at once by Thor's Daniel Jackson. Eager to finish this quickly, Tassadar unleashed the interceptors to finish off the science vessel.

What the protoss didn't know was that before running for cover in the nebula, Thor had teleported the wreckage of two robotic fighters on board and, through extensive analysis in the science vessel's lab, had managed to figure out their working and was now ready for them.

As the eight interceptors charged him, he used the device he had created using the ship's computer to upload a virus in the fighter's. While he was talking to the protoss in his mind back in the nebula, Thor had been working on a way to hijack control of the interceptors and had found it, but it wouldn't last long, he had little time…

He commanded all eight fighters to board back the carrier. Their shields were attuned to the carrier's own and thus they had no trouble passing through. Before Tassadar could do anything to prevent this, the fighters were inside his ship, shooting it from the inside before crashing themselves on the wall.

This single, devastating attack, which Tassadar had never seen coming, had torn the ship from the inside and left him with damaged propulsion, inoperative interceptor factory and failing shield battery. A transmission came in.

"A friend of mine once though me that even an opponent with superior means can be defeated by thinking outside the box. I like to think I have learned from her example. I do not wish to kill you, executor Tassadar, but I cannot allow the data in your ship to reach your people."

With the Gantrithor's shield down and without the nebula to jam the targeting system, Thor was able to teleport Tassadar out of his ship and into a specially prepared psychic dampening holding cell. He then opened fire upon the not unmanned carrier and destroyed what was left of it.

"I will escort you back to a sector of space controlled by your people and release you there, warn them that if they threaten this nebula again, it is ours warship they will have to deal with." He told Tassadar as they entered hyperspace.

"If the zerg settle in this nebula, they might one day threaten your people." The protoss warned.

"It is a risk I am willing to take. Rest assured we will do everything in our power to keep it from happening." Thor assured him.

"Then I can only wish you luck…"

Winner: Thor's Daniel Jackson

(Note: the fights are suppose to be to death, but in this bracket, the starships are the real competitors and while Tassadar lives, his ship is destroyed so I'm "technically" following the rules :p)