Speaking of the pirate assault... assuming we make it to that point without any trouble... (which we shouldn't do till it happens), I see one final flaw in our space-ship on space-ship combat ability.<br/><br/>We really need some interceptors.  Our ability to avoid being torpedoed to death is pretty much based on speed... and the Everest, unlike the Kobras Aquairre and the Alexander, does not have the speed to outrun torpedoes.  I tried to see if the Everest could fit some fighters in instead of it's shuttle compliment, but apparently that's not really possible as is.<br/><br/>The Kobras Aquairre, however, can convert it's cargo bay into a hanger for attack fighters... which is something we might want to consider in the remaining time we have before the Everest, Alexander, and the Orbital Platforms are finished.<br/><br/>Heck... we could use the fighters and the "launch bay" we got for one of the orbital platforms and put it into the Kobras Aquairre instead, couldn't we?  We could actually do it at the same time, and not waste any more time with separate refits.<br/><br/>That would give us a badly needed anti-torpedo and anti-bomber defense... and only strip 1/4th of the orbital fighter compliment from Ares in the process.  We can always get them another launch bay during our next round of acquisitions.