Chapter 024

Naruko opened a communication web to all of the ships docked within Outer Heaven. Throughout the thousands of massive hangars in the ship, 5,000 Kreon-class battleships started up, their 500 meter long superstructures coming to life with hundreds of lights across the multitude of decks as the V.I. combat and maintenance drones went about their tasks.

The battleships were spoon-shaped with the main facilities such as the power core room and the 250m gun tower sat on the wide portion. The ships' six engines were spaced evenly around the round aft with a double barrelled charged particle turret situated at each were battle air/ground mobile command ships that tripled as a firebase and aircraft carrier capable of carrying dozens of shuttles filled with troops to and from battle zones.

Following these Kreons were the 2,000 800m long cruisers. They were all vaguely similar in looks to a tailless crocodile with the 'legs' as secondary engines used to maneuver the ship and projectable dorsal fins like those on sharks. These were further effective as the ship had a flexible 'spine' that could bend from side-to-side and up-to-down like a regular human's, giving it a greater degree of maneuverability and field of fire than any of the stiff-board designs other species favored in their ship construction. The 'head' would swivel about like a crocodile's, as well as open up like a gaping maw to reveal a furnace on the inside. The furnace would burn at twice the temperature of a main sequence sun and could draw objects in via a gravity well. This was especially useful in stripping the armor and hull off of ships from just outside the range of the kinetic and energy barriers if the ships had those.

It was also a 'vortex/ramming' weapon used to devour fighters and smaller warships that could restore the supply of the materials used as ammunition for the main weapon battery while any waste would be jettisoned out of the sides of the main body via gill-like openings. As for the main weapon, the gravity well could be shut off for a moment to open a valve to the storage of the molten materials which would be funneled into the furnace of the ship where various equipment inside the head will shoot it out in a stream of death twice as hot as a sun. The Spectras got this idea from the magnetohydrodynamic cannons used by the Reapers.

The final main weapons were melee ramming weapons. From front to back, the triple fins on the top and bottom of the main body were actually projected fields of controlled plasma twice the heat of a main sequence star that stood out at 50m, 100m, and 150m respectively. Their effectiveness has been unquestionable in the many centuries since their deployment. Knowing that their cruisers were sort of underpowered compared to the cruisers of other species that could pose a threat to the Spectras, these fins gave them an enormous advantage to capitalize on their usually superior speed and maneuverability. The cruisers could 'swim' close to a ship and use the fins to lance gouges into enemies, or put a serious drain on any energy shields as the damage would be like being attacked by a beam instead of a shell. Cruising along a ship's energy field would quickly drain the shields from the constant assault, leaving it at the mercy of the hundreds of anti-fighter and anti-ship artillery mounted on the area of the cruiser's hull, including the gravity well and magnetohydrodynamic cannon.

The next classification of ships to prepare themselves were 50 of the 200 Transport Carriers. While they normally range from 1,901m-4,200m depending on their specifications such as mobile hospitals, troop transports and war beast transports, all of these were at the maximum dimensions of 4,200m in length, 1,000m in height, and 2,000m in width. These particular models were made to carry the absolute most fighters and bombers possible, each carrying 500 Type-22 fighters, 200 Type-33 bombers, or 1,000 Buzzard drones each. For this battle, thirty would be transported for Buzzard drones, ten for the Type-22s, and ten for the Type-33s.

These carriers were heavily armored and contained countermeasures for every form of attack the Spectras have imagined, ranging from ECM fields to utilizing wormholes as a protective net against any errant shots, as well as turrets armed with large cannons that fired massive amounts of gamma radiation with would fry all living things aboard any ship not properly shielded against it.

Following the Transport Carriers were the fifty even more menacing Battle Carriers with each measuring at 5.6km in length, 3km in height, and 3km in width. Unlike the blocky designs of the Transport Carriers, these were shaped like ten flat-ended drills stacked upon each other lengthwise. Besides their own power cores being enough in most given situation, the sheer output of potential firepower these behemoths bring to the field has warranted the Spectras to develop redundant power sources, hence the multiple drill body design where each body rotates rapidly in opposite of each other, generating enough energy to power three Battle Carriers.

The power of their shields and ECM fields have made these monsters nearly impervious as much as unhittable. Due to the overabundance of energy generation, the Battle Carriers liberally utilize FTL and sub-dimensional travel methods to get in very close to enemy ships to fully utilize their weapons. One of the most barbaric but effective is the massive energy drill hidden within the front 'cap' of the ship which splits open upon immediate ramming. With the nine other drills helping to power it, the front has never failed to drill through energy shields and entire enemy carriers. Another secret main weapon was that instead of drilling physically, the drill head would be used as a focus to launch a powerful, drill-like beam that can carve a hole to the center of a planet within thirty seconds. Because of their design and weaponry, the Battle Cruiser actually has less CIWS (Close-In-Weapons-Systems) than a Transport Carrier, but due to its shields and ECM fields, this has usually been seen as overkill.

The last set of battle cruisers were the 'Scopes.' These are essentially the same size as Battle Carriers except the drills are used to power just shields, engines, and the single, massive launchers they are named for. These Scopes are the artillery of the Spectra space Navy with their firing ranging far outstripping anything else the Spectras have, save for the Dreadnought Leviathans and Outer Heaven. These ships firing a large, sharped warhead encased within a thick layer of an artificial energy the Spectras dubbed Nethicite. This Nethicite is comparable to the Forerunners' hard-light, only instead of burning away matter, Nethicite acts as a singularity, warping time and space within three miles before reaching critical mass and imploding, much like a miniature super-nova when a sun dies. While the effect usually destroys ships, it was originally intended to distort energy, gravity, and psychic fields to give clear passage for the actual warhead with a 50 gigaton charge.

The final set of ships were the thirty Dreadnought Leviathans. At 12,210m, these are the largest conventional ships the Spectras construct, each having enough size and armor to take on a volley from a fleet of 400 Spectra Cruisers and its main cannon at full charge can destroy a planet the size of Earth in one shot. The D.L.s were shaped like a large Reapers, except attached to the front of the ship, opposite side of the dozens of 'tentacles', four large prongs jutted outward for seven kilometers, each lined with guided laser cannons, ECM generators, gamma and irradiation turrets, missile batteries, tractor beams, and psychokinetic manipulators that would disorient or drive insane any enemy pilots who got within ten miles of the ship.

Along the inside of the four prongs were induction rails used to generate electromagnetic waves that could short-circuit enemy missiles, fighters, and entire fleets if they were packed close enough. This energy is built up by the four prongs actually rotating together. Activation of this would mean the CIWS on the prongs would be unable to operate efficiently until the rotation stopped. This grid could also be used to attack and throw off the electromagnetic grid of an entire planet, pretty much fucking up everything from nature to a freaking compass. At full power, it could resemble as massive lightning storm which could either glass a massive planet surface or superheat the mantle of the planet, the latter effecting a maximum area of a continent the size of Africa.

The final and most deadly weapon is the anti-matter cannon that can be fired from any distance and wipe out a planet, but the shot would have to be reliant on not hitting any ships and detonating prematurely.

At last, the entire armada hidden within the womb of Outer Heaven, capable of conquering an entire galaxy (depending of course on the level of technological innovation of inhabitants of said galaxy) was awake and about to be unleashed upon a horde that has terrorized an entire galaxy yet known no true equal in an enemy.

The thousands of ships began pouring out of the Outer Heaven's main body like a swarm of locusts, quickly and expertly moving into their assigned task forces to begin their missions. The wings of the Outer Heaven flapped and exuded an inconceivably bright aura that forced even the Orcs on the surface of the planet to shield their eyes. The Orcs aboard the thousands of ships saw they were outnumbered and outsized yet that hadn't deterred them until that aura flared like a supernova.

Than, much to their confusion, they all felt a voice clearly in their heads, penetrating the collective psychic aggression of the WAAAGH! they were all subjected to. It was an impossible feat to imagine as for a few seconds, they had clear heads and heard the words of an angry deity. Aboard the Outer Heaven, Naruko had numerous cables hooked to her back that went into her throne as she was sitting again. Her eyes were closed as if in deep thought.

Suddenly, she spoke.

"Tell me something… do you feel fear?"

Her physic voice flew across space and into the minds of all the Orcs in the system. A brief pause after her question sent a very unfamiliar primal chill down their spines.

"... You will."

The Orcs of the Imperium Galaxy have never known an enemy like they will the Spectras. Which will prove stronger? The Orcs' legendary WAAAGH! or the Spectras' Immortal Queen's rage.

"You're God is right here… and she is all out of mercy."