Interstellar Age

Kali sat in her meditation chamber onboard her personal starship. There was not a single trace of anxiety on her face. And yet there should be judging the circumstances she currently found herself in. The cabal, being a loose, and relatively unorganized collection of despots, and criminal syndicates had taken the largest beating when the Naraku finally invaded.

The overwhelming majority of systems lost or currently besieged by the Naraku were no doubt within the Cabal’s sphere of influence. And at the moment, Kali should be lucky to be alive. Yet she seemed as calm and serene as ever, even as her personal warship was heavily damaged and in the act of fleeing across the vastness of space while pursued by a Naraku Hive Fleet.

It was no wonder that a species focused on trade and revenue above all else, even the illicit kind, would have the least developed military technology, and the least organized armed forces. And because of this, the Cabal Fleet which she was tasked with leading against the Naraku had been utterly decimated in battle against the bugs.

Her losses were severe, and still despite all of this, and the consequences it would have on her organization, she appeared as serene as one could possibly be. As if she had already made peace with this long before it ever happened.

The Naraku were on her tail. And they were rapidly covering the distance between them. Being that she was on a lone and heavily damaged dreadnought. She would not be able to properly defend herself if the Naraku caught up to her.

Normally she would warp to the next start system, and be done with the matter, but her warp drive was damaged in the battle, and now she could only flee with sub-light speeds. Of which the distance between her and her nearest reinforcements would take years to cross.

Doom was certain. There was no doubt about it. And perhaps because of this she had chosen to accept this fact. That is until her mediation was interrupted by a bridge officer. An officer, mind you, who was clearly wounded from the battle.

The officer fell to the ground as another attack passed through what remained of their shields and struck the hull of the Cabal with dreadnought. Causing tremors to quake through its frame, and lights to flicker.

After climbing to his knees, he shouted something at Kali, instantly breaking her attention away from her trancelike state.

“My goddess… There are signatures we have just picked up in the distance. Something is coming out of the warp… We have been surrounded!”

Kali sighed heavily. No doubt the bugs were flanking her. She could not escape, the ship was on full throttle, and losing power with each passing second. Even if she wanted to change direction, she did not have the time necessary to make such a maneuver.

Death had come for her quicker than she expected. With a heavy sigh, she nodded her head and agreed to face her doom on the bridge where the rest of her officers had gathered.

“Death comes for us all. We can only evade it for so long…”

It was not exactly an inaccurate statement. Even those that were biologically immortal would still die, eventually. Not from old age, but perhaps from wounds, or accidents, or poison, or sickness. It was an inevitability.

It was because of this that Kali took to the bridge. She stood patiently waiting for the Naraku fleets which were flanking her to appear. Only to be shocked when what came out of war space was not the Bugs, but rather Germanic ships.

However, there was a difference between these ships and those used by the Germanic Navy. And that was the paint scheme. The usual silver glimmering ships of the Imperial Navy were nowhere to be found.

Rather, was actively zipped past the Cabal dreadnought and began to engage the Bugs were ships that had a far more primal and gruesome paint scheme. Almost like that of dried blood, and in a tribal pattern.

Immediately, a hailing frequency was opened up, and Kali accepted to find that Mala was standing there grinning at her in a set of power armor.

“Look what we have here? If it isn’t a mighty goddess of the Cabal? You’re in an incredibly pitiful state, now aren’t you? It doesn’t matter. My warriors will squash these bugs for you! Just work on getting to a safe distance!”

After this, the channel was terminated, leaving Kali in complete and total disbelief. She quickly did as suggested though and made sure her ship made a safe distance between herself and the battle that was being waged.

The orcs had no love for naval warfare. Even with the half breed officers and NCOs in their ranks, their lust for blood was too great. And because of this, Erich designed a unique set of strategies for them to engage the enemy with.

These tactics were inspired by ancient Roman Naval warfare during the First Punic War. To put it simply, the Orcish warships would ram into their opponents and board them. Using their strength in combat to overwhelm their enemies with sheer brute force.

And it was a strategy which the Naraku wasn’t expecting in the slightest. Orc ships that were larger than their standard Germanic counterparts fired a device which disabled the Naraku shields. Then crashed into them at full speed.

Drills were used to pierce through the gaps, and the Orcs dressed in power armor and wielding all kinds of dangerous weaponry rushed through the Naraku hulls. Shooting, stomping, smashing, tearing apart, and out right lighting the bugs aflame, or exploding them with incendiary and explosive weaponry.

Even the mighty Swarm Tyrants were yanked down to the ground by grappling hooks and torn apart by large numbers of Orcs in power armor. The Naraku were absolutely stunned that some other race was foolish enough to use swarm tactics against them. Which was their bread and butter.

And yet the orcs did so, all while screaming with the most bloodthirsty howls anyone could muster. Shockingly, the battle ended in the Orcs’ favor. And Kali had just been saved by none other than the infamous Orc Warchief Mala Ironhand.