r/ImaginaryStarships • u/DecebalRex • 7h ago
Krotan-class Destroyer from the Steel Song Trilogy
In Steel Song, destroyers are highly-specialized capital ships designed to fulfill a singular purpose: to kill a dreadnought.
Although not very common among most species, especially the older and more established ones, they are still formidable enough to be worthwhile alternatives for civilizations whose economy can't afford to field a large fleet of supercapitals.
Among the Pact, the Orkyn are the most advanced of the original founders, having been spacefaring for nearly ten thousand years. Their economy, however, has suffered greatly under the yoke of the Dra'var'th. Consequently, the Orkyn rely heavily upon ships like the Krotan-class. Small, fast and heavily armed, their primary arsenal consists of an axially-mounted proton lance for piercing an enemy's shields, combined with a neutronium mass accelerator.
Due to its extreme density, a neutronium projectile impacting a target at relativistic speed, will collapse into a microsingularity. Which, due to its size, will then evaporate in a fraction of a second, causing a violent explosion. This combination of compression, followed by expansion, can easily annihilate even a supercapital-class vessel.