User blog:Ajax 013/Necros: Know Your Enemy (Episode 1)

In this first episode of 'Know Your Enemy', we'll look at the primary warship of the Necros fleets, the Legion-class Frigate.



The Legion-class is the primary warship of the Necros invasion fleets, being fast, deadly and agile, putting them on par with the UNSC's own Heimdall-class. The Legion-class, named after the biblical demon, 'Legion', often appears in numbers of up to 50 in Necros fleets and often acts in groups of 3 to 5, hounding enemy ships or harrying larger vessels.

Much of the AUR's knowledge on the Legion-class is divided from the Shadow of Despair. It was designated EN FFG-78 when sighted in 2614 at Linna. EN FFG-78 was later identified as the 'Shadow of Despair' and was disabled by repeated Ion cannon strikes from the Baal-class Destroyer, Brynhildr. She was boarded by a MARSOC strike force and captured then towed to Port Midgard for analysis. She was later used in mid stages of OPERATION: BEOWULF. The Shadow of Despair was destroyed during the operation, but had already been gleaned for all available information.



Armour
The primary armour of the Necros Frigate is heavily armoured sections around the prow and engines, code named 'OBSIDIAN'. OBSIDIAN, so named for its physical appearance, in similarity to the material, Obsidian. The material possess a black, reflective sheen, giving them a distinct appearance. The primary armour is made from a selection of heavy metals and composites, including titanium, steel, tungsten, chromium and some ceramics, forming a high modulus metal matrix composite, giving it high resistance to damage. The tertiary armour sections use lighter cermets to provide ballistic protection. Internally, the ship's outer areas use metal composite support struts to maintain it's outer armour, but is relatively vulnerable once this layer has been collapsed. The armour is highly resistant to both energy weapons and large kinetic kill weapons, such as MACs. On warships larger than the Legion-class, then can shrug of a single MAC impact and maintain structural integrity, though repeat hits will comprimise the primary armour.

Armament
The Armament of the Legion can be divided into five distinct sections. The Prow weapons array, the spinal batter, the broadside batteries, the battlement batteries and the missile bays.

The Primary armament of the Legion class is a pair of forward Armageddon Guns. These guns fire a magnetically accelerated 'SCYTHE' slugs, which feature their own field of magnetically held plasma. The slug, while slower and lighter than UNSC, Machina or Vorenus magnetic slugs, it can cause severe plasma damage on impact, resulting in internal fires and severe damage. The plasma is held in place by a magnetic field produced by the slug itself and is carefully damaged to prevent damaging the slug or the ship firing it. The plasma is highly compressed and on impact, it explodes violently.

The Broadside battery, with six cannons on each side (Starboard and Port) are the primary weapon for engaging enemy ships at close range. The Spinal Battery is made up of five cannons mounted from the midship to the bridge in a smooth succession, allowing them to each fire on the same target without blocking one another. The last battery is the Battlement battery, situated on the rear section and featuring six cannons on the starboard and port side. Each of of these cannons is a super heavy Disrupter cannon, firing smaller SCYTHE slugs than the Armageddon Guns. The powerful guns are apt at engaging enemy ships at close range broadside engagements (usually around 20-100,000 kilometres).

The Missile bays, situated to the rear beneath the battlement battery is comprised of 100 JUDGEMENT Missiles, a large missile with a liquid plasma warhead that ignites on impact, apt at melting away armour for follow up barrages. The missiles are extremely vulnerable to impacts but are situated well away from the front of the ship.

For every Disrupter gun, there is a support battery of four Heavy Pulse Flak Guns. These fire small, programmable SCYTHE Slugs designed to explode at a predetermined distance, resulting in a plasma explosion with shrapnel effects. The batteries are roughly equivalent to older UNSC 110mm guns and are dangerous against vehicles at a close range, but less effective at shorter ranges.

Communication Systems
The Communication Array is made up to two rearward antennae. The shorter one uses radio waves to send commands and information to nearby forces, while the longer one is a multidirectional MASER system. This is supported by a radio and optical communication/reconnaissance system for observing ground forces.

Complement
The complement is made up of 12 Adversary fighters stored in helical magazines of three in ready to launch. These can be launched in quick succession and overwhelm less catious squadrons in no time. It also carries a pair of company sized forces and six Lacerator Dropships. These are supported by 5 Compound tanks and 8 Annihilator AFVs.

Sensors
The primary sensors of the Necros warships are a pair of RADARs held in the 'wing tips' of the engine guard. These provide a full 360 RADAR array of the ship and give it a all round view of warships. These have a range of around 230,000 kilometres. These are supported by numerous optical and thermal camera arrays.

Reactor
The Legion-class Frigate uses a highly economical tritium-deutrium fusion reactor, similar to Covenant ones, though several generations ahead. These are simple, rugged and have high yields, but are easy to detect at shorter ranges.

Engines
The Legion-class can keep up with UNSC and USR warships with its high output Repulsor engines. These high power ion engines can also go for longer without redlining, but are highly visible to thermal and optical sensors.

A.I.
Though the Shadow of Despair's internal systems were highly damaged by the Ion Cannon attack, the infrastructure showed remnants of what may of been a A.I.. The appearance of Necros A.I.s in warships or ground battles have never been confirmed, by the high autonomy of the warship and the presence of a A.I. network similar to UNSC Processing Weaves. It could be theorised the A.I. was a mobile structure, such as a Necros infantry man, or destroyed itself to prevent capture.