《The Spectrals》 Prologue The Destroyer of Worlds, The Catalyst of the End, The Doommaker, The Planet Eater, even Death itself. These were all names given to The Hammer. A terrifying space ship of extraordinary power, capable of waging massive wars on a galactic scale, the ship itself was bigger than most planets, even rumored to have once gone toe to toe with the galactic army, the Federation of the United Planets of Andromeda. The battle was 3,000 ships vs 1. The Hammer annihilated all of them, destroying each and every ship. The Hammer was a terrifying ship but the people running the beast where even more frightening. The Order. The Order did not want to conquer, they did not want to enslave, they did not want allies, they didn''t want anything a typical empire would want. They wanted to wipe out every race of aliens. They¡¯re crusade led them throughout their home galaxy, Andromeda. After the Battle of Andromeda, which was The Order vs every last remaining fleet in the galaxy, The Order decided to continue they¡¯re massacre in the Milky Way. The first planet they encountered was beautiful, almost identical to their home world. They had found the only other humans in the universe.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The Order named the planet after their own, ¡°Earth.¡± They told the humans that The Order will be waiting for them in the future, once they reach the space age. They will help their fellow humans, to ensure their survival, but they could not interfere until then, they did not want to mess with the natural aging of the planet by rushing generations. Humanity must naturally progress through the ages, just like they did. They must learn everything The Order had learned. So they bid their farewells to the ¡°Cavemen¡± who thanked them by grunting at them incoherently and The Order disappeared from the galaxy. Now, humanity needs The Order more than ever, but unfortunately for Earth, the only other humans in the universe lay frozen in space, for only a code can awaken The Order, a code that must be decrypted. Chapter 1 ¡°We are screwed.¡± Magnitude said. ¡°Thank you for your valuable contribution to this team.¡± Nano responded. The last of the Spectrals were in a crippled capital ship, called the Dreamcaster. They were trying to awaken the ancient army in the middle of a huge asteroid field, and in just a few minutes around 20 blackwatch ships were going to warp in and finish them off. ¡°Hey I took out one of the ships!¡± Magnitude retorted. ¡°Guys stop, we need to find out where the Order is.¡± Zero said ¡°Can¡¯t you call Reaper and have him just black hole their ships away?¡± Magnitude asked. ¡°Now you know better than me that''s not how it works.¡± Zero responded. Then Zero put his hand to his ear. ¡°Oh he¡¯s talking to dad again.¡± Magnitude said. Zero looked to Nano, ¡°Sector 6 5620¡± Nano tuned the transmitter to that sector, ¡°Zero, it''s just an asteroid, why would Reaper send us here?¡± ¡°No, not an asteroid¡­ Hail it.¡± Zero said. ¡°Hail an asteroid? Okkaaaayyy.¡± ¡°Are you human?¡± Everyone jumped, the robotic voice was coming from their comms. ¡°Uhhhhhhhhh yes, whos asking?¡± ¡°Prepare to be tested¡± ¡°So I guess we found The Order?¡± ¡°No this isn¡¯t right, they''re supposed to be like super powerful. Were talking to a literal rock right now.¡± ¡°Scanning complete, human life detected¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. They all looked at each other, no one said a word. By now the Blackwatch attack fleet had warped in and were headed for them. ¡°Guys we have big problems!¡± Zero was getting nervous. ¡°Okay so this mission was a waste of ti-¡± Magnitude was cut off by the asteroid voice again. ¡°Humans, do you need immediate assistance?¡± Magnitude practically screamed at the thing, ¡°YES!¡± ¡°Alpha protocol activated, awakening The Hammer.¡± The Spectrals where now looking out the window, the Blackwatch ships were fast approaching. Then the computer terminal started going off. ¡°Celestial body detected¡­..Celestial body detected¡± The radar showed that a planet was warping into their sector. ¡°Thats¡­. That is impossible¡­¡­ Planets can''t warp¡± Nano nervously said. Then a horrifying loud blaring noise was heard, like something was ripping through space itself like it was fabric. Then just behind the Blackwatch fleet a massive disturbance could be seen. Something big was coming. They couldn¡¯t comprehend what was happening, they only knew that what they were seeing shouldn¡¯t be possible. Space itself was ripping away and the noises it was making where horrifying, like a very loud low pitched horn was blaring. Then they saw it, the nose of ship emerging from the cloud like wormhole. The ship was huge, completely shadowing the blackwatch fleet. On the side of the ship was the name ¡°The Hammer.¡± After around 10 minutes the ship was fully warped in and the opening in space was closed. The ship was long and very tall. Its shape was boxy, it was obvious this beast was made long ago, the style was outdated compared to the design of the much sleeker Blackwatch ships. Along the side of the ship were thousands of cannons aimed at the Blackwatch fleet. They opened fire, releasing a volley at them, the darkness of space was lit up from the explosions of the enemy ships. In mere seconds the blackwatch fleet was reduced to debris. The Spectrals didn¡¯t move, they were too shocked to do anything. Their computer started beeping, then a holographic image appeared, showing a human, ¡°Crew of the Dreamcaster, my fellow humans. I am Captain Jax. We are The Order.¡± The Dreamcaster began moving towards The Hammer, ¡°They must have a tractor beam on us.¡± Nano said to the others. ¡°How do we know we can trust them?¡± Zero asked. ¡°Because they haven¡¯t blown us up.¡± Magnitude said. By now the Dreamcaster had been pulled into one of the hangars, the Spectrals were amazed at the scale of the Hammer. Their ship, the Dreamcaster, was the size of Manhattan, and in the hangar it looked more like it was the size of the ant. The Spectrals opened the main ramp and walked out into the hangar. The Hangar was filled with soldiers and technicians scrambling around. It was utter chaos, but the Spectrals knew that this was not chaos. They were preparing for war, they knew what they were doing. A squadron of soldiers greeted them at the bottom of the ramp. In the middle was a man in a suit, he had plenty of patches on his arm. Zero walked up to him and shook his hand, ¡°You must be Jax.¡± Jax looked at the rest of them, ¡°and you must need some rest. We have plenty of room as you probably can see.¡± The Spectrals took the opportunity to get some much needed rest.