The Drums of War, Pt 4

Outside, the heavily ridged chitin plating on the topside of the Imperial battleship began to slide open in long sections. As they drew back, they revealed further chitin plating beneath, which also opened up.

Once the final layer had been drawn back and out of the way, massive hovering guns floated out of the pockets that the chitin revealed. Each one was about the size of a frigate, and looked to be a deadly pair of insectoid-like mandibles.

They spun in space towards the Hegemony battleship, which was still recovering its position. Similar to the rest of Imperial beam weapons, the very tips of these mandibles began to glow, and a bright orange ball of energy began to gather in between them.

Each of the energy balls grew brighter and larger as they charged up. And right when they seemed to reach an absolute peak, fired.