We've just detected a Krill destroyer entering orbit.🔈ℹ︎— Second Officer Bortus[1]
A destroyer, also known as a battleship[2] or battle cruiser,[3] referred to several different large interstellar vessels in Krill service during the early 25th century.
Destroyers were a pivotal part of the Krill military. A destroyer engaged enemy ships in direct combat, and its bombing capabilities made the ship the ideal choice to attack colony planets from space. Yet destroyers were more than simple attack ships: the Krill designed them to host entire families, providing living arrangements, religious sanctuaries, and classrooms for children. The destroyer was the largest known vessel type of the Krill, equivalent to Leviathan-class vessels of the Planetary Union.
The Orville was dwarfed by destroyers like the Kakov above.
Destroyers were curved vessels resembling a bird's beak, with a command bridge at the mid-center front of the ship. Two wings on either side of the ship housed the quantum drives for interstellar travel.
Destroyers were armed with directed-energy weapons that fired green bolts, likely plasma torpedo, as well as bombs. Like vessels of the Union Fleet, destroyers were also equipped with Deflector Screens and tractor beams.
Ships contained worship rooms, classrooms, and a Shuttle Bay for auxiliary craft. They carried at least two shuttles[4] and four Marauder-class fighters;[5] living quarters; and numerous Engineering decks. Escape pods located around the exterior hull of the ship were available in emergencies.[6]
Vessels of this class carried a large crew compliment with civilians living on board as well.[3]
Krill destroyers seem to have had multiple ship designs. The most common was the wide, rounded-top type of the Kakov and the Yakar, but a rare second type was a thin, open vessel.[n 1][n 2][n 3]
In March 2420, a trio of Krill destroyers pursued a Horbalak transport piloted by a smuggler who had stolen about 20 crates of Krill Plasma Rifles.[10]
Captain Kratok led a destroyer in pursuit of the Orville in July 2420.[11]
Around October 2420, a Krill destroyer met with the Orville in perhaps the first peaceful contact between a Union and Krill vessel, to pick up Teleya.[6]
Three destroyers, including Kratok's, were lost to an alternate universe during an attack on the AlibarConstruct in July 2421.[12]
Production[]
A Krill tractor beam captures the Union shuttlecraft ECV-197-4.
Design of the Krill destroyer was modeled after the Krill shuttle. Digital effects supervisor Brandon Fayette explains: "There was an original design for the Krill ship that wound up being replaced, and I ended up taking the Krill shuttle and turning it into what's now the Krill destroyer and the other ships, and changing the form language."[13]
The production explanation for the destroyer in Old Wounds, which looked vastly different from later destroyers, was that the particular model was favored by its director, Jon Favreau. However, after filming the pilot, production staff preferred the later design.[14]
Season 2[]
According to the supervising sound editor Jon Greasley, the sounds of Krill ships were updated for Season 2, receiving a "more aggressive" feel.[15]
Trivia[]
Pria Lavesque told the Orville that outrunning a pursuing battle cruiser drained her ship, the Horizon, of its power. However, her story was likely fabricated.[16]
↑However, the book The World of the Orville casts doubt on the classification of Krill ships. The book identifies two ship classes, Destroyer and Fighter, although the picture used for the Fighter class (the Kakov) is firmly established within the show as a destroyer (Second Officer Bortus calls it a destroyer) and the fighter found in Season 2 is nothing like the book's depiction.
↑It does seem that the show's creators intend multiple Krill vessel classes as designer Brandon Fayette has referred to Krill destroyers "and other ships." Bond, Jeff. The World of the Orville. Titan Books. 2018. Pg. 101.
↑A Krill ship attacking the USS Druyan is never identified and may be the elusive Krill fighter. Episode 1x04: If the Stars Should Appear
