After what felt like hours, was merely seconds. The Helmsman placed his headphone receiver into another port to make what he was now hearing to be put onto the speakers in the bridge.
"Jenny Lee, moving into defence formation Delta, priming weapons, Hammer Head, take the left, Wyre, take the right, Spirit, you go high, Axiom and Divergence, go low! Let's try outflank their weapons, and get out of here!" came a muffled static voice from the Jenny Lee as The Axiom remained still. Captain Smith should have foreseen the actions taken by The Jenny Lee, her Captain was always nipping at his heels, but this surprise was an utter shock to the old man. An old man expecting his retirement to be waiting for him on a silver platter, but was presented with a group of thugs, attempting to rob him of his one last final great achievement. The sickening reality sank like lead in his stomach. He would not be the one to save humanity from overpopulated extinction. He would be just another fallen name upon a marble pillar in the halls of remembrance, like so many before him.
With the sudden, aggressive movement of the six human ships, The Lead Gryph Ship fired a single shot.
A massive blue gel like ball left the Gryph charged weapon and sailed through the silent void with hellish speed. The first round penetrated the fore-port side of The Spirit of Terra, and exited through Aft Starboard, followed by the horrific explosion of the warp reactor. Captain Smith's face glowed with the fire of The Spirit Of Terra, awed with shock, his mouth soundlessly muttering.
"All Ships, this is Captain Daniel Arburrow, I am taking command! All Ships open fire! Open fire! Cover the retreat!"
The remaining five active ships opened fire. Dozens of cannons unloaded everything they had; their muzzle flashes could be seen from the Gryph space station. But, before their first projectile could hit the Gryph ship, their counter measures had destroyed most of the missiles. Only six of the Gryph ships answered the insult of fire. Six more blue gel balls entered the void, heading straight for the Human ships.
Captain Smith's brain finally entered action. "Reverse sub-light thrusters, hard to port!" the bridge quickly began to shudder with the sudden violent movements of the craft. The Hammerhead drove just below the Axiom in a plot to avoid the oncoming blue plasma, however, the ship did not move fast enough, The blue plasma gel smashed into the aft starboard of the ship and pummelled its way through the interior of the interstellar cruiser, instantly incinerating any crew that befell it's murderous path until it exited the ship on the aft port side, leaving a gaping wound spilling out debris from the Hammerheads body. The Hammerhead's shell very quickly fell apart as a chain reaction from the sub-light engines engulfed the ship in a hell-fire. The Captain could not even order an evacuation before the ship was obliterated. The shock waves from this explosion forced The Axiom upwards in a gut wrenching jolt, Captain Smith was thrown with the rest of his crew suddenly towards the front of the room. His head colliding with the helm console, the warm wet blood now flowing from a fresh gash on his forehead, his white hair now showing a crimson streak. Unable to regain his footing, the old man's vision became impaired, blurry figures danced around him, rushing from console to console, shouting out reports. Captain Smith felt a sensation he had not felt in more than three decades. He felt drunk. With another sudden jolt the Captain was pulled from the side of the helm console by a shadowed figure and dragged to the rear of the room where he was propped up against the cold metal wall. An unfocused face was now inches from his own, a dull voice echoed through his ears, unable to focus, unable to hear, Smith blinked, shaking his head, hoping this would allow the crew member to understand his words could not get through.
The Bridge soon did not glow with the green hint from the consoles or the flashes of the weapons, but quickly grew blue.
"Sir! Plasma incoming! Brace for impa... Evacuate the bridge! It's heading straight for us!" cried a tactical officer in a breaking fearful voice. Captain Smith tried his very best to regain focus in his un-bloodied eye, only to see the electric blue gel impact the reinforced glass of the bridge's skin that held only for the briefest of seconds and turned into fire as it engulfed the once proud ship and it's crew.
The Junior Aliens stood in awe as they observed the scene of carnage, security teams stood silent and still, years of discipline forcing them to stare only forwards, awaiting their next orders, ready to move into action at the first sign of trouble or a word from the governor, but remaining as stone statues until then. Governor Arden stood limply shaking his head as he watched the final ship burst into a fire ball of orange and blue. The Jenny Lee fell apart with all hands, just like all the other ships, wreckages drifting through the once again silent, peaceful void. The Senior Communications team stood by the blue glowing consoles with their long mouths drooping open as Governor Arden approached them.
"Find out where they came from! send a message, we will not tolerate any bullying from any race! I want all available information about our new enemy! Send search parties to the wreckages. Use extreme prejudice."