So, this is my attempt to bring life back into the guild.

This is a rough draft of a scene in an in-progress book. And it is
nowhere near the ending.

______________________________________________
Were it not for the drumming fingers on the arm of the command chair,
the bridge would have been deathly silent. The tension was so thick,
one could cut it with a knife. The entire rag-tag fleet had been
coasting ballistically for almost six hours.

“My Lady, we’re coming to the co-ordinates now.”

The drumming stopped as Luna, House of Davis, Heir to the Throne of
the Se-combeian Empire glanced towards the astrogator.

“Are all the ships in position?”

There was a pause as the Tactical Officer checked with the rest of the fleet.

“Aye, My Lady. Green across the board.”

“Well, lets do this. Broadcast the signal. All ships, fire up. Let’s
take back our home.”

Within seconds of her command, every ship in the fleet completely
powered on, shields raised, weapons charged.

“Milady, they’re turning to meet us.”

Luna’s left eyebrow went up, a habit she’d picked up from her father.

“Interesting. Hail them.”

The Masters, as they called themselves, never deigned to acknowledge
the existence any Se-combeian ship that moved towards them.

“They’re responding.”

The viewscreen changed from a star map of the local system to an image
of a burning castle, with a rotting skull in the foreground. Luna
snorted. Of course they wouldn't show themselves.

“You dare challenge the might of the Master Race? Your ships are as
nothing to us. We have already destroyed your pitiful excuse for a
Navy, conquered your home planet, and permanently cut you off from any
hope of salvation. Surrender and mercy will be shown.”

The condescending voice was sweet, as if honey had been poured down
the speaker’s throat. But Luna was unconvinced. The Masters were a
race of conquerors, traveling through entire universes, enslaving
races and destroying those they could not oppress.

“No dice, scum. You may have destroyed parts of my home, but you
strengthened our resolve. If we go down, we go down fighting, so that
all may remember that the Se-combeian Empire made you work for your
prize.”

Luna gestured to the communications technician to kill the channel.
Without having to be told, he then opened up a fleet wide channel, so
Luna could address every ship.

“All vessels…engage.”

Almost as one, every ship opened fire, the hodge-podge group of ships
giving everything they had towards the enemy ships. But it was of no
use. The Masters’ Superdreadnoughts were not easily dispatched. The
plasma of the Se-combeian ships fizzled into the enemy shields. The
massive armada of Superdreadnoughts took their time lining up their
shots before releasing. Lasers and missiles tore from the Masters,
right into the formation. Lasers, being light speed weapons, ripped
through shields and armor as if they were nothing before they even realize
what happened. A good six ships detonated instantly, while three more were
turned to floating wrecks,venting both atmosphere and bodies.
Then came the missiles. If the
lasers were lethal, the missiles were downright annihilation. Unused
to projectile weaponry, the ships’ defenses were almost useless as 800
missiles came ripping into the fleet. While there were more missiles
than ships, the majority were targeted on Luna’s ship, the RNV
Liberator.

“We have multiple hull breaches, engines are offline, and most of our
starboard turrets have gone dark. Most of the fleet is reporting
worse. My Lady, we must break off!”

Luna forced the damage reports out of her focus. The main goal wasn’t
to destroy the enemy, but to simply hold their attention. As they
fought, a squad of United Earth Federation Marine Force Recon were en
route to destroy a satellite preventing ships from white holing into
the system. Accompanying them was an assassin, Shadow Allenar, who’d
volunteered to go.

“No! If they notice the assault team, then all hope is lost. We must
hold the line. If we fail, so does the rest of the planet! All ships,
give it your all!”

The Liberator, damaged though she was, continued to fire back. A
Se-combeian Battleship, the RNV Vengeance, placed herself between the
disabled vessel and the enemy. The ships of the fleet which could
still do so, began to push forward, diverting all power available to
the forward shields, some towing other ships for added firepower.
Masters’ Light Attack Craft began darting throughout the fleet,
targeting engines, weapons, and shield nodes, destroying defending
fighters with impunity. A LAC loosed a missile that impacted just
above the bridge of the Liberator. Crewmen that weren’t strapped down
flew across the bridge. Luna was thrown violently against her safety
harness, a loose tool grazing the side of her hair.

“Milady, we’ve lost. We must retreat!”

Luna shook her head to clear it off the pain.

“Status of the assault team?”

“Unknown. We lost contact with them just before combat began.”

Luna gazed around the bridge as the vessel rocked from repeated hits.
From the console built into an arm of her chair, she could tell that
half of her fleet was destroyed or damaged, some of them beyond
repair. Of the half that remained, none were unscathed. Among the
heavily damaged was the Vengeance. She did notice that her engines
were back up. She looked over at the helmsman. The woman was brand
new to the Navy, still in training for a helmsman slot.

“Helm, take us in. Full speed. Ram one of those ******** as hard as you can.”

The woman paled, but nodded.

“Aye ma’am.”

There was a shudder as the engines fired at maximum power, all weapon
power being diverted. The wounded ship began limping towards the
nearest Superdreadnought. But it wasn’t enough. They had so little
speed that the Liberator would probably do nothing more than
superficial damage.

“Gravitational anomaly. White hole! We have multiple white holes!”

Luna’s head whipped around to her tac officer.

“It’s…it’s…”

Through the white hole came a massive ship, larger than even the
Superdreadnoughts. 35 forward cannons giving her an intimidating look,
as did the name emblazoned upon her bow: Sabre. Behind her, more white
holes were opening up. Luna pulled up a display that mirrored the
Tactical Station.

“My Lady, I’m getting massive emissions readings here. Preliminary
count is three Battleship squadrons, seven Valkyries, five squadrons
of Heavy Cruisers, a full phalanx of our cruisers, and a
Fortress-class Carrier. And…”

She couldn’t continue. Luna couldn’t blame her. Even she was
speechless. Coming out of a white hole, amidst the assembled
firepower, was a Hive-class Breeder, the most feared ship of the
Ferogan Imperiate, their former enemies. And before anyone could get
their focus together to comment, a broadcast appeared on their
viewscreen, the transmission markings revealing a massive system-wide
communication. The image revealed only a dirty blonde man with steel
grey eyes, a grim countenance, and spoke as if the very gods were at
his side.

“This is Admiral of the Center, Prince Nocam Davis, Commanding Officer
of the 1st Joint Fleet. Master Race, you have committed an act of
aggression against the Se-combeian Empire, resulting in Se-combeian
casualties, as well as the loss of United Earth Federation Marine and
Naval lives and property. You are outgunned and outmaneuvered. Lower
your shields, disarm your weapons, and surrender your ships. Failure
to do so will result in your immediate destruction. You will have no
further warnings.”

The transmission ended as 45 million tons of Superbattleship came to a
complete stop between the Liberator and the Masters, the rest of the
ships taking their places at the sides. The three UEFN Battleship
squadrons formed their signature Wall-of-Battle, their systems fully
armed and ready. One of the Superdreadnoughts began moving to get a
good firing sequence. Almost immediately, every newly arrived ship
opened fire, torpedoes, missiles, lasers, grasers, and plasma bolts
slammed, ripped, and sliced through the single ship, turning it into
free-floating atoms.

Luna couldn’t help the tear that began sliding down her cheek.

“Father, you’re home…”