Commonscape By: Griffin Copyright notice: All characters belong to their respective owners, all original characters and plot elements belong to me.

Note: Most of the Andromeda crew is current as far as about a month ago. Farscape crew is a bit older.

Summary: Reinforcements are summoned and a daring raid is carried out on a Peacekeeper outpost to retrieve star charts vital to Alliance plans.

A Brewing Storm.

Dylan Hunt, Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant, watched the view screen as another Luxon scout group departed the Alleghany system to probe the Peacekeepers.

The spy reports indicated that the Peacekeepers were afraid of the Restored Commonwealth and its Alliance. Afraid enough to make alliances with three empires they usually wouldn't.

And those new allies had some reason to join with the Peacekeepers instead of waiting for emissaries from the Alliance to meet with them.

Now the Alliance Commanders, basically the Luxon High Command and the Independent Planet Unified Command, were sending out feeler forces to determine what the intentions of this coalition would be.

"Sir, General Li'Taran is here to meet with you," a yeoman announced from one of the communication stations.

"Have him meet me on the Obs deck," Dylan said as he headed out of Command.

When he arrived at the Obs deck, Li'Taran, D'Argo, Crichton and Crais were all waiting.

"Captain," the General said with a slight bow. "We have reports coming in from our forces that the Peacekeeper Coalition has started gathering forces at their outpost hub of Fredis. At least four full task groups, in addition to support forces and system defense ships."

"What do you suggest?" Dylan asked with a slight frown.

"We strike them before they strike us," D'Argo said with a growl.

"Indeed," Crais said with a nod. "But the Luxons cannot afford to divert that kind of firepower yet. Neither can the Ilanics."

"Which leaves your Restored Commonwealth," John said as he looked out to at the space station outside.

"I was wondering how long it would be before we would need to summon my allies," Dylan said with a nod. "And I already sent Captain Valentine in the Maru to summon assistance. But once they get here, they will be trapped until we have some sort of star chart to navigate by."

"We don't have any charts reaching beyond the borders of our territory and the Territory of the Ilanics. The Peacekeepers are rather strict in the allowance of star charts of their territory," General Li'Taran said with a frown.

"And the Independents won't have much either. They have pretty much focused on internal growth and defense," Crais said with a frown.

"Then we must strike at them and retrieve data from their own charts," D'Argo said aggressively. "We must hit one of their outposts near here and take the charts from their data banks."

"That would be an act of war," Dylan argued immediately. "We don't know what their plans are. We have had no communication with them, but we have also not had any of their ships attack ours."

"That's because they are smart," Crais said with a frown. "I was one of them. I know. They will wait until they know they can hit us and then they will strike with overwhelming force. They will bring everything they have to bear at one time."

"We need to take the fight to them first. We need to disperse their forces before we strike," Li'Taran added. "We need to make them reinforce their outposts and draw strength away from their central position. The less ships they have in one place the less dangerous they are."

"What do you suggest?" Dylan asked, a slight edge in his voice.

"I suggest that we take a small strike group, hit them and take the star charts and get back here. When your allies arrive, we will attack them along their edges and force them to spread their ships along the frontier. When they have done that, we will strike Fredis and remove the majority of their forces," D'Argo announced proudly.

"How big a force are you suggesting?" Dylan asked and D'Argo shrugged.

"We would use Talyn and a small contingent of Luxon fighters to reach the objective. John, I, Tyr, Aeryn, a small group of your lancers and a small group of Luxon warriors would be the strike team. We would bring a couple of techs with us to decipher their computers and extract the star charts."

"How long do you think the operation would take?"

"At least two solar days, if we do it right. At the most it would take four. We would need to go in and observe for a day. Watch their paths and determine where our best chance of slipping through would be. We would try to avoid detection until the last minute and then hit them hard," John said with a shrug.

"All right," Dylan said reluctantly. "That should give my ships enough time to get here. If we time it correctly, we will be able to introduce the star charts into the computers and make a jump within the same day."

"But we should wait until my forces have fully integrated the slip-drives into use."

"Harper informs me that your ships should be fully functioning within three solar days. Once they have a few trial runs with the slip-drives we can strike at Fredis," Dylan said as he shook his head slightly. "And may God have mercy on us."

* * * * * * Beka yawned as Trance piloted the Eureka Maru toward the docking bay of the Sabra-Jaguar drift that was the current home of the Pride's Third Fleet.

She had a direct order from Dylan to call the entire fleet to action and provide them with slipstream 'directions' to their destination.

They had already been to Mobius to call up the fleet there and to the Castilians to have that fleet moved.

This was their last stop before returning to the Andromeda and finding out what they were going to do.

* * * * * *

"This is madness," Fleet Marshall Leo Tiral, leader of Sabra-Jaguar Third Fleet, announced with a laugh. "We are to make a jump into uncharted space with the entirety of our fleet to help a new ally that we have yet to make contact with?"

"Yes," Beka said with an arrogant smile. She hated Nietzscheans.

"Why?"

"Because," Beka began slowly, "the Commodore of the Restored Commonwealth has ordered you to. And under the terms of our alliance you are bound to bring all requested forces to bear at the requested location."

Leo shook his head and read the flexi again.

"Fine, we'll go," he said as he handed the flexi to his Navigation officer. "We'll be ready to depart within the hour."

The comm-link was cut and Beka smiled.

"That went better than I expected it to," she said and Trance laughed. * * * * * *

Talyn and the eight Luxon fighters eased closer to the small planet that held the Peacekeeper outpost of Grenid Seven.

It was not one of the most important outposts in the Peacekeeper territory, but it did watch the border with the Independent Planets and held the star charts for routes through the entire Peacekeeper territory.

"Those are Hynerian battle cruisers," D'Argo said as he pointed to three large ships near the edge of the system. "They are powerful enough to take out a Peacekeeper frigate without suffering a scratch. The Hynerians may be weak, but their weapons are not."

The ships edged further in-system on light power, trying to stay hidden.

"Scorvian Stinger ships," the leader of the Luxon detachment said pointing to a squadron of fighters. "Almost as powerful as our fighters, and they hunt in packs to overpower our edge in power."

The system had at least one ship from each of the Coalition members. Peacekeeper frigates and destroyers; Hynerian battle cruisers and fighters; Scorvian light cruisers and Stinger ships; and a Nebari heavy cruiser populated the system.

"We'll reach their active sensor range in two arns. From there, Talyn will make a run toward the outpost while the fighters hit those Stinger ships and prowlers," D'Argo said with an absent minded look at the holo-grid.

* * * * * *

"Ma'am, unidentified ships detected to the port side," the tactical officer of a Peacekeeper frigate announced.

"What? What are they?" The captain asked and the officer shrugged.

"Not sure. They are running on low power. I can't really get a good read on them from this range. They could just be sensor ghosts but there are too many. I'm reading at least six signatures. Possibly as many as eight."

"Bring us to yellow status. Have the crew go to general quarters and bring the frag cannons on-line," Captain Eliza Drimas ordered as she sat up in her command chair.

"Aye, Ma'am. Going to yellow status, bringing weapons on-line now," the tactical officer replied. * * * * * *

"That frigate to the starboard has us," the lead Luxon pilot announced. "Requesting permission to go weapons hot and hit them hard."

"This is Crais, you have permission to go weapons hot and hit them hard. Neutralize that frigate and help clear us a path to the outpost," Crais ordered as he brought Talyn's offensive and defensive systems up to full power. * * * * * *

The frigate never knew what hit them. One minute they were moving to investigate a possible sensor blip, the next they were swarmed by eight Luxon assault fighters.

They never even got a chance to bring their weapons up to full power, or to get into their air-tight suits.

But the destruction of the frigate tipped off the rest of the system picket and almost immediately every ship in the system started closing on the nine vessels.

The Luxon fighters moved into a tight formation in from of Talyn as they moved toward the outpost. The first ships to dare attack the powerful assault ships were the ten Scorvian Stingers. It was the last mistake those pilots would ever make as a wave of energy tore their weaker ships apart before they even got a good look at their attackers.

The Luxons split off into two groups to take care of the incoming Prowlers, leaving Talyn to deal with the pair of incoming Peacekeeper frigates.

The two smaller ships might have been able to take Talyn out had they known to stay clear of his main cannon.

A single shot from the hefty cannon tore each ship to pieces and Talyn flew right through the expanding debris clouds, closer to the goal. * * * * * *

"Hanger Three has been breached!" Someone shouted in Grenid Seven's command center as the base shook. "We're getting troops there as soon as possible!"

"Seal the area off. I want this command center locked down now!" The base commander shouted as he received reports from orbit.

The eight Luxon fighters and unidentified destroyer were tearing apart anything small enough to have reached them and were avoiding the heavier firepower in the system.

The shuttle pod that had bore the infantry had struck with impunity as the mother ship tore apart the defense turrets guarding the base's surface entrances.

Now it was going to be a fight inside the base and Commander Felis Silar had a feeling these attackers had come prepared for what they were about to face. * * * * * *

The Luxons lead the attack into the base, their pulse cannons tearing apart the automated defense systems with ease.

There wasn't a body to be found for almost five minutes.

And then the base's ground troops arrived and it became a shooting match.

That was when the Lancer's had the advantage. Their smart rounds sought out the enemy and neutralized them or their weapons until there was no return fire.

The group split up and Aeryn and Tyr lead the way toward the computer core, a small group of techs following close behind. John and D'Argo decided to cause some more trouble and strike at the power generators. They would plant explosives and detonate them once out of the base.

Aeryn hefted her pulse cannon up as the group turned a corner and released a withering spray of pulse fire into a group of what seemed to be armed techs. The unarmored Sebatians fell without a fight and Tyr smiled.

"Impressive weapon," he said as he took the lead. "Now my turn."

The team reached what appeared to be the computer core and Tyr took the opportunity to show off his fire power. He switched his weapon to explosive rounds and stood back from the sealed door.

He squeezed the trigger and grinned as the door exploded inward.

"Impressive," Aeryn said with a smile as she moved inside to secure the core. "It's clear. Get those techs in here!"

The team spread out around the door to protect the techs while they worked and as she watched the passageway for any sign of Peacekeepers she wondered how John and D'Argo were doing. * * * * * *

John grinned as he slapped the explosive device on the main power generator for the entire outpost. When that device exploded it would wipe out the power to every system in on this rock.

The rest of the team was busy setting up similar devices throughout the power room to make sure that there would be no secondary power running to anything. Especially to the defense and communication systems that could give them away.

"This is Crichton, the power room is rigged. We are returning to the shuttle." John switched frequencies. "This is Strike Team Two to Mama Hen, get ready to pick up the chicks."

"Strike Two this is Mama Hen. Message acknowledged, we're on our way." * * * * * *

The shuttle pod lifted off from the outpost just in time to see one of the sections exploded magnificently, and to watch the defensive cannons shut down suddenly.

They were only exposed for moments before Talyn swooped in and grabbed them. The ship had taken a hit from one of the Scorvian light cruisers but was still flyable.

Two of the Luxon fighters had made the mistake of tangling with the same light cruiser, and although they had inflicted serious damage to the ship, they had been destroyed when they got too close to the ship's point defense grid.

Another of the Luxons had somehow been dragged away from the support of his fellows and had been assaulted by an entire squadron of Prowlers but had taken eight of the nine before he fell in battle.

So five lightly damaged Luxon fighters and Talyn pushed their way through Scorvian Stinger ships and Peacekeeper Prowlers and made a run for the edge of the system. They were faster than anything that could cause them any trouble and had the firepower to take out anything fast enough to keep up with them.

All of which added up to absolutely no one following them out of the system and back to the Alleghany Republic and the waiting Alliance fleet. * * * * * *