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 2 months ago. Farscape crew is quite a bit older.

Summary: The Confederation gets its first taste of blood.

Sucker Punch

Queen Tian Erasa frowned as she reviewed the data from her forward scouting elements.

Due to the Halosians' tendency toward aggression and the Interion's pacifistic culture, the Royal Navy and Plokavian Fleet were the two groups that saw contact with the outside work.

The Royal Navy, due to its much greater size, had drawn both the duty of patrolling the border with the Coalition and the Alliance and the task of escorting Confederate merchants through the territories of the belligerent Star Nations.

The majority of the merchants were still trading with the Coalition, but since the arrival of the Commonwealth and the formation of the Alliance, goods had been flowing in that were becoming increasingly special to the people of the Confederation.

In general, the Confederation deployed a division of three destroyers or light cruisers to most of the small to mid size transport convoys. Larger convoys earned whole squadrons of the escorts.

For certain convoys, like those that went deep into the Coalition territory, divisions of battle cruisers were added to the standard escorts.

So far, neither the Alliance nor the Coalition had tried to attack Confederate convoys.

The same could not be said for the scavenging Sheyang.

Three major convoys traveling past their debris field had been harassed by squadrons of Sheyang destroyers and even a Sheyang battleship had been spotted.

There had been no major losses, some damage done to the escort vessels, but it was enough that the Merchant Guilds were demanding action.

And so Tian and High Fleet Admiral Garesh Tirik had to put together an assault plan against the Sheyang Debris Fields.

The Sheyang occupied seven huge debris fields, their Searchers constantly hauling in new finds for their Harvesters to look over and pick apart. Their home planet was enshrouded by Debris Field One, the largest and densest of the Fields.

The problem with attacking the Sheyang in their own debris field was the fact that there was so much space junk, that sensors would be nearly useless and the Sheyang would have the advantage of being able to launch surprise attacks from the clouds of debris.

"Your Majesty," Garesh said after a long silence. "I think it would be wise for our ships to draw the Sheyang out into the open and then strike them."

"What would you suggest, Garesh?" Tian asked as she reviewed a holo-gram of the border situation.

"I would suggest that we use the debris field against them. We could place the majority of our fleet just inside the Debris cloud. We could send a squadron of warships into the field to draw out their fleet. Once the Sheyang leave the debris field, the rest of our fleet could emerge from the cloud and pummel them."

"It is an interesting plan," Tian admitted. "Get your planners working on it. I need to draft an official warning to the Sheyang before we strike them. They need to know that we mean business.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Garesh said as he bowed and hurried off to one of the various offices.

"So much for remaining neutral," Tian said to herself as she reviewed yet another report.

* * * * * *

"Damn Swiss," John said as he threw the data pad on the table.

The pad contained the Confederation's warning to the Alliance. In it, Queen Erasa warned the Alliance that any military ships caught attempting to enter Confederation space would be immediately destroyed and the act would lead to a declaration of war against the Alliance.

"Who?" Aeryn asked, confused at the reference.

"An old Earth nation," Rommie interjected. "During the Second World War the Nation of Switzerland fortified their borders and declared their neutrality. Their borders were so secure that neither side in the war attempted to enter."

Aeryn's frown deepened. She shook her head and turned back to the discussion at hand.

"So we can't use their territory as a safe-haven?" Aeryn asked and John nodded.

"That seems to be the case," Dylan agreed. "Though I wonder if they consider merchant escorts in this category. If so, they seem to have a double standard in regards to their own merchants and ours."

"Indeed," Li'Taran said with a nod. The Luxons were known throughout the territories as being one of the fiercest protectors of their own shipping interests. And if someone thought that they were going to strip that protection, they were sadly mistaken.

"What shall we do then?" Crais asked, he was on Talyn as the Corvette prepared to join a patrol division on the front.

"We'll send a courier to their capitol to clarify the issue And if they think that they can send military ships as escorts, then they better expect us to do the same," Dylan said firmly and heads nodded.

* * * * * *

Gren, leader of the Sheyang, as far as the Sheyang had any leader, frowned as he read the warning from the Confederation of Neutral Stars.

He threw the data pad across the room with disdain and turned to his second in command.

"I want attacks on Confederate vessels increased. I want their vessels destroyed or scavenged. Use the battleships if you have to."

"Yes, Sir," the second in command said as he hurried to pass the order.

The Sheyang people were not a force to be threatened. They recognized power when they saw it, but the Confederation was untested. Their ships had not seen combat yet, whereas the Sheyang fleets were strong and familiar with the taste of blood. The Sheyang would see if the Confederates could support their threats.

* * * * * *

Commodore Yara Uner frowned as her squadron of destroyers and their six merchant cruisers moved along the outer edges of Debris Field Six.

The path was dangerous, but necessary due to the position of the field between the Royal Colonies and the Plokavian Territories. Field Six, however, was one of the smaller fields and was less likely to have very heavy firepower.

That was, at least, what High Command told a lowly commodore.

And High Command, it seemed, was about to be proven wrong.

Alarms sounded on the Command Deck of the destroyer Light-Foot as unidentified sensor contacts began filtering out of the debris field.

The Confederate sensors scanned the vessels as they approached and quickly designated them as Sheyang destroyers.

"Commodore, we have eleven Sheyang Class-One destroyers inbound at maximum speed. They seem to mean business, Ma'am," Lieutenant Commander Taris Pal reported from the ship's tactical post.

"All ships to red alert!" Yara ordered as she activated her tactical grid. "Order all ships to move into protective formation and instruct the merchants to go to full power, get them out of here!"

"Yes, Ma'am," Light-Foot's communications officers responded as he went to work.

"Time until we have a firing solution?" Yara asked as she quickly pulled her vac-suit over her uniform.

"Three hundred microts. Sheyang will have a solution in two hundred and fifty!" Taris reported as he too donned his vac-suit.

"Order all ships to pick a target and focus on that target's plasma cannon. If we can take those out we may have a chance," Yara told her command crew as the two squadrons closed the gap.

* * * * * *

"The Confederate destroyers are charging our destroyers, just as we expected. Merchants have gone to full power and are fleeing toward Plokavian space."

"Acknowledged," Commander Reng said with a growl on the command deck of the Sheyang battleship Dragon. "Order all battleships to begin their run at the merchants. Full power to the plasma cannons and target the engines. We want whatever those merchants have in their hulls."

The five Sheyang battleships that had been hiding in the debris field, suddenly appeared on the Confederate scanners and the merchant captains panicked. They realized that they were going to be destroyed or captured if they didn't do something drastic. The six ships scattered in all directions, their drives working at maximum to get them out of the way of the charging Sheyang warships.

The Confederate destroyers realized too late that they had been suckered away from their charges to make the way clear for the Sheyang battleships.

They also realized that it wouldn't have done them any good even if they had stayed with the merchants considering the sheer power of a Sheyang battleships' main plasma cannon.

The ten Royal Navy destroyers charged headlong toward the eleven Sheyang destroyers. And as each side attacked, explosions marked the damage done to the enemy vessels.

The Sheyang battleships caught all but one of the merchants, that lone survivor running straight for the safety of the Plokavian border fleet.

The Sheyang destroyers, outnumbering and outgunning the Confederate destroyers, made short work of their targets. Only one of the destroyers maintained structural integrity while only three of the Sheyang destroyers were lost.

The result of the attack on the Confederate fleet, however, would make the Sheyang wish they had never attacked Convoy DSP-One-Seven-Nine.

* * * * * *