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 strikes back at the Sheyang

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay.I was suffering from a minor case of writer's block, which has happily been smashed :-)

Retribution

"Your Majesty, a courier just arrived from the Plokavian border. It seems that Convoy Echo-Seven-Niner was lost to Sheyang raiders. From what the merchant survivor was able to gather, they used destroyers to draw off the escorts and then hit the merchants with battleships." High Fleet Admiral Garesh Tirik frowned. "Ma'am the Merchant Guilds and the other Confederation members are demanding action on this. The Plokavian fleets are already amassing near their border with the Sheyang."

"Send word to the Plokavian Fleet Command. Instruct them to send us any ships they can spare for the attack on the Sheyangs. Then get your planning department working on an attack on their main debris field," Queen Tian Erasa, Ruler of the Royal Sebatian Colonies and Head Chancellor of the Confederation of Neutral Stars, told her Chief Naval Officer.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Garesh said as he bowed and stepped out of the command center.

Tian stood and paced, bringing up the Sheyang Debris Fields on the large holo-generator at the center of the room.

She frowned as she looked at the sheer size of the debris fields. There were numerous places where Sheyang ships could hide. Their energy signatures would be masked by the heavy metal content of the debris. They could set up any number of ambushes.

That meant that any Confederation attack force couldn't use the most predictable assault path.

She pressed a series of keys on the control panel and several red lines appeared in the holo-grid, indicating possible attack routes that would not be the standard for the Confederation.

Most of the lines zigzagged through lighter areas of debris or cut across empty spots, or had multiple paths associated with them, leaving almost no chance for the Sheyang to trap them.

She selected three possible attack vectors and saved the settings in the holo-grid's memory bank before turning the generator off and strolling back to her quarters for some sleep.

* * * * * *

Admiral Temis Vaseg frowned as his fleet edged toward Debris Field One.

Operation Clean-Sweep was a massive undertaking by the Confederation fleet, their first series test of strength against a focused enemy fleet.

Under his control, Temis had three distinct Task Forces.

Task Force One, which he directly controlled, contained the majority of the Confederate ships. He controlled five Command Cruisers, four Plokavian Dread Cruisers and two Halosian Devastators, forming the core of his fleet. He had a horde of battle cruisers, cruisers and destroyers flying as escorts and a swarm of fighter craft.

Task Force Two, under the command of Admiral Eralia Rokesh, was leading the way to the debris field. TF-Two was formed around a core of Confederate heavy cruisers, specifically designed for combat in debris or asteroid fields. The ships had an unusually high number of pulse cannons and plasma guns, meant to clear out any debris or asteroids that might get in their way.

Task Force Three, under the command of Vice Admiral Terrenis Silat, was a much smaller force, focused around a pair of battle cruisers and three Plokavian battleships. TF-Three was circling around to the other side of the debris field to attack from the Sheyang rear. TF-Three six Plokavian Stingers, specially designed destroyers that were very fast and carried high-power plasma cannons. One shot from the weapon could tear apart any vessel.

"Admiral, Force Two is approaching the edge of the debris field, their scanners are starting to target the scrap and their guns are charging," Lieutenant Lina Feris reported from her position at tactical on the command deck of the Command Cruiser Laro.

"Good, if anything comes out of the woodwork, let me know."

"Aye, sir."

* * * * * *

The Sheyang patrol cruiser the Hunter was safely hidden in the hulk of what had been a Peacekeeper battle cruiser.

At least, they thought they were safe.

The Hunter's scanners saw the approaching fleet of Confederate vessels, and watched as they closed the distance with the debris field.

The scanner sweeps by the approaching fleet couldn't see the Hunter, but they mapped every piece of debris they could touch.

And when the range closed sufficiently, Task-Force-Two turned their heavily armed broadsides and released a maelstrom of energy and plasma rounds.

Explosions rocked the Hunter's hiding place and destroyed most of the smaller debris.

The Hunter's captain panicked and ordered his ship to retreat.

The cruiser never made it through the Confederation's second salvo.

* * * * * *

Gren swore as the reports continued to reach him.

The Confederation was attacking in force. And they were clearing out the Debris Field as they advanced, eliminating the Sheyang's primary method of attack.

He slammed a data-pad onto the table and turned to his second-in-command, who was sufficiently afraid of his commander that he remained silent.

"I want the entire fleet assembled. We will meet the Confederation in battle in the open."

The second nodded and scurried off, leaving Gren alone.

As he sat there, watching his holo-grid display the advancing Confederate positions, Gren realized that he had made a fatal mistake when he had called the Confederate's bluff. They had been serious and had the firepower to back up their threats.

But it was too late to go back and fix what he had done. All he could do was charge into battle and go out with honor and glory.

* * * * * *

"Task Force Two reports that the Sheyang fleet has assembled and is moving to intercept. They are requesting orders," Lieutenant Dera Sifel reported from the Laro's communications post.

"Instruct Admiral Rokesh to bring her ships back into formation with Task Force One," Temis ordered as he watched the Command Deck's holo-grid.

The grid displayed the location of all three task groups and the known locations of Sheyang vessels.

Another half-arn and Task Force Three would be turning back and cutting through the Debris Field to attack the Sheyang's rear.

The Sheyang were a quarter arn from combat range, and half an arn from the point at which Task Force Three would turn.

The range meant that Temis would have to keep the Sheyang at bay for the better part of an arn. He was sure that he could do it, but he knew that it would require the loss of many ships.

He hoped that he could inflict enough damage with Task Forces One and Two that the Sheyang would retreat right into the teeth of Task Force Three, or that he could destroy them completely without the aid of Task Force Three.

He knew that either of those possibilities was a long shot, but the longer he was engaged with the Sheyang, the higher his losses would be. He intended to attack with full force, and leave the remains for Task Force Three to clean up.

* * * * * *

Half of the Sheyang's approach was clouded by the remainders of the debris field, areas where Task Force Two had not yet cleared.

But the other half was in the open, and they charged straight toward the Confederation fleet.

Temis had set his fleet up to take full advantage of Task Force Two's heavy armaments, dividing the Task Force and putting to either end. The entire fleet was stopped and positioned so that their heaviest attack was targeted at the Sheyang.

As the first Sheyang destroyers buzzed into range, the Confederates opened fire with the fury of an exploding sun, and Gren watched as his first wave was destroyed outright.

But the second wave of destroyers attacked as the Confederates recharged.

The Sheyang plasma cannons lashed out, the destroyer sized weapons targeted at the Confederate capitol ships in an attempt to weaken the resistance.

Plasma rounds burrowed into armor and detonated, tearing chunks out of their targets' hulls. But the damage was far from enough.

A second volley from the Confederate guns wiped the second wave of destroyers from space.

Gren realized that his straight-forward attack would never defeat the massive Confederate fleet.

He barked orders to his communications officer and watched as his fleet reformed, the heavy cruisers, their armor the thickest of any ship besides his battleships, able to withstand the firestorm of energy the Confederates were releasing.

* * * * * *

Temis watched as the Sheyang fleet changed formation, putting their heavy cruisers to the front and their lighter warships to the rear.

He swore silently as the Sheyang continued to advance and the first volley of energy was absorbed by the heavy cruisers.

Then it was the Sheyangs' turn to wreak havoc.

The heavy cruisers carried a full-sized version of the plasma cannons the Sheyang were known for.

The huge rounds erupted from the barrels of the Sheyang warship and Temis watched as they tore at their targets.

Unlike the destroyers, the heavy cruisers were targeting the mid-sized ships in the Confederate fleet, specifically the ships on the flanks.

The redesigned Confederate heavy cruisers had a higher number of cannons than their standard design, but that was both a blessing and a curse. The increased firepower came at the loss of large amounts of armor. So when the Sheyang plasma rounds found their mark, the damage was greater than it should have been.

Temis swore, loudly this time, as several of his gun-cruisers erupted in glorious explosions.

* * * * * *

Gren grinned in triumph as he watched balls of expanding plasma consume the first of the Confederate warships.

He counted at least two dozen kills and at least twice that number in serious hits to larger vessels.

"Order all ships to attack at will. I want those ships destroyed!"

The Sheyang fleet pressed forward as another wave of Confederate energy swept over the lead heavy cruisers.

The heavy cruisers, their armor already damaged by one volley, took more damage this time. Several of the cruisers exploded as energy rounds slammed into their power plants. Other ships lagged behind as their drive systems took damage or their power plants went into emergency shut down.

But the Sheyang continued to press on, bringing their battle cruisers into attack range.

Their heavy cannons spit fire at their targets, the plasma rounds targeted at the Confederate capitol ships.

A command cruiser bucked and heaved as a full squadron of Sheyang battle cruisers targeted it. Half of the ship's power planets went into emergency shut down and the ship was quickly surrounded by heavy cruisers, the ships moving to interpose themselves between the damaged capitol ship and its attackers.

* * * * * *

"Sir, the Irana just lost half her plants, the thirty-second heavy cruisers moved into protective formation."

"Order the Halosians to open fire, we have to hold them for another four- sixth of an arn!"

The Halosian Devastators were one of the most feared warships in the Uncharted Territories. The ship mounted four particle cannons, enormous weapons that siphoned energy straight from the power plant and focused it into a long-range, highly effective lance of energy. Particle cannons could tear even some of the most powerful warships apart.

The Halosians turned from their positions near the rear of the formation and brought their particle cannons to bear on the Sheyang battle cruisers. It took a moment for their targeting scanners to pick out their targets, and another moment for the cannons to charge, but then sixteen beams of pure energy lanced out from the four Devastators, and sixteen Sheyang warships were consumed.

The Halosians pulled back, their cannons needing time to cool and their power plants needing to recharge.

But the Sheyang were not about to let those devastating guns retreat.

The battle cruisers charged forward, braving the fire of the rest of the Confederate fleet to attack the Halosians.

The Confederates would have spent more of their energy attacking the invading battle cruisers, but they had bigger fish to worry about. The Sheyang battleships reached attack range, and from the rear of their fleet a pair of dreadnaughts emerged.

The Sheyang were rumored to only have six of the enormous ships that they called dreadnaughts. The vessels were twice the size of their already impressive battleships and contained the firepower equivalent to an entire squadron of their heavy cruisers.

The battleships and dreadnaughts wasted no time in attacking, before the Confederates could get a single volley off, the ships opened fire. Their plasma rounds slammed into the armor of the Confederate capitol ships and battle cruisers.

Temis watched in horror as two of his Dread Cruisers and one of his Command Cruisers exploded.

He turned to the holo-grid and swore as the Sheyang battle cruisers swarmed the Halosians and tore three of the ships apart, crippling the fourth and then turning to attack the rear of the Confederate formation.

Temis realized that he needed to do something, and quickly before the Sheyang tore his fleet to pieces.

"All ships, fire at will!" He ordered and watched as his fleet scattered to attack.

* * * * * *

Vice Admiral Terrenis Silat pushed her ships to their limit as she tried to get to Admiral Vaseg's assistance before the Sheyang destroyed him.

She frowned as she emerged from the debris field, on the same path that the Sheyang had used to reach the battle. The remnants of Task Forces One and Two were scattered across the clearing, many destroyed and many more damaged. They were still fighting with the Sheyang, who had also taken serious damage.

Neither group had more than one or two functioning capitol ships, the majority of the vessels lying lifeless across the battlefield. Terrenis barked orders to her Stingers and her fighter squadrons.

* * * * * *

Queen Tian Erasa, Ruler of the Royal Sebatian Colonies and Head Chancellor of the Confederation of Neutral Stars, frowned as she reviewed the after- action reports from Admiral Vaseg's fleet.

Vaseg had suffered eighty-three percent losses in hardware and seventy-six percent losses in personnel.

All thirteen Confederate capitol ships had been either destroyed or were crippled so badly that they would need months of time in dry dock before they would be battle ready again.

But in the end, Temis' plan to send a small portion of ships to attack from the rear had succeeded.

Task Force Three had saved the battle, the undamaged ships attacking from the rear and taking out the remaining Sheyang resistance.

The other Sheyang forces had quickly learned about the resounding defeat of their largest group. Already Tian was receiving truces and apologies from the other Clans of the Sheyang.

She smiled as she leaned back.

The Confederacy had faced its first major test and had passed. The other groups would know now that the Confederacy meant business and that anyone who crossed any of its members would face the wrath of its fleets.