Space Empires IV Dynasty?

[sachmo71]

Clearing Lenoltris

Strikefleet Hellcat descended on the Rage colony of Bardron III like an avalanche. Reinforced by the bulk of Rear Admiral Brennan’s Strike Fleet Avenger, Sakazawa now had twenty-four ships under his command. For the first time in history, two Space Marine brigades were preparing to assault the same planet. Considering the resistance they had encountered so far, it seemed like overkill, but Sakazawa didn’t want to take any chances. The Rage were a clever and tenacious enemy. He expected the next few invasions to be very met with fierce resistance. If it turned out to be anything like the invasion of the Rage homeworld, the extra Space Marines would be necessary.
This was not the case on Bardron III, however. The fleet detected no ground or space based defenses. The 1st and under strength 2nd Space Marine brigades landed on the planet, eliminating the Rage forces and primary sequencer with minimal casualties. The planet was renamed Tovador, and the population integration process was begun. There were only two Rage planets left in the Bardron system, and Sakazawa intended on having them both neutralized by the end of the month.

In Lenoltris, the interdiction of Ukra-Tal fleet movements continued. In the lower quadrants, Strikefleet Dauntless intercepted a Hedmora class cruiser. Scans showed that the Ukra-Tal ship was packed with electronics, armor, shields and armed with two large acid launchers. With a numerical advantage of seven ships to one, Gina was confident in her chances, but was by no means sure of escaping the battle unscathed.
The fleet was deployed in a standard wedge formation as they moved to engage the Hedmora. The Ukra-Tal cruiser turned to face the Remorhaz fleet. It was a slow ship, but her guns outranged those of the Remorhaz cruisers. If they maintained their approach, her ships would get the critical first shot at the Hedmora. Of course, that was assuming that the Hedmora didn’t have a trick up her sleeve.
Gina watched the tactical display of the battle from her command chair in the combat information center aboard RSS Buffalo. She intended to let the individual ships captains run the battle, and only get involved if things began to get out of hand. She watched the two fleets approach one another. Over the communication network, the senior line officer, Captain Olaf Svenson, ordered missiles to be fired at maximum range. Svenson commanded RSS Nemesis, which was Jager’s previous command. With his greater numbers, Svenson was trying to force the Hedmora away from his fleet and hopefully damage the enemy cruiser before they had to close range and engage with direct fire weapons. The Ukra-Tal acid launchers had a longer range and bigger punch than the depleted uranium cannons on the Remorhaz ships.
The Hedmora continued to close the range, moving into firing range while knocking some of the Remorhaz missiles out with his ships strange anti-missile projectiles. Ukra-Tal ships resembled living creatures, and fired projectiles from their “snout” that were capable of destroying threatening warheads. It was truly an unsettling sight for even the most experienced Remorhaz crewmen. Having survived the initial missile strike, the Hedmora opened fire on RSS Buffalo, damaging her shields. Gina could see the hits reflected on the tactical screen, but knew that the shields had held. They would not be able to stop another strike, though. Realizing this, Buffalo’s captain fired his cannon at the Hedmora at maximum range, damaging her shields, and turned the ship to take her out of range of the enemy cruiser.
Seeing the waves of missiles streaking toward him, the Hedmora turned to open the range with the Remorhaz seekers. More projectiles filled the space behind the ship, and many of the missiles were knocked down, but two waves made it through its defenses, further damaging the shields. Seeing this, Svenson ordered the fleet to hold back until their missile tubes were reloaded.
The Hedmora suddenly reversed course as the Remorhaz ships lined up for another missile salvo, and before the missiles were fired, it hit Buffalo with two more acid salvos. The damage was superficial, but they had lost all shields. If they stayed in the fight, they would suffer serious damage. Svenson seemed to realize this at the same time, and ordered Buffalo to fall back and avoid engaging the Hedmora until further notice.
The Ukra-Tal defenses proved a constant source of frustration for the Remorhaz ships. Heavy radiation waves from the countermeasures suite on the Hedmora downgraded the effectiveness of the Remorhaz gunnery computers, resulting in many cannon shots missing their mark. However, the sheer volume of fire from the fleet finally brought the Hedmora’s shields down, with the final blow being struck by the depleted uranium cannon of RSS Liberation. RSS Firefly fired at the cruiser at close range, missing with two shots. The third struck the hull of the Hedmora, which immediately began to “heal” itself.
Again the Ukra-Tal ship turned to run while it’s acid launchers recharged. Now was the best chance for the Remorhaz ships to close range and do some heavy damage to the cruiser, since it appeared long-range cannon fire would be very ineffective. As Gina watched her fleet move in and close with the cruiser, she bit her lip and hoped that someone back home would see the difference the defensive electronics were making in the battle, and figure out how to get her ships some of their own.
Firefly was able to land some more damaging blows to the Hedmora, while the second salvo of Remorhaz missiles homed in on their target.
The Ukra-Tal captain again turned and flew through the heart of the fleet, locked in on RSS Buffalo. At maximum range, he fired his acid launchers even as the last Remorhaz salvo overwhelmed his defenses and battered the cruiser’s hull. The acid globules smashed into Buffalo’s hull, eating away both shield generators, one engine, and two of her point-defense batteries.
As her CIC staff reported the damage, Gina wondered when she would stop being surprised at the tenacity of her enemy. One of the main duties of a Remorhaz ship captain was to ensure the safety of her ship and it’s crew. In her experience, their enemies did not seem to hold the same values. Where this Ukra-Tal captain could have maneuvered to escape and fight another time, or hold out for reinforcement, he instead chose to concentrate on one enemy ship and try to take them down with him. It was honorable, but futile. She just couldn’t see the logic in the alien’s thinking.
The Hedmora was a wreck, venting gasses and debris as she limped along toward RSS Buffalo. No attempt was made by her captain to surrender his ship, and so Gina watched as her fleet destroyed it.

The only other combat in Lenoltris occurred when Dauntless moved into range of the Lenoltris-Yukra wormhole, where they found a heavily damaged Ukra-Tal light cruiser hiding. Gina presumed that it was waiting here for a rescue ship, as all of it’s engines were destroyed. She attempted to have the enemy captain surrender his ship, but again they refused. Buffalo finished it off with a salvo of cannon shells into her powerplant. For the moment, Lenoltris was clear of all enemy shipping.

[sachmo71]

Force Multipliers

The Naval Design Bureau was a misleading name. In actuality, the Bureau was in charge of creating new hardware for all of the branches of the military, but it had been created initially as a think tank to design the first Remorhaz warships. Since it’s creation, the workload had pushed the project of renaming itself to the bottom of the pile. As the war drew on, and the scientific community grew, that pile grew bigger and bigger every day. The scientists, planners, and engineers assigned to the Bureau persisted, though. Every new discovery and invention that they could get their hands on was studied as the Bureau attempted to find a military application for it. For example, the Hemdall Corporation on Harkness had created an improved guidance system for the robotic miners that their company manufactured. The Naval Design Bureau obtained a few samples, and discovered that the precision computer that ran the new guidance system was very similar, but superior, to the targeting system on the FA-5 Warhammer anti-ship space fighter. Adding these to the craft would increase their attack efficiency by as much as 25%, and the cost of adding the new system to the fighters would be negligible. With that, the FA-5B Warhammer was born. Without the work of the Naval Design Bureau, the improvement might never have been made, considering the illogical connection between the two systems. This scenario had taken place a thousand times before, and would continue until there was peace in the galaxy.

Strikefleet Hellcat converged on Bardron VI, intent on finishing the Rage presence in the system, and hopefully the galaxy. Rear Admiral Sakazawa, commander of Strike Fleet Hellcat, was expecting a rough fight. A quick scan of the planet told him that he might have bitten off more than he could chew.
The Rage defenses started with two belts of missile satellites. Behind that, the tactical display showed at least fifteen space fighters, armed with cannon and missiles. The surface of the planet was bristling with weapons. No less than sixteen defense bases were dug into the surface of the moon, half armed with heavy missiles and half armed with phased-polaron beams. A quick glance at the data scrolling across the display told him why this world was so heavily armed. Nineteen mining facilities dotted the surface of the mineral rich moon, making this planet one of the most valuable worlds remaining in the Rage dominion.
The figures told Sakazawa what he already knew; that would have to bomb the planet into submission. The missile bases wouldn’t present as much of a threat to his fleet as the heavy phased-polaron beams would. He didn’t have the firepower to take them out before they would be able to rip his fleet to shreds, to say nothing of trying to cover the Space Marines while they tried to land on the planet. It would be a slaughter. No, he would have to hang back and fire missiles, hoping to whittle away at the defenses and give his bombardment ships a fighting chance. He silently cursed himself for thinking he wouldn’t need the missile ships that Lu now had in Zezzis. He had been confident that the Rage wouldn’t have time to prepare layered defenses, and that Hellcat would be able to overwhelm anything that they came up against. He had been wrong, though, and until he was able to wear Bardron VI down a bit, he would not be able to take the planet without serious casualties.
He issued his orders to his staff to be communicated throughout the fleet. They were going to proceed on to Bardron IX and eliminate that threat while waiting for Lu to bring his three missile frigates to join them in the bombardment of Bardron VI. As the fleet changed course, he prepared a com message to send to Grand Admiral Urian explaining why Bardron would not be in Remorhaz hands by the end of the month.
Two days later, Captain Geoff Dillon of the Security and Intelligence Bureau had a report of Admiral Sakazawa. Sometime within the last twenty-four hours, someone had managed to contaminate half of the fuel for the contra-terrene engines stored on RSS Cyllene. This meant that unless the fleet diverted to Oleander to resupply, they would not have enough fuel to support all of the ships in combat operations at Bardron IX, let alone enough fuel to return to attack Bardron VI.
Sakazawa sighed. He looked up at the captain and asked,
“Are you any closer to catching these saboteurs?”
“Yes sir. We’re closing in on them. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Meanwhile, they have met with spectacular success. Their attacks on our supplies have forced the cancellation of a major military operation.”
Sakazawa shook his head in disbelief.
“They probably have no more than five agents in our fleet, isn’t that your estimate, Captain?”
Dillon’s eyes darted around nervously. He began to fear that the admiral was going to hold him responsible for the enemy’s success.
“Sir…yes, sir. We think it’s a small cell. Probably no more than five.”
The admiral stared hard at him for a long second, and then smiled.
“I know you are doing your best, captain. I just need you to be as successful as they have been against us.”
The captain relaxed.
“Sir, you have my word. My team and I will find them.”
Sakazawa stood.
“Your word is enough for me Captain. Thanks.”
With that, the captain left, thankful that he hadn’t let the admiral down. Yet.

2412.5

Strikefleet Hellcat was on the move again. Once Commodore Lu joined up with the rest of the fleet, they quickly resupplied and left to assault Bardron IX. During the two weeks of travel, there were no incidents of sabotage. In Bardron Quadrant 32, next to Bardron IX, the fleet met up with reinforcements from Jethanis, RSS Goldmoon and RSS Ceto, both missile ships. Now thirty ships strong, Hellcat moved at full speed toward the Rage planet.
As the fleet approached the planet, sensors scanned the system for enemy spacecraft. Finding none, the computers scanned the surface of the planet, looking for defense bases, troop concentration, and the like. The Rage had two space stations in orbit around the world. They were armed with missile tubes, but they appeared to be mainly used as shipyards. They were a threat, but a low priority one. On the surface the Rage had more formidable defenses. There were no less than twelve phased-polaron beam emplacements, and six missile batteries. The scanners picked up no troop concentrations at all.
Sakazawa ordered the fleet to concentrate on neutralizing the surface defenses so that the Space Marines could land at the earliest possible opportunity. To avoid heavy casualties, the missile ships would close to maximum range and fire at the planet, and try to stay out of range of the phased-polaron beams.
At maximum range, the Rage missile batteries fired the initial barrage of the battle. When they reached optimal range, the Remorhaz point defense cannons opened fire, knocking them out without suffering a single hit.
At this point, three ships split off from the main force to eliminate the space station threat. Tarus, Hawk, and Ceto closed with the closest base, firing at maximum range. Tarus got lucky when one of the shells from her main gun penetrated the space station’s missile battery, exploding the entire emplacement and rendering it combat ineffective. A second barrage by the ship finished the base off.
Every missile barrage fired by the Rage was defeated by the concentration of firepower from the Remorhaz ships. Finally, the missile ships were in position. As one, they moved to optimum range and fired a massive barrage at Bardron IX. The Rage defenses succeeded in destroying one salvo, but 90% of the Remorhaz missiles found their targets. All of the missile batteries and three of the phased-polaron beam sites were destroyed in the first salvo. The captain of RSS Ceto requested permission to close range and engage the remaining bases with gunfire, but Sakazawa denied the request. He was content to knock out the remaining defenses with missile fire, and didn’t see the need to risk ships and lives needlessly. Time was still on the Remorhaz side.
Another barrage was fired at the planet. This attack knocked out the last Rage defense base. Sakazawa ordered the Space Marines to prepare for a combat drop, but before the transports could move into position, every Rage habitat on the surface exploded. When the dust settled, the scanners could not detect a single Rage entity on the planet. It appeared that rather than get captured, the primary sequencer on this world had set up a planet-wide self-destruct network. The Rage did not want another world to fall into Remorhaz hands. Sakazawa took it as a sign that the Rage were almost finished, and he knew that the last battle would be at Bardron VI. It would be bloody work, for sure.

Days later, RSS Faith exited a wormhole from the Vendrin system into the suspected Ukra-Tal system of Tyrik. Her captain, Lieutenant Commander Kilder Crutchley, half expected to be blown apart by mines upon exiting, but the scanners were clear for thousands of miles. The system was indeed inhabited by the Ukra-Tal, in fact, they had colonized every planet in the system. The only enemy warship detected was a Heinola class light carrier, but it was much too far away to make a difference in Crutchley’s life.
“Communications, prepare a data package for command and send it immediately, if not sooner”, Crutchley shouted. “If we get killed, I want them to have something to remember us by.”
“Aye, aye, Cap’n. Sending data package now”, the communications officer responded.
Crutchley quickly weighed his options. His mission was accomplished. They had scouted the system and found no Rage here, which meant that the Bardron system was probably their last holdout. If that held true, then that phase of the war might be over soon. The thought made him happy, because one less enemy would mean that they could focus that much more attention on the Ukra-Tal.
His other option was to pounce on one of the Ukra-Tal planets close by, hopefully doing some damage to it before retreating. Tyrik VII was the closest, and it didn’t have any defenses that he could detect at this range. He wasn’t sure what to do, but he didn’t have time to get in touch with Commodore Lu. He decided to talk it over with his staff.
He looked over to his left, where his executive officer’s station was.
“Petey, what do you think? Should we bug out, or make some noise?”
Lieutenant Pete Ortega turned to face the captain.
“Sir, if we hit them unaware, we could do some major damage, but it would be localized to one planet. By the time we finished with one, they would be on us for sure.”
Crutchley nodded. “Go on.”
Pete shrugged. “I think if we do that, then they will be waiting for us the next time we come back. All alone, we can’t do enough damage to take that risk. Maybe if we slip out of here, they won’t notice that were here, and when we come back, we’ll bring friends.”
Crutchley shook his head.
“Pete, I do believe that you have the mind of an admiral. You should skip your own command and go right to flag country!”
The XO laughed, along with some of the crew.
“Just calling it like I see it, sir.”
“Hmmm. Well, I agree with you. Let’s get the hell out of here, before that carrier comes sniffing around here for us.”
He looked at the helm officer.
“Mister McKinney, take us home, all engines full.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” the helm officer cried.
Faith turned for home, with a promise to come back and extract a pound of flesh from the Ukra-Tal.

Although it’s original inhabitants had been slaughtered by the Ukra-Tal in the early stages of the war, there were still a few humans on Timerron in the Yukra system. The Ukra-Tal didn’t know they were there, though, and the Remorhaz intelligence agents were trained to keep it that way.
Agent 32 barely remembered his real name. He had been on Timerron for just over a year now, and had barely talked with anyone. The mission was his life here, surrounded by the enemy. Everywhere he went, he was forced to be on guard, while trying to appear to be an unremarkable Ukra-Tal laborer. With the help of the personal field distorter, he was able to create his disguise, albeit for short periods of time. There was no disguise for his habits, though. Everything a typical Remorhite would do had to be chased from his mind. If he did anything out of the ordinary, he could be killed at a moments notice. He had come close to blowing it a few times, but thankfully he had survived. Now he found it much easier, and he wondered if he should be afraid of that.
A week earlier, the mission was specified. He was to plant a bomb on a Hedmora class cruiser that was bound for Iolo. Upon completion of his mission, transportation would be arranged to return him to Remorhaz space.
This is a dangerous mission, he thought as he uncovered his weapons cache hidden in the floor of his dwelling. I may not survive this.
Unconsciously, he began assembling the explosive device, testing the timers for functionality. His mind started to wander a bit as he worked. Home. What would it be like? Would he ever be able to relax again? Would he be the same person that he was before he left Shadow a year ago? He wasn’t sure that person still existed.
Suddenly he was aware of what he was doing. He had reassembled the explosive device incorrectly. Focus, he thought. Remember your training.
The next day, he readied himself for his mission. He gathered his tools, and booby-trapped his dwelling so that all evidence of his identity would be destroyed when they came looking for him. It was only a matter of time.
He activated his field distorter and left the dwelling. He walked to the tube station and boarded the public transport. No one noticed him, and he talked to no one. While on the tube, he ran over the mission in his mind one more time, but soon thoughts of home were intruding on his thoughts again. He should have a nice fat bank account when he got home. Maybe he would muster out of the Bureau and go back home to Hera. Or he could settle on Remorhaz. Maybe meet a girl, settle down…
He snapped back to reality and gave a slight jerk. One or two riders glanced at him, but otherwise paid no attention to him.
Keep your mind on the mission! He berated himself, knowing that a loss of concentration at any point could cost him his life.
The tube stopped by the shipyards, and he exited. A large group of workers exited with him, all moving toward the shipyards where they worked. He recognized some of them, but did not greet them. As they entered the shipyard, he moved toward his work berth. His job as a data entry clerk allowed him access to the records of his target. He had determined that his best chance for success would be at afternoon shift change. The Ukra-Tal are a very smart race, but when it came to security concerns, they left a lot to be desired. The entire mission should only take fifteen minutes, and then he would leave and head directly to the egress point.
He sat down at his work berth briefly, accessed his terminal and quickly scanned the work log for his target. No changes were scheduled for today, so the mission would go ahead as planned. He left his berth and headed for the Hedmora. As he walked down the access tunnels and workspaces, he was suddenly overwhelmed by nervousness. What would they do to me if I were caught, he thought? He had never considered it. There was no justice system in the Remorian sense of the word. Civil disobedience was a foreign concept to the Ukra-Tal. If one did break the law, he was fined. If he could not pay, he was forced to serve until his debt was paid. How would they treat a spy? The fear of the unknown welled up inside of him, and he fought the urge to turn and run away.
Before he knew it, he was at the checkpoint. A single Ukra-Tal soldier stood here, representing the entire security force for the cruiser behind him. Agent 32 was tight with anticipation, and forced himself to relax. He had access to the entire yard. He should be able to get through this checkpoint with no problem.
“Yourself has pass?” the soldier asked.
“I posses sufficient access”, Agent 32 replied, handing his access pass to the soldier.
The soldier scanned the pass, and turned to give it back. The soldier’s eye slits narrowed as he caught sight of 32, and his tentacles moved to grab his weapon.
Agent 32 was faster. In a heartbeat, he had his microblade out and jammed it into the soldier’s nerve bundle, ending its life instantly. At that moment, he realized that he could see his normal human hand, and not the tentacles that he was used to. He grabbed his field distorter and instantly knew what the problem was. The previous night, while his brain was wandering with thoughts of home, he had forgotten to recharge the field distorter. Luckily for him it had enough power remaining to get him this far, but he no longer had a disguise. He began to run down the access tunnel and into the ship. He saw no one as he ran, but with every step he expected to hear the alert sirens go off and the corridors to be filled with vengeful Ukra-Tal.
A few hundred feet later, he was outside of the engine room. He had to get inside and plant the bomb, and then get out alive, without being seen. He didn’t like his chances. The engine room was on of the rooms on the ship that was always manned by someone. Hopefully, it was just one crewman, and he would be able to take him out before he was noticed. He armed the dead switch on the bomb, so that it would go off if he were killed, and pulled out his microblade. Then he toggled the door.

On board the stolen Ukra-Tal freighter, Agent 32 watched Timerron fade in the distance. He was going home, and his mission was a success. He had survived, despite his own stupidity and lack of concentration. His training had saved him, as it had so many times before, but he knew that he could never go back on a mission again. He had failed himself, even if he had accomplished his mission. He knew that he would never trust himself again enough to survive deep cover. As Timerron was lost in the blackness of space, he felt a weight lifted off of his shoulders that he hadn’t realized had been there for the past year. In that instant, he made up his mind. He would muster out of the bureau, move to the planet farthest from the war, marry a pretty girl, and try to forget about his year in the belly of the beast.

[Eilim]

Glad to see this back, this story is what made me buy the game back when you first started posting it. I have to admit I've been hoping for its return. Keep up the great work, sachmo!


-Eilim

[sachmo71]

Thanks Eilim! I had been posting it over at the Shrapnel Website, and had no plans to continue posting it here, until a friend quite unexpectedly asked me if I was still working on it. So I decided to see if anyone was still interested in reading it, and a few were, so I reposted it. Besides, it's not much trouble to post it two places. I was just being lazy!

[sachmo71]

Innovations

The city of Turian on Remorhaz, capitol of both the planet of Remorhaz and the Remorhaz Society, was known for it’s beautiful architecture. From the regal government buildings located in the Quadrangle to the colorful, vibrant shops located in the Merchant’s Quarter, the city was packed with interesting sights. In the case of the headquarters of the Research Guild, form did not follow function. The building was long and gray, with a total lack of innovation in its design. Square and utilitarian were words that came to mind when people walked past. It didn’t fit in Turian at all, the citizens believed.
Inside of the building, innovation was the watchword. The main task of the brilliant minds that worked inside this eyesore was to coordinate the research efforts in all corners of the Remorhaz Society for maximum productivity. Without their efforts, many of the latest innovations would still be locked up inside the minds of their inventors.
Doctor Genoviv Mustali was the current head of the Research Guild. It was her job to oversee the coordination of the scientists, students, and thinkers in the Society, and also to emphasize the direction in which the research effort should be headed. The emphasis was not decided solely by her, but in concert with the Chairman, the military, and any number of other organizations. It was a job that threatened to pull a person apart at the seams, but thankfully Genoviv was made of stern stuff.
She reviewed her notes one last time as Grand Admiral Urian and Commandant Hunter came into the meeting room. She rose and moved toward them, flashing them her widest smile. She shook hands with them both before offering them refreshments. Both men declined.
“Grand Admiral, I saw the latest vid from the Bardron front. It’s wonderful news. I can’t believe that we are so close to victory against the Rage.” Genoviv said.
Urian looked across the table at her. She was a nice looking woman, with a grace that always reminded him of a dancer, or of a forest cat.
“We think that Bardron VI is their last planet. Hopefully, they will be out of the war by the end of the year, if everything goes well.”
She nodded. “I’m sure it will, sir.” She turned her head slightly to address Commandant Hunter.
“Your Space Marines have done an incredible job, Commandant Hunter. You must be very proud. They’ve had remarkable success.”
He glanced up from his data pad.
“We couldn’t have done it without you, Doctor. The efforts of you and your people have given my Space Marines the right tools for the job. We are in your debt.”
Genoviv blushed slightly. The Commandant wasn’t the type to waste words, and so she knew he meant what he was saying. The fact that he had said anything spoke volumes.
“We do what we can, sir. We’re happy to help.”
A few moments later, Chairman Sachmo and his entourage came into the room, accompanies by Admiral Hilger Ash, the head of the Naval Design Bureau and Field Marshall Fredrick Gulman, commander of the Grand Army of the Remorhaz Society.
Everyone stood as the Chairman moved around the room, greeting everyone present. When he finally got around to Genoviv, he shook her hand warmly.
“Doctor, I hear you’ve got some excellent news for us,” the Chairman said.
“I do indeed sir.”
“If everyone is ready?” She glanced around the room, and everyone began taking their seats. She moved to her data pad as the lights dimmed.
“Let’s begin.”
A hologram appeared in the center of the table, showing the schematics of a weapon.
“When the war against the Rage began, they held advantages in propulsion and missile technology. As the war progressed, we narrowed that gap. Because of this, we eventually countered their gains, and began to push them back. Our superior numbers and aggressive tactics seemed to be effective against them.”
“Once we reached Lezzari, we found that they had again leapt past us in the technology race. When the Rage unleashed their phased energy weapons against us, it was a nasty shock. They had a longer range and did more damage than our depleted uranium cannon. In fact, they almost outdistanced our missiles. This technology gap was one that we could not overcome, until now.”
The schematic was replaced by a vid of tests being conducted on captured Rage equipment. Genoviv began again.
“Thanks to the efforts of many scientists throughout the Society, we now have our own version of the phased polaron beam. It’s not quite as powerful as the Rage designs, but we feel that the current model is more than adequate for fleet service. Admiral Ash? ”
Admiral Ash tapped his data pad, and three different ship designs appeared in the hologram, along with a space fighter design, a defense satellite design, and a new Blazer design. There was also what looked like a service rifle for the Space Marines based on the new beam technology.
As Ash began discussing the new design proposals to incorporate the new phased polaron beam weapons, everyone in that room knew that the technology gap between the Ukra-Tal and Remorhaz had just become much smaller.
During the meeting, it was decided that the current research effort should remain unchanged, which was focused on next generation targeting computers for the fleet. Once this was completed, all effort would be put into increasing the effectiveness of the polaron beam. In the meantime, the new designs proposed by the Naval Design Bureau were approved, with the initial deployment being the phased beam battle rifle for the Space Marines. It was thought that this new weapon would increase their combat power by at least thirty percent, and would be the cheapest to implement quickly. Before long, the entire Remorhaz military would be armed with this new weapon, just in time for the offensive against the Ukra-Tal.

[sachmo71]

New Tactics in Iolo

“It looks like they are heading for the wormhole, sir. Even if they try to double back to Correlia, we can intercept them before they come anywhere near the planet.”
Commodore Thom Hitcher tapped his chin with his finger. According to his sensors, two Ukra-Tal cruisers were trying to outflank Correlia and his fleet. After months and months of assaults on Correlia itself, for the first time they were trying to make it to the Iolo-Ultrinox wormhole. If they made it through, they could threaten any number of systems, including Velocitas and Remorhaz itself. However, if they did, they would find themselves in the midst of a Remorhaz minefield, but Hitcher didn’t want them to get that far. It would be a close fight. His task force consisted of three Glory class destroyers, one Nemesis frigate, and a Ganymede class light cruiser against one Gjovik and one Hedmora class cruiser, both which were well armed enemy combat vessels. The Remorhaz ships had a range advantage, but if the Ukra-Tal ships closed to within acid launcher, they would punish the Remorhaz ships. Hitcher had to decide whether to pursue them, or protect his fleet and let the minefield take care of them.
“Let’s go get ‘em.”, he told his staff.

Within hours, the Correlia Defense Fleet was cutting through space at full power, on an intercept course for the two Ukra-Tal ships. It took three days, but the Remorhaz ships finally closed to within engagement distance.
Hitcher ordered his screening vessels to fan out in the front arc, to allow their missiles to be brought into the fight before the cruisers could close range. With his eye on the tactical display, he watched his command fan out before him, the ship’s captains executing their maneuvers with precision.
The Ukra-Tal commanders, with their usual aggressive behavior, charged the Remorhaz ships. Hitcher watched the range tick down as both fleets flew toward each other a full speed. The computers compensated for the closure rate, and once the cruisers flew into the capital ship missile envelope, his ships opened fire.
Three destroyers and a frigate lit up their dark corner of space with a ripple-fired salvo of capital ship missiles. Their captains then reversed course, hoping to open the range between them and the horrible acid launchers that the Gjovik and Hedmora were armed with. Hitcher moved his own ship, RSS Orion, between the retreating vessels and the enemy cruisers. The missiles acquired their target, the Hedmora, almost instantly and accelerated toward it. Anti-missile projectiles filled the space around their ships, disabling or destroying almost all of Hitcher’s missiles, but one salvo broke through and exploded against the Hedmora’s shields, weakening them. By this time, the cruisers were able to close range and fire a few extreme-range shots at Orion, a few of which took down her shields and hit her hull. No major damage was done, but Hitcher was forced to pull back a bit. He fired a few shots of his own with his cannon, but missed. RSS Narvik was able to fire a long range shot with her lone cannon and the shell found its mark, weakening the Hedmora’s shields even further.
The Ukra-Tal commander decided not to press his luck any further and moved to open the range. Hitcher was a bit surprised, because this played to his ship’s strengths, but he wasn’t about to overlook the gift that his enemy had given him. He ordered his ships to again turn and pursue the Ukra-Tal ships while their missiles reloaded.
Seeing his mistake, or possibly counting on the pursuit, the enemy cruisers again turned to close with the Remorhaz ships. Once again, a heavy salvo was launched, forcing the Hedmora to retreat. The Gjovik fired at Orion from extreme range, missing with all her shots. The Remorhaz ships were able to return fire on the Gjovik, hitting her with four cannon shells. The shells tore holes in her hull, but the damage began to repair itself immediately. The Ukra-Tal organic armor was a huge advantage.
The enemy cruisers continued to close range. At long range, the Hedmora fired its acid launchers at RSS Narvik. The shots crashed through her shields, and slammed into the hull, burning a gaping hole in the ship. Compartments were disintegrated as the powerful acid burned through the ship. The crew that survived the barrage worked their way toward the middle of the ship as the acid continued to eat away at the superstructure. Narvik was out of the fight.
Now Hitcher was at a disadvantage. He could no longer afford to fire and sprit, because that would leave Narvik at the mercy of the cruisers. He watched as the Hedmora turned away to recharge its acid launchers and the Gjovik closed in for the kill. It fired at Narvik, hitting her once and wiping out her bridge. Thankfully, the entire bridge staff had already evacuated to the bowels of the ship, sacrificing maneuverability for survival. The Gjovik now faced the full brunt of the Remorhaz cannons alone. Shell after shell crashed into the cruiser, knocking out components. Both of her acid launchers were destroyed in the initial salvo, and were now useless in the fight. It turned to run, while the Hedmora turned back to save its partner.
Another Remorhaz salvo was launched at the Hedmora, and without the Gjovik’s protection, more of the missiles found their mark. She was still in the fight, but she was damaged. Now it was Orion’s turn to withstand another acid barrage. The Hedmora fired a full salvo at her, reducing most of her point-defense battery to melted slag. Still able to fight, Orion returned fire, further damaging the Ukra-Tal ship while the two remaining effective Glory class destroyers raked it with point-blank cannon fire. The damage to its hull was now such that the organic armor could no longer repair itself, and that allowed the cannon fire to destroy a few of its engines. The Ukra-Tal ship was very tough, though, and was still a dangerous enemy. On top of that, its acid launchers were still operational.
Orion was hit with another full acid salvo. This attack burned down the axis of the ship, destroying everything in its path. Weapons mounts, crewmen, anything and everything was destroyed, but the path of destruction bypassed the starboard weapons mounts, leaving Hitcher with one of the ship’s two heavy cannon. With it, Orion was able to land the killing blow on the Hedmora, which exploded as the shells found some vital component deep inside the stricken cruiser.
Narvik and [/i]Orion[/i] turned for home as the Gjovik was hunted down and destroyed by Shining Victory and Skydancer.

The trip back to Correlia was busy for everyone. Although the damage was extensive to both Narvik and Orion, some repairs could be made. For [/i]Orion[/i], it seemed they would be enough to allow her to get home with the rest of the fleet. Narvik was not so lucky, because her damage was too great to allow her to keep up with the fleet. On top of that, there were now at least three Ukra-Tal cruisers within range of Correlia and all of them could beat the fleet back to the planet if they traveled at the highest speed that Narvik could make. With great reluctance, Commodore Hitcher allowed her to detach from the fleet and attempt to make it back to Correlia alone. All of the wounded and non-essential personnel were transferred to the rest of the fleet, and Narvik was left behind.

Hitcher watched Narvik fall behind on the viewer and shook his head. How did Naval Command expect him to interdict ships that were bigger, stronger, and technologically superior to his if they didn’t give him any reinforcements? Hiding behind a minefield and backed up by ground based weapons, they could hold their own against a fleet with many times his number of ships, but if the Ukra-Tal decided to bypass all of those weapons, like they seemed to be doing now, they would quickly grind his fleet into dust. If Narvik didn’t make it home, he would have lost one-fifth of his fleet, while he read reports of the fleet in Bardron assaulting the last Rage worlds with thirty or more ships! The thought enraged him.
He got out of his command chair and growled, “XO has the con,” as he walked briskly toward his cabin. He was forced to travel two sections out of his way because the direct path to his cabin was open to space, thanks to the acid damage from the battle. This only served to infuriate him more.
He opened his cabin door and powered on his data pad. He began to type out a message for Grand Admiral Urian’s eyes only. He was going to tell the Grand Admiral the truth, and if he didn’t like it, he could come down to Correlia personally and relieve him of his command.

Grand Admiral Urian read the message with a grim look on his face. It wasn’t very often that a Commodore demanded things of Grand Admiral, but Hitcher’s blunt message made its point very clearly. The Ukra-Tal were stepping up their activity in Iolo, but they no longer seemed to be concentrating on Correlia. He had hoped that the Ukra-Tal would continue to throw themselves at Correlia’s defenses, diverting their attention from the other fronts while they prepared for the offensive. If Hitcher were going to have to leave the protection of Correlia to stop Ukra-Tal movements with his fleet, he would definitely need reinforcements, whatever delays that caused for the rest of the Navy. If Hitcher’s fleet were destroyed, the planet was doomed.
He immediately issued orders for two ships from the Home Fleet to move to Iolo and join the Correlia Defense fleet. The Ganymede class light cruisers RSS Xanthe and RSS Odysseus received the orders and changed course at once. Urian only hoped that they were able to make it to Correlia in time to save the fleet.

Above Highrock, Rear Admiral Gina Jager was just settling down for a nights rest when the com unit began to beep. Sighing, she rolled out of bed and quickly composed herself. Brushing back her hair, she keyed the unit to answer. The face of an Army sensor officer appeared.
“Good evening, Captain. What can I do for you?”
The Army captain looked nervous.
“Admiral, I’m very sorry to disturb you, but the duty log says to inform you in an emergency…”
Gina waved him off. “Don’t worry about it, captain. A little lost sleep won’t kill me. What do you have?”
The captain was looking off-screen for a moment.
“Admiral, may I send you the long range feed?”
“Sure,” Gina replied, taking a seat at her desk.
The captain’s face disappeared as the image was replaced by a long-range scan of the Lenoltris system. Five sectors away, and closing, was a fleet of at least twenty-four Ukra-Tal light cruisers.
“Ma’am, we picked them up about ten minutes ago. They aren’t jamming, so we didn’t really notice them until they passed the outer passive sensors. They caught us a bit with out pants down on that one.” He laughed nervously.
Gina replied, “It’s alright captain. A few hours wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Can you show me a course projection?” She asked for the captain to show her where the computer predicted the Ukra-Tal fleet would end up, but she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. In the blink of an eye, the computer calculated their destination…Highrock.
“Thanks, Captain. Looks like they are coming for us again. Get the word to the ground base commanders. We’ve got a few days before they get here.”
The captain looked relieved.
“Yes, Rear Admiral.”
The link went dead.
Gina sat at her desk for a few moments, thinking. If the Ukra-Tal threw themselves at Highrock once more, she felt that she could defeat them. If she had to engage them away from the defenses of the planet, however, she didn’t think she would be able to stop such a vast fleet. They had switched tactics in Iolo, so why not here?
Until they came closer, she couldn’t be sure of what they were going to do. She would prepare to defend the Remorhaz Society, wherever she was called upon to do it.
She turned on the com unit again, and put a call into her chief of staff, ordering him to start getting the fleet ready for battle. Then she lay down to try and get some sleep. She wasn’t sure how much she would be able to get in the days to come.

[sachmo71]

Showdown at Bardron VI

Thirty-one fighters from the 3rd Fighter Wing joined up with Strike Fleet Hellcat for the assault on Bardron VI, possibly the last Rage held world in the galaxy. Strike Fleet Hellcat was the most powerful fleet in the Remorhaz People’s Navy. The fleet consisted of one system patrol ship, twelve frigates, five destroyers, two light cruisers, one minesweeper, two repair ships, three supply ships, two landing ships, plus the thirty-one fighters that had just joined them. It was an impressive fleet, but Bardron VI had some very strong defenses. The previous reconnaissance of the planet reported at least sixteen defense complexes, armed with a variety of weapons, and fifteen space fighters. If the planet could be taken, it might end the Rage threat to the Remorhaz Society. Rear Admiral Shiro Sakazawa, commander of Strike Fleet Hellcat, knew that every month that they waited to attack the planet was another month that the defenses were strengthened, and that his fleet was tied down here. There were other battles that needed to be fought, and so the Rage threat needed to be eliminated. Bardron VI could wait no longer. Hellcat moved in for the kill.

Commander Philip Henderson checked his readouts as his fighter wing formed up around him. His entire wing was made up of FA-4 Thundercat attack fighters, which were designed for ground attack missions. Each of the thirty fighters was armed with two heavy space-to-surface bombs, idea weapons for knocking out hardened surface targets. The biggest problem for his fighters was that they had to get in very close to use the bombs, and to do that they would have to get through the Rage defenses. As he had learned during the briefing, that would be a very tough job by itself.
“Jericho flight, arm ordinance.”
He glanced at the status display as the weapons systems on all of the fighters changed from yellow to green in short order. No problems so far.
“Jericho flight, execute formation delta.”
Using his ship as the axis, his fighters maneuvered into their positions for the run in on Bardron VI, behind the capital ships. Sakazawa was sure that the Rage would send their space fighters out to intercept his fleet, and he wanted the Thundercats to stay behind the point defense umbrella. Their lack of ship-to-ship weaponry would make them an easy target for the Rage ships.
All that was left to do now was to hold formation and wait for the admiral to give the order to attack. He settled back in his seat and looked out of the canopy at the large planet ahead. Without an atmosphere, it looked like a dead world, but this was the type of planet the Rage preferred. Not much of a prize, he thought, but knocking out the Rage would be worth it.

In the combat information center onboard his flagship RSS Tarus, Rear Admiral Sakazawa kept a close eye on the tactical display. Thirty Rage fighters left their hidden base on the surface of Bardron VI and turned to intercept the Remorhaz fleet.
Sakazawa shook his head. If he were in command of the Rage defenses, he would have kept the fighters uncommitted until the odds had evened out a bit, or at least until the fleet was distracted by fire from the ground bases. As it was, the Rage fighters didn’t stand a chance. Hellcat was deployed in a phalanx formation, which allowed the fleet to concentrate its point defense fire and eliminating holes in the coverage.
Despite the knowledge of the Remorhaz firepower, the Rage fighters pressed on, while the fleet moved closer to the planet. Sakazawa’s plan was simple. The fleet would move just outside of ground cannon range and deploy for a massive attack on the surface defenses of Bardron VI. Since the Rage couldn’t hit everything at once, Sakazawa was hoping that a massive attack from the capital ships would allow the Thundercats to lay some of their ordinance on the defense bases, opening the way for the Space Marines to land and take the planet by force. His hope was that by overwhelming the defenses early, he would minimize his own losses, but the plan relied on accurate intelligence and no shortage of luck.
The Rage space fighters moved into maximum engagement range of the fleet. RSS Quasar scored the first kill of the battle as her point defense cannon locked onto a Rage space fighter at maximum range. The Rage fighter began to twist and turn, trying to avoid the cannon fire, but the computer was always one step ahead of him. Shell after shell hit the craft, tearing pieces from the ship and damaging components. As the ship lost maneuverability, more shells hit it, until a number of rounds penetrated its powerplant, causing it to explode. The crew cheered as they watched the target disappear from the tactical display, but quickly searched for a new target as twenty-nine Rage ships moved even closer, hoping to put their own missiles into the skin of a Remorhaz ship.
They would never get the chance. The closer the fighters got to the fleet, the heavier and more accurate the fire became. Within two minutes, all of the Rage space fighters were destroyed. The only threat they posed to the Remorhaz fleet was if their wreckage happened to collide with one of the capital ships. Having overcome the first line of Rage defense, Hellcat continued on.

[sachmo71]

Showdown at Bardron VI-Part 2

The ships of Strikefleet Hellcat spread out in a line formation, covering almost two thousand miles of space. Each ship kept their electronic eyes and ears pointed at the Rage planet, always watching for new targets to come into view. The fleet was poised for an attack, ready to hit the enemy as hard as it could and try to soften the inevitable counterstrike. The only defensive installations that appeared on the Remorhaz scanners were the twelve phased-polaron bases, and six missile batteries. The information on these targets was broadcast throughout the fleet, and each ship was assigned to a target. The first strike had a good chance of totally crippling the Rage defenses.

The combat information center on Strikefleet Hellcat’s flagship, RSS Tarus was the heart of the fleet. The battle plot that was displayed before the commander of the fleet, Rear Admiral Shiro Sakazawa, displayed all of the data collected by the fleet so that he could have the most accurate and complete picture of the battle as possible. Nothing escaped his attention. He sat before the display tight-lipped as his fleet bore down on Bardron VI, his mind processing the data as quickly as it appeared on the screen. He had expected the Rage to build up their defenses in the month since his fleet had last visited the planet, but all scans showed that they remained as they were. This could probably be explained by the fact that the Rage empire was down to its last planet, and were probably incredibly short on raw materials. He made up his mind in that instant that there was nothing to be done about it now, anyway. His fleet would just have to keep their eyes out for any new targets, and deal with them if they appeared. He reached up and activated the com unit. The face of Captain Tim Danvers, captain of Tarus appeared.
“Yes, Admiral?” he asked.
“Tim, if you can, I want you to keep us in with the fleet. I don’t want the Rage to single out any of the ships, and I’m afraid that if we hold back, the Rage gunners will concentrate on Ganymede. Also, I want to maximize our firepower on the first strike, and this ship is a big part of that. Ok?”
Danvers nodded.
“Understood sir. We’ll be right in the thick of things.”
Shiro closed the link and looked back at the display. Bardron VI inched closer by the second.
Let’s get this over with, he though.

At fifteen hundred miles, the fleet stopped. On the right flank, the fighters continued to curl around the planet, followed by Mongoose and Badger and their complement of Space Marines. Once the first strike went in, this element was to charge the planet. If the initial attack by Hellcat failed to eliminate the defenses on the surface, the fighter’s would have to close with the planet to put their ordinance on the remaining targets. Since the Rage would probably concentrate on the capital ships anyway, the best tactic was for the fighters to head in as fast as possible. Since it was also hoped that the Rage would have too many targets to concentrate on at once, the assault transports would also head in, and get the Space Marines on the surface as quickly as possible. In space, they wouldn’t be able to do much, but once they were on the surface, they were lethal.

Mongoose moved into Rage missile range, to try and bait them into firing a salvo at them. The Rage obliged, firing half of their complement of missiles at the transport. Since it was the extreme edge of the missile’s effective range, Mongoose was able to quickly move out of range, ensuring that the missile strike would not hit them. With that strike finished, every ship in the fleet fired it’s main engines for a mad dash to maximum missile range.
As the ships closed in on the planet, in the combat information center on Tarus, one of the communication officers reported something strange.
“Admiral! There is some sort of unknown signal coming from…sir, it’s coming from us!”
Shiro snapped his eyes toward the officer, then to his assistant, Captain Terry Hall.
“Terry, check it out, please,” he ordered.
Hall moved quickly over to the officer’s station and looked down at the console.
“What have you got here, Lieutenant?”
The communications officer looked up at the Captain.
“I don’t know sir. I’ve never seen anything like it before, but it’s definitely coming from this ship.”
Hall looked at the data. “Get me Danvers.”
The com unit switched on.
“Danvers here.”
“Tim, are we broadcasting a signal of some sort?”
Danvers frowned. “We’re not supposed to be, but my com officer is looking at it. We can’t figure out what it is. I’ve localized it, and I’m sending a team to investigate.”
Hall nodded, and Rear Admiral Sakazawa’s face appeared on the screen.
“Have we figured this out yet, gentlemen?” he asked.
Danvers spoke up.
“We’re checking it out now, sir.”
At that moment, the Remorhaz ships reached firing range.
Sakazawa opened a new com channel to all ships in the fleet.
“Commence firing!” he shouted.
As one, the fleet opened up on the barren world.
Up and down the line, flashes of light winked into existence as depleted uranium cannons fired at ground targets and missiles were fired in massive salvos. It was truly and awesome display, which the news crews mixed in with the fleet eagerly recorded from any vantage point they could find.
On the surface, the effects were catastrophic. Gun batteries were smashed by missile and cannon fire, and missile batteries were silenced before they could fire their deadly payload. Enormous, burning craters pocked the surface of the planet as Rage defensive installations ceased to exist.
The Remorhaz first strike was just ending when the Rage sprung their trap. The communication officer in the combat information center had deciphered the signal. It was encrypted, but the source was clear. A Rage communication signal was beaming from their ship, sending information about the Remorhaz fleet to the defenders on the surface of Bardron VI. Moments after this discovery, at least twenty hidden Rage phased-polaron beam batteries activated their targeting electronics. All of these guns quickly locked onto RSS Tarus, and opened fire.

[Lokugh]

Hey, its back!! The dynasty that cost me $45.00. Thanks...it was worth it< g >.

Lokugh

[sachmo71]

Showdown at Bardron VI-Part 3

One by one, the Rage beams were fired at RSS Tarus. The first beam was thrown off by jamming, but the second one hit, severely weakening the ship’s shields. The next beam finished the shields off, and bit into the command cruiser’s hull.
Rear Admiral Sakazawa watched the battle display and quickly surmised the situation. At this range, the fleet would take a pounding from the Rage batteries, so the only option was to try to take them out before they did too much damage. He ordered his command staff to gather targeting data on the new targets and send the information out to the rest of the fleet.
The ship was rocked as another beam smashed into the hull. Shiro pulled up the com unit to address all of the fleet’s captains. A quick glance at the damage display showed that Tarus would not stand up to much more of this punishment. He had to make sure the fleet carried out their orders, and knew that to run now would be suicide.
Just as the display came up, the ship was battered again from another direct hit. Sparks flew from the computer consoles, and the data feed from the bridge of his ship suddenly died as the bridge status went from green to red on the damage display.
He tried to chase the faces of the crew from his mind as he began to speak.
“We’ve been fooled, everyone. The Rage have much stronger defenses than we previously thought, and we now have to go on the assumption…”, the display died briefly as another beam slammed into the ship.
He began again when the display came back up.
“We have to assume that the signal broadcast from this ship informed the Rage of our force structure. We cannot retreat. We have to destroy them before…”
Sakazawa and the command staff did not even register pain as the phased polaron beam vaporized the command center and everyone in it. The beam continued to burn down the hull until its energy was spent. Seconds later, another beam burned into the engine room, destabilizing the anti-matter chamber in one of the contra-terrene engines and setting off a chain reaction blasting what was left of Tarus into atoms.

The destruction of Tarus sent a shockwave through the fleet. All fire at the planet stopped momentarily as the shock of the admiral’s death stunned everyone. Almost instantly, the commanders of the individual ships sought to carry out their orders and the fire rained down on the Rage planet once more. Rear Admiral Brennan, aboard the cruiser RSS Ganymede assumed command of the fleet.
RSS Ceta was the next target of the Rage. Her gunnery crew was delivering very accurate fire and had destroyed two of the Rage batteries, but it was not enough to help her survive. The beams quickly overwhelmed her shields, and methodically tore the destroyer apart. Her bow tore away as one Rage beam sliced the ship in half. Debris and gasses filled the space around the ship as another Rage beam tore into Ceta’s exposed compartments. This beam burned down the length of the ship, reducing the interior of the ship to molten slag. With no structure to contain them, the engines tore away from the shell of the hull and continued on their path toward Bardron VI, as if eager to escape the carnage. Only five of her crew would survive the battle.
Finally, the Rage turned their attention to RSS Ganymede, the only remaining cruiser in the Remorhaz fleet. The powerful beams quickly burned through the shields and battered the hull, tearing great rents in the hull and vaporizing compartments. Ganymede continued to return fire, blasting battery after battery, until she could no longer return fire, all of her weapons having been destroyed. Rear Admiral Brennan ordered the ship to retreat, as she was no longer battle worthy.

With the Rage attention focused on the capital ships, Commander Henderson’s Thundercats space fighters were able to drop some heavy space-to-surface bombs, eliminating a number of Rage batteries with each attack. The Rage quickly recognized this threat, and opened up on the fighters with anti-missile lasers and a few phased polaron beams. As the lead element of Jericho flight turned to attack another target, heavy fire rose to meet them. The fighters turned and jinked to avoid the fire as they dropped their ordinance on their targets, but four of the six fighters were destroyed during the attack. Realizing the precarious situation that the fleet was in, Henderson ordered the fighters to press the attack.

The battle between the capital ships and the surface batteries continued. Hit after hit was scored against the Rage batteries, but they were taking a toll on the Remorhaz fleet. RSS Quasar, a Comet Class ground attack frigate, was destroyed as she tried to get close enough to deliver a devastating cargo of space-to-surface bombs. RSS Glory was also destroyed in a duel with battery of Rage guns. Brennan knew that the only option remaining was to get the Space Marines on the ground as soon as possible. If they survived the assault in sufficient numbers, they would be able to overwhelm the Rage batteries quicker than his fleet could destroy them from space.
He activated his com unit and Brigadier General Henry Townsend appeared.
“RJ, I’m glad to see you in one piece. You guys took quite a pounding,” Townsend said.
Brennan grimaced.
“I still don’t know how many we’ve lost, Henry. We’ve got to end this soon, or we’re in serious trouble, and I think your Marines are the best option.”
Townsend nodded.
“I was preparing for that already, RJ. We’ve re-plotted our landing zones, and are prepared to make a hot landing. We’re ready to go when you want us.”
“I’m glad you planned ahead, Henry. Let’s get this going.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral. Well commence our assault run immediately.”
Brennan nodded.
“Good luck, Henry.”
He switched the com unit to address the fleet.
“All units, prepare to support ground operations.”
Once the order was acknowledged, he switched the com unit off. It was up to the Space Marines now.

Aboard RSS Mongoose, the Space Marines of 1st Brigade scrambled into their combat suits as the warning klaxons sounded. Mike Villers, correspondent for the Remorhaz News Network, watched in confusion as the Space Marines donned their equipment. Lance Corporal Jake Renton, Villers’ “handler”, turned to him and frowned.
“Get your suit on, Mike.”
The reporter stared at him in confusion, but did as he was told.
“Why are we suiting up now, Jake? You guys don’t usually suit up until just before the drop, but we aren’t even approaching orbit yet.”
Renton checked to ensure that his oxygen supply was full, and then turned to help the reporter seal up his suit.
“That alarm that you heard a minute ago, remember it? I realize that you haven’t heard it before. It means were are going to have a hot landing.”
Villers struggled with is recording unit. Simple tasks became much more difficult in a heavy space suit.
“What is a hot landing, Jake?”
Jake frowned and grabbed the reporter’s equipment, helping him carry it as they hurried toward the Blazer.
“Usually, the fleet knocks out most of the heavy defenses for us before a drop. There is usually some anti-craft fire, but nothing that would threaten Mongoose. Where there are weapons that can knock us out before the drop, we call that a hot landing.”
The reporter’s eyes widened a bit. “I see,” he said. “So we’re in danger right now?”
Renton smiled. “Yes, you could say that. If the Rage fire on us now, there isn’t a lot we can do about it. That’s why we are suiting up.”
They reached the Blazer, and stood to the side as the troops of 4th platoon quickly stowed their equipment and took their seats. Once this was finished, Jake and Villers entered.
“I don’t understand, Jake,” the reporter said as he fumbled with his seat harness.
Jake snapped Villers’ seat restraints, stowed his equipment, and then his own.
“The mission of this ship is the get us on the ground. If we take fire, and the captain decides that it is in danger of being destroyed, he make every effort to get the Space Marines out of this ship by the most expeditious means possible. That means he will open up all of the bays and launch everything as quickly as he can. If that happens while we are deploying, or the Blazer is open…well, at least with a suit on you have a chance. Make sense?”
He turned to see Villers staring at him with wide eyes. His face was as white as chalk.
Jake nudged him a bit and smiled.
“Don’t worry, Mike. We’re in the Blazer now. Our chances of survival just went up to around fifteen percent.”
The Space Marines around him laughed. Villers didn’t.

Two more Remorhaz ships were destroyed supporting the Space Marines as they made their landing run, RSS Flurry and RSS Olympia. Also, the last of the Thundercat fighters were destroyed, but not after they destroyed a large number of anti-craft batteries and a number of phased polaron beam batteries.
Finally, the Space Marines landed. The Thundercats and the remaining capital had opened a wide corridor for the Blazers, and they made it to the landing zones with very little damage, with two Blazers suffering minor damage from missile attacks. The four remaining Rage phased polaron beam batteries were quickly neutralized by elements of 2nd battalion. Local defense was sporadic and the rest of the brigade was able to break through with light losses. Mines knocked out two Blazers from 3rd battalion, but they were able to capture their objectives. 1st battalion was tasked with finding and eliminating the last Primary Sequencer. It was located deep underground in a mountain complex. The Space Marines battled their way inside, taking heavy casualties. The complex was too small for the Blazers to fit inside, so the combat was close and deadly. Finally, they were able to force their way into the heart of the complex, and the last Rage Primary Sequencer was destroyed by elements of 1st battalion. With that, the Rage would fight no more. The Remorhaz Society had finally defeated the Rage Collective.

[Tellistto]

Good job

Tell

[sachmo71]

Thanks, Tellistto.

What happens next is anyone's guess.

[sachmo71]

Taking Stock

Transcript of Chairman Sachmo’s speech delivered to Remorhaz Society announcing victory over the Rage Collective.

2412.6

“Citizens of the Remorhaz Society, I come baring joyous news. The war against the Rage Collective has come to an end. Our forces captured the last remaining Rage world, Bardron Six, and claimed it for the Society, eliminating all armed resistance against us. The last of our original enemies has been vanquished.”

“Eleven years ago to this very month, the Rage and the Norak declared war on us, for reasons that are still unclear. It was a war that we did not want. We are a peaceful people, and we offered peace to these races, even after we had turned the tide of war against them. Peace through diplomatic means was not to be, however. Our efforts were ignored at best, and often met with violence. The only alternatives remaining were surrender, or peace through force of arms. The former was unthinkable, and so we were forced to arm and fight, and fight we did. The brave men and women of our armed forces, indeed, the very heart of our youth, answered the call and went out into darkest space and strange new stars to fight our enemies. After initial setbacks, we chased our enemies from our worlds and back to theirs. We conquered their worlds and still they fought on, but they could not best the Remorhaz forces. The Norak Continuum surrendered in 2408.”

“The Rage Collective would not surrender. We took their homeworld from them, and still they resisted. Finally, even with our forces divided and holding off the incursions of yet another enemy, we cornered the Rage in the Bardron system. We knew that the Rage would not give up the fight until all was lost to them. Our forces took all that they had, and now the fighting on that front is at an end.”

“This war has been costly for both sides. Millions of innocents have lost their lives. We should always remember these losses, and the losses to come, as we continue to fight against the Ukra-Tal and the Romulans. Let them look upon our recent history and ponder the wisdom of continuing a war against us. We will take their war, which was again thrust upon us for nebulous reasons, back to their systems, and fight them as long as is necessary to secure peace for our people. We will fight side by side with our citizens of Norakian and Rage descent, and defend our common way of life against these treacherous enemies. We will protect the lives of innocents, and where we can, even the lives of our enemies, only let them know that we will finish this war with the same resolve that we finished the war against our former enemies. There can be only one outcome, and the Remorhaz Society will stand victorious.”

For now, let us celebrate the end of this phase of the war. We must also remember the price that we have paid so far, and continue to live for peace. More days of war are still ahead, and there will be more losses. To win peace, we will pay that price. It is all that we can do.”

“Citizens of Remorhaz, we have won a great victory. Our future is that much safer, thanks to all of you. Enjoy the festivities of the next week, and prepare for the future. If we all continue to put forth this same effort, I know that soon the galaxy will know peace again. Thank you.”

End Transcript

[Dawgfan1980]

Wow, I just spent five and a half hours reading this... Great job, I mean, great doesn't begin to say how good it is.... Damn you Sachmo, making me want to spend more money I don't have!!!

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Dawgfan1980

Wow, I just spent five and a half hours reading this... Great job, I mean, great doesn't begin to say how good it is.... Damn you Sachmo, making me want to spend more money I don't have!!!

Thanks very much. Your enjoyment is what makes writing it worthwhile.

[sachmo71]

Planning

2412.7

Chairman Sachmo looked up from his data pad.
“I trust everyone has had enough time?” he asked.
There were no negative responses.
He stood up and leaned forward slightly over the large choba wood table.
“Before we begin, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you. Each and every one of you has done an exemplary job, overcoming every obstacle, adapting to each new situation, and improvising when all else has failed. Without you, I fear the Society would be lost. You are a credit to our people, and we are in your debt.”
The assembled officers voiced their thanks as he sat back down in his chair.
“Let’s start with the Navy, shall we? Marcus?”
The Grand Admiral of the Remorhaz People’s Navy pushed a button on his datapad, and a holographic map of the known galaxy appeared in the middle of the table. Every ship in the fleet was represented on the map, as was every planet, base, and a plethora of other information. Also represented on the map were known enemy systems and ships. Currently, the only known enemy forces in Remorhaz Space were two Ukra-Tal cruisers parked just outside of the Yukra-Iolo wormhole.
“Ladies and gentlemen, our plan is simple. We want to take the war to the enemy.” As he spoke, an organizational chart replaced the galaxy map.
“We want to divide the navy into two separate fleets. Romulan Fleet will initially be based here on Remorhaz. To command this fleet, we’ve decided on Rear Admiral RJ Brennan.” He looked at the Chairman. “With your blessing, sir, we’d like to promote him to Admiral.”
The Chairman brought up Brennan’s service record on his datapad and quickly scanned it.
“Brennan took over at Bardron VI when Sakazawa was killed?” the chairman asked.
“That’s correct sir. He did an excellent job keeping the fleet together. I think he’s ready for this.” the admiral replied.
“Alright, I’ll authorize it.” the chairman replied.
“Ukra-Tal Fleet will be based initially on Highrock. We’d like to promote Gina Jager and give her command of the fleet.” He looked again to the Chairman.
The Chairman smiled. “Done.”
Urian nodded.
“I’ll submit a list of other promotions needed to fill out the staff ranks, and those lists will be appended as Brennan and Jager send in their personal recommendations.” he said.
He tapped his datapad again, and the galaxy map reappeared.
“Before we can mount any sort of offensive, we need to bring both fleets up to strength. Minimum requirements for each fleet will be ten minesweepers, two Space Marine brigades, two light carriers, and five light cruisers.”
“We currently have four brigades ready for deployment, sir” Commandant Hunter said. “We are still running through the mustering out process, but we should be ready for combat at any time.”
The Chairman nodded.
Urian continued.
“The first phase will be known as Operation Reconquest. The target will be the Yukra system.”
A detail map of the Yukra system appeared.
“Our plan is to isolate the system and seed the approaches with mines. At the same time, we will break through from Lenoltris with the bulk of Ukra-Tal fleet, and take as many planets as we can before they can mount a counterattack. We plan on staying once we get there, so we are going to want to bring a number of weapons platforms with us to set up on captured worlds. We need to be ready to repel a massive counter attack, because intelligence suggests that the Ukra-Tal have a significant advantage in ship strength over us.”
The galaxy map reappeared.
“We should be ready to begin Operation Reconquest in about a year. In the meantime, we will continue to strengthen our defenses, seeding warp points with mines and building up fighter forces in the frontier systems. Hopefully, the Ukra-Tal will continue to use Iolo as a transit point, allowing us to interdict their traffic there. We hope to provoke another attack on Correlia so that we can give them another bloody nose.”
A few chuckles rose up from around the table.
“For the Romulan front, we need to step up our reconnaissance efforts. Other than the first contact with them, we don’t know anything about their strength or systems. Before we can make any sort of plans, we are going to do a reconnaissance in force. This force should be ready to deploy in about six months.”
He glanced around the room.
“Are there any questions?”
No one spoke.
“That’s all I have sir.”
The Chairman nodded.
“Thank you, Grand Admiral. You’re next, Commandant Hunter.”
The Space Marine commander keyed his datapad, and a number of figures appeared in the holographic display.
“As I mentioned before, we are continuing the mustering out process. We’re running at about twenty percent retirement, which is well below what we expected.”
The Chairman interrupted him.
“What were your estimates, Commandant?” he asked.
“Well sir, we anticipated fifty percent, with seventy percent being the high end, at which point we would have had to activate forced retention measures.” Hunter answered.
“What do you attribute the high retention to?” the Chairman inquired.
Hunter paused for a moment.
“Well sir, most of the men are saying that they want to see this through to the end. A lot of the marines leaving were the ones who joined up when they already had families back home. The one’s who joined up young don’t have any attachments to go back to, so they decided to stay in and try to finish the job.”
“I see,” said the Chairman, “please continue.”
Another display appeared, showing troop strengths.
“First and second brigades were the only two units to see combat action. First brigade suffered relatively light losses, while second brigade was mauled at the Battle of Rage. We have brought second brigade back up to full strength, and will mix the veterans in with the new recruits to spread the experience throughout the brigade. Consequently, there will be a disproportionate number of promotions in second brigade. Third brigade is deployed on Highrock, and the fourth brigade is on Norak.”
At this, some of the faces at the table frowned slightly. Fourth brigade was an all Norakian brigade, and not everyone in the government supported the though of arming the former enemies of the Society. So far, there had been no incidents, and all of the Norakian Space Marines displayed an almost fanatical loyalty to the Society, but there were still detractors. Hunter continued. “At this point, we think it would be best to assign first, third and fourth brigades to Ukra-Tal Fleet, while second brigade will be assigned to Romulan Fleet. We have more than enough recruits to raise two more brigades, and will assign these to Romulan Fleet, with the option of assigning one of them where the need is most pressing.”
He keyed the datapad again, and vehicle schematics were displayed.
“We are planning on upgrading the Blazer Combat Vehicle. The biggest upgrade will be the addition of the new generation of battle computers, which will allow them to fire more accurately. We will also be able to incorporate some of the improvements learned in the field into the new vehicles. Finally, we are going to retire the current assault rifle and introduce the new PPR-3 Phased Poloron Rifle. These changes should greatly enhance the combat power of the Space Marines.”
The Commandant finished his presentation.
Next, Admiral Ash of the Naval Design Bureau discussed the task of upgrading the fleet with the latest generation of weapons and battle computers. He estimated that all ships should be upgraded by the time Operation Reconquest was ready to begin.
Director Sangi Mulatti discussed the focus of the Remorhaz Security and Intelligence Bureau. Most of the intelligence and espionage were to be focused on the Ukra-Tal, but efforts would be made against the Romulans as opportunities presented themselves.
The various ministers presented their plans for supporting the war.
The meeting was coming to an end. Chairman Sachmo stood again and addressed the gathered officials.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I will go over all of your proposals and get back to you with any suggestions that I may come up with. I can tell you that at this point, I don’t see many changes being recommended. As usual, your plans are visionary, precise, and well organized. Thanks to you all, the transition from a defensive war to an offensive war should be as smooth as possible. Does anyone have any last minute questions?”
There were none.
“Alright then, let’s put these plans in motion. Thank you for your time.”
With that, he turned and left.

[Hojo]

very nice story - like others, it has cost me $45 plus S&H ... and I HAD the old SEIV... but I felt I just NEEEEDED to get Gold as well...

keep it up

[sachmo71]

Thanks, Hojo!

There should be some combat coming up in the next chapter!

[sachmo71]

An old fashioned butt whuppin!

2412.8

The com unit chirped.
Gina Jager’s eyes snapped open, waking quickly from a fitful sleep. She glanced at it, and considered ignoring it.
It chirped again.
With a groan, she sat up and glanced at the id. It told her that it was a secure channel from Fleet Headquarters. That got her attention.
She quickly wiped the sleep from her eyes, ran her fingers through her hair, and cleared her throat. Whoever it was would just have to deal with her appearance.
She keyed the com unit, and was shocked to see the face of Grand Admiral Urian.
“Gina, did I wake you?” the Grand Admiral asked.
“Yes sir” she answered before thinking, “I mean, I was up sir, just resting.”
He smiled. “I see. The Ukra-Tal have been keeping your pretty busy.”
She ran her fingers through her hair again. She couldn’t believe he was seeing her in this condition!
“Yes sir, they’ve been active, but not really pressing us. Did you get my report, sir?”
She began to wonder where this conversation was going.
“I did”, replied the Grand Admiral, “and I agree with your conclusions. I think we’ve hurt them worse than they expected. I don’t think they will be mounting any more large scale offensives for a while.”
Well it’s always good when your superiors agree with you, she thought.
“That’s why I want you to come back to Remorhaz for a while, Gina. We need to discuss our strategy now the war against the Rage is over. I also thought you might want to be here for the funeral of the Bardron VI casualties.”
Gina processed the information. Why was her pulling her off of the line? She knew that she had been at war for years now. Maybe he thought she had lost her edge.
The Grand Admiral continued.
“We’re reorganizing the Navy into two main fleets. Ukra-Tal Fleet will be based on Highrock. The other fleet will be Romulan Fleet and will be based here on Remorhaz. I’m giving Romulan Fleet to R.J. Brennan. Ukra-Tal Fleet is yours, if you want it.”
Gina’s heart skipped a beat. Fleet command?
“It won’t be official until you get here, but consider yourself promoted. Congratulations, Admiral Jager. I know you are the right person for the job.”
Fleet command? As reality closed in on her, she felt her mouth turn up into a huge grin.
“Sir, I’d be honored” she managed to squeak out.

The next few days were a flurry of activity for the Remorhaz People’s Navy as the reorganization took place.
In Ukra-Tal Fleet, Gina chose her commanders from those she personally knew to be exemplary officers.
Task Force One, which was her previous command, was the easiest choice for her. Walter Reed was an officer that Gina strived to emulate throughout her career. Through a number of circumstances, she had earned the lion’s share of the glory and promotions, but she considered Reed to be the best officer in the Navy. She pressed Grand Admiral Urian to promote Reed to Fleet Admiral, which he did. His flag would be his former command, RSS Stormfront.
Task Force Two, presently based in the Bardron system, she gave to Gordon Lu. Gordon had been a protégé of Sakazawa, and Gina knew from personal experience that he was a brilliant tactician and an excellent leader. Lu was promoted to Rear Admiral. Lu chose RSS Ganymede as his flagship.
Task Force Three was the Iolo Defense Fleet renamed. The heroic defense of Correlia by the tiny fleet against incredible odds was one of the more celebrated stories of the war, and the name of the fleet’s commander was known by all of the children of the Remorhaz Society. Thom Hitcher retained command of his fleet, and was promoted to Rear Admiral. He retained his flag on the legendaryRSS Orion.

For the only task force in Romulan Fleet, Brennan chose to promote Will Crowley to Rear Admiral. Crowley had been XO to Lu while they served on RSS Intimidator, and he had a sterling reputation as an aggressive officer with a great head on his shoulders. Brennan wanted an officer who could plan on the run, since much of the war effort against the Romulans would be improvised as intelligence was gathered. Crowley had proved to be exactly the type of officer he was looking for.

While the reorganization was taking place, the war still raged. In Lenoltris, just days after Gina left in a shuttle for the four month trip to Remorhaz, long range scanners picked up two Ukra-Tal cruisers that had made the worm hole transit from Yukra. Fleet Admiral Walt Reed ordered Task Force One, with fourteen ships and twenty-four fighters to lay a course to intercept the enemy ships. One week later, they met in a quadrant adjacent to Lenoltris III.

At a range of almost three thousand miles, the two fleets deployed into battle formation. The Ukra-Tal ships continued to head right into the heart of the Remorhaz fleet, and so Reed deployed his ships to maximize point defense fire. The Ukra-Tal fleet consisted of a
Hedenso class cruiser, armed with three seeker launchers with very long range, four anti-missile “organs”, and advanced computers and shields. The other ship was a Hedmora class cruiser, with a main armament of two heavy acid launchers, advanced computers and anti-missile “organs”, also. As with most Ukra-Tal ships, their ships were part organic and, given enough time, could heal any damage suffered.
The range closed quickly. Reed pulled his wedge into a tight box, with the fighters out on the flanks.
The Hedenso opened fire on Stormfront at a range of one thousand miles. They would cover that distance in minutes if the Remorhaz ships reversed course, but the intercept time dropped exponentially as they moved to get into guns range of the Ukra-Tal ships. Warning klaxons sounded on the bridge as the seekers locked onto the flagship of the Remorhaz fleet. Reed watched the tactical display as the two fleets continued toward each other. He was confident that his own point-defense fire could knock down all of the enemy seekers, but he wanted to get the first shots in on the Hedmora, and hopefully knock it out before it could bring it’s powerful acid launchers to bare.
Finally, the enemy ships moved into range. At nine hundred miles, Reed ordered all ships to go to flank speed. If they could get the range down to five hundred miles quickly, they would get the first shot.
RSS Liberation was the fist ship to get into range. She was a Glory C Class destroyer, and her main armament was two missile launchers and one heavy cannon. At a maximum range of five hundred miles, she fired, missing with her cannon shot but targeting the Hedmora with a salvo of missiles. RSS Binghampton fired and hit once, damaging the Hedmora’s shields. RSS Hecate also hit once with a cannon shot, damaging her shields even further, but not doing much to slow the Hedmora down. RSS Firefly missed with all of its shots, but Stormfront hit it and brought its shields down to half strength. One of the elements of fighters entered the maximum range of the Ukra-Tal ships anti-missile launchers, and instantly a huge could of projectiles was ejected from the Hedenso. The projectiles caught the fighter squadron head on, shredding nine of the craft. The other three were able to avoid the attack.

The Ukra-Tal ships turned to make a raking pass at the Remorhaz battle line. The Hedmora fired another projectile could at the fighters, destroying all of them. It then opened fire on Binghampton, hitting with two heavy acid salvos. Fortunately, her shields held, barely, and she escaped the attack unscathed. The anti-missile clouds knocked down most of the Remorhaz missile salvoes, but two still sought their targets.
RSS Hercules now found herself three hundred miles from the enemy cruisers. Her captain was Lieutenant Commander Kahlid Pedram, a rather aggressive man in his first command. He closed the range to within one hundred miles and opened fire on the Hedmora with a three cannon salvo. The Ukra-Tal countermeasures spoiled his shots, however, and only one found their target. The cruiser’s shields were down below half strength, but she still had suffered no structural damage. RSS Hecate also closed with the Hedmora and delivered a heavy salvo of cannon fire, hitting with all three shots at very close range. The Hedmora’s shields were almost down.
Binghampton fired and hit the Hedmora once, and then turned to open the range with the Hedmora to preserve her shields. They would not survive another attack. Firefly closed and attacked, bringing down the Hedmora’s shields and blasting a furrow in the ships outer skin. No significant damage was done, but the shields were down. Fleet Admiral Reed ordered all ships to continue firing on the battered cruiser, even as Stormfront closed range. Her cannon salvo damaged the organic armor on the port side of the ship so badly that it would be unable to “heal” damage to the ship. RSS Triumph gave the armor on the starboard side the same treatment.
At this point, the Hedmora and the Hedenso split up. Reed would not release be fooled though, and continued to hound the gun cruiser. Hercules continued to remain at point-blank range, hitting the cruiser twice and destroying the ship’s shield generators and opening the crew quarters to space. Ukra-Tal bodies escaped the hole along with gasses and other debris. Buffalo moved into range and delivered a heavy cannon broadside, ripping the port side of the Hedmora open with great explosions. From bow to stern the Ukra-Tal ship was bleeding atmosphere and debris, and the crew of Buffalo watched as one heavy cannon shell ripped open one of the acid launchers, it’s contents streaming out into space from an ever-widening tear in the hull. Hecate and Firefly surrounded the Ukra-Tal ship, determined to destroy it before the one remaining launcher could launch another salvo of acid. Their combined firepower was more than enough to destroy all weapon systems on the Hedmora. The ship still lived, but would pose no threat to the Remorhaz fleet. Reed immediately turned his attention to the Hedenso.

Stormfront, Liberation, and Triumph brought the ships shields down a one combined salvo. Binghampton blasted its organic armor down to about half strength before the ship could return fire. Reed ordered all remaining capital ships to attack the Hedenso and leave the Hedmora to the remaining fighters. Hercules continued her relentless attacks and blasted the remaining organic armor off of the Hedenso. Liberation attacked with a missile salvo and a cannon shot, which hit the cruiser amidships and destroyed two of the anti-missile launchers.
The Remorhaz ships continued to pound the Hedenso with cannon fire, turning it into a twisted wreck. On the tactical display, Reed watched as the Remorhaz missile salvoes overwhelmed the crippled cruiser, blasting it’s remaining superstructure into a cloud of small pieces.

Ensign Berton watched the Ukra-Tal ship slowly limp through space. Most of its engines were destroyed, its hull was holed and venting gas. Not ten minutes before, it had killed half of his squadron mates, and so it was with singular joy that he ordered his flight of FA-5 Warhammers to commence their attack runs on the Hedmora. Victory 2 rolled in to the attack, executing a prefect rocket attack. The heavy projectiles arced lazily through space, and then struck the ship right near it’s engine room with spectacular force. Quickly, the remaining engines of the Ukra-Tal ship went up as the warheads of the rockets carried on through the hull deep into the powerplant. The explosion consumed the ship in a huge fireball, rocking the fighters with concussive force. Berton watched impassively as the fireball quickly consumed itself, removing all evidence that a warship had even existed in this patch of space. He ordered his element to form up on him and set a course for Highrock, but as he turned he kept his eye on the spot where the Ukra-Tal cruiser had died.
“There’s more where that came from, you slimy bastards.” he whispered to the ghosts as he continued his turn for home. “We’ll be waiting.”

[sachmo71]

Battle of Highrock

Task Force Three was the first task force to complete full refit. All of the ships in the force were armed with the newest phased polaron beams and battle computers. When a lone Fredrikstad class Ukra-Tal light cruiser was cornered in quadrant sixteen, the first combat test of the new weapons systems began.
The Fredrikstad was a minelayer, and had no offensive weapons of her own. Knowing this, the Ukra-Tal captain turned away from the task force and made a run for the wormhole. Hitcher’s ships had a speed advantage, and so he gave chase, confident that they would be able to catch and destroy the enemy craft.
At six hundred miles, RSS Orion opened fire. Hitcher watched as the blue beam streaked through space to impact on the hull of the enemy ship. Of the three shots, only one missed. The Fredrikstad was visibly damaged, but continued to run. RSS Shining Victory was the next to attack. Her beam hit at the bow, and then burned a huge gash in the hull as the beam continued to burn down the hull.
Even at three hundred miles, Hitcher noticed that the gun solutions were generating hit probabilities in the nineties, which was unheard of accuracy with the old computers and depleted uranium cannon. The Remorhaz ship fired, mangling the stricken hull of the Fredrikstad. RSS Shining Victory moved in and finished it off with a well-placed beam into the weakened midsection of the ship, blasting it in half.
Hitcher looked at his assistant.
“Have the data and a vid of the engagement beamed back to Fleet HQ immediately” he said.
He knew that the scientists in the Research Guild would be ecstatic to see that their weapons were as effective as advertised.

2412.9

Surtran completed construction of another Scorpion Class Minesweeper, RSS Boar Beetle. On Cirius, another was launched, RSS Dagger Moth. The ships left port as soon as they were provisioned but with skeleton crews. The bulks of their crews were training on Highrock, and would join with their ships when they arrived. The minesweepers were vital to the success of Operation Reconquest, and without them the fleet would take massive casualties before a shot was even fired in anger. One of the lessons of the war so far was that well prepared minefields were a great equalizer.

2413.0

The shipyards at Cetarus completed construction of another Scorpion class minesweeper, RSS Aphid. A new Comet Class planetary assault ship, RSS Quark, was launcher from Surtran in the Surtran System.
RSS Mount Thunder and RSS Xanthe arrived in Iolo to join Task Force Three. Both ships were immediately docked to be refit. These two ships would greatly increase the combat power of the task force.

In Lenoltris, Fleet Admiral Walt Reed watched as an armada of forty-three Ukra-Tal ships appeared from the Yukra wormhole and was headed straight for Highrock. They had come this way before, and the last few times had turn back after accomplishing some unknown mission, but this fleet seemed far too large to him to be anything other then a full assault fleet, coming to destroy them.

The Ukra-Tal fleet did come, but apparently learned nothing from the experiences of previous fleets. As the fleet passed the asteroid belt just inside Highrock Quadrant, the Remorhaz minefield was triggered. The ships were devastated. The mines homed in on their ships, bypassing defenses and slamming into hulls. Finally, the enemy ships punched through the minefield, but only after losing twenty-seven ships. Of the remaining sixteen ships, ten were heavily damaged. Against this reduced armada, sixteen Remorhaz ships were deployed around Highrock, in addition to the ground defenses. The odds were fairly even, thanks to the mines.
RSS Loyalty was the first to fire, launching a missile salvo at an Ukra-Tal cruiser. Reed pulled the rest of the fleet back toward Highrock, so that the fleet and the surface batteries could support one another.

The Ukra-Tal ships deployed in a line, standing off and launching seekers at Reed’s ships. One of the enemy ships, the Heinola class, turned out to be a carrier. It launched fifteen fighters, then turned away from Highrock.
The waves of Ukra-Tal seekers came at the Remorhaz formations, and waves of anti-missile fire rose to meet them. The ships knocked down most of the parasite seekers fired by the capital ships, and the ground-based batteries totally destroyed the Ukra-Tal fighters. A Hedmora class cruiser was able to get into range to fire its acid globules, and targeted RSS Triumph. Two out of three shots hit the destroyer, knocking out two of her engines. The Remorhaz line returned fire, damaging the cruiser’s shields. Reed continued to pull his ships back, drawing the Hedmora into range of the surface batteries, which destroyed the Hedmora’s shields and battered her armor. At the same time, he ordered the remaining Remorhaz fighters to flank the enemy line and go after the damaged enemy ships that were trying to stay out of the fight.
The ground batteries severely damaged an Ukra-Tal light cruiser, and Buffalo and Stormfront finished it off. Hecate took heavy damage as a Hedmora closed range and blasted her with acid launchers. Reed ordered the ship to retreat from the battle.
Triumph was lost when three undamaged Hedmoras pressed then attack and battered the ship with acid volleys. Most of the crew was able to escape the ship after the second Hedmora attack crippled the ship. Captain Villareal ordered all hands to abandon ship before the third Ukra-Tal cruiser was able to close range, and about 350 of the 400 men on board were able to escape. Captain Villareal was among the lost.
After the surface batteries severely damaged another Hedmora, Reed ordered his fleet to go on the offensive. Binghampton and Buffalo pounded another Hedmora from close range, and the destroyers helped to cripple it.
The remaining Ukra-Tal Hedmoras turned back to face the Remorhaz charge, but instead of facing the cruisers head on, they maneuvered past the line and went after the damaged Hecate. They opened fire from extreme range, and Hecate dodged the best it could, but the heavy acid fire finally caught her in the missile magazine. The explosion tore the destroyer to pieces. None of the crew survived.
The Remorhaz ships now had the Ukra-Tal between them and Highrock. The combined firepower from the fleet behind them and the heavy planetary batteries took a toll on the Hedmoras. Every ship was heavily damaged in the resulting exchange. At this point, the Ukra-Tal ships began to turn away from Highrock, apparently in an attempt to withdraw.

Reed would have none of it. He pressed the attack, leaving every Hedmora crippled. Every remaining Remorhaz ship destroyed at least one enemy ship. It was over in minutes. Reed continued on, determined not to let a single Ukra-Tal ship escape. At six hundred yards, Binghampton and Stormfront fired on the Ukra-Tal carrier, tearing it to pieces. Once the carrier was destroyed, the line fell on the remaining crippled Ukra-Tal ships. None survived.

The battle was over. The Remorhaz People’s Navy had lost close to five hundred men and two ships, with minor damage to a few others. The fighter group had lost another five of their number, but had destroyed another enemy ship. The Ukra-Tal losses were total. Every one of the three-three ships in the fleet was destroyed. Reed was staggered by the number, and also by the implication that the Ukra-Tal could sustain this magnitude of loss and still continue to sustain offensive operations. If Remorhaz had taken that big of a loss, over half the navy would be space debris. Just how many ships did the Ukra-Tal have? If they decided to come with all of them, could Remorhaz stop them?

[sachmo71]

Shadow War

The music thumped loudly, a deep heavy beat. Lights flashed in hypnotic patterns in time with the music. All around the club, masses of people swayed to the beat.
Crewman Yancy Slotnik turned to his new lady friend and shouted something obscene in into her ear.
She smiled a very professional smile, put her arm around him, and kept her mind on the money she would get when this dreadful evening was over.
Slotnik pulled her toward him and gave her neck a sensual kiss. The fact that it felt to her more like a slug had latched onto her neck was lost on him. Tonight, he was the king of the world.
He smiled as he turned to address him other friends.
“Are you guys having a good time?” he shouted.
His shipmates looked at him.
“Sure Slotnik. Sure we are. You just keep buying the drinks, and we’ll keep enjoying ourselves,” grunted the biggest of them.
The others laughed. The big one picked up his drink, and held it up in toast.
“To Bardron Six!” he shouted.
“To Bardron Six!” the other sailor chorused.
Slotnik did not raise his glass to this. He hated the Navy, and counted the moments until he could get out. He frowned.
“Come on, baby,” he said to his date, “let’s go somewhere more private.”
She smiled again, hoping that he would do his thing and she could be on her way.
As he stood, he lost his balance and spilled his drink on one of his crewmates uniform blouse.
“Hey!” he shouted as the cold liquid ran down his back. He turned to see Slotnik standing over him with his half-empty glass dripping the offending liquid. The sailor snapped up from his chair.
“Because you bought the drink tonight, Slotnik, I’m going to give you some advice instead of smashing your face in. We,” he gestured to himself and the other sailors at the table, “don’t like you. No one does. The only reason we are here is because you said you were buying the drinks. I can’t figure out how a goldbrick like you got your slimy little flippers on all this money, but don’t let fool you. We aren’t friends. We aren’t buddies. We’re barely even shipmates. Now, why don’t you pay the bill and get out of my face before I smash you?”
The other sailors burst out laughing.
Slotnik felt the heat rise in him, but he wasn’t dumb. If he hit one of them, they would all beat him to a pulp. He knew when to cut his losses.
“Screw you guys!” he shouted, and grabbed his date by the arm.
“Hey Slotnik!” one of the sailors called, “I hope you know what to do with that twist when you get her alone!”
He picked up the pace. He was determined to have a good time tonight. He didn’t like those guys anyway.
As he worked his way through the club to the exit, he tried to make sense of things. The alcohol didn’t make that any easier.
Why did things always have to turn out this way, he thought. I can’t catch a break with these guys. Every time I try to do the right thing, I end up screwing it up.
Suddenly he smiled. They’ll learn soon enough that I can do something right.
He pushed the girl out of the door into the street as he struggled past the sea of humanity trying to get into the dance club.
Once out, he put his arm around her.
“I know a place where we can get a room,” he slurred. “This is gonna be the best night of your life, baby.”
“I’m sure it will,” she said, with just enough emphasis for Slotnik to believe her.
They turned to walk up the dark street when she saw shapes moving in the darkness in front of her. Instinctively, she started to reach for her purse to grab for the blade she kept in there. Before he hand was halfway to it, she heard the distinctive sound of a pistol being cocked right next to her ear.
“Don’t move!” a voice commanded. She obeyed.
Suddenly, she was up against a wall with her hands pinned against her back. She was scared, but she knew that with a pistol on her, the best thing to do was to just go along.
Slotnik wasn’t as wise as the prostitute.
“Who the hell are…” he started to shout, but the words died in his throat as a hand clamped down on his windpipe. An instant of pain later he was on the ground looking up into a face obscured by a battle mask.
“Shut up and don’t move” the face told him.
He tried to shout, and began to jerk his head from side to side, trying to break the steady grip on his throat. Instead of loosening, he fingers tightened.
“Don’t move” the voice said, slower this time but with infinitely more malice.
He decided to stop. His heart was hammering in his chest, and began to beat harder as he realized who these men were.
Two very strong arms grabbed him by his shoulders and lifted him up from the ground. He saw his date being placed in restraints as the masked men began to guide him toward the street. He saw the outline of a dark speeder before someone put something over his eyes, blinding him. The hand released his throat as he stumbled along with the masked men. He could make out the door of the speeder opening, and he was forced into a sitting position. He felt restraints go around his arms and legs, and panic set it.
“Who are you?” he shouted. “I’m in the military! You can’t…”
Something very hard and very heavy smashed into his mouth.
Pain shot through his brain as he let out a cry. The heavy thing smashed him in the mouth once more.
His face felt like it was on fire, but also numb at the same time. He could feel liquid, probably blood, pouring down his chin.
“Ahh…” he began, but he was hit a third time.
“Shut up” the voice commanded again.
This time Slotnik did as he was told, at least for the few moments that he was conscious.

He jerked his head up from his chest.
The pain returned, threatening to put him out again.
A moan escaped his as he ran his fingers over his teeth. They all seemed to be there, but he though one was broken. His tongue ventured out to his lips, but he wished it had not. Fresh pain seared his brain as the cuts and cracks in his lips reacted to his probing. It felt as if the lower half of his face were split in half.
He gingerly tested his lips again. Yes, there was definitely a gash there, and they were swollen as hell. He moaned again.
He could hear a door opening, and footsteps. He stopped moaning instantly.
Someone chuckled.
“He learns quick, doesn’t he?” someone said.
“Yup. He’s a genius,” another voice responded.
He felt something next to his head, and his blindfold was removed.
The bright lights of the room shot spears of pain into his skull. He snapped his eyes shut to keep his head from exploding, but he didn’t cry out. He didn’t want to get his face smashed anymore.
“See? Nothing! I tell you, I don’t understand the jacket on this guy. He can learn. He just needs the proper motivation,” the first voice said.
The second voice began to laugh again.
“Sit tight, sailor,” he heard, then footsteps and the door opening again. The door shut.
Slowly, Slotnik opened his eyes. The light was blinding, but after some time he was able to see a bit past it. He was in a room, roughly six feet by six feet. The walls were bare, except for multiple vid cameras that were trained on him. It was very warm in here, and it smelled of sweat. Slotnik knew where he was, and he began to cry.

“Wow,” the Captain said, “that didn’t take long.”
“No sir,” agreed the second man.
“Let’s give him some more time, then we’ll press him. He’s going to fold like a house of cards,” the Captain said.
“Yes sir,” replied the second man.
“I’ll play savior for him. It works best with his kind.” With that, the Captain turned and left the room.
The second man continued to watch the vid as the their prisoner did their job for them.

Slotnik didn’t know how long he had been out, but when he woke up, the pain had returned, except it had also claimed his neck as a casualty. He tried to move his arms again, so that he could rub his neck, but they were secured firmly to the chair. He tried to move his neck a bit, but that caused him even more pain. With no better options, he began to moan again.
After what seemed like hours, the door opened again. This time, he could clearly make out the face of the man who entered.
He was a tall man, about six foot three, and had broad shoulders. He was dressed in the uniform of the Remorhaz Security and Intelligence Bureau. He produced a chair from one of the corners of the room and sat down in front of Slotnik.
“Mister Slotnik, I am Captain Shrake Winborne of the Security and Intelligence Bureau. I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind, but first, do you require medical attention?”
Slotnik’s eyes bulged in wonder. Medical attention? He didn’t know what to do!
He stared at the Winborne with fear in his eyes.
“Well, I’ll go ahead and get the doctor in here for you, ok?” the captain asked.
Slotnik nodded, then sobbed.
Winborne keyed the communicator that was on his shoulder, and asked that the medic be sent in.
“He’ll be here soon, Yancy. May I call you Yancy?” he asked.
Slotnik nodded again. “Yes.”
If I play this right, Winborne thought, I might get everything on the first try.
He looked at Slotnik for a few long moments, and then spoke.
“Yancy, we know about the money, and we know what you were planning to do.”
Slotnik began to cry in earnest now, great heaving sobs and a torrent of tears.
Winborne stood up and moved over next to him. Slotnik flinched away.
“Don’t worry son, I’m not going to hurt you,” Winborne promised. “I want to help you.”
Slotnik continued to sob.
“Yes sir. I need help. I’m so scared.”
Winborne put his hand on his shoulder.
“All you have to do is tell us the absolute truth, and we’ll do what we can to get you out of this. How does that sound?” Winborne asked.
Slotnik began to nod vigorously.
“I’ll tell you everything sir. Please, I don’t want to go before a firing squad. Please!” Slotnik pleaded.
Winborne squeezed his hands tightly, trying to reign in his emotions. This man was pathetic, but he had to get the information from him before he threw him to the dogs.
At that moment, the medic came in. He opened his kit and began to access Slotnik’s injuries.

After about ten minutes, the medic was through, and Slotnik had calmed down considerably. Winborne knew that he had given the sailor plenty of time to decide just how much the Bureau knew about his illegal activities. If he were smart, he would figure out that they probably didn’t know much, but Winborne had seen enough to be sure that Slotnik wasn’t smart, or if he was, his cowardice would outweigh his instincts. No, this guy is going to crack.
“Ok, Yancy, let’s hear it. Remember, the more truth you give me now, the more I can help you later. Got it?” Winborne asked.
“Yes sir,” the sailor answered. His eyes were glazed over.
Got him, thought the captain.

Three days later, three teams of SIB agents surrounded a small, dingy dwelling in the civilian quarter in Highrock port. Inside were four Ukra-Tal agents, probably armed with small arms, but possibly a high explosive device, also. As one, they stormed the house. Shots range out, and in moments, three of the four Ukra-Tal agents were dead, and the fourth was taken prisoner. Hidden inside the dwelling were a number of listening devices, weapons, and monies. Most telling of all, however, was the discovery of an operational plan to sabotage a number of ships in orbit around Highrock. All of the attacks were scheduled to be carried out in three days, with Yancy Slotnik as the delivery system. He had no way of knowing that he would have been destroyed along with the last bomb he was paid to deliver, but that was irrelevant. The man had sold his people out for a paltry sum. An example would be made of him.
Winborne immediately sent a communication to Director Mulatti, letting him know that the plot had been stopped.

The trial lasted two days. Yancy Slotnik was shown no mercy by the military court on Highrock, and he was sentenced to death by firing squad the next morning. In the end, he found his courage at last, telling the people he had betrayed that he was sorry for what he had done and hoped that there would be no reprisals against his family. There were none.

[Hojo]

Excellent as always Sach

[sachmo71]

Thanks! I rather enjoyed writing that chapter.

[Tellistto]

Rather gripping stuff, there. Almost felt sorry for the little jerk...almost.


Tell

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Rather gripping stuff, there. Almost felt sorry for the little jerk...almost.


Tell

Thank you! That's what I was going for. He was a worm, but in my mind, exactly the type who would do anything for acceptance. In his mind, money was equal to popularity.

[sachmo71]

Immortalizing Heroes

2413.1

The people of the Remorhaz Society loved their heroes. When the dedication ceremony of the newest Rochester Class light cruiser was transmitted around the society from the shipyards of Vengeance in the Fezzran system, it became one of the most watched programs in history. Ordinarily, a new ship dedication would not be a major event, but this ship was special. It was named for the hero of the Rage war, the architect of the Battle of Rage, and the embodiment of the sacrifice of the men and women of the Remorhaz armed forces. The ship was christened RSS Shiro Sakazawa.

The ship’s captain, Captain Steve “Duke” Williams, was the last to come aboard after the Governor and the assorted officials wrapped up the dedication ceremony. Duke Williams marveled at his luck as he walked through Sakazawa’scorridors.. First, he was given command of the newest and highest-profile ship in the fleet. On top of that, he was promoted to Captain six months before he should have even been considered for promotion. He knew that Fleet Admiral Hitcher, a firm supporter and good friend of Duke’s made all of this possible. He and Hitcher had become friends when Duke succeeded him as commander of the frigate RSS Hyperion. They fought side by side in a number of the battles of the Rage War. With Hitcher now in command of the First Task force of Ukra-Tal Fleet, he was in a position from which he was able to reward his friend for his loyalty, and what a reward this was!
Duke marveled at how big this ship was compared to the cramped quarters of Hyperion. The hallway was big enough to allow an eight-foot loader to travel up and down its length. In fact, there was ample space everywhere. Everything on this ship seemed to have its own place, and avoided feeling cluttered. On his old ship, equipment was often jammed into whatever space was available.
“This will definitely take some getting used to,” Duke muttered to himself as he stopped before the lift that would take him up to the bridge. Two security crewmen scanned his badge and when they were satisfied with whom he was, they saluted him.
“Welcome aboard, sir,” they said in unison.
Duke saluted them back. “Thank you,” he said.
As he stepped into the lift, a thought occurred to him. He stopped and addressed one of the sailors. “Crewman, what is your usual duty on board?” he asked.
The crewman stared at him blankly. “Beg your pardon, sir?”
“What is your normal job on board? What do you do every day?”
The crewman looked bewildered.
“Sir, I’m a security specialist. This is what I do.”
Duke nodded. “Thank you, crewman. Carry on.” He stepped into the elevator. As the door closed, he whistled. Damn, I feel like a yokel, he thought.
Dedicated security crewmen? This was defiantly going to take some getting used to.

Minutes later, RSS Shiro Sakazawa silently slipped from her berth and maneuvered away from the space yard. Once they made it to open space, Duke Williams ordered the ship to increase to maximum speed and plotted a course for Highrock, were he would join the fleet of his old friend Thom Hitcher.

2413.2

In Lenoltris, a new colony was established on the planet of Lenoltris IX. The planet was named Guardian, and would be purely an outpost planet. A basic civilian infrastructure was set up, but the planet would serve as a fortress between the Ukra-Tal and the rest of the society.

“Sir, Odysseus has arrived,” the Lieutenant said.
Rear Admiral Hitcher breathed a quiet sigh of relief. It looked as if they would be able to get RSS Odysseus upgraded and back into action before the Ukra-Tal fleet was able to make it to Correlia.
“Thank you,” he said.
He turned back to the holographic system display floating in the center of his command center. A fleet of nineteen Ukra-Tal cruisers and light carriers was headed for Correlia. At their speed, the predicted arrival was in less than two weeks. It would be close, but Hitcher was confident that the shipyard crews could get the newly arrived light cruiser into shape before the fight.
His own forces backed up by the ever increasing defenses of the planet should be enough to stop whatever enemy ships made it through the minefield, but in the meantime, lone Ukra-Tal ships were passing through Iolo uncontested. He couldn’t afford to send any ships out to intercept them for fear of an attack on the planet. It was a good strategic move by the Ukra-Tal. Hitcher knew something that the slugs didn’t know, though. Remorhaz was quickly closing the technology gap, and would soon be able to come out from behind their defenses and meet the enemy in open space, then take the war into enemy territory. All he had to do was stay alive until then. Watching the mighty Ukra-Tal armada bear down on Correlia, he knew there were no guarantees.

In the Ultrinox system, RSS Eos took up position in the minefield outside of the Osshod wormhole. The ship prepared to make it’s mine laying run but noticed that one of the mines in the existing field had been detonated at some point in the past three month. Something had tried to come into Remorhaz space through that wormhole. The captain of Eos immediately reported his finding back to Remorhaz. Romulan Fleet would have to keep a closer eye on this system.

RSS St. Margaret, an Eos class minelayer, was launched from the Glory shipyards at the beginning of the month. It was to join Task Force 1 of the Ukra-Tal fleet. During Operation Reconquest, it would mine all of the approaches to Yukra that the Ukra-Tal might use to send reinforcements into the battle. Speed would be of the essence, so St. Margaret’s crew was made up of the most experienced mine crewmen in the fleet.
Glory began work on another minesweeper.

2413.3

The Ukra-Tal did not press the attack on Correlia. Hitcher surmised that once their ships had completed transit of Iolo and made it to the wormhole to Wanduk, their job was finished, and so the nineteen-ship Ukra-Tal fleet withdrew back into Yukra. We’re going to have to recon the Yukra system one of these days soon, he thought as he watched the enemy enter the wormhole. How to do that without tipping them off was another question.

Four new capital ships joined the navy at the start of the month.
RSS Conquerant was a Glory F Class destroyer, completed at the Glory space yards. The new Glories had the latest targeting computers and electronic countermeasures suites, as well as a phased-polaron beam to complement their double missile magazines. She was assigned to Romulan Fleet.
RSS Arrow, a Javelin B Class light cruiser was launched from Rage. Armed with five missile magazines, she would be vital during planetary assaults as well as ship to ship combat. Her electronic suite was upgraded to the latest models, including the new multiplex tracking system, allowing the ship to target multiple enemy craft with her ample missile loads. This ship was attached to Task Force One of Ukra-Tal fleet.
RSS Bill Elliot was the newest Ganymede G Class light cruiser launched from Fort Justice. This ship was named for the head of the Remorhaz News Service who had recently passed away. Under his guidance, the people of the Remorhaz Society were able to get accurate, timely and honest news from the frontline of the war, and from all corners of the rapidly growing society. A tireless worker, he was respected by all who knew him. To his friends, he was known as Mumbles. In honor of his achievements, this ship was named for him. He was the first civilian to have a ship of the line named after him. The Ganymede G was had a main armament of three heavy phased polaron cannon as well as updated battle electronics. This ship was also assigned to Task Force One of the Ukra-Tal fleet.
RSS Perrysburg was a new Rochester D class light cruiser launched from Sutran. This class was almost identical to the Ganymede class, only with a different hull design. This ship was also tagged for Task Force One of the Ukra-Tal fleet.

In Lenoltris, a single Ukra-Tal Hedmora sat silently near the Yukra wormhole, watching the activity on Highrock.

[sachmo71]

A friend of mine on the Shrapnel Boards has done me a huge honor!!

He's created a shipset for the Remorhaz Society! It comes with ai files, so you can play against them if you wish!

Remorhaz ship set!

[sachmo71]

New map!

[sachmo71]

Funeral

2413.4

The gray sky over Turian reflected the mood of the people. The celebrations of the victory over the Rage had wound down, and the people were once again reminded of the reality of war. Today was the funeral for the dead from Bardron VI.

A new memorial park was commissioned for the occasion, with viewing stands for the family and dignitaries skirting the field where the bodies would be buried. Days before the service was to take place, people began to gather on the fringes of the park, coming to pay their respects for the fallen heroes. As the day of the funeral drew closer, the stream of people became a flood, and by the time the funeral began, millions of Remorhaz citizens were standing around the park, silently watching and paying their respects.

In all, 2773 servicemen and women were buried that day. However, their deaths served to remind everyone throughout the society that although the price would be terrible, victory could be achieved.

Fleet Admiral Reed ordered Task Force 1 to sortie to intercept a lone Hedmora class cruiser that was on course to try to force the Lenoltris-Fezzran wormhole. The fleet destroyed the ship while sustaining no damage.
Just before the fleet turned to return to Highrock, a fleet of twenty-eight Ukra-Tal ships came through the wormhole from Yukra, but their destination was unknown at the time. Reed pulled the fleet back toward Highrock, but they would not be able to make it back before the month was out. The Ukra-Tal would not be able to make it to Highrock before then, either.

2413.5

The Ukra-Tal fleet was on an intercept course for Task Force One. Fleet Admiral Reed knew that the task force could not destroy them in a stand up fight, and so was forced to pull it back to Highrock. This left a number of holes in the Remorhaz front. A lone Hedmora covered the Fezzran-Lenoltris wormhole. There were ships waiting to come through, and Reed ordered them to form an ad hoc defense task force to cover Fezzran in case the Ukra-Tal headed in that direction. The senior commander in the system, Commodore Esteban Santos, formed Task Force 1.1 with all of the ships in the Fezzran system. He pulled his task force back to Cirius and would deal with any threats that came through the wormhole. His available forces consisted of one Javelin and one Rochester class light cruiser, the Prometheus light carrier, two Comet class ground attack ships, one minesweeper, and twelve system fighters. Scorpio put production effort into building more fighters to help make up for the lack of firepower in system. Cirius began producing defense bases. Two more cruisers, a Rochester and a Javelin were in system and headed for Cirius, but at least one month out.

In Iolo, things were quiet. A lone Hedmora was trying to run the Correlia gauntlet, but Hitcher pounced on it with Task Force 3, destroying it with no loss on the Remorhaz side.

[sachmo71]

Things quiet down

2413.7

The work of the Research Guild continued to reap benefits for the Remorhaz Society on both the home front and the front lines. The advances in computer technology and scientific theory made possible a new research system that would instantly link all of the research done in one lab with what was being done in another, allowing efficiency of the research done in the labs to be increased by twenty percent. The new lab system was being installed first on the planet Hera, and would not be complete for another eight months, but the researchers were predicting a major increase in productivity.
Another successful project completed this month was the application of contra-terrene propulsion technology to missile weapons. These engines, which has already increased the range of the ships by fifteen percent, increased the missile range by twenty percent while also allowing a larger warhead to be mounted on the missile.
While experimenting with missile propulsion, a new class of missile was manufactured. Taking the principle of the emergency propulsion pod and its anti-matter core and combining it with the anti-matter warhead from an anti-matter torpedo produced a smaller but faster missile called the plasma missile. The biggest drawback of the plasma missile was its short range and lower damage at long range, but its quickness was a significant improvement.
The Design Bureau immediately upgraded all of the plans for the missile-carrying ships to incorporate the new generation of capital ship missiles, and began exploring the options that the plasma missiles would give them.

More mining plants opened on Correlia as the lull in fighting continued. Thanks to the exploits of the Navy in the many space battles over the planet, colonists began to arrive in greater numbers, eager to start a new life on the frontier. As more workers came, new industries had to be created to support them, and Correlia was rich in minerals, making mining the industry of choice on the planet.
The Ukra-Tal sent yet another single ship into the system. It moved to within one sector of Correlia before Rear Admiral Hitcher ordered the entire fleet to intercept the ship.
Over Iolo V, they caught up with it. The Ukra-Tal ship was yet another new design, the Hvittingfoss. It appeared to be yet another armed colony ship, this time a gas colonizer, and it was packed from bow to stern with Ukra-Tal colonists.
Hitcher ordered the ship to be hailed and offered surrender terms. This was, of course, not answered. The Remorhaz fleet destroyed the enemy colony ship in short order. The system was clear once more.

The feared and anticipated showdown in Lenoltris was not to be. Fleet Admiral Reed watched as the enemy fleet slowly withdrew closer to the Yukra wormhole, where he expected them to adopt a defensive posture. Instead, within a week, the entire enemy fleet entered the wormhole and headed back into their system. While it was true that they had a numerical advantage over the Remorhaz fleet, Reed had hoped that they might be able to goad the Ukra-Tal into attack Highrock, or splitting their fleet to go after multiple objectives, allowing his own forces to meet them on a much more even footing. Their retreat would allow him to absorb the ships from task force 1.1, and after that point if the Ukra-Tal came back with another large fleet, he could have more hope of meeting them on an even footing.
Two weeks later, Santos arrived at Highrock with his task force. Task Force 1 would be able to hold its own, now.

In Fezzran, the local industry worked feverishly to manufacture space mines. If they could get them built and launched in the next few months, they would be able to close the last major hole in the Lenoltris front line. After that, the Ukra-Tal would have to fight to get through to the rest of the society.

[sachmo71]

Colonial Enterprises

A new planet was colonized in Xillantha, Sovrid. It was another dome colony, but the world was large, with ample space for resource storage and research centers.

The Ukra-Tal did something very strange in Iolo, colonizing Iolo VI at the beginning of the month but sending a single light cruiser to protect the new world. Hitcher dispatched Landover’s task force to destroy the colony and the enemy ship.

As she laid course for the enemy world, the light cruiser moved to intercept her force. Four sectors from Iolo VI, they met in combat. The ship was yet another unarmed colony ship, this time rigged to colonize gas worlds. Landover’s ships destroyed it and continued on to the enemy world.
Halfway to their objective, they received orders to return to Correlia. Landover was puzzled, but she obeyed. Soon after these orders were relayed, the 3rd Space Marine brigade was dispatched from Highrock and ordered to make best possible speed to Correlia.

Days after the space marine brigade left Highrock, an Ukra-Tal fleet appeared on the Remorhaz side of the Yukra-Lenoltris wormhole. Thirty-two ships crowded the long range scanners, including three huge new ships, designated by fleet intellgence as battlecruisers. Details of the ships were unknown, but spies had sent all of the information that they could gather about them. They knew that they were twice the size of light cruisers, and packed with weapons and armor. They were formidable foes on their own, but these were backed by a large force of cruisers and light carriers. Hitcher prepared his ships for a defensive operation, hoping that his fleet could salvage yet another victory from the overpowering Ukra-Tal forces.

[sachmo71]

Recon in Force

2414.0

Deep under the surface of Correlia, men watched the skies. The Iolo system was displayed in the center of the room as a holographic image, and this image was always being watched by a team of naval officers, watching for any sign that the enemy was coming. For the past week, there had been signs, but as usual, they didn’t make much sense to the humans who watched for them.

The enemy was present in Remorhaz space, but they did not bring numbers with them. In Sector 4-10, a lone Gol class cruiser drifted lazily between the Yukra and Wanduk wormholes. It seemed that the Ukra-Tal commanders knew that their enemies would not chance leaving Correlia open to attack, and so would not molest their journey through the system.
Of greater concern to the underground watchers was the Rasbokil class battle cruiser in Sector 2-4, following a course that would lead it to Correlia. This ship was an unknown enemy, and had never been faced by the Remorhaz navy before. How much damage could it hope to do against Thom Hitcher’s task force 3 and it’s eight ships of the line?

Aboard RSS Odysseus, Hitcher had already decided to find out. It was vital to the rest of the fleet that the enemies rapidly changing capabilities be accessed and recorded, and if this could not be done by electronic spies, it would have to be done the hard way, in combat. Knowing that the battle cruiser would outgun even his most powerful ships, he decided to take the whole task force out the meet it, and hopefully destroy it.

The trip out was uneventful, and on the fifth day out of Correlia, they met the enemy ship. Hitcher divided his force into two units. He led the main task force, consisting of the destroyers Midguard and Narvik, and the light cruisers Odysseus and Orion. Commodore Landover led the second element, made up of the destroyers Shining Victory and Skydancer, and the light cruisers Mount Thunder and Xanthe. Landover flew his flag on Mount Thunder.

Hitcher watched from the command center as his task force cut through the darkness, bearing down on the Ukra-Tal battle cruiser at maximum speed. Long range scanners began to probe the enemy ship, and after burning through the enemy jamming, a clearer picture of the enemies capabilities began to form.
The Rasbokil was a barrage ship, loaded down with seekers. Hitcher could only guess that the Ukra-Tal had sent the ship to try to bombard Correlia from maximum range and then flee. With a stronger escort, the ship may have been able to do some damage, but Hitcher doubted it would survive very long against his own ship’s phased-polaron beams. He was confident his ships would be able to stand up to whatever seeker barrage the enemy battle cruiser could throw at them, and launch a counter-attack that would eventually wear it down to a hulk.

Hitcher keyed his com unit and switched to the command net.
“Gentlemen, let’s keep the formation tight. I want to maximize point defense fire.”
Then he watched as the two separate elements quickly closed formation, creating what he hoped would be a withering wall of fire to defeat all of the seekers fired from the Rasbokil.
At maximum range, the battle cruiser opened fire. A wave of over fifty parasite seekers screamed toward the Remorhaz battle line, but when they reached effective point defense range, they were all destroyed in short order. Employing usual tactics, the Ukra-Tal ship moved to keep at maximum range while his crew readied another salvo of their living seekers.

Hitcher was surprised when the Rasbokil quickly fired another salvo of seekers, minutes before he thought they should be able to.
“Weapons upgrade. That’s bad news,” he said to no one in particular. If the Ukra-Tal were able to put more ordinance into space in a shorter period of time, it would take away one of the advantages that the Remorhaz forces had over them, which was the ability to hit their ships between seeker salvos. His ships continued on, as the point defenses defeated the second wave of seekers without damage. However, the Ukra-Tal ship was able to keep ahead of the task force, matching their speed and retreating from close combat with the Remorhaz ships.

Hitcher weighed his options, and finally decided to take a risk. It was a small one, but he wanted to catch the enemy ship, and with his speed, he wasn’t sure he would be able to get close enough to hit him with his beam weapons. He opened the command net again.
“Beta element,” he said, speaking to Landover’s force, “split off and go for the fork.”
On the screen, his junior officer nodded.
“Yes sir. Executing fork.”
Hitcher decided to split his force into two elements again, hoping to catch the enemy ship between the two forces and cut off his options for disengagement. The downside of this maneuver would be that the point defense fire from either group would not be as strong as it would if the forces were together, and his ships were at greater risk. Still, he felt that they would still be able to defeat the Rasbokil’s attacks, and hopefully get some of their own in as well.

The forces moved apart, with Hitcher’s force continuing to trail the battle cruiser and Landover’s four ships moved off at a right angle to them.

Perhaps the Ukra-Tal commander guessed what the Remorhaz ships were doing, because he fired another salvo of seekers and moved quickly to cross in front of Landover’s force. If he could get past them without sustaining much damage, he would leave Hitcher’s force too far behind to do any good in the engagement, and then maybe he could pick off one of the Remorhaz ships. Midguard, Skydancer, and Shining Victory all fired small missile salvoes at the enemy ship, hoping to slow him down and allow the pursuit to catch up with him.
The point defense fire from Hitcher’s element defeated the seeker salvo, but the Ukra-Tal commander was extending his escape path. The Remorhaz salvo did nothing to slow him down, and he moved full speed to try to escape the outside of the “fork” maneuver. Mount Thunder was able to close within four hundred miles of the ship, but that was still about one hundred miles out of range. Hitcher frowned slightly at the thought of losing his quarry.

Finally, the task force got its chance. Skydancer was able to get within beam range, and they opened fire, but missed. Shining Victory also was in beam range, but also missed, mainly because of very heavy jamming coming from the enemy battle cruiser. Both ships fired missile salvoes. Mount Thunder lashed out with a powerful broadside of beams, but was only able to hit the Ukra-Tal ship once. Gashed appeared in it’s armor, but no major damage appeared to have been done to the huge ship.

The Rasbokil fired yet another parasite seeker salvo at the Remorhaz fleet, and Hitcher prepared to give chase. The enemy ship had escaped the gauntlet relatively unharmed, and it would be a very near thing if Hitcher hoped to catch back up with him. Then the enemy captain did something extraordinary. He reversed course, and made as if to fly directly between the two Remorhaz elements! Hitcher watched the plot with his mouth agape, dumbfounded by this maneuver. The ship had made good it’s escape, but here it was, charging his battle line like a mist bear with a thorn in it’s paw. He quickly recovered, and decided not to squander his good fortune.
“All ships fire at will,” he said calmly over the command net. Immediately, his order was obeyed. Before the beam fire opened up, the Remorhaz seekers did their damage, however. The Rasbokil fired its counter missile projectiles effectively, but they were quickly overwhelmed. Missile after missile slammed into the ship, but were unable to bring down the battle cruisers shields. Still, the shields were heavily damaged, and would not stand up to much more punishment. Some of the damage done to the hull be Mount Thunder had already been repaired by the living armor that covered the ship, but Mount Thunder got a second chance. The Rasbokil was only thirty miles from her when she opened fire, point blank range in space combat. Mount Thunder hit with every shot, and the phased polaron beams penetrated the ship’s shields without losing any energy. The beams burned down the length of the battle cruiser, burning off armor and weapons alike. When it was over, the Rasbokil was venting gas from a number of hull breaches, and two of its seeker launchers were destroyed. Orion closed in and blasted the ship with two more salvos, igniting secondary explosions within the hull of the battle cruiser. Odysseus delivered the coup de gras, delivering a withering beam attack that finally caused the huge ship to explode.

Their mission accomplished, Hitcher turned his forces for home, allowing the Gol to live another day.

[sachmo71]

Highrock Hold Em’

“The way I see it, ma’am, we have three choices,” Rear Admiral Hitcher said.
“One choice is that we abandon Guardian. We’ve done it before, at Nova.”
In spit of themselves, the other officers in the command center stared at him in shock.
“It wasn’t our most glorious moment, but it did allow the fleet to concentrate and then counterattack, and that counterattack didn’t stop until the Rage were crushed.”
He looked around the table, and met the eyes of his commander.
Admiral Gina Jager nodded.
“Go on, Thom. I want to hear everything.”
Hitcher nodded, and continued.
“The second choice would be to split the fleet between Guardian and Highrock. Both forces would be backed up by considerable ground batteries, and might be able to withstand a Ukra-Tal attack.”
He glanced around the room again, and sensed that this was the plan most of the staff agreed with.
“Third option is my favorite,” he smiled. A few of the officers laughed.
“We could engage the Ukra-Tal fleet in transit, see if we can whittle down their numbers somewhat, then fall back to Guardian or Highrock and meet what’s left in a defensive battle.”
Hitcher sat down and waited for the responses to come. Gina tapped the table with her finger while studying the holographic image of the Lenoltris system glowing over the table. On it she saw her battle fleet, Task Force 1, stationed over Highrock. The support task force, under Commodore Santos, was on station near the Yullado wormhole in sector 6-0. In sector 1-6, on a direct course to Guardian, was a fleet of thirty-two Ukra-Tal ships. Most of the ships in this fleet were cruisers, but also mixed in were three battlecruisers and nine light carriers. It was a very formidable force, and it was presenting her with a number of problems.

As she saw it, the biggest problem was that her fleet was not strong enough to defeat the Ukra-Tal force in direct combat. Even with the advantage of phased-polaron beams, the Ukra-Tal fleet would overwhelm her ships with their firepower. If that happened, and her fleet was destroyed, the Ukra-Tal would have a direct path to Remorhaz. Obviously, she couldn’t let that happen.
But she also couldn’t let forty-two million Remorhaz citizens die in a planetary bombardment, either. Then Remorhaz People’s Navy was created to protect the citizens of the society, and it was her job to carry out that mission. If there had been more time, and the defenses of Guardian had been built up a little more, the position would be much more manageable, but time was up. The Ukra-Tal were headed for Guardian, and they intended to destroy the outpost. What she needed was a way to goad them into attacking Highrock instead of Guardian, and subjecting their force to the heavy minefield here.

Commodore Hank Nivend was the first to speak up.
“Admiral, I’d like to second Rear Admiral Hitchers option of moving out to meet the slugs,” he said.
“We could see if we can get them to launch their fighters early, and take them out first. That would seriously weaken their combat power. Then we could close with the cruisers and do as much damage as possible before withdrawing.”
A few of the other officers spoke up in support of this plan, offering their advice on how best to conduct the operation.
Hitcher stood up. “Everyone, there is something very important to consider before we ride out to meet the enemy.”
The room quickly grew quiet, and all eyes were on him.
“We are all that stands between the Ukra-Tal and Remorhaz. If this fleet is destroyed, nothing will stop them from penetrating deep into the society. It will have to be a hit and run attack, because we just don’t have the assets to take that fleet on directly.”

Everyone in the room took Hitcher’s words to heart. It was natural for them to want to engage the enemy in combat directly, but the Ukra-Tal still held a big superiority in numbers and tonnage, and the Remorhaz forces were just not strong enough to do much more than defend what they had, and pick off Ukra-Tal ships when they could. A stand up fight would probably end badly for the Remorhaz side.

In the meantime, Gina thought she had a solution. She typed information into her datapad even as her staff continued to discuss all of their option. Quickly she finished, and the forces on the hologram started moving.
“Ladies and gentlemen, do you think this will work?”
Again, the room fell into silence as they watched the hologram play out Jager’s battle plan. Rear Admiral Hitcher chuckled as he watched.
“Gina, I knew there was a reason you were so good at poker.” The room broke into relaxed laughter.

Commodore Santos watched from the command bridge of RSS Scorpion as Task Force 1.1 moved into Highrock orbit and joined up with the destroyer RSS Firefly and the cruiser RSS Shiro Sakazawa. Once all of ships were in position, he ordered his staff to stand down. It would be days before they knew what the Ukra-Tal were going to do, and so wanted everyone in the task force to have a two day dirt-side pass. If they Ukra-Tal took the bait, his people were going to have company very soon, and he wanted his people to enjoy themselves as much as possible before the battle was joined.

Task Force 1 moved to Guardian, taking the bulk of the combat power in Lenoltris with them. Their course took them into extreme range of the Ukra-Tal scanners, to make sure that they got a good look at the Remorhaz force. They wanted to make sure that the enemy commander knew that they were going to make their stand at Guardian. What must have been outside of their scanner range was the exact composition of the force remaining at Highrock. Admiral Jager hoped that the enemy commander would come after Highrock, and be forced to deal with the deadly minefield that surrounded the planet, hopefully taking a number of their ships out before they came within range of the planet. If they survived that, the survivors would have to deal with the ground defenses and the two remaining combat ships, which she hoped would be enough to keep any remaining ships from tearing into the rest of Task Force 1.1, which consisted of unarmed support ships. Her gamble was that the enemy commander wasn’t aware of the minefield, and he would go after the target that presented him with the least resistance, which would appear to be Highrock, she hoped.
On the other hand, if they went after Guardian, Task Force 1 would make a stand there, backed up by the ground defenses there that would hopefully add some much needed firepower to the Remorhaz side. Either way, the Remorhaz forces had played their best hand. How much they stood to lose remained to be seen.

The Ukra-Tal took the Highrock bait. In the command center, Admiral Jager watched with growing satisfaction as the most effective weapon in the Remorhaz arsenal, the Correlia space mines, annihilated the entire Ukra-Tal fleet.
“No targets remain, Admiral,” one of the sensor officers reported as the last enemy ship disappeared from the strategic display.
Gina allowed herself a tight smile.
“Alert Commodore Santos that there will be no breakthrough to deal with. Luckily for us, the slugs haven’t figured out how to spot a bluff.”

[sachmo71]

Augustus Reborn

2414.2

Inside and out, it looked like all of the other Rochester class cruisers in the Remorhaz People’s Navy. It’s weapons, sensors and computers were all identical to the others in the fleet. The crew, made up mostly of brand new recruits, was also unremarkable compared to it’s fellows. There was one thing that made this ship stand out among all of the others, and that was the name it bore.
RSS Agustus was named for the first warship of the old Earth empire. Many had argued against the need to construct armed spacecraft in the early days of human expansion. The universe was infinite. What need would they have for armed spaceships?
Without the Augustus, the answer might have been the death of the human race. When the human found out that they were not alone in the galaxy, soon after they found themselves under attack by their new neighbors. The first battle of the Tervanian War was fought in the Dengar system, where the suddenly very necessary Augustus held off the bulk of the Tervanian fleet as thousands of human colonists fled back to Sol. As the Empire scrambled to build more warships to check the alien threat, Augustus patrolled the frontiers, checking the advances of the Tervanians in a series of hit and run attacks. Eventually, at great cost, peace was achieved. Augustus was destroyed in a minor skirmish near the end of the war, but by this time the ship and its crew had become a legend. Augustus was a symbol of human perseverance, ingenuity, and forethought. Although the ship was destroyed, the memory of its victories remained etched into the empire’s history.
Now Augustus was reborn to the children of the old empire. It would embody the fighting spirit of the Remorhaz Society and defend its citizens against the attacks of the enemy. It would soon carry the war to enemy space, and secure the future of the human race in the universe again. It would accomplish this, or die trying.