[sachmo]

Changing Tactics

“Are the repairs finished?” Thom Hitcher asked his Operations Officer.
“Orion is one hundred percent completed, sir. We’re back in business. The Harbormaster has promised us that Narvik will be finished by the end of the month. When the Ukra-Tal get here, we should be at full capacity.”
Commodore Hitcher simply nodded. He was so tired of fighting, but there was another Ukra-Tal taskforce headed for Correlia. Thom wasn’t sure if four cruisers could accomplish what twenty-two were not capable of, but that didn’t change the fact that the enemy was coming again. Protecting the people of Correlia was his responsibility, and so had would have to fight.
He tabbed a key on his data unit, and brought up the report sent to him by Governor Ervay. A small minefield made up of the new Correlia mines had bolstered the planet’s defenses. These mines had twice the hitting power of the Kursk mines, and better seeker heads. Also, they were installing another battery of ground-based heavy cannon.
Hitcher was pleased with the preparations that had been made so far. If not for the incredible work of Governor Ervay and his staff, Remorhaz probably would have lost the first Battle of Correlia. The ground-based batteries made the difference then, and they would do so again. Hitcher only hoped that his fleet would not have to pay such a high price this time. He had lost over five hundred sailors in that battle. They could not afford such losses, or soon the Ukra-Tal would bleed this system dry.

Rear Admiral Gina Jager took a drink of her dachenberry tea and watched her staff and fleet officers file into the conference room. They all looked so tired, but at the same time professional. They were proud of their accomplishments here in the Lenoltris system. While the rest of the Remorhaz People’s Navy was making headlines in the Zekrat and Iolo systems, Gina’s fleet had quietly held the line here at Highrock. They had staved off one major attack and had fought far beyond what their resources had allowed, but they didn’t get much airtime on the news services back home. While Gina was not bothered on bit by the lack of exposure, she could tell that it did annoy some of her officers. She had heard rumblings among the fleet that they felt like Lenoltris was a forgotten front, and that they were missing the action.
She could understand this sentiment, even though she knew it was an inaccurate assessment of the situation. If not for their actions in this system, the Ukra-Tal might have attacked as far as Glory or even Remorhaz itself. If they had broken thru here, there would have been no one to stop them from driving right into the heart of the Society itself. The younger officers didn’t think about the war in these terms. They would see stories on the news of the great ship-to-ship battles at Correlia, or watch Space Marines wrestle control of the Rage homeworld to Remorhaz while starships pounded enemy troop concentrations from low orbit. The Lenoltris fleet missed most of that sort of action. The one major attack had been thwarted when a minefield destroyed an entire Ukra-Tal fleet bound for Highrock. There had been a few ship-to-ship engagements, but none that were very big and not for quite some time. Hence, Lenoltris had begun to get a reputation as a backwater system.
She couldn’t blame them for wanting to grab their share of the glory. Many of them were fresh out of the academy, and had not experienced the horrors of war yet. They still had the notion that war was mostly romance and bravery. They didn’t know about the horror, loneliness, and sadness.
“Well”, Gina thought, “it looks like they will get their chance soon.”
Everyone was present in the conference room. Gina stood up and addressed them.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have been on the defensive in this system for over two years. With the successes we have enjoyed on the Rage front, Grand Admiral Urian has decided that soon it will be time to take the war to the Ukra-Tal.”
She watched the eyes of her officers as the news registered. Almost to a man, they began to smile and sit up a little taller in their chairs. She gave them another half-second to let the news sink in, and then continued.
“The first order of business is going to be a reorganization of the fleet. We will now be designated Strike Fleet Dauntless. I will be transferring the flag from Nemesis to RSS Buffalo, a Rochester class light cruiser, once it arrives. Admiral Urian says that since I am now a Rear Admiral I have to run around in something bigger than a frigate.”
This brought sincere laughter from the assembly. She smiled at them.
“We will be getting reinforcements. I don’t know what or how many, but I do know that we will be getting out own Space Marine Brigade. What I need is for all of you to begin planning for an offensive into Yukra. When the time comes, we are going to hit the Ukra-Tal from as many systems as we can at once, but Yukra is the main objective of the entire offensive. If we can retake and secure it, we take Lenoltris and Ultrinox out of direct danger and close the flank in Iolo. That would really help the guys out over on Correlia. So we will be stepping up our patrols and becoming more aggressive in our rules of engagement. Get ready to pull some dash recon runs in to the system. Once our combat power increases, we will perform more intercepts. When the time comes to attack, I want everyone to be ready.” She paused for a moment. “Questions?”
Gina answered the few questions that were asked. She could sense that this new objective had really galvanized her officers. Some of the tiredness seemed to have washed away from their faces. The moved a bit more quickly, as if they now had a purpose. She hoped that this attitude spread throughout the fleet. She needed them as sharp as possible, because the road to victory was definitely going to be a long one.

Chairman Sachmo sat down wearily. The Senate had been fighting him all day. The motion on the table was to allow a request by the representatives of Nova and Providence to be allowed to raise a Space Marine Brigade and to train intelligence operatives. Normally, this wouldn’t have presented a problem. In this case there was quite a snag. These two colonies were populated predominately by Norakians. Since the Liberal party controlled the Senate at this time, most representatives believed that full citizenship and rights for Norakian citizens of the Remorhaz Society was a good thing. However, when faced with the prospect of arming them and allow them access to vial intelligence missions, even the most liberal of representatives balked. There was just too much risk involved.
The Chairman’s argument was a simple one. If Norakians wanted to contribute to the Society and protect it, then he wanted them to be able to. Every citizen of the Remorhaz Society had that right, and if the Norakians were full citizens, and they had been given citizenship officially by the Senate years ago, then they should be allowed these rights too.
He wasn’t sure if he could get the Senate to bend on this issue. After a few more hours of debate, he saw that he would get no concession today. He asked for and was granted a continuance, and the issue would be revisited at a later date. On the way to his residence, he began to formulate a plan that he hoped would bring a majority of senators over to his side, but he would have to do some real political maneuvering first.