[sachmo]

A new hero and an unseen enemy

2nd Brigade, now fully equipped for zero-g combat, was able to take Bardron IV A and B in the face of minimal resistance. Multiple research centers and mining facilities were captured intact, along with over 200 million Rage colonists. Brigadier General McMasters immediately ordered the brigade to load back up on the transport for the next assault, and personally oversaw every phase of the process. He would be damned if his brigade found itself unable to fight because of another supply snafu. The quartermaster officers tried to keep as low of a profile as possible whenever he was in the area.

Strike Fleet moved against Bardron VII. The Rage defenses were light, consisting of one missile base and two fighters. The Remorhaz ships quickly silenced them, and Task Force Avenger moved in and dropped 3rd Brigade. The Space Marines took the moon with very light casualties.

2412.3

In low orbit over the planet Norak, the newest ship in the Remorhaz People’s Navy did a slow flyby of the shipyard. As she came into view, a spontaneous cheer erupted from the gathered spectators. RSS Prometheus, the first carrier ever built, was the pride of the Norak shipyards. That she even existed was the result of thousands of man-hours of work by the shipyard crews, the design teams, and scientists from all over the society. Many new technologies were crammed into her hull. She was as long as two light cruisers, and half again as wide. The hull was rounded as opposed to the tapered look of the other combat ships, and she bristled with open fighter bays. The island on top of the ship blended in seamlessly with the hull, and helped to give her a sleek design in spite of her size. She looked dangerous and capable of wrecking great destruction on the enemies of the Remorhaz Society. The power that Prometheus exuded gave all who saw her hope. The crowd continued to cheer as the big ship drifted past, and well after it was beyond visual range.
When the vid of the launch was broadcast throughout the Society, no one could have anticipated the effect that Prometheus would have on the people. Everywhere, people talked about the new ship, and what it would mean for the war. They were hoping that this was a weapon that would neutralize the advantages that the Ukra-Tal had in technology. They theorized that Prometheus, backed by the rest of the Navy, would be able to chase their enemies back into the dark corners of space that they had come from and avenge the deaths of their people. Almost overnight, RSS Prometheus became the newest hero of the Remorhaz Society, and she had not even fired a shot in anger yet.

In the command center aboard RSS Tarus, Rear Admiral Sakazawa and his staff were planning the upcoming assault on the Rage planet of Bardron VI.
Sakazawa stood in front of the system map displayed on the main view screen.
“I think we should hit them this month, Terry. We have to finish the Rage as soon as possible.”
Captain Terry Hall, Sakazawa’s chief staff officer, frowned as he looked at the map.
“Yes sir, but we are getting very low on supplies. If we run into something unexpected…”
Sakazawa nodded. “It’s a risk, but I don’t think it’s a huge one. I really think that these are the Last few Rage planets. I’m still waiting for confirmation from Lu, but think of what it will mean to the people if we can finish the Rage off this year. Every month we drag this out is another month that we have people worrying back home. They could use some good news, and this would be it.”
Hall smiled at that. “I think we all could use some good news, sir.’ He lifted his data pad and began to enter some figures for the next phase of the campaign when suddenly there were two muffled explosions. The ship shook briefly, and then the general quarters alarm went off.
Hall looked around the room. A few of the staff officers were on the deck, and everyone looked more than a little confused. Rear Admiral Sakazawa was on the com unit talking to Captain Tim Danvers, commander of the Tarus.
“I’ve got my people on it, sir. The computer shows one of the heavy railguns damaged, and a bay of point defense cannon. I just don’t know what happened yet, Admiral.”
“Was anyone hurt, Tim?” Sakazawa asked.
“I don’t know yet, sir.”
“I’ll let you get to it then.” With that he switched off the com unit.
Hall moved over to stand beside Sakazawa.
“Sir, our data matches Captain Danvers. It looks like one of the railguns and a bay of point defense cannons were destroyed by an explosion of some kind. Both sections were at minimum required crew, sir.”
Sakazawa sighed at the news. “Thank the Creator for that.”
The com unit chirped, and the Admiral flipped his com on. The face of Captain Danvers appeared.
“The Chief Petty Officer took one look at the bLast area and could tell immediately that it was a bomb of some sort, sir. This was no accident. It was sabotage.”
Even through the com unit, Sakazawa could feel the heat building up behind Danver’s eyes.
“You have no doubt it was a bomb, Tim?”
Danver’s face hardened.
“If the CPO says it was a bomb, I’ll buy it, sir.”
Sakazawa nodded.
“Were there any casualties?”
“Yes sir, there was one, but he’s going to make it. He was burned pretty badly but thankfully he was on the other side of bulkhead when the explosion happened. The bomb was encased in a fragmentation casing, sir. If he, or any of the crew had been in the room at the time that bomb went off, they would have all been dead.”
“Is there anything you need, Tim?”
The captain managed a weak smile.
“How about the head of the bastard who did this?”
Sakazawa stared hard into the com unit.
“Don’t worry about that, Tim. We’ll find out who is responsible for this, and we will deal with them accordingly.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Sakazawa switched the com unit off again, and turned to Captain Hall.
“Terry, I need to talk to the Grand Admiral, now. Set it up in my cabin. Also, I need to have an emergency meeting with the captain of every ship in the fleet in two hours. We need to have everyone sweep their ships and look for explosive devices.”
Hall began to carry out his orders. In minutes he had the link for the Rear Admiral set up and open in his cabin.
“What’s happening there, Shiro?” The Grand Admiral asked.
“Sir, we’ve had an incident of sabotage on board Tarus. We’re not sure who is responsible, but I though you would need to know this right away” Sakazawa said.
“I was afraid of this” Urian said. “Last month, the food stores on Honor were found to have gone bad. As you know, they were forced to abort their recon mission of the system next to Vendrin. What I didn’t tell you is that the Security and Intelligence boys were investigating the incident. They thought it might be sabotage, but they hadn’t gathered enough evidence to prove it yet. Now we know.”
Sakazawa nodded. He would have liked to have been informed, but he wasn’t sure what good that would have done. He wouldn’t have been able to alert his commanders until they had some proof of sabotage, and he wouldn’t have been able to search the fleet by himself.
“How would you like me to proceed, sir?” Sakazawa asked.
“I think for now, you should lock the fleet down until we know what we are dealing with. No leaves, and no transfers until we can sort this out. I’m dispatching some extra Security and Intelligence agents to Bardron, but they won’t be there for a few months. Until then, let everyone know to keep an eye out, but don’t allow the troops to panic. If people start chasing shadows, it won’t be long before they are shooting them, also. Just try to keep everyone on the ships and calm, Shiro”
Sakazawa typed some notes into his data unit, and suddenly had a thought.
“So you think there are some alien spies among my people?”
“I can’t rule anything out at this point, Shiro. Everyone is a potential threat right now, but my gut tells me that our enemies have some agents out there among your crew. So be careful, Shiro. Don’t go anywhere alone. If something were to happen to you, the whole Bardron campaign would fall apart.”
“Aye, aye, sir. Thanks for the advice, Grand Admiral.”
Urian nodded.
“Don’t worry, Shiro. We’ll get this problem taken care of. Rumor has it that the Ukra-Tal are about to experience what you are going through now. Turn about is fair play, I guess.”
Sakazawa frowned.
“It doesn’t seem very fair out here in enemy space, sir.”
With that he closed the link, and tried not to think about enemy agents hiding in the shadows.