Re: Rise of the Remorhaz Society
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.
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Thank you.
Linear Mode
