Rise of the Remorhaz Society

[geoschmo]

Ok, well it is a PBW game. Since you aren't that familier with multiplayer maybe it's best to hold off for now. This game appears to be working towards a conclusion in the not too distant future. We have talked about doing another history type game with more players. The people that stepped into the game late have done a great job, but I am sure all of them would appreciate a chance to show what they can do frmo the beginning.

That would give you time to get familier with the PBW format and then be ready to go when the History 2 starts in a couple months.

Geoschmo

[sachmo]

Discoveries

2407.6

Another Rage fleet appeared in the Xillantha system. Fort Justice, still on alert, prepared once again for an assault that may or may not come.

In Wurtuy, Hawk met up with Mongoose and the Space Marines aboard her. The 1st Space Marine Regiment, plus an extra company, were on board. They would move to Norak and pick up another brigade of Marines before assaulting Regotha III. In the meantime, Gamma Fleet moved into position to blockade the Norak planet.

2407.7

Zeta Fleet entered the Lezzari system, and found one Rage colony within, but no Norak planets. Any further recon would have to be done in force by the entire fleet.

In Xillantha, there were once again two very large Rage fleets threatening the system and Fort Justice. Vigilance was maintained.

2407.8

Yarboro waited patiently for the Chairman to finish his vid call. He could feel the energy crackling from outside the Chairman’s office where Dr. Harkness, the head of the Extraterrestrial Studies Group waited. So the news was important enough for the doctor to come down for the university in person, was it? Yarboro allowed himself a brief, hidden smile. God help the doctor if it isn’t, he thought. Lately, the Chairman had been in a horrendous mood, and when people wasted his time, it made him absolutely livid. The Chairman ended his call.
“Sir, Doctor Harkness is waiting for you outside.”
A very tired Chairman looked up at his assistant. “Damn. I’m really not in the mood for him. He can prattle on so. Well, there’s no avoiding it, I suppose. Send him in.”
“Very good, Chairman.”
Yarboro moved quickly out of the Chairman’s office and back into the entryway. “Dr. Harkness, the Chairman will see you now.”
“Ummm, oh yes! Very good. Thank you!”
The doctor stood up and straightened his tie, then followed Yarboro to the door. The door was opened after a knock and a brief pause.
“Doctor Harkness, how good to see you! Please, won’t you sit down? Thank you, Yarboro, that will be all.”
With a bow, the silent Yarboro left and closed the door behind him.
“What brings you all the way down from the university, doctor? Your message said that you had important news? I hope it is good news…I can use some.”
The doctor laughed. “Mr. Chairman, I think it is wonderful news.” He cleared his throat.
“Would you like a drink, doctor? I have a wonderful fruit juice made from dachenberries. We discovered them when we colonized Norak. Extraordinary taste.”
The doctor nodded, and the Chairman poured them both a glass.
“Mr. Chairman, based on the public reaction the destruction of the Norakian colonies, my staff and I have been concentrating on trying to understand the psychology of the Norak. With the inception of the Space Marine Corps, we now have a viable alternative to complete colonial destruction by orbital bombardment. However, with military conquest there are inherent issues. Namely, how does on control a hostile population without incurring tremendous loss of life? Also, since our troops will be in contact with the conquered population, we risk the loss of lives of our own troops.”
The Chairman listened. “Yes, we have discussed this many times. The Norak are so devoted to their religion, that our projections show that it will probably require a four troop to one ration to pacify the population, assuming they don’t fight until the Last Norakian is dead. History shows us that religious fanaticism can bring out such behavior.”
Doctor Harkness nodded. “Yes, Chairman, but I believe that we have found a way to pacify the Norakian people which would require only normal troop levels to successfully occupy a planet.”
The Chairman’s eyes widened in surprise. “If this is true, then it is indeed good news, doctor.”
The doctor smiled. “Chairman, we have discovered that, theoretically, we should be able to build an Urban Pacification Center on the captured worlds which would allow us, over time, to turn the Norakians into productive members of the Remorhaz Society. These centers will allow them to continue practicing their religion while at the same time subtly training their minds to begin thinking for themselves. There is still some work to be done on the actual psychological methods involved, but we believe that with these Pacification Centers, we will be able to save millions of lives in the long run.”
The Chairman was smiling now. “Yes, and more. It was always the dream of the Old Earth Republic that all races would be given equal rights within as long as the people wanted to be part of it. The Remorhaz Society will be the same. We will accept the Norak people as full members of the Society, and not as a conquered race. Doctor, you and your staff have done very well, please keep me apprised of your progress in this matter.”
The doctor smile seemed to cover his entire head. “Yes, Mr. Chairman, I will.” He took a sip of his drink. “Mr. Chairman, you were right. This really is excellent juice.”

On Timmeron, the resupply base was finished. Work began on a small Space Port. RSS Falcon moved to one of the unexplored warp points, and Peregrine moved toward the other. It was time to push back a bit more of the darkness.

In the Regotha system, Zeta Fleet moved to take up position around Regotha II while Gamma Fleet started the return journey to Norak. Once there, they would perform a recon in force mission to try and gauge the perimeter of the Rage Collective.

2407.9

At Remorhaz, the destroyer RSS Virtue was launched. She immediately made course for Timerron, where she would be the flagship of the defense fleet in the Yukra system.

Lieutenant Commander Harper Douglass was a quiet man. In command of RSS Flacon, his crew knew what was expected of them. They also knew that he would rarely say anything, unless they were performing below their capabilities. Normally, they would have been surprised to hear him cry out, but they were seeing the same thing he was, and they were just a surprised.
“Good lord!”
The Sensor Officer regained his composure, and called out his reading.
“Commander, I have 17 unknown ships, ranging in size from frigates to destroyers. They are locked in orbit around Devonshire V. They appear to have seen us, but are making no hostile moves.”
He nodded. “XO, a word please?”
Lieutenant Jim Billings walked over to the command chair. “Sir, I think this is a race we’ve never seen before. I think we should initiate first contact protocol.”
Harper rubbed his chin. I wish I had shaved, he thought. I’ll be the first Remorhaz these beings see, and I’ll look like a slob.
“I concur, XO. Let’s get moving. Sparks, send out the first contact hail on all frequencies. All spectrums.”
“Aye, aye, sir” the Communication Officer shouted. Everyone seemed excited. Harper could feel it in the air.
A few minutes passed, when the Communication Officer excited yelled, “Captain, they’re responding!”
The message can thru the communications bank in Galactic Standard.

Chairman Sachmo woke up to the buzzing of the com unit. Lately, it seemed that being woken up in the middle of the night was the norm, and not the exception.
He hit the key to pick up the message. Yarboro’s face appeared on the screen.
“Sir, pardon the disturbance. The Falcon has made first contact.”
“How long ago?” Sachmo could feel his heart beating. A thousand thoughts ran thru his mind at once. He beat them back, and tried to keep focused on the issue at hand.
“Sir, we received the message ten minutes ago. Falcon transmitted it 12 hours ago. Apparently the Lieutenant Commander in command made quite an impression on them.”
The Chairman started pulling on his clothes. “I’ll be down in a minute. Please have Ambassador Mulatti meet me as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Chairman. At once.”
The Chairman hurried to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. As he looked at himself in the mirror, all of those thousands of thoughts assailed him again. What if they were hostile? Could we survive a three front war? Would we have warning this time? How advanced were they?
All I can do is take this one step at a time, he thought. First, he would carefully gauge their intention, and then take it from there. Hopefully, they had learned something from their first dealings with the Norak and the Rage. Hopefully, this time it would turn out better than the Last.

Across the system, Peregrine warped into the Iolo system. This system had two rock planets with Oxygen atmospheres. One, Iolo IV, was huge and possessed a great amount of mineral and radioactive resources. Iolo VI was a tiny planet, and was very poor in mineral resources, but possessed average organics and radioactives. No enemy presence was detected here, and so Admiral Urian put in an immediate request for two colony ships to be placed into production.

Also on Remorhaz, 242 million people boarded the RSS Marne and prepared to begin a new life on Spitfire.

To be continued...

[sachmo]

Well, I feel better. I actually started posting this story at another website (front office football actually) because the site has a very active dynasty section. I'm happy to find out that at least two people have decided to buy SEIV after reading my story. So now I can tell my wife that I'm making money by writing this story! Of course, it's money for someone else, but hey, she doesn't have to know!

[Ragnarok]

Originally posted by sachmo:
Well, I feel better. I actually started posting this story at another website (front office football actually) because the site has a very active dynasty section. I'm happy to find out that at least two people have decided to buy SEIV after reading my story. So now I can tell my wife that I'm making money by writing this story! Of course, it's money for someone else, but hey, she doesn't have to know!

haha that's great man... We'll be happy to have some more SEIV members. Keep up the good story.

[sachmo]

A New Front

2408.0

Ambassador Mulatti was not pleased with the look on the Chairman’s face. Even thru the vid phone, he could feel the exasperation.
“Explain the situation to me again, ambassador. How did this happen?”
The ambassador took a deep breath. “Mr. Chairman, we were met at the mouth of the Devonshire wormhole by two Ukra-Tal destroyers. They immediately ordered us to heave to, and they boarded us. It was a very crude show of force, but an effective one. We had no choice but to comply. A diplomat came on board with a squad of heavily armed soldiers. They demanded to see me immediately, which I did. The diplomat hardly looked at me as he tossed down what looked like an ancient scroll case. He then told me to take this message back to my superior, and to leave the Devonshire system at once. I tried to inquire about the diplomatic meeting we had arranged on Devonshire IV, but he cut me off with a wave of his tentacles. He told me that there would be no meeting, and that we could return from where we came, and to take our gifts with us.”
The Chairman looked into the vid screen, not quite believing what he was hearing.
“Ambassador, what the hell happened? Could we have misinterpreted the initial contact so badly?”
“Chairman, here is what I believe happened. When the Hawk first warped into the system, and broadcast the hails in galactic standard, the Ukra-Tal was friendly enough. It seems that the especially reserved Lieutenant Commander Douglass displayed the type of demeanor that they found pleasant. It appears that the Ukra-Tal are a race of scientists and merchants, and not prone to displaying emotion. Hence, they believed that this was the way of all of the Remorhaz people. So when they learned that we a much more emotional race, they were taken aback. Our xenologist Dr. Hartman believes that it may have been more than a shock to them, and that they may have actually felt betrayed by this revelation. He thinks that they may have believed that we tried to deceive them.”
The Chairman’s face seemed to sag. He was a professional politician, and knew how a bad start to a relationship could often ruin any chance of future harmony.
“That can’t be everything, though. There has to be something else, ambassador. Tell me everything.”
Ambassador Mulatti wiped his brow. He had tried to think of a delicate way to put this, but there was just no way around it. He would have to read the message to the Chairman in its entirety, and let him judge for himself.
“Chairman, I think you need to hear the message delivered by the ambassador.” He opened the scroll case, and unwrapped the message, and began to read. It read as follows:

From the Enlightened One, Imperator Weshra-Tal of the Ukra-Tal Collective,

Ourselves, the glorious race of the Ukra-Tal, were disturbed to learn of the war being raged by the Remorhaz Society against the Rage Collective and the Norak Continuum.
Ourselves have learned of the tragedies wrought by this war. What is most disturbing to ourselves is that in this war, yourselves of the Remorhaz Society have repeatedly and purposely destroyed colonies belonging to both the Norak and the Rage. Ourselves find this shocking, and cannot understand how a race as barbaric as yourselves could have survived even this long without destroying yourselves. This disregard for the innocent lives of other beings, whom it should be noted are different from yourselves, will make it impossible for the Ukra-Tal to ever have any type of relationship with the Remorhaz Society. Ourselves present this message as a warning…if yourselves attempt to enter any system populated by the Ukra-Tal, it will be considered an act of war against ourselves and will result in the swift and total destruction of yourselves. Further, if yourselves continue this barbaric behavior and destroy any more colonies of any race, ourselves cannot be held responsible for the result. This is something that ourselves will not stand for, and it will be the will of our people to cleanse the galaxy of such a barbaric people. May the Most Knowledgeable One take pity on your heathen souls.

The Chairman looked about as shocked as the ambassador thought he would. Best to let him collect his thoughts before I offer my opinions, the ambassador thought. The Chairman sat, obviously gathering his thoughts. Suddenly his face turned angry.
“How in the bloody hell did they find out about the war? Are they in contact with the Rage or the Norak?”
The ambassador shook his head. “Sir, we cannot be sure how they learned about it. Lieutenant Commander Douglass made mention of the war, but only in passing. He has assured me that at no point did he elaborate on any of the operational details. Our best guess is that they did some investigating of their own about the war and were passed some very biased information. For all we know, this could have been supplied to them be a third party.”
The Chairman looked absolutely defeated. “Ambassador, I need your honest assessment. Is there any hope of normal relations with the Ukra-Tal?”
“I think the best course of action right now, Sir, would be to back off and give them time to observe us. I think if we slowly put out diplomatic feelers and don’t do anything to alarm them, there is always hope. From the information they have given to us, they seem to be a peaceful race. They love to trade, and hopefully we will be able to exploit this in the future. Interracial trade would be a great boon to the economy.” Mulatti smiled.
The Chairman looked back at him. “Yes, it would ambassador. Now if only we could keep from getting into wars, we might get a chance to enjoy the benefits.” With that he ended the transmission.

Over Norak, the RSS Mongoose loaded up the Last of the Space Marines called up for the assault on Regotha II. Their strength was roughly 2600 Marines, and about 130 Blazer Assault Craft. The ships were loaded with supplies, and the fleet made for Regotha II.

RSS Peregrine warped into the Wanduk system. One planet appeared to be idea for colonization. Wanduk IV was a Medium rock planet with an oxygen atmosphere. Of interest was a reading coming from the surface of Wanduk II. The sensors showed what appeared to be a derelict spacecraft, but no other details were known. Their findings were reported back to Naval Headquarters, and Peregrine made for another wormhole, and another system.

2408.1

Grand Admiral Urian sent out the emergency action message to the fleet. This morning, the ground station on Timerron received a terse communication from Ukra-Tal space. The communication read as follows:
Although ourselves are not a violent species, you have left us no choice. Ourselves declare war on yourselves.
Urian was not really surprised that this happened, after all, the Ukra-Tal had made it pretty clear what they thought about the Remorhaz Society. Still, the news concerned him. He had hoped that once the Norak were out of the war, the Rage might reconsider continuing the war one-on-one. Now, the Remorhaz Society was right back where it had started. It was only a matter of a couple of months before the Norak were eliminated from the war, but Timerron was not very well protected. The Ukra-Tal fleet strength, Last time it had been seen, had been significant in the Devonshire system. If they came thru the wormhole, Hawk and a few defense satellites were all that stood in their way. The destroyer Virtue was a few months from the planet. Hopefully she would get there in time to make a difference.
There was good news on the research front. The scientists at the Research Guild had made a breakthrough in Applied Physics, and had the theories in place that would allow advanced sensors, shields, energy stream weapon, and energy pulse weapons to be designed. Hopefully, this would put the Remorhaz fleet on a bit more equal footing with the Rage fleet. Of course, right now the priority was the final design of the Urban Pacification Centers. If all went well, they would be able to be constructed on Regotha III after the Space Marines captured it, and they would begin attempting to integrate the Norak into the Society. If they captured it, he thought. The entire concept was still a theory. He hoped and prayed that everything worked the way it was supposed to.

Gamma Fleet took up orbit around Norak. Commodore Lu spent two weeks consulting with his officers and Navy Staff about their options for an offensive against the Rage. It was known that they possessed a substantial fleet strength in the Fezzran system, and possibly the asteroid-filled wasteland that was the Lundra system. The first objective was to recon in force both of these systems. First, Gamma Fleet move in force into the Lundra system, with RSS Loxias attached to deploy satellites. This would give them an eye in the system to observe possible Rage fleet movements. Meanwhile, a belt of defensive satellites would be laid on the Lapzooli side of the Lundra wormhole. It was hoped that Gamma Fleet could draw a Rage fleet into a trap this way, but so far no one felt that they could rely on the Rage to act in any certain way. Since the recon was the main objective, along with laying the spy satellites, it was a risk they were willing to take. Once the Marine Assault Fleet was finished in the Regotha system, the Artemis and Furious would remain in the system to protect the wormhole, and possibly conduct some assaults on the known Rage colony in the Lezzari system. This might succeed in drawing some of the Rage fleet strength away from the Fezzran system. Their next course decided, Gamma Fleet left Norak orbit in the third week of the month. They would reach the wormhole, and find out what the Rage had waiting for them, by the beginning of the next month.

To be continued...

[Atrocities]

BUMP

What did I say? After reading this, people would be compelled to buy SEIV. Your story brings out the best the game has to offer. The excitement of exploration, conquest, and general empire building.

I hope many more people read your story and buy SEIV.

[ July 07, 2002, 04:19: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

[sachmo]

Strength

2408.2

Captain Will Crowley watched the tactical screen as the Sensor Officer ran a scan of the Lundra system. Nothing but asteroid fields and the lonely blue star that held the system together. Commodore Gordon Lu was also present on the bridge of his former command, RSS Intimidator. He had expected to catch a glimpse of a Rage battle fleet. On all of the other occasions, when a Rage fleet would enter the Xillantha system from the wormhole in Fezzran, a supporting fleet would enter from Lundra also. Sure enough, Rear Admiral Sakazawa reported that a Rage fleet was detected in the Xillantha system. It had indeed warped in from Fezzran. Commodore Lu believed that he would spot a Rage fleet transiting Lundra, and that fleet would give chase as he took Gamma Fleet back thru the wormhole to Lapzooli and Norak. At the end of that chase Gamma Fleet would make a stand, supported by defense satellites protecting the lip of the Lapzooli-Lundra wormhole. Now that there was no Rage fleet detected in the system, he could not spring his trap. At least Loxias would be able to deploy the spy satellite in the system. Commodore Lu made a decision to wait for a few weeks, and see if a Rage fleet appeared. The problem was that the Rage never seemed to do anything the way he wanted them to.

Back on Hera, the research guild had completed a number of tasks. First, they had perfected the design of the Urban Pacification Centers. They now had the proper psychological tools that would be required to indoctrinate any Norakians captured into Remorhaz Society life. Already, the xenopsychologists were experimenting with effective way to deal with Rage worlds, and possibly Ukra-Tal worlds also. Two other discoveries were also made which would be of particular use to the military; the Anti-Proton beam and the Ionic Disperser. The Anti-Proton Beam was the first military energy weapon designed. This beam had a shorter range than the DUC, and over range it lost power. However, it required no physical ammunition to be supplied, and could be powered by radioactives.
The Ionic Disperser was a much more specialized weapon. It had a very short range, but the beam would attack the core of the engines on the ship it was fired at, attempting to overload and destroy them. This weapon would be especially useful against the Rage, with their advanced engine designs. These weapons would be fitted on the Glory B Class Destroyers. All ship designs were updated to use the anti-matter drives, and both the Nemesis D Class Frigates and the Eagle D Class System Patrol Ships were outfitted with the emergency propulsion boosters. The ships of the fleet would be upgraded at the earliest convenience, but on a rotating schedule to keep the fleets at the highest strength possible. Immediately, the research guild began work on shield technology.

2408.3

Grand Admiral Urian was impressed. The shields held thru the test flawlessly. It had taken two hits from the depleted uranium cannon before the shield generator had given out. While the protection was light, it could make the difference between a killing blow and a damaging one. He turned to his counterparts from the other service branches, Field Marshal Gulman and Commandant Hunter.
“Well, gents, that gadget is going to save a lot of lives.”
Commandant Hunter nodded and smiled, “I need to get my eggheads working on scaling that thing down. If I could shield the Blazers…yes Marcus, it would save a lot of lives. I wish we had discovered this Last year. I’m sure it would have been welcomed by my boys on the way to Regotha III.”
All three flag officers nodded in agreement.

On Timerron, construction began on a new Space Yard. The transit time for new ships built at either the Remorhaz or the Glory shipyards was just too great to allow for an effective defense of the Yukra system and the colony of Timerron. It would take five months to complete the facility and a small hoard of resources, but the flexibility it would add could not be easily measured.
The same principle held true for the Lapzooli system, and so Norak also began construction of a Space Yard facility.

2408.4

Once again, the Rage fleet that had invaded the Xillantha system floated around and looked menacing, but did no actual damage. The people of Fort Justice had been obligingly fearful, but frankly the whole thing began to take on a sort of macabre humor to them. The Fort Justice Broadcasting Company began running a weekly serial play called “Spare Parts”, in which the actors portrayed members of the oft seen Rage fleet. The premise was that the commander of the Rage fleet was actually malfunctioning, but since he didn’t want to be “recycled” by the Primary Sequencer, he tried everything to keep it a secret from his crew. The Rage commander kept the fleet in Remorhaz space to avoid being discovered by the Rage “quality control druids”. The writing was brilliant, and the show quickly became a hit. It was even exported to the other worlds of the Remorhaz Society, and “Spare Parts” kept the plight of Fort Justice on the minds of all citizens. Soon the name Fort Justice became synonymous with tenacity and strength.
The stress of living under constant threat of nuclear annihilation had given the residents of Fort Justice a different view of life, to say the least. Governor Kalashnikov had noted to the Chairman that while the people worked as hard as they could, once they were back in their homes, things tended to get a little wild. The alcohol imports of the colony were 35% greater per capita then any other colony in the Society. The sale of recreational items was also very high compared to the other worlds, while less than 2% of the population had any personal savings to speak of. However, the exported resources from mining were usually around 101%-108% of projections. Live for today was the motto of the citizens of Fort Justice. The rest of the Society began to look up to them. Soon the more adventurous (some would say stupid, also) of the Society began packing up and heading for Fort Justice. The strength of this world began to become a symbol for the fighting spirit of the Remorhaz people.

On Remorhaz, the RSS Midguard was the first ship to be upgraded with the anti-matter engines. The engines preformed flawlessly, as did the emergency propulsion packs. The engineering crew was a bit uncomfortable with the whole process in which the component devoured itself, but it did no damage and did indeed fulfill it’s purpose.

Glory launched the RSS Apollo a Nemesis D Class frigate. She was to join the Xillantha Defense Fleet. Upon her arrival, Glory would detach from the fleet and head back to Glory Ship Yard for an upgrade.

The Space Marine assault fleet would reach Regotha III by the beginning of the next month. The first planetary invasion in Remorhaz history was about to become a reality.

To be continued...