Rise of the Remorhaz Society

[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...