Re: Rise of the Remorhaz Society
The Battle of Timerron
2408.9
Lieutenant Commander Harper Douglass watched as the six Ukra-Tal destroyers deployed in a line on the tactical display. Between the destroyers and Timerron, he saw his own ship RSS Falcon and the rest of the Remorhaz fleet arrayed in an arrowhead formation. Besides his own ship, the Remorhaz fleet consisted of another system patrol ship, RSS Peregrine and a Glory Class Destroyer, RSS Virtue. Backing them up were three defense satellites, and the weapons platforms on the surface of the planet.
This is going to be close, he thought, and we still don’t know what sort of weapons the Ukra-Tal possess. We’ll keep them off the planet as long as we can.
“Sir, Captain Greeley is on the com for you” the communications officer called out.
Douglass switched on the com unit. The face of Captain Enis Greeley, commander of RSS Virtue appeared. The screen split, and Commander Mike Wells appeared also. Wells commanded RSS Peregrine. Both officers looked grim.
“Well boys,” Captain Greeley started, “here’s how we’re gonna play this one out.”
Captain Greeley, the fleet commander, was never one to stand on ceremony.
“We’re going to stay between those destroyers and Timerron as long as we can, and take them down one by one. I don’t really know what to tell you about weapons…we’ve never encountered anything like what these Ukra-Tal have. The sensor readings are…inconclusive, so it’s liable to be a nice surprise when they start firing.” All three officers chuckled. “Anyway, let’s spread out, try to draw fire, and see if we can’t send some of these buggers to hell, eh?”
Douglass felt his confidence rising. Here they were facing a superior enemy force, and Captain Greeley was as calm as ever.
“Aye, aye, sir. We’ll bait them for you” Douglass answered. Wells did likewise.
The com switched off, and Douglass went back to the business of running his ship. The Ukra-Tal force consisted of two Burtrask Class Destroyers, two Djusholm Class Destroyers, and a Drammen and a Bygland class destroyer. As Captain Greeley had said, they weren’t quite sure what sort of weapons the destroyers had, as the sensors weren’t reporting any conventional weapons that they could detect. Harper rubbed his chin.
“Ok, helm, take us in. We are going for shoot and scoot, so once the enemy locks onto us and fires, get us out of range as quickly as possible.” Under his breath, he muttered, “Assuming they have missiles on board…”
The helm officer acknowledged.
As the two fleets approached each other, the sensor officer shouted a warning.
“Commander! The Bygland and Drammen have just fired some sort of…projectile. The readings are crazy though, sir. Sensors are reporting the projectiles as organic objects!”
Harper did a double take. “Organic? What the hell?”
“I can’t understand it either, sir. That’s what the sensors are telling me. I’m trying to get a lock on them now. They should be up on the viewscreen once I find them.”
Harper watched tactical as the forward sensors tried to acquire the Ukra-Tal missiles against the starry background of space.
“There they are, sir! Zooming in now.” He paused while he fine-tuned the display. “Oh my god!” The sensor officer blanched as the view homed in on the targets.
The display locked onto something out of a nightmare. Hurtling thru space toward his ship was some sort of slime-covered…organism. Douglass didn’t know of a better way to classify it. He did know that it was coming at them very quickly, and it didn’t look like it was going to be friendly when it got there.
Harper ordered Falcon to turn away from the incoming projectiles, while Peregrine moved into enemy missile range. She too drew fire, and turned to run. Once the first enemy destroyer came into range, Virtue, the weapons platforms, and the satellites all targeted a single Djusholm destroyer and fired their missiles. The missiles ran true, until they closed to close range with the Ukra-Tal destroyers. At this point, the enemy destroyers began firing some sort of small projectiles in incredible numbers into the path of the Remorhaz missiles. The projectiles shot out from a previously unseen opening on the top of the enemy ships. Every single Remorhaz missile was knocked either destroyed or disabled.
Harper watched in disbelief as the attack was so quickly blunted. Not a single missile hit the enemy ship. The good news was that the Ukra-Tal projectiles fired at his ship and Peregrine had apparently run out of energy and were dispersing.
During the evasive maneuvers by the Remorhaz ships, the other four destroyers had moved into firing range of Timerron. They all fired more of the seeker organisms at the surface. Harper followed them on his tactical display. The projectiles screamed thru the atmosphere, homing in on the largest city on Timerron. They slammed into the surface, and a huge mushroom cloud shot up over the city.
Harper stared at the tactical display. How many colonists had just died?
The com officer spoke up again. “Sir, it’s Captain Greeley for you.”
“Put him thru.”
The screen snapped on.
“Harper, I need you to listen to me. This is a no win situation. I want you and Mike to get the hell out of here. I’m going to stay behind and try to keep them off of your backs for a little while.”
Harper watched the captain, astonished.
“Captain, what about the colony? There are 19 million people down there, sir!”
Greeley shook his head. “Harper, getting yourself killed is not going to save any of them, but maybe if you get the intel back to Remorhaz, they can figure out some way to put us on a more even footing with the Ukra-Tal.”
Harper’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t think straight. Retreat?
“Sir, I can’t leave you here…”
“This is not a request, Lieutenant Commander Douglass. You will make all efforts to return to Remorhaz, and let them know what we are up against. When Timerron falls, there isn’t going to be anything between the Ukra-Tal and Remorhaz. I need you to get show them what happened here. We need to find a way to stop them.”
Harper could feel a lump building in his throat, and tears in his eyes. It wasn’t supposed to work this way! Victory or defeat was expected, but being ordered to turn tail and run, while 19 million colonists faced certain death was unthinkable. Still, he was a professional officer, and did not disobey orders, no matter what his personal views were.
“Yes, sir. Good luck, Captain. See you back home, ok,” he choked.
Greeley smiled. “Go full bore all of the way home, and don’t look back. Good luck to you, too.”
Harper gave Greeley one Last salute, and then passed his orders on to the helm officer.
“Helm, turn us around. Nav, plot the best course for Remorhaz. We’ve been ordered to withdraw.”
The entire bridge fell silent. No one wanted to abandon Timerron. No one wanted to run away.
Harper could feel himself losing control. “Damn it! I don’t like this anymore than you do, but we’ve been ordered to retreat. We WILL follow Captain Greeley’s orders! Move it, people!”
The XO was the first to snap out of it, and started prodding people into action. Soon the crew lost themselves in their jobs.
Virtue continued transmitting intel to the fleeing system patrol ships. Harper watched in horror as the Ukra-Tal unleashed another of their weapons. From the “bow” of their craft, a large appendage poked out and from it, a green substance issued forth. The substance expanded as it flew thru space, and entered the atmosphere. When it finally hit the surface, everything it touched was immediately corroded as if by a very powerful acid. This acid seemed to burn thru everything…buildings, rocks, and people. Harper turned away. What the hell were they going to do to stop the Ukra-Tal? Was there anything that could be done in time to contain them?
He glanced back at the tactical display, and watched as Virtue fired at the enemy fleet. A few more salvos of organic missiles and a wave of acid barrages finished off the colony on Timerron. The Ukra-Tal then turned their attention to Virtue. Captain Greeley tried to fight them off for as long as possible, but there were just too many of them. Quickly and efficiently, Virute was destroyed in a rain of seeker parasites and acid globules.
In the end, Falcon was forced to leave Peregrine behind. The Ukra-Tal destroyers had caught up with them, and Peregrine sacrificed herself by turning to engage them while Falcon escaped. They jumped into the Lenoltris system, leaving the destroyers and a much larger fleet of 20 Ukra-Tal ships behind. What Lieutenant Commander Douglass didn’t know was that they had also left Peregrine behind. With only one engine and most of her structural integrity gone, she was crippled, but not destroyed. The odds were greatly stacked against them, but they had to try and make it home.
To be continued...
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