Rise of the Remorhaz Society

[sachmo]

Rolling up the flanks in Lezzari

2411.0

Chairman Sachmo looked at his chief diplomat with a mixture of shock and disbelief on his face.
“Exactly how is that possible, Sangi?”
The ambassador poured himself a drink before turning to answer the Chairman.
“Well sir, the research guild has invented some very clever gadgets which will allow Remorhaz agents to disguise themselves as any race we know of. If we can get a few teams behind enemy lines, they could do some major damage. Bribing officials, sabotage, and assassination…whatever it takes. All that remains now is to set up a few intelligence compounds, train some agents, and get them to their targets.”
The Chairman leaned back in his chair.
“Do you really think this will work?”
The ambassador nodded. “Yes, Chairman. I don’t think the Ukra-Tal, or even the Rage, are aware of this sort of tactic. If we play our cards right, they may never know. I think if we get the right people, and train them well, we can have a corps of agents who can do damage well beyond their numbers, and in places we can’t even hope to reach conventionally.”
The Chairman nodded. “Give me an outline of what you need, and I’ll get it taken care of.”
The ambassador smiled and reached into his coat pocket. “It’s already prepared, sir.”

In the Lenoltris system, a fleet of five Ukra-Tal light cruisers came thru the wormhole from Yukra, and smashed the satellite defenses stationed there. On Highrock, Captain Gina Jager was organizing the defense forces into the Lenoltris Defense Fleet when the cruisers appeared on the long-range scanners. She decided that she would move to engage them with what she had on hand. Her force consisted of two Glory destroyers and Nemesis, plus RSS Eos a transport that was loaded to the gills with Kursk space mines. Her calculations told her that while they would not reach the Ukra-Tal fleet this month, that also meant that the Ukra-Tal would be unable to attack Highrock without going thru her fleet. If the Ukra-Tal forces proved too strong, she would probably be able to fall back to Highrock with most of her force intact. If they moved back into Yukra, she would be able to mine the wormhole, and provide the Ukra-Tal with a nasty surprise if and when they returned. He ships filled with provisions and her crew itching for battle, they set course for the Lenoltris-Yukra wormhole.

Commodore Brennan consulted for weeks with Brigadier Harry Townsend about what to expect in Lezzari. Brennan had theorized that the threat to their homeworld would cause the Rage to withdraw the fleet that had chased the Remorhaz forces out of the system less than a year before. While the Rage worlds would probably be armed with weapons platforms and satellites, there would be no fleet to slow Brennan and the Space Marines down. That left four Rage worlds to be taken. The 1st Space Marine brigade was ready for the fight.
The first target was Lezzari IX A, the moon of Lezzari IX. The fleet closed in on the moon. Scanners discovered that the planet was armed with phased polaron beams, which had a long reach and packed quite a punch.
Brennan had his missile-armed ships close to maximum range and fire salvos at the planetary defenses. Artemis moved into range and fired her missiles, but was unable to get out of range in time to avoid the polaron bLasts. Two out of four beam carved huge gashes in her hull. Atmosphere bled out of the stricken escort. With two of her engines and all of her weapons destroyed, Artemis was out of the fight.
The missile strikes did their damage, killing 30 million Rage colonists in the bLasts. The guns were silenced, however. Mongoose moved into position and prepared to drop troops.

Private Jake Renton ran across the catwalk with the rest of his platoon. This was their fifth combat drop, and so they moved with precision, not once giving Sergeant Williams an excuse to yell and scream at them. Of course, Sergeant Williams didn’t need an excuse to yell and scream.
“GET YER ARSES IN THE BLAZER, LADIES! MOVE MOVE MOVE!!”
Renton tuned the sergeant out and quickly took his place in the blazer. In moments his weapon was stowed and his drop brace was locked into place. In ten more seconds, the entire platoon was locked in, ready for the drop. Williams patrolled the aisle, checking drop braces and ensuring all of the equipment was stowed correctly. When they dropped, anything that was loose became a deadly projectile. They had all seen the inside of a blazer where a weapon had come loose during the drop. The errant rifle had killed two Space Marines, and they had not died quickly. So while Williams could have bet a month pay that everything was stowed correctly, there were no corners cut here.
Renton laid his head back against the harness. He could feel the butterflies in his stomach, although they were less active then they had been during his first drop. He tried not to think about all of the ways that he could be killed today, and instead concentrated on thinking about how he would spend his leave when they had finished retaking this godforsaken system.
Without warning, he felt the familiar thud of the blazers below them began dropping into orbit. He started to count down from twenty…and at one he felt his stomach trying to climb out of his throat. The blazer bucked and shook as the moon’s gravity grabbed for them. The pilot pointed the nose down for the combat drop, and the craft lurched as they gained speed. Renton was a bit surprised at the lack of buffeting and noise during this drop. Then he remembered that this moon had no atmosphere and so the only bucking he could expect was from ground fire and anti-aircraft artillery. During the decent Renton always felt like a sitting duck, but once again there was no quick death from a missile waiting for him. Moments later the blazer slowed drastically, and then bumped as it disconnected from the landing sled. Almost immediately the yellow light started flashing, ordering the Space Marines to stand in the door and prepare to disembark. Williams dropped his headset and grabbed his weapon, shouting orders the entire time. The door hissed open suddenly, and Renton saw before him a pile of molten slag that had once been a Rage stronghold. His platoon’s target had already been “neutralized”.

1st Brigade efficiently located and destroyed the local sequencer, ending Rage resistance on Lezzari IX A without any Space Marine casualties.

The next week, 1st Brigade loaded up and made the short trip to Lezzari IV A and B, which were both Rage colonies. Only Lezzari IV A was armed, and so Providence fleet moved to neutralize this planet first. Both colonies fell without incident. On A, they captured intact a resupply depot and five radioactive extraction facilities. On B, a spaceport and two research facilities were captured. Unfortunately, no new technology was discovered here. The Rage flank was now exposed. Remorhaz was closing the vice.