Rise of the Remorhaz Society

[sachmo]

Breaking the Stalemate in Zekrat

Admiral Sakazawa knew that his fleet could not penetrate the defenses of the Rage homeworld, but he knew that he did have one advantage over the Rage…the mobility of his fleet. To use this to their advantage, Sakazawa had his fleet stage a series of hit and run attacks on the Rage homeworld. In the first attack, they were able to destroy a Rage minelayer, the four defense satellites, and an orbital shipyard. A second attack yielded nothing, as all of the Rage defenses were too concentrated. The third attack resulted in the destruction of the Firestorm defense base, which was the most formidable defense outside of the planet itself. The heavy phased polaron beams it housed could make short work of any ship in the Remorhaz fleet. With that base out of the way, the fleet could now concentrate on neutralizing the defenses of the planet itself.

Sakazawa used the debris field that now surrounded Zekrat VIII to get his ships in very close to the Rage homeworld before they were spotted. Before the ample defenses of the Rage were able to react, RSS Quasar was able to attack the major Rage defense bases with planetary napalm. The attack was a success, and all but three of the defense bases were neutralized. Every other ship in the fleet opened fire with missile, guns, and whatever other weapons were handy.
After riding out the initial attack, the Rage responded with everything they had. Missile warnings sounded throughout the fleet as the surface of Zekrat VIII erupted with capital ship missile fire. Every ship in the fleet was targeted by at least one salvo, and the final orbiting defense base was also still active. Point defense would have to carry the battle now. Tarus again took the brunt of the enemy fire, taking two salvos amidships. However, since the shields had been repaired after the original damage was taken, most of the damage was contained, and while her fighting capability was diminished, the ship remained functional and maneuver capable.
Tarus returned fire again, bLasting a missile complex into atoms before moving back in the line to allow the undamaged ships access to the battle. Finally, Quasar was able to move in and finish off the Last defense base. RSS Badger moved in with the 2nd Space Marine Brigade, and the assault began.

Brigadier General McMasters watched from the combat information center as the troops of 2nd Brigade dropped onto the Rage homeworld. As the first elements entered the atmosphere, they were met with fierce ground fire. The pilots twisted and jinked their craft as much as possible, but twelve Blazers were knocked out of the sky, spilling the hapless Space Marines into the atmosphere when they exploded. The remaining 123 Blazers formed up and moved to neutralize the Primary Sequencer. As they closed, Rage troops fought like demons to try and stop the Remorhaz troops. The fighting was the most intense as they finally located the Sequencer, as he commanded every Rage citizen to attack the Space Marines with whatever weapons they could scrounge. After two weeks of bitter and bloody fighting, Zekrat VIII was in Remorhaz hands, and the Rage homeworld was theirs. The Space Marines lost 71 Blazers and close to 1500 Space Marines. The Rage lost countless citizens and soldiers, but the capture of the planet yielded over two billion Rage citizens. 2nd Brigade was finished as an offensive combat unit until replacements could be mustered in. The Space Marines of Remorhaz had come thru their most challenging test to date, and been victorious. Hopefully, the Rage were just about finished now. Zekrat VIII was renamed Rage, a name that fit in more ways than one.