Rise of the Remorhaz Society

[sachmo]

Winding Down

2411.8

Correlia was able to breathe easy for the first time since the war against the Ukra-Tal began. Long-range scanners were free of the usual host of Ukra-Tal ships bearing down on the resilient planet. High above the surface, the Remorhaz battle fleet had just finished repairing all of the damage its ships had sustained during the Battle of Correlia. No one was quite sure how long the respite would Last, but the enterprising citizens of the world were quick to take advantage of it. They bought anything and everything that they could find that was made off world. Anything from the core worlds fetched a handsome price. The heavy industries also benefited from the lull as the workforce shifted focus from producing weapons to building new mining facilities. These new mining facilities would mean higher production capacity for the colony, which would in turn allow more goods to be produced and more money to be made. Correlia had the potential to be a jewel in the crown of the Remorhaz Society, and if they could keep the Ukra-Tal from smashing it to dust it would realize that potential. All it needed was a little time to grow.

In the Tudran system, the planet Heden was established. This world would become an intelligence compound. All over the society, the Remorhaz Security and Intelligence Bureau began looking for suitable candidates to become agents.

RSS Honor jumped through the wormhole from Zezzis into the Vendrin system. The entire system was filled with a huge nebule, negating scanners and shields. There were two other wormholes from this system. One lead to Devonshire, which was a know Ukra-Tal system. The other led to an unexplored system. Honor was running short of supplies at this point, and so turned back to resupply. If Zezzis could be captured quickly, and Bandron cleared out also, Remorhaz would have the capability to strike at the back door of the Ukra-Tal Collective. This cause was helped when the 2nd Space Marine Brigade captured Zezzis VI from the Rage. Fourteen million Rage colonists were destroyed in a duel between the fleet and a complex of anti-ship missiles concealed on the surface of the planet and the subsequent surface battle. The Space Marines sustained minimal casualties. The planet was renamed Brightstar, for the two high intensity suns in the center of the system. Immediately after its capture, 2nd Brigade embarked and prepared for the next planetary assault.

Remorhaz launched another Ganymede class light cruiser, RSS Barban. For it’s trial voyage, it was immediately sent to scout out the Hollifax system, where it was believed that that the Romulans would stage for any attack into Remorhaz space.

Rear Admiral Jager deployed her Strike Fleet Dauntless to within four sectors of the Lenoltris-Yukra wormhole. Before any assault could begin on Yukra, all Ukra-Tal presence in this system would need to be eliminated. Early next month, they would begin by destroying the two Ukra-Tal cruisers patrolling the wormhole.

2411.9

Sakazawa’s Strike Fleet Hellcat captured the Last Rage world in the Zezzis system. This planet was renamed Tarnor. The fighting on this world had been fierce, but casualties remained light. The fierce resistance led the admiral’s staff to believe that the Rage were almost out of worlds.

In Jethanis, 1st Brigade captured the Last Rage world in the system. The planet was renamed Barren, because there was little else which could be said for it. It was small, it was gray, and it was flat. On the positive side, the planet held a spaceport, a resupply base, and four research centers. Once the planet was secure, Brennan began preparing for the assault on the Bandron system, which was believed to be the Last Rage system in the galaxy, or so it was hoped.

Glory launched RSS Mephisto, a Ganymede class light cruiser, which immediately set out for Remorhaz. Also, the shipyards on Rage completed and launched RSS Scorpion, the first minesweeper in the Remorhaz People’s Navy. Fort Justice lunched RSS Firefly, a Glory D Class destroyer. It immediately made course for Highrock, to bolster Jager’s Strike Fleet Dauntless.

In Fezzran, the replacements for 2nd Brigade were all loaded aboard RSS Marne. They would make for Zezzis where they would rendezvous with Sakazawa and give 2nd Brigade some much-needed replacements before an assault on Ukra-Tal space.

Gina had been right about one thing. They would need to clear out the Ukra-Tal presence before they could mount any assault on the Yukra system. Unfortunately, she was misinformed about the strength of the Ukra-Tal forces present in Lenoltris. Before they were able to begin the second leg of their journey to the wormhole, long-range scanners picked up a large Ukra-Tal fleet exiting into Remorhaz space. This fleet was larger then her fleet by five ships, and she knew she was outgunned. Apparently, the Ukra-Tal were still serious about taking Lenoltris for themselves.
Gina knew she would have to fall back to Highrock, but scanners picked up something between them and their destination…a single Ukra-Tal Gjovik class cruiser. She decided that they would intercept this cruiser on the way back, and then prepare to defend Highrock against all comers.
They made up ground on the Gjovik quickly. It seemed to be moving slowly, possibly scouting the defenses of the system. They had to have seen her coming, but they did not make a move to escape. The Gjovik was a formidable opponent, but it was outnumbered seven to one. Maybe the captain was confident that he could survive the engagement?

They caught up to it at Lenoltris I. Gina recognized the Ukra-Tal captain’s intentions immediately. He had intentionally allowed the Dauntless fleet to catch up to him, but at the place of his choosing. Once he made it to Lenoltris I, he would use the planet’s gravity to slingshot his cruiser past the Remorhaz fleet, not giving them enough time to intercept him as he escaped. It was a clever plan, but Gina would try her hardest to destroy the Gjovik before he could escape.
Gina did the math quickly in her head, and realized that the Gjovik could not escape before her fleet would be able to engage it. The enemy captain had underestimated the speed of her ships. Before it would be able to begin its gravity acceleration manuver, it would be vulnerable for almost thirty minutes to fire from the Remorhaz ships. She smiled to herself as her fleet continued to gain on the Gjovik. He only had two choices now. He could chance it and try to absorb the punishment, or he could turn and fight. A few minutes later, the Ukra-Tal captain apparently came to the same conclusion that Gina had, and he turned his ship to fight.
Strike Force Dauntless currently consisted of five fighting ships. Three of the ships were Glory C class destroyers and the other two were Nemesis class frigates. The Ukra-Tal Gjovik class cruiser was a gun heavy cruiser. It was armed with three large acid launchers and six point defense cannons. It would give them a good fight.
Cherek was the first to fire. She moved into maximum gun range and fired her depleted uranium cannon and missiles at the enemy cruiser. The shells from the DUC flew true, but exploded harmlessly against the Gjovik’s ample shields. Liberation and Triumph also fired on the enemy cruiser, but failed to hit her. The frigates Nemesis and Intimidator fired their missiles at the cruiser. On this attack, the Gjovik fired back. Acid globules flew through space toward Nemesis and Triumph. The globules missed Triumph, but Nemesis was pummeled. The acid splashed across the hull, instantly melting the missile tubes into slag. The second globule hit near the rear of the ship, wiping out two of her engines and cutting her speed in half. In moments, Nemesis was out of the fight. Gina would be a spectator for the rest of the battle.
The rest of the fleet closed range with the large cruiser. They would have to stay as close to the Gjovik as possible and try to bring it down with combined firepower. That would mean withstanding some heavy hits from her acid launchers, but it couldn’t be helped. The DUC shells finally brought down its shields, and it began to vent atmosphere as shells knocked out her life support system.
The ships battered each other, until the combined missile and gun fire from Dauntless fleet was able to destroy the Gjovik. Superior numbers had won the day for them, but not without cost. Cherek ended the battle being the most heavily damaged, taking 69% damage during the fight. Nemesis took less than 40%, but the engine damage slowed her down considerably. Thankfully, they were only two sectors from Highrock, and would be able to reach the planet by the beginning of the next month. She had underestimated the danger that the Gjovik would present them, and now they were weakened. Hopefully, they would be able to repair most of the damage to their ships before the Ukra-Tal attacked.

RSS Barban was on her maiden patrol when she made detected a Romulan Harsova class light cruiser that appeared to be headed for the Velocitas wormhole. Somehow it had eluded his scanners until it was well behind him The ship’s captain, Commander Mitchell Sprull, immediately abandoned his patrol and moved to pursue the Romulan ship. His crew was in high spirits, excited about the prospect of being the first to engage the Romulans in battle. Sprull wasn’t as excited. No one was sure what sort of weapons the Romulans possessed, but if history held true, it would probably be something nasty and unexpected. If it were, he and his crew would probably wind up dead, which wasn’t something that excited him in the least.

[mlmbd]

sachmo, now that was worth waiting for! My compliamaints.

mlmbd

[Atrocities]

God I love reading your work.

[sachmo]

Test Flight

2412.0

“Are you ready, Lieutenant Commander?”
Lieutenant Commander Ricky Jackson finished adjusting his flight suit, than looked up at Doctor Everman. He looked very nervous.
“Yes, Doctor. Let’s get this started.”
Everman allowed himself a moment to smile. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but it had been a smile. Ricky was sure of it.
“The TAF is ready also. I thought you might want to look at the final checklist before you begin the flight.” He offered a folder to Ricky.
Ricky grabbed it and shuffled through it as they walked toward the hanger. Along the way, Everman continued to point out issues that Ricky might encounter during the flight. Ricky let him continue, as it seemed to help him relax. The Research Guild had eliminated as many unknowns as possible, but someone still had to actually fly the craft for the first time. Ricky was ready to do it, and he was excited. Doctor Everman was excited, too, but the unknowns that they hadn’t found had him worried. At least Ricky would be able to concentrate on the flight to take his mind off of the fear. Doctor Everman would be stuck here watching everything on vid screen.
When they reached the door into the hanger, Ricky put his hand on Doctor Everman’s shoulder. Everman turned to face him.
“Doctor, don’t worry too much. We’ve run the simulations millions of times, and we know that it will work. Everything is going to be fine.”
The doctor blushed, and looked down at the floor.
“I just want everything to go well. I don’t want…anyone to get hurt. I don’t think I could live with myself if something were to happen to you, Ricky.”
Ricky squeezed the doctor’s shoulder and tried to comfort him.
“Doctor, do you realize who have flying for you? Some consider me to be the finest pilot in the navy. I consider myself to be the finest pilot in the universe. I have confidence in you that nothing will go wrong with the craft, and obviously I have supreme confidence in my piloting skills. We can’t lose!”
Ricky could feel the doctor relax under his grasp. At least he would be all right for a little while.
“Ricky…good luck.” Everman extended his hand to the pilot.
Ricky took it and shook it firmly.
“Luck has nothing to do with it, doctor. This is gonna be hottest ride in history!”
With that, he entered the hanger.
Under the lights in the center of the cavernous hanger sat the TAF, or Trans-Atmospheric Fighter. The Research Guild had been working on it since they had discovered how to miniaturize starship components when the Blazers had been first produced. This was the culmination of the their efforts. If this test was successful, production would begin immediately, and they would be put into front line service. The fighters would be small and fast enough to attack enemy capital ships before they engaged the Remorhaz line ships. They could attack surface targets during planetary invasions, and they would give the fleets a great advantage over their enemies.
The ship itself resembled an X, with a large bubble cockpit on the front. Nine engines were strapped to the hull, which gave the craft its tremendous speed and agility. Ricky walked around the craft, giving it one final visual inspection before the flight. Just sitting here, it looked dangerous. He was eager to get the flight underway.
The access hatch was open and he climbed inside. Once he secured his harness, the pilot seat shifted into flight position. Connectors snaked out from the panels and attached to his flight suit and helmet. Instantly his visor lit up with displays. The ship status crawled across the visor as he ran a systems check. The started the engines and was greeted with green lights all across the board. Everything was ready for the flight.
“Research control, this is TAF 3. We are in the green and ready for launch,” Ricky spoke into the radio as he double-checked the ship’s status.
“Roger TAF 3. You are clear for taxi.”
“Copy control. Beginning taxi.” Ricky looked out of the cockpit and ensured that all of the technicians were clear before increasing the engine power. The fighter seemed eager to go as it began to move. Even at this low power setting, Ricky could feel the power pulsing through the ship. This is a whole new expression of power, Ricky thought. He was used to flying atmospheric fighters. They didn’t have half the power that the TAF did.
He taxied to the main runway of the research base and throttled down.
“Research control, TAF 3 ready for takeoff.”
“Wait one, TAF 3.”
Ricky took a deep breath and ran yet another systems check. Engines five and seven were only running at 98% efficiency at idle. Ricky logged this for the tech boys to look at and made a mental note to himself to watch them during the flight.
“TAF 3 you are clear for launch. Good luck, Lieutenant Commander.”
Ricky took a deep breath and fought down the nervousness in his stomach.
“Copy that control. Thanks and keep those fingers crossed.”
Ricky punched the throttles to their stops and held on as the fighter jumped forward.
Well, the compensators work, he thought as they screamed down the runway. The acceleration took his breath away for a moment. Almost before he knew it he was in the sky. The fighter computer calculated the atmospheric egress angle and superimposed it on his visor. Ricky lined the ship’s nose up with the indicator and allowed himself a moment to enjoy the ride. They were shooting up through the atmosphere at better than twenty gees and still accelerating. Before he knew it, he was out of the atmosphere.
“TAF 3, this is Research Control. Come to course 345 and reduce power to fifteen gees. The demonstration area should be 10500 miles and closing.”
Ricky checked the nav computer and confirmed the information. Everything was correct.
In minutes he was in the demonstration area. Aboard RSS Mephisto was his audience, a gathering of planning and operations officers from all branches of the Remorhaz Armed Forces, as well as the heads of the respective branches.
“TAF 3, this is control. Begin demonstration flight.”
Ricky was only too happy to oblige. He put the TAF through its paces, and loved every second of it. He swooped down on a defenseless target drone and bLasted it into oblivion. He did maneuvers that would have been impossible for any capital ship to do. He ducked in and out of the atmosphere to demonstrate the craft’s dual capabilities.
Thirty minutes later, he was back on the ground. During the flight, he had observed a few maintenance details, but overall there had been no major problem. He taxied the TAF into the hanger and shut down the engines. As he did so, a running and leaping Doctor Everman came rushing through the doors, all smiles and shouts. He was hugging anyone would came in his path and slapping technicians on the back. Ricky smiled and glanced up at the control room window to see the entire crew shaking hands and clapping each other on the back. Ricky turned the master power off and put on his best straight face. Doctor Everman was outside waving and shouting at him.
Ricky looked at him and held out his hands as if he did not know how it went.
Everman grinned from ear to ear and gave him the thumbs up. He shouted something, but Ricky couldn’t hear him. He pointed to his ears and shook his head.
Everman laughed and exaggerated the following words: “WE DID IT.”
Ricky pointed to himself and exaggerated a few words back: “I TOLD YOU SO.”
They both began laughing again.

[mlmbd]

sachmo, another great read. I do hope that this is the beginning!

mlmbd

[ January 17, 2003, 23:09: Message edited by: mlmbd ]

[sachmo]

Originally posted by mlmbd:
sachmo, another great read. I do hope that this is the beginning!

mlmbd

Thanks! I'm confused about the "beginning" though...?

[mlmbd]

sachmo,

Everman laughed and exaggerated the following words: “WE DID IT.”
Ricky pointed to himself and exaggerated a few words back: “I TOLD YOU SO.”
They both began laughing again.

Sorry, for my confusing things! Some might suppose this is the end. Not a beginning.

mlmbd