Rise of the Remorhaz Society

[Erax]

This thread was started on June 18, 2002, which means its first anniversary is coming up. The first ROTRS post was on another, older thread but the date is the same.

We'd better start our preparations for ROTRS's first year celebration. Sachmo, what do you think would be more appropriate, champagne or beer ?

[sachmo]

Originally posted by Chief Engineer Erax:
This thread was started on June 18, 2002, which means its first anniversary is coming up. The first ROTRS post was on another, older thread but the date is the same.

We'd better start our preparations for ROTRS's first year celebration. Sachmo, what do you think would be more appropriate, champagne or beer ?

Neither. I quit drinking almost 5 years ago. How about punch and cake? I really like cake!

[Erax]

Originally posted by sachmo:
How about punch and cake? I really like cake!

So do I, with lots of icing !!

[sachmo]

Strike Fleet Dauntless on the offensive

2412.2

RSS Stormfront moved silently through space. The viewscreen on the bridge was locked on the planet Glory, and the shipyards orbiting high above the light blue planet. Commodore Walt Reed watched the image fade into the distance, and thought about his wife and family that he was once again leaving behind. He was thankful for the five months they had been able to spend together, but he longed for more. The war was entering its eleventh year, and he had spent most of that time away from them.
The Navy had seen fit to give him a promotion and five months of shore duty while his new command was under construction, but they needed him back in the war. It was the Navy way, and he accepted it, as did his family. Still, he hoped that they would soon be able to end this war, and that he would be able to go home for good. That was what he wanted more than anything else in the world, and the five months he spent with his loved ones have driven that point home.
With one Last unspoken prayer, asking the Creator to watch over his family while he was away, he toggled the main screen to the bow view. He and his crew would have to conquer what lay ahead before they could return home safely.

Strike Fleet Dauntless, commanded by Rear Admiral Gina Jager, now had the strength to begin interdicting the Ukra-Tal ships in the Lenoltris system. The fleet consisted of the following ships:
RSS Buffalo, a Rochester B class light cruiser and Gina’s flagship. The Rochester was armed with three heavy depleted uranium cannon, four point defense cannon, and two shield generators.
Three Glory C class destroyers, RSS Liberation, RSS Cherek, and RSS Triumph. The Glory C’s were armed with two capital ship missile launchers, one depleted uranium cannon, two point defense cannon and a shield generator.
RSS Firefly, an Olympia C class destroyer. She was armed with three depleted uranium cannon, two point defense cannon, and two shield generators.
Two Nemesis E class frigates, RSS Nemesis and RSS Intimidator. The Nemesis class was armed with two capital ship missile launchers and one point defense cannon.
RSS Melange was the first ship of the Melange class repair ships. She was capable of repairing a large amount of battle damage while the fleet was underway.

Long-range system scans showed a lone Ukra-Tal Hedenso class cruiser within range of the fleet. Jager left the newly arrived Catreus class frigate RSS Tholeus and the Highrock fighter squadron to cover the planet as she moved the fleet to intercept. There were no Ukra-Tal forces that would be able to attack Highrock without her being able to get the entire fleet back on defense before they arrived. In fact, the entire Ukra-Tal presence in system was only four cruisers and one light cruiser.

As Strike Fleet Dauntless closed in on the Hedenso, the Ukra-Tal captain turned to face his enemy. The Hedenso was a ship never before faced by the Remorhaz Navy, and a quick scan of her weapons showed that she was a formidable foe. The ship was armed with three seeking parasite launchers, four anti-missile projectile launchers, and it bristled with electronics. This data was relayed between the ships of Dauntless, and the battle plan was quickly drawn up. They needed to close with the Hedenso and crush it, since it had no close range weapons. Gina deployed the fleet in a standard wedge and closed in on the enemy ship.
The Ukra-Tal captain moved to try and take their flank, but Dauntless maneuvered to deny him the shot. Finally, the Hedenso changed tactics and made for the heart of the fleet. It seemed as if he planned to charge them!.
The Ukra-Tal captain locked onto Buffalo and launched a full spread of the living weapons that they used as seeker. The blobs raced through space, glowing and pulsing with energy as they streaked toward their target. When they entered threat range, Buffalo’s point defense cannons opened fire, knocking out two of the hideous weapons. Liberation opened fire at maximum range with her point defense cannon, destroying the Last of the seekers. The Remorhaz ships chased the Hedenso as he tried to open the range. It was able to launch another spread of seekers before Buffalo was in range to attack her. These seekers were also destroyed by the combined firepower of the fleet’s defense cannons. Then it was Buffalo’s turn. At maximum range, Gina ordered the heavy depleted uranium cannons to open fire. The ship lurched as the projectiles were fired from the heavy railguns mounted in the spine of the ship. All three shells exploded against the Hedenso’s shields, overloading them and knocking them out, but they had done their job. The ship took no damage.
The Ukra-Tal ship launched another seeker spread and it was destroyed. Buffalo scored another hit on the enemy ship’s hull, but the living armor of the ship “healed” the wound. Gina’s skin crawled as she watched it on the viewscreen. It was hard not to personalize the battle when the very ships the enemy fought in acted like living beings. Gina’s brain refused to acknowledge that they quite possibly were living beings.
Finally, the Hedenso fell to the guns of Strike Fleet Dauntless. Liberation scored the killing blow when her missiles slammed into the battered hulk, bLasting it into shards of organic material. With no further targets to engage, Gina turned the fleet to an intercept course for the next Ukra-Tal ships in range. Strike Fleet Dauntless was on the attack, and its commander was determined to take the fight to the enemy. Let them send reinforcements, she though. I’ll keep you occupied here while Hellcat cuts out your heart!

[ June 05, 2003, 18:19: Message edited by: sachmo ]

[EvilGenius4ABetterTomorro]

Your Larry Niven, aren't you?

[sachmo]

Originally posted by EvilGenius4ABetterTomorro:
Your Larry Niven, aren't you?

No, not even close, but I'm flattered!

[sachmo]

A new hero and an unseen enemy

2nd Brigade, now fully equipped for zero-g combat, was able to take Bardron IV A and B in the face of minimal resistance. Multiple research centers and mining facilities were captured intact, along with over 200 million Rage colonists. Brigadier General McMasters immediately ordered the brigade to load back up on the transport for the next assault, and personally oversaw every phase of the process. He would be damned if his brigade found itself unable to fight because of another supply snafu. The quartermaster officers tried to keep as low of a profile as possible whenever he was in the area.

Strike Fleet moved against Bardron VII. The Rage defenses were light, consisting of one missile base and two fighters. The Remorhaz ships quickly silenced them, and Task Force Avenger moved in and dropped 3rd Brigade. The Space Marines took the moon with very light casualties.

2412.3

In low orbit over the planet Norak, the newest ship in the Remorhaz People’s Navy did a slow flyby of the shipyard. As she came into view, a spontaneous cheer erupted from the gathered spectators. RSS Prometheus, the first carrier ever built, was the pride of the Norak shipyards. That she even existed was the result of thousands of man-hours of work by the shipyard crews, the design teams, and scientists from all over the society. Many new technologies were crammed into her hull. She was as long as two light cruisers, and half again as wide. The hull was rounded as opposed to the tapered look of the other combat ships, and she bristled with open fighter bays. The island on top of the ship blended in seamlessly with the hull, and helped to give her a sleek design in spite of her size. She looked dangerous and capable of wrecking great destruction on the enemies of the Remorhaz Society. The power that Prometheus exuded gave all who saw her hope. The crowd continued to cheer as the big ship drifted past, and well after it was beyond visual range.
When the vid of the launch was broadcast throughout the Society, no one could have anticipated the effect that Prometheus would have on the people. Everywhere, people talked about the new ship, and what it would mean for the war. They were hoping that this was a weapon that would neutralize the advantages that the Ukra-Tal had in technology. They theorized that Prometheus, backed by the rest of the Navy, would be able to chase their enemies back into the dark corners of space that they had come from and avenge the deaths of their people. Almost overnight, RSS Prometheus became the newest hero of the Remorhaz Society, and she had not even fired a shot in anger yet.

In the command center aboard RSS Tarus, Rear Admiral Sakazawa and his staff were planning the upcoming assault on the Rage planet of Bardron VI.
Sakazawa stood in front of the system map displayed on the main view screen.
“I think we should hit them this month, Terry. We have to finish the Rage as soon as possible.”
Captain Terry Hall, Sakazawa’s chief staff officer, frowned as he looked at the map.
“Yes sir, but we are getting very low on supplies. If we run into something unexpected…”
Sakazawa nodded. “It’s a risk, but I don’t think it’s a huge one. I really think that these are the Last few Rage planets. I’m still waiting for confirmation from Lu, but think of what it will mean to the people if we can finish the Rage off this year. Every month we drag this out is another month that we have people worrying back home. They could use some good news, and this would be it.”
Hall smiled at that. “I think we all could use some good news, sir.’ He lifted his data pad and began to enter some figures for the next phase of the campaign when suddenly there were two muffled explosions. The ship shook briefly, and then the general quarters alarm went off.
Hall looked around the room. A few of the staff officers were on the deck, and everyone looked more than a little confused. Rear Admiral Sakazawa was on the com unit talking to Captain Tim Danvers, commander of the Tarus.
“I’ve got my people on it, sir. The computer shows one of the heavy railguns damaged, and a bay of point defense cannon. I just don’t know what happened yet, Admiral.”
“Was anyone hurt, Tim?” Sakazawa asked.
“I don’t know yet, sir.”
“I’ll let you get to it then.” With that he switched off the com unit.
Hall moved over to stand beside Sakazawa.
“Sir, our data matches Captain Danvers. It looks like one of the railguns and a bay of point defense cannons were destroyed by an explosion of some kind. Both sections were at minimum required crew, sir.”
Sakazawa sighed at the news. “Thank the Creator for that.”
The com unit chirped, and the Admiral flipped his com on. The face of Captain Danvers appeared.
“The Chief Petty Officer took one look at the bLast area and could tell immediately that it was a bomb of some sort, sir. This was no accident. It was sabotage.”
Even through the com unit, Sakazawa could feel the heat building up behind Danver’s eyes.
“You have no doubt it was a bomb, Tim?”
Danver’s face hardened.
“If the CPO says it was a bomb, I’ll buy it, sir.”
Sakazawa nodded.
“Were there any casualties?”
“Yes sir, there was one, but he’s going to make it. He was burned pretty badly but thankfully he was on the other side of bulkhead when the explosion happened. The bomb was encased in a fragmentation casing, sir. If he, or any of the crew had been in the room at the time that bomb went off, they would have all been dead.”
“Is there anything you need, Tim?”
The captain managed a weak smile.
“How about the head of the bastard who did this?”
Sakazawa stared hard into the com unit.
“Don’t worry about that, Tim. We’ll find out who is responsible for this, and we will deal with them accordingly.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Sakazawa switched the com unit off again, and turned to Captain Hall.
“Terry, I need to talk to the Grand Admiral, now. Set it up in my cabin. Also, I need to have an emergency meeting with the captain of every ship in the fleet in two hours. We need to have everyone sweep their ships and look for explosive devices.”
Hall began to carry out his orders. In minutes he had the link for the Rear Admiral set up and open in his cabin.
“What’s happening there, Shiro?” The Grand Admiral asked.
“Sir, we’ve had an incident of sabotage on board Tarus. We’re not sure who is responsible, but I though you would need to know this right away” Sakazawa said.
“I was afraid of this” Urian said. “Last month, the food stores on Honor were found to have gone bad. As you know, they were forced to abort their recon mission of the system next to Vendrin. What I didn’t tell you is that the Security and Intelligence boys were investigating the incident. They thought it might be sabotage, but they hadn’t gathered enough evidence to prove it yet. Now we know.”
Sakazawa nodded. He would have liked to have been informed, but he wasn’t sure what good that would have done. He wouldn’t have been able to alert his commanders until they had some proof of sabotage, and he wouldn’t have been able to search the fleet by himself.
“How would you like me to proceed, sir?” Sakazawa asked.
“I think for now, you should lock the fleet down until we know what we are dealing with. No leaves, and no transfers until we can sort this out. I’m dispatching some extra Security and Intelligence agents to Bardron, but they won’t be there for a few months. Until then, let everyone know to keep an eye out, but don’t allow the troops to panic. If people start chasing shadows, it won’t be long before they are shooting them, also. Just try to keep everyone on the ships and calm, Shiro”
Sakazawa typed some notes into his data unit, and suddenly had a thought.
“So you think there are some alien spies among my people?”
“I can’t rule anything out at this point, Shiro. Everyone is a potential threat right now, but my gut tells me that our enemies have some agents out there among your crew. So be careful, Shiro. Don’t go anywhere alone. If something were to happen to you, the whole Bardron campaign would fall apart.”
“Aye, aye, sir. Thanks for the advice, Grand Admiral.”
Urian nodded.
“Don’t worry, Shiro. We’ll get this problem taken care of. Rumor has it that the Ukra-Tal are about to experience what you are going through now. Turn about is fair play, I guess.”
Sakazawa frowned.
“It doesn’t seem very fair out here in enemy space, sir.”
With that he closed the link, and tried not to think about enemy agents hiding in the shadows.