Rise of the Remorhaz Society

[Gryphin]

Since the Rage are really "just machines", I belive a case could be made for a "Cleansing"

[sachmo]

Securing the perimeter

2408.9

Grand Admiral Urian had been in a foul mood for days. The news of the defeat in the Battle of Timerron had hit him hard. Upon learning of it, the admiral had locked himself and his staff in an office for a day and a half, stopping only to accept nourishment. During that time, he and his staff had watched the vids and reviewed the intelligence, determined to find a way to stop the Ukra-Tal from advancing any further into Remorhaz space. His main concerns now were the colonies of Correlia and Ymoria. With the loss of the Yukra system, the path to these two colonies was wide open to the Ukra-Tal. Worse still was the fact that the Navy had exactly one ship that could be moved to protect these worlds, the RSS Midguard. The problem was, the Midguard was the only ship protecting the planet of Remorhaz.
So, after a long consultation with Chairman Sachmo, it was decided that these two colonies would have to be left on their own for now. For Urian it was the hardest decision he had ever made. Between those two planets, they had decided to leave 10 million Remorhaz citizens to their fate at the hands of a numerically and technologically superior force.
Other decisions were made at the same time, however. First, Remorhaz and Glory would begin constructing a new defense fleet. Second, once Correlia finished building her spaceport, the colony would immediately begin construction of a space yard. If Correlia fell, then Ymoria would be completely cut off from the rest of the Society, so that planet, and the Iolo system, had to be held at all costs. Third, the transport RSS Hispania was in the area with a cargo of defense satellites. If the wormholes from Yukra could be seeded with enough satellites, then possibly the Ukra-Tal could be contained. Urian wasn’t betting much on that situation, but with enough satellites, maybe it would force them to think twice about making a run for the wormhole.
Urian also decided to go ahead with the offensive against the Rage. If they could be knocked out, or at least weakened, then the Navy would be able to divert its full attention to the greater threat from the Ukra-Tal.
The research guild was able to deliver some much-needed good news. The University of Hera had been studying military techniques of the Rage and Ukra-Tal and had discovered the basic theories of point defense weapons, torpedo weapons, and combat electronics. With a bit more research, they promised a point defense cannon prototype within a month. The Naval Weapons Bureau also hoped to have the next generation depleted uranium cannon in production within the next month also.
Urian and his staff decided that while the battle against the Rage would be the next phase of the war, he wanted to have all of his ships upgraded to the latest models before beginning the attack. This meant that they would probably not begin operations for another six months or so. He was still hoping to lure a Rage fleet into a trap outside of the Lundra—Lapzooli wormhole, but he didn’t need the latest ships for that battle.

Transport RSS Loxias was ordered to head to the Iolo system to deploy its cargo of defense satellites at the wormhole to the Yukra system. Hopefully, they would get there in time to slow down the Ukra-Tal. Otherwise, it might turn out to be a wasted trip.

2409.0

Commander Mike Wells opened his eyes. It took them a few seconds to focus, and when they did, he found himself looking up at a bay of medical instruments. His throat was dry, and his head was pounding like a bass drum, but otherwise he felt ok. He worked up the nerve to sit up, which caused him to almost pass out. When his head cleared, he found himself looking up at Crewman Tim Dawkins and Lieutenant, JG Francois Richard.
Dawkins tried to ease Wells’ head back onto a pillow. “Sir, you have to be careful about moving. You too a pretty bad blow to the head.”
Wells shut his eyes and tried not to think about the fact that his head was about to explode.
“Dawkins, what happened? How in the hell did we get out of that battle alive?”
Dawkins continued to fuss with a sheet. Obviously, he didn’t want the commander getting out of bed.
“Well sir, they had us dead to rights. They pounded us, and we thought we were finished. Some of those damn seeker parasites ripped off the left fore quarter of the ship, and one slammed right into the bridge. Then those acid globules started burning holes thru the entire ship. Everything that wasn’t melting or already blow to hell was on fire sir. Once the ship started losing pressure, those of us still alive thought it was over for sure then.”
He took a ragged breath. He was still pretty shaken up from what Wells could hear.
“Then, they just left us and chased Falcon. I don’t know if they got away or not, but I guess they thought we were finished. Those of us left went to work saving what we could of the ship and trying to get some power back on. We were able to save one of the engines, sir. We aren’t moving very fast, and the only steering we have are the auxiliary maneuver jets, but we are making way.”
Wells tried to do some calculations.
“One engine…how far have we come?”
“We are making about one parsec a month, sir. At this rate, we should make it to Lenoltris in about 3 months.”
Three months, in a hostile system, without support. Those weren’t very long odds.
“Do we have any communications at all?”
Now Richard spoke up. “Not as of yet, sir, but the good news is that the communication officer is recovering and should be able to get working on the emergency com equipment soon. Right now, we are just trying to keep Peregrine together and underway. It’s not been easy, sir. We took more damage than I though we could. We shouldn’t even be here anymore.”
Wells held up his hand. “Francois, who made it? How many men survived?”
Wells heard Richard’s voice break. “Including you, sir, we have 22.”
22 men survived out of 130. Wells tried not to think about it, but it hit him hard. Those men were his responsibility, and he had gotten them killed. He knew he still had to try and get the other 21 men home, but it would be a while before he was able to accept the fact that so many of his crew were gone.
“Alright guys, help me up.”
Richard and Dawkins tried to protest, but one look from the commander squelched their arguments. Slowly they helped him to his feet. Once Wells was sure he wasn’t going to pass out from the pain, he found he was able to support himself.
“Ok, let’s get to the bridge. Maybe if…”
Dawkins broke in. “Sir, there ain’t a bridge to go to. They took it out. You and the Ensign were the only two we found. If you two hadn’t been secured, you wouldn’t be here now.”
Wells stared at him. “Well, what sections are left?”
“Medical, the back part of broadway, engineering and part of the engine room. Oh, and some of the officer’s berths, including yours, sir. How about that, sir? When we get back, you won’t have to buy new uniforms?”
Dawkins grin split his grimy face in half. Wells couldn’t help but smile back
“Alright then, guys. Let’s see what we can do to help this old girl get us out of here.”

Just as promised, the research guild delivered a prototype of the point defense cannon to the Navy. Quickly, the design bureau began working to incorporate them into all ship designs. Now the Remorhaz ships would be able to defend themselves against missile attacks on an equal footing with the enemy. The Army also decided to incorporate the PD cannon into a new generation of weapons platforms, to help planets defend against incoming missile attacks.

2409.1

The epic voyage of the Peregrine was not to be. Two parsecs from the wormhole, she was set upon by the same six destroyers that had glassed the colony of Timerron. They toyed with the wounded system patrol ship for a while before finishing her off with a well placed acid shot. The ship collapsed, it’s structural integrity finally destroyed. The wreckage slowly drifted apart before colliding with an asteroid field. Parts of the ship would remain trapped in this field for millions of years.

The Navy Intelligence Bureau reported a strange message they had received from the Rage. It read:

The Lundra system has been claimed by our people. You will die if you stay there.

Grand Admiral Urian was pleased to hear this news. Maybe they were becoming a thorn in the side of the Rage Collective. Possibly, the presence of Zeta Fleet would goad them into acting rashly. If not, the Remorhaz Navy was prepared to wait them out. When they were ready, they would strike.

The research guild produced a second-generation point defense cannon in one month. This cannon had a higher rate of fire and had a better hit ratio than the first generation guns. They were immediately incorporated into the ship designs. They than began trying to design a mine which could be used in space. It was hoped that mines, when used in conjunction with defense satellites, would allow choke points (such as wormholes) to be closed off to the enemy with a minimum fleet presence required.

Governor Hadrian Ervay was ushered into the shuttle. He and his staff had just finished inspecting the newly completed spaceport on Correlia. Whether any convoys would be able to make the journey from the core systems with the Ukra-Tal being so close was another matter entirely. Ervay sat down on the acceleration couch and looked out the window of the shuttle. Correlia was such a beautiful planet. It reminded him of Remorhaz, except that the atmosphere had a bluer tinge here, and the nitrogen in the upper atmosphere periodically ignited, burning off in a fantastic light show for the cities below to watch. He hoped that his colony wasn’t going to wind up as a smoking crater anytime soon. If the Navy would get off of it’s *** and get him some protection, this planet could really contribute to the Society. If they were left exposed to the Ukra-Tal, however…well, he didn’t want to think about that.
He was pushed back into his seat as the shuttle lifted off. Quickly the acceleration compensators countered the thrust of the engines, and he was comfortable again. He watched as they rose into space, thinking about what the future held for his colony. Soon, out of this window he saw the framework for the new space yard. In their wisdom, the Navy decided that Correlia would be the next staging point a defense fleet and so needed a space yard to be constructed. Ervay couldn’t help but think that once Timerron had built a space yard, the Ukra-Tal had decided to attack. Was it a coincidence, or did they consider that enough of a threat to warrant an attack? Ervay wasn’t sure, but he would be sure to have plenty of weapons platforms built before they came to take his colony out.

On Providence, the 1st Space Marine Brigade loaded back aboard the Mongoose. Along with Artemis and Comet, this fleet would meet up with Hawk in the Knoglam system. The fleet would then assault Lezzari III. This would be the first attempted capture of a Rage planet. No one really knew what to expect from the Rage, as there had not been much contact with them. The Space Marines were ready for a little payback, though, and were looking forward to this drop.

2409.2

A new colony was founded in the Wanduk system. Cherek was a Medium rock planet with an oxygen atmosphere. It had a high content of both mineral and organic resources. If allowed to prosper, this planet would be a cornerstone of the Remorhaz Society.

A massive Naval upgrade program was begun this month, with three ships being upgraded at Glory, and six undergoing upgrades at the Norak ship yard. Crews worked horrendous hours to get the ships turned around as quickly as possible. The increased combat power of the fleet made the entire operation a risk worth taking.

2409.3
Remorhaz and Glory both launched the first of the new Glory C Class Destroyers. RSS Shining Victory was launched from Remorhaz and RSS Skydancer was launched from Glory. Both ships were ordered to Correlia.

In the Lundra system, the defense satellites picked up a Rage fleet of eight ships moving a maximum speed toward the Lapzooli system. While most of the ships in Zeta fleet were being refit, the wormhole had two sets of defense satellites. Grand Admiral Urian was hoping that these defenses would slow the Rage fleet down enough that all of the ships would be refit and would then be able to take on the remains of the Rage fleet. It was a race against the clock.

The Marine Assault Fleet closed in on Lezzari III. No Rage ships were in system to greet them, and so the fleet was able to approach the planet. Aboard Mongoose Major General Steven Brooks was pacing in the Combat Information Center. Sensors reported the Rage colony possessed a weapons platform that was armed with weapons that had not been encountered before. Brooks was confident that the frigates would be able to destroy these weapons, but he wasn’t sure of their capabilities. He would need both frigates to survive so that they could attack any Rage surface military targets that might endanger his Space Marines.
Captain Brennan watched as the fleet entered the wall formation. He was in command of the assault fleet until the actual launch. Now it was his turn to show the Rage what the Remorhaz Navy was made of.
The fleet closed to effective missile firing range and fired all tubes. Comet moved in a little closer to get a better solution, and the Rage unleashed their weapon. A purplish beam of energy streaked from the surface of the planet and hit Comet amidships. The beam destroyed one of her missile tubes, and then continued down her hull, bLasting the engine room. 4 of 6 engines were disabled in the first and two subsequent bLasts.
Brennan watched with concern as the beams tore up Comet. Brennan hit the comlink, and the face of Commander David Trinner appeared.
“David, are you alright? What’s your status?” Brennan could see a haze of smoke in the background.
“We’ve taken heavy engine damage and lost a missile tube. Casualties are heavy. The beams went thru our hull like a hot knife thru butter, R.J.” Trinner croaked. He looked like he had aged a year since Brennan had Last seen him.
“Alright, hang back for a bit, David. I’ll try and hit those guns, and you see what you can do about damage control.”
Trinner stared blankly at the screen. “Ok, R.J. Be careful!”
Brennan winked at him. “Not too careful,” and with that broke the link.
He tracked his salvo on the tactical display. Both his salvo and Comet’s were targeting the Rage weapons platform.
The missiles from the Remorhaz ships destroyed the Rage weapons platforms. Then Comet and Artemis began firing at ground installations. Hawk also moved in and fired at targets with her DUC, while Mongoose moved in to drop the Space Marines.

PFC Jake Renton closed his eyes during the drop. The Blazer bucked thru the atmosphere like a wild stallion. Renton opened his eyes for a split second to watch Sergeant Williams. Williams was talking into the intercom, and smiling. Good, thought Renton. He wouldn’t be smiling if we were taking heavy fire.
Renton closed his eyes again, and before he knew it, he heard the thump as the Blazer separated from the landing skid. He opened his eyes and looked to the sergeant again. Williams was holding the thumbs up to the Lieutenant…the whole company had made it down. The engines of the Blazer roared to life, and they were off.
About ten minutes later, Renton was surprised to hear the main guns of the Blazer fire. Normally, the platoon would be deployed and the Blazer would provide support. If the Blazer was firing but not signaling for the Marines to deploy, then they had the enemy in a bad position. The Blazer bucked as it flew across the unseen terrain, firing its main guns.
Forty-five minutes later, the signal came to dismount. Renton formed up with the squad, and quickly they deployed around the Blazer. The first thing he saw was the remains of what looked like a large scrap pile. Only upon closer inspection did he realize that he was looking at a Rage fighting vehicle and it’s crew splayed out across the ground. Renton kicked at the pile of scrap. Fighting against living machines would take some getting used to. Then a message came down the line from Colonel Jimenez. The enemy had been defeated. Renton and the rest of 4th platoon marched toward the domed living area that had been set up by the Rage colonists. Oxygen was a hazardous environment for the Rage, so a domed colony was required. The downside for them was that a domed colony was easy to capture, and if threatened with destruction, was a very effective tool against a resisting population. The population quickly surrendered once the planetary Main Sequencer was captured and destroyed. Since the Rage could not function as part of the Collective without a local Sequencer, the remaining Rage population became docile, and continued about their everyday lives. There would be much to learn about the Rage before they could be made full members of the Remorhaz Society, if it were possible at all.
As soon as the planet was secured, the utility shuttles came down from [i]Mongoose[i] and began shuttling the troops and Blazers back into the ship. The entire fleet was to head back to Providence and await further orders. Bravo Company from the 3rd Battalion was left on the planet for pacification duty. Major General Brooks, by decree of the Chairman of the Remorhaz society, renamed the colony Nova.

To be continued...

[Ragnarok]

Go Remorhaz, go Remorhaz, go go go Remorhaz... Kick some Rage butt! hahaha... nice story as always Sachmo.

[Alpha Kodiak]

Message from the Rage Collective:

"It is a pity that you will not suffer long before you die."

Great story, I enjoy every installment. I'm afraid I'm pulling for the Rage, though.

[Atrocities]

Excellent story. I have but two words. Excape Pods. No need to loose men if you have a nice ship to be used as a decoy while your made a run for it in the excape pods.

[geoschmo]

Nooooo! No escape pods please!

Lifepods are for commercial liners. When warships get destroyed, people die. Unless you plan on having the enemy pick them up and put them in a prisoner of war camp. That might be interesting, and a stroy line noone has used in any of these SE4 stories yet IIRC.

Great story Sachmo, keep it up. I found myself genuinly disapointed when the Peregrine was caught. I was pulling for them to make it home.

Geoschmo

[ July 22, 2002, 13:19: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[sachmo]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Nooooo! No escape pods please!

Lifepods are for commercial liners. When warships get destroyed, people die. Unless you plan on having the enemy pick them up and put them in a prisoner of war camp. That might be interesting, and a stroy line noone has used in any of these SE4 stories yet IIRC.

Great story Sachmo, keep it up. I found myself genuinly disapointed when the Peregrine was caught. I was pulling for them to make it home.

Geoschmo

POW Camp: I was definately mulling it over, but then I thought about it...in this universe, the wars being fought have so far been proved to be fights for survival. If you plan on wiping an enemy race out completely, it would be a waste of resources to hold on to their troops! Now if Remorhaz were to capture some of the enemy...

Yes, I wanted Peregrine to make it too. I was building up a big story because I thought the Ukra-Tal were going to ignore it...since it wasn't much of a threat. I guess once it approached the wormhole, they didn't want it to escape with any intelligence! Oh, well!

[sachmo]

Oversite

2409.4

The Rage fleet that had been moving toward the Lapzooli system and the planet Norak had once again demonstrated the unpredictability of the Rage Collective. The fleet would probably have been able to fight past the defense satellite rings, push thru and attack the planet Norak with at least 1 or 2 Remorhaz ships still being refit, but instead they changed course and headed into the western, unexplored wormhole. The Lapzooli fleet breathed a sigh of relief. Any extra time to prepare to meet the Rage on a more equal footing was more than welcome.

Lieutenant Commander Neaton was expecting a warm welcome when RSS Hawk finished the jump from Lezzari into the Jethanis system. According to Fleet Intelligence, this should be a gateway system into Rage space. Instead, a sweep of the system revealed only four tiny rock planets with hostile atmospheres. Still, Neaton could feel that the Rage were in this system somewhere, but none of the planets showed their presence.
“Mr. Devers, are you absolutely sure you’ve checked every planet for signs of a Rage Colony? I would hate to leave one in our rear area”, Neaton asked his Science Officer.
Devers stayed glued to his screen.
“Absolutely, Commander. There are no Rage colonies on any planet in this system.”
“Thank you, Ensign Devers.” If the Rage weren’t here, then why in the hell did he have such a strange feeling? There was something they were missing…but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Neaton brought up every piece of intelligence he had on the Rage. His tactical display was flooded with scientific facts, anatomic displays, brief cultural dissertations, but Neaton wasn’t even sure what he was looking for. He was hoping that it would grab his attention when he saw it.
He flipped thru a few more documents. Suddenly, there it was.
“Science, scan every rock moon in this system that has no atmosphere. I think we just might find something.” There it was, in the racial overview. The Rage Collective’s preferred planetary climate was a rock world with no atmosphere. Upon discovering a new system, standard operating procedure was to actively scan a system for ships, and then do a passive scan of all planets within a system to search for colonies. Most of the time, the moons and smaller bodies had been omitted from scans, as these objects were too small and usually uninhabitable for most races. They had not taken into account the strange biology of the Rage, however. A moon without an atmosphere would be an excellent destination for a Rage colony.
“Sir, Rage colony detected on the moon of Jethanis IX. Estimates are that there are roughly 11 million Rage colonists on this world.”
Neaton blanched. What if they had bypassed a Rage colony in another system?
“Sparks, get the word out to Naval Intelligence. Every system vacated by the Rage will need to be checked for colonies. Also, the SOP will definitely need to be changed.”
Within hours, Neaton’s fears were confirmed. The entire fleet had left Nova unguarded, and there was a rather large Rage colony still in the system on the alpha moon of Lezzari IV. Hopefully, the Rage on this world didn’t have a shipyard, or Nova was going to be in a ton of trouble, and quick.
Lieutenant Commander turned Hawk around as quickly as possible and made for Lezzari IV. Someone needed to find out what the Rage had there, and Neaton was the only Remorhaz ship left in system.

Back on Providence, work was begun on a new Glory C Class Destroyer. Its firepower would be needed to support the taking of these recently discovered Rage colonies.

In the Yullado system, Hispania arrived at Yullado and picked up another 5 defense satellites. She immediately turned around and headed back to seed the Lenoltris-Yukra wormhole. In Iolo, Loxias was able to do the same at the Iolo-Yukra wormhole. For at least a little while, the Ukra-Tal would be stopped at Yukra. Possibly, that was all that they wanted?

The Research Guild unlocked the secrets of the space mine, and also discovered a system that would be able to safely clear them. Immediately, a design was created for a new space mine, as well as a ship that would be equipped to lay them. This would help shore up the borders of the Remorhaz Society. Work was then begun on the principles of Energy Pulse and Torpedo weapons.

To be continued...

[Atrocities]

Please keep posting stories if you can. Your work is as adictive as the game.

[Puke]

[quote]Originally posted by sachmo:

Lifepods are for commercial liners. When warships get destroyed, people die. Unless you plan on having the enemy pick them up and put them in a prisoner of war camp. That might be interesting, and a stroy line noone has used in any of these SE4 stories yet IIRC.

having recently viewed the original 0079 MS Gundam serise, i feel inclined to refer you to a page from Zeon fighting doctrine.

it is imperitive to the morale of a man fighting in space that he believe that he can be rescued, and that his comrades in arms will do anything in their power to rescue him.

of course, this doctrine is a trueism that extends to battles at sea, in the jungle, on the desert, and danm near anywhere else.