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Old June 21st, 2002, 07:26 AM

sachmo sachmo is offline
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Default Re: Rise of the Remorhaz Society

Fire from Heaven

As they emerged from the wormhole, the entire Norak system was laid bare before them. There were two ships on the sensors, but they were too far away to join in the fight. The closest target was Lapzooli V. The frigates closed in, intent on doing as much damage as possible.
Aboard Hyperion, Captain Walt Reed surveyed the battle plot. Lapzooli V had at least three weapons platforms, and they were all armed with missiles. Standard hit and run tactics, then. The battle plan worked, and the defense bases were systematically smashed. Roughly 100 million Norakian colonists perished in the firestorm rained upon them by the Remorhaz frigates. The very existence of the Norak Continuum was at stake.

Word of the Lapzooli Offensive reached the Chairman quickly. His pages and staff were around him, chirping about the end of the war and victory. Chairman Sachmo was not so quick to write the Norak off. He sat back in his chair, and rubbed his temples. No, but this was a time to offer them peace. As he had stated during their strategy meeting, he had no desire to destroy an entire race. There really wasn’t much choice in the matter. He punched up the com unit of the chief of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassador Sangi Mulatti.
“Ambassador Mulatti. Oh, good day, Chairman. I trust you have heard the news?”
Sachmo smiled thinly. “Yes, Sangi. We may have an opportunity here, but I don’t see that this thing is over.”
Sangi nodded. “I concur, Chairman. What can I do for you?”
“Sangi, I need you to offer the Norak a graceful way out of this conflict. If you and your staff can get me some idea of how they might receive such a proposal, we would have an advantage.”
“Sir, I have already taken the liberty of preparing a report on the mood of the Norakians. I will send it over to you immediately.”
Good old Sangi. Always one step ahead. That might explain why he had survived in politics as long as he did.
“Thanks, Sangi. Is there anything you can give me now? Maybe an overview?”
With a nod, and a frown, Sangi spoke. “Chairman, I am afraid that the only way to win this war may indeed be the destruction of our race or theirs. No matter what losses they take, or what setbacks we cause them, they howl for our blood. They are relentless in their hatred. I don’t think they will seriously entertain an offer of surrender. There is much we do not understand about their culture, but their complete devotion to their government doesn’t give the common man much room to think, and the religious hierarchy seems to equate us with the anti-christ. Why may be a question we may never have answered, but we can at least try.”
The Chairman let out a long sigh. “Well Sangi, let us hope they do come around. If we destroy this race, I don’t know how the people will feel about that. Also, what will the other races in the galaxy think of us? Will peace be impossible with the Rage? So many things we cannot know the answer to, but we have to try and end this.”
“Chairman, my staff and I will do everything we can to get thru to Norakians.”
“I trust you will, Sangi.”

2405.4

Combat in the Xillantha-Wurtuy wormhole resulted in damage to Manticore and two Alagoa class Norak frigates. Manticore headed back to Glory for repairs, while Gamma Fleet perused the wounded Alagoas.
The Research Guild had indeed discovered a more efficient way to mine planets, and all miners in the Society were gearing up to upgrade their mining facilities.
At Glory, Falcon began the upgrade process.
In Lapzooli, Hyperion and Furious attacked Lapzooli I. 105 million colonists were protected by two weapons platforms. The colony was destroyed. Their mission a rousing success, the two fleet withdrew, headed to Hera to resupply and rearm. Nemesis moved to the wormhole to cover their withdrawal, and to keep the Norakians penned into the Lapzooli System.

2404.5

Remorhaz built a colony ship, which was immediately dispatched to the Xillantha system to setup a resupply base in that system.

In Xillantha, Captain Lu took Gamma Fleet into battle against the two wounded Alagoas. Captain Lu had the battle plan worked out with Brennan ahead of time. They would fork the lesser-damaged Alagoa, and take her with missiles from both flanks. This should minimize danger for both craft, and allow them to hunt and kill the remaining. Lu was happy to confirm that the second Alagoa had both of her missile tubes knocked out, so she would be out of the fight. As soon as Intimidator and Artemis appeared on their scanners, the disarmed frigate turned and ran. The remaining Alagoa turned to cover his partner’s retreat.
“Brave.” Captain Lu murmured. He checked the tactical display. Intimidator was still out of missile range, but Artemis should be firing just about…
“Captain, Artemis has fired on the Alagoa. Full spread.” Lieutenant Merrik called out.
“Very well. Helm, continue into firing range.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“XO, what do you think? Will she stick around and fight, or cut and run?” Captain Lu looked to his XO. Lieutenant Commander Will Crowley was a very promising young officer, and Lu would recommend him for the next available command.
“Well sir, she doesn’t really have a choice. She can either try and run at 1/3 speed, or buy her friend some time. This way, maybe one of them can get away. I think she’ll fight, and try to take a piece of our *** with them.”
Lu nodded. “I concur. What say we not give her the chance?”
Lieutenant Crowley smiled. “I’m with you on that, Captain. Sensor, what’s she doing?”
Captain Lu sat back. Let’s see how the kid does with this, he thought.
The Alagoa fired a spread back at Artemis. Brennan turned her sharply and kicked in the main engines, struggling to get out of missile range. It looked to Gordon Lu as if combat had taught Mr. Brennan a bit of caution. The thought made him smile. Soon he would regain a bit of his swagger, but it would be tempered with knowledge and experience. That’s what made a good captain.
Intimidator continued to close the range to the Alagoa.
Captain Lu saw the firing solution on the tactical display. It couldn’t look any better than this. He was about to give the order himself when he heard Crowley yell out.
“Alright Weps, give him a full spread. Helm, get ready to take us out of range.”
The officers acknowledged the orders.
“Sir, we have been targeted. Missiles incoming!”
Lieutenant Commander Crowley remained calm. “Ok helm, get us the hell out of here.”
The ship turned as quickly as she could. There was the briefest of moments when Gordon was pushed back in his seat as the compensators adjusted for the change in momentum. It always made him feel like he was on an ride at an amusement park.
The missiles slammed into the Alagoa, and smashed it like a child’s toy. The ship split in half, gasses venting and fires burning out as soon as they hit the vacuum of space.
It took the better part of the day, but eventually Gamma Fleet hunted down and destroyed the second Alagoa. The system cleared, Gamma Fleet made for Glory to resupply. This was a very successful cruise for the crew of Intimidator and Artemis.

In the Lapzooli system, Captain Jager was given permission by Admiral Urian to move the wormhole defense into Lapzooli, to ensure the free passage of this wormhole. Nemesis was itching for a fight, and so determined that this would be the system for it. Loxias moved all of the defense satellites into the Lapzooli system, and deployed them at the wormhole. Now if a supply base could be setup in system, they might be able to knock the Norak Continuum out of the war.

In the meantime, the mining facility upgrades continued at a feverish pace.

2405.7

Black Hills completed the mining upgrade. Gamma and Delta Fleets headed back to Glory and Hera respectively to allow a resupply. Admiral Urian was determined that once strength was built up sufficiently, the Lapzooli Offensive would follow thru to it’s logical conclusion. He dispatched RSS Eagle to scout the system beneath Lapzooli. If there were Norakians in this system, they would be destroyed. Admiral Urian had no qualms about destroying the Norakians. War was hell, but those who refused to know when to call it quits deserved what they got.

2405.8

Remorhaz has completed their mining upgrade. Glory was the only planet left to complete the upgrade. Mineral supplies were rising again.
On the diplomatic front, the Norak continued to refuse a treaty.
The Diplomatic Corps reported that the Rage had warmed to us, but a non-aggression treaty was greeted with a negative, belligerent response. Of course, the ambassador sent was immediately killed.
Gamma Fleet pulled into Glory. The ships were greeted with a large crowd of civilians and military personnel alike, all cheering the Intimidator and Artemis. The total victory of the Remorhaz People’s Navy in the Xillantha system was a huge boost for morale. The crews of both ships need not have worried about buying drinks for themselves, as everything was on the house. After the debriefing, Admiral Urian gathered the press and the command staff of both ships. In a ceremony, the officers in charge were awarded the Golden Sun for duty above and beyond the call of duty. Certain members of the crews of both ships were also decorated. At the end of the ceremony, much to everyone’s surprise, Admiral Urian announced that Captain Gordon Lu was promoted to the rank of Commodore, with all of the privileges afforded that rank. Lu was the first officer promoted for combat excellence in the Remorhaz Society in over 100 years.
A week later, the ceremony died down as Gamma Fleet prepared to head into Lapzooli for the final offensive. Commodore Lu was given a choice of which ship to carry his flag on, and without hesitation he chose RSS Intimidator. His former XO, now Captain Will Crowley was given command. She would be the flagship of Gamma Fleet, and from her the attack on Lapzooli would be commanded. Extra communications gear was installed on Intimidator to allow her to function as the command ship. Commodore Lu sat in his cabin and watched the Space Yard slowly drift out of view.
“This is all on you, Gordo.” He thought. “If you screw the pooch, you’re going to take a lot of folks with you. Don’t fail.” He lay back in his bunk. I had better be ready, because this happening whether he was ready or not.
With a stretch and a yawn, he stood up and moved over to his desk. It was made from pure Glory choba wood, which gave the desk a slightly greenish color. It was very nice, and very expensive. “I guess this is the furniture you rate when you are a flag officer” Gordon mused. He pulled out his intel and charts on the Lapzooli system. It was time to plan an attack.

Admiral Urian stepped into the cramped room. General Gulman was already present, along with his staff. Chairman Sachmo sat at the table, looking haggard. He flashed the Admiral the best smile he could muster. The Admiral nodded, and walked over to the General.
“Gulman! You old ground-pounder! What’s got you in an office? You aren’t happy unless you are sleeping under a rock somewhere with a rifle in one hand and a sword in the other!”
The General smiled at the Admiral. Once upon a time, Gulman had been dead set on going the Navy route, but in the end the Army seemed a better fit. He and Urian had been friends since they were kids, though, and so were very close.
“Hi, Marcus. Come on in. I really want to get started, if you don’t mind.”
Urian took a seat and poured himself a cup of coffee. He opened his data file, and clicked it into the port imbedded in the table.
Chairman Sachmo stood up.
“Gentlemen, as you know, the war on the Norak front may be winding down. The fleet is getting ready to gather in Lapzooli, and once together they will attack Lapzooli II. It looks like surrender is not in their vocabulary. Throughout the Last few months, we have been able to destroy their colonies through fleet bombardment. While effective, it is brutal. If this war drags on, I want to be able to invade these worlds and capture them. This will allow us to take a planet that is already build up and populated and quickly assimilate it into the society. Also, it will drastically reduce the number of civilian casualties this war has produced. The General tells me that with our current technology, any attempt at an invasion would be suicide. We have no means of getting troops down onto the surface of a planet in a rapid enough fashion that would keep them from getting slaughtered by ground troops.”
He sat back down. “I realize that you cannot control these factors, but I need you ideas on what it would take to make surface invasion a reality.”
Admiral Urian cleared his throat. “Sir, the General and I and our staffs have come up with a proposal that would give us the most flexibility for a force of space to dirt infantry. They would have to be shock troops, sir. Once a planet is taken, regular army units could be brought in to keep the peace and garrison the planet. We have decided that this new force should be under the jurisdiction of neither the Army or the Navy, but be a branch of the service all to itself.”
General Gulman punched up his proposal onto the main conference wall.
“Sir, we propose that this new force be called the Remorhaz Space Marine Corps.”
At that table, in the eighth month of the year 2405, the Remorhaz Space Marine Corps was born. They would earn a reputation for themselves as one of the toughest fighting outfits in the galaxy, but that is a story for later.

To be continued...
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