Read Online The Rods and the Axe - eARC by Tom Kratman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Tom Kratman
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rather hardier, and would go aboard in normal containers.
All that was to go in later, though. The first cargo needed to go in first and low, where inspection would prove difficult.
If there was anything Balboa was not short of, in the current circumstances, it was weapons and ammunition of Tauran manufacture. The legion had, at last count, twenty-six thousand, four hundred and nineteen rifles of various types, from the Anglians’ wretched things to the Gauls’ and Sachsens’ rather better ones. There were three thousand forty-eight light and general purpose machine guns, along with twelve hundred and fifty-three heavy machine guns of Federated States design. To go along with those were something on the order of fifty million rounds of ammunition. At least, that much had been inventoried so far. The process of inventory was still ongoing.
Additionally, there were one hundred and forty-one light mortars, as well as ninety-four mediums and seventeen serviceable heavies. Some others, adjudged unserviceable, were in the shop for evaluation and possible repair. For these, the legion had a bit over one hundred thousand rounds of ammunition of various types.
Of anti-tank weapons, both guided and unguided, light throwaways and heavier crew served, there were thousands. They were still coming in from wherever Tauran troops had lost them. Radios there were in plenty, along with night vision devices, as well as plentiful batteries for both. Antivehicular mines, grenades, shoulder fired antiaircraft missiles? We gots. Signal devices and booby traps. We gots. Medical equipment and supplies? We gots.
Some of this largesse was currently being issued to the Tercio Amazona and some of the troops from the Fourteenth CazadorTercio . Some was going to the Fifth Mountain and its Lempiran and Valdivian attachments, though they were mostly holding the materiel for others. A small portion was put aside for trophies for the various regiments. Some was intended for Taurus, for the Islamic groups created by, among others, Khalid the Assassin.
But roughly a third, by tonnage, was right here on the docks, intended for Santa Josefina as soon as the Casement had made its delivery of fruit and coffee and could turn around.
Interestingly, a small mule train, only forty-seven mules and a bell mare, carring not more than eleven tons, in total, set off from the Balboan port of Capitano, on the Shimmering Sea near the Santa Josefinan border, at about the same time the Casement left Cristobal for Taurus.
Off the Isla Real, to the southeast, North of Ciudad Balboa
Ahead, a small boat, not much bigger than a largish yacht, and not nearly as fancy, reeled off two cables, one port, one starboard. The cables sported hydrophones. Translated from the Cyrillic, the cases from which the cables were drawn were labeled, “Archangel.”
Behind the cable layer, and offset a few hundred meters, a coasting freighter slid a large cylinder, steel-cased, explosive-filled, hence quite heavy, down a ramp erected to its stern. The mine rumbled down the ramp, dropped free, then hit the water, raising a great splash above the choppy waves.
The mid-sized coasting freighter was one of a pair. The cable layers were likewise matched. Both pairs were formed into two others, consisting of a cable layer and mine layer, each. Operating on opposite sides of the Isla Real , one mixed pair couldn’t see the other. Neither could it be seen by the other. However, both were visible from much of the large massif, Hill 287, that dominated the island.
Anyone looking from that hill through a fair pair of binoculars would have seen the stern of the coaster, bearing the name, Thetis , as it made its way on a perfectly straight course toward PuntaGorgona, which course would take it just north of Isla Tatalao. They’d also have seen the mines rolling down the ramp into the sea. Were the binoculars good, they’d also have been able to see that the mines were of mixed types, that along
All that was to go in later, though. The first cargo needed to go in first and low, where inspection would prove difficult.
If there was anything Balboa was not short of, in the current circumstances, it was weapons and ammunition of Tauran manufacture. The legion had, at last count, twenty-six thousand, four hundred and nineteen rifles of various types, from the Anglians’ wretched things to the Gauls’ and Sachsens’ rather better ones. There were three thousand forty-eight light and general purpose machine guns, along with twelve hundred and fifty-three heavy machine guns of Federated States design. To go along with those were something on the order of fifty million rounds of ammunition. At least, that much had been inventoried so far. The process of inventory was still ongoing.
Additionally, there were one hundred and forty-one light mortars, as well as ninety-four mediums and seventeen serviceable heavies. Some others, adjudged unserviceable, were in the shop for evaluation and possible repair. For these, the legion had a bit over one hundred thousand rounds of ammunition of various types.
Of anti-tank weapons, both guided and unguided, light throwaways and heavier crew served, there were thousands. They were still coming in from wherever Tauran troops had lost them. Radios there were in plenty, along with night vision devices, as well as plentiful batteries for both. Antivehicular mines, grenades, shoulder fired antiaircraft missiles? We gots. Signal devices and booby traps. We gots. Medical equipment and supplies? We gots.
Some of this largesse was currently being issued to the Tercio Amazona and some of the troops from the Fourteenth CazadorTercio . Some was going to the Fifth Mountain and its Lempiran and Valdivian attachments, though they were mostly holding the materiel for others. A small portion was put aside for trophies for the various regiments. Some was intended for Taurus, for the Islamic groups created by, among others, Khalid the Assassin.
But roughly a third, by tonnage, was right here on the docks, intended for Santa Josefina as soon as the Casement had made its delivery of fruit and coffee and could turn around.
Interestingly, a small mule train, only forty-seven mules and a bell mare, carring not more than eleven tons, in total, set off from the Balboan port of Capitano, on the Shimmering Sea near the Santa Josefinan border, at about the same time the Casement left Cristobal for Taurus.
Off the Isla Real, to the southeast, North of Ciudad Balboa
Ahead, a small boat, not much bigger than a largish yacht, and not nearly as fancy, reeled off two cables, one port, one starboard. The cables sported hydrophones. Translated from the Cyrillic, the cases from which the cables were drawn were labeled, “Archangel.”
Behind the cable layer, and offset a few hundred meters, a coasting freighter slid a large cylinder, steel-cased, explosive-filled, hence quite heavy, down a ramp erected to its stern. The mine rumbled down the ramp, dropped free, then hit the water, raising a great splash above the choppy waves.
The mid-sized coasting freighter was one of a pair. The cable layers were likewise matched. Both pairs were formed into two others, consisting of a cable layer and mine layer, each. Operating on opposite sides of the Isla Real , one mixed pair couldn’t see the other. Neither could it be seen by the other. However, both were visible from much of the large massif, Hill 287, that dominated the island.
Anyone looking from that hill through a fair pair of binoculars would have seen the stern of the coaster, bearing the name, Thetis , as it made its way on a perfectly straight course toward PuntaGorgona, which course would take it just north of Isla Tatalao. They’d also have seen the mines rolling down the ramp into the sea. Were the binoculars good, they’d also have been able to see that the mines were of mixed types, that along
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