Captured Cargo

[DeSchaine]

Krasnograd Port
2320 Hours, 24 Alvan

The first of its kind request from a newly semi-democratic Severyane had been too good an opportunity to pass up. It was true that, in general, Taeunas didn't like Carpathia. But they didn't give much thought to what went on in this part of the world if it didn't have any realistic impact on world economics. Severyane asking for help in checking a Carpathian merchant ship would serve more than one purpose. It had taken a couple of days for the Taeunas ships to arrive in Krasnograd. But arrive they did, in typical Taeunas fashion. In the middle of the night the cruiser O'Brien, along with destroyer escorts Halsey and Kidd, slipped into the port totally blacked out, except for their navigation lights. They dropped anchor alongside the Carpathian ship and lights came on all over all three ships.

A motor launch from the O'Brien carried two officers from the HCT training cadre and the XO's from all three ships to the port office. They met their counterparts from the BGB and discussed how far the search had progressed and received copies of the manifest for their people. The news that anti-tank missile systems had been found captured the interest of the two HCT officers, especially when faced with the fact that Aemeria was a small island. After a little more conversation, the Taeunasan officers got the green light to join in the search.

Back aboard the O'Brien, the HCT officers gave a short brief to the squad that was going to be joining the search. They would be split up into four teams of three, and one of each team would be clad in the NoKS armor that visually defined the special warfare group. The augmented strength of the suits would make moving crates quicker, the built in chemical detection gear would be able to detect anything out of the ordinary, and the increased visual abilities of the helmets would allow them to see hidden markings. The squad motored over to the ship and climbed aboard, boots of the NoKS wearing troops klonking against the deck. They were met by Boroshin and Vasiliev, and together they worked out how to go through the remaining cargo. After a few minutes, they split up. Each team took a different area of the cargo hold and they began to open the containers and crates.

One of the armored troopers reached into a container and dragged out a large crate. The two soldiers matched the markings on it with the manifest. "Kitchen utensils?" one asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They must think we have the attention span of a bag of spuds." said the one in armor. He hooked his gloved fingers into the seam between the lid and side and pulled. The lid popped off and went flying with little effort. Inside were four smaller crates with different markings.

"Landmines." said one of the other two soldiers after reading the stenciled words. "AP type."

"Figures." said the other.

The armored trooper was busy pulling out another crate of the same dimensions and opening it. "Looks like the same thing here."

"Nope. Those are AT." All three shined lights into the container, which was filled with crates of the same size. "That's quite a few mines."