Captured Cargo

[Severyane]

Port of Krasnograd
1430 Hours - 24 Alvan 1588

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It was a freezing day in Krasnograd. Snow littered the ground and the port's jetties were glazed with frost. The port was busy, as it was the main shipping hub for eastern Severyane. Container ships would come and go in no more than two and a half hours, thanks to the port's newly designed unloading system. There was, however, one ship that remained docked. Above its bridge waved the black, red, yellow and blue ensign of Carpathia. On the aft of the ship in towering white letters the name Mărășești was displayed proudly. The ship had been seized just off the coast of Kazemura by the Severyan 6th Fleet at the turn of the year. It had been a brief engagement. Severyan marines had been flown to the ship on a helicopter, and had then repelled down onto the deck. They took the ship with no casualties for either party, and had detained the Carpathian sailors. A skeleton crew had then been transferred over to sail the ship to Krasnograd. After it had been docked the cargo had been unloaded and placed neatly into a fenced off area, where several soldiers from the local garrison now stood guard bundled up in their winter uniforms.

The ship's manifest had said that they were carrying weapons bound for Aemeria, however, the size of the haul was nearly too large for Aemeria to afford on its own. It had raised suspicions, when the Byuro Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti had learned of the ship's destination and cargo. Alexi Boroshin, being a junior member of the BGB's Krasnograd office, had of course been tasked with inventorying the entire shipment and questioning the sailors. He and his partner Afanasy Vasiliev now stood with their hands in their coat pockets, trying to fight off the cold. A soldier sporting an assault rifle was with them, and he was now opening what had been their tenth cargo container of the day. As the frost covered handle was thrown up, the container's door swung open to reveal nothing surprising. It contained several dozen olive drab boxes sporting the Carpathian flag and the word Muniţie in bold black letters, along with what Alexi presumed was identifying information about the type of ammunition within the box. "You know, Alexi, I heard word from the Director that we're supposed to have some Taeunasan friends coming for a visit." Alexi grunted, counting the boxes and writing information down on his pad of paper. "Should be interesting to say the least, Afan." After finishing with the container Alexi stepped out and allowed the soldier time to close the doors before moving on to the next one. The doors swung open and the inspectors were greeted with something new.

Alexi walked up to the first crate, it was the same olive drab with the Carpathian flag, but the words were different. He did not have much understanding of the Carpathian language, but the letters on the box were the same black bold font. "Rachete cu ghidaj antitanc...?" Alexi said, in an attempt to pronounce the foreign words. Afanasy came forward with a crowbar. "Best way to find out what it is, is to look inside." He inserted the flat edge of the crowbar head under the crate's top. It only took him a few tries to lever it off. Alexi was confused when he looked inside. "Anti-tank rocket systems? Aemeria is an island... what would they need with those?" Afanasy frowned at him. "I'm not sure... lets document it and get on with it. This will pique the Taeunasan's interests though I'm sure. Perhaps the sailors have some sort of explanation for it."

[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."