by D.P. Allen
My biggest worry now is that I start to think about casualties and forget about victory. That kind of thinking usually results in even higher casualties because there develops a reluctancy to send in more when needed in the short run which loses everything in the long run. I can’t let myself become so cautious that the enemy has time to anticipate and out think me.
Erman very quietly replied as he left the room. You will do what you must for the greater good. I’ve seen you do it today and when you arrived at our harbor and I’m told as you did when you first captured the deus boat. You are a very sensitive person when you are allowed to be, but you are the calmest and strongest person I have ever seen when you need to be as well. I am honored to be your friend and I feel very sorry for anyone who chooses to be your enemy.
Life settled down again for a while and there suddenly appeared some meat in the meals. Mike had had alligator tail before and it did not taste like chicken. Luckily it did taste good.
Chapter 25
This is not a test.
Almost a month later the warning bell tolled again. This time it was the large one, which Mike had learned, meant that there was something out to sea approaching.
Mike headed for the docks and was informed along the way that a boat was sailing south along the coast and approaching the harbor.
Mike jumped aboard the Harbor Defense boat that was just pulling out from the dock and was sitting just inside of the cables when the other boat came into view. Through the binoculars he had picked from his boat and begun carrying, Mike could easily see two Spaniards on the aft deck. The boat was the twin to the one Mike had captured so long ago and he partially regretted not bringing his .308.
He knew that the innocent crew would probably all die if the ballistas on the bluffs opened fire. The oncoming boat’s ballista walls were down and he could see that it was loaded. He told the captain of the defense boat to back up, staying just out of range and let the land-based ballistas do their job.
On the enemy boat went. As it entered the channel, the sail was lowered and the paddle wheels started turning. Its speed increased which led Mike to believe that this boat was here to fight, not talk. Faster and faster the boat moved until just short of firing range for its Ballista it came to a full stop screeching and groaning coming from the cables and wooden hull which were now in solid contact.
Almost everyone on deck was down due to the impact, but one of the Spaniards jumped to his feet and headed forward to see what was trapping them. The other Spaniard had done a not very graceful swan dive over the railing and was somewhere on top of the paddlers below deck. The standing Spaniard looked over the side and saw one of the cables. He started yelling at the paddlers and the boat strained against the cables as it attempted to reverse direction.
At that time one Ballista on each bluff fired and the smoke trails arced out and down towards the stalled boat. The first struck the rudder deck and exploded in flames that engulfed the entire aft deck. The other disappeared into the lower deck amidships and a ball of flame shot up from the center of the boat.
The screams of the burning crew could be heard on Mike’s boat. The crew had two choices. Stay and burn or swim and drown as because of the danger of big fins, the people in this land didn’t go into the water voluntarily and thus didn’t know how to swim.
Most of the crew, who could, jumped for it, as did the Spaniard on deck. He immediately went out of sight because he had jumped while wearing his iron armor. The other had never reappeared from below deck, which made Mike believe he had taken the full brunt of at least one of the fire bolts. The rowers were more than likely chained so didn’t stand a chance.
The boat burned for about ten minutes before sinking out of sight. The hull burned through in several places because the cables held it above its normal water line and when a hole spread enough that the hull cracked, the boat very quickly slid back to the seaward side of the cables and sunk. The screams had ceased after about five minutes.
It appeared that two of the deck crew had held onto the cables and made it to shore. Another was moving hand over hand to join them when the sea exploded around him and a large shark, known as a big fin here, picked him neatly off of the cable and disappeared with him in its mouth.
Watchers surrounded the two survivors and brought them back to the dock area. Mike had his boat do a last sweep around the harbor side of the cables for possible survivors and then returned to its dock. The city now knew that the seaward defenses worked.
On shore, Mike interviewed the dazed survivors. Both were common fishermen drafted for the cruise from ‘Acon. They knew nothing about why they were here as the Spaniards always spoke Spanish and the sailors didn’t understand it. Their orders were relayed through an interpreter who had been on the aft deck when the first bolt landed.
They had left ‘Acon four days earlier and had stopped at one other city along the way. Basically the only useful thing they knew was that the Spanish galleon was in ‘Acon being worked on. It had been damaged when it hit a rock further north and had taken most of the Spaniards a long time to repair it enough to get it back to the port.
Tif’n wasn’t really set up to handle prisoners of war and Mike didn’t want to have them killed out of hand, so they were offered a deal. They could stay in Tif’n and work with the local fisherman’s guild or they could walk the north road home to ‘Acon. Both decided that they didn’t care where they fished as long as they lived to fish.
They were handed over to a guild representative who took them away. Mike figured that once they found out how good life was here, they would be happy to stay. Both seemed young enough that it was doubtful that they had left wives and children behind.
Well now they knew why it took so long for the Spaniards to come snooping. They could expect the galleon to come looking for trouble as soon as it was seaworthy.
Chapter 26
A glutton for punishment?
They didn’t have long to wait. Less than a week later the large bell tolled and the lookouts reported two regular boats and a very large one with many sails. The galleon and it wasn’t alone. All defensive force members were armed and ready and Mike was aboard one of the four defense boats sitting in the harbor when the first of the smaller boats lowered sail and using paddle power approached the harbor mouth.
A sailor could be seen forward taking depth readings, probably so that the galleon would know it had a safe route in if it need to sail in fast. The wind was from the sea, so they could enter fast, but wouldn’t be able to get out again. This was something that would make the captain hesitant to risk his galleon needlessly. Mike expected that the galleon would sacrifice the one or both of the smaller craft and then end up running for home when it discovered what would be its fate if they tried to come into the harbor.
Too bad thought Mike. If they had come alone, we could have pretty much ended this today. They can’t get in close enough to use their cannon on the city or the defense boats and can’t elevate enough to hit the land batteries. All they’ll be able to do is count ballistas and watch a boat or two burn.
Mike had the defense boats move to flank the harbor mouth. That put two defense boats to either side of the channel and gave broadside shots with both ballistas on each boat against the sides of any approaching boat that made it past the cables. That was a total of eight ballistas loaded with fire bolts hitting a boat with four bolts per side almost at the same instant. Add the six ballistas of the land batteries and the channel could become an instantaneous death trap.
The lead enemy boat entered the center of the channel slowly, still taking soundings the entire time. Just short of the cables, the sailor taking the soundings saw the ripples on the surface where the tide moved over them. The boat inched up to the first cable. As the sailor reached down with a knife to try to cut it, two fire bolts launched from the top of the bluffs. Both struck the boat on the bow platform right on top of the ballista and its gunners.
The captain must have panicked becau
se all of the paddle wheels started driving the boat forward instead of to the rear, as a smart captain would have ordered. Two more fire bolts shot out of the heavens and hit the boat amidships and all paddle wheels stopped as the pedalers caught fire. The boat was forward enough that all of the cables were under the forward part of the hull. It wouldn’t take long for it to burn and sink.
The other boat now began a run towards the harbor. It left the sail up and the paddlers were working as hard as they could. The boat hit the cables and because they were already partly held down by the burning boat, managed to cross them. It was slowed considerably when it hit the cables and that saved the lives of the crew at least for a few moments.
The two ballista shots fired from the bluffs would have hit if the boat had continued on its course and at its speed. Instead the boat went through two burning oil slicks and continued into the harbor and into the cross fire of the defense boats.
The captain of the second boat had only enough time to yell commands for his boat to change course when the first four fire bolts hit. The entire boat seemed to be engulfed in fire and then the second four bolts hit and none of the boat could be seen through the flames except the top of the mast and the sail, which seconds later burst into flames.
Mike doubted if any of the crew could even scream, as the heat was so intense that a single breath would have burned the linings of their lungs instantly.
When the flames subsided, there was nothing but charred wreckage floating on the water and a few charred bodies. The heat had been so intense that the wood of the boat had literally exploded. Mike looked back at the first boat and it too was sinking beneath the waves with no survivors.
Where the defense boats were located, the galleon would not be able to see them. The only thing the captain of the galleon would have seen was the second boat exploding in flames as the first boat burned to the water line. Mike waited anxiously while the ballista crews reloaded.
Ten minutes later word came that the galleon was raising sail and turning north. Round Two and the people of Tif’n were still winning, while the Spaniards had lost three boats and crews with at least six Spaniards on board. The biggest danger still existed, but it would be a stupid captain who tried to run that gauntlet in the galleon.
Mike figured that the next round would be a ground war centered around the north road. That was Mike’s forte, but also what he dreaded most as that would be the kind of warfare that would put these people directly in harm’s way.
There were no places where the Spaniards could land short of the next town, so they had at least a couple of days to prepare. That was assuming that the Spaniards had their entire force on the galleon. They probably had left many including any horses back in ‘Acon, which would give Mike 4 or 5 days minimum to worry and plan. He knew that this time the Spaniards would be ready for resistance.
The water battle had been a surprise to the Spaniards, who had underestimated their enemy. The Spanish commander had shown tactical savvy and caution in not committing, his most powerful and valuable asset. He sent in lighter, more expendable assets to scout first. He would be a dangerous antagonist and the next time his forces would not be so easily trapped and defeated.
He had the advantage of intimate knowledge of his era’s warfare, which was the way he would try to fight this war while Mike had extensive training and knowledge of 20th century warfare and tricks that the Spaniards would hopefully never have encountered.
The problem was using them with untried troops equipped with inferior light weapons and with difficult to use against a mobile enemy heavy weapons. Mike wished he had access to a Ranger battalion or even better a platoon of M-1 Abrams tanks with Apache helicopter support about now.
Chapter 27
You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.
The next day was a normal Protectors training day and Mike brought along something extra to introduce to his troops. He pulled his .22 caliber lever action rifle from its scabbard and showed the troops how the feed tube under the barrel was twisted and removed from the magazine tube. Next he demonstrated how to drop the twelve .22 caliber long rifle shells into the magazine, replace the spring loaded tube into the magazine and how to work the lever to chamber a round.
He then handed the rifle to Marcel and had him fire it from the hip towards a dirt mound. Marcel handled the recoil of the minuscule round with no problems and then easily worked the action to chamber a second round.
The Protectors went through several hundred .22 long rifle rounds taking turns loading, firing, working the action, lowering the hammer to half cock safety and cocking the hammer from safety position for firing. The stock was too long for their small frames and short arms, so no aimed fire was possible.
Mike wished he had more than the one rifle in that caliber. A line of riflemen firing in volley would rain on the Spaniards’ parade. The small and low powered round wouldn’t penetrate armor, but would tear up any parts not covered by iron or brass and could even penetrate thick leather at the right range and angle.
Mike decided that his next project would be to shorten the stock, as it was a simple wooden affair with a plastic butt plate. All of the troops were about the same size and had about the same reach, so Mike had Marcel hold the stock to his shoulder and positioned his hand under the stock where the trigger should be for him to shoot comfortably.
Mike measured how far behind the actual trigger that was. He now knew how much stock to remove. The lever action rifles were all known for very thin necks where the stock met the frame and even the short fingers of the troops would be able to grasp the neck properly, although much closer to the hammer than was “normal” to pull the trigger.
The following morning with the stock not looking very pretty, but now able to be brought to his shoulder for aiming, Marcel demonstrated that the natural crossbow shooting abilities of his people carried over to rifle marksmanship. He could hit a 6” target with almost every shot at ranges to 100’ with the simple iron sights of the rifle. Mike was tempted to mount one of his 4 power scopes, but resisted, as the scope’s very tiny angle of view was too difficult to use in a combat situation.
He would have the 3 to 9 power range finding scope on his .308 for any long-range work and his Sten for up close and personal firepower with its 650 rounds per minute and 32 round magazines. Mike had also added a pair of sling swivels and a sling that he had but hadn’t bothered to install before on the .22. This would allow Marcel to carry the rifle hands free.
The last thing he did before releasing the rifle into Marcel’s possession was to present him with a cleaning kit and teach him how to use it. He also presented Marcel with his entire stock of a dozen 50 round plastic boxes of .22 Stinger cartridges. They were the nastiest bullets made for the .22 and packed quite a wallop at close range. They had a lighter bullet and a bit more gunpowder so they came out of the barrel faster and they would fragment when they hit the target because of their hollow tips.
Mike put his STEN on semi automatic fire and cocked the action. He handed it to Marcel to try firing from the hip. The weight of the heavy bolt slamming forward to chamber and fire the round caused the barrel to dip towards the ground and the bullet impacted the earth several feet in front of Marcel. The recoil of the bolt as it was blown back to its locked position, ready to fire the next round, rocked Marcel backwards and he almost dropped the weapon. He handed it back to Mike and said he’d stick with the rifle.
Mike demonstrated the firepower of the STEN to show the protectors what it could do as a close in weapon. He fired several rounds on semi automatic at a mound of dirt that they had been using for target practice. The dirt flew up with slightly more vigor than it had for the .22 bullets, but not with any spectacular difference.
He then switched to full auto and with a solid burst of the remaining rounds in the magazine tore chunks of dirt from the dirt mound. The protectors were visibly impressed and now knew what they could expect from Mike in supporting firepower. Mike knew this was
more psychological than real life support unless he happened to be at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time.
The STEN wasn’t useful at much over 50 yards, but as an area fire weapon it was a good man stopper out to more than 100 yards. Knowing it was in the area would bolster the confidence of his troops.
At least there were now two people with firearms to face the Spaniards. He couldn’t give any of his other weapons to the troops due to recoil that would knock the troops over and actions that the smaller people didn’t have the physical strength to operate.
Chapter 28
The third time’s the charm?
It took another week before the alarm was sounded for a group traveling along the north road in the direction of the city. Mike went high and watched the procession with his binoculars from the northern most look out point on the hill over the city. The procession moved slowly and cautiously along the road. The front of the group consisted of about 500 of what were probably draftees from the local population in ‘Acon.
All were dressed in the standard garb of the land and carried crossbows. Behind them were four Spaniards on horses, which answered Mikes question as to the availability of the creatures here. Following the mounted Spaniards were about two dozen Spaniards on foot armed with full size crossbows, pikes, swords and several matchlock muskets. The force was strong, but lacking in real firepower compared to the defenses they were approaching.
Behind them was the real threat. Two ships cannon of probably 8 or 12 pound size were being hauled on carts pulled by the local draft “pigs” and followed by six wagons carrying supplies for the force as well as powder and shot for the cannons. While they were watching this threat, another alarm sounded announcing the arrival of four boats and the Galleon. They anchored out side of the harbor, far out of their cannons’ and the ballistas’ ranges.
Mike assumed that they would be waiting for the ground force to neutralize the city’s defenses before the boats entered the harbor, but if they tried to attack on two fronts at the same time, the fully manned harbor defenses could handle that part of the battle.