This is something new that I just started work on, but I decided to give you guys a teaser.
I’ll be back with more regular stuff after the holidays.
***
Somewhere over the Arabian Peninsula
John Adams Beatty woke immediately at a touch on his shoulder.
Around him was the familiar noise and vibration of an elderly C-130 cargo plane. Outside the ports, it was dark. Beatty looked up to see the plane’s captain looking down at him.
“Ten minutes, Colonel,” the man said.
“Very well.”
“There is the matter of payment,” the scrawny, dark man said. “For the flight, for eight men with equipment – and for my silence, and the silence of my crew.”
“Of course,” Beatty agreed. In the circles in which Beatty and his men moved, it was best to be known as a man of one’s word. “As agreed. Eight men with equipment. And your silence.” He reached into a jacket pocket and handed the man a package containing eight large, heavy coins. “Eight one-ounce South African gold Krugerrands.”
The pilot opened the package and glanced briefly at the coins inside, gleaming dully in the dim red lighting of the plane’s cargo bay. “Thank you,” he said. “A pleasure, as always, Colonel.” He checked his watch. “Eight minutes to the drop zone.”
Beatty checked his rifle, a Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM, chambered in the 7.62 NATO. He checked his parachute, his reserve chute, and his oxygen mask. It was to be a HALO jump; the C-130 was at 26,000 feet AGL. Around him, Beatty’s men were doing likewise. Beatty stood up. He looked at his watch. Five minutes.
“Stand up,” he called out. “Equipment check.”
The other seven men in the team checked gear and weapons, then called out, each replying, “OK.”
“Stand ready,” Beatty called. The red light at the back ramp flashed on.
He considered the men before him, the team he had assembled, the team he had worked with for the last seven years since he had left the Légion étrangère – the French Foreign Legion. These were the men that made up the “private security consulting” group that Beatty had founded and called Die Spinne – The Spider.
Ragnar Nordberg, from Norway, Beatty’s second in command, an old friend and comrade from the Legion. Nordberg was a six-foot, four-inch, blond giant; in times past he would have been a Viking. In addition to his rifle and sidearm, he carried a Viking war axe on his web belt. Nordberg also liked the M1A rifle but carried a wood-stocked, full-sized version.
Jagdish Tamang, formerly of the 1st Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles. A small, lean man, he still preferred the Enfield SA-80 carbine – and still carried his kukri everywhere he went, even formal black-tie events; Beatty had seen that for himself on one infamous incident two years earlier.
Antoine Jean Boullion, a Cajun and U.S. Army Sniper School graduate. He was tall, lean to the point of emaciation, and carried a carefully customized Accuracy International AWM in .338 Lapua.
Harry MacDonald, explosives expert, formerly of the British Army Special Boat Service. MacDonald sat snoring in the canvas jump seat, his unusually long arms hanging at his sides with his hands nearly touching the deck. Red-haired, and green-eyed, he had a simian look to him but was great with explosives – whether disarming or blowing things up. The Heckler & Koch G3 was his primary weapon of choice.
Goro Sumirigawa, martial arts expert, formerly of the Japan Self-Defense Forces’ 7th Infantry Regiment. Sumirigawa was scribbling away on a pad of paper, no doubt another letter to his sister in Tokyo. Despite being on the small side, he favored the big, heavy Heckler & Koch HK417 as his service rifle.
Bonginkosi Hadebe, formerly of the South African Army’s 5 South African Infantry, was an expert tracker and as impervious to heat and drought as anyone Beatty had ever seen. Hadsebe’s eyes were closed, his mouth moving silently; he was, Betty knew, praying for success in the team’s mission. Hadebe had his FN-FAL rifle at his side; he relied on it as much as on his faith in God.
Quinn Ookpik, from Wainwright, Alaska via the US Army Team Delta. An expert forager, hunter, fisherman, and tracker, capable of surviving almost anywhere. Unlike the rest of the team, he eschewed modern weapons, insisting “they jam.” He now held his prized ’94 Winchester across his lap; Beatty knew Ookpik’s ammo pouches were full of .30-30 rounds. Beatty knew that the Yu’Pik team member had been using that old Winchester since he was ten years old and had killed moose and grizzly bears with it; Beware the man with only one gun, he reminded himself.
Time ticked by. “Two minutes to drop zone,” a voice called over a speaker above the ramp. The ramp rumbled slowly open, admitting a blast of icy air.
“Thirty seconds,” the voice said. The men lined up in two rows of four, facing the open ramp. Beatty took the last spot in the right-hand line; his second in command, Ragnar Nordberg, took the last spot on the left.
The light flashed green, and the eight legs of the Spider, two by two, stepped off the ramp into the frigid darkness. Below them, somewhere, was Yemen. Below them, somewhere, was a compound owned by a rare person – a wealthy Yemeni – and in that compound an American teenage girl was held captive. The girl’s father, a wealthy oil executive, had been given short shrift by the U.S. State Department. So, as have others with problems like this that governments cannot solve, he turned to the Spider.
Beatty and his colleagues had a reputation for dealing with trouble. Now trouble was falling out of the Yemeni sky, bound for a hidden compound, and a rescue.
I like it!
A great introduction.
How long do we have to wait for this one?
Eight one-ounce South African gold Krugerrands.
Kruggerands!
I like this guy.
I bought some silver Krugerrands under the mistaken belief that they didn’t exist thus must be third party rounds copying the design of the gold.
Sadly, the ANC government issued Silver Krugerrands, and I regret helping fund them.
I stick to US coins. Junk silver.
I was shopping for art silver where I was buying the rounds for the design more than as an investment (I dobut they’re even worth more than I paid at this point.)
Dad was giving out 2023 Silver Eagles for Christmas this weekend. He’d dig the payment.
NOICE!
Great start, I’m hooked, looking forward to the rest.
I like it, always look forward to Animal’s Monday tales.
Thanks
Fun!
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/honda-stock-surges-automaker-plans-132453186.html
Honda Stock Surges as Automaker Plans to Merge With Nissan in 2026
Most reports that I have read state that Honda is playing the white knight and gains nothing from this merger.
The market seems to indicate otherwise.
Maybe the $7B share buyback?
Optimism that some decent management and some Honda transmissions will fix Nissan?
Just another celebration of toxic masculinity.
They’ll just get in the way when the waif girl-boss rescues herself.
Don’t forget that the team needs a support person, a nerdy overweight anti-social computer whiz, who can hack in NSA or FSR databases in about three seconds and tell you how much that rogue Russian general paid for his cup of borscht ten years ago at a food kiosk in Kursk.
Nothing. He extorted the vendor.
I assume they work for Setec Astronomy?
Sobek Astrocraniometrics
Traditional carol text set to new music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7qYeZcOioI
The setting that performance was filmed in makes me miss being a music major.
Lovely!
I don’t regret leaving my music lessons behind (piano and clarinet*). I was okay. Could have been better had I tried,** but I didn’t like it. I was fulfilling my mom’s fantasy/purpose in life, not mine, and I was recruited to play at church for, like, everything. Hymns are deceptively difficult. I would have rather had art lessons.
*Clarinet was because my tiny school needed a clarinetist, and the band teacher asked my mom if I could step in since I could read music. Band teacher gave me a rudimentary lesson and off I went. Once I got to BYU, I took band. I was in last chair. Didn’t mind. I had lessons, but finally my teacher said, “What is that sound?!” I said, “Oh, that’s my sinuses rattling around in my head.” She said, “That’s not supposed to happen.” I was shocked. “It’s not?” “No.” And that was the end of my clarinet career.
**”Clair de Lune” was my go-to performance/recital piece. Invariably, I got 2nd place with it every damned time. I would practice and my mom would yell at me. “YOU’RE NOT PLAYING THAT RIGHT!!!” I was like, “What? I’m playing it perfectly!” She said, “THAT’S THE PROBLEM!” I had no idea what she meant and she couldn’t explain it. Years later, I heard it on the radio and it was like lightning struck me. OMG. No wonder I wasn’t getting 1st place.
However, there was one piece I almost kept going so I could learn to play because I love it so much. Years later, I met a girl who could play it and she was still in high school, and I decided I still wasn’t interested enough to play it. Oddly, I could play the clarinet part, but with my sinuses rattling around in my head.
And one year I sang in the RLDS Messiah choir.
I don’t get it, what was the issue that the radio informed you of?
I have it on pretty good authority (from someone who was once a MO state piano champ) that that One Piece is a certified booger to play. I’m sure you could have learned to play it, but you might also have learned to hate it. 😉
Technician vs musician. Usually very little variation on timing etc, no “expression”.
compare Angus and crew vs Compressorhead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JItzI8SEVMY
@Mossy is correct. No feeling whatsoever. I could mimic how my mom played it, but you could tell I didn’t understand what I was playing. I was just too young and inexperienced to feel how it should feel.
@GT and then there’s this. *swoon* I had no hope of playing Rachmaninoff ever. For one thing, my hands are too small.
Rach 3 you say?
I freaking loved that movie.
Marginally related: The Red Violin
Some times I use the Rach 3 to mark time. It’s 45 minutes long. It takes X Rach 3’s to get Y done.
That is really nice, NA. I wonder how much the acoustics of that church add to the effect.
Looking forward to some boomfuckery!
Also looking to the unit armorer’s screams of frustration, when he realizes that he’s responsible for seven distinct primary weapons for eight people, including some that haven’t been produced in fifty years…
I like my HK91, but it’s outdated as a patrol rifle.
Same with me and my 13″ FAL clone. So much fun to shoot, but really kind of a toy.
Serious question:
That’s quite a variety of guns (and ammo). Wouldn’t there be advantages for the team having a more uniform load-out, especially of ammo?
Also, no sidearms?
Just wait.
One of Burning Man’s principles – radical self reliance!
The best weapon is the one you know, have personally maintained and are proficient with.
Uniformity matters for parts, ammo and intergroup exchange…but these people seem like…individualists.
Now I haz a sad (again). Sold my M1A last month. For a fairly ridiculous amount of money – good for drying tears.
What is ridiculous? if you don’t mind us asking
$1700. A Scout Squad (18” barrel). It was unfired (long story), had a Robar finish and their NP3 finish on the internals (which will tell gun geeks how long this thing was an unfinished project). Also a now discontinued York aluminum chassis. No optics (that was where the project stalled), but everyone just wants to put their own on anyway.
Thanks for the info.
I have a standard M1A. I have been thinking about getting the scout squad, but keep putting if off.
I have to believe the SOCOM (16” barrel) is leaving some .308 performance on the table. Not sure if the Scout Squad gives up anything compared to the standard (I think 21”) barrel. I have no doubt there is info on the web about .308 performance out of the various barrel lengths.
*lights EvilSheldon signal*
I found the Scout to have more recoil than the normal M1A and was probably the loudest civilian firearm I ever encountered.
I have an AK with a weird muzzle brake that I’d guarantee would give the Scout a run for its money. Earplugs under the muffs or forget about it.
A good rule of thumb is that going from 21″ to 16″, you’re losing about 100-150fps. depending on the exact load. Whether that’s an acceptable tradeoff for the reduced weight and easier handling, is more of a judgement call.
Interesting article: https://rifleshooter.com/2014/12/308-winchester-7-62x51mm-nato-barrel-length-versus-velocity-28-to-16-5/
Well, you can choose from 9 mm, .223/5.56, or .308/7.62 from a 16 inch barrel for up close and personal. Take your pick.
Or .45, from our friends at HK.
Our Rasputin
What a bipartisan group of legislators hammered out over months, Elon Musk destroyed with a tweet.
Or rather, with dozens of posts on his social media site X, sent at a furious pace over the course of 12 hours last week. In post after post, Musk hammered at the budget deal with a flurry of false claims and threats of electoral retribution against any Republican who dared support the legislation brokered to prevent a government shutdown. And it worked. Republican lawmakers turned on the bill, citing overwhelming pressure from constituents spurred on by Musk’s posts. “My phone was ringing off the hook,” Republican Rep. Andy Barr told The Associated Press. “The people who elected us are listening to Elon Musk.”
Musk and Trump cannot build; only destroy. That’s the talking point of the moment.
Nevermind all those Republican Reps who complained that they were never included in the process until presented with the giant bill.
I’m sure MSNBC can’t even spell Massie.
I’m not sure he tweeted out dozens of times. He tweeted it out, which pretty much said, “X, do your thing.”
More like he retweeted the Republican rebels everytime they tweeted.
a flurry of false claims
That is gaslightese for actual provisions in the law.
You’re not supposed to read the law until after it’s passed.
Well said.
Now see Brooks, by linking that here you actually boosted MSNBC’s clicks substantially. You know…6 or 8 actual clicks.
Wait…MSNBC….isnt that the bunch that is still asking ‘How could we have possibly lost?’.