The Rods and the Axe - eARC Read Free

culture of Old Earth and not all that far out of some subcultures of twenty-first century Earth.

    Blanco. A black lieutenant of the police in Balboa’s neighbor, Santa Josefina. Educated at the military academy of another central Columbian petty state, Blanco is about as military as it gets in demilitarized Santa Josefina. Serves occasionally as a military advisor to his president—

    Angel Calderón. President of Santa Josefina, Balboa’s eastern neighbor. Having no particular vices or virtues, being neither perfectly honest nor unutterably corrupt, he was probably as good a choice for president as had been on offer, for normal times. Sadly for the president, the times are not normal.

    Claudio Marciano. Tuscan general officer, retired but called back to duty as a compromise candidate to command the Tauran Union Security Force in Santa Josefina. Capable and cynical, he detests most things about demilitarized Santa Josefina and rather admires his official enemy, Balboa. Much loved by the soldiers of the multinational TUSF-SJ, his task is a forlorn one.

    Judy Tipton. Anglian military wife. Her husband is a prisoner of Balboa. She is, perhaps unwittingly, an asset in the propaganda war between Balboa and the Tauran Union.

    Lydia Gordon. Anglian military widow. A definite asset in the propaganda war between Balboa and the Tauran Union.

    Rigoberto Puercel. Legate, commanding Eighth Legion and the Isla Real .

    Roderigo Fosa. Legate and admiral, commanding the classis , or fleet, of the legion.

    Rafael de a Mesa. Sergeant. Tercio Santa Cecilia . De le Mesa is crippled and wheelchair bound, and leads a small team of Down’s Syndrome affected troops on what is essentially a suicide task, to man a fixed tank turret, defending a portion of a beach, on the Isla Real .

    Esmeralda Miranda. Freed slave from Old Earth. Admiral Wallenstein’s cabin girl and stand-in daughter. Very young. Lover of Richard, earl of Care and captain of the UEPF Spirit of Peace . Likes Richard. Loves her high admiral as a mother and more. Hates the Consensus that rules her planet and hates the clan that rules her home province.

    Xingzhen. Of indeterminate age but painfully beautiful. Empress of Xing Zhong Guo , or New Middle Kingdom. Real ruler of the Kingdom. Rather despises most men.

    Raul Parilla. Old soldier, retired. Former figurehead commander of the Legion del Cid . Now the genuine president of the Timocratic Republic of Balboa.

    Marqueli Mendoza. Wife of Warrant Officer Jorge Mendoza. Ph.D. Author and philosopher in her own right, and, with her husband, one of the two main intellectual architects of the Timocratic Republic. Seconded to the propaganda ministry for some educational work in support of the war effort. The essence of pure feminine charm in a very compact package.

    Richard, earl of Care. Captain of the UEPF Spirit of Peace. Foisted on Wallenstein as a sop to the ruling class of Old Earth. Fairly competent but advanced too young and knows it. In love with the ex-slave girl, Esmeralda. Much cared for by Wallenstein, because fundamentally decent despite the class that bore him and raised him.

    Cass Aragon. Warrant Officer, intelligence, assigned to Santa Josefina. Female, tall, slender, and light skinned, she blends in perfectly with the Santa Josefinan norm.

    Hamilcar Carrera. Cadet, Twenty-ninth Cadet Infantry Tercio. Seconded to Thirty-seventh Cadet Cazador Tercio . Son of Patricio Carrera and Lourdes, Patricio’s second wife. Worshipped by a tribe of pagan Pashtun as “Iskandr,” the reincarnation of Alexander and a god in his own right. He has already fought and bled for the cause, though quite young. “I am not a god, Pili . . . I’m just a boy.”

    Pililak. Also called, “Ant.” One of Hamilcar’s twelve Pashtun wives. Very gutsy girl, defiant to a fault, but dedicated to her god.

    Victor Chapayev. Legate, commanding the Academia Militar Sergento Juan Malvegui (now become the Twenty-ninth Cadet Infantry Tercio).