A sudden silence filled the vessel's cargo hold. For almost three weeks, the constant rumble of the heavy engines had filled every second of each day and night. Now it was gone. The moments passed by, and nothing moved inside the dark hold. Then, the deafening roar of a fog horn woke up the living freight. Three dozen tanks were startled awake, flinching on their suspensions. The general confusion lasted for a couple of seconds. A mechanical whirr and a groan of metal made all turrets turn to the ramp that was starting to open. Bright daylight fell through the gap. The tanks squinted at the growing opening, which was just a blinding rectangle at first. Eventually, the ramp finished its descent and a dark silhouette appeared in the entrance.

"Good morning!" the voice that belonged to the silhouette shouted. "Everyone alive in there? Welcome to New Perth!"

The tanks inside the cargo hold started talking over each other and movement set in as they stretched their tracks or went to grab their luggage. Some of them made their way outside right away, creating a little traffic jam at the ramp.

"Thrira! Come on!" a Comet said as he nudged the T20 next to him. The T20's turret was turning as she watched the other tanks drive about. "Let's get out of here!" the Comet added cheerfully. "I can't wait to have real ground under my tracks again!" He looked around for a moment as well. "Where'd the Crommies go?"
Thrira pointed at two green rears near the entrance.
"Gone ahead already." she said.
"What? Do they expect us to carry their stuff for them?" the Comet replied, blowing a huff of air through his vents. The other medium chuckled.
"Probably can't wait to get outside either" she guessed.
"Hey! Didn't you forget something?" the Comet asked the other Brits through his radio.
«We can get the luggage later! We wanna see the kangaroos!» came the answer. One of them threw a look over his fender with a grin.
"The kangaroos…!" the Comet repeated. He rolled his cannon. "Of course, how could I forget…"
"I think we'll be getting tired of seeing them soon enough" Thrira added, her voice sourish now. She set herself into motion to roll towards the back of the cargo hold, where the carts with their things were.
"Aw. You'll see, it won't be that bad." the Comet replied, driving next to her. "The time will go by and before you know it, we'll be on our way home already!" He grinned broadly and Thrira nodded with a sigh.

They made their way outside and left the ship behind them, which had turned its engines off and gone to sleep. Other than tanks, whose engines had to run constantly, ships could turn theirs off for extended amounts of time to conserve fuel. This was possible because of the solar collectors the ships were equipped with, which kept their batteries loaded. Once it would be needed again, the ship would be able to start again with no trouble, but for now it could rest after the long travel.

Outside, surprisingly mild weather greeted them. When they had left the mainland, they had left a dry and hot July behind them. Now they were received by a breeze that was almost chilly, even though the sun was shining bright in the sky. Seagulls were flying, filling the air with their cries. One of them landed on the Comet. He shook his turret with wonder.
"Didn't they say that summer here is unbearably hot?" he asked Thrira. They had caught up with the Cromwells and the four of them were following the convoy of new arrivals along the pier.

There was a laugh from one of the tanks in front of them. It turned its turret around to smile at them.
"It is. But it's not summer here right now. We're on the other side of the world, remember?"
The Comet blinked, and the Cromwells let out a drawn-out "Ooohhh".
"That's so weird" the Comet said, shaking his turret again. The other tank turned back around and the Comet turned to Thrira again. But before he could say anything, she pointed at something straight ahead of them.
"Look!" she said. The other medium followed her gaze and their destination finally came into view. Before them, New Perth's buildings and tents extended across the horizon. It was the continent's biggest inhabited port town, ruled and built by the clan that lived here. The very clan that Thrira and her comrades were part of.

The convoy reached the first buildings, and started to scatter. Thrira, the Cromwells, and the Comet shared a clueless look. The T20 drove up to the tank that had received and led them.
"Hey, what's the plan now?" she asked. All she knew was that she was supposed to join a fuel transport together with the others, but the specific details hadn't been given yet.
The other tank gestured at the alleys.
"You're free to do what you want for the rest of the day. Tomorrow at sunrise, report at the headquarters and you'll receive further instructions."
Thrira nodded.
"And our tents? Where can we set them up?"
"Just wherever there's space."

"Alright." Thrira replied and turned back to the others. The Cromwells were grinning broadly.
"Tavern?" one of them asked. The kangaroos were apparently forgotten already.
The Comet's vents spluttered.
"It's like noon!" he shouted in disbelief. The other Cromwell giggled and Thrira shrugged.
"Do you have a better idea?" she asked.
The Comet mumbled something unintelligible, but didn't make any suggestions of his own. The other three tanks shared a grin and the little group set itself into motion to go find a place for their tents.

xxx

"I said no!" the T32 yelled.

He turned around, but it was too late. A breath of dust was all that Prodigy caught as a tank raced past him and into the open gates of the factory. He only saw the rear of the T20 disappear inside as his team mate completely ignored him.

"Striker!" he roared after him.

The addressed tank wasn't listening at all, instead blindly chasing an Ersatz Panther that was running away just as blindly. It had fled into the factory that had become the stage of a battle, and Striker was hellbent on catching and killing the rare tank, despite his leader telling him not to.

He rushed inside the derelict building, but its insides surprised him with their darkness, and he slowed down as he couldn't see the Ersatz Panther anymore. His gaze darted across the silhouettes of unfinished tank hulls and unknown machinery. Dust shimmered inside the few rays of light that fell through small, broken windows and holes in the high ceiling. The muffled sounds of the fight that was still going on outside echoed through the big hall. Striker felt a nervousness creep up on him, and he could see now what Prodigy had meant when he had told him that it was dangerous to go in there without backup. The Ersatz Panther could be hiding anywhere, just waiting for him to run in front of its gun. Every small noise - real or imagined - made him twitch as he slowly rolled forward, along a column of unrecognisable vehicles. His optics scanned the dark shapes frantically. Suddenly, something in the corner of his field of view moved. His turret spun around and he fired. The thunder of his cannon was accompanied by a metallic crash as one of the beams that supported the ceiling collapsed. Further in the back of the building, between two lifeless hulls, Striker caught a glimpse of the Ersatz Panther's dark green camo paint, and in the same moment a shell came flying towards him. It hit his track, but didn't break it.

The T20 hissed at the pain and backed up immediately, his cannon reloading. He heard Prodigy's angry voice from his radio, telling him that he was on the way inside the factory as well.

"I got it under control!" Striker protested. He had barely finished the sentence when the Ersatz Panther appeared before him, shooting at him as it rushed past him. A shell penetrated his turret and he screamed out.
«What happened?» Prodigy asked, having heard the scream.
Striker didn't answer. He was shaking his turret, trying to regain his bearings. His loading mechanism jammed, but that didn't stop him from kicking his engine into gear as he went to pursue the fugitive medium tank with a furious growl. The two tanks raced down a lane, Striker lagging behind several meters but gaining ground. He tried to force his loading mechanism to work, and somehow managed to indeed load a shell. Taking aim at the erratically swerving target, he was about to pull the trigger when the Ersatz Panther suddenly made a sharp turn to the left and crashed into a beam, running it over. A shower of rubble rained down on Striker - who had mimicked the other tank and was now almost right behind it - but he shook it off and took aim again. The Ersatz Panther disappeared between stacks of wheels and boxes, which collapsed behind it. Striker ploughed through them and as the Ersatz Panther came into view again, its turret was facing backwards. A shell whistled past Striker's turret cheek, so close that he could feel it. He returned the fire immediately. The shell ricocheted off the Ersatz Panther's gun mantlet and there was an impact somewhere above them. A crashing sound indicated something falling from the ceiling, but neither of the tanks paid attention as they raced on. The Ersatz Panther turned its turret back around, just in time to very narrowly avoid crashing into one of the hulls. It swerved into a lane that was formed by two opposing columns of tanks, when there was a screeching of metal and another crash as part of the ceiling collapsed right in front of the medium tank. Both tanks were swallowed by a cloud of dust. For a moment, neither of them could see where they were going.

Metal tracks screeched against concrete in a frantic braking action as the Ersatz Panther escaped the dust first and suddenly found itself staring down a 105 mm cannon. A T32 had appeared right in front of it. The Ersatz Panther screamed and tried to evade, but blew up a split second later as Prodigy fired. The German's turret landed next to Striker, who had braked as well and was staring at his leader. Prodigy's turret turned towards him slowly, and it was clear from his grimly lowered cannon that he was furious.

Striker wasn't sure what to say. He only knew that firstly, his kill had been stolen, and secondly, he was in trouble for disobeying his leader…again. He frowned at the other tank, but that frown turned into a shocked expression as said other tank charged and rammed him.

"Do you speak English?!" Prodigy barked and shoved the T20 harshly. Striker yelped as his front was dented and he was about to say something, but got cut off.
"Do you understand the meaning of 'no'?!" the heavy went on. He pushed his team mate against one of the beams, which was bent by the impact of Striker's rear. There was a creaking noise above them, which went unnoticed over the heated debate. The T20 raised his cannon in an objection, trying to get some words in after all.
"It wasn't that dangerous…! I could handle i-" he tried to defend himself. Prodigy didn't appreciate the backtalk and shoved him even harder.
"No one asked for your assessment! I'm your fucking leader and you listen to me! If I tell you not to do something, you don't do it!" he yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you until you get it through your thick skull?!"
"I just wanted to-"
"One more time, Striker! One more time."
The T32 glared at him and Striker glared back subduedly. There was one last, forceful shove - a mistake that Prodigy had no time to regret as the beam finally gave. A fatal chain reaction was set into motion and when the two tanks became aware of it, it was already too late. Several hundred kilogrammes of roof dropped on them.