Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from my own ideas.
He was never meant to go into battle against the Erusians in a T-62 tank.
Hell the entire regiment was supposed to have replaced its T-62's with second hand Challenger 1 tanks a little later this year.
A shame the Erusians didn't wait that long, Tank Commander Richard Cameron thought ruefully to himself as he surveyed the wreckages of the destroyed tanks lying all around him. A tall, dark haired man who sported a strictly none-regulation beard, he had served on T-62's for over ten years and knew their limitations better than anyone. All of them victims of the Erusian's superior firepower and armour, which came in the form of the Belkan made Leopard II tanks that made up the tank forces of the Erusian Army.
"F%$$ me!" Driver Daniel Cassel said with a look of disbelief and despair as he surveyed the battlefield. Unlike Tank Commander Cameron, he was a diminutive man with a shock of fiery red hair that was easily ruffled, he too was shock at just how ineffective their regiment had been against a mere unit of Erusian tanks. Assuming that you could really call such a one sided fight a battle and not a massacre that is. The 105mm guns of the T-62 hadn't even been able to bear on their enemies before the 120mm guns of the Erusians had torn them apart.
"How the Hell are we supposed to fight the Erusians when our tanks can't even make a dent in them!?" Gunner Alex Mullard practically shouted. A short redhead with freckles and childish features, he was jokingly nicknamed Daniel's little brother, despite the fact that the two of them were in fact completely unrelated. "Bad enough we get stuck in that cramped tin can in the first place, but it doesn't even protect us!"
"Enough!" Richard snapped angrily. "You're not helping matters!"
"I say we ditch the tank and try getting back to friendly forces on foot!" Alex continued, ignoring his commanding officer's rebuke. "It's nothing more than a moving target anyway!"
"Hey don't say that!" protested the fourth member of their crew and the only woman in the tank, Loader Kierra Lustre. The young woman with short blonde hair, long leggy legs and forget-me-not blue eyes was sitting on top of the tank, looking down at her crew. "If Lucy here hadn't thrown a track back in those trees, we'd be have been wiped out like the others. Besides, I reckon we can still do some damage with this old girl."
"Pfft! Naming that hunk of over-cramped s$%$ is ridiculous!" Alex snapped back waving his arms. "Face facts people. The only thing staying with this tank is going to do is get us killed!"
"The kid might have a point," Daniel said in a calm voice. "It's not like these tanks are top notch kit. They're always having problems with one thing and another."
Richard resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was a thoroughly professional soldier, if you ignored his short beard and he was not above bending the rules and regulations of the service when he thought it necessary, but his crew were almost all badly disciplined, badly trained conscripts, who were bad for discipline. In this crew however, it was made worse by the fact that instead of being assigned to an all female crew as she was supposed to have been, Kierra was assigned to their crew and in the tight, cramped confines of the T-62, a member of the opposite sex was even worse for discipline.
"What you say is irrelevant!" he snapped at Alex. "We're getting back in the tank and making our way back towards allied lines. And if we have the opportunity, we'll also cause some damage to the enemy on the way."
"Yeah, they could die laughing!" Alex practically shouted back. "I'm not getting back in there! I'm a hostilities only soldier, I actually have a life outside the army!"
There was a sudden click and Alex suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of a Browning Hi-Power pistol wielded by his commanding officer.
"If you do not get back in the tank as ordered, I will regard it as cowardice in the face of the enemy and put a bullet in your head," he said in a dangerously calm voice that he almost didn't recognise. "I suspect that a bullet through your head would severely impede whatever plans you have for after the war, so I suggest you do as I say."
"You wouldn't da-"
He was suddenly cut off by the sound of the semi-automatic pistol being cocked. Swallowing hard, he nodded.
"I'll follow orders sir," he said, slightly pale and Richard looked at the rest of his crew.
"Is there anyone else who wishes to disobey orders?" he asked with a determined look. He was met with silence. "Good. Now everyone back in the tank."
There was a grim silence as they climbed back into the tank. All of them thinking about the scenes lying all around them and Richard himself brooded over how he could restore his crew's confidence in their tank. True, the T-62 was completely inadequate for the task of fighting in modern warfare, but he also knew that they could do more damage in their tank than on their own. Trundling across the country at a steady twenty-five miles an hour, he pondered his situation. Surely there was something they could engage.
Suddenly a road loomed out below them as they crested a hill. It appeared to be a very busy road, with plenty of supply trucks and motorcycle despatch riders and staff cars all caught up in a jam. The only armoured vehicle there was a Fennek armoured car, no match for their T-62. There was a moment of stunned silence. Then Richard snapped into action, shouting orders to his crew.
"Gunner, take out the Fenneck! Loader, AP round!" he shouted and despite their lower quality of training, Kierra and Alex worked together smoothly like a well oiled machine and the main gun roared into action. The Fenneck exploded as the shell slammed into it at one-thousand six hundred metres per second and a clang could be heard on the back of the tank as the spent shell casing was ejected out of the back of the turret.
"Hi-ex gunner, Take out the lead and rear vehicles first!" Richard shouted over the intercom and the main gun roared into action once more. On the road below, Erusian truck drivers were rapidly abandoning their vehicles as the high explosive shells proceeded to make short work of the massed traffic on the road. The driver of the first truck to be hit (the lead vehicle) was still getting out of his cab when the shell slammed into his vehicle, killing him instantly. The second truck fared little better, although it's driver was only wounded by the blast instead of being killed.
In the end, it took only five minutes to destroy the entire convoy and when they had finished, a scene of utter devastation lay in front of them. A dozen trucks lay burning along with at least three staff cars over a dozen dead soldiers, while the survivors were hiding away, too shocked by the attack to be a threat. Alex was the first to speak.
"Wow…I can't believe we did that," he said in a stunned awe.
"I told you this tank was lucky!" Kierra chimed happily. "I mean, what are the chances we'd come out at just the right spot to hit them?"
"Aye, it feels good to be on the winning side for once," added Daniel. "Feels like we've been on the run forever from these guys."
"Indeed." Richard said grimly. "Driver, get us out of here. We don't want to get caught by their aircraft."
With a slight cough, the engine roared as they drove away from their recent victory. Each one of them feeling better about their chances of surviving this war than they had before. And when they eventually reached allied lines, they all said thanks to their awkward little T-62.