Prologue
"We're sorry Mr. Walther, but our tournament schedules have all been already decided, there just isn't any room for your nation to join in any of them." A gray haired woman said sadly as she looked at the younger man that sat further down the table.
"There must be something that my nation can do! We have several promising young tankers that just moved up to high school, and I'm sure we could form a team to be able to compete in any of your tournaments if you just give Australia a chance." He tried to counter passionately.
As he looked around the table, seeing the names of each nation's minster or secretary of education, hoping that ONE of them would help out his nation's lone school ship in showing that it could participate in the upcoming World Tournament. Unfortunately, each face was either cold and calculating, or sad that they couldn't help the young, and new, minister of education for Australia. As he kept looking around his eyes fell upon the minister from Japan, whose expression was thoughtful.
"Sakemoto-san?" Mr. Walther asked, looking hopeful.
"Maybe something can be done Walther-san. But it will take a significant change in what we had originally planned for this year's tournament." The older Japanese man said slowly.
"I'm willing to help you in anyway to plan it, if you're willing to let Levinta High School participate!" He said, trying to restrain his hopeful excitement.
"If your school ship can form a tankery team of at least five tanks, then I think there may be a way, but it won't be easy and it will be unorthodox Walther-san. If you can do that, and send me the proof, then we will accept your team into our tournament. We have decided that this year we are going to allow the smaller tankery schools to pair up together, and thus allow the larger schools to field larger teams. If you can form a team, I know the perfect school to pair them up with." Minister Sakemoto said, his outward expression one of calm benevolence, while inside his thoughts, his mind whirled with how he could turn this to his advantage to finally eliminate the thorn in his side.
"We can make that happen Sakemoto-san, as soon as the team is formed I will let you know!" Minister Walther said.
Not long after that, the meeting broke up and each minister or secretary went their separate ways.
In Sydney, the members of the Levinta High School Student Counsel sat outside the office of the Minister of Education, waiting for their appointment. None of the four young ladies knew why they had been called here. Normally they would have expected the school ship's captain to be here with them, as well as the student counsels of the middle school and college that were aboard their ship. They knew that their school ship was vastly different from the rest of the world's so they were deeply concerned that only they were there.
Suddenly the door opened and the secretary, a gray haired matriarch, looked out at them. "The Minister is ready to see all of you." She said simply as she opened the door wider for them to enter.
As the four young politicians entered the office, they saw the young man who had recently become the Minister of Education in Australia.
"Minister Walther, the student counsel of Levinta High School." The secretary said almost coldly before she walked back to her desk.
The four young ladies stood before the Minister, who sat behind his desk. He looked at them carefully, wondering how they were going to take what he had to say to them.
"Welcome and thank you for coming." He said kindly as he waved at them to take a seat in the chairs that sat before his desk.
"Thank you for asking us to come and see you Minister." said an average height red haired young woman as she and her three friends took their seats.
"We were curious as to why you had asked just us to come before you though Minister, and not the rest of the senior staff aboard the Sydney." the young brunette sitting next to the red head said calculatingly.
"All will be answered in time, but first, introductions. I am Minister Daniel Walther. I'm new to this position and I wanted to meet with all of you, not just to get a feel for you, but also t o let you get to know me. I know all of your were just elected, and as I have seen is the tradition for our schools, you'll be in office until you graduate, so please, tell me about yourselves." He invited as he leaned forward, resting his chin in his hands.
The four young ladies looked at each other and the red head nodded. "My name is Amy McKay, President of Levinta High School. These are my friends, Vice President Elisabeth Mayhew." She started and waving at the brunette next to her. "Our Public Relations Officer, Mary Martin." She directed the Minister's attention to the blonde sitting on the other side of Amy, who smiled lightly and waved. "And finally, our Treasurer, Anna White." She said introducing the other brunette who nodded to the Minister, her eyes calculating what this might cost them.
"Thank President McKay. Now then as to why I have invited just you and your staff here, instead of the whole staff aboard the Sydney is quite simple." The Minister paused, as if gathering his thoughts. "Things have declined recently here in Australia in regards to the continued...benefit...of school ships. Thankfully your school will not be suffering the same fate that almost happened to that school in Japan, as there are several high ranking supporters in the Government. However the largest complaint from your ship's opponents has been the lack of a Tankery team for the past decade. Most complain that the sole reason we even built the Sydney was for the tankery crews to be able to practice without interference from the issues that usually arise from land based schools."
"So what is it that the Government is wanting our school to do?" Amy asked cautiously.
"Form a tankery team, either as a club or an actual class, this upcoming school year, and take them to the tournament that we have been allowed to attend in Japan." He told them.
"A tankery team is very expensive Minister Walther." Anna said with her light soprano voice, attracting his attention. "Money that our school currently does not have, nor can we afford to cut any other activities without cause, as unlike Ooarai, our clubs and electives are actually seeing plenty of student support at this time."
"That is true Treasurer White, however, I can assure you that there will not only be enough money for your tankery team, but I can promise you a dedicated instructor from the Royal Australian Army, as well as tanks. If you can get the people, and the maintenance teams to maintain your tanks by the students themselves, I can promise you funding specifically for the team, and I might be able to help out a little more." Mr. Walther countered.
"How many tanks are we going to need to fill? And what kind of support and incentives could we expect?" Mary asked as she leaned forward, her mind starting to whirl with ideas of how to spin this for the student body.
"I might be able to get you up to ten tanks, and as for incentives, consider this, one of the largest organizations that wants tankery to be started back up, aside from the Royal Army, Vickers Arms Manufacturer, Ford Motor Company, and a couple other big companies that have produced the tanks that are used now for tankery. I have been in communications with some of them, and they have agreed to give us tanks, parts, ammunition and funding for sponsorship, as long as we participate in tournaments and we don't let Tankery fade out from the Sydney ever again." He told them.
"But what about the middle school and college level circuits? Are they getting teams as well?" Elisabeth asked, concerned that they were being targeted for some reason.
"Eventually Ms. Mayhew, eventually. Unfortunately I was directed by the Prime Minister to pick only ONE school to start, and if things go well, then we shall expand. He has even promised that if your school does well, he will fight with Parliament to increase the budget for all of your schools to cover the costs of not just a start up team, but to expand them as well." He told them.
"And the other incentives that you have hinted at Sir?" Mary probbed.
"There is a chance, if Levinta does well in the tournament in Japan, that not only will a scholarship be granted to every student that is part of the Tankery team and the mechanics that work with them, but we will be admitted to the World Tankery Tournament, which, for the top four teams, includes a significant prize, which will be given to each member of the winning teams." Minister Walther informed them.
"I see. How long do we have to form a team Minister Walther?" Amy asked, knowing that her friend's thoughts were all whirling with ideas on how that money could be used, especially if the prize for being in the top four teams meant a monetary prize being given to the school as well.
"You have a till the start of the school year President McKay." He told her.
"Well then, I guess we had better get going on that." Amy said.
With that Daniel nodded and dismissed the four young ladies to go start working on making this happen.
In Tokyo, at the office of the Minister of Education, Miho Nishizumi, Saori Takebe, Hana Izusu, and Mako Reizei all sat outside, awaiting being called into the office. All four had been voted into office to replace the previous Student Body Counsel after they had graduated at the end of the previous school year. They were all dreading this meeting, thinking that the Ministry would go back on its word and close down their school ship. They hadn't given up hope, but this was highly unusual after the agreement that had been made last year.
After they had been sitting there for almost an hour, the door was opened and they heard a male voice tell them to enter the office. As they walked in, the older man who was sitting behind the desk stared at the four girls, all in their Tankery uniforms, with a blank expression.
The four girls came to a stop in front of the desk and bowed politely to the Minister.
"Ooarai Girls High School Student Body Counsel present as per your direction Minister." Miho said a little hesitantly, not certain how to deal with this man, who had attempted to shut down her chosen school.
"Yes, I was expecting President Kadotani, and not you Commander Nishizumi." The man said calmly.
"Kadotani-sempai has graduated Minister-sama. With her graduation, the school has elected myself as President." Miho informed him.
"I see, well this will make things much easier then. Your school, as per the agreement made with the Kadotani administration, will remain open, for now, however, your position is still tenuous at best." He warned them.
"I understand Minister-sama, what must we do to convince the Ministry that Ooarai is a good school and should remain open?" Miho asked politely.
"This year's tankery tournament will be different, we are pairing up the smaller, or weaker schools together and doubling the amount of tanks at each level of competition that are allowed to be fielded. Due to there being an odd number of weaker or lesser tankery teams available, we have allowed the Australian Levinta High School tankery team to enter our tournament. Their team is just starting this year after a decade of being inactive. Because of this, it is the opinion of the Ministry, that this team will be paired up with Ooarai Girls High School to work together for this tournament." He told them.
"I see... Thank you Minister-sama for this information. Do you have any other information about this new team? Or how the set up will be?" Hana asked softly, probing for information.
The Minister looked over at her. "And you are?" He asked almost coldly.
"Vice President Hana Izusu, Minster-sama." She answered.
"Well Izusu-san, I have not received that information yet from the Ministry of Education in Australia at this time. I have been informed that I will be given the information within a month. As for the upcoming tournament, the initial rounds until the quarter-finals will allow for up to 20 tanks to be fielded, quarter-finals will be up to 30 tanks, semi-finals will be 40 tanks, and 50 tanks for the final match will be allowed if any school that makes it that far." He told them. "Now then, I'm sure that you have plenty to prepare, you all are dismissed."
The four girls bowed politely to the Minister, then turned and left quickly. Once outside and the door shut the Minister grinned evilly.
"And when you fail, I will use that as a reason to cut funding to your school and slowly choke it out of existence." He said softly to himself.
Outside the office the four members of Anglerfish team looked at each other.
"I think we need to get Yukarin to do some digging." Saori said slowly as they started to walk away.
"Agreed, something about this doesn't seem right." Miho said, shaking her head. "This might be an excuse to try to go back at his word and close our school down, we're going to have to be careful."
"That is going to be difficult for them to arrange, as it will be obvious if they try it by cutting funding rapidly." Mako said slowly, in her usual fashion.
"I wonder what this school is going to be like, and if we can work well with their team." Miho said as they left the building.
"I hope we get the chance to meet some boys!" Saori said, excited at the chance. "After all, I hear that other schools are coed outside of Japan!"
"Is that all you think about Saori?" Mako asked, poking fun at her friend.
"Hey! That's not nice Mako!" Saori complained, causing the other two friends to chuckle as they head back to the port, where the school ship was docked.
TO BE CONTINUED!