Prologue

"Schoolgirl Injured in Tank Sport"

"Safety of Panzerkraft Questioned"

"Tank Accident leads to Serious Injury"

'Oh crap' Erika Itsumi thought. Then she decided to say it out loud.

"Oh crap"

She was looking at a series of recent headlines and not liking what she read.

Erika was currently at home, although tomorrow she would return to the Kuromorimine carrier ship. The truth was she was longing to be back at school. And to be back practicing Panzerkraft. She loved Panzerkraft; she lived for it. She certainly didn't want it stopped, or changed, or be told that it wasn't safe, or that schoolgirls couldn't participate in it anymore.

Which was odd; considered that she was the seriously injured schoolgirl the headlines were referring to.

Chapter One

One month earlier:

Erika knew this day was a big day for her, although she had no idea that events were about to unfold that would change her life forever.

There had long been speculation about who would be the Kommandant of the Kuromorimine Panzerkraft team once the legendary Maho Nishizumi, eldest daughter of the current headmistress and matriarch of the Nishizumi style of Panzerkraft, graduated from the school. Erika, as Vice Kommandant, had been widely regarded as a likely candidate, but nothing had been confirmed. Until now.

In an address to the whole team while they were assembled on the parade ground, Maho, with her formidable mother standing silently behind her, had announced that Erika would take over as Kommandant on Maho's departure at the end of the school year. Erika has swelled with pride as Maho, her cherished idol, had praised Erika's skills and instructed the team that they were to follow Erika as if they were following Maho herself.

The Kuromorimine girls had accepted this without question. Maho had then informed them that for the rest of the day they would be split into two groups and would practice the tactics they had learned the hard way when defeated by a team from some upstart school (albeit commanded by Maho's younger sister Miho) during the final of the 63rd National Tournament. Each group was to be a mixed force of heavy tanks, medium tanks and tank destroyers. Maho would lead Red Group; Erika would command Blue Group.

Her injury had occurred so simply and so suddenly. She had been the lead tank in an armoured wedge of five, pushing into the urban district which was being defended by Red Group. As they entered the built up area they began to move into a maze of narrow streets. This was training in direct response to Kuromorimine's defeat at the hands of Miho in the last phase of the 63rd National tournament final. Maho and Erika had recognised that the Nishizumi style was unsuited to built up areas. Rigorous training had been put in place to develop the individual tank commanders' minds so they could operate independently in this close environment.

As Erika's five tanks approached a plaza, Tiger Is of Red Group came into view at the end of a long central boulevard and began firing. The detachment from Blue Group returned fire, moving inexorably forward all the time.

When you attack, attack hard. Advance in perfect order.

Smoke and dust filled the air and visibility became more and more reduced. Erika, as many Panzerkraft commanders did, was standing in her turret, half out of the commander's cupola, in order to see better. Hardly any of the tank commanders thought this was dangerous. The tank shells used in Panzerkraft were of a much lower velocity than a real anti-tank shell, travelling at thousands of feet per second, would be. They could even be seen coming towards you, allowing you to dodge or duck if needs be. Most shells didn't go that high anyway, as they were aimed at tracks and hulls, and the ones that did could easily be seen and avoided. Most tank commanders were used to this. Erika, while not as good as Maho or Miho, who seemed to have some sort of sixth sense regarding where shells were coming from, nonetheless had reactions that were considered amongst the quickest in Kuromorimine.

Erika was convinced that Red Group would be attempting to emulate the tactics of Miho; using 'rogue' tanks to make use of the network of streets. Down a side street to her right, through the powder smoke and brick dust, Erika thought she saw the sloped outline of a Panther's hull.

Whether it was because she was concentrating on the possible Panther, or distracted by the confirmation that she would be the next Kommandant of Kuromorimine which had been made just a few hours before, or for some other reason, but Erika never even saw the shell that hit her. She suddenly felt a blow like her left upper arm had been whacked by a sledgehammer. She instinctively turned, but instead of her left arm there was only a ripped black sleeve and spurting blood. There was no pain, just shock, but she felt her legs buckle under her as she collapsed back into the turret. Momentarily, her crew wondered what was going on, and then pandemonium broke loose as her gunner and loader, already splattered with poor Erika's blood, did their utmost to help her while her radio operator screamed into the microphone for the practice match to be stopped. Erika was only dimly aware of this, as her senses slipped away into unconsciousness.