Chapter 3: Tanks, lots of tanks! Oh, and the instructor from Black Forest.
Erwin groaned the anxiety of the tankery class and what tanks Raven's Peak would have had a profound impact on her day. First, she woke up two hours before she had to, and then life seemed to slow the fuck down. She seemed to either get whatever she was doing done in record time or people were just extremely slow, but in any case, the day seemed to drag on.
When she got to classes, Erwin wanted to tear her hair out in sheer frustration. The teachers seemed to simply talk slow, handed papers out slow, and responded in an extremely slow and methodical manner. But it wasn't just the teachers; oh no, alas Erwin noticed that it also were the other students who seemed to have slowed down. They answered slowly, as though the entire school had been zombiefied.
Right now, she was in JROTC class sitting between Katie and Henrietta, the duo noticing Erwin's anxiousness.
"Um, Erwin, is everything okay?" Katie asked quietly, while working on their assignment, which consisted of filling out the chain of command for the US military, and the general responsibilities of each person.
"Yeah, just wanting to get this class over," Erwin yawned. "I want to see the tanks we are going to have for the nationals."
"I can understand the excitement," Henrietta said. "I barely slept last night because my mind was racing to think of what tanks we might have."
"Well then, we only have a few more minutes until this class is out," Katie replied. "Besides, we have this stinking CoC chart to fill out. I mean, seriously, just how are we supposed to remember all this?" Erwin shrugged.
"I'm not sure, but perhaps it will become second nature to us in due time," Erwin suggested. "Though, on the subject of our tankery class, what tanks do you two think we will have?"
"Perhaps we will get someT-34/85 tanks," Henrietta replied. "They were made in sufficient numbers, and their 85mm cannons were roughly on par with the German 88mm L/56 cannons. Probably a Sherman as well."
"Meh, I just hope we got a Stug on the tank roster; it was a good tank, and I know the layout of it so we can quickly get used to it," Erwin said. Katie frowned.
"I don't know much about tanks, but doesn't the Stug III have a four man crew?" Katie pointed out. "We have five members on our team; You, Henrietta, Joan, Christine, and I. I don't see how we are going to fit into a Stug."
Both Erwin and Henrietta hummed at the logic. You couldn't simply shove another person inside a tank with a combat load as there physically wasn't any space to put them. Erwin had remembered seeing Sgt. Harper shift people around and while. As she recalled, there was only one team with four members. She brought this up to Katie and Henrietta.
"Well, that doesn't remove a lot of tanks from the possible line up," Henrietta said. "Most medium tanks had 5 man crews, like the M4 and the Panzer IV. I think it was most tank destroyers and light tanks that were limited to 4 man tank crews."
"Okay, so what tanks did have 4 man or less crews; perhaps we can eliminate what we can't have due to limitations based on crew size," Katie suggested. Erwin thought about it for a moment, but in retrospect, most of the vehicles limited to a crew of 4 were early war designs, which often were 3 to 4 men. It wasn't until most nations saw the benefit of a three man turret did the crew size increase to five, only for it to drop down to 4 following the war due to advancements in radio technology, thus removing the need for the dedicated radio operator.
"We still have too many tanks to possibly have," Katie said, intervening on Erwin's thoughts. "If I recall, all the major nations of the Second World War had multiple tanks of all classes and many variants therein. So how can we easily determine what kind of tanks we will be getting?"
Erwin and Henrietta looked at each other for a moment, before they both shook their heads. It was a fool's folly to try and determine what tanks they were going to get using only the 'five man crew' limit. There simply was too many tanks.
"Not a clue, though I suppose we can discount at least any super heavy tanks, things like the Maus or T95 tank destroyer. They are few and far between, with one or two prototypes built," Erwin said quietly.
"Maybe not, because remember that MTS will be giving a tank to each of the semi-finalist of the US nationals," Katie reminded Erwin before turning her attention to Henrietta. "By the way, you know which tanks your dad could give away?"
"You think that because my father is the CEO of MTS, I would know what tanks he is going to give away?" Henrietta deadpanned. Katie nodded, not reading Henrietta's reaction correctly. "No, I don't know; I asked my father of course, but he wouldn't say. Which sucks, because for the time being, I'm not allowed into my father's tank garage collection where they are building the 'prize tanks'."
"Damn, that sucks," Katie said. "Oh well, let's finish this damn chart and get ready for tankery next class." The two others agreed and they began the somewhat tedious task of filling out the chart.
Sgt. Harper was seated at his desk, waiting for his tankery class to begin. He had a lot to do today; introduce Raven's Peak's veteran tankery instructor, get the teams divided into their tanks, and get them situated with how to operate the tank. Speaking of which, the veteran tankery instructor was incidentally sitting across from him, reviewing the spec sheets of the various tanks on the current team.
Erika Itsumi, technically a 3rd year student of Black Forest Academy and 5 year tankery veteran having joined the junior tankery championships in Japan, was interesting. From what he saw in last year's Japanese Tankery Championships, Erika was a proud, highly aggressive commander and supporter of superior firepower tactics, yet here she was, seemingly calm and reserved. The two hadn't talked that much, besides the formal introductions and Harper explaining her position to her, so he would hold his judgement until later.
That said, he was a bit startled by how quiet she had been. It seemed like she wasn't even breathing it was that quiet. Harper had grown accustomed to some form of noise due to his time as a JROTC teacher, but this silence that was at his desk was beginning to disturb him. As if sensing his thoughts, Erika finally spoke up.
"Why hasn't Raven's Peak got all of their tanks yet?" Erika inquired. "I don't support the notion behind the move; we could encounter early on a team flexing the 15 tank limit and with our 6 tanks we will be outnumbers 2-to-1. Granted, most of our tanks have extremely capable cannons, but then they lack armor, turrets, mobility, or all three as the case may be on certain tanks. So why the risky move?"
Harper sighed.
"A couple of reasons that Raven's Peak didn't come out and tell to the prospecting instructors," Harper began. "First, the excuse of using the 6 tanks as a trial period to see what our team likes is actually a piss-poor excuse to cover the fact we don't have the student numbers in tankery as of this point."
"Oh, was the class not well received?" Erika asked. Harper shook his head.
"No, more like the decision to introduce tankery in the US came late in the school year last year, so there wasn't much time for students to change their classes," Harper explained. "We do have enough students that we can fill out the 15 tanks, but it will have to be done in the 2nd half of the school year, or incidentally half way through the US nationals, due to administrative reasons."
"Next, Raven's Peak's funding was cut into due to having to renovate a large portion of the school as a result of an oil fire that occurred at the end of the year. Finally, and perhaps the biggest reason, is that we grabbed a number of rather rare and expensive prototype tanks, which cut into our budget for the class a bit. We can secure more funding for more tanks if we can get to the half way mark of the tournament, so we are in a do-or-lose situation right now."
"I see," Erika said. "That should make things interesting for me; having to deal with this handicap early on."
Harper nodded. It sucked that before Erika had signed on to be Raven's Peak veteran tankery instructor, the choosers of the team's tank roster fell to three people, himself, Mr. Richards of the AM class, and regretfully the now late Mr. Guildford, formerly the school's advance history teacher. He sighed; thinking how it had been the third member of the 'committee' that screwed things up.
"Yes, I wasn't a fan of the move, however it what I was dealt. When it came time to choose our tanks, I tried to lean towards more mobile and adequately armed and armored tanks, but Mr. Guildford, who has since passed on, pushed for the prototype tanks heavily. He rationalized that the superior firepower of most of the tanks balanced out any faults in the tank roster."
"I noticed that," Erika said. "Some of these tanks make sense, but others seem… rather impractical if I may be honest."
"That they are," Harper agreed. "It's a damn shame that Mr. Richards seemed to agree with Mr. Guildford more than me. I thankfully managed to talk the two out of some greater 'flights of fancy' tanks, but in the end we burned through our money like there was no tomorrow, forcing us to wait until we can acquire more funds to get more tanks."
"Very well, than I hope we can train our students sufficiently enough to deal with these various issues," Erika quietly replied. "Goodness only knows that some of these vehicles will prove to be a challenge for the team."
Erwin was glad when the bell rang, allowing her, Katie, and Henrietta to leave JROTC and head over to tankery. Their discussion they had in JROTC carried on (despite Katie's attempt to get the two tank nuts to focus on the command chart) into what tanks they wanted to see on the tank roster.
Henrietta wanted nothing more than to see a King Tiger on the tank roster. She explained that besides its impressive firepower, thick armor, and imposing design, it was her favorite tank. Her father apparently had one in his collection, and that she was well versed in driving it. She admitted that its transmission and engine problems were a bitch on days that caused the field to become muddy, but she just enjoyed the tank.
Katie, not as well versed in tank knowledge though having known the more well-known tanks, wanted to see a M36 Jackson. Apparently, her grandfather in the second World War had commanded one and told her of a story about an engagement between his Jackson against two German Panthers during the Battle of the Bulge. The story of his victory was the reason for Katie's approval of the Jackson.
And last, Erwin wanted to be back in command of her Stug III, though she figured that due her team/crew having 5 people, even if she couldn't command it. While her favorite overall tank was the Jagdpanther, her time in command of the Stug III left her fond of the tank killer. While not the most powerful or most armored tank, the Stug III had a powerful enough gun and thick enough armor that when combined with its low silhouette made for a deadly ambusher.
The trio arrived at the tankery hall, with the rest of the class waiting outside. Joan and Christine came over to the trio and greeted them.
"Hello guys, excited to see what we get?" Joan asked.
"Very much so," Henrietta said, nodding in agreement. "I like to see a King Tiger, but if not, then perhaps a Tiger tank will suffice."
"Heh, you just want a German big cat on our team," Katie replied. "Though aren't Tigers and Panthers supposed to be expensive?"
"Expensive yes, but the main reason for that was because the German industry kept building towards perfection instead of just good enough," Erwin replied.
"I see where that would be an issue," Christine said. "Why have something that will last you ten years if you manage to break it in one?"
"Exactly," Erwin said. "So, any reason our class is outside and not inside the tank hall?" Christine sighed.
"Despite it being 78 degrees outside, Sgt. Harper wanted us outside so he can introduce the veteran tankery instructor before guiding each crew to their respective tank," Christine answered, her tone annoyed due to the heat outside. Erwin was about to ask who the instructor was before that became a moot point as Sgt. Harper and someone she had seen once before during the Japanese Nationals came out of the tankery hall.
"Class, formation!" Sgt. Harper called out. Reactively, the team formed up, with each tank commander being in front of their column. Erwin saw to her right Jackie having a slight smirk, probably because she thought she would be the first choice in becoming the team captain.
"Alright," Sgt. Harper began. "Today, we have two major things to go over. The first deals with the person besides me. She is Erika Itsumi, your veteran tankery instructor. She knows firsthand how to win tankery championships, being a 5 year veteran back in Japan. Listen to whatever she says, as she knows more about this sport than even me. Do you have anything you wish to say?"
Erika shook her head.
"No Sgt. Harper, I suppose we should start on the next order of business," Erika commented. Harper nodded.
"Very well. Class, the next order of business is the tanks you will be commanding during the championships. If you follow me into the tank hall, I will call out the crew roster and Erika shall escort you to your tank. Please refrain from jumping around the tank until everyone has been escorted to their tank."
Sgt. Harper then pulled out a sheet of paper and unfolded it.
"First up, Riko Matsumoto, Katie Bell, Christine Taylor, Joan Arc, Henrietta Moran, follow Instructor Erika to your tank," Sgt. Harper ordered.
Erwin and Henrietta were positively excited to see their tank, while Katie, Christine, and Joan for the most part were indifferent. As they followed Erika into the tank hall, Erwin saw an assortment of 6 tanks, in two columns of three, each facing one another. Before Erwin could examine the other tanks, Erika had stopped at the first tank.
"Here you guys are," Erika said. "You five will be crewing the Sturer Emil tank destroyer, a German prototype tank destroyer mounting a 128mm cannon."
Erwin stared at the Sturer Emil, surprised by the choice. While it did mount an impressive 128mm cannon, it had a number of critical flaws. It wasn't very mobile with a meager 8.7 horsepower per ton, it had to rotate the entire hull of the tank to aim the gun, and once it fired, it created a massive plume of smoke that made quick firing an issue. It also could only carry 15 rounds of ammunition, insufficient for a long, drawn out battle.
But the biggest issue dealt with the incredibly thin armor. With at most 50mm of armor at its thickest, it was only useful against small arms. Combined with an open top design, its armor wasn't just bad; it might as well not exist. As far as Erwin could tell, this tank destroyer only managed to succeed in terms of completing one of the armor trinity; firepower.
"Not exactly the tank I would've chosen," Erwin muttered. Henrietta nodded.
"Yeah, I like its gun, but everything else…" Henrietta shuddered, much to the confusion of both Christine and Joan.
"What's wrong with the tank?" Christine asked. "It looks like it could destroy anything it is pointed at."
"Yeah, but it's the epitome of a glass cannon," Erwin remarked. "It can kill practically anything pointed at it, but in return, anything can kill it."
"Ah crap, you have got to be kidding me," Katie moaned. "What about mobility; can it at least get out of Dodge if it needs to?" Henrietta shook her head.
"Nope, with a 8.7 horsepower per ton and having such narrow tracks, we would be lucky if we can get away from whatever is pursuing us," Henrietta replied. "Although if I recall, this tank destroyer does have decent gun elevation and depression."
"How does that help us?" Christine asked. "If anything can kill us, how are we supposed to kill anything?" Surprising Erwin, Joan replied.
"I suppose if we hid most of our tank behind a hill with only the gun exposed, we can fire at our enemies without taking return fire," Joan answered. Erwin raised an eyebrow.
"How do you know that?" Erwin asked. Joan shrugged.
"I often go up to the Oklahoma D-Day paintball event with my older brother and his friends who have a paintball tank," Joan replied. "I often was the gunner of the 'paint tank' and I got used to dealing with the gun elevation and depression."
"Oh, well that's useful to know," Erwin said. "But getting back on track, this tank destroyer is going to be quite a handful to deploy correctly. So what else have we got?"
Erwin, Katie, Henrietta, Joan, and Christine looked around and saw the other tanks, with varying degrees of usefulness. Erwin grimaced.
"Well now, at least this is better than Ooari," Erwin stated. "At least we don't have obsolete tanks."
"Jacqueline Lindsay, April Ire, Victoria Wales, Lisa Scotts, and Sophia Engels, this is the Churchill Black Prince, a conversion of the Churchill tank mounting a larger cannon and thicker armor, which you will be crewing," Erika stated.
Jackie and the others looked at the black painted tank. Jackie, having her grandfather serve with the British army during WW2, was familiar with the Churchill tank, which her grandfather commanded. She knew that the latest production variants of the Churchill were mounted with a quick firing 75mm cannon, and they were known for two things; they were slow as fuck but could take a proper pounding.
"Jackie, you have any idea of how good this tank is?" April asked. A childhood friend of Jackie, April grew up with the queen of micro and perfection, and thus was comfortable most of the times with Jackie's search of perfection. However, unlike Jackie whose family had history with the British army before moving to America after the Second World War, April didn't have a clue about anything with regards to the military.
"Yes I do, this tank is based on the Churchill tank, but instead of the standard 75mm cannon that later Churchill tanks carried, this carries the 17-pounder anti-tank cannon. Of course, this required a bigger turret and subsequently a bigger hull, but overall we have better armor than most of the tanks here," Jackie answered. "So overall, we have a decent tank."
"What about the gun; I thought the 17-pounder weren't well liked," Lisa asked. Jackie liked Lisa due to her knowledge about anything historical, including military history.
"Well, it has high penetration, but most of the ammo it used didn't come with an explosive filler, and when compared to American 90mm cannons, the 17 pounder took longer to reload and was only marginally more accurate, so that is why the 17-pounder fell into disuse," Jackie answered. She however soon regret her comment on penetration.
"So the Black prince has deeper penetration but it doesn't go bang?" Victoria said, a shit eating grin on her face. "Wow, it must've sucked in bed."
Victoria, while smart in class courses, was a massive pervert, taking seemingly innocent phrases and perverting them to make everyone groan at the lengths she went.
"Victoria, do I need to drill you again in being proper?!" Jackie snarled. "You need to get your head out of the gutter!"
"Um Jackie, can you hold off on berating Vicky for her dirty mind later?" Sophia asked. Jackie looked at her new friend Sophia. So far, Sophia seemed to be quite quiet and timid, not wanting to cause too much issue for anyone. Of the five girls, Sophia was easily the quietest one, only speaking up when needed.
"And why is that?" Jackie asked. Sophia pointed across the tank hall toward Erwin's group, who seemed to be raising eyebrows.
"Because they seem quite intent to hear what you say, and it could hurt your ability to becoming the team leader," Sophia pointed out. Victoria decided to take this moment to aggravate the perfectionist.
"Oh, so they want to hear about our private affairs; how naughty! Perhaps they will want front row seating on the action!"
"SHUT UP VICTORIA, OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL DUCT TAPE YOUR MOUTH!"
"Irene Romanov, Alexandra Kursk, Volga Gurlukovich, and Tanya Moskvin, this is your tank; the SU-100Y tank destroyer, mounted with a naval 130mm cannon that saw brief service during the Battle of Moscow," Erika said, rubbing the back of her neck out of sheer frustration with going through her repertoire of introducing crews to their tanks.
The four students of Eastern European descent looked at the green behemoth of a tank destroyer. They were all close due to being in the same apartment complex and all having traced their family history to their grandfathers and grandmothers in serving the same T-34 during the battle of Stalingrad.
"So, this is our tank , da?" Irene said. She was the leader of the tight knit group, and while she didn't have that much money, she did have extravagant taste. "Well, at least it mounts a pretty powerful gun."
"But it lacks a turret," Alexandra pointed out. She was the group's rationalist, keeping everyone from going crazy with wild ideas or going over budget when they went shopping. "And it is quite tall/. Won't we be vulnerable to return fire?"
"Not if we kill 'em first!" Volga said, pounding her fist into her palm. "We just have to get the first shot off, and keep on firing if there is more than one tank!"
Of the four, Volga had the most aggressive personality, always seeking the simplest, if not the most brutal, solution to any problem. Got a car that needs to be torn apart; grab a sledgehammer. Have a stump that needs removing; dig around it and then lit it on fire. Oddly though, Volga hated getting dirty personally, and was a bit of a neat freak.
"So are you volunteering to be the loader of this thing's gun?" Tanya asked. She smiled as Volga paled at the thought of getting dirty, handling those heavy shells and loading them into the breach wouldn't be a clean job. While Irene was the leader, Volga the zealot, and Alexandra the cool head, Tanya was the silent sadist, finding pleasure in the misfortune of those around her.
"Argh, I don't want to be the one loading those heavy shells!" Volga argued. "Nothing about handling heavy shells is clean. I'll do it if needed, but then I want you to handle cleaning of my uniform!"
"Pfft, fat chance of me doing that," Tanya replied. "I could care less if your clothes were dunked in kerosene and then rolled in sand; I won't be the one cleaning your clothes."
"Enough you two," Irene commanded. "Anyway, Alexandra is the one that is going to be loading the gun, as I will be the commander, Volga is the best shot, and you Tanya are the only one that can drive."
"Ha, if you call driving Tanya's father's monstrosity in a straight line driving for more than ten meters, then I'm qualified for shooting heavy caliber ordance," Alexandra joked. "Seriously, why the fuck can't your father get something other than that steel coffin of a car?"
"Kelly Paten, Mary Jackson, Roberta, Rosanna, and Rachel Lee, the tank you will be commanding is the M18 with a 90mm cannon fitted," Erika stated.
The five girls looked at the modified tank destroyer in hidden but high excited interest.
"Now this is going to kick ass!" Kelly shouted once Erika was out of earshot. "Not only do we get a bad ass cannon, we can drive as fast as fucking fast as we dare!"
"Amen to that!" agreed Mary Jackson. "A pity this things has toilet paper for armor, but it is fast as all hell! Hey, what else does our team have?" The five looked around, only to groan in disappointment.
"So far from the crewed tanks, we have one that I am certain a sprinting infantryman could outrun, and the other two are marginally faster. The other two don't look like they can go as fast as us," commented the first of the read-headed Lee triplets Roberta.
"Yeah, but so far we all have tanks with guns larger than 75mm, so we have excellent firepower," continued Rosanna.
"But except for the Black Prince, we seem to be lacking thick armor," stated Rachel.
"So overall, we're crap for mobility, excelling in the department of big ass guns, and up a creek with no paddle in terms of armor," the triplets answered in unison, finishing their overview of the team's tanks.
"Can you three please keep the in-sync chatter to a minimum please; it's rather creepy to be on the receiving end of," Kelly asked. The triplets looked at her for a moment.
"Nope," the trio deadpanned, popping the 'P' in the exact same fashion to disturb the unfortunate tank commander.
"Seriously, must you do that?" Mary asked. "I have to agree with Kelly on this issue; it is beyond creepy at times."
"Well if you like I suppose-"
"-we can have the three of-"
"-us speak in alternating order for a sentence," replied Rosanna, Rachel, and Roberta in that order. The non-triplets of the M18 90mm GMC crew felt the hair on their arms raise a bit, not used to the synchronization of the triplets.
"For our sake's please don't do that!" both Kelly and Mary pleaded, though it was to fall on deaf ears.
"Adele Lelouch, Claire Clearwater, Vera Noire, Silvia Taifun, and Caityln Emerald, the tank you five will be crewing is the French ARL-44 heavy tank, the French army's solution to its post-war army needs," Erika said.
The five girls looked at the blue heavy tank, each one with varying levels of frowning at the monstrosity of the tank before them. Though none of them were well versed in tank history, even they could tell that the ARL-44 was going to be an utter bitch.
"Hey Adele, can I be the first to speak what is on everyone's mind?" Claire asked. Adele nodded. "We are supremely fucked, shit outta luck, doomed to die, and ass over the line."
"I have to agree, I mean, look at the fucking track and suspensions!" Vera quipped in. "I don't know tanks that well, but that looks like World War One grade designs. Those tracks are so narrow and they have to around the entire hull. What the fuck were the French thinking?!"
"I truly don't know," Silvia answered. "I mean, it looks like it has a decent gun and it does have frontal sloped armor, but it seems, I don't know, quite too large for what the tank has."
"It is," Adele finally spoke. "The ARL-44 was supposed to be the French Tiger, but I guess due to their horrible design choices, the ARL-44 is significantly larger than the Tiger tank."
"Go figure," Caityln remarked. "So we get an outdated design of a tank while our teammates seemingly have better tanks than us?" Adele shrugged.
"I truly don't know about that, I mean, two of them lack turrets, and only one seems more heavily armored than us. But I guess this means a lot of nights of no sleep while I research our team's tank; this is just great."
The four smiled sadly at their leader Adele. Adele had the personality of wanting to know everything if it related to her, and so she would often times overwork herself into exhaustion. No one really had a cure for Adele's thirst for knowledge, no one.
"C'mon Adele, you don't need to know everything about every tank we have on our team," Claire stated. "Simply focus on our tank so we can command it better. Don't you dare do what you did when you wanted to learn chess."
The group shuddered at the memory. Adele, after playing a game of chess against her brother, decided the best way to get better was to research the game. Normally, to any sane person, this would mean to learn how each pieces move, some basic tactics and openings, and maybe watch a few games played by professionals. Adele however decided the best way forward was to learn every opening, every tactic, and suckered her close friends into being unwillingly test opponent.
Her obsession with being a master chess player only ended when Caitlyn, Silvia, Claire, and Vera decided to challenge Adele with a simple puzzle; win a game of chess without losing any pieces against one of them. Needless to say, the four girls won their way out of Adele's obsession.
"But still, it couldn't hurt to know about the capabilities of the other tanks," Adele began to argue, only to see Vera pull something out of her jacket. "Umm, Vera, why do you have duct tape?"
"Aki Ran, Kim Li, Yamada Bell, Montgomery Oum, and Mia Koto, the Type 5 Chi-Ri Japanese Medium tank is yours to command," Erika informed the five Asian-American teenagers. Erika was about to say more when she saw Sgt. Harper waving her over. "Apologizes, but your Sgt. Harper is requesting my attention."
"It's no problem," Aki Ran, the tank commander, replied. She watched as Erika walked away, sighing quietly.
"Something on your mind Aki?" her closest friend Kim asked. Aki smiled before shaking her head.
"No, I just wanted to talk to Erika about my cousin," Aki said. "My cousin is on Black Forest Academy's tankery team, and served as Erika driver during the Japanese Nationals. So I was hoping to talk to her and see how my cousin was doing, seeing as we don't get to talk much."
"Oh I see," Kim said. "So if your cousin is a tankery driver, do you know much about tanks?" The others watched as Aki's smile faltered.
"Ehehe, not really," Aki said, scratching her neck nervously. "And what I do know is only about the tanks of Black Forest Academy, which are German, not the Japanese that this tank is."
"Oh well, if you don't know much about tanks, then I suppose we can simply assume we can make some guess about our tank until we can do some research on them," Yamada suggested. Yamada came from a family that predominately worked in the restaurant business they owned, something that Yamada hoped to get out of.
"Well it is a fairly large tank, easily the second largest here behind that blue tank that Adele is sitting next to," Montgomery, a otaku that couldn't see the issue that Adele was in.
"Umm, why is Adele duct taped like that?" Mia, a soft spoken girl, asked, covering what Montgomery didn't with Adele's situation. "That doesn't look comfortable at all."
"She'll be fine," waved of Montgomery, ignoring or not noticing Adele struggling against her binds. "So if the Type 5 Chi-Ri is larger than most of the tanks here, then it should be heavily armored."
"That seems fair to assume," Aki said, agreeing with Montgomery's assumption. "And look at the turret; it too is rather large, so it must be so it can deal with the recoil of that cannon, so the gun must be good."
"Yes, but what about the tank's mobility?" Kim asked. Aki shrugged.
"Well, the tracks are wider so it should have decent weight dispersion, which will help on soft ground, and so long as we have a decent power to weight ratio, the tank should be mobile."
"So we lucked out then?" Yamada asked. Aki nodded.
"I guess, but until we take it for a spin and get some information on it, we won't know. But hey, at least we got a turret unlike two of our team's crews!"
Author's Note: So finally, you guys get to see the new and revamped Raven's Peak tank lineup. Don't worry, they will be getting more 'sucessful' tanks, but this was to introduce the 6 'old guard' tanks. What I mean by this will be explained in due to, but for now you'll have to wait and see. But onto the reviews!
-William Lamb: Prototype tanks are interesting, as they never really get to be tested, so they always provide material for interesting discussions as to whether or not they would've been good. And yes, assholes like Hicks will be receiving a royal ass kicking in the future.
: Yeah, I agree with what you said, so I will try and avoid the mistakes of those two chapters in the future. Sometimes though I will read the sentence as I meant it and not as it is, so that can lead to me screwing up a sentence.
-Theralion: Ah jeez, your review is long so I will cover one aspect of your review as I am bound to touch up on the others in the future. The reason for Jackie's surname change was partly a mistake at remembering her last name and partly because I wanted to pay respect to my step-father who was more of a father than my own biological father. Anyway, Jackie Lindsay sounds better than Jackie Lambert in my opinion.
Don't worry, I will also try and get Erwin to not be one dimensional this time around, so give me some time and work it out.
-TMI Fairy: Yeah getting rid of the semovente 90/53 was a good decision on my part, and I only have a 2-3-1 ratio of heavies-TDs-medium tanks, so hopefully that isn't going overboard with the heavy tanks. And next time, don't forget to take your meds. I might have a character get pregnant, or I might not. Depends on how I feel, but it won't be the main characters.
-Guest: Nice suggestion, and here it is! I was originally going to have the T23 US medium tank as the US-prototype tank, but this idea is so much better with Raven's Peak's 'superior prototype firepower' ideal. So thank you!
Ah, not much to talk about, but the next chapter will be a training montage if you will before the inevitable Erwin vs Jackie match to determine who will lead Raven's Peak's tankery team in the US nationals which hopefully will be the chapter thereafter. Until then, please follow, favorite, and review the story!