Chapter III
"We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage…" - Theodore Roosevelt.
Edward stood on the edge of the ship, watching as it pulled into port. A small crowd was gathered on the dock, no doubt family of some of the students who came to say hello. Edward scanned the crowd, He had told his dad over the phone when they would be making landfall and where they would be, but he didn't see him. Edward sighed and pushed off the railing. He walked over to the rest of the group who was waiting by the cargo elevator. Mr Demo was standing the group as well.
"Alright boys, we can keep the ship here till noon tomorrow, then we leave, whatever you find, that what we have. We will have stuff to repair and supply the tanks when you get back." Harold, a dark skinned boy, shot up his hand.
"But sir, that's not even twenty four hours, its five now!" The man sighed.
Its the best we can do, we just got word that we have a new student waiting in Ireland and we have to pick him up, so you have till noon tomorrow." Edward sighed and adjusted his backpack. Mr. Demo flicked the switch for the cargo elevator and it slowly started to descend.
"Is it just me, or are the odds stacked against us?" Walter whispered to Edward and Edward sighed.
"We cant exactly complain now can we?" Edward whispered back. Edward the spoke to the entire group.
"Okay, you already have your groups, so, group one, thast wiht me, we will catch the five thirty bus to Sellstedter See und Ochsentriftmoor. Group two, you guys make your way to Loxstedt, group three, you guys catch the ferry down river to Brake. Finally group four, you guys go to Varel." the group nodded and as soon as the elevator stopped, a section of the hull slid open and ramp slid down. Edwards group, himself, Walter, Lucas Gomez, and Nick McCloskey, all took of running for the bus station. It wasn't that far of a run so when they made it there they just bought their tickets and sat down.
When the bus finally arrive, the all quickly climbed on and rode out to Sellstedter See und Ochsentriftmoor. they stepped off the bus with one other man, who was obliviously a bird watcher.
"Ich habe gehört, dass es hier draußen einen Adler gibt." the man said looking at them.
"Coooool...' Edward said and raised an eyebrow. The slowly turned around walked away from the man before pulling out heir map.
"Okay…"Walter said. "We are here." He pointed to a high point off the main road. "I he follow this trail down through the woods. There is a bend about two hours from here. At that bed is an entrance to a cave. I know for a fact that the cave has been used before, so if we get lucky, something will have been left behind." Lucas Gomez sighed.
"But it's almost dark out now, why don't we wait till morning…" Edward shook his head.
"We don't have time, grab your stuff and let's get a move on." Lucas sighed and picked up his bag which he had taken off, unlike everyone else who had kept there's on. Lucas was a hefty kid from Brazil, fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and English. He had dark black hair and tanned skin. Nick on the other hand was a skinny, pale, Irish boy with bright red curly hair. The group left the bird watcher man behind and walked off into the tree's. They looked around, trying to see if they could see anything. When they reached the bend Walter was talking about, they could see the cave through the tree's.
"Well...there it is." Edward mumbled and turned on his flashlight. The pushed through the trees and into the cave. Inside lights ran across the ceiling, a nine track ran down the side, and old purred and stained paper scattered across the paper. Edward walked far ahead when he heard Nick yelp followed by the sound of metal bouncing across the floor.
"What was that?!" Lucas yelped and Edward looked around with the flashlight. A german Stahlhelm was slowly rolling across the floor five feet in front of them. Edward walked forward and picked it up. There were some scratches on it but no major rusting of holes.
"Nick, hold onto this." Edward tossed to to Nick who fumbled around before catching it. They group pushed on when Lucas mumbled.
"What does achtung, minen mean." Edward stopped and turned around. Lucas was looking at an old sign on the floor, the metal sign had a skull and crossbones on it and the words 'ACHTUNG MINEN!' on it.
"Attention, mines" Walter said and sighed. "Probably was meant to be set up before this cave got over run., their should be none in here so we will be fine" Lucan groaned.
"I don't wanna die down here…" Edward dismissed the comment and they kept on walking. They came into a large opening and Edward looked around with the flashlight, illuminating the cavernous space. The light flashed over old signs and maps showing battle plans and troop movements.
"Wow, look at that…"Edward said, almost awestruck.
"Eh, looks kinda boring" Lucas said and Edward sighed.
"My, why must you ruin everything…" Nick mumbled and Lucas sighed.
"Well sorry, I just don't like maps, jeez." Nick grumbled something unrecognizable in gaelic. Edward dis t see a trying of note in the large cave chamber except for and off shoot. He looked over at Walter, who nodded.
"Guys...lets just keep going deeper." Edwards said and Lucas yelled back.
"Deeper!? Are you crazy!?" his voice echoing off the walls.
"For Christ sake, sure you face!" Nick yelled and Edward snapped.
"How about he all shut up and just keep going!?" Both Nick and Lucas sighed.
"Yeah...okay fine" Lucas grumbled and they walked deeper into the cave
Wilson Smith and Richard Pennington walked down the streets of Varel.
Wilson had a shaved head and learning blue eyes, he was of an average build and was probably five foot three. Richard had jet black hair and was one of the few grade twelve students of the group. He had a full mustache, which he liked to keep curled up on both ends. He was also the tallest, at around six foot four, a camera swung freely from his neck.
"So...ummm, where do we look." Wilson mumbled and looked around. It was ready dark out, and streetlights illuminated the path ahead of them.
"I don't know…let's go and check out the uhh….ummmm….woods?"
"W-w-woods…" Wilson stuttered. "But it's dark...and...and scary."
"Oh grow up...let's just go." The pair walked around for a bit when they suddenly entered the town square.
"We're lost aren't we?" Richard shook his head.
"No we just need to walk south." Richard pointed to his left." The woods are south!"
"That's west you dumbass" Wilson sighed.
"How would you know?" Richard spun around to look at him and saw the compass he had in hand.
"Oh...hehe...south it is" The pair weaved
Edward through the streets heading south. They reached the edge if the town and Richard grabbed his camera.
"Look at this flower." He crouched knelt next to him.
"Yeah, sure I beautiful, I would love to paint it." Richard sighed and took a picture.
"Photos capture a better likeness."
"Well art capture the soul of the subject."
"Well...so can a photo!"
"No, a photo is just what everyone sees, paint can create an understanding of the world, a feeling of connection to the earth and all its leaving…hey where are you going!?" Richard was walking into the trees.
"Away from you paint brain." Wilson lept up and ran after him.
"Don't leave me! It's dark out here!" He yelled.
They wandered around the woods for about an hour and stopped to rest on a log.
"This is soooooo boring." Richard sighed.
"You need to take time to appreciate the world around you, take for instance this log. Sure it's covered in moss." He moved some do the moss. "But underneath is it's smooth core, cold to the touch, that stood strong for-"
"Yeah whatever tree hugger, move" Richard cut him off and started to pull at the moss.
"Hey what are you doing!?" Wilson snapped. "Just...take...oh…" Wilson jumped down and watched as Richard pulled the moss of a long cylindrical metal tube, painted green and brown.
"Well help me!" Wilson started to pull off some moss. He followed it down the long and got to where it stopped, it ended abruptly and flared out at the end. He pulled the moss off and saw the end of a barrel, it was blown apart at the end. He looked down it.
"Wow, look at this…" He mumbled and looked back to Richard who was climbing up a mossy wall. When he got to the top he paused.
"Bingo, we've struck oil." Richard joked and Wilson ran over, he tripped and landed with a thud, the ground making a metallic clink. Wilson pulled himself up and backed up. As he got farther away, he could make out the shape of some kind of armored vehicle, He hand no clue what is was, but it was covered in moss and stuck in a deep hole.
"Richard...call the school, we got one!"
"Yeah, sorry to tell you Edward, we got to radio reception down here, whatever they just said, we can't hear it." Nick said as he messed around with the portable radio before shoving it back in his backpack.
"Maybe we should just turn back, we oblivious won't find anything down here." Lucas said and sighed.
"Just a bit farther guys...come on" Edward said and sighed. There was moment of silence before they started walking now. They had been following the twisted cave system all night and it was now almost eight in the morning.
"Edward, all of the big open chambers have been empty, what make you sure?" Walter said, who now also had broken spirits.
"You can make out the scratch marks from tank treads. If we keep going, we should find whatever made them."
"If we keep going we are gonna find and empty room with more maps and helmets…" Nick grumbed. His backpack clanging as they had strapped three helmets onto his bag.
"Just trust me, I got a good feeling." Lucas groaned.
"Do you always have a good feeling?" Edward disregarded the comment and scanned the walls with his light. They continued to walk down the twisting cavern until Edward spotted a large opening.
"Here we are….just look around clearly guys, we don't wanna miss anything. They split up and walked around. Edward could see rusty tools strewn across the ground, old cabled and empty jugs of hydraulic fluid.
"This was a repair shop." He picked up wrench that read 'made in Germany on the side' He checked for any other markings and he found the date 1963.
"All this stuff is from the sixties, no more war junk now." He mumbled and scanned the walls.
"Aww shit!" Walter yelled out as the sound of metal being bashed into filled the cavern.
"You Okay!?" Lucas asked from somewhere else.
"Yeah, I just walked into….oh my" Edward turned around with his flashlight, the light wasn't that great so he could only see three feet in front of him. When he found Walter he was sitting and looking up. Edward turned the light it bounced back in his face reflecting off metal.
"What is this…"Walter asked confused as Nick and Lucas appeared out of the darkness. Edward took a step closer and rested his hand on it, it was absolutely covered in dust and cobwebs. He drug his fingers along the flat surface until his felt it slope towards him. He looked up and saw a cannon barrel that protruded from the metal wall. He felt walking and found another cannon on the same side. He raised and eyebrow and laid down. He shunned the light across the ground and saw tracks, He followed them with the light and they vanished into the darkness. He stood backup.
"It's...it's a tank all right, just not sure what kind…" Edward mumbled when Nick shouted.
"Hey! I found an generator over here, should I try to start it?" Edward yelled.
"Yeah! Go for it!" He hears the sound of Nick pulling in the cord. He probably pulled thirty times before the sound of the generator humming filled the space. Some of the ceiling lights flickered on, the dull glow allowing Edward to actually see what was in from of him. He took a step back and Walter stood up.
"Is that...a...a…Großkampfwagen" Walter said, completely awestruck.
"I...it shouldn't exist...only two prototypes were ever made. Both...both of which got dismantled." Edward mumbled and started to walk around the large vehicle. It stretched forty three feet long. It was ten feet tall, and was twenty feet wide. Each side of the Tank had two seventy seven millimeters guns, making that four in total. Edward looked for a way in and found a ladder mounted to the side. He climbed up the ladder and pulled himself onto the flat roof. The double He exhaust pipes poked out of the top, their massive air filters painted red. He crouched and inched his way across the top, he made it to the commander's position and pulled on the hatch. The hinges squeaked and the hatch lifted. He looked inside and saw a single leather chair, surrounded by buttons and pull wires.
He closed it and crawled is way back to the ladder. He climbed back down and looked back up, the tank was almost double his height.
"Well...we got one...how do we get it outta here." Walter said and Edward realizes their predicament.
"We could drive it out of here…" Nick suggested.
"We don't even have fuel for it…" Lucas grumbled."
"Look around," Edward said as he walked over to a side hatch. "If this is where this thing was worked on, they should have some fuel somewhere…" Edward pulled in the side hatch and opened up the hatch to the transmission room. He stepped in and looked at the two engines. The first thing He noticed was that the engines were not those of the original K-Wagons. He got closer and noticed that the engines were two Maybach HL230, the same engines that the Germans used to propel tanks like the tiger I and II. He figured if one of these engines could get a tiger to forty kilometers, two could push the K-Wagon to thirty.
He stepped back out and looked over to Lucas, who was rolling a large fuel tank across the ground, he stopped when he got close and groaned, laying across the barrel.
So...heavy..." He groaned and Edward laughed a bit. It took the about half an hour to get the tank all fueled up, and when they finally did, they stood in the transmission room. Nick was scratching his head.
"How uhhhh...how do we start this? Nick said, scraching his head. Edward brushed past him and looked at the engine crank.
"So what yoy do is grab this." Edward grabbed the crank in his hands and started to pull it back and up. "Pull it towards you..." He got it up to the top and shoved it away and down. "Go like this!" The engine sputtered and Edward groaned.
"You sure Edward?" Lucas askwd and looked over his shoulder. Edward nodded and repeated the process, repeating the result.
"Come one big girl, it's time to wake up now..." Edward pyled on the crank and shoved it down. The engine roared to life with a bang and Edward stepped back.
"That's a good girl..." Lucas looked at Edward.
"Edward, why is it a girl?" Edeard smiled.
"Because tanks, boats, and cars are all girls...and this one is very tired. We just gotta give her a little love and she'll take care of us just fine..." Edward smiled and turned towards the narrow passage that ran the length of the tank. He walked along towards the front and into the commanders position. He climbed up into the seat and looked around. Nedt to him were fire wires, each had bern labeled in English with an old peice of tape. They read, forward, reverse, left, right, and stop.
"Hey Edward, how to we control this thing, we can't see from back there."
"These cables shluld turn on lights back there, they should be labeled." Nick nodded and disappeared. Edward waited a moment before he opened the cupola and peeked his head out. He pulled on the forward wire and the tank started to move back and smashed into a wall. Edward braced himself before Nick realized his mistake and the K-Wagen moved forward.
Edward then signaled for a left and the tank turned. They slowly approached the cave tunnel and started to scape up against the wall on the left side. Nick realized what was happening and sloely eaised to the left. Edward helled him get straight as they traveled down the long caverns.
They managed to contiue with only a few more minor scapes and crashes nothing too serious. Once they got outside, Edward looked at his watch
"Eleven thirty, ahhh shoot." He fumbed in his pocket as he gave Nick theborder to stop. He pulled out his phone and called the school. It rang twice before being snatched up. Mr. Demo's voice said.
"Hello, IBALT, Mr. Demo speaking."
"Hey, it's Edward, we are on our way back, we went pretty deep into a cave but manadged to find a tank. Can you hold in port a bit longer or do we need the schools Halo to pick us up.
"That depends really, how heavy is the tank you got." Edward paused and crunched some numbers.
"I would say it is probibly 200 tonnes..." The was a long pause.
"We can hold in port for you, you will have to drive back." Edward smiled and gave the order for forward.
"Right sir, we should be forty minutes or so."
Edward smiled and looked at the tanks they had lined up. The first in the line was tank Edward hadn't recognized, a Pz. 39.
The Pz. 39 was light and nimble, it was designed in Czechoslovakia for the Swiss. The tank closely resembled the Pz. 38(t), being of the same tank family, but the 39 was better designed for traveling the steep, snowy slopes of the Swiss alps. The next tank was a Grizzly I.
The Grizzly I was the Canadian version of the M4A1. The tank was basically an improved version of the M4, it had thicker armor at a steeper slope, a better range, and used Canadian Dry Pin tracks.
They had also happened across a Crusader III, light and nimble like the Pz. 39, it was another good tank. Wilson and Richard had also found an Archer.
The archer had the ed of it barrel blow apart but other than that, it was in good condition. The archer was strange because the gun faced the rear of the tank, so when the tank moved forward, the gun was looking backwards. The other problem was that Archer was open topped, so they were looking into if it was against the rules to rivet a top onto the tank.
Finally, the Großkampfwagen, the super heavy tank that dwarfed any of the other tanks they had found. It as a dull grey, but they planned to paint all the tanks to give them a bit more character.
Weber walked along the row of tanks as the boys ate sandwiches.
"Very nice, tomorrow we will start real target practice...hope you are not scared of fireworks."
