There was a heavy yawn as Fox stretched his tracks. Digging them into the ground, he noticed that it had already dried after the storm the day before. He languidly opened his optics to look at the disturbance that had woken him up. Rex was standing next to him and stared impatiently.

"What is it?" Fox asked, not yet turning his turret around as he hadn't decided yet if he was ready to fully wake up or if he would go back to sleep should the matter turn out to be insignificant.

"The Jagdpanther guy is arguing with the Jumbo," Rex grinned. "I think they might start beating each other up. Come quick, before someone does something about it!"

"Hmmm …" Fox rumbled. That could be interesting. He wouldn't want to miss a chance to see the unlikeable tank destroyer get his rear handed to him. But he wasn't a fast tank, and by the time he would have reached the scene of event, the show might have been over already and then he would have gotten up for nothing.

Before he could make a decision, he noticed a strange noise coming from his radio. Blinking, he turned up the volume, but it was just static. Was that thing broken? But why all of a sudden? It took him a moment to notice that the noise wasn't only coming from his own radio, but from Rex' as well, who had turned up the volume too. Rex looked just as confused as Fox was. The noise wasn't very loud, but it was still noticeable that the volume fluctuated.

"What the hell is that?" Rex asked. He turned off his radio and turned it on again, but the noise persisted. Fox flinched as a painfully loud voice talked through the radio. He turned the volume down again until the voice was back to a normal level.

«Anyone else hearing weird static?» Alex asked. «Or am I just imagining it …?»

Their team mates confirmed hearing it too.

"What the hell indeed …" Fox mumbled, more to himself than to Rex.

Rex suddenly looked alarmed.

"This is kinda like … when we were in Ruinberg. Remember?" he said.

Fox had to think for a moment, but then remembered clearly. They had experienced the same phenomenon when they had fought the "ghosts" in Ruinberg. It was a long time ago, but it had left quite the impression on him. As the enemy team had approached, the radios had started making static noise. The closer they had come, the more unbearably loud it had become. But could it really be them? The last time they had fought them, the noise had only started as they had been really close already. If it was actually such a team, that would mean that an attack could be imminent. Fox turned his turret after all now, facing the VK 45.02 B at his side with a concerned expression.

"We should tell the others," he said.

"Do you think it's them?" Rex asked, obviously having followed the same train of thought.

"I don't know, but we shouldn't take any chances."

Rex nodded. Fox turned to his radio, calling Sky's private frequency.

###

Sky paced to and fro with a deep frown. She stopped for a moment to throw a worried look at the rocky cliffs around the base, then checked the dark sky above, then rolled on.

"The invincible team …" she murmured.

She passed Eohelm and Pepper again. The Centurion was silently following her with his optics; the Leopard 1 was doing the same, although not as silently. No one except the three present tanks knew about Fox' and Rex' suspicion yet. The rest of the team was getting restless, however. They expected an explanation what was causing the noise, and wild guesses were being taken already.

"We have to tell them," Pepper said sternly. "Even if it's not what we think it is, every second we hesitate might be one second too late to prepare for a battle."

Sky returned his tense gaze for a moment as he went on.

"It's better to get ready for a battle that doesn't happen than being attacked completely unprepared!"

Eohelm finally spoke up as well, his voice pensive.

"He's right. We can't be too cautious. If Fox is right, they might arrive here very soon and if that happens, we need to be ready to defend ourselves."

"Sure, let's just fucking tell everyone that we are going to face a team that has completely exterminated everyone in their path so far," Sky snapped. "And that we're going to face them without being able to coordinate our actions, while we're at it. That's going to make everybody worry a lot fucking less."

She stared at her team mates. What they were suggesting was out of question for her. But unfortunately, they had a point. If they didn't do anything about this possible threat, they would possibly put everyone's lives in grave danger.

"We don't have to be that honest," Eohelm said. "You didn't tell anyone about what the TRV said, did you? They don't know about the rumours, so they won't panic." He seemed hesitant to speak on, but then did it anyway. "But apart from all of that … Abandoning the base is always an option. If we really will be without our radios, our chances of winning will be significantly lower. It might be a risk not worth taking." He shrugged uneasily. "I have never been in such a situation, and neither have I heard of anyone else. Frankly, I'm not sure if I can work out a good strategy for such unusual circumstances in a short time."

Sky stopped pacing and dropped her gaze with frustration.

"And then? Will we run from them until the goddamn end of time?" she asked quietly.

Eohelm and Pepper looked at each other. There was probably a silent conversation going on between them. After a few moments, Pepper spoke again.

"You are the leader. You have to make a decision," he said soberly.

Sky frowned at them; then she turned her turret away.

"Everyone, be quiet for a moment and listen," she spoke into her radio, her voice composed, but in a forced sounding way. "The noise is caused by an approaching team. We will fight them, but we won't be able to use our radios."

There were a alarmed responses and everyone started talking over each other.

"I said listen," Sky said vehemently. When everyone had finally fallen silent again, she went on. "A briefing will follow shortly. I want everyone to stay calm and wait for instructions. We will handle this, like we handled every fight so far. Over."

The radio frequency remained unusually silent after that announcement, except for the static noise that was slowly increasing in volume.

###

A harsh wind dragged at Goggles' wings and fuselage as she flew increasingly sized circles above the base at a low altitude. Her gaze was attentively scanning the ground, looking for any signs of an enemy team. Sky had told her that they might be very close, but apparently not as close as they feared.

"Nothing yet," the Stuka reported. "No one's anywhere in sight."

«Good, but keep looking,» Sky replied.

'Well, duh,' Goggles thought. Except that she could barely hear her own thoughts with all that noise from her radio. It was growing in volume slowly but steadily, also making communication somewhat troublesome by now. 'They have to be somewhere …'

She passed over the area south of the base, but still couldn't see anything. Obviously, the ocean west of the base didn't hide any attackers either. As she continued her loop northward however, she saw something move in her peripheral vision. She hadn't thought of checking the skies. After all, tanks hadn't achieved flight yet as far as she knew. But as she raised her gaze, it seemed like they had indeed. A silly memory of Arty talking about skytanks that she had learned about in Ruinberg popped up in the Stuka's mind. Skytanks … what nonsense. But as she looked closer, there was definitely something up there. Goggles hadn't seen another plane in a long time, but it had to be one. She tensed up, then immediately flew back into radio range of her team mates to tell Sky about her discovery.

"Looks like whatever they are, they have a plane," she said as soon as she got close to the base's border.

«That's … bad,» came the grim response.

"It's flying around north of the base, but I can't see any tanks yet so I don't know if they're there as well."

«Okay. Keep observing the plane and tell me what it's doing.»

Goggles turned around and returned to her previous position. Once there, she watched the other plane for a couple of moments. It didn't seem to be approaching. She didn't want to risk getting seen in return however — if it wasn't too late already — and quickly pulled up her nose, disappearing into the thick clouds above. Flying back to the base again, she only dared to lower her altitude again as she was sure that she was out of sight.

"It's not really doing anything," she reported.

Sky confirmed receiving the information. Goggles flew another loop. She could see a couple of tanks drive towards the southern parts of the base; they were probably taking the fuel and spare parts to a safe place, assuming that the enemies would attack from the North. She could also spot some of her other team mates, which seemed to have taken positions already in preparation for the fight.

Before she could leave the radio range again, Eohelm contacted her.

«Goggles, you will have to take care of the plane. Once you shot it down, try to support us as well as you can.»

Goggles confirmed the order, but as soon as she was out of range, she grimaced vocally.

"Take care of the plane!" she repeated with exasperation. "Of course, cause I'm a fighter!" Sometimes she couldn't believe how ignorant the tanks were about fundamental plane things, time and again.

"I'm fucked. We're all fucked," she murmured.

###

The minutes seemed to crawl. The noise in the radio was getting louder. With the sighting of the plane, it was no question anymore if something was coming for them. The only question was the one of time.

Eohelm, who was standing close to her, was wrapping up his briefing while he still could, and Sky couldn't help the feeling that his plan was really just a weak excuse of a plan. But it would have to do. As long as they stuck to it, and if it really worked, this could end well for them. If not …

Sky closed her optics and took a deep breath. As she opened them again, she looked to her right, where Crowley and Barfly had appeared. They were on their way to their positions — they would provide fire support for Fox and Rex, who would be the first line of defence. The Shermans halted as they were about to pass her by. Their expressions were concerned as well, but determined.

"Just wanted to say … Good luck," Crowley said. Barfly just smiled at his leader, even though the smile looked uneasy.

Sky nodded at them.

"Good luck to you too," she said in a firm voice.

The Shermans bowed to her before driving on.

A moment later, Sky received a hectic transmission from Goggles.

«Tanks approaching from the North, about a kilometre away. It's a whole team, about twenty of them.»

"Understood," Sky replied. She watched Goggles fly over the base and back northward after a big loop. She looked at Eohelm next, who returned the look after a moment of looking at the sky as well.

"It's time," the Pershing said.

Eohelm gave her an encouraging nod.

Sky turned to her radio, having to shout over the static now.

"Team, Sky. Get ready. They're coming."