|Shaun|

Well, things could have definitely gone better yesterday. First, Falkner nearly runs one of the other girls over, then Mags almost gets us thrown off the ship. It's only thanks to Sammy that things managed to cool down, and I thought that it would be a good idea to try and be friendly with the first girl who would chat with me. Somehow, when it came time for our team to receive a tank, I was sent to search for one. Our new president however did not seem content letting a male around tanks on his own, and now Ele is my escort, and according to her, date. Now we're browsing a veritable used car lot, or used tank lot as it was, looking for a tank for the lasses back at the school, which wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the fact that the woman won't take five minutes to shut up and catch her breath while I peruse into tanks. Looking at the price tags on most of them though it seems that this was the type of place where your wallet goes to die.

"Well, that makes the count what? Fifteen? Twenty? I'm losing track of how many we're looking through." I sigh, passing a Panzer IV Ausf. G.

"Huh?" Ele looks at me a bit confused, "I don't know, it doesn't matter. I was just getting to the best one, last years championship. It was one hell of a heart pounder lemme tell ya." She says, beginning another tale about a game of hers, this one from volleyball. I roll my eyes and continue on. There's several tanks and shiny new guns. The guns are technically within the limits of the budget that our dear president has given us via a prepaid card, but the tanks they belong to sure as hell aren't. A running Panther costs more than a new BMW, and even a more humble Panzer IV still fetched a high price when armed with the long 75mm. I sigh and move past the collection of guns and call Ele over as I move towards an M4A2 Sherman.

"Ele, come on, next one's up."

She follows me continuing to blather on about her championships and such, stuff that I'm just plain ignoring right now as I approach the American beasty. It's in rather nice shape alright, and it's got the good 76mm gun too. It almost looks hopeful until I see the list price, which receives a hearty 'hell no' from me.

"God, no wonder your school had to settle for such bottom of the barrel tanks," I groan.

She crosses her arms at me and pouts, "Shaun, I am giving you quite possibly the best, most exciting and coolest stories you will ever hear in your life, and you're dipping into busted tanks. What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry, Ele, but we're here to look for a tank for the lasses, and I'm business first, everything else second when it comes to working on their tanks. Why don't you tell me later when we're not preoccupied with stuff? Like why not tonight? We can go over to your place and you can tell me to your heart's content."

Ele groans, "But this is boring. I love tanks as much as the next girl but shopping for more than an hour is too much!" She says, kicking a tank and cringing a little bit, trying her best to not look like it hurt, "Rrrrrggh."

"You alright?" I can't help but walk over to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "That looked like it stung."

She shakes her head, "Nah, I've felt worse from kicking pillows." She claims, her deep voice helping to make her toughness act hold up, "Though maybe you should inspect it and feel for internal bleeding…."She says, leaning down to pull her shoe off.

"I'll do it." I go down on one knee and pull her shoe off, gently cradling her foot in my hand. "It's a little red. Tell me if it hurts." I say as I very gingerly run my fingers over the red area.

"It's not red cause it's damaged," Ele winks at me, "It's cause my foot is blushing."

"Yeah, yeah. Your foot seems to be ok. Still, take it lightly, ok? Don't want you getting hurt more."

"I never get hurt, I only get stronger," She pats her chest, and she winces slightly as she seems to have landed a bit too hard of a blow upon her breast, but she still tries to play it off all cool. I roll my eyes again.

"You want me to kiss it better you'll have to buy me dinner first." I joke as I slide her shoe back on and stand up.

"I was gonna buy it for you anyways," She winks, "Gotta keep that nice shapely body healthy."

"Right."

My eyes look past her and I raise an eyebrow. "Huh. Hey Ele? What kind of tank is that one?"

The vehicle has a rectangular riveted hull and what appears to be bogey type suspension. The tracks are a bit on the narrow side and both the front and rear wheels are sprockets. The flat faced turret houses a stubby, wide bored gun, and the cupola is square as well. In short, it looks like a box on a box on a box.

Ele looks over at it and shrugs, "A boxy one. With lots of bolts on it."

"Think you can walk to that tank? Or do I have to carry you there?"

"You can carry me, but it'll take a hella lot more to keep me from walking," She says, jogging over to it and climbing up on it. It seems to have lost most of it's paint and has a very thin layer of rust giving it an overall brownish appearance. More importantly, the price tag is within our limits. By a large margin in fact.

"It looks different than the others," Ele remarks, "This thing makes a Tiger look curvier than me."

"Huh. It's not in that bad of a condition actually. I think that there should be a small card on it somewhere that says what it is."

As it would have it, it's right in front of us, but in really tiny lettering so I wrap an arm around Ele's waist and leaned in close. "Tur….Turan II?"

I go ahead and read the rest of the cards contents. "Factory Built Replica. Built 1982, slightly used. Needs new breech block and gunsights, final drives possibly need refurbishing. Mildly worn interior. Fuel tank needs minor patching. Suspension is good but rusty.

Of course I knew from being around tanks long enough the tricks these dealers would pull, and so to me, 'slightly used' meant worn down until they had to mothball it, 'Needs new breech block and gunsights' likely meant the gun was going to need remilled, and 'final drives possibly need refurbishing' was an omen for a complete rebuild. And of course that 'mildly worn interior' meant the seats had all the leather gone and were now metal pans with little shreds of the cushions lingering in them, and to top it all off, the 'fuel tanks needing minor patching' was almost certain to mean that they were so full of holes the school's machine shop should have to mill us new ones or we'd have to buy some. Well, at least they were being predictable used tank salesmen.

"Turan?" Ele taps her chin, wiggling a little into my arm and wrapping her own arm over it, "Sounds Arabish. You think it's an Arab tank?"

"Don't think so. The Middle East didn't invent their own tanks until the 80s, more or less. Still, looks like the best one out of all the other tanks we've seen and it's for a decent price. Think we found the tank we've been looking for." I sigh mentally and decide to surrender to her, holding her slightly closer. "So what now?"

"Now you call your friends and find out if your girlies will like it so we can take this back and we can get this over with!" She throws her arms in the air. I gladly remove my arm from her and take out my cellphone, dialing Maggie who picks up seconds after.

"Hey Shaun, how's your date going?"

Ugh…

"Fine Mags. Listen, we found a Turan II. It's the least shite looking tank around for the price and it's a medium tank. That's pretty much all I know about it."

"Sounds great to me. I'll get Sammy to do some research on it while you're on your way back with it. How long do you think it'll take to fix it up fully?"

"Honestly? We're going to need to find a hell of a lot of parts or make them ourselves. Two weeks, and that is very, very optimistic."

"Alrighty, so work your magic and it should be up in one."

I sighed. "I'm not promising a miracle here but I'll try. See you later."

Hanging up, I looked over to Ele and rummaged around in my pocket. "Now we gotta hand this card over to them and get this hunk of junk back to the school."

"Alright, about time we got outta here" She leans up against me, trying to play it cool, which might have better achieved such an effect if she were the male and I the female.

"So, whatcha thinking about doing now?:

"...I was wondering what you were up to after this and wondered if you wanted to talk more about your accomplishments at your place?" Sometimes I curse myself for trying to be so nice to her. Oh well. Shouldn't be too bad.

"Finally you have come to your senses!" She cries, "Okay, so as I was saying, it was the high school volleyball championship game, right. And they have this really short player, like, I mean, she looked like she could be a grade schooler. Oh and she kinda looks like a dude, but don't tell her I said that cause we became hella tight after the match. She's the one I tried to get past first, but I learned she can jump her own height! It's really freaky to watch! So I try to go for their middle covered by this really big blonde chick, she's as tall as me but not as tan or ripped like I am, in fact she kinda looks more like a model than a volleyball player…." She begins rambling, dragging me along towards the dealer to make the purchase.

{Felicita}

My day at work at the student council was initially ordinary and uneventful, having nothing which deserved mention. However, after about an hour on the job, it came to my attention that one of our assistants was not operating at full capacity. Nobody else noticed, and that is not a mark against them for the signs this girl was working below her optimum level were highly subtle, almost undetectable in fact, but I was able to catch some of the small things. She more than once had to make multiple runs to shuttle paperwork back and forth, and when undertaking tasks she would leave out minor nuances or invert steps. Nor was this merely typical behavior of her, as I know all of the members of this council and its helpers and none of them perform with such lethargy and sloppiness without any reason.

I took it upon myself to find the root of the issue, and engaged the girl in discussion, hoping I could settle any issues. What I learned made me entirely content and even somewhat gratified to have struck up conversation with her.

I'm in my office now sitting in my desk, with the girl, enveloped in sobs and sniffles sitting directly across from me. She's a bit taller than me and a measure better in her bodily growth, but despite this she is still a freshman. Her eyes are stained red with tears as she finishes telling me the tale of how her parents have been brought to the brink of divorce.

"And so after your mother had ceased abusing your father she left the home?" I ask to clarify, offering her a tissue. There is a whole stack of used ones beside her already.

She blows her nose into it and nods once she is done, "Yes, that's it. A-And then I heard my Dad calling up this-" She inhales, "-I think it was… It was a legal firm. Yeah it was." She gulps and the bulge is visible in her throat as it travels down, "I don't know what to do, okay, and I'm scared I won't have a family anymore."

Family. It was something that was never an object of question to mine. Mine was what it was and that was that. I had never considered it so valuable though as to be in such a fit though. Perhaps though the value of it to her was more clear when its existence was at stake. Such thoughts as to the incongruencies of our personal paradigms on familial relations were entirely irrelevant of course. What was relevant was that a member of my unit was in need of assistance.

"Umiko, things at the moment may seem turbulent for you." I put a hand on her shoulder. I am told it is something done to calm down someone via physical presence. "But I assure you this crisis will not result in a total loss of your familial structure. I believe that if you stay strong you can provide positive influence to help keep the situation stable."

Umiko sniffles some more and wipes her eyes. "B-But how Madame President? Mom seems so angry nowadays and Dad just seems like he wants to lie down and let whatever happen."

"From what you described to me, your mother is likely in a hostile workplace environment, judging by her behavioral patterns since she made the move to this new job." I explain factually to her, "Thus I believe if you can sway her from this hazardous environment she will be more open to rebuilding her relations with you and your father."

I am no marriage counselor, no. In fact I am just going off total speculation made from the sobs and moans of a crisis stricken teenager. But I feel the need to provide an answer. I feel compelled to provide some logical, clear cut route to victory, even if there isn't one I can make from the information I have on me. One must always make a battle plan, even in the fog of war, where information is only reliable in regards to being late, inaccurate, speculative, and on top of all, unreliable.

Umiko looks up at me now, the tears have stopped flowing for the moment, "You really think so? You really think I could….could help that much?"

I nod affirmatively, "Indeed you can. Your mother has a reliable track record of making her actions in the name of helping you out, is this not correct?"

She nods. "Yes that is true. Ever since I can remember."

"Then lever that, make sure she knows that if she continues this path it will be destructive to you," I say. But as I finish the urge to provide her with assurance which I can actually follow up on arises, and I add, "If worse comes to worse however, as a member of the student council, the rest of us will be there to assist you and give provisions for you in case of a familial fallout."

"Y-You mean you'll help me out if my parents can't?" She asks.

"To the best of our abilities. We may be teens as yourself, but as the exemplary upper echelons of this school, we must do more for our students than others can," I explain, "And that includes helping out those in need such as yourself."

Umiko smiles softly at me. "Thanks madame president. I….I'm sorry I didn't bring this to someone sooner."

I remove my hand from her shoulder, content she has been stabilized. "I understand you feel the need to not let your problems burden others, but if your ability to work and function as a member of this team and as a person degrade due to your issues, you are burdening us with a far heavier burden than what you might have put upon us initially. See the counselor next time please."

"I will madame president! Thanks again, I really needed to get that off my chest," she says standing up and waving to me, heading out the door. As she leaves, I can't help but feel an odd… Premonition of sorts.

"Yoko, Miyuki," I call out to the doorway, "Come on in, I know you're out there." The two girls walk in, Miyuki composed as always but Yoko looked rather sheepish.

"It seemed appropriate to stay out of the room during your talk with Umiko," Miyuki explains, "We might have only interfered."

I nod at them, "I see. How much of the conversation did you hear?"

"Just the last half I think," Yoko said as she put her collection of papers on the table. "I thought you did a good job. It was… Sweet."

I cross my arms over my chest, "I-It was merely what any respectable professional would do. I am not sweet, I am ruthless, calculating and efficient!"

Yoko giggles. "Awww Feli, you're the cutest ruthless and efficient president ever. Looks at how rosey your cheeks are." She pinches those same cheeks playfully and even the prim and proper Miyuki is smirking at my expense.

I cringe a little at Yoko's pinching and growl under my breath. "I am anything but cute. I am imposing and commanding. And now I command you girls to sit down and talk business with me."

Yoko giggles and pats my head. "Okay, okay." She goes over to the table and sits down next to Miyuki, her broad smile still stretching from ear to ear.

I clear my throat and begin, "Anyways, the first thing I would like to discuss is getting the ship back in working order. Are we making any headway?"

Miyuki pushes up her glasses. "We have some of the boilers ready, most of the plumbing and mechanics have been restored; and the hull has been fully inspected. No real problems beyond getting the boilers up and fully functional."

"The real problem lies in keeping it all working once it is," Yoko says, "Even if the girls are trained, they don't have a lot of experience maintaining that machinery."

"Getting this ship running is the only way they'll learn," I sigh, "And of the hull? I assume it checks out structurally?"

"It's holding up pretty well but there are a lot of…." Miyuki paused. "It's basically become a reef. All those plants and animals are going to have to be removed and doing that for a ship as big as this is not easy or cheap. Still, if we substitute most of the work using the Naval Studies students, while simultaneously getting them their hours in submarines, I think we can pull it off without cost overruns."

"Very well," I nod, "I trust your expertise in the area, so make it so. On to other topics of discussion. Yoko, have you found any schools willing to do battle with us in a mock match?"

"Well I managed to get in touch with Corsair Girls High, Cossack Collegiate, and Ortona Girls School."

""Excellent. Did you manage to get a set of times they might be available?"

"Their schedules are pretty flexible, so they're leaving it more up to us, although a lot of them want free concert tickets in return for taking their time to fight us." She grimaces.

I tap my chin thoughtfully, "So I see. Well I suppose giving out a few dozen free concert tickets wouldn't harm our economy too much. Plus, there would be long term gains from the experience actual battle would bring. See if any are interested in battling this Friday and staying for the Saturday concert."

"Will do. I don't think they'll refuse with those free tickets. Speaking of which, how did the NS girls we chose for the team do? They were a bit nervous about it."

I bite my lip softly, "Well….they certainly didn't yield results for a lack of effort. To put it plainly they did struggle, but aside from one unfortunate mishap whilst learning the vehicle controls they performed acceptably in terms of beginners."

Miyuki sighs. "Well they can only get better from that I guess. So what's our next step?"

"Get them into real battles so they can learn and grow in tankery of course," I reply, "Thus our immediate next step is to begin skirmishing other schools like we are planning now. As for in the future… I have looked at this years tournament roster and I don't think we'll be ready to go in time for the nationals."

Yoko shrugs. "Well, no need to worry about it then. I think that might be too much pressure for those girls anyway. Later I might be able to get the paper to start doing some articles on Tankery to help generate more interest."

"Very well then, inform me if we manage to get any coverage. I think that covers the issue of tankery," I say, standing up, "Thank you for your time ladies. You may go about any other business you may have."

Miyuki stands up. "I think that's all I have. I have to go back and check on the restoration and seeing about getting the girls more training."

"I'd better go with her," Yoko says, "I don't have anything else to say except: keep up the good work, madame president." She grins and adds, "You adorable little thing." She giggles and then promptly leaves the room.

Miyuki shakes her head. "She's pushing it. Like always."

I nod curtly, "Indeed she is! Calling her president such things! The nerve!"

"Well at least it's done affectionately. I'll try and convince her to lay off it a bit. But knowing her, I don't think it will do any good. Good day, madame president." She bowed and then left the room with her papers against her chest.

I sit down and let out a soft huff, chiding myself for taking the teasing so childishly and with such impudence. I am better than that, and I certainly don't care what they think of me anyways! Not one bit. All I care about is the work!

Later, I'm cleaning up my office getting ready to call it a work day, when my phone rings. Noticing it's Yoko, I pick up and answer.

"Hello? What is it Yoko?"

"Just letting you know that Corsair Girls has accepted the invite. They'll be ready on Friday and are looking forward to Saturday's concert."

"Alright, thank you Yoko," I reply, "I will be sure to inform the tankery team. Have a pleasant evening."

"You too." She hangs up. I slip my phone in my pocket as I head back to my dorm, anticipating my first chance to prove our team in battle.

Now it's the day before the match and I am directing workflow expertly, when I receive one of the many phone calls I am to receive over the course of the day. This one is not from a fellow council member or one of the many students working in support of us, rather, it seems to be from Maggie MacBheatha, the leader of the transfer students from Scotland.

"Hello?" I answer as I hold up the phone my ear.

"What's this about leaving us out of the upcoming battle, eh?" She caustically asks, "I've had Shaun busting his arse since getting our tank getting it fixed up and you decide not to wait until we're ready?"

I sigh away from the phone. It seems the temper of Scots was far more than just a national stereotype.

"Look, I wanted you there as much as you did, believe me. Our team needs a solid medium tank and a good fighting crew," I explain, "But even disregarding Shaun's efforts, the new breech block and HEAT ammunition still aren't due for another week. And these newer crews need a baptism of fire."

"...Aye, that is true. We're just eager to be back in the game's all. We've had a rough past year. I cannae say for certain that the other girls'll be as calm about this as I, especially Tosh and Falkner. Particularly Falkner."

"Try your best to keep them reigned in," I reply, "And we'll do our best to get you your provisions. I suppose an apology for not taking your application seriously is in order, in regards to it being a catalyst for most of what is transpiring. I apologize profusely for the mistake."

"Tch. It's not the worst that's happened to us. We'll be watching the sport then. Nothing scheduled for us to do anyways. Oh, did ya need us to provide you with a name for us?"

"If you wish. Currently we are using a numerical system to distinguish between teams, though a name is not forbidden."

"Cu-Sith. Imagine a wolf the size of a bull, dark green shaggy coat with a long braided tail and paws as wide as a man's hand. It's a harbinger of death in the Highlands; a Hellhound."

"Well you certainly aren't coming up short on the psychological side of warfare," I remark, "Feel free to use it as your moniker. And do feel free to apply that wonderful mentality of yours towards other forms of intimidation tactics."

"Will do. Well, better break it to the other lasses. If you see Tosh and her hands are bandaged, it's from her punching something really, really hard, so don't be too freaked out by it. Lass wants to be a bare-knuckle boxer."

"That's quite the aspiration. Reminds me of my loader. Perhaps they'll meet at some point. I better get going, my life is a busy one."

"I'll be seeing you later."

[Yuki]

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," Yunko chants at me, "We need to get to the hangar! You're too slow Yuki!"

"Yunko!" I plead as she pushes me along the route to the hangars, "Getting there faster will not make it begin any sooner!"

"But I wanna get there faster anyway!" She whines. "I don't wanna miss anything!"

I don't get what she is up about. It's only a practice match, and we can see the hangars by this point. I point them out to her and shout, "Hey Yunko look, hangars! We're here!"

"It doesn't count unless we're in it and you're not yet!"

Hikari laughed from behind me. "Awww, she's all excited. This'll be our first match after all. You nervous Yuki?"

"About the match?" I ask, "Not really, I mean we seem to have this whole tanking thing down pretty good. But…" I sigh and trail off.

"But you're worried about getting caught? Think you'll end up like Mulan if this all goes south?"

"Yuki's not Chinese" Yunko protested.

"That's not the point Yunko." Hikari sighs.

"It's not getting caught. Well, it partially is, but that fear is in everything I do now, it's not just related to tankery," I tap my fingers together, "It's having expectations. Before nobody believed I could do anything, but now the president thinks I'm the gem of the tankery team. Now I'm worried about living up to standards."

"Just do what I do and turn off your brain," Yunko suggests.

"I think you should try turning it on first," Hikari snipped, "Yuki, just do your best. I have no doubt that we'll do better than all the noobs on our team. If you're still nervous, then ask your precious president for a good-luck kiss."

I laugh softly, "I don't think she's the kind of girl who gives out kisses, but that's a nice thought." Even though I say that, the thought of such enters my head anyways, and I bet my cheeks are rosy too, having seen enough anime. Thankfully, we arrive at the hagars before Yunko's teasing can confirm any blush of mine, and she bolts off to get a front row seat to the upcoming action.

Suddenly, a loud snap from the entrance of the hanger, its sound is cold and crisp as it rings out. I see the president move to find the source and I follow her curiously to see where it leads. Leaning on one of the walls is a figure, dressed in light olive clothing, with what appears to be an outer vest or jacket dangles a bit as she put her arm down. The President approaches her and greets her.

"Hello Ma'am, I am Felicita Yamaguchi representing Sabaton High School. Are you the representative of Corsair Girls High School?" She only smacks her lips and turns her head, medium-length brown hair waving with it. Only giving us a smile as she straightens her posture.

"I don't have time for games," Felicita puts her hands on her hips, "Do we have a match or not?"

All she does is raise her hand, snapping once more and her grin widens even more so. "Depends, are you ready? I've heard your teams were only newly formed." She reaches back into her pockets.

Felicita sighs, "Did you not get the point of this match? We need combat experience. You're here to battle us and provide it, and you'll get those free tickets you wanted."

"I'm sure the others will appreciate the tickets… But, show me your vehicles first, I want to examine your tanks."

The president crosses her arms, a bit miffed at the request it seems but she still gestures them to the Panzer IIs parked in this particular hangar. "Well as you can see here, we have two Panzer II Ausf G light tanks." She takes her through each of the hangars and shows them our lineup, being careful not to let them get too close. I chuckle to myself at this. Felicita sure was paranoid about one girl in full view of the entire team doing something.

"I think that settles it then, we'll match your numbers quite well with our own tanks." The olive clad lass took out a card from her pocket and handed it to her, held between two fingers. "My card if you will."

Felicita takes it and examines it, "Aika Narumi. Nickname Kelly. Lead Commander." She hands the card back, "Well then Kelly, I suppose you brought the rest of your team along with you?"

"Yeah," Ele chimes in, "Would be a shame if you were the only one to get your ticket." Aika turned her head in the direction of the grounds.

"Of course the rest of us are here, they're already out there. Get your Stridvagn warmed up, I want to face it myself." She turned around and started to slowly walk out into the light. "Tell Shimada I said hello."

Felicitia scratches her head, "'I'll do that."

As the the strange commander walks away from us more people begin to arrive at the garage. Once the teams are gathered the president calls us up to a small table outside the hangars where she has a map laid out and begins explaining the battle plans, though only about half of us are actually paying attention.

"Their lineup consists of a Sherman M4A3 with the 76mm main cannon, an M10A1 Wolverine tank destroyer, another Sherman, this one armed with the 75mm shorter barreled gun, and three M2A4 light tanks, armed with light 37mm weapons. Overall they outweigh our firepower, but do not surpass our mobility which is what we must have the most of."

"Shermans aren't exactly known for being slow though" Hikari comments.

"They are compared to us," Yunko jeers, nudging us.

"I believe that we can best employ our assets by having our own light tanks stay away from engaging the Shermans and instead try to engage their scout force to keep their eyes busy, or better yet, destroyed. My vehicle shall use it's superior gun depression to try and engage the Shermans from an ambush position. If we land a hit we can knock at least one out and even the odds."

A hand rises from the back of the crowd and a small voice which sounds strained and nervous speaks up. "Uh… Madame Felicita President Ma'am, what will we be doing?"

Felicita peers into the crowd trying to spot who spoke. "Who is that? Speak up will you?"

This time the voice comes back a little louder, "I-It's the Naval Studies team. W-what would you like us to do?"

"Stay along one of the main pathways and stay in bushes and other cover. Stay concealed… As best as your… Ahem… Colorings will allow. We'll direct you to ambush spots as it becomes viable" She gestures back to the map. "Our training grounds are an 800 by 2100 meter zone. Be careful not to fall off the side. Any more questions?"

"Any idea what their fighting style is like?" Hikari asks.

"They seem to draw their tactics from aircraft since this is a school more famous for its aviation program. The Corsair in their name refers to the US World War Two aircraft which is their plane of choice for the bulk of their aerial forces. They thus operate focusing on keeping formation and maintaining tight discipline among squadrons much as an aerial force would."

"So they're basically gonna try staying together? How are we gonna use our tactics if we can't separate them?"

"We'll try to engage each of them separately and force them to draw apart. They cannot stay together if we engage them all from different angles."

"What if they just form a defensive circle," Illaria points out, "Like a herd of buffalo?"

"Then we'll encircle them and pick them off firing from cover," Felicita answered, "But a school which bases its doctrines on aircraft is unlikely to employ static defense. Aircraft can't stop without landing. Any more questions?"

There is a silence among us and Felicita rolls the map up. "In that case get to your vehicles and follow me to the starting point."

"Well this is it," I say as we climb into the BT-7, "This is our chance to show what we're worth. I think I'm getting butterflies again." And indeed I am, I feel my stomach tingling with excitement. My lifelong dream of fighting in tanks was finally here. We weren't just driving the BT-7 anymore, we were taking her out to battle, a fiery waltz of shells, dirt and steel.

"I hope we can at least put up a fight," Hikari says, "Speaking for the whole team, that is."

"As long as we do well, everything's fine" Yunko laughs from the drivers position.

I grin a little as I feel the engine surge to life. My whole life, I had been told a boy in a tank was so wrong, and this just felt too right for words.

"Alright! Yunko, let's a gooo!" I shout, then sigh, realizing that sounded far too cheesy, "Alright, that sounds dumb. We're going to need to work on a catch phrase."

{Illaria}

I make sure my glasses are secure on my face for the tenth or so time today as I start the engine. My heart skips a beat as the power source comes to life, rumbling our little bobblehead tank. This was too cool! Getting to drive a real piece of Swedish history, on top of getting to meet all sorts of new people. It's all so new and exciting for me!

"So uh….are we going to say something cool before we move out?" Ele, my ever faithful, if somewhat airy headed best friend, says, "Like a lot of schools have a battle cry they say before moving out, and we can't be left out of the cool kids club. We are the fucking cool kids club!"

Our commander and president Felicita taps her chin in thought. "Well if my Swedish skills are correct, some of the more classical Swedish battle cries would be 'För Svea Rike' and 'För Kung och Fosterland!'."

"The first one has a nice ring," Ele remarks, "What do you think Lari-chan?"

I smile a bit at her continued use of our childhood monikers for each other. "Well if I recall correctly, the Swedish Army often refrained from battle cries to maintain stealth. This and other practices earned them a reputation as demons among the Russians, for their silent attacks from the fog."

"So our cool battlecry…" Ele scratches her head, "Is having no battle cry at all cause that's scarier? Fuck, I like it!"

"In such a case I shall move our forces out with a simple command," Felicita says, picking up the radio and switching to a universal frequency, "Framat!"

(Flanders)

"How do I-" I stared at the map intensely, unable to decipher it. "I can't read this, I give up." Crumpling up the map and tossing it back into the crew compartment, I leaned back.

"Flanders… You didn't have to do that," My driver, Lux, uttered out the words quietly. She was too shy for her own good.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, not like we need a map when we have our leader to follow." I looked through the gunner's sight and watched the rear of Eureka's Panzer II. "Just keep on her and we'll be fine, it's not like she can't read a map either."

Komo

I stared at the map and all it's oddly shaped circles with numbers and was some kind of colour coded. I couldn't fathom it at all and could just barely make out where the roads were.

"Were you able to make sense of that map?" Rei asks from the driver's position. "I'm just following the other small tanks in front of us."

I stand up and look through the top hatch, watching the grey clad tanks in front of us and I was more than a little irked that I couldn't read the map but they seemed to be able to. Our own blue 14TP, which Rei was already calling 'Genie', was easily keeping pace with them, so I didn't think we'd have trouble keeping up with them and I certainly didn't think Rei was any less capable a driver, certainly better at that then I was at map reading.

"If they're going to the same place we are then just follow them. I'll try to figure out where the enemies might come from."

"Is it right to call them enemies when this is just a sport?"

"It's based on war, so it's the same thing. Try and take this seriously, Rei."

"Sorry," she replied weakly.

I sighed inwardly. I didn't like to berate her, especially when she was my dearest companion. I had a bad habit of taking my anger and frustration out on her and I hated that. "Well, let's keep going. Things should still turn out okay."

(Eureka)

"So how do I?" I turned map around and with different angles. It wasn't like the help inside the tank was helping me either. All I could really make out was that there grass, roads and trees, very helpful if I needed to paint. "Screw it, Eclair, we're winging it."

"Improv? I like it, fun times too!" I could hear the giddie in her voice, it only slightly highered the pitch. No doubt about it, Eclair was an escaped insane asylum prisoner and I was friends with her. I'm surprised we haven't crashed or died ever since she took up the wheel.

Suddenly, there was a loud screech that occurred behind us, I took a look behind us from the turret. Oh boy, this wasn't good, the 14TP accompanying us rolled over and died. There were plumes of smoke blowing from the engine. No matter, we had to keep going, with them or not, we were recon after all.

"Yes, fun times, we'll see what happens when we get to it I suppose." I set aside the hatch from my hand and looked out into the open in front of us. We were coming up on some foliage, somewhat thick at least, it appeared to border a road. "Into the brush, stop in it though, we don't need to move any further."

"Yes ma'am~!" We parked in the brush, hiding in it, the bushes slightly pushed aside. I watched the horizon, there was quite a bit of dirt being kicked up in the distance. It was clear where the enemy team was, there weren't any of our own tanks out there.

"Recee to Main, I think we found our friends, the Corsairs."

"Good work," Felicita's voice comes over the radio, "You're a bit early but I suppose that means you must have done an extra sharp job on reconnaissance. Now just stay hidden and report their position until we have the ambush set up."

Hehe, I always like to have praise about myself, I practically live on it. Except, I don't, which means everything I just thought was invalid. Apparently, I was so full of myself that I tried to pull my leg up to get out onto the turret and relax.

But, knowing my luck, it just so happened that my foot knocked into the firing mechanism. What do you know, it sent a 20mm round, not even armor piercing, it was tracers for firing guidance. It flung out into the open, its green glow for all to see and its firing sound echoing. "Oh shi-" I quickly ducked back into the turret and signaled Eclair to get us out of here.

As if that wasn't enough, looking out one of our viewports I see the 14TP come roaring back, their voices announcing their triumphant return over the radio, which quickly turns sour as they ram into the back of Flander's tank and shove it out into the open, where it is greeted by a hail of near misses from the Corsairs guns.

"Oh for-" I calmed myself I ordered the others to reorganize, hoping we could salvage we left we had of the plan. "Recee to Main, we've been foiled, you think we could place the ambush elsewhere?"

There is a short pause before we get a response, "You've been detected? We'll move the ambush up closer to you, try to keep them busy for now, but don't go risking yourselves."

Risk? Oh boy, that's the last word you say around Flanders, having her around puts everyone at risk. As long as she doesn't get pissed off, we should all come back in one piece. But there's always that one thing, and by one thing, I meant a barrage of rounds flying over our heads.

"Keep the tank steady, Eclair!"

"Steady? If anything, you should steady yourself, friend." Again, I don't understand that girl, at all to be honest. Our Panzer II was skipping over the grass, pursued by at least a detachment size of tanks. I wasn't sure how much longer it would last, not our safety, Flander's temper of course.

"Balls to this!" Then, I just heard the demon, no, devil break loose from Flander's voice. I took a look outside the tank and back at her tank. It veered off its path, no doubt a scared Lux doing what she said.

It came to a complete turn and began to charge down the formation behind us, firing their main cannon all the way. "Keep moving guys." Once Flanders gets started, there's no stopping her at all. They directly slammed themselves into the M10, god forbid the black magic she uses to get them there.

It certainly stopped it as they rotated the turret and pumped a M2 with shells before being knocked out themselves by a shot from the M10 they were facehugging. Naturally, I turned off the radio for a moment, expecting Flanders to make her 'report' as usual.

[Yuki]

I take a look at our map as we arrive at the next road junction, and from my notes on Felicita's battle plan am able to discern that we should go right at this for to get to our intended position. I give Yunko a gentle tap on the right shoulder and the tank shifts that way and begins to move.

"Looks like we're making good time," I remark to Hikari as we tread along the dirt path, "I hope everyone else didn't wreck their tanks already."

"They've gotten better since we first started. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to teach them any soft skills. Hope they can read the maps."

"Yeah…." I pop the hatch open look around to do a quick spotting check. Nothing at the moment. Just then, my radio crackles to life.

"Yuki!" Comes the voice of the president over the radio, "Yuki pick up, we have a problem!"

I pick up the mouthpiece and speak in return, "Miss Yamaguchi? What's the matter?"

"The other elements of our light force have been spotted and have enemy units in pursuit!" She informs me. I shake my head a bit.

"How did that happen?" I ask slightly frantically. But seriously, this was home turf, on top of all of them being in small, hard to spot tanks. How the hell did they manage that so quickly?

"I'm still working on discerning that!" She replies hastily, "At the moment though I want you to move in and try to interfere, draw some of their units off our forces."

"Well where are they?" I ask back.

"Not entirely sure, but it's a small area. Try- Hold one a second," she says, the radio going out for a quick moment, "From what they're saying I'd say try moving to sector G7 where the bridge is to catch them."

"Will do Madame President, over and out." I say and hang up.

"Alright guys, time to make something of ourselves!" I cry, "Yunko, full speed ahead!" I yell adding a foot command for hard left to put us on track to the designated area. The BT-7 lurches as all 450 horsepower kicks in and the delightful little light tank begins accelerating towards its top speed, the bumps we travel over thrashing us harder with every second we spend accelerating.

"So gung ho after one call from your precious president?" Hikari asks with a coy smirk.

"Hikari, this is a chance to be accepted, to make a critical difference!" I tell her, "I mean, practice is good and all but this is our first real fight!"

She laughs and punches me lightly in the shoulder. "Relax Yuki, I was just teasin ya. C'mon, let's show em all what we're made of!"

Within a few minutes we come over a hilltop overlooking the bridge Felicita directed us to. Sure enough, 2 M2A4 light tanks and an M10 tank destroyer are hot in pursuit of our Panzer IIs and 14TP. No, make that Panzer II, singular, as the other one is missing. I assume it was destroyed, given what I had learned about its commander.

"Hikari, fire three shots, 2 seconds between firing. Aim for their M10."

Hikari aims for the side of the turret on the M10, hoping to at least shake up the crew if they couldn't penetrate the armour from this distance. She pulls the firing lever and our little tank sneezes a 45mm shell out of it's stubby cannon and two seconds later once she reloads the gun, she fires again. The first shell falls low and glanced the front fender, but the second is a direct impact on the side of the turret. Closer up and it might have penetrated, but as it is, it just detonates before a full penetration. The smoke from the tiny shell doesn't take long to clear, and when it does the M10 has came to a stop and I'm looking down the barrel of the 75mm AT gun via my stubby periscope. The two other enemy tanks and our allies are gone, having sped away in their high speed chase.

"Yunko, get us off this hill!" I order at the top of my lungs. Yunko slams the tank into full reverse and slides the tank backwards and down the opposite slope as a shells whistles over us.

"Alright, we got their attention, now let's see if we can't bring that hulking thing down," I yell, "Hikari, hold your fire until we get a flat shot at their rear. Yunko, see that little dip in the hill? Go through that and once we're exposed to them again I want you to weave as much as possible."

"Nothin' easier," She yells back. She guns the throttle and sprints the tiny tank through the small notch in the hillside and then waited a few tense heartbeats before yanking it into a sharp left turn. A shell slams into the earth where we had been a second before and she keep weaving and dodging, avoiding fire as we close in on them.

Soon we are able to avoid the gun, as the M10's notoriously slow turret traverse prevents them from tracking us close in. We managed to slip behind them as we close to under 50 meters but we have to keep moving to stay behind them as they try to turn their hull to aid in their turret traverse. Their turret is halfway in it's turn to bear on us when we finally get a flat angle shot on their rear.

Hikari takes a deep breath and fires once more, planting a shot square into the engine compartment. The tiny shell makes a small flash in the back of the tank, and a small white flag pops up next to the gun holder on the back "We got it!" She cries.

"That's one down!" I hi five her with a huge grin. Alright, we'd evened the odds a little.

"Let's keep it up," I tell Hikari, "Let's see if we can't catch back up with the others, hopefully they're doing better now that we've got some of the pressure off them."

To be continued... Dun Dun Dun!