1800: Smolensk command center; Mayor Borzov's office

All six of us were called into Mayor Borzov's office just hours after the debriefing "Your promotion has been approved," Borzov told us.

"So fast?" Katerina asked, incredulous. The overworked military bureaucracy was infamous for slow responses.

"We desperately need both you and your vehicles so the request was sent with high priority. Command saw the logic and approved. That or they just wanted to shut us up but I didn't say that." We all had a laugh at that one. "Anyway," Borzov continued, "you are both being assigned to T-46's. they are pretty well upgraded but there is a slight complication. The garage manager will explain more."

"Tank you sir!" Katerina and I both said.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Borzov interjected before we could leave. "All of you are also promoted by one rank. Starshiny Serzhent for the commanders and Mlashdy Serzhent for the crews."

"Thank you sir!" said all six of us this time.

"You should go to the garage now. Dismissed!"

"Yes sir!" We all stood and saluted before heading out.

1810 Smolensk Command center; maintenance hangar

Walking into the maintenance, by eyes were immediately drawn to a large tank sitig in the corner. The strange vehicle had a rounded turret with what looked like a T-34-85 gun and a very solid looking front end tapered slightly towards the driver's viewport. "I see you noticed the IS-1," said someone.

"Who are you?" I questioned.

"Viktor Tzarnov, garage manager" the mysterious figure responded, stepping into view. "That tank you are admiring is a failure, by the way. It was supposed to be a tier 7 capable of facing off against a Tiger, but the 85mm gun isn't strong enough for the job. We are currently developing the IS-2, a similar chassis with a variant of the 122mm A-19 field gun."

I passed for a moment, imagining what it would be like to command such a monster. "My name is Starshiny Serzhent Dimitry Konavalov, and this is my comrade, Starshiny Serzhent Katerina Ramius," I told him, pushing the distracting thought away for the time being. "We were told to talk to you about acquiring new tanks.

"The heroes of Smolensk!" Viktor said to us, beaming. "Mayor Borzov told me about you. There is a slight complication. We have two T-46's ready for you, both upgraded partly, but they are not the same. One has a more powerful engine snagged off a prototype, but it is so heavy we had to use a 37mm autocannon to avoid overloading the suspension. The other has a slightly weaker engine, but packs a more potent 45mm gun."

"I'll take the one with the better engine, I didn't particularly enjoy just chasing you around last battle," Katerina said with a laugh.

"Maybe if you had some initiative that wouldn't have happened," I joked back.

At that moment Viktor jumped in. "I hate to break up this unfolded lie story, but I need to get this done and take care of other things."

"Very well," I said. "I'm taking the one with the 47mm. Put that in stall 22. The other goes in stall 23."

"I'll have someone take them over right away," Viktor said to us.

"Thanks," I told him. See ya around."

"Later!"

"Come on Kat. We're late for dinner," I said, walking away.


AN: A little bit more exposition but I had to explain some things. Again, this is split for coherence, one more to go tonight.