Well hey guys, here's another delayed chapter, I was expecting to get this out earlier, but due to the changes I implemented taking longer than expected (which are coming out along with this chapter, and I do advise reading back through them to familiarize yourself with Lupo teams new ride) and procrastination, this chapter was delayed as a result…
Also, College decided to throw a bunch of work at me, yeah, that was fun… not.
I'm also humbled by the fact despite these delays, you all are still here, I do praise you all for your continued support and are a major factor why this project got as far as it has,
With that, now the reviews…
1: Nice chapter loved how you explained the history of the ETA plus can't wait for the next news report also maybe they could get Shino to have her on the show but she will only voice her own opinions on the matter also she makes a threatening statement to all boys who attempted to get close to her daughters especially the one close to Miho but the news feed gets cut before she could rant on.
Also for St Gloriana new toys and this is just some guess they are a Comet, Cromwell, Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger, Excelsoir, Churchill Gun Carrier, Black Prince, Valentine or the Archer, Achilles and the Tortuous and for Cold War Tanks say the Conqueror or a Centurion.
For Chi-Ha-Tan maybe either the Type 91 Heavy, Type 3 Chi-Nu, Type 4 Chi-To, Type 5 Chi-Ri, which is my favourite Japanese Tank in World of Tanks Blitz and for Cold War Tanks say the STA-1 and the Type 61.
Well I do have some Shiho rants planned for Taiga and Ragnar to deal with :-), also some of those tanks you listed will make an appearance,
2: I like it, but I've got a question though, how old are these boys exactly? because It seems they're a bit shorter than I expect from the average height for male in Europe. (Well I'm not from Europe or even near Europe, but I do know their average height for male and female). Nonetheless Keep it up!
I am aware that the average height for Europeans is higher compared to the Japanese, the reason why the boy volunteers are mostly the same height as the Ooarai girls is really just to keep them on the same level, and not make them too dominant, I do however make reference to this average height difference (case and point being Katarina, who is six bloody feet tall), also these boys are equivalent to second-year students, exception being Douglas who is a first-year, being Ronald's younger brother, I hope that answered your query.
3: If you need to change something then that's ok.
Also since December is coming up in two months have ever considered a Christmas special chapter to show the girls how the boys celebrate Christmas in there respected countries plus some shenanigans and comedy or are you just focusing on the tournament.
But still hope the changes you made will satisfy you
I was thinking of doing a Christmas special, but due to time constraints, and also feeling I haven't fleshed out this project enough, I sadly have to trash that idea for this year, maybe I'll do something over the summer, I don't know, time is a luxury for me at the moment.
4: Instead of throwing this story away, why don't you fix the plotholes by using what so called as "connector" to bridge the gap. In some of my stories, I sometimes realized that large uniformed problems could be addressed faster than lingering in small one by one details.
Beside, a part of being in GuP universe means you don't have to strictly limit yourself in the historical realism. If you want to use something, then use it, and build connector on why you have to do that. This is, after all, not a real world, though lamented by many historical references.
Yeah, I may have over-exaggerated that point, their less in terms of plot-holes but more in terms of mild-inconsistencies, but I will take in what you suggested, as I have a tendency of being too specific in certain situations where its not needed, also I see you understand my vision of the GuP universe, it has nice historical references, but overall, it was never intended to be super-realistic (if it was, it would not have even gotten past the first manga release if you ask me) and allows for some ridiculous and crazy stuff to happen, thanks for being understanding and thanks for the advice!
And now, here comes the chapter
砂漠の戦い！- Desert Fight! (Pravda vs. St. Gloriana)
The high noon sun was now beating down on the sand of the desert, the air was light and the sand was searing hot, the desert area was rather large on the map, being in a slight depression and was surrounded by brown cliffs which served to keep the hot air swirling around the area, keeping the area hot compared to the other areas of the map,
And in the middle of this desert was Pravda, and it was pretty safe to say, they were way out of their element.
In the lead T-34-85 was a hot, sweltering Katyusha, wearing her tanker cap, the inside of the tanks felt like a hot, humid sweatbox with the desert heat outside, she had her jumpsuit opened up from the front, exposing the red shirt she wore underneath in an effort to stay cool, but sweat was still coming off her body and making a visible patch near the neck area of her red shirt.
Her crew where also in a similar dress state, her gunner for example having taken her black vest off and opened up her green jacket underneath.
Katyusha was panting like a dog, trying to stay cool, "Guh, Katyusha is hot" she said to herself as she pushed up the hatches on her cupola, trying to get some fresh air, the hatches opened, and she scrunched up her eyes as the blinding sun filled her view,
She stood up and took a look around as the wind rushed through her hair due to the moving vehicle, with it and the formation going across the sun-soaked sand, she looked behind and saw Nonna's IS-2 just behind her, and behind that was Klara's T-34-85, to Katyusha's front was one of their new tanks, a KV-4 heavy tank, specifically the version designed by N. L. Dukhov, armed with a 107 mm ZiS-6 cannon, and a smaller 45 mm coaxial gun in the mantlet, in front of that was a T-34-76 leading the pack, there were three tanks to the left of Katyusha's vehicle, the centre one was Nina and Alina's KV-2, in front was a T-34-57, which used to be one of their T-34-76's, only before Pravda had replaced its 76 mm gun with a 57 mm ZiS-4M gun in its 1943 turret, improving its anti-tank capabilities, behind the KV-2 was another new tank, an ASU-85 air portable tank destroyer, this formation was mirrored on Katyusha's right, at the front was Pravda's final new tank, a T-44-100 prototype, armed with a large 100 mm gun and Schürzen side skirts, behind that was the last T-34-76 and at the back of the column was a single T-70 light tank.
Katyusha reached down and picked up her radio's microphone, "Nonna, what's your condition?" she questioned,
In the IS-2, Nonna had her uniform opened up at the front, including the top of her red undershirt exposing a bit of her cleavage, she even had the IS-2's manual in her hand, flapping it in her face in an effort to keep cool, "I'm fine Katyusha, just a bit warm" she smiled, "what about you Klara?" Katyusha continued on the radio.
"I'm okay too Miss Katyusha" Klara responded in her T-34-85, having taken her black vest and green jacket completely off and being only in her red turtleneck undershirt.
"It's really hot commander, do we have to go straight through a desert?" the commander of one of the T-34-76's complained over the radio, "are you questioning Katyusha's wise tactical choices!? You better push through this heat or Katyusha will do it herself!" Katyusha snapped back at the complaining commander.
"Why did Katyusha, knowing we're better acclimated to cold, push us straight into a desert?" Nina asked Alina in the KV-2, "I don't know but it's probably because she doesn't know what she's doing" Alina replied to her comment, but they didn't realise their radio was turned on…
"I HEARD THAT!" Katyusha yelled across the airwaves to that insult, with Nina and Alina shrieking to the shock, then Katyusha huffed, "It seems you all forgot how Katyusha's glorious plan worked" she shamed, "could you run it by us again commander?" the commander of the ASU-85 questioned.
"These harsh and uncomfortable conditions in this desert mean that no team would have the guts to travel into it, which means that the depot in the middle of the area is ripe for the taking by us" she proceeded to explain, "I can see where you're coming from commander" Klara understood her plan, "y-yeah, us too" Nina stammered, trying to repair the situation between her and the commander.
Katyusha was then however interrupted by the sound of hissing coming from the rear of the tank, "huh? What's wrong?" she questioned the sound, "engine coolants overheating commander" her driver called up through the tank, "again? Urgh!" Katyusha grumbled in frustration.
"Katyusha's engine is overheating again, all tanks pull up and stop, I will give twenty minutes for your engines to cool and for you all to get rest, use it wisely" she ordered.
The T-70 was the last tank to turn its engine off after pulling up, all the tanks where now parked in a line as all the crew members were walking around them.
"Look at all of this sand, maybe we could make a sandcastle" Nina said joyfully when hopping off the KV-2's engine deck, "I don't know, I mean we aren't on a beach and we need to save our water" Alina replied, "that won't stop me" the other one vowed, reaching down to pick up some sand, but a millisecond after sinking her bare hands in, she recoiled and sharply pulled them out, flapping them around like they were on fire, as the hot sand had burnt her fingers, "ARGH! HOT! HOT!" she cried, Alina just giggled, "you do realize that this is a desert, where you know, it's hot" she pointed out the obvious, "Not funny Alina!" Nina whined back.
Katyusha was stood on her T-34-85's engine deck, looking proudly over all of her team, she saw Klara giving out water bottles to the team, while some crew members were taking water out of the external fuel tanks on some of the vehicles (they had been repurposed to carry water instead of fuel for the mission) to fill the cooling systems of the tanks,
"Miss Klara, should we put sunscreen on since where now in the hot sun?" a crew member asked the woman of that name who was walking nearby, "that is actually a good point" she replied, with Katyusha overhearing that and reminding her of the dangers of the sun, "oh, that reminds me, Katyusha will advise you all to put sunscreen on, don't come crying to me if you get sunburnt" she ordered, but what she didn't notice was Nonna coming up behind her, with a bottle of sunscreen and cream on her free hand, she pulled Katyusha back and bit and then slapped the cream on her face, "that includes you Katyusha" she cooed, "mmph! No-na!" the commander whined as her face was attacked by Nonna's hand, nearby, Alina who had put some cream on her hand then looked at Nina, as a joke she then tried to slap it on Nina's face, but Nina caught her hand and pushed it back, and Alina ended up slapping her own face, and covering it in sunscreen, Nina laughed as Alina aimed the bottle of sunscreen in her other hand and squeezed, "eep!" Nina exclaimed as her face was covered by a stream of cold-feeling sunscreen.
Ten minutes had passed after the sunscreen fiasco, many of the crewmembers had laid tarp under the tanks and had taken shelter underneath the shadow of the vehicles, the commander of the T-44-100, with some other crew members gathered around, had even pulled up one of the Schürzen panels till it was perpendicular to the ground, holding it up with a stick, and was cooking a few makeshift Pravda ration S'mores on it as the sun's rays had heated up the metal quite substantially.
"Are you absolutely sure that there's no-one else here commander?" Nina asked in worry, since they were in a pretty defenceless position, "you can trust Katyusha, the desert heat would have repulsed any other team, as they couldn't take the heat, except for us" Katyusha reassured with a boast, Nina rolled her eyes a bit as she still wasn't fully convinced, "also, where's Nonna and Klara?" Katyusha then asked, "I think they're around the back of the IS-2" Nina theorised, Katyusha then walked other to the tank in question, and after walking around to the other side, she was surprised by the sight.
Both Nonna and Klara where laid out on pieces of tarp, wearing only bikinis as their clothes were in a pile nearby, Klara in a blue one while Nonna was wearing red, "wha? Why are you two sunbathing, and where did you get that swimwear from!?" Katyusha spat out in surprise, "oh, we were wearing these under our uniforms expecting the heat, we couldn't turn down the opportunity to relax in the sun" Klara mentioned, "would you like to join us Katyusha?" Nonna kindly offered, "Katyusha would if she had swimwear, but Katyusha doesn't since where in a desert and not on a beach" Katyusha flatly replied, "by the way, why is there even a desert here?" Klara asked about the area's existence,
"This whole map for the tournament use to be a JSDF created tank testing ground, with all different environmental conditions to test vehicles, they made all these different areas with different climates, the snowy plateaus in the north where our base is located and the deserts which we are in right now, the JSF did take this all over and add a few cities and buildings, and when the ETA suggested this tournament, this was the perfect place to have it" Nonna explained, having a bit of knowledge of the history of these grounds,
"But I may admit, I still don't know how they managed to create a desert in the climate of Japan" Nonna sighed a bit, "well that doesn't matter, no matter how hot it gets, we shall smash through this desert like the Russians in Afghanistan!" Katyusha then boasted, Klara shook her head, "Ya ne dumayu, chto ona ponimayet, kak zakonchilas' voyna" she said to Nonna, "mozhet, ona khochet, chtoby u nas byla neudacha" Nonna chucked in return, their words echoing the words of Hippo team during their united match against All-Stars.
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU!? NO RUSSIAN!" Katyusha predictably snapped at them.
Another ten minutes had passed, and the tanks where now cooled off and in a state to get moving again, with everyone back in their respected vehicles (and after Nonna and Klara put their clothes back on), the Pravda armour column got moving again, driving through the gaps of the large, rolling sand dunes.
After more driving, Katyusha looked at her map, and saw they must be getting close to the depot they were after, "we are now close to the depot, should be over this next dune" she informed over the radio, the lead T-34-76 crossed over the dune and stopped just on the edge, "ahh! Commander I see it!" its commander said joyfully over the radio.
Once Katyusha had crossed over the dune, she saw the depot, being a concrete coloured square spot in the yellowness of the landscape, situated in a depression surrounded on three sides by large dunes, as well as many smaller ones, with an access trail connecting to it which wound off into the distance, four trailers of resource where sat in the fence surrounded perimeter, ready for them to take, another plus was the absence of any Jinzōno tanks, so it seemed super easy.
But Katyusha wasn't the only person to realize the advantages of the desert region.
As Nonna came over the edge, she had noticed a lot of sand being kicked up in the distance, "Katyusha, I think they may be something on the other side of those dunes" she informed her commander on the sight, "it's probably a small sandstorm" Katyusha waved it off, "I'm not so sure" Nonna replied, still not feeling right, Katyusha, willing to settle Nonna's nerves, then looked over to the T-70.
"T-70, I want you to climb up the opposite dune and see what's causing that sandstorm" she then directed, "yes commander!" the T-70's commander replied, and the small tank raced down the slope of the dune, then it continued up the other slope.
The commander held onto the grip of her tank's gun as the tank continued up the slope, "get us up onto the edge and then stop" she ordered her driver, "yes mam!" her driver shouted back up over the revving of the engine, the T-70 finally reached the top of the dune and the tank lurched forward as it sat on the soft edge, the tank stopped and the commander looked through the periscope, what she saw immediately had her scrambling for her radio.
"Commander!" her words shouted over the waves, "what is it? Is it a large sandstorm?" Katyusha pulled for answers, "no Commander! Its tanks kicking up that sand, St. Gloriana tanks!" the T-70 commander panicked.
"What!?" Katyusha spat in surprise.
The St. Gloriana convoy was moving across the flat sand plane on the other side of the dune, the formation consisting of the central Churchill VII tank, surrounded by six Matilda II tanks, off to the left was three Crusader III tanks driving three-abreast, but there was a new tank following behind, that tank was the long TOG II heavy tank, with its 17 pounder gun on show in its turret at the front of the comically long hull,
The heat of the desert had been taking its toll on the Gloriana students, in the Churchill, the noble sisters were also trying to cope with the heat.
The regular selection of perfectly brewed tea in small cups had been swapped out for more relaxing ice tea in glasses, the ice clinked around as the tank moved, Darjeeling took a sip out of her glass through the straw which was sticking out of the top, also accompanied by a miniature umbrella, her uniform was also opened up at the front, showing off a white blouse underneath,
"Thank the lord for the invention of ice tea" she thanked to herself, also in the turret, Assam and Pekoe where in a similar dress state, "yeah, but I wish there was an oasis around here, would be nice to have a soak" Assam panted lightly, then taking a sip out of her glass, "well what makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well" Darjeeling then quoted an author,
Rosehip was hearing the conversation in her Crusader, she had gone even further when it came to cooling off and had taken her redcoat off entirely, being only in her white blouse in violation of her schools posh nature, her ice tea also notably had a red tinge to it.
"I can tell you now, after being in these conditions, I have respect for the British who fought in the desert of North Africa desu wa" she respected, now knowing how hard it is to fight in a desert, "by the way, where the hell is Nilgiri and Rukuriri?" The redhead then asked, Darjeeling looked behind her and saw a tank in the distance.
It was another one of their new tanks, an A38 Valiant, being commanded by Nilgiri and her crew, "why are you that far back Nilgiri?" Darjeeling questioned, "sorry commander, we got held up when my driver got her foot stuck behind the clutch, again", Nilgiri responded apologetically, "seriously? How many times are you going to have issues with that thing desu wa?" Rosehip slandered, "well sorry Rosehip, but I wasn't the one who designed this stupid tank, I've got damn bruises on my body after hitting literally everything inside this turret" Nilgiri then complained, "well it was sold for free to us alongside the other tank, I couldn't turn down that offer" Darjeeling then mentioned, and that reminded her about another member of their team, "Rukuriri, where are you?" she asked to the girl in question, "a few sand dunes back, but where managing the desert fine, this new tank is amazing!" Rukuriri resounded,
"Commander, I think we're not alone in this desert desu wa" Rosehip interjected, "in what way?" Darjeeling asked, "I can see another tank on top of the sand dune to our right, If I'm not mistaken, it's a T-70" the redhead continued, Darjeeling looked through her cupola and saw the T-70 as well, "it looks like Pravda may be here, what are we going to do commander?" Pekoe wondered, "let's keep going as normal, they will think we haven't seen them until the last moment, then we catch them off guard" Darjeeling planned.
"Commander, they don't seem to have seen us yet" the T-70 commander updated Katyusha, at that point, Pravda had formed themselves along the top of their dune, with all of the guns pointed down at the other dune, "you shall all hold your positions, don't open fire until Katyusha says so, T-70, move back down the dune and re-join us" the tiny tyrant barked, the guns of Pravda kept their sights on the right-most part of the dune, where it flowed down and merged with the level surface, the T-70 raced back down the dune in order to meet back up with the other tanks.
"Beware everyone, Pravda will have most likely formed themselves up for an attack, so stay out of the open and make use of any cover you can find" Darjeeling reminded her team, all the Gloriana tanks had their guns facing Pravda's direction, at that point, Rosehip's three Crusaders came out from behind the dune,
"There they are! All tanks open fire!" Katyusha shouted at her team, the Crusaders had their guns already aimed as they were able to get the first shots off, the shells hitting the sand and flying over the Pravda tanks, then the roar of the Pravda guns came as all fired a barrage down upon the Gloriana tanks,
As the Crusaders were racing towards the smaller dunes for cover, the other tanks came out from behind the main dune, Assam in the Churchill immediately fired a shot at the KV-4, the shell managed to hit but skimmed off the upper plate and shattered on the frontal armour plate, the KV-4 fired a shot back, but the shell hit the ground next to the Churchill, kicking up a large cloud of sand,
The Gloriana tanks where aiming for the smaller dunes which were just large enough to hide a tank behind, despite the onslaught of Pravda shells coming down on them, the Gloriana tanks were able to reach the dunes and each of the tanks took cover,
"Is everyone in cover?" Darjeeling asked over the radio, she was then interrupted by screaming over the radio, she looked behind through her cupola and saw Nigiri's Valiant trying to cross, while being bombarded by Pravda shells, the sand flew around the tank as the ground was peppered by blasts, with one shell actually contacting the top of the turret and bouncing off, despite Nigiri's panic, the Valiant managed to reach the dune next to the Churchill safely.
"How the hell did we miss them! We had all our guns firing" Katyusha hollered in annoyance as her sweat-soaked loader was throwing another round into the breach, "sorry commander but I think the heat's making it hard to hit anything" her gunner apologised, "well keep shooting! Keep them pinned down!" Katyusha continued to order.
"I see eleven Pravda tanks in total, estimated distance 700 yards, margin of error 150 yards" Assam ranged their opponent through her gun sight, "can you get a more accurate measurement?" Darjeeling asked, "unlikely, mirages are making it hard to judge distance" Assam continued as she was aiming a shot at Nonna's IS-2, she pulled the trigger and the Churchill's 75 mm fired, the projectile however, sailed right over Nonna's turret, Assam took a deep breath to that embarrassment, "I think that just demonstrated my point" she said in a sombre tone as Pekoe picked up a new round and threw it into the breach.
"I just wanna go out and smash them right now!" Rosehip scolded in her tempered voice, with her Crusader raring to go, "not now Rosehip, stay back, we'll wait for Rukuriri to come and take the hits for us" Darjeeling halted her, "don't worry commander, one more large dune and where there" Rukuriri came over the radio.
The Pravda tanks were still shooting at the dunes which the Gloriana tanks were hiding behind, but this was starting to take its toll on the loaders of the tanks, especially on the two in the KV-2,
"Uurgh, so hot, so sticky… I think I'm gonna puke" Alina complained as she pulled up another round onto the loading ramp, "if you're gonna do it, please do it outside the tank" Nina replied with a mixture of slight disgust and sympathy.
"Come on, come on keep shooting!" Katyusha continued to rat at her crew, "commander.. I, think…" her loader then said, with weakness in her voice, "what is it?" Katyusha replied still annoyed, she watched as her loader wobbled, her eyes then rolled into her head, and then she fell out of her seat and landed hard on the tank floor, she had passed out from the heat of the work.
Katyusha gasped and went down into the tank, grabbing her loader by the collar and shaking her, "hey! Wake up!" she exclaimed in a slight panic, but her loader wasn't responding, "Katyusha, what's happening?" Nonna asked over the radio, "my loader just passed out from the heat" the commander replied, she reached for a canteen which was nearby and gave her some water to try and cool her off, she then looked at the radio operator at the front of the tank, "hey you! Get in the loaders seat now!" the tiny tyrant harshly informed, "yes commander!" the radio operator replied, took her headphones off and scrambled to the loader's position, Katyusha left her loader to recover on the floor as she went back up to the commander's position,
"We need to rotate our loaders, mine just passed out from the heat" she told her team, Nonna looked back at her loader and the crew member sitting in the cupola, "you two should switch" she suggested, the two crew members nodded and proceeded to switch over.
"Don't worry commander, I'm almost at the top of the dune, we'll be ready to drop fire down on them" Rukuriri called over the Gloriana radio, "not a moment too soon, please help us with our predicament" Darjeeling calmly responded,
"Commander, there's another tank coming over the dune, it's a… what the hell!?" Katyusha heard over the radio from the T-70 commander, "huh?" she squealed in surprise and looked through her cupola,
The sight of a gun came first at the top of the opposite sand dune, then the rest of the vehicle came over the top, it's blocky, menacing structure, and the long gun with a circular muzzle break struck fear into the Pravda team, "ahh! Commander that's an A39 Tortoise!" Klara said, immediately recognising the tank, Katyusha was rather surprised, but on the inside, she had seen this being an inevitability, "hmph, so Darjeeling finally got the tank she wanted" she muttered to herself, "well what are you waiting for!? Open fire!" she then yelled at her teammates, all the Pravda tanks reacquired their targets and fired at the Tortoise, but every shell which hit the front either shattered or bounced clean off.
"Idiots! You really think you can get through my armour?" Rukuriri taunted in the commander's cupola, the Tortoise stopped and aimed with its 32 pounder gun, "ready to fire!" her gunner called out, "fire!" Rukuriri roared, and the 32 pounder gun fired a deadly projectile, the T-70 was unlucky enough to be in the path of the projectile, with it getting hit in the turret mantlet, the force of the impact throwing the tank back a meter, a white flag popped out of the turret soon after.
"Sorry commander where out!" the T-70 commander apologised, "where gonna finish you, you big bully!" the commander of the T-34-57 snarled, with them firing a shot, which pathetically bounced off the front plate, the Tortoise returned the favour and fired straight into the front plate, knocking the T-34 out with a single shot, and the huge British tank continued to move forward.
"Come on fire at that thing!" Alina shouted at the gunner of the KV-2, the gunner aimed and the entire tank shifted as the huge 152 mm gun fired in a large flash, the shell hit the Tortoise and exploded, but as the smoke cleared the only effect the round had was creating a soot patch on the right side of the Tortoise's front plate, the Tortoise stopped and aimed again, Nina panicked as she saw the gun, "look out!" she shrieked.
The KV-2 was hit on the left side of its large frontal turret plate, miraculously the shell didn't knock them out straight away, both Nina and Alina where coughing as the turret had been filled with smoke from the impact, Alina looked forward and saw her gunner out cold and slumped over the controls,
"Nina! The salts!" she shouted to her comrade, Nina immediately reached for a small med kit on the turret wall, and pulled out what looked like a small party popper, the KV-2 in the meantime lurched as the driver reversed, trying to get out of danger, Nina tossed the salt capsule to Alina, who caught it and pulled the gunner's head back, she positioned the capsule pointing up into the gunner's nostrils and then pulled a string on the base, the capsule emitted a popping sound and a miasmic gas seeped out and into the gunner's nose,
A few seconds later the gunner snapped awake, and coughed a bit while holding her nose, "ahh! My nose feels like it's on fire!" she complained, "come on we need you back on the gun" Alina confronted her while rubbing the gunner's shoulder, the gunner turned back to her position while still rubbing her irritated nose.
"That thing took a KV-2 shell to the face and its still going, it's like a bunker on tracks!" the T-44-100 commander panicked after witnessing the KV-2 shell, most of the Pravda tanks had pulled back to cover themselves behind the sand dune, as the Tortoise continued to move up the slope towards them, that word however just put an idea in Katyusha's head, "like a bunker" she said to herself, her gunner and radio operator looked at her, "that gives Katyusha an idea" she theorised, "what sort of idea?" Nonna asked, "we shall try and blow its tracks off, and then outflank it and shoot it in the side, just like what you do with a concrete bunker" Katyusha planned, "are you ready Nonna and Klara?" she then told her vice-commanders, "just a bit busy" the latter replied.
As the fighting had been going on, Rosehip had tried to flank around Pravda while they were distracted, but Klara had caught her in the act and was trying to engage,
Also, it was time for her to return a favour which Roship had given during their match against Ooarai and Chi-Ha-Tan.
Rosehip's Crusader continued to pull evasive manoeuvres, sliding from side to side in the sand as Klara's shots continued to land around them,
"Let's finish this, I'm removing the speed limiter, lets charge at them desu wa!" Rosehip called out in excitement, "but commander, the engine could blow in this heat!" her driver called out, "trust me, it can take it" Rosehip dashed her concern,
The Crusader rocketed ahead as its limitations were removed, the tank did one wide slide as it turned towards Klara's T-34-85, Klara again fired a shot, but the shell landed off to the left side of Rosehip,
"Charge them down! Don't let up desu wa!" Rosehip cheered as the engine was near breaking point, "we will have you an-" she began to add on,
The Crusaders engine suddenly exploded in a cloud of steam and locked up from overheating, the tank lurched and slid in a wild direction as the tracks also locked up, throwing Rosehip around in the turret, the Crusader after sliding sideways a few meters came to rest, however unable to move,
"Our engine just gave out!" her driver shouted, "hah! But where still in the game, thank you European rules!" Rosehip laughed, but her parade was cut short as the Crusader was hit by a final shell from Klara, finishing Rosehip off as the white flag came out of her turret.
"Eto dlya moyego toplivnogo baka" Klara said to herself in pleasure.
Darjeeling, who's tank was still behind the small dunes with the rest of the Gloriana tanks, had witnessed Rosehips actions, she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head in shame, "is that Rosehip getting herself in trouble again?" Pekoe asked noticing her expression, "pretty much, when will she learn" the commander responded to the question, "commander, I can try and give some cover to the Tortoise if I move up" Nilgiri suggested, "I'm fine, this tank can take anything they throw at me!" Rukuriri retorted her fellow student,
At that point, Katyusha's T-34-85, as well as the KV-4 and ASU-85 had come over the edge, and where aiming their guns at the British assault tank, "aim for its left track!" Katyusha directed her teammates, "wait? Our left or their left?" the KV-4 commander said confused, Katyusha took a deep breath to prevent herself snapping, "our right, their left" she clarified, she looked down at her gunner, "well then, fire!" Katyusha barked, the gunner fired a shot at the track, but hit just to the left and hit the armour protecting the transmission, the KV-4 then fired a shot but it went right and missed the track entirely, the ASU's gunner aimed her shot carefully,
"Please hit" she said to herself and pulled the trigger, the gun fired the projectile and it hit the Tortoise's track dead on, breaking it and a metallic chatter ringed out as the track fell apart and lost tension,
"Commander! They destroyed our left track, where stuck!" the Tortoise's driver called up to Rukuriri, "damn it! Make sure they don't flank!" she shouted at the gunner, Nilgiri had overheard Rukuriri's situation, "I'm going up there to help commander" she notified Darjeeling, "you do that, all other tanks try your best to cover the Tortoise" Darjeeling responded,
The ASU-85 tried to get back in cover, also trying to turn around in the process, this however exposed its side and the Tortoise took advantage, the gun fired in its attempt to defend itself and hit the ASU, flipping it onto its roof from the harsh side impact, the white flag popping out of the exposed bottom plate.
At that moment, the KV-4 and Nonna's IS-2 came over the dune and rocketed down the slope, the Tortoise tried to train its gun to engage, but was too slow as the two Pravda tanks successfully got out of its gun arc, the other Gloriana tanks also started to fire at the two tanks, but their shots where mostly ineffective against the strong Russian steel of the tanks, Nonna came up to the left side of the hapless Tortoise, pointing the large 122 mm at the thinner side armour, Rukuriri broke down as she saw down the dark barrel.
"That's not fair!" she cried as Nonna delivered the shot, the assault tank lurched as the Russian shell hit the side, a white flag soon popped out the roof as the smoke cleared,
"Wait? They knocked out the Tortoise?" Darjeeling said with a shaky voice, seeing the sight in front of her, "they have! They flanked and shot it in the side!" Assam confirmed, the prized jewel in their crown had been shattered by the hammer of Pravda,
"Your orders commander?" Pekoe asked, Now that Pravda was outnumbering and now outgunning them, Darjeeling had come to the conclusion anyone else would, they had lost, and now it was the time to cut those losses.
"All tanks, the tides have turned against us and there seems to be no abating it, disengage and retreat" she commanded,
Katyusha witnessed as the Gloriana tanks started to turn and tried to retreat, "they're starting to flee commander" Nonna signalled, "they're running scared from Katyusha I see, all tanks move forward and crush as many of them as you can!" Katyusha barked,
Nilgiri was in the worst position, being caught between cover and the knocked out Tortoise, her driver desperately tried to turn around and get away from the Pravda tanks,
The gunner turned the six pounder gun and fired at the IS-2, the shell hit managed to hit the mantlet, but shattered and only put a dent in the metal, in return Nonna fired a shot which hit the rear drive wheel of the Valiant, destroying the transmission.
"The transmissions out commander!" the driver shouted up at the tanks refusal to move, Nilgiri was panicking as she looked in all directions, and to her left, she witnessed the T-44-100 lining up a shot,
The tank fired and hit the Valiant in the side of the turret, the shell went straight in and destroyed the crew compartment, taking Nilgiri out of the fight with the white flag popping out the top.
"That's another tank down" Katyusha called out to her fellow tanks, just as she witnessed the T-44-100 take a shot to the turret, she looked to see that the shot had come from the TOG II, which had positioned itself to cover the Churchill, Crusaders and Matilda's as they retreated, "hey, see that landship" she ordered her gunner, "I see it, opening up" her gunner replied, and fired a shell which hit the TOG just below the turret, but its large crew compartment took the hit, the 17 pounder fired back, and Katyusha cringed as she heard the shell scrape off the top of the mantlet,
Just as the radio operator threw another round into the breach, Katyusha felt something tug on her foot, she looked down and saw that her loader was conscious again and was trying to stand up, "you okay?" Katyusha asked concerned, "yeah, I think I'm alright" she replied, "you stay on the floor, don't want you passing out again" the commander said, the loader nodded and proceeded to sit back on the floor,
The TOG was proving to be problematic as it continued to sit half behind a sand dune, with only the front poking out as it continued to hurl shots at the Pravda vehicles, many of the Pravda tanks had stopped and where firing their guns, trying their hardest to hit the large British landship
One shell was able to hit the TOG in the front idler, breaking its track and preventing it from retreating, it in return fired back, and was able to hit and knock out one of the T-34-76's, the KV-4 then fired and hit the TOG in the left portion of its frontal turret armour, knocking out its gunner and rendering the tank helpless, it then also took another shot, this time from Klara's T-34-85, knocking out the engine in a cloud of smoke.
This left a shot open for Katyusha's gunner, who aimed and took the opening, the shell flew through the air and slammed straight into the side of the TOG, that shell was the end for the landship as it went up in a cloud of black smoke, once it abated, the white flag popped out of its turret,
"All tanks destroyed commander, should we chase after the other Gloriana tanks?" Klara posted and then asked, Katyusha thought for a second, but felt like they had done enough for today, and also the desert heat was getting back to her.
"No Klara, we've done enough against them, the tanks we knocked out will cost them in resources to retrieve and repair, we'll take the resources and get back to base, I think everyone's had enough of this heat right?" Katyusha spoke, "yeah" all the commanders of the remaining tanks said with tiredness in their voices, "well then, four tanks will grab a trailer each, and then we will head back to base via the access trail, hopefully we can get out of this heat before anyone else passes out" she directed.
The KV-4, IS-2, T-44-100 and Katyusha's T-34-85 had each picked up a trailer and had them attached to the rear of their tanks, also the Pravda crews from the tanks knocked out in the battle had abandoned their vehicles to the yet-to-appear recovery crews and had hopped onto any tank still running, mostly clambering on engine decks.
After resources and spare crew had been secured, the formation moved out, along the access trail which wound through the sandy environment, everyone was in high hopes, they had just fought against another school in the tournament and won, showing the might of Pravda even in these abnormal conditions,
But the desert heat started to set back in and the euphoria of the victory was worn away within a quarter of an hour, many of the crewmembers seem to not care much about the victory, now they just wanted to get out this damn desert.
A half hour of driving passed, and it was becoming dire for some of the crewmembers, Katyusha's loader who was still on the floor, had drank the last bit of water out of her water canteen, "commander, I just ran out of water" she spilled, "really? Damn, that's the only canteen Katyusha brought!" Katyusha replied surprised, now she was really getting worried, did they just bite off more than they could chew?
A few minutes down the trail, Klara whose tank was leading the formation, just turned a corner which went around a dune, upon coming out from behind the obstruction, she couldn't believe her eyes, to the right side of the trail was a patch of green grass and luscious palm trees, she rubbed her eyes as she thought she was seeing a mirage,
But it was real, they had just stumbled upon a oasis.
"Commander! There's an oasis here!" Katyusha heard Klara's gleeful cry over the waves, "really?" she fumbled on the radio in surprise, "yes! Follow me everyone!" Klara responded as her tank turned off the trail and towards the desert anomaly,
As Katyusha's tank, which was in the centre of the formation came around the dune, the commander herself saw the inviting green plants, with the Prava tanks in front making a b-line towards it "it is an oasis!" Katyusha burst, as her driver also turned off the trail,
Under the tracks, sand was replaced by green grass as the T-34-85 came to the centre of the oasis, many of the Pravda tanks started to park up on the edge of a reasonably sized water spring, the cool, pearl blue water being a massive eye-sore to the dehydrated school.
As the final Pravda tanks pulled up, Katyusha sat there on her cupola after taking her tanker's cap off her head, looking into the reflective pool, all the other Pravda students also sat looking at the inviting water, being mesmerised by its mere presence, "that water looks so appetizing", Nonna said on the top her IS-2 in a calm voice, "indeed it is Nonna, looks so refreshing" Klara responded, also in a calm state,
"Well come on guys! Let's enjoy it!" Nina called out in happiness,
"YEAH!" all the Pravda students cheered and they all started to clamber out of and off their tanks, Katyusha was surprised to see her own crew also do the same, some students started to take their clothes off as they stumbled towards the water and went into the water in their underwear, while others didn't even bother with that step and dived in still in their uniforms, Nina and Alina, whom the former had thrown her ushanka aside, where one of the first into the water with a splash, Nonna and Klara looked at each other still on top of their tanks, "ehh, why not" they both conceded, and began undressing.
Nonna and Klara soon came into the water in their swimwear, as many of the students where swimming and playing in the cool habitat, some were sweeping up the water in canteens and drinking the water to quench their thirst,
"This water is so nice!" one student said to another, "it so is! So cool and refreshing after being in that sweatbox" that student replied, suddenly, another student shot up from below the surface, with canteen high above her head, "this is the best operation ever!" she sang.
However, the girls in the water then slowly went silent, and turned back to the tanks as they realised Katyusha was still there, standing on the edge of the water looking at them all,
"Katyusha, why don't you join us?" Nonna cooed, "Katyusha doesn't want to get her uniform wet, hasn't Katyusha told you she doesn't have swimwear?" the commander bluntly replied, "come on commander it's so nice in this water!" Alina teased, but Katyusha held firm, "no! Katyusha isn't coming into the water" she snapped back, and then stomped her foot on the ground,
What she hadn't realised, was that the dirt she was standing on wasn't too stable being against the water's edge, that stomp ended up breaking the chunk of dirt she was standing on away from the edge and made it fall into the water,
"WAAAAHH!" Katyusha screamed at the top of her small voice, as she lost her footing and fell into the water with a large splash, all the other students watched as she then bobbed back up to the surface, soaked through as she spat a fountain of water out of her mouth, some of them sniggered trying to contain their humour,
"You okay commander?" Klara asked concerned, "NO! KATYUSHA FELL INTO THIS DAMN WATER! SHE'S SO SOAKED, AND SO MOIST…!" Katyusha cried at the top of her lungs, but her voice then started to trail off as she started to take in the water's pureness, "...and so cool, and so beautiful, and so refreshing" she finished off, now in a calm state, Nonna, Klara, Nina and Alina looked at her confused, "this water, IS SO AMAZING!" Katyusha then beamed in glee, everyone smiled to their commander's happiness, "well Katyusha, do you want to swim with us?" Nonna suggested, "sure!" the tiny tyrant replied happily.
The Pravda students spent the rest of the hour swimming and doing activities like Marco-Polo in the cool water of the oasis, the shouts of happiness and glee being among the sounds of the environment.
After that, everyone was seemingly relaxing, some of the students being against the edges, or floating in the centre, Nina and Alina being two of them, both floating together in the tranquillity.
At one of the edges where Katyusha, Nonna and Klara, all three laying nice and calm in the sun and cool water, Katyusha herself had seemingly fallen asleep, resting against Nonna's shoulder,
"Hey Katyusha, is it time we should get going back to base?" Nonna cooed gently, with Klara smiling to her commander's cuteness,
"Nah, just a few more minutes Nonna", Katyusha calmly replied, while wriggling next to her companion.
Translations
ya ne dumayu, chto ona ponimayet, kak zakonchilas' voyna = I don't think she realises how that war ended (Russian)
mozhet, ona khochet, chtoby u nas byla neudacha = Maybe she wants us to have bad luck (Russian)
eto dlya moyego toplivnogo baka = That's for my fuel tank (Russian)