Chapter 12: Change in plan
Erwin was stretching her various limbs, as she was currently in JROTC. They had just got done doing a two mile run uphill, leaving everyone, except for Captain Proctor, feeling sore and tired.
"Dear god," Katie moaned. "Did we have to do it uphill? My calves are feeling like they are on fire." Erwin nodded numbly.
"Well, it wouldn't have been so bad if we could go our pace," Erwin started. "But the captain is surely too gung-ho for us, right?"
In all retrospect, having a former Ranger that was used to having to do a five minute mile with sixty pounds of gear on his back keeping the tempo for a two mile run with a bunch of normal high schoolers wasn't the best of ideas. Without those sixty pounds of gear on his back, it was like he wanted to torture the class's legs. As the class was l outside the school, stretching their burning limbs, Captain Proctor spoke up.
"Alright everyone, enough moaning," Cpt. Proctor said calmly. "Class is almost over, so get ready for you final class of the day." He walked into the school, obviously heading back to the JROTC room. Erwin sighed, thankful that she didn't bring her text books with her to JROTC, as she would need to go to the JROTC, run to her locker, put her books away, and then go to the tankery hangar. Something her legs wouldn't hear shit about.
"So, Riko, what do you think will happen today?" Katie asked. "I heard from Henrietta that something is happening in Tankery." Erwin raised an eyebrow, and looked at Henrietta.
"Um, what did you hear?" Erwin asked Henrietta. Henrietta twiddled with her fingers, not liking being put on the spot.
"Well, I overheard Erika talking to Sgt. Harper about some upgrades," Henrietta said. "However, beyond that, I heard that the winners of the nationals will be going to the international tournament this summer."
"When was that announced?" Erwin asked. Henrietta shrugged nonchalantly.
"I read about it last night," Henrietta explained. "So far, the confirmed nations that will take part in the international tournament are as followed; the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, India, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the US. They are setting up the tournament battles as we speak, with no clear favorites other than Japan, if only due to their experience in tankery."
"I see," Erwin said. "Well, I hope that the Japanese team isn't Pravda or Black Forest Academy; they tend to favor overwhelming their enemy with superior firepower from heavy tanks."
"I agree," Katie said. When Erwin and Henrietta looked at her, Katie huffed in annoyance. "What I can't be the tankery fanatics you guys are? I just know I don't want to face a team with numerous heavy tanks given thatmost of our team lacks the necessary firepower need to crack them."
"Fair enough. But I just hope the international tournament is still fun to watch. So anyway, let's continue this discussion in tankery class, alright?" Henrietta suggested. Both Erwin and Katie nodded, and the three hurried to the tankery hangar. They were thankful that Cpt. Proctor gave them the extra time to get to the hangar today, as unfortunately the halls were more crowded than usual.
When they got to the hangar, Erwin saw Joan and Christine were already there, as were Jackie's and Sarah's tank crew. As she walked in, Erwin saw both Jackie and Sarah approaching her.
"Hey, Riko, got a minute to talk?" Jackie said, her face a bit too cheerful for Erwin's liking.
"Um, yeah," Erwin said. "What's up?" She saw that Sarah was glaring behind Jackie's back, so whatever it was Sarah wasn't pleased with it.
"Well, remember the deal we had when it came to the tankery leadership?" Jackie asked. Erwin nodded, before mentally face-palming. Was Jackie really going to suggest she be made team captain due to their defeat by Salem High?
"Well, as you recall, you said that if you r were losing us battles or coming close to it, which we can't afford in the nationals, then I could take over."
"I did," Erwin begrudgingly admitted. "Why, are you really going to suggest you take over being the captain of our team?" Jackie nodded, and Erwin saw Sarah's face turn red.
"Oh come on!" Sarah shouted. "It was a single defeat, and it was a close battle. Sure, she made a few mistakes, but…"
"But they did cost us the battle," Jackie interrupted Sarah. "We can't afford mistakes, and as a result I think I should take over. I won't use half-baked plans and I won't put our team into what equates to a shoot off at close quarters."
"But I've seen your ideas for plans!" Sarah protested. "They all focus on slow battle maneuvers and clearing a sector before moving out. You take no risks, and it is easy to tell what your next move is!"
"Enough," Erwin said calmly. "Fine Jackie, you want to be captain, fine. But if you end up nearly losing the battle, as decided by Sarah, then I would like to be remade captain." She saw Sarah nod, even though she was irked by Erwin's willingness to step down. Jackie smiled.
"Fair enough," Jackie said. "But I won't lose or put the team in danger, so I have nothing to fear." Erwin nodded, and she walked back to her team, which was gathered by the ISU-152.
"So I guess we are following Jackie into the first tournament battle then?" Katie said. "Ugh, this is going to suck." Erwin shrugged.
"Well, it wasn't like I had a choice," Erwin said. "I did after all agree to those terms, regardless if they were fair or not. I did lose, and I did say if I cost us a victory that she could take over, so yeah, she is taking over the team."
Before anyone could talk any further, both Sgt. Harper and Erika walked in.
"Everyone gather around, we have much to discuss," Sgt. Harper called forth. Everyone assembled in formation at the front of the garage, looking at their tankery teacher. Erwin saw he looked tired, with bags under his eyes. He was standing in front of a curtain, hiding something.
"Now, with the tournament coming close, and the battle of Salem High showing some weakness with our team, both Erika and I have begun a process to improve the team beginning first with updating some of the tanks."
He pulled back the curtain, and Erwin was amazed by what she saw. She saw four tanks, two were Matildas and two were M10 tank destroyers.
"First off, we upgraded the firepower of the Matilda tanks with 76mm cannons, as they were hopeless against even mere M4 Shermans. Next, we replaced the Marder IIIs with the M10 tank destroyer, as the ambush element was forced to rely heavily on getting support from the assault group, weakening the overall effectiveness of both groups."
Erwin saw Vera's and Astrid's crews smiling at their new tank destroyers. While they didn't say much before, they had mentioned in private that they hated the Marder IIIs, finding them uncomfortable and a pain to operate. Meanwhile Paula's and Thatcher's crews were a bit hesitant, and for good reason. The Matilda, once fitted with a 76mm cannon, was tight in the turret, which would be a pain for the crew.
At this point, Erika spoke up.
"In addition to these changes, we are going to up the training regimen from one mock battle a week to three, with practices being held after school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hopefully, the extra practice will let us improve team structure."
"Also, depending on our performance in the tournament," Erika continued. "We could see an expansion of our tank fleet to a further 15 tanks. As a result, both Sgt. Harper and I decided to allow you guys to choose what tanks you guys want to drive, within reason. This however is only if we get to the finals, and if you guys can find others to take command of your former vehicle. So please keep this in mind, and use your experience to determine what vehicles you will want to field."
Erwin could see a lot of the crews begin talking, trying to determine if they want to get a new vehicle or not. Erwin saw the practicality of getting more tanks on the field; it added to the overall firepower and gave the enemy more targets to shoot at. However, there was the issue of having to find a replacement crew for the older vehicles. She could see Christine alright looking forward to a new tank, as she hated loading the 152mm cannon for the ISU-152.
"Now then, let us begin practice," Erika said, and Erwin could see everyone scrambling to their tanks. She just hoped that the changes would be a good start to allow Raven's Peak a chance at the finals.
It was finally October 30th, the day that Raven's Peak's tankery team would disembark for the opening ceremony for the US tankery tournament in Washington D.C. The month before had been filled with a lot of practice. As Erwin prepped the ISU-152, making sure that it had enough fuel to drive itself into and out of the cargo plane at Joint-Base Lewis-McChord, she reflected on the practice.
With Jackie leading the team, she noticed that the team's coordination seemed to improve. When they were doing fire on the move while traversing a forest, Jackie was able to maintain control and order, and the team was able to engage multiple targets, scoring several hits before reaching their objective. In addition, when the team was 'under fire' (Erika and Sgt. Harper would have pop up targets and declare which tanks were knocked out), the team under Jackie was better able to retreat in order, while also getting a couple of parting shots.
That said, Erwin knew that Jackie was far from being the ideal leader. Jackie became so focused with coming up with a plan before battle that it took a solid ten minutes before they rolled out from the starting line, and Erwin knew that time was a precious commodity in battle. It was the deciding factor in who won the strategic points, decided whether you were ready or not, and it could decide the battle. She feared that a ten minute delay would cost them the battle, but since they hadn't gotten themselves into battle, Erwin couldn't object to it.
Aside from Jackie being leader, the ambush element (which Erwin was thankfully still the leader of) had drastically improved with the gaining of the M10 tank destroyers. Astrid's and Vera's crew made good use of the turret, often leading and guarding the rear of the ambush element's columns. They often situated themselves on the flanks of the element, allowing the others to focus forward on the target zone.
Erwin stepped back from the ISU-152, and admired the paint job it had gotten. All the tanks in Raven's Peak's team had gotten a uniformed paint scheme. It was done in the SMK pattern that Russian Spetsnaz forces used. The three colors were black, navy blue, and gray, as Jackie preferred to try and take city centers instead of using forest for cover. Erwin though a woodland pattern would've been better, but she figure that since the nationals would include multiple teams, having tanks that stood out was a safe call just in case of friendly fire situations.
She saw Christine and Katie talking to one another, both obviously looking forward to heading to D.C., which Sgt. Harper explained they would stay for three days after the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was to centerpiece each of the 32 teams, all driving in formation, down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House. Following the opening ceremony the next day would be the reveal of the first round of matches, something Erwin was optimistic about. After that would be a day to explore the various museums and the like.
Erwin was given a decent amount of money to for her use by her mother, who was enjoying her work at MTS. She knew that Joan, Christine, and Katie were planning their own thing at the mall, so Erwin decided to ask Henrietta about what she was planning to do in D.C., as Erwin didn't have any plans so to speak.
"Riko," Joan called, dragging Erwin out of her thoughts. "The ISU-152 is fueled up and everything is secured. We're done here."
"Good work," Erwin said. "So let's go to the others, I know that the buses to take us to the air base, will be arriving soon, so we better get a move on."
She led her crew to the front of the garage, where the other crews were waiting patiently for the buses to arrive. She saw Jackie talking to the tank commander of the assault group, with all of them nodding in approval at Jackie being the current captain. Erwin saw Sarah and a few other commanders mainly those of the ambush element, look on at Jackie with a bit of an annoyance.
One of the flaws with Jackie's plans was that that ambush element was often relegated to something akin to a rear echelon position; guarding the back and not doing much in battle. They only really saw action when the assault group needed some extra firepower, but if it wasn't the case, then they sat back, bored out of their minds.
Meanwhile, the scout element was often thrown into danger, just to get the assault group information on where the enemy was heading. Sarah often complained that Jackie often sent them out in a arcing wave, that when they got to the outer extents of the field, would make all the tanks in the scout group alone and with no support. Erwin suggested that the ambush element could act as a force to help the scouting element, but Jackie told her 'that the ambush element must guard the rear'.
"So Erwin," Henrietta began as they were standing around waiting. "Do you think we got a good chance at making it to the finals?" But before Erwin could reply, Christine voiced her opinion.
"I don't know, but we could always wait until the bookies calculated the odds," Christine said. "If we get something like 4-1, then yeah, we got good odds, but otherwise we will have to work to win."
"Is gambling that big of a thing in the US?" Erwin asked. Christine nodded.
"I know that during the Super bowl, bookies have to be cautious, as if the game is an upset, like with the 2014 Super bowl, then the bookies could owe more money than they get with the opposing bets."
"The big thing is that bookies use more statics and charts than anyone I can know to calculate the odds. So they will probably be watching the opening ceremony and calculating the odds based on the number of tanks, the type of tanks, the school's performance in other sports, and probably including the funds the school has for tankery. So if we want a good estimate of our likelihood, just wait for the bookies to calculate our odds."
"Well, there is that view," Katie spoke up. "But since tankery is new to the US, the likelihood of the bookies getting the odds right are unlikely. It will take a couple of years before the bookies get the odds sorted out, right?"
"I suppose," Christine said. Erwin sighed; betting was a tiresome affair, and not something she engaged in.
"Anyway," Erwin spoke up, trying to get off the topic of gambling. "Let's just focus on the task at hand; we will deal with the odds of us winning with each battle we take part in. If we distract ourselves with the odds, either by losing faith or being overly cocky, then we could throw the match away. So let's ignore what the odds are for the moment and just focus on what we got to do."
"Alright," Henrietta said. "But aside from Salem High, does anyone know what the other teams will field for the tournament?"
Everyone shrugged, because until the day of the ceremony, no one knows what the tanks the other teams will be fielding. Erwin wanted to win, but she knew that the other teams would be unique and have their own doctrines and vehicles to choose from. As a result, Erwin was hoping that the teams they faced for the first match would be composed of outdated tanks, if for nothing more so they get an easy win and then analyze the results of the first round of matches.
"Not yet," Joan replied, supplying the answer everyone had. At that moment, the buses arrived, and Erika walked to the buses.
"Everyone, get on board!" she yelled out. "The automotive repair club will get the tanks onto the trailers and drive them to the airfield. But as we have a plane to catch, everyone get on board!" Erwin took a deep breath, and lead her crew onto the buses, knowing that tomorrow would be a busy day indeed.
Author's Note: Alright, another chapter out, and yes, it is 1 day late, but I was tired yesterday, so there's that. Anyway, let's get to the reviews;
-SovietKitty (badass name btw): Yeah, I had to drop the romance, as it was distracting from the main appeal of the story. A good decision overall in my opinion.
-Wolfhunter107: Ah, I am waiting a little before giving Raven's Peak some medium tanks. And before you ask, I haven't finalized what tanks the 'Guards Division' of Raven's Peak will be using.
-Theralion: I will agree, my detailing the battle was cumbersome, as I wanted to keep in a way that you could tell what the person's PoV was while being able to describe the battle. In the end it became a bit cumbersome. It is something I will work on for the upcoming battles.
As for how Jackie dealt with the loss, well, I covered it in this chapter. We will see Jackie be at the helm of being team captain for the first (maybe second) battle before she royally fucks up, and I alluded to it towards the end of this chapter. The match being a loss was something that worked out well for me, as it gave me some interesting ideas for this story.
I also think that the two teams discussing the strategies after the battle would really take place. I based it somewhat on army war games, where the commanders would review the battle so they could improve and have a more difficult and close battle next time. I know it isn't often covered, but I will be covering it for the battles, as Sgt. Harper and Erika will be trying to improve the team by telling them what they did right and wrong.
As for the omakes, well it will be interesting. You will get to see the other teams as they compete against one another, and explain how they got so far into the tournament. Also, it will allow me to go back to Ooarai and give the results of the Japanese tankery. I promise, it will be good (hopefully).
-Severstal: You made a good point about the battle, and the reason the points your brought up are there is because I had a clumsy execution of what was happening in the battle. I should've found a better way to do the battle in hindsight, but it has shown me what not to do for the upcoming battles. I won't go into much details with your points, but I do acknowledge the faults. I will try and give a better description of the enemy teams and have Sgt. Harper and Erika be better teachers.
Also, about battle plans, I will be doing a better job of having the commanders follow through with their plans in the future. But not much to say on this atm.
That is it for the reviews, however, next week we get to see the opening ceremony, Erwin and the team encounter some of the other teams in D.C., and we get to see who Raven's Peak will be going up against in the first round. As always, please follow, favorite, and review!