Always Advancing
A Girls und Panzer fanfic
Part XII: Driving Lesson
by Civilis
Up on the tower, Assam watched the second unbelievable thing she'd seen that day through her binoculars. Her Churchill, with a different gunner, was firing away down below as she tracked the targets and counted off shots over the radio. "…Hit…. Hit…. Hit… Slightly short… Hit… Hit… Near Miss…"
Finally, the gunfire stopped. "Is that it? How did she do?" asked Yuzu, standing next to her, with a degree of nervousness.
"It took her just about a minute over par time for the exercise, and it took her five shots to hit both of the moving targets," explained the gunner.
"Is that bad?"
"Not at all. Par time is how long it normally takes me to hit the required number of targets. Most of the people we've tried training on the Churchill tend to miss that mark by more than twice that, and those are people we've trained as gunners already," Assam explained. "She didn't miss a single one of the stationary targets after the first two, even the one at 1500m, which helped a lot. She got tripped up a bit by the moving targets, but I rarely do better than three shots for them myself, and we don't normally have beginners try hitting them at all."
The radio barked to life with Darjeeling's voice. "Assam, would you and our guest join us on the range, please?"
When the two joined the group at the bottom, Yuzu could see that Hana was smiling happily, while Darjeeling looked a little uneasy.
"While this does not prove any of the delusion to be real," the blonde commander explained, "I am willing to admit that once she adjusted to the differences in turret mechanism, cannon and gunsight that this shows Hana has the makings of a skilled gunner. I apologize to you for my disbelief in the club room."
"No need," replied Hana. "Although I'm glad that I might not be totally delusional."
Assam raised her hand. When she had everyone's attention, she said "Okay, we have found out that, for an inexplicable reason, Akiyama Yukari is an experienced loader, now at Saunders, with a knowledge of Ōarai as a match location and of tanks in general. Despite being a new student at Saunders, she's not only on their team, she's the loader for one of their major officers. I would suggest this means that Saunders is aware that Yukari is… somewhat 'delusional' herself. Do we assume that Saunders as a team knows about Hana?"
"Yes, I would make that assumption for the time being," said Darjeeling. "Hana, let us know if they try to recruit you."
"I already told Yukari that I liked it here," she replied. "I'm not going to transfer anywhere else to do Sensha-Do."
"More importantly," said Assam, "do you know anyone else that may also have the… same delusions… about being on the Ōarai team?"
"My friend Saori was our radio operator. She's now at Anzio. I emailed her to ask vaguely about tanks when I first had my… delusions, but her replies didn't include anything which would suggest she has any herself. Yukari and I, in discussing this, came to the conclusion that since most of us who were on Ōarai's team didn't know each other before starting Sensha-Do, we didn't want to confuse anyone who wouldn't remember us by bringing it up," Hana explained. "On that note, I'm sorry for dragging you back into this, Yuzu."
Yuzu looked puzzled. "Why? I don't know anything about tanks, and I didn't do Sensha-Do." Catching a glimpse of Hana's reaction, she finished with a hesitant "…or did I?"
"Are you sure I was a tank driver, Hana?" asked Yuzu from the driver's seat of Darjeeling's Churchill tank. The tank was currently lumbering slowly and inelegantly around the parade ground in front of the St. Gloriana Girls College Sensha-Do Team garages.
"I believe so," replied Hana, hesitantly, from the turret as the tank crushed another traffic cone.
"The School Discipline Club can afford to lose a couple more," said Rosehip from the co-driver's seat beside her. "Try putting a little more 'oomph' into the steering."
"I'm putting all the oomph I can," complained Yuzu. "It doesn't want to steer."
Yet another traffic cone went under the treads.
"Perhaps this is the wrong type of tank," said Orange Pekoe from the loader's seat, as she poured a cup of tea for Darjeeling. "We often have trouble when we move people from an infantry tank to a cruiser tank."
"What type of tank did she drive?" asked Darjeeling, the final member of the tank's improvised crew.
"It was a little German one, I think," said Hana. "Yukari was the tank expert. Wait… I remember her saying it wasn't actually German as she was hugging it when we first found it."
"Hugging it?" said Rosehip, as yet another traffic cone went under the tank, this time mercifully between the tracks. "Your friend is weird."
"Could it have been Czech?" asked Pekoe. "They had a bunch of little tanks the Germans used."
"The only thing I remember is that we eventually took the top off and put a turretless shell on, like a turtle, with a gun sticking out," commented Hana.
Darjeeling grabbed the radio, "Assam, what's a small Czech tank that the Germans converted into an enclosed tank destroyer?"
"Is this another attempt at a joke?" came Assam's reply back. "Oh… I mean, I think that's the Panzer 38(t), which can be converted into a Hetzer, which is a small tank destroyer."
"So we have someone that may have been trained on a little fast agile tank, who we've asked to try driving a big slow clumsy tank. And we're wondering why it's not working." Darjeeling summarized the situation. "Yuzu, can you stop the tank?"
"Here?" asked Yuzu.
Darjeeling poked her head out of the hatch and looked around. "Here is fine. We'll get someone to put it in the garage later."
Everyone piled out of the tank, and Assam joined them from the tower.
"What we've decided to do is try Yuzu in a smaller tank and see if that works," said Darjeeling. "Do we have any cruiser tanks we can try?"
"It'll have to wait until we get one of the Crusaders repaired," replied Pekoe.
"Well," said Assam, "there is always that…" She nodded towards the garage at the end of the row.
"Oh no, we're still working on 'that'," Rosehip countered defensively. "That is not something a novice should be driving. My Crusader drivers have issues driving it at anything near top speed. The engine also isn't tuned right. On top of that, it's supposed to be a secret."
"Rosehip, in case you forgot, everyone in town has seen you driving it," replied Darjeeling. "You already gave an enemy spy a ride in the Cromwell."
"You have a point, there," the rose-haired girl admitted. "Fine, we'll give it a shot."
A few minutes later, Rosehip returned driving the turretless Cromwell. She hopped out, and pulled a pair of helmets from the open top, handing one to Yuzu, before putting the other on. "Put this on, and we'll give it a try."
Yuzu put on the helmet, and climbed into the driver's seat, while Rosehip strapped herself into one of the temporary seats in the back. The other four girls retreated up the tower to watch.
"All right, let's go!" yelled Rosehip, pointing forward, only to be jerked around as the tank lurched back a few feet.
"Sorry, just getting the hang of this!" called Yuzu.
The tank started forward slowly, as Yuzu practiced simple controls, and then sped up as she gained some comfort with the machine. She circled the garages, then the clubhouse, then the Churchill, and finally began doing figure eights around the crushed traffic cones.
"Wooooo!" the group at the tower could here Rosehip yelling as the tank passed below.
"She does get excited, doesn't she?" said Darjeeling. "I suspect this means that Yuzu does indeed have some talent at driving, given a suitable machine."
At Rosehip's urging, Yuzu took the machine out onto the gunnery range itself, testing its handling on the more uneven terrain, before signaling that she should return to the garage.
"Can I try something first?" Yuzu asked Rosehip, who nodded. "Ok, hold on." Rosehip gripped the turret ring.
Yuzu started by driving the Cromwell out in a large circle towards the front gate. Once at the gate, she slowed down and executed a sharp turn towards the garages, lining the tank up at the front of the parked Churchill. She then gunned the engine, and nudged the tank to pass just to the side of the larger infantry tank on the side opposite the garage. Once it was almost there, she put it into a sharp turn, then stopped the tank, hard.
The tank came to a stop with the front end almost facing the back of the Churchill. Hana would later swear she could see Rosehip's massive grin clearly from the top of the tower. The loud cry of "Oh Yeah!", however, required no imagination.
Yuzu, blushing, pulled the tank into the garage at a more sedate pace and stopped it. She opened the drivers' hatch to find Rosehip already waiting, hand extended, to give her some assistance getting out. When they had exited the machine, they found the other four waiting for them at the garage door.
"It's odd. This time it felt more natural, somehow," said Yuzu. "It's like it just clicked."
"That last move. What inspired you to do that?" asked Darjeeling.
"I guess… the point is to get behind the other tank if you can, and that just seemed like the fastest way."
"Well, I'm glad we could talk like this," said Darjeeling. "Despite the earlier unpleasantness, I think we've patched things up. Hana, I don't hold what happened against you. Yuzu, I'm sorry for interrupting your club. You're both welcome to stop in and visit us any time you like. If you let us know in advance, I'll even get Pekoe to put some green tea on for you. If you don't mind squeezing into the Dingo again, I'll have Rosehip drive you back to your clubhouse."
"That would be fine," replied Hana. "If I hear anything more from Yukari, or come up with anything else which might help, I'll let you know."
"Would you be willing to answer a few more questions about your friend or these 'delusions' at a later date?" asked Assam.
"I would, though I won't go into anything too personal. I do have a request though. I did invite Yukari to visit sometime as a friend when things have settled down…" she let the implied question linger.
"As long as we have time to hide anything interesting, that shouldn't be a problem," said Darjeeling. "We'd love to have any friends of yours over for tea."
Once the pair were safely away with Rosehip, Darjeeling, Pekoe and Assam changed back into their school uniforms and returned to their clubhouse to find Rukuriri waiting with a large brown-wrapped package. "This came for us. It's from Kay."
Pekoe grabbed the box and set it down on one of the tables. "It's surprisingly light, whatever it is."
"I suspect it's a consolation gift for being a good sport about the match. We sent them some tea after beating them last year in the tournament," said Darjeeling. "Open it up."
Pekoe opened the box, and pulled out a tall cylindrical tin in gaudy red, white and blue, with a note on top. Rukuriri took the note, while Pekoe pried open the lid.
"What's inside, Pekoe?"
Pekoe grabbed a handful of the contents. "Popcorn. Three different types." She ate a handful of the caramel-covered popcorn.
"I suppose that's thoughtful of her," replied Darjeeling. "What's the note say?"
"It's just a name. Isuzu Hana. It's on Saunders letterhead, so it's from them. No idea who that is," said Rukuriri.
Pekoe and Assam exchanged glances.
"That happens to be the name of one of the girls from the Flower Arrangement club that was just here. I'll introduce you next time they stop by," said Darjeeling.
"What's going on with the Flower Arrangement club?" Rukuriri asked. "First there are rumors that you threatening them with a tank. Then you invite them over for tea and show off the Cromwell, from what I could tell. Now one is the subject of a mysterious note from Saunders."
"I can't explain everything now," replied Darjeeling. "However, I expect they'll be back. They may end up helping us out with a few things, even."
"I never seem to know what is going on around here," Rukuriri griped. "I'm going to go check on the repair work for the Matildas."
When she had left, Assam asked "Why didn't you suggest that they join the club to make up for the trouble? We're not quite shorthanded, but we could certainly find a use for a decent gunner and driver."
Darjeeling smiled. "I'd rather they decide to join us on their own, rather than feel pressured to do so. I'm not going to make the mistakes of the past. And they will, eventually."
Pekoe turned from her tea preparation and asked "How are you so sure?"
Darjeeling smiled. "Have you heard this saying? 'There is no road of flowers towards glory.' "
Next: Part XIII: Homecoming
Author's Note: More St. Gloriana, and more non-Oarai Sensha-Do team operations. Writing Darjeeling is fun!