Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!
Chapter 21: Red Dawn
Five hours earlier…
Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier
*Knock Knock*
The front door sounded. Miho rolled back on her desk chair, looked at the door, then looked at the time.
8 PM… Miho read off the clock dial. I wonder who could it be?
Miho stood up, still in her sky blue pajamas, and walked up to the door. She looked through the door's peephole, only to see large bronze-colored eye staring back. Miho giggled as she recognize the antics and undo the locks on her door.
She swung the door open outwards, the people behind stepping back, and saw her friends. "You girls!"
"Hi Miporin!" Saori merrily said in front of the group. She had her school bag on her, as well as a plastic convenience bag.
"Hello Miho," Hana did a small wave, she also had the same baggage as Saori.
"Evening," Mako said with some indication of nocturnal vitality, though she only had her own school bag.
"W-what brings you girls here?" Miho asked them.
"We came to check you on you, Miporin!" Saori said, "How are you? Did you rest easy?"
"Oh!" Miho was taken aback by her friend's concern. "Y-yes! I'm fine! I managed to sleep; when I woke up it was 5 o'clock though…"
"Five o' clock?!" Saori yelled out. Miho instinctively held a finger in front of her lips towards Saori, they had to consider the neighbors. "Five…? Miho, are you sure you're sleeping at night? Even Mako isn't like that. "
Miho bashfully chuckled, "I am. But, I dunno, I feel restless at night…"
"Only at night?" Hana asked.
"Yeah… I'm not sure," Miho was ready to ponder. "Oh! Please come in! I can get some tea ready an-"
"Don't worry about that, Miho," Hana said. "I'll make it for us."
"Oh, uh…thanks, Hana!" Miho relented.
The girls got in. "Pardon the intrusion," they said politely as they entered.
"By the way Miho, have you eaten yet?" Saori asked. "We brought some food from the store if you're hungry~!"
"Wow, thanks Saori!" Miho eyed the plastic bag and saw the ingredients inside.
"Yes! We can cook them and then eat, then when we're done, we can go over tonight's homework!" Saori said excitedly as she sat down near the low, yellow dining table on her knees. She opened her school bag and pulled out a small pile of papers up top. Miho saw the math problems written on it.
"Oh, thank you Saori!" Miho beamed as she took the papers.
"It's weird, isn't it?" Mako said as she sluggishly liquefied into a comfortable pile at the table. "That we ride around in our tanks, winning the national games, and are competing in an international exhibition match, and we're still here doing homework."
"Is there something wrong with that?" Saori asked. "Actually, why are you complaining? Homework for you is a piece of cake!"
"I do it quickly so I can sleep early…" Mako sluggishly said.
"Well, maybe some curry would motivate you to stay up," Hana said, coming in with a tea set on a tray, the spout on the teapot steaming with the essence of the infusion wafting into the air, revitalizing the atmosphere.
"Right, well then," Saori said as she put away her contacts, and from seemingly nowhere, flipped out her red half-rimmed glasses onto her face. "Let's get cooking!"
Airspace, English Channel
"How does he do that, sir?"
"Hmm?" Antov turned his head to the cadet on his right, a newbie in the group.
"That guy, uh…" the unfamiliar man said.
"Loza?" Antov said, referring to a close comrade sitting across the fuselage from them.
"Yeah, him sir," The recruit clarified. "How does he do that?"
"What do you mean?" Antov said as the place shook around slightly.
"Him asleep, like that. How can he do that like this?"
Antov looked up at Loza, his head nodded off on his own shoulder. The surrounding shook heavily again, their gear shook on their body with the force. When it all relaxed and everything became steady once more, Loza has not stirred from his rest.
"Kid, when you do enough jumps, you get used to this thing."
"Don't call me kid, sir," the recruit said.
"What's your name then, kid?" Antov asked the kid.
"Minolta, sir."
"This isn't your first jump, is it, kid?" Antov asked with some concern.
"No! I've got two jumps on me, sir," Minolta said.
"First time in the pathfinders?" The plane jumped again and the crew inside felt the turbulence.
"Y-yeah, my first jump in the pathfinders… sir," Minolta said. "I transferred in here two weeks ago. I've spent most of my time in the classes, so I didn't get to do any practice jumps before they put me with you guys here."
"Hey, don't worry!" Another member on the same side as Antov and Minolta, Ilham chimed in. "This team we're against don't have airborne. You don't have to worry about getting shot out of the sky!"
Ilham broke out in some sort of laughter, Antov chuckled too. Minolta looked at the two like they were crazy. Antov calmed down and patted a hand on Minolta's shoulder. "Do you remember your job, cadet Minolta?" Antov asked.
"Yes sir."
Antov used that hand and slapped the kid's back, hard. "Listen kid, don't worry too much about it. The most important thing right now is that you touch the ground alive, okay?"
"O-okay, sir."
"Don't worry too much about us, we're experts in this," Antov reassured the newbie while pointing towards the man first questioned, "Loza there has done more than seven jumps already."
"Seven ju-" Minolta was surprised. "What about you, sir?"
"Eh, five in the pathfinders. Loza is a special individual."
The plane rocked again as the structure wobbled along with the air pressure placed on the wing. All was well, the pilots were well trained in the Li-2 aircraft. Though the fuselage looked big enough to hold 28 people, a good amount of ground space was taken up by their equipment for the six people involved in this operation.
They've been flying for almost four hours now in the night. The only visible items in the fuselage and outside was the lights on the fuselage wall, the red light near the door on one end, and the light shining from smartphones that the smarter individuals brought with them. Usually in these nights, they could look out the windows and see Yak-9D escorting them, but they were not present today due to nonexistent air resistance. Aside from the deafening ambiance with the prop engines blaring outside, the inside was near silence as the chatter could only spread between neighbors without a headset.
However, in this minute of the hour, a transmission came in through the intercoms.
"Five minutes to drop"
Antov started unbuckling himself from the seat when Loza seemed to spring up and finished getting up in a concise, practiced movement
"Wha- he-" Minolta looked at Loza like a man back from the dead.
"Practice, kid," Antov got up and reached for his pack and weapon on the ground. The darn thing altogether weighed almost 35 pounds overall, and he slung this thing in front of him as his parachute pack was on his back at the moment, an arguably more important piece of equipment than even his rifle now. "Ready up, kid. We're going soon."
Minolta got up, snagging on a few straps and lines on the way as the rest of the crew got up and walked towards the door on the tail end of the fuselage. A crew by the door inspected each man carefully, seeing that they took everything they needed, before giving an okay sign to Antov. Antov gave an okay sign back.
The crew member then opened the door, a gush of air entered as the cabin depressurized. Wind gusts blew in and out as everything not bolted down waved with the changing gusts. The pathfinders stood firm, holding onto the handrails for balance.
"Ready up!" Antov shouted, though his voice could probably be heard through their headsets. "Equipment check!"
The men inspected their gear, each one behind the other and doubly so around.
"Sound off equipment check!" Antov shouted for confirmation.
"Six okay!" Meesh cried.
"Five okay!" Minolta shouted.
"Four okay!" Loza shouted firmly.
"Three okay!" Ilham cried.
"Two okay!" Boris said.
"One okay!" Antov finally said as he heard them count down. They were ready. "Alright listen, we were briefed on this before take off, but let's go over this once more since we got a newbie on our tail today!"
Some of the men in the back nudged number five in a teasing manner.
"So here's how we're going to do it!" Antov continued. "We'll be jumping out and conducting HALO. We get down there, set up the beacons for the assault team to land in precisely with their phase. Remember, this location is a carrier on a body of water. An inaccurate reading on those beacons, and we could be sending our boys straight into the Atlantic. Is that clear?"
"Ura!"
Antov looked at his watch.
8:43 PM.
Shit, we're behind schedule. Antov rolled back his sleeve and prepared himself.
"Two minutes to drop"
The crew looked out the open door down. In the distance, they could see the light glimmer from the France cities and industry. A beautiful sight. But down below was just a pit of darkness, nothing was visible, not even the boats.
Antov privately wondered just how high they were from the visual reference. What if the enemy practiced blackout tactics?
"One minute!"
Antov looked at his team once more. Boris in front had beads of sweat building on the forehead exposed under his helmet. On that note, Antov brought up his jacket sleeve up and wiped his head, feeling the moisture getting absorbed onto the fabric. But as the minute ticked by, Antov eyed carefully both the red light staring right into him like a cyclops next to the door, and the sea below.
He saw the yellow glow of a city electrical light just as the light on the door turned green.
"LET'S GO!" Antov cried before jumping out the plane. Leaders lead the way.
As he jumped, he could feel Boris also motion forward.
It was in the moment he jump that he always questioned the pilot's on the intuition. What if they were off course by kilometers? The American paratroopers on D-Day back in World War II always come to mind on just how "accurate" these paradrops were. Then came the incident of '84, but Antov quickly shoved that back into the drawer.
Everytime he questioned though, everytime he's proven wrong. Now facing towards the ground, he could see the aircraft carrier these Ōarai girls call home. He was always astounded by the figure he saw on its length, more than 7 kilometers long!
Actually, now that he thought about it. Missing the drop by length was not the problem, it was by width, and the problem would be near non-existent if the plane flew in parallel over the location. Despite the six dropping out in separate times, the pathfinder's skill in free-fall eventually had them gliding side-by-side up above a few kilometers in the air. Antov glanced up and saw the Li-2 they had became acquainted with the last few hours turn around on its way home.
He looked at the men as they followed the will of gravity. Some had faces of cold stone as they anticipated the landing. Others had faces that still had an expression of the word they screamed out before flinging themselves out of a perfectly good airplane.
That was when Loza diverted from the group on his own initiative forwards.
"Where is he going?!" Minolta screamed out into the headset for them all to hear.
"Loza's got his own plans, Minolta." Antov looked as Loza flew forwards ahead, away from the group by a long distance now. "He always does…"
Antov looked down on the ground, eyeing the extra large field of forests, plains, sand pits, and rivers as their designated drop zone.
Tank Garages, Ōarai Carrier
"Why are we out here anyways? Nothing ever happens…" Nina said as she rubbed her wool gloves together. Her breath came out as fine mist of steam. "We even digged those fox holes because that British girl told us to, would we even need them?"
"Careful Nina…" Alina said to her co-loader. "You don't want Ms. Katyusha to throw you in that room do you?"
Nina shuddered hard among that mention. She was clinging onto a PPSh with a drum magazine, the little thing did provide its own sort of warmth despite it being way too big for her body. "Still… Ms. Nishizumi was sick today. You'd imagine before the match, they'll let us take a break to rest up as well…"
"Hmm… ye-"
"Is there something the matter?" A towering, accented voice stood above Nina and Alina. They froze as solid as a statue.
"N-nothing is wrong, Ms. Klara!" Nina recovered quickly, a valuable trait when you tend to offend your commander often.
Klara gave a rather innocuous smile that hid a lot of message, a smile that she had perfected from Nonna. A smile that indicates nothing malicious, yet nothing heartfelt as well. A cacophony of emotions stirred with that smile.
Creepy! Nina privately thought.
Klara finished whatever it was, then stood by the girls. "By the way, aren't you suppose to be on the patrol path? Digging those fox holes earlier today don't give you any extra breaks tonight."
"Eep! Uh, yes Ms. Klara! We'll resume at once!"
"Get to it," Klara said as the two girls picked up their weapons and continued. Klara giggled as she enjoyed teasing the two. They both have a rather special place in Katyusha's heart by crewing KV-tan.
Still, the Pravda student body was out guarding the garages this night, they alternated with the Saunders student every night. The seniors such as Klara tried to keep up discipline, but the consecutive nights with nothing eventful has started to make them complacent. Most of them are just lazing off now, waiting for their shift to be over against the non-existent enemy. Klara supposed they were just getting frustrated with all the work they have to put in. The new defense line in the dirt by the tank field roughly 100 meters from the tank garage's concrete block was quite controversial among the girls. They digged fox holes most of the morning, and they see nothing with it except as holes on the ground.
The British girl was insistent though, that they were "top notch defenses" in a case of invasion. Everyone thought she was over her head, but she managed to convince Katyusha, and her words were law.
Katyusha willed that Pravda students be in top notch, yet many are seen toasting about around heaters. Nonna was able to freeze everyone into shape and she did it all the time prior. Klara hoped she could meet up to Nonna's performance for the benefit of Pravda and Ms. Katyusha.
Klara sighed as she cuddled her own Pa-Pa-sha submachine gun. It was a very familiar feel, one she hasn't felt in a long, long…
Something ruffled through the air. Klara looked up. In the dark sky above, nothing was visible outside the stars. There was nothing low enough being illuminated by the street lights either. Just her imaginations? Maybe the silence of the night was starting to becom-
KRRSH, a combination of a fabric rip and tree bustling sounded behind the garages.
Klara stood up. The noise had a heavy weight to it, and it was clearly suspicious. She looked behind her and lost track of the other girls already as they went on their own business. She looked back at the direction of the noise. If she delayed too long, the source would be gone. And if it was a dangerous entity, then she would have let it go without contest.
Bringing up her PPSh-41, Klara checked the bolt to see if it was open and ready to fire. She held it carefully on her shoulder, the muzzle pointed down to the ground as she moved towards the noise.
In the back area of the garage, there were small semi-circle gardens built up by red bricks for decorations alongside the walls, but she took note of the large tree hanging around the area. Leaves and branches were scattered all over the ground near it, signs of disturbance. She looked up in the darkness up at the tree. It was dark, so she took out a flashlight and shined it above. A parachute snagged on top of the tree, the lines hanging down like a puppet master towards the harness, empty and unbuckled.
A metal clack of a gun clicked and prodded behind her.
"Не двигаться!"
"Ah!"
Tank Field, Ōarai Carrier
The landing was still harsh on the open plain. Antov opened his parachute up above, at an optimum altitude so that his free-fall came to a safe velocity before touching the ground. He bent his knees, rolled with velocity, but still felt his legs get whacked around with the landing. His gear did not help at all as his tumbling had the different pieces of gear be pushed around on him with the inertia.
"Gah…" Antov griped as he stood up. He unbuckled his gear with the quick-release button, the parachute falling back and his gear falling forwards into his arms.
He looked around for hostiles first. There were none, then he looked for his team. In distances several meters away from him, he could see the scattered group on the process of escaping their fabric entrapment as Antov rolled up the parachute back into its pack.
He then took up his SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle and cocked a round with a very satisfying Shh-CLACK noise of the bolt. The rest of his now five-man team approach him.
"Set up the beacons," Antov said as he unpacked the large mechanical equipment from his pack. "In open spaces, roughly 200 meters apart from each other across the field. Keep them active for the next…" Antov checked his watch. 8:52 PM. "10 minutes, and keep them safe from possible hostiles. Ura?"
"Ura!"
"Alright. Get moving. We're running out of time."
The men scuttled off with their SVT rifles or PPS submachine guns with the beacons on their backs. Antov looked around his initial position. Actually looks pretty safe here…
So Antov set up the beacon. The main body of the beacon looked like a large blocky equipment that looked like a World War II radio set. On another part, Antov constructed an antenna with a radar dish net extending up from a tripod, pointed up into the sky.
Set up sturdily on the ground, Antov reached with his gloved hand to a button on the top corner of the box. A firm press and a click was felt. The machine whirred as it booted up its system. Then, a low-visibility red light glowed on the beacon, indicating its active status. Antov made sure it started to work before he took his rifle and made a distance from the beacon. Finding a decent pile of foliage, he crawled down with his semi-auto rifle in hand, waiting to snipe any possible intruders that so happen to approach the beacon.
He checked his watch once more. 8:57 PM. Antov hoped everyone else was doing alright. Time was running short for their part in the operation.
Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier
"Miho, you derive the formula to find the rate the speed is increasing." Saori said, pointing towards the sheet of paper Miho was working on.
"I, uh, what?" Miiho blundered as she stared at the ink on paper.
"Like this Miho," Mako muttered as she wrote it out on her paper. "See?"
"Ah, okay," Miho saw it, "Ha ha, I don't know how I'd get past high school without you girls."
"Yeah, you know all about military though, just like Emma and Yukari." Saori said.
"Well, Emma is a cadet, she's trained by the British military for her job," Hana pointed out.
"Yeah? Well no one was really convinced by what she asked for today, military experience and all." Saori pouted.
"Yes, it was a weird order…" Hana agreed.
"What happened?" Miho asked.
"Okay," Saori seemed pented up, "So in the morning, one of the first agenda of the day by her was for us to dig holes in the ground."
"Holes?"
"Yeah! Emma thinks it's needed just like those concrete road blocks we have now to keep us safe! Give us cover by putting people in it!"
"You mean fox holes?" Miho clarified.
"Yeah, that!"
Miho thought about it, "Well, it is strange… but it isn't exactly useless if she's talking like that… Depending on the design, it could protect the people in it."
"Strange? I dunno, they're just holes in the ground to me…" Saori pouted.
"Sorry, I guess I just have a very specific mindset, I guess."
"Being raised in a Nishizumi-style household and school would do that," Hana said as if commenting from her own experiences.
"Funny, you came here to get away from Sensha-dou too, remember that." Saori said. The girls laughed.
Still the thought that rejecting Sensha-dou would put her in a position way above Sensha-dou is perhaps the biggest irony of them all. It gives Miho no shortage of chuckle on how life was just weird like that.
Then she imagine if she was just a regular high school student. No more tankery, nothing. Her sister would probably be in her position right now regarding the tournament.
Her sister…
Miho can't shake an uneasy feeling about it all. No contact whatsoever form the last three weeks. Surely something happened? But if so, what was it? Miho shook her mind, distancing away from that to what was in front of her once more. Grabbing on any essence of the present right now.
"There seems to be some low flying airplanes around here, huh?" Hana commented. Miho grasped on it as she listened into the scenery outside. A loud whir could be heard outside through the closed, clear sliding balcony door.
"Maybe the Europeans just like their prop planes," Miho listened in.
"Prop planes?" Saori asked.
"Planes powered by propeller engines," Miho clarified. "Not jets. You can tell from the rumbling, whirring sound. Jets make a lot cleaner, but a louder, noise."
"Geez! You and Yukari, I can't tell that much of the difference between vehicles just by the sound!"
Miho chuckled. She wondered just how Yukari was doing in Russia. Hope she's alright.
The noise overhead grew louder, the rumbling somewhat beating down to the ground with its whir. Miho thought about it suspiciously. It was way too loud for a civilian single-engine prop airplane.
Airspace, English Channel
Nikolai flicked open his lighter, then closed it, then opened it, then closed it. Each time a Qwink sound played as it opened, then closed with a Chink.
"Gosh Nikolai, calm yourself," Vasiliy said to his right.
"Sorry," Nikolai said, controlling his hand trembling.
"Get yourself a fidget cube next time," Vasiliy said as he leaned back to relax.
The plane buckled in the air, shaking everyone onboard. It was a claustrophobic environment, everyone's legs were touching one another, and everyone's ass was touching each other. But that's how you fit 35 cadets onto a TB-3 four prop-engine aircraft, Nikolai supposed.
Suddenly, there was a physical shift in weight as the tail dipped slightly. Everyone onboard almost slid off with the change had they not gripped on the handrails. The pilots slowly brought the plane on the level ground.
"What was that?!" Someone cried out.
"Those gliders must've been cut loose," someone else answered.
"Good riddance," a voice to Nikolai's left said. He looked and saw his senior, Albert, mumbling about. He looks very bored from the flight.
The airborne cadets of 1st Platoon in this special company strung along with the ride, now a lot smoother without the gliders dragging them along. Everything was dark, but their eyes had gotten adjusted with the current light level. So when the red light gleamed on, it caught the eye of everyone on board.
"Five minutes to drop," the intercom blared out, able to be heard despite the noise.
Well, here we go… Nikolai thought.
"Get ready!" The platoon commander, Viktor, cried. Everyone in the fuselage stood up.
"Welp, here we go," Vasiliy said. "Don't lose your grip."
Viktor walked down and forth, making sure everyone was ready. Nikolai took the moment to look outside the plane through what little vision he has. The dark sky in a typical exercise would be accompanied with a flight of Yak planes for protection. Today there was only one, though colored in a referee painting to indicate it was not here on a combat role, but a regulatory one.
Viktor soon made his way around "Check equipment!"
Everyone inspected their parachute packs and put on their necessary equipment like their helmets and weapons. Everyone checked each other and made their confirmation, giving their thumbs up. Confidence in their gear was a must for what was going to come next.
Viktor soon made his way to the gun turrets on the rear of the fuselage, opened up and exposed to the air. In a typical operation with concerns of interceptions, there would be gunners on the 7.62 mm DA machine guns, but they were done away with the low air risk. Viktor climbed out into the gun turret and sat on the edge, outside the fuselage into the air. With the wind blowing into his face and helmet, he held a stop hand sign to the people below, watching him.
He sat up there until the pilots gave them the next signal.
"Two minutes to drop". The intercom blared, and Viktor's hand signal became a beckoning gesture. The men began climbing out of the gun turret.
Nikolai gulped. Albert in front of him yawned, hand over his open mouth as he walked forwards. The men kept climbing out the fuselage, out into the open. Nikolai kept shaking his head on this, the guys in the pathfinders had a more comfortable jump position with their DC-3 knockoff.
Soon Albert was climbing out the gun turret, Viktor helping him out. Nikolai stared up the gun turret mount. He closed his eyes and took a breath. Goddamn it sonofabitch, he cursed his situation and climbed out.
The wind blasted into his face, the only exposed part of his skin now, as he clutched hardly on the fuselage grips. The plane looked motionless in the pitch darkness, but he knew they were traveling more than 200 kilometers per hour through the air.
"Let's go Nikolai!" Vasiliy cried from behind.
"God damn it!" Nikolai replied back as he moved up the fuselage outside. He gripped the handholds all his might as he crawled himself forwards the first few feet. The right wing, blending in with the dark sea, was below him and from the fuselage top, Nikolai lowered his legs until he felt the sturdy metal construction on the wing exterior. Keeping his left hand gripped onto the fuselage rails, he walked forwards on the wing outside as the propeller blared in front. On the wing, cluttered near the fuselage, were roughly eight men already on the wing. Nikolai walked close enough towards the man in front, then looked back and saw Vasiliy taking up position behind him.
Nikolai stood there as everyone else moved up to their positions on the TB-3 wings. Goddamn it Nikolai, what in the hell are you doing on the wing of a plane?! Nikolai berated himself, despite the fact that this wasn't the first time he's done this. But every time he does this, he feels very, very fucked.
He clung on so hard he almost forgot to release when Viktor gave a signal, a green glow emitting of his body from his inside. Upon that, the men released their grips on the fuselage and proceeded to let themselves fall off the wing.
"HOLY SHIIITTT!" Nikolai screamed internally as his body slid off the TB-3 wing and found himself in free-fall. As soon as he felt the wing left leave behind him, he yanked on the parachute release cord.
The parachute extended after a good drop and a sudden force pushed him up as the parachute caught the air. Nikolai felt his descent drastically slow down. He looked down and saw the long strip of an active community on a carrier in the middle of the sea, just as the briefings explained before they took off. The carrier looked beautiful with the lights like that of Moscow. He looked around, everyone in 1st platoon has their parachutes deployed. In the air, they all looked like a bloom of jellyfish floating mindlessly in a suspension.
Nikolai looked up towards the neighboring TB-3 plane. On it, the cadets from 2nd platoon were just dropping off as well, those mad men.
Nikolai could see a large field in the middle of the carrier that was their destination. They closed in and he could make out the bushes, the grass, and the other terrain details. Large plains on the bottom proved enticing landing positions for the cadets, though the unlucky may find themselves snagged on the trees.
However, a sudden, heavy gust of wind blew through the airborne cadets. "Agh!" Nikolai cried as his parachute swayed with it. The wind started to drag him away from the group. As he tried to reorient the parachute, another heavy gale came through and he found himself being towed with the wind. He, along with the other cadets, got carried off with the wind a fair distance away from their original position. C'mon! Turn! Nikolai continually pulled on the parachute lines. He soon came to a halt and heading back towards the ground, a problem now that he was no longer on top of the drop zone.
He looked down to find himself landing right on a residential area. The open road for cars and the suburban housing did not bode well with his well being.
"Crap!" Albert cursed as he found himself landing right into a pond in the residential backyard. "You've got to be kidding me!"
He thrashed, tugged, and cried out, but he could not divert his path and landed right into the body of water. He felt himself go under and quickly pressed on the emergency quick-release button on his pack and his gear fell apart, freeing his body.
Albert swam up and gasped for air, he looked around and got his bearing. The pond was not so large, a man-made decoration than a land feature. Something slick brushed up against him before swimming away. Albert looked down and saw a large amount of orange kois, with various patterns of white and black on them, swimming around in the pond.
Some aquarium, Albert thought. An aquarium that had his gear. Albert took a breath and dived down. Though dark, he felt around for something unnatural. He failed and got up for air, then went back down. He did this three times before he gripped something like a strap, and pulled the heavy item up to the top. Albert dragged it to the edge and chucked it over the edge onto the ground, then he himself climbed out of the pond.
Albert's clothes were wet and heavy, he felt water drip out under his helmet onto the ground and himself. He was miserable, he was cold, and this was possibly the second worst day of his life. After a short break, he got up and grabbed his pack. He checked his equipment inside, then something caught his eyes. He looked up and saw an old lady watching him from the backyard of the house he landed behind, her grey hair with hair rollers could be made out in the darkness.
Albert looked at this women for a second, then he put a finger up to his lips towards the women. "Sshh."
He then gathered his gear and made his way out the backyard.
Nikolai saw the power lines and thought it might be the end of him. His parachute snagged on the line as he made his descent, and the pendulum motion of the stuck parachute and his harness almost sent him face first into the wall in front. He turned in a moment and crashed with his arms, absorbing the force to a more suitable location.
However, Nikolai was left dangling there in the middle of the suburban road. He looked down and found himself only a few feet from the ground, so he pressed his release latch and the equipment became undone. He fell onto the ground softly, though his equipment crashed down.
He unholstered his Tokarev from his belt holster and looked around for any enemy. Nothing in sight, no movement in fact other than the rumbling of the TB-3 plane engines above. He then picked up his pack and moved on, trying to recall where he was on this blasted ship.
Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier
"It's getting late. Look, Mako's already dozing off." Saori said, pointing towards Mako on a lap pillow
"Not only, she already has," Hana said.
"Well, I suppose. Thank you all for stopping by to check on me…" Miho said, appreciating the time the girls spent with her.
"You think you'll have problems sleeping tonight, Miho?" Saori asked her.
"Oh don't worry, I'll try my best to get a full night sleep to-"
CRASH! A loud impact came from the balcony. The girls, except Mako, jumped up startled.
"What was that?!" Saori cried out.
The noise outside became a series of grunting, struggling, then another crash.
Miho dashed and opened the balcony door. A large fabric has caught onto the safety rail on the balcony. Miho looked down and saw man struggling, dangling from midair.
"Let's go help him!" Miho said as she prepared herself.
"Excuse me, Miporin?" Saori asked. "You did just see him crash into your window from the sky, right?!"
"I know!" Miho quickly put on a jacket over her pajamas "But that doesn't mean we can't help!" She said as she then rushed out the door, forgetting to lock or close it.
"Wait Miporin!"
Miho heard Saori call for her as she ran out, running downstairs. She reached towards the back of the apartment and found the fabric hanging down. Except the man was gone, the lines were broken off and all that was left was a dangling harness. Miho looked around, the man was really gone, there was footstep impressions on the grass where he scampered off. As she was outside, she heard the loud, growling noise of the engines above. Miho gazed up into the sky.
She saw the large bloom of open fabric floating down the sky towards the direction of the school. Miho was taken aback, what was this? An army has come to the town.
Miho reached down for a phone, but recalled she left it in the apartment. She ran all the way back up, throwing the door open as she reached it.
"Miho? What's wrong?" Hana asked.
"We need to let the team back at the school know, now!"
"Know what?!"
Streets of Ōarai, Ōarai Carrier
Nikolai looked at his map of the carrier, Russian text were accompanied with small Japanese captions for field translation. He was alone, the cadets landing in the residential were just scattered all around. He shifted his shoulder as his Mosin sling started to slide off again.
The dark streets were lit up by the small cone of illumination from the street lights along with a low glow of the moon, covering the area like a filter piece. Nikolai saw a figure move in front of him, the figure produced a shadow in the lighting. Nikolai pulled out and steadied his Tokarev.
"Mountain!" Nikolai cried out. The figure froze and looked towards him.
"Shilka!" The voice cried out, it was Albert. Nikolai holstered his gun and went over to him.
As he approached, he found Albert soaked and dripping wet, a trail following him as the droplets drip off. "Don't ask," Albert said, and Nikolai dropped the subject. "You know where we are?"
"I know we're in this sector here…" Nikolai pointed at the map towards a residential area port from the drop zone. "But not the exact street."
"Christ, you got a c-"
"Mountain!" A voice cried out.
"Shilka!" Nikolai and Albert cried out, their weapons drawn towards the voice, but steadied with the response. A familiar man came out.
"Hey."
"Vasiliy?"
"Man, it's good to see you two."
"As you, Vasiliy." Albert asked
"We better hurry. I landed near the residence area and they're making a fuss about it. Not too long before the whole place knows we're here."
"Right," Nikolai said as he looked at the map again. "Now tell us how to get out of this forsaken place."
"Well," the three started walking down the street, "look out for landmarks to get our bearings," Albert said. "Keep an eyes peeled for bridges, farmhouses, roads, trees…buildings."
The two other men looked at him funny as they stared around in the middle of the suburban zone, full of buildings. Nikolai simply looked back at the map. "Wonder if the rest of the folks are just as lost as we are."
They walked a few paces, "We're not lost, Nikolai. We're in Ōarai."
Tank Field, Ōarai Carrier
The paratroopers all landed in groups around the area. The first thing they did upon landing was securing the parachutes if they could. Once the parachutes were packed crudely back into its pack, they went on to their combat equipment.
The airborne cadets took out their weapons, unfastening them from their combat pack. A loud arrangement of bolts clacking and stocks locking sounded as PPS-43 submachine guns, M44 Mosin-nagant carbines, and DP-28 machine guns were all locked and loaded. The few experienced ones also checked their personal sidearms, ranging from the issued Nagant revolver and Tokarev, or even M1911A1 for those willing to spend. Once the firearms were set up, they took out smoke grenades out of their packs and fastened the release levers on the combat gear. They then filled out the pockets on their gears with the appropriate ammunition type for their weapon for fast reloads. Helmets knocked as the submachine gunners lightly whacked their PPS magazine feeds against the helmet to seat the rounds, then lock them in their weapons.
Those finished readying up set out to form a perimeter line around the cadets still setting up. Viktor coordinated the efforts of 1st platoon, everyone readying up in a span of a few minutes.
"Mountain!" One of the cadets cried as they saw the figure approached.
"Shilka," Antov said as he walked towards the platoon. As he did, the cadets nearby stood at attention and saluted. Antov saluted them back. "Where's your commander?"
"Right here, sir," Viktor replied as he made his way through the cadets towards the pathfinder.
"Glad to see you made it, Viktor," Antov said, extending an open hand. Viktor took it and shook. "What's the situation?"
"Oh, it was all good until a few minutes ago. Everyone jumped without a hitch, but a quarter of my platoon got caught in a crosswind on the way down and are scattered across the place."
"Did any of them fall off the ship?"
"No, the referee plane would've caught that."
"Well, still not looking good for them," Antov analyzed. "This is a controlled environment. They're no good off course."
"Regardless, the operation must go," Viktor said as he looked back at his cadets.
"What about the gliders?" Antov asked. "How are they doing?"
"They haven't fallen apart mid-air, so that's nice," Viktor said, Antov chuckled lightly. "They'll be making a circle before landing to bleed off speed, gives us some time to initiate the assault."
"Great," Antov looked at his watch. 9:13 PM. "Alright, you know your duties. We'll guide the gliders once they've arrived. Go!"
"Roger that. Wish us luck!" Viktor said before departing for his team. He approached them and gestured. "1st platoon! Move out!"
Antov raised to his headset. "Minolta, any words on 2nd platoon guys?"
"T-they're heading out. The full team's here, sir,"
"Good, send them out. Keep an eye for stragglers, some from 1st platoon got separated." Antov said. So far so good…
Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier
"They're not picking up, Miporin…" Saori said, the phone dialing twice already. "I'll send a message on text!"
"That's not enough!" Miho said, hastily changing into her tanker uniform.
"Miho, you don't plan to-"
"Yes, I'm going over there!"
"Miporin! You said it yourself, there were dozens of them coming from the sky!"
"And I'm not doing any good here!" Miho said, fastening her buttons. "Now, are you coming with me?"
"I'll come along," Hana said.
"Uh, umm," Saori tried to make up her mind. "What about Mako?" She gestured towards the still-asleep girl.
"She'll be safe here," Miho said, now putting on her boots.
Saori looked between Mako and Miho. "Jeez! There's something really wrong with this whole Tankery thing! She might not be happy to have missed this, y'know?"
"On the contrary, she would probably be not as happy either if we wake her now…" Hana suggested.
"Good point…"
"Let's go!" Miho said, dashing out of the door.
I know I left this all in some tense scenarios, but something I found that was even more shocking than the plot line I have in my head is just how Soviet paratroopers were expected to jump from a TB-3 bomber (which was one of their standard paratrooper plane). Youtube it!
But our fellow Suvorov's airborne counterpart has made their move! What will Miho and her team do next? Will they be annihilated? Will they beat back the Russians? Or will the gliders contain some sekrit document of prototype tanks that they could use?!(no it won't). This whole chapter was exciting to write, and I think I lost counts on the numbers of work I got inspired by or referenced a work in this and the next chapter.
Anyways, next chapter already feels like it's going to be a doozy. I was actually on vacation the last week and had little to no internet connection, so I had plenty of offline time to start writing it… but still need time to refine the whole thing. I already have a start and end goal for this and I'm driving this tank all the way to the end!
Alrighty then, that's about it! If you made it this far and haven't followed or favorited yet, feel free to do so if you want updates when I add more chapters. Its Summer break here, and I got lots more free time to write up this story.