Hell On Tracks
Part 2

It took a bit of asking around and getting directions, but Rachel and I made our way over to the Saunders Tankery garage. Interestingly enough, they actually called it the English "Tankery" rather than the more traditional "Sensha-do." Tangent aside, the building was about what you would expect, large, blocky, and with multiple rolling garage doors to get at the interior.

The first person we met was that same blonde who laughed at my antics at the ferry. She immediately smiled and waved as we approached, probably recognizing us not by the vehicle we were in, but by my standing just behind the pickup truck's cab and just generally being an absolute madlass as Rachel drove at speeds bordering on "too much."

What can I say? I like the feeling of the wind against my face.

Blondie finished scarfing down a burger as soon as I hopped out of the bed of the still moving truck while Rachel went off to park somewhere that wasn't the side of the road.

"Hello!" She greeted in heavily accented English. "I'm Kay, captain of the Tankery team!"

"Tally Evans, new foreign exchange student." I said, offering a hand to shake. Kay took my offered hand, and used it to pull me into a tight hug. She must have noticed how uncomfortable I suddenly became, because she released the hug mere moments after initiating it.

"Sorry." She admitted sheepishly. I sighed and relaxed, which Kay took as an opportunity to speak up once more. "You here to see the tanks?"

"Yeah. I'd like to wait for my friend Rachel, though. She's just as into Sensha-do as I am."

Kay smiled broadly. "What's your favorite tank?"

That was a loaded question if there ever was one, and I took a moment to ponder it. The expected answer would probably be the Sherman, but they were honestly just so bland, as were the T-34 and Tiger. Big, popular, and overblown. A few oddballs sprung to mind, but slow monsters like the Jagdtiger or T28 Superheavy just didn't bring that rush of excitement beyond the significant emotional event of being shot at.

"It's not a proper tank, but the M18 Hellcat." I finally settled on. "Though if you want Sensha-do legal, I'd say the M5 Stuart."

"Oh?" Kay asked. She switched to Japanese to better articulate her next sentence. "Wouldn't you prefer something that can actually take a hit?"

"Hai." I responded, also switching to Japanese. "But if you look at historical kill ratios in the war, you would see that nothing quite compared to the Hellcat. Also, I like going fast."

A familiar cough grabbed my attention, and both Kay and I turned to see Rachel approaching.

"Hi Rach!" I said with a wave. "This is Kay, the Senasha-do captain for Saunders."

"Rachel Knight, Tally's friend and also her chauffeur for the day."

"Nice to meet you!" Kay exclaimed in her heavily accented English. She went and offered her hand to Rachel, and I noticed with some irritation that she didn't even try to pull Rach into the hug.

"So, tanks?" I asked. Kay laughed, and pulled both of us into the Tankery garage, to reveal a large portion of Saunders' tanks for us to admire.

It was a very impressive number of vehicles. Three rows deep, and a great number that I couldn't really count from this angle wide. Entirely made up of M4 Shermans with the short 75. There was a fourth row in the back, but from what I could tell, that one just had variants of the Sherman rather than something new and interesting.

"My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined." I joked in a very flat deadpan. Rachel gave me a stern look, while Kay turned around and stared at me in shock.

"You don't like them?" She asked in her native Japanese.

Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh. But seriously, Shermans? Nothing but Shermans, as far as the eye can see.

"Do you have anything that's not a Sherman or Sherman variant?" I asked, very sincerely.

Kay nodded, as if I had offended her family with my remark, and ran off to the back. Rachel gave me a very disappointed jab in the side with a stiff finger, and we chased after Kay.

The team captain led us on a merry chase to what had to be the far corner of the garage. These were the oddballs that I had wanted to see. A pair of M3 Lees with their silly looking sponson mounts, a damaged M24 Chaffee hull with the turret removed, a trio of M22 Locusts with tigers painted on their bows, two M5 Stuarts, an M6 Heavy with its main gun missing, and, to my surprise, an M18 Hellcat.

What must have been at least 60 M4 Shermans, not including those that were currently warming up for the game against Astoria High, compared to ten oddballs, half of which were more or less utterly useless to regular Sensha-do or damaged and unusable.

Naturally, Rachel gravitated towards the M6 as soon as she saw the heavy tank. With a quick "may I?" and a lift from Kay, Rachel slotted herself into the TC position in the heavy tank, managing to smash her bust into the edge of the hatch as she descended.

Rachel immediately began barking out orders to imaginary crewmembers, and both Kay and myself began cracking up into laughter.

I then wandered my way over to the M18 and climbed atop it, just sitting on the upper hull for a moment. It was only my second time ever actually being on a tank, and I wanted to savor this moment.

"You like it?" Kay asked me, grabbing my attention before I could devolve into wonderland as Rachel was currently doing.

"I do." I said, patting the gun barrel next to me. "Hellcat's my favorite for a reason. I just wish she were Sensha-do legal."

"Me too." Kay said, climbing up and sitting next to me. "The Sesnha-do committee has some requirements that we could meet, but we are still getting approval."

"Really?!" I exclaimed.

"Hai. It will take some time, and she'll need some modifications, but we might be able to get her." Kay explained, as I began silently fangirling about the mere idea of actually being able to take an M18 into Sensha-do combat.

"Do you have anything else cool here?" I asked, curious now that my disappointment over the Shermans had faded. Kay nodded, and hopped off the TD. I followed her, and made sure to grab Rachel before we left her behind.

"This way!" Kay yelled pointing somewhere into the midst of the line of Shermans. "Panzer vor!"

Once more, Rachel and I had to run to keep up with the very excitable Kay.