Hell On Tracks
Part 5
The crowd went absolutely nuts as soon as the match ended. The crowd had quieted down as the Saunders encirclement closed in on the flag, but as soon as the KV-1's flag popped up, the fans from Saunders were up on their feet, cheering as loud as possible. Some of the Astoria fans were, too, since by all means it was a good match, but they weren't nearly as loud or as numerous as the Saunders contingent.
Off to my left, Rachel was giving as good as she got. I was right there with her, if less enthusiastic in my screamed cheering. After a long moment and nearly screaming myself hoarse, the cheering died down. People started trickling out of the bleachers and going back to wherever they had come from. A couple of school busses were lined out for the Saunders girls to take back to the ferry, while the locals left via their own transportation. Rachel and I took her pickup down to the docks, and actually managed to catch the Tankery team as they were loading their tanks onto the ferry.
"Tali!" Kay called, hopping out of her tank and running over to meet us. A few other girls followed her over, neither of whom I recognized. Then again, I was a brand new foreign exchange student, I didn't expect to know anyone.
"Hiya, Kay!" I responded as we hopped out of the truck. Kay leapt into a half tackle-half hug monstrosity as soon as she was in range, but I slid out of the way before she could bowl me over. Instead, she impacted the seat that I had been sitting on mere moments ago, and lay there, resting her head on the cushion.
The two girls that had followed her just shook their heads in amusement. The shorter one, with pigtails, laughed a little into her hand, but cut it off as soon as she realized I had noticed.
"Is this… normal, for her?" Rachel asked. When the two Japanese girls gave her a questioning look, I went ahead and translated the question.
"Hai." The taller girl said with a nod, continuing in Japanese. "She's very enthusiastic, and likes hugging people." The shorter girl nodded along with her. Again, I translated for Rachel.
Kay took this opportunity to stand back up and interject into the conversation. "Tali-san, Rachel-san, this is Naomi and Arisa. Arisa, Naomi, this is Tali-san and Rachel-san. Tali-san is a foreign exchange, and is very interested in Tankery."
"Nice to meet you, Tali-san." Naomi said, extending a hand, which I shook.
"It's actually Tally." I corrected. Kay gave me a confused look, while Arisa and Naomi both nodded, understanding the minute but important differences between the two pronunciations.
We conversed about things for a little while. Rachel and I congratulated the Saunders girls on their win, and they told us about what roles they had in the match. Arisa was the flag tank's commander, and was the one who came up with the misdirection idea with Astoria's 38(t). Naomi was the Firefly's commander *and* gunner, which was a weird combination of roles, but apparently she handled it just fine on her own. Kay had been in command of the centermost Sherman platoon, and was the one to actually knock out the KV-1 and secure the match.
Unfortunately, Rachel started feeling a little left out of the conversation after Arisa explained about her little trick with the 38(t). I was doing my best to translate, but I wasn't very speedy with the translations, and made more than a few mistakes in the process.
"Hey Rach, why don't you tell them about your favorite tank?" I asked, trying to keep my best friend in the conversation a little while longer.
Rachel smiled at the attempt. "Well, you might not think it due to my driving, but I love the Churchill heavy infantry tank."
Kay gave Rach a look of shock as I translated for Naomi and Arisa, who nodded along.
"It has all of the armor a decent gun, and while it's slow, it doesn't slow down over rough terrain. There aren't many hills that a Churchill can't climb." Rach continued. "And it's a great stonking heavy tank with *all of the armor!* Haha, tanks!"
Everyone had a good laugh alongside her, because we all subscribed to the methodology of "haha, tanks!" in one way or another.
"How about you, Arisa?" Kay asked in English.
"M1 Abrams." Arisa said, promptly switching back to Japanese. "It's the best tank ever produced by America, and fights through intelligence as well as with its gun. Just look at Operation Desert Storm for why."
It was an acceptable reasoning, but it felt a little like cheating to pick a vehicle that was only Tankery legal in the pro leagues.
"Naomi?" I asked, gesturing for the same question.
"M36 Jackson." She answered. I nodded along, knowing exactly why she would pick such a vehicle. "Not Sensha-do legal without modification, but carries one of the largest allied guns of the war, and was designed as a heavy tank killer."
Yup, exactly what I expected. After all, she was the one putting up with the godawful 17 pdr stuffed into a Sherman turret, so firepower must be important to her. And as both the tank's commander and gunner, to boot.
"Tally-san, what about you?" Arisa asked, as Kay translated Naomi's answer to Rach.
"M18 Hellcat, or M5 Stuart. Hellcat has a good gun and can go very fast, while the M5 can do the same with a smaller frame and a smaller gun. And it's Sensha-do legal, so I might actually get to drive one without having to modify it a lot." I answered.
"So you like going fast." Naomi surmised. I nodded, with a big stupid grin on my face at the mere thought of going fast in a tank. Sure, a car can and would go faster, but there was just something about going reasonably fast while protected by armor plating, as opposed to going fast in a tin can designed to crumple if it hits anything. Haha, tanks!
Any more conversation we would have had was cut off by the ferry blowing its foghorn. We all turned to the ship, and saw that the buses had loaded, and they were about to leave. Naomi and Arisa gave a salute to Kay before darting off to get onboard. Kay said goodbye, and thanked us for hanging out with her and the team before also leaving.
"So I guess this is it, then." Rachel said after a moment. I scuffed my shoe on the pavement, and didn't meet her eyes. "Don't worry, Tally. You have my phone number and can text me if you want to."
"Thanks, Rach. Sorry I'm going off to a school with tanks while you're stuck at home with none." I apologized.
"Keep that up, and I'll learn some Japanese just to go to a rival school of Saunders and kick your butt into high gear!" Rachel kept a serious face for all of five seconds before we both burst out laughing.
"I hear St. Gloriana is incredibly British themed, so you might get a chance at a Churchill if you do that, Rach."
"Haha, I wish. Have fun at your tank school, Tally!" Rachel said with a smile, hopping back into her truck.
"Have fun at regular old boring school, and don't kill Tasha!" I called with a wave, as I turned to the ferry. The revving of the pickup's engine was the last thing I heard from Rach as she pulled away and I took the steps towards my year away from home.