"Shannon-san," Clare said to her commander at The Harp a few days after the melee at Sensha-dō practice, "didn't we have an idea about training with Kuromorimine at one point? Whatever became of that?"
"They never replied to my emails," Shannon said, a little downcast at the thought. "I wonder what's been holding them up?"
"Okay, so that's more or less off the table if it's taking this long. Back to square one." Clare scratched her head.
"Well, we want to get their kind of training for our team. It's only fair to the girls. They've worked so hard lately."
"Consider why we started this team in the first place, Shannon-san. We watched Ooarai resurrect its team from twenty years of nothing to the winners of the nationals."
"Well, yeah, but what's your point?"
"They found a way to succeed. I suggest we use that as a starting point."
"Well, consider our lineup compared to theirs. They had the full power of a StuG, a Panzer IV, a Lee, and several others at their disposal. We have the Vickers Mark D, of course, but the two L-60s are really lacking in firepower."
"That's not what I meant. Consider the process they followed."
"They had a training match with St. Gloriana to start with." Shannon paused, then a grin slowly began to spread across her face. "You know, Clare-san, I might have just hit on something big."
"Like what?"
"What if we call on St. Gloriana for a training match? It would be a big challenge, all right, but just as valuable an experience as anything we could do with Kuromorimine."
"But doesn't half the team despise them? You know tempers are going to flare. Especially Erne's."
"The idea of a match is fighting against your enemy. Besides, it would give us an opportunity to earn their respect, something you need in Sensha-dō."
"And if they respect us they might be willing to help us..."
"Exactly!" Shannon beamed. "It's a big win for us, and hopefully for them as well!"
"I just have one question, though."
"What is it, Clare-san?"
"How do you actually plan to get such a training match set up?"
"Pretty simple. Just give them a call."
And indeed, it was a couple hours later that aboard the Ark Royal, the telephone rang in Darjeeling's sitting room. Orange Pekoe, the ginger-haired loader of St. Gloriana's Churchill Mark VII, picked it up. "St. Gloriana Girls' College, Orange Pekoe speaking. How may I help you?"
"Hi. I'd like to speak with Darjeeling-san," Shannon's voice chirped on the other end of the line.
"Uh, okay, I'll let Darjeeling-sama know you want to speak with her." Pekoe could hear the murmur of surprise at the level of formality.
Sitting right next to her, Darjeeling and Assam listened with keen interest. "Who is it?" Assam mouthed to Pekoe.
Pekoe suddenly looked nervous at having forgotten to find out. "May I ask who's calling?" she inquired over the phone.
"It's Shannon from Shamrock. I'm the captain of our Sensha-dō team. It's kind of important; could you please put her on the line?"
"Uh, yes, of course." Pekoe took the phone away from her ear and muffled the microphone end against her sweater. "It's the commander of Shamrock's Sensha-dō team, her name's Shannon," she said to Darjeeling.
"Wait," Assam interrupted, looking confused. "They have a Sensha-dō team? Since when?"
"I don't know, but apparently they have one." Pekoe extended the phone to Darjeeling. "Anyway, she wants to talk to you, Darjeeling-sama."
Darjeeling raised an eyebrow, then took the phone. "Hello, it's Darjeeling here. You must be Shannon-san."
"Indeed I am!" Shannon replied. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you about."
Darjeeling waited for a few moments until Shannon finally sighed, defeated in her little waiting game. "I'd like to schedule a training match with St. Gloriana, if that's all right with you."
"Well, you see, I'd love to," Darjeeling said, sipping her tea, "but we're overbooked as it is. I regret to inform you that we will be unable to grant your request. Good day to you and best of luck, Shannon-san." She hung up, gazing into her teacup.
"No pun intended, I hope?" Pekoe ventured. "Luck of the Irish and all?" A stony look from Assam cut her off. It was hard to have any sense of humor around those two; the only things that were funny were the things Darjeeling found funny, even if Pekoe found them terribly dull.
Darjeeling broke the awkward silence that had settled over the trio. "We have that match with Kuromorimine coming up in a couple weeks, don't we?"
"And another with Jatkosota a few days before that," Assam added. "Indeed, Darjeeling-san, we are too overbooked to even bother with Shamrock."
No sooner had she said this than the ringing phone next to Pekoe nearly made her jump out of her skin. The loader picked it up. "St. Gloriana Girls' College, how may I help you?"
"Put Darjeeling-san back on the line," Shannon's voice demanded.
Pekoe handed the phone to Darjeeling. "It's Shamrock again."
Darjeeling shook her head, then put the phone to her ear. "Hello, what is it?"
"You're sure you can't fit us in somewhere? Absolutely sure?"
"Yes, like I said, I regret to inform you that we will be unable to accommodate you. Good day...again." For the second time, Darjeeling hung up, looking a little annoyed.
As Pekoe placed the handset back in its cradle, it rang yet again. This time she simply hit "talk" and nearly shouted "What?!" into the phone.
"Do you think you can convince her?" Shannon's voice said, sounding hopeful. Pekoe rolled her eyes.
"We have training matches already scheduled with Kuromorimine and Jatkosota," Pekoe explained, at the edge of her patience. "We really can't make it work. I am sorry, but the answer is still no."
"Couldn't you do a compound team training match?" Shannon suggested. "It would make it a lot easier."
Pekoe looked at Darjeeling. "She wants us to do a compound team match. Combine all of them into one."
Darjeeling looked like she was about to slap her forehead. "Goodness me, why didn't I think of that?"
"So we can do it?" Pekoe said. She looked hopeful. "It'd get the phone to stop ringing every two seconds."
"All right," Darjeeling finally conceded. "Let's set it up."
Pekoe turned her attention back to the telephone. "All right, we can work something out. We'll call you when Kuromorimine gives us their schedule. Have a good day."
"Thank you! You're the best!" Shannon said before Pekoe hung up the phone.
There was a moment's hesitation in the sitting room as the three girls braced for the phone to ring again, but to their amazement it did not.
"They seem to understand that the third time's the charm," Pekoe observed, gently rubbing her ears from the repeated shrill noise of the phone in the last few minutes.
"Lucky charm," Assam joked.
Darjeeling laughed and Assam sat there triumphantly. Pekoe wished she was a tortoise, so she could duck her head back into her shell. Assam was a lot of things, but a comedienne was not one of them.
"Clare-san! Clare-san!" Shannon shouted as she rushed back into The Harp. "I did it! We got a training match with St. Gloriana!"
Clare was on her feet in a flash. "Great! When is it?"
"That's the thing: they didn't say. They just said they'd contact Kuromorimine."
"Wait. What about Kuromorimine?"
Shannon looked radiant. "They already have training matches scheduled with Kuromorimine and Jatkosota, so I suggested that we just do one big compound match!"
"And they said they'd call Kuromorimine."
"Right. So this is even better than I expected. Not only do we get to show St. Gloriana that we deserve their respect, but we can also impress Kuromorimine!"
"You know we need a lot of help here, right?"
"Oh, sure I do. But it's going to be an under-the-hood look at how a successful team works!" Shannon grinned. "You know how St. Gloriana lost to Kuromorimine in the national semifinals?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"If we can beat Kuromorimine," Shannon said, "and help St. Gloriana recover their honor, they'll owe us a favor."
"What favor is that?"
"I don't know yet, Clare-san, but let's not put the cart before the horse. We'll see what we need them to do for us. For now, let's go get that victory."
Two weeks passed so quickly that Shannon and the team lost track of time. They were excited for their first training match against a school that could pose much of a threat to them. Or so they had convinced themselves after their constant string of defeats against weak teams.
Shamrock had been paired with St. Gloriana for the compound match, so Jatkosota and Kuromorimine would be working together. The British and Irish themed schools would be facing a monumental challenge, dealing with the extreme skill of the Jatkosota crews and the sheer firepower and armor of the Kuromorimine tanks.
Despite the odds against them, Shannon was optimistic. "I have faith that we can win," she said to Erne the day before the match. "Our team is strong and we have a lot of spirit."
"Let's just make sure St. Gloriana doesn't steal the victory from us like they did our supply shipment," Erne said bitterly.
"Oh, come on, Erne-san! We'll be fine! It gives us a chance to show them we mean business!"
"If you say so." Erne was unconvinced. "We'll do our best, but that's not a guarantee of anything."
When the day of the match finally arrived, Shannon was waiting off to the side of the stands where a few curious spectators were gathering to watch the live-update screen. The tanks from all four schools had been driven to their starting locations at opposite ends of the battlefield. Nerves were beginning to kick in as a long line of trucks carrying Panthers, Tigers, and other mean-looking German tanks rolled past. Behind them, a single enormous tank crawled slowly along: the Maus that Ooarai had so famously knocked out, Kuromorimine's Goliath to what Shannon hoped would be Shamrock's David. The sheer size of the turret was terrifying, as was the wall of steel that they would have to overcome.
A voice behind her caught her attention. "Shannon-san?" a low voice piped up. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Darjeeling. She was here, and Assam and Pekoe were with her.
Shannon spun around and bowed to the St. Gloriana commander, who surveyed her Shamrock counterpart with intense interest. This lasted a few seconds, after which Darjeeling gave an approving nod. "You'll be working with me today. Do you have any questions, while we're standing here?"
"Nope! None," Shannon said, smiling at Darjeeling. "Let's hope this goes well today!"
"Good luck to you and your team," Darjeeling replied. "I see the start of the match is approaching. We had better get over there before we're late, don't you think?"
"Yes, of course." Something about Darjeeling's gaze was making Shannon deeply uncomfortable. Perhaps it was that teacup that she kept taking sips from every few seconds and every time Shannon spoke. Or perhaps it was Assam and Pekoe, standing behind her like a pair of thugs. Either way, Darjeeling was a lot more intimidating than she had anticipated. But if her record as a Sensha-dō commander meant anything, she was a good leader.
Two more girls approached—Kuromorimine's Erika Itsumi and Jatkosota's Mika. They were in command of their respective schools today, leaders through a lot of struggle but revered by their crews.
Erika sized Shannon up, then bowed to Darjeeling. "Glad to see we're facing a respectable team today."
Darjeeling ignored the insult directed at Shamrock, while Shannon missed it entirely. "We meet again, Itsumi-san," Darjeeling said. "And we brought company. By the way, where's Maho-san? Out sick today?"
"No," Erika replied. "Maho-sama had me command today. I have to get used to it if I'm to lead Kuromorimine to victory in the nationals! She's in the stands, 'evaluating my performance.'"
That Jatkosota commander—Mika, wasn't that her name?—was astoundingly quiet. Shannon decided to get her talking. "Hello!" she greeted. "You excited for the match?"
Mika picked gently at the strings of the kantele she carried under her arm. "The wind blows us to our destiny," she murmured with a smile that was thoroughly impossible for Shannon to read.
"I'm sorry, what?" Shannon was really confused. Hopefully Mika would clarify what she meant with that cryptic nonsense.
Mika looked up and into Shannon's eyes, still with that same smile. "You'll understand with time."
Well, that was no help at all! Shannon felt a pang of pity for the poor Jatkosota tankers who had to deal with this all the time.
A call sounded over a nearby loudspeaker. "All crews, prepare to commence the training match between St. Gloriana Girls' College with the Shamrock School for Girls and Kuromorimine Academy with Jatkosota High School!"
"Let's get started!" Shannon said, starting to dash for the jeep to get to her tank, but Assam held her back.
"Ah-ah, Shannon-san. We have to bow first."
"Sorry. I forgot." Shannon smiled, embarrassed. The commanders bowed to each other, then got in the jeeps to be taken to their starting points.
When they had reached their tanks and climbed in, Shannon stuck her head out of the Vickers Mark D while the last of St. Gloriana's hatches clicked shut and locked. "Who are we?!" she shouted to her teammates.
"Shamrock!" came the deafening reply. It was especially deafening when Laune yelled it at the top of her lungs in the echo chamber of that lightly armored tank.
"What do we fight for?!"
"Glory!" The rehearsed battle cry sounded cheesy but at least the girls put some spirit into it. Certainly more than St. Gloriana, whose students were insulated from the noise by their tanks and keeping the radios shut off.
"Come on, let's do this! Begin the match!"