The Mk D manoeuvred its way, seemingly unobserved, across the undulating landscape. Shannon made sure to keep on the opposite side of the A7V from the Oberschlesien, until they were up close to the house-like tank.

"Hello? Excuse me? HEY!" Shannon shouted. For a small girl she could make a lot of noise.

In response to the shout, Franzi's head appeared at one of the small hatches in the raised cab of the tank. She looked a bit sheepish as she realised that the Mk D was right next to her tank with its gun pointed straight at it.

"Erm, sorry to disturb you, but we couldn't help noticing that you seem preoccupied," Shannon began. "Er… we just wondered... are you still playing in the match?"

"Oh yes!" Franzi nodded. "But we appear to have got stuck. The bank is giving way on our left, and dear Sissi can't move her tank from beside us or we'll fall over. We've been trying to radio Tiszi to ask her to come over and help pull us upright again, but we can't get hold of her. I don't know if she can hear us or even where she is."

"Oh, I know where she is!" Shannon smiled, waving vaguely off to the East. "My teammates were just shooting at her. Um… I could ask them to speak to her if you like?"

"Oh, would you? That'd be terribly kind of you!" Franzi replied. Her head disappeared and moments later Shannon could hear Franzi's voice on the other side of the A7V. "Sissi, oh dear Sissi? Shannon is here and she's going to ask Tiszi to come and help!" Franzi could be heard explaining.

"Thank you once again, it really is very kind of you!" Franzi said to Shannon as she rematerialised on the right hand side of the tank.

"It's no problem; don't worry about it!" Shannon answered. She picked up her microphone and radioed Erne's L-60.

...

The L-60 was filled with girlish giggles as it once again scooted into the lee of some convenient shrubbery, having just loosed off another burst of 20mm fire at the LK II. The three Shamrock girls were evidently having the time of their lives as they ducked and weaved around the terrain, firing shots at the older vehicle.

BOOM! went the 57mm of the K.u.K. tank as it sought to ward off this source of irritation, but the shell went nowhere close.

"Haha!" Erne laughed, peering through her vision ports as Annalee changed an empty magazine for a full one. "Where shall we… Gah!" she began, then exclaimed in annoyance as the radio spluttered into life in her ear.

"What?!" she snapped into it. "Yer? Yer? YOU WHAT?!"

"Their radio doesn't seem to be working and so I need you to talk to them," Shannon breezily but patiently explained.

"And just how the Hell am I meant to do that?!" Erne's voice came back over the airwaves.

"Just drive up alongside and knock on the door; it's not difficult!" Shannon said, raising her eyebrows. A note of exasperation had crept into her voice as she wondered why anyone would need to ask such a question.

The silence that followed did nothing to convey Erne's expression and silently working lips.

"Okay?" Shannon said, in a way that left no doubt that there was to be no further discussion on the subject.

"I… I… … Fine!" Erne yelled. She slammed down her headset and proceeded to rant, swear and curse while apparently resisting the urge to punch something. Which was a good thing, as the only targets within arm's reach were the unyielding steel walls of the turret and her own sister.

"Is something wrong, Onee-chan?" Annalee asked her explosive sibling.

"That girl's insane," Erne muttered, although it wasn't clear if that was the answer to Annalee's question. She replaced her headset with an obvious effort. "Finn... um… look, Shannon's asked us to do something. This is gonna need some careful driving…" Erne started to explain.

With a roar and a plume of dust, the small light tank leapt from its hiding place and bombed towards the LK II which had been meandering around, seemingly up to its own devices. On spotting its antagonist, however, it gave a lurching turn to bring it bow-on to the Shamrock tank, and its main gun instantly opened fire. In the L-60's turret, both Erne and Annalee insticitvely ducked as the shell went zipping overhead.

"Dammit! Keep turning, Finn!" Erne shouted.

"I am!" her driver replied from the front of the tank.

The L-60 cut across the bow of the Great War tank and began to turn in towards it. The LK II, however, appeared to be having none of it, and started to turn as well, trying to bring its fixed gun to bear on its target. The L-60 continued its tight turn with the radius of the circle getting ever smaller, bringing them closer to the LK II.

The 57mm boomed again, with the shell missing the rear of the L-60 although not by much.

"God dammit!" Erne swore as she and Annalee hung on for dear life in the speeding tank. With Finn wrestling the controls, the small tank's turning circle finally brought it up alongside the longer vehicle, which was still ponderously trying to turn to keep up. There was a scraping of metal as the two armoured vehicles met.

Flinging open the commander's hatch, Erne stuck her head and torso out.

"Oi!" she yelled at the large grey K.u.K. tank, pelting it with a spent 20mm shell case as she did so. She had a fistful of these in her left hand, which she transferred one by one to her right hand and then lobbed them at the superstructure, where they loudly clanged off the metal plating.

Finally, the revving of engines and the squealing of tortured metal died down as Tiszi presumably told her driver to stop pushing against the L-60. The morose commander's face appeared at one of the small vision ports.

"What are you doing?!" she asked, sounding most offended.

"Yer cronies have been tryin' to get ya on the radio!" Erne yelled, sounded even more annoyed. "But ya didn't answer so Shannon told me to come 'n' talk to ya!" she spat out, making it clear this was not something she wanted to be doing.

"Oh," was Tiszi's reply, which rather defused the situation. "Our radios never work properly," she gloomily explained.

"Well, come over here and speak to them on mine then!" Erne said, tugging off her headset and holding it out to the K. u. K. girl.

"Alright," Tiszi shrugged, sounding downcast. Her face disappeared from the vision port, but then reappeared moments later. "Your tank is blocking my door," she told Erne in the same monotone voice.

Erne inwardly seethed, but told Finn to back up so that the armoured door on the side of the LK II could be opened and Tiszi could alight. She sprang up onto the L-60 with surprising agility and leaned on the outside of the turret. Erne handed her the radio headset without a word, then slumped back with her arms folded across her chest.

"Tiszi for Franzi," the white-jacketed girl said into the mic, sounding thoroughly miserable, but at least demonstrating that K.u.K. had a better grasp of radio procedure than Shamrock did.

"Hi! I'll just get her for you!" Even with Tiszi wearing the headset, Erne could hear Shannon's reply.