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CHAPTER SIX – Hunting Panther I – Pakfront

Szene 010: Ambushed and Hunted

That late morning was three days before the fateful friendly match against Pravda. On a cliffside by a tree line in one of the JSDF training grounds, hidden a dark grey Panther F covered by a sheet of vegetation in camouflage, waiting for the enemy to blunder to its firing line. It was Verena's Panther. Not far to the cat was the recently restored Ferdinand.

It was a 10 vs. 10 mock battle, the last practice match before the upcoming match. Steyr-Kebab Alliance was divided to two teams and battled against each other. The first team was led by Commander Verena and Bosporus herself, dubbed Team Commander The second team was led by vice-commander Diana and Bosporus' second, Rumelia, the team aptly dubbed Team Vice-commander.

Inside the flag tank, the Panther, Asaka was covertly staring her trembling hand, a common occurrence when inside a tank, but usually it came and went by itself. Right behind Asaka, Verena was standing inside her hatch, looking around the perimeter with her antique spyglass. Verena was wearing her usual white Sensha-Do outfit. How the outfit was always white and clean every morning was beyond Asaka.

"So, the girls are being harmonious, up to now." Said Verena as she sat down on her seat right behind Asaka.

Their sitting position inside the narrow turret, was always awkward. Asaka almost sat between Verena's legs, although Verena sat in slightly higher position than Asaka. Asaka's right arm touching Verena's leg when traversing the gun was a common occurrence, not that Asaka hated it.

"Ah, I'm just grateful that they're not fighting each other." Asaka blurted. "So far."

"The gratitude should be mine and the team's, A-chan." Verena explained quickly while drumming her fingers on the recoil guard to her right. "It was your idea after all. Firstly, addressing the team more often, be a symbol the team can represent instead of their departments. Secondly, seek a common enemy, so the team can hate other than themselves. Most brilliant."

Asaka laughed, looking back. "That was not exactly my idea, Commander. I just spoke my mind, and you ran the rest on your weird mind, turning it to some kind of political demagoguery." Joked Asaka.

She frowned. "Political demagoguery? Who taught you that fancy words, Asaka?"

Asaka chuckled. "You did."

"Attention all," Clare Dietrich, the radio operator, announced. "Bosporus Company managed to bait the entirety of Team Vice-commanders. They are heading this way. ETA ten minutes"

"Süß!" Verena said. Sweet!

"But it costed us two tanks." Dietrich added.

"That's why Diana and Rumelia are so zealously chasing them. They are confident their ten panzers can overcome only six tanks." said Nanami, the driver.

"And of course, they won't expect two of the most proficient ambush tanks might be hiding on the ridge." Asaka snarked.

"Yes! They won't expect it!" Dietrich proudly cried. "Logically, an unmodified Ferdinand could not reach halfway on that slope! All thanks to my latest modification!"

Tamara, the loader, scoffed. "Tell me the logic, Clare. Our team: This Panther, Kast's Ferdinand, Bosporus' Panzer IV, 3 Hetzers, 4 Stuarts. Their team: Diana's Tas, Kebab's Panzer III, Three of those useless Renaults, three of our Turan and the Little vz 35. Where's the fairness in that, huh?"

"Because we are not trying to play fair, Miss Murakawa. Diana is always be the tactician and the leader, I, on the other head of the eagle, am the one with a cool name who approve and pay for everything. She is the Hötzendorf and I am the Franz Joseph." Explained Verana brusquely.

"You're really humble, milady." Asaka remarked, smilingly.

Tamara groaned. "Fine, fine. Whatever." She muttered.

"Amazing, Tamara did not listen a single word I said. Why am I always surprised by that, A-Chan?" Asked Verena.

"Gee, I really wonder why." Asaka chucklingly shrugged as she wore her glove and her light grey field cap with a pair of goggles resting across it. It was her usual battle dress.

Then, eyeing her gunsight, she sighted a vast sandy plain with occasional trees and short hills. None of these hills, however, were taller in elevation than the long hills on which the Ferdinand, and the Panther waited in two separate firing lines.

Asaka adjusted the periscopic gunsight. Beneath the gathering dust on the corner of her field of view, she saw them. A Panzer IV, two Hetzers and two Stuarts were racing on the sandy plains, swerving and zigzagging wildly to avoid barrages of shells thrown by a curtain of dust behind them. Asaka couldn't see the tanks of the pursuers on account of the dust they generated.

"V!" She called. "Contact at 12:30! Bearing to my seven. 2300m. I can't confirm the composition, the dust..."

"Kast, Contact at our 12:30. 2300m. Do you see it? wait for my signal." Verena repeated to the radio calmly. "And I want everyone to open their eyes and ears for their flag tank. Report immediately once you sense its presence."

Asaka squinted through her periscopic sight. After adjusting the knobs, she finally saw it, a red flag waving in the dust. "I see the flag tank, right in the centre of their formation! Distance 2000m. A Turan III."

"Our first target is our last, eyes at the flag tank." Commanded Verena. "Bosporus will open a brief window of opportunity. Don't worry, Kast."

Asaka spun the traverse wheel, following the red flag on her sight. She saw her hands on the wheels, they were still shaking. Come on you two, I need to shoot soon. She told her hands.

"1000 m and closing in. They're in a good range." Said Asaka.

"Miss Bosporus, do the thing. Hetz them!" Verena commanded.

Sighting the gun again, Asaka didn't know what to feel at what she saw. She hadn't realized how much the team had grown, up until the moment.

Behind the thin curtain of dust below, Bosporus and her unit of light tanks was now charging head-to-head towards the enemy with a perfect formation. A Stuart was shot down, but the rest were swerving on and on towards the other strong formation, then the expected happened. Bosporus' unit sliced through the space between each enemy tank. The enemy now was between Verena's unit and the Bosporus'. The confused enemy tank formation stopped and made an awkward U-turn. Their formation was broken in the process of this turning. Some of them collided with each other and some of them broke away from the formation just to make a turn. This was the window Asaka talked about. The flag tank was not protected.

"Make it count, A-Chan!" Verena cried ecstatically. "Pakfront unit! Flag Tank! 970m! Feuer!" She commanded.

"Auf wiedersehen!" Asaka exclaimed as she pulled the trigger.

The Panther shot its shell followed by Kast's Ferdinand. As the time was seemingly slowed down, Asaka could see the trajectory of their shots. A shell From the Ferdinand landed on the ground, missing several centimetres from the target's running gear. Asaka's shot hit the turret side and ripped off the entirety of its turret spaced armour, but the shell bounced off.

Scheiße! Asaka cursed. "Ricochet, no white flag!" She announced.

"I said make it count!" Verena protested. "How many windows must I provide?"

"Oh, shut up now!" Asaka yelled spontaneously; "Come on. Tam, what are you doing?"

"You're clear!" Announced Tamara as she finished punching a shell into the breach.

"Kast, Feuer Frei! Hit the damn flag tank!" Verena commanded to the radio.

Asaka took another aim, a Panzer 35(t) was blocking the flag tank. Then, she got an idea, a crazy yet familiar one. She had done it before. She aimed at the side armour of a Turan III beside it, hoping it would ricochet like the first one and hit the flag tank.

She pulled the trigger; the shell hit and took down the Turan instead of bounced off to the flag tank.

She sighed. It was a stretch anyway. Let's do it again.

Asaka was about to aim at another target, but she heard an unexpected sound. A distinctive gunfire from a gun larger than anything but one tank in Steyr's arsenal, then an explosion.

"Ferdinand down!" Kast's exclaimed. "From the rear!"

Diana's Tas. All that was just for revealing our position! Asaka swore. She realized only seven of the opponent's tanks were in the plain below.

Verena suddenly opened her hatch and stood up. "Driver! Full Reverse! Hard right! Turn us around She's somewhere in the trees! Loader, AP!"

The Panther whined and turned around. Now facing the dark fir trees hiding three ominous enemies, there was silence. Then, in a quick succession two shells passed the Panther, one even glanced off the left turret wall.

"Asaka, suppressing fire! Driver! Let us vanish once the gunner shoot! "

"Roger, but might be hard to do that during daylight." Nanami complied.

"Clear!" The loader announced.

5cm guns, two Panzer III Ausf. J. 8cm gun, a 44M. Tas. Asaka traced back the shell's trajectory.

She aimed at where she thought the source of one of the shells. "Auf Wiedersehen!" She muttered as she took a shot. An explosion was heard in the distance. "Tank destroyed!"

After the shot, The Panther was immediately moving into the narrow path inside the fir forest, haunted by shot after shot heard missing them, often by a split millimetre.

Then, after sometime cruising the forest, suddenly the tank hit something, throwing the crew to the front of the turret. Thankfully Asaka managed to hold her body from hitting her control wheels by using her limbs.

"What the f was that?" Tamara asked.

"We crashed into a Panzer III. It came out of nowhere." Nanami said with a tone as if she was shocked and sorry.

It's Rumelia's Panzer III. She thought as she aimed her gun at the dark grey tank.

"I got it." Asaka nonchalantly shot the Panzer III. "Tank destroyed!"

"Tas, right flank, 800 m!" Verena exclaimed. "Driver, reverse hard left. Gunner, Traverse right! Loader, AP!"

"Up!" Tamara announced.

"A-Chan, Feuer Frei!" Fire at will!

When the Panther reversed, Asaka spun the traverse wheel as fast as she could. The Turret of the Panther whined and traversed starboard, too slow. In her gunsight, she scanned for the tank. Then, she saw it, Diana's 44m Tas. Dark yellow and green, hidden among the trees. At this distance, it looked just like another Panther.

"Auf Wiedersehen!"

As she pulled the trigger, the muzzle of the Tas also flashed. Oh, shi...

...

You cannot run from me no longer, con not you, now?

800m from the two German panzers that crashed into each other, a girl with messy long black hair and completely heterochromatic amber-blue eyes aimed her 80 mm gun at the exposed Panther, cackling ominously at her cornered prey. At this distance and angle, she was a neurosurgeon with a cannon.

But her prey also aimed its gun at her, while reversing and showing its frontal armor.

"Erzsi. Flag tank, 800m," Vice-commander Diana calmly and coldly ordered behind her. "Tűz!" Fire!

"My pleasure!" Erzsi cackled as she pulled the trigger.

…

Chapter VI – Hunting Panther – To be Continued