"104, this is S1."

"S1, go ahead."

"104, recommend changing route to bearin from your location and slowing. May have a fire team in the dell. Estimate 7 minutes at 15 K P H"

Erika looked at her map, and using her slide calculator and compass, calculated the course and speed change based on the topography shown on the map. 5 minutes 30 seconds to the bottom of the dell from her current location.

They don't have to shoot a gun or move through terrain, but the fly girls can do some impressive math.

"S1 confirm. BlueFor recommend?"

"Roger, BlueFor recommended for contact."

"S1, roger. And you were almost 2 minutes off your calculation."

"Smartass. S1 Out."

Erika smirked as the radio clicked out. With a glance at her drawn up engagement plan, Erika switched over to the squad channel of the radio.

"0-1, this is 0-4."

"0-1, go ahead"

"Eyes in the skies indicate possible OpFor a estimat minutes out. 3 contacts. Rough plan has been drawn for review."

"Where are you at?"

"Uh, 180544. The big dumb rock."

"That is a dumb rock indeed. Be right there. Out"

Erika sat back down and waited. While her crew kept their eyes peeled for any sign of anything, she refined the plan drawn on her map. After spending the weekend settling in and arranging her apartment with Miho, Monday had come with some changes. 4 more tryouts had been released, and some crews had been moved around. Erika now found herself commanding a Leopard in the command squad.

"Contact, 0 5 3."

Erika took a look out of the turret. Sure enough she could make out a very hazy shape moving through the woods towards them.

"Roger. One second"

Erika keyed the external radio.

"101, advise direction of approach."

"101, 0 5 3 from your location."

"Roger."

Erika opened the cupola, and informed her crew of the approaching friendly tank. Within a few moments another tank with a 101 on the turret side pulled up beside hers, Mari sitting on the cupola ring with no less than 3 different maps velcroed to the thighs of her crew overalls. Erika spid hown the side of her tank and, with a look around, climbed up the side of the command tank and crouched on the turret beside it's only visible occupant. Mari looked over at her, then leaned down into the turret and after a few moments the rest of the crew turned out and started surveying the area. Just as Erika was about to lay out her plan, she had a moment of panic when another tank and a Spahpanzer rolled out of the woods to her rear. Seeing that Mari had no reaction, Erika looked over at 103 and 504, two other members of her team.

Mari leaned over to Erika and shouted "Let's get down and move to the front of the tank, I'm not yelling over the engine."

A few moments later the commanders of the assembled vehicles were all standing at the front of Erika's tank, with Mari's large map laid out on the glacis.

"So S1 states 3 contacts in the dell. The plan I drew up was to have 1, 3 and 4 run the westward side of the dell, and flank through the river to the north of the dell. 4 takes point." Erika explained as she drew the route and engagement formation on the map with her grease pen.

Mari looked at the plan on the large map, and with a few nods, copied the plan onto one of her own maps.

"Interesting. Look at this."

Mari handed another one of her maps to Erika. On it was an almost identical plan drawn up, with an added path on the east side of the dell in a different color. Beside it was written 504. Erika looked at Mari, confused.

"I assumed I knew what your plan was going to be, as it's the same as what I would do. Only difference is that I'm going to use 504 in the plan."

Erika glanced at the map Mari had handed her, and turned it over. On the other side of the bold was a list, written in blue, of all the BlueFor vehicles and their last location with a listed were OpFor locations with a timestamp.

Amazing. She's keeping track of all the other vehicles as well as creating a plan. No wonder she's the captain.

Mari took the map back and winked, then after ensuring all commanders involved had the plan copied onto their maps, stated "Let's get to work. We move now".

Miho shifted in her seat. She'd been sitting in this dell for almost 10 minutes with no contacts other than a spotter plane. She couldn't, unfortunately, tell if it was Op or BlueFor. Assume OpFor Miho thought to herself.

"Miho, contacts to the north. Count 3. 2 clicks."

"Roger."

Miho opened her cupola and glanced north. While she couldn't see them clearly, she did see at least 2 tanks moving in column down the dell. Glancing around she took note of the locations of the other two vehicles with her, as well as the ridges. Nothing up top that she could see, and most vehicles couldn't shoot down. Unless it was a Spahpanzer like the one that just appeared to the east. Other than… Oh shit.

Miho glanced to her left and gestured to the commander of 203 to get into her turret. The woman unfortunately wasn't looking at her, and instead was looking up north to where a plume of smoke was now visible. Gun smoke Miho thought to herself. With a loud WUMPH a plume of dirt and water was sent skyward no less than 20 feet off the right hand side of her tank.

"GET IN, ENEMY TO THE NORTH AND THE EAST" Miho yelled across to 203. At the same time a small burst of 20mm rounds impacted behind 203's tank. As the turret of the armoured behemoth turned to face the direction of the enemy tanks up the dell the commander started to turn in.

To her horror, Miho watched as the woman lost her footing in the tank and slipped, grabbing onto the edge of the cupola with her free hand. The motion of the closing hatch could not be undone. Though Miho could not hear it, she felt sick as the hatch closed on the woman's hand. While she couldn't hear the sound of the hand being instantly crushed she could hear the screams of her teammate as her hand was crushed under the weight and force of the hatch.

Miho immediately kicked at the MED STOP button in her turret. Feeling the button click in activation she hopped out of her tank and slid down the side, then sprinted over to 203. She noted that the commander of 202 was doing the same. Climbing up the side of the now stricken tank she paused as she reached up to climb the turret. 202's commander had beaten her to the top of the turret and had wrenched the hatch open. Miho almost vomited at the sight of the mangled hand and the sounds of the woman's screams. Blood was pooled around the rim of the cupola, and both 202's commander and the crew of 203 were trying to simultaneously administer first aid and comfort the woman. Her hand was crushed below the knuckles, and Miho could see bone fragments sticking out of the skin of what was left of her fingers.

"You'll be OK! You're gonna be fine!" 202's command kept saying to the woman who was now whimpering, shock obvious on her face. She looked over at Miho, and with a helpless look asked her to get the first aid kit from the dunnage on the back of the turret. Miho complied; the less time looking at the sight before her the better. As Miho returned to the front of the turret the commander of 203 stuck out her good hand. Without understanding why, or even thinking about it, Miho took her other hand into hers and held it firmly while brushing it with her other hand.

Erika switched the ammo type to APFSDS on the control panel and waited for the confirmation. A split second later the light changed from red to green, indicating the change was noted by the loader.

"Wait until we come to a stop before firing."

Erika glanced out of the forward sight again. She was just short of the OpFor tank, and 504 had also opened fire at another. She looked down at the control panel and saw the READY indicator lit. A moment later, a large red indicator lit up on her panel.

MED STOP

The READY light immediately turned off, and the ballistic computer went blank. Someone's activated the emergency medical stop, did someone get hit? With the medical stop, all vehicles within a 5 kilometer radius would be unable to fire their weapons or calculate a ballistic path, and any rounds in the air would immediately self-destruct. The system was only to be used in a serious

emergency.

"Erika, what's going on? We have a medical stop, can you see anything?"

Erika turned out her cupola and looked through her binoculars towards the cluster of tanks to the front. She saw a flurry of activity on the turret of what could now be discerned as tank 203. She could also see 202 and 205.

"Not sure, get us there as soon as possible."

Behind her she could hear the sounds of a helicopter closing in, and on glancing back she could see the distinct outline of a medical chopper closing in on the dell.

"Attention all vehicles. Exercise is suspended, please return to the yard immediately."

She immediately felt the tank change course after the range control broadcast and watched as the medical chopper landed and a medical crew rushed over to the grouping of tanks. Erika noted that Miho was present and apparently unhurt but, based on what she could see through the binoculars, looked unsettled and pale. Whatever happened was serious, and Erika hoped for the best.

The team sat in the lounge, all conversations somewhat muted. No one wanted to leave until they knew the status of their teammate. She had been flown directly to the hospital, and there was no word yet as to the prognosis of her hand. Miho and her crew, as well as the crews of the other two tanks that were in her firegroup sat together. Nothing was being said among them, but other teammates filtered through the area offering small words of support.

It went without saying that tankery was a risky sport and everyone present knew that, but it didn't make a serious injury to a member of the crew any easier to deal with. There was some comfort in the fact that she would be getting the best medical care available and that she'd still be paid and still have her spot on the team, but it still put a large damper on the team's morale.

Miho couldn't take it anymore and left the room. No one questioned it; they understood. Others had done the same and were occupying their mind in the simulator, or in the gym. Miho found herself walking into the tank shed. There she saw a flurry of activity, the technical crews pouring over the vehicles present to ensure they were ready to go at any notice. She walked down the shed, passing by 203. She saw a few members of the crew cleaning the turret and inspecting the hatch; she tore her eyes away and moved onwards to her own vehicle. For some reason, being near her tank calmed her. She looked around as she approached her armoured office and noted that Matt was there with the turret's hatches opened. Across the top of the turret numerous computer and electrical parts were laid out and another technician was inspecting them one at a time.

She walked around to the side of the tank and Matt looked up at her.

"Oh, hey. How's it inside?" He asked tentatively. It was obvious that even the crew was affected by the accident.

"..."

"I see. This sounds lame, but these things happen. It could have been worse."

Miho couldn't see how it could have been worse, then remembered stories of serious accidents causing permanent damage and, in a few isolated incidents, death.

"Yeah… it could have been worse." Miho lifelessy replied. "So… what are you doing now?"

"Well, the control panel was busted by the kicking of the MED STOP, so we need to replace it."

Miho winced. Not only had a teammate been injured under her command but she had apparently damaged her vehicle as well. I just want this day to be over, she thought to herself. Seeing the young woman's expression darken further, the engineer tried to recover.

"Oh, no no. You definitely did the right thing. A control panel is… is… not a big deal. We know it was a reaction, and well worth the cost. I think it's a fair trade off… not that an accident is a worthy trade… Jesus, I mean…" the man stalled trying to express his thought correctly. Miho was at first even more upset that he was trying to pass off the accident as 'not a big deal' then became more amused that he was failing to properly say what he wanted to say. She knew what he meant, but it was somewhat funny that the man who could explain the entire tankery computer system and its history couldn't properly say 'No problem, not your fault'.

"Anyways, you should probably leave now. We have a lot to do, and it can get dangerous in here for you; a lot of stuff will start moving around here quickly and if you're not used to it it's unsafe." Miho nodded and turned to leave. She spared one more glance at her tank and 203, then headed back inside.

"So she'll be out of competition for a few months, but her hand should be pretty much OK."

Mari looked around at everyone who had gathered in the lounge. As soon as an update was available, Mari had made sure to tell the team so that they could get on with their training.

"With that being noted we'll be juggling tanks around a bit. We'll assign a new commander to 203 for now, but note this is temporary, we all love her and know how good she is. When she's ready to come back, she's back 100%." With that, Mari sat down at a table. A few people stood and headed out, others turned back to their conversations. A few even fired up the video game. Erika turned to Miho and asked "Wanna head home?"

Miho nodded. She was somewhat tired and hungry. Adding to that the day's events, she just wanted to go and sit in her bed in her pajamas. Just then Shelby and Eva appeared and as a group left the complex.

The drive home was quiet, mostly because Shelby had fallen asleep. Getting to their flats, they rode the elevator in equal silence and bid each other goodnight. Once in her apartment Miho cooked up a simple meal and the two ate in silence. Miho took this chance to check her messages. The usual day-to-day of the team group chat, a few messages from friends back home, a message from her mother. Feeling somewhat more relaxed. Miho dumped her dishes in the dishwasher and went to her bedroom, there grabbing a comforting book and settling for a quiet evening of relaxation and reading. She heard Erika up and about for a bit, until she too settled in for a calm night.

Miho glanced at the clock. 7:30

With a sigh, she opened the book and began to read.

By 8:30 she was fast asleep, the book forgotten off to the side. Under her head was one pillow. The other she clung to like a stuffed animal, drawing an unconscious comfort from it. Erika walked past at around 9 and having seen her roommate and friend passed out, smiled and turned the lights off. Closing the door, she paused for a second to call out softly "Good night Miho".