Dein Weg ist Mein Weg
Chapter XLII
From Fire to Frying Pan
"Still think those are just some Crusaders?!" Caesar grunted as she pushed a fresh shell into the breach. A moment later the gun roared as Saemonza sent the shell flying across the desert sands.
"You really wanna go over this now?" Erwin snapped back, almost losing her footing as yet another shell slammed into the StuG, and grumbled quietly to herself. "Fine, I was wrong!"
The fact that they were being pounded not only by Crusaders, but also a pair of Comets was aggravating enough, but the larger sticking point was how or why the cruiser tanks were even there. The last time Erwin had spotted the platoon, it had been heading south and away from their current location, with not the slightest inkling of evidence that they were planning on turning back. And yet somehow, the five cruiser tanks had snuck up completely on their position, taking out Anteater's Chi-To before anyone from Ooarai even knew they were there. The only good news, if there were any, was that at least the cruisers were rushing towards them at top speed, meaning their shots weren't very accurate and giving Erwin and Sodoko time to get their tanks turned around to face the new threat.
"Dammit!" Saemonza cried out in anger as she fired another shell. "I can't hit a damn thing in this heat. It's like shooting into a house of mirrors."
"Yeah, well I hope you're ready for a couple years of bad luck then," Erwin remarked. "Keep firing, and let's hope Janus and Azusa can do without us for a little bit." The tank rocked once more and a flurry of sand kicked into the air beside her as another stray shell from the cruisers impacted just beside the StuG. "Janus!" she called into her handset, and spat out some loose dirt that had gotten blown into her mouth. "Janus, we've got a problem. A big problem!"
"Erwin?" Maho replied a moment later. "What's going on?"
"It's the Crusaders," Erwin called back, sensing the panic start to build in her voice. "They're here! And… uhh… it turns out…"
"It's not five Crusaders, Commander," Sodoko tattled, like the goody-two-shoes she was. "It's three Crusaders and two Meteors."
"It's Comets, Janus!" Erwin corrected bitterly. "We've got three Crusaders and two Comets pounding us with all they've got!"
"How?!" Maho yelled back. "You said they were going the other way? There's no way they could have gotten here that fast! And why are they attacking you and not us?! To do that they would have had to have known where we were going to-..." Maho's voice died out and disappeared, but a fresh volley from the cruisers blasting their position and the ear-shattering noise of both the StuG and Char B1 responding in kind gave Erwin other things to worry about.
"Ugggghhhhh!" Saemonza groaned, before a loud ping off their roof cut her off. "I hate this. Half the time I aim I just see lakes of water that aren't there, and the other half the damned tanks aren't even where they look like they are." She slapped one of the adjuster cranks in frustration, sending it spinning for a second or two, and bitterly leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and pouting. "Y'know, I'm getting more and more respect for your Rommel-guy by the minute. Anyone with the patience to fight out in the desert like this for three years deserves a medal."
"They deserve a whole rack of medals, if you ask me," Caesar concurred and brushed her sleeve against her forehead, trying to clear away the sweat, but to little avail. Erwin was about to join in with her own agreement, but a new call over the radio cut her off before she could even begin.
"This is Phoenix. All tanks… full retreat." Maho's voice was distant and distracted, bordering on terrified as it sounded across the airwaves, but Erwin's growing frustration at the situation she was in made her not very interested in the particulars of Maho's message.
"Full retreat?!" she balked, throwing open the hatch above her and looking back at the battle below them out of pure frustration. "We're on top of a cliff with five cruisers heading for us! How on earth does she think we're going to-..." It didn't take long for her to realize what had caused Maho's order, and she quickly dove back into the assault gun's hull once she had. "Well, crud…" she muttered, put her face into her hands and sighed for a short moment, before steeling herself and looking back up. "Oryou, we need to get out of here. Now. Any ideas?"
"Not while we've got those cruisers bearing down on us." The tank rocked once more, and a high-pitched metallic ping sounded from a shell bouncing off the Char B1's side armor. "Even if they're firing on the move, they're getting closer by the second, and if we show our bellies they're definitely not gonna miss."
"Figures…" Erwin mumbled, and dunked her forehead against her open palm a few times. "Come on, Riko… Think, think, think…" She paused for a moment, letting her train of thought replay in her mind as a cautious smile began to spread across her lips. "Oryou, get ready on my signal."
"Copy that."
"Sodoko, tell Pazomi to ready a shell. I want you to aim for point CT-55, got it?"
"What?! Why?!" Sodoko cried back over the radio. "That's going to miss by a country mi-"
"Just trust me and do it!"
Anticipation and fear started clumping in her throat as Erwin counted the seconds and stared out across the dunes, the air shimmering in the heat to the point that everything took on an unnatural, fairytale sheen, watching as the shining silver of the Cruiser tanks' hulls grew bigger and bigger as they drew closer and closer. Within moments, she'd be able to make out the insignias on the sides of the tanks.
"Ready, Matsumoto!" Sodoko called back after an excruciatingly long wait.
"Wait for it… Wait for it…" Erwin mumbled quietly as she kept her eyes on the cruisers closing in on them. "Wait for it… Now! Fire!"
The howitzer encased in the Char B1's hull gave off a flash of fire and smoke and a clap of thunder as it hurled its payload through the air and across the dunes. Erwin followed the shell's trajectory and, just as it was about to hit the ground, gave her order.
"Now! Get us out of here!"
As the HE-shell from the Char B1's mortar struck the ground, bursting into a great big cloud of fire, smoke, dirt, dust, and loose sand, the StuG lurched forwards as Oryou sent the tank into full reverse.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" Sodoko yelled at them as she stood up in the cupola. "We're supposed to stay here and take out the enemy flag ta-"
"You heard the commander!" Erwin yelled back. "We're supposed to retreat, so either you come with us now that there's cover, or you stay here alone. Your choice!"
Sodoko turned to look back at the cloud shielding them from the cruiser tanks' view, which was diminishing by the moment, and hesitated for a moment before diving back into the turret of the Char B1. A few moments later it too began to reverse as fast as it could, and Erwin breathed a small sigh of relief before ducking back into the StuG's hull.
"Hold on to something," Oryou called up to the rest of her crewmates. "This is going to be bumpy."
Erwin, Caesar, and Saemonza barely had time to find something to grab on to before the assault gun started leaning dangerously backwards, teetering off the edge of the escarpment as Oryou kept reversing, although she was moving the tank far more gently now than she had at the beginning of her maneuver.
Erwin just swallowed and closed her eyes, feeling a horrible sense of dread building in the pit of her stomach as she felt the tank rock and teeter more and more as Oryou moved the tank further and further off the escarpment's edge, until finally, gravity intervened, and they dropped. The sudden yet short-lived sense of weightlessness was far from pleasant and all Erwin could do was let her body tense up as she held on for dear life, ignoring the frightened screams of her crewmates as they plummeted like they were on a rollercoaster, with the rear of the StuG slamming hard into the cliff wall below them before they started rolling down the slope with considerable speed. As she peeked out between closed eyelids in a moment of weakness, Erwin could just make out the hulking, duck-like shape of the Char B1 following in their footsteps, teetering on the edge until its center of gravity gave in and they too came thundering down the hill.
As they reached the bottom of the slope and their wild ride slowly evened out, Oryou tried using the momentum of their ride down the escarpment to turn them around and get them headed towards the rest of Ooarai's forces, much in the same way that the drivers of Anzio's CV-33s had demonstrated during their battle a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the loose sand of the desert arena didn't provide as much grip as the packed dirt of the mountain trails where Anzio had faced them, nor did Oryou have quite enough training with the technique and so, instead of neatly pirouetting the StuG around and sending it on its way towards their compatriots, her attempt threw the assault gun into a wild, uncontrollable spin, only coming to rest as they slammed hard into a rocky outcropping.
"Let's… let's agree not to do that ever again…" Erwin said between heavy breaths as she leaned back in her chair, catching her breath.
"I don't know…" Saemonza said, short-winded, "It was kinda fun…"
"H-... hey…" Sodoko wheezed meekly, leaning limply out of the cupola and waving an exhausted finger in the air, as the Char B1 rolled gently to a halt beside them. "Wha-... what are you just-... just sitting there for…?"
"All tanks, full retreat."
"No, we can't retreat!" Momo yelled into the radio, before firing another shell into the distance. "We just need a single shot to hit! We're finishing this!"
"We're outnumbered, outgunned, and about to be surrounded," Maho called back. "Staying here another moment is just wasting time we don't have, so fall back!"
"But-..."
"That's an order, Cyclops!" Maho snapped. "All tanks, fall back and move towards point AG-12."
As if to further drive the point home, a shell from the Churchill just barely missed the 38(t), ripping straight through the spare water tank sitting atop the rear of the hull and pinging off the M3 Lee's turret.
"Fine…" Momo grumbled, and the 38(t) finally turned around to cross the dune they had launched their ambush from merely a few minutes earlier, with the rest of Ooarai's tanks doing the same.
"Janus!" Erwin called over the radio.
"Erwin?! Where are you? We are leaving!"
"I know! We've managed to get down from the cliff and are hiding behind some outcroppings, but we're not going to make it through the enemy forces without support. Can you cover us so we can link up? Just for a minute or two?"
Maho swore privately to herself and looked back at St. Gloriana's forces, the Churchill flag tank on the left flank with its remaining three Matilda escorts, and on the right, Darjeeling in the Black Prince with a quartet of Valentine's backing it up getting closer and closer, both to each other and to them as they slowly maneuvered into a solid wall of armor separating Erwin's platoon from the rest of Ooarai's forces. "Fine…" she said after a moment, pinching the bridge of her nose as she gestured for Mako to get the Phoenix turned back around. "Duck, Hippo, you get out of here. Azusa, you'll stay with us for now. Hull down behind the dune, providing covering fire and taking up as much of the enemy's attention as we can so Erwin and Sodoko can get back here."
"Got it," Azusa replied as the M3 Lee turned out of the column and back towards the dune. It didn't take long for St. Gloriana to notice that their opponents had returned, and the rhythmic noise of metal bouncing off metal returned to the interior of Ooarai's tanks as fresh volleys followed each other in turn.
"Focus on the escorts," Maho ordered. "We're not going to dent the bigger ones regardless."
"Understood," Hana replied, and sent a shell right into the turret ring of one of the Matilda IIs, which shuddered and rolled gently to a halt as a thin streak of smoke and a white flag appeared above it.
"Alright Erwin, you've got 90 seconds, then we're out of here," Maho called over the radio. "Now get over here!"
"We're already on our way!" Looking over towards the gathering of rocks and outcroppings over by the escarpment where Erwin's platoon had been preparing to take out the Churchill before the trap was sprung, Maho could indeed see the StuG II and Char B1 rumbling towards their position. They weren't far away, not even a kilometer separated the two pairs of tanks, but there was still more than enough space for one of St. Gloriana's tanks to notice the stragglers and take them out.
"Keep firing," Maho ordered. "Use the machine guns to blind the Churchill and Black Prince."
"On it, Maho!" Saori called up from the hull, and after some momentary grunting and fiddling with the machine gun, she soon began pouring a steady stream of bursts down towards the Churchill. A few moments later, the M3 Lee lit up its own machine guns and let loose a rain of bullets upon the Black Prince, the bright yellow of the tracer rounds glistening off the monstrous tank's obsidian paint job.
"Ayumi," Azusa called down into the hull. "Fire on that Valentine of the right. The one moving to cut off Erwin.
"I'll try my best," Ayumi called back, and took a few deep breaths before she leaned in to her sights to aim the 75mm gun. "Ok… no pressure…" she mumbled to herself as she followed the British tank with her sights. She made her final adjustments, felt Yuuki put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and squeezed the trigger. The gun thundered as it fired, and sent a shell soaring through the air straight into the rear of the Valentine, knocking its engine offline as it sputtered to a halt.
A moment later, a white flag popped out of its turret.
"You did it!" Yuuki cheered, and gave Ayumi a tight hug from behind.
"That's for being scary during the last match!" Karina yelled excitedly, pumping her fists in the air.
"Woohoo!" Aya cheered, grabbing Saki and throwing her hand in the air as she squealed with excitement. "We did it! The revenge of the first-years starts now!"
"Great shot, Ayumi!" Azusa smiled and nodded, before freezing. She looked down at Aya and then back up at the battle in a panic, and yelled "Aya! The Black Prince!"
With Aya and the rest of the M3 Lee's crew celebrating, the Black Prince was no longer being riddled with machine gun fire, and with nothing to block its sights, the 17-pounder gun lined up on the Lee and fired.
"Karina!" Azusa called, and the tank started to slowly pull back behind the dune, but it was too late. The tank shook as the shell hit home with a thundering bang, and they rolled limply back down the dune as Azusa waited for the inevitable sound of a white flag popping out.
As the seconds rolled by and nothing happened, Azusa slowly and carefully stood up in the cupola and looked around the tank. A wisp of smoke was trailing up from the 75mm's sponson and a cloud of dust was settling around their treads, but beyond that, there was no sign at all that anything was amiss.
"Azusa?" Maho asked over the radio, glancing down at them from the top of the dune while still keeping her focus on the battle at large. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah… we're…" Azusa said cautiously, dropping back into the tank and giving a quick look around. "Is anyone hurt?"
"We're all fine down here!" Ayumi called up from the hull. "I think something's wrong with the gun though… I can't get it to move…"
"I'm okay! But I think my glasses broke…" Aya said as she inspected the cracks in her large round glasses. "Scratch-resistant my butt…" she muttered and bent the temples back into shape before putting the glasses on again.
Saki didn't say anything, but that wasn't exactly unusual. She did however give a small nod when Azusa looked at her and repeated the question, which she thought was good enough.
"We're all okay," Azusa reported with a relieved sigh, looking up at the Phoenix as she spoke over the radio.
"Then get out of here, and catch up with Noriko and the Student Council."
"You sure?"
"Go. We're right behind you," Maho reassured, and returned her full attention to the skirmish below her. "Saori, keep the heat on the Churchill. Hana, the Black Prince is preparing to fire again. Throw some dirt in their face!"
"At once, Maho," Hana acknowledged, and fired a shell into the ground in front of the hulking black tank, throwing a cloud of dirt and sand up in front of it to shield them from view.
"Erwin, you're going to have to step on it. The window's closing, and we're not sticking around to bail you out a second time."
"We're working on it!" Erwin answered, before calling down to Oryou. "We've overstayed our welcome, Oryou. Step on it!" A few moments later, the assault gun lurched backwards and accelerated across the sands, with the Char B1 right on its tail. "That Matilda is moving to intercept us. Saemonza, cut it down!"
"Already on it, Commander!" Saemonza replied, and fired off a shot at the Matilda, even as it grew closer and closer by the second. A high-pitched metallic ping sounded, and the shell bounced off the British tank into the distance. "Damn! Shot went wide!"
"Reloading!" Caesar called out.
"Too late!" Erwin yelled. "Oryou! Evasive maneu-" A boom interrupted her, followed by a loud bang as another shell slammed into the Matilda's side and pushed it aside, clearing the way.
"You're welcome!" Sodoko called smugly over the radio, and as Erwin looked back she could see a trail of smoke from the Char B1's mortar.
"Thanks, Sodoko!" she called back, both stunned and impressed.
"I've told you!" Sodoko yelled, popping out of the turret to wave a fist in Erwin's direction. "It's Midoriko! Midoriko Sono!"
"You got it, Sodoko," Erwin laughed back, and pulled out a small remote connected with a wire to the machinery beside her. "Now let's get out of here. Ready smoke!"
"Smoke ready!" Sodoko answered with a grumble after a few seconds.
"Deploy smoke!" Erwin pressed a button on the remote, causing a low hissing noise as a cloud of smoke began pouring from the back of the Assault gun. Behind them, before the smoke completely hid them from her view, she could make out a similar cloud emanating from the Char B1, which would hopefully be enough to cover the final leg of their escape up the slope of the dune.
"Mako, get us out of here," Maho ordered as Hippo and Heron's StuG III and Char B1 crested the dune and began setting off after the rest of Ooarai's tanks, a rapidly dissipating smokescreen the only thing shielding their retreat.
"Got it," Mako mumbled and let the Phoenix roll down the dune, spinning it around using just the momentum and loose sand to get it on its way at the rear of the column. Once they reached the bottom of the slope and prepared to overtake the Char B1 to get into position, Maho closed her eyes and tried her best to regain her composure, taking slow, deliberate breaths.
"So… what do we do now, Maho?" Yukari asked anxiously.
"I'm working on it…" Maho sighed. She knew they would have to use this momentary respite to disengage, find somewhere to regroup and reassess, but beyond that, she had no clue how they were going to claw a victory from the jaws of defeat.
This had been her big play; Isolate the flag tank and its escorts, strike hard, strike fast, hit it with everything they had, and take home the match before time made itself an ally of Darjeeling, like experience, funds, equipment, and skill had done before it. Instead, Darjeeling had seen through the entire plan. She had maneuvered her forces expertly, lulled Maho into a false sense of security, and almost managed to do to her what she had planned to do to Darjeeling. And even if Maho somehow managed to get the team away from danger, and rally them all for another attempt, they had lost one of their better tanks, and there was no way Darjeeling would let the flag tank stray far from the protection of the Black Prince and the Valentines now.
The scorching heat of the summer sun beating down upon them wasn't making things any easier either. Maho dragged the sleeve of her jacket across her forehead to wipe away the sweat, and emptied the last of the now tepid water in her canteen into her mouth. If she couldn't figure out a way to turn this around soon, or St. Gloriana didn't finish them off, then the sun was looking like it was going to do the job for them. She sighed once more and ducked back into the tank to return her canteen to its place, but dropped it as a chill down her spine caused her to reflexively straighten herself back up and turn to look behind them.
"Mako! Swerve, 20 degrees to the right!" she ordered instinctively, only just managing to keep herself on her feet as the tank lurched to the side. Barely a moment later, the last remnants of the smokescreen by the dune behind them disappeared in an instant, the force of the Black Prince's 17-pounder gun blowing it away and clearing the air as it sent a shell straight at them. Had she reacted just a moment later, the Phoenix would have been sputtering to a halt with a white flag flying above it, but thanks to their sudden evasive maneuver, the shell missed the bulk of the tank and instead cut through their reserve water tank like a warm knife through butter before continuing on its path into the distance.
As if we weren't on the clock already… Maho thought to herself and grumbled as the Black Prince was joined by the rest of St. Gloriana's lumbering infantry tanks on either side, with the Churchill kept safely hidden away in the rear of their formation, a practically insurmountable wall of armor between it and any threat Ooarai could hope to pose against it. "Evasive maneuvers. Don't let them get a clean shot."
"Copy that, Commander," Erwin replied, and soon the column was swaying unpredictably from side to side as the three tanks swerved left and right, sped up and slowed down, and traded places with one another to provide as little opportunity as possible for the enemy to zero in on them. The effort did slow their escape down, but making sure that St. Gloriana's volleys struck into the sand instead of their armor was a trade-off Maho was willing to make for now.
"Saori!" Maho called down into the hull. "Get Azusa on the line and tell her that Rabbit, Duck, and Turtle are to head west-northwest towards point CB-04. We'll meet up with them there. Hana, get those Valentines to back off."
"Right. I am on it," Hana replied, and spun the turret around to line up her shot.
"Maho!" Saori called up from the radio operator's compartment.
"Yes?"
"It's Azusa. She says there are three Crusaders moving Northwest and cutting them off. They can't break through!"
"Tell them to deploy smoke and change direction to the southeast. Rendezvous at GL-10."
"Got it! Southeast, GL-10," Saori repeated, and returned her focus to the radio. Shortly thereafter, the Phoenix's gun sounded as Hana fired off a shell towards the lead Valentine that was slowly inching towards them. The shell, unfortunately, bounced clean off the frontal armor, but at the very least the sudden attack succeeded in getting the Infantry tank to pull back a bit. Its brethren tanks also received the message, and were no longer quite as eager in taking the lead as they had been.
"Maho!" Saori called once more, distress more clear in her voice than before.
"What is it?!" Maho yelled back, still keeping her attention very much on their pursuers.
"It's… It's Azusa again," Saori said nervously. "They tried diverting to the southeast, and… well…"
"Just spit it out already!" Maho snapped. "I'm a bit busy," she added as a shell from the last Matilda II flew past her shoulder so close she could feel the wind blowing off it.
"There's Comets. Two Comets are moving south-southwest and blocking their path…"
"Of course they are…" Maho grumbled and clenched a fist in anger. "Map!" she called out, and quickly received the map board from Yukari while Hana prepared to fire once more. "She's trying to box us in…" she muttered as she inspected the map and mentally positioned the many tanks still on the field upon it. "We're not getting out of it either…"
"But then… what are we going to do, Maporin?!" Saori asked.
"We're dead if we stay out here…" Maho mumbled. "As long as we're in open terrain they'll have a field day in picking us apart. We need somewhere to make a stand… somewhere numbers won't matter…" She quickly scanned the small patch of land left available to her between St. Gloriana's armored blockade, and found the only alternative. "All tanks," she said as she clasped at the mic on her throat. In the distance she could see the three distinct shapes of Ooarai's remaining tanks, trading shots back and forth with the two Comets. "Join up on Phoenix and protect the flag tank. We're going to advance in wedge formation towards west-southwest."
"Yes, Commander!" Azusa acknowledged, and with a final defiant salvo, the three tanks disengaged from the Comets and changed course to link up with the Phoenix. As Maho had predicted, the Comets made no real moves to try and pursue, and instead simply continued along their trajectory, making sure to keep themselves in formation at all times so that there was no opportunity to escape. The Crusaders running parallel to them on the other side did much the same, even if the lead tank fired the occasional shell towards their general direction without hitting.
Looking back at the infantry tanks pursuing them, Maho grumbled to herself as she glared at the Black Prince. "What are you playing at, Darjeeling…" she muttered. Numbers, skill, experience, equipment, firepower, position; Darjeeling held every single advantage in this battle, and for some reason, she wasn't acting upon any of them. Sure, St. Gloriana's tanks fired the occasional volley, but Maho knew just as well as Darjeeling that they were acting at far from peak efficiency, nor did they bother to aim the shells they did fire properly, leading to little more than the occasional shower of sand striking Ooarai's tanks.
Darjeeling was definitely going easy on her, which, beyond being very perplexing and confusing, Maho found a bit insulting. Especially after the complete cold read she had managed in the opening maneuvers. There was clearly something Maho wasn't seeing, something she was missing. She just couldn't figure out what.
Another lazy volley of shells from the infantry tanks struck home in the sand around them, and Maho raised an arm to shield her eyes from the dirt and dust they kicked up, until a few seconds later the rain of loose sand subsided and she could lower it once more, seeing their target on the horizon.
A village, or more accurately a small collection of sandstone houses nestled up against a small mountain of reddish-brown rock, with a single, narrow path into a small square at the village's center.
"Everyone! We're going to head for that village and barricade ourselves in there," she informed over the radio.
"What?!" Momo yelled furiously back. "Are you insane, Nishizumi?! If we go in there there's no way out!"
"We can't stay out in the open either, cyclops," Maho snapped back. "We're outnumbered two to one, but if you have a better idea I'd love to hear it!" A few seconds of silence informed Maho that Momo did indeed not have any better ideas, and so she simply continued. "We're not going to get away from this pursuit, so we need to make a stand, and we need to make it somewhere we can rob Darjeeling of her advantages. If we hold out in the village, their numerical advantage will be irrelevant."
As if listening in on their communications, St. Gloriana's tankers seemed to realize the exact same thing at that very moment, because both their aim, rate of fire, and aggressiveness increased considerably as Ooarai's tanks maneuvered into a column and gunned it towards the entrance of the village.
Duck team's Type 89 was first to escape into the relative safety of the village, with Turtle team's Panzer 38(t) hot on their heels. Hippo team's StuG III slinked in next, only just avoiding a shot to their treads by one of the Comets, and the M3 Lee of Rabbit team covering their rear. That just left the Phoenix and the Char B1 bis, with the Char B1 taking the lead position. Mako was by far the best driver and Hana the best gunner on the team, so the Panzer IV spun around to hold the rear as the slower, more clumsy French tank escaped.
"No!" Sodoko yelled, causing Maho to look back as Hana fired a shot at the lead Crusader that was bearing down on them, but the shell simply bounced off the shell-like turret of the cruiser tank. "We've lost our right tread!"
"Mako! Get us out of here!" Maho ordered, and Mako quickly sent the Phoenix into full reverse, slamming into the rear of the Char B1 and pushing the French tank end-to-end the last dozen or so meters into the village and out of harm's way, keeping at it for an extra couple of meters until the Phoenix was both blocking the only way in and out of the village, but also far enough into the motley collection of buildings to be relatively safe from harm as St. Gloriana unleashed their full arsenal on the village and the cliffside it was nestled up against.
"It doesn't look good for Ooarai…" Carpaccio said with a saddened sigh.
"Yeah… she really can be thick-headed sometimes…" Anchovy muttered to herself, and rested her chin against her hand. "What is Nishizumi thinking, getting herself outplayed like that…"
"Hey, you can't deny it was a nice trick," Kay smiled. "Keeping the Victory up her sleeve like that was a really sly move."
"It was very clever of Darjeeling," Naomi agreed, and leaned back in her seat, stroking her chin. "And yet…"
"What is it?" Carpaccio asked.
"I'm not sure…" Naomi said thoughtfully. "Something's definitely wrong with this match."
"Could it be that one side has twice as many tanks as the other?" Anchovy said sarcastically, and crossed her arms. "Typical Big 4 behavior, if you ask me. Always winning through having the best and the most," she grumbled.
"Hey, Darjeeling is no cheat!" Kay cut in, seemingly taking much more offense from the implied insult towards Darjeeling than how the cutting remark very overtly implicated her own school.
"You're all cheats!" Anchovy snapped back. "Winning through nothing but money and flaunting your wealth around, while MEXT circle the rest of us like vultures, just waiting for the moment to shut down anyone who isn't making money."
"There's no way that's for real," Kay laughed, and gave Anchovy a hard pat on the back. "No one's getting closed down, Chobi."
"It's. Anchovy," Anchovy growled through gritted teeth. "Duce Anchovy."
"Oh, right. Sorry, Chobi!"
"S-so, Naomi…" Carpaccio, interrupted in an attempt to bring the conversation back to the subject of the match, but more urgently to avoid a fight breaking out. "What's wrong? The discrepancy in tanks isn't exactly unique, right? Ooarai faced both Saunders and Anzio with 5 tanks against ten."
"No, it's not that," Naomi replied and leaned forwards hunched over as she looked through steepled fingers at the giant screen projecting the battle to the audience. "I might not know Darjeeling very well, but I know Assam. She's had at least 6 clean shots at Ooarai's flag tank, and either she hasn't taken them, or she's missed when she definitely shouldn't have…"
"Wait, so… you're saying she's been missing on purpose? Why would she do that?"
"I don't know… It's almost like Darjeeling is trying to make this match drag on for as long as possible…"
"Now that you mention it, St. Gloriana seem to have been fighting really sloppily ever since they brought out the Victory. Darjeeling spent all that time and effort to set up the perfect trap, and now she's just wasting all of it," Anchovy noted. "They lost four tanks in that engagement and only took out one of Ooarai's, even though they should have been able to mop up their whole team with ease."
"Maybe Darjy's trying to even the odds? Give Ooarai a fair shot at striking back?" Kay suggested. "She's just great, isn't she? Keeping things sporting, even this far into the tournament."
"If she wanted to be sporting about it, she wouldn't trap her opponent in an encirclement like that," Anchovy scoffed.
"Hey, Nishizumi's a clever gal. She got Ooarai out of two really clean encirclements when we fought them," Kay countered.
"Not one's like this…" Anchovy mumbled, and sighed, watching the shelling of Ooarai continue on the screen, with nothing but the sandstone buildings shielding their tanks from harm.
"Give me a damage report," Maho said calmly as the very earth seemed to shake and boom with every new shell that struck their position.
"Do we not need to worry about other things right now?" Hana asked.
"Every shot they fire right now either hits the buildings or the cliffs behind us. As long as no one pokes their head out, the only thing we need to worry about is how fast St. Gloriana is going to run out of shells," Maho replied. "So, what's our status?"
"The steering's just fine," Mako mumbled.
"There is something off with the turret, Maho," Hana said. "I can aim just fine, but the turret does not seem to want to turn properly.
"We've only got 9 AP-shells left, and just 1 high-explosive one," Yukari reported.
"Got it," Maho nodded and noted down the information in her head, before preparing to repeat the procedure for the other tanks. "All tanks, status repo-"
After the minutes-long bombardment, with cannons booming and shells striking almost every second, the sudden silence that fell over the battlefield was almost deafening in its intensity.
"The bombardment…" Yukari said incredulously.
"Just… stopped?" Saori finished, looking up at Maho in confusion.
"There's a Matilda approaching," Mako noted. "Carrying a white banner."
"They what?" Maho said and raised an eyebrow, opening the hatch above her and standing up in the cupola, feeling somewhat puzzled over what she saw.
While the rest of St. Gloriana's tanks had all taken up positions in a semi-circle around the entrance to the village, with their hulls hunkered down among the dunes surrounding it, the last remaining Matilda II was gingerly making its way towards them, completely in the open and with its turret facing away from its target as a small, torso-sized white flag flew from the tank's rear antenna.
"Wait… isn't that Darjeeling?" Yukari asked, pointing at the blonde girl standing tall beside the turret of the approaching Matilda.
"I wonder what she wants?" Hana asked curiously.
"I bet it's nothing good," Maho sighed, and climbed out of the cupola, standing tall atop the Phoenix's turret. She drew a breath, filling her lungs with the scorching desert air for a few moments before breathing out again, closing her eyes and detailing their situation as best she could, sensing the Churchill sensibly hiding well out of the path of any attack, and with plenty of room to maneuver. "Alright!" she called out and raised a hand towards the approaching Matilda. "That's far enough!"
The tank rolled to a gentle stop about a hundred meters from the entrance of the town, and Darjeeling elegantly stepped down from her armored carriage, beginning to calmly and nonchalantly walk towards the village. After a few moments, Maho also stepped down from the Phoenix, walking across the arid sands to meet her opponent.
"Commander Nishizumi," Darjeeling greeted, stopping a few paces from Maho as they met. "How good to see you again."
"What do you want, Darjeeling?" Maho sighed and crossed her arms. "If you're just here for more meaningless nonsense, I'd much rather go back to fighting the battle."
"That's very good then, since I am actually here to talk about the battle," Darjeeling said with a smile. "You really have fought valiantly today, Nishizumi-"
"Thanks," Maho scoffed. "But if you don't mind, I'll accept your compliments after I beat you."
"You have fought valiantly, but we both know there's no point to keep this going," Darjeeling continued. "I believe we're both women of honor, and so I'm here to discuss surrender."
"I don't accept your surrender," Maho said curtly. "You're just going to have to let me beat you fair and square. Was there anything else?"
"I understand this is a difficult situation for you, Nishizumi," Darjeeling said solemnly, and shook her head. "So out of respect for both your team and you, I shall give you a few hours to reconsider. If I don't hear from you by 2 o'clock, I shall assume you've remained stubborn. Good day, Commander Nishizumi." She nodded towards Maho and gave a small curtsy, before turning around and walking back towards the waiting Matilda. Maho remained in place and followed the tank as it began rolling back towards its comrades, glancing across the dunes around her and at the near dozen tanks that all had their guns trained on the village entrance, before sighing and lowering her head. Only then did she realize that her heart was beating out of control and her hands were shaking, balled into fists so tight that her knuckles were nothing but white. She swore quietly under her breath and forced herself to relax as she walked back into the village.
"Maporin?" Saori asked as she neared the Phoenix. "What's the matter?"
"What did Darjeeling want to talk about?" Yukari asked.
"A truce," Maho muttered as she walked past the Panzer IV. "Tell everyone to get out of the tanks…"
"So?" Assam asked as Darjeeling stepped back onto the Victory from Rukuriri's Matilda. "Did she accept your offer?"
"As a matter of fact, she did not," Darjeeling sighed, and accepted the cup of tea Assam handed her. "Thank you."
"Why not?" Assam said with a confused look on her face. "Can't she see that we have them surrounded? Not to mention outclassed in every conceivable way."
"I never took you to be arrogant, Assam," Darjeeling said with a teasing smile, and sipped on her tea.
Assam simply shrugged at the accusation. "Me being humble doesn't change the fact that Ooarai's situation is completely hopeless."
"Perhaps," Darjeeling nodded as she gazed at the still surface of her tea, before emptying it. "Still, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at her refusal. This might all be nothing more than a sport, but there certainly is more at stake here than during our last confrontation." She shook her head for a moment and set the now-empty teacup down beside her, before grabbing a hold of the radio handset beside her. "This is Victory. Commander Nishizumi and I have agreed on a three-hour truce. And so, all tanks are to stand down until further notice. Orange Pekoe?"
"Yes, Lady Darjeeling?" Orange Pekoe's voice answered over the radio.
"I believe it would be in our best interest to use this respite to unwind a bit after such a fierce engagement. Could you prepare a kettle of Ruhuna, please?"
"At once, Lady Darjeeling."
"Thank you, Orange Pekoe." With that, Darjeeling returned the handset to its place, and nodded to Assam. The two had known one another long enough to understand each other without words, and they both climbed up and out of the Victory's turret in unison.
"Assam…" Darjeeling said calmly and locked her arms behind her back as the two walked among St. Gloriana's lines, now rife with activity as the different crews were busy setting up tarps to provide shade, boiling kettles to provide tea, opening tins of biscuits and other confectionery, and providing themselves a number of other comforts, "In your opinion, what would you say Ooarai's chances of victory are?"
"I just told you," Assam answered, and raised a puzzled eyebrow. "It's completely hopeless."
"Humor me, Assam," Darjeeling smiled. "Tell me the odds, if you please."
"Hmm…" Assam paused and looked up at the sky for a few seconds, her head bobbing gently back and forth as she went through a series of calculations in her head. "One in a million. If that."
"Well, do you know this saying, Assam? 'One-in-a-million chances crop up nine times out of ten'."
"You almost sound like you're planning on letting them win on purpose," Assam said sharply. "I know you have your reasons for doing this, Darj, and I completely agree with you. But you know that the alumni association wouldn't stand for us losing this match just because of your over-curious meddling. They've definitely noticed how you didn't close out the match back at the escarpment like you could and, according to them, should have, and it's not going to take long until they start to notice that I'm playing badly on purpose. So as your second-in-command, and as your friend, I implore you; don't do anything else stupid. We have the Victory, we have them encircled, our flag tank is far away from danger, so please-"
"And here I thought you had more faith in me, Assam," Darjeeling laughed. "You're not wrong in the least, but believe me; Whatever rabbit Nishizumi tries to pull out of her hat this time, I have no intention of losing."
Next time on Dein Weg ist Mein Weg: Ooarai under siege! Running low on tanks, water, determination, and morale, is even a miracle enough to turn the tide?
Author's Notes:
Hi everyone, and happy new year!
It's been a while since the last chapter, and for that you have my apologies. The holidays, work on other projects, a bout of depression, and just life in general kinda got in the way of things, so I hope the wait hasn't been too excruciating for you.
In fact, this chapter was originally planned to be quite a bit larger, but when I looked at it last night I realized that I was already reaching the size of my usual chapters while still having as much, if not more, to still write, and since Darjeeling's confident proclamation provided a nice point to end on, I decided that splitting the chapter in twain would be for the best. Everything's already planned out and prepared for the next chapter, so it shouldn't take that much longer for the next part to be released.
As for what we do have in this chapter, I'm pretty darn happy with it, if I do say so myself. There's some nice maneuvers courtesy of Erwin, a tense little chase across the dunes, some ominous discussions between Chiyomi and Kay, and a tough choice laid at Ooarai's feet: surrender or fight?
It's perhaps a bit closer to what happened in the canon-verse, but I do have more in store for this battle that I hope you will enjoy once the time comes. In fact, the battle between St. Gloriana and Ooarai is already almost the biggest fight I've written so far, and is looking like it could double the Anzio v Ooarai-match in scope and size once it's all said and done, which is exciting!
As always, I can't thank each and every one of you enough for sticking with this story. It means the world to me that you all enjoy what I write, and doubly so when you let me know what you think. So if you have the time and feel like doing so, please leave a review with your thoughts. It warms my heart to hear your thoughts, good and bad, and really helps me keep up the energy to continue working on this story.
Special shout-out to Rosy and Shadow for helping me proofread this chapter, and hopefully I'll see you all again in February with the exciting continuation of this fateful match.
Until then, stay safe everyone!
/Rhino