Chapter 9: One Small Step for Rocketeer, One Giant Leap for Oarai Sensha-do!
"Kliment Voroshilov, you son of a bitch," Ross bemoaned. With the tarp pulled off, the dim light of the warehouse revealed the large KV-1 tank in front of them.
William and Miho walked up to the tank without Ross's sentiment. "This is a good find! The KV-1 may have its problems, but it's pretty strong and has a decent gun," Miho assessed.
"But which model of KV-1 is it? Didn't the KV-1 have a few variants during its production?" William wondered while walking around the right side of the tank. Something else grabbed his attention as well. On the side, a pair of short but long armored boxes were on the top of the hull, with another pair on the other side of the turret. The front of the boxes was open and a pair of rails stuck out from each box. "What are these for?"
Miho took notice of the oddity as well. "This isn't a standard KV-1, this might be something different. Maybe Yukari could help us identify it?"
Ross recovered from his lamenting and pulled out his phone. "Let me send a picture of it to her," he said. He took a picture of the strange heavy tank and sent it to Yukari for evaluation. After he looked up from his phone he saw something behind Miho that caught his eye. A tall slope of US army green armored steel complemented by a white star and a track. "Look there's the Sherman!" he exclaimed while pointing behind the KV-1.
Hiding behind the KV-1 was a standard M4 Sherman, the first production run and one of the most common versions of the medium tank. The nicely sloped frontal armor would be tough to penetrate for small cannons and the 75mm gun, while overpowered by many of the larger and longer guns used during the Second World War, was still a potent and deadly weapon when used properly. The ease of maintenance and crew comfort of the M4 would help ease the recruits who would be its crew into Sensha-do. Of course, the meter-long steel beams attached to the sides of its round turret would allow them to wield a powerful weapon that could strike fear into the hearts of any tanker who opposed it.
"I cannot wait to see this thing in action," Ross stated gleefully, "Do you see how much of an advantage this could be? Unleashing a pillar of fire anywhere on a battlefield at any moment could decisively end a match before the enemy has a chance.
"More importantly, this means we have ten tanks. If we can train some new members, we could head into the first round of the national tournament with a full team of tanks," William added.
Miho climbed up onto the hull of the KV-1 and opened the circular driver's hatch. "Looks like they won't need much work to get them battle-ready. There's little humidity and no weather down here so there's hardly any rust or wear," she said while peering into the dark driver's compartment. After placing her feet on the driver's seat, Miho lowered herself down into the hull. In front of her were the driver's vision ports, and to her left was the hull-mounted Degtyaryov machine gun. With great care, Miho removed the circular ammo magazine. After turning it over she could see that the magazine was still full of 7.62mm Sensha-do rated bullets. Although they wouldn't do any damage if you were hit by them, due to their energy dispersing shattering construction, they still required care when handling since they were still fired with a gunpowder propellant. "That's definitely a safety hazard," Miho said while placing the magazine into a storage box on the floor.
"How does it look inside?" Ross asked while peering through the driver's hatch.
Miho examined the controls and the interior through the darkness. "Might need a little work, but it's in a much better condition than our first tanks," she remarked.
Ross climbed into the tank while Miho crawled into the turret. The 76.2mm ZiS-5 cannon was in an okay condition with little rust and pushing the commander's hatch proved that it still opened. "Do you mind if I try to turn on the engine?" Ross asked from below.
"Go for it!" Miho replied excitedly.
Ross sat down in the driver's seat and glanced over the controls. "I think I can still do stick steering," Ross muttered while looking over the steering sticks and the shifter, "I really hope the KV-1's reputation for being a pain to shift isn't true." With a firm press, the slightly stuck ignition switch clicked and the V-12 diesel engine came to life with a violent shake. "Alright!" Ross cheered, "She sounds beautiful!" The crackling rumble of the motor filled the warehouse as smoke started leaving the exhaust tubes.
"Try to see if the intercoms work!" Miho shouted, barely audible over the V-12 engine's noise.
Ross grabbed the headset laying on the floor next to him. "Alright can you hear me?" he asked into the microphone.
"All clear driver," Miho replied.
"Great, now I get demoted to driver?" Ross jabbed playfully.
Miho giggled. "Don't sound so offended, everyone on the team is important you know," she replied.
Ross shook his head and tugged the shifter to shift the tank into gear. "Hold on!" he exclaimed while pushing forward the steering sticks. The tank jolted forward before Ross eased it to a steady pace towards one of the large vehicle hallways which would take him to an elevator to the surface.
William only shook his head as the tank drove off. "I hope the Sherman still works," he sighed before climbing into the medium tank.
000
Everybody on the Sensha-do team stopped their exercises when the slightly rusted green KV-1 rolled onto the field with Miho perched in the commander's hatch. Each tank drove over and stopped in front of the heavy tank. Naturally, the first member to run up to the tank was Yukari. The tank nut squealed eagerly while looking over every detail of the tank. "It's real! A real KV-1K! A real KV-1K!" she exclaimed eagerly.
Ross peaked out from his hatch after shutting the engine off. "What'd you call it?" he asked.
"This is a KV-1K! I got your photo but to see it in person is s-super awesome!" Yukari shouted excitedly before stopping herself. "Oh no, I got carried away again didn't I…" she bemoaned.
Miho climbed down from the commander's hatch. "Don't worry about it Yukari, it's just how you are. So what's special about this tank? I haven't heard of a KV-1 K variant."
"This tank, also known as the KV-10, is a prototype KV-1 variant which was identical to production KV-1's except for one special feature," Yukari explained. She eagerly pointed to one of the armored boxes on the hull of the heavy tank. "The KV-1K is armed with four KRAST-1 rocket launchers! It's the same system used on the BM-13 "Katyusha" rocket artillery trucks, only with two launch rails. With four boxes that means this tank can fire eight rockets before needing to reload."
"Wow, so it can shoot shells and rockets?" Karina, the driver of the M3 "Grant I" asked.
"Like the medieval Chinese and the Mongolian horde!" Saemonza exclaimed.
"Or like Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy at the Battle of Othée!" Caesar added.
"Perhaps it's closer to Tipu Sultan's use of rocket artillery during the Anglo-Mysore Wars?" Erwin suggested, "It was the first use of metal cylinder rockets."
"That's it!" the other three members of the History Club shouted.
Miho and Yukari nervously chuckled at the history buff's declarations. "I suppose that's one way to look at it," Miho muttered.
The sounds of two more tracked vehicles interrupted the gathering around the KV-1K. Entering from the gate Ross ran over on the first day of practice, the M4 Sherman and M6 High-Speed Tractor approached the team. Atop the M4, all the members of the Oarai Rocketry Club rode like American soldiers did during the Second World War. The M6 tractor on the other hand pulled a small trailer containing the T34E2 rocket launcher.
Everyone backed up to allow the two vehicles the space they needed to park next to the KV-1K. Each member of the Oarai Rocketry Club climbed off the Sherman while William and Joseph jumped out from their respective vehicles. A few members of the Sensha-do team recognized them. Canaveral and Laika stepped forward.
"Hello everyone, my name is Canaveral, the President of the Oarai Rocketry Club. Our club will be joining your team starting today!" Canaveral declared.
"I am Vice-President Laika," Laika introduced.
The Student Council stepped forward to break away from the rest of the team. "Two new tanks and eight new members from a simple meeting with another club? Maybe we should have you three meet with more clubs more often," Anzu joked cheerfully, "Welcome to the team."
"It'll be good to have more guys around," Tandy commented.
Vandenberg and Alexei broke away from the rocketry club and joined the male members of Freikorp Oarai. "Yeah," Vandenberg and Alexei agreed.
"Hey I've heard the rocket club does some custom work, would you two like to join me in my workshop sometime? A lot of the guys and I do some shop work for the team, but it's sort of our hang-out spot as well," Joseph offered.
"You have a workshop here? What kind of work do you do?" Alexei asked.
"Oh tons of stuff, some tank maintenance, some custom projects, anything we can dig out of scrap piles and wrangle out from below deck," Joseph explained.
Alexei and Vandeberg nodded together. "Sounds like fun," they said.
While the rocket club members introduced themselves to the rest of the team, Ross, William, Miho, and the student council met together. Miho opened the impromptu meeting. "The new tanks are in decent condition, but they'll need some preparation to get them to battle-ready condition," she said.
"We wouldn't be able to field them in the St. Gloriana match anyway, there's not enough time to get them properly trained," William noted.
"But after the match that should be our top priority, especially teaching gun-laying. With the right teaching we could have a rocket strike available within a 3-kilometer area around the M4," Ross replied.
"Of course, having these tanks on the team will provide a much-needed boost in firepower. Has everyone chosen a name for their tank crews?" Miho asked.
Momo nodded while Yuzu handed Miho a sheet of paper. "Here, we wrote them down for you," Yuzu said,
Miho smiled. "Thank you, I'm excited to see what everyone chose."
On the paper were eight animal names for everyone's tanks, even the tanks for Freikorp Oarai. The Panzer IV was Anglerfish Team, the Type 89 was Duck Team, the StuG III was Hippo Team, the Stridsvagn was Turtle Team, the M3 Grant I was Rabbit Team, the Tiger H2 was Atrox Team, the Type 100 was Leopard Team, and the Elefant was Hyena Team. Miho nodded silently in approval, but she had some questions. "What's an Atrox?" she asked.
"It's part of the scientific name for the American Lion, Panthera atrox," William answered.
"Since when did America have lions?!" Ross asked.
"About 340,000 to 11,000 years ago, the species is extinct," William explained.
"Oh, that's pretty interesting! So why is the Elefant named Hyena Team? Why not Elephant?" Miho wondered.
Yuzu spoke up, "Joseph explained that to us. He chose it because Hyenas hunt elephants and the Elefant is a tank hunter. I think he mentioned something about irony."
"I think I get it… I guess," Miho responded, "Anyway, we still have some practice to do, so let's get everyone reorganized and get back to work!"
000
The setting sun glowed over Oarai's gravel training field as each team gathered in front of Garage 1 together with five teams forming the first column and the other five behind them creating a 5 by 2 formation. The student council, Miho, and the commanders of Freikorp Oarai stood in front of the rest of the team. Miho stepped forward to address the team.
"Thank you for all your hard work! Before we go I'd like to give an announcement. To give us more combat experience before the first round of the nationals, we have challenged St. Gloriana Girls' College to an exhibition match this Sunday," Miho announced.
The team began murmuring between themselves with confusion before Azusa stepped forward. "Excuse me, Captain Nishizumi, what type of school is St. Gloriana?" she asked.
"That's a good question!" Miho exclaimed, "St. Gloriana Girls' College is a British-themed carrier school. We won't know what models they're using until the match, but we can expect British tanks, so if you have the time, please do some research on them. Of course, tomorrow we'll be holding a strategy meeting so more details will be discussed there."
Mako raised her hand to speak. "What time will the match be held?" she asked.
"The match will begin at eight AM, but we'll be meeting here at the training grounds at six and be at the match grounds at seven," Momo declared, "Don't be late,"
Mako blankly stared at Momo, before stepping out of her group. "I'm quitting," she decided.
More whispers came from the crowd of tankers. Saori broke the formation as Mako began walking away. "But wait, who'll be our driver!" she exclaimed while stomping after her.
"Is it even possible for a person to be awake at six o'clock!" Mako spat while turning to glare at Saori.
Yukari spoke up, "Well, we'll be meeting at six, but you'll probably have to be up by five…"
Mako nearly fell over. "That's not happening," she responded.
Saori grit her teeth and growled. "You're not going to get the credits you need to graduate with us if you quit. Next year you'll have to call us Senpai, try calling me Saori-senpai!"
That got Mako to stop. "S-Saori-sen…" she stuttered before hanging her head.
Saori sighed with relief now that Mako didn't seem too eager to quit. "And if you don't graduate your grandmother will be really mad at you," she informed.
"My grand-" Mako froze. "F-fine, I'll do it…" she relented.
000
Ross held Natalie over his shoulder to help her burp after having her morning feeding. The sun was just barely breaking the horizon as he idly gazed out the window while gently patting Natalie's back. He was about to turn away when he noticed something on the streets below. A large group of students leaving their dorms and apartments this early was unusual. Normally he was the only person who'd be up this early along with the occasional early worm. It was too dark and they were too far away for him to recognize them, so he just shrugged it off. Probably just an early club activity, he thought.
When Natalie was settled he sat her down in her high chair while he collected his things. "So do you think we're ready for this weekend's match?" he asked her although she couldn't understand. The cute babbles and knocking on her tray made him chuckle. "I'll take that as a vote of confidence," he said while putting on his backpack. "Well then, shall we head out?"
000
With school over, all the tank crews rushed to the training
grounds, some got there earlier than others, so when Anglerfish and Leopard Team got there, the garages were already populated. Each garage door was wide open and the smell of fresh paint covered the grounds. "Nothing smells better than fresh paint!" Tandy exclaimed.
"That's how you get lead poisoning," Alex replied with her usual monotone.
"They must've got to work on their team logos. I bet they look good!" Miho said energetically.
As the group inspected the smell, however, they were greeted by quite the sight. In Garage 1, the Elefant was painted with the same shade of gray as an elephant's skin. The gun was striped with black lines to look like an Elephant trunk and the mantlet had two stripes of white that resembled tusks. Sticking out like a sore thumb was a cartoon head of a hyena painted onto the side of the casemate. Joseph pushed open the commander's hatch on the roof and looked down on the admirers of his tank destroyer's paint job. "How's it look? Doesn't it look like an Elephant?"
"It does!" Miho shouted back cheerfully.
"It's very nice, the gray reminds me of some of the marble vases I have back home," Hana commented.
"At least it's dunkelgrau… even if the Elefant was never painted that color, '' Yukari muttered, glaring at the Tiger H2, which had a new paint job of its own. Instead of its previous green and yellow camouflage, a new tan scheme with darker brown spots that almost resembled freckles was applied. The tank started to lighten near the bottom, looking like the underbelly of a lion. Topping off the new scheme was a North American Lion painted onto the side of the turret with extreme attention to detail.
The Type 100 hadn't been given a new paint job. The only new addition to it was a small black silhouette of a sleek Leopard midjump. "Let's go see what the others have done to their tanks!" Miho suggested eagerly. Everyone agreed with the same excitement, except for Yukari who steeled herself for the horror that awaited her.
It was far worse than she could have imagined. In Garage II the Panzerbefehlswagen IV hadn't been touched except for the inclusion of a cartoon rendition of a pink Anglerfish. The Stridsvagn M/41 had been painted with extremely shiny gold paint that nearly blinded the tankers as they walked in.
In Garage III, the Type 89 was a little more subdued than Turtle Team. Instead of covering their whole tank in paint, the volleyball girls simply covered the front and sides with white Kanji. "I still can't read Kanji very well, do you mind translating?" Ross asked.
"Yeah, it says stuff like GUTS! and volleyball stuff," Miho answered.
"Wait, we were supposed to learn Japanese?" Jody asked.
Everyone blankly looked at her. "You do realize that this is still a Japanese school ship right?" Ross replied irately.
Jody snickered. "Oh really?" She teased.
Ross realized she was just up to her usual antics again. "Have I mentioned how much you annoy me, Jody?" Ross muttered while glaring at her.
"Maybe a few times," Jody answered, "C'mon let's go see what the History Club has done with their tank!"
In Garage IV, the StuG III had been painted a strange mix of red, yellow, and blue. On top of the assault gun were six flags arranged on two metal rails. To top it off, a blue hippopotamus was painted on the side of the casemate with the emblem of the Roman Empire and the Deutsche Afrika Korps painted onto the front of the hull. "I thought the History Club of all people would've stayed true to the tank's history!" Yukari complained, "how can the StuG be an ambush tank if it's like this?!"
"I wish we would've painted our tank," Saori wished, "Maybe after-"
Yukari interrupted her, "No way! We can't paint over the Panzer IV's original coat!"
"Would this be a bad time to mention the cushions?" Hana wondered.
Yukari just sighed and gave up. "Let's just check out the M3 and get it over with…" In the final garage, the KV-1K and T34E2 "Calliope" hadn't been painted, except for a few touch-ups to their original green coats. The M3 "Grant I," however, was painted a cute bright pink color with a pink rabbit with blood-red eyes and wielding knives painted to the side of the turret. "The M3 as well…" Yukari whispered. She ran over to the Rocket Club members who were finishing setting up their space. "Thank goodness, you guys say the light!" she exclaimed while bowing, "thank you for not tarnishing your tanks like the others!"
Laika and Canaveral looked at each other before struggling. "Um, you're welcome?" Canaveral answered.
Miho started giggling from the entrance of the garage. "I never thought tanks could be turned into something like this, but it's kinda fun! This is the first time I've thought tanks could be fun!" Miho admitted.
Everyone else smiled and agreed, except for Yukari who was still recovering from her despair. Jody swung her arm over Miho's shoulders and adopted an exaggerated southern accent. "Aw, hell captain, this whole tank thing's been super fun from the start!" she exclaimed.
Miho giggled more while Ross looked like he was about to kill his gunner. "If only I had something to throw at you…" Ross seethed.
Jody snickered back at her commander. "Don't mind me none Ross, I'm just showing my appreciation!" she continued in her mocking accent.
Ross glared at Jody while slowly unstrapping his Stalhelm. "You have five seconds to run," he stated coldly.
"Three, take it or leave it," Jody teased. She took off, leaving the rest of the group to observe Ross's skill in throwing helmets. She made it surprisingly far before he chucked the helmet and dodged it by jumping to the left suddenly before running further away from the garage. Ross bolted after her and picked up his helmet.
The rest of Leopard Team sighed at the two's antics, while Anglerfish Team was incredibly confused. "So umm, what just happened?" Saori asked.
"Occasionally when Jody teases Ross she uses a southern accent," Tandy answered.
"Is that why he got mad at her?" Miho asked.
"Yep, Ross wasn't born in Oregon, he actually came from the Southern United States so she sometimes uses an accent to rile him up," Chloe added, "It's all in good fun, Ross isn't actually terribly mad at her, it's just how those two get along."
"That doesn't look like getting along," Mako muttered while the two teams watched Ross miss hitting Jody again with his helmet.
"Trust me, Jody and Ross are close. They mess with each other because they know they can do it without hurting each other's feelings. It's like a sibling relationship," Tandy explained.
A sibling relationship huh… Miho thought I wish I could have something like that with Maho...
000
The Sunday morning had yet to break when Ross unlocked the garage's side door and crept into the dark building. Natalie was sound asleep as he held her against his shoulder. He turned on the lights and slowly walked over to his tank. While he was walking, Natalie stirred awake and looked up from his shoulder. She made a noise that sounded like a groan and rubbed her light brown eyes before looking around. "This is the garage for the Sensha-do team sweetie," Ross said. She looked around randomly, looking up and down at the tanks lined up. However, an empty spot in Garage 2 confused Ross. "Where's the Panzer IV?" he asked, his voice echoing through the building causing Natalie to jump a little. "That's just my echo Natalie, everything's okay," Ross cooed while Natalie buried herself into his shoulder. He rubbed little circles on her back to try and calm her down.
When she looked up again Ross saw the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes. Ross gently wiped the tears away with a handkerchief. "All better?" he asked. Natalie babbled a short response before leaning against his shoulder and laying her head against him. He stopped walking in front of the Type 100. "This is Daddy's tank, the Type 100," he stated. Natalie looked up at the 88mm cannon intently. "Impressive isn't it?" Ross asked.
In the distance, a faint rumbling closed in on the garage. Ross turned to the door just as a shadow passed the door. Whatever was outside stopped in front of the door to Garage 2. He heard the clanking of metal hatches opening. "I suppose that's the Panzer IV, what were they up to?" Ross asked himself. Shortly after, the garage doors opened, flooding the garage with the morning sun.
Miho and Yukari followed the Panzer IV as it backed up into its spot. Confusingly, Hana climbed out of the driver's hatch and Saori jumped down from the turret. "So were you doing some alternative positions training?" Ross asked.
"No, Mako doesn't like waking up early in the morning so we picked her up!" Miho explained cheerfully.
Mako poked her head up from the radio operator hatch lazily but leaned her head against the hull and fell back asleep. "Sounds like fun…" Ross answered.
"It kind of was actually! Saori made rice balls for breakfast and she helped get her ready. We even fired a blank round as an alarm clock!" Miho exclaimed.
"I thought Yukari's bugle would be enough," Saori mentioned.
Ross shook his head slightly. "I wouldn't want to live on that street then," he replied with a chuckle.
"Well you're usually awake early anyway because you've gotta drop Natalie off," Miho said while patting Natalie's hair gently. Natalie smiled brightly and giggled while waving her arms around.
Ross smiled slightly and nodded silently while trying to keep ahold of Natalie. "Well, she tends to be an early worm and naps throughout the day, but she's really active in the morning," Ross mentioned.
"Aw is that so? Do you like to wake Ross up?" Miho cooed. She stopped patting Natalie's hair, which made her stop giggling and frowning a little before Miho gently poked her little nose to cheer her up.
"It's pretty hard to sleep when she's crying, not that I'd want to anyway," Ross stated. He looked up at the back wall clock that was nearly at 5:45 AM. "Are your parents still okay with watching her at the match, Yukari?" he asked.
Outside a car pulled up to the garage door. "Well I guess there's my answer," Ross laughed.
"Yeah, I suppose so," Yukari said.
Yoshiko emerged from the passenger's side door. "Good morning everyone," she greeted as she entered the garage.
"Good morning, Mrs. Akiyama," Ross answered with as much of a bow you can do while holding a baby. "Thank you for doing this, I've never had the opportunity to take Natalie to a match before, but I hope she won't cause any trouble."
Yoshiko carefully took Natalie from Ross. "It's no trouble at all," she replied.
"Regardless." Ross paused to pull an envelope from his coat pocket. "I put some extra Yen in to compensate. It should be enough to cover the time for the match at one and a half of the regular rate," he explained while handing the envelope to Yoshiko.
Yoshiko took the envelope and smiled warmly. "Thank you, but next time you can just do the regular rate on one condition," she said.
"And that is?" Ross asked.
Yoshiko's warm smile turned to a smirk. "Well, bring us home a victory soldier!" she exclaimed with an awkward salute.
Yukari groaned in the background and put her face in her hands, but Ross laughed at Yoshiko's "order." "We won't let you down ma'am!" he replied with a salute of his own.
"And that goes for the rest of you as well!" she jokingly demanded while turning to the Anglerfish Team. Yukari weakly saluted while Saori and Hana awkwardly followed. Only Miho saluted with enthusiasm. "Good luck at the match, do your best!" Yoshiko cheered before returning to her car. She gave a cheerful wave before entering the car and driving off.
"It's cool that your parents are going to be at the match Yukari," Saori commented, "My parents couldn't make it."
"Yeah, I guess," Yukari replied.
Hana, Miho, and Ross agreed silently with nods. Ross took another look at the clock just as the student council entered the garage, precisely ten minutes before six. "Hey everyone! Are your tanks ready to go?" Yuzu greeted.
Following them was the rest of the team, who steamed in over the next few minutes. Everyone looked over their tanks one last time before heading out while Miho and the student council made sure everyone had arrived. Everything proceeded smoothly and at six, everyone was in their positions.
"Radio check, can everyone hear me?" Miho asked into her commander's radio.
Various affirmations and "all clears'' came from each of the team's eight tanks. Miho looked down into the turret, where each member of the Panzer IV's crew gave her a reassuring smile. "Okay everyone, Panzer vor!"
The collection of tanks engines came to life creating a storm of rumbling sounds that echoed off the garage walls. The Panzer IV moved forward as the vanguard tank of the team as they left their training grounds and towards their first real battle.
000
Oh, you thought you'd need to wait for another month for a new chapter? Lies! Slander! Deception! Okay, this chapter wasn't much more than a linking chapter to properly introduce our two new teams to the team properly and clear out the tank names and paint jobs. But I hope the reveal of two new tanks makes up for the lack of action and if it doesn't then... next chapter certainly will. Thanks for all the reviews, I appreciate reading and responding to them! Anyways, onto the next chapter!
Chapter 10: The Sun Never Sets