The hot summer air was always muggy. With crickets chirping away in the swamps and the occasional bird chirping away in the distance. If it had been any other day, the boys of The Lone Star would have loved to take a nice nap. However, this wasn't their reality.
"Tank, 500 yards! Fire at will!" Darrien shouted. What followed was the loud crack and boom of the tank's 76mm gun going off. The shell whistled through the air and impacted the side of a Hetzer. The Czech tank destroyer drifted and rolled due to the impact of the shell.
"Got his ass! Nice shot Ty!" Jack shouted. He slammed another AP round into the breach. "Round up!"
"Traverse right! We got company at 4 o'clock!" The turret swung around, coming to a stop on a Panzer III charging at them. "Scotty, reverse, hard left. Get our armor facing that thing!"
"Roger that boss!" The tank reversed, keeping the gun trained on the crazy german tank. The gun aimed right at the front plate, ready to knock it out. The gunner looked back at the commander, and he gave a nod.
"Teach this fool how we deal with chargers." A grin came onto the gunner's face as he heard that. A shell came flying at the tank, impacting and ricocheting off the front plate of the tank. "Fire!" The gun lit up again, and the round flew into the air and hit the German tank. RIght in the track, where it spun around and was quickly followed up by another round from a nearby light tank. The white flag popped up from the turret.
"Nice of you to join us, Wiley," Darrien said into his mic. "But I think we could've handled that tank." Darrien popped open the hatch on the commander's cupola and pulled himself through. He looked over to the left to see the tank, an M4A2, parked beside them. The barrel of the tank was smoking. The commander of that tank had a satisfying grin on his face, aside from the goggles and the headset he was wearing.
"You know we got your back. Even if you didn't ask." Wiley replied. Darrien just sighed and shook his head. He gave a thumbs up and put the mic on his headset close.
"This is Star reporting from the river mouth, no flag tank sighted. We knocked out a Hetzer. We're making our way back with Birdmen in tow. Lone Star out." He felt the tank swing around onto its original heading. The engine roared as they busted through the underbrush and onto some asphalt. Scotty floored the engine, pushing it close to the limit. The other Sherman was moving alongside it, but lagged behind. The rest of the team was in a struggling fight against their opposing tank force.
"Star, Birdmen, head south along the enemy flank! Don't head for us, we're pinned down by ARL-44's! They got some panthers with them as well!" Their team commander shouted over the airwaves.
"You down for a turkey shoot, Darrien?" Wiley asked.
"I'm kinda sad you had to ask." He replied. "Roger that Oden, Just know you owe me for this one." The two tanks began a long flank around the side of the enemy. Darrien reached down into the cupola and pulled out a small water bottle from inside of a small bag hanging on the side of the turret wall. He cracked it open, letting the water cool his throat from the humid air.
"So is it true, Darrien?" Ty asked. "Are they watching this match?" He asked. Darrien just looked ahead out the small windows of his cupola.
"Something tells me he knows that they are," Jack stated. "I wonder sometimes if he's in cahoots with 'em." Darrien sighed and looked around. He held on to the sides of the cupola as the tank went up a rise to get onto a bridge. He grabbed his binoculars to check something. Sure enough, the rest of his team was, in fact, under fire from the enemy. But the vantage point they had was good enough for them to see a few of the enemy tanks and they had them in the ass. Unfortunately, some of them were looking at the bridge.
"Uh, Darrien? I think they might have seen us."
"Keep moving then!" The sound of shell whizzing by the tank and smacking the scaffolding of the bridge rang out. Then another shell and another followed suit. They had thor range and were slowly gaining the lead they needed. Luckily for the two tanks, the bridge came to an end and they were met by Souma tanks. Ty brought the gun to bear on the small french tank.
"Hit 'em!" Ty stomped on the fire switch, causing the tank to rock a little. The Souma got hit as they sped by. "Ready another shell!" The loader slammed it into the breach. Wiley's tank fired off another round as they passed by an intersection, knocking out a Panther.
"Hit the brakes!" Scotty slammed on the brakes and the lank skidded to a stop just before the next intersection. There was an ensuing tank shot. "Advance!" The building was pouring out dust as the Sherman rounded the corner. The gunner put a shot right into the upper plate of the tank, which turned out to be an ARL-44. "HOLY SHIT, GET AROUND IT!" The gun slowly traversed and the tranks started to move, turning the hull. Then Wiley's tank came flying around the corner and put a round right into the side of the turret, knocking it out. Darrien breasted a sigh of relief and gave thumbs up to Wiley.
"All good here, except for the fact that everyone knows we're here now," Darrien said. He chuckled and looked behind him to see a panther roll up and to his shock, it was the flag tank. "Wiley! Panther behind you!" He saw him turn around and duck into his tank.
"Get this tank turned around! Fire at will!" He heard a sickening thud as the tank began to reverse and turn, turret slewed around and got on target. The gun was elevated and fired on the Panther, flying past the Sherman and hitting the lower cheek on the Panther. The Panther returned fire and hit the heavily armored mantlet of the Sherman. The tank shook and the loader slammed another round into the gun. Darrien was shouting orders to the driver and gunner. They both complied and began charging the Panther. They also used the knocked-out Sherman as cover, the came around, the panther was looming large in the gun sight. The gunner fired a round into the side, but the angle was too much and it ricocheted. The Panther returned fire, clipping the Sherman's hull. This time Darrien ordered a charge. He knew he didn't have a lot more time before the reinforcements came into the picture, and his crew followed through. The two tanks were point-blank from each other, with both tanks firing at once. The shot blew off the track of the Panther, and the Sherman was hit pretty badly. No white flags for either. The two tanks were now racing each other for the reload. The gunner tried to move the turret, but it was jammed. He switched the traverse to manual and began to crank the turret.
"We're done for!" The assistant driver, Marcus, shouted out while squeezing the trigger on the .30 caliber. He lit up the german tank. Ty stomped on the fire switch, putting the round right into the side of the panther, right as they were hit from behind. The tank rocked forward and came to a silencing halt. Darrien was breathing hard, as were the other crew in the tank. Officials were blowing their whistles and signaling all tanks to cease all combat. A blue flare was launched into the air. He opened the hatch and saw an ARL, whose commander was standing on the roof of the hull. He gave the tank a salute and a nod. He just pulled himself out of the tank and climbed down onto the street. He looked on the side of the hull where he had painted the emblem of a very particular tank squadron, only to see most of it had been blasted away from the Panther hit. The other crew members came out one by one. They looked over at the Panther and saw where they got the killing blow on them. A couple of road wheels were broken, and there were a few marks on them where they had been hit. The boys from the Panther climbed down to the street and walked up to the crew of the Lone Star, and extended their hands.
"Y'all fought pretty hard." The commander said, shaking Darrien's hand. "I commend you for it."
"Well, I'm just a small part of the whole machine." Darrien replied. The roaring from more Sherman's got louder as the group who was being pinned down came down the road. An M4A4 with the blue flag came around the corner and the commander of it jumped down.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we gotta get going soon." Their tank, named Texarkana, was backed into a position to where they could tow the busted-up Sherman away to the staging area.
"Its all good, you guys lasted longer than most teams, so I commend you all." The Panther crew and the Lone Star crew worked together to get the Sherman hooked up to the command tank. An ARL-44 had also managed to get close enough to hook the Panther and begin towing it away. The two crews of each tank said their farewells and wished each other safe travels before heading away to their staging areas.
The area where the tanks sat was bustling with life, as with most events in this part of the country, there were copious amounts of food and drinks to go around. Most of the crews were talking with each other, telling their story of the battle from each one's perspective. Some overcompensating for the more boring parts. The boys of the Lone Star were the talk of the hour. With sports news interviewers wanting a recap of the day's events from their perspective. The Driver, Scotty took it upon himself to tell the whole ordeal. The others chuckled as he made it sound like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster. Darrien and Ty were making sure the tanks were tied down to a heavy trailer for the drive back to the airfield. There were a lot of them that needed to be hauled away, for a team of 20 tanks. Darrien took a stroll, he still had about half an hour before he needed to be back to be whisked away to the airfield. He brushed his hands on his shorts, which didn't do much but spread the grease and dirt onto his pants.
"Damnit.." He walked along the path for a bit before turning back. When he did, he noticed that there was someone tailing him. A woman. He could tell by the figure, and she was walking with someone. He approached closer, and the person next to her waved. It was Scotty.
"Yo, Darrien! I got someone who wants to talk with ya!" He seemed a bit too cheery about it, at least to Darrien. The woman was about the same height as Scotty, who was the shortest one on the crew.
"So, what's the big deal? I thought you were the one who likes to run your mouth." He said jokingly.
"Yeah, but this is different. She wouldn't stop pestering me about you. Well..all of us really. Something about an arrangement? Or something." While Scotty was babbling on, Darrien gave the woman a good lookover. Nothing was too out of the ordinary, as far as he could tell. The lady was a scout, but not just any scout. The thing that caught his eye was the emblem on her jacket.
"So yeah, Jack and Ty were right, we were being watched by someone high up in the sport, can you believe that?" Scotty finished. He noticed Darrien was staring at the emblem, and sighed, knowing he didn't hear a word he said.
"I think I should be allowed to say something in this matter." The woman said. She gave Darrien a lookover and smirked. "You definitely don't look like someone who rides tanks." She said, walking around him.
"Oh yeah, and what does that mean, exactly?" He replied, a bit offended at the comment.
"You know what I mean." She said. "Because you're a pretty tall guy." Darrien sighed when she said that, glad that he didn't have to tell her off.
"So what is this arrangement that you want to discuss, Miss whoever you are." He said, crossing his arms. "I don't have a lot of time."
"It's Ms. Tsubaki, first of all. And secondly, I just wanted to ask if you'd be interested in participating in an experiment of mine that I'm putting together." Darrien shrugged. "Ok, look. Senshado has been a girls-only sport from the start, and I want to see that change. Your country has integrated boys into the sport already and Germany followed suit last year."
"Okay, what's your angle on this?" He asked.
"I want you to temporarily join one of the Senshado academies and play alongside them for half a year." She said. Both Darrien and Scotty shot looks at each other and then broke out into laughter. Scotty fell to the ground laughing, while Darrien caught his breath after a little bit.
"Oh man, you had me there." He said, chuckling still. The woman had a stern look on her face. "Oh man..you're serious about this?"
"Are you done laughing?"
"Kinda?"
"Then yes, I'm dead serious about this. You know you're not the first person I asked about this, right?" She said. "But your crew would fit the best into this program." She was almost angry that they didn't take her seriously.
"I'm sure the last few guys had that same reaction. But if you are serious. I would be down for it." She smiled and reached into her pocket. "As long as I can bring my tank and my crew along with me." She then stopped and looked at him like he was crazy.
"Well...I'm not sure that something like that could work. I mean this is just meant for one person to go." She said. "But you are the only one who said yes to it so far…"
"Look, my crew is like my family. I'm all in to go, but I want them to come as well. I can't just leave them like that." Scotty got up and brushed himself off.
"Yeah, but you left to come out here."
"I can't get away from the smell of tanks every now and again?" Darrien shot back. He just shrugged and chuckled. The woman looked at the two and sighed. "Listen, either We all go or none of us do."
"I understand. And I appreciate that honesty." She said, bowing towards him. Her phone rang and she answered it. "Yes, I understand….I'll see you soon." She then hung up the phone. "I must go now. It was nice to meet you, uhm…"
"Darrien. Darrien Washington." he said. She gave him her card and hurried off.
"Well, that was weird." Scotty said. "You should've said yes to that." Darrien scoffed and shook his head. "I wouldve."
"An that's what makes you and me different, Scotty," Darrien said, patting his shoulder and starting to walk back towards the staging area.
"What's that supposed to mean." He said, walking with him. The two made it back to the staging area, linking up with the rest of the crew. They laughed and joked about the lady they met and mad either way to a mini-bus that would take them to the airport. Little did they know that they would've been the final piece of a much larger puddle.
