Chapter XIV: (Another) Yukari Akiyama's Odyssey


Sensha Town Hall

The Shinano

That afternoon, Miho summon all the tank commanders for an emergency meeting. The message she got earlier is very cryptic and puzzling, yet there seems a lot of things more than just that two lines. Everyone seems as puzzled as Miho when they see the message.

"Yekaterinburg? That's in Russia, isn't it?" asked Erika.

"What's in Yekaterinburg?" asked Koume.

"What will happened there 3 days from now?" asked Erwin.

"Believe me, I'm as oblivious as you guys when I got this message," said Miho.

"It's Uralmash Factory," said Emi.

Everyone silence and turns their attention to Emi.

"Uralmash Factory, along with Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, are the only factories sanctioned by WSF to reproduce and maintain tanks for sensha-do. Historically, both are factories that build tanks for Soviet Union during World War II, including the famous T-34," said Emi, "so if I'm not mistaken, I assume anyone who sent this message would likely trying to tell us about sensha-do related news,"

"Could it be, that's the time when tanks of Russian Sensha-do Team will be there, in Yekaterinburg?" asked Koume.

"You're not very far-fetched. Judging from the timeline, if they shipped those tanks by railroad, then they will arrived at Krasnoyarsk at most half day before the match begin," said Emi.

"So we have an ally in Russian soil?" asked Erika.

"Doesn't seem right to me," said Erwin.

"Me neither, it's too fishy," said Assam, "could be a trap,"

"But who shall lay a trap on a high-school team?" said Orange Pekoe.

"The Chinese commander once said that people perhaps would do anything when the name of their country is at stake, so that could include laying trap on one of us," said Assam.

"But it's very tempting, though," said Shizuka, "if we know what tanks would be fielded by Russia, then we won't be caught off-guard again like we did in Nomonhan,"

"But I agree that it's too dangerous," said Carpaccio.

"Can't say the contrary indeed," said Shizuka.

"But if that's real, then the benefit shall outweigh the risk," said Alisa.

"Alright, then. What do you say, Miho?" asked Erika.

All eyes now goes to Miho, which now goes unusually serious. At this kind of critical moments, the awkward and air-headed Miho is gone, replaced by the thoughtful and serious Miho.

"The battle in China is a very near miss, and judging from their inventory, Russia has more powerful tanks at their disposal. If we fight this battle the same as when we fight China, then I'm afraid we won't stand a chance.

This is our first game of this tournament, and meeting team as strong as Russia very early in this game doesn't help us at all. So if we're going to have chance in fighting Russia, then we have no other choice than took our chance, despite how small it is."

Everyone nods.

"If we're going to scout for them, the question is, who shall we send there?" asked Erika.

"I know someone," said Miho.

"WHAT? ME!?" Yukari surprised, but cannot hide her excitement, "I promise you that I won't disappoint you, Nishizumi-dono!"

"Yes, I know that, but Yekaterinburg is deep in Russian mainland, it's not like when you can sneak into other school carrier via Sunkus ship," said Miho.

"I see that... Not to mention that I also can't speak Russian," said Yukari.

"I can help you with that," said Nina.

"You know Russian?" asked Miho.

"I can't say that I'm expert, but Commander Klara often give order in Russian, so we have to learn it in order to understand it," said Nina.

"Okay, that means you're going with Yukari-san," said Miho.

"Can I go with them?" asked Shizuka.

"Shizuka-san?"

"I think I can help our 'Meisanbou' a little bit there," said Shizuka.

"Yes! This would be Dynamic Trio!" said Yukari.

"Due to the magnitude of the situation, I will allow three of you to go. But please be careful and comeback safely. I'd rather to see you back empty-handed rather than die trying," said Miho.

"Alright!" said Yukari, Shizuka, and Nina.


24 Hours Later


Yekaterinburg

Russia

Yukari, Shizuka and Nina now just roaming around in the streets of Yekaterinburg, Russia. How do they got here? Well, the details are not so important to tell and full of complexities. One thing they know is they have only a day to do some scouting and return to Federation jet that has been waiting in Koltsovo International Airport in Yekaterinburg.

"It's snowing. Why is it snowing in this time of year?" asked Shizuka.

"I don't know. Perhaps climate change from global warming, or perhaps winter in Russia has different schedule than in Japan," said Yukari.

"We always looks forward for winter in Pravda," said Nina.

They all walked the city, with their long winter coat..

"We can't enter the factory, are we?" said Shizuka.

"The security is so tight. It's understandable since Uralmash also manufactured other strategic products for Russia," said Yukari.

"So what should we do now?" asked Shizuka.

"I don't know, this is new to me. Normally, I know where to look when infiltrating schools. But now, I don't know where to look for," said Yukari.

"I wonder why this city doesn't seems so excited on sensha-do, or tankistiya?" said Shizuka.

They stopped for a minute when seeing a giant videotron showing a sensha-do related materials.

"Support our two tank aces: Yelena Vukova and Natalya Zhirinovskiy, with their Commander Klara on first match of U-18 Tankistiya Championship in Krasnoyarsk. For Russia!" Nina translate the writing.

"Just a regular sensha-do commercial," said Yukari.

"Only why they said about Yelena Vukova and Natalya Zhirinovskiy before Klara-san? How they put their sentence is odd," said Shizuka.

"Maybe they're the ace players in Russia?" asked Nina.

"On their domestic league? But that's strange. If you have two best tank aces in your own country, why should you brought someone with relatively menial achievement from other country?" said Shizuka, "I heard that local league here is quite famous, right?"

"Yelena Vukova, it's only said that she's the ace and commander of Zvezda Girls Academy ini Moscow. While Natalya Zhirinovskiy is the ace and commander of Rodina Girls High School in St. Petersburg. Seems Russian media has tout them as the future of Russian Tankistiya Team. It is said that Zvezda of Moscow and Rodina of St. Petersburg are now currently the rulers of domestic High School National Tankistiya Tournament, where both schools alternately becoming the league champion for the last 10 years." said Yukari while browsing on her smartphone.

"Isn't that make them as bitter rival instead?" asked Nina.

"Who knows, but a lot of examples in various sports shown that even bitter rivals could join forces as one in international match," said Yukari.

"Yes, and there are a lot of examples too where their rivalries exceeded their national interest," said Shizuka.

"Can you browse any other names from their team?" asked Nina.

"Yes, but all come out in Russian, I can't read them," said Yukari.

"May I?" asked Nina.

"Oh, sure,"

Yukari then hands her phone to Nina.

"Nothing here, all is just about their adult or U-21 teams. The only things I can get about their U-18 team is, again, only for their two aces: Yelena Vukova and Natalya Zhirinovsky," said Nina.

"Wow, they sure glorify them more than anyone," said Shizuka.

"More than Commander Klara herself, in fact," said Nina, "I'll go try looking on their RTS website, I hope we can get more infos."

"So, when the entire nation glorify about two of you, but another girl was selected as Field Commander for the national team, what does it says to you?" said Shizuka.

"Probably nothing, if you've been told that this is for the glory of your nation, then you must endure," said Nina.

"Is that how they treat you all in Pravda?" asked Shizuka.

"Let's just say that I can relate to that custom," said Nina, "and curiously, even in RTS official website, no news about U-18 team as well. It says here that the page is 'under construction', whatever that supposed to mean,"

Nina then returns the phone to Yukari.

"No use then. And all we must search is in that factory," said Yukari.

"If we can enter there," said Shizuka, "shouldn't a Meisanbou like you always have cards in your sleeves?"

"This one is new, even for me," said Yukari, "not to mention only Nina-san here able to speak Russian,"

"I'm not that fluent though. But speaking of which, I think we should turn down our voice when speaking. I know that sensha-do related materials here is very rare and I assume not many people here familiar with Japanese girls strolling around the streets..."

Before Nina finished her sentence, Yukari suddenly bumped into someone who's walking quite fast. Both of them are falling to the ground. Shizuka and Nina doesn't have time to react when Yukari suddenly said...

"Ah, sumimasen..."

The guy that Yukari hit seems startled suspiciously. He's an elderly man with white hair though still have strong posture for a men his age.

"Японский?" said the man.

All three girls stunned by that event. Don't know what to do, while this man showing a serious and fierce expression on his face. Yukari, realizing her mistake, tried to get up, but this man quickly grab her by hand with a strong grip. Both Shizuka and Nina can only freeze, unable to react or do anything.

"Damn it! We got caught! Now we're doom..." thought Shizuka.


APPENDIX


Rules of U-18 World Sensha-do Championship

Section 3: Participating Vehicle and Specification


Each nation must submit at most 30 tanks/vehicles with conditions as followed:

Heavy tank (over 44 tonnes) are maximum 10 tanks.

Medium tank (22 -44 tonnes) are maximum 15 tanks.

Light tank (under 22 tonnes) and Tank Destroyer of any type are maximum 20 vehicles in total.


The only vehicles allowed to participate are the following:

Vehicles whose design was completed before January 1st, 1946

Vehicles that had begun prototype trials by the aforementioned date

Vehicles whose construction was planned using only materials available before the aforementioned date

Vehicles which meet these requirements can be reproduced by using materials and techniques that were available at that time.


All vehicle must be submitted for inspection before each match and declared eligible for playing by Federation.


The type or number of participating vehicles on a team must not be altered after 24 hours prior to the match. Any proposed changed which not yet approved by Federation after that deadline are considered null and void.


Open-topped vehicles, including gun carriages, self-propelled anti-tank guns and indirect fire artillery may be considered tanks, but require approval on a case-by-case basis.


Any modification, especially regarding to safety, is allowed as long as it's not unfairly alter the performance of the respected tank, and must be done under inspection and direct approval from Federation.