Chapter XVI: From Sensha-do with Love


Uralmash Holding Area

Yekaterinburg

The one so called as "Holding Area" is like a large area of land, poorly fenced with many railroad intersection like some kind of train station. This is where Uralmash round up the tanks for Russian U-18 sensha-do team before being transported to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.

Since the schedule for transportation are this night, so this place become very busy. A lot of girls, with workers, are preparing for their tank to be transported to the extra long flatbed trains while awaiting for the locomotives to come. Some of the girls seen guarding the perimeter holding PPS-43. But nobody notices that not far from there, three pair of eyes are watching them closely.

"I think I can see some T-34s right there, more likely T-34-85s," said Yukari while spying on her binocular.

"I don't think that's T-34-85s, more like T-44As with ZiS-S-53 gun for me," said Nina.

"Ah yes, your eyes are very sharp, Nina-san," said Yukari.

"Pravda has those, but we decided to go with T-34 instead since we have more of them," said Nina.

"Thank God they don't have T-44-100 or T-54 in their arsenal," said Yukari.

"Let's hope not, since we would be doomed if they field that," said Nina.

Shizuka just listening, part of it she doesn't really understand about types of tanks.

"And that is, BT-7?" asked Yukari.

"Yes, you're right. Those are BT-7s," said Nina.

"Alright then, 7 BT-7s, then 10 T-44As. I still cannot see their heavy tank yet," said Yukari.

"Maybe in other sectors. Wait, I spot 4 tank destroyers, it's SU-152," said Nina.

"Wow, those could pack a big punch!" said Yukari, "from the numbers, it seems that the heavy tank would be about 9 tanks. What do you think the type will be?"

"I'd be very happy if they opt to use IS-2s, since the other options are very very not good," said Nina.

"Tell me about it," said Yukari, "unless we could find out what their heavy tanks are, our team would be vulnerable, since Russian heavy tanks could pack a very heavy punch on ours,"

"You want to go there and find out?" asked Shizuka.

Yukari and Nina looked at Shizuka for a moment and take a deep breath.

"I guess we have no other choice, are we?" said Yukari.

"The guards are quite loose, and they won't expect somebody's going to be here tonight. There are also a lot of object for us to hide. If we do it well, we could go in and out without being noticed," said Shizuka.

"We'll follow you," said Nina.

"Okay, on my mark..." said Shizuka.

Shizuka follow closely the movement of the sentries near them, and quickly signaled the girls to move when the guards are looking the other way. In the cover of partial darkness, they managed to dart from the trees into the cover of many containers around there. From covers to covers, they're trying to reach places they cannot see before from where they were hiding. The Russian heavy tank aren't yet to be prepared for load, so they must be in some place.

After some times of sneaking around, trying to avoid any Russian girls crew, they finally arrived in a corner overlooking a place where some of the tanks were placed on open pallets, ready to be lifted on the flatbeds.

"Are those their heavies?" asked Shizuka.

"Seems so, from the mere size of it," said Yukari.

"And just as I fear, 122mm cannon, and they have pike in the front glacis," said Nina.

"Pike?" asked Shizuka.

"The frontal glacis is shaped like an arrowhead, a distinct feature of ex-Soviet Union heavy tank, IS-3," said Yukari.

"Is that bad?" asked Shizuka.

"If you haven't feared the IS-2, then IS-3 will give you something to chilled about," said Yukari, "it's basically a monster on the caterpillars,"

"Soviet knows how to make a fearsome tank," said Nina.

Nina count the figure of IS-3 tanks.

"Eight tanks," said Nina.

"Eight? You sure that's all?" asked Yukari.

"I'm pretty much sure," said Nina.

"They can have maximum 9 heavy tanks, right? Why stop at just 8?" asked Shizuka.

"Perhaps that's the answer," said Nina.

Nina pointed to a mysterious figure under the tarps that seems has been loaded on a flatbed.

"Another IS-3?" asked Yukari.

"I doubt it, if that's true, it should be joining the other IS-3," said Shizuka.

"Seems the only heavies ready for transport, only need to connect the flatbed with train," said Nina, "this one seems special,"

Indeed, unlike any other tanks which loaded in flatbed along with other tanks, there's only this one tank in its own flatbeds, with some crates. The tarps also tied up quite fast so that they cannot see the exact silhouette.

"We need to get closer," said Yukari.

"Is that a good idea?" asked Nina.

"I can think of some ideas, but have to see it myself to be sure," said Yukari.

"There are a lot of persons near there. Beside, to go there, there's nothing we could use as covers. Is it a good idea?" asked Nina.

"Yes, but all of them are worker. If we do it right, they would've thought us as members of Russian teams. Beside, nobody goes to the area yet. If we wait any longer and they worked on that area, our chance would be up," said Shizuka.

"So you're suggesting that we hide on the plain sight?" asked Yukari.

"As long as there's no Russian team members, we should be fine," said Shizuka.

Nina sighed.

"Guess we have no other choice," said Nina.

"Alright, follow my cue," said Shizuka.

The three girls then quickly come out of their hiding and walk quite casually into the corner where the mysterious tank lies. As Shizuka predicts, workers there are not aware, or to be precise, not care the three young girls who walk there. Their hearts are pounding and their awareness heightened until they finally arrived in the corner, away from everyone's line of sight.

They then looking closely on the mysterious tank. Being wrapped in tarp, they cannot guess what beast lies beneath it.

"Looks like an IS series," said Yukari.

"Definitely, but which IS I'm still not sure," said Nina.

"We must open that tarp," said Shizuka.

"Should we?" asked Nina.

"We have to know," said Yukari.

"How do we open the tarp?" asked Nina.

"Don't worry, I have this," said Yukari while pulling out a wire cutter.

"You do it quick, I'll watch for someone," said Shizuka.

Yukari and Nina then trying to cut one of the rope that hold the tarp. They don't actually have to open all of the tarp, Yukari only needs to check few spots to determine what tank is that. However, as they trying to unfold the tarp.

"We got company! Hide!" said Shizuka.

Sound of footsteps echoing closing to their position. Yukari, Shizuka and Nina quickly hide to the only safe spot they could fine, beneath the flatbeds. They have to quickly hide that Yukari doesn't have time to spot the tank beneath. Now they lie still and silent as a few people come closer, almost near their hiding place.

"What is that?" asked girl #1.

"It seems that those pesky Peterburgenka don't tie the cover for Komandyr's tank quite well," said girl #2.

"As expected, they cannot do things right, even for menial things like this," said girl #3.

"Should we tie up the cover?" asked girl #1.

"Why bother?" said girl #2.

"Well, we found the problem, are we?" asked girl #1.

Girl #2 and Girl #3 are laughing.

"As always, I don't expect a people of Volgograd like you to understand, Katya," said girl #2, "it's the Peterbugenka's fault, let them fix it themselves,"

"But, Ms. Yelena..." said Katya.

"I said, we won't fix it," said Yelena.

Nina carefully looked at the pictures of a girl that Uncle Yevgeny allowed her to take from his newspaper. It's true. The one they called Yelena is none other Yelena Vukova. But before having time to think, another group is approaching.

"Well, well... As expected from a Moskvich, slacking around casually here while others are working," said girl #4, "and I see they've given you bad influence, Katya,"

"Slacking? I believe the only one slacking here is you, Natalya," said Yelena, "you see, even for securing Komandyr's tank, you Peterburgenka can't do it properly,"

And yes, that is Natalya Zhirinovsky, the archrival of Yelena Vukova.

"Oh, putting a blame on other. How convenience of you Moskvich," said Natalya.

"I'm not just putting blame, there's the proof," said Yelena, pointing the loose tarp.

"We from Rodina won't be doing such a reckless job. I've checked it three times to make sure that we do it right," said Natalya.

"Obviously, you didn't check it careful enough," said Yelena.

"Or maybe, you Moskvich deliberately let it loose to frame us," said Natalya.

"Hah! We won't do such low things a Peterburgenka would do," said Yelena.

Attracted by the bickering, few other girls coming around, and stand on each side.

"Shit! If they keep on coming, we won't be able to escape," whispered Shizuka.

"We need to get out now, while the situation is not too crowded. There's a way to sneak out over there, in opposite from where people come, I think it goes directly to the forest," said Nina.

"But..." said Yukari.

"Right now, our safety is most important. Remember what Taichou said to us," said Shizuka.

Grudgingly, Yukari has to agreed when they started to crawling and sneak out of that place to avoid being caught in the heating arguments. Slowly, they took any cover they can find while creeping towards the exit opening. However, as they almost reach the opening to safety, Yukari can't resist herself to take a last glance on the tank.

In the same time, annoyed by the arguments between two factions, Katya decided to tied up the loose rope. She walked near the flatbed and take the end of the rope, only to realized that it's not loose, but deliberately cut by someone.

"What the..." said Katya.

At that time, she lift her head up and her eyes met with Yukari eyes that looked back for the last time. They both freeze for a second, but Yukari quickly recovered and running away.

"Hei! Stop!" shout Katya.

"Why are you shouting, Katya?" asked Yelena.

"Intruder! They're the one cut the rope! We have to catch them!" shout Katya.

Katya run for few steps when she realize nobody is following her.

"Does anyone want to help me catch that intruder?" said Katya.

"Alright, you three, follow her. Let it be noted that Moskvich just stand still and do nothing," said Natalya.

"You pesky Peterburgenka! You three, help the Volgograd girl!" said Yelena.

Six girls then quickly followed Katya in pursuing Yukari and the girls.

"I did it, I saw it..." said Yukari while running.

"And at what cost?" said Shizuka, "save it for later, we have to shake them off first!"

They're running into the forest,. The visibility is poor due to heavy snowing, but they can still hear the sound of their pursuers echoing in this woods.

Suddenly, Nina fell down, tripped by a stone covered with snow. The thick snow on the ground cushion her fall, but the pain is biting her sharply nonetheless.

"Come on, get up! We got to get out of here!" said Shizuka, helping Nina to stand.

"Leave me, save yourself!" said Nina.

"We're getting out of here together!" said Shizuka, "how far is our extraction point?"

"Still few miles, we got to get hurry," said Yukari.

"Stop!"

"They're coming! We got to hide!" said Shizuka.

Together, Shizuka and Yukari pull Nina and going into the brush. Shizuka making sure to wipe their tracks as they hide. They then silent still, trying not to make any move or any noise. Not long after, a steps of their pursuers getting louder and they can hear few women stop near the place where the smallest girl fall.

Later on, they could hear their pursuer chatting in Russian language, more of arguing. Seems some girls want to stop the pursuit, while the others wish to continue searching in the area. This disagreement turns into a heated arguments, when a train whistle blows from afar.

While they were arguing, Shizuka could hear somebody is moving closer to where they hide. Katya just ignore the arguments and decide to search the surrounding area herself. Their heart is beating so fast that they thought somebody might hear it from afar. And Katya now getting close, with the muzzle of her PPS-43, used to cut through the bushes, is now visible to three of them.

"Katya!"

Katya turns her head and see that Klara with some of other girls come to them.

"Komandyr..."

"What are you doing here?" asked Klara.

"We're trying to catch intruders, Komandyr," said Katya.

"Intruders?"

"Yes, I caught them near the heavy tanks section, trying to escape."

"Are you sure they really are intruders or just another bums trying to sneak into this place to crash?"

"They're young girls about..."

"We've caught 10 bums just this month, Katya, and 4 of them are young girls about our age."

"But they're cutting the rope that..."

"Do you see them doing that?"

"No, but if we catch them, we should know the truth."

"And right now they're here?"

"I don't know about it yet, their footprints disappears near here. I'm currenty checking if..."

"In this heavy snowing, their tracks would've also gone by now if you decided to linger here, and you won't get a chance to find them."

"But, Komandyr, what if they were Japanese spies?"

"If they're spies, they would've been able to cover their tracks, and either way, you won't be able to find them. So, despite all your determination to get them, please stop since I would be needing that in the match to come. Don't waste them here."

"Understood, Komandyr."

"Beside, you don't think Japanese team would be bother to send their spies here, deep in the Motherland, in this kind of weather, are you?"

"But, what if that true, Komandyr?"

"Then let them. What they see will frighten them, and that would be good to demoralize them before the game."

"Yes, Komandyr, understood."

"Now you come with me. I don't want to be there just by myself with those Moskviches and Peterburgenkas prepared to beat each other in the face at any moment."

"Alright, but can I asked you something, Komandyr?"

"Please."

"You've been in Japan all this time. Do you know about their teams? Or at least about their Komandyr? That Miho Nishizumi girl."

Klara just smiled.

"Yes, I know her. Quite well actually. That's why I'm not worries on whatever things she'll pull off."

"Really?"

"Yes, so please stop worrying. Everything are going to be just fine for us. On that match, Russia will emerge victorious."

Katya seems relieved to hear that.

"Now come with me, quick. The train to carry us is about to depart,"

"Так Точно!"

Yukari, Shizuka, and Nina wait untill the sound of the Russian girls fade off and move away before finally able to sigh in relief.

"She's right about something, though," said Yukari, "I've already frightened with what I saw,"