Chapter 1: Trial By Fire
Second Year Dorms, St. Gloriana Girls College
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
0700 A.M.
"Bloody hell!"
With her nearby alarm clock blaring in her ear, her head bounced off the mahogany headrest of her bed, shortly following the rest of her body to the carpet floor, with groans of agony and sleepiness soon echoing in the room after the dull thud broke the early morning silence.
Continuing to issue groans after picking herself up off the floor, she slammed down her hand on the snooze button of her alarm clock-now displaying "7:01 A.M" for her sleepy eyes to see-bringing a familiar silence to her unremarkably arranged dorm room, which was perfectly sized for a single student like her.
Running her hand through her auburn hair, the girl slowly made her way to the bathroom down the hall, slowly easing herself out her morning stupor before stepping into the first shower pod in the WC, reading herself for what she knew was going to be a long day.
After taking a good 40 minutes to finally get herself ready for the day, Olivia finally got herself dressed in St. Gloriana's tankery uniform, its unblemished scarlet coloring making her smile before she dashed down to the common room for breakfast, the heels of her boots banging softly against the tile stairs.
Even now, it wasn't hard to find the common room, with the smells of various different types of breakfast emanating from the room before Olivia's hand even opened the door, with another girl tapping her foot in her seat. The look the other girl gave Olivia was a brief frown before becoming a sad smile while the semi-awake Olivia got herself a simple breakfast of sausage, toast and jam along with breakfast tea that she was still getting used to.
Finally sitting down across from the other girl, Olivia bowed her head apologetically, knowing she was going to get another stern yet gentle talking to. However, she was grateful that this wasn't a regular occurrence, and that this time would be because circumstances had now changed for her.
The girl was Shirley Finnegan, a Belfast transplant who had been on St. Gloriana's Tankery team for longer than Olivia had, and had been stuck as the Vice-Commander for the team when the previous team commander graduated, leaving the auburn haired girl stuck with the job when she was voted in and named the previous girl's successor by the school's Board of directors. While Shirley had voiced her displeasure at the decision initially, the girl had been won over by Olivia's skill when she had been placed under pressure, slowly growing to respect the decision that had been made.
Called a prodigy by some, Olivia has been said to project a calm tenacity when the situation came down to it, and was considered to be excellent in the art of sudden counter-offensives and defensive strategies. However, this was offset by a fiery temper if the situation started to get out of her control. And if that did occur, Shirley was there to help snap her out it.
"You know what we have to do for today, right?" Shirley admonished her, "Because this sets the whole schedule back." "Yes, I know...because we have a long drive to get to the training grounds, and every minute counts," Olivia replied, her tone one of mild shame as she tucked into her breakfast, coughing a bit as she tasted the tea, "Bloody hell...that taste is going to be a lot to get used to…"
"Yeah..breakfast tea is not easy to get used to, even after having it off and on for a few years," Shirley remarked with a chuckle, failing to disguise the humor that Olivia's reaction had elicited from her, making the auburn haired girl shoot the other girl a pout as the two continued eat breakfast.
After the two finish breakfast, the two then finally board the coach bus bound for their training grounds at Salisbury Plain, with their tanks waiting for them there. For yet another time, the chalk plains in Wiltshire would rumble with the sounds of Bedford, Liberty and Rolls Royce tank engines.
Salisbury Plain Training Grounds
near Imber, Wiltshire, England, UK
10:00 a.m.
The coach bus rolled up to the spacious garage of St. Gloriana, the wind sweeping gently over the chalk plains around them as they approached the garage with a few newer students, thankful that a few older students were there to help command some of the tanks. The exercises today would be to help establish synergy between the crews, and to help give the new commander an idea of what she would be dealing with as far as what tanks she'd have to deal with. Moments later, the girls entered the garage, the silhouettes of the iron beasts cloaked in the dim English light filtering through the windows.
The master mechanic then turned on the lights, with the tank silhouettes now fully resolving before their eyes. "Oohs" and "ahhs" spilled from the mouths of the newer crew members, with the more experienced members allowing them to see the range of tanks in front of them: from the large, looming mass of the lone Tortoise tank destroyer, to the small and squat Crusaders and Valentines.
However, Olivia's eyes were drawn to the oddity sitting amongst the speedy Cromwells, with tank she had commanded last year become her official command tank: the Centaur IV, complete with its stubby 95mm howitzer. Getting out from her momentary wistfulness, she then turns to the crews, hoping that her voice was loud enough to pierce through the dense skulls of the newer girls.
"Alright girls, here's what we're going to do. I want all commanders to meet with me for a pre-exercise briefing while the crews are to familiarize themselves with their vehicles. Am I understood?" she barked out, hope that everyone did understand her despite her Scottish brogue. A quick reply of "Yes, ma'am," reached her ears, making the girl sigh with relief as she made her way towards where the informal 'war room' was.
Sitting down at the head of the briefing table for the briefest of moments, Olivia watched as the rest of the commanders filed in, feeling the weight of expectation now settling in her stomach like a stone, with Shirley being the last to file in. Once the door banged shut, all eyes immediately turned towards Olivia, with Shirley standing beside her in stoic silence.
"Alright, since I'm a bit new to leading a large group like this, I would like our more experienced commanders to put forth a few ideas as to how we should conduct today's exercise," the auburn haired girl finally said, breaking the awkward silence that had permeated the room since the rest of the commanders had arrived, with more awkward silence filling in the space before each of the other commanders started to speak up.
There were, of course, the tried and true suggestions that were brought up by a few of the experienced commanders, with the rest putting up new ideas, with Olivia trying to absorb all that was being thrown her direction. She knew that, in order for her to gain trust from the other commanders, she'd have to listen to them; but knew that the final decision would ultimately come down to her. Which wasn't exactly a comforting thought for someone who already had enough pressure on her already.
And after the briefing was over, Olivia could feel the intensity of the stares leveled by a few of the commanders at her, having not gone with what they suggested during the briefing. The girl wasn't winning many favors just yet, but the way the exercise went would go a long way to mending a little bit of the trust that she had just lost.
As she went to her tank, each of the other commanders went to theirs, the rumble and roar of Bedford, Rolls Royce and Liberty engines filling the garage with ancient thunder as the doors yawned open to once again reveal the rolling chalk plain before them. Grabbing her radio, she turned it on, and gave the order: "Move out. All tanks forward and prepare to match speed." A chorus of "Yes Ma'am" s echoed through the Centaur as they crept forward with the Churchill in front, with the start of the exercise already going off to a good start.
The tanks crawled forward onto the plain to begin the exercise, tallgrass parting before their massed group of armored battle wagons. All the while, in the command seat of her tank, Olivia clicked the radio twice, signaling its official start to the trainers-who were mostly seniors-who were all too ready to put the newer girls through their paces.
Salisbury Plain Training Grounds
near Imber, Wiltshire, England, UK
1230 (12:30 P.M.)
The Salisbury Plain once again echoed with ancient thunder as the boom of 75mm cannon fire echoed over the landscape, with the scent of panic and stress filling the compartments of each tank as they fought against the more experienced trainers who were testing the accuracy of the tank gunners. And many-to Olivia's great relief-were learning fast on how to aim and fire the guns each tank sported.
Of course, this was due in no small part to Olivia and the commanders helping to get their act together. And despite the elegance that seemed to be touted in St. Gloriana's battle conduct, there was little elegance getting the new girls to perform well, with profuse cursing by several of the commanders getting the job done.
The drivers of each of the tanks took the shortest time in getting the message across, with the gunners and loaders having a hard time getting the hang of working together. When word of that reached Olivia's ears, and having observed this for herself in her own tank, it was cause for slight concern. However, the overall good results that were coming in from the commanders was helping to alleviate those concerns.
St. Gloriana Girls College Tankery "War Room"
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
1630 Hours (4:30 p.m.)
"So...what did we all learn from the exercise today, ladies?" Olivia remarked, sitting down at the head of the table in the "War Room" for the tankery club, looking over the video as it played out for the rest of them.
"That our gunners and loaders need some practice time together," one of the girls replied, "because clearly they're having some issues with timing," "Which is putting it mildly," Shirley retorted, the Irish brogue coming out in full, "Because personally feel like giving them a beating worse than what happened on Bloody Sunday with the IRA."
"Right…" Olivia said, asking cautiously, "In every other aspect, I trust that you and your crews have reached a common understanding?" The air briefly retaining some tension before hearing a near uniform chorus of "Yes, ma'am" echo throughout the small room around her. Hearing no other grievances to air about the exercise, Olivia dismisses the meeting as they all head back to their dorms, or to finish up with clases for the day.
As Olivia headed to her late-afternoon class, the girl mused that her first day of command had gone relatively well, despite the issues with the exercise. However, this was only just an exercise, and she would soon face an actual fight. For now, however, she could afford to be happy with the minor victories she had won today.