Wow, that was fast! Hey, I think I'll try to keep this speed up!
Also, Merry Christmas to all of you!
Five: First Impressions
"You'll definitely love Saunders, I'm sure of that!" Kay assured Louise as the both of them left the dorm room, the blonde-haired commander shutting and locking the door behind her. "Everyone's friendly, so don't worry about being shunned or stuff like that. Plus, you haven't seen anything yet! Know what a schoolship is?"
"I've heard of them, seen their pictures and all," the young Tuckerman replied. "They're very impressive!"
Kay grinned as they walked down the corridor. "Pics are nothing compared to actually seeing one in person! You'll not believe your eyes when you look at one for the first time, and the George Washington is the largest schoolship in the world!"
"Ooh, really?!"
"Yes! I'm not gonna spoil it for you, just see it for yourself!"
The young Tuckerman nodded, smiling. She had known Kay for only a few days, but the natural charisma and personality of the Saunders commander was certainly highly effective.
She's great!
"Speaking of which, you're going to be a 1st Year," Kay continued. "Which means you're going to be our junior!" she grinned.
The brunette smiled shyly in response. "Well, I'll be sure to follow you guys then! What year are you then, by the way?"
"3rd!" was the cheerful response. "Gonna graduate soon!"
"I see… Woah, so soon already?"
"Time flies when you're having fun," the blondie shrugged. "But graduation's inevitable; it's gotta happen. Which reminds me, don't worry about any of the logistics. We'll be able to get all of those incomplete ones done when we get back! Stuff like your uniforms, a bit more info about yourself and whatever I've not listed we'll definitely deal with in a jiffy when we get back!"
"That's great! Must be a surprise and a bit of a hassle to them getting a student overseas at such short notice, though."
"Oh, it happens!" the Saunders commander reassured. "Saunders has a decent amount of foreigners enrolled, but you're the first one in a while that we've got to scoop up quickly, and after the school year has already begun, too. But don't you worry, 'cos we've got procedures for that! How that works I've got no idea, but hey, I'm just a sensha-do team commander, just let it flow as long as it works!"
"Mmh!" Lou nodded.
"(Hi Commander!)" a Saunders girl called out from ahead. "Oh, hey there, new girl!" she waved at the young Tuckerman as well as she walked past. "Welcome to Saunders!"
"(Hey!)" "(H-hello, thanks!)"
"You're welcome! See you around!"
"See, told you everyone's friendly!" Kay grinned as she walked on with Lou. "Anyway, yeah, we work fast. Hell, we've probably got a dorm room for you already!"
"R-really?"
"Yep!" the Saunders team commander grinned. "It helps that my girlfriend's in charge of stuff back there as well. She's been real busy over you, you know!"
"Oh? Well, s-sorry for the trouble…"
"Don't be, we're all glad you're with us now!" the blondie smiled, giving the brunette a rather heavy pat on the back.
"(Oof!)"
"She's an American, by the way!" Kay shared further. "Has a thing for speed and all."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, she's really fast!" the Saunders team commander smiled, blushing a little at the thought of her girlfriend. "That's why she's the leader of Turkey Company! But I'll explain the sensha-do stuff to you when we get there. Still, yeah, she's our epitome of speed! And Naomi and Alisa hate her driving!" she laughed. "Honestly, I think you two will pair well behind the wheel. Go compare your driving with hers sometime!"
"Is she that 'Tal' girl you guys mentioned?"
"Yep! Actually her name's Tal-"
"Hey! You! Blondie!"
Just at that moment, a black-haired girl in a uniform not that of Saunders had stepped out from the stairs, followed by two other girls with roughly the same bob haircut the supposed leader of the trio has. On top of white-bloused green-skirt uniform of Ooarai, each of them wore a black band on their left arm.
"Oh? Oh, hi Sodoko!" Kay waved, contrasting the stern tone of the Ooarai girl.
"It's Sono Midoriko!" the black-haired girl groaned loudly, evidently annoyed by that nickname. "Why does everyone keep calling me that?!"
"It's all fine, Sodoko!" the Saunders commander waved off casually, completely missing the angry correction from the girl. "What's up, anyway?"
"The speedometer, that's what!" Sodoko huffed. "That Sherman you were on! Don't you know that we've got a speed limit of 20 kilometers an hour imposed in the camp?! That… that was beyond reckless! You of all people should know that rules and regulations are there for a reason, and your actions were dangerous! What if someone gets hurt?! Or what if you damage something?! If you were in Ooarai I'd have disciplined you along with the committee…"
"Psst, I think it's our time to go," Kay whispered to Lou, a look of slight exasperation on her face. "I'll explain later, let's get outta here first before our ears start to bleed."
Nodding in agreement, the young Tuckerman, along with her commander, slipped away from the still-ranting Ooarai Public Morals Committee chairman. Kay waved back at Gomoyo and Pazomi, who both sighed and sheepishly waved back, not wanting to alert their leader to the two Saunders girls trying to escape.
"This is outrageous! The speed limit's there for a good reason, and that's to prevent damage and injury! Do you think it's funny defying the rules?! As a commander you know that…"
Once they were at the staircase, they bailed, sprinting down the steps as quickly as they could together before Sodoko realized anything.
They kept it up until they had gotten out of the building.
"W-we got away…" Lou muttered as she stopped sprinting away from the dormitory, panting slightly. "Who are those, anyway?"
"Those are the Public Morals Committee from Ooarai," Kay explained, the blonde team commander impressively having not even broken a sweat. "Ooarai's great, but Sodoko in particular is a sticker to the rules for everything. Don't get me wrong, she's actually pretty nice."
"Oh? What about those other two?"
"Oh, Gomoyo and Pazomi, Gomoyo's the one with longer hair. They're sorta being dragged along by Sodoko, you know," the Saunders commander chuckled. "But you can sorta tell that already from just now, right."
"Mmh."
"Well, we're in the clear now," the blonde continued, turning to briefly look back before walking towards the Saunders garage, Lou following suit. "Don't worry 'bout them, if they really want to catch us it'll be quite a while before they catch up."
She turned her head away from the young Tuckerman. "Maybe," she whispered to herself.
"Huuh?! I heard that! You said 'maybe'!"
"Did I?" Kay smiled innocently, feigning ignorance.
"Hey, I'm not deaf!" Lou pouted as they walked into the garage allocated to Saunders. As expected, the place was busy, the girls around all busy with various tasks.
The Saunders commander looked at the new girl before suddenly laughing. "Oh, my, you look just like Alisa when you do that!"
"H-huh?" the young Tuckerman blushed a little. "Do I...?"
"So, we fancy an Alisa Number 2?" Naomi suddenly asked, creeping up from behind and hugging the young Tuckerman.
"Huh?! O-oh, it's you…" the brunette relaxed after realizing the identity of the older girl behind her.
"Naomi!" Kay greeted cheerfully. "Come to think of it, Lou's a little bit like Alisa, isn't she?"
"Well, your heights are about the same…" the Saunders sharpshooter observed as she continued to hug the younger girl. "What's your height?" she asked.
"A hundred fifty…?"
"Alisa's 147. You're actually taller…" Naomi commented. "Your hairs have similar but different shades of brown, you've got a ponytail instead of pigtails…"
"How are things, by the way?" the team commander asked. "All going well?"
"Yep!" Naomi nodded. "We'll probably be finished even before dinner! Right, girls?!"
A chorus of "Yeah!" and other cheers came from the rest of the still-busy garage.
"Splendid!" Kay grinned. "I wonder what's for dinner today anyway."
"Only way to find out, of course," Naomi replied, her arms still lightly wrapped around an embarrassed Louise. "Oh, you really do feel like Alisa from here."
"D-do I?"
"Yeah, you do," Naomi grinned. "You're juuuuust a bit bigger, though~"
"W-wait, wha?!" the young Tuckerman stammered, blushing, fully aware of what the older girl was talking about.
Meanwhile, Kay can only grin at the oddly-familiar scene. One that resembled Naomi's interactions with Alisa.
"Naomi!" a girl called out from afar, next to a Sherman. "We need your help here!"
"Oh, time to get back to work," the short-haired girl said, releasing Louise from her grasp and patting her on the head. "See you two later!"
"Naomi sure had her fun with you, eh?" Kay commented happily as the sharpshooter headed over to her team. "She's flirty like that, but only with girls apparently."
"Ooh, really?" Lou asked, blushing a little.
"Yeah! Besides, I think she likes you the same way she likes Alisa."
"That's good to hear," Lou replied sheepishly.
"Yeah, you'll be good friends with her for sure! Anyway, let's take a look at what we're doing now."
For the next few minutes, Kay brought Louise around the Saunders garage, showing her the various jobs the Saunders girls are doing at least for this particular moment. The young Tuckerman, interested throughout the "tour", observed the club's girls work on their Shermans, clean up their tools, run a few logistics trips and wash their tanks, to name a few.
Of course, Louise paid particular attention to the variants of tanks used by Saunders. She saw the 75 mm variants of the various M4 models up close, and even though this wasn't the first time she had been this close to M4s that weren't Ace, her eyes were still wide and filled to the brim with enthusiasm. Kay then went on to explain how the 75 millimeter variants, although adequate for a good portion of the opponent tanks they face, are not up to par with heavier targets.
"They just don't penetrate enough and that gets pretty frustrating, to be honest," one of the girls from the crew of the particular M4 they were passing by chimed in. "I wish I'll get to crew in one with a 76."
"That's because the 75 isn't made specifically to be an anti-tank gun," Louise explained. "This gun was meant to be an all-rounder and do stuff like fire at buildings or enemy infantry with HE, and the 75 mm HE shells pack quite the explosive punch that the 76 mm HE shell doesn't have. Back in the war they served well due to their anti-infantry and anti-building capabilities, and when they were new they were the best anti-tank gun the US had around, but now that it's limited to just an anti-tank role and against newer designs of course they'll be slightly more lacking. Even then, it's still useful in situations not involving some heavy tank or a Panther."
"Interesting," the girl replied, looking at her tank. "I guess it isn't that bad after all. Still would like more anti-tank firepower," she went on, grinning.
"I didn't actually know that," Kay replied sheepishly. "Thought they felt the 75 was too weak and planned to replace them all with the 76."
"You got the first part half-right," the young Tuckerman politely pointed out. "They had already planned to put the 76 on M4s before the 75 was starting to lack against targets that the M4s were facing, but they couldn't find a suitable turret for them until the T23 came along. Even then, they never thought of fully replacing the 75 with the bigger gun. Just some trivia, on D-Day all the US tank crews opted to use the 75 over the 76. The only people fielding M4s with 'dedicated' anti-tank guns were the British with their Fireflies."
"Wow, really?" both the team commander and the other girl had replied at the same time.
"Man, that makes my tank feel special," the latter went on, smiling. "Anyway, nice chatting with you, new girl! Gotta get back to work."
After the little chat, Kay and Louise continued on their tour, passing even more Shermans. Soon, they reached a Firefly; specifically, the one Naomi was the gunner of.
"Meet Pluck!" Kay introduced the Sherman Lou as the latter walked around the tank. "She's a VC Firefly!"
"It's an M4A4 hull with the British 17-pounder, right?" the young Tuckerman asked.
"Yep!" Naomi replied, walking up. "Granted, some will consider the modifications crude and that the tank's merely a stopgap before a suitable replacement was developed, but I still love her regardless," she smiled, patting the hull of the Firefly. "She's a good tank."
"I'm sure she is," Lou smiled back.
"Hey Mizuki!" Kay called out to the tank. "How's it going? You're not giving Naomi any trouble commanding Pluck, are you?"
The usual gunner of the Firefly, Kaiba Mizuki, giggled and popped her head out of the commander's hatch. "Surely not, I hope! Naomi, am I giving you trouble whenever I take command?"
"Every time we swap places I immediately feel insecure," Naomi joked. "If I could clone myself you'd be fired long ago."
"Meanie! Oh, come on!" the light brown-haired girl laughed. "Kay will kill me if I ever give you a hard time!"
The Saunders team commander laughed in response. "Still think you can beat her at shooting?"
"Of course! Just give me training and prep, and soon enough I'll be the new ace sharpshooter around!"
"We'll see," the vice-commander grinned back.
Moving on, Kay and Louise passed a few more M4s, soon arriving at the second last of the garage row, a particular M4A1(76)W, her engine bay doors open as the Wright-Continental R975C4 rumbled rather happily, idling on. Leaning on the turret from the commander's hatch was none other than Alisa herself.
"Hey Lou!" the pigtailed vice-commander waved. "This is Wiz! She's mine!"
"Nice!" the French-American brunette perked up, looking at the M4A1. "M4A1(76)W! She's amazing!"
"Indeed!" Alisa grinned. "Ace is on the other side, by the way!"
"Yeah, expected it!" the young Tuckerman grinned as she moved over to the other side of Wiz to look at the familiar E8.
Sure enough, parked last in the Saunders row is Ace of Spades, still being inspected by a few girls as the Easy-Eight sat patiently. The turret had been traversed and her main gun had been elevated a bit, the travel lock of the 76 mm M1A2 retracted and resting against the front upper hull plate.
"Kay! We're almost done, by the way!" Alisa shouted back in reply over the rumble of Wiz's radial engine before turning her head down the turret, holding her headset to her ear with one hand and grabbing her handset in the other. She yelled something into the handset.
In response, the R975C4 revved up and hit its redline a few times. A short while later, a pleased Alisa climbed out of her hatch just as Wiz's engine was shut off. Moments later, another girl climbed out of the driver's hatch and hopped off the tank and onto the ground, her dirty blonde hair tied up in a ponytail.
"Oh, so you're the new girl," she commented as her eyes laid on the young Tuckerman. "Nice to meet you! My name's Narita Hiroko, but just call me Naroko. Driver of Wiz!"
"Louise Tuckerman," the brunette smiled as the both of them shook hands. "The pleasure's mine."
"'Louise', huh…"
"You can call me 'Lou' if you like! It's been catching on a lot these past few days."
"Yeah, I came up with it!" Kay added cheerfully from the side.
"Ah! Lou it is then!" the driver grinned happily.
"Hey, we're back!" a voice called out from a distance away, back in the direction Kay and Lou came from. The source of the voice was a girl with long, yellow-blonde hair, and accompanying her by her side was an orange-haired girl wearing an M1938 tanker's helmet. Both girls were holding empty disposable plastic bottles.
The yellow-blondie's brown eyes immediately noticed the presence of Kay and the young Tuckerman as the two new arrivals walked up to Wiz. "Hey Kay! Is that the new girl?"
"Yes she is!" was the cheerful reply from the Saunders team commander.
"Ooh, nice to meet you!" the girl immediately happily turned her attention to Lou, greeting her. "I'm Rin, gunner of Wiz here!"
"And I'm Yuko!" the orangehead beamed as well. "I'm the loader and Alisa's right-hand woman!"
"That she is!" the pigtailed vice-commander confirmed.
"Or you can call them Gunner-chan and Helmet-chan respectively," Naroko grinned as she rested against the hull of the M4A1.
What she got in return were the plastic bottles those two were holding being thrown at her, and the driver immediately leapt out of the way as they bounced off Wiz and landed on the floor. "I'm not wrong!"
"You don't have to tell her that now!" Yuko huffed before returning her smile to her face and turning back to an observing Louise. "Don't mind that, Naroko's just being an idiot like usual!"
"Hey!"
"Okay," the ponytailed French-American brunette nodded, smiling back. "Nice to meet you two too! Louise, Louise Tuckerman."
"Just call her Lou!" Alisa chimed in.
"Got it!" Yuko nodded as she and Rin shook hands with Lou. "Welcome to Saunders!"
"Thanks!"
"There's one of us that isn't here, unfortunately," Naroko mentioned. "She sprained her ankle and was forced to stay behind."
"I see…"
"Yeah, she feels really upset about it… So, so, what year will you be in?" Alisa's driver asked.
"First Year, I've been told."
"Ooh, a First Year," Rin commented. "All of us here are Second Years," she explained, referring to the other three girls of Wiz's crew.
"You're our junior then, eh?" Alisa commented, smiling.
"We'll guide you properly, no worries!" Yuko grinned. "You can count on us!"
"Do come to me if you need aiming advice!" Rin smiled.
"Loading for me!" Helmet-chan continued.
"Come to me for driving lessons, I can show you the ropes as much as I can," Naroko offered.
"Oh, you definitely need driving lessons," the pigtail vice-commander immediately interjected. "We don't need a second driving maniac around!"
"B-but it wasn't that bad!" the young Tuckerman protested. "You just can't take how fast I am!"
"Wow, you're starting to sound like her, too…"
"'Her'? That 'Tal' girl?"
"'Tal'? Naroko raised an eyebrow. "You mean Tal-"
A loud clang and sounds of metal objects bouncing on the hard concrete floor promptly interrupted the conversation.
"S-sorry!" a short-haired brunette beside the group quickly and meekly apologized as she bent down, tending to the toolbox she had accidentally dropped. With it lying on its side, the various different tools that were inside were now scattered around the floor, and the girl nervously scrambled to retrieve them all.
Instinctively, Lou knelt down as well. Grabbing a few of the tools that were scattered further away from the other brunette, Tuckerman passed them over to her, who promptly accepted them.
"T-thanks…" that girl nodded quietly as she put them into the metal box and shut it.
"Yuki…" Yuko sighed as the two brunettes stood up. "You've got to be more careful."
"Sorry…" Yuki meekly apologized once again, quietly fleeing away from the area.
"You sure she's loader material?" Naroko asked the loader of Wiz as that brunette slipped away from view. "Every time I see her she's always dropping something."
"She's not that bad…" Helmet-chan defended the girl, sighing. "I can train her out of it. I hope."
"You hope."
"Is she your junior or something…?" Lou raised an eyebrow at the orangehead.
"Yep!" was the reply. "She's a loader-in-training. A bit clumsy, as you just saw, but I've got faith in her! Right now, though, she's stuck with simply training outside of a tank, so she's not part of any crew and all."
"Yeah, we don't exactly have a need for loaders at the moment," Alisa continued. "She's part of the reserve forces."
"I see…" Lou nodded.
"Well, hey, Lou!" Rin moved on, changing the subject as she thought of something. "Do you know Wiz is haunted?"
"H-huh?"
"Oh, not this shit again…" the driver of the M4A1 groaned, facepalming in exasperation.
"Hey! At least there's someone who believes me!"
"Someone that everyone knows has a screw loose!"
"Hey, don't be mean to her!"
And thus, the conversation went on.
The rest of the day passed by fairly quickly, and soon enough, it was time for dinner.
"Man, I'm starving!" Louise sighed as she waited in line. "Time really does fly when you're having fun."
"It does!" Kay agreed, just ahead of the brunette behind Alisa and Naomi. "And with Ace ready to roll, we've got no trouble in sight!"
"You sure your grandpa didn't send it off for restoration one day?" Naomi chimed in
"Positive," the young Tuckerman grinned, now her turn to receive food. "Maintained purely by the Tuckerman family!"
"Can't wait to finally see her in Sensha-do spec," Alisa smiled as she received her servings. "We've got it all covered!"
"It's all coming well together!" Kay grinned.
Several minutes later, as the Saunders girls were done with their dinner and moving around to chat with their friends in the other schools, Louise looked around at everyone.
Just a few days ago, she had never anticipated that something extraordinary like this would occur to her. Deep down, the young Tuckerman was still coming to terms that somehow she was on the path of her dreams.
Her grandfather was a tanker. Her mother was a tanker.
And now, she was about to follow in their footsteps. If this were a dream, she hoped that she wouldn't wake up from this.
As the young girl continued looking at the activity of the mess hall, she looked over to a table occupied by the girls of the other schools. St Gloriana's Girls' College, was it? They all looked so quiet, composed, elegant…
Well, except for a few of those girls. And they were what caught her attention.
Louise took a sip from her can of Coke as she watched that energetic redhead talk rather loudly to her small group of friends, her hands rather animated as they moved around. Of course, that was all to the visible annoyance of the quieter girls around, who tried their best to ignore the relative ruckus that was going on.
Noticing the new Saunders girl staring somewhere else, Kay grinned, moving next to the young Tuckerman and looking in the same direction. "Whatcha lookin' at?"
"That's St Gloriana, right…?"
"Yep! What 'bout 'em?"
"That group…"
"Oh, that's the Rosebush!" the blondie replied, knowing what Lou was talking about. "Yeah, they're like that."
The brunette turned to look at the Saunders team commander in curiosity. "'Rosebush'...?"
"Yeah! They're the lead crew of the Crusader platoon , and that one there's their commander," she pointed. "She's called Rosehip. And that one with the glasses is Rosemary, the gunner. Rosemallow's the one with the twintails and is the loader, and last but not least, that one's Roselle, the driver. Aaaand that one's not a Crusader girl, that's Rukuriri," the Saunders team commander noted the presence of that braided brunette. "She's a Matilda commander."
"I see…" the French-American brunette nodded as she watched what seemed like a quarrel starting between Rosehip and Rukuriri. "It's hella nice being energetic like this, you know," she began to comment. "Nothing wrong with having a bit of life in you, and you'd cheer everyone around you up too! I'd love to have someone like them in my life, for one."
"That's a fair assessment," a third voice came from behind the two Saunders girls.
Swiveling around, Lou turned to look at the blonde St Gloriana girl standing behind her. Dressed in the blue St Gloriana uniform, her blonde hair was done up in twin French braids and tied up neatly behind her head. In her hands were, naturally, a cup of tea and a saucer.
"Darj!" Kay grinned, getting up to greet the St Gloriana commander. She was about to hug the other girl, but stopped as she noted that cup of tea. "How's everything on your side?"
"It's splendid," Darjeeing replied politely, smiling happily at her energetic close friend. "We've completed all the preparations for tomorrow. I suppose that's the same for Saunders?"
"Yep!" the Saunders commander grinned. "We're all ready!"
"That's good to hear. So, this is the vaunted Louise Tuckerman, isn't she?" the St Gloriana team commander asked, turning her attention to Lou.
"Y-yeah," the brunette stood up. "And you are…" she shifted shyly, offering her hand.
"Darjeeling will do," Darj smiled warmly as she shook the younger girl's hand. "Commander of the sensha-do team of St Gloriana Girls' College."
"Oh, n-nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine, Miss Tuckerman. Kay had been talking about you, you know."
"S-she has…?"
"Yep!" the blondie in question gave her own brand of thumbs-up.
"I see…"
The St Gloriana team commander chuckled. "You've got a shy one here."
"Yes we do!" Kay grinned.
"Heheh, I've got a feeling that will change in the coming months. So, Louise, how's your day been so far?"
"O-oh? It's been great!" the young Tuckerman replied eagerly. "I can't wait to get to the schoolship!"
Darj nodded. "Glad to hear. I'd like to give a little advice, with my own experience in it; Louise, you've already taken the first step into something greater than you've ever imagined, something that will positively change and define the rest of your life forever. Allow it to change you, and you will only be able to get better over time."
Louise smiled and nodded. "Thank you, I definitely look forward to it. Though," she muttered, looking down slightly, almost somewhat ashamed, "none of this would've happened if you guys didn't show up. I've been lucky, and because of that a part of me says I don't really deserve this…"
The St Gloriana chuckled, but there was an understanding, relating tone in it. "I've been there, and let me tell you, it may be fate that allows us to meet, but it is yourself that got yourself here. The path of sensha-do is not a path that people join out of luck, but rather one that people choose to walk on. And you've chosen to walk with us; you've just gotten a helping hand from fate."
Louise looked up at Darjeeling, finding her words and eyes filled with wisdom and experience. "I understand. I… I don't know what to say other than 'Thank you'."
"And perhaps 'Thank you' is really all that is needed," Darj smiled, sipping her tea. "Louise Tuckerman, I can see it within your eyes; you will definitely go far. Saunders is lucky to have you, and while I'm at St Gloriana and quite a distance away from you, who knows, maybe we'll both share a path together in future."
"T-Thank you, Darjeeling."
"And you," the St Gloriana commander shifted her attention to Kay, "treat her well."
She got a thumbs-up in response, grabbing onto Louise. "Like you even need to tell me! I've got her covered!"
"Good to hear. Also, a moment for us?" Darj smiled happily at the Saunders blondie. "We've got stuff to catch up to and discuss."
"Sure thing!" Kay grinned happily. "Catch ya later, Lou!"
The young Tuckerman nodded. "See you later then."
Waving back, Kay turned around and walked off beside Darjeeling, a hand grabbing onto the St Gloriana team commander and practically dragging her along.
Now that she was alone, Lou sighed to herself, unsure of what to do. Walking around the mess hall, she thought about her options, from looking for people to socialize with to returning to the dorm room. Or perhaps she could simply wander around.
Determining that she'd find her answer outside of the mess hall, she stepped out, headed to nowhere in particular.
Eventually, Louise wandered into the now-quiet Saunders garage as the other girls moved around outside, standing right next to Ace. Her inspections done, the Easy-Eight rested quietly with her sisters, all her hatches properly shut and the barrel of the 76 mm M1A2 once again secured in place by the travel lock. It didn't take long at all for the girl to notice the missing Browning M2 that was supposed to be mounted on the loader's cupola, evidently taken off and stored somewhere else.
The M4s had been moved around sometime after she initially left the garage earlier that day, and Ace was now parked somewhere in between the other Saunders tanks, which made her presence even more obvious. Beyond the obviousness of the old Olive Drab 319 amongst the different shades of olive drab Saunders ran under the dim garage lights, the false muzzle and camouflage paint of the 76 mm's barrel could not be ignored.
Quietly, the young Tuckerman put a hand on her tank. "We're going to be great together, I promise," she muttered quietly to the M4 that was part of her family. "Let's do everyone proud."
"Thought I would find you here," a familiar voice spoke out just a few tanks away.
"Huh? Oh, Alisa," Lou smiled through the dim garage lights. "Were you looking for me?"
"Sorta," was the reply as the pigtailed Saunders vice-commander strolled up. "Everyone else's catching up with their friends, and I, well," she paused, "I'm done with mine."
The young Tuckerman raised an eyebrow. "Not many friends?"
Alisa gave a wry smile and nodded. "I'm not really popular with everyone else, I guess. And I think I know why."
Louise nodded, turning around to lean back on Ace's front hull. "Want to share?"
Thinking for a moment, the pigtailed girl nodded. "Can I…" she asked, pointing to the Easy-Eight.
"Sure, by all means."
Sighing, Alisa rested her back against the Sherman's front hull next to Louise. "Well, I… like doing a lot of questionable stuff. And, well, I think that made me unlikeable with most."
"'Questionable stuff'?"
"Well, for example, just a few months ago, Saunders had a match against Ooarai in the recent 63rd Japanese Sensha-do Tournament. I wanted to give us a better chance at winning after the team hadn't been doing exactly great in the prior years; so, I used a radio interception balloon and tapped into Ooarai's radio from Wiz," the vice-commander explained, her face looking somewhat forlorn. "The regulations state that while radio-tapping is legal per se, the usage of aircraft is not allowed, which by most accounts would make radio-tapping practically impossible. But balloons are a grey area, so I was skirting around the rules. But it was still legal. Technically."
She smiled, but it was a sad one. "They found out anyway and used it against me. Here I was listening to them, not knowing that they were baiting me into a trap using false orders. In the end, we ended up losing. Kay wasn't upset about the loss, but she was upset with me, and when the match was over she told me that she wanted to have a word with me once we got back. I've done stuff like this before, so I thought it would be another private lecture on why sportsmanship is important."
The vice-commander sighed, looking down on the ground. "But this time, in private, she dressed me down. I guess radio-tapping hit a major nerve in her, and although she wasn't showing it, it really pissed her off for once. It was uncharacteristically bad, I think a good number of the girls overheard it. Naomi certainly did. After the whole thing was over, I went up to the roof to cry and she came up to make me feel better."
Louise remained silent, momentarily not knowing what to reply. "Damn. I'm… sorry for making you recall this."
"No, I deserved that scolding," Alisa smiled wryly again. "It was unsportsmanlike and I was a major ass for doing that, I fully understood it that day. I just wanted to win, and I stooped so low I went too far. That same day I apologized to Kay, she forgave me and apologized for her harshness and I haven't tried to skirt the rules ever since. People still don't like me, though."
The young Tuckerman watched the sad girl stare at the ground and decided to speak up. "You know, what you did was wrong and unsportsmanlike, but I can relate to your train of thought. It's natural for everyone to want to achieve victory and use any legal means to get there, absolutely nothing wrong with that; it's only human and in the spirit of competition. You decided to do that for the sake of bringing Saunders to victory, and that by itself is an admirable cause."
Alisa looked up in surprise. "... You really think so?"
"Mmh," Louise nodded, smiling. "Kay gave you that scolding not because she doesn't recognize your desire for Saunders to win, but because you were being, well, a major cunt to your opponents by practically cheating, and she needs you to understand that after one too many times of you trying to beat the system. I think you know she never wanted to embarrass you in front of everyone, thus why it was done in private, but I'm sure she realized she got too heated after it was over. What's important is that you've learnt your lesson, and from what you've just told me, you clearly had."
Hearing those words, the vice-commander remained silent for a moment, not knowing what to say, before smiling. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."
"Even then, I don't think the others hate you in any way still," the young Tuckerman went on. "I'm sure the others understand your past motives, and you don't do stuff like that anymore. Maybe all it'll really take is for you to break the ice? I mean, assuming you've been waiting for someone to show up instead of looking for others."
"Hmm…"
The Saunders vice-commander thought it through. "Yeah, I haven't been the first to speak up, guess that's the major reason."
"Yep, you gotta say the first 'Hello' in order for things to progress! You should also get new friends from other schools, and who knows, maybe there's someone that wants to talk to you!"
Alisa nodded, now feeling better. "Yeah, I should. Thanks!"
"No prob!"
"Like you're one to talk, though," the pigtailed vice-commander snickered. "What are you doing here?"
"W-well, I don't have much to talk about," Lou immediately slipped back into her shy self, "a-and I was just wandering around and came here, so…"
"Understandable. Well, now that we've talked about it, I think there's someone in mind that I want to be friends with, but the problem's that she's from Ooarai," the vice-commander pondered. "She's been to Saunders before actually, as a spy-"
The sound of something metallic shifting on the floor got the attention of both Saunders girls, the both of them turning their heads to the left, right at the source.
Yukari froze, her foot right next to the toolbox she accidentally hit.
"'Oddball'?" Lou asked curiously.
"Eheh, I've been here for a while already…" the Ooarai loader admitted sheepishly. "I just want to take a look at the Easy-Eight you guys got, but then I saw you two around, and I couldn't help but listen in. Nobody in Ooarai doesn't want to befriend you, Alisa. We may tease you repeatedly over your blunder with that balloon, but we'll never hate you over that. It's just as Louise said just now; we can relate," she smiled
Alisa was silent for a few moments, before smiling and nodding. "Thanks, Oddball. I'm glad, to say the least."
"No prob!" the messy-haired girl gave a thumbs-up. "Oh, and you, you're the new girl!" she said eagerly, her eyes now on Louise. "I've heard your name around for a while! Louise Tuckerman, is it?"
"Yeah, I'm Louise," Lou nodded cheerfully. "Just call me Lou. And you are…"
"Akiyama Yukari!" the Ooarai loader saluted. "I'm the loader of Team Anglerfish, the Panzer 4 of Ooarai! Pleased to meet you!"
"The pleasure's mine, Yukari. Wait, then what's the 'Oddball' nickname Alisa used?"
Yukari blushed. "Well, long story, but…"
"Long story short, '6th Mechanized Division, Sergeant Oddball, Third Class' is what she introduced herself as when we caught her spying in Saunders and asked for her details," Alisa snickered. "It's a Kelly's Heroes reference, and yes, Yukari here will forevermore be 'Oddball' to us Saunders girls."
"Eheh…" Oddball smiled sheepishly, scratching her cheek.
"Ah, I see. But... I've never watched Kelly's Heroes before, eheheh…" the young Tuckerman muttered the last part quietly.
That evidently didn't work, judging from the fact that the two other girls were now staring at her incredulously. "What?!"
"You're missing out!" Yukari commented eagerly. "That was a damn good movie! Alisa, get her to watch it someday!"
"Yep, Kelly's Heroes is the first thing on your new to-do list," the Saunders vice-commander declared in agreement. "The first club movie night we have after we return we're dragging you to the cinema hall and streaming it for you!"
Louise blinked. "Wait, a cinema hall?"
"Yes! We have our own cinema and we can book all of it!"
"Woah, really?!"
"Yes! With popcorn and drinks provided! And we'll be watching Kelly's Heroes there!"
Lou blushed a little, a bit overwhelmed, especially with Alisa's plan. "O-oh? T-thanks, but there's really no need to stream a whole movie just for me…"
"Oh, don't you worry," Alisa grinned, "when Kay hears about this she's going to make you watch it even if you don't want to! Hey, if you still feel bad about it, everyone likes watching Kelly's Heroes, even if it's been multiple times."
"I-is that so? Well," Lou smiled, fidgeting, not used to this kind of attention, "I'll gladly accept it then. Thanks."
"Yes!" both the Saunders vice-commander and the Team Anglerfish loader grinned, high-fiving each other.
"Ah, right," Yukari continued, moving back to the reason why she was here. "I heard you guys got an Easy-Eight earlier today and I was busy with our own stuff then, so I thought I should come here now to look at her all I want. Is that okay with you two?"
"Why not?" Alisa smiled.
"By all means, yeah," the young Tuckerman grinned, pleased that Yukari was interested in Ace.
"Sweet!" the fluffy-haired girl grinned, proceeding to stare at the M4 like a kid looking at candy.
She moved a hand forward and touched the tank, practically drooling. "The Sherman's one of the first tanks I've known since childhood, and the E8's one of the first variants I've gotten acquainted with the earliest, it being the best variant and all. I got to see a few in museums back home, but this is the first early-production Easy-Eight I've seen up close."
"You can tell?" Lou looked at the Ooarai tank nut in surprise.
"Yeah! The split round loader's hatch's a dead giveaway!" Yukari beamed as she eyed the M4 in detail. "There's also the lack of a mantlet canvas cover and its fittings, too! Pre-1945, is that right?"
"Yes she is," the ponytailed brunette nodded, impressed.
"Straight from the factory?"
"Straight from the factory."
"Cool!" the fluffy-haired girl continued to gush. "One of the original 2617!"
"Yep! Hey, you know your stuff!"
"Mmh, I'm a proud tank nut!" Yukari grinned. "Not bad for a basement-kept tank at all! You guys definitely love her!"
"Ehehe, we do!" Tuckerman beamed proudly, happy to interact with Oddball. "She's been repainted once before and had all her asbestos professionally cleared out. Happened a good while before I was born, though."
"Professional asbestos removal? How'd you guys managed that?"
Louise smiled. "My grandfather had strong connections."
"Woah, that's neat," the Anglerfish nodded as she looked at Ace's scrawled name on the fluffy-haired girl's side of the barrel. "Ace, eh?"
"Yep! Well, that's her shortened name. Ace of Spades is the full thing, naturally."
"Naturally," Yukari smiled, running her hand over the single spade painted on the hull. "The top card of the deck. A very fitting name…"
"Heh, thanks! My grandpa was her commander during the war, and him and his crew gave her that name!"
"Ooh, really?! Your grandpa's her commander?!" Oddball perked up excitedly, before something else got her attention. "Hold on. Oh, damn, that's quite the blow," she noted as she looked at the 88 mm hole. "Woah, that penetrated…"
She looked up at the brunette, a serious expression on her face. "What happened?"
Lou smiled fondly and solemnly, fully remembering the account her grandfather always recollected to her. "Well, it's one hell of a story. Wanna hear it?"
"You don't say!" Oddball smiled eagerly. "Alisa too, right?!"
That dream was still fresh in the mind of the Saunders vice-commander, but she still only knew the aftermath of the incident. "Yes, I'm curious as well."
The young Tuckerman grinned. "Sit down and relax, this will take a while."
The three of them sat down on the ground in a small circle, the ponytailed brunette leaning back on her M4 with Yukari to her left and Alisa to her right. And with a deep breath, Louise began to recount the events passed down to her by her grandfather, a tale about that fateful day back during the Second World War. Unseen by the other two, Alisa shuddered a few times during the storytelling, the revelation that the images were genuine making her feel uncomfortable, especially when she thought about what happened to the crew.
Louise rested back, smiling as she looked at Yukari and Alisa, both of them wide-eyed in awe. "So, yeah, that's how that fight went down. My Gramps was the only Allied survivor, and there were no German survivors."
"Your grandpa's epic!" Yukari gleamed excitedly. "He took down a Tiger 2!"
"It was as much a team effort by the platoon as it was with him and his trick," Lou smiled. "But yeah, Ace took down a King Tiger! Not many tanks can claim that!"
"And do you think you can take a King Tiger down in future?" Alisa grinned.
"No confidence!" the young Tuckerman quickly raised both of her hands sheepishly. "W-well, I wanna leave that possibility open, but it'll be tough…"
"Oh, we'll whip you up to shape no prob!" the Saunders vice-commander smiled as the three of them stood up. "So, what happened after that battle?"
"Well, Gramps was rescued and the M4s were left alone for some reason after the remains of the guys were recovered and all, Ace included. Gramps spent the rest of the war recovering from his injuries in a hospital, and after he was finally released he was honorably discharged for medical reasons. He went back home but was drawn back to France, and of course, he eventually settled here for good. Needless to say, part of the reason for him staying here was Ace, still sitting there abandoned, and with work and help from his friends he managed to bring her home. But that's its own story. Oh yeah," the girl suddenly remembered, "Yukari, you've seen that cross, right?"
"Yep!" was the cheerful reply. "Didn't get to explore much though, since the rest of them dragged be back. What's it for?"
"It's a marker for where Ace was sitting," Lou explained. "If she's parked right behind that cross that's the exact spot where she ended up."
"Woah, really?! That's neat!"
"It is! And we've buried a little time capsule in front of it, too, in case anyone goes digging! It's just a sturdy box we made sure was watertight before putting it in. It's got everything about the history of the place, but from what I've heard a short while ago my grandfather got him to dig it out to do something with the wrapping-"
"Heya, you three!" Kay grinned as both her and Darjeeling stepped out from behind a Sherman.
"Kay? Darj? What are you two doing here?" Lou raised an eyebrow.
"Just hanging out!" was the reply from the Saunders team commander. "The mess hall's pretty noisy and all, so we decided to come here. We've been listening to the whole thing!"
"That was an interesting recount of events," Darjeeling commented, sipping from her tea. "I hope you don't mind us having eavesdropped."
"Oh, not at all!" Louise grinned. "You shouldn't have hidden, though."
"Well, didn't wanna interrupt ya…" Kay winked. "But yeah, that was amazing! Who knew you were this deeply tied to this place?"
"It's a shame we never got to meet such a remarkable man," Darjeeling commented. "At least his legacy lives on, inside the people and things he left behind, you and Ace included."
Lou gave a small smile. "Yeah, that's true."
"Hey Kay, Louise here has never watched Kelly's Heroes before," Alisa commented out of nowhere, snickering.
The Saunders commander looked at the new girl in disbelief. "Seriously?! You're missing out big time! First club movie night back on the schoolship, Kelly's Heroes, you'll be there!"
"Yeah, Alisa already made that clear for me earlier," Louise smiled sheepishly.
"I did!" the Saunders vice-commander chimed in.
"(Perfect!)" Kay grinned.
"Hey, I think we should head back and talk with the others," Yukari suggested. "I guess we're missing out with all the conversations, and we should bring Lou around and introduce her to everyone else!"
"O-oh?" the young Tuckerman replied timidly. "Well, sure, but I'm not good with crowds…"
"It'll be fine," Alisa reassured her, patting her on the back. "We're here to back you up, so don't worry!"
"We're gonna root out that timidness out of ya!" Kay smiled. "Let's go!"
"A-alright then," Lou smiled nervously as the group headed towards the garage exit.
"Oh, right!" Yukari suddenly remembered. "How did the name 'Ace' come about?"
"O-oh? Well, it's…"
Late July 1944
Normandy, France
It had been over a month and a half since D-Day. Despite having fought hard, the Allied forces were still stuck in Normandy, their expansion deeper into France having gone rather slowly. As they struggled with the problematic bocage terrain, German defenses had built up around them, slowing them down even further. An attack to break through them was definitely going to happen; it was merely a matter of time.
In an open field, tanks of the 2nd Armored Regiment were parked in rows together, much activity bustling busily around them, various tasks being carried out simultaneously by different people. Of course, a major part of them were the tank crews. Some of them were cleaning theirs, others were helping their maintenance crews repair damaged ones. A few of them were looking at their tanks for the very first time, even.
Amongst the hustle and bustle, there was a particular brand-new M4, one of several that arrived to supplement the regiment, taking the places of their fallen sisters. On top of this newcomer's turret, two of her assigned crew were seated, playing poker.
"Ha! Flush!" one of them men shouted happily, sitting on the right side of the turret, in front the open commander's hatch. Grinning wildly, he simultaneously threw his cards down face-up, revealing it to his friend. "Too bad for you! Thank you very much!"
"You can't be serious…" the other muttered in frustration as he watched his money being taken away. "How are you always this lucky?"
"Hey, what can I say?" the first man laughed, pocketing his newly-earned winnings. "It's in me! I'm gonna be lucky enough to ram a shell up Hitler's ass! And you," he smiled with a shit-eating grin on his face as he patted the other man on the shoulder, his other hand holding onto the reassembled deck of cards, "you just drive me to my parade."
"Fuck you! I'm going to run you down for fun!"
"Try not to, please," a third voice called out from the side of the M4. "At least until we're done with Berlin. The last thing we need now is infighting."
The two men looked down at the source of the voice. It was another young man, his arms akimbo as he looked up at the two.
"Who the fuck are you supposed to be?" the man with the deck shot back rather rudely as he shuffled the cards.
"Sergeant Joshua Tuckerman," was the reply as the man continued to look at them, undeterred. "I was told I was assigned to command this tank?"
"Oh," the guy with the deck shrugged as he continued shuffling.
"Goddamn, be nice!" his friend bumped him gently on the shoulder, earning a half-annoyed glare from the abrasive man. "Sorry, he's always this pissy. I'm Tech Corporal Roger Lumberg, and I'm gonna be your driver. And this asshole's-"
"Corporal James Lowe," the man in question rolled his eyes. "Gunner. You don't have to worry 'bout me not shooting straight."
"Glad to hear," the sergeant nodded, raising an eyebrow. "Why the mention?"
"Our previous commander loved talking shit about his shooting," Roger explained briefly. "Got him pissed off over it."
"Ah. Well, don't worry, Corporal, I trust you."
"Oh?" James stopped shuffling the deck and finally turned to his new direct superior. "Well, then I'll tell you a lil' something," he grinned. "I've shot every single filthy Kraut dead right at where it kills 'em. No exceptions. Nothing stops me, nothing will ever stop me, not even if we don't have guns. I'll use a bow and give 'em all an arrow to the fucking head!"
"Yeah, sounds good to me…" Joshua rolled his eyes, evidently unimpressed by the boasting. "Glad to hear, Archer."
"... What."
"I think he just gave you a nickname!" the driver laughed. "Take 'em all out, Archer!"
"Fuck you! Maybe don't get us stuck in a bocage again!" the gunner retorted defensively.
"Really?" Sergeant Tuckerman raised an eyebrow curiously, staring at his new driver.
"It was an accident!" the tech corporal immediately protested. "It's hard to drive through that as it is, and the M4s we have so far all couldn't turn for shit! Well, except for ones like this one here," he smiled, patting the tank he was sitting on confidently.
"Yeah, you've not even sat down inside yet," Archer retorted. "How the fuck would you know?"
"Doesn't take an idiot to find out," the driver replied. "Even from outside you can notice the wider tracks from this and the new suspension. HVSS, they call it, Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension, and from what the maintenance guys said they're far better than the VVSS we've been using so far. And this tank's an M4A3, too, doesn't use the Continental R975. Ford GAA, 1100 cubic inch Ford V8, all-aluminum design and a 32-valve DOHC-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it, Mr Ford," the gunner rudely interrupted. "You read the manuals, yes, we don't need to hear your blabbering."
"Fuck you!"
"'Ford', huh…" Joshua chuckled. "Seems like you two are even now!"
"Yeah, fucking Ford!" Archer laughed as he smacked his friend on the shoulder.
"Ow!"
"So, this is HVSS…" the new tank commander commented as he stepped back, looking at the suspension bogeys of his new tank. "I've heard about them a while back, but this is my first time seeing an M4 with them on. The guys said they should feel smooth, better than the regular VVSS."
"Huh…" the gunner huh'd. "Glad to hear I won't puke every time he drives," he proceeded to snark, pointing at the driver.
"Hey, fuck you!"
"Knock it off, you two…" Tuckerman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Anyway, I've also heard that these new designs weren't supposed to arrive this early, but I guess something went right back back home, so here they are."
"Yeah, makes sense. Hey Boss, what's your previous tank?" Archer asked.
"M4," was the reply. "The original one, with the 75 millimeter. I was the gunner until recently."
"Field promotion, eh?" the gunner continued to ask as he played with the deck of cards, shuffling them as he faced inwards, towards the driver.
"Yeah."
"Your old crew found a new gunner and fired you?"
"No, tank got knocked out. Everyone made it out okay-ish, I'm the only one lucky to be uninjured while the others are still being treated."
"Oh, alright. A field promotion… Well, I guess if they did that you're probably up for the task-"
Just at that moment, a strong gust of wind caught a few of the cards mid-shuffle, causing them to start to go airborne. Archer scrambled to keep them all in his hands, and it seemed like he succeeded. "That was close!"
"Sir!" an even younger voice shouted out to the three men. Looking at the source, the sergeant watched as a young man, even younger than him, marched up to him, coming to a stop when he stomped his foot. "Private Thomas Andrews reports as ordered!"
The three higher-ranked soldiers stared at him incredulously before Acher and Ford burst into laughter.
As the private watched on in confusion, even the Sergeant couldn't help but smile and shake his head, pinching the bridge of his nose again. "Please, don't do that. We're in the middle of a war, for fuck's sake."
"O-oh, okay Sir," Thomas relaxed cautiously. "I-I have been informed that I will be the bow gunner of this tank."
"You're a baby!" Archer laughed, shaking his head. "But yeah, figures, you've got the easiest damn job in the tank. Just shoot at every damn Kraut that you see and you'll be fine.
The corporal suddenly came to a realization. "Oh yeah, that's right! Baby! You're Baby from now on!"
"U-uh…" the private muttered nervously.
"Yeah, don't mind those two," Joshua brushed that off casually. "I'm Sergeant Joshua Tuckerman."
"Corporal James Lowe, gunner," Archer continued with the introductions. "And that's Ford," he pointed at the driver at the last part.
"Use my name, damn it! I'm Tech Corporal Roger Lumberg, driver. If Archer here wants to be a shithead then feel free to call him by his nickname as well!"
"Oh, fuck off! He's definitely Baby though," the gunner snickered as Ford followed suit.
"U-uh…" Baby muttered softly, attempting to ask something. "Archer…?"
"The fuck do you want?"
"Well… when will I get a change of nickname…? I mean, babies do grow up, no…?"
Silence.
And suddenly, Archer and Ford roared into laughter. "Hahahahaha!" the gunner laughed heartily. "Hell no, that's permanent!"
"Ugh…" Sergeant Tuckerman pinched the bridge of his nose yet again, looking at his timid and rather despondent bow gunner. "Don't worry 'bout it," he assured the younger man, patting him on the shoulder. "They'll come up with something else once you prove yourself. Right?" he looked up at his gunner for confirmation.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Boss," Archer shrugged. "We'll see."
"Good."
"All we're waiting for is our loader now," Ford commented.
"Hello," the man in question stepped up, as if on cue. "Private Anthony Owens. I was told I'd be the loader-"
"Splendid!" Archer interrupted upon hearing that confirmation, reaching his hand out downwards towards the newly-arrived private. "Shuffle."
"... Sorry?"
"Shuffle."
"... Oookay…" the man nodded a little confusedly as he reached out to grab the deck. When Archer released his grip, though, the cards slipped from the loader's hand, falling to and spreading out on the ground.
The gunner's face was of absolute disbelief. "You've got to be fucking kidding, we've got Butterfingers here as our goddamn loader! Fuck me, I don't want to be part of this crew anymore!"
"Sorry!" the loader quickly apologized as he bent down to pick up the cards. Beside him, Josh bent down as well, getting up and passing the cards he picked up to Private Owens.
"Thank you Sir," the loader muttered quietly as he began to shuffle the deck.
"Come on now, Archer," the new tank commander frowned as he looked at his gunner. "Stop scaring the privates, damn it."
"Yeah, yeah, sure…" the corporal shook his head. "Just having fun is all."
"Yeah, and I'm sure they enjoy it just as much," the Sergeant rolled his eyes. "You lot, listen up. The last thing we need here is for us to start fighting each other; we've got more than enough shit from the Krauts as it is. When I tell you to do something, you do it. Simple as that. We've still got a long way to go till Berli-"
"One's missing."
Everyone else turned to look at the loader.
"... What is it?" the tank commander raised an eyebrow.
Quickly, Butter ran his fingers through the deck one more time, his eyes still looking at Josh. "One card's missing."
"That's amazing, you didn't even look at the deck," Archer commented incredulously.
"No, I'm serious," the private shot back. "I can feel it."
"You. Can feel. A missing card. From an entire deck."
"What? If you don't believe me, Commander, you count!" the young man practically shoved the deck over to the Sergeant.
All Tuckerman could do was sigh exasperatedly as he began to count the cards one by one. His crew was turning out to be quite not what he expected.
Though, as he ran through the deck, the man raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"So?" he heard his gunner ask.
The sergeant ran through the deck again, making sure he did not skip any cards. And that was when he noticed it. Well, or lack thereof. "He's right. Ace of spades isn't in here."
"You can't be serious…" the gunner puzzled. "Really?"
"I told you!" Butter retorted.
"Fine, yeah, I get it, I don't wanna here you whine god fucking damn it," Archer shot back. "Well, the card must be around here somewhere."
"Yeah, guess that'll be our first task," Sergeant Tuckerman smirked. "Get going."
While the two privates naturally responded with a clear "Yes, Sir!", the corporal rolled his eyes while his tech corporal friend simply nodded. Meanwhile, the sergeant climbed up onto the tank.
He had noticed that gust of wind that nearly blew away the cards a few minutes ago.
All he did was look down the commander's hatch. "Ah. There we go."
"Found it already?" Ford asked as the tank commander slipped down the hatch. Bending down, he disappeared for a few seconds before he popped back up, the missing ace of spades in his hand. "Landed on my seat."
"On your seat?" the driver asked. "Man, we're gonna be lucky!"
"Or he's gonna be lucky," Archer commented as he got up and took the card from the sergeant. "It's his seat, after all. He's gonna live while all of us fucking die!"
"Oh for fuck's sake, don't jinx us!"
"I'm not! Still, the wind blew it off?" the gunner frowned as he looked at the card before returning it to the deck. "I swear I caught them all. Huh, must've slipped."
"You sure your foot won't slip over the trigger?" Butter snickered, that smirk on that face audible to Josh.
"Fuck you!"
What that commotion was going on, an idea floated into the tank commander's head.
"You lot, I've got the perfect name for our tank!" Tuckerman spoke up, quietening down the bickering between the gunner and loader.
"A name?" Ford raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, we're definitely getting one. What's in your mind?"
"Ace of Spades?"
Silence.
"After the card, huh…" Archer pondered. "Sharing your luck with us, I'm guessing?"
"You can put it that way, yeah."
"I'm down with that. But I'm not gonna be saying that whole thing, it's a bit of a mouthful."
"No problem, you can just stick with 'Ace'," the commander nodded. "Full versus informal."
"That works," the gunner agreed. "Ace it is."
"I like it!" Ford gave a thumbs-up.
"I-I think it's a good name, Sir!" Baby immediately joined in.
The sergeant immediately groaned. "Don't call me Sir…"
"Oh, apologies, Sir!"
"... Never mind… Don't you dare," Josh immediately glared at Butter.
The loader gulped. "U-uh, yeah, the name works with me!"
"Good. Now, we've got some time around, so let's try to paint some things on her, shall we?"
"Definitely need the spade," Ford suggested.
"Yeah," Archer agreed. "Over on the right side."
"Whose right?"
"The damn tank's right, of course!" the gunner snapped back, pointing at the area in question. "Somewhere above the headlamp."
"Don't forget the name itself," Butter joined in. "Should we write it on the barrel or on the sides of the hull?"
"Barrel." "Hull."
"Are you fucking serious?" the driver asked the gunner incredulously. "You want to fit the whole name on the barrel?"
"Just 'Ace' works, imbecile! We don't need to spell the whole damn thing out!"
"But 'Ace' is the nickname!"
"It doesn't fucking matter! Besides, 'Ace' looks sharper for everyone, and it doesn't look like it's big enough if we do that on the hull, does it?"
"W-why not put it at the front?" Baby asked quietly.
"Shut up!" was the collective response from Archer and Ford.
As his crew continued to bicker and argue, Tuckerman pinched the bridge of his nose for the upteenth time. "You guys better hurry up, last I've heard we'll be moving again soon. Hitler's not going to kill himself, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, Boss, we're getting an answer soon," Archer waved away the concern as he returned to arguing, the whole conversation still going strong.
If anything, it looked like it wasn't going to end anytime soon.
Josh sighed. This was his brand-new crew.
Off to a great start…
Well, at least the brand-new tank was showing a great deal of promise already.
Tuckerman gently patted the Easy-Eight on the turret. "Well, Ace, something tells me you're gonna go far."
And he hoped that feeling was right.