The air became cloudy as shells detonated around the Sentinel, kicking up sand and dispersing it around the tank as it drove off the sandy ridge, and towards the open plains, with the Grants following close behind. The track marks from the three fleeing tanks stained the ridge surface, before disappearing under a hail of shells. Ordering Platypus to open fire at the pursuing tanks, Wallaby could feel the turret basket of her tank move as her gunner slowly turned the turret towards the back of the tank, locking the gun onto the pursuing Crusader. Through the narrow vision slits, Wallaby could see the Crusader and its 57mm gun aimed at her tank, before firing. The 6 pound shell flew towards the Sentinel, overshooting the tank and striking the ground in front of it, kicking up dust in front of them, blinding the driver, as she engaged the clutch, speeding up the tank. The two pounder gun of the Sentinel discharged, wildly overshooting its target as the breech opened, nearly slamming into Wallaby, before the loader placed another shell into it, and closed the breech. Climbing out of her tank, she scanned the area around her. The two Grants had made their escape with her, their light 37mm gun turned to face the pursuing enemy, while the larger 75mm infantry support gun remained locked in place. The Stuarts were nowhere in sight however, and this worried her, as without them, she was almost blind. A voice called out from inside the turret and Wallaby entered the tank, closing the hatch.
"Commander," Platypus shouted over the loud Cadillac engines. "The enemy tank has broken off and is retreating."
"Good work," Wallaby said to her crew. "Driver, turn left and get us out of here."
She picked up her radio microphone, and switched the radio to the correct frequency. "All tanks, move to Point A," she ordered over the microphone, receiving hails of confirmation from the two voices of the Grant commanders, but none from her missing Stuarts. "Victoria, Eyre, respond." Receiving only static as an answer, the tank made a sharp turn that made Wallaby drop her microphone. "Goddamnit! You idiots!" Wallaby yelled, slamming the microphone back in place, before it fell down again. "It was bad enough that you disobeyed orders in training, but now you're ignoring orders in an actual match."
Wallaby felt a warm hand on her knees, and saw Platypus, no longer manning the gun. From the looks of the other girls' faces, Wallaby had guessed that none of them had ever seen her this angry, usually being very composed and calm, if not a bit carefree. Somehow, the very touch from Platypus had calmed her down, and she picked up the fallen microphone and gently placed it back into its position. Now climbing out of the tank for a better view, Wallaby could see the two trailing Grants as her tank finally entered the flat plains that laid in front of the rocky ridge line.
The breech of the small 37mm gun opened, as gas was expelled from the shell casing, into Gibson's face, as she quickly removed the hot shell casing and placed in a fresh shell. Suddenly the tank jerked to the right, as Tanami desperately tried to correct the tank's course. Shells exploded around the tank, fired from the Matildas to their rear. A shell exploded in front of Victoria's tank, kicking up dust into the small driver's vision slit, temporarily blinding Tanami as dust lodged itself in her eyes. Grabbing her microphone, Victoria called the neighboring Stuart, manned by Eyre and her crew.
"Eyre, come in." She received nothing over the radio before trying to call her again. "Eyre, come on, respond." She put her microphone down, not getting an answer, and climbed out of the tank. Behind her, she could see the Matildas, slowly pursuing them, firing their 2 pounder guns. Turning around, she could see the problem with her radio, as the antenna was completely torn off, presumably from weapons fire. The leading Matilda fired its 40mm gun, the shell flying across the battlefield, before striking the neighboring Stuart. The shot only glanced off the turret of the Stuart, leaving a scorch mark and a considerable dent on the small turret. Leaning over the turret, she gripped the external smoke grenade launcher, before firing it. Two small black projectiles flew through the air, before arching and falling back to the ground, releasing a cloud of smoke in its wake. Eyre did the same with her smoke grenades, however, they launched the wrong way and detonated in front of their tanks. Smoke blocked out any vision from the drivers viewing port, as the two tanks drove on blind. Eyre, realizing her mistake, quickly entered her tank, sparing herself and her crew from the smoke, however Victoria realized too late, and was consumed by the smoke. The inside of the tank quickly filled up with gas, as gases from the used shell casings and the smoke quickly fogged up the tank, creating a suffocating atmosphere. Victoria retreated into the tank, trapping the smoke inside, as her crew began to cough. The main gun stopped firing as Simpson began to cough into her arms, and Gibson dropped her shell onto the turret basket floor instinctively to cover her mouth and nose.. The tank began to shift, as the smoke began to dissipate, before the air finally cleared. The turret crew quickly opened all the hatches of the M3A3, smoke escaping from the inside of the tank into the air around them. Now relieved by the clearance of the smoke, Victoria emerged from inside the tank, and looked towards the other Stuart, now slowing down. Seeing this, she went back into the tank.
"Tanami, drop the speed to 10 km/h, but get us close enough to Eyre's Stuart." Victoria received a call of confirmation from her driver, as she felt the tank decelerate. Opening a top hatch, she climbed out of the tank. Eyre's tank had now completely stopped and Victoria gave the order for the tank to stop to her driver, before completely exiting the tank and walking over to the M3A1 parked next to her. Emerging from the stationary tank, Eyre hopped from the turret and landed on the soft sand, before walking up to Victoria.
"Why the hell did you not respond? We tried to radio you." she said.
Victoria looked to her damaged tank, before pointing to where the antenna used to be. "Antenna's busted. Did you have any luck contacting the captain or the Grants?" she asked.
Eyre shook her head, before a voice called out from inside her tank. Poking her head out of the tank, Murray yelled out to her commander. "Radio's dead. That's why you couldn't reach anyone. If I had to guess, it's because of that glancing shot." The two commanders looked to each other, now knowing the critical condition they are in. Two scout tanks, cut off from the main force, with no way to call for help.