Darjeeling sat comfortably in her tank, sipping tea with a recording of the British Grenadiers playing over the hum of the Bedford engine, running at a low capacity to power the stationary tank. Her trusty loader Orange Pekoe and her accurate gunner Assam sat next to her, refilling their teacups using the teapot stored inside the tank, while in the neighboring Matilda, Nilgiri waited in angst, stemming from her past experiences with sensha-do matches. Darjeeling heard a shifting sound from the hull section of the Churchill VII, as the driver Ruhuna climbed up to the turret compartment, to deliver her commander a message.
"The tanks we sent to pursue have returned, but weren't able to inflict any casualties, Darjeeling." Darjeeling peered out of the vision slits from the commander's position, seeing Rosehip riding the quick Crusader, wind blowing her hair everywhere, while Rukuriri and her Matilda escort followed close behind. Finally, the five tanks had been reunited. "Matildas," Darjeeling spoke through her radio microphone. "Stay here around me, Rosehip, I want you to scout out the enemy. Don't go too fast, or they will spot you, and do not fire at them, even when they are in your gun sights."
"OKAY DARJEELING-SAMA! I WILL FIND THE ENEMY WITH ELEGANCE!" Rosehip shouted over her microphone, as her tank quickly pivoted on its left track and raced down the ridge. Darjeeling sighed, before refilling her teacup with tea from the teapot.
Wallaby looked at her map from within the turret of the Sentinel. Tiny strips of light entered the tank through the vision slits, enough for her to read the map. The area was virtually split in two, one rocky ridge section overlooking a vast flat plain, with both the ridge and plain cut in half by a small river. For all she knew, the enemy was all over the ridge area watching their every move, and their scouts had disappeared, virtually blinding the main task force. Climbing out of her tank, she quickly organized her two remaining Grant commanders around an ad hoc command table. Placing the map on the front plate of her Sentinel, she pointed to the ridge shown on the map.
"The enemy has occupied this ridge, and we won't be able to fight them without being on the ridge as well. We cannot enter through the two entrances on this side of the playing field, since it is far too obvious and we will get spotted very easily, but if we follow the river, we might be able to surprise them from behind." She pointed to the girl in front of her, a short girl with brown hair and glasses. "Your Grant will be our vanguard, but don't go too far ahead otherwise you will be isolated. The Sentinel will be in the middle, and the other Grant will be at the rear. Prepare your crews to open fire as soon as possible, since we don't know where the enemy is." Her commanders nodded in agreement, before running back to their tanks and climbing in.
Closing the hatch, she instructed her driver to begin to move the tank towards the river, as the leading Grant slipped in front of her tank, and the second Grant moved in position behind the Sentinel. The three tanks moved almost in unison, with the exception of the rear Grant, which had trouble maintaining speed. Looking at the ridge, Wallaby could see a slight glint, before it disappeared. She knew what it was however. They had been spotted. Time was not on their side anymore, and they had to do their plan now. Wallaby picked up the radio microphone again.
"All units, follow the river until we reach the bridge."
The radio in the Churchill cackled to life, as a voice called over the radio.
"DARJEELING-SAMA! I HAVE FOUND THE ENEMY! THERE ARE THREE TANKS HEADING TOWARDS THE RIVER!"
Darjeeling picked up the microphone, and put down her teacup. "Rosehip, regroup with our forces at the bridge. All tanks, formation Bravo. You all know your places. A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." She put down the microphone, as the rumbles of the Bedford engine got louder. Her loader turned to her.
"That's General George S. Patton, Jr." said her loader. As per usual, Pekoe was spot on, especially with such a famous quote. The tank shifted, as Ruhuna guided the heavy infantry tank off the bridge and onto the cliff edge, alongside another Matilda, while Nilgiri's Matilda moved opposite the Churchill and parked itself next to Rosehip's Crusader, which came storming back at full speed. The only tank left on the bridge was Rukuriri, staring into the valley below. Now, all they could do is wait. For patience is a part of a woman's elegance.
The Stuarts drove up to an elevated location, as Eyre and Victoria exited their tanks and began to climb up the rocks. Victoria, having previous climbing experiences, quickly made her way to the peak of the rocky ridge, before extending her hand to help Eyre up as well. The two now went into a prone position, as they grabbed out their binoculars. Staring around aimlessly for a few minutes, Eyre was finally able to spot the St. Gloriana tanks, waiting on a ridge as another tank joined them.
"Looks like St. Gloriana is setting up a defensive line." Eyre commented.
"Knowing our commander, she's gonna drive along the river to the other side of the ridge to ambush them, which means that they're going to be cut to pieces trying to get passed that bridge." Victoria said. Eyre looked at the other commander putting her own binoculars down.
"We have to do something, right? I mean we can't tell them what's going on, but maybe we could be a distraction." Victoria shook her head, and continued to spy on the tanks at the bridge. Turning around, Eyre could see what the other girls were doing. Surprisingly, the two crews got along extremely well together, as Eyre could see Tanami from Victoria's crew desperately trying to arm wrestle Yarra's prosthetic arm, while Darling, and Gibson watched. Simpson sat atop Eyre's M3A1, chatting to Murray, who occasionally poked her head out from inside the tank. Suddenly, Victoria and Eyre heard faint gunfire coming from a distance away. Looking down, Victoria had assumed their crews had also heard it, as they quickly scrambled to their tanks. Victoria and Eyre quickly got up, before carefully but swiftly made their way to the base of the rocky peak, where their Stuarts were waiting for them. Climbing in, Victoria gave her driver instructions on how to reach the enemy, as Gibson loaded an armour piercing shell into the breech. The Stuarts began to move, quickly reaching their maximum speed as the Continental engine began to roar, creating a deafening sound. Victoria opened the hatch and poked her head out, and saw Eyre, fully exposed to the elements, as the two cavalry tanks rode to their final destination.
Wallaby looked through the small vision slits from her tank to the outside world, the leading Grant taking up much of the view. Looking towards the bridge, she could barely see anything clearly, however she felt like she had seen something out of the ordinary. Climbing out of her tank, she grabbed her binoculars, and pointed them to the stone bridge. Slowly, the binoculars began to focus. Finally focusing, she could see a glint of reflected light. She quickly climbed back into her tank and grabbed the microphone, as an explosion had vibrated through the tank.
"Enemy spotted on the bridge! All remaining tanks, fire at will!" Even through the narrow vision slits, she could see the leading Grant had taken several shots to its front armour, as the white flag popped out, signalling its destruction. A hail of shells rained upon the trapped force, as the rear Grant moved up to cover the flag tank, before a shower of tank shells slammed into the tank, disabling it. A small 2 pounder shell hit the top of the Sentinel, luckily ricocheting, as Wallaby desperately ordered her driver to move behind the Grant wrecks. The tanks on the ridge relentlessly fired at the lone flag tank, its shells kicking up a huge dust cloud, engulfing the entire river area. Yet, they did not pause, even for a moment.
Eyre, now standing on her position, peered out of the tank, and towards Victoria's M3A3, as the two tanks sped along. Dirt and sand kicked up behind them as the rubberized tracks allowed them to move at breakneck speeds. The two tanks began to climb a shallow slope, as Eyre entered her tank and closed the hatch. Now inside her metal beast, she looked to her crew. Calling over the internal radio, she told her driver Darling to increase to maximum speed. Darling, concentrated on driving the tank, went to change gears to deal with the increase in inclination and speed. Eyre looked to the rest of her crew. Her gunner Murray staring down the sights of the small 37mm gun, and the loader for the light 37, holding the small shell in her prosthetic arm. All of them knew what they had to do, and what would happen if they failed. Eyre sat up, and stared down the narrow vision slit in her commander's position, as the light tank finally crossed the crest of the hill, and a Crusader tank came into view. Taking a deep breath, she yelled out the order to fire