Nilgiri sat in her tank, looking to her crew. Her loader was busy rapidly reloading the 2 pounder gun on the Matilda, as the breach rapidly opened and closed. Her gunner, eyes on the enemy below, adjusted the gun slightly after every shot, adjusting for the recoil while the driver slowly backed off to prevent the tank from falling down the cliff. Suddenly, she heard an explosion near her tank. Peering through the small vision slits, she could not see anything through the narrow field of view, so she climbed out of the tank. To her shock and horror, the neighboring Crusader was up in flames, as a shell flew past her and struck the Churchill on the opposite side, bouncing off the thick armour. Looking behind her, she could see the shape of a Stuart light tank rushing towards her, sliding itself between her tank and the destroyed Crusader.
"Gunner, traverse right now!" she yelled at her gunner, who began to turn the heavy turret of the Matilda. "Driver," she yelled to her confused crew. "Full reverse, get us out of here."
The tank lurched, as power from the engine was forced into the transmission, and the tank began to move slowly backwards. But alas, the Stuart had locked its gun with the exposed turret ring of the Matilda, before firing. Its 37mm shell is more than enough to disable the Matilda at point blank range. Nilgiri looked out, to see her white flag pop out, signifying her tank's destruction, as a voice called out from within.
"Commander, the gears are stuck!" the driver yelled towards Nilgiri, as she entered her disabled tank again.
"Of course they're stuck," she said to her confused driver. "We've been disabled."
She peered out of her vision slits again, to see the Stuart, as it fired it's cannon again, now towards the Churchill. Moments later, an explosion shook Nilgiri as the Stuart that disabled her tank was hit by two shells, before tipping over from the impact of the shells. A second Stuart drove straight past Nilgiri, as it headed for the bridge, towards the oblivious Matilda there.
"Ignore the Matilda. Head straight for the Churchill," Victoria ordered her driver, Tanami, as she engaged the clutch, changing the gears, increasing the speed of the light tank. Poking her head out of the tank, she could see the wreck of Eyre's Stuart, as the massive 75mm gun of the Churchill began to turn towards her. Driving past the Matilda on the bridge, Victoria could see the commander's hatch on the Matilda close as Rukuriri entered her tank again, its turret slowly turned to face the Stuart. Desperation began to appear on Victoria's face, as the Churchill's gun continued to aim at the light tank, yelling at her driver to increase speed. Pressing down on the clutch pedal, Tanami changed the gears, taking the tank to maximum speed, as they zoomed off the bridge and onto the opposing ridge, where the Churchill sat, its turret still turning. Engaging the clutch of the right track, the right track stopped moving. The treads lost grip on the sandy surface as the tank began to drift around the back of the Churchill, before Tanami released the clutch again, parking the tank next to the Churchill and Matilda, the latter completely oblivious to the enemy. The small turret quickly repositioned itself, as Gibson loaded a shell into the breech in the small turret. The gun locked onto the weak turret ring of the Matilda, and fired its gun. An explosion filled the gun sight as the sound of a white flag popping out echoed through the air, signalling the tanks destruction.
"Gunner, fire on that tank next to Darjeeling-sama!" shouted Rukuriri, as she grabbed her radio microphone. "Driver!" she yelled over the internal radio. "Turn left and head for Darjeeling-sama. We cannot let that tank destroy the Churchill." Rukuriri received a call of confirmation from her driver, as the tank began to shift, before the tank stabilised as they began to move. Suddenly, she felt a shock as the tank rocked about, throwing the crew around, before coming to a halt. Climbing out of the tank, Rukuriri scanned the area, before seeing the Sentinel below that she targeted with its gun aimed at her tank, smoking. Hearing a popping sound, she realised what had happened, as a shell was lodged into the side of the Matilda. A white flag popped out from its port, as the tank completely stopped, its engine dead. Rukuriri looked to her commander's tank, and just over the tank's chassis, she could see the enemy, sitting right next to the flag tank.
Climbing out of the tank, Victoria slid down the sloped front plate of her M3A3, before grabbing the tow hook. Yanking it, she freed it from its position and ran to the front of the enemy tank, only around a metre off the edge of the cliff, before hooking the tow hook onto the front of the Churchill. Looking up, she could barely see the turret over the hull of the heavy infantry tank, as the gun turned towards the Stuart. Racing back, she quickly climbed into the cramped turret, designed for only two people despite the three they had put in, before grabbing her radio.
"Everyone, buckle up! This is gonna be a bumpy ride!" she yelled over the internal radio. "Tanami! You know what to do!"
Darjeeling sat in the commander's position of her heavy tank, as a slow low pitch whirring sound was created from the electronic drive of the turret. Looking out of the side vision slits, she saw the enemy tank sitting next to her own, its gun facing her own tank.
"The gun will take another three seconds to traverse, Darjeeling-sama," her gunner Assam said, as she stared down the sight of the 75mm gun. Next to her, the tank's loader opened the tank's breech, before placing in an armour piercing shell. Darjeeling sipped some tea from her teacup, as she thought of the predicament she found herself in. The two Stuarts must have had some well trained and skilled crews, for they were able to disrupt her entire task force. She turned her head to face the Stuart. 'Whoever drove that tank had serious skill, being able to outmaneuver the gun of her tank, the gunner must have had considerable experience and skill to be able to disable the Matilda next to her, a tank known for their thick armour,' she thought. From the vision slits, she could see the open hatch of the Stuart V, as the gun was nearly aimed onto the light tank. The tank suddenly rocked as she could see the tank begin to move forward, toward the cliff edge.
"Ruhuna, why are we moving forwards?" she asked her driver. "Full reverse, now,"
A faint voice called out from the hull section, before Ruhuna activated the internal radio. "I'm already reversing. Something is pulling the tank down."
Climbing out of the tank to assess the situation, Darjeeling dropped her tea cup, smashing into a dozen pieces on the roof of the Churchill, as she saw the Stuart next to her now off the edge of the cliff, with its tow hook hooked onto the Churchill.
The change in orientation had thrown her crew around the tank, as the three of them fell to the front of the tank, now the floor. Narrowly missing Tanami, the driver, Victoria landed on the front hatch of the tank, almost buckling under her weight, while her other turret crew fell on each other in the empty machine gun section. Climbing up from the drivers section, Victoria placed her foot on the seat of the driver, stabilising herself as she opened the hatches on the turret, now on the side. Leaning out, she could see the Churchill, desperately trying to stay on the cliff, its tracks scraping the rocky ridge. The tracks of the Churchill continued to slip, as the engine and transmission began to groan under the weight of the Stuart pulling it down. Grabbing onto the turret, Victoria began to turn it using the electronics and her own strength, as the tank began to hug the side of the cliff. The tow hook extended only a few metres out, already showing signs of damage as the turret of the Stuart began to turn, eventually facing the Churchill. Aiming at the driver's area, Victoria readjusted the gun, aiming it at the rock where the Churchill's tracks desperately tried to keep the tank from falling, before firing. The gun discharged the small 37mm shell as well as gases created, as the breech automatically opened, nearly slamming into Victoria. The solid shell flew only a few metres, before striking the rocks, shattering it completely, as the Churchill lost its grip. The hulking behemoth was now airborne above the Stuart, as the light tank hit a rock, changing its orientation multiple times as it tumbled down the cliff. Victoria was thrown around the tank, along with the rest of her crew, before the rocking and falling finally stopped. Sitting up, she could see that both her driver and gunner were knocked unconscious from the fall, while her loader had serious bruises all over her body. The shells began to fall out of their trays and storage, as the fall had damaged the straps keeping them down, while the carbon coating began to see some tear. Victoria placed her hand on the bruised area of her head, before feeling a freezing sensation. Looking at her hand, she could see blood covering it. Too tired or weak to do anything, she ignored her bleeding head and lied back down onto the cold metal floor of the tank.
Wallaby sat in her Sentinel, as her crew watched the two tanks tumble down the cliff. Her entire crew were dumbstruck, as her loader dropped the two pounder shell she was holding. A huge dust cloud was created from all the rocks and dust kicked up into the air from the falling tanks. As the dust began to fall to the ground, her loader picked up the dropped shell before placing it into the empty breech of the two pounder gun. The dust cloud finally settled, revealing the heavy damaged Churchill, its turret almost completely dislodged from the turret ring, alongside the white-flagged Stuart.
"Fire!" Wallaby shouted to Platypus, as she moved the gun towards the damaged Churchill. The gun sight lined up dead centre on the damaged tank before discharging, striking the hull and kicking up a dust cloud. Wallaby looked to her crew, as each crew member showed some shock that they had just disabled the flag tank of St. Gloriana, before Wallaby climbed out of the tank to assess the damage. Suddenly, she heard the distinctive whir of the Churchill's mechanically driven turret. The dust finally settled, revealing the 75mm gun of the Churchill aimed directly at the Sentinel.
"Driver, reverse!" Wallaby desperately yelled to her driver as the gun of the Churchill hovered over the enemy flag tank, before firing, its 75mm shell striking the side of the Sentinel, nearly flipping the tank. Climbing out, Wallaby could see the white flag of her own tank, as gases left the damaged barrel of the Churchill. Over a loudspeaker, she could hear the voice of the sensha-do judge.
"Koala Forest flag tank is disabled. St. Gloriana has won."