The men of St Gloriana

by AngloSamurai

What if the schools had their male counterparts? After the victory of Oorai in the 63rd nationals and then against University Selection, the male side of the schools start to become more prominent, having always existed but always been overshadowed by the female teams and placed in a separate league, now there are attempts at making a co-ed league. Focus on StG

5. Chapter 5

A/N

Thank you everyone, who has followed/favorited the story thus far. I hope you're enjoying reading it as I am enjoying writing it! and a special thank you to the people who have left reviews, they really help me continue writing and give me a tonne of motivation. I won't be adding smut into this as I am terrible at writing it, so sorry to everyone who was expecting that, but things might get a bit heated every now and again

St Gloriana Male team lineup

Overall Commander – Henry "Iron Duke" Fordwaith, Comet I.

His Crew- Timothy Perkins (Turret operator/Machine gunner and Henry's Batman), Richard "Dick" Price (Gunner), Richard "Richie" Warrington (Driver), Arthur Price (Operator/Loader

4x Valentine Mk XI- John Axton, George Bradford, Russell Graham, Edward Langdon

2x A30 SP Avenger's – Walter Payton, Philip Oakley

1x 3-inch Gun Carrier – Clarence Norton

4x Mark V Cromwell - Reuben Hamilton, Amos Fawcett, Matthew Davenport, Percy Browning

The St Gloriana tank shed

Henry cast his eyes over the men gathered in the shed, he was stood on his Comet and in front of him milling around where his commanders. The Valentines; John Axton, George Bradford, Russell Graham and Edward Langdon. Axton and Graham were fairly new to the team, whereas the others had been on it since Henry had started, thus balancing out that squad in terms of experience. The Anti-Tank group; Walter Payton and Philip Oakley on the commanding the team's two Avengers and Clarence Norton, the command of the 3-Inch Gun Carrier, a role he never stopped complaining about, but Henry knew he loved it really. Finally, the Cromwell band; Reuben Hamilton, Amos Fawcett, Matthew Davenport and Percy Browning. Davenport is considered the second-best commander on the squad and the others weren't too shabby themselves. They are the commanders of Rosehips Crusader platoon were well known for their mischievous antics both on and off the field.

Henry cleared his throat loudly, garnering the attention of the men. "I apologise for dragging you all out here during lunch, but last night our dear Intelligence service brought me the latest information on the BC Freedom team, so pay close attention."

Henry's crew moved around the shed, handing pieces of paper out to the gathered commanders. Small bursts of conversation broke out as they digested the information on the paper.

"Sir, this is a lot of armour on here." Spoke Bradford, "Are you sure we can do this?"

"Patience Bradford, don't give in to fear so easily" Henry winked at him, as he stammered to himself and flushed bright red.

"ARL-44s….do we know what variant Sir? The female team uses the long-barrelled ones if I recall correctly." That was Davenport.

"Well, Assam guessed that they are the ACL-1 version, which we can assume to be correct as, like you say, the female team uses the other type, and as we all know the schools don't like both teams using the same tanks."

Nods of agreement and murmurs of support came from the crowd, "So, you're probably all eager to hear how we will deal with this considerably heavy line up." Henry dropped down from the Comet and motioned for the commanders to clear a space. Then he nodded to his crew and they lay down a large printed map in the middle of the space and placed rocks on the corners of it to hold it down.

"Now, we don't know the terrain just yet, however, we do know the tactics that this team likes to employ. Much like ourselves, they like to model themselves off the Napoleonic era, of course being French instead of British. Thus, they follow a pattern similar to that of the French army from that period. They will send out their H39s as scouting tanks, to pepper us with shells in order to break up the formation and cause confusion, then they send in the B1s in a double line to smash their way through our tanks. Finally, the ARLs follow up to clean up the mess the B1s left behind them."

"Now, against a more stationary foe or a full-frontal charge, this tactic is impeccable. I watched a replay of them playing against Chi-Ha Tan, and they annihilated them as expected. Our plan will be hard on both the Valentines and the Anti-Tank lot, whilst the Cromwells follow my lead."

Henry's crew ran forward and began placing models on the map, "Here we see the BC freedom team, advancing towards what they think is our main force." Tim placed down the Anti-Tank group, "The anti-tank squad's primary role is to provide effectively blanket artillery, supported by the Valentines on both flanks to keep the H39s away. The key point to this is to remain in a fixed position, thus luring in the BC lot."

Richie and Arthur pushed the BC models forward towards the St Gloriana models, "Now here is the important part, when the B1s come within firing range, the squad must slow retreat, still facing the enemy. Now I know this is a change to our usual gung-ho attitude but that comes later."

The crew continued to push the models around, "Sun Zu says let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt, hopefully our enemy will now be confused as to why we've not charged at them yet, this is when the retreat stops and we start pushing. The Cromwells and I will then strike from the rear and side, taking out the ARLs first. Whilst the rest of you focus on stopping the others from turning to help. Myself and Davenport will then take on the flag tank and end the match like that."

"I cannot stress this enough; our benefactors will be watching this match as always and thus we cannot lose this. I have faith in each and every one of you and your crews that we can pull this off…. For St Gloriana!"

"FOR ST GLORIANA!" The assembled men cheered, startling a cat that had been resting on the barrel of the Churchill, as it gave a frightened meowl and scampered off.

Once the cheering had died down, Henry stood back on the Comet, "Thank you gentlemen, we have two weeks until the match, so I expect all of you to train hard and make sure your crews understand their roles, the meeting is adjourned. Good day to you all."

The Commanders all saluted in unison, then split off into their various platoons and wandered off out of the shed. As the sound of their chatter faded into the background, Henry sank down onto his Comet and let out a tired sigh.

"You ok Henry?" Arthur stood in front of him as the others cleaned up the map and models

"Fine, thanks Arthur. Just overworked, I'm glad to see your brother survived the murder attempt last night."

Richard blushed and winced as he stood up too quickly, "Back trouble Dick?"

"You could say that…" he muttered

"I don't think they treat that particular kind of back pain in the hospital," Richie said with a wide grin on his face.

"Yeah, well at least I didn't break the bed last night and wake everyone up in the house"

Henry burst out laughing, "Wait you and Rosehip broke the bed? Good God man you weren't kidding about her taking out frustrations on you"

"What can I say, I shouldn't have complained beforehand"

The group shared a laugh again, before they began to wander towards the exit. Henry, however, caught a flash of blonde hair behind a Cromwell, "Take the rest of the stuff to my office chaps, I'll see you at the house later."

"Alright Henry, see you around." The others began to move off across the parade ground towards the Commanders huts. Henry paced over towards Cromwell, as he was about to turn the corner, an elegant hand came out and pulled him along by his school blazers neck. Startled, he grabbed the hand and pulled Darjeeling out of the shadows cast by the tanks

"You really need to stop lurking."

"What can I say, I enjoy listening to your voice when you get worked up."

"Why are you here? I thought you'd be in the tea room with the others."

"Ah, well I was just making some last-minute checks on the tanks and thinking about upgrades when you came gallivanting in, so I thought I'd surprise you."

Henry smirked, "A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."

Darjeeling was taken aback, "Are you using Star Wars quotes to flirt with me."

He took upon the look of innocence, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, shut up" She grinned and pulled him down for a kiss.

Henry was content to let them stay like that for a minute, softly moving lips against each other, before wrapping his arms around her waist and hoisting her in the air so their heads were level.

Darjeeling let out a surprised shriek, as her tight clad legs automatically wrapped themselves around his hips, "HAL! Some warning please."

"Consider that payback for last night."

"The movie or me walking in on you?"

"Both."

They both chuckled, before re-engaging their lips, this time more aggressively. Henry nipped at her lower lip, pulling a breathless moan from her, before running his tongue over it.

Darjeeling retaliated in turn before they engaged in a duel of tongue and teeth. This continued for a while before they both pulled back for breath. Chests heaving against each other. "We're not doing this in a tank shed."

"And I suppose it's technically still the school day…. later at yours?"

"How presumptuous of you!"

"That's why you keep me around."

"I suppose it is, now let me down."

Henry chuckled as he let his girlfriend back down to the floor, "Very well, I guess I can fall for your roguish charms this time, we'll continue this later Hal."

Henry straightened out his uniform, the men's consisted of a Blue Blazer with the St Gloriana logo above the heart, a white shirt with the blue tie, black trousers, and black leather shoes.

"Your tie is loose Darling" he quickly tightened it to its usual perfection, before looping her back in for another soft kiss. She allowed it to continue for a few moments before pushing against his chest, "I meant it when I said later, I fear if we continue here now we'll be caught in a -very- compromising position, and I really do not want Assam holding that above my head for the rest of my life."

Henry laughed again, "Oh the others would not let me live that down, come on then. You go first I go first?"

"You go, I'll follow in a few minutes"

"Alright, take care." He brought her right hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss onto it, before turning back around and making his way outside, where he was greeted by his crew all of whom were sporting the same shit-eating grin.

"Not a bloody word, or I'll have your hides for breakfast."

"Take Arthur first, he's gotten fat recently."

"You take that back, -Timothy-." Arthur put on a falsetto

Tim stuttered, "How- no I don't want to know."

"You might want to tell Pekoe to invest in a quieter indoor voice."

Henry cuffed Arthur over the head, "You leave my batman alone fatso"

"Oi!" the indignant loader cried, as the rest of the crew chortled at his expense.

Darjeeling watched them leave from inside the shed, as her phone buzzed in her pocket, flicking it open she saw a text from Assam 'have fun?' followed by a winking emoji. She quickly typed back a response, 'have I ever told you, that you are far, far too good at what you do?'. She shook her head and smiled to herself as she meandered cheerfully out of the shed.