Immediately, I drew my PPSh-41 and pointed it at them.
They all put their hands up.
"Wait! Don't shoot!" said the guy in the middle, who was probably their leader.
"Yeah, we're with you!" said the guy to his right, a slightly shorter man.
"What do you mean you're with me!?" I asked. "Hell, I'm not with anybody! Besides, this war's over as far as I'm concerned!"
"The war's not over yet, soldier!" replied the leader.
"Look, do you see what I did back there!? Do you have any idea who those people were!? My mission is complete! We can go home for all I care!"
"No, not yet! You've still got a lot of work ahead of you! We can help you!"
"He's right, man!" said the third guy, who was around the same height as the guy on the leader's right.
"And why should I believe you!?" I asked.
"We've seen some of your feats," replied the leader. "Heard stories. We know you've had some tough times, but that's why we're here. If you join us, we can finish this war together!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, we are absolutely sure."
"Do you swear to this?"
"Yes! Now please, put the gun away!"
"Do you swear on your life that this is true?"
"Yes! Now put the gun down!"
Hmmm…these Americans were quite persistent.
They sure seem like they're telling the truth, but there's still a very small part of me that doesn't seem to want to believe them.
Besides, what did I have to lose by accepting this offer?
Even if they were lying, well…I'd already gotten away from one company's base, and I'm sure I could get away from theirs!
Nah, they probably were telling the truth.
I lowered my PPSh-41 and said, "OK, I accept."
The Americans put their hands down, and their leader said, "Very well, then."
"Sorry I pointed my gun at you," I said. "I just had to be sure that you were telling the truth!"
"It's OK, we figured you might not believe us," said their apparent leader, "Not everybody believes us. However, not everybody made such an impolite introduction, either."
OK, I admit that it may have been a little heavy-handed, but as they always say, better safe than sorry.
"My name is Major Larry Boyesen, United States Army," said the leader, "I am the leader and founder of a clan called Yayax Squad. These are my deputy commanders: Captain Jonathan Lambert…"
He pointed to the guy on the right first.
"…and Captain Bryan Deveraux." he said, pointing to the guy on the left.
We all exchanged handshakes and greetings.
"What's your name?" asked Boyesen.
"I don't have one" I replied.
"You don't have a name?" said Lambert.
"No, I don't."
"Why not?" asked Deveraux. "Everyone's got a name! I'm sure you've got one, too!"
"Believe me, Captain Deveraux, I really don't have a name!"
"I also think you have a name!" said Lambert.
After a couple of seconds, Lambert said, "Wait, Bryan, didn't his tank have a name? I can't remember, but I'm sure it had a name!"
"It was Goliath," replied Deveraux. "Hey, maybe that's your name!"
"You're not the first one to say that," I said. "Unfortunately, you're wrong. My name isn't important."
"Well, whatever your name is, we have to get going now!" said Boyesen. "We don't have much time before someone else enters this area!"
"OK," I replied, "just let me repair Goliath and I'll come with you!"
"There's no time!" said Boyesen. "We've got to go!"
"Please? I promise this won't take long!"
"It's too risky, soldier! Besides, you won't need that machine anymore!"
"Major, this machine is like a friend to me! I beg of you, please allow me to repair it!"
After a few seconds, Boyesen replied: "Well…all right, but please hurry up! We don't have much time!"
"Thank you very much, sir!" I replied.
"You're welcome, I suppose. Lambert, Deveraux, establish a perimeter! Tell us if anybody's coming!
"Sir, yes sir!" The two deputies re-started their tanks and went to defend us while I worked on Goliath.
Due to Major Boyesen's warnings, I had to expedite Goliath's repairs.
As a result of this, I skipped on repairing certain parts of the tank for now, such as the mine dropper control switch.
Luckily, no other enemy forces arrived during this time.
"There…it's finished!" I said.
"Impressive!" said Boyesen. "With talents like yours, you could be a major asset to Yayax Squad!"
"Thank you" I replied, "But what is a 'Yayax', Major Boyesen?"
"No time for that now, soldier! We've got to move!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
We immediately decamped and started heading for Yayax Squad's headquarters.
I stayed in the back of the group.
However, Goliath's engine wasn't doing so well.
I could occasionally hear it backfire, not to mention that my old friend was running pretty roughly.
Maybe I should've spent more time on repairs.
In any case, Goliath's engine held together until we reached Yayax Squad's headquarters, which, if I paid attention correctly, was somewhere near the border of Italy and Germany.
The headquarters was located in an old castle, which – barring the barbed wire, searchlights and some fixed guns – didn't even look like a military HQ.
We stopped for a moment while Boyesen gave some secret signal, then proceeded when the drawbridge was lowered, allowing us past the huge wall.
Inside, I got another surprise when I saw part of the ground open up to reveal a ramp that went underground!
I followed Boyesen and his deputies underground.
Yayax Squad must've had good foresight, too, because the opening was tall enough for Goliath to come through.
Underground, we came to a concrete bunker that served as the motor pool.
There weren't a lot of tanks here, but they had some high-tech equipment here, including an IS-6, JagdTiger, E-50, and other tanks from the four major powers.
As far as I could see, nothing here was of a lower tech level than Tier Six.
With Boyesen, Lambert and Deveraux parked here, there were two empty spots left, so I parked Goliath in one of them and shut off the engine.
Boyesen and his deputies then approached me as I got out.
"OK," said Boyesen, "Now that we're here, I'd like…"
Suddenly, Boyesen was interrupted as Goliath's engine caught fire!
"FIRE! FIRE!" shouted Lambert and Deveraux.
I sprung into action and started looking for a fire extinguisher.
Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to re-stock Goliath with fresh extinguishers, so I had to look around the garage for one.
Boyesen and the others went to look for one as well.
Thankfully, I got one from the garage and suppressed the flames before they got out of control.
"Aw man, I was going to get some marshmallows!" joked Deveraux.
I was not in the mood for that sort of thing, so I stared at him for a second before putting the extinguisher back.
"OK," said Boyesen, "Now that we're here and this emergency has been taken care of, I'd like to show you around. Please come with us."
I followed Boyesen and the others as they took me on a tour of their headquarters.
Our first stop was the armory, which not only contained small arms and anti-tank weapons, but also tank ammunition.
The walls were lined with various charts and diagrams: Tank types, inventory listings, notices on handling munitions, gun blueprints, etc…
At the desk, there was a German seated here.
"This is Hauptman Conrad Thalberg, our quartermaster" said Boyesen.
"How do you do?" said Thalberg, who got up from his chair to shake my hand.
Not wanting to be impolite, I shook his hand and said, "Hi there."
Underneath my face shield, however, I had nothing but a cold stare for him.
I never trusted the Germans in the first place, and I was not very enthused by the prospect of working on the same team as any of them.
On the other hand, I suppose that Major Boyesen can keep them in line.
Speaking of the good major, he continued the tour and brought me to another room, which had a couple of large computers.
Despite the sheer mass of these machines, they could be controlled using display units that were no larger than a radio.
They could also be manipulated using a typewriter-style control mechanism.
Overseeing the whole operation was a Soviet officer whom I immediately recognized.
"This is Capitan Nikolai Kolbasyev, our chief intelligence officer and recruiter," said Boyesen.
"Hey, I remember you!" exclaimed Kolbasyev. "It's good to see you again!"
"Good to see you too!" I said as I shook his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you earlier, comrade!"
"It's all right," replied Kolbasyev, "Considering the circumstances you were in, I wouldn't have believed it, either!"
"Kolbasyev told us about your escape from the Red Wolves," added Boyesen.
"Yeah, that was great stuff!" chimed in Lambert.
"Now do you see why we've been expecting you?" asked Boyesen.
"Yes," I replied, "but why me? Why not some other tanker?"
"Because," replied Boyesen, "we just happened to come across you. See, Yayax Squad is looking for recruits with good equipment and proficient tank skills, and when we saw you in battle, we decided to check you out. Ordinarily, we choose not to interfere when one of our prospects is engaged in battle, but if we feel that they really are valuable and they appear to be in great danger, then we might just take action."
"Wait, so you're telling me that you saved my life when I was capturing that KV-3 at Murovanka?" I replied.
"Yes," said Boyesen.
"And you guys also saved me from the Telemark Expeditionary Force back in Norway!?"
"That's right."
"We almost lost you in the snowstorm back there!" said Lambert.
"Well, thanks, I suppose," I replied. "Now, are you also going to tell me that you are the mysterious benefactors who gave…"
"Yes, soldier, we're the ones who gave you the T-150 and KV-1," said Boyesen. "We wanted to reward you for going above and beyond by capturing that KV-3."
"Hold it," I said, "are you actually saying that you people went into MY hideout!?"
"Yes, we did," replied Boyesen.
I was absolutely shocked!
My hideout was supposed to be a sanctuary – a place where I could take care of my tank and myself without getting shot at or blown up!
Yet these people went on in like it was nothing!
Noticing my silence, Boyesen added: "If it makes you feel any better, we didn't touch anything in your hideout and we didn't take anything. In fact, we had some of our best tankers establish a perimeter around your home!"
"He's right," said Deveraux, "we left everything alone!"
"Yeah! We can testify to that!" said Lambert.
Hmmm…on second thought, I didn't see anything missing or out of place after the parking spots for my new toys were installed, so I suppose they were right.
"Thank you," I said. "I feel good that you didn't touch anything. I suppose I can trust you."
"You're welcome, I'm glad that we can trust each other," replied Boyesen.
Having shown me this room, we continued our tour before finally ending up at the barracks.
In the barracks, there were already a few tankers here, including Oberleutnant Wilhelm Betzel of the German Army, Leytenant Magdalena Polyanskiy of my country's army, Oberleutnant Stefan Bergmann of the German army and Starshina Fyodor Tregubov of my country.
Tregubov seemed to recognize me, but I wasn't sure I'd seen him before until…
He pulled out something!
It was an Ace of Diamonds playing card!
"I'm glad you're alive!" I told Tregubov.
"The feeling is likewise, comrade!" he replied. "I shall enjoy fighting alongside you again!"
At this point, Boyesen spoke up:
"This is where our tour ends, soldier. You can do whatever you want for now, but be sure to report when called in, OK?"
"Yes, sir!"
Then, Boyesen and his deputies went away to attend to something else on the base.
Meanwhile, I told Tregubov, "I'll be going to the intelligence room. I'll be back soon, comrade."
"Very well," he replied.
After a little backtracking and trying to remember, I found the intelligence office.
"Pardon me, comrade," I said to Kolbasyev, "Would you mind if I looked up some information about tanks? I've encountered many of them, but I'm sure there are more."
"Permission granted," he replied. "Just don't give out this information to the wrong people, OK?"
"Affirmative!"
I'm fairly sure that Yayax Squad is not the only one with this sort of information, but I'll be sure not to give it out.
Anyways, my search returned some interesting results:
I found out about an American medium tank known as an M26 "Pershing", which was nicknamed by the British after an American general, John "Black Jack" Pershing.
Surprisingly, the Pershing had also been the basis for the T-series heavy tanks that I had seen, so why hadn't I seen the Pershing before?
That aside, I learned of another American medium, the M46 "Patton", named for one of America's best generals of this war.
Its choice of armaments included a 105mm T5E1M2.
Coincidentally, this was also the tank that Deveraux used.
The tank that Lambert drove was a T30, which was actually a heavy tank destroyer with a turret and was similar to the T29/T32/T36.
According to the entry for this tank, it was originally classified as a Tier Ten heavy tank, but had been reclassified as a Tier Nine tank destroyer.
Its armaments were the same ones as the Terrible 95.
The Tier Ten heavy tank for America was the T110E5, which resembled a smaller M103.
This tank was Boyesen's tank, too.
The databanks also mentioned a T110E3 and T110E4, but data on them was not much, the only real facts of note being that they were tank destroyers.
As for Germany, there wasn't much that I hadn't seen before, but I did find out about a new variant of the VK 4502, the "Ausf. B" variant, informally known as the "Hintern" variant.
This one had a Ferdinand-style arrangement with the engines in front of the turret, but aside from this and the choice of more powerful armament, it was principally similar to the VK 4502 Ausf. A "Vorne".
I also learned more about the E-100, which was classified as a Tier Ten heavy tank.
Aside from a 128mm gun, it could also mount a fearsome 155mm gun, which was probably not as accurate as the 128mm.
There was also a tank destroyer variant called the JagdPanzer E-100.
The database also had an incomplete entry on a Panzer VIII "Maus".
Little was known about it except that it was a Tier Ten heavy tank like the E-100.
Other incomplete entries included the E-50 Ausf. M, the Panzer IX & Panzer X.
France didn't have as many tanks that were new to me, but here's what they did have:
For their Tier Ten heavy tank, they had the AMX-50B, which followed the same design pattern as the AMX-50/100 and AMX-50/120, but used components from all countries.
When it came to tank destroyers, they had two based on the AMX M4 chassis: The AMX Anti-Char modèle 1946 & AMX Anti-Char modèle 1948.
There was also one based on the AMX-50, called the AMX-50 "Foch".
The armaments data suggested that it could carry a 155mm autoloader cannon, the thought of which made me sick.
As for SPGs, they had another Lorraine called the Lorraine 155 mod. 51, plus one based on the Bat-Chatillon's chassis, the Bat-Chatillon 155.
With technology like this, it makes me wonder when this war will really end.
Because I'd already acquired so much valuable intel during my escape from the Red Wolves, the Soviets didn't have a lot of missing pieces.
One of these was a T-54 medium tank, which resembled a T-44 with a dome-shaped turret.
Unlike the T-44, though, it was not available with a 122mm gun as a possible armament.
Another tank was a part of the IS series of heavy tanks: The IS-7.
The hull sort of resembled the IS-3's hull, but it had a new turret with a 130mm S-70 cannon.
The gun reminded me of a coastal artillery gun I'd seen once, which made me wonder what other Soviet tanks had naval artillery pieces mounted.
They also mentioned a new variant of the IS-4, also known as Object 701 No. 6
In contrast to my data on the IS-4, this one seemed to have thicker armor and also carried a new 122mm gun: The M62-T2.
Moving on to tank destroyers, they had an ISU-152 model 1945, also called Object 704.
I immediately recognized it as the tank that blew off Goliath's turret at Karelia!
Speaking of Goliath, I'd better attend to it soon.
There was an entry for another tank destroyer: Object 268, which had no data other than the name.
Having done all I wanted to for now, I decided to relax in the barracks.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.