"We need to employ scout tactics, or that's going to happen again and we won't be so lucky."

Yukari gingerly touched her forehead. "Gotta say, I don't feel very lucky."

Midoriko walked over to the group, hand on her hip like she was ready to pull out her pistol. "I've got Private Isuzu loaded in. If I go now, I can get her back to base before this time tomorrow."

Maho looked up from the map. "Good. Leave us Konparu. Isuzu can fill in for her if you encounter hostiles, but I need a functional gunner."

Mallard Team's commander let out an annoyed sigh. "Not sure I'd call her functional, but if it's her you want, she's yours, Lieutenant."

"Okay, you should move out now." Maho turned back to Erwin, who was looking over a map of the Caucus Mountains by the light of a small lantern. Her impromptu command team had gathered for a meeting as the last of daylight vanished. "We don't have many options when it comes to scouts. I need suggestions."

Erwin shook her head. "The only thing I can think of is stopping periodically and sending out two or three people to see what's ahead before we continue. It'll take longer, but it'll be less dangerous. We'd need it to be people we can trust not to be spotted or lead the enemy back to our position."

Mako pointed at Erwin and Yukari. "Then I'd suggest not sending the tank twins. They're not exactly experts on stealth."

Neither of the girls in question had anything to say to that, so Maho turned to Mako. "Who do you suggest then?"

"Oryou, yourself, and either Hoshino or Suzuki." She paused as Mallard Team moved away, waiting for the sound of their engine to disappear into the distance, then explaining her choices. "There are thirteen of us. Take the top six, say, for stealth. Who would you rank at the top? Oryou, Lieutenant Nishizumi, myself, Nakajima, Hoshino, and Suzuki. Maybe Hana would have been a good choice, but we don't have her right now. Now, say we need three scouts. We want to minimize impact on the tanks while the scouts are away. One driver, one commander, and one loader or gunner. We also don't want to take more than one person from each tank."

Across the circle, Nakajima nodded. "I'd suggest Suzuki. In a pinch, I can fill in for her better than for Hoshino."

Erwin nodded. "I can drive the StuG if need be. Oryou will be our scout."

Maho stood up. "Fine then. That's what we'll do. Keep this position until we return. Where are Oryou and Suzuki?"

Erwin pointed to the StuG. "My team is taking a rest for now. I'll go get Oryou up."

"Do that." Maho turned to Nakajima. "I'm putting you in charge until I return. Don't let Private Reizei give you any of her shit. Don't defer to her."

Mako climbed up onto the Panzer IV H and looked down at them. "Seriously? I just gave you the best plan for scouting and the first thing you do is tell everyone not to listen to me?"

Nozomi took this moment to talk to Maho, walking up to her and saluting. "Ma'am. Private Sono told me I was filling in for Private Isuzu."

"Yes. Get inside and take a rest for now." She turned around to look up at the Panzer. "Akiyama, you're on first watch with Saemonza. Nakajima, I leave the rest up to you."

"Understood, ma'am." Nakajima returned to her tank and climbed up, sitting down on the back end.

Yukari got up and put her hand on Nozomi's shoulder. "Come on, let's get you properly settled in." They climbed up to the turret as Mako dropped into her seat and promptly fell asleep. Yukari stuck her head in and pointed at the gun controls. "Make yourself at home, but don't fire it off right now."

"I kind of thought that." She sat down, looking over the controls. "It's different, but I guess that's because it's a German design, not French. I think I can work it out, though."

Yukari smiled, then looked down toward the front of the tank where the radio was being repaired. "How's that coming along? Maho wants Suzuki out scouting."

Saori looked up in surprise, then over at Leopon Team's loader, who was helping her with the repairs. Really, Saori was the helper, handing her the pieces and tools she needed as she asked for them. She frowned. "But we're nowhere near done. How am I supposed to fix this myself?"

Suzuki sighed and shook her head, quickly twisting two wires together. "I've bypassed most of the damage. It should work, but it might not. Bullets make a radio's functionality questionable at best. Really, it needs replacement parts, but I've done just about the best that can be done with what I have. Get Hoshino to finish up. She should be able to figure out what's left to do, and then you just put it back together."

"Right, that'll be easy." Saori shook her head, indicating that, no, it wouldn't be easy.

Suzuki climbed out the hatch and hopped down to the ground. She found Maho and a sleepy Oryou waiting for her. "Reporting as ordered, ma'am. We're scouting?"

"Yes. Please don't get lost, and be back here by morning."

Suzuki held up her wristwatch. She pointed at the four different sections on its face. "Clock, compass, and barometer. Also another thing. I think it's either altitude or humidity, but I don't really use it."

Oryou squinted through her drowsiness. "You use a barometer?"

"I use it to avoid high-pressure situations!" She smiled victoriously, like she'd been waiting to use that joke.

Maho was unamused. "We want to make sure we're not all scouting the same area. I want us to go South, but we may need to go around some things. I want you two to scout to the Southwest and Southeast."

Oryou raised her hand. "I'll take Southwest."

Suzuki stretched her arms over her head, then leaned over forward and touched her fingertips to the toes of her boots. She came back up and took a deep breath. "Alright. You go deeper into hostile territory, I go closer to the border. Equal risks for all those involved."

"Then arm up and let's go."

There were no lights visible anywhere around her. Suzuki was glad, as this generally meant there was no one around. She hadn't found anything, and that meant it was a clear route for the platoon. She hadn't seen or heard any settlements or roads, which meant they were still well off the beaten path. It also meant that this would be a perfect place for artillery emplacements who had gone rogue from their government to hide.

Despite the lack of light, she could actually see reasonably well. Since there was no light pollution from the ground, the stars and the moon lit everything up instead. Climbing up another rocky ridge, she was able to not only see a good path for the tanks to get past the ridge, but also to determine that the ridge itself would make for a good place to stop for cover. She could also see the shimmering light of the moon reflecting off a lake down the other side of the ridge.

Looking down at her wristwatch, she clicked the button on the side that lit it up with a light blue glow. According to the clock, she'd been away for three hours. It would be time to start heading back in another hour at the most. She was fairly certain she'd kept track of the compass and where she'd gone. Pulling down her other sleeve, she checked her second wrist device. The GPS display wasn't any good, telling her it couldn't find a satellite to connect to. Frowning, she covered it up again with her sleeve and headed for the lake.

It was more of a pond, really, barely a hundred feet across. She knelt down at the water's edge, still debating in her head over the likelihood that it wasn't clean water. She was about to throw caution to the wind and fill up her canteen, which was running on empty, when she noticed something else reflecting the moonlight. It was on the other side of the water, standing several meters tall, with one long appendage jutting up at the sky at an angle. The entire mass, some twelve meters long, was covered in a thick net that, to anyone looking down from the air, would make it difficult to tell apart from the water around it.

Suzuki clicked the button on her watch, turning off the light, and clipped her canteen back onto her belt. She wasn't close enough to positively identify it, but if it wasn't the artillery they were looking for, then she was starting to see things. She briefly considered turning back and reporting it, but she couldn't do that while she didn't know if she was seeing it correctly. There was always the possibility that it was a fake, or an old abandoned vehicle, too. She had to get closer, which meant more risk, which meant she had to be careful about how she approached.

She had a rifle, which Maho had made sure she was carrying, but she couldn't use that either. She had no way of knowing what she was facing here. There could be another emplacement, or more, just over the next ridge, or closer. She moved away from the water's edge, going over the reports everyone gave from their first encounter. She knew they would be different when written down after the mission, the rest of the mission coloring their opinions of the fight. For now, at least, it was the best information she had for figuring out what she was up against.

Four men. That's what the other emplacement had. It was manned by four men. She had to operate on the assumption that there were at least that many here. Taking off her uniform, she wrapped it around her gear and her rifle, placing it all on a the ground far enough away from the water that it would hopefully stay dry. She wasn't a huge fan of the military issued underwear, but at least she'd still be wearing something while swimming across the pond to the artillery emplacement. That and she also needed to have something dry to wear, since the night was surprisingly cold for such an arid part of the world.

She of course had no idea what might be living in the water, but slowly and quietly made her way into the water regardless, bringing only her knife. About halfway across, she determined she wasn't actually going to have to swim, since it was only five feet at its deepest. Hopefully, that meant her approach would be quieter. She wouldn't be splashing about trying to swim up to it.

As she got closer, she could here the sounds of one or two men moving around. She didn't want to assume that meant there were only two. Any number of them could be sleeping, though she couldn't hear any snoring. She soon found that the back wheels of the carriage were resting in the water, and the soldiers manning it were around the front. From her place to the left of its rear, she judged that they were primarily at the opposite corner. She guessed they didn't expect attack to come from the water behind them.

Unfortunately, they were all together as a result, making them a more difficult target for her. She crept along the side of the carriage, listening for any hint that the men had caught on to her. It was hard to gauge whether or not they were even paying attention due to how little sound they were making. They weren't talking, and they didn't have a light on. They clearly didn't want to be found, but she thought it odd that they would be especially quiet unless they thought there was someone nearby listening for them.

Another step, almost to the front of the carriage, her foot caught on the tread. The sound would have been easily covered if they were having any sort of conversation, even in hushed tones, but there was no such conversation until after the tiny sound split the silence. Four men stood, two of them aiming their weapons in the direction of the sound and advancing slowly.

There were whispers, words she didn't know. She couldn't even guess what language. She would have presumed Turkish if she didn't know better. She wasn't an expert in the local languages, not by a long shot, but this certainly sounded to her nothing like any of them. The tone of their whispers sounded far more cautious than she would have thought, and for soldiers keeping so quiet, she thought they went for their guns just a little too quickly.

Whatever the answers were to all her questions, they weren't about to answer. They were getting closer and closer, weapons drawn with clear intent to kill. She gripped her knife tightly, holding her breath for the encounter to come. All worries of how she might be able to live with herself after killing someone were gone, her mind overridden with the singular concern for her own survival. As the first soldier's gun poked around the corner of the carriage frame, she realized she should have gone back when she had the chance.