Hell On Tracks
Part 54

Kay and I were the last ones into the leadership room. Arisa shifted awkwardly in her seat as we entered, but neither of us commented on it. Kay seemed to more or less have shrugged off Arisa's interruption of what was somehow our third date, but I was still reeling over the fact that, yes, we'd actually gone on multiple dates at this point, and that Kay even asked me out to prom. The interruption certainly hadn't helped.

"Good afternoon everyone!" Kay said cheerfully, as we both took our places around the table. "We've got a few orders of business to take care of before practice today. Tally, have you heard back from Eclair?"

I nodded. "Yup. She said she would be happy to accept the Locusts, and she'll hesitantly take the M4A2. The Sherman might end up being returned, since they may or may not have enough people to crew it and the rest of a full team of ten for the next round. She also asked for a supply of ammo and spare parts while Maginot gets their own supply lines set up."

"Good to hear!" Kay flashed a big thumbs up. "Naomi, can you handle the logistics of getting those over to Maginot? It might be a good idea for you to stay the day when you drop them off, to get them started on the tanks."

"Can do." Naomi said with a nod. "I can have everything ready Tuesday-ish."

"Good to hear. Hannah, do you mind going with her, as a spare set of hands?"

"Sure. Give me a heads up when we're heading out, Naomi." Hannah agreed.

"There's some good news on the supply front." Naomi said, and Kay turned the floor over to her. "I'll spare you the details, but we now have the parts we need for the Pershing on order, as well as the roof for the M18. The Hellcat's roof should be in the Nagasaki warehouse in a few weeks, Pershing parts will probably be there earlier. We'll grab them when we make homeport after they arrive."

"Haha, yes!" I cheered, a massive grin splitting my face. "I still have dibs on the Hellcat!"

That got a laugh out of everyone, and the tensions in the room between Arisa, Kay, and I faded.

"Pershing parts will certainly be nice. Tally, any idea how long it would take to fix up once we have those parts?" Kay asked, turning back towards me.

I shook my head. "I haven't so much as touched the thing. You'd have to ask one of the proper mechanics."

"Well, we won't need it unless we run into another of the big schools. Chances are, we won't have to face any of them until the semi finals are played out."

"If we make it that far." Arisa threw in sullenly.

"We can make it. Ooarai was a new and unknown quantity. Unless Jatkosota beats Kuromorimine in a massive upset next week, we'll be facing teams we know and have beaten before up until they start having to face each other." Naomi said.

"If anyone can do it, it's those crazy Finns." Hannah added cheekily. I raised an eyebrow at that, looking over in her direction. "Jatkosota, the Finnish-themed school ship, is known for having crazy plans, drivers skilled enough to pull off stunts that would wreck anybody else's tank, and for being blatant, unrepentant thieves."

"Think American World War 2 submarine crews, but worse." Kay added for clarification.

"Ah." I ah'd, not getting the reference at all.

"Anyways, I think we can move on to the main event of the meeting." Kay said, clearly trying to get us back on track. "We know who we're facing, when, and where. Drumroll please."

"Who is it?" Arisa asked, as we all began creating a fake drumroll for Kay.

"Our next opponent will be Maginot Girls' College." Kay announced with a grin. "The rest of the tournament has been outlined, too. If we beat Maginot, we're up against the loser of St Gloriana vs Yogurt Academy."

"Maginot?" Naomi asked in confirmation. Kay simply nodded. "Do you want us to delay the tank transfer?"

"No." Kay shook her head. "We've already proven that we can beat them this season, going at them again with the same loadouts would just be kicking them while they're down. We give them the Lend-Lease tanks, and the match becomes more even, and a lot more interesting. Naomi, Hannah, this also means that I want you to give just as good instruction to the Maginot girls as you would if we weren't fighting them. No sabotage, no dirty tricks." The last sentence was more aimed at Arisa than the two who were actually going over to Maginot, and I think everyone could tell.

"Yes ma'am!" Naomi and Hannah said in sync.

"Good. We'll learn more from a fair fight than a curbstomp. This is a good will gesture, I don't want you snooping around to look for any aces they may or may not have. But if you hear something, or see something while you're there, feel free to share that intel."

Arisa practically wilted as Kay gave out the orders. Even with what had happened on Saturday, I felt a little bad for her. Naomi and Hannah just nodded along.

"As for the where and when, the match will be late next week. Friday, I think. We've got the better part of two weeks to prepare ourselves, because the match is going to be in northern Australia. We're probably going to make port in Darwin a few days before the match. Make sure you have your passports ready."

"Australia, huh?" Naomi mused. "Haven't been there in a while."

Arisa must have noticed my confused look, because she started expositing at me. "The Japanese Sensha-do league has agreements with most Pacific nations to allow the school ships to dock there, and to let us play matches in their countries, for a more diverse experience in Sensha-do. We also get to play the occasional international match with other high school teams. It's a really cool experience."

"That's cool." I said with a nod, taking it all in. International travel wasn't something I had actually expected during my time here at Saunders, yet here we were, preparing for a trip to Australia to play tanks.

"Any more questions? No? Good, meeting adjourned. You girls all start getting warmed up for practice." Kay said, before pausing a moment. "Tally, do you have a moment?"

"What's up?" I asked, as the other three began shuffling out of the room.

"The match is in just under two weeks. Do you think you can get your crew up to snuff in that period, or should we make a backup plan of you subbing in as a radio operator to help with coordination?" Kay asked.

I shrugged. "I'll do my best, but it's better to have a backup plan and not need it, than needing a role for me and not having anything available."

Kay gave me a thumbs up. "You got it! You just focus on getting the Stuart ready for the match."

"Will do." I nodded, and stood to leave. Kay didn't say anything to stop me, and I left with a small wave, which she returned.


The week passed by both incredibly quickly, and incredibly slowly. Between helping out with practice planning and running, working in the mechanic's shop downstairs, and sitting in on the Chieftain's wonderfully given lectures, it went by in the blink of an eye, but there were times where it felt more like crawling through the course of a month or more. Friday was most certainly the day I had been waiting for, however. After about a week's worth of lectures from the Chief, Jane and April were finally ready to get into the Stuart.

"Welcome to Tank Day!" I said cheerfully, addressing Jane and April. "It's your first day in the tank, so we'll start today with you getting to try out both driver and gunner, and see where you fit best."

Jane and April shared a look before nodding enthusiastically. "Sounds like fun!" "I'm looking forward to it!"

"We'll start with gunnery, so you two head over to the firing range while I bring the Stuart over, okay?" I said, gesturing over in the direction of the range.

"We'll see you there!" Jane gave me a thumbs up, and they jogged away.

With them headed off, I climbed up onto the Stuart and dropped down into the driver's seat. I nearly missed the seat, as it was somehow both in the down position, and as far forward as it could go, while I usually drove it around up and further back.

"What the heck?" I asked nobody in particular as I worked the seat back into the position I was used to. Nobody should have been driving it around but me. Neither Jane nor April had been in it yet, and nobody else cared about the light tank. They were almost all happy in their Shermans, and those who weren't usually got Sherman variants to play in.

Whatever it was, I put it out of my mind as I carefully drove the Stuart out of the garage. Kay gave me a wave as I passed her, but most everyone else simply got out of the way. Naomi was waiting for me at the range, while April and Jane were chatting a little ways away. They looked over my way as I pulled the Stuart up to the firing line, but I waved them off for the moment, and instead climbed out and headed over to Naomi.

"How did you talk me into this again?" Naomi asked me as I approached.

"You know exactly how." I said with a smug smile.

"I hate you."

"I know. But as long as you help me judge their gunnery, that's okay."

"Just don't make me talk to them. I don't need another headache today…"

"I'll do my best." I promised, before stepping away from her and calling Jane and April over. "So we're doing gunnery first, and Naomi is going to help me with judging your capabilities."

"Will she be fair? She doesn't exactly like me…" Jane asked.

"She promised that she'd be professional about this. Who wants to shoot first?"

"I can wait." April said almost immediately.

Jane shrugged. "Guess I'm up."

"Okay. Jane, you're with me in the tank. Gunner sits on the left side of the turret, TC takes the right." I said to Jane, before pivoting to face April. "You can either stay in the tank with us, in the hull, or you can join Naomi in the bunker to watch from a safe distance."

"I'll be in the tank with you."

"Sounds good. Now let's get to it!" I gave them a thumbs up, and led them towards the tank. April dropped into the Bog's seat, while Jane took her place behind the gun. I gave her a brief reminder on how the milsight worked and how this whole process would go, and when she was ready, I shoved the first round into the breach.

The next few minutes were a constant rhythm of load, aim fire, repeat. Jane wasn't the fastest at getting onto target, but she consistently landed rounds on target faster than I could. Her gunnery against the moving targets was pretty good, too. Not quite up to the standards of a trained gunner, but plenty good for a rookie.

"Alright, I'm out!" I called, ending the trial. "You did good Jane. A lot better than I did!"

"Thanks!" Jane said cheerfully.

"Okay, April, get in here. I'll need a few minutes to reload all of my ammo."

"Yes ma'am!" April responded, before hopping out of the front hull and climbing up into the seat that Jane vacated.

Once I was ready to go, I turned to April. "Do you need to same reminders as Jane did, or did you get them the first time?"

"I got it." April said confidently.

"Alright, the test will start when I load the first round, and it'll go until you hit all of the targets, or I run out of ammunition." I pulled the first round out of the ready rack and bounced it around in my hands. I was still getting used to moving the ammo around in the turret, but slamming it into the breach was easy. "AP up!"

"On the way!" April called out, and the 37 fired. Her first shot landed perfectly on the target. She was already traversing the turret as the second round entered the breach, and fired as soon as she could, nailing the second stationary target as well.

While Jane had been good, and would probably be better with practice, April was incredible. I don't know how, but she was a better shot than Angel had been, with much less practice. There was no doubt in my mind that April was going to be my gunner, and that once we had the Hellcat with a proper AT gun, we'd be a force to be reckoned with.

I left Jane and April to hang out a moment while I jogged over to the bunker where Naomi had been observing us. She was just as impressed as I was.

"Those two have never been inside a tank before?" Naomi asked to confirm as she shared her scoring sheet with me.

"That's what they said when they joined the team, and they haven't been in one since." I answered, reviewing the scores. It was about what I had expected, with Jane being roughly average for a rookie, while April had maxed out what was reasonably expected from a complete beginner.

"I'm not sure I believe that." Naomi stated, letting out a low whistle. "There's lucky, there's being a natural, and then there's what April did."

"Well, if she's that good as a beginner, I'd love to see what she's like with some training under her belt."

"Aye. They're both good gunners, but unless Jane cannot drive a tank at all, make April your gunner."

"Worried about your position as Saunders' top gunner?" I teased, handing the score card back to Naomi.

"Ha! Let's see April replicate that performance in Firefly, then you can ask me that again." Naomi said with a laugh. "I should go. Good luck with the driving tests. I hope they aren't as bad as you were with those."

"You're never going to let me live down rolling a Sherman, are you?" I asked as Naomi turned to go join the rest of the team for today's actual practice.

"Never in a million years!" Naomi called, before jogging off. I rolled my eyes and turned back towards the tank.


The driving test was, by necessity, more complicated than the gunnery test. We were using the same test track that I'd first driven a tank on, which was more like an obstacle course. All of the tanks were perfectly capable of traversing the obstacles, though a few had to be downsized to accommodate the smaller M5, so it was more of a test of skill and confidence when faced with these obstacles, rather than capability to get through.

This time, April went first. As soon as she dropped into the driver's hull, the confidence she had from her superb display of gunnery vanished.

"April, you have driven a car before, right?" I asked, watching from the bog's seat.

"Not very much." She answered.

"Okay, well, as far as tanks go, the Stuart is a breeze. It's got a hydramatic transmission, so you don't have to worry about the clutch or changing gears, and the tillers are also your brakes." I grabbed the assistant driver's tillers to give her an example, wiggling the tank around as I showed off how tiller steering worked. "The pedal is your accelerator, press down on it and you go forward, or backwards if you're in reverse."

"R-right, okay." April grabbed the tillers and followed my example, getting a feel for how to drive before starting down the obstacle course. Her driving was nervous and slow, with as little steering as possible. She only turned when necessary, instead of trying to ease through turns at speed.

Crossing the shortened trench was exciting, if only because April wasn't expecting how the crossing would work, and jumped in her seat when the rear of the tank dropped. The real challenge of an obstacle, at least for April, was the half meter wall.

"What's the matter?" I asked, as April looked over at me, clearly at a loss for what to do.

"Where do I go here? There isn't a path."

"Do you see that half meter wall there?" I asked, gesturing forward. "You have a tank. It goes over and through things."

April blinked at me. "Oh."

"Yeah. The Stuart can climb 0.45 meters, which I think converts to about a foot and a half. Point is, you can climb over that wall, or obstacles of similar height without much issue. Anything bigger, and it might be better to try and find a way around."

"Okay." April said, and started us forward again. It wasn't the easiest obstacle to cross, but the Stuart got up and over it all the same.

After that, the rest of the test went smoothly, if slowly, and we arrived back at the starting point. I glanced down at my stopwatch, and had to keep myself from wincing at the time April had taken. She wasn't going to make a good driver, at least not for a light tank like the Stuart where speed and stealth were better armor than its actual armor.

April seemed to feel the same way, and she hauled herself out of the driver's seat with a sad look on her face.

"Hey, don't feel bad about that." I said to April. She looked so down that I had to say something. "You did better than I did my first time around the track. I didn't even manage to complete it."

"But you're so good at driving tanks! How?" April asked.

"Well, I pulled off a stunt that most drivers can't claim. I rolled a Sherman." I answered, almost instantly regretting sharing that tidbit of information. "Just, don't go spreading that around, please. My ego couldn't handle it."

"Oh my gosh!" April exclaimed, breaking out in laughter. "I can't believe it!"

I rolled my eyes. "Laugh it up, and tell Jane to get over here, will you?"

"Of course." April said, managing to compose herself for a moment.

Jane replaced April about a minute later, with a big grin plastered to her face. "I hear you rolled a tank last time you ran this on your own."

"She just had to share that didn't she…" I grumbled. "Anyways, do you need any tutorials before we start?"

"Thank you, but no." Jane said politely, as she adjusted her seat forward and into the down position. Which answered my earlier question on who had been driving the tank around when I wasn't looking. Or at least she was familiarizing herself with the controls.

I triggered the stopwatch as soon as Jane laid down on the accelerator, and completely unlike April's driving, we were off at a speed I appreciated. She pulled her turns hard, maintaining as much speed as she could while never letting either track leave the ground.

"Oh, I see…" Jane muttered to herself as we came across the trench obstacle, and she gunned the engine. There was just enough lip on this side of the trench that instead of climbing over it slowly like April had done, we caught a little bit of air, slamming down on the other side without the rear idler so much as dipping down into the trench.

I had a big stupid grin on my face as we zoomed around the course, somehow managing to go both recklessly fast and perfectly controlled. The only obstacle that slowed Jane down was the wall, where if we came in too fast, we'd probably just crash and get nowhere. But even there, she didn't slow to a stop, or even a crawl. Instead, it felt like she slowed to the perfect speed where the tank could climb without needing to stop, and at the perfect distance where we reached the necessary speed right as we reached the wall, going up and over with no more than a bump.

When we reached the end of the track, I didn't even need to consult the stopwatch to know that Jane was going to be an amazing driver. Which somehow meant that despite my driver and gunner both being brand new recruits, they were as good if not better than my old crew of veterans.

I let out a low whistle as I climbed out of the stopped tank and rested on the edge of the hatch. Jane followed me out, her grin not quite as big as mine.

"Okay, there's no way you and April are both this good as rookies. I thought you said you'd never been in a tank before, and yet you handled both the trench and the wall near perfectly." I asked, looking over at Jane.

"Oh! Well, she told me how to take those obstacles."

"April?"

"The tank!" Jane answered, gently patting the tank.

"Riiiiiight." I drew out the word, not believing what she said.

"And we were telling the truth about not getting into tanks before we joined the team. We've just been putting in a lot of practice hours, with permission. Miss Saunders has been very helpful."

I just gave Jane my 'you're being weird again' look. "You could have at least told me about getting into the tank before today. Then we wouldn't have had to go through the whole song and dance of this test if you already know where you're best."

"Sorry. You were just so excited for today that we didn't want to ruin it for you."

"It's fine, I'm just a little annoyed at the time wasted. We only have a week to make sure you two are good to go, and can work in a fully functional tank. It's one thing to perform well on the training ground, it's another entirely to do so on the two way firing range."

"So, extra practice this weekend as a full tank crew?"

"Probably. But for now, let's get the tank back to the garage and give Kay the good news. You're the new driver, and April is our gunner. Though I doubt you needed me to tell you that." I said.

"Okay!"