Hell On Tracks
Part 60
I snapped awake, coughing and gasping for air. Despite my layers of blankets, I shivered violently. The nightmare was already fading, but it had been bad. Bad enough to wake me up. As I started calming down, I made a note to talk about nightmares with Miss Gale the next time I saw her. It would probably do some good, even if I was already struggling to remember what it had been about.
To my great relief, it wasn't that early. Roughly twenty minutes before I usually woke up, so not enough time to roll over and go back to sleep. It was, however, raining. A storm had cropped up as Saunders was passing the Philippines, and I swear it has been following us for ever since. It must have finally caught up to us as we shifted course to dock in Nagasaki, and judging by the hammering of rain against my window, it was quite the storm.
Sensha-do was going to be fun today.
I set my grumpiness at the weather and the hour I had awoken aside, and set to work preparing for my day. There was a math test today, which I thankfully wasn't worried about, and Arisa wanted to meet this afternoon before Sensha-do to work on planning that TD training session Kay had asked us for. The Chieftain had a bunch of manuals on the subject, and we were working our way through them, picking out what was applicable to Sensha-do and what wasn't.
A lot of it was really interesting material, and I found myself having to pull away from a really cool passage or strategy because it didn't work in modern tankery. You don't exactly need a 76mm gun for busting bunkers anymore…
My kettle beeped at me, and I set about making my morning tea. After a moment of deliberation, I settled on lavender tea this morning. Not my favorite, but it helps me calm down, and that nightmare had me tense. I couldn't even remember what it had been about or what had caused me to wake up so violently.
The common room was nearly empty when I entered it. Usually, there were a few people crazier than I, or just faster at getting ready for the day, since most of them don't have to braid their own hair, but today I was the first student there. The only other occupant of the room was one of the dorm staff, Miss Houston. I recognized her from the party after the Maginot match, and gave her a polite nod as I grabbed an apple from the basket of fruit on one of the counters.
Hannah led a once-again-dead-to-the-world Arisa into the common room not too much later. As soon as Hannah had Arisa's coffee and her own ready, the two of them joined me at one of the couches.
"Mornin' Tally." Hannah said with a yawn. "You're up early."
"Had a rough night's sleep." I answered with a shrug. I took another bite from the apple. It wasn't nearly as good as a fresh one from back home, but it was alright.
"You too?" Hannah asked. I nodded. "Thunder woke me up in the middle of the night. It must have been going constantly for a good half-hour before it finally slowed enough that I could go back to sleep."
"Yikes. I just had nightmares."
"What about?" Hannah asked, before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Can't remember. It faded pretty quickly. But it woke me twenty minutes early." I said, shaking my head. I thought about it for a moment, and a small smile crossed my face as I realized something. I raised up my tea mug towards Hannah in a pseudo-toast. "Here's to not sleeping well."
Hannah smiled as well, and tapped her styrofoam cup to my insulated travel mug. "Hear hear!"
Even the zombie-like Arisa got in on it, groaning something indecipherable as we toasted.
After a moment of laughter and then silence, I spoke up again. "So, what do we know about the next match? I know we're up against Yogurt, but I've been out of the loop over the weekend."
"Yogurt's a pretty good mid-tier team. They beat Waffle and lost to St. Glo, which honestly isn't a very useful range of capability." Hannah chuckled at her own joke. "Tanks wise, I would put them roughly on par with Maginot, maybe a bit lower. Panther, Panzer IV, Flatpanzer with the L/70, Hetzer -"
"Jagdpanzer 38(t). You know what the Chief says about calling it Hetzer." I interrupted.
"Right, right. Jagdpanzer 38(t), and StuG III for the threats. The rest of their team was regular 38(t)s, Hotchkiss H39s, and CV.33s."
"So half of them are pretty good, and half of them are varying levels of not effective against us." I said, summing it up.
"More or less. I'd guess that Kay wants a heavy to counter the Panther in some regard, but otherwise the usual team comp should be just fine."
"You aren't volunteering for M6 duty, are you?" I asked.
"God no!" Hannah quickly shook her head. "It was nearly as bad for me as it was for you. I don't want to have to handle two different ammo types in the same turret. Any idea how the Jumbos are looking?"
"One of them is good to go, and just needs some minor maintenance, at least last I checked. The other is still in the repair bay, and I don't know if we actually have the materials and manpower to repair it. There's some pretty significant structural damage." I said.
"Yikes." Hannah intoned.
"Yeah. It's not my call, though. I just volunteer to help out our mechanics and auto club." I shrugged. "I probably don't even know the half of it. Oh! We'll also be getting those Pershing parts today, so we might be able to fix that one up in time."
"I doubt it." Hannah countered. "The match is Wednesday. Thankfully, we'll be basically right on our home turf. We're gonna stay on Kyushu for this one."
"I was worried about how bad transportation might be. Less than a week to get from Australia to basically anywhere in Japan is a little rough when you're moving by ship." I let out a sigh of relief. Two days. Twos days of practice, and for me and Arisa to come up with that TD training. One day, really, since there wouldn't be practice Wednesday.
The day was as miserable as I had been expecting with all this rain. Travelling belowdecks was never a comfortable experience for me, but it was better than getting soaked to the bone. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the below decks passages, and they were well lit, but there was something about them that just felt confining in a way that being in a tank didn't. Maybe I just don't like being underground (or the equivalent).
Classes themselves went fine, and the math test went really well, despite it being on a Monday. I ran into Bannie, quite literally, on the way to lunch. She waved the collision off, and I managed to not freak out over bumping into someone. It was certainly an improvement over even a couple weeks ago when I crashed into Sergeant Oddball. The Irish girl was clearly grumpy about something, but before I could ask her about it, she was gone, moving towards the lunch hall.
I tried to catch her, but the crowd of students all going to the same place made that impossible. By the time I reached the lunch hall, Bannie had disappeared, and so I merely joined Jane and April for lunch, at our usual table.
"Hey Tally!" Jane called cheerfully.
I smiled and waved at her, before setting my salad down and taking a seat. "Heya Jane, April. How are you doing?"
April wordlessly passed me a muffin from her stack of baked goods, which I happily accepted. It was an impressive stack of baked goods that wouldn't last the day, but I only ever took one thing from whatever April offered.
"I'm doing good." Jane said. "Though my favorite teacher called in sick today."
"Oh?" I asked. "Is there a cold running around the naval studies students and staff or something?"
Jane shrugged. "All I know is that we had a substitute in history today. We got an educational film on the school ships rather than one of Miss Io's lectures."
"I hate it when that happens." I said sympathetically. "Was the film at least good?"
"It was alright." Jane said, once again shrugging. "I've seen better."
We spent the rest of lunch chatting about how our days had been, what we did over the weekend, and everything in between. Everything except Sensha-do. As much as I could go on for hours about the martial art, Jane and April just weren't as enthusiastic about it as I was. They were good, but they were also only on the team because I had asked them.
"God, I can't see anything!" I complained, peering through my periscope. It was still pounding rain, and I wasn't going to open the hatch and get even more soaked than I already had today.
"If you can't see them, it also means they can't see you." Arisa replied over the radio.
"That's easy for you to say!" I grumbled. ""You're the flag tank, so you're sitting in the back all safe and protected by the team, while I'm out here having to spot through this absolutely awful rain that I can't see anything through! If we move up at all, I'm half expecting to drive straight into an ambush!"
"Tally, calm." It was all Arisa needed to say.
I took a deep breath. In for four, hold for four, out for four. The exercise helped, and I shook my head to clear away the rest of my frustration. "Right, sorry."
"It's fine." Arisa waved off my concerns. "Can you lead the advance through the pass?"
"Yeah, I'll be your pathfinder. If I get KO'd, at least try and make sure you get one or two for me."
"How about you don't get KO'd, and we don't have to worry about it?"
I scoffed. "Ha! I wish."
"We've got your back." Arisa confirmed after a moment of companionable silence.
"Alright." I said, and lowered my radio receiver. "Driver, advance! Tally ho!"
I saw April grin out of the corner of my eye, but I wasn't expecting the array of laughter from the radio. Arisa's laughter sometimes felt like it was two steps from descending into maniacal cackling, Naomi chuckled but rarely broke into full laughter, and Kay's laughter almost sounded like bright bell tones. All three of them were laughing at my silliness, despite the fact that only Arisa should have been on this net with me.
"Come on!" I whined into the radio. "Were you all listening in?"
"It's the command radio net. We all have access to it." Naomi answered. "You would have thought Arisa would think about that after what she did against Ooarai."
"So there's an ambush waiting for us?" I asked in a deadpan.
Naomi took a moment to respond, and only did so after the pop of her ever present bubble gum came through the radio. "Yup."
I sighed. This helped explain a lot about why Arisa and I were losing so badly. We'd lost five tanks to Kay and Naomi only losing two, since apparently they were listening in on every word we said over the command net. After taking a moment to make sure my radio was not transmitting, I keyed the Stuart's intercom. "Driver, full speed, as much as you can coax out of her. As soon as we're clear of the pass, veer left and take us into the riverbed."
"You got it!" Jane replied cheerfully.
I keyed my radio again. "Arisa, follow me. I have an idea."
"Is it going to be something crazy?" Naomi asked.
"What? No! You know me. The epitome of sanity and reasonable plans." I lied. Blatantly. The blatant lies were important. If I made them think I was going to pull something in the realm of the Maginot match's finale, they wouldn't expect something as reasonable as using the low ground to get around their team.
I could feel Arisa's eyes boring into the back of my head through the Stuart's armor. And probably through the armor on her Sherman, as well.
Either this was going to work, or we would lose very quickly. As an old man once said; live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse.
It's… not the best mantra out there, but I really like the first part of it.
Arisa didn't audibly acknowledge my request, but she didn't need to. I had faith that the rest of the team was going to follow, because like it or not, going along with something crazy was better than running straight into an ambush we knew had been set up. Not that this plan was particularly crazy.
The Stuart barrelled down the road, and pulled a hard turn as soon as we were out of the pass. A hail of 75mm rounds whipped overhead, and I heard one of the tanks behind us get hit and KO'd. I bit off a sharp not-quite-curse in Russian, and encouraged Jane to keep us moving.
"Tally, don't stop, but you're on your own." Arisa called over the radio.
"Wasn't planning on stopping!" I replied.
We rounded a corner, and I was very fortunate to spy a familiar green shape amongst the gray rocks and pouring rain. "Gunner, Sherman, direct front!"
April quickly slewed the turret over to service the target, but the Sherman got the first shot off. The round flew overhead, and April took the chance to return fire. A clean miss, though not unexpected at this speed and in these conditions. Without looking away from my periscope, I grabbed a round off the ready rack and shoved it into the breach. "AP up!"
"On the way!" April replied, and we got our second shot off before the Sherman did. Another miss. It took me a moment to realize two important things about the tank we were facing. First, it was being commanded by an unbuttoned TC, and second, there was a little blue flag waving on its engine deck.
"Arisa, I've found Kay. She's their flag and in the riverbed!" I called out.
"We're a little busy here!" Arisa replied.
I didn't get a chance to respond to her before Kay's next round slammed into the side of the Stuart. I shook my head and hit my radio once more, using the grace period everyone got. "Tally KO'd. Kay got me."
"Don't worry about it Tally!" Kay called cheerfully over the command net. "You and your crew are getting very good!"
I just grumbled something under my breath, and tried to keep an eye on the action through my periscope. There wasn't much going on, and it didn't take long until the match was over. Arisa had made a fight out of it, but three against six isn't a fight you can win easily, especially when you're on the receiving end of an ambush.
Naturally, the first thing Arisa did when we met up in the Leadership room at the end of practice was pout at Kay and Naomi. "That was a dirty trick."
Naomi rolled her eyes. "Says the queen of dirty tricks."
"If you could find a way around the no aircraft rule to listen in on Ooarai's radio, who's to say that Pravda hasn't figured out the exact same thing? Or one of the smaller schools desperate for a leg up on us?" Kay asked rhetorically.
I stepped forward. "Well, isn't that why we use codenames and callouts for locations instead of directly referencing the map? So that someone wouldn't be able to pull an Arisa on us?"
"Hey!" Arisa exclaimed, objecting to her use as a verb. "If anything, you doing that was just practicing how to use the radio interception trick again. And I did confirm it with the officials, it is legal, though I have been politely informed that there will be a rules patch after the tournament is over to explicitly exclude aerial balloons and radio interception gear."
"So it's something to keep in our back pocket." Naomi mused.
"Only against a top tier team. Until we face them, no radio interception." Kay said firmly. Arisa and Naomi nodded. "We're facing Yogurt in two days, with only one practice between now and then. Arisa, Tally, should we expect the TD training tomorrow?"
I shook my head. "We're still working through material. I wouldn't expect it until at least next week."
Kay nodded. "Okay, okay. Naomi, any word on the supplies we ordered?"
"We do." Naomi said. "The warehouse reported that we have both the parts and spare parts for Pershing, and the canopy for Hellcat available. I tasked some of our mechanics to go pick them up during practice."
"The Hellcat's going to be ready?" I asked cheerfully.
"It's going to take time to get it inspected and approved, and for you and your crew to retrain to Hellcat." Kay said. "Two weeks of training, I'd say. If we win on Wednesday, the first week of Hellcat training, I want you swapping between Stuart and Hellcat, so that you're ready for the next match."
I grinned. So I'd be stuck in Stuart a little longer, but Hellcat! I was going to be in my favorite tank (destroyer)! Haha, Hellcat! "Sounds good to me!"
"Don't wear yourself out on geeking over your TD and making sure it's up to snuff until after we kick Yogurt's butts." Hannah said, inserting herself into the conversation.
"Hey!" I objected. "I'm not gonna wear myself out when we have a match in two days!"
"If only because your energy is limitless when you get excited." Naomi deadpanned.
"Well yeah!" I objected cheerfully.
"Oh no, what monster have we unleashed?" Arisa snarked.
"Tally on a tanks high." Hannah replied, equally sarcastic.
"We're doomed."
I rolled my eyes, still grinning like a loon.
"Okay, okay, that's enough teasing for now." Kay said, waving her hands to get everyone's attention. "I want everyone here early tomorrow morning for match planning. Expect Yogurt's forces to be the same as what they brought against St Gloriana's last week."
"Yes ma'am!" We all called in unison.
Kay grinned. "Dismissed. Have a good night, everyone!"
"You too!" Arisa called, and she and Hannah slipped away.
I lingered and waited while Naomi and Kay quietly discussed something. I couldn't overhear, and I wasn't particularly interested in eavesdropping, so I just played a bit of solitaire on my cellphone while I waited. It didn't take too long, and I nodded at Naomi as she left.
"What's up, Tally?" Kay asked, once Naomi had exited the room.
"So, you know how I can't dance, right?" I asked, fidgeting. God… I felt so nervous all of a sudden.
"You may have mentioned it once or twice." Kay answered with a nod.
"Well, if we're going to prom, dancing is one of the things that is traditional, right?"
"It usually is, yeah. I don't think anyone would mind if we went for the fancy clothes, social environment, and free snacks, though."
I sighed. "I mean, yeah, that sounds fun, but dancing at prom is part of the tradition. And I kind of want to take part in that tradition at least a little bit."
"So we do." Kay answered simply. "If you want to dance, we can dance, and if you don't want to, then we don't. Unless?"
"I want to go to a dance class with you." I finally just managed to spit it out. "Just to learn the basics, you know?"
"Oh, sure, that sounds fun!" Kay said cheerfully. "Did you have one picked out, or did you want to ask before you looked?"
"Sort of?" I answered uncertainly. "I picked one out, but I wanted your opinion before anything else. It's a beginner's dance class, led by…" I paused, and grabbed the flyer from my bag to double check the names. "Miss Wesley Virginia and Miss Clara Belknap."
Kay perked right up. "Oh, I know them! They're great!"
I breathed a sigh of relief. "So they're good? Nice people and all that?"
"Yeah!" Kay said, nodding enthusiastically. "They aren't always the swiftest, but I've seen them dance a few times, and they are amazing at it. And, y'know, they're really nice people. I think they'd like you."
I passed Kay the flyer I'd grabbed over the weekend, and she took a moment to look it over.
"This seems doable, and sounds fun! Let's do it!" Kay said cheerfully.
My happy grin hadn't faded by the time I got back to my dorm, and even the oppressiveness of the still pounding raid wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. Now all I had to do was call Rach and let her know what was going on.
Author's Note:
Hey all! I just wanted to let everyone know that I am now writing a collaborative story with 101Salocin, the author of Ace! I absolutely recommend you check out Ace if you haven't already, but you should also check out the new story: Yet Still We Sail, a GuP/Kancolle crossover featuring Tally and Ace's Louise! It's on my profile, so please, go check, it out!
