Hell On Tracks
Part 63

I'd made sure to pack warm for the trip north, but I didn't believe it would be that bad. Predicting blizzard conditions this far north in June felt like a weather reporting failure more than anything else. I should have known better.

Practice on Friday ended early so that the leadership team could get the C-130 loaded up for the trip up to Sapporo, and I spent most of my free time between the end of practice and lift-off watching the St Gloriana's vs Kuromorimine match on my phone. Rach had told me she managed to get a spot on the team in a Matilda, and Rosehip was leading the mobile element from her Crusader. Why she stuck with the Crusader when St Glo had a perfectly functional Cromwell, I wasn't quite sure, but the lighter cruiser tank had no issues keeping up with the theoretically much faster Cromwell.

Naomi called me to get on board the C-130 before the match was over, so I didn't get to watch the end of it. Instead, I got to sit in the back of the cockpit while Kay, Arisa, and Naomi handled the actual flying. All I needed to do was sit back, relax, and chat with my friends to make the flight go a little faster.

So, naturally, everything went wrong.

We'd been in the air all of five minutes before my stomach decided that it did not agree with flying today. Hannah passed me a bucket just in time, and out went my lunch.

"Tally? You okay?" Kay asked from the copilot's seat.

"I don't remember flying being this - hrk!" I gasped out, before I heaved again. The bucket was filling up rapidly, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to force my stomach to settle.

Kay muttered something along the lines of "Of all the times for this…" before she turned to Naomi. "Can you handle this without a co-pilot?"

"We're leveling off. Go help her, just check in at an hour." Naomi answered.

Kay nodded at her, and crossed the cockpit to join Hannah and I. Hannah immediately vacated her seat to let Kay sit next to me. I emptied the last of my stomach contents into the bucket right as she sat down, and Kay began rubbing comforting circles into my back, gently patting it.

"Here, these should help settle your stomach." Kay offered, pulling a water bottle and a sleeve of saltine crackers from somewhere. I graciously accepted them, and used my first swig to cleanse my mouth of the taste of bile before I took a long pull from the bottle to actually get something in my belly. That, along with the very dry crackers, seemed to stay down.

"Thanks Kay." I said, once my airsickness settled down.

"Have you ever been airsick before?" Kay asked.

I shrugged. "First time, or at least first in a loooong time. I've never been a fan of flying, but not to the point of airsickness."

Kay patted my shoulder before tousling my hair. "Well, we'll get you back in your element soon enough. There's a bunk in the cabin if you feel the need to rest."

"That may be a good idea." I replied with a groan. It took another nasty bout of airsickness and nausea before I quietly moved to the cabin behind the cockpit. It wasn't much of a bunk, but it was enough, and I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow.


I didn't wake until we had landed, and even then, it took Kay giving me a small splash of water to the face to get me to actually wake up. The airsickness I'd suffered through had been draining, and my nap didn't seem to help that one bit. I was tired, and muttered something Russian under my breath. It was a grumbled not-quite-curse that I'd picked up from Dad, and one that Mom would kill me for if she knew I knew it.

"Wakey-wakey, sleeping beauty!" Kay teased, offering me a towel to wipe my face off with.

"I really hope this doesn't become a common occurrence. Because this sucks." I grumbled.

"We won't have to fly anywhere for the tournament, and if you get hit this hard on the way home we can make an exception for you not being at the occasional practice at Camp Intrepid." Kay offered. "So come on, the others are waiting for us, and I know Katyusha is on her way over."

"It's the best I'm gonna get." I rolled my eyes, and accepted Kay's help onto my feet. She led me towards the back of the plane, where Hannah had maneuvered the M20 out of the cargo hold and into the frozen outdoors. It was already white and snowing heavily.

Why did Naomi have to actually be right about this one? Every sensha-do match I've been to since the Ooarai one has had interesting weather, with scorching desert heat, intense rain, and now a blizzard?

Without any other options, I pulled on my tanker jacket, tightened it up as close as I could get it, and idly wished I had something that was going to be more water and wind resistant. This match was going to suck. A lot. And we weren't even participants! We were just spectators here!

I followed Kay's lead and climbed into the M20, grateful for at least a bit of protection against the wind.

"I got a message from Katyusha!" Arisa announced. "She wants to meet us near the terminal, including Naomi once she's got the Herc into the hangar."

"Alright!" Kay responded. "Hannah, get us over to the terminal. Naomi can meet us there."

It was a short drive, and thankfully the armored car was light enough to not get bogged down too badly in the snow. Hannah managed to find somewhere to park, and we all made sure the pioneer tools were easily accessible before we climbed out to head inside. Nobody wanted to get stuck because our car was trapped by snow.

A trio of girls who were clearly from Pravda were waiting for us inside. The first was shockingly small, but her commanding personality and distinctive hat meant she could only be one person. Another member of Hannah's Always Helmeted Club, the Pravda team captain Katyusha. Flanking her were two more average girls, though both were on the above average height side for Japanese schoolgirls. I recognized the brunette as Nonna, but the blonde was an unfamiliar face (thank you, Arisa's briefing packet of who we might run into).

"Heya Katya!" Kay said cheerfully as she led us towards the Pravda girls.

"Don't call me Katya!" Katyusha demanded with a pout. It was almost cute. Except that one did not call Katyusha cute, according to Arisa. At least not to her face. That was asking to get in trouble.

"Sorry, sorry!" Kay said, waving off Katyusha's ire.

"Have you come to watch us crush the team that bested you?" Katyusha asked. I couldn't tell if she was just confident or cocky.

"You did invite us! I had been meaning to watch another of Ooarai's matches, and we couldn't make their last one due to travel complications." Kay answered.

"Prepare to be disappointed! Even with Nishizumi-chan, they're a no-name school that can't even field a full team! It must be embarrassing to have lost to them!" Katyusha taunted. Next to me, Arisa tensed up and looked like she was going to yell at the diminutive girl before Hannah put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"Katyusha invites trouble by saying that." The blonde said behind her captain's back. I blinked at her. That wasn't in Japanese, that was Russian. It took me a moment to mentally translate the words, and I had to fight to keep a straight face as I realized what she had said.

"Klara, speak Japanese!" Katyusha demanded.

"My apologies." The now-named Klara replied, still in Russian. Nonna whispered something to Klara that I couldn't make out, but she was eyeing me warily.

"It's nice to meet you, Klara!" Kay said cheerfully. "I'm Kay, the Saunders team captain, and these are Arisa, Hannah, and Tally, my lieutenants. Naomi is still getting our plane into the hangar."

"Yes, it is nice to meet you too." Klara said with a slight bow. She seemed to understand our Japanese just fine, but either couldn't or wouldn't speak it, instead sticking with Russian. After a moment, Nonna translated for the rest of us.

"New recruits?" Katyusha asked, looking at Hannah and I.

"It's always wise to make sure your successors are able to work if you get taken out or can't participate in a match. Tally here took command in our match against Maginot after I got knocked out, and did a stellar job." Kay answered, gesturing to me. I blushed under the compliment, but said nothing.

Katyusha nodded, considering something. "The match will be tomorrow evening. You will be cheering for Pravda. We did graciously invite you, after all."

"Of course. We are looking forward to a good and fair match." Kay said, bowing slightly. Arisa, Hannah, and I mimicked the movement. "We will take our leave now."

Katyusha gave a dismissive wave, and we beat a calm but swift retreat back outside towards the M20. Naomi was there, and working on making sure we could get out of the snow.

"She hasn't changed one bit from last year." Arisa grumbled as she climbed into the armored car.

"No she has not…" Kay agreed, following her in. "Klara was acting rather defiant with her Russian."

"She said that Katyusha was inviting trouble for saying they'd crush Ooarai." I said, and four faces turned to stare at me.

"You know Russian?" Arisa asked, stunned.

"Yeah. My Dad is Russian, and he resolved to teach me and my sisters the language, even if we rarely use it except with him. Marie still isn't very good at it." I answered.

"That explains earlier..." Kay mused.

"Tally, don't let anyone from Pravda know." Arisa said. "This could be huge."

"Arisa…" Naomi said, warning off the intel officer. Behind her, Hannah turned back to the car's controls and got us moving towards our hotel.

"Hear me out. Pravda is known for overwhelming numbers of T-34s, backed up by heavy tanks. If we take the T-34/76 as roughly equivalent to the basic M4, then the T-34/85 is superior, probably on par with something like Firefly or Easy Eight, and they make up roughly half of Pravda's team comp."

"So we're at a slight technical disadvantage, for once." I summed up, seeing a bit of where she was going.

"Exactly!" Arisa exclaimed. She turned in her seat to face Kay. "You said that we wouldn't use the radio intercept trick unless it was against a stronger team, like Pravda, and it had been cleared by the judges. Well, I heard back from the judges earlier today, and it is technically allowed. They were actually happy to hear me try and get one of my ideas approved instead of skirting or breaking the rules."

"Technically allowed?" Kay asked.

"So long as the balloon is attached to my tank, I can use it." Arisa answered. "So, if we end up fighting Pravda after we beat Jatkosota, I want Tally with me as an escort, because if Pravda preempts us by disguising their communications in Russian, Tally can translate."

Kay crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat as she thought about it. "I'll think about it. We haven't faced Jatkosota yet, and Ooarai and Pravda haven't faced each other. I'll give you an answer once both of those have happened."

"I'd be okay with helping out with that." I offered.

"If I give the approval." Kay said, emphasizing 'if.'

The rest of the drive to our hotel was quiet, and we all rushed inside once the M20 was locked up.

"Hannah, Arisa and I are rooming together, Kay, Tally, you have the other one. I got us rooms on the top floor. If the weather cooperates, we'll have line of sight to most of the field from here." Naomi explained, passing out key cards to everyone.

"Very nice!" Kay gave Naomi a thumbs up as we stepped into the elevator. It was a short trip to the top floor, filled mostly by Hannah complaining about a test in her math class. The rooms were neighbors, and Naomi slipped into her room with the other two while Kay and I went into our room.

"Oh, I am going to kill her." I muttered darkly as I saw the one bed in the hotel room.

"Tally?" Kay asked, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. My girlfriend's touch helped me relax, and I was momentarily taken aback by the fact that I had a girlfriend.

"I think Naomi's trying to tell me something." I grumbled. "Not that I need her help to get my head out of the sand."

"And you aren't ready for that." Kay surmised.

"Hugs and cuddles, but nothing more for now." I agreed.

"I can do that." Kay said cheerfully, and we did just that. Falling asleep in Kay's arms, curled up next to her, was one of the best experiences of my life, one that I wished I'd be able to get used to.


The day of the match started out quietly. I woke up at my usual early hour, but when I found myself curled up in Kay's arms, I decided to just enjoy that, and fell back asleep. When I actually woke up, Kay let me know that Arisa had grabbed Hannah and disappeared to do some spy work against Pravda, while Naomi had gone over to the recently docked Ooarai to spend some time with her friends there and check in on her apprentice, whatever that meant.

Which meant Kay and I had the day to ourselves. We spent the morning just hanging out in our hotel room, chatting, cuddling, and taking turns beating each other at cribbage. I wasn't as good at it as I was at poker, but it was also a lot less competitive.

Around lunchtime, there was a lull in the snow, and we took the opportunity to walk around the immediate area around our hotel and the field. There were only a few shops that really interested me, the most exciting being a tank store that sold memorabilia for the various Sensha-do teams. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the tee-shirts and hoodies were either Pravda or Maple themed, given that they were the two northernmost schools. A necklace with the Saunders star and lightning bolt caught my eye, and I bought it, unsure if I was going to keep it or gift it to Kay.

After we got lunch and hot drinks at a nearby cafe, Kay and I headed back for our hotel. It was starting to snow again, and I was very adamant in not freezing before the match started. Even with my tanker jacket, warm tights, warmer gloves, a hat, and a scarf, I was still shivering. Kay didn't seem to notice the cold at all, and she was warm against my side as we walked arm in arm down the street.

She came to a sudden halt as we entered the lobby of the hotel, sudden enough that if we hadn't been holding hands I would have just kept walking. When I glanced over at her, she just grinned. "Come on, there's someone here you should meet!"

"Ooookay?" I replied, confused as all get out. But Kay didn't let that stop her, and she pulled me by the arm across the lobby to where a blonde and a ginger were sitting together and having some tea.

"Hey Darjeeling!" Kay called, waving over to the blonde.

The blonde looked up from her tea, and smiled gently at us. "Hello Kay. And you must be Tally. Arizona has spoken very highly of you."

"Thanks- wait, Arizona!?" I asked. Next to me, Kay burst out laughing. "Rach said she never expected to actually make the Tea Garden, let alone with that name! And she hasn't once mentioned it to me!"

Darjeeling hid a laugh behind her hand. "While her admittance to the Tea Garden has not yet been made public, Arizona has been accepted to their ranks. The announcement will be made once Pekoe and I return to St. Gloriana's after observing this match."

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Tally." The ginger said softly. "I'm Orange Pekoe, Miss Darjeeling's loader and protege."

"It's nice to meet you, Orange Pekoe. You too, Darjeeling." I said, inclining my head towards the two of them. I took a seat nearby, and Kay sat next to me, still trying to contain her laughter. "So, how did Rach manage to join the illustrious Tea Garden?"

"Orange Pekoe and Rosehip together nominated her, with support from myself, Assam, and Rukuriri. With united support from the Sensha-do team, her nomination was considered and found to be acceptable despite some of her less ladylike mannerisms." Darjeeling explained.

"She's loud and enjoys hugging people." Pekoe added.

"Sounds like Rach." I agreed.

"Arizona's nomination," Darjeeling put emphasis on the name, "was met with overwhelming support, and it has been claimed that the choice of her tea soul name was inspired."

"The very non-traditional American canned tea for the very non-traditional American?" I deadpanned.

"Precisely." Darjeeling said with a small smile. She glanced over my shoulder, and beckoned someone to join us. "Alexandra dear! Over here if you please!"

I turned to face the new arrival, and I blinked. The thing that stuck out to me most in the moment was her Maple High School uniform, not the blue sweater of St Glo, or the tanker jackets that the whole Saunders contingent had.

"Miss Darjeeling. How're ya now?" Alexandra said in accented English with a cheeky smile. It took me a moment to place her accent, but I really shouldn't have been surprised when I realized she was Canadian.

"I am doing well." Darjeeling answered. "Alexandra, meet Kay and Tally from Saunders. Kay, Tally, this is Alexandra. She and her crew were volunteering to participate in our match against Kuromorimine, since one of our crews had to drop at the last minute due to illness."

"Nice to meetcha. Please, call me Alex." Alex said with a nod.

"It's nice to meet you too." I returned the nod. "What is a Maple crew doing helping St Glo in a match?"

"Our schools have a bit of an agreement. According to Trout, we can't really afford to run our Sensha-do team except for special occasions like that meet up we had with you earlier in the season, so we have a few volunteer crews on standby to help out if St Glo's needs them. We lend them crews, and they provide a bit of extra funding for our team."

"Grizzlies and Rams are more expensive to maintain than other, lighter tanks." Kay concurred, finally having settled down from her giggles.

"Yup." Alex said, popping the 'p.' "Trout said that the T14 was most of our spending money for the season, for all the good it did us against you."

I shrugged. "If I remember correctly, the T14 was a beast that we had trouble putting down in that match. I had to get my tank right up next to it to get the KO."

"You were in that match?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was, yeah. My tank got three KOs in that first match."

"What was a member of Saunders leadership doing in that match? I thought all your leadership was in the last one of the day. It's why Trout put us and our Ram in that one." Alex asked, scratching her head.

"I wasn't on leadership back then. I was only invited to join shortly before the tournament started."

"Ah. Makes sense, I guess." Alex checked her cellphone and shook her head. "Well, Torts wants us to get moving before it's too late. Miss Darjeeling, Miss Pekoe, thank you for an excellent match and for flying us back to Hokkaido. Miss Kay, Miss Tally, it was nice to meet you."

"It was nice to meet you too!" Kay said cheerfully, waving Alex off. She turned back to the St Glo girls. "So, looking forward to the match?"

"It will certainly be interesting. Miho Nishizumi is crafty, and has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. I have faith that it will be enough to overcome Katyusha's cunning and overwhelming firepower."

"Rooting for the underdogs?" I asked.

"Indeed." Darjeeling agreed. "That is one place where Arizona and I agree on things."

That one comment was enough to send Kay back into helpless giggling territory. We kept up the chatter with Darjeeling and Pekoe for a bit until Arisa, Hannah, and Naomi all returned. Once everyone had gathered, we bid the girls from St Gloriana's adieu, and headed back to our hotel rooms.

Arisa's report on Pravda was about what we expected. White camouflage, plenty of unditching logs, and lots of pioneer tools ready to create entrenchments or hide a tank. Hannah didn't have much to add beyond Pravda's mass of winter coats that had been prepared.

"They trust that General Winter will have their back, and are prepared to assist him in that." Naomi joked. I rolled my eyes as she moved on to her own report. "Ooarai has added a B1 to their roster, and I overheard their mechanics mentioning that the Porsche Tiger is still having overheating problems and isn't combat ready. But the darnedest thing happened with Momo. She's been consistently shooting high and to the right, but even adjusting for that doesn't get her anywhere near on target, and we finally figured out why."

"What has Momo been doing wrong?" Hannah asked.

"She tenses her body right as she fires, and moves the gun in doing so. She quite literally jerks the gun around before she fires. I pointed it out, she's working on correcting it, but she's suddenly gone from being a Tally-level gunner to actually pretty good. Well, as good as you can get with a 37." Naomi answered.

"Hey!" I objected, but not very strenuously. We all knew I couldn't shoot anything larger than a rifle with anything resembling accuracy.

"Sometimes that's all it takes. One little change." Kay said philosophically.

"Now if only there some some similarly easy fix for Tally." Naomi joked. I just grumbled something under my breath.