Chapter 5

In Which the Plan Must be Revised

When the match started, Ayako had them move the Ram towards an elevated point on the battlefield, if the small dune they aimed for could be called that. They needed a clear view to give Justine her best shot. Reaching the top, they all scanned the horizon urgently. All the hatches were open, partly to see better and partly to try and alleviate the heat.

The initial impression of the terrain was misleading. The sand was an elaborate maze of dips and rises, the depressions easily deep enough to conceal a tank.

A tiny smudge of slowly dissipating exhaust smoke in the distance revealed the StuG's starting point. There was no sign of the assault gun itself. Their target must be hidden in one of the folds in the ground. Stay put, or move? Ayako dismissed the former option at once.

"Driver, we're moving out. Keep us on the crests of the dunes and head roughly towards where we saw the smoke."

Liza shifted into gear and began driving along one of the sand ridges.

Ayako's reasoning was that this would give them the best chance of the first shot while the StuG maneuvered into a firing position, although they would be visible to the enemy. If, on the other hand, they tried to stay hidden they could blunder into each other at any time, at close range where Justine's skill would be negated.

She stood on tiptoe on the commander's seat in an effort to make herself as tall as possible and looked around. It was as bad for eyestrain as the forest in their duel with Saunders. Heat haze rippled in waves off the sand and the sheer brightness of the land and sky assaulted her eyes. Why hadn't she thought to bring sunglasses?

There! A dark blob resolved into the StuG, going up and over a dune off to their left.

"Gunner, tank, 11 o'clock!"

But the StuG had disappeared by the time Justine lined up the sights.

"Did you get the range?" Ayako asked.

"About fifteen hundred meters, I think," said Justine.

"They were moving southwest. Driver, change course due west. Everyone, keep a lookout to the right."

A few minutes later they spotted the StuG again, slightly closer. Again, Justine did not have time to draw a bead on it before it was gone.

"Maybe they're popping up every now and then to check our position," said Hayley.

"We need to anticipate them. Gunner, look to our one o'clock position and fire the moment they appear," ordered Ayako.

"You got it, boss." Justine gripped the trigger tensely.

A heat-distorted vision of the enemy vehicle formed roughly where Ayako had predicted, but farther away than before.

"There!"

Their gun banged and they watched the path of the shell. From this angle, it appeared to drift lazily up, then back down, throwing up a sheet of sand when it finally hit. Before it got there, the StuG had vanished again.

The crest of the dune they were on changed direction. Ayako recalibrated her prediction, and Justine watched and waited on a hair trigger. When the StuG finally appeared, it had swung north and east and was nowhere near where they had expected it.

"Câline! It's like one of those pop-up ducks at a shooting gallery," Justine muttered. Ayako had them reverse direction and head back the way they had come. She studied the map, trying to trace the assault gun's route.

All at once, the sand began to slide out from under them, flowing down the side of the ridge like a sable river. The Ram lurched over to the left making Ayako lose her balance. Liza revved the throttle desperately as they began to slide sideways and managed to keep them moving forwards, angled diagonally to the drift. Their tracks churned away until, halfway down the dune, they reached a more stable patch and were able to claw their way back up to the summit. Ayako's heart was thumping. She realized to her annoyance that she had lost the map overboard.

The StuG made another fleeting appearance. It was gone again before Ayako could react.

They made several abortive attempts to shoot at where they thought the StuG would materialize and tried timing the intervals between when the StuG was visible, but no pattern emerged. The enemy was keeping their movements almost entirely random. Ayako wasn't even sure where they were themselves anymore. By now, they were all hot, tired and thirsty.

"We shoudda broughts more water, b'y," said Liza. "I'm almost out and what's left is boilin' hot."

Ayako clenched her fists. They couldn't hit the StuG like this. They were just being toyed with. Why don't they just fight?

"Driver, head straight for their last position and never mind about keeping to the high ground. I want to close the range, so put your foot down!"

"Hold on, skipper, that might be just what they want us to do. I thought the idea was to try and give Justine a shot at long range?" said Hayley.

"I have modified my plan," said Ayako impatiently.

Hayley held up her hands. "OK, you're in charge."

The Ram roared up and down the ridges, hurling them around and scattering loose items onto the floor. Ayako had half-climbed out of the turret hatch and was shading her eyes with one hand and holding on tightly with the other. Only once did they hit another loose patch, while descending into a depression, but Liza held her nerve and they surfed down it, maintaining enough momentum to climb up and out on the other side. Then, up ahead, Ayako saw what she was looking for.

"Driver, slow!" she shouted. There were obvious tracks on the sand in front of them where the other vehicle had passed. There was no way to tell the direction, but based on their various sightings, she could guess it.

"Driver, head to the right! Follow the trail they've left!"

This took them down one of the deeper gullies. Liza kept them moving smoothly along it as it wove among and intersected other rifts. Navigation was irrelevant now and Ayako was keeping a sharp lookout in every direction. They knew where the StuG had been, but where it was now was anyone's guess.

The dunes on either side of them got steadily lower and then ahead of them the land opened up into a truly flat area extending to the edge of the oasis.

"Full speed ahead, driver!" Ayako cried.

The StuG had been waiting for them. Ayako saw the muzzle flash to their left in her peripheral vision as they burst out into the open, but their speed was such that the shot streaked past behind them.

"Driver, halt! Gunner, tank, nine o'clock!" Justine was already turning their turret. The Ram rumbled to a stop. Finally, they had their opponent out in the open!

The StuG reacted by going into reverse, throwing up fountains of sand from its tracks as it veered around. They were trying to head back into the dunes. Too late, thought Ayako jubilantly.

"Fire!"

"Take this, you tête carrée!" cried Justine, squeezing the trigger.

Their projectile passed just in front of the retreating assault gun. It took Ayako a good second to realize that Justine had somehow missed.

"Maudine d'ostine de tabarnouche de ciboulle!" screamed Justine.

With panther-like agility the StuG changed course and the 75 mm gun was pointing at them once more. Ayako was first distracted by Justine's flow of invective, then wondered if she was motion sick. She looked fine-

"Skipper, we need to move! Skipper!" cried Hayley, her voice rising in pitch as she grabbed for a reload.

Ayako looked over at the assault gun and then did the first thing that popped into her head: drop back inside the turret and slam the hatch closed. Hayley stared at her in disbelief.

"Does ya want me to-" Liza began to say.

The noise of the StuG's gun firing was muted inside the tank, but the impact of the shell a moment later was anything but. This is the first time I've been in a tank that's been hit, reflected the part of Ayako that was not preoccupied with trying to curl into a fetal position.

The ringing died down and Ayako opened her eyes. "They got us, right? The white flag is up, right?" asked a dazed looking Hayley, her voice sounding faint and far-away. Ayako gingerly opened the turret hatch. The first thing that met their eyes was the flag, drooping in the windless heat. A moment later, the radio confirmed their fate.

They all climbed out. Ayako jumped to the ground and stared around uncertainly. Hayley began looking over the Ram for damage. The 75 mm round had ploughed deep into the armour and was still smoking.

The StuG rattled up. Alena was grinning broadly. Ayako noticed the fancy sport shades she wore and the large canteen of water in her hand.

"Are you all OK?" They nodded. "We can scarcely believe that we won our first real fight!"

"Congratulations," managed Ayako numbly.

"Thank you, Ishiguro-san! We can be proud that we managed to best a Kuromorimine alumnus!"

Mika arrived in a Kommandeurwagen while they were talking. "Well done, Alena-san, but you did miss with your first shot."

Alena's spirits were undampened. "We shall strive to improve our gunnery skills, Mika-san!"

Mika smiled. "I'm sure you will. Anyway, good job!"

Hayley walked over. "Skipper, the engine and tracks are undamaged, so we can at least drive home."

Bows and handshakes were exchanged. Mika wished them future success and they drove back to the port. Somewhere along the way, Ayako snapped out of her stupor and turned to Justine.

"How did you miss? What happened?"

"My sights, they were right on, boss," said Justine defensively.

"Were you sick? Did the wristbands not work? Is something wrong with the gun?"

Hayley put a hand on her arm. "Take it easy, eh? We'll figure it out."

"We lost. It's a disgrace!" said Ayako glumly.

"We're learning. That's why we're doing this, remember? Every time you fail, you improve."

That was not a very Kuromorimine-like notion. Once again, they returned under a cloud. She remembered the oh-so-happy faces of the Ōarai girls at the finals. Would she ever experience that joy of victory?

You can bluster all you want, thought a part of her mind acidly, but you know full well that once again you came up short.

Author's Notes:

Continuance High School are apparently noted for their marksmanship, but Alena and her crew are newbies.

I had started out using the –san honourific for all the team captains. Then I watched the sixth OVA to check that I had Mika's name correct. When Yuzu reads out the congratulatory messages from the other schools, she refers to "Kay-sama", "Nishi-sama" and "Mika-sama". Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe get no honourifics, and Katyusha is "Katyusha-san". So, there's a precedent for using –sama. I'm definitely no expert in Japanese culture and etiquette, so it may be better to just change them all to –san.

Good catch, I did not put the line breaks in between scenes like I had been doing before. For consistency I have gone back and added them in.

I did a first pass on the conversations to do a better job identifying the speaker and to try and make the flow smoother.

Justine's acupressure wristbands are a real thing and some of the online reviews claim they work. Looks like Justine is one of the lucky ones.