Sun's Gate

Chapter 3: The base

I went to check on the survivors again. They were slowly recovering. Unlike most of the tanks healed here, they were injured by war. We had to give them special care instead of just warming them up like avalanche victims and send them back with some tips to not be caught again. The AMX were no longer in a critical condition, but only one had recovered enough to answer our questions.

"Please declare name, nation and clan's name", I said in a more than formal voice.

"M-My name's Alphonse, I'm French and my clan..."

He started sobbing at the though of his friends.

"Your clan leader made a huge mistake. You were all warned" I answered. "Clan's name" I insisted.

"L-Les Chasseurs de Pigalle..." he finally said.

"Good. What was your goal, what were you doing up there?"

His look was empty, he did not move or answer.

"Okay, listen. I will let you rest for a while. You are a prisoner of war, you're bound to stay here until we decide otherwise. You will not be tortured. You will be fed and kept warm. Please, use this time to rest and mourn your clan."

I quietly left the sobbing AMX and went to check the other tank. He was still pretty shocked, and the engineer said it would take a while. I had nothing else to do, and I am pretty bad at cheering people up, but that was not my business, neither my purpose. I went back to the living room and spent time like we always do in winter. Playing cards, looking through the periscopes, preparing dinners, eating and sleeping. Winter was really calm for us. Our base was built in the mountain, made of thick concrete walls. The snow covered the few visible traces, like the entrances and the shooting stands. We only had periscopes to peek and see what was happening outside. In case of emergency we also had some firing places with an indoor access and nice protections. Sometimes when the weather was good and the HQ was okay with it, we could go out to take deep breath of fresh air, sun light and the awesome view of the snowy mountain. Of course we were not allowed to go really far, because of the avalanches and other dangers. But going out once for a while was really pleasant, and somehow essential for the troops' moral. Being trapped inside a concrete bunker for six months is hard to endure.

However, I was one of the few to have real work inside, which made the time go faster for me. I was in charge of the prisoners and avalanche victims when we had some, and I was helping the engineers with the scavenged pieces. I got used to it and quickly got mechanics knowledge, so the engineers liked having me around to help. Plus I was a combat vehicle, so I had the possibility to scavenge the wrecks of our foes myself, taking useful parts, instead of just what looks like could be good or fun. Therefore I was also asked if this or that was valuable or just scrap.

But that day was a Sunday. Only extra work on Sunday, which meant only take care of the prisoners. In the living room, the G-13 – it was the name given to our modification – and the AMX team were playing cards, telling stories and preparing today's meal. Usually one of our HQ tanks were watching over us, eventually taking part in games and task, while the two others were sleeping or spying outside. Ratrak liked to observe the mountains and made bets on where an avalanche would happen. He usually won those, but knowing mechanics and physic helped me to beat him. Once.

Once I arrived in the room, the Patton was here and immediately came to me.

"How are they?" he asked me.

"Alive" I answered quietly. "Only one of them could talk though. The other is still shocked."

"And what did he say? Do you know who they are, why they came?"

"They were a French clan, but the tank was too sad and shocked to answer questions about his clan. We have all winter to get informations from them anyway."

"Yeah. Well, so far nothing we didn't knew. Ask them again when they're able to answer things we don't know." the Patton said.

"Sir, yes sir!"

I then went to the kitchen, asking the chef what was on menu today. It may seem stupid as we only swallow fuel, but having someone preparing a "meal" is a real plus and it helps us keeping the morale while in the fortress. So instead of canned fuel, fuel in a bowl, fuel right from the tank, we had two guys preparing something more varied. And you guessed right, those guys are AMXs. Who else than French tanks could be chefs?

"Ah bonjour Alac! Coming for seeing what's ze dinner?" said Renaud, the old AMX. Renaud was the most experienced of the scout team, since Charles died years ago. He was one of those old, but happy and chill tanks. Killing wasn't a problem. Seeing tanks leak their oil when they get trapped wouldn't evoke a single emotion in this little French steel vehicle. He was only doing his job, and he was doing it well. It was only back at the base that he could let his personality out, and cooking was his passion.

"Yeah, I'm getting hungry! What's that fabulous meal you'll prepare tonight?" I answered cheerfully.

"I'm préparing one hot-cold meal! Ze snow just arrived and I thinked it was a good idea to celebrate it!" he told me. His accent couldn't hide his origins. Even though he's been here since the start, he was clearly made in France. I am not saying my accent was perfect either, but us Swiss learn English far before French, and it is much more important for work in the country.

"Oh hell yeah! Hot-cold meal, that's the stuff!" I responded. Hot-cold meal, this stuff was awesome. It used a special container with three cases. The fuel was at the bottom and you had to pass through one of the two other cases to get it. Those two other cases are filled with boiling water in one and snow in the other. The whole thing was nicely isolated, so snow didn't melt from the boiling water, and the water didn't cool from the snow. The fuel is isolated as well. The only parts that weren't isolated were the pipes from the fuel passing through the cold snow or hot water. This made you either hot fuel or cold fuel, and you could mix them together and alternate it, and it never tasted the same!

"Aaha, I'm glad you like it! I put very much effort in making good food for you guys, I hope you like it!"

"Don't worry Renaud, we love your meals!"

"Glad to hear!" he giggled.

After that, waiting for the dinner to be ready, I went to check the periscopes. As I said, life under the snow was not exciting, quite boring indeed, so it was always nice to have prisoners and stuff to do. Looking through the periscope is one of those time consuming activities. I could stand for hours contemplating the white nature, and I thought it would be a good idea.

I could have never been more right.