The three remaining tanks picked up the crew of the destroyed M1917 tank, with Zeke entering the Heavensent Hearts Pershing, James the Valentine Sherman, and David Christian the Chafee. Each member was crammed inside the tanks as the rain thundered down, but a cheerful time was had by all as they celebrated their win.
It was 4:30 pm when the trio of tanks arrived at the pit area with some wrecked tanks already there and recovered. The 15-passenger van was gone, having taken the defeated team members and Logan's group back.
At the pit area, a semi-trailer that housed the production equipment, basic facilities for the official and reporters was on the east side of the pit area. The tanks themselves were parked beside an industrial building with a massive tent beside it to provide a dry cover for the tanks.
As the tanks arrived, a reporter and cameraman appeared from the trailer, rushing over to the tanks as soon as they parked and people began to pop out of the tanks.
The pair were soaked from the rain, and asked, "Excuse me, is Commander Ezekiel back with you, or is he waiting on the recovery trucks?"
"Yes ma'am, I'm right here" Zeke said, climbing down from the Pershing tank, now looking at the reporter, Christine Peavy, and her cameraman.
"Would you mind doing a quick interview prior to returning to your hotel? We will also need to do a press conference at some point when you all get back, per the NCAA and JSF" Christine said.
"Sure, do you need just me for the interview or want anyone else?" Zeke asked.
"No, but we will want your Chafee commander Kurt Henson for the press conference. Please try and make your other crews available for later as well. Logic tells me the whole Chafee crew may need to be present as well later; they got an ace today" Christine said.
Zeke turned to the Chafee crew in shock, "y'all got an ace in battle?!"
"Of course, we did! What did you expect?" Kurt shot back coldly as he and his crew got his tank packed up.
Zeke was left in a state of shock, trying to take in that statement and what it meant. Kat and Violet heard the exchange. They were equally amazed and dismayed by the efforts and results of the Chafee crew as they recounted the battles they endured.
Christine then redirected Zeke's attention, "now, before we get ready to go on camera, what do you prefer to be addressed as? Commander, first name, last name, what?" she asked.
"Uh, Commander Zeke, or just Zeke is fine, anything short of an insult works for me" Zeke said, laughing lightly at this.
"That's fine, thank you. We'll be ready in a couple minutes; it'll be a short interview" Christine said in a positive tone. Zeke's mind was still consumed with thought from the revelation about the result of the Chafee crew. He was only brought back to his senses when Christine remarked, "on air in 30".
Some seconds later Christine began to talk, "Well Troy, Dave I managed to track down Commander Ezekiel as his team was getting ready to pack up, Commander Zeke, what do you have to say about the match today?" she said before pointing the microphone to Zeke
Zeke got a deer in headlights look as he took a moment to answer the question, "well uh, I'm glad we won but it was miserable out there in the conditions".
"About those conditions on the field, we saw your tanks of all sizes struggling in the conditions, any other comments about the conditions?" Christine asked.
"Well, we struggled royally, the rain certainly didn't help. We obviously managed to overcome the conditions as we got some practice in the rain back home this past week" Zeke responded.
"Finally, your Chafee crew lead by Kurt Henson managed to get an ace in combat today, any comments about that?" Christine asked.
"I'm absolutely elated! They put in a lot of hard work this week, just like everyone else did, and it certainly paid off" Zeke said.
"There you have it, an ecstatic commander, happy for the win" Christine said, as she held the microphone.
A moment passed, "we're good" replied the camera man, and Christine gave a thanks, and mentioned to be available by seven for the press conference.
Zeke and company finished getting the tanks prepped for their return journey, with Kat, Kurt, Violet, and himself crawling into his truck, and heading back to the hotel. Everyone was ecstatic, with the rain finally slowing to a drizzle as they left the pit area. When they finally seemed to return to civilization each got a weather alert for flash flooding in the region due to the rain from today.
Once at the hotel, Zeke dismissed his friends, mentioning a group text he was about to send. As his friend left to go to their rooms, Zeke stayed in the lobby to write the message. The message he sent out to everyone on their phones said, "This is commander zeke, congrats on the win, it was well deserved. Media wants us here in the lobby by 7 for the press conference, y'all are free till then. Again, be here at 7, later we'll have supper in the breakfast area".
After that, Zeke was exhausted, and began to lay down in his hotel room, his mind ecstatic but exhausted from the day's events. He began to doze off and catch up on some rest, since he did not have much of a chance to relax since he woke up. Elsewhere, others were busy with other things.
"Well, at least we got the win" complained Logan as he got out of the shower, drying off as he spoke to his best friend Christian Wallace.
"Well, the fact we won does make up for the fact I got blown up by a freaking M5 Stuart." Wallace chipped back, himself drying off from a shower as well. All the team members were getting showered and cleaned up from the rain and mud.
Logan pointed to one of the Jones twins of his own crew to get in the shower, as Logan dried off, he picked up his phone, where a text notification was on it from Heather Valentine, saying, "call me asap".
Logan then motioned for Wallace to come over, mentioning the notification from their beloved. Wallace motioned for him to go ahead and dial, as he got up to grab fresh clean uniforms to put on for the pair of them.
Logan dialed Heather's number, it rang a couple of times before she answered, "hello darling, is your dear friend there?"
"I am" Wallace chirped in, before adding, "thank you again for the calendar and the date, it was appreciated".
"You're welcome, dear, and how was your match, I saw you both get some kills" Heather said in a somewhat positive tone.
"Utterly miserable, you saw how much it rained" Logan said, before adding, "we did see that you dominated in your match".
"Thank you dears, and I'm sorry it was so wet. But I am disappointed" she said, sighing, her once positive tone seeming to leak away like water, "I was really hoping your team would lose, or that your tanks would be spared and my sister be defeated" she finished.
Logan and Christian looked at each other with concern, "I mean, I guess we can try and find a way for your sister to be defeated next time?" Logan added, trying to calm the woman he so desired.
"Unlike your friendly fire incident today" Heather said quite coldly.
Logan and Wallace looked at each other in shock, their hearts sank as thoughts flooded their mind, an eerie silence was maintained in the room, as neither Heather, Logan and Christian Wallace, or the other Jones brother said anything.
"You utter dimwit!" Heather shouted, "it was on the highlights package, of all the things they showed during that exchange, it showed you taking a pop shot at your commander" she explained in frustration. "I really want to know; how can you be so dumb? Or so help me Sherman I will tell the press you solicited me for match fixing!"
Wallace and Logan were in a panic, "I just hope the press won't mention it or have Zeke bring it up during the press conference coming up" Logan said to which Wallace groaned at the thought of it.
"Just hope he doesn't go overboard" Heather said, "still, congrats on the wins, and the kills" she continued, touting her own skills. "I do need to go and berate the Hatfield's for losing" she added, her good mood vanishing as quickly as it arrived.
"I still feel a need to object to the feeling that we have to lose just because your sister is on our team" Wallace added.
"THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU!" Heather shouted, "this is not about you, this is about punishing dear sister for her insubordination in the Valentine hierarchy! How she dared bite the hand that fed her. She must be made to be tortured and made to languish in a school where her talents are squandered and that she would be made to only bask in my radiance as a tankery God!" Heather finally finished monologuing before she could be heard whispering to someone else.
"Alright you two, you'll get something for winning and having the kills. If you manage to friendly fire sister and you'll get something more, I have to run" Heather said, abruptly hanging up the phone as she attempted to calm down.
In the mix and match of room assignments, Kat and Violet were asked to share a room together, along with the driver of the Chafee, Chelsea Denton. As the Chafee driver showered, Kat and Violet watched the post-match show done by the network that presented their match today, Fox sports.
"I saw during the highlights package your sister won," Kat said, breaking the ice as they were in different stages of drying off and brushing their hair.
"No surprise really, well, only how easily Gonzaga was defeated" she said, unmoved by Kat's statement as the various analysts broke down the various matches, including the ICBM and GCSE matches.
"I mean, of all the years to draw a bad schedule, this would be the year" Violet continued, beginning to put on the underclothes of her uniform, "she drew midfielder Gonzaga, lower end New England team Boston College, and then VMI" she added on ominously.
"Yeah, I never knew they were so good in the STC" Kat quipped as she continued to brush her hair.
"Maybe this year will humble her" Violet chuckled as she saw an alert pop up on the iPad she watched the highlights on. It stated a press conference from Heather's team about their victory was coming within three minutes. "Well, let's see how much NBC simps for her," she said.
"Yes, and maybe it can give us some insight for us on how to conduct ourselves" Kat said, as she was now beginning to get dressed too.
Violet looked over to her confused, "you've had press conferences before, every year you lost to us in the state finals" she said.
Kat laughed, "yeah, but those were always losing press conferences" to which she and Violet laughed as they bonded.
"Welcome to the winning side" Violet teased as the pair laughed, the girls continued to get dressed, putting on their full uniforms per Zeke's request to be down at 7. By now it was 6:30 and Heather's press conference began, all three Valentine sisters walked in and took their places in front of three microphones, with iPads displaying their names. Heather looked a bit flustered but was hiding it enough for the press as she sat down.
"We've got a few minutes; we'll head down at 6:45" Violet said to Kat as the pair of ICBM sub commanders watched the press conference. Chelsea Denton appeared from the shower and sat down on the other bed, as she dried off, she watched the press conference too.
"Commander Valentine, it was a well earned victory today, four kills for you today, two each for your sub commander sisters, and single kills for two of your Pershing teams. Could you please tell us about the match from your point of view" asked a reporter from NBC who televised the GCSE match.
"Yes, though not as good as our last match against those Rebels, this was a nice dominant match. A real crushing victory" Heather Valentine began saying, adding, "for this match it was important to set the tone, with my sisters and I combining for eight kills, and myself snuffing out the team with the flag tank".
"Commander Valentine, and Subcommanders, last week during the exhibition match, your Chafee with the brothers 5 managed to deal the decisive blow. This week they were your only blemish on the record. Are they regressing or are we just overreacting?" a reporter from Tankery News Today asked.
Heather started off first, "last week was a special case. We knew we could experiment some with the strategy during that match and we took a different approach".
Subcommander Abigail Valentine then added, "it was important then to experiment. It is also important to give each of our team members valuable battle experience now when they can be defeated, with it not overtly detrimental to the team. All this means is that they do have experience and knowledge for when we do go deep into the playoffs and need to rely on them for some different strategies".
The other subcommander, Subcommander Jessica Valentine then added, "this match was also for us as the Valentine trio to knock off the rust and get ourselves warmed up for the other important non-conference and conference matches" as each subcommander responded in the similar professional tone of their older sister.
"One follow up question" the TNT reporter said, "specifically about the brothers five being your only defeated tank. Is there any comment on this? I respect strategies change, but it feels surprisingly hot and cold for this crew given their solid record last year".
The two sub commanders looked to appear hot under their collars. Heather huffed, placing her right elbow on the table, her palm facing upward as she could not be bothered to appear professional to this appeared feeling of insubordination by a reporter, "strategies change, and sometimes crew are not up to snuff" she said feeling aggrieved by having to answer a negative question, "they'll need to work more on defensive tactics so we can shore up any faults prior to squashing the GNTC east like a bug" Heather finished, her tone very cold.
Violet huffed loudly at this as she watched, "she is so arrogant" to which Kat and even Chelsea nodded.
The press conference continued to 6:45 when all three ICBM ladies were dressed and headed down to the lobby. At the elevator, they met Zeke who was still looking rather disheveled, only his overcoat and boots were changed from the match, his hair looked unkempt under his kepi.
"You look miserable!" exclaimed Kat, before adding, "your hair is terrible, you've got to look good for the camera" she said, berating the commander. Out of instinct she grabbed a comb from her pocket and combed his hair before he could complain, "you've got to look your best" she said.
As she did this, Kat's crew walked into the elevator landing area where the quartet were standing. Scarlett chuckled as Kat put her comb back in her coat pocket, "oh dear, Kat goes far from home and finally gets a boyfriend to look after".
Terra and Allie laughed at this as Kat blushed bright red, "you only had to tell us he was your boyfriend, and we could have helped" Terra teased.
Kat went even brighter red as Zeke looked at Kat sheepishly, "he is not my boyfriend!" she said, to which everyone chuckled. "He just needed to look good for the camera, the four of you should know that".
"Indeed, you've taught us well" Yui said, bright and cheery as ever.
The elevator opened and the eight ICBM members got in, heading for the lobby. When they got down there, the lobby was crowded with people. It was hard for Zeke to move through the crowd as he tried to find Christine Peavy, the reporter from earlier, a couple other reporters were with her, wearing high visibility vests so they could find each other.
"Mrs. Peavy" Zeke said, finally finding her, "was it decided who you needed for the press conference?"
"Yes, we just want you and your three sub commanders" Christine said.
"That works, I'll get them" Zeke said, as he began to pull away, Christine grabbed his arm.
"Before you leave, just sit where you are directed and we'll ask you what we need, it shouldn't be too long".
Zeke then pulled away, standing on a chair, he blew a whistle from his pocket to get the attention of everyone. "Everyone, they only need me and the sub commanders for the press conference. I spoke with coach Beauregard and he is going to get us pizza for our celebratory supper. He should hopefully be back by eight. Report to the breakfast area when he gets back. Kat, Violet, and Kurt, please make your way to the conference area for the press conference. Everyone else is dismissed and free until then, thank you again for all your efforts in today's win, enjoy it".
The mass of people made an exodus to their hotel rooms, either waiting on the elevators or heading for the stairs. The sub commanders made their way to the conference room, when enough people cleared out Zeke made his way into the conference room, sitting down at the head of an oval table with his name on an iPad that faced the camera that was setup along with a microphone.
"We will be on the air in about five minutes, I know you are all freshmen, so just answer everything to the best you can, these usually only run a few minutes" Christine said.
The time passed quickly, and it was now time for the press conference. Christine spoke first, "Commander Zeke, your team had a decisive victory today. Considering the tumultuous exhibition match last week, what do you have to say about the match today".
"I think we played very well today, I know Kurt here" Zeke said smiling, as he playfully shoved the shoulder of Kurt, "and his crew got an ace today in their official collegiate tankery debut, so I know I and everyone else here at ICBM are proud of that" he finished.
"There was a distinct difference in strategy today from your team, any comments on that Commander?" Christine asked.
"Last week's match was my first in general as a commander at any level. I think it is appropriate to say we were thrown off the deep end with the exhibition match against GCSE. We have talent, we just need to learn from our success and failures and move forward".
A man then said, "My name is Nigel Zorro, Tankery News Today" he then asked" Subcommander Valentine, your oldest sister had a dominant win today against Gonzaga. She congratulated you on your win and kill of one of the Hatfield tanks. Do you have any comments regarding her match?"
Violet thought for a moment before saying, "I think we all expected dear sister to do well in her match. She met expectations and did no less than uphold the prestigious Valentine name" she said in a most professional tone, seeming to make a slight mockery of Heather's tone from the press conference she watched before.
Nigel then asked, "Subcommander Black, do you have anything to add with your father being the coach of GCSE".
Kat's statement was brief and to the point, "Father helped coach Heather to a great win and helped her achieve the great expectations the family name of Valentine brings to tankery".
Christine then spoke next, "Subcommander Henson, your team had an ace today, defeating tanks of multiple sizes and weight categories. Do you have any comments you'd like to share about your team's exploits".
Kurt looked over to Zeke before speaking, "I think we really stepped up today. The Chafee as a tank is very familiar to my time in high school so it fits like a glove with my crew. The match today played into our hands and our Commander called some excellent strategy".
The press conference continued for a few more minutes, with Nigel asking the final question, "to everyone here, I am sure you have seen the highlights package of the match, do any of you have a comment about the friendly fire incident at the end of the match?"
The quartet of ICBM members looked like deer in headlights, before Zeke took a deep breath, saying coldly, "we here at ICBM are not going to comment on the matter until we have conducted a thorough investigation on the matter. No ICBM member or associated member will speak on the matter either. We will only comment once we have found the results of that investigation and implement practices to prevent such incidents from happening in the future". The press conference was done after that, with the quartet returning to their rooms.