It had been a week since the announcement that Corsair High would be competing in this year's sensha-do tournament, and Bastian had yet to acquire a single vehicle for the team. A list had been compiled of possible acquisitions about two days ago, but the former fighter pilot couldn't decide what vehicles he wanted. He had, essentially, a blank check – but a blank check didn't get things done much faster. It broadened his options, but also made the choices more difficult.

He had managed to divide the original list into three smaller ones – based mostly on the amount of repairs that the vehicles would need, and their projected restoration time. Even so, he gravitated toward some of the vehicles that took longer to restore. The ones in decent shape were usually the lighter armed and armored vehicles, most of which wouldn't be able to stand up to the vehicles used by many of the teams during the tournament.

Sitting in the officer's lounge, Bastian glanced toward the clock. It was nearing midnight and he still hadn't made any choices. That fact aggravated him to no end, and clouded his mind that much more. He scowled as he looked over the lists, and finally stood, stretched, and walked over to the radio. It looked like an old standup jukebox, but the reality was that it was a dual system, and if you switched it over it played the school's radio station – aptly named "Pirate Radio".

He smirked as he flicked it on, and immediately he heard the DJ.

"Hey there all my fine feathered tricorn wearing comrades, this is Ensign Airwave, and coming up I've got one last hit of Alestorm for ya before I'm outta here. After that Knight Owl will be taking the helm of our lovely little radio station on the sea to give you candle-burners a little wake-up music for those last minute assignments! I'll be back starting tomorrow at my regular time and regular place. Now, here's our 'end of day' tradition here on Pirate Radio - Alestorm's Scraping the Barrel. Over and I'm out!"

For many a year we have traveled the seas,

Singin' songs about pirates and all their misdeeds,

Stories of treasure and great undead foes,

Just a day in the life of a man that I know-

Your legendary prowess in drinking much beer,

Recorded in song for all people to hear,

But many have asked where we're next gonna sail,

The answer lies deep in a barrel of ale!

As the song began, Bastian made his way back to the table and took a deep breath before beginning to look over the lists again. By the time that the song was over, he still couldn't make up his mind, and he ran a hand through his hair.

At the same time, the door to the officer's lounge opened, and in stepped Matthias. "I've been looking for you everywhere, Bastian. Didn't see you at dinner tonight. What's going on?"

Bastian looked up and gave a fake grin. "Oh, not much, just building a world-beating Tankery team."

Matt quirked a brow. "And what all do you have selected for it?" He asked as he stepped over, looking at the blank requisition forms. "Anything yet?"

Bastian shook his head. "Not a damned thing. I can't make up my mind. I divided the lists up, but all the vehicles I really want might not be done in time for the tournament due to the time the restoration will take. There are a few that might be ready by then that I'd like to have, but we wouldn't get a lot of practice time in them. The ones we'd get a lot of practice in, however, aren't very powerful. They're early-war models that can't punch above their weight class like we'd need them to."

Matthias looked at the lists. "Which of these three lists has the ones that will take too long, and which one has the ones that won't get much practice."

"That one's too long, and that one is too little practice." Bastian said as he pointed toward them.

"Mind if I take a look at them?"

Bastian handed them over and Matthias glanced at them for about a second before tossing both lists in the trash.

"Now, pick." Matthias said, and pointed to the short list of vehicles that were in good shape. "Screw the heavier equipment. You're a fighter pilot, Bastian. Think like one."

Bastian thought first to protest, but stopped himself. Matthias was his best friend, knew him for longer, and better, than just about anyone else. He must have had a reason to do what he did – and it did narrow the choices considerably. Looking over the shorter list, he pondered on what Matthias meant by thinking like a fighter pilot. Then his mind began catching things that it hadn't before. Things that translated well in both aircraft and tanks. Power to weight ratios, top speed, acceleration, maneuverability and firepower.

Going down the list, he began to cross off the vehicles that he immediately found a distaste for. The slow vehicles were off the list at the start – including a Hetzer, which he was sure many would have been tempted by considering the amount of firepower it commanded over the other vehicles, and its sloped armor. Despite that big bonus, its drawbacks were apparent: slow speed, poor maneuverability, limited penetration of its heavy cannon due to the lower velocity rounds, and while the armor was sloped, it was also thin. A higher velocity round could knock it out easily.

Next on the chopping block, much to his initial dismay, were the available heavy tanks. Their power to weight ratios were horrible, and while their armor was masterful, their main armament was underpowered without being upgraded, which would take time. Fortunately, he hadn't really liked any of the ones that were in good condition anyway – but this also entirely eliminated heavy tanks from their team. His best hope for serious firepower was now left to medium tanks and tank destroyers.

Said hope was cut to the quick as he began to go through the mediums and tank destroyers. Most of the mediums had good armor and decent power to weight ratios, but their main armament was underpowered just like the heavy tanks. One alone stood out to him, however: a Panzer III with a short-barrel 75mm gun. The armor was somewhat lacking compared to the other mediums, but everything else he wanted was wonderful – and he was willing to bet that if it could handle the short-barrel 75mm, it could probably be rigged with a long-barrel version after a little tweaking.

After a moment of going over its specifications, he came to the decision that he wanted it, and wrote up the requisition form. Attached to it he put the specifications of the vehicle so that it could be put in the file. They'd have to order ammunition for it as well, and extra parts to use for repairs, so it was best to have the vehicle's specs on hand somewhere – why not with the requisition form? Setting that one off to the side, he continued on down the list as Matt picked up the form and looked over the specs.

The remaining mediums were out of the question, so he crossed them off and began looking at the tank destroyers that he hadn't already written off as poor quality. Unfortunately, many of them had the same problem as the mediums, or their own unique failing in that they were often more fragile than one would think. Most tank destroyers had thin armor as they had started off simply as infantry support vehicles and stayed that way for some time. He was almost done crossing them off when he came to one that he liked.

It was a StuG III Ausf B, and as he went over the specs he found the machine to be practically a work of art. Its failing was the short-barrel 75mm gun it sported, but even that wasn't all bad. The StuG and the Panzer III used the same chassis, engine, and gun – commonality of parts was a wonderful thing, especially since it meant a commonality of ammunition for their guns. He was sure that a long-barrel version of its cannon could also be mounted, and thus the StuG was on his next requisition form.

From there he had only light tanks to choose from, and he scowled a bit at the options. He didn't much like the thought of having to use them, but he had to until he could get something better. Though, as he began looking them over he began to notice something about them. Yes, their armor was comparatively weak compared to even medium tanks, but their power to weight ratios were incredibly good, and some of them had a grand top speed. These he handled differently.

The lightest were the first ones to be stricken from the list. Things like the T1 Cunningham were eliminated outright, and those that were similar – tankettes mostly – were eliminated. By the time that he was done, he only had three options left. Two of them were the same type of tank, but with different weapons. Both were the Pz Kpfw 35 (t) – but one was armed with a 20mm auto-cannon, and the other was armed with a 37mm gun. Neither had much punch to it, but they would have to do.

The final tank was a Pz Kpfw 38 (t) nA, and it was armed with a 50mm gun. He wasn't sure what it was about the tank, but something about it was, in a word, perfect – at least in his eyes. A top speed of over 60kph, a decent cannon for its class, enough armor that it could survive some powerful hits, and maneuverability that was hard to match for a multi-ton vehicle. In his heart he knew from the moment that he looked it over that this one was going to be his. It was almost funny – he'd dreamed of a big, powerful tank... and now he wanted the one that others probably thought to run over instead of shoot at.

The final three requisition forms were filled out, and he put them together with the other documents that he'd be handing over to his Uncle in the morning.

"So what now, Bastian?" Matthias asked as Bastian stood.

"Well, now I have to get another eighteen people to crew these tanks."

"No, you only need seventeen..." Matt corrected.

"Seventeen?" Bastian asked, "Why seventeen?"

"Because you already have two. Yourself, and me – didn't think you'd be getting all the glory, did you?" Matt smirked, "Fat chance. But... that's not what I meant when I asked the initial question."

"Then what did you mean?" Bastian asked curiously.

"I meant tonight." Matt thumbed toward the clock. "It's after midnight. I'm going to go rack out myself."

"Ah... I'm probably gonna head down to Paddy's. See if he'll gimme a nightcap, and then I'll be racking out too. Gotta hand in the paperwork, and then get a jump on getting those seventeen people."