Anarchy From the UK!
By Jangocommando27
Chapter 2: Well Holy Shit! That was fast.
Student accommodation block 'York'
St. Gloriana School Ship 'HMS Ark Royal'
06:30
James groaned at the sound of continual beeping that interrupted his otherwise peaceful slumber. The alarm was silenced with a well placed and practice Slam to the snooze button before James sat up in bed. The grogginess faded fast and James looked around his room. It was a small room with a bed and desk, a bog (slang for toilet) in the corner and not much else. A short brush of teeth and spent ammo dump later James staggered down the hallway to the kitchen, still shaking off the last of his grogginess. Sitting at the kitchen table reading was Chris. For all the ways in which the brothers were alike, James could not work out how the hell his brother had become a morning person.
"Chris" he said in a tired moan, "What time did you get up?"
"5" Chris replied without looking away from his book. James moaned with disapproval.
"One of these days" He said while going for his cupboard in the kitchen. "You are going to appreciate the value of a morning lie in."
"I already do." Replied Chris with a chuckle, "I sometimes get up at 7." James just shook his head in despair before getting himself a bowl of cereal. 45 minutes later James was fed and showered and trying on his new uniform in his room's mirror.
The uniform was not dissimilar from those worn by school students back in Britain, but in the colors of St. Gloriana. The uniform comprised of a white button down shirt, black trousers and a black tie. Completing the outfit was a dark blue blazer the same colour as the girls jumpers. On the left breast pocket was a shield unique to the 4 boys. The right hand half was the St. Gloriana Shield while the left side was their own shield, a white eagle on a green field clutching a lightning bolt.
Deciding that he looked smart in his new uniform, James installed his usual carry possessions in appropriate pockets; Phone, pen, wallet, key, lucky lighter, job done. James picked up his bag and headed for the kitchen to find the boys bar John waiting for him.
"Took you long enough." Jay remarked, "Got your make up ready?"
"A gentleman must be presentable on such occasions." Replied James in as posh an accent he could manage.
"Bullshit!" called Chris, "You've been watching Kingsman again haven't you?" James immediately looked down in despair at being having been caught. John appeared a moment later and the group set out for school. The walk to school was short, but filled with banter. There were small groups of girls heading towards the school together, taking glances at the 4 boys and whispering about them so that they couldn't be heard. As they got closer to the school more students were watching them, like a biologist observing a newly discovered species.
"You lads know where you're going?" asked James as they approached the front entrance.
"Yup." Replied Jay
"Yes." Affirmed Chris,
"I'm in the same form as you mate I'm following you." Replied John in humor.
"Alright guys, break formation and good hunting." The 4 boys split off and headed off toward their form rooms. James and John walked down the corridors in search of their form room. The glances, stares and whispers continued as they continued down the hallway before they found their form room, Room 3-A. The classroom was a standard room with enough desks and chairs for roughly 30 students. The occupying female students almost immediately ceased their conversations in their groups and stared at James and John as if they were aliens.
"This is going to be a long day." Was all James commented, and John silently agreed before they ventured into the unknown.
12:45
The sound of the lunch bell echoed through the school, and the simple thought went through James' head:
'Thank god. I'm starvin.'
"John." Called James, "Let's get some scram."
"Sound Lad" replied John. The 2 abandoned their desks and made their way to the cafeteria. On route they met up with Jay, who was apparently trying to evade a particular group of girls after a miscommunication earlier in the morning.
"So, if this is a British themed school, do you think they've got shite school lunches here too?" pondered Jay.
"I bloody hope not." Replied James, "Japan has some of the best food in the world and I will be goddamned if I am going to put up with cowboy pie and overcooked rice pudding again."
"I don't see what you 2 are complaining about." John cut in. "The food back home is delicious."
"Yeah, when it's done right." Complained James, "The cottage pie back home looks like it was a cow that was fed to another cow with diarrhea and then served with some spuds on top." Jay and John responded with gag noises and motions of fake vomiting.
"Charming imagery there boss." Commented John. They found the dining hall and got in line. Thankfully the food was much better than the British school slop that they were used to, with a vast choice of fish, meat and other delectable's for their enjoyment. The 3 got their lunch and found a table and started eating.
"You know." Said James, through a mouthful of fried rice, "this is really good." The other 2 heartily agreed and continued to dig in. Topics of conversation centered around the mornings activities. Until James asked the question which had been bugging him all lunch.
"Ok. Where is Chris? He'd never miss food this good."
Almost immediately the cafeteria doors opened and Chris walked in. As he joined the line, James noticed he was checking his 6 more often than norm, like he was expecting to be jumped at any moment. When he got his food he sat down with the boys and started digging in, still looking around him feverously.
"Ok mate what's up?" asked Jay, finally sick of the suspicious behavior.
"Don't want to talk about it." Was Chris' immediate response. This twigged the curiosity of the lads even more and an interrogation started. For about 5 minutes the elder males bombarded their younger companion with questions and speculation until he finally broke.
"Alright." Chris moaned, "Some of the girls thought I was cute and tried to take me away for some fashion show or other. Happy?"
James, John and Jay were silent for a moment before glancing at each other and exploding with laughter to the point of tears while Chris just fumed. Other students turned to find out what was so funny while the elder gents just continued laughing hysterically. There laughter was interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing. James looked up, whipping a tear from his eye to see Darjeeling, Orange and a third girl with long blond hair and purple eyes standing there with their lunches.
"Good afternoon gentlemen." Greeted Darjeeling, "May we join you?"
"Of course." Replied James, his sides still hurting form laughing so hard. "Budge up guys." The men budged up to make room for the ladies who sat down with them.
"So may I inquire as to what was so funny?" asked Darjeeling.
"Well it turns out," answered James, "that my little brother has a potential future as a fashion model. Willing or otherwise." The purple eyed girl chuckled,
"I had heard the fashion club had developed a new outfit and were looking for someone to try it on." She looked up and down the table, her eyes catching something. James tracked the gaze to find she was staring at Jay, and he was similarly staring back.
"Forgive me." Interceded James, "But I don't believe you've been formally introduced to my men. These are Corporals Jay Ackner and John Strongbow, my younger brother Lance Corporal Christopher Hunter, and I'm Sergeant James Hunter."
"Its nice to meet you." She said, "I am Assam. This is Orange Pekoe and this is our illustrious tank commander Darjeeling."
"That's something I've been meaning to ask." Said John, "What's with the tea names? They like a nickname or something?"
"John..." James cautioned, about to scold him for being rude in asking. Although it had been something he'd been wondering himself.
"It's quite alright." Said Darjeeling, "If you are selected to become a member of the tea garden, you are renamed after a type of tea and go by that name until you leave the school."
"How do you get selected?" asked Chris.
"It's based on grades, behavior and a few other factors." Replied Assam, taking a bite into a boiled egg.
"So it's kind of like the Bullingdon club then?" summarized James. Darjeeling, Orange and Assam immediately stopped eating and froze for a moment before choking on their food from laughter and surprise. The girls turned beet red as they fought to regain their previous composure.
"No." Replied Darjeeling, still trying to get a hold of herself, "I don't think they are much alike." James merely chuckled at their reaction before returning to his food and continuing to eat. Before long the teenagers went their different ways, with Chris announcing his intent to go hide in the Centurion to evade the fashion club. John and Jay decided to go exploring while James decided to bury himself in a book for the remainder of lunch.
Afternoon classes were over soon enough and the boys were confronted with a dilemma. It was Thursday afternoon and they realized that they had absolutely nothing to accommodate their time. Normally Thursday afternoon would be occupied with non-tankery related cadet stuff such as shooting, drill or other classes. But due to the inherent lack of rifles, cadet materials and any actual point to doing drill they were stuck for ideas. Eventually they decided to go exploring around the ship and to pinpoint sources where supplies could be obtained (Chippy, Chinese take away, corner shop, etc). Exploring the ship did bring home the reality of one stark difference in the ships though, St. Gloriana was far more metropolitan than highlander.
Highlander was more like its namesake than an actual city at sea. Highlander was roughly the same size as St. Gloriana's but there was far more open ground. The school itself and the dorms were in a secluded part of the ship, and the only 'metropolitan' area was a small town on the far side of the ship with a cinema, restaurant, chippy and not much else. St Gloriana on the other hand was practically the centre of London in facilities terms. After an hour of exploring they split up to cover more ground.
James happily walked down the sun soaked streets, enjoying the warmth of the pacific to the comparable cold of the north Atlantic. The streets were relatively quiet and James wasn't particularly watching where he was going when he rounded a corner and collided with something.
"Sorry about that mate." James said as he stumbled back. He looked to see what he had hit and found a trio of teenage males of comparable size and age to him. The lead one was a young man with bright orange hair and pissed off expression on his face, staring at the ground. James tracked his stare to what had formally been a burger in fat food wrapping before it had disassembled when it hit the pavement.
"What the hell man?!" shouted the angry teenager, "I was enjoying that!"
"Yeah sorry about that." Replied James, feeling somewhat guilty for the incident.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?!"
"I'm James, I just transferred here from Britian."
"Yeah right. It's an all girls school dumbass." James was about to give an explanation when the shorter of his 2 companions spoke up.
"Actually Shoko." He said, "I hear a group of boys were coming here to do tankery this year."
"Tankery?" 'Shoko' exclaimed in surprise. He laughed, "What are you a ladyboy or something?" He and his colleagues kept laughing for a moment and James' opinion them was dropping by the second.
"Look kid." Shoko said, placing a greasy hand on James' shoulder, "Me and my boys are the alpha males on this ship. Since your new here I'll let you off this once. But if I catch you or your boys with any of my women, we'll drop your asses in the dirt. Got it? Good."
The youths then pushed past James and continued on their way. James stared at them as they strutted off like they owned the place. James just shrugged and continued on his way.
"Gits."
St. Gloriana Tankery Hanger
13:30
The day following James' encounter with the local 'Alpha Males', it was time for the tankery team to gather for the first time that season. James had since warned the guys about them and asked some of the other students about them and they claimed to have no knowledge of their existence. James simply disregarded them and moved on to more pressing matters.
The atmosphere of the hanger was lively and jovial. After all it was the first time the entire tankery team had been together since the start of the summer, and the atmosphere was also enhanced by the eagerness of new recruits. James could understand their eagerness, he remembered the first time he'd ever climbed into a tank fondly... and promptly stalled it. All of the existing tankery team were told to come in their uniforms and thus were distinguishable from the newbie's who were in their normal uniforms. James couldn't understand why the girls uniforms were so impractical however. They looked like old uniforms that British soldiers wore during the Napoleonic wars, and was a stark contrast to the boys own, more practical uniform.
Each of the boys were wearing a set of British Army MTP fatigues, soft leather Magnum assault boots and a PLCE utility belt containing essentials for survival and combat. They also each carried a multicam fast helmet on their person. Their combat appearance earned them a few strange glances which they just ignored. James marched up to where Darjeeling was standing with some of the other tank commanders.
"Reporting as ordered Commander." he said, "What's the plan for today?"
"Welcome James, I was just getting to that." she said, "For today's training we're going to do some basics on movement and shooting for the new students. But first I want you all to go over your tanks and check they are ready. Understood?" There was a myriad of acknowledgements and the commanders and crews dispersed to do their jobs. As James walked away, Darjeeling quietly mumbled to herself,
"He does look good in camouflage..."
While Chris and John went and oiled the track links, Jay checked the latches that kept the tow cables, entrenching tools, fire axe and other key external equipment. James, not content to supervise, checked the vision blocks and sights for any cracks or dirt that would obscure their vision before turning his attention to the radio. After content that it was working properly, he climbed out of the tank and looked at her. The centurion was a legend, and looked like a proper beast. But in James' opinion she was missing something. Jay, noticing their commanders scrutinizing gaze climbed down and joined him .
"Were pretty much good to go boss." Jay said as he bounded of the tank and to his commander side.
"Good." Replied James, still preoccupied. "Does she look like she's missing something, appended wise?"
"Kill markings?" Jay joked. James snickered,
"Well those'll come. I'm thinking more on the lines of..."
"Custom paint job?"
"Custom paint job."
"Oi John!" called Jay. John looked up from his work at his comrades. "Weren't you flirting with some bird from art this morning?"
"I was not flirting with her!" he replied angrily, denying the accusation.
"Did you get her number while you were flirting?" Jabbed James, seeing right through his loaders denial.
"I was not flirting with her!.. and yes I did." Jay and James laughed as their friend's embarrassment.
"Right." Replied James, "Well When you're done flirting with her, can you ask her if she's willing to give her a custom paint job?"
"Sure boss." Replied John as he returned to his work.
"Who knows," whispered Jay, "She might ask him for a custom paint job as well." The 2 friends sniggered at Jay's dirty joke before a voice came up behind them.
"All ready Gentlemen?" Jay and James jumped and spun round in an instant to find Darjeeling with her ever present smile on her face.
"Yes Ma'am." Replied James, "give us time to load up on ammo and we'll be good to go."
"Good." She said. She turned to leave before she pause, "Oh and corporal? Id thank you kindly for not making dirty jokes in my hanger again. Walk with me Sergeant."
"Yes Ma'am." Acknowledged James, he briefly turned back to his crew, "Get her booted and suited guys. BRB." They muttered an Acknowledgement before getting back to work. James stepped up alongside Darjeeling.
"Listen." She said, "I have some concerns about our current tank fleet. I'd appreciate it if you could take a look at what the other schools are using and give some recommendations. From an outsiders perspective."
"Sure no problem." Replied James, "How soon do you want it?"
"ASAP"
"Will do." She nodded her thanks before taking her leave to see to other matters. James returned to his crew to help with ammunition loading and other preparations before heading to the range.
Gunnery Range
St. Gloriana Tankery training grounds
14:30
"Contact 12 O'clock. Range 700 meters. Load High ex."
"Roger 12 O'clock 700 meters."
"Gun up!"
"Send it."
"Brace."
The 40 tonne centurion rocked back on its suspension as its main gun discharged. Through the smoke, James could just see the tracer from the shell as it sailed into the paper target at the far end of the range. James smiled with satisfaction as the target exploded.
"Good hit. Target destroyed."
"Yeah, but 700 meters is a knife fight in a telephone box boss." Jay whined over the comm, "Can we pull back and do some long range sniping?"
"I'll ask the platoon commander." Replied James. He dropped from the commander's cupola back into the turret and adjusted the radio to the platoon channel.
"Bravo 1 this is Bravo 3. Message over." A second past before the platoon commander responded.
"What is it James?" the commander responded in an annoyed tone. James was sighed, this team really needed to learn proper radio Comms.
"Bravo 1, Bravo 3. My crew and I were wondering if we could pull further back and have a crack at some long range sniping. Any possibility? Over."
"Huh. We're about at our maximum effective range here, so we'll stay here for now. Out." She hung up.
James slammed his fist against the inside of the turret in frustration before switching back to intercom.
"Orders are to hold current range and resume practice." Said James, annoyed that he and his crew were being held back by the Matilda II's he'd been attached too for training. Apparently the rest of his crew agreed with him, judging by the wave of complaints that came up.
"Alright! Alright! I know we can do better but we're their guests and we play by their rules. Otherwise I would have brought a Chieftain."
"But you know we could beat most of these guys on our own." Pointed out John. "Their tactics are dull and predictable and they stay in formation like it'll be the death of them if they break it."
"I know." Replied James with a devilish smile. "And we're going to show them how creative we can be."
"How?" asked Jay, curious as to their commanders intent.
"Remember how I said we were having a one on one against Darjeeling and her crew?" Jay and John nodded. "Well, here's what we do..."
Student accommodation block 'York'
St. Gloriana School Ship
19:12
James sighed as he grappled with some maths homework he'd been set. He hated maths, if it was history he'd actually enjoy doing it, but maths... nah.
After tankery practice and they'd put the tank to bed, John had gotten on the phone to that art girl he was chatting up and she'd agreed to do it if they'd give her a starting point. Since that was done they'd gone home and set about the homework they'd been set before dinner. James was about to set about another maths problem when there was a knock at the door.
"It's open." He called. Dropping his pen and spinning his chair around. Jay poked his head around the door.
"Hey man." He said, "Got a sec?"
"Sure man pull up a perch." Replied James, motioning to the bed. "Drink?"
"Sure." James went for the soft drinks he kept in his cupboard, but he could tell that Jay was distracted by something. He retrieved a can of Coke for Jay and himself. "Sorry it's not alcoholic mate. Age of drink is 20 in Japan."
"Yeah. Cheers." They took a drink and set their cans down.
"So what's up?"
"I was wondering about where we going to be able to do firearms training." Answered Jay, still distracted by something, "we could do sniper work on the tankery range, but pistols and short range work would be impractical."
"Well the school has a shooting club." Replied James, "Why don't you ask Assam. I'm sure she'll tell you." Now James was suspicions. Jay looked down depressed at the mention of Assam's name.
"Ok mate, what's wrong?" asked James. Jay sighed,
"Laura and I broke up." James was surprised,
"Shit mate! What happened? Last I saw you both were happy as Larry."
"Yeah, well." Started Jay. He pulled out his phone, typed a few commands in and passed it to James. "I got that off her on Facebook"
James took the phone and read the on screen message. It read:
J.
U should kno that since the start of summer Ive slept with other 2 guys and I want to break up with u. Since u've got to that Japanese slut hole u'er going to be shagging whores left and right and will have cheated on me anyway so it's better this way. I also want the watch I gave u for ur B'day back.
L.
"Bitch! That's cold bro." Was James' reaction.
"Yeah." Replied Jay, depressed at the rude, none personal break up.
"Right first things first." Started James, "1. You're not returning the watch. She gave it to you, end of. 2. Forget her. If she couldn't trust you to not cheat while were here, she's not worth it. 3. Get even. She gonna talk shit like that, revenge is due."
"It's not worth it mate." Replied Jay.
"Yeah it is." Asserted James, "She needs to be shown she can't do that behind your back, or anyone else's and get away with it."
"Yeah ok." Jay was still only half hearted about it. James could understand why, he and Laura had been going out for almost a year and they'd been a great couple. But if she was going to be an utter bitch about it, she need to go down of it.
"Mate you can do better than her." Stated James, "I mean look at Assam."
"What about her?" asked Jay, the mention of her name getting his attention.
"Come on mate. I saw the way she looked at you yesterday lunch. She's a hell of a looker and if she's in the tea garden and hangs with Darjeeling, then she's gotta be a nice person."
"You think so?"
"I know so. Go ask her about where to keep the firearms and a range and just talk to her."
"Ok. But what about Laura?"
"Leave that with me."
"Alright." Jay then stood to leave, "I'll do that. And thanks for listening mate."
"No problem bro." Jay then excused himself. Once he was gone, James fired up his laptop and opened up Facebook messenger, finding the friend he needed and typed a message;
Sarah. I need a favor...
Ark Royal Public baths
St. Gloriana School Ship
21:34
Darjeeling relaxed as the feeling of steaming warm water washed over her body from the neck down. It had been a stressful few days, not that she could show it in front of her friends or subordinates. While she was on top of her school work, she was still grappling with the tankery teams problems, predominantly who to pick as her vice captain for this season.
As she saw it there were 3 possibilities; Green, Kata Otaka and James.
Green was a trusted friend, and had led her crusader squadron with distinction in past years. However she had a tendency to let her natural aggression get the better of her and was often easily led into a trap, or distracted and leave the flag tank vulnerable.
Kata was an equally gifted Matilda commander, and had an impressive kill count in matches against Anzio, Maginot and Waffle Academy. However she was inexperienced when compared to other commanders, and had a tendency to play by the book and creativity in tactical situations
Lastly was James. James, if one considered length of time in tankery, had even more experience than Darjeeling herself. And while certainly a competent unit commander (proven both by his record and conduct during the first day's maneuvers) and a good leader, Darjeeling had worries about how not only her own team, but the Japanese tankery community as a whole would react to her having a male student as her second in command. Furthermore he had limited experience with the team and they had yet to see how he performed in actual combat.
She sighed deeply.
"Still grappling with sub commanders I take it?" said a voice. Darjeeling looked up to find Assam stepping into the water to join her. She held a cup and saucer of tea in each hand and offered one to Darjeeling.
"Just so." Replied Darjeeling, taking the cup of offered tea. Assam sat down in the bath next to her, enjoying the relaxing water.
"So now that they have been here for a few days," stated Assam, "What is your opinion of the men from Britain?"
"Well the only one I've really had a proper conversation with is James." Said Darjeeling, "But they all seem to be good people."
"And what do you think of Jay?"
"Jay? Their gunner correct? Well I caught him making a dirty joke earlier, but besides that he seems to be a good person. Why do you ask?"
Assam blushed and sank deeper into the bath, arousing suspicions from Darjeeling. Then it struck her, Assam liked Jay! She would have to tell Pekoe later.
'Come to think of it' thought Darjeeling, 'Where is Pekoe?'
Student accommodation block 'York'
St. Gloriana School Ship
20:45
"Done!"
James face planted into his now finished maths homework. He had grappled with the beast for over an hour and finally he had slain the beast! He stood up and stretched off for the first time in over an hour. As he did, he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked out the window to see Chris running across the courtyard away from the building. From the way he was running and the direction from which he came, suggested that he went out his window and did not want to be seen.
Suspicious.
James decided to follow and investigate, pulling a hoody on over his casual clothes and grabbing his essentials as he raced out the door and after his little brother. He stalked his little brother into town, using what he had learnt from police shows and playing grand theft auto to remain undetected. After about 10 minutes of ducking into cover behind cars and alleyways, Chris stopped outside a movie cinema.
'Makes no sense,' thought James, watching from behind a parked car. 'Chris hates the cinema'. Then someone else arrived. It was Orange Pekoe, Darjeeling's loader and batsman! From the way they were both dressed and the late hour...
"He's on a date the sly git!"
James watched and waited until the couple went into the cinema holding hands, before heading back towards the dorms. As far as he knew, this was Chris' first date, so he would have to do the brotherly thing of interrogate him about it upon his return. After the 2 were inside he started walking back towards the dorms, content that his brother and Pekoe were in the cinema and on their way.
However, James did not realize he was the only one who had seen the new couple on their date, or the only one who had something planned.
Outside 'Ark Royal' Cinema
22:46
Orange Pekoe and Chris exited the cinema together, hand in hand.
The 2 had been friends since the first day, and not long after Chris had asked her out to see a movie. Because they knew their friends/ relations they decided to keep the date as clandestine as possible, as well as it being a first date for both of them.
"So what was your favorite bit of the film?" asked Chris,
"Hmm," thought Pekoe, "Probably the part where the special forces rescued the female spy from the Chechnyan terrorists. Yours?"
"Where they HALO dropped from the stealth plane into the base in Antarctica." Replied Chris. He enjoyed Pekoe's company greatly. He thought that she was cute, smart, kind, any number of things that made her a great friend. They'd met when she'd helped him hide in the Library from the Fashion club who wanted to use him as a model. After they'd gone He and Pekoe and started talking and it lead on from there.
"It's getting late." Said Pekoe, tightening her coat against the cold sea breeze.
"You want me to walk you home?"
"No I'm fine thank you." Pekoe blushed slightly, "So, I'll see you tomorrow at practice."
"S..Sure. replied Chris, blushing as well as Pekoe. The pair said their good bye's and headed off in their separate directions. As Chris approached his dorm block, he took special care to approach undetected. He had shut his window on the way out, which meant the only way in was through the front door. He quietly snuck in, turning onto his corridor to find it black and quiet. He made his way down the corridor to his room, unlocking it and opening the door into the darkness of his room. He stepped inside and closed the door.
"Hello Chris." Said a voice in the darkness. Chris cursed himself for being caught as a light came on behind him.
"So where have you been at such a late hour?" James asked, knowing full well where his little brother had been.
"Just, out for a walk." Chris lied. Even if James didn't know that he'd been out with Pekoe, he knew his brother was lying. Chris had a giveaway that his left arm always tensed up slightly. James leaned forward,
"I know you were on a date with Pekoe."
"Fuck! How did you..."
"Next time you try sneaking out, don't run past my window." James chuckled before getting serious. "Mate, you sure you know what you're doing?"
"It was one date..."
"And it was probably her first too. Did you have a good time, and more importantly, did she?"
"She said she enjoyed herself."
"Well that's good." James sighed, "Look mate. I'm not going to push you about this. Just be careful and don't rush it. We've only been here a few days and one fuck up could bugger this whole year for all of us."
"Got it." James stood up to leave, just pausing at the door to say one thing before he retired for the night.
"You do know this means you're going through the tradition right?" Chris went pale at the thought of the tradition. "I'll deny everything but Jay and John are going to find out sooner or later, and I won't be able to save you."
"I'll keep it in mind."
"And Chris... good job bro."
St. Gloriana Airport
08:30
James and John arrived at the Airport on Sunday morning to collect their shipment from home. They found the cargo terminal and filled in the dreaded paperwork. They were led to a container and left to it. They got the container open and they lit up like a pair of kids at Christmas.
"Land Rover!"
Parked at the front of the container was a large desert tan Land Rover Wolf, as used by the British army in practically every major conflict since the end of the second world war in some version or another. In the back of the rover were a series of containers and crates, some marked as ammunition, others as weapons containers. On top there was a hand written note;
Dear James,
Shooting team recalled all the L129A1's so I got you 2 SLR's instead.
Enjoy
Mack
P.S. In return you can get me some Manga! Attack On Titan if possible
P.P.S Some 'special' Grenades for you in the grenade box ;)
James passed the note to John before he grabbed one of the rifle boxes. Inside were a pair of plastic wrapped rifles that were immediately identifiable as a member of the SA80 family used by the British Armed forces. James removed one and tore off the plastic.
"L98A3's! Nice."
The A3 was a brand new derivative of the Cadet's General Purpose rifle, the L98. The L98 was effectively an L85 without full auto capability, but the A3 replaced the green plastic hand guard with a quad rail system and a vertical hand grip/ bipod and replaced the old carry handle with a SUSAT sight. James shouldered the rifle and tested the SUSAT sight. James handed the rifle to John before opening another box and finding the 4 Glock's they'd been promised.
"Well Hello pretty lady!" said John in a bad Russian accent. James turned to him to find he'd dispensed with the L98 and found the biggest gun they'd been sent... the AS50. The AS50 was a .50 BMG sniper/anti-materiel rifle manufactured by legendary British firearms producer Accuracy International for the British army and US navy SEALs. The rifle was so good that a shooter could engage targets at very long range with high accuracy using explosive, incendiary, or armor piercing ammunition. James had tried one while on a 2 week weapons handling course at Hereford but not had a go since, he still wondered how the hell Jay had gotten his hands on one.
"Right let's pack it up and rock and roll." Said James. Retrieving the L98 from its resting place and stowed it back in the box. John reluctantly put the AS50 back in its box and secured it in the Land Rover. They then checked over a trailer that contained personal effects and non- firearm cadet kit such as body armor and ration packs. Once that was checked and hooked up, came the difficult part. At the same time the 2 friends turned on each other and shouted,
"I'm Driving! Bollocks! I'm Driving!"
"Rock Paper Scissors?" suggested James.
"You're on." Following 3 draws James won and smiled with a shit ass grin. John grumbled an insult about his mother and started unfastening the Land Rover from the container. With the Rover free, James jumped in the driver's seat and kicked over the engine. The 300TDi engine kicked over and revved into life. James and John shared a fist bump before James pulled out of the container.
"Want to get a Mackie's on the way?" asked James
"What happened to 'Strictly business, no joy rides'?" asked John, quoting James when he first told them about the coming Land Rover. James lust looked at him with a flabbergasted look.
"You can't seriously expect NCO's to operate effectively this early in the morning without sustenance?!" John laughed at the justification.
"Sure mate why not?"
St. Gloriana School campus
09:12
A short fast food pit stop later and James and John were rolling up the drive way to the main school campus. The teachers and James had agreed that it was best to put their cadet weapons in the shooting club's armory for safe keeping as well as their ammunition. They also insisted that they transfer the firearms during the weekend when the school was empty to cause minimum panic of teenagers walking around with military grade firearms. As such, Assam (who it turned out was also in the shooting team as well as tankery) had agreed to show them to the shooting teams range and armory that morning.
As the Land Rover approached the front entrance. James spotted Jay, Chris and Assam chatting, and from the sound of it, laughing their heads off.
'Bloody hell' thought James, 'Chris is going out with Pekoe. Jay is talking with Assam and John's flirting with bird from art, and we haven't been here a week!. I need to get a fuckin' girlfriend.'
The Land Rover pulled up and interrupted the groups conversation.
"And what took you 2 so long?" asked Jay.
"Stopped for Mackie's on the way." Replied James as he climbed out of the Land Rover. "May I ask what was so funny?"
"it turns out that Assam is quite the comedian." Replied Chris, "although some of her jokes are rather cringe worthy."
"Really?" asked James, he turned to Assam. "Give us a joke then."
"Ok." Said Assam, she thought for a moment before she got one. "How do you catch a squirrel? Just climb a tree and act like a nut!"
Jay and Assam doubled over in laughter, with John only lasting long enough to chuckle before doubling over in laughter. James and Chris just shook their heads and smiled. Chris was right, that was cringe worthy.
"Right." Said James, "Everyone grab some guns and ammo and lead the way Assam." They all reached into the back of the truck and everyone grabbed an Ammo box and a box of guns (with the exception of john, who grabbed double what everyone else was carrying). They followed Assam through the school to an outside range adjacent to the tennis courts. The range was a 25 meter target range surrounded by thick concrete walls to ensure that no rounds went outside the range. At the firing point were a series of benched where they started stacking the ammo and weapons. After a few runs they assembled it all in the range, and only then did they actually see how much firepower they had.
"Whoa." Said Chris, admiring the large collection of gear. James agreed but wanted to find one box in particular. He picked his way through the ammo boxes until he found the box he was looking for. It looked much similar to the others accept it had the words ' Grenade, Assorted.' Painted on it. James opened the box and started removing the trays of grenades inside. James started mentally counting off the types of grenades.
'Paint, Stun, smoke... Mike you absolute ledge'
Mike was one of James' best friends and a fellow weapons expert and the keeper of the Cadets' armory back home. He'd been the one to sign off and ship them all the gear they needed for cadet stuff while in Japan. In the bottom tray, instead of grenades he'd put cans of beer.
"Right then." Said James, quickly hiding the beer from his comrades. "Lets do an ammo count, then how about we send some down range?"
"Hell yeah!" was the eager response.
"Care to have a go Assam?"
"I'd love too."
"Right. Ammo count then grab something that looks good. NOT THE AS50 JOHN!"
"Damn it!" The group set about an ammo count, each taking a different caliber and starter counting, ripping into ammo boxes to get ready for a shoot off.
A short while later
"Right." Said summarized James, " We've got; 1000 rounds 9mm, 2500 rounds of 5.56 NATO. 2 500 round 7.62 NATO, 250 Round .338 Lapua Magnum same again .50 BM and 200 shells 12 Gauge. Roughly 50/50 split Live and Simunition."
"Right. Now can we shoot something?" asked Jay impatiently.
"Absolutely." Replied James. James Grabbed one of the L98A3 as did Chris. John grabbed the combat shotgun and Jay grabbed an SLR. Assam settled for one of the Glock 17's which Jay gave her a quick tutorial on its use. They all loaded a handful of mags for their weapons and stepped up to the firing point.
"I'll call it guys." Said James, as the qualified range officer. "With a magazine of how ever many rounds are in your mag, Load!"
Everyone loaded their mags and waited.
"Make ready!"
Actions were cycled and safeties clicked off.
"With a magazine of how ever many rounds are in your mag, at the target in front. In your own time, Go on!"
The teenagers open up and the targets disintegrated under the volume of lead sent down range. After spending most of the rest of the morning shredding targets, the cadets packed up the guns and ammo into the range's adjoined armory before calling it a day.
Well that didn't take long.
A lot of content in this chapter and not much tankery :/ This will be addressed next chapter as we've got the match between Darjeeling and James as well as more tournament related stuff coming.
To answer a couple of questions I can see coming:
1. I included Shoko and his boys to give a social antagonist and they will play a role in later chapters
2. I wanted boys to continue with cadet stuff for the year so they've got their guns and other gear. As for the seemingly obscene amount of ammo, it's got to last them most of the year and ammo goes much faster than you'd think.
3. If you're wondering why there is a lot of slang and swearing (If you don't understand it, urban dictionary will give you a good definition. The only one I couldn't find was 'Mackies' and its slang for Mc'Donalds) that's just how British teenage men talk to each other. ( I should know... I am one)
If you've got any suggestions, problems, queries etc either PM me or post a review.
So yeah. Next chapter, dunno when It's coming out, soon probably, trying to keep a rough length around 6000-7000 words/ chapter going.
Please review and follow, favorite it if you like it and check out my other works.
TTFN! (Ta Ta For Now!)