Author's Note:
Hello folks, it's been a while. I'm really sorry for the extremely long wait, but Chapter 13 is finally here. Enjoy!
P.S: I've rewritten chapters 1-6 and plan on rewriting 7-12 too. Nothing much changed except for Chapter 5 where I completely changed the whole battle scene. Hope y'all don't mind.
The March Across the Frozen Steppe
Saturday
July 23, 2033
Yuna woke up on the snowy ground. She looked around and soon found herself in the middle of a crash site. The vehicle in question being an American Waco Glider. She noticed she wasn't alone as two girls wearing Saunders uniforms stood near the fuselage. They must've been the pilots.
Standing up, she stumbled over to them, "Wha... What's going on here? What happened?"
One of them turned around and greeted her with a smile. "Hey commander. We just landed five minutes ago."
"We... We did?"
"Yeah, welcome to the USSR Kiev, more specifically on the steppelands of Pravda. Nowadays we call this place 'Arctic Chicago'."
"What does that mean?" Yuna tilted her head curiously.
"Oh you'll find out soon, commander. You'll find out real soon," she giggled.
Well that's not ominous at all...
Then suddenly, Takeda appeared from the darkness. "Good job, pilot. Now we're stuck in this frozen wasteland! Couldn't you have landed at - I don't know - an airport?!"
"This was the only way we could get in without being arrested. Deal with it."
"Woah woah woah, what do you mean arrested?" Yuna asked. "Evening by the way, Shinzu-san."
"Hey"
"Pravda's in the middle of a big conflict right now. The whole ship's on lockdown. Nobody's allowed in or out. If they catch you, they'd either conscript you or put you in a labor camp. In other words, you'll either starve to death or get overworked and starved to death."
"Hey, how come we've never heard of this?"
"Well, whoever runs the Tankery Club usually puts people who talk shit about them or the carrier in general into labor camps."
"They sure do like throwing people in labor camps, huh," Shinzu remarked.
"It's kinda their tradition."
"W-Wait!" Yuna came to a sudden revelation, "If the whole ship's on lockdown, then does that mean we're stuck here for the foreseeable future?!"
"That's basically what I just said earlier dude. No one comes in or out."
"You're an idiot, Fujiwara."
"...Seeing as how it's only been two weeks since all the chaos started, y'all prolly would have to spend a fair bit of time here, like maybe a week or two. So yeah… good luck on that."
"Great… Just great… Of all the people I could get stranded with, it's you," Shinzu grumbled, "This is the worst day of my life. I'm outta here," before she turned around and walked away.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
"Far away from you."
"We're in the middle of a blizzard dude. Why don't you stay here a bit?" the co-pilot asked concernedly.
"I can take the cold!" she yelled amidst the howling wind.
To which she yelled back, "Aight, good luck freezing to death!" nonchalantly, chuckling with her fellow pilot while Yuna chased after her partner.
Once the pair disappeared into the veil of darkness, the Saunders pilots decided to leave as well to find shelter.
"Hey, do you know which way's north?" asked one of the pilots.
"Uhh…" the other paused and looked up at the night sky, searching for Polaris but it was too cloudy. "No dice, dude. Can't see anything up there."
"Let's just walk straight and hope we run into some civilization. Sound like a good idea?"
"Hell no. But it's the only one we got so let's go with it."
As they were about to leave the crash site of their glider, a woman appeared from the wreckage, seemingly just woken up.
"Oh hey, it's the stowaway," the pilot remarked.
The woman, who wore a dark blue greatcoat, scanned her surroundings while letting out a lengthy yawn.
"Whoa… are we here?" she turned around and flinched in surprise upon realizing the Saunders pilots were standing behind her.
"Good evening, we've just arrived at the Kiev. Now get up, we're leaving."
"Already?" she raised her eyebrow, picking up a gray campaign hat before she got up. "Come on, can't we stay a little longer? I wanna go fight some rebels!"
"Rebels?" the pilots shared confused looks, "Man what the fuck are you talking about?"
"Rebels! There's a civil war going on, right? That's the main reason I came here!"
"You're not even supposed to be here, dude. Come on, we're taking your ass to the Polar Bears," she said strictly.
"The Polar Bears?! You're gonna feed me to the wildlife?!" Sherman recoiled in shock.
One of the pilots held in her laughter while the other said, "I'm talkin' bout the American expeditioners, dumbass! They're camped out on the west side of the ship. You wanna fight people right? I heard they're beefing with the Reds up there so why don't you come with us?"
"Reds?" she tilted her head.
"Bolos, pinkos, commies, whatever the hell you wanna call 'em."
Sherman paused for a second with a puzzled look on her face before taking the pilot's hand and shaking it. "Miss, I have no clue what you're talking about, but you've got me interested. I'm coming with you."
The other pilot let out a relieved sigh, "Finally, jeez… Let's get outta here already."
And so the trio marched in the opposite direction from where Yuna and Shinzu walked, hoping to escape the hellhole they had unintentionally stranded themselves in.
It was about midnight when the blizzard died down, making it more tolerable to traverse the snowy steppelands of the Kiev.
After half an hour of walking and still no sign of humanity anywhere, Shinzu was starting to go mad. Her legs were beginning to give out, her fingers were numb, and her feet felt like they were about to fall off. She kept murmuring to herself, blaming people for her current situation. Unbeknownst to her, Yuna heard all of it.
"Damn you Kaichou… this is all your fault… sending me here so I could freeze to death… not to mention you brought her alongwith me."
Suddenly, Yuna appeared over her shoulder, startling her. "Hey, what's wrong with me?" she asked in slight offense.
"Everything. You're an incompetent buffoon and you'll most likely turn this situation even worse for the two of us. You should've stayed behind. This spy mission would be a thousand times easier without you."
"You really don't like me, huh?"
"Congratulations for finally figuring it out after all this time, Fujiwara," Shinzu answered sternly. Though Yuna expected an answer like this, she was still a bit saddened by it.
"I feel like this is unwarranted, man. What did I ever do to you?"
"Your mere presence offends me, Fujiwara. I despise being associated with you. It makes me look like an utter fool."
Annoyed by her constant insults, Yuna muttered to herself, "Don't you make yourself look a fool already? Wearing that silly little outfit all the time…"
"Did you say something?" Shinzu looked over her shoulder with a sinister look, catching Yuna by surprise.
She didn't hear me, did she?! "Uhh, n-no I didn't say anything! Y-You must be imagining things!" she answered nervously, her eyes darting around all over the place, avoiding Shinzu's gaze.
She wasn't pressed further and the two continued. They walked in silence for a couple of minutes until Shinzu couldn't take the cold anymore and she collapsed to the ground.
Yuna quickly rushed to her aid, "Shinzu-san! H-Hold on, I'll carry you on my back!"
"It's no use, Fujiwara…" she pushed her away, "I'm too tired to walk… Let's… Let's just rest here for a bit eh?"
Though Yuna didn't like the idea as she preferred to get out of the cold as soon as possible, she didn't have a choice but to stay. "Alright… Let's rest for a bit. I'll go make a campfire, you stay here. Oh, and don't fall asleep at all costs, okay?"
"Why should I?" she asked with a scowl.
"Shinzu-san, haven't you seen Day After Tomorrow?! You'll freeze to death!"
"I'm not dumb enough to fall asleep in the snow, Fujiwara. And what does that movie have to do with anything?!"
"I-I dunno, I watched it recently and I thought I'd bring it up," she shrugged.
"Shut up and get the fire started already!"
"Alright! Alright! I'll get to it!"
Yuna gathered as many sticks and foliage as she could find, dug a pit, and started the fire. Afterwards, the pair ate some of the rations they had stored in their clothes as they gazed at the pale moon in the heavens.
"Hey, Shinzu-san"
"What?"
"What do you think we should do tomorrow? Should we go straight to the capital for the intel or should we wait this supposed 'conflict' out?"
"You're the leader of this operation, aren't you? Why don't you decide?"
"Uhh well…" Yuna paused, scratching the back of her head. "I… don't really know what to do right now."
To which Shinzu sighed, "Yet more proof of why you don't deserve to be the commander."
"Hey, I can be a good commander sometimes!"
"...And that's not good enough! We need a great commander, Fujiwara, not just a good one."
"Can we return to the main subject please?" Yuna, expecting another shower of insults, interjected the girl to prevent it.
"Fine," Shinzu paused, adding more wood to their dwindling campfire. "Assuming we survive the elements and make it to civilization before sunrise, we'll find us a ride to the capital by any means necessary and sneak into the school. We'll gather whatever intel we can carry, steal a tank from the Senshadō Club there, and ride to the nearest port, trampling down anyone who gets in our way. Does that sound like a good plan to you, Fujiwara?"
"Yep, sounds good!" the brunette replied with her mouth full. "So what should we call this plan of yours?"
"Hmm…" Shinzu thought for a second, "How about 'Operation Kai'! Named after the home province of my ancestors."
"Cool!" Yuna then stood up. "Alright, since we have to find a village or something before the sun rises, we should better get going now right?"
"Indeed," she stood up as well. "I'd like to head somewhere warm as fast as humanly possible."
"You're already somewhere warm. Don't you wanna sit next to me for longer?"
"I mean somewhere warmer. Also I don't like you so no."
"Okay…"
Yuna put out the campfire while Shinzu kept an eye out for any signs. Soon, she spotted something in the distance: multiple orbs of light, all moving west.
"Holy crap…" she muttered to herself, squinting her eyes so she could see better. Upon further inspection, Shinzu managed to make out silhouettes of people and even vehicles. "Holy crap! Fujiwara, look!"
"Hold on, Shinzu-san, I'm still taking care of this campfire."
"That isn't important, idiot!" she pulled Yuna up and showed her what she saw. "Look! There's our chance to get a ride!"
The brunette gasped, "Oh fuck! It's people! W-We need to get over there!"
"Leave the campfire, let's go!"
The two made a beeline for the lights as quietly and swiftly as possible. Once they got close enough, they realized that they had come across a large column of Pravda students marching on the ice. They had a few tanks along with them: a BT-7 and a T60 which was further back in the column. Not only that, but they had artillery pieces, anti-tank guns, and other weapons.
Yuna and Shinzu merged into the crowd unnoticed. Their winter clothing made them easy to blend in.
"What's with all these people?" Yuna whispered. "Are they… migrating or something?"
"They must be on a training exercise. That explains all the firearms and the tanks."
"Huh… Their training's more intense than I thought."
"This is Pravda High School, Fujiwara. They're very devoted to their sport. Some say they even treat it like a religion!"
"Must be why they've won the tournament four times in a row now, huh?"
"Indeed"
Yuna chuckled nervously, "H-Hopefully they'll go easy on us. I-It's just the first round after all, right?"
"Yeah… right…" Shinzu replied without the arrogant tone she usually had.
We're fucked…
Afterwards, they came across a woman who was carrying an anti-tank gun all by herself. She was clearly struggling. Noticing Yuna and Shinzu passing by, she immediately asked them, "Hey, can you help a fella out? I've been carrying this stupid gun for half an hour now!"
"Not our problem," Shinzu replied as they continued to walk.
"The officers'll tear you a new one if they catch you not doing anything, you know!?"
"They can yell at me all they want. I don't care."
It was enough to convince Yuna though as she stopped her partner and said, "Hey wait Shinzu-san! W-We should probably help her out."
"I'm not going to break my back for some insignificant stranger. Leave her be, she can handle it on her own."
"B-But what if the officers catch us? What if they find out we're spies?!"
"There's about a hundred people here, Fujiwara."
"And we're the only ones who aren't doing anything productive! We stick out like sore thumbs, Shinzu-san! Look at us!" Yuna countered.
"Godammit fine!" she turned around with clear scorn on her face. "We'll carry the damn gun."
And so they went back to the girl earlier and relieved her of her duty.
"Don't think we're doing this out of the kindness of our hearts," Shinzu said as she reluctantly placed the gun on her shoulders, Yuna helping her carry it.
"Right, right, it's just business after all, yeah? Now if you excuse me, I have a date with my rations to attend and I wouldn't wanna be late!" with the literal weight off her shoulders, the girl skipped off with regained energy but she was caught by an officer - who was a third year - immediately afterwards.
She berated the girl before assigning her to another job which was to help carry an artillery piece.
Shinzu laughed at her misfortune. "Who's laughing now?" she whispered to herself.
"Hey, would you look at that! We blend in even more now!" Yuna said a little too loudly, "It's impossible for anyone to suspect us now!"
The girls who walked beside Yuna overheard her, giving her weird looks. She made an awkward smile at them in response.
"You idiot, you almost blew our cover!" Shinzu, clearly annoyed, whispered loudly.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I promise I won't do it again!"
The march continued for another thirty minutes before the spies eventually got tired of carrying the anti-tank gun.
"Jeez… we've been marching all night…" Yuna said, panting heavily. She turned to someone beside her and asked, "Hey uh… We've been walking for quite a while now. Where are we headed again?"
"South, as far away from the Reds as possible. We'll probably even reach the edge of the ship if they keep chasing us that far."
The… Reds? What the heck is she talking about? "D… Does that mean we can't rest for a while?"
The girl chuckled, "Don't worry about it dude, you'll be able to sit down real soon. Just wait 'til we reach Ekaterinodar . It's a big town, you'll get all the food and rest you need," the girl placed a hand on Yuna's shoulder, "And as for the Reds, you don't have to worry about them. I'm sure they won't be bothering us tonight cuz we definitely lost them in that blizzard earlier."
Just then, a flash of light appeared from the darkness, and a split second later, something landed near the BT-7, causing everyone who wasn't inside a tank to flee and hide. Soon afterwards, the T60 got taken out.
"Speak of the devil! Run away!" the girl bolted out of there, but Yuna and Shinzu stayed.
Hiding behind the BT-7, which was under fire from an unknown enemy, the pair put the anti-tank gun on the ground and decided what course of action to take next.
"Let's run! There's no point in standing in the middle of a tank engagement!" Yuna exclaimed.
Her partner was a little braver though. "We commandeer that tank and take out whoever's shooting at us."
"What?! Are you crazy?! There's no way we'd win this fight!"
Proudly pointing at herself, Shinzu replied, "Yes we can. I'm the great Takeda Shingen after all!"
"You're Tsuruki Shinzu man!" the brunette shook her, "You're a subpar tank commander going against vets-"
"What the hell did you just call me?!"
"-The only thing we can do now is run away like everyone else, alright? It's the smart thing to do!"
"There's no way I'm turning my back to the enemy, Fujiwara. I'm no coward!" she suddenly got on her feet and climbed up the BT-7.
"Hey Shinzu-san! Get down here, it's dangerous!" Yuna yelled but she was ignored.
Shinzu opened the commander's hatch of the light tank right as bullets whizzed over her head.
"What the- who the hell are you?!" the commander exclaimed in shock.
"A far more suitable commander than you are. Get out of the tank!"
"Y-You got me messed up! I'm not going out there!"
Shinzu glimpsed at the direction of the enemy. She saw two flashes of light in the darkness and she realized that they were outnumbered and most likely outgunned. "Get out or else!" she threatened the girl by pulling out her tantō and putting it to her throat.
Fearing for her life, the commander finally gave in. "Alright, alright, if you say so!" and she crawled out of the BT-7, not before ducking back in to avoid an oncoming shell. After her torso was out of the hatch, Shinzu grabbed her by the shirt and dragged her off the vehicle.
Afterwards, she took the commander's place and convinced the loader to get out as well with the help of her dagger. "Fujiwara, get in here!"
After the brunette sat down, Shinzu got out to talk to the former crew. "You can grab that rifle and join the fight, or you can run away like everybody else. You're useless either way so I don't really care," she said condescendingly before going back in and closing the hatch. The commander and her loader chose to fight. They ran to a small trench and used it as cover, firing the PTRD-41 in the general direction of the enemy.
"Hey, Shinzu-san, why am I the gunner?" Yuna asked.
"That role suits you, Fujiwara. And besides, I'm the better commander between the two of us."
"Aww is that a compliment, Shinzu-san? I'm flattered!"
"Cherish it. It's the only compliment you'll get from me. Oh, and you'll be loading too by the way."
"Hey, who the hell are you guys?!" the driver, who had just now realized her crewmates were different people, exclaimed.
"Shut your trap and focus on the enemies, driver," she replied sternly before poking out of the hatch to see outside. Shinzu immediately caught sight of the flashes again. One of them landed near her tank and the other bounced off of it.
"Got 'em! Fujiwara, turn forty-five degrees east and fire at will. Look out for the flashes."
"Alright, I'll do my best!"
"It's 'Yes commander', you imbecile…" she muttered, "Driver, reverse! Don't let the enemies see us!"
"A-Alright!" she responded and the BT-7 reversed behind a rock as it fired a single shot.
"Wh-What now?!"
"Stay here," Shinzu got out and peeked around the cover. She found the former BT crew only a few meters away from their position. "Hey you! Cover us!" she yelled but there was too much chaos going on that she was unheard.
Afterwards, she climbed back up her tank and ordered Yuna to "Fire a shot! I can't get their attention!"
"Who!?"
"Just fire dammit!" she yelled before covering her ears.
After the BT-7 fired a shot in the air, the former crewmen turned around to investigate the noise. Shinzu had succeeded in getting their attention. Now she just had to get the message across.
"Provide covering fire!"
"What?!"
"Tsk, keep firing at the enemy! We need covering fire!"
"I-I can't hear you!"
"Godammit, SHOOT THE FUCKING ENEMY!"
"Still can't hear you, man," the loader replied before the commander tapped her on the shoulder in a panic.
"They- They're moving towards us! Let's get outta here!" she yelled and the two of them abandoned their weapon and ran away.
"My expectations were low but holy fuck…" she muttered to herself, disappointed. And then two tanks, white as the snow they trod upon, appeared from the darkness. They were two T34-76s.
Looks like the enemy's come to us instead, Shinzu thought before she entered the BT-7 as fast as she could.
"Two tanks. They're right behind this rock. I don't think they know where we are," she reported. Immediately after she said that, one of the tanks appeared in front of them from the corner. Thankfully, it was dumb enough to walk in front of the light tank's crosshairs and it was destroyed in one hit to the side.
"One down!" the commander yelled triumphantly, but her celebration was cut short when the other T34 appeared behind them. It opened fire but miraculously, they missed at point-blank range
"I knew Pravda's tankers were conscripted amateurs but I didn't know you guys were this bad," Shinzu remarked with a gloating smile.
"Hey! That includes me too, you know?!" the driver replied.
"I'm aware of that. Anyways, enough wasting time," she knocked on the turret roof twice and the BT-7 fired, scoring its second kill.
After the white flag flew and the battle came to a close, Shinzu slinked back into her seat and let out a sigh of relief and satisfaction. "All in a day's work…"
"Holy crap! That was the first time my tank actually won something!"
"You can thank me later."
"Me too!" Yuna chimed in.
"Oh yeah! I-I never got your names…"
Shinzu and Yuna looked at each other before each of them responded.
"My name! It's umm… Yuma! It's Yuma!"
"How creative…" she whispered.
"How about you, commander?"
Shinzu paused to think up a good name. She eventually went with "Shizuka. My name's Shizuka."
"Look who's talking!"
"Shut up!"
"Shizuka huh? Well, it was an honor serving with you, commander!"
"Don't mention it. Oh, and I prefer to be called 'Takeda-dono'. I feel that it suits me better."
"Hey, how about you, driver? What's your name?" Yuna asked
Before the driver could answer, the crew heard yelling outside. "Dasha! Get out here!"
"Coming! Hey, I'll talk to you guys later. Just gimme a minute, okay?" promptly afterwards, they heard the driver's hatch open and someone's footsteps on the snow.
"Dasha… That sounds like a pretty cool name."
"You think every name sounds cool, Fujiwara."
Meanwhile outside, Dasha's old crew had returned as well as everybody else. They captured the fallen enemy tank crews and returned to the path they were walking along.
"Dasha, are you alright?! That battle was pretty intense!" the commander asked, frantically searching for any wounds on her body.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" replied the driver, pushing her hands away. "Not a single scratch."
"Whew, thank God…"
"Hey, where're those bastards who hijacked our tank?" the gunner asked.
"Who're you calling a bastard?"
The former crew looked up and saw Shinzu standing atop the BT-7's turret, looking down on them with a smirk.
"You! Get your ass off our tank!"
"I'm afraid this is our tank now," she replied, her smirk growing wider. "Clearly we've displayed that we're far more capable of operating this vehicle than you pair of bumbling idiots. You should be happy, you know? Knowing that it's in good hands now."
The gunner was utterly offended. "Do you know how much I sacrificed to get that thing running you bitch!?" she attempted to climb the BT-7 and take Shinzu down herself but the commander grabbed her shoulder.
"Calm down, man!"
"I have no intention of listening to your pathetic sob story, miss. This is our tank now. Deal with it," Shinzu said as she turned around and began crawling back inside. "Dasha, let's get going."
"In a moment!"
"D-Dasha, you're going with them?!" the former commander exclaimed.
"Oh, don't worry about me guys!" she replied with an awkward, innocent smile, "I promise I'll get the tank back after they're done with it."
"Why don't you come with us instead? We- We could hide someplace and wait until this whole thing blows over!" said the gunner.
Dasha politely refused, "I'm sorry… I-I really want to go but I have a job to do! And besides, there's a high chance the officers would find us. I can't take that risk guys, I'm sorry."
"Wh… What are you saying, Dasha? Are you saying you don't want us anymore?"
"What?! Of course not! I told you guys I gotta do my job, okay? It's not that big a deal."
The commander felt betrayed. "Oh, so now you like your job? It's because of those assholes, isn't it? You don't care about us anymore because they're better than us, isn't it?!"
Dasha was beginning to get spooked as the towering figure of her commander loomed over her. "N-No that's not-"
"Well guess what. We don't care about you too! A disloyal bastard is no friend of mine! C'mon, let's get outta here…" and she walked off, going further up the column and quickly disappearing into the crowd.
The gunner stayed for a moment. "I know you for many things, Dasha… but I didn't think you'd be a liar."
"Wait! Guys please come back! This is all just a big misunderstanding!" she yelled in a desperate attempt to get her friends to listen. But it was too late. They had already vanished.
The driver paused, trying to make sense of everything. Eventually she broke down crying, burying her face into her palms as she fell to the frozen ground.
"Th… They were the only friends I had… sniff, and now they're gone…"
Soon, Yuna left the tank to console the girl. She placed a hand on her shoulder and said in a soft voice, "Hey, it's okay. I'm sure they didn't mean what they said. This is just a big misunderstanding! Give them some time to themselves, and when the time comes, you guys can make up and everything will go back to normal!"
"Y… You think so? sniff,"
"Making up with your friends isn't that simple, Fujiwara. Trust me, I know," Shinzu interjected. She had also gotten out of the tank. "Now let's stop wasting time and get going. We're going to fall behind and I can only imagine how the officers would feel about that."
"Right. It's about time we move," Dasha said with a bit of her confidence regained. She stood up, cleaned the snow off her clothes, and got back into the driver's seat.
An hour later, Dasha had managed to get over the incident a bit.
"So… how'd you end up here in the first place, Dasha?" Shinzu asked as she was getting pretty bored.
"Well, I didn't really want to volunteer. I just had to, you know? Otherwise, the Whites would put me in one of their labor camps."
"So basically, you got conscripted?"
"Yeah, that's the word."
"Then I'm guessing you don't have much experience operating this tank."
"I do, actually. One of my friends is part of the Senshadō Club so we ride this thing to school everyday."
"Huh… Maybe I should do that myself… It'd definitely make me look better…"
"You're part of the Senshadō Club too, Takeda-dono?"
"Uhh, y-yeah, I am."
"Huh… that's pretty weird. I don't think I've seen you before… I haven't heard anyone talk about you before either."
"Pravda has over a hundred girls in their Senshadō Club," she replied with a shred of nervousness in her voice.
"And you're one of those unique ones. So I find it pretty unusual nobody's heard of you before."
Though Shinzu was flattered by that statement, she couldn't let Dasha know the truth. "It's none of your business, driver."
"You're right, you're right."
"Oh hey! I just realized something!" Yuna interjected all of a sudden.
"What is it?"
"Well, we're marching on the snow right? And it's frankly getting boring in here. So why don't we-"
"No, we're not singing Yuki no Shingun, Fujiwara. Your voice is beyond unbearable…"
"Oh come on, now's the perfect opportunity!"
"I don't care. I'm not about to spend the rest of the night listening to your horrible voice."
"My voice is not horrible!"
The two proceeded to get into a heated argument meanwhile Dasha casually sang the Siberian Riflemen March.
The night continued without any attacks from the Reds. The Whites managed to reach the occupied city of Ekaterinodar before sunrise. The small army of high schoolers surrounded the area, using the few SPGs and artillery pieces that they had to bombard the city and force the Reds to surrender. The siege had begun.
July 24, 2033
7:43 AM
Yuna and Shinzu, sharing a single blanket, awoke inside the BT-7 to the sound of artillery fire. Immediately afterwards, the hatches above them opened and they were blinded by the light of the sun.
Dasha appeared, her head shading the two from the blinding light. "Hey guys, you awake down there?"
"No. Go away," Shinzu grumbled.
"Come on, don't you wanna have breakfast with me?"
Immediately after she said that, the commander's head popped out of the hatch. "You should've said that earlier," she said to which Dasha chuckled.
"Sorry about that."
Afterwards, the commander hopped off the tank, wearing a fresh, new Pravda uniform. She noticed that they were somewhere completely different from the snowy road they were marching on last night. "Hey, where the hell did you take us?"
"On the outskirts of Ekaterinodar, commander. We're in the middle of a siege right now so there's not much we can do to help out."
They were atop a snowy hill on which a farmhouse stood. The overall commander made it her small army's FOB. There were also a few artillery pieces standing on that hill, bombarding the city in the distance.
"A siege, huh? Well hopefully it doesn't last long. We wouldn't wanna get bogged down now, would we?"
"Of course, Takeda-dono! Hey, about breakfast, shouldn't we wait for Yuma-san to wake up?"
"If she doesn't want to get up and eat, then we should leave her be," she said, crossing her arms.
Disappointed, Dasha bowed her head. "I… guess you're right. Still, it would be much better if all three of us could eat together."
Conveniently, a shot from one of the artillery pieces rang out, waking the gunner from her slumber.
"I'm up! I'm up!" Yuna exclaimed as her head popped out of the tank like a pigeon from a magician's hat. Like Shinzu, she also wore a Pravda uniform.
"Yuma-san! You're awake!" the driver exclaimed, her eyes glimmering with joy. "Care to join us for breakfast?"
"Of course…" she said, rubbing her eyes. "What're we having?"
"It'll be a surprise, come on!"
"Alright, I'm coming," she yawned, climbing down from the BT-7. "Oh hey, nice uniform, Shin- I mean Shizuka-san. It really suits you."
"I look good in any type of clothing, Fujiwara. Now let's go."
Dasha led them to a campfire on the other side of the hill and as they made their way over there, Yuna and Shinzu got a good look at the besieged city.
Most of the houses and infrastructures had been reduced to rubble. Some structures still stood, though most were crumbling or on fire.
"How long have they been shelling the place?"
"Hmm, about two hours or so."
"They're bombarding the city a bit too much, don't you think?" Yuna asked.
"Well, the commander's pretty hell-bent on taking Ekaterinodar so it's no surprise that she'd spare no effort to weaken the defenses."
"When are we gonna see action then?"
"Hopefully we don't. The commander intends on taking the city without sending us over there. We've only got two tanks left, you know? If we get downed, then it's all over for the rest of us. We'd all be living in a labor camp for the rest of the year."
"Thankfully I'm here then!" Shinzu proclaimed. "If I-"
"-You mean we-"
"Shut up. If I can take out two T34s on my own, then I sure as hell can take out a hundred more. Isn't that right, Dasha?"
"Uhh, yeah sure…"
"Why did you say that as if you're lying?"
"Lying?! Pfft, nahhh, come on I'd never lie!"
Shinzu glared at her with doubting eyes. Fortunately, they had conveniently arrived at the campfire in time for Dasha to distract her.
"Oh hey! We're here!"
Three of the crew members of the other tank sat around the fire. They were in the middle of breakfast.
"Hey! I thought I told you guys to wait for us?!" the BT driver exclaimed, pouting.
"We were literally starving to death, okay? We couldn't resist."
"Blin,"Dasha cursed, "I guess the surprise is ruined. Well whatever. Come and sit down, you guys."
"What is this anyway?" Shinzu asked, inspecting the pot that hung over the fire.
"It's kasha!" she replied, holding a bowl of the buckwheat porridge towards Yuna."Babushka used to make this all the time."
"Your… what?"
"My grandma, ya dingus! Come on, take a bite. I'm telling you, it's delicious!" the driver placed it in her hands before retrieving another bowl which she gave to Shinzu.
After she got hers and they were about to sit down, she suddenly realized something. "Oh crap, hold on I forgot something," and she started shuffling around her pockets. Eventually, she pulled out three chunks of unsalted butter from the right pocket of her coat and placed each of them in her crewmate's kasha as well as her own. This act understandably horrified her crewmates for they didn't know where those chunks had been.
Regardless, they sat down and ate. Yuna and Shinzu introduced themselves to the other crew and even gave them each of their own fabricated backstories to further convince them and Dasha that they were legitimately from Pravda. Afterwards the driver of the other crew asked theirs, "Hey, whatever happened to your old crew, Dasha? Last I saw, you guys were pretty close to each other, almost like you were inseparable. Did you have a falling out or something?" the other crew members were curious about it too.
"I-It's a long story guys, I'd rather not tell it now."
"Well then just give us a TL;DR or something."
"I told you guys, it's a long story! There's no possible way I can retell it in its entirety right now," she said, to the other crew's displeasure.
"A lot must've happened last night, huh?"
"Yep, a lot."
"Still," the driver leaned back, satisfied with her meal, before turning to Dasha's new crewmates. "It's pretty weird how you guys appeared out of nowhere. Are you guys part of the Senshadō Club? I don't remember ever seeing you before…"
"W-Well, we're new recruits! We joined right after shit went down!"
"Really? You guys must be prodigies then if you could take out two tanks on your own like that!" exclaimed the other crew's commander.
"Oh stop it, I'm not as splendid as you think I am to be. Though I will admit, I am quite a skilled commander. That of which I am certain," Shinzu replied with a proud smile.
"Actually, we kinda just got luck-" Yuna interjected, her mouth full.
"Yuna shut up," before she quickly got cut off.
"Hey, speaking of which, what'll you guys be up to after all of these civil war shenanigans are over?" Dasha asked, "Can we like, hang out or something? Pretty please?"
"Yeah of course," the gunner of the other crew replied as she leaned back, only to realize there was nothing to lean against and so she fell off her log seat, to her crewmates' amusement. "Let's… go ice fishing or something… After all of this is over."
"I'll take you up on that offer!"
Shinzu had emptied her bowl when she chimed in on the conversation. "When is this civil war going to end anyways? It seems kind of pointless, like we're fighting for nothing. Oh, and I'd like seconds please."
"I'm glad you like my cooking, commander," Dasha replied with a bright smile.
Her face flushed a little. "I-I'm just really hungry, okay?"
"I dunno when this war would end really," the gunner shrugged as she put a spoonful of buckwheat in her mouth. "It definitely won't end soon though. Not when our tank's still standing."
Ironically, an artillery shell landed near the farmhouse as soon as she said that. It didn't destroy the building completely, but it did punch a hole through the wall and destroy a T-34 that was parked nearby.
"Welp… nevermind," her reaction was rather calm. It didn't seem like it bothered her, or her crew members as they resumed their breakfast shortly after.
A crowd of people emerged from the farmhouse. They were dressed like military officers. After seeing the destroyed tank, one of them threw their hat on the ground, clearly enraged, and stormed off. "Man, fuck this job," she muttered.
"Who the heck was that?" Yuna whispered.
"Oh, that's our commander. She's the one running the show. Or, I guess, was," she set aside her bowl and stood up and went over to the farmhouse to pick up her commander's hat before bringing it back.
"Wait, so your commander quit?!" the brunette exclaimed.
"Yep, she's on the way to turn herself in as we speak," she replied, dusting off the hat.
"B-But why?"
"She's really stressed out, okay? The pressure must've gotten to her. Everyone was depending on her to beat the Reds."
Shinzu crossed her arms "Well that's pretty stupid. Placing your faith on a single person like that."
"I agree, I guess. Anyways," after cleaning the hat, the gunner placed it on the loader's head. She placed a hand on her shoulder and told her, "You've inherited a pretty heavy burden, dude. May God help you."
"Wait I'm the commander now?" she asked calmly, but confused.
"Noa named you second-in-command so it's only fitting that you take her place."
"But… But what if I'm not good enough?"
Shinzu exclaimed, "If that's the case, make me-"
"Absolutely not," the other crew answered in unison.
"You're making a bad decision here, you know?" she replied grumpily.
"We're making the reasonable decision here, dude."
"And besides, all of the White commanders are from nobility," Dasha added in a whisper, "There's no way they'll treat a commoner like you as an equal."
"Sigh, that's true…" Shinzu stood up and told the girl sitting in front of her, "Alright commander. You've earned my temporary loyalty. I'll do whatever you want me to do. But if you prove yourself unworthy of your position, know that I won't regret leaving your side."
"Hey, are you saying you're gonna defect to the Reds?!" the gunner stood up, glaring at her in suspicion.
The commander calmed her down however and she stood up herself. "It's a pleasure to work with you, commander," she outstretched her hand. "The name's Tanya by the way."
Instead of shaking her hand, Shinzu bowed before her. "My name's Shizuka. But I'd prefer it if you call me Takeda."
"Why?"
"That's how I like to be called okay?"
"Sure," she chuckled. "You know, you're a pretty fascinating gal, Takeda. I'd like to spend more time with you."
"I'm a busy woman, commander. I don't see ourselves to be seeing each other often."
"Oh that's fine. I'm a bit of a busy body too, actually. We can just spend time together when things have calmed down."
"Sure"
The other crew's gunner interjected, "Hey Tanya! We're awaiting orders, you know?"
Upon realizing she had a much bigger responsibility now, Tanya paused to think of a plan. Eventually she gave her first orders. "Everyone pack up. Call off the siege, take everything that you can carry and destroy the things you can't."
"What? Why are we calling off the siege? This is a great opportunity, commander! Where are we even going in the first place?"
"Back north. Back to the Cossacks."
Everyone gasped in shock.
"Are you serious?! We just spent three days walking here nonstop!"
"Look, I know it sounds ridiculous but it's the only way we can survive this war, okay? We're dead meat if we stay here."
"Back to the chariot then," Takeda walked away from the campfire back to her tank.
"Yeah! Back to the chariot!" Yuna followed behind.
Tanya went over to their tank as well shortly afterwards. "We're hitching a ride in your tank until we find one for ourselves by the way. Hope you don't mind."
"Thanks for the breakfast, Dasha!" the gunner said as she and the driver followed their leader.
"Yeah, unfortunately it's back to stale bread after this. That is, if we find any food at all."
"Yeah, that sucks," said Dasha.
Meanwhile aboard the BT-7, as the crew was outside the hatch observing everyone else pack up their stuff and leave, Yuna asked, "Hey, Shinzu-san. Don't you think we're blending in a bit too much? We're supposed to get to the capital to get info. The conflict's none of our business, remember?"
"Yeah well there's been a change of plans, Fujiwara."
"What?!"
"There's no way we'd be able to get to the capital. Not with this war going on. What we need to do is escape the ship. That's the only thing we can and should do. Screw the intel, it won't be of much help to us anyway."
"Going here in the first place was pointless then!"
"Unfortunately so, yes."
"Sigh, dammit! Oh shoot, here comes the crew. Look natural!"
"I know how to play a character, Fujiwara."
Afterwards, Dasha got in and drove the tank out of the area, carrying Tanya and her crew along.
And so the Whites marched back north across the frozen steppe, engaging in small skirmishes with Red patrols along the way. Eventually, they made it to a town called Sarsky which was one of the towns not in Red hands thanks to a recent uprising by people who called themselves Cossacks.
The war between Red and White was far from over.
July 26, 2033
9:17 AM
As the Whites marched on the city of Sarsky, they were pleasantly surprised to find it undefended without a single Red in sight.
Instead, they were met by the townsfolk. One, in particular, sat in the middle of the road, blocking their path.
She was a woman with long, unruly grey hair and eyes that were surrounded by dark circles. She wore a dark brown chokha and a white shapka hat.
"Well well well… look who came crawling back," she sat crossed-legged, sipping her morning coffee. "How'd that Ice March go for you, Noa?"
Tanya stood up on the BT-7's turret and replied, "Noa's not here. Not anymore. I'm the commander now."
The woman on the ground paused for a second, trying to process the information through her tired and confused mind. "You're the what now?"
Tanya hopped off the tank, to which the girl stood up to face her.
"What happened to Noa?"
"She quit," she said, followed immediately by the woman snickering.
"I knew she didn't have it in her… My name's Marina. Ataman of the Pravda Cossacks. Things have changed since the last time you Whites came here. For instance, we don't like the Reds now. And we'd like to help you get rid of them in this area. Just let me do my thing and I'll let you do yours, got it? That way, we won't have any problems."
"It's a deal," and they sealed their agreement with a handshake.
"Good, hopefully you're less of an asshole than Noa, commander," Marina took a sip of her coffee.
"It's Tanya"
"Yeah, Tanya, whatever. Hey, if you don't mind, I'd like to discuss things with you inside and not out here in the cold."
"Oh sure, of course!" she exclaimed before signaling her crew members to follow her.
Afterwards, the rest of the Whites dropped their guards and rested. For once they could have shelter from the cold. Dasha parked her tank on the side of the road and she and her crew broke into someone's house to take refuge there.
"I miss this feeling so much…" the driver moaned in pure bliss as she sunk deeper into her living chair, feeling the warmth envelop her body. Yuna and Shinzu meanwhile, raided the house's food supply.
"Hey, Dasha-san, do you know who this Marina person is?" Yuna asked, her mouth bulging as if she was a chipmunk. "And what the heck's an 'Ataman'?"
"Marina's the leader of the Cossacks on this schoolship. They like riding cavalry tanks, like our BT-7 for example. They're pretty good at Senshadō too."
"They have their own tanks?" Shinzu asked.
"Yeah they do. All Cossacks on this ship ride one."
"Huh. They would make great allies then!"
"That's true! Though I'm assuming they still don't like us that much since we robbed them of all their food at one point so we shouldn't trust them that much."
"What? Why'd you even steal from them?"
"We were hungry, okay? It was necessary."
"The Cossacks have agreed to an alliance," Tanya suddenly barged in without notice, startling everyone in the room. "They've lent us a surplus of tanks they captured from the Reds a week ago which means I get to command my own tank."
"Thank God your fat ass won't slow us down anymore," the commander grumbled.
Tanya continued, "I came here to thank you for letting me and my crew ride on your tank. We wouldn't have made it here without you Oh, and also, you guys will be working for the Cossacks from now on."
"Why so?" Dasha asked in puzzlement.
"Marina wants as many BT-7's on her side as possible. She intends on taking back the entire region from the Reds. We need to show her that we're trustworthy. That's where you guys come in."
"We won't let you down, commander!" Yuna saluted.
Tanya chuckled at her enthusiasm, "Good luck liberating the steppe, I'll see you later. Hopefully,"
As the commander was about to leave, Dasha asked her, "Hey commander! Where will you be going?"
"I'm heading back south. To secure the southern front for when we make the drive to the capital."
"Good luck on that then," Shinzu said.
"Thanks, I'll need it, Takeda. I'm hoping we can spend time afterwards."
"Uhh, yeah… me too."
The BT crew watched from a window as Tanya and her newly formed tank squadron rode out of the town, singing Farewell of Slavianka as they went.
A few moments later, the Cossack Ataman entered the house, still looking as if she could pass out at any minute. "Alright, you girls should get ready. We're riding in ten minutes."
"What's our first objective, commander?" Shinzu asked.
"It's a city with a river that splits through it. It's named Tsaritsyn. The Reds have a firm grasp on it so if we take it, their influence over this region would diminish. I want it taken as fast as possible so like I said, get ready."
"We get it, we get it, now get the hell outta here."
"Hmph, you should learn to watch your mouth girl," Marina glared at her as she exited the house.
Shinzu then turned to both her teammates. Her excitement clearly showing. "Today we liberate the region, tomorrow we liberate the ship. To victory!"
"To victory!"
"URAAA!"
Yuna and Shinzu paused and looked at Dasha in confusion. "Wh… What was that?"
"What? It's our war cry."
The pair stared at each other. "Oh right. U- Ura!"
"Yours needs a little bit more spirit put into it."
"Sigh, let's discuss this inside the tank."