Chapter 6: A Baptism of Fire
September 29, 2010
Outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia
The battle has begun, and the tanks on both sides rumbled forward. Eryn led the column of tanks as they transitioned into a V-formation. Although not perfect, the formation resembled a V, a testament to the team's work put in during the two weeks before the match. Eryn then looked to his sides, beside him were Cara's T-34 and Peter's Panzer IV. As the team pushed forward, Eryn did one more run-down of the plan in his head.
- Peter is to take the tanks with the heaviest guns and head straight for the giant hill that oversaw most of the battlefield.
- Cara was to lead the medium and heavy tanks and act as a reserve unit until either Eryn finds the enemy team or Peter's trap is set.
- Eryn was in command of a small scouting squadron, which included his Chaffee, a Stuart, and a Panzer III, they were to find and shadow the enemy team and report on its positions.
From there, Eryn would decide if he should have the enemy team prioritize taking him out which he would lead them to the hill. Another option would be to regroup with Cara's squad, have Peter relocate, and force an engagement. In Eryn's mind, the second option was way riskier and sacrificed
As the team trekked onward, the hill had drawn closer and closer and with that, Peter now decided to split off. His squadron of 4 tanks broke off of the formation and made it towards the hill. A little while later, Eryn also decided to split off. He called his units and increased speed. All Eryn had to do was find the enemy team, which proved to be easier said than done, his squad scoured the area to no prevail. 15 minutes later, Eryn decided to check in on the others.
"Peter, Cara, how is everything so far?" Eryn radioed.
"Ehh- not much right now," Cara replied.
"Same here." Peter reciprocated.
"Damn, I got nothing here right now," Eryn said
"Just keep looking, I doubt they're far." Cara encouraged.
"Alright, I'm out," Eryn responded.
A long distance away from Eryn laid Cara's squadron of tanks, these tanks were to be held in reserve until the best moment for their usage, which was to be a slow flanking maneuver against the enemy team. Right now, the team was relaxed and waiting for an order.
After making contact with Eryn, Cara placed down her microphone and looked outside the commander's hatch then observed her surroundings, her squad remained hidden in one of the many shallow valleys that the battlefield had in stow. Although a bad position, it didn't matter as they were to act as a reserve unit, as they were meant to wait until a suitable flanking attack was possible or told otherwise by Eryn.
Most of the pre-battle excitement had whittled away, however, as nobody including her wanted to act as some backup while Eryn and Peter got to do all the dirty and fun work. Even so, they had to stick with it, Cara hoped that they would be able to see some action soon. Gazing at the surrounding area once more, Cara was about to close her hatch until someone called out to her.
"Cara!" A voice called out, Cara looked back out of her hatch to see that it was Nicki calling to her.
"Yes?" Cara responded.
"Should we relocate?" Nicki questioned. "So that they have a harder time finding us?"
"Should we-" Cara pondered, it was a good precaution. But, if they were found trying to relocate, it would compromise the plan. "I don't know, we probably should have done it a while ago."
"We still have time, Holy Cross' main tank force isn't that fast." Nicki pointed out.
"True, but they still have their light tanks." Cara countered.
Nicki slumped her head and began thinking to herself, after a quick 30 seconds, she spoke. "Let's stay for now and hope that Eryn will be able to find their main force before they find us. Once he does, let's move away from here."
Cara nodded in approval and radioed to the team. "We're gonna move once Eryn finds the enemy team, got it?"
Various sounds of approval echoed through the radio com. After informing the team of her plan, Cara dropped back into her tank and slumped into her seat. She had a feeling deep within her that told her to get moving now, but she pushed this premonition aside and closed her eyes, hoping to sneak in a quick nap.
Eryn's search still had not gone as well as he had hoped, there were still no signs of the enemy team. At this point, it seemed as if Eryn and his scouts were just mindlessly driving around. He popped his head out of the hatch and took in the area around him, as expected, there was no enemy tank to be seen. He then turned towards Panzer III and Stuart. The commanders: Paul and Chris were also trying to find whatever traces of the enemy team were present.
"Have you guys found anything?" Eryn called out.
"Nah." They both responded, Eryn, sighed to himself before Chris' voice called out.
"Guys, look!" Chris called out.
The three halted their vehicles before looking at what Chris was pointing at. To the three's delight and surprise, they had found a trail of tank tracks. Eryn examined the track and concluded that the track mark was from a while ago, perhaps when the match had started.
"Should we follow it?" Paul questioned.
"Hmm, the tracks are pretty thin," Chris noted. "These are probably from a light tank of some sort."
"It could be their Locusts." Eryn theorized, he stroked his chin and began thinking to himself.
"Their light tanks are most likely trying to find our forces, If we take them out, that would lead them to have no scouts and thus have them blind." Eryn thought, he then turned towards Chris and Paul.
"We're following them," Eryn ordered.
The three tanks rolled forward and followed the tracks. All three commanders kept their eyes peeled for whatever they might encounter. As they progressed, the treads appeared more and more recent, excitement filled Eryn as he mentally prepared himself for his first ever engagement. To fuel his excitement, even more, distinct engine sounds different from his allies' tanks were heard and were approaching; Eryn clenched his fist in anticipation.
Four M22s rushed in front of Eryn and his squad from the top of a hill just then. Taken by complete surprise, Tomas slammed the accelerator by accident, causing the Chaffee to buckle and ram into one of the Locusts. The resulting ram sent the Locust spinning and made it collide with a rock, knocking off one of its tracks. Chris and Paul both stopped their tanks and fired at the Locusts, with Paul managing to hit one while Chris' shell overshot and pummeled itself into one of the surrounding hills. Eryn took advantage of the immobilized Locust and ordered his tank to knock it out.
"Kay, traverse right. Jonathan, load AP!" Eryn ordered. Kay rotated the turret as Jonathan shoved a shell into the gun breech.
"Shell loaded!" Jonathan notified.
"Fire!" Eryn ordered.
"On the way!" Kay said.
A shot zoomed towards the Locust and slammed into its frontal plate, a white flag popped out of the turret, signifying a knockout. Chris ordered his crew to fire at the Locust they missed. This time, their shell hit the tank, knocking it out. The last remaining Locust took note of their disadvantage and wisely retreated. Eryn, Chris, and Paul all lined up and attempted to take it out, but this proved difficult as the Locust was swerving.
With the Locust retreating out of sight, the three tank crews rejoiced in their small victory, Eryn contacted Peter and Cara to notify them of the impending events and what to do next.
"Alright, so you managed to take out their scouts but haven't found their main force?" Cara summarized.
"Mhm," Eryn responded.
"That's great and all, but we need to know where their main force is still." Peter deadpanned.
"Hmm, you're right." Eryn pondered.
Although they had a slight advantage over Russell and Holy Cross, they haven't completed their main objective at all. Eryn slumped into the commander's seat for a minute to hopefully try to predict where the main force was. After thinking, it was as if a light bulb had popped over Eryn's head as he had come up with a new plan to find the main force. Picking up the radio, Eryn contacted Cara and Peter again to notify them of his new plan.
"Cara, Peter, I have an idea." Eryn radioed.
"What is it?" Peter and Cara replied.
"With their scouts taken out, they'll probably send out a force to track down whoever did it. They don't know if my squad was part of a scouting group or a vanguard of the main force. Once they find my team and me, I'll try my best to lead them towards Peter and from there we can resume our original plan. It sounds like a gamble, but we're gonna have to take it if we want to win." Eryn planned.
Cara and Peter both thought about Eryn's plan before coming up with a response, they both picked up their radios and spoke once more.
"Let's do it."
Russell and his team haven't had any luck trying to find Eryn and Queen City, the four scouts he sent hadn't reported back since they split off from their team. They planned to track down the enemy team and force a close-range engagement while he would have Kyrie try to flank, making good use of the hilly terrain, even though they lacked in speed, they made up for it in firepower and armor. All his tanks trekked mindlessly around the battle area, attempting to find any clue or sign of an enemy force. Russell slumped into the commander's seat of his tank as it trekked onward.
The main force lay hidden in one of the corner boundaries of the battlefield. The main squad crawled throughout the bottom half of the designated battlefield, while the scouts should have hurried through the top half. By now, Russell knew that the enemy team was spread throughout the top half of the battlefield. Checking the map once more, there was a massive hill near the top boundary which would have provided great coverage of the area, but it oversaw only so much of the battlefield, hills, and valleys could provide great coverage from these vantage points. Assuming that Eryn would know this, Russell told the scouting to avoid the massive hill. Now, Russell was left waiting for his scouts to report on any sign of the enemy team snuggled against the commander's seat of his Tiger I, his main force laid behind a hill that covered most of his flanks.
Just then, static came from his radio. Excited, Russell slumped back up onto the commander's seat and listened in on the static. He called for the scouting group's leader: Alain.
"Alain, you there?" Russell radioed.
"Russell, it's Lucas." Lucas frantically gasped. "We found the enemy team's scouting force, but they took out everyone except for me."
"Oh shit, where were they?" Russell questioned sternly, as he clenched his fists.
"They're around grid reference 990 073," Lucas reported.
"Got it, come back here and rejoin with the main force," Russell commanded.
"Aight," Lucas replied.
Russell looked at the map, the grid reference reported was ample distance away from them. But if the scouting force continued onward, they would have eventually found his entire team. Russell picked up the radio and contacted his vice commander: Kyrie.
"Kai," Russell called.
"Yes, Russ?" Kyrie responded.
"I need you to proceed to grid reference 990 073," Russell commanded. "Take tanks number 0, 4, 2, and 11."
"Is there an enemy over there?" Kyrie questioned.
"Mhm, go over there and take out whatever tanks you find, they've taken out our scouting squadron," Russell said.
"Got it, we'll get revenge for our brothers and sisters!" Kyrie declared.
Russell opened his hatch and saw Kyrie drive away with 4 of his tanks. He was confident in Kyrie, as the tanks that were sent were new additions to Holy Cross' roster. They had reasonable speed but packed great firepower., any information about them online was almost nonexistent. Another factor was that Kyrie recently started to build a small reputation of being a sharpshooter. He took on the role of gunner while also being a tank commander, the person sitting in the commander's seat would act as a spotter for him.
As Kyrie sped away, the last remaining Locust regrouped with the main squadron of tanks. Russell examined the Locust, it was smeared in dirt and scratches, perhaps from the earlier engagement with Queen City's scouting force. If there was anything to take away from this battle so far, it was that Holy Cross needed an upgrade in scouting prowess. Russell picked up his radio and contacted Lucas, the commander of the Locust.
"Lucas, I need you to scout ahead of us as soon as we get moving again, just take a quick break for now," Russell ordered.
"Got it," Lucas replied.
A little while after sending Kyrie on a search mission, Russell decided it was time to get moving once more. He radioed his team and notified them of the impending action, dozens of heavy tanks rose over the hill and continued their path towards the top regions of the battlefield. The last remaining Locust was sent ahead of them, Russell hoped that Lucas would be able to find the enemy this time. Russell ordered his driver to speed up and lead the column, he then popped his head out of the hatch and readjusted his team into a V-formation.
The massive line of armored vehicles slowly trekked to what they hoped was where their adversary lay hidden.
After confirming the plan with his teammates, Eryn now had to get it underway. There wasn't much planning to do, however, as all Eryn had to do was wait until the enemy team showed up, this sounded quite simple but there was a problem. The real problem was if they would even show up at all. Eryn hoped they would, their Locusts being eliminated should give them a trace of why he was, and hopefully, they would bite on it.
Eryn opened his hatch and looked at the field where the engagement had taken place, the Locusts that were destroyed generated a smoke cloud which could hopefully signify their location. Paul, for some reason, had a flare on him. After checking to ensure the marking didn't signify a distress signal, the flare was lit up and tossed by one of the Locusts to further signify the location. Eryn then ordered the three tanks to hide behind a hill. Grabbing their binoculars, the 3 commanders kept an open eye for a force that hopefully responded to their previous engagement.
A little while later, a radio signal was heard in Eryn's headphones, Eryn listened in on the audio and realized it was Peter.
"Eryn!" Peter called.
"Yes?" Eryn responded.
"Have you spotted anything?" Peter questioned.
"Nah, nothing so far," Eryn answered.
"Alright, the Wolverine crew is getting kind of impatient, not that I blame them or anything," Peter said.
"They'll get some action," Eryn reassured before mumbling to himself. "Hopefully."
Suddenly, a shot unsuspectedly ripped across the horizon, it slammed into the hill that Eryn was using for cover which then threw a massive cloud of dirt into the air. Panicked, Paul and Chris reversed down the hill instinctively, with Eryn following soon after.
"What was that?" Peter radioed.
"Peter, we just got shot at, over and out!" Eryn panicked.
The three tanks of the scouting group laid in cover to hopefully shadow themselves from whatever had just shot at them. Fortunately, Eryn could still peek over the top of the hill, he zoomed in his binoculars to find what had fired at him. Checking the hilly horizon, Eryn couldn't find anything until he checked more towards his left, there lay 4 tanks that seemed more heavily armed than the Locusts he had encountered before. Taking a closer look, Eryn identified 3 of the tanks as Shermans, the 4th one, however, was unknown to him. The hull closely resembled a KV-1 but was curvier than the ones he had seen before. The turret also seemed beefier and housed a longer gun than the KV-1 that his team had.
"Targets spotted, bearing 257 at 1500 meters!" Eryn informed. "Three Shermans and an unknown vehicle."
"Let me see." Chris objected, his Panzer III rolled parallel to Eryn's Chaffee and stopped, Chris then popped out of his hatch and examined the tank. Eryn saw that Chris' expression changed from curious to fearful, and his voice reflected this even more.
"It's an IS-1." Chris stumbled.
"What's that?" Paul questioned.
"Soviet heavy tank, 85mm D-5T cannon," Chris informed.
"Shit, we can't take it out from here, huh?" Paul said.
"We can if we stick to the plan." Eryn hoped, emphasizing "if".
Eryn looked at the opposing tanks and saw that they were closing the distance, taking note of this, Eryn ordered him and his squadron to retreat towards the hill where Peter was stationed. Shots rang and trailed behind the three tanks, as the impacts of their shells drew closer and closer. Tomas swerved the tank uncontrollably so that the shells wouldn't hit them. The section of the battlefield they were in didn't help either, as the once hilly landscape transitioned into the more flat ground that provided a good advantage for sniping, by now, the situation had gotten desperate.
Kyrie and his squadron of tanks pursued the fleeing scout group. Although his squad of tanks was slower, they made up for it in firepower and armor, which made up for the lackluster top speed. This was especially true as Russell sent the tanks with the best snipers to search and destroy the light tanks. In Kyrie's mind, it was hunters preying on small games with rifles.
The light tanks of Queen City were swerving, in a desperate hope to avoid the ever-closing shots that were fired at them. Kyrie found this to be pointless, as he was considered a sharpshooter and drew the eyes of some of the top schools in America. He and Russell expected Eryn to know this and expected him to formulate a plan which revolved around flanking, taking full advantage of his more maneuverable vehicles. The two commanders' prediction was wrong however, no flanking was spotted or attempted, which confused them. A question loomed in Kyrie's head, did they overestimate Eryn Silva?
Putting this question towards the back of his mind, Kyrie looked into the sight of the powerful 85mm gun, he closed in on the least swerving tank, the Stuart. After his spotter estimated the range and Kyrie adjusted his aim, he let the gun rip, an 85mm armor-piercing shell exited the barrel of the tank and flew towards the Stuart. A quick few seconds later, it drilled itself into the engine compartment of the Stuart, disabling it. A white flag popped out, signifying its elimination.
As a result of the Stuart's elimination, the remaining two tanks started to swerve even harder to try to avoid the incoming shells. Kyrie noticed that the massive hill was drawing in closer, and a gut feeling started to arise in Kyrie. Not knowing what it was, Kyrie put it aside to focus on eliminating the remaining scout tanks. Zeroing the sight on the Panzer III, Kyrie fired once more. Unfortunately, the shell overshot the Panzer III and impacted right in front of it.
"Damn it!" Kyrie cursed.
The four tanks continued to fire, but none of their shots landed on target. Annoyed at this, Kyrie gritted his teeth and clenched the firing handle with an immense grip. He was supposed to be the best sniper that Holy Cross had to offer, and that pride began to cloud his judgment. Unbeknownst to Kyrie and the three Sherman tanks, trouble laid ahead in the form of covering fire. A squadron of 3 Panzer IVs and an M10 Wolverine was stationed at the hill that Kyrie and Russell believed that no tanks were supposed to be. Once in range, the four tanks lined up their guns at Kyrie's force.
Four shots in quick succession flew down towards Kyrie's squadron. Two of the said shots slammed into the plates of two Shermans, making them shudder and eliminating them. The remaining shots missed and dug into the earth.
"Reverse, reverse!" Kyrie ordered. His driver threw the IS-1 in reverse and drove it as fast as he could.
The last remaining Sherman was in deep trouble, as its reverse speed was sluggish. More shells were fired at the Sherman, with all of them hitting their mark. The Sherman was knocked backward and eliminated. The two remaining light tanks turned and faced towards the IS-1 and fired along with the four tanks on top of the hill. Kyrie elevated the gun of his tank towards the hill, but to his utmost surprise, the gun couldn't elevate high enough. Panicked, and knowing his fate was sealed, Kyrie picked up his radio and contacted Russell.
"Russ, Russ!" Kyrie shouted as shells from the six tanks ricocheted off the IS-1, causing deafening sounds of shearing and scraping.
"What's going on?" Russell responded, concerned.
"We've been ambushed, and I'm about to go down!" Kyrie said.
"Kai, where are you?" Russell demanded.
Before Kyrie could respond, a shell from the Wolverine managed to wedge itself into a turret cheek of the IS-1, the IS-1 buckled and its gun lowered itself in defeat. A white flag popped from the turret, signifying its elimination.
The radio signal cut as Russell looked at it in disbelief, Kyrie had been eliminated. Now, he had a numerical disadvantage as he had 7 tanks left compared to Queen City's 14. The match so far had not gone in his favor, most of his scouting force was gone and now his best sniper/vice commander, Kyrie was eliminated. Frustrated, Russell hammered the roof of his Tiger I with his fist.
"Damn it, Kyrie!" Russell cursed.
Now, his force of heavy tanks rumbled onward, following the path of his last remaining Locust. He hoped that there would be an enemy force somewhere up ahead, his scouting force cleared most of the top half of the battlefield. A while later, a much-needed flash of good news blessed Russell's ears, as the Locust commander, Lucas reported back to him.
"I found them!" Lucas reported. "8 tanks, various mediums, and heavies."
"Great job, Lucas." Russell applauded, with relief. "Rendevous with us and get ready to battle."
"Got it!" Lucas responded.
After radioing Lucas, Russell sighed in relief, he need that good news after the shitshow of events that happened today so far. Composing himself, he radioed one of the Churchills he had in his squadron.
"May, do you copy?" Russell questioned.
"Mhm!" the Churchill's commander, May replied cheerily.
"Do you have your jamming equipment ready?" Russell questioned.
"Yup, all setup and ready to go!" May confirmed.
"Good, get ready to jam Queen City's comms on my command," Russell ordered, to which May hummed yes. Russell grinned, he was finally gonna get some payback for his friends that were taken out by Eryn and Queen City.
After 10 minutes of driving, the enemy force was in range, they were all lined up in a single file defensive line facing towards them, they probably anticipated their arrival because of their engine noises. Russell gave the order for May to activate the radio jamming equipment, with that, the team charged forward, and shots from the enemy line rang out as a battle started to unfold. Russell's line of heavies was unstoppable, shells upon shells were thrown at them, but all they seemed to do was bounce off their armor. The Locust stayed behind the advancing line, as it had no place in a head-on charge.
Once in close range, Holy Cross' tanks began firing with great precision and rapid fire. Most shells hit their target, eliminating the unlucky recipients as the defensive line began to crumble.
The battle was now in their favor, there were only four tanks from Queen City remaining, a KV-1, Churchill Mk. 3, T-34, and an M4A4 Sherman. These tanks were putting up a decent fight, they managed to reverse out of the valley and were putting down some good hits on some of his tanks, one had managed to de-track a Churchill of his.
Although fun, Russell decided that the fight should come to an end, and he ordered his Tiger I to rise over the hill and angle itself. The Tiger then aimed at its first target, the Sherman, aiming at the tank, the Tiger fired its revered KwK 36 gun. The shell ripped into the tank, sending it flying backward with immense force. Next up, was the Churchill, the Tiger fired once more, with its shell hitting the front of the turret. The Churchill stuttered before the white flag popped out. The remaining two tanks were quickly taken out by the rest of Russell's team. 8 enemy tanks in total were eliminated, bringing the match to a 7 on 6. The information boosted the morale of the team, Russell especially.
"Great job everyone!" Russell congratulated. "Now, we take out the rest for our friends!"
"Yeah!" Various commanders responded.
Russell looked out towards the horizon with glee and confidence. Once everyone was ready, he ordered his Tiger to drive towards the last known location of Kyrie, which was grid reference 990 073. As his Tiger drove onward, the rest of his team followed as well, the team naturally organized itself into an intimidating V-formation.
"Eryn Silva, wherever you are, I'm taking you down." Russell said to himself with confidence.
45 minutes earlier
After taking down the pursuit force, Eryn and his team rejoiced in their victory, with Eryn and his crew giving each other high-fives. They had successfully executed the plan to near perfection.
"We're gonna win this for sure!" Tomas exclaimed.
"All we need to do now is hunt down the remainder of their forces," Lillie said.
Although they had lost Paul and the Stuart, they had a numerical advantage in which they had double the tanks that Holy Cross had. The initiative was in Queen City's hands, and with that, the team will set about their next plan of action. Eryn and Chris ordered their tanks up the hill to link up with Peter's squad. After that, Eryn radioed Cara to see how she was doing.
"Cara, do you copy?" Eryn called.
"Yup, has anything happened?" Cara responded.
"Mhm, we took down four more tanks of theirs," Eryn informed.
"Nice, We'll head towards you guys soon," Cara said.
"Got it, over and out." Eryn dismissed.
After the quick check-up on Cara, Eryn popped his head out for fresh air and stretched his arms out, it was much needed as he had been sitting down or slouched for the entire match so far. His crew soon followed, with Lillie hopping out of the tank and stretching. Planning would be done once Cara had arrived, which gave them some room to relax for a bit.
"So, what do you guys want to do once we win this match?" Kay asked.
"Aren't we leaving tomorrow morning?" Lillie said.
"Nuh-uh," Kay responded. "We tomorrow night, which means that we have an entire day to do whatever."
"Ooo-" Jonathan squealed. "Is there anything for us to do in Atlanta?"
"Will Mr. Moran even allow us to do anything?" Tomas added.
"Let's just consider he does," Lillie said. "So, any ideas?"
"Nope." Everyone responded.
"Maybe we could ask the enemy captain after the match is over." Jonathan pitched. "What was his name again?"
"Russell?" Eryn answered.
"Yeah, yeah, Russell. He should know what's fun to do in Atlanta." Jonathan said.
"Aight, I'll ask him once we get this match over with," Eryn affirmed.
20 minutes had passed, and Cara still hasn't arrived nor had responded to any radio messages. This unusual matter started to brew suspicion amongst the rest of the team, why wasn't Cara responding? Eryn, Peter, and the rest of the commanders were trying their best to get a hold of her or anyone in her squadron, but there was no response at all.
Just as they were about to give up and head towards her last known location, a static sound was produced on the radio. All of the commanders listened in closely to hopefully decipher a message.
"We need backup!" A voice rasped out through the radio, it was near undecipherable.
"Repeat, repeat!" Chris begged.
"127 434" The voice rasped once again.
More static rang throughout the microphone before cutting off abruptly. Confused and concerned, everyone tried to get a hold of the signal once more but to no avail. Giving up, Eryn called up the rest of the commanders to talk about what possibly happened to Cara and her squadron.
"Any guesses on what happened?" Eryn questioned.
"The radio should always give a constant feed of some sort, for it to be cut during a message should signify an elimination." The Wolverine's commander: Clyde stated.
"Damn, if all of them were taken out, it would theoretically be 6 on 7 if Holy Cross received no eliminations on their part," Paul mentioned.
"We also have to consider that they all have heavy tanks, while we have none," Eryn added, this added to the sudden drop in morale of the team.
"Did any of you hear the last message?" Peter questioned.
"It was a string of numbers, 127 434," Clyde answered. "What does it mean?"
"A grid reference!" Paul realized. "That's probably where they fought, we should go there."
Everyone agreed with Chris' pitch. Eryn opened his map to see where the grid reference was and found it after a quick scan of the area. The area was 15 minutes from where they had begun the match at. Knowing the location, Eryn began planning their next move. Sometime later, Eryn had a rough draft of their next move. Knowing that Russell wouldn't fall for a bait trap again, Eryn decided to make a plan that better utilized his mobility advantage. The plan was to make use of hit-and-run tactics, making great use of the terrain and mobility advantage. One thing to note, however, was that they still had a light tank in play, Eryn made sure to have the team prioritize eliminating it before other tanks.
"Everyone understands?" Eryn asked, to which everyone replied yes.
"Alright, all tanks on me!" Eryn commanded. "Tomas, drive towards bearing 80."
"Got it!" Tomas complied.
The Chaffee rolled forward and down the hill with the remainder of Queen City's team in tow. A collective feeling of uncertainty was felt between everyone, this would be their last engagement of the match, and would decide it all. As they were headed towards the grid reference, more and more hints of enemy activity were present, such as tank treads.
Once they arrived at said area, the team was in shock. There lay Cara's entire squadron, all eliminated coldly. Even more demoralizing was that no enemy tank was eliminated, signifying that they didn't take down a single one at all. All they could do was stare at the battlefield in shock and awe.
"God damn." Eryn thought.
"The only thing I can think of is why they didn't call us for backup," Clyde stated.
"Yeah, why didn't they?" One of the Panzer IV's commanders: Sean said.
"They tried to, but their communication was static almost," Paul answered.
Something clicked in Eryn's head just after Paul spoke.
"They were jamming their radio!" Eryn realized.
"Wait, isn't that illegal?" Peter questioned.
"It isn't, it's just really uncommon." Paul notified.
"The question now is how they're doing it," Eryn stated.
"I've read up on how a school did it in one of the Japanese National Tournaments," Lillie said.
"There was a tank that was specially configured to hold radio interception equipment, at the cost of ammunition."
"I see, thanks for the info, Lillie." Eryn thanked.
"Now we just have to find the tank that has the equipment and take it out before it jams us." Paul started.
"Hopefully it'll just have a giant radio antenna sticking out the back of it," Eryn joked.
"That just could be it." Lillie went on.
"Wow, I knew that guys!" Eryn said.
"Yeah, totally," Kay responded sarcastically.
With new information in hand, Eryn modified his plan in which they would prioritize the radio interception tank along with the last remaining Locust. After that, the team followed the set of tracks from a distance, being sure to be near cover just in case someone decided to do a double take once they were near.
A while later, the team got what they wanted. The remainders of the enemy team were barely over the hilly horizon, they seemed to be headed towards the massive hill. As an added measure not to be spotted, the team shadowed them by going from hill to hill, in hopes of not being spotted. As they drew closer, Eryn could identify what tanks they had left.
"1 Locust, 1 Tiger, 2 Churchills, and 3 Matildas." Eryn radioed.
"I see the radio tank!" Paul noted soon after. "It's the Churchill that's situated to the left of the Tiger."
"Got it, everyone get ready to peek out of the next hill on my mark," Eryn ordered.
Each tank sat near the peak of a hill, ready to peek out and hopefully land a snapshot. Each second started to feel like hours as Eryn waited until he felt that it was time. After what seemed like forever, Eryn gave the order.
"Now!" Eryn shouted.
Every tank rose from their hill and locked its sights on the Churchill to the left of the Tiger and the Locust. Soon after, multiple shots rang out and flew toward their targets. Eryn watched as the unfortunate Locust received 3 simultaneous hits on its rear side, sending it spiralling out of formation and eliminating it. The Churchill followed soon after, with 2 shots penetrating the engine roof, making the Churchill rumble to a halt.
To their utmost surprise, the Tiger I turned around and managed to retaliate, letting its 88mm gun roar and eliminating one of the Panzer IVs. Panicked, the remaining tanks retreated behind the hills, not wanting to face the Tiger's wrath. Fortunately for them, the many hills that were scattered across the area were perfect for their vehicles. With that, the remaining tanks of Queen City scurried across the area like rats and hid behind whatever hill best suited them. Eryn and Clyde managed to hook some bushes onto their tanks to better mask them.
Soon after, the four remaining heavies of Holy Cross drew deeper into the area, hungry for steel. Eryn and his tank hid deep in a divot that hid the hull of the Chaffee. A little while after, a Matilda came into the Chaffee's crosshairs. Once its side was revealed, Kay let the 75mm do its thing. The round flew into the Matilda and was eliminated. Eryn then ordered Tomas to relocate to another spot, a wise move.
Clyde also had his Wolverine sit in a ditch covered in camouflage, he had all three tanks in his crosshairs. Greedy, he decided to try and take down the Tiger I. With the gun pointed and loaded the Wolverine let loose, an armor-piercing round clanged against the Tiger's side and generated a fair bit of dust. As the dust cleared, Clyde could only stare in shock, the Tiger was in perfect condition, and the angle of the tank made his round ricochet. In retaliation, the Tiger located the Wolverine and fired at it, with the round slamming into the frontal plate and destroying the Wolverine.
"Shit!" Clyde said.
Eryn and Peter then tried to take advantage of the previous attempt, with Eryn aiming at another Matilda and Peter aiming at the last Churchill. Both guns let loose, with each one managing to eliminate its designated targets. Unfortunately for Peter, the ever-troublesome Tiger spotted him and soon after, eliminated him. The three remaining commanders admired and feared the Tiger.
"That's a freakin' beast!" The last Panzer IV's commander: Mike admired.
"Holy shit, that thing is a problem," Paul added.
Paul's Panzer III and Mike's Panzer IV then peeked out of their cover and took aim at the last Matilda. Said Matilda managed to spot Paul and turned towards his tank. All three tanks fired at each other simultaneously, with Paul taking a hit from the enemy and Matilda as Mike eliminated it.
It was a 2-on-1 with Queen City having the advantage, but that advantage wouldn't last for long. The Tiger roamed around the area, looking for its next victim, which it would find not even 30 seconds later. Towards the Tiger's left lay Mike's Panzer IV, in a pathetic hiding spot with no camouflage. Before submitting to defeat, the Panzer fired at the Tiger, to which it slammed into the turret mantlet with no effect. The Tiger then finished the Panzer IV off, bringing it down to a 1-on-1.
Now that it was down to just Eryn, he started to panic in fear. What happens if he loses? Will he get booted off the team for being a bad commander? Will everyone hate him? As the thoughts rushed and clogged up his mind, he began to hyperventilate. Kay and Jonathan watched in horror as Eryn began having a panic attack. Instinctively, they both embraced Eryn, his breathing began to slow down and his mind began to clear up.
"We're here for you." Jonathan and Kay comforted.
"Thank you," Eryn stuttered silently.
With his mind cleared, Eryn raised his head and wore a different expression on his face, an expression of confidence and a winning spirit. Eryn then looked down at his friends.
"Let's take this win." Eryn confidently declared, Kay and Jonathan nodded at him before returning to their positions.
Once more, the Chaffee peeked out of its hiding spot, the Tiger sat in the middle of the hilly field with its turret facing the opposite direction. Taking advantage, the Chaffee rolled out of cover fully and took aim, the Tiger was angled so that the round would deflect if Kay went for a hull shot.
"Aim at its turret!" Eryn compromised.
"On the way!" Kay shouted.
The round kicked up dust as it sped toward the Tiger I, as the dust cleared, it revealed a scratch mark on the side of the turret.
"Damn!" Eryn said, before ordering Tomas to reverse back into cover.
Taking his chances again, the Chaffee rolled out of cover and tried to land a shot on the Tiger. To Eryn's surprise, the Tiger's gun was facing right at them. The Tiger fired at the Chaffee, with the round snapping the latter's bulldozer blade.
"Not again!" Tomas whined as the bulldozer blade was barely held in place.
As the Chaffee reversed into cover once more, Eryn began to think to himself; what can he do to secure the win?
"If only there was a way to always know where the Tiger was facing." Eryn thought before an idea dawned on him.
"I got it!" Eryn shouted as if he had a eureka moment. Kay and Jonathan could swear that there was a lightbulb above his head.
"Lillie, do you have your phone on you?" Eryn questioned, to which Lillie hummed yes.
"Good, can you get out of the tank and reveal where the Tiger is facing at all times?" Eryn requested.
"Got it!" Lillie complied.
Lillie opened the hatch of the Chaffee and climbed outside, Eryn watched her run to a suitable observation point before texting her on his phone.
Eryn S: where is he facing
Lillie S: He's driving towards you, move right.
Eryn S: got it
Eryn smiled at the information before ordering the Chaffee to move towards the right. After that, the Chaffee peeked out of cover and looked towards the Tiger. To his delight, the Tiger was facing the opposite direction. Before the Chaffee fired, Eryn ordered Kay to target the tracks of the Tiger to immobilize it.
"Aim for the tracks!" Eryn ordered.
"Got it!" Kay complied.
The Chaffee fired at the Tiger's left track, snapping it clean off as the Tiger veered towards the left. Before it could line up a shot, Tomas reversed the tank back into cover. Lillie kept providing valuable information to Eryn, as the Chaffee maneuvered to the best suitable spots for cover. The Chaffee peeked out once more, Kay took aim at the right track and snapped it clean off with another armor-piercing round. Jonathan then quickly reloaded the gun as Tomas reversed into cover once again.
With the Tiger immobilized, Eryn now had free reign over the Tiger, he can now choose where and when to eliminate it. Common knowledge amongst Tankery players was that the rear and lower sides of the Tiger were some of its more vulnerable areas. With that knowledge in mind, Eryn decided to take it down from the rear. The Chaffee maneuvered around the hills with Lillie's help and got to a position where the Tiger's rear was exposed. Once it arrived at the spot, Eryn recalled Lillie back to the tank. With Lillie back in the Chaffee, Eryn and the crew mentally prepared themselves for the final shot of the match.
"Alright, here we go," Eryn spoke. "Kay, traverse left and Tomas, drive forward."
"Got it!" Tomas and Kay responded.
The Chaffee's engine rumbled and slowly crept out of cover. Kay peered into the gunner's sight as it rolled forward. Once the Chaffee rolled out of cover, the entire crew looked in horror as the Tiger's gun pointed directly at them.
"Oh shit!" Tomas screamed.
Instinctively, Tomas slammed the accelerator, making the Chaffee buckle from out of the hill. At the same time, the Tiger fired, with the shell just barely missing the turret. After nearly avoiding defeat, Kay readjusted herself, took aim at the Tiger's rear plate, and then pulled the trigger. The round flew and impacted the rear plate, kicking up some dust.
Eryn could only watch, tensed up as the dust began to clear. In his mind, that shot had to have eliminated the Tiger. The dust cleared up, and the Tiger lay there, smoke coming from its engine bay, a white flag popped out of its turret; it had been eliminated. Eryn looked in disbelief, then rejoiced.
"We- we won." Kay stuttered before repeating herself. "We won!"
"Hell yeah!" Jonathan screamed.
The Chaffee crew then hopped out of their tanks to give each other a team embrace. A quick few seconds after, they let go and looked at each other.
"No fucking way we just pulled that off," Tomas said.
"Same here man, same here." Eryn reciprocated.
"Well, we did just pull that shit off." Kay reminded, as the team gathered together for one more group hug.
A while after the match ended, the team gathered at their designated area. Mr. Moran gathered the students around him as he began his speech about their first game.
"First and foremost, excellent job to all of you." Mr. Moran started. "You guys showed great adaptability throughout that entire match, which impressed me greatly."
"Although we did win, we still have many things to work on." Mr. Moran continued sternly before relaxing his voice. "Ahh, we'll worry about that once we get back. But for now, celebrate your victory!"
The students cheered as Mr. Moran raised his fist. After Mr. Moran's postgame speech, the students dispersed to their tanks. They had to get them ready for transport as they were to be delivered back to Charlotte tonight. Eryn and his crew got this done pretty quickly, but one thing started to bother them.
"What the hell should we do with the bulldozer blade?" Kay questioned, a little irritated.
"I say we remove it. when we get back." Jonathan pitched to which everyone agreed.
The crew then went back to one of the tents and conversed with each other. A moment after however, Mr. Moran entered the tent and looked at Eryn.
"Eryn, you have a visitor." Mr. Moran said.
"Oh uh, I'll be there!" Eryn responded as he got up from his seat.
Eryn exited the tent as Mr. Moran guided him to the supposed "visitor. A quick moment later, he saw who it was. The visitor in question was Russell, joined by another person he didn't know of. The latter was of African origin, bearing a darker skin tone than Russell, he also wore a headband which kept his dreadlocks sprawling outward. The two team captains shook hands before talking to each other.
"Hey, Eryn." Russell greeted.
"Hi, do you need something?" Eryn questioned.
"Nah, just wanted to stop by and give congratulations," Russell said. "Good game, really tense."
"Yeah, good game." Eryn reciprocated before turning towards the other person. "Who are you?"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself." He said. "Name's Kyrie, vice commander."
"Which tanks did you guys command?" Eryn questioned.
"I commanded the IS-1 while Russell was in the Tiger, what about you?" Kyrie replied.
"I was in the Chaffee," Eryn answered.
"Oh no wonder, you were slithery as hell!" Russell spoke. "How did you know where my gun was facing all the time?"
"I had my radio operator on top of a hill scouting you," Eryn explained, Russell and Kyrie became even more surprised.
"Damn, talk about innovative." Kyrie complimented.
"Haha, thanks," Eryn responded.
The conversation came to a close as Russell and Kyrie had to go back to their area. Before they did, Eryn remembered what Jonathan told him to do once he got the opportunity to talk with Russell.
"Wait, Russell," Eryn called to which Russell turned back. "Y'know any good places to hang out in Atlanta? My friends and I are here until tomorrow night."
"You asked the right guy," Russell said with a smile.
"There are tons of places Kyrie and I know about, here's my number, I'll text you them," Russell added as he handed Eryn a phone number. Russell and Kyrie then turned and walked away
"Thanks!" Eryn waved goodbye.
Returning to the camp, Eryn saw that the charter bus was already there and that students had started boarding. He then quickly made his way back to the line in hopes of not being left behind. Mr. Moran made sure to do a quick head count to ensure that nobody was left behind. Eryn climbed onto the bus to see that his crew managed to secure the five-seat row situated at the back of most charter buses. He then sat down at one of the windows and zoned out as the bus drove towards Atlanta.
After a long bus ride, the team arrived at their hotel. Tired and sore, the team quickly made their way toward their rooms so that they could get some shut-eye. After a quick elevator ride, Eryn got to his room with Jonathan in tow as they were sharing a room.
"Dibs on the shower first," Eryn called.
"Damn you!" Jonathan exclaimed.
After a quick shower and change of clothes, Eryn plopped onto his bed and tucked himself in. He couldn't fall asleep however as something was bothering him. The moment where Eryn started hyperventilating stayed in the back of his mind, it just happened out of nowhere and he didn't know why. Before Eryn could answer his pending question, his fatigue got the best of him as his eyes closed shut.