AN: Holly-molly! Two chapters in one night? What sorcery is this?! Well, you could say this one is a long time coming but regardless here it is and yeah I'll make a big announcement at the end of this chapter, so stay tuned!


Chapter 1
Elevenses

Still in Yokohama, Japan

Glo-ri-ah-na

These syllables were what came into Darjeeling's mind when she heard the quarter chime of Tiny Ben and the clock on the mantelpiece confirmed that it was indeed 10:15 AM. This made her worry as her guest of honour still hadn't arrived and underneath her calm and collected demeanour, Darjeeling was panicking inside, as she hastily thought through every detail at the last minute.

In a few minutes, her predecessor would walk through the door and she couldn't think of what her mentor would have to say. Would she be praised or scolded? Would she be proud of her or disappointed?

"Was sending Ruhuna to pick her up a good idea?"

"Did they follow the prescribed route through the cities or did they take another way?"

"Were they able to meet up with the despatch riders she had hired from the motorcycle club?"

"Why, oh why did the school's band have to be out today…"

All these thoughts hurled through her mind and made her brain hurt and her to worry more, something she didn't need anything more of.

"And oh for Gloriana's sake, where in the world is Rosehip again…. She only heard thirteen shots! It was a direct violation of her order of fifteen.

The room she was in was the Tea Room, where esteemed guests were entertained and even meetings between her and her commanders were held; not in one of the purpose-built conference rooms for convenience's sake. Inside with her were her Noble Sisters, Assam and Pekoe, and all three of them were the turret crew of the school's Churchill Mk VII, helping her out with last-minute preparations.

Assam, her gunner and her fellow classmate, was ordering foot women as they came and arranged the cutlery on the table. Orange Pekoe, on the other hand, who happened to not only be her loader but also her kouhai, was on the corner, fusing tea powders to make the perfect blend.

She stood up and went out to the sitting room's antechamber. The room was brightly lit by two chandeliers and a red carpet had been laid in preparation for the visitor. This was in contrast to the wall's deep brown yew panelling, which when combined with the rest of the wall's cream finish, created a palette of colour that could only be described as regal.

A platoon of Gloriana Guards was on standby, serving as a guard of honour. Dressed smartly in red with their black epaulettes and golden buttons, they flanked the carpet at both sides, ready to give the salute when the time came.

Darjeeling looked around the antechamber and couldn't help but be slightly overwhelmed at all it had to offer. The room was decorated with various art pieces from statues like a miniature replica of Boudica and her Daughters to paintings of the highest order, like the portrait of Saint Gloriana herself.

The decor wasn't exactly her idea, it was the collection of generations of Senshadou commanders and this had caused some unique additions. A commander obsessed with Egyptian history had commissioned a copy of the Rosetta Stone and placed it on the far corner of the room. Another one, majoring in Naval Studies, constructed 1:300 scale models of famous British warships like HMS Warspite and HMS Hood.

It was a longstanding tradition for commanders to commission or make a piece of artwork for future generations to admire and had been seen as one of the many ways they could leave their footprints in the school's history. Because of this, the unveiling of artwork had always garnered attention. She smiled and looked at the painting of The Fighting Temeraire on the far wall. It was her work and she was extra proud since she painted the reproduction herself.

Some of the artworks installed have caused controversies like the replica of the nude Eros Statue from Piccadilly Circus or even her mentor's bronze statue of Oliver Cromwell, the namesake of her favourite tank.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts as the footwoman opened the door and the dozen guards stood to attention as another blonde woman entered the room.

The woman slowly approached and Darjeeling tried her best to keep her composure, while her heart was beating hard on her mouth. "On behalf of the entire Saint Gloriana student body, welcome back, Earl Grey-sama!" she greeted, breaking the ice.

"Ahhhh, Darjeeling, long time no see!" Earl Grey replied.

"It's nice to see you too," Darjeeling said, attempting a smile but failing miserably.

Her guest noticed this and replied, "Aren't you happy to see me?" her guest answered back with a frown.

"No, no, it's just that you haven't changed mu-" whatever she was saying was cut off as Earl Grey used an umbrella to raise her skirt up, revealing her panties for all to see, much to the embarrassment of everyone in the room.

"Still wearing your silk pantsu, aren't you Darjeeling?" Earl Grey laughed.

"Miss Earl Grey, not here please…" she begged, flattening the crumples on her skirt as she spoke.

It took a while for her to snap back to her prime self but she was still breathing heavily as she forced herself to continue.

"S-shall I show you to the Tea room?"

"Lead the way." Earl Grey waved her hand forward, a cheeky smile still on her face.

In the corner of her eyes, watched her guest hand her coat to the footwoman, who immediately retreated, and now the two of them were now able to walk the length of the red carpet. The guards of honour, which had meticulously trained for ceremonies like this, raised their polished sabres and clicked it as they both passed under.

"Oh, before I forgot, the school has commissioned a bronze bust for your service to the college of St. Gloriana," Darjeeling said, finally fully recovering from the embarrassment earlier. She gave a signal to a girl who pulled up a small silk curtain, revealing a bust resembling her guest of honour.

"I might have preferred iron – but bronze will do ... It won't rust," her visitor spoke up, her words sounding familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

Additional footwomen opened the wooden double doors to the Tea Room and Darjeeling heard her companion whistled.

"A lot of things have changed here! I see you've been busy."

"Not quite, but I have enough on my plate to keep me preoccupied," Darjeeling lied. Her mentor hadn't told her anything about the amount of paperwork the Senshadou Commander had to deal with and if it were not for her secretaries, she would have been swamped. However the position wasn't all bad, in fact, she found that there was a certain prestige to having the title.

The decoration was minimalistic at most, with only a small round table, covered with a pristine white tablecloth with lots of room for cups and decorations. Surrounding the table were four red upholstered dining chairs, perfect for her, her guest and the rest of the Noble Sisters.

Unlike the room before it, she had a say in the decoration here and she went, as the saying goes, bonkers. The theme of the room was outright Victorian, with pieces of furniture like a mahogany display case filled with the finest china to a sideboard cabinet decorated with marquetry fitting right in.

From where she was standing, she could almost feel the warmth that radiated from the cosy fireplace as she walked with Earl Grey on the plush carpet that covered the entire room. Large glass windows were decorated with drapes, allowing natural light in, illuminating the paintings on the wall, all of which were made by her.

A small round table, covered with a pristine white tablecloth, and its surrounding four red upholstered dining chairs serving as the centre stage to the room. This simple dining set, she reminisced, had played host to her diplomatic side from welcoming commanders of other schools to smooth-talking the sponsors to increase their contributions.

It would also play a key role in building her true lasting legacy.

She thought to herself.

But that is for the future, for now, she could feel her guest's eyes on her as she motioned towards the table, perhaps trying to judge how much she had changed in the short few years they last saw one another. Hopefully, she thought, what her mentor saw was no longer the shy girl who was hesitant to ride tanks. Instead, what she saw was someone different, someone fit enough to continue leading Gloriana with elegance and grace.

She pushed these thoughts out of her head as Assam, who was already seated on one of the chairs, jumped up in surprise as she saw her lead their visitor through the room. Meanwhile, she saw that Orange Pekoe was still busy at work, mixing together a brew that would knock Earl Grey off her feet.

"Assam, it's been a while! How's your intelligence agency doing?" Earl Grey greeted, kissing the blonde's cheeks, taking her by surprise.

"Errrrr, Miss Earl Grey..." Assam blushed red as a strawberry. "It's supposed to be a secret, you know... May I introduce to you Orange Pekoe?" Assam embarrassingly gestured to the ginger-haired girl, who saved her from the awkwardness of the situation just in time.

"Welcome home, madam," Pekoe said, performing a small bow after she had walked to Assam's side.

"Ah! Darjeeling speaks highly of you!" Earl Grey held out her hand.

Both Darjeeling and her second in command blushed at this comment, which she knew would be disastrous if taken out of context.

So far, so good. Everything's going according to the plan. Orange Pekoe should offer her tea right about now.

"Why thank you, madam." Pekoe extricated herself quickly, grasping and shaking Earl Grey-sama's hand. "Would you like some tea?" she transitioned smoothly, just as planned earlier.

"Absolutely, a cup of English Breakfast wouldn't be too much, right?"

"Anything for you, madam." Orange Pekoe went off to the brewing table in the corner, heating the premade blend she mixed earlier.

"And remember, loose, not tea bags, okay?"

"Certainly madam!" the orange-haired loader acknowledged, albeit looking perplexed at the need to specify.

Earl Grey settled down, with Assam pulling up a seat for her, before she placed her articles down on the floor beside her chair.

Darjeeling and Assam followed suit and for a few minutes, the soft crackling of the room's fireplace and the ambient flow of conversation were the only noises that could be heard in the room, as the three of them caught up with life. The tranquil atmosphere of the room calmed her down significantly, aided by the pleasant scents of an aroma diffuser in the corner.

The tea finally arrived with Orange Pekoe politely filling up their cups and settling down herself. Darjeeling watched as Earl Grey took a sip, at the same time, her hands, hidden under the table, were balled in her knees, anxiously waiting for what her mentor would say next.

"Blimey! This is better than anything I had in England!"

"Thank you very much, ma'am!" Her loader beamed and she relaxed as well.

The scones and cakes in the tea stand were all made by Assam; whatever happened to the ones she baked? (Maybe the two hogged it all to themselves, how rude,) she thought as she buttered herself a crumpet.

"Who's the gal standing on the far wall over there?" her guest asked, breaking her train of thoughts.

Darjeeling looked up and saw a familiar tall brown-haired braided girl, standing with her back to the wall, acting as a servant in case they needed anything fetched.

"Her name's Rukuriri and she's the current commander of the Matilda wing," Assam answered for her.

"Well, invite her to sit down with us, Pekoe dear, would you be so kind as to get another chair from the next room?"

Orange Pekoe did as she was requested, while Earl Grey tried to make small talk with the Matilda commander.

"So, Rukuriri….." her guest said, looking up and down the brunette before her as if sizing her up.

To her credit, Rukuriri remained silent and only played with her signature braid in nervousness. Her usual feistiness was missing in face of this unshootable threat.

When Orange Pekoe had returned with a seat, Earl Grey continued making conversation, "You're quite something aren't you, brown hair, long braids, nice bosoms-"

"Uhmmm Miss Earl Grey..." Orange Pekoe interrupted, saving her teammate from any more embarrassment, who was now more fidgety and played more with her braid.

"Ah yes, my bad," Earl Grey backtracked. "So Rukuriri, what do you think of the Matildas?"

Rukuriri, who by now had grown accustomed to the situation with the help of a cup of tea, replied, "They're slow, cumbersome, under-gunned but the armour makes up-"

SLAAAAM

The room's double doors suddenly swung open, and a familiar pink-haired girl barged in.

"Sorry, I'm late!" the girl said, standing to attention, her uniform mercifully free of stains but the girl looked like she got dressed in a foxhole.

"Rosehip! Why on earth are you not on time?" Darjeeling looked her dead in the eye, her blood pressure slowly rising up.

"Now, now, no need to get angry at Missy here, why don't you fetch yourself a seat and have a cup with us here?" Earl Grey chipped in, diffusing the potentially explosive situation before it went critical.

Rosehip went out of the room and half-carried/half-dragged another chair, creating a scratching noise that was painful to the ear but was mercifully over in a few seconds. "I was late because our tank took a detour through Hydette Park and had trouble finding our way out," she said as she sat down next to Earl Grey and used a silver teaspoon to slowly stir the cup poured in advance by Orange Pekoe.

Absurd but she's on her best behaviour today, so all is forgiven. Looks like the private lessons with Assam are finally paying off.

"You don't happen to command a Crusader Mk. III, do you?" her visitor asked, lowering the knife she was using to spread clotted cream on her scone.

Rosehip patted her mouth with the silk napkin that was on the table before she answered the question. "I do and it's my favourite tank as well!" she finished, her eyes sparkling with glee. Beside her, Assam suddenly had a surly expression, her previously impassive face now broken by a frown.

Oh, bugger, this could be trouble.

Darjeeling thought, setting down her cup, as she prepared for the storm to come and was surprised when Earl Grey suddenly burst out laughing and started patting Rosehip on the back, causing the redhead to spill some of her tea.

"Jolly good handling! Never seen anyone manoeuvre a tank as well as you and your team did!" her guest of honour praised the redhead, who uttered a word of appreciation in return.

The clock on the mantelpiece chimed half-past ten and Darjeeling heard Tiny Ben chime again, reminding her that she still had a lot of paperwork to address.

"I'm afraid I have other matters to attend to. If there is anything that we can do to make your stay here more enjoyable, please do tell."

"How about a ball?" Earl Grey suggested, a smirk on her face as she dropped the recommendation.

"No, that would be too much!" Darjeeling protested, wording her rejection carefully so as to not offend her guest.

Earl Grey's smirk turned into a full smile and she replied, "Relax, I'm just pulling your horns. How about a match for old time's sake?"

Darjeeling thought for a moment. A match was more reasonable than organizing a ball and it wouldn't hurt to show off her improvement in terms of Senshadou as well.

"It's a bit impromptu but nonetheless possible."

Well, there goes my entire schedule.

"Tell you what, I'll take Rosy here and you take Ruki and we'll have a little two-on-two match, how does that sound?"

"Splendid!" Darjeeling complimented with hopefully believable fake enthusiasm. "Orange Pekoe, can you ring Vanilla's team and ask them to crew Miss Earl Grey's Cromwell in the meantime? Assam, call Ruhuna will you and ask her to prepare the Churchill? Rukuriri, fetch your crew and tell the others to ready the tanks that will participate in the match and Rosehip, kindly show Miss Earl Grey to her accommodation, please?"

A resounding "Hai!" came from all four and they all split ways, with her guest of honour tailing her energetic subordinate, and Darjeeling hoping once again that nothing would go wrong.


AN: I can't postpone this much longer, I would like to thank my fellow authors who helped push me, er, I mean persuade me to write down this story. I can't list all of them but I'm thankful for all of them regardless. There's Sharky, for proofreading my work, Richie, M, Clarky and Erwin for the advice and all, and most importantly Shrimpy, who talked me into writing this in the first place and probably that dishwashing anime, anywho.

Oh, before I forget again, check out their respective stories here on FFN, give them all a good read and comment that I made you read them, muahahaha. Again any comments are appreciated and if you have any questions, ask away!

Who do you think will win the match? Will Rukuriri save the day? Will Rosehip get lost and drive off to India again? All of these will be answered by the next chapter, till then, sayonara!


Edit: (07/14/20) Proofreading session continues grammatical errors here and there. Nothing too major but necessary work nonetheless. Please do tell me if you spot any more errors so I can amend them.

Edit: (08/30/20) I think an apology is due after I realised that this chapter is in terrible shape, which had been graciously pointed out by Rihno, so thank you very much for that. I would also like to thank Sharky, whose proofreads helped patch up the errors in the first place. I doubt this would be the end of proofreads but I hope this one would stand longer than the previous one did.

Edit: (08/21/21) The rewrite continues! Be sure to rest this or else my efforts would have been all for chapter should be fun!