"Oh Tatiana, I didn't know you were on this platform as of today." Alexandra began. Lola was standing beside her holding their tickets to board. "I think I know why you're here."

"Alexei and Megumi are coming out of the hospital. We came here to see if we could find something to do like a walk around the shopping center." Tatiana [R] told Alexandra what they were here for.

"Megumi told me that she wanted to get some sweets when she begins walking around as they sell her favorites on this ship." Alexandra replied.

"Also, we got word that the trial rifles are being produced and they're going to come off of the assembly line and be tested in a day or two. I submitted my final design to Lyova." Tatiana [R] reminded Alexandra that the rifles they will be using were going to undergo a set of trials before submission. "Anything else that was happening as of last night?"

"There was some tension going on with Yogurt Academy when the Serbian gang invaded it. We tried to figure out who did all of this and it turned out Gisela was the one to blame, we nearly got into a fight with your brother being caught in the crossfire. I managed to put Gisela in her place by bending a metal fork up and throwing it at her. That was more than enough to get her to back off." Alexandra explained what exactly happened during that dinner date last night. "We had an alliance with the Dual Alliance and Kuromorimine but that alliance didn't go so well and we're thinking about making a new alliance." Alexandra was confident that they were going to do something else when the dust had settled down and Megumi was back in the school.

"Who will you ally yourselves with?" Tatiana [R] asked curiously. Olga was standing around and looking at the clock. Maria was reading a book and Anastasia was pacing back and forth, trying to figure out where the train was.

"We don't know for sure but we're thinking about it and Megumi would still be a valuable chess player." Alexandra replied.

"When is this train going to come?" Anastasia [R] asked. She was pacing around and growing impatient.

"It will come. I thought it would be here by now, but I guess it's running late." Olga [R] told her sister. Anastasia growled with frustration. It had felt like to her that she was waiting there for an eternity.

"It better come, I don't like standing around waiting all day for the train." Anastasia [R] replied.

"Relax, the train is going to come, no need to be ripping your hair out." Tatiana [R] tried to calm the situation by telling the students that there was no need to get worked up over something like the arrival of the train. Sure enough, a distant whistle was blown as the train slowly huffed its way to the platform. The locomotives weren't that big nor were the trains usually that long. This train in particular was being pulled by two six-wheeler locomotives and there were fifteen passenger carriages in total. The standard train on Saunders was one engine, five to six passenger carriages and a few freight carriages if there was something going to be pulled around.

"I hope Lyova said something about not breaking my neck." Alexandra muttered to herself, this train was way too long for its size and the two engines could end up taking the train into disaster. What was the belief behind all of this? She didn't think of it herself and began to board one of the carriages in the middle with Lola and the four ladies. They went over and took their seats at the window while the others huddled together around some of the seats. The first engine blew the whistle, and the heavy train began to set off. Alexandra looked on while the heavy passenger train left the station. Hopefully they could get to where they needed to be on time.


At the hospital, Alexei had woken up while Megumi was changing into her normal clothes while being assisted by a nurse.

"Well, it looks like we're heading out the door." Megumi began. "I got a text by Alexandra that she was coming on the nine o'clock train. The train arrived at 9:03. She's running slightly late but those few minutes we can afford to lose." Megumi knew they could just walk down and greet Alexandra, friends and family in the hospital lobby. Alexei stood up and handed Megumi his walking crutches which Megumi took into her arms. Alexei then adjusted the height to make sure she was comfortable and stable.

"You ready?" Alexei asked as Megumi was dressed and stable within the safety of the crutches.

"Should be." Megumi replied. Megumi then began to walk forward as if she had four legs. The walking crutches were doing their work in keeping her stable while she walked to the elevator where Alexei was leading her. Once they got there, Alexei pushed the button and the door opened, the elevator was empty and they got onto it, pressed the button on where they needed to go and began to take the ride down. "I'm moreover excited to get back to Saunders and take it easy while we figure out what is next. You told me that Saunders left the alliance with Kuromorimine due to something not working out and the fact that they have a lot of baggage between them?" Megumi began.

"That's correct, at least the dining room didn't explode unlike last time and staff got themselves injured." Alexei replied. "I wonder if Alexandra will be replaced by you as her position was supposed to be temporary."

"That I don't know but, in the condition, I am in, I wouldn't be much use if I was the one leading so it's going to be a few days before we can truly decide on that. The one thing I am certain about is that only the most experienced students get to lead the school and Alexandra despite her snappy behavior, is able to get the job done and doesn't start any wars. That I will give her credit for." Megumi told Alexei that Alexandra was going to be keeping her job even when she gets back to Saunders as her legs were still in the condition of being stiff and sore, it was only going to be a while longer before her legs were going to fully recover.

"I can continue to stay behind and help out until your legs heal." Alexei told Megumi that he was more than willing to continue his stay at Saunders and help Megumi out until Megumi was able to walk independently. Megumi placed a hand on Alexei before she began speaking to the tsarevich again.

"Thank you but no thank you. You have to go home; your sisters and your animals miss you. They are more willing to spend time with you. Think of your dog Joy, he must really miss you." Alexei paused as he began thinking of his dog. He had spent the last few days away from home to look over his friend while she recovered and now that she was walking freely, Alexei was wondering: Was he really needed by her side? Megumi wanted the Tsarevich to return to his school and spend time with his family. Alexei continued to think as they made their way to the ground floor of the hospital and the elevator doors opened, they walked out into the lobby and sat down in the chairs, now they were waiting on Alexandra and the others to arrive, and they were going to make their trip around town for the day.


The two locomotives thundered by with their heavy train, the fireman was shoveling synthetic coal into the firebox, another hastily worked on the steam to make sure the pressure was up, and the firebox was burning hot enough to boil the water. They closed the firebox as the train sped along. The driver of the first locomotive blew the whistle as they sped along. Lola was looking out of the window of her passenger car before she got up and made her way to Alexandra.

"Well who's enjoying the sights so far?" Alexandra asked. The passenger car was shaking around a bit as they were traveling faster than normal.

"We're shaking around a bit but we're mostly fine." Maria [R] responded while she was sitting next to Anastasia.

"What is the first thing we're going to do when we see Megumi?" Alexandra asks the group with excitement when they get to the hospital and see Megumi and Alexei, ready to greet them.

"We should be calm, I think that Megumi would like it if we weren't shoving ourselves in her face." Olga [R] told them that being calm and polite was the key to winning Megumi over.

"I agree, she has had a rough few days and rest was the best solution, if we are all on our best behavior, we can go around town and hang out with her." Tatiana [R] instructed them. The train was rattling uncontrollably as they continued speeding along.

"We should look around, I know most of the stores and houses are under construction but by the time this year ends and we head into the new year, all the stores will be open. There really isn't much of anything going on as of now." Alexandra replied that much of the school was being built as they speak.

"I wonder what kind of stuff I can get my hands on?" Anastasia [R] asked. "Will there be any toy shops?"

"Hope so. I think your sisters will enjoy the trip there." Alexandra replied. What all the girls didn't realize that something was going to go unexpectedly wrong. The heavy train sped along the tracks, but the tracks were bucking which caused the uncontrollable rocking, then the left rail shattered, the first locomotive slammed down, tearing up the wooden ties and sending track and the spikes holding the tracks down flying. Ballast was shifted as the second locomotive and the rest of the train followed. All of the passengers ducked down to avoid any possible injuries. One of the passenger cars telescoped into another, shattering the entire car to pieces while the rest of the train was flung down the embankment. The train and its carriages came to a stop. Dirt struck the carriage when it upturned a large boulder, shattering the car even more, then silence drifted over the land.

Those in the forward carriages were killed instantly. Children could be heard crying; it was unclear to tell who was alive and who was dead in the wreckage.

"Gah!" Alexandra called out while she kicked some of the rubble away from the hole, she had managed to escape serious injury, but she didn't know if she was the only lucky one. She had to free the others in the carriage. Alexandra struggled to her feet, taking the full weight of the carriage roof on her shoulders. The heavy carriage roof moved as Alexandra lifted it up. The four sisters were also alright and began to crawl out of the destroyed carriage. Alexandra's only thought was to save her friends but how long was her strength going to hold.


Megumi and Alexei were still at the hospital waiting for the arrival of the six girls, but they were growing anxious as they haven't showed up as of yet. Alexei was trying to keep himself entertained while Megumi was growing worried.

"Where are they?" Megumi asked Alexei.

"I don't know but hopefully they will come. Be a little patient." Alexei tried to keep Megumi calm, thinking they were still running late. One of the paramedics for the hospital ran up as she had gotten some news.

"Megumi, were you waiting for Alexandra to come on the nine o'clock train?" She asked Megumi if this was the case.

"Yes, we were. Any news on why your staff seems to be agitated?" Megumi asked the paramedic if she had any reason to be anxious with a frenzy on her mind.

"Yes. We got news that the nine o'clock train had derailed. We just received the call." She replied. Alexei and Megumi froze, their friends were on that train, and it flew off the path it was traveling on.

"My sisters were on that train! I need to see if they are okay!" Alexei suddenly realized that his sisters were traveling and he was frantic to see if they were going to get out of the mess. The paramedic looked at them and she began speaking.

"I'm heading to the scene in an ambulance, seeing that you two are anxious about your friends and family, want an escort to the scene?" She offered to take them to the site where the train derailed.

"We'll be more than pleased to come." Megumi replied. She stood up along with Alexei.

"Follow me then." She told them. She was the first to lead the way with Alexei and Megumi following behind.

It was about ten minutes later when they arrived on the scene. Megumi and Alexei got out of the ambulance, and they were in shock, ten out of the fifteen passenger carriages had been completely destroyed. Several lifeless bodies had been found and were being stacked and identified. Some of the students and adults had volunteered to search the wreckage and tend to the injured. Megumi looked around to see what had exactly happened. She looked to see Alexandra on the scene. She was fine and was carrying some of the wreckage away. Megumi slowly approached Alexandra and began speaking to her.

"Alexandra, what had exactly happened?" Megumi asked her while they were looking for more casualties.

"We were traveling along in the train when the train began to rattle, we thought it was nothing at first but then the train ended up derailing at this site. I held up the roof of our carriage while everyone crawled out. Lola has yet to be accounted for." Alexandra explained what led to that moment.

"At least you're okay." Megumi responded while she gave her friend a hug. She looked around to see Alexei being cuddled by his sisters who also managed to escape the wreckage intact. "Where is our author?" Megumi asked while they were looking for their Algerian friend.

"We don't know but last I saw her, she was sitting in the seat behind me but the train derailed and that was the last I saw of her." Alexandra tried to retrace her steps back when the train crashed and everything went dark.

"Was she at the front end?" Megumi asked Alexandra if she knew where her friend ended up.

"I'm not entirely sure but there was a lump of chairs piled up and all I cared about was getting everybody else out, I completely forgot about her." Alexandra replied, suddenly two workers came out as they were hauling a light brown skinned girl.

"We found her. Lola is accounted for." The paramedic called out. Alexandra ran up to see Lola standing on her feet while the paramedics looked over her.

"How is Lola?" Alexandra asked about the condition of her friend. She was hoping that everything was going to be okay.

"Lola's lucky. She has a few scratches and bruises. We checked all over but nothing too bad. Lola managed to escape serious injury though freeing her was pretty difficult." The Paramedic responded that Lola was in good shape and able to stand on her own two feet.

"Well, we can truly figure out what caused all of this and what the losses are." Alexei began as he seemed interested though he was not at the scene when it happened.

"We already figured that one out. The train was way too big for its size plus it was speeding as we found out it was doing double the speed limit that the tracks could normally hold according to some of the engineers." The Paramedic responded that they were already ten steps ahead so no investigation was needed.

"And what about the final count?" Megumi asked.

"Due to this train derailment, twenty-one people were killed, thirteen more were injured. Alexandra and her friends managed to escape serious injury by being further back in the train." The Paramedic responded. Alexandra turned away from the group and she began walking away. She then turned to the landscape ahead and she began speaking.

"Do I have a single disinterested friend? I do not and I can't. But Kamchatka was just that!" Alexandra knew her day was ruined, she wanted to see Megumi but events out of her control had ruined it. Megumi walked over before comforting Alexandra.

"Don't worry, I'm out now but you and your friends are lucky to be alive. Take what God gives you." Megumi tried her best to comfort her friend but some things were not what they could do.

"You're right." Alexandra responded. She just cuddled up into Megumi almost as if she was like a kitten and Megumi, was its mother.

"Don't be upset, I'm here for you." Megumi replied to her commander. "Let's get you back to school and we can figure out what to do next." All the students got up and they began making their way back to the school. Alexandra had something horrific happen to her and now they needed to decide what to do from there.


Megumi was talking with Lyova who had just finished his days' worth of work. Megumi was sitting down in the chair she had long waited for.

"I heard the train derailed today, Alexandra is upset and has decided to be in her dorm as this wasn't something she was expecting." Lyova began.

"Train was speeding and it was too heavy for the tracks it was traveling on. Twenty-one people are dead, and ten carriages have been destroyed." Megumi explained what caused the derailment in the first place.

"It's a good thing your friend made it out of there alive, I think we should strengthen and overhaul the tracks a bit so they could bear more weight of the axle load." Lyova suggested. He wanted to make sure that something like this wasn't bound to happen again. Megumi sighed and she began speaking.

"So, we overhaul the railroads due to a freak accident?" Megumi asked if this was going to be the case.

"Believe so, this should be done in a couple of days due to the carrier not being that big, we can do what we need and get out." Lyova responded. He began to call up the crews to begin overhauling the railroads. Megumi looked on for a few minutes before she looked around. The flag had three stripes, White on top, blue in the middle, and red on the bottom. It used to be gold, white and black.

"When did Alexandra change the flag?" Megumi asked.

"Very recently, she kind of wanted the school to go back to the old ways." Lyova replied. He then put down the papers and continued to speak: "Also we made a new trial's rifle and that will be needed for testing. Once that is done, anything else you want to get done?"

"I heard Alexandra pulled out of the alliance with Kuromorimine so I was thinking we should form our own alliance to act as a counterweight to Manami and Gisela." Megumi replied that forming another alliance against the other would be a way to maintain peace. Lyova nodded with approval.

"That might work but my question that remains is, who are we going to form the alliance with?" Lyova asked Megumi if they were going to have an alliance, who was this alliance going to be with anyway.

"I'm thinking about that but the most likely answer to that so far is Azumi from BC Freedom as you had borrowed money from her?" Megumi asked Lyova if she was willing to start with Azumi while weighing her options.

"We did and quite a large sum of it. We're also getting ready to begin expanding while Alexandra is hooking together the last parts of the industry to get it all up and running, synthetic coal, synthetic oil, steel. We're also getting an influx of gold so those reserves have more than doubled at this point." Lyova explained what happened between the schools.

"Looks like Alexandra had it in her, we're finally catching up to the others." Megumi smiled. They were finally beginning to catch up with the other schools though there were still some areas that needed to be reformed.

"I know, once we get to do the trial rifles then we figure what to do with the tanks. We need to be ready when the Sensha-Do tournament will drop in a few months." Lyova told Megumi that now wasn't the time to be playing around.

"It's just for fun, what's the point in winning?" Megumi asked Lyova that there was no need to win so reforming the team wasn't the top of her priority.

"Well doesn't it feel satisfying that you manage to come out on top?" Lyova asked Megumi if it was worth it to win.

"Every once in a while, if you win all the time, then it gets boring." Megumi replied.

"But you might need to come up with new plans to win, that is what makes it so satisfying." Lyova told Megumi that new strategies when used effectively was the best way to secure victory. "Sensha-Do is ever changing and using the same strategies will make your enemies predict your plan and will come up with a way to counter you."

"Okay I understand but why are we pushing for a universal tank as Alexandra puts it?" Megumi asked Lyova if he had any explanation behind this.

"There has been a talk about Saunders purchasing more M6 Heavy tanks and the idea is getting kicked around whenever we think of it from time to time. Getting universal tanks is pretty low on the priority list according to Alexandra. It's better we keep improving on what we have and get some of the more urgent stuff like the economy out of the way before we can consider the Sensha-Do team." Lyova told Megumi that getting tanks was at the bottom of the priority list and the stuff they needed to do was help strengthen the economy first before reforming other parts of life.

"I see. Plus, the railroad accident has exposed some sections that need strengthening so something like this doesn't happen again." Lyova replied. "I'm glad that Alexandra and her friends managed to make it out unscathed from that accident."

"I'm glad to have them okay too but there is an increasing problem that me and Alexandra need to talk about. The rifles that we're making are going to make Kay flip out as we are keeping these a secret, they're a single stack magazine fed rifle with an organic bolt a mix of a Lebel, Winchester-Hotchkiss and Berdan hybrid that isn't feeding 7.62x63mm Springfield ammo. Instead, we're choosing rimmed ammo as it's cheaper and easier to handle." Megumi told Lyova that their big problem now is to keep the service rifle a secret so Kay couldn't get her hands on during the trials and flip out and criticize every small detail of the design.

"Then what do we do with Kay then, we can't have her going around and complaining, she'll take over the school and force us to do all the hard work all over again." Lyova asked. "I don't want to punish her at all but we can't have her around so I think we should send her to the mainland for the time being on some kind of trip." Lyova suggested that they send Kay off to where they couldn't get in and interfere with the trials.

"Hmm, I think that'll work but we need to get Alexandra's opinion on this. She's a sucker for anything so we're fine as she could be easily swayed." Megumi replied.

"Okay." Lyova replied.

Megumi knew she had a plan ahead, but she didn't know how they were going to be able to accomplish it. It was all up to Kay's decisions.

[A/N]: More has actually happened in this chapter and there are certain events that will be playing out in the next couple of chapters ahead but Alexandra locking herself into her room could be a sign of things to come kind of like a spell of bad luck. Keep a lookout for that.