-Transition-
Virtanen and Knight were engaged in combat shortly after Kaiser separated from the main force. Proceeding to the denser and more intermittent terrain further south of the mountains. The thick vegetation was broken by only a few spaced clearings. One such clearing was from a rather popular lodging area located near a few natural springs.
Their procession took form as two columns, offset from each other. This provided greater security to either flank despite being weak in frontal and rear defense. However, this allowed them to maneuver the somewhat dense terrain quickly while only occasionally falling into a single column if necessary.
A small bridge appeared, providing a quick path over the lodges nearby creek. Virtanen's team took lead, crossing first. Once the third vehicle, Virtanen's Panther, crossed, their enemy struck. Two shells landed on either side of the bridge forcing it to collapse under the strain of the Panther.
A third shell successfully landed on the 44M Tas, slowing but not destroying it. Three more launched downwards towards Knight's team left stranded, immediately Knight suffered the loss of his T-34-85. Their enemy was concealed and consistently firing on them. In a panic, Knight ordered his Panzer IV and Firefly to take cover behind the lodgings to return fire and allow Virtanen to escape. As they bitterly returned fire He fretted over whether he should have attempted a crossing despite the absence of a bridge.
Though he was still arguing with himself internally, he had become somewhat competent in multitasking thanks to his seniors. He came to another stressful realization. The fire received was lighter than expected of Saunder's reported strength. It further as he returned fire, he could only assume they had deployed a fraction of their force to pursue his commander further away from his support.
The shootout continued between Knights team and their unseen enemy for an odd amount of time. Neither side pushed the other and slowly their fire dwindled. Only ramping up once more as his vehicle peeked around the wooden establishments to try and locate their position and fire for the enemy to retaliate and push them back into hiding.
'They're maneuvering on us' Knight pessimistically realized. As he began to think of what to do his despairing luck reared its head once more. The Firefly had been tracked as it attempted to peek outwards once more. In an attempt to aid it the Panzer IV provided fire from its position as Kaiser radioed in.
The firefly scrambled back to its cover regardless of its track coming undone and its crew emerging to try and calmly replace the treading amidst the firefight. The call from his superior gave him a torch of hope, informing him of soon coming support. Knight could only breathe a sigh of relief. 'But for how long can I hold out?' was his bitter question. He had no definite answer and if he did, he feared it was shorter than needed.
Virtanen meanwhile, had immediately split one the bridge collapse and proceeded west. Switching to commanding his squad as Knight provided covering fire. Knight was busy kicking himself but Virtanen was proud of the quick and practical decision. Virtanen intended to push his vehicles in an echelon formation westward, then wrap around to envelop the enemy. Hoping to relieve pressure off of Knight. His plan was disrupted as fire was received from the north.
Ordering his squad to set up with the 44M Tas covering their left, his Panther center, and the ARL-44 covering the right Virtanen observed the situation. His next order was a personal favorite. His three vehicles would crest the small amount of defilade around them, fire, then reload while receding and repeat the process.
Saunder's attack was staved off and forced to carefully maneuver into better assault positions. With a mischievous grin, Virtanen birthed a devious plan. Peering through his binoculars within his vehicle and past the thick treeline, he caught a glimpse of what he had hoped for. A vehicle no more than a hundred meters out and shifting uphill. 'Just like the markings in the dossier, that has to be Arisa's' Virtanen triumphantly thought.
Looking at his RO who was hurriedly scanning through channels whilst his teammates relayed their actions, Virtanen firmly made an order. "Diedrich, put me throw to Saunders on the universal comm".
Caught off guard the boy did as his commander said with a questioning look. 'Good ol' Kaiser always coming through with information. This will get Saunders into some disarray.' Virtanen unfortunately didn't think before acting this time.
Virtanen cleared his throat ensuring he was heard clearly. "Erm. Hello, Miss Arisa?" He asked into the headset as his vehicle fired another shot and receded once more.
A long still of radio silence filled with the exchange of fire came. Perhaps not in the mood for banter or maybe just not listening in to the general channel?
"What do ya want?" Came an abrasive voice. Incredulously Virtanen looked at the mic and back through his viewport. He had not expected a response himself. A crooked smile emerged on his face as he couldn't believe he was actually going through with this.
"I thought instead of exchanging harsh words such as my subordinates and yourselves earlier at the stage, we could be on better terms," spoke Virtanen. A disbelieving and false laugh came in response.
"It would benefit you," continued Virtanen "All you need to do is surrender." Once again his Panther fired and receded to reload between their exchange of words. They received fire from Arisa's vehicle before she responded.
"And what could I have to possibly gain from throwing away so much?" She asked incredulously.
The panther jerked to a stop as it completed its reload. "I was simply thinking of an exchange of information. On how to be more feminine of course. After all, this violent nature of yours might be why you scare Takashi away~" he sang receiving a violent screech in his ear.
Despite his aching eardrum, Virtanen had a mischievous grin while his crew held in stifled laughter and looks of shock. The battlefield had gone silent. Virtanen's Panther crested the hill during the pause to see if Saunder's had displaced. A furious counterattack ensued. The three enemy Shermans had charged in at full speed, attempting to ram Virtanen's squad.
The 44M TAS and ARL-44 were caught by two of the charging vehicles. The first M4 hit a bump in the terrain, catching air and colliding into the side of the ARL-44's turret flipping both vehicles onto their sides, rendering them immobile. The M4 engaging the 44M TAS had rammed the front and had its barrel locked above the 44M's turret. The 44M TAS couldn't dislodge its gun to engage either leaving both trapped in a stalemate.
Virtanen's Panther had become locked in a bizarre dance with Arisa's M4A3E8. Both circled as their gun's collided as if sabers. One would pull away to gain a shot or dislodge only to end up colliding once more. Their duel took them further from their teammates and as the pressure mounted a shell-shocked Virtanen observed his enemy closely. Through the viewport, he could see a pair of spiteful eyes glaring daggers from behind the glass in the M4A3E8. Virtanen chuckled to himself as Kaiser was patched through to his headset.
The outlook for victory had grown tenuous for Transcendence as their flag tank was now locked in unfavorable combat and being led away.
-Transition-
Knight's body was the tensest it had ever been. He felt as if he could barely move yet with every explosion, every splinter of wood sent flying, and every shift of a bush in the distance would cause his head to spin. He didn't know how much time had elapsed as everything unfolded. Obstructive thoughts swam through his mind instead.
'What do I do? How do I escape? I'm outclassed! What would Virtanen and Kaiser do? I can't fail, I can't, I can't!' A distractive shine of paint caught his eye, interrupting his thoughts. A glimpse of an olive drab paint job residing on a vehicle larger than Saunder's standard M4. More importantly, a mess of blonde hair residing atop it alerted him. His eyes widened as he saw the vehicle fire, its shell flying straight for him.
"Reverse!" shouted the loader as he ejected another shell from the breach. The incoming round tore through the spaced armor on the front right of the Panzer IV's turret with a loud screech as the driver reversed further behind the decimated lodge they had been behind since the engagement's start.
Knight'sdriver jerked the vehicle forward enough for the gun to retaliate. His gunner fired a round unaimed, only adjusting based on memory, before kicking the driver's seat so they could retreat once more in time to avoid two incoming shells impacting the lodge and dirt behind them.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit." Knights loader muttered as he grabbed another shell, ramming it in with a grunt. A glance to Knight's right showed the Firefly had repaired its track and began to retreat to the far side of the lodges to cover their exposed flank from the creek's bend. With their delaying maneuver now done, Knights Panzer IV did not need to expose themselves to fire to cover the Firefly.
As Knight observed transpiring events his mind raced back to his first days of school. The school's unique doctrine, the sparring matches constantly held, the training camp, up to their arrival. 'Take a breath, assess the situation, stay calm' he recalled. Grasping at the words a shout interrupted his focus.
"Dammit! shouted his loader in frustration, unable to keep his pace up with their high rate of fire. almost to a rhythm.
Slowly Knight's mouth parted. "Quiet!" He shouted.
His crew stopped amid their actions, looking at their suddenly stern-faced commander. Regaining his composure, Knight spoke. "Calm down, minimize any wasteful movements on your reloads as you've practiced. Align the cannon forward with the chassis and prepare to fire at what I specify, nothing else. Prepare to drive through the lodge, we'll shoot from within it and radio the Firefly. Relay everything I'm about to say." He directed.
Stunned his crew stared at him for a solid moment, only having the opportunity thankfully due to the lull in the battle. Under the pressure of their bewildered stares, Knight's temper wavered. "T-that means now…"
Back to their senses, his crew scrambled to do as directed while he breathed a small sigh of relief. A few minutes passed with the occasional harrying shell impacting around them, alerting them to their repositioning enemy. Knight figured he knew what they were playing at. Having separated their force into smaller sections, they would hunt down Transcendence's flag tank while Saunders own stayed comfily hidden here in a superior position. They were just keeping him in place. He figured his best recourse was to use the lodging as shelter and fire back through the blown-out windows.
While neither side was breaking the tension, he could tell their movements were to tighten the encirclement. His vision was severely hampered now that his vehicle was taking refuge in the tattered building but he had been tracking their movements, now however he had lost sight. As time pressed on, he anxiously bit his lip, nearly drawing blood. Had they left to pursue his commander? Was he just lying in wait for an enemy that wasn't there? Or was he being baited? Again his worry's plagued him.
As if to save him the psychological torment they unknowingly were inflicting on the poor boy, Saunder's took the initiative again. Two shells flew in at his flank destroying the lodgings wall supports next to his Panzer IV. "Get us out of here and to the base of that hill to the southwest!" He ordered.
"AYE!" responded his driver turning the Panzer IV in a wide-angle and speeding out of their tumbling cover, downhill and luckily avoiding two more shots. Knight began to think over what information he knew. 'Their shots are narrowly missing so they must either be at an awkward angle or in deep foliage blocking their view. They sound small in caliber so it must be the M4's, so where is the large vehicle Kay was in?!'
Looking behind he saw his team's Firefly following their breakout but without any pursuing fire. Both vehicles proceeded up the hill until they had nearly crested it completely. Knight's breath hitched as he rushed to give his order.
"Halt advance!" his words flew out his mouth as both his Panzer IV and Firefly jerked to a sudden halt. The sudden motion let the vehicles slack backward slightly. As his senses, or perhaps paranoia warned, a round flew overhead as their chassis had become visible. A second and much more distant shot was fired but at their current angle, it was sent whistling away off the Firefly's front armor. Their enemy had relocated once more to wait in ambush for them.
"Move while they're reloading!" Knight's ordered. With instant obedience, his panzer swung its barrel down as the chassis mounted the hilltop, locking onto an M4 now retreating from its position hidden deep in some tall brush further away, receding down the opposite hillside. His Panzer IV's 75mm projectile landed on the M4's chassis-mounted machine gun. His Firefly then followed, firing on the same vehicle pursuing the doctrine they were trained in by limiting their enemy's numbers. Taking aim, its shell slammed into the M4's engine compartment, sending it smoking as it was unable to stop slowly backing downhill.
Noticing their target's gun moving towards the Firefly and no flag, Knight calmly breathed. "Fire" he instructed and one last shell was sent into the side of its barrel turning the turret from the impact. The second M4 had sped into the dense woods and out of sight once its comrade had been immobilized. Without a moment to collect himself a much louder shout echoed through the treeline straight at the Firefly. The shell hit its top hatch and blew the cupolas hatch off as the round tumbled into the distance.
"Push to the woods, fire only when you have sight, and be careful with your aim!" Knight instructed into his headset. The Panzer IV and Firefly speedily exited towards the woods laying no more than a hundred meters away. Thick enough to limit line of sight with its numerous trees but still thinned enough to drive vehicles through in a semi-loose formation.
From cover to cover or serpentining to avoid shots, Knight looked towards the woods cautiously from outside his cupola as shells flew towards his Panzer and Firefly. He could only catch glimpses of its form but there was no mistaking it. A bright flag erected atop a Pershing with a Sherman nearby, presumably the one that had fled from him. Both enemy vehicles were slightly uphill at the edge of the woods in a pre-staged area. Torn-down trees lay in front of their vehicles, acting as makeshift cover as they watched over a clearing. Their impromptu defenses surrounded them on all sides leaving them practically fortified.
The Firefly's commander radioed Knight. "Sir we have proceeded as far as we can without being exposed. No route around them is possible unless we take a detour, by then the match will be over. Don't think we can proceed either unless we risk being disabled" Knight hesitated in his response. Looking about feverishly he was seeking inspiration on how to escape the latest predicament. around his surroundings.
Knight radioed a short response. "Fire at the trees behind the enemy position on my mark".
A questioning "Sir?" came over before being replaced with "Yes sir, understood". Knight could imagine the confusion on his teammate's face. Knight himself felt strange being referred to as 'Sir' himself. With a quick chuckle, he dismissed the thoughts. Both vehicles peeked from their positions and sent shots downrange before retreating and reloading, unknowingly replicating the same tactic Virtanen was using elsewhere.
The exchange rose in intensity, soon Saunder's tanks discovered their positions and returned fire. This caused Knight to order his vehicles to move after each shot in hopes to avoid a casualty. Soon his targeted fire had gained its desired effect. The thin trees on the outer edge of the treeline fell with single shots, repeated blows felled the larger ones one by one.
Their efforts seemed to be unnoticed by their entrenched enemy. 'They probably think we're panicking now' he thought. "Firefly advance under our Fire" he ordered, receiving a quick "Roger".
The Firefly sped towards the far left side of the woods attempting to enter concealment provided within despite the enemy fire focused on it. The M4 tracked it firing at liberty, the Pershing meanwhile found its turret limited by a fallen tree that had ended up on its rear. As the Panzer IV suppressed the M4, the Pershing in turn, suppressed the Panzer IV. Soon the Firefly made its way into safety and began to circle for the M4.
Seeing it was soon to be flanked, the M4 reversed attempting to fall back. As its tracks ate away it realized it was stuck in place. Its commander realized they were trapped by the tight barricade in front of them and a pile of fallen trees from Knight's preparatory fire behind.
Left with three options the M4 had little time to choose. Risk being caught on the pile of trees, advance over the front of its defenses Highlighting itself for both vehicles, or hold its ground. They stood their ground. As shell after shell was lobbed at the advancing Firefly, Knight's Panzer IV managed to land a shot onto the M4's turret ring despite the Pershings accurate fire tearing off even more of his skirt armor on the left chassis.
With such a close call Knight Knight didn't dare expose his vehicle again after Kay's Pershing landed a second strike tearing off the left side of his turret skirt armor, bending it upward and hanging. Now that the M4 couldn't defend itself, the Firefly soon closed its distance and landed a round into the paralyzed turret. Using the disabled foe and its defenses the Firefly provided close harassing fire onto the enemy Pershing as it slowly ground away at the obstructive tree on it.
Knight breathed a sigh of relief as his vehicle had used the opportunity to advance from the opposite direction while the Pershing was distracted. Trapped in place facing two to one odds was the final objective, Kay. His steady breathing continued to falter now and then with the constant reminder that luck had played a fair part in his current success.
He knew Virtanen was still being pursued and may not be faring well, so it came down to this decisive strike. The only problem was he didn't think he'd get this far, and as his crew strained their focus on their tasks he wondered what to do. 'It's as simple as defeating her right? Finishing the job.' he thought. 'What could go wrong?' he gulped.
-Transition-
The audience sat in awe watching the monitors playing the ongoing match. As they ate and conversed with one another glances were thrown about at the respective school's students as those who saw interest in the match had trickled in from both sides. Off near the main stage, Saunders had set up bleachers for their students, directing their peers to help. Even some Transcendence students, friendly or just smitten by the Saunders girls, assisted.
A peaceful environment in all except for those avidly watching the action on screen. They first bore witness to an even fight between the two serious and stern vice commanders of both schools, albeit obscured somewhat by the fog it was left to GPS tracking to decide what had happened from above. To everyone's surprise, Transcendence came out on top. Then a textbook ambush was launched by Saunders which divided Transcendence further. Understandably, some were swept up by the excitement and cheer.
Perhaps the largest surprise yet was the timid Transcendence commander suddenly pulling an effective counterattack on Saunders, disabling Kay's two assisting vehicles. With an aerial view, they could see the Panzer IV closing in on the Pershing. The commentator was near out of breath as he hurried to speak. The announcer then directed the audience's attention to the commander's expressions shown by cameras placed inside the vehicles. The large stage screen split in half, the right showing Knights face stiff in concentration and the left showed Kay with an amused, almost mischievous smile on her face.
Silently the crowd watched as the Panzer IV circled to the rear of the Pershing preparing to deliver a blow to the rear as the Firefly maintained its position despite the erratic shots fired in response from the Pershing. Slowly they were tying the noose. With a worried gasp, some women in the crowd noted the movement around the Pershing, there were students outside of it.
Both the Panzer and Firefly began opening fire at the Pershing. Rather than receive damage, the Pershing started shifting back and forth. Innovatively Kay had feigned desperation to distract her opponents while her crew used a winch to pull some of the downed trees closer. Once propped under the rear of the tracks they became a makeshift ramp of escape.
The flabbergasted Transcendence crews watched in shock as the Pershing clumsily slipped on the logs but achieved its quick escape. Masterfully the chassis swung left, before the cannon's sights steadied, it fired at the slightly exposed Firefly. Before the Firefly's crew could process what they had seen a 90 mm shell slammed into the side of their driver's compartment.
The crowd erupted at the sudden turnabout, ecstatic to see what was next and some began to write off Transcendence's chances.
-Transition-
As the white flag popped up and the Pershing gained speed, it rotated in the Panzer IV's direction.
"Retreat to the base of the hill! We'll try for a shot on their lower glacis as they climb over" He ordered. A rash order as they were practically on the other side of the small terrain feature but panic didn't allow anyone to point out such a flaw. Another shell was thrown their way and what remained of the skirt armor on the left side of his chassis was torn with a squeal of steel. The plates fell in a shattered mess as the Pershing pressed relentlessly forwards.
As the Panzer IV retreated on the uneven terrain its shots were sent inaccurately, clarifying their haste to their enemy. Again a pit formed in Knight's stomach as he could see practically see down the barrel of the Pershing as it pursued.
As if time slowed, he could practically see the round aimed at him leave the Pershings barrel. Within that fraction of a sec two shells simultaneously landed near the Pershing. Said vehicle adjusted its Barrel up and to the right of Knights Panzer IV.
Following his foes' aim, Knight saw a wonderful sight for sore eyes. "Pursue at a distance" ordered Kaiser calmly over radio. His Tiger skirted the side of the large hill that had previously split their teams in two. Behind him, literally in tow was First Sergeant Prokov's IS-1 providing supporting fire as the Tiger shifted its turret.
"Keep your eyes peeled, Virtanen said that Arisa's team had defeated all but his Panther and she sent her spare M4 to assist Kay. They should be on their way now". Informed Kaiser as he kept Pressuring the Pershing to retreat from the hill. Knight sighed in relief as the Pershing began to retreat into the woods and out of sight. With every meter he put between it and himself, he could feel the pressure on his shoulders ease.
-Transition - Kaiser's POV-
Kaiser stared out the small viewport, watching the Pershing retreat, and brought his hand to his headset. "Prokov, adjust fire to the chassis instead of the Turret, your gunner is aiming too high." A static rang in his ear as he heard Natalya's response.
"We don't have the gun depression, Sir. If I may suggest since we don't have the correct alignment why not close the distance?"
"And you're suggesting Prokov?"
A sigh came over as Natalya explained. "Unhook the chains and allow us to use the hill to rush the Pershing". Her intention of using the elevation to gain speed held merit.
"Finally starting to learn" commented Kaiser.
"What does that!-"
"Approved I'll be out to unlink you shortly" interrupted Kaiser as he took off his headset, opening his hatch.
"Shouldn't one of us do that, Sir?" asked Katya with a hint of worry. Kaiser didn't stop at her words as he exited out the hatch.
"You four continue doing your job and stay alert in case Kay pulls anything out of her sleeve, Westhoffen you know what to do when Prokov radio's you." With a dismissive grunt from his driver, Kaiser closed the hatch.
Kaiser's ears rang as the Is-1 fired another round. Steadily he made his way onto the rear of the Tiger and cautiously hopped onto the front of the IS-1, landing unsteadily and grasping for anything to grip. Natalya exited her hatch, raising a brow at his unceremonious landing as he knelt, grasping the machine gun's barrel.
Slowly Kaiser reached for the chains as he and Natalya nodded to each other. Natalya spoke into her mic and as ordered the Tiger slowed before picking up speed once more. This slight decrease in speed was enough to ease the tension in the chains for Kaiser to release them. Barely having enough time to jump onto the back of the Tiger as Natalya gave a small wave as she descended into her hatch as the IS began to steer downhill towards the Pershing. He paid no heed to it as it had turned its attention to Knight while he began putting away the loose chains.
The IS-1 closed its distance with the Pershing quicker than expected and both crews were surprised when they were no more than 50 meters apart. Natalya gave a tenacious smile as the Pershing filled her view.
The mirth of scoring the enemy's captain as a kill was quickly eviscerated as the aforementioned Firefly emerged from the woodworks blocking Natalya's view with its close proximity. Natalya's crew didn't expect the oncoming collision as the firefly fired at her IS-1 to slow its downhill charge. Its attempt was in vain as the IS-1 was already aimed and loaded.
Natalya's gun fired, impacting the side of the Firefly and following the hit with a high-speed collision, as they could not stop their momentum. These repeated consecutive blows toppled the firefly, causing it to roll twice onto its head.
Kaiser peeked over his shoulder as he finished wrapping the chains in time to see the impacts. Unluckily, this included the Fireflies stray round. The shell had bypassed the IS-1 and sent uphill to where the Tiger had driven impacting its rear left. The concussive force knocked Kaiser off as his vehicle continued forward, increasing in speed and unknowing of the incident.
With the commotion occurring downhill what happened to the Tiger went unannounced to the crews battling below them, even to the audience safe behind the viewing screens this incident went unnoticed due to the cameras focusing on the ramming tanks, perhaps for the better.
Kay didn't know why but didn't let the chance go to waste as the Tiger had stopped firing and disappeared. The IS-1 now lay stock still with a disoriented crew. The Pershing readjusted itself with a stiff drifting maneuver that had become popular due to Oarai's matches and pressed towards the lone Is-1.
Just as Natalya and her crew regained their bearings she looked out her viewports to an unsettling picture. The Pershing's 90mm gun was close enough to her vehicle she could see it's commanders vivid blue eyes.
-End Chapter-