Amy had never seen Delilah so melancholy before.
Delilah sat on the turret of the Ram; her arms folded across her chest. Her head was bowed, and her eyes were closed. It would be easy to mistake her for being asleep.
The rest of the crew "worked" around her. Everyone was already done with the pre-match checks, but they needed something to distract them while the rest of the team completed theirs. Eiko may have been able to do a full inspection of the engine bay in the time she spent crawling around back there, Yelena counted and re-counted each piece of ammunition, and Mia had probably managed to increase the caliber of the gun with how much barrel swabbing she had done. Hiromi had sensed the situation was off and let them be.
Amy was alone in the hull. She ran races in her head. First a replay of Sayuki, then a standard run on her home course, and finally the last drive she'd taken before getting the Dominion invite letter. Eventually, the silence was too uncomfortable for her. She pulled out her earbuds and began playing songs randomly. Some of the lyrics she sang under her breath.
Caught up in the very best of you
Tunnel vision and a point to prove…
I'm not the same kid from your memory
Well, now I can fend for myself…
A little evil
Goes a long, long way
We stand together
No we're not afraid…
Eiko tapped Amy's shoulder. "We're ready to go."
"What? Oh… Uh… Yeah… Lemme just…" Amy fumbled around, attempting to catch up. She slipped her earbuds into her bag and put on her helmet. "We good to move?"
There was a brief silence before Yelena answered. "We are ready, follow Ayame please."
If she hadn't been so worked up, Amy might have thought about how odd it was for Delilah to be so silent. Instead, she was focused on joining the line as Dominion left toward the starting area.
It took several minutes for Amy to realize that in her rush to get ready, she had forgotten to turn on her VIC-3's noise cancellation. Just as she was about to switch it on, Amy heard Mia speak from behind her.
"So, you got a plan on how to bring down your great nemesis?" She asked Delilah.
Delilah sighed and leaned against the turret wall.
"No."
Yelena looked over the gun at her commander. "You do not have a plan? There is nothing in your mind on how to win?"
"I've nothing other than just breaking it down into a bunch of little battles. I know Cumberland might want to play cavalry, and I also know that she can have a hard time choosing between a large force and a small one."
"Following however the match goes and breaking it down seems like the basics of a plan to me. I'm no commander though," Mia said.
"Delilah, it is not like you to be so… uncomfortable with a match. This shlyukha of a girl is getting into your mind, yes?"
An uncomfortable silence formed as Delilah looked through the open hatch and up at the gray afternoon sky. There were other tanks out there making a racket, yet everyone save for Amy was looking at Delilah. No one had seen her truly emotional like this. This wasn't just anger; it was something else.
She finally spoke. Everything came all at once.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got us into this mess. I came here to have fun, we came here to help the school, and the school came here to buy some tanks. I was able to forget about the problems of home and just have fun here. Yes, I got angry about the Bird, but that never stopped us from having fun in a match. Home didn't matter. Then… this."
"Then you must beat her," Yelena said matter-of-factly. "You must break her so that she knows she cannot win."
Delilah looked at Yelena sadly. "I don't want to beat on her like that. It just wouldn't seem ri-"
Mia frowned in confusion. "You beat the living daylights out of the Bird."
"Aye, and I hated it. I hated every feckin' second of it."
"You what?" Mia said flatly.
"I didn't enjoy hurting her. I didn't enjoy threatening her. I never did!" Delilah froze and her eyes widened. "I mean- I- I- didn't-"
Mia cut her off. "We know. But we can talk about that later. I agree with Yelena. All we need to do is win."
Yelena shook her head. "We do not need to win. We need to win so well that there is no question of whether or not they could have ever won."
"Yelena's scaring me," Eiko mused.
"I am sick of people being able to make such fun of us. We beat them, they do not laugh at us."
Yelena's words hung bitterly in the air while the tank went silent again.
Leaning down into the hull, Delilah asked, "Amy, you have more of those maps, right?"
Amy spoke for the first time since the conversation started. "Yeah, here."
She dug around in her bag and produced a folded map.
"We're almost to the starting position, just so you know."
Delilah nodded as she began to look the map over. She pulled out another map and began marking both of them up. When the team stopped at their assigned start point, Delilah pulled herself out of the Ram and found Ayame.
"I need you to understand something for me."
"What's up?" Ayame replied.
"I'm in charge for this match."
"In charge? As in you're the team captain?"
"Aye, I'm the captain."
To Delilah's surprise, Ayame seemed to relax significantly.
"You okay?" Delilah asked.
"Now that I've got way less pressure on me, yeah, I am. Good luck with this, it's your problem now."
"No good Scot would ever allow themselves to lose to a dafty Yank, let alone a Brit. Everything is going to be fine."
"Alright then. Well uh… I guess I'll see you out there."
"Aye, give it your best. That's all I ask."
Ayame nodded as she turned back to her tank.
"What is this, Delilah?" Yelena asked as Delilah dropped back into the turret. She was holding the map Amy had shared.
"They're important points. Elevation, bridges, stuff like that. You should know what they are."
"I am looking at this writing here. I do not understand it. I cannot pronounce it, either."
"Oh, that? It's Gaelic for 'split into three'."
"I see. Do you normally write in Gaelic?"
"I do when I know I'm the only one who will see it."
It was mere moments before the start signal came but waiting felt like ages.
"Panzer vor!"
Amy accelerated at wide-open throttle. She slammed the shifter hard into each gear as the Ram picked up speed.
"Amy, chill out. You're not driving a Honda here," Eiko said painfully. The Ram was her baby, and she didn't like seeing it be abused.
"Sorry," Amy replied as she forced the transmission into another gear. "I just have some steam to blow off right now."
Preoccupied with driving, Amy didn't hear Delilah's orders to start splitting up. Behind the Ram, the Locust and a Stuart parted ways with the team. The rest of the team continued onward. For the remainder of the journey, Amy followed Delilah's instructions without even needing to check her map.
"Take the next left and then hang left at the fork," Delilah instructed.
"Gotcha," Amy answered.
Eventually, the road ended, and a large field opened up in the trees to the right. The field was a long rectangle; the team was on the long side. Through the gaps in the trees on the far side, Amy could see out along a large flat portion of the map.
"We're here," Delilah said over the radio. "Form up along the close tree line."
"Where even is here?" Mia asked as she began ranging out distant objects. She leaned back to look at Delilah's map.
"We're on 228th Street Northwest, right near the 300-foot contour line."
Mia looked at Delilah with a blank face. "I'm not a commander…"
Amy audibly facepalmed. "Not a commander either, and yet I still understand maps."
"Yeah, but you're one of those Pathfinder nerds. I shoot things."
"Here," Delilah pointed on the map. "That line is the 300-foot contour."
While the team set themselves up on the hill, the two scouts reported themselves ready. The M22 was situated on a hill overlooking the Marine Drive bridge to the east; meanwhile, the Stuart was parked under concealment on the opposite end of the map near Jackson Gulch.
Both bridges were important choke points. The Stillaguamish River ran east-to-west across the entire map. It split both teams and would require one or the other to cross. Multiple bridges allowed fairly easy crossing, but Dominion had just secured both of the major ones.
Almost five whole minutes passed before anyone saw movement in the distance.
First to show up was a group of three tanks moving on the road all the way across the wide-open plain below the hill. It was made up of two Sherman Fireflies and a Valentine IX. Delilah had the team hold fire but kept an eye on them.
Another five minutes had gone by when another, larger group appeared. This group was made up of a Cromwell, two Crusaders (one Mk II and one Mk III), an M18 Hellcat, and was led by an A13 Mk II. They were following the railroad grade diagonally across the open plain.
"What in the hell is that up front?" Mia asked.
"It's exactly what you think it is. That British moron is leading her team from an A13."
Amy snorted in contempt. "Out of all the Cruiser tanks she could've picked, she chose the worst one. Shepherd Foundation charges to rent tanks, yeah, but it ain't that much."
Delilah ordered the team to load high explosive.
"Are we doing what I think we are doing?" Yelena asked as she switched rounds out of her ready rack.
"You said we should break them," Delilah said. "So we're breaking them."
Every tank was now confirmed as loaded and ready. Before allowing every gun on the team to fire, Delilah had only the 37mm guns send opening shots toward the distant group.
"Hit the ground around them but do not hit the tanks."
Heavy guns roared to life. The earth surrounding the far-off tanks began to churn. Spurts of dirt heaved up where shots impacted. Falling dust, debris, and smoke covered the enemy in a fine cloud. Through her binoculars, Delilah could see Cumberland's terrified face as the ground around her became airborne.
For several minutes, Cumberland charged along the railroad grade. At first, the tanks had become disorganized. However, as the rounds kept flying it was obvious that this was a long-range bombardment. They eventually reorganized and kept following the railroad tracks at full speed.
Amy could feel the thud of the guns in her chest. Each one split the air with a heavy concussion and a bright flash. Outside the tank, the muzzle blast would be significantly irritating. Inside the metal box though, things were somewhat better. Even the noise was tempered by Amy's helmet and headset. She didn't have to hear any noises she didn't want to.
It was unimaginable what Cumberland would be feeling down there. Eleven guns hurling rounds downrange was scary enough. Add to that the explosive payload they carried, and the outcome was an unstoppable cacophony. The VMI tankers showed impressive skill and resolve in holding firm against the unending barrage. Even if they were restrained from returning fire, they were holding together nicely.
In her headset, Amy heard Delilah issue a new order. She had the T49 and M7 both switch to AP and start aiming for everyone but Cumberland.
The two tanks got to work picking off their enemy. The Crusader Mk II was the first to go. It took a 6-pdr shot to its rear-right quarter and jerked to a halt. Behind it, the Cromwell swerved to keep from colliding.
That became the next target. The Cromwell had taken up what was essentially the Crusader's position, making the gunnery an easy job. A few more rounds flew its way before one connected.
Now the two remaining VMI tanks began to act on their own. The Hellcat was the first to fire, but its lack of a stabilizer caused its accuracy to be horrendous. It slowed down for a better shot, but someone hit the tank with a 37mm HE round.
It was a message: "We can hit you and are fully capable of knocking out your tank. Do not take anything but pot-shots."
The tank destroyer accelerated back up to speed and returned to firing wildly.
Meanwhile, the Cromwell had similar issues. Its commander had presumably seen the round hit the Hellcat and kept her tank at a speed that was harder to hit. It too fired unaimed shots up toward the hill.
Eventually another round found its mark, this time from Ayame's M7. The 75mm shell crashed into the front sponson of the Cromwell, shoving it sideways and taking it out of play.
Delilah called a cease-fire. The bombardment had lasted for nearly ten minutes without stopping.
Mia leaned back from her gunsight. "That was cool and all, but it was really boring."
"It felt like Chi-Ha-Tan all over again," Eiko agreed.
"This is different," Yelena answered as she re-stocked her ready rack. "We are throwing shells to scare them and not to harm them." She paused for a moment. "Some shells do harm. Many do not."
Mia looked back at Delilah. "Now what?"
The Scot stared at the map. "Now we wait."
And wait they did.
Cumberland managed to find a low point to take some amount of cover in with the Hellcat while she planned out her next move. Apparently, Cumberland was not the fastest thinker in the world, and it seemed like ages before the group at the northern border changed direction. They first cut across a field before intersecting a road that took them south toward Cumberland's position.
Delilah silently watched this all through her binoculars.
She spoke when the two groups were almost linked. "Kana, that Valentine is slowing them down. Make it dead, please."
A single 75mm shell streaked through the air and landed on the Valentine's turret. Through her binoculars, Delilah could see the devasted face of Hawley appear from the commander's hatch.
"Why in the bloody hell didn't you use a Firefly?" Delilah muttered to herself.
It took some time for both groups to link up and restart their advance.
"Where the hell is she going?" Mia asked. She was watching the formation through her gunsight.
Delilah scanned her map. "They're going to cross the river at the railroad bridge."
"Can we beat them there?" Amy called up from her seat.
"Dinnae ken. It'll be a close call either way."
Without hesitation, Amy pulled the Ram out of position and charged down the road. Behind them, the team took up its new orders.
Both Stuarts and the M8 HMC were to stay on the hill and fling rounds at Cumberland. If they were challenged by the unaccounted enemy tanks, they were to simply run. The high ground would be nowhere as important this time if Delilah could keep things going her way. It wasn't worth another Anzio-style showdown. Kana had looked relieved at that news.
Meanwhile, both Lees and Ayame's M7 would follow the Ram. The tank destroyers wouldn't go as far and would allow themselves to be in a position to support either group.
Delilah's four tanks thundered over a bridge across a tributary stream.
"Where's Cumberland?" She asked Kana.
"They're at the Norman Road level crossing and moving fast. We can hardly see them at this angle." Kana answered.
"Thank you," Delilah replied. "Ah feck," She grumbled once the mic was off.
"If we are not going to make it to the bridge before them, perhaps we should turn across the field?" Yelena suggested from over the gun.
Delilah shook her head. "Forget it. I want her to see us up close."
"Close?"
"Aye, close."
"Do you want this to become a… is it… slugging match? If we do so, there is the chance we do not win."
"You gonna quit freakin' oot? Everything'll be fine." Delilah turned her head quizzically. "Unless you've a better think comin' up?" She challenged.
"My way does not involve the most risk," Yelena explained.
Delilah ignored her loader and ordered the tank destroyers to split from the group. They were to make a run east-southeast to another bridge and hide in the trees.
Yelena questioned Delilah again on the viability of her plan. Delilah shut her down saying that the light tanks could handle themselves without immediate TD support.
As the four medium tanks rumbled across the railroad grade, shots came from their left. Cumberland's tanks were coming off the bridge not even eight hundred yards away. The Dominion tanks swerved hard right alongside the tracks and followed them to the tiny one-road township of Silvana. Here they crossed onto Pioneer Highway, a two-lane road leading toward another bridge.
More shots followed the running tanks. After crossing the bridge, Delilah ordered an about-face. The air fell silent except for the running engines.
"Are we going to fight on an open road?" Yelena wondered aloud.
Delilah did not answer.
"We are making a shooting range for each other. I do not like this situation at all, Delilah."
Instead of directly answering Yelena, Delilah ordered no one to fire until she said so.
Cumberland's tanks picked up speed.
Yelena shoved her commander's arm. "Delilah! What do you think you are doing?"
Finally, Delilah allowed Yelena an answer.
"If we dinnae shoot at them, they a'noo about to shoot uzz."
Amy flinched. Delilah's voice was starting to sound dangerous.
"It's like the worst staring contest ever…" Mia commented as she focused her gunsight squarely on a Firefly's front plate. She asked Yelena to load an APDS round.
"Don't even," Delilah warned. "Let that bitch come close and we'll blow them all to hell."
Yelena moved to insert the round anyway.
"What did I just say?" Delilah growled.
Yelena stopped with the round just behind the open breech. "This is insane. I am not going to sit here with an unloaded gun!"
"I told you not to load anything! Yer not gaun tae keep messing with me, so shut it!"
"And I have informed you that this is madness!"
"I want to take her out myself, dammit!"
"How about we just. Fucking. Shoot them!"
The two were interrupted by the report of a gun.
Sparks flew off the turret cheek of a Firefly where a shell bounced.
Delilah tuned angrily to the M7, whose muzzle was smoking. "Ya feckin-"
Her outburst was cut short as a 76mm round crashed into Ayame's tank.
"Nobody else fire! We can still-"
Once again, Delilah was cut off. This time, a Lee took a 17-pounder to the face.
Yelena swore in Russian as she snatched the radio mic from Delilah. "TDs! Kill those Fireflies, now!"
Two successive shots screamed in from the left. Their silvery streaking journeys ended in the sides of the Fireflies, ending the game for those tanks.
The Hellcat hurled another round in their direction, this time hitting Hiromi's Lee before it swung in the direction of the tank destroyers to attempt to engage them.
Alone and unburdened, Cumberland's A13 charged ahead.
Distracted by the argument, Yelena had never loaded the round. She slammed it into the waiting breech. "Sabot up!"
Mia desperately fought to get the A13 in her crosshair, but the range was too close and the movement of both tanks was too much.
Amy put the transmission in reverse, hoping to give Mia more time to aim. The A13's speed meant that it was practically no use. It was right next to them in a matter of seconds. At this point, all Amy could do was floor the throttle and keep the Ram turning in a backward circle. As long as their thick front armor was facing Cumberland, there was little chance for her to pull off a shot with the A13's puny 2-pounder.
The A13's speed and maneuverability were still a problem. At this rate, it was slowly overtaking the Ram's ability to reverse around. Amy put her foot on the clutch, threw the transmission into second gear, and gave the engine full power. She slipped her foot off the clutch pedal. Beside Amy, the transmission ground as the weight of the tank pulled against the driveshaft. She could smell the sharp sickening scent of burnt clutch material, but Amy kept the power on.
The trick worked. The Ram was now keeping up in a forward circle against the A13's attempt to get behind it.
Delilah was in the midst of a shouting match with Cumberland.
"You call yourself an excellent commander, yet you're daft enough to you let yourself get run down by a light tank!" Cumberland yelled.
"I wanted a duel anyway!" Delilah answered with equal anger.
"How honorable! Want to step ten paces away and fire too?"
"It'd be a shame if a judge saw this kind of behavior and the Great Butcher Cumberland were to get taken out by a technicality!"
"Ha! There are no judges here, Dee!"
Delilah was taken aback. It must have been obvious because Cumberland jumped on the chance.
"All we did was reserve the field and rent some tanks. There's no regulation for judges in private skirmishes here in the States. Isn't that nice?"
Deep inside her, Delilah felt a fresh surge of anger. She had been perpetually annoyed all afternoon, and now the blatant taunting was getting to her even worse. Cumberland's tank needed to die, and it needed to die now.
But there was nothing either of them could do. They were stuck circling each other until someone else intervened. That was unlikely to happen – the Hellcat had begun to hunt down the Dominion TDs and none of them would be able to make a difference. It was all down to who could get the first shot on who.
Delilah's mind raced. Maybe the scouting Stuart at Jackson Gulch could make the run down here fast enough to do something? Perhaps a smoke grenade would give them both cover long enough to break away and get into a firing position?
Cumberland continued the verbal assault as the tanks kept up their deadlock dance.
"Dee, you talk a big game with being able to run a team. Maybe you can move platoons around and use supporting fire and all that. But here you're alone. You have no team."
Delilah stared down at the girl, unable to think of a response.
"Your team is a bunch of second-rate high schoolers fighting college-level students. No team like that wins against major high schools, let alone colleges."
"Do not insult my team like that, yoo feckin' hoore!"
"Oh, how would you like me to insult them, then? I take re-"
The blare of the Ram's horn cut through the argument. Eiko's hull gun barked and suddenly the Ram jerked hard into the turn. A smoke grenade flew out of the hatch and past Delilah's face, landing near the A13.
Pulling out of the powerslide, the Ram ended up behind and running in the opposite direction from the A13. Delilah heard a yell from inside the turret.
"Now, Amy!"
Amy spun the tank on its axis. It whipped around to face the A13. Cumberland was still recovering from the shock of the maneuver.
The 6-pounder spat flames as Mia sent a shot into the side of the A13. The impact spun the little tank around.
Then there was silence.
Delilah was vaguely aware of the flag flying over the A13's turret. She might have heard Yelena calling her name.
"Hey!" Mia poked at her hip. "Are you alright back there?"
Delilah slumped down into her seat.
"Yeah… yeah, I just need a minute."
She looked up at the still-gray sky as she had before. A cold breeze pulled warmth out of the turret. Leaves rustled outside.
"I am sorry I yelled at you, Delilah. It was not necessary, and it was rude."
Delilah shifted and sat up somewhat.
"No. I needed it. This wasn't like me. My stupidity got us into this match, and my stupidity got us here."
"Oh, for the love of hell," Amy said. "Shit happens. You screw up, you move on, that's it. So quit apologizing and feeling sorry for yourself, will you?"
"Look at Ms. Motivation over here," Eiko said as she turned her head to look at Amy.
"Oh, shut up you."
"Well now what?" Delilah asked in a deadpan voice. "Cumberland is down, they've lost their main tanks, and so have we. There's two we don't know where or what they are. Plus a Hellcat running around doing who knows what."
"And the Hellcat took out the M8A1," Yelena added.
"Well shit. There goes our sniper."
"Excuse me?" Eiko cut in. "You four are here because you're the best, right? You're the best the school could get."
Mia shrugged. "I don't think I'm that good…"
Eiko kept going. "If you four are the best, then show them you're the best. The school knows you guys are top-tier. Show these college kids what's up."
"And how exactly do we do that, Eiko? Words are great but you can't just say you're going to do something and expect it happen," Mia countered.
Yelena nodded. "Exactly. We do not have superpowers."
"I don't know, and it isn't my job to know."
Delilah thought for a moment.
But here you're alone. You have no team.
If they really wanted to completely destroy VMI the way Yelena and Delilah suggested, it would likely take coordination from everyone left on the team. The team was so spread out it would be hard to get everyone together without getting picked off.
But what if they did it alone?
"You guys think we could take on three tanks by ourselves?" Delilah asked.
"Give me three targets and I'll hit them," Mia said. "But getting us to those targets without getting shot ourselves would be hard."
Yelena took one of Delilah's maps. "The M8A1 was here when it got hit. They said the Hellcat was moving this way toward Kana."
Delilah worked out that the T49 was running to try and cut off the Hellcat somewhere along the road they had taken to get here. If the Hellcat was following the river off-road, could they catch it?
"Amy? Do you think we could catch up with an M18 running off-road?"
"They got a head start?"
"Say five thousand meters, so maybe a third of a mile?"
Amy exhaled sharply. "Tough. I could do it, but there's always the chance something happens. Thing doesn't like to be pushed too hard." She looked to Eiko. "You think the engine will hold up after that rebuild?"
"Those internals are skookum as frig. They'll take the beating, but the question is how much of a beating they'll take."
"Anyone got another idea?" Delilah asked aloud.
"What do we have to lose from this?" Yelena pointed out. "You have already beaten your rival, yes? Either we make a mistake and risk losing the match itself after achieving your goal, or we make it through and beat a team of college students."
Amy raised a hand. "I would like to make that Maryland girl have a bad day. Also, I have a grudge against VMI I would like to settle."
"A what?"
"They rejected my friend's application, and it was devastating for her."
"And how does that relate to the Tankery team?"
"Cuz I'm a petty bitch."
Mia giggled. "Other than personal vendettas, does anyone have anything to say about us beating up on some college kids?"
"Aye, me," Delilah responded. "Can we just… forget that I screwed up like that and that any of us yelled at each other?"
Everyone agreed.
"Okay, good. I just want to fix this mess. I got us here, now I gotta get us out." Delilah sat up straight in her seat. "Let's do this."
Amy didn't need to be told twice. The Ram lurched forward and picked up speed. Beyond them, the wood line marked the start of a forest. Amy paid the trees no mind – a tank could make it through with inches to spare. Plenty of space.
The engine roared at high RPMs, turning faster than it was ever designed to. Only Eiko's master work kept it together.
In front of her, Amy could see two lines where her tank's tracks needed to go. They stretched onward to the limit of where Amy was paying attention.
"Fuckin' christ, Amy," Delilah said, impressed. "Are you sure you're able to keep going like this without faffing it up?"
"Yeah."
The Ram flew across the ground. Terrain did not matter – Amy kept pushing, pushing the tank as far as it would go.
"Got a target," Mia reported as she began moving the gun.
"How on Earth are ya getting a good picture out of that thing? We're bouncing around like crazy."
"I'm not."
"Then how…"
Delilah shrugged it off and looked through her binoculars. It took some searching, but she found Mia's target.
An M18 Hellcat with VMI livery.
"They see us? Do I need to smooth things out or slow down?" Amy checked with Mia.
"Not yet. Get closer, please."
"On it."
The Ram got closer and closer to the Hellcat. Its commander was focused forward and probably couldn't hear anything over the noise of her own machine.
"AP is loaded, Mia," Yelena advised.
Mia leaned into her gunsight. The image was unsteady and difficult to aim with. At this speed, the stabilizer was only helping with the worst of the bumps. The rocking could be dealt with if Mia timed it right.
She stared down the Hellcat and got used to how the Ram was swaying. Letting her breath out and focusing on the tank destroyer, she eased her foot onto the trigger pedal before going all the way.
The 6-pounder roared. The shell flew toward the Hellcat. It missed one tank-width to the left and several feet high.
After waiting for Yelena to reload, Mia re-aimed the gun to try again. She was about to fire when she was interrupted.
There was a sickening jolt followed by a crashing sound. The Ram had clipped a tree. It was sent off course and began to slide.
Down in the driver's seat, Amy fought for control. The tank had rotated to the left and entered a dangerous slide. Too far and it would lose all its speed or worse, dig into the ground and roll over.
Amy pumped the right brake while modulating her accelerator input. She was able to shift the weight around, and the Ram regained traction for a moment before flicking in the other direction. Even more spontaneous reactions from Amy kept the tank in a stable powerslide. Amy eased the Ram back onto an even keel.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Delilah asked, concerned for both her tank and her crew.
"Hit a tree. Sorry," Amy answered. She was more focused on not repeating the previous thirty seconds than apologizing. Another slip-up like that may not end as well.
Eiko was staring through her periscope. "Amy, look! We didn't lose that much ground. That was a sharp turn and we're still pretty close."
Amy was still focused on her lines. "And it was rougher than it needed to be."
"Yes, but what if you do that on purpose? A reverse-drift might even be faster through some turns if you can keep the speed up. Sure, they have a handling and speed advantage, but it's worth trying."
"I'm not killing us all, sorry."
And there was every chance something might go horribly wrong.
The Hellcat's large road wheels and torsion bar suspension were eating up the terrain like it was a road. Its much lower weight allowed the driver to have finer control over her vehicle, and that driver was impressive as it was. She had accelerated to full speed or something near it once Mia had fired. It took everything Amy had to keep up.
Whoever was driving the Hellcat was as much a challenge as the difference between the vehicles. Amy was keeping up, but only barely. The Hellcat's driver twisted and swerved to avoid obstacles and throw off Mia's aim. Many corners would see Amy lose a few feet of ground. She tried to copy her opponent's movements and lines just as she would in a race. This might have worked had the vehicles been closer in performance, but it was extremely difficult just to hold on. The Hellcat's driver was matching Amy move-for-move and then some.
Dammit. This is like running a Corolla against an RX-7!
Every bump would shake the tank like a tin can. Some larger ones would throw Amy around in her seat. The only solid handholds her the steering tillers, and Amy wished she had the sort of five-point harness that some of the sportscars she'd driven were equipped with. One particularly large jolt slammed her head into the steel wall. In that moment, Amy was extremely glad to have a good helmet.
All she had to do was hold on.
Hold on to the Hellcat for long enough, and Mia could get a shot off.
Back up in the turret, Mia was recovering herself from the near-crash. The Hellcat had begun firing back but was having as hard a time hitting the Ram as Mia was hitting the Hellcat.
Mia steadied herself against the gunsight. This might just be the one to connect.
She stepped on the trigger.
For a second time, the gun spat smoke and flame with nothing to show for it. The round flew just past the right side of the Hellcat's hull.
"Damn! I can't get a good lead on the thing!"
Yelena hefted a sabot round into the gun. "Please attempt a shot with this."
It was a smart move – the higher muzzle velocity of the high-speed projectile would make the lead estimation and therefore the overall aiming that much easier.
"Third time's the charm," Mia breathed as she took aim once again and fired.
Her shot hit in the left corner of the Hellcat's hull. The penetrator stopped at the carbon lining and jammed in the back of the tank destroyer.
There was no white flag.
"You have got to be shitting me!" Mia was getting frustrated, but she knew exactly what had happened.
Sabot rounds work by using a cover around a small but extremely dense projectile called a "penetrator." Inside the gun, this cover fits the caliber like any other shell. Once the round leaves the gun, the cover slips away and leaves the penetrator to use its massive speed to punch through armor.
It was this high speed that Mia had tried to exploit, but the impressive close-range penetration of the 6-pounder resulted in the Hellcat's referee computer having counted the shot as passing straight through the lightweight tank destroyer's armor without hitting anything of importance.
"Yelena, give me APCR!"
Yelena looked confused for a moment.
"HVAP! Give me HVAP!"
Yelena dug around the hull stowage and found the appropriate ammunition. The hefty clank of the beech was hardly audible over the din of combat.
"HVAP up!"
Mia hoped that the similar speed of this ammunition would have the same effect on her aim while its heavier shell would have more of an impact on the internals.
For the fourth time, Mia set herself up for a shot. Feeling the bouncing of the tank, she waited until she was sure this would be a hit.
"On the way!" Mia called as she fired.
In front of them, the Hellcat's engine shut down and the tank destroyer began to slow.
A familiar face popped out of the turret as the Ram sped by.
"Oh, hey look, it's your friend, Amy!" Delilah chuckled. She gave a mock salute as the Ram left the disabled vehicle behind.
"I hate that she almost beat us," Amy complained as she slowed the tank from a ludicrous speed to one that was merely insane.
"Now I know we just got out of heavy shit, but Iku says two tanks crossed the bridge at Marine Drive a couple minutes ago," Delilah said.
"Did she say what they were?" Mia asked.
Delilah shook her head. "Iku is a bit of a tube as we all know."
"A tube?" Yelena looked unsure.
"Dim. Y'know, a bit dumb," Amy translated.
Eiko snickered. "I would've said 'dipshit' myself."
"Aw come on, Eiko," Amy fake-scolded. "She's perfectly smart, just-"
"A dumbass." Eiko finished.
"Jeez, give 'er a break. Not everyone can reach enlightenment."
"Amy, she's not a driver because she couldn't tell the clutch from the gas after Hiromi tried to teach her for three damn days."
Amy wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.
Mia rolled her eyes. "Aaaanyway… Mental shortcomings of teammates aside, did she at least tell you anything about what these tanks looked like?"
"She said they were similar but different. Both of them looked like the tracks of the Lee with sides that stuck out. One had a turret that Iku called 'angle-y' and the other had a 'circle-y' one," Delilah explained.
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Amy sighed. Maybe Iku was dumber than she thought.
Delilah thought for a moment. "My guess is that one is an M36 Jackson and the other is an M10 Wolverine."
"GMC," Amy corrected with a stupid grin.
"It's a Wolverine."
"No it's not; no one knows where that name came from."
"Fine, Achilles."
"Only if it's powered by crumpets!"
Mia tapped her head against the gun breech. "For the love of god please just shut up and call it an M10."
In her headset, Delilah heard the radio crackle with static before a voice was audible,
"Uh… Iku here…"
Delilah acknowledged the call. "Go ahead, Iku."
"We uh… The angle-y one saw us… Sorry…"
"Fuckin' hell. There's two college tanks with massive guns about to attack we just lost our eyes," Delilah complained off-mic. She toggled her headset again. "Alright, are ya fine?"
"Yes, we're all okay. We're really sorry…" Iku sounded as if she were about to cry.
Delilah eyed Amy for a moment before she responded. "That's okay, you told us they're coming and that's the important thing. Shit happens, they're college students. See you when we win."
Whatever anyone wanted to call it, the M10 had taken out Dominion's only scout. Now the two tank destroyers could appear at any moment and fire on Kana's light tanks with impunity.
Both Yelena and Delilah agreed on moving Kana's group toward them in hopes of outrunning the incoming enemy. Amy and Eiko worked to find the best route to meet Kana.
It seemed like they'd be able outsmart or at least outrun the VMI tanks when another urgent call came over the radio. Delilah had adjusted the set to output over the intercom circuit, and everyone heard Kana deliver news no one wanted to hear.
"We're on Silvana Terrace Road at the intersection with Firwood Drive. Those tanks came from the south and cut us off."
"Ainglean mallaichte!"
I feel underwhelmed because I'm the only one who can't swear in other languages. Amy joked to herself. Behind her, Delilah continued in English.
"Bloody bastarts went around somehow!"
Looking over the map, Delilah instructed Kana to fall back past 48th Street Northwest.
"See that corner after the intersection? Hold on there."
She flipped her mic to the intercom. "Amy, cut left up here on Happy Hollow Road. Then in a mile head right on 48th. Give it your best speed, please."
"Happy Hollow is also 220th Street Northwest," Eiko clarified.
"Gotcha," Amy responded.
A mile later, Amy turned the corner and headed downhill. The Ram began picking up more speed.
Kana called once again over the radio.
"The M36 is in a line of trees, you'll come out behind her. The M10 is going to be a problem. It'll be on the right side of the road as you hit the intersection. It's against the side of a house."
Delilah thanked Kana for the advice.
"We can't easily do anything with that M10 sitting there," Delilah thought aloud. "Maybe we could come around behind it?"
Yelena shook her head. "No, we cannot. It would take us too long to go around and then sneak up. We do not have time."
"Mmm…" Delilah agreed. She thought a bit more. "Amy, do you think you could somehow get us through the intersection at high speed and then be able to get Mia facing the M10?"
Amy thought for a moment. "It'd be risky. Can't guarantee everything'll work."
"But it is possible?" Yelena asked.
"Yeah, it's possible," Amy answered as she glanced at her map. "We drop about a hundred and fifty feet before the intersection, so I can get us up to speed. Gonna be dangerous, tell me what you think."
A cannon sounded in the distance. Kana reported a Stuart being shot by the M10.
"Go for it," Delilah said.
The Ram hurtled down the hill, gaining speed as gravity pulled the tank faster than its engine could ever hope to do. It approached the bottom of the slope and neared the corner. Amy began her rapid sequence of movements.
Preload.
The weight of the Ram shifted as Amy braked gently. The forward suspension bogies squatted as they took up the bulk of the tank's thirty-nine tons.
Flick.
Amy kept her foot on the gas and gave the left tiller a slight jerk. The left track briefly locked up, sending the newly lightened rear end stepping out to the right.
Kick.
Before the tank could rotate too far, Amy hauled back on the right tiller. At the same time, she blipped the clutch and mashed the throttle. The Ram veered the opposite way, the engine roaring.
Slide.
Amy had released the clutch, sending a burst of power to the drive sprockets. Both tracks were loose and spinning freely. The Ram was now in a full-on drift.
As the tank slid into the intersection, Amy cut in harder to the right. The tank whipped around the M10 at high speed. It made a wide arc around the tank destroyer and slammed into the wall of the house next to it.
Before the M10 could turn its gun around, Mia planted a round right in its engine deck.
From the turret of her M36, Savannah turned to see the enemy that had so dramatically entered the fight. Her tank destroyer's massive 90mm gun sounded.
Kana's M8 was down.
Another duo of guns answered. One shot was frantic and went sky-high, while the other buried itself in what was likely the only frontal armor on the otherwise lightly-armored Jackson.
Savannah turned forward again and pointed ahead.
"Oh, bloody hell!" Delilah cried. "Nozomi! Get out of th-"
It was too late. Nozomi's Stuart took a 90mm round square in the front slope. Nothing in the Dominion lineup could have stopped something like that, let alone a light tank like the Stuart.
Amy dislodged the Ram from the wall as the Jackson passed the bewildered T49.
It was now a chase.
A long straightaway lay ahead, and only last-minute swerving of the Dominion drivers kept either tank alive. Next up were two 90-degree corners; first was a left then a right. The three tanks hurtled around the corners. Savannah's driver used two near-perfect slides that conserved the vehicle's momentum well.
Delilah spoke into her mic while looking down at her map.
"Take a right on 60th Drive. It will end, but then pick up 233rd and meet us at Marine Drive. Amy, keep following. Mia, I'd like as many rounds downrange as possible. You're not going to hit, but just keep them coming."
Eiko focused on Amy's map and told her what was coming next.
"Gentle right into slow left, tighten on the exit and cut into hard right."
Amy followed both Eiko's directions and her own line beautifully, but once again she was barely keeping up against the college driver. The task was easier now that the performance of the two vehicles was somewhat closer, but she was still running a medium tank against a tank destroyer.
She watched the Jackson slide through each corner with ease.
On the sharp right, Amy was thoroughly impressed by the driver's ability to keep such a neat slide on asphalt. American tanks normally had rubber tracks that made such slides difficult without such assistance as hills.
Then Amy realized it.
The tracks!
VMI was a school that preferred cavalry-style tactics. They didn't stick to roads the way most other schools might. Their tanks would therefore be using steel tracks to improve their off-road performance. Out on loose dirt, the steel was the better choice. However, here on the asphalt, standard US tracks with rubber blocks would provide excellent grip over slippery steel ones.
It wasn't that Savannah's driver was sliding because she wanted to or because she was that incredibly good.
She was sliding because she had to.
Her tracks physically lacked the grip to rely on a simple turn like Amy could.
The next corner after the straightaway was a second sharp right. Amy watched the Jackson slide just as it had at every corner before. The situation felt familiar now.
"Slow left then straight, followed by a slow right. After that it's a sweeping left hairpin," Eiko called out. She then spoke in a more normal voice. "If she's going to lose us, that's where she'll do it."
"I can grip," Amy answered quickly. Of course, that made no sense to Eiko. She had no idea what was going on.
In her head, Amy was no longer just driving.
She was racing.
Following two perfect lines through the corners, Amy pulled the Ram into the straightaway. She moved to the right side of the road in preparation for the corner. Ahead of her, the Jackson was a good distance away.
"Amy, keep us moving around or she might hit us," Delilah warned.
Just as she had when faced with the possibility of a collision with Sayuki's R33, Amy decided she didn't care.
Now!
Amy downshifted and let the transmission slow the Ram just enough for it to make it through the maneuver. She dove into the corner at maximum speed.
Ahead of her, the Jackson was exiting the corner after an elegant drift. It had almost been sideways.
For all her elegance and technique, the Jackson's driver could not change the laws of physics. Amy had taken a much shorter inside line and hadn't killed her speed in an elongated slide. The Ram closed a significant portion of the ground between the two vehicles, only slipping back slowly as the road straightened out.
Mia lamented how close the two had been. "Aw come on, if you had told me you'd do that I could've blasted them!"
Another long straightaway followed the sharp corner. Despite her irritation, Mia kept firing in the general direction as fast as she could.
Yelena's loading speed would make mechanical autoloaders cry. She picked up a round, any round, and hurled it into the breech. Behind her, the ready rack was left alone. It contained exactly two HVAP rounds and two standard AP ones. Whenever Mia needed to go for the kill shot, Yelena would be ready.
More gentle corners allowed the Jackson to gain a significant lead on the Ram, no matter what Amy could do. The performance of the two vehicles was that different, let alone the difference between a college student and a high school driver – even if it was Amy.
Finally, Marine Drive lay ahead, perpendicular to the road they were on.
Mia fired several shots to the left of the Jackson to force it to turn right. As the two turned a gentle corner, a cacophony broke loose.
A small gun fired, followed by the screaming of steel tracks on pavement. Another, much heavier gun pounded the air and steel slammed into steel.
The T49 was out. In front of the them, Savannah was already turned around and directing her gunner to swing the turret to face the slowing Ram.
Mia fired the current shell. It exploded harmlessly against the back of the Jackson's turret. The wild firing had meant Yelena didn't need to select particular rounds, and this one had been high explosive.
The sight of a massive gun turning about would scare anyone, but Mia kept her voice even as she squinted down the gunsight.
"AP!"
Clank
"AP is up!"
"On the way!"
Two turrets faced each other. One gun fired.
Thwip!
Delilah stared wide-eyed at the white flag.
Somehow, it wasn't hers.
The VMI tankers and those from Scotland were much nicer than Amy had expected. The crews of the two teams mingled with each other after recovering the knocked-out tanks. Only Hawley and Forbes stood back from the group, surrounded by a few sulking girls. Amy assumed they were the crews of the two commanders of Cumberland.
Cumberland stood next to Savannah, who was talking with Delilah and Ayame. The Scottish girl looked tired and defeated. Beside Savannah was the commander of the Hellcat. Savannah had introduced her as Autumn.
"I never thought a high school could fight like that, but you girls really held on until the end," Savannah said in friendly praise.
"I didn't think we could either," Ayame answered. She was blushing heavily at the compliment. "It was mostly these crazies, though." Ayame jabbed playfully at Delilah's shoulder. Delilah was smiling like crazy, either out of pride or sheer relief.
"I'm sorry for being so negative at the start of the match and for being an idiot during it. I never let my emotions get the better of me like that, but when I do, well… You get me trying to duel with Cumberland out of spite."
Autumn shrugged. She had dropped her false drawl now that she wasn't posing in front of Cumberland. "And I'm sorry for harassing you all like that before the match. It wasn't sporting and was totally uncalled for."
Savannah turned to Autumn. "So what did you learn, then?"
"Well…" Autumn took a breath. A faint wisp of water vapor flowed from her lips into the chilly air. "I learned not to follow someone who isn't fighting with their head and got to practice running at high speed from a crazed group of girls." She offered a slight smile at the Ram's crew.
Delilah was still humble, even if she'd pulled off something impressive. "You three still put up a hard fight at the end. We were hardly a match for you. My driver almost wrecked the tank a couple times trying to keep up. Our gunner could hardly hit you, too."
Savannah explained the situation that VMI had found itself in before and during the match. VMI had a history of travelling as a large team and challenging anyone in the area to small skirmishes. 51st Highland was similar, although they only had a few crews in the US. Naturally, the two teams had learned of each other's presence by chance and agreed on a match to be played earlier that day. Cumberland had agreed on only two conditions: the VMI/51st match was to be a three-on-three, and that the VMI crews would participate in a match against Dominion under her command and with tanks of her choosing.
The crews of the M36 Jackson, M10, and M18 Hellcat had already been in a match earlier in the day while the rest of the VMI team were in tanks they were unfamiliar with. That had limited their performance while having to operate with an unskilled team captain they were unfamiliar with.
Cumberland and the rest of the 51st Highland tankers were also in unfamiliar tanks. She'd been just as emotional in her commanding as Delilah, which resulted in the poor decisions and tunnel vision the team had shown during the match.
"It was a valuable learning experience for all of us," Savannah finished. "I wanted my team to be reminded that even if we're an exceptional group, we are not invincible to difficulty and challenges that we are not prepared for."
"Well I thank you, then," Ayame answered. "Our team got an excellent reminder that we're still learning, and that our exchange crew is still capable of mistakes."
Delilah chuckled. "Aye, we are no Tankery gods, just like Ah've told ya. Amy keeps telling us that 'shit happens' and today was certainly a case of that."
A pair of girls appeared from somewhere and approached Amy.
"Hey, you're that girl, the crazy driver girl, right?" One of them asked.
Amy was surprised any of the VMI tankers knew who she was. "Ah… The driver of the Ram? Yes, that's me."
"And you drove that Locust in the match with the Panther, right?"
"Yeah, I did. What about it?"
Both girls were excited. "You kept up with my Hellcat in a Ram! How did you do that?" Asked the shorter of the two.
Still uncomfortable about being constantly praised in regards to Tankery, Amy had to think for a moment. "I mean, I wasn't exactly keeping up with you. Your Hellcat was gaining on me, no problem. I was driving well past my limit. Even almost wiped out when I hit the tree."
"That wasn't intentional?" The other girl asked. "I thought you had meant to do a reverse drift. It looked intentional, y'know? Like you clipped the tree and followed a perfect line to follow keep up just a little."
"No, I never meant to do that. It scared the living shit outta me, to be honest," Amy replied.
"Well, what about that slide to get around my M10?" Asked the taller girl.
Amy allowed herself a smug smirk. "Yeah, I did mean to do that. And if you must know, that was a Scandinavian Flick I pulled there."
Before anyone could say another word, shouting came from behind Amy.
"Hey! Where's the commander of that Dominion school? That Japanese one?"
Ayame raised her hand and waved.
Amy turned to see who was yelling. An extremely short girl with dark hair and glasses was walking toward them.
She pointed at Ayame. "You the team captain?"
Ayame stared at the angry girl. "Uhh… Yeah… I'm-"
The girl kept going. "You already had the match without me?! The Beast is all ready to fight, the crew is set up, and you're telling me I just have to go home?! How did you think you were supposed to fight a college team without me, huh?"
"I don't… I don't know who you are…"
Frustrated, the tiny girl sighed and turned on her heel. "Whatever, screw you later." She stormed off to wherever she had come from.
Autumn regained composure first. "What's her problem?"
"Ah've no bloody idea who the lassie is," Delilah murmured as the short girl disappeared.
Amy returned to her thoughts.
For the second day in a row, someone had known who she was from her performance in Tankery. It was the second day in a row she hadn't been ashamed of it.
Despite all of her mistakes that day as well as the mistakes of her crew, Amy felt something she hadn't lately.
For the first time in ages, Amy felt pride.
AN: Wow... I managed to get this chapter done today. You can see what I meant last chapter with shaving off a few thousand words by splitting up the opening. If I hadn't, this would be hte longest single thing I've ever written. I've been imagining bits of how it would go down for nearly a year, and I think I've finally nailed it down to how it works best to me. It was difficult to tie together the match, Delilah and Cumberland's rivalry, and the historical battle. I'll admit that this battle is very loose in terms of following the basis (in this case the Battle of Culloden). Really only the bombardment, failed charge, character names, and general idea of the match follow it. I instead chose to come up with a bit more of my own thing. I wanted to end up with the Ram crew digging themselves out of the mess Delilah had put them in more or less on their own while at the same time not making them seem overpowered in comparison to the college students. Hopefully I balanced that well, and I tried to include everyone making mistakes that they might make under that sort of pressure. Feel free to let me know how that worked out in your opinion.
A couple reviews before I get all gushy:
ReaganIsCool - (Ch 26) Hopefully I wasn't too confusing with setting up the match, and hopefully the match itself cleared up any of what was confusing. (Ch 24) Amy would probably be somewhat interested in NASCAR, although she (like me) would likely be more interested in rally racing and autocross. Both are closer to how she drives, so it would be more relatable to her. Granted, any sort of cars going fast is exciting, so why not NASCAR?
A year ago today (it's still January 3 in the time zone west of me, darn it!), I posted the first chapter of this story. It was about an unnamed girl driving a Locust and pulling off a crazy victory. I hadn't named the girl at the time because I had originally wanted to do some kind of reveal that Amy was the driver. In addition, I hadn't even fully decided on Amy's name at the time - Amy was originally a placeholder name that I grew to love. The next chapter was another prologue to get across the basic point of the story, and the third was what I'd originally written first: A short bit about finding escapes and being frustrated with applying to college.
Now it's a year later. Writing has been an excellent escape, and I got into the school of my dreams. What started as me bitching about life and a strange idea I had is now twenty-seven chapters and over ninety thousand words long. There are people who read and enjoy it. You are the people who do that. Whether you've been reading for a day or a year, thank you. This year has been one of the craziest of my life, and this story has been a big part of what kept me going. So thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, follows, kudos, whatever. You are awesome. :)