Chapter 5
I was woken up by the sound of my alarm clock.
Rubbing the drowsiness out of my head, I slapped it off, and rolled out of my bed, swearing. Memories of the earlier afternoon drifted into my head.
The previous afternoon, after we've scared off Erika & Maho, & parted with Miho…
Beep!
"Oh, great." I pulled out my phone. "What now?"
Hidden task: Intimidation, completed. Reward: Flakvierling 37 20-mm autocannon dualmount x1.
Unlocked full antiair arsenal in Shop.
New Tasks:
Eyes on the Sky: Set up a complete antiair defensive system over the tankery compound & gain personnel to operate them.
Old Friends, New Tanks: Greet a group of visitors led by one of Louis's old friends at the compounds, and give them a tank.
Note: The visitors will appear at the dead of night. Previous rest is recommended.
We stared at each other.
"Your old friends?" John asked, intrigued. "Who?"
"No idea." I said, honestly, "I don't have much friends right now to begin with, and as for friends in the past … I might barely remember them."
"Well." Lucas said, "The system did warn us to take some rest, so let's just check out the AA arsenal and go for some rest."
And so that's what we did. And it gave us quite a surprise. Now, instead of only World War era weapons, it offered anything from the first antiair defensive guns to the most modern CIWS and antiair missile systems, not to mention barrage ballons, radar trucks, antiair searchlights, radio stations and more supplementeary gear. But that's not the biggest shock: there's a whole sector of AA weapons dubbed "Futura", and they truly are futuristic, including laser-rocket hybrid antiair mounts, a kind of mobile AA dome that takes out aircraft by causing lightning to strike them, an antiair version of the Nazi Glocke, self-propelled laser & missile antiair tanks, vaccum antiair artillery (they cause a football field-sized vaccum to open up and explode in the air, knocking aircraft out of the sky by shockwaves), high-voltage electricity AA artillery (they fry the circuits on planes with high-pressure charges) and lots more. We marveled over them for half an hour, bought a few close combat weapons (I purchased a set of brass knuckles), and then decided to sleep, hidden from sight, in one of our German trucks.
Now…
Snapping out of my trance, I stood up and took my MP-41 from the floor, sliding my finger guards on meanwhile. Stepping out into the cold night air, I looked at my watch.
11:45.
How will this friend of mine arrive? I pondered. As I did so, I took a few steps around, and sat down next to a mobile radar station we've bought some time ago.
I didn't have to wonder for long, though.
Suddenly, the radar next to me fizzed and crackled, startling me so much I jumped. Running to the screen, I saw a series of light dots approaching the central point where the radar currently is. They're marked red – unrecorgnized aircraft.
Snapping up the headset and slinging it over my head, I waited until the noises died, and spoke immediately in a stern voice.
"Unrecorgnized aircraft, you are entering the Oarai Panzertruppen Compound Antiair Defensive Area." I said into the mic, "please clarify your affiliation and intentions within 20 seconds, or turn back immediately. Should none of the above be seen, we will assume that you are unfriendly intruders, thus permitting our antiair weapons to engage. We await your response."
"NO! No, no, no, please don't shoot!" A panicked voice belonging to someone who I figured is American, cut through. "We're former Saunders students!"
"Well, I would have to contact Saunders to confirm that-"
"NO! PLEASE!"
"Why?"
"We're on the run! I swear we will not attack! Please just let us land! We're almost completely out of fuel!"
I thought of it.
"Due to humanitarian considerations, I will let you land. However, be warned that armed personnel will be close by. Don't be stupid. Over."
Some 10 minutes later…
I'm in the driver's seat of a Mercedes-Benz 320 WK jeep, driving after the low-flying aircraft.
The planes emerged out of the clouds 3 minutes after the conversation ended. They included 2 F4U Corsair fighters, 2 P51D Mustang fighters, 3 SBD Dauntless divebombers, 1 P38 Lightning heavy fighter, 1 P70 Nighthawk nighttime fighter, and 1 P47 Lightning fighter. They look fine, but the pilots definitely aren't very well, since most of the planes keep wobbling and swaying. We've told them to land at a stretch of abandoned highway 10 metres from the compounds, and woken up the Hippo Team, Yukari and Miho. The girls are in the backseat of my Mercedes-Benz, while my friends are driving a Type 62 German field jeep.
In order to be prepared, I decided that the girls have to pocess a few light arms for self-defense. So I gave Ceasar an MP-19 submachine, Erwin a Luger P08 pistol (no attachments), Saemonza an MP-38, Oryou a few Eihandgranate 39 grenades, and Yukari and Miho both VG1-5 assault rifles. I also grabbed a pair of earphones, which turned out to be really useful in blocking out Yukari's excited chattering about the models of the fighters.
I looked back ahead, and saw the first few planes touching down on the asphalt. I floored the accelerator, and we shot forward towards the landing site.
By the time we got there, all the planes have landed, and the crew are disembarking. We lifted our rifles, but they don't seem to be up to anything, just plain frightened.
I approached a pilot in a flight helmet and goggles. He stood some 170 centimetres, the same as I am, and had some golden hair sticking out beneath his hat. He winced as I walked toward him. "What do you want?"
I frowned at his voice.
"What?"
"You look and sound quite like an old friend of mine." I said, "Who are you?"
Wait….an old friend of mine!?
As soon as he took off his headset, my suspicions were confirmed.
Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Rather sharp jaw. Serious look.
I looked at him face on in stun. He stared back, confused for a split second. Then, a wide grin, shocked nevertheless, spread across his face.
"ANDREW!?"
"LOUIS!"
A minute later…
"So, everyone here is American?" I asked.
We spent 30 seconds greeting each other with laughs and a few hugs. Then, I introduced him to my puzzled crew and teammates. He's currently pointing everyone out to me. Most of the airmen are American teenagers from his class back in the world where we came, apparently (he has a real knack at making friends). Except for a few.
"Nope." He pointed to a Japanese teenager, standing next to a Dauntless. "That's Takashi. He's Japanese."
"Is that supposed to be Alisa's boyfriend?"
The boy winced. "Please don't mention Alisa. The reason I joined this party is because I had to run from her."
"Why, what's so scary?"
He shivered. "She's not evil, but she's so obsessive about relations! She planted some 20 surveillance cameras through my dorm, which isn't much bigger than 40 square meters! And she got some of her friends to stay around me all the time, just to keep track of me and make sure I'm not going out with someone else! How do you expect me to LIVE under that?!"
"Oh, well…Bless you."
"I forgot to tell you something." Andrew pulled me aside as Takashi talked to Miho and my comrades. "God gave us something."
And he pulled out a smarthphone from his jacket, grinning.
"He calls this the Panzer Ace system. Apparently, we could fulfill missions, get credit and buy stuff from it. I haven't figured it out ocmpletely, but-"
I cut him off by raising my phone. He gasped. "You too?"
"Yup. And by the way, where will you go?"
His cheery look faded with a sigh. "We want to ask for a really big favour."
"Well, name it and we'll see."
He stared at me. "Me & my friends want to join Oarai's tankery team."
I stared in stun. Then, I laughed.
"THAT?! A big favour? No problem! I'm aleady in, and I'll just get you all in, easy!"
He beamed. "Really?"
"YES! What tank do you want?"
"I'll ask." He turned. "Hey everyone!"
All the boys snapped to attention, and I guessed they've been using the booklets like us.
"I've got good news." He patted my back. "My friend here has got us in the Oarai tankery team! And he's asking what tank you all would want!"
The teenagers cheered. I guess they felt wholeheartedly glad that they can finally settle down.
"Louis." Andrew turned toward me, with a serious eye but a warm smile, "in return of you getting us a place we can call home, from now on, we obey your commands."
