A second siren sounded its deafening ring. Following it was a roar as tons of steel began to shift as their engines came to life. The vehicle commanders all shared one last look before descending into their hatch's.
Kaiser looked at his crew members busily preparing and psyching each other up with encouraging words while he contemplated his inner turmoil. A heavy feeling sat in his gut, the same feeling that followed the beginning of every sport he partook in. A mixture of, anxiousness, excitement, and apprehension. All of which he felt was well deserved.
His apprehension derived from the fact he stood with an untested school that was now in arms against a highly trained and tested enemy. The anxiety was from how unsure he was of his cadet's performance. The excitement, however, quelled the other emotions. After all, he now had the delight of facing a supposedly insurmountable obstacle. What greater joy than to prove all those doubting you wrong? The higher the stakes the better.
His Tiger's crew was less of a worry as they were individuals he had brought together and trained personally. Ignatius Westhoffen, his driver was pretentious but a superior driver. Blonde hair blue-eyed and tame in manner, the only downside to him as an ally was his incessant flirting. His behavior only seemed to degrade when it came to female teammates and a mild distaste for Kaiser himself. It didn't affect his performance or interactions with Kaiser as his commander and so it was overlooked.
His radio operator, Katya Barchenowa was red-haired wearing a "half up, half down hairstyle". Her brown eyes were somewhat skittish and she was usually fumbling around. Most dismissed it as her fanfare for being a part of the team and her daydreaming. Although constantly distracted she showed extreme loyalty to the team, performing to her best ability.
Onto his loader, Laura Schulze who had short curled black-haired, dark blue eyes and a rather ostensive attitude at anyone who remotely challenged her. Her constant questioning of Kaiser's tactics and occasionally Virtanen's mental health became a nuisance. Hard to convince at first, she was quickly subdued by Kaiser before the Natalya issue.
Finally his Gunner Isabella Schmidt. Boasting long silver hair with two braids over her left shoulder and soft Hazel eyes. She was often referred to as "Von Belle" by her peers seeing as how she seemed to be of royalty due to her appearance. Her love of marksmanship, rather than detract, somehow enhance it in her peer's eyes. Honest to a fault, she believed one's worth was in their skill and performance. At the same time, this made her very self-critical. Most interesting was her near phobia of men. It turned to an incident at first with Kaiser but with a much tamer approach than expected, Kaiser was able to work a fragile balance.
These four were the ones he had to trust to fulfill their duty without fail. They were reassuring to have, but that only increased the burden on him to utilize them to their best.
Amidst his thoughts the formation approached the woods, the Vegetation being thin enough for them to still hold some dispersion for the moment. Taking on a standard "Citadel" Formation, the vehicles to either flank held their guns pointed to their respective flank. Being the flag tank, Virtanen took the center, allowing him an easy escape if necessary. The 44 m took lead with Virtanen behind and Pipers ARL 44 in the rear.
Kaiser's vehicles were located on the left in a tighter formation with Natalya's IS in front and Valerya's KV-85 in the rear. Kaiser's squad extended an extra ten meters between each other. Knight's squad took the right Vice versa with the T-34-85 in the front followed by his panzer IV and Hellcat.
A fork in the road soon arose and the formation halted. The idle of the engines filled the air along with the occasional wildlife till a static began in Kaiser's headset and Virtanen's voice came through. "Well now, any word on enemy chatter?". Kaiser relayed the question to his Ro, seeing if she had caught anything.
"AH! Just a moment sir!" She replied, hurriedly fiddling with the machines some more hoping to get some results. Kaiser sighed into his headset and heard her whimper slightly. "Lance Corporal Barchenowa...Barchenowa…..Katya!" At her first name being said the girl jumped slightly. Westhoffennext snickered at her slightly in which she pouted in return.
Kaiser shook his head. "It's fine, if there is nothing to report then there is no problem. I don't expect you to completely hack into Saunders communications. Just tell us what you can." Barchenowa visibly relaxed as she furiously scribbled on a small notepad till she spoke.
Hanging her headset around her neck, she turned to Kaiser handing him a small page with notes scribbled on it. "It's not much sir, as expected it's near impossible to catch anything they don't want us to, but I did get bits of information between their fire support teams".
'I'm glad Saunders kept the tradition of rebriefing orders in action to ensure clarity.' Kaiser's mind flashed back to the books he had read in Saunder's library. They all held the same information for the most part but luckily a single binding filled with mundane yet valuable knowledge made the trip worth it. A book made by Saunders academy itself, a valuable piece of knowledge that revealed tactics and logical reasoning made in previous years. It was an older book but Saunder's doctrine had seen no real change until recently with the boon of Orai's arrival.
Taking the paper, Kaiser relayed the information over comm to Virtanen and Knight. After partial deliberation, Virtanen made his decision. Kaiser was to continue heading west with his squad while Knight and himself took southwest. No more than a few departing words were given from his comrades before returning to radio silence was Knight with a simple "good luck!" and Virtanen's "break a leg!" followed by a chuckle.
As the rest of the team departed without his squad, Kaiser stood outside of his hatch, looking at the small map in his hand. Without averting his eyes he reached towards the headset around his neck. The frequency was now set to his squad of vehicles only. "Echelon right" he breathed into the mic. On his word, Natalya's tank shifted forward and to the left while Valerya shifted back and left. The formation's purpose was to offset their vehicles so they could continue forward while focusing the majority of their fire to the right flank where the enemy was expected.
A tactic that proved its worth in InfanterieKampf. This command was given as they approached the hills to their left. The gentle slopes proceeded to grow higher and higher till they joined with the mountains further southwest. To the northwest flatter land and smaller hills were prevalent.
With heavier tanks in their lineup today Saunder's couldn't have gotten behind them yet, so with mountains to their rear and wider plains ahead they were set to strike. giving way to an easy attacking position.
The squad proceeded west smoothly as visibility shrunk from an easy kilometer in the plains, to less than a hundred meters. The cause was the frigid air rolling off the mountain tops from the west and the warmer air from the lower lands and east mixing into an early morning fog. 'Hopefully, the others north of us avoided this' hummed Kaiser.
The change of scenery into an eerie environment, silenced his once happily chattering crew. Only his headset spoke. Through it came Natalya. "Any advice sir? We can barely see ahead and the driver doesn't want to push if it means we're going to get bogged down in something."
"Halt the vehicles to the side of the road" he ordered. Before a solution came to him a shot rang out from his left. Snapping his head to his left he saw the outline of Valerya's Kv-85 recoil from its shot. His crew scrambled preparing themselves for an attack. His loader had a shell prepared to load, the gunner scanning for targets, the driver's foot on the pedal. Even Katya had her hands trembling on the MG34 in front of her. In the silence, the tension grew thicker than the fog.
"Just what was that Lieutenant?" Questioned Kaiser into his mic. Slowly he scanned through his cupola before glancing back at Valerya's tank. Abruptly the small girl rose from her hatch, arguing with her crew inside.
"Val, I swear I saw something move! Too big to be an animal!" came the voice of her gunner shouting up.
"Alright, Taras I'll let him know!" Valerya argued back trying to relay the information. "Sir Sgt Klebanov says that he had noticed movement in the field ahead and to our right, he estimates it about 150 meters out and says it's quite a large open area, Possibly a few hundred across".
"Tell your gunner to get his finger under control Lieutenant and-" Kaiser was cut at the sound of interrupting static arose. A momentary thought struck as he altered his order. "Tell him to watch that area intensely, the enemy is well within our area of operations now".
Leaning down towards his RO, Kaiser handed her a paper. "Katya, take this and run it to Lt. Prokovs vehicle." Barchenowa took the sheet but returned a confused look. Realizing she never associated with the sisters, he clarified. "Take it to the short, flirtatious one". Barchenowa nodded her understanding before popping her hatch and dashing out. Kaiser ran towards Natalya's vehicle himself, in doing so he could hear a sound with a deeper rumble than his Squad's idle engines. 'Something's slowly moving'. The noise confirmed his suspicions.
-Transition-
Naomi had always been serious. It was seemingly her duty. Always taller and more athletic than others, most of her peers saw her as an older sister. It was almost laughable when she and Arisa became friends. As she had finally accepted this as a simple 'fact' of her life, she met Kay.
They hadn't met till High school yet Naomi felt she couldn't live without her two dear friends. Despite the height difference, Kay came across as the older sister in their trio. It was fresh and strange. Following at Kay's side for however long, staying in contact after college while maintaining their close relationship was a feasible dream for her. At least till other relationships came in the way.
Arisa soon became infatuated with a boy amend Takeshi. Naomi and Kay would tease her about it and nothing had really changed but she still spent most of her time thinking of him. Naomi felt sorry for her at first thinking she and Kay were immune to this apparent lovesickness. Then Kay went for her summer training camp.
Then Kay returned. Eventually, everyone would try to hear stories of her adventure. There was no real grandeur as expected but rumors clung onto the inconspicuous bits of information. Everyone had heard of the sister ship being built stateside, but no names of significance ever emerged from it. Kay, however, did speak of an 'interesting' student she had met and worked with a majority of the time they attended the camp. Naomi hadn't worried at first until he was mentioned again, and again, and again.
He had been mentioned lightly a few times only when she spoke of the surprising skill and competitiveness he had. But to Naomi, it felt like she was losing her sister. People gradually lost interest, especially as Kay never revealed his name and so Naomi's peace of mind returned as well. Then one morning he appeared out of nowhere without her knowledge.
The morning Transcendence and Saunder's representatives first met Naomi had been working on sponsorship paperwork while Kay sipped on some coffee before gasping. "I forgot!" She shouted "Naomi! hurry and grab Arisa!" Pleaded Kay as she tidied up their office. Naomi raised a brow at her panic as Arisa walked through the office doors carrying textbooks up to her chin.
"Hmm? What's going on?" She asked from behind the towering novels.
"That's what I would like to know" responded Naomi giving a flat look as their commander ran about cleaning. Kay gave a guilty laugh.
Arisa placed the books down and changed the subject. "Anywho have you two seen those suspicious guys outside?" Naomi shook her head as Kay paused and intensified her desperate cleaning.
"Strange men?" Naomi stressed the word. Apart from the school staff and the few male student's how could any others seem strange?
"Yeah, all dressed up in black uniforms and caps, fancy and whatnot. Although they looked around our age they even had sidearms and daggers" Arisa recalled.
Naomi grimaced as the explanation only confused her further. Kay finally slumped into her seat having left the office as presentable and explained. "Actually, they're here to talk to us." Before her friends could ask they heard conversation outside their door. Kay shushed them as she pulled them to either side of her desk.
"These are the representatives from Transcendence!" she whispered. "They are here to meet with us so be professional".
With a smile and a wink, Kay sat down only to be grabbed by Naomi. "Who are they at least?" she demanded.
Worried they'd enter any moment Kay speedily answered. "Their Senshado leader and two vice commanders, I believe their names were Austin Virtanen, Alexander Knight, and Adam Kaiser." Naomi stiffened at the last name, a small sensation spreading in her stomach as she took her place behind Kay, sticking some gum in her mouth, she tried to keep herself distracted.
"You may enter" announced Kay. Three males taller than her entered. As the two sides exchanged pleasantries, Naomi eyed them suspiciously. Once everyone was introduced she glared down the only familiar name. His attitude, the air he presented himself with, rubbed her the wrong way.
He needed to be reminded of his place. Naomi had decided before escorting them out of the building. As she returned to the office to request taking him head-on, Kay obliged almost too easily. The only words she offered after accepting were "You'll understand him once you face him". It seemed her dear friend wanted her to face this 'Kaiser' as well.
Naomi spent the weeks up to the event in personalized training, focused solely on victory. Finally, they were face to face. Seeing him once more and his remark on stage before the match had lit a flame within her. She would show everyone she was more reliable than him, he was just a waste of time.
As the match had begun, Naomi used her vehicle's speed to her advantage. Knowing that her enemy would be slowed by their variants of vehicles she had decided to riskily circumvent their position. The fog that had risen proved a nuisance but it was deemed irrelevant as good news came into her headset.
"Ma'am three enemy vehicles spotted! Separated from the main force!" Silently, Naomi chewed her gum contemplating whether it was a stroke of luck or an inconvenience. Her Firefly was ahead as an M36 tank destroyer acted as an escort for the T29 which was limited by its weight and speed. Time was needed to maneuver into a more favorable position.
"The T29 and M36 will stay behind the ridge prepared to flank. The Firefly will move north and subtly draw them to a clearing ahead and into our field of fire. Silence any radio or signal intercepting gear. We don't need them picking anything up." Ordered Naomi.
"Yes, Ma'am" responded her crew.
Rushing downhill, the Firefly circumnavigated the clearing trying to catch the enemy's attention while the T29 and M36 positioned themselves nearby. Killing her engine, Naomi peered through her reticle, ready to initiate the ambush. Patiently, she chewed on her gum. Her eye boring through the sights.
A few minutes passed and all that could be heard was the idling engines of her foe beyond. A revving engine echoed in the distance. 'Here they come. At her command, the M36 and the T29 broke their concealment gaining sight of the open field past the trees. Through the fog, darkened silhouettes came charging.
Naomi steadied her breath, slowly squeezing the trigger. Suddenly the figures split to either side of the clearing, staying within the treeline. Three flashes followed their sudden movement. One of the rounds landed lucky sending her shot flying high, soaring over the heads of her enemies.
The shots did little as they fired on the move, their accuracy despite this was shocking, however. The first shot scraped her turret hatch screaming as it went by. The other two grounded themselves in front of the T29 and past its left side. The obscuring dirt had an extended effect., The gunner withing did not fire from fear of missing and wasting a shell.
Caught off guard by the sudden barrage Naomi's well-trained crew acted accordingly. The familiar clunking of a new shell being loaded came as her driver maneuvered the chassis.
"What are you doing!?" Shouted Naomi pulling away from her sight.
"You didn't give an order and I reacted! Better to fall back showing our thickest armor than risk being outflanked" snapped her driver. Naomi clenched her teeth in frustration, accepting the logic. Looking out her cupola and saw the T29 standing its ground and firing.
"Move along the hill and pursue! Order the T29 to follow downhill and engage the enemy to preoccupy them till we arrive!" Barked Naomi to her RO.
"Yes, Ma'am" responded her driver and RO. As her vehicle sped to pursue the T29 shifted, preparing to block its oncoming opponents. Naomi began tapping her heel against her seat, the tick was noticed by her crew with odd glances.
-Transition-
Kaiser rattled off his orders "Reload Schulze, who knows where the M36 went. Keep your gun pointed at 4,000 MIL'S Schmidt. Westhoffen, keep going until we break into the valley. Barchenowa keep your ear open on the radio for any enemy chatter, any distress class, and my comm opened to the Prokovs."
They had fended off the enemy ambush, catching them by surprise and luckily they chose to split up. Now the firefly stood cut off from its fellow teammates as the T29 pursued and the M36, though its position was not known could not be far off to their rear. Now they needed to pick them off singularly, however, he did not expect this plan to survive long after contact was reinitiated.
His squad's formation proceeded at half their max speed in an improvised Wedge. The IS-1 stood in front while the Tiger was off to the left, and the KV-85 was off to the right. The formation had reached their next position and was descending into a thicker fog. In the valley between the two ridgeline's, it collected where eventually the sun would dissipate it. For now, it was valuable concealment. In the dense fog were even thicker vegetation and random terrain, such as boulders and fallen trees.
"Hmm" pondered Kaiser. "Barchenowa, radio the Prokov's and tell them to halt". A moment later and all vehicles stopped with their barrels at differing angles, some high as an enemy could literally 'drop in' from the ridges. Their engines were off but started every few minutes just in case.
The three commanders convened on the IS-1. With a quick rapping against the cupola, Natalya emerged to see Kaiser and her sister. "Sir" called Natalya as she appeared out of her hatch, adjusting her Headset and shaking her hair free. "What is going on-" The only response she received was a quick "Hush" from her sister who put a finger to her lips. Natalya's brow furrowed at the two who had suddenly appeared and swatted her sister's hand.
Nursing her hand Valerya explained their presence. "He's worried they may listen in on us, That Arisa girl is infamous for using gadgets and whatnot". Accepting the explanation the two sisters watched Kaiser quizzically as he glanced between his topographical map, the surroundings, and the faint circle of the sun over the ridge.
"What do you think we should do Nat?" Asked Valerya distracting her sister.
Surprised by the sudden question, Natalya brought a hand to her chin in thought. "I would pull out of the fog and keep a tight formation. Once out, I would set our own ambush and ensure to cut off their retreat". Natalya halted mid-sentence, turned to Kaiser with a question. "How did you know to give the order for us to shift our barrels? Did you knowingly walk us into an ambush?"
Kaiser glanced at her seeing the irate expression she held, he multitasked his work and spoke. "No, I didn't know until we were already at the center of their web. As for how I figured it out, I heard some interference in our comms. Katya traced it and the idiots hadn't set themselves in for the ambush. I even heard their tracks while we halted." His calm reply stopped Natalya from snapping at him but his unapologetic tone and expression did little to quell her anger.
Valerya grinned at the exchange before interjecting herself. "I agree with Nat sir. I believe our best option is to leave this fog as quickly as possible."
"That won't do" he answered.
"Wha-Why not?" Asked the sisters.
"It's the most efficient doctrinal way out of this sir!" defended Natalya, raising her voice.
Valerya agreed. "And Isn't it better to have a plan immediately than to wait?"
Quickly he silenced both girls, raising a finger to their lips. Taking a moment of silence before speaking, Kaiser faced Natalya. "You are correct. It would be the wisest option however you need to think of how you can take advantage of this opportunity not salvage it." Turning to Valerya he continued. "Second, you are partially correct \, however, wouldn't you agree that a less predictable plan rather than a reckless plan would be more beneficial?"
Disregarding whatever faces they were making, Kaiser distracted himself with his ma. "Third I believe you two are a tad bit too worked up over this." To the two's relief, he was no longer regarding them, as the critique caused their cheeks burned at essentially being called dramatic.
Packing away his map and pencil he kneeled to brief them. "Currently the enemy is most likely waiting outside of the fog, possibly on both ridgelines waiting for us to attempt an escape. They have two options, first, they wait until the morning fog lifts and fire down onto us".
"Not much we can do there" commented Valerya.
Kaiser nodded. "And second, they depart to reinforce their main body and overwhelm the rest of our team." The latter decision was worse, they didn't know where the enemy was at the moment and for all, they knew they were hiding from nothing.
"So why don't we stage a breakthrough?" Asked Natalya.
"Because due to special circumstances I don't believe they will leave or wait." A bright flash occurred in the sky, descending into the valley as it slowly burned out.
"Flares." realized Valerya, her voice tensing up.
"This will be a little unorthodox" warned Kaiser. "Natalya, Valerya it is important you follow it precisely. Unless necessary do not alter it. The shock of him using their first names sent a wave of surprise. They almost missed out on his instructions at the awe of it. Their astonishment was followed by the realization of how dire the situation must be for him to speak out of character.
Once briefed, Kaiser offered a hand to Valerya as they departed the IS. Natalya sat back in her vehicle, closing her hatch and being met with a strange silence. "Well, the commander certainly knows how to grab someone's attention doesn't he" commented her loader.
"Meh, I could've done a better job quipped their RO. as the males in her vehicle joked back and forth her driver and gunner shared their own hushed words.
"What's gotten into you four?" demanded Natalya. Her words went unheard as the chatting picked up. Natalya deflated somewhat at the comments being thrown about as if she were not present. Straightening herself she posed a question. "Were you all listening?" she asked worried over seeming unprofessional.
"More precisely we saw, hell half of our heads were peeking out of the vehicle by the end of your conversation. After all, you were literally above us" smiled her loader. "Who knew he had the power to silence not one but two Prokov's". Natalya covered her face with one hand before speaking. "If you heard then you all know what to do. Focus on the mission please." As her crew exchanged teasing glances she hid her face, embarrassed at how easily she had been corrected.
A small chorus of chuckles came as she despaired behind her hand. "Of course Ma'am" they responded. "With pleasure".
Kaiser confirmed Valerya's understanding on the way to her vehicle. She was only paying half attention.
"Soooo when did you start calling us by our first names?" asked Valerya. "Nat seemed comfortable with it as well." Swirling a finger on the sleeve of Kaiser's uniform she cheerfully played with her words.
"It's easier than calling you two by rank and the same last name" replied Kaiser, disregarding her gesture.
"So why not Nat and Val then? It's even easier," she recommended.
As another flare gently landed into the ravine Kaiser increased his pace. "I don't believe such a thing is necessary" he responded blandly.
"Well, you're no fun, Adam." She pouted, slowly saying his name.
"I'd prefer you not call me by first name Prokov." Doing the same, Kaiser delivered his point. "And if I'm no fun then stop chatting with me to pass time." he declared.
Valerya snickered at his response. "I would but when I do get a reaction out of you it's oh so rewarding." Skipping, she turned to him, giving a curtsey with her uniform skirt. "Could you help a lady up?"
With a slow breath, he obliged helping her. Back to his vehicle now, he took off his cover and ran his hands through his hair allowing the air to cool his head. 'Annoying Vixen' he muttered before pausing to collect his thoughts. "I pray that this pans out in my favor" he muttered under his breath as he let loose a small grim chuckle.
-End Chapter-