Introduction
"Be advised, we are closing in on the LZ Anti Orbital is going to open up soon. Don't hit your head!" the speaker screamed. I'm sure it was loud as thunder, but the wall of my tank kept most of the noise down. EULE-P 5762 'Krähe,' who sat beside me, separated by the gun breach, was looking at a hand mirror, adjusting her hair and her pink broach only minutes before planetfall. I guess that's one way they can stay calm. EULE-P 5763 'Gans' I can barely see her back through the slit between the turret ring and the dim half-working lightbulb lights, but I can hear her humming a song, although I don't recognize it.
"500 km to planetfall ETA to LZ 20 minu!!!!@@!!tes" The whole craft shook violently like we hit a wall and I could see the lights in our internal hangar flickered in and out of life through my commander copula, Krähe mirror fell off her hand but she quickly picked it back up and put it in her pocket, she put her hand on the controls, she was ready. Gan's song halted but resumed shortly after. "shit! We're hit, evasive pattern Storch! Gherka! status on th…." The speaker shut suddenly; I guess this is it. I can hear explosions. We must be close.
In our landing craft, there are 5 other tanks and 2 APCs, a mix of Ziege APC, Type-30, and Type-33 AM medium tanks. We finished training just 3 weeks ago and are now being deployed to Vineta, to the frontline of war, honestly, I feel excited I want to make my family proud, my father and mother served, and my brother too, so I'm here to keep the legacy on, I'm sure I can make my mother smile again.
"Poke poke, commander? Hello? " Lost in thoughts, I didn't notice Krähe poking my shoulder to get my attention. "umm yeah, what is it, Krähe?" I asked her with a blank expression trying to hide my shock. Krähe smiled. "You are supposed to turn on the radio to listen to the platoon call in, right?" as cheery as ever, Krähe spoke softly. "Oh, right." pressing a button, and now the radio crackled with static; it was static for 30 seconds, and more explosions could be heard outside and on the radio.
A voice can be heard on the radio. "This is Unterleutnant Almari of the 57th Vinetan Heavy Airborne Platoon, tank number 571, codename 'Thunder child,' reporting for duty! calling all units to report over!" Her voice is commanding and firm; she is tall, with short, wolf-cut black hair; she is amazing.
"This is Stabsfeldwebel Johan, tank number 572, code name 'Jöttun,' reporting for duty. Remember the formation we drilled last time; check your maps, and note people; no time for jokes. Over." ah, Johan, he has an up-bang brownish red hair with black eyes; he is also our second in command, and he never left the LT side.
"This is Oberfeldwebel Wo Jian, tank number 573 codename 'Kraken' reporting for duty, over." He is quiet and almost emotionless.
" 100 km from LZ! BRACE! BRACE! BRACE!" the speaker blared; all of our training kicked in, and we tucked our heads down and held our seatbelts tight. Suddenly, an extremely violent shock hit the craft for 8 seconds; some of the lights in the hangar cracked and died, and a sonic boom could be heard; we were planetside.
"This is Oberfeldwebel Emilia, tank number 574, code name 'Aurora,' reporting for duty, over." she stops for a moment. "After this, I'll bake some cake for us!" "Radio silence, Emilia, over," spoke SFW Johan, silencing her. Our resident chef.
"50 km From LZ…interceptor incoming 167, 80 km…" We're so close my hand is kind of trembling. I tried to hide it, but my sweat didn't lie; I was nervous now that we were so close.
"This is Oberfeldwebel Rène, tank number 575, code name 'Baltic' reporting for duty. All lights are green, and everything is checked out, over." Our electronic warfare specialist is tech-savvy in all senses.
"2 minutes to landing….Good luck," the last message, the landing alarm turns on. "576…..576…..do you copy, over." the Unterleutnant's voice beckoned me to answer, breaking my onset of a nervous breakdown.
The last thud, the hydraulics screech as the landing struts are laid out. "This is Oberfeldwebel Alisa Roth…" Gans starts the ignition, the engine roars to life, and the system's light begins to turn on, "tck tck tck tck From AEON 'Welcome Back Commander: Roth, Alisa' " the targeting and map computer and sights camera CRT screen flickers to life. "fuel and oil injection is normal; all looks good, commander." Gans said. "Tank number 576…" Krähe pressed the fire control, the carousel spinning beneath our feet, the autoloader moved a shell to its place, and the gun was loaded. "Armor piercing loaded," said Krähe….. "Codename….
PFEILSPITZE (Two New Best Friends)
reporting for duty, over!" as I said the last word, the giant door of the landing craft dropped down revealing a land I have only seen in posters, a world filled with water and land mass ravaged by war, in the distance I can see tall skyscrapers some looked damaged while others are fine, the sky is bright with Anti Orbital still despite being night, the harness automatically detached and our tank and APC is let go.
"OK, people, move out, just as planned; Herna and Gunther kept your APC 60 meters behind our tanks. Everyone, we head towards 154; Johan, you are the point man; our objective is the Imperial Anti-orbital emplacement about 10 km from here. Enemy forces should be far enough so they can't reach us in time, over." Almari quickly gave out the command. "Eye sir, everyone you heard her, over," Johan replied, and everyone said the same thing over the radio.
Our tanks move at a steady pace through the shallow waters, which is surprising; I thought it would be much more of a mud. Our formation is a triangle with the APC in the back, the ULT at the tip of the triangle, and Johan on his own about 20 meters in front of the ULT tank; as for me, I'm at the tip of the right-wing because of my role as a flanker.
"So what are your thoughts so far, Commander Roth?" Krähe asked. "hmm, well, the planet is pretty, at least; it looks mostly flat from here and the water is clear, so hopefully, nothing will surprise us." I do wonder if someone is watching us. "Are you nervous commander?" Krähe asked innocently. I was stunned for a second. I didn't know what to say, what would a superior officer supposed to say to a subordinate asking this question?
I sigh. "Yes, you could say that the first time being this far from my family, my first adventure, I guess, Krähe, what about you?" she thinks for a moment. "Well, not really, as long as I'm in here, I should be safe, nothing to worry about. This is also my first deployment; I used to be a teacher unit on Heimat, then there were too few kids around because most people had just joined the military, and AEON decided to modify me into a P variant and then sent me here. I wonder where my students went? I heard they joined the force." she looked up, wondering for a while.
Gans has been humming that tune for the last 40 minutes, only interrupted by the turbulence. "Hey, Gans, what are you humming? I never heard of it before. " Gans stopped humming for a second. "It's an old song but quite famous; I'm surprised you didn't know, commander?" "Well, I didn't have much time to listen to a lot of music; I need to study a lot to be here." I replied, "Well, it's called Götterdämmerung, part of an opera!" she said it as if I was supposed to be excited about it.
"Where did you hear it before?" "well, I hea…." Gans pauses for 6 seconds. "I'm not sure, commander, I just know it." She seems puzzled. We have been traveling for 35 minutes, and
the landscape is relatively similar overall; by this time, I can see some sunlight on the horizon. "To all units, you are now permitted to button up from your tank, over." The ULT spoke through the radio, finally some fresh air. I opened the hatch of my tank and took out my binoculars to further view the landscapes. The smell of salt and water hit my nose instantly, and the sound of waves formed by our tank and the wind blowing rattled my ears; it was somewhat refreshing. Johan and Wo Jian do the same thing.
With a bit of light, I can see things more clearly now despite the dark clouds ahead. There's a line of electric poles in some places and more ruined buildings. I can see some wrecks of vehicles here and there. In the light, I can see some embellishments added by the EULE-P of each tank. It's just small things like a doodle, sticker, or a small doll. As for my tank, Krähe glued a tin can to the side of the turret with some pretty red flowers in it.
"Hey, chief! Could I ask you something?" Gans asking something. "Sure what is it, Gans?" "So I have this idea for an addition to the tank; I think it will look nice; I just want to pai…" BOOM!!! an explosion was heard from the back of the formation, and one of the APCs was hit and not moving. "Target, 40, 700 meters, engaging!" Emilia screamed on the radio, her cannon firing at something in the distance illuminating the waters at twilight, but I couldn't see it yet, so I quickly closed the hatch and looked for the target.
Emilia transfers the target location to all of our targeting computers. I began to order Krähe to fire since me and Aurora were on the right wing. The sound of the gun firing beside me was deafening, but I'm used to it from my training. Krähe kept a calm and serious face, eyes on the gun sight, waiting for the autoloader to load another shell, but though faint, I could hear her say, "Please, please, not you". The hostile target was hiding behind a small hill so he was hard to spot. Krähe's shot did hit, but I think it bounced off, unlucky; I can see she seemed a bit frustrated. By this point, the formation is changing direction, heading towards the hostile.
"Target, unknown, 102, 850 meters," Johan announced over the radio. After a few seconds, his tank began firing, and then Unterleutnant Tank Thunder Child and Baltic began engaging the same target and moving toward it as well. Kraken began to turn around towards the burning APC while engaging the target at 102. "I need some cover, aiding Gunther APC, over," says Wo Jian over the radio. The other APC turned around as well. Gunther APC caught on fire, but the hatch didn't open. It seemed stuck and deformed.
We are pinned on both sides; if more were to appear, it would be our doom; I need to do something quick despite my fear. "Aurora! This is Pfielspitze. I will fire smoke shells at it to cover you; you go to the left to try and get a better angle from the side, over!" "Aye roger that Pfeilspitze." Aurora began to turn to the left and I ordered Krähe to start firing smoke shells at it. The autoloader spins and switches the ammo. First, one flies away, covering the enemy in dense smoke, and blinding him.
There was a ringing in my ear as if a bell had been rung beside my head, and my heart was pounding so fast that it could burst out of my chest; an enemy had fired at us, but it was a
glancing hit on the turret. "You all right, Krähe?" I hurriedly ask as I cover my ears. "Yeah," she answered without delay; despite the hit, she didn't move. She is still holding her position, eyes down on the gun sight and hands on the fire control.
Before long, I saw another enemy vehicle to our right. My heart sank, and I paused for a second as I saw its turret turning towards us; I quickly directed Krähe at it, slurring my words, but she understood. She fired the shot, but it was still a smoke shell; that's okay; however, that will give us time. She quickly loads an armor-piercing round and holds her breath to aim at the approximate last location of that new enemy that appears.
She pressed the control, and a shot flew towards it, making a direct hit; an explosion could be seen from within the dense smoke. "Yes, 1!" She exclaimed excitedly. Meanwhile, Aurora got to her position and placed her shot at the enemy side; it didn't notice her; her gun fired, and a second explosion could be seen from within the smoke. "Hey, I got them, Pfielspitze! Over" "Good job Aurora! Now, we need to turn to the other side; it's not over yet!" I tried to hide the tremble in my voice because of how scared I was, but I needed to focus and push forward; I had to! "Gans! turn this around 170 quickly!" " Yes, chief!" Gans quickly turned our tank around, moving in to help the rest of the group.
Wo Jian can be seen hacking away at the APC armored door with an axe trying to break it and his driver 'Steinkaus' is trying to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher, the crackle of bullets can be heard wheezing by the burning APC while his gunner remains in the tank covering them by firing the main gun and the coaxial machine gun. The gestalt and replika soldiers from the other APC are also covering them with their gunfire while wading in knee-deep water and taking cover with their own APC.
"Someone tell Wo Jian to get back in his tank! We have a lot more to worry about out here, let the other APC help them! Over!" Almari seemed a bit frustrated because of Wo Jian's actions, but Wo Jian seemed undeterred. He kept hacking at the APC door. Through my sights, I can see at least 3 hostile vehicles and a dozen infantry holding a hill and ruins about 800 or so meters from where we are.
I ordered Gans to park behind the burning APC covering Wo Jian, and I told Krähe to engage any target she saw her face was now of determination and anger, Aurora joined Baltic, Jöttun, and Thunder child in formation engaging the remaining enemy tanks, and shortly after several explosions could be heard on the hill where the enemy was and their infantry began to falter as the bullet being fired towards us were less and less intense.
A few minutes later, Wo Jian seems to be successful in opening the APC door. 5 people got out, some with burns but there should be 13 people in there. I can see he tried to go in to look for more but there was just too much smoke to survive.
I noticed that fire was dripping from the APC, the fuel was leaking, and so I screamed at Wo Jian and everyone to get back because it might explode, Wo Jian looked conflicted he wanted to go back in but decided to run to his tank Steinkaus following shortly after, the survivors ran towards my tank and I get out of the hatch to help them up and told Gans to gas it out of there, 30 seconds after that the APC detonated, I can see Krähe eyes and
mouth widen, through her hatch she tried to look at the APC, pieces of metal and charred bodies begin to rain down unto us, our first casualties.
The medics from the other APC began to run toward my tank and render first aid to the wounded. "Hey, Wo Jian, you alright?" I can see his face blackened by the smoke and flame; he did not respond but just stared blankly into the wreckage of Gunther APC. Gunther was not among the survivors, unfortunately.
Krähe suddenly jumps out of her hatch and walks on the engine compartment without saying a word, frantically looking at the group of wounded beside our tank. After 20 seconds of looking, she curses, "Dammnit, why you!?!" And punched the tank as hard as she could. Then she began to scan the ground, and after a moment, her movement stopped, and her eyes focused on a point, a limb, a severed replika arm with a charred pink ribbon tied to it.
She began walking towards it, wading through the waters. She fell a couple of times, but she soon got back up; I tried calling her but got no response. Eventually, she reached it, grabbed it with both of her hands, pressed it to her face, and fell to her knees.
The wounded groan and croak, leaning on the left side of my tank, medics doing their best to patch them up and ease their pain, one of the STAR units was burned horribly and lost her left arm. I'm just looking at the destroyed APC, wondering if I could have done something; if I had just looked on the hills instead of sightseeing, maybe those 8 soldiers would have survived; maybe if I had just stayed inside and used the thermals, I would have seen them faster, maybe….
I didn't notice that the Aurora parked to my left, coming from the front; Emilia opened the hatch. "Hey, good job out there, Alisa, HEY!" She spoke louder; I was startled. "Oh, hey, yeah, great job to you as well. I'm glad that plan worked, hehe." an awkward smile formed on my face. "At least we got some survivors; if we hadn't destroyed those tanks on the right side, none of them would be here." She lay her head on her arms crossed on top of the hatch, she smiled a little.
"This is Réne calling all units, I detected artillery fire from the east and some aircraft from the south, over." It seems this lul in chaos is short-lived, I was mostly worried about the artillery since we have aerial supremacy over the area, "This is Almari to all units; continue on the original course. Any wounded is to be picked up by available APC or tank, over."
Calling for Krähe seemed to not work, so I jumped out and told Gans to follow behind me. I ran towards Krähe. "Hey! HEY! Krähe, come back!" Still no response. After I got close, I touched her to get her attention. She was startled and immediately stood up in a ready position. "Umm, commander, I…ii. I'm sorry for my behavior. I will get back to my duties." I can see that her eyes are leaking lubricant, it begins to rain.
I embraced her, and she embraced me; we didn't speak for 12 seconds. "Krähe, I'm sorry for your loss, but we must go now. There is nothing for us here." I spoke softly to her, "Yes,
commander, I'll follow your lead." her words were slurred and interjected by rain and tears. We quietly got back in the tank, picked up 3 soldiers, the wounded went with the other APC, and we moved on.
The soft splatter of rain can be heard hitting our turret; Krähe is huddled in a fetal position on her seat, clutching her broach. She is quiet except for the sound of her finger brushing on it. It's cold inside the tank, and only the engine heat keeps us warm; "Hey, chief, you two…. alright?" Gans asked; Krähe remained quiet. "I'm okay….I guess I had just never seen something like that before, but I can't take my eyes off it." I'm both confused and awed at it all. I'm just staring at the periscope monitor but not looking. "To be expected, chief, it's okay it happens," Gans answered nonchalantly. "Have you seen something like that Gans?" "Yes." her answer was short and straight as an arrow.
"Where were you before coming here, Gans?" "I was stationed at Rotfront as a tank driver as well." That answer piqued my curiosity." That seemed like a quiet post. Why are you here?" "Well, I was just reassigned, sir." I do hear that there was a reassignment wave after the riot 3 years ago." Tell me, Gans, were you present at the Rotfront riots 3 years ago? " She remained quiet for some time before answering, "Yes." she said in a not-so-cheery tone. "What happened in those riots?" "With all due respect, Chief, I would rather not say." her voice cracked just a bit as she said that. I rather not ask further questions.
Aurora was positioned in front of my tank, and through the slits in my hatch, I could see a peculiar sight; Emilia seemed to be enthralled by the rain; I could see half her torso above the tank hatch, her arms outstretched to the side, and her face looking up at the sky. At a far distance on the horizon, the sun can be seen shining in front of us, its light scattered by the raindrops. Our tank threads kept moving forward pushing the waters to the side.
45 minutes later, we are just 3 km from our target, the enemy Anti-Orbital position near the abandoned town of Sikuna, I can hear its deafening cannon fire every few minutes. "This is Almari; all units convene on the location that is marked on your maps; I have some idea on how to tackle this, over." Sometime later, we arrived at a swampy area with tall water grass growing all around. Later, all the tank and APC commanders disembarked and gathered around the Unterleutnant. "Emilia and Alisa, you both go to the south along those hills." She points at a hill surrounding the enemy battery location while drawing a map on the dry-ish ground. "I need you guys to see what we are dealing with on that side. Is that understood?" She looked at us with a serious glare.
"Unterleutnant, if I may have a say." Wo Jian interjected. She frowned at him but gave him the go-ahead with her gesture. "What about the wounded, sir?" "Herna will be under those ruins to stay in cover; the wounded will be safe with them." Wo Jian gives a nod to her. " Right, Me, Johan, and Réne will go to the west; we will try to jam the enemy radio with Réne's equipment so they can't call in backups." Rene put her hand up. " But sir, doesn't that mean we have to get close to them?" she asked with a note of doubt in her voice. " Yes, do you have any objection to that?" Almari looked at her waiting for a response.
"No sir." Almari gave a nod. "Okay, people, remember not to engage; we need to know what we are dealing with first. Also, Johan, follow me; I need to talk with you about something. We'll meet again in 15 minutes, take a break, people, dismiss." They both walked behind
Almari tank out of sight. I was just sitting on top of my tank, looking at the sky; it is clear and blue now. I noticed the sound of someone climbing on top of the tank.
"Ah, hey what's up?" It's Emilia. She took a seat beside me. Her short white hair is flowing elegantly in the wind, her red eyes are full of joy and light. " I don't know, it's been a lot, they say back home that to fight for the nation is glorious and fun and filled with adventures, this, that." I looked at her and then back up at the sky. " Well, it's never as easy as what people say; life is twisted, and so is this war. You know what they say at Rotfront?" I looked at her. "What?" "If the ice melts, that means an officer told the truth." I laugh at it for a time. I laid down on top of the turret after that.
Emilia put a green metal container the size of a hand in between us. "Here, for you. " The box is filled with cookies and small cakes. I begin eating some of it." These are good, thank you." She smiled. "Well, don't thank just me; those two helped me bake those secretly in the carrier kitchen." She pointed at her 2 EULE-P Triel, the gunner, and Meise, the driver; they were loading some ammo on the tank magazine. "Hey, you two! Thank you for these cookies!" Triel gave me a smile and a peace sign; Meise smiled and then gave a playful salute.
From here, I can see Réne; she has long red hair that she usually leaves tied up, but for now, it's flowing like a flag. Her eyes are green, but one of her eyes is an artificial cybernetic implant. She is reading a piece of paper, and a folder can be seen by her side; she occasionally bends the top of her body into the hatch to reach for something. I also see Wo Jian; he has short, masculine blonde hair and purple eyes. He is sitting in front of the turret next to the driver's hatch, he is reading and writing something in a book, occasionally looking at the horizon. The after-rain breeze is refreshing with the smell of grass and clean air around us replacing the fumes and oil. There is also no more of that loud engine noise, but it was replaced by something else, the dance of the water grass, and a song.
As I looked behind us, I saw a gathering of EULE-P on a bed of grass. There are 12 of them; some of them can be seen singing together, some just talk about their day, and some are hugging and comforting Krähe. They seemed content and peaceful, I could never imagine they ended up here, of all places. "Alisa, do you believe those soldiers that died today, will go somewhere?" She looked up at the sky. "Hmm, to what? A graveyard?" she looked down at me, raising an eyebrow. "Nooo, life after death, you know?" I looked at her, then looked up at the sky. "Well, there's no such thing, right? How could that possibly exist? haha."
She lay down beside me looking at the sky. "Well, I heard stories from my grandma that people used to believe in something like that, in hope." She stared up blankly for a few seconds. "She also said that those who died in pain become angry spirits, cursed to roam this world until the end of time. I wonder if they are angry at us now?" She stood up and brushed her thighs. "Welp, time to spread the joy around; I made more cookies than we could eat anyway, haha; nice talking to you, Alisa. Bye!" I said my goodbye and she proceeded to go to Réne and Wo Jian, giving each of them a bag of cookies and talking to them for a few minutes; it even got Wo Jian to smile a little.
17 minutes later, Almari returned with Johan. "Ok, people, I've set the map to your mission parameters. I assumed everyone understood what I said earlier; if not, this is the last chance
for any questions ?... No? Ok, Let's roll!" Krähe returned to the vehicle, and I asked if she was better now; she said that she felt a little better.
Sometime later we arrived at our destination, a hill overlooking the battery. There's some anti-aircraft emplacement, 3-5 tanks, a few dozen infantry, and a radar system, as well as the Titanic Anti-Orbital cannon still firing into the sky. We reported it all back to Almari. She seemed pleased and reported that the jamming was successful. She said that our job now is to destroy the enemy AA batteries and let the Air Force bomb them because we couldn't destroy those guns ourselves.
We regrouped and formed a plan of attack, we will go to a nearby hill that is only 200 meters from the target. We will bombard them with our cannon, and they won't be able to hit us back. Afterward, we will go to our new home, Fort Rosaria; it's a 20 km journey from here.
While on our way there, we saw an overgrown ruined complex ahead. "This is Réne, sir. If we moved through that, we would be slowed significantly by about 50% or so, and the chances of an ambush are about 75% with those tall ruins, over." Almari responded shortly after. "According to the Intel that I got, this area is not well patrolled. No one should be here, Over." a question came over my mind, why was it not patrolled?
We had to carefully navigate the low visibility of the tall grass and the obstacle of the ruins forced us to button up from our hatch and manually guide our driver. We were thick in the middle of it when suddenly a large explosion occurred right in front of me; I could feel the shockwave, dirt, and water hitting my face with such force that it hurt terribly; the birds that had been watching us in the ruin were scared too and flew away.
After a second, I realized what had just happened: Aurora had hit a mine. Getting back to my senses I couldn't find Emilia. her tank tracks had been snapped and her tank was slanted on the blast crater edge. In the distance, we could hear an alarm blaring.
"ALL UNITS DEFENSIVE FORMATION!" Almari shouted over the radio; the APC disembarked, and the medic rushed towards Aurora, trying to save the crew. I placed myself between the hills and Aurora, trying to cover the medics' work. The others scattered, putting themselves at least 15 meters from each other all over the ruin, waiting for the enemy to show up.
The first thing I saw was an attack helicopter that began to fire towards us. The rapid fire of its autocannon hit my tank; it blinded and deafened me, its missile pod roared like a dragon, hitting randomly all around me, but Johan was ready. His tank had 4 MANPADS attached to the turret; the first shot missed, but the second one hit, downing the helicopter.
I can hear the infantry cheering as it tumbles from the hill and into the waters. Réne positioned herself to the leftmost flank, and she reported on incoming enemy vehicles from there; these ruins are quite tall, so they can't shoot down at us from the hills.
"Shit! Infantry is coming too, from the left side!" I had never heard her so panicked before. "Pfielspitze! Go aid Réne on the left wing, we got the rest! Over!" Amalir spoke through the radio and I can see that our infantry are going left as well.
"Baltic, what's your situation? Over!" "I'm retreating to a more favorable position, but I can't see shit the chances of me getting anywhere here is 20%, over!" She is slurring her speech because of just how much she has to manage right now. "Lumme! Smoke." through the radio I can hear her commanding her gunner. I can see a plume of smoke about 50 meters from where I am, that must be where she is.
Throughout this time the radio has been busy, "2 VEHICLE, 8, IN FRONT OF US 200 METERS!" that was Wo Jian's voice. "Infantry, 50, 250 meters! Shit, they are everywhere!" Johan seems rather calm given the situation. "Jöttun, Kraken, Follow my lead; we must attack! over!" The Unterleutnant reassuring voice came over the radio, "Yes, sir!" Both of them answered.
I can hear a chaotic symphony of guns and cannon firing from all directions, the ruins made it hard to pinpoint the exact location. As we were trying to reach the Baltic, we came across a tank. "Hey Baltic, I'm to your right, over." "What do you mean? I don't see anyone over there. Are you stupid? Check your map. Over." I glance over to the battle management map and there should be nothing in front of us. That's when I realized it.
That's an enemy tank: the shadows of the ruin, coupled with the vegetation, obscured their insignia and silhouette. It begins to turn its turret towards us. In panic realization, I automatically turned the turret towards it and shouted at Krähe to fire at it instantly. The moment only lasted 6 seconds but it feels like my whole life.
A mere millisecond before we fired, it fired at us first, the turret filled with smoke and metallic dust. My head is absolutely ringing, and I cough violently; it hurts so so much. The close distance of the enemy tank thankfully caused over penetration but we fired our cannon anyway. I don't know what we hit yet until the smoke clears.
After 5 seconds the smoke was clear enough that I could see where we were hit. A hole was visible just centimeters from Krähe's head, and I could see Krähe was leaking oxidant from her head, slumped over the breach; her panting breath was all that I could hear. "Did…..did we get them commander? *Cough* *cough*." She said in a sore and painful voice. I was still stunned, but shortly, I looked over my commander's periscope, and I could see that we struck just under their gun. "we just struck under their gun, we pro.." I couldn't even finish my sentence.
Krähe lifted herself from the gun breach and put her head on the gun sights, almost slamming into it like it was hard for her to even move. She began firing 2 more shots into the tank. The imperial tank crew can be seen jumping out of their tank and running away. "Are you two okay back there?!" Shouted Gans. "Krähe is bleeding, Gans; she is still alive, I'll try to patch her up," I replied. I was able to reach behind my seat and grab a medic pack. I poured out a Replika cauterizer to try and stop the loss of oxidant, then standard bandages to cover it. "Thank you, commander," Krähe said.
"Chief, hydraulic fluid pressure is dropping." Oh no, that is not good. Krähe tried to rotate the turret, but it wouldn't turn; the turret hydraulic had been hit, and now we must use the turret crank handle. "This is Pfielspitze, my gunner is injured, we are hit, I repeat, we are hit, our
turret is knocked out. Over!" I report over the radio. "We are busy right now, Pfielspitze; stay put until we can come. Over." I can hear gunfire over the radio.
"This is Baltic, checking in. Is your position under threat, Pfielspitze? Over." Réne seemed concerned. "Not at the moment, Baltic, thanks for asking, over." Aurora still hadn't moved, and I didn't see the medics anywhere; maybe they got scared away by the rocket barrage.
2 minutes passed, and I could hear some commotion outside; someone was trying to climb on top of my tank. Looking through the slit in my hatch, I saw it was an imperial soldier, and there were multiple of them. I warned Krähe and Gans of their coming and so we picked up our guns to fight them off. Krähe grabbed her sidearm and Gans took her SMG from under her seat, ready to fight; I grabbed a carbine from next to me, loading the chamber and magazine.
My heart was pounding, is this it? My grave? A swampy smelly ruin in the middle of nowhere? Why am I here? if only my brother was here. I was shaking and started to tear up a little bit; I never thought I needed to fight like this, trapped in this metal coffin. Nowhere to go. This is it.
"It was fun knowing you, commander," Krähe said with bated breath as she racked the slide with her teeth because of her injury. "It was an honor serving with you chief," Gans said to me. "I guess even Replika can sin, and it finally caught up with me." Gans talking to herself as she racks her gun. "I love you all," I replied with a low voice.
My heart skipped a beat as my hatch opened. I could see his face, a young man, probably a teenager, looking perplexed, maybe expecting us to just surrender or already dead. It doesn't matter, one squeeze and I can see the sky through his brain matter. He slumped dead tumbling into the water, his blood splashed on my face.
One of them tried to shoot through the exit hole of the armor-piercing shot, but it didn't do anything as it just hit the tank inside the armor and shattered the bullet. The gunner hatch opened, and I could see Krähe start shooting; another body hit the water, later a grenade fell from it, and Krähe threw it out as it detonated outside.
Gans started firing in a burst of 4. "GET SOME!" She shouted. I don't know if she hit anything, but I do hear water splashes. Another face appeared above me and I fired again. At this point, I'm on autopilot mode; I do not think any more; I just do anything to survive.
More steps could be heard outside of my tank. We are done for, I thought. I glanced over to the Self-destruct button and contemplated pulling it. Suddenly, I heard bullets hitting my tank and the sound of a Heavy machine gun fire; more bodies hit the water. As I looked around with the tank periscope camera, I could see it was coming from the Aurora.
Triel, with a crooked left arm, climbed out of the gunner hatch and positioned herself on top of the commander hatch; she swung the commander's machine gun towards us and began firing with one hand. The imperial soldiers were torn apart literally, limbs were flying, and holes were made where they shouldn't. Our tank is covered in blood and viscera.
The remaining imperial soldiers fled. Things have gone quiet again. My ears are still ringing from firing in a confined space, although I didn't realize it until now. I can't hear anything but my thoughts of how close to death I was, how my adrenaline is pumping, and how I can still feel my heart and muscles move.
We were all lying still in our seats. I'm looking up at the opened hatch to clear blue skies above. As I squint, I can see a white stream moving across the sky. At first, it was just one, then 2, and another 2 appeared; at the end, 6 white lines streaked across the sky.
On the radio, I can hear, "This is Eusan Aeronautica Squadron Ese commencing strike, danger close, danger close. Over." "This is Almari checking all personnel; what is your status? Over." Ah, the Unterleutnant, she sounds winded; she and the two others must have done it without us.
"This is Réne, me and my crew are fine; the enemy seems to be retreating. Over." she sounded tired as well; we all were. After gathering my strength, I climbed out of the hatch. The sights that greeted me were gruesome. I can see our own soldiers' dead bodies floating, 5 imperial soldiers dead too, some dismembered flesh here and there torn apart. I don't know who or what they belong to. It didn't matter anyway, all dead, dead faces in the waters.
"Where are you going commander?" Krähe shouted to me "I'm looking for Emilia…..I need to find her … wait in the tank for me." I said to her tiredly. I slowly walked over to the Aurora. "Triel, where is Emilia? Is she okay?" She was silent for a second. "She is still inside; I didn't have time to check on her since you were in trouble, commander," she replied in a normal voice, unlike most of us. But her face looks scared, oxidants are leaking a little bit from her nose and cheeks.
I climbed over to the Aurora commander hatch; with all my strength, I tried to pull the hatch open multiple attempts, and evenit did. Inside I found Emilia unconscious. I tried to lightly slap her awake. Eventually, her eyelids started moving, she turned her face towards me and locked eyes with me. Her nose was bleeding, but overall, she looked fine; her short white hair was messy, but that's to be expected.
"What…… happened?…… Alisa." she slowly muttered as best she could "we won." I replied. Behind me, I can see a large explosion over the hills where the enemy base was; I guess that must be it. This is the first day of war, it's gonna be a long one.
To be continued….