Chapter 10

Miho looked at the approaching stranger, who had a warm smile and seemed somehow… familiar to her. He had light brown hair and eyes and was a bit higher than average Japanese. "I was chosen to be your head engineer. My name is Fred Chong. Nice to meet you." That voice… only one person spoke like that… she realized and fought the urge to hug the man.

"Trafalgar Jameson, the Kommandant of Tiger I maintenance crew!" responded the actual commander of the tank and saluted. Wise move to hide the true identity before too many people. "An American?" Fred Chong asked after he returned the salute. "No. I am half British." That caught the attention of George. "Wait, really?!" he nearly shouted. "Yes. My dad accepted my mother's surname, but I had little to no time to learn the Way of a proper Englishman…"

"But, we'll dance the Ankou dance!" Saori suddenly panicked. "No, you won't. I remember that no one lost the match, so no Ankou dance, but also no ice cream." Miho silently thanked Takashi for saying that. "I have to admit that he has a point…" Anzu Kadotani cut in with a sad tone in her voice. "You wanted to dance it, then?" Trafalgar asked her. Miho rolled her eyes at that.

"So, we and the Automotive club will start with repairs when the tanks are transported back to the garages…" George changed the subject quickly. "Yes. And the others will resume the search." These words sparked interest in the engineer. "Search for what?" he demanded to know. And so, Miho explained everything about their search for hidden tanks or upgrades for their current ones.

Darjeeling smiled, when the mysterious brunette and some others from the Oarai team walked in her direction. Assam and Orange Pekoe had a hard time holding Rosehip from jumping at her brother, so it was all on her. But, there was someone else, who caught her eye. It was a man in an engineer's uniform with light brown hair and eyes, similar to the brunette.

Tsuneo Nishizumi is back then… she thought and fought back her own emotions to show up on her face. "So, you are the commander." The brunette turned to her. "Y-yes." Darjeeling smiled at that. "I had more fun than with your sister." The younger of the Nishizumi sisters blushed a bit after hearing that.

"Oh, and you fought well too." This time, it was Trafalgar Jameson and his crew's time to look away. "Wait… what?!" Tsuneo Nishizumi asked, surprised. "Well… We three are the ones who operated the Tiger…" the commander of the trio admitted. Surprisingly, the older man wasn't angry, but happy. "Finally… After those 10 years of protesting against the 'only girls are allowed rule' I see a boy tanker crew!"

Darjeeling turned to her spymaster and fastest loader. They got the message and released Rosehip from their grips. As expected, the pinkette ran towards her brother and tackled him. "Guys! Help me!" George pleaded for help, but the only answer was the two other boys… laughing at his misfortune?! "Sorry mate, bro code... is on…" Takashi managed to say between laughing fits.

"Assam-san, prepare the tea gift for Oarai." The blonde spymaster nodded and walked away with Orange Pekoe in tow. "Rosehip, let him go and follow me." The pinkette froze after hearing those words and quickly rushed to her. "We'll have a meeting later, regarding your actions from today's morning."

Trafalgar sat down on the ground with a tired face. The automotive club and his two crewmates were in the same state, but Fred Chong was the only one, who didn't look exhausted. Fixing a tank, refuelling it and refilling the ammo with fire extinguishers, repeat, again, again, again and again. And also he and his crew were the ones who carried the heaviest things from the tanks to repair them and bring them back afterwards.

Suddenly, a phone of one of the automotive club's members ringed. "Yes?" she started. Trafalgar noticed that she suddenly started paling by each passing second. "Alright, get it to the garages." Fred looked with curiosity at her. "They found some T-34 compatible parts in one of the old unused storehouses." The commander of the Tiger I blinked at that. "Which one? 76 or 85?" he asked.

The girl asked the same question as him. "T-34/85 upgrade kit for the turret, armor and engine." Hmm… So this school owned at least two Panther ausf. As and a T-34/76 with parts to upgrade it into T-34/85… Traf thought. "It is useless for now. Until we get a T-34/76 from Pravda, it can be only stored in the garages." "And Katyusha won't let go of one of her toys so easily. She might be willing to sell us one, if we impress her during a match…" George said what was left unspoken after Fred finished the obvious.

"Yeah… It will be easier to get a fully equipped M4 Sherman from Kay than even a single wheel for a T-34 from Katyusha 'Drifting snow'." After hearing that, Traf had a hard time to stop himself from singing. "Guys… I never heard of them… I am new here, remember?" he said after a while, drawing surprised faces from all gathered people. "Mate, Katyusha 'Drifting snow' is your typical Soviet lolita, while Kay is the typical American bimbo. Both can hold a grudge, but Katyusha is more unforgiving."

"I get it, George… That Katyusha seems like the type to also build a gulag and send some unfortunate people there… I guess that she is a mix between Stalin and Zhukov in a loli body." There was silence for a second. "And you aren't far from the truth. But, I think that Nonna 'Blizzard' is way scarier. She is Katyusha's vice-captain and almost as cold as Itsumi Erika from Kuromorimine…"

Traf gulped. "I met that Erika, when I went to search for someone to fill the role of loader…" he admitted and shocked everyone again. "W-wait… You went to Kuromorimine?! Are you nuts?! Shiho Nishizumi should have killed you!" George shouted after a while. "She actually said that she'll allow our tank in Sensha-Do at least until Renta Tsuji stops being a jerk and doesn't close this school."

Fred Chong looked at him directly. "Are you sure that she said that?" he demanded to know. Traf only nodded. "Who else was there when she said it?" Traf spaced out for a second to remember. "Only instructor Chono and Miho's sister." The chef engineer sighed at that. "Alright! Go to bed everyone! I heard that you'll be in the 63rd Sensha-Do Tournament and you need training as much as sleeping. Kuromorimine and Pravda encounter this problem at every Tournament. And it gets worse, when either of them gets into a higher round."

Traf nodded and slowly stood up. "There is also a high probability of encountering this Katyusha on a snowy terrain, right?" he asked and earned a nod from both George and Fred. "This is where the fun begins…" he muttered and after saying goodbye, he went to his apartment.

Tsuneo was the last one to leave the garages. He just needed to make sure that no mistakes were made and the tanks could function properly. And he was satisfied with their work. Only his own students from the disbanded Engineer section of Sensha-Do were this good. These girls had some experience with cars, so it is understandable. George knows something thanks to his sister being in Sensha-Do, but Takashi and this Trafalgar are the mystery here… he thought and smiled.

The commander of the boy crew simply impressed him with his knowledge about tanks even without working on one before (except the first day, when he tried to get the knack of the damage the fire caused to the engine). I'll ask him about it later. The more he knows about the boy crew, the better he could understand them and help them.

And I also should start preparing Schürzen sets for both the Panzer IV and StuG III… Tsuneo thought and nodded. The extra protection will turn beneficial for the team. Yet, he had to thank Tsuji for meeting his youngest daughter after all those years.

Tsuneo stared in disbelief at his phone. This time, it was an unknown person, but curiosity took the better of him and he picked the call up. "Yes?" he started. "Tsuneo Nishizumi, I hereby appoint you as the chef engineer for Oarai Girls High School and its Sensha-Do tam."

Tsuneo blinked. The slimy snake Tsuji tried to… kill or save him?! "Why exactly should I take it?" "Oh, that's simple. Your youngest, Miho, is there and she'll need your help soon, if they will try to take steps against her." The engineer gulped. There was little chance to turn the offer down, but did the snake prolong his time to build those six monsters too? "I managed to get you another six months to build those Super Pershings and Maus. Put the original parts in them and I'll take the responsibility for it."

That was a really unreasonable course of action from the MEXT official. "Okay… I take it. For Miho's sake. Nishizumis are stronger together than alone." And as he said that, a helicopter landed before his factory. It had the JSFD symbol on it. There were two persons inside: a soldier and one of those rarely seen judges of Sensha-Do matches.

The engineer rushed to his room and quickly packed some clothes and a toolbox. That was enough for him right now, alongside the few hundred dollars in his wallet that he also packed. And he went to the helicopter with a smile. He was finally allowed to move freely after those five years!

Traf tapped his chin with a pencil, when he tried to guess which tanks would be most likely used by Pravda, Kuromorimine, St. Gloriana and Saunders in the matches. He got a full inventory of St. Gloriana's tanks, which were only infantry and cruiser tanks, thanks to George, but he still had to guess the rest.

Pravda will field definitely T-34s and IS-2 with KV-2. But, there could also be BT-7s or SU-85s and those could pose a problem. Saunders will use M4 Shermans and according to Takashi, they also have a Firefly, but no light tanks… And Kuromorimine… They will use Panther ausf. Ds, Tiger Is and IIs and the Maus. There could be some of the heavier TDs like Jagdpanther and Elefant… he thought and drew oversimplified tanks with a number next to them.

He knew for sure that the Maus was only one and the same went with the Firefly and KV-2. "Any progress with counting enemies?" a now familiar voice of Fred Chong asked. "I know for sure the exact numbers of three tanks in total. Well, I guessed it with the King of Derp, but still.. that is not enough." The older man nodded. "Your closest guess was in the case of Saunders in guessing the most likely used forces. They always field classic M4 Shermans and the Firefly with at least one M4A1 in the first round."

Traf thanked the man and put the notebook into one of his pockets. He walked right towards Miho's tank with possible formations of Saunders tanks racing in mind. "I have some intel on Saunders and their possible formations. They will most likely field a Sherman Firefly, M4 Shermans and at least one M4A1." The brunette looked at him with a mixture of shock and happiness. "Fred Chong told me about the types of tanks, not their numbers." This time, Miho froze for a moment.

"He really did?" she asked after a few seconds. Traf only nodded in response. "But, I still can't figure out the possible numbers of Pravda's and Kuromorimine's tanks. If you don't count the King of Derp and Maus." Miho raised an eyebrow. "King of Derp?" The boy sighed. "KV-2. It earned this title in a simulator thanks to its stats." Yukari suddenly opened her hatch and almost flew out at the mention of KV-2.

"It earned its title thanks to the turret traverse system, reloading time, overall speed and KV-1 armor. But, its 152mm shells are useful against everything!" she nearly shouted and started her usual floofing around, when she spoke or heard about a at least partially good tank. Traf only sighed and turned to go to his tank.

And as he turned, he saw something old, long and rusty, probably tossed away. He walked towards it. There was also a note near it. He picked it up. Luckily, there was under the Kanji gibberish also a message in latin alphabet. He stared at the message and paled. This is the only upgrade for your tanks available at this ship. It is a 7,5cm KwK 40 L/48, compatible with the Panzer IV. Check the papers from five years ago, regarding Sensha-Do. The SC should have easy access to them… he read quietly the note.

"Uhh… Guys?!" he shouted after he hid the note and got their attention. "Someone just found for us the only available upgrade for any tank! It's a 7,5 cm KwK 40 L/48!" George and Takashi were the first, who got to him. "We should clean it for now and install it on the Panzer IV after the second round." But George shook his head, "No. What if we face off Pravda or even Kuromorimine right at the first round? What now?" he asked. Damn. He has a point. That could definitely happen now… Traf realized and gulped. "Alright, we'll clean up and install the cannon on the Panzer IV. We could let it pass as version F2, because we have no Shürzen on it."

The boys nodded and grabbed the cannon. We should wash our hands later. This thing is really filthy… he thought and walked towards the garage.

Renta stared at another email from the unknown group. They wanted him to put Oarai against either Pravda, Kuromorimine or Saunders, but also give the three schools massive buffs. Those buffs were either Annihilation matches or full force deployment. They can't be serious! This is breaking the Fair play rule! Well… I can do it next year as a part of the 64th Tournament.

The MEXT official smiled and nodded at his plan. The next year should have random modes and maybe he could even allow boys from that point into the matches. I have yet to watch the unofficial match of Oarai against St. Gloriana… he realized and searched for online replay of it.

However, the first video that caught his eye was a stub of the whole match. Boys claiming to be a maintenance crew for on of Oarai tanks? Interesting indeed, but I need to watch the whole match. It took him about two minutes to finally find the right video, thanks to more videos that looked like the discussion/theory sort about the boys that were seen next to the tank and even partially fixing the cannon.

So, this was… unexpected. A draw… he thought after watching the full replay. I have to admit that the Tiger I crew, whoever it is, is really skilled. And as he saw three hatches of the Tiger open, the video stopped. Well timed for hiding their identity. Smart move. Now he also knew that Oarai fought better in cities than opened areas like rocky cliffs or forests. I wonder, will they be able to defeat the Maus? he thought and wrote something down into his notebook.