Interlude 3: Pieces and plans

Traf, Boris, their crews and the newly founded Shark team were waiting behind the door, leading to the SC's office, where a meeting was to be held in a few moments. And, as the timer on his phone showed 4 PM, Traf opened the door and entered with his companions a few seconds later.

He walked to his usual chair and sat down, followed by Boris, who sat down next to him and two newest commanders. "So, I take it that we have the Panthers fully crewed up," he started, earning a nod from the SC and Miho. "And I see that you yourself weren't slacking off," Erwin added, when she noticed the quintet of sailors.

"Indeed. But, thank Takashi for that. It was him who learned the information. The rest of us followed him," Boris announced. "What tank did you find?" Yukari asked before anyone else could ask anything. "A Mark IV. Male version to be exact. Tsuneo plans on replacing the engine and Lewis mgs," Takashi answered and Traf nodded in his direction in a thanking manner.

"Anyway… I checked the replays of Chi-Ha-Tan's matches and… I am not impressed. Banzai charging enemies, even if they hold the advantageous position?! Like really?! We shouldn't rely on them too much," Traf said after that with a big sigh escaping his lips.

"My words, matey! Landships ain't planes to go kamikadze," Ogin supported him and he noticed that Erwin and Caesar nodded in agreement with the sailor. "Ahem!" Momo suddenly coughed to get their attention. "We decided that we'll invite all schools that participated and several that didn't participate in the Tournament to our victory party," she announced and Traf had a hard time resisting the urge to bolt out from the room, knowing that the shit had just hit the fan.

Yukari reached with her right hand behind her back to get her tool for self-defense. It was a Stielhandgranate 24, but hey! She knew how to use it. And the reason for reaching down for it was simple: avoid any violence from the side of the delinquent-like sailors.

But, they only whispered something in between themselves and the one dressed like a barmaid turned to Momo. "Can I supply our non-alcoholic rum?" she asked, surprising most gathered people and earning winces from the boys. "That spicy stuff? Thanks, but no. My stomach was in pain for an hour straight," Boris responded and shocked them all further.

"You drank it?" Erwin asked the obvious, earning a nod from Katyusha's brother. "He drank a whole bottle of that stuff at once," Takashi announced and everyone winced upon hearing that. The boys from the reminder and the rest in an apologetic way. After all, no one else was that brave (or foolish) enough to drink some spicy drink at once.

"Uhh… Yukari?" Trafalgar's voice suddenly asked her. "Yes?" she asked back, unsure, what he was asking about. "Why do you have a Stielhandgranate 24 behind your back?"

Yukari couldn't help but blush at that, not noticing Takashi, until he pulled the grenade from her hand. "Confiscated," he stated drily and walked away from her. Her only response at that, and the shocked stares of the rest of the gathered people, was a pout. A very big one to be honest.

"Anyway… should we make the party smaller?" George asked and broke the silence. "No. If we do that, some schools would get upset from not being able to be there," Anzu replied and Yukari saw the boys roll their eyes at hearing that. "I guess that we should take our leave then," Trafalgar announced and the boys rose as one and walked out of the room.

And as Yukari looked out of the window, she saw Takashi splitting from their group, while trying to hide the grenade from other people, not listening to the SC's explanation of the party they decided to throw out.

An hour later, Oarai training grounds

Boris and his crew finished another set of challenges that Traf and George prepared for them with ease. Suddenly, the voice of their commander spoke through the comms. "Prepare for a live practise with our two newest crews. Their goal is simple: shoot you down, so give them one hell of a fight."

"Да, товарищ командующий!" Boris responded and grinned at Ivan, who returned the grin. "We'll try the trick that the crew in the KV-1 movie did!" he announced to Grigori and Ivan and got nods in response. Oh, how they were going to enjoy this one training! "First, we need only six shells; four AP and two HE shells," he listed out with a grin never leaving his face. "And sacrifice a part of the fuel to create a smokescreen!" Ivan added.

"Да, that too," Boris said and gave the order to move out after the preparations were complete.

George watched the T-34/85 of Boris moving towards a small hill and stopping on top of it. It didn't take him too long to realize what they were doing and smirked. At least, the training session that he was observing would be more fun than before with the T-34/85 repeating the small stunt from the KV-1 movie, but instead of a KV-1S, they had a T-34/85 against two (three in the movie) Panthers.

"Alright, your goal is to take down the T-34/85," he said to the new two crews after they gathered up. "And where is it?" one of the commanders asked him. "The tank was last seen on the small hill two miles northwest from here," George responded with a tone that told them to don't ask any stupid questions.

"Just to clear something: the enemy tank is agile and can one shot you," he finished and walked back to the observing post near the garages to oversee the battle and take notes on what to focus, when training the Panther crews. Hopefully, it would lower their chances of losing that exhibition match and also the next year's Tournament too…

And with that in mind, he quietly pulled out his notebook and a pen and looked at the battle as it started, not even bothering to resist the urge to whistle the tune of Катюша.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Aomori prefecture

Katyusha sneered, when she received another response from Mika the Thief about not knowing about any KV-85s, BT-7s or T-34s being sent to her. "Nonna!" she shouted at her friend and vice-commander after a few seconds.

"Да?" she responded in Russian, making the smaller blonde angrier than before. "Send someone to recover the tanks from Mika the Thief!" Katyusha commanded after calming herself a bit, knowing that she should control herself a lot better than she is doing now.

"Already did it. I chose seven trustworthy persons to take care of it. I also lent them the IS-2 to help them win over the tanks with something to use as a threat against her," Nonna announced in her usual calm tone, but Katyusha saw and heard the mischievous tone and smile that the bigger girl tried to suppress.

Oh, she won't like the surprise very much then… Katyusha realized and smirked evilly at that. After all, it wasn't common to have something able to make it through Mika's calm mask and also get back the stolen tanks.