Lady Darkhound
Haha, tanks!
- Location
- My very own personal hell
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If I decide to keep that tidbit, they're revolvers. Or at least stylized to look like them.
Hell On Tracks: Retracked (Girls und Panzer)
- Thread starter Lady Darkhound
- Start date
Part Fifty One
Lady Darkhound
Haha, tanks!
- Location
- My very own personal hell
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hell On Tracks
Part Fifty One
++++++++++
I remained unaware of the commotion around us for a few minutes. I was emotionally drained after a very trying day, I was hurting from punches and BB guns, and everything was just too overwhelming. Tanks were moving, people were talking and shouting and yelling, and I barely comprehended that it was going on around me.
A familiar, thunderous voice snapped me back to reality in an instant with a single cry. "Tally!" I wiped my tears as best I could while still hugging Kay, and looked up just in time for Rachel Knight to pull me (and Kay by association) into a big hug. I didn't try to fight back, and instead let myself be pinned between my two best friends.
Rach released the hug after a few moments, and helped Kay and I to our feet. I brushed myself off, then looked up at Rach and the unexpected (and yet somehow unsurprising) blue pullover she was wearing, complete with the St. Gloriana's emblem emblazoned on the chest. It took me a few minutes to properly comprehend what I was looking at before it all finally clicked.
"Rach?! What are you doing here?" I asked.
"When I saw you bail out of your tank and start running, I knew something was up. I asked Darj if I could take the UC down here as soon as we saw that the match was over, then I grabbed your coach and a medic and got down here as quickly as I could!" Rach answered. Then she paused and tilted her head. "Cookie?"
I nodded, and she passed me a large chocolate chip cookie from her bag. I unwrapped it and nibbled on it for a moment. A small smile crossed my face, but even I knew it didn't reach my eyes. Everything still hurt too much. "Thanks. That said, I was more asking why you're here in Japan, and at St. Glo of all places!"
Rach just laughed. "The paperwork got all messed up. It took an extra week for me to even get approved to transfer to St. Glo for a year, and more to buy plane tickets and prepare to cross the Pacific to go to an entirely new school. By that point, I decided to surprise you. I wanted to meet up with you at the tournament's placement lottery, but you never answered when I called you, and I couldn't find you there! So, uh… surprise!"
"Oh," I murmured softly. "Sorry. The, uh, the Bandits stole my phone. They tried to blackmail me with it during the match and let Tuco command instead of me."
Kay's presence beside me turned from warm and comforting to icy cold in an instant. "They did what?"
"Uh, let me think…" I murmured. "They, uh, committed mutiny, blackmail, bribery, threats, oh, and they physically attacked me. And that's just the stuff that immediately comes to mind."
Kay was silent for a long moment. I glanced over at her, quite concerned. It was well-placed concern, because the only other time I had ever seen Kay that angry, it was directed at me. "Rachel, stay with Tally. There's something I need to handle."
"Can do."
With that, Kay stormed off towards Tex, where Naomi was currently handling the Bandits with the Chief. I blinked at the scene, and looked around to see just how much things had changed while I was out of sorts. Spunky and Pluck were both parked nearby, as was the knocked out Tex. A St. Glo universal carrier was parked next to Spunky, with a medic standing nearby, checking over some of the crews.
"So, uh, what did they stick you in?" I asked awkwardly, still nibbling on my cookie.
Rach just gestured towards the myriad of small bandages covering various parts of her body, including her knees, elbows, and forehead. "They put me in a Matilda with a crew of freshmen. I think it's Darj's way of punishing me for being so very American at her British school. Paladin is small and cramped, but she also has all of the armor! Haha, heavy tanks!"
"Haha, tanks!" I echoed. Then I blinked with a sudden realization. "Wait, is that why you used a Matilda as a reference when you were asking about how bad being in Warden was?"
"Yeah! Though, I probably shouldn't have used Pally as a reference, considering I was trying to surprise you."
"I never actually caught that one, so it was still a big surprise. Sorry, I'm just, well… still trying to deal with all of everything that just happened and I'm still a little freaked out by the fact that they shot me! With BB guns, but still!"
"And you're fine," Rach soothed, patting my shoulder gently. "That said, we should have the medic check you out, just in case."
"Yeah… yeah, we probably should," I agreed.
I wasn't feeling too steady on my feet after all that, and I leaned on Rach as we walked over to where the medic was waiting. He gave me a quick check, inspected the various bruises and welts that were already developing, and told me that I was going to be fine, but I would need to take things easy for a few days while I healed. I didn't like the idea of having to take things easy when I had plans to get Jane and April into Izumi tomorrow, but the medic knew better than I did.
"Hey, Tally?" Rach asked as we walked away from the medic.
"Yes?"
"Next time you need to talk, don't call me at six AM. Please. I'm happy to talk to you if you need it, but I don't think the rest of the dorm appreciated being woken up at an hour only you would call sane."
I scoffed, and the cheeky grin on her face only widened until we both started giggling like the schoolgirls that we are. Laughter felt good, and it helped drive away the sting of the Bandits' betrayal. "Ah, yeah, that's… I'll, uh, I'll make sure to call you at a more reasonable hour. Like, I dunno, five thirty?"
"Alright, time to call you at midnight then! If you get to screw with my sleep schedule, I get to screw with yours!"
That got another round of giggling from me, then I reached over and pulled my friend into a gentle hug. "Thank you, Rach. For… for all of it, really. For being here. I missed you."
"I missed you too."
"But my aim is getting better!"
"Oh, shut it, you!"
The ceremonies to close the match went rather quickly. I was thankful for that fact, and I think a number of the others were too. Afterwards, I ended up lingering with Rach, Naomi, and Arisa while Kay went to talk to Ooarai's team captain.
We were halfway through a retelling of the Maginot match, with voices from all the perspectives when I interrupted. "Hey, uh, do you girls mind if we go back to the camp? I think after all that, I need a bite to…" I trailed off as something much more important grabbed my attention. My jaw tensed, and I nearly bit my tongue. Kay had pulled Ooarai's team captain into a hug. It was only a brief hug, but it was still enough to rile me up.
"Uh… Tally?" Rach asked, poking my cheek.
"Huh?"
"Looks like someone is jealous!" Rach teased with a singsong voice. "You've got a crush on someone!"
"I do not!" I protested hotly.
"You may be able to lie to yourself, but you can never lie to me! You even went on a date last weekend!"
"It wasn't a date!" I insisted.
"It wasn't?" Naomi snarked. "That's news to me!"
"It sure looked like it from our perspective!" Arisa added. "You skipped out on a party to have a little ice cream date with just the two of you."
I pouted at them. "I hate all of you. So much."
"No you don't!" Rach teased. "Anyway, food. I'm famished too!"
"You should stick around, then!" Kay said loudly as she approached. "Trips already said that she'd have the 445 cater the party tonight! You're always invited if you're in the area!" Kay gave us all a smile, then focused her attention on Arisa, Naomi, and me. "You three, debriefing at my dorm room after the party. Arisa, we are going to have a nice long chat about your little stunt. Someone let Hannah know."
"Yes ma'am!" we all replied in unison.
Rach, meanwhile, blinked in confusion. "I'm sorry, stunt? Does this have to do with that balloon? Rosehip and I were both wondering about that. It was rather fishy."
"It's all perfectly within the rules! I triple checked!" Arisa insisted, but she withered under Kay's gaze.
"But it wasn't fair play."
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't just be sorry. Be better." Kay made sure that Arisa had gotten the message loud and clear before she once again addressed me. "Tally, can you hold off on the food for a bit? If we can, I'd like to get all the knocked out tanks moving again ASAP so we can load them up and bring them home. The Chief has your crew handled, so we don't really have anyone who can work on Tex."
"On my own?" I asked.
"I can help!" Rach immediately volunteered. "I can probably grab a couple of my Munchkins to help out too!"
Kay nodded. "That'll work. Thank you, both of you."
"Tally, meet Rosehip. Rosie, this is my best friend, Tally," Rach said, introducing me to the pinkette that she'd dragged out to help with Tex. "Rosie here is one of my Munchkins, even if she's not part of Pally's crew. She's also the up and coming vice commander of St. Glo's cruiser tank force."
I blinked. "Wait, really? She's a freshman, and she's already slotted into a command position?"
"I've been doing sensha-do longer than you have!" Rosehip protested. "I've only been in Indefatigable for two months, but I was team captain at my middle school, and Lady Darjeeling seems to think I've got what it takes!"
My mouth opened, then closed as I considered my words. After a moment of silent emoting, I settled for a simple "That's fair."
"My rise to leadership is about as fast as Indefatigable is, and there's nothing on the field that can match my Crusader for speed!" Rosehip declared proudly. She even pumped a fist into the air in a manner remarkably similar to how Rach and I would do it with a 'Haha, tanks!' cheer.
"Is that so?" I mused as I climbed up onto Tex's rear deck and opened up the engine compartment. "Have you ever heard of the 76mm Gun Motor Carriage M18?"
Rosehip gave me a pout as she wrapped up the white flag and pushed it back into the turret. "Okay, fine! But there's nothing sensha-do legal that can match her! Not even other Crusaders! I've beaten BTs and St. Glo's Cromwell in races before!"
"Impressive." I didn't say more as I focused on the control panel that would allow me to reset the KO'd tank. It was fairly simple, just a bunch of breakers that would trip whenever the tank got knocked out. There were a couple safeties built in to ensure that people couldn't cheat and reactivate the tank until the match was over, but I didn't have to worry about that as I flipped the switches. "Rach, try to start her up!"
"Got it!" my best friend replied. I waited with bated breath, but when the engine rumbled to life, I let out a sigh and closed up the engine deck.
"Hey, Rosie, quick question," I asked as I climbed up into the turret. "You said that your Crusader can consistently beat other Crusaders in a race, right?"
"Yeah! We retrofitted a Rolls-Royce Meteor into her to make sure that we were the best, most mobile tank at St. Gloriana's!"
"Is that a legal retrofit? I thought Crusaders used the… Liberty engine?"
"They do, yeah, but Indefatigable is special! They used a Crusader as the test platform for the Meteor before they could make the Cromwells."
"Huh. Neat! Though… best tank at St. Glo might be a bit of a stretch. I'm sure Rach would disagree."
"I do! There's nothing there that can beat Victory in a straight fight! I wish Darj would let me have one of the other Churchills, even if it's a three instead of a seven, or what have you, but we're stuck with Tillies due to tradition and whatnot. It sucks."
"You're still slow!" Rosehip protested. "What use is an infantry tank when there's no infantry to support? You can't get anywhere in time to be useful!"
"We have all the armor! That's what infantry tanks are useful for! It's so fun to be able to laugh as the enemy tries to knock you out with puny two pounders or thirty-sevens!"
I scoffed. "That same two pounder that you're armed with? Can't even knock yourself out if you wanted to. Go ahead and get us moving to the staging area, will you?"
"Aye aye, captain Tally, ma'am!" Rach teased. "Though, uh, why, exactly, do I have to drive your tank?"
"Because I'm Tex's commander, not her driver, and my previous driver shot at me with a BB gun," I deadpanned.
Rosehip gave me a concerned look. "They didn't show that bit on the big screens. Are you alright?"
"I am, yeah. Took a couple hits, but nothing more than a bruise or a welt that'll subside in a few days." I paused and looked around the tank's turret. It felt uncomfortable in here after what had happened during the match. I shuddered, and pulled myself to an unbuttoned position.
I enjoyed sensha-do; I loved tanks in general, but Tex had never really felt like a welcoming place, like a home. It sucked that my time with her had ended in such a way, but I was really looking forward to getting into Izumi with a crew of my own. Jane's madness must have been getting to me, because I couldn't help but wonder if Tex shared my sentiments. If she and I agreed that it was best that we part ways, but the way that it all went down was a shame…
It didn't take Rach long to get us to the staging ground, and that was where she and Rosehip said their goodbyes. They had to catch up with Darjeeling if they wanted to get back to their school at a reasonable hour. That said, I made sure to give Rach my new phone number, and exchanged emails with Rosehip so that we could stay in contact.
I lingered at the edge of the party. Further into the garage, the music was roaring, people were dancing, and good times were being had by all. I wasn't one for parties on the best of days, and today was certainly not the best of days. I was all on my lonesome, and that was the perfect recipe for disaster tonight. With no company except my own thoughts, my mood was steadily worsening as I reflected on the day and everything that had occurred.
And then Faye Faith showed up.
"Hey you," Trips said gently with a small wave. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like crap, to be honest," I grumped. "You know how Henley had me hang out with the crew of the 445 before the match?"
"Yeah. Your crew was being awful, and she basically had to rescue you, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah, that. She wasn't wrong to do that. Turns out, they're even worse than we all thought."
Faye Faith winced. "Yikes. How about we go talk to the others as well, and you can tell us all what happened inside your tank. More company is always a good thing, so long as you're close to them, aye?"
"Aye," I agreed. I followed my blonde friend over to where the rest of the usual 445 crew was working. They hadn't brought the food truck, and had instead set up a much more casual spread while still being able to provide more than enough food for anyone who wanted it. Their ability to sate even Kay's ravenous appetite was something else…
"Tally!" Henley called with a wave as we approached. She set down her boat of french fries and jogged over to me. "How badly did those assholes hurt you? Do I need to hurt them in return?"
I blinked at her, then tried to wave her off. "That… that isn't necessary, Jayda! The issue has been resolved for the moment, and the less I have to deal with them in the future, the better."
"Alright, alright, if that's how you feel about the situation. But, if they were to, say, mysteriously get beaten up in a back alley when nobody was looking, you wouldn't mind, right?"
"Henley, no!" Nikki interrupted.
"Oh, come on! Let me live up to my title as Tally's Evil Twin for once!"
"I… what happened? Did Tally get hurt?" Haley asked, confused over everything.
"Yes, I got hurt today," I answered. "Got punched a couple times, and shot at with BB guns. Honestly, I expected the BB guns to sting more, but I barely felt them. They left some pretty annoying welts though."
"I think we all want to know exactly what happened in there," Faye Faith said. "If you're comfortable talking about it, obviously."
I let out a sigh, and Bannie gestured to one of the chairs they had set up near their stand. I nodded my thanks to her, sat down, and dove into the story of what had happened in Tex today. It was still a sore subject, but they were some of my biggest supporters, and they deserved to know. I'd have to tell the leadership team too, but that wasn't until after the party.
By the time Kay came by to collect me, I was feeling a lot better about the whole mess. The pain hadn't subsided, physically or emotionally, but it hurt a little less. Of course, Kay being Kay, she nabbed a burger from the table before she led me off to the parking lot, with Naomi, Arisa, and Hannah all in tow as well.
Normally, there would have been a bit of a race to see who could get shotgun and not have to sit in the very cramped rear seat of Kay's Jeep. Today, however, it seemed like everyone was willing to give it to me without issue. I appreciated the gesture.
The ride was rather quiet, and before long, we were all gathering in Kay's dorm room. Once again, it surprised me how normal her room was. It wasn't quite the same as mine, sure, but it was just a room like any other.
"Alright everyone, gather 'round, gather 'round. Warm up under the kotatsu if you want to!" Kay said cheerfully. I sat next to her, and Hannah took a seat across from us. Arisa and Naomi grabbed some snacks from the mini fridge before they sat down too.
"Okay, so, first things first," Kay began with a smile. "I want to congratulate everyone on a well played match. Don't feel bad because we lost. It was a really good game all around, and Ooarai out-thought and out-played us."
Arisa wilted at the mention of getting out-thought. Hannah noticed it too, and put a comforting hand on her TC's shoulder.
"That said, there were definitely things that we can learn from the match," Kay continued. "As per usual, let's start our post-match review with the good stuff. Arisa, you're up!"
With all the attention on her, Arisa wilted even more. But she took a deep breath, sat up, and launched straight into her piece. "Seven points for team coordination. When I was working as command and control with my map, everyone worked really well together and followed my orders easily, even when I screwed up and it cost them."
Hannah patted her TC's shoulder once more before she shared her answer. She must have had it ready. "I don't usually get to keep track of what's going on too much, benefits of being a loader, but when we got ambushed and attacked, the team came to our aid incredibly quickly despite the distance between our locations. Eight points for team responsiveness."
"Firing on the move is always going to be more difficult than firing from a stable position," Naomi began. "That doesn't excuse the team's poor accuracy during the two major chases. We had Ooarai surrounded at multiple points, and yet, we barely scored any effective hits. All three KOs that we got this match were my gunnery in that final chase, though it sounds like one of those might be contested or shared?"
I shook my head. "She was upset because you stole her kill. The Lee's yours."
"Then yeah, they were all mine. Four points for gunnery, and we need more practice engaging running targets on the move."
Beside me, Kay shook her head. "I said good stuff first!"
"Okay, okay." Naomi raised her hands to placate the captain. She took a moment to contemplate her answer before she finally spoke once more. "Whenever we engaged Ooarai directly, we never let up the pressure until they managed to disengage on their own. They never had a moment to breathe while we were pushing at them with all we had. Six points for aggression."
"Eight points for sportsmanship!" Kay declared with a thumbs up. "Everyone was welcoming of Ooarai's crews before and after the match. When I asked half the team to remain behind for the sake of fairness, everyone did it without many complaints." She paused and glanced over at me. "Well, everyone but the crew that had already gone rogue at that point…"
I slumped against her when she mentioned that. She took that as a cue to wrap her arm around me and pull me into a gentle side hug. It was nice. Her stabilizing presence helped me reflect on the match without hurting too much. It was hard to think of the good things when so many things had gone wrong in the match for me, but that didn't reflect on the rest of the team. What did I want to say?
Eventually, something came to me. "We kept mobile. When we didn't know where Ooarai was, we spread out and started hunting them down. When we thought we knew where they were, we rushed to that location as quickly as we could. As far as I'm aware, we didn't really give them a moment to stop and plan something out as a group. Well, at least until the whole misinformation thing happened. Six points for mobility."
Kay smiled at all of us as we concluded the good stuff part of the meeting. "Good points all around! Before we touch on the elephants in the room, does anyone have any concerns or criticisms that need addressing?"
"Gunnery," Naomi replied, repeating her earlier point. "We need more practice against mobile targets, especially when they're shooting back."
Hannah quickly jotted that down on a notepad. "Got it. Should we put that in for practice next week?"
"Probably for the best," Kay confirmed with a nod. "Anyone else?" When nobody replied, she took a deep breath. "Okay, so, two things that need discussing. One of them is Arisa's radio interception. The other is figuring out what exactly went down inside Tex. Tally, you probably aren't in trouble for that. Arisa, you might be."
Arisa and I both nodded at her points, but neither of us made the move to speak first. After twenty seconds of awkward silence, Hannah gave her TC a gentle shove.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Arisa began, the words spilling out of her mouth. "It was a bad idea and against the spirit of the rules even if it is completely legal. I triple checked and everything. It's my fault that we lost. I was too sure that they wouldn't notice, and even if they did, they didn't have a way to work around it unless they literally all stopped and discussed outside of their tanks."
"Triple checked, huh?" Naomi mused. "The wording on the rule is no outside assistance, right?"
"Yeah," Hannah confirmed, pulling out a pocket version of the sensha-do rules. She flipped it open to the relevant page and passed the book around so we could all confirm for ourselves. "It's mostly meant for stuff like how you aren't allowed to use your phone to call someone watching the match and have them give you information, or having an observation plane overhead."
"The balloon was set up during the match, and it was attached to Wiz right up until we cut it loose during the chase with that Type 89," Arisa added.
"Have you confirmed with the officials that it would be allowed?" Kay pressed.
"Not yet, but it's not against any rules. Hannah and I both scanned the book meticulously to be certain!"
"Then I only see three mistakes," Kay stated. Everyone leaned in slightly, hanging on her words. "One, I was not informed that you would be using it, and you went as far as lying to me about it to hide the source of your intel. Two, you relied solely upon that intercepted intelligence, even after you directly sent Tally and Haruna into a trap. Three, you used it against a team we already had numerous advantages against."
I blinked. "But isn't it against the spirit of the rules, if not the letter?"
"Yes and no," Kay replied easily. "It was an unfair advantage that we did not need to achieve victory, and the utter reliance upon it was what cost us the match. I always strive to be fair in sensha-do, and this further imbalanced the match. If we go up against a superior force like Kuromorimine or Pravda, something like that might help even the playing field, if used with restraint. That said, until Arisa confirms from the referees and the federation that it is okay to use the radio interception balloon, we will not be using it.
"Naturally, this doesn't mean you aren't in trouble for this one, Arisa."
"Of course not…" Arisa sighed glumly.
"We'll talk about your punishment later, in private," Kay ordered. Then, she gave me another side hug and turned to address me. "You did the right thing by hitting the big red button and bailing out, Tally. But we don't have a clear picture of what happened in your tank, and your former crew weren't exactly forthcoming with the details. Can you tell us what happened?"
I nodded. Then, I dove right into the situation, basically the same story I told Trips, Henley, and the other girls of the 445. I went into more detail about what exactly went down when everything went wrong, how they'd blackmailed me, seized control, and went rogue. By the time I got to Angel trying to knock out Naomi and my attempts at stopping her, I was shaking and struggling to hold back tears, but I bulled through. They needed to know everything.
Finally, it was done. Kay pulled me into a big hug, and I cried into her shoulder for a long minute. "It's okay, Tally," Kay soothed. "You did everything you could, and you successfully resolved the situation."
When I'd finally calmed down, Naomi spoke up. "Why the heck did they go after you with BB guns? The match was on national television, and they attacked you while being recorded like that. It's practically digging their own graves."
"In for a penny, in for a pound," Arisa murmured. "They'd already committed to hurting you at that point, and they were screwed anyways."
"They tried to drag me down with them, even if they had to physically break me to do so…"
Kay hugged me again. "I'm sorry we put you with them. You're a rookie, they're troublemakers, and it was just a recipe for disaster. If I'd known how much trouble they'd cause you, I would never have put you in Tex."
"I-it's fine," I tried to say, but I choked on the lie as my tears welled up once more. Kay squeezed the hug, not quite to the level of one of her backbreakers, but it was up there.
"Does anyone else have anything they would like to add to the meeting?" Kay asked, still hugging me. Nobody said anything. "In that case, let's break out the snacks and sodas. Naomi, do you have that disc set of Steel Knights somewhere?"
"It's in my room."
"Can you run and get it? I feel like we need something happy and fun tonight."
"Yes ma'am!"
While Naomi ran off to get the anime, Kay enlisted my help in moving the kotatsu over to a better position for watching TV. Once it was there, we both settled down under it and sat side by side. I shifted uncomfortably for a moment, not used to being in such close proximity with someone for this long of a time.
Action packed anime had never been my first choice of show. I tended to prefer much more calm, slice of life shows, but there was something about Steel Knights that drew my attention. Maybe it was the cute girls who were also tanks, maybe it was how the action setpieces took second fiddle to the growth of the main character. Maybe it was how it was similar to that manga series that Auntie Nat had sent me not too long ago, where despite getting shot at, nobody actually got hurt and everyone was able to laugh off injuries. Whatever the case, the anime caught my eye and I was enjoying it.
A bitter chill entered the room as the sun fell beneath the horizon. If anything, that only got me to cuddle up with Kay. The kotatsu was warm and comfortable, but Kay was moreso, and I happily leaned against her as we watched the first few episodes of Steel Knights.
Part Fifty One
++++++++++
I remained unaware of the commotion around us for a few minutes. I was emotionally drained after a very trying day, I was hurting from punches and BB guns, and everything was just too overwhelming. Tanks were moving, people were talking and shouting and yelling, and I barely comprehended that it was going on around me.
A familiar, thunderous voice snapped me back to reality in an instant with a single cry. "Tally!" I wiped my tears as best I could while still hugging Kay, and looked up just in time for Rachel Knight to pull me (and Kay by association) into a big hug. I didn't try to fight back, and instead let myself be pinned between my two best friends.
Rach released the hug after a few moments, and helped Kay and I to our feet. I brushed myself off, then looked up at Rach and the unexpected (and yet somehow unsurprising) blue pullover she was wearing, complete with the St. Gloriana's emblem emblazoned on the chest. It took me a few minutes to properly comprehend what I was looking at before it all finally clicked.
"Rach?! What are you doing here?" I asked.
"When I saw you bail out of your tank and start running, I knew something was up. I asked Darj if I could take the UC down here as soon as we saw that the match was over, then I grabbed your coach and a medic and got down here as quickly as I could!" Rach answered. Then she paused and tilted her head. "Cookie?"
I nodded, and she passed me a large chocolate chip cookie from her bag. I unwrapped it and nibbled on it for a moment. A small smile crossed my face, but even I knew it didn't reach my eyes. Everything still hurt too much. "Thanks. That said, I was more asking why you're here in Japan, and at St. Glo of all places!"
Rach just laughed. "The paperwork got all messed up. It took an extra week for me to even get approved to transfer to St. Glo for a year, and more to buy plane tickets and prepare to cross the Pacific to go to an entirely new school. By that point, I decided to surprise you. I wanted to meet up with you at the tournament's placement lottery, but you never answered when I called you, and I couldn't find you there! So, uh… surprise!"
"Oh," I murmured softly. "Sorry. The, uh, the Bandits stole my phone. They tried to blackmail me with it during the match and let Tuco command instead of me."
Kay's presence beside me turned from warm and comforting to icy cold in an instant. "They did what?"
"Uh, let me think…" I murmured. "They, uh, committed mutiny, blackmail, bribery, threats, oh, and they physically attacked me. And that's just the stuff that immediately comes to mind."
Kay was silent for a long moment. I glanced over at her, quite concerned. It was well-placed concern, because the only other time I had ever seen Kay that angry, it was directed at me. "Rachel, stay with Tally. There's something I need to handle."
"Can do."
With that, Kay stormed off towards Tex, where Naomi was currently handling the Bandits with the Chief. I blinked at the scene, and looked around to see just how much things had changed while I was out of sorts. Spunky and Pluck were both parked nearby, as was the knocked out Tex. A St. Glo universal carrier was parked next to Spunky, with a medic standing nearby, checking over some of the crews.
"So, uh, what did they stick you in?" I asked awkwardly, still nibbling on my cookie.
Rach just gestured towards the myriad of small bandages covering various parts of her body, including her knees, elbows, and forehead. "They put me in a Matilda with a crew of freshmen. I think it's Darj's way of punishing me for being so very American at her British school. Paladin is small and cramped, but she also has all of the armor! Haha, heavy tanks!"
"Haha, tanks!" I echoed. Then I blinked with a sudden realization. "Wait, is that why you used a Matilda as a reference when you were asking about how bad being in Warden was?"
"Yeah! Though, I probably shouldn't have used Pally as a reference, considering I was trying to surprise you."
"I never actually caught that one, so it was still a big surprise. Sorry, I'm just, well… still trying to deal with all of everything that just happened and I'm still a little freaked out by the fact that they shot me! With BB guns, but still!"
"And you're fine," Rach soothed, patting my shoulder gently. "That said, we should have the medic check you out, just in case."
"Yeah… yeah, we probably should," I agreed.
I wasn't feeling too steady on my feet after all that, and I leaned on Rach as we walked over to where the medic was waiting. He gave me a quick check, inspected the various bruises and welts that were already developing, and told me that I was going to be fine, but I would need to take things easy for a few days while I healed. I didn't like the idea of having to take things easy when I had plans to get Jane and April into Izumi tomorrow, but the medic knew better than I did.
"Hey, Tally?" Rach asked as we walked away from the medic.
"Yes?"
"Next time you need to talk, don't call me at six AM. Please. I'm happy to talk to you if you need it, but I don't think the rest of the dorm appreciated being woken up at an hour only you would call sane."
I scoffed, and the cheeky grin on her face only widened until we both started giggling like the schoolgirls that we are. Laughter felt good, and it helped drive away the sting of the Bandits' betrayal. "Ah, yeah, that's… I'll, uh, I'll make sure to call you at a more reasonable hour. Like, I dunno, five thirty?"
"Alright, time to call you at midnight then! If you get to screw with my sleep schedule, I get to screw with yours!"
That got another round of giggling from me, then I reached over and pulled my friend into a gentle hug. "Thank you, Rach. For… for all of it, really. For being here. I missed you."
"I missed you too."
"But my aim is getting better!"
"Oh, shut it, you!"
The ceremonies to close the match went rather quickly. I was thankful for that fact, and I think a number of the others were too. Afterwards, I ended up lingering with Rach, Naomi, and Arisa while Kay went to talk to Ooarai's team captain.
We were halfway through a retelling of the Maginot match, with voices from all the perspectives when I interrupted. "Hey, uh, do you girls mind if we go back to the camp? I think after all that, I need a bite to…" I trailed off as something much more important grabbed my attention. My jaw tensed, and I nearly bit my tongue. Kay had pulled Ooarai's team captain into a hug. It was only a brief hug, but it was still enough to rile me up.
"Uh… Tally?" Rach asked, poking my cheek.
"Huh?"
"Looks like someone is jealous!" Rach teased with a singsong voice. "You've got a crush on someone!"
"I do not!" I protested hotly.
"You may be able to lie to yourself, but you can never lie to me! You even went on a date last weekend!"
"It wasn't a date!" I insisted.
"It wasn't?" Naomi snarked. "That's news to me!"
"It sure looked like it from our perspective!" Arisa added. "You skipped out on a party to have a little ice cream date with just the two of you."
I pouted at them. "I hate all of you. So much."
"No you don't!" Rach teased. "Anyway, food. I'm famished too!"
"You should stick around, then!" Kay said loudly as she approached. "Trips already said that she'd have the 445 cater the party tonight! You're always invited if you're in the area!" Kay gave us all a smile, then focused her attention on Arisa, Naomi, and me. "You three, debriefing at my dorm room after the party. Arisa, we are going to have a nice long chat about your little stunt. Someone let Hannah know."
"Yes ma'am!" we all replied in unison.
Rach, meanwhile, blinked in confusion. "I'm sorry, stunt? Does this have to do with that balloon? Rosehip and I were both wondering about that. It was rather fishy."
"It's all perfectly within the rules! I triple checked!" Arisa insisted, but she withered under Kay's gaze.
"But it wasn't fair play."
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't just be sorry. Be better." Kay made sure that Arisa had gotten the message loud and clear before she once again addressed me. "Tally, can you hold off on the food for a bit? If we can, I'd like to get all the knocked out tanks moving again ASAP so we can load them up and bring them home. The Chief has your crew handled, so we don't really have anyone who can work on Tex."
"On my own?" I asked.
"I can help!" Rach immediately volunteered. "I can probably grab a couple of my Munchkins to help out too!"
Kay nodded. "That'll work. Thank you, both of you."
++++++++++
"Tally, meet Rosehip. Rosie, this is my best friend, Tally," Rach said, introducing me to the pinkette that she'd dragged out to help with Tex. "Rosie here is one of my Munchkins, even if she's not part of Pally's crew. She's also the up and coming vice commander of St. Glo's cruiser tank force."
I blinked. "Wait, really? She's a freshman, and she's already slotted into a command position?"
"I've been doing sensha-do longer than you have!" Rosehip protested. "I've only been in Indefatigable for two months, but I was team captain at my middle school, and Lady Darjeeling seems to think I've got what it takes!"
My mouth opened, then closed as I considered my words. After a moment of silent emoting, I settled for a simple "That's fair."
"My rise to leadership is about as fast as Indefatigable is, and there's nothing on the field that can match my Crusader for speed!" Rosehip declared proudly. She even pumped a fist into the air in a manner remarkably similar to how Rach and I would do it with a 'Haha, tanks!' cheer.
"Is that so?" I mused as I climbed up onto Tex's rear deck and opened up the engine compartment. "Have you ever heard of the 76mm Gun Motor Carriage M18?"
Rosehip gave me a pout as she wrapped up the white flag and pushed it back into the turret. "Okay, fine! But there's nothing sensha-do legal that can match her! Not even other Crusaders! I've beaten BTs and St. Glo's Cromwell in races before!"
"Impressive." I didn't say more as I focused on the control panel that would allow me to reset the KO'd tank. It was fairly simple, just a bunch of breakers that would trip whenever the tank got knocked out. There were a couple safeties built in to ensure that people couldn't cheat and reactivate the tank until the match was over, but I didn't have to worry about that as I flipped the switches. "Rach, try to start her up!"
"Got it!" my best friend replied. I waited with bated breath, but when the engine rumbled to life, I let out a sigh and closed up the engine deck.
"Hey, Rosie, quick question," I asked as I climbed up into the turret. "You said that your Crusader can consistently beat other Crusaders in a race, right?"
"Yeah! We retrofitted a Rolls-Royce Meteor into her to make sure that we were the best, most mobile tank at St. Gloriana's!"
"Is that a legal retrofit? I thought Crusaders used the… Liberty engine?"
"They do, yeah, but Indefatigable is special! They used a Crusader as the test platform for the Meteor before they could make the Cromwells."
"Huh. Neat! Though… best tank at St. Glo might be a bit of a stretch. I'm sure Rach would disagree."
"I do! There's nothing there that can beat Victory in a straight fight! I wish Darj would let me have one of the other Churchills, even if it's a three instead of a seven, or what have you, but we're stuck with Tillies due to tradition and whatnot. It sucks."
"You're still slow!" Rosehip protested. "What use is an infantry tank when there's no infantry to support? You can't get anywhere in time to be useful!"
"We have all the armor! That's what infantry tanks are useful for! It's so fun to be able to laugh as the enemy tries to knock you out with puny two pounders or thirty-sevens!"
I scoffed. "That same two pounder that you're armed with? Can't even knock yourself out if you wanted to. Go ahead and get us moving to the staging area, will you?"
"Aye aye, captain Tally, ma'am!" Rach teased. "Though, uh, why, exactly, do I have to drive your tank?"
"Because I'm Tex's commander, not her driver, and my previous driver shot at me with a BB gun," I deadpanned.
Rosehip gave me a concerned look. "They didn't show that bit on the big screens. Are you alright?"
"I am, yeah. Took a couple hits, but nothing more than a bruise or a welt that'll subside in a few days." I paused and looked around the tank's turret. It felt uncomfortable in here after what had happened during the match. I shuddered, and pulled myself to an unbuttoned position.
I enjoyed sensha-do; I loved tanks in general, but Tex had never really felt like a welcoming place, like a home. It sucked that my time with her had ended in such a way, but I was really looking forward to getting into Izumi with a crew of my own. Jane's madness must have been getting to me, because I couldn't help but wonder if Tex shared my sentiments. If she and I agreed that it was best that we part ways, but the way that it all went down was a shame…
It didn't take Rach long to get us to the staging ground, and that was where she and Rosehip said their goodbyes. They had to catch up with Darjeeling if they wanted to get back to their school at a reasonable hour. That said, I made sure to give Rach my new phone number, and exchanged emails with Rosehip so that we could stay in contact.
++++++++++
I lingered at the edge of the party. Further into the garage, the music was roaring, people were dancing, and good times were being had by all. I wasn't one for parties on the best of days, and today was certainly not the best of days. I was all on my lonesome, and that was the perfect recipe for disaster tonight. With no company except my own thoughts, my mood was steadily worsening as I reflected on the day and everything that had occurred.
And then Faye Faith showed up.
"Hey you," Trips said gently with a small wave. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like crap, to be honest," I grumped. "You know how Henley had me hang out with the crew of the 445 before the match?"
"Yeah. Your crew was being awful, and she basically had to rescue you, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah, that. She wasn't wrong to do that. Turns out, they're even worse than we all thought."
Faye Faith winced. "Yikes. How about we go talk to the others as well, and you can tell us all what happened inside your tank. More company is always a good thing, so long as you're close to them, aye?"
"Aye," I agreed. I followed my blonde friend over to where the rest of the usual 445 crew was working. They hadn't brought the food truck, and had instead set up a much more casual spread while still being able to provide more than enough food for anyone who wanted it. Their ability to sate even Kay's ravenous appetite was something else…
"Tally!" Henley called with a wave as we approached. She set down her boat of french fries and jogged over to me. "How badly did those assholes hurt you? Do I need to hurt them in return?"
I blinked at her, then tried to wave her off. "That… that isn't necessary, Jayda! The issue has been resolved for the moment, and the less I have to deal with them in the future, the better."
"Alright, alright, if that's how you feel about the situation. But, if they were to, say, mysteriously get beaten up in a back alley when nobody was looking, you wouldn't mind, right?"
"Henley, no!" Nikki interrupted.
"Oh, come on! Let me live up to my title as Tally's Evil Twin for once!"
"I… what happened? Did Tally get hurt?" Haley asked, confused over everything.
"Yes, I got hurt today," I answered. "Got punched a couple times, and shot at with BB guns. Honestly, I expected the BB guns to sting more, but I barely felt them. They left some pretty annoying welts though."
"I think we all want to know exactly what happened in there," Faye Faith said. "If you're comfortable talking about it, obviously."
I let out a sigh, and Bannie gestured to one of the chairs they had set up near their stand. I nodded my thanks to her, sat down, and dove into the story of what had happened in Tex today. It was still a sore subject, but they were some of my biggest supporters, and they deserved to know. I'd have to tell the leadership team too, but that wasn't until after the party.
By the time Kay came by to collect me, I was feeling a lot better about the whole mess. The pain hadn't subsided, physically or emotionally, but it hurt a little less. Of course, Kay being Kay, she nabbed a burger from the table before she led me off to the parking lot, with Naomi, Arisa, and Hannah all in tow as well.
Normally, there would have been a bit of a race to see who could get shotgun and not have to sit in the very cramped rear seat of Kay's Jeep. Today, however, it seemed like everyone was willing to give it to me without issue. I appreciated the gesture.
The ride was rather quiet, and before long, we were all gathering in Kay's dorm room. Once again, it surprised me how normal her room was. It wasn't quite the same as mine, sure, but it was just a room like any other.
"Alright everyone, gather 'round, gather 'round. Warm up under the kotatsu if you want to!" Kay said cheerfully. I sat next to her, and Hannah took a seat across from us. Arisa and Naomi grabbed some snacks from the mini fridge before they sat down too.
"Okay, so, first things first," Kay began with a smile. "I want to congratulate everyone on a well played match. Don't feel bad because we lost. It was a really good game all around, and Ooarai out-thought and out-played us."
Arisa wilted at the mention of getting out-thought. Hannah noticed it too, and put a comforting hand on her TC's shoulder.
"That said, there were definitely things that we can learn from the match," Kay continued. "As per usual, let's start our post-match review with the good stuff. Arisa, you're up!"
With all the attention on her, Arisa wilted even more. But she took a deep breath, sat up, and launched straight into her piece. "Seven points for team coordination. When I was working as command and control with my map, everyone worked really well together and followed my orders easily, even when I screwed up and it cost them."
Hannah patted her TC's shoulder once more before she shared her answer. She must have had it ready. "I don't usually get to keep track of what's going on too much, benefits of being a loader, but when we got ambushed and attacked, the team came to our aid incredibly quickly despite the distance between our locations. Eight points for team responsiveness."
"Firing on the move is always going to be more difficult than firing from a stable position," Naomi began. "That doesn't excuse the team's poor accuracy during the two major chases. We had Ooarai surrounded at multiple points, and yet, we barely scored any effective hits. All three KOs that we got this match were my gunnery in that final chase, though it sounds like one of those might be contested or shared?"
I shook my head. "She was upset because you stole her kill. The Lee's yours."
"Then yeah, they were all mine. Four points for gunnery, and we need more practice engaging running targets on the move."
Beside me, Kay shook her head. "I said good stuff first!"
"Okay, okay." Naomi raised her hands to placate the captain. She took a moment to contemplate her answer before she finally spoke once more. "Whenever we engaged Ooarai directly, we never let up the pressure until they managed to disengage on their own. They never had a moment to breathe while we were pushing at them with all we had. Six points for aggression."
"Eight points for sportsmanship!" Kay declared with a thumbs up. "Everyone was welcoming of Ooarai's crews before and after the match. When I asked half the team to remain behind for the sake of fairness, everyone did it without many complaints." She paused and glanced over at me. "Well, everyone but the crew that had already gone rogue at that point…"
I slumped against her when she mentioned that. She took that as a cue to wrap her arm around me and pull me into a gentle side hug. It was nice. Her stabilizing presence helped me reflect on the match without hurting too much. It was hard to think of the good things when so many things had gone wrong in the match for me, but that didn't reflect on the rest of the team. What did I want to say?
Eventually, something came to me. "We kept mobile. When we didn't know where Ooarai was, we spread out and started hunting them down. When we thought we knew where they were, we rushed to that location as quickly as we could. As far as I'm aware, we didn't really give them a moment to stop and plan something out as a group. Well, at least until the whole misinformation thing happened. Six points for mobility."
Kay smiled at all of us as we concluded the good stuff part of the meeting. "Good points all around! Before we touch on the elephants in the room, does anyone have any concerns or criticisms that need addressing?"
"Gunnery," Naomi replied, repeating her earlier point. "We need more practice against mobile targets, especially when they're shooting back."
Hannah quickly jotted that down on a notepad. "Got it. Should we put that in for practice next week?"
"Probably for the best," Kay confirmed with a nod. "Anyone else?" When nobody replied, she took a deep breath. "Okay, so, two things that need discussing. One of them is Arisa's radio interception. The other is figuring out what exactly went down inside Tex. Tally, you probably aren't in trouble for that. Arisa, you might be."
Arisa and I both nodded at her points, but neither of us made the move to speak first. After twenty seconds of awkward silence, Hannah gave her TC a gentle shove.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Arisa began, the words spilling out of her mouth. "It was a bad idea and against the spirit of the rules even if it is completely legal. I triple checked and everything. It's my fault that we lost. I was too sure that they wouldn't notice, and even if they did, they didn't have a way to work around it unless they literally all stopped and discussed outside of their tanks."
"Triple checked, huh?" Naomi mused. "The wording on the rule is no outside assistance, right?"
"Yeah," Hannah confirmed, pulling out a pocket version of the sensha-do rules. She flipped it open to the relevant page and passed the book around so we could all confirm for ourselves. "It's mostly meant for stuff like how you aren't allowed to use your phone to call someone watching the match and have them give you information, or having an observation plane overhead."
"The balloon was set up during the match, and it was attached to Wiz right up until we cut it loose during the chase with that Type 89," Arisa added.
"Have you confirmed with the officials that it would be allowed?" Kay pressed.
"Not yet, but it's not against any rules. Hannah and I both scanned the book meticulously to be certain!"
"Then I only see three mistakes," Kay stated. Everyone leaned in slightly, hanging on her words. "One, I was not informed that you would be using it, and you went as far as lying to me about it to hide the source of your intel. Two, you relied solely upon that intercepted intelligence, even after you directly sent Tally and Haruna into a trap. Three, you used it against a team we already had numerous advantages against."
I blinked. "But isn't it against the spirit of the rules, if not the letter?"
"Yes and no," Kay replied easily. "It was an unfair advantage that we did not need to achieve victory, and the utter reliance upon it was what cost us the match. I always strive to be fair in sensha-do, and this further imbalanced the match. If we go up against a superior force like Kuromorimine or Pravda, something like that might help even the playing field, if used with restraint. That said, until Arisa confirms from the referees and the federation that it is okay to use the radio interception balloon, we will not be using it.
"Naturally, this doesn't mean you aren't in trouble for this one, Arisa."
"Of course not…" Arisa sighed glumly.
"We'll talk about your punishment later, in private," Kay ordered. Then, she gave me another side hug and turned to address me. "You did the right thing by hitting the big red button and bailing out, Tally. But we don't have a clear picture of what happened in your tank, and your former crew weren't exactly forthcoming with the details. Can you tell us what happened?"
I nodded. Then, I dove right into the situation, basically the same story I told Trips, Henley, and the other girls of the 445. I went into more detail about what exactly went down when everything went wrong, how they'd blackmailed me, seized control, and went rogue. By the time I got to Angel trying to knock out Naomi and my attempts at stopping her, I was shaking and struggling to hold back tears, but I bulled through. They needed to know everything.
Finally, it was done. Kay pulled me into a big hug, and I cried into her shoulder for a long minute. "It's okay, Tally," Kay soothed. "You did everything you could, and you successfully resolved the situation."
When I'd finally calmed down, Naomi spoke up. "Why the heck did they go after you with BB guns? The match was on national television, and they attacked you while being recorded like that. It's practically digging their own graves."
"In for a penny, in for a pound," Arisa murmured. "They'd already committed to hurting you at that point, and they were screwed anyways."
"They tried to drag me down with them, even if they had to physically break me to do so…"
Kay hugged me again. "I'm sorry we put you with them. You're a rookie, they're troublemakers, and it was just a recipe for disaster. If I'd known how much trouble they'd cause you, I would never have put you in Tex."
"I-it's fine," I tried to say, but I choked on the lie as my tears welled up once more. Kay squeezed the hug, not quite to the level of one of her backbreakers, but it was up there.
"Does anyone else have anything they would like to add to the meeting?" Kay asked, still hugging me. Nobody said anything. "In that case, let's break out the snacks and sodas. Naomi, do you have that disc set of Steel Knights somewhere?"
"It's in my room."
"Can you run and get it? I feel like we need something happy and fun tonight."
"Yes ma'am!"
While Naomi ran off to get the anime, Kay enlisted my help in moving the kotatsu over to a better position for watching TV. Once it was there, we both settled down under it and sat side by side. I shifted uncomfortably for a moment, not used to being in such close proximity with someone for this long of a time.
Action packed anime had never been my first choice of show. I tended to prefer much more calm, slice of life shows, but there was something about Steel Knights that drew my attention. Maybe it was the cute girls who were also tanks, maybe it was how the action setpieces took second fiddle to the growth of the main character. Maybe it was how it was similar to that manga series that Auntie Nat had sent me not too long ago, where despite getting shot at, nobody actually got hurt and everyone was able to laugh off injuries. Whatever the case, the anime caught my eye and I was enjoying it.
A bitter chill entered the room as the sun fell beneath the horizon. If anything, that only got me to cuddle up with Kay. The kotatsu was warm and comfortable, but Kay was moreso, and I happily leaned against her as we watched the first few episodes of Steel Knights.
"Tally!" A thunderous voice called, snapping me out of my fugue. I looked up and wiped the tears from my eyes just in time to see the familiar form of Rachel Knight charging towards me. There was no opportunity to react before she pulled me (and Kay by association) into a big hug. I didn't try to fight back, and just let myself be pinned between my two best friends.
Rach released the hug a few moments later, and helped Kay and I to our feet. I brushed myself off, and took a moment to look at Rach's new uniform. She was dressed in a blue pullover with the St Gloriana's logo emblazoned on the chest, which took a few moments for me to process.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. Kay patted my shoulder before running off to talk with the Chieftain, who was also somehow out here. Naomi's Firefly was parked off to one side, and I was momentarily distracted from Rach by just looking around at how much had changed in the few minutes I'd been out of sorts.
"Well, I saw you bail out of your tank and your crew do... whatever they were doing, and I asked Darj if I could take the UC down here. I grabbed a medic and your coach before coming down, just in case." Rach answered. "Cookie?"
I nodded, and Rach pulled a chocolate chip cookie out of her bag and passed it to me. "I was more asking about how you're here in Japan, and apparently attending St Glo. And speaking Japanese. I know you took Spanish back home."
Rach laughed at the question, and I took the moment to bite into the cookie. It must have been one of Mom's, and it was delicious. "Well, everyone back home was kinda worried about you, and I volunteered to try and come here. My dad pulled a few strings, called in a favor or two, and managed to get me to St Glo's. So instead of being your wonderful supporting crewmate or fellow TC, I'm gonna have to fit into the role of friendly rival. Which means I fully expect you to kick my butt when we finally face off."
I cracked a smile. "So, what did they give you?"
"A Matilda and a crew of freshmen." Rach said with a shrug. "I think it's Darj's way of punishing me for being so very American at her British school. It's small and cramped, but has all of the armor! We've been working hard, and I've managed to whip the Munchkins into shape. Supposedly, we're one of the best rookie crews on the team."
"Sounds like you're having fun."
"I am!" Rach paused for a moment, before a grin crossed her face. "Though… next time you need to call me to talk, try not to do it at 6 AM. The rest of the dorm was not happy to be woken up at that hour."
I laughed at the joke. Laughter felt good, and it drove away what remained of the sting of the Bandits' betrayal. "I missed you, Rach."
"I missed you too, Tally. If you ever need to talk, you know how to find me. Just… make sure it's at a reasonable hour. I'll get you my schedule so you can try to not interrupt class or practice." Rach said, pulling me into another, gentler hug. I returned it, and once we pulled away, Rach waved the medic over to check me out.
Thankfully, I got off fairly lightly. Nothing was broken or sprained, and I'd only have to deal with a few bruises and the medic's recommendation to take things lightly for a few days. Even if I had felt like it, I wouldn't have argued with her.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a bit of a blur. The ceremonies to close the match went quickly, and I lingered with Rach, Arisa, and Naomi while Kay went and talked to Ooarai's captain. We were partway through regaling Rach with the tale of the Maginot match when I glanced over at Kay and nearly bit my tongue. My jaw tensed for a moment as Kay hugged Ooarai's captain, though she fairly quickly released the hug.
"Uh, Tally?" Rach asked, giving me a soft poke.
"Huh, what?" I asked, spinning to face her. Arisa and Naomi were both hiding their faces and laughing softly.
"I've never seen you like that before, is all. Looks to me like you've got a crush." Rach teased, letting the last few words take on a singsong tone.
"I do not!" I exclaimed, blushing fiercely.
"They went on a date last weekend. Skipped out on a party to get ice cream together." Naomi added.
"It wasn't a date!" I insisted.
"I dunno, that's what it looked like to me." Arisa added.
"I hate all of you." I groaned, crossing my arms and turning away from the trio.
"What's this about a party?" Rach inquired.
"It's a Saunders tradition. After every big match or major event, we throw a party back at the garage. Or if Kay just feels like throwing a party." Naomi said.
"If you've got the time and you're in the area, you're always invited, Rach!" Kay said loudly as she joined the group. She turned to Naomi, Arisa, and I. "You three, debriefing at the dorms after the party. Arisa, we're gonna have a nice long chat about your little stunt. Someone let Hannah know."
"Yes ma'am!" All three of us replied.
"Stunt?" Rach asked. "Does this have to do with that balloon? Rosehip was wondering about that. She thought it was rather fishy."
"It's all perfectly within the rules!" Arisa insisted, but she withered under Kay's gaze.
"But it wasn't fair play."
"I'm sorry."
After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon packing up and preparing for the trip back to Saunders. The Bandits were nowhere to be found, which was apparently the Chieftain's doing, and Rach gathered a few St Glo volunteers to help pack up my disabled Sherman in their stead.
"Tally, this is Rosehip. Rosehip, this is Tally." Rach said, introducing me to the pinkette she dragged along to help. "Rosehip is one of my Munchkins, even if she's also the up and coming commander of St Glo's mobile force."
"There's nothing on the field that can match my Crusader for sheer speed!" Rosehip exclaimed proudly, pumping a fist into the air.
"Is that so?" I mused, as I directed Rach and Rosehip to help me with resetting the engine so we could drive the Sherman away. "Ever heard of the 76mm Gun Motor Carriage M18?"
Rosehip pouted at me as she dropped into the turret. "Okay, fine. But there's nothing that's Sensha-do legal that can match my Crusader. I've even beaten BTs in a race!"
"Impressive." I commented, taking my own position in the driver's hull.
It only took us a few minutes to get power working, and most of that was just finagling things to reset the white flag. All the while, Rosehip and I bantered about fast tanks, and which was the best. Rosehip was very insistent that her Crusader was the best tank to ever grace the 50 mph barrier, and that my beloved Hellcat didn't count because it wasn't Sensha-do legal. I disagreed quite strongly, and pointed out numerous flaws of the Crusader, from its unreliability, to it having a fairly underpowered gun. Neither of us mentioned armor, because no properly fast tank of the war actually had it in any reasonable amount. We both stared down Rach when she tried to mention it. Rach just laughed.
Rach managed to convince Rosehip and I to share emails, and once the tank was all ready to go, I waved them off and drove it over to the waiting column of Shermans.
"See you guys around!" I called.
"Laters!" Rach responded, while Rosehip waved energetically.
Doubts gnawed at me as I lingered at the edge of the party with Arisa. Now that everything had calmed down and I was left to my lonesome to think, the thought that I wasn't good enough for all this came back in force. I hadn't been able to keep my crew even remotely in line, and the only way I'd managed to stop them from knocking out allied tanks was hitting the emergency shut off. Was I good enough to actually be a TC?
Arisa must have noticed my worsening mood, because she kept trying to strike up conversation, but I just wasn't having it tonight.
It felt like a heavy weight was removed from my shoulders when Kay finally ducked out of the party with Hannah and Naomi in tow. Arisa and I quickly gathered ourselves and our stuff, and followed the trio. Kay's Jeep was not quite designed to fit five people comfortably, and Arisa, Naomi, and Hannah all squeezed into the back while I took shotgun.
The ride was fairly quiet, and before I knew it, we were gathering in Kay's dorm room. Once again, it surprised me that it was just a regular dorm room, hardly any different from my own. Kay beckoned everyone to gather around the kotatsu in the middle of the room, while Naomi and Arisa grabbed a few snacks from the minifridge.
"First things first, I would like to congratulate everyone on a well played match." Kay started, which helped snap me from my half-cognizant state. "Don't feel down because we lost, Ooarai managed to out-think us and out-maneuver us."
Arisa wilted when Kay mentioned getting out-thought, and Hannah put a comforting hand on her TC's shoulder.
"However," Kay continued, "that does not mean we cannot learn a few lessons from this match. As such, I'd like us to start our post-match review with the good stuff. Arisa, you're up."
Arisa only wilted further before finally picking herself back up and sitting straight. "When I was coordinating with my map, everybody followed orders well and worked together, even when I… screwed up. Seven points of team coordination."
Hannah went next, having her answer at the ready. "While I don't usually get to keep track of what's going on, when we got attacked and ambushed, the team came to our help incredibly quickly despite the distances between our locations. Nine points for team responsiveness."
"Firing on the move is always going to be harder than firing from a stable position. But that doesn't excuse our poor accuracy during the initial chase and the final one. Despite bracketing the fleeing groups multiple times, I have all three of our KOs of the match, though one sounds like it was contested." Naomi said next, looking in my direction.
"No, she was upset because you stole that kill. The Lee's yours." I said quietly.
Naomi nodded. "Four points for gunnery, and we need to practice mobile shooting more."
"Naomi, I said good stuff first!" Kay insisted.
"Okay, okay." Naomi raised her hands to placate the captain. She took a moment to contemplate her answer before speaking up again. "Whenever we engaged Ooarai directly, we never let up the pressure and gave them a moment to breathe, except when pulling off the pursuit was the smart idea. Seven points for aggression."
"Six points for sportsmanship!" Kay said with a thumbs up. "When I told teams to stay behind for fairness, nobody complained, and I saw multiple people congratulating Ooarai on their win after the match."
I frowned as the circle came to me. After that initial engagement, everything just seemed to go wrong, whether I knew it or not at the time. After what felt like far too long wracking my brain for something, I finally spoke up. "We kept mobile. When we didn't know where Ooarai was, we spread out and started searching. When we thought we knew where they were, we went after them, and Ooarai was incapable of doing anything, really, while we forced them to be mobile. Eight points for mobility."
Kay smiled as I closed out the good stuff part of the meeting. "Good points all around! Does anyone have any general criticisms that need addressing before we touch on the elephants in the room?"
"Gunnery." Naomi said again. "We need more practice shooting on the move against mobile targets."
"Noted. Next week's practices?" Hannah said, jotting down the comment on a notepad. Kay nodded, and the rest of us agreed with her assessment.
"Anybody else?" Kay asked. When nobody spoke up, she nodded. "Okay, so there are two things that need discussing. One is Arisa's radio interception, and the other is what went down inside Tally's tank. Tally, you are absolutely not in trouble for that. Arisa, you might be."
Arisa and I both nodded at her point, but neither of us made any move to speak first. Finally, Hannah gave her TC a gentle shove.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It was a bad idea, and against the spirit of the rules even if it is technically completely legal. It's my fault we lost, I was too sure that they wouldn't realize." Arisa said rapidly, the words spilling out of her mouth.
"The wording of the rule is no outside assistance, right?" Naomi asked.
"Yeah." Hannah confirmed. "It's meant for stuff like how you aren't allowed to use your phones to watch the match as it's playing, and you aren't allowed any contact with the outside like for observation planes. The radio intercept balloon was brought in and set up during the match, and was attached to the M4A1 until we cut it loose during the chase with the Type 89."
"And you've confirmed with officials that it would be allowed?" Kay asked.
"Not yet, but it isn't technically against any rules." Arisa answered.
"Then I only see three mistakes." Kay stated. Everyone leaned in just slightly, hanging onto her words. "One, I was not informed that you would be using it, and you went as far as lying to me about it. Two, you relied solely upon the intel gathered even after we were baited into a trap. Three, you used it against a team we already had numerous advantages against."
"W-what?" I asked, stunned. "But isn't it against the spirit of the rules, if not the letter?"
"The radio interception was an unfair advantage that we did not need to achieve victory, and the utter reliance upon it was what cost us the match. Against a superior force, like Kuromorimine or Pravda, that advantage might be necessary to have a fair fight. But until or unless it's confirmed by the officials as okay, we aren't using it." Kay explained. "Which does not mean you are not in trouble for this, Arisa."
"Of course not…" Arisa said glumly.
"We'll talk about punishment later, in private." Kay said to Arisa, before turning to face me. I lowered my face, unable to meet Kay's eyes. "Tally, you did the right thing hitting the suicide switch and bailing out of your tank. Can you give us a brief overview of what happened?"
"Everyone was upset after Arisa told us to drive straight into an ambush. When Naomi took out the Lee… Angel snapped, and tried to knock her out once the opportunity arose. I… I messed up her aim with the TC's override, and I tried to warn Naomi after the first shot." I explained, quivering in my seat.
"I never heard your radio message." Naomi said solemnly.
"Then they must have cut my comms at some point. Just my mic, because I got Kay's order to cease fire before Tuco just unplugged everything." I continued. My hands were shaking, and I clasped them together to try and keep them still. It didn't help. "Angel started shooting at Arisa, and I went for the TC's override again, but she grabbed me and started yelling at me. I-" I choked on my words, as tears began welling up. The memory was still too fresh.
"It's okay Tally. You did everything you could in that situation." Kay said, gently placing her hand atop mine. Her hand was warm, and her touch helped me calm down.
"Why the heck did they go after you with BB guns once you bailed?" Naomi mused. "At that point they're just digging their own graves."
"The desperate will fight even when the chances are past hope, because once you've lost everything, the only thing left is spite." I quoted. "I don't remember where Mom got that quote from."
"It's certainly appropriate." Naomi conceded.
"Tally, I'm incredibly sorry we put you through that by assigning you as their TC." Kay apologized. "We never should have put a rookie with those troublemakers."
"It's fine." I tried to say, but I choked on the lie as tears began flowing once more. Kay squeezed my hands with hers.
"Does anybody else have anything they would like to add to the meeting?" Kay asked, still holding my hands.
"I did have an idea for something, but I think it can wait. Perfectly in the rules this time, I assure you. In their spirit, too." Arisa said.
Kay nodded. "In that case, let's break out the snacks and sodas. Naomi, do you have that disc set of Steel Knights somewhere?"
"In my dorm." Naomi answered.
"Can you run and get it? I feel like we need something happy and fun tonight."
"Yes ma'am!"
While Naomi ran off to get the discs, Kay enlisted my help in moving the kotatsu over to a better position for watching the show. Once it was in position, I settled down under it and let the heater warm my cold feet. I tensed for a moment as Kay sat down next to me, so that we were both facing the TV, but relaxed under her touch as she wiggled around to get comfortable. Naomi quickly returned with the discs and started the first episode.
I've never really been a fan of the more action packed animes, preferring the more calm slice of life stuff, but something about Steel Knights drew my attention. Maybe it was the cute girls who were also tanks, maybe it was how the action set pieces took second fiddle to the character growth of Heidi, the main character who was also a Panzer IV. Whatever it was, I was interested in the anime.
A bitter chill entered the room as the sun fell beneath the horizon, and I cuddled up next to Kay. The kotatsu was warm, but Kay was warmer, and I leaned on her as we watched the first few episodes of Steel Knights.
Rach released the hug a few moments later, and helped Kay and I to our feet. I brushed myself off, and took a moment to look at Rach's new uniform. She was dressed in a blue pullover with the St Gloriana's logo emblazoned on the chest, which took a few moments for me to process.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. Kay patted my shoulder before running off to talk with the Chieftain, who was also somehow out here. Naomi's Firefly was parked off to one side, and I was momentarily distracted from Rach by just looking around at how much had changed in the few minutes I'd been out of sorts.
"Well, I saw you bail out of your tank and your crew do... whatever they were doing, and I asked Darj if I could take the UC down here. I grabbed a medic and your coach before coming down, just in case." Rach answered. "Cookie?"
I nodded, and Rach pulled a chocolate chip cookie out of her bag and passed it to me. "I was more asking about how you're here in Japan, and apparently attending St Glo. And speaking Japanese. I know you took Spanish back home."
Rach laughed at the question, and I took the moment to bite into the cookie. It must have been one of Mom's, and it was delicious. "Well, everyone back home was kinda worried about you, and I volunteered to try and come here. My dad pulled a few strings, called in a favor or two, and managed to get me to St Glo's. So instead of being your wonderful supporting crewmate or fellow TC, I'm gonna have to fit into the role of friendly rival. Which means I fully expect you to kick my butt when we finally face off."
I cracked a smile. "So, what did they give you?"
"A Matilda and a crew of freshmen." Rach said with a shrug. "I think it's Darj's way of punishing me for being so very American at her British school. It's small and cramped, but has all of the armor! We've been working hard, and I've managed to whip the Munchkins into shape. Supposedly, we're one of the best rookie crews on the team."
"Sounds like you're having fun."
"I am!" Rach paused for a moment, before a grin crossed her face. "Though… next time you need to call me to talk, try not to do it at 6 AM. The rest of the dorm was not happy to be woken up at that hour."
I laughed at the joke. Laughter felt good, and it drove away what remained of the sting of the Bandits' betrayal. "I missed you, Rach."
"I missed you too, Tally. If you ever need to talk, you know how to find me. Just… make sure it's at a reasonable hour. I'll get you my schedule so you can try to not interrupt class or practice." Rach said, pulling me into another, gentler hug. I returned it, and once we pulled away, Rach waved the medic over to check me out.
Thankfully, I got off fairly lightly. Nothing was broken or sprained, and I'd only have to deal with a few bruises and the medic's recommendation to take things lightly for a few days. Even if I had felt like it, I wouldn't have argued with her.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a bit of a blur. The ceremonies to close the match went quickly, and I lingered with Rach, Arisa, and Naomi while Kay went and talked to Ooarai's captain. We were partway through regaling Rach with the tale of the Maginot match when I glanced over at Kay and nearly bit my tongue. My jaw tensed for a moment as Kay hugged Ooarai's captain, though she fairly quickly released the hug.
"Uh, Tally?" Rach asked, giving me a soft poke.
"Huh, what?" I asked, spinning to face her. Arisa and Naomi were both hiding their faces and laughing softly.
"I've never seen you like that before, is all. Looks to me like you've got a crush." Rach teased, letting the last few words take on a singsong tone.
"I do not!" I exclaimed, blushing fiercely.
"They went on a date last weekend. Skipped out on a party to get ice cream together." Naomi added.
"It wasn't a date!" I insisted.
"I dunno, that's what it looked like to me." Arisa added.
"I hate all of you." I groaned, crossing my arms and turning away from the trio.
"What's this about a party?" Rach inquired.
"It's a Saunders tradition. After every big match or major event, we throw a party back at the garage. Or if Kay just feels like throwing a party." Naomi said.
"If you've got the time and you're in the area, you're always invited, Rach!" Kay said loudly as she joined the group. She turned to Naomi, Arisa, and I. "You three, debriefing at the dorms after the party. Arisa, we're gonna have a nice long chat about your little stunt. Someone let Hannah know."
"Yes ma'am!" All three of us replied.
"Stunt?" Rach asked. "Does this have to do with that balloon? Rosehip was wondering about that. She thought it was rather fishy."
"It's all perfectly within the rules!" Arisa insisted, but she withered under Kay's gaze.
"But it wasn't fair play."
"I'm sorry."
After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon packing up and preparing for the trip back to Saunders. The Bandits were nowhere to be found, which was apparently the Chieftain's doing, and Rach gathered a few St Glo volunteers to help pack up my disabled Sherman in their stead.
"Tally, this is Rosehip. Rosehip, this is Tally." Rach said, introducing me to the pinkette she dragged along to help. "Rosehip is one of my Munchkins, even if she's also the up and coming commander of St Glo's mobile force."
"There's nothing on the field that can match my Crusader for sheer speed!" Rosehip exclaimed proudly, pumping a fist into the air.
"Is that so?" I mused, as I directed Rach and Rosehip to help me with resetting the engine so we could drive the Sherman away. "Ever heard of the 76mm Gun Motor Carriage M18?"
Rosehip pouted at me as she dropped into the turret. "Okay, fine. But there's nothing that's Sensha-do legal that can match my Crusader. I've even beaten BTs in a race!"
"Impressive." I commented, taking my own position in the driver's hull.
It only took us a few minutes to get power working, and most of that was just finagling things to reset the white flag. All the while, Rosehip and I bantered about fast tanks, and which was the best. Rosehip was very insistent that her Crusader was the best tank to ever grace the 50 mph barrier, and that my beloved Hellcat didn't count because it wasn't Sensha-do legal. I disagreed quite strongly, and pointed out numerous flaws of the Crusader, from its unreliability, to it having a fairly underpowered gun. Neither of us mentioned armor, because no properly fast tank of the war actually had it in any reasonable amount. We both stared down Rach when she tried to mention it. Rach just laughed.
Rach managed to convince Rosehip and I to share emails, and once the tank was all ready to go, I waved them off and drove it over to the waiting column of Shermans.
"See you guys around!" I called.
"Laters!" Rach responded, while Rosehip waved energetically.
Doubts gnawed at me as I lingered at the edge of the party with Arisa. Now that everything had calmed down and I was left to my lonesome to think, the thought that I wasn't good enough for all this came back in force. I hadn't been able to keep my crew even remotely in line, and the only way I'd managed to stop them from knocking out allied tanks was hitting the emergency shut off. Was I good enough to actually be a TC?
Arisa must have noticed my worsening mood, because she kept trying to strike up conversation, but I just wasn't having it tonight.
It felt like a heavy weight was removed from my shoulders when Kay finally ducked out of the party with Hannah and Naomi in tow. Arisa and I quickly gathered ourselves and our stuff, and followed the trio. Kay's Jeep was not quite designed to fit five people comfortably, and Arisa, Naomi, and Hannah all squeezed into the back while I took shotgun.
The ride was fairly quiet, and before I knew it, we were gathering in Kay's dorm room. Once again, it surprised me that it was just a regular dorm room, hardly any different from my own. Kay beckoned everyone to gather around the kotatsu in the middle of the room, while Naomi and Arisa grabbed a few snacks from the minifridge.
"First things first, I would like to congratulate everyone on a well played match." Kay started, which helped snap me from my half-cognizant state. "Don't feel down because we lost, Ooarai managed to out-think us and out-maneuver us."
Arisa wilted when Kay mentioned getting out-thought, and Hannah put a comforting hand on her TC's shoulder.
"However," Kay continued, "that does not mean we cannot learn a few lessons from this match. As such, I'd like us to start our post-match review with the good stuff. Arisa, you're up."
Arisa only wilted further before finally picking herself back up and sitting straight. "When I was coordinating with my map, everybody followed orders well and worked together, even when I… screwed up. Seven points of team coordination."
Hannah went next, having her answer at the ready. "While I don't usually get to keep track of what's going on, when we got attacked and ambushed, the team came to our help incredibly quickly despite the distances between our locations. Nine points for team responsiveness."
"Firing on the move is always going to be harder than firing from a stable position. But that doesn't excuse our poor accuracy during the initial chase and the final one. Despite bracketing the fleeing groups multiple times, I have all three of our KOs of the match, though one sounds like it was contested." Naomi said next, looking in my direction.
"No, she was upset because you stole that kill. The Lee's yours." I said quietly.
Naomi nodded. "Four points for gunnery, and we need to practice mobile shooting more."
"Naomi, I said good stuff first!" Kay insisted.
"Okay, okay." Naomi raised her hands to placate the captain. She took a moment to contemplate her answer before speaking up again. "Whenever we engaged Ooarai directly, we never let up the pressure and gave them a moment to breathe, except when pulling off the pursuit was the smart idea. Seven points for aggression."
"Six points for sportsmanship!" Kay said with a thumbs up. "When I told teams to stay behind for fairness, nobody complained, and I saw multiple people congratulating Ooarai on their win after the match."
I frowned as the circle came to me. After that initial engagement, everything just seemed to go wrong, whether I knew it or not at the time. After what felt like far too long wracking my brain for something, I finally spoke up. "We kept mobile. When we didn't know where Ooarai was, we spread out and started searching. When we thought we knew where they were, we went after them, and Ooarai was incapable of doing anything, really, while we forced them to be mobile. Eight points for mobility."
Kay smiled as I closed out the good stuff part of the meeting. "Good points all around! Does anyone have any general criticisms that need addressing before we touch on the elephants in the room?"
"Gunnery." Naomi said again. "We need more practice shooting on the move against mobile targets."
"Noted. Next week's practices?" Hannah said, jotting down the comment on a notepad. Kay nodded, and the rest of us agreed with her assessment.
"Anybody else?" Kay asked. When nobody spoke up, she nodded. "Okay, so there are two things that need discussing. One is Arisa's radio interception, and the other is what went down inside Tally's tank. Tally, you are absolutely not in trouble for that. Arisa, you might be."
Arisa and I both nodded at her point, but neither of us made any move to speak first. Finally, Hannah gave her TC a gentle shove.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It was a bad idea, and against the spirit of the rules even if it is technically completely legal. It's my fault we lost, I was too sure that they wouldn't realize." Arisa said rapidly, the words spilling out of her mouth.
"The wording of the rule is no outside assistance, right?" Naomi asked.
"Yeah." Hannah confirmed. "It's meant for stuff like how you aren't allowed to use your phones to watch the match as it's playing, and you aren't allowed any contact with the outside like for observation planes. The radio intercept balloon was brought in and set up during the match, and was attached to the M4A1 until we cut it loose during the chase with the Type 89."
"And you've confirmed with officials that it would be allowed?" Kay asked.
"Not yet, but it isn't technically against any rules." Arisa answered.
"Then I only see three mistakes." Kay stated. Everyone leaned in just slightly, hanging onto her words. "One, I was not informed that you would be using it, and you went as far as lying to me about it. Two, you relied solely upon the intel gathered even after we were baited into a trap. Three, you used it against a team we already had numerous advantages against."
"W-what?" I asked, stunned. "But isn't it against the spirit of the rules, if not the letter?"
"The radio interception was an unfair advantage that we did not need to achieve victory, and the utter reliance upon it was what cost us the match. Against a superior force, like Kuromorimine or Pravda, that advantage might be necessary to have a fair fight. But until or unless it's confirmed by the officials as okay, we aren't using it." Kay explained. "Which does not mean you are not in trouble for this, Arisa."
"Of course not…" Arisa said glumly.
"We'll talk about punishment later, in private." Kay said to Arisa, before turning to face me. I lowered my face, unable to meet Kay's eyes. "Tally, you did the right thing hitting the suicide switch and bailing out of your tank. Can you give us a brief overview of what happened?"
"Everyone was upset after Arisa told us to drive straight into an ambush. When Naomi took out the Lee… Angel snapped, and tried to knock her out once the opportunity arose. I… I messed up her aim with the TC's override, and I tried to warn Naomi after the first shot." I explained, quivering in my seat.
"I never heard your radio message." Naomi said solemnly.
"Then they must have cut my comms at some point. Just my mic, because I got Kay's order to cease fire before Tuco just unplugged everything." I continued. My hands were shaking, and I clasped them together to try and keep them still. It didn't help. "Angel started shooting at Arisa, and I went for the TC's override again, but she grabbed me and started yelling at me. I-" I choked on my words, as tears began welling up. The memory was still too fresh.
"It's okay Tally. You did everything you could in that situation." Kay said, gently placing her hand atop mine. Her hand was warm, and her touch helped me calm down.
"Why the heck did they go after you with BB guns once you bailed?" Naomi mused. "At that point they're just digging their own graves."
"The desperate will fight even when the chances are past hope, because once you've lost everything, the only thing left is spite." I quoted. "I don't remember where Mom got that quote from."
"It's certainly appropriate." Naomi conceded.
"Tally, I'm incredibly sorry we put you through that by assigning you as their TC." Kay apologized. "We never should have put a rookie with those troublemakers."
"It's fine." I tried to say, but I choked on the lie as tears began flowing once more. Kay squeezed my hands with hers.
"Does anybody else have anything they would like to add to the meeting?" Kay asked, still holding my hands.
"I did have an idea for something, but I think it can wait. Perfectly in the rules this time, I assure you. In their spirit, too." Arisa said.
Kay nodded. "In that case, let's break out the snacks and sodas. Naomi, do you have that disc set of Steel Knights somewhere?"
"In my dorm." Naomi answered.
"Can you run and get it? I feel like we need something happy and fun tonight."
"Yes ma'am!"
While Naomi ran off to get the discs, Kay enlisted my help in moving the kotatsu over to a better position for watching the show. Once it was in position, I settled down under it and let the heater warm my cold feet. I tensed for a moment as Kay sat down next to me, so that we were both facing the TV, but relaxed under her touch as she wiggled around to get comfortable. Naomi quickly returned with the discs and started the first episode.
I've never really been a fan of the more action packed animes, preferring the more calm slice of life stuff, but something about Steel Knights drew my attention. Maybe it was the cute girls who were also tanks, maybe it was how the action set pieces took second fiddle to the character growth of Heidi, the main character who was also a Panzer IV. Whatever it was, I was interested in the anime.
A bitter chill entered the room as the sun fell beneath the horizon, and I cuddled up next to Kay. The kotatsu was warm, but Kay was warmer, and I leaned on her as we watched the first few episodes of Steel Knights.
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Heh.
Also now all we need is Tally going down the "No she doesn't", "I'm not worth it/her", and "its just pity" spiral.
You can do it Tally! I believe in your ability to fuck yourself over!
Also now all we need is Tally going down the "No she doesn't", "I'm not worth it/her", and "its just pity" spiral.
You can do it Tally! I believe in your ability to fuck yourself over!
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Nah, what we need is Kay asking Tally if there's something wrong because they've been dating for a while and yet contrary to all American stereotypes Tally hasn't even tried to kiss her yet.
GBscientist
The Empire's Greatest Mouse
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Clearly Kay appreciates the idea of gathering intel on the enemy during the match. Now she needs some way to get intel for Arisa that is totally above reproach, like a scout unit. And scouts need unusually fast, maneuverable vehicles. I wonder where she could find one, and an available speed freak TC to run it?
- Location
- Salem Oregon US
Well, the Bandits are going to be gone, so that particular problem will be gone. I think Tally will start to improve from now on.
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada
- Pronouns
- She/Her
tally finally got a bit of positive feedback, the bandits are going to be hung high and dry, if they are even allowed to remain part of the program (which I severely doubt) they will never be allowed to approach another tank again without the chieftain or senior club members breathing down their necks waiting for them to mess up.
so all in all things are looking up.
so all in all things are looking up.
Considering live weapons are involved, they got violent and they shot at her with airsoft pistols, getting booted from the team are the least of their worries. Getting blacklisted from the sport, thrown off the ship, expelled and told to not come back are the much more likely outcome for those three.
And if Tally reports this to law enforcement even that will be a minor inconvenience. Assault charges anybody? Theft, once people go trough the "lost and found"?
No doubt at least some will be in favor of keelhauling.
And if Tally reports this to law enforcement even that will be a minor inconvenience. Assault charges anybody? Theft, once people go trough the "lost and found"?
No doubt at least some will be in favor of keelhauling.
Sinsystems
Patron Librarian
This week is going well for GuP, first this story updates on Monday and after waiting 6 years the GuP abridged released a new episode.
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Axslashel
I am a pessimist not a realist.
- Location
- Land of the Midnight Sun
You nearly gave me a heart attack. It is GuP not GoP. I was wondering what the republican party had to do with anything.
Sinsystems
Patron Librarian
Sorry, minor typo from distracted typing. Still regardless good day for fans of Girls in tanks.You nearly gave me a heart attack. It is GuP not GoP. I was wondering what the republican party had to do with anything.
Part Fifty Two
Lady Darkhound
Haha, tanks!
- Location
- My very own personal hell
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hell On Tracks
Part Fifty Two
++++++++++
People gave me a lot of space the day after the Ooarai match. I appreciated it, considering everything that I had just gone through. Rumor had it that the Bandits were nowhere to be seen, and hadn't been seen at all since the immediate aftermath of the match. I didn't pay the rumor much mind, and stuck close to friends where I could, just in case. Faye Faith, Henley, and the other girls from the 445 were more than willing to accommodate me on that, and even invited me to come over to their shared apartment for game night after sensha-do practice.
Immediately after classes wrapped up, I made a beeline straight for the sensha-do garage. Normally I took my time and had a bit of a run, but a thought had piqued my interest during lunch, and I wanted to investigate something. As a member of the team's leadership, I had no problems getting inside and into the team's archive room. Arisa had come through here occasionally to grab past intelligence on the other teams, and we occasionally needed to store some of our own paperwork and plans, but beyond that, the place was empty and hardly ever touched.
It didn't take me long to find the old records of tank line-ups in matches, complete with TC and vehicle names. Specifically, I was looking for records of the two M5A1 Stuarts that the team had. Izumi, from what I'd heard, had been left alone for nearly five years before I'd started working on her, and the other one had sat there just as long, or even longer. Strangely enough, though, I never found any mention of Izumi in the logs.
The only two Stuarts mentioned were 'Thunderhead' and 'Derecho'.
So Jane had been wrong about the name, then. Whichever of the two Izumi had been, that wasn't her name anymore. Jane had told me her name was Izumi, and I'd fixed her up under that name, talked about her with that name, and even painted it both onto the gun barrel and the side of the turret. The turret side was probably a little overkill, but it looked good.
I was still thinking about the discrepancy between the names when Jane and April arrived. They were eager to go today, and I couldn't blame them. Today was their first day properly in the tank, and I would be preparing them for the training courses that Naomi had put me through on my first day.
"Hey Jane?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
"What's up?" she replied without missing a beat.
"Where did you get the name 'Izumi' from? I, uh, I was looking through the archive today, and never saw mention of Izumi. The only Stuarts were Thunderhead and Derecho." I paused and considered my words. "It's a little weird, too. She's the only tank here with a Japanese name instead of an English one."
Jane's gaze went from me to a space somewhere to my right. "Uh, well, it's pronounced Derecho, for one. Not like Jericho. And, well... Izzy? Do you want to tell her?" Jane was quiet for a moment before she flushed red with embarrassment. "R-right, forgot she can't see or hear you... Uh, a-anyways, basically, Izumi is the name that she chose for herself when she rolled off the production line in Nagasaki some... eighteen years ago? Really? We're all the same age, give or take a few months? Huh. Neat! When Izumi and Akari, the other Stuart, were bought by the Saunders team a month later, their first crews decided to name them after weather patterns. Thunderhead liked her name enough that she's willing to stick with it, but Izzy here prefers, well, Izumi. That's the name she told me when we met."
I blinked. I opened my mouth to say something, tried to emote my thoughts and confusion to Jane, and just ended up looking like a fool before I closed my mouth without saying a word. I wasn't quite sure what I had expected, but it wasn't that.
April merely smiled at us both. "Izumi is a lovely name. I'd be more than happy to crew a tank named after springtime."
"Aye," I agreed, happy to have a distraction from Jane's insanity. "Anyway, we've got work to do today. There is a driving and a gunnery training course that we generally use to assess where people would be best suited in a tank. I'll be taking you two through it on Monday. I'm going to be Izumi's commander, which means I'm also her loader. My job today is to get the two of you ready for that training course, which means teaching you the basics of tank operations, and ensuring that you can fill in for any role in a pinch."
"Won't we have our own specialties? Why would we need to be able to fill in any role?" April asked curiously.
"Because you never know when an emergency is going to pop up, and teaching you everything helps ensure that you have respect for people who do jobs other than the one you have. There are a number of gunners who don't really respect their loaders, because loading is seen as a dumb muscle job where all you have to do is put rounds into the breech while the gunner has to do all the hard work of aiming and calculating range and all that."
"That won't be an issue for us!" Jane piped up with a bright smile. "You've already said that you're going to be our loader, and you're also the commander! And… hey Izumi? How heavy is the ammo for the thirty-seven? One-point-five kg? So about three pounds then. Yeah, that's nothing! I'm sure even Izzy herself could load the gun if she tried hard enough, and she can't interact with the physical world in any meaningful way!"
I stared at my friend once again. Did she just happen to know how much the ammunition weighed and was hamming up the crazy, or was there actually something more going on there? She had to already know it. There was no way that she could actually communicate with the tanks.
…Right?
Before my mind could begin to break even more when confronted by Jane's complete and utter insanity that was somehow starting to make a sliver of sense, our conversation was interrupted by the Chief walking up to us.
"Good afternoon," he greeted with a smile. "Miss Evans, may I have a word with you?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure! Gimme a minute to get these two settled?" I replied, throwing a thumb over my shoulder towards Jane and April. He nodded, and I led my two new crewmates over towards where I'd left Izumi after the practice laps on Tuesday. On the way, I spied Naomi as she walked into the garage and waved her over.
"Hey Tally. What's up?" she asked with a casual nod.
"This is my new crew, Jane and April," I began, gesturing to my friends in turn. "Today is their tank familiarization day, and I was planning on introducing them to the basics of the Stuart. The Chief needs me for something real quick, so can you please get them started? I'll try to be back ASAP."
Naomi gave Jane a wary look, but nodded. "I can do that. Be quick about it."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be as fast as I can. Thank you so much for this."
"Thank me by not leaving me with your crazy crew for too long."
I gave her and my new crew a bright smile and a wave, then jogged off to the Chief's office. The door was open, so after I knocked, I slipped inside and took a seat. He was busy typing away at something, and I took the opportunity to look around the office. It was smaller than the one he had on the main campus, but still well used and decorated with loads of books, models, and photographs.
The most distinctive photograph was one of the Chief posing with a bunch of girls in the green sensha-do uniform of Shamrock School for Girls. They seemed elated to be able to take a picture with him.
When he finished typing his thing, the Chief looked up at me. "Thank you for your patience. This should be brief. Your former crew will no longer be an issue for you. Their conduct during the match, while on national television, was intolerable, and they have been expelled. Your cell phone was recovered from them in the aftermath, and I'd like to return it to you."
I blinked, caught completely off guard. "O-oh…" I stammered. "They're just… gone? Like that?"
The Chief nodded. "Just like that. Hopefully, you should be able to focus on sensha-do and self-improvement rather than worrying about any reprisals they might have planned when you arranged to leave them for your light tank." Then he gave me a gentle smile and placed a cell phone on the desk between us.
I gingerly picked the device up and inspected it. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I confirmed that it was indeed my cell phone. "Thank you so much… Was there anything else you needed me for?"
He shook his head. "Not at the moment. I'll let you know if anything changes. Good luck with your new tank and crew!"
"Thank you!" I replied. I gave him a casual salute, stood up, and jogged back to where Naomi was clearly exasperated with Jane and April. The grimace on her face was unmistakable, even from a distance.
Jane waved at me as I approached. "Hi Tally! I think we broke her!"
"You did not break me," Naomi insisted. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Alright, what did Jane do this time?" I asked.
"Hey! Why is it automatically my fault?" Jane protested. "April contributed!"
"I did nothing of the sort. Please don't drag me into your madness…" April retorted.
Naomi didn't say anything. She just gestured to Jane with her free hand. I nodded in sympathy.
"...Yeah, that'd do it. Sorry for making you deal with her without much warning."
"Hey!"
"Anyway, thanks for covering for me, Naomi," I said with a nod. "I'll let you get back to your own stuff now. I can take it from here."
Naomi beat a hasty retreat. I waited 'til she was out of earshot, then turned to Jane. She had the presence of mind to act embarrassed. "What exactly happened?"
"Well, Izumi asked me a question, and I answered it. She's usually pretty quiet and can't talk over people, so I wanted to give her that little bit of attention when there was a lull in the conversation. Naomi thinks I'm crazy."
"You are crazy, but that's beside the point," I deadpanned. "If talking to Izumi or the other tanks keeps you happy, I don't mind it, but please keep it on the down low, and don't transmit over the tank's intercom while we're in there, okay? I'll show you how to do that when we get to go inside here in a few minutes."
"Yes, ma'am!" Jane and April both gave me salutes. Jane's was picture perfect, while April's was close enough for the overall image to be rather amusing.
I walked up to the tank that I had spent so many hours repairing over the past week. There was a bright smile on Jane's face and it only grew as I spun to face my new recruits. "This here is the M5A1 Stuart light tank 'Izumi,'" I began. I patted the tank's bow, proud of the work I'd done to get her operational. "She has twin Cadillac V8s, bogie-style suspension, and a hydramatic transmission. This all comes together to make her the fastest tank in soon-to-be active service here at Saunders. However, the 37mm M6 cannon and light armor also means that she's one of the weakest tanks we have. As such, our job will mostly be reconnaissance, and flanking where appropriate.
"Due to the tank's small size, she only needs a crew of four. We don't need a bow gunner in sensha-do, which further reduces the crew to us three."
"Izzy likes sitting in the bow gunner's seat, so it's a good thing she doesn't have to share it with anyone!" Jane commented. "It would be awkward if she needed to sit on someone's lap."
I blinked and stared at my friend for a moment. Jane was crazy. And worse, I was enabling her madness. I was bringing her into a sport where she was surrounded by tanks who she might strike up a conversation with at a moment's notice. This was going to be trying on my own sanity, and I hoped I wouldn't come to regret choosing Jane for my crew.
My apprehension about Jane's insanity only lasted a few seconds before I jumped right into the basics of how to tank. Showing off the interior of the Stuart was awkward just due to the size of the tank, but I managed to convey all the important information for driving. Gunning was a bit harder, just due to my inexperience in the area.
As I wrapped up the basics, I let out a sigh and gestured for Jane and April to sit down on the tank. "Now, I have some good news and some bad news for all of this."
"What's the good news?" April asked.
"Well, you'll be able to get into Izumi pretty much from day two of practice. It's more time spent inside the tank, which should hopefully mean that we can progress rapidly," was my answer. "The bad news is that we're going to be in a bit of a rush for training. We don't know when exactly our next match will be, so we may have as little as a week of training to be ready for that match. I'd much rather participate with you two than get shoved into some radio operator's seat."
Jane just gave me an enigmatic smile. "It'll be fine! We'll put in whatever extra practice time we have to; evenings, weekends, early mornings, you name it! Whatever it takes to help you out!"
"Indeed," April agreed with a nod. "We will do our best to support you."
"Thank you," I said, and gave them a small bow for good measure. "Alrighty, now it's time to work on tank maintenance until Kay calls everyone for the daily announcements. I'm sure she'll have some important ones, considering how yesterday's match went."
I was full of nervous energy and fidgeting like mad when I entered the leadership meeting room at the end of practice. There was a spring to my step, and I was bouncing around every which way, trying to find some respite from all this energy.
"Good day?" Arisa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sort of," I answered with a shrug. "I've done entirely too much sitting around today, and I haven't gone on a run to let out all this energy." I started pacing around the room.
"Note to self: never give Tally coffee. Or any sort of caffeine or sugar, really," she deadpanned. Her attention swiftly turned back to her notebook, where she was doodling something.
"Hey! At least I'm not addicted to the stuff like you are! I'd hate to be an early morning zombie who relies on an external factor to wake up."
We bantered a little bit as we waited for the others to walk in. All the while, I never stopped moving, unable to sit still. Today, where I'd been walking Jane and April through the basics of tankery, and sitting in on the Chief's lecture, the freedom of my situation began to set in. I didn't have to worry about the Bandits being on my case anymore, I had my phone back, and I was officially in one of my favorite tanks with a crew of friends.
Once everyone was around, the meeting went in a fairly typical fashion. We used this opportunity to plan out the first few practices of next week; we wanted to focus on the shortcomings that the team had displayed during the match, primarily mobile gunnery training. Regular practice drills were worked on too, just to make sure we didn't lose anything while we focused on that one particular skill.
"So, is there anything else that someone would like to bring up?" Kay asked the room.
"We need to field some heavier tanks," Arisa replied. "We've already lost one match, and I don't want us to lose this second chance we've been given with the double elimination rules this year. We need to win the next match, and breaking out the heavy tanks will help with that."
"No," was Kay's simple reply. "As the resident heavy tanker, we don't need to break out the Jumbos or Warden yet. And we're still working on getting parts for Toast, so we can't break her out even if I was okay with it."
"I'm still annoyed we couldn't get that T29…" Arisa grumbled under her breath at the rejection. "Cheyenne would love it…"
"Or she and her crew would hate it," Hannah countered. "As amazing a loader as Sumire is, jumping up from a seventy-five or three-inch to a one-oh-five is… it's a bit of a jump. It's not just upper body strength that's important for loading those big shells, after all."
"Hear hear," I concurred.
"At the end of the day, we're the only member of the Big Four that lost in the first round," Kay continued. "Until we have to deal with one of them, or one of the other teams that has similar heavy tanks, we're sticking to the seventy-fives… and our personal tanks, obviously." She paused and looked around the room. "Anyone have anything else?"
I hesitantly raised a hand and got everyone's attention. "It's, uh, it's not really related to anything we've got going on in practice, but I got an email from Eclair earlier today. She was asking if I could review footage of her match against Anzio and if there was any advice I could give her. Apparently, it was a pretty embarrassing loss. Would… would anyone be up to giving it a watch with me? Two sets of eyes are better than one…"
Kay grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "I'm always down to learn from the mistakes of others and help them improve at the same time!"
"How long is the video? I have classwork that needs to be taken care of," Naomi asked.
"It's about twenty minutes," I answered. "If you need to get going, go right ahead."
Naomi nodded at me. "In that case, I will see you all tomorrow."
We all waved at her as she left. Then Kay brought out the computer cart with the projector, and I set up the recording. It only took a few minutes to get it up on the projector, but Arisa stopped me before I could press play.
"Are you sure this isn't a highlight reel? Twenty minutes feels too short for a sensha-do match."
"It's the video she sent me." I answered with a shrug. Then I pressed play and returned to my seat.
It didn't take us all that long to realize why the match was so short and embarrassing for Eclair. Maginot took a defensive position, as we had expected them to, and then immediately abandoned it in an aggressive push as soon as it looked like Anzio's tankettes were retreating. The team chased the tankettes entirely too far, and the two B1 heavy tanks lagged behind, one of which was the flag tank. Anzio's Semovente assault guns used this opportunity to gang up on the heavies, and it was over quickly. Maginot didn't have nearly enough time to react before the flag tanks traded blows and knocked each other out.
"...wow," Hannah breathed after the match was over. "You said they lost that? How do you decide a tie like that?"
"It's an incredibly rare occurrence, but in the chance that both flag tanks are knocked out simultaneously, the match goes to a judge's decision. Same thing happens in annihilation matches when both teams lose their last tank at the same time," Arisa answered. "They also consult recordings to see if one flag tank went down first, because it can be incredibly close at times."
"Twenty minutes and only two tanks knocked out… Wow. I don't know what to say to that…" I murmured.
"Chi-Ha-Tan lasted longer against Kuro, and they're known for their suicidal charges," Kay commented.
"No kidding… What do we even tell her as feedback? Temper aggression with caution, be careful to not overextend, that sort of thing?"
"Better tanks are always helpful," Arisa said with a nod. "Those one person turrets can be overwhelming, and their new aggressive doctrine can only be making that worse."
"I've mentioned better tanks, but she's always rejected that. She wants to keep their lineup on theme."
"Yeah, but French tanks are awful. They didn't build anything between 1940 and 1945, so any upgrades would likely have to be imports or lend-lease. Maybe an ARL-44 if they're lucky," Arisa mused. "We have a few A2s without crews that we could loan them, don't we? The French used Shermans."
I waved my hand back and forth. "Yes and no. There's also the issue with crews. Apparently, a bunch of veteran crews quit when Eclair took charge of the team, and they're having severe manpower issues. S35s are three person crews, Shermans are four to five." I tapped my foot anxiously. There were a lot of possibilities, and Eclair had thrown out the few suggestions I had given her thus far.
"Maybe something lighter, then?" Hannah suggested. "All the light tanks are three person crews, same as the Somuas."
"We aren't giving them the Stuarts," I said flatly.
"Of course not. We're actively using them," Kay replied. She patted my shoulder. "But the Locusts could be a good choice. Three person crews, the TC has a lot less on her plate because she doesn't need to gun, and they're leagues better than whatever light tanks they currently have."
I jotted down a few notes from our conversation. "Got it. I will give her what advice I can, and also give her the offer of lend-lease M4A2s and M22s."
"Sounds about right," Arisa agreed with a nod. "But make sure to let her know that we want the Locusts back for Tankathlon in the fall."
Conversation petered out after that, and we wrapped up the meeting. Arisa and Hannah went one way, while Kay and I went out towards the parking lot and Kay's Jeep. The light was on in the lecture hall, and I poked my head in to see what was going on. I wasn't expecting to see Jane and April hunched over their sensha-do book work.
"You'll have a good crew here in no time," Kay said quietly. "They're hard workers, just like you."
I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, for both the opportunity and the encouragement."
Kay drew me into a warm side hug. "Of course! You know what? We should do something nice this weekend. Just the two of us. No sensha-do, no crews, no Evil Twins or what have you. Just the two of us, doing something fun together."
"Any ideas?"
"Not yet, but I'm working on something. I'll let you know tomorrow or Sunday."
I thought about it for a moment and couldn't help but smile at the idea. Going out and doing friend things together would be nice. No tanks, no responsibilities, just the two of us, good friends, doing friend things.
In the back of my mind, I heard Rach calling it another date, and that I was in denial. I ignored that voice.
Kay and I said goodbye to each other, then went our separate ways. Normally, she would give me a ride back to my dorm, but Faye Faith had invited me over for game night after sensha-do, and I didn't want to miss it. She didn't live all that far from the garage, maybe a ten minute walk, and the apartment she shared with the rest of the 445 crew was only one of a fairly large apartment complex. Their food truck was parked right outside, and it made it rather easy to figure out which one was theirs.
I knocked on the door, and Haley was the one to answer it. The only first year of the group gave me a bright smile and waved me inside. "Hey Evans! How are you doing?"
"I'm doing good, I'm doing good," I answered with a nod. I stepped in and took in the sights of the apartment as I continued. "Practice was… interesting with Jane around."
Off to the side, in the kitchen, Faye Faith laughed. "That's Jane for you! I swear, every time I run into her while we're on the Henley, she's talking to the ship!"
"Did someone say my name?" Henley asked, poking her head in from one of the rooms along the hallway.
"I'm talking about the Sumner, not the Fletcher!"
"Oh…" Henley looked disappointed for a moment, but perked up as soon as she saw me. "Hey Tally! Glad you could show up!"
"Yeah, uh, thanks for inviting me over, I guess," I replied, somewhat awkwardly. I walked over to the large dinner table, took a seat, and used the opportunity to take a better look around the apartment.
It was a lot smaller than I had expected for the five of them; Faye Faith was currently making a pizza in the kitchen to my left, there was a reasonably sized living room to my right with a couch, TV, and Nikki and Bannie playing a trading card game of some sort on the coffee table, and a hallway ran down the length of the apartment, going to the bedrooms and bathrooms.
"You know, when you invited me over for game night, I didn't expect dinner too," I commented casually, looking over at the blonde in the kitchen.
Trips just laughed again. "Right. Because of course we wouldn't feed you, when, y'know, it's us. I'm more than happy to provide food for everyone."
"Then why do I always end up hungry?" Henley grumped as she joined us in the kitchen.
"Because you have a black hole for a stomach, and end up making instant ramen at three AM to sate it!"
"…that's fair," my Evil Twin admitted with a shrug.
"So, what will we be playing?" I asked the room at large.
I immediately received four answers, all of them trying to talk over one another. "Board games!" "I was thinking cards." "We could teach you how to play MtG." "I'm willing to run a Pathfinder one-shot."
"Nikki, you can't just spring a Pathfinder session on us without warning!" Bannie grumbled to her twin. "And that's assuming Tally even knows how to play, and would be willing to use a stock character! Or can build one really quickly!"
"Right, because Magic is quicker to learn. I bet you've even got a few spare decks to help kick the newbie's butt while we're at it," Nikki snarked right back.
"Of course I do!" Bannie retorted. She turned to the side of the game the two were currently playing and pulled out a pair of plastic boxes. "I'm thinking Tally wants to play… green-white human aggro, and boy do I have just the deck for her!"
"You both just said a lot of words that I understand on their own, and put them into sentences that mean absolutely nothing," I deadpanned. "Someone mentioned cards?"
"That was me," my Evil Twin replied. "As much as I dislike my immediate family, I learned how to play a mean game of cards from them. It's one of the few family traditions I enjoy. We can play rummy, pinochle—wait, no, too many people—poker is always an option. Whatever floats your boat, really."
I hummed indecisively. "It's been a while since I've played poker. I'm down for that, but do you mind going easy on me?"
"Sure, we can play some poker," Henley agreed readily. Nikki, meanwhile, was giving me a suspicious look. My heart dropped. I'd made the whole 'go easy on the newbie' thing work against the Bandits, but Nikki was onto me.
"We can play after dinner," Faye Faith interjected.
"How long will that be? I'm hungry!" Haley asked.
Faye Faith regarded the pizza that she was busy layering toppings on. "Give it half an hour or so. What do you like on your pizzas, Tally?"
I shrugged. "I generally just go for pepperoni or hawaiian. They're the easiest to grab and cook after a long evening of sports."
"Alright, fair enough. I've just got to put a little more stuff on here, then."
"Say… Faye Faith, how much of what you make is from scratch?" I asked, curiously.
"Depends, mostly. I like making stuff from scratch, but it can be hard to get some of the stuff I want when we're in the middle of the Pacific. I'm too used to powdered eggs, for example. Can't get good ground beef for the burgers like I can at home. Most of the sauces are from scratch."
"Right. Gotta get that naturally sourced weapons-grade plutonium?" I deadpanned. Haley and Henley immediately both broke out into laughter while Trips just shook her head.
"Jayda, I regret letting you name that one, and especially letting you come up with the slogan."
My Evil Twin pouted. As she and Faye Faith started bickering about the Manhattan Burger and other silly food ideas that Henley had, I quietly slipped away and sat down on the couch next to the actual set of twins in the room. I didn't spend as much time with Nikki and Bannie as I did the others, but that didn't mean they weren't my friends, and I enjoyed hanging out with them too.
"So, what are you two up to?" I asked curiously.
"Well, we're playing Magic the Gathering. It's a, well, it's a trading card game," Nikki answered. "Bannie has been obsessed ever since this new block started up."
"Innistrad has a cool aesthetic!" the ginger protested. "And there's a bunch of really neat mechanics here! I honestly can't figure out if I like the vampires or the zombies more. They're both really fun!"
I blinked at her. "Riiiiiiiiiiiight."
They spent the next five minutes walking me through the basics of the game. I didn't understand a lot of it, but it was nice that they were trying to include me in something that they seemed to have a lot of fun with it.
"Alright, Bannie, I swing in with everything. You're all tapped out, and that's lethal," Nikki declared.
"Dammit! And I was one turn away from whittling you down, too! Freaking green players and your mana cheating…"
"Says the person who counterspelled half of what I tried to play."
"Hey, unrelated question," I interjected as they started cleaning up the coffee table and putting their cards back in the decks. "I've actually been wondering this for a while, but, uh, why do you call Claire 'Bannie'? Aren't you both O'Bannons?"
Bannie sighed and leaned back against the couch. "It's a silly story, really. Back in, what was it, third grade, back in the States?"
"Yeah, third grade," her sister confirmed with a nod.
"Anyway, back then, there were three different Claires in my class. The teacher ended up just calling all of us by our last names, and O'Bannon eventually got shortened to Bannie. The nickname stuck and I decided that I liked it. Five years later, Dad got a new job, and we all moved to Japan. I could have started fresh, but as I said, I liked it enough that I kept introducing myself as Bannie."
"It helps that while there's usually a few Claires around, here and there, Bannie is pretty darned unique," Nikki added. "Someone mentions Bannie or Potato Girl, and I know they're probably talking about my twin."
Bannie facepalmed. "Did you have to bring up Potato Girl? Really?"
I couldn't help but laugh, though I tried to hide my giggling behind my hand. "I… I'm sorry? Potato Girl?"
"We're from Idaho. We grew up on a farm. It's a big part of why I make such good potato salad, really," Bannie began, looking up at me. "Last year, I was helping Trips with some prep work for a big event, and was hauling a bag of potatoes to our prep station. Someone caught me off guard, I tripped, and the bag of potatoes went flying into her and knocked her flat on her butt. I think she broke her wrist in the fall. Ever since, people have occasionally called me Potato Girl. Please don't call me that, I much prefer Bannie."
"Of course," I agreed simply. I looked between Bannie and her twin. "Say, of the two of you, who is stronger?"
"Her, easy," Nikki said with a shrug.
"I wouldn't want to have to fight Nikki, since she's got experience in that regard, but yeah. I did more of the hauling work on the farm than she did," Bannie agreed.
"Wait a tic, you grew up on a farm, but moved to Japan because your dad got a new job? How does that work?" I asked, my curiosity growing more by the minute at the strange lives of my friends. "Won't farmers stay with their farm?"
"Technically it was our grandpa's farm, not ours. Everyone helped out, but when Dad got that job, we moved out," Nikki answered. "How about you? Any weird stories from your past?"
I hummed and thought about it. "Nothing… nothing like you two. My mom is a teacher, my dad is a carpenter, two younger sisters. All of my aunts and uncles are adoptive, and I don't know squat about my blood family beyond the fact that babushka is a terrible person, and both of my parents are estranged from their families. I'm first generation American on my dad's side, and I think… third on my mom's?"
"Babushka? Are you Russian?"
"My dad is, yeah. He fled Russia around the time that the Soviet Union collapsed. I'm fluent in three languages, so there's that."
The two of them shared a look, then looked over at my Evil Twin.
"You know, that makes your being identical to Jayda even more confusing. Her family has been in the US since before it was the US, meanwhile, you're, well…" Nikki shrugged and gestured towards me.
I laughed. "You want to know what's really weird? This isn't the first time I've run into someone who is very American that has a half-Russian evil twin. You know my friend Rach, right?" They both nodded. "Well, back home, we've got another friend of ours, Tasha. She looks incredibly similar to Rach. Maybe not quite as scary similar as Jayda and I, but still close."
"You're right, that is weird!"
That got more laughter from both me and Bannie. The three of us settled down quickly, though, and the twins started another game of their TCG. I was content to sit by and watch them play it. Maybe I'd pick it up another day and play with them, but until that point, I was more than happy to watch and not give any hints about my poker face to Nikki.
Faye Faith's estimate was a little on the long side, and we started eating the pizza well before when she said we would. It was, much like everything else she makes, delicious. So much so that I eagerly tried to keep pace with the bottomless stomachs of my friends. I was positively stuffed by the time we cleaned up and pivoted to card games.
Nikki had completely seen through my ruse. Her poker face was amazing, and she knew the game just as well as I did. Whenever we both had a good hand, she matched me bet for bet, trying to get me to flinch and back down. It was some of the most intense poker I had played in a long while. The others were perfectly capable players, but Nikki was not only keeping up, but outplaying me in places.
I glanced down at the rapidly dwindling stack of chips in front of me, then peeked at the two cards I was playing: Jack and eight of clubs. The four cards currently face up were the nine of hearts, nine of clubs, two of clubs, and seven of clubs. All things considered, I was fairly confident in my hand. I had a jack high flush, but there was also that pair of nines on the table. Nikki was betting aggressively, which meant she either also had a flush, or she had a full house.
It only took me a few moments to run the odds on my head. We both had good hands, else Nikki would have likely folded. She had to know the flush was a possibility, and with that pair of nines, so was the full house. She held the chip advantage over me.
"I'm all in," I declared. All of my chips went into the middle of the table. I carefully watched Nikki for any tell.
She hesitated. Had I given her pause with the reckless move? Or was she just running those same numbers and trying to figure out if I had the flush or the full house? Or maybe she thought I was the type to go this aggressively with a mere three of a kind. "Call."
"God, this is tense! Why are you both so serious?" Jayda complained, before she flipped up the river. Ten of clubs.
"Let's see them!" Faye Faith cheered.
"Read 'em and weep, girls!" Nikki declared confidently. In her hand was the nine of spades and the two of diamonds. She'd had two pair on the flop, and the turn had improved her hand to a full house.
I couldn't help but laugh as all the tension left my body. "Sorry Nikki. I'll take all those chips." Then I laid down my jack and eight of clubs. "Jack high straight flush."
Jayda started cackling like a mad woman. "Oh my god! We've finally found someone who can match Nikki at poker! All it took was a hint of Amara's luck!"
"Amara?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Old friend from back home. I swear, she has the Devil's luck, because not only is she lucky, she is consistently so! It's honestly terrifying to behold." Jayda paused and gave me a bright smile. "You'd get along great with her, now that I think about it. Big sensha-do fan, and I think she's the driver in her team's command tank."
Nikki, meanwhile, gave me a curious look before she nodded her approval. "Well played. But this game ain't over yet…"
"No it is not…"
I ended up barely scraping out a win.
Part Fifty Two
++++++++++
People gave me a lot of space the day after the Ooarai match. I appreciated it, considering everything that I had just gone through. Rumor had it that the Bandits were nowhere to be seen, and hadn't been seen at all since the immediate aftermath of the match. I didn't pay the rumor much mind, and stuck close to friends where I could, just in case. Faye Faith, Henley, and the other girls from the 445 were more than willing to accommodate me on that, and even invited me to come over to their shared apartment for game night after sensha-do practice.
Immediately after classes wrapped up, I made a beeline straight for the sensha-do garage. Normally I took my time and had a bit of a run, but a thought had piqued my interest during lunch, and I wanted to investigate something. As a member of the team's leadership, I had no problems getting inside and into the team's archive room. Arisa had come through here occasionally to grab past intelligence on the other teams, and we occasionally needed to store some of our own paperwork and plans, but beyond that, the place was empty and hardly ever touched.
It didn't take me long to find the old records of tank line-ups in matches, complete with TC and vehicle names. Specifically, I was looking for records of the two M5A1 Stuarts that the team had. Izumi, from what I'd heard, had been left alone for nearly five years before I'd started working on her, and the other one had sat there just as long, or even longer. Strangely enough, though, I never found any mention of Izumi in the logs.
The only two Stuarts mentioned were 'Thunderhead' and 'Derecho'.
So Jane had been wrong about the name, then. Whichever of the two Izumi had been, that wasn't her name anymore. Jane had told me her name was Izumi, and I'd fixed her up under that name, talked about her with that name, and even painted it both onto the gun barrel and the side of the turret. The turret side was probably a little overkill, but it looked good.
I was still thinking about the discrepancy between the names when Jane and April arrived. They were eager to go today, and I couldn't blame them. Today was their first day properly in the tank, and I would be preparing them for the training courses that Naomi had put me through on my first day.
"Hey Jane?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
"What's up?" she replied without missing a beat.
"Where did you get the name 'Izumi' from? I, uh, I was looking through the archive today, and never saw mention of Izumi. The only Stuarts were Thunderhead and Derecho." I paused and considered my words. "It's a little weird, too. She's the only tank here with a Japanese name instead of an English one."
Jane's gaze went from me to a space somewhere to my right. "Uh, well, it's pronounced Derecho, for one. Not like Jericho. And, well... Izzy? Do you want to tell her?" Jane was quiet for a moment before she flushed red with embarrassment. "R-right, forgot she can't see or hear you... Uh, a-anyways, basically, Izumi is the name that she chose for herself when she rolled off the production line in Nagasaki some... eighteen years ago? Really? We're all the same age, give or take a few months? Huh. Neat! When Izumi and Akari, the other Stuart, were bought by the Saunders team a month later, their first crews decided to name them after weather patterns. Thunderhead liked her name enough that she's willing to stick with it, but Izzy here prefers, well, Izumi. That's the name she told me when we met."
I blinked. I opened my mouth to say something, tried to emote my thoughts and confusion to Jane, and just ended up looking like a fool before I closed my mouth without saying a word. I wasn't quite sure what I had expected, but it wasn't that.
April merely smiled at us both. "Izumi is a lovely name. I'd be more than happy to crew a tank named after springtime."
"Aye," I agreed, happy to have a distraction from Jane's insanity. "Anyway, we've got work to do today. There is a driving and a gunnery training course that we generally use to assess where people would be best suited in a tank. I'll be taking you two through it on Monday. I'm going to be Izumi's commander, which means I'm also her loader. My job today is to get the two of you ready for that training course, which means teaching you the basics of tank operations, and ensuring that you can fill in for any role in a pinch."
"Won't we have our own specialties? Why would we need to be able to fill in any role?" April asked curiously.
"Because you never know when an emergency is going to pop up, and teaching you everything helps ensure that you have respect for people who do jobs other than the one you have. There are a number of gunners who don't really respect their loaders, because loading is seen as a dumb muscle job where all you have to do is put rounds into the breech while the gunner has to do all the hard work of aiming and calculating range and all that."
"That won't be an issue for us!" Jane piped up with a bright smile. "You've already said that you're going to be our loader, and you're also the commander! And… hey Izumi? How heavy is the ammo for the thirty-seven? One-point-five kg? So about three pounds then. Yeah, that's nothing! I'm sure even Izzy herself could load the gun if she tried hard enough, and she can't interact with the physical world in any meaningful way!"
I stared at my friend once again. Did she just happen to know how much the ammunition weighed and was hamming up the crazy, or was there actually something more going on there? She had to already know it. There was no way that she could actually communicate with the tanks.
…Right?
Before my mind could begin to break even more when confronted by Jane's complete and utter insanity that was somehow starting to make a sliver of sense, our conversation was interrupted by the Chief walking up to us.
"Good afternoon," he greeted with a smile. "Miss Evans, may I have a word with you?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure! Gimme a minute to get these two settled?" I replied, throwing a thumb over my shoulder towards Jane and April. He nodded, and I led my two new crewmates over towards where I'd left Izumi after the practice laps on Tuesday. On the way, I spied Naomi as she walked into the garage and waved her over.
"Hey Tally. What's up?" she asked with a casual nod.
"This is my new crew, Jane and April," I began, gesturing to my friends in turn. "Today is their tank familiarization day, and I was planning on introducing them to the basics of the Stuart. The Chief needs me for something real quick, so can you please get them started? I'll try to be back ASAP."
Naomi gave Jane a wary look, but nodded. "I can do that. Be quick about it."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be as fast as I can. Thank you so much for this."
"Thank me by not leaving me with your crazy crew for too long."
I gave her and my new crew a bright smile and a wave, then jogged off to the Chief's office. The door was open, so after I knocked, I slipped inside and took a seat. He was busy typing away at something, and I took the opportunity to look around the office. It was smaller than the one he had on the main campus, but still well used and decorated with loads of books, models, and photographs.
The most distinctive photograph was one of the Chief posing with a bunch of girls in the green sensha-do uniform of Shamrock School for Girls. They seemed elated to be able to take a picture with him.
When he finished typing his thing, the Chief looked up at me. "Thank you for your patience. This should be brief. Your former crew will no longer be an issue for you. Their conduct during the match, while on national television, was intolerable, and they have been expelled. Your cell phone was recovered from them in the aftermath, and I'd like to return it to you."
I blinked, caught completely off guard. "O-oh…" I stammered. "They're just… gone? Like that?"
The Chief nodded. "Just like that. Hopefully, you should be able to focus on sensha-do and self-improvement rather than worrying about any reprisals they might have planned when you arranged to leave them for your light tank." Then he gave me a gentle smile and placed a cell phone on the desk between us.
I gingerly picked the device up and inspected it. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I confirmed that it was indeed my cell phone. "Thank you so much… Was there anything else you needed me for?"
He shook his head. "Not at the moment. I'll let you know if anything changes. Good luck with your new tank and crew!"
"Thank you!" I replied. I gave him a casual salute, stood up, and jogged back to where Naomi was clearly exasperated with Jane and April. The grimace on her face was unmistakable, even from a distance.
Jane waved at me as I approached. "Hi Tally! I think we broke her!"
"You did not break me," Naomi insisted. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Alright, what did Jane do this time?" I asked.
"Hey! Why is it automatically my fault?" Jane protested. "April contributed!"
"I did nothing of the sort. Please don't drag me into your madness…" April retorted.
Naomi didn't say anything. She just gestured to Jane with her free hand. I nodded in sympathy.
"...Yeah, that'd do it. Sorry for making you deal with her without much warning."
"Hey!"
"Anyway, thanks for covering for me, Naomi," I said with a nod. "I'll let you get back to your own stuff now. I can take it from here."
Naomi beat a hasty retreat. I waited 'til she was out of earshot, then turned to Jane. She had the presence of mind to act embarrassed. "What exactly happened?"
"Well, Izumi asked me a question, and I answered it. She's usually pretty quiet and can't talk over people, so I wanted to give her that little bit of attention when there was a lull in the conversation. Naomi thinks I'm crazy."
"You are crazy, but that's beside the point," I deadpanned. "If talking to Izumi or the other tanks keeps you happy, I don't mind it, but please keep it on the down low, and don't transmit over the tank's intercom while we're in there, okay? I'll show you how to do that when we get to go inside here in a few minutes."
"Yes, ma'am!" Jane and April both gave me salutes. Jane's was picture perfect, while April's was close enough for the overall image to be rather amusing.
I walked up to the tank that I had spent so many hours repairing over the past week. There was a bright smile on Jane's face and it only grew as I spun to face my new recruits. "This here is the M5A1 Stuart light tank 'Izumi,'" I began. I patted the tank's bow, proud of the work I'd done to get her operational. "She has twin Cadillac V8s, bogie-style suspension, and a hydramatic transmission. This all comes together to make her the fastest tank in soon-to-be active service here at Saunders. However, the 37mm M6 cannon and light armor also means that she's one of the weakest tanks we have. As such, our job will mostly be reconnaissance, and flanking where appropriate.
"Due to the tank's small size, she only needs a crew of four. We don't need a bow gunner in sensha-do, which further reduces the crew to us three."
"Izzy likes sitting in the bow gunner's seat, so it's a good thing she doesn't have to share it with anyone!" Jane commented. "It would be awkward if she needed to sit on someone's lap."
I blinked and stared at my friend for a moment. Jane was crazy. And worse, I was enabling her madness. I was bringing her into a sport where she was surrounded by tanks who she might strike up a conversation with at a moment's notice. This was going to be trying on my own sanity, and I hoped I wouldn't come to regret choosing Jane for my crew.
My apprehension about Jane's insanity only lasted a few seconds before I jumped right into the basics of how to tank. Showing off the interior of the Stuart was awkward just due to the size of the tank, but I managed to convey all the important information for driving. Gunning was a bit harder, just due to my inexperience in the area.
As I wrapped up the basics, I let out a sigh and gestured for Jane and April to sit down on the tank. "Now, I have some good news and some bad news for all of this."
"What's the good news?" April asked.
"Well, you'll be able to get into Izumi pretty much from day two of practice. It's more time spent inside the tank, which should hopefully mean that we can progress rapidly," was my answer. "The bad news is that we're going to be in a bit of a rush for training. We don't know when exactly our next match will be, so we may have as little as a week of training to be ready for that match. I'd much rather participate with you two than get shoved into some radio operator's seat."
Jane just gave me an enigmatic smile. "It'll be fine! We'll put in whatever extra practice time we have to; evenings, weekends, early mornings, you name it! Whatever it takes to help you out!"
"Indeed," April agreed with a nod. "We will do our best to support you."
"Thank you," I said, and gave them a small bow for good measure. "Alrighty, now it's time to work on tank maintenance until Kay calls everyone for the daily announcements. I'm sure she'll have some important ones, considering how yesterday's match went."
++++++++++
I was full of nervous energy and fidgeting like mad when I entered the leadership meeting room at the end of practice. There was a spring to my step, and I was bouncing around every which way, trying to find some respite from all this energy.
"Good day?" Arisa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sort of," I answered with a shrug. "I've done entirely too much sitting around today, and I haven't gone on a run to let out all this energy." I started pacing around the room.
"Note to self: never give Tally coffee. Or any sort of caffeine or sugar, really," she deadpanned. Her attention swiftly turned back to her notebook, where she was doodling something.
"Hey! At least I'm not addicted to the stuff like you are! I'd hate to be an early morning zombie who relies on an external factor to wake up."
We bantered a little bit as we waited for the others to walk in. All the while, I never stopped moving, unable to sit still. Today, where I'd been walking Jane and April through the basics of tankery, and sitting in on the Chief's lecture, the freedom of my situation began to set in. I didn't have to worry about the Bandits being on my case anymore, I had my phone back, and I was officially in one of my favorite tanks with a crew of friends.
Once everyone was around, the meeting went in a fairly typical fashion. We used this opportunity to plan out the first few practices of next week; we wanted to focus on the shortcomings that the team had displayed during the match, primarily mobile gunnery training. Regular practice drills were worked on too, just to make sure we didn't lose anything while we focused on that one particular skill.
"So, is there anything else that someone would like to bring up?" Kay asked the room.
"We need to field some heavier tanks," Arisa replied. "We've already lost one match, and I don't want us to lose this second chance we've been given with the double elimination rules this year. We need to win the next match, and breaking out the heavy tanks will help with that."
"No," was Kay's simple reply. "As the resident heavy tanker, we don't need to break out the Jumbos or Warden yet. And we're still working on getting parts for Toast, so we can't break her out even if I was okay with it."
"I'm still annoyed we couldn't get that T29…" Arisa grumbled under her breath at the rejection. "Cheyenne would love it…"
"Or she and her crew would hate it," Hannah countered. "As amazing a loader as Sumire is, jumping up from a seventy-five or three-inch to a one-oh-five is… it's a bit of a jump. It's not just upper body strength that's important for loading those big shells, after all."
"Hear hear," I concurred.
"At the end of the day, we're the only member of the Big Four that lost in the first round," Kay continued. "Until we have to deal with one of them, or one of the other teams that has similar heavy tanks, we're sticking to the seventy-fives… and our personal tanks, obviously." She paused and looked around the room. "Anyone have anything else?"
I hesitantly raised a hand and got everyone's attention. "It's, uh, it's not really related to anything we've got going on in practice, but I got an email from Eclair earlier today. She was asking if I could review footage of her match against Anzio and if there was any advice I could give her. Apparently, it was a pretty embarrassing loss. Would… would anyone be up to giving it a watch with me? Two sets of eyes are better than one…"
Kay grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "I'm always down to learn from the mistakes of others and help them improve at the same time!"
"How long is the video? I have classwork that needs to be taken care of," Naomi asked.
"It's about twenty minutes," I answered. "If you need to get going, go right ahead."
Naomi nodded at me. "In that case, I will see you all tomorrow."
We all waved at her as she left. Then Kay brought out the computer cart with the projector, and I set up the recording. It only took a few minutes to get it up on the projector, but Arisa stopped me before I could press play.
"Are you sure this isn't a highlight reel? Twenty minutes feels too short for a sensha-do match."
"It's the video she sent me." I answered with a shrug. Then I pressed play and returned to my seat.
It didn't take us all that long to realize why the match was so short and embarrassing for Eclair. Maginot took a defensive position, as we had expected them to, and then immediately abandoned it in an aggressive push as soon as it looked like Anzio's tankettes were retreating. The team chased the tankettes entirely too far, and the two B1 heavy tanks lagged behind, one of which was the flag tank. Anzio's Semovente assault guns used this opportunity to gang up on the heavies, and it was over quickly. Maginot didn't have nearly enough time to react before the flag tanks traded blows and knocked each other out.
"...wow," Hannah breathed after the match was over. "You said they lost that? How do you decide a tie like that?"
"It's an incredibly rare occurrence, but in the chance that both flag tanks are knocked out simultaneously, the match goes to a judge's decision. Same thing happens in annihilation matches when both teams lose their last tank at the same time," Arisa answered. "They also consult recordings to see if one flag tank went down first, because it can be incredibly close at times."
"Twenty minutes and only two tanks knocked out… Wow. I don't know what to say to that…" I murmured.
"Chi-Ha-Tan lasted longer against Kuro, and they're known for their suicidal charges," Kay commented.
"No kidding… What do we even tell her as feedback? Temper aggression with caution, be careful to not overextend, that sort of thing?"
"Better tanks are always helpful," Arisa said with a nod. "Those one person turrets can be overwhelming, and their new aggressive doctrine can only be making that worse."
"I've mentioned better tanks, but she's always rejected that. She wants to keep their lineup on theme."
"Yeah, but French tanks are awful. They didn't build anything between 1940 and 1945, so any upgrades would likely have to be imports or lend-lease. Maybe an ARL-44 if they're lucky," Arisa mused. "We have a few A2s without crews that we could loan them, don't we? The French used Shermans."
I waved my hand back and forth. "Yes and no. There's also the issue with crews. Apparently, a bunch of veteran crews quit when Eclair took charge of the team, and they're having severe manpower issues. S35s are three person crews, Shermans are four to five." I tapped my foot anxiously. There were a lot of possibilities, and Eclair had thrown out the few suggestions I had given her thus far.
"Maybe something lighter, then?" Hannah suggested. "All the light tanks are three person crews, same as the Somuas."
"We aren't giving them the Stuarts," I said flatly.
"Of course not. We're actively using them," Kay replied. She patted my shoulder. "But the Locusts could be a good choice. Three person crews, the TC has a lot less on her plate because she doesn't need to gun, and they're leagues better than whatever light tanks they currently have."
I jotted down a few notes from our conversation. "Got it. I will give her what advice I can, and also give her the offer of lend-lease M4A2s and M22s."
"Sounds about right," Arisa agreed with a nod. "But make sure to let her know that we want the Locusts back for Tankathlon in the fall."
Conversation petered out after that, and we wrapped up the meeting. Arisa and Hannah went one way, while Kay and I went out towards the parking lot and Kay's Jeep. The light was on in the lecture hall, and I poked my head in to see what was going on. I wasn't expecting to see Jane and April hunched over their sensha-do book work.
"You'll have a good crew here in no time," Kay said quietly. "They're hard workers, just like you."
I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, for both the opportunity and the encouragement."
Kay drew me into a warm side hug. "Of course! You know what? We should do something nice this weekend. Just the two of us. No sensha-do, no crews, no Evil Twins or what have you. Just the two of us, doing something fun together."
"Any ideas?"
"Not yet, but I'm working on something. I'll let you know tomorrow or Sunday."
I thought about it for a moment and couldn't help but smile at the idea. Going out and doing friend things together would be nice. No tanks, no responsibilities, just the two of us, good friends, doing friend things.
In the back of my mind, I heard Rach calling it another date, and that I was in denial. I ignored that voice.
Kay and I said goodbye to each other, then went our separate ways. Normally, she would give me a ride back to my dorm, but Faye Faith had invited me over for game night after sensha-do, and I didn't want to miss it. She didn't live all that far from the garage, maybe a ten minute walk, and the apartment she shared with the rest of the 445 crew was only one of a fairly large apartment complex. Their food truck was parked right outside, and it made it rather easy to figure out which one was theirs.
I knocked on the door, and Haley was the one to answer it. The only first year of the group gave me a bright smile and waved me inside. "Hey Evans! How are you doing?"
"I'm doing good, I'm doing good," I answered with a nod. I stepped in and took in the sights of the apartment as I continued. "Practice was… interesting with Jane around."
Off to the side, in the kitchen, Faye Faith laughed. "That's Jane for you! I swear, every time I run into her while we're on the Henley, she's talking to the ship!"
"Did someone say my name?" Henley asked, poking her head in from one of the rooms along the hallway.
"I'm talking about the Sumner, not the Fletcher!"
"Oh…" Henley looked disappointed for a moment, but perked up as soon as she saw me. "Hey Tally! Glad you could show up!"
"Yeah, uh, thanks for inviting me over, I guess," I replied, somewhat awkwardly. I walked over to the large dinner table, took a seat, and used the opportunity to take a better look around the apartment.
It was a lot smaller than I had expected for the five of them; Faye Faith was currently making a pizza in the kitchen to my left, there was a reasonably sized living room to my right with a couch, TV, and Nikki and Bannie playing a trading card game of some sort on the coffee table, and a hallway ran down the length of the apartment, going to the bedrooms and bathrooms.
"You know, when you invited me over for game night, I didn't expect dinner too," I commented casually, looking over at the blonde in the kitchen.
Trips just laughed again. "Right. Because of course we wouldn't feed you, when, y'know, it's us. I'm more than happy to provide food for everyone."
"Then why do I always end up hungry?" Henley grumped as she joined us in the kitchen.
"Because you have a black hole for a stomach, and end up making instant ramen at three AM to sate it!"
"…that's fair," my Evil Twin admitted with a shrug.
"So, what will we be playing?" I asked the room at large.
I immediately received four answers, all of them trying to talk over one another. "Board games!" "I was thinking cards." "We could teach you how to play MtG." "I'm willing to run a Pathfinder one-shot."
"Nikki, you can't just spring a Pathfinder session on us without warning!" Bannie grumbled to her twin. "And that's assuming Tally even knows how to play, and would be willing to use a stock character! Or can build one really quickly!"
"Right, because Magic is quicker to learn. I bet you've even got a few spare decks to help kick the newbie's butt while we're at it," Nikki snarked right back.
"Of course I do!" Bannie retorted. She turned to the side of the game the two were currently playing and pulled out a pair of plastic boxes. "I'm thinking Tally wants to play… green-white human aggro, and boy do I have just the deck for her!"
"You both just said a lot of words that I understand on their own, and put them into sentences that mean absolutely nothing," I deadpanned. "Someone mentioned cards?"
"That was me," my Evil Twin replied. "As much as I dislike my immediate family, I learned how to play a mean game of cards from them. It's one of the few family traditions I enjoy. We can play rummy, pinochle—wait, no, too many people—poker is always an option. Whatever floats your boat, really."
I hummed indecisively. "It's been a while since I've played poker. I'm down for that, but do you mind going easy on me?"
"Sure, we can play some poker," Henley agreed readily. Nikki, meanwhile, was giving me a suspicious look. My heart dropped. I'd made the whole 'go easy on the newbie' thing work against the Bandits, but Nikki was onto me.
"We can play after dinner," Faye Faith interjected.
"How long will that be? I'm hungry!" Haley asked.
Faye Faith regarded the pizza that she was busy layering toppings on. "Give it half an hour or so. What do you like on your pizzas, Tally?"
I shrugged. "I generally just go for pepperoni or hawaiian. They're the easiest to grab and cook after a long evening of sports."
"Alright, fair enough. I've just got to put a little more stuff on here, then."
"Say… Faye Faith, how much of what you make is from scratch?" I asked, curiously.
"Depends, mostly. I like making stuff from scratch, but it can be hard to get some of the stuff I want when we're in the middle of the Pacific. I'm too used to powdered eggs, for example. Can't get good ground beef for the burgers like I can at home. Most of the sauces are from scratch."
"Right. Gotta get that naturally sourced weapons-grade plutonium?" I deadpanned. Haley and Henley immediately both broke out into laughter while Trips just shook her head.
"Jayda, I regret letting you name that one, and especially letting you come up with the slogan."
My Evil Twin pouted. As she and Faye Faith started bickering about the Manhattan Burger and other silly food ideas that Henley had, I quietly slipped away and sat down on the couch next to the actual set of twins in the room. I didn't spend as much time with Nikki and Bannie as I did the others, but that didn't mean they weren't my friends, and I enjoyed hanging out with them too.
"So, what are you two up to?" I asked curiously.
"Well, we're playing Magic the Gathering. It's a, well, it's a trading card game," Nikki answered. "Bannie has been obsessed ever since this new block started up."
"Innistrad has a cool aesthetic!" the ginger protested. "And there's a bunch of really neat mechanics here! I honestly can't figure out if I like the vampires or the zombies more. They're both really fun!"
I blinked at her. "Riiiiiiiiiiiight."
They spent the next five minutes walking me through the basics of the game. I didn't understand a lot of it, but it was nice that they were trying to include me in something that they seemed to have a lot of fun with it.
"Alright, Bannie, I swing in with everything. You're all tapped out, and that's lethal," Nikki declared.
"Dammit! And I was one turn away from whittling you down, too! Freaking green players and your mana cheating…"
"Says the person who counterspelled half of what I tried to play."
"Hey, unrelated question," I interjected as they started cleaning up the coffee table and putting their cards back in the decks. "I've actually been wondering this for a while, but, uh, why do you call Claire 'Bannie'? Aren't you both O'Bannons?"
Bannie sighed and leaned back against the couch. "It's a silly story, really. Back in, what was it, third grade, back in the States?"
"Yeah, third grade," her sister confirmed with a nod.
"Anyway, back then, there were three different Claires in my class. The teacher ended up just calling all of us by our last names, and O'Bannon eventually got shortened to Bannie. The nickname stuck and I decided that I liked it. Five years later, Dad got a new job, and we all moved to Japan. I could have started fresh, but as I said, I liked it enough that I kept introducing myself as Bannie."
"It helps that while there's usually a few Claires around, here and there, Bannie is pretty darned unique," Nikki added. "Someone mentions Bannie or Potato Girl, and I know they're probably talking about my twin."
Bannie facepalmed. "Did you have to bring up Potato Girl? Really?"
I couldn't help but laugh, though I tried to hide my giggling behind my hand. "I… I'm sorry? Potato Girl?"
"We're from Idaho. We grew up on a farm. It's a big part of why I make such good potato salad, really," Bannie began, looking up at me. "Last year, I was helping Trips with some prep work for a big event, and was hauling a bag of potatoes to our prep station. Someone caught me off guard, I tripped, and the bag of potatoes went flying into her and knocked her flat on her butt. I think she broke her wrist in the fall. Ever since, people have occasionally called me Potato Girl. Please don't call me that, I much prefer Bannie."
"Of course," I agreed simply. I looked between Bannie and her twin. "Say, of the two of you, who is stronger?"
"Her, easy," Nikki said with a shrug.
"I wouldn't want to have to fight Nikki, since she's got experience in that regard, but yeah. I did more of the hauling work on the farm than she did," Bannie agreed.
"Wait a tic, you grew up on a farm, but moved to Japan because your dad got a new job? How does that work?" I asked, my curiosity growing more by the minute at the strange lives of my friends. "Won't farmers stay with their farm?"
"Technically it was our grandpa's farm, not ours. Everyone helped out, but when Dad got that job, we moved out," Nikki answered. "How about you? Any weird stories from your past?"
I hummed and thought about it. "Nothing… nothing like you two. My mom is a teacher, my dad is a carpenter, two younger sisters. All of my aunts and uncles are adoptive, and I don't know squat about my blood family beyond the fact that babushka is a terrible person, and both of my parents are estranged from their families. I'm first generation American on my dad's side, and I think… third on my mom's?"
"Babushka? Are you Russian?"
"My dad is, yeah. He fled Russia around the time that the Soviet Union collapsed. I'm fluent in three languages, so there's that."
The two of them shared a look, then looked over at my Evil Twin.
"You know, that makes your being identical to Jayda even more confusing. Her family has been in the US since before it was the US, meanwhile, you're, well…" Nikki shrugged and gestured towards me.
I laughed. "You want to know what's really weird? This isn't the first time I've run into someone who is very American that has a half-Russian evil twin. You know my friend Rach, right?" They both nodded. "Well, back home, we've got another friend of ours, Tasha. She looks incredibly similar to Rach. Maybe not quite as scary similar as Jayda and I, but still close."
"You're right, that is weird!"
That got more laughter from both me and Bannie. The three of us settled down quickly, though, and the twins started another game of their TCG. I was content to sit by and watch them play it. Maybe I'd pick it up another day and play with them, but until that point, I was more than happy to watch and not give any hints about my poker face to Nikki.
Faye Faith's estimate was a little on the long side, and we started eating the pizza well before when she said we would. It was, much like everything else she makes, delicious. So much so that I eagerly tried to keep pace with the bottomless stomachs of my friends. I was positively stuffed by the time we cleaned up and pivoted to card games.
Nikki had completely seen through my ruse. Her poker face was amazing, and she knew the game just as well as I did. Whenever we both had a good hand, she matched me bet for bet, trying to get me to flinch and back down. It was some of the most intense poker I had played in a long while. The others were perfectly capable players, but Nikki was not only keeping up, but outplaying me in places.
I glanced down at the rapidly dwindling stack of chips in front of me, then peeked at the two cards I was playing: Jack and eight of clubs. The four cards currently face up were the nine of hearts, nine of clubs, two of clubs, and seven of clubs. All things considered, I was fairly confident in my hand. I had a jack high flush, but there was also that pair of nines on the table. Nikki was betting aggressively, which meant she either also had a flush, or she had a full house.
It only took me a few moments to run the odds on my head. We both had good hands, else Nikki would have likely folded. She had to know the flush was a possibility, and with that pair of nines, so was the full house. She held the chip advantage over me.
"I'm all in," I declared. All of my chips went into the middle of the table. I carefully watched Nikki for any tell.
She hesitated. Had I given her pause with the reckless move? Or was she just running those same numbers and trying to figure out if I had the flush or the full house? Or maybe she thought I was the type to go this aggressively with a mere three of a kind. "Call."
"God, this is tense! Why are you both so serious?" Jayda complained, before she flipped up the river. Ten of clubs.
"Let's see them!" Faye Faith cheered.
"Read 'em and weep, girls!" Nikki declared confidently. In her hand was the nine of spades and the two of diamonds. She'd had two pair on the flop, and the turn had improved her hand to a full house.
I couldn't help but laugh as all the tension left my body. "Sorry Nikki. I'll take all those chips." Then I laid down my jack and eight of clubs. "Jack high straight flush."
Jayda started cackling like a mad woman. "Oh my god! We've finally found someone who can match Nikki at poker! All it took was a hint of Amara's luck!"
"Amara?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Old friend from back home. I swear, she has the Devil's luck, because not only is she lucky, she is consistently so! It's honestly terrifying to behold." Jayda paused and gave me a bright smile. "You'd get along great with her, now that I think about it. Big sensha-do fan, and I think she's the driver in her team's command tank."
Nikki, meanwhile, gave me a curious look before she nodded her approval. "Well played. But this game ain't over yet…"
"No it is not…"
I ended up barely scraping out a win.
"Miss Evans, may I have a word with you?" The Chieftain asked from his office in the garage. I paused mid step and quickly caught my balance, looking at my two companions. Jane and April looked back.
"One sec, Chief!" I answered, before quickly scanning the area for someone to give them a hand in my absence. Naomi was the first person I spotted, and I gave her a wave. "Hey, Naomi!"
"What's up?" Naomi asked as she approached.
"Can you give these two a brief on the Stuart, and show them the ropes? Chief needs me for something." I said, gesturing to Jane and April as I spoke.
"Sure thing." Naomi nodded, and I turned away. As she led the pair towards where I'd left the Stuart, I heard her begin with the same question I'd asked them earlier. "How much do you know about tanks?"
Naomi was gonna be in for a long few minutes…
With my charges safely passed off, I jogged over to the Chief's office. The door was open, and I slipped right in. He was typing away at something, and I took a moment to examine the office. It was a little bit smaller than his office in the main sports building, but no less packed. A large shelving unit was set up behind his desk, and it was full of manuals, reference books, histories, and model tanks. He had maps on either side wall, pinned to corkboards and full of pins and holes where pins had previously gone.
"Please, take a seat Tally. This should only be a minute." The Chief said, and I took the seat he gestured to. I scanned the bookshelves, trying to see if there was anything of interest. Multiple manuals for every vehicle in Saunders' arsenal - plus a few I knew we didn't have - a couple of examinations of historical battles, and a history of Sensha-do. Where he got a manual for the T28 Superheavy, I'll never know, because the darned things are just as impractical as the Maus, if not more.
"Apologies, I just needed to finish up a bit of paperwork." The Chief said.
I nodded. "So, what did you need me for, Chief?"
"Two things. First, in light of what you went through in yesterday's match, and going by the brief version I got from Kay, I'd like to recommend you pay a visit to Miss Gale when you have an opportunity. She's one of the school's counselors, though you wouldn't be able to tell by what the school has her doing most of the time."
I blinked. This was the first I'd heard about any sort of school counselors. "Saunders actually has counselors? I thought that since Japan is rather, ah… against the concept, there wouldn't be any here."
"Any school but Saunders, you'd probably be right. But Saunders was originally an American school, and the first school ship was actually former Navy. It's carried on some naval traditions, and the ship's chaplain being available for spiritual guidance is one of them, though it's evolved to be more secular." The Chief explained. "Sarah's a good person, and I'm sure she'd be willing to give helping you out a shot."
"Oh." I oh'd. "Yeah, I'll definitely have to give her a visit in that case. What was the other thing?"
"Your former crew." The Chieftain began.
"What about them?"
"They'll no longer be a problem. What they did to you, and tried to do to you and your teammates was absolutely unacceptable. They've been expelled."
I blinked. That… wasn't what I had been expecting. Off the team, sure, but expelled?
"I see." I said, trying to hide just how stunned I was by that.
"Which has the unfortunate side effect of leaving you without a tank or a crew." The Chief continued. "Now, getting you a new tank should be easy enough, since we need to give your old one a thorough inspection, but a crew's a mite harder this far into the semester."
"I think I've got that taken care of, actually. I invited a few friends in today to give them a look around one of the Stuarts, and see if they'd be interested and are any good inside a tank." I said.
"Very good!" The Chief smiled. "Since you seem to have that taken care of, I'll let you get back to it. Remember to contact Miss Gale at some point, too."
"Will do!" I flashed the Chief a thumbs up as I stood and exited the office. My feet quickly carried me over to the corner of the Oddball Collection, where Naomi was clearly exasperated with April and Jane. The gunner was pinching her nose, with something that looked like a grimace on her face.
"Hi Tally!" Jane called as I approached. "I think we broke her."
"You did not break me." Naomi insisted.
"What did they do this time?" I asked.
"We did nothing." April interjected.
Naomi didn't say anything, and just gestured to Jane. I nodded in sympathy.
"Yeah, that'd do it."
"Hey!"
"Naomi, I'll let you get back to your own stuff, I can take it from here." I said. Naomi thanked me and fled at a dignified but swift pace.
Jane had the presence of mind to look embarrassed. "Sorry…"
"It's fine. Not everyone is as used to your antics as I am. Now, let's get you acquainted with your tank, if you two are certain you want in."
"Of course!" Jane and April both said, standing at attention. Jane's posture was picture perfect, while April had a close enough approximation for the image to be deeply amusing. Not that I laughed, of course.
I walked over to the tank I'd spent so many hours fixing up, and gently patted its front glacis plate. "This is the M5A1 Stuart light tank. Equipped with twin Cadillac V8s, bogie-style suspension, and a hydramatic transmission, it is one of the fastest tanks in Saunders' arsenal, but it's thin armor and 37mm gun M6 also make it one of the weakest. As such, our job is probably going to be more in the range of scouting and flanking, rather than head on assaults and overwhelming tactics with the rest of the team.
"Due to its small size, the Stuart only has a crew of 4, but we can reduce that to 3 by ignoring the assistant driver, AKA the Bog. I kinda had Jane pegged for Driver and April for Gunner, but I'll give you both a shot at either position to make sure you're both comfortable, once you've got the basics down pat."
Jane waited a moment after I finished my lecture before speaking. "She's confident we'll do great! She already likes you, Tally."
I gave Jane my usual 'you're being weird' look before diving into the nitty gritty part of the basics of tankery. There would be no getting in the tank and driving around with it for a few days, there was a lot of theory to learn first. A lot of it was stuff that I was gonna be learning for the first time, myself.
When I'd pitched my plan of action to Kay on the drive over to the garage, I wanted to get them in the tank almost right away, in a sort of learn-by-doing manner. It had worked for me, so it should work here too, or at least that was my idea. Kay shut it down hard, saying that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it properly. Expedited, but properly.
"Okay, that all makes a certain amount of sense." April said with a nod once I finished the brief version of the basics. "I'm a little disappointed we won't get to drive the tank around at first, but it makes sense. What's our schedule going to look like?"
"The Chief gives lectures to the Training Company on Tuesdays and Thursdays, though from what I hear the first few weeks are all lecture, so don't expect to be driving around with Training tomorrow. We'll probably have to steal him for lectures on the off days. Beyond that, it'll be the fast tracked basic training to get you two up to speed as fast as possible. The next tournament match is the week after next, and I figure Kay is gonna want me in a tank for it. I'd like that tank to be the Stuart, but I doubt that you'll be up to snuff by then, no offense." I explained.
"At the bare minimum, we have just over a week to get up to par if you want the Stuart?" Jane asked.
I nodded. "If we get Saturday through Monday for our match, chances are you won't be anywhere near ready. Even then, I don't think you'll be ready for this match at all. Maybe the next one."
Jane and April's faces both grew serious for a moment. "We'll make it. If we have to put in extra training, evenings, weekends, whatever it takes." Jane said, while April nodded along.
"Alrighty then. I'll probably be there to help every step of the way, though don't expect me to be super helpful in learning your specific roles. Naomi said I've got very little potential as a gunner, and, well, I rolled a Sherman while driving it."
"What now?"
"Now, we wait for Kay to call the gathering for announcements and what everyone will be doing today, and then we head to the lecture hall in the back for the Chief's lecture." I answered.
"Sounds good!"
I was full of nervous energy when I entered the leadership room at the end of practice. There was a spring to my step, and I was bouncing around on my heels when I stopped to open the door and slip inside.
"Good day today?" Arisa asked me.
"Sort of. The Chief gives really good lectures, but I have been sitting around all day and just need to move for a bit." I answered, as I started pacing around the room.
"Note to self: Never give Tally coffee." Arisa said aloud, before doodling something on a sheet of paper.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, holding a hand to my chest. "At east I'm not addicted to the stuff like you are, you early morning zombie."
"I am what I am." Arisa stated with a smirk.
We bantered back and forth for a while as the others trickled in, Hannah, Naomi, and finally Kay. All the while, I never stopped moving, be it pacing, bouncing in place, or tapping my foot.
The meeting went fairly typically, and we took this opportunity to plan out the next few days' practices. Naomi was insistent on mobile gunnery training, which nobody objected to, but we interspersed some regular practice stuff here and there to make sure we didn't lose anything while we focused on that one particular skill.
"Arisa, last night you mentioned that you had a new idea for something we could use?" Kay asked once the planning was done.
"The Canal Defense Light." Arisa said with a nod. Judging by the looks of confusion around the room, nobody knew what she was talking about. "It's an M3 medium tank, either pattern, with the 37mm turret replaced by a high power searchlight. It was originally intended to provide spotting assistance during night ops, and had a secondary purpose of dazzling and blinding the enemy."
"That's legal?" I asked.
"It was a legitimate modification made to the tank, and it actually saw combat service during the war. It's a lot more than can be said about certain other designs people have fielded." Arisa answered, tapping her pen against the table. "Though I'm still annoyed we couldn't get that T29. We still need a proper heavy tank."
"Pershing was just as good as, if not better than Tiger I, even more so in Tankery." Hannah input.
"And as much as I hate it, we have the M6 if we truly need a heavy tank while our Pershing is out of action." I added.
Kay hummed softly as she considered the proposal. "I'm not sure it would be worth the effort. At worst, it's a tank that's less effective than an M4 with a fairly specialized crew, and unless a match goes really long, there aren't any night battles, so the best case perspective is a lot less likely than the worst case."
"It could be worth a try, though." Arisa insisted. "A high powered spotlight could be helpful for getting everyone on target, and temporarily blinding a gunner could be the difference between a win and a loss."
Kay looked around the rest of the table. I shrugged, Hannah shook her head, and Naomi spoke up. "It could potentially be useful. If we can find the stuff for a reasonable price, it might be worth it to buy and convert one of our Lees over. We don't use them anyways, so at worst it's just a little money lost."
"Alright." Kay said. "In that case, Arisa, Naomi, I want you two to find the parts for a reasonable price, and I want you to find me a concrete situation that we have a reasonable chance of seeing where it will be useful. Otherwise, we won't buy it. We'll have to clear it with the Chief regardless."
"Yes ma'am!" Arisa and Naomi responded in sync.
Kay flashed them a thumbs up. "Is there anything else that anybody wanted to bring up, or are we good to call things here?"
I half raised my hand, getting everyone's attention. "It's not related to what we've got going on in practice, but I got an email from Eclair earlier today, asking if I could review her match footage and see if I had any advice. Apparently, she had a particularly embarrassing loss to Anzio. And, well, I was wondering if anybody wanted to help me watch it, since two sets of eyes are better than one."
"Ooooh, we can learn from the mistakes of others, and help them improve at the same time. I like it!" Kay said enthusiastically.
"How long is the video? I have classwork I need to get to." Naomi asked.
"I won't hold you back if you need to head out." I answered. "But I think it was a fairly short match."
Naomi nodded. "I'll see you all tomorrow then."
"Later!" "See you!" "Bye!"
"Do we have a projector or something, so I can put it up on the screen?" I asked, as Naomi left the room.
"Should be over here." Kay said, indicating a cart with a computer attached.
"Thanks." I moved over to the computer and booted it up. It only took a few minutes of work to get the video open and displayed on the screen. I was about to press play when Arisa stopped me.
"Tally, are you sure that this isn't a highlights reel? Twenty minutes is far too short for a Tankery match."
"It's the video Eclair sent me."
"Play it!" Kay said cheerfully. I complied, and quickly retook my seat as the match started on the screen.
It didn't take long for any of us to realize why the match was so short and so embarrassing for Eclair. Maginot took a defensive position only to immediately abandon it as soon as it looked like Anzio's tankettes were retreating, and they chased the tankettes entirely too far, leaving their heavy tanks to lag behind, one of which was their flag.
Anzio's Semoventes used this opportunity to swarm the pair of heavy tanks, and it was over quickly. Part of Maginot's forces turned back to assist their flag tank, but they were too late, and the flag tanks traded blows, knocking each other out.
"... wow." Hannah breathed as the video ended. "You said Maginot lost that? How do you decide a tie?"
"It's an incredibly rare occurrence, but in the chance that both flag tanks are knocked out simultaneously, the match goes to a judge's decision. Same thing happens in Annihilation matches when both teams lose their last tank at the same time." Arisa answered. "They also consult recordings to see if one flag tank went down first, because it can be incredibly close at times."
"Twenty minutes, and only two tanks knocked out. Just… wow." Hannah said.
"Chi-Ha-Tan lasted longer against Kuromorimine." Kay said simply.
"So, I think the obvious lesson there is to not overcommit to chasing after the other team and leave your flag tank exposed. Same lesson we had to learn." I summarized.
"Temper aggression with caution." Kay said with a nod. "Better tanks would probably help a ton, too. Those one person turrets are overwhelming at the best of times, and being aggressive can only make that worse."
"I've already mentioned that to Eclair, but she's denied getting upgrades. She wants to keep their lineup in theme."
"French tanks are awful. And they didn't build any between 1940 and 1945. Any upgrades would have to be imports or Lend-Lease." Arisa added. "We should have a few M4A2s we could loan them."
"Anything we can loan would not only be a significant increase in firepower, but also manpower requirements. Somuas are 3 people max, Shermans are 5. That was one of their issues, a lack of crews." I commented, tapping my foot as I leaned back. There were a lot of possibilities, but Eclair had thrown out most of my suggestions.
"We can offer the A2s, but maybe also something lighter?" Hannah suggested. "The light tanks need less crew."
"We aren't sending them the Stuarts." I stated firmly.
"The Locusts might be a good choice, if Eclair accepts. Three person crews, the TC has a lot less on her plate by not needing to gun, and they're better than the lights Maginot fields." Kay suggested.
"That could work." Arisa said, and we all nodded our agreement.
"So, temper their aggression with caution, don't commit all of your forces to one area, and offer Lend-Lease M4A2s and M22s?" I summarized.
"Sounds about right." Arisa nodded. "Though let her know we'll want the Locusts back for Tankathlon this fall."
I gave a thumbs up and started jotting down the gist of the email, which I would compose back in my dorm.
"Anything else anybody would like to discuss?" Kay asked as she turned off the projector.
"Do we know when the next match is?" Hannah asked.
Kay shook her head. "We don't know who or when we're playing until Sunday, once all of the matches for the first round are over. The league will send out an announcement, which we can then share during practice on Monday."
"Okay." Hannah nodded.
"Any more questions? No? In that case, see you all tomorrow!" Kay said cheerfully. We all gathered up our stuff and filed out of the leadership room. Arisa and Hannah went one way, while Kay and I headed for the parking lot and Kay's Jeep. The light was on inside the lecture hall, and I peeked inside to see what was going on, since practice was well over by now.
I'm not quite sure what I was expecting to see, but it wasn't Jane and April, hunched over books and bookwork.
"You'll have yourself a good crew in no time." Kay said quietly. "They're hard workers, just like you."
I nodded. "Thanks. Both for the opportunity and the encouragement."
Kay drew me into a side hug. "Of course. Y'know, we should do something this weekend, just the two of us."
"Like what?"
Kay shrugged. "Haven't thought of anything yet, just that we should. If you have any ideas, let me know."
I thought about it for a moment. Going out and doing stuff as friends would be nice… No tanks, no responsibilities, just the two of us, good friends, doing friend things. "Will do."
"One sec, Chief!" I answered, before quickly scanning the area for someone to give them a hand in my absence. Naomi was the first person I spotted, and I gave her a wave. "Hey, Naomi!"
"What's up?" Naomi asked as she approached.
"Can you give these two a brief on the Stuart, and show them the ropes? Chief needs me for something." I said, gesturing to Jane and April as I spoke.
"Sure thing." Naomi nodded, and I turned away. As she led the pair towards where I'd left the Stuart, I heard her begin with the same question I'd asked them earlier. "How much do you know about tanks?"
Naomi was gonna be in for a long few minutes…
With my charges safely passed off, I jogged over to the Chief's office. The door was open, and I slipped right in. He was typing away at something, and I took a moment to examine the office. It was a little bit smaller than his office in the main sports building, but no less packed. A large shelving unit was set up behind his desk, and it was full of manuals, reference books, histories, and model tanks. He had maps on either side wall, pinned to corkboards and full of pins and holes where pins had previously gone.
"Please, take a seat Tally. This should only be a minute." The Chief said, and I took the seat he gestured to. I scanned the bookshelves, trying to see if there was anything of interest. Multiple manuals for every vehicle in Saunders' arsenal - plus a few I knew we didn't have - a couple of examinations of historical battles, and a history of Sensha-do. Where he got a manual for the T28 Superheavy, I'll never know, because the darned things are just as impractical as the Maus, if not more.
"Apologies, I just needed to finish up a bit of paperwork." The Chief said.
I nodded. "So, what did you need me for, Chief?"
"Two things. First, in light of what you went through in yesterday's match, and going by the brief version I got from Kay, I'd like to recommend you pay a visit to Miss Gale when you have an opportunity. She's one of the school's counselors, though you wouldn't be able to tell by what the school has her doing most of the time."
I blinked. This was the first I'd heard about any sort of school counselors. "Saunders actually has counselors? I thought that since Japan is rather, ah… against the concept, there wouldn't be any here."
"Any school but Saunders, you'd probably be right. But Saunders was originally an American school, and the first school ship was actually former Navy. It's carried on some naval traditions, and the ship's chaplain being available for spiritual guidance is one of them, though it's evolved to be more secular." The Chief explained. "Sarah's a good person, and I'm sure she'd be willing to give helping you out a shot."
"Oh." I oh'd. "Yeah, I'll definitely have to give her a visit in that case. What was the other thing?"
"Your former crew." The Chieftain began.
"What about them?"
"They'll no longer be a problem. What they did to you, and tried to do to you and your teammates was absolutely unacceptable. They've been expelled."
I blinked. That… wasn't what I had been expecting. Off the team, sure, but expelled?
"I see." I said, trying to hide just how stunned I was by that.
"Which has the unfortunate side effect of leaving you without a tank or a crew." The Chief continued. "Now, getting you a new tank should be easy enough, since we need to give your old one a thorough inspection, but a crew's a mite harder this far into the semester."
"I think I've got that taken care of, actually. I invited a few friends in today to give them a look around one of the Stuarts, and see if they'd be interested and are any good inside a tank." I said.
"Very good!" The Chief smiled. "Since you seem to have that taken care of, I'll let you get back to it. Remember to contact Miss Gale at some point, too."
"Will do!" I flashed the Chief a thumbs up as I stood and exited the office. My feet quickly carried me over to the corner of the Oddball Collection, where Naomi was clearly exasperated with April and Jane. The gunner was pinching her nose, with something that looked like a grimace on her face.
"Hi Tally!" Jane called as I approached. "I think we broke her."
"You did not break me." Naomi insisted.
"What did they do this time?" I asked.
"We did nothing." April interjected.
Naomi didn't say anything, and just gestured to Jane. I nodded in sympathy.
"Yeah, that'd do it."
"Hey!"
"Naomi, I'll let you get back to your own stuff, I can take it from here." I said. Naomi thanked me and fled at a dignified but swift pace.
Jane had the presence of mind to look embarrassed. "Sorry…"
"It's fine. Not everyone is as used to your antics as I am. Now, let's get you acquainted with your tank, if you two are certain you want in."
"Of course!" Jane and April both said, standing at attention. Jane's posture was picture perfect, while April had a close enough approximation for the image to be deeply amusing. Not that I laughed, of course.
I walked over to the tank I'd spent so many hours fixing up, and gently patted its front glacis plate. "This is the M5A1 Stuart light tank. Equipped with twin Cadillac V8s, bogie-style suspension, and a hydramatic transmission, it is one of the fastest tanks in Saunders' arsenal, but it's thin armor and 37mm gun M6 also make it one of the weakest. As such, our job is probably going to be more in the range of scouting and flanking, rather than head on assaults and overwhelming tactics with the rest of the team.
"Due to its small size, the Stuart only has a crew of 4, but we can reduce that to 3 by ignoring the assistant driver, AKA the Bog. I kinda had Jane pegged for Driver and April for Gunner, but I'll give you both a shot at either position to make sure you're both comfortable, once you've got the basics down pat."
Jane waited a moment after I finished my lecture before speaking. "She's confident we'll do great! She already likes you, Tally."
I gave Jane my usual 'you're being weird' look before diving into the nitty gritty part of the basics of tankery. There would be no getting in the tank and driving around with it for a few days, there was a lot of theory to learn first. A lot of it was stuff that I was gonna be learning for the first time, myself.
When I'd pitched my plan of action to Kay on the drive over to the garage, I wanted to get them in the tank almost right away, in a sort of learn-by-doing manner. It had worked for me, so it should work here too, or at least that was my idea. Kay shut it down hard, saying that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it properly. Expedited, but properly.
"Okay, that all makes a certain amount of sense." April said with a nod once I finished the brief version of the basics. "I'm a little disappointed we won't get to drive the tank around at first, but it makes sense. What's our schedule going to look like?"
"The Chief gives lectures to the Training Company on Tuesdays and Thursdays, though from what I hear the first few weeks are all lecture, so don't expect to be driving around with Training tomorrow. We'll probably have to steal him for lectures on the off days. Beyond that, it'll be the fast tracked basic training to get you two up to speed as fast as possible. The next tournament match is the week after next, and I figure Kay is gonna want me in a tank for it. I'd like that tank to be the Stuart, but I doubt that you'll be up to snuff by then, no offense." I explained.
"At the bare minimum, we have just over a week to get up to par if you want the Stuart?" Jane asked.
I nodded. "If we get Saturday through Monday for our match, chances are you won't be anywhere near ready. Even then, I don't think you'll be ready for this match at all. Maybe the next one."
Jane and April's faces both grew serious for a moment. "We'll make it. If we have to put in extra training, evenings, weekends, whatever it takes." Jane said, while April nodded along.
"Alrighty then. I'll probably be there to help every step of the way, though don't expect me to be super helpful in learning your specific roles. Naomi said I've got very little potential as a gunner, and, well, I rolled a Sherman while driving it."
"What now?"
"Now, we wait for Kay to call the gathering for announcements and what everyone will be doing today, and then we head to the lecture hall in the back for the Chief's lecture." I answered.
"Sounds good!"
I was full of nervous energy when I entered the leadership room at the end of practice. There was a spring to my step, and I was bouncing around on my heels when I stopped to open the door and slip inside.
"Good day today?" Arisa asked me.
"Sort of. The Chief gives really good lectures, but I have been sitting around all day and just need to move for a bit." I answered, as I started pacing around the room.
"Note to self: Never give Tally coffee." Arisa said aloud, before doodling something on a sheet of paper.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, holding a hand to my chest. "At east I'm not addicted to the stuff like you are, you early morning zombie."
"I am what I am." Arisa stated with a smirk.
We bantered back and forth for a while as the others trickled in, Hannah, Naomi, and finally Kay. All the while, I never stopped moving, be it pacing, bouncing in place, or tapping my foot.
The meeting went fairly typically, and we took this opportunity to plan out the next few days' practices. Naomi was insistent on mobile gunnery training, which nobody objected to, but we interspersed some regular practice stuff here and there to make sure we didn't lose anything while we focused on that one particular skill.
"Arisa, last night you mentioned that you had a new idea for something we could use?" Kay asked once the planning was done.
"The Canal Defense Light." Arisa said with a nod. Judging by the looks of confusion around the room, nobody knew what she was talking about. "It's an M3 medium tank, either pattern, with the 37mm turret replaced by a high power searchlight. It was originally intended to provide spotting assistance during night ops, and had a secondary purpose of dazzling and blinding the enemy."
"That's legal?" I asked.
"It was a legitimate modification made to the tank, and it actually saw combat service during the war. It's a lot more than can be said about certain other designs people have fielded." Arisa answered, tapping her pen against the table. "Though I'm still annoyed we couldn't get that T29. We still need a proper heavy tank."
"Pershing was just as good as, if not better than Tiger I, even more so in Tankery." Hannah input.
"And as much as I hate it, we have the M6 if we truly need a heavy tank while our Pershing is out of action." I added.
Kay hummed softly as she considered the proposal. "I'm not sure it would be worth the effort. At worst, it's a tank that's less effective than an M4 with a fairly specialized crew, and unless a match goes really long, there aren't any night battles, so the best case perspective is a lot less likely than the worst case."
"It could be worth a try, though." Arisa insisted. "A high powered spotlight could be helpful for getting everyone on target, and temporarily blinding a gunner could be the difference between a win and a loss."
Kay looked around the rest of the table. I shrugged, Hannah shook her head, and Naomi spoke up. "It could potentially be useful. If we can find the stuff for a reasonable price, it might be worth it to buy and convert one of our Lees over. We don't use them anyways, so at worst it's just a little money lost."
"Alright." Kay said. "In that case, Arisa, Naomi, I want you two to find the parts for a reasonable price, and I want you to find me a concrete situation that we have a reasonable chance of seeing where it will be useful. Otherwise, we won't buy it. We'll have to clear it with the Chief regardless."
"Yes ma'am!" Arisa and Naomi responded in sync.
Kay flashed them a thumbs up. "Is there anything else that anybody wanted to bring up, or are we good to call things here?"
I half raised my hand, getting everyone's attention. "It's not related to what we've got going on in practice, but I got an email from Eclair earlier today, asking if I could review her match footage and see if I had any advice. Apparently, she had a particularly embarrassing loss to Anzio. And, well, I was wondering if anybody wanted to help me watch it, since two sets of eyes are better than one."
"Ooooh, we can learn from the mistakes of others, and help them improve at the same time. I like it!" Kay said enthusiastically.
"How long is the video? I have classwork I need to get to." Naomi asked.
"I won't hold you back if you need to head out." I answered. "But I think it was a fairly short match."
Naomi nodded. "I'll see you all tomorrow then."
"Later!" "See you!" "Bye!"
"Do we have a projector or something, so I can put it up on the screen?" I asked, as Naomi left the room.
"Should be over here." Kay said, indicating a cart with a computer attached.
"Thanks." I moved over to the computer and booted it up. It only took a few minutes of work to get the video open and displayed on the screen. I was about to press play when Arisa stopped me.
"Tally, are you sure that this isn't a highlights reel? Twenty minutes is far too short for a Tankery match."
"It's the video Eclair sent me."
"Play it!" Kay said cheerfully. I complied, and quickly retook my seat as the match started on the screen.
It didn't take long for any of us to realize why the match was so short and so embarrassing for Eclair. Maginot took a defensive position only to immediately abandon it as soon as it looked like Anzio's tankettes were retreating, and they chased the tankettes entirely too far, leaving their heavy tanks to lag behind, one of which was their flag.
Anzio's Semoventes used this opportunity to swarm the pair of heavy tanks, and it was over quickly. Part of Maginot's forces turned back to assist their flag tank, but they were too late, and the flag tanks traded blows, knocking each other out.
"... wow." Hannah breathed as the video ended. "You said Maginot lost that? How do you decide a tie?"
"It's an incredibly rare occurrence, but in the chance that both flag tanks are knocked out simultaneously, the match goes to a judge's decision. Same thing happens in Annihilation matches when both teams lose their last tank at the same time." Arisa answered. "They also consult recordings to see if one flag tank went down first, because it can be incredibly close at times."
"Twenty minutes, and only two tanks knocked out. Just… wow." Hannah said.
"Chi-Ha-Tan lasted longer against Kuromorimine." Kay said simply.
"So, I think the obvious lesson there is to not overcommit to chasing after the other team and leave your flag tank exposed. Same lesson we had to learn." I summarized.
"Temper aggression with caution." Kay said with a nod. "Better tanks would probably help a ton, too. Those one person turrets are overwhelming at the best of times, and being aggressive can only make that worse."
"I've already mentioned that to Eclair, but she's denied getting upgrades. She wants to keep their lineup in theme."
"French tanks are awful. And they didn't build any between 1940 and 1945. Any upgrades would have to be imports or Lend-Lease." Arisa added. "We should have a few M4A2s we could loan them."
"Anything we can loan would not only be a significant increase in firepower, but also manpower requirements. Somuas are 3 people max, Shermans are 5. That was one of their issues, a lack of crews." I commented, tapping my foot as I leaned back. There were a lot of possibilities, but Eclair had thrown out most of my suggestions.
"We can offer the A2s, but maybe also something lighter?" Hannah suggested. "The light tanks need less crew."
"We aren't sending them the Stuarts." I stated firmly.
"The Locusts might be a good choice, if Eclair accepts. Three person crews, the TC has a lot less on her plate by not needing to gun, and they're better than the lights Maginot fields." Kay suggested.
"That could work." Arisa said, and we all nodded our agreement.
"So, temper their aggression with caution, don't commit all of your forces to one area, and offer Lend-Lease M4A2s and M22s?" I summarized.
"Sounds about right." Arisa nodded. "Though let her know we'll want the Locusts back for Tankathlon this fall."
I gave a thumbs up and started jotting down the gist of the email, which I would compose back in my dorm.
"Anything else anybody would like to discuss?" Kay asked as she turned off the projector.
"Do we know when the next match is?" Hannah asked.
Kay shook her head. "We don't know who or when we're playing until Sunday, once all of the matches for the first round are over. The league will send out an announcement, which we can then share during practice on Monday."
"Okay." Hannah nodded.
"Any more questions? No? In that case, see you all tomorrow!" Kay said cheerfully. We all gathered up our stuff and filed out of the leadership room. Arisa and Hannah went one way, while Kay and I headed for the parking lot and Kay's Jeep. The light was on inside the lecture hall, and I peeked inside to see what was going on, since practice was well over by now.
I'm not quite sure what I was expecting to see, but it wasn't Jane and April, hunched over books and bookwork.
"You'll have yourself a good crew in no time." Kay said quietly. "They're hard workers, just like you."
I nodded. "Thanks. Both for the opportunity and the encouragement."
Kay drew me into a side hug. "Of course. Y'know, we should do something this weekend, just the two of us."
"Like what?"
Kay shrugged. "Haven't thought of anything yet, just that we should. If you have any ideas, let me know."
I thought about it for a moment. Going out and doing stuff as friends would be nice… No tanks, no responsibilities, just the two of us, good friends, doing friend things. "Will do."
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FailLord
2050 lb bombs?
- Location
- very high up
Soo are they going to cover the M22 in bushes so it looks like a giant moving bush?
Thanks for the chapter. That's a pretty damn embarrassing mistake on Maginot's front although IMHO, not nearly as bad as having one of your tanks mutiny mid-battle. Hopefully they'll be just crazy enough to get the locust to work.
Finally, I spotted a little typo. Instead of saying the chaplain evolved to be less secular, I think you meant more secular or less religious.
Finally, I spotted a little typo. Instead of saying the chaplain evolved to be less secular, I think you meant more secular or less religious.
Lady Darkhound
Haha, tanks!
- Location
- My very own personal hell
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Ah, right. Thanks for the correction! And the match results for Anzio vs Maginot are following canon as close as possible. It was a really weird match.
SeaSirocco
Formerly 'Sanae Aran' / Aspiring Artist
- Location
- The Seaside
- Pronouns
- She/Her
And so the Bandits finally get what's coming to them. Hopefully that's the last time they ever bother Tally.
GBscientist
The Empire's Greatest Mouse
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I hope the Bandits are done for, but from a literary perspective it would make sense if they showed up off the ship before or after a match. From their perspective, Tally just got them kicked out of a prestigious school and ruined their chances for post-secondary education. Not that the Bandits likely care what university they'll go to, but having their parents breathing down their necks and watching their every action should be enough to invite the Bandits to violence. They've attempted to get revenge for less, after all.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Yes, clearly Kay invited you on a date because you're just good friends, Tally.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
I'm waiting for her to be an awful counselor who leaks Tally's secrets inappropriately or is too solicitous or something because that's just how things have gone.
...Tally, it's assault. Assault with a deadly weapon potentially, depending on how the DA feels. Japan's likely no laxer on this sort of thing.
Wonder what that does to their club budget. ;P
Ah.
*nods*
Lilies.
Its a thing. You are right in that its wrong, but... people are good at looking like nothing is wrong when its just old pains and scars, its the new pains that shock them into breaking down. That's been Tally this entire time.
She's finally able to start settling a bit, so she's able to jump right back into looking like she's fine.
And maybe if she lies hard enough its even true until something shocks her out of it again.
*nods*
Lilies.
Welcome to "I'm fine!"
Its a thing. You are right in that its wrong, but... people are good at looking like nothing is wrong when its just old pains and scars, its the new pains that shock them into breaking down. That's been Tally this entire time.
She's finally able to start settling a bit, so she's able to jump right back into looking like she's fine.
And maybe if she lies hard enough its even true until something shocks her out of it again.
Lady Darkhound
Haha, tanks!
- Location
- My very own personal hell
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Today, January 2nd, is the one year anniversary of this project starting, over in Discord. I was hoping to get a chapter up today, but between my muse being an uncooperative little shit, entirely too much GMing for a single weekend, and my newfound addiction to Project Wingman, that hasn't happened. So I wanted to try and do a retrospect over the first year of Hell on Tracks. 2020 has been quite the year, and I think that insanity has both helped and hindered my writing here. I've never managed to write anything close to this long before (my second biggest writing project is in the range of 15k words), and I never imagined being able to breach 100k words, so it's all new territory for me.
That said, there are a few things I'm hoping to improve on in the coming year. Pacing, both in-story and out-of-story, for one. There have been bits that served no real purpose, but I wrote because I dug myself a hole and needed to fill it somehow. The mini tournament is an example, I was originally intending that three chapter arc to be a single chapter where I just sort of touched on what happened, but my muse ran away from me. I've got a few things planned for the build up to the next big match, but most everything I have should just be a chapter, if my muse will let me get through this current roadblock. Real life pacing will be a bit harder because I am crap and the muse is inconsistent, but I'm really hoping that I can avoid the month-long breaks between chapters like what happened in June, October, and November. Hopefully this next chapter will go out before I end up with another one from mid-December to mid-January.
Tone is another thing I'm hoping to improve. I didn't really have any clue as to where things were going to go when I started this story a year ago, and while I have since plotted out points here and there, my tone has been both inconsistent and more depressing than I would like. Tally was never meant to be this emotionally fragile, but I'm not prepared to dive back through 100k words to lift things up. Maybe I'll fix a thing or two here and there if they really stand out to me on a reread, but I can't see a proper uplifting of spirits thus far without a massive rewriting project. I use Tally in a couple other works, and she's cheerful there, almost always happy and upbeat. It's quite a stark difference, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to somewhat smoothly transition between fragile and anxious Tally and happy Tally. We'll see how well I handle it, but that's all to come.
I also definitely made a fair few mistakes with the Bandits arc, which kinda ties into improvement points 1 and 2, though that arc is at least wrapped up for now and I can move along to bigger and better things.
There's also a few things I like to think I've been doing well with, and hope I can continue to keep them up to par. How Tally and Kay's relationship is developing, and it hopefully growing into proper healthy relationship territory. I'd like to think my tank battles are also reasonably well done, when Tally isn't having a panic attack or freaking out over this or that, but so much of them ends up dealing with Tally's issues that I feel I can't rightly say whether or not they're actually good content. I'm also hoping that now that I've got the canon stuff dealt with, I'll be able to lean into more of the Sensha-do madness that Girls und Panzer is known for, with ballsy plans, unexpected encounters, and the occasional maneuver that really shouldn't work but does because this is anime fanfiction.
If things go well, I've got plans for the immediate future of the story, and ideas for stuff all the way up to Der Film, on the off chance that this story somehow survives that long.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for sticking with this. Seeing a relatively massive number of likes coming in for a new chapter always lights up my day, as does the various discussions that happen every now and then. If you guys are up for it, I would love to hear your feedback, on what I've done well, and what I could improve upon moving forward.
That said, there are a few things I'm hoping to improve on in the coming year. Pacing, both in-story and out-of-story, for one. There have been bits that served no real purpose, but I wrote because I dug myself a hole and needed to fill it somehow. The mini tournament is an example, I was originally intending that three chapter arc to be a single chapter where I just sort of touched on what happened, but my muse ran away from me. I've got a few things planned for the build up to the next big match, but most everything I have should just be a chapter, if my muse will let me get through this current roadblock. Real life pacing will be a bit harder because I am crap and the muse is inconsistent, but I'm really hoping that I can avoid the month-long breaks between chapters like what happened in June, October, and November. Hopefully this next chapter will go out before I end up with another one from mid-December to mid-January.
Tone is another thing I'm hoping to improve. I didn't really have any clue as to where things were going to go when I started this story a year ago, and while I have since plotted out points here and there, my tone has been both inconsistent and more depressing than I would like. Tally was never meant to be this emotionally fragile, but I'm not prepared to dive back through 100k words to lift things up. Maybe I'll fix a thing or two here and there if they really stand out to me on a reread, but I can't see a proper uplifting of spirits thus far without a massive rewriting project. I use Tally in a couple other works, and she's cheerful there, almost always happy and upbeat. It's quite a stark difference, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to somewhat smoothly transition between fragile and anxious Tally and happy Tally. We'll see how well I handle it, but that's all to come.
I also definitely made a fair few mistakes with the Bandits arc, which kinda ties into improvement points 1 and 2, though that arc is at least wrapped up for now and I can move along to bigger and better things.
There's also a few things I like to think I've been doing well with, and hope I can continue to keep them up to par. How Tally and Kay's relationship is developing, and it hopefully growing into proper healthy relationship territory. I'd like to think my tank battles are also reasonably well done, when Tally isn't having a panic attack or freaking out over this or that, but so much of them ends up dealing with Tally's issues that I feel I can't rightly say whether or not they're actually good content. I'm also hoping that now that I've got the canon stuff dealt with, I'll be able to lean into more of the Sensha-do madness that Girls und Panzer is known for, with ballsy plans, unexpected encounters, and the occasional maneuver that really shouldn't work but does because this is anime fanfiction.
If things go well, I've got plans for the immediate future of the story, and ideas for stuff all the way up to Der Film, on the off chance that this story somehow survives that long.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for sticking with this. Seeing a relatively massive number of likes coming in for a new chapter always lights up my day, as does the various discussions that happen every now and then. If you guys are up for it, I would love to hear your feedback, on what I've done well, and what I could improve upon moving forward.
FlyingScanian
Tea Addict
- Location
- Land of Eternal Night
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I have very little to add, other than generic encouraging comments, but I'm enjoying things so far. Although I think it's the right move to keep moving forward, instead of going back and rewritng things, that leads too easily to an infinite circle of rewriting the first chapters.
Part Fifty Three
Lady Darkhound
Haha, tanks!
- Location
- My very own personal hell
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hell On Tracks
Part Fifty Three
++++++++++
I woke up slowly, a little bit earlier than I usually did. The rising sun was shining directly through the window and onto my face. Any attempts to block it out did nothing, and I couldn't really roll over and away from the light. Instead, I let out a tired yawn and sat up. My Hellcat plushie tumbled off of my chest and landed upright next to the absolutely massive Fletcher-class destroyer. It got a tired smile from me, and I gently patted the adorable tank destroyer.
The early morning sunlight was one of the few disadvantages of having an above decks room on a school ship. It doesn't matter which direction your window is facing, you will occasionally be woken up by the sun. Personally, it wasn't an issue, but I'd heard plenty of grumbling from Arisa, Hannah, and the other girls. I liked the view of the ocean and the natural light through the window, and I woke up early anyways, so the slightly earlier just means I have a little more time to get prepared for the day.
For once, I didn't immediately start getting ready for my morning run. I had a little bit of time, and I used that to check my email on my laptop. There were two waiting for me. One was from my parents, worrying over me after Thursday's match and all the chaos and conflict that came from it. I gave them a quick reply about all the details, especially now that I knew the Bandits had been expelled. The other was from Eclair, saying that she would accept the Locusts and a single M4A2, though she wasn't certain if she would keep the Sherman. I forwarded her response to Kay, and made a mental note to talk to her about it when we met up either today or tomorrow.
Then, naturally, I got up, changed into my exercise gear, and went out for my morning run. It was a gorgeous morning, with the sun still rising, the sky was a brilliant blue and bereft of clouds, and the temperature on the deck wasn't too high or too cold. A near-perfect mid-May morning.
Today was one of the relatively few Saturdays where I didn't have anything sensha-do related going on. No practice, no match, no flight to Nagasaki to use the big field there, absolutely nothing to do with tanks. As such, I was determined to make the most of it, and focus on other things unless Kay ambushed me with that idea she was working on.
The first thing on my list was laundry. I stripped all of the sheets off of my futon and added them to my laundry basket, then reconfigured the futon to be a couch and shoved it against the wall so I'd have a little more room to work.
American-style futons for the win.
Running laundry took most of the morning. I spent a good chunk of it chatting with Hannah at the laundromat when she showed up with the exact same idea. Saturday mornings were great for laundry if you managed to get in early, but if you couldn't the place filled up rapidly. It was yet another advantage of being a morning person.
When that was done, I waved goodbye to Hannah and hauled my laundry back to my room. I couldn't help but pause as I noticed someone sitting in the common room, reading a paperback novel. Kay wasn't part of this dorm room's population, so her presence was completely surprising. Around her neck was a pair of earmuffs, the hearing protection variety.
"Mornin' Kay," I called. She looked up and smiled brightly.
"Good morning, Tally!" she replied. "I was wondering where you had disappeared to. Arisa didn't have a clue!"
I scoffed, and gestured over towards my room. "I'm doing laundry. Just one of those days, you know?"
Kay laughed, and followed me into my room. "Yeah, that would do it. Well, anyways, the shooting range is open today. You interested in going out and plinking targets for a bit?"
"Don't we shoot targets most days during practice? You know my aim is atrocious…" I murmured the last part as I got to work folding my laundry and putting it away.
"Rifle range, not tanks."
"Huh…" I mused. "I didn't know the range was open to the public. I thought you had to be on the team to be able to go in. This isn't exactly the States…"
The blonde shrugged. "They generally aren't open, no. Just on the weekends, and it's a bit of a hassle at times. Riley told me that she isn't expecting many people who aren't on the team to come by today, so I thought we could go shoot stuff and keep her company." Kay paused, then moved over to help with the folding of laundry. "Have you ever shot a rifle before?"
"A few times. There's one reasonably close to where I live, and Dad has taken me and my sisters enough that we know our way around firearms and can be safe with them. That's about the only reason why Mom let us go. We don't get to go very often…"
"Very nice!" Kay cheered with a big thumbs up. "Let's head on over as soon as you're ready! I'm sure we'll have a great time!"
The Saunders shooting range was nothing like what I had expected. Instead of being a relatively small indoor range with a dozen stalls in total, it was a massive outdoor complex, with long ranges, more stalls than you could shake a stick at, and a separate range for shooting trap.
"Wow…" I exhaled, taking the place in. The grin on Kay's face was infectious, and I followed her out of the jeep.
A woman with a gentle smile and really amazing hips sauntered out to greet us. Before I could become too entranced, a boom echoed out from the range. It was far louder than anything I had heard back home, though not that much louder than the .30 cal co-ax machine guns I was used to.
"Hi Riley!" Kay shouted with a wave.
"Heya, Kay!" Riley answered. She came to a stop with a mesmerizing sway of her hips, and I had to shake my head and avert my eyes. "I've got all the stuff set up for you. Is this your friend?"
I nodded at her, and offered my hand, which she shook. "Tally Evans. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Tally! I'm Riley Sharpe, coach of the competitive shooting team. Do you have any firearms experience beyond tankery?"
I shrugged. "Not much, but I've been to the range back home a few times."
"That's good!" Riley cheered. "Our range is probably a little different to what you're used to, since we have to keep all the guns here and locked up. I bet the rules are going to be relatively similar though. Ear and eye pro on while the range is hot, don't step beyond the firing line for any reason while it's hot, no handling of firearms or ammunition while the range is cold. Safe directions are downrange and up. We have targets out to three hundred yards, and rifles up to fourteen-point-five millimeter. That said, you still need to go through our fifteen minute safety brief. You know how it goes."
"I do," I agreed with a nod. "That's quite the impressive setup you've got there."
"Thank you!" Riley spun on her heel and jogged back to the main range building. I couldn't help but stare a little bit before Kay coughed and elbowed me softly.
"Er, uh, sorry…"
"Let's just go," my friend said, sounding more than a little exasperated. She led me to the range, and off to a side building for the safety briefing. Fifteen minutes later, I was sufficiently embarrassed by my blatant staring at Riley and the briefing was done, so we got to go in.
Kay immediately veered left, where two bays had been reserved for us. To our immediate left were a half dozen pistol bays, two of which were occupied by familiar faces. I blinked in surprise, but turned back to Kay before I could be too distracted by sensha-do teammates. She gestured towards a case on the back wall that was loaded up with rifles, most of which had the distinction of being early 20th century designs.
"I asked Riley to prep a pair of Garands for us, plus a few others that I thought you might like."
"Ooooh," I replied. My eyes were probably sparkling with anticipation. "I've never shot a Garand before. I've only really ever gotten to handle AKs and pistols."
"Then you'll have a lot of fun. Just be careful that you don't annihilate your shoulder 'til you get to try more of the guns. Thirty-aught-six kicks like a donkey," Kay said. She unlocked the case and pulled out the pair of Garands. She ran me through the basics of the weapon, handed me a box of 24 rounds, and told me to go for it.
There were two targets already laid out on our bays, one at 50 yards, and one at 100. I elected to aim for the nearer target, and steadied myself to fire. I took a deep breath in, slowly let it out, aimed through the iron sights, and fired.
Kay was right, it did kick like a donkey. The rifle slammed into my shoulder, and the shot went almost exactly where I had aimed it. I aimed again, and let loose a second time. And a third. Soon enough, the clip popped out of the gun with a ping!
I may not have been anywhere close to Naomi's standards when it came to tank gunnery, but after my first clip, I had tight groupings and good accuracy with the rifle. By the time I was done with my third clip, I could definitely feel it in my shoulder, but the grin on my face said it all. Beside me, Kay was still shooting, and she'd gone through more ammo than I had. Where I'd been carefully aiming and pacing my shots, Kay was hammering away as fast as she could while firing accurately. It was jaw dropping; both her sustained rate of fire and the mechanical precision she had when aiming and reloading. I couldn't help but stare in awe.
Finally, Kay finished off her last clip and set the rifle down on the table. She had a big, happy grin on her face, echoing my own.
"Like what you see?" Kay teased. I immediately flushed, stammered an embarrassed response, and turned back to my own bench and the rifle I'd set down there. Kay just laughed. "It's fine, really! I've had a lot of practice with Garands, and everyone is impressed when they watch me go. Even Neru, on occasion!"
"You were very pretty…" I mumbled under my breath. While it was how I felt, I couldn't believe the words had actually escaped my lips, even at such a low tone where it was almost impossible to overhear with the constant chatter of SMG fire from the opposite side of me.
"What was that?"
"I said you were pretty good!" I replied.
"Thank you!" Kay flashed me a thumbs up. "You weren't half bad either! For your first time with a Garand, that's impressive accuracy. If you weren't so dedicated to sensha-do, I'd almost recommend you join the rifle team. They're always looking for new marksmen and women."
"Thanks but no thanks," I waved her off. "I'll stick to tanks."
Finally, the SMG fire to my left ceased, and the gunner stepped back from the line to inspect her handiwork. I'd only interacted with Neru a few times—mostly in the buildup to the recent tournament match, since we were both TCs—but she seemed like a nice person. Her temper was about as short as she was, and she had a rough exterior, but she'd warmed up to me rather quickly, and her crew seemed genuinely nice.
"Hey there, Kay. Tally," Neru said with a nod. "Having fun?"
"I am, yeah," I answered easily. "Haven't been out to the range in a long while."
Before our conversation could go further, it was momentarily interrupted by another large boom from a few stalls down. I craned my neck to see what exactly was being fired. I didn't recognize the gun, but it was far larger than the Garand on the bench in front of me. It was nearly as long as the person firing it was tall!
"What's that?" I asked, gesturing towards the gun and its shooter.
"That's my gunner, Karin," Neru answered. "She's a crack shot with that Boys AT rifle of hers… Somehow…"
"Just like Naomi is with the Firefly?"
Neru scoffed. "Yeah, pretty much. Those two are both magic in their own ways."
"Hey Neru," Kay called as she grabbed the two Garands and put them back in the locker. "Do you think you can show Tally your SMGs in a bit? Either your MPX or the Tommy Gun we have somewhere."
"You have a Tommy Gun here?" I asked curiously.
"We do. Just the one, though," was Kay's answer.
"Well, I'd love to try it out. I've always wanted to shoot one!"
"Gotcha! But first, I have some other really cool guns I want to show you!"
"What'cha got?"
Kay started looking around the locker and pointed to the weapons as she named them. "To start, a couple of WWI era guns; Gewehr 98, Lee-Enfield, and Springfield rifles. An M14, but I don't think you'll want to fire it full auto. An AR-15, and a fifty-caliber M82. We also have that Tommy Gun in here, and what looks like a couple pistols…" Kay trailed off as she pulled one of the pistols out. "Hey Neru? What the heck is this?"
The redhead hummed and walked over to inspect it. I peered over her shoulder at the very silvery revolver. "Looks like a BFR. Didn't know we had that in the armory."
"Is that…" I murmured. "Is that in .45-70 government?"
"Yeah," Kay answered with a nod. "That's, uh, that's why I asked Neru. I've never seen a pistol chambered in something this big."
"Christ…" I muttered quietly. A thought struck me, and I reached out to the pistol. "May I?"
Kay handed it to me. "Be careful. I have no idea how difficult it'll be to handle."
For a pistol, the BFR was heavy. If I had to guess, it was between twice and three times as heavy as Dad's old Makarov. I stepped up to the firing line in my rifle bay and carefully loaded the five rounds of .45-70 govt. With that taken care of, I adjusted my grip on the pistol and took aim at the target out at 100 yards.
"Uh, Tally? The handgun bays are right over there," Kay interjected.
"I know what I'm on about," was my simple response. I let out a slow exhale, then pulled the trigger. The massive handgun tried to leap out of my hands, but I held on tight.
"Holy shit…" Kay murmured.
"You can say that again…" Neru said moments later.
Kay did just that, and repeated herself.
I was a little in awe of myself too. I carefully set the loaded gun down on the bench, pulled out my binoculars, and inspected my target. By some miracle, my first shot had been a bullseye. My jaw dropped.
Then I picked the gun back up, took aim, and fired again. Another bullseye with iron sights and no experience with the firearm. I let loose the rest of the five rounds in the cylinder for good measure. My accuracy was scarily impressive. Tight groupings at 100 yards with a handgun. Somehow.
Neru let out a low whistle. "Damn, Tally… If you can keep that sort of accuracy, I might have to invite you to the Cleaning Crew!"
"Isn't that just your tank?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I set the gun down and turned to face her.
"Yes and no. We've got a, uh, little club going, I guess is the best way to put it. Tankers who also enjoy shooting other guns. My whole crew is on both teams, so it just made sense to us at the time. Asuna really enjoys the whole concept, and it's a fun little thing we have."
Almost on cue, the blonde loader of Neru's crew bounced over to us. "Hi Tally! Hi Kay!"
I gave her an awkward wave. Asuna was somehow even more friendly than Kay was, and the few occasions I'd interacted with her were rather trying. I was a little too introverted for that. She clearly didn't mind.
"Did I hear that correctly? Neru's gonna invite you to the Cleaning Crew? That's great! I'll have to make you a uniform when I have the time! It'll be great!" Asuna said enthusiastically, not slowing down at all.
I did my best to wave Asuna off, to little avail. "U-uh, not quite, no… She said she would consider it."
"Then that's as good as saying she's gonna let you join! Which style of maid uniform do you want?"
"Wait, what!?"
Neru stepped in before I could grow more concerned. "Asuna thinks that because we're the Cleaning Crew, we have to do actual cleaning instead of that just being our tank's name, and since we're basically maids in her eyes, she decided to make everyone maid outfits as a sort of uniform."
I blinked. "Yeah… That won't be necessary, Asuna. Thank you for the offer, but no thank you." I paused for a moment before continuing. "A-anyway, I'm just gonna… I'm just gonna go back to my date with Kay. It was nice to see you two!"
"Yeah, of course," Neru replied. "Let me know if you want to try out that Tommy Gun."
I nodded, then turned back to Kay. While I'd been talking with Neru and Asuna, she had been setting up the largest gun we currently had available to us: the Barrett M82 .50 caliber sniper rifle.
"Want to take the big gun out for a spin?" Kay asked me with a grin.
"I don't think anything is going to feel like a big gun compared to tank cannons," I replied cheekily.
"Well, of course not. But it's a different kind of fifty than the Ma Deuces we have here and there. Here, let me show you how to shoot it." With that, Kay sat down at the bench, steadied the rifle against her shoulder, aimed down the sights, exhaled, and let the fifty roar. "Just do it like that!"
"That's… very helpful instructions," I deadpanned, but she guided me into the seat and through setting the rifle up. It was nice to feel her leaning over me, nearly hugging me as she placed my hands in the correct positions and made sure I had a proper grip on the massive rifle.
The Barrett wasn't quite as fun as the revolver I'd just shot. While they both packed massive rounds, the BFR's .45-70 govt. was a far cry from the average pistol, while the .50 BMG wasn't too far from the proper rifles I'd shot. Or maybe I was just biased because something about that revolver was really fun and I wanted to own one of my own some day.
None of that dampened the grin on my face as I lined up my second shot and let loose.
We spent a couple hours at the range, shooting all sorts of guns, big and small. The BFR remained the highlight of my shooting experience, and I kept going back to it whenever Kay took a break to swap out the weapon I was trying out.
Surprisingly, though, the BFR wasn't the gun that I was most comfortable with. That honor fell to the Tommy Gun that Neru instructed me on how to use. She nearly didn't need to instruct me in the first place, but I listened anyways. She seemed happy that someone was sharing her passion for submachine guns.
By the time we got to the last gun of the day, the M14, my shoulder was sufficiently bruised that I just waved off Kay's offer to let me shoot it. "Sorry… My shoulder is definitely feeling all this. The higher caliber guns are fun, don't get me wrong, but I can only take so much punishment before I feel like my shoulder wants to pop off."
"It's fine!" Kay gave me that bright smile that I loved so much. Then she brought the M14 up to her shoulder, took aim, and let loose a stream of fully automatic rounds until the weapon very quickly clicked empty.
I let out a low whistle. "That was very impressive!"
"Thanks!" Kay's smile only grew brighter as she started cleaning up our little station. Between the two of us, we'd definitely put a couple hundred rounds downrange, across nearly a dozen different guns, and over a half dozen different cartridges. I swiftly moved to join her in the cleaning up, and between the two of us, we'd packed everything up just as people started filing in for the team's practice time.
We said our goodbyes, and returned to Kay's jeep. There was an awkward tension between the two of us, but neither of us said anything until we were on the road again. Finally, Kay broke the silence. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about, but I didn't feel like being at the range and surrounded by friends was a good place to do it."
I blinked. "Yeah? What's up?"
"You mentioned to Neru and Asuna that you wanted to get back to our date," Kay began, and my eyes went wide. "I know you've been resistant to that idea. Did something change?"
A sigh escaped my lips. "Yes and no… I, uh… I've been hesitant about it because I don't know if I'm ready for that sort of thing. I really like you and enjoy spending time with you, and I'm worried that, with all of my issues, putting a name on things would disrupt that. I don't want to lose you as a friend just because things changed."
Kay chuckled, and pulled the car into a nearby parking lot. We were near one of the larger public parks, with lots of greenery around. Even a couple of bushes directly in front of us, hiding the parking lot from most of the park proper.
"I don't think it's any surprise that I return your feelings," Kay began. I nodded, and she continued. "I've really enjoyed the dates that we've gone on together. I would like to go on more of them. But if you aren't ready for that…"
"I-i-it's not that I'm not ready for that. I've had a lot of fun too! I'm just not ready to commit to a romantic relationship. Not yet."
"I understand," Kay said. Despite that, her face fell a little. "I hope that when you're ready, we're still close enough friends that you'd consider getting together with me."
"That's not gonna-! Look, you're probably my best friend here at Saunders. Even more than Jane, Faye Faith, or Henley. I don't think anything is going to change that."
"And what if it takes you longer than that? You're going back to America when you graduate, and I'm still gonna be here in Japan."
"I… I don't think it'll take me that long. I've only been here at Saunders for a little over a month, and… Well, I think we can both see that I've already come a long way."
"Maybe. But you're still prone to making foolish decisions when you're in a bad situation, and you still don't like to be touched."
"You've been added to the list of exceptions to that one. I'm comfortable around you," I admitted softly. Something in the bushes just ahead rustled. I blinked and looked over at it. The rustling stopped moments later, but I was still staring. Something was off about the bush…
"I'm touched that you consider me safe enough to hug you!" Kay exclaimed, before doing just that. She pulled me into a tight, near back breaking hug.
"Oh my god! Finally!" someone cheered from nearby. Almost instantly, Kay broke off the hug, and we both shifted to face the newcomer. Arisa rose from one of the nearby bushes, a sheepish smile on her face. For some reason, she had decided that a ghillie suit was a good outfit to wear.
"Arisa?" I gaped. The mood had been shattered by her outburst, let alone the fact that she was even here in the first place.
"What the heck are you doing here?" Kay demanded.
"W-well, I was, um, well, practicing!" Arisa stammered. "Camouflage and reconnaissance work! I, uh, I figured that if I could successfully people watch from the bush in this ghillie suit, then it might be useful for a dismounted scout during a match! I wasn't expecting you two to come by at all, but when I saw you park, I was curious to see what you were talking about."
Kay pinched the bridge of her nose. "Arisa… I was unhappy with your intelligence gathering operations two days ago. Two days! The radio interception and not telling me about it was bad enough, and now you're spying on me while I'm on a date with Tally?! What on earth made you think that was a good idea?!"
"I… well…" Arisa didn't have an answer.
In an instant, Kay's voice went from exasperated to quietly furious. "We are going to have to have another serious talk about your intelligence gathering. Until then, kindly get out of here, get rid of those ghillie suits, and never pull this sort of stunt again. Am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" Arisa barked nervously.
"Good. Hannah, make sure she keeps to that! You're supposed to be her minder, not go along with her shenanigans!"
"Yes ma'am!" came Hannah's much more relaxed reply from the next bush over.
"Both of you, get out of here."
Arisa went back into the bush for a moment to grab her supplies, then helped not only Hannah, but also Louise up. Louise gave the two of us a look, before she shook her head. "I told you this was a bad idea…"
"You went along with it anyways! You're here helping out aren't you?" Arisa riposted her close friend. The three of them quickly made their way out of earshot.
Kay and I waited in silence until they had left. As soon as they were out of earshot, I slumped in my seat. "Well, that kind of ruined the moment."
"That's putting it lightly," Kay deadpanned. "I swear, she doesn't know how to stop once she gets on a roll. That's why I've assigned Hannah as her minder, and it's still not enough to keep her under control!"
I let out a long breath, and used that moment to expel some of the tensions that had built up in my body from the sudden interruption.
"I'm glad you feel comfortable around me, and that you have seen the growth you've already gone through," Kay said softly. "When you're ready, let me know and we can talk about this sort of thing again, alright? Preferably somewhere where we won't be overheard."
"Your dorm room, then. I wouldn't trust Arisa to not listen in at my room after this…" I trailed off and shook my head.
"Or while we're just driving around together. It's hard to listen in if we're moving around at forty kilometers an hour."
"True. Very true."
"Before we head back to your dorm room, I do want to bring up one last thing," Kay said, though she turned her attention back to the steering wheel. "Prom is a little over a month away. Would you like to go, even if we're just going as friends?"
I blinked at her. It took me a moment to even comprehend what she was saying. When I did, my eyes went wide. She wanted to go to prom with me. "I… you know I'm not one for parties…"
"It won't be like the tankery parties, I promise. Prom is classy, with suits for the boys and pretty dresses for the girls. It doesn't need to just be the two of us, if you don't want it to be. We can bring along Arisa, Louise, and all the single ladies if we need to."
I hummed noncommittally. "I'll need some time to think about all this. I hope you understand. I just… never expected, well, any of this."
"That's alright. Take all the time you need," Kay said gently. She reached over to me and wrapped me in an awkward side hug.
"Thank you," I replied as I returned the hug.
Then we released the hug, and Kay started driving us towards my dorm building. We spent the drive in relative silence, and I was lost in thought for most of it. Before I knew it, we were back at my dorm.
As I climbed out of the jeep, I turned and gave Kay a bright smile. "Thank you for an amazing day and a wonderful date. I hope we can do something like this again some other time."
"Of course! Thank you for coming and having fun with it! I wasn't sure if you'd actually enjoy it."
I laughed. "I work with tank cannons all day. Of course guns are something I enjoy! I'll see you Monday, okay?"
"See you then!"
With that, I walked off, back to my room. My smile didn't fade the entire way up, though it did momentarily falter when I saw Arisa, Louise, and Hannah conversing in the common room. I managed to duck around them without grabbing their attention, and I quietly slipped into my room.
I carefully sat down on my futon and hugged my two plushies. The giddy smile was still plastered to my face. I just sat there for a long moment before inspiration struck, and I pulled out my phone. Rach was going to be overjoyed with the news. She'd absolutely take the win of me admitting it was a date.
And knowing her, she wouldn't let me forget my denial for a while.
Part Fifty Three
++++++++++
I woke up slowly, a little bit earlier than I usually did. The rising sun was shining directly through the window and onto my face. Any attempts to block it out did nothing, and I couldn't really roll over and away from the light. Instead, I let out a tired yawn and sat up. My Hellcat plushie tumbled off of my chest and landed upright next to the absolutely massive Fletcher-class destroyer. It got a tired smile from me, and I gently patted the adorable tank destroyer.
The early morning sunlight was one of the few disadvantages of having an above decks room on a school ship. It doesn't matter which direction your window is facing, you will occasionally be woken up by the sun. Personally, it wasn't an issue, but I'd heard plenty of grumbling from Arisa, Hannah, and the other girls. I liked the view of the ocean and the natural light through the window, and I woke up early anyways, so the slightly earlier just means I have a little more time to get prepared for the day.
For once, I didn't immediately start getting ready for my morning run. I had a little bit of time, and I used that to check my email on my laptop. There were two waiting for me. One was from my parents, worrying over me after Thursday's match and all the chaos and conflict that came from it. I gave them a quick reply about all the details, especially now that I knew the Bandits had been expelled. The other was from Eclair, saying that she would accept the Locusts and a single M4A2, though she wasn't certain if she would keep the Sherman. I forwarded her response to Kay, and made a mental note to talk to her about it when we met up either today or tomorrow.
Then, naturally, I got up, changed into my exercise gear, and went out for my morning run. It was a gorgeous morning, with the sun still rising, the sky was a brilliant blue and bereft of clouds, and the temperature on the deck wasn't too high or too cold. A near-perfect mid-May morning.
Today was one of the relatively few Saturdays where I didn't have anything sensha-do related going on. No practice, no match, no flight to Nagasaki to use the big field there, absolutely nothing to do with tanks. As such, I was determined to make the most of it, and focus on other things unless Kay ambushed me with that idea she was working on.
The first thing on my list was laundry. I stripped all of the sheets off of my futon and added them to my laundry basket, then reconfigured the futon to be a couch and shoved it against the wall so I'd have a little more room to work.
American-style futons for the win.
Running laundry took most of the morning. I spent a good chunk of it chatting with Hannah at the laundromat when she showed up with the exact same idea. Saturday mornings were great for laundry if you managed to get in early, but if you couldn't the place filled up rapidly. It was yet another advantage of being a morning person.
When that was done, I waved goodbye to Hannah and hauled my laundry back to my room. I couldn't help but pause as I noticed someone sitting in the common room, reading a paperback novel. Kay wasn't part of this dorm room's population, so her presence was completely surprising. Around her neck was a pair of earmuffs, the hearing protection variety.
"Mornin' Kay," I called. She looked up and smiled brightly.
"Good morning, Tally!" she replied. "I was wondering where you had disappeared to. Arisa didn't have a clue!"
I scoffed, and gestured over towards my room. "I'm doing laundry. Just one of those days, you know?"
Kay laughed, and followed me into my room. "Yeah, that would do it. Well, anyways, the shooting range is open today. You interested in going out and plinking targets for a bit?"
"Don't we shoot targets most days during practice? You know my aim is atrocious…" I murmured the last part as I got to work folding my laundry and putting it away.
"Rifle range, not tanks."
"Huh…" I mused. "I didn't know the range was open to the public. I thought you had to be on the team to be able to go in. This isn't exactly the States…"
The blonde shrugged. "They generally aren't open, no. Just on the weekends, and it's a bit of a hassle at times. Riley told me that she isn't expecting many people who aren't on the team to come by today, so I thought we could go shoot stuff and keep her company." Kay paused, then moved over to help with the folding of laundry. "Have you ever shot a rifle before?"
"A few times. There's one reasonably close to where I live, and Dad has taken me and my sisters enough that we know our way around firearms and can be safe with them. That's about the only reason why Mom let us go. We don't get to go very often…"
"Very nice!" Kay cheered with a big thumbs up. "Let's head on over as soon as you're ready! I'm sure we'll have a great time!"
++++++++++
The Saunders shooting range was nothing like what I had expected. Instead of being a relatively small indoor range with a dozen stalls in total, it was a massive outdoor complex, with long ranges, more stalls than you could shake a stick at, and a separate range for shooting trap.
"Wow…" I exhaled, taking the place in. The grin on Kay's face was infectious, and I followed her out of the jeep.
A woman with a gentle smile and really amazing hips sauntered out to greet us. Before I could become too entranced, a boom echoed out from the range. It was far louder than anything I had heard back home, though not that much louder than the .30 cal co-ax machine guns I was used to.
"Hi Riley!" Kay shouted with a wave.
"Heya, Kay!" Riley answered. She came to a stop with a mesmerizing sway of her hips, and I had to shake my head and avert my eyes. "I've got all the stuff set up for you. Is this your friend?"
I nodded at her, and offered my hand, which she shook. "Tally Evans. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Tally! I'm Riley Sharpe, coach of the competitive shooting team. Do you have any firearms experience beyond tankery?"
I shrugged. "Not much, but I've been to the range back home a few times."
"That's good!" Riley cheered. "Our range is probably a little different to what you're used to, since we have to keep all the guns here and locked up. I bet the rules are going to be relatively similar though. Ear and eye pro on while the range is hot, don't step beyond the firing line for any reason while it's hot, no handling of firearms or ammunition while the range is cold. Safe directions are downrange and up. We have targets out to three hundred yards, and rifles up to fourteen-point-five millimeter. That said, you still need to go through our fifteen minute safety brief. You know how it goes."
"I do," I agreed with a nod. "That's quite the impressive setup you've got there."
"Thank you!" Riley spun on her heel and jogged back to the main range building. I couldn't help but stare a little bit before Kay coughed and elbowed me softly.
"Er, uh, sorry…"
"Let's just go," my friend said, sounding more than a little exasperated. She led me to the range, and off to a side building for the safety briefing. Fifteen minutes later, I was sufficiently embarrassed by my blatant staring at Riley and the briefing was done, so we got to go in.
Kay immediately veered left, where two bays had been reserved for us. To our immediate left were a half dozen pistol bays, two of which were occupied by familiar faces. I blinked in surprise, but turned back to Kay before I could be too distracted by sensha-do teammates. She gestured towards a case on the back wall that was loaded up with rifles, most of which had the distinction of being early 20th century designs.
"I asked Riley to prep a pair of Garands for us, plus a few others that I thought you might like."
"Ooooh," I replied. My eyes were probably sparkling with anticipation. "I've never shot a Garand before. I've only really ever gotten to handle AKs and pistols."
"Then you'll have a lot of fun. Just be careful that you don't annihilate your shoulder 'til you get to try more of the guns. Thirty-aught-six kicks like a donkey," Kay said. She unlocked the case and pulled out the pair of Garands. She ran me through the basics of the weapon, handed me a box of 24 rounds, and told me to go for it.
There were two targets already laid out on our bays, one at 50 yards, and one at 100. I elected to aim for the nearer target, and steadied myself to fire. I took a deep breath in, slowly let it out, aimed through the iron sights, and fired.
Kay was right, it did kick like a donkey. The rifle slammed into my shoulder, and the shot went almost exactly where I had aimed it. I aimed again, and let loose a second time. And a third. Soon enough, the clip popped out of the gun with a ping!
I may not have been anywhere close to Naomi's standards when it came to tank gunnery, but after my first clip, I had tight groupings and good accuracy with the rifle. By the time I was done with my third clip, I could definitely feel it in my shoulder, but the grin on my face said it all. Beside me, Kay was still shooting, and she'd gone through more ammo than I had. Where I'd been carefully aiming and pacing my shots, Kay was hammering away as fast as she could while firing accurately. It was jaw dropping; both her sustained rate of fire and the mechanical precision she had when aiming and reloading. I couldn't help but stare in awe.
Finally, Kay finished off her last clip and set the rifle down on the table. She had a big, happy grin on her face, echoing my own.
"Like what you see?" Kay teased. I immediately flushed, stammered an embarrassed response, and turned back to my own bench and the rifle I'd set down there. Kay just laughed. "It's fine, really! I've had a lot of practice with Garands, and everyone is impressed when they watch me go. Even Neru, on occasion!"
"You were very pretty…" I mumbled under my breath. While it was how I felt, I couldn't believe the words had actually escaped my lips, even at such a low tone where it was almost impossible to overhear with the constant chatter of SMG fire from the opposite side of me.
"What was that?"
"I said you were pretty good!" I replied.
"Thank you!" Kay flashed me a thumbs up. "You weren't half bad either! For your first time with a Garand, that's impressive accuracy. If you weren't so dedicated to sensha-do, I'd almost recommend you join the rifle team. They're always looking for new marksmen and women."
"Thanks but no thanks," I waved her off. "I'll stick to tanks."
Finally, the SMG fire to my left ceased, and the gunner stepped back from the line to inspect her handiwork. I'd only interacted with Neru a few times—mostly in the buildup to the recent tournament match, since we were both TCs—but she seemed like a nice person. Her temper was about as short as she was, and she had a rough exterior, but she'd warmed up to me rather quickly, and her crew seemed genuinely nice.
"Hey there, Kay. Tally," Neru said with a nod. "Having fun?"
"I am, yeah," I answered easily. "Haven't been out to the range in a long while."
Before our conversation could go further, it was momentarily interrupted by another large boom from a few stalls down. I craned my neck to see what exactly was being fired. I didn't recognize the gun, but it was far larger than the Garand on the bench in front of me. It was nearly as long as the person firing it was tall!
"What's that?" I asked, gesturing towards the gun and its shooter.
"That's my gunner, Karin," Neru answered. "She's a crack shot with that Boys AT rifle of hers… Somehow…"
"Just like Naomi is with the Firefly?"
Neru scoffed. "Yeah, pretty much. Those two are both magic in their own ways."
"Hey Neru," Kay called as she grabbed the two Garands and put them back in the locker. "Do you think you can show Tally your SMGs in a bit? Either your MPX or the Tommy Gun we have somewhere."
"You have a Tommy Gun here?" I asked curiously.
"We do. Just the one, though," was Kay's answer.
"Well, I'd love to try it out. I've always wanted to shoot one!"
"Gotcha! But first, I have some other really cool guns I want to show you!"
"What'cha got?"
Kay started looking around the locker and pointed to the weapons as she named them. "To start, a couple of WWI era guns; Gewehr 98, Lee-Enfield, and Springfield rifles. An M14, but I don't think you'll want to fire it full auto. An AR-15, and a fifty-caliber M82. We also have that Tommy Gun in here, and what looks like a couple pistols…" Kay trailed off as she pulled one of the pistols out. "Hey Neru? What the heck is this?"
The redhead hummed and walked over to inspect it. I peered over her shoulder at the very silvery revolver. "Looks like a BFR. Didn't know we had that in the armory."
"Is that…" I murmured. "Is that in .45-70 government?"
"Yeah," Kay answered with a nod. "That's, uh, that's why I asked Neru. I've never seen a pistol chambered in something this big."
"Christ…" I muttered quietly. A thought struck me, and I reached out to the pistol. "May I?"
Kay handed it to me. "Be careful. I have no idea how difficult it'll be to handle."
For a pistol, the BFR was heavy. If I had to guess, it was between twice and three times as heavy as Dad's old Makarov. I stepped up to the firing line in my rifle bay and carefully loaded the five rounds of .45-70 govt. With that taken care of, I adjusted my grip on the pistol and took aim at the target out at 100 yards.
"Uh, Tally? The handgun bays are right over there," Kay interjected.
"I know what I'm on about," was my simple response. I let out a slow exhale, then pulled the trigger. The massive handgun tried to leap out of my hands, but I held on tight.
"Holy shit…" Kay murmured.
"You can say that again…" Neru said moments later.
Kay did just that, and repeated herself.
I was a little in awe of myself too. I carefully set the loaded gun down on the bench, pulled out my binoculars, and inspected my target. By some miracle, my first shot had been a bullseye. My jaw dropped.
Then I picked the gun back up, took aim, and fired again. Another bullseye with iron sights and no experience with the firearm. I let loose the rest of the five rounds in the cylinder for good measure. My accuracy was scarily impressive. Tight groupings at 100 yards with a handgun. Somehow.
Neru let out a low whistle. "Damn, Tally… If you can keep that sort of accuracy, I might have to invite you to the Cleaning Crew!"
"Isn't that just your tank?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I set the gun down and turned to face her.
"Yes and no. We've got a, uh, little club going, I guess is the best way to put it. Tankers who also enjoy shooting other guns. My whole crew is on both teams, so it just made sense to us at the time. Asuna really enjoys the whole concept, and it's a fun little thing we have."
Almost on cue, the blonde loader of Neru's crew bounced over to us. "Hi Tally! Hi Kay!"
I gave her an awkward wave. Asuna was somehow even more friendly than Kay was, and the few occasions I'd interacted with her were rather trying. I was a little too introverted for that. She clearly didn't mind.
"Did I hear that correctly? Neru's gonna invite you to the Cleaning Crew? That's great! I'll have to make you a uniform when I have the time! It'll be great!" Asuna said enthusiastically, not slowing down at all.
I did my best to wave Asuna off, to little avail. "U-uh, not quite, no… She said she would consider it."
"Then that's as good as saying she's gonna let you join! Which style of maid uniform do you want?"
"Wait, what!?"
Neru stepped in before I could grow more concerned. "Asuna thinks that because we're the Cleaning Crew, we have to do actual cleaning instead of that just being our tank's name, and since we're basically maids in her eyes, she decided to make everyone maid outfits as a sort of uniform."
I blinked. "Yeah… That won't be necessary, Asuna. Thank you for the offer, but no thank you." I paused for a moment before continuing. "A-anyway, I'm just gonna… I'm just gonna go back to my date with Kay. It was nice to see you two!"
"Yeah, of course," Neru replied. "Let me know if you want to try out that Tommy Gun."
I nodded, then turned back to Kay. While I'd been talking with Neru and Asuna, she had been setting up the largest gun we currently had available to us: the Barrett M82 .50 caliber sniper rifle.
"Want to take the big gun out for a spin?" Kay asked me with a grin.
"I don't think anything is going to feel like a big gun compared to tank cannons," I replied cheekily.
"Well, of course not. But it's a different kind of fifty than the Ma Deuces we have here and there. Here, let me show you how to shoot it." With that, Kay sat down at the bench, steadied the rifle against her shoulder, aimed down the sights, exhaled, and let the fifty roar. "Just do it like that!"
"That's… very helpful instructions," I deadpanned, but she guided me into the seat and through setting the rifle up. It was nice to feel her leaning over me, nearly hugging me as she placed my hands in the correct positions and made sure I had a proper grip on the massive rifle.
The Barrett wasn't quite as fun as the revolver I'd just shot. While they both packed massive rounds, the BFR's .45-70 govt. was a far cry from the average pistol, while the .50 BMG wasn't too far from the proper rifles I'd shot. Or maybe I was just biased because something about that revolver was really fun and I wanted to own one of my own some day.
None of that dampened the grin on my face as I lined up my second shot and let loose.
++++++++++
We spent a couple hours at the range, shooting all sorts of guns, big and small. The BFR remained the highlight of my shooting experience, and I kept going back to it whenever Kay took a break to swap out the weapon I was trying out.
Surprisingly, though, the BFR wasn't the gun that I was most comfortable with. That honor fell to the Tommy Gun that Neru instructed me on how to use. She nearly didn't need to instruct me in the first place, but I listened anyways. She seemed happy that someone was sharing her passion for submachine guns.
By the time we got to the last gun of the day, the M14, my shoulder was sufficiently bruised that I just waved off Kay's offer to let me shoot it. "Sorry… My shoulder is definitely feeling all this. The higher caliber guns are fun, don't get me wrong, but I can only take so much punishment before I feel like my shoulder wants to pop off."
"It's fine!" Kay gave me that bright smile that I loved so much. Then she brought the M14 up to her shoulder, took aim, and let loose a stream of fully automatic rounds until the weapon very quickly clicked empty.
I let out a low whistle. "That was very impressive!"
"Thanks!" Kay's smile only grew brighter as she started cleaning up our little station. Between the two of us, we'd definitely put a couple hundred rounds downrange, across nearly a dozen different guns, and over a half dozen different cartridges. I swiftly moved to join her in the cleaning up, and between the two of us, we'd packed everything up just as people started filing in for the team's practice time.
We said our goodbyes, and returned to Kay's jeep. There was an awkward tension between the two of us, but neither of us said anything until we were on the road again. Finally, Kay broke the silence. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about, but I didn't feel like being at the range and surrounded by friends was a good place to do it."
I blinked. "Yeah? What's up?"
"You mentioned to Neru and Asuna that you wanted to get back to our date," Kay began, and my eyes went wide. "I know you've been resistant to that idea. Did something change?"
A sigh escaped my lips. "Yes and no… I, uh… I've been hesitant about it because I don't know if I'm ready for that sort of thing. I really like you and enjoy spending time with you, and I'm worried that, with all of my issues, putting a name on things would disrupt that. I don't want to lose you as a friend just because things changed."
Kay chuckled, and pulled the car into a nearby parking lot. We were near one of the larger public parks, with lots of greenery around. Even a couple of bushes directly in front of us, hiding the parking lot from most of the park proper.
"I don't think it's any surprise that I return your feelings," Kay began. I nodded, and she continued. "I've really enjoyed the dates that we've gone on together. I would like to go on more of them. But if you aren't ready for that…"
"I-i-it's not that I'm not ready for that. I've had a lot of fun too! I'm just not ready to commit to a romantic relationship. Not yet."
"I understand," Kay said. Despite that, her face fell a little. "I hope that when you're ready, we're still close enough friends that you'd consider getting together with me."
"That's not gonna-! Look, you're probably my best friend here at Saunders. Even more than Jane, Faye Faith, or Henley. I don't think anything is going to change that."
"And what if it takes you longer than that? You're going back to America when you graduate, and I'm still gonna be here in Japan."
"I… I don't think it'll take me that long. I've only been here at Saunders for a little over a month, and… Well, I think we can both see that I've already come a long way."
"Maybe. But you're still prone to making foolish decisions when you're in a bad situation, and you still don't like to be touched."
"You've been added to the list of exceptions to that one. I'm comfortable around you," I admitted softly. Something in the bushes just ahead rustled. I blinked and looked over at it. The rustling stopped moments later, but I was still staring. Something was off about the bush…
"I'm touched that you consider me safe enough to hug you!" Kay exclaimed, before doing just that. She pulled me into a tight, near back breaking hug.
"Oh my god! Finally!" someone cheered from nearby. Almost instantly, Kay broke off the hug, and we both shifted to face the newcomer. Arisa rose from one of the nearby bushes, a sheepish smile on her face. For some reason, she had decided that a ghillie suit was a good outfit to wear.
"Arisa?" I gaped. The mood had been shattered by her outburst, let alone the fact that she was even here in the first place.
"What the heck are you doing here?" Kay demanded.
"W-well, I was, um, well, practicing!" Arisa stammered. "Camouflage and reconnaissance work! I, uh, I figured that if I could successfully people watch from the bush in this ghillie suit, then it might be useful for a dismounted scout during a match! I wasn't expecting you two to come by at all, but when I saw you park, I was curious to see what you were talking about."
Kay pinched the bridge of her nose. "Arisa… I was unhappy with your intelligence gathering operations two days ago. Two days! The radio interception and not telling me about it was bad enough, and now you're spying on me while I'm on a date with Tally?! What on earth made you think that was a good idea?!"
"I… well…" Arisa didn't have an answer.
In an instant, Kay's voice went from exasperated to quietly furious. "We are going to have to have another serious talk about your intelligence gathering. Until then, kindly get out of here, get rid of those ghillie suits, and never pull this sort of stunt again. Am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" Arisa barked nervously.
"Good. Hannah, make sure she keeps to that! You're supposed to be her minder, not go along with her shenanigans!"
"Yes ma'am!" came Hannah's much more relaxed reply from the next bush over.
"Both of you, get out of here."
Arisa went back into the bush for a moment to grab her supplies, then helped not only Hannah, but also Louise up. Louise gave the two of us a look, before she shook her head. "I told you this was a bad idea…"
"You went along with it anyways! You're here helping out aren't you?" Arisa riposted her close friend. The three of them quickly made their way out of earshot.
Kay and I waited in silence until they had left. As soon as they were out of earshot, I slumped in my seat. "Well, that kind of ruined the moment."
"That's putting it lightly," Kay deadpanned. "I swear, she doesn't know how to stop once she gets on a roll. That's why I've assigned Hannah as her minder, and it's still not enough to keep her under control!"
I let out a long breath, and used that moment to expel some of the tensions that had built up in my body from the sudden interruption.
"I'm glad you feel comfortable around me, and that you have seen the growth you've already gone through," Kay said softly. "When you're ready, let me know and we can talk about this sort of thing again, alright? Preferably somewhere where we won't be overheard."
"Your dorm room, then. I wouldn't trust Arisa to not listen in at my room after this…" I trailed off and shook my head.
"Or while we're just driving around together. It's hard to listen in if we're moving around at forty kilometers an hour."
"True. Very true."
"Before we head back to your dorm room, I do want to bring up one last thing," Kay said, though she turned her attention back to the steering wheel. "Prom is a little over a month away. Would you like to go, even if we're just going as friends?"
I blinked at her. It took me a moment to even comprehend what she was saying. When I did, my eyes went wide. She wanted to go to prom with me. "I… you know I'm not one for parties…"
"It won't be like the tankery parties, I promise. Prom is classy, with suits for the boys and pretty dresses for the girls. It doesn't need to just be the two of us, if you don't want it to be. We can bring along Arisa, Louise, and all the single ladies if we need to."
I hummed noncommittally. "I'll need some time to think about all this. I hope you understand. I just… never expected, well, any of this."
"That's alright. Take all the time you need," Kay said gently. She reached over to me and wrapped me in an awkward side hug.
"Thank you," I replied as I returned the hug.
Then we released the hug, and Kay started driving us towards my dorm building. We spent the drive in relative silence, and I was lost in thought for most of it. Before I knew it, we were back at my dorm.
As I climbed out of the jeep, I turned and gave Kay a bright smile. "Thank you for an amazing day and a wonderful date. I hope we can do something like this again some other time."
"Of course! Thank you for coming and having fun with it! I wasn't sure if you'd actually enjoy it."
I laughed. "I work with tank cannons all day. Of course guns are something I enjoy! I'll see you Monday, okay?"
"See you then!"
With that, I walked off, back to my room. My smile didn't fade the entire way up, though it did momentarily falter when I saw Arisa, Louise, and Hannah conversing in the common room. I managed to duck around them without grabbing their attention, and I quietly slipped into my room.
I carefully sat down on my futon and hugged my two plushies. The giddy smile was still plastered to my face. I just sat there for a long moment before inspiration struck, and I pulled out my phone. Rach was going to be overjoyed with the news. She'd absolutely take the win of me admitting it was a date.
And knowing her, she wouldn't let me forget my denial for a while.
I woke up slowly, gradually coming to my senses with the rising sun. Which was currently shining through the window directly onto my face. That's one of the disadvantages of having an abovedecks room on a schoolship. If you have windows, you will have the sun wake you up. The view and natural light is worth it, but it makes for the occasional grumpy morning.
But I was awake, so there wasn't any use complaining about it. I stretched as I rolled out of bed, still stiff from last night's Sensha-do practice. Hannah had enlisted my help during practice, introducing loaders to the non-75mm ammo they might have to load at one point or another. We had an old AT gun to practice with the 37mm, but handling anything larger necessitated actually climbing into turrets. Handling 17-pdr ammo sucks in Firefly's turret.
I didn't bother doing my hair up in its usual braid as I moved over to my desk to check emails. One was from Mom and Dad, worrying over me after Wednesday's match, which I replied to saying that I hadn't been seriously hurt and that I was no longer with that crew. Another was from Eclair, saying she would accept the three Locusts and an M4A2, though she wasn't sure if they'd keep the Sherman or not. I'd have to let Kay know when I next saw her, probably tomorrow when we hear who we're up against next.
With emails handled, I went and got myself cleaned up and ready for the day. It was still early, and on a weekend, so the showers and cafeteria were both nearly empty. I managed a quiet and quick breakfast and returned to my room to get to today's project; cleaning and laundry.
Saturdays when we didn't have Sensha-do were less common than I'd prefer, but that just meant I had to devote the free ones to taking care of whatever I hadn't been able to handle during the week. The first step was stripping my bed of its sheets and adding them to the pile of laundry. I reconfigured the futon frame so it'd be a couch, and shoved it against the wall so I'd have a little more room to work.
American style futons for the win.
Running the laundry took most of the morning, and I chatted a little bit with Hannah in the laundromat when she showed up with the exact same idea. Saturday mornings were great for laundry if you got in early enough, but if you were slow, the place rapidly filled up.
When it was done, I waved goodbye to Hannah and hauled my two baskets of laundry back to my room.
"Oh hey Tally!" Kay called, waving wildly as I entered the hallway that my room was situated on. I paused and blinked. She was leaning against the wall opposite my door, fiddling with a pair of earmuffs, the hearing protection kind. "I was wondering where you'd gone."
My pause was only momentary, and I resumed my pace towards the room. "Laundry. Needs to be done every now and then."
Kay laughed. "Well, the range is open today, and I thought going out and shooting targets would be fun!"
"Shooting targets? Don't we do that during practice?" I asked, passing my laundry bins to her while I unlocked my door and slipped inside. Kay followed me in, and set the baskets down where I indicated.
"Rifle range, not tanks."
"Oh." I oh'd. "I didn't know we had one here."
"We have a competition team, co-ed." Kay said with a nod. "Their captain, Riley, is a good friend of mine."
I nodded to her as I started pulling clothing out of the baskets to begin folding. School uniforms went in a separate pile to be ironed later, but it sounded like that was going to be after our trip to the range.
"Have you ever shot a rifle before?" Kay asked, joining the clothes folding.
"A few times. There's a range reasonably close to where I live back home, and Dad has taken me and my sisters a few times."
"Nice!" Kay gave me a thumbs up and a big smile.
Saunders' range was nothing at all like I had expected. I'd expected something small and indoors, maybe a few stalls and a line of targets. What I wasn't expecting was a fairly massive outdoor complex, more than a dozen firing lanes exclusively for rifles, and a separate range for shooting trap.
"Wow…" I exhaled, taking in the place. Kay grinned and hopped out of the Jeep's driver's seat, and I followed, not really knowing where to go.
A redhead with really rather amazing hips approached us with a grin on her face. A boom echoed out from the range, far louder than anything I'd heard back home. It sounded more like a tank cannon than a rifle.
"Hi Riley!" Kay shouted with a wave.
"Hiya Kay!" Riley answered, coming to a stop with a mesmerizing sway before I averted my eyes from her hips. "Your stalls are all set up. This your friend?"
"Tally Evans." I said with a nod. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Tally! Riley Sharpe, competitive shooting team captain. Any experience with firearms beyond Tankery?"
"I've been to the range once or twice."
"Good!" Riley cheered. "Our range is probably a little different, since we have to keep all of the guns here. But most of the rules should be more or less the same. Ear and eye pro on while the range is hot, don't step beyond the firing line for any reason while it's hot, no handling of firearms while the range is cold. Safe directions are downrange and up. We've got targets out to three hundred yards, and rifles up to fifty cal."
I let out a low whistle. "That's quite the impressive setup you've got."
"Thank you!" Riley smiled, spun on her heel, and jogged back to the main range building. I was entranced by the sway of her hips for a moment before Kay elbowed me softly and coughed.
"Sorry."
"Let's go." Kay said, leading me into the building. Protective gear went on, and we slipped inside. Kay almost immediately made a beeline to the left, where two bays had been reserved. The case behind the bays held a few rifles, most of which had the distinctive design of being early 20th century firearms. "I had Riley prep a pair of Garands for us, plus a few others that I thought you might like."
"Ooooh, I've never shot a Garand before." I said eagerly. Kay unlocked the case, and pulled out the two rifles. She ran me through the basics of the weapon, handed me a clip, and told me to go for it.
There were targets laid out at 50 and 100 yards, and I elected to aim for the further one. I may not have been up to Naomi's standards for tank gunnery, but after my first clip, I had tight groupings and was reasonably accurate.
My third clip ejected with a ping, and I took a moment to look over at Kay. Where I had been pacing my shots, Kay was hammering away as fast as she could fire accurately. It was jawdropping; both her sustained rate of fire, and the mechanical precision that she had when aiming and reloading. I couldn't help but stare at her in awe.
Finally, Kay fired her last clip and set the rifle down on the bench. She had a big happy grin on her face, and I couldn't help but echo it with a smile of my own.
"Like what you see?" Kay asked with a teasing tone. I immediately flushed and turned back towards my own bench and the rifle I'd set down. Kay laughed. "It's fine, really! I've had a lot more practice on the Garand than most, and everyone is impressed when they watch me go."
"You were very pretty." I mumbled under my breath. I couldn't believe the words were actually escaping my lips, even at such a low tone that I could barely make sense of them.
"What was that?"
"I said you were pretty good."
"Thanks!" Kay flashed me a thumbs up. "You weren't half bad yourself! For your first time with a Garand, that's impressive accuracy. If you weren't so dedicated to Sensha-do, I'd almost recommend you join the rifle team. They're always looking for new marksmen."
"Thanks but no thanks." I said quietly. "I'll stick with the tanks."
Another massive boom echoed out from a few stalls down, and I craned my head to see what exactly was being fired. I didn't recognize the gun, but it was far larger than the Garand on the bench in front of me. Heck, it was longer than the person firing it was tall, though the shooter's identity was concealed by a large cowboy hat.
"What's that?" I asked Kay in a low tone, gesturing over to the massive gun.
"Solothurn 20mm AT rifle. Anzio equips them to their CV33s for Tankathlon season. I didn't know we had any here."
"Why only during Tankathlon?" I asked. I knew a little bit about the light tank only intramural sport, and intended to try and get on our team this year with the Stuart, but that didn't help me understand why Anzio would have those big guns for Tankathlon only.
"Budget, mostly. The ammo is expensive, and it's not that much more effective against proper armor than the 8mm machine guns are. In Tankathlon, there's a lot less armor rolling around, so the gun's punchiness is more effective." Kay answered. "At least, that's my best guess."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense."
"Yup!" Kay grinned. "If you're done with the Garand, I've got a few more cool guns to show off."
"What'cha got?"
"A couple of WWI guns; bolt action Mauser, Lee-Enfield, and Springfield rifles. An M14 with limited permission to fire it full auto. A couple of modern assault rifles that we aren't allowed to full auto, and a fifty caliber Barrett." Kay answered, pointing out each rifle in the case.
"Oh wow. You really pulled out all of the stops on this." I said, taking in all of the options. "Let's start with the fifty."
"One Barrett fifty cal, coming right up!" Kay said, pulling the large rifle out of the case. She passed it to me, and I nearly tumbled under the unexpected weight of the gun. I'd thought the three-inch ammo in the M6 was bad, but this weighed twice as much!
Kay just grinned at me as I dropped the heavy rifle onto the bench. She picked up the Garands and stowed them back in the case before sitting down next to me. It took a bit of finagling to get the rifle up to a comfortable firing position, but Kay's guiding touch helped me through it. It was almost weird, having someone this close to me, nearly hugging me as she guided me into the proper firing position, her hands over mine.
The roar of the fifty caliber and the recoil slamming into my shoulder drained away all of my worries, and I grinned like a madwoman as I lined up the second shot.
We spent most of the day at the range. Kay ran me through each of the guns on her list, and alongside shooting them, she walked me through field stripping all of the more modern guns. Nothing ended up being quite as fun as the fifty cal, but that did nothing to ruin my overall enjoyment of the day.
"Hey girls." Riley said as she approached our stalls. I'd just finished up another clip of Garand, and Kay set down her M14 and turned to face the rifle team's captain. She had put a Saunders Competitive Rifles cap on since the last time we'd chatted with her over M4 maintenance, but a smile still graced her face.
"Hey Riles." Kay said. "What's up?"
"Practice is starting soon, so I'm gonna need you two to pack up. Team's big enough that we need the whole range, you know how it goes." Riley explained.
"Of course!" Kay smiled at the rifle captain. "I think we were about done anyway. Thanks for helping me set this up."
"It was no problem. You're always welcome to drop by." Riley pivoted slightly to face me. "Did you have a good time, Tally?"
"It was great! Thank you so much for having me." I answered. Riley grinned.
"I'm gonna set the range to cold in just a minute so you can get your targets back and police your brass. I'll let you finish that mag, though, Kay."
Kay flashed her a thumbs up, and turned back to her rifle. Riley nodded and made her way back to the range's control room, and I had to force myself to not be utterly entranced by the sway of her hips. I instead locked my eyes onto Kay until Riley was out of line of sight.
It was a good choice, because mere moments later, Kay brought the M14 up to her shoulder and fired off a fully automatic stream until the gun clicked empty. I'd managed one burst on the M14 before I decided it was too much recoil to control and settled for semi-auto only, and here Kay was going fully automatic and handling it incredibly well.
I let out a low whistle as Riley announced the range going cold. "That was very impressive."
"Thanks!" Kay grinned as she removed the empty magazine from her rifle.
Cleanup went quickly, and we left the range with a wave to Riley as members of the rifle team began filing in. There was a casual but quiet air between Kay and I as we piled into her Jeep, and we began chatting as she pulled away from the range.
We'd made it part of the way back to my dorm when Kay took an unexpected turn, pulling us into a parking lot near one of Saunders' larger parks. I looked over at her in confusion, but she was taking a moment to shut down the car, though making no move to get out.
"Kay?" I asked, letting my confusion shine through.
"There's something I wanted to bring up with you, but I didn't feel like the range was a very good place to mention it." Kay began, and for a moment I thought she was just as nervous as I was. It was incredibly strange to see Kay almost dancing in her seat as she tried to find the right words.
"What is it?" I asked. I could feel her nerves, and they were making me more antsy in turn. I didn't like this.
"Saunders' prom is coming up. It's a little over a month away, but that just means plenty of time to figure out who you're going with and what you're wearing." Kay explained.
"Oh." I oh'd. That wasn't at all what I had been expecting. "You know I'm not a party girl, like you are."
"It won't be like the Tankery team's parties. Prom is classy. Suits for the boys, pretty dresses for the girls, dinner dates, that sort of thing. I think you should come, since it's likely your only opportunity to actually come to this sort of thing."
I hummed noncommittally. One big question that bounced around my mind was who would I go with, if I did decide I wanted to go? A gut feeling tells me Jane and April wouldn't be interested, Arisa's always pining after that Takashi guy, Naomi has her own group of friends, and Kay is Kay. Rach might be interested, but that would almost certainly require coordinating not only our schedules, which were indeterminate with the tournament, but also transport between schoolships.
A small part of me wanted to just ask Kay right now. She was incredibly hot and my best friend here at Saunders, but asking right now would probably just strain our friendship. We were friends, teammates, not romantically involved at all.
We didn't have to go together romantically, just as friends. Romance was firmly off the table. Completely unnecessary. All it would take was a few words, and the worst she could say is no. I just needed to find the will to say it.
"Well, if you do find yourself interested let me know." Kay said, snapping me away from my thoughts.
"Oh, uh, sure!" I said, stumbling over my words for a moment. And like that, any will I could have gathered to try and ask dissipated. "Do you have a date yet?"
Kay shook her head. "Not yet. I have someone in mind, but it's hard to tell if she's actually interested or not."
"I can feel that." I said with a nod.
We sat there in an awkward silence for a minute. My mind wandered, wondering who Kay had in mind. That same small part of me hoped beyond hope that the girl she was looking to actually ask to prom was me, but it was quickly silenced. It was a dream, not anywhere close to reality.
Kay snapped me out of my thoughts by wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me in as close as she could with our seating arrangement. I looked over at her in confusion, but she silenced me with a finger to the lips.
"Tally, you're the one I want to ask to prom." Kay said, breaking the silence. She squeezed the awkward sidehug we were in, a soft smile on her face.
"M-me?" I stuttered.
"It's about time!" Someone cheered from nearby. Almost instantly, Kay broke the hug and we both shifted to face the newcomer. Arisa rose from one of the nearby bushes, a sheepish smile on her face. For some reason, she had seemingly decided that a ghillie suit was a good outfit to wear.
"Arisa?" I gaped. The mood had been broken by her outburst, let alone that fact that she was even here.
"What are you doing here?" Kay asked, almost demanded of our teammate.
"Well, I- I just wanted to keep an eye on things. Make sure you were both happy, and, and having a good time!" Arisa explained in a rush, nearly tripping over her own words.
"I was unhappy with you for your spying during the Ooarai match, and now you're spying on me and Tally. What on earth made you think that this was anything close to a good idea?" Kay asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I… well…" Arisa didn't have an answer for her.
"We are going to have a serious talk about your intelligence gathering. Until then, kindly get out of here, and never pull this kind of stunt on me again. Am I understood?" Kay said in a low tone.
"Yes ma'am!" Arisa barked off nervously.
"Good." Kay said, before raising her voice so that it could carry further. "Hannah, make sure she keeps to that promise!"
"Yes ma'am!" Came Hannah's much more relaxed reply from the bush where Arisa had been hiding.
"Now get out of here, both of you." Kay ordered. Arisa scrambled back to her bush to gather whatever materials she and Hannah had been using, as well as helping her loader out of the bush.
Kay and I waited in silence until they had left.
"Well, that kind of ruined the moment." I deadpanned once Arisa was out of earshot.
Kay just shook her head. "She means well, but she's too obsessive about this kind of thing."
I let out a long breath, trying to let the tensions that had built up with Arisa's interruption flow out.
"Tally, what am I to you?" Kay asked.
"What do you mean? You're my best friend here at Saunders." I answered, more than a little confused.
"Is that all?" Kay asked, pressing the subject. "We've been on three dates now. Well, two depending on how you look at the trip to the bazaar, but we've been on multiple dates, and you haven't made a single romantic advance at all in that time."
"I…" Words escaped me, and I took the moment to think about how to answer her question. "It never really occurred to me that these were proper dates. I thought we were just friends, going out and doing things as friends. I had no idea you were interested in girls, let alone me."
Kay nodded. "Well, I'm interested. So, Tally, would you like to be my girlfriend, and would you like to go to prom with me?"
"I- I must be dreaming." I said, more to myself than to Kay. "There's no way this can be real."
"Tally?" Kay asked, gently grabbing my shoulder.
"I'm fine." I answered. "I just… I just need some time to think this over."
Kay nodded. "That's alright. Take all the time you need."
"Thanks. I'm sorry, but this is just all happening so fast that I need to sit down and let it all sink in, you know?" The words began tumbling out of my mouth. "And it's not like I don't like you, because I do, it's just that this morning I had no idea prom was even a thing here, let alone that we had a date scheduled today, and now we're out here after a wonderful day at the range and you're asking me to go to prom with you, and I just… can't. I need to think things over."
"Hey, hey, it's fine." Kay said, giving me a pat. "Take whatever time you need. I can wait."
"Thank you." I whispered, as all my nervous energy disappeared, leaving me tired. "Can we just go back to the dorms now?"
"Of course." Kay answered in a similarly quiet tone. She pulled me into a quick sidehug before starting the car back up, and we were on our way soon enough. We spent the short drive in a relative silence, and before I really knew it, we were back at my dorm.
"Thank you for an amazing day, Kay." I said with a smile as I got out of the Jeep.
"Thank you for coming!" Kay cheered right back at me.
My smile didn't fade as I walked up to my dorm room, though it faltered momentarily when I saw Arisa and Hannah lurking not far from my room. As soon as they noticed me, they started heading my way, but I ignored them and slipped into my room before they could get to me, slamming the door shut behind me.
I collapsed onto my futon and drew my Hellcat plushy close, hugging it tightly. I just sat there for a moment before an idea came to mind, and I drew my phone out. Rach was going to be overjoyed by the news.
But I was awake, so there wasn't any use complaining about it. I stretched as I rolled out of bed, still stiff from last night's Sensha-do practice. Hannah had enlisted my help during practice, introducing loaders to the non-75mm ammo they might have to load at one point or another. We had an old AT gun to practice with the 37mm, but handling anything larger necessitated actually climbing into turrets. Handling 17-pdr ammo sucks in Firefly's turret.
I didn't bother doing my hair up in its usual braid as I moved over to my desk to check emails. One was from Mom and Dad, worrying over me after Wednesday's match, which I replied to saying that I hadn't been seriously hurt and that I was no longer with that crew. Another was from Eclair, saying she would accept the three Locusts and an M4A2, though she wasn't sure if they'd keep the Sherman or not. I'd have to let Kay know when I next saw her, probably tomorrow when we hear who we're up against next.
With emails handled, I went and got myself cleaned up and ready for the day. It was still early, and on a weekend, so the showers and cafeteria were both nearly empty. I managed a quiet and quick breakfast and returned to my room to get to today's project; cleaning and laundry.
Saturdays when we didn't have Sensha-do were less common than I'd prefer, but that just meant I had to devote the free ones to taking care of whatever I hadn't been able to handle during the week. The first step was stripping my bed of its sheets and adding them to the pile of laundry. I reconfigured the futon frame so it'd be a couch, and shoved it against the wall so I'd have a little more room to work.
American style futons for the win.
Running the laundry took most of the morning, and I chatted a little bit with Hannah in the laundromat when she showed up with the exact same idea. Saturday mornings were great for laundry if you got in early enough, but if you were slow, the place rapidly filled up.
When it was done, I waved goodbye to Hannah and hauled my two baskets of laundry back to my room.
"Oh hey Tally!" Kay called, waving wildly as I entered the hallway that my room was situated on. I paused and blinked. She was leaning against the wall opposite my door, fiddling with a pair of earmuffs, the hearing protection kind. "I was wondering where you'd gone."
My pause was only momentary, and I resumed my pace towards the room. "Laundry. Needs to be done every now and then."
Kay laughed. "Well, the range is open today, and I thought going out and shooting targets would be fun!"
"Shooting targets? Don't we do that during practice?" I asked, passing my laundry bins to her while I unlocked my door and slipped inside. Kay followed me in, and set the baskets down where I indicated.
"Rifle range, not tanks."
"Oh." I oh'd. "I didn't know we had one here."
"We have a competition team, co-ed." Kay said with a nod. "Their captain, Riley, is a good friend of mine."
I nodded to her as I started pulling clothing out of the baskets to begin folding. School uniforms went in a separate pile to be ironed later, but it sounded like that was going to be after our trip to the range.
"Have you ever shot a rifle before?" Kay asked, joining the clothes folding.
"A few times. There's a range reasonably close to where I live back home, and Dad has taken me and my sisters a few times."
"Nice!" Kay gave me a thumbs up and a big smile.
Saunders' range was nothing at all like I had expected. I'd expected something small and indoors, maybe a few stalls and a line of targets. What I wasn't expecting was a fairly massive outdoor complex, more than a dozen firing lanes exclusively for rifles, and a separate range for shooting trap.
"Wow…" I exhaled, taking in the place. Kay grinned and hopped out of the Jeep's driver's seat, and I followed, not really knowing where to go.
A redhead with really rather amazing hips approached us with a grin on her face. A boom echoed out from the range, far louder than anything I'd heard back home. It sounded more like a tank cannon than a rifle.
"Hi Riley!" Kay shouted with a wave.
"Hiya Kay!" Riley answered, coming to a stop with a mesmerizing sway before I averted my eyes from her hips. "Your stalls are all set up. This your friend?"
"Tally Evans." I said with a nod. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Tally! Riley Sharpe, competitive shooting team captain. Any experience with firearms beyond Tankery?"
"I've been to the range once or twice."
"Good!" Riley cheered. "Our range is probably a little different, since we have to keep all of the guns here. But most of the rules should be more or less the same. Ear and eye pro on while the range is hot, don't step beyond the firing line for any reason while it's hot, no handling of firearms while the range is cold. Safe directions are downrange and up. We've got targets out to three hundred yards, and rifles up to fifty cal."
I let out a low whistle. "That's quite the impressive setup you've got."
"Thank you!" Riley smiled, spun on her heel, and jogged back to the main range building. I was entranced by the sway of her hips for a moment before Kay elbowed me softly and coughed.
"Sorry."
"Let's go." Kay said, leading me into the building. Protective gear went on, and we slipped inside. Kay almost immediately made a beeline to the left, where two bays had been reserved. The case behind the bays held a few rifles, most of which had the distinctive design of being early 20th century firearms. "I had Riley prep a pair of Garands for us, plus a few others that I thought you might like."
"Ooooh, I've never shot a Garand before." I said eagerly. Kay unlocked the case, and pulled out the two rifles. She ran me through the basics of the weapon, handed me a clip, and told me to go for it.
There were targets laid out at 50 and 100 yards, and I elected to aim for the further one. I may not have been up to Naomi's standards for tank gunnery, but after my first clip, I had tight groupings and was reasonably accurate.
My third clip ejected with a ping, and I took a moment to look over at Kay. Where I had been pacing my shots, Kay was hammering away as fast as she could fire accurately. It was jawdropping; both her sustained rate of fire, and the mechanical precision that she had when aiming and reloading. I couldn't help but stare at her in awe.
Finally, Kay fired her last clip and set the rifle down on the bench. She had a big happy grin on her face, and I couldn't help but echo it with a smile of my own.
"Like what you see?" Kay asked with a teasing tone. I immediately flushed and turned back towards my own bench and the rifle I'd set down. Kay laughed. "It's fine, really! I've had a lot more practice on the Garand than most, and everyone is impressed when they watch me go."
"You were very pretty." I mumbled under my breath. I couldn't believe the words were actually escaping my lips, even at such a low tone that I could barely make sense of them.
"What was that?"
"I said you were pretty good."
"Thanks!" Kay flashed me a thumbs up. "You weren't half bad yourself! For your first time with a Garand, that's impressive accuracy. If you weren't so dedicated to Sensha-do, I'd almost recommend you join the rifle team. They're always looking for new marksmen."
"Thanks but no thanks." I said quietly. "I'll stick with the tanks."
Another massive boom echoed out from a few stalls down, and I craned my head to see what exactly was being fired. I didn't recognize the gun, but it was far larger than the Garand on the bench in front of me. Heck, it was longer than the person firing it was tall, though the shooter's identity was concealed by a large cowboy hat.
"What's that?" I asked Kay in a low tone, gesturing over to the massive gun.
"Solothurn 20mm AT rifle. Anzio equips them to their CV33s for Tankathlon season. I didn't know we had any here."
"Why only during Tankathlon?" I asked. I knew a little bit about the light tank only intramural sport, and intended to try and get on our team this year with the Stuart, but that didn't help me understand why Anzio would have those big guns for Tankathlon only.
"Budget, mostly. The ammo is expensive, and it's not that much more effective against proper armor than the 8mm machine guns are. In Tankathlon, there's a lot less armor rolling around, so the gun's punchiness is more effective." Kay answered. "At least, that's my best guess."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense."
"Yup!" Kay grinned. "If you're done with the Garand, I've got a few more cool guns to show off."
"What'cha got?"
"A couple of WWI guns; bolt action Mauser, Lee-Enfield, and Springfield rifles. An M14 with limited permission to fire it full auto. A couple of modern assault rifles that we aren't allowed to full auto, and a fifty caliber Barrett." Kay answered, pointing out each rifle in the case.
"Oh wow. You really pulled out all of the stops on this." I said, taking in all of the options. "Let's start with the fifty."
"One Barrett fifty cal, coming right up!" Kay said, pulling the large rifle out of the case. She passed it to me, and I nearly tumbled under the unexpected weight of the gun. I'd thought the three-inch ammo in the M6 was bad, but this weighed twice as much!
Kay just grinned at me as I dropped the heavy rifle onto the bench. She picked up the Garands and stowed them back in the case before sitting down next to me. It took a bit of finagling to get the rifle up to a comfortable firing position, but Kay's guiding touch helped me through it. It was almost weird, having someone this close to me, nearly hugging me as she guided me into the proper firing position, her hands over mine.
The roar of the fifty caliber and the recoil slamming into my shoulder drained away all of my worries, and I grinned like a madwoman as I lined up the second shot.
We spent most of the day at the range. Kay ran me through each of the guns on her list, and alongside shooting them, she walked me through field stripping all of the more modern guns. Nothing ended up being quite as fun as the fifty cal, but that did nothing to ruin my overall enjoyment of the day.
"Hey girls." Riley said as she approached our stalls. I'd just finished up another clip of Garand, and Kay set down her M14 and turned to face the rifle team's captain. She had put a Saunders Competitive Rifles cap on since the last time we'd chatted with her over M4 maintenance, but a smile still graced her face.
"Hey Riles." Kay said. "What's up?"
"Practice is starting soon, so I'm gonna need you two to pack up. Team's big enough that we need the whole range, you know how it goes." Riley explained.
"Of course!" Kay smiled at the rifle captain. "I think we were about done anyway. Thanks for helping me set this up."
"It was no problem. You're always welcome to drop by." Riley pivoted slightly to face me. "Did you have a good time, Tally?"
"It was great! Thank you so much for having me." I answered. Riley grinned.
"I'm gonna set the range to cold in just a minute so you can get your targets back and police your brass. I'll let you finish that mag, though, Kay."
Kay flashed her a thumbs up, and turned back to her rifle. Riley nodded and made her way back to the range's control room, and I had to force myself to not be utterly entranced by the sway of her hips. I instead locked my eyes onto Kay until Riley was out of line of sight.
It was a good choice, because mere moments later, Kay brought the M14 up to her shoulder and fired off a fully automatic stream until the gun clicked empty. I'd managed one burst on the M14 before I decided it was too much recoil to control and settled for semi-auto only, and here Kay was going fully automatic and handling it incredibly well.
I let out a low whistle as Riley announced the range going cold. "That was very impressive."
"Thanks!" Kay grinned as she removed the empty magazine from her rifle.
Cleanup went quickly, and we left the range with a wave to Riley as members of the rifle team began filing in. There was a casual but quiet air between Kay and I as we piled into her Jeep, and we began chatting as she pulled away from the range.
We'd made it part of the way back to my dorm when Kay took an unexpected turn, pulling us into a parking lot near one of Saunders' larger parks. I looked over at her in confusion, but she was taking a moment to shut down the car, though making no move to get out.
"Kay?" I asked, letting my confusion shine through.
"There's something I wanted to bring up with you, but I didn't feel like the range was a very good place to mention it." Kay began, and for a moment I thought she was just as nervous as I was. It was incredibly strange to see Kay almost dancing in her seat as she tried to find the right words.
"What is it?" I asked. I could feel her nerves, and they were making me more antsy in turn. I didn't like this.
"Saunders' prom is coming up. It's a little over a month away, but that just means plenty of time to figure out who you're going with and what you're wearing." Kay explained.
"Oh." I oh'd. That wasn't at all what I had been expecting. "You know I'm not a party girl, like you are."
"It won't be like the Tankery team's parties. Prom is classy. Suits for the boys, pretty dresses for the girls, dinner dates, that sort of thing. I think you should come, since it's likely your only opportunity to actually come to this sort of thing."
I hummed noncommittally. One big question that bounced around my mind was who would I go with, if I did decide I wanted to go? A gut feeling tells me Jane and April wouldn't be interested, Arisa's always pining after that Takashi guy, Naomi has her own group of friends, and Kay is Kay. Rach might be interested, but that would almost certainly require coordinating not only our schedules, which were indeterminate with the tournament, but also transport between schoolships.
A small part of me wanted to just ask Kay right now. She was incredibly hot and my best friend here at Saunders, but asking right now would probably just strain our friendship. We were friends, teammates, not romantically involved at all.
We didn't have to go together romantically, just as friends. Romance was firmly off the table. Completely unnecessary. All it would take was a few words, and the worst she could say is no. I just needed to find the will to say it.
"Well, if you do find yourself interested let me know." Kay said, snapping me away from my thoughts.
"Oh, uh, sure!" I said, stumbling over my words for a moment. And like that, any will I could have gathered to try and ask dissipated. "Do you have a date yet?"
Kay shook her head. "Not yet. I have someone in mind, but it's hard to tell if she's actually interested or not."
"I can feel that." I said with a nod.
We sat there in an awkward silence for a minute. My mind wandered, wondering who Kay had in mind. That same small part of me hoped beyond hope that the girl she was looking to actually ask to prom was me, but it was quickly silenced. It was a dream, not anywhere close to reality.
Kay snapped me out of my thoughts by wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me in as close as she could with our seating arrangement. I looked over at her in confusion, but she silenced me with a finger to the lips.
"Tally, you're the one I want to ask to prom." Kay said, breaking the silence. She squeezed the awkward sidehug we were in, a soft smile on her face.
"M-me?" I stuttered.
"It's about time!" Someone cheered from nearby. Almost instantly, Kay broke the hug and we both shifted to face the newcomer. Arisa rose from one of the nearby bushes, a sheepish smile on her face. For some reason, she had seemingly decided that a ghillie suit was a good outfit to wear.
"Arisa?" I gaped. The mood had been broken by her outburst, let alone that fact that she was even here.
"What are you doing here?" Kay asked, almost demanded of our teammate.
"Well, I- I just wanted to keep an eye on things. Make sure you were both happy, and, and having a good time!" Arisa explained in a rush, nearly tripping over her own words.
"I was unhappy with you for your spying during the Ooarai match, and now you're spying on me and Tally. What on earth made you think that this was anything close to a good idea?" Kay asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I… well…" Arisa didn't have an answer for her.
"We are going to have a serious talk about your intelligence gathering. Until then, kindly get out of here, and never pull this kind of stunt on me again. Am I understood?" Kay said in a low tone.
"Yes ma'am!" Arisa barked off nervously.
"Good." Kay said, before raising her voice so that it could carry further. "Hannah, make sure she keeps to that promise!"
"Yes ma'am!" Came Hannah's much more relaxed reply from the bush where Arisa had been hiding.
"Now get out of here, both of you." Kay ordered. Arisa scrambled back to her bush to gather whatever materials she and Hannah had been using, as well as helping her loader out of the bush.
Kay and I waited in silence until they had left.
"Well, that kind of ruined the moment." I deadpanned once Arisa was out of earshot.
Kay just shook her head. "She means well, but she's too obsessive about this kind of thing."
I let out a long breath, trying to let the tensions that had built up with Arisa's interruption flow out.
"Tally, what am I to you?" Kay asked.
"What do you mean? You're my best friend here at Saunders." I answered, more than a little confused.
"Is that all?" Kay asked, pressing the subject. "We've been on three dates now. Well, two depending on how you look at the trip to the bazaar, but we've been on multiple dates, and you haven't made a single romantic advance at all in that time."
"I…" Words escaped me, and I took the moment to think about how to answer her question. "It never really occurred to me that these were proper dates. I thought we were just friends, going out and doing things as friends. I had no idea you were interested in girls, let alone me."
Kay nodded. "Well, I'm interested. So, Tally, would you like to be my girlfriend, and would you like to go to prom with me?"
"I- I must be dreaming." I said, more to myself than to Kay. "There's no way this can be real."
"Tally?" Kay asked, gently grabbing my shoulder.
"I'm fine." I answered. "I just… I just need some time to think this over."
Kay nodded. "That's alright. Take all the time you need."
"Thanks. I'm sorry, but this is just all happening so fast that I need to sit down and let it all sink in, you know?" The words began tumbling out of my mouth. "And it's not like I don't like you, because I do, it's just that this morning I had no idea prom was even a thing here, let alone that we had a date scheduled today, and now we're out here after a wonderful day at the range and you're asking me to go to prom with you, and I just… can't. I need to think things over."
"Hey, hey, it's fine." Kay said, giving me a pat. "Take whatever time you need. I can wait."
"Thank you." I whispered, as all my nervous energy disappeared, leaving me tired. "Can we just go back to the dorms now?"
"Of course." Kay answered in a similarly quiet tone. She pulled me into a quick sidehug before starting the car back up, and we were on our way soon enough. We spent the short drive in a relative silence, and before I really knew it, we were back at my dorm.
"Thank you for an amazing day, Kay." I said with a smile as I got out of the Jeep.
"Thank you for coming!" Kay cheered right back at me.
My smile didn't fade as I walked up to my dorm room, though it faltered momentarily when I saw Arisa and Hannah lurking not far from my room. As soon as they noticed me, they started heading my way, but I ignored them and slipped into my room before they could get to me, slamming the door shut behind me.
I collapsed onto my futon and drew my Hellcat plushy close, hugging it tightly. I just sat there for a moment before an idea came to mind, and I drew my phone out. Rach was going to be overjoyed by the news.
It's about time! Is that aimed at Tally and Kay finally having a moment where feelings are discussed, or about me finally getting of my butt and finishing up this chapter? Who knows? How about both. Both sounds good.
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