Dein Weg ist Mein Weg

Chapter 41: A Match upon which the Sun never sets

"Four Matilda II's, and one Churchill Mk VII, two o'clock."

"I see them..." Maho answered and followed the St. Gloriana formation with her gaze as it advanced perpendicular to themselves. Lowering her binoculars, she could still easily make out the blooming cloud of dust and sand the tanks kicked up as she stared out across the dunes and wastes of the desert.

"They've got a really tight formation going there," Azusa noted, and lowered her own binoculars. "It's incredible that they can keep moving as a group while keeping everyone in line at that speed."

"That's what years of training gets you," Maho muttered. "St. Gloriana specializes in firing on the move, and maintaining a proper formation as they advance," she sighed and shook her head. "It looks pretty, that's for sure, but it's still a strategy from another age. All just left over from the time of muskets and cannons."

"Still, a lot of our tanks can't pierce their frontal armor except from really close-by, right?"

"That's where tactics and skill come into play," Maho smirked.

Azusa glanced over to Maho in fascination for a moment, before nodding and smiling. "Right!"

The two girls cautiously rose from where they had been lying and performing their recon, and Azusa began sprinting back towards Ooarai's tanks beyond the crest of the escarpment, but Maho remained for a moment. As she turned back to look down on the five tanks, she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.

Four Matilda II's, and a Churchill VII as the flag tank... she thought. Just like Darjeeling said...

Despite her seeing the evidence of Darjeeling's words before her, she still couldn't let herself be convinced of their truth. Either Darjeeling was bluffing, and there was something far worse than just the scorching sun waiting for them out in the desert, or she was double-bluffing, and knew that giving Maho perfect intelligence would unnerve her and turn every shadow into a potential monster breathing down her neck.

The problem was figuring out which was the case...

"Maho?" Azusa asked and turned back when she realized Maho hadn't come along with her. "Aren't you coming? Is something wrong?"

"No," Maho sighed, and wiped her brow as she looked out across the vast mass of sand and rock one last time. From their position atop the escarpment, she and Azusa had been able to survey miles upon miles of the battlefield, to the point of even being able to make out the far wall of the Odawara arena in the distance if they squinted. "Everything's fine," she added after a moment, and began walking back towards the waiting tanks

"Mako, wake up," Maho said as she leapt up onto the hull of the Phoenix, giving the half-asleep Mako a light nudge with the side of her foot as she passed the open driver's hatch.

"Fine..." Mako mumbled and began to right herself in her seat.

As Maho reached the top of the turret, she paused for a moment as she looked down at the waiting chasm of the Commander's cupola. Come on, Maho. It's "only" St. Gloriana, she thought mockingly to herself as she sighed. You used to eat teams like them for breakfast...

"Once more into the breach," she mumbled under her breath as she filled her lungs with air, as if she was preparing to leap off a diving board, and dropped into the open hatch before her.

"So, what're we up against... Maho?" Yukari asked as Maho entered the turret.

"Four Matilda II's, and a Churchill VII as the flag tank," Maho answered dourly. "Just like we were told..."

"You do not sound convinced," Hana noted. "Do you still believe it is possible that Darjeeling is trying to deceive us in some way?"

"I don't know..." Maho muttered. "But whatever the case, I don't like it..."