Panzer x Bak

Part 3

Kenneth gazed out the viewport, heart pumping and adrenaline coursing through his veins. His eyes seemed to be glued to the four T-34-85s. T-34 medium tanks with high velocity 85mm guns that could tear through the upper and lower hull armor of the Panther at anything less than 300 meters distance.

A fully prepared Panther would still be completely outgunned, but with a crew of one? An aggressive course of action was pure suicide. Kenneth could only pray that he had not yet been spotted, which was beginning to seem more and more unlikely as the enemies began to stop.

Kenneth quickly weighed his options. The first of which was surrender: a taboo in the noble family he had been born into. The second was attempting to retreat, which would still mean almost certain doom for him and the tank. But there was a third option. Kenneth could evacuate the Panther with Wellington and use this... Teslanium material to regenerate the tank when the enemy had left. Yes, that was his safest-

In the split second he had used to think things over, all four vehicles turned their turrets in unison. The reason why Kenneth was not dead now was probably because he had ended up behind enemy lines, which meant the enemy was going through three steps. First: Identify opposing vehicle and attempt radio contact. Second: Confirm model of opposing vehicle, or if it is a new model. Third: prepare for engagement and await judgement on whether or not to fire.

A voice crackled over the communications unit in what appeared to be Russian, followed by German, and finally English.

"This is Scarlet Brigade to unknown vehicle. Surrender yourselves now and do not move, or we will destroy you!"

While this was being spoken, Kenneth had grabbed Wellington and thrown a couple cans of food into his coat before opening the hatch and stumbling out, climbing to the ground and breaking into a sprint. The enemy would most likely not know he had escaped, as he was still rather far away, but just to be safe he had removed the safety from his pistol.

There was a thunderous roar as four unanimous shots rang out through the area, two shells penetrating the front plate of Kenneth's tank, one glancing off the angled side armor, and the other missing the tank completely. The Panther erupted into a brilliant display of flame, and fragments of burning steel were scattered across the area, in a storm of hot metal. The shockwave from the blast threw Kenneth to the forest floor even from thirty feet away. The tank commander heaved heavily, eyes closed for a few seconds before slowly rising to his feet, with Wellington in his arms.

The commander waited about a minute, until he lifted his binoculars to his eyes after setting Wellington down once again. Through the lenses, he could see three tanks carrying on across the road, while the fourth was...

Kenneth promptly picked up his comrade once more and began running the opposite direction from whence he came, stumbling on the dried leaves scattered around him every once in awhile in his haste. By now he was quite tired, and already quite thirsty from the simple act of sprinting while carrying a rather heavy soldier. He should have expected one of the enemy tanks to investigate, as seeing Panther tanks behind federalist lines was quite the rarity indeed, as far as Kenneth could tell anyways. This changed plans considerably. He would now need to trek across enemy territory, and hopefully find an allied tank column. All while carrying an injured man along with him.

In the distance, Kenneth saw the T-34 come to a halt near the smoking wreck of his old vehicle. Indeed, there would be no going back now. The tank commander was now extremely vulnerable. Hell, that sniper from before could have him in his sights right now. But first order of business was escaping the immediate area before he was spotted by the enemy, as that would would probably be the worst case scenario right now.

Kenneth stopped for a brief moment and scanned the distance ahead, finding only empty forest. He knew the T-34 was still a good ways back, but the thought of being pursued by it was a very frightening thought. Aside from this, the tank Commander knew nothing. And since he had built his entire strategy upon knowing the situation, he was blind. For now, however, Kenneth needed to focus on what was ahead of him.