Dust Devils - A Girls Und Panzer Story

Chapter 17

Saturday

March 2nd, 2013

A new month and spring was fast approaching. A period of the year in the Mojave where it wasn't always insufferably hot but mostly delightfully warm. Mojave Rose High School was barren, save for a collection of students mingling around the garage. The school's tankery team had a fun day in store for them, even if it was dedicated to repairing a near totaled tank. The SU-100 had arrived late last night, it was placed on the dirt road. The team surrounded the vehicle, studying all the damage it has sustained.

"This is even worse than in the picture." Sage commented.

"Can we really fix it? Let alone in a day?"

Conversation increased as the team gave their opinions regarding the situation. Sensing an opportunity to boost morale, Valarie hopped right on top the SU-100 which grabbed everyone's attention.

"Damn, you're nimble!" exclaimed Jacqueline.

"Okay, everyone, listen closely. Each and every one of you know your machines by heart. Any problem that you find is fixed almost immediately and with ease. I don't want to hear a word that we can't do this. I know we can. We've all overcome so much to get this far into the tournament and I'll be damned to let a repair job be what breaks us!"

With fervor, and a tinge of fear, the team in unison exclaimed their readiness for the task at hand. A few moments later, Buchanan arrived. Alone.

"No Mister Redwood?" Valarie inquired.

"Nope. He has meetings at the district office. How fun for him, huh?"

Buchanan approached the SU-100.

"Rough shape. Rough shape indeed."

She turned around.

"Let's perform a full inspection. Catalog each and every bit that needs attention. Valarie, you and your crew will handle that. Everyone else, will get all the tools out and get the spare parts out of their packaging."

The team mobilized the instant she stopped talking, Moist went within the garage to get any tool that might be useful in the repair. Spare parks were taken out of the boxes they arrived in and laid out on the garage floor, all neat and organized. Valarie and her crew were examining the SU-100. Emma and Ashley looked at the outside of the machine while Heather and Valarie checked the interior. The inside has seen better days. In the driver's position, Heather attempted to move the steering and gear levels but none budged. She pressed the ignition switch and the engine tried to start but was just repeating a harsh sputtering sound. Ten seconds of holding down the switch and she gave up. The gauges were misaligned with the speedometer outright missing its needle. The most glaring issue was in regards to the driver's hatch. The distinct lack of one, actually. Points where the hatch would have been mounted on showed signs of tear. In the fighting compartment, Valarie found her own fair share of issues. A peek at the gunsight told her that it would need to be recalibrated. The elevation and traverse controls were abnormally stiff. The cannon breech was opened and showed it to be absolutely covered with filth. It was normal stuff that can be expected but there was one issue that made Valarie gasp. It was the most dangerous damage a tank can sustain.

"Heather. Come crawl over here." Valarie called.

With some maneuvering, she made her way to her commander.

"Yeah?"

"Take a look at that." Valarie said, pointing to the inner wall.

Heather looked and saw what she saw. On the interior steel wall was a moderately-sized crack. It exposed something that was within the wall, black in appearance. It too was cracked and bits of it were flaking off.