Girls und Panzer: Tank Aces

Chapter 1: Exile

"You know I'm a negotiating man, what's the catch?" William asked, breaking the silence.

The principal simply shook his head and chuckled. "Son, you should know I'm too old to try and pull anything on you." He handed William the manilla folder. The boy took the folder and flipped through some of the documents inside.

"I can't guarantee anything, but I'll run this by the crews and see what they think," William said. He pushed back his chair and stood up to leave the room, "Regardless sir, thank you for everything you've done. I couldn't have asked for a better advocate for our school's tankery program."

The principal stood up and grabbed his wooden cane. "I appreciate the thought, Captain Valentine. Keep racking up kills for us, wherever you choose to go." The two tankers of two different generations shook hands.

"Whether it's in the Sea of Japan or the forests of Oregon, a tank always moves forward," William declared.

000

The past year for Ross Huot, First Sub-Commander of Schwarzadler's now defunct tankery team has been a roller coaster of emotions. He was glad the year was nearly over, but the festivities of Christmas hardly changed his schedule in any notable manner. Frost collected on one of his tiny apartment's two windows as he looked at himself in the reflection. Adjusting to living on his own at his age had been a challenge and his face showed it. While his light brown hair wasn't a complete mess, it definitely needed work and he could definitely use quite a bit more sleep.

William had visited him earlier in the day to drop off Ross's part of the tankery offer the Department of Education gave him. He had wanted to take a look at the papers after tankery practice, but naturally, he needed to head straight to work to make rent for his tiny studio apartment. Nighttime was the only part of the day where he had any time to do his growing list of domestic chores. Ross sat down at his small square wood table next to his kitchenette, although considering the size of the apartment, everything was next to the kitchenette. On the top of the first paper was the seal of the Department of Education, following a long document of information describing their offer. Considering that the cramped paper was only the first of the many documents, the tired boy was in for a longer night than he thought. And here I was thinking I'd at least get some extra sleep tonight because I finished all my homework during class... he thought bitterly while firing up his coffee maker. While he waited for the machine to do its work he started on the first page. Unfortunately, he only got halfway through the first page when a cry from his bedroom, the only other room in the apartment except for the bathroom, interrupted him. He quickly looked at the clock before standing up from his chair. One hour and 45 minutes, still no improvement, he noted to himself. He grabbed a notebook off the counter and noted the findings before heading to his bedroom.

The blazing heat from a space heater and the sounds of power tools kept Joseph David, Second Sub-Commander of the Schwarzadler tankery team, warm in the winter evening. While his parents were out working late, Joseph did his own work on repairing a chair that was broken by one of his many siblings. Thankfully the second eldest child in the family could rely on his older brother to keep everyone in line while he worked on the chair. He smoothed over the ragged broken edge of one of the chair's legs and the corresponding broken section on the base with sandpaper. "That'll do. I think," he decided after the broken parts were sufficiently smoothed over so he could glue them together.

The garage was filled with half-used and surplus supplies so he could tinker and repair all he needed without buying too much. He found a half-used bottle of industrial-strength glue to use in his cluttered workshop. After some liberal application to both sides, the chair was as good as new. "Let's see how long this lasts," he said to himself as he headed back inside. While he carried the repaired chair through the side foyer, he noticed a folder sitting on the entryway table. After carefully setting the chair down, he picked up the folder and examined it. After reading through the first page the freshman smiled at the generous offer. "I've always wanted to grow a bonsai tree."