"Us? Do that tank sport of yours? I'm good..." Willy told Kay off. "I'm not interested in shooting kids."
"It's not like that, we'll be in tanks and everything!" Naomi and Alisa just sighed and looked on as their commander tried to convince Willy to join them in Sensha-do. "Besides you know about safe-proofing and everything, right?"
"Yeah I heard ya the first time girly, but I'm not interested." Willy stalked off with Nathan and Daniel at his flanks.
"Geez what's up with him?" Kay said as Hans suddenly clapped her shoulder.
"I do have a guess but I don't think it's very good...Either way, just leave the American alone. Maybe you could try convincing those Bolsheviks, hah!"
Katyusha's ears perked up from atop Nonna's shoulders. That sounds like a good idea...hehehe...
"It's been a while since I've seen you, [malyshka.]"
"Don't call me that!" Katyusha piped up.
"Hah. Well, what do you want?" Nikolay asked as he and his men sat in a circle taking shots of vodka. Just a minute or two ago, the two were joined by Nonna, Klara, and most importantly, Katyusha.
Katyusha put a hand on her chest in pride. "We have an upcoming match against a number of other schools all at once, and I want your help! The only problem is if your commander would approve of it..."
"Sure, we'll help." Niko said as he chugged a bit of vodka straight from one of his many bottles. "And Willy doesn't really care, most he can do is just scold us." the Soviet tanker brushed off.
Klara spoke up. "But, Katyusha what tanks will they use? Considering the size of the forces allowed in our joint match we won't be able to spare enough tanks for all of them."
"Hm, your right Klara. There's..." Katyusha paused to count all the Russians. "About 18 of you all, and Katyusha isn't sure if she has the tanks to spare at the moment."
"We'll just use our own tanks then!" Nikolay triumphed. "We have the UHLS Model 3, a very powerful tank, we've used them to plow through the German defenses like they're made of snow. Willy won't care, he'll just scold us for using fuel but you girls have fuel. When is this, [malyshka], when is the fight?" the rest of the Russians nodded eagerly.
Katyusha smiled broadly. "It's tomorrow, at 6PM sharp. Thanks for your support, [товарищ.]"
The next day, on the Kiev ship, the two schools of the teams met each other just as the sun was beginning to set, snow still piled thickly around the entirety of Kiev. Due to the number of schools participating, the schools were split up into two teams. On Team one, was Pravda, Ooarai, and Chi-Ha-Tan. On Team two, was Kuromorimine, Saunders, and Jatkosota. The battle was in flag tank style, while the battle itself would end at 6PM the next day if nobody had won. The battle began with the two teams charging each other head on, which led to Kuromorimine splitting up to avoid destruction of their flag tanks. What made the match truly interesting is that across the three schools for each team was a flag tank for each, meaning if one team wanted to achieve victory they would have to destroy three flag tanks first. As night began to fall, the schools began to set up encampments. Pravda set themselves up in an old snow covered town, which even though it was abandoned and wrecked, was still a good shelter, with Ooarai sharing the town. Unsurprisingly, in the first charge a large number of Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks were taken out, so now there were only 8 left from the 30 Nishi had brought. Katyusha and Miho sat in the town's church tower, while Nishi lamented her not being able to reign in her comrades. "Katyusha-san...You mentioned earlier you had a secret weapon, but what is it?"
Katyusha smiled before she pulled out a transceiver from a pocket in her jacket. She clicked a button and said into it, "Comrade Niko, do you remember what Katyusha's 3-step-plan is for you?"
A male voice crackled in response. "Of course Katyusha! Men, what is [tovarishch] Katyusha's 3-step-plan? Step 1?"
"Seize the hills!"
"Step 2?"
"Root out the enemy!"
"Step 3!?"
"Rain fire!"
"Hey 'Helmet-chan' can you get the rations out while we light the fires?" Kay called out to Alisa's loader.
Alisa's loader, or "Helmet-chan" she was known as due to wearing a helmet 24/7, sighed at her nickname. My name's Tess though..."Yeah, sure. Let me go get 'em." Tess hopped from the turret of Alisa's M4A1 (76) Sherman and began to unload the rations kept in the supply boxes strapped to various parts of the tank, and when she opened the boxes, unsurprisingly it was filled with food like burgers and fries. Grabbing a burger for herself, she passed the box to the closest girl who passed it on and so forth. They were beginning to unload and create an encampment at a small abandoned village. It had several small houses, which were in good condition, and a church with a tall tower, where Naomi and Alisa were scanning the area with binoculars.
Kay called up to her vice-commanders, "Hey, you see anything up there?"
"I'm afraid not. We're all dug in for the night anyways."
Alisa poked her head from the tower to look down at Kay. "Kay, can you keep an eye on Jatkosota? We are sharing camps together and they're known to steal stuff."
"Well..." Kay muttered, putting a finger to her mouth.
A familiar voice strummed her kantele. "Don't worry about it. We don't steal from our allies." Mika said enigmatically. Mikko and Aki were seen nabbing burgers and fries faster than anyone. Mixed in with the dozens of Shermans fielded by Saunders were several Soviet tanks which seemed to have been hastily colored snow white over a familiar olive green. Even the Jatkosota emblem looked hastily put over a red one. Mika herself was playing her kantele gracefully atop her BT-42, a Finnish conversion of the Soviet BT-7 with a bigger(and British) gun. As there were the Soviet and German tanks used by Jatkosota mixed in with the Sherman variants, there were Jatkosota students mixed in with the Saunders students.
Tess just grinned nervously. I hear when they say "borrowed" it really just means stole... Tess bent over to pick up a burger, just as Kay began to sing something. The wind was howling slightly, there was the crunch of snow beneath dozens of feet, and Mika's kantele. But a new sound joined the smorgasbord of sounds. From the hills, a new howling sound came screaming into the night, Tess and countless others froze what they were doing. Tess looked to the sky, where the sound was coming from and her breath caught in her throat. Cutting through the sky were dozens of yellow projectiles, burning brightly like flares, and they were headed straight for their base.
Tess' heart began to race when she heard Naomi scream. "Incoming rockets!" Naomi grabbed Alisa around the waist and jumped down the church tower, sliding down the sides of the church's tiled roof before crashing into the snowy ground. Tess watched as Kay and nearly everyone else who wasn't frozen in fear dive for their tanks, hastily climbing inside to escape the incoming barrage.
"Tess!" Tess heard Alisa scream, snapping her out of her trance. Tess dove beneath the M4A1 (76) just as a great crashing sound came around her. Around them all. Pinned beneath the ground and the steel beast, she felt utterly trapped as the dark village was lit up with explosions. She heard some girls scream, either in fear or pain as the wailing of the rockets continued. Tess didn't know how long it was until the screaming and wailing of the rockets stopped, but when it did, she felt utterly empty at the silence. No sound of engines or fires, no girls wailing or crying. When Tess finally crawled out from underneath the M4A1 (76), she felt petrified to the core at what she saw. The quaint village, where they had been camping, was no more than a pile of rubble now, the only building left standing was the church. Several of the tanks were buried underneath the rubble of the stone and wood houses, only their turrets shown left. Anyone who was coming out of hiding froze as well. It was utter silence that was only filled by the wind.
Maho sat in the turret of her Tiger 1, viewing the landscape. For the night, they decided to simply camp out in a small grove of frosted over trees, and already there was a bustling encampment. "Commander, here." Maho turned and saw Erika climbing into the turret, a bowl of soup in her hand. She was gesturing for Maho to take the bowl.
"Oh, thank you, Erika." Maho took the bowl and took a sip. It was chicken broth with bits of finely shredded chicken floating around in it. "Did Saunders pick up on the radio yet?"
Erika shook her head. "Not yet, they've been radio silent for the past hour or so. If you ask me, I bet they're just partying or something." Erika added at the end with disdain.
"No, I don't think that's it. I heard something just earlier, but it didn't sound like a tank or anything..."
In one of the tents set up was a quick radio area. Sitting on folding tables Kuromorimine had brought with them, about six Kuromorimine uniformed girls were working the radios, checking the signals and trying to pick up on anything. Koume was among them, checking the Saunders signal when Maho walked into the tent. "Did you get a response from Saunders and Jatkosota yet?"
"Not yet commander." Just as one of the girls finished her answer, Koume's radio suddenly buzzed to life with a girl's voice coming through.
"Hello!? Maho, are you there?" Kay's voice crackled.
Maho grabbed the microphone and put on a pair of headphones to listen. "We're here. What's going on?"
Kay sounded distressed, but the next message sent Maho's heart going. "Maho, they have rockets, they've bombed the village we were staying at!"
"What...Are there any injuries?"
"We're all fine, a lot of us have scratches and bruises but nothing to worry about. None of our tanks have been taken out either, nor have any been taken out from Jatkosota. It's gonna be cold though, only this little church is left...Maho, you should start moving, before Pravda blows you up too."
Maho bit her lip. "I'll see what I can do. I hope things are going well for you and we can regroup." Maho put down the microphone and headphones before she walked out of the tent and straight into Erika. "Sorry, right, Erika, I need you to tell everyone to get ready at a moment's notice."
"How come? Did Kay tell you something?"
Maho scanned the skies. "Apparently Katyusha got herself some rocket artillery, and Kay says the village they and Jatkosota were staying at was completely destroyed by them. Tell everyone to go ahead and sleep if they need to, but we have to be able to move at a moment's notice. Station sentries as well, we can't be ambushed in our sleep."
Erika nodded. "Roger that, commander." Erika did a brief salute before she ran off. Maho could hear her telling someone to get ready to move at a moment's notice if rocket's began to light up the sky. It was Maho's hope that wouldn't happen.
Kay shivered as a wind blew through the holes in the church's walls. The church was small, but it was large enough to fit a couple of tanks in. The door was completely blown away by time, so the Sherman's and Jatkosota tanks created a line across it, before they set up camp inside the church, lighting some fires and heating up food. In the church tower above, Alisa and Naomi were back to scanning the snow covered fields and hills, but they weren't just looking for Pravda T-34s. Now they were looking for whatever had attacked with those rockets. The rockets had devastated the village, leaving only the church remaining, so the Jatkosota and Saunders students were forced to squeeze in to avoid the fierce winds. Fortunately, the night passed uneventfully and Kay managed to get some sleep, although the winds were what woke her.
"Jesus it's cold now..." Kay felt an arm tap her shoulder and looked up to see Tess hand her a burger, which was hot from being warmed over a fire. "Thanks Helmet-chan."
Tess sighed. "Kay, why do you and everyone keep calling me that? It's weird."
"Oh come on, it's funny! Besides, it's because you're always wearing that helmet anyways. How's Alisa and Naomi? They were up on the tower all night?"
"Yeah, they were, but..." Tess began to giggle. "When I checked on them I found them cuddled together. I think they decided that was the best way to heat up huh?"
"Hold on, I gotta see this." Kay jumped up, throwing off her blanket. She climbed up the spiraling stairs to the tower, and when she opened the attic trap door to the roof and peeked into the tower, she saw the two cuddled together, just as Tess had said. Naomi was holding Alisa around the shoulders, the latter having her head tucked into Naomi's chest while laying right on top of her. Kay began to giggle before she fully chortled. "Morning you two!" she shouted with enthusiasm.
Naomi and Alisa snapped awake and when they saw their commander laughing at them, they sprung apart instantly, red in the faces. "K-Kay, this isn't what it looks like!" Alisa blabbered, and Kay began to laugh even harder. "Kay, calm down, before-"
"Whoops!" Kay's footing slipped and she went tumbling down the side of the roof before landing in a pile of fresh snow. "You know what's weird you two? There's still snow everywhere, but isn't it pretty warm everywhere else?"
Naomi put a hand on her forehead, and sighed. "Your right, Kay. Your right..."
In no time at all, Saunders and Jatkosota were rolling off to find their enemies and secure a win for themselves. "Commander Kay, it's Kuromorimine up ahead!" One of the commanders of the Shermans said through her radio.
"Great! Tell Maho we're going on a hunt!" The three schools drew near.
Maho climbed out of her Tiger to talk to Kay on foot. "So we're going to draw out Pravda with our flag tanks?"
"Yeah, and then we'll ambush 'em!"
But Maho was smarter than that. "Kay, sorry to say this but Katyusha may be overconfident, but she's no idiot, a plan like that would be too obvious. Luckily we found where Pravda and Ooarai are. We just need to take out their flag tanks next. We'll charge their encampments."
"Nishizumi-style eh? Alright then," The two commanders climbed back into their respective tanks. "Advance!" The tanks roared to life again and began to go down the road, right towards the town where Pravda, Ooarai, and the rest of Chi-Ha-Tan encamped.
Yukari climbed one of the town's towers and put a pair of binoculars to her eyes. Far off in the distance was a rising cloud of dust and snow, heading for them. Taking out a transceiver, she flicked the button. "We've got company! It's Team 2, and they're all coming for us!"
"Roger that, Akiyama." Katyusha was sitting in her T-34/85's cupola, watching the American, German, and "borrowed" Soviet tanks draw near to where her own tanks were hidden in the snow, ready to strike. The new tanks we've got should be big leg up over Kuromorimine! The tanks finally came into range, and Katyusha radioed, "Fire!" Snow was thrown up as the buried T-34/76s and T-34/85s lit up the advancing forces. A few Shermans were cut down, popping up their white flags, but it was a small number compared to the amount of Saunders tanks there were. The forces of Kuromorimine shrugged off the shells in their late-war German heavy tanks. That is until a 152mm shell crashed into one of the Tiger IIs, throwing it backwards as the white flag popped up.
"We're out of the fight, commander!" The defeated Tiger II radioed to Maho.
Maho raised binoculars to her eyes and saw Pravda's new weapon. Or rather, weapons. Sitting in the middle of the road, acting as roadblocks were three new tanks. Or at least two of them were new. In the middle was an ISU-152 tank destroyer, it's massive 152mm barrel left smoking from the shell it just threw out. Flanking it's left and right sides were IS-3 Heavy tanks, the iconic pike nose shape sticking out like a nail in wood. "Return fire!" The tanks of Team 2 opened up, raining down against the Soviet tank wall. Then the howling began. From the snowy hills a whirling and howling sound erupted into everyone's ears. Several girls from Saunders and Jatkosota screamed in terror at the sound, the same one that had brought destruction to their encampment. Raining down from the sky, the rockets began to explode around the forces of Team 2. But that was what Maho wanted. "Jatkosota, attack their rocket launchers before they move!"
"Roger that." Mika said into her radio. Drawing away from the spearhead of Saunders and Kuromorimine, Mika's BT-42 veered off to the left, where they had seen the snow suddenly kick up high into the air. Following her were the rest of the Jatkosota tanks, which consisted of a Panzer IV Ausf J, a Stug III, or Sturmi, a T-34/85 and a BT-7. Six tanks in total for Jatkosota. Despite the small numbers, Mika had faith in her fellow tankers. A few of the Pravda tanks tried shooting them down, but they dodged and weaved and escaped into the hills to hunt for their target. The whirling sound of the rockets, which had ceased, erupted again launching dozens of rockets into the Saunders Kuromorimine formation. "There." Mika pointed out a hill surrounded by flat ground on all sides, and sitting atop it was a mysterious vehicle.
"What is that...thing?" Aki said as she stepped up on a block of wood to see into the gun sight. Atop the hill was a very large tank, it's forest green chassis sticking out to them. What intrigued them the most was it's four turrets, all of which carried an absurd amount of rocket launchers on each one. Aki watched as an ushanka clad head poked itself out from the tank, before going back in, and the beast roared to life. With great speed for its size and dimensions it turned around and descended the hill, just as it came under fire from the Jatkosota tanks. All the shells did nothing against it, but the Finnish girls kept charging towards it. One of the guns lit up and the BT-7 was struck down by a 76mm AT shell, it's white flag popping up. In the BT-42, Mika peered out a vision sight to see the flank of the beast, and as they drove incredibly close to it, Mika read a steel nameplate that said, "UHLS Model 3 V2" The gun of the BT-42 turned and fired a shot directly into its side, but it was angled too much and the shell bounced off.
Mika strummed her kantele. "It seems Pravda has brought a foreign beast into this fight." Mika put a hand to the radio around her throat. "It's armor is thick on the sides and front. Try to get around to it's rear and get a shot off at point blank." Wordlessly the remaining Finnish tanks began to maneuver around to the rear when a volley from all four guns took out the Stug III and Panzer IV J. Already it was up to the BT-42 and the T-34/85 entirely to take out the UHLS Model 3. The beast began to rotate to face it's side armor to the BT-42 and T-34/85 as they began to get around to it's rear, it's guns blazing. The BT-42, with Mikko as the driver, dodged the shells expertly, while the unfortunate Finnish T-34 caught a shell untracking it on the left side. It began to drive away to the other hills, and finally it's rear was exposed, a rear heavily covered in pipes which spat an unbelievable amount of smoke. "Aki, when we're at point blank, then fire. We have to make sure we hit."
"Alright Mika!"
The rearmost gun of the UHLS fired its shell, and to the shock of it's Russian gunner, it hit the T-34 instead of the BT-42, the latter of which had dodged behind. "Niko, the Finnish are getting to our rear!"
Niko howled like a raging bear. "[Cyka! Idi nahui!]" he swore. The BT-42 crashed into the rear of the UHLS and fired it's 114mm shell right into the rear. A column of smoke and fire erupted from it, and the UHLS fell silent, a white flag popping up from it's rear.
Mika radioed her comrades. "We've defeated the Pravda beast. No more howling from it."
"Acknowledged, good work!" Maho replied as her Tiger I crawled through the streets, into the massive, wide open plaza of the town. Coming to a stop the Tiger fired it's 88mm shell into a T-34/76, taking it out. A T-34/85 tried to futilely destroy the Tiger but the shell went into the thick gun mantlet before the Tiger destroyed the next T-34. She watched as a Sherman took some fire and it's white flag popped up before another Sherman, Kay's Sherman, pushed through, this time absorbing the shells and firing it's 76mm gun into the Pravda T-34s which were bombarding it's thick frontal armor.
"Haha, this is a Sherman Jumbo! Good luck penetrating us!" Kay whooped in triumph. "Woohoo, these new Sherman variants are doing wonders for us!" On the outskirts of the town, Naomi's Sherman VC Firefly had taken up a firing position on the hill, sniping any Pravda tanks attempting to flee the assault. Naomi pulled the trigger and a Pravda KV-1 was cut down from quite the range. On the other side of the town, Alisa's M4A1 (76) and several M4A3E8 Easy Eight Shermans did the same, acting as a roadblock for Pravda while Kuromorimine assaulted the town with some of their lighter vehicles, which were Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs. The heavier tanks fielded by Kuromorimine sat alongside the Shermans of Saunders, acting as a blockade. Having eliminated Katyusha and her blockade, the only flag tank left was the Panzer IV H of Ooarai.
"Ooarai is escaping!" Maho and Kay heard one of their commanders shout over the radio of gunfire and tank engines. Sangou, the bespectacled commander of a Panzer III, watched as the remaining Ooarai tanks, the Panzer IV H flag tank, the Type 89 and their Porsche Tiger broke through the gap in the encirclement and drove off into the snowy hills. The rest of the team had been taken out, and the Stug III and M3 Lee that were still in the fight were holding off the Kuromorimine and Saunders assault in a last stand. "They're heading for a village with a large barnhouse, over in A-5!"
"Roger that, everyone, sweep up and pursue!" Kay grinned. A chase eh?
Finally, the Panzer IV H, Type 89, and Tiger (P) came to a halt at the decrepit village. The only building left standing was a large snow covered barn, which too looked decrepit. Oddly the doors of the barn were closed shut. That's weird...Miho looked at the black device held in her hand. It was the transceiver Katyusha had used to call down her namesake rockets on their camping enemies. And what's even weirder is what Katyusha told me before the attack began.
Just an hour ago, Katyusha had told her this, and this exactly: "If we're overrun, there is a barn at sector A-5. Use this transceiver and say that comrade Katyusha is calling or whatever you need to do, and our secret weapon will come out of hiding. Katyusha has it all planned out!"
Miho was hesitant to use the transceiver. After all, it did launch rockets into the Saunders camp while they were off their guard completely, but Miho threw that aside as she witnessed the forces of Saunders, Kuromorimine, and Jatsoka approach in the distance, completely undeterred by the losses they suffered in the initial assault of the town. Miho flicked on the transceiver. "C-comrade Katyusha is calling you!"
No response.
The Shermans and German Heavy tanks arrived, with the beaten BT-42 taking a stop alongside them. "Alright, we caught ya! You're surrounded now Miho!" Kay cried in triumph from her Sherman Jumbo. Everyone knew how hopeless the situation was. Nothing but snow and hills for miles, and with nearly thirty tanks against them, there was no way Miho would win with only three. That was when the transceiver buzzed to life.
"[Roger that, Nishizumi.]" a deep voice said in Russian. There was a great cracking and splintering of wood as a massive shell suddenly flew from the barn's wall, striking a Tiger II and sending it's white flag up. More shells erupted from the barn before Team 2 began to return fire. The barn collapsed, and the most powerful engine anyone had ever heard roared like a beast ready to fight. Black smoke began to pour from the dust and snow as a massive tank took form. It was moving forwards, shrugging off all the shells thrown at it, and to Miho, it was a completely foreign tank, but to Yukari, she squealed in recognition.
"It's one of the UHLS tanks!" It's forest green paint and size being its biggest point, the five turreted beast that was the UHLS Model 3 V1 advanced towards the Shermans and German tanks. Two 76mm guns were its outermost, two 30mm autocannons nearest towards the center and in the center and raised above all the others, a massive 105mm cannon, with all of the turrets sporting rocket launchers held over the top. The girls from Ooarai watched in shocked silence as a 128mm shell from the Kuromorimine Jagdtiger flew straight towards the triangular glacis of the UHLS Model 3, and bounced straight off of it. All the while, the 105mm gun and 76mm guns facing Team 2 were lighting up targets one after the other. Then the rocket launchers screamed as their deadly armament was unleashed. Maho saw one zip right by her Tiger and hit a Panther dead on, raising it's white flag.
"Commander, what do we do!" Maho heard Koume call into her radio.
"Everyone retreat, we can't damage this thing!"
"I bet we can if we get the flanks!" Kay yelled over the absolutely thunderous gunfire. Over on a hill not far away, Naomi pulled the trigger and could only gape as the shell of the QF17 hit the side of the 105mm's turret, but it bounced off. The 105mm turned to face her and as Naomi tried to tell her driver to reverse, a 105mm shell slammed into the gun mantlet, taking Naomi out of the match. "Nevermind!"
With the UHLS' appearance, it had taken out about 10 tanks, one of which was Mika's BT-42, where in this case, Mikko couldn't dodge all the HEAT Rockets sent her way. Miho and the rest of her team just watched in awe as the UHLS singlehandedly forced back so many tanks and not a dent in it's armor. The transceiver buzzed. "We'll chase these invaders off, uraaa!"
"URAAAAA!" Miho felt deafened at the sound, even if it was coming from a pocket sized radio. Miho turned to Yukari, who was sticking herself out of the Panzer IVs right turret hatch. "Yukari-san, what do you know about it? The soldiers never told us about their own tanks much less...that."
Yukari looked at her commander somewhat sheepishly. "Well...I don't know much about the UHLS either, I just found it while...snooping around. Only one of them wasn't covered by a tarp so I only saw one of them...You still wanna hear about it? Alright, so the one that was uncovered had the nameplate 'UHLS Model 1' so I assume the one out there," Yukari pointed towards the UHLS Model 3 V1, which was still wreaking havoc on the Saunders and Kuromorimine forces. "Is another model or variant of the UHLS. The one I saw was very similar though, just without the rockets. It had one large 105mm gun raised over the rest, two 76mm guns on the outer parts, and two 30mm autocannons towards the center. My analysis so far is that the UHLS is some sort of break through ultra-heavy tank, with a really powerful engine and thick armor."
"...I see, thanks Yukari-san." The Jagdtiger was dead, the white flag popped out while it was stuck in the snow. And it was only one of many tanks the Russian operated UHLS would crush.
"God damn it, I knew something was up when I saw those Russian girls!" Willy stormed his way to where several spectators watched the match with great interest, mainly at the new mysterious tank being used by Pravda. Seeing the UHLS Model 3 on screen only confirmed his suspicions. "For god's sake those Reds can't give me a break for five seconds!" The spectators shot him odd looks, while accompanying Willy was Daniel and Nathan, who smiled nervously.
"Now, now, restlessness can make people do brash things. Isn't that right, Rosehip?" Darjeeling turned to the commander of her Crusader squadron.
Rosehip just giggled nervously and smiled. "Of course, Darjeeling!"
Assam took a glance at the three Americans and just smiled. I've gotta see what those tanks of theirs are. "Since you're here, why don't you stay and watch? It's quite cold too, and we have tea."
Nathan took a glance at the girls from St. Glorianas, his eyes magnified slightly by the pilot's goggles that were now around his eyes. "What kind of tea? I mean, I prefer coffee but it sure is cold here, huh?" he said to them. Willy was going to scold him for getting distracted but Nathan was already marching up to the higher ground they had where they had set up an area to watch and eat snacks. Willy grunted and followed, taking a bit longer than Daniel who practically bounded up to where the British(but actually Japanese) girls were sitting. A fellow student wearing the blue sweater of St. Glorianas put three chairs out for the men before bowing, her brown braid bouncing as she did so.
The same girl grabbed a pot with tea and poured some out into three plain white mugs, which elicited a slight chuckle which she couldn't tell was amusement or disdain from Daniel. "We have Russian Tea, if that's good."
"Almost anything good on a cold day, I can tell you that." Nathan gratefully took his mug before the girl could add any milk or sugar and took a sip. "I like to drink things black." he said when he saw Darjeeling raise an eyebrow.
Darjeeling watched the screen which broadcast the battle. On the screen it showed that the Bolshevik rampage of the UHLS Model 3 had taken out many of the Shermans and German Heavy on Team 2, when it suddenly came to an abrupt stop. The engines sputtered before it's Russian commander heaved himself from the 105mm turret, only to see the engine was perfectly fine, before the man seemed to swear to himself. "It seems the UHLS uses lots of fuel, hm?"
Willy drank his Russian tea, which had a balance of milk and sugar in it. He oddly found himself smiling at it's taste despite his rather high preference for other such hot drinks. "How'd you tell?"
"Well, I've seen many tanks run out of fuel in the middle of a battle, so I have some experience you could say." she said in her composed and nonchalant voice.
Daniel laughed at Darjeeling's analysis. "Spot on. The UHLS uses so much fuel we have to carry entire oil barrels with us. It ain't fun I can tell ya that." Daniel watched on the massive screen as the UHLS sputtered again. But they were still out of fuel. "Ya think Niklav forgot about the gas?" Unfortunately for Niklav, that was exactly what he was struggling with, he forgot all of the spare fuel at the barn, which he had unloaded from the tank's interior so Niko could use some if he got back, which he never did. Willy winced as the Jagdtiger suddenly shot out from it's spot in the snow and fired a killing shot into the rear of the UHLS Model 3, putting an end to it's rampage, which had taken out 26 tanks, leaving only the Saunders flag tank, Alisa's M4A1(76), Erika's Tiger II, and Koume's Panther. As the Jagdtiger turned around on its treads, everyone saw what Maho had done. Earlier in the battle, she had rushed forward to try and get a shot into the UHLS' rear, when the 76mm gun lit up her Tiger, taking it out to the shock of all watching. When that happened, she was very close to the Jagdtiger which had been taking hits up to that point, allowing her to plant a fake white flag on the Jagtiger's roof, deceiving Niklav and his gunners into thinking they had killed the Jagdtiger at last.
"All War is deception. Have you heard of that one?" Darjeeling took a sip of her tea. She looked to her loader, expecting an answer.
"'Sun Tzu, The Art of War'." Daniel said unexpectedly, and Pekoe's face seemingly went into one of shock. "That's a no brainer, ain't it?" Daniel turned over to his cousins, "Isn't grandpa Wilson always bugging us to read that thing?"
"He was? I always tuned out that old man." Nathan took a good drain of his tea. "He'd never shut up about the Civil War, he would."
"Well it's still good to listen a little bit ain't it?"
Darjeeling laughed at their conversation, before turning to Orange Pekoe. "O-Orange Pekoe? Are you ok?" she saw the absolutely horrified and shocked expression on her face. "Pekoe? Please snap out of it."
It took a bit of time, at which point the three Americans had fully exhausted their conversation about their grandpa Wilson. "S-Sorry, Darjeeling. I just didn't think someone like him would read a book like The Art of War."
"We'll not always wastin' our time hunting alligators. Of course we read lots, we got a whole library on the family property." Daniel was about to say more when he was cut off by the announcement that blared. "Team 1s flag tanks have all been eliminated, therefore Team 2 wins the match!" Cheers erupted from the stands. Darjeeling and the rest of the girls from St. Glorianas clapped. The Americans looked around a bit before they clapped as well.
Several minutes later, as Darjeeling and her entourage were walking down to greet Ooarai, the Sensha-do commander let out one long sigh. "What is it, Darjeeling?" Assam asked her long time friend.
"Sorry, it's just that...I think those 'yankees' is one of the reasons why I feel so weird about Kay and the rest of Saunders. So loud and energetic..."
"Like me!" and before anyone could stop her, Rosehip had sped off to where the Ooarai Panzer IV was sitting, tripping and flopping into the snow.