PartII
Twelve years before Tanya's birth, the Federation's forces had conquered most of the old continent through military means and propaganda about equalities and redistribution of resources. It was no expansion of a group of countries, it was a global domination and everything had been planned in the grand schemes. The result from the turmoil and politic instability led to a rise of private security companies, one of them was an extremist faction in Germany, it quickly grew and armed its milita with lethal weapons, overtaking the role of the police and then of the army. Generals of these companies took the roles of politicians and rewrote most of the laws giving more power to the officers. Officers such as commanders were given small portions of lands and acted as lords, applying the rules and adding or modifying some to fit their policy. The following years were devoted to strengthening their equipment and eventually some commanders wanted to try out a new weapon prototype but the self propelled gun missed its target and destroyed a small part of a town of a neighbouring country. The act of aggression was badly received in Europe and measures were taken to reestablish democracy. The tensions grew more and more until an all out war broke out. The entirety of Europe had been invaded in a matter of months.
The conflict came to a halt when it came to invading the American continent and Australia. The newly formed Federation, which came from the conglomeration of the dominant security companies, created a research and development under the juridiction of the commander Wolf's right hand man named Fuchs, the new branch conducted a swoop of different homes for disabled to conduct experiments on them but after some complications, small portions of the prisoners had been executed in remote areas such as forest and mountains.
Brunhild Braun was born in Austria, both her mother and father had been taken by the Fuchs brigade. With the help of a handful of friends, Brunhild, who was 10 at the time, tried to rescue her parents. They arrived too late as she saw a machine gun mounted on a truck firing. The deafening noise froze her as she saw her family being mowed down like cattle. She watched helplessly when officers pulled out their pistols and began double tapping the dead with a bullet in the head, sometimes they pushed the corpse aside with the foot to see if the person was breathing or not. Brunhild shivered each time the Fuchs brigade finished off someone.
"We're too late… let's run before they notice us!"
Someone grabbed the little girl by the arm before running away from the massacre. She got a last glance of what were her parents. The soldiers saw the people getting in a car, one of the armoured men of the brigade pointed his gun at the vehicle, but the captain Fuchs ordered to hold fire.
"We've got the number plate, let the local security handle it.", the officer calmly said.
"Captain, the Feuerwerfer is ready to do his job."
Brunhild looked at the window as saw a huge column of smoke. The other people in the car discussed on what they should do but once they arrived at the town, a police car pulled them over and the group was arrested over some trumped-up infraction. Only the little girl was left out of it.
"Maria! Did you touch my uniform?!" An angry Tanya yelled at the maid who was cleaning the woman's bedroom.
The cleaning lady turned to her interlocutor with an unfazed look. Over the past two weeks, these two didn't get along very well. Although neither of them caused any mischief to the other, they often found themselves arguing over trivial things.
"Of course, I washed it. Is there any problem concerning my actions?"
"Yeah! You can't just wash my stuff without telling me! What if they shrink?"
The eyebrows of the maid twitched for a fraction of second. She took a deep breath.
"Bitch, I've done this job for decades, never had I shrunk any clothes. And beside, I'm pretty sure that if anything would happen to your clothes, you'd be the one responsible."
"Shut up, Holy Virgin!"
"No you shut up, Butt Slut!"
Usually one of them would leave the room they were arguing in. The maid quickly finished tidying the bedroom before leaving while stomping the ground. Tanya got herself ready to teach in Miss Brown's garage. Her pupils had learnt the basics and they were now getting acquainted with the equipment of the tanks.
"They're sensitive, treat them like you'd treat a puppy! If I ever catch you hurting these bad boys, I'll tear you a new asshole!"
"Well, they're pretty expensive, so of course we'll be careful." a trainee replied.
"That too. The only acceptable reason for your tank to be damage is by getting hit during a battle. But then again, you'll be fighting from far away and or destroy any enemy cover."
Tanya got the reputation of the Mother of Tanks since it seemed like she considered tanks as living beings. One example was when she screamed at a trainee for tipping over a soda can on the chassis of the training vehicle. But since she was doing a good job an as instructor, her pupils overlooked that extravagance. After nearly two hours of practice, she smiled and said:
"Looking good, people! If you keep on doing such good job, we'll move on how to do quick repairs."
"You've stopped calling us noob?" a surprised trainee asked.
"You've got enough experience to not be a noob. Although I'd like to take you on slightly more realistic skirmishes."
"You mean cooperating in a tank? You're lucky, there's a new mode of battle called team tank, you can use my tanks, they follow the regulation." Miss Brown said as she was walking in the garage.
"That's great news! What are the models we'll be using?" Tanya said with a genuine interest.
"For now it's only Abrahams, Leopards, Challengers and Armatas."
Tanya got shivers all over her body and held herself tightly. She was both excited and apprehensive about the vehicles she'd encounter. She rubbed her right arm.
"I see… well… when can we participate?"
"You look like you need some time to think about it. If you're interested in getting your trainees some battle experience, keep in mind that it's free of charge if you use my assets. I'll book one session when you're ready. Instructor Schuldner."
The employer left as she came. The trainees got really excited about having some tank action. Tanya was quite troubled. Thankfully for her, the lesson was coming to an end. She gave them some homework, so they could prepare for the next lesson.
In the car, Maria Mucama was driving Tanya Schuldner to the bar where she had to work. The maid was on her way to buy groceries and accepted to drop the other at her workplace. The cleaning lady was still upset.
"So, did one of your pupils spill soda again? You look awful."
"You wouldn't understand."
"What? I know you love tanks, but come on. Soda isn't so hard to clean. And beside, it's my job to clean."
"That's not about that. Look, I'm not in the mood right now."
Maria quickly glanced at Tanya and saw her passenger was holding her right arm tightly. The maid knew that she lacked social skills and so she kept quiet. The bar worker sighed and kept staring at the window.
"I've been defeated by an Abraham." Tanya said after a long awkward silence.
"What's that?"
"It's a tank."
"You lost that badly?"
"Yeah… I… they outnumbered us. I was the only survivor. My upper classman got killed in action. I barely escaped the slaughter and…"
"You lost?"
"They killed the civilians we were supposed to protect. They… shot me." Tanya said, holding her arm so tight her nails scratched her sleeve.
"Sounds pretty bad. So you respawned?"
"What?" The tank girl said as she turned to the driver.
"What?" The maid replied as confused as the passenger.
"N-never mind! Anyway, drop me here, I'll walk."
Maria opened the glove compartment where pepper spray was stored. Tanya guessed that she had to take it with her and didn't ask any question. The maid quickly drove off right after the passenger closed the door of the car. The bar was ten minutes on foot, the woman wasn't afraid as the streets were well lit and she had a means to defend herself, at least from unarmed thugs. Luckily for her, the neighbourhood was under the influence of Miss Brown even if the lone lady wasn't aware of the security around her. The working girl decided to run to the bar as she felt some invisible people looking at her in the shadows. She was almost at the café when she bumped into someone, a tall pale woman, who looked unfazed at Tanya who fell on her bum.
"Ouch! Hey! Don't just stand in the middle of the walkway!" the bar waitress said before quickly entering her workplace.
Awkwardly enough for the worker, the woman she ran into sat at a table near the entrance. Cao, the bar owner, seemed surprised to see the very pale customer sitting near the door. Inu, the little sister of the bar owner, was hanging near the counter, Tanya found it weird since the young girl was usually going around the different tables. The waitress wasn't dumb and she quickly guessed that the ghostly woman was trouble, she knew that acting out of the ordinary wouldn't be the best course of action. She wasn't the only one, the men of Miss Brown also looked tense, they were scowling or grimacing, some were even holding thighs their concealed gun.
Luckily, nothing out the ordinary happened until the closing time. The three bargirls were about to lock the door that the menacing lady showed up, accompanied by four men all nicely dressed.
"Excuse me, I would like to speak with the manager of this establishment." The lady said with a slow quiet voice.
"That would be me." Cao hesitantly replied.
"Well, I would like to purchase it. Name the price and I'll provide."
"Oh… well… sorry but what for? I didn't put any ad about selling my café."
"You didn't, but money talks. From what I've seen, this establishment isn't very profitable. I could turn this into a higher quality café, if I'd get the ownership."
"Too long, didn't listen." Inu said, pushing her sister away from the potential buyer.
One of the men blocked their escape way. The younger sister frowned. Tanya was stealthily searching for her pepper spray in her pocket.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, it's either that or you'll pay dearly."
"Pff! Like if you could legally do that? You can't steal someone's ownership."
"You mean that ownership?" The yet to be named lady asked, showing a piece of paper.
As the bargirls guessed it, it was the deed to the bar. One needed the previous owner's signature to process the building. There has been four signatures, one were from Irma, followed by Cao's. The first two were from unknown people, none from Miss Brown.
"How did you get your hands on it?! You thief!" Cao shouted.
"Irma voluntarily gave it to me. It only costed her an arm and a leg, but it was… worth it."
The woman she mentioned was the previous owner of the café, she gave it Cao as she was getting old and she saw some potential in this new generation. Or at least that's what the old woman was thinking at that time.
"You bitch! You killed Irma!" Inu screamed, waving her fists at the pale lady.
"If you don't want to meet her fate, you ought to sign it."
Tanya finally found her spray, she quickly pulled it out at used it on the white lady who didn't flinch, but the men next to her started coughing because the pepper spray had a wider area of effect. Cao quickly grabbed the paper and the three girls took refuge in their own bar. They barricaded themselves in with tables and chairs.
"This shouldn't take long. Reinforcements should arrive soon." Cao kept telling herself, crouching behind the counter.
Inu was discreetly looking through the curtains to see where the hostile people were. Tanya preferred consolidating the barricade with more chairs. A knock coming from the restroom door made the girls jump, and Cao peed her pants while holding tight her hunting rifle. The pale woman calmly walked out the restroom, a steel baseball bat in her right hand and can of gasoline in the other.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Inu said, while trying to escape through the window with a her fists.
"How did you get here?!" Cao screamed, pointing her rifle to the menacing lady.
The bar owner was shaking, Tanya knew that there was no way they could get out of that situation if it was a normal scenario, so she just smiled peacefully and calmly walked towards the unarmed lady.
"Whatever you do, you're gonna get fucked. Our employee value our life so there's no way you'll kill us. One wrong move and a sniper will take you out, even if there are curtains." The tank commander confidently said.
"Except that any marksman out there is probably having their hands full with my men. You're alone here. You're trapped with me, Teresa."
The finally named woman cocked her head to dodge a bullet Cao fired. Teresa threw the gas can at the armed woman, soaking her with gasoline. The younger sister saw that and quickly grabbed the nearest curtain to dry her sibling. Teresa hit her with the baseball bat, throwing her on the wall. Tanya seized the opportunity to strike the pale woman but the opponent was too fast and bashed her head with the bat. Everything went black.
When Tanya opened her eyes, she was standing in a big room with many people inside. All were glowing with a white aura and they wore faceless masks. She only had time to realize that she was wearing one as well. Then the wall in front of her slid downward. Without hesitation, the crowd walked forward, went down a flock of stairs. Everything was white, it was really hard to distinguish any form except the steps of the stairs. They arrived in some sort of huge subway station, where some were guided by hooded figures. But Tanya and some other lost souls were left standing in front of a line with what looked like an information booth with people, wearing a golden emotionless mask, behind the desk. The golden workers beckoned with a finger to anyone who looked at them. Tanya mindlessly walked towards the booth.
"You're a lost soul, maybe it isn't your time yet." The person behind the desk said to Tanya.
Something felt strange, like if the golden masked person was talking inside her head. Her suspicions was correct when she tried to open her mouth but simply couldn't.
"I'm Tanya." she thought.
"I see. In that case, follow the red thread and wait for your turn."
As soon as the worker finished his sentence, a thread appeared for Tanya to follow. She arrived at what looked like a subway stop. She waited with other people, one looked more agitated than the others. That lost soul was waving his arms as if to get any reaction from anyone. A wagon arrived and the people mechanically stepped in, took a seat and waited. Something felt familiar for the tank instructor, some kind of déjà-vu. She suddenly felt a huge headache as she tried to remember what she seemed to have forgotten.
"You will arrive soon, be careful when you emerge." An armoured soldier in black said with a metallic voice.
Tanya recognised the armour as it was the first model of the power armour of the Federation.
"Rise again and show them what the Federation's all about!"
The last bits of the sentence echoed as the wagon was engulfed in white lights and the sounds of the wagon speeding up. The noise was deafening, Tanya noticed the other passengers shaking and twisting their bodies, except the soldier and herself, everyone was fading away in the blinding light.
Tanya suddenly opened her eyes, the café was on fire, Brown's men were fighting Teresa who looked unfazed. Turning her head to the right, the awakened woman saw her coworkers being taken care by paramedics of the Order outside of the building. She then realised that she was left for dead inside the burning café. She screamed as the fire was starting to burn her legs. She jumped on her feet as a reflex, but she didn't feel pain, just a warm sensation. Her attention turned towards the fighting lady who didn't look like she was struggling against four foes. The tank commander lunged at her but was easily dodged by the enemy.
"Quit taking turns! All at once!" Tanya barked at the men of the Order.
They nodded and swung fists and whatever was in their hands towards Teresa who dodged their attacks again. She kicked one of the men in the stomach with her knee, another one with an uppercut.
"Never mind! I'll deal with her while you evacuate the wounded!" Tanya shouted as the fire was raging all around them.
The tank commander unconsciously thought of the insurance for the café as she watched the men of the Order taking care of the knocked out people. Teresa didn't look like she minded them, she turned to the supposed to be dead tank instructor.
"I'm actually surprised to see you alive and full of energy. Did you see Irma on the other side?" The menacing woman asked without showing any emotion.
"No, but I saw your mom! God she was ugly, at least I know from whom you've inherited your look."
"Don't involve family, or I'll be forced to do the same with yours."
"Try me bitch! I can fight for ten minutes without breaking a sweat!"
"You're going to fight me, now? I thought you were already fighting. And beside, look around you. This place is ablaze, give up before I send you to the other side once and for all."
Tanya looked around. Everything was on fire. The instructor thought that it hadn't been a good idea to have a wooden floor. She only took a few seconds to realize the situation when Teresa lunged towards her, she narrowly dodged the uppercut before getting hit with the knee in the nether region. The shock was so violent that it made her jump to the ceiling and fall flat on the ground.
"Ah! You bitch!"
"What's the matter? I thought you were a good fighter."
Some kind of electric shock went through Tanya's body, like if her brain sent millions of volts to every inch of her body. She began to breath rapidly, her eyes dilated and she was having some slight spasms.
"You bitch!" Tanya roared before throwing a roundhouse kick to her opponent.
The instructor's movements were faster as the adrenaline was raging inside her body. She stomped the downed opponent with her heel and quickly straddled the enemy. She began punching the face of Teresa furiously who tried to dodge as best as she could. Tanya was screaming the same word again and again, as if screaming the word "bitch" gave her power. Her victim was covered in her own blood after a salvo of punches but before the tank instructor could finish her off, Teresa managed to push Tanya aside and get up. The raging woman tried to get up but couldn't as her body was exhausted.
"That was ten minutes, that wasn't disappointing. We'll meet again." Teresa said after wiping her face.
"Wait! Get back here! I'm not done yet!"
The ceiling fell between them, Teresa vanished behind it. Inu ran inside and quickly retrieved the broken down Tanya who couldn't even articulate a word. Before blacking out, she saw Miss Brown's face looking mildly worried at her. The employer said something but everything faded to black.
It took two days for Tanya to wake up. When she did, she found herself in what looked like a small hospital bedroom. The walls were painted white and blue, in a flowery pattern, the floor was tiled in white and the ceiling had an ugly wooden fan on it. Next to the bed was the typical hospital equipment, with the machine that showed her vital signs. There was some kind of nightstand with a flower in a jar, Tanya didn't care what kind of plant that was. Oddly enough a mirror was sitting next to her.
"You're awake, miss Schuldner. Looks like everything is fine. You should try to fully get back to your senses before moving any further." a formal voice said.
The awakened woman followed the advice and proceeded in moving her fingers and toes, gently contracting her muscles. She blinked three times before turning her head toward the voice. It was Maria Mucama, in her maid uniform, wearing a concerned face.
"Oh… its you…"
"I'm happy to see you too. Normally I'd kick your butt so you get moving, but Brown told me to be gentle."
"I'm not really into girls, but ok. Be gentle with me, it's my first time." Tanya said in a corny voice while wiggling her chest.
"And I'm done! What the fuck, Schuldner!" Mucama said, leaving the room.
"Hah! Holy Virgin!"
"Buttslut!" The maid shouted before slamming the door behind her.
Tanya sat on the edge of the bed before getting up. She walked in front of the mirror and soon realised that she was naked under the blanket, she also noticed something white on her face. She reached for it with her fingers and touched it. It was cold and slimy. She put her fingers in her mouth. She heard the door creaking behind her, the face of the maid was barely visible but Tanya could notice a smug smile.
"Hah! Slut!"
"I'm no slut! That's yoghurt! What the fuck?!"
"But what if it was cum?"
"I'd spit it immediately! Who thinks it's a good prank?!"
Maria entered the room again and locked the door behind her.
"You know, doing a yoghurt bukakke on your face was pretty hot. Tell you what, if you help me get laid, I'll erase the picture of you doing that lewd thing." She said, waving a camera in her hand.
"You bitch! You're blackmailing me!"
"I mean, I could delete it now and we could talk about it later." The maid said, rubbing her tights together while looking away.
"You know what? How about you undress now and take pictures of you?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You heard me, Holy Virgin. Get naked, so I won't be the only one freezing her butt in here."
Tanya took the camera and some pictures while the maid was undressing. Neither of them understood why they were doing it, but something pushed them to. The whole nude session ended when they heard a knock on the door followed by the voice of their boss.
"I've come to check on Tanya, can I come in? Hurry because it's almost time for supper."
"R-right! I'm… Uh… helping miss Schuldner to get dressed, she just woke up. You can go… eat, don't wait for us."
The naked women heard a heavy sigh before hearing the door getting unlocked from outside.
"You idiots, I know what you were doing, so get dressed so we can move the plot bit."
"The what?"
Miss Brown snapped her fingers and they instantly found themselves at the dining hall of the mansion. The other two women were still naked and visibly embarrassed. Their employer looked serious, her usual smiley face was replaced by a determined stare.
"Schuldner, we are speeding up the training. You'll have a mock battle with your trainees. You'll be the commanding tank of your training group. You'll be facing random opponents, but I've managed to convince some pro tankers to fight you. Mucama, we're moving to medium security level. Deal with any uninvited guests with extreme caution. Security perimeter has been increased by three kilometres around the mansion, you'll get your team available by tomorrow morning at five o'clock."
As soon as Brown finished speaking, the maid grunted before eating rapidly her food. Tanya was surprised and was about to ask more questions when the employer slid a notepad on the table towards the tank commander who took read it while eating. She learned that her trainees were already notified of the current course of action, she only had to pick the tank model for her pupils. Since she was more into german armoured vehicles, she picked the Leopard tanks for her team.
After eating supper, Tanya went to the garage to inspect the vehicles who were getting delivered for her team. Usually I'd take a few hours for them to arrive, but she suspected that her employer chose for her in advance. Those were indeed Leopards, but they were marked with a white sword and a feather on the turret cheeks.
"Am I being sponsored by the Order?" She jokingly said out loud in front of the first tank that had arrived.
A head popped out of the turret, the person looked around before jumping out of the armoured vehicle and landing in front of the tank commander. The newcomer was a small woman with long hair which looked like feline ears.
"Lucy Zwei at your service! Wait… Tanya?" Lucy said while saluting the woman.
"Lucy? What are you doing here?"
"Didn't Brown tell you? With Nash, we'll be the crew of the commanding tank. The fact that you're the instructor explains why Brown didn't ask us to form the new tank platoon. Also we have other duties."
"Nash's coming?"
"You bet your ass he is!" Lucy said with confidence.
Tanya remembered that Nash fucked her roughly not long ago and blushed.
"R-right! W-well don't be a burden! This mock battle will help me gain some experience in commanding a tank platoon."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you've been assigned to a post in the rear. Training new recruits is pretty safe. Leave the fighting to us."
Tanya cocked her head, staring intensely at the small woman.
"I won't lose to you. You may be a mercenary, but I've got way more experience as a tank commander. I'll crush the opponents and show you how it's done." The tank commander coldly said.
"Sure sure! You've served the Federation, I get it. But I do believe I've got more combat experience. Unlike you, I was closer to the action. You've got no idea of the real battlefield."
The two women went their separate ways. Lucy was making sure that the tanks were being delivered while Tanya was reviewing the maps of the potential battlefield. Knowing that each team had 16 tanks and that she had control of one platoon of four vehicles, she had to predict the movements of both her allies and her opponents. She had to factor in the fact that the match was composed of experienced commanders like her as well as official tank officers. The only problem is that she had a team of inexperienced people, she though of using her allies as meat shields for her platoon. She bit her lips as she wasn't entirely sure about her victory. She was so worried that she fell asleep on the maps.
Tanya got up and saw her teammates already entering their tanks. She took her place as the commander. Lucy and Nash were already getting familiar with the equipment, they were respectively acting as the loader and the turret operator. The pilot was an AI controlled by Tanya since she didn't get anyone to fill in. The woman looked a bit dizzy, her hands were slightly shaking and a subtle ringing in her ears. She shook her head, thinking that it's because she didn't sleep well.
As the tanks were waiting for the signal to engage, the woman decided to contact the other platoon commander to know the plan, a map she drew in her hand.
"This is the snowy desert map, we should send two platoons to the village downhill and prepare to ambush while the third platoon will go around the big hill counterclockwise." Said the first platoon leader.
"I don't think that's a good idea. They will expect an ambush in the village and beside, they'll reach it before we do. We have hills at our advantage, let's use them. One platoon should head to the small hill to our south and use it as cover at first then send a recon to its south. Another platoon should use the big warehouse southeast to our position as the first waypoint then head to the south of the big central hill. The last platoon should go west to reach the north of the hill prepare a defensive position on it." Tanya said while looking at her map. "Don’t forget that we can’t tell the difference between us and them, so report constantly your position. We don’t need blue on blue fight."
[insert picture here]
"Let's just rush the village, they won't suspect us to go headfirst." Said the second platoon leader.
"It won't be useful, we're facing pros. They already know what the strategic points are. They will surely use the forest for cover and advance." The woman said.
"Pfff! We'll just do as always, do as we want and see how it goes." The first platoon leader said, already giving orders to rush to the village
"Fine. Do as you want, but don't come crying if we lose!" Tanya said before quitting the radio chatter.
She ordered her platoon to go east, following her own plan and hoping that her allies won't be useless. The two other groups drove full speed towards the village, some tanks broke formation to get in the forest east of the little town. When Tanya's group reached the big hill, her allies were in the outskirts of the village. Three allied tanks were already preparing to ambush any opponent trying to get around the buildings. The woman's platoon then split up in two groups, one to stay and prepare a defensive position while the other two drove counterclockwise the big hill to get between the two tops of the hills. After this point, the allied tanks stopped giving their positions and movements, which greatly hindered Tanya's perception of the battlefield.
"Nash, enemy Abrams at 0-8-8 east, peeking at the edge of the forest."
"DM53 loaded!" Lucy shouted.
Nash aimed and fired.
"Enemy hit, load another HEAT to finish them off."
Tanya's tank drove back and forth, with this manoeuvre they dodged an incoming shell. The tank stopped and fired, destroying it's first target.
Meanwhile, in the village, a ruthless battle was raging. The first platoon and a tank from second platoon encountered four enemies. Despite their superior numbers, the allied vehicles suffered their first casualty. With a resentful sight, the first platoon leader shared his intel of the enemies.
"We've lost one of ours. We're facing a platoon sized group, they are positioned defensively in the outskirt, east to our position."
Tanya moved to the forest with another tank of her group while the other two were acting as cover for any enemy to show up. In the forest, the third platoon commander bumped into three enemies, which were waiting in the edge of the forest they were in. They took a hit to the side but quickly fired back, destroying their second target. Her ally took a shot at the opponents and managed to destroy the tracks of one of them. Tanya's group dodged a volley of fire coming from an unknown direction. She decided to retreat to the hill where she could get the cover of her allies, the strategy worked since her opponents followed them at half speed, firing on the move and damaging the tracks of an allied tank which managed to pull back in the open before destroying yet another target.
"Tank four, stay there and repair your tracks. The rest follow me, we'll finish off the last target in the forest before regrouping and aiding our allies in the village."
While in the village, the number of allied tanks diminished as two vehicles got destroyed by the entrenched enemies. The second platoon leader tried to break through the enemy line but only got shot at by four tanks at once, resulting in his obliteration.
"We've eliminated one of their platoon, we're going south and flank them." Tanya said in the radio before giving other orders to her men. "Tank four move to the south of the forest and give some cover fire when I'll tell you. We will follow the curves of the hill and flank the enemies on the village."
But before she could move, she got shot, damaging the side of the turret. One of her men also got shot, the pilot was badly hurt.
"Tank two, damage report!"
"One casualty, the pilot is down, she won't last long."
"Ok, someone switch pilot and get into cover."
Tanya thought of spotting the enemy’s position, so she recklessly got out of the commander's hatch with a pair of binoculars but was quickly driven inside by the suppressing fire of a machine gun. She ordered Nash and the other tankers to use the machine gun in their turret to blindly fire towards the east to provide cover fire and distract the enemy. The enemy fire stopped which allowed the commander to get out and use her binoculars to see where the enemies were. She couldn't spot any until the smoke created by the barrels of the machine gun dissipated, then she spotted the last enemy platoon scattered behind the small hill and building to the east of their position.
"Enemy Leo, 0-2-5 northeast, base of the hill."
"DM12 loaded, will load a DM 53 next shot." Lucy said.
Nash hit the enemy tank, destroying parts of the enemy turret. The main allied forces were still having difficulties in the village even though they managed to gain some ground, it was at the price of losing yet another friendly tank. As the last member of the second platoon, the sole survivor decided to join forces with the first platoon counterattack. The reckless decisions led to the disabling of the tracks of one ally and the destruction of the barrel of another one. The barrel-less tank charged in and managed to force the defenders to retreat to the nearby forest east of the village. Caught on the momentum, the suicidal tank ran into a building and somehow managed to flip upside down. It was mercilessly finished off.
"You useless morons! We're up against two platoons! Get your act together already! Take defensive positions in the village while we shake off our enemies!" Tanya barked.
She ordered her tanks to target the retreated enemies since those were in their line of sight. The first volley missed completely since those shots were hasty. Tanya's platoon was noticed by the retreated tanks and shot at with a better accuracy than the one of her men. Luckily, the allied platoon managed to destroy two targets before getting shot at. The overwhelmed enemies soon got wiped out by the combined effort of the remaining allied platoon.
"Great! They're down to one platoon! We'll go flank them now!" Said a tanker from the remaining first platoon.
"Hold on! You should only send one tank toward the building near their starting point, the other two should provide suppressing fire from the forest. I'll send my platoon forward to act as a distraction."
She ordered two of her tanks to move east to take cover behind a barn while she and another tank would cover them from the forest. Despite their best effort to push the enemies into hiding, the first platoon was fired at and a tank in the forest got destroyed. Although they lost a vehicle, they managed to carry out Tanya's plan and the allied tank behind the building destroyed one of the remaining armoured vehicles. The woman's platoon reached the barn without much resistance thanks to the distraction caused by the first group and destroyed the barrel of an enemy. The tanker from the first group decided to leave his forest to another one north of his position which was closer to the enemy's last stand. Tanya got out of her turret to assess the situation.
"Looks like they're still willing to fight even though they're outnumbered. Lucy, load high explosive rounds from now on, we're going to shell their position until they desperately leave their position. Third platoon, start an HE barrage, we're going to force them out of their defensive position."
As soon as she finished giving her instructions, her turret got hit by the enemy. The ammo rack exploded but thanks to the design of the turret, it prevented harm to the crew inside.
"Holy hell! We got lucky! I'll have to take the shell in the chassis now!" a surprised Lucy said.
"Make them pay!" Tanya barked at her men.
The enemy started to retreat behind the hill but the one with the damaged barrel got destroyed in the process. The two remaining enemies launched smoke grenades and closed the distance between them and the forest east to the big hill, where Tanya and another tank was taking cover.
"Oh god! Prepare for close combat! First platoon advance! Third platoon face north and prepare for close combat! Watch your firing line! We have two friendly in the forest!" Tanya screamed in the radio as she realised that it would be extremely difficult to know which is friendly since there were no signs nor markings.
The remains of the first platoon quickly drove past the barn to encircle the forest where the enemies were.
"Watch out! Friendlies are leaving the forest from the south!" Tanya said as her ally and herself were leaving their cover.
The first platoon didn't receive the message yet and took a quick shot at the third platoon before receiving the warning. The enemies took advantage of the confusion to destroy a tank from the first platoon which had stopped to fire at its teammate. The third platoon which was already in position to fire managed to destroy the enemy vehicle which had just fired. Tanya ordered her men to charge in and wipe the last one. The sole survivor decided to drive backwards near the edge of the forest and waited for the allied tanks to be gathered inside the woods. Not finding any enemy, the allies got shot from the outside of the forest and lost another tank.
"God damn it! We lost tank two!"
Still disoriented, the group of armoured vehicles got ambushed again and another tank got taken down.
"Not again! We lost tank four! Everybody face outward from the woods!"
They spotted the enemy who was driving clockwise around the forest. They fired at it but most shots missed due to the speed of the target and the trees blocking their rotation of the turret. Nash managed to land a hit and stopped the enemy vehicle. The woman's vehicle got shot before her tank finished reloading, luckily the shot bounced and gave them time to reload.
"I want a clean shot, Nash. Finish them off." Tanya said, grinding her teeth.
The turret operator took aim and fired.
Twelve years before Tanya's birth, the Federation's forces had conquered most of the old continent through military means and propaganda about equalities and redistribution of resources. It was no expansion of a group of countries, it was a global domination and everything had been planned in the grand schemes. The result from the turmoil and politic instability led to a rise of private security companies, one of them was an extremist faction in Germany, it quickly grew and armed its milita with lethal weapons, overtaking the role of the police and then of the army. Generals of these companies took the roles of politicians and rewrote most of the laws giving more power to the officers. Officers such as commanders were given small portions of lands and acted as lords, applying the rules and adding or modifying some to fit their policy. The following years were devoted to strengthening their equipment and eventually some commanders wanted to try out a new weapon prototype but the self propelled gun missed its target and destroyed a small part of a town of a neighbouring country. The act of aggression was badly received in Europe and measures were taken to reestablish democracy. The tensions grew more and more until an all out war broke out. The entirety of Europe had been invaded in a matter of months.
The conflict came to a halt when it came to invading the American continent and Australia. The newly formed Federation, which came from the conglomeration of the dominant security companies, created a research and development under the juridiction of the commander Wolf's right hand man named Fuchs, the new branch conducted a swoop of different homes for disabled to conduct experiments on them but after some complications, small portions of the prisoners had been executed in remote areas such as forest and mountains.
Brunhild Braun was born in Austria, both her mother and father had been taken by the Fuchs brigade. With the help of a handful of friends, Brunhild, who was 10 at the time, tried to rescue her parents. They arrived too late as she saw a machine gun mounted on a truck firing. The deafening noise froze her as she saw her family being mowed down like cattle. She watched helplessly when officers pulled out their pistols and began double tapping the dead with a bullet in the head, sometimes they pushed the corpse aside with the foot to see if the person was breathing or not. Brunhild shivered each time the Fuchs brigade finished off someone.
"We're too late… let's run before they notice us!"
Someone grabbed the little girl by the arm before running away from the massacre. She got a last glance of what were her parents. The soldiers saw the people getting in a car, one of the armoured men of the brigade pointed his gun at the vehicle, but the captain Fuchs ordered to hold fire.
"We've got the number plate, let the local security handle it.", the officer calmly said.
"Captain, the Feuerwerfer is ready to do his job."
Brunhild looked at the window as saw a huge column of smoke. The other people in the car discussed on what they should do but once they arrived at the town, a police car pulled them over and the group was arrested over some trumped-up infraction. Only the little girl was left out of it.
"Maria! Did you touch my uniform?!" An angry Tanya yelled at the maid who was cleaning the woman's bedroom.
The cleaning lady turned to her interlocutor with an unfazed look. Over the past two weeks, these two didn't get along very well. Although neither of them caused any mischief to the other, they often found themselves arguing over trivial things.
"Of course, I washed it. Is there any problem concerning my actions?"
"Yeah! You can't just wash my stuff without telling me! What if they shrink?"
The eyebrows of the maid twitched for a fraction of second. She took a deep breath.
"Bitch, I've done this job for decades, never had I shrunk any clothes. And beside, I'm pretty sure that if anything would happen to your clothes, you'd be the one responsible."
"Shut up, Holy Virgin!"
"No you shut up, Butt Slut!"
Usually one of them would leave the room they were arguing in. The maid quickly finished tidying the bedroom before leaving while stomping the ground. Tanya got herself ready to teach in Miss Brown's garage. Her pupils had learnt the basics and they were now getting acquainted with the equipment of the tanks.
"They're sensitive, treat them like you'd treat a puppy! If I ever catch you hurting these bad boys, I'll tear you a new asshole!"
"Well, they're pretty expensive, so of course we'll be careful." a trainee replied.
"That too. The only acceptable reason for your tank to be damage is by getting hit during a battle. But then again, you'll be fighting from far away and or destroy any enemy cover."
Tanya got the reputation of the Mother of Tanks since it seemed like she considered tanks as living beings. One example was when she screamed at a trainee for tipping over a soda can on the chassis of the training vehicle. But since she was doing a good job an as instructor, her pupils overlooked that extravagance. After nearly two hours of practice, she smiled and said:
"Looking good, people! If you keep on doing such good job, we'll move on how to do quick repairs."
"You've stopped calling us noob?" a surprised trainee asked.
"You've got enough experience to not be a noob. Although I'd like to take you on slightly more realistic skirmishes."
"You mean cooperating in a tank? You're lucky, there's a new mode of battle called team tank, you can use my tanks, they follow the regulation." Miss Brown said as she was walking in the garage.
"That's great news! What are the models we'll be using?" Tanya said with a genuine interest.
"For now it's only Abrahams, Leopards, Challengers and Armatas."
Tanya got shivers all over her body and held herself tightly. She was both excited and apprehensive about the vehicles she'd encounter. She rubbed her right arm.
"I see… well… when can we participate?"
"You look like you need some time to think about it. If you're interested in getting your trainees some battle experience, keep in mind that it's free of charge if you use my assets. I'll book one session when you're ready. Instructor Schuldner."
The employer left as she came. The trainees got really excited about having some tank action. Tanya was quite troubled. Thankfully for her, the lesson was coming to an end. She gave them some homework, so they could prepare for the next lesson.
In the car, Maria Mucama was driving Tanya Schuldner to the bar where she had to work. The maid was on her way to buy groceries and accepted to drop the other at her workplace. The cleaning lady was still upset.
"So, did one of your pupils spill soda again? You look awful."
"You wouldn't understand."
"What? I know you love tanks, but come on. Soda isn't so hard to clean. And beside, it's my job to clean."
"That's not about that. Look, I'm not in the mood right now."
Maria quickly glanced at Tanya and saw her passenger was holding her right arm tightly. The maid knew that she lacked social skills and so she kept quiet. The bar worker sighed and kept staring at the window.
"I've been defeated by an Abraham." Tanya said after a long awkward silence.
"What's that?"
"It's a tank."
"You lost that badly?"
"Yeah… I… they outnumbered us. I was the only survivor. My upper classman got killed in action. I barely escaped the slaughter and…"
"You lost?"
"They killed the civilians we were supposed to protect. They… shot me." Tanya said, holding her arm so tight her nails scratched her sleeve.
"Sounds pretty bad. So you respawned?"
"What?" The tank girl said as she turned to the driver.
"What?" The maid replied as confused as the passenger.
"N-never mind! Anyway, drop me here, I'll walk."
Maria opened the glove compartment where pepper spray was stored. Tanya guessed that she had to take it with her and didn't ask any question. The maid quickly drove off right after the passenger closed the door of the car. The bar was ten minutes on foot, the woman wasn't afraid as the streets were well lit and she had a means to defend herself, at least from unarmed thugs. Luckily for her, the neighbourhood was under the influence of Miss Brown even if the lone lady wasn't aware of the security around her. The working girl decided to run to the bar as she felt some invisible people looking at her in the shadows. She was almost at the café when she bumped into someone, a tall pale woman, who looked unfazed at Tanya who fell on her bum.
"Ouch! Hey! Don't just stand in the middle of the walkway!" the bar waitress said before quickly entering her workplace.
Awkwardly enough for the worker, the woman she ran into sat at a table near the entrance. Cao, the bar owner, seemed surprised to see the very pale customer sitting near the door. Inu, the little sister of the bar owner, was hanging near the counter, Tanya found it weird since the young girl was usually going around the different tables. The waitress wasn't dumb and she quickly guessed that the ghostly woman was trouble, she knew that acting out of the ordinary wouldn't be the best course of action. She wasn't the only one, the men of Miss Brown also looked tense, they were scowling or grimacing, some were even holding thighs their concealed gun.
Luckily, nothing out the ordinary happened until the closing time. The three bargirls were about to lock the door that the menacing lady showed up, accompanied by four men all nicely dressed.
"Excuse me, I would like to speak with the manager of this establishment." The lady said with a slow quiet voice.
"That would be me." Cao hesitantly replied.
"Well, I would like to purchase it. Name the price and I'll provide."
"Oh… well… sorry but what for? I didn't put any ad about selling my café."
"You didn't, but money talks. From what I've seen, this establishment isn't very profitable. I could turn this into a higher quality café, if I'd get the ownership."
"Too long, didn't listen." Inu said, pushing her sister away from the potential buyer.
One of the men blocked their escape way. The younger sister frowned. Tanya was stealthily searching for her pepper spray in her pocket.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, it's either that or you'll pay dearly."
"Pff! Like if you could legally do that? You can't steal someone's ownership."
"You mean that ownership?" The yet to be named lady asked, showing a piece of paper.
As the bargirls guessed it, it was the deed to the bar. One needed the previous owner's signature to process the building. There has been four signatures, one were from Irma, followed by Cao's. The first two were from unknown people, none from Miss Brown.
"How did you get your hands on it?! You thief!" Cao shouted.
"Irma voluntarily gave it to me. It only costed her an arm and a leg, but it was… worth it."
The woman she mentioned was the previous owner of the café, she gave it Cao as she was getting old and she saw some potential in this new generation. Or at least that's what the old woman was thinking at that time.
"You bitch! You killed Irma!" Inu screamed, waving her fists at the pale lady.
"If you don't want to meet her fate, you ought to sign it."
Tanya finally found her spray, she quickly pulled it out at used it on the white lady who didn't flinch, but the men next to her started coughing because the pepper spray had a wider area of effect. Cao quickly grabbed the paper and the three girls took refuge in their own bar. They barricaded themselves in with tables and chairs.
"This shouldn't take long. Reinforcements should arrive soon." Cao kept telling herself, crouching behind the counter.
Inu was discreetly looking through the curtains to see where the hostile people were. Tanya preferred consolidating the barricade with more chairs. A knock coming from the restroom door made the girls jump, and Cao peed her pants while holding tight her hunting rifle. The pale woman calmly walked out the restroom, a steel baseball bat in her right hand and can of gasoline in the other.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Inu said, while trying to escape through the window with a her fists.
"How did you get here?!" Cao screamed, pointing her rifle to the menacing lady.
The bar owner was shaking, Tanya knew that there was no way they could get out of that situation if it was a normal scenario, so she just smiled peacefully and calmly walked towards the unarmed lady.
"Whatever you do, you're gonna get fucked. Our employee value our life so there's no way you'll kill us. One wrong move and a sniper will take you out, even if there are curtains." The tank commander confidently said.
"Except that any marksman out there is probably having their hands full with my men. You're alone here. You're trapped with me, Teresa."
The finally named woman cocked her head to dodge a bullet Cao fired. Teresa threw the gas can at the armed woman, soaking her with gasoline. The younger sister saw that and quickly grabbed the nearest curtain to dry her sibling. Teresa hit her with the baseball bat, throwing her on the wall. Tanya seized the opportunity to strike the pale woman but the opponent was too fast and bashed her head with the bat. Everything went black.
When Tanya opened her eyes, she was standing in a big room with many people inside. All were glowing with a white aura and they wore faceless masks. She only had time to realize that she was wearing one as well. Then the wall in front of her slid downward. Without hesitation, the crowd walked forward, went down a flock of stairs. Everything was white, it was really hard to distinguish any form except the steps of the stairs. They arrived in some sort of huge subway station, where some were guided by hooded figures. But Tanya and some other lost souls were left standing in front of a line with what looked like an information booth with people, wearing a golden emotionless mask, behind the desk. The golden workers beckoned with a finger to anyone who looked at them. Tanya mindlessly walked towards the booth.
"You're a lost soul, maybe it isn't your time yet." The person behind the desk said to Tanya.
Something felt strange, like if the golden masked person was talking inside her head. Her suspicions was correct when she tried to open her mouth but simply couldn't.
"I'm Tanya." she thought.
"I see. In that case, follow the red thread and wait for your turn."
As soon as the worker finished his sentence, a thread appeared for Tanya to follow. She arrived at what looked like a subway stop. She waited with other people, one looked more agitated than the others. That lost soul was waving his arms as if to get any reaction from anyone. A wagon arrived and the people mechanically stepped in, took a seat and waited. Something felt familiar for the tank instructor, some kind of déjà-vu. She suddenly felt a huge headache as she tried to remember what she seemed to have forgotten.
"You will arrive soon, be careful when you emerge." An armoured soldier in black said with a metallic voice.
Tanya recognised the armour as it was the first model of the power armour of the Federation.
"Rise again and show them what the Federation's all about!"
The last bits of the sentence echoed as the wagon was engulfed in white lights and the sounds of the wagon speeding up. The noise was deafening, Tanya noticed the other passengers shaking and twisting their bodies, except the soldier and herself, everyone was fading away in the blinding light.
Tanya suddenly opened her eyes, the café was on fire, Brown's men were fighting Teresa who looked unfazed. Turning her head to the right, the awakened woman saw her coworkers being taken care by paramedics of the Order outside of the building. She then realised that she was left for dead inside the burning café. She screamed as the fire was starting to burn her legs. She jumped on her feet as a reflex, but she didn't feel pain, just a warm sensation. Her attention turned towards the fighting lady who didn't look like she was struggling against four foes. The tank commander lunged at her but was easily dodged by the enemy.
"Quit taking turns! All at once!" Tanya barked at the men of the Order.
They nodded and swung fists and whatever was in their hands towards Teresa who dodged their attacks again. She kicked one of the men in the stomach with her knee, another one with an uppercut.
"Never mind! I'll deal with her while you evacuate the wounded!" Tanya shouted as the fire was raging all around them.
The tank commander unconsciously thought of the insurance for the café as she watched the men of the Order taking care of the knocked out people. Teresa didn't look like she minded them, she turned to the supposed to be dead tank instructor.
"I'm actually surprised to see you alive and full of energy. Did you see Irma on the other side?" The menacing woman asked without showing any emotion.
"No, but I saw your mom! God she was ugly, at least I know from whom you've inherited your look."
"Don't involve family, or I'll be forced to do the same with yours."
"Try me bitch! I can fight for ten minutes without breaking a sweat!"
"You're going to fight me, now? I thought you were already fighting. And beside, look around you. This place is ablaze, give up before I send you to the other side once and for all."
Tanya looked around. Everything was on fire. The instructor thought that it hadn't been a good idea to have a wooden floor. She only took a few seconds to realize the situation when Teresa lunged towards her, she narrowly dodged the uppercut before getting hit with the knee in the nether region. The shock was so violent that it made her jump to the ceiling and fall flat on the ground.
"Ah! You bitch!"
"What's the matter? I thought you were a good fighter."
Some kind of electric shock went through Tanya's body, like if her brain sent millions of volts to every inch of her body. She began to breath rapidly, her eyes dilated and she was having some slight spasms.
"You bitch!" Tanya roared before throwing a roundhouse kick to her opponent.
The instructor's movements were faster as the adrenaline was raging inside her body. She stomped the downed opponent with her heel and quickly straddled the enemy. She began punching the face of Teresa furiously who tried to dodge as best as she could. Tanya was screaming the same word again and again, as if screaming the word "bitch" gave her power. Her victim was covered in her own blood after a salvo of punches but before the tank instructor could finish her off, Teresa managed to push Tanya aside and get up. The raging woman tried to get up but couldn't as her body was exhausted.
"That was ten minutes, that wasn't disappointing. We'll meet again." Teresa said after wiping her face.
"Wait! Get back here! I'm not done yet!"
The ceiling fell between them, Teresa vanished behind it. Inu ran inside and quickly retrieved the broken down Tanya who couldn't even articulate a word. Before blacking out, she saw Miss Brown's face looking mildly worried at her. The employer said something but everything faded to black.
It took two days for Tanya to wake up. When she did, she found herself in what looked like a small hospital bedroom. The walls were painted white and blue, in a flowery pattern, the floor was tiled in white and the ceiling had an ugly wooden fan on it. Next to the bed was the typical hospital equipment, with the machine that showed her vital signs. There was some kind of nightstand with a flower in a jar, Tanya didn't care what kind of plant that was. Oddly enough a mirror was sitting next to her.
"You're awake, miss Schuldner. Looks like everything is fine. You should try to fully get back to your senses before moving any further." a formal voice said.
The awakened woman followed the advice and proceeded in moving her fingers and toes, gently contracting her muscles. She blinked three times before turning her head toward the voice. It was Maria Mucama, in her maid uniform, wearing a concerned face.
"Oh… its you…"
"I'm happy to see you too. Normally I'd kick your butt so you get moving, but Brown told me to be gentle."
"I'm not really into girls, but ok. Be gentle with me, it's my first time." Tanya said in a corny voice while wiggling her chest.
"And I'm done! What the fuck, Schuldner!" Mucama said, leaving the room.
"Hah! Holy Virgin!"
"Buttslut!" The maid shouted before slamming the door behind her.
Tanya sat on the edge of the bed before getting up. She walked in front of the mirror and soon realised that she was naked under the blanket, she also noticed something white on her face. She reached for it with her fingers and touched it. It was cold and slimy. She put her fingers in her mouth. She heard the door creaking behind her, the face of the maid was barely visible but Tanya could notice a smug smile.
"Hah! Slut!"
"I'm no slut! That's yoghurt! What the fuck?!"
"But what if it was cum?"
"I'd spit it immediately! Who thinks it's a good prank?!"
Maria entered the room again and locked the door behind her.
"You know, doing a yoghurt bukakke on your face was pretty hot. Tell you what, if you help me get laid, I'll erase the picture of you doing that lewd thing." She said, waving a camera in her hand.
"You bitch! You're blackmailing me!"
"I mean, I could delete it now and we could talk about it later." The maid said, rubbing her tights together while looking away.
"You know what? How about you undress now and take pictures of you?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You heard me, Holy Virgin. Get naked, so I won't be the only one freezing her butt in here."
Tanya took the camera and some pictures while the maid was undressing. Neither of them understood why they were doing it, but something pushed them to. The whole nude session ended when they heard a knock on the door followed by the voice of their boss.
"I've come to check on Tanya, can I come in? Hurry because it's almost time for supper."
"R-right! I'm… Uh… helping miss Schuldner to get dressed, she just woke up. You can go… eat, don't wait for us."
The naked women heard a heavy sigh before hearing the door getting unlocked from outside.
"You idiots, I know what you were doing, so get dressed so we can move the plot bit."
"The what?"
Miss Brown snapped her fingers and they instantly found themselves at the dining hall of the mansion. The other two women were still naked and visibly embarrassed. Their employer looked serious, her usual smiley face was replaced by a determined stare.
"Schuldner, we are speeding up the training. You'll have a mock battle with your trainees. You'll be the commanding tank of your training group. You'll be facing random opponents, but I've managed to convince some pro tankers to fight you. Mucama, we're moving to medium security level. Deal with any uninvited guests with extreme caution. Security perimeter has been increased by three kilometres around the mansion, you'll get your team available by tomorrow morning at five o'clock."
As soon as Brown finished speaking, the maid grunted before eating rapidly her food. Tanya was surprised and was about to ask more questions when the employer slid a notepad on the table towards the tank commander who took read it while eating. She learned that her trainees were already notified of the current course of action, she only had to pick the tank model for her pupils. Since she was more into german armoured vehicles, she picked the Leopard tanks for her team.
After eating supper, Tanya went to the garage to inspect the vehicles who were getting delivered for her team. Usually I'd take a few hours for them to arrive, but she suspected that her employer chose for her in advance. Those were indeed Leopards, but they were marked with a white sword and a feather on the turret cheeks.
"Am I being sponsored by the Order?" She jokingly said out loud in front of the first tank that had arrived.
A head popped out of the turret, the person looked around before jumping out of the armoured vehicle and landing in front of the tank commander. The newcomer was a small woman with long hair which looked like feline ears.
"Lucy Zwei at your service! Wait… Tanya?" Lucy said while saluting the woman.
"Lucy? What are you doing here?"
"Didn't Brown tell you? With Nash, we'll be the crew of the commanding tank. The fact that you're the instructor explains why Brown didn't ask us to form the new tank platoon. Also we have other duties."
"Nash's coming?"
"You bet your ass he is!" Lucy said with confidence.
Tanya remembered that Nash fucked her roughly not long ago and blushed.
"R-right! W-well don't be a burden! This mock battle will help me gain some experience in commanding a tank platoon."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you've been assigned to a post in the rear. Training new recruits is pretty safe. Leave the fighting to us."
Tanya cocked her head, staring intensely at the small woman.
"I won't lose to you. You may be a mercenary, but I've got way more experience as a tank commander. I'll crush the opponents and show you how it's done." The tank commander coldly said.
"Sure sure! You've served the Federation, I get it. But I do believe I've got more combat experience. Unlike you, I was closer to the action. You've got no idea of the real battlefield."
The two women went their separate ways. Lucy was making sure that the tanks were being delivered while Tanya was reviewing the maps of the potential battlefield. Knowing that each team had 16 tanks and that she had control of one platoon of four vehicles, she had to predict the movements of both her allies and her opponents. She had to factor in the fact that the match was composed of experienced commanders like her as well as official tank officers. The only problem is that she had a team of inexperienced people, she though of using her allies as meat shields for her platoon. She bit her lips as she wasn't entirely sure about her victory. She was so worried that she fell asleep on the maps.
Tanya got up and saw her teammates already entering their tanks. She took her place as the commander. Lucy and Nash were already getting familiar with the equipment, they were respectively acting as the loader and the turret operator. The pilot was an AI controlled by Tanya since she didn't get anyone to fill in. The woman looked a bit dizzy, her hands were slightly shaking and a subtle ringing in her ears. She shook her head, thinking that it's because she didn't sleep well.
As the tanks were waiting for the signal to engage, the woman decided to contact the other platoon commander to know the plan, a map she drew in her hand.
"This is the snowy desert map, we should send two platoons to the village downhill and prepare to ambush while the third platoon will go around the big hill counterclockwise." Said the first platoon leader.
"I don't think that's a good idea. They will expect an ambush in the village and beside, they'll reach it before we do. We have hills at our advantage, let's use them. One platoon should head to the small hill to our south and use it as cover at first then send a recon to its south. Another platoon should use the big warehouse southeast to our position as the first waypoint then head to the south of the big central hill. The last platoon should go west to reach the north of the hill prepare a defensive position on it." Tanya said while looking at her map. "Don’t forget that we can’t tell the difference between us and them, so report constantly your position. We don’t need blue on blue fight."
[insert picture here]
"Let's just rush the village, they won't suspect us to go headfirst." Said the second platoon leader.
"It won't be useful, we're facing pros. They already know what the strategic points are. They will surely use the forest for cover and advance." The woman said.
"Pfff! We'll just do as always, do as we want and see how it goes." The first platoon leader said, already giving orders to rush to the village
"Fine. Do as you want, but don't come crying if we lose!" Tanya said before quitting the radio chatter.
She ordered her platoon to go east, following her own plan and hoping that her allies won't be useless. The two other groups drove full speed towards the village, some tanks broke formation to get in the forest east of the little town. When Tanya's group reached the big hill, her allies were in the outskirts of the village. Three allied tanks were already preparing to ambush any opponent trying to get around the buildings. The woman's platoon then split up in two groups, one to stay and prepare a defensive position while the other two drove counterclockwise the big hill to get between the two tops of the hills. After this point, the allied tanks stopped giving their positions and movements, which greatly hindered Tanya's perception of the battlefield.
"Nash, enemy Abrams at 0-8-8 east, peeking at the edge of the forest."
"DM53 loaded!" Lucy shouted.
Nash aimed and fired.
"Enemy hit, load another HEAT to finish them off."
Tanya's tank drove back and forth, with this manoeuvre they dodged an incoming shell. The tank stopped and fired, destroying it's first target.
Meanwhile, in the village, a ruthless battle was raging. The first platoon and a tank from second platoon encountered four enemies. Despite their superior numbers, the allied vehicles suffered their first casualty. With a resentful sight, the first platoon leader shared his intel of the enemies.
"We've lost one of ours. We're facing a platoon sized group, they are positioned defensively in the outskirt, east to our position."
Tanya moved to the forest with another tank of her group while the other two were acting as cover for any enemy to show up. In the forest, the third platoon commander bumped into three enemies, which were waiting in the edge of the forest they were in. They took a hit to the side but quickly fired back, destroying their second target. Her ally took a shot at the opponents and managed to destroy the tracks of one of them. Tanya's group dodged a volley of fire coming from an unknown direction. She decided to retreat to the hill where she could get the cover of her allies, the strategy worked since her opponents followed them at half speed, firing on the move and damaging the tracks of an allied tank which managed to pull back in the open before destroying yet another target.
"Tank four, stay there and repair your tracks. The rest follow me, we'll finish off the last target in the forest before regrouping and aiding our allies in the village."
While in the village, the number of allied tanks diminished as two vehicles got destroyed by the entrenched enemies. The second platoon leader tried to break through the enemy line but only got shot at by four tanks at once, resulting in his obliteration.
"We've eliminated one of their platoon, we're going south and flank them." Tanya said in the radio before giving other orders to her men. "Tank four move to the south of the forest and give some cover fire when I'll tell you. We will follow the curves of the hill and flank the enemies on the village."
But before she could move, she got shot, damaging the side of the turret. One of her men also got shot, the pilot was badly hurt.
"Tank two, damage report!"
"One casualty, the pilot is down, she won't last long."
"Ok, someone switch pilot and get into cover."
Tanya thought of spotting the enemy’s position, so she recklessly got out of the commander's hatch with a pair of binoculars but was quickly driven inside by the suppressing fire of a machine gun. She ordered Nash and the other tankers to use the machine gun in their turret to blindly fire towards the east to provide cover fire and distract the enemy. The enemy fire stopped which allowed the commander to get out and use her binoculars to see where the enemies were. She couldn't spot any until the smoke created by the barrels of the machine gun dissipated, then she spotted the last enemy platoon scattered behind the small hill and building to the east of their position.
"Enemy Leo, 0-2-5 northeast, base of the hill."
"DM12 loaded, will load a DM 53 next shot." Lucy said.
Nash hit the enemy tank, destroying parts of the enemy turret. The main allied forces were still having difficulties in the village even though they managed to gain some ground, it was at the price of losing yet another friendly tank. As the last member of the second platoon, the sole survivor decided to join forces with the first platoon counterattack. The reckless decisions led to the disabling of the tracks of one ally and the destruction of the barrel of another one. The barrel-less tank charged in and managed to force the defenders to retreat to the nearby forest east of the village. Caught on the momentum, the suicidal tank ran into a building and somehow managed to flip upside down. It was mercilessly finished off.
"You useless morons! We're up against two platoons! Get your act together already! Take defensive positions in the village while we shake off our enemies!" Tanya barked.
She ordered her tanks to target the retreated enemies since those were in their line of sight. The first volley missed completely since those shots were hasty. Tanya's platoon was noticed by the retreated tanks and shot at with a better accuracy than the one of her men. Luckily, the allied platoon managed to destroy two targets before getting shot at. The overwhelmed enemies soon got wiped out by the combined effort of the remaining allied platoon.
"Great! They're down to one platoon! We'll go flank them now!" Said a tanker from the remaining first platoon.
"Hold on! You should only send one tank toward the building near their starting point, the other two should provide suppressing fire from the forest. I'll send my platoon forward to act as a distraction."
She ordered two of her tanks to move east to take cover behind a barn while she and another tank would cover them from the forest. Despite their best effort to push the enemies into hiding, the first platoon was fired at and a tank in the forest got destroyed. Although they lost a vehicle, they managed to carry out Tanya's plan and the allied tank behind the building destroyed one of the remaining armoured vehicles. The woman's platoon reached the barn without much resistance thanks to the distraction caused by the first group and destroyed the barrel of an enemy. The tanker from the first group decided to leave his forest to another one north of his position which was closer to the enemy's last stand. Tanya got out of her turret to assess the situation.
"Looks like they're still willing to fight even though they're outnumbered. Lucy, load high explosive rounds from now on, we're going to shell their position until they desperately leave their position. Third platoon, start an HE barrage, we're going to force them out of their defensive position."
As soon as she finished giving her instructions, her turret got hit by the enemy. The ammo rack exploded but thanks to the design of the turret, it prevented harm to the crew inside.
"Holy hell! We got lucky! I'll have to take the shell in the chassis now!" a surprised Lucy said.
"Make them pay!" Tanya barked at her men.
The enemy started to retreat behind the hill but the one with the damaged barrel got destroyed in the process. The two remaining enemies launched smoke grenades and closed the distance between them and the forest east to the big hill, where Tanya and another tank was taking cover.
"Oh god! Prepare for close combat! First platoon advance! Third platoon face north and prepare for close combat! Watch your firing line! We have two friendly in the forest!" Tanya screamed in the radio as she realised that it would be extremely difficult to know which is friendly since there were no signs nor markings.
The remains of the first platoon quickly drove past the barn to encircle the forest where the enemies were.
"Watch out! Friendlies are leaving the forest from the south!" Tanya said as her ally and herself were leaving their cover.
The first platoon didn't receive the message yet and took a quick shot at the third platoon before receiving the warning. The enemies took advantage of the confusion to destroy a tank from the first platoon which had stopped to fire at its teammate. The third platoon which was already in position to fire managed to destroy the enemy vehicle which had just fired. Tanya ordered her men to charge in and wipe the last one. The sole survivor decided to drive backwards near the edge of the forest and waited for the allied tanks to be gathered inside the woods. Not finding any enemy, the allies got shot from the outside of the forest and lost another tank.
"God damn it! We lost tank two!"
Still disoriented, the group of armoured vehicles got ambushed again and another tank got taken down.
"Not again! We lost tank four! Everybody face outward from the woods!"
They spotted the enemy who was driving clockwise around the forest. They fired at it but most shots missed due to the speed of the target and the trees blocking their rotation of the turret. Nash managed to land a hit and stopped the enemy vehicle. The woman's vehicle got shot before her tank finished reloading, luckily the shot bounced and gave them time to reload.
"I want a clean shot, Nash. Finish them off." Tanya said, grinding her teeth.
The turret operator took aim and fired.
Let's see the bright sight of this world!