Sheilas and Sentinels

~When the Whistle Blows~

A warm wind blew across the arid plains. The blue sky was like a dome overhead, and in the far distance massive thunderheads loomed. Alysha knew the storm would arrive within the hour, turning the dusty savannah plains around her into a morass of mud that would be hell for her tank to get through. She held her binoculars to her eyes and scanned the horizon. Her ACIV Sentinel was parked hull down behind the peak of a large hill, its seventeen pounder gun facing out across the battlefield. To her left and right flanks were the other two tanks on her team, both ACIIIs armed with six pounder guns. They were relying on her to spot the enemy formation, a team of three Cromwell tanks.

Alysha pointed her binocs at the storm to check on its progress, and spotted a distant dust cloud being kicked up behind one of the many hills in the area: enemies! She couldn't work out how far away they were for sure, but she estimated some four kilometres. A quick mental exercise led her to the conclusion that they were flanking the hill her team was parked upon. It was only logical, as the hill was the tallest in the area, giving whoever held it a clear advantage. An advantage currently held by Alysha and her team.

She called out the contact report into the interior of the tank. "Heads up, crew! Enemy formation at our eleven o'clock, behind the third rise in front of the storm front. Estimated distance at four kays, maybe three." The turret turned as the tank's gunner sighted the distant hill.
"Spotted," confirmed Ellie, the gunner. "No way for me to hit them from here."
"Wouldn't have expected it," replied Alysha. She pulled out her map and pencil and began to plot the enemy's position to a grid-square, using her binoculars to note landmarks and plot the enemy's position. "Sarah, get me on team net," she said, finally.
"You're live," replied Sarah after a few clicks of a dial.
"All tanks, this is lead," said Aly. "We've spotted a dust cloud formed by enemy movement at grid square zero-zero-three-niner. Dust cloud appears to be moving north-east to south-west at a speed of forty kilometres an hour."
Sarah got two replies of "Roger that" before the radio operator of tank number two asked "How do we proceed?"
Alysha held out her hand. "Hand me the microphone." She took it and outlined the plan she had in her head. "This is Aly. My plan is to advance along the peak of this hill, remaining in defilade of the enemy. We'll hull down at the eastern arm of the peak and my tank will scout over and assess the enemy strength. Hopefully we can take them down from the flank with elevation. Sound good?"
"Ten four, ten four, sounds like a plan!" came the reply from Murrie, the commander of tank number three. Alysha looked out the back of her turret and saw the girl pumping her fist in the air.
"Righto. All tanks, forward!"

Within ten minutes, the three tanks had made it to their destination, the eastern peak of Mount Walker. It was a hill, really, but it rose prominently over the surrounding landscape and thus deserved the title. It formed a horseshoe shape, facing north, and the team had just crossed from the centre to the eastern arm. They would have crossed the distance faster, but the hill was steep, dry and had very little grass cover. Because the tanks had to remain out of sight of the other side, they had to stay below the peak of the hill, and that meant driving perpendicularly along the slope. With such little traction the journey would be treacherous unless they stayed at low speeds. Alysha's tank had actually slipped slightly as it crossed a gravel filled gully; her heart had flown out of her throat, and Vincent, their driver, had thrown around some curse words as he kept the tank under control. Everything turned out alright in the end, and Vincent, the impeccably skilled driver that he was, parked the tank at the peak of the hill at the perfect height in order for Aly to see over it. She found the dust cloud of the enemy quickly; it had gotten much closer. Not surprising, considering the Cromwell’s notorious mobility. Aly followed its path and scanned ahead... There! A valley between two hills, the Cromwells would have to cross the opening in order to continue.
"Ellie!" Aly called. The gunner looked up at her. "There's a valley at our ten, get the gun pre-sighted on it. We'll be ready and waiting for those Cromwells to show up."
"Aye ma'am!" replied Ellie, as she turned back to her sights and began traversing the turret.
"Catch all that, Sarah? Make sure the others get in on it."
"Roger! All tanks, this is Lead..."
Alysha looked back as the other tanks sent their confirmations. They moved up to the ridgeline as well. However, as Aly scanned the hills opposite and behind her own, she spotted a pair of silhouettes skylined on the opposite side of Mount Walker. The distinct, boxy turret of an enemy Cromwell sent chills down her spine.

"Incoming! We’ve been flanked from behind!" screamed Alysha as the distant tanks spat out their volley. The shells landed to the left of their targets; a strong gust of wind must have knocked them off course. Regardless, they had come too close for comfort, and the enemy obviously had Alysha and her team in their sights. "Forward!" Alysha yelled into the cabin. The engine revved as Vincent put the tank into gear, but in his haste he accelerated too quickly. The treads ran as the tank began sliding backwards, but with brilliant luck the second six pounder shell went flying over the tank and landed in the space where Alysha and her crew had been parked mere moments ago. Vincent collected himself and hit the brakes, and the treads finally caught some traction on the loose, dusty surface of the hill. The tank climbed forward and over the peak of the hill, as a second seventy-five millimetre shell landed right behind it.

The Sentinel made it over the peak safely, however. Alysha gave a sigh of relief, before checking to her left and right. The other two had made it as well.
"Contact front!" yelled Vincent, who still had the tank moving forward. In the valley between the two hills was parked the original Cromwell, the one that the team had all been aiming to ambush in the first place.
"Drive towards it!" Aly replied. "There's three of us and one of them! Sarah, make sure the other tanks get the word!"
Vincent sped up on the downward slope.
"Should I fire?" asked Ellie, staring through the sight.
"No need to waste a shell," said Aly. "We're going too fast for you to get a good bead on them. Just hold tight!" The Sentinel on the left let loose with its six pounder gun. Murrie, always the aggressive and excitable one, had begun firing. Danielle, in the tank on the left flank, followed suit. The shells parted the air with a loud whine, but both missed by a mile. The Cromwell, unfazed, returned fire. Being completely stationary and stable, it had no trouble volleying a shot towards the three charging Sentinel tanks. Hitting targets as they were moving, though, still posed some difficulty. The return shell missed.

"Radio, tell the other two to break right and get behind the bastard! Vincent, you get in front of him!" Aly wanted to finish off the Cromwell as soon as possible; one less tank, one less gun firing at them. Getting in close was going to be risky, however. It was going to be close.
Danni and Murrie broke right while Vincent aimed the tank at a point just to the left of the Cromwell. The enemy was in a predicament now; the sentinels had closed too quickly, and the Cromwell wouldn't be able to get away in time. The Cromwell was out of the game, Alysha knew this. All that was left in the air is how many of her tanks it would manage to take out. The Cromwell fired again, resulting in another miss. One of the other sentinels took a shot of their own, but only managed to scrape off on the side of the turret. It would all come down to the final shots.

The trio of Sentinel tanks thundered over a dry creek bed, kicking up gravel and dust behind them. Alysha and her crew bounced around in their seats. Alysha grits her teeth. The Cromwell’s seventy-five millimetre gun was pointed to Alysha's right, at the other two tanks in her team of three. But as she looked on, the Cromwell's turret began to turn, aiming instead towards her.
"Ah hell." Aly did some quick thinking. "Vinny!" she yelled. "Whatever you do, don't stop!"
"What!?" he yelled back from the driver's seat. "I thought the plan was-"
"Fuck the plan! Just don't stop!"
Another jarring bump was felt throughout the tank as it ploughed over a small hump in the landscape, but Alysha stayed focused and looking forward through her cupola. They were getting closer and closer to the Cromwell, and its turret was tracking them. Closer. Closer. The Cromwell still hadn't fired yet. Closer. Closer.
The sentinel was now as close to the Cromwell as it was going to get. At that moment, the other pair had stopped behind the Cromwell in a staggered line, ready to fire. And then a thunderous noise as three cannons fired.

Just before it went up in flames due to two hits to its engine compartment, the Cromwell had let loose with its shot. The seventy-five millimetre shell had pinged the top of Alysha's turret, a mere metre from her eyes. The simunition shell had shattered on impact, and as the radio confirmed-
"Number Two Cromwell is eliminated!"
-Alysha and her crew hadn't been taken out from the round. They all let out their collective breaths, but their work wasn't over yet. There were two more Cromwells out there looking for them, and Aly and her team had no idea where they would come from.
"Put me on the team net, Sarah."
"You're live."
With a hand on her headset, Alysha spoke, "All tanks, outstanding work, but we're not out of this mess yet. There's still two more of the bastards out there, and we're gonna get 'em! Head north to the Rice River. We'll work out what to do from there."
"Ten four!"

The trio of sentinels moved off and left the smoking Cromwell behind. In the distance, a strike of lightning and a rolling peal of thunder. The storm had arrived.

The Storm

The storm had arrived quickly, but not unexpectedly. The dark clouds had been looming over the far northern horizon all morning, encroaching over the land slowly but surely. And now, thirteen minutes after noon, the storm had arrived. The noise inside the tank was thunderous as billions of heavy raindrops impacted on top of the hull, and visibility was down to near zero. Alysha did her best to peer into the rain from the commander’s cupola, but the thick cloud cover and heavy downpour did her no favours. A bolt of lightning struck in the middle distance, and the accompanying thunder echoed throughout the crew compartment.
“I’m going to get tinnitus at this rate!” yelled Ellie, the gunner.
“What?” her loader, who was sitting right next to her, yelled back.
Ahead of the tank, Alysha spied a depression in the ground, running perpendicular to their advance. She leant down into the crew compartment and yelled at the top of her voice. “STOP!” The driver, Vincent, quickly brought the Sentinel tank to a stop. The tanks behind them would have crashed into their lead, had they not been travelling in a wedge formation. Alysha stood back up in her cupola and quickly popped open the commander’s hatch to get a better view.

The first things Alysha could report was that one: it was fucking RAINING and two: IT WAS FUCKING RAINING. Popping the hatch was like climbing under a waterfall, and the storm was only getting worse. Despite this, she did her best to survey the land ahead.
The Rice River was the depression in front of them. What had only minutes ago been a dry, dusty riverbed was now a mud-filled ditch, and even now a stream was flowing along its length. They had to cross the river; now, before it became too deep to cross, or worse, a flash flood arrived.
Alysha shut the hatch again, closing the flood gates, and looked down to her crew. They were soaked too. Huh. She leant and grabbed the shoulder of Sarah, her radio op, so she could yell in her ear over the din.
“Get me on the team net!” she yelled as loud as she could.
Sarah responded with something about 'a bloody great cacophony' then yelled "Roger!" right back at Alysha. A few clicks, and the commander was broadcasting.

"All tanks, this is lead! Can you hear me?"
"It's hard to get you over the rain, but you're clear enough, over!" replied Murrie.
"Good! We need to cross the Rice River, here and now, before it gets too deep to cross! I want you guys to be careful, though! It's muddy as hell, and if you get bogged you could get caught up in a flash flood that'll happen any minute now." As Alysha spoke, she kept her eye out. Even as she watched, the river had risen from ankle height to knee height. They had to get moving.
"You get that?" Aly asked.
Two replies were received, incoherent over the rain.
"Good!" she turned the radio off then yelled into the crew compartment. "Vincent! Let’s get this ball rolling already, we don’t have much time!"
The tank shuddered into gear, and began clawing its way through the mud and grass and into the river bed. Mud and detritus sprayed everywhere. With a splash, their tank plunged into the rapidly rising water. Aly crossed her fingers and grit her teeth. The mud was thick, but their tracks were able to take it. Climbing out of the river bed was painful, painfully slow, and with each passing moment Aly feared that they'd start sliding backwards. To her vast relief, they climbed up and out of the water filled ditch. Success!
But only briefly.
"Commander!" came the call over the radio. "This is number three! We're bogged!"

Aly turned to peer out the back of her turret. There, the second of her two supporting sentinels. Commanded by Murrie, the hot-headed, aggressive and excitable. The right side of the tank had sunk into the muddy river bed, and the driver was desperately revving the track to escape the clutches of the mud.
“Bugger me!” Alysha cursed.
The sentinel wasn't completely bogged, Aly noticed. As the tank fought to gain some ground, the right track steadily emerged from the mud. It was slow going, but they could make it. As long as...
Alysha turned to look upstream, and through the haze of falling rain her worst fears were confirmed. A wall of brown, muddy water was approaching, the flash flood they had been dreading. Oh shit... Murrie’s tank was struggling. They weren't going to make it in time.

Aly made a snap decision. “Vincent! Turn this bloody thing around!”
“What the hell do you mean!?” he shouted back.
“They’ll never make it alone! We’re going in and pushing them back out the other end!” Vincent stared at her incredulously. “Don’t give me that damn look, just do it!”
“You’re the boss!” He turned back to his controls and began to bring the tank around.
Aly wasn't done yet. She clicked on her microphone. "Murrie!" Sarah and Ellie clutched at their ears in pain. "Sarah put the fucking thing back on the team net!"
"Fuck me!" Sarah said as she twisted the dials.
"Murrie!"
"What!? Fuck, what do we do?"
"Put her in full reverse! We're going to ram and push you out!"
"You what!?"
"Just do it!"
Aly clicked off her mike as Vincent finished bringing the tank about. He pushed the throttle and they tilted back into the muddy river. With a loud clang! the hulls of the two tanks smacked into each other. Vincent revved the engine again, and then the tank began pushing. Slowly, slowly, they were making it out. Alysha glared out her left side viewport, willing the wall of water to come that little bit slower.
“Come on, come on...” she muttered under her breath.
And then, the resistance gave way as Murrie’s tank came free from its bog. The tank went into full speed reverse, and with the help of Alysha and her own tank, made it up the riverbed with little effort. Alysha’s own Sentinel followed suit. And with a rush, the flood waters swept past the area they had been only moments before.

Alysha sighed explosively. Below and in front of her, the gunner, Ellie, grasped the shoulder of Sarah, her loader. Vincent piped up from the front seat.
“That was cutting it damn close!”
Aly cut him back. “Your name is Vinn bloody Dezel! You’ve got the same name as a movie star whose famous role was driving big tanks! A mere /river/ can’t stop you.”
“That's a bullshit reason and you know it!” he replied, but she heard the smile behind his voice.
Aly's radio buzzed. "Commander!" came Murrie's voice.
"Yo," replied Aly, feeling a bit giddy.
"You deserve a fucking medal!" said Murrie.
"You're damn right I do, bitch! Whoo!" Everyone was acting a bit silly, but Aly knew that they all needed to let off steam after stress like that, herself included. She sighed in relief again.
Another broadcast came over the net. The calm tones of her 2ic, Danielle, came over the radio. "Commander."
"Receiving," said Aly. Danielle always spoke so formally, it was hard not to reply the same way.
"My tank is on the other side of the river, and we are unable to cross back to your side. We shall see if there is another place to cross, though I doubt there is one at this point."
"Roger that," replied Aly. "Good luck."
"Thank you, Commander. Two, out."
Aly looked through the back of her cupola and spotted her number two begin to turn and drive away. This left two Sentinel tanks against two Cromwells: a pretty even match, with one upgunned lead tank, and a standard gunned support tank to back it up. Alysha collected herself. The Cromwells would catch up to them soon.
She flicked her mike back on and said over the net:
“Right, everyone who's still with me, time to calm down and button up. There’re still two enemy tanks out there looking to hunt us down. We gotta get to them first. Let’s head straight east to follow this river and then at about square zero-four-two-eight we’ll cross the rise to the south and continue east in defilade.”
“Roger that.”
“Let’s get moving then.”

Out of Nowhere

It seemed impossible to Alysha, but the rain grew heavier. A strong wind had accompanied this second front of rain, blowing dust, leaves, branches and water in a maelstrom that made it impossible for Alysha to stick her head out of the turret without getting pelted. The crew stayed buttoned up, trying their best to see through their viewing slits. But it was too much. Vincent was lucky to be able to see the ground in front of him.
“Sarah!” Alysha yelled into the turret.
“Yeah!?” Sarah replied with equal volume.
A large branch smacked into the side of the turret, startling everyone.
“We can’t survive in this weather; we can’t even see where we’re going! Tell Murrie that we’re going to find a place to huddle up and wait for the storm to blow over!”
“Roger that, commander!”
Alysha went back to peering out of her viewport as Sarah relayed orders to the other tanks. Her eyes tried to pierce the grey and brown fog that surrounded her tank. She saw nothing but leaves and branches and clods of dirt. But as a bolt of lightning struck in the near distance, Alysha spotted a boxy, unnatural silhouette illuminated by the spear of electricity. Right as Vincent drove the tank into it.

The Sentinel jolted to a stop with the impact, and Alysha's face bonked against the inside of her cupola. The blow was dulled by her leather cap, but she fell back into her seat clutching her head in pain.
"HOLYSHITCONTACT!" Ellie screamed as she fired a round. In the chaos, Aly didn't see where the shot-out went. Her face got mashed up against the inside of the turret again as Vincent threw the vehicle into full reverse. A shell hit the dirt right in front of their tank. Alysha heard screaming from her headset, but Sarah was too busy and Aly was too dazed to answer the calls.
"Up!" Sarah yelled to Ellie, who fired another shot. It went high and skipped off the top of the Cromwell's turret.
"Adjust down, Ellie! They're going way high!" Sarah yelled.
"My crosshair was right on them!" Ellie replied.
"Check your range and zeroing!"
Ellie did so, quickly. "Bugger me, I was zeroed in too far!"
The din was overwhelming as another shell sailed past the turret.
"I don't think we're getting out of this!" Vincent cried.
"Just drive, you bastard, drive!" Sarah yelled back. "Up!"
"Firing!" Ellie thumbed the firing stud, and another shell was propelled out of the seventeen pounder cannon. It smashed into the upper hull front of one of the Cromwells, and the thing stopped moving. A while flag appeared on top of the tank. "Got one!"
Vincent suddenly rotated the tank clockwise, and before Ellie had the chance to yell “What the shit!?” a round struck the left side of the turret. The radio erupted into static and then went silent.
“Fucking hell! I think that was a hit!” screamed Ellie.
“We’re not out, they just got the radio! Up!”
“Firing!” The seventeen pounder thundered. “I can’t see whether I hit them!”
Vincent was still backing up. Another shell hit the dirt to their right. As Alysha looked to their side, she saw the second Sentinel take a round to its front hull. The simunition triggered the “visual kill” indicator, and a gout of fire and black smoke erupted from the Sentinel’s rear. A small white flag stuck out of the top of the tank. They were out.
Vincent stopped the tank as Sarah loaded a round.
“Up!”
Ellie aimed the cannon and fired another round.
Aly had begun to regain some of her senses. She put more force behind her voice. “Vincent, get us the fuck outta here!” No one could hear her over their own voices and the sounds of battle. As she looked through the cupola, her confused mind made out the silhouettes of three tanks, but that couldn't be right. A bright light blinded her as the last Cromwell fired, and a shell sailed right into the side of their turret.

A Passing Thunderhead

After the storm had cleared up somewhat, recovery vehicles had come to collect the 'killed' tanks, as well as the final survivor. It had been a surprise to everyone when Danielle's sentinel tank had appeared from the rain and dispatched the Cromwells with two quick shots to each of their rears. Danielle and her crew had found a disused iron and wood bridge that hadn’t been on anyone’s maps. Unsure as to whether the bridge could take the Sentinel’s thirty one ton weight, Danielle had gambled and told her driver to go for it. They made it. After that, they had managed to catch a position update while listening in on the radio, and caught up to the team just as they ran into the enemy. It was a close shave and a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Danielle hid her grin well as the teams were riding the bus back to the warm confines of civilisation. One could almost think that Dani was still wearing her usual mask of emotionlessness. But Alysha could see the grin in her eyes.
She decided to have some fun with it. She leaned over the back of her chair and stared at Danielle. “You look pretty smug.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Danielle replied, but the dam burst and she let her grin out in full force. Which, admittedly, was more of a smirk, but for Danni it was like a thousand watt lightbulb compared to her usual dreariness.
“Don’t worry Danni, you’re allowed to be proud.” Alysha shared in her grin. “We were soggy toast before you showed up. To be honest, I completely forgot about you when we got to that point; I thought we’d lost the moment our tanks got hit. But then, kaboom! The Crommies have gone up in smoke and the radio’s saying we win! And out of the bloody smoke and rain you guys come out and it’s like the Armoured Angel of Death. Real cinematic or something.”
Dannielle giggled. “I can't take all the credit. I have a crew, too.”
Her gunner, Reese, who was sitting beside her, piped up. “Danni was yelling and screaming at me to get a move on. Hardly ever see her get so worked up. She yelled so much I missed the bloody shot!" Danni glared at her gunner, and he shrunk a little under it. "Okay, maybe it was partially my fault. Anyway, I was waiting for Rob to load another shell, and the cromwell slooowly turned towards us. That six pounder, man. It's not as big as the seventeen, but it's still pretty scary when it's point right down your bloody gun sight. We nailed them before they could get us, though, but it was pretty nerve-wracking and everyone was yelling.”

“It was the same in our tank,” Alysha replied. “But much worse. Vin Diesel over there drove our tank into theirs at a bloody hundred miles per hour, and I bashed my head against the front of the turret.”
“Ouch.”
“We were only going thirty, you foul woman,” Vincent piped up from a couple seats away.
“Anyway,” Aly continued. “I smacked my head, saw stars, and while I was out of it Ellie and Sarah took de facto control of the tank. They did a horrible job.” She got glares from her crew mates and rolled her eyes. “Okay, they did alright. But we were all too surprised to react accordingly to two tanks appearing out of literally bloody nowhere and everyone just kinda panicked. And then bang! We were out of the game.”
“At least it was only practice,” said Danni, sounding more like her usual self. “It would be disastrous if this had been a real match.”
“Too right.”

The crews of both teams all sat or stood in a rough semi-circle facing the team captain, Josh. He was the commander of the lead Cromwell on the team, and the team commander during matches when the team wasn’t practicing against itself.
“Good match, guys. Aly, nice work getting out of that ambush we set up for you. I feel like one day you’ll be a better commander than I am, but you /did/ fall for the bait in the first place, so you've still got a little while to go.”
“Hmph,” She waved him off dismissively. “Not that long ‘til I’ll be team captain and doing your job.”
“Good. Means you get all the paperwork.”
“Eugh!” Everyone laughed.
Josh clapped his hands together. “Anyway, I reckon that was good practice for severe storm conditions. We’ll go over tactics for next time when we meet again on Monday after school. Again, good job everyone, and have a nice weekend. I gotta talk with the sentinel crews though, so you guys stay behind.”
Half of the team filed out of the clubroom, chatting with each other and saying their round of good byes. Only the crew members of the Sentinel platoon stayed where they were.

“Right Josh, what’s this about?” Aly asked, being the leader of '2 Platoon'.
“We've gotten a pretty good invitation to an overseas competition. They’re offering to pay something like fifteen thousand dollars in order to have our crews play over there.”
“Wait, who wants us where?” Murrie asked.
“It’s a Japanese school with a Tanking team modelled after Australia. They call themselves the “Koala Academy” or something.”
Aly placed her head in the palm of her hand. “What bloody dickhead would call themselves the... Wait, you said Japan, right? Aren't the Japs the crazy bastards who put their all girls’ schools on giant ships?”
“Yep. And they're paying a shitload of money for /us/ to join them.”
Aly paused for a moment. “There are too many questions to ask!” she cried exasperatedly.
Murrie raised her hand. “They want the whole team, Josh?”
“Nope. Only the Sentinels. The school’s captain wants to keep it ‘authentic’.”
“Why us?” Danielle asked, breaking her silence. “Why not the current champ-bitches, Sydney College? We haven’t exactly been hot shit this year.”
“We still made it to the semi-finals. Besides, before this year, we were national champions two years in a row and we’re on a five year streak in state and interschool. In addition to that, James Cook Academy also has the highest scores in Japanese in Queensland, so it’s not like none of you can't speak the language. And also the school’s Senshado captain might also maybe be my long-distance-internet-pal-slash-girlfriend-not-that-it-matters.”
Everyone in the room stared at Josh. Josh stared back.
“None of you heard a thing.” The room filled with the sound of silent and fearful agreement. “Yeah, anyway, so you'll be going up there and you'll be playing for the Koala school for a full season, which is like four months or something, and you’ll be staying on the school’s carrier and stuff. And before you ask, yes this is allowed. Not only have we checked, but apparently the British school recruited a tank and a crew from Yankeeland, and now everyone’s been scrambling to get their hands on an edge of their own. And for the Aussie school, why not get a bunch of Aussies?”
Alysha slumped in her chair, and everyone else reacted to the news in their own way. “Bugger me, this is news,” she muttered.

“So what'll it be?” Josh asked. “The school is fine with it since you'll be studying over there anyway, but of course we gotta send notes and get permission from your parents and all that. But I wanna hear you guys' opinion first. So?”
There was silence for a moment. “Hell fuckin’ yeah!” shouted Murrie. There were similar if not as boisterous choruses of agreement from the crews of all the Sentinels until only Aly was left, still slumped over and staring straight up.
“Aly?” Josh prompted.
“Well it’s not like I can not go after everyone else is, so fuck it.” She looked back to Josh and gave him a thumbs up. “I'm a yes, so that makes it all for one and one for all; the fourteen musketeers! Yaaaaay!” She was joined by other half-hearted whoops and yells, the sarcastic kind, and everyone laughed at their own silliness.
“Righto everyone, just take these forms back to your rellies and have a chat with them about it. The forms have got all the info and a permission slip, and itinerary and all that so you should be good to go. I'll see everyone on Monday.”
Josh caught Aly at the door as she was leaving. “Hey Aly, let’s walk home together, it’s been a while.”
“Sure.”


The indistinct chirping of cicadas or crickets or some other bloody annoying insect filled the air of the otherwise quiet suburban street. Aly walked alongside Josh as they headed to their homes; they were neighbours, living across the street from each other. The gum trees rustled in a passing wind, wafting the scent of wet eucalyptus, grass and other plant matter that came after a tropical storm. The whole team, and the whole school for that matter, lived on the Gold Coast, Queensland, just south of Brisbane and just north of the border with New South Wales. The city certainly wasn't tropical; in winter it got as low as six degrees Celsius! But it seemed that this summer storm season had wanted to dish out as much punishment as it possibly could and sent the worst storms that had hit the south-east region since the 2011 floods. The school and its surrounds weren't in danger of flooding; the Gold Coast wasn't generally known for floods. The heaviest rain had mostly hit just north of Brisbane anyway, but the team had caught the wild weather as it passed over the tanking reserve on the plains on the other side of the mountains that lay west of the Gold Coast. The school itself was nestled in a large plot of land at the base of those mountains. And it was through those suburbs that the pair of teenagers walked home with the scent of wet gum trees in their noses.

“So how've you been, Aly?” asked Josh. “I've not really talked to you in a while.”
“Same same, just about. I mean, not much's changed. I’m still the same girl you know, and we still talk in Tanking club.”
“Yeah well, not like we used to. We used to walk down this street every day last year.”
Aly shrugged. “I guess you just stopped asking. And I usually hang out with the girls.”
“Yeah…”
“So what’s this between you and this Japanese chick, Josh? Last I heard you were single and hating it.”
“Well, she came down to the school on an exchange program last year. It’s another reason why she picked our school out of anyone else’s.”
“She was one of those chicks? So you and her hooked up last year and didn't tell anyone?”
“No, she was staying with Gerry and Missie. You know, in the house that backs on to mine?”
“Yeah I know Missie. We do Marine Studies together.”
“Yeah, so I was hanging out with those three and I got to talking with Miko, the Japanese girl in question. And she can speak really good English, you know. So we got to talking about tanks and junk and we just sorta clicked. She gave me her Skype and her email and we talked online whenever we could. She showed me a bunch of tanking sites on the internet and we just hung out at nights.”
“Ah, okay then.” And then Aly got a mischievous glint in her eye, which Josh spotted right away.
“Oh god Aly, whatever you’re gonna ask me just don’t, alright, just stop.”
“Got any nudes?”
“Fuuuuuckin’ hell, every time.”
Aly laughed until they stopped in front of their homes, and kept laughing while Josh stood there and grinned.
“Ooh, shit,” Aly said as she calmed down. “Haven't laughed like that in ages. Hey, so I'll see you on Monday, or sooner if I catch you out front.” They began their walks to their front doors. “Where’s the school in Japan, anyway?”
“Well it’s a ship, so it sails around and junk, but it’s based in Okinawa.”
“Shit, that’s a nice place. Well alright, see ya.”
“See ya,” Josh stopped at his door, his grin still plastered on his face. “Oh, and I’ll send you the selfies later.” He closed the door as Alysha doubled over, collapsing into the chair on her front verandah.


Aly wasn't sure what to expect when she thought of ‘schoolship’. She knew what one was, of course; near everyone in the world had probably heard of the massive ships that Asian countries used as private colleges. She hadn't expected one to be so HUGE, though. As they were coming in for a landing at Okinawa’s international airport, Ellie had pointed it out to Aly.
“Christ, look at the size of the thing,” Aly has said while she leaned over Ellie to look out the window. "I'm pretty sure this is an abhorrent 'fuck you' to the laws of physics, in some way or another."
“You'd think, wouldn't you?” Josh said from the aisle seat. “That’s going to be your home for the next few months. She’s called the Invincible.”
“Man,” Aly breathed.

The crews were greeted by a welcoming committee when they got into the airline terminal. Three girls stood in a row. As Alysha, Danielle, Murrie and Josh came into view at the front of their procession of tankers, the three Japanese school girls bowed and cried out “Welcome to our country!” in unison.
Josh smiled and waved to the girl in the centre. “Hi Miko.”
“Joshua!” Miko replied right before she was gathered up in his arms and embraced.
The other two girls came up to Aly and her friends and introduced themselves as Tsukino Rina and Nakamura Yukiko. Introductions were shared all around.
“Welcome again to Japan, friends,” Yukiko said. “We hope to have a pleasant time fighting alongside you in the national tournament.”
“We're looking forward to it,” Aly replied. “Hopefully both our teams will come away from the experience better in some way.”
“Excuse me,” interrupted Rina, the third girl, a blush extremely evident on her face. “Are all Australian boys this forward?” she asked worriedly. Aly looked up to see Miko and Joshua sharing a very passionate kiss.
Aly laughed hard at that. She elbowed Josh in the ribs. “Hey lovebirds, you're in public.”

The team had been chartered a shuttle bus in order to get from the airport to the school ship. Aly sat up the front and had a chat with the locals.
“Your tanks arrived a few days ago,” Miko said. “I must say, you have some very interesting variants of the Sentinel, some of which I didn't know were Sensha-do legal.”
“Oh, they're legal,” Aly replied. “At least, back at home they are. The commander’s cupolas are legal under the ‘reasonable modifications’ rule. Modifications that might’ve been made in the field by the local engineers or by the tankers themselves, like attaching a loudspeaker to your turret. The cupolas aren't considered to give us a major advantage, so they let us keep them. As far as the engine and suspension modifications, we got our hands on some of the original blueprints that they kept at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The blueprints outlined late model Sentinels having such improvements, but they never got beyond that stage before the whole project got canned. We managed to get permission from the Australian Tanking League to add those modifications. It was pretty expensive, getting Pratt & Whitney to build us three of the engines to our specifications, but we got them in the end.” Aly paused and rubbed the back of her head before laughing nervously. “I let out a bit of the inner tank nerd there, didn't I?”
“Only a bit,” Josh replied. He turned to Miko. “What do you think? Will they integrate well with your team and your tactics?”
“That remains to be seen,” Miko replied. “They are very powerful machines, and we are going to have to adapt our strategy in order to accommodate them. Once we do, however, I have full confidence in our ability to at least make it to the semi-finals, if not the finals themselves. It will certainly be a big surprise to our opponents.”

“So you'll need to adapt your strategies, right?” asked Josh. “We should get to that as soon as possible. Tomorrow night, at your place?”
“A-at my place?” Miko replies. “You don’t mean- just us two? Alone!?” She turned bright red.
Josh laughed in reply. “No, no, not like that. Unless you want to, of course,” he raised an eyebrow, further flustering his girlfriend.
“You shouldn't talk about such lewd things so openly!” cried Rina, her hands covering her cheeks. The Australians were very amused at the expense of the three Japanese girls. Aly and Josh shared a look, and then jumped right into it.
“Why not?” Aly asked Rina. “Don’t you do those sorts of things with your boyfriend?”
“I don't have a boyfriend!” squeaked Rina, who seemed to be getting smaller the more she was embarrassed.
“Oh, then what about a girlfriend?” Rina seemed to completely shut down at that statement, and broke down into stuttering.
"But that's... FORBIDDEN LOVE."

When Aly and Josh finished laughing, and Miko and Rina calmed down from getting so flustered, Josh continued on his previous train of thought. “So, tomorrow night,” he said to Miko. “You get all your commanders, and I get all of mine, and we'll have a strategy meeting at your place over dinner. Is that alright?”
“It’s fine,” says Miko.
“And then after,” Josh said “We could...”
“N-nooooo!” cried Rina, and the laughter continued.


Aly yawned and stretched as she sat up in bed. Jetlag was a killer, seriously. She checked her bedside clock; 5:03PM. She'd napped for three hours, and now she had just under an hour to get ready for the strategy dinner they had planned for the night. Plenty of time, she thought as she got out of bed and walked into the bathroom.
She came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, with wet hair and wrapped in a towel. She hadn't bothered to unpack yet, so she just grabbed some clothes out of one of her suitcases. She dressed herself, then collapsed onto the couch at the end of her bed, sighing.

She couldn't believe the ‘dorms’ here. They were more like single room apartments than the stereotypical student dorm she had expected. The main room was divided up into corners, basically. The corner to the left of the door contained a kitchen and dining area, and to the right of the door was a small living area with a TV and a desk for school work. In the far right corner of the room was the bed and wardrobe and in the far left was the bathroom.
If the texts on Alysha’s phone were anything to go by, it seemed that everyone had gotten a room that was similar, and they loved it. It was a totally foreign experience for them all; they had an entire apartment room to themselves and no parents to worry about. Aly could taste the sense of independence on her tongue. She could do anything she wanted to. She could watch porn with the speakers on.
But not until after she went to that strategy dinner. She checked the bedside clock again and found she only had half an hour left before she was told to be there. She put the final touches to her hair, clothes and makeup, and with fifteen minutes to spare, decided to leave early. She could get lost, after all.

Miko Matsumoto sometimes felt confounded by her boyfriend’s forwardness. His casualness towards everything related to romance, physical contact and everything else was astounding. Did he have no shame? That was something she had learned in her brief stay in Australia; the laid back honesty that the people there had. Not that it didn’t... excite her a little, but she did get a little annoyed at how out of depth she felt. Especially when Joshua ended up staying over the previous night. As the commander of the Sensha-do team, Miko was used to having some control over the situation; yet Joshua seemed to sweep away that control and sweep Miko off her feet.

With that thought in her mind, she felt a sudden vertigo as Joshua picked her up from behind. He carried her back to the couch and sat down with her on his lap.
“J-J-Joshua! I need to get ready for everyone arriving!”
“But I wanna cuddle,” he pouted. “Don't you wanna cuddle?”
Her heart melted a little at the look on his face. “Y-yeah, but there are people coming over. What if they see...?”
“What /if/ they see?” he asked back. She just opened her mouth in shock. “God, you're so sexy when you're embarrassed.”
Her face went hot and red and her heart fluttered. “Don't say that!” she told him.
“But it's true. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have the urge to kiss you right now.”
Miko decided that talking had stopped being important right then, and that there were other, more pressing matters to attend to.
That is, until the door opened, and Rina cried out “W-W-WHAT!?”
“Oh right,” Joshua said, evil grin plastered on his face. “There were people coming over, weren’t there?”