Chapter 2 Battle scene

Rosehip had the tank parked in an alley, which lay beside the main road. She knew the carrier's layout like the back of her hand and could manage without a map. Meanwhile, she turned her attention to her crew.

"Ey commander, how did the tea party go? Surely not, you didn't wet yourself in excitement, right?" Her driver, whose name was Rosella, quipped. Like her, she was also a speed demon and it was like a match made in heaven like Doritos and Mountain Dew or hollandaise sauce on Eggs Benedict.

"Shut up or I'll shove these shells up your..." The formalities of tank commander and crew in other St. Gloriana tanks were non-existent in her Crusader, after all, they were all first-years and everyone treated each other as peers. However, said formalities were observed outside the tank, lest they incur the wrath of Darjeeling.

"Oi, who replaced my energy drink here with Sprite?" she said as she checked the boiling vessel. Another difference is that she modified the tank's built-in water heater system to be able to chill food and drinks with the help of some spare coolant and tubings from the garage. It has allowed them to store a wide variety of beverages from iced tea, to treats like ice cream and in today's case, soft drinks.

The modification hasn't been found out, partly because of her ingenuity and partly because they always bribed the inspector with a cold drink of her choice.

Today, however, was her turn on deciding the tank's drink choice and she was not all too happy on being cheated on it.

"Chill mate, I'll buy you some of your favourite Rice Krispies Treats." Her gunner, Rosemary, replied. She was calm and collected one in the trio, which has always been referred to as Rosebush, an allusion to how all three had tea names related to the national flower of England.

"Fine," she said, pouring some soda in a porcelain teacup. Their relationship had always been a balance between love and hate. They had assisted her in her shenanigans before, like when they helped her cover-up an explosion caused by mounting a homemade engine into a Crusader but they could also be a pain in the arse, especially when they ship her with her senpai, Assam-sama.

Her radio crackled and she picked up her headset. "Come in, Revere," the voice on the other end called, which belonged to Congou, one of Cranberry's crew members and now was the radio operator for Earl Grey and her Cromwell.

"Revere here, what is it, Longfellow?" she answered back, using the designated codenames, which thrilled her and made think of those old spy films.

"The regulars are coming out, one lantern only I'm afraid." That means one tank has taken the bait and they are now approaching the kill zone.

"Affirmative, getting underway."

Slowly, the roar of engines started to fade in, getting louder and louder. The unmistakable purr of the Cromwell's Rolls-Royce Meteor couldn't mask the faint Leyland engines of the Matilda Mk. II, which sounded different from the Bedford of the Churchill. Thus, she was sure that Rukuriri was their quarry.

Rukuriri was too busy chasing the Cromwell to take notice of her and her Crusader. She told Rosella to turn on the engine and put her pedal to the metal. They chased the Matilda until they were at point-blank range.

Of course, Rukuriri will have to take notice of all this and she finally did, perhaps causing much-needed alarm inside the tank. The Matilda came into a halt and began turning its turret but two consecutive shots from the Cromwell in front of her jammed its turret.

The infantry tank was now sandwiched by the two cavalry tank and could only wait for its end. She delivered the coup de grace from behind, where Rukuriri hates it the most. Her tank's 6-pounder popped out a single shot, causing a lot of smoke to disperse from the tank. The smoke finally cleared and the Queen of the Desert was no more, her white flag fluttered in the wind and its commander made obscene gestures to the Crusader.

"Way to go!" She cheered, the spirit of Isuzu-dono of Oarai must have possessed her gunner today.

"Jolly good, but we're not done yet," Rosemary answered back.

"Good work Rosehip, now only Darjeeling remains at large, let's split up and loom for her." Earl Grey responded, who must have taken the receiver from Congou.

It did not take long for them to spot the Churchill, with its bulky chassis and slow speed, which made camouflaging it and quickly manoeuvring it virtually impossible, kinda like Brexit.

"We have found them! We're currently at junction B5, executing Operation Midnight Ride!" She said to the receiver, hoping it wouldn't send out her excitement to Congou.

Rosehip used the Crusader's speed and manoeuvrability to its fullest, zigzagging to avoid the deadly game of tag Assam and Orange Pekoe were playing. The extra rush of adrenaline only aided the feeling of exhilaration she'd been feeling ever since the match started, probably caused by the sugar rush of the soda.

Left Right Left Right

She thought to herself, but Rosella can only do so much as Assam finally saw through their pattern and fired a shot, this time striking true and hitting their turret head-on.

"Oh bugger." She felt the shockwave of the projectile as the cavalry tank came abruptly to a halt. Both her gunner and driver were out cold and she opened the turret to let in some sea breeze, lest she pass out too.

Looking out, she gripped the tank's little flagpole with the white flag on it and used it as a support to stay upright. She saw the Churchill tank attempted to drive away from the skirmish but they were too late.

A speeding green blur from the east came blazing in and collided with the Churchill's side, jammed its gun into the turret ring of the infantry tank and fired. The subsequent smoke hid the results from her sight, but it was bright as day who had won.

With an effort, she tried to stay conscious but as her vision continued to darken, she knew that it was a losing battle and she led herself to be swept away and hoped for the best.