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INTERLASVA - SOMEWHERE ALONG THE BERMAN BORDER
It had been about 5 months since Bermany declared war on most of Eropi; Gasco, Prairie, Interlasva and Nevagorod
The king of Prairie bent his knee to the Bermans, relinquishing the border territories with Gasco, and allowing the deportation of Felinekos across the realm
The president of Gasco could do little against the Blitzkrieg of the Bermans, Gasco essentially not existing as an entity as the enemy stepped upon the former free lands
But the Lasvians were fighting like hell
For each inch of land lost, for every thousand of Lasvian soldiers felled, the thrice fell on the Berman side, and rebel bands made sure to be a constant issue despite their hatred for both the native and foreign crowns
And with the winter at full force the situation worsened for Bermany by the second, even with major cities of Interlasva and Nevagorod under menace of siege
But among it all, a singular tank persevered through...
TRNK TRNK TRNK TRNK TRNK TRNK TRNK
"How much longer, you think?"
The pilot of the tank questioned; Guryev, 12 years-old Felineko
Born and raised by Yellow Bands rebels, with all the baggage and knowledge it came with
After being separated from his family during a Berman attack, he found the tank alongside his fellow crewmates, even if unsteady he slowly grew used to having to be the comrade of a noble...
"Not much more, I hope..."
The commander of the tank said, trying to steady a map and compass on a surface; Medovik, 14 years-old Felineko
Unlike the other two he was from Interlasva proper, not from Nevagorod
From day one he was made to be a noble in military career, put in military school at the first chance. His mother and father never were one to love, and it reflected on his stern behaviour, only reinforced with military discipline.
He was lucky to escape his family's execution, as Bermans rounded him and his parents in their own estate, was the first to find the tank and find the other two crewmembers he had
"Do we still have provisions, Sharlotka?"
"Yes, sir Medovik...."
The one currently tasked as gunner said, a quiet voice as she addressed Medovik; Sharlotka, 13 years-old Felineko
A peasant girl, not from rebels but rather ones all too happy to bend the knee to the serfdom system and play by its rules
Raised and groomed to be a wife someday, she never talked much, only nodded and agreed as she took duties a wife would be expected to
Her family was one of the unfortunate casualties of a Berman bombardment, Medovik and Guryev running at her hiding at the ruins of her village
BZZZZZ "We have enough fuel to last for a couple more kilometers, but if your map reading is right, we shouldn't have many problems" BZZZ
The radio shoved into one of the tank's walls turned on to emit a voice; Eliasz, their "saviour angel"
He was the entity that controlled the tank that the Felinekos were inside right now. He had no good way to explain what he was, not that he knew for sure, just calling himself "a soldier's mind controlling this thing"
He could only talk through the radio, but he could see in and out the tank with mini-cameras, and was the armoring, engine and guns of it too. Being able to repair it so long he had enough time to study and assimilate repair parts
"sigh Alright, with any luck just a few more days until we arrive at Kraskiov..."
He sat back, staring blanky on the little window that gave whoever was driving visibility to the outside, hurdling himself on his coat - it was damn near freezing cold, but they managed, just enough
"Never thought I'd feel so much dread just thinking of it."
"Uhm, rich coming out of you."
The young rebel commented, not looking away from the driver’s window
"...what is that supposed to mean...?"
The noble said, visibly a bit agitated, those two were always a bit on each other's neck, deservedly so as they lived in opposite sides; the noble class kid and the rebel peasant kid
"You always like to go about the pleasures of "a real city", the food, the theater, then people."
A visible smirk was on the scrappy kid's face, clearly enjoying the reaction he go
"A surprise you'd ever think negatively of it."
"...good."
Medovik calmed his spirit, a bit
"I'm just worried, we may arrive with the city already besieged by those Berman bastards! The angels know the little of the armed forces we find seems almost as in good condition as us."
"But it's also our best shot at saving ourselves."
"One of the few things we truly agree on, commander."
Guryev looked behind with a smirk, not giving that title to the other Felineko out of a place of respect, not at all
And with a quiet "uhmp" from Medovik the tank fell in silence again as the seemingly endless snow path continued.
Until....
"!"
While looking idly outside through the gun hole, Sharl picked up very faint sounds of snow being stepped onto, and she swore she almost saw-
"M-Medovik, I think I s-saw-!"
fwwwwiiiiIIIINNNN-
KRA-BOOM!
"AHHH!"
BZZZ "BERMANS UNITS, WE ARE SURROUNDED!" BZZZZ
With a mighty explosion of a tank shell and the tank shaking violently, now the crew saw themselves surrounded in the forest!
"Crapcrapcrap-"
The noble panicked, quickly used the periscope to get a better view; those weren't some armored cars, fully fledged tanks all around them, an entire division by the looks
Surrounded on every direction except-
"GURYEV, 15 DEGREES TO THE RIGHT! MAXIMUM SPEED!"
"SHARLOTKA, LOAD THE SMOKE GRENADES! FIRE JUST BEHIND US AT WILL!"
He commandeered at an instant, drawing and setting up a plan on the heat of the moment
"We have no hope of fighting them head on, we'll try to lose them or engage them at a more advantageous point!"
Soon he braced himself as the current pilot put metal to the pedal!
"R-Right!"
Soon the girl swiftly scrambled the grenades, opening and loading into the launcher as she fired as fast as she could, to create a smoke screen, as bullets already rained through and shells missed them, snow and bark pieces flying through the smoke!
BOOM BOOM- brbbrbbrbr-
"ALRIGHT, brace for it!"
At the same time the driver made a sharp turn, the tracks leaving a mark on the snow, as he put all effort into dashing through the current path at max speed!
BRRRRR BRRRR
KR-BOOM KR-BOOOM
And as the tank speed by the snow its path was covered by explosions and bullets, the wind howling as inferno followed
"Grhm...I can't see ANYTHING up ahead...."
Medovik gritted his teeth, seeing nothing but smoke and debris from the periscope (not even daring to think of opening the hatch), all the while he scrambled with a map, barely managing to make out the words and annotations on it
"ELIASZ! There should be a cave ahead if I'm reading this map right, can you confirm?"
With its "eyes" the mysterious voice took little time to give an answer:
BZZZZZ "I see it! 5 degrees to the right and don't stop!" BZZZZ
"On it!"
BRRRRMMMMMMM!!!
The unusual NT-3's engine roared as the Felineko pushed it even further to its limits, and soon, through a fog of smoke and fire, and the ringing of shells and bullets, the cave made itself known…
"M-Mhm..."
Sharlotka winced just from being close to it, as she stopped firing as she emptied an entire belt already; the cave looked unnatural, forebonding, the entrance to it being riddled with carvings and warnings in Lasvian, and looking more like a sword pierced a hole into the mountain than a natural cave.
"PUT ANOTHER BELT IN, SHARLOTKA! WE AREN'T OUT OF THE FRAY YET!"
But before she could do as much as clear her mind Medovik already blared another command, looking behind his shoulder towards the girl acting as gunner
"AH! R-Right!"
The girl was shocked back to reality, doing as so
KRA-BOOOM -BOOM--- BOOOM!
But no matter, the tank squadron was still hot on their tail, even as they went into the cave
"AHH!”
"D-Damn it! This cave looks like a deadend!"
As the tank shaked from the shells landing close by, and even nicking their armor skirts, the periscope not revealing a very promising path ahead
"Wait, I see something up ahead! Looks like a steel door!"
He pointed as the smoke cleared in the darkened cave
“Okay, we are blasting through then - ELIASZ, TAKE DIRECTION, JUST KEEP MOVING AHEAD!"”
No beat missed, Medovik moved to the cannon aims, as Guryev already loaded a sheel
BZZZZZ "Understood!" BZZZZ
TRKKKKK KKKK!
With no delay the driving wheel and levers started to move on their own, as the disembodied voice took over
BRRRRR- KREEEK!
"A--AAHh!"
Suddenly Sharlotka winced, as several bullets flew and hit close by the gunner's viewing hole, sending shards of metal flying!
"SHIT, are you alright?!"
The leader immediately was taken out of his aiming, as he heard her screaming
"I-I'm fine, j-just f-mmhmm.... a few cuts."
She winced at the cuts on her forearm, but she was alright, mostly
"SHELL'S IN!"
Guryev yelled, a loud clank as the shell was lodged into the cannon
"R-Right! 1...2...3...FIRE!"
And with a command from the noble-
BOOOOM
A deafening boom as the tank shell flew through and hit the steel doors square on, blasting open a passage to the insides of this cave(?)
"YEEEAH! HAHAH!"
The larger Felineko roared, a rare happiness in the middle of combat, patting the smaller cat on the back
"LET'S SEE THEY GET US NOW!"
He took it nicely, if a bit surprised at the sudden smack
"Don't rest now! It's a chokepoint for us, but there's a good 10 tanks if not more behind us, take over for Sharl, I'll drive now!"
"I-I can frhmm sh-"
Sharlotka tried to ignore her pain to no avail as she objected
"NO! Take care of your wounds and rest, we'll handle this!"
He firmly cut her off, shifting around to take the driving controls
"O-Okay...frrmm"
She obliged moving to the commander's seat, searching around for the few medical supplies they had, for some bandages
With the Berman tanks left behind for the moment, the crew forced their way inside
It was dark, enough to force the tank's lights to be turned on but then...
CLICK--FWWIIIIIINNNNNN-WHHNNWHNNNN
"Uh? Did we break into a Berman facility...?"
Medovik was perplexed, as sterile blue lights turned on inside the supposed cave, that now revealed inside itself a metallic and rusting facility, like a giant factory (not unlike what Bermans would set up)
BZZZZ "Could it be-" BZZZZ
Suddenly the voice cut off, as it seemed to see...something
BZZZZ "Wait I know that! That ring up ahead!" BZZZZ
BZZZZ "It would take a while and leave the tank unarmored, but it's better chances than fighting off an entire division worthy of tanks." BZZZ
"What?! We are not cowards, we still-"
The noble Felineko nearly snarled at the suggestion, but-
BOOOM...... BOOM!
Before he could finish his words, explosions echoed from behind them
"THIS ISN'T TIME FOR YOUR HONOR MEDOVIK, THEY ARE GONNA BREAK THROUGH!"
The larger boy yelled back, swapping the machine gun for a grenade launcher in the gunner role, priming to delay the enemy
"Damn it-"
The smaller cat cursed under his breath, now obliged to put aside his sentiments
"Okay, we'll hold them off Eliasz, but be quick!"
With permission given, suddenly the tank's armor started to "crack"
Krk...Krk...Krk...Krk...Krk
Revealing underneath the tank's real armor, as the mass of metal bits now moved to the controls close ahead, latching onto them
BZZZZ "It's been a while...but I'll try to hurry!" BZZZ
The tank now stopped on its tracks, the noble stopped for a few precious seconds, holding up his angel wings necklace and praying silently, before getting up-
"Let's do it, MOVING TURRET 180 DEGREES!"
FRRRRRRRRNNNNN!
BOOOM!
The steel doors cracked under another Berman shell…
"Incendiary charges loaded!"
The silence was dense, as the smoke cleared into a bigger opening in the steel frame…
"Shell loaded!"
The sound of tank tracks started to echo....
"NOW!"
"NOW!"
And in one swift move both gunners started to unload everything they had, as the first Berman tank showed itself!
BOOM!!! FWWWWWSSSHH!!! KR-BOOOM!
BZZZZZ "ALMOST THERE, HOLD JUST A LITTLE LONGER!" BZZZZ
The voice boomed from the radio, as electric flickering could be heard from the surroundings!
"KEEP THE PRESSURE ON THEM, LOADING ANOTHER SHELL!"
Another deafening boom, another heavy shell picked up by Medovik…
"EAT LEAD, BERMAN BASTARDS!"
Only a few grenades left for Guryev to use, and they weren't good enough against much better armor…
BZZZ "Almost there, just a few seconds more!" BZZZ
"SHIT, IT'S LIKE WE ARE TICKLING THEM - LAST TWO SHELLS!"
Another shell, as the sounds of machine gun fire and tank shells was absolutely infernal to the ears
"THE LAST SMOKE GRENADE!"
The last of the support guns' ammo gone, best for last was a temporary smoke screen…
BZZZZ "IT'S READY, HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS!” BZZZ
Just as quick as it detached from the tank, the "metal" reattached itself, this time cocooning it against the onslaught of projectiles!
"LAST SHELL!"
The leader fired the last shell before the armor closed all openings, sitting back down as the sounds were muffled from the outside, and the tank shaked from impact
"...if this is it for us, it was good to meet you two."
Medovik said solemnly, unsure as he could feel the outer armor cracking with each consecutive strike...maybe it really was the end
"...it wasn't so bad."
Not as emotional, but it sounded as sincere as Guryev could be a smirk sat on his face
"...it's gonna, b-be alright, I-I’m sure..."
Sharlotka sounded terrified, holding onto her injured arm and burying herself further into her coat, eyes shut tight, not wanting to see the horrible death that didn’t see too improbable
BZZZ..BRZZZZZZZZ
The electricity in the facility came to a crescendo, blue light coating the entire area even among the bullets and shells crossing the air.
And suddenly, an explosion of energy occured...
FR-OOOOOMMMM!
----------
EASTERN FRONT BERMAN HQ, HOURS LATER
"(...) and the issuing explosion, which pierced the sky like a light rod and generated a sonic boom, fried up vehicles and radios in a 10km radius."
A Berman commander said verbatim, back to the messenger who handed him the latest updates coming from the Interlasvian countryside
"Yes, sir. We have diverged other battalions to retrieve and repair our equipment, but it's-"
The messenger added, trying to ease his superior’s stress
"It's gonna delay our siege to Kraskiov. sigh Lord above."
The Berman commander rubbed his temples, trying to calm down
"Relay this to radio; we'll hold the defensive line while we sort out this, incident. And send a message back to the homeland; the D.O.A.R. will want to see this "cave" for themselves."
"Yes, sir!"
The messenger saluted, promptly leaving the room to do just that
The end?