And Things Go Boom! (Part 2 of Tanks)

Posted on Fri Nov 10th, 2023 @ 6:50am by Lieutenant Ami Rori & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair
Edited on on Fri Nov 10th, 2023 @ 6:50am

1,932 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Operation Tokyo Return

Previously on USS Myogi

"Good to know," Jane said. "Alright, let's get started." She very quickly got the hang of aiming through the scope as she had been shown. This was fun! Who would've thought that one could have fun in a vehicle without being a driver!

When the engine came online, it was loud! And this was with improved sound dampening. But she got used to the noise and the vibrations pretty quickly. The wind blew through her hair as they drove forward, as she kept her eyes open for targets.

After a few minutes, she gently lowered back into the turret and started looking through the scope properly. "Contact," she said. "Bearing zero-three-six," she said, looking at the compass below the scope. "Range, four hundred meters."

That caused Ami to trigger her own seat dropping down and slow the vehicle from the headlong charge, both reducing the engine noise as well as speed. "Copy that, do they look like they've seen us yet?"

"Negative," Jane replied.

"I've got some cover coming up in about a hundred meters, we're in the trees already, so they're going to have a disadvantage in seeing us." She used the screens that gave her a rather decent view of their surroundings to locate the small figure of the target tank and turned the BatChat to the left slightly, presenting an angled view to the enemy. Just in case they got spotted, now they'd have to overpenetrate the French tank's armor to score a true hit. Once she'd slowed to a stop behind the large shrubbery, poking only the muzzle of the main gun through it, she set the engine to idle only, reaching up to close the drivers hatch. "All right Hōshu (Gunner), they're moving at about 20 kph, three hundred twenty meters out. Take your time and fire when ready." She spoke softly, nearly crooning to Jane.

The target tank was moving slowly and straight. Probably aiming to regroup with others (or there were others nearby that they couldn't see, and this was just the outermost unit). But it made no difference right this second. Jane led the target ever so slightly and when she was ready, she depressed the trigger.

BOOM!

The main gun sounded and moment later, smoke was pouring out of the T-34 in her scope.

“Target, cease fire.” Ami said near-tonelessly, “Good shot! Makes me wish her Worshipfulness was in that one.” Without naming an actual name, she referred to Maho, but it wasn’t with anger, just frustration which this was working out. She went through her screens to see if any other targets were around and saw a flash. Instantaneously she hit the accelerator and lurched through the bush, a clang as a round hit the corner or her armor and a muted explosion after it hit the ground. “Shit, action left, one-four-zero, range unknown.”

But they were out in the open now, a very bad place for a single tank to be and she shifted their path into a random zig zag as she opened up the throttle. A fountain of dirt erupted in front of her, but she held course and another round whizzed by almost right in front of her face, “Two targets, don’t know where the second one is, changing base heading right, find the second one, I think we’re leaving effective range of number one.” Ami put actions to words as she jammed the tank hard right, skidding along the ground as the treads fought for traction, another round from the first tank flying by the turret.

“Yikes!” Jane said, hearing the last shot whiz by. “I think I see Target two. Bearing three-one-seven, damn, two hundred meters and closing fast. I think I got it, hang on.”

The enemy was indeed closing in fast, but Jane’s aim was decently quick. Her first round went high but a second found its mark on the enemy turret. Not a true kill but certainly a disabling shot. “Have you found the other one?”

In another move that would have absolutely broken both tracks by the skidding, Ami flipped the BatChat around and gunned the engine, the treads stripping the top level of grass and dirt before gaining purchase and accelerating again, “Should be just about ahead, in the trees like we were before. Watch for the muzzle flash.” She jinked right again at seeming random, passing 70kph and going airborne off a small knoll. The ‘WHUMP’ when the tank landed would have thrown her out of her seat if she’d not been strapped in, “Sorrrrry!” She yelled out without activating the comm.

That thud rattled Jane’s bones, but it was exhilarating. She loved her shuttles, but you had to be really in tune with your craft to feel its movement, and it was always subtle. To feel it a multi tonne armoured vehicle get air and land was just incredible.

She saw the flash before she heard the bang. But there was no impact. The enemy shot went wide. Jane’s wouldn’t. Her first shot hit it in the treads. The second hit the main body, causing smoke to pour out. “Tango down.”

She opened her hatch and came back up to survey with her eyes and feel the air again. “Negative on any more sightings,” she reported on comms.

"There's one more out there..." Ami replied, slowing to a more reasonable pace of 40 kph, making the bumps bounce them about, but not so hard as to make them hurt, "Reload cycle starting, we've got about-" She didn't get anything out as the last tank came out into the open, "A KV-2? When did THAT?" She slammed the brakes and the tank rocked forward as an apocalypse sound echoed from what seemed to be a refrigerator attached to the top of a set of treads. The High Explosive shell exploded as it hit the ground right in front of them and Ami shuddered. The crater was absolutely massive. She threw the BatChat into reverse and hit the gas, turning towards the massive tank whose turret was turning to try to keep up even as it trundled forward, "Their reload is eighteen seconds, gotta dodge them for two shots." She bit out as she closed in on it.

The mechanical autoloader on their own tank continued its work right next to Jane’s head as she kept the barrel aimed directly at the enormous piece of artillery shooting at them. Ami was doing her best to avoid getting hit, which put added pressure on Jane to keep her aim steady.

Muzzle flash. Boom. A shockwave hard enough to push the tank off course as the round landed just ten meters to their right.

Eighteen seconds later, exactly on cue, another muzzle flash. Boom. She heard the sound of debris hitting the roof as dirt, rocks, and tree branches showered all over them.

Until finally, the telltale click and green light which showed that loading was complete. “Firing!”

There was a flash and an explosion that threw up a lot of smoke as Ami straightened out her path and accelerated out backwards, then jerked hard to the left and changed from reverse to forward drive as the tank turned around. Behind them, the smoke began to clear as the behemoth drove out from the smoke, "Mantlet hit, bad luck.." Ami muttered, "Drop aim three feet and," She jerked the BatChat to the side as she saw the flash from her rear camera and a massive shell missed their turret by inches, "Stopping, wait!" She jammed the brakes and the tank lurched to a spot. She waited for the rebound and turned to look up at Jane, "Fire." She spoke softly.

Jane depressed the trigger, having followed Ami’s aiming advice first. There was no delay. The antitank round exited the barrel and hit the target perfectly. The armored vehicle exploded outward like so much twisted metal. “Tango down,” she said with a smile. “Ah, that was fun.” She opened the top hatch again and looked down toward the driver spot. “I’m not sure it beats racing, but I’ve found a new sport to play and it’s tankery.”

"Racing is fun too!" Ami had opened her hatch after stopping the engine and hopped up to sit on the edge of it, legs kicking back and forth idly, "I'll have to show you my '67 Nova at some point. I did get to watch your race and you were BRILLIANT!" She beamed up at the her... Friend? It was clear that her own mood was very much improved. As they sat there, the turret of the KV-2 creaked and then fell off the remains of the chassis to thud on the ground, "Tankery is my biggest happy place, though, just... So much fun driving one of these around. Thank you again for joining me, really."

"Thank you for inviting me!" Jane replied. "It's good for me to be social and get out of my quarters. My girlfriend is the former Intel Chief and she just went on leave, so since we launched I've been mostly spending my evenings in. An activity in the holodeck is just what the doctor ordered. Or rather, the chief engineer," she added with a wink.

She wiped some sweat off her brow, only to realize a moment later that her hand had grease on it from some internal mechanism. She smiled. "Computer, holo-camera." As requested, the holodeck materialized an image capture device on the tank next to her, which she handed to Ami. "I need that picture for her. One sec though."

The tank gunner had been wearing her Starfleet uniform (minus the jacket, which had been on the back of a chair when Ami knocked on her door), so she decided to improve upon the outfit for her photo. She took off the long-sleeve shirt that went under the jacket, leaving her in a tank top. She then took an elastic from a zipped pant pocket and used it to tie her hair back into a ponytail. Finally, she found the source of the black grease inside the gunner station, gathered some on her index and middle finger, and smeared it under her eyes. The tank top, hair, and under-eye grease made for a pretty good tankpunk sort of look. "What do you think?" she asked Ami.

“I’ve got even better.” Ami smiled brightly, “Computer, activate image capture system.” A flat ‘screen’ appeared in front of her and she manipulated it with ease, “Computer, wind, five kph due north.” The slight breeze came up, cooling her back and eliciting a shiver but catching the handful of strands of stray hair from Jane and blowing them back across her shoulders. Ami stood on the hull and inched back towards the edge, checking to make sure she wasn’t going to fall off, raising and lowering the ‘camera before smiling brightly and tapping the capture key.

She flipped the ‘screen to show Jane, the image of beauty halfway out of the cupola and one hand on the barrel of the gun. “And what do you think of that? Want one out of the turret, we could do a whole series if you’d like, I’m sure your girlfriend would LOVE it!”

Jane’s eyes went wide. “Photo shoot!” she exclaimed. “Save that first one, and let’s have fun with it!”

***************
Post by:

Lieutenant Ami Rori
Chief Engineer

and

Lieutenant(jg) Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Officer

USS Myogi

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