Chapter 21: Ch 19. A combat exercise

Right after we had a nice sleep we began preparing. The moon was already rising and when Papa Crow was returning they mentioned that the friendly armies began moving.

Because we had time to rest we are completely fresh and ready to fight. I was climbing up the tower and soon sat in my seat.

“Old man, start the engine. Don’t be shy to use the lights. Jester, check the ammo and systems. I’ll go check the coaxial.”

‘WwwwwwWRRRUUUU’

‘Clang, WRUUU’

“Report.”

“Engine is looking good, switching to the first gear.” (O)

“16 HE shells in the loader, FCS is working fine.” (J)

“Forward.” With a twitch the tank started moving.

“Turn left, 90. Faster.” We rolled down a street towards the gates. There we are supposed to meet with the kingdom’s officer so he can lead us to his army.

“Turn right, 40. Slow down, we are going too fast.”

“Understood.” We don’t have anything to talk about while we are here but it doesn’t lead to an awkward silence. Right now all that we need is a perfect execution of orders.

“Faster.” As we drove to the village’s main street we headed straight to the gates. A horseman rode a horse from there but soon we caught up.

The horse was freaked out by the engine, so was the officer. He was riding a fast horse but he was still struggling to stay close to the tank. I peeked out and began shouting.

“We need to go faster, the sooner we arrive the better!”

“Go over there, there should be a straight road right to my men’s position!” As he finished shouting, the horse slowed down so much that he no longer could keep up. We just accelerated and soon we were near the marching columns.

A lot of people with spears and swords were walking to the battlefield. A large number of wagons were following the army together with some cavalry.

The tank slowed down and slimed behind the infantry columns. We had to be extra cautious because these men don’t have any idea about the tank and that if they get under the tracks they become mashed meat.

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By the time we arrived I was half-asleep from boredom. It’s not exactly a bad thing, it is nice to have infantry back-up once in a while. Since we arrived to this world we had no support and had to rely only on each other without any infantry. The radio support is great but it won’t help if we get an RPG into our side.

“So, are we really going to have a live-fire?” Jester was not as eager as he normally is.

“Yes, we will. If you are not fine with this then give me the controls.”

“I’m going to be ok, I just wonder what will it look like?” (J)

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“Krepis’, seychas budet koe-chto postrashnee uchebki. Yesli nuzna pomosh’, yesli ne uveren, obrash’aysa.” [Be strong, there will be something scarier than the training. If you need help, if you have doubts, then tell me.] I assured him.

“Have you ever… like… killed people? In our world.” (J)

“Yes. I am ready to help you whenever you need.” He did fire at the people but it was a skirmish where we fired a number of bullets without even being able to confirm hits, and fired one AP shell which might’ve hit somebody. I wonder if Jester had the mental break of killing somebody. Well, tonight he is assured to have one so I prepared to comfort him.

The armies regrouped into their battle formations. Everywhere were braziers and torchlights which lit the formations. Allied forces were standing on a hill and the enemy is expected to come from a forest a kilometer away. The enemy will have to climb this hill.

For now the tank’s diesel is shut down and we turned off all the lights aside from a few parking lights to let the allies know where we are.

After an hour of waiting I saw something in the forest.

“Take your sits, start the engine!”

‘wwwwrWRUUM’

In the war room the enemy formation was clearly shown. They formed a long narrow line of infantry with a number of small groups right behind them and cavalry on their flanks.

“Load HE.”

‘Whuuuu-ch-whuu’

I looked through the periscope and saw small lights in the forest.

“Arrows! Ready the shields!” Somebody cried out from outside.

“Fire at 350, distance is around 900.” I ordered to fire at the archers.

“Ready.” (J)

“Fire!”

“Shooting!” (J)

BOOM

A small flash happened near the targeted area. The enemy formation began moving.

“Prepare the next shot, don’t wait for me!” When I did not hear the clanging of the autoloader I shouted at Jester.

“Forward.” It is time for the machine to enter this battlefield.

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