Heimatfront Episode Two - Baptism of Fire

Overture

DISCLAIMER

1 - This is a fanwork made for fun and to spread the love for all things Girls Und Panzer and History around. Girls Und Panzer belongs to its legal owners, as well as its characters and story. Also the show is awesome and you should really buy the DVDs.

2 - I need to thank BlueJay62, F-14 Tomcat Lover, FenrirWolf, Kite Tanril, Rogue Baron, Soviet Fox, Theralion,Yemi Hikari and the helpful guys at the Girls Und Panzer FaceBook group for all the help and support. The good parts of this fic only exist thanks to them. The bad parts, though, are all mine. 

"War is not an adventure. It is a disease. It is like typhus."

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it."

Robert E. Lee

I

OVERTURE

The evening was nearing its end. As the sun approached its hideout under the horizon the day started to get colder and mist emerged from the land, at first timidly, but rapidly threatening to grow thicker by the minute.

While the evening had dragged on for hours under that clouded sky, the girls from Baderberg had worked hard on their collection of machines of war, readying the tanks for their first true march, the one in which they would finally hand them to the men who needed their weapons and thick armor. Although the vehicles had already been thoroughly rebuilt, tested and verified time and again, it was felt that a last revision wouldn’t do any harm.

And so Maria saw herself in the center of the action, giving orders and steering the work team in what would be the last time they did that kind of work. Enthusiastic as she was with the whole situation, Anja had managed to gather a handsomely large group to help with the final preparations. As expected, everything was in order, and all issues found were minor and quite easy to fix.

After the hectic revision the tanks were brought outside, in a cacophony of rumbling engines and shrieking treads which exploded in the otherwise silent evening, their guns and armor glittering under the darkening sky. Slowly, the drivers brought them to the plaza just behind the entry gates, where the vehicles now stood in line, all the engines purring while idling. The 38(t) was commanding the column while at the tail was a single Boxer truck, where the girls would travel back to Baderberg once their mission was completed.

Satisfied with the column’s appearance, Anja approached Führerin Schon. Although the weather was getting colder and the mist denser most girls of the complex, even those not involved in the restoration of the tanks, were watching the departure, some from the windows in the nearby buildings some outside, trembling but curious nonetheless.

Among them was Maria, who walked away from the tanks once she’d felt her work to be done. Now her glance seemed to be lost in some point beyond the tanks and the buildings nearby.

Her mind was still filled with doubt and several threads of thought fought against each other, measuring their respective weights, considering what could happen in the next hours. She still knew of Anja’s plans, and she also knew how shocking the reality behind them would be to the girls coming along with her. If possible, Maria would prefer to stay well away from all of it.