Hellerian Heroes: The Armored Goliath

Chapter IV: Blazes of the Alps [Act 1]

As the night slowly came and as the bright full moon rose above the Alps, Captain Dark was growing worried of what may come next, sitting on the commander shaft as he stared into the starry sky, holding onto his cover every now and then because of the heavy wind that was thundering down the high mountain peaks.
As the tanks moved up the hill, they saw another Armored Column moving over from the German side of Alps, a distant yet distinct sound very familiar to a Captain, could it be tank tracks? Impossible, the hostile forces shouldn't have been moving from their positions at the dead of the night, especially at a windy and low foggy roads. The captain quickly slid down his hatch and grabbed the radio in a hurry,
"Hold the line!" he yelled over the transitions, the whole column grinded to a halt, confused by the sudden command but very much ready to face anyone head on that's coming over that canyon-like road through the alpine roads.
"Possible hostile contacts ahead, turn off the engines, and await further orders" said the captain as he looked through the binoculars over the commander's hatch.
As he was staring into the darkness of the road ahead, the eerie silence was moments later broken by a radio broadcast,
"Tankers, this is Major Charles, we are arriving to the meeting point, any other tankers in our sector need to report to our positions immediately, over" the radio rang out in the tank.
"Well boys, move on forward, let's meet up with the Major" said the Captain over the radio before he slid down the hatch into the tank, closing them above him as the tank column started to go onward over the small poorly paved hill road towards the Major's position.
As they went on the trailing tank noticed something on the high hills, something alike silhouettes of people quickly moving over the high peeks of Alps, grinding forward in small pack-like formations before disappearing into the night, "What in the gods name was that on the hill?" rang out the radio transmission of the trailing tanks commander.
"What'd you see, Sergeant?" asked Lieutenant Sigrid carefully observing the high hills off to their right,
"There were silhouettes moving across them, ma'am" said the Staff Sergeant trying to get a look at those silhouettes that were on the mountain peaks few moments ago.
"You are tired, Sergeant, must be imagening things" said Sigrid before lowering down her binoculars and sitting back on her seat,
"I could swear i saw something, but you might be correct, ma'am" said the Staff Sergeant before leaning back to take a nap.
An hour has passed in silence before the tanks reached their destination, grinding to a halt as they stopped by an abandoned hangar where dozens of tanks were parked around.
The Captain opened his hatches and stepped out of his tank and stretched,
"I was expecting you, Captain" said a very familiar voice behind him, as the captain turned around he was pleased to see a very familiar face,
"Good Night, Major, im pleased to see you" said the captain with a smile.
"Im pleased to see you too" said Major Charles "But i wish we had more time for chit-chat, we have an important meeting to attend held by a very important person." as he walked away to the officer quarters, not looking back as he expected the Captain and his Lieutenants to follow him.
As he entered the officer quarters and disappeared behind the corner, upon entering he saw none other than Battalion General and Chief of Army staff, General Austin, sitting at the head of the table, looking at the door.
As officers sat down, the General started talking,
"Ladies and Gentlemen, as you know, we are heading towards the Alpine Valley, with the tank force we were given we expect to manage something, but most of our tankers are either at Löwensdorf or Walther, but with the force of overall 90 tanks that we'll split up into 3 groups, with Regiment 1 led by Colonel Lazarus, Regiment 2 led by Lieutenant Colonel Fegel and Regiment 3 led by Major Charles. I expect all of you to show courage, especially you Fegel, last time you fled. enemy forces are managing a force of 2 armored platoons, numbering 10 tanks, but it might be more since the Alpine Valley is a key position which Alemannia holds dearly. Expect fierce resistance there, but hold on as much as you can, Hail Albert." said the General before standing and saluting to his tankers "and good luck".
As the meeting ended, Captain looked disturbed as he stood up and got out, sitting down on a portable chair they set up outside a makeshift HQ, looking down at the ground as he rested his head in his arms.
"What's the matter, sir?, You ain't looking so good." said Sigrid before she sat down next to him.
"I feel like something bad will happen..."said the captain looking down visibly disturbed "something very bad that i cannot explain" he looked at the Lieutenant before raising a brow "What do you think, Lieutenant?, what's gonna happen?".
Sigrid sighed and nodded "You're just tired, sir" she said as she rested her arm on Captain's back "You should rest, you already had a stressful night, all kinds of bad things go through your mind when you're tired".
"Might be" said the Captain as he stood up and slowly started walking to the tent that was being set up "Thank you for your suggestion, Lieutenant",
"Always, sir" she said before she walked over and into her tank to grab her gear.
Hours passed and the captain woke up feeling awful, covered in sweat even though the cold weather of Alps was causing him to shiver the moment he threw the covers aside.
He got his shirt and suspenders on and tightened them before throwing his formals over his shoulders before going out of his tent for a smoke,
"I really suppose that something might happen" said the captain as he looked at the clear sky, with a full moon hovering high above the alps, in the way where the Alpine Valley should be.
Only thing there is now...is preparation for battle because it'll happen soon.

[End of Act 1]