The adventures of the Jeep teams

Prologue

8:13 AM Zarzis, Tunisia

The school ships Crete, El Alamein and Rimini have begun unloading the jeeps that will be used for today's battle. It's been nearly 7 hours since they left the port of Piraeus and everybody is excited. This is their first ever Sensha-do tournament against another school and they've been waiting for this moment their whole lives. All those years since the academy was formed, the only action they saw was during their training when they practiced against remote controlled tanks, both light and medium. They never thought they would have to wait so long to be accepted into one of the tournaments.

You see, this academy is not like the other schools that use tanks for their championships. This academy was formed as a tribute to the soldiers of the Greek Sacred Squadron, a special forces unit which was formed in 1942 in Egypt, the same period when the Greek government was stationed during the occupation of the country in WW2. During the war, the unit conducted raids against German forces using jeeps, just like the British SAS did.

For that reason, to preserve the history of that unit, the academy maintains the tradition, using only jeeps for their tournaments. This however, came with a very heavy price.

Because the rules of tankery do not permit the use of any other vehicles besides tanks, the academy wasn't immediately accepted. It took almost three years of negotiations to finally convince those in charge that the academy was more than capable of competing against tanks. In the end, they agreed to allow the academy's personnel to take part in the next tournament to see if they had what it takes. If they win, then they would be allowed to take part in the next tournament.

Well, it looks like this is their big chance to prove how worthy they really are.

Nicholas is standing on the bridge of one of the school's ships. The tournament is all he has been thinking about ever since the morning. He is concerned. He may have suggested that the academy takes part in this but on the other hand, he has his doubts. Their opponents have tanks on their arsenal while they only have jeeps. Maybe it wasn't a good idea that he insisted on this. Maybe it's just suicide.

On the other hand though, it would be both a pity and a shame not to test their abilities on the battlefield. They've been training for this their entire lives, it's their big chance, they can't give up like that. It would not only discredit the entire academy, it would also bring shame to their ancestors who fought during the war in 1940 without any fears. They now must repay them for that. He must show his ancestors that they have no fear against anybody.

After standing a few more minutes, he decides to go to the lower decks to brief his fellow soldiers on the battle plan, it's almost time for the tournament to start. Of course he did brief them on the way here, but it doesn't hurt to repeat the briefing one more time. It might also help them to improvise in case things won't go as planned.

After going down the stairs, he walks down the hallway, approaching a metallic door where the briefing room is. Everybody is waiting for him there at the exact time he ordered them, nobody is absent. They all appear to be thrilled. Not only for the battle, but also that their school commander will be in charge of the main command vehicle. You see, Nicholas has offered to endanger his life by driving the jeep that will wave the flag on the battlefield and it takes some real guts to do that. For that reason, he has gained everybody else's respect and admiration as he has showed what it truly means and takes to be in charge of an entire military unit, no matter how small or big it is.

As soon as he enters the room, everybody stands up and salutes him.

-'At ease', he says and everybody sits down. 'So, you all ready for your first tournament?'

-'Yes sir', they all reply at the same time with a smile on their faces.

-'Glad to hear it', he says. 'Now then, how about we go over a few things before deployment?'