The Tigers of Chi-Ha-Tan ReRise Volume 0: The Veil Before Glory

A Warriors End And Rise Of A Sniper

May 2010

11 Months Before the ReRise

The shade of trees was welcome by Nishi, as another warm day was washing over the Akagi School carrier. Yet unlike the first day when she join and went through the dreaded fitness regime, with the sun beating down on them that day, this day was an inviting one, with the cool wind blowing across the carrier, making Nishi glad for the fresh air they got out on the sea, compare to the cramp streets of the metropolis she had once live in with her family. Which in the short time aboard the Akagi, had become something Nishi love day in and day out.

What she love even more than the beautiful weather that had been afforded to them today, was the sound of engines roaring. That sound belonging to the Type 97 Chi-Ha's Mitsubishi SA12200VD air-cooled V-12 diesel engine that Nishi was riding in, which wasn't alone as three others were roaring as well behind Nishi's tank in a marching column formation under the trees. At the moment, Nishi, who over the past month had earned the role of Reserve Group commander by her peers, was leading a platoon on a practice march, that their commander Ako had assigned to them for training today.

Standing tall in her commanders cupola, Nishi turn around to look back at her platoon, which consisted of Kubota, Nagura, and Hamada. All driving Type 97 Chi-Ha's as well while keeping a good marching line with one another along the path in the woods. Seeing them driving smoothly along the trail made Nishi's heart soar with pride at how well they were their formation, as it had been a hard month of sorting out tank commanders and crews, then working to get in sync with one another as quickly as possible so the first years could be allow to take their tanks out onto the field.

Now, even with only a month of training under them, they had earned their rookie tankers badge. Putting in a lot of hard work to get to this point, learning the ins and outs of their tanks from Chief Mechanic Himi who taught them all the mechanical gibberish that would help them, as well as how to repair minor things in the field if their tank ever broke down. The mature women quickly became a favorite amongst the first years, as Himi always supported them with words and jokes that brought them up some days when practices were a bit to harsh and brutal.

While even if they train in tanks, their upperclassmen put them through a tough physical regime as well, which didn't just consist of running, push-ups, or situps. They added in Judo and Kendo to their fitness regiment, which was taxing as Nishi and her first years were already being crammed with tankery information, but had to learn these two martial arts that were part of steadying their minds to be calm, yet anyone who was pair with Tamada got a nothing but bruises from the aggressive girl that included Nishi, but that was just something Nishi had come to like about her tankery sister, the pure fearlessness Tamada had now that her confidence was high after the rough first day she had.

Though if one thing nag at Nishi about their training, was the utter mix of tactics when it came to actual tankery. Though Ako was the commander of the team, the second-year Vice Commander Mizuko always seem to be the one leading the training by having the girls charge targets in a straight line, which was very crude compare to the other more detailed training outside of tanks. Yet something about the fearless nature of the charge was awe-inspiring for Nishi, seeing how committed a unit was to get into the faces of their opponents and show them the might of their club's fighting prowess.

Yet, there was also the obvious fact, even to a rookie tanker like Nishi, that a charge over open ground seem suicidal, especially against a well entrench team. Ako though had been explaining to the first years in study sessions about why they needed to get closer, since their tank's punching power was relatively low, especially in the Type 97 57mm low-velocity gun, which was in actuality an infantry support gun even with its AP Shells. Their only effective tank was the Type 97 Shinhoto with the Type 1 47mm gun that had significantly higher velocity, but even still struggled against most tanks other teams tanks frontal armor they fielded, with sides being their only chance to find the penetration to overload the onboard systems as a kill shot.