Girls Und Panzer Tankery's End

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

The dark night sky had been laid for nearly three hours now. The pine trees swayed in the late-night breeze, the grass danced a late-night ballet, and fourteen Challenger tanks either sit or slowly patrol around the thirteen-hundred-ton Schwerer Gustav Cannon. Out of the fourteen tanks nine sit dormant while their operators sit around a fire, sleep, or focus their attention on a hobby or conversation. the five moving Challengers slowly patrol the surroundings of the Cannons placement. A fairly large opening in the trees around them gave way for the amount of tanks to ge around the cannon. All that surrounded them were pine trees and the darkness of the forest.

Within the forest, watching in wait, was a lone M4 Sherman. Two individuals sit on top of the tank studying the movements of the Challengers and spying the prime location besides the Cannon for optimal shadowy camouflage. The two individuals studied for near a whole hour before they had memorized the pattern of the tanks. With a silent tap of the foot the Sherman commander ordered the tank forward. The driver moved in tune. The loud distinct noise of the Continental R975-C1 muffled by a tightly tied mass of fabrics. The tank moved slowly as if trying to remain one with the shadows and reached the end of the tree line. Another minute of watching and once one of the Challenger tanks moved passed the Sherman waited another half minute before moving silently behind the Challenger and weeded its way into the patrol.

The Sherman, again, waited for the prime opportunity to sneak away into the dense shadows of the Cannon. While waiting the figure on top of the Sherman glanced at the Federation women siting by the fire. They were chatting and enjoying tea while the rest were either sleeping or occupying themselves with an activity that needed most of their attention. This was acceptable. The sleepers wouldn't even know they were here, the ones doing activities were more focused on their own devices, and the vision of the ones making conversation would be dampened by the light from the fire. It was perfect.

By this time, the Sherman had made seven full rotations around the Cannon. Once the eighth was finished the Sherman saw its opportunity. It slit off from the patrol and silently made its way into the dark shadows of the stern near the shell dump. Once the Sherman's engine was turned off the one on top of the tank made room for two more inside the tank to join him. Once certain they hadn't been spotted the man jumped onto the Cannon. In the next moment, the two others followed him.

The door to the Cannons engine room was pushed open and Davis made his way inside the massive construction. Behind him Alisa moved in and behind her was her crewmate Sakura, who in turn closed the door leaving herself outside.

Once the door was closed Davis and Alisa moved not a few feet before stopping again. The layout of the Cannon was simple. The top of the tank was the firing controls and operations, in the middle was the storage and loading mechanisms, and in the bottom was the very cramped and dusty engine and coolant room. Davis took off the backpack strapped to his person and laid it on the ground. Opening it he pulled out three small devices. He handed all three to Alisa before getting four for himself.

These devices were generously made by Davis's teammate Andrew. He was a tinker of sorts and his skills of making homemade fireworks came in handy for this situation. Davis knew this Cannon had to be destroyed. No matter the costs. That's why this demolitions team was just of himself and Alisa's tank crew. Naomi was watching from further away with her Fire Fly. If pushed came to shove she's cover the M4 as they made their escape. Davis chose Alisa, not because she gave him the idea, but because of her stature. He wasn't insulting her its just the engine room was very cramped. So the most vulnerable components were tucked way behind the pipes and metal bars, protected from the outside dangers, risked at only being degraded by the ferocity of time. Alisa's shortness would make her invaluable to this mission. Normally Davis would have Tim from his tank do his dirty work, but Tim wasn't the most stable when It came to his dust allergies.

Davis nodded to Alisa and he moved towards the more open side of the engine while Alisa crouched down and wandered into the small openings into the engine components. She bypassed several suspicious looking targets, but she already had her targets in mind. First was the coolant line. This line pushed cold water throughout the Cannon making it not get overheated from the firing of its heavy ordinance. Once she found the specific pipeline she attached the homemade I.E.D. and moved on to the next one.

The second target was the belt, or chain that rewound the reloading mechanism. The destruction of this piece would make the Cannon unable to load its shells automatically. And its not like the operators could lift the massive ordinance. Alisa thought to herself that maybe the Americans would try to lift one just because they had the opportunity. She knew the Uncle Sam guys would do it just to spite any challengers. The mechanism was strapped with a bomb and Alisa went prone and crawled through a narrow opening for her third target.

An exposed ventilation shaft that lead straight to the ammunitions storage. The blast from the bomb would travel up the vent and cause a reaction to the ordinance inside. Now the storage room was tripled with protective metals and locked behind strong valves and large bolt seals. In fact, besides the ordinance, the storage was the safest room in the Cannon. The blast would not break the door to the room so all operators in the Cannon would be perfectly fine save for a shock and rocking of the Cannon. Alisa strapped the last bomb and waddled her way back out of the crevice. She exited the opening and saw Davis working on his last device as he had climbed a few feet upwards to place it on a support beam. Davis's bombs were to be placed in structural supports making the Cannon less stable while Alisa's were placed on prime operating targets.

Once his last bomb was in place Davis turned and saw her watching him. He jumped down and made his way over, grabbing his backpack and motioning to the door. Davis opened the engine room door and held it until he and Alisa were outside. Sakura was standing there looking out for any guards on the Cannon as a whole. Seeing the coast is clear Davis, Alisa and Sakura jump back onto the Sherman and enter through the hatch. Again the Sherman waits for the opportune chance to move into the patrol and after several minutes, the Sherman moves and rejoins the patrol with ease before continuing around the Cannon for another five rotations. After the fifth rotation the Sherman finds an opening and goes for it making a slow b line to the trees.

Once the Sherman was out of range from the Cannon and safely covered by the tree line did the crew exhale a breath. This operation was very mentally draining, especially for Davis, who had planned the whole thing to begin with. Davis opened the hatch and sat on top of the tank as they continued to move forward. After some time, the Sherman crew was able to rendezvous with Naomi's Fire Fly and the two tanks headed for camp.

Once the tanks arrived Davis hopped out of the tank watching as the team gathered by the edge of the hill side to witness the fruits of labor. Davis walked over to the hill side and brought out the detonator. He was about to push the button when he looked at Alisa. She was grinning wildly. Davis thought for a moment before smiling and tapping Alisa on the shoulder. She turned and saw Davis hold the detonator out to her. she only pointed to herself with confusion and Davis simply nodded. Alisa grew a smile before taking the detonator and pushing the button.

A loud explosion was heard, a fire ball flew upinto the sky with smoke following close behind. The cannon barrel still stoodbut its functions were well and truly gone. A second explosion came afterward,this one much louder, yet due to the lack of fire and smoke the properassumption was that the munitions in the storage room had gone up. The missionwas complete, now all Davis needed to do was rendezvous with Rivers team andreturn to home.