I gazed upon the white painted machine we will perish in, an armored coffin that I will be buried in alongside many others. This contraption had two wide tracks, with many wheels, something we have grown accustomed too for dealing with harsh terrain and snow bogs. Yet this machine was armored heavily with newly invented materials, and armed with a large cannon. Its front faces are sloped to enhance its armor, the slopes on the turret that houses the cannon bare, on both sides, official military and regiment insignia with the identification code written in orange paint “01.1.07” to the right of both insignia.
I stood as Commander Kotol, operating under the Kastov-Von-Pesha 1st Experimental Weapons Division, charged with the command of this machine, and tasked with keeping the machine and its crew intact.
The four person crew stood in a line parallel to the machine with me at the front. The driver, Ishi, stood to my right; she fell a head shorter than me and had a poorly kept coat of dark blue feathers with some being broken off near the end and some seeming to stick out randomly; none of her feathers had highlights and were entirely solid colored. Her eyes are the same dark blue as her feathers, one of her ears is missing its tip, and her crest feathers are unmaintained and let to flow freely without obstruction. Her tail is thin and has a half diamond as the end feather. I am not sure if she will be able to survive, she doesn't seem to care for herself; but from my interactions with her, she appears to be caring for others and in general, a good person despite her physical appearance.
To the right of Ishi, stood our gunner Ekni who, from what information I have gathered, is the most interesting individual I have met so far. He keeps himself neat and has many vibrant, stunning, red highlights around his flight and tail feathers around his ears and running along his entire back that accompany his main coat of gray feathers. His eyes are yellow and his tail is thin, with a solid red diamond end feather. He keeps his crest feathers at a moderate length and folded back. I am not sure how his severe lung condition will affect him, he seems to lose his breath after the most moderate of activities, just running for a short couple minutes nearly knocks him down; but I do trust his excellent marksmanship skills to keep us alive for a while. He constantly complains about how he was separated from his husband when enlisted, which I understand why, but was beginning to get to me.
At the other end of the line we formed stood Arkette, our loader. She comes off as the stuck up chosen child, who gained all of the attention from her family; hearing her stories only confirmed my first impressions. She was a good person, humbler than you expect for a person as capable as her. She kept her coat of yellow feathers with white highlights around the flight and tail feathers as well as covering the ears, feet, and hands in good condition. Her eyes were light blue and her tail was short and split at the end into two large ribbon-like end feathers that are rounded at the ends with white highlights at those rounded points. She had cut her crest feathers down and hasn’t styled them in any way. She will be important to say the least, let’s just hope she is as good at slinging shells as she says she is.
I stepped ahead, and began to search for the note buried in my lower dress pocket.
I found the note and read it out in a commanding tone, “We are to stock our armored vehicle with items that are located within depot three of the Kastov-Von-Pesha sea port. All items are listed on a list inside the vehicle.”
Seems simple enough, guessing we are briefed at the dockyards?’
“Will we be able to make it to Kastov?” Asked Ekni, skeptical of our current fuel load.
“Ishi, go check fuel and prime the engine. Arkette, grab the hand crank, Ekni, check the tracks for anything troublesome,” I commanded.
All three did not respond yet got to work as I decided to hunt down that list. I climbed up onto the front of the machine, using the gun as a climbing platform, I scaled onto the top of the vehicle. I opened the commander's hatch and jumped down into the padded, but still uncomfortable seat below. I searched all surfaces for the list, finding it wedged into a backup magnetic compass that hung from the turret wall behind me.
I looked at the list reading out loud, “30x 86mm High-Explosive Anti-Armour shells, 20x 86mm Armor-Piercing High-Explosive shells, 30x 68mm Shrapnel Shells– what the fuck?”
I realized whoever wrote this list is incompetent. I know that these shells should all be 86mm shells, but there might be other mess-ups on this list that could screw us over in the future. We will have to test everything before we leave.
“We have 120 liters of fuel left, should be enough to get us to Kastov,” Ishi said loudly.
“If we do run out, what happens then?” Asked Ekni, sounding worried.
“We are stuck and will have to get someone to bring us fuel, we take higher grade fuel than what you will find in any civilian vehicle,” Explained Arkette.
“I will attempt to use as little fuel as possible,” said Ishi, attempting to reassure Ekni that they won’t get stuck away from civilization.
Ishi walked to the front and pulled herself up on top of the front of the vehicle, entered, and turned on the starter. A loud, fast clicking was heard until Arkette began to turn the hand crank, aiding the electric starter to turn the engine over. After a second of the engine turning over repeatedly, it started, producing its loud, deep, rolling roar that the crew of four was familiar with. Ishi revved the engine up, making the noise it produced much louder. Now a high, constant, screech was heard alongside the normal sound. The output of gray exhaust also increased dramatically, creating a smoke screen behind the vehicle. Arkette took the hand crank out of its socket, placed the hand crank within its holder in the engine bay, and with some force closed both rear engine doors, latching them shut. Arkette scaled the front of the machine as I had done before her, and Ekni finished inspecting the track and scaled the wooden steps mounted on the left side of the hull and turret. Arkette was the first to open their own hatch and enter the vehicle in a similar fashion as I did earlier..
Arkette sat to my right facing me surrounded by empty shell racks, while Ekni sat in front, his back facing me. The cannon breach sat to the right of me and ahead, with the complex looking sights in front of Ekni, a button on the turret drive controller lever was how the gun was fired, which sat on the right with the elevation lever on the left. A lever attached to the gun sight that rotated around the sights on the left in a 180° motion controlled the magnification of the optics; multiple smaller levers on the right side of the gun sights show the range finding references which use an object, such as an enemy vehicle, on the sights picture to find range quickly.
“We’re ready, take us to Kastov, Ishi,” I yelled over the muffled sound of the large engine.
Ishi revved the engine up slightly from its idle position and engaged first gear, the machine lurched forwards and began to pick up speed.
“Kotol, can you hand me some paper and my pencil?” asked Ekni.
I opened a compartment to my left, grabbed a rolled-up piece of paper and the only pencil in the compartment, a silver, metal mechanical pencil with a worn down white eraser at the end.
I tapped him on the shoulder and handed him what he requested. Ekni then unrolled the paper and began to sketch out the gunsights to occupy his time. I decided to try out one of the assorted ration bags that were neatly stowed away in another compartment to my left. These bags were common brown paper bags with ends that are sewn shut with string. I pulled one out and ripped the seal. I felt the weight of the bag. It was decently heavy for a bag of assorted foods. Inside, I saw some dried out flavored meats alongside some dried fruits and large nuts. I tried a piece of meat, it was fairly flavorful, dry but edible. I then tried a dried fruit, it was sweet but otherwise fairly dull. I tried a nut, it was extremely bland but will get you through the day. I extended a handful of these assorted rations to Arkette, who has for this entire time been trying to get a single one of her flight feathers to stay in place. She tried the rations and disliked the fruits but enjoyed the nuts and meats.
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I resealed the brown paper bag by folding its top multiple times, and put it back in the compartment I acquired it from. I opened the hatch above me to peak out and see what is around us. Ahead I saw a tree line where we have to make a sharp right turn, which Ishi is slowing down to make, and off the side of the hill, I saw a few kilometers out, the large city of Kastov-Von-Pesha. Most of the city that was visible were short but large buildings with some having smoke stacks and others having communications masts. In the distance where land meets sea, multiple massive loading cranes stood firm, a few ships were seen in the distance going about their ways.
Ishi had not slowed down enough, as she attempted to execute the turn the vehicle slid into a tree.
“Fuck!” Ishi yelled, now agitated.
“We are fine. I'll inspect for damages,” I said, sounding a bit more irritated than I really was.
I opened the hatch above me and climbed out to inspect the vehicle for defects. Arkette decided to jump out as well,]. She hates being inactive and decides to pace around the vehicle to keep herself active. After spending a few minutes inspecting the vehicle, I re-entered, alongside Arkette. Ishi violently put us back on course, smashing through another tree.
“You okay, Ishi?” I asked and received no response other than an agitated grumble.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Ekni spoke up and asked, “What did you do before all of this, Arkette?”
“I did nothing but go to space camp after basic education. You know, I’m the youngest one here, right?” she said rhetorically.
“What about you, Kotol?” Ekni asked.
“I managed a mine for a year before I was dragged here to my doom,” I responded.
A few more seconds of odd silence other than the sound of the engine and tracks before Ekni spoke up again asking, “This thing is fast. What should we name it?”
“Why would you name a death trap?” Arkette asked rhetorically once more.
“When this thing does die, I don’t want to be attached to it,” I added.
Another period of silence fell within the vehicle.
After at least a minute Ishi, sounding less irritated than a few minutes ago, asked, “How do we get to the port?”
“This sad excuse for a road turns into a main street that will take us directly to the port, we just have to not kill anyone,” I responded.
After a few more odd conversations that went nowhere, we crested a hill that displayed the many buildings ahead of us. We approached a large ditch with a thin layer of water over it that we must cross and a narrow wooden bridge was the only way.
“Full stop!” I yelled.
Ishi complied by using both of her feet to push in both clutches, whilst using the hand brake to lock up the road wheels, stopping the vehicle in under just three seconds.
“Let me guide you over this bridge ahead,” I said, proceeding to leave the vehicle through the hatch above me.
“Should I rotate the turret around so we can navigate town easily?” Asked Ekni.
“Yes,” I responded while scaling down the side of the vehicle.
I heard an awful clicking sound, then a deafening bang. I ducked instinctively.
“What just happened?” I heard Artette yell.
“My damn ears!” I heard Ishi screech.
“I forgot to unlock the turret, it’s fucked,” Ekni said quietly, almost too quiet to be heard over the engine.
“Well shit, I guess we got to repair that now,” I cursed loudly.
“Trying to delay our deaths, Ekni?” I heard Arkette poke.
Over the next few minutes, I guided Ishi across the bridge. Her delicate use of the clutches and throttle allowed us to cross this chasm. The bridge creaked and shifted slightly from the sheer weight of the vehicle.
I climbed back in and we headed off for the port, traveling onto a paved but poorly maintained road as the dirt track that we had been traveling on ended.
I had Arkette climb below us and figure out what went wrong in the hydraulic motor below us.
After a few minutes of traveling, Arkette chimed in, “It seems the pump nearly exploded from pressure and dismantled itself, whilst melting all the wires into each other. We will need a replacement, thanks to bullet brains here.” Ekni, instead of responding, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, most likely quelling some unjustified anger.
Ishi, over the next few hours, carefully traversed through the wide populated streets of the strong, infatigable industrial town, with looks of awe filling the faces of those who witnessed the mechanical monster, that to us had become somewhat of a familiar companion.
We eventually made it to the docks which always smelled of sea water and industrial oils.
Ishi once again carefully maneuvered the machine through the wide door held open by cement bricks. The building we found ourselves in was built entirely out of silver colored steel in the shape of a half cylinder laid upon its side. Trusses with an ‘x’ shape of reinforcing steel beams crossed from side to side of the long building, with large thick wires threaded through them, going into the large lights hung by steel chains from the ceiling. Sheets of corrugated steel covered the roof and walls. We were flanked to the right by a sectioned off area of the building. There we met an old lady who wore a long, intricate black dress with many patterns on it embroidered in white. She stood behind a counter that to the left and right was cut off from the rest of the building by steel bars which kept people out. We exited the vehicle and I quickly made my way to the woman who must be the warehouse keeper.
I presented the list of items to the warehouse keeper whilst the rest of the crew stood scattered behind me. She looked over the list with a confused look growing on her face. She typed something into the keyboard that was linked to a computer to her left and as the computer finished processing, she seemed to lose the confused look.
“I can get all of this for you…It will just take us an hour to sort through the stock that we have,” she said in her frail voice.
“How does this work?” I asked.
“My young wonderful men and women, gather what you need and place it beside your vehicle. You will then load it into your vehicle. They will help you if you so desire,” She said, her inflection remaining feeble and innocent.
The procedure, to me, didn’t seem to be all that efficient, at least with the knowledge that it would take a full hour to restock our vehicle, although that is under the assumption that they aren’t doing multiple simultaneous ‘orders’ at once. I considered voicing some criticisms, perhaps getting more people from a logistical department on board, but I decided not to. An hour-long wait was no big deal, and the problems were not my concern in the slightest.
I remembered something and asked, “Do you have a 14-ton Hydraulic motor in stock by any chance?”
I shot Ekni a quick dirty look, before looking back at the old woman with the same friendly face I had before.
“We indeed do, we can also lend a crane to help you with replacing the part,” She said kindly.
I was grateful that we will now have a working turret drive after Comrade Ekni decided we didn’t need turret traverse to be combat effective, guessing his magical marksman powers allow him to guide bullets and shells to their targets.