Foreign Dominion

Chapter 12 - Burn In the Afterthought

The sound of impact guns and ratchets and compressed air filled the Tankery garage. It was the first team meeting after losing against Saunders, which meant everyone would be doing working on their tanks. Everyone had suffered some kind of damage during the match. Some crews were lucky, with only light work to do after being hit on an armor plate, but others were going to have to replace or repair major parts. Worst off was the Ram. It required a complete overhaul of the engine, much of the transmission needed rework or replacement, and a thorough inspection of the tracks and suspension. Not to mention the massive cleanup job that would be removing the soot and oil stains that coated the rear of the tank when the engine blew. Even though it would require the most work, only one of the crew was working on it. Eiko had happily volunteered to go back to her domain in the Ram's engine bay when the rest of the crew were summoned by Ayame.

"Hey you guys, I wanted to talk to you about the match. I-" Ayame started.

"You freaked out. It happens when you get shot at. That's why we practice, right?" Amy said.

"Yes, but-"

"Shit happens. Learn and move on."

"I understand. I'm sorry, I should have let Delilah take over. I was nervous and honestly didn't want to see my team taken from me, even if that's not what was really happening."

"Hey, you identified your problem. Now you get to work on it."

Delilah nodded in agreement. "Is there anything else you wanted to say, or can we go back to our mess of a tank?"

"Actually, yes. How do we stop that from happening again? The loss I mean. We can train more and let you four actually work with leading and training, but is there anything else we can do?"

"Any new tanks on the horizon?" Yelena asked.

"That's what I was thinking too. I'm sure we can worm ourselves into a couple, as long as they're cheap. What do you guys suggest?"

"Ideally, we'd want a couple platoons of 76mm Shermans as our main fighting force, some light tanks for recon, and maybe a few TDs and perhaps a Pershing or two." Delilah answered.

"Yeah, that's a little out of our budget. We'd be lucky to get even one Sherman, let alone a whole team." Ayame said with a mixture of sarcasm and defeat.

"I know. That would be our goal, our ideal situation. Going off of what went down on Saturday, I think this team could use a few tank destroyers. They're lightweight but pack a massive punch and can get around fast, which would have been helpful this weekend."

Amy shook her head. "I know where this is going, and we couldn't afford it. Hellcats are way out of our range."

"Maybe an M10?" Ayame wondered.

"Neither." Delilah said. "I'm thinking of an M8A1 Scott."

"Don't we already have an M8 Scott?"

"Yes, but it's just that – a regular M8. An M8A1 comes with the same 75mm gun as the early and mid-model Sherman. Same M5 Stuart chassis, but with a new turret and a bigger gun. It'd be good for most targets and would drive pretty much the same. They're also pretty cheap since everyone who can't get an M18 gets an M10 as a stopgap and the M8A1 gets passed over since it's got a smaller gun. That's not exactly a problem for us since it'd be one of the best guns on the team anyway, on par with our 6-pounder and the 75s on the Lees and your M7."

Ayame seemed to love this idea, but Amy didn't seem quite satisfied.

"If it's tank destroyers we want, don't we want the biggest, baddest gun we can get?"