You slide your phone up from your pocket. At the center of the screen it says “01:51” with large white numbers. And the space where any unread messages and missed calls appear, nothing at all is present.

Bringing back an MBT-70 from the dead sure is a nice feeling. But it is dulled down by the fact Lily left like she did. You're worried she will do something she will regret later. Much is uncertain, but one thing that isn't is that the woman in the Panzer IV I'd going to have a very bad night.

‘So, are you coming along?’

Unsurprisingly, Wendy is very keen on testing the vehicle

“No, mind if I stay here right now?”
‘All fun for me then. I'll inform you if I see a sports car or something. See ya!’

The hatch slams shut and the engine starts with a roar. The vehicle once deemed the future, then too expensive and obsolete is now relevant again. It slowly reverses out of the massive garage, pivots in place and leaves the depot on a wave of thunderous noise. And five minutes later, it's dead quiet again. The planet is under invasion by an alien species, you are a mechanic, and almost an engineer, you're in a garage surrounded by tanks, and everything is quiet. It's all so strange, so foreign.

But as sad as you might be, as scared as you might be, there is something more important. As much as you want to sit and try to call Lily, to speak with her, there are more important things to do. There is a war going on, and the planet might rest on it. As much as you love her, neither Lily nor yourself is worth more than the war to anyone else. You leave the warm cool garage and head out into the cold night, and after a heavy sigh, you want utter one single word. It would be a word of defeat for you, but one of hope for those who hear it
But instead, just as you are about to open your mouth to call in the next tank into the workshop, you hear a noise. A noise of hope, and life. But contrary to what you thought, it wasn’t the solemn song of a Porsche, but rather your phone. And after fumbling it out of your pocket and looking at the display, you get somewhat disappointed that it’s not Lily’s name that appears.

“Hello”
¤ Anon! I am happy you answer your phone
“Oh yeah, i try to”
¤ Now, let’s put formalities aside, where are you?
“i’m uhh… still at the depot”

Natalya makes a noise. It is very much intentional and very effectively delivers the message; anger.

¤ What is going on with you? You set out to just ask some questions and it’s 2 AM already! Put Lily back on, i need some urgent words with her
“Uhm… how do i put this”
¤ Speak
“Lily kinda left”
¤ [...]
“Nat, you still there?”
¤ Y-yes, but… she left you?
“Yeah, i think she did. Turn out the woman in the Panzer IV might have been an imposter”
¤ She is not a…

Natalya clears her throat
¤ She is not like us?
“ She might not be, no”
¤ If she is an imposter she is going to get very badly hurt. Now, i’d not have gone easy on an imposter, but Lily…
“Not going to take it lightly?”
¤ Her family name has some weight to it, and as you might have seen she gets protective. And if someone was to try to falsely wear that name, she is going to…
“Yeah, i think i get you”
¤ At any rate, i have some news for you. Almost all vehicles here are are to be moved to a train station and moved a few hundred miles. There is rumors of a large offensive and the army needs steel for moving shields
“Nice to be appreciated”
¤ About that. While almost all of the vehicles here are to be moved away by train, your vehicle is absent from that list
“Wait, why?”
¤ It seems you have a plane ticket instead
“I’m a little concerned”
¤ ...Heading east
“ That’s not exactly where the fight is. I mean, some resistance here and there, but no bigger hostiles”
¤ Yes, that is correct. But i am afraid i don’t know why it is being sent that way
“It?”
¤ I don’t really think they are going to wait for you to get back. That vehicle has attracted some attention
“Thanks for bring this up, i’m not sure i can actually get anywhere right now. I’ll do what i can to get a hold of Lily and get out of here”
¤ Understood. And it seems you’re not the only one with a plane ticket. I will give you all the details when you get here. As a carrot of sorts
“Yeah, i get it. Find Lily, get home. And if she gets back to you or gets in contact in any way, call me at once, alright?”
¤ Of course. And do look for a way to get home on your own. Just in case, okay?
“Sure, just in case”
Natalya presses the button and pushes the phone down in the pocket of her pants. One last inhalation. She holds her breath for a second before making a small hole between her lips and exhaling heavily. The little cigarette butt is discarded and jammed into the cold dirt by her boots. The november air was cool. Nothing like back home, Natalya was used to the cold, but it would still be better inside. But there are people counting on her now. Why were they going to be moved? Why were certain vehicles moved east instead?

Listening to late night radio chatter was something Natalya was very fond of. It didn’t require very much focus for most of the time, but rather just a little bit of attention. Gently turning the large circular knob clockwise, slowly working her way up the frequencies. The radio receiver was very powerful, and could snap up all sort of frequencies. Some mundane chatter, quite a lot of music, and the never ending flood of general information.

In times like this, several channels broadcasted tips useful for wartime. General news, how the war is going, local places where the army is, where to find food and so on. Natalya listens carefully and logs everything she hears. What channel played that horrible electronic music, the one that played dadrock, which news channels focused on what, and what times they broadcasted and so on. Her left hand is looking for some new sounds from the headset, listening for anything that can give her information.
Natalya presses the button and pushes the phone down in the pocket of her pants. One last inhalation. She holds her breath for a second before making a small hole between her lips and exhaling heavily. The little cigarette butt is discarded and jammed into the cold dirt by her boots. The november air was cool. Nothing like back home, Natalya was used to the cold, but it would still be better inside. But there are people counting on her now. Why were they going to be moved? Why were certain vehicles moved east instead?

Listening to late night radio chatter was something Natalya was very fond of. It didn’t require very much focus for most of the time, but rather just a little bit of attention. Gently turning the large circular knob clockwise, slowly working her way up the frequencies. The radio receiver was very powerful, and could snap up all sort of frequencies. Some mundane chatter, quite a lot of music, and the never ending flood of general information.

In times like this, several channels broadcasted tips useful for wartime. General news, how the war is going, local places where the army is, where to find food and so on. Natalya listens carefully and logs everything she hears. What channel played that horrible electronic music, the one that played dadrock, which news channels focused on what, and what times they broadcasted and so on. Her left hand is looking for some new sounds from the headset, listening for anything that can give her information.

Natalya picks up her cup, only to find it empty. She scoffs at it and return to her thinking while half-heartedly working her way up the frequencies for the third time this morning.

Natalya dutifully keeps surveying what is going on. Staying for a two minutes to hear the last half of “Down on the corner” on 91.5 MHz. Further up, at about 92.3 it was the same guy babbling on about what creatures that can be killed with what weapons. 95.1 had a very amusing description, read by a very enthusiastic man, about what happened to one of those floating Class 8 creatures when it was sandwiched between two newly recommissioned ships, the battlecruiser Kalinin and the USS Wisconsin. And it seemed that no matter how much armor one might have, the continuous pounding from 7 ton cruise missiles from one side and 2700 pound armor piercing shells from the other will end anything.

The man goes on about all kinds of military and almost military hardware. Many strange things from all over the world. The Dutch apparently thought it was a good idea to turn a supertanker into a makeshift aircraft carrier. The report stated that the result was in fact “not that bad”. Some people trying to dig out those nuclear weapons START III “missed”. Idiots. There are no nukes left. Not now anyway

Nataly rubs some sleep out of her eyes. 04:27. What an absolutely awful time to do anything. But she didn’t intend to sleep tonight. Now she had about 2.5 hours to go through the international AM radio frequencies. More serious news stations, giving a simple and not very government controlled overview on how the war is going. Russia had the advantage of having more tanks than god, and that was before the reactivation process began. The ural factories are once again spewing out hundreds of machines of questionable quality every month. And it seems the freezing cold drove the creatures south-west, into the larger cities. This is where they faced the red tide.

Central europe was doing rather well. Much of the terrain was easy to defe-

Natalya’s head falls of her hand and almost slams into the table. Sleep deprivation is getting to her. She has filled a few pages in each of her two notebook, even if one of them worked more like a diary. She was undecided on exactly why she was doing this. Having some major events around the world written down each day. Maybe she will look back on this one day, thinking that is a big waste of time. Or maybe it will be taken from her cold, dead hand a month from now as a last reminder of who she was.

But for now she closes the book with a snap and places it in exactly the same place she took it, that little brown cloth pouch she made in the late 40s. She carefully placed her headphones in the padded polymer case that they came in. Natalya sneaks out of the communications room, being careful where she puts her feet while slowly walking her way through the main building. Back to her barrack, all was still dark and quiet. Her bed was still untouched, with a large bag on it. Headphones and indoor clothes goes in the bag, and she gets into clothes more suitable for what is about to happen: Tanks.
Michel gets dragged out of the bed, throws some clothes on and heads out to the old heavy tank

¤ I think it is time you start to know what you are probably going to work with for some time. You know what this is?
‘Yeah, it’s an IS-3’
¤ Correct. Know what “IS” stands for?
‘uhm, no, can’t say i do’
¤ The initials for the unions dictator when the tank was made. Even if his name is spelled with a “J” on this side of the iron curtain

Michel looks confused

¤ You are going to be working with Stalin’s daughter. Treat her with respect
‘Absolutely’
¤ The compared to the earlier IS vehicles, the IS-3 had an entirely new hull, with a nose shaped like the beak of an eagle, i think you call it “pike nose” here. The turret is low and dome shaped. This gives the vehicle heavily sloped and very effective armor and a very low profile. So while the steel is thinner, it has almost as effective armor as the German tank hunter. and it is over 25 tons lighter. This comes at the cost of interior space

‘Well, yeah, it is a little cramped inside…”

¤ The gun. D-25T. 122 millimeters, or 4.8 inches to you. 46.5 calibers long barrel. In late-
‘46.5 calibers long?
¤ Yes. 122 mm caliber, barrel is 122 times 46.5 mm long. Just over 5.5 meters. Now, in late-
‘Oh, I didn’t know that’
¤ Okay, now listen. In late 1943 a gun like this one fired an armor piercing projectile at a Panther medium tank. The round went straight through the 80 mm front armor plate, the firewall, the entire engine block and out the 40 mm rear plate. Panthers are almost extinct today, so no one is to shoot them. But a well placed round will tear through a Class 4 like it is nothing

‘Like a hot knife through butter?’

¤ If you think of these tanks as a hot knife through butter i think you have misunderstood a breakthrough tank entirely. It’s not a hot knife through butter. Its is more like… a blunt spoon that uses brute force to pummel Its way through the enemy hordes. And then empty the coaxial machinegun on their corpses
The demonstration eventually came to an end, but not before Natalya had explained the entire machine in detail. It's strengths, weaknesses, and other things one has to know to work with it. It took several hours, and the day turned from early morning to just before noon. But despite the torrent of information, there was one thing left out

‘So, where do you usually sit?’

Natalya considered what to tell him. She had spent a lot of time driving the IS-3 since she didn’t really fit inside the turret

¤ Let's turn that around instead. What roles are you trained in?
‘I can take care of and maintain main weapon systems, aim the main gun and load it’
¤ But you were only trained in a light tank, correct?
‘Yeah, but the idea is the same, right?’
¤ Just like a torpedo boat is the same idea as a heavy cruiser. Anyway, if you feel comfortable with the operation of the main gun, you will do that. For now, i want you to study the manual, and maybe think of additional people you know that may be suited for serving in the vehicle. I will see that our comrades in the tank hunter return home.

At about the same time, 250 miles away you are woken up by someone carefully poking your shoulder. “please be Lily” you think for yourself, eyes still closed. “Please by Lily”. You’re poked twice on your shoulder. Would Lily poke? Wouldn’t she say something? Or touch you in some other way?

‘Sir, are you awake?’

Not Lily. Someone else. Someone less important. But you couldn’t spend all day sleeping on a towel laid down on a concrete floor, so you open your eyes.
“Augh….”
‘Good morning sir, i’ve made-’
“Don’t sir me, i’m just a damned mecha- wait, is that coffee”
‘Yes, you can have it if you want’
“Oh. Okay then, thank you”

You take the mug and take a sip from the warm black liquid. It tasked like hammered shit and is scalding hot, but it has caffeine in it. You quickly decide it’s still worth it and keep drinking.

“What time is it anyway?”
‘uhm… about half past ten. I didn’t mean to wake you up, put your phone has been ringing for 15 minutes now, and-’
“Fuck. erm, sorry. where is the phone now?”
‘Here’
“Well, it’s least it wasn’t from Lily… Wait, the last call was answered. Did you do that?”
‘Yes, it was from a friend of you. Someone is going to pick you up from here apparently’
“Something good i guess. Nothing from Lily while i was out?”
‘Nope. afraid not. But i did speak to Natalya, about you heading east mainly’
“You have?”
‘Yeah. And i have sort of an idea about where you are going. If you run into a man called Benson, he looks like he’s a hundred by now i guess, and might start ask questions about you and Lily, tell him i’m alive, the MBT is working, and ask about the present’
“Wait, presumed old guy asks questions about me and Lily, i tell him you’re good and ask about a gift?”
‘Yeah. And trust me, this is someone who you want to be friends with. He knows about… us i should add’
“Right. I’ll speak to him. Maybe he can help you guys out too”
‘And before you get picked up, think you can help me with an electric motor?’
“augh… sure”
You didn’t actually have time to replace the motor itself, but instead showing Wendy how to remove and install a new one.You have even managed to started disassembling the mounting for the engine when the familiar looking Mercedes rolls in a few hours after lunch. Some courtesies and a little small talk later, you head away from the depot at a calm but decisive speed. The woman diving was sent by Natalya, and when asked why she went, she simply replied with “When Stalin says dance, a wise man dances”. It really did turn out the soviet tank had a bit of a hierarchy going on. Was it because of tank classification? Heavy against medium tank? Or was it because of the loaded name tied to the IS name?

There wasn’t much small talk going on, and what actually happened was very stale. You quickly decide to trying to get some rest on something softer than a concrete floor. But just as you are about to enter the mists, you are bumped on your shoulder. A stretched out arm and a finger turns your gaze to a car parked by the side of the road. And of all cars you wanted to see, nothing was better than the silver Porsche. The wagon stops just behind the other car, and you waste no time getting out and walking over to it.

Much to your delight, she was there.

Three hours later you are back on top of the Jagdtiger. Lily has looked over the paper in her hand ten times already

>>32674038
>An invitation? This sure as hell isn’t an invitation
“It is an order, that looks like an invitation. The Jagdtiger is going, with or without us”
>This is bullshit. You are still a civilian, and my army doesn’t even exist anymore
“That doesn't bother them much. I think they just want to test the gun a few times on a firing range or something”
>I still don’t like where this is going
“Lily, you must understand these guys won’t give two shits if we live or not. The need it for something, and…”
>I’d rather turn the transmission and engine fine dust and rupture the gun breech before i give it up again. It’s the second time the army has done this to me. Bullshit
“I don’t think they are going to take a single vehicle. If they want to replace their own vehicles, the need lots of vehicles, and they are a big fan of standardization. I don’t think they will re-posess it or anything

Lily sighs heavily. She is clearly unhappy with the situation. She had never been much a fan of the US army.

>Let's play with the idea of listening, where do we have to go?
“Airfield, 60 miles north-northeast of here”
>don't be ridiculous, it's it's a Jagdtiger, not car
“Oh, right. You have missed 75 years of aviation evolution. There are planes, or a plane rather that can carry the weight of three Jagdtigers. Get your phone and look up An-225”

Feeling happy with yourself, having turned her concerns into curiosity for cargo planes, you allow yourself to relax to the sight of Lily looking at her phone.

“Just don't get too carried away, I think we're going in a globemaster”
>Globemaster?
“Yeah, Boeing C-17 Glo-”

You foolishly forget the not very fond feelings Lily has for that company in particular.
“Sorry, didn't mean to go there”
>Not your fault. Anyway, I guess we have to leave at 8 to get there at noon?
“Looks like it. You know what, come here, let's go for a walk”

Lily hops down from the superstructure, taking help from storage boxes and tell mudguard to get down. She takes you hand and you begin strolling along the spectacle that unfolds in front of you. Most of the tanks was getting prepared for the journey west. This is where the fight was, so anything with steel for armor went there. People in charge of loading the tanks onto massive trucks, looking very nervous while doing it. Tank crews sorting out their personal equipment, stowing external machine guns and so on inside the vehicles for the transport. No one here was going to get a good night's sleep.

The walk was cut short by the evening's plummeting temperatures, so you head into the main building to get some food before making the final preparation to the Jagdtiger. The atmosphere in the dining hall was different from earlier. There was no more time to wait for the enemy to make a move, so they were all sent into the battle instead. Combat… it was new to some. Those who had just got their tank working, those who had never shot at anything bigger than a class 2, those who had only used it as a roadblock. They had great confidence in their machines, imagining them invincible.
You and Lily eat under relative silence. There was a certain grim inevitability to it all, which bothered you a lot. Lily was bothered by the uncertainty of what would happen so far away from the front lines. A testing ground, a firing range was no place for the Jagdtiger. And then there was the difficult decisions of she actually was going to tear her beloved machine to pieces if they took it again. Even worse, she thought, what if-

“Lily?”
>Yes?
“Everything set for tomorrow?”
>Fuel is okay, out things are in the boxes, the MG is still mounted, but I want to keep it that way for as long as possible
“Fair enough. Oh, and by the way, really think the crew for the IS-3 will work?”

Due to the relocation, the IS-3 needed a crew, quickly. Grey was very happy to help, even if it caused discomfort being in someone else's tank. That left only one place left in the tank. Luckily, Lily had a very serious conversation with an impersonator just a few hours before. This impersonator, whom Lily now had assigned the name “Gerät”, would apparently do anything Lily asked of her. So she was to feed the 122mm gun in the IS-3. Death threats, helping two friends and getting the IS-3 somewhat back in fighting condition.

>it's gonna be okay I think. Natalya isn't one to play around with. And they listen to her.
“And she has the best girl this side of the Atlantic ocean to back her up if they don't, right?

Lily blushes a little and smirks.

>Yeah, she does

+E-excuse me?
“Miranda, hello there!”
+Anon, Lily… I just wanted to wish you good luck for tomorrow. I looked into a little where you might be heading, and i think it's just going to be a firing range and some technical demonstration, they have done so with quite a few tanks past months. And if you're lucky, you will be back with us before the weekend!”
“That does sound very good to me, we have had some concerns”
+ I'm sure it will be okay! And uhm… if someone asks lots of questions about you and Lily…
Miranda loses momentum and starts having issues formulating words. Something is bothering her.

“Wild guess, ask him about presents?”

Unexpectedly, Miranda audibly gasps. She looks around, making sure no one is looking at her before squeezing herself in very tight to you. Lily is a little irritated, but Miranda seems to have much more important things on her mind

+ Okay, slowly now, tell me what you know about presents. And keep your voice down.
“Uhm, you give then to each other on Christmas and on birthdays…?”
+ Stop playing now, this is a very serious situation
“Alright, alright. You know the girl at the depot, Wendy? She said I might run into an old guy being curious about me and Lily. His name was Benson I think.
+ Yes, exactly. Jake Benson. He was very involved in us caretakers, one of the few guys with higher military ties that still know we exist. And is he believed to have…
“Yes?”
+ The presents, uhm…
“Okay, present is just a codeword or something, I get that”
+ Theoretically, they could be, erm…

Miranda looks around, once again making sure no one is looking too curiously at her. Then she lowers her voice even more

+ They are experimental, cold war era ammunition for the 152mm gun on the Starship and the MBT-70. If they still exist, if they are what I think they are…

Miranda closes to within an inch of your ear and whispers

+ They could be the last nuclear weapons left