How could you possibly sleep with news like? Naturally, you didn’t. Even Lily gave up after a few hours and fell asleep herself. So you reluctantly nestled your way out if her grip and fired up your old laptop. How old was it now? Six years? It was an old machine, yes, but it was top notch when it was released and you took good care of it. So while it did show scars of time, it worked just fine, and that same wallpaper you’ve had when the war started. It gave you an easing sense of familiarity. But for now, you couldn’t spend much time admiring black painted metal, the straight lines or curves, you had to find some info.

W48. A very small nuclear warhead, small enough to fit inside a 155mm shell. It had a blast yield of 72 Tons of TNT. Now, that was only about 1/20 of the power of the bombs dropped when the sun was about to set on Japan. But it was still an entire Jagdtiger worth of explosives. Two thousand times more powerful than the normal HE shells for the Starship. And this is something that was to be given to Miranda? Someone who got panicked if she spilled a glass of water. Would she be able to give the order to load a nuclear shell if she was told? No nukes has been dropped on anyone since 1945. And yet… everyone knows the power they hold. Everyone has seen those images of burn damaged japanese civilians. Everyone has seen their weeping eyes. The pain. Everyone knew the pain a nuke would cause.

The hours ticked by, and you ended up watching documentaries on nuclear weapons. Why did mankind ever give up this power? Because of peace? Fear? Did we get rid of the nuclear weapons because we were afraid of them?

People tend to be afraid of what the don’t understand. But… these weapons were actually something to be afraid of.

This was as far as your train of thought went before the screen shut close.

>Anon, please come and get some sleep.

Lily stands next to you, running her fingers through your hair

>We have to get up in a few hours
She drags you into bed, and pushes her back up against your chest. As she has proven earlier, this contact and closeness to her help you calm down.

Lily is also the first thing you see when you woke up. Her gentle smile, her eyes… truly a beautiful thing to wake up to. She even had a simple breakfast with her. Just two sandwiches, but she made them, and she made for you. You share a few moments of relative silence as munch down the pieces of bread. But war waits for no man, and Lily starts giving restless looks at the clock on the wall. She hints you to hurry up by slipping into the clothes she is to wear today. It was however not her uniform. That may be because it was far from a warm uniform, or maybe because of the people you would she was going to see with you today. Or maybe it was the point of a uniform is gone if you are the only one wearing it.

Defying the cold and the darkness, you head out the the big machine with Lily and the rest of your crew. The V-12 roars to life, and when it has reached operating temperature a few minutes later, it starts moving. It turned out that the Jagdtiger was not the only vehicle that was to be transported today, the AMX-13 light tank was to follow. It was painted in a interesting blue color, and that combined with a set of 4 very powerful headlights, made it look as if it was imitating a 1960s rally car. But despite it’s light armor, it was a very welcome traveling companion. It had a very powerful engine, and is said to be able to approach 60 mph. Along with that, it has a semi-automated loading system for the main gun, with 2 revolver like cylindrical “magazines” with 6 rounds each. A good crew could unload all 12 shots in under one minute. But, fast rate of fire or not, the gun was basically the same as the 76mm guns fitted to the M4 tanks, albeit with a slightly longer barrel and a muzzle brake.
A “march” like this is filled with many different sounds. The engine, that can make all kinds of sounds from an angry burbling at idle revs to a a high pitched screaming at the rev limit. The music the crew enjoyed playing inside. Lily had earlier argued that there was no music fitting for tank journeys, but was somewhat forced to admit she wrong after the bow gunner introduced her to Motörhead. There was also the metallic rattling from the tracks. The idle chatter of the crew. But there was only voice that was a lot quieter than usual. Her lips were sealed tight, her face trying to conceal something

You decided to ignore the november temperatures and the wind, climbing up on the superstructure and banging the gunners hatch. It pops open a few seconds and you are greeted with hazel eyes and a smile. Sadly, it is a forced smile, even if she is very good at concealing it

“Come, sit with me”

Lily looks a little reluctant but climbs out of her seat and sits down next to you

“Something is bothering you”
>I thought i was pretty good at concealing it…
“You are. Maybe. Well, to others at least”
>I am concerned for what we have ahead of us
“The general? The nukes?”
>No, i’ve never been in an airplane before
“Oh. Not a fan of heights?”
>No

Lily states that coldly
“You know, if you really want to, i could-”
>Is this the part where you offer to drug me?
“Uhm…”
>I’m scared. Doesn’t mean i’m gonna go for an easy way out. But…
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there”

Lily leans into you. You get what she means and wrap your arm around her, pulling her a little closer. You sit in the cold for a while. Conversation is a little difficult with over a thousand horsepower trying to force their way out of two narrow metal pipes not very far behind you. So the headphones go back on, and you sit and just hold her, giving the odd correction to the driver due to his limited field of view while buttoned up.
At about noon you reach a big airfield. And it was certainly an airfield and not an airport. It wasn’t a runway as much as it was a dirt strip with some old hangars at one end. And by these hangars, there were two large aircraft. The first one looked like a relic from the 40s. Straight, top mounted wing and four engines driving large propellers.

“Lily, it seems i was wrong about the planes”
>Were you?
“Yeah. See the little gray plane? On the left? That’s a Lockheed C-130 Hercules. It has the four bladed propellers, so it’s an older version, i think a C-130H”
>Let me guess, we are going in the gigantic thing behind it

Next to it, another plane was parked. It was somewhat similar in appearance, but almost twice as big. It was also painted white that was unusual for military aircraft

“Yes, we are. And i’m sorry to say this, but that is an Ukrainian airplane”
>...what?
“Yeah. It’s an Antonov An-22. Honestly i’m very surprised to see these things still flying, because i believe it was made in the late 1960s”
>You’re not filling me with confidence here
“Shit, sorry, i’ll get to the good parts. It has almost sixty thousand horsepower, and should have no problem getting us in the air”

Lily doesn’t look like she was calmed much by your little speech.

The engine dies down a few minutes later and the crews disembark from the vehicles. A short man dressed in jeans and a parka greets you

‘Good morning! My name is Rostislav, i’ll move your tank!’
“Pleased to meet you, i’m Anon, and thi-”
‘There is no time to waste, now, how heavy is the vehicle?
>Combat weight should be around 72 tons
‘Oooopopopo, heavy vehicle… but it should be okay. Just don’t eat anything heavy before take off, yeah?’
The man laughs before turning away and start screaming at the crew. The hurried around inside the plane, putting some kind of carpet on the floor, likely to distribute the immense weight of the Jagdtiger

>Anon, i’d like to point out i’ve never seen a military aircraft with visible surface rust on it
“I don’t think these are… uhm…”
>It’s a private company?
“I think so. I mean, i’ve never seen any military personnel anywhere with slippers”

But despite their very unprofessional appearance, the aircrew worked quickly and efficiently, and after only 20 minutes of preparation, a taller man signals the Jagdtiger to be rolled inside. The entire aircraft shifted in a rather uncomfortable way as the heavy vehicle drove up the ramp, and when it finally came to rest within the aircraft, the suspension was compressed significantly

>I’m going to die
“No you’re not. Not today at least”
>That’s why the rest of our crew want to be in the Lockheed?
“That’s actually an entirely different reason”
>Such as?
“See those propellers? They are contra rotating, meaning the spin in opposite directions. And because the tip of the blades spin at supersonic speeds, this is likely the joint second loudest aircraft ever built”

Without any reply, Lily walks up the ramp and then inside the Jagdtiger. She emerges a minute later, and wraps her arms around you

>Just promise i’ll wake up like this, okay?

There was already a hint of grogginess in her voice

“Augh… sorry Lily, i should have… You know what, never mind. Sleep, i’ll be here when you wake up”
    Lily tries to say something but is mostly just babbling at this point. Her legs give in soon afterwards. You get a new grip on her and carry her inside the massive aircraft. There was actually a small cabin with seats on the top floor towards the nose of the aircraft. Since the aircraft was now in civilian hands, it had been fitted with several hundred pounds of sound proofing. While this meant you couldn’t stand upright in the cabin, it would reduce the noise level significantly. With a bit of hassle you carry Lily upstairs and put her on an sleeping mat between two rows of seats

    After tying down the Jagdpanzer with a myriad of ratchet straps, the aircrew starts their final preparations for the flight. But eventually everyone is seated, the cargo is secured… somewhat, and the ramp is closed. Four massive turboprop engines wake to life, and the sound in the cabin was not at all as bad as you expected. However, when you point this out to a crewman he laughs at you and say those were the engines of the C-130. A few minutes later, the Kuznetsov's came to life. And just as you expected, they made a conversation inside the airplane almost impossible. Luckily, you had both on-ear headphones and earplugs. You help Lily to a similar treatment. She might get a headache when she wakes up. Or something.

    Just a few minutes later the sound from the engines gets louder and the Antonov starts moving along the dirt strip. You were never a man of much faith, but at this point you start to wonder if the saying “There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole” can be remade into “there is no such thing as an atheist in a 50+ year old soviet transport plane”.

    As it turned out, there was. The man sitting across the aisle from you was too busy playing with something that looked suspiciously much like a PSP to care that the plane was moving.

Suddenly, the sound became ear-deafening and the plane accelerated rapidly towards the end of the strip. It vibrated a little from the rough ground, but eventually lifted to the skies, with all the elegance and grace of a 200 feet apartment block. That was screaming from the top of it’s lungs.

The ride was just under a thousand miles, but the relatively cruising speed of the Antonov would still mean it was going take over 3 hours. And it was not a very romantic journey, like a train toiling its way through a snow covered landscape, or a 3 hours journey in a little sportscar in the mountains. Now, this was a 3 hour journey in a cold war relic, with immensely loud engines. The windows were tiny and nowhere near where you sat. The seats were not matching with each other. Sure some of them looked like it was from a commercial airliner, but some also looked like they came from a 1980s VW bus

After just a few minutes at cruising altitude you realize sleep is going to be impossible, so you resign to eating the one can of soup you brought up and staring at your cellphone. It was like your computer a fairly old machine. But the camera was good enough and it could play all music you wanted, so there was no real need to replace. Not that you really could if you wanted anyway. You hover your finger over the icon with “Gallery” written underneath it. You consider it for a few moments, but a feeling is building up in your gut, and you don’t like it one bit. This is the modern version in a photo album. This should really be filled with images and you and Lily. Mostly her, of course. And one day, maybe, just maybe there would be pictures of-
‘You are the tank driver, yes?’

The tall man from earlier sinks down in the chair next to you, but is careful not to put his feet anywhere near Lily

“Oh, yeah. Well, i command the vehicle actually”
‘Can you kill the big ones? Is that why we fly you here?’
“Yeah, class 4’s are no problem, the look like mincemeat after just one shot”
‘Very good! Is that how you get your girlfriend?’
“Wait what?”
‘Yes! your girl! She is very pretty! Did she come to you because you had a tank? Because i am having no luck with the ladies with the Antonov’
“More like she had a tank, and i got to her actually. But i fixed it for her, so…”
‘Complicated relationship, eh?’
“You could say that, yeah”

The man gives you a thumbs up before offering you half a donut he had in a box, along with a "it's all going to be okay" kind of a smile. You take it somewhat reluctantly, but he has turned around before you can do much about it.

Some time later you give up listening to music as well. It was really no point here. But finally letting your eyes look somewhere that wasn’t your cellphone, you look back at Lily. She shouldn’t be out for much longer now. You pick her unconscious body up from the floor with some difficulty before putting her in a somewhat comfortable looking position, half leaning on you
You hold her for the remainder of the flight, extra close during the landing, during that taxi and even after the engines died down. You could finally get rid of your double layer of hearing protection, which felt very pleasant. Lily was still very much knocked out, so you decided to let her lie down while helping the rest undo the hundred or so ratchet straps tying down the vehicle. Outside, several men in uniform waited for the vehicles to be unloaded. The looked very serious, all of them, which made you just a little bit uncomfortable, especially when you put an young, unconscious woman through the rear doors of the fighting compartment.

After explaining who you were and that she was in fact the gunner of the Jagdtiger and not someone you have found in a ditch, a little convoy of sorts is formed. The thirsty V-12 is fed some more fuel to make the trip to wherever you were going. At least the with the fuel hose looked funny when you explained the fuel consumption is about a third of a mile to the gallon. Even more amusing was the looks on peoples faces when the Jagdtiger received its auxiliary weapons in the shape of a 20mm rifle and a 14.5mm heavy MG. These two, with the 128mm main gun and the personal weapons of the entire crew practically turned the vehicle into a moving pillbox

If Lily was conscious, she would have absolutely loved the attention