Story [Issue 19] The Great Comeback: "Testing Grounds"

[Fjelstad1678 186]

The Great Comeback

"Testing Grounds"
Find the previous article here: http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=184854

 

My mouth was stuck open. I didn’t make any attempt at closing it either. I knew my new companions were doing the same. In this new larger room sat several gigantic metal monsters.
“I see you are all impressed.” said Idler with a chuckle.
“Naw, I see these kinds of things all the time back in Canada.” said Benny with a smirk. He began walking towards the metal beasts as if in a trance. I was close behind him, but Terry seemed to be glued in one spot.
“You coming?” I called back to him.
“You chaps go ahead, I think I need to change my trousers…” Terry murmured back. Me and Benny laughed as we quickly waddled out, but I don’t think he was joking.

 

“Well, while we wait for Terry to come back…” said Idler with a roll of eyes. “I’ll show you two around the place.” He really did need to. Even though the garage wasn’t all that large, the metal beasts really did make you feel stuck in place.
“Well, I get we can start with the basics. Here, we have our lightest model. We have not mounted guns on any of these, mind you. We will get back to why that is later.” As Idler said this, it suddenly became extremely obvious. I was so distracted by the pure size of these things I hadn’t even noticed the lack of armament.

“Anyways…” Idler continued, “This hull is nicknamed the ‘Wasp’ because of its small size a great mobility.”
“You call that small? That is the size of a Sherman!” spat out Benny.
“Please do note that this IS the smallest one in the room, and by a respectable amount, sir.” said Idler with a small smile. “Now, next down the line we have a final model of the chassis you saw in the last room, the ‘Hunter’.” We heard loud footsteps rushing into the room to see a gasping Terry round the corner towards us.
“G’day! I see you fellas were early up for tea!” he called.
“Aww, don’t feel bad Terry! He was just telling us that that one is called the ‘Wasp’ and this one is the ‘Hunter’!” I shouted back.

 

“That's great and all, but if you could tell me which one is called the ‘Loo’...” he said as he caught up, and we all burst out laughing.
“Anyways, what is that really ugly looking one back there?” Benny asked.
“What, the tall one? That is the ‘Dictator’, a name that I feel fitting. It is more or less our ‘Jack of all trades’ with decent speed, armour, and the thing turns on a dime. The turret being mounted higher does allow for decent view ranges and we plan to have this be escorts for any commanding units.”
“So, what would be an example of a commanding unit?” I asked Idler.
“Well, that would be the big one in the corner. It looks like a giant fortress on tracks, and because of its massive size, we have named it the ‘Mammoth’. Its terribly slow, but its armour allows it to completely plow through enemy lines. As far as doing that goes, however, this is not the main tank for the job.”

“Do you expect something like that oval one over there to do it instead? This one seems perfect for it!” I said.
“You would think that, but sadly due to its giant size and weaker engine compared to the large weight, it would be much more effectively used as a heavy support tank with some of our heavier guns. The other hull you just pointed out, the oval one, is called ‘Hornet’, and is basically a heavier, slower, and better armed Wasp. Whereas the Wasp is majorly stealth and recon, the Hornet can be used in flanking assault tactics.”
“Sounds like an interesting tank. What about that short square one over there?” Terry asked.
“That would be the Viking. Rather outdated currently. It’s like the Dictator, but a little worse in every respect. The plus is that it is a smaller target and the turret mount isn’t as awkward. Really, we have given up on that model because of the lack of space inside of the tank.”

“I think that is all of ‘em…” I said looking around. Even the so called ‘light tanks’ were huge.
“Actually, there is one more, but we are currently prepping it for you chaps to test for us. As I mentioned earlier, all of these don’t have turrets mounted. You see, all of these tanks share a turret ring. Likewise, all weapons we have developed are compatible with this turret ring. This being true, we can switch the weapon mounted on the tank as we please instead of having to build a new tank in which to mount a new gun. Thanks to the incredible suspension on these beasts, we can manage to mount even our heaviest weapon on all of them.”

“So, where is this tank we are going to risk our hides to test for you chaps?” grunted Terry.
“Oh, trust me my friend. We have worked out any large bugs. Nothing should explode or catch fire. You should be quite safe and comfortable. Oh, yes, about that. Your leaders were very specific that we improve our crew compartments for an Englishman such as yourself. Anyways, it is a distance away near our testing grounds. The Germans tracked us here, but from that, they haven’t found our testing facility. You will be brought there early tomorrow to test our newest weapon, the ‘Railgun’, named for it’s long barrel. Until then, you may go to your bunks. Goodnight.”

As the three of us went back to our bunks, we cracked some jokes.
“Boy, for such a short fella, he sure does talk a lot!” cracked Benny.
“Well, if he didn’t talk, we might not have even seen him!” Terry replied with a chuckle. The second I saw the toilet in the bunk room, I yelled: “GET DOWN! IT’S THE LOO!” and we all burst out laughing.

Early the next morning a guard came into our room and escorted us back to the development wing. Idler was there and brought us to a basic rail car powered by electricity. About 10 minutes down the track we arrived at our destination.
“Well, here we are. The testing grounds are about 50 meters above us.” Idler said.
“Wait, you mean they are actually on the surface?” said Benny with surprise.
“What, did you think we did this all in a small room underground? No, we need space! We have kept it secure for the moment, lots of very well trained snipers on the perimeter. They never know what hit ‘em!”

“Great to know… now about that tank?” I asked.
“Oh yes! It’s on it's way to the surface as we speak. We mounted the ‘Rail’, as you can call it, on it earlier. The hull itself is our second heavy hull, appropriately named ‘Titan’. It is a lot like the Mammoth, but a little less armoured. The difference in metal allowed us to mount an incredibly heavy engine inside with a decent amount more torque. The thing can plow through anything, we’ve even got it to push the Mammoth around.”
“But that thing is HUGE! The Titan must be the size of a building!”
“I think you will be rather surprised.” Idler said with a chuckle.

We stepped into an elevator that started slowly creeping upwards.
“Well, each of these tanks have 3 manned positions. We need a driver, gunner, and commander to scan the battlefield through the hatch or viewports. So, which of you did what?”
“Well, I was assigned to be the commander of my Sherman, but I was well trained to be a gunner as well.” I explained.
“I think we were all commanders of our units.” said Benny, “... but I was also trained to drive the Grant in Africa.”
“Well, I quite like my commanding role.” said Terry with a grin.
“Well, it's settled then. Benny here can drive it, Eric can fire the gun, and Terry can sit on his rear and drink tea while spewing orders.” Idler said smirking at Terry.

When we arrived at the surface, the Titan was sitting there waiting for us.
“Why, that isn’t a large machine at all!” cried Terry
“No, but it gets the job done. Now, lets climb in. You will notice that there is plenty of room inside.” Once we got inside the metal monster, Idler taught us how to operate all of the equipment and devices that looked decades before their time. There was even the rumored tea maker from the good ol’ Brit tanks!
“So, when IS tea-time?” I asked Terry.
“Ah, the true Englishman knows, but you need not.” he said with a smile as he poured us all a cup.
“Well, time to get started.” said Idler as he climbed out the commander’s hatch. “Put your radios on, I’ll run you through the drill.”
“Yes, sir.” we all replied.

I sat down at my scope next to what would normally be the breach of the gun. I had my turret rotating devices and fine tuning knobs to focus in on the target. Idler had informed me that the lead on this gun was tricky, as it took a second for the gun to fire, but once it did, it fired a beam at darn near the speed of light that could cut through nearly everything.
“Alright!” crackled through the headset. “Start her up, Benny.” With a roar, I could tell that Benny did what was told.
“Good. Terry, direct him towards that large yellow barrel.”
“Yessir.” he chanted back. “Turn it left!” he yelled. There was a bit of a jolt and I could feel the hull moving.
“Now straight on!” I looked through my scope and saw the yellow barrel getting closer.
“Okay, stop her there.” Idler chirped. “Now, we don’t like that barrel, do we Eric! Time to test your finger on the trigger. Line ‘er up and put one through it!”
I looked through the scope, made some slight adjustments and pulled the huge red trigger. There was a large whirr as the gun warmed up and and with a huge jolt and a flash, the barrel was 20 yards away with a huge hole through it. The beam took a second to fade, but didn’t appear to do any more as it faded.

“That’s it! You really are quick on that trigger, son. I’ve seen gunners when I was in the field that take 3 times that long to line up the shot.” Idler called out.
“Why, thank you. I don’t honestly think I am that good.” I said back.
“Ah, but you are. Anyways, lets get back to this. We’ve got an old T-34 sitting over the hill to the West that you can shoot at too. Get ‘em there, Terry.”
“On it, sir. Right, Benny.” The tank jumped again. Terry directed Benny around things in the way and eventually got us up the hill with very few problems.
“We’ve got it running and its rolling forwards, Eric.” Idler reported over the headset.
“Spotted it, Eric.” called Terry. “T-34, 11 o’clock!” I swung the turret to meet the target and lined up the shot with my estimated amount of lead. I cranked back on the trigger with a rush of adrenaline and with a blinding flash, I was looking at a burning heap of metal. You could see a clean hole through the entire tank straight through the engine block.

“Great shot! Glad to see our gun works. Spin it around a couple of times and test the gun depression and elevation.” I did what he asked and he seemed pleased with it.
“Well, that's pretty much all we needed to test for that one. We can keep playing with it for a while though. Doesn’t take much to fire it. Incredibly energy efficient….” and as he rambled on about that while Terry kept having Benny drive around and Idler having me test accuracy on the move, I started to think. With power like this, winning this war might not be as hard as we thought.
 

To Be Continued....

 

~Fjelstad1678~

Edited July 31, 2017 by Hexed

[hogree 4,179]

Haha, a fantastic read. I understand why you do fiction, Fjel! Keep it up ^^

[r_GoldRock30 68]

Even better than the last one in the series, IMO. Really, really involving - awesome stuff!

[Fjelstad1678 186]

Haha, a fantastic read. I understand why you do fiction, Fjel! Keep it up ^^

Been thinking about getting off my rear and writing a guide... but this seems to be doing well. :3

[r_nobodygood0 2]

nice finally some one actually got the right tank on the picture nice, good story aswell

[red_tank_the_best 300]

Great article!

[thedarkhorse500 0]

There are a few grammatical errors ("its" instead of "it's" and the like) but I'm not going to moan incessantly about them; the plot and storyline is way too good!! Epic story. Love it. All stories in TO newspaper are superb, but this is one of my favourites. Keep it up.   :fire_l:  :fire_l:  :fire_l:  :tank:  :fire_r:  :fire_r:  :fire_r:

[Fjelstad1678 186]

^Oh dear... Let me check for those... I do have the authority to moan. :P

[icerugby 1,886]

Great read :D I also enjoy your other series, Birth of a tank

[Stingray101 0]

haha that was great 

[Fjelstad1678 186]

Thank you!