The Incident at Suicide Ridge [Tankiverse fanfic]

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

The Incident at Suicide Ridge

Fanfic in the Tankiverse by Hippin_in_Hawaii

 
“You have to understand,” said Fred, “that people have us wrong. They assume we’re just crazy tankers who love to try crazy things.” He paused for a swallow of beer. “Ok, actually, they have that part right.”
 
He had to wait for a wave of chuckles to run through the bar before continuing. “They assume that we just do these things on impulse, make it up on the spur of the moment. While that may have been true in one or two notable occasions, we usually plan our crazy in advance. We spend our off hours in the archives, pouring over the maps of the practice arenas, reading through field reports of previous maneuvers. We do math and run computer simulations. We obsess over this.”
 
Al and Liza nodded as Fred took another generous swallow.
 
“We knew that our first live fire maneuver was coming up, and we knew from the archives it was likely to be on one of three training fields. So we researched them all, and had come up with a list of twenty-something…”
 
“Twenty-seven,” interrupted Al.
 
“Twenty-seven maneuvers, combined, for those three locations. The Suicide Ridge Ascension was one of those that we had planned for, but honestly, we considered too risky.”
 
“I don’t know Suicide Ridge,” interjected what’s-his-name.
 
“Out on training range charlie,” said Patterson. “You know that one ridge that kind of divides the field in half? That’s Suicide Ridge.”
 
“Why?” asked what’s-his-name. “I think it looks like a great place to snipe from.”
 
“It is a great place to snipe from,” explained Patterson. “But the approach is curved and narrow, then the top isn’t all that wide. You would have to maneuver fairly slowly to get into position, and the whole time you were creeping along up there, you’d be exposed to fire from the entire map. Even if you somehow made it there unnoticed, once you hit your first target, everyone on the opposing team would see you and return fire.”
 
“Right,” said Al. “But if you could pop into position without anybody noticing, you could certainly score one, and probably two kills before getting pegged. It could be a useful end-game maneuver if your team were behind.”
 
Fred nodded. “So, we looked at that possibility. The sides of the ridge are nearly vertical, but they flare out at the bottom. A light tank moving at full speed, with turbo engaged, could run straight up the side.”
 
“And fall straight back down!” exclaimed what’s-his-name.
 
Liza nodded. “Unless the recoil from a well-timed, carefully-aimed cannon shot knocked the tank forward. Then it would land on top of the ridge.”
 
“But the treads would still be in full forward, so stopping before flying off the opposite side would be a definite concern” finished Al.
 
“So, we looked at it, ran the math on it, and decided that it was possible, but very risky. Certainly, there was no reason to try it in a training maneuver. I mean, can you imagine if we missed, and came falling back down? We’d cripple our tank and likely kill ourselves in the bargain. No, we tucked that away in what we call the red folder. Ideas that, while they have a distinct possibility, are too risky to test.”
 
Patterson looked shrewdly across the table. “Just how many ideas are in that red folder? I’d love to see what you three considered too risky!”
 
Al, Fred, and Liza sat in silence, sipping on their beers.
 
“Fine,” grumbled Patterson. “Keep your secrets. Go on with the story.”
 
Fred shrugged. “You all know what happened. We’ve just never gotten to share that lead-up before. I wanted to set the record straight.”
 
After a moment of stunned silence, what’s-his-name blurted out “What? That’s it? You’re the worst storyteller ever!”
 
Fred just shrugged.
 
“Fine,” said Patterson, “I’ll tell it. We rolled into the maneuver area, and right off the bat, a blue tank starts climbing Suicide Ridge. And it was a monster, a super-heavy sporting the biggest damned cannon I’ve ever seen. I remember…” he broke off, shook his head, then continued in a subdued voice “I remember we were actually laughing about it on the comms.” He paused, shook his head, unshed tears glistening in his eyes. The bar was unnaturally silent, waiting with hushed expectation for him to resume.  Patterson collected himself, took a deep drink, and continued.
 
“We all got to our starting positions, and as soon as the referees called weapons free, half a dozen of us blasted that thing. It was actually kind of beautiful, perched up there on the ridge, dripping with red paint! And we went on with the battle, happy to know we’d scored such an early victory over the blues.”
 
Patterson paused again. There were some supportive rumbles from the crowd, now gathered tightly around the table.
 
“When it fired the first time, our only thought was that the blues were cheating. We weren’t on the blue comm, so we didn’t hear what they were saying. When it fired the second time, Golf Echo Nine exploded. Even then, I think, we weren’t really aware. We thought maybe it had been some terrible malfunction in the tank itself. Then that thing fired again, and Golf Echo One was gone.”
 
“Jesus,” breathed what’s-his-name. “The blues were using live rounds?”
 
“No, not the blues,” snapped Patterson. “Weren’t you listening? The first shot took out a blue. Somehow seditionists had infiltrated a blue tank and gotten live ammo. Anyway, the referees came on the general channel, calling for us to evacuate the area. Problem is, those training courses are contained, only a couple of entrances or exits. As all the tanks from both sides started to converge, we were only making ourselves better targets. The fourth shot took out two blues at once. The fifth disabled several units.”
 
Patterson raised his head to look at Fred, Al, and Liza. “Then these crazy sons-of-****es saved us all. They made their tank fly and they rammed those ****ers. Rammed them so hard that they were knocked off the far side of the ridge. The mammoth fell, and Golf Echo Two followed them down, landing on top of them. Crushed their tank and killed those ****ers.”
 
What’s-his-name looked at them in awe. “Jesus Mary mother of God… how are you alive?”
 
Fred shrugged. “Al cracked a dozen bones plus his skull and was in a coma for over a week.”
 
“Nine days,” inserted Al.
 
“Liza had compound fractures in both arms and one leg, plus a dislocated shoulder. I cracked almost every rib and had epic whiplash. Being alive was something of a surprise to us all, I think.” Al and Liza nodded.
 
“But it worked,” chirped Al. “I knew we could do it!”
 
“Damned straight!” roared Patterson. He lifted his mug. “To the only recruits ever to earn silver clusters for conspicuous valor. Golf Echo Two!”
 
“GOLF ECHO TWO!!!”
 
Al stood immediately, and raised his hands for silence. “To those we didn’t save. To Curtis and Kaylin and Jaycee. To Lilly, Peyton, and Red Allan. To Gunnar and Brian S. and Brian G. To Stumpy Joe, Darrell, and Shirley. To Tex, Saul, and Kaylin.”
 
Fred stood up beside him. “To comrades fallen!”
 
“TO COMRADES FALLEN!!”
 
 
 
 

Mahalo (thank you) for reading; I hope you enjoyed! This story is part of a series. Information on the series, and links to the other stories, can be found here.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Hippin_in_Hawaii

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

Approved

 

Nice piece of work, very few corrections:

• Small typo, you accidentally wrote "RIdge" instead of "Ridge."
• Added/removed a few commas here and there (not the Oxford Comma to those noobs who will ask)

Good work, I'm enjoying your series. :)

Also, that spelling of "manoeuvre" is triggering me but I'll let it slide. :ph34r:

[Stratosphere 2,234]

Magnum. ;)

[mydoom.exe 5,154]

As the stories go on, I can't help but notice the profanity more and more. I don't mind it, and thankfully the "harder" cusses are censored out, but would this be considered suitable for the forum? I believe the topic was brought up before too, and if I remember correctly, it was allowed as long as it wasn't "excessive". When would it become "excessive"?

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

Approved

 

Nice piece of work, very few corrections:

• Small typo, you accidentally wrote "RIdge" instead of "Ridge."
• Added/removed a few commas here and there (not the Oxford Comma to those noobs who will ask)

Good work, I'm enjoying your series. :)

Also, that spelling of "manoeuvre" is triggering me but I'll let it slide. :ph34r:

My shift finger is lazy, and I very often end up capitalizing two letters instead of the intended one. Usually I can see it, but in some cases, the capital looks much like the small. I and i are amongst my capitalization nemeses.

 

And I'm pretty sure I can maneuver myself out of a tight spot before you finish typing that Queen's version!  ;)

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

As the stories go on, I can't help but notice the profanity more and more. I don't mind it, and thankfully the "harder" cusses are censored out, but would this be considered suitable for the forum? I believe the topic was brought up before too, and if I remember correctly, it was allowed as long as it wasn't "excessive". When would it become "excessive"?

Yeah, we've of course noticed this, too. As you said, the "hard" cusses are censored out and the profanity isn't quite OTT ... yet. A previous piece was majorly edited due to the amount of cussing in it but I don't think there's an issue with a censored cuss as it kinda leaves it to the readers' imagination as to what the word is. The context of the swearing means that less accepted alternatives could be used and it's not just a blatant cuss. Regardless, we'll probably have to establish a more concrete standing on our leniency to profanity. 

[tweezers 1,034]

"Hello? Yes, I'd like to order more of these. Yes, lots more. How soon? As soon as you can, but quality over quantity please. Thanks, bye."

Edited December 18, 2017 by Yisroel.Rabin
Call 1-800-GOT-TWEE or visit www.gotweezers.com

[Raakin-The-Great 99]

i love it 

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

"Hello? Yes, I'd like to order more of these. Yes, lots more. How soon? As soon as you can, but quality over quantity please. Thanks, bye."

I'm trying to roll them out once per week. The next story is done, pending minor editorial changes. The one after that is just a nebulous concept at the moment. I find that this series has taken on a life of its own, and I'm really eager to see what happens next as well!