Our Final King

Part 3: The big cats

Wehrmacht soldiers roamed the station. Small trucks carrying ammunition drove by. That was until they all froze upon the sight of the mighty King Tiger that rumbled the earth beneath it. It's engine roaring like the tiger it is and showing its power like a king. The beast pulled up to the mechanic station and drove into an empty bay. Cutting its engine, Felix along with the rest of the crew crawled out. Fritz stayed though. He looked at the beast he now called his home. Feeling a sense of emptiness, he finally worked his way out to see the mechanics and Felix discussing their plans about the engine, fuel pump, and transmission.

Fritz: War is a unique game. You have two sides, the good and the bad. Each side though has its views. Some portray the good as bad and vise versa. I've been fighting for a few years now. I can see why war is bad but also good. War helps the world create new technology. War is what makes us people the mice we are. We are the chess pieces, our commanders are the kings and queens. And our presidents, prime ministers, dictators; all just players. They move us; they control us; we are their pawns. But here we are continuing to fight this game of chess.

Felix: "Sir! The mechanics would like to see you!"

Fritz: "Ok hold on I'm coming now."

I walked up to the two men standing there with Felix. They both had grease covering their hands and even a bit on their faces. There were parts lying around ranging from parts to guns to parts to transmissions. Even some engines lying around.

Mechanic 1: "Good afternoon sir! Your friend here was tellin me about the issues your havin and wanted to ask you what you wanted done with it, seeing your the commander and all."

Fritz: "Well...you could fix the engine, new fuel pumps, work on the transmission; think it should be good after all that work."

Mechanic 2: "Transmission, fuel pumps, engine, got it." He muttered under his breath "Alright sir! Getting to it right now. Should be all good in a few hours." He began to walk away, taking a few steps before stopping and turning back to me "Quick question, if we have too...what do you think about us putting a new engine in there?"

Fritz: "What's wrong with her Maybach V12?"

Mechanic 2: "Don't know yet...that's why I'm asking your thoughts on it."

Fritz: "Do you by any chance have a new engine for her?"

Mechanic 1: "In fact we do, last one we have too. Best of its class." He said with a bright smile walking up to his buddy

Fritz: *sigh* "Let me see this engine of yours."

Mechanic 2: "Follow us, we believe you'll like what we have in store for you." He had a grin on his face. I was quite skeptical about this but there was only one way to find out. I followed them to the back where they opened a large bay door. That's when I saw this engine they were talking about.

Mechanic 2: "This is our new SGP Sla. 16 diesel engine. It's an air cooled engine with an output of 750 horsepower. So what ya think?"

Fritz: I walked up to the engine. Admiring its design. It used diesel instead of petrol like the Maybach did, so we will probably need to clean the pumps and everything before installing. But I think this may be worth it. "Let's do it. I think this will help us out."

Mechanic 1: "Now that's what I like to hear! Alright we'll get to work right away. You and your crew just sit back and we'll get this all sorted out."

Fritz: "Alright...I'll see you two later. Don't fuck this up cause if you do I will have your heads as decorations for this tank."

Mechanic 1: "Woah woah woah ok! We won't let that happen. Promise."

I walked off leaving with no response. I went outside to see my crew standing their chatting with each other. This place was quite large. I looked around and saw two other tanks in separate bays as well. One seemed to be a Panther, G variant it looked like. And there was a Tiger tank. That was quite possibly Germanys most feared tank. Also quite possibly the most infamous. Sure it was no match for my tiger 2 but those Tiger 1's sure held their own. I saw the Tigers commander along with the Panthers commander as well. They both seemed to be worn out. This war wasn't going in our favor. All we can do now is just fight with our final threads and breath of life and hope.

Tiger commander: "Hallo! You are the commander of the Panzer Ausf. B correct? The Tiger 2?"

Fritz: "Uh-jä."

Tiger commander: "Meine Güte, diese Maschine ist großartig!" (My goodness, this machine is magnificent!) "I've heard very little about such beasts and have yearned to see such a machine!"

I just gave a slight smile looking towards the ground. I heard more footsteps and looked to see the Panther G commander walking up. He looked to be an older gentleman. Not the most pleasant of faces to be greeted with. Let alone he's be very dirty and has a foul smell to him.

Panther commander: "Wow talk about a tank. And here I am thinking my Panther was good."

Tiger Commander: "I know jä? We have the big cats here now!"

We call them big cats, yet these machines mean more then just a name or some tale of sorts. These machines mean history and technological advances. My father fought in world war 1. Always told me to treat every little bit of machine, food, water, clothing whatever it may be with great gratitude and respect. Not many of us soldiers get to have much, if anything of that matter.

Time skip 3 hours

It was now 1637 (4:37 pm) and Felix had just called me over to chat with the mechanics some more. There were a couple more guys working on my tank now. They had her turret lifted and her new engine being put in. Apparently they needed to do some modifications to the transmission so it can support the new Sla. 16 diesel engine. It wasn't long though until I heard some shit falling apart inside the tank.

Fritz: "HEY HEY HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?"

Mechanic 2: "Oh uh, don't worry! Everything is fine! Just...um...we may have lost a few screws and dropped some gears inside the transmission..."

Fritz: "Oh mein Gott!" (Oh my god) "Please tell me your are only joking...please!"

Mechanic 1: "And uh, what would happen if we said no?"

Fritz: "Oh fuck my life! I can't get anywhere with you dumb fucks!"

Mechanic 2: "Hey if it weren't for us you wouldn't be here! You and your crew would probably be dead out there cause of a broken shit box!"

I could see the anger building up in him. But there was no way in hell I was going to let him talk about my tank like that.

Fritz: "Are you calling my tank a shit box? A machine, capable of taking down entire towns. And you come along to call it a shit box?"

Mechanic 2: "Well maybe, if you weren't such a little bitch and actually took proper care of her, she wouldn't be here right now."

Otto: "Uh, excuse me? I don't mean to barge into your argument but there seems to be some sounds coming from over the hill. Sounds large possibly."

Fritz: "...run..."

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Hope you guys enjoy this. I hope to come back to my original story at some point. I may end up creating a remastered version that's much more simpler after it. Or just write a story about one of the specific Black Knight characters I created from that story. Anyways thank you guys. Bye!!!!