Dust Devils - A Girls Und Panzer Story

Chapter 8

The Monday following the match was dedicated to repair and maintenance. The 105mm gun of the T95 did a real number on the Stuart and Jagdpanzer IV. Yet work on them paled in comparison to the repair the VK needed. Its crew was huddled around their machine, with Marielle reading a manual. She let out the deepest sigh

"God this is gonna suck...alright let's remove the radio equipment and hull machine gun."

Tools in hand, the VK crew got to work. First, they had to remove the armor plates just above where the radio operator would sit. Then the radios were demounted. Those things weren't the lightest things in the world, they needed two people to haul them out. They were placed against the nearby wall and the machine gun joined them. Marielle looked at the MG34 and the accompanying belts of ammo with a certain wonder. Machine guns were something that was seldom used, if at all, during matches. tankery teams can go through entire tournaments without firing a single round. Others forgo buying belts of ammunition altogether though they will keep the guns in place for aesthetics. At Buchanan's insistence was the team to keep their machine guns locked and loaded. Practice for them was regular.

"A time may come when using your machine guns will come as handy. So, it's better to have them and not need them rather than the other way around."

The laborious task of replacing the VK's transmission continued. Now that the interior of the front hull has been gutted, now came the next step. Mounted on the ceiling of the garage was a crane. It's assistance was required. The old transmission was hooked and pulled out of the machine. As it slowly rose into the air, everyone in the garage saw the massive thing. It didn't take an expert mechanic to see how awful shape it was in. If it didn't fail in the Oceanside match, it was only just a matter of time for it to fail in practice or perhaps even in a match. It was placed aside on the floor. The replacement transmission was craned into position where it was fastened into place. Then everything else was returned to its original place. After the last bolt was tightened, the VK crew sat against their tank covered with grease and exhausted.

"If God is merciful...we won't have to do that again." Marielle said, out of breath

In other areas of the garage, crews had a much easier time tending to their vehicles. For Valarie and her crew, the work was trivial. They were among the first groups to be done and were now talking among themselves. Near the end of Monday's meeting, Buchanan called the team together.

"As we have until February for the next match, we aren't under too much pressure now. Therefore, our weekend practices will now just be on Saturdays."

There was an immediate wave of happiness among the time. Some were already planning what to do with their now free Sundays, Emma among them. Though it is not just Sundays that they are getting free. Winter break was upon them as they were in the last week of the semester. The school has the remainder of the year off and won't return till 7th of January in the new year. The team was dismissed and as people were leaving, Emma went up to Valarie.

"Hey, um, you got any plans for Sunday?" she questioned

"Eh...no clue."

Emma sported a smile.

"Well...do you wanna go to the arcade or something? If you want to go somewhere else...that's okay." Emma asked nervously

Valarie seized on that suggestion.

"No, the arcade is great! It'll be so fun!"

Heather approached them seemingly out of nowhere.

"Can I come too? I can drive us there." she asked quietly.