Chapter 10

The fields outside the town of Homedale were normally littered with flowers. It was a beautiful spectacle to see. It was also a major tourist spot for visitors to the island. However, now it was a battlefield. Saunders was currently engaging Uncle Sam and the rest of the Montana unit in a, fairly, advantages fight. Kay decided to take a tactic from Rivers and plan a long-range ambush. The Montana was rerouted to reinforce Uncle Sam and strengthening their position in the north.

Montana had been training their tanks crews to aim and accomplish long shots over a length of nine hundred to one-thousand yards. Kay knew Naomi was the only one on their side who could hit a target at that range. So, Saunders had hidden behind one of the many flower infested hills that spread around the fields.

Once Montana arrived Saunders immediately acted and opened fire. They took down three immediately and with their position quite favorable, managed to continue with a barrage of potshots. It was the same tactic Rivers used to take out Count High when the battling for Hoja City started.

Rivers was none too happy about the attack. In fact, he was furious. The long-range shock tactic was one of his school's best strategies. It was hardly ever used on Montana in return.

"Range five hundred yards." A gunner said through comms.

"Roger, elevation 2.09." Another said.

"Wind is clear. Open fire." Said yet another.

Twenty-seven tanks opened fire at once. Several hit their marks however only four of Saunders tanks were taken out. Rivers target was one of them. Yes, he was the Commander of the Montana unit, but he also was his tanks gunner. He was the best shot at Montana and one of the best in the whole Association team. With him were Mark Manson from Uncle Sam and another from Lincoln Memorial.

"Nice kills. Direct angle of fire 3.3 yards to the right. Saunders commander tank spotted." Said a gunner on radio.

Yes, Montana were known for their sniping abilities. Every single gunner was trained in Physics, Mathematics, and calculus. It was a trait needed for the shots they took in matches. It is what won them the American High School Tankery Championship so many times before.

"Fire." Another shout from the radio.

Several tanks opened fire on, presumably, Commander Kay's tank. Two shots hit the tank but were ineffective on disabling it.

A shot hit the ground close to Rivers tank, shacking the ground, and causing Rivers to adjust his target. "Anyone see where that last shot came from?" Rivers ordered on radio.

"Nothing." One voice said.

"No Sir." Said another.

"Muzzle flash point 221. Elevation 73 yards above current position, eight hundred yards away top of the hill!" one of the gunners stated.

Rivers pointed towards that position and saw it. It was the Saunders Firefly. That tank was their resident sniper. If Rivers took it out it would give some leeway to a charge.

"Spotted, keep it in your sights." Rivers ordered. "Ark, load a smaller copper domed velocity shell. I'm taking that one down." Rivers said.

"Right." Ark said grabbing the requested ordinance.

Rivers focused on the Firefly. It was stationary and vulnerable. Rivers wanted to take it out, he needed to take it out. The defeat at Hoja City was a humiliating afront. Even worse was when Davis from Virginia appeared and took over. He was now fighting St. Gloriana and Ooarai to take back lost ground. Rivers had to admit, Davis knew how to command.

"Loaded." Ark said.

Rivers took aim. He targeted a little above the Firefly to compensate for drop. He veered the barrel right five inches for wind direction. He squeezed the trigger and out the shell came. It flew several seconds before hitting the Firefly square in the body. However, the white flag was not seen, meaning it was still operable. The Firefly took aim at his tank and followed his shot angle. The shell left the barrel and hit Rivers tank on its body, however like the Firefly it was still working.

From this point Saunders was retreating. They managed to hook the defeated tanks to the operable ones and began towing their Sherman fleet back westward.

"Their retreating! Let's advance and take them out!" One said.

"Commander lets charge them! Wipe them out!" Another said agreeing.

Rivers however was infatuated by the Firefly. It hit his tank from that distance with the same calibrations he used on it. He saw the Firefly beginning to retreat with the rest of the force and sighed.

"Sir, should we pursue?" Ark asked.

Rivers grabbed his radio. "Stay put boys. Let's get our casualties towed to Homedale. We'll rest up and go after them later. I'll call Edward and see if he can spare a scout." Rivers said.

A collective of affirmatives was heard over the radio. Rivers sighed again. Before again speaking into the radio. "And somebody get me the information we have on Saunders Firefly." He said before ceasing.

Kay hopped down from her tank and took a damage assessment. Three hit marks. Nothing too serious as all the Sherman's were decked out with better armor. Looking at the rest of the unit, thirteen Sherman's were inoperable. Alisa hopped out of hers and began getting the repairs organized. this was not normally what Kay would do, stopping in the wooded area to repair their tanks, but Rivers hadn't sent anyone after them. She thought after Hoja City he would want revenge for the defeat.

Hearing another engine behind her Kay turned to see the Firefly parking close by. The crew hopped out, but Naomi was yet to be seen.

"Hey, where's Naomi?" Kay asked.

"Inside the tank. She hasn't said or done anything for a while." Answered the driver.

Kay climbed the Firefly and dropped herself through the loaders hatch. She saw Naomi sunk into her chair staring off into space, her face a tad red.

"Naomi, whats going on, what happened to you?" Kay asked.

"I've never been hit from that far away before. That one tank hit us at over eight hundred meters. The angle was perfect. Had it not been for the extra armor we would have been taken out." Naomi said dazed.

Kay was quite shocked. Not at the fact Naomi would be taken out, that had happened before, but the fact that some one hit her at her position from so far away. Naomi was the only person Kay knew that could hit a target from that range.

"Are you in shock?" Kay asked.

Naomi grew a weird looking smile and nodded. Her face began getting a darker shade of red. In fact, it looked like Naomi was in pure extasy. Kay just shook her head and exited the tank. Once she was back on the ground Alisa was there wanting to talk.

"Whats going on with Naomi?" She asked.

"She seems to be in bliss or something. Someone from Montana managed to hit them at over eight hundred meters." Kay said.

Alisa's eyes widened. Then she grew her thinking face. "Montana does train to be precise marksmen. maybe they have someone just as good as Naomi on their team." Alisa said.

"That thought scares me." Kay said.

After some time, Naomi had finally exited the tank. The rest of Saunders had set up camp for the night and while repairs were being done Naomi decided to go through Alisa's files of Montana Tankery Academy. It was a school completely indulged in Sensha Do. Their Commander, Rivers Pines, was the one who helped develop the Montana style of Sensha Do when he was a freshman. Its amazed Naomi that this guy ended becoming the schools Commander. He was rash and prone to anger. He had a quick temper, but it was easily adjusted when he would sit and relax for a few moments. Rivers record of shooting was amazing as well. Though he was the teams Commander he also acted as his tank's gunner due to his time during freshman and sophomore year. His hit to miss ratio was near perfect. He had only twelve misses in his entire career. Naomi herself had twenty-four.

Every second she spent on researching Rivers the more she knew that he was the one who manage to hit her. She actually wanted to meet him and talk. However, she heard from Alisa about how rude he was during the commanders meeting. He was very hostile towards the girls and would most likely rant about his problems at her rather than talk. In fact, the more she thought about it, Naomi concluded that no girl in Sensha Do has ever gotten close to her skill of shooting. Sure, Hana from Ooarai was naturally good, but she still had a long way to go.

No. it was this guy from America, partaking in American Tankery, that proved to be her equal if not her better. Now Naomi was second guessing her thoughts about fighting this match. If they won, then American Tankery would be shut down, then she would not be able to challenge Rivers to a rematch. It was a troublesome dilemma.

Back at Homedale, Rivers was having an identity crisis. He was thrashing around the storage area throwing things and yelling. He was given the files on Saunders by Ark and had gone through them. When he found the Firefly, he saw the gunner was a girl named Naomi. For whatever reason he stared at the picture memorizing her face. Surprisingly he felt no remorse or anger towards this girl. She had shot just as good if not better then him during that last skirmish and was one of the reasons for his humiliating defeat at Hoja City. In fact, during that campaign nine of his tanks were taken out by her.

Yet still no hostile emotion came from him. It was strange. He held such resentment for every single Japanese girl partaking in this stupid match. How could he not. They were trying to take away his favorite sport. One his father and grandfather partook in. Rivers was a third generation Tankery player in his family. It was in his blood. And the Japanese were trying to take that away. So why didn't he feel animosity towards this Naomi girl.

She shot him form about nine hundred yards, she took out the most tanks during the Hoja City fight, and she was trying to destroy his sport.

Rivers chocked it up to respect. He had never seen someone else with that natural talent with shooting. Yeah Mark from Uncle Sam was good, but he worked his way to be that good. Mark had dyslexia and was very troubled with academics. But he pushed his way through the same study courses that students at Montana took. For Rivers it came naturally. For this Naomi girl it came naturally. Yet this was not who Rivers was at all. He had no sympathy for these girls. He practically hated all of them for their beliefs. And yet he wanted to talk to this Naomi girl. He wanted to speak about the fight, hell he wanted to fight her again if possible. Rivers sighed and sat down. This would be a long campaign.

The next day Kay did recon on the town of Homedale to assess the defense situation. It was in lockdown. Uncle Sam's tanks were guarding the entire perimeter and Montana had fully restored their numbers back to full. Kay knew an assault would be suicide. No, the best option was to fall back and return another day.

So, retreat they did. Saunders returned to the town of Leimberg where Kuromorimine was garrisoned. This was the town they took from Washington some time ago. In fact, it was the Federation Teams FOB. Kay had her Sherman parked and hoped down seeing Maho had come to see her personally.

"Kay. You weren't expected back so soon. What happened at Homedale?" She asked.

"The Montana Unit was sent to reinforce the town. It's completely locked down. There was no way we could take it ourselves." Kay reported.

"Alright. Walk with me, give me details." Maho said. She and Kay began walking towards the town's headquarters.

"Well, we ambushed Montana on their way to the town. A small fire fight ensued, and we damaged nine of their E-75's. however Naomi was almost taken out from over eight hundred meters." Kay said. Maho's eyes widened.

"Montana has that good of a gunner?" Maho asked.

"Apparently, Naomi tells me it's their Commander Rivers. Remember him?" Kay asked.

"The loud, impolite one?" Maho knowingly asked.

"Yep. Apparently since he managed to hit her from that far she's been in and out of her right state of mind. It's strange." Kay said.

"Hm. We'll have to keep an eye on them then. If we want to win, we'll have a better chance if Rivers is out for good." Maho said.

"You mean capturing him?" Kay asked.

"Yes. It might be the best way to ensure he can't fight anymore." Maho said.

Kay sighed. This whole debacle was driving her crazy. Every day this match seemed more like a war rather than a game. Kay wanted to have fun with Sensha Do, it had made her so outgoing and helped her make so many friends. However, this yearlong battle was the exact opposite of fun and friendly.

"When's the Federation Unit coming?" Kay asked.

"In a week. After that Chi-Ha-Tan, Anzio, Count, BC Freedom and Maple are planning to leave for home." Maho said.

Kay was surprised. "That many?"

"It seems that the toll of this match was too much for them. Its fine though. The Federation is sending more than what we will lose." Maho said.

"If you say so." Kay said.

They both reached the headquarters and began constructions of plans and such to take down Homedale and turn control to them.