Chapter 18

Normally in Sensha Do the battles are fought inside the tanks. It was a necessary requirement for the sport in very obvious ways. However, recon of your enemy's force during or pre match is allowed and what best way is there to gather intelligence in the field 'stealthily' then outside of your tank.

Rosehip pushed a branch out of her vision and brought her binoculars up. She scanned the port city of Kosha. The resupply plane had landed and was offloading the supplies for the federation team as it did monthly. However, the unceasing thing was that a cargo cruiser was docked at the port. If the plane wasn't there Rosehip would have assumed that it was there in place of the plane for delivering the supplies. The Americans had to do that one time. Though the ship wasn't offloading necessity supplies. It was tanks supplies. Specifically, more tanks.

At this point Rosehip was not surprised. After all the horrendous acts the Federation team had done, bringing in illegal reinforcements was the least of the surprises she would not expect. It made a modicum of sense as well. The high schoolers made up the main force of the Federation team. Now with their 'conversion' the Federation was low on numbers. Though the Federation still had the ability to hold back the ever-desperate advances of the Association team.

Rosehip continued to gander at the shameful tactics being used. It was not elegant as Darjeeling would say, but in retrospect it made sense. Though glancing at the other stern of the ship Rosehip let an audible gasp escape her mouth. Being off loaded of a pair of Mercer Karl track tanks. The bruiser tanks the University team used against the joint high school team in effort to save Ooarai. They seemed modified with treads for normal maneuver. However, that was not even the whole cake. A piece of equipment that is not even considered a tank. A Schwerer Gustav, or more commonly known as the Gustav Cannon. Siege Artillery. That cannon was as illegal as murder. Had the federation council members really lost their minds? They would face serious repercussions from this with the American Government itself.

Rosehip took several pictures on a camera Sodoko lent her. Rosehip rose to a crouch position and headed back to her Crusader. She hopped up onto the tank and entered through the commander's hatch meeting the eyes of her tank crew.

"We got to get back to Hoja immediately. Things have escalated! Go!" Rosehip ordered.

The drive back would take some time, but Rosehip had never pushed her Crusader this hard before. This was imperative.

Davis threw the whole stack of pictures on the table in complete anger. Edward felt his anger justified. This was absurd.

"We have got to tell the officials about this. The Federation have completely lost their socks! It seems they actually intend to kill us!" Davis yelled.

"Yelling wont solve this predicament." Darjeeling said.

"Well we have to do something instead of just sitting around." Davis countered.

"Patience alleviates, as impatience augments, pain; thus, persons of strong will suffer less than those who give way to irritation" Darjeeling said.

"What!?" Davis asked.

"She's saying don't be hasty. Lets go over all options before we lash out." Edward said.

"You're sure that Rosehip got her intel right?" Maho asked Darjeeling.

"Yes. She is brash and impatient herself, but she is quite thorough in her work. Plus, I had Assam go through the photo's and confirm our suspicions" Darjeeling said.

"This is crazy." Davis said. "How far do these federation nuts think they can go?"

"Remember that Ami Chono and Shichiro Kodama are on our side. My mother must be acting on her own." Maho said.

"Akari did say she had permission from Ms. Nishizumi to be rough with the boys." Darjeeling said.

"Rough is an understatement, but she is the most likely suspect in this whole debacle." Edward said.

There was a silent pause for several seconds. None of the present commanders knew what to do next.

"We cant compete with the Karl's let alone that cannon. We're sitting ducks." Davis said.

"Believe you are defeated, believe it long enough, and it is likely to become a fact." Darjeeling said.

"Enough with the quotes." Davis said.

"No, she's right. If we give up to easily, we have already accepted defeat. The founding fathers didn't give up and neither should we." Edward said.

"So, what are we supposed to do, cross the Delaware? Hate to inform you but we're as far from the Delaware as we can get." Davis said.

"The Delaware?" Maho asked.

"During the American Revolution General George Washington took his outnumbered, freezing, underequipped army and crossed the frozen Delaware river on Christmas eve to attack the comfortable, disciplined, and well-equipped British forces. The Americans won. It's a pivotal point in the war and taught in schools nationwide." Edward said.

"So how do we implement that in our situation?" Darjeeling asked.

"I have an idea." Davis said. He looked as if thelightbulbs were in his eyes. "but in requires that we at least suffer somewhatto that Cannon."