Titans of war

by Trigger_Finger

Chapter 3

The T90 sat stationary and silent in an open desert field. The three men and the night princess sat around a small fire while conversing.

Ivan had his AK47 field stripped and was cleaning smaller details in the rifle. “Why do you clean that so much?” Dmitry asked, curious to why the older veteran always cleaned his rifle whenever he got the chance. Ivan looked up to the younger man.

“Gun may never jam… but it will look nicer and operate nicer if she’s clean.” Ivan replied before continuing his work on the rifle. Luna sat beside Vladimir.

“Why did you choose to help us? You could have just said no and left us to fend for ourselves.” Luna asked. Vlad sighed as painful memories were brought up.

“I was… in the Russian Afghanistan war… we did things… no one should do… killed people… shot people… burned people… we were murders with no boundaries… I guess I thought maybe I could make up for the sins I have done.” Vlad replied, making Luna nod in understanding.

“I’m sorry… to bring it up, I never meant to…” She began but Vlad put his fingers to her lips.

“It is okay night pony… it is okay.” Vlad assured her.

Elsewhere…

The M1 Abrams sat still, its occupants all standing close to the machine but with no fire to keep them warm. “Sir… why can’t we light just a little one?” Deny asked as he shivered from the harsh breeze.

“Are you insane, private!? The rebels would spot us a mile away!” Alex replied as he searched the surrounding with his night vision goggles, looking for anything suspicious.

Deny went back to rubbing his arms furiously to try and keep warm. Trixie stepped over to him. “Here, allow Trixie to help.” She offered as she lowered her head. Her horn illuminated and gently covered Deny’s body in a blue aura. Soon, Deny was warm and comfortable. He kindly thanked the mare before sliding his hands into his sleeves to keep warm.

The blue aura caught James’ attention as he was eating an MRE. “Hey… psst, Trixie!” James hissed and the mare looked over to him. He showed her his still cold MRE and shook it, gaining everyone’s attention. Trixie nodded and immediately went to work, heating his meal.

“HEY!” Alex scowled. “Put out that fucking light!” He ordered. Trixie immediately did as he asked but the smell of warm food filled the air. James gave her a grateful nod. Though his food wasn’t thoroughly heated, it was still better than nothing.

A few more minutes passed and Alex noticed a fair bit of movement with his goggles. “Rebels! Everyone in the tank!” He scowled. Everyone quickly raced into the tank before Alex sealed the hatch. “Driver, where are they?” He ordered.

After a few moments of silence, Deny answered. “All around us sir…” He stammered fearfully. Alex cursed to himself.

“Alright… ready all weapons, on my mark, do a complete 360 and fire every weapon.” He ordered. James and Deny nodded. “On my mark… MARK!” He yelled and the recently silent air was filled with the eruption of gunfire and explosions.

The tank turret quickly began to spin in one full rotation as every weapon but the two manual machineguns, fired. In seconds it was over and the surrounding area was devastated.

“Driver… movement?” Alex asked. There was another moment’s silence as Deny checked the screens and sensors.

“No commander…” He replied. Alex nodded then went to open the hatch but a chill went down his spine. He looked to Trixie.

“You…” He said as he pointed to the unicorn mare. “Go check it out.” He ordered. Trixie went to object but he silenced her. “THAT’S AN ORDER!” He yelled. Trixie scurried outside without anther word.

“Deny… come here…” Alex ordered as he slipped out of the commander’s chair. Deny shuffled over. “Sit in the commander seat.” Alex stated. Deny gave him a curious look. “Do it.” Alex ordered.

Deny simply nodded, slipped past Alex then sat in the commander chair. “Can you see Trixie through the weapon sights?” He asked. Deny took a look through the vision enhancer of the remote gun screen. He nodded. “Good… shoot her.” Alex stated without any emotion whatsoever.

Everything seemed to get quieter than it already was. James and Jackson both looked to their commander and to Deny. Deny looked down to his commander. “What?!” He gasped, not sure if he had heard his commander right.

“Shoot her.” Alex stated. Deny sat in the seat with his jaw hanging agape. “Goddammit soldier, shoot her. She’s working with the enemy.” Alex ordered.

“No.” Deny replied, defying his commander’s orders. Alex was about to interject but Trixie slid back into the tank.

“Deer… it was a herd of deer.” Trixie stated. Deny slipped out of the driver seat, giving Alex a cold look as he passed by him. As he sat back in the driver seat he spotted something further away on one of the tracker screens.

“Sir, we have more movement.” Deny informed his commander. “Six o’clock.” He stated. Figuring it was just more deer, Alex opened the hatch and looked towards where Deny had stated the movement had come from.

What he saw made his eyes go wide. “DRIVER! GET US OUTTA HERE, JACKSON, JAMES: READY THE GUN!” Alex yelled as he slammed the hatch. The tank whined as it rumbled to life and Deny immediately sped the away.

The main gun was loaded and began to spin clockwise until James spotted the other tank. “OH SHIT! THAT’S A T90!” He yelled.

“JUST… SHOOT IT!” Alex yelled frantically. It had really snuck up on them and was a little too close for comfort. James tried to line up a shot but he was getting withdrawals as the homemade alcohol wore off. The main gun thundered in the air but the shell missed terribly, straying off into the distance.

Another round spat back at the M1 and slammed into the ground a few yards away. “WE’RE TAKING FIRE!” Alex yelled. Jackson was still busy loading a fresh shell as yet another shell slammed into the ground not too far from the tank. “GODDAMMIT, SHOOT BACK ALREADY!” Alex roared.

The M1 tank gun thundered a second time but once again it missed due to James’ intoxication. “James, move!” Jackson yelled as he moved his intoxicated friend away from the gunner seat. He loaded a fresh shell as more eruptions drew ever closer to the speeding M1.

Jackson took careful aim through the screen sights. He lined the shot up perfectly and fired. An eruption flared as the 105mm tank round slammed against the T90. “I GOT IT!” Jackson cheered.

“No you didn’t!” Deny yelled back. Jackson looked back through the view sights as the T90 flew through the puff of smoke. Its front end had suffered some damage but nothing that would hinder its performance.

Suddenly a 120mm HE round slammed into the back of the M1 and shook the entire vehicle. James staggered and smoked his head off the roof of the vehicle, knocking himself unconscious in the process. “WE’RE HIT, WE’RE HIT!” Deny screamed.

“SHUT UP AND KEEP DRIVING!” Alex roared. Jackson went to yell for James to load a round but saw his friend’s condition and swore.

“We got a man down!” He yelled. Alex looked to the unconscious man and swore regretfully. Jackson scurried to load a fresh round just as yet another round struck the M1, but only winging it and taking off part of the rear track cover.

“WE’RE TAKING FIRE!” Deny yelled. Alex homed in with the roof mounted machinegun and began to fire relentlessly at the opposing tank as it began to quickly catch up to them. The .50 caliber rounds of the Browning dented the armour of the T90 but didn’t go past the exterior shell. “IT’S GAINING ON US!” Deny screamed.

Jackson loaded a round before squirming back into the gunner seat. Another round screamed past the M1, missing it by a matter of a few feet. Jackson lined up a shot and fired. The round slammed into the front of the T90 but once again it only dinged it and posed minor damage.

“FUCK!” Jackson yelled. Suddenly, without warning, the T90 stopped pursuit and the M1 raced away into the night.

Ivan looked to his commander. “WHY HAVE WE STOPPED!?” He yelled but Vlad kept a clam tone as he replied.

“We must check the tank before we continue.” He stated.

“The tank is still running, it is fine!” Ivan yelled back. Vlad simply let out a breath of air as he looked to Dmitry. Seconds later the tank engine silenced as Dmitry turned it off. “I can’t believe this shit!” Ivan scowled as the three disembarked the tank.

Luna flew down from the sky. “What’s wrong?” She asked worriedly, praying that nothing was wrong with their only chance of defeating this great foe.

“Nothing, we stopped for a piss.” Ivan scowled irritably. Deny and Vlad checked the front of the tank and Deny groaned.

“Sir, the tank is operational but the track has suffered some damages… it might break if we continue to run it…” Dmitry informed his commander with a tone of distress.

“Fuck it, our tank is fine!” Ivan yelled as he went to embark the tank once again. Vlad shook his head then looked to the night princess.

“Are there any places around here where we could service the tank?” He asked unsurely, positive that there probably wasn’t a place in this entire world that could service a tank.

To his surprise, Luna nodded.

Author's Note:

Well that's a night for me, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. And before you ask, I'll answer the question of what's wrong with both tanks in the next chapter, along with the less prevalent "How did the Russians know where they were?"

Comments

[Sabban]

2611710
What he said.

[Elitrino]

Wow, Alex is one retarded, stupid motherfucker
3drealms.com/duke-nukem-forever.jpg
Time to kick ass, and chew bubblegum.And i`m all outta gum.

[Mogss]

Why is the commander so paranoid?