When the heaping mass of the Merry Go Round finally arrived at the cave entrance, Aroxy didn’t even think about how badly damaged the tank was. His mindset was always “ men first, material second” when it came to losing war material assets. It was a mindset that would have been alien to more merciless commanders but he thought it was a good one, regardless of the headache he caused Takka. When the crew finally parked the venerable Von Luckner in their camp and crawled off the tank, their reactions were less than stellar.

The frontal armor  of the Von Luckner had been blown off, charred and chipped flaps of ceramic plates poking out like teeth. The tank was slanted awkwardly to the right, in part due to the fact that they had no more suspension on their right treads. Or any tread for that matter. One of their SRM launchers had been jostled loose by the airstrike, the launcher pointed downwards whilst the paintjob was scorched off and replaced with a sooty aftercare of burnt fuel and tarnished alloy. In short, the tank had been fucked more thoroughly in this one single bout than any other campaign Aroxy had been on. 

Takka took his position in loudly communicating the crew’s feelings on the matter by making loud gasps and sobs as he assessed the tank’s condition. “For fuck’s sake, we go off dickin’ round in a civil war and this is the most damage my baby ever suffered,” Takka tenderly touched the outer hull of the Von Luckner, scratched, burnt and generally damaged beyond general recognition. The young mechanic seemed to flinch in horror as though he was watching his pet dog being disemboweled before him. 

Meanwhile, the rest of his crew were behind him, in disbelief at his hysterics. Aroxy eventually whistled to catch Takka’s attention, tired already of his gunner’s antics. 

“ So, how bad’s the damage?” 

“ BAD?” Takka gave a mock laugh before throwing a wrench down at Aroxy’s feet in frustration. “ Well, most of our frontal plating will have to be removed. We’ll have to get new treads for our right wheel alongside a new suspension. Do we even have a loader or a jack to lift up 50 tonnes because I know we don’t! God knows how long it’s going to repaint everything because hey, it was time she needed new skin, right, Cap?!” 

Eyebrows were raised along the other members of the crew as Takka panted raggedly in front of his commander. He then swallowed the dribble that he spat during his incoherent rant and then, calmly spoke again. 

“ But yeah, it’s fixable.” 

“ Good to know.” Aroxy nodded before turning to the other two members of the crew behind him. “ Now, Helma and Ansel. Coordinate to get what we need to fill Merry Go Round up again before 1800, am I clear?” 

“ Sir, yes, sir!” 

“ Oh-,”  Takka shouted out to the pair. “ Can you seen if you can scavenge something to replace all our ablative? Maybe, we could take apart one of our light mechs like the Raven - “ 

“ Belay that order, privates!  I said, BELAY THAT ORDER!”