Lilly/James' Post
"I am sorry. I did not mean to startle you." Lilly apologized as she began scanning the rows of bullets and magazines, looking for the proper caliber.
"It goes the same with me. ... But it is difficult to decide what to bring when you travel as light as we scouts do." Picking up two different grenades to demonstrate her point, she queried
"Should I take smoke or explosive grenades? It is difficult to anticipate what would be most needed."James chuckles and holds up the frag grenades he'd chosen. "Smokes are good for cover and obscuring the vision on a tank, but frags are better for building clearing and generally helping us get away." He puts them on his belt and then peruses the ammo for the right caliber himself. "I almost always carry more ammo than grenades. I mean, if we do our job right, we don't end up close enough for the grenades to be needed. Right?" Spotting his ammo, he grabs some and puts it in the appropriate pouches. "So, what's it like in the militia?"
Lilly smiled as they spoke, nodding in agreement with what he had said.
"Yes, I suppose it is true. My throwing skill is lacking, so it would probably be better for me to carry more bullets." Despite saying that, though, she still did grab a pair of smoke grenades. That was all that her small pouch would hold, and it would help her get out of a situation like what had 'killed' her on the training field.
James' question about life in the militia caught her off guard. Surely it couldn't be much different than life in the army?
"Oh, well I only joined at the start of the war. I really do not know much about it, but it seems..." Violent. Violent and frightening were the words Lilly thought of as her memories of Rinneheim came back. Her face darkened as she thought this, though she quickly burried that feeling and resumed her usual calm appearance.
"... I am unsure how to describe it. It is certainly different from what I am used to." Smiling as she reached for a few rifle magazines, she reversed the question.
"What of you? You said you were from the army. What was life like there?"James wasn't surprised that Lilly thought the militia life was different from how she'd lived before. To be fair, it was meant to be, and he was starting to see why his buddies back in the regular army gave the militia so much crap. Of course, so far he LIKED most of his squad mates, unlike those who made up Cougar Squad back with his old unit. Her question about life in the army illicited a chuckle from the PFC.
"Well, it's orderly, precise and, well, uneventful in times of peace. It's also very predictable. Up at 0500, PT for an hour, two if your sergeant's in a particularly nasty mood, breakfast, you do your assignment for the day, lunch, back to assignments, dinner, and then lights out by 2300 hours." With a sigh, James grabbed another clip and slid it into another ammo pouch. "Still, I wouldn't give it up for anything else. When I graduated school, I enlisted, just because I couldn't stand the thought of being looked down on by the regular army. Then, once I got in, I found it was actually kinda fun." Stopping suddenly, James chuckles nervously and blushes a little, though he was sure Lilly couldn't see it. "Sorry, started rambling on you. What did you do before the war?"
Lilly waved her hand, dismissing his apology. She had missed his blush as she was bent over while inventorying her pack.
"Please, it matters not. Truth be told, I like hearing about things like this from others." Standing up again and straightening her hair, Lilly paused when she was asked about herself, a complex look crossing her face.
"That is... Also difficult to describe. I did not have a job per-say... I am the daughter of David Jatmoore. Perhaps you have heard of him. My father owns one of the largest strings of arms factories in Gallia, so the majority of my life has been devoted to learning how to manage the Jatmoore Arms company for when he passes it to me." As she spoke, Lilly closed her pack and hoisted it onto her back. She was clearly finished here, but made no motion to leave. It was nice to take a break and have someone to talk to after all the hectic training she'd been through.
"Before I joined the militia, my life was mostly classes, some tutored sports and the occasional hunting trip. It was not anything exciting enough to make for a good conversation." She smiled brightly as she recalled one last bit of information. A piece that she was particularly proud of.
"But, since we specialized in producing rifles, I know exactly how most of them work! I could probably maintain a rifle just as well as some of the engineers, if not for the disgusting grease and filth." Lilly shuddered at the thought.
James couldn't help but laugh a little as he put the last magazine in his last ammo pouch on his chest. "Well, hate to be the bearer of bad news, Lilly, but grease and grime are the least of your worries now." He hefted up his own pack and settled it on his shoulders before facing Lilly with a smile on his face. So far, he saw no reason why the militia got so much shit from the regular army. Maybe it's because they're only on duty in times of war unlike us. Meh, so what? Least they still fight. "Hey, I've got an idea. Let's watch each other's backs and make sure we both make it home in one piece. Deal?" He stuck his hand out for a shake, one to seal the deal.
Lilly giggled as well at the statement.
"Aha, yes I am well aware of that. It is something I have endeavored to work on." When James offered to watch her back (in return for her watching his), she nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes, that sounds like a great idea. We are both scouts after all, so we'll probably be deployed together a fair few times." After gently shaking his hand, Lilly motioned at his pack.
"You seem to be ready. Shall we head out? It is getting late, and it would not due to head into battle lacking sleep." Nodding with a chuckle, James leads the way out of the Armory. "Yeah, that's a good point. It's only 2030 though, we got a little bit of time to kill. Up for a drink?" James enjoyed Lilly's company, something he was pleasantly surprised by. Of course, he'd always gotten along better with fellow scouts and snipers than he had the storm troopers or the bloody gear heads. Those guys made his head hurt.
Lilly shook her head upon being offered to accompany James for a drink.
"Though I thank you for the offer, Mr. Hunt, there are a few things I still must attend to. I'm afraid I must decline." She preferred to avoid alcohol anyways. After the two were outside, Lilly looked at the setting sun, back to her new friend and around the surrounding area. It certainly seemed like it was going to be a beautiful night. Bowing as to James, Lilly excused herself.
"With that, I must leave you to your devices, Mr. Hunt. I greatly enjoyed our chat, and I suppose I will see you in the morning. Have a good evening." As she headed back to her bunk to finalize her preparations and sleep for the night, a single thought drifted through Lilly's head.
What a nice man. I certainly hope he does not come to harm in the battle tomorrow.Evan's Post
'Sure sure... I trust you've done a good job, but I might as well take a look.' "Attaboy, Darcsen! I know you'll like it." Evan clapped the sergeant on the shoulder as they headed to the garage. Once they got there, he wasted no time pointing out all the improvements that had been made.
"This imp piece of shit has no armour, and trying to attach any plating to it slowed it down too much to be used outside of a city. Found some wire armour laying around. This stuff'll blow a lance before it hits us, so it should give us a bit more protection against lancers. Don't be thinkin it'll stop a tank shell, though, that shit's gonna go straight through." Patting the wire, he pointed out the rags stuck between the bolts, wire and frame.
"Of course wire armour is noisy as all hell, so we muffled it a bit with these rags. Don't worry about them fallin out on us, we punched the bolts straight through 'em." Moving onto the gun on the top, Evan pointed to the cannon and continued his speech.
"Managed to nab one of the base's recoilless rifles. This bad boy can punch right through a light tank's front armour. Against heavier stuff, you're gonna have to hit it from the side or the rear, and even then you'll be lucky if it manages to go through... BUT it should give us a fighting chance against some tanks. It's got better range and accuracy than a lance, so that's something." Pointing to where the machinegun used to be located (the rifle was mounted a bit to the side), Evan commented on it in a slightly depressed tone.
"Eh... we couldn't find a way to mount both the MG and the rifle on this thing at the same time, but HE rounds should still be effective against infantry, so we won't be completely defenseless.". Last but not least, he walked around to the back and pointed out the new mufflers installed.
"As per cap'n's suggestion, we threw some mufflers and night optics on the APC. Should make it a bit quieter and easier to work with in the dark."Stepping back and crossing his arms, Evan surveyed his (and the other mechanic's) handiwork again. Still grinning from ear to ear, it was obvious that Evan took great pride in his work and was very happy with the way their modifications had turned out. Turning to his superior, he asked
"Well, Darcsen? Whatchya think?"Lukas' Post
"Gentlemen, sit. Give the Major your opinions on Siegfried's systems.""Ma'am!" As he was the first in line, Lukas sat at attention and started going over the problems he'd found (that he remembered) while fighting.
"Ma'am, the auto-loader was very useful and got me loading much faster than if I had to work with shells that large by hand, but... It still feels like it could work a bit faster than it does. It has a few places in where it pauses for a second or two without doing anything, and sometimes it fails to ram the shell all the way. I counted at least two occasions where I needed to reach around it to push the shell in by hand." Grimacing at the thought of that unpleasant surprise, Lukas recalled how the auto-loader stall had accounted for him losing a kill to another Imperial tank.
Damn it, that light tank was MINE!Heading off potential criticisms, he continued by stating that he had cleaned everything in accordance with the manual, and that everything had been tuned to specification. He did not want to be told that there was no fault in the design, when the issue clearly did not lie with him.
"The turret rotation was fine, though, and the 120mm performed much better than I expected. If I may, Ma'am, the turret and weapon systems are all fantastic." After giving his report, Lukas sat back, blushing and slightly embarrassed. He did not like being put on the spot for so long, but he loved that tank and wanted to see it improved in any way it possibly could be. He just hoped that the feedback he gave was useful enough.
Massasauga
