We arrived to the first firing position. After the tank stopped, Jester started deliberately slowly cranking the turret rotation and gun elevation mechanisms.

Be the time the gun was aimed, the defenders of the fort were already on the palisade, and prepared to fight.

The gun was aimed at the gates to destroy them with an explosion. I counted down in my mind, and moved away from the optics.

“Fire.”

BOOM

The shell landed by the gates, damaging them but not destroying.

‘Whuuuu-ch-whuu’

“Seriously? We are wasting a chunk of depleted uranium for no reason…?” (J)

“It’s wolfram.”

“That’s even worse!” (J)

“Fire.”

“Shooting!” (J)

BOOM

A kinetic shell hit the palisade wall. The force of the impact was directed into soft wood, making the crowbar leave a small hole.

“Fire one more at the watchtower at 2 o’clock, then let’s use the machine guns.”

‘Whuuuu-ch-whuu’

“Fire.”

“Shooting!” (J)

BOOM

The fort was already fully awakened, and it was time to start killing them.

“Ogon’ na porazhenie!” [Shoot to kill!]

Bu-bu-bu-bu-bum

Tra-ta-ta-ta

Tra-ta-ta-ta

The PKMT was firing at infantry, causing the enemy to panic. I could barely tell what they were doing. From my humble experience in medieval warfare, they were shooting arrows.

Tra-ta-ta-ta

Bu-bu-bum

I was aiming the Kord at the wall itself. My goal was only to cause some minor damage, and add to the total firepower.

Tra-ta-ta-ta-ta-cling

“Empty.” (J)

“Got it. Fire the gun. Aim lower, I need you to cause noise, not destroy the wall.”

'Whuuuu-ch-whuu'

BOOM

By the time I returned to the seat, the defenders of the fort already opened the gates, and a small group of infantry hurried out.

“Seize fire. Old man, get us out of here.”

The tank backed away, and after we disappeared in the grove, Old man turned us around and drove away before the enemy had a chance to chase after us.

---

“Good work, people. I need a volunteer for patrol.”

When the tank stopped in a ‘hideout’, I started preparing for observation.

First we need to grasp the window we have between the attack, and the arrival of reinforcements.

“Give me a moment.” Old man reached for the AK-74.

We hurried to the road, that I assumed to be leading to the fort.

We lied in bushes and waited for anything to happen.

Bu-bu-bu-bu-bum

‘They are fast.’ (O)

‘Whatever. I doubt they will consider our actions to be like I envision them.’

‘Well, of course they don’t see things like we do. Do you see anything?’ (O)

‘Nothing yet. Guard the rear, I will focus on scouting.’

We remained in position until the noon. The road was empty, and nothing unexpected was happening.

Around 4 o’clock I spotted a group of soldiers on the road. We let them pass, and disappear in the distance before we returned to the tank.

---

When the tank entered the sight, I picked the radio.

“Jester, this is Beril-Main, do you read me? Over.”

“Reading you loud and clear, Chief.” (J)

“We are on approach. ETA 60 seconds. We are coming from your 10 o’clock. Do you copy?”

“Copy that. See you.” The anti-air machine gun turned, and aimed at us. A moment later it turned away.

We approached the tank, and Jester peeked out from the hatch.

“Welcome back. Any news?” (J)

“Ours will wait. Did you engage somebody?”

“A group, or two, of infantry. They ran away after I fired.” (J)

“Get inside, let’s change the position.”

---

The tank drove to the back-up position, and after I confirmed everything is safe, we gathered by the side of the machine.

I lit up the map with a flashlight.

“We attacked here at 4:37, here. Time until the defenders’ response was 4 minutes. Time until the reinforcements arrived is something around 12 hours.

From now on we will follow this pattern: after the attack we will fall back here. 3 hours before the reinforcements come we will position ourselves at a position on the road. If we get rid of the reinforcements, we will fall back to this position, if not, we will be returning to the main ‘hideout’. Questions, comments, remarks?”

“I wonder if we can hide the tank fast enough. I suggest we take more time to prepare the road ambush.” (J)

“I am content with the Captain’s plan.” (O)

“When you engaged the enemy?” I asked Jester.

“Sorry, I didn’t bother logging that.” Jester shrugged his shoulders and drank some water from a flask.

“Something about 2-4 hours? If we use those numbers, we can at most dedicate 6 hours to preparations of the ambush. No more than that but we would be risking a lot. We better risk being found on our way to the road than being found preparing an ambush.

Anything else?”

“I guess, not much. The cartridges?” (J)

“We won’t be firing a lot. Let’s go to sleep.”