Chapter 5

“The Rebellion”

“Admiral, we received an encrypted message from our spy in Berlin City.”

Dozens of kilometers away from Berlin City in a small base, a messenger told an officer-looking person beside him.

“Very well, decrypt it and find out what’s inside.”

“Interesting......The spy said that a two hours ago when his squad was patrolling, they intercepted a Panzer III which was trying to enter the Berlin City.”

“Hummm.......”?the officer said. “Why does he send us something like this?”

“I haven’t finished yet admiral,”?the messenger continued. “in the message he said it seemed that the commander of the tank has an special accent which should be used by Germans like......over a century ago.”

“Over a century ago?”?the officer was surprised. “No one on Earth speaks German like that now. Unless..........”?he thought for a little bit and finally continued. “The Martian Government.”

“The Martian Government? Admiral Adler are you certain about that?”

“There are no other possibilities. We’ve already lost a large part of our culture and our language in the Shelters during the Great War, but those people on Mars.....they didn’t. Only they might speak like that.”

“Hope will come at last if that is true.”

“Yes soldier......send our scouts to Berlin City. Search that area, try find those people and bring them back.”

Admiral Adler stood on the cliff and looked at the rising sun.

Finally. It’s time to fight back.

Outside Berlin City, Adolf is squeezing his eyes shut and waiting for his death. He heard the soldiers aiming his heart and pulled their gun bolt, he heard the sound of gunshots........

But nothing happened.

Adolf was still closing his eyes with his hands up.

A man’s voice came from behind: “All right you’?can put your hands down now. You’re safe now.”

Slowly, Adolf put his hand down and turned around. In front of him was a man in camouflage, standing beside a small hovercraft.

“Thank you......”?Adolf said, still shocked. “I’m Adolf, the captain of Martian 501st?Legion Assault Troop. And you?”?“You can call me Hudson.”?The man smiled and replied. “Admiral Adler was right, you’re a Martian. Welcome to the Rebellion.”

Dozens of kilometers away from Berlin City in a small base, Adolf is feeling confused.

“So you’re telling me the government that rules the Berlin City is a puppet government and you’re the Rebellion which is against it?”?“Yes, exactly.”?Said Admiral Adler. “Wait, what happened here on Earth? I don’t understand, where is the original German government?”?“That’s a long story.”?Adler replied, sadly. “Um, can you make it short?”?Adolf said. “Certainly. During the Great War, the surface of Earth was completely destroyed and turned into a radioactive desert. The survivors had no choice but to live in underground shelters. After more than four decades, the first explorers came back to the surface and rebuilt the nations. However, the original global order vanished. Only the strongest country can survive here.”?“Looks like a sad story......”?Adolf felt sad about Admiral Adler. “A sad story indeed. Currently the strongest country on Earth was the GDCA, short for the Great Democratic Confederation of America......”?“Wait, America? You can’t be serious!”?Adolf couldn’t believe his ears. “Don’t mess up this America with the one that existed half a century ago. Like I said, the global order vanished and only the strongest survives. That’s what the GDCA do. It’s forming puppet governments all over the world to gather resources and maintain its domination.”?Adler paused a while and added, “Taking everything from us. People all around the world are resisting because they can’t stand it.”

Adolf didn’t know what should he say after hearing all these. After a long period of silence, he finally talked. “So......what can I do?”?“I’ll let you become the commander of the Rebellion, if you agree. The whole Rebellion knows Martian soldiers are the best of the best. We need someone to lead us to liberate Berlin, we need someone to lead us to victory.”

“But I’m not here to fight.”?Adolf said, “We were on a scout mission, to find survivors here on Earth.”?“But they found us first isn’t it Adolf?”?Merkel, Hans and Stein entered the tent. “And our beacon was destroyed, we couldn’t contact Mars nor our cruiser in the orbit.”?Stein added. “I see.”?Said Adler, “we would like to help you to make contact with your friends out there, but unfortunately we don’t have high-power communication equipment.”?Adler stopped and thought for a while. “However, I know where can you find one. The Berlin City. There’s a high-power communications tower in the city center.”

“I guess......we’re now sharing a common objective now.”?Hans said.

“Indeed.”?Adler replied. “We’re planning a full-scale assault on Berlin. Tell me, what do you do on Mars?”?“Armored Forces. Martian 501st?Legion Assault Troop.”

“The 501st?Legion? That was legendary!”?Adler was surprised. “That’s great. Now if you can do me a favor, I would like to ask you to help train our own tank crews.”

“I would like to help. But may I ask you, why do people on Earth still using equipment from the 20th?century? It doesn’t make sense because there are a lot of more advanced equipment for you to use.”

Adler smiled and said: “I know you would ask that. You know...those new equipment are kind of vulnerable, and hard to maintain. Like those electronic components, it doesn’t take long to break if you don’t take care of them. Unfortunately we don’t have the condition to maintain the use of those devices. So that’s why we’re still using equipment from the 1940s. But don’t worry, they’re not actually more than 200 years old. We constructed these equipment by ourselves.”

Adolf was shocked. H started to admire these people. Building tanks by their own hands seems so be unthinkable for him. However there was one more thing that he needed to worry about.

“I just came here, I’m not sure if your troops will follow my orders and show their solidarity.”?“No worries.”?Adler said quickly.

“You’re our commander remember?”

?

Chapter 6

“Eve of the storm”

“S-2K heavy tank reporting sir!” “Antonov A-40 light tank reporting sir!” “BT-42 assault gun reporting sir!” “E-100 super heavy tank ‘Stalwart’ reporting sir!”

Not far away from the Rebel camp, there lies a training field. Four tanks and their crew members are inside the field. In front of them, are their instructor: Adolf, who is currently standing on an oil drum, using it as a platform.

“Very well.”?Adolf started. “Soldiers, we have trained for two months. Now, let’s check what we’ve got here. We’re going to have an assault on the Berlin City so this final test is going to test your combat skills in urban terrain. Your objectives are simple: strike down three different target that will be appearing from different directions. After that, drive your vehicles across those obstacles that simulates the ruins we might face. If that’s done, your test is complete. Do you understand?”?“Sir, yes sir!”?All the soldiers replied at the same time. “All right.”?Adolf was satisfied. “Panzer forwards!”

The S-2K heavy tank was running in the field. Its commander is lieutenant Heinz, who’s currently popping his head out of the hatch to search the targets. “Target sighted at point three-one-zero! Repeat! Point Three-One-Zero!”?The huge tank stopped, making a loud scratching sound of metal. The rocket launcher on the back of the tank slowly turned to the left and launched a volley of high-explosive rockets, blowing all three targets into dust. “Whoo-hoo!”?Heinz shouted in the radio with great excitement. “Forward driver! Eighth gear! Full speed ahead!”?“Aye-aye sir!”?The driver was excited too. He pushed the accelerator penal to the bottom and the tank roared forward over the obstacles......

And crashed into a thick stone wall. The driver tried to go reverse, but the tank didn’t move even for a little bit. “What’s happening? Why aren’t we moving?”?Heinz was confused, so as Adolf. “The transmission is down sir......the tank couldn’t run in that speed for long or in unstable terrain. Sorry I forgot about that sir.”?the driver replied, hopelessly.

Adolf was speechless. He had no idea about how to move this piece of metal that weighs 70 tons out of the testing field. Luckily in the end, colonel Erwin managed to solve the problem by dragging the paralyzed tank out of the field using his E-100.

Sergeant Makarov was the next. He commanded his A-40 light tank to cross the ruins and approached the shooting range.

Suddenly, a target popped out on the left. It was also a light tank, but only a model with real armor plate attached to it. Makarov acted quickly. He turned the turret and opened fire. The target was shrouded by a storm of blaze and metal, as well as thick smoke. But when the smoke dispersed, nothing happened. The target didn’t explode or catch fire. The auto-cannon and machine gun on the A-40 was already overheated, but among the over 500 shots it fired, none of them penetrated the target’s armor.

Ahh why didn’t I think of its firepower? Adolf was a little bit frustrated. During these two months he has already built a strong relationship with every single soldier in the Rebellion, just like what Admiral Varsio did on Mars. I hope they can survive the incoming battle......he thought, But with this kind of weak firepower......The experience of encountering the massive K-Wagen appeared in his mind.

Makarov walked towards Adolf. He looks as frustrated as Adolf, and probebly even worse. “It will be all right Makarov.”?Adolf patted his shoulder and said, trying to make him feel better. “It’s not going to be a problem.”?“Thank you sir. I hope I could be as positive as you.”?Makarov replied. Adolf said nothing but stared at a small white dot on the field. It was the BT-42 assault gun, which was commanded by Sergeant Molotov, running between the ruins.

Molotov and his crew are the best drivers (however they prefer to call themselves “racers”?instead) in the whole Rebellion. Their skills, along with their fast tank with a large-caliber howitzer, made a deadly combo for anyone who tries to stand in their way to victory. However, even the best pilots might fail. When Adolf looked up again, he found out that the BT-42 was already overturned when trying to turn quickly due to its high center of mass.

Without any other options, Adolf could only ask colonel Erwin for help, again. Erwin was also upset about it, but he understood he was the only person that could help. After dragging the overturned BT-42 out of the field, Erwin and his crew finally took the test.

Adolf widened his eyes. Colonel Erwin and him was alike. They share similarities in personalities and they’re both the best of the best. Adolf was the 501st?and Erwin was once a tank ace of the GDCA who later joined the Rebellion. Yes! That’s what I wanted! He thought while observing. Inside the heavily modified E-100, the gas turbine roared and propelled this 120-ton beast to an incredible speed. With the help of a simple vertical stabilizer, powerful engines and excellent skills, Erwin was managed to shoot down every target he encountered and ride through the ruins just like riding on firm earth..........

But there was still one last problem that need to be solved, and Adolf and his crew couldn’t find the solution even after they went back to the camp.

“What happened commander? You’re looking upset.”?Adolf was lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realize Makarov sat beside him. “I’m looking upset? Is it that?obvious?”?Adolf made a small joke, trying to make himself happy. “Yep, everyone can see that from the expressions on your face.”?Makarov answered. “So what happened?”?“We need more firepower.”?Adolf sighed and said. When I looked inside the city about two months ago, I found out there are tanks and field guns at every entrance of the city.”?“So what?”?Makarov didn’t understand, “Colonel Erwin can take care of them all!”?“You don’t understand.”?Adolf was worried, “They have a heavily modified K-Wagen.”?“K-Wagen? How’s that thing dangerous? It’s old Krupp 77mm gun couldn’t do any damage to our tanks.!”?“That’s what I’m worrying about.”?Adolf said, “That tank was equipped with British 17 pounder cannon. If Erwin is distracted by those field guns and tanks, we won’t be able to deal with that thing because the S-2K and BT-42 are still repairing.”?“Well.......That’s going to be a serious problem, I guess.”?Makarov started to worry, too.

After a long period of awkwardness, Erwin, who was attracted by their dialogue, walked towards them and broke the silence. “Need more help?”?He said, “Well I know a person who named Karl, who was an Italian. Uh, actually a German-Italian. We escaped from the GDCA together but I joined the Rebellion, he didn’t. We were good friends but......”?After thinking for a while, Erwin continued. “I’ve lost contact with him since we separated. However, I think I know where can I find him. He loved to watch the sunset at zone 515.”

Awesome. That is just awesome. Adolf thought. Spring did come at last. “I’ll go prepare my tank. It’s much faster than the hovercraft.”?Makarov said and walked away hurriedly, making Adolf confused. “What does he mean by.... ‘much faster than the hovercraft’?”?He asked. “We’ll see.”?Erwin winked his eyes and said, mysteriously.

Adolf was completely shocked when he saw Makarov’s tank.

“I wonder why do you call your tank the Antonov A-40 instead of it true name, the T-60 light tank before,”?he said slowly, still couldn’t believe his eyes. “Now I think I understand.”

In front of him, is a T-60 light tank, but with wings and a tail attached to it, making it a glider.

“Everything has a reason commander. So I modified it for a little bit, now it can fly with its own power instead of a tow-plane.”

Adolf nodded slowly. I really doubt if this thing can really fly......Instead of falling on the ground like a stone.

In the beautiful sunset, a person was sitting on the dunes beside a Italian P40 medium tank, and enjoying this majestic sight.

Suddenly, a black dot appeared in the sun and soon became larger and larger. It looked like a biplane, but also like a tank. It was Makarov, Adolf and Erwin.

The man stood up and walked towards the landed tank, staring at it, coldly.

“See? My friend.”?Erwin said. “Karl!”?he gave him a warm welcome.

Karl started to walk towards Erwin. “Traitor!”?he shouted.

Erwin looked at himself and was confused. Me?

“How dare you to betray the GDCA! How dare you to come back! How dare you to.......”?His gestures began to become twisted and Adolf had a feeling that Karl’s trying his best not to laugh. But he failed.

“Hahahahaha! Erwin! We’ve haven’t seen each other for a while. How are you doing these days?”?Karl walked forward and gave Erwin a warm hug. “What? Don’t you really think I’ve become a spy of the GDCA? I’m not that dumb to work for them again!”?Realizing all of those before was only a joke, Erwin was relaxed and started to laugh.

“So I guess......you’re asking for help, isn’t it?”?Karl asked.

“Yes. But....how can you tell?”?Erwin was surprised.

“Come on man, everyone can see that from the expressions on your face!”

Yep, it was that?obvious. Adolf smiled.

“OK then. So I’ll just make it short. We’re planning an full-scale assault on Berlin City, but we need more men. If you can....”?“Berlin City?”?Karl interrupted, “Bro that’s a suicide mission! I’m telling you, if you want me to help you, I’m gonna ask for a price.”

“A price?”?Erwin was surprised again.

“Yes. Everything comes with a price. And on this, my price is.........we all survive this and have a good meal TOGETHER.”

Realizing that was just another joke from his friend, Erwin laughed and said: “Deal! Hahaha! Deal!”

“By the way I really missed the pasta you made Erwin.”?Karl added.

“You didn’t change Karl! You didn’t even change for a little bit!”

Adolf stood on the dune and watched the sunset. The things he experienced these days flashed through his mind, Admiral Varsio, the GDCA, the Rebellion, the Berlin City and the huge K-Wagen......It was just too fast for me. He thought.

But everything will come to an end. Days, nights, springs, winters..........We can do this. We all can, and we will be able to go home.

Then he realized one serious question.

“Uh, guys? How can we get back to the base before night falls? That P40 medium tank can’t fly!”?He shouted.

?