Chapter 9

“A new hope”

Adolf stood that and looked at the ruins, astonished.

The Senate Building, along with the Rebellion, and their last hope of going back to Mars, was gone.

Adolf didn’t know what to do now. With all these things happened in front of him, his mind was in close proximity to collapse.

“Adolf......”?

Suddenly, he heard, or more like a feeling, that someone was calling him from the ruins.

“Stein, let me take the wheel.”?“Got it.”

Adolf climbed into the hovercraft and pushed the accelerator to the bottom. The hovercraft rushed forward like a blazing fire, over the suburb are, over the ruins of the boot camps, over the fragments of the destroyed tanks, over the half-burnt flag of the GDCA......

He finally stopped in front of the massive ruins of the Senate Building.

Merkel knew that Adolf was nearly out of his mind of the desperation, but he had nothing to do with it. He could only stand beside him and pat his shoulders softly, hoping to make him feel better.

“Adolf......Why are you here......”

A familiar voice came from the ruins behind.

The four desperate soldiers looked back.

Is was Admiral Adler.

His shins of his left leg was gone and his arms were broken. His face was cover covered in solidified blood, but he was still barely standing there, keeping his last honour as a soldier.

“Admiral!”?Adolf was surprised to see Adler was still alive.

“You’ll have to get out of here......”?Adler said with difficulty. “The GDCA will soon send troops to clean the battlefield and search for survivors......You’ll have to leave before that happens......”

“How? Where? The communications tower was completely destroyed, we won’t be able to go anywhere!”?Adolf was still in desperate.

“Go East. All the way East. Find the Russians......”?“You mean, there are other Rebellions?”?The spark of hope ignited in Adolf’s heart. “Yes. The Soviet Socialist Confederation.....Cough......If you want to make contact with Mars, they might have the equipment......Cough......”?Blood burst out of his mouth when he coughed.

“Admiral! Are you all right?”?Merkel rushed towards Adler and took out his medic pack. “No, let me finish......”?Adler refused. “Do not use the hovercraft. Its fuel couldn’t hold for too long......Go to the West Entrance. Go find the E-100......Its radio is still working, it’s probably not seriously damaged......”

“What about Erwin? If we take his tank away what can he use? And what about the others?”?Adolf was still worried.

“There are no other survivors......That warhead destroyed everything in this city......I’m the only survivor......”

“We’re not leaving you, Admiral!”?Stein said.

“Leave now before it’s too late.”?Adler said calmly. “I can’t live for too long, it’s already too late for me......Now leave. That’s an order.”

The four soldiers left?with pity?and walked towards the West Entrance.

Adler used his last strength to climb into the hovercraft and opened the radio.

He turned the radio at a special frequency and sent a message.

Schienderhans, my old friend.....Please help me a favor......

He lied on the hovercraft and closed his eyes. He was too weak to speak for even a single word.

Thank you Adolf. He thought. The message of the liberation of Berlin was spread all over the world. There will be more and more people who choose to stand up and fight......

Admiral Adler passed away without any regret.

In the West Entrance, the four soldiers found the heavily damaged E-100 and did their best to make it operational. But the turret was heavily damaged, they had no choice but to disassemble it and take the gun barrel out and hang it beside the chassis, hoping to find a way to install it back to the tank.

Under the silver light of the moon, the four soldiers, along with the E-100’s chassis, roved towards the endless desert.

However, there were more trouble than they imagined......

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Chapter 10

“A new start in desperate”

The turretless tank roved in the endless desert. Like its crew. It was cold and silence. Only the roar of its gas turbine echoed around the empty desert.

Adolf never felt the weather was this hot before.

The weather hasn’t been changed for even a little bit since Adolf and his crew landed on Earth----The passed two and a half months were just the same, hot and dry.

Adolf totally underestimated their speed of consuming supplies.

“Do we have any water left?” Stein asked with difficulty.

“Negative. The water tank was empty fourteen hours ago.” Merkel replied.

“Fine......I hope we can find a lake or something tonight......”

Hans looked at Stein sympathetically, but he had nothing to do. Everyone was thirsty.

“What’s our current position?” Adolf asked.

“Around Minsk.” Hans replied, “Or at least this place was called Minsk 200 years before.”

Adolf nodded without saying anything.

Our destination is the Siberian Plains......

Suddenly the tank stopped.

It was Stein. He felt faint because of the lack of water.

“Heatstroke.” Merkel understood what happened in his first sight. “He need water, immediately.”

Adolf knitted his brows. There’s still a way yo save Stein, but with great risk. But he didn’t think for too long.

“Hans, take the wheel. Merkel, carry Stein to the back cabin. I’m going to get some cooling water from the engine. I hope that won’t do too much damage to it. Or we’re all doomed.”

Adolf took some water from the engine and fed it into Stein’s mouth. It was hot, but he had no choice.

“We have to keep moving.”

Night falls.

The tank was stopping under a huge piece of fragment of a bridge.

“You couldn’t sleep?” Merkel asked.

“Yes.” Adolf replied. “How’s Stein’s condition?” “Still fainting. Plus, having a fever. But he’ll be OK. I’m glad we found that lake. Now get some rest. It’s still my turn to be on sentry.”

Adolf lied down and forced himself to close his eyes. The floor of the tank was cold and hard, and was far from comfortable. But he had to sleep. He had to keep his strengths.

Something tightened his nerves again.

He suddenly sat up.

“Adolf? What happened......” Merkel was surprised. Adolf raised his left hand to hint him to be quiet. Adolf closed his eyes and listened carefully. “Did you hear that?” he asked, “Sounds like a diesel engine or something......” “Well I didn’t hear it,” Merkel interrupted, “I saw it. Look!”

Adolf took the binocular from Merkel’s hands and looked at where he pointed. It was a tank which looked just like the E-100, but was smaller. It was covered in taupe camouflage, and was rushing towards them, leaving a storm of sand and dust behind it.

“I see it too......Hans! Wake up! Someone is coming!” Adolf shook Hans’ head. “What?” Hans was surprised, “Pursuing troops?” “I’m not sure.” Adolf replied. “But we might have to defend ourselves.”

Merkel carried Stein into the cabin and placed him inside.

Adolf and Hans each grabbed a submachine gun and prepared for their last fight----even if they know without the turret, their weapons were no match against a tank.

The tank got closer and closer. It stopped in front of the E-100 and pointed its gun towards it. It was so close that Adolf could see the moonlight reflecting on its scopes.

But it didn’t fire.

The hatch of the tank opened and a man popped his upper body out of the turret.

He was wearing a black cape and a cowboy-looking hat.

“Alright.” He started to talk. “I’m only going to ask once. First, who are you. Second, what are you doing here.”

“Why do we have to tell you?” Adolf popped his head out and said, “We don’t even know if you’re a spy of the GDCA or not.”

“Firstly, I’m not a spy of the GDCA.” The man said coldly. “Secondly, if I am, you’ll still have to tell me because I have a 105mm cannon aiming right at your head. Now start talking.”

“Fine.” Adolf started. “My name is Adolf. This is Hans and Merkel. There’s another one in the cabin, Stein. He was faint because of the heatstroke.”

The man nodded. “Continue. Where do you come from and where are you going.”

“We escaped from the Berlin City and....” “Escaped?!” The man interrupted Adolf. “The Rebellion just liberated Berlin City! If you escaped from it, then you must be?the stooges of the GDCA!”

The man took out his pistol and aimed towards Adolf.

“No! No! No! No! No! Let me explain!”?Adolf shouted, “We’re part of the Rebellion. Yes, we liberated the city just now but what you probably don’t know is the GDCA sent an airship and bombed the whole city into dust as a retaliation strike. We are the only survivors.....”

“Hummm, interesting. What do you do in the Rebellion?”

“Panzer instructor.”

“Then you must know the full name of the admiral of the Rebellion. He never tells others his full name except the ones he fully trust.”

“Yes. Admiral Adler......Admiral Herman Adler.”

“Then you’re from the Rebellion indeed.”?The man lowered his pistol and jumped down from his tank. “Adler and I were...... old friends. Tell me, is he all right? He sent me a message four days ago. In the message he said he would ask me to do a fever for him but I don’t understand what does he mean.”

“Admiral Adler......”?Sadness climbed on Adolf’s heart again. “He died gloriously in the bombardment......”

“Adler......”?The man lighted a pipe and lost in his thoughts.

“Fine.”?After a long period of silence, the man started to talk again. “You’re coming with me. You’ll be safe at where I live. Also, your friend will get better medical care.”

“By the way,”?he added, “the name is Erich Von Schienderhans. You can also call me Schienderhans.”

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Chapter 11

“Finale”

August 6, 2187 ?Sunny

Dear Diary:

It was really a surprise to meet someone who was once the member of the Rebellion. Schienderhans told me that he was once the best tank pilot in the Rebellion until he lost his family in a fight. Then his faith against the GDCA was shaken and he decided to leave the Rebellion. However he kept in touch with Admiral Adler and provided him with the intelligence he could get.?He told me that he had decided to go to the Soviet Confederation with us because he thinks he has been hiding from the GDCA for long enough.

Another surprise is that he’s living an abandoned tank factory by himself. He was a technology genius that he developed a system that allow him to control his whole E-50 medium tank by himself. We were lucky to find enough materials and equipment to reconstruct the upper structure of our E-100.

However we were unable to reconstruct the turret because the equipment here doesn’t allow us to do so. Instead, we looked at a electronic blueprint which was found by Schienderhans in an old hard disk and rebuilt our tank into a different form.?It was called a “W?ffentr?ger Auf. E-100” or “E-100 Weapon Carrier”, with an auto-loading system inside.

The first test of our new tank will begin at tomorrow. Good luck Adolf, good luck E-100.

Sincerely, Adolf

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“Start the engines!”

With a deep burst of sound, the E-100, or now call the WT Auf. E-100’s gas turbine started to operate once again.

“Oil pressure normal, RPM normal, Water temperature......low.” Stein looked at the dashboard and said.

“Alright!”?Adolf shouted, trying to make himself heard in the overwhelming roar of the gas turbine, “Last test! Firepower! Merkel! Load A.P! Hans! Prepare to fire!”?“Copy that!”?Hans shouted back and pulled down a lever to the bottom.

On the bottom, there was a paper strip with two words on it: “FULL AUTO”.

Hans pulled the trigger.

The massive 150mm cannon roared and crashed backwards. At the same time, the huge machine beside the gun breech instantly pushed another gigantic shell into the cannon.

When everything went quiet again, the huge cannon had shot six times in less then fifteen seconds.

The four soldiers sat inside the tank, shocked by the fearsome power of the auto loading cannon, and said nothing.

I guess with this thing we won’t be afraid of anyone standing in our way. Adolf thought.

Schienderhans’?voice came from outside.

“Adolf? Is the test complete? We’ll have to go or the GDCA will catch us!”

Adolf was still stunned. After a few seconds, he finally remembered to answer.

“Everything is packed! Food, water, fuel which is enough for one had a half months! Totally enough for us to find the Russians!”

“Very well!”?Schienderhans started his E-50’s engine and stopped it beside the Wt Auf. E-100.

“It’s hard to let go of this place.”?Schienderhans said with sadness. “Especially when you have already lived here for six and a half years.”

“It’s our personal choice isn’t it?”?Adolf said, “When you’ve decided to do something, do it until the end. Don’t care about these obstacles on our way, Spring will come at last.”

On the endless desert, a new day started. The sun rose and spread its sunshine towards everything on Earth.

In the golden sunshine, there were five determined warriors, looking toward the east.

They might not born on the same planet, but they share a common faith:

Hope.

“Panzer V?rwards!”

The engine on the two tanks roared and propelled the two steel beasts into the endless desert.

Like their pilots, they were cold, strong, and determined......

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The End.