The Great Train Wreck Robbery [Greater Dienstad/Mokastana]

[Hurtful Thoughts]

[Spun off from tankery tournament]

Garda had invited Jr Lt. Dunst to prepare her team for a rail-excursion through Mokostana, and hinted that perhaps they could cheer-up some of the less-fortunate teams. The young tank-lieutenant lit-up upon hearing that royalty had visited West Imperial, and likely would be passing through Gorbechov's unit too; Garda watched as her compatriote bounded off in search of Captain Quetzal, probably still brooding over their early termination. The genetically engineered commander seemed surprisingly cheerful about trying to hunt someone down, but pale-haired Garda didn't pay much attention to that.

KAGMA's field-day had progressed nicely, and the M. 11/39s had been entirely stripped of their armament, the tanks having proved next o worthless due to their lack of mobility, and were likely bound for a local scrapyard rather than pay for shipping them back. She'd even made arrangements to replace them and the T-70s with something better, faster, lighter, and more heavily armed before next year's tournament, but for now they would make-do; the machine-guns were all re-allocated to the Su-76s, and the 37mm guns mounted in the bow-gunners's stations on the Chi-Nu tanks, with those bow machine-guns being sent off to the T-70s. The Su-76s also had their rear access-doors opened and brackets added for a floor-extension, allowing a more roomier interior for the trek back, allowing them to act effectively as old-timey APCs that just happened to have a 76mm field gun poking out from the hull, which she also planned on upgrading to 85mm after the thrashing they'd taken from the Marshites. The T-70s would be further augmented by an additional allotment of anti-tank rocket-launchers. She was pretty sure she'd seen some crates of B-40 launchers not too long ago...

With some time to kill, Garda then went to find and congratulate Captain Shimada, and offer a 'victory lap' of sorts across the local countryside, using the train she'd already chartered and the Hurti tanks to augment their numbers, to make their unit look more impressive. Although they did lose to their sister-unit from Hurtenburg, they still managed claw their way up to the semi-finals despite a poor start against an entire tank-company of hellcats, and defeated the unit that defeated them in the next match. A sort of "an enemy of my enemy is good company" and worthy of comparing notes and strategies with, as Hurties and Mokans both tended to engage in flower-wars of sorts in addition to these international tankery tournements.

The chartered train was a five-foot-three "Morrish Gauge" running a north-south line, with a pair of big black great-war vintage steam locomotives. If the team from Anu was joining them, then perhaps the train would have to travel north before headed south. She remembered during her "cultural brief" that there was an upstarting new cartel-faction in the deep south raising a fuss, but she'd have to make further inquiries around Bagota if she wanted real answers.

As for the allegedly banned infantry-weapons... well... being contraband, chances were the border-patrols would search them if they tried sneaking them out of the country... so the plan was simply not to sneak them out of the country.

[Mokastana]

Hector Moldova had lived an interesting life. Growing up poor in Southern Mokastana, he basically had nothing until the Drug war. The government and Cartel forces clashed, and left guns and armor all over the jungles for people like him to reclaim. He had become a Carrion, picking at the dead of battlefields to reclaim weapons and military goods, to resell them to the highest bidder. As the drug war wrapped up, he had worked his way up to running his own small weapons Cartel. With Mokastana peaceful for a change, he found work in Krasnova, finding weapons for an up and coming drug lord known as the Tsarina. After that went belly up, he moved as close as could back home, legally, to Las Venturas. Technically, there was still a half million Trabajoro Bounty on his head, but he had gotten good at avoiding being caught. Sadly, the only business he was getting these days in Mokastana was selling surplus ammo and cheap rockets to teenagers.

"Alright, it's all here, the thousands of rounds in 7.62R, two crates of RPG-7s. If you're interested, I do have a pair of Carl Gustavs in the back of my Humvee. It will cost extra, but will be more accurate than those rockets. If you have an account with the Las Venturas State Bank, then we can just transfer the money that way."

Hector looked around at the Liquor War Era tanks, and secondary school students, clearly from a foreign nation, and didn't bother thinking twice about it. The money wasn't even that great, but every crate of this stuff sold made room for better stock.

"Have a fun time." Was all he said once the transaction was complete. He just wanted to head back home to Venturas before he was arrested, or found out what those students were up to.



Captain Quetzal

Well, all that was left was to pack up the tanks and return to the military Academy. Or so Captain Quetzal thought as a hurtian student came bounding up to him to offer to have him and his team join them for… something down south?

"Uhh… what?" Was all he managed to say while trying to figure out what this kid wanted. Still focused on his duties at hand, he didn't notice other crews from his team listening a bit more closely. Or that one of his IS-2 crews had already skipped out to join AIKA.



Captain Shimada

Unaware of the shenanigans the Hurtian students were up to. Captain Shimada listened carefully to the offer, and spoke to her school's escort about the proposal. Seeing as they were already in Mokastana, and the tournament took place during an academy break, they didn't see the harm in the students taking a week or two to see the Mokan countryside. Taking a chance to allow the students to get a bit of cultural exposure to their Federal Allies, and these… Hurtian students. Shimada's team was granted two weeks leave. However they would be required to have daily check-ins, as the school's escorts would be traveling with them.

[Monfrox]

There was nothing like the bitter pill of defeat to start off the vacation. Because that’s what it was for the squad: a vacation. Away from home, away from the other troops, and an excuse to make a mess of things without anyone getting mad at them. Well, those hopes were dashed with KAGMA’s chance of winning. Not only that, but rumor spread fast that a certain someone would not be allowed to come back due to her genetic enhancements.

“Dickweeds.” Was the only response Corporal Rebekah Royce had given at the time she heard about it. She wasn’t here for a vacation, unlike the other five troublemakers in her outfit. She was in a provisional assignment that, if done well, would earn her a chance to go back to the Recon Corps. The 222nd Mechanized Battalion was fun, but Royce was bred for reconnaissance. As such, she preferred long walks in the forest all by herself. She also preferred a lot of other things, too.

Royce found herself staring up at Hector Moldova from her 5’ 4” stature. Uncharacteristically short for a Froxian; Royce’s body didn’t grow up too high, and so it grew out to compensate. Her womanly features were the subject of a lot of rumor from the former Task Force Atlas unit, and she had no qualms with strutting her stuff. Her BDUs were one size too small on purpose per her order, leaving the few top buttons on her blouse undone and showing of her low-cut black tank top. Her sleeves were rolled up high as she stood with her hands on her hips, listening to the man talk. Her freckled face had a permanent look of mischief plastered across it with a sly smirk. Her pants were just tight enough to accentuate her curves but still leave something to the imagination.

Royce cocked her hip as the man talked payment, but Garda had already taken care of the flat payment. But, the mentioning of the recoilless rifles made her eyes light up and her fox ears perk up. This was a good opportunity to establish a good rapport should they ever find themselves in need of his service again.

“Hold on!” Royce said, running around and quickly getting in front of him. She planted her hand on his chest softly. “You said you have some Carl Gustavs? Well...maybe those would be a good to have. But, I don’t know if we have any more to spare in the budget. Unless...” Royce’s tone turned from high and friendly to low and sultry as she turned up the charm. “Unless there’s some other way I can pay you?” She put on her best set of bedroom eyes and took another step towards him.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

[Need some mood-music?]

Felix grumbled, and went over the offer, slowly.

"There is an excursion train. Touring the region. We are inviting anyone on your team to come along and discuss tactics. Maybe you can learn something from it, like how we defeated your team by not just equally dividing our Verdejas. Each Verdeja platoon was either four light tanks with a support gun, or three support guns escorted by two light tanks." Her eyes seemed to glow a bit red and mischievously at the small bit of implied trickery on their part, "Depending on the target, the light tanks would crest the hills first and act as cover for the asault guns to keyhole, exposing themselves to relatively little return-fire." She then gritted her teeth, if the kid still didn't get it through their thick skull there's no hope for the boy, "If anoyone is interested in hearing more, they are welcome to come."

Meanwhile, in our universe...

Garda nodded, and bowed curtly before going back to inspect KAGMA's tanks and their preparations. During their downtime, the crews had done a field-day, and part of the requisitioned supplies for making an laminated pre-carbon fiber composite of advanced deign in-situ, a concoction dubbed "Bamboonium Mark II"


The key ingredient was toilet paper; after some thoughts and cartridges exchanged the appropriate hands, all of the base's two hundred and fifty thousand rolls of toilet-paper had been acquired from every stall within a 30 mile radius. After acquirig these rolls, most of them were smothered in wood-glue and then pressed between plates or boards under the wieght of their tanks, then cured for about a week.

While the plates dried, expanded sheet-metal and chain link fence were worked into brackets and extra stowage along the hull-sides, acting as crude slat-armor.

These two features combined, effectively doubled or even tripled the effective armor thickness of most of their tanks. And byt the 4th week the plates were bagged and hung and camoflauge-paint re-applied while the Froxians were sent on a mission to prepare a laxative surprise for the base staff. From then it would be a simple matter to barter the last remaining intact rolls of toilet-paper within a 100 square mile area for other much-needed supplies.

In about a week, the value of the paper would inflate to the point that these would be the most expensive tanks in Mokastana. Truly a weapon to surpass Arjun.

Smiling to herself, she went over to check on Felix.

[Mokastana]

Hector Moldova

“Hold on!” Royce said, running around and quickly getting in front of him. She planted her hand on his chest softly. “You said you have some Carl Gustavs? Well...maybe those would be a good to have. But, I don’t know if we have any more to spare in the budget. Unless...” Royce’s tone turned from high and friendly to low and sultry as she turned up the charm. “Unless there’s some other way I can pay you?” She put on her best set of bedroom eyes and took another step towards him.

Hector Moldova looked over the short ?foxy? Lady in front of him. She looked a bit too old to be a student, so she might have been an adult escort. Judging from the look on her face to the hand on his chest, he could get the implication she was making. Normally, he wouldn’t part with a pair of Gustavs for anything less than cash. Trading your guns for sex was sketchy at best, and a great way to end up poor. But he really wanted to get rid of these Gustavs, and he had never slept with an animal person before. Sure Venturas had a brothel or two specializing in such delights, but there was a difference between knowing it exists, and having a living, willing, specimen in front of you. Still, even used and discounted these recoilless rifles were worth a few grand once you threw in ammo, certainly worth more than some back of a truck roll in the hay.

“Look,” he said, holding out his arms before placing a hand on her own. “Normally I don’t run business that way, but I’ll …entertain your offer.” he said with a wry smile of his own, “You come back to Venturas with me for an evening, pay for Gustavs there, and I’ll fly you back to wherever in Mokastana you need to be tomorrow. Hell, I’ll even let you see my ‘private’ collection.”




Captain Quetzal

Captain Quetzal listened to the offer, but the truth was he already had enough on his plate. Losing the tournament that Gorbechov Academy was hosting was one thing, but not winning a single match was altogether frustrating. He had done his best, and fought some great teams. Both teams he fought had gotten 2nd and 3rd place in the tournament actually. Still, it didn’t feel good. No doubt this would only continue to cement the Classic team as the rejects of the Modern military tactics of Gorbechov. It was at this moment he realized he had kinda spaced out listening to the Hurtian girl talk tactics. “Yeah, sure, look, most of our tanks are already back at school, half my team has already gone home. You have fun on that trip, but I need to go back to school and sort out my team.”

While Quetzal was being mopey, two other students seemed to listen in, and motioned for Felix to come over. “Hey, they call me Julio Xicale, and this is Emily Chan, neither one of us feels like going back to school any time soon, so where do we go for the trip?” b

[Monfrox]

Royce's eyes gleamed.

"It's always nice to meet a gentleman who knows how to make a lady feel special." She replied coyly. "You won't regret it, I promise."

She let her fingers linger on his chest, drawing them down his suit as she slowly pulled away and went off into the train. Finding Garda was both hard and not. You had to know where to look for her, but if you knew, then she generally stuck out. Royce hopped over just about every car until she found the girl.

"There you are. I'm heading out. We'll have some recoilless rifles to add to the inventory but I gotta go "secure the deal" for them. You know my number, call me with the coordinates when you get there and I'll get a ride. Don't wait up!"

And with that, she was gone without so much as a hi and goodbye. She found Hector where she left him and made sure to saunter his way. She was selling, he was buying, and vice versa. At any point he could close the deal and leave her high and dry, and it was that thought that had crossed her mind when she thought of the boot knife she had on her. She was a Froxian, and Froxians were nothing if not paranoid. She swayed her hips, trying to keep him as interested as possible. She didn't want him getting cold feet.

"Ready to go." She said, her tail swishing from one side to the other.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Felix was disheartened by Quetzal's third dismissal of her offer, but her ears perked-up as she caught a bit of motion from the corner of her eye, looking that way, she saw two students beckoning. She approached warily, fearing this may be some trap or prank at her expense for being 'different' than the others. Thankfully, it was because these two delinquents actually wished to come along... probably the worst students trying to get out of detention, but there always was the possibility they were simply tankery-enthusiasts.

She nodded, "Get your tank loaded on the train, you'll need it if you want to run drills with us." She answered, even as her hearing started to pick up on the work crew beginning to sing and the familar footsteps of Garda approaching behind her. "These two wish to come along, I have instructed them to bring a tank. Make sure ammunition is allocated for them to use. Someone to see-off before we go." She said, addressing Garda without turned to face her, then slinked off vaguely in the direction of Royce... It hadn't taken long for the two to turn trying to sneak up on each other into a game, some of it was out of boredom, but others would claim it was merely acting upon instinct. Although honestly, she just enjoyed the challenge of trying to surprise a bona-fide special operative... plus she made a cute noise when startled...

Back at the train, guns were removed from the Ha-Go light tanks, to be replaced with 2A28 Groms fitted with tubes that acted both as a flash-hider and to help it simulate an 82mm PAW 600/8H63, which would have been prohibitively more difficult to acquire on such short-notice. To speed up the work, many of the students had begun to sing, as though taunting the officials further.

Back with Garda, Julio, and Emily; the Hurti simply nodded, not a even with a clip-board in hand "I have just finished making the necessary arrangements. However, I hope you don't mind sharing a cabin with Felix and I. Otherwise I could make way for other accommodations. I look forwards to seeing you on the train! Oh, and pack enough clothes to last at least a week, plus work-clothes for performing your own tank-maintenance while en-route." She gave a sly smile, as though already plotting some bulletproof plan involving these two.