Fascinating Machines [Chekov]

[Laya Eteric]

Laya still felt somewhat tipsy as she slopped through the thick mud. Following behind her was a Naval officer, Mladshii Leitenant Aleksandr Chekov, a new friend whom she'd met at a makeshift pub earlier that day. The two had talked about themselves and how they had gotten to where they were, where they were from, and why they joined, all while getting drunk half the time. It was pretty fun, but she needed to get back to her tanks...and what luck, Chekov had wanted to see her tank also, claiming that he was greatly interested in mechanical matters...Laya grinned. This would be fun.

It was a long walk, a full kilometer, but Laya thought that helped get the alcohol out of her system. As they came upon a forest, several odd objects came into view. Under the dim light, it was hard to tell, but soon it became obvious what they were: tanks. About a dozen, by the looks of it. There was a single KV-1 heavy tank, five T-60 light tanks, and the rest were T-34 mediums. Laya's tank was one of the T-34's. Most of the crew members were still there, either sleeping or talking when they weren't tending to their vehicles. A few of them nodded and even saluted as the officer walked in behind Laya. "It's okay, Mladshii Leitenant Chekov is curious about our tanks, and I figured I'd show him around." she smiled.

"Well, Leitenant," she began. "We have about twelve tanks here...our commander isn't here, another Leitenant, but I think he is back in the officer's quarters in the village...but anyway, we have twelve tanks at the moment. Half of 'em are the new T-34's, excellent things, and the best we have...another five are light tans, T-60's...fast, but paper armour and a gun that' basically a wide machine gun, so they're not much use except as reconnaissance and cannon fodder...and here's our commander's tank, a KV-1...no German tank can match its armour, but it has the same gun as the T-34...I don't like that...but anyway..." She turned to Chekov and smiled. "And I'll willing to go more in depth if you like...which one do you want first though?

[Aleksandr Chekov]

He was most likely stumbling a bit more then Laya in the first amount of time they were walking, he didn't feel as good as he had hoped and now knew why he had always been taught it was a bad thing to drink, everything seemed more amusing though or at least to him, though he did his best to keep a cool head. After they had walked the first while he was starting to feel a bit better and walking more straight as the earth suddenly started to feel like it was actually there.

As they reached the camp and some of the men saluted he just gave them an acknowledging by nodding not complaining because he knew it was procedure. At least he didn't have to explain his errand and she did it just fine, it was how he was, he didn't know them they weren't his men and he had no reason to talk to them yet so he decided to say nothing just following after Laya seeming to walk with a straight back and without the least bit of stumbling. Although that was mostly out of luck not to look like a fool.

As she started talking about the tanks and their commander he simply replied by nodding and listening while starring at the different tanks and examining them. He was making notice inside his head of what the different tanks were and the weakness she told about. As she offered to explain more about them he nodded "If that won't be to much trouble I wouldn't mind... Though sadly I can't show you a ship and start telling about some of my expertise." he said somewhat jokingly.

[Laya Eteric]

Laya grinned a bit. "I'm sure that you could, maybe later we can. But right now, I can show you the inside if you like." She said. She decided to climb to the smallest, the T-60 light tank. "Well, this is our...weakest tank...it only has a crew of two, the gun is only 20mm, and armour isn't any thicker...it's fairly fast, but it isn't really useful...Many anti-tank rifles can easily knock it out." She shrugged, looking at the small tankette. It's size reflected it's guns and armour; small and cramped, and very lightweight. "I doubt that they'll make much more of these though, the T-34 seems to be the best we've got."

"Our heaviest tank here is the Voroshilov heavy tank, the KV-1, first from 1939. It's got the thickest armour of any tank I know, up to 90mm on the front. It's got a pretty good gun, a 76.2mm, but since the T-34 also has it..." She shrugged. "Be better if it had an 85mm gun or bigger...but anyway," she looked up at the huge machine. Climbing up onto it, she sat on the turret. Looking inside the hatch, she turned back to Chekov. "It's crude, but it works...the other bad thing about the tank is the crew layout... the commander is wedged in the front of the turret with no hatch, and has to act as loader, and if he sits in the back with the hatch, he *has* to expose himself to see."

Laya jumped down, mud splattering a bit. "Sorry 'bout that..." She looked back at the tanks. The T-34s stood there in front, their sleek lines obscured by the branches of foliage used to help disguise them. Several of them had names on them, things like "Merciless" and such. They would be the ones leading the next attack when it came. They were big tanks, but not too big, and as far as mobility could only be beaten by the BT tanks...Laya leaned against one of them. "Стрелок" was written on the side of the turret. "And this is my tank...76.2mm gun, armour up to 47mm on the hull and 60mm on turret, and a speed of 53km/h! I've had it for a few months, and have grown to love it. You can climb inside if you like!" she grinned, opening the hatch on the turret roof.

[Aleksandr Chekov]

He nodded as she said she would show him the inside of the tank "Sure", and as she climbed the first, the T-60 he followed though with a bit more trouble then she had. He looked at the tank and up at her as she explained the specifics about the tank before pushing himself down from the tank and onto the ground while she was assuming that they weren't going to make that many of them and by what she told he understood why.

And then it came to the KV-1 tank it seemed a bit larger then the T-34's Of cause one could hear on her that she was a T-34 tanker, but then again they had to compare each tank to something. "I'll assume that the reason there are more T-34's are because it isn't easy to mass-produce the KV-1?" he asked curiously since it just sounded like a more armoured version of the T-34 to him.

As she jumped down from the tank and some mud splattered around and some hit his coat he just made a light shrug "it's okay" he said assuming she didn't do it on purpose. He followed Laya down the line of T-34's studying each of them as he passed and their names, he was determined to remember all of the details he could.

Then they came to one which Laya leaned against, he looked at the name on the tank and shook his head with a slight smile. As she started to show how proud she was of her tank he couldn't help but smile, it was this kind of passion that one could only find with a soviet soldier. He followed her up on the tank as she went up and opened the hatch telling him that he could climb inside. "That I wouldn't mind" he said with a surprised voice as he looked down the hatch. He took off his hat and pushed himself down into the tanks interior.

Inside the tank he looked at how cramped it must feel in combat, he was used to the open fields of cause he was also dodging bullets, "I must admit this feels a bit small, a bit like some places on the ship" he said a bit amused while trying to imagine how much safer it would feel being in here when bullets came flying "So... You are the tank commander or the driver?" he asked curiously while looking around inside the tank.

[Laya Eteric]

"Yes, the KV-1 is more complicated, and more difficult to produce...other than it's thicker armour, it really has no advantage over the T-34 medium we have now..." She then offered to show Chekov the inside of her tank. "Alright!" Laya grinned as Chekov agreed, stepping down into the turret. Chekov commented about how cramped the confines of the tank were, and no doubt he was correct. "Well, we don't have a wide open level space of highway, like you have ocean with your ships," she teased. "But yes, it is a compact tank, saves materials...it is very to mass produce." Chekov had then asked what crew position she filled. "Ah, well, I'm the commander and gunner of this particular tank, but not of the others."

The interiour of the turret was dominated by the breach of the F-34 76.2mm cannon, which practically split it in half. "It is cramped as you said...there is space for only two people in the turret, which means that the commander has to double as gunner...that is one thing that the German tanks have over us, that they do not need to combine roles, which allows them to operate more efficiently..." She smirked. "Of course, that doesn't mean that they always do, what with them being used to paved roads and snow falling only in winter...and of course we have the advantage of numbers..."

"Anyway, here is the 76mm cannon, good for both armour piercing and high explosive ammunition...the shells, nearly 80 in total, are stored in the floor, under these rubber pads..." she lifted up one of the pads to show the two shells underneath. "Yeah, it becomes quite a jumbled mess as we go through the shells...and the seats don't move with the turret...but it's an effective vehicle." She slid down into the hull, and into the driver's seat. "It's controls are simple and easy to understand, easy to repair...it can go faster that any German terrain on road or off it...transmission still has a few problems though. Its controls are also totally manual, which makes it difficult to move them, often." She looked over to her right. "And here's the radio...not a very good one, but a lot of our tanks don't have them at all...eheh...he's also got the hull machine gun to operate..."

Laya sighed, smiling a bit. "So there you are, that's my T-34...certainly glad that I was able to transfer into the tank crews..." She reached forward, and pushed open the driver's hatch. Laya climbed out with a slight groan, and stepped down onto the muddy ground. She reached forward to help Chekov climb out of the tank as well. "Well, that was fun I hope...can't wait to throw some 76mm shells through a Panzer...so, do you want to head back to the village?"

[Aleksandr Chekov]

He listened fascinated by the explanations and information about the tank that she was apparently the commander in, this t-34 made him almost feel like it was bad that he would never get closer to a tank then this after all the only reason the navy would end up seeing a tank was with the support of the red army, they were infantry of the toughest kind but a few tanks would at least help a lot and keep people alive but to his luck the navy infantry had a more fearsome reputation then regular red army despite of the lack of armour.

He looked a bit around before finally asking "So... You are also the gunner, while you are commanding the tank and the radio operator uses the machine gun while having to talk to the few other radios it can actually get contact to? Seems stressful.." he stated calmly, knowing if he was in a tank during a combat situation it would most likely be as comfy as a canon on a ship or the machine room, most likely less safe.

Yet all her knowledge on these things surprised him, to begin with she had just seemed like the usual farmer gone soldier and transferred to the tank regiment he had yet to meet someone who had this much knowledge on something but it was to admirer to see someone interested in what she did "I must admit... I admire your knowledge on this... Of course this is the closest I am ever going to see a tank.. Thank you though, it's very fascinating" he said with a smile to her.

As they were exiting the tank he gladly took the help from her, she seemed more used to getting out of the tank though he hoped this wasn't an emergency hatch because it seemed like it required a lot to get out of it and a group of recruits or if there was fire or otherwise obstructed it seemed like a bad place to be like already being buried in a metal coffin "I hope this isn't the emergency exit hatch... seems a bit small" he stated as he planted his feet on the ground. At her remark she hoped to get some shots fired on a German tank he smiled "Well comrade that is the kind of optimism we need to win this, and I'm sure you are going to cause much damage" he nodded slightly before looking a bit around ponder what they should do next.

As she asked if they should head back to the village he shrugged lightly "Well if you got no more to show me then sure, this has been very interesting" he stated waiting for her to lead the way back to the village.