1962 Tank Biathlon

[Niobium2]

The eyes of a crew-member are briefly visible in the gap below the tarp, before all three pile out of the back. The mechanical engineer is huddled in a massive jacket, and the alternative commander is fairly muscular, but both are dwarfed by the prodigious Captain, who is soaked through but beaming behind his tremendous mustache. "Ah, you speak Romanian? How wonderful! Allow me to introduce my companions..."

Lieutenant Li shakes hands wetly with the three men, Paul, Andrew, and Daniel, respectively. "We've been watching your tank. I must say, this is a murderous course you people have rigged up, and this rain is simply mad. Half my team is under the weather already! But tell me, my friend, how is it that you come to speak Romanian?"

[Cataphrak]

"It's a long story. Let's just say we were hoping that the Commandos weren't the only ones being sent off to fight Horia Sima," Li replied. "As for the Jungle Road Trip, it isn't far off from what some of the roads out here are like - if you can call them that. As for the rain?" he shrugged. "The rain's like this every year from about April to early October. You get used to it after a while."

The Senior Lieutenant leaned in closer, letting his voice drop a little. "Honestly, and with all due respect, I'm surprised your team's held out this long, especially in an open-topped vehicle like this. If-" Li took a breath as he looked once again at the wet, miserable Romanian mechanics. Maybe...

"Captain," he continued, his voice now barely loud enough to be heard above the rain. "I have two mechanics on my team who were in the 200th Division during the war with Japan. They worked on T-60s and they should still know their way around a chassis like yours. If want, I could lend them to you, let some of your team warm up somewhere dry..."

[Alucard Tobor]

"Very sporting of you, sir." CWO Hyun commented in a low voice, materializing out of the rain. Flashing a brief grin, he offered a cigarette and lighter to the Chinese tanker.

"And let me also pass my congratulations to you, Captain." he raised his voice slightly, to be heard over the rain. "I think my own team is beginning to wish we'd brought one of our Fox light tanks. Perhaps you're onto something, here."

[Niobium2]

Captain Ungureanu inclines his head, but before he can acknowledge the Korean, Paul interjects insistently, "Sir, with all respect I'd like to take the Lieutenant up on his offer." The Captain looks surprised. He bumbles behind his mustache, "Well, it's very unorthodox. Most likely against the rules. Although I suppose... it would be better to have a fresh engineer... well, but it would be a shame... might I ask, Mr. Li, what reason you would have to help us? I mean no offense, your offer is very humane. But, you'd be aiding a rival team, and it the judges found out we might both be disqualified. What do you think Andrew?"

Andrew, a slender and attractive man in a black leather jacket, coolly pulls out his own cigarette and, after a few tries, manages to light it. "I wouldn't miss the next round for the world, sir. But if Paul wants to go, I say let him."

[Cataphrak]

"Why?" Li asked, absently nodding his thanks to the Korean Warrant as he took the offered cigarette and thought back to his first battle, hiding in a ditch with a fifty year old rifle as the Japanese tankettes rolled overhead. They were tiny things, he knew now. But to the terrified fourteen year-old he had been, they were invulnerable steel monsters, roaring and snorting as their guns belched flame and their treads crushed his older brother's screaming body to bloody pulp.

"Let's just say that the last few decades of history have given us in China an appreciation for the underdog. As for the judges-" The Senior Lieutenant eyed the reviewing stand. In particular, the slim, long-faced figure watching over the parade ground with his battered pair of German binoculars. "Do you see that man at the head of the judges' commission? That's General, Second Class Zheng Dongguo, he was my commanding officer in Burma. When the British lost their nerve in '42, the Japanese hunted us like rats through the jungle, him and Marshal Du, and the rest of us. I have a feeling he has an appreciation for the underdog too."

[Niobium2]

After a little more grumbling the Captain reluctantly agrees to let Paul go, taking on a Chinese engineer. It seems there is no need to explain the tank to him, as he easily falls into the driver's seat, nodding confidently to the Romanians. Ungureanu is contented that even if the assistance is exposed globally, the positive news image of Chinese and Romanians working in close camaraderie will be worth the disqualification and possible scandal. Before Li and Hyun can retreat, Ungureanu's face breaks into a broad smile.

Oh! I have a small something to share as well, as my way of saying thank you," he booms, moving to the back of the TACAM and withdrawing a very tightly wrapped package. After a few moments of unraveling the waterproofing, he holds out a tin of slightly sticky, amber colored drops - barley sugars.

[Cataphrak]

It was atrociously bad manners to accept a gift when first offered. In most parts of China, it was an offence somewhere between violent burglary and infanticide.

But Li knew that his Romanian counterpart likely had no knowledge of that, and to impose upon them now would be an even greater affront to civility. So instead, the Senior Lieutenant took one of the little drops and popped it in his mouth.

Its taste was a bit different from the rock sugar he had been used to as a child, before the invasion, and before the quarter of a century of blood and terror that followed. But Li smiled all the same.

"I wish we could have been there to help when your country had needed defenders," he said, softly. "But I am glad we could still help now."

[Markus Wilding]

OOC: Results of the third and final lap, along with final standings.

The SRA fails to identify one target, but engages the other two.

Romania manages to spot all targets and engages them, missing only one due to range misestimation.

Korea engages two targets, but cannot find the third.

China engages and destroys all targets.

The Soviet T-62 cannot identify any targets and times out.

Japan's Type 62 engages two targets, but cannot find the third.

Mexico's IS-3 copy engages one target, but cannot find the third.

Final standings:

1. Romania
2. SRA
3. China
4. Korea
5. Japan
6. USSR
7. Mexico
8. Vietnam

Romania will host the 1966 Tank Biathlon.

[Markus Wilding]

"That thing's not even a fuckin' tank," Sergeant Barker muttered, chewing on Charms candy as the victorious Romanian "tank" rolled past them.

"Let them have it," Johnny said, trying - and failing rather spectacularly - to light up a cigarette in this weather. Shaking his head, he gave up on the endeavor after about a minute. "The Russians are grumbling about it, too. I guess if they're really sore, they'll talk to the Chinese about it."

"Think the Chinese'll care? I saw one of them monkeying around with that Romanian thing."

Johnny shrugged, vainly wiping off water from his TC's seat. "Don't know. Ain't my problem, we took second place in case the Romanians manage to start shooting themselves again. Maybe in '66 we can get them out to the desert."