Someone knocked, pounded on his trailer, “Come in.”
A staff sergeant poked his head in, “Sir, I’m staff sergeant Carson with the first scouts. We discovered a large group of people waiting for us to enter a blind curve around two miles from here. They’re dug into the ground and have cut down trees in front of them, they’re covered with snow covered tree branches.”
“How did you find them?”
“Thermal. Their heat sources showed up like a torch light. We could see them half a mile away.”
“Can the tank take them out with the M1028 Canister Cartridge?”
“Sir, I’m not a tanker. I hope so, but I really don’t know.”
“Where are the scouts and the tank?”
“A mile before the curve, our Lt sent a few of us ahead of the tank in case someone had set up the ambush you were expecting and sir, you were right. It was there waiting for us.”
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do, I want you to take these orders back to your Lt.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll return right now.”
The Colonel smiled while preparing orders for the convoy. He sent a runner to the lead tank commander who read them and smiled. He asked the driver, “Can we plow through the snow without using the blade?”
“Of course we can. We can drive over any abandoned cars and drive through the deep snow. We use the plow to clear the roads for the convoy.”
“Great, pull ahead of the convoy. We’ve got some real action today. Loader, load canister and reload with canister. Gunner use the remote 50 cal to follow up after we fire the canister rounds. Does everyone know their roles?”
All agreed. The tank rushed forward causing the snow behind to toss up a rooster tail. The commander thought, I hope they wait to start the party until we arrive. We need to get there faster. “Driver, can you go any faster?”
“It means cutting the governor and the last time I did that you threatened to make me clean the tracks by myself…”
“I’m sorry, cut the governor and open her up.”
“Okay, but you better find us more fuel, we burn a ton of it when we go full throttle, at least I don’t have to worry about the sand getting into the intakes. The heat of the turbine melts the snow so it enters as water mist increasing the density of the fuel.”
“Just get us there before the party starts, I haven't fired this mother in anger since we returned from the sandbox and I’m itching to let her have her day.”
“We’re moving, hold on.”
The tank felt like it was flying. The crew held on or they’d be bounced around inside the tank which was filled with sharp edges from all of the equipment and computers jammed inside a small space. The loader didn’t have a seat. He held on to a metal handle over his head and swayed as the tank flew over the rough road. Once in a while the tank crashed into an abandoned car. The 70-ton tank crushed the car under its tracks. The crew had removed the road pads, large rubber pads on the tracks which enabled the tank to transit over paved roads without tearing them up.
Without the pads the tracks had sharp edges which dug into the snow similar to giant studs on snow tires. The tank had no problem flying down the interstate at 50 Mph. They arrived at the location of the other tank and the scouts. They finished exchanging welcomes and synced their targeting computers, so they didn’t fire on the same target, wasting rounds on already destroyed targets. When the two tank commanders were satisfied, they told their crews, “Slowly move up around the curve, as soon as the targets show on the thermal sensors, hit them with the canisters. Gunner, follow up with the machine guns if any tangos survived the initial firing.”
The two Abrams tanks advanced slowly, as if they were worried about an ambush. They turned as the road did until their thermal sights lit up with targets. Both commanders yelled, “Fire” at the same moment. Two canisters exploded from the two main cannons, they spread hundreds of steel balls which blasted through the snow killing those waiting to ambush the soldiers. A gunner yelled, “I have additional tangos at our two o’clock, I’d say 500 meters.”
“Fire.”
The main guns fired a second time. “Scanning, I’m not showing anything on the thermal. I think we got them all.”
One of the tanks backed up to ask the scouts if they could see if anyone survived the attack. The scouts returned saying all they found were dead bodies that looked like chopped meat. They were torn apart
