Wednesday, May 5, 2410
Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institute
Jeraddo, Republic of Bajor

The afternoon was grey and drizzly, but morale was relatively good as the charter members of the DSM Armor Club gathered in their club's temporary quarters in the Stanley Shops for their third weekly meeting. A cryptic email from the Student Council Committee on Activities had them all wondering what was up, and they chatted among themselves about it as they doffed their rain gear and took their seats around the table in what was usually the Mechanical Technology Department's faculty conference room.

"Why can't Councilor Kadotani ever just come right out and say what's going on?" Saori Takebe wondered as she stood her umbrella in the stand by the door. "'Make extra sure you don't miss this week's meeting, big news,' indeed. Who misses the last meeting of the term anyway?"

"Eh, you know how Anzu is," opined Nora Southwell Ozaki. "She just likes to be dramatic."

"I heard that!" declared the selfsame councilor's voice from the side doorway leading to the faculty offices. Then, grinning, she went on, "And I can't deny it. Is everybody here?"

"Just waitin' on Yukari," said Nora, and then, "Ah, here she is now."

"Sorry everyone!" Yukari Akiyama declared, bursting in from the corridor entrance. "Kind of a traffic jam getting out of Professor Stuvek's final. Nobody finished early," she added with a wry grimace.

"I like your raincoat, Yukari," said Hana Isuzu, nodding toward the long grey garment Yukari was in the process of climbing out of. "Is it military-surplus?"

"Close!" Yukari replied, brushing some water from the coat before she hung it up. "It's Miho-dono's, from her old school."

Nora arched an eyebrow at her roommate. "You guys are wearin' each other's clothes now?" she wondered.

Miho Nishizumi reddened slightly, but didn't quite deny it, replying only, "I bought a new one with my DSM uniforms, so I didn't need it any more."

"Right, that's everybody, then," Anzu declared from the head of the table, forestalling any further investigation Nora might have made.

Turning, the club members saw that their faculty advisor, Fujiwara no Moko, had followed her in from the offices and was now leaning in the corner, hands in the pockets of her jumpsuit, as she usually did when the Student Activities chairwoman was rolling. A moment later a third person joined the two: a middle-aged man, lanky and greying, who wore a uniform that some of them placed, after a moment's thought, as Wedge Defense Force utility fatigues.

"Well, then, I guess I'll call this meeting to order," said Nora, who was nominally the club president, before Anzu could do it for her. "Shall we dispense with the reading of the minutes? Old business? Good, good. OK, new business. Anzu, what've you got for us?"

"Brisk! I like it," said Anzu, winking. "I've got two big pieces of news for you, ladies. First, let me introduce our guest." Gesturing to the man in the WDF uniform, she went on, "This is Lieutenant Colonel Hiram Clanton of the 3rd WDF Engineer Battalion. Take it away, Colonel!"

With a slight smile, Clanton moved into the space at the head of the table as she vacated it for him, then nodded around to the club members.

"Ladies," he said. "As Councilor Kadotani said, I'm with the WDF Corps of Engineers. A few years ago, the 110th Engineer Company, then under my command, built this campus. When we did, we designed in a few spaces for future expansion." Nodding toward the windows that faced out of one wall, he added, "You may have noticed one of them on the far side of the road yonder."

Producing a data solid, he plugged it into the table's presentation system. After a moment's computation, the central holojector glowed to life and drew what the onlookers quickly recognized as a virtual view of this corner of the campus: the shops building, the near end of the straight east-west road the Motor Club kids used as a drag strip, and the empty field beyond it. In a few seconds, another building materialized in the vacant area.

It was a long, low affair of brick and metal, in a similar architectural idiom to the Shops themselves, but sporting a larger number of big steel rolling doors in the north and west sides—the ones facing toward the Drag Strip and off across the empty countryside immediately to the south of the campus proper. Like the Shops, it had an industrial feel to it, resembling some sort of warehouse or hangar.

To no one's great surprise, Yukari recognized it immediately. "That's a WDF vehicle depot!" she blurted.

Clanton nodded, smiling. "Right you are, Miss Akiyama," he said, and in her surprise over the building, it wouldn't occur to her until later to wonder how he knew her name. "One of our standard prefab kits, ready to assemble anyplace the Armored Corps needs to be stood up in a hurry. The Roebling is 12 hours behind me with everything we need, so God willing and the crick don't rise, we ought to have you squared away in time for the weekend."

"Squared...?" Miho mumbled, sounding slightly puzzled. Then, blinking, she said, "You mean—"

"Exactly!" said Anzu. "This is your new clubhouse!" She folded her arms with a triumphant grin. "I told you you'd get a suitable facility."

"An Armored Corps depot?!" said Yukari, incredulous. "That's—the standard model can service two whole companies!"

"Lots of space when you consider we only have one little tank," said Nora. "Maybe we should put in a pool."

"Well, we figured it would be best to allow for plenty of future expansion," Clanton said, then added with a wry smile, "I speak from experience when I say that once you get locked into a serious vehicle collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can."

"Where's the money coming from for all this?" asked Saori practically. "I know we're entitled to some club funding from the Student Activities budget, but..."

"That's my other big piece of news," said Anzu. "You're quite right, Takebe, a regular club budget doesn't extend to the kinds of stuff you'll be getting into. But that's nothing new around here! I mean, look at the Mecha Club, or the Vintage Aero Club. They've got some pretty big hardware too. So I did for you what I did for them. I made Momo-chan go and find you a grant!"

"You're just gonna be right up front about that, huh," said Moko matter-of-factly.

Ignoring her, Anzu went on, "The bulk of your startup funds came from the McKennsy Foundation, with ongoing support from the Institute for the Preservation of Military History. I'll get all the details into your hands as soon as possible so you can get down to business, Akiyama."

"The McKennsy Foundation I've heard of, but who the heck are that other outfit?" Nora wondered. "Where are they out of?"

"I forget, Niogi or someplace," said Anzu, waving a hand. "Doesn't matter, they're a fully accredited historical preservation charity. Momo-chan wouldn't be so sloppy as to take money from anybody shady. The point is, within a few days you'll have all the credits you need to start building up a team. Fleet! I meant fleet. And a shiny new building to keep them in!"

"That sounds lovely," said Hana, smiling.

"And very convenient," Nora added dryly.

"Um... that's great, except for one small problem," Saori put in. "The school year will be over in two days. The res halls close next weekend."

"Well, yeah, but you'll have your clubhouse by then," Anzu pointed out. "Sure, you might have to rough it a little until you get the chow hall figured out, but what's life without a little adventure?"

"I don't think my folks would be thrilled about this plan," said Saori.

"I'm pretty sure I can swing it with mine!" Yukari declared, sounding excited. "They're always after me to get involved in more school activities."

"Wasn't that instead of obsessing over tanks, though?" asked Hana.

"Details!" Yukari replied blithely.

"Well, heck, I'm game," said Nora. "Sticking around here beats dragging my butt back to Mega-City One for the muggiest part of the year. What about you, Miho?"

Miho nodded. "It sounds good to me," she agreed. "I... didn't have any plans for the summer, anyway," she added judiciously.

"I'll have to go home for at least a couple of weeks, or my parents would probably send the police after me," said Hana.

"Yeah, same here," Saori agreed.

"Speaking of which, who's going to be the Adult Supervision?" Nora wondered. "I mean, I'm 16, so technically I could be if we were on my home planet, but I dunno how it works here."

"That'd be me," said Moko.

Nora eyed her. "Who's going to be your Adult Supervision?"

Moko gave her an eyeroll, saying nothing.

"It's settled then," Anzu declared, though not everyone else at the table entirely agreed. "Colonel, thanks for your help. I'm sure everybody's looking forward to seeing you and your people work your magic."

"Yes, thanks a lot!" Yukari agreed, and the others all echoed her sentiments.

"My pleasure, ladies," said Clanton with a nod. "Just stand back and watch us do our thing."

With two days remaining in DSM's rigorous final exams period, the girls of the Armor Club had little choice but to stand back and watch the Corps work. Only at the close of each day did they have time to get out to the southeastern corner of the campus and assess the project's progress, and both times what they found was dramatic.

By Thursday after dinner, a dozen cargo dropships from the WDF heavy construction ship Washington A. Roebling were arranged in a neat formation at the edge of the site on the far side of the Drag Strip, the hole for the foundation had already been dug, and a well-organized force of work vehicles and ConstructionMechs were at work building the footings. Meanwhile, what looked like whole companies of coveralled personnel worked on the sidelines, organizing stockpiles of materials, assembling prefabricated interior segments for later installation, and a dozen other tasks the observers couldn't readily identify.

Twenty-four hours later, when the club members met up in a state of high excitement despite their end-of-finals fatigue and rushed over, they found the building outwardly complete. Where two days before had been nothing but an empty field, there now stood an entire vehicle hangar, its brickwork neat and tidy, its freshly painted steel doors and window frames gleaming in DSM red, the doors boldly numbered in white. A couple of small bulldozers and a small ConstructionMech were putting the finishing touches on the landscaping; the rest of the heavy equipment was already gone, either back to the orbiting starship or packed away in the two dropships that remained.

By the brick-paved path that led around the end of the Drag Strip to the human-scale door that was apparently the building's main entrance, Lieutenant Colonel Clanton and Professor Fujiwara stood watching while two of Clanton's engineers affixed a sign to the wall next to the door. In plain block capitals against a white background, the sign read simply,

ARMOR CLUB

"The first rule of Armor Club is you don't talk about Armor Club," Nora remarked to her clubmates in an undertone as they approached.

Yukari nodded. "The second rule of Armor Club is that you do not. Talk. About Armor Club."

"If this is your first time at Armor Club, you must... armor?" said Miho. "No, that doesn't make any sense," and they all broke up giggling.

"Ladies!" said Clanton as they came within earshot. "You're just in time." Gesturing to the building, he declared, "Your new facility is complete! Professor Fujiwara and I are about to conduct the acceptance inspection. You're more than welcome to join us—we can make it your introductory tour as well."

The two engineers, their work finished, stood to smiling attention on either side of the sign they'd just installed as their CO led Moko and the club members through the door.

"First up are the office and living quarters," Clanton explained, showing them through the former and into the main common room of the latter.

This was a spacious combination kitchen/dining room and living room, with the cooking and dining facilities at one end and a cluster of couches arranged around a holoset at the other. "This area is usually used as a briefing room in WDF service," the engineering officer explained, then added with a grin, "but the sofas are standard-issue, because that's how we roll."

They passed through a door in the side of this room and into what was unmistakably a bunkroom, with a dozen bunk beds arranged in semi-walled alcoves around the perimeter and a central table surrounded with chairs, then from there to a hallway with three smaller single-bunk bedrooms on each side—normally enlisted and officers' quarters, respectively.

"Ordinarily there are four of these residence blocks in a depot of this class," Clanton said as they inspected the officers' rooms, "but we reckoned you probably wouldn't need to put up 120 people at a time, so we converted the others into storage."

"Just to be clear, you have permission to spend the summer break here if you want, but the clubhouse isn't technically rated as an on-campus residence yet," Moko put in. "If you want to try and get it rated, you'll need to amend your club charter and apply to become a club-in-residence, like the Duelists' Society. Then you'd need a House Guide and all that stuff, which can be kind of a hassle, but some clubs think it's worth it." She shrugged. "Up to you, though, I'm not your mom."

"Well, it'd get us out of the housing lottery for next year..." Yukari mused.

"And now, we come to what you've all been waiting for—the main event," said Clanton, and without further ado, he led them through the double doors at the end of the hall and into what the blueprints rather prosaically described as the "equipment room". This took up the bulk of the building's interior volume, with the service areas arranged around the edges of one end.

To Hana, who had never seen an armored vehicle depot before, the first impression it gave was of a large, old-fashioned train station: a yawning, cavernous space underneath a ceiling that had a lot of glass in it. There were even rails in the concrete floor, running here and there, although they were embedded service tracks rather than proper railway lines with platforms alongside. Above, steel rafters spanned the space just under the many-skylighted roof, some of them supporting overhead cranes or chainfall lifts. The door numbers were repeated on the inside.

"Wow!" cried Yukari in delight. "Look at this place!" Running a few paces ahead, she spun around with her arms outstretched, taking it all in. "So much room for activities!"

"Are those 'Mech bays?" asked Nora, pointing to an arrangement of what looked like heavy scaffolding partway along one wall.

"Yes ma'am," Clanton confirmed. "That's a standard single-lance service pod, rated to support four units of up to a hundred tons apiece. There are usually six of those in one of these depots. We were gonna leave 'em out altogether, since you're not a mecha club, but we had one on hand, so we figured what the hell, you might branch out sometime." Pointing to more interior partitions and doors off to that side, he went on, "You've also got an engine shop, reactor service and overhaul facility, machine shop—all the standard goodies."

"Cooool," said Nora.

"And that's about all!" the WDF engineer concluded. "Well, actually, there's plenty more, but I don't want to spoil everything," he added with a grin. "I'll leave some of it for you to discover for yourselves."

"We'll need to get club members who want to take part in maintenance and repair activities checked out on all the equipment," said Moko.

Clanton assured her with a nod, "My people can handle that. We have a standard training program we run whenever the WDF leaves one of these facilities behind for local forces to use." Then, squaring up, he saluted and went on, "For now, I'll leave you to finish inspecting your new facility at your leisure."

Moko returned the salute with a wry smile. "I think we'll take it. Thanks, Colonel."

"Yes, thanks a lot!" said Yukari eagerly, to nods and murmurs of agreement from her clubmates.

"No trouble at all," said Clanton. "It's what we do." And with that, he departed.

"I have to admit, this is impressive," said Saori, looking around with hands on hips. "For once in her life, Kadotani wasn't exaggerating."

"They certainly do work fast around here," Miho observed. "At my old school, the planning permission alone for a new campus building would take at least a year."

"It's kind of a tradition," Saori agreed. "DSM was built that way. From empty ground to a working school in one summer vacation, after the original student body was displaced from Earth."

Hana nodded. "Ever since then, the administration has prided itself on being light on its feet and adaptable."

Yukari made another cheerful little twirl in place, trying to look at everything at once, and declared, "This is so exciting! Our own depot. With 'Mech bays and everything! Maybe we could do some collaboration with the Mecha Club. Combined arms games might be fun."

"Don't let Sterling's pet soldier hear you talk like that, the next thing you know he'll be drilling you all in assassination techniques or something," Moko remarked.

Still riding the wave, Yukari turned to Miho and declared, "We should stay here tonight! Sleep here! You know, to try it out!"

Slightly flustered, Miho couldn't find an immediate reply. Behind her, Saori and Hana shared a slightly dubious glance, but said nothing.

"Slow down, Akiyama, you'll hyperventilate," said Nora dryly.

"I'm gonna go get my stuff—" Yukari began, but before she could go on, the trill of a paging multicomm interrupted the conversation.

"Miho Nishizumi, Class 2-2, please report to the mailroom. Again."

The six looked at each other in puzzlement.

"Again?" said Miho, startled.

DSM Panic! The Panzermädchen Files
File 05: "A Suitable Facility"
a Future Imperfect Mini-Story by Benjamin D. Hutchins
special to the Eyrie Productions Discussion Forum
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