Chapter 1- The Free-Lancer

The skies over the Adriatic were clear, with few large, puffy white clouds scattered over head. The only sounds to be heard were those of the waves washing up on shore. The warm sun caressed my whole body as I laid out on the beach, using my clothes as a pillow.

I was living on a small, remote island I stumbled across and turned into my own oasis. Nobody knows where I'm at and the island looks like nothing more than a small sand dune with a few trees and minor rock formation to anyone flying overhead. Thanks to my elusiveness I've able to go off grid and stay that way. And thanks to a poorly guarded military outpost, I've been able to stock up with a long-range radio, signal jammer and a radar, as well as a few munitions and dietary supplements.

There was something buzzing at the back of my mind at the moment though, trying to make itself known. I tried to block it out, focusing on listening to waves as I relaxed on the beach, but it just wouldn't cease.

My eyes snapped open and I sat straight up, realization striking hard. I stood up and grabbed my clothes, then sprinted to the cave in the rock formation that was hidden by the trees.

The ping of the radar was echoing off the cave walls as I sprinted up to my set up, quickly pulling up my panties and tossing the rest of my clothes aside. I slammed my hand down on a button, starting up the jammer, hoping against hope I wasn't too late to hide my base's location.

I looked at the radar to see what had triggered my alarms and saw a single, large bogey to the Northwest. It was twenty minutes out but its flight path was too close for comfort.

'A Nueroi? Whys it this far outside its flight range?' I thought as I watched the radar.

I began to put on my combat gear to prepare to intercept. If a neuroi were to fly over my base, then the military would investigate its path and I'd rather keep my base secret.

All my battle clothes were black as I only ever flew during night missions. I wear black tights, a black turtle neck, a light armor black Kevlar vest, and black gloves and glare resistant tinted goggles. The only things that aren't black are my skin, ears and tail. My contract is with a Siberian Husky so my ears and tail are a dark gray with white fur on the underside, and my skin is lightly tanned.

The radio came to life as soon as I finished getting dressed. "Sanya! What are you picking up on the enemy?" a voice called out. My jammer scrambles my outgoing signals but doesn't affect any incoming signals so I can keep track of pursuers.

A moment later a very tired sounding voice came through my speakers. "I'm picking up a single Nueroi, Major." I cringed. A witch who can pick up electrical, biological signals, my jammer wouldn't help me too much if she focused on my direction.

"Miyafuji! You and Lynette have the vanguard, nothing gets past, got it?" the Major didn't wait for a response and kept issuing out orders. "Barkhorn! Hartman! You two are on point! Everybody else is support. Let's make this quick and clean!"

Numerous voices gave out a confirmation to her orders. I was able to count six different voices which meant that I had a team of eight witches in the area if you added in the Major and the tired sounding voice that different answer to the Major's orders.

"Um, Major?" that voice, they called her Sanya, said.

"What is it, Sanya?"

I held my breath as my chest constricted in anticipation. Sanya answered, "I'm picking up an unknown signal between us and the Nueroi, but it's hard to pick up. Doesn't seem hostile."

"Nueroi first. We'll investigate if we get the chance," the Major said. I finally let out my breath. I still had a chance to escape, but there was no chance I'd be able to stay at my base since she picked up on my signal.

Fully dressed now, I ran for my striker unit and activated my powers. It was painted a dark purple color to blend in with the night sky, and its engine ran completely silent and left no vectors behind me. The ultimate striker used for stealth missions. Though it took a toll on my magical energy, I was able to remain completely undetectable to all of forms of detection, even to witch like Sanya.

I strapped on my ammo packs and spare gear, then slung my silenced sniper rifle over my back, that was my second weapon. My primary weapon is a custom black AK-47 with a welded on silencer and a 150 round barrel hopper attachment to allow for more fire power and less reloading. I had five fully loaded hoppers clipped to my waist belt and one loaded, giving me 900 rounds total, plus another 90 for my sniper rifle. The only other piece of gear I had besides my goggles was my earpiece, which thanks to my magic would not transmit my location when in use.

I took off and flew straight up after I left my cave, heading straight for cloud cover. Since my gear is colored for cloud cover, I'm still visible to the naked eye, but I'm trained well enough to stay unseen if I use my surroundings right.

The Nueroi I saw was coming from the Northwest and Sanya said I was between them and the Nueroi, so they were flying from the Southeast. That meant my best escape route would be to fly due West then fly North in the direction the Nueroi was coming from to dissuade anyone from following.

But as I was flying towards the eastern shore of Romagna, a different plan sprung up in my mind. I did some quick math and estimated the meeting point between the Witches and the Nueroi and flew in that direction. They wouldn't be able to detect me and as long as I stayed in the clouds I'd remain unseen, so why not see what I was up against. I haven't seen any combat for nearly ten months now, may as well take it in so as not to get rusty.

I reached my estimated location and flew into a particularly large cumulus cloud. I was just invisible enough to not be noticed by the witches, and considering the leading conclusion was that the Nueroi saw through the use of radar, I could watch the battle uninvolved.

I looked Southeast and could see a glimmer in the distance marking the Witches approaching in three separate V-formations, shaped to form one large V. I could hear them making quick battle plans on the fly and was able to deduce a few identities; Major Sakamoto, Miyafuji, Lynette and Sanya. Everyone else was still in question.

Once their location was established it wouldn't be too hard to find the Neuroi and figure out what they were up against.

I turned to face the what was coming and audibly gasped, shocking myself with my own reaction.

The reason the Neuroi seemed so big on radar was not because it was big in size, but instead was because it was a cluster of medium sized Neuroi flying close enough together to confuse the radar into thinking it was one large Neuroi. And just as that realization hit me, the Neuroi must have noticed the Witches because it split and charged straight towards their formation.

"Stay sharp, girls! Multiple contacts confirmed, nobody go out of range. Cover everyone's backs. Go!" the Major's voice was so clear, so calm, as if this change in the enemy's tactics wasn't so unprecedented and that she remained in complete control of the battlefield.

The first shot came from an anti-armor rifle round fired from the back of the formation. The round was true and struck one of the charging Neuroi, causing it to explode into a firework of crystal fragments. A quick count told me that the numbers were now even at nine a piece.

And with that shot the battle went full blown. Each witch started to chase a Neuroi or two, the exception being two witches who stayed back to cover the others, who I figured to be Lynette and Miyafuji. Nobody scored any more meaningful hits and plenty of blue shield runes lit up the sky as the witches were getting used to the Neuroi's battle tactics.

One Neuroi charged straight at Major Sakamoto, who was using a katana that glowed blue with magical energy, and she split it clean in half. But a second Neuroi charged, forcing her back. As she retreated, Miyafuji charged to cover. I was amazed by the size of the shield she was able to generate to completely deter the Neuroi, at least six times larger than anyone else's shield. And as the Neuroi attempted to retreat, it got pierced by Lynette's rifle, completely obliteration the Neuroi.

"Dammit! I can't find the core anywhere!" the Major cursed. I looked back towards where the main battle just in time to see one girl destroy a Neuroi using electricity, while five other Neuroi continued to fly around the battle, keeping the witches occupied.

If none of them contained the core, then where was it?

"Just five left, Major! Are you sure it's not here?" a new voice called out. I watched as two more Neuroi were destroyed, leaving the last three heavily outnumbered.

"I don't see it anywhere!" the Major yelled out. Her voice made it sound as though she was becoming frustrated. "Eila! Sanya! Break off towards the unknown signal! We'll hold them off here and catch up!"

It was pointless. They wouldn't find anything of value there, I took everything with me and destroyed what I couldn't carry, leaving nothing that would prove that I was there. Major Sakamoto was splitting her forces for no positive reason.

And they wouldn't find the Neuroi core there either because one broke off from the rest at the beginning of the battle and was flying around the tracking range to get behind the witches, using the clouds as cover. I saw it happen as all the others were blinded to it by the confusion.

I watched it occasionally during the battle and didn't see its importance until the Major said she couldn't find the core. The Neuroi were keeping it safe by using it as a passive attacker rather than keeping it in the main battle. It was a tactic I didn't expect the Neuroi would ever employ.

I watched the Neuroi swoop down into a line that would allow it to do some serious damage. I sighed as I switched weapons from my AK to my sniper rifle.

"Last one! I got this!" I heard in my ear as I pulled the scope up to my eye, stock held against my shoulder.

"WOO-OW! Nice shot, Trudy!" I set my sights on the Neuroi, then applied to lead the Neuroi and account for wind variance.

"Any word on the core, Major?" Clicked off the safety.

"Hey! What's that?" Inhale.

"Major! Look out!"

The Neuroi had gotten into range without any of them noticing and had had a beam charging up on the nose of its plane shape. It was just milliseconds away from firing a kill shot right at the Major. But before that could happen, a single armor-piercing round tore through the nose, splitting the core clean in half as it exited the rear of the Neuroi. A second later, the Neuroi exploded into crystal fragments with a metallic pang.

Silence abound as I slung my sniper back over my shoulder, preferring to have my AK available. Then my earpiece nearly exploded with how many voices tried to shout over the others to be heard.

"What just happened?" "Where did that come from?" "Who shot that?" "Thank god the Majors okay!"

Slowly, one by one, they began to turn towards me as the cloud I was using for cover drifted away, leaving me, dressed completely in black, exposed against a pure blue sky. Nobody moved. Nobody said anything. They just stared at me, and I at them.

The Major approached, katana still drawn in a defensive but ready position. She stopped roughly twenty yards away from me, the other witches filing in behind her.

"I'm Major Sakamoto Mio of the 501st Airborne, also known as the 'Strike Witches'," she said while making a show of sheathing her katana. She kept the eye not covered by an eyepatch on me the whole time. "Who are you and why are you in possession of a striker with no markings on it?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I've heard of you guys before," I pulled my goggles up to rest on my forehead and reveal my face, matching her stare unflinchingly. I could tell she wasn't used to people being able to do that. "My name is Samantha Bryant, formerly of USLMC."

"Formerly? What do you mean formerly? And since when did we have witches in the Marine Corps?" the big breasted auburn haired girl with bunny ears and a tail to match blasted.

The major fixed her with a stare, shutting her up immediately. She then brought her stare back to me, with a smirk on her face, as if expecting to intimidate me. "If you're no longer with them, then who are you with now?"

I let a smirk reach my lips, much to her dismay. "Nobody. I'm AWOL."