Disclaimer: I don't own Strike Witches, which I am sure many of you know already.

Prologue

Minna was looking through Mio's latest training reports as well as Richard's. Over the past few weeks, Eila, Perrine and Wolf had all been excelling. Wolf now had dozens of Core kills to her name, and Eila and Perrine had added dozens to their own. There was one major setback to their persistence however; they were getting tired, both mentally and physically. "They need a break."

"We did try and tell you that," Richard said, pulling Minna out of her deep thought and making her jump. People normally knocked before entering her office

Minna took a deep breath and looked up to see Richard and Mio at the other side of her desk, both with their arms crossed over their chests.

"Maybe you need a break too?" Mio pointed out.

Minna smiled, "Why, so you can take over?" she laughed lightly, "I'm afraid I have to stay here. But, maybe we should force the other three to take a break."

"I think we should send them on a vacation to London," Richard said.

"Vacation?" Mio scoffed.

Even Minna was surprised by that notion. Richard was normally as hard as Mio.

"We need everyone we have," Minna told the man tiredly.

Richard shrugged, "I could pull some strings, get some Liberians over here, maybe see about getting a couple from the Highlands."

"I don't think it is wise to send those three away alone," Minna said, pursing her lips in thought, "They don't exactly get along."

"I could go with them," Richard offered, "keep them out of trouble and all that, makes sure they don't get lost. And it's where Wolf grew up, so she'll know her way around."

"Okay then," Minna said, leaning back in her seat and feeling some relief at having dealt with one of the many problems that lay before her. "Richard, since you will be taking them, I think you should tell them. They're…" Minna's familiar appeared as she used her area analysis to find the Witches, and then disappeared a moment later, "… all in the dining hall."

"Yes, ma'am," Richard said, snapping off a salute. It wasn't necessary since he and Minna were of equivalent rank, but it made her smile, and then she ordered him to never do it again. She didn't like the people around the base saluting her, it made her feel old.

Wolf, Eila and Perrine all sat at the end of the dining hall table, discussing battlefield tactics oddly enough, and being surprisingly civil considering how their personalities normally clashed.

"…when attacking the high speed class," Perrine was saying, "you need to have someone fly ahead, just two people, to an intercept position about ten clicks ahead, then you get a four unit group to pursue it."

"No, no, no," Eila told the Gallian, waving her finger and leaning in the chair, feet up on the table, "This is why you're not going to be promoted, you don't know what you're doing. You need a four Witch intercept team so that they're carrying enough firepower to take that thing down before it passes them by."

"You're both wrong," Wolf told them casually, and then held up two fingers, "You need two intercept teams, one equipped for long range combat and the other a hard hitter. You should also have three attack teams as well; all three high speed, one team with medium weapons, the other two with light gear, something like a Gewehr 43 or a Thompson, nothing any bigger than that. The Attackers will pursue the target for as long as possible and the intercept teams will attack as the target approaches. Assuming the Witches involved aren't all idiots, the high speed model should be easily dealt with, with no casualties."

"That's a lot of resources for a single high speed model," Perrine commented, rubbing her chin, "It would be more efficient to just have a single team at the intercept point with something heaving hitting like a Fliegerhammer."

"Or a Bofors, one of those anti air guns, a 40mm I think," Wolf replied, sniffing the air and smelling Dick approaching, "There's some Witch in Africa that uses one. She used a pair of them at one point. Might be able to get away with that Witch and a wingman at the intercept then a couple of high speed Witches on the attack, if you're worried about the logistics. Might be simpler to hit it from afar though now that I think about it, a couple of snipers like myself or Lynne, maybe some foot soldiers with a few large calibre rifles could even do it, if they were lucky. A single .55 round through the nose and that baby is dead."

"Where did you learn all that?" Perrine wondered aloud, eyes wide in surprise. As far as Perrine knew, Wolf just trained or drank, the Gallian probably wasn't aware that Wolf read a book or a newspaper every night before bed.

"Unlike you," Wolf smirked, "I get lots of one on one time with my trainer, speaking of whom…" she pointed her thumb at the door and then around, "Afternoon, Dick."

He just shook his head, he hated being called Dick, and then smiled as the air raid siren went to off and the Witches ran to the door, on their way to the hanger, "Hold it right there, ladies. As of this moment you're all off duty."

"WHAT?!" they all exclaimed in unison.

"You're off duty," he replied calmly with a grin, "And I have more good news, we're all going on a vacation to London."

"Wai… London? We can't go to London, we're needed here," Perrine pleaded.

"Commander's orders, I'm afraid," Dick said, crossing his arms, "You're going to London, and you are going to relax, have a good time, and enjoy yourself.

Wolf could tell by the man's tone that it was going to happen and there was nothing any of the Witches could do about, so she asked quietly, "Can we visit my library?"

"We can go wherever you guys want."

"Th-thanks."