Saint Trode's Base.
The trees past by as the truck rode down the lonely stretch of road towards Saint Trodes, the ride was a rather peaceful airfare. He liked the quiet, good to read a book to, well he would have liked to be with Ursula in the front, he would of had to driven the truck and he liked looking at the landscape as it passed, not his eyes glued to the road.
Pulling through the gates and driving down the runway, the cargo truck came to a hault. He heard the side door open and cries filled the hangar.
"Ursula, yay your back" He heard Erica's voice yell out, Barkhorn soon followed.
"Good to see you again, Hartmann" she said rather warmly.
"It's good to see you two again" she replied calmly.
"Wait, if your here, does it mean that-?
"Yes" I shouted jumping out the back of the truck,
"And you brought along Von Luck too, well it's good to see you both" the Brunet Karlslander said.
And I brought souvenirs for you as well" she added reaching into a sack and giving a box to her sister
"Yay! Snacks" she cried tearing into the box of chocolates, along with it she handed the blonde a small pouch.
"For Wing Commander Minna, it's Coffee, from Amazonas, it is quite good from what I hear, and for captain Barkhorn..."
She handed her the gift and a her face went bright red.
"What is it"? she stuttered out, unfolding a red lace dress. Ursula smiled a "It's a dress from southern Karlsland called a Dirndl, I find it suits you rather fittingly"
"Thank you"
"Did you get Peter anything"? Erica asked, the box of chocolates gone and their remains' now smeared upon her face. The young man began to protest as she handed him a small box.
"You didn't need to get me anything, your all I need" he said smiling"
"Just open it, I know your going to love It"
Opening it he pulled out a rather large pistol.
"A Luger, how did you know"?
"i have my ways" she said planting a playful kiss one him.
"Oh and that's not all, I have some other things" she said as they unload an armory's worth of gear, from STG 44's with curved muzzels and Flame throwers all the way to a sonic cannon.
"and then theirs the MK-214 50mm Cannon" she said running her palms across the weapons coating, flat and cool. Erica looked less then pleased at seeing the weapon again.
"Not that again" she sighed. Barkhorn grasped it looking over the death dealer.
"But why did you bring this? It's too heavy to fly with"
"I know, that's what the jet is for" and she revealed the Jet Striker sitting in the back of the cargo truck.
...
"NO NO NO! Trudie is not using that thing" she yelled at her friends face as Ursula went over the Jets newer build. She had been yelling about it for several minutes now.
"But Hartmann, it is needed if i'm going to use the 50mm cannon, it's absolutely needed for this"
"No, you know what happened the last time you wore it, you almost died"! she shouted grasping her fists in a rage. Ursula added "You don't have to worry, we have adjusted it and fixed the issues with the magic energy consumption, it'e safe as a house" she assured her.
"Good, then it should be ready to test again"
Hartmann flaired up again "It's not going to fly well"
"That's why we have to test it" Ursula spoke out. Erica's face lit up as an idea filled her head.
"well Trude it doesn't matter, Minna will never let you" She said folding her arms in victory.
...
"I'm allowing it" Minna said matter a fact to the blonde. She was flabbergasted at this,
"The jet could help win back Karlsland, it's a risk worth taking, their will always be problems in new weapons after all" she went on, pouring herself a cup of coffee, Erica was less then pleased.
"Still"
"Oh, this is good" Minna gasped taking sip of the steaming beverage. Erica's eyes lit up.
"You've been bought"! she cried.
...
Barkhorn suited up in the Jet Striker, the engine's hummed to life and rumbled as she took off. As she got ready,Ursula went through the list of things she should not do, do not build up to much speed if you begin to tire or do not pull up because it will cause the unit to stall after a few minutes. Erica seemed rather unimpressed at the sight of the et in action.
"It's taking a long time to get in the air" or saying "it's taking forever for it to climb". Ursula jotted down a few notes "that's true, perhaps the engine needs fine tuning"?
Gertrude turned in the sky, making a large trail behind her in a loop.
"It doesn't turn very well either"
"Sister, it is a prototype, their will be flaws, the point here is to improve"
Peter added in "Yes and besides, the amount of firepower more then makes up for the lack of speed and movement"
"what's that mean"?
"The Jet striker unit and the regular striker unit are different, the jet can be used for each witches combat style and change as needed due to it's high speed and larger firepower" She said as Barkhorn soared by, leaving a loud roar in her wake, Minna seemed to be rater impressed, unalike her blonde friend.
"It does go rather fast once it picks up speed"
The radio began buzzing and peter picked the reciver up.
"This is Barkhorn, i'm at the highest recorded speed and I feel fine, This is great" she said. Speaking into the reciver Peter spoke to her,
"Copy Captain, you are currently heading speeds of 800Km per hour, please begin weapons test,over"
"Roger, starting test" she said as the 50mm thundered to life, rounds striking a target they had set up on a hill nearby, they had much force to them but the accuracy needed some work.
"It's rather powerful" Minna said.
"Mein Gott" Peter whispered as he watched the powerful cannon fire.
"That would blow smaller neuroi to pieces" she went on.
"That is, if they all hit it" Erica hissed watching the smoke clear to see only one shell had been on target.
"Due to the large caliber of the weapon, it's recoil is hard to control" Ursula said pointing more data down on paper.
"Until that is fixed, it won't be of any us in combat" Minna sighed as Barkhorn landed.
"She's right, it's to bad, the firepower could be very useful in taking back Karlsland" she sighed out sadly, their was a moment of silence between the five Karlslanders, they all wanted the home back and this weapon could of helped greatly.
"Ursula, is there anyway to fix this problem" Barkhorn asked, the blonde went through her notes "Well, if we reconfigured the strikers to take the force the cannon makes when it fires and changed the magic output level's so-
Erica yawned loudly walking away, "Oh well, guess it will never work, see you later" she said walking passed the hangar, only to see her striker attached to some device connected to a second set of strikers.
"WHAT IS THAT"! she demanded loudly.
"I told you she would notice" Peter sighed as Ursula explained to her sister what she was looking at.
"This is the Bf-109 Zwei Link, it connects unit's of the same model to each other to increase their power and output for speed, power and wight output" she told her sister, who was making small noises Peter assumed were from shock.
He put his hand on her shoulder "Are you-
"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY UNIT"! she yelled, sending the young man back to the ground in surprise, "You did this without asking, what makes you think you had the right to mess with my striker"?
"I had Commander Minna's permission" she said calmly. Stepping forward, the crimson haired witch spoke. "Because of this devices needs, its best if twin's like yourselves test it out" she said with a smile.
"Just cause your smiling doesn't make this OK Minna" she thought to herself.
"Come on Hartmann, help your sister out for once" Barkhorn added.
"Fine,i get it" she moaned as they got in their strikers and started the engine.
Peter took Ursula's lab coat and put it aside as he checked the Zwei Link one last time "She is ready" he said with a thumbs up. Ursula looked at her sibling and began speaking.
"Erica, if we aren't on the same wavelength, this will not work, just follow me-
"Got it"! she said as they took off"
"Good luck" Peter cried as they went airborne.
Their flight was steady and calm as they flew. "Well done sister, it's your first time using the link but you exel at it"
"Big deal"
"Erica, is something wrong, i'm your sister, you can tell me-
"I'm fine" she said taking them into a steep turn.
"What are they doing"? Peter asked on the ground, Ursula had not said anything about taking such movements on the links first flight. iN the air, Ursula was too, worried. "Erica, I can't follow such fast movement your going to need to slow down-
"If it can't do this in combat, it's of no use" she added taking it into a roll. Ursula was scared at this point.
"Erica,this is a test model, if you put it threw such rough flight it will-"!
And with a snap it broke in two sending the quiet blonde tumbling towards the ground screaming.
"NO,URSULA"! Peter cried, jumping into a Kuble wagen, he threw his foot to the petal as his love fell to the ground. The jeep roared forwards kicking up mud as he raced into the forest, behind him both Minna and Barkhorn had boarded their strikers and were hot on his tail. With a loud scream the tires halted, he looked up to see both of the blonde haired Karlslanders hanging from a tree branch, his sweet hanging to Erica's arm as she was draped over a limb.
"I'm fine" she said half heartedly, Erica was straining to hold her up, moaning. Getting them both down a was a challenge but they did so.
...
"See ,it didn't work" Erica said as they stood in the hangar, the two sets of strikers lie in ruins on the ground, Peter was looking over them shaking his head. Ursula had been a little shaken but it seemed like the young man was shell shocked from watching it, the ride back he had been shaking and sobbing about her being in danger.
"Erica,you didn't follow my advice and put the Zwei in a rough turn, causing it to crash, it was your error, not the strikers" she said calmly. Her sister lit up in rage.
"You keep bringing in these dangerous things, the jet and this will never be used in real combat" Ursula wasn't fazed by this and keeped calm as she spoke.
"Even testing has rules, your action's are the reason the Zwei Link crashed" Minna added "She's right,the reason for testing is to root out the flaws, not to see if it can be used"
"If were going to win this war, their will need to be tests, you should help- Barkhorn started as Erica exploded, her face shaking in true rage as she went on what one could call a rant of madness.
"THE 109 IS MORE THEN ENOUGH FOR COMBAT!EVERYTHING YOU BRING IS USELESS AND... AND IS A WASTE OF TIME!" she snapped at her sibling sending Ursula back, Peter stood up looking at his love, her face alive with dread. she looked at her feet for a moment, the room was quiet. She turned and began walking away.
"Ursula, wait" Erica cried.
"Even if we failed, the data alone will be useful in latter tests, perhaps my failure will be of some use, i 'll fix your unit latter sister." she said leaving without turning back.
"Ursula, wait she didn't mean it" Peter said as she walked away.
"Erica, the was a rude thing to do to your sister, she been working on these devices for month's and you should support her" Barkhorn told the girl, Peter was just looking at her.
"You two, leave" his said pointing at the two witches, they looked surprised but did as they were told. Turning he walked straight up to her.
"Peter, i'm sorry...I didn't mean to...'
"You had no right to yell at her, for the love of god you almost killed her"! he bellowed. She was like her sister, taken back by this.
"You could have gotten her killed and then you have the nerve! THE NERVE to yell at her! What is wrong with you, your going to get someone killed, not the jet" he screamed marching out of the hangar, leaving her alone with her thought's.
"I'm sorry..." she said quietly, holding back tears as she slumped against the wall and her legs gave way as she slid to the floor and put her head in her hands.
Wow, that was hard to write...anyway the offer for fan art is still open, anyone?...OK. Hope you made it through this and part two will be out...sometime in the next few weeks.
Empty Promise sighing out, watch the perimeter for movement!