Disclaimer: After reading "Strike Witches: Return" by Doran Maya and "Strike Witches: The Paradox Timeline" by Fuji92, I decided to try a time travel, but then thought, how about a dimensional trip instead. A short story, complete, enjoy.
Slip in Dimensions
by Rizon72
Yoshika tried her best to keep up with the different maneuvers that Barkhorn used. She knew she was being tested during the training exercise. Everyone else was doing the same thing, as they worked formations to attack Neuroi. This was one of the few times that all of them were working together. Usually Sanya slept during the day. Minna wanted her to participate today, so had taken her off night patrol for this.
"Well done girls," Minna said. "That should do it for today."
"Colonel Wilke, this is headquarters, we've spotted an unusual radar signature almost on top of you," the base said over the radio.
Yoshika glanced around, not seeing anything. The sky was clear and she could see for several miles. She looked down at the water not seeing anything there either.
"We're not seeing anything HQ," Minna said. Everyone hovered in the air looking around for a potential threat. "Sanya, anything?"
Sanya's radar came to life as she looked around. "No commander," she said after a few seconds.
"Mio?" Minna asked.
"If there is anything I don't see it," Mio said, lifting her eye patch and making a full three-sixty scan of the sky around them.
"HQ, we don't see anything, over," Minna said, waiting a few seconds, but received no reply. "HQ come in."
"An attack?" Trude questioned, when no one replied back.
"Destroying a base that quickly, doubt it. I think we're being jammed, wouldn't be the first time the Neuroi have done that," Minna said.
"Two contacts, approaching at high-speed," Sanya said.
"Which direction?" Sakamoto said, getting a reply from Sanya, turned to look using her magic eye. "They don't appear to be Neuroi, but don't let your guard down."
"Roger!" everyone said.
SWSWSWSWSW
John Tonner, or Coyote to those in his squadron, looked down at the radar, which showed about a dozen contacts hovering in the air. The Hawkeye spotted it first, and sent him and his wingman to investigate. Now he approached at cruising speed. He assumed maybe some sort of helicopters, maybe with a sort of stealth technology.
"Contact in thirty seconds," he said, a bit bored.
"Roger."
John watched in amazement as he spotted not helicopters, or any type of plane he had ever seen before, but what appeared to be a group of girls hovering in the air. He took a breath, then a second before looking again. The sight had not changed one bit, there were still a group of girls hovering in mid-air.
"What do you see?" an impatient voice asked. John wondered if he should even report on what he saw.
"Um, well control, you see, um, you're not going to believe this, but it's a group of girls," he finally spat out, turning the Hornet to make another pass. He wished someone else had taken this patrol. He would be the butt of so many jokes.
"Repeat that."
"A group of girls," John said, flying past again, this time seeing they were all holding weapons.
"You've cracked Coyote." John only wished that had been the case, but there were about a dozen girls with strange metal leggings, holding weapons, flying in the Atlantic.
"Then I've cracked as well," John's wingman said.
"Are we getting anything on the radio?" John asked. He looked back again at the group, wondering how they were flying, and so high.
"Hold on, it's an older frequency," the reply came back, rattling off the frequency used. John quickly switched over hearing girl's voices.
"…not a Neuroi."
"Looked like airplane, who is it?"
"Did you see how fast it went?"
"Is it hostile?"
"Everyone calm down."
"I can't get through to the base."
"This is the USS George Washington to unknown bogies," John heard the CO say.
"Is that us?" a voice replied.
"Must be."
"Never heard of a ship called the George Washington."
"This is the USS George Washington, to unknown bogies, reply or we will take action," John heard his CO repeat, though he had no idea what action he might take against flying girls.
"This is Lieutenant Colonel Minna Wilcke of the 501st Joint Strike Wing," an answer finally came back.
"You are ordered to head on course 216."
"That would take us out into the ocean."
"What's going on?"
"Colonel, there are several ships in that direction," a soft voice said.
"You sure Sanya?"
John did not hear the reply.
"Very well, but you have a lot of explaining to do," Minna's voice said.
John shook his head imagining his CO's face, and that they had as many questions. He turned getting new orders to remain on patrol a bit longer..
SWSWSWSW
Captain Gregory Smyth walked into the flight operations room, the group was busy as normal. He turned to look outside the window, watching girls land on his ship. He looked closer and thought he saw animal ears, and tails? This got stranger and stranger, and what were they wearing on their legs? He never saw anything like it before. The last part was the fact they held weapons, what looked like machine guns, and one, a hand-held rocket system.
"Um captain?" the air boss said, his voice unsure about what to do. No one had ever handled such a situation before.
"Take them down to the hangar, I'll meet them below, though I'm not sure how this will go over with the top brass," Gregory said, the thought of the report already giving him a headache. The order went thought hand signals to the rest of the crew and the 'girls' were led over to an elevator.
Gregory turned, heading down to the hangar. On the way down the XO who caught up to him, he was off duty, but probably heard that something strange happened.
"So, what's the situation?" he asked. "Something strange?"
"Oh yeah, you might have wished you stayed in bed for this," Gregory replied heading down the stairs. The XO shot him a glance but said nothing else.
They walked into the hangar waiting as the girls, teenagers he guessed, stopped off to the side of the hangar close by, and they all hopped out of the metal leggings. He then got another shock, most were not wearing any pants! He saw only three wearing pants, the rest only had on their underwear. He rubbed his forehead at the thought of a group of girls running around in their underwear on board a ship full of young men, not a good combination. A red-haired teen walked up to him with the air of a leader, along with girl with a ponytail, and a sword on her back. Was he caught in some strange anime cosplay convention?
"Captain Gregory Smyth, USS George Washington, who are you and where did you come from?" Gregory asked, a thousand questions running through his mind.
"I'm Lieutenant Colonel Minna Wilcke, this is Major Mio Sakamoto," the leader of the group said. Gregory glanced over at his XO, who merely seemed speechless at the reply. Minna asked the next question before he could. "What country are you part of? I don't recognize it."
"Um, the United States of America," Gregory replied, confused.
"America? Don't recognize that one," Minna said, looking back at her group.
"Could be like the United States of Liberion, I thought the flags looked familiar," the orange haired girl said.
"I've never seen any ship like this in any navy, Liberion, Fuso, or Britannia," the girl with the sword, Mio, said.
Gregory felt his head spinning at the conversation. Liberion? Fuso? He recognized Britannia, and figured that had to be Great Britain.
"Enough with the kidding, who are you?" Gregory said, hoping to get to the bottom of this before he lost his mind. "What strange little cosplay group are you part of, and you can put down those fake weapons."
"Fake?" one girl replied, confused. The other girls appeared just as confused about his comment.
"Yeah, you put away the ears and tails, so you can dispose of the act," Gregory said, wondering where those went. He did not recall seeing any of them actually take them off, but with his attention focused on their state of dress he easily missed it, or he assumed that was the case.
"Oh, you mean these?" Minna said. Everyone watched in shock as she 'grew' a set of ears and tail. "They only come out when we use our magic."
"Magic doesn't exist," the XO said before Gregory could say anything.
"How do you think we flew those strikers?" a girl with brown hair and ponytails said, pointing to the metal leggings they had worn.
"All right, hold up, let's go somewhere more comfortable, and possibly get you some pants," Gregory said.
"We are wearing pants."
Gregory rubbed his head. He needed some aspirin, and soon.
SWSWSWSW
Minna followed along with the rest of her squad, to a large room, with comfortable chairs. She watched Hartmann and Lucchini flop down in them, bouncing a bit.
"Hey, we need some like this at the base," Hartmann said, leaning back into the chair, then spinning it around a bit.
She watched Shirley, Lynne, and Yoshika join them, also testing the chairs.
"Your right Hartmann," Yoshika said, bouncing slightly as well. Sanya and Eila joined them, sitting down in the same chair. Minna turned as Mio walked over to her.
"This is very strange Minna," Mio said. "Did you see their faces when you activated your magic?"
"Yeah," Minna said, thinking it looked like someone who had never seen magic before. They never heard of magic or strikers. She wondered where they were. Sitting down, she noticed the chairs were indeed comfortable. She felt slightly nervous about the fact they were not close to their strikers, or weapons. What if the Neuroi attacked?
"Colonel, what's going on?" Yoshika asked, breaking her train of thought.
Minna looked up from the table top to see every witch looking at her.
"I don't know, I don't even think we're in 1944 anymore," Minna stated.
"Their technology is amazing," Shirley said, who was examining several items around the room.
Minna glanced around, seeing electronics she had never seen before. A large screen on one side of the room, along with other devices which she had no idea their function. The airplanes had been jets that much she felt sure about. Anything else, she had no clue about, including the ships of this fleet. She had never seen such ships.
"They are not Neuroi?" Trude asked.
"No, I don't see a core anywhere on the ship," Mio replied, pulling off her eyepatch and looking around.
Minna knew the options of where they were became limited, and her statement that they were not in 1944 seemed more and more realistic.. She knew if this ship was built in secret, the crew would recognize a witch. The fact they did not disturbed Minna. The door opened allowing a couple of women into the room.
"The captain thought you might be thirsty," the first woman said, dressed like the captain.
"Thank you," Minna said.
"We have tea and coffee, also soda if you wish," the woman said. "I'm Lieutenant Ann Taylor, and this is Ensign Terris Saja."
"Tea," Yoshika said, hopping up and walking over.
"Um, are you sure you don't need any pants?" Ann asked, looking at Yoshika's bare legs.
"This is my uniform," Yoshika said, pouring herself some tea.
"Okay," Ann said, looking rather doubtful.
Minna watched the interaction, but saw no malice in either woman's actions. She would wait to see what happened next.
SWSWSWSWSW
Gregory watched the screen as the girls acted, well, like girls. He wondered what the next bit of information would be. Strange girls appearing out of nowhere, flying and claiming they could use magic. It all seemed rather unusual. The XO walked in, looking rather disturbed.
"What's the report?" Gregory said.
"Those metal leggings, no known power source," the XO replied. "One mechanic said it reminded him of an old World War Two fighter engine."
"And the weapons?" Gregory asked.
"Those weapons, real, heavy, and loaded," he replied. "Especially the rocket system that one small girl held."
"Chief, you mean to tell me that those weapons are real?" Gregory said, rubbing his forehead, wondering if perhaps he needed a strong drink instead of aspirin.
"Each one in perfect working order, and all recently fired," the XO replied.
"Great, even the rockets?" Gregory asked, hoping to hear no.
"Yes, took two men to lift it. Something's not right here," the XO said.
"Send a tanker up to refill the patrol fighters, I want them remain on alert, and have a few extra fighters ready to go," Gregory said.
"Trouble?" the XO asked.
"Don't know, but I'd rather be safe than sorry,' Gregory replied. The XO turned to find the air boss and carry out the orders.
Gregory glanced over at the screen, watching the girls drink the tea and coffee provided, ignoring the soda. He looked at them closer, seeing something in their attitude that was a bit familiar. It took him a second to see past the interactions of typical teen girls, but he finally saw it. They acted very much like his fighter pilots, that same attitude they all had. He had a strange gut feeling these girls had seen death and destruction in combat, but where?
"Sir," an ensign said.
"Yes," Gregory said. The man was listening in on their conversation.
"Um, I don't know if this is important, but they've mentioned the year 1944 a couple of times now, along with something called a Neuroi," he said.
Gregory frowned, what were they doing talking about that year, it was seventy years ago. He decided to talk to them again, this time armed with this bit of information. He left the room and walked down to the conference room. Opening the door all the girls stopped what they were doing and look at him. He felt like he had walked in on his daughter's pajama party.
"Ah, I have another question for you, what year is it?" he asked them, watching their confused faces.
"1944," several replied back to him.
"Its 2014," Gregory replied. He watched the look of shock appear on their face.
"What?" one stated.
"Even if you did come from 1944, there is no such thing as magic here," Gregory said.
"What happened to the Neuroi?" Minna asked.
"The what?" Gregory asked. "Never heard of them."
"Minna, this is getting strange," Mio said.
"I know Mio," Minna replied, turning back to Gregory. "You know, alien invaders who have taken over Europe. They have massive hives, as large as countries."
Gregory stood speechless about what she said. He never heard of anything like that, and he felt sure if something like that ever did happen, he would know about it.
"The Nazis almost conquered Europe in World War Two, that would have gone on in 1944, perhaps that what you are thinking about," Gregory said, trying to be logical about the situation.
"Nazis?"
"You know. Hitler? Germany?"
"Hitler? There was a Hitler who ruled Karlsland, but he was killed when the Neuroi invaded," Minna said.
"Ah, the idiot who disliked witches," a blonde said.
Gregory sat down in the chair, unsure of what happened here. Things were out of control and none of his training seemed to help. It seemed like Hitler had been a footnote in history, and probably never heard of the Nazis. He also wondered what this Neuroi thing was they kept talking about.
"Sounds like some sort of alternate reality," Gregory said, his voice trailing off. He thought about those words, everything they both said pointed in that direction.
"Another dimension you mean?" Minna asked causing Gregory to think about that.
"Possible, but that doesn't explain the lack of Neuroi," the one called Mio said.
"I could, if they haven't found this dimension," Minna said.
"How do we get back!" another one said.
Gregory watched them for a few seconds. The alternate dimension seemed creditable at the moment. It might explain several things, but that also meant he had to admit other possibilities, and he was not sure he could do that yet. Even if it was the truth, he had no idea how to get them back to 'their' dimension, if in fact that was the truth of the reality.
"Okay, hold on," he said, interrupting their conversation, which had gone on while he was thinking. They all looked over at him. "Let say for a moment that I believe you. I have a couple of problems with it, one, how did you get here, and two I have no idea how to get you back."
They all looked at him, then at each other.
"Captain to the bridge, captain to the bridge!" he heard before anyone could answer his question.
Gregory sighed, wondering what happened now. Standing he excused himself from the group and made his way to the bridge, which suddenly had a lot more activity than normal.
"Situation!" he asked, looking around.
"Hawkeye spotted an unknown contact, just appeared, two hundred miles out."
"Course?" Gregory asked.
"Towards Britain."
"Send a patrol to do a flyby, see what we're dealing with," Gregory said.
"Understood."
SWSWSWSW
John received the orders, he was to investigate another unknown contact. The last one turned out to be a group of girls.
"Roger, heading out to unknown contact, maybe I'll find a dragon or something this time," he joked back.
"Can the jokes, the old man isn't in the mood for that," the reply came back.
"Okay, got it," John replied, wondering what got the captain so riled up.
He glanced down getting the contact on his radar, and had to look at it for a second. It indicated something large. He felt uneasy all of a sudden. The last contacts had been very small, and now one large one. Were they related somehow? Perhaps It was their base? He closed the distance when suddenly a red flashed streaked past him.
"I'm hit!" his wingman yelled out.
John glanced around seeing the hornet trailing smoke, and a second later he saw him eject.
"We have a hostile boogie, Freddie was shot down, requesting rescue choppers," John said. "Approach with caution."
He turned his fighter as another beam of light streaked past. He managed to see the object shooting at him, a large, black shaped craft with red stripes, flying slowly over the ocean. The speed and shape was unlike any other plane he had ever seen, and defied all aerodynamics.
He pushed the hornet to the max, to get away.
"Suggest rescue team approach low, bogey is low to the ocean," John said, diving to the deck as another beam flew overhead.
"Coyote, your weapons are hat, return fire."
"Understood," John said, it was his turn now.
He turned again, getting radar lock on the craft and launching two missiles, turning away again as the thing returned fire. He watched seeing one missile destroyed, but the second one scored a direct hit.
"Direct hit, severe damage to the…" he trailed off at what he saw.
"Repeat your last message Coyote. Status of unknown bogey?"
"Direct hit, target remained, now undamaged," John said, in shock at what he saw. It was not possible for something to do that.
"You scored a direct hit, yet it remains undamaged?"
"Roger, trying again," John said, arming another two missiles. He waited a few seconds, getting another lock and firing again. He turned away once more barely avoiding a red beam. This time both missiles hit, he saw the thing absorb the hit in a shower of debris. This time the target had to be destroyed. He waited a second until he saw it begin repairing itself.
"Report Coyote."
"Unknown target has the ability to repair itself," John said. "I'm going to need help."
SWSWSWSW
Yoshika sipped the tea, which was actually quite good. So far everyone still seemed very much in shock about what might have happened. She could not really understand what they said. Different dimensions she could not understand. Minna had tried to explain it after the captain left, but it only left Yoshika even more confused than before.
She glanced around, a few looked uneasy, the others reflected her own confusion. Some wondered how they might make it back, considering they had no idea how they even made it here in the first place. The entire situation seemed unreal to her. She glanced up hearing the ships alarms sound.
"Wonder what's going on," Trude said out loud.
"Neuroi," Sanya said, her magic activated.
"You sure!" Minna said, standing up, everyone looked over at Sanya.
"Yes, it's a bit far, but there," she replied.
"Hey!" Sakamoto yelled, pounding on the door, watching as it opened to reveal a young man dressed in green, holding a rifle.
"You're to stay here," he said.
"There's an enemy out there, we can help, we've fought them before," Minna said. "Either tell your commander that he had someone with experience fighting this enemy or allow him to lose lives. Your choice."
They all watched as he seemed a bit hesitant before finally making a decision.
"All right, you will be with me, the rest will stay here," he said, pointing to Minna.
"Fine, let's get going," Minna said.
SWSWSWSW
Gregory listened in on the bridge as his air wing officer coordinated a strike force of six Hornets that had launched shortly after John came under fire. The information that John had relayed back indicated whatever this enemy was, he had never encountered anything like it before. Two helicopters were in route to pick up the downed pilot, so far no problems. The next part of the problem came to be the fact that this unknown enemy could repair itself from damage. How much damage would it take before it was destroyed?
"Captain, a moment," a young marine said, looking over at him from the entrance of the bridge. Gregory noticed the red-headed girl, Minna, standing there as well. Sighing he walked over. "What, we have a bit of a crisis going on here."
"A Neuroi," Minna said.
"And what are they?" Gregory asked, unsure about mentioning anything else to them.
"Large black and red, regenerate quickly when hit," she said, describing the unknown bogey to him.
"And what do they look like?" Gregory asked, wondering if she could actually describe it to him.
"Don't' know, each one looks different, each one is black, with red. The key is to destroy the core, with that gone they can't regenerate," Minna said.
"Relay that information to the strike leader, destroy the core of the enemy," he said to the air officer, who looked back at him a bit skeptical. "Just do it."
"Yes sir."
"I think we'll be able to handle it," Gregory said, he had confidence in his men, and equipment.
"You'll be shooting in the dark," Minna said. "We can help, we've fought them before."
"And war isn't a place for young girls," Gregory said.
"I've shot down two hundred of them," Minna said, her voice and attitude deadly serious.
"Stride force Alpha, requesting permission to go," the intercom said.
"Tell them go, and blast that thing out of the sky," Gregory said, before turning to Minna. "I have highly trained pilots here, they will do their job. He had problems with what she said, despite her serious face. He felt skeptical that she had destroyed two hundred of these Neuroi. He still felt uneasy about the while story they gave him. Take away the fact they flew on the metal leggings, which no one could explain, and the fact they could 'grow' ears and tails at will, he would lock them up in the brig until they made it back to port.
"We're taking fire!"
"What the hell, we're being shot at by lasers!"
"Evasive maneuvers."
"I'm hit, ejecting."
"Base, we've lost Alpha five, target was not destroyed, it took six missiles and now appears undamaged."
Gregory wiped his forehead, listening as he lost another fighter, making two in a matter of minutes. The reports were that the thing was still there and still repairing itself.
"Sir, if we don't stop it, they estimate it will reach land in two hours."
"We have to stop it before it reaches land, otherwise it can grow even stronger," Minna said.
Gregory looked at her, then at the rest. His strike group failed to destroy the enemy, losing two fighters quickly. He finally reached a decision, one he did not like, but it could not hurt.
"All right, lieutenant, escort her back to her group, and then escort them to the hangar," Gregory said, looking from the marine to Minna. "Your equipment will be there."
"Right, let's go," Minna said to the marine. He watched the exit the bridge before turning to the flight control officer, and air deck boss.
"Get their stuff ready to go," Gregory said.
"I don't like it," the air boss said.
"Noted, carry out your orders," Gregory said.
SWSWSWSW
They all saw Minna walk back into the room, Sakamoto half stood waiting to hear what happened.
"Sanya was right, Neuroi, come on, the 501st is moving out. It's close to land," she told them, not having to tell them how that could change things, especially a large Neuroi like this one.
They all stood and followed the young guard to the hangar, leading them right to their equipment. They quickly jumped into the strikers, activating their magic. The units came to life as they reached for their weapons.
"You know girls like you really shouldn't be playing with such things," one said, handing the machine gun to Yoshika.
"Oh, I don't like guns," Yoshika replied, confusing the man.
Sanya picked up her weapon, as the men around watched in almost awe.
"Everyone ready?" Minna asked, all business.
"Yes ma'am," they replied.
"Where is the lift to the flight deck?" Minna asked. They were led to a lift, which brought them up to a busy and noise flight deck. Several people stood watching as they were waved towards the front of the deck.
"You are clear for launch," a voice said, with some hesitation.
Minna glanced at the man, with a yellow vest, standing nearby, who knelt down on one knee, then touched the deck with his hand and pointed forward. She wasn't sure, but assumed that was the signal to launch.
"501st launching," Minna said, as she sped down the deck and up into the air, followed quickly by the rest of the group. The group turned and went in the direction of the Neuroi, leaving a stunned group of sailors who had witness the feat.
SWSWSWSW
John remained on patrol watching the bogey. He felt unsure of what they might do next. The thing had taken a full attack and remained flying. By everything he knew, it should be in pieces, and on the bottom of the ocean floor. Instead it not only remained, but seemed unscathed.
The helicopters had managed to rescue those who ejected. One of the pilots had failed to eject, and could not be found. The remaining fighters of the attack squad had pulled back to the carrier for evaluation of the attack. John remained to watch the next attack. He hoped they brought more firepower this time, they were going to need it.
His radar indicated a group of planes approaching. It reminded him of the first group he spotted earlier, the flying girls. He looked over seeing that it was indeed the girls, flying once more and switched over to the frequency he heard them on the first time.
"Neuroi all right," one said. "Core is towards the front, that's where we'll concentrate our attack."
"All right, prepare to engage."
"Yes ma'am."
John shook his head wondering how they would be able to get close enough to use machine guns. He barely had time to do anything flying over five hundred miles an hour, they were flying about half that. He watched them close the gap, and the enemy shot the red beams again. His jaw dropped slightly when they produced a strange blue shield, and to fire back, the air battle beginning. They flew right in close to the enemy, working as a large team. They constantly talked to each other.
He knew then, they had done this before. They zipped in and out of the enemy fire, using those same shields several times returning fire. He even watched one seem to weave between the beams with ease. Each girl firing at the enemy shattering pieces of it with precision and teamwork.
The way they flew reminded more of a helicopter instead of an airplane. They could stop and start quickly, hover in the air, even fly backwards. He could see the great advantage it gave them over fighting such an enemy. With normal maneuvers in a conventional plane they would be subjected to tremendous g-forces. But they were not strapped in, so it probably seemed more like what a person feels while running, stopping and turning. He felt jealous of their abilities as they really did look like birds.
SWSWSWSW
Yoshika deployed her shield blocking another Neuroi beam. The enemy seemed a bit tough today, but they were fighting with equal vigor, trying to focus on the front of the enemy ship.
Ericka and Trude both closed the distance attacking with force. Sanya added a few rockets as they continued to attack the Neuroi. Yoshika was paired with Minna today, as they focused on the attacks. She followed Minna as she made another attack run.
"Core exposed," she heard Perrine yell, taking a look herself to see the exposed red core.
"Going in," Sakamoto said, unsheathing her sword. In seconds she cut through the core, and the Neuroi shattered.
They all felt relieved, but a bit worried, as they still had to return back to the carrier. They still had no way of returning to their home.
"All right, let's head on back," Minna said, turning towards the carrier.
"501st, come in!" a familiar voice said over the radio.
"Colonel Minna here."
"Thank goodness, we were beginning to worry when you disappeared off our radar."
Yoshika looked over at Lynne and Perrine who both seemed to have the same look. It seemed like, somehow, they had returned home.
"We thought we picked up a Neuroi, are you okay?"
Everyone remained quiet for a few seconds, absorbing what happened.
"It's a long story,' Minna finally replied. "We're heading home."
"Roger."
"Let's go home girls," Minna said, turning towards Sanya. "There are no ships out there?"
Sanya activated her radar and looked in the direction of where the carrier had been. "No, nothing is there."
Hey all turned and happily made their way back to the base, and home.
SWSWSWSW
Gregory waited in his office for John. He had seen the battle, and Gregory needed that information. The C-in-C Atlantic was pressuring him about what happened. The fact he lost two Hornets, had launched a strike, the entire carrier knew about the girls, and many had seen them fly, bring in the strange craft, which the girls called Neuroi and it all added up to a large headache for him. What was worse was everything happened in less than a couple of hours. He looked up at the knock, granting permission to enter.
"Sir, reporting as ordered," John said.
"Have a seat," Gregory said, normally the pilot would remain standing, but this entire situation had been too strange. "What happened?"
"Well sir, those girls attacked the enemy, and blocked the enemy beams with some sort of shield," John said, taking a seat and looking a bit rattled over everything.
"Shield?"
"Yes sir, it was a blue circle, a bit strange, but it worked. They engaged the enemy, getting real close. They worked as a team, and sir, I think they have done that before. They worked as a team on the front of the enemy craft. I've never seen anyone fly like that before, the maneuverability was tremendous and they used it to their advantage. They uncovered this red glowing ball, and one girl used a sword and sliced it in half," John said. "When that happened, the entire thing shattered, and I lost visual and radar contact with the girls."
Gregory leaned back in his chair, thinking about what he had been told. The red ball must have been the core. Everything seemed too fanciful for him to believe.
"I'm gathering up all information, data, film, radar scans, everything about those girls and that enemy, let those boys in Intel do something with it, maybe even Area 51 or something," Gregory said. "I know they'll want to go over everything in case whatever that was appears again."
"We'll need more planes next time," John said.
"I'll let the higher-ups handle it," Gregory said after a few seconds of silence. If he had not lost two Hornets, and one pilot, he would have never said anything.
"They're going to tell us all to forget we saw, or heard anything, aren't they," John said.
"Yeah, probably," Gregory said. "And quite honestly, I'd be too happy to forget it."
"Sir?"
"Seriously, who is going to believe girls, wearing metal leggings, flew and fought with a strange alien craft?" Gregory said. "No, I'll give a real report, but I have a feeling that higher-ups will want us to forget about it all."
"Oh well, maybe you can make an anime out of it?"
The End
