Disclaimer: I don't own Strike Witches, this is just my fan fiction. I only claim my own creations.
Author's Note: I'm writing this although I just finished watching season 1. Any error will be fixed as soon as I notice them. I will gladly accept all of your criticism.
Warning: Ecchi yuri (non-hentai) with many pairing.
Prologue: The end is just the begining
Year 1962, Stalingrad,
The last line of defense for mankind was falling. Hope was dead a long time ago. There was only a shadow reigning over the green planet. Dark clouds were invading the blue sky of Stalingrad. There was no sign of sunlight, even though it was midday.
The Neuroi hives kept advancing upon mankind's last territory. The city of Orussia, which was named after its great Stalin, was at the edge of death, just like how Liberion, Brittania, Fuso or Gallia had already fallen. The mysterious and ruthless Neuroi which took the form of various shapes was swamping the biggest country of the world.
In the sky, the Neuroi were outnumbering mankind's last hope, the Strike Witches. More and more Witches were being killed, their sacrifices in vain as hope was dead. The famous Stalingrad, where the Orussian Witches started their counter strike a long time ago, now remained as ruins. Everything had been incinerated under the energy beams of the Neuroi.
At that time, under the basement where the last defense line's command centre was positioned, the retired Witches were waiting for their coming death. However, they wouldn't wait without hope.
Standing there was an Orussian woman in her thirties. She was once a Witch, however since her Witch's lifespan had ended, she is now an ordinary officer of Orussian Air Force. She just saw off her last hope.
"Have the children gone yet, Orussian Wing Commander Litvyak?" A brown-haired Karlsland woman said as she entered the basement.
"Yes, Karlsland Air Commodore Barkhorn," The Orussian woman replied, " Just hope they will be fine."
"Of course 'em will," Another Karlslander retired witch came in. She had blonde short hair, her giggle seemed mischievous. "You should hope 'em not to be trained by Major Sakamoto. Her 'ell courses will definitely make them love Trude's training."
"Nah, Wing Commander Hartmann," said Gertrud Barkhorn. "I just kept them in form, or they won't survive any battle. I should be strict as Major Sakamoto, but I don't have a firm heart as hers."
"Oi, oi, Trude, why don't you call me "Erica" or "Frau"? Like when we do naugh-…" Before Hartmann could finish her sentence, Gertrud covered the younger Karlslander's mouth.
"Sh-shut up," Barkhorn said as her cheeks turned red.
"Nah," Hartmann continued as she broke away from Gertrud. "You never go easy on Ursula and Chris. Even though they are our daughters…"
"Like you are the one who speaks!" blushing Barkhorn yelled at Hartmann. "That's why Ursula is slacking as you! Luckily that her sister doesn't imitate her!"
"Nah, one Gertrud is enough, but our family has two Trude." Hartmann sighed, as their Orussian friend giggled. "Even Chris scolded at me when I groped her little chest…"
"Is it okay to send them with that Neuroi?" A Romagnian came in, followed her was another woman from Liberion.
"Ah, Romagnian Captain Lucchini," Barkhorn greeted her. "And the Liberion."
"Hey, don't abbreviate me, ya," the Liberion said. "I'm Liberion Major General named Charlotte E. Yeager!"
"Shirley," the Orussian called Litvyak said. "Ruby won't betray us. She has helped us a lot, she even killed her own race. My child, as well as Hartmann's twins and yours daughter will be fine."
"Okay, Sanya," said Shirley. "What did you arm them?"
"Well, old weapons. I also gave my Fliegerhammer to my girl."
"Ha, you had hard time to steal those things from the museum," Lucchini joked. "But to give your daughter the Fliegerhammer is quite a problem. Can she handle it? Just remembering last time she wielded that destroyer could shiver my backbones…"
"I don't know," Sanya sighed. "If Eila had been still alive, we could have trained her together." A drop of tear fell from her cheek, and Sanya started crying. She remembered how Eila died. The Suomi girl sacrificed herself to protect her lover and their baby.
"Hey, stop crying," Hartmann calmed her down. "Everybody will have to die, why should we welcome it with sorrow?"
"She is right," said Barkhorn. "However, I still can't believe that what defeated us wasn't the Neuroi. That was us human…"
"Yes," said Charlotte. "Even Commander Minna was killed by human's greed. If she had been alive, we would have won the Fuso's war, and Perrine with Lynette wouldn't have died either."
"Enough with "if", girls," said Hartmann. "This is our future. We can't change it, but our children will. Their future will be better."
"I wonder if Ruby's plan works," Barkhorn said nervously. "I meant, as she recovered our magic after our Witches' lifespan had lasted but we couldn't win against the Neuroi, how could her plan work?"
"Even our magic had been recovered," said Sanya. "We were still too old to be Witches. Ruby couldn't do anything more, so we shouldn't expect her too much. By the way, she had helped us to bear our children. I think that is enough... Especially for Eila..."
"Okay, enough argueing," Lucchini said. "Our last war is outside. Let's see who could score the most kill, okay?" Then, she picked up a Beretta. "Damn, this thing is heavy without our magic."
"That's why we should only pick submachine guns," said Barkhorn. "I will mount the anti-air outside, since submachine guns are not my taste. What about you, Sanya? Since you gave your daughter the Fliegerhammer."
"I will use Eila's Suomi M1931," said Sanya as she heavily rose the submachine gun.
"Are you ready?" said Charlotte, and other women replied her with nods. "Let's greet the Reaper with some blast, girls!"
The former members of 501st Joint Fighter Wing advanced out the basement. They saw chaos, smoke and ruins everywhere. Their comrades were fighting, and none of the soldiers gave up. On the sky, the last Witches were tired, but they kept flying with impressive willpower.
"Ma'am," an Orussian soldier greeted the retired Witches. "Have our saviors gone yet?"
"Yes," said Gertrud. "Our last hope will bring us the victory. Now we are here to show the Neuroi our strength, even if we has lost our magic. Fire at will, Sergeant!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
The fight continued, and even the Neuroi were surrounding the base, the black aliens couldn't advance until the last bullet was fired. Shirley was the first who had fallen, followed by her Romagnian partner. Gertrud and Erica also succumbed to a Neuroi beam as the last Witch had been wiped out.
"I'm coming to you, Eila," said Sanya. "Farewell, my little daughter…"
Back to August, 1945, Fuso Empire's Kanto Island.
The Fuso people kept amazing the world by their new creations. After Dr. Miyafuji's Striker Units, which brought hope to the mankind in order to strike back Neuroi the invaders, the Fuso continued with another combination of magic and science. The Nagato-class Striker Battleship, which was a flying huge battleship and existed only in folktales, now started her maiden voyage – or maiden flight – on the sky of Fuso. Rumors stated that the Nagato Project had been carried out first by Dr. Miyafuji himself, and after his reported death, the Fuso scientists continued his works.
The Nagato-class Striker Battleship was created to succeed the Yamato-class Battleship, which turned out to be destroyed during the war. It had special generators to turn fuel energy into a special energy that could partially replace magic energy in order to keep the battleship hovering on the air. This special energy could also protect the ship from being neuroified. However, to operate a Nagato-class Striker Battleship, a number of Witches were required. Real magic energy had to be applied to run the generators, while the Captain had to be a strong Witch to easily maneuver such huge vessel. In this case, the Captain of the lead ship of her class was Admiral Yamamoto Yukiko. She was an ace of Fuso Army in the war against the Neuroi along with Major Sakamoto Mio. And the Major also on board of Nagato, participating her maiden flight.
"How is it, Mio-senpai?" Admiral Yamamoto asked her comrade in the command room, addressing Mio as her senior since the Admiral was only 18.
"Well, it is really good," replied Mio. "I'm having back the feeling when I first used the Striker Unit. It was nostalgic then." She turned her face towards Yukiko. "However, Admiral, please don't address me like that. I'm just a Major, and now I don't even have magic."
"Don't sweat it, senpai," giggled Yukiko. "You are the one who helped me all the time, and you are older than me. It is a bad news that you can't fly anymore. But you can be the second-in-command of this battleship. We might need your battle experience, since you are one of the eldest here."
"Then it is a deal," smiled Mio. "I still want to continue fighting against the Neuroi." Then she sighed. "Well, we also have lost a potential Witch…"
"Dr. Miyafuji's daughter, right?" said Yukiko. "She is a strong one. If she still had her magic, she might surpass you."
"Hmm…"
"By the way, if this big girl is a success," Yukiko pointed at the floor of the command room. "We might launch an assault to Karlsland and liberate it. After that, they will continue the Nagato Project by creating carriers. It will be easier for us in this way."
"Well, probably Minna will be glad to hear this," then Mio gave out her usual laugh.
At that time, the young girl named Miyafuji Yoshika was standing at her family's clinic and looking at the flying battleship. She just stood there and stared, then she sighed as she entered her house. After losing magic, Yoshika continued working at her grandmother's clinic with conventional medicine.
"Are you satisfied with that?" someone was standing in her house. There was no one around except Yoshika and the stranger. Yoshika was startled, and then started trembling as she looked at the person in front of her. That was a foreign girl in military uniform, but what drew most attention from Yoshika wasn't that. On her neck there was a small talisman with a familiar crimson, crystal-like object. Yoshika knew what it was, but she couldn't express her words.
"You…"
That night, on board of Nagato, which was still hovering on the sky of Fuso.
"It seems your big girl is pretty stable," Mio said to Yukiko. "Her first flight is really good."
"You think so?" replied Yukiko. "We will start heading to Kiev soon. We will accompany the Orussian in order to give a blow to the Neuroi there, and continue our advance to Berlin."
"Minna said that the 501st JFW would come too. We will regroup after we push back the Neuroi hive on Orussia."
"Well, since it is late, why don't you have a rest? Nagato's departure is two hours later."
"Then, I will excuse myself, Admiral Yamamoto," Mio smiled at her comrade. "Don't push yourself too hard, we will have a fight tomorrow."
Mio headed to her room as she collapsed on the bed. She had been busy the whole day, so she fell asleep quickly.
"-jor," she heard someone said to her. "Hmm?" she replied, her eyes still closed.
"Major,"
Mio opened her eyes and saw somebody standing beside her. She recognized a familiar silhouette. It had a form of a normal human, but covered by many black hexagons. That was a Neuroi Witch, as she had seen one last year with Yoshika. Mio tried to grab her katana, but her body seemed too heavy.
"Rest assured, Major Sakamoto," the Neuroi said in monotone, "I'm here without any intention of killing anyone. I'm here to assist."
"Assist?" Mio angrily replied. "Isn't this a joke? A Neuroi assists us?"
"Believe or not, your comrades need you to continue flying again," the Neuroi ignored Mio's anger. "And I'm here to fulfill their wish." The Neuroi put its hand on Mio's chest, and a bright crimson light lit up. After that, violet light started emitting from Mio's magical eye. She felt a surge of energy flowing in her blood vessels. Her body seemed lighter, and her familiar appeared.
"My magic," surprised Mio said. "It is… back?"
"Basically, yes," said the Neuroi. "However, you can only use that damn sword of yours once," as it took out Mio's lost katana, the Reppumaru. It put the sword beside Mio, right next to her current one. "Only once. After that, there is no way to recover your magic anymore. Use your last chance wisely. Besides, you can't use shield, so don't rush yourself."
Mio still laid on the bed, she couldn't believe what she just experienced. "Who… who are you?"
"A friendly Neuroi," the Neuroi replied. "Your little puppy, Miyafuji Yoshika, is waiting. You should pick her up."
"Mi-Miyafuji? You also recovered her magic?"
"You should take care of Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke," the Neuroi ignored Mio again and started walking out. "She needs you on her side."
Notes:
Stalingrad: A city in Russia, named after Joseph Stalin, a Premier of Soviet Union. Now Volgograd.
Nagato-class Striker Battleship is based on Nagato-class Battleship of Japan. Yamato-class was preceded by Nagato-class, but in my fan-fiction, Nagato-class Striker Battleship is Yamato-class' successor.
Admiral Yamamoto Yukiko: Original character. Based on Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, commander of Nagato Battleship. In this fan-fiction, Admiral Yukiko had the highest rank as a Strike Witch, above Air Commodore Galland.