555th JFW Young Blood

by Motown Scrapper

The war against The neuroi was getting rough. The ranks of the Strike Witches were getting stretched thin. Mostly because the older witches were aging out as well as combat losses these were taking their toll of the ranks. In an attempt to solve the problem The 555th Joint Fighter Wing was formed using Witches under ten years of age. Will these tiny witches be up to the challenge.

1. Chapter 1 prolog

INTRODUCTIONS

In creating the 555th JFW I had to create a few other things and groups to better explain their existence. After all NOTHING exists in a vacuum. Basically the existence of the 555th JFW is a result of two factors. The first is the losses of experienced witches a few from combat but most from 'aging out' losing their powers. While still able to train witches they are no longer able to fight. The second is the manifestation of magical abilities in younger girls particularly in the Great Lakes region of the North Liberion continent but a few in other regions as well. These new witches range in age from elementary school down to pre-school age .In some cases the spells have to be taught orally to witches that have not learned to read yet. There are some people who believe that these little girls should be trained to be Strike Witches as soon as possible. The Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center was created to look into the possibility of using these tiny witches to fight the neuroi. The militaries of most nations already unhappy with the teenage witches want no part of these even younger girls. Enter the Conch Republic a pseudo state that came to be as a result of a dispute caused by an action by the United States Customs Department to control illegal entry through the Florida Keys by blocking all the bridges and making everybody who tried to cross onto the mainland provide proof of citizenship and submit to searches. That resulted in that region declaring independence from the US. The dispute was quickly resolved, but the declaration had not been withdrawn. The result was that while retaining USL citizenship the people still considered themselves to be also citizens of the Conch Republic. Nobody really took the Conch Republic seriously but the Conchs as they called themselves enjoyed taking pokes at the government. A few governments actually recognized the Republic, Gallia going so far as opening an embassy. As one more way to poke fun at the US government they decided to back the little witches. One of the Conch leaders knew a six year-old girl in a wheel chair because of polio who had powerful magic potential. He offered to convert a freighter to a carrier if the little girl could be given her dream to become a strike witch. UPASRC sent Darla Evans to check it out.

PROLOG

The trip from Houghton to The Conch Republic took three days by car and train. After being picked up at the train station by David Horan, Darla was taken the meet Latonya Morris. On the way there she was filled in on how Latonya's legs were paralyzed after a bout with polio when she was two. In spite of that Tonya as she was normally called was an active girl who did a lot in-spite of her handicap. She was especially known for her ability to throw a baseball with uncanny accuracy frequently pitching in sandlot games in-spite of her lack of mobility. She was known for her hard to hit pitches. When Darla arrived at the house she was greeted by a cute little black girl with her hair in pig-tails. The little girl looked up from her wheel chair with her soft brown eyes.

"Can you make me a strike witch?" she asked. "Please?"

Darla looked down at those soft brown eyes as Tonya pleaded with her. Darla nodded.

"We'll see." She replied." I need to see your legs."

Tonya pulled the blanket covering her legs off. Darla winced as the little girl's withered legs were exposed. In four years they had grown longer but there was no muscle, they were little more than skin and bones. She picked up the little girl's leg and noticed the lack of movement.

"Call-up your magic" She asked.

Tonya activated her magic and out popped an alligator tail showing that was her familiar. While she was not a full witch Darla could tell the strength of a magic aura. Tonya's was real strong and the aura went down her legs like a normal witch. At that point her brother appeared at the door way and started to taunt her.

"Hey crip! You really think you can be a strike witch?" He teased.

Tonya responded by grabbing a coke bottle off the table and threw it at him. He ducked around the corner...And the bottle changed direction in flight and nailed him upside the head. Darla immediately recognized the projectile guidance power.

"You know better than to tease her like that!" Their mother said. "She don't miss when she throws!"

Darla stood up with a big grin on her face.

"Hell YEAH she can be a strike witch!" She declared as she looked straight at Tonya's older brother... "And a damn good one too!"

She turned back to Tonya

"It'll take a few weeks but I'm going to start building your striker as soon as I get home!" She announced. "I'm sure Diana and the other girls will welcome you to the Five Hundred and Fifty Fifth Joint Fighter Wing."

"You really are going to make a Striker for me?" Tonya nervously asked.

"Yeah" Darla responded with a big grin. "You got a lot of power and with that Projectile guidance spell you should be able to have some real fire power...I think that is going to more than offset the lack of maneuverability a one piece striker will have."

Tonya returned Darla's grin. The two girls nodded. They knew that they were going to really shake things up...and liked the idea. David Horan the Conch official that had brought Darla from the train station smiled He could tell that little Tonya's dream to be a strike witch had been realized. When the Morris family offered to put Darla up for the night she accepted. David took his leave to inform Sir Peter Anderson that The Conch Republic Air force now had Strike witches. Sir Anderson smiled.

"Very well." he said." Now to live up to my end of the bargain."

He picked up the phone and dialed a number. He listened for it to be picked up at the other end.

"Buy that ship and get ready to convert it." He said into the mouth piece. "We have Strike Witches now."

Both men smiled.

"I'll need to talk to Miss Evans before she leaves tomorrow." He stated.

Darla got a good taste of southern hospitality that night. While the Morris's did not have a lot they still put up a tasty meal and Tonya shared her bed with Darla. She had insisted on letting Darla use her bed and was going to sleep on the couch. Darla noticed that the old couch was lumpy and Tonya's bed had plenty of room for two and stated that she would not force Tonya to sleep on that old couch either. She said that she would not force Tonya out of her bed and in the end the bed sharing was a compromise since the Morris's were not going to make their guest sleep on that lumpy old couch. The Yooper teen and the little southern black girl talked late into the night about many things like what it was going to be like fighting neuroi as a Strike Witch and that there may be problems with a lot of the government militaries because the girls in the 555th JFW are so young. At six Tonya was actually one of the older girls. Darla had one other worry as she looked over Tonya's ebony body. Tonya was going to be the first black person most of the girls of the 555th had ever seen. Darla was not sure how they would react to her. She knew that they were friendly and nice to others but Tonya looked a lot different from anybody most of them had met. She hoped that there would not be any problems. She put that out of her mind for the time being it would be a while before they met her so Darla would have time to prepare them to meet the newest member of the unit. As she fell asleep Darla's mind was already working on the construction of the special one piece striker unit for Tonya. The morning dawned bright and sunny; the girls were awakened by Mrs. Morris calling them for breakfast. Both girls looked at each other and smiled. Then they said good morning in unison. They laughed at that. Mrs. Morris called a second time telling them to hurry before the food gets cold. Darla slid off the bed then turned around and watched Tonya move from the bed to her wheel chair. Tonya noticed.

"Why are you staring at me?" She asked.

"Sorry I need to watch how you move so I can make a Striker cradle that you can use easily." Darla replied. "After breakfast I'll need to take some measurements too.

Tonya smiled as she finished sliding into her wheel chair.

"We better hurry; Momma gets really mad if we're late to eat." Tonya advised.

Darla nodded and followed Tonya to the kitchen. Mrs. Morris nodded as Darla sat down and Tonya rolled up to the table. She put down a platter of hot biscuits and a bowl of steaming bacon gravy.

"I'm sorry I don't have a better breakfast to give you Darla" She said apologetically. "Forgive me."

Darla put several biscuits on her plate and spooned some of the rich light colored gravy over them. She looked at the plate for a moment this was different to what yoopers normally ate but she carved off a piece of a gravy covered biscuit and ate it then another and another she looked up with a great big smile on her face.

"Forgive you for what?" She exclaimed. "This is really good! When I'm down here next time you have to show me how to make this."

"Oh hush!" Mrs. Morris exclaimed. "This is just biscuits and gravy with some bacon in it nothing special."

"I don't care about that!" Darla responded "I LIKE it!"

"You do?" Mrs. Morris asked.

Darla by this time was piling more on her plate.

"I think she does Momma." Tonya pointed out.

Darla nodded as she stuffed more gravy covered biscuits in her mouth. Mrs. Morris smiled. The girls enjoyed the rest of their breakfast Then Darla pulled out a cloth measuring tape to measure Tonya's legs so she could design the special socket to take her crippled legs. Darla knew that designing a striker for her was going to be a challenge...Darla loved challenges. She was proud of the way she was able to make strikers that could be used by little girls. She was looking forward to building a striker that that could be used by a witch with paralyzed legs. Darla wrote down the various measurements. She noted that Tracie Osborn while having shorter legs had similar width and diameter measurements because of her small size. Darla nodded and smiled. Tracie could be the test pilot for the new striker.

"It will probably take a month or two but you WILL have your own striker." Darla told Tonya. "And it will be a LOT faster than this"

Darla patted the arm of Tonya's wheel chair. Tonya nodded and smiled. Darla knelt down next to Tonya's wheel chair and gave the younger girl a big hug.

"The next time you see me we'll be bringing you your striker unit." Darla promised.

Mrs. Morris looked out the window and saw David Horan pull up in his car. She called back to Darla that her ride was here. Darla gave Tonya one final hug stood up and picked up her suitcase.

"I'll be back." she said

Darla stopped in front of Mrs. Morris.

"Thank you for feeding me and letting me stay the night." Darla said. "You're really nice and I like your cooking too."

"Oh Miss Darla you really don't need to say that." Mrs. Morris said. "It really wasn't much."

"I don't care! I like your cooking!" Darla exclaimed. "And you are really nice."

"Miss Darla, you are such a nice girl." Mrs. Morris declared. "You are polite and respectful. You are quite mature for your age."

Darla blushed beet red. "Thank you"

Mrs. Morris noticed Darla's embarrassment, and walked toward her arms out stretched. Darla knew what was coming and dropped her suitcase and met the embrace with one of her own. As the two hugged Tonya's older brother watched. He was surprised by the way Darla accepted the hug and was not the least bit flustered something white girls did not normally do in the south.

"Can Tonya really be a strike witch?" He finally asked.

"Yes.' Darla replied. "It won't be easy I have a lot of work ahead building a special striker unit for her then she is going to have to really work at it but if she is as determined as I think she is she should be a good one."

"You're not playing?" He asked. "She is really going to be a strike witch?"

"Yup she should be a strike witch by the end of summer." Darla replied.

"Tonya?" He said looking at his little sister in her wheel chair.

"Yeah Darnel" Tonya replied. "Me!"

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. It Was Dennis Horan.

"Miss Evans we have to go." He said. "Secretary General Anderson, Admiral Gittelman and General Cabanas are waiting to talk to you."

Darla sighed and picked up her suitcase.

"I shall return." She announced.

Darla followed David to the car. He opened the passenger door for her and she climbed in. he climbed into the car and started the motor.

"So how was your night?" He asked.

"It was good Mrs. Morris is a good cook and Tonya and I were able to talk a lot." Darla replied. "She has some real power especially that projectile direction power. She will likely need an escort witch to provide protection but I'm thinking that I can build her a striker unit that can carry a powerful weapon load. One of the things that we are lacking is witches that can carry a heavy weapon load. Most of the girls carry light carbines a few can carry BARs. I think I will be able load a one piece striker with M2 Browning machine guns and heavy rockets and with her projectile direction power she can guide rockets to their target. That makes her really deadly. I'm thinking of using the Douglas A-20 Havoc as the base."

By this time David's head was spinning. He had no clue what Darla was talking about. David Horan was a lawyer, Weapons and aircraft was something he knew little about. He shook his head.

"Darla most of that went right over my head." He told her. "I'm afraid I know very little about weapons."

"Well my job requires me to know about weapons." Darla informed him.

"Yeah I guess that since you are the Commander of the 555th JFW you would need to know about weapons and tactics." He replied.

"Oh I'm not the commander." She replied. "That's my little sister Diana. I'm in charge of the research facility."

"Why isn't she down here?" He asked.

"Well there is a new witch she is already training up north her name is Cindy and she is only two years old so Diana already has her hands full. We put her in Alpha flight as the third member there. I have to check out new witches to see if they can use a striker anyway." She informed him. "And I can tell you right now in spite of her handicap Tonya is going to be easy to train. She has a good head on her shoulders and listens well. Chances are when the striker is ready we'll bring it down along with Wendy O' Brian and Tracie Osborn and their strikers and set up a training center down here. Diana will come down then to help set it up then both of us will go back home and leave Wendy in charge down here."

"Sounds like you have it all worked out." He told her.

"Not so much worked out but more like I know how things work." She replied. "We have been doing this for over three years. Wendy was our second test pilot, Tracie our fourth. Tonya will be our tenth."

"So the 555th is going to have a large number of witches." He said.

"Yup, what our witches will lack in size we make up in numbers." She stated. "I think only the 501st has more."

"So the Conch Republic Air Force is getting to be rather formidable." He observed.

"That's right!" Darla agreed. "There are a lot of younger witches popping up and the Conch Republic is in the front of the line grabbing them."

David pulled up in front of a rather plain building.

"We're here." He announced." Secretary General Anderson, Admiral Gittelman and General Cabanas are waiting for us."

He climbed out of the car walked around to the passenger side and opened the door. Darla climbed out and straightened the sun dress she was wearing.

"Let's go Miss Evans" David requested. "They are waiting for us."

Darla nodded. David led her into the building and there were three men standing in the room one in a blue suit the others in military dress uniforms one blue and one white. David brought Darla into the room.

"Gentlemen, this is Miss Darla Evans Head Research Mechanic of the Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center." He announced then gesturing toward each man in turn David introduced the officials." May I present Sir Peter Anderson Secretary General of the Conch Republic, Admiral Finbar Gittelman commander of the Conch Republic Navy and General of the Air Force Frederick R. Cabanas."

Darla was more than a bit nervous meeting the top leaders of the Conch Republic.

"P…Pleased to meet you" She stammered.

"No need to be nervous Miss Evans." Peter Anderson told her. "We are easy to get along with…As long as you are not with the USL Government. They tend to be too serious about themselves."

"Yeah they don't like us either." Darla responded.

"Right they are so rigid about their rules and such Miss Evans, aren't they?" Admiral Gittelman said.

"Yeah they are" Darla replied then added. "Could you call me Darla please? Miss Evans sounds like I'm an old teacher with grey hair that never got married."

"Okay Darla. You can call me Finbar or Fin for short." He replied. "First names will work better anyway. So how long have you been married?"

Darla's eyes bugged out for a moment before she figured out he was joking.

"Well Fin I'm not married yet. But I think you are a bit too old for me." She replied then lifted up her braided ponytail. "And my hair is not grey either."

Finbar blushed deeply. The other two men chuckled.

'So you think that Finny should only go out with women who have grey hair" Peter chuckled

"Maybe" Darla responded with a giggle.

Finbar was about to say something rude…Then he remembered there was a girl barely in her teens present and decided that would not be a good idea. So he sat down and sulked. Peter chuckled at the Fleet Admiral's reaction to the teasing before getting back down to business.

"So tell me Darla, how long do you think it will take to build the special striker for Tonya?" He asked.

"Well a lot will depend on how many problems I run into with all the changes needed to create a one piece unit. Probably four to eight weeks." She replied. "One thing I'm hoping to do since this will be a large one piece unit rather than two pieces and it will function more like an airplane. I'm thinking that rather than Tonya holding her weapons they will be mounted on her striker so she should be able to carry a MUCH heavier weapon load."

"Could you mount like Browning M2 Heavy machine guns and or HVARs?" Fred asked.

"If I have them." Darla replied.

"How long before you can start?" Peter asked.

"I can start on it as soon as I get back." Darla replied. "The train and car trip will take about three days. I already have the parts needed to build one based on the Douglas A-20 Havoc"

"Let me see your train Ticket." Fred told Darla.

Puzzled Darla handed him the train ticket.

"You're not going to need this." He said as he tossed on the nearby desk.

Darla went pale as she saw the way she needed to get home taken away from her. All she could think of was that she was a young girl just going into puberty all alone a long way from home.

.

"W…What are you going to d…do to me?" She stammered.

"A train takes too long." Fred said with a smile. "I have a Lockheed Electra 12. We are flying you home along with two Browning M2s Heavy Machine guns six launch racks for HVARs and 24 practice rockets and 12 live rounds. We should be able to land at your facility tonight. It's about a nine hour flight."

Darla breathed a sigh of relief.

"You had me worried there." She said. "I thought you were going to keep me here."

"Well you are rather cute." Peter pointed out. "But sadly we are too old for you plus we are already happily married with kids of our own."

"Yeah Freddy has a son around your age." Finbar pointed out.

Fred blushed a bit since Raymond was actually nineteen but he kept quiet not wanting to appear that old.

"Let's get to the airstrip." He said "I think it would be best if we take off as soon as possible so we still have light when we arrive."

Dennis Horan had left the room when the discussion turned to Darla's return home she showed up again at this point with Darla's suitcase.

"I think you will need this Darla." He stated.

Darla looked at the suitcase on the floor.

"No sense using two cars." Fred responded as he picked up the suitcase. "You can ride with me."

"Well if I am going to fly with you I guess it's safe to ride in your car." Darla quipped.

"You sure about that?" Finbar teased. "There are a lot more things to hit on the ground than in the air."

"Well you don't spend much time in either place." Fred retorted. "You spend most of your time on a boat."

"Gentlemen, while this is all fun to watch I believe that Darla would like to get home soon." Peter interrupted.

"Yeah," Darla agreed "I want to get started right away on Tonya's striker plus there is a little two year old up north who just started flying around on a striker and probably driving my little sister nuts."

"Well the faster we get going the better." Fred stated as he opened the door. Darla walked out ahead of him them blushing slightly as he opened the passenger door of his car for her and loaded her suitcase in the back seat Darla was not quite used to this level of courtesy.'

The ride to the airfield was short. Darla recognized the Lockheed Electra 12 as soon as she saw it and figured that was the plane they would be flying because of the conch shell markings on the tail fins fuselage and wings. As they drove up to the other side of the plane there were a number of carts loaded with boxes and crates along side by the rear door. Fred looked at where Darla was looking.

"Those are the guns rocket launchers and ammunition to mount on Tonya's striker." He told her as he parked along side the pile. "They still have to be loaded."

He got out of the car and still being a gentleman he opened the door for Darla and after she got out grabbed her suitcase out of the back seat and walked to the cargo door of the plane and put it in. He was surprised when he turned around and saw Darla walking behind him…with a box of .50 cal. Ammo in each hand. He stared as she swung both boxes up and they both landed on the door sill at the same time. It took a minute for him to find his voice.

"Huh Darla, What are you doing?" He finally blurted out.

"You said they have to be loaded…They aren't going to load themselves!" was her terse reply.

Fred stared at the young teen wide eyed. Those boxes weighed more than thirty pound each! He noticed for the first time that her shoulders were a bit broad and her arm muscles showed more than most girls her age he had seen.

"You going to stare at me or are you going to help?" She said as she turned around to grab two more boxes.

"Darla, you don't have to do that we have men that are supposed to load the planes." He told her.

"Yeah where are they?" She asked as she tossed two more boxes on the door ledge.

At that point two men walked up to her.

"What do you think you are doing?" one of them asked.

"Your job," Fred angrily told him. "You are supposed to have this plane ready to go."

"Maybe these boxes are too heavy for them to lift." Darla sarcastically said as she picked up two more ammo boxes and slammed them up on the door sill.

There is nothing like being showed up by a girl barely in her teens to get the Southern male ego going. Both men flushed red as they started to pick up boxes and load them in the plane. Fifteen minutes later the cargo was loaded and secured.

"Well I guess that you guys can work after all." Darla teased.

"So I suppose your guys can do better?" one of them responded.

"Actually the girls of the 555th will unload it themselves." She said.

"Oh they are like you then? He asked.

"No they are mostly four or five years old." Darla told them. "But they are witches so they are strong for their age."

"I'd like to see those little girls handle them heavy boxes." One of the ground crew guys remarked."

"Well I'm going to be filming them in action." Fred told them "I'll take some film of them unloading too."

The two loaders walked off shaking their heads. Fred and Darla looked at each other and smiled.

"This should be interesting when you film those little girls in action." She said. "I've seen them in action unloading trucks. It's funny to watch them swarm over the load and get it off the truck. More than a few truck drivers have just stood and stared watching a bunch of four and five year olds unload heavy stuff."

"Yeah I'd like to see that myself." Fred remarked with a hint of skepticism. "Well it's time to go."

"Yes" Darla agreed.

Fred walked up the center aisle of the aircraft from the back to the front checking the cargo as he went and sat down in the left hand seat in the cockpit and motioned to Darla to sit in the co-pilots seat. Darla sat down in the seat and looked around the cockpit intently. Fred was going through the pre-flight check and was not aware that Darla was looking around so intently. Once he finished the check he looked over at Darla

"Okay pre-flight is complete. Fasten your seat belt we're off!" He announced

Darla fastened her seat belt after a few moments of figuring it out while Fred started the Wright Cyclones and started to taxi to the runway. Soon the aircraft was lumbering up the runway weighed down by the heavy load before finally taking off. Darla was glued to the window this being her first time in an airplane.

"Wow!" Darla exclaimed as the plane took off and lumbered into the air. "So this is what flying is like."

"Huh?" Fred said. "What did you say?"

"I have never been in a plane before." Darla admitted.

"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that the girl who designs all the striker units for these girls has NEVER flown herself?" Fred asked in shock.

"No." Darla said blushing a deep red. "This is the first time I have ever been in an airplane."

"You have never even been on a plane?" He asked still surprised.

"No" Darla replied. "I never had a chance before."

Darla looked out the windows wide eyed.

"This is neat." She said. "Now I know why the girls like being in the air so much."

Fred sat mulling over what Darla had said.

"Would you like to learn how to fly?" He finally asked.

"Yes I would love to be able to fly" Darla admitted. "I don't like to admit it but I'm really envious of them. It hurts a little when I watch another one take off in her striker. When Cindy first took off on her striker…That really hurt. She's only two! She's still in diapers! She can fly! I'm stuck on the ground."

"Well as soon as you are finished with Tonya's striker you have a flying lesson" Fred said. "I'd let you fly this one but it's over loaded already and I prefer to teach you on a plane that is designed to teach."

"Yeah I understand." Darla agreed. "We can start when I come back with the striker unit."

"Yup when you next come down you'll fly your OWN plane home because I'm going to let you keep the plane I train you on."

Darla's eyes opened wide. "Really?"

"Really", Fred replied. "I already have the plane for you. A four seat Cessna. That way you can fly where needed."

"Th…Thank you." Darla stammered.

"Don't mention it." Fred replied. "I have an ulterior motive. We are going to need you to be able to go to where the strikers are going to need service and having your own plane will be a great help."

Darla smiled. This meant that the Conchs were serious about their support. They talked about the strikers for much of the rest of the flight and Fred showed Darla what the various controls and gauges did and after a while even let the young teen take the controls to get the feel of the plane after flying for a while and the fuel load was lighter. Darla showed a good feel for flying. When they were a bout an hour from the base Darla radioed ahead and let them know they would be arriving soon and to get ready. Just as the base was coming into view all the little girls took off and met the plane in flight. Fred was impressed by the way the nine little girls flew in formation to meet them.

"Not bad he commented they fly formation together quite well." He said.

"Yeah especially considering they fly three different types of strikers." Darla added.

At that point the girls broke formation and reformed around the plane. At that point Cindy flew close to the cock pit shaking her little butt.

"Wookie! Wookie! Wookie!" She called out as she flew VERY close to the windscreen. "Wookie! Wookie! Wookie!

Fred was a bit shook up by the toddler's behavior.

What's with this kid?" he asked. "It looks like she is showing off her panties."

"That's because she is!" Darla replied after a minute of watching Cindy's antics. "Cindy! You're wearing panties now!"

"Me pee and poop in potty!" She declared "Me BIG girl now! Me not wear diapers no more!

"That's Cindy she's two." Darla pointed out. "She was wearing diapers when I left. She's potty trained now."

"She's fucking proud of herself too." Megan said. "I told her she can't shit her panties no more because she's a fucking strike witch now. I showed her how to fucking use the potty stool once and she worked on it for three fucking days and learned all by herself. I'm fucking proud of her too."

"That's Megan." Darla told Fred "Don't let her foul language mislead you. She is really a sensitive and caring little girl. She has taken little Cindy under her wing and has worked hard to make her feel like she belongs. When Cindy was here the first night without her mother she cried and it was Megan who sat and hugged her and told her it was alright to cry. It was weird to listen to her. She swore like anything but her voice was so tender. Those two are inseparable now. Meggie says that Cindy will be a good witch and she's going to help her."

Fred looked out the windscreen at the little witches that surrounded his plane. The tiny witch that had been showing off her panties was now flying close to an older girl who looked to be around five. Cindy's Wasp familiar was obvious if a bit unusual the other girl's was some sort of mammal though he was not sure what it was. As he looked at the other girls there were a number of bird types a couple more mammals and one that looked like a turtle.

"That's quite the collection of familiars you girls have." Fred observed.

"Yeah" Darla agreed. "To the best of my knowledge we have the only witches that have reptiles for familiars and Tonya will make two and Cindy is the only known witch with insects for familiars."

"Hey Diana I have a bunch of weapons on board you guys have to help unload" Darla told her. "heavy stuff to mount on Tonya's striker."

"What kind of stuff?" Diana asked.

"A couple M2 Brownings plus a couple thousand rounds of ammo 6 HVAR tubes and about 3 dozen rockets." Darla said.

"What is she built like the Hulk?" Diana asked "That's some heavy stuff."

"Yeah what it is that since her striker is going to have to be a one piece unit I can mount it directly on the striker. She won't be able turn very well because she can't use her legs I figure she can work the weapons from the striker. She has projectile guidance so she can guide those rockets after launch. She has a good shield that will help."

"I'll put her with Wendy that way she can use her powerful shield to protect her." Diana said. "Sounds like she is going to be powerful."

"Yeah she is likely to have the most fire power of any airborne witch with the possible exception of some of the Karsland jet strikers." Darla agreed. "She will give you guys some real firepower now."

"Okay we'll land now and get things ready to unload." Diana told her. "Okay girls you heard Darla we got a plane to unload."

The nine little witches peeled off to land ahead of the transport plane. Fred watched the little witches as they flew away.

"They look awfully small to unload this plane our cargo is not exactly light." He said with a little concern in his voice.

"Don't under estimate them." Darla responded. "I know how heavy this stuff is. I think you are in for a surprise. Just have that camera ready. You are going to get some unreal footage."

The Witches since they were more maneuverable than the plane landed first and quickly had their strike units off by the time the Lockheed Electra had landed and taxied to the hanger. Fred was stunned by the group of little girls mostly four and five year olds and including two year old Cindy as he climbed down from the cockpit.

"Uh Darla?" He said. "Do you really think these little girls can unload that cargo by themselves?"

"Watch!" Darla giggled

Diana opened the cargo door of the plane while Fred got his camera ready.

"Okay girls let's unload this stuff." She announced.

The girls manifested their familiars. Cindy. Megan, Susie and Tracie swarmed into the plane while the other girls got ready out side. Megan was first carrying a box of .50 cal. ammo in each hand and dropping it on the door sill. Tracie followed also with a box in each hand. Susie also carried two ammo boxes. Tiny Cindy only had one. The older girls on the ground grabbed the ammo boxes as the younger girls dropped them on the door ledge. Fred was filming the girls as they unloaded the plane they were carrying ammo boxes that weighed almost as much as they did…TWO at a time. Even Cindy the two year old was carrying boxes that weighed more than she did!

"If I was not watching this I would not believe it." Fred mused.

Soon the machine gun rounds were transferred to the cargo carts. The rockets were next two tiny girls on each one. The weight of the rockets was double the combined weight of the two girls that carried them! The rockets were too heavy for little Cindy she started to help Tracie who was smaller than the other girls and Anne climbed up to help. Soon they had all the ammo and the M2 Brownings off the plane and on the carts. Fred watched as the last of the ordinance was unloaded and the carts rolled into the hanger. He lowered the camera.

"Those guys back home are going to be really surprised when they see this footage." He said.

"Yeah" Darla giggled.

Darla and Fred followed the little witches into the hanger to meet with them. Once they pulled in their magic they looked like a bunch of normal little girls…and acted like them too. Cindy walked up behind him and tugged on his jacket.

"Who you?" she asked a sweet little smile on her face.

Fred looked down at the tot and smiled.

"I'm General Frederick Cabanas." He told her. "And who are you?"

"Me Cindy!" she replied.

"Yes you are the little girl who potty trained her self right?" He said

"Me BIG girl now!" She declared. "Me TWO!"

"Yeah" He said picking her up. "You are pretty big at that."

Why you here?" she asked.

"Because the 555th Joint Fighter Wing is now officially part of the Conch Republic Air Force and I'm the commanding General." He told her.

"What dat mean?" Cindy asked.

"Well when we go to your briefing room I'll explain it all to you." He replied putting Cindy down.

Diana called the girls into the briefing room. As can be expected of girls that age they were loud and boisterous. Diana called them to order. They slowly settled down. Fred looked over this group. Diana stood at the front of the room while the other eight girls sat in chairs fidgeting a bit. This was going to take some work he thought. This group of girls was going to have to learn military Discipline. They had already displayed considerable skill as flyers. But that would not be enough.

"Girls I want to introduce General Frederick Cabanas He is now our commanding General. We are now officially in the Conch Republic Air force." She said. "Play time is over we are going to have to get serious now."

Diana stepped aside to let the General have the floor. Fred stood looking over the group.

"Thank you Diana." He began. "First off I must say I am impressed by your flying skills and the way you take orders….But you are going to have to be much more disciplined now. You have been doing well as a civilian test group. But that has changed. You are now in the military. You are going to have to learn discipline. I'm afraid that the way you took your seats today was very sloppy. I'm going to cut you some slack now because you have not had to follow military Discipline before. That has changed. I'm going to be discussing with Diana proper military procedures. Like how to salute and proper conduct toward your officers. This is likely to be harder than flying a striker. But learning Discipline is going to be vital to surviving combat. I realize that you are very young but that's beside the point. The truth is that in six months you will be facing the most dangerous enemy mankind has. If you are not disciplined…You'll die. It's late now and I know you need some sleep. But before I leave I will talk to you some more. You young ladies may be mankind's last hope. I want you succeed and I know you can…If you are willing to work at it. You're dismissed now I need to talk to Major Evans now."

The girls slowly filed out Diana stayed.

"You know you are putting a lot on some pretty young kids." She observed.

"Yeah I know" Fred replied. "This is much more than just poking fun at Washington. These little girls are going to war. I intend to see they are ready and come back alive. Darla told me how Cindy lost her father in Africa. I don't want to be writing ANY letters I especially don't want to be writing a letter to her mother."

"I don't either" Diana said with a frown.

"Well you are going to get a crash course on running a military unit." Fred told her. "I'm going to give you a basic course on military order and I'm going to leave some manuals to study."

Diana groaned at the idea of even more studying. They spent the next few hours cramming a lot of stuff in Diana's head. Until the little girl started to get a headache! Finally Fred turned in for the night sleeping in a bedroom right off the hanger. The girls were sleeping in a barracks not far from the hanger. He was awakened by loud banging He stumbled out of bed and pulled on some clothes to see what the ruckus was. He discovered that Darla was working on something mechanical.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I have a striker to build." Darla replied. "I told Tonya I was going to get this ready for her as soon as possible. So you are going to make Diana crack down on the girls now?"

"Yeah playtimes over now" He said. "They are going to be fighting for real within six months. God help us we are sending little girls to war now."

Darla looked over the striker she was working on.

"I'm building this for a little girl in a wheel chair." She mused. "When I'm finished she is going to war. I don't feel any guilt about doing it…But I have to do it right. If this fails we are going to be hated by a lot of people."

"Yeah if Diana fails to come home I don't think I could bear it." Darla said. "That's why it's so important we do this right. She's commander of a combat unit now. And she's only Seven and a half! This is scary."

"Yeah It is." Fred agreed. "Well I might as well get dressed."

"Yeah watch the shower in there it can be a bit uneven as far as heat goes." Darla warned.

"Thanks" Fred responded.

Diana got the other girls up and started to train them in military conduct. It took Fred about an hour to shower shit and shave. When he was done he smelled sausage and eggs cooking he came out of the room and found Darla cooking breakfast.

"Well that smells good" He commented.

"Yeah to bad I don't know how to make biscuits and gravy yet." Darla said "Hopefully I'll learn that when we go back down with the striker for Tonya."

"Well I'm not too concerned with that right now." He replied.

Darla served up a plate full of sausage patties and three eggs for him and a similar one for herself. She placed them on a small table.

"I think cooking is as much fun as working on strikers." Darla stated.

Fred dug into the food he had been served.

"Well if you are as good at building strikers as you are as a cook. The girls don't have to worry about that." He said.

Darla blushed "Thanks

"Yup who ever marries you is going to be one lucky man" He said.

Darla really blushed at that.

"I'm a bit young for that yet." She finally said.

"This is true." Fred agreed. "I think I'm going to want you to meet my son next time you come down."

"So you are thinking that if I marry your son I'll be cooking for you?" Darla asked with a coy smile.

"Uh well maybe." Fred responded.

"Well I have a striker to work on." Darla announced as she finished her breakfast.

"Yeah" Fred replied blushing a bit.

Darla went back to the striker she was working on while Fred watched for a little while before getting up to find Diana. Diana had just finished dismissing the girls after running them through their first drill. She was walking back to the hanger when she encountered Fred. She snapped off a crisp salute as she walked up to him. He was somewhat surprised by it before he responded with his own salute.

"That was a bit of a surprise." He said

"Well you said yourself last night that we have to behave like we are in the military now." Diana replied. "If we want to be taken seriously we have to look and act the part."

Fred smiled he was pleased that at least Diana was taking him seriously.

"That's good to hear." He told her. "In half an hour have the girls in the briefing room I have some things to tell them before I leave."

"Yes Sir!" Diana responded with a crisp salute.

Fred returned her salute then went back to the airplane to retrieve his brief case He had some notes to write. He was going to need to get the kids sizes because he was going to have uniforms made up for them. Once he wrote the note to Cindy's mother he put it in an envelope. Then he went to the briefing room to meet with the girls. He was in for a surprise As he opened the door Diana barked out.

"Attention!"

All nine little girls snapped to attention and snapped off crisp salutes. Fred was dumbfounded All nine girls had good form even little Cindy. He returned their salute and told them to be seated.

"I'm impressed!" He began "I did not expect you to do this good this quick. You are already starting to look military. You will soon be looking even more so because I'm having uniforms made for you."

They were still little kids and responded with a cheer. Fred decided not to admonish them.

"I'm going to have to get your sizes." He told them. "Cindy I'll need to talk to you after the meeting you are going to be a special case and your uniform is going to handled a little differently from the other girls."

Cindy was puzzled by that.

"I was a little worried that you might be too young for the job." He said I think that I might have been premature with that judgment. I think that you are going to prove that we are right to put out faith in you. I think that you know that you have a lot of work ahead of you. I also know now that you are willing to do what has to be done to make the 555th into a powerful unit. I'm going to need to get your sizes for the uniforms. Cindy you are going to be handled differently because you have to have your clothes specially made. I'm going to have to have the lady who makes your clothes make your uniform so after getting the sizes of the other girls I have a message for you to give to your mother."

"Otay" Cindy replied.

After taking the sizes of the other girls mostly off the labels of the tops they had on He took Cindy aside. Megan followed. He pulled out the envelope.

"I need you to give this to your mother." He told her.

"I'll have to go with her" Megan announced. "She is not ready to fucking fly across Lake Superior alone."

"I guess not." He said. "You fly across Lake Superior?"

"All the time" Megan replied.

Fred smiled and turned to Diana.

"You have a lot of work ahead of you major." He told her. "In about six months this unit is going to war."

He saluted her and she returned the salute. Fred turned and went back to his airplane and after waving to the girls who were there took off for the flight back to the Conch Republic. Cindy and Megan mounted their strikers and flew north to Cindy's house. They arrived there about half an hour later. Sandra heard the familiar sound of striker units. She came outside and met her daughter and Megan. After dismounting their strikers Cindy handed Sandra the letter from General Cabanas. Sandra opened it and started to read what it said she was surprised to discover that he expected her to have the uniform made for Cindy and included a picture of the uniform then she found the money inside and almost fainted .Megan asked what was wrong. She held out the five twenty dollar bills.

"He wants to have a uniform made for Cindy. And he gave me this to pay for it." Sandra announced

They went to the seamstress who had been making the custom clothes for Cindy and showed her the picture and told her that she wanted to have uniforms like that made for Cindy. She told Sandra that the tops would cost Fifteen dollars each. Sandra pulled out $60 and asked for four and wanted to have some other tops made as well bringing out the other $40.

So on April 11 1945 the 555th Joint fighter Wing started to prepare for war.