Chapter 3: Girls, meet the girls
Somewhere in the ocean after the typhoon
The droning sound of the Merlin's and Daimler-Benz's echoed around the ship. They seem to make crisscross patterns as if they are trying to fathom the scale of the massive ship. Miho nudged herself out of Maho's grip and headed to the road. She could see people out of their houses and cars looking towards the sky at the impressive sight, some were pointing, some had their phones out and were recording the event which reminded Miho, she hasn't had contact with the Student Council, they were leading the normal students around the school. Miho tried to call them but all she could get was a no signal tone. She turned to back and asked if anyone else had signal and they all collectively shook their heads. Miho started to worry about the welfare of the others until she heard a voice on a megaphone.
"PLEASE REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES, ALLOW THE PROPER AUTHORITIES TO COME AND ASSIST YOU WITH ANYTHING."
It was none other than Anzu and the rest of the student council on the bed of a truck broadcasting instructions. When Anzu took sight of Miho and the rest, she sighed in relief and handed over the megaphone to a police officer.
"Everyone okay?" Anzu asked,
"Everybody seems fine, how about you?"
"Likewise, look we're heading to the school and hiding out there until we can get a sure hold on what's going on."
"What's happening?" One freshmen girl asked,
"We don't know but the local police and fire are trying to get the situation under control."
"What about the planes flying over us?"
"All we can do now is hope, we don't know who they are, until then we have to take wary of our surrounding, if you see anything strange just flag down a police officer or any other adult, they'll forward it so we can get a grip on the situation."
Dover, Britannia
501st JFW Base
The base is alive with activity, ground crew are manning their AA defense positions, mechanics are about the hanger moving various ordinance and parts, meanwhile in the radar room.
"No.23 and No.643 squadrons are away, 898 is prepped for taxi."
"Are they still there?"
"Yes ma'am, surface contacts are still maintaining position at grid E-6, bearing 090."
"What are the responding crews reporting?"
"Whatever it is its big, spanning many meters in length."
"Naval assets?"
"Hood and Bismarck will be arriving on the hour soon ma'am but these things are ten times bigger than the both combined."
"We're going to have to see for ourselves, we're heading out."
The soldier saluted and sat back down to his radar monitor while Mio picked up the phone to call for an immediate scramble. Soon a group of 6 were up in the air.
"Observation plane reports 4 massive surface contact up ahead, keep your heads clear as we do not know what type of craft these are."
"Neuroi?" Erica asked
"We can't say for certain, the report wasn't very specific in its details."
"You know what that means Hartmann, we have to be ready for anything." Barkhorn said while she pulled the charging handle back on her dual MG42's.
"Eh… can there ever be a time where we don't go around flying around shooting things, it would be nice to fly around for fun once and awhile."
"Quiet Hartmann."
"Sorry Major."
"We're coming into range so I can see them with my magic eye." Mio pulled away her eye patch that was covering her right eye and she could see 4 massive vessels that looked like aircraft carriers but they were enormous in size, so large that they have a small city built atop of them.
"It's MASSIVE!"
"You sure? I can't see anything from here." Lucchini said while squinting her eyes.
"Girls drop altitude and maintain course and heading."
"YES MA'AM!"
The witches dropped altitude to get below the cloud cover. As they leveled out they came across a four ship formation of Karlsland Bf 110's. Mio flew next to the lead plane and motioned to the pilot. The pilot gestured his finger downwards and he began to dive as his squadron mates followed.
"Follow them, they'll lead us."
Their descent continued until they could see the still waters of the Atlantic as a cold breeze brushed pass them.
"IT'S COLD!" Lucchini whined but the rest just ignored her and leveled out.
The monoliths were just coming into view as the witches approached, their eyes could not fathom what they were seeing. 4 massive vessels that were towering a Sims Class destroyer that was in-between two of the ships. Lucchini was slacked jawed and the rest could just watch in awe as they got closer. The witches then began to get above the "deck" of the ships and their mouths gaped even more at the sight. A small city were atop these ships; roads, stores, houses and intersections, there were even small lakes and mountain ranges on some of the larger ones.
"THEY'RE HUGE!" Lucchini exclaimed,
"It's bigger than the Shinano." Mio remarked.
The girls flew over the deck of one of the ships, they noticed a strange emblem engraved in what looked like a sports field or assembly area. It was blue and had Fusoan writing superimposed on it. Mio recognized this as her native language and mouthed the word.
"Oarai"
She has heard of the town before, it was home to the biggest tomb mound in the world which was known as the Kurumazuka-kofun. She wondered on who these people were until she caught a glimpse of a group of figures standing around some hanger type building with vehicles in front of them.
"Let's try to make contact, they don't look hostile but have your weapons ready just in case."
"Roger that." The witches said collectively.
Back on the school ship
"Are those people flying?" Exclaimed Saori.
Everyone looked upwards at the strange sight, indeed there were 6 humanoid figures flying towards them. This put them on edge and the freshmen girls whimpered in fear. Miho shot the look of everything is going to be alright but as that happened, she was hit with a massive blast of air. There in front of her was an imposing figure of an individual that was floating of the ground. Miho scanned upwards and saw the Imperial Japanese Navy officer's uniform and then was greeted by the face of a girl! She had an eye patch on her right eye and to Miho's dismay she was not seen wearing any pants. Behind her were 5 other girls that were using the same devices to make them float and they were all carrying heavy weapons.
"Who are you?" Miho croaked,
The women gave a strange look.
"We were about to ask the same thing." The one eyed women responded.
Miho was amazed by the fact that she understood what the women said until all of a sudden.
"FREEZE!"
A group of policemen were at the apex of the gate with their weapons drawn. The group of 6 did the same with their weapons.
"WHO ARE YOU? DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
"I WOULD SAY THE SAME TO YOU!" The one eyed women barked.
Miho and her group were in a new state of fear, they had just survived Mother Nature's wrath but that was to be replaced with the wrath of bullets.
"WHAT YEAR IS THIS? WHERE ARE WE? YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS TO REPLY!" A policeman yelled,
"IT'S 1945 AND YOU'RE IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN OF THE COAST OF BRITANNIA."
The policeman scoffed and repeated,
"I WILL ASK YOU AGAIN, WHO ARE YOU? WHERE ARE WE? DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH US OR ELSE!"
"YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN SHOOT US IN FRONT OF THESE GIRLS!" The one eyed lady gestured to the group of frightened teenage girls behind her.
The policeman began counting down,
"ALL UNITS, PRIORITIZE STUDENT SAFETY, BE READY TO FIRE IN 10… 9… 8."
"GIRLS! SAFETIES OFF!"
Miho watched in abject horror as the one eyed lady's comrades shouldered their weapons and pointed them towards the police.
"5..4..3..2..1.."
"STAND DOWN!" A voiced thundered
The whole are looked up to see one more of the strange people as they watch as she floats down between the two opposing groups.
"BLOOD WILL NOT BE SHED TODAY, MIO! YOU REALIZED YOU ARE ABOUT TO OPEN FIRE ON NON-COMBATANTS! "The new women shouted,
"MINNA! YOU REALIZED THEY'RE POINTING WEAPONS AT US, I WAS JUST CONCERNED ABOUT THE WELFARE OF THE REST!"
"THEY DON'T KNOW WHO WE ARE SO WE NEED TO APPROACH THIS WITH AN OPEN HAND, SO STAND DOWN AND WAIT FOR FURTHER ORDERS!"
Miho watched as the 6 slung their weapons over their backs and stood idle. She watched as this new women who had red hair and a green uniform approach the line of police.
"WHO IS IN COMMAND HERE?" The women asked.
"I'AM!" Miho looked behind her.
It was Anzu that was raising her hand and coming forwards. As she approached the women she glanced over at Miho and gave a reassuring smile and continued forwards. She watch the conversation take place between Anzu and the women. Soon Anzu was seen coming back and Miho rushed forwards.
"President! Are you okay?" Miho asked in concern,
"I'm fine, is everyone else okay?"
"We seem to holding out Miss Kadotani" Maho replied,
"Miho, get the rest inside the building and I need you to come with me."
"Huh?"
"Trust me, it regards our new guest."
"Oh…okay" Miho said nervously.
The group proceeded to head to the main campus with the police escorting them minus Anzu, Miho, Momo, and Yuzu who were heading to a conference room in the ships superstructure. The mysterious guest were with them as well. Once inside Anzu closed the door behind them and rolled some maps on the table.
"First of all, would we like to introduce ourselves?"
"You first." The red hair women asked,
"Pushy, I like that but anyway I'm Kadotani Anzu, President of the Student Council, this is my vice president Koyama Yuzuko, PR Director Kawashima Momo and finally our Tankery Team Captain, Nishizumi Miho."
"I'm Lt. Colonel Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, this is my second in command Mio Sakamoto, Erica Hartmann, Gertrud Barkhorn, Francesca Lucchini, Lynette Bishop, and Miyafuji Yoshika."
"So, now that we all know each other, let's get to the bottom of this. Where are we? And what is going on here?"
Minna pointed to the map.
"We're of the coast of Britannia right around here."
Anzu looked puzzled and so did the rest.
"You mean the United Kingdom."
Minna looked puzzled.
"I'm pretty sure it's called Britannia, isn't that right Lynn?"
"That's correct." Lynn said with a light bow.
"Your name, it sounds Fusoan, are you from Fuso?" Mio asked,
Once again Anzu looked puzzled until Mio pointed at Japan.
"You mean Japan."
Miho then chimed in,
"Um… is it possible that we're not from here Pres?"
"What do you mean Nishizumi?"
"Well if you come to think of it, the names of these countries are similar to that of our world's countries, they even have the same cities from what I could see. Not to mention that could explain the planes flying around earlier."
"I see what you mean, uh… Col. Wilcke, mind if I ask how old you girls are?"
"I wouldn't see why not, I'm 19, Mio is 20, Erica is 17, Barkhorn is 19, Lucchini is 13, Lynette is 16, and Miyafuji is 15."
Minna noticed that Anzu had wide eyes until she responded,
"What's with the ranks and the guns? Are you part of the army or something?"
"We are in fact, we are the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, also known as the Strike Witches."
"Why the Strike Witches?" Momo inquired,
"Because we're witches."
"Heh? You mean the ones that fly around on brooms?"
"We used to use brooms but now we used striker units, those were the things we came here on."
Anzu pondered more,
"Flying, young ages, what else can you do?"
Lynette stepped forwards
"We can use our familiars to use our magic."
"Could you give me an example?"
"SURE! I'll DO IT!"
Miyafuji stepped forwards and all of sudden the room reflected a blue hue, Yuzu was hiding behind a chair while Momo, Miho, and Anzu looked on in awe. Shiba ears sprouted from her head and a small tail appeared on her lower back and she looked towards Anzu.
"See, we use magic to manifest theseee….OWW OWW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Anzu was pulling at Miyafuji's animal ears, fiddling with them much to the protest of the young witch.
"Wow, you sound just like me." Anzu remarked
"Just let go, those are sensitive you know."
"Sorry, force of habit. Any way I guess we can conclude for now, thank you for your time."
Anzu outstretched her hand to receive a handshake in which she did from Minna.
"Likewise Miss Kadotani but I do have to say one thing."
"Hmm?"
"Your column of ships will have to follow us to our base in Dover, we can protect you from Neuroi attacks."
"Neuroi?"
Anzu looked confused at the strange term.
"I forgot the mention that we're in a war right now against an alien race that has taken over the majority of Europe. They usually patrol these waters so we have to act fast, I'll go into more detail once we reach Dover but on the other hand, follow our ships, they'll lead you."
Minna and her group left the room and went back outside. Miho approached Anzu with a worried expression.
"Did she just say that there was a war going on now?"
"That she did."
"What do I tell the rest? They'll be scared to death."
"Keep it between the 4 of us until we reach Dover, by then we'll get everyone together and tell them."
"What about Maho and the rest?"
"Keep'em here. I'm sure they won't mind."
"Momo,"
"Yes President."
"Call control and tell them to follow the ships to Dover, tell Saunders, Gloriana, and Black Forest to do the same."
"Yes ma'am."
The ships began to switch course towards the 501st base, but their trek was not to go unassisted. 12 Destroyers made an outer ring while the Bismarck and Hood sailed in front of the school ships which were in a box formation. The 6 witches were also overhead to provide air cover as well as the multiple squadrons of planes that accompanied them. The long voyage was about to begin and for the girls of the Oarai. It was a new world that presented itself to shoulder new challenges.
Authors Notes: Much dialogue, much things. If you guys were ever wondering about the line that Anzu said about Miyafuji sounding like her, it was a nod to the fact that they both share the same voice actor which was pretty cool but anyway I digress. Please review and critique, it's always appreciated and stay tune for more!