Chapter 4
Sanya instinctively barrel-rolled to her left and just barely managed to avoid colliding with the enemy craft as it hurtled past her. Sakamoto had taught her that manoeuvre shortly after Sanya had moved to Britannia to join the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, and it had undoubtedly saved her life in that split-second. Sanya felt her heart thudding in her chest as she whirled around to determine the Neuroi's position; it was arcing back slowly to prepare for another attack. The moonlight shone on the alien craft's unusual skin and reflected strange hues of blue, purple and red all over the clouds. At another time, Sanya might have marvelled at the beauty of it, but not after she had narrowly avoided being killed by the damn thing. She shouldered her missile launcher and steadied her aim, her finger pressing lightly on the trigger. The Neuroi let out another piercing whine which made Sanya shudder, then it rocketed through the night sky at lightning speed. Either intentionally or unintentionally, the alien craft missed Sanya by several feet as it sped past her. Sanya could do nothing but blink dumbly as she realised the Neuroi was now behind her. How could it move that fast? She thought to herself.
She spun around quickly, aimed roughly in the Neuroi's direction and squeezed the trigger hard. A stream of rockets discharged from her launcher, their propellant leaving clouds of exhaust in their wake. Sanya watched with a small smirk as she saw the missiles impact and detonate on the Neuroi craft. "Not so fast now, are you?" she muttered to herself, relieved. Then she looked on in horror as the smoke cleared and she realised her target was not even scratched, let alone severely damaged. "It's not regenerating? Does that mean I didn't even damage it?" she exclaimed incredulously, clutching tighter on the handle of her rocket launcher. Panic gripped her and she could feel her heart-rate rising, her breathing quickening. "What do I do?" she whispered. The Neuroi began another approach and upon seeing this, Sanya's reflexes took over and she squeezed the trigger, once more releasing a salvo of rockets into the night sky. The Neuroi craft moved with a kind of unearthly agility, evading the incoming attacks with ease.
"Yoshika…" it kept repeating in an inhuman voice.
"Yoshika…"
"W-What do I do?" Sanya stammered nervously. Her attacks weren't even landing. She glanced at her ammo counter, which read zero.
"Oh no! I'm out of rockets! I'll never outrun that thing if it can move that fast!" she cried out. The Neuroi craft kept approaching, its velocity increasing steadily.
Suddenly a voice pierced the air. It was not an inhuman approximation of a voice, like the sound waves generated by the Neuroi. It was a human female voice, and it sounded desperately concerned.
"Sanya! Look out!"
The Orussian girl barely had time to feel a hand grab her, before she was yanked several metres to the right. A Neuroi beam shot through the air, passing through the space that Sanya was occupying mere moments ago. It lit up the night sky with a brilliant crimson colour then disappeared as rapidly as it had appeared. The nearby clouds crackled with static electricity as the beam dispersed.
"What the-" began Sanya, looking upwards to see the owner of the hand that had pulled her out of harm's way. "Eila!" the silver-haired girl squealed in equal amounts shock and delight.
"Are you alright, Sanya? Are you hurt?" Eila asked.
"I-I'm okay…" Sanya replied, regaining some of her composure. "Be careful, Eila! That thing isn't like a normal Neuroi! It's fast and I think it can speak!"
Eila barely had time to digest that news before she saw what was going to happen. She darted to the left, dragging a slightly surprised Sanya with her. A second Neuroi beam sliced through the air where they had been.
"How dare you!" Eila shouted angrily, gripping her weapon tightly. In one smooth motion she released her hold on Sanya and launched herself towards the Neuroi at top speed. "How dare you do that!" she opened fire and bullets peppered the alien craft's skin, making it sparkle and twinkle under the impacts.
"DON'T HURT SANYA!" screamed Eila at the top of her lungs.
The reason for what happened next is anybody's guess. The Neuroi craft suddenly performed a sharp 180 degree turn and shot across the sky with a burst of speed. Apparently retreating, it soon passed through the clouds and was gone.
Eila then realised she had been holding her breath and clenching her teeth in a mixture of anger and anxiety. She let out a long breath and relaxed – the Neuroi had vanished. Quickly she returned to Sanya's side. The petite Orussian girl was smiling the same sweet smile she had smiled just hours earlier. Although clearly shaken by the whole ordeal, she seemed to be alright.
"Eila…"
"Are you really OK, Sanya?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Really."
"Thank God!"
"Eila, what are you doing out here?"
"I told you I had a really bad feeling about tonight. Something compelled me to put on my striker unit and go after you." She let out another long breath. "I'm so glad I did! I'm so glad you're OK!"
Eila then did what she had wanted to do back at the base. She pulled Sanya into a tight embrace and held her. Sanya was a little surprised but said nothing. Even as her cheeks went red, she didn't care. Her whole body suddenly felt warm and relaxed in Eila's comforting clinch. Snaking her free arm around the taller girl's neck, Sanya cuddled her back. Nothing mattered to her anymore. The near-death experience had put everything into perspective; tomorrow they could both be dead, there was no point in being coy any longer. Sanya glanced at their dreamy surroundings, straight out of a fairytale: the clouds coated in the moon's soft light, the bright stars sparkling atop the jet-black background and the moon hanging in the night sky like a polished, gleaming jewel.
And now she had Eila.
Her Eila.
Everything was perfect.
As for Eila, she was barely even aware of what she was doing. Her only thoughts were of protecting Sanya and keeping her safe. She hugged the petite girl tightly.
A single teardrop trickled down Sanya's cheek, partly due to the emotional relief of surviving the Neuroi attack but mostly due to finally being this close to Eila. Upon seeing this, the Suomus girl said "Are you alright, Sanya?"
Sanya looked up at Eila with that sweet smile again. "Everything's fine now."
As they stared into each other's eyes, they both realised how they felt.
Eila captured Sanya's lips with a tender kiss for several seconds (which the Orussian girl reciprocated), then pulled back and couldn't help but grin at Sanya happily. Sanya's eyes twinkled with one part affection, one part mischief, as if to say 'What took you so long? I've been dropping hints for ages here!'
Although a part of her wished to remain forever in this wonderful dream high above the clouds, Eila decided they had better move. "Let's go back to base and see if we can make sense of all this."
"Really? Are you sure?" Minna asked in disbelief.
"No doubt whatsoever," Eila replied wearily, wondering just how many times she would have to repeat herself until it sunk in and the Commander believed her tale. It was just about dawn back at base and thin rays of sunlight were beginning to show themselves on the horizon, casting long shadows as the light poured into the room where the girls were. Every single member of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing was present, initially to check on Eila and Sanya's wellbeing and then afterwards to participate in the heated discussion that followed.
"This is very unusual behaviour for the Neuroi," said Sakamoto, her curiosity piqued. "They have attempted to imitate Sanya's behaviour before, but to actually produce human words like that…"
"Are you certain it said 'Yoshika'? It wasn't just your imagination under the stress of combat?" inquired Barkhorn. Eila briefly shot her Karlsland ally an irritated glance, partly due to tiredness and partly due to the other's assertion that she would be so stressed under fire that she might accidently imagine something as important as this. She resented the insinuation.
"I'm certain," Eila replied flatly.
"It was so weird…" Sanya said quietly, feeling a little shy at being the centre of attention for so long. She unconsciously clung to Eila's arm for support. "It wasn't like when you normally hear a voice. I can sense things, but I can tell the difference between what someone says when they speak and other things like radio waves. It was almost as if the Neuroi's voice was" - she shivered and felt physically sick as she remembered - "inside…my head."
Eila automatically put her arm around Sanya and pulled her closer to comfort her. If any of the girls noticed the newfound closeness between the two, they did not say anything about it, although Hartmann appeared to raise an eyebrow and suppress a smirk, suggesting she might have something to say about this later.
"How can that be?" whispered Perrine under her breath. She found the thought of a Neuroi being so close as to appear to be inside her head repulsive. She shifted uneasily in her seat.
"We didn't even know about Miyafuji until several weeks ago," Shirley pointed out. "How could the Neuroi possibly know her name?" She leaned back and crossed her arms in thought, making her ample bust stretch the fabric of her top to breaking point.
Uncharacteristically, Lucchini ignored this and moaned "I don't get it, what does it matter? A Neuroi is a Neuroi, right? Don't we just shoot the thing like normal?"
"No," Minna responded firmly. "Our orders in this matter are clear. If there is any possibility of communicating with the Neuroi and negotiating a ceasefire, we have to investigate it. Our priority is bringing about an end to this war."
"As hard as it is for me to say this, I actually agree with Lucchini for once," said Barkhorn, prompting the young Italian girl to stick her tongue out at her childishly. "The Neuroi have not shown any interest in communicating with us so far. Force is the only language they understand."
"I am inclined to agree. Nevertheless, Minna is right. We have to try and communicate back. The question is, how do we do that?" said Sakamoto.
Throughout the entire debate, Miyafuji had kept quiet. Her dream about the Neuroi couldn't have been a coincidence; it had to be related somehow. But what did it all mean? She didn't have an answer, but she decided to speak up and mention it anyway.
"Um, the thing is…"
"What is it, Yoshika-chan?" asked Lynette caringly, who was sat next to the young Fuso girl.
"I…I had a really weird dream last night. I dreamt about being in a strange, dark place all alone. There were these eyes and this voice that wouldn't stop calling me…" she tailed off as she tried to remember as many details as she could.
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Perrine, ready to instantly dismiss the new recruit's comments.
"It felt like-" Miyafuji stopped for a moment then continued, "-a Neuroi was…inside…my head too...at least, I think it was a Neuroi…"
Perrine grew slightly irritated. Perhaps it was because of the apparent closeness between the young Fuso girl and Major Sakamoto (she thought: it should be me, not her!), even though the former had only recently arrived at base a few weeks ago. Whatever the reason, the French girl said "What nonsense is this? We are having a serious discussion here about a possible new Neuroi threat. We don't need you babbling on about some kind of dream!" She waved her hand dismissively at Miyafuji, as if encouraging her to either shut up or go back to bed.
"Perrine-san, that's a little-" started Lynette, but she quickly shushed when she caught the glare Perrine gave her.
"I-I think it might mean something," Miyafuji said with determination.
"I fail to see how a dream could relate to what we're talking about here," agreed Barkhorn, who was the type to only believe something if she had seen it with her own two eyes first.
"Hang on a sec, what did the thing in your dream say to you, Yoshika?" asked Hartmann, ignoring her compatriot's statement.
"Wha-? Erica?" said Barkhorn in surprise.
"What did it say?" asked Miyafuji.
"Yeah, in your dream. You said it was calling you. What did it say?" Hartmann inquired, growing more interested. Miyafuji concentrated hard, trying to remember.
"I think it was calling me by my first name. It said 'Yoshika' over and over again…I think…" It all seemed to be becoming vague to the young Fuso girl. Her memories of the dream were getting hazy, as soon as she grasped for them, they disappeared like smoke.
"Sounds scary!" commented Lucchini, who was rocking back and forth on her chair.
"That does tie in with what happened to Sanya. The Neuroi she and Eila fought said the same thing, right?" said Shirley.
"Uh-huh," grunted Eila in agreement, her arm still around Sanya.
"This all sounds intriguing, but how could Miyafuji possibly have heard that? It was miles offshore. She doesn't have the ability to sense things like Sanya can," pointed out Sakamoto.
"This is all speculation," said Minna. "It is possible that these two events are related, although it seems far more likely that Sergeant Miyafuji has simply had a bad dream. If the Neuroi were attempting to communicate in some unusual manner, such as through our dreams, why has no one else had a similar experience?"
The room fell silent as everybody considered this.
"In any event, I believe it would be in our best interests to monitor all radio wavelengths for any further attempts at communication by the Neuroi. We'll take turns, I want somebody right here by the radio at all times in case we pick something up," decided Minna. "We will also increase the number of our patrols. I want to monitor as much of the sky as possible in case that Neuroi comes back again."
Everybody apart from Minna and Sakamoto began grumbling and muttering at this comment, unenthusiastic about the prospect of more shifts. Even Barkhorn, normally rigid and uncompromising in her following of military protocol, appeared less than happy.
"But-" Miyafuji started.
"I think we'll leave it there for now, Miyafuji," said Minna in a gentle but firm voice, shushing the young girl. "We're all tired and I imagine Eila and Sanya want to catch up on some sleep now."
I don't think sleep is the thing on their minds right now! Hartmann thought as she failed to suppress a giggle. Barkhorn, who was the only one close enough to Hartmann to hear this, gave her comrade a funny look in response.
"I want you, Sergeant Bishop and Lieutenant Clostermann to leave for morning patrol in-" Minna glanced at her watch, "-20 minutes."
"But…" Miyafuji repeated to no avail, as the girls started filing out of the room.
"Honestly, why must I accompany them?" muttered Perrine in a voice that was quiet enough to go undetected by everybody else but deliberately loud enough so Miyafuji and Lynette would hear her displeasure.
"Why won't they listen? I'm sure this means something…" the young Fuso girl said aloud.
"Come on, Yoshika-chan, we'd better get ready," said Lynette.
"Alright, Lynne-chan, I'm coming," came the reply and with that, the three girls left to get ready.
To be continued...
Well, that's it for Chapter 4. Thanks for the comments and views, I hope you're enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it! :-) I'll try and get chapter 5 up soon!
