The Next morning everything is the way it should be, the crew of the Harekaze wakes up on their ship for the first time since that submerged Neuroi damaged it. The witches wake up in their base feeling better ever since their arch enemy left and Ursula is still here are ready for another day at looking at the girl's ships. So far she found nothing of use, she had seen that their technology is far advanced than anything she has seen before but unfortunately like Misaki told her most of that technology is far too advanced for her to reproduce.
She did find the binoculars the destroy captain showed her last night; they made it so you can see at night as if it was daytime. Misaki let her keep a spare pair, and that is one of the few things she found that is of use to her and her research, she has been working on a project that will make a rifle scoop that works similar to these binoculars and thinks they could speed up that project. The rest of the stuff is ever booby-trapped to stop pirates stealing it, or she can tell she just doesn't have the equipment or knowledge to make for herself and the war effort, she was disappointed at that since stuff like the firing system on the two ships that could improve their own vessels.
Back on the destroyer Harekaze Misaki is already awake and knocking on the door of her second in commands room, Shiro slowly walks over to the door still hugging the dolphin which is the favorite of her many stuffed animals that fill her room.
"Shiro we have to get up, Ursula said she wanted to get an early start today," Misaki says as Shiro opens the door. "Oh and good morning to you both."
"Good morning," Shiro replies before realizing she is still holding her stuffed dolphin, once she notices her face reddens instantly. "Just forget this please."
"It's ok it's not the first time you did this," Misaki tells her as she smiles and Shiro remembers the time she brought the dolphin she is hugging to the bridge while the submarine was attacking them in the middle of the night. "Breakfast will be ready soon; I'll meet you in the mess when you are ready."
"Ok, I'll see you there," Shiro tells her as she closes her door and her red cheeks start to disappear. "Just my luck I had to do it again."
Meanwhile in the sky coming in for landing after their night patrol Eila and for the first time in weeks Sanya gentle come to a halt on the runway where they hover just above the flat, smooth surface of the base's airstrip. Yesterday Minna approved of Sanya going back on her night patrol but only on the condition that Eila keeps a close eye on her. That was one order Minna didn't need to give to Eila who was already worried about her friend and would have insisted on staying on the night patrol if Minna didn't offer.
The whole night Eila kept Sanya in her sight and was grateful that no Neuroi appeared, so the Orussian witch had a smooth flight to get her back into her regular patrol routine. But she didn't need to be worried for Sanya's safety, once again in the night sky; it seemed Sanya quickly returned to her old self. For the first time in a while Eila saw Sanya smile, she didn't have to do anything to get it that smile just appeared on Sanya's face the moment she and Eila entered the night sky. That smile made Eila smile happily. She finally felt that Sanya was returning to her. For too long Sanya wasn't herself, now Eila can see the old Sanya has come back to her and she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Her Sanya was recovering, the Sanya she missed, the Sanya she wants and the Sanya she loves.
From her office window, Minna and Mio watch them return, glad that they didn't hear from the two last night meaning everything went while as they watch as the two night witches disappear from their view and into the bases large hanger. Minna turns around from the window and sits back down on her desk with a small smile on her face, Mio does the same only she sits on top of Minna's desk instead of a chair. Mio's expression is blank, but Minna can tell from the small detail only she can spot that her girlfriend is just as pleased as she is with Sanya's recovery.
Minna starts to pull sheets of paper from the desk and starts going through the paperwork, Mio meanwhile just watches. She watches her lovers hand move as it writes and holds the pen ever so gentle like it might break if she isn't careful, she watches the focus in Minna's eyes as she goes about her task, and she watches Minna's checks blush little when she notices the staring. Minna always blushes when she catches Mio staring at her no matter what she is doing.
"I think it's good that Sanya is back," Minna says trying to break the staring and the silence.
"Yeah but I think we should have talked to her first instead of taking Eila's word for it," Mio replies shaking her head slightly.
"Eila knows her better than any of us," Minna tells her. "If she thinks Sanya is ready for her night patrol then I think she is, we both know Eila is overprotective of Sanya and wouldn't put her in any dangerous situation. I'm surprised Eila didn't even use this as an opportunity to keep Sanya safely away from the front line, I always thought she would be the most opposed to the idea of sending Sanya back into combat."
"Me too," Mio admits. "But Sanya did seem happier then she has is a while when she returned, maybe Eila knew that would happen, and that's why she wanted Sanya back on her night patrol."
"Maybe but I think that by sending Eila out there with Sanya helped her agree," Minna replies looking up at Mio. "Watching over her as she does during the day."
"When do you think she is going to confess?" Mio asks making Minna pause; she wasn't planning on speaking about that. She was never good with romance, she read a lot of romance books, but in real life, she was terrible when it came to love.
Losing Kurt only made that problem worse, she retreated into herself and was afraid to get close to people again. When Mio came into her life, she knew she liked the Major right away, but it took nearly a year to admit it. If it weren't for Erica tricking her into telling Mio by telling her Mio was going to leave the squad never to return again then Minna would never have told Mio how she honestly felt about her. It turned out Mio liked her back. The Major never said anything because she didn't want to make it hard for them to lead the Five-oh First together. If it weren't for Erica's trick then they would still be admiring each other from a distance instead of waking up together wrapped in each other's arms, Minna always avoids punishing the super ace when she sleeps in every morning as a thank you for bringing her and Mio together.
"It's clear Eila is heads over heels about Sanya, and I think Sanya likes her back." Mio continues.
"Eila's love is clear, but I think she is afraid of what would happen if Sanya says no," Minna answers without needing to think about it. "I think she is afraid she would lose Sanya forever if her feelings are rejected. Anyway, I have a feeling Erica would do something if she thinks Sanya would say yes. Erica does know Sanya better than anyone else as well; I have no idea how but they seem to be close friends."
"Yeah, I guess Erica would," Mio replies with a small smile. "Do you think she would trick Eila the same way she tricked you?"
"I hope not," Minna quickly answers as she remembers how she felt back then before she realized Mio wasn't leaving the squad. "It felt like my world was ending when Erica told me you were leaving forever, it was horrible, and I don't want anyone to feel what I felt back then."
"I guess we will have to wait for Eila to confess then," Mio says as she stands up. "I don't think Sanya will even if she did love Eila back."
"I guess so," Minna replies as she looks at the Major. "Are you going to start training?"
"Of course," Mio answers as giving her girlfriend a quick kiss. "I'll see you later if Miyafuji and Lynnette see me arrive late I wouldn't be their perfect Major."
"I think that will be hard to do," Minna says as she watches Mio start to walk towards her office door. "I'll see you the perfect Major weather you are late or on time, have a good day."
"You too," Mio replies as she walks out of the room gently shutting the door behind her. Minna carries on with her paperwork while the Major goes off to start the morning training session.
Back on the destroyer Harekaze, two more girls prepare for the day, one excited and barely contain herself the other quietly following behind as they make their way onto the destroyer's bridge. They step onto the bridge and look around feeling good to be back aboard the Harekaze. They quickly make their way to their stations feeling at home on the ship that they have come to love. Mei gentle strokes her firing instruments as she does with Isoroku and smiles loving being reunited with them, Tama meanwhile just quietly stands by hers ready to use the equipment.
Today they will finally be able to use the tools, Ursula wanted to see the ships components as they work and Minna had arranged for the destroyer to sail out to a nearby island not far from the base and the protection of the witches where they can do a live fire exercise. They aren't expecting trouble since the island isn't close to Neuroi territory, but Minna has given the order for Erica, Trude, Shirley and Lucchini to be put on standby just in case. The rest of the witches will be going about their regular duties while the crew of the battleship Musashi continue with the maintenance work on their ship. The Musashi took a few hits while it was infected, it's not damaged beyond the crew's repair skills, but it will still take several days before the ship has fully healed its battle scars. But Mei and Tama don't let the state of their sister ship bother them or dampen their moods, they are ready and can't wait to fire the ship's weapons again.
"This is great!" Mei shouts out in triumph raising her hands above her head, Tama just watches her friend like she normally does when she gets like this. "We get to destroy some targets with or ships weapons. I can't wait. Aren't you excited Tama?"
"Yeah," Tama quietly replies as she raises her arms mimicking Mei.
"You two are ready then," Both weapon chiefs turn to see their imaginative Recording Officer Koko says as she enters the bridge with the ships chief navigator Rin right behind her. Both girls move into their positions on the bridge as Mei and Tama lower their arms. "The Captain and Deputy said that Ursula has just boarded and they are on their way to the bridge. They want us to prepare to set sail because we are leaving as soon as Ursula is ready."
"Great the soon we fire the better," Mei replies punching the air. "It's always good to be firing."
"Yeah," Tama softly agrees as she turns to face her station and Misaki, Shiro and Ursula step onto the bridge.
"Is everything ready?" Misaki asks as she enters the bridge.
"Maron reports the boiler has heated up enough for us to move and Mimi told me we have everything we need on board for today," Koko answers reading off her tablet.
"Ok," Misaki replies as she turns to face Ursula. "Is there anything you need before we leave?"
"No, I brought everything with me," Ursula tells her.
"That's good," Misaki says as she faces out the front window. "Raise the anchor; Rin take us out slow until we reach open water."
On the runway, the witches watch the destroyer leave while the crew of the massive battleship Musashi observes from the deck of their ship. Some waves and shouts goodbye and in response some of the team on the Harekaze wave and shout back but most are too busy with their duties to reply. At the edge of the runway, Yoshika and Lynne watch the destroyer disappear behind some nearby green hills while they catch their breaths, the Major gave them a quick break once they saw the destroy start to move and Minna appeared.
Right now Minna and Mio are whispering amongst themselves as Yoshika, and Lynne watch as more and more of the ship vanishes behind that green grassy hill. Soon the boat is completely gone, and all the two young witches can see is the ripples the vessel left behind like a trail carved into the deep blue ocean.
"They're gone," Yoshika says after a few moments of silence worried about her girlfriend's safety.
"Yeah," Lynne replies sensing the worry her friend is feeling. "I'm sure they will be fine, they aren't going to fight the Neuroi, and they aren't going far so we can help them if they need us."
"I wish we could have gone too," Yoshika moans wanting to spend some time with Misaki. "I haven't seen her since their ship was repaired"
"I'm sure she misses you too," Lynne tells her. "Misaki is the captain of their ship, you know how busy Minna is so I'm sure she has her hands full, you two will have to time see each other soon because you will find it."
"Your right," Yoshika replies with a small smile. "I can always see her when she gets back."
Meanwhile Minna and Mio talk as the Harekaze sails further and further away from them and the base, quietly they speak to each other about their worries and concerns.
"I still think we should have sent an escort," Mio says as she looks around to see if anyone is looking.
"They are going to be firing live shells through the air at those targets, its standard procedure to keep the skies clear during these types of tests and excises," Minna tells her. "If not then I would have sent an escort, I wanted to but I can't right now."
"Yeah, I know," Mio replies shaking her head. "Maloney will use any excuse against us."
"Yes, he would," Minna says hating to have him constantly breathing down her neck waiting to spring on any mistake she makes and use it against her. "After yesterday we are going to have to be more careful around here for a little while."
"Do you think he's watching us?" Mio asks.
"I'm certain of it," Minna answers knowing one of the Maloney's minions are watching her this very instance.
"Me too," Mio agrees turning back to face the two training witches. "I better get back to training those two, I think they have had enough of a break."
Back on the destroyer Harekaze, the crew has comfortably settled into their short trip, feeling great about sailing again the crew work without complaint as they close in on their destination. The journey is only going to take half an hour, but the crew still like it, for them, it has been too long since they have been sailing through the sea. After so long docked most of the girls are happy knowing their home is in the sea, everyone is in a great mood and not even the threat of a Neuroi attack or the scared land beside them can dampen their spirit. The weathers perfect as clear blue skies and the bright rising sun is all that they can see above them, the sea is calm with the waves being so little they do not affect the small destroyer. In the engine room, the engineering department keeps the ship's engine going, a demanding job but one the girls have come to love.
"Boiler temperature is holding," Kuroki reports as she checks the gages.
"Good, it seems no one has tampered with the engine while the Harekaze was in dock under repairs," Maron sighs feeling relieved her engine wasn't touched. "And it's also good the Captain isn't going full speed for…" Just then the ship suddenly and violently rocks as a loud roar fills the engine room. "What was that?"
"I don't know did we hit something?" Reo asks slightly panicked.
"Not likely we would have heard scrapping," Kuroki says as the order to speed up to fourth battle speed reaches the engine room. "We must be under attack."
"Don't just stand there speed us up," Maron orders. "If we are under attack we can't be a slow easy target."
"Right," Everyone replies as the turn valves and flick switches speeding up the destroyer.
"I really wanted to take it slow for once," Maron quietly moans as she feels the Harekaze start to speed up.
On the bridge of the Harekaze, everyone is looking for where that shot had come from, they didn't see it coming, and the first they knew of it was when their ship rocked, and the water beside them exploded. The column of water that towered into the sky because of the explosion now rains down onto the destroyer's deck as everyone tries to find the cause of that blast, water doesn't spontaneously explode by itself.
Rin starts to turn the wheel in one direction then the other causing the Harekaze to sail around erratically, so whatever just caused that explosion just now won't have an easy time hitting them. Koko is on the radio trying to call Minna, and the rest of the Harukaze's bridge crew looks all-round them in search of whatever is attacking their vessel.
They soon find out as they see a red beam heads straight for them, they follow it to the island where the targets were meant to be for their shooting demonstration. Up their they see a spider-shaped Neuroi that is looking down on them ready to sink their ship, its red beam of death already on its way and looking like it will be a direct hit against the lightly armored hull of the Harekaze.
"Rin hard left rudder!" Misaki quickly orders seeing the red beam that could melt right through her ship's hull and sink the Harekaze with a single direct hit.
Fortunately, the maneuver was in time; narrowly they avoid the beam that would have sunk them. Instead, it explodes on the water's surface causing another tower of water to be formed, the water quickly falls back into the sea, and the Neuroi starts to glow readying another attack.
"Rin set a cause back to the base while continuing to swerve, Tama return fire." Misaki orders while keeping a watchful eye on the Neuroi waiting for its next move.
"I can't get through," Koko reports with fear in her voice. "Our radio's being jammed."
"They must have set up a trap here," Shiro concludes as a beam explodes right next to them and their guns return fire, right now only their turret at the front of the ship can fire but Tama does a good job and both the shells she ordered fired hits the Neuroi. They explode on top of the Neuroi blowing huge chunks off the entire top of the Neuroi's thick black skin but soon the Neuroi recovers, frustrated the crew can only watch as all the damage they inflected quickly heals. "That Neuroi being there and our radio being jammed can't be a coincidence."
"I think you are right," Misaki admits. "Koko keep trying to reach them, Tama fire smoke shell at the water between the enemy and us."
"What if they don't come and help us?" Rin asks as her skin pales and her body shakes after another near miss from the Neuroi's death red beam.
"They will come, we will get out of here," Misaki tells her as she thinks off something that could get them some help sooner. "Shiro fire off an emergency flare."
"Will that work?" Shiro asks as she quickly grabs the box contain the flare gun and several flares of various color.
"Yes," Misaki answers. "If the witches don't understand then the crew of the Musashi will."
"Sakamoto, what's that?" Yoshika asks as she and Lynne stop running laps and look up to a bright red flare clearly visible against the clear blue sky.
"A flare," Mio answers as she looks and quickly sees it. "I don't know why someone would shoot one off though; they are only useful during the night."
"Miss Sakamoto the Harekaze is in trouble!" Moeka says as she runs up to them.
"What do you mean they are in trouble?" Sakamoto asks as Lynne grabs Yoshika's hand, the Britannia witch already knows how Yoshika will react to hearing that and wants to be there for her friend.
"I don't know what's happening, but that is a distress flare, their ship is in the direction that flare came from and we can't raise them over the radio," Moeka answers as she reaches her.
"Come with me we need to tell Minna," Sakamoto says acting quickly. "Yoshika, Lynne training is over, for now, go wait in the hanger and tell everyone there we may be going out into combat."
AN
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