Strike Witches: Worldwide Liberation

Egypt Arc

Chapter 19: Loose Ends

"Dinner is great, Yoshika." Rei said. "How did you learn to cook like this?"

"Oh.. uhh.." Yoshika said, slightly red in the cheeks. "I learned some of it everywhere. School, home, on bases."

"You always make something good." Rei said. "Can you teach me sometime?"

"Uh, sure." Yoshika said, smiling at her cousin.

"Yay!" Rei said, half jumping out of her seat in joy.

'They sure seem happy.' Kye thought. 'I can't wait to finish this war so they can have no worries.'

As the witches finished their dinner, some remained to talk, others went ahead to the briefing room.

Kye remained at the table, staring out of the window. Mio noticed this and walked over to her.

"You okay?" Mio asked.

Kye didn't answer. It was like she was frozen in place, eyes locked in a gaze at the sky through the window.

"Kye?" Mio said, waving her hand in front of Kye's face.

"Huh?" Kye said. She looked to see who was sitting next to her. "Oh, sorry. What?"

"You seem distracted." Mio said. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah I'm fine." Kye said. "Just not looking forward to Headquarters promoting me to five stars."

"Turn them down." Mio said.

"I want to." Kye said. "But, I've done some thinking. I don't want somebody else to take the position and screw everything up. As long as everything goes according to plan, the war will be over soon anyway."

"Are you going to take it until the end of the war?" Mio asked.

"I think I am." Kye said. "Who knows though. I might change my mind by the time I get there. The big meeting is in a little over three weeks, so there's plenty of time to do more thinking."

"This is true." Mio said.

"By the way." Kye said. "I think you are going to like the treat you, Yoshika, and Rei are in for when we go back to Fuso." She got up and left the room, leaving Mio to wonder what she was talking about.

After a few moments of thought, it clicked. 'That's right, she mentioned my old teacher and a new sword technique. I wonder what it is.'

After dinner, the witches gathered in the briefing room as instructed before dinner.

"This will be our final gathering here." Kye said. "As of now, the joint efforts of the 501st and the 31st are over. The 501st will be moving on to Orrusia next month. What the 31st does is completely up to them. Keiko?"

"Thank you." Keiko said. "After talking to Kye and after a bit of thought, I'd like to propose the idea of going with the 501st when they move to Orrusia. What each of you do, however, is ultimately up to you."

"Let's go." Hanna said. She stood up to get everyone's attention. "Honestly, being with the 501st has been a lot of fun. I wouldn't have expected myself to say something like this before they arrived, or when I participated in that mission with Hartmann in Romagna, but that's how I feel now."

"I agree with Hanna." Raisa said.

"I'll go wherever Major Katou wants us to go." Mami said.

"Don't leave me out!" Furuko piped in. "I'd like to give the flying striker more effort. Flying was a lot of fun."
Keiko turned to Kye. "I think it's decided."

"That's good to hear." Kye said. "The 31st is a great bunch of witches. I'm happy to have them along with the 501st."

"Will you be coming to Orrusia with us, Kye?" Minna asked.

"Yes." Kye said. "I can't leave Yoshika alone. Her power is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It would be dangerous to not have me around."

"Okay." Minna said. "What about the meeting?"

"The big meeting will be at the General Headquarters in Britannia." Kye said. "We will be collectively discussing the appearance of the super large neuroi. Like the one from the day we destroyed the Fuso hive, like the one when Mio first performed the True Reppuzan, like the one that showed up in the Ground Attack mission, and like the ones that showed up earlier today with the hive. We will also be discussing plans on assaulting the hive in Orrusia. The Joint Fighter Wings in the area that helped push back the neuroi into Orrusia on the west side of the Ural Mountains will also be participating. They are the 502nd, the 503rd, the 505th, the 506th, and the 507th. The 504th currently are still in Romagna as there are still strays for them to pick off."

"What about strays here in Egypt?" Furuko asked.

"There are none." Kye said. "The strategy I used up until the hive assault was to take down every single neuroi. The only neuroi that may still show up are the super large neuroi, which I suspect only go to places where there are witches. I don't know that for certain, though."

"There's another announcement." Mio said.

"Oh, yes." Kye said. "For those of you who don't know. There's another reason for the big meeting at Headquarters. I will be promoted to the first five star general. After that day I will be the General of the Allied Forces."

The witches were shocked at that.

"Their going to promote a witch to the highest rank?" Trude said.

"Yes." Kye said. "They've finally realized how important we are to the war effort. I don't really want the position, but if I take it that will mean nobody else can get it and screw it up. At this point in the war, we can't afford anyone of high status coming up with stupid ideas."

"You sound like you don't trust the generals." Trude said.

"I don't." Kye said. "Remember the idea Trevor Maloney had with the Warlock?"

"Good point." Trude said.

"Until the meeting, I don't know what base we will be going to." Kye said. "It is up to you individually to decide where you will go in the meantime, but I want you all in Britannia during the meeting, which is in three weeks."

"I'd like to go to Britannia right away." Lynne said. "I would like to visit my family."

"Of course." Kye said. "I sent a radio transmission requesting five transport planes to be sent here."

"Shirley, can we go to Rome?" Lucchini asked.

"Sure." Shirley said. "I brought my plane, we can go anytime."

"You're plane is here?" Lucchini said, half surprised.

"Yeah." Shirley said. "I got to Fuso in it and brought it over here on the carrier."

"I'll go with Lynne." Perrine said.

"I think I'm going to go to Britannia early as well." Minna said.

"I'll come, too." Trude said. "Hartmann will also come."

"Huh, what?" Erica said, only half paying attention. "Whatever."

"Where do you want to go, Sanya?" Eila asked.

"You pick." Sanya said.

"I'm fine with anywhere." Eila said.

"Britannia?" Sanya suggested.

"Sure." Eila said.

"I'll stay here until it's time to leave for the meeting." Hanna said.

"I'll stay as well." Raisa said.

"I'm going home to Fuso until the meeting." Keiko said.

"We are, too." Kye said. "We being, myself, Mio, Yoshika, and Rei."

"I'd like to go home to Fuso as well." Mami said.

"Same." Furuko said.

"That's everyone." Kye said. "My group will be leaving in two days. The other planes should be here by then, so you all can go whenever you like."

"Any questions?" Minna asked. After a few moments she spoke again, "Dismissed."

The next morning, Kye was sitting on the edge of the hangar's roof, thinking.

'There's a problem.' She thought to herself. 'We have been too loose with our magic consumption. If it hadn't been for Rei showing up, we wouldn't have been able to come out of the battle yesterday unscathed. What's more is she had to use the True Reppuzan to destroy that last super large neuroi, which was a gamble. I know she hadn't completely mastered it yet, having only done it once.'

She shifted a little bit after her butt grew sore from sitting in one spot for too long.

'This goes for me, too.' She continued. 'I can't go crazy with the auras anymore. I've mostly used only the golden aura in combat in the past. I've very rarely had to even think about the True Reppuzan. Due to these new super large type neuroi with the multiple cores, it's becoming more common. I've done it twice since I reformed the Strike Witches. The others have done it once or twice as well. We need to practice the normal Reppuzan. If we can make it powerful enough, we won't have to rely on the True Reppuzan. I also need to make a rule... nothing higher than the golden aura in combat unless it is absolutely necessary, and no ultimates unless absolutely necessary. Lucchini and Erica used theirs early in the battle, although it was to take out a fair number of large neuroi, we could have taken them out with guns or lesser special abilities.'

Kye leaned back with her hands under her head, legs dangling off the side of the roof.

'What I should do...' Kye continued. 'Is have them go back to doing drills with guns. We haven't had any mock battles. That might help our dependency on energy projection and blade spells. I'll talk to Mio and Minna about this. Keiko might have an opinion on it, too.'

She slowly dozed off on the roof.

About an hour later, Yoshika came looking for her seeing she was missing breakfast. Only after seeing a pair of legs hanging off the side of the hangar roof did she find Kye.

"Hey!" Yoshika shouted up to her. "Wake up! It's time for breakfast."

"Zz...blarg." Kye muttered as she stirred around.

"Aunt Kye!" Yoshika shouted louder.

"Huh!" Kye said, half startled. "Oh, hey, Yoshika." She jumped down from the roof. "What's up?"

"Breakfast." Yoshika said. "You're missing out!"

"Oh, sorry." Kye said. "I dozed off on the roof thinking about... things. Let's go."