Witches Rangers and the 141

by Bucue

Two worlds and their people's become intertwined. When realities collide and enemy's both man and Neuroi swarm them, what will the soldiers of both realms do? Can a certain Task Force Operator find his heart revived by a certain Karlsland Ace? And what mysteries lie within the Neuroi's ranks? Only resolve and fate can determine the outcome. Rated M for Language, war violence.

26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Coordinates confirmed...encryption detected... gathering data... translating message...

Location... Command Operations Hive Designation- 334CC, Linz, Ostmark...

Confirming intel... cross referencing data and continuing translation...

Identifying...

Faction...The Collective...

Time... 1533hrs Zulu...

Meeting of consensus about to be underway between Kindred in charge of Ostmark controlled territory...

Tracking...Target Unknown: Insufficient Data...

Radio signals intercepted...Triangulating signal...Decrypting radio transmission...

Attempting to breach security firewalls: activating Trojan...standby...standby...standby...

Firewall breached...

Initiating information download procedures...establishing audio/visual link...recording transmission... back-up procedures ready and awaiting user authorisation...

Within the Primary Chamber amongst his kin, a Neuroi held stoically. This was one of the many hives under the oversight of the Collective. Many hives sat upon this nation in particular; because of the concentration of the fleet and hives on this particular region and the fact it is made into a training, incubation and forward operations center it was providing their kindred with ease of access to a multitude of fronts, mostly towards the adjacent laying nations called Karlsland and Orussia. With each new hive constructed and Neuroi "born" both were deployed to adjacent nations to increase the existing garrisons. This nation; the country that the humans referred to as "Ostmark", was thus far proving to be a very key region for the Neuroi to hold in terms of staging effective logistics.

Neuroi.

That was the name that humanity had given them. Their true name... he couldn't remember their people's true name. It was a name lost to the young and even some of the older ones struggle to recall it. Only the eldest and wisest of their people or the few historians and scholars of their kin can remember it. They had taken many names the few times they came into contact with sentient beings, or so he was told. But when it came to the peoples of this world that his kin had contested, the humans of Earth... the name, once it's meaning was discovered... proved to be a fitting name for them. Neuroi..."Mystery"... to humanity their people were exactly that. They all took that name for their own, to become a name that they could be forever called. But the reason keeping this name where all others were only taken until cast aside when a sentient being gave them a new, fearful, hated slur was varied.

Some that took the name, mostly those in the Collective; decided that the name was one that would serve them in channelling and steeling their resolve in ensuring their survival. Some took, even embraced this name out of a strange sense of respect and admiration to a race that had for the first time been able to hold back and survive for this long against attempts to contest the planet, perhaps even hoping that it would be spoken as a name given to them by friends, though those who felt this way were members of the idealistic fools; those of the Mediators. Others meanwhile either thought the words meaning appropriate or more simply adhered to the fact it was a new slur of a name to take and so took it; not caring of much else on the subject.

Today, the Neuroi in question, Larel, was awaiting the arrival of the other kindred. He was aloft beside the flank of his Hive Commander, waiting for the last of the others in the Ostmark hives to arrive, awaiting for final consensus .Larel's sleek form was a highly progressive and advanced form of that of the fabled human prototype "Jets". He was large, but nowhere remotely near the size of the Babarrus class bomber Neuroi that he had on a few occasion escorted. He was the first of his forms class: a T-213 Wave Fighter Class, also known as a "Victorium". The front of his form had twin prongs with three ports on each prong; one encompassing the tip with two more a meter above that, as well as a pair of canards with a port each near the stabilizers in question, as well as a single port on the nose of his jet form. The wings of his jet-like form were swept back, near delta wing shaped with another six laser ports, three on each wing, in addition to one larger, heavy hitting port on either flank of his form where a human jets engine would lay. So far, such an extrapolated form had served him well in battle; his shell may have been of average strength, but the speed and manoeuvrability his form had was beyond exceptional.

As he gazed upon those currently in the hive he noted that most of those present were of the Collective. There were so far only a few handfuls of the Mediator representatives present. The reason for this, he figured, was because of the fate of the South Karlsland Mediator hive for attempting unauthorized diplomatic contact with the humans. Consensus was not carried out. The Collective feared that such an action left unchecked would serve to undo their people, threaten their existence. They did not wish for such drastic, radical action to repeat itself. Much like those many eons ago when this world was much younger...

Or at least, so he was told... such events were far before his time. He recalled his garden-kin, the little one he called "sister", his Kuro, and how he was quite fond of her. He was her older brother, and he sought to guide and guard her. But as they got older they saw the ways of securing the fates of their people differently. She was exposed to and embraced the manifest destiny of "Unity": To seek peace with other beings and ensure survival through co-operation which was a silly, idealistic goal. In reality such a thing in the Collectives eyes was unobtainable. Attempts made to other races before always failed, and in the end it came down to either ensuring their people survive or they all become extinct. To him, extinction was not an option.

But Larel pitied his "sister" and the Mediators. It was to some small degree, to him at least, commendable to want to follow such a path. But sadly it has no foreseeable success in its pursuit. Two of Kuro's friends; the twins Nuko and Naka: had perished trying to follow Unity. Nuko by the hands of humanity though the ports of one of the Collective; who's mind was shattered in captivity thanks to experimentation and torture at the hands of the humans trying to defend Gallia, through means of a human prototype weapon. And Naka because of her own subversive, defiant foolishness that forced the Collectives hand. He wondered if Kuro knew of the twins demise... he couldn't be sure...

Compared to those currently in the hive now he was one of the young. There were more than a few others like him who were to sit in on the meeting and view the consensus. There was a sudden plume of smoke, the result of several Neuroi "Displacing" into the hive. There was only one form of Neuroi that had thus far mastered such an uncommon technique: The human formed Mediators.

After the plume dispersed, to his amazement, he and the others were graced with the presence of one of the most well known Neuroi. Even if she were of the Mediators she at the least held a measure of respect from the Collective. Amongst her kin she was a being of beauty and wisdom, even if she was a very old Neuroi, one of the oldest in fact. She was old enough to remember the Neuroi's true name, their home worlds beauty and how it fell. She was amongst the few couple hundred who's age can be measured in millennia, and yet amongst fewest who still held on to the spark of youth. The form she had was that of one of humanities old legends; beings that human's called "Angels".

If viewed through human eyes she would have been quite stunning for a Neuroi in human form; a nude being of blackened steel, wings upon her back with a massive span of ten feet fully outstretched. Atop her head floated a red halo that consisted the focal point of her people's laser powers: a primary conduit of what they called the "Storm": one of the energy's of the universe that gift the Neuroi with their powers of weaponised light. She emulated the familiars of humanities witches; their champions of the "Flow", having features of an ancient bird of prey once native to Earth that had long since gone extinct, the name of such a creature long forgotten. Her hands contained a port each , both of which would focus the Storm and send forth a laser to defend herself with. At the tips of her wings were also a single port which served a similar purpose. The halo itself also could be used as a weapon in a sense, though it was both a technique and a skill unique only to this Angelic Neuroi.

Amongst her mostly were her followers, her disciples of unity. There was a considerable group of them this time, but still, their numbers were far outdone by the Collective. But Larel did notice other Mediator leaders that also made their presence known. Most of the mediator peers were hive leaders aids who's hive minds would allow their hive commanders to address those in this hive directly. By default those who embraced the path of "Unity" were in lesser number then the Collective's own, who followed the mission of "survival at all costs", and today the elders who were in charge of their Mediator kindred's wishes were in smaller number than normal. With so few Mediator consul, it was likely they were seething or mourning in solitude of a destroyed hive and comrades under their faction , abstaining from being physically present and instead, in likely hood, wishing to speak, listen and observe through the hive-mind once consensus begins. Unfortunately, it would still be likely that the Mediators numbers would still prove to be a factor to their detriment.

Larel's Hive commander, Ton, addressed the last arrivals of the Mediators, both within the hive and amongst the other hives by means of the hive mind. ["Sister Okypete, welcome. May the Storm guide you".] He said to the Angelic alien.

She returned the salutation. ["May the storm guide you."] The Neuroi woman's voice was passive and cordial, but carried a tone that while sounding youthful, carried wisdom. The one thing that was her greatest strength was not simply in the ways of combat, as skilled as she was in the Storm, but her talents in the spoken word. Such skills in speech would rival the Neuroi's greatest warriors physical prowess. ["Forgive me my delay. I was unable to bring with me other kindred amongst my peers to join us in this consensus."]

["That is quite alright dear sister, we are honored to have you grace us with your presence."] Ton then spoke to those present in the hive as the last of the Mediators found their places in the primary chamber, with Okypete, as well as the few hive leaders and hive aids gathering with the other lead Neuroi in the center of the hives interior. ["Now then, my Kindred. With the arrival of our brothers and sisters of our people amongst us , we shall begin consensus."]

One of the Neuroi on the side of the Collective spoke, opening the meeting's first topic of discussion. ["My kin, we are still locked in stalemate with the humans that is starting to slowly shift to the enemy's favor. For each piece of territory we take, the humans are able to take ground back. They have, as you are all likely aware of by now, destroyed the hive that was stationed in Gallia, and thus far are managing to hold their own against our forces attempts at breaking their lines. We require a new strategy to be implemented on a much grander scale."]

One of the hive aids for the Neuroi Collective brought up a screen that served as the Neuroi's hive mind, showing a large core floating in a hive sitting in another part of Ostmark. This particular Neuroi spoke through the hive mind. ["Agreed. It is our peoples way to adapt and survive. We must do so again and apply it throughout our people if we intend to ensure our survival."]

Ton spoke. ["Have we proposals from our kin?"] he asked.

A Neuroi on the mediators side spoke this time. ["Yes, brother Ton. To continue acts of aggression will only be met with greater aggression. We must try to negotiate a settlement between our people and the humans. I propose we try again to open dialogue and find a consensus with the members of the human race."] The sounds of disgruntled disagreement flowed from the many Neuroi of the Collective. It was yet another Mediator speaking of silly dreams that have no place in reality, and they made such thoughts clear. The Mediators groaned at once again being ignored by their stubborn brothers and sisters, too stuck in their old ways and too consumed with pessimism to consider attempting a new means that was devoid of aggression.

A Collective Neuroi hovering above the others, in the shape of a large disk and went by the name of Neer'a, spoke mockingly at the Mediator. ["Negotiate?! And what good would that do us? The last of you fools who tried to broker a deal of peace had her core destroyed by the humans after they took one of our own and drove him to madness! You intend to broker peace with these beings?! What a joke you speak!"]

A Collective Neuroi in the shape of a sphere named Dorn agreed, his voice calm. ["Indeed, it's a suggestion that sounds of poor humor. Brother mediator, if they wanted to make peace with us then they would have already. The humans do not wish to make peace with us. With that in mind, we have no other choice..."]

The Mediator attempted to explain. [It is not a joke, but simple reason. We-"]

The disk shaped Neuroi scoffed. [Reason? Your reason escapes us! Explain to us this reason for enacting such a policy?"] she demands.

Another mediator, one in female form, spoke. ["The humans fear us. We are the invaders of their world; of course they would fight us so desperately and use such measures. We give them no choice."] she argued.

A Neuroi of the Collective in the shape of a scorpion like walker, named Daa'l, spoke next in astonishment. ["And this excuses what they do to our people, does it!? Is this what you imply?!"]

The mediator rebutted. ["No, but if the roles were reversed we would go to great lengths as well to ensure we survive. We must seek to understand and then to be understood by them, otherwise-"]

A Collective Turtle XX-02 class in charge of one of the Neuroi "Listening-Dens" in Africa screamed in protest, interrupting the Mediator's explanation. [''To follow your ways would be an insult to our fallen kin! My Battle-bound were ravaged on the continent of Africa! I've lost sixty of them to the humans in battle, thirteen more on the trek to Europe for this consensus. I will not seek unity with those... those beings and their...their monsters of the flow!] His Collective kin murmured and groaned in agreement. He then continued. ["Besides it's as you said, if the roles were reversed we would go to great lengths to ensure our survival, and our battle-bound are ensuring exactly that! We are already a desperate race! I will not have the sacrifices of our fallen be in vain by allowing our people to die off!"]

Another female Mediator, while of considerable age, spoke with a meek voice and her form shyly withdrawn, tries to protest. ["B-but the young ones of humanity... t-their children of the flow... they are a grave obstacle that we have spent century's to best. And now in this past decade they have created means to boost their powers. We cannot expect to win through force, nor should we continue to do so. We must adapt or else we will be undone."]

The Neuroi engaging the consensus begin quarreling amongst themselves, and those who were standing to the side awaiting the ultimate decision also began to argue. Collective Neuroi proposing alternative battle strategies and war policies, the Mediators meanwhile trying to seek reason with the Collective, trying to argue paths of peace and coexistence. In the past three hundred and fifty decades most meetings of consensus have devolved into such arguments, and rather quickly then what was normal. Their people are becoming more and more desperate. Their numbers were at least sitting in a level of comfort before reaching Earth, but now it was once again being whittled down. The Neuroi have tired seeking the resources of other planets in this particular solar system, but few were viable, and those that were sat at levels somewhat below average. The only two worlds that were the most ideal in this solar system were Earth and the planet the humans called Mars...and Mars was long ago placed though processing once it's viability for the Neuroi was determined. And Earth, for the Collective at least... became a world of personal pain, misgivings and grudges. The Collective wanted closure, even if it meant it was brokered by means of their laser ports.

Ton's voice finally rises above the arguing. ["SILNCE!"] All the Neuroi fall quiet, waiting for the old Hive Commander to address those present in the hive, serving as the fulcrum of consensus. ["This bickering is pointless! We cannot waste what time we still have arguing amongst ourselves! We are gathered together to come to consensus. We must find a solution that will benefit all members of our people, Collective AND Mediators."]

One Neuroi on the Collective side, a Neuroi shaped like a delta wing craft with large cannons called Orrol, spoke. ["If I may be permitted, my kin in the Adaptive Progression Hive have put forth means to aid us in a decisive victory, granted one that will take some careful planning and execution."]

["Are you speaking of the subject of our last Consensus, brother Orrol?"] Ton asked.

["Yes, with a status update and an addendum."]

["Please, continue my brother; share with us what knowledge you have gleaned."]

Orrol moved in a way that would be akin to a human bowing. ["With pleasure."] Bringing up an image by means of the hive-mind he shows the events of the raid from a month ago, taken from his perspective as he was in high altitude from the main raiding force that day. ["As has been discussed during the last Consensus, the suggestion that our people now take the opportunity to finally put our age long, honed skills of "stepping" into motion. It has taken many solar cycles for the few chosen of our people to become versed in this highly difficult art but their talents and knowledge in the Strom and their abilities in this relatively new skill of our people will serve us well. The first attempt may have been a failure due to the scouting party, Sky-Strike stepping units and the air units charged with defending this force being killed or forced into retreat, our second attempt was thankfully met with far greater success."]

There have been many murmurs in intrigue throughout all the Neuroi, although only Okypete was silent, her arms crossed as she took everything in stoically. The Disk Neuroi, Neer'a, spoke with mild concern in her voice. ["But is it safe for us to cross the threshold into a reality with laws that differ from ours? If you recall-"]

[Our people have been hibernating until the turn of this worlds century in preparation for this day, save for the one hive we had allowed to stay watch over Earth and its people."] Orrol interrupted quickly. ["It wasn't a simple adaptation of our physical form but of our very essence. We have managed to receive a report from one of our kindred sent to establish a beachhead that the measures to adapt our essence to the other realms laws are successful, and it applies to every one of our people in that reality. Once ideal staging areas are scouted and hives both constructed and established we can finally grow our numbers to a greater rate than before, what with the new source and ready access to the resources required to birth our race's hivelings."]

Many of the Neuroi of the Collective seemed somewhat pleased with this news. If they are able to survive in the other reality and establish a beach head on the alternate Earth then they could possibly have a means of ensuring their survival once more. However the Mediators were very silent at this news, for they were quick to notice one small snag in this plan.

["What of the humans of this other world, this other Earth? Have the consequences for this plan been weighed if it's pursued?"] A mediator in the form of a human-formed male, Kie'ton asked. While being a Neuroi who embraced unity, he learned how to speak in ways that Collective Neuroi could receive and understand. Such a skill of verbal fencing being taught by his close mentor, Okypete, whom he revered.

Dorn considered this and spoke with agreement. ["Mediator brother Kie'ton, for once, raises a good point."] Both Collective and Mediators murmur in surprise: it was rare for members of the two factions to agree so readily on a topic, especially this early in a Consensus. The Sphere Neuroi explains. ["If we set our ports upon this other Earth we will have our forces split between two fronts in two realities. How do we ensure we do not over extend our reach? On top of that; how do we handle aggression from this alternate permutation of humanity should they decide to engage us? Pursuing invasions on this other Earth could end up undoing our people."]

The old warrior, Daa'l, spoke with careful thought, being a master in the art of ambush tactics. ["It must be with patience and caution. The other world has no friendly territory for us to seek refuge in, save for the planets crust. We must remain hidden as best as we can and amass enough of our numbers in that reality so that we may launch an effective invasion. We do that and our chances of success will be better."]

Another collective leader shown through the hive-mind spoke with a guarded tone. ["What of the aspects of the humans of the other world themselves, their nature? We cannot have a repeat of-"]

["No, that is a mistake we shall not repeat.] Daa'l conceded. [Our haste and ignorance of that day brought us to this dire straight in the first place... forever scaring pain in our cores, but it is a mistake we shall never again make. Intelligence and reconnaissance are our greatest tools to achieving victory. Have our scout and recon classes and those versed in the art of intelligence gathering deployed to this reality as well. We must know who and what we are dealing with, what sort of human people this other Earth has living upon it."] From the collective there was murmurs of mass agreement.

Orrol then spoke again. ["Yes, I agree. But there is one other thing we haven't addressed yet."] There was a short pause as everyone waited for him to continue. ["One of our kin in the Adaptive Progression Hive have developed a new means that could be crucial in helping us win the war.'] He then turned to the Mediators and spoke with some cheer in his voice. ["It may be a case where the path of Unity... may actually hold some merit as a strategy."]

Surprise arose from all the Neuroi, with the Collective murmuring in shock or demanding explanations. The Mediators conversed in confusion with each other, wondering what this could possibly mean? A Neuroi of the Collective, embracing Unity? He may as well be a Mediator!

The turtle screams at Orrol. [Unity?! Are you Collective or not?! Explain yourself!"] The turtle then used one of the few curses that it's people know of, which to human ears would sound like gibberish jammed into neutral.

Orrol speaks with a calm, almost bouncy tone. ["Allow me to explain; I first ask if you recall an old strategy attempted four years ago in Africa and another attempt in Suomus?"] Sudden murmurs went through the hive as they recalled the strategy's in question; the attempts to Brainwash the Witches of humanity, and to turn them against their human kindred. It was a plan that didn't last for very long, as the witches were able to finally break free of the control after the Neuroi controlling them was killed by their human and witch kin. [After analysing the data and reviewing the memories compiled in the hive-mind the one thing that I found to have been flawed initially with this plan is a twofold problem; the first is the need of having one of our kind remain in proximity to maintain control, and second is that the humans still saw those of their own kind under our control AS one of their kind."]

The turtle, now moved to subdued thought, questions with confusion. ["What are you proposing?"]

["I propose that we eliminate these two problems all together. The kindred I speak of has developed a means to ensure one of our people needs not risk their lives to remain in constant proximity to control these witches of the flow, and to ensure that humanity doesn't see these witches as one of their own in addition to implanting micro-drones to ensure they become one of our kin . They will become our kindred because they have no choice, it will hurt our enemy more then out and out destruction, and will serve to increase our numbers."]

The Mediators and Collective once again spoke amongst themselves at this plan. It sounded radical, drastic... underhanded. But these were desperate times. The Mediators felt great discomfort about this plan, wishing to reach out and elicit peace though humanities free will, but the Collective wanted a new means to survive, and in order to ensure that, they needed to try every avenue. After a while Okypete arose up to Orrol, electing sudden silence from the other Neuroi. She stood before her Collective kin and hovered before them silently for three full minutes. In that time everyone waited with baited breath for this venerable alien women to speak.

At last her voice flowed forth. ["This plan is not only an act of darkness which undermines the path of unity... this is a dangerous plan to enact on levels of strategy, for it is the plan of fools with hardened cores."] she said at last, her tone grim and her warning dire, very unlike her normally warm and soothing voice. We're she any other Neuroi the hive would have been once again in an uproar, but it was instead deathly quiet. Not even the Collective Neuroi uttered any words at this point, for they were in the presence of one of their people's old heroes. ["If we attempt this plan then we will only elicit further rage and ire from humanity. It was dubious and hazardous enough to control the minds of another sentient being to ensure our survival but this takes us further away from what our people once were, before the loss of our homeworld. To the humans we are already an enemy of mystery, to enact this plan would have them further see us as the monsters they believe us to be"] She turned to the other's in the primary chamber, unfolded her arms and looked around the hive, her voice rising in a tone of pleading. ["Have our people been so gripped with fear, so hardened by pessimism and so used to stripping worlds that we have forgotten what had brought us to this point in the first place? We as a people cannot continue to thoughtlessly wander the universe to ravage the worlds of fellow sentient's with impunity. If we continue to do so it will come to pass a day where we blunder upon a race that could destroy us with ease. Only twice have our people faced the potential of fading into oblivion and humanity could very likely be the second time this happens. Have we forgotten our place?"]

Most of the younger Neuroi were in awe of this speech made by one of the eldest members of their people. Those who shared her long lived age had mixed reactions, but most was of an uncomfortable shudder born of a memory so deeply buried, so terrible that it was locked away and was to never be shared though the hive-mind unless the elders authorized it, which in truth was almost never.

Daa'l sighed. ["No sister... we who had lived to see that day... those still around to remember...do not forget. That day had humbled us, made us know where we stand in the halls of creation. But all the same... we cannot let the light of our cores shatter. Sister Okypete, whatever happens, we must try every means we can to ensure that our people survive. It's because of that day we wish to do what we can to ensure we continue to exist. To ensure our children can live and prosper. You see that, yes?"]

Okypete looked to Daa'l solemnly. ["We wish the same goal brother. Like you, I wish to see our people live and thrive in this life... but I cannot see it in these ways that scar worlds and stain our ports with the blood of innocent life."]

Dorn, a kin amongst the Collective minority who were reasonable, drew a shaky breath. [Trust me, my Mediator sister: such deeds haunt us as well."] Dorn's voice dropped to a low whisper, guilt filling him. ["Even now I am haunted by it... but...we must... or else we shall fade from creation..."] the few collective like Dorn were reluctant but they felt compelled both by fear and desperation, despite the pangs in their cores at what they have done to worlds that were inhabited.

Neer'a then spoke adamantly, being one of those of the Collective majority that were unmoved by such sentiments, more concerned for finding methods to survival. [Sister, to be fair we have allowed some life on the worlds that we have come across... to allow them to mend and return to their glory, at your Mediator kin's pleadings I may add. Surely that should be enough for you?"]

Okypete's voice, while faint, became sharp as a knife. ["That still doesn't make up for the voices we have forever silenced."] she responds with a hiss. ["Do not dare fool yourself into thinking otherwise."] Neer'a's form shuddered and she withdrew a few meters back at the older Neuroi's words. There were few Neuroi that possess such commanding presence or who's cores held such fortitude of character. Only the well seasoned, oldest, most venerable and wisest Neuroi were capable of holding such sway amongst their peers. There was only been one other of such age, wisdom and fortitude amongst the Neuroi who would even rival Okypete in this regard. Sadly, this other Neuroi had become lost to their kindred; the how was unknown, but the why was regrettably tragic.

But one of the old Neuroi, a Hive leader shown on one of the Neuroi hive-mind images expanded its screen. The Neuroi in question was from a hive stationed in the human land of Karlsland, named Haaz'ahn . His hive-mind presence expanded to about three times its size and floated before Okypete. ["You best mind your words sister. Some of them sound dangerously similar to that... lost exile of our kin."]

["You know not what you speak."] Okypete made a vocalisation that was even by Neuroi standards hard to discern. ["You seek to contest me for slights and actions that I had no dominion of. That was a time long past and to open old wounds provides no benefit for either of us...as painful as they may be."] Her head tilted down to the floor of the main chamber, her form looking pained. [Though my shell is intact, my core is forever scarred from that day... and you'd have the thoughtless audacity to reopen it again..."]

One of the Mediators spoke loudly at Haaz'ahn in outrage. ["You coward! You would say such things to her though the hive-mind while locked in your hive in Karlsland?! At least say it to her in person you hollow shelled cur!"]

["That's quite enough! Let us not spark another pointless argument."] Ton ordered tersely. Trying to maintain order in the hive chamber was proving to be quite the daunting task this day. He turned to Haaz'ahn and spoke sternly. ["What's passed is passed. Do not dwell on it. Though she stands opposite of my fellow Collective as a Mediator she still wishes to work towards the betterment of our people. She always has, and had done so with great tact, honor, patience and respect. For all she has done she has earned the same in return. Speak no more of this subject."]

The hive mind of a Neuroi in charge of leading the Super-Hive tasked with overseeing Romagnan and Venezian operations, Won,'din suddenly grew large and made his presence known. He was a massive core, one of the most venerable and in charge of the few Super-Hives of the Neuroi people. And he was of the Collective. He spoke with a stern voice. ["Then I shall bring attention to a new development. Brother Ton, the Battle-Bound of my hive who volunteered to go forth into this other world in pursuit of the mission objective imparted a... disturbing report."]

Ton's core turned to Won'din questioningly. ["How so brother?"]

[The kin born of my hive reported that a Neuroi not of our hive made their presence known... and it was not a kindred of the Collective. It was a member of our wayward Mediators!"]

Gasps and shocked murmurs reverberated through not only the central chamber but the entire hive and hive-mind. There was very few times where a Mediator took radical measures in the pursuit of Unity. The very first time it occurred was eons ago and the one who was responsible would initiate the schism within the Neuroi people. A handful of the Mediators who were aware of this one member of their kin, sought to emulate her conviction and methods which only further deepened the schism.

["A dangerous, subversive, extremist fool! This blind half-wit seeks to destroy us with this fantasy of unity!"] One of the Collective bellows in rage. ["We must stop them at any cost from sabotaging our only hope for survival!"]

A Mediator shot up in horror, Mediator kin crying out in outrage along with her. ["You mean you'd seek this kin members death without consensus?!"]

The Collective Neuroi shot back belligerently as the hive again devolved into quarreling. [If it means the life and death of our people then yes! Who is this Mediator that seeks to ensure our destruction!?"] As the Neuroi once again quarrelled Okypete hung her head, growing more and more disheartened at the lack in co-operation.

Ton's power in the Storm crackled and hummed angrily, a bright red glow shining that illuminated the central chamber of the hive, silencing the quarreling Neuroi. He was tiring of the squabbling of his kin, acting as like poorly raised hivelings. He lamented how far his people to have fallen to in-fighting. Ton also knew that the few Mediators that held highest positions were Hive Leaders of entire hives. Okypete was one of the elder core; a Neuroi, unlike her peers, while not required to stay bound in a hive unless specifically required to, had as much power and influence to carry a position that rivalled these Neuroi who's venerable powers in the Storm helped guide the hive they were assigned to. Therefore either she or another Neuroi gave this unknown Mediator orders to infiltrate this excursion for reasons that were also unknown.

Without word to the now silenced quarrelers, he turned to Okypete and spoke slowly. ["Sister... I must ask for your honesty... do you by chance know this Mediator that Won'din speaks of."]

There was a pause before she responds. While mystery was vital for the ways of warfare against an opponent of the Neuroi, for social interaction and consensus, a degree of openness was essential, provided it was properly tempered. ["Yes brother, I believe it is one of my disciples, born from my hive."] Quiet murmurs were whispered between Neuroi in the hive at this news.

["Did you send her?"] He asked slowly, hoping that the answer wasn't what he feared. Larel glanced over from Ton to Okypete worriedly; he too feared to hear the answer.

Okypete paused again, her response coming after a moment. ["The only orders I bestowed were for her to go to one of the Mediator Hives and to aid them in their duties, for all she does for them she does for our people. Beyond that I have little knowledge as to what she was ordered to do."]

There was a long silence. Ton slowly considered this information; Okypete's orders only extended to aiding a fellow hive, and this subordinate disciple must either have been under orders of the Hive leader of this hive in question or had begun acting independently Was this really so? This was a puzzle, one that needed resolution.["I see... if that's true then something is afoot. We must investigate this carefully."] He then spoke to the kindred of the hive, momentarily moving on to a much graver issue. ["My kin, despite this suspect case there is a matter of greater concern; our attempts to try and take the human base in Romagna has thus far been fruitless, what with the "Stepping-Point" under the enemy's control. Although we attempted a diversion to take attention away from the Stepping-Point the humans and their witches of the flow have repelled our kin. It will be difficult but we must try establishing a new Stepping Point in a remote location, far from human detection. This issue also requires our attention; have we any that may enlighten us with their knowledge in resolving this dire task?"]

Larel saw the turtle from Africa turn to a small hive-mind screen in confusion, an exchange between the Turtle and his Den commander before he spoke with some alarm in his voice. ["Forgive me brother Ton, but my Den Commander has informed me that one of our BattleSwarm has be caught in a unstable Stepping-point and flung forth from the continent of Africa from the Northern Staging Front into the other reality."]

Concerned murmurs traveled through the hive. Ton spoke with some amount of worry. ["Do they know the location?"] During the last attempt at stepping an unforeseen complication had arisen; though manipulating the very fabric of creation instabilities were fluctuating throughout the regions on Earth. And thus far they have been uncontrollable. It was a factor the Neuroi haven't conceived, nor could they know what sort of ramifications would come of this new factor in the war.

["Negative, their last message was that they were unsure where they were, but it is a strange and frightening world...also it cannot be confirmed but..."] The turtle hesitated. ["Even stranger is that one of our kin in the sky claim that two army's of humanity in this world...are fighting each other..."]

More surprise reverberated through the hive. The Neuroi have only known that humanity in this reality, their own, united against them to defend this world, this Earth. And amongst the Neuroi themselves, despite some disagreements, wished only to try and work together for their people. The thought that a race would do more than quarrel with itself, but to wage full and open war on their own kin, was strange a concept, though it was one that the old Neuroi have seen occur on occasion on worlds long past. Even in the few cases of dealing with radical Mediators, the Collective haven't often seen anything like this, never on such a scale... but there were a few on both sides that feared this might occur for them in time should things stay as they are. It was this point that Ton ordered an intermission in the consensus. Many Neuroi took their leave but Okypete, Won'din, Haaz'ahn, Kie'ton, Orrol and Larel were still present before Ton. There was a final issue that needed addressing, one that required a private, closed consensus.

Won'din spoke firmly to Ton. ["We cannot allow this way ward fool of a Mediator now in the other reality from jeopardising our mission. We must take action."]

Haaz'ahn grunted in agreement. ["Yes, she must be made an example of. Brother Ton, we must send the Sicari after this extremist Mediator."]

Kie'ton spat angrily at the two Collective Neuroi. ["You know not her intentions! Schattan wishes only the best of our people. It is her dream for us to prosper, and you would destroy her for an imagined threat?!"]

Haaz'ahn growled in anger. ["So the traitor has a name? And how would you know of her true intentions, brother?"]

Kie'ton spoke matter of factly. ["Before being assigned to this new hive she told me in her own words. It is her wish for our people."]

Orrol sighed evenly. ["Even if these intentions are true she acts without consensus, or at least without true consensus. Without consensus we would tear ourselves apart and undo our people all the quicker. We would devolve into maddened anarchy. With consensus we have order. "] He turned to Ton. ["If we must carry out judgment swiftly then my hive kin have something that we could try; my hive kin have trained a young hivling, named Shein, who shows promise in the Strom. She has taken on the form of a new Sicarius Class variant that was born from the minds of our kin; the "Vier" type Sicarius. We intend to have her put through field testing to see how this new form for our people would perform. The power of this new form is twice that of a standard Sicari, perhaps even more."]

Okypete and Kie'ton were taken aback. Sicarius Neuroi were a very grim member of their people, born from the minds of the Collective. They were assassin class Neuroi: hit-men, sweepers, Hunter-Killers. Master Neuroi of close combat, hunting, subduing, even elimination if need be. Their laser powers in the storm were different in that instead of atomising or burning opponents their laser ports produced hard light tendrils that were used to bludgeon, crush and entrap and their bladed, laser tipped limbs could punch through Neuroi hides like a hot knife through butter and their appearance was some grotesque, bipedal machine, as if a jet and a set of kitchens knifes created some sort of unholy, humanoid spawn. In the past Sicarius class Neuroi were tasked with tracking, subduing and even eliminating enemy leaders or subjects of social or strategic importance amongst humanity that were considered vital, though they have been rarely dispatched against humanity. Mostly they were used to track, capture or eliminate Neuroi who acted without consensus, or were dangerous threat to the Neuroi people. Many of these Hunter-Killers were deeply loyal to the collective. Mediators saw them as grim, distasteful but necessary tools, and because of their ideologies only a small dozen of such Sicarius were in the Mediator's ranks. To hear of an improved form of Sicarius... this "Vier"... was created as a more potent variant of their people was... distressing.

Kie'ton turned to Orrol in astonishment. ["You cannot just send Sicari and condemn her to death! She is our kin!"] He then turned back desperately to Ton, trying to beseech mercy for Schattan. ["I beg of you brother, don't kill this young sister of our kindred! Let her show you she wishes the best for our people!"]

Ton spoke with a heavy core. ["That will be up to her to decide, my brother. I agree that we must bring her back and have her explain her actions, but if she refuses then our ports will be forced. Orrol, let it be known to this gifted new member of our people, Shein, that she try to bring Schattan back to us. If this Mediator kin refuses... then it is with regret... that her core must be shattered."]

["NO! YOU CANNOT!"] Kie'ton's form stiffened, his weapon ports began to glow in anger. He couldn't let a dear sister of his people be killed like this. It was at this point that Larel interceded. With a sudden thrust forward he stood between the Collective and the two Neuroi of the Mediators. His own ports glowed red as he began to focus the Storm into his ports.

["Please my brother... do not force my ports like this. If you act this way I will take measures to defend my Collective kin. "] Larel warned the Mediator. Kie'ton, had he any eyes, would have glared at the jet shaped Neuroi. Larel didn't want to have things go this way, as loyal to the Collective as he was. ["Please..."] he begged, his ports intensifying as he tried to reason with the small Mediator before him.

Okypete placed her hand on Kie'ton's shoulder, the male form Neuroi looking to her in surprise she spoke to him. ["Temperance young one. Your death will not accomplish anything. All it will do is weigh heavy in our cores."] Her hand gripped him pleadingly.["Kie'ton: I promise that I will do what I can to ensure our sister is given a fair hearing. Have faith that the Storm will guide her, my brother... I cannot bear the loss... of another kin of unity."]

Kie'ton looked to the Neuroi woman in amazement. Confused realization set in as his ports slowly dimmed, electing Larel's ports to also dim. The human formed male Neuroi looked to the Collective with hurt upon his humanoid form and spoke bitterly. ["We need not worry about humanity destroying us... our own kin do it for them..."] He then tuned to leave, slowly hovering out of the primary chamber. Before he stepped out of the chamber he looked back to Okypete solemnly. ["I have little faith anymore in these troubling days ... how can any of us when this fate is our own?"] He sighed shakily. ["But... if I can put any trust and faith in anything... it is you, sister Okypete... may the Storm guide you..."] With that, he left.

Ton sighed and looked to Okypete, he could sense there was something deeper then what seems to appear. ["Tell me sister, is there anything more that we must know of this Mediator, Schattan? Has she heard stories of... her?"] he asked.

Okypete was silent for the longest time. ["I know not."] she replies at last. ["But my brother... every member of our kin who's core is shattered is a kindred forever lost. Woeful enough we lose them to other races, must we be responsible for inflicting the loss by our own ports?"]

Ton was left with little options, but after hearing the old heroine's words he concedes. [I understand sister. If she allows herself into our charge I will ensure that our lost sister is given as much fair hearing and judgment as possible. If she does not, then there is little I can do. Forgive me."]

Okypete looks to the old core of the collective, an old, painful memory coming forth after all these centuries... memories of someone dear to her core who became lost to her. The fear of loss she felt in ages come and gone were resurfacing for her disciple. ["This cannot go on, brother Ton, for if we continue we shall be brought to ruin. Though we stand on different sides, that cannot mean we must quarrel without end; amongst ourselves or these people on this planet which we engage. Please... will you heed my counsel?"]

["When consensus is reached we will act accordingly sister. I understand your feelings but we all must come to a final decision, and lead our people to prosperity through the final choice decided. You know our kin entrust us to lead them, so lead them we must. For now we must break; then we shall return to proceedings of consensus shortly."] Ton spoke to those left in the central chamber, speaking the customary salutation of their people. ["May the Storm guide you."]

Larel was dismissed along with the remaining others watching with a measure of awe at the Fabled Okypete; a woman of calm rational and of indomitable words. Even those who sat counter of her beliefs couldn't help but be moved by her. The Storm had truly gifted her in the spoken word. Once outside he watched the elder Neuroi float off, likely to reflect on the consensus. As Larel hovered in the air he overheard two Neuroi who were nearby that were amongst the youngest of the Neuroi's kin. Both were speaking in debate, a pair of the many awaiting the word of their elders. One was a Mediator, her form similar that of Nuko and Naka, may their Core's be at rest. The other was a Collective Neuroi who's form was that of a recon class designated unit. Both Neuroi may have once had spoken with firm passion about how to ensure the security of the Neuroi's fate, but then that passion began to putter out and die, both now spoke with grim, bitter tones, sounding as if lost.

["I disagree brother; I know we stand on different sides of the hive, but surely you must see that continuing to fight with humanity will only shatter us into shards, right down to the last of both our kin. We've been in contestation of this world for far too many cycles and our numbers get smaller each time we march into the fields of engagement."]

The Recon class Neuroi sighed. ["I cannot refute that. I have lost many of my kin trying to gather intelligence in Bittania. It gets harder and harder to see their cores shatter so easily by the hands of humanity."]

The young mediator became genuinely confused and rueful. ["If this planet is costing both humanity and us so greatly... why is it we Neuroi don't leave this world? There are many planets out in the vastness of space with resources that we can use. Why do we continue to cause pain both to ourselves and the peoples of this world?"]

The Recon Neuroi groaned. ["I'm unsure really... well, I remember that my Unit Commander said that it was for the diversity of resources on this world... but a story from my Element Commander which he shared with me said that something happened when the peoples of this world were young. Something that scarred the cores of our eldest."]

["But this was long before our time, yes?"]

["It was. It must have been a very bad thing if our leaders wish to continue Earths Contestation."]

["I wish we didn't have to. This world is so... pretty. Our Storm scars this world... I feel... so sad seeing this world getting marred by our powers in the storm."]

The Recon Neuroi considered this. ["I suppose it... this world... is pleasing."] He conceded. ["But, do you really think the human's would really share it with us?"] he asked skeptically.

The Mediator sagged, doubting that this could be a conceivable outcome. ["I wish it be so... but alas... it is unlikely... but still we must try, can't we?"]

["Doubtful. I believe that it would be best for our people just to move on and find another world that we can collect resources from. One preferably without other sentient's on it, if what some of the elders have said of these other worlds be accurate."]

["I guess that would be the only good choice to make to ensure we all survive and grow."] The Mediator was silent a moment but looked to the Recon class questioningly. ["What do you think would happen if we came across another world with a sentient race living on it?"]

["By the Storm, I hope not, but if we did and they be anything like humanity then I hope we stay as far away from them as possible. Our people nearly went extinct once, we cannot allow ourselves to get remotely close to that state again."]

["But wouldn't it be wonderful if we could unite with them? Perhaps that could help us survive?"]

The Recon class scoffed bitterly. ["Unit commander and Element Commander told me the last attempts we made always failed. Face it my sister: we are a hated race. To other beings we are a frightening mystery to fear, hate, despise and destroy. Nothing we do can change that. All we can do... is ensure that we live."]

Larel sighed, deciding to patrol the hives surrounding airspace until consensus is reconvened. As he took wing, the words of the youth of his race echoed in his mind. The Neuroi were indeed becoming a lost people. All that he himself could think of was to carry out his duty and hope that his elders could lead their people to salvation. The alternative outcome cannot be allowed to come to pass.

---

Task Force 141 - Disavowed

Tracking... Gertrud Barkhorn...

Taiwan, Somewhere between Fuxing Township and Yuanshan Township

1 hour and thirty minutes before embarkation to African Safe house and commencement of mission...

The amount of Loyalists assigned to be present for this mission was impressive. Well over sixty plus men and even a small handful of women as Nikolai's best and most trusted comrades was impressive. All of these people were here to put their lives on the line despite odds they were faced with. Aside from them were the members of the Task Force, also facing a daunting task before them, but they were operators undeterred by the impending challenges.

Still wearing her Strikers, Gertrud hovered above the formation of soldiers with their gear at their feet, all of them awaiting the aircraft charged with flying them to Africa to undertake the Task Force's next mission. For this particular mission she had opted the use of a MK46 with holographic sight as one of her primary weapons. One other weapon she had opted to use was a weapon she had learned was called an M32 Grenade Launcher, also known by some as a "WarMachine". It was a weapon that she was unfamiliar with and had to be instructed in its operation.

The Milkor M32 MGL was a rotary-cylinder type Grenade Launcher that could hold up to six rounds, and even came with a specialized optic that aided with use at long range. There was a release mechanism that allowed the back of the weapon to swing out and permitted the loading and reloading of 40mm Grenades, although the cylinder first had to be rotated back into place in order for it be fired again once all six rounds were expended. The weapon could fire any sort of grenade ammunition; from fragmentation, high explosive, HEAT, incendiary, smoke, tear gas and several other types. Both the MK46 and M32 were secured via weapon slings, in addition to a Beretta in a drop leg holster on her leg, just above her striker unit.

The one thing that was quickly apparent was that Gertrud carried on her a ridiculous amount of ammunition pouches, she had six Pro-Arms M203 Pouches on the torso and chest of her load bearing gear that could hold six 40mm shells each, as well as sixammo pouches for the ammunition used for the MK46, four on the side and two on her back, in addition to the camle bag that was snuggled between them. A knife Scabbard was on the left shoulder of her load bearing vest and on the right was a grenade pouch for two grenades. While it was no where near the load she had to carry while using the Ether Jet strikers, by mundane standards she was carrying enough wepons and ammo to encomber the majority of typical military personel.

But then again; Gertrud wasn't a typical, mundane soldier...

She continued to inspect the Loyaliest Troops, ensuring everyone was squared away and ready for their marching orders. She sought to ensure that unit disciplin was well maintianed. This was quickly growing apparent to the Loyalists in the short time Trudy was with them. Even those who origionaly came from military backgrounds were amazed at her; how commited the young girl was to discipline. And apprently their standards weren't enough for her. A few men who took an occsaional gaze up at her nethermosrt regions as she passed were met with a sharp glare as she quickly desended and pressed her nose to their face and ordered their eyes front, not up at her panties. Knowing what she was capaibule of they unanimously complied.

Taking a moment to reflect, Trudy had taken quite some time over the past couple of days trying to get a better understanding of this world she was now in, opting to read a few books that related to history, science and other similer subjects. When Price noticed her reading on her own time and asked if their was anything he could help her with, she replied that she wanted to understand more about the world the Task Forced lived in. It was then that she was introduced to the worders of the Internet, granted this came after a rather lenghty toutorial on how to use a computer. Once given a crash course thanks to Roach on basic computer use, and after she somehow destroyed the motherboard of one computer though accedently overloading the CPU (how she did that was unclear by everyone involved) they pointed her in the direction of a online encyclopedia. Something called a "Wikipedia", whatever that meant. She started with German history, starting from anchient historical events that occasionally differed from her worlds Karlsland at points to events that occured in it's modern years, though she remembered with great, sickening discomfort of the events that Ghost, Roach and the others told her about their Germany in their world, only with much more grim detail.

However, while doing this she found that paticular "links" took her to diffrent pages and articles, most of only fringe, tangental relivance to the topic she was researching, but mostly others that were unrelated. After stumbling upon a link that talked of German culture, she then found herself happening upon topics ranging from German automobles, brew and cooking, information on a dog called a German Shepherd, things called "video games" that featured dogs, global economics, middle eastern genocieds durring the turn of the mellienium, barazillian choclate sales and production, class warfare in the United States and the foundation of UNICEF to the BP oil spill, myths about Russian spirits, a topical discussion of Macbeth, a few baffling news stories from the state of Florida (which she was sure was a place devoid of all reason or logic) and Japanese dinner preperation, which then, somehow, took her to articals on something called "Manga" and "Anime", finding it was a sort of entertainment medium.

She looked up examples of the medium in the searchbar and found an endless amount of content leading to librarys upon librarys of shows and visual books in the genre. She lingered more on the... "Adult Manga" involving romance between big sister and little sister charicters more then should would care to admit. A part of her woundered if perhapse Ghost would be able to purchase one for her, but she shook that thought away quickly. From their she accidently stumbled upon other sites that ranged from weird, disturbing and baffling or had lead to sex sites even though realisticly the titles they had shouldn't have even taken her to such places of debachery, before finnally stumbling upon a fetish site that promantely featured goats and pie, with a subcatagory on sexy, designer toasters.

At that point she decided that was more then she needed to know and shut off the computer, when she then realized that she had spent a whole 24 hours, without any food, drink or sleep, having spent the whole day absorbing every facet of the internet, her stomach growling in stern protest at being neglected. A lot of the things she had seen made her loose faith in humanity, regain that faith again or had driven her to baffled confusion at the weird, insane or stupid events that filled this world, often over the course of just five miniutes per subject. Thankfully she had the chance to recover from that experience and was now properly squared away. With that little mental divergance complete, she continued down the formation of troops

Once she came came across Cryska in the line along the final coloum of the ranks, at which point she stopped and decided to perform a detailed inspection of this snipers gear, though she used the term "Sniper" loosely. She wanted to make sure that this Russian woman would at the least act somewhat like a soldier out in the field.

Cryska notices Gertrud descend in front of her and gave a warm smile in excitement. "Ах! Здравствуйте еще раз капитан!"

Gertrud looked at Cryska with a flat look. "Have your weapons and gear ready for inspection." she orders evenly.

Cryska blinked but her smile held strong. "Da! After you're done inspecting my weapon and gear, perhaps you would like to inspect me, Captain?" she asked in a somewhat suggestive tone, retrieving her rifle from her back and presenting it for inspection, the corner of her mouth hooking up playfully.

Gertrud took a second to realize that Cryska's mind still hadn't left the gutter and was still trying to reel in the young Karlslander with dirty talk. "That's enough, thank you!" she exclaims in exasperation. She takes the time to look over the young woman's battle-dress uniform and gear. Once done with that, satisfied it was to at least an appropriate standard, she moves on to Cryska's rifle. She notices that the weapon shares some similarity to a particular weapon used primarily by the other Loyalist Snipers, known as Dragunov's, except this particular rifle in Cryska's grasp seemed much more cut down, with the locations of the trigger-grip assembly and the magazine well being reversed, in addition to possessing a large muzzle brake on the barrel. Trudy inspected the weapon closely then took the weapon, checked the firing chamber, followed by inspecting the scope and returning the weapon to the fair skinned sniper. "It's well maintained, I'm quite surprised. And Impressed." the young witch responds at last.

"спасибо, I can't use this weapon very well if it's in poor shape, so I make sure it's well taken care of."

"Ah, I see. That's good." Gertrud looks at the weapon again in curiosity. "What is this weapon called exactly, I haven't seen one like this before."

"It's an SVU, or at least that's what I've found out it's called. It's a very good rifle, I like the light weight and the fact it's compact, easier to use."

Gertrud seemed satisfied with this, but one other question came to her mind, realizing she hadn't heard of Cryska's prior military history. "I'm somewhat curious, how long have you served in uniform. What was your rank and what unit did you serve with before coming here?"

Cryska responds in a cheery, yet matter of fact tone. "Oh, I'm not military." she replies.

Gertrud blinked, unsure if she heard that right. "I'm sorry?" She didn't really hear that, did she? Did Cryska just say she didn't have prior military service? Many of the people under Nickolas command had some form of prior military training, but if Cryska didn't have any prior service that would make her... what exactly WOULD that make her-

"I'm a civilian." she replies cheerily.

Gertrud's mind failed for a moment. A civilian? On a military base? Serving alongside soldiers?! It was unfathomable! "Is this some sort of joke?! I mean... you're in uniform-"

"Well Nikolai did give me fatigues and I know how to shoot pretty good, but really that's as military as I get to be honest." she admits with a meek smile.

"I... but...how..." But the more she thought about it... maybe it didn't seem so farfetched. Her personality would have made her at best, only mildly military in terms of discipline and training. "Actually... I suppose that makes some measure of sense... but it does leave a lot of questions. If I can ask, Cryska-" Gertrud stops when she realizes she never caught the Russian woman's last name, that seemed like something that an officer should know about the people she fights with; the names of their comrades. With this in mind she decided to ask the women herself. "If I may... seeing as you are going to fight with us despite being a civilian, I don't think it would be prudent of me to serve with a comrade I didn't know the full name of, may I ask what your last name is?"

Quite suddenly, to Trudy's surprise; Cryska's expression had in an instant changed at the drop of a hat. The Russian woman's smiling, jovial, bright face became stoic, hardened. The light that shone in her eyes were immediately butted out, her purple iris's seemed lifeless and they seemed focused and as cold as steel.

"I'd rather not be addressed by my last name." she stated simply. Her voice was flat, distant, Trudy would dare say unfeeling.

This had shaken the witch a little. She had never seen someone possess such a personality shift, neither in Erica or Yuna. W-what is this? Her personality changed completely. I think only Yuna- Trudy interrupted her own thoughts when she started to compare Yuna with Cryska. No... even with Yuna that's just her being professional; that laidback , friendly aspect of her character is always there, just hidden beneath a professional mask. And even her eyes still had that spark. She looked at Cryska with slight unease. She's different then Yuna... that spark is gone now... as if someone flipped a switch. A part of Gertrud wondered what was going on with Cryska. The only thing she was able to connect was that this change was triggered when she asked about Cryska's last name.

It was at that point she realized that something might have troubled the young woman in regard to this subject, so she decided to back pedal, quickly. "I... understand. Forgive me if I'm prying at all. If it's private then I won't press into it." She filed away a little mental note to try and avoid bringing anything up that may trigger this sudden personality change, especially if it proves to be a hazard in some way.

Cryska's face was still locked in that cold, hard look. "It's okay." she stated again. Not to mention that voice: before sounding bubbly and akin to a immature teenager now sounded as if a different person was now speaking to her, it sent chills down Gertrud's spine. It was very clear now; this was a different Cryska then the one she was speaking with mere moments ago.

Gertrud decided that it would be best to give the women her space. "Well... I suppose that is all for now... I guess we can talk more later. At ease..." Cryska gave a small, short nod. With that Gertrud hovered up and continued down the line of men awaiting in line for the aircraft. While she did find the incident involving Cryska to be unnerving, a part of her had a form of morbid curiosity as to what could have been responsible of this particular element in Cryska as a person. Perhaps she will come to know this in time...

---

Tracking... Sergeant Yuna "Scope" Kotoro...

The subordinate members of the Task Force were getting into line with their gear, preparing for the upcoming mission. Yuna was fourth in line, with Soap, Ghost and Roach, in front of her and both Toad and Yuri right behind her. Price and Nikolai were front and center before the squads of men in formation ready for disembarking. Deciding to go over her gear one last time, she began setting down her field pack; the G4 Operator Backpack with rifle scabbard that she used quite often with a Mk 12 SPR kitted out with collapsible stock and snipers scope, secured in the scabbard itself. The top three sniper systems that she used with frequency in her service were the SR-25, the MK 12 SPR and Barrett M82A1, while for assault rifles she found that the FN SCAR-L and M16A4 or the M4A1 were her bread and butter, although she would favor the SCAR-L if she had access to one. For sidearm's she carried, and often was inclined to carry, a pair of either USP's or M9 Berettas, today opting for the USP's in two drop leg holsters on her thighs. A few times she had duel wielded MP5K's in battle, but usually that was restricted to tight urban fighting and close quarters battles only, so generally it was an occasional occurrence at best.

As she set down her pack she notices Barkhorn slowly hovering over the heads of the Loyalists, inspecting each and every soldier in formation. A feeling of fulfillment washed over her, having felt glad in helping Gertrud out when she was hitting a major rough patch. With her magic being out of action for quite a while, something that she herself was amazed by and the younger girls moral dropping like a proverbial rock, it made the Sergeant feel good that she helped a fellow warrior out. After taking a moment to marvel at the Witch that hailed from Karlsland, which by the way was an odd name to call what is essentially Germany, Yuna returned her attention to her gear.

She enjoyed using weapon systems that were the perfect combination of durability and accuracy, but then again who wouldn't want such traits in a weapon system? Well, aside from stopping power of course. The weapons that she often utilized were ones that could provide that accuracy, though a few of them required meticulous maintenance to ensure they stayed accurate and functioned properly. She didn't mind that however; to her it was a relaxing, almost Zen like exercise. Aside from Meditating; training to ensure that her body's conditioning is maintained in addition to field-stripping and cleaning, and then reassembling her weapons helped keep her focus, sharpen her skills, and finally; in a way she would often struggle to explain to people, helped her feel as though keeps her spiritually centered.

As she goes through her gear she gets an odd feeling; a sort of cold chill right beside her that grabs her attention. Yuna turns to find a young woman who seemed to be exactly her age; she had the most interesting features of white hair and pale skin, though the girls purple eyes stood out as unique... but what stood out more than the color of her iris was the look of this woman's eyes when the Task Force sniper looked at them: they were hard, cold looking eyes. Eyes of a hardened women, a stone cold killer. Yuna had only on occasion seen eye's like that before, the eyes of someone who had gone through a lot of trauma, hardship and tribulation. Someone who had seen and done things. It then became quite a surprise to her when the feeling emanating from this woman suddenly shifts to a warm, bubbly feeling and the woman's face suddenly lights up in child-like awe when the Russian woman's eyes glance over at the former Ranger. The young woman's gaze locks squarely on Yuna's head as a sudden light that wasn't there in her eyes before was burning with intensity.

After taking a moment to adjust to this, she then realizes what may have caught the women's interest. It's probably the hair. She thought to herself. Wouldn't be the first time someone would end up mesmerised by her hair color. Although usually it was at best baffled, confused gawking at the weird hair color or sneers of derision born of preconceived thoughts from judgmental minds. This girl seemed to be genuinely ecstatic, which would be a first. Though I haven't seen that reaction from it before...kind of a pleasant change of pace actually- Her thoughts are interrupted when the young woman started to run her hand through the Task Force Snipers bright blue hair.

The woman's eyes were gazing with wonder at each lock and strand of Yuna's hair, her mouth open in amazement, like a child who had just received a long coveted Christmas present. The woman spoke with a measure of sincere, childlike curiosity. "Such beautiful hair! Is it your actual hair color? I can't tell if it's a dye or not."

Yuna blinked, slowly getting used to the fact the girl was in her personal space. Being the laidback type she was open to the fact that some people had different ideas how personal space worked for them, so it was something she was willing to adjust to. At least the woman wasn't an enemy combatant trying to stick a sharp implement in her person, so in that regard this wasn't too bad. "Well it's not something that can wash out, if that helps answer your question."

The woman's face shone even brighter, almost to an impossible new level. "You mean this is your REAL hair color?!" she asked in amazement, twirling some hair on Yuna's messy pony tail.

Yuna turned a little sheepish. "Kinda-Sorta... it's a bit of a long story really." Now that particular story was, in all honesty, a bit weird, complicated, and to some degree not of any great pleasure reliving. Yuna glanced over at Toad who had one eyebrow raised in mild interest, wondering much like her where this exchange was going. Yuri meanwhile had a very withdrawn, resigned look; she wondered why that was?

"If I may: where were you born and raised?" The woman asks.

"Well I was born in Japan, but I grew up in the US after I hit puberty, so I guess I'm what you'd call a dual-citizen." Yuna explains.

The Russian woman meanwhile, continued to marvel at her, an idle hand still running though the bluenette operators hair. "A well toned, well tanned, Japanese-American woman with such brilliantly beautiful blue hair!" Her eyes then fell on Yuna's G4 operator Backpack and notices the SPR in the packs scabbard. At this the woman is practically bouncing. "And a sniper too! It's almost like a dream! You're a woman after my own heart!" Before Yuna could ask just what the woman was going on about the woman's eyes gave the Task Force operator a quick scan from head to toe while a broad smile placed itself on the woman's lips, her eyes filled with a look that quite suddenly seemed... oddly worrying: a look of possessive desire.

Yuna tries to break the ice a little at this point. "Well I was a sniper back when I was a Ranger, so yeah, I was pretty good in that role. I don't think we have had a chance to introduce our-"

She then looked at Yuna with hopefulness on her face, drawing a step towards the Task Force Sniper. "Are you a virgin?!" she asked excitedly.

Yuna peered at the young woman questioningly, as she took an uneasy step back. "Y-yeah, but I-" The woman suddenly took Yuna by the shoulders and drew her in for a giant kiss. The Blue haired snipers eyes widen in shock at this sudden action, her mind going completely blank.

The woman then pulled back from her and spoke decisively. "It's decided: You shall be my future wife!" she declared loudly with pride.

Yuna, while wearing a hot, reddened face, blinked. Her mind was unable to process what was happening to her just now. She had clocked in many years of combat experience and dealt with a tough childhood growing up but this was uncharted territory for her. The fact a girl actually found her attractive and was following though with extremely forward behavior in that regard was an entirely new situation for the Task Force Woman. "Uwah?" That flummoxed phrase was the only thing she could utter in response to the woman's open declaration. She could see that quite a few eyes were resting on her and this woman making such a bold statement. Yuna tries to regain some sort of cohesive thought process back in her mind and tries to respond to what the Russian woman had declared. "I...um... I'm flattered that you find me... uh...attractive but, uh... I don't really swing that way." She responds absently. Yuna for the most part was attracted to men, though in truth she never really dated, often times she watched from afar. Although her high school years did get... complicated. Hopefully her informing the women of her sexual orientation will help let the purple eyed girl down easily.

The Russian woman's eyes then pull into a very seductive gaze, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. "Oh, you silly, beautiful, blue-haired Ranger ." She cooed in a smooth, alluring voice. "There's no such thing as a straight girl; especially when they get wet enough." The young woman surged into Yuna and engaged another kiss, embracing the bluenette in a bear hug and knocking her off her feet. Yuna fell backwards with the woman on top of her, her head hitting Toad's boot clad feet. She barely caught a glimpse of Toad looking on in slack jawed surprise. As Yuna's lips were assailed by the women's own she found her legs squirming and lightly kicking out as her motor functions became spastic while laying beneath the woman kissing her. Having been a luckless girl in high school who's disinterest in conforming didn't get her any chances with any sort of romantic relationships; this was her first kiss with anyone: man or women.

The women then pulled back and looked deeply into Yuna's eye's. "My name is Cryska..." she purrs passionately. "Tell me your name, my love. Such a beautiful Ranger surely has a beautiful name to match..."

T-this...this isn't good. Yuna swallowed lightly. "S-sergeant Yuna Kotoro... but I'm called Scope by-"

"Yuna... Kotoro..." the women repeated slowly, as if marveled and in awe of the Task Force Snipers name. The women who called herself Cryska pressed herself closely to Yuna, their faces mere inches from each other. She then brought her lips to Yuna's ear and whispered softly. "I must have you..."

Yuna then felt something nestle between her legs, something almost like a- "Whoa-kay! That's not a place for touching! None of tha- JESUS!" At the sudden molestation of her womanly parts Yuna tried to buck Cryska off, but the Russian sniper had a death grip on the Task Force operator, laughing giddily at the attempt to dislodge her.

"Ah, ah, ah my love, you cannot be rid of me so easily!" Cryska chided playfully.

Yuna looked up to Toad who's mouth was still slack and staring wide eyed as the two girls wrestled with each other on the ground, with Yuri standing behind him with a palm on his face. "Toad, stop standing there like a statue trying to catch fly's with your mouth and DO SOMETHING!"

Toad blinked for a moment, as if coming out of a trance. "Urm..uh..." He looks up to the Task Force standing in front of them. "Roach." He saw Cryska cup Yuna's face in her hands and pulls her into her lips. "Ghost?" Next he watches as Yuna tries to push the Russian sniper off of her but Cryska grabs the blue haired woman's wrists and pins her hands to the ground, planting yet another kiss that Yuna tries and fails to escape from. "Soap?!" While Toad's watching, one of Cryska's hands once again went for Yuna's crotch and the other under her rigging and BDU Tunic to reach her breasts, electing a frightened shriek from the former Ranger. Toad bleated. "HEY, GUYS!"

The other operators look behind them, only to be met with the sight of the female member of the 141 being pinned by one of Nikolai's girls. Soap, Ghost and Roach quickly surge forward and take a firm hold of the woman straddling Yuna. After a few attempts at trying to dislodge the assailant the three operators manage to drag her off of their battle sister.

"What the bloody hell is this scrapping about?!" Soap demands angrily.

Ghost shakes his head in disbelief. "Women's gone completely mental! Reign it in lady, stand down!"

Cryska tries to shake the three men off of her. "Let me go! I must have her!"

Roach shoots an angry glare at Cryska. "If you think we're just going to let you beat the crap out of her then you've got another damn thing coming lady!" Scope was one of his friends, and was someone that, though he was reluctant to admit, was someone he felt strong affection for. The idea that someone would try to hurt her really made his blood boil.

"I wasn't hurting her! I would never do such a thing! I was doing just the opposite!" she put in, sounding offended that they would even suggest she would do such a terrible thing to the object of her affections.

"Bullshit! We saw you on top of her, quit lying!" Roach spat as he glared at her, not wanting to take any nonsense.

However Toad responds with a weak, awkward look. "Urm... actually, they weren't... fighting." He looks down at Yuna as she stayed laying on her back in shock, seemingly frozen in place, a look of surprise plastered on her as she was blushing red. "They... we're...urm... they were..."

"They were what?! What were they doing already?! Out with it!" Soap orders the former Marine sniper impatiently.

Yuna blinks a few times, trying to snap herself out her catatonia. "Kissing." Yuna replies with weak surprise in her voice.

The three men look from Yuna to Cryska a few times in genuine surprise, it was clear they were completely floored by what had actually occurred between the two girls. They were unsure if they really heard that right. There is only one, short unanimous response from the three men of the Task Force. "What?" When they look to Cryska she shoots them a smug, satisfied look.

"Told you I wasn't hurting her." she says in a sing-song voice.

Presently Price's voice rings out. "Oi, Soap! Is everything alright over there, what's going on?"

Soap, looks back over his shoulder at Price and responds with a flummoxed look on his face. "Nothing major, old man... just a bit of a small situation that we're working out."

"Anything serious?"

"Uh... nothing we can't handle sir... I think..."

"Alright, just get it taken care of before the transport aircraft is ready. It'll be prepped any minute now."

"Roger that." Soap looks to Roach and motions with his head over to Yuna. "Roach, go check up on Scope."

"Roger." Roach, releases Cryska's collar and quickly moves to Yuna's side, taking her by the hand and helping her up. "Are you alright, Scope?" he asked with worry in his voice.

"Yeah." Once on her feet Yuna sways a little, trying to keep her footing stable. The fact that Cryska's hands were attempting to fondle her more sensitive body parts left her a bit out of sorts. She takes a moment to straighten herself out and takes a deep breath. "Okay...first time I ever had something like THAT happen to me."

"You were...both of you were actually making out?" Roach asked with nervous hesitation, still loathing to believe it to be true and apparently sounding afraid.

"Well she was the kisser and I... um...was kind of..." She thought for a moment and decided to explain using an analogy. "You know that saying about a deer being caught in the headlights?" Roach nods. "It was... kind of like that.".

Gertrud soon approaches the group while wearing a stern look, hovering forwards with her strikers. She shot the group a sharp glare. "Alright! Your all breaking formation! What in the hell is going on around-" She suddenly stops when she sees Ghost and Soap holding Cryska by either arm and Roach trying to hold a weak kneed Yuna up, all the while Toad had a light blush on his cheeks in embarrassment while Yuri pulled down the hood to his snipers smock to hide his eyes, groaning lightly. It didn't take long for her to put two and two together. "Of course it would be Cryska." she sighs.

Soap turned to Gertrud questioningly. "You mean you know about this woman?" he asks.

Gertrud nods. "Yes. And if what I'm assuming what has happened had in fact happened then now you're aware of the fact she is a hopeless womaniser." Gertrud looks down at her posterior and rubs her buttocks, recalling with some discomfort about her earlier encounter with Cryska. "Believe me; both me and my butt are quite familiar with those grabby hands of hers."

Ghost seemed about to say something but instead stopped, looked at Gertrud, then tilted his head in confusion. "Wait, are you saying she grabbed your arse earlier?" he asked.

Gertrud turned to Ghost, with a flat look and stern eyes. "Please don't make me repeat myself." That was an event she was clearly trying to forget. Having it brought up as a reminder wasn't helping.

Soap looked sternly at the Russian woman and spoke forcefully at her. "Listen here miss, you should bloody well know better than to just molest other women spontaneously and touching them intimately without consent. You have to ask permission to touch your peers before actually touching them, that's a rule in military circles if you have forgotten."

Cryska blinked with a look of genuine surprise. "Really? Why didn't anyone say so!?" She looks to Yuna with a big puppy dog look. "Permission to touch, my love?"

The corner of Yuna's mouth crooked downwards, she shook her head and gestured negative with her hands. "Denied." she responds quickly. That was quite enough touching for her for one day.

Cryska's face droops in disappointment. "Aw... your no fun. Oh well, I don't think I need permission anyways. A girl like you is too pretty NOT to touch."

Yuna exhales with a deep blush and looks to Gertrud with a weak smile. "So I guess we weren't the only ones to be on the receiving end of her antics, huh?"

Gertrud made a vocalized sound of resignation as she nodded. "Apparently there were other victims of her advances as well. Such a lack of self control and discipline."

Ghost then looked to Soap questioningly. "So, what do you want to do sir?"

Soap looked at Cryska sternly. "Well, she did commit sexual assault on our girls. That's enough to get her arse locked up in the stockade, maybe even court marshal ." Cryska turned to Soap with a clear look of alarm on her face. Soap looked to Yuna. "Do you want to press charges Scope?"

Gertrud blinks. "Wait: you actually court martial people for such touching?" All nearby heads snap to Gertrud in surprise, except for Roach and Ghost who just clear their throats and cast their eyes to the ground awkwardly.

Soap peers at Barkhorn in disbelief. "Of course we do: unwanted sexual advances and touching like that is very serious! It is a crime of sorts after all! Why, don't you lot have any laws regarding transgressions like that or what?"

Cryska looks at Gertrud with a happily amazed, wide eyed look. "Now I REALLY want to go to your world Gertrud! Please will you take me?"

Gertrud rolled her eyes and ignored Cryska's comment and responds to Captain McTavish with a rather long explanation. "We do, but amongst witches such examples of physical interaction are considered by most a matter handled with various degrees within a Joint Fighter Wing or respective witch unit, depending on the commander. Some are firmer than others in how such matters are enforced. Some witch commanders believe that it helps moral, encourages unit cohesion and strengthens camaraderie while others believe it inappropriate to act with open affection or to engage in such undisciplined acts. Other's still allow their girls agency to sort such matters out themselves, and it's not terribly uncommon for a commander to sometimes encourage intimacy amongst comrade witches should romantic feelings surface. In the case of my unit, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, Minna; Our wing commander, did always forbid unnecessary interaction of any sort with male personnel, but with fellow witches I have never seen much objection from her, but I suppose she has reason's for it being so heavily enforced... then again Karlsland military regulations are amongst the strictest in regards to limiting or forbidding romantic interaction between witches and common soldiers wither rank-and-file, NCO or Officer, although in truth it is a blanket prohibition in all nations military's."

"Huh ..." Yuna blinked "That's... huh..." she wasn't able to articulate very much after taking this bit of information in.

Toad had a look beyond utter confusion, he seemed as though his mind was being stirred with a egg beater in his own skull. "Wait, you mean to tell me that stuff like... like THAT are normal occurrences in your worlds military's? If anybody pulls shit like that in our world they'd have their assess hung from a flagpole, locked up in the clink and then drummed out of the service! Why in the hell would they allow you girls to get away with clear sexual harassment?!" Both the rational man of science and the moral Christian in him could both unanimously agree that this little bit of news was both insane and somewhat unbearable.

Gertrud turns to Toad and shoots him an answer sternly. "Because our world needs every witch we can get on the front lines fighting the Neuroi. The enemy can crush conventional forces easily; it is the duties of witches to ensure humanity survives the war we are fighting! We can't afford to court-martial witches for committing what is, in the grand scheme of things, a minor violation at worst. Court-martials that are to be levied against witches are only for the most severe examples of reckless endangerment, extreme and blatant dereliction of duty, treason or other grave military offences, including any count involving murder, wither attempted or actual, of a comrade in arms; wither soldier or witch." Gertrud huffed sternly. "As annoying and to a degree undisciplined as it may be, we cannot afford losing witches that are much better needed on the frontline fighting the enemy just because of grabby hands thanks to their overactive hormones and awakening libidos of young girls..." After a pause she then added. "Although if you tell anyone back home about that part I just said: I'll deny it. I have to try and maintain discipline as a superior officer somehow; and I'll be damned if you go blabbing that little nugget to anybody!"

The Task Force operators looked at Gertrud, not sure wither to be impressed or terrified of the speech she just gave. Cryska looked on in awe at the young witch. She seemed to be liking the sound of this world the more she heard of it.

Toad tries to rebut weakly. "But...well... I mean... that's not normal!" he was trying to grasp at straws, attempting to argue his thoughts and feelings with the Karlslander.

Roach shrugs. "Maybe not for us, but for them? It's as normal as breathing." Toad just hangs his head in response, unable to think of anything to use in his argument.

Gertrud looked to Yuna questioningly. "So what exactly was Cryska doing to you, Sergeant?" she asked. She wanted to be sure what sort of physical interaction was happening to cause all this in the first place.

Before Yuna could reply the Russian sniper responds promptly. "Fucking!" Cryska declares with pride. A sudden wash of annoyance then crosses her. "Or at least we were going to, before we were so rudely interrupted." she amends, much to the chagrin of the guys. Yuna's hand planted itself to her face as she shook her head in embarrassment.

Gertrud's eye's popped out of their sockets as she blushed. "W-w-w-we don't really have anything like...um...n-not often anything quite to that degree!" She says quickly. "U-usually it's just grabbing boobs-Imeanbreasts! Imean..." She vocalises a stifled groan and looks to Cryska with a stern look. "Gott... why do I fear what might happen if you and the Ensign ever met with each other?"

After taking a good long moment to absorb all this baffling information, Soap looks to Ghost, who was looking straight ahead, looking apparently at anything that wasn't the Captain. "Is any of this Intel true, Lieutenant?" Soap asked the balaclava clad man.

After a delayed reaction, Ghost slowly blinked and sighed heavily before turning to Soap, wearing a flat look. "Well there were a couple examples that happened that I can count on both hands and one foot. One such example involved a thirteen year old Ensign groping a Seventeen year old Captain with a bust bigger then... well... most seventeen year olds should normally have to be quite bloody honest. And that was just the first day Roach and I found ourselves in that world." Cryska squealed in excitement at this; the more she heard of these beautiful maidens in Gertrud's world the more she wanted to go to that reality and "have fun" with them.

Soap looked at Ghost with a slack jaw and a cocked eyebrow before shaking his head. "Ach, bloody bollocksen hell!" He turns to Yuna, trying to move on to the task at hand that he had to deal with. "Yuna. As one of your commanding officers I must ask you: do you want to press charges against this woman?" he asked breathlessly, to which Cryska had a very pained look on her face.

Yuna was about to say something when suddenly she stopped for some reason. Her thoughts went back to the look in Cryska's eyes earlier. Something about the way those eyes looked. There had to be a reason for that. Not to mention Cryska managed to effectively pin Yuna; who was once trained as a United States Army Ranger, trained in SOCP and a few other close combat and hand to hand techniques. And this women, who struck her more as a civilian wearing fatigues; was capable of keeping a good hold on her. There was something more about this woman, the woman sniper of the Task Force had a hunch forming in her mind that she just couldn't shake. She turned around to Yuri. "Hey Yuri?"

A so far quiet and reclusive Yuri looked to Yuna questioningly. "Da?"

She gestures to Cryska. "Is she any good?" she asks plainly.

Yuri looked at Cryska a little bit, exhales lightly and looks skyward. "Sergeant; we have many men and a few women in our ranks that have had prior military experience. They had been given the most grueling of training that only the Motherland could provide. All of them are tough and well trained in the field of soldiering and warfare. We even have snipers like you who are able to take the wings off of flies at five hundred yards..." He then he looks back to Cryska, his mouth shifting. "But having said that: my comrades and I have never seen such a hunter as her. She may have been a civilian, but it was clear when we found her that she was a skilled at taking life. In fact ,with the amount of trouble she gave to Ultranationalist squads on her own was enough for her to earn a multi-million ruble bounty on her head, which is why we allowed her to join us after she asked. So yes, she is, how you say: very good. I would almost go as far as to say exceptional... perhaps even on par with your skills."

Toad looked over to Yuri while pointing at Cryska, with wide eyes. "HER?! A multi-million ruble bounty and on par with Yuna?! Your bullshitten!"

"нет. She may seem strange... perhaps she is strange, but her skill: it is unquestionable. Because of that, while she can be handful sometimes, has earned enough trust of those in our unit to march the battlefield with some better comfort. " He casts a glance at Yuna. "But, it's your choice, Sergeant."

Toad looked to Cryska in dumbfounded amazement. "What in the world did you DO exactly?!" he demanded. By this point everyone else had wondered how a person like Cryska would have a multimillion ruble bounty on her head.

Cryska smiled a lopsided grin. "Well if memory serves me, I...well... I managed to kill about a couple hundred Ultranationalist's..." she turns thoughtful for a moment, trying to recall carefully the events surrounding her receiving a bounty. "...or was that a thousand? The explosions make it hard to remember which it is."

At this the members of the Task Force were at a loss...

Yuna looked back at Cryska, who was now looking at the blue haired woman with pleading, puppy dog eyes. She considered carefully Cryska's fate. Normally she would have gave an answer in the affirmative to deal with what was in her world a very serious offense, which it was. Women in military service often had to work in a prominently male dominated environment, and sometimes you had guys who acted more like immature frat-boys or just plain assholes with no self control or respect to their battle-sisters and committed acts that disgraced the uniform. It was uncommon for women in uniform to do such things to other women in military service but it did happen from time to time. However; having heard of how Gertrud's military life worked in terms of this particular subject and how they needed witches with their highly coveted skills in magic and combat and how they couldn't afford losing them to occasional acts of intimate touching without permission, and how Cryska was allegedly on par with the Task Force woman's skills with a rifle, Yuna was now looking at things with a bit of a new paradigm. Not to mention that Cryska seemed... almost like she may have had genuine feelings and just very little impulse control, although she couldn't say that she knew wither she was like this towards everyone. Somehow that made the Russian woman a little tragic in her eyes. A part of her couldn't be sure why, but Yuna was starting to agree with what Gertrud had told them.

She looks up to Soap. "No sir, charges won't be necessary. If she really is a good shot as people in Nickolai's command says she is... then I want to see for myself. Hell maybe she could really help us out in our missions."

Soap blinked. "Are you sure you don't want to press charges?" He asked again, making sure she really wanted to make such a decision. He had to make sure that this is what she really wanted.

"No sir, no charges." She repeated.

Roach blinked. "Are you sure about that?" Yuna nods which elects a confused look on his face. "But... why, exactly?" he asks her.

She shrugged, her mouth shifting a bit. "I dunno to be honest..." but she thinks on it and tries to convey what reasoning was going through her head. "I guess maybe... anyone who can reach out and touch someone from afar is a fellow artisan in sniping. I guess I want to see her practicing the craft, see where her skill level is at."

Soap and Ghost shared a sideways glance, sighed simultaneously, then let Cryska go once it was sure it was what Yuna wanted. Soap then pointed at the Russian and waved his finger at her. "You behave, you understand?"

Cryska smiled warmly. "Da, Captain!" she responds, then casts a warm look of infatuation at Yuna. The Task Force sniper returned a small smile despite the fact she fact she was still flummoxed. Cryska was an enigma, and though she opted to keep the Russian woman around and figure her out, she knew that she was probably going to be on the receiving end of many more molestation attempts to come. She hoped at least this time she would be ready for them.

Tracking... Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson...

After everyone got settled down Soap returns to his place in the line while Ghost gives his gear one last check, while the others gave their gear a similar once over. However, there was something that Gary wanted to get off his chest to the woman who just tried to forcibly make her way into his friends pants. He took Cryska to the side for a minute to talk with her. Having been Yuna's friend for many years he was very protective of her, he just didn't want to see her getting hurt somehow. Maybe Cryska didn't have any ill intent, but all the same he wanted to make sure she was kept on a tight leash, keep her from going overboard.

"Look, Cryska, I'm not entirely sure where your coming from, but I just want make sure your aware that touching people without their permission is a practice that could get you in a lot of trouble, especially in military circles. You got very lucky that Yuna decided that she didn't want to press charges against you. Just, be a little more careful and learn a little restraint, okay?"

Cryska seemed to pout a little. "But Yuna is a pretty girl, and I like a pretty girl as exotic as her! A warrior of such beauty like that deserves to feel pleasure befitting her beauty!" she puts in adamantly. "I will win her heart; for she will be my future wife!"

Roach raised both his eyebrows and thumbs the side of his chin a little. She wanted to win Yuna's heart? That was her overall plan? "You want to make Yuna your wife?" he asks slowly. "Okay, let's have a look at that for a moment, if you'll allow me to: how long have you known Yuna for?"

"Seven minutes." Came a quick, matter of fact reply. "But I'm sure I will have the opportunity to know her much better in the future."

"And what did you do to establish a first impression?"

"I felt her hair and then kissed her. I was about to do more but you and your comrades stopped me before we could do anything else."

Roach cleared his throat. "Yeah... the likelihood of getting married to her after pulling that little set of numbers isn't very damn good."

Cryska scoffed. "Oh? And how about you, Tommy? You like Yuna, Da?"

"And that's your business, how?" Roach asks flatly.

"Oh? Are you saying you don't like her?" the purple eyed sniper asks smugly. "No problem for me then, much more chance of me winning her heart!"

Aside from being worried about losing any romantic chance with Yuna, which Roach admitted might have been a little selfish, he was more concerned over Cryska's impulsive irrationality and what kind of damage it could potentially cause . That, he had legitimate fears over. Roach's mouth hooks into an annoyed frown and decides to humor the Russian girl. "Alright, let's say for the sake of argument that I might on some level like her and have feelings like that for her, what are you trying to get at?"

Cryska looks thoughtfully at Roach. "How long have you known the Sergeant for?" she asked him.

"Three or four years." He responds. "Which is certainly better than your seven minutes, I'll tell ya that much. Much longer time for Yuna and I to get to know one another and become friends. Stuff like romance and friendship takes time to develop."

"And have you done anything with her in that time, Tommy?" Cryska asks questioningly. She had a level of subtle smugness when she spoke that particular line, as if she already knew the answer.

Roach seemed to realize what she was implying and his eyes listed to the left a bit and at the ground as he hesitantly gave the answer. "Well...no." Unfortunately too much time training and soldiering severely handicapped his already lacking skills in dealing with members of the fairer sex.

Cryska's face was positively alight. "Well since she has yet to belong to anyone and you haven't made an advance despite knowing her for so long; that means it's open season! Clearly you aren't taking initiative, so I'll take it myself!

Roach's mouth shifts. Ever since he and Scope met, Roach felt as though he had crossed paths with a women you'd only meet with once in a lifetime. For the longest time he wanted to hold on to the friendship he had with her, and after serving together in the field for a couple years he started to feel some small form of infatuation but never really acted on his feelings. But mostly he figured he might be able to work up the courage to start some sort of relationship, but he often didn't apply himself. He wasn't sure why, could it have been fear of messing with a good thing? Or maybe he chose to see if she wanted to take initiative? But now, for the first time, someone else was vying for Yuna, even though the deck was somewhat stacked against her, even with the heavy handicap; a part of Roach's mind feared losing Scope, wither it was to gunfire or to losing her heart to someone else with him without even getting a chance to at least try and see if something would even work. A bonfire was ignited under his butt: he would try step up the relationship with Scope.

No more procrastinating or holding back . Bout bloody time I start trying to act on my feelings. Especially with miss gropes-a-lot her trying to make a play. You can't stay idle forever old boy... He thought to himself. "Well, you're going to have a run for your money." He cautions evenly.

Cryska rubbed her chin, then chuckled with a knowing smirk. "Ah, a challenge then? Well the blue haired angel of war may not yet know it, but she will realize that what I said about girls is true. Unless you act quick, you will lose her, Sergeant. Best of luck: I think you'll need it."

With that the sniper skips happily away, leaving Roach alone. While he finally takes in what Cryska said, hoping that her extreme forwardness and poor impulse control might work against her, he realized that despite the fact he had known Yuna for much longer then Cryska; he had no clue how to get a date started with her or anything really about dating or wooing girls. That was something that would serve to be one of his weak points: he had to figure out how to approach Scope and upgrade their relationship from "friends, colleges and squad mates" to "a steady romantic couple."

"Oi, Roach!" Roach looks up to see Captain Price gesturing to the line up of Loyalists. "Get back in line son, the transport aircraft is ready!" the old man ordered.

"Roger that, Captain!" Roach quickly hustles over back at the ranks of men and picks up his gear. Relationship issues involving Yuna had to wait for now. It was time for Gary to get his feet wet.

---

Tracking...

Captain Liam "Hitman" Winters ...

JFT2, Ambush Squad...

Camp Shelby Hattiesburg, Mississippi...

The Captain couldn't help but stair into the room from behind the one-way mirror at these young arrivals. For about an hour he and the American's he was in the presence of were beside themselves, looking on with levels of confusion and discomfort at the four girls in the other room. A pair of American Army Privates, one male the other a female, standing guard, making occasional, wary glances at the teenagers. Even with explanation as to these girl's origins, the whole other reality thing, it was still beyond insanely impossible for him to accept. He hummed evenly, looking over at Colonel Hughes, with him, Jay Lambert, Keating and even Agent Jones from the CIA looking on with flummoxed looks

"So... this is really happening then? I...I know that we saw what we saw and how they just...appeared like that, but seriously? Witches? Magic? Aliens? This is beyond our pay grade, I still feel like this some elaborate April fool's joke." Hughes grunted in acknowledgement, scratching his chin thoughtfully as they were trying to pick through the whole word of mouth they were given.

Sergeant Lambert J shrugged. "Well I can confirm it sir. They are the real deal."

Agent Jones shook his head, scoffed, drank from his cup of coffee and then spoke. "Yeah, and if these girls are witches then I'm the fucking tooth fairy. It's a bullshit story." he put in.

Jay looked over with contempt at the CIA agent. "Oh yeah, because you were really on the ball with what happened to Hunter-2-1 Actual and how both the Rangers and Reservists were in on some sort of desertion plot, because that makes way more fucking sense." he spoke with clear and obvious sarcasm.

The agent looked over at the Sergeant and glared daggers at him. "What the hell did you just say Sergeant? Do you know just how large a pay check I have over you, ya pencil necked boot?!"

Jay eyed the agent challengingly. "Do I look like I give any fucks about your damn paycheck you fucking spook?" He then cast a flat look at the girls in the other room. "Besides, I'd rather be a pencil necked boot then having my head jammed so far up my ass that I can't see passed my own shit. I was there to see for myself all this stuff that you were and are ignoring and lo and behold I was telling the truth; you want to go oh for two and you bet some money on it then it'll be a bet I'll win. I tried being mister nice guy, try and help you out, and at least both the Colonel and Keating were reasonable. You? All you are is a tight assed douchbag without any fucking clue and who needs to get a mail-order blowjob." One thing that was apparent to the Captain was that the Sergeant clearly held a large amount of contempt towards the CIA agent. Then again that wasn't entirely uncommon; Hitman also didn't really care too much for guys like the CIA or any sort of desk jokey agents who couldn't navigate their way around a stack of papers. Civilian intelligence agencies ironically enough were lacking in the one thing they were supposedly good at; intelligence.

Jones glared at the Sergeant and gritted his teeth. "You insubordinate little-"

"Gentlemen!" Hughes looked to both men sternly. "If your done shit slinging we have to get back to the task at hand." Both men fell silent as the Colonel turned back thoughtfully to the alleged witches.

Keating looked though a clipboard filled some of the information that they were given. After she was finished looking through the data she held the clipboard over her chest and sighed. "These girls are child soldiers sir. Psyche evaluations show classic psychological make ups comparable to other such cases, and judging from what they told us they have been trained and thrown into combat for a long time. And that theirs others like them." She shook her head. "I can't imagine what these girls have been put though."

Hitman exhaled, understanding that feeling all too well. "Hell, they remind my kids back home. They have no damned business being on battlefields. Who the hells responsible for sending these kids off to fight; I'd kick his ass if I ever get my hands on him."

Jones's mouth shifted. "It could be some sort of Russian trick." he cautioned.

Lambert peered at the agent in disbelief. "HOW?! They aren't even from the same reality!"

The agent points to the small girl, Sanya Litvak, sitting at the corner of the table alongside the long haired platinum blond, Elia. "That one's a Russian. Could be some sort of new fangled program involving children bring implanted into our territory; secret agents or a mole or something."

"She's a fifteen year old kid you idiot! Seriously, that lump in your throat has got to be your fucking nose." Jay retorts.

Hitman nods. "That and these girls are carrying outdated weapons and wearing vintage uniforms. Hell we have what looks to me a German girl, a Japanese girl, and a Finish girl. And the Russian girl sure as hell strikes me as a kid still enrolled in school if anything. Seems damn unlikely the Russians would even consider doing what your suggesting." His eyes turned to the agent. "And on top of that...they don't have that look."

The agent blinks. "Look?"

"The look you get from taking a human life over time: They don't have it. Even if they are from another reality as both they and the Sergeant claim, it's a reality where our countries aren't fighting each other. Hell they are from four different nations, going on their..." He took a pause as he turned back to the girls and rolled his eyes. "...uniforms alone and their nationality. So that leaves us with what I'm... trying to come to terms with: that they are fighting aliens."

Hughes looks to the INSCOM officer. "What do you think Keating?" he asked her.

"Sir, two of these girls are underage minors, likely being forced into service into being combatants, with the other two, older girls likely to have been fighting since early puberty, if not longer. Articles regarding rights of the child are clear. It appears we have a war crime and basic human rights violations happening in this world." This was still a very jarring little number for them to take in. Kids this young or even younger being used as soldiers? It was in all honesty disturbing, fearing just what sort of horrors and abuse the girls may have gone through.

The most confusing thing however, was that upon hearing of the history of this alleged other world, they found particular deviations and divergences from their worlds history; Julius Caesar surviving his assassination being one such difference. And on top of that that the 1940's was a time when humanity was not a war with the greatest dictator known in all of human history, but an ancient, alien race that vied for Earth for unknown reasons, motivation and the only intent is a mostly hostile one, save for perhaps one attempt to their knowledge which fell though.

"If they are being forced into service then we should try and provide them with sanctuary. If we can we can help them somehow then we should." Hughes looks to Keating and motions to the witches. "Lieutenant Colonel, go talk to them; ask them what the conditions of their service are like, what sort of abuse if any they have suffered, and let them know they don't have to fight anymore.

"Yes sir, right away." With that Keating walked out the door into the hall and proceeded into the adjacent room, while Jones muttered something under his breath. The men continued to observe as Keating took a seat and proceeded to explain things as calmly as possible, trying to speak to them like you would to a confused youth. Save for perhaps Jones and his paranoid opinions, the other men saw these young girls as almost exactly that; young girls. The only ones who were of military age were Minna Wilcke and Mio Sakamoto, both of whom were child soldiers at young ages: the best they could do for them was let them know they could choose to leave service if they so wanted. Eila Juutilainen and Sanya Litvyak meanwhile were minors below the ages required for military service.

The men and Keating were under obligation to ensure these girls wouldn't have to stay in military service. The use of child soldiers was purely and simply a crime, and the fact that they even exist in their world could be seen as humanities greatest of great failures. However, upon Keating asking them if there were any sorts of abuse or exploitation, the girls were in earnest confusion.

At the line of questioning about this Minna blinked. "Lieutenant Colonel, I think there is some misunderstanding, between us. I know that the men who came to our world explained some of the things that happen here, but I would like to make the record clear that are not forced conscripts and that were are treated fairly in our nation's military's." Minna explains. "At least, no worse than most units deal with in terms of battle and chain of command." She added; remembering such events as Maloney and Krupky's attempts to dismantle witch Joint fighter Wings.

"So their... hasn't been any cases of... sexual exploitation?" Keating asks with great hesitation, wanting to make positively sure.

The eyes of the witches went wide in shock. Sakamoto bolted out of her seat as she confronted the Lt. Colonel, doing this however caused the two sentries to flinch and half ready their weapons to be trained on her . "What are you implying?!" She demanded angrily. "To even suggest that soldiers of the Fuso empire would even treat a witch in such a way is an insult! And even if such a deplorable disgrace to the uniform even did try, he would be handed down a penalty befitting such a wretched worm of a bastard!"

Eila noticed the movement of the soldiers behind them and tried to calm Mio down. "M-major, you might want to not blow your top or these guys will blow it off for you!" she warned in a panic.

Keating waved off the sentries and they both stood down with only a little hesitation, then she explained. "I'm sorry, but I'm not meaning to insult you or your countries, just to ask so it can be clear that you haven't gone though anything like that. You must understand: in our world when adhoc insurgent armies and third world militias take and use children as conscripts they are often treated very poorly; they are kept in abysmal living conditions, given the worst of dangerous jobs, used as cannon fodder and especially the case of girls; used as sex slaves."

At this the girls seemed to turn quite pale. Things like this were unthinkable to them, and to hear that such evils happened sickened them deeply. This world they were in still seemed a very dark place, even despite some of the things the five men from this world had explained to them, both the good and the bad.

Sakamoto returned to her seat with a grim look on her face. "I see." the warrior of Fuso spoke at last, but her voice was a dark as midnight. Behind her stoic face was a rage that could be seen blazing in her eye that would rival an Australian Bushfire.

Sanya spoke with a timid voice. "That's terrible..." she whimpered.

Eila clenched her fists in outrage at hearing Keating's explanation, the thought of someone doing such a thing to Sanya was something she would not dare allow. "I wouldn't let ANYBODY do such terrible things to Sanya like that, I'd stop them even if I had to beat them within an inch of their lives!" Minna meanwhile was silent, though a protective look was shining in her eyes, conveying clearly her feelings.

Keating then explained what the intentions of both her and the others were in earnest as the men behind the one way mirror continued to observe, although Hitman's breath was nearly stolen from him when Sakamoto shot out of her chair like that and when the sentries reacted to her sudden outburst. That was way too close for comfort.

At the explanation for the whole line of questioning Minna's face grew somewhat stern. "Lieutenant Colonel, while I understand you are coming from a place of good intentions, they are unfounded. You must understand: witches are essential in humanities fight against the Neuroi in our world. Without us humanity would have been destroyed eons ago and we wouldn't be having this very conversation right now. Yes, many of the girls under my command and by extension the commanders of every other joint fighter wing by all accounts are in fact very young. But it is because we are witches with our magic serving as both shield and sword for our fellow man and because our power weakens as we get older that it is both a duty and obligation to do our part to ensure humanity survives the Neuroi's onslaught of Earth, even though we seem in your eyes to be mere children. And to be clear, we take up this duty and obligation out of our own free will. We want to fight. We want to protect our friends, our families, our countrymen our squad mates... all those who are precious and important to us, and to strangers who look to us to save them. That is why witches are born and why we serve on the front lines."

Jones scoffed at this. "Heh, magic." He scoffed, Minna's little speech lost on him. "That's a good one."

Jay turned to the agent. "You don't believe it?" he asked flatly. Unlike with the Agent, Minna's words touched Jay, despite the reservations of the fact that these girls were so young. They had a lot of guts to willingly enlist or volunteer for combat. There were few grown adults who could handle military life, but these girls had seemed to take to it easily, judging from what they told them.

"Nope." came the agents matter of fact response.

Hitman was more on the fence on the subject, his earlier skepticism replaced with cautious curiosity. "Maybe they can give us a demo of this... magic..." Both the agent and the young Sergeant looked to the Captain questioningly, at which he explained. "Well, if they are from another reality as they say... then I'm guessing they and their reality abide by a few different laws of physics then ours does."

Hughes considered this for moment, then retrieved the walkie talkie what was kept on by his hip, on his belt, then spoke into it to Keating. "Could you ask them for a demonstration of their magic, Lt Colonel?"

Keating heard the message, the subtle nod she gave and her hand pressing to her ear peace being the clue to indicating she received his orders. she then speaks to the girls."If I may, can I see a demonstration of your magic abilities?"

The four girls exchanged glances between each other, as if asking their fellow witches in words unspoken wither they should. At last Minna silently nods to her girls, then looks back to Keating. "Very well. We will do our best to demonstrate our powers to you. As the commanding officer I'll be the first to demonstrate." Minna closed her eyes and began trying call upon her magical abilities. As she was focusing however it was apparent that she found that it was very difficult to call upon her magic. Back in her world her powers were reportedly easy enough to be called upon on what would be almost a whim, save for the smallest focus. But they could tell she found upon coming to this world she was straining to even call upon what she and the other girls called a familiar. After a few moments pass she explains as she tries to bring forth her magic. "Forgive me: usually this is easier to do back in our world... it's not quite as easy in this reality. It might take more effort than normal in your reality."

The agent scoffed again and shook his head, clearly not buying the whole magic thing. Hitman meanwhile kept watching silently with the other two men behind the glass. He wasn't sure why. It seemed like it was important he keeps his eyes squarely on this red-headed German girl, something telling him right in the pit of his stomach that this was going to be important.

Minna's closed eyes tense a little, then her head tilts a little as if straining to hear something. After another few minutes of seemingly nothing, Minna takes a long, deep breath and then exhales. "Krawatte..." At the utterance of the word a pair of wolf ears appears on her head and a wolfs tail just where the base of her tail bone would be, followed up by a woefully weak, dull glow. At this Keating flinched and pulled back in her chair, and the two sentries in the room had a similar reaction of surprise, in addition to a string of curse words.

At this Agent Jones, Colonel Hughes and Hitman stared in wide eyed surprise. Sergeant Jay Lambert meanwhile had a mild look of passive satisfaction, remembering the fact that he had seen this young commanders animal ears and tail before. He still found it weird, but at least he was prepared for it.

Hitman turned to the other men. "Did you see that?" he asked calmly, only a trace hint of surprise in his voice.

"I did." came the Colonel's response. Jones said nothing; he just took a long chug of his coffee while Jay's mouth shifted a little.

"Told ya." Jay states simply.

After another few seconds pass Minna speaks slowly. "Aside from the three people in this room; one male: two female... theirs four men in the adjacent room behind you..." After a stunned silence by the people she had mentioned she continues. "In addition...there are four soldiers passing us in the hallway... headed in the direction of the men in the adjacent room, behind you... as well as a room behind us filled with about seven base personnel... and about fifteen other various personnel, attending to their duties currently in this wing of the building and another thirty inside the main headquarters...strange...that's currently the extent of my magic at this time...normally I can detect individual units at over twenty miles or more..." With her familiar retreating and the dull glow subsiding she looked to Keating patiently. "Is that a satisfactory demonstration?" she asked.

Jones looked out the window of the room he and the other men were in only to see the four soldiers Minna was talking about pass by the window. The agent dropped his coffee mug which promptly broke upon hitting the floor. Minna shouldn't have been able to know there were four soldiers passing by that room and in which direction. The room she and the other girls were in had no windows save for one in the door, which also had a shutter that could only be opened from the outside of the room, and currently it was closed. Hitman and Hughes exchanged tense looks between each other. This was also pretty damn spooky to them, Hughes absently confirmed that little number with the four men passing in the hall.

Keating managed to compose herself enough to speak to the Wing Commander, looking first to the one way mirror and back to the young red head. "How exactly were you able to know all that?" she asked shakily.

"It's an inherent magical ability called "Three Dimensional Space Understanding". It's a spell classified in the perception-lineage and allows me to perceive and discern all nearby targets in every direction, sort out their position, number and classification. Because of this skill it also allows me to notice details about others and also to ensure that unit cohesion in the 501st is maintained... but normally I'd receive greater detail and be able to detect other people and units in a much larger area."

"I see. I was curious about that word you spoke earlier? Krawatte? Was it a spell, or...?"

"Krawatte is the name of the wolf familiar I am bound to. An animal spirit. I was trying to re-establish my connection him, something about this reality is making it difficult for me to do that; I must call upon my familiar so I can use my magic and in turn for my familiar to connect with me and grant me ease of access to use my powers." Noticing Keating's confusion she explains. "Each witch has a familiar that helps serve as a means to bridge a witch to the powers provided to us from the raw either that saturates our world, and, again, in turn use our magical abilities. The familiar helps us easily establish a connection to the spiritual world and the powers of the either provided to us."

"You can communicate with your... animal spirit? Your... familiar?"

"Not in the normal sense of the word. Not every witch can speak with ease to their familiar like you and I are right now, at least not while they manifest only as the ears and tails that appear upon our bodies. A familiar only allows itself to be seen by others only when it wants to which isn't very often, if in fact ever, or under request by its witch; otherwise they only manifest as the ears and tail that you saw on myself. In addition, I've been only able to call upon Krawatte like that thanks to time, experience, training and some measure of patience. Also, very few familiars are known to speak back to their witches."

"Okay then... what of the rest of your squad mates abilities?" At this Minna gave the other girls permission to attempt to show their powers. Unfortunately, it was proving to be a chore for them and each of them showed even greater struggling then Minna did after a good half hour of straining; after a very slow start Eila's attempts at a reading were more general, vague and less helpful than normal, the only thing she was able to predict with any measure of accuracy was that PFC Kones was going to suffer pain from his peptic-ulcer in two minutes, which did eventually happen, mostly caused from stress on his already bothered stomach end even then the prediction was off by an extra two minutes and thirty-five seconds. Sanya's magic needles were almost unnoticeable and was only able to pick up barely audible static from radio transmissions half the distance she is normally able to receive. Mio had it the worst; her Magan's normal bright purple magical glow was like that of a light bulb that sat on the precipice of dying, and to her great disappointment and anxiety Reppumeru's glow was completely gone. Fortunately Minna was able to console her, telling her it was probably due to the laws of this reality they were in. What little magic ability they could muster if at all was shamefully feeble.

Despite the witches critically weakened magical prowess it was enough regardless to shock the men and Keating into belief. Hitman and the others were now firmly standing in the twilight zone, no amount of denial would be able to refute what's in front of them. There were still questions, sure. But there was no question at all that what these young witches have told them was true.

When Keating was finished with her last question, Hughes decided the to enter the room with Hitman requesting to join him and being allowed to do so. Upon entering, with Hitman standing off to the side, Hughes took a seat next to Keating and spoke to Minna, giving a brief salutation before addressing her. "Wing Commander, I want to thank you for co-operating with us. I realize that we may have been intrusive to a degree but with the nature of our world compounded by the fact you and many of your fellow witches are minors that we must ensure precautions are taken and protocol is followed. I hope we haven't been too big an inconvenience."

"I understand sir. I'm just glad we were able to help shed some light for you."

Hughes nodded and proceeded with the whole point of him coming into the room in the first place. "So what can we help you with, Wing Commander?"

Minna's eyes lit up at that question, but her face remained professional. "We need your help in finding one of our squad mates." She took out a faded photograph from her tunic, showing her standing alongside two other girls while the three of them wore German winter uniforms during a snowy day. She pointed to the one girl with the light grey-green winter coat , cap and pigtails, an MG42 at rest on her right shoulder. "This is our missing witch: Captain Gertrud Barkhorn. She has been missing for over a month and unfortunately due to constant Neuroi Raids and assaults in addition to a lack of clearance until now we haven't been able to launch a search and rescue operation."

"So she's gone AWOL?" Hitman asked.

Minna shook her head. "MIA actually, and not entirely by choice. There was a very complicated series of events that led up to it, but in essence she was helping both your men and two Special Operations soldiers return to this reality when Neuroi assaulted the portal they were trying to get to. After your men and the operators got separated, Captain Barkhon helped to provide air cover, unfortunately she wound up getting transported to this world along with the two members of Task Force 141."

There was a long moment of silence as the Colonel and Keating exchanged worrying looks with each other. Hughes leaned forward. "I'm sorry, did you say Task Force 141?"

Minna nods. "Yes sir."

Hughes drew a heavy sigh. "Mamm, I'm sorry to tell you this, but Task Force 141 is as of a month ago a disavowed military unit and its members considered terrorists to be killed or captured."

"WHAT!?" Mio demanded angrily. "You're telling me that the Captain is in the company of wanted criminals!?"

"It seems that way." Hughes responds.

"But...they didn't seem like bad people..." Sanya protests weakly, still unsure if she could believe this. Eila had a flustered look, with a clear look of unease on her face.

Minna spoke with urgency. "Colonel, please tell me what crime these people have committed to have themselves branded as a rouge unit?"

Hughes explains. "They are wanted for the murder of war hero General Sheppard and reportedly collaborating with a known terrorist, although Intel from members of Hunter-2-1 claim that the unit was betrayed by the General after an alleged act of treason. That's still being investigated."

At hearing the explanation realization seems to hit Minna as she responds, remembering a past conversation she had with the two operators. "Forgive me sir, but that seems to me as both confusing and unlikely: the two members of the Task Force that were in our care explained that their mission was to eliminate a terrorist named Makarov and were conducting a mission in the Cuscus Mountains to do just that when the General betrayed them. They showed clear hatred towards both men when they told us this information."

"Is there any proof that can be given that can confirm this?" he asked.

Minna sighed. "No sir. I'm afraid not." she admits.

Hughes exhales, then asks a question of the Karlslander. "This girl, Captain Barkhorn: did she join these two men willingly?"

Minna breaths evenly. "It's uncertain, there were reports that she was under duress, although one of my girls reports that she was complying willingly in order to protect them from a... rather unpleasant VIP who sought to take them and your own men prisoner. Regardless of the circumstances, it is utmost importance for us to find the Captain. We require help from you to help find our missing friend; you're the only ones we know that can even be of remote help in finding her."

Hitman turns to the Colonel with a look of resolve. He was sadly no stranger to losing good men and women under his command, so he knew where Minna Wilcke was coming from. If it were one of his soldiers MIA he would do anything, even if it meant moving heaven and Earth to get them back home. After hearing the whole situation he felt compelled to do what he believed to be right. "Sir, my men and I can try and track down the Captain and bring her back home to her unit. We can trace whatever Intel we need to and once we get something solid we can leave within the hour. Just say the word for my men and I to do, and we will do."

Hughes spoke evenly. "That's commendable Captain, but unfortunately we flew you and your unit into the country for a mission that takes priority. If those aliens are as bad as the boys of Hunter-2-1 and these young ladies made them out to be then it is within our best interest to hunt em down and wipe em out. And seeing as our forces are tied up with the Russians, we will need your expertise in hunting down these extraterrestrials." Noticing the disheartened looks on the witches at saying that he speaks apologetically to them. "In regards to your predicament I wish I could help you in finding your missing girl, but the problem is that the 141 has been off the grid for a little over a month since they were disavowed. We are having a hard enough time trying to track them down and ensure they are either brought in or brought down; they are top tier operators with underground contacts. We're running around the clock trying to find them, and so far the nearest thing we got trying to track them is something about a some sort of possible activity in Parrots Beak, Guinea but the trail runs cold after that. Not to mention most of our intelligence resources have been diverted to deal with the Russian counter offensive; we have only a skeleton crew working on tracking the Task Force."

Eila spoke with a pleading voice. "But we can't just give up! We have to try and find her! I know that you have your own war to fight, but you just have to help us!"

Minna's eyes looked upon Hughes with a desperate, pleading look, the thought of being unable to find Gertrud after all this time and effort was more then she and the others could bear. "Colonel... please..."

Hughes wore a guilty look. "The best I can offer is that we can put a BOLO out for her. Capture orders only: that way if anyone on our side finds her upon getting a bead on em and converge on the Task Force they can make sure she is brought back alive and we can send her your way. I'm sorry, at the moment that's the best I can do right now." The witches moral sunk like a brick being cast into the ocean. Crestfallen they sat in their chairs as the grim reality set in, what little hope they had dashed. They weren't any closer to finding their squad mate... their friend. Hughes slowly got up from his chair. "For the moment, as far I can see at any rate, you four are guests on our base so we will extend every courtesy. If you need anything we will ensure that your made comfortable." He looked over to the Captain. "Hitman, I'll need you and your team members to gather up in the briefing room. You'll get your orders there, understood?"

Hitman looked to the four gloomy looking girls for what seemed like a while, before he finally sighs. "Understood. I'll gather my people up and have them meet ASAP." One thing that Hitman never did like is seeing long, sad faces on kids, being a loving, if awkward father. Seeing the witches so heartbroken made the JTF2 Team Leader's heart weigh heavy in his chest. Unfortunately, he had orders: soldiers followed orders. And good officers had to know how to both give and take those orders. Even though this time he didn't like them, for more reasons than one. But he and his men were flown into the States for a specific mission in mind. And it involved the most deadly and daunting enemy he and his men would have to face in their entire lives in military service.

Loud squawking suddenly came from Hughe's radio, he retrieved it and placed it to his head. "Yes, what is it?" More loud garbling came over the radio, the Colonels face quickly turned pale. "W-what? S-say again?" Another response came, more long winded then the last. "Roger that, do what you can." The Colonel looked to Hitman with a grim look. "Captain, you'll need to get briefed on the move... things have gotten ugly for us..."

---

Hunter-2-1 75th Ranger Regiment

Tracking... Sergeant Foley...

Location... New York...

The sounds of terrified, panicked screams, gunfire, cannon reports, laser fire, alien screeches and every curse word known to man filled the air. Radio traffic was filled with a cacophony of indiscernible shouting and panicked voices, any attempts at giving coherent orders was drowned out by the background noise. Foley, his men and their comrades in uniform were fleeing for their lives from an entire column of Neuroi that both the Sergeant and Corporal had learned were called "Turtles" thanks to the witches.

The clanking of metal limbs impacting the ground was a frightening sound for their fellow service men to hear, though the scariest thing of all was the lasers. It was a scene out of a nightmarish science fiction movie. There were squads that were trying to hold their ground or otherwise engaging in frontal assaults but as Foley and Dunn had witnessed and could attest these tactics were proving to cause them more casualties then they could inflict.

The pair knew that taking Neuroi head on in a fight would get them killed and fast. There was only two things you could do: Ambush the enemy or run like hell. For now, Foley opted for the latter. Even with just seven minutes of the Neuroi arriving, they had completely wiped out nine whole platoons, two motorized columns, twelve tanks and six flights of aircraft. And apparently it seemed like the Neuroi were not even trying to linger on the battlefield; judging from their movement they seemed to be red lining their forces to some unknown rally point across the Russian, American front line.

One of the Ranger's screamed hoarsely while they were on the run. "Jesus Christ what the fuck are these things?!"

"Who fucking cares what they are! How the hell can we kill them!?" A Marine shot back.

"Oh god were going to die, man. Game over!" another soldier sobbed.

Foley tried to give the men orders as a laser from the Neuroi pursuing them swiped its way into a nearby building. "Everyone keep calm! Don't stop running and do not engage them head on: we are severely out gunned by these guys!"

Dunn also put in his own piece of helpful advise. "We'll need the big guns if we want a chance to even try killing these guys. Their armor is thick as hell and they can regenerate! Our rifles and MG's won't do much of anything against a city bus sized metal bastard!" he shouted.

"You know what these things are?!" Tanner Demands. The 1st Sergeant, along with his men were clearly hitting new levels of stress. This was the first time that anyone in their would have to fight Neuroi, not including the two rangers: Foley and Dunn,Thier currently MIA Private; James Ramirez and of course Roach and Ghost. With everyone else having no knowledge as to how to combat this new enemy it was proving to be a massive bloodbath.

"They're called Neuroi: tough and powerful sons-of-bitches!" Foley replied. So far as the Sergeant knew he, Dunn, and now by extension their fellow Ranger's in their unit as well as the adjoining Marines at their side knew what they were fighting now. Everyone else was rolling the dice in battle and letting them land where they may against an unknown enemy. "Only way to kill them is by destroying their Core: think of it as a weak point to hit!"

"Oh, we are so fucked dude!" One Ranger blurts out. Clearly he and every other solider on the battlefield was freaking out epically. The only ones who weren't were Dunn and Foley. They both seemed more annoyed if anything, mild panic may have been underneath that annoyance, but it was still being over shadowed.

A pair of A-10 Warthogs was approaching from the east, the direction the force of Rangers and Marines were headed. As they passed the troops overhead the two ground attack aircraft strafed the Neuroi with their GAU-8's and a couple well placed missiles. Most of the Turtles were staggered from the Gau-8's, only four of the walkers got killed this way, but the four missiles that were fired had a good effect on target; three of the four targeted Neuroi were destroyed and the other was damaged, it's left side obliterated. The alien started to repair its damage steadily, while its allies pressed forward, trying to blaze a path for Neuroi units that were behind them.

Unfortunately for the A-10's for buying the men on the ground a brief moment of respite, a wing of six Neuroi aircraft approached and shot both aircraft down for their troubles. Both pilots were vaporized along with their aircraft, the only remains were the tips of both crafts wings that began tumbling to the ground bellow. There was another string of curses as the Neuroi overhead kept flying, banking around and headed out towards the harbor. Half the Turtles split off from the column and down side streets for reasons known only to the alien machines.

As the American troops continued to run and upon reaching an intersection they suddenly froze. A Russian Unit of around twenty men had also entered an intersection a block down. Both American and Russian men took notice of each other. They stared at each other for a moment as if briefly stunned by the fact they were in each other's presence. One man on the American's side shouted in anger. A Russian man mirrored him. Foley was about to give an order to hold fire but gunfire from both sides already erupts, five men on either side getting killed by small arms fire.

This doesn't last long however, as another laser from a passing Neuroi aircraft disrupts the engagement of the humans below, cutting down a swath men on both sides. Foley barked an order loudly at his men. "FORGET THE RUSSIANS! WE NEED TO MAKE SURE WE SURVIVE: MOVE YOUR GOD-DAMNED-ASSES BEFORE THEY GET ATOMIZED! GO! GO! GO!" It looked like, for the time being, that settling old scores, grudges and feuds with their fellow man would have to wait. The Russian officer on the enemy side apparently had the same thoughts, ordering his men to break engagement with their old enemy and retreat.

Apparently the possibility of getting zapped by alien lasers proved to be highly motivating factor to making his unit comply with his orders, and so they all ran. Foley knew he needed Anti-tank weaponry, armor, and air support and needed to use it conservatively if they even had a stone's throw of a chance of taking on Neuroi. Knowing both the brass and everyone else currently on the field they were trying to hit the Neuroi with numbers and full frontal assaults, but as the shouts and screams over the radio were demonstrating that this was proving to be a costly plan. And what few forces that weren't taking Neuroi head on were either in full retreat or hiding as best they could. Foley noticed a parking garage and ordered them to take cover and go silent. Foley knew he and his men were ill equipped to take on the Alien forces at this time. To try to fight would have been nothing short of suicide. The mission right now was to survive, and to try and get word out how to defeat the Neuroi before their forces in New York were wiped out.

For now that was their only mission...

---

Tracking... Yuri...

Task Force 141- Disavowed...

Location... Sierra Leone, Africa...

Status... conducting mission to find precious cargo...

Africa: a continent of vast plains, humid jungle and exotic wildlife. And depending where you were; a proverbial no-man's land. To most NATO forces, an assignment to most regions in Africa was as bad as serving a tour in Afghanistan. Both these locations in the world often prove to be the most taxing and stressful to a soldier, but for different reasons. In the Stan you had to worry about Middle eastern extremists with AK's, RPG's and a century's worth of passed down rage and dogma from the previous generation declaring holy war after holy war, trying to convert, punish and silence anyone or anything that was different or against their beliefs.

Here in Africa it was warlords and their militias cutting paths of bloodshed and barbarity for the sake of power and control. In Africa the strong survive while the weak are often frightened into obedience, forced to bend to the will of power mad men with ambition who vied for their own interests and caring only for what satisfied them. Those who did not obey were bullied, beaten, tortured, maimed or killed. Although mostly that could happen to you anyway regardless of wither you complied or not.

Like the case of the Lion and the Gazelle, it was a matter of sorting out who was hunter and who was prey. When it came to the human animal this was no different: Hunter? Or Prey? People fell under these two categories, it was a matter of figuring out who was what.

To Yuri and his thoughts on where he and his comrades stood as he and the other operators eased slowly up from beneath the surface of the river's trickling waters, the answer was obvious...

Price spoke as he stood fully erect in the river. "Nikolai, we're just outside the village."

"Copy. I'll pick you up in one hour."

Price then sent a message over to Barkhorn, who was at this time airborne. "Valkyrie, what's your status?"

"Currently flying at high altitude in the clouds just east of you. Do you want me to lower altitude to operational ceiling?"

"Very well, just make sure you don't get too low, don't want you getting spotted, you copy?"

"Roger. If you need me I'll be close by."

Roach exhaled as he tried to squeeze his balaclava dry while it rested over his head. "Well, this takes me back." He turns to Ghost, pulling back the charging handle of his M4A1. "How about you?"

"Sure does mate, reminds me a bit of that time back in Chiapas." the Lieutenant mused, keeping to his ACR again for this Mission.

Scope kept her Mark12 SPR aimed straight ahead at where she was looking at, smirking as water rushed off her helmet, uniform and weapon. "Feet wet, right?"

Roach scoffed lightly. "You know it." He then noticed a familiar white haired sniper ease forward through the water, SVU in hand, as well. Yuri pulled back the charging handle of his MK14. The Russian man sent a blunt, neutral look to the British operator, then looked to the right flank, off into the thicket that flanked the river.

Cryska meanwhile was the only one who kept silent. Yuri and the others were quick to notice that when they were back at Nikolai's safe house and during embarkation that Russian woman was bubbly and full of energy, almost like a hyper, sex crazed schoolgirl, as Yuna would attest. However, the closer they got to their mission objective; the closer the time came for the Task Force to perform a HALO jump from the transport while the rest of Nikolai's men prepped for further orders at the African safe house that her personality undergone a steady shift. She became more and more subdued and stoic, the light in her eyes replaced with a cold look in them. The Task Force wasn't sure just what was up with that. Yuna tried to get a read on Cryska but found she was unable to figure her out as of yet. Yuri however had gotten used to this the more he worked with the Russian woman.

Price voiced before the drop in that he was sure there was a story behind the Russian sniper, but what that story entailed would have to wait for now. The older Captain motioned forwards. "The factory isn't far from here. Makarov's cargo should be there. Keep it silent. Let's move."

"Maintain a low profile." Soap cautioned. "The militia's all over this area."

Toad nods, his M4A1 fully locked and load. "Roger that Captain."

"Soap, try not to die this time." Price ribbed gently to the younger Captain.

The younger Captain scoffed. "You worry about yourself, old man."

The Task Force soldiers make their way up the stream, wading through the water to their objective. Yuri had misgivings about some of their missions. Dealing with Makarov would not be easy; remembering the Russian terrorists assault on the safe house back in India. He had to admit that getting bombed by a UAV wasn't in any way shape or form a good time. Although it would be safe to assume that no one would really call that a good time either. But so long as Makrov was hunted down and eliminated, the ex-spetsnaz man would endure.

Presently as he continued to move through the water he overheard Yuna and Roach speaking quietly amongst themselves. Though in ear shot he tried to avoid listening in too hard, but he managed to hear an exchange between the two operators.

"...well, I was just thinking, after this mission is over... urm... I dunno really. You like movies, right?" Roach asks awkwardly.

"Well, yeah, I don't mind a good flick. But why are you brining this up now?" Yuna responds with a questioning tone.

"Well... that is to say... I was just thinking we could hang out, kick back, have something resembling R&R. Maybe even food or something."

"I don't think now's exactly the best time to talk about this Roach." Yuna points out flatly.

"I know, you're totally right about that. We can plan later or something. Later is good." Price looked back and hushed both Sergeants sternly into silence. Cryska seemed to hover close to Yuna, which the blue haired girl was quick to notice, but didn't comment on it. After several minutes of wading through water they squad happens upon a small, rickety bridge with a road resting on either end of it. The sound of an engine approaching is not without notice to the Task Force.

"Vehicles approaching." Soap warns urgently.

Price quickly barked an order to the squad. "Get down!" he hissed.

Everyone quickly got to cover of the tall grass and bulrushes as the vehicle's began to approach the bridge. The trucks stop and let one man off, apparently a man serving as a foot patrol of the area. The man says something to his compatriots and begins his patrol, the vehicles driving off across the bridge for reasons unknown but as of now was of little relevance. Yuri's breath catches in his throat as the man seems to peer in Soap's direction and approaches, almost as though the young Captain was spotted by the African man. Soap however anticipated the approaching man's body language; as the foot mobile reached the edge of the bank the Captain's combat knife found its way into the man's neck, and with a yank of the man's shirt Soap pitched the lifeless body into the river. A perfectly executed knife takedown.

Price nodded approvingly and turned to the rest of the squad. "Move."

Moving up the bank and down the road the squad moved as silently as possible, moving through thickets in order to avoid detection. The flies were murder on the squad as they moved through the tall grass, Toad slapped one off his cheek, cursing quietly and wishing he packed some "bug juice" for this mission to keep from being eaten alive by the local insects. They didn't march for very long until they came across a small, rundown shed.

"Two x-rays, eleven o'clock." Soap noted that they had company.

In front of the door to the shed were a pair of militia soldiers who were busy at work moving bodies from one side of clearing to the other; many of the slain were men, women and even children. Villagers who didn't heed the wants of the militia.

Muted grunts of frustration and anger escaped the throats of the Task Force. Yuri exhaled sharply out his nose while seething in rage at an old memory that was triggered by the terrible sight before him. As his eyes traveled to Yuna he could see that while her face was passive that her jaw clenched and unclenched repeatedly; it was ventured that she was trying to maintain control of her focus and emotions. She was succeeding but it was clear that she was ired by what she saw. Cryska meanwhile wore a colder look on her face the normal and her mouth pulled into a scowl. This was a transgression most severe, one that would be avenged by the weapons and wills of the Task Force.

Price gave the order to allow his men to do just that. "Take 'em out." Yuri's MK14 discharged, soon followed by Toads M4A1 chattering quietly and that of Roach's rifle following suit. The two men dropped as they were about to move yet another body.

"Clear." Soap muttered.

Price motions the squad forward. "Good, let's move." As they approached the shed their path took them close to the bodies of the slain villagers, seeing clearly for themselves the barbarity of the local Militia had inflicted. Many of the men were riddled with more bullet wounds then the holes you'd find in Swiss cheese. The women and young girls had suffered even worse treatment, their body's beaten and violated before having hot lead fired into their bodies..

Ghost sighed with disappointment. "Bloody Christ... I'm glad Trudy isn't seeing this..." he mutters.

"Too brutal for her?" Toad asked.

Ghost shook his head. "Knowing her she'd have gone loud the second she laid her eyes on this."

Yuna blinked. "Oh? How do you figure?"

"Let's just say that beneath her disciplined, well oiled, military exterior is a hot blooded young girl that is trying to get out sometimes." he explained.

While the Lieutenant explained Cryska muttered something under her breath and she stepped ON one of the killed militia soldiers as she passed over him, clearly the action was deliberate. While the Russian girl made her feelings for the dead men apparent Yuna grunted in response to the Lieutenant's answer. "Huh, I guess I wasn't the only one to get that vibe then."

Presently Gertrud spoke up over the radio, catching some of the exchange. "Is everything alright, what's wrong?"

Ghost responds a little quick to her question."It's alright luv. Just pretty rough down here, nothing we can't handle though." It was clear he didn't want the Karlslander to know what things were looking like with their boots on the ground.

"Are you sure your okay?"

"So far, don't worry, when we need ya we'll let you know lass."

As everyone moved through the shed and into a small, decrepit tin roofed building the sound of AK fire sounded out. Price took a moment to gaze outside a window for a second. He made a gesture with his hand that indicated that there were about seven foot mobiles. Yuri crept up to the same window and stole a peek outside. He saw one militia solider was firing his assault rifle into the air while his buddies we setting about their tasks. One man's task was ominous; he held a Jerry can at his side while a partner of his was speaking to a cowering man who was being held captive. It was quite clear what they planned to do to their prisoner.

The younger captain gazed out the window for a moment then cursed silently. "They're gonna torch the poor bastard." Soap hissed.

Gertrud heard that and spoke with a mixture of shock and anger. "WHO"S going to do WHAT?!" she demanded.

Price then spoke, trying to calm Gertrud's sudden burst of anger. "Don't worry lass, we won't let that happen. " He looked to his men. "Let's light them up before they light him up." The sentiment was shared as the weapons of the Task Force raise and the squad sighted their targets. Yuri took aim at the man with the Jerry can , his crosshairs falling on the man's heart, what little of it there was. As the man lifted his Jerry can Price gave the order. "Take them out."

Yuri fired twice at the man, the first shot hitting the target squarely in the chest and the second shot fired was aimed at the man's head, the back of the bastards skull blowing out behind him. By the time the militia saw the man with the jerry can slump to the ground and spill the can of petrol that the weapons of the other operators soon followed, taking out their targets in perfect timing. They didn't even know what hit em. The man who was about to be set alight looked around in confusion and fear, but upon seeing the squad exit the building he gave a hasty thanks before running off as fast as he could.

Price then motions to the outskirts of a village several yards away, towards where their objective may be found. "Move." Price continued to lead the squad ahead. Even with their current numbers, he still wanted to act with caution; they had no clue what they were getting into or what would be waiting for them.

As they moved Gertrud spoke again. "Is all well?" She asked.

"Yeah lass, we managed to save that lads bacon. He was a little spooked, but he's fine otherwise." Soap replied, trying to put the girl at ease. They could all hear her breathe a sigh of relief over on the radio.

"That's good, I'm glad to hear that."

Toad hitched an eyebrow in bemusement. "She really cares about people here, doesn't she?"

Ghost looks firmly at the former Marine, looking at him as though he said something stupid. "She's a witch mate: girls like her were born to protect people. It comes with the role. She may be stern and straight-laced but make no mistake, that girl can apply herself." he responds.

Toad blinks, but then sighs sheepishly. "Yeah... I guess that's true..." He then gives a small smile. "She's good people, a little weird... but good."

"She is true solider: not only in her discipline, but also in her heart." Yuri muses absently.

Ghost turned to Yuri, surprised that the normally reclusive Russian man spoke just now, but what he said was something was apparently what the British man could agree with. "Took the words out of my mouth mate."

Yuri was left with his own thoughts thinking back to an earlier moment where he, Nikolai and Price needed to get into contact with one of Nikolai's old contacts after digging for full Intel, hopefully to get a message out to the Russian president.

---

Tracking... Andrie Harkov, Russian FSO Agent...

Il-96-300PU - "Command Point"...

Status: Enroot to Hamburg for Peace Summit...

Andrei Harkov kept close to President Vorshevsky as they were approaching the conference room of the aircraft. The president had just finished speaking to his daughter, it was clear she didn't like Vasili Zhukov, but then again nobody like the man on a personal level, which made Zhukov all the more effective at the jobs he was assigned to, not needing to care about what others thought of him. The president was growing weary of the loss of life to his people, and that of the soldiers fighting for his country. Not to mention he knew that as it stood that for Russia to stand intact that they had to make peace with the enemy, and make allies with them.

The Ultranationalist hardliners, of course didn't like this...

There was ample disagreement from not only Zhukov but a few others in the cabinet. They didn't want peace: they were out for blood. Harkov's own personal opinions on the matter were rendered unimportant in his mind. His job was what was important. Both he and fellow agent Fedorov flanked either side of the President, with a couple other security agents of Team-1 guarding the room. As the cabinet argued their positions it was at this point the Russian Agent's phone vibrated in his pocket.

Strange he wasn't expecting a call.

His eye's glance over to Fedorov who glances back questioningly. Harkov retrieved his phone and checked who was calling him. He blinked at what he saw on the caller I.D: Nikolai. An old acquaintance in Russian military circles and sometimes offered his old friend insights as to affairs in the motherland. The Agent hadn't heard from the man since he went off the grid, so why the call now? He answered incoming phone call with a furrowing brow. "Hello?"

The voice that speaks isn't his old acquaintance, but that of a British man. "Agent Harkov?" The agent blinks, his eyes crooked into a look of suspicion. He was about to ask this mysterious voice who he was but his questions are halted before they begin. "Nikolai wanted me to tell you that: "The pot is boiling." the voice says evenly.

Harkov's eyes widened. That was an old password that his old comrade used to give warning; that danger is fast approaching. That could only mean that this man was somehow working with Nikolai.

"I need you to let me speak to the President Vorshevsky, it's intrinsically vital that I speak with him. I have information on a move being made by Makarov, the airplane is going to be hijacked in mid flight."

If Nikolai was going to such lengths to do all this then it must be assumed it was of dire importance. Harkov turned to the Russian President. "Mr. President, forgive me, I have a phone call for you from someone saying that the aircraft is going to be hijacked."

The brought silence from the cabinet in the conference room. The president looks to the phone in the agent's hand and takes it, places it on the table and turns up the volume for everyone to hear.. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Price, sir." The eyes of those in the cabinet fixate in surprise on the phone, recognizing the name of a wanted man. Before any sort of outbursts over the fact they were currently speaking to the leader of a disavowed unit the British man continued. "I'm afraid neither of us has much time, not to mention that I'm taking a big gamble doing this but I had to give you a warning: I have Intel that indicates that Makarov is making a play to hijack the plane and capture you, Mr President."

The president looked about the room with unease at the now tense people in the room. A combination of suspicion and concern filled the faces of the cabinet. "Is this really true? How do we know it's not a lie?" he asked questioningly.

"Because we both know that when Makarov wants something no one around him is safe, that goes double for those he needs for his plans and agendas." Some of the cabinet start to dismiss this but their words a cut off by the sudden sound of gunfire. It was at this point that every face in the room pales, eyes fixated on the door to the conference room, Harkov and the agents get ready to defend the president, weapons drawn and trained on the door. Price is heard humming flatly, it seemed he could hear the gunfire over the phone. "That's Makarov's men. Whatever you do Mr President; do not allow yourself to be captured; Makarov's men will be waiting for you on the ground once the plane comes down, possibly even has transport waiting to move you. He wants you for something, for what I'm not sure, but do not allow him to get what he wants." There was a short pause. "Good luck... and hit the deck." At the moment the phone cuts off, the door to conference room blows inward, automatic gunfire soon following...

Harkov's pistol returns incoming fire as some members of the cabinet are cut down by the hail of lead. With the assailants to the room killed the agent takes the President by the arm: the safety of his charge was now paramount amongst everything else.

Tracking...

Flight Lieutenant Takei Junko...

504th Joint Fighter Wing: Ardor Witches...

Location... East of the Venezia- Romagna border...

Status... members of the 504th have made contact with Neuroi Air Units, now proceeding to intercept and engage...

"Angie, how many do you see?"

"Nine Laro's. Two Diomedia."

"Dom, what about you and Jane?"

"Don't know how many Diomedia there are, five that I can see maybe, but Damn, the Neuroi really aren't joking around this time, aren't they Jane?" The sound of a Laro's type Neuroi exploding under Dominica's gunfire signaled the start of the battle, the Liberion girl already throwing herself against the enemy's unit's without caring about the opposing forces numbers.

Junko heard Jane's voice whimper over the com channel though her comlink and chastise the other girl for flying off to recklessly engage the enemy. The 504th was really being hit hard with Neuroi raids that infiltrated the territory around their base. Despite their best efforts at fighting back against the alien threat they had already suffered casualties with Pilot Officer Nakajima Nishiki and Pilot Officer Suwa Amaki getting shot down providing cover for civilians that were under evacuation orders a week ago. The two pilot officers managed to hold the line long enough for most of the civilians to escape, but in doing so they received serious injuries after suffering striker damage and crashing to the ground below. The two Fuso girls had been ordered to be confined to their beds until they healed up.

Until that was done, the five girls in the air had to take care of things in Romagnan airspace. The only other girls; Fernandia Malvezzi, Luciana Mazzei and Martina Crespi were left in charge of watching the base in case the enemy chose to raid it. Federica Doglio, the commanding officer of the 504th would have been counted amongst those on base ready to sortie, but she had pre-existing battlefield wounds that were slow to heal, so she could deploy with her striker only when it was critically desperate, otherwise she was under doctors orders to avoid doing so.

Flying Officer Patricia Schade, called "Patti" by her friends, then spoke with a cheerful tone. "Ah, there's another ten Laro's using the clouds for cover. Three more Diomedia. Which ones do you want us to take care of first mamm?"

Junko gave the squad her orders. "Patti, Angie, the three of us will focus on the Diomedia. Dom, will you and Jane be able to handle the Laro's on your own, can you tell me how many are you can see?"

"So long as Jane's by my side we can take these guys, doesn't matter how many there are: I'll knock them dead." Came a confident reply. "There: that one's first, let's go give em the ol "one two punch" sweetheart." Whenever Dominica's dearest wife Jane was concerned Dom was always the direct one when it came to the romance of the one who held her affection. And because she often threw herself at the enemy before knowing how many of them there were, she often wound up dragging Jane along behind her, if only because her wife was worried sick about both of their safety on the battlefield.

"D-dom! Be careful, don't get ahead of me like that!" Jane meanwhile often hoped that there would be some measure of prudence and discretion from her reckless Dom's simplistic and straight forward combat style. But by now after a few years of serving as Dominica's wingman, half of those years dating each other and shortly after the start of this year finally married to the girl she had fallen in love with, she knew that despite her love's lackadaisical facade she was at heart a spirited, hot-blooded witch. And passion? Jane found out that her beloved had it in spades; in more ways than one!

Junko sighed: knowing Gentile she was going to dash right into the thicket of the enemy's forces and keep pounding them like a boxer trading blows in the ring with his opponent. An ironic analogy, considering that boxing was Dominica's hobby during her off hours. Junko began to intercede against a Diomedia, one of the larger class of Neuroi that was the size of a whale, if not larger. She gave her two wingmen their orders. "Patti! Angie! Take up attack formation an hit the enemy at either side: find and destroy the core, then intercept the others. I'll draw it's fire, understood?"

Both girls nodded. "Roger." came their response.

The three girls flew in to greet the enemy with a hail of automatic gunfire. Strafing the first enemy, their gunfire raked the hostile Neuroi's hide. The hides of Diomedia class Neuroi required some time and effort to penetrate due to the thick hides but with either a combination of good team work or out and out raw power, destruction of such an enemy was possible. It took a little time more then they hoped, about three minutes and 45 seconds but finally they make progress.

"Their! I've gott'cha now!" Patricia's M1919A6 spat out thirty calibre rounds at the aliens weak point. The core is quickly ravaged by 30cal ammunition, the alien's form shattering into shards. Patricia laughs and then moves to intercede the next target, juking past Neuroi laser fire trying to stop her. "I've got it Flight Lieutenant, let's get the next one!"

"Just remember to pace yourself Patti, Diomedia aren't to be taken lightly."

Junko flew towards a nearby Diomedia class and led the charge. Angela silently moved alongside the Flight Lieutenant's left with little words exchanged, taking aim with her Panzerbüchse 39, firing one shot and then following up with yet another. This continued until she ran dry and had to reload. Junko then concentrated her fire on the weakened armor, the stubborn metal hide eventually shattering and the vulnerable core becoming exposed to her gunfire and shot to pieces. Similar plans of attack by Junko and her wingmen were used against the Neuroi, slowly but steadily witling down the obstinate Diomedia's numbers. These were long battles but they were at the moment manageable.

Occasionally Junko stole brief looks over at Jane and Domineca to ascertain their status. As usual Dom was tearing through Laro's wing formations, raking Neuroi hides with her M1A1 Thompson submachine gun with drum mag in one hand and destroying cores in a hail of bullets or one shoting them with the Colt .45 1911 that she had begun using as of late; a gift from her beloved Jane that she had begun to treasure and had replaced her M1917 revolver . Jane meanwhile was keeping close to Dom, keeping other Laro's from swarming the older girl as she was running into the thick of the enemy formations, the meeker girls M2 Browning thudding heavily in her grasp.

It seemed as though they were gaining somewhat of an upper hand in this fight. As the enemy's numbers began to whittle to below half their original numbers one of the Diomedia gave a loud shriek. In the distance are a wing of Neuroi that seem to be trying to descend to the ground; they seemed different from the Laro's. These ones appeared to be a few meters larger in diameter, had a much boarder body and swept back wings in comparison to the Laro's thin body and short, stubby wings. These new Neuroi also seemed to have small feet like appendages. And they were ungodly fast.

Junko relayed a message over the coms. "Everyone be advised, there's a wing of ten Neuroi of unknown class designation. They are currently descending to the ground."

Jane responds. "I see them! Dom, we should go after those ones, they're acting suspicious!"

Domineca finished off the last two Laro's of the wing she assailed, destroying them with her Thompson and her Colt .45, once she killed her targets her head snapped to the enemy Neuroi and with nary a word she tore after the unknown Neuroi class wing, charging at them with gusto, with her beloved wife trailing close behind her.

Junko's attention turned to Angela, watching the Hispanian dodging a Neuroi laser beam and firing her weapon while in mid barrel role, exposing the core for Pati to destroy with her M1919A6, killing the Diomedia. Thanks to Angie's magical ability's which allows for her bullets to become explosive, it is making what would be an otherwise much more difficult, taxing battle easier to manage in regards to destroying the Diomedia class Neuroi, their thick, dense hides being blown apart by the large rounds that are filled with highly concentrated and volatile magical energy. All witches are capable of channeling magic into their weapons to both stabilize them for easier control to nullify recoil, as well as to increase the weapons normal stopping power. But Angie's magic affinity increases this latter magical trait by tenfold.

That being said, Junko still wanted her girls to ere on the side of caution in battle. Factors for combat can only be known for so far before an unknown variable raises it head, as was the case with these new, unknown Neuroi, especially with the recent, alarming actions of the enemy throwing off allied command. Beside's most of the girls just came out of hospital, she didn't want them returning to the medical ward again this early, if not worse than that. She lead her girls toward the next Diomedia, strafing the enemy while using all matter of aerobatics in their arsenal to avoid incoming fire: Angi and Patti barrel rolled out of the way of laser fire while Junko brought her legs forward and then somersaulted over the large Neuroi's back side, firing a burst into its steel hide. Angi fired with her Karlslander Anti-tank rifle and punched a hole into the Diomedia's right flank but the core was still not exposed; she was off by three meters on her shot.

It was at this point that Dom spoke up over the coms. "Hey, Flight Lieutenant, I think these guys are up to something fishy. The Laro's are really swarming us here."

"Keeeyyah! No, no! They are coming too fast! Dom, we should fall back!" Jane wailed as she kept trying to return the Laro's fire.

Dominica scoffed as she tore through another Laro's that got in her way, making a push to destroy the new wing of Neuroi. "Can't do that Jane. These weird Neuroi... that aren't sitting right with me...so we gotta give em the old one two. Just stay right with me okay?"

"O-okay, Dom..." the other girl replied weakly.

Junko notice a Laro's approaching Patti and quickly opened fire on it, shredding the small alien to pieces. This battle was starting to become more and more heated. They had to route the enemy completely before they ran out of magic power. Diomedia class Neuroi and other similar types were difficult opponents to destroy thanks to a combination of tough armor and formidable attacks. Takei only hoped that she and the others could hold their own. While performing another aerobatic maneuver to avoid incoming laser fire and in the middle of begining her counter attack, she heard Jane's voice over the comms.

"D-dom, what are those Neuroi doing? Is... is that a rune?" she asked in a panic.

"Wh-what the... what are these Neuroi trying to pull here?!" Dominica clearly had little idea about what was going on.

At hearing this Takei's eyes scanned the battlefield. "Say again?! Are you meaning to say that the Neuroi are creating a rune?!"

Jane responds. "Y-yes mamm! What should we do-"

Takei heard repots about this weeks earlier from her old friend Mio Sakamoto, of how the Neuroi are trying to establish a bridge between realities. The only reason that could be assumed for why the Neuroi would be doing this was for gathering more resources and bolstering numbers. That cannot happen. "Jane! Dom! The Neuroi are trying to establish a portal to an alternate reality! We must not allow them to establish a link to the other world!"

"Say again?" Dom asked questioningly.

"Those Neuroi establishing the interdimensional link are designated as priority targets: Destroy them immediately, but be careful!"

"I'm on it! Jane, keep the Laro's off my back, alright?"

"Okay, please be careful Do-!"

Suddenly a large pillar of light shone from somewhere off on the ground, causing the two Liberion girls to bleat in surprise. At this the remaining Neuroi on the field converged on its location, save for a Diomedia and a wing of Laro's that were giving it cover, staying behind to ensure Takei, Angie and Patti were kept occupied. The three girls found that the Neuroi intercepting them had become fiercer than normal, putting the three of them on the defensive. Angie tried to fire at the Diomedia but a heavy laser blast crashed into her shield, fouling her aim and winding her.

"Not good." she muttered tersely.

"Are you alright?" Junko asked with some worry in her voice.

"I think-" Another four lasers ploughed their way into Angelia's shield, the heavy laser fire pushing the girl back by about ten feet. "Urgh... d-damn..." her voice sounded tired after the barrage impacting her.

Patti saw the enemy's attack slam into her comrade's shield and became worried for her friend. "Angie, regroup with us! Don't fight it alone!"

The Hispanian girl panted heavily. "I-I'm fine." Angie charged forward to re-engage, feeling the duty she had to Romanga swelling inside her. "I'll take it."

Before Junko could even curse the Hispanian for her stubborn charge Jane cries out in a panic as the pillar of red light off in the middle of the square several yards away intensified. Junko had to squint to see but she could make out Dom trying to destroy the new Neruoi while in the glowing rune as Jane flew into the pillar to support her beloved, remembering with dread the last time Dominica got hurt.

"Jane, belay my last order! Don't get near me or this light, we don't know what's going to happen!"

"N-no! I won't leave you! I made a promise to stand by you and that's exactly what I'm going to do! I won't let you get hurt again, Dom!"

Junko noticed another object far off in the distance moving from the north west... she wasn't sure what it was but... it looked vaguely humanoid. Before she could question just what it was she heard Dom's voice over the comm channel once again try to convince Jane to get to safety, but it was clear the other girl knew where she wanted to be: beside her beloved Dominica.

It was at this point, as the Neuroi and the humanoid object began to enter the red pillar after the small Liberion, all that were in the rune disappeared in a flash of light, including the two girls of the 504th. Takei stared wide eyed at where her subordinates and the force of Neuroi had once been. She didn't know where her friends were, nor did she know what the enemy was going to do now.

All she knew is that this wasn't a victory for the 504th Ardor Witches...

Patricia wailed loudly. "Dom and Jane are gone! This is horrible! What do we do Flight Lieutenant?!"

"W-we..." The Fuso girl found herself at a loss from seeing two of her squad mates disappear, but she desperately tried to shake herself back her senses. She couldn't afford to freeze up, she had to lead her remaining squad members; they still had Neuroi to fight. "We have to trust those two will be alright, right now we still have an enemy to eliminate. Angie, draw it away from the city but keep your distance from it if you can while we take care of these remaining Laro's. After we're done we will come help you."

Just as she gave the order the Laro's and Diomedia began to increase their speeds, seemingly trying to leave the battlefield.

"They're trying to escape." Angie stated. "I won't let that happen!" Angie charged at the Diomedia and kept shooting with her Anti-tank rifle while flying around the enemy, trying to find the Neuroi's core. But so far it's weak point had yet to be exposed.

As that happened Junko lead Pattie after the wing of fifteen retreating Laro's. The two witches weren't about to let the retreating unit get away. They gave chase and once in range engaged the trailing members of the Laro's air unit. The Laro's had begun to fly evasively, keeping themselves from staying in the witches sights. With their fellow Neuroi across the threshold they were no longer concerned with acting as diversions; they could focus on their survival now. Something that the witches would make them work for.

Junko managed to get another Neuroi in her sights and raked it with automatic fire from her Type 9-9-1 cannon but as she then jockeyed her way on the six of another she heard a loud screech. She looked over several hundred yards away to see Angie take another two solid hits to her shield.

"Flying Officer Larrazabal?" The Flight Lieutenant asked with clear concern. She saw Angela's silhouette falter a moment, but suddenly strengthen again. The stoic girl seemed to be more focused on her duty to her squad mates and the country she was assigned to protect. "Flying officer, disengage you're target! You can't take it alone like that!" Angela was getting far out of range of the other two girls. Junko knew that at this point it was dangerous for her to take on a Diomedia class by herself like this, she could see the Flying officer discard her empty magazine and reached into her gear to retrieve a fresh, full one .

However, Junko's warning came a few seconds too late; as Angela just finished reloading another five lasers slammed into the Hispanian witches shield, each blast electing a strained grunt until the last laser impacted, which shattered her shield on impact. To Junko's horror she watched as the girl began to fall to the ground below.

"ANGIE!" Patricia cried out her friends name, but a Laro's spat lasers at her, impacting her shield. The Diomedia that shot down Angela started to converge on the two remaining girls of the 504th as the Hispanian continued her tailspin down to earth. Once the large alien got into close enough range it opened fire. Junko and Patricia barely dodged the barrage of laser attacks.

Junko turned to Patricia and flew perpendicular to the enemy. "Patricia, stay on my tail! We're going to try and heard these Neuroi into a good killing field if we can!

"B-but what about Angie?!" the Britanian wailed.

"We'll come back for her. Unless we deal with these Laro's and the Diomedia we will be leaving the enemy to attack this territory with impunity. As witches, we cannot allow this!"

"U-understood, mamm."

A weakened voice over the radio made Junko flinch. "M-mamm... I'm sorry...got...careless. Gotta...land..."

"Flying officer! Are you hurt?! What's your status?!" But that was all that she could get out of Angie. Junko gritted her teeth as half the Laro's broke off and began to swarm the two witches. The lasers of the Neuroi were closing in on the girls, hoping to scorch the young soldiers. The enemy now had the advantage...

---

Tracking... American Army Supply Column...

Location...Monroe Louisiana...

Supply lines were proving to be a delicate thing to maintain on the home battlefront, what with the enemy's fighters, armor and patrols trying to hit anything and everything that bore United States military colours, or anything American really. The convoy had trucks filled with rations, ammo, weapons, replacement parts for vehicles and new uniforms for new recruits. Pretty much the essentials for the conflict, with the Russian forces on the East Coast pushed off save for what few hundred stragglers that were still left, the west coast still had a full force of strength for the American's to contend with.

The central United states became heavily fortified and densely packed with military personnel and displaced civilians. With the large, defensive holding pattern that the bulk of the US had initiated they had managed to hold their ground and prevent the Russian's from advancing further into the American Heartland. Though that wasn't to say the Russian's didn't ease up in the slightest; the pounded the defensive positions with everything they could throw at the defensive lines. The price for holding that line came at a hefty cost: thousands dead and wounded; both military and civilian.

The two men in the back of the truck were amongst the many Army and National Guard personnel that helped hold the line against the Russian assaults on the "Central US Safe Zone." All the supplies the convoy was carrying was for Camp Shelby, making sure the Forward Operations Base was well supplied.

The one soldier, Kormen, sighed. "Hey did you hear the word recently?"

The other soldier, Morris, looked up from the bed of the truck blankly. "Hrm? Word on what?"

"Something freaky happening in New York, did you hear about it."

"I never heard anything man. I never hear anything. It's always the same old "need to know basis" shit. Can't ever hear just what 's going on in this damn army. It's always a god dammed secret." He paused. "What did you hear?"

"Well that's the thing, something about weird pillars of light and some sort of things or something coming out of em."

Morris blinked. "What the fuck are you on man? Pillars of light?"

"I know it's weird, but that's something I heard from one of the guys not long ago."

Morris scoffed. "Someone's just yanking your chain man, don't fall for that shit so easily."

Kormen sighed. "Well... I guess you might be right."

Quite suddenly a sudden glow enveloped the center of the convoy, a pillar of light shining to the heavens. The convoy comes to an abrupt halt as men start shouting in confusing. Looking outside Kormen notices something materialize some twenty feet from the back of the supply truck. It was a set of large, black and red objects that seemed to have a small round body and stubby legs, something that the two soldiers couldn't image seeing before their very eyes. The objects quickly floated up into the air and flew off.

Looking up the solider notices more red and black objects of varying sizes trying to fly away in different directions, some of the objects that were flying low had smashed into buildings trying to leave the light. One of the objects crashed into the truck leading in front of their own and another smashed into a tall office building and crashed to the ground below, getting pinned underneath debris. No sooner as he sees this something crashes though the top of their trucks covered top. Both army soldiers curse loudly in surprise at what they see.

Other craft like objects seem to be flying away from the lights last position, but one strange thing of notice was a frightening, metal biped form with four limbs that seemed like they were some sort of bladed arms with a red blade tip and looked as though a fighter jet and knives had a one night stand and had resulted in this... thing. The... creature... for lack of a better word, tore off in a direction separate completely different then the aircraft looking objects of the same colour; traveling Due-East instead of South-West.

The taller girl that had fallen into their truck groaned. "Ow. Shit."

"D-dom... you okay?" the smaller blond asked.

The taller girl, with brown hair and a stern look and wearing weird devices on her legs detached the strange mechanized objects and promptly jumped out of the truck with what appeared to be a Tommy gun and a M1911. She notices the truck that was flattened and approaches it, taking off in a dead run.

The blond haired girl cry's out in panic. "Dom! Wait! Come back!"

Kormen shouted after the girl who was duel wielding her old weapons. "H-hey! Stop right their! Halt!" He quickly tried to look for his M16A3, finding it under his seat. He then dismounted and took aim.

The blond haired girl bleated. "Wait, don't shoot her please!"

Morris drew his service pistol and trained it at the other girl in a panic. "Don't move! Show me your hands!" the girl only bleated in surprise and froze fearfully.

Suddenly the object on the flattened truck screeched and tried to get airborne. The girl leveled both her Thompson and colt .45 and then fired on the run. The black and red object bleated as gunfire raked it's body. It fired a laser at the girls direction that narrowly came within grazing distance of her. Because of the trajectory of the beam it also nearly grazed Kormen, he hit the ground and screamed out a curse. Morris also similarly cursed and ducked his head.

The girl's archaic submachine gun slowly but surely managed to break through the strange craft's shell, which was weakened by the impact it had with both the truck and the ground, though by then it clicked dry. She then fired her pistol into a small gem like object of the strange machine as it seemed to make a demonic screech in protest. She had to empty the whole magazine into it before quite suddenly the... thing... exploded in a brilliant shower of metal shards. Some of them blasted into the girl and gave her some superficial cuts, which seemed to surprise her.

The other object that was buried by derbies then screeched and attempted to get airborne as well, discharging a few errant lasers at the convoy and vaporizing another truck. By now the convoy realized that something not normal was attacking them; men dismounted and scrambled for cover. The brown haired girl also took to cover by a damaged car and kept low as she reloaded.

As Morris looked on in frozen shock the girl he was still absently point his pistol at had moved and gotten out of the devises on her legs, trying to lift the heavy M2 machinegun. He took notice and tried to hold his hands steady as he pointed the gun at her. "D-d-d-don't fucking move I said!" he orders shakily.

The girl turned to him as she tried to heft the M2 Browning up. "Help me!" She pleaded.

Morris blinked. "W-what?

"We have to destroy that Neuroi's core before it gets away and my magic isn't working, help me with my weapon!"

"Urm, w-what?" Another screech followed by laser fire that smacked into the building behind them made the pair bleat. "OKAY, OKAY, I'LL HELP!" Quickly he helped her heft the heavy machinegun up and they both rest the weapon on the side of the truck by means of the cover group assembly with the American solider holding the weapon steady. The small girl pulled back on the weapons large charging handle and began to fire a long, sustained burst at the Neuroi as it started to get airborne. To the solider this was something that struck him as ungodly surreal, everything from the weird-ass craft that shot lasers to the two girls that were packing heat and running around in their underwear.

As the fifty cal kept firing the other girl with that was packing her two choice weapons also began to empty them into the laboring object, as she did this she shouted to the Americans. "You guys better start shooting, otherwise this thing is going to give us a major pounding!" The soldiers stared slack jawed at her for a moment but helped out and fired their weapons at the black and red object. As it turns it fires a shot and takes out five men, causing their surviving buddies to bleat and start parting from each other in panic. Eventually the large volume of fire cuts through the hide of the object , exposing a gem that quickly becomes shattered, causing this entity to explode brilliantly.

By now the other craft had already became distant silhouettes in the sky. The American grunts finally left the safety of their cover and approached the girls hesitantly, some commenting shakily at the fact five of their men were just vaporized, other asking what the hell's going on. Kormen got up from off the ground and moves briskly towards the girl holding the Thompson. He had a look on his face as if he was repeatedly shifting between anger, fear, horror and utter confusion.

The girl called out to her companion. "Hey Jane, are you alright?!"

"Yeah, Dom. Are you okay, are you hurt?"

"Just a few cuts, nothing serious." The older girl noticed the man standing to her side and looking right at her. "Hey... so... do you know where my wife and I are?"

At this the soldiers face became further entrenched in shock. He looked back over at the pile of shards on the ground, over at the truck she and her companion had fallen into, and then back at her as he struggled to piece together what had just happened in the past minute and fifteen seconds. "Okay... three questions lady. One: Who the fuck are you? Two: Where the fuck did you come from? And thirdly: WHAT THE FLYING FUCK WAS THAT FUCKING THING!?" After a brief pause he then realizes something. "Wait... did you just say wife?"

The girl blinked slowly and made a questioning grunt. "Yeah; so where are we then?"

The man had a moment of pause, then responds. "The United States of America of course, where else would you be?"

The girl blinked. "Don't you mean United States of Liberion?"

"Li-what now?" the solider looked at her as if she were a few corn-dogs shy of a picnic.

Realization shone in her eyes. "Oh wait, wait, that's right, my unit got a report on this a while ago: America is the alternate realities Liberion. I must have forgotten during the heat of battle. Well if you're another version of my country, then do you think you can help us out? "

"Listen, nothing's going to be happening around here until you answer my questions. And knock off all that crazy talk static!" The solider snapped. The girl seemed to look the man over passively, as if sizing him up. The man seemed to notice this and tensed, his hands holding his rifle in a firmer grip then before. Both noticed the guarded intent in each other's eyes, although the girl noticed that the man also has a sliver of killing intent laced in his pupils, probably still riding out his adrenaline rush filled fight or fight response. And his eyes seemed to be screaming "fight" despite the fact his body was being kept in a measure of visible check.

The girl then exhaled evenly, then speaks. "You want answers; I'll give them to you if you give me a ride." She looked over at the shattered shards and scoffed. "But those things we just busted our butts to take out? There will be more, of them. There was word that a few had already gotten through to this world back in Romagna. You're world is going to be facing a pretty tough fight on your hands."

The soldier seemed to look unsure what to make of all this. He looked over to Morris who gave a shrug, looking lost and confused while the girl adjacent to him had a look of worry on her face. After thinking things over for a minute he groaned reluctantly. "Alright. Get in the truck you two crashed into and we'll get rolling." As he turned on the balls of his feet he muttered under his breath. "God damn, I'm going to really get a section eight for this bullshit today."

---

Tracking... Gary "Roach" Sanderson...

Task Force 141- Disavowed...

Location... Sierra Leone, Africa...

Status... factory of precious cargo located... converging to secure...

Status Update: Factory Clear; Precious Cargo not found...

Up until this point Roach was hopeful that they would find what they had came out here for. Africa was proving to be a miserable place to operate in. When Gertrud not only heard, but saw from the sky that Militia were executing villagers she immediately wanted to engage and destroy the enemy foot mobiles for committing such an evil, barbaric act. Price however had to order her to stand down: that she couldn't allow herself to be seen until absolutely necessary or give away the Task Forces position. She really wasn't happy with that. Then again neither was anyone else for that matter, but being careless and stupid would only serve to get everyone killed. She was about to disregard and disobey the order the old man gave until Ghost had to talk her down, trying to help explain to her and give her perspective, trying to appeal to the disciplined Karlslander in her. She listened and complied then, but she was still angry about what had happened. Now that they were at the factory and taking out the patrols and sentry guarding it they found that the place was empty. No crates, no Makarov, nothing of any real importance. So far things were proving much more difficult.

Price got on the radio to Nikolai. "Nikolai, the factory is a dead end. No sign of Makarov."

The loyalist PMC responds back. "He must have moved to the militia's headquarters at the center of town."

Toad sighed audibly. "Anyone else feel as though were on some giant wild goose chase?"

"Yeah, it's starting to feel that way to me." Roach agrees.

Scope, Cryska and Yuri approach the rest of the squad, having provided ample sniper support from the watch tower. Roach had to admit, from the way that Cryska performed out in the field that she really was pretty dammed skilled with her weapon. A part of him hated to admit it, but the professional operator in him was impressed with her; Yuna could spot talent in the blink of an eye. One thing he still wasn't quite used to was "Cold Cryska". the fact she carried this weird vibe, a separate and unique sort of weird that was unlike Ghost's own vibes was so far the big thing throwing him.

Yuna tried offering some encouragement. "Good things come to those who wait, right?"

"Let's keep those positive thoughts coming everyone."Price then responds to Nikolai. "We're moving there now." Price acknowledged.

"No point waiting time here then." Ghost comments evenly.

Just as everyone was about to move forward Gertrud give an warning. "H-hey guys, you have a large incoming force inbounded to your position!

Soap's voice becomes worried. "We've got company? How many have we got Barkhorn?"

Gertrud paused a bit longer then she should have. "FAR too many!" she replies.

"We're compromised!" Price warned, then he began to order his squad forward. "Everyone rally on me and start pushing forward. Let's go! Trudy, when you hear me give the word you let these bastards have it, you copy?"

"I copy."

With that everyone starts rushing through the cramped quarters of the rickety village as Militia began to descend upon the Task Force. Roach kept moving through cramped walkways, as Yuna, Cryska,Toad and Ghost took the high road while the others took the low road. Yuri was on his six and now using his suppressed AK with red dot sight. As the AK wielding thugs kept spraying their ammo at the Task Force it was clear that what vastly outnumbered the Task Force had an advantage; discipline and control. The rounds they fired managed to fined their marks, but bullets kept dancing along the ground and nipping their feet and simply blowing by their heads.

One man pops out of a building out of Roach's perif. His rifle instantly snaps towards the target and he depresses the trigger. the man's head snaps back as the round smacks into his braincase, causing him to pitch backwards. Another man up high on a old wooden roof is spotted and he pumps another four rounds downrange. Like the last man, this new target goes down. He and his comrades in arms keep pressing forward, managing to eventually clear the way ahead and up to the roof tops for a ways as even more hostiles were nipping at their heals not far behind.

"I think they know we're here." Soap deadpanned.

"All that matters is Makarov's cargo. Keep moving." Price orders. Just as everyone manages to get back to the ground the sound of a vehicle approaches. Roach and the others notice a pickup truck with a mounted fifty rolls up from their left flank, spitting rounds at the Task force and forcing them into a ditch. Yuri, thankfully manages to take out the gunner with a well placed burst from torso to head, and Cryska the driver with a shot right between the eyes. "Yuri, man the .50 cal. and lay down cover fire! Put fire on the technical!" Toad follows the man and gives him mobile cover fire as militia start appearing on rooftops, in addition to a Technical driving down the inclined road, which was soon shredded by Yuri's suppressing fire.

At this point things took a surreal turn as Roach suddenly felt a sense of robotic disassociation while firing his M4A1. The militia just kept running into their field of fire, as if they were willingly running into their bullets. He at one point wondered what was going through their heads anyways? Haven't these guys ever heard of a self preservation instinct? Each time a moving body came into view and was neutralized another body would find itself walking into the Sergeant's sights, repeating the process. Somehow this seemed just a bit unsporting, way too easy for a SAS operator turned Task Force operator. As Price shouted the direction of contact Yuri and Toad and some of the others spat lead in that direction.

Roach noticed that both Scope and Cryska were matching each other shot for shot, every round that left their rifles were perfect headshots. When it came to sniping these two girls really shone in the field of marksmanship. He couldn't help but be impressed by that, especially with Yuna making her rifle work its magic. Another technical began rolling down the hill, followed by more militia following behind it and with even more men on rooftops. Yuri swung the fifty downrange, gibed the driver and gunner while everyone else was sighting their targets downrange. By this point everyone had lost count how many Milita they dropped.

The sound of an explosion ringing out shook Roach out of his robotic trance of shooting when he saw Yuri being thrown from the truck and Toad getting knocked on his back. To his horror the truck was overturned in such a way that it came down upon Toads leg. The younger man screamed in agony as his foot was being crushed by the weight of the truck pressing down.

Toad screamed his lungs out. "GOD, IT FUCKING HURTS!"

Ghost shot up to his feet. "Toad, hold on mate!" Ghost ran to Toad's, and Roach silently followed close behind. The wiz of a stray bullet caught Ghost in the hip, causing him to stumble, though he manages to reach the overturned truck. "Ah, bloody fucking bullocks!"

"You okay, Ghost?" Roach asked worriedly.

"I'll live. Right now we have to get this damn truck off of Toad , give us a hand." The three of them began to work at trying to lift the truck but it was hard going.

"Mortar fire!" Price had a look of grim realization as more militia began to barrel down upon them, another Mortar impacting fifteen feet away, kicking up dirt and shrapnel. It was then that Price gave the order. "Barkhorn! You're up! Let em have it!"

As a wave of African militia drew closer automatic gunfire suddenly felled around fifteen men coming down the hill, the others that were behind them froze. Everyone watched as Captain Barkhorn descended from the heavens with her strikers roaring. She did a summersault once she reached a low enough altitude, then just hovered before the armed African men about twelve feet off the ground. When they gazed upon her there was first looks of stunned confusion, the enemy unsure what to make of her. But it soon gave way to fear; men screamed and shouted incoherently, a few began to draw a few steps backward if not take off running.

After the moment of pause Gertrud leveled her MK46 and began to mow down the rest of the militia. At this the men on the roof tops tried to shoot at her out of fear, but their rounds were deflected by her shield, which was now glowing at full power. She continued to rake the enemy before her from the rooftops to her right flank until the weapon ran both hot and dry. Once that happed she lowered that weapon and brought up the M32. She fired once at a building off in the distance with a machinegun positioned by the railing, the 40mm shell exploding and engulfing the machine gunner. She then placed her sight upon another group of men on another rooftop who noticed the fact they were noticed and began to run. After depressing the trigger and hearing a satisfying "ploonk" Trudy's next round impacted in the middle of them, blowing off an ample amount of body parts. Another mortar going off close to her position drew her to the mortar operator off in a tower about thirty meters away. She took aim with the weapon's optic and fired again, the grenade shell taking a second and a half to reach its target. At this point many of the men they currently face began to fall back.

Gertrud took this opportunity to head over to the truck, focus her magical energy and use her power to lift the truck off of Toad's lower leg, allowing Yuri and Roach to pull the man out from under it. Everyone quickly gathered around Toad.

"Are you alright son?" Price asked with concern.

Toad held on to his leg painfully. "S-shit, I think it's fucking broken."

Ghost muttered a curse. "Damn... looks like a crush style injury."

Cryska inspects the young man's leg carefully, her eyes were still dull, her mouth hooked a little. "Look's bad." she states simply.

"Can you walk on it?" Soap asked. Toad shook his head quickly and sucked in air thorough his teeth. He was combat ineffective now. This was going to be a real problem for them that they needed to figure out, fast.

Scope looked to the two captains with a stern look in her eyes. "Well we have no place for an LZ. here; we gotta get him out of here somehow."

Trudy finishes loading her machinegun with a fresh box mag and looks seriously to the squad. "I can carry him out of here to safety, that way we can get him evaced from the battlefield. Is that acceptable?"

"Sounds like our only option." Ghost muses, his hand now clutching his pelvis.

Trudy noticed the Lieutenant's wound and her eyes widen. "How the hell did you get that?!" she demanded, her body surging towards the British man.

Ghost seemed to stiffen a little this and responds. "Just a bit of a flesh wound, took a nip from a stray round getting to Toad-"

"THE HELL THAT'S A FLESH WOUND! THEIRS A HOLE IN YOUR HIP YOU IDIOT!" the girl snapped. Everyone blinked in surprise. It was uncommon for them to see Trudy this mad. She then glared at Ghost firmly. "Don't you EVER let me catch you doing anything reckless to cause such unnecessary wounds to yourself like that again; AM I MAKING MYSELF CLEAR?!"

The Lieutenant looked to Trudy with a look of confusion, but as he looked at Trudy and studied her a moment he responds with a reassuring tone. "I might not be able to promise that I won't get hurt again, but I'll make sure to be more carful luv, alright?"

Gertrud gazed at Ghost sternly, then sighed. "I suppose that will have to do." She then took Toad's hand and started to pick him up in a fireman's carry. "I'll be back, no doubt with me heading off for the time being the enemy will be trying to come after you again. You all be careful, okay?"

"Roger, that." Soap response with assurance. He then looked to Toad and gave him his instructions. "Alright mate, once Trudy finds you a safe place you stay hidden and keep low, you hear?"

Toad nods with a shaky breath born from pain. "R-roger that, sorry sir."

Price gave a warm smile. "Never you mind son, you did well." He gave Gertrud a nod, which she returned and then proceeded to fly off with Toad in tow.

As she took wing Yuri turned to Ghost questioningly. "I don't understand, why did she become so mad with you Lieutenant?"

Ghost just shrugs, but Scope gives a knowing smile. "She was worried for him." she replies, a hint of sage wisdom in her voice.

Price then got on the radio. "Nikolai, we have a situation; Toad's been injured pretty bad and he needs a medivac. Gertrud has volunteered to take him someplace safe for pickup while the rest of us continue with the mission. Can you send a bird to get him exiled?"

"It will have to be very secure location, but if she can find one for him, then Da, I can do that my friend." came the Russian's reply.

No sooner did Gertrud head out of sight that the sounds of the militia draw close again, replacing the drone of the young witches Striker Units, the hostiles knowing that the person they couldn't comprehend and had feared was departing. Price then gives his squad their next rally point. The squad starts running as the mass of armed bodies about twenty plus strong inch by inch begins to catch up to them. What worse is that someone else had managed to set up another mortar, explosions ringing out and demolishing shacks. The squad headed back up to the roofs to lose the militia and shake whoever was on the new mortar.

As the Task Force rounded a set of stairs to another roof top the squad came to a drop to another roof, this one a tin roof of sorts. Price, Soap and Cryska manage to make it to the other roof with no real problem. Roach was just trailing Yuri, both men moving with all the strength their legs can muster, with Ghost and Scope close behind.

Yuri was first to make the jump. After leaping to the adjacent roof his feet came down heavily. The rusty, weakened tin roof gave complexly and Yuri fell through. Roach saw this and knew just what was coming. He jumps with all the strength he still had in his legs. His arms only just manage to catch the hot tin roof, the momentum of his jump however cause the rest of the weakened portion of roof he aimed for to also collapse. He fell into the wooden domicile along with Yuri, while Ghost and Scope managed to aim for much more sturdy parts of the tin roof that managed to support their weight.

Both Roach and Yuri manage to sit up in time to see an African man approaching them with a machete. Both assault rifles of the two operators and fire on the assailant, ten rounds from each man killing the man several times over. As the dead man's body falls into Roach's lap he rolls his eyes with an annoyed grunt. "Christ sake, what hell is it with me and not making jumps anyways?"

Yuri simply picks himself up, reloads a fresh mag and moves forward. Roach sighs, picks himself up and follows suit. He had the feeling things would only be getting less satisfactory from here on out.

---

Tracking... Shein...

Faction... The Collective...

Location... Somewhere along Eastern Seaboard...

It was a strange new world... a strange new reality. Even though this was supposedly like the Earth back in her reality it was noticeably different. Upon crossing the threshold and entering this new world she could feel something different about it deep in her core. She was unsure what it was... the words to describe what she felt had currently escaped her.

She did know she was given a set of very important tasks: the first of which was the testing of this new form that her shell had adopted. While she was young compared to many of her people she held promise and talent in the storm that was recognized, cultivated and nurtured. If she was expected to be amongst the next generation to help lead their people to salvation then she would have to prove it. With this new Sicarius "Vier" form it could prove beneficial to ensrureing that the Neuroi survive. A new form for her people to adopt was always a welcome addition to her people, and to be privliged with the honor of being the first to try this form was of great excitement to her, she hoped to make her peers and mentors proud with her deeds.

But their was another task. One of great challenge: To find a wayward sister of her kin; to bring this sister of the Neuroi to exaplin her disrupteve, subversive actions. She hoped this Neuroi, this "Schattan" she had heard about would, be willing to see reason. If not then she would have to fall back on the dire orders she was given; that if the Mediator refuses to return to her kin to face consensus then her life shall be forfit.

She knew it woud be hard to track this mediator, but try she must. One thing she found strange was that the air of this world was filled with the buzz of messages as numerous as their were stars in the sky. Much more vast then that on the Earth back in her reality. Perhapse sifting through these transimssions as you would sand though a sive could work, but she would require a repository of information and knowlage.

Using her powers in the storm to focus she calmed herself and tried to find something of worth. To find such a repository and in turn track down her quarry with better ease. After several miniutes she finds somethin close to what she may be looking for further East. She increases speed, her resolve tempered to perfection. She knew that she would surly be counted amoungst the hero's of her people.

---

Tracking... Charlotte "Shirley" Yeager...

501st Joint Fighter Wing - Strike Witches...

501st Witches Base, Romagna...

Two days have come and gone, and Shirley was finding that the duties that came with commanding the base was not turning out as she expected. She brought the stamp down on the thirtieth piece of paper of the clerical paper work she had to fill out with a heavy thud. This part of being a CO wasn't at all glamorous for Glamorous Shirley, not in the slightest. But she knew that this was a job that was just required by the role she was assigned to, no matter how much it sucked. She had to sign and then stamp every single one of these requisition forms, one hand working after the other. These were things the units all needed; food, supplies, allotted service pay for the girls, new parts for the striker units, ect.

She brought the stamp down one last time on the final sheet of paper after writing her signature. "Their done! No more papers to sign or stamp!" That felt like a relief to the young Captain. She with this all out of the way she could finally take a moment to recoup and move on to other stuff. She gave her back a quick stretch, feeling a knot forming at the base of her spine.

No sooner had she finally gotten comfortable behind Minna's desk Perrine walked into the commanders officer with another stack of papers that seemed to number in the couple dozen, with a yellow file smack dab in the middle of them. "Thiers more I'm afraid." the Gallian warned evenly.

Lucchini wandered into the room with a look of excitement. "Hey Shirley! Are you having fun in here?!"

Shirley looked at the stack of papers, looking drained. "B-but, I just finished filling out requisitions, how could there be more?" she asked weakly.

Perrine brought the stack of papers over to the desk and set them down heavily, which caused Shirley to jump a little. "That was just requisitions for the 501st. Half of these are requisition forms for the 78th Tame witches Reserve Unit, the other half are status reports that require filling out on recent activities on base. Those need to be filled as well."

Lucchini's excitement washed away and turned disinterested. "Boring! This is not fun at all. It's stupid and lame; where's the fun in this?!"

Perrine turned to the smaller girl with a firm look. "It's not supposed to be fun! It's work. It's one of the duty's required of a commanding officer to ensure we get what we need and that command knows what's going on in our unit."

"Yeah, well why did they have to make it such a drag to do? They could have at least made it less dull!"

Shirley stared at the stacks of paper with a foreboding feeling as her sore arms were trobbing. How in the world can Minna stand having to do all this day in and day out? She had a new found respect for the Karlslander at this point. Anyone willing to go through this special hell reserved only for high ranked brass deserved some measure of reverence. Taking in a sigh she was about to retrieve her pen and stamp when she noticed Yoshika pushing Junior Sergeant Darya Abakumova in a wheel chair with Lynne walking beside her. Shirley smiled widely and warmly; any sort of distraction from paper and pen based torture for another hour and a half was welcomed. "Ah, hey girls, how can I help the three of you today?"

Yoshika looked to Shirley with a look hesitation. "Uh, Shirley, Lynnette and I have had a chance to talk with Darya for a while and she wanted to know if she could ask about something.

"I- it's... kind of important to her." Lynne added.

Shirley looked to the small Orussian girl with a warm look. "Yeah, of course! I'm the acting CO in charge until Minna's back, so if you need anything then I can get it taken care of for ya personally."

Darya's gaze was cast to the floor shyly. "C-comrade Captain. I wanted to ask something of you if I may be permitted. " she asked quietly.

"Of course, ask away."

"It was about my upcoming orders that were to send me back home... because of my injury..."

Shirley smiled. "Ah I see. You don't have to worry about it; all your papers will be sent out and you can go back home to your family. I know they likely miss you a lot and would love to see you back alive. If you want I can arrange it so you can get first class transport home and get a rush on your orders to get you back home to your family quicker."

Darya shakes her head. "Forgive me mamm, but I don't want to retire from service." Shirley, Perrine and Lucchini had looks of surprise on their faces at hearing this. The three girls looked at the small Orussian, wondering why she would want to stay in service.

Lucchini decided to stop wondering and just ask. "But how come? Don't you want to go home?"

Darya fidgets a little uncomfortably. "I just... I still want to be helpful somehow. I want to keep helping during this war, whatever that may entail. I just... I just don't want to retire..." she explains weakly.

Shirley sensed that there was probably some other reason that the younger girl wasn't telling her, but that was moot at this point. "Are you really sure about that?" The small girl nods, forcing the Liberion girl to think carefully what to do with the Orussian. An idea finally comes to her. "Well... I guess we can use some help in the administration and duty desk. We're going to need help around here seeing as it's currently understaffed."

Darya looks up to Shirley in surprise, then a look of relief flooded her. She straightened her body and saluted the Captain. "Comrade Captain, thank you! I promise to do my best in my duties!"

"I know you will kiddo. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No mamm, that is all."

Shirley giggled. "Alright then, as you were. Dismissed." She looks to both Yoshika and Lynnette with a warm look. "You two really are a good pair of kids, ya know that?"

The two girls just smile and laughed sheepishly and then looks to Dayra. "There's some food that we prepared in the mess hall earlier. Would you like some?" Lynne asked the Orussian girl.

The small girl's face lit up. "Da! Thank you, I'm very hungry."

"Well lets go before it gets cold." With that the three girls left the room, leaving the others alone.

Perrine looked at Shirley with both eyebrows raised, looking rather impressed. "That's a very nice thing that you did for her, Captain."

Lucchini clenched her fists in excitement and bounced up and down. "Yeah Shirley! You were soooo coooool! When I get older I want to be an officer just like you!"

Shirley felt embarrassed by the amount of praise being heaped on her by her two squad mates. "Well what can I say?" Truthfully she didn't know what to say, but she had to admit that despite her initial hesitation that she felt happy for the Orussian girl. Something about the decision she made felt right to her. "I guess this is one part of the job that I really like." She looks to the stack of papers again and a bead of nervous sweat rolled down the side of her head. "This part still kind of sucks though..." she sighs, grabs a sheet of paper from the stack, sets it down, writes in the allotted area she has to sign and stamps it. "Well, no rest for the weary I guess."

The other girls just seemed to smile mildly. Even after two days, Shirley seemed to be operating like well oiled machine. They knew if she had her own, actual command that she would certaintly excel in it. They could tell no matter what happened, Shirley would always do her best and ensure the girls were taken care of.

---

Tracking... Gerturd Barkhorn...

Task Force 141- Disavowed...

Location... One of Nikolai's safe houses, some there in Africa...

"Urm... your field is in matters of medicine and health, is that correct?"

"Yes Captain, I'm one of the medical personnel in charge of the medical well beings of the soldiers here, is there something I can help you with?"

"Well... that is to say..." after taking a moment of struggling Trudy reaches into her pocket and pulls out the contraceptive packet of pills. "What can you tell me about these... "pills", exactly?

The base doctor blinked and took a look at the packet of pills and studied them. "Birth control pills? They're a type of contraceptive that is taken orally, filled with estrogen and in the case of these ones progestogen, that is used to trick your body in thinking that there is a pregnancy, which allows you to avoid getting pregnant." He then squinted at them, studying them carefully. "Strange... they seem familiar...where exactly did you get these?" he asked.

"Theirs was this woman: Kiza, that gave them to me after she... talked to me, though I'm not sure how to use these exactly." the Karlslander explained.

The base doctor took the pills from Trudy and breathed heavily. "I told her not to give her pills to other female personnel, they have to be selected specifically for the girl in question. She never listens!" He tossed them in a trash can and then took a moment to study the Captain. "If you plan on doing anything that requires the use of that sort of contraception, then I have to do a check into your medical history and a brief check up, if you can permit me."

She thinks on this a moment before responding. "Well...okay then, if that's what I must do..."

It has been just over two days since the mission in Sierra Leone, the mission turning out to be fruitless, the cargo gone when they finally tried to converge upon it. Since then the Task Force had begun to prepare for upcoming missions. While she stood in the shower of her quarters, water flowing off of her well toned skin Gertrud was mulling over her thoughts and feelings in great and minute detail, leaving no fold of her brain unturned, the fact that she missed her comrades and wondered if they were okay and were worrying about her being one example. It was obvious to her that they in fact did. But that aside, she was in all honesty in territory both emotionally and psychologically; new, different, confusing and out of her comfort zone.

When it came to the matter of love; Gertrud held for the longest time held love only for her sister in a way that in truth wasn't all that sisterly. She knew this was the case, always had been since she was a small child, but with her reaching maturity she recognized that it was a highly unorthodox thing to give your heart to a sibling; even in her world. In the world she was in now it was outright taboo, save for a titillating fetish for certain people that to many should remain simply that. Even now... even with what she was feeling now... she still couldn't help but love her sister, her beloved Chris like that. It was the only thing that served to ground her, even up till now. But she knew that she had to act responsibly; she was a solider of Karlsland. She had to be disciplined, so she would have to keep restraint on such feelings.

But now there was the new feeling that not only stood beside the love she held for her sister but another that sat jovially beside and intertwined itself with the love she had in her heart and soul for Christine: the feelings she had for the Lieutenant.

Simon was the one person she could never fathom she'd harbor such feelings for. Friend? Possibly. Respectful camaraderie as fellow soldiers? Much more likely. But as someone to give her heart to... it was unfathomable. And yet she held something for him in her heart. And why was this? He was a disciplined warrior, a realist, someone who put duty, honor and professionalism to the highest standard. But more then and beyond that; she saw a fellow warrior that she could see had suffered from past hardship, like she did. She empathized with his pain: for she was no stranger for the condition of "Soldiers Heart".

She remembered her own trials and hard ship: when her sister was hurt and hospitalised in a coma Trudy's life became darkened. She then sought death in the flames of war, only to be brought back out by her comrades. She was glad that they did. The thoughts and fears of what happened if Chris had awoken, only to hear news of Gertrud's fate; to imagine if she did indeed fall to Neuroi laser fire... how devastated Chris would have been if she did die. The very thought of doing something like that and the pain it would have caused Chris filled the Karlslander with a degree of guilt. But, thankfully, her comrades had caught her as she was falling during her emotional tailspin. She missed every one of them... she felt lost for a while without them...

But Simon was there to watch her six. To give support out of a sense of obligation. Gertrud wasn't sure if he felt the same for her as she did for him, but she could tell well enough that if nothing else he cared for her as a sister in arms. But would a relationship really work? As she thought this she considered everything; in her world such relationships between witches and conventional soldiers of any rank or station was a real and enforced prohibition based regulation of her worlds militaries, by members of both Karlsland, Fuso and to a degree Britiania was considered very firm. Out of the three however it was heavily enforced in Karlsland. Not surprising; as that her homeland was a country who prided itself on discipline. For other nations the regulation was still enforced, but not nearly to such militant degrees. For a Karlslander to harbor and act on such feelings would result in strict reprimands and punishments.

Condoms were a contraceptive that existed in her world but by the standards of this world that Simon was born in it was still very unrefined. Also realistically she knew, as did other soldiers that it was a logistical equivalent to a pot of gold. Out on the battle theater they were highly coveted but near impossible to come by in the field and only soldiers on leave were likely to get their hands on them. And even then, high command didn't want to risk girls who were still by all accounts children to be exploited by the adults nor to have young witches who were the age of consent but still had their magic risk getting pregnant, taken out of the unit and unable to fight the Neuroi due to the still being refined advances in protection, so it was considered best to establish a blanket prohibition on such relationships.

Even with the advent of the "pills" in Simon's world to mitigate the possibility of facing an unwelcome surprise, she would still in essence be breaking a military regulation that was made the standard throughout all of her worlds militaries. Even in the case of Fredrikke Porsche and the Tank commander Schmidt whom she fell for, the only reason they didn't face severe reprimand was because they didn't engage in anything sexual for the longest time, and by the time they did Fredrikke was old enough that her power had begun to weaken, and therefore couldn't serve on the front lines anymore. Gertrud didn't have that luxury and she knew it.

But as she continued to wash her hair under the warmth of the water running from the shower head, she also remembered the baggage that Simon had imparted to her about his life. After finally earning the Lieutenant's trust she was given his whole life story and how what he experienced had shaped him. She wanted to be there to help him through dark baggage that she too also had to deal with. But she knew that what happened to him had scarred his heart, his mind, his soul. These wounds ran deep and she was unsure if she could avoid tripping mines with him, she wanted to do her best to avoid that.

And on top of all this, barring all these other problems would be how any sort of relationship between the two of them would work or even last? They were soldiers of two worlds. How could they possibly maintain it if they even decided to risk everything to pursue it?

As Trudy stood stoically in the shower she looked to her hands for a few minutes, and then clenched them. Even despite these challenges that she would have to face, she wanted to help a fellow soldier. If Yoshika and Minna were there for her in her time of need she felt in the very fiber of her being that she do the same for the Lieutenant. As she turned off the tap and reached for her towel to dry off she heard a knocking at her door, followed by a voice.

"Oi, Gertrud, are you their?" It was Simon.

"You may enter, it's open." she called out. She heard the door swing open and then close, the sound of footsteps entering the room adjacent. As this was happening she retrieved a face towel to dry her head and used the other for purposes of modesty.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about earlier luv?"

"Something important that I've been trying to figure out." Gertrud replies. As she leaves the bathroom she see's Simon, standing in her room. The moment he catches Gertrud in his eyes he immediately cast his gaze away.

"Uh...um...did I come in at a bad time?" Simon scratches his head as it's turned to the wall awkwardly. "I can come back later if you want when your-"

"It's fine." She respond's simply, moving the face towel she used to dry her head and draped it around her neck. .

Simon's mouth shifts from beneath his balaclava. "Are you sure?" he asks, wanting to make sure.

"I'm sure."

Simon sighs and slowly looks back over at Gertrud. "So um... you wanted me for...?"

Gertrud looked to Simon with a solemn look. "Lieutenant, might I confide in you something?" Ghost noticed the seriousness on Gertrud's face and nods, at which she continues. "I wanted to say that I really do appreciate everything you've done. And that also feel honored that you were willing to let me in and treated me as a comrade in arms. I know that... well... that it must have taken a great deal of strength to do so. I'm glad that we are able to trust each other this much..."

Ghost seemed to notice that the young Witch seemed to be building up to something and placed his hands in his pockets. "I'm guessing there's probably more than that you wanted to share?"

Gertrud blinked, then smiled at the Lieutenant's observation. "Yes. You're very good at noticing things like that, aren't you?" Her smile soon settled to neutrality. "To be honest... I have... I have been struggling with something as of late and I don't know exactly where it will go or what will happen." A sudden look of frustration washed over her and she grunted in annoyance, realizing that trying to convey her feelings was difficult." Argh, damn; why is this so hard? I mean, I know what some of the consequences are but... well, I want to try and face them regardless. But this is still weird for me! I have no idea what the hell I'm doing and yet here I am tiring to do this of all things! How do I go about talking about this, or explaining this to you?!"

Ghost's face fell a little flat as Gertrud started to act a little hot and cold as she was struggling to talk with him. "I'm not sure that I follow."

Gertrud sighed and scratched her head. "I know. This is just very... difficult for me to say and I'm still got a lot of emotions that are churning inside, but..." Gertrud looks up to the Lieutenant and folds her arms, struggling to articulate her thoughts and feelings. "I think I... I mean... I want you to understand that this is strange for me, okay?" She took a deep breath. "I have... feelings for you...Simon."

Ghost blinked and his eyes locked with Gertrud. "Feelings?" he questioned.

"Yes. This is still sort of weird for me...to be honest this is the first and only time I've ever had feelings for someone that wasn't-" She suddenly stops herself when she realizes she almost let slip her love for Chris out to Ghost and quickly amended her statement, to ensure he didn't know that her beloved Chris was whom she was speaking of. "Urm... there's this girl. I...I've known her since childhood, all my life in fact. She and I have always been close and for the longest time I wanted to be there to care for her and to be there for her, to support her and make her happy; that is all that matters to me. Even now I... I still love her... in a way that's very intimate. But at the exact same time, I also can't help but also feel something for someone who has been there for me while here in this world. I think you're the only other person, and at that the only guy I would trust to allow access to my heart in such a way."

Ghost seemed looked at Gertrud with a flummoxed look, apparently surprised that Gertrud had just laid this out for him. A thoughtful look flashed in his eyes, then he bowed his head trying to take this all in. After a few moments he then chuckles ruefully. "Trudy, Trudy, Trudy...why in the world would you do a fool thing like that, luv?"

Gertrud blinked, another reaction she didn't expect from him. "What do you mean?" After a moments silence, realization and disappointment floods her face. "You don't... feel the same way... do you?"

Ghost's eyes looked a little pained, and he made a throaty sound of discomfort. "Well, to be honest I do feel...something for you Trudy...for the first time in my life since...well, for as long as I can remember at any rate, I can finally feel like a whole person... thanks to you. But..."

Gertrud was again surprised; Ghost apparently felt something for her, but why would he hold back such feelings."But what? If you feel something like I do, then why..." she let her question trail off, wanting to hear Ghost's reasoning.

Ghost sighed lightly. "Trudy...I'm flattered you think of me that way, but let's face it: I'm not boyfriend material. You deserve someone who will treat you right, who can support you, who will be trust worthy and who isn't a total mess in the head like I am. I did tell ya that little story of my life so...well, you should know better than anyone else. Heck, you're probably the only person who knows my dirty little secrets." He draws an even breath. "You deserve someone who doesn't have baggage like mine Trudy. This isn't normal baggage, it's like Plutonium, it's like poison; it hurts people besides me. And I can't stand the very thought of something like that happening to you Trudy, much less anyone else. I don't want all this dark shit in my head to end up hurting you."

Gertrud's throat ran dry and tightened. She realized that Ghost saw himself as both unworthy of her and possibly a danger to her. The emotional weight and baggage he carried felt staggering as he confided his feelings to her. She could tell in his voice and mannerisms that while he felt something for her that he didn't want her to get that close to him, more for her sake then his own. And for the first time, she could hear fear laced his voice. Fear not of her, but of himself being near her and somehow hurting her.

Ghost continued. "This girl that you cherish is lucky to have you in her life. And by the sounds of it you would both be happy together. That would be the better choice luv; leaps and bounds better then a guy like me." He must have saw the look in her eyes just now, because his face softened. "It's alright. It would for the better: you have someone that sounds like they would treat you right, you won't get into any trouble with the brass back in your world for breaking regulation, and more importantly my problems wouldn't trouble you or end up hurting you. You don't deserve the problems that being with me would bring, Gertrud." He shrugs his shoulders. "So why do you feel this way for me, anyways?" he asked with genuine confusion.

Gertrud managed to collect herself and tried to explain as best she could, her voice trying to find strength. "Well, beside the fact I like that you're a disciplined, consummate professional and a good soldier and friend... it's because I... also know what it means... to be trapped in a dark place like that..." Ghost's eyes seemed to stair with intensity at this serious confession and she continued. "After the fall of my homeland to the Neuroi and after what happened to... to my sister... I found myself in a dark hole in my own mind. I felt like a failure, as both a soldier and a sister. That the guilt for what happened to Chris lay solely on my shoulders. I loathed myself and the only other thing I could get lost in was my hatred for the enemy. I wanted to fight and attack the enemy, drive them out of Karlsland, just to throw myself at my opponent regardless of the eventual outcome." A saddened smile filled Gertrud's entire face. "By that time I joined the 501st... I wanted to die in the flames of combat while destroying the enemy... and I almost got what I wanted..."

"Trudy..." Ghost's voice had a tone of soft horror. His eyes were wide in fear. Simon of all people in the 141; had a look of pure terror in his eyes. Not inflected by the enemy but at the solemn confession of one of Gertrud's hidden demons. He feared for her at this point, likely a million thoughts running through his mind.

Gertrud shook her head as she smiled. "It's okay, really. I had Yohsika Miyafuji and Minna to help me out of that hole: to open my eyes and show me how stupid I was to want to do such a thing. And after Chris finally started getting better... I felt so guilty... so ashamed at the thought of what happened if I did succeed. How it would have hurt Chris... and how it would affect my squad. It's thanks to them that I never wanted to ever think that way again." She looked up to Ghost. "If Yoshika and Minna were able to be there for me in my time of crises, my time of need... I want to be that sort of person for you, Simon."

Ghost blinked in unease. It was clear that everything she said had moved him but she still saw the fear flicker a bit in his eyes. The fear he held for her should she get close to him. He mopped his face, took a deep breath and spoke once again. "I understand, but all the same... I still don't trust myself Gertrud. If I ever did anything that wound up hurting you then I would never... never forgive myself." He gave a haggard laugh. "I'm a high functioning wreak luv; I've both seen and done things that to be completely honest aren't to most people moral or right. And it's still bouncing around in my head even when I try to put it all in a box." He gave a slight shake of his head as a small smile shaped crease formed on his mask. "My hands are stained with a lot of blood and I have a lot of darkness on my soul. I'm not a good person luv. I'm a bad man..."

Gertrud shook her head and approached him. "That's not true." She stood before the Task Force operator, and her face seemed to glow with empathy. "You're a good man, Simon. You're just... hurting... " She placed her hand to his chest as she looked to where his heart lay. "Right here..." She then moved her hand to his head, her palm resting at the temple of his skull. "And in here..." She brought her hand back to her side. "If Yoshika and Minna could help guide me from the darkness that enveloped me... I want to do the same for you. As a fellow soldier. A comrade in arms. My friend. And everything that comes from me doing so; I think I'm okay with that. I can deal with it. I just don't want to leave someone, anyone I care about to be trapped in such a dark, lonely place like I was. That is why I want... I want to try... if nothing else. And put everything into accomplishing this. I want to help you find the happiness that I had finally found. " She recalled an excerpt from a book that she found during one of her forays on the internet and decided to share it, the words striking her as both appropriate to the situation and profound. "Joy shared is joy multiplied. Pain shared is pain divided."

Ghost at last had a look of realization in his eyes. With everything that Gertrud had laid out to him; how much she cared for his well being and how much she was willing to face what may come carrying this out and to be someone that he could be close to, it was then he came to a final decision: If Gertrud was willing to try and do everything in her power to make such a relationship work, that she decided that his happiness was important to her and that she wanted to be someone he could rely on...then he was damned well going to extend the same courtesy to her. "Who dares, wins": those words played over and over like a broken record in his mind, giving him strength. Everything else in his head was being drowned out by this ethos. It was then that her happiness became all he would care for, if him trying to stubbornly rebuff her ends up hurting her then that would already be a strike against his one and only strike he allowed for himself.

He looked over at Gertrud's bed and spotted her helmet on the night stand. He slowly walked over to the night stand, took the helmet, then went over to Trudy and placed it on her head. She seemed confused at first but then Simon chuckled, his hand at rest upon her cover. "Alright Trudy... I'll do what I can to make this work. For you if nothing else. If it makes you happy... then I'll give it my best."

Trudy looked at Ghost quietly for a moment, but then she drew close to him, lifting up the bottom of his balaclava. His mouth and nose exposed she then pushed forward and kissed him. There was only a little hesitation before Simon returned the kiss. She can tell he was still hesitant but by this point the young witch knew it was because he didn't want to hurt her. But she knew that it would be something that he would need, someone that was one of the few close to her heart that she wanted to have a part of her life. After a full minute of kissing the two soldiers pulled away and stared into each others eyes.

"Would you... like to come to bed with me?" Gertrud asked.

Simon peered at Gertrud questioningly. "Are you sure about that?"

Gertrud laughed. "Don't worry, I took percussions, just in case. I'm still surprised that you had people who managed to create pills that prevent pregnancy in this world."

"You really planned ahead, didn't you?" Ghost asked, half joking.

"You know what they say about a good solider of Karlsland. Besides, if I intend to keep fighting Neuroi or anything really then I have to make sure I take the proper measures to prevent unexpected surprises."

"Smart lass." Simon kissed Trudy once more. While in the middle of doing so Gertrud's familiar appears and her magic field starts to glow around her body. Still kissing the Lieutenant Trudy pulled Simon towards the bed. She fell backwards and Ghost was pulled forward and now on top of Trudy. Both soldiers continued to kiss each other, their lips locked in an ever growing passion. The hearts of the two soldiers both bore scars, but it was hoped by the young Karlsander of the 501st that perhaps tonight those scars would start to fade.

And yet... with each and every kiss Trudy had planted upon Simon, images of Chris filled her mind. Each time her lips engaged the Lieutenants own her sisters smiling face materialized in her eyes and the folds of her brain. Whatever warmth from Simon she felt on her skin also elected a chill that ran up and down her spine. Was this really right? Part of it felt like it was... but some other part... something deep in her core... didn't feel ready for this. Like things were moving much too fast...

All that Gertrud could think about each time Simon kissed her: was her beloved Chris. Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? Her heart was beating, but who was it for?

Simon moved his way down to Trudy's neck and gave her a gentle kiss. A soft gasp escaped her throat as she shifted from beneath him. His right hand glides up her neck and to her cheek and he pulls her into another kiss. By now Trudy's body was starting to become warmer, a sudden wash of a particular feeling filled her system, but the chills that racked her spinal column and even her nerves continued to dance. Something still felt off to her, but she couldn't be sure what it was. When their lips parted once more and a ragged breath escaping her she looked to him with a longing, yet subtly confused gaze. Her hands went to the towel around her body. She seemed about to part it and reveal herself to Simon but then a look of deep, conflicted hesitation filled her.

Simon saw this and gently he placed his hands upon her own. "If you don't think you're ready then you don't have to luv. Thiers's no rush."

"It's not that. I..." Gertrud's eyes shifted away in embarrassment. "I never showed myself to anyone but the girls. I never did so with a man before." But deep down it was much more than that. Gertrud still wasn't sure if this was something she should do just yet...

"Well, what I said still stands regardless." he responds softly.

Gertrud's eyes shift back to Simon... she felt something akin to love for him, she was able to admit it to him at least, and thankfully he returned those feelings. But she still felt great unease. This was something of a massive fluke and was still uncharted territory for her. If she was still being honest, some small part of her was afraid; especially with things going this fast. She had always held for the longest time love for Christine and Christine alone. Simon was a good man, a good soldier, and a good friend. But a part of her was still unsure about wither or not she was ready for the two soldiers to have such an intimate relationship. Not to mention she was worried what could happen if it was found out she broke regulation back at home: that was still something the disciplined Karlslander still fretted over, despite her initial thoughts that she could handle it.

Gertrud took a deep, reluctant breath. "I... I'm sorry. I think this is going much too fast. I don't think I'm ready for us to even get to that level yet." Gertrud mopped her face and groaned. "Oh jeeze, what was I thinking? And even after I..." Trudy had a guilty look on her face. After the huge confession she gave to Simon and making the preparation's, was she still unsure of herself? "I'm sorry... I just don't want to mess things up Simon... I don't want to make a mistake that could end up hurting either of us. I just bore my heart and soul to you and now I..."

Ghost took Trudy's face in his hands tenderly and smiled. "Hey now, it's alright. I know this is still something you're still trying to work out. I get that. The last thing I want is to see the girl I've come to care for feel like she is being forced to do something she doesn't want to do, or if she's even sure what she wants to do. This is a big step, so don't rush things if you're this unsure."

Gertrud smiled even though she still looked guilty, but it soon faded and looked at Simon with concern. "Thank you Simon. I was... I was afraid that I'd hurt you if I hesitated... but... I'm glad that..." She trailed off, overwhelmed by the fact that Simon was more than happy for her to sort out her feelings. "I think it's best we take it slow for now. Is that okay?"

Simon gave a light laugh. "Of course Trudy. It isn't a race, after all." He kissed her forehead gently and then slowly pulled back. "You take as much time as you need; I'm not planning on going anywhere."

Gertrud's smile slowly returned and she kissed Simon on the lips. This time the chills that ran down her back before were subsiding. The choice to take things slow for now felt like the right choice. She still cared for Simon, but she still wanted to work though these feelings piece by piece first; make sure she didn't make a mistake that she would regret making that hurt either one of them in the long run.

"Perhaps we should call it a night?" she ventures.

"No problems luv. I can let myself out if you want." Ghost offered, starting to get up.

Trudy reached for his shirt and grasped for his jacket, stopping him. "You can still stay you know. I'm okay with kissing and the occasional cuddling for now."

"You're sure?" he wanted to make sure that Trudy really was comfortable with the two of them sharing the same bed.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Well... of that much at least." she responds.

"Sure thing, just give me a sec." Simon placed his sunglasses on the nightstand and shed his jacket so that he was only left with his T-shirt, then the pair got under the covers. The two of them looked at each other's with looks of warmth. With their feelings now out in the open it was best for the two of them to take their time with things. Both of them were still in uncharted waters, so patience and cool heads would prevail in the end. Simon and Trudy drew close, kissed each other one last time and said good night before finally succumbing to the ever growing lull of sleep.

---

Tracking... Cryska...

"Hah... how... how erotic..."

Outside the door to Gertrud's room a certain purple eyed, silver haired sniper had overheard the private moment that had just taken place. At first she listened in and was pressed up against the wall, the intimate moment of both Gertrud and Ghost being over heard, hearing the sounds of kissing between the two soliders. At some point she began rubbing her legs together as her body's libido started to act up, her pussy growing more and more wet the longer the pair in the room made love. By now her pants were undone and her hand caressing her most sensitive parts.

The witches voice suddenly came from behind the door. "I... I'm sorry. I think this is going much too fast. I don't think I'm ready for us to even get to that level yet."

Cryska blinked. "Hrm?" Did she hear that right? The young Captain of magic was still hesitant? This was a side of her that the Russian woman hadn't seen before. Are they really stopping? But... I haven't finished yet... Cryska could have sworn that things were going to get steamy, but apparently someone must have chosen to put a kibosh on the sauna, as the saying goes.

"Perhaps we should call it a night?"

Cryska sighed; she hadn't even came close to reaching her limit yet. With her body now head up and without the free show she found that this would prove to be a luckless night for her. Undeterred, she started to think of some other means of helping in getting her libido satisfied. Ah, perhaps thinking of my beloved Ranger would help me find release. At this line of thought Cryska continued to masturbate, and after a while she started to pick up pace, thinking of a multitude of ways that she could make love to the woman who's beauty had stolen her heart. She was so lost in her own sexual fantasies that eventually featured Yuna, Cryska, and a third woman that the Russian sniper recalled with great, loving fondness that she almost didn't notice the blue haired object of her affections, who had just wandered into the hall for a some water after conducting a meditation exercise when she notices Cryska masturbating furiously.

"Cryska... what the hell are you doing?" Yuna asked flatly, hoping she wasn't seeing that she thought she was seeing.

Cryska stopped for a moment, then her face lit up at seeing the Bluenette in just her ATAC combat pants and her sports bra. "Ah! The apple of my eye is still awake! Wonderful!" She quickly gets to her feet and wraps her arms around Yuna. "Did you want to join me my love?" Her left hand finds its way to Yuna's right breast and caresses it, but Yuna pushes her hand away while wearing a flat look.

"It's too late in the evening for this, I'm going to grab a drink and head off to bed." When Cryska's hand caressed her face she noticed the fact that it seemed... wet. "Wait... why is your hand sticky?"

Cryska grinned seductively. "How about I show it to you? Perhaps you'd like a taste of my honey?"

Yuna then realized just what the other woman was getting at. "Yeah... something is telling me I probably don't." As she starts to walk off for her drink Cryska glomps on to the blue haired sniper and she uses the hand she just masturbated with to grope at Yuna's groin. "For god sake! Quit that will ya; you're really throwing off my Zen here!"

Cryska smiles and whispers into Cryska's ear seductively. "No need to fear my love, there is another way that we can reach nirvana. We can reach it together if you want..."

Yuna sighs as she finally wrestles Cryska off. "Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a common occurrence in my daily friggen schedule?"

---

Edit: As a bit of an amendment, I wish to give major props to blaze for giving me some ideas for this chapter and that part of Cryska not wanting to talk about her last name is confirmed cannon in the Clocktowers story so many thanks, again, to Blaze for informing me of this aspect of her character.

Edit V2: Hello everyone, Bucue here. Upon re-reading Chapter 26, I found that I have made a grievous error in terms of character growth and narrative flow as well as possibly setting the wrong precedent of the story. I felt like the Trude/Ghost lemon occurred much too early in the story, happened far too fast and was handled unrealistically in terms of Ghost and Trudy's personal character growth, as well as relationship dynamics in general. I also feel that having this particular element happen at this point would be derailing Trudy quite a bit and would be a disservice to have happen. As a writer I must be able to admit to myself when something I write, and what I feel in my own heart, is in error.

This goes double when the characters feel like they are being forced and railroaded into plots and narrative that doesn't make sense to them, which is what I feel when I saw this chapter; going over the chapter again I feel that this would most certainty be the case, so I opted to re-write the chapter, and that Gertrud and Ghost will have their moment together at a later point. I want to avoid potential unfortunate implications and I felt that if I left the chapter unrevised that I would be unable to write WR141 anymore; and the reason is because I felt like I screwed up so bad. If I intend to uphold the values and virtues of good writing as I so claim then I must be critical of what I write, and when I first posted this chapter I slipped up on the last portion of the chapter in question. Again I like to apologize and I give my thanks to everyone for being patient with me. Ghost and Trudy will still have lots of development and their lemon scene will officially occur down the line but for now it is far too soon for it to happen yet.

The next chapter, however, will feature some of the dark subject matter, so be warned that it wont be for the faint of heart, and for me will be somewhat difficult to write.

Time to regroup and hit the keyboard again, and this time keep myself squared away. Thanks again everyone.