Honestly? I hate writing this chapter. Seemed so jumbled up. Anyway, just read it.
2:26 p.m.
10th October 1944
600 meters away from Aachen airfield
Things have taken a weird turn for Trigger. He didn't expect to be pointed with guns… No, MACHINE GUNS AND ANTI-TANK RIFLE at point blank. Not to mention all of their weapons look antiquated for some reason. Judging by their faces, they don't seem to be in the mood for talk even if he asked any questions. Especially that angry looking braid girl over there, seems like she was glaring dagger at him like she's ready to rip him apart. Just as he was standing like an idiot, Adolfine spoke again.
"Well then, Captain." Adolfine approached the pilot while aiming her machine gun. "Take off your helmet. IF you try anything funny, I'll have you know that we'll shoot you into bits of meat. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am…" Trigger answered. The Osean isn't stupid at all, why would try something funny?! There's like a bunch of girls threatening him with machine guns on him! He still wanna live long! 'I still wanna watch Hololive's concert! Wait… What's Hololive anyway?'
"Hey!" A loud bark snapped Trigger out of his thoughts, it came from the braided girl. "You heard the General! Drop your equipment, now!"
"Ok, Ok, geez, I'm doing it!" Trigger started with his helmet. He unlocked the O2 mask and undone the straps. He took off the helmet dashingly as the sweats flowing down his forehead. The Osean fixes his ruffled black hair before putting the helmet down.
The witches who were monitoring him were not immune to his ikemen aura. This was their first time seeing him without the mask and helmet but hot damn, the Osean's charm struck the Karlsland girls as well. Even Adolfine had her mouth agape upon seeing his full face. All of them were stunned by his looks.
"Whoa…" One of the witches said in their native language.
"I didn't know he's quite the looker…"
"Yeah, you think he'd forgive us about pointing gun at him?"
"I don't know…"
"Hey!" Greta barked at the girls, "Keep your eyes on him! Don't let him distract you!"
"Y-Yes ma'am!"
At the same time, Trigger had already removed his LPU and beginning to remove his survival vest. Just as he was about to remove it, Adolfine's eyes caught a distinctive shape strapped at his vest which prompted The General to stop him.
"Hold it." As soonest she said that, the witches' grip tightens around their guns. Slowly approaching the Osean, she reached out her hand and grabbed the pistol in his holster and survival knife strapped to his vest before backing away. "I'll take these two."
With that, he continues taking off his equipment leaving only his Nomex flight suit. By the time he was done, several vehicles from the airfield begin arriving with several men are wearing old antiquated uniforms and weapons. Surprisingly, there's even the girls with mechanical legs but this time, it even features what presumably the ground forces version. Soon, the area begin to fill with chatters and vehicles rumbling around. All of them were giving him weird looks - Some were hostile, some were curious while others are mix of both. Some girls even blushed upon seeing his face like any normal hormone fueled teenagers.
"Okay, can we at least talk now?" Trigger asked seeing that this situation seemed to be unfriendly at all for someone who just got out of storm.
"Oh, of course we will. There are LOT of things that we wanted to asked. But rest assured, we will not do anything that would cause any harm to you as long as you cooperate." Adolfine turned her head towards the two soldiers identified as military police who just arrived. "Take him to the base and hold him in the interrogation room. No one speaks to him without my permission."
"Jawohl!" the two MPs soon cuffed him and stuffed him into the Kubelwagen before driving him away.
Adolfine felt bad and pity towards the Osean but since he broke the law, he will be processed accordingly. Adolfine turned her sight towards the wreckage before her. Her eyes gazed sharper than ever and suspicions began rising as she knew what was slumped on the ground like dead beast.
"A jet fighter, huh?" She muttered. Her eyes narrowed, suspicions began to rise and a lot of questions popping in her head. 'Just who in the world build this?'
Greta then walked to her side while keeping her eyes on the wreck, "You're probably thinking what I'm thinking, Adolfine?"
"Yeah… I've never seen anything like this. Just look at that engine, its bigger than our Me262's fighters!"
"Not even Brittania or Liberion is catching up to us in this level even if they have a lot of funding."
"And the fact that Liberion helped us funding the jet strikers and jet aircraft means they get to learn a lot from our technology but this? This is beyond any of them could do."
"Just who is that person?"
"We'll find out soon enough, little Franzie. But for now, we should keep this whole incident covered up. I don't want any bad eyes and ears to know of this… aircraft's existence."
"Roger that. And please stop calling me 'Little Franzie'. I've already stopped using that name after leaving the boot camp, you know?" Greta frowned as her friend kept calling her with cute name.
Adolfine giggled, "Of course, little Franzie!" Greta growled and she simply giggled looking at her reaction. "Well then, I trust you and the girls to keep an eye on the wreckage. I'm gonna make some calls."
"Yes ma'am." Greta saluted before watching her flying away. "Now then…" The Major turned her sight towards the ever noisy commotion that began to brew surrounding the wreckage.
Several soldiers began climbing on top of the fuselage looking awe at the size of aircraft before them. Some of the witches began flocking around the wing where the weapons are loaded. Some even pointed at the vertical stabilizers about the weird markings painted on it. The area was crowded with curious onlookers where they began ruining a fine specimen. As the soldiers and the witches inspect the wreckage, Greta's voice boomed through the air.
"STAY AWAY FROM THE WRECKAGE!" everyone instantly stepped away from the fallen F-15C. Even the witches are stunned from her loud voice. "UNDER THE ORDERS OF MAJOR GENERAL GALLAND, THIS WRECK IS UNDER JG3'S PROTECTION. ANY UNWANTED PERSONNEL ARE REQUIRED TO LEAVE AT ONCE!"
Soon, several troopers who were directly under Adolfine arrived and assisted the JG3 to secure perimeter around the wreckage. The commotion took a while to subside as some are still curious about the weird contraption crashed next to their base.
Adolfine who was flying towards the base only smirked as she watches the scene unfolds. The Karlslandian General reached out for her communicator and called the tower.
"Control tower, this is General Galland. Get Oberleutnant Ursula Hartmann from Ministry of Technologies on the line, I have a message for her."
Just as her hunch told her, something interesting happened and she looks forward to where this is going.
2:45 p.m.
Aachen Airfield interrogation room
Shortly after the incident, the Osean was quickly placed in the interrogation room instead of cell. It was expected since they would prefer to interrogate pilots, just like what they taught at the academy. Though, despite the hostile intent the girls did not harm him considering this might be some misunderstandings. Trigger hoped that he could settle this as fast as he can so he can return home. Though, this doesn't stop the Osean Bigshot from putting on his 'thinking-conspiracy-theorist-tinfoil hat' as he summarizes what he saw on the way here.
"This is weird." Trigger said to himself as he try to piece everything together. "EXTREMELY WEIRD."
He had to recap everything from beginning. First, a storm appeared along with that weird drone that shoots laser - POWERFUL LASER AT THAT and they both got zapped. Second, he arrived in a certain country out of nowhere with the GPS no responding at all. Pretty sure new satellite's been relaunched and it would take time to connect but it didn't despite not suffering any damage at all. Then, the drones came again to attack, kick their butts and out of nowhere, those girls helped him. He asked for their help and landed on this airfield. Right now, here he is sitting in the interrogation room waiting for something about to happen. That's pretty much everything. Then, what went wrong?
No, its not 'what went wrong' that he should be asking right now. Its 'what the hell is happening?' he should be asking and that same question played in his mind over and over again.
First of all, they're wearing antiquated uniforms, weapons and… well, EVERYTHING! From the uniforms to the weapons, vehicles, aircraft, radars, buildings… etc. Everything is literally old school! Did he just landed in some movie set? Nope. Is this some candid camera like one of those prank shows he used to watch? Nope, because those girls are equipped with life ammunition. REAL LIFE AMMUNITION. And then, there's the drone that literally tried to KILL HIM WITH REAL LASERS. Even for a prank, that's just way too much.
"God, this is really weird." Trigger muttered again as he rubbed his temple but he needs to think about the most jarring and bizarre thing he's ever seen.
During his escort, there are more girls than ever. Some of them even looked WAY too young to join military. Military Cadet? Nope. Major General Galland also looked around early twenties as well but to attain such rank is mind blowing. Like the escorts he met earlier, all the girls are equipped with propeller leg thingies that helps them fly and then there the ground version that has caterpillar tracks like the ones on tanks and IFVs which allows them to move faster. All of them have this weird animal ears and tails. Surprisingly, these girls are capable of lifting a freaking cannon with a single hand! Just what are these girls?
But none of that is absurd compared to what he have seen through his observation while being escorted here.
'WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY BOTTOMLESS?!'
Trigger's eyes were filled with bloodshot, anger and cringe mixes together forming some sort of emotion that even himself couldn't describe. The Osean literally had to look away from at some point thinking it might lead to sexual harassment of some sort. Hell, these girls didn't even have any shame and just walking in their panties as if they are proud by such thing! Who the hell think that bottomless girls would be normal? Well this place does. Did he landed in some weird nation where women prefers being bottomless? Is that why they bottomless, to put on that weird leg thingies? Putting this all into one basket, this place is literally one fetish fest of someone. He just doesn't know whose fetish it was. Though, he did caught some girls stealing glance at him and blushing for some reasons.
Putting aside the deduction, the Osean asked himself several questions.
Is he really dead? Is he in purgatory where some weird deity is testing his morality to prove that he might be into weird fetish? Just what are those leg thingies and why are they having kemonomimis ? Did Belka just raised an army based of someone's fetish and suddenly, they've gone rogue and start killing all men? Is Karlsland some sort of Erusea's fraction that was run by the feminists?! Did they enslaved all men and turn them into some sort of semen milking machine? Has feminism gone really far in fighting patriarchy? Will they peg him and made him into their personal toy?
"Fuck, why the hell I'm swinging that way?!" Trigger cursed himself for having such a weird thought. "There's no way they'll peg me or turn me into their toy." He laughed. 'But… I do want Cosette to peg me tho…'
Suddenly, the door opened catching his attention. Two figures entered the room, one of them was Major General Galland and the other one was none other than the angry braid haired girl which has that angry emote still plastered on her face. Damn, she must had a bad day.
'Its best not to make any stupid jokes at all.' He noted to himself. 'And of course she doesn't wear pants as well. But at least this Major General is wearing one even though there are… vents at the sides."
"Good afternoon, Captain." Adolfine greeted before she took a seat on the opposite side of the table followed by her aide. "I hope they didn't treat you harshly."
"No they don't but there are tons of things I wanna ask."
"So do we." Greta replied neutrally trying not to show any hostilities. Though, her angry face doesn't match her tone at all. "Major Greta Lutzow, commanding officer of JG3 and Major General Galland's personal aide."
"Well, nice to meet you too."
"Now that formalities are done, let's get started." Adolfine smiled as she pulled out notebook and pen from her jacket.
"Finally, I…" Before Trigger could ask, Greta interjected.
"WE'LL BE THE ONE ASKING FIRST." The Major's eye glared at him as if hundreds of daggers pierced him. Trigger nodded and raised his hand in defeat. "First question."
"State your rank, name, affiliation and your objective for flying over no fly zone." Adolfine stated
"Uh, I've already said those things back when you girls hold me at gunpoint."
"Oh, its for documentation. We don't want our high command to charge you without any reason." The General explained but for some reason, Trigger knew that she have some ulterior motive despite Adolfine's poker base.
"Well okay, fine. I'm Captain Derick Wolfe, 124th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the Osean Air Defence Force. Call sign 'Strider 1' and TAC name is 'Trigger'. Like I said, I was on my way to my home country, Osea with my squadron until a storm forces us to change course back to Farbanti, Erusea. Then there's this drone came out of nowhere from the storm and attack us. I distracted the drone so that my squadron can reach Farbanti safely. Then, I got struck by lightning along with the drone. But somehow, I got out of the storm safely and ended up here but not before my plane got chewed into pieces. And the rest, well, you know the story."
Trigger summed up his story and the room was met with awkward silence for brief moment.
The two Karlsland Witch were not expecting to hear such story. Their dull reaction displayed how they are not amused with his joke.
"So?" Trigger glanced between the two waiting for them to say something.
Adolfine exhaled deeply, she was stunned not expecting the man to spout some weird story. Greta on the other hand, she was staring at Trigger with a judging look. Not only a judging look, veins are popping up on her forehead meaning she was about to blow up at any time.
The General exhaled deeply and gave a wry smile. "Before we answer your question, mind if we ask more?"
"Sure thing." Trigger would be happy to cooperate as long as he can go home but… the next question from Adolfine baffled him.
"To begin with, where is Osea to be exact?"
The room fell into awkward silence once again for exactly 60 seconds before Trigger said a single word.
"EXCUSE ME?"
"You heard the General, we've never heard of country called Osea. OR is that just some imaginary country you came up with?" Greta quipped, looking at him suspiciously as she crosses her arm and leaned back into the chair.
It was unbelievable, "Wha?! NO! Osea! Federation of Osea?! Ring any bells?" they remained silent, nothing was enough to convince them. He wondered if this is some candid camera but from those judging looks, Trigger knew they were serious. "Are you kidding me?! This is gotta be some sort of a joke, right?"
"No." Greta replied instantly.
Trigger was taken aback, "There's no fucking way that you guys don't know about my country!"
"Sadly, this is the first time we hear of such country." Adolfine added.
Trigger then pointed at the flag planted on his right shoulder, "You see this flag? That's Osea. Sure you recognize this flag everywhere, right?" silence. None of them said a thing. "Seriously, there's no way you guys haven't seen this flag! Are you guys some secluded nation or something?"
"What did you say about our country, you bastard?" Greta growled at him, her eyes literally telling him that she's ready to rip him apart. To call her fatherland a secluded nation was an insult to every Karlslandian.
"Pretty sure I've never heard of 'Carlsberg' either!" Trigger retorted.
"KARLSLAND." Both of them corrected him in slightly annoyed tone. Even the poker face Adolfine is glaring at him.
"Oh yeah? Do please explain why I haven't heard of this… Country on the map?" Trigger leaned back into the chair as he crosses his arm. His tone changed as if he's mocking them.
"Quite attitude you got there, pilot." The Major growled at Trigger.
"I don't wanna hear that from a woman who doesn't even wear a pants. Let alone A SKIRT." Trigger retorted. "Also, why the hell are you not wearing anything down there? Scratch that, why the hell every single girls in this base are BOTTOMLESS?!" Trigger nearly yelled at the last moment but managed to tone it down. "Except for you General… E-Even though there's that little vents at the side…" And Trigger said meekly to Adolfine figuring that he might've offended her.
"What are you talking about? Its normal for us Witches." Greta responded. "Don't you know that?"
"No, I DON'T. I have never seen any wardrobe malfunction like this in any military forces in my entire life." From where he's from, this would warrant sexual harassment and several other questionable sexual misconducts forbidden by the military. 'And why the hell are the guys acting like this is normal?' Trigger wondered. Its impossible for any boys in this base to not fall for their sexual temptations yet. Are they gay? "And also, what's with those animal tails and ears along with that… Leg propeller thingies anyway?"
"Its called Strikers! And those ears and tails are our familiars. It helps us to use our powers effectively." Greta replied flatly as the man's question has started to get annoying. "You should know about this already! How come you act like you've never seen Witches?!"
Trigger's mouth opened wide and his brows furrowed as he reacted to the Major's words. 'Witches? The fuck? No, she must have meant Leeches.' Trigger thought. "You mean Leeches?" Boy, how wrong he was.
Greta slammed her fist onto the table, "WITCHES!"
"Woah woah, take it easy!" Trigger held both of his hand in the air in fear. "Witches?" Adolfine hummed. "Like having a pointy hat and flying on the broom? That sort of thing?"
"Yes. But we stopped flying on the brooms these days along with wearing the pointy hat." Adolfine stated. Ever since the introduction of Strikers, brooms fell out of place and it became practical training tool instead. Plus, they can't fight Neurois while riding a broom. And pointy hat? That is so old fashioned.
"Okay… That's probably acceptable but…bottomless? Aren't you worried about getting lecherous gaze from all men and boys alike?"
"No, we don't." Greta huffed. "As we said before, it is much faster to put on the Strikers without pants. Plus, any forms of leg garments get in the way of magic flow while wearing Strikers."
"What? How about General Galland? She can wear pants while flying those… Striker things!" Trigger fumbled while he pointed at Galland. It is quite weird that she's the only one wearing pants like any woman.
"General Galland is… She had a different magic pressure." Greta hesitated. Her face was showing worries but Trigger didn't notice it.
Feeling her worries, Adolfine quickly backed up her friend's statement.
"Its just as she said. I have different magic pressure than any other witches."
Trigger nodded accepting that answer. But still, that doesn't change his thoughts that this might be some Belkan secret weapons involving modifying girls genetically with animal powers and brainwash them into believing them as witches. But for now, Trigger just have to play along with the girls until he gets to inform the high command of his disappearance and about this place.
Adolfine smiled, "Well then, let's continue. Next question."
Trigger fixes his position and leaned forward preparing for whatever weird question that was about to come next. He just hoped there won't be any weird words coming up again.
"Now, tell me Captain…" Adolfine paused, her eyes narrowed as she gazes him and her fingers interlocked as she brought close to her face. "Why were you flying in Neuroi occupied territory?" she asked in a cold tone.
"New what?" Just as he prayed that no more weird words would be coming out of their mouths, a new one just appeared.
"Neuroi." Adolfine repeated.
"New Boi?"
"NEUROI." Greta growled as she corrected him again.
"Neuroi? The fuck is that?" Trigger glanced between the two as he cringes in his heart. 'Sounds like a shady telephone company…'
"Let me guess, judging from your face you've never heard of them." Adolfine guessed.
"Yeah. What the hell are these… 'Neuroi'?"
"You almost got killed by those bastards minutes earlier and you asked what Neurois are?" Greta raised her brows starting to get annoyed by his ignorance.
"What? You mean the drones? Those are Neurois?" Trigger just refuse to believe, he was pretty sure that those are drones.
The two Witches glanced between each other, "What is this drone thing you're talking about?" Greta raised her brows.
"Oh god. Are you serious? Unmanned Aerial Vehicles! UAVs! Duh!" Trigger is slowly losing his mind as he faces them. The two were still confused, "Eruseans used those to attack Osea! You should know about this! Hell, a lot of broadcasting stations covered 'The Lighthouse War'!"
"Hold it!" Greta interrupted, her brows were stitching together after hearing the man's last few words. "Did you say just 'Lighthouse War'?"
"Yeah. The war just ended and I got to go home after 'corpse dragging' my ass throughout that war! Not only my teammates are nearly 'useless' but this war decided cut off everyone's internet connection! Ugh, just…"
"Stop! Wait for a moment!" Adolfine stopped Trigger's rambling. "You didn't even explained what this Lighthouse War was all about..."
Trigger's shoulder drooped and he sank in his seat instantly. The Osean sighed deeply as he couldn't believe what he just heard. First, they don't know where Osea is and now, they didn't even know that a war was brewing. He even questioned if they been living under a rock.
"You don't know?" The two shook their head. "Fucking hell... Don't you know about the war before the satellites were shot out of the sky? Because the last time I heard, every country knows about this war!"
"Satellite? What 's that?" Greta asked much to the Osean's annoyance.
"Seriously? You don't know what satellites are?!"
"No, we can talk about that later. Tell us about this 'Lighthouse War'." Adolfine pressed as the subject about the war is far more important.
"Ugh, fine… It all started on 15th of May 2019…"
And so, Trigger explained everything from the bottom. How Osea was caught off guard by Erusean's surprise attacks and how they managed to claim entire continent of Usea. He also explains about the Space Elevator and why the Eruseans claimed it and as he progressed on, the war turned bad as satellites are destroyed and everyone was out of touch with their respective commands. To make things worse, Erusean escalated into civil war. Soon, the war came to an end as the two forces worked together to stop an A.I uprising on the November 2019.
"And you know the rest of the story on how I got here." Trigger sighed deeply.
The two Witches just stare blankly at him after hearing his story. The room fell into silent for a few minutes. Their minds just couldn't fathom every single part of the story that this man told. But none of that is absurd compared to what they had just heard throughout his story - The date of every operations executed. Why? He kept mentioning 'twenty-nineteen' several times over and over again which they thought it was a standard 24 hour military lingo but that was impossible. What kind of operation in daylight starts at 20:19 hours? That would be stupid to write on reports.
"Excuse me… but what did you mean by 'twenty-nineteen'?" Greta asked as that line kept bugging both of the Witches.
Trigger clicked his tongue thinking this is another joke, "Duh, its 2019! The current year we're living in?" The two Witches stared at him in disbelieved and he continued. "Like the next month will be Winter Festival in December and then we're straight into 2020! Hope there's no more conflict involving Osea this time… Not that I hate it…"
"Wait, wait, wait! Let me rephrase this, you said 2019 as in the YEAR itself?" Adolfine tried to confirm.
"Yeah. How many times do I have to tell you? Its 2019! Jeez…"
The two glanced at each other as the conversation has taken into weird turn. A man right in front of them claimed to be a person from the future. 75 YEARS AHEAD INTO THE FUTURE! Surely, this man is terrible at joking but he doesn't seem to be nervous about this at all. They even wondered if this guy is actually a wanted conman or even madman escaped from asylum stealing an advanced aircraft.
As the atmosphere sinks into awkwardness, the high commanding Witch cleared her throat.
"This is certainly… surprising, Captain." she couldn't find the best words to describe Trigger's claim.
"I'm more surprised by the fact that you don't even know what internet and satellite is…"
The Osean looked tired as he sinks deeper into the seat, his face was clearly visible of exhaustion and pain not just from the long flight and the drone fight but also these meaningless questions.
"Even so, we still have another thing to ask…"
"Oh god, really?" Trigger cringed as he had enough of this tiresome Q&A session. As if the god had answered his prayer, a knock was heard from the door.
*KNOCK KNOCK*
Greta stood up from her chair and opened the door. Behind it, an MP saluted before telling Greta and Adolfine an important message in their native language.
"Major Lutzow, General Galland… I'm here to inform that there is a call from Anzio, Romagna." the soldier informed.
The two looked at each other for a brief moment before Adolfine asked, "Who?"
"General Rommel. He said it was an urgent matter and he requests you to answer it immediately."
"So?" Greta looked at her friend, "Want me to continue interrogate him? You can go ahead and talk to that old man."
"No. You're coming with me."
Greta's eyes widened, surprised by her friend's order. "Are you sure? We can still get more…"
"I don't think he's in the mood to talk right now…" Adolfine rolled her eyes as if gesturing to the Osean.
Looking at the current state of the man, he seems to be quite stressed and grumpy at the same time. His eyes and his face was literally telling them that he's tired right now, he'd refuse to question any more answers if they keep doing that.
Aware of Adolfine's intention, she nodded. "I understand. So what are you suggesting? Lock him up?"
"For now."
"If you say so. What do you me to do anyway?" surely, it is quite weird to bring another person for a private phone call.
"I need you to inform your girls to standby. The Neuroi doesn't showing itself lately means something is off. They've never been awfully quiet like this except when he appeared. Be prepared for any Neuroi counterattack."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well then…" Adolfine stood up from her seat and corrected her jacket. "I'm sorry but it seems that we'll have to continue this chat later."
Trigger who was watching and hearing their discussion was surprised, "Wait. What do you mean?"
"There's an affair that requires my attention."
"But I still haven't notified my brass…"
"You will get your chance, Captain." Adolfine cuts him off, "Until then, you will be under our custody."
"Seriously? This is bullshit."
"Say whatever you want, Captain. We're simply following the standard procedure." The two witches began making their way out towards the door. As soonest Greta's passed the door, Adolfine stopped and slightly tilted her head barely seeing Trigger in her line of sight. "Rest assured. You have my words, Captain. No bad deeds shall happen to you while I'm here. You should rest, you seem tired."
The two witches left the room and several MPs entered, cuffed him and escorted him to his cell. The Osean once again had never thought that the situation was gonna get worse every minute.
Several minutes later…
After leaving Adolfine to answer the call, Greta heads off to the recreational room where most of her subordinates are standing by. Whatever the call may be, it must be urgent to the point that Rommel needed to inform Adolfine. Just when they're at their fatherland's doorstep, the Neuroi keep making suspicious moves. Especially that storm.
As the Major marched down the hallway, all of the personnel in the vicinity stepped aside giving path for her. All soldiers and witches alike. All of them had this fear plastered on their faces as if a demon passing by. Greta realized it but simply brushed it aside as 'respecting superior' or perhaps the fact that she's well known ace is another reason. But unknown to her, all of them feared her not for her skills or her status but for her constant angry face.
As soonest Greta reached the recreational room, she didn't spare a single second to knock the door and heads in like a boss she is.
"Alright, gather up!" everyone turned their attention to her as she crossed her arms. Each and every one of these Witches are the best aces she had under her command. Clearing her throat, she spoke. "We got orders to standby from Galland! The Neuroi might be making counterattack in the next few hours. This means that we'll be staying here for few days or maybe longer so be on guard. Any questions?"
Silence. Not a single Witch uttered a word. They simply glared at her as tensions build in the room. After a long silence, one of the witches raised her hand. The Witch was sitting on the sofa holding a newspaper in her hand, her green gem eyes still locking onto the Major.
"Yes, Hauptmann Langer?"
The Witch, Karla-Heinrike Langer folded the newspaper and spoke, "Tell me, Greta. How's the pilot doing? I mean, did he say anything…" Karla blushed, "… about us? Or Which one of us is cuter?"
Suddenly, some of the witches in he room began giggling and blushing. The tensions that have been building up in the room slowly dispelled as the girls murmured. Greta sighed, she can see this coming even before entering the room.
"No. He didn't said a thing." Greta replied briefly which caused some of them pouted and whined in silence. 'Rather he was quite surprised when we told him about Witches…'
"Oh, oh! Me! Me!" A young blonde haired witch, Gunila Landt raised her hand full of energy. Her eyes were glittering like a shining star.
"Yes, Oberleutnant Landt. What is it?"
"Say, does he have any preference?! Like what kind of girl he likes?!"
"No. We did not ask that." Greta replied flatly.
"Eh, typical Greta. She never cared about men anyways…" a chestnut haired Witch, Frida Muller sitting on the sofa nearby Karla spoke. "Not like she'll ever score one!"
"Oh my! You might be right, Frida! She even scared every men in 500 meter radius with her angry face!" Karla humored causing some of the Witches to burst into laughter.
Greta gritted her teeth as she takes the flak. She had no absolute idea why her subordinates would make fun out of this trivial matter. She admits herself, surely she is scary but they probably avoided because she's outranked them because it some sort of mutual respect, right?
"At the very least, I don't instantly fall in love with enemy at first sight." Greta retorted. Their roasting was starting to get on her nerves.
"Awww, you're not romantic at all!" Gunila pouted. "Don't you ever wanted to be fall in love?"
"No, I don't. At least while we're still in service."
"What sad life you have, Little Franzie…" Karla scoffed.
"Indeed she is." Frida added.
Angry vein popped up out of her head, to think that the finest and elite Witches of JG3 have the gall to woo an unknown pilot of origin who intruded their airspace, make fun of her who was their superior and even dared to call her nickname. Like a volcano about to erupt, she spewed out her long angry speech.
"Alright, you three! Time to get you girls in shape!"
"Ah, there she goes again." Karla noted. It seems they flipped her switch.
Frida simply shrugged as she enjoyed watching Greta's outbursts while Gunila simply closed her ears pretending to not hear a single rant she had to throw onto them.
While the center of the room was filled with the noisy rants of the Major, two witches were sitting by the window. One of them, having a long auburn hair was enjoying the scene as the rest of the Witches being 'lectured' by Greta and the other one had dark brown hair sporting a twintail was staring outside the window where the soldiers and witches are walking around living their everyday life. Unlike the auburn haired girl, she lack any emotions or any interest for what was happening in the room and her aura reeks of a loner.
"Commander's at it again, Sophie." The auburn Witch, Kathe Brandle said as she maintains her smile.
"Eh, let her be. Not like I cared at all." The twintail, Sophie Altmann replied flatly.
Kathe giggled, "Well, you should join them at the very least." The twintail didn't said a thing, her face was still devoid of any interest. "Geez, you should at least try and socializing once in a while you know?"
"What are you talking about? I'm with you guys right now. Isn't that socializing?"
"Staring blankly at scenery is not socializing, Sophie." Kathe could only smile as she deals with her junior's antics. If only Sophie smiles and talks more, she would be a wonderful person to hang around with. "Still frustrated you didn't get to sortie for the interception?"
"Not anymore as soonest they brought back some weird looking airplane. Though, I am bit jealous they managed to kill one Neuroi."
"You only care about the Neuroi, huh?"
"As long if its Neuroi… I'LL KILL THEM ALL." Sophie said coldly.
Kathe could only look at her junior sympathetically. Compared to any Witches in the room, no one had a deep hatred for Neuroi as much as Sophie Altmann. She hated them for what they have done to her in the past ever since Karlsland fell. She was never the same person, not even Kathe was able to do anything to open up Sophie's feelings.
Just as she was worried, her junior called.
"Hey, Kathe…"
"What is it?"
"The airplane that crashed landed… What is that supposed to be?"
"Oh, that?" Kathe was baffled for a few minutes. Even she have no idea what kind of plane she saw earlier when it crashed. "Its hard to say, Sophie. But Karla and Gunila were there. They happened to heard General Galland mentioned 'jet fighter'."
Sophie's eyes widened as she turned her sight facing Kathe, "Jet fighter? You mean like that propless engine that emits fire?"
"Yes, I heard that Ministry of Technology had started developing the prototype for both aircraft and the striker version."
"Already? For BOTH? But isn't that quite expensive? Just where did they get the funding from?"
Kathe shrugged, "Eh, you know our Liberion partners… They funded this project since we don't have a lot of resources. Heck, Brittania had already started mass producing the jet aircraft AND the Meteor jet striker without our help."
"Huh, didn't expect those tea drinkers to beat us…" Sophie was impressed. When it comes to engineering, Karlsland always tops most of the countries. Heck, even the 'mass producing specialists' Liberion had to learn from their tech as well. But for some islanders to beat them is quite impressive. "But then again, they haven't get invaded so they can produce as much as they want. So, where are those fancy jet strikers of theirs anyway? Didn't see those with the Brits around here…"
"Sadly, the Brittanian government didn't send it off straight to the frontline." Kathe sighed, her smile remained cynical. "Instead, they decided to keep it for home defense in case the high speed Neuroi attacked mainland Brittania."
"Ehhh, what? That's lame!"
"I know right?"
"Speaking of jets, who flew that weird looking aircraft over our airfield?" Sophie inquired.
"Beats me, why don't you ask Major Lutzow for that matter?"
"As for that matter…" The two quickly turned their sight and saw Greta approaching them. "Galland and I have decided that the man's identity will remain secret."
"Ah, Greta. You already done with those three?" Kathe greeted her with delightful smile.
"Yup, they got their punishment." The three directed their gaze at Gunila, Karla and Frida who were grunting in pain as a large bump was visibly popping on their head. Then, Greta looked back at her fellow subordinates, "The man's arrival in this region is to be kept secret at all times and I expect you two to do the same as well since you guys weren't there. Is that clear?"
"Sure thing, Greta." "Yeah, yeah. I'll keep my mouth shut."
"Also, leutnant Altmann, I hope you understand why I barred you from flying for the sortie."
"Yeah, yeah… I get it. Stop making fuss about it." Sophie's face soured.
Greta only sighed, disappointed in her subordinate's behavior. Before the Major could begin another lengthily lecture for the young witch, Kathe asked a question trying to get her change the topic instead.
"Say, Greta. That man, why was he flying in that area?"
"its hard to say and I don't like speculating at all but from the way he act and his language, I only assumed that he's might be a Liberion in disguise." Greta concluded based on her observation. In fact, most of his lines and choice of words are similar to how Liberion would speak and act. She's been working with several Liberion Witches and how his manner are similar to theirs. But… 'Why did he claimed himself as Osean?'
"Seeing as that pilot somehow managed to slip under our radar and flew into the no fly zone means we should start be wary of other countries, right?"
"I guess so… but I couldn't think of any other reason why would Liberion send a normal pilot to this area especially when you're REALLY CLOSE TO NEUROI HIVE."
"Yeah, should we worry that they might be planning something?"
"I don't think you should be worrying about that now." A familiar voice was heard and everyone quickly snapped their attention to the door. It was Adolfine and her soured face seemed like she had just received a bad news.
"General Galland! All hands, attention!" Everyone in the room quickly stood up straight from Greta's single order. The trio who had just got their head smacked also quickly stood up ignoring the pain still burning on top of their head and even the apathetic Sophie does the same when Adolfine was present in the room.
Adolfine closed the door and locked it before she said, "Close the windows. There's a situation far worse than a single pilot intruded our airspace."
With that, the girls shut the windows along with the curtains. On the orders of Adolfine, Greta hung the map of Europe on the board where three prominent hives are marked on the map. Seriousness was plastered all over their face as they prepares for the bad news. The tenderness and fluffiness of the mood that they had just now is now gone. With every Witches have taken their place, the General began the briefing.
"Ladies, we have a big problem."
22:19 p.m. Later that night…
Aachen Airfield holding cell
Trigger was laying down himself on the bed gazing at the boring ceiling. He couldn't contain his boredom and most importantly, his frustration. The Captain was trying to digest every single info that he had absorb today. He just couldn't get it.
'Witches? Neurois? Strikers? Karlsland? Just what are those names? Who the hell choose Karlsland as a name for country? And those drones, Neuroi? The hell? Why are they claiming it Neuroi? And Witches? This is just too absurd. I can't even take their claim seriously but they have that weird animal features which just doesn't make any sense!'
The Osean screamed internally as he rubbed his temples as he could feel migraine striking every cell of his brain. Trigger wished that everything he's currently facing right now is just some bad dream or even he's actually trapped in a simulation machine where he had a brain damage in real life after escaping the space elevator and to safe him, Dr. Schroeder rigged him onto machine and he's currently living in a simulated world like that one anime.
"Yeah, let's roll with that one." Trigger nodded in assurance. "There's no way this is real! Bet I died when that lightning struck me!"
The 28 year old man laughed as he thought of the possibilities. But then, his laughter slowly died down only to let out a deep sigh at the end.
"I just wanna go home…" He muttered silently.
The Lighthouse War take too much toll on both his mind and body. At the beginning, he's just some Nugget who haven't seen any real combat. Plus, he just got out LIFT training and assigned to Fort Grays. Less than a month, war broke out and he got framed for killing Harling, sent off to penal unit, out of penal unit, fought some giant submarine and end up being the ace of Osea throughout the war. Now he landed up in the magical land of 'Not Belka' and the girls here doesn't wear anything at the bottom. And now, he's locked in a slammer for breaching the 'war time aviation law'. then, this is what it feels like to be Avril. Good thing, he didn't end up limping like she did.
Heh, what's even funnier is that he ended up being locked in the cell again. The only different thing this time is that he can't request for HexaStation 4 to play his favorite 'Air Conflict 7'. No more sounds of other tenants cheering for Osea to be burned down or even simps lauding Cosette's call to destroy Osea. Nothing.
Nothing but the sounds of heater humming across the hallway and the faint sounds of propellers passing by the building. The rest of the cell was empty, he was the only tenant of this small cell. Though, at least the cell is well maintained compared to the ones at 444th base. Then again, this cell was meant to hold someone for a short period of time before being released. But for him, Trigger has no idea how long he would stay here.
Trigger tilted his body, facing the right side. Once again, he met with another boring wall. He just prayed that this whole thing over by tomorrow. Having his ass stuck in this place means more interrogation by those girls.
"Bet Count's gonna laugh when he heard about this…"
Just as the slumber conquered his mind, a voice called him.
"Hope I'm not disturbing your sleep, Captain Wolfe." Trigger quickly sat up and saw a distinctive figure standing behind the bar before his cell. Dark long hair, leather jacket, black tight pants and a scope hanging around her neck. It was Adolfine. "I'm sorry for meeting you at this hour."
"No… Its fine." Trigger answered weakly as he stood up and approaches groggily to the cell door. "So, we're doing this at the late hour?"
"No."
"OK…" Trigger looked at both side of the cell. "Where's that angry woman?"
"Major Lutzow? She's probably resting in her bunk right now as we speak."
"Its that time of night already… I get it but… Why are you here in the middle of the night, General?"
Its quite weird for a General like her to just waltz into the cell and meet their prisoner personally. Perhaps she has something to talk with him about or maybe, something along the lines of doing some 'questionable' stuff with him? Nope, that was impossible even for him. Besides, he already had Avril. Just as he was wondering, Adolfine rummaged through the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a familiar looking paper, folded neatly as she held closely next to her face displaying it clearly to him. Trigger was familiar with the paper's color.
"Hey, that's my map." Trigger reached out his hand but Adolfine quickly stood back away from the cell while still striking the same pose. "What are you doing?"
"Is it true?"
"What?"
"This map." Adolfine's eyes were icy as he stares deeply towards the man in front of her. "Everything written on this map. Is it true?"
Trigger was baffled wondering why would she asked such question. "Yeah, obviously. Pretty sure everyone here had the same map too."
Adolfine was about to retort but she held herself back. Clearing her mind, she exhaled deeply and chooses her words carefully.
"You still believe that you're somewhere on this map?"
"Definitely." It was an obvious answer. "You know what? How about you show me the map and we can talk through this together."
"No."
"Why? Isn't better that we end this stupid misunderstandings?"
"Its not that simple."
"Why not?"
"Because things aren't exactly what's on this map!" Adolfine raised her tone accidentally but not loud enough to yell.
Silence fell between them for a few seconds before Trigger broke it.
"What?" More confusion ensued as soonest he heard those words.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." regret was painted on Adolfine's face. She hid the map in the same pocket before turning away and slowly marched towards the exit. "I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep. May you have a good rest."
"What? What do you mean?!" The Osean rattled the cell as he yelled. "Hey! Come back! What do you mean!" She didn't returned, only the sound of door slamming shut answered his call. "Damn it!" Trigger kicked the door out of frustration as he sat on his bed. "Just what the hell is she talking about?"
Those words kept ringing in his head. Disturbing him to the point that he could no longer feel the drowsiness over his head.
To him, being thrown into solitary feels better than this whole bullshit.
23:49 p.m.
Crash Site
A platoon of paratroopers are guarding the wreckage with several floodlights powered dozens of generators illuminating the area. After what happened earlier this afternoon, only permitted personnel are allowed to approach the wreckage within 100 meter radius. Since then, no one other than the JG3 or even the Luftwaffe's elite paratroopers are guarding the site. Even the ground forces are prohibited from approaching the site as well.
Most of the missing parts including the large wing was recovered and arranged next to the wreck itself. Even the paratroopers were impressed by the sheer size of the plane as they needed a crane or even assistance from the JG3's Witch to move the wing. Now, almost approaching 9 o' clock at night the paratrooper commander, Major Fredreich Dantz was expecting someone. He doesn't like leaving his men in the middle of the night like this since November is approaching and it would snowing soon. Even at this hour, the night is still cold as ever.
Just as he hoped that person shows up, several lights up in the distance approaches the crash site.
"Heads up, three trucks coming in!" one of the paratroopers warned.
"Let them be. It must be the guys from Ministry of Technologies." Fredreich said.
Soon, all of the trucks stopped next to the site. Several men clad in gray uniforms presumed to be support personnel or technicians dismounted from the trucks and begin to form a line. And the most important person, who dropped off from the first truck approaches the Major. She had a shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes covered with round spectacles, wearing standard imperial military uniform and topped with lab coat.
"Oberleutnant Ursula Hartmann?" Fredreich asked the young girl.
"Yes. I am." Ursula saluted prompting the Major to do the same before they shook hands. "Is this the wreckage?" she gestured at the dead beast lying dead behind him.
"Yes. It flew from the storm and decided to land here. Though, the landing gear failed to deploy and the pilot had to perform belly landing."
"Is that so…" Ursula was less interested on the pilot but now, she is after a single glance from this giant machine. "Are all wreckage parts accounted for?"
"Yes, we've collected all of them. Though, the aircraft had already suffer damage from Neuroi attacks. Some parts might be destroyed from the battle against them."
"Doesn't matter. I'll tear apart this machine if I have too." Ursula confidently pushed her glasses upward. There's nothing that she can't do. Not even a single machine she had build so far would fail her… Sort of. "By the way, Major. Where's General Galland? I heard that she will meet me here personally."
"She's on her way currently."
"Then, I'll meet her later but first, can you find me a crane or even stage coach. I need to transport this immediately."
"Stage coach? As in the train coach?"
"Yes. Looking at the size, I don't think any normal trucks would be fit or even strong enough to carry this behemoth."
The Major understood what she meant, indeed not even their standard trucks could tow this thing at the back.
"Well then, I'll see what I can do." The Major excused himself and began talking to his subordinates.
Ursula continues to stare at the aircraft magnificently. There were many questions popping up in her head but she knew one thing for sure.
'I need to ask that pilot everything he knew about this aircraft!'
She thought as the flames to reclaim Karlsland hasn't blew out of thin air just yet.
First thing, all members of the JG3 are also based off real pilots. Two of them are from World Witches Wiki and the others are OC. I'm taking my own approach since two of the 'canon' witches doesn't have any background or personality yet.
Karla-Heinrike Langer - Karl-heinz Langer (Already in World Witches Wiki)
Gunila Landt - Gunther Landt (Already in World Witches Wiki)
Frida Muller - Friedrich-Karl Muller (OC)
Kathe Brandle - Kurt Brandle (OC)
There are other Witches in the room but I hate making so much character because I don't want to write too much characters or they'll end up useless in future chapters. Only Sophie Altmann is my OC that I made that was not based on any real life aces, I got plans for her.
Again, I had to rewrite this chapter like 5 times already. There's a lot of loophole and some other things that I missed. I'm not really happy even if I checked it several times. Really, I just want this story to be enjoyable, that's all. Until then.