A/N: This story is written for entertainment purposes. All characters belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 5: Taste of Combat

August 12, 1991

0455

Andrew put his hand over his mouth to stifle a yawn that came. While he is already used to waking up early in the morning, his body still protests and if not for the instant coffee in front of him, he might have passed out by now.

And thankfully, he wasn't the only one suffering.

"Why are we the only ones that have to wake up at this God awful time?" Yusuke moaned as his head was on the table, a cup of instant coffee near his head.

"Well, we do not know a whole lot about this world so it makes sense why we would have to be in early," Alexa noted.

"But could this have waited until, I don't know, AFTER we had chow," Yusuke groaned.

"Can't be helped. They probably have briefings after us and since we are guests, it makes sense we get the shittier times. Besides, I doubt that they would want to launch us on any missions soon since we still need to get our bearings so we can relax," Andrew replied, taking a sip from his coffee. He turned his head and had to hold in his laugh as Nicholai leaned back and snored. Alexa sighed as and hit Nicholai in the chest, waking the man up.

"What was that for?" Nicholai asked, annoyed that he was woken up.

"You need to be more professional. This isn't the carrier, so don't assume that they will let you go for that," Alexa scowled Nicholai.

"You are sounding like my mother," Nicholai quipped.

"That's because you are a baby that is an adult's body," Andrew couldn't hold it anymore and laughed and from Yusuke shaking in his seat, he was laughing as well. Nicholai grumbled as Alexa wore a confident smile as the room once again became quiet with the exception of the clock ticking.

Five minutes would pass before the door to the briefing room opened. Andrew and his pilots all stood up at attention as Annabelle and another girl followed inside, carrying a projector with her. Annabelle saluted them and then motioned them to take their seats.

"Good Morning everyone. This morning, I will be going over the overall tactical situation that is currently going on in the Kingdom of Jazira. With me here is Pilot Officer Anna Erwood, the squadron's intelligence officer," Annabelle said, as Anna set up the projector.

"We will go over how the Neuroi invaded the kingdom, the current situation as well as the response from other countries at this time." Andrew raised his hand.

"Will we also talk about any current plans on a counter-attack?" Annabelle sadly shook her head.

'There are no current plans to launch a counter attack, at least from the Sinai. The kingdom suffered extensive losses during the retreat and the forces that we currently have in the region are not enough to regain much territory," Annabelle replied. She turned to see tha Anna finished setting up the projector and looked at Annabelle and gave her a nod.

"Ok, let's begin," Annabelle stated. She then turned on the projector and a picture of the region came up. What Andrew and the other pilots can tell just from looking at the map that the countries of Iran and Iraq were completely gone. The rest of the Middle East were there but now, there was a narrow piece of land leading north to where Turkey is.

'Well, at least we do not have to worry about a crazy Iran and Iraq under Saddam at least,' Andrew thought to himself as Annabelle began.

"On July 20, we received signs from our early warning sites in North Africa that indicated that a Neuroi Hive arrival was imminent. However, we did not know where they would appear and with the cleanup operations in Orussia and in the Balkans, many countries didn't take it too seriously. Then on August 2, the hive appeared over the Arabian Peninsula. A day later, the capital of the kingdom, Riyadh fell and that was when the princess also went missing. On the 6th, multiple hives began to appear in the western and northern region of the peninsula, resulting in the almost complete annihilation of the United Kingdom of Jazira Army. By the 8th, 90% of the country have fallen, this includes all major oil fields in the peninsula."

Andrew's eyes raised at this. These Neuroi were able to suppress the entire peninsula in about a week. Well, given how these things can shoot lasers and homing missiles that can defy reality, he shouldn't be all that surprised.

"When the hive arrived, a multinational force consisting of Orussia and Britannia arrived in the Sinai with our headquarters being in Alexandria. Another multinational task force, composed primarily of Liberion Marines and Fuso Marines landed at Abu Dhabi but they also suffered a long-range missile attack from an unknown enemy. Reports indicate that they suffered 10% casualties but are holding the line. Further reinforcements from Fuso and Liberion are on their way to reinforce." It was here that Alexa raised her hand.

"What is the current condition of the kingdom forces?"

"As of now, we only have a rough estimate but we believe that the United Kingdom of Jazira military is at 50% combat effectiveness, and this includes naval and air units. We believe that there are some units behind enemy lines still offering resistance but we do not have an accurate number," Anna replied to the question. Everyone grimaced at that piece of information. Losing half of your military would pretty much cripple your military.

"Are there any other countries offering help? Cuz I doubt 4 countries are going to be enough to flight these odds?" Nicholai asked.

"Well, on the 8th, the UN Security Council voted unanimously for military action to repel the Neuroi. As a result, the Federal Republic of Karlsland has sent their Kiregsmarine and are getting ready to send their Africa Corp to the Sinai to assist in the defenses."

There was silence as everyone looked at her as if she grew another head.

"Um….." Alexa started before Andrew clarified.

"Remember how I said yesterday that the nations we know in our world have changed?" Everyone nodded at this as he continued, "Well, I looked into it a bit more but Karlsland is Germany. And since there really wasn't a World War 1, they didn't lose their colonies, same with other nations. Also, Fuso is Japan, Liberion is the U.S in case you guys didn't pick that up."

"Ah….." Alexa replied, now fully understanding.

'Oh, thank God. I was sitting here wondering what she was talking about when she mentioned Liberion and Fuso," Nicholai sighed. Annabelle raised her eyebrows at this.

"If there is anything that confuses you all, please do let me know," Annabell stated.

"I apologize ma'am, it's still early and we just want to wrap our heads around the whole situation," Yusuke replied to which Annabelle nodded.

"I understand that. If there is anything going forward that confuses you, please let me know. Now, let us move on to the type of Neuroi that have appeared in this area."


1045 Hours

"I don't see why you like those pilots Wendy? You saw how one of them talked about killing people. DOesn't that bother you?" Khadija asked. Currently she and Wendy were currently in the hangar, watching as the mechanics were working on their strikers. Wendy's Tornado finally came in today and the mechanics were giving it a look before she is slated to give it a test flight today.

"Well, I am a bit uncomfortable with the idea of people fighting each other but they don't look like bad people. It kind of looks to me that they have been through a lot that nothing really phases them anymore," Wendy replied.

"You can not be serious about this? You saw how he talked about it? He sounded indifferent to it," Khadija reminded Wendy, remembering how Andrew said it as if it was nothing surprising.

"We have to understand where they are coming from. They never fought the Neuroi, so their world enever fostered a close relationship with each other," Wendy pointed out. It was due to the Neuroi that the countries around the world were able to come together and assist one another in defeating the Neuroi at the time. Wendy could only imagine what would have happened if the Neuroi never existed? Would all those witches from the past be forced to fight each other.

As the two were talking, they did not notice that Andrew and the rest of his pilots entered the hangar. Their aircraft were in the corner of the hangar and under Annabelle's orders, no one was to touch them without first getting permission from the pilots. They made their way to Nicholai and Alexa's MIG and surveyed the damage.

"Looks like those small lasers are the same as 20mm shells, these holes are going to need to be patched before you can fly," Andrew commented as he continued to inspect the Mig.

"At least we weren't hit by a missile. From what the Major told us, they don't always use lasers," Nicholai pointed out. During their briefing, they were told that the Neuroi like to use actual missiles and make them in the shape, size and explosive load as normal missiles so that was something they had to keep in mind.

"We got a hit on our radar when those lasers were about to be fired. Keep an eye out if you see one and once you do, get out of its range," Yuske added. Everyone nodded and then made their way to Andrew and Yusuke's Tomcat.

"Looks like the missile's are still on," Yusuke noted. Their Tomcat still had its full loadout since Andrew didn't fire during the engagement the other, which was 4 AIM-9X heatseeker missiles and 4 AIM-54C Phoenix missiles.

"I think we still have our full load. The fight ended before we could get into the fight,"Yusuke commented.

"Either way, we need to get these things off. This is a safety hazard and I rather not get killed because of a mistake," Andrew said. He looked around the hangar. He noticed some ground crew members finishing up working on a striker unit, by the looks of it must have been a Tornado. One of them noticed Andrew waving at them and ran over.

"What can I do for you Major?"The man asked, after looking at Andrew's color and seeing the oak leaf, and using the air force rank.

"You think you can help us get these missiles off? I know you guys are under orders to not touch our fighters but this could be a hazard for all of us," Andrew noted, to which the man nodded.

"Of course sir," He then looked at his other teammates and motioned them over. All five ground crew members rushed over with one bringing a cart over to transport the missiles.

As they were taking the missiles off, Yusukle asked, "You are going to keep them nearby right? Wouldn't want to fly up during a raid with nothing."

"Don't worry about that sir. If those bloody Neuroi come by, we can have them on within 6 minutes," One of them replied, as they took off the last Phoenix, "Do you want us to unload the 20mm too sir?"

Andrew gave it some thought and then shook his head, "Leave the 20mil for now. In case there is something, best we have our guns if you can't get all of our missiles on."

"Yeah, can you all help unload our missiles as well?" Nicholai asked. As they began talking, Andrew noticed Khadija and Wendy near a pair of stricker units. Andrew waved at them but only Wendy waved back with Khadija just scoffing and walking away. Andrew raised an eyebrow and walked over to Wendy who was looking back at Khadija with a sad look.

"I take it that she is not really a fan of us huh?" Andrew asked.

"It's not really you guys, she just doesn't like foreigners as much. While she is different with me and the rest of the squadron, she thinks that foreigners are just coming here to take away the land," Wendy replied.

'Well, she technically isn't wrong but best not say that,' Andrew thought to himself before responding.

"I think other nations are more worried about the Neuroi than their own personal gains but I could be wrong. Never was into politics," Andrew replied.

"Same here, though with my family, I am kind of forced into it sometimes," Wendy replied.

"Really? How so?"

"Well….. In your world, do you know anyone by the name of Trevor Maloney?" Wendy asked. Andrew raked his brain and shook his head.

"I studied military history in college and that name does not come up. There was a Trafford Mallory but he died in 44 in a plane crash," Andrew recounted.

"Well, you see, Trevor Maloney is my great-grandfather. He was the one who tried to get the- witches disbanded with his project 'Warlock'. However, he was stopped but since then, the name Maloney became infamous and till this day there are still people in my family who think that the witches shouldn't be fighting," Wendy still remembered the arguments that happened in her home when she volunteered and how she is distanced by some in her family.

She then looked at Andrew and was surprised to see him frowning.

"That has gotta be the stupidest thing I have heard. So what if you are a witch? You are at least doing something rather than just staying at home and not doing anything," Andrew stated.

"B-But aren't you….."

"I don't give a flying fuck. What you do should be what you are judged on, not on what your dumb family member did back then. If someone gives you a hard time on this base, let me know and I will help out,: Andrew stated firmly.

To say that Wendy was surprised was an understatement. This is the first time that someone was willing to be there for her. Throughout her career in the Royal Air Force, there have not been many people who would back her up. When she arrived at the squadron, the colonel and major were the first to view her based on her record but there are still many in the squadron who associate her with her great-grandfather.

"Thank you," Wendy muttered.

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"Um, no. It's nothing!" Wendy exclaimed. It was then that an alarm began to wail.

"What the?!" Andrew said, got off guard from the alarm.

"Neuroi bombers detected on a course to the airbase! All aircraft scramble!"

Andrew wasted no time, as he rushed back to his fighter. He saw the ground crew putting his missiles back on and was doing it quickly. Thankfully, Andrew was already in his flight suit and had most of his gear on as he was planning on taking his bird up to test all the systems. He approached and saw that Yusuke was already in his seat, going over the fighter's systems.

As he climbed up into his fighter, he saw that his helmet was in his seat already. Putting it on, he was strapping himself in when a crew member climbed up to the cockpit.

"You are all fueled up and ready to go, sir" the enlisted man stated. Andrew nodded and gave the man a salute and started the engines. The twin F-110-GE-450 engines roared to life as the ground crews cleared the fighter. Andrew closed the canopy, and followed the ground crew's director as it sealed shut.

Andrew Andrew taxied the Tomcat to the runway, he noticed that an F-4E Phantom coming up beside him. It had a desert camouflage with a flag that had a red vertical stripe and green, white and black horizontal stripes. There is a green sword in the white strip and three white in the corner of the green stripe.

Andrew was about to radio who was with him when the voice crackled.

"You think you were going up there without your wingman?" Andrew's eyes bulged as he recognized the voice.

"Nicholai, you crazy bastard. Do you even know how to fly a Phantom?" Andrew asked.

"While it is a bit different from the Fulcrum, it isn't too bad," Nicholai replied back.

"Plus, the good thing is that this is in English and no Arabic surprisingly so it's not much trouble," Alexa replied from the back seat.

Andrew was about to say something but decided against it, "Alright, but if you have any problems, RTB. I don't want you getting shot down because of a mechanical issue."

"Roger that." Satisfied, Andrew and Nicholai made their way to the runway.

"Tower, this is Reaper 2-1 and 2-2. Requesting clearance to take-off." Andrew said over the radio.

"This is the Tower, you have clearance to launch!" A British voice replied back, sounding a bit panicked.

Andrew wasted no time as he pushed the throttle forward. His TOmcat rocketed down the runway, followed by Nicholai and Alexa in the Phantom. Once they got to the right speed, they pulled on the stick and ascended into the air.

Once they got to the right altitude, the tower told them, "Altitude restriction canceled. Good hunting lads."

Andrew chuckled at the comment and then said over the radio, "This is Reaper 2-1 and 2-2 in the air. Single flight of an F-14 and F-4. Ready for tasking."

"This is AWACS Griffin. Reaper 2-1, we need you and your wingman to assist in the intercept of a Neuroi bomber formation heading to the air base. We already have some witches already engaging but they need help and fast," the AWACs stated.

"Roger, request bogey dope," Andrew asked.

"Reaper 2-1, BRA is 150, 30, 12000," Andrew checked his radar. The bearing is 150, range is 30 miles and the altitude is at 12,000 feet.

"Roger, moving to assist," Andrew then angled his fighter towards the correct bearing and hit his afterburner with Nicholai following suit.

"Reaper 2-1, be advised that we do have witches currently engaging them so watch your fire when you intercept."


"Shirley, get Amy out of here now. She is in no condition to continue fighting," Monica ordered. The witch named Shirley nodded and she took Amy away, with Amy missing one striker and her body being covered in blood from shrapnel from a missile.

"All Chimera elements, this is Chimera 4. Any witch that has their striker damaged, return to base immediately," Monica said over the radio. She then looked over the battlefield and cursed under her breath. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. What started as a standard CAP, Combat Air Patrol, turned into a furball when it was reported that a Neuroi bomber formation was approaching. Monica and some other flights that were on CAP went to intercept, not knowing that the group was a lot bigger. Monica and her flights were able to whittle down their numbers, but they were running out of ammo and were down to their last few missiles. Not only that, but they only managed to shoot down only 2 of the 12 Neuroi bombers.

"Griffin, we won't be able to last for much long out here. Where are those reinforcements?" Monica yelled over the radio as she was forced to pull her shield up to block a laser from one of the escorts.

"Just hold on Chimera 4. Got a flight coming to help," Griffin reported to Monica who scowled as she fired back at the Neuroi who fired on her and gave chase.

"We need more than two bloody flights," Monica exclaimed.

"We have more reinforcements coming as well but they are the closest. They should be approaching you soon, Callsigns are Reaper 2-1 and Reaper 2-2," Monica raised an eyebrow. She heard those call signs before….

"This is Reaper 2-1 with 2-2. We are in range and are now engaging. Stay clear of our missiles," A voice that Monica knows called out.

"It's the Yank," Monica said to herself as she finished off the Neuroi she was chasing with her SA80. She then saw incoming missiles from the radar, she turned and saw the missile trails and they were heading towards the bombers. She tapped her glasses to zoom in and saw that it was a pair of Phoenix and Sparrow missiles.

Of course, the Neuroi took notice of this. The bombers began expanding chaff and flares to defeat the missiles. They also started to maneuver but due to their size, it was quite hard for them to really do much.

The AIM-54D Phoenix missiles are upgraded versions of the ones from the 90s. Their guidance systems are upgraded to be similar to that of the AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles. They now are more capable at finding their targets at long ranges and maintaining the long range capability. In this case, the missiles were able to ignore the counter-measures and both Phoenix's hit two of the bombers, destroying it instantly. Meanwhile one of the Sparrows with the other bomber while the other took the decoys and the missile sped away.

From the distance, Andrew saw the Sparrow miss and scowled.

"Damnit, thought we have that one. Ok, Wolf, you focus on the bombers. I will make sure that the fighters stay off of you."

"Roger," Nicholai responded. Andrew broke right to engage the bombers while Nicholai broke left to engage the incoming Neuroi fighters. There were now 7 bombers while the escorts were trying to reorganize. One of the escorts detected the two fighters but it also detected something. The fighter that it identified as a F-14 Tomcat of Liberion origin was different. It's engine and avionics are different from what was recorded. As a result, this escort sent a signal back to the hive to alert it of this new fighter.

Meanwhile, Nicholai was positioning to shoot a Sparrow on said escort.

"Princess, do we have a lock?" Nicholai asked. It took a few minutes before he got a response.

"We have a lock!" Alexa stated.

"Черт возьми! Fox One! Fox One!" Nicholai roared as he pressed the trigger. The Sparrow left its pylon and accelerated towards the Neuroi. Nicholai kept his jet pointed at the Neuroi. The Neuroi detected that it was fired upon and began evasive maneuvers after sending the message. But it was slow and the Sparrow was fast approaching it.

Nicholai saw the flash in the distance and cheered, "Есть один!"

"Wolf, speak in English. The others don't understand what you are saying," Nicholai heard over the radio. Nicholai gulped a bit as Alexa just laughed.

"Um, roger that. My apologies," Nicholai replied but then noticed that he was being targeted. He cursed and pumped flares as he turned hard right in an attempt to break the lock. Alexa looked back and saw that a Neuroi was chasing after them after the first missile took the flares.

"Reaper 2-1, need some help here," Alexa stated.

"We are busy on our end too," Alexa heard Yusuke reply in a strained voice, showing that they were also engaging the enemy.

"This is Chimera 4, we are also engaging the other escorts. We can not assist you at this time," Monica replied over the radio.

"Well, this is shit," Nicholai growled as he tried to dive away from the Neuroi. The alien followed and then fired another missile at him. He continued to dive, so much so that "Bitching Betty" was making herself known.

He continued to dive and he was almost about to hit the ground, he hit the brakes and also pulled on the stick. This caused the Phantom to give excessive G-Force but also immediately level the fighter. This fast maneuver gave the missile little time to react and it smashed to the ground. The neuroi continued to pursue Nicholai, but he had an idea.

"Princess, hang on!" Nicholai stated as he braked. This lowered the speed of the fighter quickly but it was enough that the Neuroi couldn't correct the speed in time, making it overshoot the Phantom.

"Получил ты, ублюдок," Nicholai muttered as he squeezed the trigger for his cannon. The 20mm cannon in the noise fired off a burst and it clipped the wing. The Neuroi then crashed into the ground and exploded in a ball of flame and white particles.

Nicholai gained altitude but then heard the same beeping again.

"Oh, come on!" Nicholai yelled as he looked around for the target.

"Wolf, he is directly above us!" Alexa yelled. Nicholai looked up and saw that the Neuroi was heading right to him and he saw the red laser powering up. It was too close for him to evade and there was no way he was going to evade it.

"Reaper 2-2, punch the fuck out!" Nicholai heard Andrew yell but even then, him and Alexa would still get caught in the laser.

'I guess this is finally it… I wonder if I die here, I will see them again,' Nicholai thought as he accepted his faith. He saw the laser shoot and closed his eyes. After a few moments, there was nothing. He opened it again and saw that he was still flying. Taking the controls again, he turned the fighter to see that there was another witch that had a huge blue ring in front of her. She then unslung her gun and fired it at the Neuroi, destroying it. As Nicholai saw this, he heard a voice with a familiar accent through the radio.

"This is Red 46, my apologies for arriving late. We will now engage the remaining Neuroi," There was a streak of missiles that came from the north. Nicholai saw the missiles and recognized them as R-27 Alamo radar-guided missiles. The remaining Neuroi tried to deploy flares and pieces of their own white particles as chaff but it was no use as all of them fell to the missiles.

"Well, it looks like the cavalry's here," Andrew said over the radio.

"They are also Russian," Yusuke added, hesitating in his voice.

So that was why Nicholai recognized the accents. He looked at his radar and saw that 15 contacts were heading their way, with one already amongst them. He saw that the one that saved them was wearing a grey-blue uniform with a grey-blue garrison cap with a red star on it. She had grey stockings and a grey tie. She had brown hair going down to the middle of her back and there was a burn scar over her left eye. She also had a cigarette in her mouth. Something about this person was familiar to Nicholai.

"This is Reaper 2-2, спасибо тому, кто помог нам," Nicholai replied over the radio.

There was a moment of silence before a voice responded back, "You are Orussian?"

"Well, you can say that. May I ask if you were the one that just saved my life and the life of my weapon's officer," Nicholai asked.

"My name is Dina Danilova Denisova. I am a Senior Lieutenant of the 14th Air Witch Brigade, 4th Air Army. Call-sign Red 09," Dina replied, taking another huff from her cigarette. There was a moment of silence before a shuddering voice called out a name that almost made her drop her cigarette, "...Lisichka?"


Meanwhile in the Persian Gulf

Following the naval landings conducted by the Liberion and Fuso marines, the need to maintain the gained territory was too important to leave alone. Following the liberation of Abu Dhabi and the set up of the Allied Forces Eastern Command, units that were not able to escape back to the frontlines began arriving and thus the need to maintain air superiority over the frontlines was of utmost importance.

And since many of the air bases on land are still being repaired, it was down to the naval aircraft to provide that cover.

As such, the Imperial Fuso Navy and Liberion dispatched 2 carriers each to the GUlf to provide air cover for the landing forces. These carriers were the USS Ranger and USS Midway of the Liberion Navy and the Fuso sent the CVN-01 Yoryu and the CV-110 Shinano to assist.

The Shinano was an old carrier, a converted Yamato battleship that received a refit to accommodate more modern aircraft while the Yoryu was a brand new carrier. Based on the Liberion Nimitz-class carrier, she has the same performance with Fuso made electronics and licensed versions of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles and Phalanx CIWS.

Currently on board the Yoryu, the air crews were going about their day. On the number one catapult, a F-14AF, the licensed version of the F-14A, was revving its engines to launch. It hooked onto the steam catapult and after a few more moments, the aircraft director knelt down and pointed forward and then the Tomcat launched, using the force from the steam catapult to launch itself off the carrier.

Meanwhile, a pair of striker units were getting ready to launch on catapult 1 and 2. Both witches were wearing the striker variant of the F-14AF Tomcat. One of the witches was wearing a short sleeve white shirt with the epaulet on her shoulders showing that she was a lieutenant commander. Above the left breast pocket, it showed off her ribbons of the campaigns that she participated in. Over her right breast pocket, the name "Masuda" let others know who she was. She wore a blue cap with the picture of the carrier with the ship number and name on the top and bottom respectively. She wore a combat webbing with extra ammo and her pistol holstered and a small bag behind her with additional supplies. She had on her headset and was double-checking it to make sure that it works and making sure her brown hair wasn't caught on it. Once she was confident that everything was ok, she gave the striker handler a thumbs up and made her way to the catapult.

Her name is Akiko Masuda, a lieutenant Commander in charge of the "Vanguard" squadron, one of four witch squadrons based on the Yoryu. As she hooked onto the catapult, she turned to see her wingman was having some issue with her combat webbing, as one of the handlers was fixing it.

"Everything ok there Crescent?" Akiko asked the witch over the radio.

"Everything is ok, ma'am. It's just my katana got caught in one of the straps," The witch replied, causing Akiko to sigh. Said witch wore a dark blue jacket over her white shirt. She had a purple bow tie with a gold pin on it. Her long black hair swayed with the wind as she tried to get her katana in a better position. She also wore white gloves that matched the white-hilted katana. Nowadays, katana's are usually worn on the back but this witch preferred to have it on the hip, which did somewhat interfere with the webbing. They were finally able to get the katana corrected and then they bowed at the witch as she made her way to the catapult. Normally, there would be no bow but this witch was different.

This was Princess Shino, a member of the Fuso Imperial Family and this was her first combat cruise. To say that the crews were nervous was an understatement.

Once both striker units hooked onto the catapult and everything was checked and confirmed to be good, Akiko said over the radio, "Tower, this is Vanguard 1 with Vanguard 2. We are ready to launch."

"Vanguard 1, Tower. You're cleared to launch. Good luck," came the response. There were a few more final checks and the catapult operator checked the wind and made sure that everything was ready. Once he was satisfied, he looked over to Akiko who gave him a thumbs up. He looked at Shino who also gave him a thumbs up and then he gave the signal to launch. The catapult operator pushed the button and both Shino and Akiko both launched. As they both got off the carrier, they both hit the afterburner and climbed. They made a right turn flying past the Yoryu. They continued to gain speed, flying past the Shinano as well, who were also launching their own fighters for a CAS operation near the front lines. They then began to climb and once they reached 10,000 feet, they leveled.

As they flew towards their combat air patrol sector, Akiko spoke up.

"You know they only do that because everyone knows who you are, Crescent."

"I don't like special treatment. I want to just be like everyone else, serving their country, and not as a princess who is doing this just to meet their commitment," Shino replied.

"No one thinks that of you," Akiko replied, trying to assure the youngest member of her squadron.

"... Did you hear what Asami said to me in the mess?" Shino replied so quietly that Akiko barely heard it. Akiko closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. When Shino joined the squadron before their cruise to the gulf, they were given short notice and many in the squadron didn't know how she would be in combat. On their way to the gulf, she displayed skill in flying but still lacked experience, something Lieutenant Junior Grade Asami Watanabe kept pointing out. It got to a boiling point when she said Shino should go back to her gilded throne since she could get someone killed. That caused a fight that took Akiko and three others to stop.

"Watanabe is more blunt than others, but she is worried about you. You are the youngest in the squadron, and we do not want to see you get hurt," Akiko stated. She then saw on her radar that they were on station and made the call.

"This is Vanguard flight, we are on station now."

"This is Shine Ray, I have you two on radar. Scope looks clear so it looks like a quiet CAP. Would you two have any songs you would like to hear?" Akiko smiled at the reply. Lieutenant Commander Kakizaki Ashirinoa was the carrier's early warning witch thanks to the E-2 Hawkeye striker unit. She was known to have a very powerful detecting magic, making her perfect for the role. While she can pilot other striker units, she mainly prefers the E-2. She is also known to sing her heart out during missions, gaining her fame from both Fuso and international forces.

"Hm, how about that one Liberion song we heard in that bar in Guam?" Akiko replied.

"Oh, you mean 'Livin on a Prayer'? I love that song too. Ok, I hope my voice will give little Shino some calm," Kakizaki replied back. Kackizaki took a liking to Shino and acted like a big sister to her, more so after the incident.

Soon, the radio waves were filled with Kakizaki singing. Akiko saw Shino finally letting her stress go away as she nodded her head to the singing.

'I am glad that she is finally letting go. When we get back, I will have to talk to Watanabe and make sure it is clear that she is to leave Shino alone,' Akiko thought.

Then suddenly, her RWR suddenly started to beep, meaning she was being locked on by something.

"What the….. I am being spiked!" Akiko exclaimed.

"Wait what?!" Kaizaki replied, stopped singing and then after a while said, " I am not seeing anything on my radar."

"Crescent, can you see anything?" Akiko asked.

"Negative, ma'am. I am not seeing anything," Shino replied, getting her Type 64 battle rifle ready. Akiko did the same with her Type 89 Assault Rifle. She began to look around and could not see anything.

"Damnit, where is this enemy?" Akiko said to herself. Then Shino gave her the answer.

"Vanguard 1, below you!" Akiko looked below to see that a flying object was heading to her at high speed. She braked to stop herself just as the thing flew past her, giving her a good look of the thing. What she saw surprised her, as it had wings and a single engine. But the design was something that she had not seen before. It was colored in the blue camouflage that Fuso uses for its Tomcats and Phantoms but on it's wings, there was a red ball instead of the black ball for Fuso. She saw the helmeted pilot, who was looking at her through the cockpit, his visor up and judging from his eyes, he was shocked to see her.

It flew away from her as Akiko reported over the radio, "Shine Ray, I am marking the unidentified contact. It's an aircraft but it's something I haven't seen before."

"Roger that. I have it….. What the?!... I am being…" Akiko couldn't hear Kaizaki as it sounded like her radio was being jammed.

"Ma'am… w-w-what is going on?!" Shino asked, unsure what was going on.

"Crescent, cock your rifle and get ready," Akiko simply ordered as she pulled the charging handle of her assault rifle. Then she got a radio transmission from someone and its ice-sounding tone caused Akiko to shiver.

"This is Dragon 1 to unidentified individuals, state who you are and your mission or else we will shoot you down without hesitation."

We are now seeing the fleet entering the witch world. How will they react and first contact will be? And how does Nicholai know the Orussian witch? All will be answered in the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter and see you all soon.