A/N: This is a work of fiction and all characters belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 10: Fight of the Leviathan
"Vampire! Vampire!" Akiko heard the call over the radio. She took a look at her radar on her wrist to see that there were multiple contacts heading towards the fleet. She also saw larger contacts farther off in the distance, most likely the bombers. She along with the other witches were hovering near the Vulture as they had stopped their CAP flight path once they all heard the call of vampires.
"How the hell did they get past the fleet's radar? Isn't this fleet supposed to be high tech?" Watanabe said out loud.
"It looks like the Neuroi may have stealth units in their arsenal now. Our radar was also painting nothing for us," Kakizaki reported, as she took a look at her radar and only saw these contacts appear now.
Suddenly the witches then heard a whooshing sound and they turned to look at one of the ships firing off their anti-air missiles. Soon, it was joined by other ships.
"Do you think that will be enough?" Shino asked nervously. As she said that, a voice called to them over the radio.
"Vanguard 1, intercept those bombers! Repeat, intercept the bombers!"
"Understood," Akiko replied as she then looked over to Shino and Watanabe, "Oni, you and Crescent will go and assist in intercepting those bombers. Dead-Eye and I will protect the ships. I may have an idea." Shino and Watanabe nodded and then accelerated their engines to go chase the bombers. Akiko also saw other strange fighters going towards the direction of the bombers.
"Ma'am, so what is the plan?" Kaida asked.
"We are going to protect the ships by intercepting those missiles," Akiko then tapped her headset, "Shine Ray, can you give me a trajectory on which ships the surviving missiles will hit?"
"I can, standby," Kakizaki replied. There was no reply until a few minutes later, "Ok, I was able to get a clear picture but this can change." Akiko and Kaida looked at their radars and saw a few missiles now but it was still a threat.
"Ok, there are about 20 missiles left. Dead-Eye, try to shoot as many as you can. Focus on the ones that are closer and work your way from there," Akiko ordered.
"Yes, ma'am," Kaid replied as she unshouldered her rifle and sped away to engage. Akiko took a deep breath, got her Type-89 assault rifle ready and then began to look for a nearby missile.
She then saw three were heading towards the Kestrel. She started to fly towards the carrier to protect it. As she made her way to the carrier, she saw that one of the carrier's CIWS opened fire and was able to destroy one of the missiles. However, another CIWS was not able to destroy two missiles since they were coming in the same direction.
Akiko accelerated and aimed her gun. She fired but saw that she was still out of range for her bullets.
"I won't be able to shoot them down," Akiko reasoned and it was then that she knew what she had to do. She went on afterburner and sped towards the carrier. She was able to get to the point where the missiles would hit and with all her effort, she focused her magic and produced her shield.
"Everyone, brace for impact!" Elisa yelled as she grabbed onto the railing. Her vision was blinded by a huge explosion as she shielded her eyes. However, she did not feel the violent vibration of the missile hitting the carrier nor the heat from the fires that would most likely occur from a missile hit. Elisa unshielded her eyes and what greeted her shocked her, as it did for everyone who saw it as well.
Elisa saw Akiko in front of the carrier, with both hands stretched out and a very large blue circle. There was still some smoke from where the missile had hit the circle but overall, the ship was still intact.
"What the hell?" Elisa muttered as she along with some of the bridge crew and those on the flight deck who were in awe with what had just happened. Akiko then withdrew her shield, turned towards the bridge, saluted Elisa and then sped off to intercept more missiles.
"That is something else," Elisa muttered. Then she heard another explosion. She looked in that direction and saw one of the convoy's oil tankers, SS Gilbrator, suddenly go up in and explosion and flames.
"What is the status on the rest of the fleet?!" Elisa yelled out to the radar operator.
"The oil tanker Gilbrator took a missile hit and is reportedly sinking. The Wisconsin took two hits, one on their number three turret and another on their port side but they are reporting that she can still sail; the Shiloh took some damage but is still seaworthy. The last ship to be hit is the British cargo ship Atropos, and she broke in half."
"What was the Atropos carrying?"
"The manifest said mainly ammo and various supplies," Elisa cursed.
"So two supply ships, a damaged battleship and cruiser," Elisa commented. She looked to see three smoke pillars in the distance.
"Um, we are still confirming this but it looks like a good chunk of the missiles were taken out by one of the witches using a rifle. In fact, she saved the Varyag from being hit by a missile by using that big blue circle that witch used," the radio operator stated.
"I am now honestly worried about what these girls are capable of," Elisa commented. First, flying around using magic, being able to shoot down aliens, and now can deploy defensive shields… Elisa is starting to think she may need a drink later.
She then heard heavy footsteps. She turned to the door that leads to the bridge to see it open and one of the witches came in. She had a baseball cap with her carrier's name on it covering her short red hair. She had brown eyes and wore a sailor type uniform with the two yellow stripes with a golden sakura on her cuff, stating that she is a Lieutenant Junior Grade. If Elisa's memory serves her right, the girl's name is Hayase Makino.
"Ma'am, I am requesting you grant permission for the rest of the witch's launch. We can provide additional CAP over the fleet," Makino asked.
"Lieutenant, while I do appreciate the offer, the enemy is retreating and we have fighters going after them. Right now, we need to focus on rescue operations," Elisa thought about it for a minute and then said, "Can you girls do combat search and rescue? We have two ships down and there will be a lot of sailors in the water."
"We can do that ma'am!" Makino replied instantly.
"Alright then, go and get ready on the flight deck," Elisa ordered. Makino saluted her and then ran off. Elisa then reached the nearby phone to call her air boss.
"Commander Dakota, I want you to get the catapults ready. We are launching the remaining witches for CSR."
"Ma'am?"
"Just do it. With them in the air, they can do CSR as well as help in providing a CAP over the fleet," Elisa reasoned.
"Understood ma'am. I will get them ready," Dakota replied before hanging up.
Elisa sighed as she looked over to the radar operator, "Where are those bastards?"
"They are egressing out of the AO and being pursued by Wedgetail, Fenrir and those two witches. Wait," the radio operator took a closer look at the radar and then replied, "Additional hostile contacts! Counting 20 hostiles" It was then that a voice rang out over the radio.
"Fight's on! Fight's on!"
"Fight's on! Fight's on!" Shino heard someone say over the radio as she broke hard left and pumped flares as a missile warning went off in her ears. Her along with Asami had just fired their Phoenix missiles at the retreating bombers when Kakizaki said over the radio that there were bogies to their 3 o'clock. As soon as that call was announced, Shino got a missile warning and saw a missile heading towards her.
Which brings it to her current situation as flares and chaff were ejected from her striker unit and she made a hard left turn and headed to the deck. She turned her head around to see that the missile had taken the countermeasures, exploding when it got near a flare. She then saw one of the attacking Neuroi drones make a dash towards Watanabe.
"Oni, you have one heading to you from behind," Shino yelled over the radio. Watanabe looked over her shoulder to see that the drone was on her six and chasing. Watanabe increased her thrust and made a right turn. The drone followed her in pursuit.
Despite all the maneuvers that she was doing to get it off her tail, the drone stayed on her tail. She constantly heard the beeping sound of the drone having a lock on her.
"Damnit, I can't shake it," Watanabe grunted as she turned around and fired her weapon. Her bullets managed to hit the Neuroi a bit before it did a barrel roll and fired lasers at her. Watanabe deployed her shield to stop the rounds. She then faced forward and accelerated. She then dived to the deck. The drone followed her and after a few seconds, launched a pair of missiles at her. She continued to head towards the deck and when her altimeter told her that she was now 600 feet from the water, she hit the brakes.
She felt the Gs hit her as corrected herself and was not horizontal to the water. This maneuver was enough to give the missiles not enough time to change their flight path. The missiles landed in the ocean and exploded. The drone continued to follow Watanabe to try and re-engage. However, this was what Watanabe was hoping for. She then began to lower her speed. By lowering her speed suddenly, the drone could not adjust its speed in time for it to stay on her tail. The drone would speed past her, allowing her to now be on its tail.
"Got you," Watanabe said as she locked on it with one of her Sidewinders. Once she got a lock-on, she fired. The missiles slided directly off its pylon and accelerated to the drone. The drone popped flares and turned right. The AIM-9F missile, a Fuso-licensed version of the Liberion AIM-9M Sidewinder, had better electronics than its previous version. It flew past the flares and it striked the drone in the spine. Watanabe watched as the drone then turned white and disintegrated into white flakes.
"Got one!" Watanabe stated and then started to look around, "Crescent, what is your position?"
"Crescent is defensive!" Watanabe heard over the radio, causing her to panic.
"Crescent, where are you?!"
"Look for the one deploying flares!" Watanabe looked and saw in the distance a small speck being chased by two drones and it was expelling flares. Watanabe went full afterburner and headed towards the fight.
"Hold on, I am on my-Shit!" Watanabe didn't finish her sentence as another drone appeared and got a missile lock on her. She dumped flares and broke away to try to get away from the drone.
"Damnit, this is Oni going defensive!" Watanabe called out as she tried to shake off the drone.
"I can't shake them!" Watanabe looked at her radar to see Shino still being chased by the two drones and they were getting closer.
'Damnit, I need to help her,' Despite what she says on the outside, on the inside Watanabe cared about Shino like a little sister. She just didn't think she was ready for combat just yet and this was proving to be right.
Before she can respond, a voice on the radio beat her to the punch.
"Crescent, this is Wedgetail 4, on my signal break right!"
"Um, roger!" Watanabe then saw another speck on her radar. It was marked as friendly and it was heading straight towards Shino.
"One, two, three…Break right!" Watanabe saw Shino break and soon the allied fighter had fired two missiles. Both hit the drones that were chasing Shino.
Watanabe heard an explosion behind her to see the drone that was chasing her also exploded and saw the fighter that shot it down fly past her. It was one of those weird fighters she had seen in the aircraft carrier's hangar. It was an odd design with no pylons on its wings and a gun pod attached to the underbelly of the fighter.
"This is Wedgetail 1 to Oni, you ok?" Watanabe heard over the radio. She tapped her headset.
"Yeah, I am ok. Thanks for the save," Watanabe replied.
"Glad to hear it. Recommend you and your wingman handle the ones at point 365. We will take care of the ones here," Watanbe checked her radar and saw that there were 5 enemy hostiles at that point.
"Roger," Watanabe then switched her radio frequency, "Crescent, are you ok?" There was a brief silence before she replied.
"I-I'm fine, heading to you now," Shino replied. A few minutes later, she appeared next to Watanabe, looking shaken.
"Hey, don't sweat it. C'mon, we still have a battle to win," Shino only nodded as the two headed to meet the Neuroi drones.
1st Lieutenant Orion Lenton saw on his radar the two girls heading to engage the five enemy contacts. He sighed, relieved.
"Damn, when the briefing said that we would be fighting aliens, I thought it was just some sci-fi prank," Orion said to himself. All that changed when they were told to intercept the enemy that had fired on the fleet. Everyone in Wedgetail saw the damage that was done on the fleet, how the rest of the fleet squadrons were driven away to intercept. Wedgetail, along with Fenrir squadron and two of the witches that had arrived to the fleet, went to intercept the retreating bombers. Only the witches were able to launch missiles at the bombers when suddenly, they were are lit up by unknown contacts.
It was an ambush.
They were fired on without much warning and scattered. Fenrir 4 called out "Fight's on!" and the engagement ensued. These drones look really familiar to Taranis drones that are used by the British. The only difference is that they had laser beam machine guns, not just missiles.
"This is Wedgetail 1, who is still up?" Orion called over the radio. Soon, one by one, his squadron mates replied.
"This is Wedgetail 2, I am up."
"3 here, I am up."
"Wedgetail 4, alive and well."
"Wedgetail 5, alive and kicking"
"This is Wedgetail 6, I am ok."
"Wedgetail 7 here, good to go."
"Wedgetail 10 here, I am good so is 11. 11 has some radio problems but she is good."
"Wedgetail 12 here, ditto with 13." It was then that Orion noticed something.
"Where is Wedgetail 8 and 9?" Orion asked, he got his answer a few seconds later.
"Goddamnit woman!" There was silence before 3 spoke up.
"You owe me 50 quid lad."
"Hehehehe, honestly I am not even mad," 4 replied back. Orion sighed.
"9, what is your position?"
"Engaged with two enemy hostiles with 08 but she is pulling far ahead. I am about to go bingo fuel soon," Orion looked at his radar and he saw two green contacts chasing two red ones with one of the green contacts pulling a bit further away.
"8, turn around now. 9 is almost bingo fuel and you are getting too far out," Orion ordered.
"Then 9 can return to the carrier. I can take them out," 8 replied back.
"Negative 8, disengage and return to the formation now," Orion stated firmly. When he didn't get a response back, he sighed.
"Fenrir 1, this is Wedgetail 1, can you provide any support for two of my pilots?"
"Negative Wedgetail 1, we are engaged ourselves," Fenrir 1 replied back.
"Goddamnit," Orion sighed. He had no choice now, knowing how Kara is, he reached out to Wedgetail 9.
"9, stay with 8 for now. I will try to get a tanker for you to refuel," 2nd Lieutenant Haruto Hasegawa cursed. Of all the things to deal with, this was not on the list.
"This is 9, understood," Haruto replied as he went back to focus on the fight. Wedgetail 8, 2nd Lieutenant Kara Ebonheart, was still engaged with the two alien fighters. So far, Kara could not get a missile lock on any of them, prolonging the fight.
"8, have you gotten a lock yet?" Haruto asked as he began to try and get a missile lock on them himself.
"It's not that fucking easy….. I think they are jamming my systems somehow," Kara replied back.
Haruto doubted that since his systems are working fine. He then scanned his radar to see if there could be a jammer out there or not. He then saw another unknown bogey about 50 miles away.
"I think I found their jammer. I am going after it, that way you can shoot those two down so we can head back to the boat," Haruto stated to Kara. Not waiting for her reply, he broke off and headed to the jammer aircraft.
As he got closer, he noticed his radar and systems getting jammed as they were going crazy. Haruto increased the power on his radar to burn through the jamming and thanks to the AESA radar, he was able to burn through the jamming and soon, the jammer was on his scopes.
He looked closely and saw that it resembled the old EA-6B Prowler but instead of the grayish color that is normally for the jet, it was black with red hexagon dots on it.
"Looks like these aliens are using aircraft designs. Thought it would be some weird ass design. Oh well, this makes things a bit easier," Haruto then activated his weapons and began to lock on. As soon as his search radar went on, the alien jammer banked left and dived.
Haruto gave chase and tried to get a missile lock. His systems were still being jammed, making it hard for him to get a missile lock. The Neuroi made a left turn and pumped out chaff to try and continue to jam Haruto.
Haruto put his radar to max to burn through the alien's jamming and finally, he got a missile lock. He did not hesitate.
"Wedgetail 9, Fox 2!"
He pressed the trigger and the weapon bay opened. The AIM-9X missile shot out and headed towards the Neuroi. It popped some more chaff and flares and then tried to turn into the missile. That way, it believed that it could maneuver the missile to shoot past it. However, the Neuroi did not expect the missile to be an advanced version of the missile that would have fallen to its trick. The Sidewinder hit the Neuroi's body, causing it to split in half. It then burst into a lot of white flakes.
"Splash one," Haruto said and then looked around, "Alright, 8 where are you?"
"I am still engaged with those two alien freaks. Look for tracers," Haruto looked around and then saw tracers flying from the east. He looked in the general direction and saw her still chasing the two neuroi.
"I took out their jammer so you should now be able to get a missile lock," Hauuto stated. He then took a look at his fuel gauge and paled.
"I am pretty much running on fumes here 8. Would be great if you can shoot them down ASAP," Haruto stated.
Meanwhile, Kara was trying to do just that. She switched from her cannon to her missiles with a few pressed buttons on her screen. Her monitor showed that she had one Sidewinder and 3 AMRAAM missiles left. She also saw that her radar was no longer being jammed, confirming that the jammer was finally gone.
She pressed her screen to select the sidewinder and the locking symbol appeared on her HUD. She locked on to the closest Neuroi drone. It only took her a few seconds until she got a lock.
"Wedgetail 8, Fox 2!" She then pressed the trigger. The missile flew away and hit the drone's left wing, causing it to spiral out of control towards the ground. That left one more left.
The last drone made a right turn and accelerated, heading north back to the mainland. It was going at a speed that was unmatched even for the Lightnings.
However, it eventually got into AMRAAM range for Kara.
"Big mistake," Kara muttered, smiling as she thumbed the trigger. The AMRAAM missile launched from the underbelly weapon's bay and headed straight to the Neuroi. The Neuroi, detecting that it was a radar-guided missile, pumped chaff and climbed.
It has assumed incorrectly that what was fired on by a AIM-7 Sparrow missile. However, the missile, while
It looked similar to the Sparrow missile, it was not. The AMRAAM continued to stay locked to the Neuroi, thanks to its advanced guidance system. It reached a few yards away from the drone when it denoted, throwing sharpernal to it. Its wings were torn off and it fell to the Earth for a few seconds before exploding into white shards.
"Splash two!," Kara called out.
"Nice! Now… Can we please head back to the carrier? I am pretty much running on fumes at this point and I assume that you are as well," Kara heard Haruto say over the radio. Kara took a look at her screen and sure enough, her fuel status was in the red. She looked over her shoulder to see Haruto pulling up to her at her 8 o'clock.
"1, any luck on that tanker?" Kara asked.
"Negative, it looks like the fleet took some hits and they are occupied with SAR," Orion replied.
"I am bingo fuel here, 8. Let's head back," Andrew chimed in.
"Roger, let's go," and with that, Kara and Haruto made a left pivot, made their way to rejoin their squadron to head back to the carrier.
"So, that is the overall damage. We are still getting more information but overall that is all the information that we have," The junior naval officer told Elisa.
"Thank you ensign, you are dismissed,"Elisa said, dismissing the officer. The junior officer saluted and left. Elisa sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. She was still on the bridge, looking out to the fleet. Apparently, the Varyag took a hit and is sailing at half speed and Albatross took minor damage, rendering one catapult out of commission. Overall, the fleet lost a cargo ship and oil tanker while 4 other ships were damaged to an extent. The Kestrel would have been one of the damaged ships as well if not for Akiko deploying that magic shield to protect the carrier. In fact, the carrier may have been sunk since she blocked two anti-ship missiles that were targeting the carrier.
"To think that those girls had that kind of ability…" Elisa muttered. While the witches did say they had some unique abilities like healing, long-range detection, increased strength, etc. But the whole shield thing was something else entirely. It was thanks to her and her wingman that saved a few ships but they couldn't save all of them.
Elisa saw another F-35 landing on the carrier. It belonged to Wedgetail squadron, from the number it was Wedgetail 1. By now, most of the fighters were returning to their carriers and were taking tally of the damage. So far, the worst thing was one of Fenrir's Lightnings suffering some damage from being hit by lasers from one of the drones but it wasn't serious.
"I am starting to think our luck is somehow holding with our fighters not being too damaged or lost," Elisa said to herself. Just as she was about to finally take a breather, Admiral Anderson entered the bridge.
"Officer on deck!" Elisa, along with the rest of the bridge crew stood at attention.
"As you were," Anderson replied back, returning the call with a salute. As everyone returned to their work, Anderson walked over to Elisa.
"Quite a day we had," Anderson remarked.
"Indeed, and this is the second attack on the fleet. I would have to surmise that these Neuroi know that we are a threat and want to take us out. It ain't a coincidence that they found and attacked us," Elisa mused. The fact that they were being attacked and constantly at that showed that these aliens know they are not from their world and that they are a big threat.
"It is a good thing that we are merging with this Fuso fleet then. The more ships and fighters, the less we will have to worry about being caught in another attack," Anderson noted. Elisa nodded in agreement as she continued to see fighter after fighter land on the carrier.
It was then she noticed in the distance that two fighters were heading to the Kestrel but something was wrong with one of them.
"I think we may have another fighter damaged," Elisa commented.
"Hmmmmm, I don't think so. There isn't any smoke coming from the fighter," Anderson noted. Elisa squinted and sure enough, the fighter seemed to be fine. Then another thought came to mind.
"Oh no…"
"Wedgetail 9, raise your nose. You are too low," That was the first thing Orion heard as he arrived at the LSO station. There, wearing a white jacket and holding the radio, was Lieutenant Junior Grade Haru Ebonheart, who is normally Wedgetail 14 surrounded by other LSO officers from the other squadrons.
"Haru, how bad?" Orion asked immediately.
"He said that he is running on fumes and that he can't risk increasing power," Haru replied worryingly.
"Damnit," Orion cursed. He had tried to get a tanker to them but the tanker was refueling the planes from the intercept and could not vector to them in time.
"Wedgetail 9, you need to lower your speed, you are coming in too fast," Haru said over the radio, looking at her screen and saw that his speed was decreasing.
"I am pretty much braking but if I do too much, I'll miss the carrier," Haruto replied. Orion saw that Haruto's fighter was starting to sway now. Soon, his heart dropped when he heard Haruto's next statement.
"Fuck, tank is empty."
"9, you are still too low," Haru warned again. As the Lightning continued its descent, it was dropping rapidly now since it was essentially gliding. Orion turned to the tower to see the rest of the squadron looking on in worry.
"9, lower your speed now!" Haru warned, yelling. Haruto didn't reply as he was more focused on his landing. Everyone on the flight deck began to worry as the Lightning continued to head to the carrier at an unsafe high speed.
"9, you are too low! Pull up….. PULL UP NOW!" Haru yelled. Orion paled as the Lightning pointed its noise up and it touched on the carrier. Haruto missed cable 1,2,3 and finally hit cable 4 but due to his speed, his tailhook snapped off but he was still able to land his fighter.
Immediately, a tow tractor made its way to Haruto's fighter along with a medical team. Orion watched as they pulled Haruto out of the fighter and while it looked like he was fine, he was a bit wobbly as they carried him away and the tow tractor towed the fighter away.
Orion sighed and turned to Haru, "Bring your sister in. I'll have a word with her when she lands." And without a word, Orion left to attend with the other squadron mates.
Elisa frowned as she saw the F-35 being towed and the pilot being helped inside. The deck crew began working on getting the deck ready for the rest of the fighters.
"That was a close call," Anderson noted.
"Too close. We were lucky the tailhook was the only thing that was lost," Elisa commented. Then she got a tap and turned to see the sailor that manned the comms.
"Ma'am, we have a call from Admiral Hijikata," Elisa then went to the radio and picked up the receiver.
"Admiral Hijikata, this is Captain Elisa Hannako of the Kestrel," Elisa greeted.
"Captain, what is the status of your fleet?" Mio asked.
"We lost two supply ships and four other ships were damaged. It seems like we may have taken the brunt of that attack. How about you?" Elisa asked. Elisa can hear Mio grind her teeth.
"You are right about that. Our fighters intercepted their attack but it was a much smaller force than what was originally reported. We took them all out without any loss on our end. That means they were aimed at you rather than us," Mio replied back.
Elisa nodded and then said, "In that case, we will need to meet up ASAP." A sailor approached Elisa and handed a piece of paper to her. Elisa took it and gave it a look.
"We are currently about 250 miles away from your fleet's position. We should be able to meet in about a day, give or take. Until then, we can have our fighters cover each other as much as possible. This way, we do not overextend ourselves."
"Agreed. I will have my fighters and witches on CAP at intervals. Also, there is a deep sea port in Muscat that will be able to help in any repairs for your fleet. My fleet was originally going to provide cover for the port with the Liberion fleet but since the Liberions are still at Diego Garcia, your fleet will be able to make the job a little easier."
Elisa thought about that. Muscat was the capital of Oman, at least in their world. Elisa still does not really know the political situation of this world but with ammo running out and having damaged ships that need repairs, Elisa made a tough decision.
"Understood admiral, but I want to make it clear that we will not disclose any information or technology to whoever owns the port as well as I won't accept being threatened for information. Can I have your word that we will not be threatened in any way?" There was a silence and Elisa was considering ordering her fleet to turn around when Mio replied back.
"On the honor of the Imperial Fuso Navy and my own as well, I, Mio Hijikata, swear that no harm will be done to either your ships or personnel and if anyone should, they will be met with my blade." Mio's voice was filled with conviction as well as honesty, something Elisa rarely saw in her world, which made her smile.
"Thank you, ma'am. I look forward to meeting you and your fleet."
Mio hung up the radio and looked over to the captain of the Yoryu, Captain Honjo Takamura.
"Captain, continue on this heading and once we meet with this fleet, we will escort them to Sultan Bin Ahmed Naval Base and contact the Jazeerans to let them know that we have some ships that will need repairs," Mio ordered.
"Understood, ma'am," Honjo replied. He turned to relay the order to another sailor who saluted and went to carry out the order.
"Can we trust them ma'am? From the conversation you just had, it seems like they are really hesitant to trust us," Honjo asked.
Mio looked out to the fleet and took a deep breath before answering, "Wouldn't you be hesitant to trust anyone if you suddenly appeared in a world that you know nothing of and have only been met with hostile attacks?" Honjo opened his mouth but closed it when he could not come up with a reply.
"I believe that this fleet from another world can help us beat the Neuroi in this war but first we need to gain their trust. Also, you saw how their fighters didn't appear on our radars until the last minute. That means they have stealth fighters that can launch from carriers. Not even the Liberions have developed stealth technology on that scale, with only that secretive fighter that the news likes to talk about." Mio then turned to face Honjo.
"We are fighting the Neuroi on a scale that hasn't been seen since the Neuroi incursion in Vietnam, and for the first time the world is reacting together, albeit at a slower pace than before. We will need all the help we can get."
"And you believe that they will be able to help us?" Honjo asked.
"I do, otherwise they wouldn't have taken in our witches and housed them," Mio then sighed, "I am just a bit worried how the media will react to this. It is going to be close to impossible to keep this a secret."
"As of right now, I think everyone is focused on the fighting in the Sinai. The Neuroi want to make sure to cut off the Suez Canal to prevent resupply or reinforcements from passing though," Honjo pointed out.
"Ah, yes the Suez Canal," Mio then looked out to the fleet again and remembered the dispatch she had gotten on the situation in the North, "Let us hope the Liberion Med fleet will be able to help the ground forces up there."
And here it is. Sorry for the long delay, life and writer's block hit hard. In the next chapter, we return to the Sinai and see what the Neuroi will have in store. Until next time everyone, be safe!
