Hello everyone! I just thought I would let everyone know that my plan for this story is to upload an additional chapter once a week (usually during the weekend), and I will let you know if there will be a delay in the next installment.

I've decided to get everyone started with two chapters at the outset, so I hope everyone continues to read and enjoy!

Also, I'm not doing the disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter – I think once at the beginning is enough to cover me.

June 1944

As the bright light receded, Daniel took a look around to appraise the situation he found himself in. He saw that his instruments were all working normally again – except for the GPS system, which couldn't provide him with his current location. 'Strange,' he thought, 'that system is supposed to be the best in the world. It's supposed to tell you exactly where you are no matter what. Maybe whatever I went through caused some damage – but why ONLY to that system?'

He also saw that he was somewhere over the ocean, with no land in sight – not where he had been just a few moments ago. He knew that he shouldn't have been driven THAT off-course, and he had no way to explain it. 'I'll have to figure all of that out later,' he thought. 'Right now, I have to try to contact someone and see if I can land somewhere and figure out exactly where I am.'

Daniel turned on his communication system and activated all known channels. "To whoever can hear me, this is Captain Daniel Horowitz – I am a pilot with the United States Air Force. My global positioning system has become inoperable, and I cannot make out my current position. If someone can hear me, please respond so that I can make my way to you and arrange to get back home."

A few moments after he had broadcast his distress call, a female voice responded over one of the channels. "Air force pilot – this is Major Mio Sakamoto of the Fuso Imperial Navy. Can you read me?" Confused by the designation, but nonetheless happy to hear someone reply, Daniel responded, "I read you loud and clear, Major. Thank God someone is around to hear me!"

"Captain," replied the Major, "What in the world are you doing all the way out here? No one but the Fuso carrier fleet is supposed to be in this area right now – certainly not someone from Liberion."

Fuso? Liberion? Daniel had never heard those terms before – were they some sort of new slang? Possibly. He never was one to quickly pick up on new trends. Not that he really cared about that sort of thing. 'Just something else I'll have to ask about later,' he thought. "It's a bit of a crazy story, actually," Daniel replied, "I'll tell you all the details later. Right now, can you provide me a direction to go to get to your position?"

"Copy, pilot. From your position, you need to go seventy-five degrees northeast. But the Neuroi showed up a few minutes ago so the area is a dangerous battle zone right now," Sakamoto explained. He turned in the direction she provided, but the last statement only confused Daniel even more. "Who – or what – are the Neuroi? Are they some sort of new terrorist group?"

"You've never heard of the Neuroi before?" asked Sakamoto exasperatedly. "Have you been living in a cave for the last five years? And what are you doing in the air force if you don't know that?" Daniel suddenly had a bad feeling in his gut – something about this situation didn't add up. But first thing's first – he had to get somewhere where he could land and get a more thorough assessment of his situation. As the clouds cleared in the direction he was flying, he was met by what looked like a gigantic black and grey stingray of some sort with patches of red. "What the hell is that?" he asked aloud. "THAT," stated Sakamoto, "is a Neuroi."

As Daniel got closer, he could see a couple of what looked like World War II-era planes attempting to dogfight the Neuroi, only to get shot down easily by the enemy laser-fire. In addition, he saw two figures wearing what appeared to be plane parts on their legs trying to shoot at the Neuroi with machine guns. One, who appeared to be not much older than Daniel, was wearing what looked like an old Japanese naval uniform with a ponytail and a patch over her right eye. The other, who was even younger, no more than fourteen or fifteen, was wearing what appeared to be a Japanese middle school girls' uniform of some sort. Both of them were flying with nothing else and had…animal ears on their heads? None of this made any sense to Daniel, but he realized that if he was to get any answers, he had to help his new allies, or at least he HOPED they were allies.

"Major Sakamoto," said Daniel, "Let's agree to exchange notes when this is all over. In the meantime, it looks like you could use some help, and I believe I have the ability to do so."

"Agreed," replied Sakamoto. "We can certainly use any help that you can provide. I assume that you have been trained to fight in that thing?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Daniel. "Alright, here we go! Shields up! Weapons systems engaged!" With that he, flew at top speed towards the Neuroi, spraying his laser cannon shots across the bow, seeming to cause damage at first glance, only for the Neuroi to regenerate as though nothing happened. It also managed to get a shot on the fighter, but the X-wing's shield easily repelled the attack.

"A shield?" exclaimed Sakamoto in surprise. She thought to her herself, 'I've never seen a fighter like this before – nothing even close that I've even heard of! Just who is this pilot?"

"Hey, Major!" she heard Daniel shout over the comm link, "Just how do you kill these things, anyway?" She replied, "You have to destroy its core."

It's core? Daniel looked at his senor readings, but it couldn't pick up on anything that would be a power core. "Major, my sensors can't pick up a core – the energy readings of this thing are completely unknown to my system. Do you know where it is?"

"It's where the left wing connects with the main body," Sakamoto stated. At that moment, Daniel spotted the younger girl firing at that area with her machine gun, exposing the core. It looked like she was trying to turn back to finish the job, but she couldn't control the plane units on her legs enough to make the turn. "I…I can't…" he heard her say over the comm. "No! Miyafuji!" said Sakamoto as he flew towards Miyafuji's position.

At that moment, Daniel was able to make the 180 degree turn needed to make another run when he saw a projectile head right towards the core and hit it dead-on. The core exploded into thousands of shards, and the main body soon followed in the same manner. He looked in the direction the shot came from and could see in the distance four figures flying towards them.

He then looked towards Major Sakamoto and saw that she was holding…Miyafuji, was that her name? Anyway, he saw Sakamoto holding the young girl in her arms, preventing her from falling into the ocean, Miyafuji either unconscious or exhausted. "Is she alright, Major?" Daniel asked. "If she needs medical attention, I have an emergency kit in my fighter and I'm trained as an emergency medic." Major Sakamoto looked up at him and smiled in his direction. "Don't worry. She'll be just fine."

Sighing in relief, Daniel then asked, "Major, who are those people coming towards us?" The major then looked and exclaimed, "Those are members of my unit, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing – also known as the 'Strike Witches'"

"The 'Strike Witches,' huh? An unusual moniker to be sure – but definitely an apt one."

Major Sakamoto then burst out in her trademarked full-bellied laugh. "You're definitely an interesting one. As promised, we'll talk when we're back at the 501st's base in Britannia."

"Britannia?" asked Daniel in surprise. "You mean that I'm on the opposite side of the world from where I was a few minutes ago?"

"If you were in the Pacific somewhere, then yes," said Sakamoto. "In the meantime, I'll have the rest of the group escort you back to base. I'll be joining you all there shortly."

Daniel sighed and said, "Very well." Sakamoto nodded in his direction, and then used the comm to contact one of her team members. "Captain Barkhorn," she stated. "Yes, Major," came another girl's reply, presumably this Captain Barkhorn. Daniel noticed that she had a…German accent? "Can you lead this pilot back to base? It seems that he is lost and needs our help. He helped me out, so I think it would be right to do the same for him," explained the major. "Yes, understood," said Barkhorn. She then turned her attention to Daniel's fighter. "Hey, pilot. Can you hear me?" she asked. "I can hear you loud and clear," Daniel replied. "Good. Then follow me back to base." Daniel turned the fighter in her direction and followed her, keeping a short distance at the same speed as her.

"Barkhorn to base," she then said. "Go ahead," said a voice, presumably the unit commander. "Mission accomplished – we're heading back to base." The new voice then replied, "Understood. Good work, everyone."

"Commander," continued Barkhorn, "We're also escorting a guest pilot on the request of Major Sakamoto. She said he helped out with fighting the Neuroi, so I assume that we'll hear the rest of the story from him and from the major when they all arrive." Daniel heard what seemed to be an annoyed sigh come from the commander. "Very well. I'll meet you all in the hangar."

"Roger that," everyone exclaimed. As Daniel piloted the fighter towards the base in the distance, he couldn't help but wonder, 'Just WHAT is going on here?'

Daniel's in for quite a shock when he finally compares notes with everyone. Figuring out what the next move is will not be easy. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and the whole story so far. Comment if you feel the urge, but again, no flames please.

Happy Fathers Day and Happy Juneteenth to all!

Until next time…