Hello again – and welcome to the next installment! Just a quick note to make, I will NOT be going through each anime episode in detail (too much!), though you should be able to figure out where in the storyline the events are taking place. However, some events from the anime may be described in more detail than others if it works to advance this storyline.
Over the next couple of weeks, while going through his fighter's sensor data to figure out exactly what had brought him here and whether he could use that information to get himself home again, Daniel took the opportunity to get to know the various members of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing – and what an eclectic bunch they were!
First there were the two Fuso witches he had helped in battle – Major Mio Sakamoto was the epitome of a samurai warrior in an age where the samurai had ceased to exist as a societal class.
The newly commissioned Sergeant Yoshika Miyafuji was an earnest and enthusiastic girl with incredible healing powers, even by normal witch standards. She and Daniel quickly developed a nice sibling-like repour with each other – Yoshika reminding Daniel in many ways of his actual younger sister.
The other (relatively) new recruit in the unit was Master Sergeant Lynette Bishop from right there in Brittania. She was a very sweet and cute girl – if lacking a bit in self-confidence. Yoshika (along with some support from Daniel as well) soon helped Lynette with that problem, after which she insisted they just call her Lynne. At that point, Yoshika and Lynne became the best of friends.
Commander Minna had a serious, yet kind demeanor, as she tried to make sure everyone in the unit was ready for duty at any time while still keeping in mind that they were all teenage girls. While she was always polite and seemingly friendly towards him, Daniel couldn't escape the feeling that Minna didn't completely trust him yet.
Then there were her two fellow Karlslandians – Captain Gertrude Barkhorn (Trude, for short, as Daniel later learned) was a very serious person, constantly pushing herself to be at the top of her game. As a result, she developed a reputation as the model Karlsland soldier – a quality that was very admirable, but could get a bit grating at times. He also found out that she did have a vulnerable side to her – specifically when it came to her younger sister – after she had a particularly close brush with death.
Lieutenant Erica Hartmann, on the other hand, was practically her polar opposite personality-wise. The short-haired blonde was very bubbly and constantly cheerful – very easy to get along with. Though she was as much an ace as Captain Barkhorn (with an even higher Neuroi kill number), she was also quite lazy, having to be woken up by Barkhorn almost every day and her room in a constant state of chaos.
Next was Lieutenant Perrine Clostermann, a girl of noble birth from Gallia, who was by far the most difficult for Daniel to get along with – her haughty and snobbish attitude toward him (and everyone else except Mio and Minna) definitely not helping matters. This massive difference in attitude was especially noticeable when she was around Major Sakamoto. 'Never gonna happen, Perrine,' Daniel thought as he chuckled to himself. He decided that the best course of action when Perrine got that way towards him (which was often) would be to just roll his eyes and ignore her.
Then there was Lieutenant Sanya Litvyak from Orussia. A nice, but shy girl, Daniel was able to form a friendly repour with her as well through their music interests. One evening, as she was preparing for night patrol, she heard Daniel playing music from his iPod through the sound system on his X-wing. She had never heard such music before, so she asked him about it. They struck up a conversation, with Daniel telling Sanya about rock-and-roll through the last several decades, and Sanya telling him about how she loved to play the piano and how she had been studying music before the war. As Daniel explained and demonstrated the various artists and groups he had recordings of – ranging from Elvis, to the Beatles, to Fleetwood Mac, to Coldplay, and, finally, to his all-time favorite, Bruce Springsteen – Sanya was fascinated by these new, big, and different sounds that she had never even contemplated before.
He even had a few John Williams numbers to round out his music collection, including the score from some old sci-fi movie that no one probably even remembers anymore (LOL!).
Not far behind her was Ensign Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen of Suomus. A constant companion of Sanya's, Eila interrupted their conversation, asking suspiciously what they were talking about. After they both explained their previous conversation (and after Daniel showed Eila his iPod), Eila decided to let it go, though she was still reluctant to trust Daniel with Sanya. That quickly changed when Daniel then asked if she would like to join them in the future when talking about, and listening to, music, to which Eila whole-heartedly agreed.
As they took off into the night, Daniel thought about the emotions he sensed coming from Eila just then. He couldn't help but wonder whether Eila's behavior when it came to Sanya was out of overprotectiveness like a best friend or big sister, or whether it was out of some sort of romantic-based jealousy. And if it was the latter, was Sanya aware of Eila's feelings towards her? Whatever the case may be, he decided that he would be more delicate than normal in developing friendships with those two.
There was also Captain Charlotte Yeager, a fellow American (or Liberion in this case), who was constantly tinkering with her striker unit. A seemingly carefree, yet talented witch (among several…noticeable characteristics), she was a self-taught engineer, and was constantly finding ways to improve the speed performance of her striker unit. She even provided Daniel with a crash course in World War II-era military technology, which Daniel had to admit was interesting. They quickly became friends, with her insisting that he call her Shirley, as he tried to show and explain the intricacies of his fighter's technology to her. He even shared his music collection as he played it over the fighter's sound system – something that she surprisingly took a liking to very quickly. With the last name, he wondered to himself whether she had any relation to Chuck Yeager from his timeline.
Last, but not least, was Ensign Francesca Lucchini of the Dutchy of Romagna. By far the youngest member of the Strike Witches, she was considered a sort of prodigy among witches. She constantly hung around Shirley and was a nice and friendly, but also very hyperactive, person. Daniel mostly chuckled at her antics, which put the two of them on good terms.
While the witches were fascinated by the technology Daniel had brought with him, they were even more curious as to what abilities he possessed as a Jedi knight. For the most part, Daniel was willing to oblige them and demonstrate his abilities. However, he refused to demonstrate both the Jedi mind trick and his mind meld technique, as those would require use on one of the witches. He explained that he was uncomfortable using those abilities on those he considered friends or allies, barring special circumstances. The witches were, however, very impressed with his telekinesis abilities, and the technique he developed for super speed.
As time passed, one significant thing that Daniel noticed was that none of the witches wore pants – a few wore tights, but no pants. When he asked about it, he was told that in order to operate the striker units, they couldn't wear pants. If they did, they wouldn't be able to feed the unit's magic engine with their own magic energies. Not being able to argue with that logic, he thought to himself, 'I guess I'll just have to get used to that. Remember, you're a gentleman.'
Late one afternoon, after Daniel had put together all of the necessary data and analyzed it – and double checked it just to make sure he hadn't missed anything – he came to a gut-wrenching realization. "I have no way of getting home," he said aloud.
"Say again?" asked Shirley, who looked up from tinkering with her striker unit as usual. "I just found out that I can't go home again," Daniel replied. "How come?" asked Francesca, who approached Daniel's fighter along with Shirley.
"I just finished analyzing the sensory data on my computer – whatever it was that brought me here generated an enormous amount of energy. It would be extremely difficult to generate that much concentrated power in MY time, let alone this time period. And even if I could recreate the anomaly, there doesn't appear to be any way for me to control where I would end up on the other side," Daniel explained as he struggled to keep the lump in his throat down.
"Really? Wow, whatever it was must have been really big!" Francesca exclaimed. Daniel nodded and continued, "Plus, even if everything else were possible, I doubt the powers that be in this time period would loan me the resources just to send me home."
"Yeah…that's probably true," said Shirley. Daniel then climbed out of the fighter and started walking fast toward the hangar's exit. "Where are you going?" asked Shirley. "I need to take a walk and…clear my head," replied Daniel with a hint of sadness in his voice.
As he walked out of the hangar and towards the island's small forest, Francesca turned to Shirley and asked, "Is he going to be alright?" Shirley just sighed and replied, "I think we need to let him be for right now."
Daniel strolled around the island in a zombie-like state for what seemed like hours as a million different thoughts raced through his head – what was he going to do? Where would he go? He also thought about how he would almost certainly never see his family again, and how this whole ordeal was practically the story of his whole damn life!
Daniel then stopped by a large tree, and suddenly all of his emotions came crashing down on him at once. He let out a primal scream of immense pain. "Damn it all!" he shouted as he punched the tree with his right hand, making it all bloody and bruised – the only thing preventing it from breaking being his Jedi strength. His scream was so loud that the entire base heard it.
As the rest of the witches gathered in the hangar after hearing the scream, Erica asked, "What was that?" Shirley then sighed and said, "That was probably Daniel coming to terms with his new reality." Everyone else looked at her in confusion. Francesca then tried to explain, "His computer thingy told him that he couldn't go back to his world." Shirley then clarified, "He said that after analyzing the data, he found he couldn't recreate whatever it was that brought him here. Basically, getting back to his world is now impossible for him."
"Oh, no," said Yoshika, sadly. "Poor guy," added Lynne. "Should we…go out there and look for him?" asked Eila.
At that moment, Daniel returned to the hangar, still in a zombie-like state. "Daniel, there you are!" shouted Yoshika. She then saw his right hand and gasped, "What happened to your hand?" Daniel looked at her confused and asked "Huh?" He then looked at his hand and said, "Oh, I didn't even notice…"
"Here, let me heal that," said Yoshika as she rushed up and gently grabbed Daniel's hand. As Yoshika healed it with her magic, Shirley came up beside him and asked, "Are you okay?" Daniel then shook his head as he collapsed to his knees with tears threatening to fall from his eyes, the weight of everything he had been going through taking its toll. "Come on, get up!" shouted Barkhorn. "No matter what has happened, you're still a soldier. This isn't how a soldier should act!"
Daniel then looked up with an expression that was both angry and calm, as though he was using all of his strength to keep himself from completely snapping. "With all due respect, Barkhorn, you don't know a damn thing about me! First and foremost, I never even wanted to be a soldier in the first place – I never desired or asked for any of this!" Everyone jumped back in surprise at the tone of his voice.
Daniel struggled to hold it together as he proceeded to tell his own personal story, and the witches stood there horrified as he explained how he had ended up where he was. How could a supposedly free and democratic government simply take a teenager, practically by force, from his home and make him part of the military against his will when that country was already by far the most powerful military force in the world, and there wasn't even a war going on?
As he finished his story, Daniel was breathing slowly, but heavily, to prevent himself from bursting into tears in front of everyone. Mio then kneeled down in front of him, put a hand on his shoulder and said, "I can understand your pain and anger. I'll even admit, you've probably been through more than most people in THIS world." As Daniel looked up, she continued, "Sometimes the fates can seem cruel and unfair to us, but the only thing we can do is take whatever they throw at us and continue to move forward as best we can, come what may."
Daniel's breathing calmed down a little, as he took in what Mio said. A very noble sentiment, to be sure, but hardly comforting right now. He then felt something press up against his back. He turned around and saw Yoshika giving him a big hug, like a little sister would give to her big brother. She then looked up at him and said, "I know you feel really down right now, and I know how you feel, but you don't have to be lonely here. We're all here for you – we'll be your family from now on."
"Miyafuji," murmured the major. "Oh, Yoshika," added Lynne. Yoshika then turned to the two senior witch officers, "Commander Minna, Major Sakamoto, you both said that the reason witches fight is to help people, right?"
"That's basically right, yes," replied Minna. "Well right now, Daniel really needs our help and we should give it to him however we can." Daniel then gave Yoshika a small smile, touched by her generosity. "Thank you…Yoshika. That means a lot to me, really," said Daniel.
Minna then sighed and said, "Very well, captain. If you promise to continue making yourself useful and help in our efforts against the Neuroi, then I will do everything in my power to keep you with the unit." Daniel then slowly stood up and turned to reply. "Thank you, commander. I very much appreciate that."
Everyone else (well, almost) then smiled, happy to have this new, and now permanent, member of the team. Barkhorn then came up to Daniel, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Daniel," she said. "Having been through some anguish recently myself, I should have been more sensitive to your situation." Daniel nodded in acknowledgement and replied "Don't worry about it, Barkhorn. I'm not one to hold a grudge for something like that." As she turned to head inside the base, she turned back momentarily and said, "By the way, you can call me Trude from now on."
As everyone else left, Daniel stood there with the two Fuso witches, contemplating the path forward for him. Mio then broke him out of his thoughts as she said, "Alright then, Daniel. Go inside and relax for the rest of the day – and make sure to get a good night's sleep. I'll expect you to be up bright and early tomorrow morning for training. Now that you're here permanently, I'm going to see what you're REALLY made of."
I just had to put in the nod to John Williams in there. Happy 90th Birthday, John! Your music has been a source of great joy and happiness to so many people here!