Welcome back, my loyal readers! So Daniel is starting to enjoy himself – but there's still work to be done. Namely, he has to uncover whether Maloney is up to something, and what. Please enjoy this next chapter…
As the days and weeks continued to pass, Daniel became used to, and even started to enjoy, being the unit's "resident Jedi." The witches grew more and more comfortable interacting with him day after day, and before he knew it, he was one of the group. In addition, he grew used to, and was generally amused by, the (usually) lovable antics of his new comrades, though one incident really took the cake in terms of ridiculousness. He figured it would be one of those things that he would look back on later and laugh.
He continued to train, both by himself and under Mio's tutelage – although he constantly wondered what went on in her head as she came up with all of these training regimens. While he completely respected her, 'She's got to be one of the craziest people I've ever met,' he thought, although he would never say that aloud with anyone else present.
Daniel also continued to gain combat experience, participating in more and more sorties with the witches, who were impressed with the way he handled the X-wing in battle – both in terms of speed and mobility, not to mention the effect his laser cannons had on the Neuroi. It caused way more damage than the weapons used by the witches in combat – and the extra damage significantly slowed down the enemy's ability to regenerate, making the witches' job that much easier.
Simultaneously, he continued to gather data on the Neuroi, specifically on their energy readings in an attempt to program the sensors to detect the core, which would make things a heck of a lot easier in battle. While he was continually getting closer, he hadn't quite yet pinpointed the exact frequency of a Neuroi's core.
He also gained a little more insight into Minna's overall mindset after an incident involving Yoshika, a young man from the Fuso navy, and what appeared to be a letter. Shortly after he, along with Yoshika, had been introduced to Captain Sugita and thanked for their actions in saving the destroyer Akagi the day Daniel had arrived in this world, Daniel and Yoshika ran into a young Fuso sailor who wanted to present her with a letter of some sort – probably a love letter, according to Lynne. The winds suddenly picked up and carried the letter away from their grasps. By the time they were able to reach it, Minna had taken a hold of the letter and told Yoshika that she was forbidden from accepting it – using a tone that Daniel had very rarely seen from her when addressing one of the members of her unit outside combat.
He later asked Mio about the incident, but she just replied that it was related to something in Minna's past – something very significant – and that he shouldn't be the one to address it with Minna. He later learned that Minna's reaction and rules regarding the witches interacting with men on the base (a rule to which he had been granted an exception thanks to Mio) had to do with her losing someone she loved very dearly in the beginning stages of the war.
Upon return to the base after doing a fly-by for the men aboard the Akagi along with Yoshika, Mio, and Lynne, they found Minna singing into a microphone, presumably broadcasting this live to the military personnel (along with anyone else who could pick up the signal). While he was unfamiliar with the particular song (Lili Marleen, he later learned), he had to admit, Minna had a hell of a singing voice. And with Sanya accompanying her on the piano, it was a very powerful performance.
One day, Daniel was in Minna's office looking through the documents he had obtained from the administrative office while Minna was doing the regular paperwork when Yoshika and Mio entered with a box full of rolled papers and other items – presumably related to future battle plans. Minna and Mio started to go through it when Yoshika mentioned that Trude had just up and left the base suddenly that morning after hearing that her sister, Christiane (or Chris, as Trude called her), had finally woken up from her coma. With Erica doing the driving, they headed to the hospital immediately.
None of them could blame Trude for her reaction, and Daniel was relieved that Chris was alright – he knew that Chris was very important to Trude, and the faster Chris recovered, the better it would be for Trude's mental state.
Later, after grabbing lunch from the mess hall, Daniel was passing by the bath when he heard Perrine screeching from behind the closed door – she was probably yelling at Yoshika again for some petty reason in a fit of jealousy. 'Honestly! She can really be a pain sometimes!' he thought. He didn't stick around to find out exactly what the commotion was about, as he was confident that Yoshika could handle herself. Besides, he had to finish analyzing those documents before Maloney made a move!
Later that afternoon, Daniel felt that he had enough information to give a preliminary analysis, at least. "I think my suspicions about General Maloney were right, Minna," he said. Minna walked over to his desk as she asked, "How so? What have you found?"
"Take a look at the budget numbers you were given right after each time Maloney told you your budget was being cut," Daniel replied as he laid the various budget documents in a row. "Now," he continued as he laid out a second row of documents right below the first, "look at the numbers from the documents I got from the administrative offices for the same time periods." As she looked and compared the two rows of documents, Minna saw that Daniel was right – the numbers didn't match up. The budget numbers from the administrative offices were consistent, while her documents showed the numbers continuing to drop.
"I'll bet anything that it's Maloney who's siphoning off money somewhere – money that was always meant for the unit. Maloney's been screwing all of you over this whole time!" Daniel exclaimed. Minna's face grew concerned as she immediately realized the implications of what this meant – a high ranking air force general had been intentionally depriving funds from a unit that was of vital importance to defending Britannia and, presumably, retaking Europe from the Neuroi.
"Do you have any suggestions on what we should do about this?" Minna asked. "Well," Daniel replied, "I would say to just 'follow the money' to see exactly what Maloney is up to, but that would be difficult since there are no indications as to where that money went." Minna nodded in response as she thought about what to do with this information.
She then turned to Daniel and said, "Captain Horowitz, I want to thank you for everything you have done here. You've impressed me a lot. You could have easily opted out of this conflict, but instead chose to join us in a fight that wasn't originally yours." She looked at Daniel intently and with a slight smile as she continued, "You've proven yourself to not only be a more than capable fighter, but also someone who values his comrades' well-being. You have done well to integrate yourself into this unit. From now on, you have my trust."
Daniel started at her in surprise, but then quickly regained his composure and smiled. "Thanks, Minna," he said, "that means a lot coming from you."
Minna was continuing to take in the new revelations when they heard a knock on the office door. Trude and Erica then entered with a note they had found addressed to Minna. Among other things, the note said that they were 'getting too close' and that the witches should 'mind their own business.' Although the note wasn't signed, Minna and Daniel were sure that it was Maloney who had sent this message.
"This just goes to confirm my suspicions about him!" Daniel stated. "Maloney knows that we know he's up to something and now he's getting nervous." He then continued, "We may have to act fast in order to prevent him from making a move that we can't do anything about." Finally, he turned to Minna and asked, "Do you think the budget documents, along with this note, is enough to go to his superiors? If we show them everything, we may be able to at least force him to give a handwriting sample for the note."
Minna considered this and was about to answer when the Neuroi alarm went off, forcing them to postpone the rest of their conversation as they headed to the main communications room. As they scrambled to locate the Neuroi and get the witches airborne, they received a transmission from Perrine stating that she and Yoshika were already up and armed – out doing extra training, she said, despite the fact that nobody had authorized it. Daniel suspected that she wasn't telling them everything regarding why they were out there already, but no matter – there were more important concerns at the moment.
Perrine also said that Yoshika had decided to go on ahead of everyone to intercept the Neuroi as quickly as possible. This concerned Daniel – he knew that it was considered reckless for anyone to after a Neuroi alone without backup close by – let alone someone with only a few months experience under her belt.
As Minna quickly gave orders for all available witches to scramble, Daniel turned to her and said, "Minna, allow me to go on ahead of the others. With my fighter, I can get to Yoshika's position faster and make sure that she stays out of danger." Minna nodded in response. As Daniel called the elevator to take him to the hangar, Minna said to him, "Now don't YOU do anything reckless up there." Daniel grinned back and said, "Hey, you know me. I'm always careful."
As he waited for the elevator, Minna sighed as she turned to Mio, trying to convince her to stay at the base for this one. Her concern for her dear friend had only increased after seeing Mio's shield penetrated by Neuroi shards during the last engagement. When Daniel asked about why she was so concerned, Minna explained, "When a witch turns twenty, her powers begin to weaken – eventually to the point where she can't fight as a witch anymore." Mio being Mio, however, refused to be deterred, even in the face of the possibility of her magic failing her. As Mio and Daniel entered the elevator to take them to the hangar, Minna could only pray that this wouldn't end badly.
"You know me. I'm always careful." Famous last words – will Daniel regret them later? Tune in next time to find out!