Hi everyone! Well, Daniel's now in a bit of a pickle. Just as he is able to gain Minna's trust, his actions arguably cause severe injuries to Minna's dear friend. Nothing comes easy for Daniel, does it? Read on to find out how he handles this situation.
As they stood in Minna's office, along with Trude and Erica observing from the sides, Yoshika looked scared of what was to come while Daniel tried to keep a straight and serious face – showing no fear. As Minna explained the charges they were facing, she asked whether they wanted a court martial. As Daniel collected his thoughts to respond, he noticed Yoshika looking down in fear. "Very well. Given your lack of response, I assume that you DON'T want a court martial."
Daniel then put his hand on Yoshika's left shoulder and said, "Hold on, Minna. I can't speak for Yoshika, but while I don't WANT a court martial, I will accept it if it's the only way I can tell my side of the story here." Minna looked at him in surprise as she thought about what he had just said. In truth, she didn't want to conduct a court martial if she didn't have to, so she decided to let Daniel have his say before rendering a decision. "Very well. Let's hear what you have to say for yourself," she said.
Daniel then took a deep breath and began his defense. "With all due respect to Major Sakamoto and everything she had done both for this unit and the war effort in general, I think it was her mistaken judgment in this case that led to her injuries." The other witches in the room gasped slightly, as none of them would ever even THINK such a thing, let alone say it aloud. "Explain," Minna stated in a harsh tone, "and it had better be really good."
"I think she reacted to hastily to the situation at hand. She wasn't fully aware of what was going on, and what Yoshika and I were doing before she engaged," he stated. Minna continued to look at Daniel with harsh facial features, but motioned for him to continue. Daniel then explained about the Neuroi's actions towards him and Yoshika – from transforming into humanoid form to not engaging in hostilities – as well as his efforts to communicate with the Neuroi (while simultaneously explaining what binary code is). Finally, he stated that they had tried to prevent Mio from engaging and explain the situation, and that the Neuroi didn't fire on anyone until after Mio had fired the first shots.
Minna hardly looked convinced, having fought the Neuroi with Mio side-by-side for many years. "What you're saying doesn't make any sense! Why would the Neuroi suddenly decide to seek peace after all the death and destruction they've caused!" Daniel immediately responded, "I can show you that what I've said is true – I recorded the whole thing on my fighter's computer!" Minna's eyes widened in surprise at that statement. If Daniel could provide proof of his story, then that changed things. Still, she was skeptical – something Daniel could sense from her.
"Look, Minna, I understand that this goes against everything you know about the Neuroi, but this was an opportunity to communicate with them and understand them in a way that hasn't been done before. If communication with the Neuroi is possible, it could lead to reaching an end to the war more quickly. This was something that I had to do as a good soldier – it's more than just blindly following orders, it's also about assessing the situation as you see it unfold and reacting in a way that creates the best possible long-term outcome."
Minna considered what he was saying, and mentally acknowledged the points he was making – finding a way to end the war faster WOULD be a great thing, but it still meant taking a risk no one else would dare take. Daniel continued, "Minna, you said just yesterday that you trust me. So please, trust me now." Minna knew Daniel was right – if she really did trust him, she would take what he just said under serious consideration, but still… "Very well," she said, "I will consider what you said, and I will see your evidence later. However, you and Miyafuji will be grounded from flying missions until I have made a final decision – is that clear?"
Daniel sighed as he replied, "Yes, ma'am." Yoshika then nodded, also acknowledging Minna's orders. Minna then dismissed the two, and they walked out of the office, wondering what to do next.
As Yoshika went off with Lynne for a bath with the other witches, Daniel returned to his quarters to wait his turn – having long ago established a set time each day when he could use the bath facilities on his own (for obvious reasons). As he sat lying on top of his bed, he couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated. Yes, he and Yoshika had avoided being subject to formal discipline (for the moment), but they were now grounded from action until the matter was resolved – which could take days. By then, their chance at communicating with the Neuroi could very well pass.
In the middle of the night, Daniel was awoken by someone shaking his shoulders. He groggily opened his eyes and got used to seeing in the darkness before he was able to make out Yoshika standing dressed by his bed. "Yoshika? It's the middle of the night. What are you doing here?" he whispered. "I'm going back out to see if I can find the Neuroi again. We have to find out whether we were right about it or not," she replied. "I know that you think I'm right about this."
Daniel had to think about this for a moment. He really didn't want to push how far his working relationship with Minna could be strained, which would be considerable if he went through with this. On the other hand, Yoshika was right about what he thought of this particular Neuroi, and the time for them to contact it again may be very short – too short to wait for Minna's decision. He then sighed as he finally said, "Alright. Wait outside the door and give me a few minutes to get dressed."
When they reached the hangar and prepared to leave, Lynne showed up and at first tried to stop them from going. When it became clear that they would go anyway, Lynne then offered to join them. Both Daniel and Yoshika told her 'No' out of a fear that they would only cause problems for Lynne if she went. "This is something we have to do on our own," explained Yoshika. "And besides," added Daniel, "we're already in quite a bit of trouble for doing this – we don't want to drag you into trouble with us." With that, Lynne quietly wished them luck and saw them off into the night/early morning.
As Daniel and Yoshika flew to the position they had contacted the Neuroi before, he said to her over the radio, "We had better find the Neuroi pretty quickly, or else we're going to be in a heap of trouble for nothing." As she nodded towards him in acknowledgement, they both spotted the humanoid-shaped Neuroi come toward them from the distance. As it approached, Daniel once again booted up his communication program. As it was up and running, he received a message:
You both came back. Good. I am sorry about your friend. Please understand that I only did it in self-defense.
Daniel then typed back:
Major Sakamoto is still alive. She is recovering in our infirmary. If you want to show us something, you will have to do so quickly. We are risking a lot of trouble by doing this.
He soon got a response:
I am glad your friend is still alive. I did not wish to terminate her life. I understand your concerns. Please, follow me.
With that, the Neuroi flew off in the direction from which it had come. "Alright. Let's go, Yoshika," Daniel said as they began to follow. Soon, the came to what appeared to be a highly localized storm system. With the ominous darkness and glowing red spots around it, Daniel and Yoshika knew that they were headed into potentially dangerous territory. Still, they followed the Neuroi inside.
Once inside, they saw what appeared to be a central computer core, with various display screens floating in circles around them showing them various images. Some showed past battles, some showed the devastation caused by the fighting. Yoshika then recognized images of Major Sakamoto in a few images before seeing herself with the humanoid-shaped Neuroi in a video clip from the day before.
Next, they saw several clips of a Neuroi core: the first one of the core smoldering in a crater on the ground with several people surrounding it. The next image showed what appeared to be some sort of laboratory with a giant robot-type thing inside, and the core fragment being examined. "Well, well," Daniel said to Yoshika, "I'll bet Minna doesn't know anything about this. This is very valuable information indeed."
Daniel then saw a clip of a Neuroi flying through the air, and dropping some sort of device behind it. The next moment, the device exploded in a flash of light and formed a tear in the sky – identical to the one that had brought him to this world in the first place! This assumption was confirmed as the clip continued to play with his X-wing flying out of the tear a few seconds later. He then typed a question for the Neuroi:
Are you responsible for my being in this world?
He quickly got a response:
We are. Your presence in this world is necessary.
Daniel silently seethed at the robotic response:
Do you realize how much pain you have caused me by bringing me here against my will? I can never again see my family. I can never go back to the place I once called home.
Why? Out of all of the people in all the universes – why did it have to be ME that was brought to this world?
Daniel only got this in response:
Because it could be no one else.
Unsatisfied with the vague answer, he quickly typed in response:
You will have to explain what you mean. That response is not good enough.
Before the Neuroi could answer, something outside the storm cloud system drew its attention, and the Neuroi left to deal with whatever it was.
Soon, Daniel and Yoshika heard a firefight going on outside the clouds. Before either of them could register what was going on in their heads, or contemplate what action they should take, a beam came through the clouds and nearly hit Yoshika. However, it was close enough to throw Yoshika completely off-balance, causing her to fall quickly. Daniel immediately followed her, hoping that he would be able to attract the attention of whoever was out there so that they could possibly save Yoshika before she hit the ground.
Whether it was him, or they just saw Yoshika, Daniel was relieved when he saw Francesca flying towards them, with Shirley and Trude close behind. Soon, the two more senior witches passed Francesca and caught Yoshika, pulling her up before she hit. Just as Daniel was sighing in relief, Minna came up in front of their vision, and man was she angry!
Yoshika tried to direct her attention to the Neuroi, but Minna quickly snapped, "Silence! You have both now officially gone AWOL! Back to base – we'll deal with this there!" As Daniel flew back to base with the other witches, he thought to himself, 'Shit, she's really pissed! Not that I really blame her, but jeez. Hopefully the information I was able to gather will cool her down at least somewhat.'
However, when they arrived back at base, they were met by a group of armed soldiers, with even more armed personnel leading out the remaining witches that hadn't gone off after Daniel and Yoshika. After they landed and had gathered together, General Maloney emerged from the shadows to greet them – Daniel knew instantly that he wasn't up to anything that could be considered 'good.'
After greeting Minna and explaining his presence – the formation of a new combat unit nicknamed 'Warlock' that would now be doing the brunt of the fighting against the Neuroi – he asked Daniel and Yoshika to step forward. As they did, Maloney asked whether they had flown off without permission. Yoshika got a scared look on her face while Daniel tried to remain composed. But inside, he was just as shocked as Yoshika. 'Damn! How does HE know that?' he asked himself.
The next moment, what appeared to be a flying mecha unit came towards them and landed on its feet a couple meters behind the general. Daniel and Yoshika instantly recognized it from the video clips they had seen before! When they pointed it out and began explaining where they saw it, Maloney suddenly became very angry and defensive. "You two don't know what your talking about!" he exclaimed.
He then cut off further conversation by asserting that Minna had lost control of her unit, and that the Strike Witches were being disbanded, effective immediately, with all witches being ordered to return to their home units. Maloney then turned to Daniel and said, "As for you…" His men suddenly raised their guns and pointed at Daniel. "You are being charged with desertion and will be taken for holding until your court martial."
Daniel continued to keep a straight face as he replied, "There are two problems with that, general. One, desertion requires intent to not return – that isn't the case here. Two, I'm still technically not a member of any military organization in this world. Who is going to have jurisdiction over me?" Maloney only smiled evilly as he said, "No matter. You're coming with us. Men, detain him."
As the armed personnel slowly approached him, Daniel closed his eyes as though in concentration, took a deep breath, and slowly opened them part-way as he said softly, "You will lower your weapons and back away." As though in a sort of trance, the men did exactly that as neither the witches nor Maloney could understand what was happening.
"Didn't you hear me?" Maloney asked, raising his voice, "Arrest him!" Daniel then softly spoke again, "Doing so would be wrong, and you know it." One of the men then turned to Maloney, still seemingly in a trance, and repeated, "Doing so would be wrong, and you know it." Maloney only became angrier and more confused. Sensing this, Daniel then addressed Maloney directly. "Look, general, let's not continue this standoff for longer than needed. I'll get straight to my point – if you try to detain me or any of my technology, or try to hurt the witches any more than you already have, then the deal I made with allied command is off!"
Maloney growled as Daniel stated his ultimatum. "You know that you still need me to help you figure out how my technology works. Even with this 'Warlock,' I'm sure allied command still wants it, and I'm quite certain you don't have the authority to allow the deal to be called off by yourself." Maloney knew he was right, but he still growled in frustration as he replied, "Fine, you can go." At that moment, the other men came out of their trance in a bit of a confused state. Maloney then continued, "But that doesn't change the fact that the Strike Witches are hereby disbanded. You and Sergeant Miyafuji are responsible for that!" At that, Yoshika fainted from shock, with everyone rushing around her to see if she was alright.
As Daniel looked at Yoshika with concern, he thought to himself, 'One immediate problem taken care of. Now I'll have to see if I can come up with a solution to this mess, and quickly!'
Come on, everyone! Did you really think that I would go through this entire story without having Daniel use the Jedi mind trick at least once? I don't think so! The question remains, though – what is he going to do to help fix this? Tune in next time to find out!