Welcome back everyone! In this chapter, Daniel gets a chance to enter the role that we all know Jedi are meant for. The chance for peace is something to be taken seriously, and as the guardians of peace, it is a Jedi's duty to do everything possible to make it happen.

March 1945

Over the next couple of weeks, the 502nd continued to recover from the battle with the Grigori nest, as well as resupply for the missions to come. In addition, Daniel continued to work with Hikari to improve her magic flow and output using modified versions of his Jedi training exercises. Takumi usually watched, as she was curious as to what kind of training her sister was receiving from the Jedi knight. She even participated herself on a couple of occasions, as she also had a desire to improve her skills.

As they were wrapping up their training one day, Daniel began chatting with Sasha, who frequently observed his sessions, but never joined in herself. When he asked why she never joined in, Sasha smiled and said teasingly, "I would, but then you would never pay attention to your actual student. I wouldn't want to get in the way of such a good student-teacher relationship." Daniel then lightly chuckled and replied, "I guess I can't argue with that logic." They both then laughed and proceeded to get lost in their conversation.

Walking a few feet behind them, the Karibuchi sisters witnessed that little exchange, at which point Takumi asked Hikari in a low voice, "Are they always like that when they're together?" Hikari thought about it a moment before nodding, explaining, "They try to be discreet, but the dynamic they have is definitely noticeable. I actually think it's cute." They giggled slightly at this before Takumi commented, "He seems like a really nice guy – and a really good teacher. I'm glad that you were able to learn from him. And I'll bet your friends back at school are really jealous that you get to be taught personally by a Jedi knight."

Later that day, Daniel was sitting in the cockpit of his fighter, continuing to try to program his sensors to detect Neuroi cores. "I sincerely hope that we don't have to face any more Neuroi hiding 'true cores,'" he said. Sasha looked at him questioningly before he continued, "Programming a regular Neuroi core's energy reading into this thing has been hard enough. If I have to account for a core within a core, it's going to create a whole mess of problems." Sasha then nodded in understanding.

The next moment, Commander Rall came into the hangar and called out to Daniel to get his attention. When he came over, Rall handed him a folded sheet of papers and said, "We got new orders…or, more specifically, YOU got new orders." Daniel took the paper and asked, "Just me?" Rall nodded and explained, "The brass is putting together a special operation down in Venezia, and you were specifically requested to be a part of it – they wouldn't say why." Daniel took a look at the details on the sheet as Rall continued, "For this operation, you've been temporarily assigned to the 504th Joint Fighter Wing in Romagna, also known as the Ardor Witches. You're to report there at the soonest point possible to begin working with the witches there."

As Daniel finished reading his orders, he sighed in disappointment, knowing that he couldn't get out of it, and would have to leave St. Petersburg. "Tell them I'll be there by tomorrow evening. I'll need the rest of the day to pack and get ready to go," he said, calculating that it would take the better part of a day to fly from St. Petersburg to the 504th's base in Romagna. While the rest of the 502nd, and particularly Sasha, wasn't happy to see Daniel go, they understood that this was something he had been ordered to do. They tried to comfort themselves with the understanding that this would be temporary, and that Daniel would be back with them before too long.

The next morning, the 502nd gathered in the hangar to see Daniel off. He had packed his regular set of clothes, as well as his personal items, deciding to leave his winter clothing behind, as he was heading somewhere it wouldn't be needed. As they said their goodbyes, he reminded Hikari to keep up with her training and exercises – and asked Takumi to make sure she kept up with them. Like they had done for Hikari previously, Shimohara and Georgette gave him onigiri and a canteen of cold water for the trip.

He lingered with Sasha last – and longest – as they knew that they would definitely miss each other's presence. He tried to find the right words to say to her, but was having a hard time. Finally, he came up with an idea, and gave the hand signal to wait a minute. He took out his iPod, plugged it in to his fighter's speaker system, and started playing the song If I Should Fall Behind (Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Live in NYC version). He then held his hand out to Sasha and asked her to dance with him, which she of course accepted. As the couple swayed back and forth to the song, the rest of the unit looked on, and a few of them even "Awwww"ed at the sight in front of them.

When the song ended, Daniel pulled Sasha into a gentle, yet passionate kiss, and whispered into her ear, "I love you, Sasha. And I promise that I will come back to you as soon as I can." With that, he climbed into the fighter cockpit, put on his helmet, and took off. As the members of the 502nd watched the fighter disappear into the distance, Commander Rall put her hand on Sasha's shoulder and spoke softly in a manner so no one else would hear, "You're one lucky girl, Sasha. It's clear that boy is absolutely crazy about you."

While the route was more circuitous than he had anticipated due to the location of Neuroi nests between St. Petersburg and Romagna, Daniel was pretty much correct on the amount of time it took to get to the 504th Joint Fighter Wing's base. At one point, when there were no Neuroi in sight, he was able to engage the fighter's autopilot and eat the lunch provided to him – allowing him to do so without having to stop and lose more time. At sunset, he had reached the coordinates of the base, and after radioing his arrival, he descended and began the landing cycle.

After he had landed and exited the fighter, he was immediately greeted by a girl around his age with relatively short hair wearing a Fuso navy uniform. She introduced herself as Captain Junko Taki, the commanding officer of the Ardor Witches. After making introductions, Taki asked Daniel about how Major Sakamoto was doing. "You know the major personally?" he asked. She nodded and explained that they had served together in multiple units before they were assigned to their respective Joint Fighter Wings. Daniel then replied, "Well, the last I heard, she was enjoying herself putting the recruits as the Naval Witch Academy through the daily training regimen from hell – you know, the usual." Both of them had a good chuckle at that.

Taki then led Daniel to the main lounge room to introduce him to the other witches from the unit who would be joining them in the upcoming operation. As they entered the room, three identically dressed witches – all dressed in red and black – came up to greet Daniel. Sergeant Martina Crespi, Ensign Luciana Mazzei, and Lieutenant Fernandia Malvezzi made up the 504th Joint Fighter Wing's Romagna Trio, and would be joining Daniel and Captain Taki.

Daniel was immediately bombarded with questions from the trio – everything from where he came from, to his battle experiences, to what kind of powers he had. However, one question made things a bit awkward – when Martina suddenly asked, "Are you single?" in a slightly suggestive tone. Daniel initially laughed nervously at that question, while both Luciana and Fernandia scolded Martina for asking the question. "That's really not something you should ask a guy right after meeting him," said Luciana, "Especially someone who's a fellow soldier."

Daniel quickly said that he didn't really mind the question, "However, I'm already spoken for," he explained. While Martina let out an obvious groan of disappointment, Luciana and Fernandia looked at him curiously and asked, "So who's the lucky girl?" Daniel just took out his iPhone from his jacket pocket, turned on the photo album, and pulled up the photo of him and Sasha in St. Petersburg before showing it to the three girls.

"She's Captain Aleksandra Pokryshkin of the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing," he explained, "though everyone calls her Sasha." The three Romagnans were all amazed at the technology Daniel had just shown them, though Martina was still disappointed that Daniel was not on the market. Further, while she didn't show it, Daniel could feel a slight sense of disappointment coming from Fernandia as well. Captain Taki then decided to break up the socialization for the time being in order to familiarize Daniel with the base and so everyone could sit down to dinner.

After dinner, Captain Taki showed Daniel to his quarters, where he would be staying for the duration of his time with the 504th. She also informed him that there would be a briefing at 0900 hours the next morning, where the details of the operation would be discussed. After gathering his belongings from his fighter, he unpacked in his quarters and settled in for the night.

The next morning at the briefing, Daniel was anxious, as he still had no idea why he was requested to be brought in on this. What Captain Taki said next came as a surprise to everyone in the room, as she revealed that the upcoming mission would be one of diplomacy. "This war has been going on for almost six years now, and there's no telling when final victory can be achieved," she explained. "However, with the recent victories in Gallia and Orussia, allied command thinks that if we were to make contact with the Neuroi, there might be a chance that they will talk."

Taki explained that Daniel, plus the four witches, would be escorted to the Neuroi hive located over Venezia, and that Daniel and the withes would attempt to establish communications with the Neuroi. She then turned to Daniel and said, "This is where you will be of vital importance." Daniel looked at Taki in surprise and asked, "Me? How come?" Taki then explained that this mission had been conceived because of the report he had submitted to allied command in the immediate aftermath of the Gallia campaign.

"In your report, you mentioned that you were able to make contact with a humanoid-shaped Neuroi, and even communicated with it to the point where the both of you were able to understand each other." Daniel chuckled at hearing that and replied, "Wow – I'm surprised that someone at allied command actually read that report, let alone took it under serious consideration. I kinda thought that it would be ignored."

Taki smiled back at Daniel and said, "Well, they didn't ignore it, and now allied command wants a repeat performance out of you. It seems that they want you to take a real shot at being a peacemaker here." Taki then turned to the remaining witches in the room and explained, "For the next two weeks, we're going to be training together so that by the time of the mission, we are all in sync with each other."

Taki then went over what the exact plan of action would be on the day of the mission. "Daniel is going to serve as our lead, and attempt to communicate with the Neuroi. Myself, along with Martina, Luciana, and Fernandia will be your immediate backup and provide assistance as needed. There will also be a small squadron of fighters attached to the 504th who will escort us there." Finally, she adjourned the briefing and everybody went to work.

For the next two weeks, they all worked on their formations and movements, making sure they were prepared for any (or almost any, at least) conceivable situation that could arise, and Daniel got to know Taki and the three Romagnan witches a bit better.

Captain Taki was a commander who also wanted to be friends with the people under her command – though was willing to assert her power when needed. Although she had served alongside Major Sakamoto for such a long time (or perhaps because of that fact), she did not subscribe to Mio's enthusiasm for the 'train until you drop' method, as her training regimens were far more reasonable.

Martina was definitely the most outgoing and cheerful of the group. In many ways, she reminded Daniel of Erica, though she didn't oversleep or leave her room on a constant state of chaos. She was also the most enthusiastically inquisitive of the group, constantly asking Daniel various questions about himself and his various gadgets – the latter of which he tried to explain, but Martina didn't quite understand all of the details.

Luciana, on the other hand, was more of the quiet and thoughtful type. Though Daniel wouldn't describe her as shy, she definitely wasn't nearly as aggressive in her interactions with him. She was truly interested in Daniel's technology, and was fascinated by what it could do. Overall, she was definitely easy to interact with.

Fernandia was the self-designated leader of the Romagnan trio. She was definitely self-confident, bordering on cocky (though it never quite got to that level), and she was also easily frustrated when things didn't go as she planned. While she wasn't shy about asserting her higher rank over Martina and Luciana, she also took it upon herself to look out for their well-being.

All in all, they were all the friendly sort, and Daniel was happy that he was going to be backed up by these witches during his attempt at diplomacy. On the day of the mission, they departed the hangar and flew towards Venezia, hopeful, but still unsure of what exactly awaited them.

When they arrived at Venezia, Daniel was able to see the Neuroi nest above the city, looking almost identical to the one the 501st had defeated over Gallia. He then took the vanguard position and began transmitting greeting messages in binary code, using the electronic communications program he had used before. He only hoped that there was a Neuroi there who would actually listen to his messages, and not just start attacking them.

Suddenly, a humanoid-shaped Neuroi emerged from the clouds and hovered in front of Daniel and the other witches. Daniel then began receiving a transmission from the Neuroi:

Greetings. You are the Jedi knight called Daniel Horowitz, correct? I am very pleased to meet you.

Daniel then messaged the rest of the team, telling them that the Neuroi was talking. He then explained that he would start the conversation and told everyone else to standby. He then replied to the Neuroi:

Yes. My name is Daniel Horowitz, and I'm a Jedi knight. Do you know why I am here?

A few moments after transmitting the response, Daniel got a reply back:

I know why you are here. You are here for the purpose some of us had hoped for when we brought you to this world – to serve as a peacemaker between our two peoples.

Daniel slightly cringed at that, remembering that it had been the Neuroi that had brought him to this world in the first place. The Neuroi then added:

We are also aware of the pain we have caused you. Although we felt it was necessary, we would like to apologize for that.

Daniel sighed. Honestly, he really wasn't too upset about that anymore, and as such, wasn't one to hold a grudge. He responded:

I'm actually not angry about that anymore. However, I would like some answers as to why exactly I was chosen. Your previous counterpart did not explain that before being killed.

He transmitted and waited what seemed to him like several minutes, though it was less than one. Finally, he received a transmission:

We were searching for someone who had a particular essence about them – I believe you would call it an aura. Someone who had particular character traits that would allow them to see the entire situation and have the desire and ability to bring our peoples together to achieve peace.

'Hmmm,' he thought, 'so they had the same idea that allied command came up with – sort of.' He smiled a bit to himself. 'Perhaps this will actually work.' The message then continued:

Unfortunately, circumstances make our timing very critical. We who seek peace among our people are in the minority. If we act quickly, more Neuroi will support our cause. Otherwise, it will be too late, as there are those who wish to stop us.

Daniel informed the rest of the group of what was being discussed and was hopeful for success on the mission. However, just as he was typing a reply to get the ball rolling, he noticed the sky become darker than it already had been. He then received another transmission:

I am sorry Daniel. I am afraid that it is already too late. Please forgive us. You all must flee from this place – quickly!

Daniel and the witches then saw a laser beam shoot down from the sky and envelop the humanoid-shaped Neuroi, completely vaporizing it. When they looked up, they watched in horror as a hive more than twice as big as the one already above Venezia completely engulfed the old nest and took its place above Venezia before raining down laser fire upon the city.

They had no choice but to retreat, though doing so was more difficult than they had anticipated. While Daniel was ultimately able to get away with minimal damage to his fighter, the witches took more severe damage to their striker units, which would require quite a bit of maintenance work to return to fighting shape. In addition, the majority of the fighter unit that had escorted them there was destroyed protecting Daniel and the witches during the retreat.

Once they arrived back to base, and were able to take in what had just happened, Daniel let out a yell of frustration. They had been so close to peace! Now the Neuroi superhive's actions had rendered that impossible, and the war would continue, ensuring the deaths of hundreds of thousands more people, if not millions. He was actually looking forward to serving as a peacemaker, but now it was back to the original deal, with him serving as a fighter on the front lines.

As Daniel looked in the direction of the witches that had accompanied him, all of whom showed deeply disappointed and angry faces, there was nothing Daniel could say or do to lift their spirits at this moment. He sighed and said to them, "I'm sorry – I let all of you down." They all immediately shook their heads in disagreement, with Taki saying, "You have no reason to apologize. You did everything you were supposed to. Nobody was able to see that coming."

With the support unit nearly completely destroyed, and the best witches of the unit waiting on repairs to their striker units, the 504th would be out of commission for some time. Daniel sighed again as he asked Taki, "So, what do we do now?" Taki just sighed back and replied, "There's nothing we CAN do – except wait and see what our next move will be."

Daniel was NOT looking forward to telling Sasha that it was going to be a bit longer before they could be reunited.

Looks like the war won't be coming to a quick end as Daniel had perhaps hoped, as sometimes the best laid plans and intentions go for naught. However, he is not alone, as it is getting time for the main cast to return to the scene! Tune in next time…