Now that Daniel is back in St. Petersburg, it's time he gets some quality time with Sasha. Although there is only so much they can do together on base in the middle of a war, we know he'll be able to come up with something good! Please enjoy this next chapter, everyone.
Late July 1945
St. Petersburg, Orussian Empire
As Daniel, Eila, and Sanya approached St. Petersburg and saw the base of the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing coming up in the distance, Daniel commented over the comm, "Finally, St. Petersburg at last!" Eila then replied in a teasing manner, "You're just excited to see Sasha again, aren't you?" Daniel didn't have a response to that, because what COULD he say, really? She was right – he WAS excited to see his girlfriend. Sanya, on the other hand, gave him a big smile and said, "I think it's really sweet how much you're looking forward to seeing her."
When they landed, they were greeted with enthusiastic cheers for the work they had done in Venezia. Once Daniel got out of his fighter, Sasha ran towards him and surprised Daniel by jumping into him when she got close. Luckily, he was able to react in time and catch her in a big hug. As they laughed and enjoyed their little reunion, Daniel asked teasingly, "I guess you missed me, huh?" She lightly and playfully slapped him on the shoulder and replied, "Of course I did, silly." After a quick peck on the lips, he whispered into her ear, "I really missed you, too. It's good to be back." As they sighed in contentment, Commander Rall cleared her throat, bringing them out of their reverie, as they remembered that there was an audience present.
Later that evening, after the three new arrivals had settled in and everyone had gathered in the dining room for dinner, several of the 502nd witches commented on the events in Venezia. "I hear the ending was a real fireworks show," said Kanno. "Is it true that they turned the Yamato into a Neuroi?" asked Meister Rossman. Shimohara then commented, "It's really unfortunate that both Major Sakamoto and Miyafuji lost their magic during the fight." Hikari then looked up and said to Daniel, "Oh, yeah. She's the one whose family adopted you, right?"
Daniel just smiled back and replied, "Yes, that's right – and I couldn't be prouder of my imoto." As everyone else giggled at Daniel referring to his 'little sister,' he then commented, "If you really want to know what happened, you can see for yourself after dinner. I have the whole thing on film in my fighter." This got them excited – especially the members of the 502nd who were dying to see this. Even Eila and Sanya were intrigued, despite the fact that they had been there themselves.
After dinner, they made their way to the hangar, where Daniel set up his laptop and connected it to the fighter's digital video recorder. A few minutes later, he started playing the tape of the final sequence of the Mars operation. They were awestruck by the whole thing – not only by the technology Daniel was demonstrating, but also by the sequence of events that led to the final blow. Hikari in particular noted at the sheer amount of power Yoshika was able to exude. When they got to the part where Yoshika delivered the final blow, they all gasped and wowed at the sheer magnitude of power she displayed.
When the film ended, Commander Rall asked Daniel, "Why did you decide to record that – particularly at that moment when you didn't know for sure that things would work out?" He replied, "In my gut, I knew that Yoshika would do it – she doesn't know how to quit. Besides, I wanted to keep a record of this. Now, every time someone from the brass expresses doubts about the witches' ability to get the job done, I'm just going to show them this." Rall chuckled at the last comment.
Over the next few weeks, Daniel got back into the routine of being a part of the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing. Most early mornings were spent training up Hikari using his modified Jedi techniques – something that was apparently having a noticeable effect, as her magic output seemed to be growing ever stronger. In fact, when he asked Takumi and Meister Rossman about this, they confirmed that she had indeed been continually getting stronger – to a level that they had not been expecting due to her low levels of magic power. Even Rossman was at a loss to explain it – though no one was complaining. While the training was designed mostly for Hikari's benefit, both Takumi and Shimohara joined in quite often (if they felt that it helped, Daniel didn't mind). He also spent a lot of time helping Sasha both with the administrative work and with the repairs being made to the Break Witches' striker units. To their credit, it wasn't as often as before, but still far more frequent than Sasha liked – leading to multiple instances of kneeling punishment for the group.
On several occasions, Daniel would join a few of the other witches in some friendly poker games during the evenings – and he was surprisingly good at it. He even beat Eila more often than not, which turned into a big source of frustration. "You won again!?" she exclaimed as Daniel won yet another hand. "I can't believe it! How is that possible!?" Daniel just grinned and chuckled while responded, "I am your worst nightmare." Eila then narrowed her eyes as she shuffled the cards and asked, "You're not cheating, are you?" Daniel feigned hurt feelings as he replied, "I'm insulted that you would even think such a thing."
Most evenings, though, Daniel and Sasha would spend them together, whether it was watching Daniel's collection of movies and TV series, reading books, or just enjoying each other's company whispering sweet nothings. Although Sasha never said anything, Daniel felt bad that he couldn't take her out on a real date. Granted, they were on the front lines in the middle of a war, but Daniel still wanted to do something special for her if he could. He knew in his heart that Sasha was very precious to him – he was always happiest when she was around.
As he was doing maintenance on his fighter one day, he came across the photos he had taken on that mission that took him more than 30,000 meters from the Earth's surface. As he looked at them admiringly, he suddenly got an idea of something he could do for Sasha. He would have to check on a couple of things and ask for permission to do it, but if he could do it, he was sure Sasha would love it!
When he approached Commander Rall about his idea, she was very skeptical at first, not wanting to risk them unnecessarily. However, after Daniel explained what would be involved, how he would make sure to minimize the risk, and the fact that he wanted to do it as a romantic gesture for Sasha, Rall relented, if a bit reluctantly. Having now gotten permission, Daniel went to work of getting everything ready for that night.
After dinner, Sasha asked what Daniel wanted to do that night, and Daniel brought her to the hangar, saying that he had a surprise in store for her. When they got there, the fighter was sitting there, as usual, but Daniel then put on his helmet and handed Sasha one that he had borrowed from the primary engineering staff (which didn't have a visor). "I thought that tonight we could spend a little time among the stars!" he exclaimed. While very interested, Sasha was a bit worried about how they would do this. "Not to worry," he said, "I've adjusted the seat so that we both can fit in there."
Sasha then asked, "What about breathing – I can't imagine there's enough air that high up for us to breathe." Daniel then explained about the air system in the X-wing – how it recycled the air from around the fighter, and how it automatically switched to a backup supply at high altitudes. "However, our trip will be a bit short," he explained to Sasha. "Based on what I was able to calculate, we will have about ten minutes to enjoy ourselves once we get up there." She then turned and asked, "Why so little time?" to which he replied, "Because after twelve minutes, the air supply will run out, and we want to make sure to have a little time cushion."
As they got into the X-wing, with Daniel sitting in the back of the seat, and Sasha essentially in his lap, Daniel fired up the takeoff sequence, and soon, they were zooming up into the heavens. Sasha was a bit tense, as she had never experienced speeds like this before, but was reassured with Daniel right there with her. After a short ascent period, they had reached an altitude of approximately 32,500 meters – about where he was when he fought that one Neuroi. As they leveled off and began to hover in place, Daniel turned on his iPod and speakers, and played a couple of Coldplay songs to enhance the mood – Magic and A Sky Full of Stars (both are from the 'Ghost Stories' album). He then turned on the autopilot and spoke softly into Sasha's ear, "Take a look at the view from up here."
When Sasha looked up into the cosmos through the X-wing's plexiglass visor, she just stared in amazed silence. She had to admit, she had never seen the stars like this before. They seemed brighter and more numerous, somehow. She then looked down and saw the Earth – they were so high up they could see the curvature of the planet. Plus, the lights of the various cities (the ones that were still inhabited, anyway) provided an image that she had never before imagined.
Finally, Sasha saw the moon right in the forefront of her line of sight – bigger and brighter than she had ever seen. "It's so close," she commented. "It's almost as though we're close enough to reach it and touch it." Daniel gave a small chuckle and replied, "Just wait twenty, twenty-five years." When she gave a confused reaction, Daniel just said, "I'll explain when we get back down."
Sasha then turned he head back to look at Daniel, and said, "Thank you so much! This is spectacular – and incredibly beautiful." Daniel gave a big smile and said, "I'm really glad you like it – and with you here, the view is absolutely perfect." Sasha blushed at the comment but smiled back as she replied, "Jeez, you really know how to melt a girl's heart, don't you?" Daniel then lifted his visor and leaned forward while Sasha reached up with her left arm and leaned back, and they shared a deep, but sweet, kiss, losing themselves for a minute.
A few minutes later, Daniel took back control of the fighter, and they made their way back down to the Earth's surface. When they reached the base, Daniel gently put the fighter into the landing cycle and touched down right in the middle of the hangar without incident. As he and Sasha walked hand in hand back to their quarters for the night, Daniel thought to himself, 'The next time I see Ursula, I'll have to see if she can refill my air supply tank so we can do that again sometime.'
And there you have it – a nice bit of romance to break the constant sequence of battle situations. While Daniel is enjoying his time with Sasha, other duties will soon once again come calling. Tune in next time to find out exactly which ones. Also, I don't own Strike Witches or any of Coldplay's songs