Alright, readers – this chapter is going to cover the events of the movie from Daniel's perspective. It definitely won't cover everything, but I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless.
Early September 1945
As the next couple of weeks went by, Daniel settled into the routine he had with the 502nd, including joining their efforts to engage the Neuroi located to the west of St. Petersburg. While he had been gone, they had made significant progress in thinning their numbers, and with Eila and Sanya also providing their assistance, that progress continued at an even faster rate. During this time, he received a letter from Yoshika, saying that she had been accepted to a medical school in Helvetia, and that she would be arriving in time for the beginning of the semester. 'Good for you, Yoshika,' he thought as he smiled to himself. 'You found a way to move forward with your dreams.' He then thought of how he might drop in on her for a visit if all went well here over the next month or so.
However, it couldn't be this easy forever, as Eila and Sanya were reassigned to another unit in the North Sea region that was engaged in significant action. In a matter of a couple of days, they would be gone and missed among the group.
The morning before Eila and Sanya's scheduled departure, Daniel was meditating after having worked with Hikari through their almost daily training. While this wasn't an everyday thing for Daniel by any means, Master Kenobi had always said that it was good for a Jedi to do this on occasion. As he sat there, he experienced a sensation he had never felt before – in his mind, he was suddenly transported to the outskirts of a small town somewhere in Europe. He saw Neuroi drones completely surrounding Yoshika, who was armed only with a machine gun, along with another Fuso witch he didn't recognize in a striker unit. Suddenly, all the Neuroi fired on Yoshika's position and the ground exploded under her feet, sending her flying. He tried calling out to her, when he was suddenly ripped from his vision and back into reality, collapsing on his side in the process.
As Daniel tried to catch his breath, he couldn't help but feel alarmed by what had just happened. This was not a dream, as he hadn't been asleep. But Yoshika had only just arrived in Europe and was currently staying with Perrine and Lynne as far as he knew. Plus, there hadn't been any significant Neuroi activity in Western Europe since the superhive over Venezia had been destroyed – she shouldn't be in danger. He then remembered something Master Kenobi had once told him – that sometimes, while meditating, a Jedi may receive a vision of the future from the Force. This must have been what he experienced, and he realized that he only had a short time if he wanted to do something about it.
Daniel then marched into Commander Rall's office, and asked her for permission to accompany Eila and Sanya on their journey the next day. Rall initially denied the request immediately. In fact, she was shocked that Daniel even made the request, especially considering that it would mean he would have to leave the unit – and Sasha – again, even if only for a short period of time. He then explained what he had seen in his vision, as well as what Master Kenobi had told him about what these visions were.
Rall was still skeptical, and she really didn't want to be without an experienced and valuable member of the team. Daniel tried again to make his case. "You know that I wouldn't be asking this unless it was extremely important," he said. "You know I love being here, but Yoshika is my family now, and this vision isn't something I can ignore. I HAVE to do this." Rall seemed to be considering this, and Daniel added, "If you want, you can tell the brass that you're sending me as an escort for Eila and Sanya – that you're concerned about Neuroi activity in their planned flight path. If we get there, and we don't see or hear of any concerning or unusual activity, I'll come straight back."
At this, Commander Rall finally relented and allowed Daniel to go. "But you MUST come straight back here if there's nothing going on," she ordered. Daniel nodded in understanding and saluted her before exiting her office. When he informed Eila, Sanya, and Sasha about his going, they immediately asked why. After giving a quick explanation of the situation, Eila asked sarcastically, "So you can see visions of the future, too?" Daniel then explained further that the visions only occurred for Jedi under certain circumstances and were not a regular thing – plus, it involved Yoshika, which seemed to put an end to any objections they had. While Sasha didn't want to see Daniel go again so soon, she really admired the care and loyalty he was showing to his adopted family.
The next morning, as Eila, Sanya, and Daniel prepared to leave, Sasha came up to them and wished them well, and thanked Eila and Sanya for their service while they were there. Soon, it was time to depart, but Eila and Sanya were hoping to say goodbye to Nipa, who was still out on patrol. The next moment, they saw her flying towards the hangar when she was struck by lightning and fell immediately out of the sky. After gathering her and her now-broken striker unit up, Nipa was once again in kneeling punishment position, as the trio departed, saying their goodbyes as they took off into the grey and stormy skies.
Soon after, they were above the clouds, with seemingly smooth flying ahead – even more so after they passed the storms, though they did run into some fog as well as a pack of geese. Suddenly, the geese dispersed, and a large figure unexpectedly approached them from the distance. At first, Sanya thought it was a Neuroi, but as the object got closer, they realized that it was in fact an aircraft carrier – and one from Fuso at that – the Yamamoto. Having flown for hours, and with the fog impeding their flying vision, they decided to land on the ship to regain their bearings. Once they had disengaged from their fighter units, they were met by the ship's captain, who told them that there was someone on board who wanted to see them.
Moments later, they were led to the bridge, where they were shocked to see Major Sakamoto waiting for them. "It's good to see you three. How have you been?" she asked. After exchanging pleasantries, Daniel asked her, "Not that I'm complaining, but what on Earth are you doing here? I thought you were back in Fuso." Mio explained that the ship was on a secret mission, as Neuroi activity had become very unpredictable in the last few weeks. "So far, there haven't been any major incidents or damage, but something is definitely going on," she explained. "It's like they're coming out of nowhere – we can't figure out where some of these Neuroi are actually coming from."
Mio then asked Daniel specifically, "Why are you here with Eila and Sanya? I thought you were still assigned to the 502nd." After explaining to the major about his vision, she nodded in understanding. "Ah, yes. I've read about instances of that nature in the archives. You were wise not to ignore it." She then addressed the trio in a serious manner, "There is definitely something going on in this region, and until we find out exactly what, I think it would be best if you stayed here under my command." Eila and Sanya immediately nodded understandingly, and while Daniel didn't have any serious objections, he did ask Mio, "Can you call up Commander Rall and explain all this to her? She's expecting me back within a day, and I think she will be more understanding if you told her that it will be a bit more time than that." Mio agreed and immediately asked for the phone.
As she called up the 502nd commander, Daniel sighed and thought 'Looks like my concerns were on point. I just hope we're not too late.' When Mio returned from making the phone call, she informed Daniel that Commander Rall understood the current situation and would not hold it against Daniel that he didn't come back right away. She then led Daniel to the cargo hold, explaining, "I have something for Miyafuji when we eventually meet up with her. I think she will be very surprised – come and see." When they got there, Daniel saw a military-enhanced seaplane that he assumed was hers to fly, and beside it, he saw…"You're kidding me!" he exclaimed, "You were actually able to recover that – and fully restore it?" Mio nodded and gave her trademark laugh.
A couple days later, the ship had started moving up the Rhine River and into Karlsland when they received word – though a bit fragmented from various secondary sources – that the Neuroi were attacking at multiple points along the western front from underground, and that no one could coordinate with each other due to some new form of communications interference the Neuroi had deployed in the form of 'flack' for lack of a better term. "So this was their plan," mused Mio as Daniel, Eila, and Sanya stood on the deck beside her. "It's certainly causing a great deal of trouble. I can only hope that we're able to hold our ground."
Minutes later, they received a radio communication from Commander Minna, who had somehow been able to break through the interference. Although it was very garbled, they were able to get the gist that they had lost contact with Yoshika and her escort somewhere near the Rhine River along the Gallia-Karlsland border. Daniel and the three witches on board the carrier scrambled to their fighters to join the fight. As they were taking off, they heard a voice over the radio system that Daniel didn't recognize, from a Fuso sergeant named Shizuka Hattori, screaming that Ensign Miyafuji was badly hurt and needed immediate help! As they flew towards the signal and cleared the carrier, Daniel felt like there was a dagger lodged in the pit of his stomach. 'Hang on, Yoshika!' he thought, 'I'll be there as fast as I can.' As he flew at full throttle towards the radio signal's position, he heard Major Sakamoto screaming Yoshika's name over the comm system.
As he got closer, he could hear everyone else from the 501st much more clearly, as they had all come together to the area and were all telling Yoshika to hang on while they made their way to her. As he had the fastest fighter, as well as a computer that could triangulate her signal, Daniel was able to reach her position first and land. He immediately grabbed his emergency medical kit and rushed to Yoshika's side. Luckily, the Neuroi weren't taking notice of him at the moment, so he has some time to provide help to Yoshika. As he knelt by her side, he whispered to her and said, "Don't worry Yoshika, your onii-chan is here." With that he took a syringe out of the kit and filled it from the vial of medicine to stop the bleeding.
A few minutes later, Yoshika sat up, with Daniel trying to tell her to take it easy due to her injuries. However, she wouldn't listen as she saw the seemingly countless Neuroi drones – along with the mothership that had emerged from its underground hiding – completely fill the sky. As she looked on, determined to do something, she shouted, "This has got to end!" The next moment, a blinding light engulfed Yoshika as Daniel put his arms up instinctively to shield his eyes. When he was finally able to look, he saw a circle of light with ancient-looking markings surround Yoshika and instantly heal her wound. The light then engulfed the drones in the immediate vicinity and destroyed them. Somehow, she had gotten her magic back!
Very much relieved, but aware that they weren't out of the woods yet, Daniel was about to tell Yoshika that he had to get back to the fight when they saw artillery fire strike the Neuroi – it was the Yamamoto, which had finally come in range of the battle! Daniel then got back into his X-wing to get back to business, telling Yoshika as he took off, "Don't worry. There's something of yours that's being delivered!" Yoshika was only able to look at him in confusion. As he joined his comrades of the 501st in fighting the seemingly endless stream of Neuroi drones and missiles pouring out of the mothership, he saw Mio fire a pod at Yoshika's position. To Yoshika's surprise, it contained the Shinden, fully restored and ready for her to use.
Now that she had her magic back, Yoshika was more than ready to join her comrades in the air. While the rest of the 501st were exceedingly happy that Yoshika had regained her magic, there was still a job to do. With the combined attack from the Yamamoto and the 501st, the mothership's core was soon revealed, providing an opportunity to end the battle. With Mio and Sergeant Hattori looking on, Commander Minna had Yoshika lead the way, as the rest of the 501st prepared to strike at the mothership itself. Thanks to Yoshika's giant shields, they were able to blast their way through the mothership, destroying the core and the mothership, along with the countless number of drones along with it.
When the shards cleared, Shizuka flew up and embraced Yoshika – relieved that she was alright and had fully regained the use of her magic. However, the fight wasn't over yet, as the Neuroi was still attacking multiple allied positions along the western front. For the time being, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing would be reinstated to combat this threat to the allied advance. Now that they knew how to beat this new Neuroi strategy, they had to let everyone else know so that they could turn the tides.
After several days of intense fighting and restoring communication lines, the allies, led by the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, were able to beat back the Neuroi offensive. While casualties were high in some places, they were able to hold the territory they had worked so hard to gain over the last year.
So Daniel's Jedi abilities come into play again – allowing him to get to Yoshika in time to help with her injuries (whether his help was ultimately needed, he'll never know). Now that the crisis has passed, it's time for Daniel to get back to the 502nd – or is it? Tune in next time to find out.