So there are still several nests to take care of before the Neuroi are completely defeated. I don't understand why the creators didn't make the nest over Berlin the last one to take care of, but it is what it is. However, Daniel is now in a position where he can exert at least a little influence in how they will ultimately get to the end of the war. Read on to find out how he uses this position.

March 1946

When the contingent from the 501st arrived in Amsterdam, they were escorted to the allies' continental headquarters. Now that they had made some serious headway into Karlsland, allied command wanted to set up a central post on the continent that was close enough to the action to quickly gather together the leadership when needed, while still far enough away from Neuroi-held territory to be considered safe from a sudden attack.

As they were being escorted, they were informed that this would be a major gathering. Now that Berlin had been liberated, victory was within sight, though there was still plenty of work to do. As such, the leaders and seconds-in-command of all of the joint fighter wings were being assembled together with many of the highest-ranking allied commanders – including Britannia's top military general, Bernard Montgomery, and Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower of Liberion. When Daniel heard that the top two officers from each joint fighter wing would be there, he smiled – this meant he would get to see Sasha!

When they arrived, there was still time before the conference was set to begin, so he tried looking through the nearby corridors for Sasha, wanting to get a minute or two alone with her. He was having a hard time finding her, when he suddenly felt her presence coming up behind him. Nonetheless, he let her sneak up on him and put her hands over his eyes as she said, "Guess who!" He smiled and replied teasingly, "Ingrid Bergman?" Sasha then looked at him in confusion and asked, "Who?" Daniel chuckled and responded, "A famous movie actress from this period of time in my world," before turning around and enveloping Sasha in a giant hug. "Though she isn't nearly as beautiful as you." Sasha blushed at this, seeming to forgive his teasing, and pecked him on the lips.

"So I hear congratulations are in order," Sasha said, "You and the rest of the 501st really did a great job in Berlin!" Daniel smiled and thanked her, stating, "I hear the 502nd deserves some congrats as well, taking out that Neuroi battle group in the eastern outskirts." Sasha then grew a teasing mile on her face as she added, "I also hear that you went berserk and threatened the brass to get you more time to help Yoshika recover." Daniel decided to play along, and wrapped his arms around Sasha's waist from behind before putting his head on her shoulder and saying in an equally teasing manner, "Now where did you hear such despicable rumors about me? I'm going to have to work overtime to repair my character image and reputation."

They were both laughing when they heard someone loudly clear their throat. When they turned towards the sound, they saw Commander Minna and Commander Rall looking at them and immediately stood at attention. "If you two are finished flirting with each other," Rall began, "They're just about ready to get started, so let's head in." Both Daniel and Sasha saluted their respective commanders and said simultaneously, "Yes, ma'am," before heading inside the main conference room. As they watched their subordinates enter the room, Minna turned to Commander Rall and asked, "Are those two always like that when they're together?" Rall smiled back and replied, "They usually try to be subtle about it, but yeah, that's become pretty normal for them."

Once the meeting started, General Eisenhower began by expressing his congratulations to everyone involved in the Berlin operation – something that was met with applause by everyone in the room. "Well done, indeed," he stated. "However, there are still several Neuroi nests to take care of, meaning we still have more work to do before we can declare victory." He then proceeded to brief the room about the current state of the allied military forces in place, which ranged from good to fair. While no one had been decimated during the last operation, everyone had taken some casualties. "It will take time to gather more forces – even more so due to the fact that we will need to request more funding from the allied governments," General Montgomery explained. Daniel cringed inside at hearing this. 'Seriously? The budget again?' he thought, having believed – apparently wrongly – that he had made his point before.

However, Daniel didn't want to cause a scene again – especially in front of so many important military officials that were determining the course of the war, and consequently, the fate of him and his friends. In order to get the generals' attention, he did the only thing he could think of – raise his hand as though he was back in a high school class. General Eisenhower spotted his hand raised and addressed him, "You have something you wish to add, Major Horowitz?" Daniel immediately stood up and responded, "Yes, general. With all due respect to all of the points you and General Montgomery have just made, I think the best strategy would be to continue to push the attack again as quickly as possible." He could hear a few murmurs of surprise and disagreement, though he also spotted General Patton sporting a grin, apparently liking what he was hearing.

"And just how would you propose we go about doing that, major?" asked General Montgomery. "We just suffered significant losses and are still recovering from the operation to liberate Berlin!" Daniel immediately replied, "That's exactly it!" leaving the generals in a bit of confusion as Daniel continued "The Neuroi just threw about everything they had at us to prevent us from taking back Berlin, and yet we still succeeded in doing so! We now have the momentum, and they're back on their heels wondering how they're going to stop us." He then saw many people nod their heads as he went on. "Troop morale is really high right now – they believe that they can beat the Neuroi! We need to take advantage of this, as well as the Neuroi's current vulnerability, to really take the offensive to them before they can regroup. If we act quickly enough, I think we can end the war in a matter of a few months."

More murmurs were heard, as there was still concern, but more voices were in agreement with what Daniel was saying. "And what should we tell the politicians who control the military purse strings?" Montgomery asked. Daniel immediately responded, "Tell them that they have a choice of either upping the budget significantly now, or paying more over the long term when this war drags on for another year or more." There were many nods at this point as he added, "If we wait too long, the Neuroi will have time to regroup and come up with some new weapon, strategy or other thing to hinder our progress with. We've all seen what happens when they're able to do that – it bogs us down and delays our progress for months! Who knows what the result will be of their next set of plans if we allow the Neuroi to implement them."

The generals seemed to be persuaded, but Daniel wanted to make one final point to hammer it all home. "One more thing, generals – this affects the joint fighter wings, as well. Time is of the essence. I don't know who for certain, but there have got to be at least several witches who have been vital to our success for years that are approaching the age of twenty – the age when they would no longer be able to fight on the front lines. The longer we take, the more likely it is that these witches will have to retire from active combat duty before the war is over, meaning that they will have to be replaced. It will take both time and money to recruit and train their replacements – time and money I don't think we need to spend, do you?" This last comment seemed to raise a couple of eyebrows amongst the witches, though the generals seemed to be considering the matter and they gathered and discussed amongst themselves.

Finally, General Eisenhower spoke. "Major Horowitz, thank you very much. You have raised some valid points and concerns. As such, we will take the information we have and go back to our respective governments to ask for an increase in funds for future military operations. We will try to contact all units on the final decisions within two weeks." With that, everyone was dismissed, as the people in the room stood and saluted Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery on their way out.

When everyone else exited the room, Minna and Mio took Daniel aside as Minna asked, "Daniel, did you know that Trude and I are both about to hit twenty?" Daniel slightly gasped at her question before replying, "I suspected that you may be getting close – you have been getting more fatigued after flying lately – but I didn't realize Trude was in the same position. I didn't think it would be polite to ask your ages." Minna giggled slightly before she stated, "I just turned twenty, and Trude is less than a month away. Luckily, we're both still in fighting shape, but actually, this was one of the reasons we agreed to make you second-in-command."

Daniel looked at Minna in a bit of confusion and asked, "What do you mean?" Minna sighed, and explained, "You're not a witch, so you won't have the same problem as the rest of the unit. We wanted someone who could potentially command the unit for the long term without having to worry about that person ageing out." Daniel nodded in understanding, "As a Jedi, my powers would stay with me after I turn twenty, meaning my being in command would keep stability in the unit." Minna nodded, affirming his conclusion. Daniel then smiled and put his hand on Minna's shoulder and said, "I appreciate your confidence in me, but you and Trude aren't done fighting just yet. Let's see if we can't win this war before you're forced into retirement." Minna smiled and nodded in agreement while Mio gave her signature laugh.

Over the next two weeks, as the 501st remained in standby mode in Berlin, they received word from the Fuso navy that Yoshika's actions during the Berlin operation had earned her a promotion to ensign – for real this time, not just as a medic. Daniel felt that this promotion was well-earned, but was still confused as to why her earlier promotion had only been as a medic, and not as a member of the 501st. Finally, they received word from allied command – after much intense debating, the allied governments had decided to grant the increased military budgets, effective immediately.

There were currently four Neuroi nests remaining – stationed above the cities of Budapest, Munich, Prague, and Vienna. After doing some scouting on each of the remaining nests, it was decided that the nests over Budapest, Munich, and Prague would be attacked first in a simultaneous operation, while the one over Vienna in Ostmark would be saved for last, as that one seemed to be the best defended, and would require more combined forces to take down. The witch units were distributed as follows: the 501st and 502nd Joint Fighter Wings would be stationed together in Berlin and would be engaging in the attack over Prague, the 506th and 507th Joint Fighter Wings would be based in Sedan, on the Gallia-Karlsland border, and engage the Neuroi nest over Munich, and the 504th Joint Fighter Wing would be joined in Venezia by the Storm Witches out of North Africa and target the nest over Budapest. The remaining joint fighter wings would be held in reserve, as the 503rd Joint Fighter Wing would be tasked with defending southern Europe from unexpected Neuroi attacks, while the 505th and 508th Joint Fighter Wings would be similarly tasked in western Europe and northeastern Europe, respectively.

"Isn't that Captain Marseille's unit?" Daniel asked when he heard the last of the pairings. "Yes, it is. Why?" asked Minna. Daniel gave a soft sigh as he said, "You might want to tell Captain Taki to prepare herself for a real piece of work." Although he was doing his best not to show it outwardly, Minna could tell that inside, Daniel was absolutely giddy at having the 502nd join them in Berlin. "Just remember, Daniel," Minna stated, "Gundula and I will still be applying those rules she laid out for you and Sasha. Daniel continued to smile as he replied, "Yes, ma'am," though nothing could really dampen his happiness at this point.

When the 502nd arrived at the Berlin base, there was already some familiarity (Nipa greeted Eila and Sanya with great enthusiasm), as well as some…unique introductions (Kanno began chasing Francesca angrily around the base after Francesca groped her). Of course, the members of the 501st all clamored up to Sasha, asking her questions about her relationship with Daniel. For the most part, she answered them, though some of the questions were more awkward than others.

To get everyone in a friendlier and more welcoming mood, Daniel decided to host a movie night of sorts with all members of both units gathered to watch as he projected the action on his laptop onto a screen he managed to set up in the hangar. This was a very welcome distraction for everyone. However, instead of a movie, he decided he wanted to inspire everyone with one of his favorite TV series, Star Trek: Voyager. In Daniel's words, "This is the epitome of what humanity has the potential to be at its very best." He also thought they may be drawn in by the fact that both the commanding officer (Capt. Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew) and the chief engineer (B'Elanna Torres, played by Roxann Dawson) in the series were women being depicted positively in positions of power and strength. This was something he knew was rarely, if at all, depicted in visual media or published works in this time period. As he began to play the series and everyone started watching, many of them asked questions about some of the concepts and details being portrayed. Daniel answered a lot of those questions, while with others he just said to keep watching – that their answers would come if they just watched. At the end of the night, everyone seemed to have enjoyed and become fascinated with the series – looking forward to the next showing of episodes.

June 1946

Over the next couple of months, the two units trained together to get more in sync and become an even more powerful unit. During that time, the ground forces also took the time to regroup while the Ratte was being repaired. Thanks to its shield generator, it remained intact after the battle in Berlin, but it took time to repair and get it back into fighting shape. Soon after the repairs were done, reinforcements and additional weaponry arrived, and they were ready to continue the battle against the Neuroi, starting with the simultaneous attacks on the nests over Budapest, Munich, and Prague.

To everyone's immense surprise, Daniel's intuition was more dead-on than even he thought. The Neuroi nests were caught completely flat-footed by the allied attack. Clearly, they hadn't expected the allies to engage in another major operation so soon. While there was definitely some significant resistance at all three nests, the Neuroi didn't throw anything new at them, nor did they present any obstacles that compared to what they had just experienced in the Berlin operation. With the combination of the witch units from above and the armored tank and infantry units from the ground, they were able to overwhelm the nests with sheer force and retake all three cities. Now all that was left between the allied forces and final victory was the Neuroi nest above Vienna.

The 501st and 502nd finally come together – something that was teased in the "World War Witches Take Off!" spinoff series, but never actually happened. For those of you wondering – no, the Neuroi aren't done quite yet, as there are still significant difficulties ahead. Stay tuned to find out what they are! BTW, for those of you who don't know, Ingrid Bergman was the female lead (Ilsa) in Casablanca (which also starred Humphrey Bogart as Rick).