Before any of you say anything – yes, I realize that the title of this chapter is the same as the title of Star Wars: Episode VII. This chapter doesn't make any direct or obvious references to the movies, but if you squint hard enough, you may be able to see some parallels. While it wasn't my original intent, the title does fit the action in this chapter (read on to see why). Just in case I need to reiterate – I do NOT own either Strike Witches or Star Wars.
Shortly after returning to Berlin following their successful attack on the Neuroi nest over Prague, the 501st and 502nd received some surprising, yet potentially welcome news. After more than a year of development, testing, and training, the first squadrons of new generation fighters based on the engineering specs provided by Daniel were finally ready for combat action. Not only that, each of the three front line bases would be provided with a squadron of these fighters, to be piloted by soldiers from every major military power – a male version of a joint fighter wing.
A combined effort of scientists from Britannia, Fuso, Karlsland, and Liberion, these fighters integrated jet engines, shield generators, and photon torpedoes (complete with launchers) from Daniel's specs with the technology available in their other fighters. When the fighters arrived, Daniel had a look at them and was quite impressed. While they didn't quite have the speed, maneuverability, or altitude capabilities of his own X-wing, they were significantly more advanced than anything else they were able to produce. Daniel would also have to keep in mind that his was still the only computerized fighter out there (the other fighters were still on a mechanized manual control system), and would be able to make adjustments and calculations much faster than the others (if they were able to do so at all). Despite this, the allied pilots would now have a fighting chance in the air and be able to provide real assistance to their witch comrades!
When the members of the new squadron arrived at the Berlin base complex, Daniel was asked to make an appearance and inspect the unit. When he arrived on the scene, he saw the members of the unit lined up in front of their respective assigned fighters at attention (Daniel was the highest-ranking officer among them). When he approached, they immediately saluted him all at the same time. "At ease, gentlemen," he said, as they all stood at ease. He then went up and down the line, looking everyone briefly up and down. When he finished, he addressed all of them, asking, "I assume that you have all been trained to fly these new fighters, am I correct?" They all replied, "Yes, sir!" simultaneously, which slightly startled him, not used to having that kind of attention on him. He quickly recovered and replied, "Good. I'm sure I don't need to reiterate this, but just in case, you now need to learn to fly these birds as a team – as one cohesive unit. Only then, will you be able to be effective in combat. Understood" The squadron members again replied with a loud, "Yes, sir!" before Daniel dismissed them to their training.
Over the next couple of weeks, while the witches and armored tank units regrouped and resupplied themselves, the new fighter squadron – designated the 601st Joint Fighter Wing – trained to fight together. They worked on formations, communicating with each other, synchronizing their movements, and just about everything else they would need to do to be successful together in battle. As the person with the most knowledge on the fighters' capabilities (and the only one allowed to significantly interact with the unit members), Daniel would regularly observe and take notes on their progress. One afternoon, he was providing an update to the witches regarding the new squadron – an audience that included Minna, Mio, and Ursula (who was serving as technical adviser), as well as Commander Rall, Meister Rossman, and Sasha.
"How are they coming along?" asked Commander Minna. "Quite well," Daniel replied, "They're progressing quite quickly and are really starting to gel together." Commander Rall smiled and quipped, "A very pleasant surprise, indeed. We seem to be getting a lot of them lately." Sasha then asked, "What are the new fighters like?" Daniel looked through his notes before responding, "They're definitely more advanced than anything else like this the military has previously produced. Everything seems to be working quite well." He then turned to Ursula and commented, "I'm especially impressed with the way you managed to get around the problem of not being able to reverse engineer the computer system." Ursula smiled and replied, "It's not at the level of your fighter, but it will definitely be a difference maker in battle."
Mio then interjected with her own bit of information. "I've received word from allied command that the other squadrons are also coming along nicely," she said. "They seem to think that we should be ready for the final assault on Vienna by the end of the month." Daniel sighed in relief as he replied, "Good. The sooner we can end this war, the better." Everyone else nodded in agreement. Suddenly, they all heard the Neuroi alarm sound and raced outside to see what was going on.
When they reached the hangar, they were informed that a group of a dozen large Neuroi walkers had suddenly emerged from underground about five kilometers south of the base and were headed this way! No doubt this was an effort by the Neuroi to stop, or at least significantly stall, the allied advance towards their last stronghold. Unfortunately for Daniel, his fighter was not fueled, so he would not be able to use that right now. However, he did have his lightsaber on him. As he spotted the Neuroi walkers advancing in the distance just at the horizon point, he got an idea and started running in the direction of the advancing Neuroi. Sasha saw him begin to run and shouted at him, "Just what do you think you're doing?!" Daniel then quickly backtracked to Sasha, gave her a peck on the check, and said, "Don't worry. I'll be fine." He then once again raced off toward the action.
Once he reached a point where there wasn't anyone in his immediate surroundings, Daniel stopped, closed his eyes, and put his fists together – as though in a combination of concentrating and meditating. Soon, he began to feel a powerful energy field surround him and engulf him like a large blanket. After he was finished with his meditations, he opened his eyes and from his point of view, the flow of time around him had slowed to a crawl – almost completely stopped. He then took out his lightsaber, activated it, and raced towards the Neuroi walkers.
As he was thinking about how he would attack them, he began to notice that he could sense concentrations of energy coming from each of the walkers. He quickly realized that it was their cores that he was sensing! 'This is new,' he thought to himself. 'Eh, whatever. No use looking a gift horse in the mouth.' He then approached and attacked each of the walkers individually, using his lightsaber to slash through their cores one by one. After he had taken care of the last of them, he slowed himself down and put himself into his concentration-meditation stance again. This time, the energy field dissipated, and when he opened his eyes, the flow of time seemed normal to him again. He then deactivated his lightsaber and got on one knee, as he felt the fatigue of having used his unique super speed ability.
From the perspective of everyone else, including the witches who were looking directly at the battlefield, what they saw unfold in front of them was almost beyond belief. Instead of someone running, all they saw was a blur attacking each of the Neuroi walkers, with an occasional flash of green light mixed in with the blur. When their sight caught up with the blur, and saw Daniel on one knee behind the Neuroi, they weren't sure what had just happened until they saw the walkers all quivering. One by one, each of them began to become engulfed in a bright white light before shattering into thousands of tiny shards. Everyone on the battlefield stared in awe at Daniel, incredulous at what they had just seen.
Moments later, however, they felt the ground start to quake as they saw a Neuroi mothership similar to the one the 501st had previously fought emerge from the ground about a kilometer in front of Daniel. 'Oh, shit!' Daniel thought. While he was still able to stand and fight, he was definitely fatigued and wouldn't be effective for very long, an assessment made worse when he saw a giant swarm of Neuroi drones emerge from the mothership.
From a distance, as she saw what was unfolding, Hikari stared in horror as the Neuroi mothership emerged so close to her friend and teacher. She saw his stumble as he got back up and knew that his strength wasn't at 100%. She wanted to do something, but was too far away to help him at that moment. Out of desperation, she screamed, "No!" as she threw her arms forward, as though trying to somehow reach out to him.
As he closed his eyes and braced for the onslaught, Daniel noticed that it was taking longer for the Neuroi to reach him than it should have. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the swarm was still circling the mothership, as though preparing to attack, except that they weren't moving in the direction of the allied forces. Only able to stare in a state of confusion, he was brought out of his stupor by the flash of a giant shield forming in front of him. "We got you!" he heard Yoshika shout, as she used her shield to defend Daniel and the rest of the nearby troops, while several other witches from both the 501st and 502nd attacked the swarm. After they had taken care of most of them, they began to concentrate their fire on the mothership, as it was lifting itself from the ground in an effort to escape. However, Yoshika was then able to lead them as she did before with her shield as the vanguard while they all plowed through the center of the mothership, destroying the core and shattering the Neuroi.
After the Neuroi mothership was taken care of, the witches flew to Daniel's position and hovered around him. "Are you alright?" Yoshika asked. After nodding in the affirmative, Trude exclaimed, "That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! Even Shirley's jaw was dropping at what you did!" Sasha then landed and tossed her striker unit aside for the moment as she gave Daniel a big bear hug. Daniel laughed nervously as his breathing was somewhat constricted by this. "Easy there, Sasha. I told you I would be alright." She then looked at him with a very concerned face as she exclaimed, "I don't care. I was still so worried about you!" before enveloping him once again in a bear hug.
As Daniel returned Sasha's hug, Takumi added, "I'm amazed that you were able to hold off that mothership until we got here – especially after that impressive display." Daniel then gave a surprising response, "I'm as surprised as you are, since that last part actually wasn't me." The witches then looked at him in surprise before Shizuka asked, "Then what was it that held off the Neuroi?" As Daniel looked behind him for answers, he spotted Hikari in the distance on her knees and breathing somewhat heavily. "Hikari?" he asked quietly to himself, although the others were able to hear him, as they looked up and saw the same thing Daniel saw.
As they approached Hikari, they wondered what she was doing out there, and why she seemed so tired. When Daniel asked Hikari, she explained, "I saw what you were able to do with those Neuroi walkers – that was amazing, by the way – and I then saw you were in trouble when the Neuroi mothership came out of the ground. I wanted to help, but was too far away to get to you or get to my striker unit, and in desperation, I reached out to you. All of a sudden, I felt a powerful energy flow through me and I was able to concentrate it like I would for my magic in your direction. I don't know how, but I felt like what I was doing was helping you. It really drained me, though."
This was very unusual, even for a witch, so Daniel asked Hikari if he could use his powers to examine her for a few moments. After Hikari nodded at his request, he put his hand on her cheek and began chanting something that was inaudible to the rest of the witches. To Hikari, it was a bit of a strange sensation, but it didn't hurt. After a few minutes like this, Daniel's eyes widened in surprise and recognition. 'Of course!' he thought, 'Why didn't I see this sooner?!' He then released Hikari before stating, "The Force is quite strong with you, Hikari." Hikari looked at him in confusion and asked, "What do you mean?" Daniel then explained, "The abilities you just displayed…were those of a Jedi."
The witches gasped at this statement, not quite believing what they had just heard. "My sister has Jedi abilities?" Takumi asked. "Is that even possible?" Yoshika added. Daniel nodded and said, "It appears so. It would also explain why her magic abilities were below average. Her magic was in conflict with the Force, neither one managing to dominate the other, and neither one able to fully emerge in Hikari until recently, when she began to go through my training. Now, they are able to co-exist within her." As Hikari was in shock processing what was going on, Kanno began to tease her and said, "So, Hikari – you were holing out on us all this time!" as she held Hikari in a position to receive a noogie. "Um…I'm sorry?" Hikari responded a bit nervously.
Once Kanno let go, Daniel kneeled down in front of Hikari and put his hands on her shoulders. "If you wish, once this operation is over, I would be more than happy to take you on as my padawan learner – training as a Jedi for real this time." Hikari's face lit up in excitement. "You really mean it?!" she exclaimed. After Daniel nodded in response, she began jumping up and down in joy as the other witches chuckled at the sight. "Just like Hikari to be excited over this," said Takumi.
When they got back to the base complex, they went to see Major Sakamoto, who was with Commanders Minna and Rall, and informed them about what had happened, and what they had just learned. While the commanders sported the same looks of amazement that the other witches had upon learning of Hikari's emerging abilities, Mio stared at Hikari inquisitively. Finally, she stated, "It appears that there is much more to you than any of us ever realized, Sergeant Karibuchi." She then smiled and continued, "Once this is over, I'll be looking forward to training you and providing the knowledge you need along with Daniel."
While Hikari got a look that conveyed excitement, Daniel knew that Hikari had no idea what she was getting herself into. He then whispered to her, "Don't get too excited. If you train under her, you'll have to brace yourself for the training regimen from hell." Mio then asked Daniel suspiciously, "What are you telling her?" Daniel answered innocently, "Oh, nothing." The other witches in the room began to softly giggle, as they had a pretty good idea of what Daniel had been whispering to Hikari.
So Daniel will be able to pass along the Jedi traditions once the war is over after all! And how about Daniel bringing out his special time-bending ability! I hope you all enjoyed the twists and turns of this chapter. There is more to come, so keep tuning in to my updates!