555th JFW Young Blood

by Motown Scrapper

The war against The neuroi was getting rough. The ranks of the Strike Witches were getting stretched thin. Mostly because the older witches were aging out as well as combat losses these were taking their toll of the ranks. In an attempt to solve the problem The 555th Joint Fighter Wing was formed using Witches under ten years of age. Will these tiny witches be up to the challenge.

2. Chapter 2 roster

Diana Evans

Age: 8

Date of Birth: June 25 1938

Affiliation: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center.

Conch Republic Air Force

Rank: (1945) Major

Height: 129cm / 50 inches

Striker Unit model: Grumman F6F Hellcat

Weapons: Browning BAR

Familiar: Bald Eagle

Background

Diana is the younger sister of Darla Evans the lead researcher at the Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center. The UPASRC was formed to research equipping younger witches with Striker Units. The reason for the location of the UPASRC in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was because most of the recent appearance of little girls manifesting magical abilities at very young ages is appearing in that area. The creation of the research center was to explore the use of these younger girls as Strike Witches. Diana's abilities first manifested themselves shortly before her fifth birthday. The little girl became the UPASRC's first test pilot. She quickly showed considerable skill as well as a natural aptitude for command. As other little girls were recruited they were formed into the 555th Joint Fighter Wing and Diana was given command of the new unit as it was formed. When the governments of The United States of Liberion and the Faraway Land Dominion rejected the idea of Strike Witches less than ten years old The Conch Republic offered to sponsor the unit and provide a carrier for it. Diana was commissioned as a major in the CRAF and given official command of the 555th JFW. Most other countries do not recognize the Conch Republic not to mention the ranks of its service people. But since they do provide material support for the 555th JFW as well as the JRNS Calypso; an old freighter converted into a small CVE type aircraft carrier the girls and the UPASRC are glad to have the help and have taken on the Conchs irreverent attitude toward governments in general and the government of the United States in particular.

Diana has the power of extended vision enabling her to see much farther than usual. She is able to identify aircraft types as far as fifty miles away for instance. She uses this power during training sessions with the other witches in the 555th to direct them to the practice targets and to coordinate their movements. She is unusual in that her power is in both eyes and she does not need to wear an eye patch to prevent headaches caused by uneven vision. Even before actually seeing combat Diana showed a good head for strategy and tactics. Diana has a respectable shield but her real skill in combat is her ability to spot and exploit vulnerable points in her targets. She also is good at directing her wing mates to the best ways to take out their targets.

Diana is slender with long blond hair that she usually wears in a pony tail. She is normally polite and soft spoken, but when she has to be she can be quite firm though. She is an iron fist in a velvet glove. While easily approached by her subordinates, when she has to she can put her foot down hard. She has earned the respect both of her subordanents and her superiors. When Diana manifests her magic she grows a feathered tail like an eagle and white feathers appear on her head.

Wendy O'Brian

Age: 5

Date of Birth: May 15 1940

Affiliation: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center

Conch Republic Air Force

Rank: (1945) Captain

Height: 108cm / 42 inches

Striker Unit model: Grumman F4F Wildcat

Weapon: Fedorov Avtomat M1916

Familiar: Eastern Painted Turtle

Background:

Wendy was one of the first girls Diana recruited into the 555th JFW. A chubby girl with short curly red hair she proved to be a rather powerful witch with a very strong shield and powerful healing magic. She is the commander of Beta Flight of the 555th JFW. She uses her powerful shield to provide protection to Tonya's less maneuverable Douglas Havoc to allow the more heavily armed witch to get within range of the neuroi where she can bring the Havoc's twin Browning M2s and six HVARs to bear. Working as a team they have proven to be quite formidable. Wendy is easy going and gets along with just about anybody. Between her shield and healing power she keeps the 555th in action in spite of the small size of the individual members. Her Fedorov Avtomat is somewhat low powered for fighting neuroi but because of her small size that is the most powerful weapon she can handle.

Wendy first demonstrated magical abilities shortly after her third birthday. The turtle that is her familiar is unusual, few familiars are cold blooded. When Wendy manifests her magic she has the turtle's tail and her back becomes hard and scaly in a manner similar to the turtle's shell. Yellow and red markings similar to what are on the Eastern Painted Turtle also form on her neck and cheeks.

Tracie Osborn

Age: 5

Date of Birth: June 23 1940

Affiliation: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center

Conch Republic Air Force

Rank: (1945) Sergeant

Height: 99cm / 39 inches

Striker Unit model: Grumman F4F Wildcat

Weapon: Fedorov Avtomat M1916

Familiar: Mallard Duck

Background:

Tracie was recruited by Wendy when she manifested her power shortly before she turned four. She is a tiny blond, small for her age and could easily pass for four. She is a fairly good fighter with a decent shield and good skills but what makes her valuable is her ability to take a brief look at a map once and be able to find her way from any location on that map to another. This power is not affected by clouds, darkness or flights over water or terrain with few features. She also is able to fly long distances making her useful for deep re-con and providing long range escort for bombers. She is normally friendly but quiet and a bit shy.

She found her familiar one day when a flock of mallard ducks came close to shore and she ran toward them. Usually when she did this the would scatter but this time one stood and waited for her to come up and when she touched him she displayed the feathered head and tail of the duck. Several members of her family saw this and knew immediately that she was a witch. When she manifests her magic she grows a feathered tail like a duck and green feathers on her head. She is a member of Beta Flight of the 555th JFW

Latonya (Tonya) Morris

Age: 6

Date of Birth: April 9 1939

Affiliation: Conch Republic Air Force

Rank: (1945) Sergeant

Height: (If she could stand) 115cm / 45 inches.

Striker Unit model: Douglas A-20 Havoc (one piece)

Weapons: 2 M2 Browning Machine guns

6 HVAR

Avtomat M1916

Familiar: Florida Alligator

Background:

Latonya had always wanted to be a strike witch ever since she manifested magic powers shortly after turning four. But her legs were paralyzed after contracting polio at age two. However news had come to the Conch Republic about work of the UPASRC and the fitting of VERY young witches with striker units. Secretary General Peter Anderson met with Rear Admiral Finbar Gittelman head of the Conch Republic Navy and General of the Air Force Fred R. Cabanas with a plan to supply the young witches with an Escort carrier and sponsor a joint fighter wing if they could help Latonya become a strike witch. Darla Evans head of UPASRC went down there to check the girl out. Darla loving challenges realized that with her power Latonya could operate a specially designed Striker Unit. Once Darla told them she could they released funds to equip the little witches and the 555th JFW became officially part of the Conch Republic Air Force with all of the girls given uniforms and ranks. Latonya or Tonya as she preferred to be addressed was soon equipped with the first ever one piece striker unit. While lacking the maneuverability of the two piece units she could carry a far more powerful armament making Tonya the heavy hammer of the 555th. The twin M2 Brownings are mounted on a scarf ring attached to the front of her striker and the HVARs are loaded in tubes three mounted on each side of her striker unit. She also carries a Fedorov M1916 as her personal weapon in addition to the weapons mounted on her striker unit.

Tonya is confined to a wheel chair. She is a dark skinned black girl. Initially Darla was worried that she might have problems with the other girls most of whom had never even seen a black person before. But Tonya's cheerful personality and refusal to let her condition get her down impressed the other girls. That and her tolerance helped her become accepted. Even when the youngest witch grabbed her arm and rubbed it to see it the color would come off she let the toddler check it out and then calmly told Cindy after she rubbed it for several seconds that it was her real skin color and did not come off.

Tonya's alligator was actually given her by her brother…or rather he threw it in her lap to scare her. He got the shock of his life when instead of scaring her she immediately spouted the tail and scales of the alligator then she grabbed a pop bottle off the table and threw it at him and despite of the fact that she normally could not hit the broad side of a barn the bottle tracked him and nailed him upside the head. When he returned fire she threw up a shield and blocked it. After a brief exchange of thrown objects where everything she threw hit no matter how much he evaded and she blocked everything he threw with her shield their mother came in the see what all the commotion was about and saw the manifestation of her familiar and Daren had a bunch of lumps on his head. Tonya was a bit surprised with her new powers but quickly figured out that she could pitch baseballs like nobodies business. And that she could pretty much neutralize any of her brother's attacks.

When Tonya manifests her magic she grows an alligator's tail and heavy scales form on her neck and back. Tonya has the Projectile Guidance Power. She can guide any type of projectile she launches from thrown objects to the rockets from her rocket launcher. Since the HVAR carries a rather large warhead and has a high speed she is a deadly foe to even large class neuroi. She is a member of Beta Flight of the 555th JFW

Darla Evans

Age: 13

Date of Birth: September 15 1932

Affiliation: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center

Rank: (1945) Head research mechanic

Height: 157cm / 62 inches

Background:

While not a witch per sae Darla is sensitive to magic auras and can determine their strength. Darla displayed considerable mechanical skills at a very early stage. She was working on her tricycle before she was even out of diapers... By age 5 she was helping her father and neighbors work on cars, trucks and tractors. She found out about strikers soon after. She is an avid reader and has read every thing she could find about Ichiro Miyafuji. Indeed she actually knows more about him than his own daughter does. Darla worships him and is sad about the fact that he died before she could meet him. She would love to meet Yoshika Miyafuji as she feels that being his daughter Yoshika would be able to tell many things about her late father. Darla likes to think of her own work as a tribute to Ichiro Miyafuji.

Darla is slender with an athletic build. She has blue eyes and long blond hair that she normally keeps braided down her back. When working she will curl the braid up, pile it on top of her head and pin it in place. Normally she wears mechanics coveralls. When she has to be in public she usually wears dresses. She is soft spoken and friendly She loves a challenge and creates striker units that little girls can use something nobody else does, for the same reason she built the special one piece striker for Latonya Morris and later modified the leg braces for Tanisha Collins another witch who also had polio so she could take them off fast. She made additional modifications to her Striker cradle so Tanisha could easily mount her striker units once her braces were off.

CRNS Calypso

Displacement: 5500 tons

Length: 465 feet / 141.7 m (WL)

Beam: 56 feet/ 17.06 m (WL)

Draught; 18 feet/ 5.48 m

Machinery; 1 shaft VTE 4500hp 18 coal fired cylindrical boilers=15 knots

Armament: 16 1.1 inch/ 28 mm guns (4x4)

Aircraft: 6 fixed wing up to 30 Strike Witches.

Flight deck

Length: 500 feet/ 152.4 m

Width: 75 foot/ 22.86 m

The SS Calypso was state of the art when it was laid down in 1894 and completed two years later... Fifty years later it was pretty worn out. So when it hit a bridge and flattened most of the super structure the decision was made to sell it for scrap. When Conch Republic Secretary General Peter Anderson heard about it he bought it for the scrap value. It was a simple matter to remove what little super structure was left down to the main deck level, which became the hanger deck. Because the coal fired boilers create so much smoke that even though the exhaust is trucked to the island on the starboard side the hanger is split by the ductwork. The Witches have the front part and can launch off the forecastle directly with out going up to the flight deck though most of the time they use the flight deck for landings. The fixed winged planes use the rear hanger. Because the island is so large and heavy to accommodate the large funnel required by the coal burning boilers the flight deck has an angled section over-hanging the port side that acts as a counter weight but also allows for the fixed winged airplanes to operate at the same time as the strike witches with-out them interfering with each other.

The defensive AA guns are an old design that is under powered for their weight The four quad mounts are located at either end of the large island and at the port side of the flight deck at the bow and stern. The machinery is basically worn out and has frequent break downs. There is no radar and the radios are basic.

The air group in addition to the witches consists of four Grumman F3F biplane fighters modified with 1000 hp Wright 1820 Cyclone engines. The increased power of the larger engines allows a heavier armament of two nose mounted .50 cal M2 Brownings synchronized to fire through the propeller arc and 4 HVARs two under each lower wing and a top speed of 265 mph. These planes are considered to be part of the 555th JFW and are called Gamma flight. The other two are navalized Westland Lysanders with folding wings and arrester hooks that are used for COD flights. These are considered to be the carrier's planes rather than being part of the 555th.

Megan Wilson

Age: 5

Birthday: April 20 1940

Affiliations: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center

Conch Republic Air Force

Rank (1945) Captain

Height: 110cm/ 43 inches.

Striker unit model: Broom,

Grumman F4F Wildcat

Weapon: Browning BAR

Familiar: Wolverine

Background: Alexis Wilson decided that there might be something special about Megan one day when she walked into the living room after washing dishes and found the then three and a half year-old playing with a full grown wolverine! She noticed that the toddler showed no signs of injury and everything in the room was intact and undamaged. Since wolverines have a strong reputation for being viscous and highly destructive the fact that this one was laying on its back with Megan's head on its belly indicated that something unusual was going on. She quietly slipped out the side door and went to the home of Lillian Lefey an older woman of Gallian ancestry who was reported to have been a witch and some people claimed she could still fly a broom. Alexis walked over to Lillian's House and told her about Megan and her new friend. Lillian agreed to come over and check it out. Alexis let her in the side door and they entered the living room through the kitchen. While they had been out Megan and the wolverine had changed position and were now cuddling face to face. When the two women entered the room a magic circle appeared under the tot and her friend and Megan sprouted the ears and tail of a wolverine confirming the little girl was now a witch and the wolverine was her familiar. Lillian took the little girl over to her house the next day and started to teach her how to ride a broom. Megan proved to be a quick learner and was soon flying all around the area. News about yet another toddler witch soon reached UPASRC. Diana flew across Lake Superior on her striker and had little difficulty persuading Megan and her family to let her become a Strike Witch and brought her by boat from the Far Away Land Dominion to Houghton Michigan.

Megan is a muscular little girl with a cute face and long brown hair. She also uses language that would make a Marine blush. She has enhanced strength and can cause the air around her to form a hard mass that can be used as a battering ram. Megan has a hot temper and swears a lot but if you can get past the mouth and the temper you discover that she is in fact a caring sensitive girl that has a protective attitude toward others. She has a special relationship with little Cindy. Cindy will do anything for Megan and at the same time Megan is very skilled at keeping the hot headed tot under control and Cindy looks up to the foul mouthed Captain. She is the commander of Alpha Flight of the 555th JFW

Susan Garibaldi

Age: 5

Birthday: June 8 1940

Affiliations: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center

Conch Republic Air Force

Rank: Sergeant

Height: 108cm / 42inches.

Striker Unit type: Broom,

Grumman F4F Wildcat

Weapon: Fedorov Avtomat M1916

Familiar: Little Brown Bat

Background: Susan or Susie as she prefers to be called is a skinny little girl with long brown hair. Some people say she is skinny because she talks so much that she burns off the weight. Her mother likes to say she was vaccinated with a Victrola needle. Susie is a friendly little girl who will talk to anybody…and talk and talk and talk!

Susie manifested her power around her fourth birthday. She had actually been a witch for several days before anybody found out. Her mother found out when she was cleaning the bedroom and found a bat hanging under Susie's bed and started to freak out. Susie told her that the bat was hers and manifested her powers. Susie was not even fully aware that she was a witch at the time. But that soon changed as her mother told her what it all meant. Once they did she was taken over to see Lillian and learn how to fly a broom. When she calls up her magic she gets the ears and webbed tail of the little brown bat. She can receive and transmit radio signals. She sprouts glowing appendages that resemble multi-element antenna. She can use her power like radar or to extend the range and power of the intercom unit. Susie will often stand on the bridge roof of the Calypso to act as an early warning radar. She knows Megan Wilson and was recruited by her and is a member of Alpha flight of the 555th JFW

Cynthia (Cindy) Jablonski

Age: 2 ½

Birthday: January 18 1943

Affiliations: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Canter

Conch Republic Air Force

Rank: Corporal

Height: 89cm/ 35 inches

Striker Unit type: Broom,

Boeing P-26 Peashooter

Weapon: US M2 Carbine

Familiar: Yellow Jacket Wasp nest

Background: The discovery that little Cindy had become a witch was a rather unsettling experience for her mother. It was shortly after her second birthday when the young widow heard a loud buzzing noise coming out of her daughter's bedroom. She opened the door and was horrified to discover that Cindy had brought a piece of wood that had a large Yellow Jacket nest attached to it into her room and leaned it up against her bed. Sandra was horrified to see the viscous wasps swarming all over her baby. Cindy at the time was only wearing a diaper and had wasps all over her body. Cindy looked up and smiled.

"Wookie Mommy! Me got new fwiends!" the toddler chirped.

Sandra was more than a little upset to see Cindy covered with the hot tempered wasps. She knew that while not the largest wasps Yellow jackets were easily the most viscous and seeing them all over her little girl was rather upsetting.

"Cindy please be careful." She pleaded. "Those are wasps! They are NOT your friends."

Cindy had always been stubborn, she had become even more so after her Marine father had been killed in the North African Campaign. She leaped off the bed, as she did so wasp like antenna sprouted out of the front of her head just above the hair line, wasp-like wings sprouted out of her back and she grew a tail like a wasp complete with stinger. A magic circle formed on the floor under her and she threw up a shield.

"Dey are TOO!" she shouted.

Sandra slowly backed out of the room closing the door as she did so. She stood outside the closed door for a moment trying to figure out what to do next and then she remembered that a neighbor had discovered about a year ago that her daughter was a witch after finding her in the living room cuddling with a full grown wolverine. Sandra went over to talk to Alexis Wilson and told her about Cindy and the wasps. And how she manifested wasp antenna, wings and tail and threw up a shield. Alexis agreed that it sounded like Cindy might be a witch. Alexis brought Sandra to the home of Lillian Lefey to tell her about little Cindy and the wasps. Lillian was a bit puzzled by what they told her. While Cindy was showing the powers of a witch the wasp thing did not make sense. Familiars were most commonly mammals with some birds though there was a recent report of one girl with a turtle for a familiar. But insects were WAY beyond the norm. When the door to Cindy's bedroom was opened the toddler immediately took a defensive stance manifesting her familiar's features. Lillian knew right then and there that the toddler was a witch and the yellow jackets were indeed her familiar. Lillian knew the first thing she needed to do was set the little girl's mind at ease.

"I like your friends Cindy." She told her "Which one likes you?"

"Dey aw wike me!" Cindy told her.

Lillian smiled. From what Cindy just said the entire nest was her familiar so that it was the nest not just a single wasp that was her familiar so she would not lose her power on the death of a single wasp that only survives a few months.

"I have good news and bad news." She announced. "The wasps will not harm Cindy…But you have to protect them because they are her familiar now and if they are harmed she will suffer too."

"Great, just great!" Sandra exclaimed "So you're telling me that now I am going to have to risk getting stung all the time now."

"Not really." Lillian replied. "You are Cindy's mother they will not harm you."

"Dey wike you Mommy" Cindy said.

Several of the wasps flew from Cindy and landed on her mother. Sandra shuddered as the insects crawled over her.

"See mommy, Dey wike you." Cindy assured her. "Dey not hurt you."

"Yeah Meggie's wolverine lets me pet her too." Alexis informed her. "That's how I found out she's female."

"Oh that's SO reassuring." Sandra replied as she watched several wasps crawling over her arms and chest.

"Well the next thing is for her to fly a broom like Meggie." Alexis told her.

"Fwy bwoom?" Cindy said. "Me want fwy bwoom!"

"I think we might have a problem." Lillian observed. "With those wings Cindy is not going to be able to wear a regular top. We are going to have to wrap a towel around her."

Sandra gave Lillian a side ways look.

"Uh we are talking about a VERY active two year old." Sandra pointed out. "How many seconds do you think that towel would stay wrapped around her especially when she is on a broom!"

''"ME WANT FWY BROOM!" Cindy started to yell.

"Get me an apron from the kitchen." Alexis said. "Preferably a short one with a chest piece I have an idea."

Sandra went to the kitchen and came back with a short frilly one with a chest piece. Alexis looked it over.

"I think this will work." She said.

Alexis walked over to Cindy and put it on her and pulled the chest piece up until it was just below the base of the tot's neck then she tied the rest around her the lower part completely covering her legs down to mid calf.

"Now she looks decent." Alexis said

They three women took Cindy over to Lillian's house where she went and got two brooms and handed one to Cindy. The toddler eagerly took it and put it between her legs.

"Fwy bwoom! She exclaimed.

Lillian started to explain how to use the broom. She was not even finished before Cindy was airborne! Within seconds the toddler was over one hundred feet in the air! Lillian quickly grabbed her broom and took off in pursuit. By the time she caught up to the tiny witch she had gained another hundred feet in attitude and was a half mile away from her starting point. Cindy was having the time of her life and was not the least bit scared. Back on the ground Sandra was a nervous wreck; her baby was by this time barely visible. Alexis walked up behind her and put her arms around her shoulders and whispered in her ear.

"It's alright, Meggie was not that much older than Cindy when she first flew." She told her.

Alexis did not bother to tell her that Megan had not flown as fast, far or high her first time she figured that Sandra did not need to know that. Cindy in the mean time was executing some very complex maneuvers Lillian was amazed that this tiny tot still in diapers was able to fly like that. It became clear that she had the rare agility power and it quickly became apparent that this power was augmented by the small wings on her back. Eventually Cindy started to tire and agreed to fly back. Sandra ran up to her after she landed and hugged her.

"You scared me." She quietly said.

"Me fwy weal good!" Cindy proudly declared.

"Your daughter is amazing." Lillian told her. "She has the agility power and her wings augment that. She could be the most maneuverable witch I have ever seen. She has the potential to be an incredible Strike Witch."

"Well for now I think we'll stick with brooms." Sandra said.

"Yes." Lillian agreed. "Cindy you can keep that broom."

"Yay!" Cindy shouted.

"Cindy!" Sandra barked in the tone mothers use when a child is supposed to do something. "What do you say?"

Cindy smiled this sweet little smile.

"'Tank you Mrs. Wefay." She chirped.

"You're welcome Cindy." Lillian replied. "I must say I'm impressed by how polite she is."

"Thank you." Sandra said blushing. "She has a lot of her late father in her."

"Neuwoi kill my daddy!" Cindy angrily declared," Me want kill aw neuwoi!"

Sandra face quickly went from red to white as she heard Cindy declare she wanted to kill all neuroi right after becoming a witch. Her nerves were still raw after losing him hearing Cindy's announcement right after becoming a witch was rather unsettling.

"Well Cindy should a bit tired now anyway." Lillian said "she did a lot of flying for her first day."

Almost as if on cue Cindy yawned

"Yeah I think you're right." Sandra agreed. "Thanks for the help. I think things will be easier now. Now somebody needs a nap."

Cindy nodded and started to slowly fly home. Sandra followed Cindy opened the door and flew straight to her bedroom and landed on her bed. Sandra came in just in time to catch the board with Cindy's wasp nest and prevent it from hitting the floor.

"Cindy you have to be more careful" Sandra admonished. "You almost knocked your wasps on the floor you could have hurt them!"

Sandra leaned the wasp nest up against the bed post and the wasps came swarming out and landed all over her…But it was clear this was not an angry swarm. It was more like they were thanking her. Sandra took a couple wire hangers and used them to secure the wasp nest to Cindy's bed. After securing the wasp nest she looked over at Cindy who was sound asleep with out even taking off the apron come dress. She slowly stood up.

"Guys I have things to do." She said not expecting much.

To her surprise the wasps took off amass and landed back on the nest. She smiled and left the room closing the door behind her. She went to the kitchen and took an apple out of the bowl on the kitchen table and sliced it into quarters then she took one of the quarters and cut it in half and put it on a saucer. Then she went to the refrigerator and cut off a grape sized piece of meat and put it on the saucer. She then took it back to Cindy's bedroom and opened the door.

"Dinner time!" She called out as she put the saucer on the floor.

The wasps flew out of their nest and waited while Sandra stepped back then swarmed over their meal. Sandra looked over at her daughter sleeping peacefully then at the wasps feeding on the floor…HER wasps. Sandra slowly closed the door it had been a strange day. Cindy woke up from her nap a few hours later. Things were pretty much normal…other than the wasp nest attached to her bed. The next day Sandra took Cindy down to the seamstress to have a dress modified and find out how much it would cost to have other clothes made or modified to fit her unique additions. She put Cindy up on a counter and pulled off her dress leaving her in only her diaper. The seamstress started to protest that it was not necessary for Cindy to strip. Then Sandra told her to call up her magic. The seamstress was shocked when Cindy sprouted antenna from her head wings on her back and a wasp tail complete with stinger.

"Cindy's a witch." Sandra explained. "She just came out yesterday. I need clothes she can wear when she is like this which I have a feeling is going to be often."

The seamstress looked over her wings.

"Is she going to be like this when she puts her dress on?" She asked

"No she can pull her extra appendages in when she is not using her magic." Sandra replied.

The seamstress then looked down at Cindy's tail with its stinger.

"Does her stinger have venom?" She nervously asked.

"I don't know yet." Sandra replied.

Cindy could tell that her stinger was making the women nervous. She called back her magic and the extra appendages were pulled back in.

"Me not want 'ting you." She assured them

The seamstress gave and audible sigh of relief.

"Well I can modify her dress and other clothes but ones that are custom made would fit better and last longer. But as fast as she is going to grow that should not be too much of a problem" She told her.

"Okay we'll start with this first then see what I can afford." Sandra said. "Danny's pension is not that large"

The seamstress nodded and after making a few measurements cut two slits in the .back and went over to her sewing machine and sewed the edges of the slits like a giant button hole. She soon had it ready Cindy held her arms up in the air without even needing to be told. As soon as the dress was in place she called up her magic. Her winds slid out perfectly her tail came down to the hem of the dress. Cindy jumped down from the counter and looked at her self in the mirror.

"Me WIKE!" she exclaimed.

Cindy darted out the door while her mother paid for the work on the dress and discussed how much it would cost to have more work done. When her mother came out Cindy had her broom and was flying around…giving people on the ground a good diaper shot.

"I think that shorts and blouses are probably a better combination." Sandra observed.

Sandra had gotten used to the new normal of little Cindy flying around on her broom and a Yellow Jacket nest in her bedroom. That was about to change. Megan Wilson liked to fly in to see her family on a regular basis. About a week after Cindy had started to fly her broom Megan made one of her visits. Both girls spotted each other at the same time. Sandra watched as her toddler and the preschooler hovered about 250 feet above the ground when Megan took off and headed south. Sandra figured it was no big deal. She could not have been more wrong. Megan had talked to her about being a strike witch and Cindy was interested. A couple hours later Sandra heard striker units again and came out to see a third little girl also flying strikers had come back with Megan The three talked for a bit when Cindy suddenly made a high speed dive and pulled up just short of the ground in front of Sandra! She started to scream.

"ME WANT FWY STWIKER! ME WANT FWY STWIKER! ME WANT FWY STWIKER! She screamed over and over again.

The two other witches landed on either side of her and after some doing finally got her calmed down enough to have a conversation. It was then that Sandra discovered to her horror that the reason Cindy wanted to fly strikers was to get revenge for the death of her father. Sandra was still hurting over the loss of her husband on a few months back…Now her tiny two year old daughter wanted to go after the neuroi who killed him! It was more than the young widow could bear. Alexis came over at that point having heard the striker units and wandering what was going on. She arrived just in time for Sandra to grab her and bury her face on her shoulder sobbing uncontrollably.

"What happened?" Alexis asked stunned by Sandra's behavior.

'

"Cindy wants to go after those fucking Neuroi." Megan responded. "She wants to fucking avenge her father by killing all those fucking Neuroi."

"She's just a baby!" Sandra sobbed. "She's too little. She's all I have."

"Me want kill aw neuwoi for daddy." Cindy declared.

Megan powered down her strikers and pulled Cindy up close to her and wrapped her arms around the younger girl. Lillian Lefey came to see what was happening with the growing crowd and arrived just in time to hear Megan try to explain to Cindy's mother what was going on.

"Cindy needs to kill all the fucking neuroi for her daddy," Megan said "because she fucking can."

"It's better for her to face the neuroi with a gun in her hands and strikers on her legs than be defenseless like those poor kids in Europe. They're dead now." Diana said. "We are mankind's last chance."

Stunned all three of the adult women turned and stared at the seven year old girl. The words she said were harsh but they slowly realized that they also had some truth to them. Sandra looked at the three little girls Seven year old Diana with her long blond hair and sweet but intelligent look. Megan not quite five cute faced but foul mouthed …still she was sweet in her own way. Both the older girls wear wearing strikers. And finally little Cindy she was only two but she was already using a broom with unreal skill. Now she wanted to join the older girls.

"Cindy, you are only two. They killed your daddy I don't want to loose you too." Sandra told her.

"Me not want you lose me too." Cindy said "But me got dis." Cindy threw up her shield. "Daddy no have shield Dat why he dead. Me got one me not die."

Sandra looked at her little girl still clutching her broom. At the same time one not much older than her was wearing strikers and hugging the smaller witch.

"You really want to go there don't you?" Sandra asked her.

Cindy nodded in reply.

"Okay I'll let you." Sandra said. "I guess Meggie is not the youngest witch any more."

"I never was the fucking smallest witch!" Megan blurted out.

"That's right Wendy O' Brian was our second witch and she is younger than Meggie and was younger when she was recruited. Tracie Osborn is younger too. So is Susie Garibaldi." Diana pointed out.

"Yeah Meggie is actually one of the older witches." Alexis pointed out. "She is also one of the more experienced ones."

"I was the third girl to be recruited." Megan said

"Look Darla has a big fast boat. Why don't you guys come to our base tomorrow and see what goes on for yourselves." Diana offered." That way you have a better idea what it's all about."

"I'd like to come too" Lillian said. "if you don't mind."

Diana looked at her for a moment.

""You're Lillian Lefey." She replied. "Darla has heard a lot about you. I know she has wanted to meet you for a while. She'd like that. Now even as fast as the boat is the trip takes four or five hours so you'll be staying over night so bring an over night bag."

After a few more minutes of discussion Diana and Megan took off and flew south. Neither Cindy now Sandra slept well that night. Cindy was looking forward to being a strike witch and Sandra was filled with dread at the prospect of her baby going to war. The next day was warm for early April when the women got up. They had decided the night before to meet for breakfast at Lillian's house where she told them about what being a witch was like. Alexis already had some idea from Megan. Sandra listened with rapt fascination since Cindy was a new witch. Cindy was quite interested as well since they were talking about things that would be happening to her. After discussing what it would be like as the witches got older as well as Cindy's unusual familiars They got their luggage together and went down to the dock to wait for Darla. She arrived about 2:30 apologizing for being late but she decided to refuel before picking them up so that would be out of the way. She had Megan with her who introduced Darla to Cindy, Lillian and Sandra. Darla noticed a tear rolling down Sandra's cheek.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"M…My b…baby's going to war." She sobbed. "And I can't stop her."

"If you don't think she's ready she doesn't have to go." Darla said "We can wait until she's bigger."

Cindy exploded in rage! She immediately manifested her familiar as well as a new power…Toddler Rage! Her hands balled up into tiny fists, her hair stuck out like a mane, her eyes almost seemed to glow with rage!

"ME KILL AW NEUWOI!" She screamed at the top of her lungs! "ME GO NOW!"

She stood shaking with rage. She was so scary that Megan called up her familiar and threw up her shield.

"No I won't stop you." Sandra said "You can go."

Cindy calmed down and called in her power. Megan dropped her shield and called in her magic.

"What the fuck!" Megan exclaimed. "You scared the fucking SHIT out of me!"

Cindy looked down "Me sowwy."

"Cindy, you are very powerful." Darla told her. "But you have to be careful with your power. You could hurt or even kill somebody if you are not careful. You don't want to do that do you?"

Cindy stood for a moment…Then burst into tears.

"Me no want hurt people." She sobbed.

Then she went and apologized to each person in turn. When she got to Megan the older girl hugged her.

"I know you don't want to fucking hurt anybody." She said tenderly. "You have to be fucking careful you are really fucking powerful. I'll help you."

Megan tussled the toddler's hair then looked up at Darla.

"I'll fucking take her in my flight I think I can deal with her." She announced.

"Well that's Diana's decision she's the commander." Darla replied. "But I have a feeling that she'll go for it."

Darla saw Lillian and walked called out to her.

"You must be Lillian Lefey. I'm Darla Evans the girls have told me so much about you. I'm glad I finally get to meet you."

"I'm glad to finally meet you too." Lillian replied. "I have heard a lot about you too."

"I hope what you've heard about me is as good as what I have heard about you." Darla said as she offered her hand to help her board the boat.

."Well if it's as good as what I have heard about you then it would be." Lillian replied.

"Well Megan speaks highly about both of you." Alexis pointed out.

Megan was lifting Cindy onto the boat when her mother mentioned how Megan spoke about Darla and Lillian.

"Well they are fucking nice to me." She said. "I like them."

Soon everybody was onboard Darla's cabin cruiser. And she slowly pulled away from the dock and headed across Lake Superior Megan took Cindy with her to the cabin. She did not like being on the water because she could not swim. She had tried to learn but her body was too dense. Cindy for her part had put out a bit of magic energy when she had gone into her rage. She fell asleep with her head in Megan's lap. The women gathered on the bridge deck where Darla was in the cockpit. The conversation had started reassuring Sandra that it was okay for Cindy to join the other girls in the 555th. Sandra was only partially reassured. Darla and Lillian soon changed the topic to discussing the various ins and outs of magic and strikers. Alexis and Sandra listened to Darla and Lillian talk about how their daughters would function as strike witches. The information was both reassuring and frightening. After several hours they heard the sound of striker units. Diana had arrived with Tracie. It was no accident that Diana had Tracie with her either. She figured that since she was the smallest witch and not much larger than Cindy that hopefully seeing another small witch would help Sandra accept Cindy becoming a strike witch. Sandra watched as the two blond haired girls approached the boat. She recognized Diana from the day before. The other girl was one she had never seen before. She looked like she was around three.

"That's Tracie." Darla informed them. "Right now she is the youngest and smallest Strike Witch."

By this time the sound of the strikers had awakened Cindy and she and Megan came out of the cabin. Megan looked up and saw Diana and Tracie and pointed them out to Cindy.

"Tracie is younger than me." She told Cindy. "She's the fucking smallest witch. At least until you come.

Cindy waved at Tracie who waved back. Sandra watched Tracie as she flew around the boat.

"She's not much bigger than Cindy." She observed.

Yeah she has been flying strikers for about a year now." Darla pointed out. "She's a local girl and has not flown a broom. A lot of the girls jumped straight to strikers. I think the broom makes it easier to get used to flying strikers. We should be docking in less than an hour."

Diana and Tracie flew around the boat for a few minutes longer. The boat was too small for them to land on with all the people and it was had to talk over the noise the strikers made so after talking a bit to Darla over the radio and verifying how many guests they had for dinner the girls flew off to make sure every thing was ready at the base. About 45 minutes later the boat docked. Several of the girls met it at the dock including Tracie, Wendy, Diana and Susie. Sandra was a bit surprised by how young the other girls were. While older than Cindy they were not that much older. Tracie especially looked young. She was four and a half but looked about a year younger. The women and girls disembarked…Megan in particular was glad to have dry land under her feet again.

"Welcome to the Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center." Darla said. "This is the home of the 555th Joint Fighter Wing.

Tracie looked over to Cindy and walked over to her. Even though she was twice the toddlers age she was small for her age and was not that much larger as a result. It was Cindy who took the initiative.

"My Cindy!" she declared. "Me gonna be stwike witch!"

"I'm Tracie." Was the shy reply "I've been a strike witch for a year now."

"Where stwiker?" Cindy asked "Me want fwy stwiker."

"The strikers are in the fucking Hanger." Megan told her. "Come with me."

"Otay." Cindy chirped.

The group of girls and women followed Megan and Cindy to the hanger. There was a line of strikers in their cradles against the far wall. Most of them were Grumman F4F Wildcats with a few F6F Hellcats. Cindy was led to the far end of the line where there was a striker that was a bit smaller than the others. Diana took over at that point.

"This is your striker Cindy. It's a Boeing P-26 Peashooter." She told the tot. "It used to be Tracie's"

Cindy looked at the striker wide-eyed.

"Me fwy dis?" she finally asked.

"Yup, this is the Striker you are going to fly." Diana told her. "You ready?"

Cindy looked at the striker for several seconds as she realized that she was actually going to fly it.

"Otay. She finally said.

"Good, Now there is more to flying a striker than there is a broom. So right now I want you to promise that you will not take off until you have been told how to fly it." Diana told her. "I heard about what happened when you first flew a broom. This is much more dangerous and you could hurt somebody if you don't follow instructions."

"Otay" Cindy said becoming very serious.

"Okay you need to take your shoes and shorts off." Diana told her.

Cindy pulled off her shorts and shoes and stood ready in her top and diaper. Diana put a com link in her ear.

"Okay get on the striker cradle and call up your magic." Diana ordered the tot.

Tracie and Megan both got on their Striker cradles and called up their magic. All three girls manifested their familiars.

"Now watch what they do." Diana said.

Megan and Tracie both jumped in the air and landed their legs in the striker sockets a magic circle formed on the floor under the strikers. Cindy looked at what they do and looked over at Diana who nodded. She then duplicated what the older girls did a magic circle formed under her as well. Diana nodded approval. She spent the next couple minutes explaining what she was going to have to do next. She would be the third to take off. Megan was first and Tracie second. Diana would follow.

"Megan Wilson taking off." The clamps released and she was off out the door and airborne.

"Tracie Osborn taking off." Like Megan her clamps released and she joined Megan in the air.

Diana in the mean time had mounted her own striker.

"Okay Cindy you're next." She commanded.

"Cindy Jabwonski taking off." Her take off was a little sloppy but soon the toddler was in the air.

Diana was last off and soon joined the other three. Sandra stood with her heart in her throat as she watched her baby take off in her Striker. What happened next was a bit unnerving for the young mother.

"Okay we are going up to about a half mile I want lots of room to recover if something happens." Diana ordered.

The four of them flew straight up. Sandra watched nervously as Cindy flew up with the older girls MUCH faster and higher than she had previously flown on her broom. The four witches were flying high above the ground and working with Cindy on control of the strikers. The toddler found that flying a striker was a lot more work than a broom. While she had the agility power the faster and more powerful striker was not quite as easy to control. It took some work for the tot to get the feel of flying a striker. After a while she got better at it. Then it happened.

"Me poop!" Cindy declared.

"What the fuck!" Megan exclaimed. "Did you just shit your self?"

"Me sowwy." Cindy apologized turning beet red.

Diana at that point called the remainder of the training session short and they landed so Cindy could have her diaper changed. Sandra changed Cindy's diaper after they landed. Megan glared at the toddler. Sandra noticed that as she changed Cindy's diaper.

"She's still a baby." She told the older girl.

"Not any more!" Megan replied. "She's a fucking Strike Witch now. She can't shit in her diapers any more. She's fucking getting potty trained."

"And who is going to potty train her." Sandra asked.

The answer caught Sandra off guard.

"I'm fucking going to do it." Megan declared. "I'm her fucking commander. I'm getting my fucking Potty chair and fucking training her!"

Megan proved true to her word. A week later Cindy was potty trained.

Cindy has the Agility power and has unreal maneuverability. In addition to the power her small wings while not large enough for her to fly with them add to her magical ability to give the toddler agility to the point that she can actually fly her striker inside a building at speed. Something she does frequently which can be unnerving to people in the corridors when she does so. One other power she has is known as "Toddler Rage" when she is angry her strength increases dramatically to the point that she can match an older stronger witch when enraged. She can carry and use weapons that are normally too large for her when in that state. Her tail has a stinger and it comes complete with wasp venom. Because she is much larger that a normal Yellow Jacket her venom while the same strength as a normal wasp she will inject a much larger dose. That amount of venom if injected in a human would be fatal. Cindy is aware of that and is careful about her stinger as a result. She will however threaten to "'ting" somebody if they make her mad enough.

Name: Caroline Jawarski

Age: 9

Birthday: June 151937

Affiliations: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center

Conch Republic Air Force.

Rank: Lieutenant

Height: 138cm / 54 inches

Striker unit: Grumman F6F Hellcat

Broom

Weapon: Browning BAR

Familiar: Double Crested Cormorant

Background: Caroline is old for the 555th She was six when she first manifested her power. She was swimming when a cormorant dived in the water near her. She dived after it and while underwater the bird turned and rubbed her head against her she immediately presented a magic circle she stayed under water for over ten minutes scaring her sister who had just lost her husband in a traffic accident and Victoria thought that she had seen her little sister drown. She finally came to the surface presenting the feathered crest and tail of the cormorant. Needless to say Victoria was rather surprised. She had recently heard about Lillian Lefey and that she was suspected to be a witch. She brought Caroline over to meet her and Lillian confirmed that Caroline was a witch and trained her to fly a broom.

Caroline is an orphan having lost both parents in a boating accident when she was still a baby. Victoria has raised her since then, she is also Susie's aunt. Caroline has the ability to hold her breath under water for up to fifteen minutes. She also can fly her broom and striker underwater as well often diving into the water and coming up a considerable distance from her entry point. She scared the hell out of Diana and Darla when shortly after she started to fly a striker she was flying over the waters of Lake Superior when she spotted something under water and suddenly dived in. After she was under several minutes Diana flew her striker out over the area while Darla got her boat out to hopefully rescue her before she drowned. Diana was able to find her quickly in the clear water but was surprised to discover that Caroline was moving beneath the surface at almost 45 knots! After going almost half a mile underwater Caroline burst to the surface and quickly climbed above Diana. Radio contact had been broken when she went under water. Once she resurfaced it was restored. Caroline was surprised when she found out that the other two girls had thought she had drowned. She had assumed that since she could fly her broom underwater and the others knew that that it was the same for a striker as well. She was right about flying the striker underwater but did not realize that the others would not figure that out.

Caroline can go down up to 75 feet below the surface and travel up to a mile and a half underwater before coming up for air. She uses her ability to sneak up on Neuroi or to evade them she can also rescue witches and others who have fallen in deep water. She is on the Command flight of the 555th JFW and serves as Diana's XO. Like her niece Caroline is slender with dark brown hair

Name: Anne Heikenin

Age: 6

Birthday: July 15 1939

Affiliations: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center

Conch Republic Air Force

Rank: Sergeant

Height: 112cm / 44 inches

Striker unit: Grumman F4F Wildcat

Weapon: Fedorov Avtomat M1916

Familiar: Porcupine

Background: Anne manifested her power shortly before her fifth birthday. Her parents came home to find the little girl had made friends with a porcupine. They told her to be careful because while not really dangerous he could still hurt her if she was not careful. Anne manifested her power at that point and assured her parents that her porcupine would not hurt her and by the way her porcupine was a she. Anne has a rare power she can put up multiple shields. Up to six shields can be made though putting up that many tires her. She tends to rush into the middle of a group of neuroi and throw up several shields sometimes the splatter of the multiple beams hitting her shields will damage one or more of the surrounding neuroi. She sometimes gets into trouble pulling that stunt as when she fights that many targets she will burn herself out and need help getting home.

Anne is a little on the short side She has long wavy blond hair that she likes to let fall free. She wears glasses with thick lenses and heavy plastic frames. A fact she is very sensitive about. She is a member of the command flight of the 555th JFW.

Name: Lynn Kim

Age: 6

Birthday: November 11 1938

Affiliations: Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center.

Conch Republic Air force

Rank: Sergeant

Height: 117cm / 46 inches

Striker Unit: Grumman F4F Wildcat

Weapon: Fedorov Avtomat M1916

Familiar: Red Fox

Background: Lynn manifested her power when she was four and a half. She came home from playing in the woods and a fox was trotting along beside her. Her mother was a bit surprised when her daughter and the fox showed up. The fox was clearly not afraid to come home with her. Lynn's mother looked over the fox and asked Lynn.

"So who's your friend?"

Lynn barked her reply. Then she manifested her magic power.

"I'm a witch!" she declared. "This is my familiar."

By this time news had come out about a number of little girls showing magic powers at young ages. So she was not too surprised. A few days later she took Lynn to the Upper Peninsula Aero Striker Research Center and Lynn soon started to learn how to fly a striker. Lynn possesses the Three Dimensional Space Understanding power. She can quickly identify and locate friendly and hostile targets in every direction. And can sort them by number position and type. This power works through cloud cover and darkness.

Lynn is a tall slender girl of Korean Ancestry with long black hair. Her homeland had been devastated before her parents had been born and she is now Third Generation Liberion. Lynn is a member of the Command flight of the 555th JFW