Chapter 3: What?! NO PANTS?!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything here at all. If I did, I probably wouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck right now.

Author's Note Forward: There is a poll on my profile. The subject, who will Ranma get with? One of the 501st girls? Someone from another JFW? An OC? Let's see what my readers say. This Poll, which is up on my profile, shall stay open until just before I start writing Chapter 6.

Other than that, ya'll are amazing! Thank you for your support in this story. I'm hoping to crank out this, and don't worry, we'll get to the actual first season eventually lol.

Review Replies

Kminari - I can understand how you feel about not liking Ranma's promise, but also remember, this is a Ranma WITHOUT the memories of his/her father right now, so all she has to lean on for a moral compass is the discipline and oath of being a Martial Artist, which, given her skills, is as disciplined and regimented as any military person. But just wait, as I said before "Spoilers".

Storyreader21 - You'll just have to wait and see. But I will say that no, thongs do NOT exist YET.

Crafttyomg - "Spoilers sweetie"

Cloud-Draconian-2 - Please kindly quit trying to read my mind good reader. As a combat veteran and soldier, I fear for your mental well-being if you keep delving.

'Thoughts'

"Talking"

(words) =Translation from another language to english

STORY START

"All right newbie, this is the hangar where we store our striker units." Gertrud said as she led Ranma into the spacious hangar. Inside Ranma saw ten staging devices that held what looked like metal tubes in an upright position.

"And what exactly are striker units?" Ranma asked her, raising an eyebrow as she looked over at Trude, still not exactly understanding why she hadn't put pants, or even a skirt, on before coming out here. Especially with several men moving about the hangar, doing maintenance on a couple of the striker units.

Trude looked sideways at Ranma. 'Was she living under a rock? How can she NOT know what a Striker unit is? Maybe amnesia?' she thought before she shook herself, going into the same way of teaching as HER instructor had used on her when she was a young witch.

"A striker unit is how a witch flies. Our legs go into the tube, which puts them in a sub-dimension, as the bulk of the unit is cooling and engine. It draws upon our magic to help us fly at speeds in excess of 300 kilometers an hour. It's also what aids us in the fight against the Neuroi, though there are land based striker units for witches who choose not to fly," Trude answered.

"Wait a minute, people would choose NOT to fly when they have the opportunity?!" Ranma exclaimed. That was one of the few things that she regretted, for all her control over her Ki, and the ability to delay the inevitable return of gravity, she had NEVER figured out how to fly. It had never occurred to her that science could figure out a way to aid one in flying while using Ki.

Trude nodded at Ranma, agreeing with her reaction as well as answering her question.

"Now then, let's go see if we have a spare unit that you can use for the time being." Trude said as she gestured for Ranma to follow her, before she headed towards where one of the men was standing there with a clipboard, while counting items being pulled out of a crate by other soldiers.

"Sergeant Sanders, allow me to introduce you to the newest member of the 501st 2nd Lieutenant Ranma Saotome," she said as she stopped near the man. The man, only a little taller than Gertrud was herself, came to attention and saluted, his Liberion Army uniform in pristine condition as he looked at the two witches.

"Ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you. What can the Squadron supply shop do for you?" He asks professionally.

Trude returns the salute and nods respectfully. "Ranma will be needing a complete Karlsland witch uniform, standard Luftwaffe pattern. She will also be needing a striker unit, as she didn't arrive with one, do we have any spares right now?" She asks him.

The sergeant lowered his salute and looked thoughtful. "Uniforms I have plenty of Ma'am, but Striker units might be another thing. I don't have any Karlsland models unfortunately," he said respectfully.

"That's okay if I don't have a Karlsland unit," Ranma said quickly, partially due to being eager to actually fly, and partially because she didn't want to have people getting upset with her for being picky.

"Well if you don't mind not having a Karlsland unit Ma'am, then we do have one spare striker unit that just came in. Lieutenant Yeager was going to be testing it out as its a Liberion unit, though she was reluctant to agree as she wasn't allowed to tune the engine herself. Liberion high command wants it tested as is, instead of with the modifications the Lieutenant would be sure to make," he said slowly.

"Great! I'll take it! I'll even put it through its paces if that will help!" Ranma said with a smile, making several of the soldiers that were watching nearby to start whispering to each other.

"All right then. I'll get the uniforms and the unit pulled out and ready for you Ma'am. We'll have the paperwork ready for you to sign for everything by this afternoon." he said before he paused and looked to Trude. "Umm Lieutenant Barkhorn, what weapon systems? We don't have anything on hand that would truly test that unit's capabilities at this time….." He trailed off in uncertainty, looking to the officer to make a decision.

"A standard MG42 to start will be fine Sergeant. I have a feeling I'm going to be ensuring Lieutenant Saotome is trained in it as well." She sighs as she makes the decision.

"Of course Ma'am! I'll get right on it after we finish inventorying this load of supplies that arrived." He said before he turned back around and got back to work with his work crew.

Trude nodded and then started to walk off. Ranma trotting after her to catch up.

"MG42?" Ranma asked in confusion, wondering if it was another type of striker.

"Machine gun, standard issue for flight witches of Karlsland." She informs Ranma, who stops dead when she is informed of that.

"Guns?!" Ranma scoffs, spitting the word out as if it were a curse, a look of disgust crossing her face.

Trude turned around at hearing that word. Her expression on seeing how Ranma's face looked darkened noticeably. "Yes guns Lieutenant Saotome." Trude said sharply. "Necessary tools for any witch to deal with Neuroi. So you WILL be assigned one, you WILL learn how to properly use one, and you WILL use one while on patrol or on mission. Am I understood?!" She finished as she strides up to almost be in Ranma's face.

Ranma's expression darkens at how aggressive Trude was getting, she started to open her mouth to say something scathing back when Trude cut her off.

"Those GUNS save lives Lieutenant. Without them people DIE. Do you want that to be on your head?" She asks softly and dangerously, almost challenging Ranma. "We are at WAR Lieutenant, for the survival of all of humanity."

Ranma blinked in shock at how intense the other girl was about this, and as she thought slowly about it, she nodded. "I…..understand." She says slowly.

Trude nods and then steps back. "I know you're new to the military, so I'll give you a SMALL break, but next time a superior officer asks if you understand, or gives you an order, you respond with yes sir, or yes ma'am." She says simply, staring at Ranma as if waiting.

Ranma blinks and shakes herself visibly. "Yes Ma'am. I…...apologize for my attitude….As a martial artist I was taught that guns were for cowards who couldn't handle being a REAL warrior. I….never had to think in terms of actual war before. I….." she trails off, looking uncertain how to continue explaining things.

Trude sighs and waves it off. "I understand Saotome, don't worry about it, just learn from this and get used to the idea that you aren't just a martial artist anymore." having said that she started to walk off, with Ranma following along behind her. "Let me show you where you'll be staying."

The pair walked back into the main section of the castle/base that the unit was using. Trude led her to the bedrooms, where Ranma recognized the area.

"All right, here is my room," Trude said as she waved at one of the doors. "And right here is yours." She said as she waved at the room across from hers.

Ranma opened the door and blinked at how spacious it was. It had a dresser, a fairly large (Queen) bed, a desk and chair, even a vanity. Ranma looked back at Trude and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes we all get rooms this large, unlike most soldiers. We can't room with the other soldiers of the unit due to the fraternization rules between witches and non-witches. Yes some of the soldiers not assigned to Witch units get upset about it, but such is life." Trude answers the unspoken question, before she waves to Ranma. "Come on, I'll show you where the bathroom is."

She leads Ranma down the hall and to where the bathroom was. It was incredibly spacious, with plenty of stalls, and sinks, then she showed her the bathing area, where one could shower before getting into the large pool like bath that they had.

"Wow, we are really well taken care of, aren't we?" Ranma asked as she looked around at all that was available.

"We put our lives on the line regularly Lieutenant Saotome. To some people this is seen as not enough. Me, I think it's a bit too much for us, but I wasn't asked when they restored this castle for our use." Trude answered.

Ranma grimaced at constantly being addressed by Trude by her family name. It gave her a bad feeling for some reason that she couldn't quite put her finger on right then. "Lieutenant Barkhorn, listen, I know that the military has its way of doing things, standards of address, I get that as a martial artist, but…." she trails off looking at Trude, uncertain how to say what is going through her mind.

Trude pauses and turns to look at Ranma and sighs. "Go ahead and say your piece Lieutenant." she says tiredly.

Ranma nods and forges forward. "Could you NOT call me by my family name, it really bothers me for some reason. I keep looking for someone else, or thinking someone is about to do something terrible to me. If you could either call me by my rank, or my given name, it would be greatly appreciated." She said, trying to be polite, rather than abrasive, like her instincts were screaming at her to do.

Trude looked thoughtful, as she cocked her head to the side and stared at Ranma. She stared long enough that Ranma started to fidget, and open her mouth, before Trude cut off what she was about to say. "All right Ranma. I can do that, but only so long as you obey orders. I won't steer you wrong as you find your way through this new life for yourself." she says, "but you better take this seriously. When it's time to train, or work, no playing around. I'm not saying you have to completely emulate me, as honored as I would be if you did, but I don't want you turning out like that Liberion, or Hartmann."

Ranma paused and nodded. "I give you my word that I will try the best that I can to do the right thing, just don't forget that I'm a human being." She counters, smiling a little.

"Deal. Now then, let's get you down to the supply office to get you your uniforms, some sheets and to see if they uncrated your new striker unit." Trude said as she waved for Ranma to follow her.

When the pair of them arrived at the supply office, Ranma noticed it was probably the second largest room on the base, with only the hangar being larger, scattered about, in neat and organized stacks were boxes upon boxes of supplies, and parts. Standing behind the counter was the noncommissioned officer that Ranma had been introduced to earlier.

"Ah welcome to my humble cave Ma'am!" He greets her cheerfully. "You're in luck! We happen to have Karlsland uniforms ready to be tailored. I can have one of my clerks, a female of course, take your measurements for your shirt and jacket."

Ranma blinks at how enthusiastic the sergeant was but smiles at him nonetheless. "Why thank you Sergeant Sanders, I would appreciate that." She says as she notices a young female private step up. Like Trude, this young lady, who couldn't have been older than twelve or thirteen, didn't wear any pants or skirt.

"Ma'am, I'm Private Kassandra Rau," she introduced herself, "if you could please come with me, I'll get your measurements so we can tailor your uniform for you."

Ranma nods and follows Private Rau into a back room, where a sewing machine and changing area was set up. The young private looks at Ranma and motions for her to stand in the mirrored area.

"If you could take off all but your underwear and stand right there Ma'am, I'll get you sized up and start working on your uniforms." She directs Ranma as she turns towards a box with Ranma's name on it.

Ranma blushes but does as directed, stripping down to her boxers and standing in the mirrored area. When the young private turned back around after pulling out several uniform tops, she froze.

"And why are you wearing THOSE Ma'am?!" she almost screeched, pointing at the boxers that Ranma was wearing as if they were an abomination.

"Umm they're my underwear that I was wearing when I got here?" She says slowly, taken a little aback at the reaction of the younger girl.

Private Rau shrieks in a combination of anger and frustration, storms over to the door and almost rips it off as her familiar comes out. She levels a quick glance at Ranma then sticks her head out the door. "STAFF SERGEANT! I NEED AN INITIAL ISSUE, SIZE 4, WOMAN'S UNDERPANTS, NOW!" She bellows angrily before slamming the door shut again, and spinning back on Ranma, glaring up and down her body slowly. "Gods above and below you're almost as big as Lieutenant Yeager! How do you NOT have back pain!" she groans as she moves back over to the uniform tops and the sewing machine.

"Umm excuse me?" Ranma says in confusion.

Private Rau looked up at Ranma, not quite glaring anymore, while her hands worked the uniform shirt under the sewing machine. "Yes ma'am?" She asks, almost politely.

"Umm is there something wrong with wearing boxers? They feel comfortable." Ranma says, almost defiant.

"That may be, I wouldn't know. What I do know is that witches serving in the military are REQUIRED, by REGULATION, to wear proper underpants as part of the uniform. I've taken the liberty to ensure you are getting standard issue white for the time being. What you choose to wear while off duty, is of course, your choice as long as it doesn't embarrass the military." She answers as she finishes one shirt. "Here, take this military bra, and put it and this shirt on for me Ma'am. I need to make sure it fits properly." She directs as she passes what most 'modern' people would call a sports bra, as well as the tailored uniform shirt for Ranma to put on.

Ranma took the proffered items and put them on, making sure they are on correctly as she buttons up the shirt, before looking at Kassandra. "Ummm, like this?" Ranma asks as she stands there.

Kassandra stands up and moves around Ranma, subtly adjusting the shirt and looking her up and down. "I swear, were you raised under a rock? How do you not know how to put these on properly." She mutters to herself as she steps back.

"Actually, I think I was raised on the road. I'm not positive, my memory is a little fuzzy right now on anything involving where I'm from." Ranma answers, thinking Kassandra was talking to her.

Kassandra blinks and then sighs. "Oh that makes SOOOOO much more sense now. I'm sorry about the outburst earlier Ma'am. I just take pride in my work and in being a woman. You should too! You look amazing when the clothes actually fit you!" She compliments her before she goes back to the sewing machine, not seeing Ranma blushing brightly at the compliment.

It was to this scene that Trude walked into the room after knocking, carrying a small box. She stopped and blinked in surprise at seeing Ranma standing there in her new uniform shirt, and a pair of boxers, while blushing. She also notices that Ranma's chest was almost as big as Shirley's, something that made her eyebrows twitch, because the shirt that Ranma had been wearing, the red silk Chinese style shirt that was on the chair nearby, did a rather good job of hiding just how big the shorter girl really was.

"You're wearing boxers?!" Trude exclaimed in surprise at seeing Ranma's underwear, making said girl huff in annoyance.

"Yes, I'm wearing boxers." She says testily in response.

Trude stiffens and her mouth opens up intending to bring her junior to task, when Private Rau speaks up.

"Are those the panties I requested? Good! Please pass those to Lieutenant Saotome for her to change into. I should be done with her jacket here shortly. Thank you Lieutenant Barkhorn." She said, not looking up from her work.

Trude blinks but does as she was asked, passing over the small box of underwear to Ranma. Ranma, for her part, blushed lightly, suddenly embarrassed for some reason, though she didn't understand why as they were all girls. She looked pleadingly at Trude, asking her with her eyes to turn around. Trude just smirked and shook her head. Ranma sighed at seeing Trude refuse her unspoken request, and slowly started to pull the boxers down. She reverently folded them, feeling that they were incredibly important to her past given that she was wearing them when she arrived, and then grabbed a pair of the plain white panties out of the box. Trude watched her, raising an eyebrow as she noticed that the carpet did indeed match the drapes, and that Ranma kept herself neatly trimmed, something that was important for any witch, as the other girl slowly pulled the panties on. She looked up at Trude with wide eyes at how well they fit her, causing the older girl to chuckle.

Kassandra looked up at the chuckle and nodded at the two officers. "I just finished, so perfect timing Lieutenant!" She said as she stood up and brought the jacket to Ranma. "If you would be so kind as to put this on so I can see the fit. Your…...size….makes tailoring anything a bit complicated. Honestly, if you were raised on the road, that would explain your height, but your bust is something unreal! Nobody your height should have a bust that is almost the same size as Sergeant Bishop's!" She rambled as she passed the jacket to Ranma.

Ranma's blush grew brighter at the young private's words, but took the jacket and slipped it on. She buttoned it up and stood there, looking at the other two ladies in the room with a little uncertainty.

"So do I look alright?" She asks quietly, worried for some reason about how she looks, despite never really caring in the past that she can remember.

Trude fights a small blush at seeing the shorter redhead in a proper uniform and wearing well. Private Rau looked her up and down, slowly walking around her. When she stopped back in front of Ranma she looked up at the older girl and nodded seriously.

"It fits properly. I've got your measurements perfectly now, so I'll tailor more uniforms for you and have them delivered to your room, along with more military bras." She commented with a smile.

"Thank you." Ranma says with relief, glad that she won't have to try to acquire them from somewhere else.

"Alright, I spoke with the supply sergeant, and he has your striker unit out of its crate. Let's go get you used to it." Trude said, as she started to turn around.

"Umm, but what about pants? Or at least a skirt?" Ranma asks hesitantly as Trude starts to leave, causing the other Lieutenant to stop and her head to turn towards Ranma, an incredulous expression on her face.

"Lieutenant, you're wearing all that you need to. Now MOVE!" Trude yelled the last, causing Rau to squeak and duck and Ranma's expression to blanch before she scrambled to obey, knowing that right now, her survival depended on staying on Trude's good side.

Trude watched as Ranma scrambled past her, moving almost as fast as she did when bouncing around her room earlier today. The older Lieutenant followed at a much more stately pace, while some of the support soldiers chuckled at seeing the new witch running as if the hounds of hell were after her, which was a fairly apt description of Lieutenant Barkhorn when she was angry, and right then, she looked ready to chew up a iron girder and spit out nails.

Ranma ran out into the hangar, deftly dodging around several other soldiers, who exclaimed or cursed in shock and surprise at how fast she was moving.

"Damn girl runs faster than Lieutenant Yeager does!" one of the older soldiers commented to his fellows as he watched from a safe distance.

"That's the only thing saving her I think, look behind her." one of the others said, pointing to where Trude was entering, looking about as pissed off as she does when she and Shirley were going at it.

"Oh I wonder what the newbie did to upset her?" a third soldier asked with a small chuckle.

"Alright you three, back to work before we draw her attention." commented their NCO as he chivied them all back to work.

Ranma stopped once she stood before the strikers, one of them in the process of being put into one of the launch units that was there. She looked about and moved towards the one that was being set up, watching curiously as the team of mechanics was going over the two tubes that made up a striker unit.

"Hey guys, what is this?" She asks as she approaches them.

The senior most soldier there looked up at her words and snapped to attention and gave her a salute. "Ma'am! This is going to be your assigned Striker Unit. It's a Liberion P-61B-20 model, designed for long range interceptions and night operations." He reports a little stiffly, not certain how the new Lieutenant was.

Ranma blinks then belatedly returns the salute, about as crisp as Trude could have asked for. In fact she did see it as she approached, and her anger lessened at seeing Ranma trying to adapt to being in the military and an officer.

"Thank you, and please relax. Tell me about the unit. I've never used one before so I need to learn everything that I can about them." She said to him.

He blinks and then smiles at her. "Of course Ma'am. This striker unit has the capability to lift just over 7,000kg of weight for weapons. Painted black for night operations, though it can be flown at any time of day of course. It is capable of reaching speeds of 590 km/h, and has been rated at a maximum ceiling of 10,000 meters at this time. Average range for your middle of the line witch is just under 2,200 km, that's 1,100 for going out and then back again with the possibility of combat in between. A much stronger witch could probably push it out further." He told her.

Trude comes up and stands behind Ranma as she looks over the striker unit, a slightly larger and more robust design than the other units in the Squadron. Ranma leans in closer to look at the device.

"How does it work? And how do you maintain it?" She asks the NCO that had answered her earlier question.

"Well I'm not too certain about the how it works aspect Ma'am, but you insert your legs in the top, without shoes, and the unit automatically links with you. Then you let your magic flow into the unit, and that will start the engine and as long as you have magic available, you'll be able to fly. You'll have to mind the rpms of the engine to keep them up so you stay in the air, but I'm sure that Lieutenant Barkhorn will be teaching you about flying, right Ma'am?" He asks, looking over Ranma's shoulder at Barkhorn.

"Yes I will be. I applaud you for asking about your new unit. It shows an initiative that will do you well to have in the coming months." Trude compliments her.

Ranma looks slowly over her shoulder at Trude and raises an eyebrow. "I'm a martial artist ma'am. Despite my specialty being unarmed combat, I know a few armed styles, and one of the things that I have always learned is that your weapons are an extension of yourself, so it pays to know what your equipment is capable of and how you maintain it." She explains.

Trude blinks and nods at her, temporarily forgetting that little fact. "You'll be taking maintenance lessons at a later time. These will be taught by one of the maintenance crew." She explains.

"And probably by Lieutenant Yaeger as well. She likes to work on her own striker more often than not, something about making sure it's tuned properly for speed." the NCO explains to Ranma.

"I see, well then, I am in your care everyone." Ranma says with a slight bow and a blush, still not over the fact that these men could see her panties, though she was impressed by the fact that none of them looked anywhere but at her face.

"Hmmm, you learn best by doing, don't you?" Trude asked, looking Ranma up and down critically.

"Yes Ma'am." Ranma answers her with a blink. "That and observing something being done to me or in front of me. I'm pretty quick to pick up on most things that are physical or martial arts related."

"Good then here is what we're going to do. Your unit is already next to mine so lets get on the platforms and I'll show you how to link with your striker unit." Trude instructed as she moved behind and on top of the platform that held the striker unit. She removed her boots and looked at Ranma for her to do as she was doing.

Ranma followed her instructions and directions, toeing her slippers off and looked back at Trude, watching her as they stood there.

"Alright Lieutenant, all you have to do to interface with the striker unit is to insert your legs into each side of the unit, like this." Barkhorn said as she hops into the unit, a blue glow emanating from the unit as it accepts her legs. She then lets out her familiar, while tilting her head back slightly before she looks back at Ranma, a slight smile on her face. "Go ahead, just do what I did." She directs.

Ranma nods and gazes at the striker unit before she takes a deep breath and hops in, just like her superior did. She watched as the blue glow appeared and her legs disappeared into the device. Her eyes then widened as she felt the connection occur and her head tilted back as her familiar came out, revealing a tiger striped tail and ears, and she felt a wave of something akin to pleasure move through her from head to toe, her eyes closing on instinct as her face flushed.

"Oh…..Oh MY!" She half moans as her eyes slowly open, her magic and Ki flashing brightly in them as she looks over at Barkhorn first, her face flushed in surprise and pleasure, before looking at the ground crew standing there. Everyone but her superior was avoiding looking at her, while Barkhorn looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Is...is it supposed to feel like that?" She asks her superior almost breathlessly.

"Well not as good as it evidently felt to you, but yes, it does feel rather pleasant to interface with our unit." Trude admits with a slight blush then shakes her head. "Now then, back to training." She scolds Ranma, causing her to shake her head to clear the reaction she got from her first time interfacing with a unit.

"Yes Ma'am." She replies a bit more normally as the ground crew starts to check over the readouts on the unit and docking station, ensuring that she was actually interfaced with it properly.

"Lieutenants, everything appears to be green to go. Lieutenant Saotome is interfaced properly and the unit is awaiting command." The lead technician, a Liberion Staff Sergeant, reports to them as he looks over the readouts.

"Thank you Sergeant Lacasse." Trude replied before she looked at Ranma with a smirk. "Alright Ranma, this is what I want you to do, go ahead and slowly feed your magic into the striker unit. I'll demonstrate what should happen if you do this properly. Don't get frustrated if you don't get this the first few times, some witches never figure this out, which is why they go with the ground based strikers instead." She instructs before she starts to slowly feed her magic into the unit, going at a much slower pace than she normally would given her experience. Ranma watched her superior at work, opening up her Sight and senses, letting her instinct guide her as she watched the flow of Ki as Barkhorn fed it into the striker unit, and how it flowed within the unit, as it started up. As the striker unit starts up and the engine purrs as the magic propellers appear, she looks over at Ranma and smirks.

"Alright then newbie, go ahead and try it." She orders Ranma.

Ranma returns the smirk in full confidence, sure that she can do just what needs to be done now that she has seen it be done. She closes her eyes and concentrates, searching out the connection between her and the unit, then tracing it to the heart of the machine to find out the minimum power it would take to start the unit. She quickly pushed that much power into it, and kept the bare amount needed to keep the engine running, causing Trude's eyes to widen at how quickly she was able to get the unit running, the blades spinning slowly. Ranma opened her eyes and looked back at her superior with an even wider smirk.

"Alright newbie, that was impressive." Trude admits reluctantly, as she remembers how much trouble she had starting her training striker when she first started. "Alright then, if you're that quick to pick it up, let's go ahead and start your flight training." She continues as she smirks at Ranma.

"Ready whenever you are Ma'am." She counters confidently.

"Alright then, watch, listen and learn Lieutenant. Listen to your striker unit and the sound the engine makes, if you're not keeping your RPMs high enough then you can cause your striker to stall out, and if you don't have one of the older models, this could result in you falling out of the sky. I don't know if your unit is rigged to be capable of gliding, but I know mine isn't." Trude told Ranma.

"Yes Ma'am, I'll keep that in mind." Ranma answered as she watched Trude carefully, keeping her Ki sight up as she watched Trude feed more Ki/Magic into the unit and the noise picked up from the engine, making the propellers spin even faster.

The docking clamps released and Trude eased her striker away from the docking station, slowly moving down the hangar towards the runway that shot out straight towards the Britannian Channel.

Ranma watched her move and nodded, seeing how it was done, and then mirrored her, pushing more energy slowly into the machine as her docking station clamps released and she slowly followed her senior. Ranma was mildly surprised to note that she was floating a couple of centimeters off the ground as she followed Trude. As she came up beside Trude at the entrance to the hangar, she looked over at her.

"So what next Ma'am?" Ranma asked curiously as they hovered there at the entrance.

"Now we fly. We'll be keeping it simple today, just the basics." Trude explains as pushes power into the unit as she takes off, slowly rumbling down the strip and into the air.

Ranma stares after her in amazement before she shakes herself and follows suit, slowly speeding up until she lifts into the air, following Trude into a nice, slow, shallow climb.

The pair climbed to a few hundred meters off the ground as Ranma matched speeds with Trude and looked over at her. Trude glanced over at her and shook her head.

"How is it that you're a natural at flying? Even those of us rated as aces had trouble when we first started!" Trude asked Ranma in amazement.

"My martial arts is an aerial style, so I'm used to being off the ground and moving my body with nothing about. Why do you think I was able to dodge you so easily when we first met?" Ranma countered.

"Right, that." Trude said with a deadpan expression on her face. "Well then, we're just going to take it a bit easy, no more than an easy 300 km/h flight for a few minutes. Just follow me, and keep an eye on your surroundings." she orders as she tilts forward and starts to fly off north, leading the way.

Ranma tilts forward as well and follows, though a question comes out of her mouth towards her senior. "How do I know how fast I'm flying?"

"Listen to your unit. It will tell you everything. You're linked with it far closer than anything else ever will be. Right now it will take you concentrating a little to hear what it is naturally telling you, but eventually it will become as instinctual as breathing." Trude instructed her.

Ranma blinks and closes her eyes, somehow still flying level, as she looks first inside of herself, where her well of Ki resides, then follows it as it flows into the striker unit. When her conciousness entered the unit, it felt like she was being welcomed. A flood of information was given to her. Air speed, engine RPMs, engine temperature, oil pressure, altitude, and a whole host of information that any pilot would need when flying. Her eyes shot open in shock, the information still there, right at the edges of her mind, easily accessed without too much effort.

"Gods!" she breathed softly to herself as Trude flew backwards to keep an eye on her. She looked up at Trude, eyes still wide. "Is it always like that? Like being welcomed by an old friend? All that rush of information available at a blink without any need to concentrate?" She asks the older Karlslander.

Trude blinks and nods slowly. "It is information wise. As for being welcomed by the unit, only the very powerful, or very spiritual ever are able to connect that deeply with their units." She answers slowly. "You'll want to talk to Lieutenant Commander Sakamoto later about that. She has more knowledge on that subject. Most Fuso witches believe that their units have souls."

Something tickled the back of Ranma's mind on that subject, but it was more annoying than anything concrete. She shrugged it off mentally and nodded to Trude. "I'll do that when we get back Ma'am." She said as they fly northward, over Britannia. Ranma smiles lightly as they see the sights as they fly.

What was originally planned to be only about a half hour flight, turned into a several hour flight as they flew all over Britannia, from the southern tip where the base was, all the way to the most northern coast, before looping around and flying down the western edge of the island nation and then back across the southern coastline to the base.

As the pair came in slowly to land, neither looked tired at all. Trude even noted that Ranma seemed to have a glow of excitement and satisfaction on her face as they landed and slowly towards the hangar. Ranma herself was in a happy daze as she taxied towards the docking station for her striker unit. Flying was EVERYTHING she had ever imagined it would be! She couldn't have asked for a more pleasant afternoon than to just go up in the air and fly around.

As the pair docked their units and they climbed out of the strikers, Ranma couldn't resist coming up to Trude and hugging the older, and more senior, girl tightly, not minding that the ground crews were watching, or that their breasts were being pushed together.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Ranma said happily over and over again as she hugged her instructor much harder than she was expecting, and Trude was glad that she had her familiar still out so she could rely on her super strength that her magic gave her, as she realized that Ranma, whose familiar had retracted, was NATURALLY extremely strong.

Trude, for her part, blushed lightly as she returned the hug hestiantly. "Alright, alright, that's enough newbie. I get it, you're happy. You're welcome, but remember decorum." She growls softly like her familiar might.

Ranma blushes as she realizes their positions and how it might look, before she lets go and almost seems to teleport a solid fifty meters away from Trude, causing the ground crew to chuckle softly as Trude shakes her head.

"Come on, let's go report to Minna, then it's dinner time and bed. We'll decide on a weapons loadout for you tomorrow." She says as she waves for Ranma to follow her.

"Yes Ma'am." She replies as she moves up to beside Trude as they leave the hangar and head towards Minna's office, Trude leading the way.

Inside Minna's office, Mio and Minna were discussing her upcoming trip to Fuso to search for another prospective witch that could be brought into the 501st. While Ranma was a gift from the gods in regards to the unexpectedness of her arrival, officially they needed to recruit one more from Fuso to meet the League of Nation's requirement to be considered fully staffed. They paused as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Minna called out, before the door opened to reveal her friend and subordinate Trude, and the new member of the Wing that the two most senior officers of the Wing had just been discussing. Mio raised an eyebrow at how Ranma looked, nodding respectfully to her, as the pair entered and came to stand in front of Minna's desk. Mio moved around to stand next to Minna as she leaned forward, putting her elbows on the desk and steepling her fingers over her nose as she gazed at the pair (AN: Gendo Ikari pose much).

"My my, you do fill out a Karlsland uniform beautifully Lieutenant Saotome." Minna says slowly as she looks them both over. "And how has your day been? Will she be good on a striker?" She asks them both.

Trude glanced sideways over at Ranma before answering. "The day has been…...interesting Ma'am." Trude answers slowly at first. "The Lieutenant had some uniform issues, but those have been resolved. We settled her into her room, and we were able to get her a striker unit assigned. She will be flying that new Liberion unit, the P61B-20 that they wanted us to give a combat test for."

"I see, and how did that go?" Minna asks her, prodding her friend for more information.

"Well i was planning on just making sure that she could interface properly with the unit, but….." Trude trails off and looks more fully at Ranma, before looking over at her seniors. "She is a natural. She interfaced beautifully on the first try, was able to get the engine running properly and we flew for several hours, all the way to North Britannia and back along the coastlines." She explains.

Minna and Mio felt their eyes widen at that statement. "That much of a natural?!" Minna gasps.

"Ma'am, I'm a martial artist, and my style is an aerial one. It's always been my dream to be able to fly and fight from the first time I took to the air. This is a dream come true for me!" She says excitedly. "And….and the Striker SPOKE to me! It was happy to be linked with me! The information it had to give me without even thinking about it! Are…..are striker units alive?" She asks.

Minna blinks and looks up at Mio. "Mio, this sounds like something you might know. You were part of one of the original test groups on striker units." She says with a raised eyebrow.

Mio blinked then smiled slowly. "Yes Lieutenant, it does feel like they are alive, doesn't it? They aren't truly alive as most people would recognize it. What I think truly happens is that our familiar enters the unit when we interface with it, and that is where we are getting the information we need, and how our familiars talk to us more often than not. Only the lucky ones can hear our familiars outside of being linked to a striker unit, and even then just barely."

Ranma looks thoughtful and nods. "Yes Ma'am, that makes some sense. Thank you."

"Well unless you have anything else to report, the both of you are dismissed until tomorrow. Dinner will be served soon." Minna said. Both of the junior girls saluted before they left the office, heading to the dining room for dinner.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next time on Way of the Witches

"Hi Lieutenant Hartmann, how are you today?" Ranma asks politely the blonde witch in front of her.

From behind Ranma, Erica responds. "I'm doing well today Ranma! Oh Hi Ursula! What are you doing here today?"