Chapter 21
[A/N] Sorry this took so long but I was out of the province for nearly two months in summer, and I'm still recovering from the sleep deprivation caused by the late nights and early mornings. As well as readjusting to normal life. I was off at a cadet camp staffing. Really it was fun all around but it was also tiring work, I did encounter some health problems in the last week from a previous injury that started acting up from all the walking. I got stuck with a cane for a few days and earned the nickname 'Sargent Grandpa' from my cadets.
I stepped out of my room after hearing the sounds of men running down the halls. Suddenly a large group of soldiers rushed past me. "What's happened?" I asked as I caught ahold of the Sargent. "There was an explosion at the western gate, only three men were injured but we need to repair the gate and secure the scene, sir." The Sargent answered. "Well get going and keep up the good work." I said as I waved him off. As soon as he left I closed the door and felt someone lean on me. "What was that about?" Gertrude asked sleepily. "Some freindly fire incident. I'll probably get a report about it later." I answered. "For now, you need your sleep and I need something to drink." Gertrude just murmured sleepily as I picked her up and set her back in bed. "Sleep tight." I whispered before heading to the table in the room and fishing my flask out of my inner tunic pocket. "Bottoms up." I muttered as I downed the last of the liquid in the flask before stumbling back into bed.
When I finally woke up I got dressed and stepped into the hallway, nearly bumping into Ursula. "Finally awake, I see." She commented. "Aye. Finally making something that won't try to kill me?" I asked. "Well the Me262 was tested by Captain Barkhorn, not you." Ursula said. "Guess who caught her on her first crash and caved in their skull." I said as I pointed at myself. "Fair point, but this shouldn't try to kill you." Ursula said. "I do need you to test the equipment before I leave and yes I brought Vickers K's to replace your old ones." "Good. So what am I testing this time?" I ask. "The P-40Q and the Vickers P canons." Ursula said. "Something that won't explode on me." I said as I walked with Ursula towards the mess hall. "Know what's for breakfast?" I asked. "No." Ursula answers. "You might be the only other one up." "Well then I'll make breakfast then. Hope you don't mind pancakes, bacon, toast and eggs." I said as we stepped in, it was empty for everyone but Sanya. "Morning Sanya." I greet her. "Morning Stefan." Sanya responds. "You want breakfast?" I asked. "Yes please." Sanya answers. "Alright." I answer before getting out all the supplies I would need. I quickly get the bacon sizzling and the eggs were made sunnyside up. I quickly made some coffee for any of the witches who actually drank coffee. "Say, Sanya, has Eila asked you-" I started to say before said witch appeared in the doorway cutting me off. "Sanya, you didn't come to bed after your sortie last night." Eila said as she enveloped Sanya in a hug. "So continuing with my question. Sanya has Eila reavealed her-" I tried to ask before Eila crosses the distance and covered my mouth with her hand before I could finish. "Ask that again and I'll make you regret asking it again." Eila whispered to me. "Nod if you understand." I nodded and she removed her hand. "Good, now what's for breakfast?" She asks. "Breakfast is bacon, pancakes, toast and eggs." I responded. "Coffee?" "No thanks." Eila said. "Only you, Barkhorn and Commander drink coffee." Eila then left the kitchen and went back to the table and sat beside Sanya. Finally the bacon was done so I removed it from the pan and started placing the pancake batter in. With that Gertrude finally stumbled in still half asleep and dragging Erica behind her. "Morning Gertrude, Morning Erica. Coffee?" I offered her a cup. She took it gratefully before sitting down. Everyone else filled in slowly afterwards. With Yoshika and Lynne coming in last. "Morning Yoshika, Morning Lynne." I greeted as they trailed in. "Sorry we got up late." Lynne said after I greeted her. "Sorry we couldn't help with breakfast. But we we're rushed to the medical ward as their were some injuries from the friendly fire incident early this morning." Yoshika explained. "Yea I was woken by the sounds of boots on the floor. I ask what happened and found out about it, Minna, either you or me will get the report on this incident." I say as I serve breakfast. "That reminds Morrison." Minna said. "I got transfer orders for you. You'll be spending about three months with the 502nd after a new operation that the high command just rolled out." "What's the name of the operation?" I ask. "Operation Blackcock." Momma answered to the snickers of Eila and Erica. "I remember reading about it. Of course the war ended not to long afterwards so it was one of the last operations." I said as I finished serving everyone. "And I heard Orussian has good vodka."
Shortly after breakfast Minna, Major Sakamoto and I were pouring over maps and aerial photos of what was known as the Roer Triangle which sat wedged between the Maas River, the Roer River and the towns of Roermond and Sittard in the Netherlands and the town of Heinsburg in Karlesland. "This will be tough, the need for air support over the town of Sint Odiliënberg and the bridging attemp over the creeks south of Susteren. That's just the opening hours. There is bound to be heavy Neuroi in this area." I explained as I pointed at each area. "Are they flying in any other witch squadron?" "None, we're on our own for this." Major says. "Fuck. Any counter attack would leave us hard pressed to repulse it until the troops link up." I say looking over the battlefield. "We currently have 14 witches in the squadron. Not inclouding Ursula as she is leaving once the tests are done." Minna says. "That means we can place five witches at two of the spearheads and four at another and have them react to the Neuroi as they deem fit." I said. "But it means we have no reserve units to reinforce any one." "We could put four witches on each spearhead and have three in reserve as stopgaps." Major suggests. "True. That would be a better idea if it weren't for the fact that it would weaken the spearhead which could cause a failure." I explained. "But yes we have the reserve to help plug gaps in the defence against the Neuroi." "Sorry I'm late." Heidemarie said before yawning. "Don't worry, you were on night patrol." Minna said. "Yea, I understand that everyone needs their sleep." I said. "Anyway, Minna your three dimensional space understanding allows you to spense all the Neuroi around you correct?" "Yes, it allows me to to know the size, altitude and location of the Neuroi." Minna responded. "Good, then we can have a night witch with the other groups to help with the detection and we can build the units around that." I said. "That's a good idea. Sanya works well with Eila as we all know so they will be placed in the same group." Minna said. "Major, anyone who you want to bring with you?" "Yoshika, Perrine and Lynne." Major said naming her three students. Minna then turned to me. "You Morrison?" "Well Gertrude and Erica and just about everyone else." I said. "You'd be fine working as the reserve force?" Minna asks. "Yea, don't know how well the new striker would work yet." I said. "Then test it out and we'll get back to this when you're done." Major says. "Alright. I'll be back shortly." I said before heading out.
Arriving in the hanger I looked around for Ursula. Spotting her over by the big container, I quickly walk over and stand behind her. "So what's today's tests?" I asked. "To make sure the striker is calibrated for the Vickers P cannons. And making sure the engine works." Ursula explained. "It's still experimental, though. Everything is experimental." "Sounds like my old job again." I commented before becoming sarcastic. "When do I start." "Well we still have to set up our monitors and such. Come back in about two hours or so." "Alright, I'll get back to planning the next operation." I said before heading back to Minna's office.
I quickly knock on the door and hear Minna say. "Come in." "Minna. It's me. It's going to take about two hours to set up the monitors for testing, might aswell finish the plan." I said. "We got orders from above and they actually said who to send and where to send them. It's out of our hands." Minna explained. "Damn..." I trailed before asking. "So what's the plan?" I asked. "You'll cover the centre thrust alongside Eila, Sanya, Perrine and Hattori." Minna explained. "That gives me some good cards. But I will need to be able to adapt to what the enemy throws at me. Being the centre means that's where the most enemy's usually are." I said. "I will be leading the northern pincer and Heidemarie will be leading the southern pincer. You're job is to help clear the air and ground of any Neuroi you can find. Is that clear?" Minna asked. "Crystal." I responded before asking. "Any paperwork you need me to do?" "Not at the moment, try seeing what needs to get done around base if you're bored." Mina says dismissing me. I quickly leave to find Yoshika and Lynne.
I find Yoshika and Lynne training as Major stands proudly watching as they struggle. "You've run them ragged yet?" I ask as I approach. "No, they're just training." She says before shouting at Yoshika and Lynne. "Keep running girls! You need physical strength as much as you need magical strength!" "Hai!" Yoshika yells back through pants. "Major is there anything that needs to be done around base that you know of?" I ask. "Not really, most I can think about is testing your new striker. How long until then?" Major asks back. "About..." I trail off as I check my watch. "Another hour and 50 minutes. I'm looking for a way to kill time. Any ideas?" "Well you could train with Miyafuji and Lynnette." Major said. "How many laps?" I asked. "Twenty laps before doing 50 push-ups and sit ups." Major answered. "They're on their fourth lap." "I'll join them, I think Vadim could use the exercise aswell." I said before giving off a sharpe whistle before the sounds of nails on polished wood was heard, then a skittering as Vadim tried to stop before we saw him slid into the hanger. "Vadim." I said holding up his leash. "We're going for a run." Vadim perked up at the last word and quickly made his way to me. I quickly attached the leash to his collar and took off running down the runway with Vadim by my side. After the twentieth lap I saw Ursula waiting beside the Major. "Stefan, we're ready for the test flights." She said as I slowed to a stop beside her. "Alright, hopefully no explosions." I commented as we walked back towards the hanger.
The engine sounded rather normal as I started it up, no loud booms or clanks that usually resulted from Ursula's experiments. "The engine output is normal, you may take off Stefan!" Ursula shouted at me over the sound of the spinning prop. I nodded to signal that I heard her, as my hands were full with the new Vickers P canons. I quickly take off and to a few fancy manoeuvres to see how well she handles, which was even better than my old model. "Ursula." I spoke into the radio. "It seems to be very manoeuvrable and has some good speed." "That's good, next head towards the south, you should find a big paper target, try to land hits on it so we can calibrate the striker to the guns. Of course you can only carry the two Vickers P canons or the Vicker K machine guns at one time. You must chose between them." Ursula explained as I flew south looking for the target. "Why can't I also carry my Vickers K guns aswell?" I asked. "Because the weight of the Vickers P is heavier and as such makes it hard for anyone to carry all of them at once." Ursula explained. "Okay, makes sense, now I've spotted the target, now what?" I asked. "Make sure you pull the trigger for both guns at the same time, otherwise you could be knocked out of the sky by the recoil." Ursula said. "Roger." I said before rolling in to attack the stationary target. I squeezed the trigger a few times and saw big clouds of dirt thrown up where the 47mm shell impacted the cliff. "Jeez, this thing packs a punch." I commented. "Of course it does, it's a 47mm AP round." Ursula responded. "Anyway, come back to base we need to adjust a few things." "Got it." I said before turning back to base.