CHAPTER 6: SECRETLY, GREATLY
Secretly, Greatly
June 5th 1945, 1017 hours
Ortona, Romagna
In Ortona, James drove a Willy jeep around the town. The town was filled with soldiers and witches having R&R. Trucks, Tanks, Jeeps, and many other military vehicles parked near the streets.
James himself was quite awkward with the WW2 Liberian uniform with an airborne badge on his upper arms. What made him pretty awkward was the rank insignia marked him as 'Private', really contrast because he has been kicked AWWB's ass for more than 2 years and promoted as an Executive Officer aboard one of the most advanced destroyer class in his era.
The American commander in disguised sometimes took glances at his companion, Rin who silently sat on the Shotgun Ride. She was also in disguise with Mio's Fuso Imperial Navy officer shirt plus an ammunition belt that contained a pistol and a combat knife.
And of course, she didn't wear anything on her lower part except for her usual dark blue panties, allowing James stared at her lower part. He somehow also noticed there's an 'antenna' twitching from her hair, which he knew that happened whenever she was embarrassed. The US Navy officer's face turned red when he saw her beautiful legs and of course 'that'. "Holy shit, did Rin always look hot like this?" He thought. It seems that he has been fall in love with his childhood friend like in those cheap shoujo manga.
Rin noticed this and blushed. "H-h-hey, don't stare at me too much…you hentai…you you better watch the road or you'll hit poor guys in process…"
James snapped and looked back to the roads. "A-ah, Go-gomen!" He said in his usual perfect but accented Japanese. He thought that both of them are in good disguise. The other peoples might be think that they both were some certain Liberian soldier and Fusoan witch having some R&R. Might be they are…but from another universe.
However, they didn't come here for an R&R but for…
Last Night
4 June 1945, 20:09
501st JFW base, Pescara, Romagna
It was about three hours after their base was under attack by unknown soldiers that dressed in Karsland Grenadier's uniform. Not only attack and killing some of the soldiers, they also kidnapped two Strike Witches members and two UNCF sailors. And now, the rest of the witches and the USS Curtis Wilbur officer were having discussion.
Minna started the meeting "Okay, listen up! 3 hours ago 4 witches and wizards were being kidnapped by some unknown soldiers. So, we must organize to find them," Later, Erica and Gertrud entered the room with towering papers on both their hands. They dropped the papers on the tables in the middle of the room. Minna picked up one of the papers and read it. "From the reports we got from the Allied Forces Top Brass, this isn't the first time witches got kidnapped. There are also reports that some soldiers in various military uniform kidnapped some soldiers and witches or they went MIA during R&R or in base. I thought those peoples are the one who responsible for Miyafujis and Bishops kidnap."
James nodded. "So, how do we found them?"
Rei read one of the files. "Don't know, from the reports here, the Liberian OSS and Britannian MI6 has been sent their agents to search for those guys but they found nothings. Frankly, some of their agents were lost or found killed. Some high ranked officers blamed that asshat Maloney for this," The other shocked after know that even some special agents killed because of them. Rei dropped the papers and continued. "Look like we're dealing with dickheads who can kidnap 2 SOWs."
After read the papers Faizal asked Minna. "This is all we got?"
Minna nodded. "Ja, the Top Brass already has a problem on dealing with the Neuroi. So, those cases became not a high priority case. So, we only get some useless Intel."
Gertrude gritted her teeth. "Those bastards! How do we find them?!"
James walked towards a 501st JFW base map and Romagna map on the table. He pulled a pen from his pocket and drew a circle on Ortona. "The Miyafujis said they went here…" James switched his attention toward the base map. He drew a circle on the front gate. "…Chief and Sergeant Bishops were here…" He drew the last circle on a port in the north of the base. "…and finally, their footprints ended here." He continued talking. "Those are the only evidence we got, so I thought they won't go too far from here, anything else?"
This time Eila said. "There was no witness, our only witness were killed during the engagement. So we don't have anything," She then remembered something. "Wait I remembered that Romagnan soldier said those guys were with the KKE?"
"What's KKE?" James asked.
"Karlslander Kaiserliche Elitewatche, or Karlslander Imperial Elite Guard. A military arm of the Empire staffed mostly by aristocrats and Japanese of royal lineage, the Royal Guards serve as the guards of the Imperial Family. Unlike the Wehrmacht, they directly answer to His Highness Emperor Frederick IV rather than the OKW. Since the outbreak of the war in 1940, they started accepting non-nobility as their members. They are considered as elite fighting forces in Karlsland. Currently, they have about nine thousand active soldiers," Gertrud told them.
"Any picture of them," James asked.
"Take a look at this," Minna showed handed him a newspaper article. Because it was in German/Karlslander he couldn't read it but he knew it was about battle in Villers-Bocage. The photo beside the article showed a witch in what looks like Waffen-SS dress uniform sat on a Tiger I land striker with several men beside her.
"KKE-Hauptsturmfuhrer, Mitchell Wittmann," Rei read the description under the photo. "Shouldn't it be Michael Wittmann?"
"I don't know, Ray," James replied to him before asked the Karlslander commander. "Who is this girl?"
"A Karlslander tanker witch from the KKE 1st Panzer Division, the Leibstandarte Elitewatche Kaiser Frederick. She got the title of Panzer Ace and awarded the Knight Cross after her action defeating the Neuroi in Villers-Bocage in Normandy," "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, since they have witches in their ranks, I've concluded only several members of the group went rogue, not the entire force,"
"Sir, how about we search for intel from the locals?" Carlos told him.
"That's a good idea, commander. But we don't have someone who can go undercover." Tara replied.
"Wait a minute, did you just said 'search for intel from the locals'?" Perrine asked.
"Yeah, it's. The local's witnesses are sometimes true 70-80 %. We're going to go to the location where our peoples got lost." James replied. James later smirked. "But don't worry about the undercover guys, because…you got a real life Sherlock Holmes here!" He said while grinned and giving a thumb up with an imaginative 'blink' from his teeth.
Carlos sighed. "Okay then, if you go to Ortona, Erwin will go to the Pescara port."
Erwin turned his gaze towards Carlos. "Why you're not the one who gone, lolicon? I heard there're a lot of pretty little girls there." He said while grinned.
Carlos blushed. "I'm not a lolicon, pendejo! I also heard there are a lot of maid café there, so please enjoy yourself, Maid Lovers!"
Erwin blushed but before he shouted back Tara yelled to both of them. "Can you both shut up?! We're in the middle of critical situation here!" The Ensign nodded to James as she told him to continue.
"Alright, there's no need to go to Pescara, because there's no report about witches lost there. So, we're only going to Ortona where majority witches and soldiers lost there." The Commander said.
Minna nodded. "Okay then, how many men do you need to accompany you?"
James shook his head. "Men? None…" He starred toward Rin who examined the papers.
The blue haired witch stared at her childhood friend in surprise looks. "Say what?"
"Well, in Greece, I searched for Intel with Ren but since he is no more, you'll…Rin." He stopped talking after he saw Rin's eyes began to shed tears. He walked closer to her and placed his hands at her shoulder. "I-I'm sorry…for being a dick...Rin, but can you help me to gather some Intels? A-after all, you're the most persons I trusted…" He said while patted her head, receiving a cute 'muu' from her.
Rin stared at him and slowly nodded. "Hai…I'll help you, Jim-chan." She smiled at him. "That's what friends mean to be, right?"
James smiled and nodded. He turned his gaze towards Minna. "For our search tomorrow we won't go there with our uniform, It too high profile. So, I want to borrow some of those antic Liberion and Fuso military uniform." After Minna nodded, he turned to his man. "Caparzo, Guiterrez, You with 3 other crews will take a truck and went there if we captured some suspects. Don't forget to use the Liberion army uniform to cover your identity."
"Yes sir!" Both of them said in unison.
Back to the present, James stopped the jeep by the street side. Both of them got off from the vehicle and continued their investigation on feet. James examined the city carefully. There were many peoples in this city, so their investigations were getting harder.
Some minutes -or maybe hours- later, they didn't find anything about the kidnappers. "Dammit, where are those son of a bitches?!" James cursed.
"Nee Jim-chan, why we don't asks some of the store keepers here? They might know one or two things yesterday." Rin said. James only nodded in response.
They later stopped on one of the shop which sells jewelries. Rin's eyes were shimmering when she starred at the jewelries but she struggled to suppress it due to the high priority mission. James only sighed and shook his head.
Later the shopkeeper came. James asked her. "Speak English?" But the shopkeeper got confused. James thought he asked a wrong question. "Sorry, I mean do you speak Brittanish?"
The Shopkeeper nodded. "May I help you sir?"
"Did you see a Fusoan witch and Sailor with brown hair come here yesterday?"
The Shopkeeper touched her chin as she stared at the ceiling before turned to James. "Yeah, I think a saw them. They went here for buy necklace yesterday."
"Did you feel something suspicious yesterday?" The blonde wizard asked again.
"Um yes, yesterday I think I saw a group of Karlsland soldiers followed them all the way but they didn't notice it." She finished. She leaned forward with confused looks. "Why did you ask me, sir?"
"Nothing, just curious." He replied plainly. "Thank you, let's go Rin!" He said as he turned around and tapped Rin's shoulder.
The Duo was walking down the street which filled with many peoples. James felt that someone followed both of them. He turned around but he saw nothing but people passed. "Jim-chan, what are you doing?" He turned around to face Rin. "Hayaku!" James quickly ignored the idea and followed Rin.
Both of them walked in silence until James broke it. "Rin, how about we go to the bar here?"
"What? We're here to search for Bishop and Miyafuji, not for RnR!" Rin shouted.
"Hey, calm down your voice, Rin! Everyone is staring at us!" James said. Rin looked at her surrounding and saw some soldiers and witches glancing at them before passed. She sheepishly lowered her head. "I think we can find something if we went to some crowded places. Come on, we don't have all day!" He said before entered a bar nearby.
The bar was very full of peoples. In the center of the bar there was a crowd of people dancing while some soldier in Royal Army uniform played Celtic punk music beside it. Rin saw a couple of witches in Imperial Fuso Navy sailor uniform kissing which made her a bit disgusted. James also saw three witches in Liberion Army Air Force uniform do push up with their familiar sticking out while the other soldiers surround them and cheered on whom they're betting. He grinned and walked to the bar with Rin.
"A beer and two glass please." James said as the bartender placed a bottle of beer and two small glasses. James poured the beer as he looked back at where there was a push up 'match'. Somehow, the witch with long brown hair and crow familiar won the 'match' as the other soldier pay their bet. The American wizard saw that witch stared at him before blushed and said something to her friends which he can't hear. The blondie noticed Rin jealously glared at the Liberion witch. "You might want to get away from here, I'll get this." He whispered at Rin. Rin nodded and walked away.
Not long after that, James sensed that someone coming toward him. "May I sit here?" Someone asked. James raised his head and saw the Brown haired witch smiled at him.
"Of course." James replied as he took a sip from his glass. He pushed the other glass to the witch as she sat down.
"My name's Clarissa Anderson but everyone call me Bud, pleased to meet you." She said as she offered her hand.
"I'm James Hopper, nice to meet you."
After they handshake, they silent for a while before Clarissa started. "It's nice to see another Liberion here."
"Well, how about your friends? They are Liberion too," He said as he pointed at two Liberion witches which sat not far from there. He felt that they all stared at him whilst flustering. "And don't say that you're betting with them to seducing me," The Commander asked with a teasing grin.
"Uh, that's…" The Liberion witches blushed as she twiddled her fingers.
James chuckled before said. "Don't worry about that. If you want, I can act like you succeeded in seducing me." It gained a soft laugh from her.
"Well, I better play fair." She replied as she continued giggling.
He glanced at his companion which took a seat not too far but not too near from him. Rin shoot a dead glare to him which caused him sweat dropped before motioned his hands to 'stand down' gesture. She puffed her cheek and crossed her arms and looked away from him. James changed his gaze to his surrounding, tried to find something suspicious.
"Hey Hopper, you don't come here to R&R, do you?" James starred back at Clarissa who had a questioned look. "You look like searching for something."
James cleared his throat. Might be telling her something isn't matter, right? After all, he came here to gathering some Intel. She might be knew one or two things. "Yeah, you're right. I'm not here to R&R but for…"
"So, you're searching for your missing friends, right?" Clarissa finally concluded.
"Uh-huh." James nodded before took another sip from his beer. He told her about the witches and wizards who went missing yesterday but he keep secret about the fact that two of them were witches of the 501st JFW and the rest were soldier boys that has magic power and from the future. "Do you know anything about missing witches and soldiers?"
"Sorry, I don't. But one of my acquaintances from 135th Tank Division also went MIA somewhere in Romagna two days ago. There was no clue about who kidnapped her but her body was nowhere to be found." She replied. She stared back at her friends whom one of them raised her left hand and pointed at her military styled watch. "I gotta go." She said as she rose from seat.
"Bye!" She said as she waved at him while walked to her friends.
James only waved back and smiled at her. He also raised from his seat after pay the bill and walked to Rin.
"Having fun until you forget about our mission, huh?" She said sarcastically.
Clarissa stared back at James who now talked to his witch friend. She gave a sad smile before walked to her friends whom some of them has already sleeping. "What take you so long?" One of her friends who had longer than regulation blond hair asked.
"There was something interesting we talked about." She replied with a smile.
Her other friend who had neck long black hair and was sleeping suddenly rose up and asked her cheerfully. "Did you manage to seduce him?"
"I don't think so, Jane. I thought he already has a girlfriend and only try to being nice to me." Clarissa replied as she stared back at James who stood next to the Fusoan witch while the Fusoan yelled something to him which she can't hear. The group later walked toward the exit after passed a table which has 6 KKE soldiers on it. Unknown to them, the Karslander grinned at each other as the group pass.
As the Trio took a shortcut through an alley, they saw a Karsland soldier stood at the end of the alley and halt them.
"What do you want?" Clarissa's first friend, Eddie asked.
"What I want?" The soldier asked while pointed at himself. "What I want are you all." He said.
Before the witches get what he wanted. Someone tackled them to the ground and tied them with plastic handcuff. "Clarissa, help!" the black haired girl, Jane cried before her head were being closed by a bag.
"What the hell are you doing?" Clarissa shouted at the Karslander.
"Sorry, I just did what my superior ordered to me." The first Karslander said as he grinned at the girl.
The Liberion witch shut her eyes closed and began to shed tears. "Anybody, please help me!" She said in her mind and waited for the Karslander to close her head but instead she heard someone dropped to the ground. She opened her eyes and saw one of the Karslander that hold a bag lying on the ground with a hole in his temple. She starred back to the front and saw James standing in front of her with his Fusoan 'girlfriend' who held a suppressed pistol and had a pair of Akita Inu ears on her head. "Hopper…" Clarissa muttered while smiled. But her smile turned to a shock after she saw a pair of Owl feathers on his head and tail on his back. The soldiers also shocked as she was.
Rin lowered her suppressed Minebea P9 and nodded at the American. James stepped forward and raised his voice. "So you guys are the Fritz dickheads who kidnapped the members of the Strike Witches, aren't you?"
Clarissa's eyes widened after he said the word 'Strike Witches'. So the 'friends' he searched for are the members of one of the most famous Witches Squadron?!
The Leader stepped forward. "What if I say yes?" He said.
James stern face turned to a grin. "I and my friend here will dig a grave for you."
Suddenly, the Lieutenant shouted. "Shot them both!"
James sensed there were two peoples coming from the other end of the alley (Sensing something coming is his magic). And of course there were another two Karsland soldier coming with Suppressed Luger P-38 and fired it at Rin. James was more than ready to throw a shield to protect Rin from the bullets.
The Leader shocked because the last time he heard about a male witch from his friend, the said male witch only could form a small amount of shield before exhausted and passed out but this guy could form a shield that has the same size as the normal witches shield. He kept that thought aside and saw both their attention distracted by the sudden fire. "Hey you, hit that girl with the log!" He whispered at one of his subordinates which he nodded.
The Karslander slowly picked up a log and silently walked toward Rin's back. When he tried to smack the back of her head with the log, the girl ducked and evaded the attack. As the soldier swung it again to her face, she dodged the log with her right hand as her left hand pulled her Bayonet and stabbed the soldier's hand with it before delivered a powerful punch at his face.
James went to his fighting stance when another Kraut charged at him with a Combat Knife. The Karslander wildly swung his knife at the American but he easily evaded it. James saw an opportunity as the soldier swung his knife very hard to the left and the Commander quickly took his hand and stabbed the knife on his hand , pinning it to the wall made the soldier unable to pull it. James then slammed the poor soldier's body to the wall multiple times before pulled him and sent a round-horse kick to his face.
The soldiers who carried pistols raised their gun at the Duo and fired it. Rin raised her shield to protect both her and James. After the pistol fire almost ceased and Rin deactivated her shield, James pulled his Suppressed USP 45 from his holster before rolled forward and fired at the soldier on their head, killing them instantly.
"Nice shot, James!" Rin praised her friend but their 'celebration' interrupted by a sudden scream and gun being cocked. Both of them turned around and saw the leader held Clarissa from behind while pointed his silenced Luger P-38 at her head.
"Let her go, asshole!" James shouted as he and Rin trained their pistol at him.
The Leader laughed before said. "Take a shot if you dare enough!" He slowly walked backward.
The Navy Officers didn't want to take a risk in opening fire. As the Leader almost reached the end of the alley, he fired his pistol at the other two Liberion witches who still being tied and had a bag on their head. "Shit!" James cursed as he and Rin raised their shield to protect Clarissa's friends and fortunately, it worked.
But when they looked back to the Leader, they found Clarissa was being dropped to the ground as the Leader ran away. Rin pulled the trigger twice but none of it hit the target.
"Damn it!" James cursed again before he contacted his subordinates. "Charlie, this is Bravo! We got a hostile in hot pursuit! He's heading to the east from the center of Ortona! One blonde man with KKE dress uniform and Obersturmfuhrer ranks!"
"Roger that!" Daniel replied emotionlessly.
Meanwhile, Carlos was driving a military truck with Daniel who sat beside him. Both of them dressed in US Army Infantry uniform. Both of them thought that the uniform is much more comfortable than their service uniform even though it was loose-fitting for Daniel's size since he's only a few centimeters higher than Lucchini. He just got a contact from his Commander that they encountered a hostile with Karsland military uniform, which means they has been completed one of their objective and now did to the second, capture that hostile and get whatever information they'll get since the said hostile is an officer.
Carlos noticed James and an unknown Liberion witches ran after someone in Karsland Military Uniform on the sidewalk. "That's our boy! That's our boy!" Carlos said before gave more pressure on the pedal. However, the man ran to a crowded alley and blend with it. "The Jerry is running!" Carlos yelled after he stepped on the break.
"I'll get him!" Daniel said sternly before disembarked the truck. He summoned his familiar, a Cheetah to make him ran faster before ran after the Karslander.
The Lieutenant stared to his back and saw another Male Witch with Cheetah's ears and tail chased him with incredible speed. He saw stacks of crates and used it to jump to the rooftop. The Male Witch also jumped toward the rooftop by only using one of the crates. They kept ran on the rooftops. Sometimes the Male Witch fired his suppressed M1911 but it missed him since they both moving.
The Lieutenant saw one of the rooftops that directed to the alley had a ladder on it. He smirked and used it to descend to the alley. After he got on the ground, he kicked the ladder away and smirked when he saw the Male Witch stop chasing him. The Lieutenant ran toward the end of the alley happily. But he was unaware that there was a foot flying to his chest and hit him and he fell to the ground.
Rin has just kicked the Karslander's chest after he freed from Daniel's chase. And now he was lying on the ground as he grunted while James and Carlos began to handcuff him. She noticed that Clarissa and her friends were also there and they stared at Daniel while shocked because they've just saw another Wizard. She whispered at James as he watch Carlos and the other Curtis Wilbur crews in disguise took the Karslander to the truck. "Jim-chan, are you sure it is alright to show your familiar in front of them?"
James nodded before responded. "It seems they can be trusted." He turned to Carlos. "Lieutenant Commander Caparzo, tell the Redhead that we've the package!"
June 5th 1945, 1810 hours
501st JFW base, Pescara, Romagna
Minna was leaning on the windows of her office. She watched the sunset as the winds blew her Red hair. Suddenly, Gertrude rushed to her office. "Minna! Commander Hopper has been arrived!" Minna nodded and both girls ran towards the gate.
After the girls arrived in the front gates, they saw James and Rin disembarked the jeep while Carlos and Daniel disembarked the truck. They also saw every Strike Witches members also present there.
"Hopper?" James turned his attention at Minna who called him. "Have you found the Intel?"
James only nodded and whistled while gazed at the truck. He also motioned to the base volunteers who stood not far from there to help which they nodded.
They later saw the other crews pushed three handcuffed soldiers in Karsland military uniform with bags on their heads out from the truck and escorted them to the hangar. As Eila curiously tried to follow the crews, Carlos shouted. "Clear the way! Clear the way!" The witches noticed that they carried three body bags made the witches gasped in shook.
James noticed Gertrude glared at him and he simply said. "I know what are you thinking, Flight Lieutenant. But we don't have much choice except to kill them because they tried to kill us. It's basically a self-defense."
They walked toward the hangar. The crews leaned the Karslander on the crates before release the bags on their head. Just after James entered the hangar, he starred at the peoples behind him.
"I only permitted Commander Minna, Captain Barkhorn, Fish, and Rin to enter the hangar during the interrogation. The other please stepped out from this hangar…" He said. "…especially you!" He pointed at Lucchini who was the youngest person there. Without said anything, the not mentioned peoples leave the hangar and the peoples inside the hangar closed the door.
Lucchini curiously planted her ears on the hangar door. "Bad day, huh?" She heard James talking.
"Kiss my ass, Ami!" She heard again, this time from the Karslander. Not long after that she heard someone being slapped.
Before she heard anything from there, someone tapped her shoulder. "Get your goddamn ear out from the door, Pilot Officer. That show ain't no rated PG," Carlos said. Luchinni only nodded and stepped away from the door.
Later, the group heard some scream of pains from the hangar after the sound of electricity and someone being hit by wood or metal. They also heard James barked something. They even heard the sound of drill followed by screams. The Witches, excluding Tara gasped in disbelief as they hear what happened but the crews only calmed since they knew how interrogation looks like.
Several minutes later, the door opened, revealing some soldiers pushed the Karslander, now even more bruised and bloodied to the medical bay. The groups turned around and saw the interrogator stepped out from the hangar.
"Let's get to the briefing room to discuss this," James said.
"Did you juice out all of the information from them?" Carlos asked.
"Almost," Faizal replied.
Inside the briefing room, everyone circled a large table which has Romagna map on it. "From information we got from the Karslander, the place they use to hold the prisoners is an island in the south east of Romagna." James explained. Rin gave James a piece of paper and James placed it on the table. "This is the map of that island." The island is a bit looks like a circle except there's a cape in the south west of the island.
"Where do you get this map?" Shirley asked the Commander.
"Rin can read someone's mind by touching his or her temple." He replied. "Do you know Vulcans? Star Trek? That's how Rin's magic works, except she can't read subconsciousness. So we must learn it from the hard way," James noticed that the big busted Liberion got confused by his statement.
"Boss, there's no such a thing in this year, let alone a TV," Carlos whispered at his CO.
James laughed nervously whilst rubbing the back of his head before continued. "They've some buildings in this place." He pointed at the east and west side of the island. "One of them must be the place where they hold the prisoners, so we can't just blow them off." He said. "We also got a report they have some warships in the west and east side of the island and average amount of anti-naval and air guns around the base, some of them use anti-magic rounds, so we must be careful. In the south side of the base, near the cape, there is forest with many trees."
Sanya raised her hand. "How they get their hands on those anti-magic rounds?"
"We don't know and that's not really necessary, for now," James replied. "Now listen for the strategy. The USS Curtis Wilbur will sailed to the south of the island and stopped near the cape which consisted of cliffs that we can use as cover place and firing on the enemy warships. Then, a squad sized team lead by me will infiltrate the enemy's base. After we free all prisoners, we'll get back to the Curtis Wilbur and get the hell out from there." All of them nodded.
"What is our task, Commander Hopper?" Minna asked.
"For the Strike Witches, you guys will fly to the operation airspace from this place after the infiltrator squad entered the base. You will give us air supports if we get pinned down by the enemy forces. After we get out from there, we'll tell the Top Brass what the hell happened." James said. He exhaled deeply before said. "I know this is very high risk mission even risker than fighting Neuroi but our friend's safety is the most important things and we'll not just sit down here when they get lost." He raised his right hand to the air. "Operation Coral Rock…" He stretched his hand to the front as he yelled. "…Started!"
The crews aboard the Curtis Wilbur began to load the VLS with some SM-2 and Tomahawk missiles. The rest armed themselves with assault rifles and shotguns. Carlos watched the engineering witches and wizards activating the WPR. He then contacted the bridge. "Bridge, the Reactor has been activated! Ready to Rock n Roll, sir!"
James was stood and watching the crews in the Helicopter Hangar fueling the SH-60B. "How much fuel we have?"
"Not really much sir, but it's still enough for cruising over 20 kilometers," The pilot, Ensign Richard Kerner said.
"Looks like we need to ask Ursula for more kerosene supply. Alright, let's get to work!" James said before left the hangar.
"Aye, Captain!"
Meanwhile in the 501st JFW hangar, Shirley and the other mechanic fixing the striker units. Minna entered the hangar and asked the group. "Everything's good?"
"Good ma'am!" Shirley said as she gave her Commander a thumb up, followed by the other mechanic. The Wing Commander stared at Yoshika's A6M Zero and Lynette's Ultramarine Spitfire before sighed and left the hangar.
In the bridge, James saw Minna gave him a thumb up which he gave it back even though she couldn't saw it. "Let's get her to the water!"
"Aye, Aye, Captain!" Tara said as she pushed the throttle to Military speed. The propellers began to spinning and the modern destroyer left the base.
One of the crews loaded a shell on the deck gun. "The deck gun has been loaded!"
The other crews outside loaded torpedoes at the Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes and slapped the lid after inserting them.
"Sir, are you sure you want us to plant the C4 all over this ship?" Rei asked.
"Yes, we can't let those fuckers to have her if all of us must abandon this ship. Not even the wreckage," James replied sternly. The ship continued to sailing under the night starry sky.
June 5th 1945, unknown
Unknown place
"Urgghhh…" Bayu groaned as he woke up and sat while leaned at a wall but his vision was still blurry because someone hit his head. He looked to his surrounding and saw he's inside a brig. He saw some soldiers threw two peoples to the brig. The only thing he knew that one was a boy in his age and wore a WWII US Army shirt while the other one was a girl with Royal Air Force Jacket. Both had blond hair.
"Bayu-kun…" He looked to his left and saw Yoshika staring at him. "Are you okay?" Before he replied, Yoshika noticed blood on his hair. "Your head is bleeding." She said as she closed their gap and placed her hands on his hair to heal him. But she was only able to use a small amount of magic before fell to the ground, exhausted.
Just before he hit the ground, Bayu catch her. "Yoshika!" He said. He then sat her down beside him and asked. "What happened to you?"
Yoshika raised her head at him. "I can't use my magic…"
"Uh, what the fuck…" The boy in WWII uniform moaned as he woke up. It was Larry.
"Larry?" Bayu said as he crawled toward him. "Are you okay, man?"
Larry sat and scratching his head. "Uh, not really, a motherfucker hit my head with a log."
They later heard Yoshika said. "Lynne-chan!" The boy stared at the source and saw Yoshika kneeled in front of Lynette who has been sat down and faced her.
Bayu saw a man in Karslander Heer uniform placed a bowl of porridge in front of the brig. He has a Gewehr 43 sniper rifle on his back with a dark green cap M43, shadowed his eyes. He then pushed the porridge to the brig.
Bayu stared at the amount of porridge. "Excuse me? There are four peoples over here."
The man raised his unseen eyebrows "So? Just shut up and eat!" He barked. Before he took a leave, he dropped a box of cigarettes near the brig bars. The man sighed and kneeled to take it. "Take it easy, buddy. I'll get you and your friends out from here," Bayu heard the man whispered at him which made him surprised. Bayu stared directly at the man as he silently gestured him to quiet. The man stood up and took his leave.
Bayu gazed at the man who continued feeding the prisoners. "What the hell he just said?" He thought. His thought was interrupted by Yoshika who pulled his shirt.
"Bayu-kun, take a chow." She said.
The boy only stared at the porridge which has been eaten by Lynette and Larry. "For Christ sake dude, I heard the AWWB served their POWs with better food, like Kebab and Hajji's tortilla not a shit like this!" Larry said as he took the spoon to his mouth.
"Yeah, no shit." Bayu replied. "At least I got some snack left on my-" He said as he rubbed his pocket only he found that it was empty. "Oh great, they took them." He said as he sighed as he took one of the spoons. "Wherever are you guys, but I hope you get us all out from here." He thought aloud as he took a chow.