501st Defends Fuso!
by rizon72
Note: There are yuri pairings, Eila and Sanya, Lynne and Yoshika and to a lesser extent, Mio and Minna.
Welcome Hattori
Yoshika made her way down the hallway thinking about what she might fix for breakfast for the group. Several ideas came to mind as she turned the corner and walked into the dining room. She noticed only two people in the room, Sanya and Eila who appeared slightly closer than normal.
"Hey Sanya, Eila," Yoshika called out continuing on into the kitchen. "I'm about to make some breakfast, you want some?"
"Um, sure," Eila's voice said, sounding slightly strange. Yoshika glanced back over at the two sitting close together.
"You all right Eila?" Yoshika asked concerned about her friends.
"Fine, I'll be right back," she said suddenly.
Yoshika turned back towards the kitchen hearing some muffled voices then a chair scraping the floor and she knew Eila had left. Yoshika looked over what they had, then turned hearing footsteps to see Lynne walk into the kitchen.
"Morning Yoshika, Sanya," Lynn said heading towards Yoshika.
Yoshika turned to see her friend coming over to help out, dressed in her normal uniform.
"So, how about some pancakes?" Lynn said.
Yoshika thought about that for a few seconds reviewing the ingredients they had on hand. "Yeah, sounds great."
Yoshika quickly gathered up the ingredients for pancakes helping Lynn out as they worked together. A few others straggled into the kitchen as Lynn poured the first pancakes into the pan for cooking. Lucchini came in, immediately asking what they were fixing for breakfast.
"Looks good, I missed your cooking Yoshika," Lucchini said, sitting down at the table, across from Shirley.
"You miss anyone's cooking," the red-headed witch said.
""That's because I like good food," Lucchini replied, sticking her tongue out at her.
Yoshika felt slightly pleased her friends missed her, or at least something about her. She never felt good about her abilities in fighting the Neuroi, like Hartmann, but glad people missed her support. Placing the done pancakes down, she watched Shirley and Trude both reach for the same one.
"That's mine," Trude said, growling at Shirley.
"I got to it first," Shirley replied, not giving up her hold on the piece of food.
Lynne set down another, larger place in front of the others, who filled their plates. Trude and Shirley continued their stare off before Shirley broke off.
"Hey, why do they get a bigger plate?" she asked.
"Because you two always fight over the food," Lynne replied. "It's easier for us if we give you two your own, that way the rest of us can eat."
"I'm not that bad, but she is," Trude said.
"Me, you're the one who won't give up," Shirley replied, despite the fact both of them still had claim to the same pancake.
Eila walked back in, as did Minna and Sakamoto.
"I see almost everyone is here," Minna said.
Yoshika noticed the only one missing, Erica, and figured she was still sleeping. How the blonde, Karlsland witch could sleep so much was beyond Yoshika's ability to fathom.
"Anything wrong? Trude asked.
"No, but there have been no attacks, but there is a land based squadron coming over," Minna said.
Yoshika perked up on that. Land witches were something she only heard of, but never actually seen one.
"A land squadron, what good will they be?" Perrine asked. "The hive is separated from us by water."
Despite Yoshika's yearning to see a squad, she had to agree with Perrine. The Neuroi would still attack throughteh air.
"Comand is worried about the Neuroi's recent strategies, and are prepared for anything. They also have a night witch, which will help out Sanya," Minna said, looking over at the pale witch. "She will be able to fill in during times when we need Sanya for day missions, allow us greater flexibility."
Yoshika pushed that thought aside, unsure of how that would work, but assumed Colonel Minna had everything worked out. She turned her focus to eating waiting to see if the commander had any other news.
"Yoshika, you and Lynne will be training later today," Sakamoto said.
"Yes ma'am," both she and Lynne replied. Yoshika had to regain her combat effectiveness, despite not having any problems in the last encounter, protecting the ships. She had a busy day coming up.
SWSWSWSW
Minna sat back in her chair, stretching slightly, looking at the amount of paperwork she had. She looked over the papers once more. The 501st had ten combat effective witches, and currently Sakamoto could only help out, not engage in combat. She understood that Sakamoto would be helpful in combat, being a long range spotter she should see things they would not quicker. And by directing the witches, they would form a more effective unit.
She looked up at the knock at the door. In walked in a witch, with short brown hair, and stood almost as tall as Shirley. By the uniform Minna guess the girl was from Liberion.
"Captain Lucy Pool, 3rd armored Strike Witch squadron. I was told to report in with you when my squad had settled in," the witch, Lucy said.
"Ah, yes, thank you," Minna said, realizing she was the commanding officer for the land based squadron. "Have a seat, can I interest you in something to eat?"
Lucy sat down, placing her hat on the small table before answering. "No thanks, I'd like to get thought this and back to my squad."
Minna looked on, a bit shocked at the bluntness of Lucy's attitude but pulled out a map instead. "I don't know if they briefed you on the situation," Minna said, opening the map and placing it on the desk, as Lucy stood to look at the map.
"No, only to report to Fuso and take command of the 3rd," Lucy replied.
"We have a hive here," Minna said, pointing to the spot. "And we are here."
"Okay, but why are we here, you are aware we're land combat witches, not you fancy air girls," Lucy said, causing Minna to roll her eyes.
"You are aware of the last offensive by the Neuroi, the one that attacked us here was suicidal, destroying an entire town," Minna said, seeing Lucy only nod, but not really listening. The Liberion witch appeared annoyed at her assignment. "I hope we can work together, for the sake of defending Fuso."
"Must be why I have a night witch, and most of the girls have a specialty in air defense," Lucy said.
Minna fell silent at the comment. Her knowledge did not include the witches in the land unit. But she felt a bit relieved at the fact they had some air defense. She also knew an additional air squad stretch the witches too think in other areas where they were defending against hives.
"Well, I'd like to go though and make sure everything is up to standards," Lucy said.
"Of course," Minna said.
SWSWSWSWSW
Mio knocked on the door, waiting for Minna. The door opened a second later, reveling the familiar face of Minna, who appeared a bit frazzled. Mio knew the colonel struggled with the meeting with the commander of the 3rd Armor strike witches, and hoped to deliver some good news for a change.
"Mio, come in,' Minna said, retreating back to her desk. Slumping into the chair she waited a second before saying anything else.
"I take it your meeting with Lucy Pool didn't go well?" Mio asked.
"Ugh", Minna replied, running a hand through her hair.
"She did mess up in Europe," Mio said.
"That might explain things," Minna said. "She has a chip on her shoulder that his is a punishment or something."
"She engaged without permission, and without support in her last battle," Mio said. "However, she is also a solid leader, and witch."
"That's true, maybe she'll get over whatever it is she has a problem with here," Minna said. "I did get the feeling that she doesn't like us, or maybe it was me."
Mio thought about that for a second. She needed to see the reports again, but that would require heading back down to the main base. She filed that back in her mind for later.
"We have to set up a schedule for Sanya and Boelter, to make sure they are not overlapping too much," Minna said.
"Might even have them split the shift up at night, that way Sanya isn't so exhausted during the day," Mio said.
"It's a possibility," Minna said. "However working with Lucy that will be the sticking point."
"There is something else," Mio said, getting around to why she was there.
"Oh?"
"I found a new recruit, a Hattori Shizuka, here in Fuso, recently completed training," Mio said.
"You think she'll work out?" Minna asked.
"Yes, recruited her myself after getting back to Fuso from Romangna," Mio replied.
"If you think she'll work, I'll trust you. Last time you came back with a remarkable witch in Yoshika," Minna said.
"I think the only trouble we'll have, is her being star struck," Mio said, recalling the way the younger witch gushed on about the stories and feats of Miyafuji. "I'll go pick her up from the base then."
"Any word from intelligence about the next Neuroi attack?" Minna said.
"Nope, but they don't' know this hive well yet, that will take a couple of weeks," Mio replied.
"Head on over and get our new recruit, after all, the baths will be complete later on today," Minna said, with a waggle of her eyebrows.
"A bath with you, wouldn't miss that," Mio replied.
SWSWSWSW
Yoshika watched the rest of the group walk into the meeting room. Standing in front of them, Minna stood with another person, dressed like she and Sakamoto were. Lynne walked in, sitting down next to Yoshika.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"I don't know," Yoshika replied, looking up at the front.
The way both Minna and Sakamoto stood meant nothing bad. They were talking to the Fuso girl, with black hair in a ponytail. The more Yoshika stared, the more the girl seemed to seem like the major. Was the girl a sister of the major? That thought caused her to pause, the major never said anything about family, so she had no idea.
Eila walked in, steering Sanya into the room. Sanya, as usual, appeared half asleep holding a pillow, sat down, put her pillow on the table top and went back to sleep. Eila brushed a few strands of pale hair away from Sanya's face before looking up at the rest of the group.
Erica walked in yawning, slumping into a chair, resting her head on the desk. Lucchini came bouncing in to the room, stopping only for a second before sitting next to Shirley, being the last to arrive.
"Now that we're all here, I have some announcements, first off, this is Sergeant Hattori Shizuka, she will be joining the 501st as of today," Minna said. "So every, be sure to introduce yourself to her."
Yoshika looked at the witch now realizing who she was.
"Yoshika, would you come up here," Minna said, surprising her.
She glanced at everyone, unsure but walked up to Minna. She noticed Hattori with an open expression of shock on her face. She saw it before, people recognizing her name from her past tours of duty as a witch.
"It's my pleasure to announce that as of today, you are now promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant," Minna said, surprising Yoshika. She really understood little about what that meant, but accepted the new rank as she always did.
"Thank you ma'am," Yoshika said.
"You'll be getting a pay raise Yoshika," Sakamoto said.
Yoshika thought she already got too much pay, but understood the reasoning behind it. She accepted the promotion, and knew her mom and grandmother would like the additional money she sent back.
"That's it, though our sleeping arrangement now has a problem," Minna said. "Anyone willing to share a room with Hattori, or someone else?"
"Lucchini and I can share," Shirley said.
Yoshika looked to Shirley, then over at Lucchini who shrugged.
"Sounds good," Minna said. Everyone knew Lucchini rarely slept in her room anyways. "Anyone willing to show Hattori around the base?"
"Lynne and I can," Yoshika replied, looking at Lynne then at Hattori.
"Excellent," Minna said. "I'll leave her with you Miyafuji."
"Yes ma'am."
Minna and Sakamoto left the room, leaving everyone else to greet the newcomer.
"I'm Yoshika, this is Lynne," Yohsika said, introducing Hattori to Lynne.
"P-Pleasure to m-meet you," Hattori said, bowing slightly at Yoshika.
"I'm Francesca Lucchini, but everyone calls me Lucchini."
"I'm Charlotte Yeager, but call me Shirley," Shirley said, moving over to where Lucchini was.
"I'm Gertrud Barkhorn, the sleepy blonde there is Erica Hartmann, don't pick up the same lazy habits she has," Barkhonr said, then excusing herself headed out of the room before Erica could reply.
"I'm Eila Juutilainen, and this is Sany Litvyak," Eila said, supporting a sleepy Sanya.
"I'm Perrine Clostermann," Perrine said, still sitting down at her seat.
"It's nice to meet you all," Hattori said. She then gave a yelp, as Lucchini came up from behind and grabbed Hattori's breasts.
"So?" Eila's voice asked.
"Average," Lucchini replied. "Not as big as Lynne or Shirley's."
"W-What?" Hattori asked, shocked by what happened.
"It's not that big of a deal," Shirley said, as Lucchini buried herself in the red-head's buxom.
"Watch out for those two, they are perverts," Perrine's voice said.
"You're jealous because you're flat," Lucchni said.
"Can't compete with these," Shirley said, hefting her own breasts.
"I can't believe you all," Perrine said. "Such a horrible habit."
With that she stormed out of the room leaving the rest in silence for a second.
"She needs to get laid, like Eila and Sanya" Hartmann said. Yoshika stared openly at Erica, then over at Eila and Sanya.
"Don't talk about Sanya that way," Eila said, but Yoshika could see a slight blush on the Suomus witch's face. Sanya slept thought it all.
"Um, how about we start the tour," Lynne said, standing next to Yoshika.
"Yeah," Yohsika replied, happy to get away from the group. They led Hattori out of the room and outside starting the tour with the hangar.
"Are they always like this?" Hattori asked.
"Sometimes," Yoshika replied.
"Don't let it bother you," Lynne said. "Lucchini and Eila tease me all the time about my breasts."
"Yeah, but Lynne has good breasts," Yoshika said, then stopped at what she said, blushing. "Well, I mean that everyone is nice once you get to know them."
"Um, w-well, Major Sakamoto told me a lot about you Miyafuji," Hattori said.
"Me?" Yoshika replied, a bit surprised the major would talk about her.
"Oh yes, you're dedicated, loyal, hard-working, and stick to your beliefs. We all looked up to you when training," Hattori said, causing the blush to return to Yoshika's face.
"Yoshika is very inspirational, if it wasn't for her I would never had gained any confidence," Lynne said.
"That's not true Lynne, you gave me confidence," Yoshika said, turning to face her friend.
"Of course Yoshika gives people confidence, you're always trying hard, that's what Major Sakamoto says," Hattori said.
Yoshika had no answer, instead taking the tour to the barracks, then the baths, sauna, and finally to a large room where they lounged when not training or in their room. Perrine sat on a sofa reading a note.
"So, did they give you a proper tour?" Perrine asked.
"Of course we did," Yoshika replied.
"Well, we're all done," Shirley said, walking into the room with Lucchini.
"I didn't have much stuff, we could have moved Hartmann," Lucchini said, smiling a bit.
"No!" Shirley said. Yoshika understood that, Erica's room always was a mess. In Romangna the mess ended up a constant source of irritation between Barkhorn and Hartmann.
"Her room is already a mess," Lynne stated.
"What?" Yoshika said. They had only been here two weeks.
"I swear, that girl is a pig, so lazy, and should have more respect of others," Perrine said, before leaving the room.
"Wow," Yoshika heard Hattori say.
"Well, off to the hangar, thought we'd let Hattori know her room is ready," Shirley said, walking out with a wave followed by Lucchini.
"Come on, we'll show you to your room," Yoshika said. The walked in silence to the now empty room.
"This is better than training, had to bunk with two other witches," Hattori said.
"Oh, really?" Yoshika said, her training came in Britannia. She never went through the regular routine like most witches. "I flew before receiving training."
"We heard, you saved Major Sakamoto," Hattori said. "She tells stories about all of you actually, even Perrine. Is she always so, well," Hattori stopped, thoughtful.
"Aloof?" Yoshika said.
"So cool," Hattori said, lasping her hands and looking at Yoshika.
"Um, well she can come across as that, but she's really a nice person," Yoshika said, recalling everything Perrine had done last year. "She's dedicated to rebuilding Gallia."
"That right, I even helped out for a while, her parents were wealthy, and she donated that to help rebuild the country," Lynne said.
"So noble," Hattori said, looking out the window.
Yoshika looked over at Lynne, but said nothing. She had the feeling she misinterpreted Hattori.
SWSWSWSW
Over the next couple of days at practice, Hattori joined her with Sakamoto in training. Yoshika also noticed that the younger witch seemed to look at Perrine rather strangely, she would look away if anyone caught her. Lynne noticed it but so far no one else had. They both knew if Lucchini noticed the teasing might never stop.
"Come on Yoshika," Lynne said, walking into the bathing room.
"Be right there," Yoshika said, finishing stripping out of her uniform, taking her towels and heading into the bath.
"This feels nice," Lynne stated.
"Yeah, it does," Yoshika replied. Sakamoto had been especially hard with today's training. She sat there beside Lynne enjoying the silence before hearing Hartmann's voice, but unable to make out what she said.
"You're a witch from Karlsland," Trude's voice said, a second later she walked into the bathing room. "Yoshika, Lynne."
"Trude, how's Chris?" Yoshika asked, hoping the subject was safe.
"Fine, helping out in Gallia," Trude said. "She sends letters to Perrine for direction. She's acting very responsible."
Yoshika noticed a look in the direction of the dressing room, as Erica walked in, looking a bit sleepy. It appeared the two had another argument about Erica's attitude towards training and discipline. How the two of them remained friends astonished Yoshika. They were completely different outside of combat.
"Wow, that's great," Yoshika said. "Does she know you're here in Fuso?"
""I sent a note to her, but it will take time to get there," Trude said, tilting her head back in thought. "However she's still too close to the front line."
"My sister is there," Lynne said.
"Wilma is there?" Trude said.
"Yeah, she was stationed there before we left for Fuso, I got a message from Sanya who said she was all right," Lynne said.
"The night witches communications," Trude said. "I'll have to speak with her then."
"Get a message to Chris," Erica said. "She knows your abilities, and you're too disciplined to be caught off guard. So where's the newbie?"
"Hattori, flying practice with Perrine," Trude said. "She's got spunk and follows orders well. She and Perrine make a good team."
Yoshika looked around the bath, they were the only ones in the bath right now. The men on the base had their own barracks and bath. One of Minna's rules, no interaction between the two groups. At first she thought of the rule as a restriction, but now, on her third tour, she enjoyed it. She wondered if that had anything to do with her being older, or the attraction to Lynne.
She looked over at her best friend, who looked back and smiled causing her to smile back. It felt nice to relax with friends. The bathing area could easily sit all twelve witches.
"You're not as bad as you were Miyufaji," Trude said, surprising Yoshika.
"R-Really?" she asked, hoping Trude was not joking with her. She really tried hard.
"Yeah, All your experience seems to have helped," Trude said. "Maybe you'll even get a few more kills this year."
"I'd trade all my kills to defeat the hive," Yoshika said.
"We understand Miyafuji," Trude said. "We've all been there. Lynne in Britannia, Karlsland, Romanga, Orussia, Gallia and Suomus, all are threatened by the Neuroi."
"Only Liberion hasn't been threatened," Erica said, tilting her head back.
"That is interesting," Trude said, thinking about it.
"Maybe there is some connection to the land, like Europe and Asia?" Lynne said quietly. They sat there in silence for several minutes before two others walked in.
"What a tense atmosphere," Shirley said.
"Yeah, loosen up,' Lucchini said, jumping into the bath.
SWSWSWSW
Mio flew along in the clouds, scanning the sky with her magic eyes. She could see the top of the Neuroi hive, but not the bottom. She still loved flying, and wished she could still fight, but her abilities no longer allowed her to fight effectively.
Now she spent the days on the base training the witches, or on patrol checking out radar contacts that popped up. So far nothing came about from the hive, and with such a new hive they had no intelligence on how quickly it would send out attacks. The last attack, three days ago had gone towards Orussia. The 46th squadron managed to destroy it, even though the 501st had been deployed as a back-up.
A few of the Orussia witches seemed in awe of Sanya. Mio understood that each witch from the 501st now appeared to the rest of the world as heroes,people to be proud of.
"Major Sakamoto, this is base, come in."
"Sakamoto here," Mio replied, waiting for the orders.
"Radar is showing a contact coming from the direction of the hive, about quadrant six."
"On it," Mio said, heading in the direction while keeping an eye open for anything.
She moved in keeping an eye out not wanting to be surprised by the Neuroi. The last thing she wanted to do was get too close to one. She saw nothing, not unusual as she had many false alarms. Still she treated each one with danger.
A glint of black caught her eye using her magic, she spotted a Neuroi. "Incoming Neuroi, scramble all witches," Mio said, taking a moment to fly backwards keeping the distance between them. She studied it carefully to see if this one had any unusual marks or cores. They would need that information to fight it. She did noticed it flew low, but not fast. A bit unusual for them. She continued to observe while waiting.
SWSWSWSW
Yoshika stopped in her tracks, hearing the familiar wail of the siren.
"Neuroi!" Trude yelled, running for the hanger.
Yoshika glanced at the others with her before breaking out in a run after Trude. She got there seeing almost everyone except Sanya, who was probably sleeping.
"Neuroi spotted in quadrant six," Minna said to the group. "Major Sakamoto is observing it, we'll form up stay with your partner, and follow orders."
"Roger," they all said.
Yoshika activated her magic, jumping into her striker, gripped her machine gun and prepared to take off.
"Let's go girls," Minna said.
Yoshika followed behind Eila with Lynne behind her, rushing down the runway and up into the air. They all formed up, Yoshika pairing with Lynne today.
"Mio, what's the situation?" Minna asked.
"One slow Neuroi, one core, but is flying low to the ocean."
"Interesting," Minna said. A slow Neuroi was unusual, causing her to wonder what it was up to this time. Add in the fact it flew close to the ocean and this got interesting. Usually the Neuroi were faster and flew higher above the ocean.
"Neuroi spotted," Trude's voice said. Minna glanced up spotting the alien craft. This one appeared round and saucer-shaped, with a small dome on the top.
"Mio, where's the core?" Minna asked, hoping to get to it quickly.
"Appears to be in the center, closer to the top," Mio replied.
"Understood," Minna said, "All units, attack."
Trude made a pass firing into the Neuroi along with Erica as they tried opening up the Neuroi for a shot at the core. Minna and Eila followed up with their attack in the same area. Deploying shields to deflect an attack Minna went in for another attack run.
Pulling up she watched as Lynette fired off a few shots as Yoshika deflected a few Neuroi beams. The shots struck the Neuroi but it still had too much armor to reach the core. It began regenerating quickly once more. She looked over to see Perrine and Hattori working well together. Perrine taking on the extra responsibility of a wing mate very well. She nodded to herself glad that pairing worked out so well. Shirley and Lucchini working with them on that side of the Neuroi.
"That's not good," she heard Shirley say, and looked back at the Neuroi. Sighing, she saw several smaller Neuroi being launched from the large craft. Shirley, Trude, attack the smaller Neuroi, Perrine, follow me and attack, Yoshika, keep the Neuroi off Lynette," Minna said, knowing that everyone's wingmates would stay with the leaders.
"Roger!" they all replied.
Shirley accelerated, keeping Lucchini with her, and went through the Neuroi group, firing all around her as she went, blocking beams and returning fire. Several were destroyed rather quickly. It was approaching land and they had yet to stop it.
"Thisi s Major Wilcke, scramble the 3rd armor witches," Minna said. The last thing she needed would be a repeat of what happened in the first attack. All villages closest to the hive had already been evacuated, but that fact did not make her feel any better. They were there to prevent any Neuroi from gaining a foothold on Fuso.
"Neuroi is splitting," Mio said from her position.
"Great," Minna replied, firing a few shots at the smaller Neuroi who had tried attacking her.
The Neuroi stopped firing and split into six sections. She had one consolation in that only one had the core.
"Where's the core," Minna said.
"Hold on," Mio replied. "Still in the dome-shaped area."
"But each of these could be a bomb like last time," Minna said. "Concentrate on the core."
Minna tried to close in but each time she closed the distance the other parts would attack, blocking her. To make matters worse, the core section continued spewing out smaller craft.
"Its heading down!" Yoshika yelled.
Minna looked to see that it was heading down, but they had their hands full taking care of all the other smaller Neuroi which were focused on them. She watched expecting an explosion and felt surprised when nothing happened. Instead it formed legs and became a ground unit.
"This is Lt Colonel Pool, we have visual on the Neuroi, engaging," a new voice said over the airway.
"Understood, we'll provide air cover keeping the remaining Neuroi off you, Mio, where is the core now?" Minna said.
"Near the top of the dome," Mio replied.
"Understood," Lucy said.
Minna noticed the land witches begin their attack.
"Let's keep these Neuroi off them," Minna said, attacking once more.
She watched Eila weave through a few Neuroi beams quickly destroying a half-dozen smaller attack craft. Yoshika kept the Neuroi off Lynette, who destroyed a few herself, before engaging the larger pieces. Shirley and Lucchini were attacking another large piece along with Perrine and Hattori. She turned heading after a few smaller Neuroi destroying them before they could attack the land witches.
"Core exposed!" she heard Lucy say. Minna continued firing before seconds later every piece shattered.
"Core destroyed," Mio said. "Good work."
"Any others?" Minna asked, she wanted to make sure this was the only Neuroi around.
"Don't see any sign of a new Neuroi," Mio said. "And base reports no contacts."
"All witches return to base," Minna said. "Good work Lucy."
"Yes, you too," Lucy replied, her tone a bit different.
Minna turned and headed back to base with the rest of the 501st listening to the chatter of everyone talking about the Neuroi they encountered. She had never heard of a Neuroi going from air to ground like that. What had it tried to do?
SWSWSWSW
Minna stood in front of the military council. They had listened to her and Lucy's description of the battle. One man, wearing a naval uniform sat stoic for a few seconds before saying anything.
"It appears our decision to include a ground unit was most wise," the man said.
"I'll concede your idea Yamamoto," another man said. "If they had not been there this attack would have been most dangerous. If they gain a foothold on the main island they will be difficult to stop."
"Dismissed," Yamamoto said to the group.
Minna walked out of the room with Lucy. The Liberion witch seemed quieter than last time. She wondered if somehow they got off on the wrong foot last time.
"You allowed us to engage and covered us, why?" Lucy said, as they walked outside.
"My squad's primary mission is the defense of Fuso, not how many kills we have," Minna said. "You could say we work well as a team, each of us will get a turn, and if we all do our job, it doesn't matter. Our leader, Hartmann is a prime example, won several awards, but cares little, Trude, well she had her discipline, but cares more for defeating them. Yoshika only wants to defend the people with her power. One more kill won't make us anymore famous."
"I misread you," Lucy said, glancing down at the pavement. "I expected a group of spoiled flyers, who only care about themselves."
"Well, you will find that, but not when it comes to defending this land," Minna said, proud of her girls.
"Lieutenant Colonels," a voice said behind them, causing them both to turn. Minna saw the naval uniformed man, Yamamoto walking towards them.
"Yes sir?" Minna asked, wondering what he wanted.
"I'm sure you'll be told this many times, but the Fuso Empire will be in your debt many times," he said. "But, I'm disturbed by the Neuroi attacks." He paused looking out at the port where several warships were docked. "They are not acting as normal, even the Orussians agree to that. They had a multiple core attack a few days ago, same result, they destroyed several, but two struck deserted towns."
"What, I heard nothing of that!" Lucy said.
"Orussia is keeping that quiet," Yamamoto said. "It was good that we shared that information with them, otherwise the loss of life would have been high. We are very fortunate you managed to destroy so many before they struck. But this tactic, of landing, very interesting."
"Yes sir, have any of the other attacks on Orussia been strange?"
"No, but I'll be informing them of this tactic. We have your back girls, do your best," he said, turning slightly as an aide walked up.
"Sorry sir, but we have news, the cargo ship Tencho Maru failed to show up," he said.
"Very well, I'll be right there, ladies," Yamamoto said, with a bow left them.
"He's not so bad, unlike some of those in Europe," Lucy said.
"No, his entire mission is defending Fuso," Minna said. She had met him a few times before, but never heard his name until today.
"Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto," Lucy said, thinking about it. "He's a good commander from what I've heard."
"Its nice not having to fight to battles," Minna stated. She dreaded fighting both the Neuroi and the commanders who felt threatened by the witches.
"I think we'll work well together," Lucy said, climbing into the waiting jeep.
"Me too," Minna said, climbing in her own jeep and headed back to base.
End Part 4