Two of the four Neuroi savaging the horrifically outgunned Taffy 3 had fallen to the combined skill and daring of sailors, aviators, and witches, but aboard the Johnston, Captain Evans – no relation to Kyra – couldn't help but feel that they were overdrawn at the first national bank of lady luck. One of his destroyer's engines was down, fires were raging and the hull was breached, but at least their guns were still spitting pain at the Neuroi.
Holding a set of binoculars to his eyes, the captain frowned deeply as he saw the two remaining Neuroi angling for a wounded escort carrier. In a moment, he made up his mind, duty steeling his resolve and stoking his courage. "Guns!" he barked. "Fire on that cruiser analog!" he pointed to the nearest Neuroi, some five hundred feet of glistening shell and flashing weapons. "Draw their fire on us!"
Johnston's remaining guns shot fire at the Neuroi, pummeling its shell and blasting apart weapon hardpoints even as they tried to charge. The other Neuroi turned hard, avoiding a spearhead formation of two witches and wings of avengers.
A tight, low smile of grim satisfaction appeared on the lieutenant commander's face. They'd bought the carrier a little time, but how long could any of them survive? It didn't matter, if they took all four Neuroi down with them.
The ship's radio crackled as one of the witches reported in. "Guys, I'm picking up more Neuroi coming in out of the north! At least three of them, possibly more!"
At that report, the officer ducked his head momentarily. But then he squared his shoulders and tapped deeper into his wellspring of courage. "Estimated time to arrival?" inquired another witch.
"N-not sure!" the voice of the sensory witch shook. "Not more than ten minutes. They're close!"
High above and many miles away, four ribbons of smoke arced high into the sky. Kyra gritted her teeth against the fierce vibration of the missile's enormous thrust, while holding a cocoon of magic tight around her form as a shield. It kept the wind and the cold from numbing her, and kept the incredible speed of the rocket from flattening her. No one ever tried such a stunt before, and Kyra knew that the lives of Katie, Erica, Pascuala, and herself were all in the hands of Rebecca and Shirley, for the modifications to the V-2s had been their doing. One mistake in the settings on the missiles or their modifications and that was it.
But Kyra held tight, determined and confident. We've gotta make it, she thought, her expression setting. The first to launch, Kyra couldn't see the others behind her, and was reluctant to move too much. About all she had done since launch was reach into the compartment where reloads had been stashed, to make sure she was ready when they arrived. "Everyone still here?"
"Erica, standing by!"
"This is Katie, I'm good."
The third voice was a groan. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."
The V-2s' rocket motors fell silent as the precisely-calibrated machines switched over to ballistic flight. The sky seemed thinner up here, as if Kyra could just reach out and touch the moon from where she flew. The air no longer roared in her ears like a thousand beasts, though she still felt its faint tug on her uniform. Even with battle imminent in her future, Kyra couldn't help but feel at ease up here.
"Squadron leader," said Katie. "I'm starting to detect the ongoing battle down in the gulf."
"Ongoing battle?" Katie's phrasing surprised Kyra. Since the initial radio message, there had been no word from the seventh fleet, and the worst was feared.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm detecting Neuroi, and witch magic." There was a pause, and Katie's next words came out strained. "Whoever's still down there is putting up a hell of a fight."
"Trudy!" exclaimed Erica, before giving a frustrated growl. "Can't these things go any faster?"
Pascuala giggled. "We're already going four times what your speed demon Yeager can pull off in her striker unit!"
Reinforcements closing, the two Neuroi seemed to take heart and press the attack. Their beams played through the sky, evaporating wildcats and avengers. They moved into close formation, spreading the shells of the naval guns between them so that neither took too much damage. Another charge built in their weapon banks, and together they fired on the battered Johnston. The destroyer's thin armor bubbled and melted, and the ship's magazine detonated as it was penetrated. The mighty warship became a 376-foot long fragmentation bomb, spraying shrapnel, flame, and smoke in all directions.
"No!" cried Jeanette, raising her shield to protect both herself and Hikari from the blast. "Are you okay?" Jeanette yelled over the ringing in her ears.
"Mm!" Hikari nodded vigorously, but she'd obviously been shaken by the blast. Her blue eyes drifted skyward. "Barkhorn!"
The Karlsland lieutenant had stooped into a near-vertical dive, spiraling around so that the Neuroi fire always seared empty air. With a furious cry she fired what was left of one of her magazines into the wing root of the Neuroi's triangular frame. As the weapon dry-clicked, she spun it around to grip it by the barrel. She swung it like a club as she dove past the Neuroi, puncturing its shell. Between its weakened hull and forward speed, the Neuroi's entire left wing sheered off and the invader went into a flat spin toward the ocean.
Leveling out, Barkhorn circled away from the Neuroi and climbed into a turn. Fighter planes and her fellow witches helped draw the attention of the other Neuroi, and Barkhorn set up to attack it as well. Finally it spared a shot in her direction, but the ace raised her shield in plenty of time.
Barkhorn heard another whine, much closer than the Neuroi she was fixated on. Without looking, she rolled hard to the side. A column of red light swept by, dazzling Barkhorn's right eye. At first, she thought she had evaded harm despite the sneak attack from the wounded Neuroi, but then her striker unit gave an unsettling lurch.
Looking down, Barkhorn could see that the damaged Neuroi was regrowing its missing wing and starting to stabilize. But she also saw a fine stream of coolant spraying from a buckled plate on her striker unit, along with smoke and embers coming out of her exhaust.
In that instant, Barkhorn knew she had two choices. In about five to ten seconds, her striker would explode. Her only choice now was whether she was still in or not. She reached down and yanked the ejection handle. In an instant the twin pods fell away, leaving Barkhorn to plummet toward the ocean.
The striker unit's two halves spiraled off in different directions, before succumbing to the battle damage and exploding seconds apart.
Aboard the Samuel B. Roberts, crewman rushed aft. The destroyer escort, already taking on water from an earlier hit, had suffered a breech explosion in the aft five-inch turret.
"Check on the turret crew!" said the most senior of the sailors to his fellows. He'd just spotted something around the side of the turret, looking like a pile of debris of some kind. His hand drifted near his service pistol as he edged around the turret housing. But what he found did not call for a weapon, and instead he removed his hat and placed it against his chest.
A witch lay on the deck, the tattered remains of her striker unit she attached to her legs. Her uniform, that of a Liberion aviator, was soaked with blood. Her face was likewise streaked with red, her eyes closed, her chest motionless.
He heard the shouts of his fellows checking on the turret crew, but he remained where he stood in mourning to the fallen witch. He searched for words of eulogy when he heard an inhuman sound. His hand snagged his service pistol, thumbing the safety off.
The witch he had thought dead lurched upright, coughing. One of her eyes remained closed, in pain or caked by blood, the sailor couldn't be sure. "H-h-how!?" The sailor, a broad-shouldered, beefy man, backed slowly away from the witch. Though his gun lowered, the fact that the witch was on his side didn't shake his alarm at how clearly unnatural this was. Even witches shouldn't have been able to survive losing so much blood.
That wasn't to say that Elise wasn't injured. Blood still trickled from several of her deeper wounds as she moved, her back felt as though it were still ablaze, and her legs stubbornly refused to hold her weight.
The sailor before her yelled for his fellows, and then knelt beside her. "I thought you were dead!"
"Me too," groaned Elise, standing with the sailor's help. "My magic heals me, and my striker unit. Only reason I survived Africa." Her lips tightened.
After a moment, her other eye opened, and the sailor watched in amazement as she seemed to mend before his eyes. Her blue eyes were drawn skyward, sighting first the two Neuroi remaining in the fight, and then more dark shapes on the horizon. "My weapon!" she looked around, but her M1919 was nowhere to be found. She must have lost it in the fall. Her ear felt as vacant as her hand, and she realized her radio was also missing.
"Dame, you don't look fit to walk 'round the block, let alone fight."
Several more sailors ran over, failing to conceal looks of shock at the fact that someone as battered and bloodied as Elise could even stand.
The two Neuroi pressing the attack had passed the destroyer escort, but the second wave was still coming. Perhaps because of that, or the increasingly sharp list, the "Abandon ship!" order was issued over loudspeaker.
"We won't make it to the water before those space monster gets here!" said one sailor, his voice rising in pitch.
Another sailor, a crusty old bird, gave a chuckle. "What do you think? Go down manning the guns?"
The sound of twin radial engines sputtering and struggling to life cut in. A blue circle flickered dimly beneath Elise, the lieutenant looking pale. "Get clear!" she said, focusing so her engines started to smooth out a little. "I'll cover you as long as I can!"
"You'll need this!" a man passed Elise a Thompson sub machine gun.
Grinning, the redhead double-checked the weapon. Despite the strain that recovering from her injuries had placed on her magic, she managed a vertical launch. She positioned herself off the stern of the Samuel B. Roberts, maintaining position between it and the oncoming Neuroi. As long as she didn't fly around too much, she was certain she had the energy to shield several times.
"Barkhorn!" Hikari screamed into a dive, redlining the FM-2's radial engine. The flightless Barkhorn spread her limbs wide, trying to stabilize herself, but even with magic protecting her it was unlikely she would survive impact with the ocean.
Hikari's eyes were locked on Barkhorn, the distance between them dwindling rapidly. Coming on just as fast however was the ocean. Less than one thousand feet up, Hikari extended her hand and grabbed hold of the back of Barkhorn's uniform. The lieutenant gave a start, and Hikari throttled back while gently leveling out.
"Nice catch, newbie," twisting, Barkhorn grabbed hold of Hikari's hand in her own. One of the ace's machine guns was lost, but she still held the other.
"Mm!" But Hikari's thrill of success was short-lived. Five Neuroi now faced the group, the two in the lead confidently pressing the attack with their fellows coming up behind. "Lieutenant? What's going to happen...?"
"We'll -" Barkhorn began, but her eyes caught a glint of red and she quickly raised her shield. The barrier absorbed the oncoming beam attack, but the moment it abated the other lead Neuroi opened fire. The air squeezed from Barkhorn's lungs as she struggled to maintain the shield. The second stream finally abated, but the third started seconds later.
Hikari banked sharply to the side and accelerated, but carrying Barkhorn's weight slowed her greatly. The Neuroi kept up steady fire upon them, which Hikari was helpless to evade.
"Damn it," hissed Barkhorn, her shield flickering. In an instant Hikari threw up her own, saving them both when Barkhorn's shield collapsed a moment later.
Jeanette dove on the Neuroi, firing her machine gun in controlled bursts. But even as the armor-piercing rounds hammered the Neuroi's shells, they remained focused on smoking their more vulnerable target. Jeanette shattered one weapon hardpoint with a sustained burst, then dropped herself in front of another and shielding, doing anything to try and buy her comrades enough time to retreat.
"Ensign," Barkhorn snapped to Hikari. "This is a direct order: Drop me. I'll take my chances in the ocean."
"No way!" grunted Hikari through the effort of raising her shield again. She knew that Barkhorn's chance in the ocean was no chance at all.
"Don't be stupid!" Barkhorn's voice was almost shrill, her brown eyes lacking their hard edge as they looked up at Hikari. There was an odd, unfocused quality to them, as though she saw someone other than Hikari floating above her. "Save yourself!"
Hikari's hand tightened. She couldn't do it. Losing a comrade was bad enough. Losing one in what felt like a voluntary fashion felt a hundred times worse, even if the alternative was neither survived. "Now, ensign!" shouted Barkhorn, releasing her own grip on Hikari and trying now to actively worm her way free. But the younger girl's ears twitched, and then she smiled gently down at Barkhorn.
Startled by the ease of Hikari's expression, Barkhorn had to wonder if the strain of combat had finally cracked her.
A firestorm of lead rained out of the sky, deluging one of the lead Neuroi. Armor-piercing and explosive projectiles blasted the invader's shell, and the Neuroi listed sharply as the barrage quickly devoured it. A shot hit the core, shattering the Neuroi completely. Instantly, the barrage shifted to the other Neuroi. It rolled hard into a turn, trying desperately to avoid the tracers, but the weapons fire tracked it mercilessly. The hull over the core was quickly blown away, and the sparkling ruby turned to dust as an explosive shell struck it.
The four advance witches of the Tigersharks swung their legs under them, rapidly bleeding off the excess momentum their means of arrival had given them. The four V-2 carcasses, their payloads delivered, splashed down in the sea one by one.
Jeanette cheered loudly, waving manically, dignity forgotten. "Barkhorn!" Hikari said, beaming, her voice rising. "They made it!" The Tigersharks too were delighted, for they had arrived in time to save their comrades. High-fives were exchanged, as well as a few spare magazines.
Erica drifted over to Hikari and the hanging Barkhorn, relief evident on her face. "Trudy!" Erica slung her weapon and reached out.
"Hartmann?" Gertrude Barkhorn said, bewildered. The blonde grabbed Barkhorn in a tight hug, and to the stoic officer's intense embarrassment, kissed her on the cheek. Barkhorn's face immediately flashed red. "H-hartmann!" was Barkhorn's stammered reprimand. Erica released her, looking cutely mischievous. Even under Barkhorn's smoldering gaze, Hikari couldn't help but giggle. Katie smiled, and Pascuala chanted something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "K-i-s-s-i-n-g!"
Kyra coughed into her palm, but didn't fully hide her amusement. "Sparrows, status?"
The others were silent a moment, and so Hikari mustered herself to speak. "Three of us are okay, aside from Barkhorn's striker. Elise..." She trailed off, the words sticking in her swollen throat.
"But I-" began Katie, until Kyra raised her hand.
"We've still got three guests to set the table for," said the squadron leader. "Roy, you're with us. Senka, land Barkhorn on one of the ships, then get back up here."
"Ma'am!" Hikari snapped a salute.
"Assuming there are any left!" Pascuala teased, leaning her machine gun against one shoulder.
As Hikari turned about, her maneuvering sluggish with the extra weight, she could sense that several of the task unit's ships were still making good speed. She could find a safe place to land her lieutenant. Unfortunately, the destruction of her striker meant Barkhorn was out of the fight. The flight's spare striker unit, a beefy P-38, had been lost when the Gambier Bay went down in the early moments of the engagement.
"Commence attack!" barked Kyra, yanking the charging handle on her Bren. Five witches throttled up, banking around toward the oncoming Neuroi. "Clark, Santamaria, on me! Hartmann, Roy, draw their fire!" The two blondes took the lead, tagging the lead Neuroi and then banking as though to attack its 'wingman.'
The first Neuroi turned sharply in the girls' wake, charging its weapons as it came to bear. Kyra grimaced, realizing that this would catch the witches in a crossfire. Fortunately, that first Neuroi was about to have other problems. "Clark? Core?"
"Bottom center!" said Katie. "We'll have to attack it from below!"
The lead Neuroi was larger than normal, exceptionally blocky too. Its hull was almost square, with concentric layers stacked atop each other. The smallest at the top bore two long shafts, each lined with red along its inner edge. Numerous weapons studded the behemoth's sides, and they sent wave after wave of red after the two witches playing decoy.
Erica and Jeanette dodged through the veritable net of beams seeking to ensnare them. It meant they couldn't land an accurate shot, but they were also doing a fine job of drawing fire.
A squadron of wildcats joined the two blond witches, their machine guns pecking at the Neuroi's hull before they scattered by pairs. They were among the few planes left in the battle zone, the rest either off rearming or resting in pieces on the sea floor.
Gunfire ripped into the first Neuroi's belly, and it fired a hasty counterattack to try and scatter its assailants. Pascuala raised her shield, but Kyra and Katie made it through without thanks to their speed-enhancing powers.
Katie's high-explosive shells failed to strike the Neuroi's exposed core, instead widening the hole in its shell. Kyra's aim with her Bren was true however, guiding a stream of steel-shod lead into the Neuroi's gut. The core cracked as round after round struck it, before finally breaking up. The Neuroi itself followed suit, but with the last of its energy it fired again. Red streams from the vengeful monster washed over one of the trailing carriers, rending the hull, cutting into one of the turbines, and scattering man and machine alike.
The two remaining Neuroi opened fire on Kyra and the others, momentarily forgetting about Erica and Jeanette in their quest for vengeance. "Cover me!" Erica grinned broadly before accelerating toward the belly of the Neuroi. Magic wreathed her as she rolled, and as she sped by the Neuroi, it rippled outward in a spiral of destruction. The sturm smashed the Neuroi's shell along the leading edge of its underside, spalling fragments away into the air.
The wounded Neuroi banked away, presenting the girls with a wide target profile. Its move also brought many of its weapons to bear, and they quickly opened fire on the two troublesome witches. Jeanette quickly shielded, but Erica, still pulling up, looked over in shock at the oncoming barrage.
A blue shield sparked to life in front of her despite Erica's own lack of time, blocking the beams. "But how?" she wondered.
A light laugh from Pascuala lit up the comm. "Barrier projection, my power!" The shield winked out. "You owe me some candy!"
Erica grinned broadly. "I'll buy us a giant bag we can split!"
Kyra, Katie, and Pascuala took advantage of that Neuroi's distraction and fired upon it. It accelerated and dove in an effort to get away, but suddenly a dazzling blue aura surrounded it and the Neuroi's speed dropped dramatically.
Jeanette's striker unit sputtered badly, the binding spell she was using to drag down the Neuroi consuming much of her magic. "Hit it now!" she managed between pants, her body beginning to quake with the effort. After this she would have to retire from the battlefield, but she was confident that the aces could handle that last Neuroi without her.
Tracers lashed the Neuroi from all directions as the witches and several fighters pounced. "Under that fin, near the aft!" called Katie, having located the core. As one, the witches fired on that location, stripping away the bound Neuroi's shell and pummeling its core. The blue aura flickered out as the Neuroi disintegrated, and Jeanette dropped several dozen meters before she managed to get her striker unit back up to speed.
"Well done," said Kyra. "Go catch up with Senka, we'll handle the last one." The squadron leader flashed a very predatory grin, and then joined her squadronmates charging the last Neuroi.
"Surround and destroy it," ordered Kyra, her teeth then clenching. It was time to see how the Neuroi liked being outnumbered and outgunned, see if the space monsters knew fear. Erica zipped in front of the Neuroi, knocking out a chunk on the front right quarter with sturm before looping underneath and firing on it from below.
Like relentless wasps the witches stung and circled their target, blasting out weapons and weakening the hull around the core. Its regenerative abilities forced to cover so many areas, the Neuroi was slow in sealing the holes. Joining up, Erica and Katie rose near the Neuroi's tail and fired. The shell around the core broke open, and they pounced upon the vulnerable core, breaking it. The Neuroi gave a piercing wail and fired a final shot at Kyra, but the witch contemptuously blocked it with her shield.
"We did it!" Katie lowered her gun and she flashed Pascuala a V for victory, which the Hispanian gleefully returned. Kyra allowed herself a small smile as her comrades whooped in celebration. The remaining wildcats and avengers tipped their wings in salute to the witches as they headed back for their carriers. Against all odds, Taffy 3 had survived. The casualties would be heavy, but any sensible person would have expected them to be absolute.
"Let's go check on our fledglings," Kyra looped over and headed for the task unit's carriers. As the Tigersharks descended, Kyra couldn't help shake her head, and she saw the looks of mingled grief and shock on her comrades' faces. Nearly half the thirteen-ship group had been sunk, and of those that survived, most were damaged. Many who had survived the destruction of their ships now bobbed in the water, but at least now with the Neuroi eliminated rescue and repair operations could commence.
Panting and sweaty from the battle, Hikari drank half the canteen and poured the other half over her head. Water dribbled down her neck and face, soaking into her uniform as she passed another canteen to Barkhorn.
"Figures, eh?" Barkhorn said, smiling as she sat on the rack improvised to hold Hikari's striker unit. "That no sooner do we land than our friends finish off the Neuroi."
"Yeah," said Hikari. "I was going to offer you my striker unit, too..."
Barkhorn, mid-drink, gurgled slightly. Coughing briefly, she lowered the canteen. "Why?"
"You're better at this than I am," Hikari shrugged, trying to make it sound like no big deal. "It would have gone to better use."
"You should have more pride in yourself than that," said Barkhorn, offering Hikari a rare smile. "I've never been in a battle this lopsided. I never imagined I'd survive one."
"Plenty didn't," Hikari remarked softly. She thought of all the fighters that had gone down trying to protect the fleet, of the crews aboard the ships that went down or were hit.
Barkhorn nodded. "But don't let it get you down. Drink to the dead, and carry on in their name. Fight the enemy so that as few of our comrades as possible join the ranks of posthumous heroes."
Jeanette walked over toward them, leaning on a young naval ensign for support. "Are you two okay?" she asked. Hikari nodded, managing a tenuous smile.
Voices rose on the other side of the hangar deck, too distant for the witches to make out, but growing to cheers and applause. Curious, Barkhorn rose, and the others followed her over there. They nudged their way through a growing crowd, and were shocked by what they found in the center.
It was Elise, dirty, her uniform torn and bloody, but very much alive. "Jinx!?" Jeanette said without thinking. Turning red, she clapped her hands over her mouth. She tried very hard to avoid calling Elise that, but so many others did behind the readhead's back that it just slipped out.
"Jinx, nothing!" said one of the sailors gathered around her, like his fellows his uniform and hair were wet. All were grinning and laughing, speaking praise. One even had an arm around her shoulders in a familial way. "This lady is our good luck charm." The man, a petty officer, playfully ruffled Elise's hair.
"B-but how!?" stammered Hikari. "I-I saw you..."
"She survived, barely," said one of the sailors. "She crash-landed on the Sammy B. We were already pretty banged up, and when the Neuroi closed in, she covered the ship long enough for most of the crew to get out."
Hikari and Jeanette stepped forward and hugged Elise, and the redhead smiled down at her juniors before putting her arms around them. Elise straightened up. "We did it, didn't we?"
Lieutenant Barkhorn nodded. "This makes ten Neuroi today. They shouldn't be able to replace those kinds of losses in the time it takes us to get the base set up."
"Then we can focus on taking down the hive," Jeanette said. Sailors and witches alike cheered at that sentiment.
End