A/N: Enjoy!

Slight change, the year is 1992 instead of 1982, so there's more time for UED to develop all their tech.

If I get the dates wrong for Strike Witches verse, please tell me, if all else fails, imagine this as an AU, cause it's gonna get really off the rails soon.

Chapter 4: New World, Same Foe

Unknown location and Time

Vengeance of Japan

Fleet Commander Jorges moaned as light returned and he picked himself off the floor. "Status report." He managed to choke out to the crew.

Officers helped each other to their feet, groaning all the way as they recovered from the incident. One of them managed to get a basic summary of the situation after a few minutes. "We're still in orbit of Ganymede sir, no sign of the Fourth Fleet, there's quite a bit of wreckage from the Mothership sir. The rest of the Third Fleet's still with us, they're requesting orders sir."

The Fleet Commander rubbed his head, suddenly exhausted. "Have all the Captains meet me, I think things just got weird."

Several Minutes later

Conference Room

Jorges looked at the faces of the surviving Captains of Third Fleet.

Captain Mira Hayes, of the Charlie Tent, the fleet's only surviving Shockship.

Jason Mells, of Liberty 1, Harris Lenns of Liberty 5, and James Reins of Unity 3.

One Carrier, one Shockship, and three Blazer Escorts, all that was left of the once thirty-ship strong fleet. They all took some comfort in knowing that thousands of Neumanns had gone down with them.

The Commander sighed. "Well everyone, here's what we know. When the Mothership was destroyed, it was in the middle of trying to escape, and it appears to have dragged us with it." He frowned. "However, we still appear to be in the Solar System. This could mean anything, we could be right in the middle of enemy territory. I want a full report on the status of each ship."

Mira went first. "The Charlie Tent's armor was badly damaged, most of our missile tubes are gone, and our projectile cannons are running low on ammunition. Our shield generator's also gone." She gave a grim smirk. " However, it is still ready if we need it." Everyone glanced at each other uncomfortably at that remark.

Jason then spoke. "Liberty 1 is still mostly intact, apart from a few wrecked batteries and a few smashed and destroyed sections we're okay."

Harris Lenns was next. "Liberty 5 took a ramming attack on the upper hull. Most of our 64s are gone, but we've still got most of our point defense."

James Reins winced. "Unity 3 is in bad shape. Our armor is about shredded, and about half of our guns are gone. We've still got some fight in us though."

Jorges nodded. "And the Japan has certainly seen better days. Left Hull was totaled by the Mega, we're down to about 60 Armored Skirmishers, and half of our atmospheric fighters are gone." He sighed. "Alright, get back to your ships and get ready to move. There's still an Earth here to protect here, wherever here is."

Everyone agreed with that. They had all sworn an oath: To defend Earth and Humanity. Wherever they were, even if it was in another universe, they still had that to guide them.

Four Days Post Arrival

Orbit above Earth

Everyone stared at Earth in numb shock and horror. Large portions of continents were covered in black clouds, and sensors detected large Neumann presences in all of them. Entire sections of the planet had been claimed by the sea, the very geography was different. Oddly enough Japan and Russia showed signs of being heavily inhabited, like before the Chimeran War.

What had happened? Had they failed? Had the Neumanns swooped down on a weakened Earth, wiped out all signs of their space fleet, and had started eating their homeworld, like they'd done to several moons in the Solar System?

The Fleet Commander shook those thoughts away. They didn't matter now, what mattered was that those aliens were on his homeworld, and he was going to do his damn best to kick them out. "Alright then, Elisa, what've you got for me?"

The younger woman stiffened. "We have Neumann signatures in Austrailia, Western and Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, and small concentrations in the Eastern part of Russia. We have small units of Neumanns near England, and we have reports of weapons discharges from there. It looks like Europe is the frontline again sir."

"Then that's where we'll do the most good. Prepare for Atmospheric deployment to the English Channel. Sound General Quarters!"

Alarms sounded across the five ships of Third Fleet. "General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands to Battle Stations!

September 6th

Britannian Coast, near Dover

It was a wonderful day outside, the sun was shining, birds were chirping, the waves were smooth and Neuroi lasers ripped through the air as if-

Wait a minute...

Yoshika Miyafuji barely managed to dodge out of the way of yet another laser from a persistent Large Neuroi.

It was supposed to have been simple, as she recalled. The 501st had been sent to deal with a lone large Neuroi. Unfortunately said Neuroi had deployed several drones, then other Neuroi had appeared from hiding from below the radar, then the RAF had sent in a normal fighter squadrons to help, prompting the Neuroi to deploy several more small and medium types, and everything had just snowballed from there.

She quickly fired her Type 99 at a drone, destroying it, even as she saw the rest of her squadron take down several more. A Hurricane went down to a laser, but his wingman swiftly avenged him, destroying the offending medium type. Even so, the battle was going badly, all the Witches were tired from fighting the swarm.

"Miyafuji, look out!" Her mentor, Mio Sakamoto warned her. Thanks to the warning Yoshika managed to dodge a volley of lasers, twirling away as they slashed into where she had been seconds ago. She looked at the source and barely managed to avoid groaning as she saw 3 more large Neuroi move into the fight, slicing apart several Spitfires and Hurricanes.

"You alright Miyafuji?" Sakamoto asked. The other girl nodded. "Yes, just tired." Sakamoto acknowledged the fact. The witches had been fighting for almost half an hour, and all of them were at the end of their endurance, while the Neuroi continued to come in waves.

If help didn't come soon, things would get very ugly, very fast.

Jorges stared at the battle from the bridge of the Vengeance of Japan's bridge. "Am I seeing this right?" He asked, incredulous.

"If you're seeing a bunch of Neumanns fighting against a squadron of flying pantless girls and pre-Chimeran war fighter planes than yes, you're seeing this right." Mira's snarked from the Charlie Tent. "This definitely isn't our Earth, what do you want us to do sir?" She asked.

Jorges gave a smile. "They're human, what do you think I want you to do? All ships, prepare to engage, launch Wolverine Squadron, if any of those girls get into trouble, cover their asses! Elisa, try to find the right channel to contact them, I don't want any blue on blue."

In the hanger Howin Yeager, grandson of Charles Yeager, grinned. Finally, after being hurled into who-knows-where, it would be gratifying to shoot down some Neumanns in revenge.

If the battle was bad before, it was even worse now. All of the normal fighters had been shot down, and while the Neuroi had been reduced to half strength, the aliens had completely shattered any hope of organization between the 501st. Now every witch was separated, fighting for her life against Neuroi that could zoom out to regenerate while the others kept the girls distracted. Minna winced as she managed to down a small type. At this rate, they would have to withdraw, leaving the region to the Neuroi.

Shirley spotted one Neuroi that had drifted off too far, becoming isolated from the rest. "This one's mine!" She immediately broke off to chase it. Unfortunately, just as she caught up with it, a Large type Neuroi and several drones rose from hiding and surrounded her. As she looked back she realized that the things had cut her off from the rest of the squadron.

So this is how it ends... Shirley thought, she gave a grim smile, readied her BAR, and prepared to go down fighting.

Which proved totally unnecessary as a volley of blue beams tore into and destroyed the Large type, as several lasers ripped through the smaller ones, so powerful that Shirley could feel the heat. "What the-!?" She exclaimed, shocked. "Minna, this is Shirley, did you see that?"

"Yes, what was that?" Minna asked. The lights had been blinding, and they were different from the usual Neuroi weapons.

"I believe that was us." A voice answered on the radio. "Who is this?" Minna demanded, rather surprised. "Ah, this is Fleet Commander Holtz Jorges of the United Earth Defense Third Fleet. Sorry about the wait, but we had some trouble finding the right channel. We're here now and ready to assist."

"That's good, but where are you?" Minna asked scanning the waters and finding no sign of any fleet.

The Fleet Commander chuckled and somehow Minna knew that the older man was grinning on the other end of the channel. "Look up."

Minna looked up, so did most of the squadron. Their jaws dropped and their eyes bulged.

Up even higher into the atmosphere was a fleet of flying ships, though like no ships she had ever seen. They all looked like, to be blunt, flying bricks.

Flying bricks that were armed with the biggest guns she had even seen, was bigger than those on any battleship. Even as she watched, the biggest one, which seemed to be made out of two hulls strapped together, deployed another squadron of jet fighters, even as energy weapon fire rained down on the hopelessly outgunned Neuroi.

"This is Wolverine Squadron ma'am, might wanna stop gawking and get back to fighting."

Minna quickly shook herself and nodded. "Right, everyone, form up and concentrate on one Neuroi at a time!"

With most of the Neuroi distracted by the new arrivals, the 501st was able to reunite. Two large types went down quickly to the witches. Meanwhile Wolverine squadron was fighting near-perfectly, weaving through lasers, loosing missiles that homed in on cores, and firing pulses of energy that chased their targets till they impacted. On the few occasions when the absurbly fast planes were hit, the witches were shocked to see shields deflect the opponents fire. Neuroi numbers dwindled to three large types and a smattering of smaller types.

"This is Liberty 1 to everyone in the sky, stand back and cover your ears, ladies and gentlemen!"

Wolverine Squadron followed the orders immediately, the 501st, not knowing what was going on but realizing it couldn't be good, quickly followed, taking the Captain's advise.

Good thing to, because at that moment the 64 inch cannons roared, nearly deafening the girls, the shells streaked to wards the large types. Their armor was utterly annihilated, leaving them completely vulnerable. Lynette took out one, Eila downed the second, and a missile blew apart the third. The few remaining small types were nothing more than target practice.

Mio stared at the strange flying warships, then looked at Minna. "Who are they Minna?" She asked, confused.

The Wing Commander shook her head. "I don't know, Mio, but I intend to find out." She opened a channel to the largest ship. "Fleet Commander Jorges, I am Wing Commander Minna Wilcke, thank you for aiding us."

"No problem Wing Commander, but, ah, this might sound strange, but where are we and what's the date?"

Minna blinked, it was a strange question. "You're in South-east Britannia, and it's September 6th, 1944."

There was dead silence over the channel. Then Minna heard baffled voices in the background for a few seconds. "QUIET!" She winced as she recognized the Fleet Commander's voice. "Miss... Wilcke, right? You're certain it's 1944." He sighed. "Look, I'm sure you're very confused right now. How about you land in our hanger and meet me face to face, just follow Wolverine Squadron."

Minna hesitated, but looked back at her squadron. They were hiding it well, but they were all exhausted from fighting. Eila was actually carrying Sanya, the Orrusian girl was so tired. They needed to at least get some rest. "Alright sir, we accept."

"Good, just follow the planes and take it slow." As he said that, the jets formed up and returned to the eight kilometer airship.

"Minna, are you certain about this?" Mio asked. Minna sighed, "No, but everyone's exhausted, just be careful, we don't know the first thing about these people.

A/N: If anyone was acting OOC, please tell me so I can correct it.

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, please review. I'll add more character interactions between the crew and the 501st next chapter.