Chapter 4: Awkward Introductions
Hey guys, a wild update appeared! I'm beginning to dig writing this so hopefully I don't go on any hiatus; at least for a while. Nothing else to see here move along. Anyway I don't own Strike Witches or Stargate, my OCs are mine; you can't have then without asking.
Previously
"Dr. Lansby has just updated me on the status of the ARD." He began the room dead silent as the crew stood waiting. "The drive is in one piece however…" he looked straight at them, "The nav computer memory was damaged; we have no idea how to get home."
June 20, 1945 1000 Hours- Jumper 3, Pescara, Venezia
It had been six days since the crew learned they had no idea how to get home. Sure they could get back but they didn't know the subspace frequency of their reality; it was like being blindfolded and spun in a chair and then being told to walk Kansas. Sure it was possible, just not very likely. Since then the crew had to get to work, they let their emotions go and focused completely on their job. They wouldn't have to worry about getting home if they were all killed would they?
Ever since the engagement with the Neuroi, the ship stayed constantly cloaked; only shutting it off to fix the hole in the hull. Four 302s stayed on a nearly round the clock CAP above the crippled ship and it would remain like that until the Borealis could repair her sensors. Puddle Jumpers were also launched to gather intelligence on the world.
One of these Jumpers was dispatched to keep an eye on the young ladies that made up the 501st JFW.
"This is really weird lieutenant, how long we going to sit here watching these guys I'm starting to feel kinda dirty." SSgt. Sam Arnold inquired, "I mean this the third day in a row we've been watching these girls parade around pant-less.
"We're here until the colonel says to stop; you know that,"1st Lt. Alex Nemes responded, "Now sergeant go back to the Vita I know you're hiding in your pocket I'll continue the watch." Arnold immediately looked away as he guiltily grabbed his chest pocket and moved into the Jumper's rear. He turned to the other in the front with him, "What do you think of all this Sir?"
Maj. Volkov shrugged as he watched the staff sergeant leave, "No idea лейтенант, this is all very strange to me. I had heard rumors, about the Stargate program, but I had no idea it would be anything like this."
The lieutenant nodded at the response, "Thank you sir, I know what you mean; I've been in the program for over a year now expecting adventure and seeing new sights. Instead of new sights I was assigned to Atlantis to begin training as a Jumper pilot cause I have the ATA gene." He shrugged, "Life's a bitch isn't it sir? Out of curiosity do you have the gene as well?"
Volkov nodded, "Да, Colonel Vought told me he was going to walk me through the basic operation but, we sort ran into a brick wall…"
Nemes smiled, "It's so true sir," he looked behind the major, "I could teach you the basics if you'd like. Grab that scanner behind you." The major turned around to find the item in question.
501st JFW base- Pescara, Venezia
"Run faster you three, you're not going to get any stronger if you walk like that." Maj. Sakamoto ordered as she banged her training sword on the ground. Mio had been running Miyafuji, Bishop, and Clostermann around for the past two hours. They needed to get stronger but no matter how hard she tried, they failed to achieve her goals.
"I, can't, go on," thought Miyafuji as she finally collapsed in a heap on the ground, "Owie." As she struggled to move, Lynette and Perrine fell on top of her.
The three girls groaned as they lay there in pain. Mio shook her head in disgrace, "Honestly you three should be ashamed of yourselves," she looked at the location of the sun. "Alright that will be it for today, go get yourselves cleaned up."
"Yes Ma'am," the three managed to say, too tired to stand up. She watched as the three finally pulled themselves off the ground and began to stagger towards the base. As she went to follow she stopped and turned around to look out over the base, "It feels like someone is watching me… bah forget it." She turned and began to follow the girls back to the base.
Jumper 3, Pescara, Venezia
"Was it just me or was she looking right at us?" Nemes asked the Volkov. "Да, she is scary," he replied while nodding.
1200 Hours - Unmarked Island, 250 miles off the coast of Rome
Vought sat at his desk in his quarters and sighed as he turned the video recorder off. He had just completed the previous days debriefing and leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling. Since the crew had discovered that they couldn't go home right away moral had dropped to an all-time low and he could see it on everyone's' faces. It killed him that he could do nothing about it either. "Hopefully Lansby will think of something," thought the colonel as he saw something on his desk. He grabbed the data pad as he reviewed the information his people had collected on this reality. WWI in his world turned out to be a loss against these alien invaders. It wasn't until 1935 that humanity began to successfully fight back with the development of the striker unit. He had no idea how it functioned but it appeared to be successful.
Continuing reading he read that the group of witches he had people shadowing was a legendary group that had managed to free France, what they called Gallia, from the Neuroi. Now this group was trying to defend Italy, what they called Venezia, from the same fate. He shook his head, "Child soldiers, that's so stupid," he thought thinking back to the horrors in Afghanistan and Iraq. "At least these kids are helping others instead of killing them." Thinking back to the situation at hand he spun in his chair as he activated his radio, "Ross, Sokolov, Pierce, and Lansby, meet me in the briefing room in five minutes; I have something I want to run by you guys."
15 minutes later
"And that's my plan, thoughts?" Vought stated as he sat down staring at his fellow officers. None of them looked angry with the idea but none looked like they were for it either.
"So let me get this straight Chris, you want us," Air Force Captain Frank Pierce, the ships chief medical officer, asked as he pointed at everyone in the room, "to risk our lives to help save this reality?"
"That about sums it up Doc, you like it?"
"Damn straight I do, we can't let these people needlessly die; besides that girl Bishop reminds me of my daughter." Pierce replied leaning forward a smile on his face.
"Lansby?"
The doctor in question just shrugged. Vought rolled his eyes as he continued.
Chris turned to Ross, "How about you commander?"
"As much as I don't think we can, we need to; the doc is right, we need to help these people out; we have the technology. Besides with the core still offline we can't produce any food and we can't start depleting our sealed storage this early into the mission. We are going to need supplies."
"Alright товарищ, it's your turn now." The colonel stated as he looked at his amused counterpart.
Sokolov smirked and shook his head before answering, "Though I believe it is a waste of resources, Commander Ross is correct; we need access to supplies and this is the only way I see it happening. I would make one small suggestion."
"Oh what's that?"
"If we do decide to make an alliance with these people it can't be with a nation in particular, we don't want to have an incident like with the Tollans," Vought raised his eyebrows at this and Sokolov smirked, "Please colonel you know which group I'm with; you know I had access to this information."
"Just what information don't you have?"
Sokolov just shrugged, Vought rolled his eyes before speaking, "Alright it's settled then, we're going to introduce ourselves to the 501st.
June 22, 1945 1300 Hours-501st JFW base-Pescara, Venezia
The young redhead looked out the window onto the base before returning to her desk and the stack of paperwork that she swore never seemed to shrink. As she sat down and rubbed her sore hand, she picked up the pen once more, and began writing. "You know I always thought the Neuroi would be the death of me not this," she said to herself as she continued to fill out equipment request.
The monotonous task was interrupted in an welcomed way as her door flew open. "Commander you need to see this," Major Sakamoto stated as she barged in, "we're needed in the command room."
"What is it?" asked Wing Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, as she got up to follow her subordinate out.
"We don't know."
Command Room, five minutes later
"Ma'am we have an unknown target approaching the base," a technician called out as Minna and Mio studied the radar scope. "At its present speed it will be here in 15 minutes."
"Is it a Neuroi?"
"I don't believe so ma'am, it appears to have come from the south-west."
"Interesting have you tried to contact it yet then?"
"No ma'am we were waiting for you."
Mio walked over to the console and grabbed the radio, "Attention unknown craft, you are approaching restricted airspace, identify yourself."
A pause filled the room before the target began to transmit, "Hello again Major, sorry for the intrusion, but about your offer…"
Mio blinked in surprise before turning to Minna, "it's the unknown fighter from the other day."
Minna nodded in understanding before responding, "What offer?"
"Ah, uh I invited the group back to base so we could debrief them. They turned us away before, I wonder what changed?"
Minna looked at her subordinate, "Do you think they are a threat; will they hurt the girls?"
Mio thought hard about their previous run-in before answering, "I don't think so ma'am, they seemed like good gentlemen."
"Alright then clear them to land, get some troops out there and get Barkhorn and Yeager loaded up; let's go meet our guest.
Reaper-1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant
"You think this is a good idea sir sneaking a Jumper in like this?"
"Edge this is important, we need to show them what we are capable of. Keep flying and land CAREFULLY; we don't want to spook them; they have troops waiting for us."
Grant and his wingman continued their slow and steady approach to the base at a constant 5,000 ft. Behind him unseen was a cloaked Jumper containing Vought, Sokolov, Ross, and a defense team of six Spetsnaz. Above them at Angels 60 (60,000 ft) sat Hunter flight just in case. At the base was the other cloaked Jumper with Major Volkov and a four man SG team.
As Grant and his wingman got within 10 miles of the base, their radars beeped alerting them to incoming targets.
"Stay cool Grant they're just sending someone out to escort us." He told himself as he checked to make sure his shields were on. He called out to his wingman as the targets reached visual range, "-2 confirm nose is cold."
"Confirmed, nose is cold."
Grant sighed in relief as the two targets, identified as witches, formed up on their wings.
"Please follow us to the runway," a young, short, silver-haired witch, hefting a nine-shot rocket launcher, asked quietly to him and Reaper-2.
"Roger that ma'am forming up on you now." Grant noticed she blushed and turned away from him after he answered. Observing her he realized she had some sort of antenna floating in front on her face and had the ears and tail of what appeared to be a cat. Turning to his right he nearly jumped out of his seat as he found the long, silver-haired witch from the previous day, floating inches away and staring straight at him with an angry look on her face. "Stop staring at Sanya like that!"
Grant blinked in surprise as he looked straight ahead wondering how the hell she knew where he was staring through his helmet. "This is going to be a LONG day."
Finally approaching the runway Grant realized he needed to rethink his landing, "Shit this things shorter than I thought AND they parked on the runway not the side of it. What are they thinking?" The F-302 was an amazing craft; capable of short take-off and landing (STOL) operations there were few locations the ship couldn't operate from. While the runway was adequate, the men parked on it shortened the length considerable.
"Alright -2 new plan; we need the chutes."
"Roger lead arming chute now."
501st JFW
Minna finally got a look at the angular fighters as they came into view; downward turned wings, three engines, and unknown weapons. The fighter approached with their gear down and their noses high. "They're a lot bigger than I thought…" "Everybody off the runway now! These things are going to need as much room as possible."
As the men frantically moved, Reaper-1 made a perfect 3-point touchdown on the very tip of the runway. The moment the wheels touched the ground she heard a loud whine as the inlets on the engines changed shape, the brakes squealing in protest. Just as she thought she gave the order too late, a parachute emerged from the rear of the craft helping to slow it considerably. The craft slowed, veering to the edge of the runway as its wingman performed the same feat. "Impressive, these men are well trained." "Alright let's go meet our friends."
Reaper-1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant
"Well then… shit maybe I should just stay in the cockpit? Nah I'll never hear the end of it if I don't get out," thought Grant nervously as he powered his fighter down. Glancing out the canopy he watched as Reaper-2 parked in formation next to him while their new friends approached from the other side, "Jumper 1 you in position?"
"Roger Reaper your clear to exit," an amused voice responded, "Go ahead, introduce yourself… and then you get to introduce us isn't that exciting?"
Moaning at the obvious laughter going on behind the transmission, Grant popped the canopy and began lowering his 6'4" frame to the ground. A look at Reaper-2 showed his wingman displaying the biggest shit-eating grin he had ever seen and two thumbs up. Shaking his head while turning around Grant came face to face with a soldier tilting his head in confusion. Lowering his gaze he finally locked eyes with one of the girls as she held her hand out to him. "Pleased to meet you Edge, I'm Wing Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke. Welcome to the 501st."
Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke- Pescara, Venezia
The pilot of the fighter looked at her hand momentarily before he returned the handshake. "He seems nervous," she thought as she dropped her hand. "Why don't you take off your helmet Mr. Edge? I don't bite," she glanced to Mio who was holding her sword handle, "She might though," indicating the major.
The pilots' hands went to his face as he felt his helmet still on his head. "Sorry ma'am forgot I had it on," he stated in a muffled voice as he undid and pulled it off. As he did so, Minna was greeted by the face of a young man with short-cropped black hair and a pair of brilliantly blue eyes. He tucked the helmet under his arm as he saluted her, "Good afternoon ma'am, Captain Carl Grant, Stargate Command, reporting." She returned the salute and cut it allowing the pilot to relax and put his helmet back in the craft. "Why don't you grab your wingman and we can head back inside, we'd like to begin asking questions and I'm assuming you have a few yourself."
The captain looked like he was struggling with something before he finally addressed her, "Uh ma'am, uh my CO, would like to meet with you too if that wouldn't be a problem."
Minna tilted her head in confusion, "But of course, when can he be here? Where will he be coming from?"
He twitched nervously as he answered, "Uhhhhh right now and uhhhhh, right there," he pointed to the other side of the runway as Jumper 1 decloaked.
Jumper 1
"This is too rich, I'm so glad I'm recording this," thought Vought as he decloaked the Jumper watching as all of the soldiers immediately turned to face him guns at the ready. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea guys," he stated turning to the side as Ross shook his head and Sokolov shrugged.
"They haven't shot yet Vought and if you notice the young commander doesn't at all seem surprised to see us." The Russian colonel responded as he observed the situation.
Turning back to the runway Vought realized that what he said was true; the commander had an amused smirk on her face as she tilted her head to look at him. "Why do I get the feeling we were expected?" he thought as he landed the Jumper opposite the 302s. "Colonel, please tell your men to NOT shoot the first one who looks at them funny; pick two, the rest are staying with the ships."
Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke- Pescara, Venezia
As the Jumper floated over and landed the soldiers held their fire; awaiting the command from the witch. Minna watched in fascination as the large craft floated around with nothing other than a hum coming from it. While the ships appearance hadn't been anything less than spectacular, she and the other witches had been expecting it. "The wonders an angry Mio can do for motivation," she thought as she remembered Eila's… questioning about her vision.
She turned to look at the Grant as the captain squirmed under the gaze of Sakamoto, "So captain it appears you guys aren't from around here are you?"
His nervous gaze shifted from the major to her, "Well kinda sorta; it's really hard to explain," He began as figures began to disembark the Jumper and head towards them, "I'd rather let the Colonel explain things himself."
"Colonel, huh? Looks like I won't be getting back to that paperwork anytime soon then… darn," she thought while smiling. She sized up the approaching group as she noticed four of the men, dressed in black, staying behind carrying weapons she did not recognize. In all there were five men approaching and while the men she had with her outnumbered them, her gut told her they were outmatched. "Sorry for the intrusion ma'am but we decided we needed to meet." Colonel Vought stated as his group came to a halt in front of her.
"Let's go inside shall we? I have a feeling we have a lot to discuss."
June 22, 1945 1700 Hours – Briefing Room, 501st JFW base- Pescara, Venezia
"So let me try to see if I understand this, you guys are from another Earth; in which no magic exist, and you explore the stars fighting aliens through a large ring called a Stargate or your ships. You were on a mission to try out a new piece technology, something that allows you to go to these, other Earths, and you were attacked and forced here. While this device still works you can't get back because you have no idea where that is. Does that sound about right?" asked Commander Minna as she finished her speaking.
Since Vought and the others had introduced themselves to the 501st, they had been briefing for the past four hours, trying to explain the complexity of inter-dimensional travel; without the benefit of Dr. Lansby who was still locked up by Dr. Pierce. While the crew explained what they could, the witches explained their history, most which they already knew, and the reasons why they didn't wear pants while flying; all the while introducing themselves to the men.
"That about sums it up commande-" Vought began as he drank the coffee he had been given by Sgt. Miyafuji. "Please Colonel, call me Minna, you do outrank me."
"Ma'am I don't know if that's appropriate; we just met these men." Flying Officer Clostermann whispered in Minna's ear as she stared at the two colonels. Vought raised an eyebrow as he looked at Sokolov, these ladies were indeed interesting. "It's fine Perrine, we can trust them," she said aloud, "these men are lost and alone and yet they still want to try and help us." While smiling at the three officers, "My one question is colonel, why want to risk your lives for us? Based on what we've seen and what you've told us, you could just hide out until your repairs are complete and attempt to go home."
Cdr. Ross caught Vought's eye and nodded, they needed to know. Vought cleared his throat before speaking, "Well com-Minna," he watched her smirk as he corrected himself, "Our original plan was just that; repair the ship and hide in orbit until we could confirm the ARD was ready. When we discovered we didn't know how to get home, that plan went out the window. After speaking with my fellow officers and crew, we decided that before we risked jumping to a potential more hostile location, we needed to help; that's what we do. When I asked the crew, the answer was unanimous; especially a certain few fighter pilots," he grinned while looking out the window towards the runway.
She smiled at his answer, "Thank you colonel for your truthfulness, it means a lot. Well then Colonel, do you think the others would like to join us before we continue?"
He looked at Sokolov, "I don't think so, Grant doesn't like meetings like this, he prefers being outside. What about your men Vitaly?"
Sokolov shook his head, "No I don't think they would either Chris; they don't talk much."
Minna shook her head, "No I meant the ones in the other ship."
"Uh what other ship?"
"The one that's been parked just off the runway for the last few days," she responded with a smile.
A pause filled the room as CO struggled to think of a response.
"Oh that ship."
501st JFW, Runway
"Please"
"No"
"Please"
"No"
"PLEASE"
Sigh, "Fine, but don't touch ANYTHING; she is armed and fueled," relented Grant as Yeager finally broke him down. He watched as she nimbly hopped up the steps and jumped in the cockpit to his fighter. "I don't even know your name yet," he mumbled.
"Captain Charlotte Yeager, Liberion Army Air Corp, but you can call me Shirley." She stated happily as she put on Grant's helmet and began adjusting the seat.
"Hey don't touch the seat, it took me hours to get it in the right position, stupid cramped cockpit, wait did you say Yeager?"
"Yes I did, don't wear it out," she responded as she played with the control stick.
"Interesting what are the odds tha- Hey, hey, hey don't touch that!" he yelled as she began to flip switches.
"I will if you start talking about it, remember you promised."
While the meeting was going on inside, Grant and his wingman were given a quick tour of the base before Yeager began to ask about his plane again. Captain Barkhorn was originally against the idea but after Hartmann showed up, she relented. It was at this point that Reaper-2 revealed herself to be a woman. Removing her helmet 2nd Lieutenant Hannah "Zippo" Burns found herself under a constant barrage of questions from Hartmann and Barkhorn so Grant headed back to his bird to find Yeager already there staring at it.
"Alright what you're currently sitting in is a second generation F-302 fighter-interceptor. Since its introduction, the 302 has been one of the SGCs most successful creations capable of standing toe-to-toe with two to three enemy craft at a time. She is capable of inner and outer-atmospheric combat and is armed with four modified AIM-120A AMRAAMs and either twin-linked railguns or twin plasma beams." He stated as he remembered his birds' specs, "Using her modified engines she is capable of reaching just past Mach 6 in atmosphere and capable of short FTL jumps in space..." He stopped confused as she took off the helmet and stared at him with large eyes, "What?"
He was startled as she leaned down, inches separated their faces as she began to quietly speak, "Mach 6 huh," tears began to form in her eyes before they all vanished as she grabbed his shoulders.
"Uh Sh-Shirley?"
"We, are, going, to go, Mach 6, now." She stated slowly but firmly, "You will do it now before I start flipping all the switches trying to figure out how to start it."
Before he could answer somebody else spoke up first, "I'd listen to her captain if you don't want your bird in a twisted heap on the bottom of the ocean." Grant spun around to find all the officers standing behind him, "Good…" he looked at his watch, "evening gentlemen, ladies; what do you mean ma'am?" he asked commander.
Minna smiled, "Capt. Yeager here broke Mach 1 last year and has tried to go faster almost every day since then. If you value you aircraft you'll take her up." She looked at Vought, "besides your CO invited us back to look at your ship." She stopped, "Barkhorn, you're in charge till we get back. I'm taking Mio, Yeager, and Juutilainen with me."
"Go ahead captain; you're clear for hypersonic flight. -2 is staying behind while Hydra launches to replace Hunter." Vought smiled, "See you back at the ship," he looked at Yeager, "Captain, you break it you buy it."
"YEAH, alright Carl how do I start this thing up?"
Grant shook his head in defeat; he just couldn't win, "Get in the back Yeager, there's a spare helmet back there."
501st JFW, Runway
"You alright back there Shirley?" Grant radioed to his GIB (Guy in Back). "Uh I think so. Why do I have to wear this thing again?"
Grant looked back over his shoulder as Shirley fiddled with her helmet. "You'll see," he smirked as he flipped a switch causing both helmets to flicker to life. The 302s had all been upgraded with the Helmet-Mounted Display System developed for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which displayed all the important avionics data on the helmets' screen.
"Oh wow cool, how is it doing all this?"
Grant explained how the helmet worked as he slowly maneuvered the fighter to the opposite end of the runway. As he reached the end, he spun the fighter around and activated the brakes. "Alright Shirley hang on to your… you know, forget it just grab the bar in front of you."
Reaper-1 sat on the edge of the runway; the assembled group looked on in interest as even personnel from the base came out to watch the fighter take off. Finally the engines began to increase in pitch as blue cones of fire formed from the exhaust of two of the ships three engines. The fighter shook as its thrust built up. When the pitch reached near painful levels, Grant called over the radio, "Reaper-1, launching,"
The 302 leapt forward, its nose gear almost immediately lifting off the ground as the fighter reached rotation speed and left the ground. The fighter began to climb as the third large engine in the center lit up with a large bang as a massive tongue of fire leapt from its exhaust; accelerating the already fast fighter to near impossible levels. The 302 stood on its tail and began to accelerate in a vertical trajectory as Yeager screamed out over the radio, "YAHOO!" Her scream of joy continued until the fighter was lost from view; a pillar of smoke marked its ascent. Minna looked to Vought as he continued to smile, "We need to tell her she isn't getting one; you need to be forceful."
Vought beckoned the witches forward, "After you ladies." The girls smiled and nodded as they filed into Jumper-1; two of the soldiers staying behind with Reaper-2. "I uh, let Jumper-3 know they were cleared to approach; sorry Minna we just wanted some intel and to keep an eye on you ladies."
"It's fine colonel I would have done the same thing"
As he entered the pilots' seat he turned to face her, "Out of curiosity how did you know the Jumper was there; In fact how did you know we would be here? We have yet to meet a race capable of seeing through our cloak."
Minna grinned as she activated her magic; her wolf familiar making itself known. "This isn't just for show colonel, as I said each witch has unique abilities; mine is spatial awareness, it allows me keep track of numerous objects in the space around me. While this isn't what gave you away it is similar. Sanya runs our night patrols at the base and her ability is a magic antenna; she can track signals and objects without needing a visual, kind of like radar. On her way back the other day she detected your team transmitting."
"To be defeated by something that simple…" "Ah I see," Vought responded as the Jumper lifted off. He looked at girls as they began peaking over his shoulder with surprised expressions on their faces. "What?"
"Um who's flying this thing?" Mio asked.
Vought grinned as he leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, "I am." He punctuated the statement by swaying the Jumper back and forth, "See?"
The girls, sans Eila, were amazed, "How?"
"You see," he began, "Most technology built by the Ancients requires a particular gene. If you have said gene the technology activates for you. Things like the Jumpers and the ship also require somebody to operate the item by thought. When we got in here I touched the console and connected to it before beginning to speak. For a simple flight like this I don't need to pay attention to the controls."
"So now that I answered your question you could answer mine," he said leaning forward, interest evident on his face."
Minna nodded and grabbed Eila forcing her forward. "This is Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen, say hi Eila."
Eila rubbed her shoulder before holding her hand out, "Hello Colonel Christopher Allen Vought, My name is Eila; I can see into the future."
Jumper 1, rear bay
Ross tuned out Vought's conversation as he watched Sokolov converse with his men. "Wonder how Grant is doing?
Another chapter down, booyah! A few things, if anyone wants an OC to join the crew let me know via pm. I already have some things planned so don't worry; you have a while before I finish this arc and begin setting up the others so take your time. Check my newly created profile page for more info about the story. See ya later internet. Ghostrider21