Chapter 16: Dawn on the Horizon
Another update! See everyone, I told you so. I'm getting these chapters out as soon I can. Only two locations left till the end, what will happen next? I own nothing but the story and characters, all referenced characters and technology belong to their respective companies.
Previously
Vought grunted triumphantly as he found what he was looking for, "Something I've always wanted to do Matt, something I've always wanted to do." Taking the cigar from his pocket he grinned at the others as he shoved it into the corner of his mouth; the others groaning in understanding.
"I love it when a plan comes together."
January 6, 1946 0800 Hours-50 miles outside liberated Moscow, Observation Deck
"That wraps up our report sir."
Vought nodded as he signed off on a tablet. He watched the assorted officers and enlisted salute as they vacated the room allowing him to get back to his coffee in peace. Looking outside he was greeted with the snowy landscape before him. He frowned as his eyes drifted to the edge of the window and the devastated landscape that the hive had consumed. The only upside now was that the city could begin to rebuild. They had received report that even now, the Orussian government was redirecting resources to start to rebuild their lost capital.
Gazing outside a reflection caught his eye; a small grin graced his face as he took a sip, "You ladies going to stand there all day or are you going to come in?" He turned and took another drink as four of witches entered led by the young Orussian of the 501st. "Well then, what can I do for you today?" He already had an idea what this was about but he felt the need to ask anyway.
The three Orussians and Eila shared a look before Sanya took a step forward while hugging her favorite pillow, "Morning si-" his shaking head made her hug her pillow tighter before continuing, "Chris, I… we wanted to thank you for saving our country. I've received the first letter from my family in a long time because there is no longer anything stopping them. Vice Marshal Galland made sure I got it." The last part was a whisper as she buried her face in her pillow. Eila came up behind her and pulled her close; she gave him the first sincere smile he had ever seen her give to him.
Bronislava was the next to make a move. In the few days she had been aboard, he had noticed that she didn't say much and when she did speak, everyone listened. From von Bonin he had also learned that she was one of the JFWs most respected leader and her best friend. Her constant smile made her extremely easy to talk to even though her responses would short and concise.
"Chris, I have only known you a few days and yet you have already rescued my country from these invaders. I and my people are forever in your debt; thank you."
He smiled back as he patted Sanya on the head, "Пожалуйста." Both witches gave him a smile before they turned to the final witch present.
Galina smiled as she walked up and gave him a quick hug; she thought carefully as she worded what she wanted to say. "I thank you Chris, you saved my country. You have led us towards victory and I hope will continue to do so."
He looked at the four of them as he patted Galina on the shoulder. "Again, you're all welcome but we're not done yet." He eyed the Suomus witch, "Your land is next Eila so don't fret. All that's left after that is G-Karlsland and you'll all be finally free."
She gave him a surprisingly warm smile again before realizing what she was doing. Without even thinking she stuck her tongue out and escorted Sanya from the room.
"What did I do?"
The two remaining witches laughed as the colonel pretended to act confused. He turned to them as they stopped, "So then, what are you ladies up to today?"
"Well полко́вник, we will be performing war games with the other wings today. You will be using us in the next attack correct?"
Vought nodded, "Yes we will, go have fun you two; that's an order."
The two witches went to attention and saluted, "да товарищ полко́вник." They smiled and nodded as he returned the salute and they departed leaving the colonel alone once again. He took another drink again before checking his watch. Looking outside once more he sighed again and spoke without turning, "How long have you been standing there?"
Junior Lt. Gusev silently entered from the hall, "Not long полко́вник."
Vought repeated his sigh, "What's up?"
"Mайо́р Volkov requests your presence."
The colonel shook his head before downing the rest of the coffee. Spinning around again he headed towards the door while checking his watch; Gusev stepped in behind him and followed after as they walked, "I'll meet him in five; I need to go get changed. I've got to go work on some skills."
January 6, 1946 0900 Hours- Jumper Bay 2
"Alright everyone, that's all I have for now. Today's training consists of war games between the four fighter wings present while Lt. Col. Foss's unit will be… free to join whichever side they wish. Dismissed." Galland grinned at the audible moans coming from the witches in front of her as they dispersed to grab their equipment and listen to final thoughts from their commanders.
She had spent the morning meeting with the five wing commanders and their deputies as they thought up training schemes and methods for meshing their units. She knew that the liberation of Karlsland would be the largest combined offensive in the history of warfare; she snorted as she thought of the conflicts the people from the other reality had been through. They needed to be capable of working together and adapting to the situation as they assaulted the group of hives over her homeland. She felt a flutter in her chest as she realized that she would get to see her Karlsland free. Watching the witches bundle up as they headed outside into the snow she desperately wished she could go with them but her age took that away from her. Looking to see Foss still in her chair and playing with her hair, she twitched; annoyed, before making her way over.
"Joe, what are you still doing in here? Shouldn't you be prepping your team?"
The black haired witch look up, "Oh hey ma'am. Just taking my time; a group such as mine needs no… plan per say…." She noticed Galland's stare and swallowed, "That being said I should go give the ladies an outline."
Adolfine shook her head in amusement as she watched Foss hightail it out of the bay and out into the snow. Thinking how much alike she and Vought were was extremely amusing. She nodded to herself; she knew how to pick them. Turning she vacated the room as she went to discuss the reports from Allied Command with the command staff.
January 6, 1946 0917 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room
"Sorry I'm late gentlemen, the ladies took a little prodding to get moving," Galland stated as she entered the room late.
"It's cool Adolfine, take a seat. Alright, back to what I was saying. Currently we have six of the seven assemblies completed and five of the seven in orbit. Number six will be launching in a bit and seven will be finished and launched sometime in the next four days. For the Novgorod hive, we will need to use leftover stores from previous missions." Vought finished as Grant raised his hand.
"Sir, does that mean we can try the Lancelots against it?"
Vought shared a look with Ross; he subtly shook his head. He turned back to Grant, "The ABM-3s are extremely vulnerable to… well everything. They are ABMs; they were designed to kill ICBMs not fighters or stationary targets. We've calculated on the other hives that we would need to expend most of them to guarantee a kill. Besides, with the witches involved in this one we wouldn't want to put them in any needless danger now would we?" He turned to Galland as she cleared her throat; the others turned as well as she stood up.
"Thank you including us on this one gentlemen," she deadpanned as she stared at the American mercilessly. He shrugged apologetically as she continued, "Anyway the thing is… Command needs the witch units to show that we're still worth spending money on." The crew stared at her in confusion as she went on, "Partly due to your successes, and partly due to those that were aligned with Maloney and Hydrich have started to incite the importance of advancing conventional technology. The reason the witches are still being deployed in such numbers is due to Churchill, pretty much all of Liberion and Fuso standing behind us." She looked down as they stared at her in disbelief.
"They want technology over you ladies?"
She looked up into the surprised face of the Russian colonel, "It's unfortunately all true. My aide back in Britannia has been given information from Churchill; he wants us to not worry about it but I still do. The rest of Command wants results and that's what we need to give them."
"Damn it Adolfine, why didn't you tell us earlier? We could have toned it down a bit or something. We didn't want to run you ladies out of business." Vought slammed his hand against the table.
She sadly shook her head, "It's not your fault Chris; the men that assisted Hydrich and Maloney were going to start something anyway. Besides, it's better this way; the witches just need to finish this war and then we can retire them and not put them in harm's way again and conventional forces can take control of warfare once again. You said it before, "The horrors of war.""
The crew were silent, "You people should be proud; you've completed in 8 months what we were unable to in six years. I don't think you grasp how many lives you have saved; witches included by keeping them out of danger. Now that you have shown us what you are capable of, we need to show you just what a witch can do."
Vought hesitated before nodding, "If you say so."
She glared at him, "Anyway I've got good news, bad news, and different news; what do you want to hear first?"
Ross answered for him before he came up with a smart comment, "Let's get the bad news out of the way first."
"Alright then, reports from Command are not looking good. The hives over Karlsland have been becoming increasingly violent and unpredictable. The 506th, 31st, and Isle of Wight group are being stressed horribly and the 508th is taking some strain in the north as well. We've had to call up every reserve and even some training groups in the area to help defend. Another problem is there are attacks happening well outside of the hives current attack range; some have been reported as far south as Romagna."
"The hell? How? There's nothing left down there, we made sure of it. We-"
She stopped Vought before he could continue his tirade, "They can manage don't worry about it. We will need to wrap this up soon to go take some heat off them. Enough of that, let's move onto the good news. For this next attack, we will be coordinating with the 502nd and 507th giving us six complete JFWs to clear out Novgorod." She paused and looked at her notes, "In addition, we will be receiving two witches from the 131st Test Squadron from Neue Karlsland; apparently the data you gave Lt. Hartmann allowed them to fix the problems with the Me-262 striker and they wish to prove them in a large scale engagement. We will also be getting two ground witch units to support our attack. One of those units is already with the 502nd and the other we will have to meet in a few days; the two witches from the 131st will be here sometime tomorrow."
"Crush them with overwhelming strength, да?"
Galland grinned and nodded to Volkov as he turned to Vought with a pleading look.
Vought sighed as he facepalmed, "Fine they can train but no live rounds, understood?"
Volkov continued with the stare and Vought groaned, "Damn it… fine, a few live rounds but you need to make sure it's safe."
The major's expression brightened as he stood up, "да! Спасибо мой друг, I will go tell my men!" Alexei basically sprinted from the room in glee as the others stared after him.
Adolfine blinked, "Um… what was that about?"
"Alexei has been complaining that his crews have been getting rusty and has been asking to allow them to practice. I guess since we have a few days and the nearest civilian is over 450 miles away, why not?"
"You mean…"
"Yes, his tank crews get to go play."
"…Is that wise?"
"Eh, probably, what can go wrong? Anyway you said you had some different news?"
"Eh?" She blinked again, "Oh right," she looked at her notes and frowned, "It's about the Novgorod hive."
"Is it becoming violent like the others?"
She shook her head, "No apparently it's the exact opposite. Besides a few reconnaissance types from it, the hive hasn't attacked anything or anyone in nearly a month."
Vought rubbed his chin in thought as his staff began to discuss this turn of events, "Hm… what could this mean?"
January 6, 1946 1000 Hours- Borealis Disembarking Point
Huberta and Federica watched as the witches bored holes in the sky; paint rounds flying everywhere as the groups clashed.
"To join them would be lovely; I hate being old. Oh well, it gives me more time to build things."
Von Bonin turned to Dogilo as she went back to staring at the tablet she had been carrying, "Agreed, it has been far too long since I've flown my striker into combat." She sighed, "Enough reminiscing, shouldn't we be observing and trying to correct what we see?"
The two witches stared at each other before laughing and turning back to the duel taking place in the air. Huberta shook her head in frustration as she watched Marseille and Barkhorn chase each other around; despite being a temporary addition to the 501st the two were still going at it like they were enemies. It was getting tiresome.
A warning tone reverberated through the airspace causing the witches to move away from the ship as a 302 was launched; it circled above once before lighting its rocket engine and climbing vertically away. Sonic booms sounded as the fighter disappeared from view. Huberta noticed with interest that the fighter was carrying a long tube with it. Federica noticed it as well.
"Some kind of weapon?"
"I believe so; I overheard some of the engineers talking about something called "Kingfisher," awhile back. It was a multiple part system and they needed to put it in orbit." They both turned again as someone joined them.
"Morning ladies, how are you today?"
Huberta smiled as she looked at the newcomer, "Good morning Capt Grant, what brings you here and where's your wingman?"
Carl shrugged and waved back as Federica waved at him, "Hiding I think ma'am, she hasn't been the same since her run in with Lucchini. She's jumpy as hell around the 501st and is always checking her back now."
Both witches sighed in unison; the ensign really needed to calm down. Remembering something Huberta turned back to him as he watched the witches overhead, "Pretty good huh captain?"
He nodded, "Pretty damn good but it ain't Red Flag."
Both witches perked up, "Red Flag?"
"Yep, Red Flag, a yearly massive aerial training exercise that takes place in the Nevada desert. Members of NATO gather to practice and hone their dogfighting skills. It is some of the most intense flying I've ever had the fortune of being a part of; till I joined the SGC that is." He frowned and sighed, "My friend and copilot… we scored the highest in our squadron. It was before we were deployed…" He went silent.
"… Anyway uh, what Chris up to right now?"
Grant shook himself out of his recollection, "The colonel? Uh last I saw of him he was getting ready to do some training out here somewhere. No idea where or what though… what's going on over there?"
The two witches turned to find the bay behind them opening; the sound of diesel motors firing up echoed from within.
"Huh I guess that's what the colonel had been talking about."
"Hm?"
"In the meeting earlier the colonel gave Maj Volkov permission to let his tank crews train."
Federica spun, "They have those advanced tanks up and running?" She turned as the two mint-green and black tanks rolled out and into the snow; their idling motors throwing black clouds into the sky as they warmed up for the first time in months. The two tanks were followed by an assortment of people.
"You want to go see what's up ma'am?"
She nodded enthusiastically as she led the other two towards the waiting vehicles
Jumper Bay 1
"All I'm saying is that there is no way they could possibly know we were here. Somebody must have screwed up and left some information somewhere. I mean they can't possibly have people that deep in our government… you listening Nemes?"
Alex nodded absentmindedly as he watched the tanks roll out of the bay in front of them, "Uh yeah, whatever. You know, I've always thought tanks were cool; they're why I joined the army."
"You are a former Ranger are you not captain?"
Both ISA operatives spun in shock to find Col Sokolov and Lt Gusev silently stalking them.
The colonel looked at Harp, "And to answer your question captain, that's a state secret; I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you." He gave him a sly grin; the lieutenant stood there expressionless.
"… That's right sir, I'm former Army Ranger."
"Hm… what did you do then? I know your Rangers are well trained." Sokolov asked curiously.
Nemes raised an eyebrow and turned to his partner before sighing and turning back; Harp was still uselessly trying to process Sokolov's knowledge. "Uh I excelled in CQC sir. I like shotguns."
The big Russian nodded in understanding, "I see. You wouldn't also have a fondness for that rifle the Rangers and Chris so desperately love, do you?"
"The SCAR? It's a good weapon; a massive improvement over the M4 so I guess I like it ok. I don't have a love affair for it like the colonel does though. My weapon of choice is an M1014 or an AA-12."
"Hm…" Vitaly looked the captain up and down before turning to the junior lieutenant beside him, "You two should spar later; I would like to see how Alpha Group training compares to your ISA training. Would that be ok?"
Nemes blinked in surprise, "Uh… I guess so. I would like to see the armor first if that's alright."
Sokolov grinned, "Why not. Come Capt Harp, you shall join us as well and I may decide to answer a few of your questions."
Leading the two Americans the three of them headed towards the exit with Gusev following silently behind.
Outside
Volkov stopped his brief as his superior came into view, "полко́вник, доброе утро. What can I do for you?"
Sokolov shook his head as he pointed to the two Americans; the witches and Grant had reached them as well. The tank crews waited in their open hatches as the major stopped his brief.
He nodded in understanding, "да I understand." He beckoned for everyone to take a few steps back as he finished relaying instructions to the commanders; one of the drivers noticed Dogilo observing his tank and smirked before yelling back inside. He waited a few seconds before reaching down and grabbing an extra pair of helmets and handed them to the witch. Blinking in surprise she excitedly put one on and looked at the other quizzically; he beckoned to Huberta. Nodding in understanding she handed the other to the Karlslandic witch and took a step back as the Americans watched amused.
Federica was adjusting the fit of the helmet when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning she found Sokolov giving her a smile as he beckoned towards the driver, "Tell him, "spa-see-ba.""
She mouthed the word a few times before turning again to find the driver looking at her quizzically; she had to speak up over the idling engines, "Uh spa-see-ba?"
The driver grinned, "да, Пожалуйста," tilting his head he nodded to the gunner inside and waved before closing his hatch. With a roar, the two tanks clanked into gear and began to slowing accelerate in opposite directions with their turrets swinging about as they drove away.
"What did I just say? Orussian isn't a language I know."
"You said "thank you," and he responded "you're welcome."" He glanced at the two witches, "You two might want to secure those; it might be getting loud here." Watching, the group was treated to a dual salute as both 125mm smoothbore guns fired simultaneously into the distance.
Moscow Airspace, same time
The witches paused their combat again at the crack of the two tank guns going off below.
"An impressive display of power. Alexei's men must be getting bored."
Minna took a glance at Mio before the two of them resumed their pursuit of Junko and Larrazabal; the latter firing accurate shots at them as they flew away. The two 501st members were forced to fall back slightly as they reconsidered their options. Utilizing her magic she took note of her girls.
Perrine and Yoshika were both out. Despite her ability to surpass everyone in combat in some situations, Miyafuji was still young and not very experienced. Forced into combat with the more experienced members of the 505th, she and Clostermann had been forced together to hold them off. The two of them worked surprisingly well with each other despite the Gallian's attitude to the young witch from Fuso. After managing to take out two of the 505th members the two had been attacked by Gentile and Godfrey and hit repeatedly. Minna could still hear Clostermann complaining over the radios about how long it was going to take to clean all the paint off her.
Dodging another shot from the Hispanian sniper, she sighed as she found her other three Karlslandic witches. Marseille was still egging Barkhorn on and Hartmann was dutifully following them; attacking anyone who got close. They were currently still flying but were now quite a distance from everyone else. Yeager and Lucchini were currently dueling with the two Liberions from the 504th.
Coordinating with Mio, the two of them fired an accurate burst at the two witches causing them to scatter. A single spot of paint appeared on Larrazabal's left striker a second later. After a brief moment of surprise, she begrudgingly dove towards the ground and back towards the ship; her weapon holstered on her back. Looking up and above her, Minna spotted the attacker; Sgt. Bishop as she calmly cycled the bolt on her rifle.
"Nice shot Bishop."
The Britannian sniper flopped in the air at the sudden radio call, "Uh T-thanks ma'am. It wasn't really that good thou-"
Two witches from the 503rd had dropped in on the unsuspecting sniper and had opened up on her only to hit the shield of Lt. Kostilev as she protected her.
Earlier Minna had managed to convince Foss to allow Galina to join the 501st for the war game; they had all decided not to put the night witches in combat. Sayn-Wittgenstein was stubborn and had stated that she wasn't needed and Eila had complained that Sanya was too tired to fight.
"Got ya!" Foss yelled as she appeared in front of her in a flash of blue cackling maniacally; her cannon aimed at her chest.
January 6, 1946 1200 Hours-Jumper Bay 2
Ross and Pierce watched amused as the witches trudged up the ramp; some were completely the wrong color. He looked at Foss, "I see you got hit Joe."
The witch in question grumbled as she stomped past him mumbling something about needing a shower and cheating Karlslanders; she was almost completely orange with the amount of paint that had hit her.
"What was that about?"
Minna smiled as she walked up; she was clean, "Joe thought she had the jump on me but she had a momentary lapse in judgment."
"?"
"I have situational awareness of my entire environment; I knew where she was before she teleported. Mio knew before she tried to jump us."
He nodded in understanding as Pierce began to check over everyone that had been hit. The doc looked at Yoshika as she walked by leaning against Lynette for support; both were exhausted. "Tough day huh ladies?"
Yoshika wiped some paint off her face as she looked at him, "Yes sir. It was really tough and I thought I was doomed really earlier. I got lucky when Perrine came to save me… but I was still hit a lot."
He chuckled as he patted her on the head; she looked up, "Cheer up kido, you're still young and learning. Just remember, if you can learn from a defeat, you've won in the long run. So did you fix up any bruises or were you too tired?"
She nodded, "I think I got most of them."
He nodded as he looked around, "Alright then why don't you two go get cleaned up?"
They smiled at him before they resumed their shuffle towards the showers. Turning to begin checking on the others he found Harris and Preddy; both in high spirits and neither had a single drop of paint on them.
"How was it you two?"
"It was awesome! I haven't had that much fun in forever!" Geena had a huge grin on her face as she shook her subordinate's shoulders; Cecilia just went with it and gave him a lopsided grin.
"So how'd ya do?"
Cecilia smirked while Geena puffed her cheeks and walked away, "We got a few of them but…Wg Cdr Safonov gave her a parting shot."
Noticing the stare Pierce was giving her, Bronislava gave him a two fingered salute as she walked by; like Minna, she was clean. Her wingman, Waltraud Nowotny was also clean as she followed her CO.
Turning he looked at the sulking witch, "Where'd she get hit?"
"The wing on her striker. She almost didn't notice it."
He snorted in amusement, "That'll teach ya to keep better situational awareness now won't it?"
She huffed and refused to make eye contact causing Harris to roll her eyes and laugh.
"Captain? What are you doing?"
Everyone turned at the commander's question to find Ed Thomas walking around outside looking bored.
Thomas looked up at them, "Afternoon… everyone… I'm just trying to help the colonel but he isn't making my life easy."
"The colonel?"
"He wanted to practice hiding and I'm supposed to seek."
"And how's that going?"
"…two hours and counting…"
"Hiding?"
He looked at the witches as they walked back down the ramp; some hadn't had a chance to clean up yet. "Well technically concealment; he is trained as a sniper so this is what they do. If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be." By this time Heinrike had finally wandered by to see what was going on.
"So he's around here?"
He motioned all around him, "Yep, in plain sight. He fired a blank a little while ago so I know I'm close."
Everyone present looked around; nothing but snow, a few rocks, trees, and a few leafless bushes… in all not much to use for cover. Mio turned to Minna as she concentrated; her familiar once again appearing as she tried to find him. A few seconds later she smiled as her features vanished.
"Found him?"
"Yep"
The marine stared at her, "So not fair ma'am, so not fair. Can you tell me where so I can finally go eat?"
"No but I can do this," She beckoned her witches to help.
Francesca, showing very little movement before due to how tired she was, immediately sprang into action, jumped from Shirley and began to dig in the snow; laughing the entire time. The others joined in as they attempted to find him.
Geena frowned as she looked around; she had tried by the bushes and had found nothing. She even dug up some of the snow looking for their errant leader. She looked to Heinrike as she gave up and the two of them looked to Minna. After 15 minutes of searching, they were all bored. "Ma'am, could you please tell us where he is?"
Minna tapped her chin in thought, "I don't know, what do you think sir?"
Heinrike stumbled as the ground under her shifted; she stepped off to find that the rocks were rolling away and the sticks she had been standing on had been attached to a long piece of white fabric. Standing up, Vought looked like a lumpy white, brown, and black blob; snow falling off as he shook. He slid his similarly covered rifle over his shoulder as he took the head piece off. Looking at the marine he grunted, "That's cheating captain, I don't use magic powers to find you." The witches stared at him in awe, "What?"
Mio was the first to respond, "What are you wearing?"
"It's a ghillie suit. Gives me a three dimension break up instead of a linear one so I can hide easier." He checked his watch as the witches continued to stare, "Two hours and 16 minutes; I'm disappointed Thomas."
Rolling his eyes Thomas saluted as he left, "You said I could eat when you were found so if you don't mind, I'll be taking my leave."
The colonel grunted again as he wiped the white and black paint off his face, "…and I thought marines had some patience." He looked at Heinrike as he finished, "So why were you standing on me?"
The night witch huffed and turned; clearly not in the mood to discuss what happened. She left as the others approached. Lucchini poked and prodded at his head piece while the others continued to stare at him. He handed the piece to her and she immediately put it on; she grimaced slightly at the smell but quickly got over it. Without another moment's hesitation, she jumped into the snow and began to slide around making combat noises while Yeager and Hartmann laughed.
"Why couldn't Sokolov help… that meant nothing to me. No offense Minna."
The witch in question just smiled.
Barkhorn looked at him quizzically, "Why wasn't it helpful? He couldn't find you."
"While that's true, I'm trained to hide. Thomas is not trained to find. Sokolov and his men on the other hand are special operations. My hiding spot wasn't all that good; one of them probably could have found me." He checked his watch again, "… Hm… I'm hungry. Who want's lunch?" He finally noticed that some of them still had paint on them, "Rightttt."
January 7, 1946 0930 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room
Hannah stared at the door; hesitating before knocking. A few minutes before she had been cornered by Nemes about something that needed to be discussed.
Before
"Hey uh… Tina, can I have a word with you for a sec?"
Hannah spun to find Nemes waiting at the previous junction; her expression brightened as she went back to ignoring Barkhorn. She slapped Hartmann on the back as she made her way back, "Alex, what's up? Haven't seen you in a while, what have you been up to?"
He gave her a small grin, "Just training and that kind of stuff you know? Anyway," he got serious, "the colonel and vice marshal need to see you in the briefing room. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news."
She tilted her head and frowned, "What about?"
"No idea"
Present
The door slide open before she could knock and taking a deep breath, she put her cocky grin back on and walked in throwing a lazy salute, "Morning people; what's all this about."
The two in question stopped their conversation in surprise, "Marseille? We weren't expecting you for a little longer. Anyway take a seat; something important has come up."
She stared as she sat down; she didn't like getting this much attention from people above her.
Galland folded her hands as she looked at the younger witch, "We're sending you to Gallia to help hold off the Neuroi until the ship can move into position for the attack on Berlin." She waited for the explosion.
"You cannot be serious? I am needed here; I'm the best witch onboard. You can't take me off the attack. You need me." She flipped her hair as she sent them back her defiant stare.
Adolfine rubbed her temples and leaned on the table. "That is why we are sending you; there is no one better suited for this position onboard. The 506th is taking a beating and with them down two witches, they need help. The Isle of Wight Group is assisting but they haven't seen combat like this before. In the channel the 508th is trying to take off some of the pressure but we think the Neuroi knows they are weakened."
"What about you colonel? What do you have to say; you know you want me here so just say it."
Vought groaned as he leaned against the wall, "You're right, I do think you are the most talented witch on this ship. You're so good that sending you would have the greatest impact on performance. We have six complete JFWs, two ground witch squadrons, and this ship vs a single hive that hasn't done anything in months. Besides, your friends need you more than we do right now."
"My friends are fine I'm worried what's going to happen when I leave you guys al-"
"You don't understand; the 31st is imbedded with the 506th right now and they are down their strongest witch with you here."
Hannah went silent as Galland spoke again. "Look, the public is getting nervous again even with the end in sight. Allied Command has yet to give an official statement on this ship, it's crew, and their capabilities so everyone is getting nervous about the witches being risked like this. You haven't been seen by the public for months now and they have no idea if you're still alive. By sending you to Gallia, you can not only rejoin your group and help defend Gallia but, you will be back in public view and that will hopefully still the growing panic."
"Look, we're not going to send you alone; Command is finally making a statement about us and we're sending a pair of 302s and a Jumper loaded with as many missiles as we can cram onboard. We will be done with this hive soon and we will meet up again before this is all over." Vought grinned as he looked at her, "Besides, we won't be leaving without saying goodbye; we still have to repair our engines before we can even think about leaving. It might be months after this is over before that happens so relax."
Both officers waited for the normally vocal witch to respond; she let lose a long and loud sigh as she stood up and shrugged. "I guess it can't be helped. If the 506th and my group needs a witch that badly then it can't be helped. You might as well send the most capable one," She adjusted her goggles as she smirked and left.
Before the door finished closing Galland turned to the colonel, "…What do you think? Will she be ok?"
"She hates the fact that we're sending her away from the front line but at the same time she's mad that her unit and friends are in danger. She also has a hidden agenda and she wants to make sure we don't leave her sight for too long."
Adolfine nodded; clearly impressed, "Damn Chris, I think that's the fastest anyone has picked up on Marseille's thoughts."
"What can I say? I'm a natural born leader," he swallowed hard as he caught her gaze. "…uh… that being said, you're an amazing leader as well."
"Hm… saved yourself on that one tough guy," she deadpanned as she checked the clock on the wall. "I've got to go prepare for the members of the 131st; get your people prepped that you are sending with Marseille." She turned to leave, "Oh and I've approved Vitaly's and your request. You can tell him."
He watched her leave before tapping his fingers on the table and thinking. Hopping up he grabbed his radio as he left, "Get Hunter flight, a 302 tech, and a Jumper crew to meet me in the pilot's briefing room; I've got a mission for them." He waved Vitaly after him as they passed by each other; the big Russian followed curiously. Nodding as he got a response he turned, "Alright Galland approved our request; I'll let Thomas know so you let Alexei know to alert his crew. We need them moving north in a few days."
"Understood… will they be getting any support besides your LAVs?"
"There are two witch units in Dijon and two in Sedan. Marseille will be going and I'm sending two 302s and a Jumper. How many reloads do we have left for the Growler?"
"We only have six of the 40N6 left after the sabotage. We have the ability to create more but, you know how I feel about putting the specs in your hands."
Vought sighed, "I understand; that was a requirement from your government and I'm going to follow it but we're going to need to do something eventually."
"We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Anyway, if I recall there are still 20 extended range ones left and 20 of the high probability shorter range ones left as well."
"Hm… plus what we're sending the 302s with and the LAV's 16 reloads, we should be in a good position to assist them." Vought checked his watch, "It's a 12 hour drive so we need them to get moving; they will have a reserve witch unit meet them at the border to Fr-Gallia."
Vitaly nodded as he turned away; grabbing his radio as he went, "I'll let him know now. Where are you off to? It's going to take some time before the S-400 is ready to move; we're probably better off telling them to move tomorrow."
"Prepping the people we're sending. Hunter-1 is going to need to deal with Marseille on the flight over so I need to prep her." He paused as he thought that over and grimaced, "Not many options here… We'll send them tomorrow."
1000 Hours-Hispania
Managing to avoid destruction since the beginning of the Neuroi War, the doors to an armored shelter opened for the first time in over a year. Under a very heavy guard, a train inched its way from within; hooking up cars as it slowly pulled away from the base. Further south, an identical train was performing a similar action. The two trains had holding points set up in Gallia and would be used in the final attack.
1203 Hours- Jumper Bay 2
Galland and a number of witches watched as the two 302s went supersonic, racing towards Gallia; not even bothering to use their hyperdrives. The lone Jumper silently followed after them before climbing away and vanishing. It would climb well over Karlsland and come down somewhere over Gallia where the 302s would be basing themselves. As the 302's contrails began to fade, another sound approached and quickly two black dots grew larger as they roared overhead; pulses of white smoke from their exhaust as they slowed and turned to entered the open bay. Yeager and Barkhorn grimaced as they recognized the red strikers the two witches were wearing. Barkhorn proceeded to blink in surprise as she recognized one of the pilots; she turned to Minna who just smiled. The two witches stopped before entering; confusion evident on their faces.
"Sorry ladies, the cloak just activated itself. Someone's going to need to go out and escort them back in." Ross's voice echoed from the speakers.
Nodding to Bishop, Lynette acknowledged her commander's order and walked to the bay's entrance to help the two witches through the opening.
In the back of the bay, the door to the ship's interior slid open and Hartmann walked in; happily munching on a large bar of chocolate. Recognizing one of the two new arrivals she froze and spun on one foot before continuing back into the passageway with barely a check in speed. Preddy and von Bonin watched her curiously before deciding to follow after her. The three of them ran into Vought as he headed back towards the bridge; paperwork in hand as he thought.
"What's going on ladies? Didn't those members of the 131st arrive?"
Geena shrugged, "No idea. We were on our way to go see but the lieutenant here did an about, face and ran away."
He stared at the blond witch curiously, "You know one of the new arrivals Hartmann?"
The short Karlslander pouted as she turned to face them, "She's a meanie; she's like Trude. She likes trying to make me do stuff."
The three stared at her in confusion, "Who?"
Jumper Bay 2
"MASTER SERGEANT HELMA LENNARTZ, 131st EXPERIMENTAL FLYING REGIMENT, REPORTING FOR DUTY MA'AM!"
Everyone present rocked at the sheer volume of noise coming from this tiny witch. Recovering quicker than thought Yoshika stared at her in awe, "Wow, you're small."
Helma twitched as Galland finally returned her salute and she puffed her cheeks as she rounded on Miyafuji; her tail twitching agitatedly. "Who are you and what right do you have to call me SMALL!"
Yoshika jumped back in fright and hid behind Lynette, "Uh, Sergeant Yoshika Miyafuji from Fuso."
The short Karlslander blinked and stuttered, "Y-your Yoshika Miyafuji!?" Her head spun back and forth at comical speeds, "C-Capt Barkhorn?" She ran up to Gertrude with big eyes, "It's so good to see you again ma'am." She got closer and whispered in her ear as she continued to stare at the Fuso witch, "Is that really Yoshika Miyafuji?"
Barkhorn groaned as she watched Yeager give her a feral grin; staring at the small witch practically groveling at her side. She turned to Lennartz, "Yes that's Miyafuji."
Helma approached Yoshika yet again as she backed around Lynette, "IT'S AN HONOR TO MEET YOU SGT MIYAFUJI. I WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN BE AS GREAT AS CAPT BARKHORN."
The hanger went silent again as every witch sans Minna stared at Helma before turning their gaze to Barkhorn. She cringed as someone approached from behind her, "As great as you huh Barkhorn?" She slowly turned to find Foss giving her an evil grin; the other witches took a step towards them.
Overhearing Foss's question, Helma proudly answered, "THAT'S RIGHT MA'AM, AS GREAT AS C-"
They all watched as Trude wrapped her hand around the smaller witch's mouth and proceeded to drag her from the bay; a blush present on her face as Helma's striker and equipment fell to the deck. A resounding 'clang' was the final sound as the massive twin 30mm cannon bounced while the door slid shut. A second or two passed before Yeager and Foss burst out laughing; leaning against each other as they slid to the deck. Most of the other witches joined in the laughter as the other newcomer promptly apologized for the master sergeant's behavior.
Passageway
"So all she did was try to make you more productive." Vought deadpanned as he pieced together what Erica had been babbling about.
The witch in question nodded, "Yeah she's a real meanie trying to make me do work all the time. She's like a hyperactive version of Trude. It's not cool."
The other two witches present snickered while the colonel rubbed his face in annoyance. "Hartmann listen y-"
The four turned as the door to bay 2 opened with Barkhorn rushing out in the other direction; in her arms was a very short blond witch with her mouth covered. The witch looked happy until she made eye contact with the pouting Hartmann; her eyes flipped over to rage as her hand stabbed forward aiming at her. Both of them soon disappeared around the corner.
Preddy and von Bonin snorted before cracking up; Vought groaned again as he proceeded to slam his head repeatedly against the wall. Hartmann mumbled as she crammed the rest of the chocolate bar in her mouth.
Geena was still wiping tears away when Huberta finally regained her composure, "Chris…"
He stopped his head banging and looked at her, "Yes?"
She ignored Preddy as she started giggling again at the colonel's expression, "Do you have some free time?"
He looked at his watch, "I've got an hour or two before we need to start packing up. What's up?"
"Could I challenge you to a game of chess?"
"… Why not, you've got a board right?"
"Indeed I do, shall we?"
"We shall. Come on you two, you guys can mess around with stuff in my room just don't break anything and Hartmann…"
The witch from Karlsland looked up as he fished around in his pockets; her eyes lit up again as he drew another candy bar from his uniform, "I was saving this for later but if you can calm down, this is yours."
She nodded enthusiastically as she reached for the chocolate; she had a moment of hesitation as she thought about her weakness for candy before banishing it completely. Candy was good and she really didn't care.
2150 Hours- Pescara, RomagnaHH
The base personnel had been able to relax for a good long while and now they were fed up with it. They watched as the men and women from the other reality packed their vehicles up and lined up on the bridge; ready to head north and rejoin the fight.
Finally receiving word that they were all ready and that they had a resupply drop waiting for them near the border, the convoy of vehicles finally set out. With one LAV-AD leading, the other tailing and the ZSU in the middle, the mobile air defense units were capable of leading a valiant defense of the vulnerable SA-21 vehicles. The commander of the lead LAV checked his watch as he waved back at the cheering defenders of the 501st base as the base's lights winked out again. Nodding at the captain of the Russian SAM battery, he ducked back down inside before standing back up in his hatch and leaning back against the rear of the turret. He took a swig of water from his backpack and sighed; he had a twelve hour ride ahead of him and they would have no witch support for nearly ten of that. Because of that they were going to take the drive much slower and turn the longer trip into two days.
It was going to be one hell of a drive.
January 11, 1946 1200 Hours- Borealis Bridge, 250 km from Novgorod
"Alright Adolfine, where the hell are they at? You said they'd be here by now."
"Patience colonel, they will be here. Wilcke, you getting anything yet?"
Minna frowned as she stood near the front of the bridge; glowing blue as she searched for the incoming land witch unit. "Maybe… Coming from the south-west…"
"Hang on sir. Sensors are painting a target now… Appears to be a group of people moving at high speeds towards us."
"Numbers?"
"Uh… looks like five sir."
"Divert the Hawk and let's see if we can get some eyes on them.
Outside
The witch group slowed as a small object approached them from above. Painted in its standard Sky Masters livery, the bright white, red, and blue FlightHawk UCAV swooped low over the group; it's high definition camera beaming the images back to the ship.
Inside
"Alright ladies, recognize anyone?"
Galland tapped her chin as she studied the video, "Only three," she pointed at the screen and recoiled in surprise as her motion highlighted the three leading witches as they waved at the UAV. "Wow… anyway looks like those three are the Patton Girls. I'm surprised that he let them go…"
"Patton? As in General George Patton?" Ross asked.
She turned to him and nodded, "Yep; he's been in Africa working with Rommel and Montgomery. These three are his favorite witches assigned to him so he must really want to be part of this attack if he sent them."
"Alright then," Vought nodded as the chair spun forward, "Everybody stand by, I'm landing."
The Borealis swung about before the three oversized landing skids deployed and the ship floated towards the ground. The mismatched witch group watched curiously as the ship completed it's landing sequence and shut down. The witches outside began approaching again as one of the bay doors began to open; the three Liberion witches grinned in surprise when they recognized the figure waiting on the ramp.
"Yeager!" Abigail exclaimed as she and her two friends approached the busty witch.
"Yeah ladies, how's it been? Africa get to hot for ya?"
The rest of the ground unit caught up as Yeager escorted the lot of them into the bay.
The five new witches looked around the cavernous room in interest; Miyafuji craned her neck as she looked up at the largest striker she had ever seen, "Oh wow… what's that?"
Lyn smiled as she turned to her friend, "That's a land striker although I don't recognize the model. They carry big weapons to destroy ground and airborne Neuroi.
The young Fuso witch looked back and forth at the newcomers, "Why are their strikers so different?"
"Depends on how complicated the design of the striker is," Federica answered for Bishop. "The three Liberions all have M4 Shermans and they were built with mass production and reliability in mind. They also carry smaller weapons from the actual tank. I believe they use 37mm vs the tank's 75mm." They looked at the three witches as they continued to chat with Yeager and Lucchini. "I'm not entirely sure though on those two," she stated as she pointed at the two larger strikers.
"Alright ladies enough chit-chat," Galland ordered as she and Vought entered the room. "This is Col Vought and this is his ship. I expect you ladies to behave yourselves and you will be doing an introduction to him now." She looked at the collection of witches in front of her; none of them had time to set down their equipment or even exit their strikers. She noted with interest the weapons being carried by the two older looking members of the group.
The witch from Karlsland, in the massive, angular striker with the largest weapon present saluted, "Ma'am, sir, Feldwebel Kristin Knispel, 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion." The witch towered above the colonel's 6'5" frame in her striker as he returned the salute.
He craned his neck, "May I ask what kind of striker that is?" He looked at the others present; none of them were even remotely the same size. He also noticed that unlike the others, she was dressed for winter combat; she even had her striker painted to match her familiar, a white Bengal Tiger.
She nodded, "Yes sir, this is the first production Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B and this," she moved her arm and the massive weapon mount followed suite, "is the 8.8cm Kampfwagenkanone 43 L/71."
He nodded, "I thought so," he turned again to the next witch.
She nodded in understanding as she put down her bag; her shoulder length brunette hair fluttered as she stood back up, "Sir, Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Kinkade, you can call me Ellie if you want. I'm with the Britannian 62nd Anti-Neuroi Regiment and this is my Achilles." She saluted and hit her head with the barrel of her gun; she rubbed it as she gave him an innocent smile, "Sorry sir." Her ocelot ears twitched.
He shook his head, "No problem."
Yoshika blinked from the back as she processed that information, "But your Achilles is on your foot…"
Vought snorted as he turned to face her; she covered her mouth as she realized she spoke out loud again. "It's her striker, not her foot. Her striker is based on the 17pdr SP Achilles tank destroyer; am I right?"
Kinkade nodded, "Right-o sir."
He nodded at the three Liberion tank witches.
"Abigail"
"Marilyn"
"Patricia"
"Patton Girls reporting for duty sir!" They exclaimed in unison as the three of them saluted.
The colonel blinked as the other witches laughed at his expression; he sighed as he returned it, "Alright then, a pleasure to meet you all. I'll let someone here get you ladies settled and go ahead and start exploring. We go into combat in 42 hours."
January 11, 1946 2216 Hours- Lyon, Gallia
The commander of the LAV looked over the convoy nervously through his NVGs; they had been delayed numerous times now and were still trying to make their way north. They had been attacked twice by similar looking Neuroi and were able to hold them off until a witch unit had been able to finish them off. There were no casualties yet but there were injuries and a few damaged vehicles. The fuel drop they were supposed to pick up at the border had been picked up by someone else and the convoy was stranded until they managed to find enough fuel for all the vehicles. Now they were waiting by a railroad crossing as the crew of the ZSU fixed a thrown track. He noticed one of the security guards coming over, "What's the prognosis?"
"The crew is saying it'll be another 20 minutes or so and the sentries are reporting a train coming from the south."
He spun the turret around as he peered down the line, "Threat assessment?"
"There are witches and conventional forces escorting it so I think were ok."
He nodded, "Alright, tell the defense teams to stand down then; we don't want a friendly fire incident."
Half an hour later the SPAAG was finally repaired but by that time, the train had reached the crossing. The crews stopped what they were doing and just watched as the darkened train rumbled by; it was taking up both directions of tracks as it rumbled north. The defensive witches could be seen by their exhaust popping in the moonless sky; they received a few nods from the train's crew as they waited.
The LAV commander could only shake his head in disbelief as he stared at the massive black mass being dragged by the engines in front. From what he saw, this was going to take a while; the 1.5km long train was moving at a snail's pace as it went around the slight bend in the tracks. Reaching into his pocket for an energy bar he watched as the lights in one of the cars turned on and a figure could be seen silhouetted in the window. Feeling eyes on him he continued to make eye contact with the figure until they disappeared from view. It took the train another 20 minutes to clear the crossing before the convoy could continue on its way. Despite the fact that they were all dead tired and on edge, they needed to get the Growler set up before they could sleep; they needed the radar up and running.
Train 1
The witch turned off her light as the strange men disappeared from view. She, like the others, had heard of their existence and knew that they were helping them but she had no idea how or why. She flopped back on her bed and winced as she fell on her hair; she sighed as she grabbed and stared at it in the darkness. It was down to her ankles now and was probably time to think about cutting it.
Hearing a knock on her door she quickly fumbled around for her hat; finding it she shoved it on her head as she made her way to the door. She cursed as she tripped over her hair before finally reaching it. She partially slid it open, "Yes?" She asked quietly.
"You alright ma'am? Someone on the defense team said they saw your light turn on." He had hoped that she'd remember that they needed to keep light discipline to prevent any roving Neuroi from spotting them.
"Sorry I dropped something and needed the extra light. I found it so it won't happen again." She sighed and dropped her head as she realized she had forgotten something.
The man realized he had been staring and backed away quickly, "S-sorry ma'am, I'll let you go back to sleep." He quickly stepped back and headed back to the command car.
The witch sighed sadly again as she slid and bolted the door shut again; she tossed her hat from her head and collapsed back on her bed. There were sometimes she really hated her magic. Finding her stuffed animal, she curled up and hugged it as she tried to fall asleep. Maybe after this was all over she could be back with her family.
January 12, 1946 0324 Hours- Broyes, Gallia
(Fortunate Son-Creedence Clearwater Revival)
The marine grinned wearily as he recognized the rumble from a radio and the approaching fleet of vehicles; he waved them around the impromptu checkpoint as he radioed the rest of the people with him. "Bout time you guys showed up. We were thinking you got lost." He yelled as the lead LAV pulled up.
The commander hopped down and wobbled before heading over, "Yeah well you weren't attacked by pop-up targets twice in a row. You got any fuel? We're running on fumes again."
The guard threw his thumb over his shoulder, "Two fuel trucks over there are yours; just don't touch the white one. That's for the 302s."
The commander nodded as he yelled into his helmet mike and the three SPAAGs shifted into gear and headed over to fuel up.
He looked back over as the captain of the battery walked over, "доброе утро, my crews need… to dig in?" The man struggled with his English.
"No need sir. Maj Volkov radioed ahead what your positions would be. We shanghaied a few guys from the base in Sedan to help dig up some spots for you guys. Hope that helps."
His tired expression brightened, "да it does. We will finish soon." He walked back over to his truck and radioed the rest of the drivers; he hopped back down as the number of trucks and trailers spread out to their pre-surveyed locations.
The LAV commander turned back to the guard, "Will probably take them another hour or so to get up and running. How have you guys been? We haven't seen anyone in months."
The guard shrugged, "Ah, you know, this and that. The colonel found an F-111 and they used it on the Moscow hive and he nearly got shot down. We've had to launch three times now since we've been here. With you guys the two pilots might actually be able to get some sleep."
The commander chewed on his lip as he looked around and nodded, "Alright then, cool. Where's your CP? I need to let the ship know we're finally here."
"Follow the sticks, CP's on the left."
The commander nodded as he walked off into the darkness; the infrared glow sticks giving light to his NVGs as he moved.
May 16, 2018 0158 Hours- Atlantis Conference Room
"You broke my Vampire… WHY? Why must you break everything I make? You're becoming as bad as Pat…"
Vought set down his glass and sighed; casting a weary look at the still peppy scientist. "It's not like I chose to break it, it just sort of happened. Besides, to quote Monty Python, "It got better."" The two stared at each other while Landry tried to determine if O'Neill was still awake; he had gotten the annoying tendency to fall asleep with his eyes open.
Sheppard had fallen asleep with his feet on the table; lightly snoring. Ignoring his counterpart, Mitchell remembered he had a question; he looked at the two tired looking witches, "Say ladies, could either of you explain the difference between tank and air strikers? I know you explained the regular strikers earlier but… I'm slightly intrigued now."
Jean, watching the ongoing situation in the room amused, turned at the colonel's question. "Hm? I can try to explain; it's been awhile since I worked on a land striker. Anyway, unlike air infantry strikers, land strikes give the user a massive boost to shield strength, physical strength, and endurance because it can fit a heavier but more efficient magic engine. That's why most land witches can use much heavier weaponry like 88mm guns and such; the striker has hydraulics that can handle the recoil. Because of this their accuracy is normally top notch; close to an air infantry sniper. They get all sorts of cool add-ons that give them magic sights and such that is all way too heavy to fly with; there are a couple of exceptions though."
She noticed McKay and Heinrike now paying attention as well, "Anyway movement… normally the striker walks around and has a set of feet on the end of their legs; if the striker had a larger gun they also had a set of stabilizing legs that deployed from the back. For fast movements and long distance travels, the feet would fold up and the tracks in the leg would slide down and contact the ground to produce movement. The larger strikers have to fold more of the tread down to reach the ground; they are too top heavy without it. That's all I remember, I hope that helps." She covered her mouth as she yawned.
Mitchell leaned back and nodded while McKay typed frantically on this computer; filling in more information. "Thanks Jean, that was very good."
She beamed as O'Neill finally jerked awake with a start, "Hm… what happened?" He blinked as he looked around before checking his watch, "Damn it… Alright everyone we're done. Meet back here tomorrow at 0900; dismissed." He yawned as he stood and stretched; his aging joints creaking as he moved. Smacking the shutter control the two generals left the room; the eavesdroppers all absent. He nodded to duty officer as he left; the two generals were beamed to a passing ship to be dropped off at their respect commands.
Chris yawned again as he nudged his sleeping XO with his foot, "Wake up old man."
Ross grumbled as he slowly got up, "Who you calling old? Why the hell would you wake me I was having a great dream."
The colonel nodded towards the door at the trickle of people leaving; they were too tired to ask questions. Ross stretched as Geena leaned on Chris, "You know sir, this has got to be the longest debrief in history. I think we are setting a world record."
Chris snorted as he led the two witches from the room, "You bet, the world's classified records; ones that will never see the light of day. I'm sure the world will be deeply impressed. Later Matt." He waved over his shoulder as the three of them disappeared down the spire.
Ross shook his head as he exited the room; pausing for a moment as he watched Masters spread out on the floor and promptly fall asleep. Deciding he had nothing better to do before going to sleep, he made a slight detour.
Atlantis Infirmary
Beckett looked up as the door slid open, "You alright commander?"
Ross nodded as he quietly slipped in, "I'm fine doc, don't worry about me."
Carson looked at his watch, "O'Neill ended late again didn't he?"
Matt snorted, "Fell asleep."
The doctor shook his head, "Anyway what do you need?"
"I'm just checking to see if anyone else has awoken yet."
"Um…" the doctor checked his charts, "several actually. They are all resting now and most of them are very weak; it will be a few days before they're able to get up and move again."
Ross nodded as he scanned the room; he smirked, "So no one has gotten up and left right?"
Beckett looked at him curiously, "…No… why do you ask?"
Ross shrugged as he turned back to the door, "Oh, no reason. I'll stop back in the morning." The door slid shut behind him.
The doctor blinked as he stood up and looked around the room. Slowly turning his head he did a double take as he noticed something, "Oy Keller; where's the patient from bed 6?"
Atlantis West Pier
Chris looked out the window at the storm battering the Ancient city; lightning flashes illuminating the torrential downpour smashing into the window and yet, there was very little sound, a testament to its builders engineering greatness. He touched the window still not quite believing he was home, "We made it… we actually made it." He whispered. Motion behind him caused him to turn; he blinked in recognition and smiled, "You're awake."
The figure nodded.
"You feeling ok?"
Again a nod.
"Good… you should really head back to the infirmary. Beckett is going to go ballistic if he finds you missing before he can give you a check."
The figure squirmed.
"It can't be helped and you know that. I thought you were smarter than that?"
The figure grumbled and turned.
"Head on back, I'll check on you in the morning." He heard a sigh before the figure vanished back into the bowels of the city. He looked outside one more time before heading back to his room; Jean was waiting for him.
May 16, 2018 0913 Hours- Atlantis Conference Room
Everyone went silent as O'Neill finally entered the room; McKay looked around before opening his mouth to speak.
They all watched as O'Neill dropped an orange on the table, "You had something to say Rodney?"
McKay snapped his mouth shut and sat down; Sheppard rubbed his temples and sighed.
"That's what I thought," he glared at Chris, "I heard something from Beckett earlier about someone disappearing from the infirmary. You know anything about that?"
The colonel averted his eyes as he pulled on his collar, "…Nooo…"
O'Neill stared. "Fine, get back to this debrief. How much is even left?"
Everyone watched as Chris and Matt's expressions fell. "Way too much sir. Way too much."
January 12, 1946 0750 Hours- Borealis Bridge, Novgorod, Orussia
"This is Lt. Elma Leivonen, 507th checking in. Sorry we're late…"
"Capt Aleksandra Pokryshkin; 502nd in position. Our support team is deployed as well."
"Eh? We have to put up with both "Crasher O'Hares"? That's not fair."
"SHUT UP EILA! That's not my name."
"Hey… I'm not that bad am I?... Ok maybe I am but not like her."
"Hi Nipa, how are you?"
"Sanya? Hi! It's been too long. How ha-"
"Hey you can't talk to Sanya…"
The bridge crew raised their eyebrows at the interesting radio conversations coming from the speakers as Ross and Sokolov sighed. They glanced at the colonel as he pretended to ignore it; the control chair spinning as he concentrated. Displays changed around the room as he adjusted them to fit the situation. The four witches stuck onboard stared at him; still in disbelief that technology could do all this.
"That is so cool. I so wish I could do that," Dogilo turned to Ross, "Can you teach me sir?"
"It can't be taught sorry. You need the ATA gene to activate Ancient tech and you need to be used to it before you could have any hope of controlling this ship. Since the control chair is a fairly early one, there is always a chance of brain damage for a human. I'm only good enough for the basics and I can't do it for too long."
"Ah damn…" Federica crossed her arms as she went back to helping the technician at the engineering station.
Galland grinded her teeth as she continued to listen to the breakdown in communications taking place. Grabbing her personal radio she switched to the land witches frequency, "Knispel, your group in position?"
There was a pause, "Yes ma'am. Myself and Kinkade will be in range any second now. The other girls need to get another kilometer or two closer before they can engage anything close to the hive."
"Understood. Wait for the fighters to get their attention before you fire."
"Understood"
She turned to Vought, "You ready Chris?"
The man in question opened his eyes as the chair spun forward. He nodded, "Alright everyone let's do this. Reaper flight, break them up; weapons free."
"Roger that, Reaper taking combat spacing. Fence check -2"
The crew were treated to the sight of the two 302s rocketing ahead.
Feldwebel Kristin Knispel
"Come on you Neuroi… where are you hiding?"
Kristin and Elizabeth had both locked their strikers down as they searched for targets; the three Patton Girls ahead of them as they tried to search for any possible ground targets. She scanned the sky with her striker's magic scope; the magnification cranked up to the max. She frowned because besides the low hanging white clouds, there was nothing to be seen. They were nearly under the hive and had yet to even see one laser. She glanced to her left at her spike and slid it forward and back as she checked it; she could never be too careful. "You see anything yet Ellie?"
The Britannian witch shook her head; banging it on the breach of her gun as she did so. "Ow… no. I don't see anything yet."
The Karlslander's tail twitched in anticipation. Sudden movement caught her attention and she swung the massive gun around; the 20ft barrel tilted upward as she zoomed in on the spot. "I think I see something ma'am," she radioed back to the ship.
"We see it too. The fighters are going to engage any second now. You clean up what they miss."
She slowed her breathing as she checked her magic engine; the temperamental Maybach working perfectly for a change. At full power she should have no problem defending against anything the Neuroi could throw at her… at least for a short time. She and Kinkade waited for the clouds to clear for them to take the shot.
The clouds started to clear.
"Got you…!" She blinked in alarm at what she saw, "Wait!"
Reaper-1
It was a clear day for flying and after the last battle of sitting around, Grant was ready to kick some ass. He checked his switches as he and his wingman raced ahead of the airborne attack force; his LADAR and TWR (Threat Warning Receiver) silent as he approached. "Strange… we should have seen something by now." His LADAR blipped and painted a target directly in front of him. "Tally ho."
"Two," called his wingman as she too locked the target up. Neither noticed that the computer was painting the contact's speed at 0mph.
Grant readied a Scorpion as the range closed, "Reaper-1, Fox thr-"
"ALL FLIGHTS ABORT ABORT ABORT!" KNOCK IT OFF!"
Without a moment's hesitation Grant disengaged his lock, shoved the throttles to max, and pulled on the stick as hard as he could. His LADAR blared a collision warning as he passed within a wingspan of the enemy contact; climbing above it.
Everyone watched as Reaper flight narrowly avoided crashing into the bogey and as Grant passed under, the final cloud layer was torn away…
Revealing a Witch-like Neuroi calmly floating in place; slowing turning it's "head" as it tracked the maneuvering fighters.
Dun, dun, dun! Plot twist! Everyone loves them I know you do (not actual sure about that…) anyway, I had to do it. You know I did, it's just how I am. Moving onto the new witches… I just had to add Lennartz at some point in time; her relationship with Hartmann is the best. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's part of the Strike Witches 1.5 manga; check it out if you haven't already. I was asked a question some time ago by one of you why I hadn't added any ground witches and at the time, the answer was this. I really didn't want to introduce any. That changed a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon a few very cool set of tank striker drawings online and that re-sparked my interest in them so here they are. As for the mysterious witch… you will have to wait and see. Another question I was asked was why hasn't Preddy and Vought's relationship advanced? Well, the short answer is that they are both officers in the military and they are at war; what happened earlier was just a spur of the moment thing and neither of them have even thought about that. There is just way too much going on. We're getting down to the wire here and things are getting exciting. Hopefully this will hold you all over till the next chapter. Now I promised all of you that I would start handing out hints to the next crossover universe. Hint #1… It's in a more modern universe (As in after the 80s). Till next time readers, Ghostrider21 signing off.