1942

For uncountable miles around the airfield, the Russian steppe was layered in brilliant white snow, reflecting the rather feeble Sun hanging low in the morning sky. Learning from the painful lessons of the last six months, the ancient Polikarpov Po-2s that equipped the regiment were scattered across the grounds and often were covered from view from the air, but near to the main hut of the airfield, roughly 20 women, all in uniform, stood in line at attention. Only fog from the chill of winter gave evidence to their breathing, not moving a muscle as their commander, Yevdokia Bershanskaya, greeted them.

"Pilots! Navigators! Not too far from here, over these last few months, your Comrades-in-Arms have brought a halt to the Hitlerite Beast! Germany's armies have trampled their boots through our beloved home, arrogant in their supposed destiny to conquer our people and extinguish our Revolution! But, they had overstepped themselves. For just as they thought they had finally saw the end of our vast land, the last gasp of our infinite will to survive, we had overwhelmed them in a counterattack across the entire front line, sending them back into their burrows to freeze to death!"

Cheers erupted from the aircraft crews standing before her, upstaging the howl of the bleak winds.

"But, while our Motherland has been good in teaching our enemy a lesson in respect, such lessons are quickly forgotten by the Fascist. Spring is coming, and with it they will emerge from their holes and begin their conquest anew! But this is a new year, Comrades! We have learned the terms of the game the Germans wish to play with us, and we shall be ready for whenever and wherever they will strike! For we are the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, and wherever a German marches forward into our Motherland, deluded into believing the darkness to be his cover, it shall be us who will strike him down!"

Another cheer bellowed from the crews. Bershanskaya had her eye caught by one crewwoman, a pilot it seemed, taller than average, shoulder-length black hair and a complexion of light tan, possibly with some Central Asian heritage. She stopped her stride and faced the junior officer, "Step forward, Pilot!"

Obeying, taking one step forward with a salute, the junior officer, likely in her early twenties, introduced herself, "Lieutenant Lagunovna, ready to fly in the defence of the Motherland!"

Bershanskaya saluted back, before offering the pilot a handshake, "Your accent, it sounds familiar to me. Where do you come from, Lieutenant?"

"A collective farm, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic!" answered Lagunovna, placing her hand down to her sides once done with the shake.

"You are Georgian? I too hail from the Caucasus. What were you doing before you became a pilot?"

It seemed that despite the freezing cold, Lagunovna was beginning to sweat under probing, "Studying at Saratov Technical School! Speciality in engines!"

Bershanskaya gave a good look-over the young pilot, before nodding in satisfaction. "You'll do well. Fall back, Lieutenant." She began her stride again, "Now, ladies! You will be fearless when you meet the foe! Your planes may be simple, but in simplicity you will find reliability! You will learn to trust your steed when you ride into battle-"

Lagunovna quietly sighed in relief. This war had already taken much from her, but soon she was going to enter it on her terms.

Perry tried to wipe her eyes, beginning to sting from the chalkdust. Reaching over for the chilled cup of tea sitting on the front table of the lecture hall, she admired the diagrams and formula she managed to sketch out onto the blackboards, ready for the presentation tomorrow.

"Good Evening." said Garnet, from the left entrance of the hall. "Wouldn't often see you in a place like this."

Turning to greet her, Perry grinned, "You wouldn't have seen me in here since university. Too much abstract stuff here. If you want to do Physics, do it in a lab.", she replied, raising her arms in a stretch after a long day. "Anyway, what are you still doing here?"

Garnet chuckled, "Carpool. Today it's you driving us home. Remember?"

"Oh." Perry's cheeks slightly reddened, "I forgot how I got here this morning. Anyway, I've only just got a few things to check, make sure they're all set for tomorrow, and-", her words trailed off as she realised that Garnet wasn't looking at her, but rather she seemed to be looking around the room itself. The smile was gone, replaced with a more blank, slightly sober face.

"I'll miss this place."

Garnets words left a nasty knot in Perry's stomach. They had long knew that the bulk of the program was going to be based on the other side of the Atlantic, even their remote old compound in the English countryside was vulnerable to German bombers, if they ever heard of its existence. "So what now? We're going to Montreal Labs?"

Garnet's eyes returned to her. "Not for us, I'm afraid. I've just heard from Management, we're keeping tight here for the rest of the year, then we're going to the United States. Chadwick's leading a mission to their own program, we're going to help get them set up and caught up with our work."

Perry's empty cup fell from her hands, her unable to speak from shock, "What, why?! They have the less advanced program, why can't they send their guys to what we've already built in Canada?!"

"Perry, please.", Garnet tried to speak over her, "If we knew the name of whoever made this decision, we'd be hanged."

"No!", continued Perry, "This is unacceptable! We're getting fleeced here!"

"Perry!", Garnet managing to silence Perry. "America has the money, the industry, the power we need for what we have to do. Getting all of the researchers into one huge site, wherever that would be, only makes sense to get the Bomb built as soon as possible."

Perry stamped around the room, kicking at the air with her prosthetic, "And I take it none of those researchers would be Russian?"

It was Garnet's turn to be dumbfounded, "What?"

"You know what. They're only taking us onboard because we're ahead of them. They'd be doing it on their own if we hadn't bothered with our program. It would be faster if the Soviets were in on it as well, but we can't have the commies getting the Bomb too, can we?"

"That is enough, Perry! You are talking about things you have no idea about. I recall you seemed to have no problem with the idea of Britain being the only one with the Bomb. What happened to that, Perry?"

Perry kept silent.

"Anyway, wherever this site is going to be, we're going to it, and we're staying there until we either build a Bomb, or lose the war."