Vol 1 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Strike Witches:Volume1 Chapter3

Dark gray clouds covered the surroundings outside.

It was 5 degrees below freezing. It felt far colder than that.

The squadron lined up in that cold, s.h.i.+vering. Each of them had the Striker they had brought from their home country equipped. Next to them, maintenance crews were on stand-by, warming up the engines.

”Brrrrrr, but wow, it's cold! Hey, Tomoko, maybe we can do this later?”

Katharine s.h.i.+vered as she spoke. On her legs, there was a Striker even larger than the F4F Wildcat she had before... 'Beerster Buffalo' was written on the side. With a volume as large as a keg of beer, it was fitting for the buxom Katharine.

Tomoko took one glance at that Striker, and muttered.

”What is that?”

”It's a Buffalo!”

”No, I'm not asking for the name. That looks like a clumsy Striker.”

”Really? But, when I came here to Suomus, they told me that this is all they had, so I had to put up with it.”

Katharine replied in her happy-go-lucky voice.

This is all they had? In other words, outdated equipment.

”Do you think you'll be able to dogfight in a Striker as awkward-looking as that? What were the engineers in Liberion thinking?”

”I don't know about that, but this feels really tough! I like it!”

Sighing at Katharine's carefree words, Tomoko turned to F/O Elma, the squadron commander. Elma started in surprise when she noticed Tomoko's gaze on her, and stood as straight as if she were in a parade being inspected by a general. She looked upwards into the sky, trembling lightly and biting her lip. She looked extremely nervous, even though she was only being looked at by her subordinate.

”Commander.”

”Y-Yes, ma'am!”

”What Striker is that?”

Tomoko asked, pointing at the Striker painted in white camouflage colors.

”Yes, ma'am! Umm, yes, a Romagnan G.50!”

”Oh?” Tomoko murmured as she looked over the Striker. It did not look like a very maneuverable unit. In Romagna, it was most likely a surplus model, or a leftover unit from an equipment overhaul. But for the Suomus Air Force, desperate for any equipment they could get, this might be the best they could do.

Next, Tomoko turned her gaze to the smallest member of the squadron, Ursula. She had a strange Striker, one Tomoko had never seen before. Tomoko had been expecting a Messerscharf, since Ursula was from Karlsland, but... even after taking a closer look, the Striker looked nothing like the Messerscharfs Tomoko had tested when the Imperial Army had imported some models the year before.

”What is that?”

”A Heinzel He 112.”

A Striker Tomoko had never even heard of. Unlike the sharp and agile-looking Messerscharfs, it looked rather crude and blocky.

”A new model?”

”No. A model that lost to the Messerscharf Me 109 during the adoption tests.”

”An unsuccessful model? What are you doing with such an old Striker? Why not one of the Messerscharfs your country is so proud of?”

”There were not enough.”

Ursula replied haltingly. Of course, the Messerscharf was the mainstay of the Karlsländer Air Force, and intense fighting was taking place against the Neuroi all along the borders of Karlsland. All of the invaluable Messerscharfs had likely to be sent to that front.

Next, Tomoko glanced at the Striker on P/O Beurling, the silver-haired Britannian girl. The brown-painted Striker had a bulls-eye roundel marking its designation under a fur-lined insulating leather cover.

No matter how Tomoko looked at it, it was obviously an old-fas.h.i.+oned model.

It wasn't one of the Spitfires she had seen in some air infantry idol magazines. That's...

”A Hurricane?”

Beurling nodded in reply to Tomoko's question.

”That's a second-rate Striker, then.”

”And what about it?”

Beurling glared at Tomoko with cold eyes. Then, she placed a cigarette into her mouth, and lit it.

”We're in training.”

Ignoring Tomoko's warning, Beurling puffed on her cigarette nonchalantly. As the tension between the two quickly ramped up, F/O Elma backed away as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself.

s.h.i.+ng!

Tomoko's sword flashed in an arc from its sheath.

Everyone shouted out in surprise and closed their eyes tight.

Tomoko's sword went back into its sheath with a soft clink. The entire stroke took place in a split second. The cigarette Beurling had been smoking had been cut almost directly in the center, and the front half slowly flitted down onto the snow.

However, Beurling had not flinched at all.

In utter calm, Beurling flipped the remaining half of the cigarette around, and lit it up again.

”This side's more even. Thanks.”

Beurling seemed to have some guts. Tomoko eyes blazed in anger, but she forced herself to look away.

In a small voice, she muttered to herself, spitting out each word.

Every last one of them has a second-rate Striker!

I might be using the old Ki-27 as well, but... I've got a reason. I'm familiar with it, and I have a lot of faith in it. But them, they just had abandoned Strikers forced on them!

I knew from the beginning that nearly every country thinks Suomus is a low priority battlefield not worth focusing on... it just gets worse when each country sees other countries treating it the same way, and this is how it ends up.

Tomoko sighed deeply, and turned to Haruka next.

Haruka's Striker was put on a bit differently.

The other Witches had their Strikers equipped on their legs, but in addition to that, Haruka's Striker had an extra extension like a saddle on a horse. It was not the Type-96 Carrier Fighter Tomoko had seen before during joint training sessions with the Imperial Navy. It was a sharp Striker, painted a light gray.

”Now that's a Striker I've never seen before.”

Haruka's cheeks reddened under Tomoko's gaze.

”Y-Yes, ma'am! It is an Experimental Type-12 Carrier Fighter! Almost all Navy air infantry have been re-issued with this model. Recently, some land-based fighter squadrons have also adopted this, and...”

”Hmm?” Tomoko murmured inquisitively as she looked over the Navy's new model. The engine seemed to be the same as the one in the Ki-43 from the mock battle before. However, taking into account the difficulty in meeting the requirements for carrier-based launches, the Ki-43 might perform a bit better.

”Recently? Then you're not familiar with the unit yet?”

”Yes, ma'am... I'm not familiar with it yet. I'm sorry. Excuse me.”

Haruka bit her lip apologetically. Then, Tomoko noticed the heavy-looking autocannon Haruka was holding.

”You've got a big gun there.”

”It is a 20 mm autocannon, ma'am.”

Twenty millimeter? Everyone's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing those words. Not without reason either, since almost all of the machine guns they were equipped with were 7.7 mm or 12.7 mm caliber. 20 mm was an extremely large caliber.

”That looks powerful, but... can you use it?”

With Haruka's slight build, could she even aim that enormous cannon? From the looks of it, it looked to be too much for her.

”Not, not very well, ma'am.”

Haruka answered softly.

”If you can't hit anything with it, than any size caliber is a waste.”

”You're right, ma'am. Uuu...”

Haruka gaze dropped in shame.

Tomoko doubted that Haruka could bring out the performance of that new model Striker she had. It did not matter if she had a new model or an old model. In other words, Haruka would also be of no help in a battle.

In any case, the inspection was over.

It was finally time to begin the training.

Tomoko thrust her sword into the ground point downwards, and straightened.

”The main element of an air battle is the dogfight. Come up behind the enemy in a tight turn, and take them down with a single close-range attack.”

There were no replies.

Everyone was staring at Tomoko blankly. Doesn't this bunch have any motivation at all?

Annoyed, Tomoko continued.

”Then, we'll start the training session. Follow after me.”

Her Ma-1b magic engine roared, and Tomoko began moving along the runway, knees slightly bent. Just as she reached take-off speed, she jumped and straightened out into a flying position, arching upwards into the sky. The Striker released magic energy at maximum power, sending Tomoko into a rapid ascent.

The Ki-27's magic engine was not exactly powerful, but the Ki-27 was light. Although it was an old model, it climbed quickly.

Looking below her, Tomoko saw the other witches begin to take off one after the other.

Following right behind herself was Haruka's Experimental Type-12 Carrier Fighter.

As might be expected from such a new unit, it's climb rate was top cla.s.s.

F/S Ursula's He 112 was next. Its appearance made it look sluggish, but it seemed it was actually quite a fast unit.

Following behind the He 112 was F/O Elma's G.50. Beurling's Hurricane came right after that. Coming up dead last was Katharine's heavy-looking Buffalo.

Tomoko continued her ascent, piercing through Suomus's frigid sky.

Thanks to the magic field projected all around her body, it was not as cold as might be expected.

Several minutes later, Tomoko leveled off once they had reached an alt.i.tude of 3000 meters.

Tomoko toggled the switch on her radio next to her throat, flipping it to ON.

”Ah, this is... Commander, what shall we use for our callsigns?”

Elma's voice, garbled slightly by static, came in through the receiver on her ears.

”Um, that's right... What should we do. Well then, um... erm, use our country names.”

”Country names, roger. This is Fuso-1, Pilot Officer Anabuki. Over.”

”This is Fuso-2, Flight Sergeant Sakomizu Haruka.”

”Karlsland-1, Flight Sergeant Ursula Hartmann.”

”Um, this is Suomus-1, Flying Officer Elma Leivonen.”

”...Britannia-1, Pilot Officer Elizabeth Beurling.”

”Liberion-1, Katharine O'Hare, mh-hmm.”

Tomoko continued with her orders.

”Form on me.”

”Roger.”

The squadron replied immediately.

In order of climb rate, the witches lined up in formation.

They cruised for a short time, then Tomoko tapped her throat microphone twice. The internationally recognized signal for ”transmission”.

”We'll split up now. For now, I'd like to find out your level of ability, so all of you, come after me all at once.”

”Excuse me?”

F/O Elma's asked quizzically

”All of us at once, hmm? Tomoko, you want to fight us 1-on-5?”

Katharine.

”That's exactly right. Now come at me already.”

Tomoko replied, and unsheathed her sword smoothly. The Bizen Osafune glittered in the setting rays of Suomus's sun, glowing with an eerie light. However, that was not what she would be using this time. Tomoko switched the sword to her left hand, and instead held up the sheath.

”If I hit you anywhere on your body with this sheath, that's a kill. On the other hand, you can hit me with a machine gun, knife, fists, or anything. If you can put me out of commission, or touch me on the back, that'll count as shooting me down.”

”Oh no, Pilot Officer Tomoko, what would we do if you get injured?” Elma protested worriedly.

”I'll be fine. There's no way I'll get injured. You should worry about yourselves instead. Don't crash into each other over there.”

Tomoko replied as if she were telling a child going a field trip to be careful. The five squadron members grew sullen and offended, though to different levels.

”Then, let's get this started.”

The witches rushed straight towards Tomoko simultaneously.

”I'm going in!” Haruka shouted out, the first to charge in her Type-12 Carrier Fighter.

She was coming in a perfectly straight line. Her back would be wide open.

Tomoko sighed as she faced Haruka's charge.

”Take this!”

Haruka had her eyes closed. There was no chance she would ever hit Tomoko like that.

Tomoko evaded the charge easily, and rapped Haruka's head hard with the sheath she was holding.

”Ow!”

”Okay, you're down.”

Ursula was the next one to come.

Tomoko was surprised by the speed of the He 112. Ursula was rus.h.i.+ng at a respectable speed.

Tomoko flew off at a speed Ursula could catch up to. Tomoko was in no hurry. It was still a 1-on-4 battle, but there was only a single person in a position to attack.

Tomoko began a wide turn.

Slowly... her path drew a gentle arc through the sky, as if she were inviting Ursula in.

Ursula came up on Tomoko's tail perfectly, and a staccato roar echoed out as Ursula fired the 12.7 mm machine gun in her hands. Mechanized air infantry witches had a unique magic field surrounding their bodies while they were flying. Because of that, they could normally shake off several hits as if it were nothing, but... it was still nerve-wracking to really be shot at.

”Well, I did say you could shoot at me, but you know... don't really shoot me.”

Perhaps she had been too serious. Because Tomoko had said they could shoot her, Ursula was doing just that.

However, Ursula still did not understand the principles of deflection shooting.

Tomoko was flying in an arc at high speed. Ursula would have to predict Tomoko's position in advance and shoot there if she hoped to hit her. The 12.7 mm rounds from Ursula's machine gun chased after Tomoko, but because of Tomoko's precise evasive maneuvers, all of the rounds missed by a hair's breadth.

But even so, Ursula simply adjusted her aim and continued firing. Little by little, like a shower of ice candy, the palely-glowing stream of bullets neared Tomoko......

However, a perfectly textbook maneuver like that would never work in a real battle. Tomoko tightened her turn gradually. The He 112 was quick, but its turning abilities were not as polished. As Ursula tightened her own turn radius, she slowly began to lose speed... and suddenly Tomoko was on her tail.

”......”

Ursula had all but given up. Tomoko hit her on the back firmly.

”At least try some evasive maneuvers.”

”I've never learned any.”

With that, both Haruka and Ursula were down.

Next was F/O Elma, who had been paired in a rotte with Ursula.

She was flying straight... away from Tomoko. After just one glance from Tomoko, F/O Elma had let out a startled yelp and began to escape, s.h.i.+vering all the while.

”Squadron Commander, where are you going?”

”Er, erm, just think of me as down!”

”I can't do that! Why are we doing this training? Isn't this all so we don't get shot down!?”

However, timid F/O Elma flew away to a distant spot away from Tomoko, where she began turning round and round in a circle. It seemed she just could not work up the courage.

What is this squadron commander doing!? Tomoko felt the irritation welling up, when suddenly byun!, and a single round whizzed by her from above. Tomoko turned, and saw Beurling's Hurricane diving away from her. She was using the momentum from her diving attack to gain alt.i.tude again. It was a magnificent display of Striker operation.

It looked like she at least was different from the amateurs so far.

Tomoko nibbled on her lower lip lightly. It was a bad habit of hers whenever she got excited.

”Now isn't this interesting.”

Tomoko flipped around, and chased after Beurling.

Tomoko expected Beurling to continue climbing to increase the pressure on herself with more hit-and-run attacks, but she was wrong.

Instead, Beurling changed directions suddenly, and began roaring straight towards Tomoko's position.