Inspired by Strike Witches
By William J. Law
It was late in the year of 1943. A slight breeze moved through the silent hills and the leaves were in the colors of autumn as they covered the Gallian countryside one by one. Leaves rolled with the wind and everything looked so peaceful, but the tranquility was soon shattered. Red beams arched across the evening sky and tracer fire lit up the sky in response as witches from the 363rd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group were engaged with the Neuroi in a wild furball. Among the Neuroi were drones, mostly cube or sphere shaped, and large-types that resembled giant flying manta rays.
A rocket destroyed the last large-type. White shards flew everywhere. The flight lead, Katharine Williams, a brunette in her late teens in a brown Liberion flight jacket, shielded herself from the incoming shards. Four drones headed in her direction and she took off, firing as she went. Three drones were taken out and she destroyed the last one with all seven bullets from her M1911.
As she dragged an ammo belt over the feed tray of her hungry .30 caliber AN/M2, she shouted over the intercom, “Who else still has ammo and how much do you have?”
“Half a belt left!”
“Three mags left”
“Two rockets left!”
A witch with short light brown hair moved to the edge of the fight to reload as the reports came in. She wore a light brown U.S. Army Air Corps jacket, which boasted the insignia of a Captain, and a light tan button shirt underneath. The P-51D model Striker Units she wore had Old Crow painted on the engine cowlings. A certain report caught her attention. Well of course Jackson has more ammo than the rest of us. Just then she saw the aforementioned witch shoot a single bullet from her M1903, taking out two drones. At least she’s making good use of her ammo.
“Anderson!” Katharine’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Yeager! How much ammo do you have?”
“Anderson here. I have four mags left,” she said as she loaded a thirty-round magazine into her M1 Carbine that was modified to shoot fully automatic. “As for Shirley…”
“Whooo-hoooo!” Shirley shouted with glee.
The red headed witch flash by with a bogey on her tail. Anderson quickly dispatched it. She then noticed how fast Shirley was moving. Modding your Strikers again were you?
“Shirley only has a couple mags left,” she finished.
Suddenly, a warning from her wingman, Mikayla Langley, rang in her ears.
“Claire! There’s a drone right above you!”
Claire looked up and saw a shape diving out of the afternoon sun. She fired and destroyed it before it could fire.
“Thanks! Guh!” Claire grunted as two beams slammed into her shield. Two cubed-shape drones dove down and attacked. Claire poured as much magic as she could into her Strikers and shot off as fast as she could. The Neuroi gave chase. She jinked left, right, up, and down. Mikayla saw the problem and shot one rocket, destroying both of them. Claire looked over her shoulder and when she looked back forward, she screeched to a stop as two more cube drones closed in. They soon became crystals when Shirley dove in between them, guns blazing. Claire covered her face from the glowing shrapnel. Another Neuroi shot out of the fragments, catching the witch by surprise. She tried to raise her gun, but wasn’t quick enough. It rammed into her and she hung onto the front. Claire raised her hand to unleash a torrent of fire, but before she could act, the red hexagon on the center started to glow. It was about to fire its beam right through her! Thinking quickly, Claire threw herself upward and landed on her back just as the flying cube fired its beam. Holding onto the edge of the cube, she raised her right arm with an open hand. Flames formed and wreathed around her hand and arm.
“Firestorm!” Claire shouted with power behind her voice and slammed her palm against the black surface. The Neuroi let out a screech of pain as a red-hot jet of flame shot through its metallic body. It resisted and tried to shake the witch off but to no avail.
“Come on, you son of a bitch!”
Claire released a fury of flame from her left hand. The Neuroi screamed and it glowed orange before exploding into the brilliant white crystals. She shielded her face as shards ripped by her, cutting her clothes and legs. Her Old Crow was damaged but it kept her aloft. All around the witches, the remaining drones disintegrated. Apparently Claire had destroyed the one with the core.
“Nice one, Claire!” a witch shouted through the intercom.
“Good job, Anderson,” Katharine acknowledged. “Guess we won’t need the 352nd after all.”
All the witches seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief as they started to drag their weary bodies back to base.
“Uh, Kate?” a witch said nervously. “You’d better call for backup.”
Everyone looked at the witch then followed her gaze that stretched across Gallia. What they saw were many…many black dots growing larger and larger.
“Sarah! Call 352nd! We need them up here now!” Katharine shouted at the radio operator. As Sarah called for the Blue Legged Bastards of Bodney, the Neuroi broke into the witches’ formation firing machine guns; it was the Laros-Kai.
“Kate! They’ll be here in ten minutes!” Sarah reported. Katharine was unloading into the I-16-shaped Neuroi and shouted above the gunfire.
“That’s no good! Everyone, fall ba-!” Katharine stopped when she noticed her entire flight was swarmed in a cloud of the black metallic foes.
“Bastards better move their asses if we are to survive,” she said under her breath.
~o~
At the 352nd airbase in Bodney, Britannia, one of the Blue Legs, Geena Preddy, sat on a couch doing what she always does; solving a crossword puzzle.
“A word that starts with ‘F’…” she murmured to herself.
“Focke,” Carla Luksic said in a joking manner.
“No, no, no. Focke Wulf,” replied Roberta Powell.
The familiar sound of the air raid siren sounded throughout the base. A witch, Rosalind Littge, that ran by the room shouted at the lounging witches.
“Get off your asses and get to your Strikers! The 363rd needs our help!”
Powell sprang out of her chair, and Carla vaulted over the couch. Geena followed in a more tranquil manner, closing her book with her pencil inside and stuffed it in her breast pocket.
“Come on!” Carla complained as she dragged Geena by her arm. “Why are you moving so slowly?”
~o~
Claire hacked off the wing of a Neuroi that mimicked an I-153 with a bayonet. She had run out of ammunition for her Carbine and resorted to using her blades; an M1905 bayonet and a Tomahawk.
“How’s it going for you?” Mikayla asked as she loaded more rockets into her M10 Bazooka.
“Not bad, considering…” Claire broke off when she noticed that her friend’s nose was practically drooling blood. “What the hell happened to you?” she asked, failing to hide her amusement.
“I accidently ran into somebody else’s shield,” Mikayla responded. “What?”
“Bwahahaha! Oh my god!” Claire exclaimed, clutching her sides. “How does that even work?”
Mikayla didn’t answer that question. “You were saying?”
“Yeah. I don’t have any ammo. Can I have your Thompson?” She asked with her voice still trembling.
“Sure.” Mikayla always carried an M1928 Thompson to accompany her launcher but rarely ever uses it.
“We’ve got a large-type coming in!” someone screamed.
“All units not occupied with enemy fighters, take down the heavy,” Katharine ordered.
“Mikayla and Claire here. Roger that.” Mikayla locked the third rocket into her launcher.
“Let’s go.”
The Neuroi was a heavy bomber shaped like a B-17 but without any propellers in the engine housings. Such a large-type would typically be easy to shoot down but this Neuroi bristled with extra turrets like spikes on a porcupine. The duo met up with seven other witches who were led by Rachel.
“Good. We got extra firepower,” Rachel commented when she saw Mikayla.
“Mind you. I only got four rockets left,” Mikayla responded.
They were a kilometer from their target when a wall of bright red tracers formed in front of them.
“Spread out and divide its defensive fire!” Rachel ordered. “Destroy the turrets and clear a path for Langley!”
Everyone replied in unison. “Roger!”
As everyone drew away the heavy’s fire, Mikayla found an opening and made her move. She approached head on and fired one rocket at the cockpit and another where the front gunner would be. The first rocket was shredded by gunfire and the second hit between the cockpit and the nose gunner. The force of the magically enhanced explosion ripped open the left side of the cockpit, peeling back twisted metal.
“What-!” Mikayla exclaimed. Claire pulled her to the side.
“Remember that it’s not an actual plane. There’s no pilot.”
“Where am I supposed to aim then?”
They saw part of the left wing snap off but the Neuroi kept on flying.
Well, it looks like that won’t work. A Neuroi like this doesn’t use beams to create destruction so there should be bombs on board. An idea popped into her mind.
“Okay,” Claire said. “If it is anything like a B-17, aim at the fuselage just behind the wing. Hit it there and it’ll likely break in half and the explosion should set off any bombs that thing is carrying.”
“Should? We’re going to gamble my last two rockets on a theory?”
“Well if you got a better idea, I’m all ears.”
Mikayla shrugged and the duo took off. Claire blocked the incoming fire as they raced toward the Neuroi because was pouring all available magic she had into the rockets so she couldn’t concentrate on her shield. They closed in fast. 1500 feet… 1000 feet… 500 feet…
“Now!” Mikayla shouted. Claire pulled up and hit her brakes as Mikayla zoomed under her. As soon as Claire was clear, she doubled tapped the last of her rockets. Two white contrails streaked towards the bomber. The first punched a hole in the side and the second broke through and detonated when it struck the inside wall. The result was a massive explosion that engulfed the entire Neuroi. Mikayla dove away from the fireball and the rest of the witches shielded themselves as they got blasted by hot air. The fireball receded and the bomber could be seen plummeting to the earth in two flaming pieces. A couple seconds later, a giant secondary explosion wiped out any trace of it.
“Whoo! Yeah, Mikayla!” Claire shouted. “You and your overkill magic ability!”
Mikayla’s magic ability allowed her to magically enhance a weapon’s firepower well beyond that of a normal witch. The downside is that it takes up an unsafe amount of magic and she could cut her sortie short if she wasn’t careful.
The other witches who attacked the bomber cheered and Rachel reported in.
“Kate. This is Rachel. The bomber has been destroyed. I repeat; the Neuroi bomber is down. Credit goes to Langley.” There was no response from the flight lead. “Kate? Kate, do you copy? Kate?”
Fiendish Fan Fiction 