Strike Witches Assault: A Reboot of Strike Witches

Chapter 4: Invasion from Above

Sakamoto jumped out of bed to the sound of an alarm, knocking Yoshika out of bed. "Stay here, I'll go see what's going on." And with that, Sakamoto ran upstairs, leaving a worried Yoshika down below.

"Captain Tanaka, what's going on?"

"I think you better see for yourself." He handed her some binoculars.

"All I see are some dark clouds."

"Exactly." He said. "That's ALL you see. No waves. No rain. No signs of wind." Then Sakamoto snapped.

"Damn it!" She threw the binoculars. "Not now!"

"Go suit up, I'll ready the ship." Sakamoto nodded, and headed back down. He grabbed the mic for the ship. "To all crew mates, all signs point to a Neuroi attack! Jim Sterlson, Prepare the turrets. All available pilots, get into an available plane. Sakamoto will guide you."

On her way down, she heard Yoshika crying in the corner of their room. "Yoshika, what's wrong?"

*Snob* "I'm... I'm scared. I'm not sure what the Neuroi are, but... I..." She merely hid her head within her beetle-positioned body.

"Look, the Neuroi are why you and I are here." Yoshika looked up. "But you don't need to fight them just yet." She patted Yoshika on the head. "Now, just remain calm. I'll be back."

Sakamoto put on the backpack. She pressed a button, causing it to squeeze itself to fit her figure, and wings spanned out of it's sides, making it a jet pack. Picking up a black box, she focused her magic into it - causing it to take the form of a giant cannon. Finally, she took an ear-piece out of her pockets, and placed it into her... well, ear. Pressing down into it, it turned into a head-set. "Captain Tanaka, this is Mio Sakamoto, ready for flight."

"I hear you, Sakamoto. I'll unlock the main elevator when the ships ready." He picked the mic back up, and said "All pilots have 3 minutes to get ready. Repeat. 3 minutes to deployment."

"Hey, Kyle!" The Liberion pilot turned his head to see a fellow pilot waving at him. "You can take my plane. Commander Sakamoto will need you up there more than me. Beside, I hear you've fought these thing before."

"Wait!" Kyle looked over that the plane. "Aren't you the captain?"

"Not this time, they need someone more experienced than me." He handed him his helmet and goggles. "I'm going to arm up and help the marksmen this time."

"Hang on, you're going to have to pass Sakamoto's room, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

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Yoshika, while no longer crying, was still nervous about, well, everything. "Hey, miss?" Yoshika looked up, "Are you Yoshika?"

"Yea, why?"

"Here." He handed her some goggles. "This is a gift from Kyle. It was his first ever set of goggles for flight." Yoshika took the goggles, and put them on.

Wow... they fit surprisingly well.

"Sorry, but I need to get up to the deck." Yoshika shook her head, and he headed off.

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Kyle entered his plane. After closing the cockpit, he buckled up, and began to flick two switches on the right side. After the two lights above them lit up, he grabbed the mic. "Listen, this is Kyle Yeaser. By your captain's request, I will be serving as your captain for today fight. First of all, roll call. I need all of you to flip your respondents switch." He saw, soon enough, that all nine other lights in a circle lit up. "Okay. Now, some protocol. Never fly into Neuroi clouds. They CAN and WILL possess the ship with us in them, and we're not having a civil flight wars." He gave a moment for questions. "Okay. Now, we are to focus on the Neuroi aircraft. We have other divisions to handle the rest, as well as anti-aircraft fire support from the rest of the fleet, any questions?." no questions came. "Okay, all Pilots report in!"