Strike Witches:Volume1 Chapter3

Dark gray clouds covered the surroundings outside.

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

The squadron lined up in that cold, shivering. 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 shivered 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 a good match 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 In other words, outdated equipment.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 G50!"

"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, in 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 likely had 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 bullseye roundel marking its designation under a button-down insulating fabric cover.

No matter how Tomoko looked at it, it was obviously an old-fashioned 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.

Shing!

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've known from the beginning, but every country thinks of Suomus as 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.