And with the sound of transports landing, new witches came over to Pearl Harbor, filling up the already crowded landing strip...
Parkkinen woke up to the sound of planes.
”Oh, maybe these are the new recruits!”, she says cheerfully. Parkkinen jumps out of bed and starts dressing up but stops suddenly, ”Oh.. right”, and proceeds to remove the trousers, ”I wonder if I ever get used to this”, she says to herself.
A witch with strikers worn on her back buzzes above the harbor, ”It seems the new witches have arrived.”
Morning sun shone brightly, wind blowing through the landing strips. A tall, grey-eyed witch steps out of the transport plane. She takes in her new surroundings, wind making her wavy, blond hair slightly messy. She heads over to the Wing HQ to report in. After her, another tall girl steps out of the plane, holding a falchion by it's scabbard. Her hair is the same length as the first witch's but more straight and of different shade of blond. Without knowing anything better, she follows the other girl's lead.
”Where are these new witches!”, Lt. Richards exclaims, ”I like new meat, good to see if they're worthy..”
Parkkinen pokes Richards: ”How many did we recieve today? And did she -” Parkkinen points at the witch with the weird strikers ”- arrive today too?”
But Richards gets no chance to answer properly as the wavy haired witch arrives at the HQ.
”Welcome to HQ,” Richards says, her hat only half on her head, the sun shining on her skin, ”Looks like at least two,” she says breafly to Parkkinen, ”So, are you new here?” Richards points to the witch who arrived.
”Yes ma'am. 2Lt. Van der Merwe reporting for duty!” Mariah Van der Merwe says to Richards.
”Hello, and welcome aboard,” Parkkinen says smiling. Parkkinen holds out her hand to Mariah, ”My name is Emma Parkkinen, nice to meet you.” Mariah shakes Parkkinen's hand. The witch who had followed Mariah arrives at the HQ with an indifferent expression.
”This is lieutenant Hina Brace, returning from patrol requesting landing permission,” the flying witch radios control as she circles the bay a final time.
Richards then simply says, to her own in ear com, ”Welcome back Brace, you fly too long, it isn't good for you,” teasingly, before saluting the arrived witches, ”Welcome to Pearl Harbor, or my island!”
”...I like flying” Hina mumbles before dropping the surfboard she had tucked under her arm into the water, landing on it and gliding into the harbor alongside the carrier, her short blue hair dancing in the wild wind.
”Was she here yesterday? I must have missed her,” Parkkinen asks Richards, talking about the surfer-out-of-nowhere. Mariah fidgits because of the abrupt stop of the formalities. The witch behind Mariah doesn't look too pleased because of the increasing number of people.
”She took off, good girl, even if she's got the sky on the brain..” Richards explains.
Hina coasts to a stop and sits on her board, paddling her way in. Her strikers look different from the normal ones. Instead of beeing attached to her feet, the engine pods hang from some sort of backpack like apparatus. Leaving her toned legs free.
”Come on Ltjg! Swim! Swim!” Richards yells ever so enthusiastically.
”Well, this certainly isn't something you can see every day,” Parkkinen says amazed. Hina frowns at the Lieutenant but doesn't say anything as she climbs up the ladder to the dock, detaching her backpack before saluting.
”Lieutenant Jr Grade Hina Brace reports. No signs of Neuroli activity in sector Bravo,” she reports, her white bikini, tanned skin and navy tank top slightly wet, droplets from the sea on her glasses.
Richards then pats Hina's blue head,”Good to hear Lt Brace, how's the weather looking?”, a feat not so hard to acchieve since Hina was noticeably short.
”Nothing out of ordinary,” she replies almost deadpan.
”Did you see any other planes or ships?” Parkkinen inquires her.
”Negative.”
”Also, my name is Emma Parkkinen, I recall we didn't meet yesterday” Parkkinen says unfazed, as she offers her hand. Hina hesitates for a moment before taking Emma's hand ”Aloha, I am Lieutenant Jr Grade Hina Brace.”
Parkkinen is smiling slightly, ”Nice to meet you.”
Nienke Delsma walks to the HQ from the barracks, ”Oh, new people?”Richards nods to Delsma,
”We got Lt Brace around, it's all good family affair!”
”Oh, Delsma, morning. What took you so long, didn't get sleep?” Parkkinen says grinning. Nienke Delsma sighs.
”Overslept...”
Delsma salutes Hina.
”Nienke Delsma, glad to meet you!” Hina returns the salute silently. Delsma doesn't mind and says, ”Excuse me for my tardiness Lt. Pearson.”
”So, I assume this is everyone for today?” Parkkinen says
”Unless more craft are arriving... I don't think so!” Richards says in a carefree way, ”Ladies, what is your stance on food?”
”Food sir?”, Hina asks
”I could use some breakfast, I assume the others are hungry from the trip too” Parkkinen hums.
”I have prepared the greatest breakfast then, I assume you will all eat my Sout Liberion cooking?” Richards says.
Hina nods silently.
The girl holding the falchion, who has avoided everyone's attention succesfully, raises her head, now that people have started talking about something slightly more interesting. Her sandy blond hair, milky brown skin and greyish brown eyes give her a ”Latte” look, which emphasizes her calm expression.
”I like food!” Mariah yells abruptly, ”Barbequed Ourangutan... after you kill the ape with your knife...” Mariah smacks her lips.
”..Ourangutan..” Parkkinen asks
”Yeah, Ourangutan. Mean motherfucker. He changed his tune when I put my knife in his eye.” Mariah explains
”I eh, wow,” Delsma says
”She got her revenge though” Mariah says looking whistful, ”Look, I chipped my blade on his eye socket,” Mariah pulls out her knife and then shows the chip to Emma.
”..damn, that beats all of my stories,” Emma says silently to herself as Mariah shows her the knife. ”That's a nice knife, but check this” Emma says proudly and pulls out her leuku from the belt.
”I feel like I'm falling behind,” Delsma says. Hina looks mildly uncomfortable with all the knives.
Parkkinen puts her knife back in the sheath, ”We all received one of these after we completed NCO-training back in Suomus. It's kind of a tradition.”
Mariah puts away her knife as well.
”You better use that on the Neuroi, you hear..” Richards says
”I got bigger things for them!” Mariah responds. The witch with falchion, who had not said a word since she landed on the island is glad no one is paying any attention to the falchion she is holding, all that attention would be troublesome. ”Eh?” Mariah let's out a sound of realization as she sees something shiny on the witch's hand. ”Whuzzat then?” The witch flinches, but doesn't say anything.
Richards then heads to start serving the others, who started getting to the barracks, ”Hey now, you can all argue over trinkets later!”
Mariah claps the ”Latte” girl on the shoulder, ”What's your name?”
”Hakan Saevas” Hakan answers
”That's a big fucking knife! Can I see it for a second?” Mariah asks enthusiastically.
Hakan gives Mariah an odd look, as if she had just said the most idiotic thing anyone can possibly say, ”No..”
Parkkinen looks to the horizon and interrupts those two, ”Hey guys, is there another plane approaching?”
”Looks like it, I'll be back, Hina, you serve everyone till I get back!” Richards says.
Hina doesn't reply, but agrees.
A girl with dark brown hair looks out of one of the plane's windows with her olive green eyes, as it approaches the landing strip.
”Well, that there is a fine piece of delegation” Parkkinen says. Richards salutes, waiting for the landing.
”Aww, come one, lets see it!” Mariah doesn't give up on Hakan, she has an arm around her, ”...please?”
”It's just a sword..” Hakan says and steps away from Mariah.
”Iwannaseeit!”
Hina starts leading the witches towards the Chow Hall, ”This way”
Parkkinen grabs Mariah on the shoulder and tightens her grip a bit, ”Let's go grab something to eat, right?”
”Okay!” Mariah says cheerfully. Hakan follows the others.
”But after breakfast, I wanna see that knife!” Mariah threatens.
Parkkinen whispers to Hakan, ”Don't worry about her, the start of forming a new squad is always the worst.” Mariah Van der Merwe has decided that Hakan is going to be her friend, whether she wants it or not.
The witch arriving steps down out of the sea plane into the wind which waved her wais-long hair. She sees Richards and salutes her, ”Flying officer Nicole W. Broadbridge of the Royal Air Force's 244th Witch Squadron, reporting for duty.” She's wearing blue striped socks, an undone officer's service dress jacket and, peculiarly, flying goggles.
Richards salutes, ”Welcome to my Island, or Pearl Harbor,” and before stopping the salute she continues, ”Now what part of this fine Place do you come from?”
Nicole lowers her salute, and says, ”I am from Britannia, sir!”
”Ah, we can talk later then, Nicole, the others are eatinng, and quit being formal, this is Hawaii, now come, lets go eat!” Richards exclaims.
”Yes si- I mean, okay~” Nicole follows Richards to the mess hall.
The so called 'Chow Hall' is really more of an rickety wooden roof over an outdoor kitchen with large tables to sit at. Definitly not what most would expect from the dining facilities of a base this size.
”Ah, she's here” Parkkinen get's up from the table, walks to Nicole and holds out her hand, ”Emma Parkkinen, nice to meet you”
Nicole shakes Emma's hand, ”Nice to meet you too.”
”Ha, sorry about that Hina,” Richards says smiling, ”I got someone new, she's Britannian, now lets serve these Witches.”
Delsma welcomes Nicole as well, ”I'm Nienke Delsma, welcome aboard!” Hina nods to the Lt
Mariah piles a plate with grease and jams a fork into the top of the mound before settlin in next to Hakan and Emma. Nicole sits down and looks around the area.
Richards waits for eveyone to get their food, before saying, ”Pilots, this is Flying Officer Nicole W Broadbridge. She is from the RAF! Salute, and welcome her, because she will help you all take down Neuroi, hoya!” Parkkinen applauds.
”Aloha, and welcome to Hawaii Flying Officer Broadbridge,” Hina salutes the newcomer.
Delsma continues to eat. Parkkinen sits next to her and starts to eat as well.
”Hey, Nicole” Mariah says casually.
”Yes?”
Mariah looks up from her mound of food and motions Nicole to sit next to her, ”You're new as well, right?” Mariah shovels hot grease down her throat.
”Ah..” Nicole sits down next to Mariah and glances over at her plate and then her face
Mariah starts talking with her mout full, ”Sho, how're things?”
”Uh... good. They're good.” Nicole says, and leaves it at that. She gets some food and starts cutting it with fork and knife.
Delsma whispers to Parkkinen ”I've been half asleep most of the time, who's the girl with the falchion?”
”She arrived today along with others, seems the quiet type,” Parkkinen whispers back. Hakan eats, not paying attention to her surroundings.
Mariah finishes her ”meal” and tries to start a conversation with Hakan, ”You're new as well, right?”
”Yes” Hakan says, not lifting her eyes from the food.
”So we're in the same boat then.” Mariah continues, ”Wanna be friends?” Hakan keeps on eating, trying to hide her irritation.
Mariah isn't giving up that easily.
Hina grabs a pineapple and a knife and begins chopping away.
”What are you trying to make, Hina?” Richards asks.
”...Pineapple salad for the newcomers,” Hina replies quietly.
Parkkinen thinks to herself, ”...pineapple”
Mariah shovels about half of the pineapple salad onto her plate and happily scarfs it down. ”This is good!” She yells. Hina sits quietly and begins eating, pausing for a second to let out the tinyest smiles at Mariah's praise before quickly returnign to her normal, blank expression.
”Ah, sounds good. So, how did you get assigned to my little wing?” Richards asks Hina, before looking around through the crowd.
Hina turns to Pearson, ”I was assigned to the 410th because of my long range detection abilities, to fill the role of the Naval Reconnaissance,” she explains in a blunt matter of factly manner.
Nicole thinks to herself, ”This is a little different from what I'm used to...” as she looks around at the food and the other witches who seem to be pretty quick at finishing their meals.
”Two kinds of people in this world, Nicole... the quick and the hungry!” Mariah states.
”Ahaha, I see...”
”You're... you're not gonna eat that, are you?” Mariah points at Nicole's plate with her fork.
”...You mean me? Uh... I... guess not.”
”Well, I'll finish it if you don't want it, but I think you need to eat.”
”I guess you're right.”
Parkkinen whispers to Delsma and nods towards Mariah, ”We had tight schedules back on Suomus but that girl is something different.”
Delsma wakes up after falling asleep again with her face in the food, ”Huh?..”
”Good to hear, Hina,” Richards responds to Hina's report, before turning to Nienke. ”So, what are you doing sleeping?”
”So that's why you were so silent,” Parkkinen scratches her cheek.
”Yeah...” Delsma whispers back.
”Is your partner a cat or something?” Richards asked amazed by her sleeping abilities.
”Well actually, yes.” Delsma says, ”On top of that, jetlag, it takes time for me to get used to a new location.”
”Then you are going to bed early tonight,” Richards says and starts talking about her own familiar, ”Eagle, like Liberion,” she nods, as a pair of feathery ears appeared on her head, ”I'm so Liberion I fly and shoot Liberty, hoya!”
Mariah turns to Hakan who finishes her meal and starts to eat the dessert, ”So, Hakan, where are you from?”
”Romagna,” Hakan asnwers
”Oh? My family stopped in Napoli on the boat from the Nederlands to the east indies.” Mariah tells, ”...I was only small though, 3 or 4, but I remember the volcano. Ves... Vesuvius?” She looks at Hakan, ”It's Vesuvius, right?”
”There's nothing good there. At least not the people”
”...Oh. Well... I don't remember the people. I just remember that at the tire, the volcano was the biggest thing I had ever seen. So, what part of Romagna are you from?”
”Roma”
”Ah, I heard that's a nice place...”
Nicole finishes her meal and looks around to see what's for dessert, Mariah helps herself to some of it and Nicole does the same. Hina quietly eats her salad, alone.
”So, Hakan, what sort of Familiar do you have?” Mariah insists on continuing. Hakan sighs, get's up and begins to leave, grabbing her Falchion. ”Hey wait,” Mariah puts down her dessert and stops Hakan, ”What's wrong?”
”A wolf,” Hakan says bluntly.
”Ah, I have an Alsatian. It look like a wolf, sort of.” Hakan thinks what she should do to get rid of this girl. ”You know...” Maria starts.
Parkkinen gets up ”Mariah, just give her a moment by herself.”
”Hm? I'm just trying to get to know her better... She's really cute”
Hakan really hates to do it, but she puts on a fake smile and says, ”Nothing's wrong,” and walks out.
”We all just arrived here. Let's get along nice and slow,” Parkkinen says calmly.
”Well, okay,” Mariah agrees, ”But I will make her my friend. I like her.”
Nicole finishes her dessert and puts her spoon down, she enjoyed it, at least just the taste, as the mood wasn't that great.
”What familiar do you have anyway Parkkinen, I caught a glimpse of it during the training round, but I couldn't really identify it,” Delsma asks.
”Well, it certainly wasn't the tail you spotted. A lynx,” Parkkinen says in her happy way.
”Ah, a bigger cat,” Delsma yawns again. Nicole looks at their conversation and Hina looks lost in thought ”Feels like I've been up for a week”
Parkkinen grins, ”Just how much did you sleep last night?”
”Sleep?”
Parkkinen laughs, ”Well, they always told us that a soldier can go on for a week with three hours a sleep per night.”
”Yeah, but 3 hours of sleep really means 30 minutes of sleep.” Mariah joins in the conversation, ”And 2.5 hours of waiting for someone to come out of the shadows and slit your throat.”
”And that's pretty much how much sleep I had,” Delsma says wearily.
”That's why there was a guard stationed outside of the tent, and it was switched every hour,” Parkkinen replied to Mariah, ”Well, I guess I don't have to worry about sleeping in a tent any time soon.”
”Yeah... but if someone kills the quard,” Mariah continues, ”That isn't very helpful now is it” She starts to wonder where Hakan went.
"Well, if the situation is as grim as that, there are additional guards. I remember once when shit was really about to hit the fan the guard was just warming the oven of an empty tent, everyone else was in guard duty,” Parkkinen reminisces.
”Haha! I never went through that sort of training.”
”Now I was probably asleep when you mentioned it, but who is the girl with the pineapple again? Haven't seen her talk much.” Delsma asks as Hina finishes her salad and raises from the table. Hina checks the clock and turns to Pearson, saluting and dismissing herself. ”Ah, she left already.”
”Well, the land forces were quite a different thing,” Parkkinen continues her conversation with Mariah.
”But when you're alone in the jungle for a week, you learn to sleep with your hand on your knife.”
”You fought in a jungle?”
”No... I lived in one. It was my home for 10 or 12 years, but sometimes, when you're tracking sometihng, you can't just go back to your bed, right?”
Parkkinen nods at Mariah, ”Well, that's true.”
As Delsma looked like she would try and find another one to chat with, Parkkinen pats Delsma in the shoulder, ”So, how about your war stories?”
”Well my squadron was tasked defending Karlsland. At the northern part of the country. Usually just small-scale conflicts with Neuroi, almost on a daily basis. Small raids,” Delsma tells. As Nicole doens't tend to join conversations unless spoken to, she just sits there and continues to watch the others.
But Mariah disrupts Deslma's story, ”Wait, Nienke where's Karlsland again?”
”It's to the north east of Gallia, far west from Orussia,” Delsma says.
”So that's...”
”Next to the Lowlands”
”Ah, I see.”
”I'd think you'd be from that area, your name definitely sounds like it.”
”Well, I was born in Amsterdam.But my papa moved us to Borneo when I was four so that he could open a clinic for the natives.”
”Amsterdam? I was born in Rotterdam”
”...Rotterdam? Where's that?”
”It's to the south west of Amsterdam, biggest porttown. Got completely levelled in 1940 by a neuroi invasion.” Mariah, pretty much stopped going to school at the age of 12, and doesn't know Euroapean geography, she barely remembers the Low Countries. Delsma says to herself, ”I was lucky enough to survive it..”
”So you're from the Low Countries too?” Mariah asks.
”Yeah, I eventually ended up in Karlsland though.”
Mariah's eyes light up, ”Hey... what's it like there? I don't remember it..” she looks slightly downcast.
”I can tell you all about it.”
As Mariah and Delsma got deep into the conversation, Parkkinen noticed Nicol'e silently watching them, ”Hey, Nicole. Get over here and tell us your stories,” Parkkinen smiles to her.
”Ah, sure,” Nicole goes over to Parkkinen and sits down. But just as she does that, the alarm goes off: ”General Quarters..” an announcement went, ”Neuroi scouts are in the area.. everone to general quarters...”
”So, where are these general quarters,” Parkkinen asks. Mariah sets down her fork for the first time this evening.
”It means say in the hangar, get ready, but I doubt it, it's most likely a neuroi distraction, but the carriers are going to get deployed...” Richards says
”Sound's like a big deal.” Delsma says.
”It seems that: Vessa palaa, like the Suomus' saying goes,” Parkkinen gets up, looking serious.
”Hey, I'm gonna go find Hakan. She needs to know about this too,” Mariah says getting up.
”I'll warn the other girl,” Delsma volunteers, ”I didn't catch her name yet, but she was rather silent during dinner. Or breakfast. Man I completely lost my sense of time.”
”Mariah, you get Hakan, Delsma, you get Hina,” Parkkinen orders with her experience as a leader.
”Hina, got it,” Delsma says. Hakan runs off to find Hakan.
”Ladies, we know the drill, now lets moce out. Mariah you are on Hakan, Nienke, you are on Hina!” Richards repeats.
”Hakan!” Mariah calls for her new friend.
Nicole gets up, ”Nicole, let's go to the hangar and get ready,” Parkkinen says, and they head over to the hangar, as Nicole hopes her crew got her equipment in there safely.