Strike Witches The Exploited Mirage

**The Exploited Mirage**

Chapter 1

On to Karlsland!

Late Summer, 1945  
505th Base  
Far Eastern Orussia

Heavy footfalls echoed through the hallway as Squadron Leader Grete M. Gollob made her way to the briefing room. The dark olive coat and pantyhose she wore, along with her angled and pointed eyes and straight mouth gives off a dark demeanor about her. It doesn't help that her familiar is a raven. The Ostmarkian dramatically swung open the double doors with a "Wham!" startling some of the witches in the room, most notably Pilot Officer Vasilissa Vassiliades who was a novice.

"Attention!" Grete's second in command, Flight Lieutenant Alya Alelyuhin ordered. Chairs scraped the floor as the squadron stood up. As soon as Grete said "At ease," everyone but Alya sat down.

"We have an assignment," Grete began. The lights shut off and a projector turned on showing a map of Europe. Karlsland was at the center of the map and it was an angry red. "All forces in Europe are pushing into Karlsland. We are to spearhead the attack in Southeast of Karlsland. Once we break through, we land and hold the abandoned military base here; just south of Tarnow. If everything goes well, ground forces should only be a day or two behind us. Any questions?" The room stayed silent. "I know we're not the best offensive squadron, but we are still part of the elite. We fight to our strengths and if that means we retreat to eliminate any Neuroi in our way, then so be it! We'll just smash through their lines again to get to our objective! Because tomorrow, we start the fight towards victory and liberation!"

The room broke out into a crescendo of cheers. Alya smiled at Grete and she smiled back.

"Make sure you get something to eat and plenty of sleep," Grete advised her witches when the noise died down. "We'll need all our strength tomorrow."

Later that day, most of the witches spent their time in the hangar to maintain their Strikers and load up on ammunition. Occasionally, one of them would go to the range to test fire, or to the kitchen to gather snacks for their one or two days ahead. The Greek, Vasilissa, was about to take the PPSh-41 out of its locker when Alya stopped her.

"I've got something better for you."

Vasilissa watched the Orussian curiously as she busted open a crate and took a gun out. Vasilissa jumped with joy as she saw what it was. It was an RPD machinegun.

"You think you can handle that?" Alya asked and smiled. Vasilissa nodded very enthusiastically.

"Yes! I am definitely stronger now than when I first started out!"

"Why don't you load it up and go try it out on the range?"

Vasilissa didn't need to be asked twice. She grabbed the gun and a box of ammunition and ran out of the hangar. Alya watched her go then began loading stripper clips with 7.62x39mm rounds. At that moment, the pale skinned Dacian witch, Reserve Flight Lieutenant Constantia Cantacuzino, walked in, MG34 in hand, with a look of dissatisfaction on her face.

"I can't hit anything," she spoke to herself. "And the problem isn't the sights."

Alya loaded an SKS by opening the bottom of the fixed magazine and dropped the rounds in to make sure that there wouldn't be one in the chamber. She moved onto an RPD belt when Constantia made a sound of realization.

"Jeez, the rifling in this barrel is completely gone." Constantia looked at Alya through the MG34's detached barrel. The 505th's Fusoan, Warrant Officer Yuno Infusa, handed Constantia two spare MG34 barrels and a fully loaded ammunition belt. Constantia gave her thanks and loaded the belt into a saddle drum. Yuno went back to maintaining hers own and Flying Officer Stoyana Stoyanov's MG34s. The MG34 was primarily the 505th's weapon of choice so everyone knew how to maintain them, except for Vasilissa, who had preferred lighter weapons. Stoyana walked in with a bag of cookies she had made and put them in her back pack. The Moesian was the squadron's best cook and she was mostly preparing food rather than anything else.

The next morning, the hangar was enveloped in the sound of revving Strikers. Each witch carried a backpack of provisions and an extra set of clothes. The magical capacity of six witches was impressive enough, but there was even more excitement as the power of anticipation could barely be contained in their young bodies. Wind rushed around the building and the intense power made unsecure objects shake. Grete was up first and armed with and MG34.

"Squadron Leader Grete Gollob! Taking off!" The Ostmarkian shot out of the launcher at full power and zoomed climbed once she cleared the hangar. Alya was next.

"Hey, Lissa!" Alya called out Vasilissa's nickname over the rumbling of magic engines. "You be careful with that extra weight!"

Vasilissa gave her mentor a thumbs up. The Orussian carried an RPD and the SKS she loaded the previous day.

"Flight Lieutenant Alya Alelyuhin! Taking off!" Just like her superior she shot right out of her launcher. Constantia and Stoyana armed their MG34s.

"Reserve Flight Lieutenant Constantia Cantacuzino!"

"Flying Officer Stoyana Stoyanov!"

"Taking off!" they said in unison. They punched their strikers to full power and shot out of the blocks.

Vasilissa was a bit timid as she never flown with the weight of an RPD machinegun in her hands and a PPSh-41 on her back.

"Would you like me to carry that for you?" Yuno asked.

She shook her head and with a lot of determination she shouted, "Pilot Officer Vasilissa Vassiliades! Taking off!"

As soon as she left the launcher, Yuno declared her launch.

"Warrant Officer Yuno Inufusa! Taking off!" Yuno took off into the sky and waited for a final call for a takeoff that never came.

Ayaka Kuroe, a witch that served with the Mirages for a short period of time, now retired and safe in Fuso. Yuno could see her longingly looking up at the sky wishing to fly again as all witches will eventually do. Then again, Ayaka has served her country well and effectively used her talents as a witch so she should have no regrets. Yuno shook her head to clear it and climbed up to the V-formation.

All combatants in Europe, mundane and witches alike, were eager to an intense level to finally rid the alien invaders of the Europe.

Each witch could feel anticipation crackling off each other like lightning. But little did they know the witches of the 505th Joint Fighter Wing, also known as the Mirage witches, were going to face an adversary unknown to any of them.

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**A/N: Comments and criticisms (constructive is preferred) are welcome and appreciated. A lot of artistic liberty was used to describe this JFW as there is little information on the witches, especially Alya, Stoyana, and Vasilissa who don't have profile picture on the wiki. Chapter 2 may come sooner or later but there is no telling with finals approaching. ****Hopefully I can keep a T rating but I'll change it accordingly if need be. ****Anyway guys and gals, take care and hopefully I'll see you in the next chapter.**


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Strike Witches, Drama, Suspense