No more bullets fly today

(June 19 1944, Karelian isthmus)

Orussia's attack against Suomus forces on the Isthmus a week ago had caught everyone by surprise, Suomus' Army was in chaos & Ilmavoimat had been given the desperate order to attack with no regard for losses and the Number 24 (Aerial witch-) Squadron had been in the thick of it ever since. Some of the girls were showing signs of combat fatigue, but one could not be grounded by mere human beings.
>"Illu, wait up! Don't fly off on your own again!" A busty girl with sergeant's stripes shouts after Chief Warrant Officer Juutilainen.
>"Leave me be Nipa, you know no-one can ever hit me! Worry about the others!" Illu replies, she has had to watch the Orussian flag being raised in Viipuri castle once, it can not happen again, not while she's alive.
The other girls shake their heads as they try to catch up with these two, one of them takes pride in never using a shield while the other one keeps crashing her units & walking away from the wreck without a scratch.
>"I'm so glad Hanna is back, I don't want to even imagine what might happen if she wasn't here" one of the girls comments, referring to captain Hanna Wind, the second-highest scoring ace of Ilmavoimat. She had been transferred to Luonetjärvi to be an instructor for trainee witches, but had been transferred back in the spring.
>"Silence! I am trying to listen to this report from the radar station!" captain Wind's voice cuts the chatter short.
>"...What seems to be a large number of witches is taking off from airfields around Petersburg, this day might turn out to be the longest yet!"
>"Even if it rains, I don't care, even if the wind is blowing, I don't care, even if it's raining spears I don't care~!" Illu starts singing, but deep down she is anything but without care. The front line has almost reached Viipuri, her home town. If ruskis want to go any further they'll have to bring ladders to climb over the piles of their dead.

(Meanwhile in Petersburg)

1st Lieutenant Sanya Litvyak of the 73rd Guard's Fighter Regiment is still half-asleep as she takes off, her regiment had just arrived from Southern front & they had been sent into battle with little rest.
>"Look lively now, girls, the people of Petersburg are watching us! That means you lieutenant Litvyak!" Colonel Alexandra Pokryshkin barks over the radio as the witches rounded up from various units for this operation take their places in the formation.
Sanya doesn't respond, she has never been very talkative & now colonel Pokryshkin's strict leadership has made her clam up completely.
Stavka had ordered the Petersburg military district to drive the accursed Tšuhnas out of the Isthmus. Preferably all the way to Tornio river if the Suomus government doesn't capitulate before then. Ilmavoimat had become unexpectedly fierce, taking insane risks to inflict casualties on Orussian forces tasked with taking Vyborg back.
This war had proven that Tšuhnas could not be trusted & that Orussia's claim to the Isthmus as a buffer was justified. As such Stavka had ordered all of the witches who could get to Petersburg by 18th to gather there. An operation aiming to wipe out the Suomus' aerial witches once and for all was underway.
>"...Contact! two dozen witches approaching from the sea, I believe it's the Number 24!" Sanya reports as she detects the Suomus' witches with her powers.
>"Pokryshkin to all witches, attack! за Родину!"
Sanya grips her modified ShVAK -cannon as she climbs higher, her job on this mission is to warn the others of any other enemy formations within her ability's operational range.
>"I hope this war ends soon, I want to get back home to papa and my piano" she thinks to herself.


**************

(Some time later, over Gulf of Suomus)

>"What am I to do with you, Nipa, we are already short on spare parts, we don't need you breaking your unit every time you take off!" Hanna, or "Hasse" as her friends call her reprimands Nipa as she helps her fly with her damaged Messerscharf Bf-109G.
>"I told you she should have kept using "Flying Beer bottle"" Illu says as she flies to Nipa's other side to help Hasse.
>"It wasn't my fault, don't you see the 20mm holes? You should be praising me for staying airborne with this unit!" Nipa protests.
As the three continue bickering they don't notice that they are veering off-course, after a while Hasse finally realises something is off.
>"...We should be within sight of Viipuri bay by now, where is it?"
>"Is that where we were supposed to be heading? Here I thought we were headed for Tallinn for some reason!" Illu responds, surprised.
>"WHAT!?!" Hasse, usually a very calm person, exclaims, looking around for signs of Sun to get her bearings, confirming Illu's comment on their heading.
>"...This is bad, we don't have much fuel left, without precise information on where we are we might have to ditch in the sea" she says with a hint of worry in her tone.
>"...We have an even bigger problem to deal with first! Bogey, 5 o'clock, high!" Illu exclaims, trying to detach & immediately abandoning the idea; the sudden loss of her support almost sends the other two plummeting towards the drink.
In their five o'clock Lieutenant Litvyak weighs her options, she sees three Suomus witches flying very close to each other.
>"...The long-haired one noticed me, yet she's not coming at me" she thinks to herself.
Against her better judgement she flies closer, her orders are to seek for Orussian stragglers, she has no instructions on what to do should she encounter enemies.
>"...the middle one's unit is damaged & the other two are supporting her" she concludes, flying a bit closer still, the long-haired one turning her head to look at her.

>"...an Orussian Night witch armed with a ShVAK, just perfect!" Illu curses this sudden misfortune, the Orussian could shoot them all down with one burst.
To her surprise the Orussian just looks at the trio before pointing almost straight towards North, waving & flying away.
>"Huh, first time for everything I suppose" Illu comments.
>"Second time for me, the last time this happened to me the witch counted my victory stripes before saluting and turning home."
>"...I would have attacked even if I had to ram you" Illu and Nipa say simultaneously.
>"Color me surprised" Hasse sighs at the two problem children, one reckless due to being indestructible while the other one simply needs to cool her head.
>"Lieutenant Litvyak to base, encountered three Suomus witches over the Gulf. Had to disengage due to lack of ammo and fuel" Sanya reports, omitting the part where she dumped her ammo and some fuel to create an excuse not to fight the Suomus witches. She might be an exceptional night witch, but the two supporting the girl with the broken unit, Captain Wind and CWO Juutilainen, are in class of their own. Sanya is fighting for her Motherland, these three are doing the same & probably just want to go home too.

>"No more bullets fly today"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x02g4-XT_VU

**************

After flying North for a while the three Suomus witches soon see the Viipuri bay & then the city itself. Due to their unusual direction of approach & the fact that their radio is set on a different frequency from the air defence artillery in Viipuri Hasse takes out a flare gun and fires the agreed-upon signal, letting the soldiers manning the anti-air guns know that they are friendly.
The soldiers cheer as the trio flies over them, causing Hasse to feel guilty over getting lost after the battle.
>"Orange nine, Ice lady" the radio on the trio's ears comes to life. It's Lieutenant-Colonel Häkkinen, commandant of Immola base.
>"Orange nine", Hasse responds, mentally preparing for the chewing she's expecting for disappearing for such a long time.
>"Good to hear you are still alive, are the usual suspects with you?" Häkkinen asks with an icy tone, referring to Nipa and Illu, the two biggest troublemakers in the squadron.
>"Yes, we are at point V on our way back" Hasse replies.
>"Be advised; the airspace around the base is clogged due to new arrivals, what is your fuel situation?" Häkkinen asks.
>"Running on fumes for a while now."
>"...Understood, you are free to land as you get here."
>"Orange nine" Hasse ends the exchange, wondering who these 'new arrivals' could be. Häkkinen would refer to enemies as 'guests', but Ilmavoimat shouldn't have any reserves to speak of.
Who on Earth could they be, and from where?
As the trio gets within sight of the base they see dozens of witches circling around the base.
>"Whoah, those are Karlsländisch Luftfwaffe!" Nipa comments, recognizing the roundels.
>"Ju-87s and...Fw-190s? What unit has both of those?" Illu joins Nipa at marveling the sight.
>"Wilkomin meine fraüleine, how nice of you to finally show up" a voice with a Karlsländer accent calls the trio on radio.
>"Who is this?" Nipa demands over the radio, ignoring the radio discipline.
>"Ach, you must be Feldwebel Katajainen, sehr gut, wir sind Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey, now please land quickly so we can land as well, bitte."

*********** 30.01.2020

As they land one by one the trio takes notice of a group of soldiers climbing into pair of Iron Annies, both under camo netting. The soldiers are each carrying an SMG and none of them has a helmet, recovery teams leaving on a mission deep behind enemy lines, meaning not every witch got back from the sortie. Hasse tries telling herself the sole reason they didn't spot patrol motorboats and/or other Navy elements rushing towards the scene of the air battle, was because they had been dispatched to the scene before the battle, knowing it's BS.
>"Who exactly went down to warrant risking both of our transports & two jump-trained recovery teams on a single daytime mission?" Nipa asks before realizing she's thinking out loud.
>"'No regard for losses', wasn't it? Someone from Mikkeli said one trained aerial witch is worth an entire conventonal fighter squadron, and the Order of The Day number Two, 1939 is still in effect; every serviceman and woman is brought home from the field regardless of the cost" Illu responds with an expression making Hasse worried she'd grab the first fueled unit she can find & go back to look for survivors.
>"Don't even think about going back without eating and resting!" An army captain with long, platinum hair shouts out while making a beeline for Illu, Aurora "Terror of Morocco" Juutilainen is probably the only thing Illu actually fears in this world.

>"I-I wasn't going to!" Illu protests, failing to convince anyone.
>"You know it makes me sad to see my cute little sister lying to me" Aurora says while wiping a non-existent tear from her eye, causing Illu to get even more worked up while the airmen within earshot try their best not to laugh at this all too familiar sight; "laugther equals death" they mutter to themselves and/or each other as they carry on with their work.
Before the comedic routine can go any further a staff car pulls up next to them & an officer gets out.
>"Captain Wind, CWO Juutilainen, Sergeant Katajainen, report to medbay, you are to rest until further notice & you may not leave without my explicit orders no matter what, food and drinks will be brought to you there, that's an order!" Lt. Col. Häkkinen bellows after waving at everyone present to be as they were, despite being a strict disciplinarian she has little interest in "parade ground formalities" like saluting in wartime.
>"Also, Sgt Katajainen, when writing your rewport be sure to go into detail as to how exactly your striker unit ended up in its current condition."
>"Yes ma'am!" Nipa replies while snapping to attention but leaving out the customary salute, which Häkkinen simply lets slide.
>"Carry on!" she says, not waiting for the witches' response before turning around and getting back in the car.
>"There you have it Eila, shall I carry you there & tuck you in like I used to?" Aurora says to her sister with an unnerving expression.
>"No thanks!" Illu responds turning away and starting to walk towards the medbay.
>"I take it I don't have to, but I can if I want to?" Aurora teases her sister.
>"Cut it out already Aarre, we have had a rough day!" Hasse, Aurora's equal in rank, retorts, calling Aurora by her other nickname, the one she absolutely hates ("Treasure"), before following Illu and Nipa.

Illu wakes up just before the Sun starts rising up after barely setting below the horizon. The sound of radial engines draws her to the window where she sees a Ju-88 taxiing off the runway to the fueling station. Immola being a fighter base Illu is intrigued by the appearance of a "fast bomber" in the wee hours of the night, until she notices something's off about this one. The plane has the Suomus Airforce roundels alright, but it also has extra antennas sticking out of the sides and the bottom of the fuselage. Before she can even start thinking of what this means an security force corporal gripping an SMG blocks her view.
>"Get out of the window! This doesn't concern you!" the corporal shouts through the window. Illu wouldn't normally care about rank, but the stress from the last few days has her on a hair trigger.
>"Is that any way to talk to a superior officer, corporal? Do you not know who I am?" she lets the corporal have it with both barrels. Unphased the corporal responds
>"Your rank is irrelevant, Chief Warrant Officer Juutilainen, get out of the window now and draw the curtains, on orders from the chief of Airforce, you saw nothing!"
Upon hearing the corporal's mention of the chief of Ilmavoimat Illu gives in and complies, still seething as she grabs one of the bottles her sister smuggled in earlier. The burning sensation of vodka entering her mouth and going down her throat just barely distracts her from her rage until the effects of the alcohol start kicking in. Taking another sip or three she puts the cap back on the bottle and goes back to sleep.
In the morning Lt.Col. Häkkinen enters the medbay, after waving off the salutes of the medical personnel present & ushering them out she turns to Illu and Nipa.
>"I am told you witnessed something you weren't supposed to during the night" she states in her usual tone, giving no hint of what she thinks of the content of what she has just said.

>"So I was told, I received no orders NOT to look out of the window while staying here, so I don't see what the fuzz is about" Illu responds with a bit of an attitude.
>"The 'fuzz' is that the plane you saw is top secret, even I wasn't aware of its existence until it landed here" Häkkinen says with the same icy tone she's known for.
>"Though I am under specific orders not to discuss the plane, I know the two of you all too well, so listen up; that plane is used to broadcast news about the families of the Orussian witches, specifically family members who have been arrested by the Orussian government, on Orussian Airforce frequencies. I have been led to believe that this has already resulted in a number of defections & the HQ in Mikkeli is hoping for more. None of this is public knowledge & you are, at the risk of facing a firing squad, ordered to keep any and all knowledge about the matter to yourselves, you are not to discuss ANY of the details even between yourselves, left alone in presence of ANYONE ELSE AT ALL, to I make myself clear?"
>"Yes ma'am!" the "usual suspects" reply in unison.
>"Carry on!" Häkkinen shouts as she salutes & leaves the medbay, before the door closes Illu and Nipa catch a glimpse of two soldiers armed with SMGs standing on either side of the door in order to keep anyone from eavesdropping.
>"Bleeegh~!" Illu lets out a sound while making a rude gesture at the back of Lt.Col. Häkkinen.
>"The breakfast better get here fast, I'm starving!" she exclaims as she throws herself back onto her bed.
>"...that girl with the ShVAK sure was cute" Illu thinks to herself.

No sooner has the trio finished eating breakfast than the sirens start wailing, before Illu or Nipa could say a thing the doctor is already gesturing at them that they may go, so they do.
>"Ice lady, Orange Nine, what have we got today?" Hasse asks the commandant over the radio while sprinting towards the hangar.
>"Emergency sortie, 20th brigade defending Viipuri is in danger of being overrun by the enemy, intelligence indicates at least six different divisions, including two armoured brigades from 21st and 23rd Armies as well three detached armoured regiments and two assault gun regiments" Häkkinen reports the grim situation, causing Illu to stop in her tracks for a split second before faking a laugh.
>"So, we should be back by lunchtime, what are we having today?" she feigns indifference to what she has just heard, this day is going to be the worst ever.
>"That's classified information Orange Four" Häkkinen jokes which is highly unusual for her, she isn't the commandant for nothing.
>"Orange Six taking off!" Nipa interrupts the back-and-forth as she skips the warm-up once again.
>"...Do you think the Karlsländer might have a 190 to spare for her, because I have a feeling that unit isn't coming back in one piece" the crew chief assigned to Nipa asks no-one in particular.
>"Orange Four taking off!" Illu exclaims after giving the crew chief a faint smile.
>"Orange Nine taking off!" Hasse follows her friends.

As the squadron forms up they receive orders to head to Viipuri on their own as it would take too long for Kuhlmey to get ready & the 20th brigade needs close air support yesterday.
Once over the city the 24 squadron doesn't see enemy witches nor even conventional enemy aircraft, but they do see a lot of ruskis, without waiting for orders the Suomus witches split into pairs & start free hunting. Just as they start running low on ammo Kuhlmey arrives to take over the task & 24 returns to Immola, after refueling and rearming they take off again to head back as by now the enemy witches would certainly be joining the party. Illu hasn't said a word after they took off for the day's first sortie, which has Hasse worried, even if Illu is virtually untouchable, she too is still subject to laws of physics.
Once back over Viipuri they sight the enemy approaching from the sea & Illu immediately peels off with Nipa to meet them head on.
>"Wait up Illu, I can't keep up with you!" Nipa cries out as Illu dives into the enemy formation.
>"Then don't even try, pair up with Hasse instead, you know these amateurs can never hit me!" Illu replies while shooting at multiple targets in quick succession.
At the end of the day, despite their best efforts, Viipuri was lost that day, but the enemy had paid a heavy price for it, Illu alone had been confirmed to have shot down six enemy witches that day & was now a living legend, not that she cared, to her her real achievement that day was protecting a lone soldier on a bicycle pedalling away from the Viipuri castle like his life was on the line, Illu didn't need to see the red square on the rear rack of the bike up close to know what it was.
The blue cross of Suomus would rise over Viipuri castle one day, and Illu had made sure the flag that was lowered today would be available when that day comes.

*******

July 2 afternoon, Immola

The 24 had just returned from yet another harassment sortie over the Orussian lines & was preparing for the next one when Häkkinen's staff car entered the runway & Häkkinen almost ran to the hangar.
>"Change of plans, the rest of today's sorties have been cancelled, all witches are ordered to eat and rest, no-one leaves the base without a written permission from me, sortie at 05:30 tomorrow morning, prepare for bomber interception. Kuhlmey is ordered to prepare for a ground attack mission against armoured formations and artillery at the same time."
>"What's going on?" Illu asks, puzzled.
>"All I know is that these orders came directly from Mikkeli after "The Opera" got an urgent message from the "statistics office"" Häkkinen almost whispers to her audience.
>"Oh" is all the witches can say in response, everyone had for long suspected the name "statistics office" was just a cover for something else, and if "The Opera", the operations department of the Defence force HQ in Mikkeli, was behind these orders, that meant the entire Isthmus front must be getting ready for something big at dawn, colonel Nihtilä of The Opera is famous for two things: his terrible home-made wine and his ability to step on all the generals' toes & get a way with it because he can work miracles.
>"You heard the commandant, tomorrow's going to be busy, drinking is forbidden until further notice!" Hasse collects herself before anyone else after the revelation.

Everyone knew the next day would be special in some way, but no-one could have guessed that at 4AM in Ihantala an Orussian guard's division supported by an armoured brigade would get a taste of what Suomus Army had been on the receiving end of for three weeks now. As the witches went to bed 21 Suomusian artillery battalions started receiving thousands of extra shells in preparation for the next morning, the bomber squadrons started planning their schedule for the July 3rd, and at nightfall an inexperienced unit in Tali got quietly replaced by a veteran unit that had only recently been relieved from that same position for R&R.
At 03:58AM just as the Orussians were to launch an attack, 250 Suomusian guns and mortars started to barrage the starting positions of the 63rd Guard's Rifle Division and 30th Armoured Brigade, followed by a combined force of 80 Suomusian and Karlsländer bombers finishing what the artillery had started. At 6AM just as an Orussian aerial force of 200 aircraft and witches was to support an infantry attack on the the Suomus' defensive positions they found themselves being ambushed by the 24, 31 and 34 squadrons of Ilmavoimat while Kuhlmey focused on ground targets, by 7PM the Orussians had been pushed back to where they had started in the morning. The battle would go down in history as "the Miracle of Ihantala" as it was the first time Suomus forces were able to blunt an Orussian attack during the summer offensive of 1944, after a series of follow-up defensive victories a ceasefire was signed on 4 September, and as per the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Ilmavoimat discharged all of its witches the following day. Illu, homeless & without employment, was offered a job as a test pilot for SAAB in Trollhättan, Baltland, which she accepted. She didn't speak a word of Baltish, but she was assured that English and Karlsländisch would suffice until she has learned the local language. If only she had someone to talk to who knew what she had been through. She almost laughed when she saw the “Baltish strikers” she had been hired to test, the one she tested first even had Suomusian roundels still painted on it FFS. The striker development ban imposed on Valtion lentokonetehdas hadn’t lasted even a month, though should Orussians ask about the obvious VL striker units in SAAB’s hands they’d no doubt make up some BS about a pre-existing co-operation agreement that left these Myrsky (“Storm”) and Pyörremyrsky (“Whirlwind”) units in SAAB’s ownership. The mischievous grin on Illu’s face would be the last smile she’d make for some time.

EPILOGUE

May 1 1945, Gothenburg, Baltland

Illu takes a sip of her beer as she watches the university students' lively partying in the streets of Göteborg. A year earlier, had she not been fighting in a war, she would have been the loudest, wildest partyer in that crowd, but as she is now she rarely feels like celebrating. Even after half a year in Skåne she is still essentially alone, only two of her colleagues had ever seen any action, and neither one of them had been on the Isthmus in '44, she simply couldn't find anything in common with those girls, and little by little they had stopped trying to include her in their off-work activities. Just as she starts considering going back to Suomus to find a new career, her thoughts are interrupted by an unexpected sight. Illu rubs her eyes before looking again, but couldn't find the girl anymore. She couldn't be here, could she? Convinced she had imagined seeing that girl, she hears a soft voice to her left.
>"Leutnant Juutilainen?" asks the voice in accented Karlsländisch, surprising Illu. She turns her head towards the voice & sees the girl standing right next to her.
>"I am not really a lieutenant when I was discharged before the promotion came to effect, am I?" she responds in Orussian, she had learned it as a child in Viipuri.
>"But what are YOU doing here? I figured you'd be busy patrolling the skies in Prussia or Silesia."
>"I defected in August after I heard from your propagandists that my parents had been arrested by NKGB & after learning from my own sources that they had died on a train to the Gulag, what about you?" says (former-) Orussian Air force First Lieutenant Sanya Litvyak.
>"Got scouted by SAAB immediately after the ceasefire, Baltlands Flygvapnet is building up its strength even as the war in Europe is winding down, and in SAAB's own words, they want the best to test their newest striker designs, were you scouted as well?" Illu responds, leaving out the fact that the designs she's testing are in fact Suomusian & have simply been handed over to SAAB to continue the development, the ceasefire agreement has forbidden Suomus to develop new military equipment, especially strikers.
>"No, I just got my asylum seeker status approved & come Autumn I will be starting music studies in Gothenburg University" Sanya replies with a sweet smile.
>"At your age? That's amazing!"
>"Thank you Ill-oh sorry, I forgot to ask whether I can call you Illu first!" Sanya panics.
>"Please call me Eila" says Illu, smiling for the first time in a long time.
>"May I join you?" Sanya asks.
>"B-by all means, please sit down, now, what should I call YOU?" Illu stutters, wondering why only after a few minutes this girl has such an effect on her.
>"Please call me Sanya."

END