(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 care-free. 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 after 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 surpised" 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"
