A Javelin to Strike the Core
Chapter 5
I don't have much to say with this chapter. But I will be adding my own bit of extra fun/drama in the middle. So on with the show.
(Han POV)
After that bit of a scare a few days back things seemed to go back to normal on the base. I had just started to wake up when he heard strange noises from one of the other rooms. "Oh wow they're huge!" Okay what was that all about? "Han what are you doing outside of Yoshika's room?" I turn and see Lynne walking up in her nightgown. She has a bit of a blush and is looking away from me. Then I realize I'm standing in the hall in my underwear. "Uuuhh sorry I'll just-"Before I can finish we both hear a crash from Yoshika's room.
"Yoshika! What's going on in there?" Lynne calls out before opening the door. When she does, we both see Yoshika kicking her legs while her head is on the ground. As she's kicking the air and then falling, I notice that she isn't wearing underwear under her…. Honestly I don't know what it is called but she apparently goes commando when sleeping. While I'm blushing a bit and turning away Lynne is checking on her and asking if she was okay. "I uh. I had a dream about us." Yoshika says before Lynne gets close to check on her. Asking her what the dream was about. Given the blush growing on her face, the frantic backpedaling and covering her head with her blanket, (let alone the fact that I followed her eyes toward Lynne's chest) I know she's lying. "Oh and I didn't see anything I promise." At that she looks up at Lynne who I'm guessing has just a nice smile.
"Well, you didn't but we did. You might want to at least consider wearing something under your… whatever it is that you wear for night wear. Cause I know I at got a look at your nether areas without much trouble." Maybe I could have phrased that better because now Yoshika is blushing even brighter. Lynne on the other hand gives me an annoyed look before saying, "Are you in much of a position to judge." She looks down and I remember I'm only in underwear. "Right sorry. I'm just gonna get dressed." With that I walk away and get ready. Once I'm done, I see the other two walking down the hall.
Lynne apparently thinks that Yoshika was dreaming about flying, and said girl is trying to affirm that thought. "But um hopefully after yesterday you can get some real rest. We just fought the neuroi. So you can forget about fighting them for a while." I'm fast walking to catch up and I notice that Yoshika is going to grab Lynne's boobs. Really though girl? How are you that interested, even though you've only been here for about a month? I'm about to say something when I notice Mio walking up as well. I can guess what she's about to do. "Hey! Miyafuji!" "It's not what you think!" She says as she turns and grabs Mio, fairly impressive bosom. "Really? Because I think you wanted to grab someone tits." I say while Yoshika is looking back and forth between me and Mio. Who in turn just closes her eye and says, "Are you amused with yourself?" At that Yoshika backs away apologizing.
"You're slacking!" Mio says while drawing her sword. "Whoa whoa! Easy there! No reason to cut her is there?!" Mio looks at me, and then at Yoshika before saying, "I wasn't going to use the blade to administer punishment. Just the saya." "The what now?" I say while discretely waving to Yoshika to get away. Lynne notices and while Mio is distracted by explaining the parts to the sword to me, the girls get away. "Hey wait. Where did they? Did you distract me?" She says with an angry look in her eye. I try to look as innocent as possible, but she still catches on. And proceeds to smack me with the scabbard or saya in her native tongue. "Okay I'll admit I deserved maybe a bit of that. But you got distracted to. The second I asked a question about your sword; you lost your train of thought. So, aren't you slacking too?" I say with a smile on my face. At that she seems to go back and forth on the though a few times before relenting.
"Don't think I'll let you get off with doing that again." She says starting to re-sheath her sword. Until I mention that she's using a double standard to the fact she was slacking. She turns back to me and looks like she wants to disagree. Until she hands me the saya and says, "Just smack the top of my head once. Okay." Okay I did not see this coming. I was totally betting she would disagree or slightly relent. I'm honestly not sure what to do, but Mio has her eyes closed so I guess she's determined. I raise it up and give her a smack to the top of her head. Not too much. Just like if you get smacked with a wooden spoon for sticking your hand where it doesn't belong. "What is going on here?" We both turn and see Minna walking up with an angry look. She's probably about to make some assumptions on what happened. Granted some of them may not be wrong.
"I asked him to. He caught me on a little disciplinary action and tricked me pretty easily. So, I let him smack my head once since I did the same to him." Mio quickly explains to Minna before we all catch up with the other two girls for breakfast. Minna doesn't seem overly convinced but she's letting it go for now. Once we've all eaten, Minna has all of us meet in a different room with a piano to explain what we'll be doing tomorrow. Apparently, we're going to a beach near here. "Alright! The beach! I love the sea! Don't you guys love the sea too?" "You do realize we live on an island, right?" I joke back before Lynne points out that they're going there to train not play. Yoshika is a bit disheartened by that especially when Mio mentions being ready for crashing into the water. "I mean, I'm here. And my javelins work underwater… so I could save them."
Mio just gives me deadpan look before saying, "That is true, but you may not always be around. And there could be quite a few of us scattered around an area. So, we will be training for those situations." That is actually a fair point, so I'll leave it alone for now. Yoshika gives a sigh before Mio gets on her case again with Minna laughing a bit before saying, "Alright. I want all of you to meet us here at 10 hundred hours. Understood." With an affirmative from all of us, Minna makes sure Yoshika knows and asks her to tell Shirley and Francesca. "Oh, and I guess I should mention you won't be training the entire day. In other words there'll be some down time between drills so.. pack a swimsuit." "Yes, ma'am I will. Um I'll be right back. Would you come with me for just a second?" Yoshika says to Minna and Lynne.
As the two girls run off, I bring up a point that has been bothering me for a while, "Doesn't she already wear a swimsuit in her day to day? Both her and you Mio?" Once I say that, both Mio and Minna look back at me with a confused look. Before Mio says, "Technically yes but you already know why we dress or wear things like this." I want to retort but I realize she has a point. While I'm thinking on it a bit, Mio asks if Shirley was in the hanger again. While Minna jokingly asks if she thinks she'll come up for air. "Its about to get noisy." At that, I'm confused again. "How come?" "You'll see." Minna says before we walk up to the terrace. All of a sudden, I hear a rumbling from the hanger. After a minute or two, I see Shirley out on the runway taking off at a fairly high speed. Perrine showed up a few seconds later with a device around her neck. "That's quite an improvement." Mio says before Perrine notes that she reached an altitude of 1000 meters in fifty seconds. Even to me with my javelins, that is pretty impressive. "It is rather loud though." Minna says with a laugh and I agree with her. Mio then puts on a serious face before saying, "Lets see what she can do this time."
I don't fully get it, but I guess Shirley is constantly pushing her limits with her striker unit. After about a minute, Perrine notes that "her acceleration is peaking." And noting that she had reached a little over 800 kilometers. I think my Interceptor can almost match that, but it would be pushing it. "We were right. It would appear this was her limit after all." "The speed of sound, still remains just beyond her reach." Minna and Mio comment. "Okay what are you three talking about? Shirley hasn't mentioned anything like that when we've been working together." The three then turn and take more notice of me. Mio then explains, "Shirley has been trying to break the sound barrier with her striker. She's been adjusting the energy allocation of the magic engine. But she can't seem to reach her goal of breaking through the speed of sound."
I have no idea what the speed of sound is (other than the obvious part about sound) so I ask how fast that is. Minna mentions that it is about 1200 kilometers an hour. "Shirley's inherent magic allows her to bring out most of the speed in whatever she is using. But she's still short by quite a bit." "I'll say. She's still 400 kph short. Huh. Maybe I can try to keep up with my Interceptor. I finally finished repairing it." I say before heading down to the hanger.
(No POV)
As Han leaves, Mio says to Minna, "Think he'll beat Shirley to the speed of sound?" "He might. His equipment is a bit different from what we're used to." Once Han has reached the hanger where Shirley is working, he comes up and asks her for a favor. "You think you could channel some of your magic into something for me?" Shirley is a bit confused given she had done that already. "Not just the general magic. Your inherent magic. I had a thought about a way to boost up both your and my speed in my Interceptor." "Ooohh. Let's hear it." Shirley says with excitement on her face. Han brings his javelin in and Shirley inspects the thrusters noting the possible output level they can reach. "This thing can keep up with my Merlin, even without any enhancements. If we added my inherent magic, it might be able to push it further." With noting that, she smiles and puts more of her Speed Boost magic into the canister Han provided.
While Han is working on implementing the canister Shirley is telling Yoshika and Lynne about her history and how she came to become a pilot with the 501st. When Yoshika and Lynne finally remember to tell Shirley about training on the beach, Shirley takes a moment to tease the two of them before her and Han walk off. "I don't know about you, but I could use a bath." Shirley says to Han once the younger girls had run off. "Yeah, I need a shower myself." "Care to join me?" She says teasingly. Han is a bit surprised by that and blushes while coughing in his hand.
"Hahahaha. Calm down. You said yourself you need a shower. If you don't look I won't." Shirley teases again before walking to the baths. Han just sighs and goes in after a few minutes. 'Just don't look or think about it. Besides, with the grease on my arms I could use it. Just don't look.' After he walks in Shirley has already scrubbed down and is soaking in the tub. 'Don't think about it. Don't think about it.' Han then starts the shower and scrubbing off the grease and oil from working on Shirley's striker and his Interceptor. While Han isn't looking at Shirley, she is checking him out from behind. 'He's pretty fit and toned. Guess you'd have to be dealing with all the crazy stuff Freelancer's deal with on Coda. C'mon. Just turn a bit more.' As if to answer her thought, Han turns to wash his hair out. And she gets a good look at his abs and other muscles.
For Han though, he just started rolling some kinks out of his neck when he notices that Shirley is staring at him. He's embarrassed at first but then he notices that Shirley is looking a bit red. And not just from blushing. She then slides into the water a bit before Han runs over to pull her out. "Seriously!" As he's doing this, Minna and Mio had finished a bit of paperwork and plans for tomorrow's beach training and were coming into the changing room. "I could use a good long soak. How about you Minna?" "Just a nice shower is all I need. They had both finished changing when Han came in with Shirley in his arms. All three that were still conscious were just staring agape at each other. Right when Minna was about to scream and Mio was grabbing her katana, Han said, "Before you freak out, let's focus on Shirley." At that, the two looked down and noticed she was unconscious.
Han laid her on the floor with a towel over her before grabbing his own. Minna and Mio grabbed their own and asked what happened. "We spent the rest of the day working on my javelin and her striker. We were both pretty dirty and I had grease up to my elbows, so we came in for a bit. She mostly just teased about joining her, but I could feel the grease setting in. So, I just went for a quick shower. I didn't look at her until I noticed that she had either passed out or overheated. She sank down while I was finishing my shower." Minna wants to shout at him but noticing his face and the concern for Shirley said he may not be lying. "It seems that the boiler for the bath is running too hot commander. It's much hotter than it should be." Mio says as she came back in from the baths. Minna knows that Mio wouldn't lie about this, so she says, "I guess it was lucky that you happened to be there Han. I'm not going to have you arrested or kick you out of here. But we should maybe make a bit more of a proper time for you to get clean in the baths." At a thanks from Han and Shirley waking up, Han puts his pants on and heads for his room.
"So, I really did overheat in the bath. Well at least the sights were nice until I passed out." Shirley says to Minna and Mio. While Mio is reprimanding her about being careful in the baths, Minna is agreeing in her mind that the sight of Han was quite nice. Once Mio is done with the lecture she says, "guess I won't be soaking tonight. Oh well. I do have to agree though. Han is quite well built. As expected of a man of the frontlines like him." Minna isn't sure what to say and just shakes her head before going for her shower.
Han on the other hand is having a few problems of his own. 'Damnit. This isn't the first time I've seen a woman naked. So why am I overreacting like this.' He keeps seeing both Mio and Minna's naked forms in his mind as he tries to relax and ease into sleep. He eventually does, but not before seeing the two in his dreams a few times. He hasn't slept the best by the time morning rolls around. And he can't look Minna and Mio in the eye. Nor can Minna meet his gaze. But they all aren't focused on that. For now, the commanding officers have to deal with training the troops.
"Alright. Han since your gear works different you don't have to do the same drills. Maybe take a few laps out in the ocean for a while." Mio says standing there in her swimsuit. Minna is there too with a green jacket over her white bikini. Han on the other hand just has some simple shorts to swim in. "Right. Maybe I'll see if I can keep pace with Trude." Once he's gone and a few of the others have done their drills Minna finally asks Mio a question in the back of her mind. "Is it a good idea to keep him here on the base?" "Minna, I think you're over thinking the matter from yesterday. Not only was it an accident that we saw him, but Shirley invited him. And lest we not forget he also saved her. She said as much. Besides, he's a good fighter and pilot. We need him if we are to have any extra hope against the neuroi."
As Minna is sighing, Lynne and Yoshika are paddling as hard as they can with the dummy strikers on their legs. "This isn't the kiddie pool! Stop dog paddling! Take a page out of Perrine's book!" Mio shouts as the girls struggle. After they come back up, Mio announces that the exercises are done for now. Han decides to take a chance to talk to Minna. He noticed that Mio had been less bothered by the whole bath matter so he figured he should talk to her first. 'Plus, she's the commander. She could kick me out just for that.' Right as he's about to go talk to her, he hears Shirley shout "The enemy!" After that, Han follows her lead and runs after her to the hanger. As they are running, the alarm goes off at the base.
Shirley reaches the hanger first, likely thanks to her magic. But Han isn't too far behind. "This is Yaeger! Taking off!" "Han here. Launching Interceptor!" With that said both rocket out of the hanger passing Lynne and Yoshika. After they've been out for a while, Minna and Mio give the two a report. "The craft is an ultra-highspeed model." "Its course has it heading to London. Shirley show them your speed! Han back her up if you can't fully keep up."
With a quick affirmative from both, they rocket off at the highest speed they can. While they are going though Shirley notices something different with her striker. 'Strange. The acceleration isn't slowing down. The engine must be doing better today.' For Han though, he notices that not only is Shirley accelerating more, but he is keeping good pace with her. 'I thought the speed boost magic might help, but it was supposed to just be in bursts. Maybe its something else we worked on last night.' At thinking about last night, he sees all three of the girls naked in his mind again. He shakes his head focusing on the target in front of them. He can hear Mio calling to them over the radio, but it is garbled. All of the sudden he hears Shirley laugh before putting up a shield and accelerating more. Then all of the sudden a sonic boom hits him. It jostles him but he corrects enough and starts accelerating more.
"Major I did it! I exceeded the speed of sound!" Shirley shouts happily. "Stop you're going to crash into the enemy!" Mio reports over the comms. Han grits his teeth and fully activates the speed boost canister on his Interceptor. He breaks through the sound barrier as well and catches up with Shirley as she plows through the neuroi. As she's coming to the peak of her flight upward Han catches her and notices two things. One she's out cold again. Two she's not only lost her striker, but swimsuit has been burnt through as well. "Again! Really?!" Han says and Mio just ask what is going on. To which Han exclaims, "Almost the same thing that happened last night." To which Minna blushes and Mio asks for a better explanation. Up in the sky though, Yoshika is looking a bit jealous at Han having Shirley in his arms and her chest against his. Even if he is wearing armor. "This is just ridiculous."
Wanted to add a little more of my own ideas rather than just do like others who copy paste the whole episode with just an extra character. So hope for the few who enjoy this story, you like what you're reading.