A Javelin to Strike the Core
Chapter 7
I am so sorry to those who may have been waiting for me to make this next one. With how popular some of my other stories had grown, I felt the need to focus on those a bit more. Add in the dwindling amount of information from Anthem, as well as the dubbing release of the Road to Berlin series and I felt I had to go over it a bit more before restarting. But those of you who liked my story have waited long enough. On with the show.
(No POV)
As Sanya flies back in after the night patrol, she yawns and prepares to land and get a good day's sleep. All around the base, the rest of the squad is sleeping peacefully. With the exception of one Major Sakamoto Mio. She is currently running through the small forest on the island, before drawing her katana and practicing some swings.
As the trumpet sounds on the base, she looks up surprised. While Mio is heading back the rest of the girls are waking up slowly with some saying they are late. Han though has no problem and chuckles at Yoshika's sleep talking, and Perrine's panicked running around. Though when he sees Shirley standing in her doorway in her underwear brushing her teeth, he is a bit wide eyed. Before coughing and turning away.
As Minna walks by you can hear the strain in her voice as she tells the girl good morning. "You might want to not forget that there is a man in the ace's quarters now," Minna says while looking at Han. Han shakes his head as to say he wasn't looking. Though still half asleep, Shirley can still be a tease. "What makes you think I don't want him to look commander? Or would you rather he was looking at you?"
Mina and Han both blush a bit before the commander socks Shirley in the stomach. "That's enough of that. We have a special event today. I trust you won't do anything Han?" Minna says while trying to hide her blush. Han looks at her with annoyed face before saying, "why do you assume I'm going to do something? I haven't laid a finger on anyone!... well except for an emergency, but still!"
Minna sighs before nodding, and just asking him to be careful. But as she's walking away, she can't help but look back to stranger from another world. Quietly admitting to a growing interest in the man. Han just sighs to himself before heading back toward his workspace. He notices Sanya walking sleepily toward what he believes to be Eila's room.
The sleepy silver haired girl opens the door and starts undressing while walking to the bed. "Uh Sanya?" Han says but the girl doesn't even notice him. As she finishes undressing, she unceremoniously flops onto the bed. "What the Hell?" Eila says waking up. When she notices it is Sanya she postulates that the girl ended up in the wrong bedroom.
"Clearly. I tried to get her attention, but she didn't notice," Han says standing at the doorway. Eila looks up and sees the Freelancer at the door. She then blushes before asking if he saw anything. "Well obviously I did. She started stripping the moment she walked in. And well frankly you sleep in your underwear," Han says with a flat look. Eila then looks down and covers herself up.
Han then sighs before saying, "trust me I'm not interested in you two." Eila wants to take some offense at that but she knows it also means he isn't interested in Sanya either. "I guess you're right. You're more interested in the Commander and the Major right?" Eila says while getting out of the bed and picking up Sanya's clothes. Han blushes before coughing.
Eila has a little chuckle at his expense before going back to bed. Han just sighs again before going to the dinning room. 'I wanted to do some work, but I could use something to eat.' For Trude though she has the unpleasant job of waking up the resident slob and top ace of the squad, Erica Hartmann. After a quick lecture about discipline, the brunette brawler tells her about the award she is due to receive today. Erica just yawns before asking, "can I trade my award for sleep?" This incises Trude and she starts to fervently try and get Erica up. Only to find she isn't wearing any underwear.
She tries to lecture Erica some more, but the girl is clearly not listening. "It's time for breakfast. Finish dressing and meet me in the dining hall!" Trude says while closing the door. But when she leaves, Erica notices something important. "They're gone." She can't find her panties.
Meanwhile on the beach, Mio is instructing Yoshika on how to swing a sword. With Perrine watching on in jealousy. 'Major don't! You're so close to her! Why does she get your undivided attention every day! Filthy racoon dog mutt!' Perrine thinks to herself. "Hey whatcha doing there Perrine?" Francesca says while hanging down from a tree branch.
When the two Fusoan's notice they are being watched they call out to the two. Before Mio says to Yoshika, "Miyafuji! Get back to work!" "Yes ma'am!" Yoshika says before going back to her swings. Perrine then asks to train too, and the Major quickly agrees. As Francesca is coming down from the tree, they all hear Mio says, "Luchinni you to!" While Francesca looks horrified at the thought, Perrine has a smug look on her face at the younger girl getting dragged into something she doesn't want to do.
While this is happening, Minna and Lynne are driving off the base to pick up a delivery. "This will be good. We need a guide who is familiar with the area," Mina says while trying to cover up her worry about Mio. Lynne though is just happy to be of use.
At the dinning hall, Han had just finished up eating for himself when Trude and Shirley walked in. As he was washing his plate and dish, he overheard their conversation. "No one else is coming," Shirley said after picking up a potato. Trude has an angry look saying, "typical. We're the only disciplined ones."
Han snorts before saying, "I find the idea of Shirley being disciplined very unlikely." Shirley puts on an annoyed face herself before saying, "I can be disciplined when I want!" "He's not wrong that you should do that more. I'm betting you were going to say that since the neuroi shouldn't be attacking today it would be fine if they didn't show up, right?" Trude says after scarfing down a potato.
"And of course, this Karlsland girl just can't relax. Hey, I was saving that one!" Shirley says teasingly then alarmed. Trude's only response to this is that it was a blitzkrieg. Han just snorts at the two's interactions.
At the baths though, the training group have begun to scrub off the sweat and dirt from the early morning training session. With Perrine looking forward to bathing close to the Major. Though this happens in more ways than one, given she slipped on the bar of soap that Yoshika had dropped. "I'm really sorry Perrine, okay! The soap just slipped right out of my hands!" "What kind of stupid…. You could have killed me! I mean thanks so much," Perrine says while blushing furiously then happily.
For one Erica Hartmann though, she is just going about her day as usual. Without any underwear on. When she sneezes after sliding down the railing, she notes that it is a little breezy down south. Then she looks and see's she is next to the baths. So, she sneaks in and borrows a pair from someone else. This of course leads to a different problem as Francesca's were the pair she took, and the young girl decides to do the same.
Back in the dinning hall, Han had just been sitting and talking with Shirley and Trude about what he was working on. When Erica and Francesca showed up and just started scarfing down potato after potato, he was slightly concerned. "Should we….." "They're fine. It's just how those two eat," Trude says before asking to try using one of the heavy weapons of his javelins. Han agrees before asking which one she'd like to try first.
But the conversation gets interrupted by Mio arriving with Perrine and Yoshika. The later of whom is looking extra bashful. "Uh what am I missing?" Han asks while looking between the three. "Someone made off with Perrine's underwear and we're trying to find out who," Mio says while looking at Han. He then looks around and notices that a most of them are looking at him.
"WHOA WAIT A MINUTE! Shirley! Trude! I've been here in the dinning hall with you this whole time! Remember?!" Han defends himself alarmingly. Trude nods and says the same to Mio. The major then coughs and apologizes to Han. Han just facepalms before asking about the swimsuit on the table. And if Perrine was either wearing underwear to begin with. "Of course, I was!" the Gallian witch defends herself with.
When Trude notices that Yoshika is uncomfortable due to not wearing anything under her sailor suit, she starts to pull down her panties to lend them to the girl. "Whoa wait a minute! Mixed company here!" Han shouts before grabbing Trude's hands to keep her underwear up.
"Right sorry about that Han," Trude says before pulling her panties up with a snap. Han facepalms again before asking something that had been bothering him. "Okay, I've been wondering this for a while. But do you guys only have like only one pair of underwear? Like serious moment Yoshika, do you not have any extras?" Each of the girls looks between each other before silently confirming that they usually only need the one pair.
The commanding officers then move past the awkward conversation and start their investigation into who the actual thief is. When Trude notes that they need to think of who proceeded Perrine in the baths. And then they all look to Francesca who has been silently panicking more and more. When Trude points out she left the bath first, the little girl bolts. "Those panties are mine!" Perrine shouts as the girl starts running around the table.
Han is just confused by all of this. So, he just throws up his hands before saying, "Nope. NOPE! Not getting involved with this! You ladies sort this out! I'm not gonna try and tackle a little girl and take back some stolen underwear. If you need me, I'll be in my stider." And with that he walks out of the dining hall to get back to work.
While the rest of the squad is running around trying to catch Francesca, Han starts working more with the materials of Earth. He had asked a few ground troops to come in so he could create fitted javelins for them. "Okay. I've got the measurements. Now I just need to finish the inputs here and we should be good to go," Han says as he builds the base Ranger javelins.
When he powers up the forge, the lights blind a few of them. Once he is done though, four new Earth Ranger javelins have been made. He nods to the troopers to load up, and each does. The power on the suit and they can move and aim perfectly. "This is incredible! Thank you, sir!" a Karlsland trooper named Elias Fischer said. Han stands and tells each of the men to walk out of the strider to get a better feel for the units.
As they do, the alarm rings out of a neuroi attack. "Shit. Alright, you guys aren't going up there. You're not ready for flight just yet. But….. grab a few guns just in case. If something else gets close get ready to fight it," Han says while loading up into his Storm javelin.
The troopers nod and grab some of the guns. Elias chooses a sniper rifle and heavy pistol, while the Liberion soldier Malcolm 'Mack' Adelman went for lmg and smg. The Fuso soldier Tanaka Haru chose a shotgun and marksman rifle, and the Orussian soldier Aleko Marta went for the assault rifle and machine pistol. Han nodded at their choices and thought about the possible next javelins he could make for the men.
While the new freelancers were ready to fight, the witches were dealing with their own set of problems. Most of which made Han facepalm as he heard them over the radio. "Are you girls coming up or not?! Though, I gotta admit….. I'm not picking anything up on my scans." "Everyone STOP!" Han looked back to the hanger and saw Minna standing at the front of the hanger. And behind her was Lynne, Francesca, and Erica.
"I see. She set the alarm off while hiding didn't she," Han said as he landed. Minna nodded before saying, "I've confiscated these. And we have Lieutenant Hartmann to thank. Amidst all the confusion she kept her cool and captured the guilty party." As the rest are complimenting her, Han notices something.
And with one more facepalm, Han says to the rest, "are you sure she's not the cause of all the trouble in the first place?" When they all look to him, he strides over to Erica in his javelin. And gives her a wedgie with the underwear she had stolen from Francesca. "Hartmann! How could you!?" Trude shouts while Erica is hanging in the air. Said brunette proceeds to put her knuckles on either side of the trouble making girl's head and grind into her temples.
"OW OW OW OWOW! PLEASE STOP BOTH OF YOU!" Erica shouts as she is feeling pain from both her top and bottom. With the commanding officers staring down at her, the top ace of the 501st comes clean on admitting she lost her panties. "And since….. you know. I can't accept an award with nothing on….. I just was planning to borrow some until it was done."
Once she was done explaining, Erica can feel four intimidating presences looming over her. One more terrifying given the helmet he was wearing, but the drawing of Mio's katana made her nervous for a whole other reason. Minna then sighs before saying, "I'll handle he discipline later. For now we do need to find her panties so we can start the ceremony. That aside… Han what's with those four javelins?"
Han looks back and all four of the men he had called were standing there stock still. Possibly shocked by what they had witnessed. "Oh right. Yeah those are a few guys I had recruited to make some semi mass produced javelins. Aside from that, I'm planning to train them to handle Earth made javelins as well," Han said before telling the men they could rack up the weapons they had borrowed. "Uh hai…. Coda-san. We'll uh just leave you to….." Tanaka said as the men were walking back into the strider.
Minna chuckles a bit before asking if they would be staying full time. Han shakes his head, saying, "I figure about a week or so should help them learn the basics of flying and using the other systems. Once it is done, I'll suggest they train a few others. Luckily they are all about the rough average, so I don't have to make too many special adjustments." Minna nods before noting it won't be long before he may have to deal with a rowdy bunch of knuckleheads like her.
Han laughs along with that, and he takes the soldiers out to train in the javelins. Once they are away, the 501st spend time cleaning Erica's room and eventually finding her panties. And can move along with the award ceremony. For the new Freelancers, they start out rough but by the end of a week most of them can fly. The live in the standard soldier barracks during their training, but they each get to know the 501st a bit more during their time there.
At the end of all the training, Han has a special surprise for each of the men. "I took note of each of your preferred weapon type when we were training and sparing. And I made a javelin just for each of you. Elias, I made you an Interceptor with some better aim and dodging gear. Mack. I built you a Colossus so you'll be able to use the heaviest of weapons. Haru, I built you a Storm with some ice and lightning seals. And Aleko, while yours is a Ranger, it's a mark II. Not the mark I you all trained in. The mark II as you notice is a sleeker design."
Each of the men look to their new javelins with amazement. On the back of the Colossus, was an autocannon and a shotgun. For ordnance, it had a Venom Spitter and High Explosive Mortar. On the Ranger, it had an assault rifle and machine pistol; and an Inferno Grenade and Seeking Missile for systems.
On the Storm, it had a marksman rifle and smg with a Burning Orb focus seal and Ice Blast blast seal. And the Interceptor had a sniper rifle and heavy pistol with a Cryo glaive assault system and a Tempest Strike strike system.
With a nod, each of the men got into their new javelins. "This is awesome boss! I feel like a titan in this thing!" Mack said as he smashed his fists together. He then deployed his shield and pulled out his weapon. He proceeded to plow through a set of targets while covering what was behind him. Elias took to the high speed and acrobatics awarded by the Interceptor and cut down a few more targets, before sniping at a far away target in the sea. Haru got a feel for the extended hovering of the Storm before testing out his seals on a ground target. And Aleko stood alongside and back-to-back with Mack, in a firing pair.
"We cannot thank you enough Specialist. I know they want to have us train a few others. But if you ever need it, you will have at least this gun," Elias said before the men had to ship out to train others in the Mark I Rangers that Han had made. And with a salute, the rest of the first new Freelancers agreed. Han returned the salute and thanked the men for going along with his training.
"See what I meant. It won't be long before you are a commander yourself," Minna says to Han as he was walking back to the base. Han just smiles before saying, "maybe. But honestly….. even with all the crazy stuff, this place feels more like a home. And besides… you're here." At hearing that, Minna stops and watches the back of the Freelancer who fell out of his world into theirs. She looks down, and grips at her chest for a second thinking back.
Again, super sorry this took so long. But I hope you liked how I handled one of the… frankly pervier episodes in the anime. But that aside, I wanted this to set up the rest of the Freelancers going forward. Even the possibility of those witches who no longer have magic getting recruited to the group. Please review and thanks to those who favorited this.