A Javelin to Strike the Core

Chapter 8

This will be a bit of an odd chapter given what I've set up with the addition of Han. He may have a few words to say to Minna after what she says to Yoshika. As well as trying to talk her into moving on. So on with the show.

(No POV)

As the day started, Han decided to help out the mechanics a bit. "Are you sure sir?" one younger man said when Han offered. Han jus smiled before saying, "yeah it'll give me a chance to understand this tech a bit more. Maybe help me improve my Javelins. I wouldn't mind showing you guys how to do maintenance on Javelins." A few of them nod and give an affirmative before getting to work.

After a few hours pass, Yoshika shows up and offers some snacks to the men working. But they ignore what she is saying. "These desserts are from my homeland Fuso." "I'm sorry ma'am. But Commander Minna has prohibited from having any unnecessary conversations with you Strike Witches," one mechanic says while looking down. Han stops at this and says his own piece. "Even if that is true, you can still accept the gift. She was nice enough to make something for you."

The mechanics look down and seem to be worried about what the commander will say, until Han offers to talk with her and will take the heat for whatever could happen. With that, the mechanics accept Yoshika's offer. "Thanks Han. I didn't realize it was a big deal." Yoshika says while the men enjoy the snacks she made. The Freelancer nods before saying, "it hasn't come up yet but maybe that is because I'm technically a member. Unlike the rest of them. I'll talk to her about this."

With that done, and the- snacks enjoyed, Yoshika went about her day as usual. Han though went to meet with Minna and ask about the order she had given. "She's not in her office. So where?" "Excuse me. Could you help me?" Han hears behind him. He turns and sees a man in a Fuso uniform with what looks like a gift in his arms. When Han asks who the man is, he responds by saying he is the captain of the Akagi. "I came here today to this gift to Sargent Miyafuji. I also have something for you as well," he says while presenting a bottle of sake to Han.

The Freelancer is a bit surprised, but he accepts graciously. "It's thanks to you and the Sargent that our fleet was saved. And many lives were saved. These are just a few tokens of mine and the crew's appreciation." "Well thanks for that. I was looking for Minna as well. She wasn't in her office, so I was checking a few other areas." Han says before offering to show the captain around the base a bit. The eventually find Minna and Mio in the kitchen. With the latter trying to keep the former from cooking.

With a snort of laughter, Han gets the two commanding officers' attention. "Oh Han. And is that Captain Sugita? What are you doing here?" Mio asks while she and Minna are walking out of the kitchen. The captain explains what he is there for, and Minna agrees to let him meet and reward Yoshika for saving their fleet. Minna catches Shirley and Francesca to pass along the message to meet at the conference room. They all then head for said room, but Han notices the discontent on Minna's face.

When Yoshika arrives, the captain is introduced by Minna, and she tells her what he was there for. "On behalf of our entire crew I'm here to express our deepest thanks." Sugita says before explaining that many had been saved thanks to her actions. "Specialist Han here is another we owe a great debt to. I already passed our gift to him." "And I'll be sure to savor it. Though I think I should share it with Mio. Not only would she know how to drink it, but it would be nice to share." Han says while holding up the bottle of sake. Mio looks to the side before saying that would be a bad idea for her.

Minna though just looks more annoyed, and when the captain asks if Yoshika could visit the sailors, she says, "unfortunately captain we have a mission scheduled for that day." "I see that's too bad. Perhaps we should also discuss a few matters with the counter offensive while I'm here." Captain Sugita says before Yoshika leaves. Minna agrees and the three members of the 501st discuss for a little while.

Until Minna excuses herself. Han is about to go after her when Mio stops him. "Let it be for now. I heard about what happened in the hanger. You should ask her about it later." Han isn't sure what Mio means but he sighs and goes back to work on the details of the counterattack. Once they are done, they see Minna with an irate look on her face. They later talk with Lynne who saw what happened. "All that just because of a letter?" Han asks before dinner. Mio nods before saying, "we'll talk to her after dinner."

When they arrive, they notice that Minna is nowhere to be found. After dinner and when the sun has set, the two find her looking up at the moon in her room. "I heard about the letter." Mio says. Minna then acknowledges the two. She then defends herself by saying, "it is against base regulations." "You still haven't let go." Mio says while walking up to the windows. Han then comes in and asks, "if its such a problem why do you let me stick around?" Minna can tell he won't be letting this go. So, she sighs before telling her story. And telling Han about Kurt Flachfeld.

Han's eyes widen as she goes into details about what happened to him. And what she lost because of the war. The Freelancer sighs before saying, "I… I don't really have anything to say to any of that. But do you really think you can just keep avoiding it? And if you think about it, you are already so close to so many here in the unit. Do you think you could take it if one of them died? Or how do you think all of us would handle it if you died?" Minna's eyes widen as Han explains his point. Before leaving for the night and asking her trust all of unit.

Mio isn't too far behind him and thanks Han for saying what he did. "I've tried to help but honestly….. I'm not great with emotions myself. I can be there for her but I'm not sure on the best ways to get her to let go or open up." Mio says as they walk back. Han smiles before asking if she'd like a quick night cap. Mio smiles back before declining his offer. Saying they had a mission tomorrow and they needed to be bright and awake.

The next day with the alarm going off in the base, Minna gives the report of the unit coming towards the base. "Initial reports from Galia are that the enemy is advancing." Minna says in the conference room. With Mio commenting that they finally got their predictions right. Han rolls his eyes before saying he'll suit up with his Storm. And with that, Minna gives out the details of where the enemy is heading. "Right. We will execute intercept pattern Alpha Tango Seven." She announces who will be going along with her, Minna, and Han. Barkhorn and Hartmann would lead the unit, with Perrine and Lynnette behind them. While Yoshika would be joining herself, and Han would back up Minna. With a nod and a few others commenting that they loved it when they got to house sit, the 501st got ready to move out.

Han's Storm was equipped with an assault rifle and a marksman rifle. With a Burning Orb focus seal, and Ice Blast blast seal for equipment. They take off and it doesn't take 15 minutes before they detect the target. Minna tells Mio to check the class and Mio confirms by saying, "M-class! 300! Standard attack formation?" With Minna confirming the formation, they all prepare to engage the neuroi. Erica moves in first and prepares to shoot.

But then the cube shaped neuroi breaks apart into multiple smaller cubes. "That's not good!" Trude calls out. "No kidding. Give me a second!" Han shouts while he and Minna scan the area to make sure on the number of targets. When Minna calls out the number in each region, and Mio adds them up Han is confused. "Its not the number that's wrong, but something seems off! There should be a few more if the calculations I made are correct!" "We'll worry about that later Han! We have to engage the neuroi right now!" Mio exclaims over the radio. She then gives new orders, where she will be staying back while the rest engage the neuroi. With Yoshika covering her.

"Han back up Minna!" "Roger that!" Han shouts as he and Minna dive into the fray. They fire as fast as they can with their guns, but Han mixes it up by launching a few Ice Blasts to freeze the cubes in place. He then blasts the enemy again with the Burning Orb to combo the damage. "Han above you!" Minna shouts as she shoots some of units that were diving at the Freelancer. When Minna gets surrounded by too many units, Han pulls out both guns and shoot down through them as fast as possible.

Minna then looks up to him and gives an unspoken thank you to the Freelancer. Han holsters one gun and shoots as fast as he can. Over the comms he can hear Erica and Trude playfully bantering with each other. And then he notices that Lynne saved Perrine from getting struck from behind. "And that's what you get for posturing! Stay focused black cat!" Han shouts after catching Perrine's backhanded compliment to Lynne.

He then notices that Minna is flying up to talk with Mio. "Have you found the core?" "Not yet! I think I understand what Han was talking about. The numbers Minna mentioned don't match with the dimensions of the cube from before, right?" Mio asks Han as he flies up to meet the three witches. He confirms that and notes that the enemy movements don't match up what they had been told. "The battlefield does appear to be shifting." Minna says while looking down at the fighters flying through the neuroi. Mio agrees before saying, "agreed. It's migrating toward the continent."

Yoshika then looks up toward the sun and says to check up there. Han and Mio both look up and somewhat see the neuroi up there. But Mio can't see if any have a core, due to the sun. Han is in the same place as he hadn't perfected a similar system to her magic eye. And the tinting on his helmet can only block out so much. Yoshika then flies up and engages the enemy. While her and Minna fire at the higher targets, Han turns back to the battlefield and blasts away targets that heading for them. Mio then confirms which neuroi cube had the core and Minna orders the rest to keep the other neuroi busy.

"Han stay back here. We can take this one." "Understood! Good hunting." Han shouts over the comms and dives back toward the dogfight below. It only takes a minute or two and the rest break apart. All thanks to Yoshika taking out the core. But Han noticed Minna calling out to Mio over the comms. The unit regroups and congratulate Yoshika's kill. With one person being an exception.

While Erica is teasing Perrine for being prickly, Han and Mio notice Minna flying toward the ruined city. "Not now. She needs to be left alone." Mio says when Erica tries to catch Minna. Trude then notes that the city was Pas de Calais. Han's eyes widen behind his helmet as he remembers Minna's story. He and Mio find Minna at a little car, which apparently has something in it. Both think back on her past and that her lover, Kurt, had been stationed at the base. And had lost his life there.

Han opens his head plate and then walks over to check on her as he hears her starting to cry. But Mio stops him. The two just stand aside and let her be. And let her reminisce on what happened to the man she loved and lost. When Minna comes out, she is holding a package she had taken out of the car. "Are you ready to go?" Mio asks. When Minna said she was, she told them they had to get back to the base. The two observers give her a smile before confirming her order. Han then catches Minna and says, "if you want to talk, I'll listen. Also, since Mio doesn't want to drink maybe we can share one." Minna then elbows the Freelancer playfully before giving him a maybe.

When they return, Minna asks for his and Shirley's help with something. That evening, while Yoshika, Mio, and Lynne are thanking and telling the sailors that they will be there when they need them, Minna has set up a special performance for the sailors and the crew on base. She is dressed in a beautiful red dress and is standing before a microphone. Han and Shirley had set up a broadcaster to send to multiple bases. While the original would have been able to transmit to the Akagi, but Han had made a booster to allow for her performance to be heard across multiple ships and bases around Britannia.

While Minna sang Lili Marlene, Sanya played the piano. And the rest of the squad was listening along peacefully. As well as the mechanics observing and listening as the commander of the base sings beautifully, while the sun is setting over the sea. The group that went out to see the Akagi off comes in as Minna is finishing up. With applause from all in attendance. Yoshika then tells Minna that the song was beautiful….. And not long after, Eila grabs onto Yoshika's cheeks to tease her about not complimenting Sanya's piano playing. And everyone in the common room getting a laugh.

With the battle over, the day done, and Minna sending off the Akagi sailors and others on base, she retires to her room. With the moon shining above once again, Mio and Han visit her again. "That was a perfect song." Mio says as the two walk in. With Han saying, "didn't know you had that in you. But I'm glad to see it." Minna nods before thanking the both of them. As Mio walks up to the window, and Han stands beside the bed. Wondering what she could be thinking about.

Minna then looks at the moon before saying, "when I lost him I thought the ache in my heart would never stop hurting. To shelter myself from future anguish I swore I would never love again." "But you know that isn't how it works right?" Han says with a gentle smile on his face. Minna nods before saying she was wrong. "You were right Han. You. Mio. The whole squad. They are all important to me. And even now I'm afraid of loosing someone. So, I have to make sure that never happens again." As Minna finishes saying this, she pulls out her gun and points it right at Mio. Han is surprised but pulls his own and points it at the commander. Mio though is calm about the whole matter and just stares back at Minna.

Yeah I'm leaving it here because that is where the episode ended on and it feels right to stop there. Please review.