A Javelin to Strike the Core

Chapter 3

Not sure if too many are reading this but I hope those who are like it. I had this whole idea for it after watching all of the World Witches series and reading a few of the manga. For now, we are getting to the events of the second episode. I'm not planning to change it much, but I will add in some bits for helping with the problems that a javelin may have compared to a striker unit that is based on real fighters. As well as name dropping a few who can help with javelin maintenance or capabilities. Now then, on with the show.

(no pov)

As the sun rose on the 501st base, Mio Sakamoto could be seen running and later practicing with her sword. After performing a few kata with her blade she stopped to address the person who had come to see her train. "Sargent Miyafuji, how are you today? Did you sleep well?" Said person who came to see her is none other than Yoshika Miyafuji. A young witch she had recruited from Fuso, and the daughter of the man who made the striker units most witches now wear. After confirming that she did sleep well, Yoshika asks if the Major trains like this every day. After laughing a bit and confirming that she does she said that Yoshika didn't have to call her by her rank. "Sakamoto then?" "That's better. This is the frontline we must always be ready for an enemy attack at any time." Mio says with confidence.

When Yoshika seems a bit off put about the thought of fighting, Mio speaks to her with the utmost confidence. Telling her that she has what it takes to be here, and their training together will make sure she is ready. "I'm counting on you" Yoshika shouts to her and thinks to herself 'and you can count on me.' As the two are walking back Yoshika brings up a question she had about the person who helped her before she jumped in the striker. "Ah yes Han. He's a bit of an odd one in comparison to most of us. Even compared to how we witches operate. You'll get to know him more with the introductions to the rest of the squad." With that explanation given they both head up to the main building of the base.

When the alarm sounds for the base, it barely rouses the Freelancer. "Ah whaaazat. Snore." The bed he is sleeping in is the most comfortable thing he has slept on in quite a while. It isn't until he smells a bit of breakfast cooking that he starts to wake up more. "Whoa that smells good. Oh crap! It's later than she said to wake up." As he roused himself up at about six fifty-five in the morning. "Well, she probably won't be like Haluk was when I was training to be a Freelancer. Still, whatever is cooking smells delicious. Guess I'll be getting introduced to the squad later. For now though; food!" He says to himself as he gets his undershirt and pants on. As well as the bracers on his forearms and boots.

The shirt is a gray and green sleeveless shirt that fits tight to his body. While the pants are also a gray and green combo that also fit fairly tight for ease in loading into his javelin. He checks himself over in the bathroom before heading down for breakfast. It is about a quarter after seven when he finally gets there. "Bit of a late start there Han?" Minna asks with a smile. 'I'm not sure if that is a good smile or a bad one.' "Yeah sorry. I'm not used to such a comfortable bed. Even the one I have in my strider is little more than a cot." Minna just sighs before telling him that they may just have to pick him up an alarm clock at some point. She was waiting for him so she could introduce both him and the new squad mate that Mio had brought from Fuso.

"Oh, you mean that young girl Mio was holding after the Neuroi was beat right?" "Yes. She volunteered to help fight with us. She had been hoping to find out about her father but…" Minna trails off at that to which Han simply says he understands. Yoshika is waiting just outside the briefing room when Minna and Han arrive. With the main two to introduce there, they head in so Minna can brief everyone on the new recruits. "Your attention please. Good morning. Many of you are aware that we have a new witch joining us. This is Yoshika Miyafuji." "Thank you for having me. I look forward to meeting all of you." Yoshika says politely, bowing her head. Han is standing a bit more relaxed next to her.

To which Minna introduces him as well. "Next to her is a bit of a stranger to all of us (Han rolls his eyes). This is Han Coda. His whole backstory is a bit interesting, but it would be better if he explained it. If you would Han." "Right" Han responds and starts into his story. Of course, to freak them out a bit he says he's an alien. That gets a brown-haired pigtailed witch up in arms a bit. When Minna finally calms her down, Han says he technically is since he is from the world Coda. "I am still human though. My story and my world's story is a bit long and somewhat confusing. So, you had better get comfortable."

With that Han starts in on the tales of his home. How wild and unforgiving much of it is. How hard humans had to fight just to build cities alone after gaining their freedom. And how he came to be in their world. Of course, they whole of the squad was a bit confused and amazed at what they had heard. Even Mio and Minna who had already heard the story before were still enthralled by the tales. With most of his background and how a stranger like him ended up in their world he opened the floor to questions.

A red head with a rather impressive bust was the first to ask him some questions. "So, these javelins. How fast can they go? And could you make one for each of us?" Han mulled over the idea a bit before saying, "I could make you ones but only if I had the resources. I still don't know much about this world's metals and as far as speed goes, I'm not sure on a record. We never really focused on that with all the other dangers we had to deal with. If I were to guess I'd say the Interceptor javelin is the fastest of them all. Though it is built more for fast melee combat." The red head seems excited to learn more about machines from a different world.

The brown haired one speaks up next, but she also introduces herself unlike the first. "I'm captain Gertrude Barkhorn and I'm a bit curious about the weapons for these javelins of yours." Han smiles a bit at that and just says, "I'm planning on working on mine after we finish up here. You and the red head can come down to my strider and see what I'm working with." Both of them affirm this and Minna stops them from asking more by saying, "Alright that is enough questions. Now, Miyafuji's rank is Sargent the same as you Lynne. So, do you mind showing her around base?" The light brown-haired girl named Lynnette Bishop jumps a bit at the question but gives an affirmative.

"Well then all the documents, clothing, rank insignia and id are all in this box here Miyafuji." Said girl looks a bit uncomfortable before saying to Minna, "Excuse me. I won't be needing a gun." When Minna says she should at least keep it on her, Yoshika just says no again. Then all of a sudden, a grumpy blonde-haired girl just gets up and says, "That's it!" and storms off. "Well, I wasn't expecting that. As for you Han, you rank is technically called specialist, but your authority is about a lieutenant. The paperwork is here but your rank and the clothing for it haven't come in yet." Han nods at that and just comments that he would be surprised if they had any kind of data or insignia for someone like him who showed up out of the blue. "You are now dismissed." Minna commands the rest of the squad. All of them stand and while Han and Yoshika are a bit confused, Minna walks off. And then the youngest looking member there comes up behind Yoshika and grabs her breasts.

While Yoshika is stunned enough that she doesn't respond, Han is basically just looking on with a 'what the Hell is going on' kind of face. When the little one calls her breasts a consolation prize Han just pipes up with, "Okay what the Hell is wrong with you?!" The red head chuckles a bit before bouncing her own breasts a bit and bragging. Though she does eventually acknowledge that they were somewhat in the wrong. "Sorry about that. My name is Charlotte Yaeger. I'm a flight lieutenant from the United States of Liberion. But you can call me Shirley." She reaches out to shake both of the new members hands.

While Yoshika flinches a bit at her grip Han isn't surprised and grips back hard as well. Shirley flinches a bit back but laughs all the same. "You need to eat more if you hope to get bigger Yoshika! As for you Han; any chance I could check out the hardware you work with? I may be out of my depth with the technology, but I'd still like to learn." While she was saying that the youngest member just went up to her and sleepily planted her face in Shirley's breasts. Saying that she was bored.

The next to introduce themselves were a pair of very pale haired girls. One of whom was asleep as well. 'Okay is there a problem with members of this unit and not getting enough sleep?' Han thinks while the awake one introduces the two of them. "I'm Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen. Suomus Air Force Ensign. This is Sanya Litvyak. An Orussia Army lieutenant." "Ummm. Okay I'm just gonna ask; what's with the sleepy members?" Han asks as Sanya is nodding her head in sleepiness. "Her sleepy state is for a bit of a better reason than mine. I'm Francesca Lucchini. Romanga Aeronautica Force Ensign." The littlest one says with a sing-song pattern to her speech.

At Han's raised eyebrow to that Eila explains, "Sanya is the one who patrols at night. She watches out for the base while most of us sleep." At hearing that he just gets an 'oh' type of face before addressing Shirley. "Sure I don't mind showing you some of my gear. It might be a bit of a mess once we're done." "That sounds great! Can you show me the engines or what ever it is you use to fly? I bet I could get some serious speed out of some of that hardware!"

Her excitable demeanor makes Han chuckle a bit before he speaks to the pigtailed brunette next. "Minna mentioned that you might be interested in the firepower some of my javelins use. You want to check it out too?" "No thank you. I have something else to deal with today." She says rather sharply. At that she and a short blonde-haired member walk out. "All right that's enough for now. Lynne and Yoshika you have training later this afternoon." "Ma'am" Yoshika responds quickly.

Mio praises her response and asks Lynne to show her around. With that the two get acquainted, while Mio asks if Han will be joining them. "Not right now. Minna mentioned that a few witches will be stopping by. I may need their help to make sure my javelins don't overheat during a battle with the Neuroi. The usual cooling method is kinda dangerous in a fight with those things. Plus, I'm hoping to at least copy the air shield advantage you all have at high altitudes. Or even the shields themselves."

Mio seems to contemplate this a bit before asking if he would like Yoshika to come by later. "She has one of the strongest shields I've ever seen. It could be useful." Han thinks it over before saying, "Maybe a different day. Well then. Shirley? You want to see pieces of hardware from another world?" With a jubilant 'Hell yes!' given the two head off while the two sergeants get acquainted and explore the base. Shirley quite enjoys the new and interesting equipment that Han flies.

When she discovers the fact that certain ammo regenerates, namely the missiles and grenades, she is even more intrigued. But she does end up filthy before noon, so she decides to take an early bath. "Want to join in?" She teases Han. He just looks at her, snorts and says, "Maybe another time. Right now, I think my help to improve my overheating problems have just arrived." As he was saying that a pair of witches' land next to his strider.

The two who landed are a young blonde with cat ears and tail, while the other is a slightly older brunette with a feathery tail and what appear to be wing like protrusions from her head. They remove their strikers after landing in the hanger and walk over to the strider. There they see Han with a wrench in hand smiling. He says hello to them and introduces himself. "Good to meet you. I'm Commander Geena Preddy with the Liberion Air Force." "And I'm Carla Luskic! A flight Lieutenant from the same country! How you doing wrench jockey?" Han is confused by the way she said that before Geena apologizes for her blunt tone.

"It's fine for the most part but I've never heard of that term before. Anyway, if you two don't mind following me, I'll show you what I need help with." After he shows them in and gives an abbreviated explanation about who he is, he gets down to the big issue at hand. "So what I need your help with is that…. Well I asked if there was someone with a cooling type of ability. I'm hoping I can maybe capture it and use it with my thrusters. Shirley has been a big help with getting a system to move it to, but I still need the cooling energy." At that Carla steps up all happy and offers Han a cola she had been keeping… somewhere. "That would be me man. Your story is crazy though. But I guess we have been fighting aliens for a few years now. Anyway. I'm the one with the cooling power. I just need to channel it into this thing and we should be good right?" At Han's affirmative, she powered up and began channeling.

While Carla was doing that Han asked if Geena could help him with a different matter. "I'm guessing you have a different power, but it isn't your…. Intrinsic? Ability I need help with. I just need. I guess you could say a more pure magic sample. I'm hoping to copy you witch's ability to handle certain extremes more. As well as giving my shields better durability. Especially my Colossus." "Ok. I could probably do that. At least this little job they sent us on shouldn't be too bad." With that done, all three get to work on making systems that can improve the capabilities of the javelins in this different world.

This continues for a few days, with Shirley and some of the mechanics on base coming in as well to help with implementing some of the new parts. Han even gets the help of Francesca, the blonde who went with Gertrude who was named Erica Hartmann and the blonde who stormed off during the introductions to with a different problem. "While I may not be much for your demeanor, I can respect what you said about you and your fellow Freelancers being like knights errant. You wander where you are needed in many cases and save the lives of who you can. It's almost romantic." The girl named Perrine Clostermann had said at one point.

She had an unusual issue with Yoshika, but that wasn't Han's business. Thanks to all of them witches, he was able to get his javelins running in a variety of ways. Carla hadn't just helped with cooling problems, but she had also given Han the ability to create Earth anthem-based seals for his Storm. When he found that he could work with that he brought in the other three on the base who had elemental powers.

"This is great! I can use my Storm now. I'll have to test it a few times, but I'll have a new bit of hardware to fight the Neuroi with." He had suited up in his Storm javelin and demonstrated the Frost shards and Lightning strike seals to show what it could do. Needless to say, everyone on the base was impressed. The day that tests finished was the day that Carla and Geena had to leave and link back up with their units. "Hopefully, we'll see you before this war is over." Geena said with a small smile and shook Han's hand.

The day after that, the squad was called into action. Han was asked to stay behind just in case. He was called in by Minna later that there was an enemy craft headed their way at high speed. "Is it just the three of us? What about Sanya?" "She used up all her magic on the night patrol. No good." Eila said while crossing her fingers. Han hmmd at that while Minna said it would just be the three of them.

"I want to go too!" A voice called out from behind them. It was Yoshika who was making her case to be involved in this fight. While Minna kept trying to deny her, Yoshika just kept pushing and trying to get Minna to let her in. Then Lynnette came in as well saying, "If you let us work together, we'll be just as strong as one." Han looks over to Minna before saying, "There's an old saying my teacher used to use for us Freelancers. 'Strong alone. Stronger together.' Pretty sure that applies here."

Minna closes her eyes before saying, "you have ninety seconds to get ready." At an affirmative from all they prep to take out the inbound Neuroi. Han suits up in his Interceptor javelin to try and take this beast on. 'Probably best to keep it ranged. Sniper and assault rifle mainly. Plus the searching glaive and plasma star.' With that done he takes off and catches up with the Witches. "The enemy is coming from three a clock. Han, you're with me and Eila. The two of you stay here and provide back up." With affirmatives given the elder members go up first to engage the enemy. Once the three get close to the Neuroi they engage.

After a few seconds, Minna says, "Boom and zoom tactics aren't going to work. Try to match speed!" They do and manage a to hit a few shots when they move to get behind the Neuroi. Once they have though, the Neuroi splits and speeds up more. "This is bad! Han any chance you can get closer?" "I'll try!" Han calls over the coms and pushes his Interceptor to its max. He does get close and lands a few plasma start shots on it. But even with the cooling units, it still overheats his javelin.

Before he has to dive to cool off, he tells Lynne, "I managed a bit of damage and the armor is weaker now. If you can get a stable shot, you should be able to finish it." She gives an affirmative and Yoshika gives her the stable platform she needs. "Hit it!" they all hear over the coms before Lynne snipes the core of the Neuroi. With that done, she gains a new friend in Yoshika and some more confidence in herself. While both had fallen into the ocean, Han came up out of the water and gave them both a lift back to shore. Once everyone was back at base, they all celebrated Lynne's first wartime achievement.

Yeah parts of this one will follow a lot of the series. I'm not gonna change much but I will add in some bits I think could be interesting. Review if you liked the story so far.