A Javelin to Strike the Core

Chapter 4

Wow this took longer than I thought to make. But here it is. I'm gonna focus more on my OC this time and how they can help and fight. As well as the adjustments to the new world they are living in. So on with the show.

(Han POV)

It had been a week or so since I joined the 501st Joint Fighter Wing and I was getting used to a few of the day-to-day matters to the base. Shirley was a constantly asking about my javelins and if she could take one out for a test flight. "Come on! Please!? I just want to see how fast I can go with it. Can't you let me put one on?" "Ok you do realize that all of my javelins are built for me, right? As in for a man at my height and build. There is no way, even if you used a…. what did Mio call it; a sarashi or whatever, to bind your tits down you still wouldn't fit inside of my javelins." At mentioning that, Shirley looked down at her chest and agreed with me that she wouldn't fit that way. When I explained that I would have to build her an entirely new javelin so she could fit in it she started to bug me about that as well. To which I told her, "I still need to mess with the metal a bit more before I try to make anything like a javelin. Heck even the spare parts are still ones from Coda." She gave me a pouting and angry look at that before I relented a bit.

"Look. If you can get me some more iron or other metals from this world, I can maybe try to see if I can build a certain set of parts. I make no promises on a javelin. But I can at least see if I can make some parts, like a Colossus shield or maybe some of the thrusters." I say to Shirley and her eyes light up. She gives and excited 'yes' before rushing off to probably get me some metal. It'll probably be a while before she can get any materials to use but it will also give me time to ask someone else for a bit of extra help. With some checkups done on my gear I head in for breakfast and hear all the others making a commotion about the food. A few of them are complaining about the strange beans that Yoshika and Lynne made to eat. They do smell a bit funny, but they don't taste too bad. There are a few dishes like it back on Coda.

While eating I see Trude as Minna calls her get up without eating much. It's not my place to pry so I won't ask. But the snooty blonde seems to be looking for any excuse to insult the dish that Yoshika made. Even asking if she was trying to poison them. So, I just put her in her place with, "If you don't like it so much why don't you make something yourself. The whole time I've been here I don't think I've seen you cook once." This gets her to shut up, and she looks like she wants to retort. It's then that Yoshika says that Mio apparently likes the beans which makes the blonde girl stiffen up more. And then she goes into a big spiel about how she should be properly addressed. "What's the big deal? I just call Mio, well Mio." This makes blondie short out more before Francesca says that she's still hungry. This makes most of them stop and blondie turns away before glaring daggers in my direction. With that done, I go up to Minna's office to ask her a favor.

But instead, I find her and Mio out watching some of the others practice in the sky. I catch enough to know that they are worried about Trude or Barkhorn. "Do you think she's burnt out from too much training?" "I don't think so. I think it has something to do with Miyafuji." I'm a bit confused by that, but I come up and put my own two cents in. "Doesn't sound like a guess to me. That sounds like you know exactly what is going on and what's bothering her." The two turn in a bit of surprise, but Minna does say that I'm correct. While I want to ask more, I know it's not my place to pry. "Let's try pairing them up." Mio says, thinking that the two training together might be beneficial. Minna agrees and then asks me what I wanted given I had come into their conversation. I cough a bit before explaining what I need.

"You want to teach you how to read and write? I thought you could?" She asks with an incredulous look on her face. I chuckle a bit and blush before saying sheepishly, "I know how to read the language from Coda, but I don't know Karlslandich or Britannian. So, do you mind teaching me the basics? For some reason I keep getting notes and I'm guessing requests left at my strider." I'm willing to bet that a few of them are from that Maloney fellow who wanted more of my javelins to equip his soldiers with. Minna seems to understand and agrees, if I help her with some of the paperwork on her desk. Not sure how this can help me read but I don't have a lot of other options. She helps me first by walking through a few of the letters and pronunciations before moving on to words and sentences.

After about two days, I've at least learned enough to read some of the notices and requests that have been sent to me. And surprise, surprise (yes that's sarcasm) most are from Maloney who wants either pieces of my javelins or to make a full javelin. Despite how many times I told him I can't make them without more data. On the way back after a day of work helping Minna, she stops and heads towards the baths. "Hey what's up? Hey!" We had been talking when she just turned and started ignoring me. I'm not one for saying I need to get the last word, but that is still kinda rude to just ignore someone in the middle of a conversation. I didn't realize right away she was going in the baths till it was too late. "Minna? What wro—Crap! Sorry!" I shout as I finally notice that she was scolding Yoshika and the rude blondie in the baths with one in her underwear and the other in a towel.

When she comes out of the baths, Minna gives me a glare. "That was not on purpose. True I should have checked where you were going, but you just kinda cut me out and ignored me when I was asking about a few details with the reports. Especially when they were labelled important." At that explanation, Minna's glare lessens in intensity and she sighs before saying, "True I should have just asked you to wait in the hall for a bit. And you did acknowledge your own fault so, I'll let it off with one warning this time. Now let's look over what you were asking me about." With that done, I go back to asking her a bit more about the resource details as well as the new intel on the neuroi that has come in. Before I head to bed, I see Minna also heading to talk with Trude. I overhear most of the conversation, mainly about the fact Trude is beating herself up about her sister's injury. When she walks out both notice me. "Any reason you followed me this time?" Minna asks with a skeptical look. I sigh before saying, "I've seen that look on her face before. My own teacher, Haluk had it for a while after we failed at the heart of rage. He was beating himself up about our failure there and for two years he tried to get back to it." Minna seems a bit surprised but nods and says that she feels the pain Trude feels from time to time too. "I've learned to deal with it, thanks to doing everything I can to try and protect our squad. But I've lost those who were close to me too." This time I'm not going to pry. If she feels like talking to me about it she'll say something.

The next day is when Mio is planning to have Yoshika work with Trude. It's not my place to say anything. Besides, I have my own problems. I had overworked the thrusters on my Interceptor during the battle the week before, so it'll take a while to fix. But I finally managed to fix some of the joint movement and shield deployment problems I had with my Colossus. "Thanks for the extra help Shirley. At least now the Colossus should be combat capable. I've even managed to make a copy of the magic shields you girls use to strengthen my deployable shield." "Too bad about your Interceptor though. I kinda want to compete with you on how fast we can go with it and my striker unit." She had mentioned earlier that she is trying to break through the speed of sound with her strikers to match up with her attaining the land speed record in Liberion. While Yoshika and the others are training, I decide to take my Colossus out for a test with a pulse accelerator and autocannon for guns and the siege artillery and shock coil for my ordnance launchers.

During the flight I hear the alarm from the base, that a pair of neuroi had been spotted. I fly up to meet with the others and hear Mio and Minna discussing matters about the enemy. Both mention that not only has the attack cycle of the neuroi been more random than usual, but that there had been some activity from the nests in Karlsland. "Well, that's not gonna be good for a lot of reasons." I say over the radio after hearing Trude muttering about Karlsland. I think Minna knows what I mean before she orders me and Eila to engage the second enemy. "Isn't she being a bit too hopeful about the two of us taking out one neuroi? The armor you have on now doesn't seem right for boom and zoom tactics." Eila says to me with a confused look on her face. "You're right it's not meant for highspeed combat. But it makes up for it with pure firepower and defense. You focus on distracting the target. I'll hit it hard with some of my big guns." I say drawing my autocannon from behind my back. She nods before heading out.

(No POV)

"Enemy sighted!" Mio shouts and passes details to Han about the target. Who shouts, "Understood! Eila like we planned. You go in first. Your powers should give you a bit of an edge with distracting it. I'll be right behind you and unleash Hell with my guns. If I can I'm gonna get close too. Need to test out a few things." With a 'roger', Eila rushes off first and blasts the alien along the side with her gun. While that is happening, the rest of the witches are engaging the other enemy. After a minute, of both Han and Eila attacking from a distance, Han decides to change things up. "I'm going in!" He shouts before full speed rushing the neuroi and gives it a powerful punch from his gauntlets. Said punch causes the neuroi to jerk to the side. "If that thing had a head, it'd probably be shaking it after that." Eila says in a joking manner firing at the enemy. "I'm not done. Let's see how it likes a few thousand volts!" Han says before charging up the shock coil. At the close range he is at, he can charge and prime the neuroi with electricity for a few seconds. After pulling back a bit and firing his pulse accelerator, Han shouts, "Eat this!" and fires his siege artillery. The resulting electric detonations spreads not only to the core of the neuroi they were fighting, but also shocks the nearby other neuroi. It is then that the other two notice that, three others are on the ground. "We should engage the other neuroi! Han let's go!" "No, I'm heading for the ground. You keep it busy up in the air." Han says before all but dive bombing towards where Yoshika, Perrine and Barkhorn are.

"Hurry! I can't hold it off much longer!" Perrine shouts to Yoshika who is trying to heal Barkhorn. As Yoshika is finishing up, Perrine's shield fails and a few more shots from the neuroi are about to hit the mostly unconscious girls. Han barely makes it in time a brings up his shield to protect them all. "Good thing I managed to copy the shields you all use. Come on you three! Wake up! I can't hold this position forever!" "You don't have to." Trude says grabbing Yoshika's gun taking to the air again. She looks down at Yoshika with a smile and says to Han, "All right lieutenant, take off first and give me some cover fire!" Han is a bit surprised by the order but gives a 'roger' before taking to air and firing his pulse accelerator at the neuroi. His shield covers the others and opens the way for Trude to finish off the neuroi. "Minna" Trude says thinking she's going to have a friendly word with her old friend and commander. Instead, Minna slaps her across the face before berating her.

"What do you think you're doing?! If we lose you, what are we supposed to do?! I understand that you lost you homeland and it has been really difficult, but we are a team! A family! You, me, the entire squad!" Minna shouts and as Trude uprights herself, Minna gets close and tells her that her sister will get better and that they all need her. "I'm sorry. You are right. We are a family. That vacation you mentioned. I think I would like to take it after all. I'd like to go see her." Trude says with a small smile on her face. And when Mio comes in to confirm as well, she smiles even bigger.

Han heard all of what they had said and stays down towards the ground and helps Yoshika and Perrine to get in their units again. He too is smiling at what Minna had said about them being a family. 'I wonder if that could include me? I'm just a major outsider to this whole matter.' He thinks on the way back to base. Once back and with the sun setting, he hears Yoshika bemoaning that she couldn't do anything. And when Perrine shows up a few around are sure an argument or fight is going to take place. Instead, Perrine took the time to thank Yoshika for saving them during the battle. Everyone around smiles at the fact she took the time for that, despite how stuck up and arrogant she acts.

The next day Trude goes to visit her sister and has a slightly happier look on her face. Minna catches Han and asks for some answers regarding the battle. "What was that one weapon you used? It almost looked like a beam from a neuroi. You had mentioned the shield, but the part I'm confused on is how the strange electrical explosion from the neuroi you shot could connect with the other one." Han realizes that he never mentioned a few of the other advantages that come with using specific javelins. "Okay so the weapon I used is called a pulse accelerator. And you're not wrong that it is like a beam. It was a new special type of weapon. I can use it with any of my javelins, but I wanted to test it out first on the Colossus. As for the extra explosion, that was a combo effect." Han explains, but Minna just seems confused at his description to the big effect he used. So he continues with, "A combo, is when a javelin can mix together different effects from the weapons we use. Not the guns but the ordnance. The shock coil on my Colossus leaves lingering electricity priming a target, and it can only be used at close range. The siege artillery detonates that lingering effect. The combo effect is an bigger explosion compared to some of the other javelins. Though I'll admit I didn't expect it to be as big as it was." Minna is a bit surprised by all the new info and asks for a few other details.

Of which Han is happy to explain. "For my Ranger, I have ice and fire grenades that can prime targets or an acid sprayer for assault systems. The detonation causes extra damage to the enemy the combo was used on. The Interceptor when it detonates a combo with gain an element from the primed enemy and apply it to the blades. The Storm on the other hand passes the elemental effects to other targets in the area when the combo is detonated. And that's the main points." Minna nods and finishes her notes about the potential, before saying that it had some greater tactical potential to be noted for later. "Well for now do you mind helping me a bit more with the paperwork. At least until lunch. Shirley's request for some materials for you to work with should be here before long." Han just rolls his eyes at the thought but smiles a little before agreeing to help his commander with the paperwork. Who in turn smiles warmly at the strange addition to their family there. Even if she isn't sure about how the relationships will continue going forward.

I know kind of a boring way to end it but its where I felt would work for now. But I've got some more plans for building this story and some others. I just need some time. Please review and give me your thoughts on the story.