I was thinking somewhat along the same lines myself... While Garrick may seem to be able to go toe-to-toe with a Neuroi hive, they have the numbers and firepower to neutralize him still.
We see towards the end of Season 1 that a Neuroi hive can spam out more Neuroi, and very effectively at that, too. I would Imagine that if Garrick did take his VF-4 up against the green hive, he'd have to beat a strategic retreat as not even his Valkyrie is invulnerable to Neuroi Beam Spam. (His armor will resist better, but it would be about the same as the battleships we see: lesser quality+larger quantity = greater quality+smaller quantity.)
Garrick would be able to just mow through the forward line, for certain, but afterwards he'll be up against a freshly minted midguard that will probably consist of Neuroi modeled after his Valkyrie. Ouch.
The funny thing is that this is probably exactly what will happen (right after Garrick covers the 504th's retreat). Allied Command will demand that Garrick launch a solo assault on the hive no matter his protests... When asked about why he retreated... "Look, you guys may see my Valkyrie as an asset, but really it's a liability! If this thing is severely damaged then I will not be able to fix it because I have neither the parts for it, nor the ability to make the parts."
So yeah... allying with the tentatively-friendly Neuroi is the way to go. We see that at the end of the Second Season that using Neuroi tech seems to be the way to go if you want to take out a hive, so the alliance would have benefits that way.
The fun part is going to be the development of the alliance... Garrick is going to insist that the X-11 spends most of its time around him as a liaison, given he's the closest thing they got to a xeno-sociologist. Fortunately, it's an easy enough job as the X-11 seems to be, by its very nature, curious and playful. Most of what this will boil down to is showing her around, letting her ask questions, and learn about what it is to be a Human. Lots of character development to be had here.
(One idea I have in mind is that Garrick makes arrangements for the X-11 to witness a childbirth... and then Garrick dragoons the rest of the 501st into it as well, saying, "Well, with possible exception of Miyafuji*, I'm pretty sure the rest of you girls haven't seen this. And it is my educated opinion that every girl needs to see this at least once before she has children of her own." Cue the collective freak-out, along with a few subsequent hyperventilations.)
*Her because her family runs a 'general ailments' clinic back in Fuso/Japan. I'm not sure that would include midwifing, though I suspect her mother and grandmother have supervised more than a few birthings.
One other thing is that Garrick would want to tackle the problem with Striker Units using up too much of a young witch's power - it seems that while there are many older witches around, usage of Striker Units tend to 'burn out' witches at around 20 years of age (hence why so many of them are so young). Garrick will probably get help from X-11 in creating an alternate power source for the Striker Units so they don't rely on the witches themselves for power - instead, merely guidance.
To that end, Erica Hartman's twin sister may wind up setting up shop wherever the 501st is based at.
Oh, and one final thing I would like to figure out for this story...
What exactly was it that the Neuroi are after anyhow? Is it magical energy? Did they perceive humans as a potential threat? Are they colonizing? Something else?
EDIT: Mixed up Erica with Eila. D'oh!
We see towards the end of Season 1 that a Neuroi hive can spam out more Neuroi, and very effectively at that, too. I would Imagine that if Garrick did take his VF-4 up against the green hive, he'd have to beat a strategic retreat as not even his Valkyrie is invulnerable to Neuroi Beam Spam. (His armor will resist better, but it would be about the same as the battleships we see: lesser quality+larger quantity = greater quality+smaller quantity.)
Garrick would be able to just mow through the forward line, for certain, but afterwards he'll be up against a freshly minted midguard that will probably consist of Neuroi modeled after his Valkyrie. Ouch.
The funny thing is that this is probably exactly what will happen (right after Garrick covers the 504th's retreat). Allied Command will demand that Garrick launch a solo assault on the hive no matter his protests... When asked about why he retreated... "Look, you guys may see my Valkyrie as an asset, but really it's a liability! If this thing is severely damaged then I will not be able to fix it because I have neither the parts for it, nor the ability to make the parts."
So yeah... allying with the tentatively-friendly Neuroi is the way to go. We see that at the end of the Second Season that using Neuroi tech seems to be the way to go if you want to take out a hive, so the alliance would have benefits that way.
The fun part is going to be the development of the alliance... Garrick is going to insist that the X-11 spends most of its time around him as a liaison, given he's the closest thing they got to a xeno-sociologist. Fortunately, it's an easy enough job as the X-11 seems to be, by its very nature, curious and playful. Most of what this will boil down to is showing her around, letting her ask questions, and learn about what it is to be a Human. Lots of character development to be had here.
(One idea I have in mind is that Garrick makes arrangements for the X-11 to witness a childbirth... and then Garrick dragoons the rest of the 501st into it as well, saying, "Well, with possible exception of Miyafuji*, I'm pretty sure the rest of you girls haven't seen this. And it is my educated opinion that every girl needs to see this at least once before she has children of her own." Cue the collective freak-out, along with a few subsequent hyperventilations.)
*Her because her family runs a 'general ailments' clinic back in Fuso/Japan. I'm not sure that would include midwifing, though I suspect her mother and grandmother have supervised more than a few birthings.
One other thing is that Garrick would want to tackle the problem with Striker Units using up too much of a young witch's power - it seems that while there are many older witches around, usage of Striker Units tend to 'burn out' witches at around 20 years of age (hence why so many of them are so young). Garrick will probably get help from X-11 in creating an alternate power source for the Striker Units so they don't rely on the witches themselves for power - instead, merely guidance.
To that end, Erica Hartman's twin sister may wind up setting up shop wherever the 501st is based at.
Oh, and one final thing I would like to figure out for this story...
What exactly was it that the Neuroi are after anyhow? Is it magical energy? Did they perceive humans as a potential threat? Are they colonizing? Something else?
EDIT: Mixed up Erica with Eila. D'oh!