Standby for Titanfall

I have seen this all before, every single night is the same damn bloody nightmare. No matter what medication I take or what illegal drug I shove into my veins I am still forced to endure that crap, every hour, every minute, every. Single. SECOND.

I never wanted this to happen and yet it did.

I should have seen this coming and yet, even with my supposed vaporization and high level radiation poisoning I still get the nightmare.

Just one night, that's all I am asking for, just one moment of blissful rest.

To never hear his voice again in that kind of pain, to never imagine the horror he witnessed.

There is nothing I wouldn't give to forget the past.

System: Troy, Planet: Beirut, Location: Outpost Gamma, Time: 21:26:47

Walking down the metal road on the surface of the outpost, I stared blankly ahead as Miko followed up from behind me. We had been talking about since our shift began on how bad we must have been to be ordered way the fuck out here. I learned that Miko was sent here by her commanding officer for disobeying a direct order to retreat and fall back to the dropships, her reason behind her disobedience was that if she didn't stay behind and hold the line for a few more minutes then those same dropships she was told to board would have been shot out of the sky. How she managed to destroy sixteen titans by herself with nothing more then a Styder holding an Arc Cannon will forever be beyond me.

"I'm telling your Miko this patrol is bullshit and so does every other soldier and pilot here, there is no way the Militia would come all the way out here to attack us when this planet is a complete and utter shithole." I said as I loosely held my Spitfire, Miko walking beside me as she walked backwards and relying on me to tell her if she is about to smack into anyone or anything coming her way.

"Ramsey, we both know that the Militia would come out here in the space boonies to raid this facility for themselves, they did so when they looted the Odyssey for some sort of archive on that rusty tin bucket so you can probably expect them to come here for whatever it is the big wigs are cooking up." Miko spoke as she pulled out her Autopistol and removed its magazine before sliding it back in, my eyes were busy looking forward and on the occasional glance at her chest to watch her breasts move ever so slightly in that tight stealth uniform of hers.

'That girl isn't wearing a bra again...I swear she is going to cause a few of the married soldiers and pilots here to be sleeping on the couch if their ladies are here with them.' my eyes lingered on those concealed globes of hers before going back to looking forward then upwards to see a Goblin Dropship slowly fly overhead before entering through the gravity well of the station before regaining its full speed and zoomed off to a landing pad off in the distance.

Tilting my head up I saw what was keeping everyone on this station alive and not an eviscerated mess from the never-ending hailstorm going on outside and when we discovered that this place had a higher gravitational field then any other planet it turned this slightly annoying planet to a 'Hellhole Planet'. One thing we all learned is that if we are to ever leave the safety of the gravity fields protecting this base we are to be in a titan with overclocked bodyshields or in a starship that can handle the persistent hail of sharp ice.

"So Miko, you got anything planned as soon as our shift for the day ends?"

"Yea, I got a message from mother that my father isn't doing so well and he might not make it through surgery so I have to check in on him and wish him the best of luck." her voice dropped down a bit as she turned around and slowed down in her walk a bit just enough to get in my path and bump into me in which I looped my Spitfire around her to trap her between myself and my weapon.

Pulling her close I held onto Miko as she sighed a bit in my arms, her head leaning to the side as I placed my own on her shoulder, and with a playful nuzzle from me and a foot stomp from her we separated as we both laugh it off. As we separated from each other a bit the two of us heard a small patrol of grunts march on by, what they are saying about is humorous at best.

"Hey Stan, you see those two pilots over there?"

"You mean the two walking across from us heading over to R&D?"

"Yes, the two hugging and shit."

"What about them?"

"How much you wanna bet that those are going to make a detour and head straight to the barracks to fuck each others brains out?"

"I bet you three hundred credits that they will fuck each other, but not in the barracks, most likely in between one of the crevices between the buildings."

"I'll get in on this action, four hundred credits that they just go behind a building and make the four legged beast."

"Alright, Tommy, you want in on this?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

"Suit yourself."

Looking at Miko I saw a strange purple mist floating effortlessly, my mind almost stopped at the sight of the wisp but I ignored it, for the most part it could have been some exhaust from the R&D vents mingling with the rain.

As soon as they get done talking the two of us faced them as I gave them both middle finger salutes while Miko used her jumpjet to launcher herself onto my shoulders and do the exact same thing before leaping off and with a smug grin that couldn't be seen under my helmet I extended my arms out and caught her before she would touch the ground. Hoisting Miko back up and letting her stand up again we started to laugh together before returning back to our walk to one of the shield stations.

Once we were back on our scheduled patrol route we started to talk about what has been happening lately but the topic that eventually breached the surface was what happened in the Troy System.

"I still can't believe that they just attacked a colony! They had nothing to do with the Militia and now they got that traitor McAllen in their mix and he already stole whatever was on the Odyssey and now I hear that we are up Shit Creek without a paddle and the boat is sinking slowly." Miko said as I began to imagine what it would be like to even be in a shit creek without a paddle with the boat sinking and the first thing that disturbed me was why the hell was I in the middle of a river full of shit, secondly why the hell did I not bring a paddle? Like seriously who is fucking stupid enough to forget a paddle when in a boat and lastly, who the is stupid enough to even try to even sail in brown river, that is just nasty as hell since the smell would probably kill anyone that doesn't have the stomach to withstand all that is rank with it, or not even wearing a helmet for that matter.

"Wow Miko...that sure is imaginative...eww by the way. And I can believe that we attacked a colony cause I was there. I was dropped off when the Militia came in to try and stop us, and those new Spectre's sure know how to pick them apart. Sure it may seem wrong to target civilians but hey, they started all of this shit when they tried to break away from the core systems, its only fair to pull them back in and stop the loss of lives." I said while eyeing another Goblin Dropship drop through the barrier keeping us safe, but what was off about this one was that I was told along with everyone else on the base that we were only expecting one small vessel to come by to drop off supplies before going back to its carrier but seeing a second ship come by without anyone being told is something very suspicious.

As I watched the second ship fly over to the landing strip I saw a third one breach the barrier and follow after the second and after one was another, and another, and three more. Watching them slowly fly overhead I quickly looked at Miko who had seemed to have the same idea I had and quickly made our way to the LZ, the small patrol of grunts that was walking close to us was hot on our trail, apparently seeing the strange fleet of Goblin's fly overhead and not on schedule.

Breaking into a jog we started to make our way to the LZ, Miko had the idea to contact the tower that authorized the local landings of the Goblin's and the much larger freighters and cruisers but seeing at least a dozen of dropships just fly into the dome without any thumb's up from the tower and that we were only told that one was coming to give us supplies, that gave everyone on the base a crystal clear red flag.

Watching the ships slowly move over the landing zone we picked up our pace till we were all running, the soldiers behind us were having trouble keeping up with Miko and myself but as soon as we all made it to the ramp leading up to the strip I saw the tall tell signs of Militia, their shoddy uniforms and the way they talk.

The Frontier Militia is here on this outpost, and we only have a skeleton crew of soldiers and scientists with a handful of pilots and titans.

"Target the Militia! Target the Militia!" I shouted into my helmet as the operators in the tower finally understood the gravity of the situation as the base's AA turrets activate and as I raised my Spitfire to mow them down from the hip, a staccato of heavy anti-air shells begins to rain onto the Militia dropships.

"Target Everything!" I shouted again as all the turrets started to change targets and open up onto anything that is in the air, the IMC supply ship that arrived first had already touched down onto the platform but was surrounded by both enemy grunts and spectres.

Running up the ramp to a blasting ramp for a fighter that was once here, I ducked behind the metal and concrete barrier as a small hail of gunfire ricochets off the protective wall as Miko and the four soldiers behind us finally arrive and take cover as well.

"Alright everyone, pick a target, pray to god and blow their fucking heads off!" I shouted before pulling the pin of an arc grenade before counting to three and rising over the barrier and chucking that son-of-a-bitch like a snowball at Miko's face during a lazy day.

Just as I threw the arc, the rest of the people hiding with me pop out from the sides and top and in a display that shows the absolute horror on their unhelmeted faces as they are hit with .50 caliber rounds, buckshot, full metal jacket bullets and electrical shocks before hitting the deck in a heap of blood and meat.

Once the first group of intruders were eliminated we let out a short cheer and a couple of high-fives before watching the other Militia dropships deploy more troopers to the field, and our short cheer of victory had to be postponed as an Atlas Titan is dropped off via Goblin Dropship that has been modified with a open-able bottom hull.

"Shit! Miko get these guys to the nearest generator station and hold the fort down, I got this one." I said as I removed the half spent ammo drum from the Spitfire's housing and replaced it with a fresh drum and once I saw the ammo counter read a solid 80 on the little screen I ran at the Atlas just now getting up after making its three story drop to pick up it X0TBR-16 Chaingun from the floor. As soon as the Atlas stood up I charged at the imposing machine and before it could open fire on myself or on the others I ran underneath its legs before making the leap onto the back and climbed up the maintenance ladder before reaching the top and the internal compartment handle. Yanking off the protective covering I brought up my Spitfire to bear and once it was roughly aiming at the internal components I let it have it and let loose with a hail of heavy lead which in response the Militia on the ground started to open fire on me but their aim was sloppy at best as bullets pinged off the armor on my body and the titan's full metal covering.

It wasn't before long that the internal compartment was a mess of frayed wires, destroyed chips, bullet fragments and melted sensors, and just as my ammo counter hits zero the Atlas released a groan of internal structural failure and I was immediately launched into the air just barely touching the protective barrier before falling back down but I landed feet first on top of a BRD-01 Spectre, my right boot crushing its head as my left boot crushed its back.

And what became of the pilot that was inside the Atlas? Well apparently he got launched higher then I was and when he went past the barrier he got torn to shreds by the hail and when he came back down I saw nothing but frozen meaty limbs and icicle blood.

I thought that was a grisly way to go but he did join the wrong side and attack a base on the worst planet imaginable.

Once again I saw the purple wisp floating but this time it was over the wreckage of the Atlas, seemingly studying it before a rocket sizzled overhead and scared it off. Whatever the thing is, it seems to have been frightened off for the time being.

"This is IMC Research Outpost Bravo, we are under attack from a group of Frontier Militia. They have breached the perimeter through the use of stolen access codes and are now within the barrier. All IMC forces, fend off the Militia until reinforcements arrive from the Leviathan System."

Picking myself off the dead drone I moved over to where the concrete barrier was and went back behind it before running back to where one of the bunker's is located, the same one that I directed my little group to defend and apparently it was the R&D Department of the base and I saw a half blown-up MRVN crawling towards an ammo dump that has been hastily placed behind a few barricades to keep the Militia out but before it can reach the dump for rudimentary repairs it was shot in the back of its head by a stray round and it was rendered inoperable.

"What's the situation Captain Alvarez?" I shouted in the bunker as a clean-pressed IMC officer walks down a short flight of stairs to look at a monitor built into the wall before looking up to see me and winces a bit as a short report of gunfire goes off behind me, the satisfying sounds of a Militia soldier dying outside brings a short grin to me.

"Pilot, its not looking good, we got Militia forces all over the base with titans destroying the AA gun batteries keeping them from dropping more men planetside. I ordered what few men we have here to guard the power generators keeping this facility intact from the outside elements but they won't last long, at this point in time we will be overrun if we can not stem the flow of hostile forces from being deployed in the field." the aged captain said as he relaxed a bit at my presence, already knowing full well why I am here and how many bodies I have put in the ground.

"Anything we can do sir?" I said with a hopeful tone in my voice, I am not the kind of man to hold a position in one location while waiting for backup, I usually am on the move while staying close to my objective while pulling apart the opposition.

"Yes, there is. I need and the other remaining pilots on base to route these bastards and to keep these generators active. IF we lose those we are seriously fucked and there won't be enough ointment or medicated cream to make the pain stop. Get to your titans and stomp these motherfuckers a new mudhole." said the old Hispanic officer, I gave the console in front of him a quick look to see a power graph of the other generators, all of them steadily pushing to the red zone as the facility around us gets damaged or destroyed in the firefights.

"Gravity and Shield Generator at bunkers number one and three have been destroyed."

"Aye aye Captain." I said before giving a short salute and turned back up the ramp, my eyes on Miko as she pulls a soldier inside, the foolish youngster took a round in the thigh and wasn't bleeding that badly but would require stitches once the battle was over and maybe a shot of morphine to calm his ass down.

Quickly jogging to Miko I tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a cut version of our objective, to hold the line and keep the power from faulting into the red zone and we all end up swiss cheese. With a nod from her she checked her G2A4 Rifle before running out of cover with me providing fire support with a staccato barrage before coming up on her six, and before we could reach the housing building that held the IMC titans we both saw twelve militia soldiers get blown to pieces and once we reach the threshold of the metal gates that were blown open from the outside we saw what was the cause of death for those idiots.

It was an Atlas Titan holding up a 40mm Cannon and it was painted a rough cobalt and grey color to help it imitate the landscape to blend in and once we were spotted by it we saw it take a few steps forward before leaning down and opening up to reveal another pilot, one that I know all to well and Miko only a handful of times.

"Holy shit! Erik, damn good to see your in one piece. We got orders from Alvarez, we have to hold the ground we are standing on until the Leviathan reinforcements get here which is lord knows how long. There should be more friendly pilots coming here to get in their designated titan. Lets hope to god that we don't get fucked over." I said before climbing into my Ogre, the tan-painted walker turns on and activates the bodyshield before grabbing the 40mm Cannon in the rack beside it, the weapon painted with black and yellow stripes to give it the industrial warning look since this posses a hazard to whatever is at the receiving end, the small slanted ports covering the Ogre is where the electrified smoke is spewed out, how one can electrify smoke is something that will require a science person to explain it to me slowly and with small words.

Cranking up the AC unit I went over to the jammed metal gate and with a heave and a scraping of metal-on-metal action, the heavy bulkhead eventually gave as the sounds of interlocking gears yielded to the pressure being pushed on it and with that the doors are open and the three of us can leave this cargo area to relieve some of the IMC being held down by gunfire and explosions.

"Alright, Erik, you and I will head to the communication tower and make sure it stays in one piece so we can keep the bridge open between lanes, Miko head back to R&D and tell whatever pilots still inside to get to their titans and to spread the word around. We can hold them off, the Militia wouldn't send an attack force too small to be easily repelled and they would not send their entire fleet just to destroy a small research outpost on a crapsack planet to begin with." and truth be told that this battle seems to be leaning to us on the victory lane, that or I am just underestimating them and we are actually about to be fucked sideways.

Stomping across the metal deck of the facility, Erik and I made our way to the communication tower to see it under siege by give or take twenty hostile soldiers with supplemented with spectres holding Archer Heavy Rockets, and when I saw an thin orange line shoot out at the tower and destroying a part of the infrastructure, I knew that it had to be from a Charge Rifle. Raising our weapons to the enemy they split themselves off as I received multiple lock-on warnings on my HUD, the warnings turned into impact timers before I raised my hand and caught all twelve rockets in midflight before returning them to their senders, two of the bastards were not so lucky when they saw me catch their rockets and didn't bother to reposition themselves.

One asshole though, he had the balls to run up to me, throw his satchel charges onto my right leg, then had the audacity to squeeze the trigger and destroying the entire armored hull protecting that leg. The metal plating was melted and warped, its functionality was reduced by 78% and that it was somewhat on fire so that proved to be an eventual hazard to my health if that doesn't get put out real soon.

My response to all this nonsense that just transpired?

I chased after the bastard for a few meters, shot in front of him which forced him to make an about face before I stomped on him with the leg he just fucked up while shouting through the speakers.

"You motherfucker!" I shouted before stomping on top of him, his body immediately crumping under the immense weight brought down upon him resulting in a crunch and a pop before a large red gore splat appears underneath the plated metal foot.

"Gravity and Shield Generators two, four and five have been destroyed. This facility will fall to the elements in three weeks if the last three generators are lost."

"Do you know how expensive these things are?" I raised my foot in the air to see an arm twitch a bit before slamming it back down and did it again before staring down the gory mess.

"Do you even know how much money it costs to repair an Ogre let alone manufacture the required parts to put this thing back together in working order without leaving it in the shop for a week?" I shouted at the surviving militia before chasing after them, they all scattered like leaves in an autumn breeze, a few even tried to run by me but they failed to realize that only pilots do that when they know that they have a chance of doing the rodeo, and the satisfying sounds of bodies being crushed reached my ears.

"Well let me tell you asshole, its really fucking expensive! It comes out of my paycheck!" I said before punting one grunt with my left foot, I watched the poor bastard hit the wall before flopping on the ground from having his ribcage completely destroyed and the underlying organs damaged beyond repair or simply ruptured. I put him out of his misery by doing a classic curb-stomp, I saw the head go flying like a cap on a water bottle being tightly wrapped before released.

Tilting my Ogre to the crew defending the com tower I give them a salute of sorts before turning around to see Erik shooting at the retreating grunts and spectres, one particular robot exploded into a colorful shower of metal fragments and sparks.

Chasing after Erik isn't hard of a chore to do cause after all I had to watch over the little twat since we were young, our mother couldn't take care of us all hours of the day since she worked at a whore house and that we are considered bastards in all meanings of the word but me being the older brother by seven minutes I had to ensure that he didn't do anything stupid or reckless. And between the two of us I am the reckless and crazy of the family, next to father who should be rotting in hell, he was the one that is responsible and caring, two things that I was lacking in since I had to be a hardass most of the time as we grew up in Smuggler's Cove.

"Ramsey, double on back and take the high ground and cover me and if you see a chance to help the AA towers do so, we can't let them keep on dropping off more soldiers to help the living militia. I'll stick to the lower warrens and clear out anything that doesn't have an IMC ID Tag attached to them." my brother said and with a hidden grin I give him a thumbs up before he stormed up a ramp leading to the a cluster of wrecked anti-air artillery, the barrels bent and riddled with holes rendering them inoperative for the time being but served as a makeshift wall as a rocket slams into one of the long barrels, destroying the long tube leaving the top half left untouched before it fell over into the molten slag.

Slogging through the low waters that power the underground turbine that generates a small fraction of this facilities' power supply and standing beside the floodgate that controls the water flow was a Stryder holding a plasma railgun and at its feet a few soldiers placing satchel charges on the grates.

Seeing how that they haven't noticed me yet I slowly shuffled my way up to them, hoping that know I am there until I am right on top of them, but sadly I don't have that kind of luck.

"Oh shit, Enemy Pilot!" one shouted before quickly dropping the explosive device in the water before pulling out a Sidewinder, the micro-rockets coming into contact with the bodyshields but not doing much in the terms of any real damage but the when the other three ground soldiers pulled out Archer Rockets I made the decision to rush forward as fast as this twenty-three foot tall, thirty ton walking hulking death that is in dire need of a leg patch and paint job.

Charging at the Stryder headlong without even dodging the micro-rockets but as soon as the Archer's are fired I pushed hard on the pedals and shot forward, the rockets exploding on impact and when the third one collided with my torso it took down my shields and melted a portion of the impact zone, but I still kept on sprinting.

The walking toothpick though started to charge up his railgun and took aim, the steadily orange glowing barrel growing a brighter shade as the seconds ticked by but the other pilot wasn't prepared for what I had in set for em.

"Firing Cluster Munitions." my OS said in its mechanized tone and with a visible shaking of the HUD I saw the rocket stutter a bit in the air before sailing through the air and the Stryder barely ducked in time to avoid getting hit by the large explosive projectile but what it didn't coming was the fact that I was aiming for the support strut it was standing in front of.

Once the cluster rocket detonated upon impact I watched the smaller munitions explode erratically and with the sounds of explosions coming behind the Stryder the pilot discharged the fully-charged and my shields barely started to regenerate before collapsing again, the incredibly hot metal slug melted my left shoulder armor, but it did nothing to stop me from stepping on the group of soldiers beneath me, their movement was hindered because to them it was waist high but to me and the Stryder it would only come up halfway to our shins.

I heard the sounds of muted crunches as I stormed through the water, the railgun charging again but discharging too soon, the half heated metal denting the chest area a bit but not causing any lasting structural damage but it only served to anger me more, I put too much time and money into this titan to have it destroyed.

As soon as I was directly in front of the Stryder I reved my left arm back before coldcocking the bastard center of mass and from the heavy punch that has clearly drained its already weak shields from the constant bombardment from the smaller explosions going on behind it, the impact made it move back several feet and directly into the weakened support strut, snapping it in half and forcing the operator to make a choice of staying there to act as the new strut or to try to go past me to avoid being crushed under several tons of rocks and metal.

The enemy pilot choose the latter option and with a sudden burst of speed of one of its dashes and was right up in my face but with a simple back step followed by a headbutt or bodycheck, not sure which it is since I can't tell if an Ogre has a head but the result of the two are all the same, it ended in the Stryder stopping in its tracks and was stuck between me and falling debris.

Watching with amusement as the pilot tried to punch me with those skeletal metal arms of his but all it did was scratch the paint off and annoy me as my response was to hit him with the stock of my 40mm which actually pushed the titan back to get conked from above with a several hundred pound rock. Stuttering in its steps I saw the right arm come at me again but this time I was ready and with my left hand I caught the fist before with a sharp pull back I ripped the mechanical arm from its socket then dropped it in the water before dropping my 40mm Cannon to grab the left arm on the Stryder and yanked that off as well before slamming it back into the chassis with the metallic limb impaling the pilot within and causing the machine to fall over upon itself, right before a boulder roughly its size crushed it.

"Huh...well sucks to be him." I said to myself before kneeling down a bit to grab my 40mm from the floor then over to the Plasma Railgun, I placed the weapon on the two metal hooks on the back of my Ogre before lifting up the railgun, the thing had three shots left and that I have no clear idea as to how to properly fire this thing so I am just go to use it as a single shot rifle before using it as a club cause after all waste not want not.

Slogging through the shin high water I eventually came out and went back on my route to hunting down Militia soldiers, my new toy was quickly used up as I saw a pilot running on the walls trying to rodeo a friendly titan, and I never gave him the chance to as his body exploded everywhere and I could have sworn I heard a scream before the pilot's vaporization but I was too busy having fun.

The other two shots were wasted on a hostile Ogre who wasn't paying attention to me and was too busy firing his Quad Rockets and I am a man that does not like to be ignored by those lesser pilots so I did what any rational man would do to someone that was ignoring him.

Running behind the Ogre I gripped the barrel of the Plasma Railgun as if it was a baseball bat and with stutter in my step and the roll of my shoulders I broke the railgun on the Ogre's back and it promptly exploded from the battery pack inside of it discharge violently.

"Ding ding schools in bitch!" I shouted over the intercom as I reached back and unhooked the 40mm and gripped it firmly in both hands before unloading a trio barrage of heavy shells, the depleted uranium rounds crumpling against the hardened armor as a few manage to bypass the shields by most simply fizzle and fry before impact but it managed to do what I wanted it to do.

For the moment, anyways.

I watched the Ogre turn to face me before unleashing a wall of twirling rockets, the sixteen rockets that came out of the heavy weapon were easily sidestepped after I backed up with a dash booster. The bastard had some guts to use such a strong projectile weapon and as soon as I started to fire back in retaliation it was halted by a particle wall but what came next nearly made me shit myself out of fear.

"WARNING! Hostile Hornet Fighter is with the AO, Retreat to a covered position is Advised."

Turning around quickly I saw the grey fighter spacecraft hovering in place easily deflecting small arms fire and the Sidewinder's shaped charges but once the targeting system painted the ship to assist me in shooting it down it unleashed what I thought was its entire payload of missiles at me.

"Oh. Holy. CRAP!" I shouted before quickly diverting power from my smoke screen to the shield core and I slammed down and overclocked the output capacitors and my bodyshields became stronger, but even then my Ogre barely survived the onslaught. Each missile that slammed into my titan detonated taking a small chunk of the hexagonal barrier with it along with bits and pieces of my armor, each explosion creating enough smoke to provide cover, something that I used to my advantage to survive.

On a wing and a pray I somehow survived that shitstorm but my Ogre's condition was critical: it was almost quite literally one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel. I checked the condition of my ogre and saw that from head-to-toe I was missing metal plating, protective circuitry covers were melted to the frame and servos were a complete mess, this titan didn't have much left in it and it would take days or even weeks to get hunk of scrap metal back into working order let alone perfect condition.

Slowly getting back on my feet after getting forced down by the attack from the Hornet I stood up to see that it was coming around for a second pass at me after having been pelted by both small arms fire from a few IMC soldiers and spectres but when it came back to finish the job it was resting close to a building that was just below the angle of all the AA towers in the area.

"Well...I'm fucked." and as soon as I saw its nose pointing at me I just closed my eyes and gripped the ejection lever and waited for the end, an end that never came for me.

As soon as I opened my eyes I saw something amazing and miraculous happen.

My brother, in his Atlas, had sprinted from the roof top of a bunker and leapt onto the Hornet and proceeded to beat the ever loving shit out of it, ripping parts of the wings and engine off with each swipe of his hands and just as I saw the cockpit glass explode out and the pilot started to eject he was quickly caught by Atlas before being crushed in its steely grip and casually tossed to the side before Erik jumped off the doomed Hornet and landed in front of me, the fighter twirled in a death spiral down to the ground before exploding upon impact.

Looking at Erik's titan I saw the chassis hatch open up to see him smirking at me and when I opened mine up I gave him a thumbs up from both myself and my Ogre, and our titans did a high-five which was amazing to see because normal high-fives are boring but when done from the seat of a titan, it is epic.

"That's what I'm talking about Erik! From now on that is how you kick some ass!" I said we closed our hatches and started to open fire on the fleeing group of militia and it was simply amazing to see how the two of us were working in sync against our enemies.

"Oh it takes a dysfunctional motherfucker to pull some crazy shit like that! Next pilot I got watching my back better be as crazy as you are!" and from that saying we watched as less and less Goblin Dropships appeared over our outpost, our thoughts that the enemy was starting to fall back and that victory was within our grasp.

Hopping out the Ogre and onto the floor as the two of us arrived at a nearly overrun sector of the facility and the first person that came out of the ruined bunker was a grunt and I was glad that there was someone that survived but as he turned back to wave a few other grunts to come out he shouted at me a warning that I almost didn't listen to.

"Get down!" an IMC Grunt shouted as a short barrage of rockets sail past him and right over me as I dove at the cold metal grating, rolling over and looking at the smoke trail I saw the seven rockets fly through the air and make contact with one of the station's last active gravity control panels and soon enough the entire station will be endangered by the hostile elements without its gravity field until the eight stations gets repaired again.

Grabbing the R-101 Carbine from the floor as my Spitfire was left behind in my Ogre, I got back up and ran over to the grunt who shouted that timely warning, my body slamming into the bulkhead that lead to one of the stations remaining AA Batteries that are still under our control, the rest having been destroyed or in the Militia's hands.

Getting off the bulkhead I turned my head to the sky and saw the slight icy blue shield that kept us safe from danger sputter and weaken to the point of large ice shards fall down but at a normal rate of speed so it would just hurt instead of crushing or impaling anyone, the gravity pumps still worked but the shield that reduced the shards of ice into water was offline.

"All IMC Personnel, this facility is falling apart and it can not sustain any more damage, we must step up our efforts and eliminate the militia while we still can! If we can not protect the last of our generators then we will not survive the weather let alone the falling hazards. We do not have much time before this facility falls apart. Get it done."

And with that the private intercom system turned off and we were left alone in the dark, quite literally as it was night time and the sun wasn't due to rise in another three hours and we might not last that long.

Going to my Ogre I moved the emergency R-101 to my back and grabbed my Spitfire before hopping out but when I did so I felt and saw my Ogre begin to sway side to side before falling back and slowly slid down against a metallic wall and died, its reactor shutting down and I knew that at this moment that I had just lost my biggest advantage against the militia pilots and titans.

"Erik, this is Ramsey, my titan just kicked the bucket on me and now I am on foot, might wanna watch where you step." and with that warning I saw his Atlas give me a thumbs up and with cautious steps from the titan I maneuvered through debris and a pair of titan legs to get to the front lines with a few other pilots and soldiers, what few spectres we have left are guarding HQ against any incursions so it is just us meatbags holding the line.

"This is IMC Sixth Generation Pilot Gregor Khlaskavich and I need immediate reinforcements at the reactor station. I am the last man alive here, all my men are dead or are incapacitated and I will not last much longer without any help. If any one can hear this message, get your asses over to the reactor station now or else this base and everything within five miles will be bathed in nuclear fire."

Hearing that message I ran back to Erik and leapt onto his Atlas and securely gripped onto the handlebar and with slight yelp from the sudden acceleration of my brother using both of his dash accelerators and from seeing a three other friendly pilots, Miko included, following closely behind us as they ran on the walls to keep up and we soon reached the valley where the power station was located and at a steady forty-five degrees we descended down until we saw what was quite literally hell.

You see, this isn't just a nuclear reactor station, this station was mostly a thermal energy that worked solely on thermodynamics and that it was placed directly over a dead volcano that still had lava within it and because of where it is located it is generating enough power to keep this place up and running. But at the moment since this place was under attack and the intake pipes were all destroyed so we now had to rely on a nuclear reactor that powered just enough of the facility to keep everything running but knowing that we are using something nuclear to keep this base alive just screams a catastrophe is imminent.

From where the five of us were standing we say tracers flying back and forth, explosions from grenades or satchel charges detonating all over the field, there are dead militia bodies strewn about left and right, eight destroyed militia titans ranging from the mighty Ogre to the Stryder, and I mean holy fuck there was half an Ogre in the river of lava that was running toward the station, the bottom half was in the river of liquid rock as the top half looked like it was trying to escape the molten death but it never did make it. The Atlas that once belonged to the pilot we are trying to save, its body was destroyed beyond salvage, there was holes all over it and its cockpit was blown out like some back alley whore that had the worst case of prolapse.

Just that thought is enough to send a cold shiver run up my spine.

As soon as we got half way down the ramp the few militia soldiers that were left with their last two Ogres turned to face us, ignoring the last living thing standing in their way to engage us in combat. With a quick boost from Erik and a leap from me I was practically thrown from the safety of the bodyshields and was subjected to machinegun fire and buckshot, but by the good grace of god I somehow survived that shitstorm and landed within the facility through a gaping hole made by a series of rockets if the indication of scorch marks and shrapnel was any good indicator.

"Friendly approaching, friendly approaching!" I shouted before reaching where I was expecting Gregor to be located but all I saw was more Militia waiting for me, or well waiting for more of their men but all they saw was me and with my Spitfire in my hands and the way it was aiming at them from the hip, I just did what came naturally.

I squeezed down on that trigger with a death grip as if a crab was pinching the living fuck out of me, and the screams of pain that left the lips of these militia men and women was just a blur of wails and screams, I couldn't even tell who was screaming and who was laughing. By the time my gun stopped firing and that the bodies were leaking enough blood to fill a small boat I had reloaded my weapon before stepping over the bodies, occasionally putting a bullet in the head of a dying soldier to spare them the pain of a slow death, and it wasn't before long I saw my pilot, he was leaning against a desk with his right hand clutching over a bullet wound as he sat in a pool of his blood, his face looked pale and as his green eyes saw my uniform he lowered his Kraber AP Sniper Rifle and relaxed a bit, his breathing was starting to slow down and I knew his time was coming to an end.

Running to his side I kneeled down and pulled out the small first aid kit that was standard issue for all pilots but as soon as I got the syringe out to help stabilize him he grabbed my wrist weakly and shook his head slowly before his eyes turned down to my revolver and with a slight nod I pulled it and checked to see if it still had any ammo in it and with a flick of the wrist it slid back into its place.

"Friend, they can not be allowed past this point, do not let the Militia detonate the reactor. We are humanities best and brightest soldiers that has ever graced the solar winds of the galaxy...do not disappoint those that have given their lives to the IMC cause....do not...fail us....don't.....lose sight of your morales....we will prevail...send me off my friend....with a bang..." and with that I raised the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger, the bullet slamming into the desk behind him and with his last request completed I popped the cylinder open and pulled out the spent round before putting another in its place and putting my gun back in its holster as I heard the sounds of heavy boots running on the ceramic tiles behind me as I quickly ran up the nearest wall and stabbed my data knife into it, anchoring myself as I waited for the militia scum.

"I heard a gunshot over here! Come on guys there is just one IMC pilot in there and there is nine of us! We can totally take him on, he is wounded and is probably already dead!" I heard a feminine voice shout out to encourage those around her and with a round of gung-ho from them they stormed into the room only to stop as they spread out to search the room for any survivors.

They only had to look up to see my blue visor light and I would have been dead but they never did.

"Ma'am there is no one here, I guess he finally couldn't take it anymore and just ended it, what a way to go." one of the guys said as a few followed after in agreement, I slowly grabbed an arc grenade from my side and moved it to the hand holding the data knife keeping me up, and every so quietly pulled the pin and then dropped the rapidly glowing ball of electrical near the obvious female pilot and as soon as it detonated I attacked.

"Ambush! Get to co-ack!" a grunt shouted before feeling my knife cut his throat open like a salmon being gutted and before he could hit the ground I stabbed another in the skull between the eyes, the sudden puncture wound to the dome caught the guy offguard but he couldn't do anything as his body shut down immediately, the female pilot was stumbling around as her vision was completely scrambled.

The other grunts that were barely recovering tried to raise their weapons at me but it was of no use when it was up and personal as I grabbed arms and broke them at the elbow or dislocated them entirely, I kicked out legs and broken shins as their wails of pain filled the room, none of it was fatal because the female pilot was my real target.

Walking gracefully to my target I saw that she had removed her helmet and on an act of good faith for her I took mine off as well but I threw my helmet at her which she had to raise her arms to block which allowed me to get in the first blow punching her in the jaw with a strong left hook followed by a right uppercut but that was where the fight really began and all of my training kicked in. She responded in kind to me by kicking out my leg and sweeping me in reverse, forcing my left leg to bend backwards but it didn't faze me in the least as my legs were nothing more then prosthetics but it did hinder my movement and counters as I had a leg that was now useless to me.

For over ten minutes we fought, the sounds of screaming, yelling, huffing and puffing, cursing and shouting echoed out of the facility as we fought to kill the other, the girl trying to kill me so she can set the reactor to self-destruct while I was trying to kill her to prevent that from happening. Grabbing her by the neck I raised her in the air with one hand but she grabbed my right hand and bit into the meaty bit below the pinkie and chomped down hard enough to draw blood but I reacted by dropping her suddenly and landing on top of her with my foot stomping on her chest, forcing the air out of her lungs.

Gasping for air she wheezed and coughed trying to get the precious resource into her body but I stopped her temporarily when I stomped on her again and brought down my data knife to try to stab her in the heart, and as the blade got near that vital organ she grabbed my wrist with her left hand as she gripped my throat with the other as I did the same to her, our stalemate slowly was sliding into my favor as I snarled and growled at her as her grip on me started to weaken and as soon as it did I used what little strength I had left I pressed downward and the resistance I felt was quickly swept aside as the blade was plunged into her heart and with it, her strength ebbed away into nothingness.

I hissed loudly as her breathing faltered and failed and then nothing, her lifeless corpse laid there as I hobbled my way to each wounded soldier before slitting their throats, having no need for survivors or any extra mouths to feed.

Dragging my injured ass back to where my Spitfire was located I grabbed the large tool of destruction only to hear something through our intercoms, something good and strangely enough exciting.

"Attention all hands, we have captured the commanding officer for the Frontier Militia that was in charge of this operation when his Hornet was taken out of the air by an Atlas titan, the officer is Colonel James Kreden, he is number seven on the IMC's most wanted list. The militia forces are in disarray and I have news that our reinforcements are thirty minutes away, victory is imminent."

And from that announcement alone I let out a shout of victory and once I stepped out into the moonlight I saw that four outside had one as it turns out that leaving behind unexploded ordinance and to leave it unused had led the two Ogres to their downfall, Miko rushed over to me and helped me over to Erik who was now sporting a damaged Atlas, the left arm was completely gone, there was nothing but a stub but the rest was still intact, and for the most part it could easily be back in the action as long as he doesn't need to reload.

"Hey, guys." I said weakly as Miko sat by me as I rested on top of the Atlas, my body draped on it as she held me down so I wouldn't fall off the moving stretcher.

"Yea man." Miko and just about everyone else said at the exact same time.

"First round of drinks are on me." I said with a dazy grin, my body was aching but for the moment I was happy.

My mind started to get hazy as I skipped this part of the memory, something was watching me and I rather not let them figure out what was going to happen next, the constant sighting of the purple mist was evidence enough that something was probing my mind.

Twenty Five Minutes Later

"Colonel James Kreden, you are hereby charged with treason." I stated before punching him in the gut then backhanding him which was followed by my foot connecting with his back, the sound of bones cracking filled the R&D bunker as the heavy drops of rain can be heard from deep within the secure facility, the colonel grunting a bit from kick to the back but said nothing to me but look me in the eyes with the utmost of hatred.

"Being a leader of the Frontier Militia." I grabbed him by the back of his neck before lifting him off the ground and slamming the injured Militia leader into a bulkhead leaving a small dent and a tiny splatter of red across the metallic wall, his body stuck in place for a moment before I grabbed an outstretched arm and stomped on his elbow, crushing the joint and bending it completely in the wrong direction. At that point he couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a weak cry of pain, whimpering a bit from the sudden sharp pain of his arm being rendered useless.

"Ordering the deaths of IMC soldiers." kicked out his legs from beneath him forcing him to eat some non-edible metal plates and breaking a few teeth in the process before I grabbed the back of his head and slammed it back into the floor, breaking his nose and sending a small spray of his precious life source out, making a small puddle as I held him up for a moment.

"Destruction of private property." I lifted him off the floor again before tossing him into a shot-up terminal monitor and forcing his head through the ruined screen before yanking it to the side and breaking the frame off his neck, cutting deep and slightly damaging the muscles and meat under the skin. His ragged breathing was all I could focus on, the life slowly starting fade from those eyes of his, something that I had to take care of soon.

"And for the death of my brother Erik Oppenheimer." A single tear fell from my face and onto the fabric mesh that lined the bottom of my helmet, my hands reaching the protective head gear and with a sharp twist and lift I took it off before tossing it aside, my eyes staring with rage and vindication at the colonel and with that rage I wrapped both my hands around his neck and lifted him off the ground.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense you miserable little shit." I said before slowly shifting my hands from his throat to his head, slowly applying pressure to the weak parts of the skull as my thumbs slid over his eyes and with a snarl I steadily pushed them inwards.

The screams that left his mouth was music to my ears, the feeling of his eyes popping within his skull as my thumbs crushed them fueled me with such joy and when I felt his skull slowly begin to creak and break under the pressure being exerted on it and his screams of pain only grew louder.

"As a Third Generation Pilot, I sentence you to die!" I shouted loud enough for any surviving Militia soldiers and pilots that are nearby hear their commanding officer suffer the same fate they are going to go through once they are found after being interrogated for anything important.

With a snarl and rage flowing through my veins I felt the resistance that came from the bastard's skull finally give in and with it the sweet vengeance I crave has been fulfilled. I watched as his head crumples underneath the pressure placed upon his head, the skull cracking and breaking as I saw it very quickly, and explosively, explode in my hands, the ex-colonel's body falling to the floor as brain matter, blood, skull fragments and eye juice covers my hands but I just shake my hands of the gore in front of a group of captured militia soldiers, forcing them to witness his death.

Grabbing my B3-Wingman from its holster I slowly moved over to the lined up kneeling group of Militia soldiers, all nine of them glaring at me but when I without looking fired my revolver and hit the one in the middle in the gut, blood immediately pooling at the wound as I walked off out of the secured bunker and soon enough was standing at the sight of where my brother died.

All that remains are buts and pieces of his Atlas, the ashes now wet piles and whatever remains I could have recovered are now long gone, leaving nothing behind but ruined ashes and useless salvage.

Falling to my knees I placed my hands near the ashes, trying to give myself the courage to grab hold of them but I couldn't do it, this was all that was left of my family, and I would not desecrate it even if there was an improbable chance to bring him back.

"I...I promised to keep you safe...." I said, my voice cracking a bit as it the rain continued to fall but to a lesser extent has turned into a weak shower.

The showers soon died down as my eyes saw that the ground has turned into a grass field under a full moon, looking in all directions I saw nothing but fields of grass and in the sky was a full moon, large and round it was but this was all wrong, this isn't my dream and it wasn't done yet.

My ears heard the sounds of something steadily approaching me, it sounded like a horse and when I whirled around on my good leg I saw that it was indeed a horse but it was lacking in the actual horse department and was relying heavily on the mythical creatures sector.

This horse was dark blue, maybe even dark violet I don't know but that coat color is something that horses can't get naturally unless they have been dyed, the horse also had wings and a horn so I was just spitting in the ball park on this one so I can say that this horse was a horned pegasus.

"Such horrors you have seen, what would could cause such a rebellion to take place where brothers and sisters are fighting one another tools of such destructive force." the horse spoke and it was speaking in a language I could understand.

I did not like it one bit.

"The things I have seen from your perspective...you must let go of your past, do not let it cloud your judgment and lead you astray from your destiny in life." the horse said again but this time I could tell it was female from the feminine tone and the way it walked.

And how dare this bitch tell me to let go of my past! It is all that I have left and I will not lose the memory of my brother! No matter how painful it is or how dark it makes me feel about my own people or my chances of living long enough to get my revenge on Spyglass.

I pulled out my revolver and aimed it at her head, my thoughts clouded by both anger and fury, how dare she have the balls to such things to me when she hasn't even been through the hell I have been.

"You dare break into my thoughts, pollute my mind with your presence, and have the gall to give me orders?" I said before slowly squeezing down on the trigger, the mare let out a few hasty words before I shot her in the head.

"We did not mean to intrude upon your dreams we just wanted to help-" was all she got out before she hit the floor dead, a bullet hole starting at the base of her horn and exiting out the other end, and very quickly her body evaporated and disappeared and following after her he realm fell apart leaving me alone to fall into the abyss before being forcibly woken up by it.

It would seem I am going to have a little chat with these horses about staying out of my head.

Canterlot, Royal Palace, Luna's Chambers

Luna's POV

'-we just wanted to help-' and just like that the strange creature killed me, I do not know how the weapon in his hand killed me but it did its job just fine, forcing me to wake up and wake up no less with a mind splitting headache.

Quickly rising from my covers I grabbed my head in pain, groaning loudly as my hooves rubbed at my temples where I thought the pain was coming from but when one of my hooves reached up to the spot below my horn I yelped loudly as the pain was intensified significantly.

"OWW! THAT BUCKING HURTS!" I shouted in my ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE, something that was only deemed worthy when it was for those that threatened Equestria. But this male...this...Ramsey, has earned my ire for forcing me out of his dreams when I was just trying to help him.

Ramsey Pilot the Fourth, I will find you and when I do, I will give you a piece of my mind for hurting me in such a way that even my sister Tia wouldn't believe how much it hurts!

Cave

Ramsey's POV

As I sat in the cave breathing heavily I felt a chill run up my spine, the feeling of someone calling me out was strong and the vendetta that followed that chill only made me feel like I messed up.

"Eh...I will deal with it in the morning.