"Low power scan complete. Please acknowledge to review results."

I awoke in the cramped and dark confines of my Titan. I was certain I would have died during Titanfall, and was pleasantly surprised to witness the contrary. A quick self check showed that I was...physically alright, at the very least. A little sore, a little beat up, but hey. I hit the ground going at Mach .9, it was a miracle I wasn't dead. Yet.

"Low power scan complete. Please acknowledge to review results."

Despite this, Borak wasn't going to make this easy.

"Low power scan complete. Please acknowledge to-"

"Yeah, Borak, just....just give me a minute, eh?" I sighed, grateful for the silence.

"Pilot Faraday," Borak was not a smart AI, unfortunately, and could not hear the fatigue in my voice. "Scans indicate atmospheric composition capable of sustaining human life. However, I have detected dynamic levels of radiation. Recommend you remain within shielded structures to ensure survival. Notice: my trauma kit is equipped with two doses of anti-radiation agents; In addition, routing power from the active dome-shield to my passive shield-core will result in a total radiation prevention period of three months, provided radiation levels remain stable."

Radiation. Nice. Why couldn't I have died in the crash. I would have settled for vaporization in the atmosphere....

"Pilot Faraday, I am detecting movement outside my shield. Scanning....Scanning....Scan inconclusive. Unknown Xenos detected. Input required."

Given that this planet could sustain human life, it wasn't a stretch to find that life in general could be found. Figuring the 'xenos' to be some lower, non-sapient form of life, I wasn't too surprised by the scan. "Borak, exit power save and turn on the cockpit screens, I wanna see what we're dealing with."

Without a word, the titan lurched as it rose from a kneeling to a standing position, and light filled the small cabin as the viewscreen powered on. Looking through the deployed dome-shield tinted the world beyond a deep blue, but the deep greens of a forest beyond the burnt brown ground remained visible. Also visible were a crowd of absolutely tiny quadrupeds circling slowly around the dome shield. Fuckin' aliens, man.... I was no stranger to undocumented indigenous life on barely colonized planets, half of what little deployment I got this deployment was throwing stones at some pseudo-avian lifeforms to keep them from nesting on a communications antenna, and my brief stint at an IMC airbase showed that that gargantuan and semi-hostile beings existed beyond the safe range of a 'dogwhistle' tower.

I considered my next move, completely unsure of how to proceed. I mean, I could have just walked out of there, but my shield levels were holding steady here and I didn't want to wander aimlessly, potentially exposed to deadly radiation without a plan. The unknown xenos dictated my next move for me, as one purple being walked towards my titan, shining a light towards me. Just what the fuck is going on.... At once, a red light filled the cabin and the dome shield shimmered slightly.

"Warning! Massive radiation spike detected! Warning! Dome-shield instability detected! Alert! Shield battery low! Advise retreat!"

"Fucking hell!" It was fairly obvious that, no matter their intelligence level, they were clearly a threat if they were defeating my dome shield; it could withstand attack from orbital kinetic bombardment or be crushed by a Leviathan without draining half their power through the strike. "They're trying to pierce the shield! Declaring all xenos hostile." As I spoke, I freed the massive XO-16 chaingun from its position on the titan's magnetic holster, and aimed it towards the purple threat. "Borak, prep two tubes of smoke, and turn on loudspeakers on my mark."

Seeing the mic's light turn green, I keyed it to life, and spoke my warning: "Attention, you are taking aggressive action towards Lieutenant Elliot Faraday of the IMC. This is your only warning, cease hostile activities or be fired upon. You have five seconds to comply!"

Immediately after shutting off the comms, the light died down, and two of the white xenos charged to stand in front of the purple one as it backed away. Yeah, thats what I thought. My hubris was cut short, as the two white beings then flashed minor deadly rays towards my shield; despite their lesser power, they were successful in completely draining the battery. Swearing, I dashed the titan backward, deployed my smoke, and fired two shots in warning. While I was certain I'd be able to take them on, I'd rather not waste the ammunition and declare war on an unknown number of hostiles when I was on my own.

Shit, I guess I already did....

This was a battle of attrition, and I was already losing badly.

I was making my way through the thick forest as quickly and quietly as I could. Unfortunately, navigating dense foliage in a 25 foot tall tank was neither stealthy nor swift. Uprooting trees was far faster than searching for a tread path wide enough to accommodate my Titan's girth, but trees falling in forests are rather loud. In addition, the muck and slurry forming a majority of the forest floor dragged and pulled with each step I took, squelching and popping sickly with every footfall. In short, this planet fucking sucked. Despite the slow going, it wasn't all bad news.

"Sir, Shield-Core is charged and ready for deployment."

I wasn't going to die immediately, so this death-world was somewhat forgiving; I'm certain Leviathan or Gridiron would be less merciful. Briefly I wondered if I'd get to name this rock; whoever named planets always fucked it up. I'd name this rock something cool, like 'Lost Hope', 'Settler's Bane', or 'Death-by-Radiation'. Yeah, planet Death-by-Radiation....awesome. With a soft sigh I addressed the AI.

"I'm aware, Borak; Save it for another rad-burst. I don't want to be shitting blood any sooner than I have to."

"Roger. Notice: my trauma kit is equipped with two doses of anti-radiation agents. Recommend injection immediately to combat and prevent the effects of radiation poisoning."

That could wait. So long as I wasn't encountering more of those....whatever they were, the relatively low rad levels would be kept at bay by my Titan's shields and hull. My main priority right now was finding high ground, and preferably a safe(ish) place to rest. Though I'd spent the better part of the last 18 hours knocked out, it wasn't by choice.

The trees quickly clustered together, forcing me to abandon the already narrow path completely in favor of clearing my own. Progress was slow going, and I was getting upset. In a poorly thought out plan, I utilized my Titan's dash to quickly accelerate, giving myself the momentum to simply crash through the trees in a guided maelstrom of floral destruction. Unfortunately, sprinting in unknown territory is far from a clever idea; the dense forest suddenly vanished, leading to a narrow cliff overlooking a deep, expansive canyon. With no time to halt, I made a judgement call, and tried to jump it. Kicking off at the last second, my Titan barely left the ground, and even utilizing a dash in mid-air was barely enough for me to reach the other side. The ground shifted under the massive disturbance, but thankfully held.

Retreating to a safe distance from the cliff edge, I took stock of my situation. A flimsy and tiny bridge lay suspended over the chasm, burning in the wake of my dash thrusters. That may work in my favor, keeping the indigenous life from following me past the trail I'd left in the forest. More importantly, I could make out the ruins of some ancient structure in the distance. While they might have proved massive to the locals, the large doorway barely left room for my Titan, and the shoulder-mounted munitions launcher dislodged a few timeworn bricks. Still, it's main hall proved a decent enough staging area for Borak.

"Borak, record message: To anyone hearing this message, this is Lieutenant Elliot Faraday, pilot stranded on an uncharted rock with potentially hazardous indigenous life requesting immediate aid. I have vital information that could turn the tide of the war on the frontier. End message, and broadcast on an open channel." While I wasn't too high up, my radio was powerful enough to broadcast well off the planet, and potentially reach some ship lurking in the shadows of space. While the 'vital info' was just a lie, it gave incentive to anyone hearing to rescue, or worst case scenario, capture me and get me off this rock.

Reaching under the seat, I'd accessed the trauma kit, picking out the small syrettes with a sickly yellow trefoil. Each one was supposedly good for up to five days of minor resistance, but given I was metal from the waist down, I'd generously factor in a bonus two days per syrette, or 7 days of mobility outside the titan. Wishing that our medical provider would put this gunk in an auto-injector, I injected the syrette and felt a light wave of nausea wash over me. Miserable gunk, but well worth the rad protection. I pocketed the other syrette and put the trauma kit back under the seat, then grabbed the suppressed smart pistol before exiting my titan.

"Borak, maintain position and set present location as 'home'. Conserve ammo; anything comes through that door without an IMC tag, just smash it. "

"Understood, sir, entering guard mode."

"Try not to bring the place crashing down on you either, I can't have you towed outta here."

Taking position near the entryway, Borak crouched down as best he could, and stood guard facing the door. I retraced my way back over the burning bridge (thankfully, navigating a chasm was easier with a jump kit than an 86 ton behemoth) and back through the path I'd cut in the forest. Though the xenos were dangerous, I had to make my way back towards them. I could bullshit something about 'documenting a new species' but really I was just interested in learning more about my biggest threat. Regardless, I didn't have a death wish, so I'd made sure to activate my cloak and stick to the upper canopy.

Author's Note

Space future antirad medicine is instant and works for five days because Idunno how science works
The grunt dialogue for Demeter is fantastic

"I feel like we're all gonna have radiation poisoning just by setting foot on this rock!"
"That's why we got those inoculations."
"What inoculations? I didn't get one!"

Also

I dont think a dome shield could protect against kinetic bombardment or a leviathan in real life
But in game it will protect you from hostile titanfall so you know
Fucking superpowers

Leviathans are those huge hulking things in the background
For scale, those things in the lower right with arrows above them are people

The Dog-whistle is that leaning white tower
It emits a wave of something cool and sciency that keeps wildlife at bay

This one was abandoned so life came in

Airbase has leviathans and flyers kept at bay by dogwhistles