(prologue) Load up, Rollout
The Dagger is a militia transport ship, obviously used for transport of troops, fuel, and titans to aid in the fight to take back the frontier from the IMC. The Dagger is an old transport, but she still gets the job done. She certainly only holds one titan, and about one company worth of grunts and specters. But today The Dagger's single pilot is about to partake in an unexpected missing
"WOULD PILOT ANON PLEASE REPORT TO MISSION BRIEFING! REPEAT, ANON, REPORT TO MISSION BRIEFING!" a loud, ruff, male voice called though the ships intercom.
Anon was sound asleep on his bed in his quarters before the man on the intercom abruptly interrupted his rest. Anon groaned before dragging himself out of of bed so he could respond via his intercom. He slowly, but surely, made his way to the com next to the door. He pressed the red button to activate said com.
"*Ahem*This is Anon, I'm on my way." He released the button, ending the connection between him and the ship's bridge, and headed over towards his armor locker that contains, you guessed it, his pilot gear. He began by removing his sleep wear, and replacing it with a black shirt, and some pants that would fit under his jump kit. After putting on the armor plating, and attaching his jump kit, he slipped his helmet between his arm, and slipped out of the door.
On his way to the mission briefing, he received the usual 'hello's' and 'good morning's' from the grunts and crew. The ship was like one giant maze that would take hours to navigate if you didn't know what you were doing. Luckily, Anon had the layout of the ship memorized as part of the requirements for being stationed on such a machine. The way to briefing leads him past the titan hangar. He decided to pop in to check on his titan, Atlas.
As he approached, he noticed that a couple of technicians are gathered around his prized retro fitted atlas class titan, talking amongst themselves. His first impulse was to see what they were talking about, but this time Anon felt like he should report for briefing, because rumor has it that Commander Sarha Briggs is hoping around ship to ship to check crew response time and whatnot. Just in case, he continued for briefing.
Five minutes of walking later...
Anon finally made it to the briefing room, only to be meet with the commander of the marauder corps herself.
"Commander Briggs, ma'am!" Anon saluted to attention in response to the somewhat unexpected appearance of the commander.
All she did was stare at him with no emotion before answering "Bout time, Pilot" she said, not returning the salute, this was clearly intentional. Maybe she didn't have her coffee, and is a stickler for being on time? Anon mentally kicked himself for not studying how the militia commander did things.
Anon began to feel uncomfortable in the awkward silence that fromed. "Permission to rest, ma'am?" He asked in a strong, but respectful manner.
"At ease" she said, returning the salute after what felt like years. She then proceeded to pull out a hallo projector, and put on the table. "Ready for briefing, Pilot?"
"Yes ma'am."
The projector displayed the broken planet Typhon. "As you know, pilot Jack Cooper and his titan BT were able to not only survive the IMC and the Apex Predators, they were also able to destroy the ARK. The ARK is a devastating weapon of mass destruction that the IMC acquired through unknown means. After Cooper and BT destroyed the ARK, the planet fractured from the intensse power the ARK weapon produce. You following?"
Anon noded his head yes in response "Continue."
"The planet is now in the process of heating up and possibly reforming into a new plante. Don't worry, you won't be there that long. Anyways, our scanners have detected massive distortions in space-time that allows a small part of the planet to remain habitable, and that's your mission."
"What do you mean that's my mission?" Anon asked in confusion.
"I mean your mission is to investigate the space-time distortions in the habitable zone, and report anything strange."
"like space-time distortions aren't strange" Anon whispered under his breath.
Sarah raised her eyebrow at Anon, and had a 'really?' look on her face before continuing "You will be given the choice to pick two pilot kits to assist you on your mission. After that, your titan is currently undergoing an upgrade to his argument, you should go check on the progress so you can receive a rundown of his new abilities. Dismissed!" She pointed Anon to the door "You'll be deployed in one hour. I suggest you go do what I say"
One walk to the titan hanger later...
After going to the armory and equiping the standard pilot cloak and grapple, a CAR SMG, a charge rifle, three arc grenades, and three anti titan grenades. Anon quickly made his way to meet his titan Atlas in the hanger. He walked over to the technicians working on his titan, while eating a protein bar. "whatcha doing?"
The lead technician turned his head to Anon with a smile plastered on his face "Anon, you're just in time! We just finished installing the multi-core!" The tech said excitingly.
Anon just looked at the lead technician before taking another bit from his breakfast "Multi what now?"
"You see, the multi-core gives the titan the ability to change his core ability on the fly whenever he picks up the corresponding weapons. It's a miracle that we were able to use such advance technology in such an obsolete–" the lead technician was cut short, due to Anon 's hand gripping his neck.
"Never, ever call him obsolete again. Do I make myself clear?" He said, keeping his hold on the technician's neck, and even lifting him in the air a little.
"Y–yes sir! Won't happen again!" Anon slowly put him down. "Pilots and your titans..." he cursed and mumbled under his breath, before he signaled the other techs to leave.
Anon sighed before finishing his protein bar and discarding the wrapper. He then used his jump kit to enter the top hatch of his titan. He and his titan share a strong bond with each other, saving each other's butts on the battlefield, have conversations off the battlefield. Heck, Anon 's convinced that Atlas has become self aware! Dispite the countless amount of evidence to this, command has denied the fact and blamed it on 'being a older model comes with some glitches' but Anon didn't buy it for a second.
Anon settled into the cockpit chair and started flipping switches "how you doing today, buddy?" He asked his now awake titan. Instead of the standard AI voice that Atlas preferred (and yes, he lets Atlas choose his own voice), he was treated with a surprise.
"All systems optimal. how are you, Anon?" Atlas replied in a young, female voice that sounded all to familiar.
Anon was surprised at first after hearing the voice, but after a minute of just sitting there, Anon snapped himself out of his trance "Atlas, did the techs mess with your audio systems?"
"Negative." He said flatly in that voice.
"Then why are you using the voice of a voice actress from over hundreds of years ago?" Anon asked with irritation evident in his own voice.
"How are you aware of the fact that this voice originated from a voice actress from hundreds of years ago?" The titan replied.
Silence returned to the cockpit for a little bit longer before Anon give a overly dramatic sigh "fine, I like old stuff! Happy?"
The titan, clearly not satisfied with the answer decided to provoke the response his looking for "Any reason you prefer the works of Tara Strong?"
"Shut up you over glorified tin can!" Anon said as he punched the side of the cockpit, making a thud sound vibrate throughout the cockpit.
"Any specific?" Atlas asked, returning to his standard AI voice.
Instead of getting more frustrated at the titan, Anon made a thoughtful face "actually, nothing on the top of my head." He admitted.
Atlas made a couple of disappointed beeps and boops. Then the display lit up red with the words "WARP JUMP ENGAGED! PREPARE FOR RAPID DEPLOYMENT!"
Anon sighed. I guess we're already at Typhon. he thought to himself. Anon gave off one last sigh before putting his helmet on his head "Alright, Atlas, let's get this over with."