A/N I was initially going to make this one long short story, like with my previous Titanfall story. However, I decided to break this one up into individual chapters considering how wildly the locations & scenarios are going to vary in this particular story. Just another heads up, this story is a sequel to my similarly named "We Are Men" story. For those that have read "The Journal of Desmond Price", I'm sure you'll recognize a few of these names as well. Moving right along...
"Sixty seconds out." I readied my rifle at those words. More words that blended into one. Some days I wonder just how many have done that. The carrier shook briefly before it steadied, causing me to throw my hand up to the hand bars on the roof. You could always tell a real pilot from a Titan Pilot. As far as I cared, a Titan Pilot could actually control their crafts. We were going to a Militia run planet, apparently full of lush forests and mountains, in order to obtain blueprints on a new Titan the Militia was building. The hope was to find an exploitable weakness in their design, and create a kill-switch that would utilize it. Course, this started out as Black Ops, but when the Apex Predators, local mercenaries, never came home, IMC actually sent in real Pilots & troopers. Wasn't long before the Militia found them. Our first order of business was to rescue the teams and crew sent in before us. Then we went for the plans.
"Look alive boys! Militia's really fighting back this time, let's show em what good ol' IMC tactics can do!" Shouted a pilot from behind us. Turning to face the sound, I looked behind me to see Captain Samantha Arnolds, a rising officer in the IMC. I smiled slightly upon seeing her. Her kind blue eyes looked back at me, and she gave me a pat on the shoulder as her pony-tail tied blonde hair swung slightly with the carrier.
"I have faith in you Adrian, I know you'll get this done." She said. I simply nodded in response as she lifted her helmet over her head and gave it a quick pat. Unlike other Pilots, Captain Arnolds operated under the idea of treating her men like beloved brothers and sons. As far as troop loyalty and favorability was concerned, it definitely worked.
"Helmets on boys!" She shouted. Within seconds, every grunt in that carrier had their helmets on, lighting up the inside with bright blue lights. I waved my hand in front of my face a few times, no blurs, good to go. Across from me was my best mate, Corporal Jonathan Spencer. One look at him, and he confirmed he was ready to go with a thumbs up. Beside him, Specialist Gerrard Everett, a close friend and trusted squadmate since before I ever dreamed of becoming a sergeant, who simply nodded at me. My rifle, Jon's LMG, and Everett's Longbow were well known among our fellow grunts, and even small celebrities for taking out a Titan all on our own. One look at my squad, and I knew we were ready to live up to those stories. The intercom warned us that we had forty seconds left as Arnold's came to the front of the carrier and turned to face us, her helmet radiating blue light across all of us.
"You all know why we're here! Go in, Secure the site, get those blueprints, and run like the devil himself is after you to the evac! Once we touch down, we'll link up with the other squads at my command!" After that small retread of our orders, Arnolds looked to me and another grunt, one Staff Sergeant Desmond Price, the only grunt on board above my rank as Sergeant.
"Price, Miles, I'm counting on you two to lead my boys to victory! Now I know you're the best the IMC has to offer, and we're gonna show everyone else why! Because what are we?!" She shouted. And in one voice, we responded.
"WE ARE FAMILY! WE ARE BROTHERS! WE ARE ONE!" As we shouted that, Arnolds pumped her fist in the air.
"Heck yeah we are, boys! Now let's show the Militia what happens when you mess with our family, HOOAH?!"
"HOOAH!" We screamed in response.
"GOD I love that woman!" Jon shouted.
"You'd have to be crazy not to!" Everett shouted in response. The intercom armed us of the drop zone being twenty seconds away. We all fell silent as Arnonlds turned to the doors of the carrier and unhooked her carbine from her back, the standard R-101. The carrier began to rumble as the sound of gunfire began to break through the thin walls of our carrier, causing anyone who wasn't holding onto the handrails to quickly do so. Ten seconds the intercom warned us. I realized then that I was holding my breath. As I exhaled, the carrier doors slowly opened, halting just above the ground as it did. I could see the dirt and dust being flung around as the close proximity of the carrier disturbed the landscape. Turning back to us, Arnolds motioned toward the new land before shouting;
"Let's get em' boys!" She shouted. As I and my brothers yelled in agreement, she led the charge into the jungle canopy. The grunts in front of me quickly followed suit, dirt being flung by them as bullets crashed into the ground beside them, only just missing their intended targets. After one last exhale, I launched myself forward, jumping slightly once I reached the edge of the platform and sprinting at full speed to keep up with my brothers. Gunfire whizzed around me, crashing into dirt, trees, and rock as Everett and Jon sprinted beside me. Not too far in front of us, we could see Arnolds running along side other grunts, as if to cement herself as one of us, it wasn't the first time she had done this.
"All squads, this is Starborn, be advised, friendly reinforcements coming in at your six! Over!" I heard the radio shout. I watched as the dirt continued to jump up into the air, but now, I saw another sight. Fellow IMC forces rushing around in a camp, some injured, others running for cover from something.
"Where the heck were you guys?! Militia's tearing us apart! Get over here and help us take down these aircraft! Over!" The radio blared back at me. Aircraft, so that's where the bullets were coming from.
"Roger that! Kilo, Sentinel, get your launchers on the move! Redirect to best possible sightlines! Out!" As we charged forward, I was able to see the ships more clearly. Dropships, & heavily armored ships made for the friendly camp, a lot of them too. I looked around to find Price, and saw him shouting orders to his men amid the chaos of the field, orders made clear thanks to the radio. Within seconds, I noticed another man ready an Archer. I had to follow suit.
"Kilo 5-6 get your launcher ready! We need to clear the airspace as fast as possible! Kilos 2-3, 5-5, and 5-7, cover him!" I shouted into the radio as we deviated to the left of the others, towards a more open field. A streak of four men rushed past me, one of them, Geoffrey Hammond, readying his Archer as the three to his sides formed somewhat of a wall to protect him. I began to ready my own archer as Jon instinctively rushed to my side, Everett not far behind him. Our fourth man quickly primed a smoke grenade, and rushed behind us, a new guy by the name of Harold Elman. I just hoped he knew how to shoot.
A massive blast suddenly went off right as we got to the field, followed by a hail of gunfire as I raised my arm to try & cover myself. I quickly readjusted behind the treeline, taking cover behind a large tree as Everett popped off a few rounds before following suit. Jon lead our new guy forward as he opened fire, Elman using his rifle to counter attack.
"Kilo 2-2, take Kilo 5-8 and counter attack! Kilo 2-4, cover them!" I shouted as I peeked my head out from the treeline, seeing an offensive line of Militia rapidly charging our position. A hail of gunfire from Jon and Elman cut down a good number of them, but some of them still managed to set up defensive positions. To my right, Everett fired off several rounds to cover the others, taking focus off of them, and off of me. Taking this chance, I looked to the sky, and watched as the drop ship opened fire on allies unseen. With a deep breath, I quickly adjusted to aim my launcher at the ship.
Beep...Beep...BEEP BEEP BEEEEP. Rang in my ears as I fired, the massive burst of flame and force pushing me back. I quickly turned back and took cover behind the tree again, waiting for the sound of an explosion. When it didn't come, I turned back to the battlefield, seeing several flares falling to the ground & around the sky, my rocket hopelessly chasing after one. I cursed as a quickly reloaded my archer.
"They're popping flares! Squad! Keep your rockets protected! We're going to need to burn through them!" I shouted into my radio as I finished reloading a rocket. Locking on was too risky, I only had so many, and there wasn't enough time to wait for it, I was going to have to free fire. I slammed it into place as I looked around the corner again. Jon had ducked behind a fallen tree to reload, with Elman firing away. Everett fired one shot before he hid behind his tree and dropped his mag.
"Guys just keep coming! They must be using the dropships on multi runs!" He shouted to me. I nodded and looked back to the field. More grunts appeared from the treeline, taking position as Jon popped back up and opened fire. Elman took his place behind cover as he reloaded. I smiled as I saw them work in tandem. Brothers indeed. I looked back up to the sky, watching the dropship's every move. With a loud shout, I looked from behind my cover, and fired my launcher without waiting for a lock on. The rocket soared through the air and slammed into the ship's wing, sending it careening towards the treeline as the craft flamed and sputtered. I pumped my fist & hid behind the tree as I heard a loud whooping from Jon.
"BLOODY NICE SHOT MATE!" He shouted. I noticed Everett give me a thumbs up from my right.
"Nice shooting Adrian." He simply said. I nodded and held up my hand, motioning it towards Jon & Elman. Everett nodded and adjusted, opening fire on the hostiles once more. I quickly readjusted my launcher, placing it on my back as I readied my rifle and moved away from my tree, firing four rounds before moving up. Four more rounds, then towards the others, Everett's shots rang in my ears as I watched Elman fire rounds of his own toward the enemy.
"This is Sentinel 2-1, dropship is out of the sky, Militia forces are retreating." I heard Price say as I slid beside my brothers by the log. Jon popped back up and opened fire, providing cover for Everett. Radio reports quickly flooded the coms, with each team reporting a successful takedown of the drop ships. But that wasn't what caught my attention. What caught my attention was a loud set of explosions from the sky, a large mass dropping from them. I smiled.
The large object dropped in front of our cover, causing several of the Militia to stumble back and shout out in panic. I watched as the massive machine got up and pulled a massive cannon from it's back. Soap, Arnolds' Titan. The titan quickly opened fire. The Militia grunts that didn't immediately run away were cut down as Jon started another round of whooping as he pumped his fist in the air. Elman stood by him, holding his rifle to his side as he breathed heavily, watching the Titan work.
"All squads, this is Starborn. Hostile forces are regrouping and retreating. Meet up in the main camp, we need to assess damage and prepare for phase 2. Nice work boys, you made me proud today. Starborn out." I heard Arnolds say into the radio. As she said this, Soap lowered his weapon and turned to face us. I gave a salute as I held my rifle with one hand. Soap, in turn, looked at one of his own hands, and after some struggling, gave me a thumbs up. I chuckled and lowered my hand, slapping Jon on the back.
"Come on boys, let's' get to camp."
