Derek Weaver looked down into the dark hole. Strange, octagonal rock pillars formed its sides, as was common in this region of Heliophore, and low vegetation crowded around its sides. The light from the local sun wasn't quite enough to penetrate into the pit's depths.
"You sure it's coming from down there, Junior?" Derek looked up at his paired titan, a heavy Scorch with dark tan paint. JN-9345, or Junior as Derek called him, looked down, multiple ocular lenses glowing.
"Affirmative." Junior's synthetic voice rumbled. "There should be a pilot helmet down in that sinkhole."
Derek adjusted the straps on his gear. "If you say so big guy. Just make sure no one sneaks up on us."
"I will observe protocol three." Junior unlimbered his massive thermite launcher, turning so as the get a better view of the landscape around them.
Taking a series of quick breaths to get his heart going, Derek leapt into the hole. He fired his thruster pack, pushing him toward the wall. He ran vertically along the columns, the light from his helmet barely illuminating the path. After a few jumps he landed on the mossy, wet floor, rolling to absorb momentum.
Derek stood straight and looked around. The edges of the pit's bottom were convex, and as his eyes adjusted to the dim light he could barely see the outline of some bodies. Looking closer, most of them turned out to synthetic – heavy stalkers with a few specters thrown in, it seemed. Opportunistic moss was already starting to grow in the metal skeletons.
"I've got some robots down here, but I'm not seeing any organic bodies." Derek relayed.
"Continue your search pilot." Junior's voice came in through Derek's helmet. "My scans indicate there is a helmet down there with you."
"Huh." Derek turned, clicking the flashlight on his helmet on. As he did so, the scene was thrown into stark relief. He could see the red frames of the stalkers, scattered specter limbs. And a few dead people.
"Oh, here we go." Derek walked to the bodies. There were three, two IMC grunts and a pilot. Inspecting them more closely, Derek grunted in consternation. He and Junior had been sent here to recover the remains of another Militia pilot who'd gone MIA, presumably killed. After landing, Junior had quickly picked up a pilot signal, which had led them here. But this dead pilot was IMC. Not only that, he and the two grunts had been dead for much less time than the specters and stalkers. Examining the grunts, he thought they must have been dead for a week or less.
"What have you found, pilot?" Junior asked.
"Some dead IMC's." Derek responded. "Our mystery pilot is IMC as well."
"If you will bring me his helmet, I can try to extract video logs."
"Sorry about this." Derek grunted as he pulled the helmet off. It was the multifaceted model favored by pilots who carried A-walls. Clipping the helmet onto his belt, he leapt up and made the jumping climb out of the hole.
As he scrambled out, Junior stomped toward him, one huge hand extended. Derek obligingly unclipped the helmet and deposited it in Junior's hand.
The heavy titan stood up straight, interfacing with the helmet. "I have decrypted the video logs." Junior rumbled. "This pilot was killed by Stevens, the pilot we were sent to find. An assumption – Stevens is alive and continuing his infiltration of the nearby Ares manufacturing facility." Junior crushed the helmet by quickly closing his hand, then tossed the remains aside.
"Well that's a good thing, isn't it?"
"In a way. This dead pilot was able to call for reinforcements. I am not picking up any IMC chatter, but we can assume they are looking for him."
Derek frowned under his helmet. "We'll probably have to warn him, won't we?"
"Affirmative. I also suspect that our long-range radio channels are being monitored, so we cannot do so via radio communication."
"Alright then, let's go find Stevens and hopefully we can all evac together. Let me in big guy."
Junior's hatch opened up, and Derek leapt in, briefly feeling the immense heat all Scorch's generated before it dissipated.
"Controls transferring to pilot, reinitiating cockpit cooling." From the inside of the huge titan's chassis, his voice was thunderous. "I have plotted a course based on the data retrieved from the helmet."
"Put the marker on my HUD." An instant later, a clear diamond popped up on Derek's visor, to his left. "Okay, let's get this show on the road."
Derek turned Junior and together they lumbered through the low, dense vegetation.
They walked for perhaps ten minutes before Junior rumbled an alarm.
"I am detecting an increase in IMC radio chatter. I cannot decode the signal, but I assume they have found or will soon find Stevens. We must uphold protocol two."
"Put it into drive big guy, time to haul."
Junior leaned forward into a lumbering run, each step crushing plants and driving the huge machine forward.
"I am detecting IMC forces ahead, recommend use of thermite launcher to eliminate threats."
Rounding a corner, Derek saw two IMC dropships with ziplines deployed and grunts zipping down to the ground. Some were dropped before they landed by a slim simulacrum wielding a stubby CAR machine gun. Stevens. He had a lead on them simply by being a pilot, but off in the distance Derek could see more dropships.
"Let me out." Derek pulled himself through the open hatch. "I'll provide covering fire. Get in there and support Stevens."
"Affirmative." Junior's hatch closed and he stomped towards the fight.
Derek scrambled up the rocky ledge that had protected them from the IMC troops' gaze, quickly alighting at the top. He pulled out his Double Take and lined up the holographic sights. He slowly squeezed the trigger, letting two bullets fly in tandem. They crashed into a grunt, knocking his helmet off and throwing the grunt to the floor. He quickly lined up another shot and fired.
As he did so, Junior stomped into the firefight.
"Enemy titan!" One of the grunts screamed. "Take cover!"
Junior spat a gas canister into the main group of grunts before loosing a mortar-like shot from his thermite launcher. The volatile gas erupted, blanketing the grunts in fire. Slotting another shot into his launcher, Junior stepped in front of Stevens, who crouched warily.
"Reinforcements?" Stevens' artificial voice asked.
"Affirmative pilot. We have been sent to ascertain your well being and provide assistance if possible." Junior said, shooting another round of thermite at the grunts.
Another dropship flew overhead, ziplines flying out of its sides as its side doors opened.
Dropping his thermite launcher, Junior stepped forward and grabbed zipline with both hands. With a massive, full-bodied tug, he pulled the dropship down lower. Before the dropship pilots could react, Junior grabbed on and activated his flame shield. Swirling thermite gushed from his left hand, melting the metal paneling and disabling the closest engine. With an angry whine the dropship fell completely to the ground.
Retrieving his weapon, Junior slotted in a new canister and fired it into the cockpit, setting the inside of the ship alight.
The last drop ship hurriedly sucked its ziplines back in before jetting off.
Derek jumped off of his perch and triggered his jump pack in midair, giving him just enough boost to land on Junior's broad shoulder.
"Hey Stevens! You're not dead." Derek sat comfortably on his titan's shoulder.
"Barely." Stevens slid a new magazine into his CAR. "We've got to get out of here. The Ares depot isn't a researcher facility like we thought – it's a titan manufacturing facility. We're lucky we haven't had any fall on us yet."
"An IMC titan facility this far out in the Frontier?" The implications of that were not good. As it was, the IMC had more overall resources than the Militia, but the distance from the core systems to the Frontier helped balance things out a little.
Stevens nodded. "I know," he said as he knew what Derek was thinking. "we're going to need everything we've got to bring this place down before it reaches maximum productivity."
"Our designated evac point is roughly two kilometers south of here." Junior interjected. "And the rendezvous is twelve hours from now."
"We should be fine." Stevens said. "As long as we hurry."
"Warning!" Junior said suddenly. "Hostile Titanfalls detected. Recommend you embark Derek." He opened his hatch and held one hand up. Derek slid off Junior's shoulder and onto the waiting hand before pivoting and sitting down in the cockpit. Junior sealed the hatch and turned around.
Directing Junior's ocular array up, Derek could see the meteor-like trail of a falling titan. There was a distant boom as the falling titan released its atmosphere resistant paneling, and moments later it crashed into the earth. Moments later, another titan thundered down next to it.
The dust quickly cleared. A Northstar and Ronin both stood, unlimbering their weapons as their cyclopean eyes glowed red.
Derek's heart rate increased. They were both lighter, Stalker-based titans and he wouldn't have hesitated to fight either one individually. But together they posed a significant threat.
"Well well, what do we have here?" The Ronin's pilot echoed from its speakers. "The pilots that have been causing all this trouble!"
"Pilot. I recommend we strike preemptively." Junior said quietly.
Derek wasted no time, hurling a gas canister at the two titans and following up immediately with a thermite round. As the ground ignited, the Ronin quickly dashed out of the flames and the Northstar took flight.
"Not one for words, eh?" The Ronin pilot said. "I can respect that."
The Ronin suddenly dashed forward, broadsword coming around in a wide swing. Junior threw up his left arm, catching the electrified blade and turning it aside. Derek stepped Junior forward, shoulder-checking the smaller Ronin and knocking it down. As he brought up the thermite launcher, the airborne Northstar landed a devastating railgun shot into Junior's chassis.
"Warning! Severe damage detected." Junior voiced.
The fallen Ronin kicked Junior back before righting itself, leadwall at the ready. In the corner of his eye, Derek could see the railgun's barrel glowing orange as the Northstar charged another shot.
Derek triggered Junior's flame shield just as another railgun shot rang out, the projectile dissolving harmlessly in the fire. Derek let the shield down and planted a thermite shot right into the Ronin's ocular lens, blinding it temporarily. As he did so, Stevens leapt up, grabbing onto the Northstar's leg. He quickly pulled himself up to the torso. Derek launched a thermite round at the Northstar, but it easily hovered to the side while trying to grab at Stevens.
"Pilot. I recommend disabling the Ronin first. We have a greater effectiveness against him." Junior said.
"Yeah, yeah, good idea." Derek bore down on the Ronin, brining up a heavy Scorch foot to kick the leadwall out of the Ronin's hands. The Ronin reacted quickly, briefly phase dashing away before reappearing with its broadsword clenched in both hands. It waited for an instant before dashing in again, this time lancing an arc wave into Junior. The electricity briefly shorted Junior's ocular systems, and while it did Derek could feel the broadsword landing blows.
"Major damage sustained." Junior warned as his ocular systems came up again. Derek saw the Ronin coming in again, and once again triggered Junior's flame shield. There was an awful metal shriek as the swirling thermite started to melt the Ronin's chassis. The Ronin dodged back, but Derek didn't give him time to recover. Another gas canister arched out and landed behind the Ronin as Junior slammed a fist into the ground, sending a line of fire into the gas, igniting it. The retreating Ronin had moved right into the patch of bright fire, and Derek could see it was starting to feel the wear. It stumbled out of the fire, right into Junior, who grabbed the Ronin's hatch and tore it off. Inside the now-exposed cockpit, Derek could see a white-armored IMC pilot who brought up his hands as if to protect himself.
Before the Ronin could do anything else, Derek unloaded the thermite launcher into the open cockpit, knocking the Ronin down and killing the pilot.
Turning, Derek could see Stevens had pulled the Northstar's battery, slowing it considerably. Stevens was still having trouble avoiding the airborne titan's fire though, moving as quickly and as erratically as he could.
"Junior, open up." Derek ordered. As the hatch opened, Derek brought his Archer rocket launcher up to his shoulder, locking onto the Northstar. The rocket sped out and crashed into the Northstar. The damage must have disabled the Northstar's thruster; it dropped to the ground and landed.
Derek wasted no time closing the hatch.
Derek eyed the Northstar warily. It hadn't taken nearly as much damage as Junior had – if the fight kept up for too long, Junior would be vulnerable to the Northstar's melee attacks.
The Northstar had other plans in mind though. It opened both missile bays and started firing a volley of rockets.
Junior activated his flame shield again, neutralizing most of the projectiles. The shield would last as long as though salvo though, and then Derek and Junior both would be doomed.
Through the fire and explosions, Derek could see Stevens mounting the Northstar again, prepping a grenade and dropping it into the Northstar's empty battery port. The resulting explosion staggered the Northstar, interrupting its volley.
It looked up, its one eyes locking onto Junior.
Suddenly Junior's voice rumbled through the cockpit. "Pilot, flame core is ready."
Junior dropped his launcher and brought both fists down to the earth, releasing a pyroclastic wave. The wave smashed into the Northstar, crippling it and dropping it to its knees.
Junior stamped forward, stopping in front of the disabled titan. The Northstar's one eye locked onto Junior's.
Junior plunged a fist into the Northstar's cockpit before activating flame shield one last time. Fire gushed out of the seams of the Northstar, which shuddered violently before exploding.
Stevens landed on Junior's back, pulling out his damaged battery and sliding the Northstar's in.
"You two okay?"
Derek looked at Junior's systems. Then he shook his head, although Stevens couldn't see it.
"No," he said, "you'll have to go to the rendezvous by yourself. We'll never make it."
Stevens hopped down onto Junior's thermite launcher, where Derek could se him. He nodded. "Good luck." The thin pilot jumped down and took off running.
Derek watched him for a moment as he ran off. "You ready big guy?" He asked.
"Affirmative Derek. It has been a pleasure serving as your titan." Derek could feel Junior pivot, as if listening to something.
"Hostile Titanfall detected."