"Vesta"
Unknown desert region
400 miles from Angel City, planet Cerberus
The round eyed Titan opened up on Kanan and VT with its 40mm cannon, slowly depleting VT's shields and forcing Kanan to dash sideways. He knew VT wasn't going anywhere until he can get to the top of the hostile Titan and steal its spare battery, and time was running out for both of them.
"Enemy Titan spotted. Chassis number VT-01." Announced the Titan as it slammed onto the plain just meters in front of VT-01, its gun aimed at VT and ready to kill the prototype any moment. Kanan took a deep breath and double jumped into the air, with his trajectory intersecting with the enemy Titan's and breaking its lock.
"Warning. Enemy pilot detected." The Titan said as Kanan gripped firmly on the antenna stretching out of the top of the it. It spinned itself left and right desperately, in hope of sending the pilot flying, But Kanan had an iron grip, and he proved to be more than a challenge for the imperial pilot.
After half a minute of being thrown around and barely missing the Titan's Salvo rockets, Kanan finally managed to hop onto the top of the Titan and grab hold on its spare battery, igniting electric sparkles from inside the Titan.
"VT, catch!" Kanan shouted as he threw the battery towards the crouching Vanguard Titan. VT's SERE kit lifted, allowing it to detect the incoming Titan battery and catch it with its faulty(since it only had two batteries)right arm. "Power at full capacity. Engaging Guard mode." It announced as the enemy Titan moved in towards its position.
The hostile mech raised its tracker cannon and tried to slam it down VT's chassis. But with a third battery in place, VT was now able to move its limbs no problem. Its thrusters warmed up, pushing the 40 ton chassis upwards and blocking the strike with its arms.
"Protocol 2: Uphold the mission. Objective: Destroy the enemy Titan." VT said calmly and launched a sidekick into the white and red Titan's hips, sending it flying backwards and kicking up the sand behind it. With the stolen cannon now VT's, it aimed at the recovering Titan and fired its explosive rounds at a slow but deadly rate, shredding the hostile Titan piece by piece.
The Titan sat on the ground, its chassis flaming at its pilot's blood flowing down his body. Its Salvo rockets tried to activate itself and return fire to the Vanguard, but with both the pilot and the Titan's datacore out of action, it twitched randomly and eventually collapsed to the ground. "Enemy Titan down. Thank you for your help. Pilot" Declared VT.
"Class: Tone. Weapon: 40mm tracker cannon, tracer rockets. Defense: particle..." The newborn Titan babbled on until Kanan gestured it to keep its loudspeaker shut. "Yeah, tell me that later. What the hell was that?" Kanan asked with his left arm akimbo and his right pointing at the remains of the Tone Titan.
"I was going to explain it to you, pilot. Class: Tone..." Replied VT. "Arrr...I mean its affiliation. I keep seeing the word IMC on these imps, and on this Titan. Who is the IMC?" Kanan growled and returned, annoyed by the prototype Vanguard's programming.
"Forgive me pilot." VT lowered its volume and apologised. "The IMC is a private military contractor, often associated with the Galactic Empire. They are also responsible for our losses during operation Fracture." It explained.
"I am detecting more life signatures approaching. They might be the Cerberus. I suggest you embark, pilot." Said VT. Kanan hesitated. How am I supposed to link with this guy when I can't even see clearly? "Are you sure? I mean I can just handle those wolves on the ground." He denied.
"Possible. But my chassis can protect you without having to initiate Neural-link. Hop in." VT insisted, and opened its hatch on the front of its chassis, gesturing Kanan to step on. "Alright. You win." Kanan threw his hands in the air and jumped onto the seat of the Vanguard.
VT caught a Cerberus in its palm as the wild beast lunged towards the Titan. The mech didn't even bother to scan the predator in its hands, and simply squeezed it until it burst open, sending its interior splatting on VT's chassis. All Kanan could do was sit on the pilot seat and watch his new partner kill off the Cerberus with its acolyte pods, since he hasn't even started his Neural-link with it and it was fulling capable of countering a few hounds, despite its lack of human sense.
"All hostiles eliminated." VT said after a few minutes of compressing and blowing up Cerberuses. "Pilot, there is a VR function in your helmet. It can help you heal your eye injuries." It continued. "Sure. I'll do that." Replied Kanan as he toggled his helmet.
"I understand the annoyance of explaining all enemy types to you. I will simply display the enemy type while you're engaging." Suggested VT. The Titan marched away from the what's left of the IMC camp, vibrating the ground beneath Kanan. He didn't answer, though, for he was drowned in his own memories during Demeter.
And that's how they spent the night. With Kanan drifting in and out of consciousness and VT babbling on and on like there's no tomorrow.
After spending at least half a week inside the chassis of VT, Kanan finally managed to restore his sights, allowing VT's programming to let him step out of the humid seat and stretch his legs. Kanan removed his helmet and blinked. His left eye still stings a little, but unlike before, he could now see and aim clearly.
He landed on the sand on all fours, his CAR strapped on his back horizontally and his helmet hanging on his left hand. VT detached its tracker cannon and rested it on its left shoulder, while getting back on its spiky pads and marching on.
As the two walked towards a rocky mountain in the distance, Kanan's hands got itchy, and was tempted to reach for his knife. Having no reason to stop himself, he drew his 8 inch knife and rotated it with his fingers skillfully, as his teammate Sabine Wren taught him.
It was only one of the vast knife tricks Sabine tried to teach him, all of which originated from her homeworld Mandalore. Kanan sure was glad those people weren't a fan of the IMC's oppression, as VT said a few days ago, because from what he saw when it displayed the Mando's combat footage, every last one of them make excellent pilots, only better when it comes to close quarter combat.
The sand next to him flew off the ground each time VT stomped on the desert floor, leaving a distinct trail behind. "I thought about your name." Kanan finally broke the silence, and the dull regular sound when VT's foot hit the surface. "I'll call you Vesta." He suggested.
VT glued its blue ocular system at him, seemed to be surprised by the nickname the pilot has come up with. "I do no think that's a suitable name. According to Roman mythology, Vesta is a female name. That violates my male programming." It argued.
But Kanan gave no attention to the mech's statement, and insisted on his idea. "Okay. Vesta it is." He returned playfully, ignoring the sweat and dirt crumbs running down his head. "I still object. However, I will not waste my battery arguing with you." VT replied in frustration, knowing that humans, especially SRS, tend to be stubborn.
The following night...
Kanan sat on top of Vesta's tracker cannon, with the corpses of the planet's fauna in front of him. The incendiary grenades the duo recovered in the middle of the desolate land rested next to the Titan weapon, a little rusty but still functional. Kanan's already found plenty of wood and dry leaves to start a fire, but for some reason, his fire starter was somewhat faulty tonight.
"Aw, hell. What's wrong with this thing?" Kanan grumbled. "I do not know. But I have discovered a new function of my Vortex shield that my help." Answered Vesta, who was calibrating his optical fibres buried within his right arm. Kanan looked up to the Titan sitting beside him as he finished his sentence. "Well do enlighten me." He requested.
"Pilot, I recommend you stand back. The effect of this function will result in exposing you to high temperature." Vesta raised his arm and activated his vortex shield, spraying fire towards the wood and igniting it with ease. Kanan removed his gloves and rested his elbow on his crossed legs, while leaning his head forward to exhale warm air into his palms to wait for Vesta to mop up his business.
Once the fire stabilised Vesta stood up while Kanan leaned backwards to get his dinner ready. "I need to stretch my hydraulics." He requested with his usual deep but friendly voice. "No need to tell me." Kanan replied as he moved the corpse attached to one end of a long branch closer to the fire.
"I have a question." Vesta piped up after pacing around for a few seconds. "What is Ryloth?"
Kanan sighed sadly. Ryloth was where his wife was from, and it was occupied by the Empire(possibly the IMC as well) shortly before Fracture. "Ryloth is an outer rim planet not far from the Frontier. It's annexed by the Empire. The last time I was there I was covering the retreat of the 1st Militia fleet. It's also my wife's home." He explained.
Vesta noticed Kanan's apparent sorrow, but he was a Titan, and Titans were never capable of understanding emotion. "Noted." He simply replied as he continued to throw balls of flame towards the fireplace.