Chapter Two

Many of the older townships and holdings in North America that weren't included within the wall constructions were promptly abandoned and as a result, many unused buildings and materials lay in places all over the continent. When the final walls in the Eastern region were completed in 1965, the American Coalition Forces shifted their focus on technology research, information reconnaissance, and the reacquisition of resources for humanity's use.

There were many blunders and casualties at first but as time went on and battles were fought, plans were developed to ensure that each mission would provide the highest return at the lowest casualty cost. Each mission provided a steady amount of materials that could be recycled for use and as a result, had a part in helping to stabilize the disarrayed economy.

After the relative success of Operation Fairway, the ACF Sciences Division invested resources into developing technology that could effectively reduce the human-to-Titan casualty ratio by half. Some who transferred into the Sciences Division after Fairway, including Captain Amanda Carter, provided their experience and newfound expertise into upgrading the existing arsenal and drawing up new prototype equipment. After 10 years, developments by the Sciences Division were starting to look promising.

Dawn of an Era – Melissa Palmer (Springfield, Colorado, September 9, 1999)

The sun shone brightly in the blue sky, devoid of any cloudy obstructions, a rare sight for many people to enjoy as they go about their day busy trying to pay their bills, keep food on the table, and live to see another day. Melissa Palmer's squad from the 7th Recon Corps Division had the opportunity to enjoy such a moment, as they assigned to field test experimental technology developed by the Sciences Division. They were assigned to the Springfield Testing Grounds south of Fort Carson, a supposedly controlled open-ground environment where Sciences does performance testing on every prototype weapon and equipment known to exist in the Coalition arsenal.

The site was relatively secure, with three other squads from the 7th's Bravo Company on the perimeter keeping lookout and a Defense Corps Company on standby from Fort Carson as QRF. If there were any Titans that showed up, they would know about it; if things get too out of hand, the perimeter squads would fall in and be extracted by the 1st Defense Corps QRF.

Melissa rested her arm from shielding her face from the bright sunlight and focused her vision to the southern treeline where she could see a billowing cloud of dust trailing towards her. A Titan was making its way towards her and her squadmate who is also participating in the test.

"Bravo 2-4 Actual, this is Bravo 2-2," a male voice announced himself through her comms. "Two Titans coming from the southeast, both Class A's, over."

"Acknowledged Bravo 2-2, we're looking at the dust trail now, over" she replied and readied her weapon. She punched in some commands on a small computer interface mounted on her left wrist. The machine responded with an acknowledgement beep and blinked "APS READY" on the small screen.

The flat back-mounted gas tank part of the experimental equipment hissed and blew some gas out of the relief valve at the bottom. Next to her, Corporal Beasley activated his equipment, also hissing and blowing out some gas. As good as he was trying to hide it, Melissa could see he was trying to prevent his legs from shaking uncontrollably.

"Corporal, you're sure about this?" she asked him.

He looked at her, the surprise reaction plastered over his face. "Ma'am?"

"I won't think any less of you if you aren't."

He feigned his obliviousness until she pointed out "your legs are shaking."

He looked down then looked back towards Melissa and nodded. "It's a bit cold… ma'am."

She chuckled. "It's September in the middle of a sunny day."

There was a pause before took a deep breath, shrugged and confidently nodded.

"I can do it ma'am."

The cloud of dust began to close and loud footsteps can be heard in the distance.

"You better be able to, cause they're here."

From the treeline, they could see two 6m Titans emerging, followed by a trail of dust from their thundering footsteps. They quickened their pace to reach their human snacks before they could try to escape.

"Bravo 2-4, stand by to engage Class A targets," she declared to her squad through the radio before starting her charge towards the Titans. A sound of humming could be heard coming from her boots, modified to be compatible with the new equipment and equipped with small jet nozzles.

Corporal Beasley followed closely behind her, their wrist computers continuously blinking the state of the experimental equipment before displaying various readouts. The distance between them and the Titans closed significantly and were almost at point blank range for their weapons.

"Now!" Melissa yelled out.

At her command, she and Beasley entered a single command on their wrist computers and the status notification of the equipment changed to ACTIVE. They both jumped down onto the ground with both feet and sprang up into the air. The boot nozzles and the tank pack nozzle blasted out streams of hot air, propelling Melissa and Beasley over the Titans as they overshot their human targets.

They both aim their assault rifles at the napes of the decelerating Titans and fire steady bursts of 7.62mm rounds, effectively penetrating deep into the skin and perforating the nape. As they landed, the nozzles ejected more streams of air to soften the landing. One of the Titans collapsed as a result of the sustained fire on its nape but one of them was still active, turning to face the duo of soldiers who managed to avoid them in the air.

"I got him Corporal, go back to the squad!" Melissa ordered him to return to an abandoned building where the squad and a small Sciences team were garrisoned.

She began her charge towards the Titan, standing there in confusion, and jumped above it with the help of the new equipment. She used her momentum to manipulate herself in a position to shoot the nape. She fired streams of 7.62mm as she sailed through the air and caused the Titan to collapse just as she landed. The Titan's body hit the ground with a loud thud and steam rose out from the gaping hole made by Melissa's rifle.

She walked up to the Class A carcass, grinning at how easy it was to kill a small Titan alone using the new Jet-Assisted Propulsion System. Killing even a Class A alone is considered no small feat amongst humanity's soldiers; only a small amount of soldiers have racked several solo kills, and there are even fewer who live today to tell the story.

"Bravo 2-4 Actual, Bravo 2-3, two Class As and a Class B coming from the south," another man from the 3rd Squad reported on the radio.

"Acknowledged."

She pulled out the almost empty 7.62mm magazine from the bullpup rifle's magazine well, tucked it inside a vest pocket on her chest rig, and pulled out a fresh magazine from another pocket.

"Bravo 2-4 standing by," the squad's second-in-command's voice rang through to inform Melissa they were ready if she needed help.

Melissa firmly seated the new magazine into the well and checked on the APS's status. There was a substantial amount of gas left and the indication still blinked an emerald ACTIVE text. The ground started to rumble slightly, and the sound of big footsteps grew louder. She looked up and started sprinting towards the incoming Titans.

A pair of 5m Titans charged towards the center of the training grounds, trailed closely by a slower 9m which had a bulked torso, toned arms, and long skinny legs. Melissa sprung herself close to a tree and stepped off the trunk of the tree to build up momentum.

The 5m pair transitioned into a dive forward, attempting to catch the flying soldier but failed, leaving their napes in a vulnerable position for Melissa to unload hellfire. The slower 9m lagged behind, giving time for Melissa to set herself up in a position to strike above it.

Once the 9m finally closed in, Melissa once again used a tree to build up momentum. She could hear her squad rushing out from their cover and an unfamiliar voice yelling out orders. She rose steadily into the air until she came to a dead stop in front of the 9m's face.

'Fuck, I fucked up,' she scolded herself for being too overconfident.

The 9m opened its wide mouth and leaned its head closer Melissa.

'Shit, shit, shit, fuck. Not like this.'

Gravity finally took a hold of her but it came too late; by the time she gets down a couple of feet, she'll land on the 9m's tongue. As a final act, she fired her rifle down its throat, attempting to get the 9m to back down.

Through the noise of gunfire, she didn't hear the sound of another soldier using the APS to successfully jump up and over the Titan. The unknown soldier used the same method Melissa used to build up her momentum but somehow, reached farther than she could and managed to manipulate herself more smoothly while maneuvering into position to kill the 9m.

Once she was at the apex of her jump, she fired on the Titan with the full force of the 30 round magazine, successfully incapacitating it.

'Pretty sure I didn't do that,' she noted. The 9m groaned and suddenly snapped its mouth shut, its teeth barely clearing Melissa's rifle. The flash hider was sheared off, leaving jagged edges at the end of the barrel.

She watched while falling back as the Titan slumped over to her right and collapsed. A thick plume of steam rose from its neck. Other soldiers from her squad started to exclaim about the other soldier's feat, singlehandedly maneuvering over a Class B and killing it.

"Thanks for that," Melissa called out to the soldier.

The unknown turned to face Melissa, revealing a woman with an auburn bob-cut, some of the tips shaded in pink. She noted on her shoulder patch three chevrons, three rockers, and in between, a laurel surrounding the Defense Corps insignia. It was the representation of the Command Sergeant Major rank, an uncommon sight to be seen amongst the ACF's enlisted.

'Should've known it'd be her. Damn. She is as good as everyone says.'

"… ma'am," Melissa added to the end of her sentence immediately.

The CSM nodded her head and started back to the building. She placed her left hand on Melissa's shoulder as she passed her and paused.

"You did great," she met Melissa's face with her gaze. "Carry on."

A chill travelled down Melissa's back, meeting the CSM's comments by bowing her head slightly. She didn't know what to say to her except a very quiet "thank you" under her breath.

The CSM chuckled to herself and continued on towards the building.

"Major Reisz, this is Bravo-2-Sciences," she called on her radio for Bravo Company's commander.

"APS field testing is successful, what are our orders?"

As she carried on her conversation with the Company commander, another soldier approached her from the same direction the Class B entered the training grounds.

"I was watching you from where we had the observation post set up," he began, his strides bringing him to arm's length of Melissa. "Pretty ballsy of you to send Beasles out of the pit."

"You're still using that lame-ass nickname for him?" she retorted in kind to his comment.

"I didn't come up with it, you did."

"Whatever. What'dya think of my acrobatics though?"

He shrugged his shoulder. "Could've done better. CSM Kuriyama definitely stole the show from you by killing that Class B."

Melissa looked back at the CSM. It was noted by many how women of descent from an Asian country had an exceptional ability to retain their youthfulness. For her age, she looked like she could be in her late 20s. CSM Kuriyama was a veteran of Operation Fairway and teaches advanced combat tactics for the Defense Corps at Fort Lee, Virginia.

The ACF Sciences Division called on her expertise to test out their latest development: a propulsive maneuvering system that allows a human combatant to utilize three planes of movement instead of two planes in conventional warfare. Her ability to adapt her perspective of the battlefield is one of her exceptional assets.

"She said I did great then walked away."

"Hm," her fellow soldier smiled. "Don't take it personally Lisa. That's actually a compliment from her, and it's a rare gesture."

She faced him and raised an eyebrow. "And how could you possibly know that?"

He looked down at her feet then back towards her eyes. "I told you, my dad talked to a lot of people during his time with the Corps."

"This is Major Reisz," their radio speakers blared out. "Pack it up Bravo Company, we're going back to Fort Carson. Reisz out."

Melissa shut off the APS on the wrist computer and slung the assault rifle behind her back. The pair then picked up a crate of equipment and placed it on a flat dolly. In the distance, they could hear the sound of UH-60 Blackhawks starting up their rotors for take-off.

"So what's for dinner tonight Okazaki?" she asked, walking alongside the dolly while he was pushing it. She could see in his eyes that he was slightly terrified of almost losing her to a Titan. If it wasn't for Kuriyama, she'd really be dead. Or worse, live through an extremely severe injury. He hid his terror very well but she knew him well enough to know he was concealing it.

"My dad makes a mad macaroni salad," he replied intellectually.

"Hmm, is that finally an invitation to see your dad?"

"Maybe," he responded quizzically.

She noted he wasn't his usual witty self like before.

'Maybe just for today.'

"How about before we meet your dad, we… unwind," her voice's suggestive tone lightened the mood further, which was enough to push Okazaki back to his regular self.

"Now you're being ridiculous," Okazaki responded bluntly.

"Oh," she looked down at the ground and frowned.

"We can't just do it before dinner, we have to wait until he leaves the house."

She smirked then looked him in the eye. He smiled slightly at her then looked towards the Blackhawks that were taking them back home to Fort Carson.

She stretched her arms out and expressed a loud sigh of relief.

"Aside from that close call, I can see this day ending very well."