Amidst the ruins of the Draconis at coordinates 345.56 X, 449.78 Y, -98.98 Z, there was the buzzing sound of static and energy like microwaving a ball of aluminium. Sparks danced in the center of the coordinates and a gravitational lensing effect warped and distorted the rubble around the single point. The lensing increased in intensity and at the very center, a tiny point of blinding hot white light emerged. As the light grew, it shimmered and changed form and color into a blueish amorphic blob of pure energy. At once there was a thunderous roar as the fabric of space was ripped asunder and when the screeching subsided there was left a smoking sphere of metal. A rectangular box containing a blue lens stuttered and blinked several times before fading out and turning jet black; only an afterimage of the planet's sun remained as a reflection in the lifeless lense.

Cooper awoke in a frenzy from the impact, his lungs heaving for breath that wasn't there. His arms lashed out in a violent panic at the arrays of multicolored buttons and levers inside what was left of BT's cockpit. He slapped at the walls and scraped at his helmet with his fingernails. His face was pale and sickly looking and his chest continued to heave violently.

"B… BT?!" he cried out in desperation. Tears streamed down his face. "BT, don't leave me!" but there was no response. Wait, he thought. Wait, something isn't right here. I… I can't feel my legs. He felt around by his knees and was halted by the sensation of a warm liquid wetting his gloves. He brought his hands to his face trying to get his eyes to focus through the adrenaline. His periphery ebbed black and grey, tunneling, and when it finally focused enough for him to see his gloves he could tell they were soaked with blood.

"BT! BT I think I've lost my legs! I… I… I can't feel them! BT help me!…" now in a full on episode of panic he inhaled and exhaled rapidly several times before the shock overtook him and he fell unconscious, blood trickling from his butchered legs and spilling down the seat of the cockpit.

50km away Cmdr Briggs was about to have the transport pilot push them into the atmosphere and proceed to Harmony when the pilot messaged her through the radio.

"Ma'am, we just had a large energy signature appear and dissipate on the surface of the planet near the ruins of the Draconis. Orders?" the pilot tapped nervously on the control stick of the transport with a free thumb.

"Bring her down to investigate," Briggs voice piped through his comms.

"Roger that, ma'am,' the pilot's response came through choppy from the roar of the engines but Briggs heard it well enough. She lifted a shaking hand up to her helmet and hesitated a moment, thinking. Is that Cooper and BT? She snapped herself out of the thought and flipped Cooper's indicator back to Active, and waited. And waited. And waited. The seconds seemed to stretch on for hours.

Blip.

The 'Deceased' indicator pulsed several times before switching to 'Critical' instead of what should have been simply an 'Active'. "Move your ass, Pilot! Get to that - "

To all Militia forces, this is BT-7274 requesting emergency retrieval at coordinates 345.56 X, 449.78 Y, -98.98 Z. Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot… Complete.

Her emergency hailing frequency picked up BT's final message. "Did you copy that!" she spit through the comms.

"Yes ma'am, setting a course now," he responded. Afterwards the comms were silent other than BT's repeated emergency broadcast.

"Listen up! To all units in Transport 4-5-5, Pilot Cooper is alive and we are going to retrieve him. My indicators show his status as critical. Emergency Response Teams be advised this is a code Niner Niner Two Delta. Pilot in critical condition. Once this bird touches the ground I need you collapsing on his location. Be advised, possible hostile presence. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT let your guards down. We've had enough people die on this operation today already!" Briggs secured herself in her jumpseat and checked to ensure the harnesses were fully locked.

"Fast fall, double quick!" she barked through the master comms to the ship. The remaining crew scrambled to find their own jump seats and thumbed their 'ready up' indicators. Ping ping ping ping. One by one she saw the 'ready' indicators on a nearby monitor board flash green. "Drop!" The transport cut the engines and began to free fall towards the surface of the planet. Several kilometers above the surface the engines flared up again and initiated a reverse thrust to kill their momentum. The aft thrusters exploded to life and pushed them towards the hailing coordinates.

"I want men on those heavy cannons! Sweep the area for hostile forces as we begin our approach!" Briggs was ready for anything. As they began their approach, however, Briggs realized the readiness was unnecessary. The entire surface of the planet was scorched from the blast of the Fold Weapon. Any remaining enemy forces left alive from their previous assault had been completely vaporized. Only the terrain itself remained but had turned a sickly grey color from the Fold's sterilization. Any life in the immediate area of the blast, sentient or otherwise, had been reduced to ash.

"Jesus…" Briggs whispered as they approached the target. Did Cooper really survive this?

The transport touched down with a heavy thud. The landing gear pressed its way into the dry and caked earth slowly compressing in on itself until the gears locked into place and it came to a complete rest. The central cargo hold lowered open and a stream of Shock Troopers spilled out, R-201s at the ready. They moved in formation away from the transport and worked their way towards the smoking sphere of metal, checking the cliffs overlooking the wreckage of the Draconis for any signs of movement. There were none. Behind them the Emergency Medical Response Team carried various metal cases and a high-ranking former combat medic, Dr. Dippy Patel was in close pursuit. He moved behind the Shock Troopers at a measured pace, knowing the medical team would likely have to pry the doors off the remains of the Titan before he could assess Pilot Cooper.

Dippy began to bark orders at his medical team as they neared the molten sphere, "Wait! Take a temperature reading of the cockpit before you touch it. It must be near 300C. I can see from the color!"

The team did as they were instructed. One of the medical staff took out a laser thermometer and took a reading of the hull. Turns out Dr. Patel was wrong. It was only around 200C but the heat emanating from the crashed Titan meant it was still too hot to touch, even with gloves.

"Get out the saws. Cut Cooper out of there," he said in a calm but assertive tone. "Careful not to touch the metal with your hands. It's still far too hot," was all he managed to make out before the screeching whine of the saw blades overpowered his words. In a matter of moments the remains of the cockpit door gave way and fell from the locking mechanisms previously holding it in place. The bottom half of the door was already missing, sheared off by the size of the energy sphere that had brought Cooper & BT to their resting place. Briggs had now caught up with the group and was watching with nervous tension. More smoke poured out from inside the cockpit. When it cleared, Cooper lay propped up against the right control panel of the cockpit. His lifeless body slumped in the seat, blood pooled on the floor.

"Wait, wait," Patel urged his team to stay back.

"I'm not waiting." Briggs snapped at him. She walked over to the opening, placed a boot on an outstretched piece of metal and climbed in. Her boot immediately started melting and the frame of the cockpit door singed her glove but she didn't care. She reached inside and scooped Cooper in her arms, tears welling in her eyes once again. The medical team behind her had set up a gurney. She backed out and jumped down from the cockpit, half-melted rubber oozing from the sole of her boot. She gently placed Cooper down into the gurney and took a step back, letting the medical team rush in and perform their work.

"Get tourniquets on those legs right below the knee. You!" Patel pointed to one of the other techs, "Open up that red case there and get out all the blood packs we've got in there. This is that AB+ bastard's lucky day. This man needs as much blood as we can give him right now if he is to have any chance of survival."

Briggs walked away from the whole scene and took a deep breath. Despite her years of training, the hardening of her inner self, the countless lives lost, she didn't want to see Cooper die like this. Not after all he had sacrificed not just for the Militia, but all mankind. She watched as the medical team hooked up more and more machines to Cooper. One of the techs took out a defibrillator as another used heavy scissors to cut away the suit from his chest. They smeared conductive gel on his pec and adhered the defib patches in a diagonal fashion across his heart and inserted the leads into the main board of the device. Whee - thump. Whee - thump. Nothing. Whee - thump. Nothing. Whee-thump! Someone else had placed a mask over Cooper's face and was pumping air into his lungs with a plastic diaphragm. Wheeee-thump!

Beep. Skreeeee. Cooper flatlined again. Another defibrillator charge. Wheeee-thump! Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. His heart beat four times and then stopped again. Briggs heard Cooper flatline six more times before finally producing a faint but steady enough reading on the heart monitor to be safely moved.

"Good enough for now, get him onto the Antiquity and radio in to prepare a surgery theater. We are not out of the woods yet," Dippy was telling his men. "Go, go! What are you waiting for?" A couple of the techs looked at one another and began moving Cooper towards the transport. The Shock Troopers moved with them, continuing to scan the horizon for hostiles that didn't exist. Briggs stayed behind to survey the remains of BT. Staring at the black and lifeless core nestled in its control unit, she took a small hoop from a pouch on her belt and inserted it into the gaps around the lens. With a grunt she rotated her hand to the left to loosen the AI Core and unscrewed the rest with her hand until only the large lightbulb-shaped construct remained in her palm.

"Come on, BT," she said, "We're going home."

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