Four's Logbook
I told Gates about what I heard down on Tyche. She still seems skeptical, but she made the call to request an audience with Briggs. If Briggs gets back to us, then we're in business. I hope that she can put whatever kind of info I've got to good use. I also hope that this doesn't totally blow up in my face, and Gates becomes pissed with me.
When KT contacted me earlier, something seemed off. It was like… I don't know, like she was apprehensive or something. Haven't seen her like this before. I'm heading back to the Titan barracks to talk with her, see if I can figure out what's going on.
Tobias walked into the Titan barracks; they weren't really barracks like humans had, they were just referred to as such. In reality, it was pretty much just a large space where Titans resided until they were placed in titanfall pods, or where they were kept when they weren't active. There were many chassises that were hung up on racks on the walls, and spare parts were lying around every so often. Inactive Titans either were unmoving and stationary in a neutral standing position, or were on one of the aforementioned racks.
Apparently that neural link allowed him to communicate directly with KT. He thought about transmitting to her, and tested it; "KT, you here?"
"Yes, pilot."
The voice didn't come from the neural link, but from off to his right. Looking over, he saw the Titan making her way over to him. He took off his helmet, and crossed his arms with it held in one of his hands.
"Kay, what's up?"
Her blue eye blinked. "To what are you referring to?"
He sighed. "You've had a few odd moments before, but you've never sounded as… almost fearful as you did over that transmission. Is everything alright?"
She hesitated for a few moments, and he waited for her to speak. The seconds dragged on as each stared the other down, waiting for the other to make a move, much like they had on that first night they'd met on Nedar.
"Do you remember when I met you in the hangar after having my chassis repaired, the day you joined the Militia?"
He tilted his head. He didn't know where this was going, but he figured he'd see it through. "Yeah, I remember. I was people-watching."
"Yes. I told you that you were unusual; that you seemed to have a fascination with taking risks, much like how you argued against my decommissioning."
He nodded. "Yeah, because you were pretty much-"
"Your only friend."
He was taken aback. Was that what this was about?
She looked away. "Titans are not friends. Our pilots, and other humans are our friends. But they do not often consider us to be the same." She glanced back at him. "You, however… you refer to me as a friend as easily as you would a human. Not even Shears would have considered Titans to be more than companions; military hardware with human-like traits, yes, but not much more."
He was a bit shocked to hear all this coming out at once. He hadn't realized that she'd thought about all of this.
"So when you first called me a friend, I was unsure of how to respond. I decided that I would continue to monitor our interactions, the way we fight together, talk together. And I realized that I consider you my friend as well."
She stared down at the ground, almost dejectedly.
"I am worried."
He moved closer, so he could put himself back into her line of sight. "About what?"
Her eye moved and locked gazes with him. "Though admittedly you have proven that survival is not your top priority, I was concerned for a time that you had only accepted the offer to join the Militia because you deemed it the safest option. To be clear, I thought you were only joining because you wanted to live."
"What?"
"I've come to understand that you are motivated by more than that, but I must admit; I was very anxious when you told me that there could be a threat to the Militia. I had a momentary fear that you would abandon me, and return to the IMC if you believed that they had a better chance of winning with the possibility of a new power to beat the Militia."
That was not what he'd been expecting at all. "You're afraid of me leaving you?"
Again, she looked down almost as though she were embarrassed. "I understand that this is not the case; but I could not help it. You are my only… friend, here as well, and I do not want to lose you."
He sighed, and snapped his fingers to get her attention. Her eye snapped back to him, and he smiled at her.
"Kay, I'm not going anywhere. There's no way that I'm ditching you, believe me."
He patted her leg as she blinked at him. "I never break a promise; so when I say that I promise to never abandon you, and that we're gonna be together for quite a while, you can bet that I mean it."
Her eye nodded, and she spoke again; but this time with a warmer and grateful tone. "Thank you, Pilot. I'm happy to hear it."
"No problem, KT. Why don't you deactivate for the night? I'll see you tomorrow." She nodded and turned towards one of the racks. He left her to her business, and made his way back to the bridge.
…
"Kid, I hope you know what you're talking about."
Tobias exhaled, and nodded. He was ready for this; he was just hoping that this didn't all go downhill.
One of the bridge crew members opened up a screen on a monitor while he and Gates waited. "Patching video feed through in three… two… connection established. Good luck."
Gates nodded respectfully at the monitor. "Commander."
A woman on the monitor nodded back. "Gates. Good to see you."
Gates chuckled. "And you as well, ma'am."
Briggs had a pale complexion, and a red bandana that wrapped around her head, keeping her hair spiked up in a vertical path. Definitely looked like someone he wouldn't want to pick a fight with. She gestured at him.
"As I understand it, you're the soldier who claims to have important information?"
He nodded, and stepped forward while Gates gave him space. "Yes, ma'am."
"Who are you?"
"PFC Tobias Four. Unless the Militia has decided to repeal my rank."
Briggs furrowed her eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
Shit. He looked to Gates for help, but she waved at the screen. "Not my place to tell her; go on."
He sighed. "I'm ex-IMC. I joined up with the Militia a month and a half ago."
Sarah nodded. "That's alright."
He was taken aback. "What?"
"Our previous top commander, James MacAllan, was a former IMC officer. In fact, one of our current lead commanders, Marcus Graves, was one too; though I ultimately hold the highest position of leadership. I've seen that it's not black and white in this war, and I'm willing to accept those who try to make up for their actions."
He nodded. It was a very gracious move of her to tell him that; she was essentially telling him that she was going to trust him on this one. "The Griffin moved to Tyche in order to refuel before regrouping with another portion of the Militia fleet. When we arrived, we found that the IMC were already there."
She nodded. "They were waiting."
"No, or at least I don't think so. These tactics were totally wrong for an ambush; it almost seemed like they were more surprised to see us than we were to see them. Once we arrived, they only fought us long enough to flee and get their ships out of the system."
She looked intrigued. He continued.
"When my team was stranded on the planet, I ran into an enemy Titan. Its pilot said something about the fleet moving to the Erebus system; it sounded like they were planning something, and he thought we were trying to stop them."
Briggs nodded, processing the information. "So…"
"I think that the IMC is moving a portion of their fleet to Erebus, where they're working on something. It could be nothing… or, as I believe, it could be something that they think will aid in their cause against the Militia. One thing I've learned in my service with them, is that they never do a job halfway."
Briggs narrowed her eyes. "Got that right. What are you proposing?"
He tilted his head confusedly. "Me?"
"That's right; what would you do?"
Was she testing him? What was this? In any matter, he decided to tell her exactly what she asked. "I would want to immediately follow up on this. Maybe not send the fleet, but some kind of scouting party. If we can figure out where this Erebus system is, then we can send people to figure out what exactly is happening there, and if the Militia needs to take note of it."
Briggs regarded him with something in her eyes. Was that… respect?
"Thing is… I agree with you. We may be stronger than we once were, but if something were to give the IMC an edge over us in straight combat… I don't think that we'd be around much longer. We definitely need to investigate this."
She raised an eyebrow. "Four, what section of the Militia are you in? Freelance, one of Barker's people, what?"
"The SRS Marauder Corps, ma'am."
"So my division, then. Well, Four, you are no longer a PFC. I'm promoting you to Lieutenant. And as your first assignment, I want you to lead a team to investigate this Erebus system."
He jerked his head. "Wait, what?"
Even Gates seemed a bit shocked. "Ma'am, that does seem a bit rash…"
Briggs shook her head. "In this war, things move very fast. Blink, and you might miss them. We don't have time to wait for people to gain the proper ranks, hell, we aren't even a proper military, we're a Militia; a rebel force. Fact of the matter is, these ranks are really just for command purposes. They may not mean anything to the rest of the galaxy, but they mean something to us." She looked at him again. "Are you willing to accept that?"
She had said that the war moved fast, but this was like being strapped to the front of a dropship. Still, she had a point. The war was definitely something that they could not afford to lose, and they might need someone like him on a mission like this. He knew the IMC, how they fought, their standard compound layouts. But you can't really be sending a Private to lead a black op, can you? So he understood her motivation, and finally came to a decision.
"Yes, ma'am."
She nodded. "Good. I'll work with some of my advisers here, and we'll lay our more of the framework for this op in the coming week. For now, tell no one else of this until we have more details. Understood?"
He nodded. "Understood."
"Good. Briggs out."
With that, the video feed ended. Gates stood there a moment, and then turned to face him. "Four, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?"
He shrugged nonchalantly, though inside he was shaking. "I have no idea."
A/N: This is a shorter chapter, yes, but not because of time or anything; believe me, I love writing this fic. But this chapter just doesn't work if it's extended too long; it works best if I end it right here.
I've seen so many awesome reviews by you guys, telling me how good the writing is and how much you guys look forward to each chapter; I've even had some of you PM me about it with things like that. Because of you guys, this pic is now the most EVERYTHING (reviewed, followed, favorited) fic in the Titanfall section of the site. Although to be fair, that's because there's really only about 33 stories here. Hopefully because of Titanfall 2's release, more people begin writing stories for it.
Every praise makes me feel ecstatic! I love writing, but I love it even more when the people reading it love it too! Remember to review, favorite, and follow, and I'll see you later! Until the next time,
- Matteoarts
