Chapter 4 - Prototype

Chief re-examined the cart after as they prepared to depart. Under normal circumstances, the trek they were about to make could have been done in under an hour, but with the fragile cargo being carried, he couldn't risk more than half speed, even less considering those who would be accompanying him. He looked up at the rows of horses being readied behind him, about fifty of them. They were going to be the main impediment. Erwin approached to review the plan.

"Are you sure this is enough soldiers? Our usual expeditions include at least twice this number."

"Any more than this and it would slow us down too much. We need to be as fast and maneuverable as possible. We spread out too much and we create weaknesses in the formation. A compact unit is the best way to avoid drawing too much attention as well as defending our cargo. It also allows me to provide covering fire if needed."

"Then I'll trust you with this, but I'll reassume command if things deviate too far. I'm taking a risk giving you authority over this mission, so keep my men alive."

"Understood." Erwin returned to his horse as Chief hopped onto the back of the warthog. "Attention!" Chief roared over the small selection of scouts, "Your commander has granted me control over this operation. Our goal is to transport this titan to the crash site of a UNSC frigate roughly 100 km from here. In order to minimize risk, we're keeping our numbers low. We are one unit and we all act as one. Avoid all engagements possible; Attack only if you must. It will take roughly three hours to reach our target. Once we arrive I will give further instructions, until then, survive." The scouts understood, but unsurprisingly stayed silent. While they had absolute trust in Erwin, this new leader had to earn their trust and Chief knew that. He pulled Cortana's chip from his helmet and leaned over the roll cage to the dash. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Compared to piloting a starship, this is rudimentary for me at best. Although, the modifications you made are rather crude, nonetheless it should be fine." Chief plugged the chip into the newly created A.I. port and the warthog revved up. Chief took position on the gun and motioned for the gate to open. The vehicle started slow as it tried to compensate for the extra weight, but sure enough it gained speed and changed forward with the rest of the scouts in tow.

Chief's strategy differed greatly from those he studied during the wait for today. Until Erwin took command, most expeditions were disorganized and lacked proper leadership creating mass casualties. Erwin changed that and developed a rather brilliant formation for large scale expeditions, but for today's goal, it had flaws. The reliance on signal flares meant there was a sizable delay in communication and made changes in direction and goal slow and subject to error and the sheer range of the formation left glaring weaknesses when it came to defense. If titans suddenly attacked one front and wiped it out before a flare could be sent, it would create a massive vulnerability for the rest of the mission and would make reinforcement of critical assets much more difficult. The more tight nit approach Chief chose allowed for quick and precise adjustments to formation and kept defense high. The results were quickly apparent.

The larger titan's couldn't react to the Chief's sudden course corrections being left in the dust. Those that could keep up were bombarded with a hail of bullets, crashing them down into the dirt. No titan could manage to get close enough to warrant any of the scouts dismounting. Despite initial reservations, the scouts were relieved by the surprising effectiveness of their temporary leader's command. The horse charged on in near peace until their target slowly entered sight.

Two hours into the journey, Chief caught sight of the target in the distance. Despite the fact it was still barely a black marble on the horizon, Chief decided to inform his soldiers that they'd reach their goal soon. As the warthog continued to drive, he stepped across the gap between the two cars and walked over the titan to the back of the wagon. He pointed out to the Dawn which continued to slowly grow in size and spoke.

"You all should be able to see our target on the horizon, we'll arrive in about another hour, but the terrain is going to start getting rougher. Make sure not to fall off your horses." Chief returned to the turret as the scouts chuckled at his claims. Another hour? They could see where they were going, how could it take more than another 10 minutes. However, quickly the ground began to slope, rocks, bumps, and hills splattered the land as the horses treaded through the loose gravel. The spot grew larger with each minute. The scouts lost their carefree demeanor as the object soon reached the size of their wall and continued to grow. 75 meters, 100 meters, until finally as their horse slowed to a stop, the towering ship rested at nearly three times the height of the wall. Most froze from the magnitude of the structure that layed before them, Hange on the other hand gleamed with excitement. One the shaken scouts spoke out.

"You came here… on that?"

Chief commented as he dismounted the warthog, "This is only the half that survived." He leaned over to the center console and pulled Cortana's chip.

"I've left a subroutine to keep the warthog moving." Walking over to a maintenance entrance with the warthog in tow, Chief plugged the chip into the access console, lights flickered as the door opened.

"From here we're going to split into three groups," Chief addressed the dismounting scouts, "Erwin and Hange will follow the titan to the science wing and Cortana will instruct you through the experiments. While we wait for that, Mike's team will scavenge the ship for supplies, weapons, munitions, anything that isn't bolted down. Levi's team will do the same out here, a lot was sent flying during the crash. If it looks like it works or can be repaired, grab it."

Erwin approached, "What will you be doing if you don't mind me asking?" Chief picked up some dismantled equipment from the passenger seat, the ODM gear he was leant earlier.

"A side project."

"I see…" Erwin turned to direct his men, "You heard the man, let's get to work!" Scouts filed into the ship behind the autopiloted warthog.

"I'll guide you all to the armory, you can start there, " Cortana announced over whatever speakers remained operational. Strips of lights glowed to life leading opposite of the titan car and the groups divided. Levi started directing his team around the scrap ridden wasteland. Chief worked through the mess with more purpose gathering the parts he would need for the improvements he had planned. Winches from a couple totaled warthogs, thrusters torn from some scrapped jump jets, gears, hydraulics, and anything else that could come in handy. With the necessary parts gathered, Chief headed into the ship as well.

The elevator came to an abrupt stop as Erwin and Hange found themselves at the end of the science wing's corridor. "This is as far as the warthog and titan goes," Cortana informed the duo, "The room we're looking for is 3 rooms down to the left." Upon entering the room, their eyes quickly caught sight of the many panels, screens, and tubes that lined the walls and filled tables, but also smashed debris and glass riddled the floor.

"All this looks incredible, I can't wait to see what kind of experiments we're going to be doing." Hange spoke as she made a lap around the room."

"Don't get too excited," Cortana's form rose from a podium on one of the tables, "I'm going to be handling most of the work, I just need you two to do the physical work i can't." She waved her hand and the room came to life, at least, as best as possible. Many of the consoles sparked with electricity and less than a quarter of the screens worked enough to be useful; More glass shattered from the sudden surge of power. "Unfortunately most of this won't work without extensive repairs," She pushed a button on her holographic panel and a drawer popped open. "Luckily the few things we do need will." Erwin and Hange rummaged through the drawer and pulled out several items; Some large needles, surgical tubing, a dozen six inch vials, and various other unidentifiable items.

"What are we going to do with this?" Erwin asked.

"You two are going to draw the titan's blood."

Chief wound the titanium cables around the newly reinforced carapace and ran it through to the new launch unit assembled from prototype accelerator rails. He attached the old steel hooks as he prepared for a test fire. He faced the unit towards one the walls and pulled the trigger on the old sword hilt. The hook launched at untrackable speed towards the ship's haul, the hook buckled under the force and the expansion of steel lodged it in the wall as Chief expected. He pulled on the cable, tearing the flattened metal from the wall, allowing it to fall to the floor. Chief pulled the lever next, activating the winch and reeling the line back. Discarding the steel scrap, he affixed the replacement hooks and finished retracting them to their locked position. He tested the propulsion next; Pulling on the second trigger, the modified jump jet thrusters pulled at the assembly trying desperately to rip it free of the clamps. The final thing to test was the magnetic lock. Chief disengaged the clamps and lifted the equipment up, swinging the system onto his lower back. The magnets kicked in and the finished prototype pulled close and locked into place identically to his other equipment. The only thing left to do was to disconnect the triggers and hook it to his neural interface.

Hange slowly plunged the needle into the titan's arm as Erwin tried to stop the writhing beast from moving to no effect. Blood began to flow through the tubes and pooled into the first glass vial. The two breathed heavily as they could finally relax. Cortana looked at the two of them, clearly disheveled and a bit beaten up from the struggle.

"That looked like fun," Cortana said sarcastically, "But at least we've got the hard part over with. Once you're done with that, I can take care of the rest." Hange cycled through the vials, careful not to break the seals and returned them to the lab with Erwin in tow. Cortana directed them to a large circular machine with vial racks and instructed hange to fill it with the drawn blood. The machine spun up as the two were allowed to rest. "I estimate the analysis will take about 10 minutes. Once it's finished, we'll be set to leave."

"Cortana, do you have a moment?" She heard Chief's voice coming from the other side of the ship.

"It seems I'm needed elsewhere for a moment. Try not to break anything while I'm gone." Cortana dispersed leaving the two scouts to themselves. Her blue glow raced across the ship emerging once more in the maintenance bay. Her eyes locked onto the damaged wall, panning across the room at all the junk, tools, and debris that was newly scattered before landing on the equipment placed on Chiefs back "You've been busy. I take it that's your little side project. Looks nice."

"All that's left is to link it to my armour's neural network. I take it you can do that."

"Well if it's anything like what you did to the warthog, I might have a few hiccups," She jabbed at Chief, "Let's get to work."

She stepped onto Chief's hand and sunk down into his palm. She glided through the Mjolnir's mainframe constructing the new nodes and tethered them to the modified ODM much like how weapons and equipment link to Chief's HUD. Icons for left and right hooks lit up on Chief's visor along with a temperature reading for the thrusters. She calibrated gyroscope sensors, created power controls for the rails and reel speed, crafted aim reticles and linked them to the visors distance calculators. She pulled the threads along, splicing elegantly into the complex matrix surrounding her. What could be perceived as hours for her was completed in minutes.

"That should do it."

"That was fast."

"I had to cut out the safety regulations, but you should be fine." Chief chuckled quietly at the banter. "Now, why don't you see how it works." Chief looked at the spot on the wall he had previously fired at. The reticles on his hud moved and highlighted the region giving a distance of 10 meters. He set the power output to 50% and tried to fire. The left reticle flashed red and the hook launched out, striking the marked point with pinpoint accuracy and locking itself in place. In another thought the hook retracted and the line reeled in.

"Well Done." Chief disengaged the magnetic lock and removed the gear. "Now how's it going with the titan."

"Hange and Erwin were able to successfully draw its blood. They got roughed up a bit but are otherwise fine. We should have our results soon."

"Good, I'll start rounding everybody up, you should head back to them."

Cortana dissolved away and resurfaced once again in the science wing to see the two of them standing in front of one the few working computers. Hange struggled to figure out how it worked while Erwin watched. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Hange quickly jumped back at the sudden voice, not expecting Cortana to return so soon. "All these systems have extensive security. If you do something wrong, it could erase everything stored on it."

"Sorry about that." Hange said as she scratched her head nervously.

"Anyway, looks like the analysis is done, store the blood in that drawer over there and we'll be ready to go." Hange transferred the blood to the refrigerated drawer and the two of them headed back to the elevator where the titan was while Cortana downloaded the data. "This is far more extensive than I thought,"Cortana grinned, "Interesting. I'll sift through it on the way back." Fading away for the last time, Cortana guided Hange and Erwin back the way they came with the titan in tow.

As Erwin and Hange returned to the ship's entrance The remaining scouts had finished loading the wagons as Chief instructed. Two wagons full of supplies from rations to medical supplies, weapons to research equipment, were ready to go. Having noticed the two return, Chief approached Erwin.

"We've barely made a dent in the salvage, but these are the essentials going forward."

"That's more than enough, we've done more in a few hours than the scouts have been able to in years. We may actually be able to start taking steps towards the future."

Chief glanced up at the towering wreckage as he thought up several possible utilities for what remained. "Cortana, how many of the point-defense guns are in repairable condition?"

"The two ventral guns could be repaired once the maintenance wing is operational and ammunition could be produced if we get the printers running."

"Good," Chief turned back to the pair, "Erwin you mentioned humanity has never been able to maintain a lasting presence outside the walls?"

"Yes, any attempt to set up an outpost has resulted in mass casualties and wasted resources. We've all but given up on the possibility."

"I believe we can change that. After some repairs, this frigate can become an impenetrable hub for future military activity."

"And you're willing to offer us that? Before we came, you said there were parts of your ship we were not allowed to access."

"That hasn't changed, but any chance I have to return home starts with repairing this ship and a mutually beneficial exchange of resources is the most efficient way to achieve that."

Erwin thought for a moment. "And you can ensure this place won't be overrun."

"Affirmative."

"It's certainly something to consider, but that can wait until we return to scout HQ."

"Understood." The troop readied their horses and departed on the return trek. Unlike the trip out, it was strangely quiet. For the majority of the trip there was not a single titan in sight. The peace put the scouts on edge, and as the wall came into view so did the blockade waiting for them. Dozens of titans gathered between them and safety and began to march toward their prey.

"Something's not right, they've never gathered like this before!" Erwin exclaimed to his men, "Ready yourselves for battle." Erwin pulled his horse alongside Chief. "I don't think your gun's going to be able to take on all of them, let us handle this one."

"Don't worry, I have a surprise for them." The scouts lept from their horse and began their assault. Erwin, Hange, Mike, and Levi accompanied by their squads moved with precision, swinging from titan to titan, cutting them down one after another. But even so, the titans far outnumbered them, and it became difficult to keep up the attack as they expanded their stamina. A few of the scouts began to slip up and were caught in the titans' hands. As death approached one of the scouts a streak of green flew by, blood sprayed from behind the titan, and the titan's grip disappeared as the scout broke free. At first the scout believed his savior's identity to be that of captain Levi, but he was busy fighting his own group of beasts on the other side of the battlefield. He looked over the warthog only to see its occupant was now absent.

The first shot pierced straight through its target at full power, the weight of the swing visibly swaying it off balance, and as Chief released, the titan tumbled to the ground. His actions were awkward at first, similar to post augmentation or the first time wearing his armor. He was nowhere near his full potential with the new equipment, but even so he moved on par with some of the scouts' best. He prioritized protecting the weaker scouts first. From one target to the next he cut through their necks swiftly; The titans that tried to react were simply bored through by the pure force behind his attacks. As their numbers dwindled, Chief's actions finally caught the attention of his scout seniors. The speed, the ferocity, everything about Chief's movements matched that of Levi to a T, but they were unaware that he would only improve. The last titan soon fell and they all regrouped in front of the city gate.

"That was some surprise you showed us," Erwin commented on Chief's performance. "Can that equipment be reproduced."

"That would not be advised. This has been tailored to my specifications. Were anyone else to use it, the forces generated with tear muscle, dislocate limbs, and rupture organs. A fate I would not recommend"

"Duly noted," Erwin nodded and motioned to enter the city, "Now let's return home."

That night the scout leaders gathered in the HQ meeting room to await the news, Chief stood before them, plugging the power line for the holo table into his armour. Cortana crossed over and began to pull up various diagrams and data charts, projecting them up for everyone in the room to see.

"Now that I've sorted through the data I got from the blood sample there's a lot to say. To start, titan biology is far more intricate and complicated than I expected. They are easily the most complex living creatures I've ever studied. Initial analysis shows that they are composed of many elements and chemical compounds I've never seen before. To put it in a way you'd all understand, from a traditional standpoint, titans are biologically impossible. Their very existence defies the laws of nature." Everyone's faces turned sour. After a few moments Erwin spoke first.

"So you're saying it's impossible to study them."

Cortana chuckled, "Far from it. While yes in a traditional sense that would be the case, there are a few explanations for this. One explanation is that evolution was radically different in this part of the galaxy, allowing something like this to occur. It is certainly the simplest explanation, but I do not believe this to be the case." Cortana waved her hand and the hologram focused on two DNA sequences. "This image to the left is an estimate of a Titan's DNA sequence and the one to the right is a typical human. You'll notice the Titan's is broken, large chunks of it are either damaged or missing. Given the amount of blood we analyzed, this shouldn't be possible. Combine that with the chemical composition and it leads me to believe something within the titans's biology is trying to prevent us from discovering their origins. Whether it's something preprogrammed within them, or sentient entity remains a mystery for me."

"What does that mean for our future research?" Hange joined in.

"If we are able to study multiple titans and cross reference the data, we can fill in the missing segments and from there it should be a simple task to reverse engineer the correct chemical makeup. There is one more piece of information of great note. You may want to sit down for this." Cortana waved, pulling up several more data files. "While mostly unreadable there are some recognizable patterns to it that will aid us. I can't pinpoint the exact point of divergence, but I can confidently say that the titan's closest evolutionary relative is that of humanity, the relation is even closer than that of primates which is striking." The news dropped them to their seats.

"You must be joking," Levi grew unstable and rose from his seat, "You expect us to believe that humanity's greatest enemy, the creatures that have brought us to near extinction, are our distant cousins!"

"You're free to disagree with me, but it won't change the results of my analysis. Please note that my interest in these creatures is the same as yours; I currently have to reason to deceive any of you." They all glanced at each other.

Levi sighed, and sat back down, "How are we going to share this with the rest of the kingdom?"

"I would recommend against that. As I've said, the data is incomplete. Without all the detail, this news would likely either cause chaos, or further reduce your credibility within the military." They all looked to Erwin.

"Your call commander."

Erwin got up and walked to the front of the room. "For the first time in history, humanity has taken a step forward, for the first time humanity has a goal, for the first time humanity has something within arms reach that we can achieve. We were the wings of freedom because we swore we would always march forward, through thick and thin, life and death, down to the last man, towards a better future for humanity. That has not changed, that will not change. However small that chance, however risky it may be, we will not turn back. Our actions today will forever change humanity's future, and it's time for us to take the next step. Dismissed." Everyone stood to attention and exited the room. Erwin turned back to Chief, "I hope we can rely on you going forward."

"Sir, yes sir."

Over the next year the scouts made great strides to their goal. Repairs were made the the Forward unto Dawn and the debris scattered about was turned into a fortified perimeter that no normal titan could breach. The comms relay was repaired, allowing Chief deploy a proper rescue beacon as well as set up a limited communications network between the Dawn and Scouts HQ. Many more titans were captured and studied during this time allowing Cortana to make great strides in her research, but mysteries still remained. Humanity finally had the foothold it needed to pursue the future. However, Chief would soon face his first real challenge since landing on this planet, one that would tax him both physically and mentally.


Hey guys, real quick i just want to say happy new years and Im sorry for how long this chapter took to release. I should nothave taken this long. I really don't have an excuse other than I just didn't feel like writing, which is embarrassing since i've prety much had this chapter planned out since august. I had this chpater open on my computer every day over the past 5 months and i just stared at it with very little desire to write anything down. Thats not to say i've lost my passion ofr it, just that there has been way too many distractions. I pray the next chapter won't take nearly as long to post. Good/Bad news, the next chapter will be on the shorter side and will be the end of this grop of prolouge chapters. After that we can start getting into the realy meaty bit of attack on titan's story and i have so many plans for that. Be sure to leave your thoughts and critics and I'll see you guys next time. Thanks for reading.