A/N

Sorry guys... no chapter today...

Nah, I'm just fucking with you guys. It's not much of a joke, because the words "CHAPTER 17" are directly below this authors note...

Just spit-balling, IDK.

Chapter 17…

"Are you ready, Ashley?" Cain droned in his usual grating tone. His torso had been tilted backwards so that his red ocular piece was pointed at the sky. "I will require verbal confirmation before any action is undertaken."

"Right," Ashley muttered as she tapped her gloved fingers against the palm of Cain's metal hand. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Wind speed, altitude and a required velocity have all been calculated," Cain responded, his chassis creaking as he moved. "I have made no error…"

"Uh-huh," Ashley breathed out in a defeated sigh. "If you think it's for the best…"

The woman settled herself deeper into Cain's giant metal hand. She curled her legs up to her chest and squeezed her knees with her arms.

"When you're ready…" Ashley muttered.

"I require clear consent before any actions can be taken. A calculated throw of my pilot would be in direct violation of Protocol Two."

"That's funny," Ashley chuckled. "You're the one who suggested this… but I'll put my life in your hands, you can throw me."

"Affirmative," Cain responded as he lowered his arm to the ground. "Happy landings…"

Ashley turned to give her titan a quizzical look. "Was that a joke?"

She didn't get the opportunity to respond as Cain quickly flung his arm upwards with an underhanded throw. His metal fingers released Ashley at exactly the right moment, flinging the female pilot straight up into the air like a rocket.

For a few moments, Ashley took the opportunity to stop and breathe…

'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale-'

Her brief moment of meditation was cut short when gravity kicked in, pulling at the edge of her body and dragging her back down to the ground. Ashley didn't allow the force to control her any longer than she needed it too. She activated her jumpkit and blasted herself forwards, grabbing onto the outer rim of the massive communications dish.

With a grunt and a few muttered curses under her breath; Ashley hoisted herself over the rim and took a seat on the edge.

The entire dish was tilted at a forty-five degree angle. There was a deep indent in the bowl-shaped center where the main antenna sat. From where Ashley was sitting she didn't have to worry too much about teetering over the edge, but that would change once she let go of the rim.

The view would have been nice if it wasn't early morning… it was far too dark to see anything.

'Shame…'

Ashley looked down at the center of the dish where the antenna sat. She tentatively released her grip on the rim of the dish and allowed gravity to claim her. With a huff she fell on her back and slid down the interior of the bowl; coming to an abrupt stop when she planted her feet on either side of the antenna.

Below her feet - on the bottom of the antenna - was a shiny plexi-glass screen that revealed the device's complicated internal workings. The pilot carefully lowered herself to her knees and wrapped her hands around the access handle. With the turn of her wrist and a quick tug she pulled the screen open to access the technology within.

But she couldn't make heads or tails of it. Stretched out before her was a cramped assortment of switches, ports, wires, cables and blinking lights…

"Jeremiah," Ashley muttered into her radio. She reached a hand behind her back and carefully pulled out the jury-rigged signal booster from where it sat. "Can you hear me?"

There was a moment of silence. "Uh… yeah?"

"What the fuck am I looking at here?" Ashley complained.

"Do you mean the antenna?" Jeremiah crackled over the radio.

"What else?"

"Okay… the signal booster needs to be plugged into a port," Jeremiah explained. "Should be in the top left…"

"That doesn't narrow it down," Ashley muttered, clearing some cables and wires away from the area he had indicated. "How do I attach the booster?"

"You'll notice that at the bottom of the cylinder bit, there's a small piece jutting out. You can jam that part into the port… it should work…"

"Should?" Ashley demanded. "What the fuck does that mean!?"

"Hey! You asked for a way to send a message and I gave you one!" The radio crackled. "It'll work… if I was trying to bullshit you then this would be the worst way possible…"

Ashley's right eye twitched as she considered his words. With a wordless huff she turned back to the task at hand. True to what Jeremiah had said, there was a port in the upper left side of the control board. Furthermore, the small part that jutted out of the cylinder of the booster looked like a good fit…

The woman wiggled the signal booster into the port, slamming it down a few times with her palm for good measure. With her work done she straightened her back and carefully stood back up.

"It's done," Ashley reported into her radio. "Anything else?"

"Flip all the switches."

Ashley bent back down and did as instructed.

"After that you should be good to head back down," the radio fell silent for a moment. "I'll leave that part to you…"

Ashley took a moment to pat down her armor to make sure she hadn't left anything behind.

Leaving the plexiglass screen open, she hopped off the antenna and slid down the rest of the bowl. She came to a stop near the lower rim, taking a moment to peer at the ground below her before leaping off.

"Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…"

Once she was a ten feet above the catwalk Ashley activated her jumpkit. The jets rapidly slowed her descent, making the last few feet of the fall perfectly safe. The catwalk rattled and creaked as her armored feet slammed into the old metal.

She had landed on the eastern catwalk and would need to make her way back to the control room. The building situated at the northeastern corner would provide her access to the northern catwalk- and the control room.

Ashley approached and gently pushed open the door of the northeastern building. She stepped into the small space and closed the door behind her.

It appeared as if this building served as the barracks for the communications station.

Her assumption was based on the two small cots that had been shoved in the top right and lower left corners of the room. The two cots and their surrounding space were vastly different, leading Ashley to assume which cot belonged to whom.

The one in the top right had been left messy, it's wrinkled sheets left lying around on the small bed. The walls that surrounded the cot were plastered with posters or hastily scribbled "To do" lists. Ashley could only assume that the top right bunk belonged to the man helping her.

The lower left bunk was the polar opposite of the one in the top right. The thin sheets had been folded and pulled up with a level of neatness that screamed "military". The walls around it were completely bare save for a calendar and a wall-mounted clock.

Ashley frowned and kept on walking, leaving the spot by the door she was rooted in. The pilot crossed the threshold of the room and accessed the door that would take her to the northern catwalk.

She closed the door behind her and crossed the length of the catwalk. Far off in the distance the sun began to rise, small tendrils of light seeping past the thick alien trees that surrounded the station.

The moment Ashley put her hand around the door knob, a prickly feeling in her neck began to act up.

Thankfully, she had more than one pair of eyes…

"Ashley," Cain droned. "There is a disturbance in the control room."

Ashley peered to the left and watched as Cain moved from his spot, his red ocular piece glowing in the dark. He stomped towards the window in the control room that he had blasted out.

"What kind of disturbance?" Ashley muttered.

"The second hostile is regaining consciousness and acting erratically," Cain responded. Ashley could hear yelping from inside the room as Cain no-doubt reclaimed his spot by the window. "Would recommend neutralizing both hostiles."

"No," Ashley responded, her wrist moving to twist the door lock. "Don't do that…"

"Affirmative."

"Keep your gun down."

Ashley released the loose door handle and raised her leg. She mashed her armored foot against the door, swinging it open and rattling it's hinges. There was a grunt and a smash as the person on the other side was knocked onto their ass.

Ashley darted her hand down to snatch her pistol out of it's holster. She kept the weapon low to her hip and surged into the room.

Two militiamen, a pilot and a homicidal supercomputer walk into a small room…

It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke her old teammate Colton would say…

The first thing that greeted Ashley when she walked into the room was the bright glare of Cain's eyepiece. As she suspected he had once again occupied his spot at the shattered window. To Ashley's left was Jeremiah, out of his seat and clutching the rim of the control board out of pure terror.

At Ashley's feet was the owner of the neatly made cot.

His name was "Edwards" apparently… and he looked pretty terrified.

"Fucking IMC!" Edwards snarled, his young face contorting into a look of rage. The young man scrambled back to his feet and broke off to the other door- Ashley didn't stop him.

"Edwards! Wait!" Jeremiah pleaded from the console, but the man in question didn't listen.

Ashley watched as Edwards flung open the other door to make his escape. He was stopped abruptly when a long metal arm wormed its way through the crack; it stopped Edwards abruptly and knocked him onto his back again.

"Thanks Cain," Ashley muttered, slipping her pistol back into its holster. She approached the groaning man and roughly grabbed the fabric of his uniform, hefting him back up into a standing position. "Stay st-"

She was cut off when a well-placed fist slammed into the vulnerable gap under her helmet, impacting her solar plexus. Ashley wheezed as she struggled to breath, but did not release her hold on the Militia soldier. The next punch slammed into her stomach, but her stiff armor protected the area from the impact.

"IMC bitch!" Edwards roared, his brown eyes wild. He tried to pry off Ashley's hands but couldn't loosen her iron-grip.

With a snarl Ashley surged her head downwards, mashing Edwards face with a headbutt. She released her grip on him the moment she did, causing Edwards to stumble back and slam into the rickety wall behind him. Ashley didn't give him a second to breath, surging forwards and raising her fist to brutally crush his nose.

To her surprise the young man ducked, causing her gloved fist to painfully impact with the wall. Ashley huffed when Edwards - who had collapsed to the ground - raised his legs to knock her back.

She allowed herself to stumble back for a moment. Once she was righted she pulled her pistol from it's holster and leveled it at the young man.

Edwards froze in his spot. Ashley noticed that his hand was grasping at his empty pistol holster- the look of surprise on his face made it clear that he didn't know that he had been disarmed.

"If. You. Move," Ashley growled through gritted teeth, each word carefully annunciated. "I'll fucking kill you…"

"Go ahead," Edwards spat near her feet. The young man looked around the pilot to spy Jeremiah at the control board. "Jerry! What the fuck man!? Why didn't you grab her!?"

"Edwards," Jeremiah hissed through gritted teeth. "Look to your left…"

Edwards slowly turned his head and looked to the window. His face paled when he found Cain's red eyepiece glaring back at him. Edwards looked between Cain and Ashley for a moment, looking increasingly uncomfortable by the second.

"Yeah," Ashley breathed, raising her pistol higher. "You're in-between a rock and a hard place… stay down."

Edwards' eyes glowed with hatred, but he said nothing further.

"Jeremiah," Ashley growled over her shoulder. "I attached the booster, power up the station."

"Uh… yeah," Jeremiah shivered as he spun around to access the control board "Just a sec-"

"WHAT!?" Edwards roared, his eyes alight with fury. His reaction prompted Ashley to turn off her pistols safety switch. "You're fucking helping them!? What the fuck!?"

"Will you shut up Edwards!" Jeremiah roared over his shoulder. "Shut up!"

"You coward!" Edwards lifted an accusatory finger. "You're helping our fucking enemy!"

"I'm trying to keep us alive!" Jeremiah quickly responded. "Stop pretending that y-"

A shot rang out in the room, the two men clutched their ears and howled in pain.

Ashley lowered the pistol, taking a moment to inspect the bullet hole she had left in the ceiling. She flicked the safety back on and relaxed her grip on the weapon.

"Both of you shut up! Jeremiah, get the station up and running," Ashley growled. She turned to face Edwards, who was still on the floor. "Edwards…? Right?"

The young man growled and shuffled in place.

"Your friend, Jeremiah," Ashley jerked her helmeted head in reference to the other man. "He's alive because he's sending a message for me…"

Ashley bent her knees to meet Edwards on his level.

"You're only alive because I didn't need to kill you," Ashley muttered. Her fingers tapped against the slide of her P2016. "But that can change…"

"So?" Edwards snarled. "You'll just kill us when the message is sent…"

"Maybe I will," Ashley muttered, hearing Jeremiah shuffle nervously behind her. "Or maybe I won't… but right now your best chance of survival rests in doing exactly what I say… understood?"

Edwards was silent.

"I'll take that as a yes," Ashley stood up and tightened her grip on her pistol. "Even if you somehow manage to kill me… my titan will squash you like a bug."

"Affirmative," Cain reported loudly, his voice ringing in the small room.

"Thank you, Cain."

"You're welcome."

Ashley turned away from Edwards to speak with Jeremiah.

"The station? Is it ready?" Ashley asked, approaching the taller man from behind.

"Yes," Jeremiah gulped. The control board in front of him hummed and blinked.

"Good," Ashley breathed. "Cain, send the SOS."

"Affirmative," Cain responded. "I am accessing the station's subsystems…"

There was a moment of silence as the station around them hummed.

"Data stream successfully sent," Cain reported. "I have broadcasted on all known IMC frequencies."

Ashley breathed a sigh of relief. She reached up a gloved hand and gently patted Jeremiah's shoulder, feeling the man flinch at her touch. "Great work…"

"T- thanks…"

If the man was expecting a swift execution… it didn't come…

True to her word, Ashley slipped her pistol into it's holster and leaned against a nearby wall. The room was silent and so were its occupants. Now there was nothing left to do but wait...