Prologue: One Frontier destroyed, a new one opens
2732, Harmony
Unbeknownst to him, his first visit to Harmony would also be his last.
"Pilots, your objectives are to lay siege on the Frontier Militia's headquarters and cripple the Militia forces. Leave no enemies standing. General Marder out." The ARES division commander briefed the IMC troops aboard the Remnant Fleet. With the rapidly growing strength of the Militia for the past two decades, the IMC were becoming more desperate to increase their war efforts against the enemy. This was a joint mission between the IMC's Remnant Fleet and the ARES division, working together to cripple the Frontier Militia , before destroying the planet with a newly built Fold Weapon.
Inside the Remnant Fleet's hangar bay, James Eystein geared-up for the upcoming battle against the enemy. With his Atlas Titan ME-5931 systems checked, he entered his Titan and piloted her into a drop pod and prepared for Titanfall onto the agricultural plains of Harmony, where the Militia headquarters situated. Being an IMC combat pilot for nine years, he had put his life on the line to peacekeep the Core Systems and the Frontier . But this time, he never thought he would be helping the IMC destroy an entire planet.
"Damn, when does this end?" James sighed, while talking with his comrades.
"What's that? This operation?" another Pilot asked through the coms
"All of it… Decades of war, and we still haven't put the Militia to where it belongs, decades too long." James lamented.
"Attention, ETA to drop zone is within 10 minutes, all Pilots prepare for Titanfall." As Commander Spyglass alerted the IMC troops, James and other tens of Pilots closed their cockpits, preparing for the impending battle of Harmony.
"No time for second thoughts. Focus on our objective and give the Militia hell." the other Pilot answered.
"About that, perhaps even die on Harmony, unless we escape in time before Marder kills us all." James responded, fully knowing that their chances of survival were slim.
Shortly, the Remnant Fleet deployed the IMC battalion on the outskirts of the Militia HQ. Following the IMC commander's lead, the Pilots began advancing forward to eliminate the oppression. The night sky of Harmony was bombarded with IMC and Militia airships battling against one another, filling the sky with a symphony of explosions. On the battlefield, The once green plains are now burnt into ashes and fire, hundreds of bodies, a clash of the organic and artificial bodies, IMC and Militia infantry alike scattered across the barren land. Notwithstanding the deaths and destruction, the two sides reign hell on one another, for their people.
"Enemy Titan down." ME-5931 informed her Pilot after ripping out a Militia simulacrum from its Legion and crushing it to scraps, knocked the Titan away, before traversing the battlefield to help out his comrades. The Pilot breathed heavily as he scanned, the threat of death imminent, Titans, Goblins and other vehicles forged the battlefield with fire and death. The IMC marines, feeble warriors compared to Pilots and Titans, suffered the worst. Bodies crushed into paste by Titan chassis, burnt into crisps by Scorches...
"Shit… Shit…" James mumbled to himself, trying to maintain his cool as combat tensions grew. Shifting his attention to a small group of IMC marines, fleeing from a Militia Titan as it stepped on its victims, he piloted ME-5931 , shot a laser towards the enemy's cockpit, damaged the enemy's hull. In retaliation, It fired volleys of missiles at ME-5931, but were caught by the IMC Titan's vortex shield and reflected back towards itself. The enemy staggered, ME-5931 rammed towards the enemy Titan by dashing with her rocket propulsion system. The Militia Titan tried to resist by an attempt to throw a right hook against ME-5931, which, was caught by ME-5931's hand, she then dismembered the Militia Titan's limb off with a laser shot, thrashed the limb and tore open the Titan's hatch, revealing the Pilot inside, who begged for mercy as he looks at the barrel of the splitter rifle. Unmoved by his pleas, James then shoved the splitter rifle into the cockpit and pulled the trigger, melting the Pilot inside into a pile of red paste.
"Thanks Pilot, we were almost meat paste if you didn't show up." Saved by James, the squad of seven grunts continued their way to breach the perimeter with Archer launchers, helping the IMC to break through the Militia garrison and defense systems.
"Multiple Titanfall signals detected; I advise you group up with IMC Titans to increase survivability." Told ME-5931's AI to James. With that, James hurried his way towards the base, where the battle continues.
James piloted ME-5931 towards the Militia base, witnessing Titans brawling on land, IMC and Militia aircrafts skirmished in the skies. While dashing, he saw a Militia Vanguard Titan defending its homeland. It slashed an IMC Northstar with his Broadsword with a big cross . An Ion Titan ambushed him from behind with a laser shot, yet the Vanguard dodged sideways and made haste to close the gap between himself and his ambusher. It made haste to grapple the Ion Pilot and throw it to the ground. restrained it from getting up, before firing a salvo of rockets from his acolyte pod, destroying the Ion and its Pilot. Knowing the lethality of the Vanguard class of Titans, James knew this would be a hard fight. But he would try nonetheless.
"Dodge this." Instinctively, James activated ME-5931's laser core at EM-0893, firing a concentrated beam of laser at the chassis. The enemy absorbed the energy with its Vortex Shield, before phasing out of space, avoiding James' laser, suddenly reappearing from behind and emptied the chambers of its Leadwall towards the IMC Titan's back, following up by sweeping the floor, knocking ME-5931. the Vanguard Titan tried using his Broadsword to stab ME-5931 in the hull. In retaliation, James' Titan caught the giant serrated sword, pushed it towards the ground, and fired the Splitter Rifle against the Militia Titan. Reactively, the Vanguard phase dashed to evade the projectiles.
"Shield capacity at 25%." ME-5931 reported. "Shit…" the IMC Pilot cursed under his breath. He looked at the sky, saw numerous IMC dropships fall through Harmony's atmosphere.
He received new mission parameters from Marder. "The Fold Weapon will commence fire in 2 minutes, we will send evac ships to your location." However, as rescue is on the horizon, the Remnant Fleet's Commander objected.
"Negative. Firing of the Fold Weapon would result in further casualties of IMC personnel; therefore resulting in catastrophic losses of Remnant Fleet resources. Executing commander override, drop ship evacuation, cancelled." Commander Spyglass split out the worst decision for the combatants on Harmony. "What are you doing, Spyglass!?" James could hear his commander berating the artificial intelligence from the coms, while it continues to give commands. "All capital ships, autopilot mode engaged, forcing jump ships to minimum safety distance..."
"God damn it!" Realizing he and his comrades were being abandoned by their higher ups, James smashed his hand on the cockpit, he gazed at Harmony's sky, watching the Remnant Fleet and IMC jumpships leaving Harmony's atmosphere… Knowing there's no escape from this doom, James decided what he could only do to finish the fight.
Insert music: "Omega" by Martin O' Donnell
James redirected his attention on the enemy Vanguard, which was standing about 30 meters in front of him. It's Pilot, like James, was also aware about the futility of escaping this planet, as Militia fleets jumped out of the atmosphere. At least he would do it by his own way, to die with honor. He piloted his Titan to fire at EM-0893 with everything at his disposal, to which the Vanguard Titan used its broadsword to block the projectiles, while closing the between itself and the IMC Titan. Out of options, ME-5931 resorted to melee combat, narrowly dodging a oblique slash from EM-0893's Broadsword. Missed his target, EM-0983 suddenly phase dashed once again, re appeared from ME-5931 and slashed her back with the Broadsword.
"Structural integrity at 50%." Instinctively, James turned back, using ME-5931's hands to catch the sword, saving himself from being sliced in half by the enemy. Creating an opening with the counter, James controlled his Titan's hands, her claws ripping out one of EM-0983's batteries from the left side of his waist. Momentarily malfunctioned , the Vanguard Class Titan ceased to continue assaulting ME-5931, as if suffering a system shutdown. Disabled the enemy, James push kicked his enemy to the ground. Equipped his Splitter Rifle, ready to finish him.
Just as the IMC Pilot was about to pull the trigger. He saw anomalies of white and blue streaks of lightning explode up in the sky , particles of rocks levitated as his visor glitched with static. The Pilot inside EM-0938 also sensed this irregularity and looked up at the sky, a white and blue sphere, radiating lightning. The sphere was so massive that both the IMC and the Militia knew what awaited them from the Fold Weapon…
Realizing there's no escape, the two Pilots cecased fighting. In an instant, they were sucked by that sphere, along with the remnants of the battlefield. Inside his Titan helpless, James could only look at what's happening through ME-5931, feeling the impact of whirling debris hitting the hull. "Warning heavy damage sustained…" ME_5931 said repeatedly, while trying to do her utmost to protect the Pilot, transferred controls to herself, dodging the incoming debris as James sat in the cockpit, defeated, no hope left as debris hit and created a crack on the Titan's visualizing lenses. For a moment, he looked back at Harmony, he saw the landscapes of forests, mountains, plains destroyed in an instant, destroyed by massive earthquakes. In an instant, the celestial sphere shattered down to the core, bleeding out colossal amounts of magma. Seeing the grim reality in front of him, James felt despair rushed through his veins. Sure, the operation was successful, but at what cost? There's nothing to celebrate after this battle, only oblivion.
"Warning, entering vacuum space…" ME-5931 spoke to James with a distorted voice, before strong static interference got a hold of her systems and shut down, severing the titan link between herself and James. With his breathing becoming difficult, oxygen levels dwindled rapidly as he left what remains of Harmony. He sat in his cockpit alone, as he felt being hit by thousands of debris, physically and mentally. James closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable…
Of all his life, he expects himself to die in the line of duty, but not like this, being abandoned by the IMC, dying alone, with no one but his Titan to accompany him…
Song ends
2077, Earth
After what it seems to be minutes of silence and darkness, the IMC Pilot opened his eyes. Still, nothing. Except, the Heads Up Display of his visor rebooted, displaying the OS system …
REBOOTING…
USER_CONNECTED_RESTORING_SYSTEMS_TO_ME-5931
Realizing that he's not dead, James tried restoring his Titan link, recovering many systems possible from the catastrophic event.
OCULAR SYSTEMS: FUNCTIONAL
MOTOR FUNCTIONS: MARGINAL
James opened ME-5931's hatch to see the outside world. Much to his surprise, the moment the Pilot exited his Titan, the first thing he saw was a sky full of stars along with a moon, illuminating the surroundings, revealing greenish nature of trees, grass, animals… "A forest, huh…" James remarked with suspicion, contemplating whether all of this was a reality or dream…
"Pilot, I'm glad to see you are alive and well." As James pondered on that thought, ME-5931 spoke from behind, surprising her Pilot. "Glad to see you are still in one piece as well. Where do you think we are? this is definitely not Harmony."
"Scanning… strange, my signals detect no IMC personnel on this planet, but scanning nearby flora and fauna on your visor, I believe our location is on Earth."
James couldn't believe what she's saying, after all this mess, he was transported back to the IMC's home planet Earth, yet unable to reach contact with the IMC!?
"Scanning, unknown Titan signal nearby. I advise you to make contact with them to increase the chance of survival" ME-5931 reported. "Fine, I'll check to see what's going on." With that, the IMC Pilot equipped his arsenal and Jumpkit, ready to make contact with the other survivor, all while trying to make sense of what's going on…
