CHAPTER FOUR
The moment the door closed, Tanner turned towards Pérez.
"I thought I was going to be released to you," he said, frowning. "But clearly that's not the case…"
"Well, you thought wrong," Pérez said, bluntly.
She was angry - fuming, even - as she started walking away from the Council room and the security guard stationed outside it. "I escaped the same battle you did, I was just slower getting here."
He was uncomfortably silent as he tried to match pace with her. The fact he managed to for some reason made Pérez even angrier. She increased her pace.
"You escaped before the battle started?"
"Sort of," he said, reluctantly. "My unit formed part of the perimeter and were supposed to box in any of your people that tried to escape the kill-zone.
"One of your Titans - a Northstar, I guess - jetted away from the battle. It was shot down, and I volunteered to locate and…neutralise it."
Pérez felt her fists clench as Tanner spoke. She didn't know precisely who the Titan or its pilot would have been, but they were Militia and that was enough.
"And did you?"
Tanner hesitated, which was all the answer Pérez needed. She made to move away from the IMC Pilot, but he grabbed Pérez by the arm, jerking her to a halt.
She raised her free arm and drew it back to hit him.
"Wait!" he said. "I didn't do anything, but I did find the Titan.
"The impact from being shot down had smashed it to pieces. If the pilot survived, I didn't see them."
Pérez turned to face Tanner - lowering her fist, but stepping up and pushing her helmet nearly against his face.
"I had better not find out you are lying to me," she said.
"You won't," he said. "I found the Northstar, took the chance to disable my own Titan's signal beacon and ran. I swear. That was the sum total of my involvement with the battle."
Pérez said nothing, just pulled her arm free of his grip and began striding once more down the hallway.
Tanner almost had to jog to catch up with her.
"Look, I know you're pissed, I would be too - but don't forget you'd have been shooting at my friends too!"
"Friends who set-up the ambush in the first place!"
"This is war, Pilot. Shit things happen to good people."
Pérez came to a stop, hands on her hips.
"You can still get me to the Militia, right?"
She almost laughed.
"I've got no extraction planned, and almost no power left in my Titan." she said, jerking her head back in the direction of the Council room. "I agreed to help these people protect their town in order to stop your Titan from fighting mine. They're supposed to give me the power I need, but now-"
"Wait," Tanner interrupted. She stopped as he grabbed her arm again. "Sam was fighting your Titan? Without me? Why? Is she okay?"
Pérez lowered her gaze purposefully towards the hand gripping her arm.
Tanner released her, taking a step back and holding up his palms in apology.
"Both Titans are fine…" Pérez said after a moment, sighing in frustration. "Although right now my Titan is in worse shape,"
They were standing in a quiet hallway with no one in sight. Satisfied that they had privacy, Pérez reached up and popped the seal of her helmet before lifting it off her head. She fastened it once more to the front of her Pilot suit.
She looked up to observe Tanner staring at her.
"What?"
"N-nothing," he said, turning his gaze aside.
Pérez frowned, but decided there were more important things on her agenda.
"Listen," she said. "I don't like you, nor anyone who sided with the IMC. I get that you saw the light and tried to come on over to the right side, but right now the only reason I've not put my fist into your face is because I need you."
This seemed to get his attention back.
"Need me?" he said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "For what?"
"Your Titan…Sam, was it?" - He nodded - "must have a pretty good battery supply if it was set to engage mine. I need some of that energy, and I need it fast."
"Aren't the colonials back there agreeing to give you what you need?"
"Not fast enough, Cee-Ay has maybe three to four minutes of power left. If you can get your Titan to share, we can figure out some way to get out of this in one piece."
"You'll deliver us to the Militia then?"
"Seems like I don't have a choice in the matter," Pérez said, sighing deeply. "But believe me, it won't be easy. Between the locals, the roaming IMC squads, and the fact I currently don't have anywhere to deliver you to…"
She shrugged.
"But you'll do it?"
"I'll try."
"Good enough," he said, nodding. "But I'm not seeing how I can be much help to you. I've got no way to communicate with Sam."
Her helmet answered for her, the visor lights pulsing in unison with each word.
"I BELIEVE I CAN BE OF ASSISTANCE IN THAT MATTER, PILOT JOHN TANNER."
Pérez gestured to her helmet.
"Tanner, meet Cee-Ay-four-four-three-five; Cee-ay, meet Tanner."
"Pleasure," Tanner said as he awkwardly lowered his gaze to Pérez's chest. Pérez almost laughed.
Almost.
"LIKEWISE PILOT TANNER." Cee-Ay said.
"You said you can help with contacting my Titan?"
"AFFIRMATIVE, I HAVE BEEN ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH A DATA-LINK WITH THE IMC TITAN, BUT IT REFUSES ALL COMMUNICATION WITHOUT A PROPER IDENTIFICATION CODE. IF YOU PROVIDE THE CODE I CAN TIE MYSELF INTO IMC COMMUNICATION CHANNELS AND ALLOW THE TWO OF YOU TO SPEAK TO ONE ANOTHER."
Tanner puckered his lips, hesitating as he considered the request. He looked up from Pérez's helmet to her face.
"You realise if I give you that code and the IMC catch me, I'll be tried for treason?"
"Seems that as a deserter you'd be lucky to get to as far as a trial," Pérez said.
Tanner seemed to chew that over for a moment before nodding.
"Good point," he said with a grimace. "Ok Cee-Ay; transmit the following sequence over a wavelength of three-eight-seven point two…."
Sam was almost hostile in her initial suspicion when Cee-Ay transmitted Tanner's codes.
Cee-Ay relayed her opening salvo to the waiting Pilots.
The synthetic voice was clearly female, and clearly disapproving in tone.
"THIS CHANNEL IS RESERVED FOR INTERSTELLAR MANUFACTURING CORPORATION STAFF, MILITARY, AUTHORISED PILOTS AND ASSIGNED TITANS ONLY."
"Sam," Tanner said to Pérez's helmet, now propped up on a table in an empty side office the two had found. "It's me."
"JOHN TANNER. I AM RELIEVED TO HEAR FROM YOU," Sam said, her tone almost instantly softening, but still clearly distrusting. "DOES YOUR MOTHER FARE WELL?"
"At least as well as my father, but she prefers time in the garden." Tanner replied.
"Code phrase," he then said in answer to Pérez's puzzled look. "Let's her know I'm really me, and not under duress."
"Subtle," Pérez said, rolling her eyes.
"INDEED," Sam said. "WE WILL NOW NEED TO CHANGE THE CODE AT OUR EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY."
She sounded almost irritated, but her tone no longer held its former hostility.
Tanner chuckled.
"We'll do that, Sam. But first, I need you to listen closely as we don't have much time."
"ACKNOWLEDGED, PILOT TANNER," Sam intoned. "AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS."
"Sam, the Titan out there with you is Militia, and it's a friendly" Tanner said. "I'm here with its Pilot and she's agreed to take us with them when they leave the planet; take us in, just like we planned. But they need something from us first..."
Pérez listened as Tanner explained the situation, counting off every second left of Cee-Ay's operational status.
By her count there weren't many more.
"…Did you get all that, Sam?" Tanner said, finishing his instructions.
"AFFIRMATIVE, LINK MY POWER CORE TO MILITIA TITAN CEE-AY-FOUR-FOUR-THREE-FIVE AND INITIATE A POWER TRANSFER," Sam replied dutifully. "I MUST INFORM YOU THAT SUCH AN ACTION IS IN VIOLATION OF IMC CODES OF CONDUCT THREE-FIVE-EIGHT-SEVEN, THREE-FIVE-EIGHT-EIGHT, THREE-FIVE-EIGHT-NINE, THREE—"
"Sam, we've broken a few rules already, a few more won't hurt," Tanner said. "In the meantime, Cee-Ay needs your help now."
"UNDERSTOOD, PILOT TANNER. I ANTICIPATED YOUR RESPONSE AND WE ARE ALREADY CONNECTING AUXILIARY POWER CABLES."
"THAT IS CORRECT," Cee-Ay said. "POWER FLOW HAS BEGUN, ANTICIPATE RETURN TO MINIMAL OPERATIONAL LEVELS IN SIXTEEN MINUTES AND THIRTY-EIGHT SECONDS; LIMITED SKIRMISH THRESHOLD IN ONE-HOUR THIRTY-EIGHT MINUTES AND FORTY-SEVEN SECONDS."
"But you're out of immediate danger of a shut-down?" Pérez asked, placing her hands on the table and looking at her helmet.
"AFFIRMATIVE PILOT, POWER TRANSFER CONNECTION TO IMC TITAN ESS-EM-TWO-TWO-FIVE-SIX IS SECURE."
Pérez lowered her head and muttered a brief thanks to some half-believed-in god.
After a moment she raised her head to address her helmet again.
"Sam, this is Cee-Ay's Militia Pilot," she raised her eyes to meet Tanners. "Thank you."
The helmet was silent for a few moments before pulsing once more.
"THANKS ARE UNNECESSARY, PILOT. I HAVE MY ORDERS."
Tanner chuckled.
"She's a bit warmer once you get to know her."
"I'm sure," Pérez replied. Despite herself she was smiling. "Cee-Ay, would shutting down external sensors and combat protocols speed up the rate you're charging at?"
"AFFIRMATIVE," Cee-Ay said. "TIME TO MINIMAL OPERATIONAL LEVELS WOULD DECREASE BY APPROXIMATELY FOUR MINUTES AND SIX SECONDS."
"Hardly worth it," Pérez said. "Especially since we should be getting you a fresh battery soon."
"I CONCUR. I WILL CONTINUE LOCAL AREA SCANNING AND REMAIN LIMITED COMBAT READY."
"Great, let us know if our situation changes."
"I WILL, PILOT."
"Stay safe."
"I WILL, PILOT."
"You too, Sam," Tanner added.
"ACKNOWLEDGED."
Tanner sighed, leaning back into his chair and putting his hands behind his head.
"Well," he said. "That went well."
Pérez lowered herself slowly into the chair opposite him.
"It did."
Silence stretched out between them.
"Look," Tanner said, lowering his hands to the table. "There's nothing I can do to change the fact I was on the other side and probably shooting at you and your friends…"
"True."
"But I was being honest in there. Seeing Typhon changed my perspective. Too late perhaps, from your perspective, but I can't help that either.
"All I can do now is follow through on my decision and help you however I can to prove my intentions." He looked at Pérez imploringly. "And I already have. All I'm asking you to do is meet me half-way. You don't have to like me, just help me get to the Militia."
Pérez crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her own chair.
She met Tanner's eyes levelly and tried to get the measure of him.
He seemed sincere, that much was certain.
And he had ordered his Titan to link up and share power with Cee-Ay without hesitation...
Was it enough to undo whatever he'd done in his past working for the IMC?
No, she decided. It was not.
But that didn't mean it wasn't a start.
After a few moments, she sighed and offered her hand out towards Tanner.
"Pérez," she said. "Emilia Pérez."
Tanner looked at her somewhat uncertainly.
"I know," he said. "You already-"
"We're starting over," she said. "Pérez, Emilia Pérez."
"John Tanner," he said, smiling broadly as he accepted her handshake.
"Nice to meet you, Tanner."
"Nice to meet you, Pérez."
She released his hand.
"Do you have a plan on getting out of this situation then?" he asked.
She nodded as she withdrew her hand, grabbing her helmet off the table.
"See what this Council of theirs has to say," she said, putting her helmet back into place on her head. "And if we don't like what we hear, we get the hell out of here with your gear and enough energy to see us over."
"Two Pilots working together?" Tanner said with the hint of a grin. "They'll never know what hit them."