"The end you always feared is coming, and the blood will be on your hands...The Fallout of all your good intentions..." - Solomon Lane
TITANFALL: DEAD MEN WALKING
CHAPTER 2: SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT
THE FRONTIER
FREEPORT SYSTEM - PLANET HARMONY
DAMAGED FRONTIER REPUBLIC STATION
FRONTIER REPUBLIC PILOT CORPS
CAPTAIN CALEB ORION
Captain Orion breezed past the security checkpoints that completely secured the perimeter of the facility. Since the attack, no one was allowed in with the exception of high ranking investigators and officers. An entire platoon of Frontier Republic Infantry, as well as a Titan squadron had been stationed temporarily around the facility to ensure that no press or civilians had wandered in.
When the Captain himself approached, he was briefly challenged by a Private, who immediately stepped back upon seeing exactly who it was he was speaking with. As it turned out, there were some perks to being deemed a Militia war hero, even if you didn't believe it yourself.
The lone pilot treaded the well lit and muddy grounds, passing numerous fireteams and patrols who would all make comments, wondering if it was really him every time they passed. Whatever grass and nice landscape had been reduced to trampled mud the moment first responders had shown up to investigate the attack. And once the rain had set in, things got muddy.
It was the dead of night, and yet, with all the floodlights set up for the investigation, one could still see the now dissipating smoke still coming from the futuristic facility. Caleb observed the building as it drew nearer. Some external scorching and bullet holes. To be expected, he thought to himself.
What disturbed him was the collection of body bags lined up outside the main entrance. At least two dozen. The blood stained white sheets already began to reek and the attack was less than twenty four hours ago.
He stopped, turning to face the collection of corpses.
He'd seen his fair share, and yet it was never easier.
At least these families have bodies to bury.
Caleb pounded the side of his helmet, cursing himself for thinking like that.
The Captain took a knee and removed his helmet, placing it down next to him.
Orion lifted one of the sheets, to observe one of the many brave men and women they'd just lost.
A young soldier, stared back with motionless, lifeless eyes.
"When you get home...Can you tell my mom and Dad I love them?"
The voice of his long-dead best friend replayed in his head, the deceased warrior reminding him of their assault on Airbase Sierra just before Demeter more than five years ago.
Caleb immediately covered the young man's head and deeply exhaled from his nose, slightly trembling as he did. The captain placed his helmet back upon his head, getting to his feet as he did.
"Soldier." Caleb gestured to the lone Militia soldier guarding the entrance.
"Yes, Sir?"
"Radio your chain of command. I want these boys out of the rain and sent home. Now."
"Yes, Sir! Right away." The soldier hastily retrieved his radio, complying without hesitation.
Captain Orion stepped indoors, getting away from the mass grave as quickly as he could. It brought up too many memories that he eagerly wished to forget. He grunted and made haste for the elevators located in the lobby of the facility, hoping they were still accessible during the lockdown.
Most of the lobby was still intact. It was a fair assumption that most of the fighting took place upstairs. Banners and recruitment posters still flew in the lobby, reminding the everyday citizen that the Militia was no longer just that...A Militia...It was a standing army. A government. A Republic which democratically elected their leader upon officially declaring independence. Of course the IMC denounced and refused to recognize the new entity and would continue to combat them as nothing more than rebels, but it was a false hope.
Whatever the IMC tried, they had failed to stop the Frontier from becoming a self governing entity.
Of course they were still referred to as the Militia, for tradition, but the Frontier Republic Armed Forces now had a substantial military that was capable enough to combat the still present IMC threat as well as piracy when necessary.
Passing more recruitment propaganda and more patrols, the Captain stopped at the elevator console and pressed the key, summoning an elevator.
A mechanical whirring caught the Captain's attention. He looked to his left, seeing a Marvin bot sweeping an assortment of debris.
The Soldier rolled his eyes and stepped into the elevator when it finally came.
The glass tube gave an impressive view of the landscape below. Peaceful countryside with an assortment of buildings, though hard to see in the darkness, would normally make a wonderful day time occurance for the staff working in the facility.
The elevator slowly began to rise.
The view was not pleasant to Caleb though. He hated heights. Looking down made his stomach churn and made the image of the chasm that consumed Allison and Maren flash in his head.
He turned his back to avoid thinking about it. Caleb leaned against the glass window and cautiously reached into his jacket. He tried to stop himself but he couldn't. He took out his very old sketch book, which was tattered and fraying at the edges. Opening the book, he turned to page he bookmarked with an assortment of photos.
On the page was an old sketch of an IMC pilot. A sniper, donning the equipment of Captain Allison Sorin prior to her defection to the Militia.
"You always did like to sketch pilots, didn't you? You had a fascination with us."
The man nodded.
"Always so excited to show off whatever you had drawn next. You tried to convince others that it wasn't a drawing of me. You turned as red as a tomato…"
Caleb chuckled, tracing the image with his shaking thumb.
Keeping the page bookmarked were three photographs that the soldier had printed years ago. His parents, who still supported him no matter where he went or what he had to do.
The next, a team photo. Philip Spear and Eric Keller. His best friends in the galaxy. There wasn't a day that went by in which he didn't think of the two of them. He wished he had Keller's skill and experience in several missions he'd gone on. He wished he had Philip's humour and positive outlook. Maybe he wouldn't want to kickstart a landmine everytime he had to face a new day.
The last photo he couldn't even look at. He made a promise to keep it, but struggled to stay together every time he observed it. The pilot closed the booklet and briefly removed his helmet, wiping his face.
"Come on, that's my favorite photo…"
The Soldier nodded again.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the elevator stopped. The doors repealed, revealing a large open conference room that had obviously taken damage during the attack. Overturned chairs and tables were littered around the room with numerous gunshot marks on the walls. Blood splatters still left uncleaned were also a common place.
Several groups of high ranking Republic officials and soldiers were gathered around, discussing details of the investigation amongst themselves.
In the center of the room, two Militia soldiers, one of them a pilot, spoke with Commander Sarah Briggs and two other very familiar Militia officers.
"Well I'll be damned, if it isn't Captain Caleb Orion!" Barker, of all people, threw his arms up upon seeing the Pilot enter the scene at last.
"Damn, it sure has been a while!" Bish was there in person as well, which was always a rare sight.
The Captain had a small smile beneath his helmet and stepped forward, extending his hand for a shake.
Barker slapped the hand away and pulled the soldier in for a hug, patting the mentally exhausted pilot on the back.
"It's been too long, kid." Barker said, putting his usual humorous demeanor on hold for a serious conversation. "How ya doin'...?"
"I'm alive. But I'm glad to see you. Both of you."
"It's good to see you too, man." Bish pat the man's shoulder. "Good to have you back. Heard what you did in the retaking of Angel City, that was some kick ass soldiering buddy."
"Well, I was in the neighbourhood, figured I could give a hand."
Amidst their conversation, Commander Briggs approached, accompanied by the two soldiers she had been speaking with.
"Captain." She addressed him.
The Pilot came to attention and offered a salute to the commander. One which she returned.
"Relax, please. Feels kind of weird having you salute me of all people…"
"Sorry ma'am. Force of habit."
The pilot shrugged it off and continued with the crisis at hand.
"What do we got?" He asked.
"We'll go over the details soon, but first I want you to meet Lieutenant Terra Wright and Warrant Officer Iroh."
The two soldiers removed their helmets and saluted Captain Orion.
Lieutenant Wright, Caleb observed first. A woman, perhaps slightly younger and shorter than him. She appeared to be a grapple capable pilot judging by her equipment. Her hair stood out the most, amber. Her eyes were a slightly darker blue in contrast to his own sapphire eyes. Her armor was the standard militia green, however given brown accents in order to effectively camouflage her equipment.
Warrant Officer Iroh, an older looking Asian man with some experience. A grunt, but that didn't make him any less of a soldier, Caleb knew that first hand. His armor had plenty of scratches likely collected over a long career of warfare. What caught Captain Orion's attention the most was that several pieces of his equipment were parts of pilot kits, all mashed together to form his uniform. Was he once a pilot? Caleb couldn't guess.
Caleb quickly returned the salute, hating the idea of being on the receiving end of one, and extended his hand.
"Lieutenant, Warrant." The Captain nodded.
"It's an honor, Sir." Wright beamed.
Before the Captain could speak again, a lone figure emerged from the crowd. Marcus Graves.
"What is he doing here?" Caleb asked, coming off more hostile than intended.
"Caleb, he's the minister of defence, of course he's gonna want to know what's happening…" Briggs explained.
The Minister of Defence gestured the crowd over to a lowering screen.
"Come on, the President is going to want to know you're here." Briggs beckoned the crowd to follow her.
"Me? The hell does Day want with me?"
"Guess we'll find out." Barker shrugged.
The crowd assembled around the screen, and shortly thereafter, the image of Frontier Republic President Abigail Day appeared, sitting in her office at the Frontier Republic capitol building elsewhere on Harmony.
The entire room came to attention upon her appearance. Graves saluted.
"Ladies and gentlemen, relax. Thank you for coming. As I'm sure Marcus has already informed you, I must stress that the information disclosed here in this meeting is highly classified. If we are to avoid a panic, we have to be discrete."
Postures relaxed all around the room upon her word.
"As I'm sure you're all aware, this is the third attack in the last month against us. This can no longer be treated as isolated incidents of scattered anarchists in the Frontier. Someone just declared war on us, and we need to know who. We cannot afford to fight another war while we are so close to gaining the advantage over the IMC. We cannot lose the momentum that Pilot Jack Cooper gained us last month with the destruction of the IMC's fold weapon."
Several officers and investigators retrieved their data pads to jot down important details from Day's briefing.
"Despite what little detail we have given to the media to prevent a panic, we have noticed several trends found in all three attacks. First, they are targeting Militia leadership specifically. We don't believe the goal is assassination foremost. No, we believe they are looking for something, and the only way to find it is through the higher ups...It always ends in bloody torture as I'm sure you've all seen the result of."
Caleb looked around the room and reeled upon closer inspection of the blood stains.
"All attempts at combating the enemy with conventional forces has been met with one hundred percent casualties. They don't leave witnesses. However, before one of our units...expired...They managed to assault an enemy craft and place a recon tracking device on its hull. According to the data we've recovered, the enemy is on the move to planet Alexandria, a colony with a Frontier Republic facility and garrison located there. In recent months, the garrison there has been combating pirates from Jacob Herrick's Marauders, so they will likely be unprepared for a full scale assault by such an elite enemy."
Caleb cursed under his breath, catching the attention of a couple people in the crowd. They all knew him and his hatred for the Marauders. What they did on Demeter and before. If there was any chance to fight back, Caleb was interested.
"Even if we send a unit there, there is no way to know what they could find, or if they'd come back. Therefore we need more intelligence. Jack Cooper will personally lead the investigation into this new threat alongside the 4th Militia Grenadiers."
Gotta meet this Cooper Kid...In recent history, Cooper was the talk of the town regarding the Militia forces.
"Captain Orion, are you present?" Day asked, casing the crowd closely.
He immediately stepped forward, puzzled as to what she could possibly gain from his simple presence in the meeting.
"Yes, Ma'am. I'm here."
"Good, I'm glad to have you with us, you'll no doubt be invaluable to this team."
Caleb cocked a brow. "Ma'am?"
"Captain, you will head to Alexandria with the 9th Fusiliers alongside Lieutenant Wright to provide assistance where necessary and hopefully learn more about what's going on. If there's trouble, I want one of our best down there. You will coordinate closely with Commander Briggs and Commander Barker in order to relay intelligence back to us at command."
Orion wasn't sure whether or not to be flattered that he was regarded so highly by the President, or insulted that he was being sent into the most hostile unknown scenario he could think of. Regardless, he sighed quietly behind his helmet and nodded.
"Understood, Ma'am. We'll get it done."
"Captain, you should know, this threat is using a similar play book to the Apex Predators that Cooper encountered, led by Kuben Blisk. We aren't sure exactly, but if you come in contact...don't hesitate. Deadly force is authorized."
The Captain nodded, understanding full well he was being ordered to kill them if he saw them.
Fine by him.
"Yes, ma'am."
President Day continued to speak regarding their plan and importance of its success.
Caleb lost all focus when he saw a figure leaning against the screen.
A lone woman, donning a Militia green jumpsuit. Her hair was jet black and flowed freely. She watched him with a smile, her emerald green eyes piercing right through him.
Captain Orion's head tilted and he took a half pace forward, tempted to sprint over and see if she was real. He turned to the side, looking at Barker, hoping he saw it too. The man focused solely on the President's dialogue.
His hand found his holster, nervously fiddling with the release.
The figure tilted her head and smiled warmly at him before gesturing him over. When he didn't move her smile faded. She extended her hand, reaching for him, begging him to come. She cried and began to scream, tortured by his inactivity.
"CALEB!"
Barker shook the pilot violently to get his attention.
"Kid, go on, say something!"
He shook his head and took quick shallow breaths, failing to calm down. After a few moments he realized that everyone was staring at him, silently. The President looked at him expectantly, awaiting an answer.
"Are you still with us, Captain?" President Day asked, tilting her head.
Caleb looked by the screen, still expecting to see the nightmare staring back at him. Nothing was there.
He took a deep breath then refocused.
"...Yes...Yes, Ma'am. I...I apologize I haven't gotten much sleep since the Angel City campaign...please, uhh...continue, I didn't mean to disrupt your briefing."
"Understandable, be sure to get some rest after we conclude here...I asked if you had any final questions before we finish up?"
He looked around, still seeing everyone watch him. He hated the attention with an intense passion.
"...No ma'am. Thank you."
"Very well. In that case, I believe we're all done here. Good luck everyone, thank you for your efforts. Keep me posted. Day out."
The screen went black.
Caleb exhaled loudly and stared at the floor, removing his helmet before wiping his brow free of stress induced sweat.
"You alright?" Barker nudged him. "You spaced out pretty bad there."
"I'm fine, just really tired." He lied. "And just really good at making a fool of myself in public."
Wright and Iroh stared at the Captain with slight confusion. Either because he was so odd and now they'd be deploying with him, or because he was so young for a pilot of his stature. Perhaps some of the stories were blown out of proportion. But this young soldier wasn't even thirty by the looks of it.
"Well, can't disagree there." Barker mocked.
Wright took a step forward, hoping to speak with the Captain. "Commander Barker, Sir...May I speak with Captain Orion?"
"Sure thing, kid. Go nuts."
Barker pat Caleb on the back, gave him a thumbs up and returned to the crowd of investigators who were now consolidating their efforts regarding their new task.
Caleb kept his helmet under his arm and turned to face the Lieutenant.
"Sir, I was going to recommend that we go over our strategy together. Just so we have a set of standard operating procedures once we hit the ground."
"Way I see it, Lieutenant." Orion started. "It's your unit, they're your men. I trust you know how to lead them alongside Warrant Iroh. I won't get in your way. I'm just there to kill bad guys before they kill us."
"...Nevertheless, Sir."
"What do you want me to do? Give you advice?!"
"Well, as a matter of fact, I don't think that'd be such a bad idea, Sir. You're a hero. You're one of the reasons we have a Republic at all...Who doesn't want to learn from someone like that?"
Caleb sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Being a role model definitely was not a check on the bucket list. She was making a mistake, and she'd have to learn that herself.
"Fine. Tip one, don't call me Sir. Tip two, don't ever call me a hero. I'm not a hero, I was in the wrong place at the right time."
Wright nodded, slowly, not really understanding, but following his order nonetheless.
"And just...let me speak with some of the officers first, okay? Gotta get a clearer picture and then I've got to go pick up my Titan."
"Of course, Si-...Right. Well, I mean we've got some Titans on board already if you wanted to pick out a new model."
"Nah...VC goes with me everywhere. Best Titan in the fleet, and, he's got a smokin' Vanguard Chassis. I go, he goes."
"Fair enough. I'll gather the men and wait on the Redeye for you, whenever you're ready."
"The Redeye?!" Caleb nearly yelled.
Wright took a step back, not expecting such a reaction.
"...Yes? The Redeye? The Ship you and your team liberated the Frontier with?"
Of course it was the Redeye...Caleb sighed.
"Alright...I'll be there in no more than an hour."
"Roger that, Sir-...Fuck that's really gonna be a pain in the ass...I'll see you down there…" The Lieutenant and her Warrant left, leaving the Captain alone for some peace and quiet.
The Captain rolled his eyes and retreated to the secluded hallway that had been deserted since the attack. The soldier leaned against the wall and enjoyed the solitude that the hallway gave him, hiding away from the curious eyes of the investigators and higher ups.
Hell, with that many officers in the room, including the Minister of Defence, he was shocked that the enemy didn't come back to finish the job. Not that he was complaining at their lack of an appearance. He wasn't even entirely sure what he was dealing with, and now he was being ordered right into the middle of it.
He sighed and slid down the wall, burying his head in his arms, nearly falling asleep there.
"Caleb?" A voice called out for him.
Captain Orion slowly lifted his head, scared to see who was calling him, unsure if it was real or not.
Thankfully and unthankfully, it was Marcus Graves.
"What do you want, Marcus?"
"Well, I came to check up on you. Had me worried back there."
"I'm fine, just tired like I said."
"Right. You've been silent for quite some time. You jumped back in for several campaigns, then went dark. That cycle continued until we're standing here right now. I gave you that time off for a reason."
"I'm fine."
"No, you aren't. It's funny how much you are like MacAllan. He was stubborn, even when he was under my command." Graves chuckled, thinking back fondly of the time he spent with MacAllan in the old IMC.
"Well MacAllan isn't here anymore, Graves."
"I'm aware."
"In fact, there are a lot of good people that I could use right now, who aren't here, because of you." Caleb hissed.
"I thought we were past this years ago, Caleb. Are we really going to do this again?"
Graves had given up threatening disciplinary action against the Pilot. After all, they needed him. No point in antagonizing him further. Even if Graves detested his attitude...
"Yeah, well maybe I just had more time to think…"
"We were at war, Caleb...Look, I can't be bothered to get into this. We're both too old for this. It happened, I've apologized. I know that can't bring Keller, Spear, MacAllan or Allison back. But stop doing this to yourself. You're a good man, you don't need to torture yourself anymore."
Caleb got to his feet and went for the door, not wanting to discuss it any further with the man.
"If you'll excuse me, Minister. I have a new war to fight."
"And what will you do if it really does turn out to be the Apex Predators?"
"I'll kill them like I was ordered to."
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A/N: Chapter Two done! Sorry if it was a little short, just trying to make back some lost time and really kick off the story here. Hope you guys enjoy it. More where that came from. I hope you guys like the new cast as well. Obviously Caleb is still Caleb, but he's different. With a pinch of some spicy edge lord, more stoic and obviously has a few mental issues kicking around. Excited to show you guys more of Wright, Iroh and Day, though. They've been a lot of fun during the planning phase.