S1-36
End of the Militia
10:04 AM
09/04/2284
Planet Zolac
Smuggler's Cove
Music
none
"I feel there's something different about this guy." Michael said.
"[I think I can identify him.]"
"Do it."
"[I've got the info. His name is Jack Cooper. He was a class-3 Militia Grunt when his unofficial mentor, Captain Tai Lastimosa-]"
"Wait a minute. I've encountered Lastimosa before."
Michael opened a local channel, and the SRS Pilot was heard on the other end. "Who is this?!"
"Name's Michael Johnson. Your mentor was Tai Lastimosa, right?"
Jack sounded surprised. "How do you know him?!"
"I met him before. It was also the first time I saw a Vanguard-class Titan."
"He never mentioned you."
"Hmm. Where is he nowadays?"
"He's dead. He died on the planet Typhon."
Michael was confused. "'Typhon'? Never heard of it."
"Wait... You mean you're not with the ARES Division?"
"I remember Blisk saying some horrible stuff about Marder. I don't trust him. Marder sounds like my total opposite."
"What about Vinson Dynamics?"
"I've been a bit too preoccupied to read up on Vinson Dynamics."
"Preoccupied with what?"
"A date. With a girl I'm in love with."
"That's unexpected, but reasonable. So, who ARE you with?"
"I'm the leader of Eagle-Eye 9-1, an IMC squadron stationed at the IMC HQ."
Music
Titanfall 2 - Rifleman Cooper
"You weren't there... You weren't on Typhon..."
"What now? Sorry, I didn't catch that."
"You're telling the truth! I thought you'd lie to try and manipulate me."
Michael felt offended. "That's not who I am. I'm not a mind-controlling freak."
"Well, you got that right."
10:47 AM
09/04/2284
Music
Metroid: Other M - The Biological Experiment Floor
With a battle averted, Michael, Jack, and their Titans established a momentary truce to talk it over. "Let me get this straight... You were taken from the remains of the colony on planet Troy as an infant and given a chance to have a normal life, only to throw it away and become a Pilot?" Jack asked.
"If I didn't, I guess I would've never met Samus."
"Now, about Samus. These guys stuck up for you when you destroyed a space station and a planet both filled with gelatinous parasitic life forms?"
"They did once I told them about it." Samus answered.
"[She did the right thing. Her actions were pure, selfless, and just.]" Arc-Rod added.
"[The Galactic Federation had her labeled as a wanted criminal. For her actions, we took Samus Aran under our protection.]" Jeeves stated.
"[They found her, but she was with us. They had waged war with us. One is enough, two is too many.]" Vanessa added.
"[We had to act, so we tracked them down to their headquarters on planet Yionus, outside Frontier space, and purged them.]" Sid concluded.
"She came to the Frontier in a crash landing on the planet Leviathan. Her crashed ship was recovered, and her ancient Chozo Power Suit had sustained critical damage. Her ship was brought back to the IMC HQ, where we attempted to repair it, but it was beyond repair. However, the ship's computer was still functional, and the AI within was undamaged." Spyglass said.
"The AI was me. I managed to format my own processes to become compatible with this modified Spectre chassis, rejoining Samus as she joined the IMC." Adam finished.
"I've read up on Marder and the ARES Division. From what I've read, I can say one thing for certain: he's gotta go.
"Go where?" Jack asked. Michael simply stuck his thumb up and slid it across his neck. From that motion, the SRS Pilot understood what he meant. Marder would die. "Oh. That's... unexpected. You'd be killing someone of a higher rank than you.
"The ARES Division is simply a research wing of the IMC. I am sure we can go without it." Spyglass put plainly.
"You're just gonna kill off the ARES Division?!"
"I'll put in a PA message before that, just in case anyone there wants to not kill civilians. Surprisingly, the entirety of the infantry units and the Pilots at the IMC HQ don't want to kill civilians, so they'll be considered true IMC Pilots."
"So, you're not like the others who kill civilians suspected of hiding or being Militia personnel?"
"Those Pilots are marked targets, and we are still hunting them down."
Jack had a confounded look on his face. "The IMC is hunting down... the IMC?"
"[That's a very bizarre way of putting it, but yes.]" DL-2671 indicated.
"[Pilot Cooper, voice pattern analysis of the IMC indicates they are not lying. They CAN be trusted.]" FS-1041 stated in response.
"[I could've said that. Also, you don't have program Omni-10, do you?]" PYR-8638 added.
"[Negative. There is no record of any program with that identification in the Militia database.]"
"You said your mentor died, right?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, he did."
"I guess we're in the same boat, you and I. IMC Pilot Dane C Smithsonian, former captain of Eagle-Eye 9-1, was my mentor. Like Lastimosa, Dane was KIA." Michael and Jack began comparing their mentors.
"With his last breath, Lastimosa gave me his Titan, BT-7274. We took out so many Pilots from the ARES Division, Vinson Dynamics, and the Apex Predators. We even killed the mercenary Pilots Kane, Ash, Richter, Viper, and Slone."
"I knew Kane, Richter, and Slone, but not that well. Slone tried to blast Jeeves because she was suspicious of him. BT-7274? I remember that Titan. It was the first Vanguard I ever saw."
"Wait. What?"
Jeeves stepped up. "[What he says is true. We encountered Lastimosa and BT on the 27th of March this year, on planet Gysa, in the Dig Site facility. Michael turned out to have much more skill than one of the SRS. Even I was surprised. At the end of the fight, Lastimosa retreated, but left an empty chassis that held a nuclear detonation. Before it blew, Michael had a spark of curiosity, so he grabbed the boxlike optic off it. He later used it with my Datacore to acquire a Vanguard-class Titan so we could make them ourselves. Honestly, it was quite an experience to be the first IMC Vanguard-class Titan.]"
"Jeeves, if your chassis is ever destroyed, we'll get you a Vanguard chassis as a replacement. OK?" Michael suggested.
"[What? Really?!]"
"Yeah."
"I don't know how I should react to Titans talking like their Pilots." Jack was confused, so Michael stepped in to explain.
"That's the effect of program Omni-10."
"What does it do?"
"Program Omni-10 was created by Dane Smithsonian to apply a special alteration to a Titan's AI: an alteration based off of data acquired through the neural link. The program maps and analyses the Pilot's neurological processes, vocal patterns, and brain wave activity, creating a Titan AI modification based completely off the Pilot, making the Titan talk and think just like their Pilot."
"We lost contact with Barker and Gates. Do you know what happened?"
"Blisk got his chance to kill Barker, and... Gates caused this... glowing eye of mine to, uh... react. I'm still figuring out how exactly to use it on my own, but it's like it has a mind of its own."
"So Gates is dead, and you've got a glowing eye?"
Music
Doctor Who - Who Am I (12th Doctor's Theme)
"I'm starting to wonder if I'm actually human..." Michael's right eye began glowing a familiar blue, which they noticed.
"Whoa. You weren't kidding."
"[Pilot Cooper, I am detecting massive amounts of energy emanating from Michael Johnson's right eye. I cannot determine what type of energy it is exerting.]" FS-1041 stated.
"This thing also left a message in PYR's system. I managed to extract it and change its format, but I still don't know what it says."
"Let me see it. I think I can figure it out."
Music
Metroid: Other M - Searching The Exam Center / Any Objections?
Pulling the mystery file out from the IMC database, DL-2671 projected it through a holographic image from his optic. "Huh. You managed to format it into numbers? I'll see what I can do." Jack looked at the message.
"OK."
After examining the message, Jack came to a conclusion. "Did you try replacing each number with the corresponding letter in the alphabet?"
"THAT'S IT! The answer was so simple! HOW DID I NOT SEE IT?!"
"I guess it's because you were trying more complicated methods of decrypting it. You might have even tried morse code."
"I did." Michael replied, embarrassed that he was trying an unnecessarily complicated method.
"Hmm. Alright. Hey, um..." The SRS Pilot searched the IMC Vanguard-class Titan's chassis for the chassis number, finding it on the right leg. "DL, replace the numbers with letters please."
"[OK. Hey, you're right. They DO correspond to letters in the alphabet. Here it is.]" Each number in the message was replaced with a letter, forming a message.
Michael W Johnson
you have been chosen by my Light
chosen by the Eye of the Traveler
Years from now
you will be reborn in Light
and bring life back to all that is good and pure of heart
"Is that what this glowing eye of mine is called? The Eye of the Traveler?"
"Apparently. And this 'Light' essence is some sort of life force, I'm guessing. Good and pure of heart, huh?" Jack wondered.
"Reminds me of the sort of people I prefer to fight for."
"But why the IMC?"
Michael smiled at his answer. "Change for the better."
"Correct. We have welcomed the change, and the error of our ways and the consequences of them have been realized. It is coming to an end." Spyglass stated.
"You know all the stuff the IMC has done which caused the formation of the Militia?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, I do."
"We're changing it. Removing the cause of the creation of the Militia, leaving them with nothing to fight for."
"Erasing what gave the Militia their purpose?! If you do that, the Militia will just vanish, reduced to nothing more than a memory."
"That's right."
"Our next step is to purge ourselves of the ARES Division and Vinson Dynamics, effectively cleansing the IMC. Marder and Ash do not agree with the new change to the IMC, and are attempting to revert us, but their efforts are in vain. We will not revert back to the way we were before. Any past action of ours that ended up with the creation of the Militia will be corrected." Spyglass explained.
"So, you really ARE changing. Now, let me ask you something."
"Ask away." Michael was waiting for Jack's question.
"Why did you kill Barker and Gates?"
"Barker and his group of alcoholics kept hitting us, especially when we were sending resources to newly established civilian colonies."
Jack saw the reasoning. "That would explain where he got the stuff. What about Gates?"
"We were scavenging resources from a decommissioned site of ours for the construction of a new colony on an uncolonized planet. The 6-4 intervened, and when Gates hit Samus with an Arc Wave, I guess I just flared up with anger, and killed the captain in my rage."
"[When his right eye began glowing, my systems became overloaded, but something was keeping me undamaged, then I found this file afterward. Someone or something added it in.]" PYR-8638 added.
"Whoa. This stuff is crazy. I'll let Commander Briggs know about this."
"'Briggs'? Who's that?" Michael questioned.
"[Sarah Briggs is the commander of the Militia's Special Recon Squadron. Commander Briggs may not want to believe anything the IMC says, much less listen to it.]" FS-1041 stated.
"Knowing her history concerning the IMC, she'll stop at nothing to wipe you guys out." Jack added.
Music
Metroid Prime - Tallon Overworld Depths
A female voice was heard on the radio. "I heard everything, Cooper. I'm on my way." A red Vanguard-class Titan landed nearby, chassis number: MOB-1316. It approached the group, with the XO-16 on its back, before opening the cockpit, letting out another Pilot. Sarah Briggs. "So, you're Eagle-Eye 9-1, the squadron that's changing the IMC?"
"That's us." Samus said.
"Is there anything you need to ask?" Adam asked.
"Why are you changing the IMC instead of fighting against them?"
"We've seen the corruption, but there was still hope for it. Now, that hope is burning brightly in our hearts, the corruption having been almost completely cleansed." Michael answered.
"You're a miracle worker, I'm guessing?"
"In a sense, I think so."
Music
Metroid: Zero Mission - Evading The Pirates
"I just remembered something!" Jack exclaimed
"What is it?" Michael asked.
"The Remnant Fleet!"
"What's the Remnant Fleet?" Samus questioned.
"The Remnant Fleet was a section of the IMC that went rogue two months after the destruction of the Spectre production facility on the planet Gatune. They may still be fighting the Militia, but they have begun fighting against us as well. A common enemy, with vastly reinforced Titan hull plating that even the Chassis Upgrade of the Aegis Ranks can not match." Spyglass answered.
"What do we do now?" Michael wondered.
"You've been erasing any and all needs for the Militia for a while now. Because of this, the only logical thing left to do now is to join up with you guys. To be honest, you became better than us, even better than the SRS." Sarah said.
"Well, this is actually pretty unexpected." Indeed, Anthony.
Music
Titanfall 2 - Uphold the Mission
"I'll send a message to the rest of the Militia and tell them that our war against the IMC is over." Said Sarah.
"And we'll post a termination notice for the ARES Division and Vinson Dynamics. Their days are numbered, and they're against our goals." Michael added.
"I have a feeling Graves isn't gonna like this." Jack put plainly.
Music
Metroid: Zero Mission - Space Pirate Assault
Another voice was heard over the radio. "You bet I don't like it, and I don't approve of this!"
A new Vanguard-class Titan dropped in, holding a Predator Cannon. "It's Graves..." Sarah said, wondering what Graves would do.
Music
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Berserker Lord Boss Theme
Michael's right eye began to glow blue as a massive amount of energy formed in the palm of his hand. "Hello, Graves. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but... I don't wanna lie." Familiar energy manifested, creating the same skull-like entities like the one he created at the Haven resort. This time, there were two. Graves spun up his Predator Cannon and projected the Gun Shield, ready to block whatever was coming, but it wouldn't be anywhere near enough.
Bright glowing energy formed within the strange entities and started growing, getting stronger and brighter.
"[Welp, Graves is dead.]" Jeeves said.
"What?" Jack asked.
"[Whenever this happens, someone's definitely going to die, and Michael's got his sight focused on Graves this time.]" Vanessa was right.
The energy within the skull-like entities was released in the form of a massive laser beam. The beams kept blasting, completely destroying Graves's Vanguard before the traitor even had a chance to eject.
M̵i̵c̶h̴a̸e̵l̷ [U̵N̸K̵N̵O̵W̸N̶] Graves's Vanguard
M̵i̵c̶h̴a̸e̵l̷ [U̵N̸K̵N̵O̵W̸N̶] Graves
Music
Titanfall 2 - Uphold the Mission
The glow of Michael's eye faded away as the skull-like entities vanished.
"Whoa... He's... He's gone... Just like that." Sarah was awestruck.
"So, what do we do now?" Jack wondered.
"Why don't we give a friend of ours the news?" Michael answered.
11:39 AM
09/04/2284
Planet Zaiter
Haven resort
Music
Super Mario Sunshine - Sirena Beach
Blisk was sitting back and sunbathing while NL-9831 was using the barrels of his Predator Cannon to drill a hole in the sand where a kid's metal detector found buried treasure. The sand swirled up and a heap of it piled on Blisk, who shook it off in agitation. "OI! I'M TRYIN' TO GET A TAN OVER HERE!"
The retired mercenary then saw what was going on and got up to check it out.
Within the hole was some old treasure. "Hey, nice find, kiddo. NL, could you lower us down so we could take a look?"
"[Sure thing. Climb onto my hand.]" Blisk and the child climbed on the Legion's metal hand as he lowered them into the hole. "[Down you go.]" Blisk hopped off of his partner's hand, landing in a good position to pull the treasure out.
"An old treasure cache... By the looks of it, I'd say it's been here longer than the resort has. Kid, you just found yourself some real treasure. I'll call for a Pilot to get this open. A Data-Knife should do the trick."
"[Don't you still have yours?]"
"Oh, yeah! Nevermind. Could you lift us back up?"
"[No problem.]"
Once they were back up again, Blisk handed the cache back to the kid who found it before heading to the Cobalt Hotel. He came back a while later with his old Data-Knife. "Alright. Lemme see it." The kid handed the cache back to Blisk, who shook the sand out of the port on the side of the container, held the button of his Data-Knife, and jabbed it into the slot. In a matter of seconds, he had it open. "There we go. Let's see what's inside." He knelt down on one knee to let the kid see what was in the cache as he opened it. It was like a portable bank, and it was full. "Whoa! That's a lot of Credits. I don't even know how many this is."
Just as Blisk brought it over to a nearby table to count the Credits, an IMC Drop Ship jumped in and landed.
"Let's see here... Hmm... WOW! YOU JUST BECAME A MILLIONAIRE!" He handed the cache to the child as they both went their separate ways. As Blisk approached the Drop Ship, Spyglass exited it. "Spyglass! How are you doin'?"
"We have good news."
"What is it?"
The other Pilots that were inside the Drop Ship left it. Michael Johnson, Samus Aran, Adam Malkovich, Anthony Higgs, Carlos Gaust, Falco, Palmer Hughes, Jack Cooper, and Sarah Briggs were there.
"Uh... What's this about? Hey, aren't those two Militia?"
"There is no more Militia. What's left is joining the IMC. We're now at war with the Remnant Fleet." Jack replied.
"The Remnant Fleet?!"
"We're also going to remove the ARES Division and Vinson Dynamics. You wanna come back to the IMC, and fight one last war?" Michael offered, holding up Blisk's old CAR SMG by the barrel.
Blisk thought the offer over before coming to a conclusion. "Nah. I've had enough fighting."
"Well, you deserve that much. Nice tan, by the way."
"Thanks, I've been workin' on it all day."
The Militia is gone, the ARES Division and Vinson Dynamics are going to die, Graves is dead, and the Remnant Fleet is known.
Let me tell you a bit about those U̵N̸K̵N̵O̵W̸N̶ things. They're like the Gaster Blasters used by Sans from Undertale, but these are WAAAAY more powerful, managing complete focused destruction, as if their beams were blasts of anti-matter.
See you next time.