Chapter 7: The Clocks Gone Mad!

I spent a great deal of time, simply soaking up the sunlight. After all, why wouldn't I? After spending a great deal of time in that cramped facility. It was good to simply just enjoy the great outdoors. Also, I was getting flung about by a giant manipulator arm, which I can tell you, I did not enjoy one bit.

"Pilot. We are not far from the rendezvous point. I suggest we make haste immediately"

"Got it, BT" Cooper replied.

Cooper led the way, he seemed to know exactly where to go, even without a clear path ahead. Eh, it's probably because of BT's handy dandy mapping system built into that AI of his, but hey, I'm not complaining. Cooper continued onward through the thick foliage for what felt like days. Due to the simple fact that there was nothing to do, nothing interesting had happened either, with the only thing of note being the clouds gathering in the sky, blotting out the sun. Lighting a gloomy aspect to everything.

We trudged on through the thick forest, and eventually, our efforts paid off. In the distance was a dilapidated facility, with wide open gates waiting to greet us. Cooper and I made our way in, wandering about the facility until Cooper made his way to a sort of ventilation shaft. He disembarked BT's cockpit and walked up to the vent, gazing down the deep drop.

"Alright... Wish me luck.." Cooper said, looking back at the two of us.

"Wishing you luck"

Then, Cooper jumped in, sliding down the little slope at the top before plummeting down the perfect verticle vent shaft. I listened in on his descent until a thud echoed from the bottom, signaling his landing, although it didn't sound very comfortable in the slightest.

"Pilot. Major Anderson is here. Investigate the facility. We will meet you on the other side."

"It's too quiet... We could be walking into an ambush" Cooper replied.

"Agreed. However- close-quarters recon is the sole domain of the Pilot"

"I'll keep my eyes peeled," Cooper responded

"Proceed with caution" I added

We continued to make our way through the upper level of the facility. There was a whole bunch of rusty and dusty science equipment and flaming piles of debris. But nothing too much to note, and we hadn't been lucky to stumble into Anderson either, I guess that role was for Cooper to fill out. What we were supposed to do is find a way down to ground level. But as we explored the facility, a massive surge of energy passed through us. Sending my vision into a haze, and BT into panic mode as he retrieved his Chaingun from his back, pressing the gun into his shoulder and glancing about the room.

"What just happened?" Cooper asked, with a hint of panic in his tone.

BT calmed a little, dropping the gun down.

"There are distortions throughout this facility and they appear to be causing a rift in time. I advise caution until we have further information"

Oh thanks a lot, you shoulda told me sooner.

"A rift in time? How does that happen?" Cooper asked.

"Unknown, Militia SRS has documented several cases on other planets. A common feature of such rifts is a massive energy surge. Be careful Pilot."

Cooper slowly traversed the facility until another massive surge of energy passed through us. Then a voice echoed over Cooper's radio, the voice belonging to non-other than General Marder.

"By decisively neutralizing the Militia forces, we will, in fact, safeguard the existence of the human race. Extending its reach and power towards a bright and prosperous future" His voice wasn't robotic or whatever as if he was speaking through a hologram or a drone like he usually did. Instead, it was loud and clear like he was right in front of him. Not being a massive pussy.

How the hell? Oh yeah right, time distortions. He probably waltzed through the facility and ended up in a room where Marder was giving a speech to a group of Riflemen in the past or some jazz like that.

I shook the static from my vision and pushed onward. And eventually, we reached a ramp, which extended down toward a massive door of sorts, it was slightly ajar as well, giving me a good shot of prying it open. I approached it and grabbed hold of the slight opening beneath it. BT walked over and assisted me as well, clamping down hard on the small indents in the bottom of the door

I looked over at him.

"On my signal, we pull, got it?" I asked

"Affirmative"

"1" BT tightened his grip. "2" I readied myself "3"

We pulled hard, all while the door creaked and groaned as its loose hinges scraped against each other. We'd lifted it to such a degree that there was enough space to fit the both of us, so I propped the thing up on my shoulders, and I waved BT through. He quickly dashed through, and he rushed away, before uprooting a pylon and bringing it back to me, propping it under the door.

I quickly ducked down and dashed away as soon as it was in place, leaving the flimsy rusted pylon to carry the burden. And almost immediately the pole bent and snapped as the door fell down hard, slamming against the ground, completely sealing that exit away. As I gazed at the sight, yet another surge of energy passed through us. Fizzling my vision once more, I better be here for a good reason because this place is giving me the worst headache.

I looked at the portion of the facility we were currently located in. We were on the main campus, atop cracked pavement. There were rusted cars scattered about the facility, alongside, rotted skeletons, who were wearing diluted overgrown clothing. On both my right-hand side and my left-hand side, there were massive buildings that towered over BT and I. They were completely overgrown, the glass windows were extremely dirty and some were shattered.

Oh, wait. I forgot to mention the giant flying bat things, didn't I? Well let me get started on those, they were everywhere, from on the ground huddled up in groups to flying about in the skies, screeching wildly. BT had already pulled his Rifle free from his back, holding his ground in case the swarm decided to attack. But yet they just stared at us momentarily, before continuing on with whatever they were doing. Well personally I'm glad they didn't attack, I didn't feel like slaughtering them.

We trudged on down the old road, passing by all sorts of ancient technologies. Well, the design was modern but they were probably thousands of years old at most. We stopped at the edge of a destroyed bridge. On the other end of the bridge was a massive pile of debris, which was most likely some great device that had failed in a great explosion, judging from the damage everywhere else.

But as we looked over the debris, a surge of energy passed through us once more. BT seemed fine with it like he usually was, but I didn't like it one bit, with all the migraines it brought me.

"What is this place?" Cooper suddenly asked.

"The IMC has multiple research facilities throughout the Frontier. However, this particular one is unlike any known to the Militia"

"How so?" Cooper replied

"The large rings within the main campus are not an IMC technology. Its design is foreign and its function is unknown"

I turned around, checking out the rest of the campus and I just so happened to catch a glimpse of the man himself. He was stood upon some sort of overlook high above everything at the very end of the campus. He dropped down, breaking his fall at the last moment with a sudden boost from his Jump Kit. He rolled to dull some of the momenta before getting to his feet, he pulled out his L-STAR and slowly walked by the weird bat things. Making sure not to get their attention.

"Strange... I am picking up traces of my own data signatures within this area. The distortions must be affecting my scans."

BT walked up to a rotting corpse, picked it up from the ground, and looked over it.

"None of these remains match the genetic profile of Major Anderson. He may still be alive." "I recommend you check the main lobby of reception. We would accompany you but unfortunately our chassis will not fit through the door."

"Time to earn my keep..." Cooper remarked

"On the contrary. You are proving yourself to be much more than a Class-Three-Rifleman. I suspect Major Anderson will be impressed"

He walked up to the open door, gazing inside before heading in, rifle tucked into his shoulder. I listened in on his comms as he trekked through the facility, all was quiet until the sound of clattering metal rang out, followed by a great roar. He must've found a lizard beast. It didn't last for long as he opened fire on it, it howled out in pain before collapsing dead.

Cooper walked along, his footsteps echoing out through the dead facility. Though he eventually stopped, before jumping up and grabbing onto something, releasing whatever it was and clipping it to his belt.

"BT, I found Anderson. He's... uh... in the ceiling." Cooper said.

"Objective complete. We have rendezvoused with Major Anderson."

"That's cold, BT," Cooper replied

"Correct, Anderson's current temperature is 17 degrees Celsius, below the threshold of human survival"

"BT-7274, I suspect that the Pilot may be referencing your response" I added.

"Noted."

Cooper emerged from the facility, his rifle to his side and a helmet clipped to his belt, it flashed blue every second or so. BT reached out his hand, beckoning Cooper for the helm. Cooper detached the helmet from his belt, taking a quick glance at it, before handing it over to BT, BT's hand emitted a cyan hue in the center of his palm, and the helmet flew from Cooper's hands, straight to BT. where It remained in suspended animation, just a little bit away from BT's palm.

"With the death of Anderson, command of Special Operation 217 now transfers to you" "Congratulations on your field promotion, Pilot Cooper"

BT kneeled down, with the helm still in his grasp and he looked over to Cooper.

"The following is Anderson's mission briefing from Commander Sarah Briggs of the Militia SRS"

He looked away before his datacore lit up, projecting a holographic video. Two cyan figures appeared, in the form of Sarah Briggs and who I guessed was Major Anderson, with the helmet and all that.

"Major Anderson, two weeks ago we intercepted IMC comms. They found something on Typhon." The holographic Sarah Briggs said, walking up to Anderson "A massive blast of energy was discharged at this location, creating time distortions." She said, gesturing to the massive collapsed ring device "I want SRS on the ground to infiltrate the facility."

"Roger that. I'll get some answers." Major Anderson said.

"This wrist-mounted device we recovered during Operation Grizzly should protect you." She said, disconnecting a coil of sorts from her belt, and handing it to Anderson, who fitted the device onto his hand. "We know the IMC have contracted Kuben Blisk and his mercenaries to protect something critical there." "So watch your back..." She said turning away, "And Anderson, you know how much I love writing death reports, so don't go it alone." She said turning back to face Anderson "The SRS is a team." They turned and parted their separate ways, then the video feed cut out.

"Pilot, the data Major Anderson collected appears to be incomplete" BT crushed the helmet and got to his feet "We are duty-bound to uphold and fulfill Special Operation 217." "Recommend we locate Anderson's wrist-mounted device before proceeding."

"I didn't see any device on Anderson," Cooper said.

"It must be on the other half of his corpse" BT turned around, looking up to a hole in the side of the left-most building. "I detect a breach in the Service Security building. I will provide access" BT walked up to a fallen power line, grabbed hold of the pole, and uprooted it from the ground, he kneeled down and brought the pole to his shoulder. He aimed before hurling the pole like a javelin, it soared through the air and stabbed into the hole in the side of the Service Security building.

"E-0001 and I will remain here, I will scan the ringed structure and E-0001 will keep guard. While you investigate the facility for intel and the missing device."

"Nice. Maybe next time you can throw me." Cooper remarked

"Noted."

Cooper walked up to the power line, before hooking himself on it, sort of like a zipline. He soared up eventually reaching the top, he looked around carefully, taking a step forward before falling down a pit that'd been blown into the building, basically falling from the top floor all the way to the fourth floor. I watched as he descended, the blurry figure of Cooper plummeting past the window on every floor. Until he thudded against the ground, steadily picking himself up all while clutching his head.

And as he looked about, another massive surge of energy once again spread out over the entire facility, making Cooper disappear in a cloud of semi-liquid gas. I listened in on Cooper's radio, which somehow, I could still tune in to.

"Unauthorized personnel detected. Activate automated security."

Alarms blared as doors shifted open, followed by heavy metallic footsteps. But it only lasted momentarily as the surge ended, bringing Cooper to where he once was. He turned, and raised up his rifle, before disappearing from view. The sounds of an L-STAR firing rung out, alongside the sounds of wires sparking like crazy. Cooper raised the L-STAR once more, pulling down on the trigger only for the gun to make a quiet click.

He grunted and hurled the gun at a nearby Specter, before pulling the R-45 from his hip and finishing off the rest of the ancient robots. He tore a rifle from the grasp of one of the dead robots, before continuing farther into the facility. Another energy surge rang out, fizzling my vision again and sending a splitting headache ringing through my head.

"Unauthorized personnel breach at security services, intruder may have advanced cloaking package."

"Copy that, laser meshes are online. Sending a team to investigate."

The energy surge died down, tearing the headache out of my mind, much to my approval. But yet again, another energy surge ran through my head, slowly tearing away at my mind with a splitting migraine once more. I groaned and clutched my head, in pain. The sounds of gunfire rang from Cooper's helm, and then the energy surges just started auto-firing.

Shutting off and starting up, every second or so. I didn't like it one bit if I had to say.

"Attention. Security lockdown measures are temporarily activated due to a minor security breach in your area. Thank you for your patience"

Finally, the surges stopped. Leaving me in blissful silence once more. It was followed by the quiet footsteps of Cooper echoing out over the radio. Cooper kneeled down before disconnecting something from something.

"Sorry, Anderson..." Cooper said, slotting something onto his hand. Which one could only assume was the time travel device.

"Pilot Cooper, I have transferred some of my AI functions into your helmet in order to permit communication across time shifts."

"Pilot, communications are set up between you and I. If you require assistance you may contact either of us." I added, yeah, I already had comms set up with him, but it didn't hurt to tell him now.

Cooper ran off, before time shifting to the past, activating a locked door and opening fire on a group of Riflemen. Luckily for me, it didn't send a massive energy wave straight into my head, so that's a plus on my part.

"-last spotted him headed toward Wildlife research. Get the rest of the eggheads evacuated and set up a choke point"

"Additional meshes are online. Let's box him in."

"Control, we have initiated contact with the intruder but his movement is... erratic."

Cooper continued to time shift from past and present, firing off shots, before hiding away in the safety of the present. He shifted back to the past and continued through the facility.

"In position. Activating turrets at south-east corridor."

"We have an intruder, heavily armed and dangerous. All units in the area proceed to the south-east elevator banks on level four to incept"

Cooper ran along. Eliminating every enemy Riflemen that got in his way. He made his way through the facility, from Wildlife Research to the Elevator Banks. Then as he rushed in, the sounds of elevator doors opening hissed out, followed by the marching of several squadrons of Riflemen. Explosions rang out and the sounds of a Flatline rattling echoed over the comms.

"Sounds like you are doing well Pilot." I complimented

"Thanks, E... But I'm in a little bit of a situation right now" He replied.

Eventually, the gunfire and the shouting died down, replaced with the sounds of blaring of alarms. Cooper pushed on, rushing into the elevator shafts from what I could remember.

"Security, Beta 4, do you copy? Beta 4! What is your position?"

Silence... sorry IMC Control, your team's dead.

Cooper climbed through the elevator shaft, returning to the present to take an easy going with the prebuilt zip lines. As he reached the top, he switched back to the past, due to the one simple fact that his path was probably blocked by a giant flaming pile of debris, much like literally the rest of the facility. As he switched back to the present, General Marder's voice rang out over the radio.

"We're going forward with this. The test must be completed."

Cooper pressed down on a tablet, granting access to the next room. I was blind in terms of actually figuring out where the fuck he was right now, I had to run by the very thin details from back in the day when I actually played this game. Very little of it was the campaign, the rest was absolutely dominating in attrition, which wasn't actually of use in the slightest here.

"Pilot, a fragment of Anderson's personal log may be relevant here. Activating log playback..."

The sound of flickering devices played through the radio, followed by a very familiar voice, yeah you all know who it is.

"Anderson's log 3-4-1: The IMC found something all right - - it can fold space and time." "They sure as hell didn't build it, but... they're restoring it? Whatever they're planning, it's potentially catastrophic." "...Anderson out."

Cooper was forced back into action as the boom of a plasma cannon rang out. Cooper dispatched of it almost instantly, before dashing out of the room. Followed by, yet more gunfire and the screams of Riflemen as they got pummeled by the kick of Cooper's Flatline. Damn, when will Cooper catch a break? Never, that's when. General Marder decided to open his big mouth once more as the gunfire died down,

"If we don't test the Ark's Power now we may never have another chance. Zulu Six, prep the Ark for delivery."

After Marder shut up, Cooper was forced back into another shootout. As he swapped back to the present, and straight back to the past, with the tell-tale whoosh of the wrist-mounted device giving it away. Obviously, Cooper came out on top being the highly skilled Pilot he was, and I assumed he made his way into the Ark storage room, from the small snippets I could remember of the campaign anyway.

As Cooper traversed the area, the sound of a device flickering was brought to my attention, it was another one of Anderson's logs booting up.

"Anderson's log 3-4-2: The Fold Weapon's power source is called the 'Ark'. Doesn't look like they've perfected the casing..." He sighed, "This one's empty. The Ark must be somewhere else... Anderson Out"

Cooper continued on, tearing through more of the IMC's forces, time-jumping to completely ignore some of the enemies he'd encountered. He pushed on through the winding corridors of sleek white, hurling frags down at the light infantry that'd decided to try their luck against him, turning them into a bloody red mist.

Then Marder went on saying some dumb shit.

"Spin up the outer rings. Test sequence will commence once the Ark is in place"

Cooper then went absolutely mad on the time-jumping, he wasn't in combat...yet, but he was just jumping from past to present, over and over. Maybe I'll have to ask BT for help on the video feed thing. And once more Cooper went back into a heavy battle. From what I could hear there were 1... 2... a fuck ton of Riflemen, oh and a few drones sprinkled on top too.

Cooper immediately took to it, sliding behind the cover and throwing out a frag.

"BRACE! BRACE!"

Boom. Riflemen? gone, but a few were still left. Cooper stood from behind his cover and opened fire. The steady fire rate of his Flatline echoed out, and eventually, it clicked empty. But just as all the Riflemen 'disappeared'.

Cooper made haste, time-jumping and parkouring about wherever he was, well what I could hear was a whole bunch of running, jumping, zip lining, double-jumping, wall-running, and time-jumping. So one could only assume he was parkouring right?

"Ark successfully delivered to Fold Weapon. Commencing test-run"

"Pilot, the rings at my location contain a large amount of residual energy. This was the Ark's final destination." "Anderson's plan indicated a recon mission within close proximity to the center of the active rings."

"Are you sure I'll be safe over there?" Cooper said, in slight bewilderment.

"No. But a true Militia Pilot takes risks for the welfare of others. As did Major Anderson and Captain Lastimosa before you."

With renewed vigor, Cooper dashed throughout the facility, on a returning path to us. On our side, it was kinda dull, just sitting around in a dilapidated campus, the odd giant bat flying by curiously, but what I guessed Cooper was experiencing currently was a whole bunch of hardcore action, time-jumping past giant laser meshes, and wall-running over dangerous electrical floors. Well, that's what I heard at least. With the blaring of lasers, the crackle of electricity, the patter of Cooper's boot, and the whoosh of his Time-Gauntlet. Yes, that's what I'm calling it now.

The air hissed into the radio system, as cooper jumped down a ventilation shaft, narrowly dodging spinning blades and burning piles of debris as he time-jumped. He landed on the floor with a thud, pushing himself up and shaking the dizziness from his head. The crackle of Cooper's helmet's holo-display, before bringing up another one of Anderson's logs.

"They were targeting this planet's moon as a test. This damn thing was just a test!" "One of our own planets is next - they're going to hit Harmony." "And they've moved up the timeline..." "I have to get this intel to Sarah."

"Hold it right there, Pilot." The voice was of a Rifleman, though it wasn't an actual alive, in-the-flesh Rifleman, only a watered-down version of his voice, originating from the holo-recording.

"I've located-" And just as those words came out his mouth, Anderson beat his ass, the sounds of the Grunt struggling echoing out, as Anderson punched, kneed, elbowed, and whooped the shit outta him, he stuck a satchel to his chest, and he pressed down on the detonator, yet it failed to detonate on time. Then as the Rifleman realized, he was going to die no matter what he did, he kamikazed him, screaming as he readied to take both their lives.

"That was Major Anderson's final recording." "Cooper, based on your recon of the facility, I may have a plan. Meet us outside."

Cooper grunted in approval, before traversing through the small portion left of the facility. He stopped and pressed down on a tablet, opening a door in front of him, yet he was immediately greeted by a Specter, knocking him dead center in the helmet. Cooper retaliated by quickly pushing himself to his feet, and filling the robot full of lead.

"Attention, automated security personnel have now been deployed in all non-combatant sectors. Please display security credentials clearly to avoid accidental termination. Thank you,"

Cooper was fired upon by swathes of Specters, he quickly threw down a frag at their feet before rushing away. A large boom rang out, signifying their destruction. Cooper ran up to a tablet, and pressed down on it, causing a door to slide open. He ran through, pushing farther and farther out of the facility.

"I recommend you meet us at the rings in order to scan the Ark's energy signature."

And as BT said that, swathes of Lizard Beasts emerged from all about the facility. Well, looks like my job's finally coming into play. I pulled the Cleaver from my back and readied myself for what could be a very easy fight. BT pulled out his X0-16 Chaingun and immediately fired upon the nigh-endless swarm of beasts, they howled out in pain and toppled over. I swung my Cleaver in a great arc, cleaving what was rest of the beasts in two with little to no effort.

I ran about, cleaving through the swarm, stomping down on any that got too close, as Cooper made his way closer and closer toward us. I activated my wasp missiles, and they shot out, each one seeking out its own individual target, before piercing through their vitals and exploding, turning each one of them into an unidentifiable gooey mass of flesh and blood.

The swarm was completely wiped out in one fell swoop. Seems I'm very efficient against swarms of infantry then. Well...non-human infantry that is. Cooper then appeared right in front of us, shifting from past to present. Cooper looked around, seemingly impressed with the damage we'd dealt, hands on his hips.

"It appears whatever actions you took in the past have caused the remaining automated security systems to be quite hostile towards us in the present"

And as Cooper and I looked about, we'd noticed the swarm of old rusty Specters closing in on us. Wasn't too much of a big deal, but Cooper still embarked inside BT nonetheless. Jumping up into BT's cockpit, he'd so generously opened a second beforehand. Man, that neural link shit is crazy.

"Alright guys, we're gonna time-jump, you ready for this?" Cooper asked.

"Ready," I responded

"Ready"

Cooper walked up to me and grabbed hold of my leg, and then he time-jumped. In a flash, the facility was brand new. The dilapidated facility was completely fixed, with no piles of burning debris, no smashed windows, no burning cars, no overgrowth, no nothing. The clouds had completely parted in but the blink of an eye, coating the facility in sunlight. The big device behind us, known as the 'fold weapon' was no longer a flaming pile of useless garbage, but was now up and running. Which obviously wasn't a good thing.

"Uphold the mission: I have marked the bridge controls on your HUD. You will need to extend the bridge before the Fold Weapon testbed explodes"

Cooper ran up to a large facility gate, it automatically opened to show a swarm of heavily armed Specters and Two Legion-class Titans, shit. They immediately rushed out and opened fire, sending us stumbling back, the heavy caliber rounds from the Legions and the red hot bolts of plasma from the Specters, tore into our hulls, with each projectile making its mark. I raised my vortex shield, catching the projectiles they fired toward the both of us, And Cooper dashed behind me, taking cover from the hostiles.

"Pilot, you go on and activate the bridge controls, I will take care of the hostiles," I said, I swiveled my neck around to look at him, and he sent me a quick nod, before tightening his grasp on his rifle.

I let go of the shield, the built-up projectiles shooting off towards the swarm, instantly tearing every single Specter to shreds, but it only sent the Legions into a momentary daze as they stumbled back from the force of the hit. Cooper took that as the signal, dashing into the facility room out of view. I would make sure this opportunity didn't go to waste either.

I ran up to the Legions, punching one straight in the cockpit, sending it stumbling back. I raised my cleaver up high, bringing it down on the other. It was a little too slow to dodge out of the way, taking the blow fully. Though somehow, his chassis managed to survive the first hit. He took advantage of that immediately, stabbing his Predator Cannon straight into my chest, and charging up a power shot. The barrel of his gun grew white hot spinning much faster than before, before sending a strong spread of lead right into my chest.

It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me, even with my lack of a pair of lungs. But it didn't stop me in the slightest, if anything it only fueled me more. I pulled my pistol free and let loose a flurry of bolts straight at the Titan. Each one exploded against its chassis, digging deeper and deeper into its hatch frame before one finally managed to pierce into its cockpit. Destroying every vital system within it. Effectively killing the Titan.

The other had finally gotten to its feet after what felt like a good minute, shaking itself out of its daze, before spinning up its gun, and firing a steady stream of lead toward me. My utilities and my pistol still have yet to recharge, so I guess it's close quarters from here on out. I holstered my gun and charged it, all while it rained lead down on me. I raised my sword, blocking some of the bullets it fired until I was right in front of it.

I kicked it square in the face, sending it tumbling onto its back, it dropped its Predator Cannon as it skidded off to its side. I walked up to it before it could grab hold of its weapon, and slashed my cleaver down at it, just like the other, it survived the first slash. Yet it didn't matter much to me. I lifted the sword up high once more, slashing it down a second time, nearly completely cutting it in half. Then on the third slash, it broke into the cockpit. It self-destructed right then and there, leaving nothing but its legs.

As the Legion died, Marder spoke up over the comms.

"To hell with the safety protocols. Initiate the test, immediately!"

"Copy that. Do not allow the intruder to reach the Ark under any circumstances"

I looked back and the bridge to the Ark was extending out, and Cooper had already rushed out. New weapon in hand. Also, swathes of Titans and infantry rushed to defend the Ark.

"The Ark is overloading!"

"Everybody evacuate, now!"

I ran up ahead of Cooper, and I pushed the Titans off the bridge, sending them tumbling into the water. Drop pods rained from the sky, and Dropships practically blotted the sun, sending an endless tide of infantry. I readied myself to fight them, that was until Cooper pushed past me, running straight toward Ark. And what I'd failed to notice was the rings were spinning extraordinarily fast and it was nearing supercritical. The thing was about to explode

I brought my sword up, hoping that it'd just barely protect me, then the ark exploded sending my vision into a frantic buzz. Then, I was back in the present, within an instant. The gloomy weather had returned and I was completely unscathed, from the explosion that is. I looked about and Cooper was sprawled out on the ground, he slowly picked himself up, shaking the daze from his head. BT was also kneeling down just a little ways away from Cooper.

"Well done, Pilot. Scan complete." "As Anderson discovered, the IMC intended to destroy the Militia planet Harmony using the full-scale version of this weapon."

Cooper looked down at the time gauntlet, the thing was completely fried, through and through. He twisted the thing off and chucked it to the ground.

"Pilot Cooper, our journey is far from over"

"We must get this data to the fleet."

BT stood up as Cooper approached him.

"Where do we go now?" Jack asked

"There is a Militia-controlled satellite dish, approximately 46km away. 5,600 meters up in the mountains. That is our destination"

Fuck.

Hello everybody! There's your chapter for today. Sorry that it was shorter than usual, there wasn't a whole lot to write about for this mission after all. The next chapter is gonna be a huge pain in the ass to write, probably because I'm gonna actually have to write the transition between the maps, which is 48KM I MIND YOU! I might take the easy way out with a time skip... I dunno, that's up for future Elijah to figure out.

Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, if there were any mistakes or things you didn't quite understand, leave a review, positive or negative, either way, it helps with the progression of the story. Thank you for reading and I'll see you in the next one.