Writer: Just a heads up, this one might be a little long.
The hollowed out shell of a Militia outpost is seen while corpses of soldiers, and the remains of destroyed or heavily damaged titans litter the surroundings. Suddenly a wall is breached and two pilots come through the hole made while checking all nearby angles for hostiles. Nothing is noticed and the one in Demeter issue assault class armor speaks up.
Pilot- Seems clear, but make sure to be careful.
The two move deeper into the facility while making sure to always be looking around in case of hostile forces. Unlikely as they were. They come up to a wall that has two sides that have been covered by debris. With the signs on the wall pointing to those having once been doorways.
Pilot- Czar, do you have any breach charges left?
Czar- Only one left. We should look for more asap. [Starts setting the breach charge up] Do you know what happened here, Kaio?
Kaio- Outside of an IMC raid? No, I don't.
Czar- Huh. You might want to get back, since there's a really big fucking hole coming up soon.
Czar finishes setting up the charge, and they both back up. He pulls the trigger and after a few seconds the wall blows open. Him and Kaio then walk through it while being cautious with their weapons up. There's only dead bodies in sight as far as they can tell. There is also a mostly wrecked Ion titan on the right wall that makes it feel like the two are always being stared at.
Czar- Let's see if there's any stragglers.
Czar sends out a holo pilot that walks for a few seconds then stops. After it stops moving a sonar pulse is released, and nothing gets marked. They then here a ping sound of something being marked, but it's not visible.
Czar- {Russian} Oh, great. {English} You are bad at this whole modification thing.
Kaio- I never got to actually practice outside of concepting. Hopefully I'll get better. [pulls out a drive, and tosses it to Czar] Take this, and use it to get into the Militia's systems. See if they have anything we can use.
Czar- [catches the drive] Copy that, and what are you going to do?
Kaio- Try to find what got pinged, and see if there's any equipment we can take and use for ourselves.
The two split up, and go separate directions while making sure to update each other every so often. Kaio soon finds the remains of a group of stalkers. Some of which reactivate, but are swiftly destroyed before they become a problem. He eventually stumbles on an armoury to which he starts looking at what's left.
Meanwhile Czar is working his way to the facilities main computer to see what information it held. He eventually gets there without much trouble, and starts looking at the data.
Cutting back to Kaio reveals he has swapped into new gear that he found, and is currently fitting it to himself. Once he's done he grabs his old helmet, and removes his radio. After throwing the old helmet down he connects the radio to his new helmet. Kaio looks over to a nearby broken mirror to reveal he has changed into tri ocean patterned cloak gear. He moves on soon after he picks up an L-STAR he found.
Kaio- Czar, this is Kaio, you there?
Czar- [comms] Here, go ahead.
Kaio- Have the Militia systems had anything useful to us?
Czar- [comms] Not much, but there is data on mostly overlooked planets. Maybe that could help.
Kaio- Potentially. I still have not found our rogue mark. Feels like I'm missing something obvious.
Czar- [comms] Can't help you there. The drive still has a little while more to go until the is complete. Try retreading rooms you've already looked. See if you missed something.
Kaio- Unlikely there's anything in them, but it's worth a shot. Especially with all the blocked off corridors. Kaio out.
Kaio begins going back to the room he and Czar split up in while making sure to search each room on the way. All the rooms come up empty, and he makes it back the main room. He looks towards the Ion when his radio goes off.
Kaio- This is Kaio, go ahead.
Czar- [comms] Data complete, and just in time. Seems we're about to have company
Kaio- Company? How so?
Czar- [comms] Saw a couple IMC ships fly by outside and drop off a few squads of grunts. There's also two titans: A silver Ronin, and a magma looking Scorch.
Kaio- Shit. When can you get to me?
Czar- [comms] A few minutes. I'm going to have to find a new way back to you as the old one collapsed.
Kaio- Copy that. I'll make sure our guests have a warm welcome then. Kaio out.
Kaio cloaks just in time for the first group of grunts to entire the main room. Completely unaware to his presence they move farther in. Kaio pulls out a frag, and begins cooking it. After a few seconds he throws it. The grenade blows up two of the grunts.
Grunt 3- Where'd that come from?
Grunt 4- Hostiles confirmed in the area.
Kaio gets behind one of them, and slits their throat with his data knife. He then blows a hole through the head of the last one with a wingman shot. He then moves to high ground before the next group arrives. The second groups of grunts arrive, but are soon followed by the titans.
R. Pilot- [looking at the bodies of the first squad] Spread out and locate whoever did this.
Grunt 5- Roger that
The grunts go deeper into the facility.
R. Pilot- Did you really have to leave place such a mess, Stunt?
Stunt- The Militia deserve it, and beside I've been off the field for too long. Needed to shake off the rust.
R. Pilot- Right, the grenade injuries from Demeter. Weird you managed to survive that.
Stunt- Yeah, some things have felt wrong after waking up months later, but I'm making the best of it. Atleast my history isn't covered in black ink, Illusion. What'd you do to warrant that?
Illusion- None of your business.
Stunt- Right.
Kaio is listening in on the conversation until Czar suddenly speaks next to him.
Czar- Told you we needed our titans.
Kaio- [after having visibly jumped] Jesus, don't do that. Yeah, maybe. Too late now.
Czar- Yeah.
Kaio- Any ideas on what to do?
Czar- What if we bring down the ceiling, and crush them with it? [points out structurally weak places through pings]
Kaio- Hmm... Maybe, but it's not guaranteed to fall on them. I'll try rodeoing the Ronin, and distract them. You bring down the roof.
Czar- Copy that [pulls out an archer]
Kaio- On my mark. [cloaks and jumps towards the Ronin]
Czar- {Russian} Could have atleast made it verbal [fires a rocket at a weak point]
Silver Ronin- Enemy pilot rodeoing us
Illusion- Wait what?
Stunt- I see them
Just before the Scorch punches Kaio jumps on it's back. He yanks it's shield battery out, and throws it across the room. He the drops a frag in the hole before jumping back to the Ronin. The frag goes off dealing damage to the Scorch.
Stunt- Why you little! Burn! [activates Scorches flame shield]
Kaio- Not a big fan of barbecue, so no thanks
Kaio jumps off the Ronin and cloaks before he gets cooked to a crisp. Another structural weak point is blown up. Czar finishes reloading the archer and begins aiming at the final point. The Ronin soon realizes what the two are doing.
Silver Ronin- Building structural integrity deteriorating. I advise falling back.
Illusion- Huh? [Looks at the ceiling] Stunt, move!
Stunt- Wait what?
The Ronin dashes then phase dashes away right before the final point is destroyed, but the roof doesn't collapse.
Stunt- All that for nothing? Best bet for us [looks towards where Czar is, and aim T-203 at him] Your run is over.
before he shoots the Ion nearby suddenly becomes active, and fire it's laser core for a short time. It lasted just long enough to loosen up the ceiling so much it starts collapsing.
Stunt- Shit!
The Scorch can't react fast enough to get out of the way, and gets pummeled with debris. A piece hits in just the right way to take off the left arm.
Magma Scorch- Recommend evacuating to fight another day.
Stunt- We can take two pilots and a crippled titan!
Illusion- [comms] Clearly they're smarter than we thought. Get out of there. We can take them out later.
Stunt- Ugh, fine.
The Scorch gets out of the rubble and begins leaving. Kaio and Czar hide until they're 100% sure the IMC titans are gone before calling in an evac. After loading up what supplies they felt was needed, including the Scorch arm, Kaio heads to the Ion.
Kaio- Is it just you, or is your pilot in there?
Ion- Pilot is in the cockpit, and is heavily injured. I'm not sure how much longer she'll last.
Kaio- Can I help?
Ion- It's probably for the best. She'd die here if you didn't
Kaio- Well then, open up
The Ion opens it's cockpit, and an unconscious Militia pilot in green grapple gear is seen. Kaio pulls out a needle, and injects her with it.
Kaio- Hopefully this helps stabilize her until we get her to the right people for this. What about you?
Ion- Leave me, I've already done everything I can to protect her. Just make sure she gets out of here alive.
Kaio- Alright
Kaio calls in a stretcher, and helps put the Militia pilot onto it. Once she's on board the ship they leave the planet.
Kaio- So, about those planets that where mostly overlooked.
Czar- Best one I could find was this
A file pops up on a monitor about a planet named Aquar. A mostly oceanic planet. It also hold an abandoned Militia facility.
Kaio- Eh, could be better, but we can make it work.
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