*WARNING!*
*ALERT--JUMP SIGNATURES DETECTED*
"All Units, Be Advised:
IMC forces have arrived thirty-clicks North Three-Five East from objective. Preparations for defensive perimeter operations around AO are now impossible. We must engage the threat immediately.
Prepare to engage hostile forces head-on."
Militia forces cringed at the message that was broadcasted through their comms. Their original plan was to remain undetected until they warped near the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation's (IMC) deep-core extraction facilities that were producing fuel-rich resources via frackling, and seize control of those facilities.
It's reservoir is critical for supplying both side's hungry fleet, and taking control of it would secure a strong foothold for whoever dominated it.
But it seemed like the IMC forces have caught on, and suspected their facilities were in imminent danger, and thus moved in to defend their precious fuel. Now the Militia forces have to engage them on a large-scale head-to-head battle.
"Attention, all Pilot and Titan forces are to warp to the AO and engage hostiles on the ground to secure the facility. Hopefully they won't blow it up the fuel, so they'll have to send in theirs to compensate. It's our best bet to win this thing. Stand by for warp sequence."
***Warp Sequence initiated...
-Warp Nacelles Charge at Maximum Capacity
-Engines at Maximum Capacity
-Jump Navigation System Online
-All Systems Nominal
***Warp Sequence Complete: Ready to Jump
***Stand by for Jump Discharge...
*Fifteen Minutes Later...*
Two Militia Pilots dashed across the wall and jumped off, boosting in mid-air to reach the opposite wall and gain extra speed to repeat the process. They did so again, jumping across an empty space to reach the opposite building...
...an empty space that was unfortunate enough to be in the direction of an enemy IMC Titan's line of sight, who promptly fired a Fourty-Millimeter Cannon accompanied with a thunderous boom at them, instantly obliterating the Pilot's friend in front of him, who was reduced to a cloud of red mist and several chunks of unidentifiable body parts covered in burnt armor.
The remaining Militia chucked an Arc Grenade as he passed by, and successfully made it to the relieving cover of the other building before the Titan could get another shot-off. The enemy Titan, still preoccupied with aiming, did not notice the Arc Grenade until it released a shower of pure electrical energy, sparks erupting across the metal body, causing it to spasm out of control for a certain amount of time, allowing the grenade's owner to escape successfully.
Another IMC Titan noticed his friend's distress, and accompanied his furious teammate along with several infantrymen travelling towards the Pilot's last known location. As they both turned the corner, they were met with several Militia infantry as well as a Titan accompanying them. Without hesitation, chaos erupted among their forces as rockets, bullets, and bombs flew across the battlefield.
The Militia Pilot from the previous encounter took the opportunity to cloak and kill several oblivious grunts behind their lines, but such efforts would almost be ineffective in shifting the tide of the battle. He dashed to an empty container away from all the confusion, reloading in the process.
He reached for his headpiece and spoke into its direct link to the command up in space.
"This is Hunter Two-Three, we got hostile Titans on the ground East of our position bearing towards target-point objective. Taking heavy fire and currently unable to engage the target! Requesting immediate support! Do you copy?!"
The radio buzzed back at him in reply.
"Hunter Two-Three, unable to comply. All assets are currently occupied"
"Then where the hell is my Titan?!"
"Priority TitanFall goes to Hunter Unit One. Next available Titan will be available in two minutes."
"We don't have ONE minute!"
"Suggest you engage further targets for priority override if possible. Over."
He cursed in his helmet, and looked behind the cover just in time to see his teammate's Titan engulfed in flames be executed, the enemy's fist penetrating through the torn hull, and ripping out the pilot inside. It threw his body onto the ground and crushed it under several-dozen tons of titanium-alloy. Both IMC Titans were still online, though one of them was badly damage, sparks flying out of its internal systems.
He gave a breath of prayer, and cloaked to reengage the enemies.
***Thirty Seconds, Two Magazines, and Several Dead Bodies Later...
The Pilot climbed on top of a ruined building, taking cover behind of what was left of an air conditioning unit to re-situate himself and contact command once again.
"Confirmed, you've achieved the top slot. Well done. Priority overridden to you...
...Your Titan is ready. Call it in."
Before he could celebrate, he heard thunderous footsteps that corresponded to the shaking of the earth approaching. He turned around to see the same pair of enemy Titans coming towards his position, smelling his scent within the area.
He swore, turned around, and directed his wrist towards the ground in between him and the ominous Titans coming closer.
His teammates always wondered why he picked the WarpFall Transmitter Kit instead of other preferable things such as the Enhanced Parkour Kit, or Minion Detector, which would prove much more effective during combat.
Situations like this were why he did so.
"Roger--Stand by for Titanfall."
*Titan Run-Up Sequence Complete--All Systems Nominal
*Directive / Titan / Standby...
-Standing By...
-Standing By...
***ALERT!***
***TITANFALL ORDERS RECIEVED!
***Preliminary Drop Sequence Checkup...
-Inertial Dampeners Online
-Auxillary Thrusters Online
-Drop-pod scan checkup not required: Turbo_Drop Directive
***Turbo_Drop Sequence Initiating...
***WARNING: SYSTEM ERRORS DETECTED
-WarpFall Transmitter: Discrepancies Detected
-Jump Navigation System--Error Detected: Unable to process Coordinates
***Jump Denied: Manual Systems Check Required
-Cmd Override: Situation DIRE
-Overriding Cmd...successful
-Replacing Jump Navigation System's Coordinates...
-CAUTION: Files may not be compatible--Proceeding Download...
***SYSTEMS CHECK COMPLETE: ATLAS-CLASS TITAN READY TO DEPLOY
***--STAND BY FOR TITANFALL--***
The Pilot gave a breath of relief hearing that his Titan was going to arrive within fractions of a second, just in time to crush two enemy Titans, which will surely earn him much credit and prestige, not to mention protect him from turning him into a pulp.
But when absolutely nothing happened for only two seconds, he looked up in confusion. Nothing was there.
This couldn't be right! The Titan was supposed to warp to low altitude and come crashing down! Where the hell is it?!
He peeked behind his cover, and sure enough, he was face to face with two IMC Titans, both of whom have already marched passed the green icon signaling the arrival of the Titan that would never come.
The Pilot's last thought was the hope that Air Conditioning Units were impregnable against salvos of missiles.
The Titan completed its jump, but something had happened to the WarpFall Transmitter during the jump, and had resulted in quite the phenomenal slip-space teleport that was out of this world--quite literally.
In fact, it's not even in the same universe (but of course you knew that, fourth-wall observers).
***JUMP DISCHARGED
***STATUS: CORE FUNCTIONS NOMINAL
***WARNING: CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURES--WARP DRIVE
-Jump Navigation Systems Corrupted
-WarpFall Transmitter Expended--Module Unresponsive
-Ejecting WarpFall Transmitter Module...
***Scanning Jump Location...
-HQ Cmd. Uplink lost...scanning...no signal
-Manually Scanning for Landmarks / Regions / Continents...Failed--cannot identify targets--must be higher altitude
-Proceed with Manual System Scans
***Scanning Environment...
-Atmosphere Detected--Current Systems Unable to Perform Further Diagnostics of Atmosphere
-Atmospheric Humidity Detected--Water
-Mapping Terrain...
-Terrain: Soft
-Vegetation / Soil / Water / Rock
***INITIATING SIT-REP...
-All Systems Nominal
-Current Status: FALLING
***INITIATING TITANFALL BRACE SEQUENCE...
-Inertial Dampeners Activating...
-Auxillary Thrusters Firing
-Flaps Deploying
***BRACING...IMPACT!
-All Systems Functional
***TITANFALL SEQUENCE COMPLETE
-Scanning for Personnel...No Signatures Detected
-A.I mode Initiating...successful
***WARNING: SIGNATURES APPROACHING--100 Meters 12:00
-Scanning IFF...no response
-Identifying Signature...Unknown
-Signatures Not Hostile--Prepare for Combat--Hold Fire
***WEAPON SYSTEMS CHECK...
-Chain Cannon Operational and Fully Loaded
-Missile Ordinance Online--Salvo ready to fire
-Vortex Shield Operational--Energy at Optimal Capacity
***COMBAT MODE READY--STAND BY
-Standing by...
-Standing by...
There wasn't a single soul with a pair of ears near Ponyville that did not hear the tremendous boom, nor did a single soul with eyes not see a massive object suddenly appear in the sky with a blinding light then crash into the earth, and not a single soul was left untouched by the massive quake that soon followed.
To say that the inhabitants of Ponyville were curious would be a massive understatement.
Twilight threw open the door and looked towards the pillar of dust looming above the houses, soon accompanied by her assistant Spike.
"Whoa. What the heck do you think that was, Twi?"
"I don't know, Spike. All I know is that Ponyville has WAY too many crazy things that happen on almost a daily basis. Hopefully this one isn't so dramatic."
"Heh, you said it, sis. C'mon, let's check it out!"
By the time they have arrived, a crowd of ponies had began to arrive on the edge of the hill to see what lay over the crest.
Twilight charged to the front of the pack and addressed them.
"Everypony, please, don't come near until we can figure out what exactly has happened! Until then, please return to your homes and stay safe!"
The crowd disappointingly murmured and slowly trotted away, knowing better than to not listen to Twilight Sparkle for too many reasons to count. But soon enough, her friends had arrived to the scene to investigate the phenomenon.
"Hey, Twi! Ya know what the hay is goin' on, here?" Applejack shot first.
"Yeah, I thought it was Rainbow Dash doin' another Sonic Rainboom!"
"My goodness, it absolutely scared the living daylights out of me!"
"So did my poor animals! They all ran under cover!"
"And my Twitchy Tail was super-duper extra Twitchy!"
But before Twilight could answer any of them, a sudden mechanical whir emitted from the smoke and dust, causing all of them to turn their frightened attention towards it. The silhouette of something ridiculously massive began to materialize, the best they could guess was a Minotaur, but that idea was soon erased due to the absurdity of its mass, as well as the strange appendages and shapes becoming distinguishable on its body.
They all held their breaths in anticipation as a rumble resulted in a step being taken by it, followed by another, and another. Soon, the first thing that passed the wall of dust was a large, mechanically-complex looking arm with tubes connected to it. More of the body began to emerge, and they saw the metal "box" was held aloft by a pair of giant white metal-plated arms that showed signs of char and burn. Then came the body, which at that point they were completely unable to process what they saw, shooting past all of their imaginations.
The only things they knew about it were that it was not of this world, it was scary...
...and it was looking right at them.