Chapter Fourteen:

Beta Quadrant, Sector 187, Pyillos, Archer, Sara Nubran Lunar Base

May 20, 7215

Brandon awoke early the next day. After a brief shit, shower, and shave he dressed in his uniform and commanded his cell to lower. Not being sure of what to do with the day, he wasn’t too surprised when a negative beep sound echoed through the small area in response to his command. Just to make sure though he tried again, with the same response.

“Fuck! What am I going to do just sit in here all day?” He snapped.

Spinning around fully intending to kick his bed, Brandon growled. The toilet, shower, sink, and even his bed had vanished. As he frowned, a desk arose with the familiar interface, followed a few moments later by a chair. Sighing in resignation, he sat down.

A simple memo sat upon the single display.

“Oh for fucks sake! I have to do rixxing school work now?”

Indeed, upon the screen sat a list of required materials he was to review and familiarize himself with over the next few days. Some of it was simple, like his current chain of command and a basic breakdown of the most common modern Titan designs used in system. Others were more complicated. Over the next three days, he reviewed information and maps, weapon load outs, and status screens. After a while, the details began to run together, combining and merging to become blurry indistinct masses of information in his mind. However, three things stayed clear in his mind.

First was a general breakdown of the solar system he found himself in. A detailed 3-D star map with the celestial bodies in current configuration held his attention for nearly 6 hours. He could tap the displayed planets, Moons, asteroids, and space stations to bring up relevant information. Bringing up a notepad, he jotted down some information

Pyillos Solar System

Sector 187. Pyillos -- System TR23

5 Planets, 3 Dwarf Planets, Inner Asteroid Belt, and thin Kepler Belt.

Pyillos I: Volcanic Planet: Rich in rare heavy metals. 2 mining cities exist in bubble habitats. 1 Faction on planet.

House Jemez owns the whole planet.

Pyillos II: Desert Planet: Planet is hot and dry. Has very thin atmosphere. No usable resources. 5 small terraforming bubble habitats spread across the planet. 1 Faction on planet.

House Jamez owns the full planet and all cities within.

Pyillos III: Earth-Like Planet: Planet is temperate with rich farmland. Grows most of the organics for the rest of the system. Capital Planet of the system. – 9 Factions on planet.

Para continent. – Largest landmass on the planet primarily controlled by House Nubran. Primarily excellent farmlands and hard wood forests. House Indeel owns a small mountain range near the southern tip with numerous heavy earth metal mines.

Tershis Continent: House Nexell, Smith, and Xing’Fe share this large landmass. With the largest urban centers and spaceports, these houses function as the economic backbone of the solar system.

Welv Continent: primarily arid desert or land that was stripped mined this continent holds the honor of the oldest city in the system. House Nubran”Pol, Nubran’Igan, and Nubran’Iles run the industry rich area.

Welv Minor Sub-Continent: Owned by House Cortez this area is the location of the only stable Geothermal Spring. Most of the population lives in cities on the bottom of the archipelago’s ocean floors.

Pyillos IV: Swamp Planet: A murky swamp world the entire planet is covered in a shallow freshwater sea. Native to a Non-human Race called the Pyria. Owned by 1 Faction.

House Nubran’Due

Asteroid Belt: 1 Faction 3 Known pirate groups.

House Nubran’Dues

Pyillos V: The systems one gas giant, nearly six times the size of Sol’s Jupiter. Five factions have claimed the planets moons and lay claim to the resources required to create starship fuel in system.

House Nubran’Dues, Jesser, Lindgren, Ogle, and Smith’Son

Outer Reaches: 1 Pirate Alliance, 1 Rogue group, and 5 Pirate groups.

Pirate Alliance: Dogwood Dirges

Rogue Nation: Republic of Free Pyrians

Kepler Belt: Lawless Zone with no formal groups.

The mention of the various houses and their respective locations stood out to Brandon like a garden Gnome waving a red flag and not wearing any pants. The second thing he found a day later was some context for these Houses.

He got a briefing on the current political and social-economic situation of the system. Currently House Nubran was in a state of war with a surprisingly large number of the Noble Houses. The primary conflict was split between House Xing’Fe and the rebellious off-shot houses of Nubran’Due and Nubran’Dues.

The war with House Xing’Fe had been raging for over 500 years already whereas the death of the recently deceased Baroness Polly Nubran had led to the splintering of House Nubran and the two Nubran rebel houses.

Adding onto the chaos was a small war with House Smith and House Nubran’Igan. Both disputes were more economic in nature than the total war of elimination of the other three conflicts. Finally was a tiny conflict with an insignificant split group of the local non-human intelligent species. The so-called Republic of Free Pyrians was a minor footnote, clearly labeled as primitive and under geared. The Republic had no Titans other than battlefield salvage and very limited infrastructure to support the manufacture and maintenance of more conventional war equipment.

There was even a short listing of House Nubran’s current allied factions. The list consisted of only three names; House Indeel, House Nexell, and House Cortez.

The last thing that caught Brandon’s attention in the information flood was the footnote mentioning the recent addition of Vat born to bolster the flagging Human population. Due to constant warfare, the general population had grown stagnant and was even starting to decline over the last couple of years. Baronet Reginald Nubran had instituted the creation of processes sing centers to create an influx of ready-made adults. The Vat born were able to become useful contributing parts of society in less than a year; where-as the process took as many as 25 the old fashion way. New colonies often used the vat born to build up a decent population. So, ultimately the procedure was not anything to unusual, even if it was very uncommon for a well-established dynasty to do it.

Brandon honestly figured the reason most Houses didn’t create Vat-born was because of the costs involved. Why spend more money giving birth to a person than they would ever likely make in their lifetimes? It really did not make sense, except in the case of creating soldiers; for a House facing destruction. That morose thought left a bitter taste in Brandon’s mouth. He really wished he had someone to talk to, at that moment. However, even if he could somehow gain access to one of his fellow Jocks, he knew it would be unwise to speak aloud such “treacherous thoughts... Grinding his teeth, he kept reading the seemingly unending pile of information.

A few days later Brandon got his new orders. He was to report to Simulation room AR5220at 06:00 the morning of May 24th. There he would meet his Assigned unit and they would proceed to the first set of full unit training. His unit would have 24hours to gain proficient rankings in their Titans as judged by the simulation AI. Once they achieved their certification, he would lead his unit to bay AR-Blue-320, where they would see the machines of war for the first time. After inspecting their Titans, they would sign off on the receipt of equipment docket, showing they claimed ownership of the multi-million credit machines.

That is why a couple day later Brandon found himself walking into the first real Titan Bay in his life. As he exit, the white sterile hallway through the heavy security blast doors and into the quiet Bay Brandon smiled. Inside the massive Structure sat five rows of four Titans. The entire Alpha Company’s Titans sat in their births, ready for pilots.

Brandon’s smile faded rapidly as his eyes roamed over the massive hulks. The bays were designed to adjust to the most massive Titans, and so the company’s mostly Ultra-Light composition felt almost tiny. Added to the lackluster was the literal lack of shiny. The Titans Brandon saw were old, beat up war machines. Many were dented and rusted. Patchwork pieces of discolored armor showed the obvious replacement armor plating. Some even housed weapons that looked to be held together more from hope than anything real.

“They are a rixxing lovely lot, ain’t they?” A chipper voice called.

Swinging his gaze away from the rust buckets Brandon adopted his demeanor of Highlander. His no nonsense gaze fell like a hammer upon a man in dark purple grease stained coveralls. His thick black mane of hair was stuck out at odd angles to his head with various Oils and lubricants. In fact, the only part of him that was not covered in Titan life fluids was a set of shiny tools hung upon a tight tool belt at the man’s waist.

Brandon gestured toward the Titans with a flick of his head, “They are… something that is for sure.”

Stepping up with-in five paces of Brandon, the man snapped to attention and saluted; arms crossing his chest. In a loud self-assured voice that somehow still carried a smile the man announced, “Sir, Yeoman Cid Mier presents Training Battalion Alpha Company Titan bay is ready for inspection!”

Brandon hid the grimace on his face and saluted back. The heavy doors behind him ground open with the scream of servos allowing a small group of other Jocks to enter into the bay. Glancing over his should at the group Brandon did not see any of his unit so turned his attention back to the mechanic. “At ease. Lead me to the berths housing Charlee Platoons equipment.”

The mechanic smiled brilliantly and spun on his hill in a surprisingly snappy military turn. “This way sir Knight.”

As the mechanic led Brandon through the bay, a dark humor bore down on Brandon. The machines Brandon passed were obviously only a step out of the recycler. As Brandon passed the largest Titan in the bay, An Arrow He froze. The six and half meter tall goliath was being held in place by the Bay’s Scaffolding. It was plain that most of the Titans had replacement armor panels, and even a weapon or partial limb here and there. However, this Arrow was missing both its leg and arm of the left side. The armor paneling on the right was all blackened as if flames had cooked off all the paint. There was segments that Brandon could even see where the metal had become molten and ran in rivulets.

Somehow missing Brandon’s mood the mechanic stopped when he noticed Brandon’s gaze. “She is a beauty isn’t she? This darling is fresh from the conflict with those Rebel scum!”

Brandon looked at the mechanic and then back to the broken heap of machine to ensure they were looking at the same thing. “How are we expected to work with these?” he started with the Arrow but his hand moved to encompass the room as a whole. “These are barely functional,” With a glance at the Arrow, he added, “if at all.”

The mechanics brilliant smile vanished like a dream. With a face so startling, serious that the contrast was almost painful he stepped so close that his face was almost nose-to-nose with Brandon. Green eyes flickered around the room and the man’s hot rancid breath washed over Brandon’s face. “Watch what you say you fool! Even a place like this has ears. If you value your head, then keep your trap shut and head down.” Suddenly steeping back the mechanic’s smile returned.

“Ah not to worry your little head. Me and my mates will get these beauties right as rain for you Jocks by the time you’re ready to take them into the field”

Moments later Brandon stood before the line of 4 berths hat held Charlee Platoons Titans. The three small ultra-light frames and his own Light Executor were dwarfed by the bulk of the Arrow. However, Brandon was proud to see that he had done his diligence. Although far from perfect, the machines he saw were in better condition than he had expected. Heck, the brand new three-meter tall Apache sat in its own berth like a gleaming gemstone among the tarnished silver of the other Titans. The mechanic looked over the machines and Brandon saw a spark of respect glimmer in the man’s eyes as he produced a data pad.

“Right here is your assigned Titan. Please take a moment to look her over and then when your satisfied sign off that you are claiming ownership.”

Brandon spent the next fifteen minutes examining the Titan noting every point of damage, bit of rust, or defect both real and imagined for the mechanic to note down. Although Brandon expected the man to grow annoyed at the inspection, he didn’t. Instead, the mechanic accurately wrote down the notes diligently and with care. Finally, when he was done inspecting his new charge Brandon accepted the tablet and signed the appropriate box.

The mechanic smiled again, “Perfect. It will take about fifteen minutes from your presets from the simulator pods to be downloaded to the Titan’s core. After that, she will feel just like you like her to. And right about….”

Brandon felt a sharp pinch at the base of his head followed by a wave of nausea that sent him to his knees.

“… Your Verric nanites will be granting you ownership and full rights to her.”

Spinning on his heels the mechanic began walking back to the doors, but spoke over his shoulder. “The first assignments is always the worst. The headache will mellow out in about 15 and go fully away once you jack in… Whenever the higher ups let you do that.”

Brandon rose slowly, and then spun on his heel after the mechanic. At the Bay entrance, the rest of the Company had finally shown up. Yeoman Mier saluted the other Knight’s before he led them off to their own set of Titans. Brandon found Ghost, Buzzsaw, and Valkyrie. They had all gotten slightly acquainted while they gained their Titan certifications for the Platoons Titans. Now however Brandon clearly saw how much they still needed to improve upon that to make a real team. Buzzsaw stood in the middle of the two women ramrod straight, staring forward with unblinking eyes. While both Ghost and Valkyrie stood looking around. When Ghost saw him, she smiled a wide grin.

‘Ah, dar you be American!” She gestured to the other two Jocks. “We Thought ya might a gotten lost in the shitter or something.”

Buzzsaw glanced at the blonde woman with a grimace clearly not amused. Valkyrie however just met Brandon half way and whispered, “Is this a joke?”

Not sure what she was meaning Brandon stayed quiet so she continued, “I woke up this morning eager to see my new baby. But, these are steaming piles of shi...”

Brandon cut her off, “Enough Junior Knight! Do not finish that statement.” Brandon tried to telegraph with his eyes that he understood her feeling and completely agreed with it. However with a few quick glanced at the raised Titan Bay control room he indicated there was eyes and ears on them.

Valkyrie snapped her mouth shut a second before she nodded in understanding.

“Our Titans are this way.” Brandon turned around and took his soldiers to their less smelly piles of shit…