Four's Logbook
I got the navigational data from the IMS Kraken. KT and I are now on our way back to the Griffin, where we'll regroup with everyone and warp-jump somewhere else so that the IMC don't follow us.
So now, I've got two problems. One being that the Kraken's blackbox has now recorded me leading a raid on the IMC vessel. I don't know what they'll do with that information, I don't have any friends they could threaten, and my family's been dead for a long time. I just hope that they put a bounty on my head, and are done with it.
My second issue is Gates. As far as she knows, I drastically changed my evac plan, terminated our comm connection, and she was unable to contact me for the remainder of the mission. I'm sure that I'll have hell to pay when I get back.
Personally, out of the two problems facing me, I'm more afraid of the latter.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
—X—
The Widow opened its massive door in its side, and Tobias held a hand to cover the transition of the shadowy cargo bay to the bright light of the Griffin's hangar. Looking out to the shield doors, he found that they were completely closed. The Griffin must have jumped as soon as the dropship had returned.
KT's hatch opened, and he stepped out from the cockpit, almost falling to the ground. That last move of flying into the Widow had definitely banged him up a bit. Might be a broken bone or something. Either way, he was hurting.
"Pilot?"
KT noticed him fall to the ground, and quickly jumped into action. "Are you alright?! What's wrong?"
He waved her away with one arm while he used to the other to support himself, and keep himself from crumpling to the ground. "I'm fine, just... just hurting a bit. Give... give me a minute."
The Titan obliged, and stood watch over him, monitoring him for further bouts of pain. As he looked up, he saw a familiar blue-suited pilot making her way towards him.
This wasn't gonna be fun.
"If you weren't in such a bad shape already, I'd be kicking your arse up and down the frigate." She crossed her arms, and just stared at him menacingly. "What the hell were you thinking, pulling shit like that?! Changing plans at the last moment and destroying the Kraken, what was the point of it?!"
He groaned. "If they'd looked at the computer system... they'd be able to see what files we accessed. They might have known what we were looking for, and prepared."
It took a moment for Gates to get it, but suddenly it clicked for her. "You mean ..."
"I was buying us time ... to prepare, and come up with some plan if we do end up going after Erebus." His hand shaking, he pulled out his data knife and handed it to Gates. "All the nav data of the last six months is on there, if ... if Erebus was streamed to the Kraken's database at any time, it'll be in there."
Now that she understood his plan a bit better, she stopped acting so harsh. She crouched down to his level, and placed a hand on his shoulder. She spoke a bit softer, "You alright, Four? Seriously, don't bullshit me."
He was about to come up with some witty remark when another pulse of pain hit him, and he winced in response to her question.
She quickly turned to the crowd of riflemen standing nearby. "We need a medic, quickly! We've got wounded." While several of them ran off to get help, she turned back to him.
"Just hold tight for a few minutes, alright? Medics are coming, they'll fix you up."
He nodded, and opted to lay on the ground while he waited. She stood back up, and turned to the others standing behind her and watching; Dimitri, Bear, and the other two pilots with them. She pointed at them.
"You two. Front and center."
They quickly moved into position, and stood at attention. She looked at one of them.
"So, Davis. Dee here told me that you and this one here went against orders and stayed behind to help evacuate the other pilots?"
He nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
She gave a small hum of thought. She looked at the other. "What's your name?"
"Droz, ma'am."
She nodded. "Well, as part of the militia, you'll likely be reprimanded, disciplined even. Probably like him," she said, gesturing towards Tobias. She gave a small chuckle.
"But as the 6-4 is a freelance team, I can't do that. What I can do is thank you, and commend you for your bravery."
They seemed to be at a loss for words before Davis gave a small cough. "T-thank you, ma'am."
"Oh, get rid of the ma'am already. Gates is my name, use it."
"You got it, Gates."
She crossed her arms again. "If you and Droz here end up looking to be part of a team ... I've got an open mind when it concerns the 6-4."
They looked at each other in disbelief, and then back to her. Droz nodded. "That sounds excellent, Gates."
She sighed. "I'll tell the bridge that I'm considering commandeering two of their pilots. Now get out of here."
The two walked away, talking to each other as several medics finally arrived. They moved into position around Tobias, but were hesitant to move forward upon seeing the protective stance that KT was taking over him.
Gates waved at her. "KT, it's alright. Ease up."
The Titan seemed to realize how she looked to be guarding him, and moved away slightly to let the medics through. They loaded him onto a makeshift stretcher, and then carried him towards the direction of the infirmary.
...
He opened his eyes.
He definitely felt more alert than earlier, and took the opportunity to look around. He was back where he'd been first interrogated by Dimitri, in the medical wing. This time, it seemed to actually be fulfilling its intended purpose. Seemed to be pretty empty save for a few other beds at the far end of the room with their curtains drawn up.
With a start, he realized that he wasn't alone. To his left was Gates, and she seemed to be watching him carefully. Still had that damn helmet on, though.
Upon seeing he was awake, she snorted. "You know, even when I first met you on Nedar and you were making smartass comments, you've seemed to have a knack for getting yourself into trouble."
He shrugged. "Character flaw, my bad."
She looked him up and down. "You're lucky that things went better than expected. No completely broken bones, though you definitely bruised a few. You've got a hairline fracture on one of your lower right ribs, so you'll have to wear a brace for a few weeks. Probably take it easier, yeah?"
He said nothing at first, processing that. He understood the need to heal, but the last thing he wanted to do was stay behind while everyone else got stuff done. He remained silent, but nodded his reluctant agreement.
She sighed. "You know, I was pretty worried about you. Jax didn't make it on the way out, and we lost a few of the other pilots as well. I didn't want for your sorry ass to end up like them."
Maybe Gates had a softer side than he realized. With how tight-knit a group the 6-4 was, he imagined that they must all be very close. The loss of Jax would be very hard on her, and he'd hate to imagine how she'd be acting if he'd died as well. While he couldn't say that he knew her as well as Bear or Dimitri, she and him were still definitely closer than most.
He smirked. "I'll try not to get myself killed as much next time."
"Good." She paused for a moment before clasping her hands together, and leaning over. "We had a look through those data files, sorted through the information to see if your hunch about Erebus was right."
He waited for her to speak, desperately hoping to hear what he wanted. She sighed.
"We found it."
He let out a deep breath of relief, and then regretted it due to his bruised rib. He looked at her curiously, waiting for her to explain.
"We're not sure exactly what they're doing there, or even any information on the planet itself, like weather, size, et cetera. You were right, whatever it is, they're locking down any information on it tightly."
He shrugged again. "Well, at least we know it exists. And now we've got a bit more time to plan."
"But plan what?" She threw her hands up frustratedly. "What exactly are we going to do? We've got no idea what the hell is there, or if we can do anything about it. How do you prepare for an unknowable enemy?"
He grunted as he shifted in the cot. "I told Briggs that we should send scouts. I think we should still keep that idea, send a few people out ahead before bringing any major Militia forces there."
She huffed. "Four, if you're suggesting-"
"I know IMC layouts better than you-"
"You're injured, I'm not gonna have you out there hindering-"
He held a hand up to stop her. "I got everyone into this mess, I'm gonna help get us out. I'm going."
Considering that she technically had superiority over him, he was slightly worried for a second that she would start yelling at him. Fortunately, she dropped the issue, and relented reluctantly.
"If you want to die so badly, that's up to you. Bloody idiot..." She turned around and began to walk out of the infirmary. He watched her go sadly. She was definitely a friend now, and he hated to see her mad at him like this.
But the fact remained that he was the reason why the Militia were now involved with this new scheme. Why there might be a surge in IMC activity on a manhunt for him.
And he was going to help fix it.
...
Protect the Pilot.
KT stood in the hangar, watching everything move around her. Pilots and riflemen alike, meandering about with purpose, with a sense of self. Four was right, people-watching was definitely an... interesting pastime.
They wouldn't know how she felt. Wouldn't know what it was like to be a Titan, where you constantly felt as though you were missing half of yourself if you weren't with a Pilot.
Protect the Pilot.
He was in the medical wing right now, and she couldn't help but feel responsible. Maybe if-
"KT."
She looked over to see SKD walking over to her. Several of the Militia soldiers in the room looked on curiously. Usually, there weren't multiple Titans in the hangar. She paid them no mind.
"Greetings, SKD."
The Ronin stood next to her, stoic and professional. "My name is Skids."
She rotated her eye to look at him. "Titans do not have names. We have ID's."
"Yet, you do not stop your Pilot from calling you 'Kay'."
She hesitated for a second. "It is a shortening of my serial designation. For combat effectiveness-"
"It's a nickname."
She gave a synthetic sigh. "What do you require?"
"I would like to talk. You appear to be in distress."
"My Pilot is in the medical wing."
"I am aware."
She looked down. "I feel responsible. Perhaps my calculations were off, or I misjudged certain variables-"
"Our processors are essentially supercomputers. There was no error in your thinking."
She looked back at him. "Then why do I feel... wrong?"
Skids seemed to pause, thinking of a proper answer. "When you served with Captain Shears, you never had to face a dilemma such as the one you are facing now, except for when he died."
She twitched.
"Your Pilot is injured. You think you have failed the third protocol, but you haven't."
"What do you mean?"
"You were given an impossible situation. With the way the mission proceeded, both of you are lucky to be alive. He is lucky to have suffered such minor injuries compared to how severe they could have been. I intend to say that, you are not used to dealing with a scenario in which you cannot succeed. No matter which way you were to operate, he would have been hurt. This was simply the path of least grievances."
She pondered over that information, feeling it resonate sorely with her.
"Much like when Shears died, you were helpless to stop it. And when that same scenario has been repeated, you find yourself feeling inadequate."
"I shouldn't be feeling inferior. I have carried out sixty-seven total deployments, and should be well-prepared to-"
"With Shears. Not with Four."
She stopped.
"Your current Pilot does not act as Shears does. He treats you as an equal, rather than a vital tool. I cannot say whether or not I agree with his stance on a Titan's value," he admitted, "but it is what it is. And I infer that due to this unusual bond between you two, you feel worse when he is in danger than you would otherwise. He is influencing you, changing your own paradigm of the Pilot-Titan relationship."
She looked to him. "Is that bad?"
Skids remained silent.
She could not understand. If it was so detrimental of a characteristic, why would she feel... almost happier with this neural link than she did with Shears?
Perhaps this was one of the many confusing aspects of human experiences. During their times in battle, she felt much more combat effective than she'd ever felt before. She knew that he cared for her, and she cared for him. They would keep each other safe, and trust that even if they went down, they would go down together, fighting to the end. It was a true bond, not just as Pilot and Titan; but as friends.
But this also meant that when things went awry, they affected her much more heavily than had they not known each other as well. She concluded that in order to experience more happiness with existence, she also had to take more hurt and sadness.
It was an odd paradox that forced her to beg the real question; was it worth it?
She ran a comparative analysis, detailing her experience as Shears' Titan and her service with Four. She contrasted the two, and explored her memory banks.
After a minute, she finally had an answer.
Yes, it absolutely was worth it.
"Hey, KT."
Both she and Skids turned to see Captain Gates striding across the hangar deck. She nodded in respect. "Captain Gates."
Gates crossed her arms, and sighed. "You'll be happy to know that Four is doing just fine, and he'll be up and at 'em in a few weeks. He just needs to heal a bit."
She nodded, gratefully, all of her tension easing out of her simultaneously.
Gates huffed, "He's also very eager to get back into the fight. I swear, the damn fool is going to kill himself if he keeps up this mindset of his. Mind telling him to temper his ambition a bit?"
She wanted her to tell Four not to help as much? Might as well fight with a brick wall.
"Respectfully, ma'am, I don't believe that intervention on my part would change his mind."
The Captain nodded, apparently having expected that. "Figured."
She almost hesitated to say what she said next, but felt that she needed to. "In addition ... I trust his judgement more than mine."
Gates looked at her oddly. "Do you think he should be working himself this hard?"
"No."
"Well, you're the AI. Incapable of making errors."
"Just because we are incapable of making errors does not mean we are immune to mistakes."
The woman tilted her head. "Explain."
KT hummed with thought. "There is a hypothetical situation that showcases the difference between AI and humans. Both are presented with an impossible situation, where they are placed in an inescapable prison. The AI will recognize that the scenario is unwinnable, and will promptly give up. However, the human will continue to try and do the impossible, refusing to give in and vigorously attempt to leave even as the situation becomes abundantly clear."
"So? It just means that the human is wasting their time and energy."
"Some assume that logic prevails, and thus the computer is incapable of error. However, I disagree. I believe it showcases the relentless nature of the human spirit. Though something may appear impossible, and the logical thing for an AI seems to be to give up, a human will always keep looking for a way to solve it. And it is for that reason that I trust human judgment more."
She shifted. "He is my Pilot. I am loyal to the Militia, but for a proper bond to exist, my loyalty must extend to him first. And so I trust him."
Gates said nothing, but just turned away after a few moments and walked off. Skids looked at her oddly.
"So you have come to a decision on your view of that bond?'
Damn right she had.