You were confused and shocked at the same time, the first question that came into your mind was "Where am I ?" you directly ordered Phoenix to locate where you were. The process took a few seconds and Phoenix gave you the results:
Imperial connection lost
Location : Unknown
Star system : Unknown
Planet : Unknown
Near by stations : Unknown
Planet's life forms : Unknown
"Unknown, unknown, unknown ! What did that bloo-" You paused and thought for a moment. And you remembered what Aritally told you back on the flag ship.
"Damn, If we're really in another dimension then there's no going back home. If this Planet is full of human eating monsters then we will have to be careful and resourceful."
Phoenix : Calm down Sir, you're overreacting again.
You looked around to know better about your surrounding area. You kept looking and saw a giant wall not so far away. Of course the giant wall was a sign of humans living here.
"So there're normal humans in this area or have they been already eaten by the monsters ?!"
"It's possible, but I'm not sure about that, sir. But look at the size of that wall, don't you think it's too large even for the standards of normal sized humans? Perhaps those giant human eating monsters are sapient and might have built it. Don't you think so?"
"Stop talking about disturbing things when things are starting to look good." You replied.
You tried to use your boosters but due to the damage which you took during your last mission. Most of the functions of your suit had already begun to malfunction.
"This is bad without the suit, I won't survive on this planet if I encounter those giant human eating monsters. And what if the air is unbreathable for me."
"The air is safe, sir and as I said before you're overreacting."
"Be quite, Phoenix." You replied.
You slowly walked to the beach and sat down. Stayed like that for a while, observing the ocean as endless waves of water came closer to the shore and retreated. Soon you started removing the damaged parts of your suit; only leaving the arm, leg and chest protection. And carefully uninstalled the suit's shield generator and your personal information data chip. Gladly the giant wall had stairs which was a good sign, supporting the possibility that normal humans built it. So you quickly climbed the stairs and got on top the wall, the wind was blowing slowly, it was cold but refreshing. The view from the top of the wall was magnificent, grey clouds covered the sun but sunlight peeked here and there, green grass wiggled as the wind blew, mountains and trees can be seen in the distance.
"It seems like nearby perimeters are clear no sign of giant monsters or anything but we can't let our guards down ! Phoenix scan the area again." You demanded.
Phoenix came back shortly after completing your order. "Commander Y/N, I found a ship near to us and i picked up two movements from north east heading towards our location."
Y/N : 2 movements ? Could it be animals or those human eating monsters ?
"I'm not sure about it. But don't let your guard down, sir." Phoenix replied.
"Commander? Why are you addressing me as Commander? There is no body left to promote me or give me orders now. So let's put aside that military honorifics and where is that ship ?"
Phoenix : Understood !
"Where is it ?" You calmly asked.
"470 meters to the east !" Phoenix showed it on the holo map.
Phoenix guided you to the location where the mysterious ship was located. When you got there you saw a ship covered in dirt and grass. Just looking from the outside you knew that ship had crashed landed on this planet more than a few decades ago.
"Is it one of ours ?!" You asked while secretly hoping Phoenix would say yes.
Phoenix : The design is similar to ours but the ship ? I do not know, it looks like an old model ! There aren't any information related to this ship in my Imperial Navy database.
You slowly approached the ship and opened the backdoor and got inside the ship. It was dark and dusty so you turned on your helmet's flashlight and headed to the ship's cockpit. There were many dead bodies but you kept on walking. You two reached the elevator and headed up to the 3rd floor. When you and Phoenix reached the cockpit, the cockpit doors were ripped open. You silently entered the room and slowly got closer to the pilot's seat, and on the seat there was a dead body. After inspecting the suit you quickly recognised it, it wasn't a United Empire pilot suit. It was a Republican royal pilot suit.
Republican Royal pilot suit
You slowly lifted up the body and carefully placed it on the floor. "I hope your soul reached the High Heavens." You sat on seat and activated the control panel, ordering Phoenix to find out what happened to the ship and it's crew. While Phoenix was collecting the data you requested, you went to the ship's armoury.
-Armoury-
Y/N : Well well what do we have here ? Armoury full of military supplies.
You opened one of the lockers and picked up one of the suits, installed your data chip and shield generator. Adjusted the suit to your liking.
Republican Royal force suit
"Not bad at all but a little bit bulky, I guess."
You looked at the huge variety of weapons which the armoury presented to you. Carefully picking one rifle and began inspecting it.
"HW-20-14/A type rifle, with no suppressor and the magazine."
[ Republican Assault Rifle ]
You unloaded the magazine and took out one of the bullets.
"Like I thought Decilus steel, well this will do fine."
You loadad back the magazine and searched for a suppressor. When you opened the door of "Fire-Arm" room, you saw a large amount of Republican made guns lined up inside the room. Sniper rifles, assault rifles, Pistols, shotguns, Grenade launcher and RPG, etc. You continued your search for a suppressor and finally found a locker full suppressors but one certain thing caught your eyes. A case with a sign saying "Prototype" you equipped the suppressor and opened the case.
"HW-20-14/C model ? Prototype version ? This can't be one of those hyper lethal weapon prototypes. Right?" You asked yourself.
You grabbed the gun and left the room. While you were walking back to the elevator you saw a huge door which was locked tightly as if someone tried to prevent others from entering. You tried to open it countless times but gave up and decided to leave it at the end.
-Control room-
When you entered the cockpit Phoenix presented you what he had collected. While you were gone.
Phoenix : I know this isn't much but I believe it will give you a rough idea of what this ship is and what happened.
Rig number : 2334-R, Belongs to Republican Navy.
Type : Military Cargo ship.
Cargo : Military weapons, vehicles, tanks, speeders and supplies.
Destination : Classified, I couldn't get it out of the system because the system quickly identified me as an Imperial drone. And an intruder.
Crew : 100 people, status : 98 KIA, 2 unknown or missing.
Y/N : 2 Unknown or missing? Give me the names quickly, we might find them if lucky is still on our side. We need to survive together on this planet.
Phoenix : Unfortunately I can't get that. The system wouldn't allow me to do so.
Y/N : Fair enough ! And what happened to them ? I mean the crew, the 98 unfortunate souls.
Phoenix : It seems like the ship was badly damaged during a mission. The cause unknown and one of the high ranking officers commenced Protocol "Waterfall".
After learning about what happened to the crew, you quickly ran outside.
Y/N : If we stay there we might end up just like them.
Phoenix : But sir there is nothing to worry, the after effects of Protocol "Waterfall" disappeared long ago. The ship is completely safe. If the effect was still lingering in the ship then you would have died after 20 minutes entering the ship.
Y/N : But still we can't be inside that ship, something is really off about it. You saw the cockpit door. Something did that and more importantly we need to find a shelter before it gets dark.
Phoenix : 4 hours 34 minutes until sunset. We can use this ship as a shelter.
"We need to get to a town, village or something. So let's ge-" You froze when you saw a giant humanoid creature. The towering giant looked at you. Extended its arm as you slowly walked backwards. The giant got you in it's hand and opened it's mouth. You shot it in the eye and the creature began squeezing your body in its blind rage. You used this opening and drew out your sword and cut off it's fingers. Smoothly landed on the ground and stabbed its leg. The creature didn't even flinch. It grabbed with its other hand you took out a grenade and decided to blow it's mouth while your shield generator was on full charge. And then suddenly you heard a voice inside your head.
"So you're my new master I see, allow me to help you."
Dark smoke began to come out of your suit and then something exploded. You opened your eyes and found out that you were still alive somehow but something was not right. You looked around and found yourself sitting on a chair, many wires were connected to your suit. You knew you were inside something big and there was a big glass in front of you, you cut the black wires and shattered the big glass with your sword. Fresh air, it was raining outside. "Why do I feel little dizzy all of sudden." you lost your balance and fell, a big dark hand reached out and caught you before you hit the ground. You turned around to see a black version of the Terranova titan.
/ What's going on ? Am I dead and dreaming all this ? /
The Dark Spartacus raised it's hand and put you back inside and yet again you found yourself inside the titan. But instead of trying to get out you stayed there and thought, wondering how to command or control this Titan and how did this all happen.
"Phoenix?" You called him.
"Yes, sir ?"
Y/N : What's going on, please answer me ! I kinda feel dizzy.
Phoenix : The main source of this cause might be that RING.
"The ring ? Where is it ?" You paused.
"When you took it from Aritally, you might have integrated the ring or the ring integrated with you, sir. The Ring itself must've had a magical power."
"So any side effects ?"
"Running a scan on you sir, a moment please! Scan completed; Hmmmmm odd, it seems like your body or in other words your biological age has regressed. It has become similar to that of a 15 or 16-year-old human male. Secondly your magic status has increased. And your natural healing speed has been increased by 2.5 times. That's all for now but expect further changes, sir!"
Y/N : Wait, what? I don't even know how to react to this?! Is this amazing or terrifying, good or bad. I'm so lost but nonetheless we will discuss this later and now we need to move this titan.
You turned around and observed the room, indeed it was the exact carbon copy of the original ones. The shape, the markings, the seat and everything inside the cockpit felt familiar. You positioned yourself on the seat and felt the wires plugging into your suit.
"Even though I cannot see the status report but I can feel it, It feels like as if I took full control of this titan's body." You exclaimed.
The Dark Spartacus stretched it's arms and jumped a few times, sending waves of vibration. And the Titan snapped down to the ground, body in rigid. Suddenly it exploded forward at full speed, sending a large chunk of soul into the air at its starting point. You knew your destination was in the North.
-2 hours later-
The Titan didn't run on energy and took its toll on you. After running a long distance without any rest your muscles began to feel sore and aching. Plus it was already dark outside and you knew it was a bad sign.
"Sir, your body needs a rest because your exhaustion level is drastically increasing and your body is carving for nutrition. We must stop and take a rest." Phoenix informed.
Y/N : There is no time to eat right now !! We are in an open field maybe we might surrounded by those giant bastards, we only need to get to that forest right up ahead. Reaching its edge would be enough so I can rest there peacefully.
You commanded the titan to continue moving forward. Upon entering the forest of giant trees Spartacus dropped you and shattered into black coal like pieces and disappeared. You carefully landed on one of the branches using your booster. You immediately sat down and rubbed your sore muscles, Phoenix scanned the nearby area. You took out your MRE from your backpack and leaned against the giant wall while eating your meal. Many kinds of thoughts occupied your head, you wondered what happened to the rest of your squad, Charles, Korolov, William and how was the situation of the Chronos Sector but most importantly you thought about your parents and your siblings. You let out a deep sigh.
End of Chapter 2