"Oi!" shouted a familiar voice over an intercom. Jules and the other pilots looked at one another, almost scoffing.

"This fight is what you were born for," They all droned together, before laughing with one another. It had seemed that the Apex Predators forgot to unhook their PA link to the regular IMC pilot's drop ship. It happened every time they would drop in, and they all became familiar with Blisk's catchphrase.

"Alright boys! You know the drill!" shouted the commander over their own intercom. All the pilots got up in unison. It was the regular outfit: Hard hitting commandos with fast moving titans in the front, outfitted in light gear, the newer pilots in the middle, and the spec ops in the back. Luckily, Jules was in the front, he wouldn't be getting the bulk of anti-air.

A spectre pulled down on the lever that opened up the latch door, and the commandos jumped out, hitting the ground. They were on the small planet of Labrador, attempting to repulse a Militia attack force. The planet itself was rocky and ugly, and had only been used for mining the rich ores of copper and steel, usually going to the titan armaments. If they lost this planet, the IMC would definitely take a hit in ability to arm their vast fleet of titans.

Jules racked the action on his R-401C, before looking around. The attack was in full swing, with titans already being sent down all around the AO. The newly dropped pilots would be at a serious disadvantage, as the boys on the ground for a while would be given priority.

"Jules, Walker, Tripp! Make your way to the copper purification center!" Said the captain over their radios. Jules looked back at his two fellow pilots, and they took off at a sprint towards the center, marked on their HUDs.

Around them, it seemed that the sky was falling. Well, technically, that's exactly what had been happening. Drop pods, drop ships, titans, reapers fell around them. It was dangerous for the trio, but they had to keep on moving. It was about 1 click to the purification center, and the way seemed pretty clear, as even the Militia weren't dumb enough to send their drop pods into enemy territory.

They rounded a massive energy plant, and saw what looked to be a Brute class titan closing in on a group of grunts. Jules looked back at Walker, who was the commando's resident anti-titan pilot, who then nodded and sprinted towards it. Tripp and Jules continued towards the purification center.

The Brute had trained in on Tripp and Jules, and had raised his acolyte pods, when he was suddenly hit by a direct blast of a fully charged charge rifle. It melted off one of the acolyte pods, as Walker used his grappling hook to hook to the titan chassis. As soon as he hit it, he used his charge rifle to blow off the other acolyte pod, before pulling out the battery and tossing in a frag grenade. The pilot ejected, attempting to engage Walker, but Walker was ready, his EVA-8 shotgun tearing the pilot in half. He trailed along behind the duo, as they approached the station.

As soon as they got there, they were under fire by spectres on the upper levels. They had been trained to avoid spectre gunfire, as their hardware had a very predictable way of tracking pilots. They avoided the spectres with ease, before scaling the station, and hitting the top level. Tripp used his hacking knife to turn the spectres onto IMC control, before continuing inwards.

The trio used the moment they got into the building to take a breather. Despite being pilots, they could still run out of breath.

"Helluva run, eh?" asked Walker, and Tripp scoffed.

"Yeah, and we didn't even have to take down a titan," Said Tripp, before slapping the action on his VOLT submachine gun. "How the hell did you take that thing down so easily?"

"New pilot I'm guessing, didn't even have a helmet," Said Walker, before loading a single round into his EVA-8 shotgun. "Kinda feel a bit bad about it."

Jules stayed silent, before standing up. "You didn't have a choice: You or him."

"Fair assessment," said Walker, standing up. Tripp followed.

The trio moved through the dark hallways of the factory, ocassionally coming across some spectres that they took out with ease. Their own spectres had moved on ahead of them, and every so often they'd find a destroyed chassis. They could hear the yelling of grunts inside the building, and often times they were panicked or filled with fear. They knew the pilots were coming. Tripp rounded a corner and opened fire, before sprinting into the room, followed by blood curdling screams often cut off abruptly. Walker and Jules casually turned the corner to find the cafeteria covered in blood, bodies, and bullet holes. Tripp dropped a magazine from his VOLT, and loaded in another one. The trio moved on silently, before clearing another floor, and another, and another.

Within half an hour the entire station had been cleared, and those who hadn't been killed were running away. Walker, Tripp, and Jules made their way outside, before looking around.

"Any minute now..." said Jules, when suddenly three titans smashed into the ground in front of them. Two massive Vanguard titans, and one small Brute titan. The trio scattered as the Vanguards opened fire. The Brute was a little laggish, but opened fire as well. The three IMC pilots retreated into the building, before Jules got on his comms.

"Command, we got a trio of titans outside that would really like to see nothing more than our asses to be glassed, can we get our titans down here?" asked Jules. Immediately, command piped up.

"Your titans are ready, Captain. Brace for titanfall."

Like clockwork, three IMC titans hit the ground, surrounded by dome shields. One Legion class titan, one Tone class titan, and one Titan that didn't fit anything that the Militia had seen before.

It was giant with yellow tiger camo all over it. It had two acolyte pods, and looked strikingly like an older, Atlas model. It's optics, unlike most titans, were yellow, and had four, not three optical units. It's main weapon was an Expedition 20mm Machine gun, a weapon that was effective but costly, and was usually only used by the most elite pilots. The three IMC pilots phased into their titans, and took a battle stance.

"Alright, Jules, you are not taking the Vanguards this time. You always take the Vanguards. You get the brute," Said Walker, chuckling. The Militia pilots had already engaged, but were failing to have any effect, as they had all put their shields up, except for Jule's titan. He stuck behind Walker's particle shield.

"That's because the Aquila Class makes quick work of them," Said Tripp. "Okay, OG, lets get em!"

"Controls transferred to pilot, not that the pilot is more effective," Said OG99, Tripp's Legion titan. OG's gun spun up and opened on the farthest right titan, a Vanguard class from the marauder corp.

"Likewise LZ!" Shouted Walker, before taking off towards the other Vanguard.

"Copy that, Walker. Let's show 'em whose boss!" Shouted a deep, gravely voice, belonging to Walker's titan, LZ64.

"Okay, you heard 'em DD, I guess we gotta pick on the little guy," Jules said to his own titan, DD00.

"I would not pick on a Brute in a dozen years, they're just too unreliable," Said DD, and Jules scoffed.

"Stop being a smartass and transfer me the controls," said Jules, and DD beeped with acknowledgment.

Now that the two vanguards were separated, the brute looked at the Aquila class titan, and raised its weapon. It fired a rocket pod at DD, but Jules instantly put up its reflector shield, a formerly prototype shield that automatically directed the ordnance back at the enemy for a very short period. The rockets were repulsed back, and hit the Brute class titan, sending it backwards. It hit the ground, before Tripp called out in fear.

"Jules! Can you kill this fucker!? He's got me pinned to the ground!" Shouted Tripp. Jules turned to see the Vanguard that Tripp had engaged about to slam the back of his Splitter rifle into Tripp's hatch. DD raised his Expedition machine gun, and fired.

The armor-core rounds tore through the Vanguard's chassis, tearing it apart by ripping off its acolyte pods, it arms, and even one of its optical units. But Jules could care less about the Titan. He knew that the armor piercing rounds were the most effective at killing the pilot inside his cockpit, and as long as the pilot was inside and connected, if he died, so did the Titan's OS.

Jules turned his attention back to the Brute, which had gotten to its feet. He started to VTOL hover, and Jules scoffed.

"Double-D, what's the status on the Hellfire core?" asked Jules, as he used DD's dash's to avoid incoming rocket pods.

"Fully functional, and ready to fire, though I think by using it on a Brute class Titan would be in clear violation of budget spending for the IMC," Said DD, and Jules just laughed.

"What did I say about being a smartass? As soon as he lands, fire it," said Jules. Shortly after he said that, the Brute landed, and six massive missiles flew out of the Aquila's back, where the it's other rocket pods were. They flew up into the air, and then exploded, sending out dozens of tinier, incendiary rockets on the Brute. It frantically tried to dash away, but had lost both of its legs, its acolyte pods, and ones of it's arms. The pilot made the mistake of ejecting, and hit the ground right next to where a missile impacted. He was flung away, hitting the wall on the side of the purification plant.

"That was a bit overkill, Jules. You could've just shot the poor bastard," Said Walker, and Jules sighed.

"I used my only AP magazine on Tripp's Vanguard, because he couldn't take it on himself."

"I didn't know it was a goddamn Ion class!"

"Fair point," Jules said, looking over at Walker. The Vanguard was almost completely destroyed, with its cockpit in flames. Two kills for the IMC.

DD walked over to the dying Titan, who was using it's single arm to crawl towards its downed pilot. It was trying to say something, but failed miserably, as DD stepped on its back, crushing its remnants. Jules then dismounted DD, and jumped onto the ground to inspect the pilot he had just killed.

"He's not dead, Carper. You may have blown both of his legs off and tore apart his intestines, broke his spine and given him a concussion, an-"

Jules put his hand in the air as if to shush DD. "I get it. He's going to die." Jules knelt next to the dying pilot, and flipped him over, to receive a shock of horror.

The pilot wasn't a day over 16 years old, maybe even fifteen. He still had acne on his face, and had peach fuzz on his lip. While pilot training had come leaps and bounds since Jules was a young man, who he himself enlisted at the age of 16 and didn't finish training until 20 years old, this was still very young.

"I...I-I don't...I don't w-w-wanna..." The young boy stammered miserably, tears in his eyes. "I...I w-wanna go...I wanna go h-home."

Jules pulled off his helmet, as the two other pilots dismounted to join Jules. Both other pilots were equally shocked. This kid hadn't even lived his life yet and here he was on a planet that really didn't matter, bleeding out.

"Get me some morphine. Least we can do is let him die painlessly."

"That is another breach in protocol: Use of IMC assets to-"

"Shut the hell up, DD. Protocol can go fuck itself," said Jules. Walker handed him a stim-gun, and Jule's gingerly injected it into the boy's neck. Almost instantly, some of the pain left the boys eyes.

"M-M-Mama...I w-wanna...I w-wanna see...see my Mama," The boy said, slightly gargling on his own blood. "I...I m-m-miss her..."

Jules looked down at the boy, before he finally expired. He ran his gloved hands down his face, before sitting down. Walker had his head pointed to the ground, while Tripp simply stood there in disbelief.

"Jesus fuck, Jules... You just killed a kid..." Tripp said, and Jules quietly sighed.

"I didn't know. Had I, I wouldn't have used the Hellfire core. I would've disabled his Titan and-"

"So he could come back to fight another day?" Asked DD, and Jules sighed. "Despite being a new pilot, he could have very easily killed men on our side had he been spared."

"Yeah, I suppose so," said Jules, before putting his helmet back on, and jumping onto DD's back. "Let's get back to the AO. I'm sure the Predators have mopped up the majority so far."