Inferno

5 - Turncoat

Four's Logbook

It's been just over a month since KT-0298 and I made it off Nedar, and I joined the militia. To say that my pilot training was accelerated is a bit of an understatement. Still, I'm finally as much of a pilot as I'll ever be. I remember first linking with KT, just under a week after Gates retrieved us. It's such an odd sensation; I never feel alone any more. In the back of my mind, I always feel like I've got a small piece of KT in me. I wonder if she feels the same way. I'm still not totally sure how the whole 'neural link' process works, but results speak pretty loudly. We haven't had any problems, and seem to be pretty effective together. For such an odd beginning, I'd say we've done pretty well.

Dimitri finally got me assigned today, under the wing of the SRS Marauder Corps. It's lead by Sarah Briggs, and I've heard quite a bit about her. The battle of Demeter happened just before I joined the IMC, a little over two and a half years ago now, and I remember losing some people I'd known there. From what I've understood, Sarah was one of the main leaders of the Militia who helped win the day, the other two being Cheng "Bish" Lorck, and the legendary James MacAllan. If half the stories I've heard about her are true, then she's one grade-A badass.

Hopefully, I can get settled in fairly quickly, and back out into the fight. I hope to get a chance and revert some of the damage I've cause towards peace while on the side of the IMC.

—X—

Tobias walked towards the hangar bay, where he'd been told to meet with his new team. For the most part, he assumed this was a temporary assignment; kind of a 'bottom of the rung' deal, where he'd be working his way up for a while. Granted, he'd been placed a few notches higher than usual just because of his experience already, but the point remained.

He'd been allowed to keep his old pilot armor, if only to save resources. The white armor was definitely going to stand out against the green and brown garb of the militia. In an effort to firmly solidify his loyalty, he'd scraped a makeshift emblem of the militia onto his left and right shoulder plates with his data knife. It hadn't been necessary, but it'd just felt right.

As he approached the dropship near the hangar doors, he noticed several people standing around it as though waiting for something. Three pilots and four grunts. That was likely them. He double-timed it over.

One of them heard him approaching, and turned to look. They nodded their head towards the rest of the group to get their attention. "Think that's our new meat?"

One of the pilots also turned to see Tobias approaching, and scoffed. "Oh look, it's another IMC-turned-Militia jackass. Not even gonna have the decency to get rid of that white, huh?"

Great. This was gonna be fun.

Biting back a retort, he held his pride and stood at attention. "Pilot PFC Four, at your service."

The man shook his head. "Nah, nah, nah. You may have been a PFC on their side, but to me?" He walked up close to Tobias and glared at him. "You ain't shit. I can't believe that Briggs and Gates are still allowing IMC to join our-"

"Cut the shit, McFarlane."

Tobias turned to see an odd pair approaching him. One was a woman, the other was... something else. It looked like a Spectre at first; but looking closer, he saw that the body had been heavily modified. Rather than flat feet, the legs ended in curved blades, much like prosthetic running legs used. Their plating was a crimson red color, with pouches and belts just like the humans adorning their chest and back. The head turned towards him, and the blue light on the front almost seemed to blink.