"Okay, so what you're saying is th-"

"They want to snuff us out, and we want to live in our colony."

"Okay, but you still haven't told me who 'they' are."

The burning, incomplete, and otherwise trashed remains of my escape pod continue to be all of those things outside, while a man about my height explains to me why I can't leave.

"Yeah, so basically, you're stuck here until the IMC out there leaves us alone or until we beat them. And it appears we have a pilot on our side now."

"Ex. My titan was destroyed on Typhon."

"Doesn't make you any less capable."

I stop for a moment to think through my situation. The IMC might help me, or they might kill me for fun. Depends if they're actually IMC, Predators, or any of the twenty other mercenary organizations out there. Or, I could help out these people, and guarantee my own safety and theirs. But, what if we lose? I don't even have a- 

"SUITABLE PILOT FOUND. IDENTIFIED AS PILOT JOKER, OTHER INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE." A titan peeks through a window just high enough for it to see through.

The man looks at me. "Yeah, I was gonna tell you about him. I don't get why, but he's been staying with us for a while. No one can remember his serial code-"

"SERIAL CODE IS ZK-6420" Its sensor array's lights flicker as it speaks. It's an Ogre-Class.

"As I was saying... Nobody can remember his serial code so we just call him ZK, or Zee for even shorter. Looks like you can pilot him, though."

"Looks like I can. ZK, who was your last pilot?"

"Last Pilot was Militia Pilot Katherine Halt, Callsign Banshee. Last directive was 'Find a better pilot than me, goddamnit.' IMC combat records indicate you have a higher kill count than her, and have lost half as many riflemen under your command. The average of other combat records also indicate you are a better pilot."

I turn to the man. "I'll help you, but in return, I want off this rock. Got it?"

He beams at me. "Name's Sean. And yes, I do believe we have a deal." He offers me a hand, and I readily shake it. 

...

"Pilot, I suggest you embark for link." The damn thing would be breathing down my neck if it had to breathe.

"Wait, for fuck's sake. I have other things to do." I disassemble my rifle, disconnecting the Flatline's upper reciever from the lower.

"Pilot, linking will only take several seconds." It says, but its optic is focused on my work. I think it's got a Vanguard AI in it.

"Hence why we can do it later. Right now, I need to tune my equipment. And stop calling me 'Pilot', dammit." I wipe some more gunk from the rifle, not remembering it to be this dirty.

"I am not addressing you as 'Pilot, dammit', however, I am able to call you by whatever name you like." 

"Call me Joker."

"Pilot callsign is 'Joker'. Confirm?"

"Confirm."

I Click the upper reciever into place, and watch as it slides down the top of the weapon. "Good, I'm finished. Embarking for link, Titan."

ZK kneels down, opening his cockpit. For a second, I hesitate, remembering what happened last time I climbed into one of these. "Won't happen again." I say to myself, and hoist myself into the titan. I hop in, and it scans me like a training pod. One more second and I'm in full control. ZK's voice booms into the cockpit. 

"PROTOCOL ONE, LINK TO PILOT, LINKED. PROTOCOL TWO, UPHOLD THE MISSION. LAST MISSION WAS: 'Kill all those goddamn IMC dogs.' UPHOLDING MISSION."

"Indeed we are, buddy," I say, guiding him out through the very specific Titan-only door on the workshop. "indeed we are."

...

We arrive at the town square, if you wanna call it that, where, under a shoddy, falling-apart statue, Sean is giving a speech. "-AND THEY WILL NEVER. TAKE. OUR. FREEDOM." That warrants a huge cheer from the crowd, rifles raised in support. It seems hard to be subtle when you're in a 30 foot tall, thousand ton, war machine, though, so more than a few of the crowd look toward me. Sean does too, taking the chance to use me as a morale booster. "AND WE HAVE A PILOT ON OUR SIDE!" And at that very moment, it appears the IMC, or Predators, or whoever they were, decided it was time to go into town. A jeep smashed through the gate, made of scraps of machinery and wood. It never stood a chance. I reflexively throw a rocket volley at them, except ZK isn't equipped with a rocket volley. He seems to have a... mounted artillery cannon. A strange, but good way to get the boom from me to them. No complaints here. It takes a moment, but the cannon fired exactly where I wanted to hit, destroying the jeep and everyone in it. The crowd flies into action, Some blindfiring at their opponents, resulting in endless friendly fire, and some just ran. No matter, I have work to do, and I'm doing it either way. A titan steps over the remains of the Jeep, and I Step forward, challenging its pilot. Problem is... ZK's currently unarmed. Yeah, did I mention that? So I have to get a weapon, and this titan is holding one, just for me. I sprint up to it, dashing out of the way, to sustain as little damage as possible. I dash to the side once more, and it can't raise its weapon to me in time. I snatch its XO-16 from it and seal the deal with a punch for good measure. "ZK, Engage this titan, and do not let up. Disembarking." I cloak as I disembark, throwing off the enemy Pilot. I hop across rooftops to the adjacent streets, seeing battles between grunts and villagers. I lob a grenade at one pack of grunts, and the next, I deal with more... personally. I land on the first one, crushing his neck. He either can't breathe or is too scared to. The next, I disarm before throwing him at his buddies and pulling my knife. One tries to rifle-butt me, I dodge his messy swipe and bury my blade in his gut about four times. I take his shotgun from him and fire it at his buddies, and continue on through the squad, I draw my sidearm, firing it twice into another's head, and once into the knee of yet another grunt, and decide I've weakened this squad enough for my villager friends to take care of them. I try to continue to find that titan from earlier. "Dammit, ZK must be gone." The titan matches my pace, even while wallrunning and performing all kinds of Jump Kit moves. I try to slide across the street, but it launches a ton of rockets. I say my prayers, some to gods I don't believe in, before ZK appears in front of all of the rockets, leaning over me. He says five words I've cursed for a long time. 

"PROTOCOL THREE: PROTECT THE PILOT."