Chapter Text
Jack winced as he forced the Titan chassis to move, the auto-navigation systems completely fucked. As he did so his mind and heart were racing at a thousand miles an hour. He didn’t know what BT was planning, but he trusted him.
As the Titan, with him still inside, was loaded into the injector assembly, BT explained it. They were going to be launched in to the core. If that was the only way to stop the Fold Weapon, then Jack was ready. “I’m not going anywhere, BT.” He said, half to reassure the mech, half to reassure himself.
As they were launched out of the injector, Jack closed his eyes and took his final breath. “Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot.” BT’s voice came as a surprise, and then he was being yanked out of his seat by a giant hand.
“BT, what are you doing!?” No, he wasn’t going to let this happen. It was together, or not at all.
“Trust me.” The mech’s response made his heart sink, or maybe that was just the throw that followed right after.
“BT!” Jack called out as he watched his Titan his friend sacrifice himself.
With a start, Jack woke up. He was greeted by pure darkness. He could tell he was in his bunk, because the mattress beneath him was solid and his sheets were paper thin. He missed his home on Harmony. He missed his sheets that he’d bundle up in.
The second thing he noticed was that he had another pounding headache. It felt like his neck had been snapped, his head was going to split, and his eyeballs were going to pop out of their sockets.
“Lights on.” He called out as he sat up and over the edge of the bed. The room was illuminated and he immediately regretted his decision. The light made it so much worse. “Dim lights.” He called out again, and the lights dimmed.
He rubbed his eyes as he sighed, standing up and looking for the door to his bathroom. He shuffled over, the cold metal floor on his feet making him even more uncomfortable. He decided against turning on the lights this time, instead letting the light from his room bleed in as he opened the cabinet from which the mirror rested. He reached for a pack of pills and downed four of them, washing them down with some water from the sink before trudging back to his uncomfortable bed.
He’d been getting these headaches for the last few weeks, ever since the incident on Typhon. At first he’d pegged it as stress, and everybody agreed. But since then they hadn’t stopped, or let up. Every night it was the same. He’d dream about BT sacrificing himself, then wake up with crippling headaches.
The first night it had happened he’d barely been able to get out of bed, let alone make it to the bathroom. Since then he’d seen the doctor onboard the new ship he was serving on, the McCarren. He’d been prescribed some heavy-duty painkillers and some rest. He’d been happy to take the painkillers, but less than thrilled about the rest.
Briggs had told him that he’d be speaking at the ceremony they were holding for the battle of Harmony. He’d become known as the hero, the sole savior. But… that didn’t feel right. It was more than just him. It was the countless riflemen and pilots who’d given their lives on the final assault on Typhon. And it was also BT.
Damnit, that stupid fucking robot. He’d barely known him for more than a few days while they were linked, and it was stupid to get so attached so quickly. But Jack felt like he’d be committing a crime or something if he didn’t mention BT in his speech.
As he sat on the bed his eyes drifted to the clock built in to the wall. 4:50am shipboard time. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. Another 5 hours until the ceremony, and then after that Briggs had slotted him for his new Titan and he to link for the first time.
Great.
Jack was on the main hangar deck by 9:30, where most the heavy machinery had been moved to clear space for a platform and some chairs. Typically, ceremonies like this were held on Harmony, the Militia’s so called ‘Headquarters.’ But the McCarren had been moving from system to system to try and hold back IMC forces since the Fold Weapon was destroyed. The IMC had not been happy about that.
In his hands, he held a datapad where he’d written out his speech. Every time he read the words back to himself they made him cringe. He’d never been a good writer, and he didn’t feel like he could ever do the soldiers that gave their lives any sort of justice.
As time rolled on, the ceremony started, and the pit in Jack’s stomach got deeper and deeper. God, he hated public speaking. Why did he agree to do this? Maybe he could sneak out now whilst nobody was looking.
Briggs started out by calling up different soldiers and awarding them medals. This included Jack. As he walked up the platform he took a few deep breaths and steeled himself. He’d taken on basically an entire army with only BT by his side. He could fucking handle this.
As Briggs went on, speaking about how everybody played their part in saving Harmony, Jack was going over the key points in his speech, hoping to god that he didn’t mess it up. Then the dreaded moment came. Briggs called out his name as she looked over her shoulder directly at him. He stood up as straight as he could and then stepped forwards towards the cheering crowd.
He cleared his throat and placed his datapad on the podium before speaking. “Thank you all.” He took a deep breath and looked over the crowd that was waiting expectantly. As he did, he noted that his headache was coming back in full force. He needed to make this quick, then.
“First, I’d like to thank all of the people who I personally fought alongside with, starting with Captain Tai Lastimosa. As many of you know, Captain Lastimosa was killed in action at the start of all of this. I watched it happen right in front of me. Tai was a good man, and an even better soldier. He had taken me under his wing, and was training me to become a pilot. He saved countless lives on countless worlds, and did so much to help fight the IMC. I’m honored that I get to walk in his path and continue fighting against the IMC in his name.”
He took a deep breath in and had to hold on to the podium to stop his hands shaking. “Next comes BT-7274. I’m aware many of you will think it’s odd to speak about a Titan at a ceremony like this. But I feel that he deserves mentioning. BT-7274 was originally Captain Lastimosa’s Titan, and when he died, BT was transferred to me. It was so sudden, I had no idea what to do. Luckily, BT had my back. As soon as we linked, we were completely in sync. He saved my life on more than one occasion, and... he also sacrificed himself. It’s hard to put in to words how close we got without sounding ridiculous or fictitious, I guess you just had to be there.”
He laughed to himself, mainly to try and cover up how much his head fucking hurt now. “Next I’d like to thank..” He closed his eyes as his head throbbed again and he suddenly got tunnel vision. He felt something running down his nose and reached up to feel. When he pulled his hand away his finger had blood on it.
The last thing he thought before he hit the ground was ‘Oh, Shit.”