The wait was always the worst part for Aron. From what he had heard from a number of other vets that was pretty true for most pilots. The wait before the deployment, the minutes leading to getting the green light. All the while listening to the sounds beyond the hanger. In space at the least there was no sound beyond what was in the ship, however planetside that was not the case. Every distant explosion, every rumble of vast weaponry being moved, every quake of massive steps let one's imagination wander.

"Maybe they'll be all cleaned up by the time we're deployed, eh LT?" The voice of one of the new recruits came over the comms.

"Would be nice, can act like we did something and come out smelling like roses." Remarked the other.

Aron chuckled. "Hate to break it to you boys, but hear those quakes? Yeah that ain't from our side probably. Hearing that so close means the Feddies are probably making more gains than us." He remarked. That certainly quelled the uneasy joking. Pity, but needed to keep them focused.

He used to feel bad that he forgot the names of the newbies assigned to him. Mech Pilots just couldn't fully go toe to toe with Titans. It was an unfair matchup. A Titan was twice their size, strong enough to tear a mech in half and had crazy thick armor. You could bring them down with mobility and speed and in space they were pretty much sitting ducks, but planetside they were tough opponents to grounded Mechs. Which was what they were. Now, after losing his last three pairs of newbies almost within ten minutes of deployment. Now it was easier to just not bother.

"Lt. Aron Carmen, your wing is cleared for deployment. Titan drop forces have breached the outer limits of the city. Other wings are being deployed to assist. Your callsign will be Sword. Glory to the Republic." Came the voice of the deployment officer.

Aron's display lit up as the indicator turned green and the sound of heavy machinery whirring sounded out. The dark haired man slid his helmet on and leaned back in his seat, gripping the controls as the automated processes for deployment brought the massive thirty meter tall machines up toward the surface. The newbies had grey and blue models with a single wide oculus on the head portion of the mech. Aron's was an older model, dark blue with wider shoulders and two ocular units on the head. Had seen him through a number of years.

The elevators brought them up outside into the open air of the military base and... it was bad. Very bad. The skies above he could see distant ships in orbit blasting at one another with some lasers hitting the ground far into the distance. The base was located on the eastern lightly populated part of the city, so it gave decent visibility without buildings getting in the way. Aron pulled up the map overlay of the city and the overall tactical situation, letting out a hiss through his teeth.

Red dots and arrows indicated the Confederation Titans and automated machines. They were covering the northern part of the city and judging from those explosions and some of the buildings wobbling, that was pretty accurate. "You two, on me, intercept formation. Keep spread and keep moving. Don't stop moving for a second, otherwise you are as good as dead." Aron warned.

"Yes, sir!" They both returned, sounding rather less than confident. Well no time to worry about that as Aron activated the jump systems on his mech and propelled himself forward.

There were plenty of emplacements being formed near the base that were passed by and wounded were being carried toward the base. If they lost Aron didn't exactly see much point in helping the wounded, since everyone was going to die most likely if Titans reached them. The Confederation's tip of the spear didn't exactly worry too much over sparing lives. He sped through the wide streets of the city toward the north. He could see sky craft already rushing overhead. As well as other mechs up ahead.

Aron wasn't a head on person and so he was leading the way around what was likely the front of the enemy through a few tighter streets. Harder to move through but he switched off his jump drive and instead started moving using the legs of the mech. Every step shook the whole frame of the mech. It took getting used to, the constant motion. Indeed most folks found it akin to driving over the bumpiest road they had ever been on.

He could hear the booming steps of a Titan and he brought his Mech's head around the corner of the building and sure enough bounding down the main street was one of them. Helmet clad and with thick armor that put his own to shame, her impressive frame filled the whole of the main street. Armored boots dug into the asphalt and cracked it as she was hoisting a power rifle up. She fired a beam of red light from it and no doubt whatever it hit was vaporized.

"Lt. should we move up?" Asked one of the newbies behind him.

"Not yet. Wait for her to advance. Titan Squads move in threes like our mech squadrons." He said, tapping his fingers along the controls and adjusting his targeting for certain points in the armor.

There was an explosion of the building next to the towering armored giant, toppling some of it onto her. Which might as well have been splashing her with water. She shrugged it off without an issue and stepped forward, the ground shaking and cracking under the weight of her steps. Then came the additional steps from behind her. They all wore the red and gold armor of the Ivaran Confederation, the symbol of a sword through a ring of stars the sigil of their military. They were indeed all women as well. Sixty meter tall women. Evidently it was a trait exclusive to Women, though Men could carry it or something. Hell if he knew why. He wasn't a geneticist. Monsters to most folks anyway.

As soon as the last one of their squad moved down the main street Aron heated up his jump drive. "Now! Aim for the joints in the armor!" He directed as he launched forth.

He brought up his mechs own beam rifle and fired it at the rear most one's back leg joint where the armor was weakest. She let out a scream as the beam lanced right through the joint and into the leg beyond, causing her to fall backward. There were cries of alarm as the rest of his squadron moved as well. Their shots rang out. One scored a lucky shot under the armpit of one and she went down with a horrible cry, very likely fatally wounded. Lucky shot that. The rest rather pinged off the armor of the third.

The third one had time to turn and level her massive rifle at them. One shot lanced right through one of the newbies' cockpit. It was very likely that killed him almost instantly. He was already using his drive to make himself a more difficult target as he weaved into another street. Then he saw what the other one of his newbies was doing. "No, you fucking idiot, don't close with your saber!" He shouted.

"Ahhhhh! You bitches! You monsters! Die!" He was screaming as he pulled out his mech's beam saber and was speeding right toward the uninjured one, moving erratically.

Aron had seen what was about to play out happen a number of times, made it no easier to watch. The saber made contact with the thicker armor of her thigh and did nothing. She kicked her leg out and absolutely smashed the machine onto its back and sent it skidding across the road. By this point another squad of Titans was moving up and when his mech stopped moving it was by impacting lightly against the side of another Titan's foot.

"Wai-wait, aaaaaaa-!" The Titan lifted up her armor clad boot and smashed it down upon where his cockpit was. The thing crumpled and flattened almost immediately under the press of the Titan's strength. Aron winced as there was a little screech in his comm.

Now unfortunately he found himself dealing with fire on both sides as they leveled their weapons at him and started firing. Lasers vaporized floors of buildings and rubble fell into the streets below, crushing anyone who hadn't run away from this section of the city. "Fucking... just my luck the only ladies after me are the giant kind." He growled as he narrowly avoided another laser burst that would have atomized him.

He fired a burst of laser fire, taking care to make his shots count. Sweat was beading on his brow but his mind was as focused as could be. He wasn't worried about anything but the battlefield. One shot pinged off a woman's shoulder armor. Another managed to punch through the joint where her helmet connected to her armor and sent her down hard. The concentrated fire was making it pretty difficult however.

He jumped up to avoid another burst before he felt his entire machine rocked. Red warnings flashed on his screen. The last beam had managed to clip his jump system and as a result was sending him spinning out through the air and toward an untouched part of the area. "Fucking, stabilize, stabilize..." He jerked at the controls. It was no use, he was coming in too hard and the blast had thrown off the center of gravity.

The mech slammed through one of the taller buildings and out the other side. He could feel the impacts jerking him around the cockpit. Was this really it? Was that how he got shot down? That was the last thought he had before his mech impacted another building and his head smacked into his console, filling his world with an instant blackness of unconsciousness.