Standby for Titanfall

Rescue

Aiden awoke to sparks and darkness. A panel had come loose in the cockpit, exposing damaged wires. All Aiden had to do was get out of the now destroyed DZ-3802. He pressed his boots to the imaging panels and pushed with all his strength. He had managed to slightly raise it, light flooding into the cockpit, only to be cut off by a strained Aiden. "DZ, are you still there?" Aiden wishfully spoke to nothing, hoping for a response.
Nothing.
Aiden had to get out, so he tried again, pushing with everything he had, this time getting the cockpit hatch a fair ways up, giving him a glimpse of the dawn of Nexus. A whole night he'd been unconscious. Where Commander Briggs and the rest of the Marauder Corps had gone was beyond Aiden. Aiden was desperate to get out so instead he tried pushing with his shoulder, utilising the jump kit to support him. It worked. The hatch moved up enough for Aiden to slide out, allowing him to assess the damage. As he turned to face the destroyed DZ he took off his helmet, allowing him to have a moment with his fallen Titan. Aiden pressed his hand against what was once the visual receptors on the legion-class' chassis, which were completely black. "I'm sorry, DZ." Aiden sighed.

Aiden stood up, donned his helmet and tried to contact the Militia. "This is Corporal Dargo, my Titan has been destroyed, I am stuck in Nexus, current status is abandoned. Requesting transport back to the MCS Justice. Over"

A few minutes passed until Aiden received a response.

"Corporal, this is Lieutenant Hart, request acknowledged, we're sending a Crow dropship to pick you up. Standby, over. Oh, and uh, sorry about your Titan Corporal."

The consolation did little for Aiden, he knew he had to move on and would be assigned a new Titan in time.
Another few minutes went by and the dropship jumped in from orbit. It slowly lowered nearer to the ground, avoiding the huge towers all around them.
"Corporal, this area's too tight, we've spotted a courtyard about 200 metres away, meet us there."
Aiden started running in their direction. As he approached the courtyard he could see the Crow just hovering there. Waiting for Aiden. He ran up some destroyed concrete and was phased in, rolling onto the dropship floor. As he flipped over he was greeted by a Wingman pistol to his head, held by a mercenary.
In a South-African accent the man chuckled and said "Another pilot to mop up. We thought you'd died when my mate here stabbed your Titan."
The man pointed to another mercenary with a holo-pilot helmet on. Aiden didn't say a thing, but was pulled up by two IMC grunts and restrained. The South-African man walked up to Aiden, pressed a button on Aidens helmet and its face opened up, revealing Aidens face. He tried to look away, but the man pulled a knife, drawing Aidens head back. He struggled against the grunts to no avail. "Easy there, Pilot. How about we get down to business. You have information and the IMC wants it. So you're going to tell me everything you know."
In Aiden's peripherals he could see the dropship raising into the atmosphere, getting ready to jump. "I'm not telling you anything. I'm just a Pilot, all I know is the layout of a MacAllan carrier and how to operate a Legion-class Titan!"

"But see, Pilot. That's what we do want to know. The IMC want to destroy the Militia, but they can't without destroying their fleets so what better way to kick that off than with a bit of sabotage? Now, you tell me the inner workings of a MacAllan and we might just let you live." The man smirked.
Aiden had no choice but to tell them. Hoping they'd let him live to fight another day with the Militia.