Titans

Thank you for your patience those of you who have been waiting for this chapter. Sorry for the delay, but my free time is very limited, and I want to make sure my master document is at least a chapter ahead of the release schedule so I can make changes, and still manage a release if I have a bad month for writing. Look for my uploads on the 21

st

of each month from now on. Enjoy the new chapter!

Are you sitting comfortably?

*****

Located just behind the raised war table, the command centre was a large, regal looking tent. The two officers made their way into it, the mech pilot having to duck to fit through the doorway. It was mostly quiet this early in the morning, but behind a pile of papers an elderly man sat scribbling away with a long quill. He looked up, ignoring Alex to question Elizabeth.

"What is it this time, Major Elizabeth Swift?" he croaked out from a pair of loose and wrinkled lips.

"A new officer and his regiment need registering, Silas. You should have been told," she gestured to the captain.

Silas looked the mech pilot up and down, he stood taller than any human on the camp and was covered head to toe in matte black clothing that outlined his broad chest and thick arms and legs.

"He doesn't look like much," the old man sniffed.

"Why do people keep saying that?" Alex muttered to Elizabeth.

Her lips pressed into a thin line as she forced herself to keep a straight face.

"Name and rank?" Silas asked in a bored tone, pulling a blank form from a drawer.

"Alexander Murray, Captain," Alex responded formally.

"Name of regiment?"

Alex thought for a moment.

"The Irregulars."

Silas rolled his eyes, responding as though speaking to a child.

"It is

traditional

to name your regiment after your heraldry."

"I don't have a..." Alex began.

"They're a special purpose regiment," Elizabeth interrupted, "Like the Scouts."

Silas sighed, "Very well. How many under your command?"

They finished filling in the form with a lot of help from the major. He registered Thrak as a sergeant as he had hinted at the camp; he suspected the orc would be the best at enforcing discipline. Talia and Gelb he tried to make specialists, before discovering that the rank usually used for any who didn't fit in the normal command structure didn't exist here. Instead, Talia was made his squire - maintenance of armor and weapons seemed to fit her job description - the rest were given the rank of private until he could see how they handled themselves in the field.

They set off back to the camp, Alex asking questions and mulling over ideas for training regimes; it was likely the style of fighting he was expecting was nothing like what the newly-christened Irregulars were used to. Elizabeth blushed slightly as they passed the tent they had ducked into on the way out, and began fidgeting with the signet ring on her finger. Alex stopped and grabbed her by the hand.

"What are you..." She just had time to get out, then he pulled her into a kiss, wrapping his right arm around her as he intertwined their fingers with his left.

She protested weakly for a while before melting into him, her body pressing against his.

"Not that I'm complaining," she gasped as they broke apart, "But what was that for?"

"I just didn't want you to think this was something we had to hide," he ran his fingers through her hair, she shivered when his fingertips brushed her neck below the ear, "Our relationship is never going to be a normal one, and I don't know how everyone will respond to it here, but my belief is that we shouldn't let what other people think get in the way of what we want to do, okay?"

"Thank you," her eyes sparkled like dew on grass as she smiled, "My father might not be happy about it, but I couldn't care less what anyone else thinks."

Elizabeth let her head fall to his chest, and they stood there embracing for a while before continuing, hand in hand.

They arrived just in time for breakfast being served. Elizabeth had her own camp to attend to though, and left after a brief whispered conversation with Talia. A decidedly happier mood than the last private conversation they had had but no less secretive, with many a furtive glance towards Alex followed by a stifled giggle. When they had all eaten and drunk, plans were made to meet at the training grounds following their day of work. Thrak and Gelb headed out to one side of the camp, while Alex had the others wait, and disappeared into the tent to grab the gear her had left in there.

"What're we waitin' for lad?" Asked Daine as the captain stowed all his things in the storage area beside his seat.

Alex let the informality slide - these guys weren't normal soldiers so there was no use in treating them as such.

"Just thought you might like a lift to work," he said casually, fighting to keep a straight face as the dwarves' eyes went wide.

Talia's excitement was even less subtle, she let out a squeal of delight and immediately scrambled up the machine to perch on its shoulder. She almost seemed to float upwards, her hands and feet sticking to the metal like a fly on a wall.

Again they drew stares as the unusual group strolled across the camp. Though the pace was slow, the huge length of the mech's stride made the journey much quicker than by foot. Daine and Borren were dropped off at the forges then Alex and Talia headed for the nearby armory. Though he no longer had to work, given his newly official rank, the captain had a plan.

The chief armorer, unusually, was either unimpressed by the giant suit of armor or hiding it very well. When they arrived at the large tent and Talia hopped down, he spat on the floor and shouted at all the assistants to stop staring and get back to work.

"What do you want?" He grunted.

"Armor and weapons here for repair, is that a problem?" Asked Alex with an excruciating politeness that rivalled Elizabeth at her best.

The armorer looked the mech up and down.

"Can't do anything with that thing," he responded dismissively, "We don't have any artificers on staff at the moment. Try the mages guild, or the blacksmiths if you want a hack-job."

Alex ignored him, and locked eyes with Talia. She knew what he was asking, even without words. Slowly, she nodded just enough for Alex to make out.

"Yes," he said, still looking at Talia, "You do."

"Who, the elf?" The fat man snorted, "Whoever heard of an elven artificer?"

Wordlessly, Alex picked up Talia; holding her so gently as to not even ruffle her clothes in a fist the size of his torso. He walked the mech over the armory yard, where a cart full of newly beaten armor stood waiting to be polished. Alex nudged it aside with a metal foot, then deposited Talia at his feet and powered down the mech. He unfastened his restraints and jumped to the ground. From within the shadows of the tent, he could see the armorer watching.

"Are you ready?" He asked softly.

Talia gulped nervously, but nodded.

"Start with the dent in the shoulder," he gestured to the most visible injury on the metal man.

Talia reverentially placed her hands on the giant shin in front of her. For a brief moment, the surface rippled, and then it was still. She closed her eyes.

"It feels like it's covered in metallic dust," she furrowed her brow, "Nanites?"

Alex attempted to respond, but she began speaking again. Talking out loud as her train of thought continued to meander along its track.

"The alloy is bizarre; I doubt I could make this from scratch without a sample to copy... I see, the structure is as important as the composition; interlocking crystals that keep it coherent while helping disperse the energy of an impact throughout the bulk... Alright, I think I have it."

As she said these final words, lines of silvery light spread from her palms, spidering up to the damaged area which began to glow red, then orange, then brilliant white. When the glow had faded, the dent was no more. The shape of the shoulder was restored, but the new surface didn't have the clean lines of its opposite. Instead it was a small mural, a repeating pattern of leaves and vines that seemed alive, despite only being comprised of shallow grooves.

"I hope you don't mind," she said, stepping back to admire her handiwork, "It's an old elvish charm, it protects against magic."

"I was thinking of asking if you or Gelb could do something like that," he clapped a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "It's beautiful."

Throughout the morning and early afternoon, Alex directed Talia to the worst of the damage. Re-aligning the lasers took a significant amount of time; while Talia's gift gave her great instincts for reshaping the metal, she lacked the mechanical precision required to make a perfectly straight line on the first try, and it took many attempts. The complex shapes and coils of the blast cannon proved beyond her for now, though she vowed to keep trying as she learned more about it. They worked a little past the time when the armorer sent everyone away, Alex chuckled to himself as he watched the greasy man walk towards them several times before deciding against it. When Talia was happy everything was secure enough that the existing damage would get no worse, Alex grabbed a collection of crossbows, shortbows, shortswords and axes from the racks to take to the training grounds. He also took an unpolished breastplate when the armorer wasn't looking.

The others, as per their captain's instructions, waited next to the already training scouts. As they approached Elizabeth gave them a friendly wave, which earned her a knock with the flat of a blade from her duelling partner. Talia leapt nimbly from his shoulder while he was still in motion, landing lightly on her feet and walking over to chat with the other Irregulars. For his part, Alex dropped the pile of weapons and wandered to and fro, picking up targets and practice dummies between his fingers and bringing them back to his allotted area.

When he had gathered enough for his purposes, Alex set them up in rough range, making sure that the length of the range pointed out of the camp, away from any possible bystanders. The breastplate he had picked up earlier was placed in front of an archery target, the straps looped over the frame to keep it in position. He shut down the mech again and strode over to his soldiers. His weaponry and helmet were clipped to his armor in their usual places. Taking up a confident pose, he began the speech he had been preparing.

"From this moment on," he enunciated clearly, doing his best to impersonate the General Ulster he remembered, "You are the Irregulars. There is meaning in that name, you are not normal soldiers and I will not treat you like normal soldiers. You have been fighting on the front lines but that will be the exception rather than the rule from here on out.

"I am not going to insult you by pretending to teach you how to fight, you already know or you wouldn't be standing here. No, I am going to teach you how to fight

my way

. I am used to a very different form of warfare. My own body is the product of a system that refined war to a science, for better or worse. The fights we pick will not be glorious. The fights we pick will be messy and brutal. But the fights we pick will be

effective

. We won't be fighting to earn medals and win accolades, we will be fighting to save lives and

win this bloody war

! Do you understand?"

There was a chorus of cheers and shouts. Nowhere near as impressive as it might have been, due to the small number arrayed in front of him, but it warmed Alex's heart. At some point during his monologue, Elizabeth had left her duel, and she now stood off to one side, watching curiously. Alex cleared his throat.

"First things first," he drew his pistol and his rifle, "Two of my weapons. If I'm fighting in the mech, they won't be of much use to me. I wish I had enough to arm all of you, but that's not the case. These weapons will go to whoever is most effective with them."

He put the rifle back on the attachment point on his armor and held out the pistol for them to see.

"The Handheld Mass Accelerator Cannon pistol, or H-MAC pistol for short. It fires tiny slivers of metal extremely fast. Do not point this at another person unless you intend to kill them."

Alex aimed the pistol at the breastplate down the range and squeezed off a shot. There was a sharp crack as the pellet left the barrel, and a somewhat louder snapping noise as it punched a hole in the armor. There was a short scream as one of the scouts who had been surreptitiously watching was startled, Elizabeth walked over to him and cuffed him around the back of the head. He holstered the pistol and took the assault rifle to his shoulder.

"This is the H-MAC rifle. It does the same thing as the pistol but harder, more accurately and more often. On fully automatic it can spray out a thousand metal pellets a minute, each capable of stopping anyone not wearing suitable armor," he thumped his chest, "in their tracks. I will not be demonstrating full-auto or we wouldn't have a target left to aim at. Thrak," he held out the rifle, "You first."

Thrak proved reasonably competent with the rifle, but his proportionally larger hands gave him trouble with the pistol. Daine, Borren and Gelb's arms were all too short to properly shoulder the stock of the rifle, and their aim with the pistol fell off dramatically as their distance from the target increased. Talia had the best aim out of all of them, perhaps unsurprisingly given her experience with a bow, but shocked them all by ignoring Captain Murray's advice of a two-handed grip for the pistol, and pumping three rounds into a neat cluster in the middle of the chestplate with her right hand alone.

"You think that's impressive," Gelb whispered conspiratorially, "She's actually left handed."

When Elizabeth wandered over under the pretense of getting a closer look, Alex shook his head wryly and just handed her the rifle. While she got used to the advanced weaponry, a grinning Talia leaned against the captain and giddily explained how she had managed to steady the pistol with her artificing to improve her aim, though the rifle was trickier. The major became very good with the rifle very quickly. While Alex had been talking with Talia she had worked out that lying down helped her accuracy, and she was currently taking pot-shots from twice the range Talia had managed.

With the recipients of the weapons decided, Alex had Thrak and Talia practice on the targets while he donned his helmet and acted out the part of a charging beastman for Daine and Borren to take down with the various weaponry he had taken from the armory. Unsurprisingly, they were most effective with axes, and they already had a lot of experience with shields. They would make an excellent front line to support Thrak and Talia. Gelb was muttering to himself and scribbling notes as he watched the marksmen practice. Little balls of light appeared and burst like fireworks occasionally, so Alex wisely decided to leave him be.

They were the last to leave the training fields, though Elizabeth did stay after she dismissed her regiment. Alex sent all of them except the two women ahead as he packed up the equipment. Though the mech was huge, it didn't have enough room to carry all of them and the gear he needed to return to its rightful place. As he walked towards the armory Talia stood on his shoulder, easily keeping her balance despite the rocking motion. Elizabeth sat in the palm of an outstretched hand, relaxing beneath the warm evening sun.

"So how did I do, Major?" Alex asked.

"Not half bad, Captain," she smiled back at him, face radiant in the glow of the sunset, "Your first time?"

"First time training foot-soldiers," he admitted, "I've trained other pilots before, but that was easy. I had a very good idea of how they thought and what they were capable of beforehand. Working it out on the fly was... interesting."

Elizabeth looked up, chuckling at what she saw.

"Brace yourself Alex, Talia's got that look on her face."

Sure enough, there was a flash of green dress and pale skin as the elf swung herself down from her position above to land in his lap, facing him. She spared a wink over her shoulder before pressing a button on the wall that closed the cockpit up. As the last of the sunlight was shut out, soft lips that tingled where they touched his skin were all over him. As their tongues intertwined, her fingers tugged at his waistline, digging around to free his suddenly erect cock.

"Hey!" The voice of Elizabeth came to his mind through the neural spike, "Careful not to drop me!"

"Sorry."

Alex spoke through the speakers while his real lips were busy. He raised Elizabeth up so she could scramble onto his shoulder and started moving forward again. He hadn't even realised he had stopped.

"What's going on in there?"

He couldn't see Elizabeth anymore, but he could hear the mischievous grin in her voice as she whispered to him. Alex nearly said something as Talia started stroking his cock but remembered where he was just in time to stop himself.

"I can't make this thing talk any quieter," he informed his passenger.

"That's alright, I can guess," she sniggered, "Just nod your head. She went straight for your cock, didn't she?"

He nodded. Inside the mech, Talia pulled up her dress and settled down onto him with one smooth plunge. She wrapped her arms around him and began frantically rocking her hips.

"Is she fucking you already?"

Nod.

"Damn, that was fast. Can she hear me?"

This time he shook his head.

"Good. Remember what you did to me this morning?"

A slow grin spread across Alex's face. The mech nodded.

"When I talked to her earlier, she sounded... intrigued. Give her a little taste of what she missed, for me? Please?"

Another nod, Alex brought his focus back to his real body; keeping just enough attention outside to keep moving forwards without stepping on anything.

Talia lifted herself up and down as fast as she could. In the dark heat of the cockpit, every touch was electric, but the finger that found its way to her clit was like a thunderbolt. Alex rubbed rapidly, and Talia's motions became less and less coordinated until she arched her and squeaked as she came. She hadn't had any time to recover when the same finger was pressed to her lips. She sucked at it hungrily, relishing the taste of her sex. With his other hand, Alex lifted the back of her dress and firmly grasped her ass. As his lover recovered, and began moving again, he removed the finger from her mouth, and pressed it to the delicate rosebud of her asshole. Her breath caught in her throat, in the darkness he could just make out her eyes glistening with desire as he pressed until his finger slipped in.

Alex's actions were met with a loud moan and a renewed frenzy of fucking. Talia rocked her hips, sinking deeper onto his cock as the finger in her ass pulled out, then reversing the motion. Faster and faster they went, grinding against each other in breathy silence. Finally, just when they could keep up the pace no longer, they came together. Hot, damp and out of breath, they held on as they came down from the high, Alex's cock slowly softening inside her. There was a knock on the cockpit.

"You might want to start moving again," suggested Elizabeth.

Alex chuckled, kissing Talia and paying attention to his surroundings once more. He had wandered quite far off track, so as he and Talia dressed again he stepped over some tents and began moving towards the armory. He dropped off the weapons at the armory, and Elizabeth at her camp, then took Talia back to the non-human camp.