Cooper was kept in a medically induced coma for four weeks before Dr. Patel decided he was stable enough to be woken up. The 2.5 mg/kg drip of propofol allowed Cooper's metabolism to be slowed and aided in reducing the brain swelling that had occurred during the return to what was now the ruins of the planet Typhon. At his lab in the heart of the Agri-District of Harmony, Patel found he could complete his best work, and in the case of restoring Pilot Jack Cooper, it was the only option. Briggs had of course filed several inquisitions as to whether or not Cooper could be moved sooner, as she had a vested interest in the nearly fallen hero; Patel had respectfully declined any of her requests to bring Cooper closer to her, and by default, closer to the front. Briggs was pushing her assault on the Frontier hard after the Militia's 'victory', if one could call it that, on Typhon by destroying the Fold Weapon. She had her sights set on the training ground Whitehead on the planet Gridiron in an effort to delay fresh IMC pilots from hitting the front. Patel simply wouldn't be caught up in the politics of the matter. He answered to only one mistress, his work.

Despite his best efforts to dissuade her, however, Briggs had chartered an Antiquity Class Transport to be present for Cooper's briefing. When she landed, Patel was waiting for her outside the main doors of his facility, notebook in hand, genuinely curious as to what information she might have for him. Against his pleas she had absconded with BT's Core to be analyzed aboard one of the high command vessels - the Praetor - instead of one of his labs. The killing blow to his argument had been that he was a medical doctor, not an engineer or AI scientist, and the core would be of better use being repaired and analyzed by someone with the proper credentials. He couldn't argue with her logic and exhausted from the debate, had begrudgingly agreed.

As soon as the transport touched down on the landing pad a few hundred meters from his lab, Briggs could be seen approaching in long strides towards him. In a few moments they were together, though not on the most amicable of terms.

"Is he awake, Dippy?" she asked.

"Yes, he is awake, Commander." Dippy replied. She purposefully referred to him by his first name as a not-so-subtle reminder of his place within the rank and file of the Militia. She was a Commander, he was a lowly doctor, understood. He looked down and saw she was carrying a small thermoplastic briefcase. Even more curious was that it was handcuffed to her wrist. Interesting, Dippy thought to himself. "Shall we go see him?" he asked.

"Yes," was her only reply. Together they walked to the main doors, Dippy badged them in, and they made their way through a series of winding hallways until eventually coming to a halt outside the Patient Recovery Room for 'Jack Cooper'. When Cooper saw her through the windows his right hand immediately shot up to salute her but lowered it when she mouthed the words "at ease" to him. Even through the glass barrier it was obvious there was no need to stand on ceremony here.

"Before we go in and speak with him, Dr. Patel, there is something I need you to see," Briggs said. "Let's head to your office."

"As you like, ma'am," Dippy agreed. They set off at the same brisk pace as before. Something was eating away at Briggs and now Dippy too. What does she have to show me? he wondered.

Inside his office she set the case down on his desk, raised the cuffed wrist to her mouth and whispered something into the locking mechanism of the device. It beeped and released its hold and she rubbed the front and back of her wrist to ease the aching tissues.

"Take a look at this," she said opening the case and removing a small memory card. Dippy couldn't help but notice that also carried in the case was, as he suspected, the AI Core for BT-7274. She inserted the card into Dippy's computer and a file browser opened to reveal a series of documents, photos, and videos.

She touched the screen and opened a video entitled "Superfluous Code". In the center of the video was Engineer IV Przybylski, a brilliant Pol who had spearheaded the reconstruction of BT's AI after Briggs had retrieved it from the wreckage of his former chassis.

"You see here…" Przybylski was pointing to a rendering of BT's AI, "...these are the primary data blocks for BT-7274's systems. Here and here (more pointing) everything seems normal. Using a backup copy of BT's personality we were able to rebuild many of these peripheral data sets to match his original release build, those are colored in blue. But here (even more pointing and pen movements) you can see there is this… 'superfluous code' that we cannot move, cannot replace, cannot update, nothing. As if that wasn't enough, it's so heavily encrypted that even brute-forcing it for several days on 'Ivan Denisovich' (that was his personally constructed supercomputer that he loved even more than his wife) yielded no results. When we power him up, BT doesn't respond. Zero. Null. See what Patel says," he concluded.

Briggs closed the file browser and removed the data card from the computer. "Your thoughts?" Briggs asked directing her gaze at Patel.

He tapped his index finger to his upper lip several times before responding, "Well we won't know until we link them together," he said.

"Link them together?"

"Yes, I am referring to Pilot Cooper and BT." Patel anxiously clacked away at his keyboard and opened up a series of high-res images. "These are neuroscans we continuously took of Cooper while he was in a coma - after the crash." More clacking. "These are neuroscans taken from prior to the event on Typhon that show for all intents and purposes, 'normal' brain function." He was excitedly pointing to various locations on the image. "Here in the parietal lobe and also here in the thalamus there are extra bits of activity not normally seen. You can see the color changes here and here between the two images in red. Look. Look."

Briggs shifted uneasily in place and stared fixedly at Patel, "Ok, let's go hook them up."

"Right away!" and Patel began heading out the door back down the winding hallways to Cooper's room, Briggs close behind. He tapped his ear and gave orders for a lab technician to have a Titan Control Unit and helmet carted up to Cooper's room.

In the room Cooper looked around nervously at the two of them as he observed a buzzing of activity outside the windows.

"Dr. Patel, what's going on?" he asked, trying to mask his tension.

"Well Cooper," Patel replied, "BT has been repaired to the best of our abilities but is overall non-responsive."

"BT is alive?!" The heart monitors blipped more rapidly now. "Where is he?" Cooper could barely form the question. "I want to see him!"

"He's here, Cooper. In this case. Or at least his core is." Briggs interrupted. "We are bringing a Titan Control Module up now to wake him up. Take it easy for now."

"Yes ma'am," Cooper gave a perfunctory response. A team of five techs strained under the load of the control unit and worked to set it up on the heavy desk opposite to Cooper's bed. They worked at a measured pace setting up the power unit and ensuring all of the cables were attached to their correct nodes before nodding at Patel & Briggs and taking their leave of the room. Briggs opened the case and carefully removed BT's AI Core and inserted it into the control box. She nodded at Patel to power on the device and after a few moments the core lens flashed blue and scanned the room. It blinked several times before settling at its reference coordinate 'home' of 0,0,0 and ceased moving.

"B..BT?" Cooper eked out. No response. "BT, it's me, Jack Cooper. BT, buddy?" No response.

"Try to establish a neural link," Patel suggested, handing Cooper the Pilot's helmet.

"I'm not sure I'm ready, Doc," Cooper guiltily answered.

"You have to try, Cooper. Please." Cooper raised the helmet above his head and shifted his torso forward in the hospital bed. Moving was still difficult since losing his legs. They had healed but had been amputated above the knee per Patel's instruction when he was originally admitted to surgery after the wreck.

With the helmet in place Cooper hesitated before moving a hand up to flip the helmet on. At once the visor came to life and a series of blue hexagons rippled out from the central viewing port towards to edges of the display view. Text cycled on the screen.

Validating Neural Link - Pending… Pending… Pending...

Motion Link - Inactive

Rerouting link OS V18.723M - Pending…

Recycling Primary Power - Success

Boot Systems - Activated

Validating Neural Link - Pending… Pending… Pending… Success

1. Link to Pilot Jack Cooper - Linked

2. Uphold the Mission - Status Unknown

3. Protect the Pilot - In Progress

Patel excitedly watched the control unit monitor, hanging on every word of text that appeared. The words vanished and reappeared, blinking several times before Cooper finally spoke.

"BT…?"

I…. I…. It-It's g-good to hear your v-voice again C-C-Coo-Cooper.

"BT!" Cooper could hardly contain his excitement. "BT I wish I could hug you, buddy. You saved us. You saved us both… I owe you my life."

B-but it loo-looks like it c-came at a p-p-price.

The AI core was scanning the room. It registered Briggs and Patels' presence.

I was afraid of this. The cascade was too small to bring all of us back through the rift. I'm sorry, Cooper.

"Cut it out, BT," Cooper felt his face flush with anger. "We destroyed the Fold Weapon and managed to make it back. It's all because of you any of us are here."

Copy that, Pilot.

"Briggs," Patel whispered to his superior.

I c-can h-hear you D-D-Doctor.

"Right, ok BT. There is a rehab facility here with a couple of Vanguard Titan Chassis. We use it to re-acclimate injured pilots back into service. With Cmdr Brigg's permission we could move the two of you down there and see if you all are able to walk together," Patel suggested.

"Yes, Doc." Cooper answered for Briggs and she nodded her approval in response. Patel tapped his ear and sent new orders for a wheelchair to be brought to the room and for BT's core to be placed in one of the rehab facility's Titan chassis. Within 20 minutes Cooper was staring up at the frame of a Vanguard training mech. It was painted orange with black accents to indicate its status as a trainer and not a fully combat-ready Titan. With BT's core inserted into the control unit, Cooper once again fitted the pilot's helmet to his head and switched it on. The blue hexagons danced as the software booted up and soon his field of vision cleared. BT wasn't moving.

Validating Neural Link - Pending… Pending… Pending… Success

1. Link to Pilot Jack Cooper - Linked

After the link was established BT began scanning the large training hangar and focused on Cooper sitting in the wheelchair. The cockpit hissed open and he extended a hand down gently plucking Cooper from his chair and placing him inside the cockpit. The doors hissed shut while Briggs and Patel watched in amazement as BT stood fully erect, a 40T monstrosity, waiting for Cooper to strap himself in.

"I think I understand now," Patel observed. "The encrypted data in BT's core and brain activity from Cooper's neuroscans are partial copies of one another. That's why one can't function without the other. At this point I don't think neither BT nor Cooper would be able to Link with another Titan or pilot. Simply amazing..."

WARNING, INCOMING HOSTILE TITANS

"What?!" Briggs snapped as the announcement echoed through the hangar.

"Sir!" a rifleman was running into the hangar. "Sir, two enemy titans just landed near the facility. They snuck aboard a supply transport and are headed this way. Nearest friendlies are 5km away on a scouting run. Your orders?!" He was out of breath. A wave of fear swept over all parties in the room.

"BT, Cooper, engage and eliminate the enemy Titans. I'll be awaiting your return," she ordered.

"Cooper, there is an XO16A2 Chaingun in that cabinet over there!" Patel yelled pointing to the corner of the hangar. "There are live rounds but no other armaments, no shields. You'll have to make do with just the rifle!"

Copy that. BT replied. Cooper, are you ready?

Cooper didn't need to respond. He had already pushed BT towards the cabinet and snatched up the A2 and was loading it with live rounds. Once armed he turned BT around and forced the hangar door open with BT's right hand before ducking under it and charging out to engage the hostile Titans. Patel rushed to a series of monitors stationed on the far wall of the hanger and was jumping excitedly motioning for Briggs to join him.

"Look!" he said. "Their synchronization rate is growing exponentially. The longer they stay linked the stronger the connection becomes betwen them. This is incredible!"

Outside, BT had already locked onto the first Titan that was making it's way through the field, ducking behind a grain storage building for cover.

Cooper, I recommend a flanking maneuver.

"Already on it," Cooper replied, running full-bore to the left of the silo. The second Titan was tracking them and fired off a salvo of missiles. Cooper waited until the final moment and used BT's propulsion drive to dash forward and dodge the cluster. He used the neural link to take aim with the A2 and popped off a few closely grouped rounds into the chest of the first hostile Titan. It threw up it's Vortex shield but was no use. Cooper dashed again and this time took aim at its head and let off two more carefully timed bursts. The first few bullets were absorbed by the shield but the second volley pierced into the control unit and damaged it. The Titan faltered momentarily giving Cooper enough time to close the distance and grab the Titan by the chest and lift it up, using it as a physical shield to block the second salvo of missiles from the remaining Titan.

Nine of the twelve missiles in the volley impacted the incapacitated Titan, rendering it immobile. Cooper thrust the Titan out at arm's length and rested the A2 on it's shoulder, using it as a sort of bench rest. Once stabilized he fully depressed the trigger and a shower of 20mm rounds peppered the remaining enemy Titan, causing it to retreat slightly to an outcropping of rocks.

"You're a dead man!" Cooper yelled through his comms. He slammed the captured Titan down onto the ground and unloaded into its head. Bits of metal and debris broke away before the core lens cracked and the light faded away. Using BT's hand he crushed the chest of the Titan to trap the pilot inside. He might prove useful later as an informant.

Cooper ran full force at the second Titan which had briefly peeked out from the rocks. Cooper used BT's jets to rise up off the ground and perform a jumping tackle on the second. An emergency transmission brought words of desperation into Cooper's cockpit.

"Wait… wait, please!" the enemy pilot pleaded.

"Who sent you?!" Cooper was seething.

"It was Blisk… Kuben Blisk sent me." Fear gripped the enemy pilot. "He's got a new contract out for you from Marder. Millions of… millions of credits. You have no idea. Ku-."

Cooper had heard enough and cut the comms. He crushed the pelvic gears of the enemy Titan with BT's foot and reloaded the A2. Dropping the slide release he took aim at at the center of the Titan and unloaded until only a tick tick tick tick of the empty firing mechanism echoed off the rocks.

"Tell Blisk I'm coming for him…" Cooper said, but the enemy pilot was already dead. The A2 had bored a hole straight through the cockpit and into the hard earth below. He sat the training mech down and stared out at the expanse of fields around him on Harmony.

"BT-7274," Cooper said, his heart pumping dust, "Apparently there's a South African merc with a death wish. Let's go bring him what he wants…"

Copy that, pilot.