Dominic blinked, the white flash of the plasma blast still seared into his vision. His body felt like it was being torn apart, but instead of the pain, all he could hear was the thudding of his own heart, echoing like a drum in his chest.
Then, the world around him seemed to warp and bend, and he was no longer in the cockpit of the Golden Titan. He was back, years ago, standing in the cold metallic corridors of a CMC orbital station.
The hum of machinery, the sharp scent of oil and metal, the rush of engineers and technicians around him—it all came flooding back like a wave crashing against the shore.
Dominic was once the brightest mind at the CMC's elite tech division, working under one of the highest-paid corporate contracts as the lead engineer in their stealth mech development program. He had crafted some of the most advanced cloaking systems the galaxy had ever seen—systems so sophisticated that even the largest and most powerful mechs could disappear into the background of a battlefield, rendering them near invisible.
But none of that mattered now.
He was no longer part of the CMC. No longer a part of their grand designs.
The memories continued to come in flashes: his hands stained with grease as he worked tirelessly on new prototypes, the ever-present pressure from the CMC executives, the praise and rewards that came with his work.
He had been proud back then, feeling like he was on top of the world, believing that the breakthroughs he was making would change the course of warfare forever. The tech he helped develop would have made him untouchable, a man of unparalleled genius. But the reality, as always, was far darker.
Dominic's breath caught as the memory shifted.
The day everything changed.
The CMC had come to him with a new directive: create a new line of mechs, mechs that would push beyond the limits of conventional warfare. They wanted something bigger. Something more lethal. Something with a power source that could change the face of battle forever.
They called it Project Revenant—a project designed to bring the dead back into the fight.
At first, Dominic thought it was just another crazy corporate proposal, something meant to push the boundaries of his already impressive work on stealth technology. But they insisted, and when the CMC insists, you don't argue. You deliver.
Weeks turned into months, and the prototype mech he developed was unlike anything the galaxy had ever seen. A mech so advanced that it could be powered by the bio-signatures of deceased pilots, bringing them back to life in a sense. It was all based on neural implants, the very same kind Dominic had once used himself in his early days. A fusion of technology and biology, capable of operating beyond the limits of any human pilot.
But something went wrong.
Dominic had never known that the CMC had their own plans, plans that didn't involve him or his work. They had no intention of ever using his technology for the greater good. Instead, they used it to control, to create weapons that could never be defeated. His Revenant project was being used to create a new kind of soldier, one that would operate beyond the laws of life and death.
When he realized what they were planning, when he saw what they had done with his creation, Dominic had a choice to make: He could either continue to work for them, or he could walk away.
But walking away meant betraying everything he had worked for.
So, he tried to leave on his own terms.
But the CMC had other plans.
The memory shattered his resolve.
The day Dominic had tried to leave the CMC had been the beginning of his exile. His reputation as one of their top engineers had meant nothing when he refused to play along with their monstrous plans. They labeled him a traitor, a liability, and they had him abandoned on Tetramirgarannie, the junkyard planet—a desolate, barren world where scraps of broken mechs and ships were discarded like trash.
He could still see their faces in his mind—the cold, emotionless look of the executives who had turned their backs on him, the sneering faces of the corporate soldiers who had escorted him off the station and left him there to die.
They didn't even give him a chance to explain. He had simply been dropped, a tool no longer useful to their cause.
As the memory came crashing down on him, Dominic felt the anger bubbling to the surface. The injustice, the betrayal—it burned in his chest like a fire he couldn't quench. He had been abandoned, used, and left to rot on a desolate rock. But in that moment, Dominic realized something.
He had survived.
And now, here he was, standing on the brink of another battle, another war—this time, with the strength to take on anyone who dared to stand in his way.
With a deep, steadying breath, Dominic shook off the haunting thoughts. The implant still pulsed in his mind, but he had a mission now. He had to push forward.
The CMC had once tried to destroy him. But now, he would be the one to decide their fate.
He gritted his teeth, and the Golden Titan's control systems hummed back to life. The mech's energy flared as the core sparked, the lights of the cockpit flickering.
He wasn't done yet.
And he was far from broken.