He stood, looked once more at the distant mountains and then turned to walk to his titan. Officially designated Finback - 08, he'd named it Nurgle. It stank of oil, rust and the mud it had accumulated on the migration south and in battle. He could smell the explosives contained within its massive, elegant cannons and it's cockpit, a small hive of his own personal belongings and lucky charms, was full of the stench of sweat and decaying food. Nurgle was Ilya's home.

He powered up its computers and scanned out over the mountains, tomorrow he'd go there to join the war.

As he made preparations to depart, a new set of orders appeared on his communications panel. A series of co-ordinates, rendezvous points, and mission objectives read out on his screen a final note "Details will follow" was the only part of it that gave him any hope. Communications between titans and Central Command had to be kept a short length and were heavily coded to prevent them being intercepted by other clans and it wasn't out of the ordinary to have them arrive in text form. Ilya hadn't been expecting new orders and was worried that they might mean his missing out on the war against Behemoth and Waits.

On closer inspection it became apparent that he and Nurgle would miss the war and it wasn't immediately clear why they were being sent "up North" to rendezvous with titan New Class 6.

Nurgle jumped to life at Ilya's behest and lumbered off towards a new horizon, it's enormous feet slamming into the soft earth and crushing everything they fell upon. The route North took Ilya away from the Migration south and away from the safety of his clan, to which he had become accustomed. Nurgle carried him through forests and over plains, passing quite close to a cluster of camps set up by clans allied to Malodoria but there was no time, the journey north was an urgent one and he sped past them without hailing them.

After many days of travel through the lonely, empty landscape Ilya had only had brief contact with his clan. His mission had been revealed: to combine with New Class 6 and engage a clan called Black Sheep. Black Sheep were a younger, weaker clan and the attack was motivated purely by revenge as they had destroyed an old, defunct Malodoria production plant called "Mother". All Black Sheep titans encountered were to be destroyed.

While still several days away from the pre-arranged rendezvous point Nurgle's sensors picked up a contact, on the other side of a line of hills, moving swiftly in a south westerly direction. Its energy signature betrayed it as a Black Sheep scout, unarmed and vulnerable. Ilya reacted quickly and moved Nurgle into an intercept course. As he neared the hills, the scout became obscured and disappeared from his scanners. Nurgle climbed the steep hillside, pushing aside and crushing the trees in it's path as though they were matchsticks. As soon as he broke out of the forest and started to descend on the other side Ilya could see the enemy scout travelling along the valley, puffs of dust appearing behind it with each footfall. Caught out in the open, the scout was clearly alarmed and was picking up speed in order to escape. It ducked and swerved in long bounding strides. For all its elegant efforts it was still an easy target for Nurgle's guns. Ilya removed the safety catches and fired a full salvo at the defenceless scout, Nurgle's guns roared, sending three laser-guided cannon rounds in a handsome curve towards the target. The guidance computers did their job and all three projectiles hit their target, crushing its legs and causing significant damage to its engines. Ilya waited for his weapons to reload and watched the scout buckle under the impact of the shells and limp in a desperate, futile effort to escape the next salvo. Ilya didn't hesitate for a second and the second salvo completely destroyed the hapless scout, leaving a landscape strewn with it's twisted, smouldering remains.

It wasn't long, after this encounter, that Ilya made contact with New Class 6, piloted by Jaques Lemo. They were ordered to hold their advance until overtaken by a Malodoria scout, Scamper Class 3, which had been sent to assist them by collecting pre-conflict intelligence on the Black Sheep forces. That night they set their titans down in a small glade and took it in turns to escape from the confinement of the cockpits and to walk about in the dark, fragrant woods. It was, however, impossible to completely escape the acid stench of machine oil and fuel. They probably wouldn't want to if they could, after months of non-stop combat and migration the smell had become a part of them, it smelled of home.

Ilya rested against a tree, gazing out towards the south and wondered about the war, had it started in earnest or were the clans still squabbling and skirmishing. He missed being part of the clan, leading other titans to victory or glorious defeat. He missed the danger, the excitement and the sheer glory of war and couldn't help thinking that none of this would be achievable in a small-scale war against the weak and stupid titans of Black Sheep.

Suddenly, he was wrenched from his thought by the sound of Lemo's titan powering up and a crackled Comm message "We have company my friend" Lemo sounded cool and calm, surprisingly so "Looks to be another scout but I can't be sure". Ilya jumped up and grabbed his side arm, in seconds he was at Nurgle's controls, powering up and scanning the local area for threats. The scout was at the limit of their scan range and was moving quickly, Lemo's titan was already heading off to intercept and Ilya followed behind in a rear-starboard-echelon formation. They caught to scout on the open plain, it's dust trail barely visible on the horizon. Lemo manoeuvred to get closer as his weapons were still not in range but Ilya was able to fire straight away.

At this range the rounds failed to hit the target directly but some fell close to it and caused superficial damage. The scout immediately turned and sped off directly away from them, it's energy signature moved out of maximum scan range. Ilya contacted Lemo's titan, "Lemo, forget it, we'll never catch it. There'll be plenty of enemies when we reach Black Sheep territory."

"Very well, my friend. Let's get there as soon as possible then!"

It was not long after that that the first combat encounter with Black Sheep titans occurred. Lemo, who was positioned well ahead of Ilya, had stopped to check something out, "It's Scamper 3!" He announced over the Comm system. Scamper Class 3 was a blackened wreckage; the trees were already growing all over it, consuming its remains and turning them into useful biomass. The two titans didn't pause for long; they were angry and ready for revenge.

As they approached the Chaos Sea, very close to Malodoria's former home they spotted armed Black Sheep titans for the first time. Three of them were on the coast, grouped in defensive positions but one was taking advantage of a tall rocky out-crop to increase the range of his scanners and weapons. The rules of engagement were simple, make no diplomatic contact, fire no warning shots, eliminate all Black Sheep forces encountered. Ilya and Lemo moved into range, expecting to be fired upon but they were able to fire first; their combined firepower smashed the titan into many thousands of pieces before it was able to move or fire back. Perhaps Black Sheep were still hoping to avoid combat by not initiating it, for whatever reason, the titan didn't fire and was now totally obliterated, it's crumpled, shattered form tipped forward and tumbled down the cliff-face. Lemo moved onto the mountainous rocks and Ilya piloted Nurgle behind them, using a data link with Lemo's New Class to fire over the rocks at the four titans by the coast. The range was long and the enemy had it's shields fully powered many of the shots fell well wide of their targets, some scored direct hits but the damage they caused was minimal. The Black Sheep titans manoeuvred into range under the heavy fire that Ilya and Lemo were raining down on them, soon they would fire back and things would really become interesting.

"Gushliv, I'm in serious trouble, all my systems are damaged, they're breaking through with fresh forces and I don't know how - ". He cut out abruptly; there was a brief moment of silence followed by the hiss of the communicator. Ilya knew Lemo was dead. There was no time to think further about it, Black Sheep fighters appeared on the ridge, practically right above him while others moved in from the south. He was trapped. The calm before the storm lasted only a few seconds and his shield glittered as several shots hit his titan and the surrounding area. A computer panel blew up in the cockpit, showering Ilya with sparks and foul-smelling smoke. The emergency klaxon blared "COMPUTER SYSTEMS DAMAGED - ALL TERTIARY FUNCTIONS WILL LOSE STABILITY". The damage management system had failed, as had the extractor fans in the cockpit and the ejector seat. One of the remaining displays showed that several of the engine chambers had blown meaning that the power supply would be a problem.

He tried to fire at the advancing titans but was stopped by a computer message "POWER LOW - SHILEDS AT 64%". Knowing that this wouldn't be enough to stop the next salvo and that escape was impossible, Ilya diverted all power from shields to weapon systems and fired wildly at his enemies. Nurgle's guns spewed out fire and death as it strained to stay upright, it's fire was accurate and the one of the enemy titans collapsed into a ball of fire and debris but the enemy were strong and fired back. Ilya watched as the another salvo was unleashed at him and knew that he was powerless to stop it. One of the incoming shells hit Nurgle's ammunition storage and detonated the remaining shells, a massive explosion sent white hot lumps of metal screaming high into the air and rocked the ground.