Inside the Flame Beast's cockpit, Captain Bohard, long since fused with the Titan, was producing a harsh, hoarse voice through the vocalizer embedded in the flesh of his face.
The cockpit's interior could scarcely be called a "cockpit" anymore. The space that should have accommodated human pilots and tactical displays had become a nest of contorted flesh and machinery under the combined corruption of Chaos and the Titan's machine spirit.
Thick layers of organic matter covered the walls like slowly rippling skin, with breathing holes of various sizes dotting the surface.
Conduits hung from the walls and ceiling, crossing like blood vessels before finally connecting to Bohard's body.
Bohard's body, in turn, had merged into the Titan's structure as part of those conduits.
There was no longer any clear boundary between his seat and the console. Everything below his thighs was fixed to the cockpit floor, fused with the pilot's station. Several thick data cables connected to the back of his spine, their ends buried deep within the Titan's structure.
Flesh spilling from his own body had enveloped both his arms, and his fingers had completely fused with the metal control terminal.
Iron plates tangled into his flesh covered most of his face. His left eye was entirely a rotating lens, while his right retained a human eye, though its pupil had dilated to occupy almost the entire iris.
"Report the enemy's position," Bohard said.
The other crew members in the cockpit were scattered among the surrounding auxiliary control stations.
Most of them had lost their skin. Exposed muscle tissue connected directly to console interfaces, half their faces were covered by metal panels, or their arms had been replaced with extensions of fire-control terminals.
These crew members were the regular crew of Bohard's unit, while the senior pilot sat at