Destiny, Episode VIII: The Last Array
Previous Episode: Episode VII, Forgotten Shores
Next Episode: Side Episode III, Tempting the Devils
The Cosmodrome, Old Russia, Earth
Day 017
It felt good to have her boots on the ground again, Lisset thought to herself as the flash of cold of transmat faded away. Unlike the last time she'd been here, it wasn't the rocky Steppes that graced her eyes, but the rusted aircraft of the Mothyard. She held her scout rifle up to her eyes, looking through the sight to make sure that the landing zone was secure. It wasn't their usual one, considerably closer to the base of the Skywatch facility, and every time they had passed through this stretch of the Cosmodrome they had been met in force. However, as she panned about, nothing poked its head out from behind the ancient hulks. Only the echo of weapons and Fallen howls punctuated the low whistle of the wind. The Corsair lowered her weapon and took a knee behind a low rock as she opened the comms channel.
"LZ is clear, come on down." She said into her helmet. As she spoke, she heard a fizzle as Dal apparated over her shoulder, floating low to the ground. "How are you holding up, Dal?" She said, looking down at her Ghost.
"I'll be fine." He replied, glancing back up at her. "I just want to get this over with." Lisset sighed, and gave a comforting pat on the side of his shell. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way; after everything he had seen, being told to find the dead Ghosts of a lost fireteam would only dredge up terrible memories. Dead Orbit had hoped to send its representatives to the Cosmodrome in order to secure some ancient array, and now the Vanguard had asked Lisset and her comrades to pick up where they left off. Why three junior Guardians would do better than three far more veteran warriors was beyond the Corsair, but she wasn't about to turn down the challenge.
As she got to her feet, she heard the distant roar of jumpship engines as Koga's Arcadia and Basilisk's Regulus roared in low to the ground, flaring up and away as they crested the landing site at a steep angle in order to avoid anti-aircraft fire. Their pilots flashed into reality in blue light, stumbling to their feet as they got their bearings, before walking over to the Hunter. "Anything interesting going on?" The Titan asked, looking over her shoulder at the debris-strewn field.
"If you count unusually quiet as interesting, then yes." She said, frowning. "I haven't seen any Fallen at all." Basilisk made a contemplative grunt as he readied his pulse rifle.
"They might have been pushed back by the Hive, or managed to push into the Skywatch itself." He said, before turning back to the others. "Let's move fast before anything changes. Our arrival isn't going unnoticed." Lisset nodded, and slipped past the Exo quietly as she moved forward, her rifle on her shoulder as she navigated down the hill the landing site had been located at and down onto the frostbitten ground. The weather was odd out in the Cosmodrome, with the occasional flurry adding fluffs of snow across the area, but it had been mainly just cold and sunny, leading to a ground that crunched with every footfall but gave as much way as Basilisk's forehead.
It was hard for Lisset not to expect an ambush at every turn, but as she rounded every corner, finger on the trigger ready to obliterate something lunging at her, she found herself just staring into dark corners, her motion tracker colorless. It was as if the Fallen truly had abandoned the area, left it for the ghosts and their memories. It made her skin crawl, but she took some comfort in the fact that nothing was trying to kill her yet. As she climbed up to the entrance of the building where they had encountered the Hive not so long ago, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened in the days between their last visit to the Cosmodrome and now.
Swapping to her Preacher, she moved inside the structure, her team following close behind. The Hive biostructures that had covered the central chamber hadn't expanded out into the rest of the building, thankfully, but Lisset had a sinking feeling that it was only a matter of time until the entire area was dotted with those oozing black barnacles and eerie glowing green crystals. As she approached the gate that had led to that room, her motion tracker finally flared with red. She rushed out into the adjoining room, expecting a pack of Fallen or of Hive, but found herself instead jumping past two extremely surprised Dregs. She almost felt bad when her shotgun barked twice and cleared the room. The others rushed into the room at the sound, only to find her standing in the middle, sliding two new shells into the breach as the bodies of the two Fallen slumped in the far corner of the room.
"Are you okay?" Koga asked, looking around. Lisset gave a brief nod.
"They had a small patrol guarding the gate." She replied, giving the shotgun a pump before letting it fall to her side. "I guess they aren't overly concerned about defending this doorway." The Warlock cocked his head as he thought about that.
"That does not make much sense." He replied, rapping his fingers impatiently against the grip of his hand cannon. "I do not think the Fallen would underestimate their enemy."
"I don't either." Basilisk interjected. "Something is off. Either they've managed to clear out this nest, or they feel confident enough about what they're doing to only put a pair of Dregs at the door." He let Boudica fizzle into reality, her eye shining bright like a torch as he moved for the stairs coated in Hive barnacles. "I'll take point from here." Lisset nodded, and followed behind him as she started up the stairs, her shotgun at the ready, Koga following right behind her. As she climbed up the stairs into the oppressive darkness, all she could do was try to think. Where was everyone?
= = = = = = =
Basilisk smelled an ambush. It was a visceral gut feeling, a twisting knot that screamed that something is waiting for you ahead. The Exo always found it funny how sensations like that stayed with him, despite his lack of a stomach, or any internal organs for that matter. It was a hold-over from a past life, something biologically ingrained in his soul to the point where he couldn't forget it if he tried. There were Fallen lying in wait ahead, and it would only be a matter of time until they sprung the trap.
The Titan's mind ran as he went up the creaking iron stairs into the dark chamber where they had first fought the Hive. He pictured the last moments of the Dead Orbit team in his mind as he moved, trying to gleam anything they might have missed. Three Guardians, not unlike him and his team, had walked into the Skywatch the exact same way looking for the secrets of an ancient Golden Age, and had encountered no resistance as they pushed through the complex. And then, in a firefight that had been all too brief, the Fallen struck. And here Basilisk was, following in their footsteps to an inch. He clenched his jaw, his fingers gripping his shotgun tighter. "Anything on the tracker, Boudica?" He asked, tense.
"Nothing yet." She replied. Basilisk noticed that when the Ghost got nervous, her voice assumed a low monotone. It wasn't helping his confidence to hear that monotone now. She paused for a moment, beeping as she processed some data flying right past the Exo. As advanced as his sensors were, they were still limited in comparison to the near-magical technology that powered his companion. "I'm detecting interesting fluctuations in the air nearby. Something is disrupting the flow, but I can't find a source."
"Let me know if you pick something up." Basilisk muttered as he reached the top of the stairs. He turned his head slightly to look back at his team, and as he did something out of the corner of his eye shimmered. Whipping his head around, the Exo jumped to the left and out of the way of his friends on the stairs as he turned to look at it proper. The thing crackled softly with blue light, and a low buzz filled the air, and without a sound, it started to rush forward. "Vandals, Vandals!" The Titan shouted, aiming his shotgun at the center of mass of the cloaked alien, waiting to pull the trigger until it was almost right on top of him. All at once, his motion tracker filled with red, and a dozen more fell from the ceiling where they had been hiding, weapons at the ready.
"Watch out!" Koga shouted, firing his hand cannon into one that was quickly moving to flank Basilisk. He turned to face the direction of fire, only to watch the attacker's head disintegrate into white ether as the Warlock's revolver hit its mark. Basilisk had no time to thank his savior, as another tried to rush Koga from behind. The Exo ran forward, shouldering the Warlock out of the way as he slammed right into the Vandal just as it was about to slice down on Koga with its swords. His fist flashing with arc Light, the alien disintegrated with the satisfying sound of thunder as the punch connected.
The sound of Lisset's shotgun was unceasing, punctuating the din of battle with a roar every other second as she fired desperately into the horde of the Fallen attackers. It was her Preacher that echoed last, reverberating in the room as the last cloaked Vandal fell at her feet, dead. Lungs or no, Basilisk panted along with his fireteam as he gathered his wits. When he felt comfortable again, he straightened his back and looked up at the others. They were singed from the fight, but alive. If the Exo could have smiled, he would have, and he started to reload his shotgun as he nodded at his teammates.
"We've taken their worst." He said, confidence back in his voice. The fear from the ambush had faded now, and a new sensation had begun to rush through his veins: power. "Let's show them what we can really do."
- - - - - -
The Fallen patrolling outside the entrance to the Lunar Complex had heard the gunfire, and they had heard it fall silent. None of them dared to go in, however; they knew their role, and they knew the punishment of a Captain or a Baron would be swift and brutal for any who left their post. They guarded their positions to the last, the three Dregs and a Vandal watching the doorway obliterated when a grenade rolled at their feet.
Koga surged through the gap, his hand cannon at the ready, as he sprinted through. The flashbang had done its work, and there was nothing left for him to mop up. This was fine by him, though: their target was somewhere ahead. As he ducked through a ruined shack, he saw the rest of the Skywatch complex, massive black buildings with dishes and antennae stretching up like monoliths, but more importantly he saw something far, far more ominous. Sticking up from the crater it had formed when it had hit the Earth was a massive spire, grey and green and marked with Hive runes, a dark miasma slowly trickling from an entrance at its base. This is where the Hive had made landfall in the Cosmodrome, and as he ran past it, he could see Thrall hiding in its shadows, unwilling to surge forward.
Turning away from the impacted spacecraft, Koga scrambled up a hill, his team following close behind. Somewhere on this bluff were the three Ghosts of the Dead Orbit team, taken as trophies by the House of Kings who had killed them. As he approached a Vandal and his entourage of Dregs, Kita beeped in his ear. "On his belt!" The Ghost shouted. Koga looked down at the Vandal's waist, and from it hung that familiar angular shape of a Ghost, attached lifelessly to the alien. The Vandal shouted something guttural in his tongue, and lances of arc energy streaked out lazily toward him like a swarm of glowing blue bees. The Warlock jumped to the side, and felt a small ball of void Light form in his hand. Lobbing it towards the Fallen, the grenade exploded in a purple sphere, throwing a Dreg violently away when it expanded and burning the rest.
The Vandal fell to the ground, missing most of its legs, and Koga hurried to its side. The beast was, surprisingly, still alive, but Koga rectified that with a single round of his hand cannon. Now was not a time for mercy, and he highly doubted that the alien would just let him take the dead Ghost from its belt. Reaching down, he grabbed the empty shell from its side and yanked hard, pulling it free from the simple metal brace holding it down. Kita didn't even need to examine the Ghost from inside Koga's armor to give an assessment. "It's dead." He said, his voice dampened. "Keep looking."
To his left, Lisset ran forward, her scout rifle barking rhythmically as she fired it towards another group of Fallen, three Vandals that were rushing to respond to the chaos of the Guardian assault. She was joined by Basilisk, who sprinted forward with arc Light glowing in his hands. The Titan jumped up, and brought his fists down like a sledgehammer, which was met by a terrific roar and a flash of lightning that arced through the ground like it was a live wire. The Vandals burned away like an afterimage, sizzling out of reality in the wake of the Fist of Havoc strike. A Ghost clunked to the ground, lifeless, somehow immune to the blastwave. Basilisk picked it up as he got back to his feet and behind cover.
"This one is also dead." Boudica reported stoically over comms. "Look around for the last."
"I've got it!" Lisset shouted, as she rushed for one last Vandal desperately trying to flee. She seemed to shimmer as she raised her knife, and in a blink of an eye she was on top of the Fallen, her knife in its back. The Vandal fell to the ground with a smack, and the Hunter grabbed one final Ghost from where the alien had hidden it beneath its golden cloak.
"This one still holds the codes." Dal announced, his voice low but determined. "Let's find that array." Koga hurried to catch up with Lisset, who stood by the entrance to yet another Skywatch facility. It was located on a small bluff overlooking the rest of the Skywatch campus, and for the first time Koga realized it was painted an odd red color, unlike the more drab colors of the rest.
"Where is the array located?" Koga asked, glancing over his shoulder at the Hive ship warily. They had yet to move from their position, but he knew they were watching with rapt attention. Dal beeped as he processed the question as fast as he could.
"According to the records on the Ghost, it's inside here." He answered, grim. "I'd expect the Fallen to try to defend it to the last." Basilisk nodded as he swapped back to his Preacher, Lisset following suit. Koga merely gripped his hand cannon tighter. They knew their mission: the Fallen couldn't hold onto the Array. They would have to go through, no matter what.
= = = = = = =
Basilisk paced through the ruined halls of the Terrestrial Complex, moving carefully as he picked his way through the tight corridors. After what had happened in the Lunar Complex, the Titan was on his toes for another similar ambush. His mind rewound what Boudica had said just before the Fallen had made their play. Using atmospheric disturbances to detect hidden Vandals sounded like a good idea as any, and he had told his Ghost the moment he had stepped into the building to start tracking it. It made purchase when she shouted in his ear. "Around the corner!" Basilisk stepped out through a cracked wall that led from one room to another and saw a Vandal sitting there, his cloak shimmering. It shone less when the alien got a face full of buckshot to its chest.
"Good catch." The Titan muttered as he stepped completely through the gap and on through. Behind him, he could hear his teammates following tentatively behind. They had little to no shot, not with the hulking Exo in the way and the cramped conditions of the corridors. If they were to start shooting, it would be because something went horribly wrong for Basilisk. He kept moving along the path of the building, keeping an eye on his motion tracker. It filled with red as the hallway opened into a much larger room, sunlight filtering through cracked and dirty windows along the left wall. At the end of the room hid more Fallen, Dregs popping out behind Fallen equipment and broken support columns as they tried to fire. Basilisk followed the wall right, strafing as he fired in order to let his team move in, but it opened him up. He felt plasma burn against his Light as each bolt hit, and winced at the sensation of the impact as he tried to get behind something solid.
His decision was not a good one, and as debris rained down on him from above, Basilisk looked up to see a Vandal dropping down from where it had been hiding in the ceiling, arc sabers alight. The Titan had barely enough time to put his arm up to try to deflect the hit as the alien fell down. His Light did the trick of keeping himself from being skewered, but the Vandal crashed into him with a loud crunch, and with a shout the Exo fell to the floor, the alien crushing him as it tried to get its blades into Basilisk's chest. "A little help?" He shouted as he jockeyed to wrest the Fallen off of him. He got it a millisecond later, a blast from Koga's hand cannon extricating himself from his tussle, and the Fallen's skull from its neck. The Warlock extended his hand, and Basilisk grabbed it, pulling himself back up to his feet. "Thanks, I appreciate it." Koga merely nodded before turning his attention back to the firefight, which was starting to dwindle to a close as Lisset's shotgun mopped up. Basilisk fired a lazy shot in the direction of a fleeing Dreg, but it did little to discourage it as it rounded a corner and left the room.
"Damn, one got away." The Hunter hissed under her breath as she paced forward. "It's going to warn all the others."
"Let it." Basilisk started, letting his shotgun hang by his side. "Boudica, where is the Array?"
"According to the schematics on the dead Ghost, it's right around this corner." She replied, her voice level. "If you can get through the defenses, I or any of the other Ghosts ought to be able to access it."
"I can." Dal interrupted. "Just get me close, and I should be able to get it working." Basilisk nodded, then let his shotgun dissipate in his hand in favor of a pulse rifle. Without another word, he turned and headed for the door leading to where the Dreg had sprinted through, his team following close behind. Almost immediately after passing through, the afternoon sun shining down from above as it just began to sink. The Exo squinted, his ocular sensors and helmet automatically adjusting to the light in order to prevent the glare from blinding him.
The Titan's motion tracker, once again, filled with red, and he got behind something solid as he tried to get his bearings. He was standing at the base of what could only be described as a sloping ramp leading up to a large building, which he could only guess was where the Array control station made its home. Behind him was a massive dome-like structure, rusted and ancient but still standing despite the ravages of time. Golden Age humanity had built things to last, the Titan thought to himself as he readied for his push up the hill.
He and his team didn't need to discuss a plan. They pushed forward like a wave, pushing through and in-between crates and debris as they moved to meet the last of the House of King's Garrison. A Vandal sniper fired his line rifle down at the team as they moved up, but he was met with pinpoint accurate fire from Lisset's scout rifle, and within three rapid cracks of her gun the marksman fell from his perch, dead long before he hit the ground. A Captain blinked about trying to draw Koga into an ambush, but the Warlock put a stop to that plan with a few shots with his fusion rifle, blue light lancing through the air like arrows from some futuristic bow. Basilisk, meanwhile, let himself be the weapon, running through Dregs like a freight train, his fists breaking ribs and his feet crushing skulls as he rushed forward from point to point. Bolt after bolt of arc energy splayed over his Light, but by the time it was near gone, he had reached cover and let his shield rebuild.
As soon as he felt strong again, the Titan sprinted forward, moving to catch up with the others. "Multiple atmospheric disturbances!" Boudica shouted, only a second before six vague shapes dropped from the ceiling at the edge of the control station building.
"Hit those Vandals!" Basilisk shouted as he fired his pulse rifle into them. One failed to get out of the way of his frantic spray of bullets, but the others easily ducked away. They darted forward, arc sabers in hand, as they made a beeline for the Titan. Basilisk fired until his weapon went click, and threw it away to swap to his shotgun. As one lunged forward, he caught it in the chest with his Preacher, and its friend behind it was cut down by Koga's hand cannon. Another tried to jump the Warlock, only to go down when Lisset put a scout rifle round through its brain, and when two tried to rush her, Basilisk returned the favor by filling one with buckshot and tackling the other one from the side. The Fallen squirmed and screamed underneath him as it tried to react, but underneath the heavy armor of the Exo, it was being slowly crushed. Basilisk pulled his fist back and let arc Light flow through it before he brought forward like a jackhammer. The alien disintegrated into a blue afterimage as the supercharged punch connected, the Titan collapsing onto the ground where his foe had once been. Getting to his feet, Basilisk looked around-his motion tracker was clear. "Alright, I think we're clear."
"I have no contacts." Koga reported, cautiously starting to move into the structure with his hand cannon at the ready.
"Same here." Lisset said, bounding towards the Titan from where she had been standing off to his far right. She moved past him, moving to where the Warlock was. Basilisk followed behind her, his shotgun at the ready as he moved. There was no further resistance as the three of them reached the back of the room, and a single computer console against the wall. A skeleton sat where it had in life centuries before, manning a post that had been lost to history. Basilisk regarded it curiously, looking at the ancient corpse and wondering how this man had died. Then he turned his attention to Lisset. The Hunter outstretched her hand, and her Ghost apparated above it, glancing around at the Guardians, at the console, then back at the Guardians again.
"I think this is the console. I'm going to try to reactivate it if I can." Before anyone could say anything, the Ghost floated down to the computer and began to probe it with his energy beam. Almost immediately, ancient electronics began to hum, and after a few seconds of booting up, a series of images began to flash across the single monitor on the console. The Ghost started to mumble to himself as he worked. "Navigating crypto-systems... Shor-resistant security lattice verified..." He muttered under his breath with every pulse of his beam.
"That's some security." Kita noted on comms. "It's a good thing Dead Orbit found those codes. It might have taken months to crack this system otherwise."
"At least we can be sure that the Fallen didn't get through." Lisset added.
"It's working!" Dal exclaimed, ecstatic. There was a mechanical bang from outside, like ancient machinery was slowly coming to life, and Basilisk's head whipped around to face the source of the sound on instinct. "Outside, the Array! It's opening!" The Ghost continued, as Basilisk and the others navigated a large pylon ringed with computers to look out the way they came. From where the dome had been were now three spires, rapidly rising out of the ground from where they had been stored. "Amazing, it's activating!" Dal said over comms, fascinated. The Ghost was too busy tinkering with the computer to see it rise himself, but the telemetry must have been something mystical because the Ghost sounded almost reverent. Basilisk had only time to give an impressed whistle before a sound like nails on chalkboard filled the air. It was like something was tearing apart the universe, as green cracks in the sky formed, then opened to reveal long black ships floating ominously towards where the Guardians were staying.
"Hive Tombships, cutting through!" Kita shouted. "Take cover!" As the Hive troop carriers floated closer, balls of deep purple Void energy formed from four turrets on the hull. The three scrambled as the projectiles began to float towards them, changing its direction as it tried to follow them to where they hid before exploding uselessly not too far from their mark. Basilisk readied his pulse rifle again, and let the empty magazine fall to the ground as he slid another one in.
"Dig in, Guardians!" Basilisk barked into comms as he raised his weapon to his eye. Underneath the Tombships glowed a red strip, and from them apparated a pack of Thrall, screaming and jumping as they rushed forward like a wave towards the team. "Here they come!" He shouted over the din, and squeezed the trigger.
+ + + + + + +
Koga felt his heart pound in his chest as the Hive raced towards him and his team. Behind them all, the Array opened like a lotus in the sun, pivoting and unfurling as it tried to accomplish ancient commands. Under different circumstances, this would have been a thing of beauty to appreciate and savor, but this situation was not one of them. He gripped his hand cannon tight, and waited for the first Thrall to fill his sights. The instant it did, Koga pulled the trigger, and felt the weapon buck in his hands as it roared. The Thrall disintegrated in red fire as the bullet passed clean through the screaming monster's skull, but right behind it came another one of its fellows, its claws glowing with some arcane power. That one fell too, and the one behind it, and the one behind it, and so on and so on until his hand cannon stopped firing.
Quickly, the Warlock reloaded, his eyes half on the gun and half on the oncoming horde. As soon as he was done, he swung the weapon up and into the nose of a Thrall a few inches away. It blew back, burning away to dust as his hand cannon's magnum round punched through it. The one behind it met a similar fate, and the Acolyte leading the pack behind them both screamed before it fell. More screeches as reality was torn asunder to make way for another Tombship, then another. The Hive were throwing everything they had at the three of them, and they couldn't give an inch. "More Hive!" Koga shouted as he switched to his fusion rifle and readied himself to fire into any new horde. More bolts of purple energy shot out at the Guardians, but Koga easily sidestepped the one aimed at him. When he returned his attention to the Hive reinforcements, more Thrall had appeared, as did a taller beast taking the rear.
"Knight!" Lisset shouted, her scout rifle barking as she tried to put it down. Koga watched as her rounds bounced uselessly against the thing's hardened chitin armor, the Hive warrior cackling as it approached before firing a massive weapon in its hand. Blue screaming balls of energy arced from it, howling as they slammed into the ground with a blast. Basilisk jumped back as one landed near him, cursing as he fired into the Thrall horde. Koga clenched his teeth as he watched even more Hive deploy from the other Tombship, and closed his eyes. He felt the Void flow through him, and concentrated it until it filled the palm of his hands. When he opened them again, he ran forward and let it fly. The Nova Bomb sailed out like a lance, and when it collided into a pack of screaming Hive, it disintegrated them all with a roar. Koga smiled under his helmet despite how weak he felt after releasing so much energy, but that faded quickly as the Knight marched forward, his armor burnt and shattered but still alive.
"Oh, no." Kita whispered, and before Koga could say or do anything, the Knight fired his weapon. There was no way for the Warlock to dodge, and his armor couldn't take a hit like this, especially not with his Light so drained as it was.
There was darkness for a time. Then, a bright, flashing light. When Koga's eyes opened again, he was standing where he had fallen, his Ghost hovering inches away from his face. The Warlock blinked, and winced as a dull pain wormed its way through his body before fading away. "What happened?" He said, looking around. Around him stood Lisset and Basilisk, staring at him intently. When the Warlock spoke, he could see their shoulders sag in relief.
"You, uh, died." Lisset started, hesitantly. "We killed the Knight almost immediately after you went down, but..." She trailed off for a moment. "Are you okay?" She asked, concern in her voice.
"I am a little sore, but otherwise alright." He answered, groaning as he stretched out some of the kinks. It was a much less sensation than the first time he had been Risen, but there still was a certain amount of pain that came with being yanked away from the other side of the veil. "I appreciate your concern." He said, nodding appreciatively at all of them.
"Don't make a habit of it." Kita chided, before dissipating into his armor. "I've been looking for you for centuries. I'd hate to have you die on me after only a few weeks." Koga gave a painful chuckle at the quip, coughing as his bruised lungs tried to keep up with the demand. When he stopped, he looked up at the Array, now open completely and facing the blue sky above. "I assume we stopped the Hive?"
"We did, but there was a... complication." Basilisk replied, crossing his arms over his rifle. Koga looked at him, confused.
"Complication?" He repeated. "What kind of complication could there have been?" It was then that the Warlock noticed for the first time something faint in the air, a sound just barely audible over the whistle of the wind and the distant echo of the Fallen as they picked the bones of the Cosmodrome. It was music, undoubtedly, and it was a piece he had heard before. His eyes widened as he recognized the melody, and turned to face Dal, who floated over his Guardian's shoulder.
"The Array is in Rasputin's hands now." The Ghost admitted, his voice a mix of respect and something that almost sounded like worry. "He took control in the chaos and now is connected to defense constructs across the system."
"Maybe that is a good thing." Koga responded, turning to look back up at the Array. "Maybe there is something out there to help us survive the Darkness. Maybe he can help us."
"Maybe." Dal said, before dissipating back into Lisset's armor. "But I think the Warmind is playing his own game."
Next Episode: Side Episode III, Tempting the Devils
The Cosmodrome, Old Russia, Earth
Day 017
It felt good to have her boots on the ground again, Lisset thought to herself as the flash of cold of transmat faded away. Unlike the last time she'd been here, it wasn't the rocky Steppes that graced her eyes, but the rusted aircraft of the Mothyard. She held her scout rifle up to her eyes, looking through the sight to make sure that the landing zone was secure. It wasn't their usual one, considerably closer to the base of the Skywatch facility, and every time they had passed through this stretch of the Cosmodrome they had been met in force. However, as she panned about, nothing poked its head out from behind the ancient hulks. Only the echo of weapons and Fallen howls punctuated the low whistle of the wind. The Corsair lowered her weapon and took a knee behind a low rock as she opened the comms channel.
"LZ is clear, come on down." She said into her helmet. As she spoke, she heard a fizzle as Dal apparated over her shoulder, floating low to the ground. "How are you holding up, Dal?" She said, looking down at her Ghost.
"I'll be fine." He replied, glancing back up at her. "I just want to get this over with." Lisset sighed, and gave a comforting pat on the side of his shell. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way; after everything he had seen, being told to find the dead Ghosts of a lost fireteam would only dredge up terrible memories. Dead Orbit had hoped to send its representatives to the Cosmodrome in order to secure some ancient array, and now the Vanguard had asked Lisset and her comrades to pick up where they left off. Why three junior Guardians would do better than three far more veteran warriors was beyond the Corsair, but she wasn't about to turn down the challenge.
As she got to her feet, she heard the distant roar of jumpship engines as Koga's Arcadia and Basilisk's Regulus roared in low to the ground, flaring up and away as they crested the landing site at a steep angle in order to avoid anti-aircraft fire. Their pilots flashed into reality in blue light, stumbling to their feet as they got their bearings, before walking over to the Hunter. "Anything interesting going on?" The Titan asked, looking over her shoulder at the debris-strewn field.
"If you count unusually quiet as interesting, then yes." She said, frowning. "I haven't seen any Fallen at all." Basilisk made a contemplative grunt as he readied his pulse rifle.
"They might have been pushed back by the Hive, or managed to push into the Skywatch itself." He said, before turning back to the others. "Let's move fast before anything changes. Our arrival isn't going unnoticed." Lisset nodded, and slipped past the Exo quietly as she moved forward, her rifle on her shoulder as she navigated down the hill the landing site had been located at and down onto the frostbitten ground. The weather was odd out in the Cosmodrome, with the occasional flurry adding fluffs of snow across the area, but it had been mainly just cold and sunny, leading to a ground that crunched with every footfall but gave as much way as Basilisk's forehead.
It was hard for Lisset not to expect an ambush at every turn, but as she rounded every corner, finger on the trigger ready to obliterate something lunging at her, she found herself just staring into dark corners, her motion tracker colorless. It was as if the Fallen truly had abandoned the area, left it for the ghosts and their memories. It made her skin crawl, but she took some comfort in the fact that nothing was trying to kill her yet. As she climbed up to the entrance of the building where they had encountered the Hive not so long ago, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened in the days between their last visit to the Cosmodrome and now.
Swapping to her Preacher, she moved inside the structure, her team following close behind. The Hive biostructures that had covered the central chamber hadn't expanded out into the rest of the building, thankfully, but Lisset had a sinking feeling that it was only a matter of time until the entire area was dotted with those oozing black barnacles and eerie glowing green crystals. As she approached the gate that had led to that room, her motion tracker finally flared with red. She rushed out into the adjoining room, expecting a pack of Fallen or of Hive, but found herself instead jumping past two extremely surprised Dregs. She almost felt bad when her shotgun barked twice and cleared the room. The others rushed into the room at the sound, only to find her standing in the middle, sliding two new shells into the breach as the bodies of the two Fallen slumped in the far corner of the room.
"Are you okay?" Koga asked, looking around. Lisset gave a brief nod.
"They had a small patrol guarding the gate." She replied, giving the shotgun a pump before letting it fall to her side. "I guess they aren't overly concerned about defending this doorway." The Warlock cocked his head as he thought about that.
"That does not make much sense." He replied, rapping his fingers impatiently against the grip of his hand cannon. "I do not think the Fallen would underestimate their enemy."
"I don't either." Basilisk interjected. "Something is off. Either they've managed to clear out this nest, or they feel confident enough about what they're doing to only put a pair of Dregs at the door." He let Boudica fizzle into reality, her eye shining bright like a torch as he moved for the stairs coated in Hive barnacles. "I'll take point from here." Lisset nodded, and followed behind him as she started up the stairs, her shotgun at the ready, Koga following right behind her. As she climbed up the stairs into the oppressive darkness, all she could do was try to think. Where was everyone?
= = = = = = =
Basilisk smelled an ambush. It was a visceral gut feeling, a twisting knot that screamed that something is waiting for you ahead. The Exo always found it funny how sensations like that stayed with him, despite his lack of a stomach, or any internal organs for that matter. It was a hold-over from a past life, something biologically ingrained in his soul to the point where he couldn't forget it if he tried. There were Fallen lying in wait ahead, and it would only be a matter of time until they sprung the trap.
The Titan's mind ran as he went up the creaking iron stairs into the dark chamber where they had first fought the Hive. He pictured the last moments of the Dead Orbit team in his mind as he moved, trying to gleam anything they might have missed. Three Guardians, not unlike him and his team, had walked into the Skywatch the exact same way looking for the secrets of an ancient Golden Age, and had encountered no resistance as they pushed through the complex. And then, in a firefight that had been all too brief, the Fallen struck. And here Basilisk was, following in their footsteps to an inch. He clenched his jaw, his fingers gripping his shotgun tighter. "Anything on the tracker, Boudica?" He asked, tense.
"Nothing yet." She replied. Basilisk noticed that when the Ghost got nervous, her voice assumed a low monotone. It wasn't helping his confidence to hear that monotone now. She paused for a moment, beeping as she processed some data flying right past the Exo. As advanced as his sensors were, they were still limited in comparison to the near-magical technology that powered his companion. "I'm detecting interesting fluctuations in the air nearby. Something is disrupting the flow, but I can't find a source."
"Let me know if you pick something up." Basilisk muttered as he reached the top of the stairs. He turned his head slightly to look back at his team, and as he did something out of the corner of his eye shimmered. Whipping his head around, the Exo jumped to the left and out of the way of his friends on the stairs as he turned to look at it proper. The thing crackled softly with blue light, and a low buzz filled the air, and without a sound, it started to rush forward. "Vandals, Vandals!" The Titan shouted, aiming his shotgun at the center of mass of the cloaked alien, waiting to pull the trigger until it was almost right on top of him. All at once, his motion tracker filled with red, and a dozen more fell from the ceiling where they had been hiding, weapons at the ready.
"Watch out!" Koga shouted, firing his hand cannon into one that was quickly moving to flank Basilisk. He turned to face the direction of fire, only to watch the attacker's head disintegrate into white ether as the Warlock's revolver hit its mark. Basilisk had no time to thank his savior, as another tried to rush Koga from behind. The Exo ran forward, shouldering the Warlock out of the way as he slammed right into the Vandal just as it was about to slice down on Koga with its swords. His fist flashing with arc Light, the alien disintegrated with the satisfying sound of thunder as the punch connected.
The sound of Lisset's shotgun was unceasing, punctuating the din of battle with a roar every other second as she fired desperately into the horde of the Fallen attackers. It was her Preacher that echoed last, reverberating in the room as the last cloaked Vandal fell at her feet, dead. Lungs or no, Basilisk panted along with his fireteam as he gathered his wits. When he felt comfortable again, he straightened his back and looked up at the others. They were singed from the fight, but alive. If the Exo could have smiled, he would have, and he started to reload his shotgun as he nodded at his teammates.
"We've taken their worst." He said, confidence back in his voice. The fear from the ambush had faded now, and a new sensation had begun to rush through his veins: power. "Let's show them what we can really do."
- - - - - -
The Fallen patrolling outside the entrance to the Lunar Complex had heard the gunfire, and they had heard it fall silent. None of them dared to go in, however; they knew their role, and they knew the punishment of a Captain or a Baron would be swift and brutal for any who left their post. They guarded their positions to the last, the three Dregs and a Vandal watching the doorway obliterated when a grenade rolled at their feet.
Koga surged through the gap, his hand cannon at the ready, as he sprinted through. The flashbang had done its work, and there was nothing left for him to mop up. This was fine by him, though: their target was somewhere ahead. As he ducked through a ruined shack, he saw the rest of the Skywatch complex, massive black buildings with dishes and antennae stretching up like monoliths, but more importantly he saw something far, far more ominous. Sticking up from the crater it had formed when it had hit the Earth was a massive spire, grey and green and marked with Hive runes, a dark miasma slowly trickling from an entrance at its base. This is where the Hive had made landfall in the Cosmodrome, and as he ran past it, he could see Thrall hiding in its shadows, unwilling to surge forward.
Turning away from the impacted spacecraft, Koga scrambled up a hill, his team following close behind. Somewhere on this bluff were the three Ghosts of the Dead Orbit team, taken as trophies by the House of Kings who had killed them. As he approached a Vandal and his entourage of Dregs, Kita beeped in his ear. "On his belt!" The Ghost shouted. Koga looked down at the Vandal's waist, and from it hung that familiar angular shape of a Ghost, attached lifelessly to the alien. The Vandal shouted something guttural in his tongue, and lances of arc energy streaked out lazily toward him like a swarm of glowing blue bees. The Warlock jumped to the side, and felt a small ball of void Light form in his hand. Lobbing it towards the Fallen, the grenade exploded in a purple sphere, throwing a Dreg violently away when it expanded and burning the rest.
The Vandal fell to the ground, missing most of its legs, and Koga hurried to its side. The beast was, surprisingly, still alive, but Koga rectified that with a single round of his hand cannon. Now was not a time for mercy, and he highly doubted that the alien would just let him take the dead Ghost from its belt. Reaching down, he grabbed the empty shell from its side and yanked hard, pulling it free from the simple metal brace holding it down. Kita didn't even need to examine the Ghost from inside Koga's armor to give an assessment. "It's dead." He said, his voice dampened. "Keep looking."
To his left, Lisset ran forward, her scout rifle barking rhythmically as she fired it towards another group of Fallen, three Vandals that were rushing to respond to the chaos of the Guardian assault. She was joined by Basilisk, who sprinted forward with arc Light glowing in his hands. The Titan jumped up, and brought his fists down like a sledgehammer, which was met by a terrific roar and a flash of lightning that arced through the ground like it was a live wire. The Vandals burned away like an afterimage, sizzling out of reality in the wake of the Fist of Havoc strike. A Ghost clunked to the ground, lifeless, somehow immune to the blastwave. Basilisk picked it up as he got back to his feet and behind cover.
"This one is also dead." Boudica reported stoically over comms. "Look around for the last."
"I've got it!" Lisset shouted, as she rushed for one last Vandal desperately trying to flee. She seemed to shimmer as she raised her knife, and in a blink of an eye she was on top of the Fallen, her knife in its back. The Vandal fell to the ground with a smack, and the Hunter grabbed one final Ghost from where the alien had hidden it beneath its golden cloak.
"This one still holds the codes." Dal announced, his voice low but determined. "Let's find that array." Koga hurried to catch up with Lisset, who stood by the entrance to yet another Skywatch facility. It was located on a small bluff overlooking the rest of the Skywatch campus, and for the first time Koga realized it was painted an odd red color, unlike the more drab colors of the rest.
"Where is the array located?" Koga asked, glancing over his shoulder at the Hive ship warily. They had yet to move from their position, but he knew they were watching with rapt attention. Dal beeped as he processed the question as fast as he could.
"According to the records on the Ghost, it's inside here." He answered, grim. "I'd expect the Fallen to try to defend it to the last." Basilisk nodded as he swapped back to his Preacher, Lisset following suit. Koga merely gripped his hand cannon tighter. They knew their mission: the Fallen couldn't hold onto the Array. They would have to go through, no matter what.
= = = = = = =
Basilisk paced through the ruined halls of the Terrestrial Complex, moving carefully as he picked his way through the tight corridors. After what had happened in the Lunar Complex, the Titan was on his toes for another similar ambush. His mind rewound what Boudica had said just before the Fallen had made their play. Using atmospheric disturbances to detect hidden Vandals sounded like a good idea as any, and he had told his Ghost the moment he had stepped into the building to start tracking it. It made purchase when she shouted in his ear. "Around the corner!" Basilisk stepped out through a cracked wall that led from one room to another and saw a Vandal sitting there, his cloak shimmering. It shone less when the alien got a face full of buckshot to its chest.
"Good catch." The Titan muttered as he stepped completely through the gap and on through. Behind him, he could hear his teammates following tentatively behind. They had little to no shot, not with the hulking Exo in the way and the cramped conditions of the corridors. If they were to start shooting, it would be because something went horribly wrong for Basilisk. He kept moving along the path of the building, keeping an eye on his motion tracker. It filled with red as the hallway opened into a much larger room, sunlight filtering through cracked and dirty windows along the left wall. At the end of the room hid more Fallen, Dregs popping out behind Fallen equipment and broken support columns as they tried to fire. Basilisk followed the wall right, strafing as he fired in order to let his team move in, but it opened him up. He felt plasma burn against his Light as each bolt hit, and winced at the sensation of the impact as he tried to get behind something solid.
His decision was not a good one, and as debris rained down on him from above, Basilisk looked up to see a Vandal dropping down from where it had been hiding in the ceiling, arc sabers alight. The Titan had barely enough time to put his arm up to try to deflect the hit as the alien fell down. His Light did the trick of keeping himself from being skewered, but the Vandal crashed into him with a loud crunch, and with a shout the Exo fell to the floor, the alien crushing him as it tried to get its blades into Basilisk's chest. "A little help?" He shouted as he jockeyed to wrest the Fallen off of him. He got it a millisecond later, a blast from Koga's hand cannon extricating himself from his tussle, and the Fallen's skull from its neck. The Warlock extended his hand, and Basilisk grabbed it, pulling himself back up to his feet. "Thanks, I appreciate it." Koga merely nodded before turning his attention back to the firefight, which was starting to dwindle to a close as Lisset's shotgun mopped up. Basilisk fired a lazy shot in the direction of a fleeing Dreg, but it did little to discourage it as it rounded a corner and left the room.
"Damn, one got away." The Hunter hissed under her breath as she paced forward. "It's going to warn all the others."
"Let it." Basilisk started, letting his shotgun hang by his side. "Boudica, where is the Array?"
"According to the schematics on the dead Ghost, it's right around this corner." She replied, her voice level. "If you can get through the defenses, I or any of the other Ghosts ought to be able to access it."
"I can." Dal interrupted. "Just get me close, and I should be able to get it working." Basilisk nodded, then let his shotgun dissipate in his hand in favor of a pulse rifle. Without another word, he turned and headed for the door leading to where the Dreg had sprinted through, his team following close behind. Almost immediately after passing through, the afternoon sun shining down from above as it just began to sink. The Exo squinted, his ocular sensors and helmet automatically adjusting to the light in order to prevent the glare from blinding him.
The Titan's motion tracker, once again, filled with red, and he got behind something solid as he tried to get his bearings. He was standing at the base of what could only be described as a sloping ramp leading up to a large building, which he could only guess was where the Array control station made its home. Behind him was a massive dome-like structure, rusted and ancient but still standing despite the ravages of time. Golden Age humanity had built things to last, the Titan thought to himself as he readied for his push up the hill.
He and his team didn't need to discuss a plan. They pushed forward like a wave, pushing through and in-between crates and debris as they moved to meet the last of the House of King's Garrison. A Vandal sniper fired his line rifle down at the team as they moved up, but he was met with pinpoint accurate fire from Lisset's scout rifle, and within three rapid cracks of her gun the marksman fell from his perch, dead long before he hit the ground. A Captain blinked about trying to draw Koga into an ambush, but the Warlock put a stop to that plan with a few shots with his fusion rifle, blue light lancing through the air like arrows from some futuristic bow. Basilisk, meanwhile, let himself be the weapon, running through Dregs like a freight train, his fists breaking ribs and his feet crushing skulls as he rushed forward from point to point. Bolt after bolt of arc energy splayed over his Light, but by the time it was near gone, he had reached cover and let his shield rebuild.
As soon as he felt strong again, the Titan sprinted forward, moving to catch up with the others. "Multiple atmospheric disturbances!" Boudica shouted, only a second before six vague shapes dropped from the ceiling at the edge of the control station building.
"Hit those Vandals!" Basilisk shouted as he fired his pulse rifle into them. One failed to get out of the way of his frantic spray of bullets, but the others easily ducked away. They darted forward, arc sabers in hand, as they made a beeline for the Titan. Basilisk fired until his weapon went click, and threw it away to swap to his shotgun. As one lunged forward, he caught it in the chest with his Preacher, and its friend behind it was cut down by Koga's hand cannon. Another tried to jump the Warlock, only to go down when Lisset put a scout rifle round through its brain, and when two tried to rush her, Basilisk returned the favor by filling one with buckshot and tackling the other one from the side. The Fallen squirmed and screamed underneath him as it tried to react, but underneath the heavy armor of the Exo, it was being slowly crushed. Basilisk pulled his fist back and let arc Light flow through it before he brought forward like a jackhammer. The alien disintegrated into a blue afterimage as the supercharged punch connected, the Titan collapsing onto the ground where his foe had once been. Getting to his feet, Basilisk looked around-his motion tracker was clear. "Alright, I think we're clear."
"I have no contacts." Koga reported, cautiously starting to move into the structure with his hand cannon at the ready.
"Same here." Lisset said, bounding towards the Titan from where she had been standing off to his far right. She moved past him, moving to where the Warlock was. Basilisk followed behind her, his shotgun at the ready as he moved. There was no further resistance as the three of them reached the back of the room, and a single computer console against the wall. A skeleton sat where it had in life centuries before, manning a post that had been lost to history. Basilisk regarded it curiously, looking at the ancient corpse and wondering how this man had died. Then he turned his attention to Lisset. The Hunter outstretched her hand, and her Ghost apparated above it, glancing around at the Guardians, at the console, then back at the Guardians again.
"I think this is the console. I'm going to try to reactivate it if I can." Before anyone could say anything, the Ghost floated down to the computer and began to probe it with his energy beam. Almost immediately, ancient electronics began to hum, and after a few seconds of booting up, a series of images began to flash across the single monitor on the console. The Ghost started to mumble to himself as he worked. "Navigating crypto-systems... Shor-resistant security lattice verified..." He muttered under his breath with every pulse of his beam.
"That's some security." Kita noted on comms. "It's a good thing Dead Orbit found those codes. It might have taken months to crack this system otherwise."
"At least we can be sure that the Fallen didn't get through." Lisset added.
"It's working!" Dal exclaimed, ecstatic. There was a mechanical bang from outside, like ancient machinery was slowly coming to life, and Basilisk's head whipped around to face the source of the sound on instinct. "Outside, the Array! It's opening!" The Ghost continued, as Basilisk and the others navigated a large pylon ringed with computers to look out the way they came. From where the dome had been were now three spires, rapidly rising out of the ground from where they had been stored. "Amazing, it's activating!" Dal said over comms, fascinated. The Ghost was too busy tinkering with the computer to see it rise himself, but the telemetry must have been something mystical because the Ghost sounded almost reverent. Basilisk had only time to give an impressed whistle before a sound like nails on chalkboard filled the air. It was like something was tearing apart the universe, as green cracks in the sky formed, then opened to reveal long black ships floating ominously towards where the Guardians were staying.
"Hive Tombships, cutting through!" Kita shouted. "Take cover!" As the Hive troop carriers floated closer, balls of deep purple Void energy formed from four turrets on the hull. The three scrambled as the projectiles began to float towards them, changing its direction as it tried to follow them to where they hid before exploding uselessly not too far from their mark. Basilisk readied his pulse rifle again, and let the empty magazine fall to the ground as he slid another one in.
"Dig in, Guardians!" Basilisk barked into comms as he raised his weapon to his eye. Underneath the Tombships glowed a red strip, and from them apparated a pack of Thrall, screaming and jumping as they rushed forward like a wave towards the team. "Here they come!" He shouted over the din, and squeezed the trigger.
+ + + + + + +
Koga felt his heart pound in his chest as the Hive raced towards him and his team. Behind them all, the Array opened like a lotus in the sun, pivoting and unfurling as it tried to accomplish ancient commands. Under different circumstances, this would have been a thing of beauty to appreciate and savor, but this situation was not one of them. He gripped his hand cannon tight, and waited for the first Thrall to fill his sights. The instant it did, Koga pulled the trigger, and felt the weapon buck in his hands as it roared. The Thrall disintegrated in red fire as the bullet passed clean through the screaming monster's skull, but right behind it came another one of its fellows, its claws glowing with some arcane power. That one fell too, and the one behind it, and the one behind it, and so on and so on until his hand cannon stopped firing.
Quickly, the Warlock reloaded, his eyes half on the gun and half on the oncoming horde. As soon as he was done, he swung the weapon up and into the nose of a Thrall a few inches away. It blew back, burning away to dust as his hand cannon's magnum round punched through it. The one behind it met a similar fate, and the Acolyte leading the pack behind them both screamed before it fell. More screeches as reality was torn asunder to make way for another Tombship, then another. The Hive were throwing everything they had at the three of them, and they couldn't give an inch. "More Hive!" Koga shouted as he switched to his fusion rifle and readied himself to fire into any new horde. More bolts of purple energy shot out at the Guardians, but Koga easily sidestepped the one aimed at him. When he returned his attention to the Hive reinforcements, more Thrall had appeared, as did a taller beast taking the rear.
"Knight!" Lisset shouted, her scout rifle barking as she tried to put it down. Koga watched as her rounds bounced uselessly against the thing's hardened chitin armor, the Hive warrior cackling as it approached before firing a massive weapon in its hand. Blue screaming balls of energy arced from it, howling as they slammed into the ground with a blast. Basilisk jumped back as one landed near him, cursing as he fired into the Thrall horde. Koga clenched his teeth as he watched even more Hive deploy from the other Tombship, and closed his eyes. He felt the Void flow through him, and concentrated it until it filled the palm of his hands. When he opened them again, he ran forward and let it fly. The Nova Bomb sailed out like a lance, and when it collided into a pack of screaming Hive, it disintegrated them all with a roar. Koga smiled under his helmet despite how weak he felt after releasing so much energy, but that faded quickly as the Knight marched forward, his armor burnt and shattered but still alive.
"Oh, no." Kita whispered, and before Koga could say or do anything, the Knight fired his weapon. There was no way for the Warlock to dodge, and his armor couldn't take a hit like this, especially not with his Light so drained as it was.
There was darkness for a time. Then, a bright, flashing light. When Koga's eyes opened again, he was standing where he had fallen, his Ghost hovering inches away from his face. The Warlock blinked, and winced as a dull pain wormed its way through his body before fading away. "What happened?" He said, looking around. Around him stood Lisset and Basilisk, staring at him intently. When the Warlock spoke, he could see their shoulders sag in relief.
"You, uh, died." Lisset started, hesitantly. "We killed the Knight almost immediately after you went down, but..." She trailed off for a moment. "Are you okay?" She asked, concern in her voice.
"I am a little sore, but otherwise alright." He answered, groaning as he stretched out some of the kinks. It was a much less sensation than the first time he had been Risen, but there still was a certain amount of pain that came with being yanked away from the other side of the veil. "I appreciate your concern." He said, nodding appreciatively at all of them.
"Don't make a habit of it." Kita chided, before dissipating into his armor. "I've been looking for you for centuries. I'd hate to have you die on me after only a few weeks." Koga gave a painful chuckle at the quip, coughing as his bruised lungs tried to keep up with the demand. When he stopped, he looked up at the Array, now open completely and facing the blue sky above. "I assume we stopped the Hive?"
"We did, but there was a... complication." Basilisk replied, crossing his arms over his rifle. Koga looked at him, confused.
"Complication?" He repeated. "What kind of complication could there have been?" It was then that the Warlock noticed for the first time something faint in the air, a sound just barely audible over the whistle of the wind and the distant echo of the Fallen as they picked the bones of the Cosmodrome. It was music, undoubtedly, and it was a piece he had heard before. His eyes widened as he recognized the melody, and turned to face Dal, who floated over his Guardian's shoulder.
"The Array is in Rasputin's hands now." The Ghost admitted, his voice a mix of respect and something that almost sounded like worry. "He took control in the chaos and now is connected to defense constructs across the system."
"Maybe that is a good thing." Koga responded, turning to look back up at the Array. "Maybe there is something out there to help us survive the Darkness. Maybe he can help us."
"Maybe." Dal said, before dissipating back into Lisset's armor. "But I think the Warmind is playing his own game."
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