Destiny, Episode X: Ocean of Storms

Previous Episode: Side Episode IV, Paladins
Next Episode: Episode XI, The World's Grave

The Tower, the Last City, Earth
Day 023

   The vacation ended with a flurry of activity that came and went just a touch too fast for Lisset to process. One moment, she had been running on the track in the Tower as part of her morning routine, Dal out doing his own thing. The next, her PT gear had been replaced in a flash of blue light with her armor. It was a new Stratis-pattern armor, the blue-and-white equipment a gift from the Vanguard as a reward for her service in the Vanguard. On her back rested her replacement for her steadfast Trax Callum, the Jigoku SR2. Before she could say a word, the cold of transmat enveloped her, and when she came back to her senses she found herself in the cockpit of her Galliot.

            “What the hell?” She exclaimed, looking around in confusion. “Dal, what’s going on?” Her Ghost flashed into view, hovering by her right canopy window.

            “I just received a scramble order from the Vanguard.” The Ghost’s voice was grim, darker than it normally was. “We’re to leave immediately.” Lisset nodded, her mind racing to process what was going on.

            “Where are the others?” She asked as she gripped the joystick and throttle of the craft. In front of her, outside the ship, a Frame stood holding two direction sticks, waving her to take off.

            “They’re waiting for us in orbit, I’ll navigate us there.” Dal replied, sounding more than a little harried. Lisset nodded, and slammed the throttle forward. With a roar, the Awoken fighter shot from the Hangar like a bat out of hell. At first, she aimed her craft in the direction of the Cosmodrome when Dal beeped loudly in her ear.

            “In orbit, Lisset.” He said, accenting his words sharply. The grim voice had changed now into irritation. Something was chewing him up, and Lisset had the horrible feeling that the reason why wasn’t going to make her happy, either. Pulling up on the stick, the fighter began to climb, and Lisset could feel herself being pulled back into her seat as the Galliot made its ascent. The growl of the fighter’s engines began to fade further and further away as it climbed higher and higher into the atmosphere, until it became deathly quiet. Before Lisset could ask what to do next, the stick became stiff and began to move on its own as the Ghost took control.

            “What’s going on, Dal?” Lisset asked, now frustrated herself. “Where are we going?”

            “Luna. The Ocean of Storms.” Dal replied quickly, bitingly. Lisset blinked, stunned, as ice flooded her veins.

            “What?” She said, shocked. “Luna? What about the-“

            “-the Interdict?” The Ghost finished for her, turning away from the field of stars outside the canopy to look at the Hunter. “The Speaker waived it. Guardians have been deployed for the past week doing patrols. One just went missing, and the Vanguard wants us to find him before it’s too late.” Suddenly, all the pieces came together. Dal had seen far too many of his friends die in the grey dust of the Moon; going back there would be like pulling teeth, or whatever the Ghost equivalent would be. Lisset furrowed her eyebrows, but thought the better of asking if he was okay. The sooner they powered through this, the happier he would be.

            Several quiet seconds passed as Dal piloted the ship to the rendezvous. Koga’s Arcadia and Basilisk’s Regulus appeared first as sensor contacts highlighted against the canopy as blue dots, but as the fighter approached they grew into something more recognizable. Basilisk commed in long before the Hunter would have to bring her fighter to a stop.

            “Ok, we’re all here.” The Titan said, his synthesized voice sounding all the more mechanical over the tinny radio. Lisset had asked an Awoken engineer how communications worked almost instantly no matter where you were in the system. The poor woman had merely shrugged and muttered something along the lines of “space magic,” though Lisset had the feeling that she simply didn’t want to get into it. Luckily, at this distance, there wasn’t much worry about radio delay and whatever arcane Golden Age tech came into circumventing it. “Slave your nav-computers to mine, and spool your drives.” Basilisk continued. Lisset didn’t need to do a thing as Dal performed the tasks himself. She could feel her ship start to vibrate faster and faster as the device powered up, a rattling that began to shake her to her bones.

            “On my mark.” Basilisk said, his voice monotone.

            “Three.” Lisset gripped her stick tight.

            “Two.” She saw her Ghost close his eye.

            “One.” Lisset closed hers.

            “Mark.” With a kick, the Galliot shot forward, and the world bent in on itself as the NLS drive did its job. Even through her eyelids, she could see the turbulent mix of whites and blues blanketing the world as the ship traveled through warped space. All she could hear was her breathing in and out as she braced for what lay on the other end.

- - - - - - -

            Koga felt a yank as the Arcadia shot out of NLS like a bullet. He had to fight the controls as the craft tried to compensate to invisible forces, making a mental note to investigate what exactly was going on sometime later. Before him was Luna, the pockmarked grey Moon filling his canopy. His eyes followed the crack in the satellite like they had a mind of their own, grey light poking out through the breaches in the surface. “Incredible.” The Warlock muttered to himself, fascinated and horrified all at the same time. Part of him wondered if there was anything underneath the surface of Luna, or if it was just all green Hive light.

            “You know, I used to look up a the Moon and wonder what the Hive were doing.” Kita spoke as Koga slotted into position behind Basilisk’s Regulus. The convoy of ships began to dive down towards the surface, and as they got closer Koga could make out ancient structures jutting out from the ground, forgotten memoirs of the Golden Age. “All the activity I could ever make out was hazy. Like it was blocked, or buried.”

            “I think we know which one now.” Koga replied, grimacing. The three ships dived lower and lower, skimming the surface of the Moon as they approached their destination. Above a bluff lay a massive structure, painted blue and gold, the markings of Golden Age Chinese script painted boldly to proclaim the facility’s existence to the world. The Titan’s Regulus flared as it slowed to a halt, and as it pulled away Koga could see Basilisk stumble to his feet below. As the Arcadia approached, the Warlock braced to do the same. There was a flash of cold, and suddenly he was standing on the surface of Luna. He was wearing his replacement robes, the red and blue colored Scalpel Wing-pattern that Ikora had granted him, and his new hand cannon hung at his hip. It was a Maverick-series revolver, a big heavy thing that had a comforting weight about it. Standing before him was Basilisk, his red and white Fieldplate-pattern armor glistening in the pale sunlight as the Titan held his new Pulsar MSe rifle. Looking up as his ship silently flew away, Koga could see the Earth slowly turn in the distance. He couldn’t hear Lisset touch down behind him, but he saw her Galliot streak away to a safe distance.

            Basilisk waved his hands to catch the attention of the others, beckoning them near him. As they approached, the Titan folded his arms over his pulse rifle. “Okay, so, we’re walking into this one kinda blind.” He started, drumming the casing of the gun with his fingers as he tried to come up with some kind of plan. “We didn’t get a proper briefing, so all we have to work with right now is a simple text burst from the Vanguard. Boudica, if you’d be so kind?”

            The Ghost knew better than to apparate out this time, not on a world dominated by the Hive. Her voice piped into the team’s ears over comms as she spoke. “About six hours ago, the Tower lost contact with a Titan patrolling this area, a Golden Age Chinese facility. The last transmission received was that he had secured it from the Fallen.”

            “Fallen? On Luna?” Koga asked, surprised. “Why would they be here?”

            “They don’t belong to the Houses we’ve encountered thus far.” Boudica answered. “They’ve been designated ‘House Exiles’, and they seem to be breakaways from other factions across the system, though the Vanguard isn’t sure what the exact ratio is.” Koga grimaced, crossing his arms across his chest.

            “They’ve probably come here to stake out territory free from the other Houses.” Lisset interrupted. “Winter on Venus, Devils and Kings on Earth, and now Exiles on Luna. If they’re desperate enough, they might not care about the Hive.”

            “Reckless.” Basilisk noted, shaking his head. “Though I doubt they’re stupid.” The Titan sighed, and readied his pulse rifle. “Alright, Paladins, we’ve got a job to do. The longer we wait, the less of a chance we have to get our Guardian. Let’s get moving.”

            Koga smiled under his helmet. The Exo lacked a certain creative flair when it came to giving orders, but he was certainly driven. The man exuded an aura of motivation that was hard not to get caught up in. Koga followed behind his team leader as they began moving up the slope, one foot followed by the next. The ground crumbled silently underneath every tread, sound lost to the endless vacuum of space. His eyes followed the horizon, distant structures dotting the unceasing grey landscape.

            As they continued up the ridge, a structure began to crest over its lip. It was a massive building, complete with several tertiary buildings underneath what looked like a sideways spire. It took a second for the Warlock to recognize what it was, but eventually a memory floated to mind. It was some kind of accelerator, meant to move supplies or energy a great distance extremely quickly. The building must have been some substation back during the Golden Age, back when this place was in operation. It had been a different time, Koga thought to himself as he kept moving, back when hope gave humanity wings and the Traveler watched over a little Chinese colony known as First Light.

<><><><><><><> 

            Basilisk moved up the hill as carefully as he could. He was new to fighting the Hive, but he wasn’t so green as to trust the ground beneath him. The Moon belonged to them now, had been for centuries. Any stretch of terrain could hide secret tunnels connecting the surface to some rat-hole or barracks. The addition of the Fallen only made him trust his surroundings less. Any shimmer of light, any fluctuation would spell an ambush. The old soldier cursed Luna’s lack of air under his breath-Boudica’s atmospheric trick wouldn’t pick up a cloaked assailant now.

            As the trio approached the primary structure, their heads were on a swivel, but to no response. It was perfectly, completely quiet, dead as the soil they walked on. In another time, there might have been wonder to their approach. Here before them lay a relatively untouched Golden Age facility, with no oxygen to rust the metal and no animals to tear away the sensitive electronics and furnishing. Only the scavenging Fallen and the scheming Hive could destroy the facility, but from the outside it looked nearly untouched. There were great secrets locked away behind firewalls and plasteel safe doors out here, and each discovery could revolutionize the City.

            That wonder died away quickly when the first body was found. It wasn’t the missing Guardian, thankfully, but the corpse was more than unnerving on its own. It was a Taikonaut, its uniform marked with small Mandarin that identified the owner. The corpse wore a bulky EVA suit, some hold over from the days just before the Golden Age that had yet to go out of service at the facility. For the most part, the equipment was untouched, free from scratch marks or burns or any other glaring bodily injury that implied how the occupant had died. It was the helmet that quietly terrified the three Guardians, the orange Plexiglas shattered from some hammer-like blow. Inside the helm grinned a skull, bare to the Sun and cleanly white. None of them got closer, unwilling to see what existed below the neckline, if anything, but the skull was enough to let ice flow through their veins. They all knew no bacteria lived on Luna.

            “Stay sharp.” Basilisk muttered into comms as he paced forward, rifle to his shoulder. “I don’t like this.” The Titan was not alone, but as the three moved to the building, and finally slipped inside, they were met by no foe. It was just eerie, unending silence. As they kept moving, it was Dal to notice first the console sitting unused at the back of the room.

            “Let me at that terminal. I can try to cull up the logs, see if our friend left any clues for us.” The Ghost lowly intoned. Lisset took the lead, slipping past the Titan on point as she moved towards the computer terminal. She held her new shotgun, an Outlander Mk. 26 to replace her outgunned Preacher, and waved it around ready at a moments notice in case an assailant jumped out. The former Corsair moved swiftly over to the terminal, careful to make sure that she tripped on no fallen equipment or cords, or worse, a grasping hand. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she made it over, her comrades watching quietly with weapons at the ready.

Dal flashed into existence before her, careful to stay behind cover as he began to probe the device. Lisset blinked to adjust her eyes to the sudden spark of bright light as the computers turned on, a beacon in the oppressively dark husk of a room. Mandarin scrolled across a blue screen as the old Chinese operating system came to life, and the Hunter could almost swear she could hear the machinery hum as it completed its boot process. A few moments later, and Dal flashed back inside the safety of Lisset’s armor.

“Okay, I’ve got the data.” He said, speaking quickly as old lamps flickered back to life. The base was slowly coming back online, and it didn’t take an idiot to know that this would attract a lot of unwanted attention. “The logs state that the Guardian set up camp in an area ahead of here. He refers to it as the ‘Anchor of Light’, but I don’t know if that’s too helpful.”

“It’s helpful enough.” Lisset replied. “Good work, Dal. Looks like we’ve got another lead.”

“It’s turning into a regular treasure hunt.” Basilisk noted sourly. “Let’s get moving before someone-“ The Titan stopped suddenly as all three Guardians’ motion trackers flashed red. Contacts were entering the building from the direction they had come. Lisset saw them first, three or four cloaked figures rushing forward.

“Fallen!” She shouted, raising her shotgun. She had no shot, not through her teammates. The others turned quickly, and the room erupted into flashes of blinding light as they began to fire. Basilisk had also traded up his shotgun, though for the more powerful and compact Deadlander Mk. 24. In an atmosphere, the weapon must have roared like thunder, but in a vacuum all it could do was spit fire like a dragon as it erupted. The lead Fallen was blasted back to the ground as the buckshot slammed into its body. Koga’s hand cannon joined in, a heavy slug ripping through the skull of the next Vandal, and the one behind that. Before Lisset could get a chance to enter the engagement, Basilisk pumped another shot out and cleared away the last intruder.

“Okay, clear.” Basilisk huffed as he slipped rounds into his shotgun. “Well, we know we’re made now.”

“That was a bit too fast for me.” Lisset muttered, frowning. “They’ve been waiting for us.” She didn’t know why, but a few scenarios started running through her mind the moment she said it. “Dal, shut down the systems before we leave.” The Ghost didn’t say a word as it popped back out of the armor and began to interact with the terminal again. The lights flickered down, and the computer’s bright monitor died away. “Sorry, just a precaution.”

“A smart one.” Dal noted in that flat tone of his. “Don’t want to give the Fallen an active terminal.” Lisset nodded quickly, flattered at the compliment.

“Alright, let’s get moving.” Basilisk said, trying to make his voice boom as best as he could. Koga and Lisset quickly formed alongside the Titan, and together they pushed back outside. Immediately, the quiet environment had been transformed into a hostile one. A Skiff hung low next to the accelerator, disgorging its crew onto the surface below. The landscape dipped and rose, following the contours of a dozen craters that pockmarked the lunar surface. At the far end of it, through the Fallen defensive line, was a path leading around a dusty mountain and toward their objective.

“I’m assuming you have a plan?” Lisset asked, readying her scout rifle. In the distance, she could see small vehicles darting about, Dregs at the helm. The Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “I hope you see those Pikes down there. They’re as fast as they are well armed.”

“We’ll handle them.” Basilisk replied, readying his weapon. Quietly, the three began pushing forwards, the bloom of their weapons illuminating the ground beneath them like miniature suns.

<><><><><><><> 

            The troops dropped from the Skiff proved no challenge, gunned down before most of them could even raise their weapons to fire. They hadn’t been surprised by the Guardians’ presence, but they were simply too slow to pose any real threat. The same could not be said for the Pikes, which rushed to meet the fireteam. The first one, a bulbous light tan vehicle, blew right through the trio, the Paladins jumping out of the way to avoid being hit by the bull-rushing vehicle. The Dreg riding the craft must have thought it was a good trick, because he turned around and made another go at it, aiming now for Koga.

As the Pike hurried forward, lightning sparking under its chassis as it moved, the Warlock braced. At the last moment, he jumped up, and the machine sped underneath him, passing uselessly by. Lisset’s rifle punched against her shoulder as she fired at the machine, rounds sparking off of the thing’s hull to no effect. As the Pike was about to pass out of range, a lucky shot caught the Dreg in the back of the head. Without a pilot, the machine careened out of control and smashed into a lunar hill, sending debris and parts flying into the air like a cloud.

“Great work!” Basilisk shouted encouragingly, his pulse rifle sparking to life as he fired at a Vandal trying to sneak up on the Guardians when they were occupied. “Keep pushing!” He shouted into comms, running down the slope into the crater valley, his team following behind. Another Pike noticed his approach and slid towards him silently. Its nose sparked with blue light, and streaks of Arc energy shot out in a stream.

“Watch out!” Lisset shouted, and the Titan barely dodged out of the way as the flurry of incoming fire impacted in the valley wall behind where Basilisk had been standing.

“You weren’t kidding about the armed bit!” He shouted as the Pike blew past him. His pulse rifle flashed, but the rounds sparked against the lower hull to no effect. The Exo knew better than to try to fight a vehicle on its terms when on foot, but there wasn’t much he could really do in this situation. It was open terrain from here to their destination, and he could spy another two Pikes rushing forward.

Lisset’s mind was spinning as she tried to come up with a solution, any solution, to what was going on. They were trapped, and it was only a matter of time before they were picked off. The Paladins needed to get out of the damned crater and get to the Anchor of Light, keeping ahead of the Fallen. Her eyes tracked the Pikes as they moved, darting in and out of the Guardians’ formation, and a desperate idea formed in her mind. “I’ve got a plan, but you won’t like it.” She said, gritting her teeth.

“We’re kinda out of options!” Basilisk shouted back, frustrated. “What is it?”

“When a Pike makes a pass at you, kill the pilot and get on it.” There was a silence as Basilisk processed the idea. If it wasn’t for how bad things were getting, he might have said something to the effect of that is literally the worst idea ever, but desperate times called for equally desperate measures. The Titan said nothing as he readied himself for the next attack run.

He didn’t need to wait long. A Pike shot forward at him, its pilot fixated on running Basilisk down. At the last moment, the Exo stepped out of the way, and let his Light flow through his hand. He extended it, and the Dreg’s forehead smacked into the Titan’s extended arm. If he was a normal man, and wasn’t wearing a set of some of the most advanced combat armor in history, this impact might have ripped his arm from his socket. Instead, it sent him flying backward with the Pike, the Dreg at the helm disintegrated in a flash of blinding blue light. Rolling heels over head, the Exo came to a halt a few meters away from where he had been standing, lying on his back and covered in lunar dust.

“Basilisk!” Boudica shouted in horror.

“I’m okay!” The Exo replied, groaning as he got back up to his feet. His head was spinning, but he took small satisfaction in that the Pike was now sitting on its side, driverless. Lisset blew past him, and hopped onto it. “What are you doing?” He asked, dazed.

“I’m trying to get this damned-“ she kicked the side of the Pike hard in frustration as she punched buttons obscured from the Titan’s view-“thing working!” No one could hear the thing reactivate, but Lisset could feel it thrum and vibrate under her as it came to life. Smiling a toothy grin, the Hunter took the controls proper, and at a touch the Pike lifted off the ground.

Another Pike roared past her, its pilot watching in shock as the Guardian took command of his former comrades’ vehicle. Before he could escape, Lisset turned the nose of the Pike towards it and pushed a fob located on a handlebar. Her craft spat Arc fire, bolts of blue smacking into her target. The hostile Pike exploded violently, depositing the mangled body of its pilot into the ground unceremoniously.

“Get your Sparrows, and stay on my tail!” She shouted into comms. “We’re getting out of here!” None of the Guardians had actually checked to see if they had been connected to their ships, but without a word their Ghosts did the job. Basilisk found a Sparrow suddenly apparating under his legs, while Koga had his flash into existence next to him. The Warlock hopped on, and the speeder hummed to life at his touch. Lisset blew past them, made a wide circle around them, then shot towards their objective, her Pike climbing the rise out of the crater with fire streaming out of its engine. Basilisk followed behind as quick as he could, with Koga taking the rear. Streaks of Arc bolts passed behind them, but it was too little, too late. They left Archer’s Line behind in a rush, free to continue on their hunt for the missing Guardian.

<><><><><><><> 

            The next few minutes passed without much incident. The “Anchor of Light” was a unique name, Koga noted to himself, for what was effectively another section of the Golden Age colony now covered in dust. There was a Fallen presence, but it was minute, with most of their forces scrambling to catch up with the Paladins. Lisset had found the outpost that the missing Guardian had established in a taller structure, some circular observation post lifted a few meters off the ground and connected to a now-buried section of the facility. Dal had done his work, and had come up with yet another clue.

            It was hard not to get frustrated at this point. It was following breadcrumbs through a warzone, and even Basilisk was finding his patience tried. He was more than willing to go through hell to find a missing ally, but being two steps behind was starting to try him. As they brushed past a small Fallen patrol, the three of them moved past a broken cliff-side looking over a shattered horizon. “The Hive certainly are interesting landscapers.” Kita noted demurely.

            “A portent for what they will do to Earth.” Koga replied, grimacing. He did not like the ominous green light that shined dimly from the cracks in the surface. “I wonder how much of Luna is hollow.”

            “Too much.” His Ghost replied. “They could have thousands of soldiers hiding beneath us right now.” Koga didn’t want to think about it, but he knew that Kita was right. The real question was why the Hive hadn’t made their presence known. The Fallen seemed to exist practically uncontested in both Archer’s Line and the Anchor of Light. It was some kind of arrogance, the Darkness-worshipers simply finding the Fallen unworthy of their attention.

            The horizon was obscured by the start of another mountain, their path obstructed by a small cliff. The Guardians channeled their Light as they jumped over it, landing softly at the top. This area was separate, and it was hard to feel like it wasn’t intentionally so. As they walked, a slow slope down began, until finally a massive field was revealed, broken only by large rocks and a massive grey door at the end of the valley, sealed shut. Grey lanterns of obvious Hive design marked their approach, and Lisset could swear she could hear them hissing at her as she moved past-a physical impossibility, but she doubted the Hive cared about such trifling matters.

            “This must be it.” Dal grimly muttered. “The Temple of Crota.” It had been marked in the Guardians’ last report in the Anchor of Light, some Hive facility that he had been determined to investigate.

            “Keep your eyes up.” Basilisk said. “I don’t like this.” The trio moved down, one foot after the other, careful for any ambush, but none came: just an eerie, endless silence as they approached the closed entrance.

            It was Dal who noticed the prone figure lying before the door. “Up ahead!” He half-shouted in alarm. “Guardian down!” Lisset rushed forward, hurrying to the figure. She could feel a pit form in her stomach as she recognized the shining armor of a Titan buried slightly into the lunar dust. Dal flashed out of her armor, and quickly began to scan the fallen Guardian.

            “Set up a perimeter.” Basilisk said, taking a knee by the Hunter’s side. He eyed the massive door cautiously. “Dal?” He asked as the Ghost continued his work. He did not reply, his mind completely fixated on his work. The Titan simply gripped his pulse rifle tighter, his eyes darting around as he looked for threats.

            “There’s nothing left.” Dal muttered, his voice almost a whisper. “Not even the Light.” The Ghost floated up, his eye panning about. “Where’s his Ghost?” Lisset didn’t need to ask to know Dal was afraid. He rushed towards the grey door, peering at the massive round locks marked with arcane Hive runes.

            Koga stood behind them all, silently watching the drama unfold before him. Suddenly, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and an eerie feeling washed over him. It was that primal hunter’s instinct, one passed down through the millennia from the earliest days of humanity-he was being watched. The Warlock spun around to face the hill they had clambered down from, his weapon readying to face any target.

            There, standing on the ridgeline above, stood a figure. She was an Exo, her feminine form unmistakably synthetic, blue light shining from hidden mechanisms behind her metal face. She wore no helmet, nor any body armor that Koga could directly see, but she had a patched cape fluttering behind her, disturbed only by her movement. The Exo stared down at Koga, and only Koga, a strange looking bullpup rifle hanging from her hands. “Who?” Koga whispered, but before he could do anything, there was a sound like a clang that snapped Koga’s attention away. The circular locks on the Hive door glowed red and vanished, defying physics as they hissed and sizzled away despite the lunar silence. Dal hurried back to his Guardian, and vanished in a flash of blue light.

            “You may want to stand back.” Dal muttered, as the Paladins readied their weapons. Koga looked over his shoulder to look at the Exo stranger, but she was gone-the ridge empty. Gritting his teeth, the Warlock looked back at the gate as it slowly began to open, and skittering forms began to move for the door, hungry for more Light.

<><><><><><><> 

            The Thrall moved like a wave, screaming soundlessly in the dark as they rushed on, their claws glowing blue as arc energy stored at their tips. Behind them were the green eyes of the Acolytes, supporting with purple flashes of Shredder fire. Behind them all arced blue Boomer fire, splashing into the ground to produce showers of dirt. “Open fire!” Basilisk barked, before squeezing the trigger. The first clump of Thrall went down in fire, burning away in the face of the onslaught of ammunition. The second shared a similar fate, but a few managed to survive, and more in the third, and even more in the fourth. The Guardians backpedaled, switching to their other ordinance rather than take the time to reload, but they knew they were starting to run low.

            “We have to fall back!” Koga shouted as he lobbed a ball of void energy away from his hand like a grenade. It exploded in a pack, but faded quickly. His Light wasn’t yet strong enough to fire a Nova Bomb, something he silently cursed. It would have kept the beasts back, at least for another moment.

            “Just keep firing!” The Titan shouted, throwing a flashbang into the explosive mix. It went off with a blinding flash, and disintegrating Thrall corpses floated up before gently down again. “Does anyone have their Light ready?”

            “Not yet!” Lisset yelled, her machine gun chattering in her hands. Her scout rifle and shotgun were completely drained, and as three Thrall rushed her, she hadn’t the time to reload.

            “Well, let’s see how they handle raw firepower!” Basilisk roared, jumping up and away as he shouldered his rocket launcher. The weapon soundlessly fired, but a streak of red light flashed forward as the projectile made for its target. It exploded violently in the heart of the Hive horde, sending corpses flying. It was the break the Paladins needed. With the surviving Hive hurrying to reorganize their packs, the onslaught was put on pause. Quickly, the Guardians reloaded their equipment, readying for the next wave, but it never came. The Hive began to pull back inside the gate.

            “They’re running!” Lisset whooped, hurrying to her teammates’ sides.

            “They’re regrouping.” Basilisk replied, slapping a new magazine into his pulse rifle. “If we’re going to break them, it has to be now. We’re going in.” There was no time to have a discussion, and the others knew it. Moving as a wedge, the three hurried past the doors and into the Hive fortress beyond.

The architecture was expectedly alien, but unexpectedly grand. It was designed like some massive gothic cathedral, with high buttresses and grand staircases. The room glowed softly yellow, and behind grey columns and walls fired more Acolytes. Koga felt his Light move through him, and closed his eyes as he focused it into his hands. Jumping up, he projected the Nova Bomb forward, aiming it for where they were taking fire. The bomb arced up before drifting slowly down, exploding in purple fire behind the Hive’s cover. All too suddenly, the incoming fire stopped-the room was secure.

“Good shot.” Lisset complimented, smiling under her helmet. “Are we clear?”

“It is hard to say.” Koga muttered, breathing slowly as he felt his stamina slowly return. “There could be more ahead. Is there any sign of the Guardian’s Ghost?”

“I’m searching for that right now.” Kita muttered. “Aha! It’s in the room, up ahead.” Koga looked up, and on a platform above the rest of the room was an ominous grey spire stretching from its floor to the roof of the chamber.

“We have to hurry.” Boudica urged. “I can sense his Light fading fast.” Basilisk nodded, and let his Light warp the ground below him as he lifted off the ground. The others followed suit, touching down on the higher platform. Embedded into the spire now before them was a battered Ghost, embedded into the pylon and surrounded by spikes.

“There he is!” Basilisk shouted, stepping forward. He looked down as he felt his foot hit something liquid. Looking down, he stared into an odd black liquid that coated the floor. Quickly, he retrieved his boot, but before he could say a word something began to climb out of it. Like ooze came a pack of Thralls, and near the spire rose a Wizard, cackling in her arcane tongue as arc energy hissed in her hands.

“Watch out!” Koga shouted, slamming into Basilisk at a sprint to push him out of the way as the Wizard fired its arcane energy down at where he stood. Lisset flung a grenade its way, and the ordinance exploded into flashing arc light. The Wizard hissed, enraged, but its glowing red shields took the impact of the grenade well enough for it to back off, though the same couldn’t be said for its Thrall support.

Alone and surrounded, the Wizard waved its hand to produce a cloud of stinging black smoke, but this was a trick the trio had encountered before. They stayed back, well clear of the obscuring field of Darkness. The Guardians opened up, their rounds disintegrating into the weakening shield. A few seconds later, the straining shield broke, and rounds began to pierce through the Wizard’s ragged robes. It shrieked and screamed, breaking the silence of the Moon, as it burned away under the wall of ballistics fire.

Finally, the room was truly clear. Lisset hurried to the spire, Dal apparating before her as it began to scan the trapped Ghost. There was a long pause as Dal did his work. The Ghost in the pylon jittered, its eye flashing, and suddenly it broke free, floating up a few centimeters before disintegrating away into Light. “What happened?” The Hunter asked, confused. “Was it alive?”

“No.” Dal flashed back into her armor. “It was dead. It may have been dead for a while.”

“But we detected Light from it.” Koga asked, surprised.

“Dust and echoes, Warlock.” Dal said, slowly, angrily. “We were too late. There’s nothing left now but what I could pull from its recent memory.” There was a beep, and suddenly another voice entered comms, a halting, broken tone that belonged to the now-dead Ghost. The Guardians slacked their weapons as they listened to its last words, now echoing in their helmets.

“The Wizard is near. I feel her presence as a rip and a knot in the world. She tells me things that I immediately forget. I am too small to hold the vastness of them, or the terror.” The Ghost spoke, its voice faint. An echo indeed, Koga mused. “I am fading. I have no more that it can take. With my last light, I say to the City: War comes again from the Moon. This time, they want the Earth. Prepare.” The recording ended suddenly, and a dread silence fell upon the room. It was the Titan who broke the still, stepping towards the entrance they came from.

“Call your ships, Paladins.” The Exo said, grim. “We need to tell the Speaker.”