Destiny, Episode XVIII: The Archive

Previous Episode: Episode XVII, The Ishtar Collective
Next Episode: Episode XIX, The Nexus Mind

The Ishtar Sink, Venus

Day 041

            Koga grimaced as he stepped foot on Venusian soil once more. It had been a few days since the firefight at the Collective’s outpost, but the Cryptarchy was still pouring through the data the Paladins had stolen from the Vex core. While Kita may have had a game plan to find and kill the Gate Lord, the Vanguard had ordered the Guardians to delay the mission until they were sure it wasn’t a trap.

            The brief respite had been appreciated, but even a Warlock got antsy if you made him sit on his hands for long enough. He had decided a few hours prior to arriving on Venus to go up to the Tower plaza and see what was going on. Almost as soon as he had arrived, Master Rahool had beckoned him over.

“What do you know about the Ishtar Collective?” Rahool had asked, not even attempting to look up from his tablet. Koga had replied honestly that they were a group of scientists and researchers that had come to Venus, though he didn’t know why. The Cryptarch had stopped at that, and lowered his pad so that he could stare the Warlock in the eyes before smiling thinly. “A simple mission,” Rahool had said, “just access a server and you’ll be back before you know it!”

Of course it wasn’t that simple, but it wasn’t like Koga could say “no” to the man who seemed to have the whole Tower in a vice.

And so, here he was in the Ishtar Sink, alone, his hand cannon at his side. He had been sent off so quickly that he hadn’t had the time to ask for the rest of his fireteam to come along. He could already feel eyes boring into his skull, hidden Fallen and Vex watching him from the shadows.

“Well, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we go home.” Kita muttered, displeased.

“I would rather someone else managed this.” Koga sighed. “I do not like our odds alone.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” A voice said from behind the Warlock. Startled, Koga spun to face the source, his Hoss being leveled as quickly as he could in order to be ready to fire. He found himself staring at an Exo wearing a tattered yellow cloak, a strange-looking pistol in his hands. The Hunter hadn’t raised his weapon to respond to the surprised Warlock at all, just holding it lightly in case a real threat came along. Heart pounding, cheeks burning in embarrassment, Koga slowly straightened his stance.

“I apologize, you caught me by surprise.” He apologized. The Hunter shrugged.

“It’s alright.” He replied. “You didn’t answer my question, though. I don’t recognize you, which means that you’re new. What are you doing alone on Venus?”

“The Cryptarch-“ Koga started, but the Hunter held up a hand, interrupting him.

“Yeah, I figured he’d do this.” The Hunter said, pacing towards the Warlock. He extended a hand, and Koga shook it. “Shiro-4, nice to meet you.”

“Koga.” The Warlock smiled under his robes. “It is good to meet you, Shiro.” Faintly, a memory floated to the top of his mind – he had heard this name before. He cocked his head to the side slightly, inquisitively. “I think we may have worked together before. Were you the Vanguard scout at the Cosmodrome when the Hive first appeared?” Shiro nodded slowly, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, I was.” The Hunter replied. “Why, were you there?”

“I was in the fireteam that breached into the Skywatch that night.”

“No kidding?” Shiro leaned on his back foot, crossing his arms. “You guys did a hell of a job, I’m not going to lie. That really could have gone south quickly.”

“I appreciate the compliment.” Koga said, holstering his hand cannon. “We work best together, I think.” Shiro shrugged.

“So, why’d the Cryptarch send you here?”

Koga frowned. “He sent me to secure an archive of some kind.” Shiro shook his head, muttering a curse. Koga stared at the veteran Hunter, caught aback. “Is there a problem with that?”

“Oh, it’s no problem.” Shiro said, his voice suddenly harsh. “No problem, except every server is in the middle of a warzone!” He shook his head. “So help me, when I get my hands on that blue-skinned son of a…” Shiro trailed off, his hands going to his hips. There was an awkward silence for a moment, only the whistle of the wind against wet rock breaking the still. He looked up at Koga, grimacing. “Alright, I’ll come with you.”

“You will?” Koga repeated, surprised. The Hunter nodded, and suddenly a Sparrow transmatted to his side. He clambered on to it, its engine howling to life. It took a second for things to click for Koga, and when it did he quickly transmatted his own vehicle down from the orbiting Arcadia. “Thank you, Shiro.” Koga said, his Sparrow lifting off the ground as he got on.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Shiro muttered, frowning under his Hunter’s helmet. “We still have to get through the House of Winter.”

<><><><><><><> 

            Koga trailed behind the elite scout, mirroring every move that Shiro made as carefully as he could. Shiro flew similarly to Lisset when she was in a good mood, making sharp turns at breakneck speeds. Unlike the far less experienced Hunter, Shiro kept his Sparrow as close to the walls of a space as possible, which lead to more white-knuckle riding that the Warlock was comfortable with. He didn’t know why – his running theory was that it was just how Hunters worked – until there was a terrific explosion off to his right in the center of the broken roadway. Shiro brought his Sparrow to a halt and pointed at the smoldering crater with two fingers.

            “Word to the wise,” Shiro started, “stay way from the middle of a road. It’s where the Fallen like hiding their mines.” Koga slowly nodded, and followed the Hunter as Shiro sped off again.

            Eventually the two dismounted at the entrance to the Ishtar Library, the same broken corridors and tunnels that Koga had traveled through five days before. There were more Fallen defending the entrance, but they did not last long. Shiro’s movements were practically a blur, his pistol snapping up from where he had holstered it on his hip and flashing to life. It fired in a rapid triple burst, streaks of blue light going from barrel to target. Anything unfortunate enough to be hit disintegrated in a spark of light as arc energy did its volatile work. Koga didn’t have the chance to fire a shot when the last Fallen burned away.

            “Woah.” Kita whispered, awestruck. Shiro turned back and waved his arm in the direction of the entrance, beckoning the Warlock to come closer.

            “So this is what a Guardian elite looks like.” Koga noted quietly. It was hard not to be impressed.

            Koga followed Shiro into the dimly lit blue tunnels, the Hunter’s sidearm at the ready. “So, how long has it been for you?” Shiro suddenly asked.

            “How long has what been for me?” Koga repeated, confused. Shiro kept moving, pacing carefully forward.

            “How long have you been a Guardian?”

            Koga frowned as he tried to remember. Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to think long before Kita answered for him.

            “Forty-one terrestrial days.” The Ghost replied. “In that time, we have fought the Fallen, the Hive, and the Vex.” Shiro shook his head.

            “Unbelievable.” He muttered disapprovingly. “You’re damn lucky to be alive going up against what you have.”

            “Is it unusual for this to happen?” Koga asked. The blue tunnel was beginning to climb upwards into the library, and already the Warlock could hear the sound of battle. The Vex were fighting the Fallen, but he couldn’t tell from here who was winning.

            “Unusual to send a bunch of newly-Risen Guardians into the fire?” Shiro repeated. “Yeah. You ought to be still doing training patrols with an older Guardian right about now. Why’d you skip it?” Koga shrugged.

            “I came to the Tower in a ship, and it had no NLS drive.” He replied. “The Vanguard put the three of us together into a fireteam, and we went back to the Cosmodrome.”

            “And killed an Archon in the process.” Kita added helpfully. That got Shiro’s attention. The Hunter stopped and spun on his heels to face Koga, surprised.

            “You killed an Archon?” He repeated, stunned. Koga wasn’t overly fond of Shiro’s implication. The Hunter scoffed, and shook his head. “Huh. I guess that explains what you’re doing out here.” Shiro turned back to face the exit out onto the library floor. “The Vex are trying to take the Collective, and Fallen aren’t letting them have it that easily. I’d rather not get caught in the middle.” He glanced over his shoulder to look at Koga. “Just stay right behind me, and we’ll be on the other side in a second.” The Warlock slowly nodded, and braced for the fight.

            Shiro took off running, his cape fluttering behind him as he ran up onto into the center of the warzone. Koga followed close behind, his hand cannon roaring as he fired poorly aimed pot shots at anything he saw. Most rounds missed, but one or two hit their mark to deadly effect.

The Vex dominated the ground floor, but the Fallen were firing down at them from the balconies above, Vandals firing their line rifles at the well-armored Minotaurs and Hobgoblins. To move right up the middle seemed like suicide, but Shiro rushed right into the thick of it without even saying a word.

            The Vex almost immediately recognized the presence of the Guardians, and turned to respond, but Shiro slipped between them like a breeze, flowing through bronze armor and angry red solar bolts as the Vex scrambled to acquire a target. Koga ran as fast as he could, barely keeping pace with the Hunter’s breakneck speed. A few glancing shots from a Minotaur’s heavy void cannon, and suddenly they were through, sprinting through a dilapidated corridor that Koga had never seen before.

Shiro came to a stop, slapping a new magazine into his sidearm. Koga caught up to him, panting as he caught his breath. “Holding up okay?” Shiro asked, looking back at the Warlock.

“Yes.” Koga replied quickly. He reloaded his hand cannon, readying himself for whatever waited ahead of them. “How much further to the Archive?” Shiro grimaced.

“Not too far, just a quick sprint past a downed Skiff.” The Hunter answered. “Just stick with me, and you’ll be fine. We’ll find that server of yours and then you’ll be able to go home.”

“Yeah, about that, Shiro…” Kita suddenly started slowly. “You keep saying ‘server.’ That’s not what we’re here for.” Shiro paused for a moment as realization dawned on him.

“Wait, you’re not talking about the Archive, are you?” He said with growing horror.

“Is there more than one?” Koga replied, somewhat confused. Shiro sighed slowly.

“No, no there isn’t.” The Hunter said. “There’s an Archive here that’s been locked off for centuries. The doors are reinforced so heavily that we haven’t been able to scratch them, and even the Fallen have been locked out. It’s a fool’s errand – no one has been in or out of the Archive since the Collapse.” Shiro pulled the slide back on his sidearm, gripping the weapon tight as he vented his frustration on his piece. “What does Rahool think he’s doing? It’s a waste of time.”

“That’s the thing.” Kita replied. “He gave us codes.” Shiro cocked his head at the Warlock, and the Ghost hidden in his robes.

“Codes?” He repeated. “You’re serious?” Koga nodded slowly, a few steps behind in the conversation. The Cryptarch had been more than a little vague in his briefing, and the twin facts of the Archive’s nature and the existence of codes to gain access had been ones never relayed to the Warlock. Quietly, Koga made a note to himself to speak to Kita about knowing when to and when not to hold back information.

Shiro shook his head in disbelief, his cloak rustling and unfurling as he moved. “Unbelievable.”

“You keep saying that word.” Kita noted.

“It’s a good word.” Shiro replied, shrugging. He looked at Koga, examining him again, trying to get the measure of the man he was going to be fighting alongside. “Just so you know, the instant we get inside, the Fallen are going to come right in after us. We’ll be fighting alone against Traveller-knows how many hostiles, and it won’t be easy transmatting away. Are you sure you’re up for this?”

Koga nodded, his hands wrapping tighter around his hand cannon. “I am not afraid of the Fallen, Shiro. That Archive could hold the answers to a thousand mysteries – I will not pass up this opportunity.”

Shiro smiled as well as an Exo could, a thin Hunter’s grin. “Well, you certainly sound like a Warlock.” He turned to face the way forward, his hands holding his custom sidearm in a ready position. One hand came off the gun, and waved in the direction forward like a knife before returning to its place. “Let’s get going then. We’ve got us an Archive to find.”

<><><><><><><> 

The crashed Skiff that Shiro had mentioned in passing was far more impressive than he had let on. It stuck out of the ground from where it had crashed so long ago, a gaping hole in the roof of the structure where it had punched through on its final flight. It was completely overgrown by vines and rusted over from constant exposure to Venus’ wet environment. What had happened to the pilots of the ship, or its passengers, was a mystery for the ages. Who would control the wreck now was a far easier question to answer in theory, and one being decided in practice, for the entire chamber surrounding it was a battleground.

The Fallen fought from improvised defensive positions, chattering to each other in their clicking alien tongue. Even after over a month of listening to it, Koga had little idea what any one sound or syllable meant.  The blue-draped Vandals and caped Captains watched their underlings fight and die as streaks of blue light mixed with red bolts of solar fire being launched from the guns of two dozen Goblins. The Vex approached with cold determination, phased not by the wall of incoming fire they were pacing steadily towards. Whenever a frame died, another took its place, reinforcements dropping into the fight from ever forming and breaking clouds in the back of the line.

“Looks like we’ve come at a good time.” Shiro said over comms. “The Vex are making a play to secure the area. It should keep the Fallen distracted for a while, at least until they drive the Vex back.”

“Why would the Vex retreat?” Koga asked.

The Hunter shrugged, unsure. “I don’t know. War of attrition? Maybe the Vex decide to shunt their resources somewhere else. No matter who wins the battle, the Vex are going to bleed the Fallen dry eventually.”

“Surely there’s not that many of them.” Kita said, somewhat nervously. “Right?” The lack of an answer from Shiro did little favors to both Koga and his Ghost’s nerves.

“Just stay with me, and we’ll be at the entrance to the Archive in no time.” With that, Shiro took off bolting, moving as fast as his legs could take him – which was quite damn fast, given that he wasn’t held back by biology. Koga did his best to keep pace, dodging errant fire directed his way as the battle raged off to their flanks.

Of course, two Guardians suddenly sprinting into the middle of a firefight was going to catch attention, and a series of barked commands came from the Fallen defensive lines. A Vandal and a dozen Dregs suddenly rushed from where they had been fighting the Vex to try to intercept Koga and Shiro. Unlike last time, the Warlock actually managed to get more shots off than the Hunter did, his Hoss kicking hard against his hand with every pull of the trigger.

The Vandal went down first, Koga’s shots well-aimed despite the circumstances. That moment of confusion and panic was all the Warlock needed to finish the job, his shots precise and landing perfectly through the skulls of the remaining Dregs. He reloaded on the move, hurrying to catch up with Shiro, who had already existed the large courtyard-like space and gone into another hallway leading deeper into the complex.

Killing seemed disturbingly easy to Koga now, something he hadn’t thought much about before. In the heat of a firefight, it was hard to wonder about why he was pulling the trigger, nor about how casually he seemed to take a life. Something about the way he had gunned down the entire Fallen team the way he did suddenly struck a chord with his conscience. As far as he could remember, he had never taken a life before he became a Guardian. Since he had, he had killed more than he cared to count. Why did it come so easily to him now?

It was something to think about later. Koga forced the discussion into the back of his mind, one of many things to look into in the future. Lisset or Basilisk would not be the ones to talk to about this – they were soldiers in their last life, warriors who were accustomed to battlefields and to the sacrifices, both physical and spiritual, that came with war. The Speaker would be the man to talk to, or Ikora. Either way, he would have to meet with them after he returned, once the mission was done and the data secure.

He caught up with Shiro at the exit of the hallway, leading into one final room. It was well lit, with signs that still flickered with life despite centuries of decay and lack of maintenance. Fallen prowled nervously inside, both on the ground floor and on a balcony that took up the right side of the space. At the end of the chamber, Koga could spy from where he was an ornate-looking Servitor guarded by what were obviously Reavers, though they bore the mark of the House of Winter rather than the Devils or Kings. It seemed that having an elite unit was something universal to the Fallen Houses. Behind them all was a large door, sealed tight and lit off-color yellow by an ancient lamp.

“That’s a lot of them.” Kita noted, rather unnecessarily. Shiro nodded, gesturing to the Servitor with a finger.

“That’s Simiks-3.” The Hunter spoke quietly, as if he was worried that the Fallen might hear him. “Winter’s Prime, Simiks, was destroyed a long time ago, and that Servitor over there was one of the few built by it before it was scrapped.”

“What makes it so special?” Koga asked, frowning. Aside from minor aesthetic differences to the shell, it looked no different to any other Servitor that he had fought before.

“It’s designed for data collection.” Shiro answered. “If its here, the Fallen really want to get inside the Archive.” He readied his sidearm, his knees bending to get ready to run. “If we’re getting inside, it has to die.”

“That can be arranged.” Koga muttered, trading his hand cannon for his fusion rifle. The two Guardians waited by the entrance for a second, scoping out the future battlefield for a moment longer, before both nodded to each other and hurried through the doorway.

The Fallen instantly noticed their arrival, and raised the alarm. Shouts, angry and loud, roared from the mouths of the sentries that had spotted Koga and Shiro. Simiks-3 growled commands in unintelligible machine-speak, and the Reavers hurried to shield their care with their bodies, their weapons spitting obsidian fire as they opened fire with their Shrapnel Launchers. Snipers on the balcony joined the chorus, their line rifles humming to life before unleashing their energy with a crack like thunder.

Koga and Shiro scrambled for cover as the arc onslaught began, focusing first on finding something heavy enough to take the brunt of the defensive fire over trying to keep the enemy’s heads down. Shiro found a rather bulky looking pillar to call his own, while Koga crouched behind a mostly-destroyed sign. He rolled around the lip of his cover and lined up a shot at the nearest Vandal he could see. The sniper must have realized what the Warlock was doing, because it was trying to get out of the way, but its reactions were far too slow – the Nox Cantor kicked against Koga’s shoulder as it unleashed a spread of void bolts, disintegrating the unfortunate Vandal in an instant the moment it connected.

The weight of the incoming fire suddenly shifted Koga’s way, his shot drawing the attention of just about every alien with a gun in the room. Even Simiks joined in, its mechanical roars announcing bolt after bolt of concentrated void power. The Warlock could feel his cover start to crumble piece by piece – it would be a matter of time before it was destroyed, leaving Koga exposed. “A little help?” Koga shouted into comms, bracing himself for whatever was to come next.

Shiro didn’t reply, at least not with words. His sidearm cracked lighning-fast, a triple-burst with every squeeze of the trigger coming so fast that the weapon seemed practically fully automatic. Dregs flashed out of existence as concentrated arc energy from the weapon connected to deadly effect, followed by a Vandal here or there. By the time Shiro had to reload, the remaining Fallen had shifted attention to the veteran Hunter, though there wasn’t much left at that point at all. Only the Reavers and Simiks were left, clearly aware of how desperate their situation had become.

“I have this.” Koga shouted, sprinting out of cover and letting his mind focus. He jumped up, letting his Light carry him up and forwards, and let the void energy form in his palm. He lunged his arm forward, and the Nova Bomb streaked outwards, whistling before it impacted straight into the purple hull of the revered Servitor. The explosion shook the ground, destroying Simiks instantly and blowing the Reavers defending it away. They collapsed to the ground on opposite ends of the room, dead. Weakly, Koga floated down, his stamina slowly returning to him. Shiro holstered his sidearm and paced out from the pillar he had been behind to meet with him at the foot of the Archive door.

Shiro gave a low, impressed, whistle. “Nice shot, Warlock.” He said. Koga straightened his posture, smiling thinly under his robes.

“Thanks.” The Warlock replied. “You made quick work of those Fallen. I have never seen a gun quite like yours.” He gestured towards the sidearm at Shiro’s hip. The Hunter looked down at it, and patted the weapon softly as if it were a pet dog.

“I call it ‘Trespasser.’” Shiro said. “It’s seen me through my time out here. It’s not failed me yet.” He looked up from the gun, his focus returning to the task at hand. “So, how do we get in?”

“That’s where I come in.” Kita said, fizzling into existence over Koga’s shoulder. The Ghost floated over to a panel, covered almost completely in vines, next to the door. He began to interact with the console, a web of energy emitting from his eye. “Radial A encryption.” Kita muttered to no one in particular. “They were serious about keeping people out. I should be through it in a second.”

There was a mechanical groan as ancient machinery slowly returned to life after centuries of sleep. Koga and Shiro took a cautious step back, unsure of what was about to happen. Slowly, the door began to slide open, inch-by-inch, until the passageway was open. As soon as there was a crack, a gust of air blew out from the Archive. The air was warm and stale, if Koga’s suit sensors were to be trusted, and carbon dioxide-rich. Like opening a tomb, Koga realized.

“After you.” Kita chirped, floating back to his Guardian before disappearing in a flash of light. Koga looked at Shiro, who returned the glance. Quietly, the two stepped through the door and into the unsettling silence beyond it.

<><><><><><><> 

The moniker “tomb” was an appropriate one. Not far from the doorway, just before a long twisting stairway that led into the depths of the Archive itself, were a half-dozen skeletons. The bleached white bones were lit by a cold wall-light, the corpses casting long shadows on the floor. The bodies were surprisingly intact; the bones left more or less in the position their owners had left them in. All but two were separate from each other – the exceptions were bound together in a lover’s embrace, a final act of intimacy before death took them.

“What happened here?” Koga asked, his voice restrained with quiet horror. Kita flashed back into reality, and hovered over to the macabre scene, examining the bodies silently.

“I can’t be sure, but it looks like these were all suicides.” The Ghost quietly relayed. “There’s no sign of them being killed by another party, and their positioning doesn’t match asphyxiation or starvation. They must have taken some kind of poison.”

“There was no way out.” Shiro spoke. “They locked themselves in during the Collapse, and realized no help was coming. It was either this-“ he gestured at the bodies on the floor “-or a slow death.”

“We should get moving.” Kita said, slowly floating back to Koga. The Warlock nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from the scene. There was a horror here that was beyond him, a terror lost to time. Perhaps below would be the answers to why they had been so afraid, and died so alone.

Carefully, the two Guardians made their way down the winding staircase, red lights illuminating the path ahead. Through one final chamber they went, and suddenly the space opened up into an almost cavernous room. There were two floors to the room, a balcony with catwalks running from one end to another, and great pillars stretched from the floor to the ceiling. An entire section of the room was dedicated to massive canisters that stretched well below the floor, a cold mist rising from their surface. From the ceiling, pale white lights came alive, illuminating the space in an eerie, cold glow.

“Incredible.” Kita said, floating over the Warlock’s shoulder. “The Archive’s power is still partially activated.”

“This is amazing.” Shiro sounded awestruck, and he had good reason to – to walk the halls of the Archive was to walk through a legend.

“Welcome, Doctor Shim.” An artificial female voice boomed from speakers hidden in the ceiling. The Guardians stopped in their tracks, the sound catching them off-guard. “Please enter your security clearance code.” Koga looked over his shoulder at Kita, who looked back at him.

“Doctor Shim?” Kita repeated, surprised. “There must be a VI on site. Not something smart enough to realize it’s been centuries.”

“Do you have that code?” Koga asked.

“The Cryptarch gave me several, I’m assuming the one I haven’t used yet is what the Archive is looking for.” The Ghost replied. “I’ve detected a terminal, let’s go access it.” On the Warlock’s HUD, a diamond appeared ahead. Koga nodded, and moved slowly forward, Shiro walking behind him by a few paces.

“Be quick.” Shiro said. “It’s only a matter of time before the Fallen come looking for us.”

Koga moved at a jog towards the objective, taking in the sights and sounds of the chamber. It was a fantastic place, a testament to the resources of the Golden Age, far more advanced than anything he had seen in the Cosmodrome. Old Russia, by comparison, seemed decades behind what the Collective had at their disposal during both of their hey-days.

“This place is amazing.” Kita muttered, awestruck. “It’s bigger than the archives at Old Accra.”

“Accra?” Koga repeated.

“On Earth.” The Ghost answered. “I wasn’t there when it was found, but it was a major discovery at the time. Nothing like this, though. Not even close.”

The echo of their footsteps against the hard steel floor was the only sound in the chamber, save for the quiet humming of electronics and the faint hissing of the evaporating nitrogen. Eventually, the Guardians walked up a small set of stairs leading to a central computer pylon ringed with computer terminals. Kita hovered towards the nearest one, and began to interact with it in his usual manner. The terminal’s screen came to life, and it began to display a rush of information too fast for the mind to process. Only the Ghost was capable of keeping up with the stream.

“Thank you, Doctor Shim.” The virtual intelligence spoke again, its synthetic female voice stern but familiar. It had been designed to be a companion to the scientists, and evidently not an intelligent one – a proper AI would have noticed immediately that, within all likelihood, Dr. Shim had been dead for centuries. It was entirely possible that one of the scattered skeletons a floor above belonged to him.

“So polite.” Kita said, beamused. “Well, let’s see what they-“ He stopped mid-sentence when the terminal suddenly shut down. The lights flickered, and then turned off, leaving Koga and Shiro alone in the now pitch-black chamber. Kita floated to his keep’s shoulder, and projected a beam of light from his eye.

“What happened?” Koga asked, surprised. Shiro’s Ghost did not come out to aid the Hunter’s vision, mainly because it didn’t need to. The Exo could see well enough in the dark, and he turned to look at Koga.

“The Fallen are here, they must have a Servitor feeding off of the power.” He answered, readying Trespasser. The sidearm hummed softly as power coursed through it beneath the casing. In the distance, Koga could make out a faint purple aura of energy, the sign of one of the Fallen machines prowling about. That was the only thing he could see, however – the Fallen were likely cloaked, and rushing forward to attack the Guardians before their presence was revealed.

“That Servitor needs to go if I’m going to get the rest of the data.” Kita noted. Koga nodded, and readied his hand cannon. He glanced over at Shiro, who glanced back. Wordlessly, the two moved cautiously forward, weapons at the ready. A Vandal could be hiding in any corner, waiting on any ledge. Vaguely, Koga remembered a bit of advice his Ghost had given him when he had fled through the dark corridors of the Cosmodrome wall: Fallen thrive in the dark.

“On your left!” Kita shouted. Koga spun to face the direction, his eyes only just now noticing the faint signature on the motion tracker of a cloaked Fallen. The Vandal knew that his cover was blown, and it jumped from where it had been hiding at Shiro. Its cloaking device failed as the alien lunged at the Hunter, but at this point it didn’t matter. The Vandal readied a sword to impale Shiro, who was moving to dodge out of the way of the arc saber. Koga whipped his Hoss around and pulled the trigger, the hand cannon kicking against his palm like a mule as it fired. The Vandal’s fall continued as the round punched straight through its armor, collapsing on the ground in a heap.

“Thanks.” Shiro mumbled, sounding vaguely embarrassed with himself. It did no favors to a man’s ego to be saved by someone decades their younger. Eager to strut his stuff, Shiro darted forward, his Trespasser firing streaks of blue energy into the dark. Koga didn’t see the Hunter’s targets until after they were being burned out of existence by the arc, a pack of cloaked Vandals that only the Exo could in the dim lighting.

Enraged, the Servitor came out of hiding, firing blasts of void energy in the direction of Shiro. The Hunter dodged out of the way deftly, his sidearm chattering as he fired on the move. The Servitor took almost the entire magazine to the eye, and exploded unceremoniously as the rounds penetrated through the thing’s armor. Behind where it had died, a panel sparked and flashed with unstable charge, the source of the tap. Kita floated towards it, and almost immediately Koga could see the Ghost begin a complicated series of transmats and energy transfers in order to get crossed wires back into place and power flowing properly again. After a few seconds, the lights returned with a flash.

“Doctor Shim, intruders detected!” The synthetic voice announced in alarm, completely unaware of the fact that minutes had passed between when the Fallen had entered the chamber and now. “Initiate Protocol Nineteen!” Koga grimaced at that – no doubt, the protocol was a data-wipe procedure in order to keep any invader from learning the secrets of Golden Age humanity. Given that a stream of data had appeared at the terminal earlier, it seemed to the Warlock that the last survivors of the Collective had opted execute it.

“We’re not done yet.” Shiro said sternly. “We haven’t killed the Captain leading the attack.” He slapped a new magazine into his sidearm, and pulled back the slide. “Captain, or Baron. We’ll see.”

A howl echoed from the back of the room, in the direction of the terminal the Guardians had accessed earlier. Despite himself, a chill ran down the Warlock’s spine at the sound – as far as battle cries went, the Fallen ranked fairly highly.

Koga and Shiro ran back the way they came, weapons at the ready, but the Fallen did not rush out to meet them. They were content to dig in and wait for them to arrive, taking full advantage of the pillars and walls to use as cover. Whether or not that would be enough to stop a single Guardian, let alone two, was a question that the Fallen did not seem to have asked. They were determined to hold onto their would-be prize, even if it was a suicide mission.

As soon as the two got close, they began to take withering fire from the defending Fallen, a wave of arc bolts streaming from a dozen Dregs and their Vandal lieutenants. Behind them all was a burly-looking alien, draped in comparatively extravagant cloths and holding a Shrapnel Launcher loosely in his upper arms, his lower hands holding two arc daggers that sparked with pure energy. It was a Baron, unmistakably, and the imposing raid-leader shouted his commands to his underlings.

As Koga and Shiro tried to find cover, the Dregs ceased firing their pistols and began lobbing shock grenades towards them. They were trying to draw them out of cover, into a hastily-created killing field maintained by the Vandals and the Baron. Thankfully, most missed their marks, landing on different sides of the crates and equipment that the twin Guardians were using for cover. The ones that did flashed before exploding, the unleashed energy washing over their Light like a wave. It stung slightly, but the power didn’t make it through their shields, a relief. No one wanted to go down, not in the middle of a firefight like this.

“We can’t stay here!” Shiro shouted the obvious. “Do you have a Nova Bomb ready?” Koga closed his eyes and tried to focus his Light. Energy pulsed in his hands before fading. He opened his eyes again and shook his head.

“Not yet.” The Warlock replied. “I need more time to focus the energy.” Shiro smirked underneath his helmet.

“Don’t worry, us Hunters are used to carrying your kind.” Shiro raised his hand into the air, and in his hand materialized a gun made of starlight that burned as brightly as the sun. The Golden Gun shined intensely, and Shiro brought his forged Light down into a ready stance, flames licking his wrists. He rounded the corner, and pulled the trigger. The Gun roared like someone had split the world, and a streak of pure solar energy streaked straight from its “barrel” into the body of a Vandal. The Vandal burned away to ash in an instant, one second there and gone the next. Before any other Fallen could react, the Gun cracked twice more, and two more Vandals fell, leaving only the Dregs and the Baron.

It took a brief moment for the Fallen to recognize what had just happen, and they reacted with stark terror as they realized that three of their comrades had ceased to exist in the flash of blinding Light. The Dregs scrambled away from their positions, suddenly exposing themselves to Koga and his hand cannon. As Shiro got back behind cover, recovering from the sudden drain of Light he had committed himself to, the Warlock’s hand cannon barked over and over again as he gunned down the fleeing Dregs. The few that survived were in full retreat, leaving only the confused and bewildered Baron. That Baron roared in defiance at the overwhelming power of the Guardians before he was gunned down unceremoniously by Shiro’s Trespasser, the Hunter grinning through shallow breaths.

There was a silence as the remaining Fallen retreated the way they came, evacuating via transmat in order to leave as quickly as they could. The silence continued for a minute, then two, until finally Shiro broke it. “We’re clear.” The Hunter said, holstering his Trespasser with a flourish. Koga did the same, fitting it into the holster he had against the back of his waist.

“Good work.” Koga commended, bowing his head slightly in respect.

“You didn’t do half bad yourself, Warlock.” He replied, in that swarthy half-compliment way of the Hunters. Kita flashed back into reality, apparating outside of Koga’s armor where he had been hiding since the Baron had arrived.

“I’m going to finish the tap.” The Ghost informed, floating over to the terminal. Koga paced behind him, glancing down in order to not pace through the Dreg corpses or the ashes of Shiro’s kills. Kita immediately continued his earlier tap, and the terminal screen once more flickered to life before resuming its rapid stream of data. A few seconds passed as the Ghost concluded his work, before suddenly stopping the stream. Kita floated back to Koga, his movements happy and quick.

“This archive is amazing!” Kita said, elated. “There’s so much stored here! Pathways to other galaxies, mappings of a Vex underworld, and a whole list of information about ‘the Vault of Glass’!” Shiro stopped dead in his tracks.

“The Vault?” The Hunter said, stunned. “There’s information on the Vault?” The Ghost nodded at him.

“It’s incomplete, but there’s a significant amount of data.” He replied. Kita turned to look back at his keep. “We need to get this information back to the Cryptarch. I’ll go ahead and let him know we found it.” The Ghost vanished into the Warlock’s armor, leaving Shiro and Koga alone in the room. Shiro paced over to the younger Guardian and patted him on the shoulder.

“Well, looks like this is where we part ways.” The Hunter said. “Happy trails, Warlock.”

“Good luck to you, Hunter.” Koga replied, smiling and bowing softly. Shiro chuckled before disappearing into the mist of transmat. A few seconds later, Koga vanished as well, leaving the Archive alone as it had been before. The VI remained silent, still operating as if everything was normal. As far as the programming was concerned, it was still the Golden Age, and the Ishtar Collective was rolling back the curtain of mystery on the universe around them all.

Perhaps it would watch life return to the Archive once more.