Destiny, Episode XIX: The Nexus Mind

Previous Episode: Episode XVIII: The Archive

Next Episode: Episode XX: The House of Winter

The Tower, the Last City, Earth

Day 043

The lights were dimmed in the Underwatch when Basilisk came down the steps. Ikora was waiting for him, as was Koga. Lisset was arriving right behind the Exo, hurrying to catch up to him. Ikora regarded them both quietly before returning her focus to the projected map of the Ishtar Sink hovering over the long table. A red symbol appeared to mar the blue hologram, an emblem of a strange-looking machine. Ikora pointed towards it as she spoke.

“That, Guardians, is Sekrion, the Nexus Mind.” The elder Warlock started, her voice cool and slow. “We’ve known about it for some time, but the information Warlock Koga recovered from the Ishtar’s Archive has given us a wealth of details that we lacked.” The map vanished, only to be replaced with the image of a sphere, hovering silently. Its surface was marred and glowing with an inner light. “During the Collapse, the Vex turned Mercury into a machine in days. They connected it to themselves, and now they control it completely. They intend to do the same to Venus.”

The image shifted again, back to the map as before. Ikora looked away from it to stare into the eyes of each and every Paladin in the room. “Sekrion is the architect of this plan, and if we are to prevent Venus from falling forever into the hands of the Vex, the Nexus Mind must be destroyed.”

“What kind of resistance will we be going up against?” Basilisk asked, wary. The message that had brought the Guardians to the briefing was marked as a Strike warning, and the Titan knew better than to walk into one of those blind.

“Primarily, you will be fighting the Vex.” Ikora replied. “Expect them to defend Sekrion fanatically – a Nexus Mind is vital to their plans, and they will throw some of their most armored units to counter your assault.”

“I assume that we’ll run into some Fallen along the way.” Lisset added. She gestured at the area tinged with red on the holographic map. “That whole area is deep in Winter territory.”

“The Fallen are ambitious, but they’re not suicidal.” Basilisk replied. “They’ll probably have some ancillary positions, but I doubt we’ll see any of them deep into Vex turf.”

“Regardless,” Ikora interrupted, sounding vaguely bemused, “you will be going where the Darkness is strongest.” The map faded away, and Ikora’s hands folded behind her back. “Go in the Traveler’s name, Paladins.”

“We will do the City proud, madam Ikora.” Koga replied, bowing respectfully to her superior. Ikora smiled thinly at the gesture, and the Guardians turned to walk away together, save for one. Koga remained behind, a dark look on his face. Ikora regarded him curiously, her eyes never wavering. “Before I go, I was hoping to-“

“-to talk about your question, yes.” Ikora finished for him. She sighed slightly, her shoulders drooping ever-so-slightly in a strange form of familiarity, or perhaps maternal concern. “It’s a question that I’ve been asked several times during my tenure as the Warlock Vanguard, and it’s a question I have no good answers for.” She paused for a moment, her mind turning. “Some believe that Guardians do not have free will, that we fight and kill because we have no choice. I would encourage them to study their history more – there have been a few in the Tower’s long history that have turned against the City and the Traveler.”

“Dredgen Yor.” Koga muttered. He had heard that particular sad tale. Ikora slowly nodded.

“Yes. I don’t believe that Guardians lack free will, but I recognize the same thing that you do – killing and fighting comes naturally to us.” Ikora’s voice echoed in the empty Underwatch. “In the end, your search for the truth will drive you, find for you the reason that you fight. But to me, I see it as thus – we fight because we know we have to, and we become comfortable with the uncomfortable because we always know, at the back of our mind, that no one else will.”

“Perhaps that is why the Ghosts chose us?” Koga posed, frowning. “And by extension, the Traveler itself?” Ikora smiled slightly, a thin sign of pride in her student.

“Perhaps, Warlock Koga.” She spoke softly. “Perhaps.”

<><><><><><><>

The landing zone the Guardians had selected was not the one they had been using the last few days. A beacon had been planted hours before the Strike orders had been given as part of pre-operation prep-work, and it would be where the Paladins would make land-fall. Specifically, it was in the same chamber of the Ishtar compound as the crashed Skiff, right in the middle of the war for Venus between the Fallen and the Vex.

Of course Basilisk was worried about anti-aircraft fire. The Fallen were certainly well armed and equipped, and he still had a painfully limited knowledge of what the Vex had up their robotic sleeves. To drop right into the middle of it seemed a tremendous risk, but a Strike was one of those situations where the reward matched the risk, and then some. He clenched his jaw as he took his Regulus down through the atmosphere and towards the surface of Venus, his hands gripping the jumpship’s controls tight in case he needed to make a split-second evasive maneuver.

He didn’t want to go up against the Vex again, not truly. Every time he waged war against the endless machine legion, he had to fight as something near lobotomized, sealing away his hate and his fear in equal measure in order for him to operate as optimally as possible. He had lost it in the Ishtar library, and he had managed to maintain control since, but that control came at a cost. Perhaps in time, the constant warfare would bring a familiarity, replace loathing with understanding of a foe, but there were no guarantees in this world. All Basilisk knew was that the Vex had killed him and his team, and he would tear their world asunder for it.

The cold rush of transmat shook the Titan back to reality, and when his vision returned he found himself standing on moss-covered stone, the monolithic rusted Skiff rising into the sky from where it had plowed into the ground. A few accompanying whooshes let him know that his team had deployed with them, loaded and ready for war.

“Boudica, give us a rundown.” Basilisk ordered, his voice even and low. His Ghost wasn’t fool enough to apparate before the fireteam in the middle of a warzone, and she wisely remained hidden inside of the Titan’s plate.

“As madam Ikora stated, our objective is the Vex Nexus Mind, Sekrion.” Boudica started. “All information states that it is a Hydra-class frame, complete with powerful cannons and a rotating shield that absorbs incoming shots.”

“Sounds like a pain.” Lisset noted, grimacing. Boudica paused for a moment to make sure all interruptions had passed before continuing.

“Sekrion’s location is in a Collective dig site, deep below where we are standing. The only real access point is through the campus itself, the same route the researchers dug out during the Golden Age.” Boudica spoke clearly, her voice echoing in the fireteam’s collective ears. “The Vex will become more prevalent the deeper we breach into their territory, but between here and there the House of Winter has moved in. I’m detecting multiple Servitors – we’ll want to destroy them before we continue.”

Basilisk picked up where the Ghost had left off. “Thanks for the intel, Boudica.” The Titan looked around at his team. “Alright, we know the score. We destroy Sekrion, we keep the planet from becoming some Vex abomination. There’s too much at stake here for us to screw up, so I’m expecting all of us to be at our best.” There was a long pause as the Guardians braced themselves for the fight to come, a pause broken by Basilisk flipping off the safety on his pulse rifle.

“Alright.” He growled, turning to face the battlefield ahead of him. “Let’s get to work.”

<><><><><><><>

The Fallen and Vex battling for the crashed Skiff posed little problem for the Paladins as they pushed out from their staging area. Koga could see the path that he and Shiro had taken to go to the Archive, devoid of the House of Winter’s presence. The Vanguard had been cycling scouts through that area often enough so that the Fallen had been unwilling to push in that direction anymore, but it was a temporary solution. Once the Cryptarchs had their fill, or if Winter made a major play in that direction, the Archive’s doors would be closed again using Rahool’s codes, sealing away the secrets until it is safe in the Ishtar Sink again.

Now, however, the fireteam was going somewhere else. It was another branching hallway, going into a different corner of the campus. The hallway was covered in vines, and plants that opened as the Guardians passed by them, but empty of hostile contact. That changed as soon as the room opened up to reveal what seemed to be a series of prefabricated offices. Structures, far less ornate and far more practical than the rest of the campus, dotted the area, the workplace for dozens of researchers. Now, however, the chairs were overturned and the computers destroyed or stolen. In their place stood Fallen, Captains and Vandals pacing slowly about as they patrolled their domain. They noticed the Paladins almost immediately, and greeted them with a wall of arc bolts.

The Guardians dodged out of the way, hurrying to find cover as they returned the favor. Basilisk’s pulse rifle was a steady roll of firepower, the firearm kicking against his shoulder over and over again. Its fusillade claimed a few kills, a Dreg here or there stumbling to the ground, but it did little to suppress the rest of the group. They were outgunned, as per usual, and they needed to turn the tables if they were going to survive.

Koga swapped from his hand cannon to his fusion rifle, his mind racing as his eyes darted about the room. There was plenty of low cover in the room, the cubicles acting as fairly decent concealment at the very least, but they would do little to stop a bolt of arc energy. The walkways between the rows made for predictable, but clear, avenues of attack, and if he were to follow one he would be funneled straight to the other side of the room. It would be the path the Fallen would expect him to take, and the one he would have to reject.

The Warlock let his Light flow through him, and he kicked off the ground hard. He glided up, carried forward by the momentum of the push and the Traveler’s energy flowing through him, over the top of his cover and above the unceasing barrage of incoming fire. Naturally, the sight of a Warlock floating off the ground quickly got the attention of the Fallen, but that was the point of the maneuver.

Basilisk was the first to understand what it was that Koga was doing, and he charged forward, his shotgun in hand. With all eyes on the Warlock, who was deftly avoiding all the attacks he could, the surging Titan was ignored until it was too late. By the time a Dreg pointed at Basilisk, the Exo had stuck his shotgun into the gut of a Reaver Captain and pulled the trigger. The shotgun did its dirty work, and suddenly the chain of command for this small group of Fallen was decapitated. Leaderless, they fell swiftly to the ruthless efficiency of Lisset’s shotgun, the heavy weapon booming at a lethal tempo.

The Servitors were smart. Whatever programming managed their behavior recognized that the situation they were in as “bad, becoming rapidly worse.” They weren’t about to leave, of course – abandoning a position this close to Vex territory was just asking for it to fall back into their mechanical hands. Instead, they did the next best thing.

The soft whoosh of transmat quickly became a roaring gust of wind as dozens of Vandals, all wearing the elite armor of Reavers, suddenly apparated into existence in the middle of the battleground. If Basilisk was one to let his jaw drop in exaggerated horror, it would have hit the floor. The Titan preferred to let his pulse rifle do the reacting for him. His rifle cracked a steady three-round burst as the Guardians found themselves in the middle of a pitched battle unlike the one they had encountered seconds before. The Reavers used mainly the solar shotgun weapons that Captains typically equipped themselves with, but on balconies across there area were sharp-eyed snipers with long arc rifles, just waiting for a mistake to be made. In the midst of them all floated out the Servitors, leading from inside the pack.

“I think we hit a nerve!” Koga joked, ducking back behind the cover he had jumped over moments before as a wave of incoming fire smacked into the metal plating. He could feel through his robes the object start to warm – if it didn’t crumble in the face of the endless barrage, it was liable to melt. Something needed to change.

“I can break their line, but I’m going you guys to push, and hard!” Basilisk shouted, letting arc energy flow over his armor exoskeleton like a sparking sheathe.

“Ready!” Lisset shouted, her shotgun gone in favor of a new Vanguard-issue machine gun. The Red River Mk. 40 was an intimidating piece of kit, and its box magazine was filled to the brim with ammunition that Dal had synthesized in the field. From where she had pushed to during her abortive assault, a small little niche against the edge of the room, she had a commanding view of the enemy position, but it would take someone removing the weight of suppression from her in order for the Hunter to return the favor.

Basilisk began to shout as fierce a battlecry as he could as he rounded the lip of his cover and lanced forward as fast as he could, his Light taking shot after shot as he sprinted to the foot of the massed Reavers. The Fallen must have realized what he was about to do, because they began to desperately scramble away, and the snipers began to fire blindly at the Titan, but it was too little, too late. Basilisk jumped up and brought his fists down, his charged Light flowing into the ground in a deadly wave of power. Reaver after Reaver disintegrated, and the first of three Servitors exploded into purple shards of tech.

Lisset jumped up from her cover and let the Red River get to work, the machine gun sounding something like rolling thunder as the heavy rounds made mincemeat of the Reavers. For all of their armor, it couldn’t stop every round, and there were few rounds larger and meaner than what came out of the barrel of a Vanguard-issue LMG. Koga ducked out of his own melting cover and sprinted to a new spot, his hand cannon barking as he fired up to suppress the snipers on the ledges. A lucky round found its target, and a Vandal fell from his perch, dead before he hit the floor.

Basilisk’s shock attack had done its job, and the remaining Reavers were in disarray. Years of experience took over, and the veteran raiders quickly formed a defensive line around the two remaining Servitors, determined to defend their lesser machine gods to the death. At this point, they were less interested in defeating the Guardians – escape and survival was now their priority.

More machine gun fire from Lisset raked the withdrawing Fallen, her targets slowly ducking inside the room’s substructures. One pack was unfortunate enough to have to cross more ground than another, and they were unceremoniously gunned down, the Servitor in the center of their formation collapsing to the ground in pieces. Now alone, the last Servitor began to fill the air with indecipherable mechanical grunts and growls, desperate commands to its underlings as the remaining Fallen awaited extraction via transmat.

“Don’t let them get away!” Basilisk yelled as he got behind cover, his mechanical body recovering quickly from the strain it had been put through a second before.

“I am on it.” Koga replied. From where he had moved, he could see a side door into the substructure the remaining Reavers and the last Servitor had retreated to. Moving in alone would be nigh suicidal, but he had little choice in the matter. A Fallen House relied on their Servitors to survive, and if the House of Winter was to be broken, then every one of the machines encountered had to be destroyed. The Warlock swapped to his fusion rifle, and readied a grenade in his hand, pulsating void power forming in his hand as he prepared to throw. Rushing up to the door, Koga lobbed the grenade through the door without looking, hoping that it would land close enough to the target. The axion grenade flashed, and its bolts lanced out to find their targets before exploding, consuming those unfortunate enough to be close in violet light.

As soon as he heard a bang, Koga rounded the door and charged his rifle. A Vandal jumped out at him, arc sabers in hand, only for the Warlock to jam the weapon in his chest and release the trigger. The Fallen assailant burned away as the void-powered weapon fired. His comrades were quick to realize what had happened, and hurried to swarm the lone Guardian before his teammates could arrive. Koga fought calmly, moving fluidly to avoid being hit as his Cantor fired again and again and again. A Reaver attempted to run him through from behind, only for the Warlock to jump over the attack and release a pulse of energy from the palm of his hand, throwing the Vandal to the ground dead.

The remaining Vandals pulled back from Koga, firing their Shrapnel Launchers at the Warlock in a desperate attempt to hold him back from his prey. Basilisk charged into the room without warning as Koga dove out of the way of the enemy’s fire, the Titan ignoring the barrage as he rushed towards the last Reavers. His shotgun boomed once, twice, three times, and suddenly only the Servitor remained, firing desperate bolts of void energy at Basilisk in a last-ditch attempt to evade the inevitable.

The Servitor fought in vain. The Titan pulled back a fist and clenched it tight before ramming it through the thin central plate of the machine. It attempted to disintegrate his arm with a final, defiant void blast, but the shot dispelled over the Exo’s Light barrier, useless. The running lights of the machine dimmed, then died, and the heavy machine fell to the ground with a clank. Basilisk pulled his hand back out and shook it, releasing the lock on his fist’s servos that allowed him to deliver such a blow.

“Impressive kill.” Koga said, pacing towards the Titan. He slotted in another battery cell for the Nox, which hummed eagerly in response.

“Thanks.” Basilisk said, turning to face his comrade. Lisset jogged into the room, her Red River still in hand. “Looks like we’re clear. Nice shooting, Set.”

“Thanks, Bas.” Lisset smiled under her helmet. She cocked her head at Koga. “Your handiwork, Koga?” The Warlock shook his head.

“The Reavers were mine, but Basilisk destroyed the Servitor.” He explained. “Punched right through the plate like it was nothing.”

“Hurt like a bastard to do.” The Exo added. “I’m going to need to tighten a few screws when we get back to the Tower.” There was a pause before he shrugged. “I’m kidding. Still hurt, though.”

“So, what now?” Koga asked.

“The way is clear.” Kita answered, still safely inside the Warlock’s armor. “We’re still a good way from the Nexus Mind, so we should probably get going.”

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want to keep the Vex death machine waiting.” Basilisk grumbled. “Boudica, where are we going next?”

“Pushing a marker to your HUDs now.” The Ghost replied curtly. “The path is above you, through one of the substructures. It will lead to the dig site where Sekrion is located.”

“Well, hopefully.” Koga noted as he moved to the door. “All of our intelligence on Sekrion is based off of centuries-old data mixed with scattered data readouts from our sensor stations across the Sink.” He shrugged. “There is the possibility that we will arrive on the scene only to find Sekrion is long gone.”

“We’ll deal with that if it happens.” Basilisk replied, following the Warlock close behind. The Titan took the lead and began moving towards a metal stairwell that led to another capsule-like room above the one they had been standing in moments before. The others followed close behind, and together they headed up the steps. From afar, they could hear the faint echoes of machines – the Vex were waiting for them ahead.

<><><><><><><>

The clustered office spaces of the floor below were notably absent in the latest set of chambers. These were lab facilities, no mistake about it. Devices and sensors of varying use and design were scattered on tables or knocked to the floor. In a glass canister floated a dismembered Goblin in a pale blue solution, long deactivated or destroyed by the Collective in their search for knowledge. Small comfort, Basilisk thought to himself – somehow, he doubted that the machine was as inactive as it seemed. Debris rounded the unit, as if it had been the subject of frantic – or perhaps even desperate – research.

The Vex made their presence known not far into the interior of the facility. Surprisingly, they were spaced out further than the Titan expected, a far cry from the close formations that they had kept in earlier engagements. He wasn’t altogether sure if this was because they simply were ill prepared to fight, or because they were learning. Basilisk had a sinking suspicion that the latter was true. Sure enough, the Goblins ceased whatever subroutines they had been acting upon and turned to face the incoming Guardians, unleashing a steady stream of solar fire.

The firefight was brief, but was as brutal as any close-quarters engagement could be. Shots were traded at ranges close enough for their targets to feel the heat. Fists and knives were as good as bullets at this range, and made their mark on the mechanical warriors. Lisset’s blade was not meant to cut through whatever alloy the Vex were made out of, but it was thin enough to poke through the little gaps in their armor, the gaps that hid servos and electronics vital to their existence. It was dangerous to do, and far less practical than Basilisk’s fist or Koga’s energy push, but at this range using a long-barreled shotgun would only get in the way.

The Paladins fought on, deeper and deeper into the Collective’s labs. The familiar, clean design of human construction began to give way more and more to pieces of grey Vex stone. Finally, they found themselves standing before a massive wall humming with hidden Vex power. The few drones left guarding it were quickly destroyed, leaving the fireteam alone in front of the monolithic structure. It was as grim as it was foreboding – here stood the edge of humanity’s grasp on Venus. Beyond it waited its true masters.

“Through here.” Lisset pointed at a small notch in the wall, a doorway that curved off to lead further in. “That must be the way.” She frowned as she stared at the entrance. Light splayed against the back wall seemed to dim as it exited view. “Looks like it’ll be getting dark from here on out.”

“I doubt the Vex need lights to see.” Koga noted. “I wish we could say the same.” He shrugged. “Our Ghosts will have to help.” No one wanted to mention how much of a target this made them, but the alternative of walking blindly through an unknown length dark cave possibly filled with Vex wasn’t much better.

Obligingly, the three’s Ghosts flashed into existence above their heads. They hovered low, ready to skirt behind their Guardian’s bodies in an instant. A Guardian going down was something that could be fixed, a moment of pain and they were pulled back from the jaws of death. A Ghost being destroyed was far more permanent – once one died, it never returned. They had learned that the hard way on Luna, so many weeks ago.

“I’ll take point.” Basilisk muttered, readying his shotgun. The others nodded and got out of his way as he moved forward, his eyes darting about underneath his heavy helm. Almost the moment he rounded the corner, the light dropped completely. The cave he was standing in was surprisingly natural, but absolutely devoid of any source of illumination. Boudica panned her flashlight about, searching for anything, but there were no Vex to be found. Instead, the beams flashed over bits of ancient yellow tape left behind by the Collective, and sparkled beautifully in gems embedding the cavern walls.

“Crystals?” Lisset breathed, surprised. Koga moved to one, Kita carefully avoiding shining his light on it directly in order to prevent a blinding reflection. The Warlock held out his free palm, and a wave of force energy broke the thing free, which he quickly caught before it could hit the floor. He held it up to his eyes, and then showed it to the Hunter beside him.

“Indeed.” Koga replied. “I do not recognize the type – sadly, it is outside of my field. Still, surprising beauty in such a stark place. I expected the Vex to have destroyed such places.”

“I’ll take this over more grey concrete.” Basilisk muttered under his breath. “Come on, let’s keep moving.”

The Paladins continued on in eerie silence, but eventually the darkness broke to reveal an opening leading out to a far lighter area. They passed through the exit, framed with more Vex grey, to see a vista that stretched on to the horizon. It was as beautiful as it was terrible – great columns of rock and crystals stretched from the ceiling to the floor so far away, but mired between it all was the ugly grey of Vex construction. It was a work in progress, still far from complete, but from here one could see the truth of the Vex’s work – this world was going to be theirs, a machine like them.

The sound of advancing Vex forced the Paladins’ attention away from the view. A small army of Goblins marched in lockstep towards them, bolts of solar fire arcing over the rounded head of the machine in front of the shooter and straight at the three Guardians.

“Hit them!” Basilisk shouted, raising his pulse rifle. On cue, Boudica flashed back into the Titan’s armor, as did Kita and Dal. The three opened fire, but their bullets did only so much against the wall of bronzed steel. With no cover, it quickly turned into a frantic shooting match, the two sides firing almost at point blank and having to use themselves as a shield.

Vex bolts splashed against their Light, so powerful that they could feel the heat, but nothing got through. The Goblins couldn’t say the same, the high caliber rounds punching through them, taking off arms and heads and breaking the glass containing the fluid that gave the frames life. All too quickly, the shooting stopped, and the Guardians were left standing, weary and beaten, but alive.

“Ammo?” Basilisk asked, taking a knee. There was no point pushing forward, not yet. There was an air of finality to the space – Sekrion lay ahead, he knew it in his mechanical soul.

“Green here, Bas.” Lisset replied, slapping the compact magazine tucked into the back of her scout rifle. The weapon rattled in a familiar sort of way.

“I am running low on hand cannon rounds.” Koga noted, concerned. “Fusion rifle is doing fine, though.” The Warlock spun the cylinder of his revolver, the gun clacking as it moved until it came to a halt.

Basilisk looked down at his pulse rifle, and grimaced. He’d been using all of his weapons, save for his rocket launcher, quite extensively. There wasn’t much left for the task at hand, and he doubted that the Nexus Mind would be anything near a push-over. He got back up to his feet. “Alright, I guess we’ll have to do with what we have.” The Exo said, looking over his shoulder back at his comrades. He turned to face them, his weapon hanging from his hands in a ready position.

“Alright, Sekrion can’t be far from here.” The Titan started. “We’ve dealt with these sorts of threats before, and we can deal with them again. Sepiks Prime and that Hive Abomination were both monsters that threatened the City, and Sekrion is no different. We will destroy it, and we will make it clear to the Vex that this isn’t their planet anymore. The owners are home, and we want it back.”

Koga cocked his head. “I did not figure you for a speeches sort of person, Bas.” The Warlock mused. The Titian scratched the back of his helmet awkwardly.

“A bit much?”

“No, it was an interesting change of pace.” Koga smiled thinly under his robes.

“Shall we?” Lisset teased, readying her rifle. Basilisk nodded before turning to leave.

“That we shall.” He muttered, bracing himself for the fight to come.

<><><><><><><>

The path led through one more cavern, and ended at the lip of a cliff leading down into a massive circular chamber. It was completely Vex, adorned in their usual bronze and grey motif. In the center was what looked like an arena, and it sparked and hummed with power. Hovering above it was a machine, a great mechanical beast that existed in pieces but still very much alive. “Sekrion.” Koga whispered, his eyes narrowing.

“Down we go.” Basilisk said, and then jumped. His stomach curled into a ball, an odd sensation given that he didn’t actually have one, as he plummeted to the ground. Before he hit the ground, the Titan channeled his Light beneath his feet, and suddenly his momentum slowed rapidly to a stop. He cut the Light away, and he fell the remaining feet until he hit the ground with a crunch. The others followed him down, landing as gracefully as they could given the distance and the sickening pull of gravity.

The synthesized roar of Minotaurs announced that the Vex had come to prevent the Guardians from succeeding, and from little sub-passages they came, heavy weapons blasting away. The Paladins fled to cover, returning fire where they could. The Minotaurs were heavy-hitters, and their shielding plus their armor made them striding tanks on the battlefield. Their ability to blink, as they demonstrated aggressively to the intense frustration of the three, made them only even more dangerous. The Paladins had to backpedal away from the encroaching Vex, one foot at a time moving them away from the monstrosities.

“Use grenades!” Lisset shouted, pulling out hers. She lobbed it at the war-machines, the ordinance splitting into a dozen sub-munitions that sought out their prey before exploding. A single Minotaur fell to the ground, lifeless, but its three comrades marched on unfazed. They continued their onslaught, their arm cannons booming over and over again as they closed in on their prey.

Basilisk swapped to his shotgun as one got close, and pulled the trigger only to see the war machine teleport away. The Titan rolled out of the way, a surprisingly easy feat thanks to the subtle work of the strength-enhancing armor, as it reappeared just behind where he had been standing. It swung its arms down in a heavy clubbing motion, just barely missing Basilisk by a span of inches. Getting to his knee and turning to face his assailant, he squeezed the trigger once again, this time to good effect. As he pumped another shell into the weapon, the Minotaur fell to the ground, junked.

Koga tackled the next one, his hand cannon roaring as he tried to keep away from the encroaching enemy. Most of his rounds fizzled uselessly in the face of the Minotaur’s shield, but as his last bullet impacted against the barrier, it faded before shattering into ephemeral wisps of broken power. It was a weakness that he needed to exploit, and quickly, before the barrier returned. Koga kicked off of his back foot, pulling his free hand back and channeling what energy he could. The Minotaur must have been processing what Koga was doing, because it did nothing to try to intercept him. The Warlock’s hand connected to the shockingly cold plate exterior of the machine, a chill that shocked him to the point where he nearly lost his control over the energy he had focused. Pushing through the surprise, he released the power he controlled at point blank range. There was a squeal of both bending metal and mechanical whining as the force unleashed punched straight through the Minotaur, leaving a clean hole right through its chest. Koga ended up falling on top of the destroyed machine with a whumph, the wind knocked out of him.

Lisset took the last one, and she stared it down with all the precision she could muster at this range. Her scout rifle peppered the hull of the war machine, rounds disintegrating in the face of its powerful barrier. Like Koga, it was her last few shots that broke its shield, and like Koga, she narrowed her eyes and braced to lunge at the Minotaur. The Vex had learned from what the Warlock had done, and the Minotaur’s three red eyes tracked the Hunter as she leaped, swinging its arm sideways to catch her mid-air. She closed her eyes, and felt everything go cold. The machine’s attack only passed through air, and with a whoosh Lisset reappeared, directly behind her assailant. Lisset turned about-face, her cloak lifting in the air as she moved, before raising her knife and plunging it into the softer rear plate. The blade punched through the bronzed metal, digging deep beneath. She twisted it as best as she could, and the Minotaur froze up before falling face-first to the ground, destroyed. The Hunter bent over and picked up her knife before sheathing it.

With the last Minotaur dealt with, the room fell unusually quiet. Even the ever-present humming of Vex power had ceased, as if it had retreated to plan. Somehow, the lack of noise was more unsettling to Basilisk then when it had never stopped. “Get ready.” The Titan muttered, slapping a new magazine into his rifle.

The din of Vex machines returned suddenly, and deafeningly so. The room began to glow softly blue as unseen power flooded through it. “What’s going on?” Lisset asked, startled.

“The Nexus!” Dal shouted. “It’s opening!” The Paladins turned to look at where the massive Vex machine had been floating, dissected, above the center of the room. Piece by piece, it fell gently to the ground, hovering feet above the floor as the parts came together. Sekrion, the Nexus Prime howled in simulacrum rage, and opened fire.

<><><><><><><>

The Guardians scattered as an unending wave of void bolts were launched their way, the ground erupting into purple flames as the energy rounds impacted. Sekrion continued to fire undeterred, unphased by its misses. Around it wrapped a slowly rotating white field, the energy shield that they had been warned about.

“Keep your heads down!” Basilisk shouted, diving down into one of the sub-chambers where the Minotaurs had advanced from just moments before. It wasn’t perfect cover, but it made it difficult enough for any of the Nexus Mind’s shots to hit him to work. The downside was that the reverse was true - Basilisk had no good shots at the machine lord either.

Shifting its attention, Sekrion opened fire on Lisset as she sprinted for better cover. The Hunter juked as best as she could, jumping and sliding through the onslaught as she made her way for a large pillar-like structure. Her shields strained to keep up with the barrage, and only found relief as she came to a stumbling halt behind the pillar. “Anyone got a plan?” She yelled over the cacophony of the battle.

“Shoot it?” Koga replied sarcastically. Basilisk hefted his rocket launcher to his shoulder, his robotic eyes narrowing.

“I’ve heard worse plans.” He muttered. Gripping the weapon tight, he rounded the lip of the entrance into his cover and lined up a shot straight at Sekrion’s form. Its shield was in the way, slowly rotating - if he could last just a few seconds, he would have the shot. Sekrion must have known this, because it immediately opened fire on the Titan, void blasts erupting all around the stalwart warrior of Light.

“Basilisk, we might want to move…” Boudica trailed off nervously.

“Not yet.” The Exo replied, clenching his jaw. “Just a second more…” The barrage continued, and he could feel his barrier of Light beginning to fail. It wouldn’t be much longer now until a shot got through, and he would be dead and awaiting his Ghost to revive him. The risk was great, but a explosives-heavy rocket would be their best chance at doing immediate damage to the rampaging machine.

At the very last second, Sekrion’s shield finally moved out of the way. “Now!” Basilisk shouted, pushing the rocket launcher’s fob. The launcher bucked as the ordinance screamed out of the tube like a bat out of hell. The Titan didn’t bother to see if the missile was on target or not, leaping out of the way and back into cover before Sekrion could deal a fatal blow. The others watched as the missile streaked towards Sekrion before smacking into its robotic frame with a cacophonous explosion. The machine staggered, and its floating shield sparked and faded… then returned.

“Damn, it’s not dead!” Lisset shouted as Sekrion roared, enraged. Dark clouds appeared across the chamber, the warning of imminent Vex.

“I’m detecting significant damage to the Nexus Mind.” Kita informed as his Guardian got into position to repel the incoming machines. “Another hit like that will destroy it.”

“Then we need to buy him time to make that shot.” Koga replied, gripping his Hoss tightly in hand. He rounded the edge of his cover and opened fire, unleashing cannon rounds into the newly-arrived army of Goblins. A sudden streak of red light warned the Warlock of a different threat - there were Hobgoblins hidden in alcoves above, just waiting for a Guardian to stick their head out. It had been a while since he had encountered one of the machines, but he remembered well how dangerous they could be. “Watch for snipers.” He warned over comms.

The warning came just in time. Suddenly aware of the threat, Lisset sprinted away from the block of cover she had been fighting from just as a Hobgoblin’s rifle bored a red hole into the wall where her head had been a millisecond before. The Hunter spun to face the marksman, her rifle cracking. The first round managed to hit, but the rest disintegrated in the face of the machine’s burning red shield as it locked its armor. Lisset had no time to wait for it to finish locking, so she lobbed a grenade up in its general direction and moved on, firing into the encroaching Vex horde.

Basilisk watched from cover as his teammates fought on, but his vigil was broken when a column of Goblins came marching down the steps before opening fire at the Titan. He spun to face them, letting arc flow through his body as he readied a Fist of Havoc. The Titan roared as he jumped up and brought his clenched fists down, unleashing his Light around him as he vented his suppressed rage.

Sekrion continued to call for reinforcements as it tried to suppress the Guardians, more dark clouds appearing. It became horribly apparent to Koga that they were running out of time - at this rate, the chamber would be flooded with the machines, and they would be overrun. The fight needed to end, and now.

“Hit Sekrion now!” The Warlock shouted, focusing his Light in his hand. Sekrion’s shield was facing the wrong direction, guarding against Lisset and Basilisk. The Nexus Mind itself focused on the lone Guardian, attempting to kill him before he could unleash his Nova Bomb.

It was too little, too late. Koga jumped out from his cover into the center of the room, his Light gliding him forward. Closing his eyes, Koga focused only on the energy in his hands and thrusted it forward. The Void Light explosive whistled as it hurtled towards its target before exploding violently against the machine’s chassis. Sekrion staggered again, and parts began to fall to the ground, destroyed by the blast. Its rotating shield flickered, faded, then vanished entirely. Sekrion remained, however, and howled in indignation and in imitation of pain, still intending to fight to the end.

Another roar came from the back of the room, and a missile streaked out from where Basilisk stood. There was a bright flash as the ordinance connected with the Nexus Mind, and the machine exploded, sending debris everywhere. The Vex in the room slumped to the ground, the system shock of what had happened frying them in an instant, leaving only the Guardians in the room. The hum of Vex power dimmed, then faded to nothingness. They had won.

Slowly, the three Paladins moved to the center of the room where what remained of the Nexus Mind sat lifeless on the floor. Basilisk glared down at the debris, some locked away part of his soul seething. Koga leaned down and picked up a small sparking piece before pocketing it in one of his many pouches.

Basilisk broke the silence that had fallen over the room. “Everyone okay?”

“I am fine.” Koga replied with a sigh.

“I’m good, Bas.” Lisset answered. She hefted her scout rifle over her shoulder, and with a clack it magnetically sealed itself to the back of her armor, allowing her to free her hands for the first time since she had left the Tower. “It’s quiet.” She muttered to no one in particular, staring up at the ceiling.

“As it should be.” Koga said. “Peace like this should be treasured - freedom from the Vex machines.”

“Freedom won’t come until the Vex are destroyed, Koga.” Basilisk’s voice was low. He had begun to release the restraints he had put on his mind, and emotions had started to flood his mind like a wave. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“No need to tell me twice.” Lisset said, shaking her head. As the cold of transmat took them, she stared out at the Vex domain and felt a pit begin to form in her stomach. How much else of Venus was like this? What else awaited beneath the surface? She had the awful feeling that it would only be a matter of time before she would have to find the answer to both questions.