Author's Note: So, for those of you following my other two fanfics, yes this is another one, but I intend to keep this one short…ish? I just recently got a job, and with all that time I have being bored, I decided to resurrect an idea I had for Destiny 1 and remodel it for Destiny 2. Also, I will again be taking liberties with the presented Destiny material; for example, the fact the LMGs decided to magically disappear after Destiny 1 will not be a thing. So, if you have ideas for some cool exotic LMGs in a Destiny 2 setting, lemme know. And for those readers who have read From Domination to Genocide V2 and the Unbranded, you guys have probably figured out that I take my writing somewhat seriously. That will not be the case here…for the most part. This one is a fanfic I want to make somewhat outlandish while keeping it mildly grounded. For example, I may or may not (ALREADY HAVE) write a chapter where the main character blows up a Cabal firebase while he's dancing and singing a song and transmitting the entire event to all of Mars. I may also (ALREADY PLANNED IT) may have a friendly Fallen faction in the story; because hey, if there are some Fallen saying "F**k the Traveler, let's do our own thing!" (I.E the Devil Splicers and the future Scorn), then why can't there be a Fallen house that says "Ya know, if the Traveler chose humanity, shouldn't we be helping them?" If you have issues with that, go ahead and tell me I'm wrong, but I will not listen. I am going to enjoy writing this as much as I can. And so I say the same thing to you guys: Enjoy!
Mars
Freehold Station
Freehold Station had seen far, far, far better days. In its heyday, it had seen millions come and go through the station, a representation of the Golden Age brought by the Traveler. Now, it was a shell of its former self; a gaunt corpse of something that was once filled with life. Some visage of its past had been returned thanks to the Guardians of the City and their actions against the Vex, Taken, Fallen, and Cabal. Portions of the city that were once buried beneath the red sands were now free from their grasp and laid bare for all to see. And Ghosts that once wandered in search of their lost treasure now found what they had sought for so long.
One such Ghost wandered through the ruins of an old housing complex near the center of the station, sand covering much of the floor and spilling out into the hallway. Mixed in with the sand were various items, furniture, and the bones of the long dead denizens of Freehold Station. The Ghost scanned each and everyone of these skeletons, hoping to find what it had been searching for since its creation. For the second time. It came to the end of the hall, to one last skeleton, slumped against the wall, an empty rifle next to it. The Ghost sighed audibly as it scanned the skeleton briefly and began to turn away. And then it felt something…something he hadn't felt since he had found his first. He scanned the skeleton again and found what he was looking for: a spark of Light.
"Finally." The Ghost's body expanded, the triangular parts separating and spreading wide. Then, they snapped abruptly together in a flash of light as life was restored to the skeleton. First came the internal organs, then came the skin, and then the Ghost fashioned for it armor. The skeleton was a he and a Titan; a hammer and a wall. The walls of Freehold Station were sturdy things; made to keep out the elements of Mars and to protect those that dwelt within them from the raging sandstorms of the red planet. Once it was all done, the Ghost hovered, waiting, anxious to meet its new Guardian. The Titan stirred sluggishly as he awakened from his long slumber. He brought a hand up to his face, staring at it in disbelief. He made a tight fist, his arm shaking with the force with which he wielded, and he gasped in shock.
"Hello, Guardian." The Ghost greeted. The Titan lowered its fist and stared at the small Ghost, again in disbelief.
"Uh…hi…little floating…thing. How are you?" The Titan responded. Ghost chuckled at the Titan's awkwardness. He hadn't laughed in a long time.
"I am quite well. How do you feel?" Ghost answered.
"I'm kinda confused, to be honest. People told me that Heaven was white with gold streets, and uh…it looks like I've woken up in a crappy DOOM reboot." The Titan answered, looking around. "It even looks like Hell has been in here, and it hates the maintenance crews."
"I'm sorry, but this is Freehold Station, not Heaven." Ghost answered. The Titan nodded as he leaned forward from his spot on the wall.
"So… I did die before." He said solemnly.
"You remember?" Ghost asked in surprise.
"I remember getting hit in the chest by something…but I don't remember what it was that shot me." The Titan replied, standing, taking the rifle without even thinking about it. "Did you make this armor? I wasn't wearing it before…was I?"
"No, I made that out of the walls." Ghost answered, floating to the Titan's shoulder.
"Good choice." The Titan said, beginning to walk out of the hallway. He surveyed the other skeletons on the ground as he moved, mesmerized by the scene. "Why me? Why not them?"
"They didn't have what you did; a spark of Light." Ghost said. The Titan grunted as he made his way out, stepping into a sort of lobby with a sagging balcony on one side. He stepped on to it and looked out at Freehold Station.
"How long has it been?"
"I don't know…but the past does not matter now." Ghost floated in front of the Titan. "What matters now is your new life as a Guardian." Before either of them could speak again, they both shuddered. The Titan felt nauseous while Ghost deactivated and fell to the ground with a clunk. The Titan fell to his knees and the balcony groaned; sagging further, causing Ghost to begin to slide off. The Titan leaned forward. collapsing onto the falling balcony, grabbing Ghost with one hand as the balcony broke and fell with him on it. The last thing the Titan thought before hitting the ground was how funny it was that he was brought back to life, only to die because of a tummy ache and shoddy construction work.
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Ghost reactivated, slowly. Its diagnostic confirmed its fears: the Light was gone. Something had happened that had shut it off; like a running tap being abruptly cut by the turn of a faucet. And then he remembered the Titan. Ghost's eye flicked about frantically but found only darkness. He pushed his way out and realized that the darkness had been caused by the Titan's fists around him.
"No…no, no, no, no, no!" Ghost exclaimed. He quickly scanned the Titan and was relieved to find that he still lived; the tough Martian armor taking the brunt of the fall. Ghost quickly used his abilities to heal the Titan, which was about the extent of what he could do now. The Titan awoke and coughed loudly.
"Am I in Heaven this time?" He asked weakly. Ghost chuckled again.
"You didn't die this time, Guardian." He said. "I just healed your wounds and woke you up."
"Ah, nice, that's a thing." The Titan stood and found his rifle again, picking it up. "What the hell just happened?"
"The Light…it's gone." Ghost answered gravely.
"And that is?"
"It's what every Guardian has; something that gives you strength and abilities and allows me to bring you back if you were to die."
"So you're saying that if I died before this 'Light' turned off, you could've brought me back again?"
"Yes."
"Dude, you have the worst timing." The Titan shook his head and chuckled a bit as something rumbled overhead. A rectangular craft with two large jet engines lumbered through the skyscrapers of Freehold Station, a spotlight flicking about on its underside. It was nighttime now, the pair realized as they watched the ship, which was followed by a pair of similar, though smaller, ships.
"That's a Cabal Harvester and Threshers! We need to find cover!" Ghost exclaimed. The Titan turned to an alley and started running as Ghost disappeared. "I'm still with you."
"Some ammo would be useful as well." The Titan said. He then felt his belt get heavier as ammo magically appeared in its pouches. "Well damn." He turned a corner, dug in some sand, and opened a hatch that was unearthed by his efforts. The basement he entered was remarkably untouched by Martian sand for the most part, with a thin layer of red covering the floor.
"How do you remember this?" Ghost asked, reappearing beside the Titan. The Titan went to a wall and wiped a thick covering of dust of a picture frame. On it were three friends, all grinning in military uniforms, holding bottles of something. The Titan took his helmet off, revealing a wide, happy face with a large forehead and sandy hair. It matched the shortest one in the picture. "Oh."
"This was my place; a little nook to live in." The Titan explained. "Though… everything that happened here is jumbled; memories mixing with others. It feels like someone decided to make scrambled eggs with my brain."
"Like an Exo after a few reboots." Ghost said, comparing the Titan's memory to that of an Exo's mind after it had gone through the rebooting process. The Titan shrugged. "So…do you remember your name?" Silence.
"Ald….my name is Ald." The Titan answered. "And what is yours?"
"I'm just Ghost." Ghost answered.
"No, no, no, you're gonna have a name. I'm not going to walk around calling you Ghost all the time." Ald thought for a moment. "How about Jax?" Ghost thought for a moment.
"That could work." Ald nodded, smiling.
"Now, here's a good question: Do I still need to eat as a Guardian? Cause I knew a reaaally good Italian place across the way that had supplies that lasted for years!"
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Dominus Ghaul tapped his fingers impatiently as he awaited the connection to Mars. His conquest of the solar system had taken little time; now all that remained was to take the Light for his own, position the Almighty, and eradicate the last of the pesky Guardians. This…Speaker was being resistant to his queries; an irritant, nothing more but still a hindrance. While Ghaul's focus had been Earth and the Traveler, he had dispatched several Primus' to the Moon, Venus, and Mars to eliminate the Guardian presence there. He had left the Hive Dreadnaught in Saturn's rings well alone; the Skyburners had taught him that lesson. Now, he awaited the final status update from Primus Traskt, one of his younger, more hotheaded and ambitious commanders. A beeping from the communications console alerted him to Traskt's call.
"You are late, Primus Traskt." Ghaul scolded as Traskt came into view.
"My apologies, Dominus, the situation on Mars is more chaotic than anticipated. It took longer to reorganize the scattered legionaries than planned." Traskt reported apologetically, bowing. "But my task is complete; all legions have been reorganized under the Red Legion's banner. The Guardians on Mars are being hunted down as we speak, and efforts are being made to push back the machine Vex on all fronts."
"Excellent; continue to hold Mars until we have extracted the Light from the Traveler. Once it has been accomplished, I will send for you." Ghaul said and cut the call. He had faith that Traskt would do his duty. After all, a huntsman's favorite pastime is to track…exceptional prey.
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Ghost, or Jax as Ald now called him, watched as the Titan scrounged through the ancient eatery. Ald had the physical energy of a teenager, the emotional toughness of a soldier, and the mental agility of someone who had lived a life of escaping tough situations. For a Titan, he was abnormal…much like Jax's last Guardian. The Ghost pushed the memories of his past aside as Ald shoved several food items into a pack and stood.
"Now there's one more thing that the old man had. I doubt the thing still works." He said, walking over to what was once a bar and rummaging underneath.
"Is this really the time for alcohol?" Jax asked, floating over.
"If I was a drinking man, yes, but that's not what I'm looking for…Ah-ha!" From underneath the bar Ald pulled a very, very ancient weapon.
"What is that?" Jax asked, inspecting the weapon.
"Would you believe me if I told you this was from the twentieth century?" Ald answered. "Well, technically it is; the family that…unofficially owned the weapon kept updating the damn thing."
"Unofficially owned it?" Jax asked.
"The gun should've gone back to the government at the war's end, but they smuggled the gun home." Ald explained. "It's a Browning Automatic Rifle, aka the BAR gun, also known to me as the BARman." Jax stared blankly at Ald. "That's…that's a, uh…a pun…you're supposed to laugh."
"What?" Suddenly there was a crash, forcing Jax and Ald down behind the bar. Something began to slowly stalk into the bar as Ald drew his rifle. Jax floated up slightly to see an odd dog-looking thing move slowly into the bar. "There's only one, take it, quietly." Ald nodded, reached up with his rifle, and nudged an ancient bottle off the bar. If shattered into dozens of pieces, drawing the attention of the dog, who scampered over to the sound. As it came to a stop, Ald lunged, wrapping his arms around its neck and twisting as hard as it could. There was a crack and then a small pop as the dog's head came off in Ald's arms.
"Uhh…I didn't mean to do that second part!" He said, somewhat anxiously as he flexed his arms, looking at them in bewilderment.
"You're a Titan; your strength comes naturally to you." Jax said.
"Ya know, you've never told me what exactly a Guardian is, or what a Titan is either." Ald said, standing and grabbing the BARman.
"Let's get back to safety and I'll tell you." Jax said, disappearing as Ald walked out of the old eatery. The dark of the Martian night still hung over Freehold Station, providing Ald and Jax cover from the eyes of the Cabal. Ald walked the streets calmly, his rifle at a low ready, his head slowly moving from side to side, examining the area. "We need to get out of here! Why are you moving so slow?"
"Are there are any hostiles in sight? Are there any gunships above? Have we seen any troop movement in the area?" Ald asked.
"No, but-"
"Then we move slowly. I'm trying to remember this place." Ald said firmly. Then there was a rumbling behind him. "Okay, never mind." A few minutes later, Ald set his helmet and knapsack down on his dusty bunk and sat down. "So, story time?" For the next hour, Jax explained the Light, the Traveler, and the Titans, all the while Ald opened up the BARman and worked on cleaning and tuning the ancient weapon.
"…In short, a Titan is a wall to their allies and a hammer to their enemies." Jax finished. Ald nodded as he reassembled the BARman, then loaded a magazine in, racking the slide.
"So…back to the frontlines then for me?" He said to Jax.
"It would seem that way." Jax agreed as Ald stood and went to the picture of him and the two others again. He stared at it for a moment before speaking.
"These Cabal; they're highly militarized?" Ald asked.
"Their society is based wholly around their military; every echelon of society lives for their legions." Jax answered. Ald nodded, placed his helmet back on his head, and went for the hatch. "Where are we going?"
"The Freehold Station Armory." Ald answered, throwing open the hatch and stepping back into the street.
"Why, what could possibly be there that is worth anything after all these years?" Jax disappeared as Ald closed the hatch and headed in the opposite direction of the eatery.
"Three things: first is a sensor network that spans Mars. How reliable it is after all these years I don't know, but it should help light up Freehold Station. Second, the weapons themselves might not be all that good after however long its been since they were used, but we can make something from the parts or retune them."
"And third?"
"I want to send a message to these Cabal: you may have my Light, but you can never take my fight."
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Primus Traskt was in a very good mood today, yes indeed! These "Guardians" were interesting prey; supposedly the protectors of this solar systems, they were pitifully weak without their famed Light. However, they were clever; working in small groups to create irritants and produce thorns in Traskt's side, despite their lack of Light. This made them interesting, and therefore entertaining. He had just completed one of his hunts with his Gladiator bodyguards, tracking down a pair of "Hunters" and ambushed them as they worked on their weapons. They were not prepared for their ferocity and fell quickly beneath the Cabal warriors; the tracking was always the best part, but the kill, ohhhhhhh the kill…that was something else. As he lounged upon an incline, basking in the glorious sun light of Mars, his comnlink beeped.
"Who calls a Primus of the Red Legion?" Traskt said haughtily.
"Sir, we located a Guardian in Freehold Station; a Titan. He is approaching an old military site, alone." A Bracus answered. Traskt scoffed.
"A lone Guardian wandering a dead city is of no importance to me; eliminate him yourself." Traskt cut the call and relaxed again. This campaign was going to be a fun one.