It was an unusually quiet day in the rusted landscape of the cosmodrone. There was only the sound of the quiet lapping of the waves across the shore and the faint cries of birds. It was a new day for Umbra-42 and it was one spent doing what he did best: scouting, sniping and general sneaky stuff. Umbra was not an amazing Guardian but he could at least give the Fallen a run for their Glimmer when they crossed his path. Umbra didnt wear much in the way of armour, he did have armour plates on his right shoulder and amrour that sat high on his chest and a right knee pad, but other than that there was nothing. Most of his attire consisted of a weather proof tunic, carge pants and shin high boots. His cloak was long and went down to his shins but wasnt too large so that it would get caught in anything, but it still got disty and ripped aorund the edges from carelessness. His helmet consisted mostly of a tri goggled visor that his hood hung over slightly. He was more of a quick and stealthy Hunter anyway, he liked smash and grab missions and if he had to shoot, he shot from a distance.
Umbra had set up a sniping position behind a fallen tree. Fallen activity had increased in this sector of the cosmodrone for the past month, the Vanguard weren't taking any chances for another Twilight gap to happen. Umbra had been ordered to see what the Fallen were doing in the area. The two Fallen skiffs had kept their position text to a large cave opening for four days now; with all things considered it was probably a Fallen hideout. After the Hunter spent few minutes of scanning the entrance over with his binoculars a Fallen captain walked out, the house of devils symbol was proudly displayed on his chest piece.
"He looks important" Umbra whispered.
"Yeah, but he's probably been told to set up an outpost" his Ghost whispered back.
Umbra grunted in confirmation to the Ghost remark. "I'm going to get a closer look" he said as he slowly got up into a crouch.
"We were only meant to do a recon of the area, not have a closer look!" the Ghost argued.
"Uh huh" Umbra nonchalantly muttered and the Ghost let off an exasperated sigh. Luckily the undergrowth was thicker in this part of the cosmodrone so Umbra's camo helped make him harder to see. There wasn't much cover between him and a boulder that would give him a perfect vantage point, 'going to have to distract that Captain' Umbra whispered as he picked up a decently sized rock.
"We're not meant to engage the Fallen, Umbra!" the Ghost said as Umbra began to take aim.
"You need live a little sometimes" the Hunter replied. He threw the rock and it landed a meter away from the fallen captain. The captain pulled out his shock rifle at the noise. He shouted something in Fallen and four Vandals scampered out. The captain barked at the vandals and made them go first while he led from the back. "All right this is going to be much more easier" he whispered as he pulled out his combat knife.
"For Travellers sake" Kayrin muttered as umbra chuckled to himself. Umbra crept forwards as silently as he could until he reached the fallen patrol, he kept to the shadows of the trees once he broke through the treeline his first unaware target standing next to a rusted out car. As soon as he was less than an arm reach away from the vandal he slowly rose up, then the Vandal made a chirping noise to attract one of the ones in front. Umbra quickly sank back down as one of the Vandals in front turned around.
"What is it Arkas?" The Vandal asked, luckily Umbra learnt Fallen in his early days so he listened in.
"Do you think we can get into the wreck?" The Vandal in front of Umbra, named Arkas asked.
"I hope. I heard from rumors that it is the Kell of light's ship" the second Vandal answered.
"The Kell of Light?" Umbra silently mouthed, he had never heard that term used among the Fallen before.
"The Kell of light? Then the myths were true!" Arkas said, trying to hide his amazement.
"Yes, but focus now" the further Vandal said sternly. Once the further vandal turned away again Umbra rose back up. In one swift move he pulled his arm around the vandal's neck into a chokehold, and slashed it's neck open in one flawless movement. Umbra waited until the light in the Vandal's eyes went dark and his body began to crumple down, while carefully moving the dead Fallen Umbra dragged the body into a bush where it wouldn't be seen.
"One down, four to go" the Hunter whispered.
The Captain barked something at thw two the Vandals from somewhere Umbra could not see, and they started to walk back to the Hunters location, the Captain then barked at the third vandal and it walked to his location. The two Vandals stopped in the middle of the clearing and started to chirp to each other, and turn away from him. Umbra pulled out a second knife out its sheath from his thigh. Luckily one of the vandals started to walk off in the direction where Umbra killed the first vandal. Umbra snuck up behind the vandal, in one move he brought up both the knives and rammed them into either side of the fallen's head. The vandal's arms went limp and his rifle fell to the floor with a loud clatter, the other Vandal suddenly turned around
"Shit!" Umbra thought. He pulled a shock knife from the Vandals belt and threw it at the other before he was able to call an alarm. The Vandals head jerked back as the knife punched through his helm and into its skull, and the body fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"Told you to leave them alone!" Kayrin deadpanned. Umbra pulled the knife out of the dead vandals head and wiped the blood off onto his combat pants,
"Going to have deal with that Captain, I want to search the cave for this 'wreck' that Vandal talked about, don't want him to sneak up on us" Umbra said and another sigh came from his Ghost. Umbra pulled out his hand cannon 'the Last word' and scurried off to where the Captain and the fourth Vandal walked off.
Umbra found the Captain and the Vandal in a small building, they were searching though it noisily which made it easier to sneak up on them. The captain was scavenging in the house while the vandal stood guard outside.
"Jesus, the Fallen always make this easy" Umbra pulled out a throwing knife and flung it at the vandal. The knife hit it square in the neck, heitfell to the floor and gurgled while it choked on its blood. The noises inside the house stopped and Umbra saw the Captain come out. "HERE I AM YOU UGLY BASTARD, COME GET ME" he screamed as loud as he could as he jumped out of a bush, the captain roared and pulled out two swords.
Umbra sprinted towards him and the captain did the same, Umbra pulled out a shock grenade from his back pouch as he ran. As soon as the captain began his attack Umbra went into a slide between the captain's legs, he put the grenade at the captain's feet. The Captain roared in anger as Umbra easily dodged him and only noticed the grenade at the last moment, the grenade sent coursing arc energy across the captain and destroyed his shield generator in the process. The captain dropped to his knees some smoke rose from his armour, the Captain slammed his fist into the ground and leaped at Umbra. Luckily Umbra had already had his hand cannon ready, a look of panic ran across the captains eyes before the bullet punched itself into his skull. The captain went limp mid-air and crumpled at Umbra's feet. 'Shame, thought he would be more of a challenge' the Hunter said with a disappointed tone.
"Its probably because you caught him by surprise" Kayrin grumbled.
''Erm, excuse me'' a nervous voice said. The voice caused Umbra to spin round and aim his hand cannon at the voice. ' Gah!' the voice squeaked, after a second Umbra noticed it came from a small ghost. The ghost's shell was black and had a white stripe going down the centre of its body.
''Whoa, sorry little guy you caught me by surprise there'' Umbra said apologetically as he lowered his gun.
''No, I'm sorry I shouldn't have snuck up on you, especially after you killed those Fallen'' he said sheepishly and Umbra holstered his hand cannon.
''Anyways what are you doing out here alone and where's your guardian?'' the Hunter asked inquisitively.
''I uh... don't have one'' the ghost said embarrassingly.
''You don't have one?'' Kayrin said with a surprised tone as he manifested himself next to Umbra.
''Yeah, I've been searching for mine for a really long time'' the Ghost sheepishly answered.
''Wait. How long?'' Umbra asked.
''And where have you been searching?'' kayrin asked.
'Oh it's been about four hundred years now I think'' the Ghost answered.
''WHAT!'' Umbra and his Ghost shouted.
''Yeah, I've been searching throughout the sol system until my search led me here'' the Ghost stated.
''Wait why here?'' Umbra asked.
''Well there's a cave nearby and I feel powerful light emanating from it'' the ghost said.
'Do you want some help, cause the only cave nearby is one the Fallen are in' Umbra said while scratching his head.
''Thanks!'' the Ghost happily said, ''follow me!'' he said and began floating They went to the mouth of the cave in silence, the Ghost hummed to himself happy that he would finally find his Guardian. ''Here it is'' the Ghost said.
''Alright let's go in and have a look'' the Hunter said while he pulled out his pulse rifle. The cave was dark and slightly cold, there were quiet drips of watter falling to the floor that split the oppressive silence.
''I've got a bad feeling about this'' his Ghost whispered.
''Jeez stop being such a downer Kayrin'' Umbra whispered back. After a while of walking through the dark and slightly wet cave they finally came to a bulkhead that looked Fallen in nature.
''What the hell?'' Umbra asked.
''It appears to be a bulkhead belonging to a Fallen Ketch. Strange, I have no reports of any Ketches crash landing in this location'' the Hunter's Ghost answered. Without warning the other Ghost phased through the bulkhead wihtout saying a word.
''Hey!'' Umbra shouted, ''Open the door!'' he said to his Ghost and it floated over to the dust covered control panel next to the bulkhead and a blue laser shot from its eye as it hacked through the door's programming. The bulkhead then stared to slowly open with a metallic screehcing and graning as its servos which had been inactive for more that seven hundred years finally whirred to life. ''Here we go'' the Hunter said and entered the Ketch.
''I have a lock on the Ghost, pulling up a way point now'' the Ghost said and Umbra saw a small white diamond appear on his HUD. The halls of the Ketch had kept up suprisingly well and there were banners that hung from the ceiling proudly sporting a Fallen House insignia that the Hunter had never seen before. The symbol was a sword that pointed skywards and above the sword were three stars that looked almost like a crown.
''Are all Ghosts like this when they find their Guardian?'' Umbra asked and looked at his Ghost.
''Sometimes, but I have never heard of a Ghost disreguarding its own safety to find its Guardian'' the Ghost answered. After a few mintues of walking throuhg the dust encrusted halls of the Ketch they finally saw a bright light coming form one room meaning the Ghost had begun its revival process.
''I got a bad feeling about this!'' Umbra stated and began running towards the light. ''Stop!'' he shouted as he approached the room. All the Hunter had time to see was a Fallen corpse on the table explode in light until light was all the Hunter could see.
