A/N: In honour of that glorious time the nightfall modifiers aligned to make it possible to instakill the tank with a melee in the Taniks strike ;) This is also an homage to ma squad. Destiny brought us together and will always be special to me for that reason.
The Cosmodrome was still and quiet. A desolate wasteland filled with mud and ice and rusting mechanical corpses. Derelict concrete buildings and ancient vehicles of flight and space travel rotted amongst the snow. What had once been a bustling hub of activity, humanity's pathway to the stars, was now a graveyard. The ruins of Old Russia and the Golden Age, picked over by Fallen scavengers. The sky above was clear and blue, the sun bright but doing nothing to warm the frozen ground below. Had they not been wearing helmets the three Guardians' breath would have appeared as clouds of white before them in the frigid air. Well. Kay's at least. The other two were Exo and so had no breath to expel being humanoid machines.
"Snow crunches underfoot as the three brave warriors of Light make their way unseen, unheard, through the graveyard of humanity," Kay spoke in a low whisper, "Ever alert, ever watchful, scanning the horizon for-"
"Will you shut up?" Major's voice hissed in her ear over the comm link between their helmets.
"I'm just trying to set the scene!" Kay whined in response.
"I was kinda enjoying it." Mal, the titan, told his hunter companions. Major tipped her head in his direction, probably rolling her eyes. Behind the tinted visor of her helmet the potential movement was lost.
"And if the Fallen are scanning for radio chatter?" She asked pointedly. Mal didn't reply, turning his head to scan their surroundings as though he hadn't heard. Kay cleared her throat awkwardly.
"I, ah…Didn't think of that." She admitted. "But, they're not that smart…are they?"
As if in answer an inhuman shriek echoed across the Cosmodrome. Fallen shouting in either rage or triumph. It was hard to tell, all communications sounded the same between the aliens and, to be honest, the Guardians had never stopped to study them that closely.
"Scans indicate no life forms in this vicinity." Came the robotic voice of Major's ghost, hovering just over her shoulder. Sunlight glinted from its rose-tinted casing and the central sphere glowed blue, whirring faintly as it searched for hostiles.
"Sound is weird here." Kay murmured.
"Stay alert." Major said. "Cayde's scouts suggested the Fallen might be based in this area considering the amount of scavenging parties they've seen…"
"Our ghosts can't sense anything." Kay said, sharing a look with her own black and red-encased ghost. "You don't think the Fallen have found a way to hide their presence?"
"Like the stealth vandals?" Mal asked, shaking his head. "Unlikely."
"Beacon's not too far out now. Just focus, no speculation until we've had a proper look. Okay?" Major looked sideways at her companions. Kay snapped off a smart salute.
"Yes, ma'am!" She teased her fellow hunter.
"You can't see it," Major told her, tapping a gloved finger against the reflective visor of her helmet, "but I'm rolling my eyes at you."
"You don't have any eyes." Kay muttered, stalking ahead of them up a steep rise. The ground was hard and slippery with ice beneath her boots.
"I heard that!" Major said, following after her.
"I mean, she's kind of got a point." Mal said fairly. "Visual receptors aren't biological eyes."
"A technicality." Major responded, crouching with Kay as they crested the hill. Ahead of them lay an expanse of flat ground dotted with the wreckages of old planes and administrative buildings, interspersed with skeletal trees and clusters of gleaming spinmetal. In the distance loomed the Wall, the hulking structure that surrounded the last city and the remnants of humanity on Earth. Above it all hung the ever-present shining white orb of the Traveller. Less than a mile ahead of them lay the crashed jumpship they had come for. It remained largely still intact though the front had crumpled on impact with the ground. It lay half buried in a crater, mud scattered over the still burning hull and banked around the nose. A column of thick black smoke spiralled into the sky.
Kay unslung her sniper rifle from across her shoulders and lay on her front, tipping her head to peer through the scope to scan first the wreckage and then the area surrounding it. The few buildings nearby were too dark to see inside but the area appeared empty.
"Hope it was a Sunsinger," Mal said, crouching on Kay's other side, "a ghost would have its work cut out rezzing from that mess."
"Lovely." Kay commented drily. "I don't see anything." She lay down her sniper and looked sideways at Major.
"You think they're hiding in one of the buildings?" Mal suggested. "Maybe a Fallen patrol scared 'em off."
"One way to find out." Major said, hopping to her feet. She reached over her shoulder and unslung her auto rifle, hanging beside her sniper. Kay switched her own sniper for a scout rifle as she stood up. Mal advanced with a shotgun in his hands, resting nonchalantly upright against one shoulder and the hunters followed, senses on high alert.
Blackened and twisted shrapnel and clods of stone and earth thrown up by the ship's less than graceful landing made for uneven footing. Exposed electrics crackled and small fires still burned beneath missing hull panels.
Kay climbed the small mound surrounding the nose of the cockpit and peered needlessly inside as Major headed towards the nearest building. The metal doors were rusted open but did nothing to lighten the interior. The bright sunlight outside struggled to penetrate the thick gloom inside. Broken glass cracked and popped underfoot, the remains of the windows she assumed, blown in by the impact of the downed ship. A large desk was pushed against the far wall, stripped of any technology now courtesy of the Fallen. Beside it was a stairway leading downwards, too dark to see more than the top few steps.
"Uh…Guys?" Mal's voice came through their comm link.
"What is it?" Major asked, turning and heading back outside to see Mal crouching down close to the ship with his back to her. His attention was focussed on something half buried in the dirt in front of him. Kay jumped down from where she had been poking around in the ship's cockpit, took a step towards Mal and tensed.
"Oh crap…"
Mal stood and turned to Major, holding out what looked like a couple of scraps of white metal in his hands.
"What is that?" She asked. "Wait…It's not…?"
"Dead ghost." Kay said grimly. Major reached out and picked up the black central sphere from amongst the other shards of metal, turning it in her hands until she saw the 'eye' of the ghost. The lens was cracked.
"Dammit…" She muttered. Her own ghost suddenly rose up over her shoulder.
"Multiple life forms detected." It announced.
"It's a trap!" Mal growled. Kay heaved a sigh
"What a surprise…" She deadpanned.
"Fallen drop ship approaching." Mal's ghost added. Mal placed a hand over his heart.
"Just for us? How sweet!" He joked. Major gave his shoulder a playful punch as the familiar roar of drop ship engines broke the silence of the Cosmodrome. Fallen screeches sounded from the building Major had been inside, echoing up the stairway she assumed.
"Battle stations, folks!" Kay said, rushing towards a sizeable boulder and crouching behind it.
"We don't have battle stations." Major told her, sliding into a ditch near the hunter. She lay on her front with her sniper rifle at the ready. Mal stood with one shoulder pressed to the outside wall of the nearby building, peering in through the small crack between the door and the frame.
"Uh…Mal?" Kay said slowly. "That's a terrible hiding place."
"I'm not hiding." Mal replied, cocking his shotgun and barrelling inside as Fallen swarmed up the stairs and into the small room. Arc energy crackled across the surface of his armour as he charged and threw himself into the middle of the crowd who shrieked in surprise as a shockwave of bright light obliterated them. Shotgun blasts finished off the rest of the group running up the stairs.
"That works…" Kay said.
"Walker!" Major cried, watching the approaching drop ship through her sniper scope. She saw the tank clutched beneath the ship, the tell-tale jerk of the cradle beginning to loosen. "Mal, get out of there!"
"Bit late for that, Major." He replied, peering around the doorframe at the hunters. He ducked out of sight as the cannons attached to the front of the ship began firing on his comrades. Clouds of dirt were thrown up into the air, forcing them to stay down as the tank fell to earth with a boom that echoed for miles. Kay felt the impact through her breast plate and risked looking out from behind her cover to see a group of fallen clambering out of the ship and jumping down after the tank. Mainly dregs, a couple of vandals and one towering captain wielding dual shock blades.
"We are so screwed…"
"Goddammit, Kay, why do you have to be such a pessimist all the time!?" Major grumbled. The tank raised itself up on six armour-plated legs.
"I don't know, I mean it's not like there's a Walker and we're outnumbered three to one." The drop ship engines increased in volume as the ship left the area, having dropped its deadly cargo.
"We've been through worse." Major replied. The Fallen began to spread out around the tank, screeching at each other.
"Yeah. But if I expect the worst I'll only ever be pleasantly surprised when we somehow survive." Kay said, taking a combustion grenade from her belt and pulling the pin. "Expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed." She released the striker lever, waited a beat, then chucked the grenade in a high arc towards the swarming Fallen. Seconds later the explosion tore through their ranks, igniting house colours and blasting open armour. Precious ether escaped through the gaps and Fallen collapsed dead. Major wasted no time in emptying a clip from her rifle into the heavy steel plates protecting the Walker's legs. Destroy one of those and the Walker would overload and expose its delicate core beneath the neck armour. The heavy canon rounded on her position.
"Hold fire, ladies, I got this." Mal said, suddenly dashing out into the open.
"Mal, what are you doing?!" Major cried.
"Um…Ghost? Stand by for a revive…" Kay said, popping out of cover to fire off several rounds at their enemies as they turned on Mal. The titan barrelled forwards, shotgun muzzle flashing as he fired shell after shell into the neck of the tank. Amour-piercing rounds hammered into the heavy metal, denting the previously smooth surface and weakening it significantly. The canon turned towards him as the titan sprinted for the tank, preparing to fire, but just as the canon began to charge a shot Mal threw himself upwards and rammed one shoulder into the wrecked armour that protected the Walker's core. There was an impossibly loud crack as the Guardian struck the tank followed almost immediately by a deafening explosion as sparking electronics ignited something within the mechanical beast and blasted the Walker apart from the inside. The concussive blast knocked the remaining Fallen down to the ground. Mal vanished amongst fire and coiling black smoke.
"Major?" Kay said, stepping out from behind cover as the Fallen struggled to recover. "Do the thing."
Major immediately leaped into the air, a shimmering bow of void energy forming in one hand as the other drew back a flickering purple arrow on an ethereal string. She timed it perfectly. No sooner had the captain hauled himself back onto his feet Major released the arrow. It struck him directly in the chest and lines of energy whipped outwards, using the captain as an anchor point as they latched onto multiple targets, tethering them to the spot.
Mal's ghost used the distraction to whizz out from the cover of the building it had been hiding inside, heading for the burning Walker.
White light flared beside Major and she looked sideways at Kay to see her fellow hunter levelling a handcanon at the enemy, wreathed in flame. One thunderous shot blasted a dreg backwards into his comrades (if a Fallen unit could even be called such a thing…) and his body exploded as he hit them, bringing them down too. The captain stumbled as he was hit by shrapnel, but the anchor from Major's nightstalker bow kept him pinned. Two more shots followed from Kay's gun, almost clearing the area. Just the captain remained.
The void anchor faded from existence. The captain took one step forward and roared at the exposed hunters, raising his shock blades as he prepared to charge them. And he froze.
"4th Horseman says hi!" Mal announced from behind, where the muzzle of his shotgun was pressed flush against the captain's back. The captain began to turn, and Mal pulled the trigger. The captain remained standing for a second, long enough to stagger forwards, and then collapsed in front of the newly resurrected titan, who straightened up and rested his gun on his shoulder, tapping two fingers of his free hand against his helmet in a salute as he noted the hunters watching him quietly.
"Nice of you to join us." Kay said.
"Hey, I did most of the work!" Mal replied.
"And died." Major said. "This is why Zavala won't let you head missions."
"Naw, he's just intimidated by my prowess in the field and my wily charm." Mal made his way over. Kay snorted and shook her head as though in disbelief.
"Guess we should get back to the tower and report." She sighed.
"Guess so." Major said. Mal slung his gun over his shoulder and threw his arms around the hunters, walking them back the way they had come.
"Mission accomplished."