"I'm starting to get tired of picking up these... things," Vallory groaned, uprooting the glowing datalattice from its perch on a rocky slate. She wasn't even sure what datalattices were, but she knew that the resource had its uses. At least, she'd seen her Ghost use them on her gear before, and the armor felt stronger afterwards, more durable.
"We just need a few more to get us to a comfortable amount, Val," assured Bacon, her Ghost. "Then we'll be at a nice, round number." He hovered near his Titan's left elbow while she harvested the luminous, digital-looking material. His multi-faceted shell was a sleek maroon, similar in color to some of the plants Vallory had seen on this planet. When she finished removing the datalattlice, he quickly scanned it with his neon-blue eye, and then transmatted it to their supplies.
"Ugh, I'm just dying to punch something," Vallory sighed. She stood up straight, stretched her arms, then lazily looked around for the location of the next nearest datalattice marked by her ghost. Nessus, the unstable centaur that they were on, was pretty, but Val would much rather be shooting or punching the planet's invasive Vex. For some reason, her gathering trip had so far been uninterrupted by any enemies. From under her obsidian-colored helmet, she frowned, but hopped down the mesa towards the marked location.
Heavy greaves hit the earth with a thud, and a small flock of crimson birds shot out of a nearby tree. Vallory paused to watch the birds fly overhead. The wildlife on Nessus was vibrant and unfamiliar to her; she wondered why a planet mostly converted by a race of hostile machines provided an excellent tropical environment for animals to thrive.
I'll leave that to the scientists, Vallory thought. She was certain that the archives at the Tower had plenty of information on this planetoid-not that she would actually get around to poring over those dusty tomes. She'd probably ask Karyna and Entropy-4 later; thankfully both of her Warlock friends were well-read.
A loud hissing sound, like static blaring from a loudspeaker, broke her from her reverie. She whipped around to see a hazy, computerized cloud appear above the cliff near where she had been standing only moments before.
Vex.
The promise of combat injected a wave of adrenaline into her body. Vallory drew her hand cannon from its holster on her waist with speed and ease-something that she'd done so many times that it felt as natural to her as breathing. She sprinted towards a large rock formation and slid into a crouch behind it.
Vallory peeked around her cover to see a group of Vex arrive. Her eyes passed over each enemy, assessing their ranks. The group appeared to be five bronze Vex Goblins and two Hobgoblins, accompanied by a single, massive Vex Minotaur.
She watched as a trio of Goblins scanned the area with their red eyes. The remaining pair crouched to study the remnants of a datalattice-the one she had plucked earlier. The two Hobgoblins flanked the Minotaur, giving no sign of movement except for their swishing, whip-like tails.
"I think that's a transport party," Bacon whispered over his Guardian's pauldron. "Might be carrying a bunch of loot."
She gave her Ghost a silent nod. The Minotaur raised a silver limb, and after emitting a series of beeps, a wide chest appeared at its feet.
Vallory saw her opportunity. In one second the machine lowered a weaponized arm; in the next, a vicious crack rang out as its arm was blown off and sent clattering to the ground.
The group of Vex turned to face the direction of the shot. Vallory had left her cover and was standing tall with her gun cocked. She felt the heat of the barrel through her gauntlets-a comfortable warmth that belonged to her. An angry sounding beep came from one of the Vex, something akin to a war cry, and they moved to engage her.
Val sheathed her gun and reached out to the Light. She made a sweeping motion with her arm, and summoned a luminous purple Void shield. The Vex had begun shooting at her. She drew up her shield to block the incoming damage, but a few stray metal rounds pierced her armor. A sharp pain arose in her side, but she ignored it. She ran to the nearest Goblin and slammed into it with her shield, instantly killing it.
The Vex Hobgoblins charged and fired their line rifles at her. One laser was blocked by her shield, but the other clipped her thigh. It cut through the surface of her leg plates, searing her light blue skin. She cried out in pain, but turned that pain into fury and threw her shield at one of the Hobgoblins with great force. The shield cut through the first one's head with Void energy, then it pinballed to the second Hobgoblin, decapitating it. Their metal bodies disintegrated in a Void-purple haze.
Her shield returned to her; she lunged to the next Goblin and rammed into it. She did the same to the remaining Goblins, zipping between her enemies until all that was left was the hulking Minotaur before her.
Her shield vanished, its energy depleted. The Minotaur stared down at her, raising a pointed arm above its head. It beeped thrice as it brought its arm down on Vallory.
She sidestepped and countered with a Void-charged punch to the machine's frame. It staggered backwards, Void particles tearing away at its surface, and Vallory drew her shotgun from her back. She fired three quick blasts at the small luminescent triangle on its abdomen. The triangle burst, spewing sizzling radiolarian fluid onto the earth. The Minotaur crumpled over, its torso falling away from the rest of its body, and the single bright red eye on its head faded as it died.
With the enemies neutralized, Vallory turned to the black supply chest. She noted that the chest itself did not appear to be of Vex origin, so it was likely stolen goods. Bacon reappeared at her side, scanned his Guardian, and proceeded to heal her. She steadied her breathing while her Ghost fussed over her, and within moments her injuries were gone.
"A little messy, but nice job," Bacon observed. He floated near Val's shoulder, his gaze moving to the chest at her feet. "Now let's see what goods these Vex were transporting."
Val crouched down in front of the chest and pressed a thumb into the latch. It popped open, its contents shining in the sun. Within the chest were stalks of datalattlices partially buried by blue heaps of glimmer.
"Nice! That's exactly the amount we needed!" Her Ghost exclaimed, but Vallory wasn't really paying attention. She was staring down into the chest, focusing on how the stalks and the glimmer reminded her of a pleasant memory.
She smiled at how the stalks and glimmer resembled glass bottles of liquor among a bed of ice. It had only been a couple of weeks since the Tower had held its annual barbecue, and Val remembered reaching into a similarly shaped cooler to retrieve a couple of beers. She had skillfully balanced the drinks and two plates of hot food all the way to The Drifter's hideout. She'd been careful not to draw any attention making her way to him, and as a result they'd had a nice dinner together. They'd laughed and flirted at each other between bites, but it was only playful flirting, and neither of them had acted upon it-much to her disappointment. Still, she'd enjoyed the company of her shady friend; she found herself wondering when they would hang out next.
"Val? Everything okay?" Bacon had slipped underneath the space between her arm and the supply chest. He looked up at her, the corners of his shell twisted with concern.
"Uh... yeah," she replied, clearly distracted.
She blinked away the memory and stood up. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Let's grab this loot and go."
The Tower was seemingly filled to the brim with people. After dropping off her jumpship at the Hangar, Vallory transmatted herself down to the Tower's courtyard, and for a moment, she was surprised at how crowded it was. Employees decked in their bluish-grey work uniforms were everywhere; some were clustered in groups assigning and discussing their duties, others were transporting equipment to opposite ends of the headquarters, and a few hung by the Postmaster's booth-likely on break, since they were holding paper cups and chatting excitedly.
Alongside the chatter, power tools roared and whirred. On most days, the commotion from construction crews and mechanics was isolated to the Hangar, but today there were groups working here in the upper level. There were maintenance workers and builders decked in protective gear, finishing walls and reinforcing the architecture.
Vanguard employees weren't the only ones swarming the headquarters. Civilians were dismounting the elevator and walking towards the Bazaar, and the Eververse booth and Cryptarch stall both had lines of Guardians. Vallory didn't see anyone she recognized, and she wasn't really in the spending mood. She did, however, have a few engrams to decode, so she made her way to the Cryptarch.
At the end of the line stood a human Hunter wearing a tattered and red-hooded cloak. The rest of his gear was black fabric, fitted to his slim figure. His head was down and he was idly tapping at his communication tablet. His Ghost-a floating yellow diamond-was rotating its shell impatiently and spouting random observations of passerby. The hunter didn't seem to be paying attention, but for every few comments his Ghost made, he grunted in marginal acknowledgement.
Vallory leaned to take a peek at the front of the line. Master Rahool, the City's Cryptarch, stood with his palms outward and raised, and was attempting to calm down a fuming Warlock. The Warlock was clearly upset, and though there was clear frustration in their voice, they were trying their best not to make a scene. Val overheard enough to gather that the Warlock was not pleased with the engrams that Rahool had decrypted, and they were expressing their lack of satisfaction with his work over the past few months.
Vallory sighed. At this rate, she'd be standing here for at least another hour, maybe even two.
Her Ghost materialized beside her. "Bored?" Bacon inquired, looking at his Titan with slight amusement. Val nodded. "Well, we could always come back later. Grab a bite to eat. Maybe do a mission or a couple Crucible rounds." He twirled his shell as he spoke, the afternoon sun reflecting on its surface.
"Hmm." Vallory pursed her lips, considering her options. She was always up for some food, but she wasn't too hungry at the moment. She thought about Crucible, but she wasn't really feeling that, either. "Yeah, none of those really sound appealing to me right now."
Bacon dipped slightly, as if to shrug. "There's always... that other thing," he whispered. The thing that they were specifically told to keep quiet about. Gambit.
Val bit her lip. She'd be lying if she said she didn't want to see The Drifter. If even seeing him for a few minutes meant that she could flirt with him, she'd gladly take that opportunity. Besides, he appeared to show some interest in her; Drifter never reacted poorly to her suggestive remarks, even flirting in return, and she'd seen subtle hints in his body language. The man was shrouded in mystery, though, so it was difficult to say for certain what his intentions were. However, Val was confident their interactions would lead to something, eventually.
"Yeah... Okay. Why not?" she said slowly. "But uh, only if he's not busy. I don't want to stop waiting here just to go wait elsewhere."
"You got it. I'll start up the comm link with him."
She fished a small wireless communicator from her belt, and pushed it into her ear. There was a bit of static, so she tried to adjust its position, but the static persisted.
"Sorry, there's a lot of interference. Likely because it's so busy today. I'll try my best to stabilize it."
The static continued, but a soft chime informed her that the connection was established.
"Heeey." A smile tugged at the corner of Vallory's lips as The Drifter's smooth voice sounded in her ear. "It-shhh-Chosen One,"
The line cut out a bit, causing Val to furrow her eyebrows. Bacon looked at her apologetically and concentrated on holding the connection's frequency.
"Hey, hot stuff," Vallory replied, then braced herself for the adjacent Hunter's reaction. He didn't seem to hear it-or perhaps he did, but didn't care. The Hunter's Ghost swiveled to glance at her, then rolled its eye and went back to people-watching.
The Drifter let out a chuckle, but because there was interference, Val only heard bits of his laughter. "You gonna-shhhh-down here?"
She knew what he was trying to say, but her mind instinctively conjured dirty thoughts. "Oh, I'll be there," she added suggestively.
Val could hear the smile in his voice, even with the static in the feed. "You better be ready to bang-"
The connection dropped. Vallory felt her face getting hot.
She plucked the device from her ear and slipped it back into the pouch on her belt. A grin spread across her face as she took a step back and out of the line, nearly bumping into another Titan. He looked up briefly, then crossed his arms.
"You can have my spot."
Val turned and hurried down the hallway, towards the staircase that connected the courtyard to the bazaar. There was a renewed vigor in her stride, but she managed to slip through the passerby without bumping into anyone. She was especially careful not to knock over any children or elderly.
"Wait, why are you...?" Bacon floated at her shoulder, trying to keep up with his Guardian's speed. Val had already safely cleared the second flight of stairs. "Val, I don't think-"
"Hush," Val cut him off. Then added gently, "Just let me have this."
Bacon let out an exasperated sigh. When his Guardian set her mind to something, it was difficult to steer her from that path. "Oh, fine," he surrendered. "I'll leave you to it, then. Just summon me if you need me. And... good luck."
Vallory turned to offer her Ghost an appreciative smile. "Thanks."