Chapter One: Uncharted
"This is the last time we let you fly!" Came a decidedly Scottish male voice in the cargo hold. The four Guardians occupying the ship were being shot at by a Sand Eaters craft, and had some very close encounters with their fire. Due to the nature of their mission, stealth technology had to be procured. But good old Cayde-6, their current pilot, only managed to find one drive. And so, they all had to pile in one of the larger ships. It was a miracle the Vanguard let him out of the Tower at all.
"Engage the warp drive, Cayde!" The Ghost of one Stimmlos-4, a Hunter currently in the hold, spoke up. Stimmlos, often referred to as Stim by his squad mates, was rendered mute when he was struck dead thousands of years ago. As such, his Ghost was unable to heal the wound, and the two forged a deeper bond than most Guardians and their Ghosts to compensate for his lack of verbal communication.
Cayde obliged, but at the last possible second the ship was struck by an unseen projectile, sending it careening out of orbit and toward seemingly empty space.
…
Hours? Days? Weeks? Who knows how long they were adrift at unfathomable speeds for? All they knew was they were stuck like this until they ran out of fuel. After which, they would most likely die lonely deaths, stranded in the vastness of space. Well, the organics would. The two Exo Hunters aboard would remain adrift for however long it took for a hostile ship to find them and blast them to kingdom come.
Eventually, the fuel ran out and something totally unexpected filled their vision. Earth? No, the continents were… different. But the fact that the surface appeared to be mainly liquid water was enough to give them hope. Soon enough, they impacted the surface and they appeared outside the ship, their Ghosts resurrecting them not a minute after 'landing' on the planet.
"Andy? Can we salvage the ship?" This time a female Titan, clad in jet-black armour, addressed the Scottish Warlock. He looked at the ship, whilst his Ghost scanned, before turning back to the group. "So, dae ye want the long answer or the short answer?" A strange growling reached the crash site, indicating that the short answer was the way to go if they valued life. "The ship's fucked." He drew his MIDA Multi-Tool, the Titan activated Sunbreaker, Cayde pulled out a nondescript hand cannon and Stimmlos readied his Shadowshot, unsheathing Quickfang as he did so.
Beowolves jumped out at the group, and they opened fire. Cayde's cannon fired highly explosive rounds, evidenced by how the Beowolves ceased to exist after being shot. Nichola, the Titan, mashed wolf heads with her Super, backed up by Andrew, who found that the Beowolves' heads popped after a few bullets from the Multi-Tool. Quickfang, Stimmlos discovered, was excellent at making Beowolf sushi. He marveled at how easily and cleanly the blade sliced through their flesh. After a few minutes of fighting, in which Nichola's Sunbreaker had long since expired and she simply pummeled the wolves, they stopped coming. Just as the Guardians thought the onslaught was over, a Deathstalker wandered into the clearing. It brought its stinger down upon Andrew, cutting through his shields and impaling him. He reappeared shortly, firing upon the glowing stinger. "Vex!" He shouted, the other Guardians firing upon the glowing weak point as they would a Vex crystal. It was quickly severed, Nichola smashing down upon it and driving it through its skull.
"Well now, you four put on quite the show." An unknown voice reached the clearing. The four turned to see a man with silver hair clutching what appeared to be a cane, flanked by an unkempt man brandishing a flask and a formal-looking blonde woman with green eyes and a… riding crop?
"What's it to you?" Cayde decided to speak up.
"Ah, I suppose I should explain. I am Professor Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy. Who might you be?"
This time, Andrew spoke, gesturing to the crashed ship behind them. "Well, as ye can see Professor, we're no exactly from aroond here."
Upon seeing the ship for the first time, the three looked genuinely shocked. "So, you're saying you're aliens?"
Nichola removed her helmet, flicking her auburn hair out of her eyes and addressing Ozpin. "Well, I'm not sure you can call us that. We're humans, like you. Well, half of us are."
Andrew removed his own helmet, revealing his close-cropped ginger hair. Cayde flipped back his hood, showing his 'beautiful, beautiful horn'. Stimmlos followed suit, removing his helmet to unveil two smaller horns. Perhaps that was why he was Cayde's favourite.
"Cayde and Stimmlos here are what we call Exos. These Exos are pinnacles of humanity's technological prowess in the Golden Age. They were rebooted when the Darkness returned, and the Traveler granted some of them Light." Stim's Ghost was the one to talk this time.
"Exos… Golden Age… Light? Please, explain." Ozpin was confused.
Stimmlos' Ghost was set to ramble on again, but his owner simply activated Shadowshot, sending pure Void Light through the chest of an Alpha Beowolf creeping up on the three before him.
"Let's continue this somewhere safer." Nichola spoke again.
"Agreed." Andrew seconded that.
"What she said." Cayde this time.
Stim pointed to Nichola, indicating that he, also, agreed.
"Very well then. If you would follow me." Ozpin turned and walked a path through the forest, the others following.
Suffice it to say, the four Guardians were not looking forward to explaining the history of humanity. Especially since the four Ghosts each confirmed that they were deep in completely uncharted space, with no information or location. Whilst some may blame Cayde's piloting incompetence for being here, others may say it was some other, more fantastical reason. You might even say it was destiny that brought them here. Whatever the purpose, they hadn't the slightest idea what the future may hold.
Hey there! Just a reminder that, if you like the story so far, remember to review and tell me what more I could be doing.
And another thing, the update schedule for this story is… well, there isn't one. With real life taking up more and more of my time, it may be months before you see a new chapter. Just be assured that, until told otherwise, I am working on another chapter.
-Phoenyx