This story is set during the mid City age.
"Diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power."
It had all started with the House of Kings. If they hadn't decided to organize a mass attack against the Last City on Earth, nothing that followed would have happened.
Rae reflected on this more often than not these days. Her talents had been wasted in the army, something her superiors had clearly considered when they made her a member of the long-ranged scouts known as the Corsairs. When the news came in that House of Wolves were pushing through the Belt to join the Kings, Devils, and Winter in attacking the City, Rae should have been glad. A war was the perfect opportunity for her to fly above her station and perhaps one day secure her place as a Paladin. But she had not felt happy when she heard of the City's plight, unlike the majority of her fellow Awoken. Things were entirely neutral between the Reef and the City. Generally, the inhabitants of the Reef didn't spare it a second thought, but now with a war on the horizon, they saw an opportunity. And the cost of that opportunity did not matter to them. Rae was never one to go along with others and had often been described as a 'difficult child' in her youth. She was proud to say that trend had continued. She didn't see why the Awoken's attitude towards the City was so uncompromising. It was entirely apathetic, even bordering on hostile at certain points. Rae thought it was stupid to distance potential allies. Who else could they align with? Obviously, the Queen had solved that problem, to an extent. It had been theorized that her desire to bring the House of Wolves under her rule was the incentive behind her decision to take action, but who could hope to understand her thoughts? Even her own brother often had trouble discerning her motives.
But regardless of the reasons behind it, the Reef, allied with the Nine, moved to intercept the Wolves when they regrouped at Ceres. Their Kell, Virixas, was cunning and attempted to draw the coming battle away from the dwarf planet, only to be foiled by the Queen. Her Harbingers wiped out half of the Wolves along with Ceres, killing Virixas in the process. In that one swift strike, the City was saved from the annihilation it would have faced if the Wolves had joined the battle. However, the remaining Wolves scattered and soon three more Fallen rose to claim Virixas' Kellship, inciting a civil war within the House. The Awoken were left out of the conflict until one of the claimants, Skolas the Rabid, pitted them against his rivals. His elite assassin unit called the Silent Fang had attacked the Amethyst space station and killed everyone on board. Rae's squadron, led by Paladin Abra Zire, chased the Fang to Iris, where they engaged the Ketch of Skolas' last rival, Parixas, allowing him to claim the Kellship uncontested and gain the upper hand in the war.
Fortunately for the Awoken forces, the Crows were able to crack the Wolves' encryption and Paladin Imogen Rife tricked Drevis, the leader of the Silent Fang, and captured her, taking her to Pallas, an asteroid with an Awoken settlement. Swiftly following this was the Siege of Pallas, which lasted for several years before the Wolves broke ranks and Skolas fled into the Hildian Asteroids. A campaign was launched, resulting in the scattering of the Wolves' forces and the capture of Beltrik, Skolas' vassal. Rae was incredibly proud to have been a part of the Hildian Campaign and even prouder of the fact that she helped foil Skolas' Cybele Uprising, which the Awoken had prior knowledge of due to allying with a Fallen House of Judgment scribe named Variks. Skolas and the remaining Silent Fang were incarcerated in the Prison of Elders.
Now, the majority of the Wolves were under the Queen's rule, apart from a few remaining rebel cells. There were many ways the war could have ended worse, but Rae also felt there were some ways it could have been better. Nevermind the Fallen, pride was the greatest enemy to the Awoken by far. Rae knew she herself was guilty of it often enough. If not for their pride, the Awoken might have allied with the City long ago.
Suddenly, she was ripped out of her thoughts when someone clapped her on the shoulder. "Veliniks has been tracked to Earth. Now it's our job to take him out."
Rae looked up. "Venj? When did you get here?"
Petra rolled her eye. "About two minutes ago. We're flying out."
Rae pushed herself off the wall she'd been leaning against and grabbed her helmet. "Great. I'm tired of this war." She matched Petra's fast pace into the hangar where both of their ships waited, ready to launch at a moment's notice. As Rae settled into her cockpit, she opened the comm channel. "So why'd you come back? I expected you to end it as soon as you found them. Hog all the glory to yourself."
Petra laughed. "I felt it was right. I may have lost people on Amethyst, but I wasn't the only one."
"Ah. I get it. You've gone soft on me."
"In your dreams, Korrin... Launching in 3, 2, 1."
Their ships rose into the air and sped away from the Vestian Outpost. Soon, they were drifting in warp space, their course set for Earth. "Where're the rest?"
"We'll rendezvous with them on Earth. They're making sure those Wolves don't have the chance to escape."
"Corsairs?"
"Mostly. You'd know all of them."
Rae nodded. In almost no time at all, they were landing on Earth, positioned on a rocky hilltop. Petra nudged Rae and pointed down to a valley that was pretty far off. Rae took off her helmet and pulled out her scanner to get a better look. She could see several Wolves entrenched in the valley, along with one that she recognized as Veliniks, the Forgotten Kell. "So that's him, huh?"
"Yes. Not very impressive from a distance, but he's given us more than his share of trouble. He's the last hope for the unchained Wolves… And we're going to bring him down."
"We're kinda far to pull off an attack," Rae pointed out, "That's the element of surprise gone right out the window."
Petra rolled her eye again. "Have some faith in me, Korrin. We wouldn't be here without a reason. I've called in some backup."
Rae narrowed her eyes, not liking the glint she saw in Petra's gaze. "Well, I hope that backup comes with one hell of a scope."
"I'll say it will. I've called in an airstrike."
Rae arched an eyebrow. "Well, then you'd better hope those Wolves stand still."
"Oh, they will. They won't forsake a position as defendable as that valley without good reason."
Rae brought her scanner back up, zooming in on the Wolves. "Ah." She nodded, seeing what Petra meant. "Yep... Blocked the approaches, covered all their sight lines… I couldn't've done it better myself."
"Exactly," said Petra smugly, "It would be suicide to attack their position. Hence, the airstrike."
Rae couldn't lie, she saw the genius behind the plan. The Wolves would never see it coming. Still, she was bored, so she decided to prolong the conversation. "What about the Crows?"
Petra shook her head. "Even with their support, it wouldn't work. We may end up capturing the Wolves, but too many lives would be wasted. Calling them in is foolish." Rae nodded, agreeing with the assessment. A soft beeping sounded and Petra turned aside. "It's almost time."
Rae grunted noncommittally and turned back to her scanner. The Wolves hadn't moved from their position, but she saw something else beyond the valley that caused her to elbow Petra. "What?"
"Guardians."
"What." Petra grabbed the scanner and held it up. It didn't take her long to find what Rae had been looking at. The other Corsair scoffed and handed it back. "They won't come into range."
"You sure about that? They look pretty close to being 'in range' to me." She looked through the scanner again. "I see...nine Guardians. That's three of their strike teams."
"So?"
"So that's a lot of collateral damage if they get too close."
"They won't. It's obvious the Wolves have that valley locked down. Even City people could see that."
Rae lowered the scanner, shrugging. "Guess so... It's gonna be on your head if this goes south, though."
"It won't." Petra turned to speak into her comm. "Commence with the strike."
A few moments later, Rae heard the roaring sound of a ship speeding overhead, its engines splitting the chilly air. She aimed her scanner at the valley, watching as the fighter wing approached, and saw that the plan was about to go terribly wrong. The Guardians were too close. She opened her mouth to tell Petra to call off the airstrike, but she was too late. The ship's blast was devastating and precise. The Wolves were ripped apart in a millisecond, along with the Guardians and Ghosts. All gone in one fell swoop. As the ship sped off, she was able to catch the insignia stamped on the left wing. Prince Uldren. She let the scanner fall away from her face as she turned to face Petra, who looked very satisfied with herself.
"That puts an end to the Wolf Rebellion."
"Yeah, and any hope of a good relationship with the City. Nine Guardians, Petra. Nine."
Petra bit her lip, finally looking abashed. "They...didn't make it?"
"Nope. You got their Ghosts too... The Queen's not gonna let this one go."
Petra closed her eye, a look of pain on her face. "I know. And I deserve anything coming to me. I knew what I was risking… But you need to go."
"Excuse me?"
"Leave now. If they find you with me, they'll know you had the chance to stop me. I won't drag you down with me. It was my decision. I will pay the price."
"But Uldren was a part of it too. The Queen can't condemn you without condemning her own brother."
Petra shook her head. "Uldren is cunning enough to make sure he wouldn't be landed with the blame if things went sideways."
Rae scoffed. "Some genius he is. I saw his ship and don't tell me it wasn't!"
"He may have lead the attack, but the order was mine. And that is how the Queen will judge it. It's deserved. Now get out of here."
Rae glared. "Fine. If that's what you want, then fine." She spun on her heel and stormed off toward her ship, not looking back once.
The retribution was swift and uncompromising. In the face of the deteriorating relations between Earth and the Reef, Petra was demoted to Emissary and exiled to the Last City. As far as Rae knew, Uldren was not punished for his involvement in the strike and due to Petra's actions, she too was spared. Things between the Reef and the City remained tense for a long time afterward, even if that tension lessened slightly with the passing of time.
One day, Rae heard from a fellow Corsair that a Ghost had been sent to the Reef, bearing a message of appreciation for the Awoken's role in stopping the Wolves from reaching Earth, along with their subsequent engagement in the Reef Wars. She was more than a bit curious, having never seen a Ghost up close, so she decided to wander around the Outpost to see if she could potentially meet it.
About a half an hour later, her efforts paid off as she suddenly came face to face with the small hovering bot. Its shell was pitch black and its blue eye glowed as it looked at her. "Huh," she said, "You're not that impressive. You're just a floating ball."
She was a bit surprised when the Ghost responded in a male voice that matched her sarcasm. "Well, you're not all that either. How do you not scare yourself when you look in a mirror?"
Rae narrowed her eyes at it. "...Damnit, I sort of like you."
"I win people over like that. Although...you're not the most annoying person I've met."
Rae rolled her eyes. "Gee thanks."
"And you have a surprising amount of Light in your soul..."
Rae frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The Ghost chuckled. "Wait and see." She watched as its shell seemed to expand, revealing a glowing orb. The Ghost pulsed brighter and brighter until she was forced to look away. She felt a strange warmth slowly fill her as a new power seemed to course through her body. Then all at once, the glow dimmed and the Ghost closed its shell.
Rae blinked the spots from her eyes and glared at it. "What the hell was that?"
"That was me choosing you as a Guardian," said the Ghost smugly, "It doesn't usually happen to not-dead people."
"I'm honored." Her tone conveyed that she was anything but.
"This is gonna be fun," said the Ghost, still sounding self-satisfied, "What's your name?"
"Raedryon Korrin. But you'd better call me Rae unless you wanna be turned into scrap metal."
"Well then, Rae Korrin… welcome to the Guardians."
A/N: I DID IT! Seven oneshots baby! This last one was interesting to write. I hope y'all liked it. Now that they're done with, all you have left to wait for is the third Chasing Fate. I'll get to shoutouts in a minute, but first, I have a few things that might interest you guys.
1) The Reef Wars stuff in this story is all canon. So is Petra's strike against the Wolves, which I mentioned briefly in the first story.
2) This line: 'They won't forsake a position as good as that valley without good reason.' The word 'forsake' is deliberately referencing Forsaken.
3) This more relates to the story coming after story 3, Bloodbound, but in my mind, Cayde's Ghost is female and in the story, I named her Pip, which refers to the suit symbol on a card.
4) UPCOMING STORY ORDER! Here it is, folks (currently planned, that is):
- Story 3
- Bloodbound
- Bloodbound's twin story, Stolen Fate
- Story 4 (Destiny 2)
- Story 5 (Cure of Osiris)
- Story 6 (Saint-14)
- Story 7 (Forsaken(?))
Anyway, that's all for now. Acknowledgment time! Many thanks to both African Ruffle and Delta prime2 for the favorites! I hope to see you both in future stories!
For content between my stories, don't hesitate to follow me on Twitter: ArcaneGlitch. I post about Destiny, writing, and occasionally digital art pieces I create. Until story 3!
- TheWolfParadox