Sup! Here's chapter 2! Hope ya'll like it. A few concerns popped up for me however, regarding the scale and size of the population of the Last City. Obviously I wouldn't know how to scale a prison population to an unknown population so from what I've seen from the size of the Last City... let's say around maybe a million people? The only country I was able to find that had a population anywhere near that much was Cyprus so I kinda based the City's prison pop to theirs. Which is really low to be honest. Well for an American like me it is. Haha... well regardless please enjoy! Or not. And write about how I wasted your time ( I promise more action will be on the way be kind to me).

Once again I don't have anything worthwhile to my name, not Destiny or Gate Jieitai

"Zavala hey, sorry I missed your calls I was enjoying some ramen, let me take you out sometime it's great stuff let me tell you..." Zavala cuts him short.

"Cayde you are a Vanguard Representative to the Hunter Class and I need you available at all times for moments exactly like this! Please take your duties seriously!"

"Relax Zavala I'm doing very responsible things right now. Like skinning this fucking dragon I just took down so that people won't cut themselves on it, the scales are so sharp and shiny." Cayde-6 said dismissively.

"Dragon?! Those must've been the flying targets we heard from the FOTC men near Ground Zero." Zavala pondered for a moment.

"Cayde, are you positive it's not an Ahamkara?" Ikora chimed in.

"No, Ahamkara's are covered in feathers and are smart enough to avoid having their brains blown out in the first 5 minutes of combat. This thing looks like a crocodile with wings except you know, larger scales, larger teeth and larger claws. They also seem to have riders, like horse riders. Except dragon riders." Cayde-6 replied back still cutting through the tough dragonhide. This'll make some sweet light armor.

"Regardless, Cayde, we need you here so that we may discuss this matter further, I've already sent the appropriate amount of reinforcement. Come back to the tower."

Cayde sighed, "Alright Zavala I'll be there in a second."

"Good," Zavala answered and closed the line.

Cayde looked around him. The FOTC foot soldiers around him started to move against the current of the evacuating people below. There wasn't as many people as there were earlier, it was startling to slow down, trickle. Then, it came. Soldiers in full roman armor regalia on foot or on horse began charging, coming from around the corner. The FOTC did their best with suppression fire and they did a pretty decent job at holding down the line, but there were too many coming their way and they were closing the gap fast.

A young FOTC soldier, barely old enough to shave his face was wrestling with his jammed rifle. That was enough to give the enemy an opening and a lone soldier rushed through the hail of bullets with an almost religious zeal screaming at the top of his voice.

Oh no thought Cayde-6, he was halfway through with drawing his gun when another man seemly coming from nowhere tackled the enemy soldier to the ground and in one swift move disarmed him and stabbed him right in the chest with his own weapon. Cayde-6 look on with wide eyes. Huh, Cayde mused to himself, The FOTC aren't as green as I thought.

A few blocks away from Tony's Ramen Shop at the the only convention center in the City

All that Itami Youji wanted was to go to the comic book fair and buy his favorite books. In these troubling times it's best not to think too much about the news and about the rumors. Comic books and various forms of literature of the same nature were something that provided a much needed distraction from the troubling woes of the world. Worlds? City? Well, no matter who's woes, Itami was sure as hell not getting his comics, all thanks to these renaissance assholes.

Everyone in the building was instructed to leave and to drop everything. Itami wasn't even a foot inside the door when everyone was already shoving their way out. He was heading toward downtown, away from the Core when he saw some of his fellow comrades from the FOTC in full on gear.

Something big is going on, should I go and help? Itami groaned. He hated work and would avoid it whenever he could, but he also hated being yelled at by his superiors. He looked above at the God in a coma.

Traveler, give me the strength of a Titan. He made the decision to head toward HQ. Up ahead he saw another fellow soldier, but with a distinct look in his eyes, as if he was frozen in the moment, Itami looked to where the FOTC grunt was looking at, a Gate soldier rushing towards him with an iron sword.

Move you fool! You got a gun, he has a sword! Itami ran with all his might and rammed the soldier to the ground. What happened next was the culmination of years of extreme training under the very strict and watchful eye of his drill sergeant. In less than 30 seconds it was over. Itami had twisted the sword out of the soldier's hands and plunged it right into his heart. Itami looked up to the still wide eyed soldier.

"Are you alright? You gotta be more careful, this isn't training anymore. You really could've died." Itami said in a stern voice.

Before the young soldier was able to answer a blue figure popped up next to them. "Well I wouldn't be too sure about that, I was watching from up top of that building. Oh and by the way, nice tackle. That would've made any Titan proud the way you took down this goof." Cayde-6 said pointing towards the dead foreign soldier.

Itami looked to where the voice was and his eyes widened. Cayde-6 Hunter Representative of the Vanguard was standing right infront of him. Itami was about to speak, but Cayde-6 raised a single finger and materialized an auto rifle in his other hand.

"Take this rifle and kill any son of a bitch that dares raise their hand against the City, help secure and protect the people, understood?" Itami took the weapon and looked Cayde right in his glowing blue eyes and gave a quick nod.

"Good, I got business to take care of, and you!" Cayde-6 pointed to the young lad still sitting on his ass on the road. "Greeny, close your mouth, flies and all kinds of nasty things like to find their way in there." The young boy gave quick rapid nods, as he was too tongue tied to say anything.

"We need help over here!" 3 FOTC soldiers were killing every enemy soldier or otherworldly creature that was coming down the street, but it wasn't enough, they were pouring out in larger numbers and they weren't able to keep up. Cayde- 6 looked to his back, coming from the opposite way was re-enforcement, More FOTC soldiers, battle frames and a few Guardians were making their way up the street.

Itami yelled to the soldiers, "Back up coming behind us, friendlies on their way!" A few cheers were heard as the soldiers retreated back a few steps to their fellow soldiers and lined up against the street.

"Ghost, get me my ship, this section is in safe hands. The City's finest can take it from here." A wave of cheers were given by the soldiers, eager to live up to Cayde-6's words. Cayde-6 gave a final approving nod to Itami before disappearing into his ship.

In the Hall of the Guardians

The FOTC is the only non-Guardian force in the city. They do everything that didn't need the overwhelming strength of a Guardian. They help out Titans defend the wall, act as the City's police force, taking care of small time criminals and ruffians within the walls. Although they might not see action outside the walls, every FOTC officer is trained like a soldier ready for war, ever since the Battle of Twilight Gap, which proved that Guardians and frames simply weren't enough, if the Reef didn't stop the House of Wolves from reaching The Last City, she would've surely Fallen. Lord Shaxx was the first to call for a more militarized FOTC and to do so he called upon veteran Guardians to help shape up a new generation of FOTC soldiers. It became popular for FOTC soldiers to brag about which Guardian was their drill sergeant.

General Hazama looked around the Hall of the Guardians. He was called upon by the Vanguard Representatives, seeing that it was his men who first reported the enemy in the center of the City, and it was mostly his men helping out with evacuation and defense. He smiled to himself, Can't let the Guardians have all the glory, got to leave some for us simple mortal men too.

"General Hazama, can you cross reference these reports?", it was a calm collected female voice, something that helped put the mind at ease in the midst of the chaos outside.

"Yes Representative Ikora, these reports from your Guardians match these from my men, all the main streets from the center are being effectively blocked off by FOTC, frames, and various the scattered Guardians. Unfortunately, some of the enemy forces are making their way through the small obscure narrow streets, but my men are doing the best they can doing clean up. As of right now we're rather thinned out. I've already sent the order for all FOTC on rest to suit up, so back up should be on the way."

Zavala nodded, "Indeed, a shame that these... otherworlders caught us off guard, and in the middle of our war with the Taken, but we can't afford to call back Guardians back from hunting down those abominations."

"Not unless we want their forces to grow, for every one Taken destroyed, Oryx replaces with two. The best we can do now is simply slow them down," a dark ominous voice came from the corner, a single glowing green orb growing closer, as a feminine figure stepped into the artificial light hanging above.

General Hazama had an...uneasy feeling about the woman approaching the table . Her eyes were bandaged up with black...tears? Pouring down from underneath.

Hazama swallowed, "I understand the difficult situation Ms. Morn, you don't have to tell me."

Hazama, being a high ranking military official despite not being a Guardian, was allowed full access to all reports Guardians bring in from beyond the walls. That's how he learned of the Taken threat. After reading the reports he would wake up from time to time with cold sweats after having nightmares of being Taken. Hazama tried to lighten the mood.

"Reminds me of the rabbit problem old Earth use to have before it all went down." Hazama said with a light chuckle.

There were plenty of documentaries and films that survived the collapse, and Hazama likes to consider himself a history buff thanks to them.

Eris Morn face curled, "rabbits? How could rabbits have anything to do with the serious and grave threat that Oryx and his Taken army pose?"

Hazama shifted his weight nervously, " Well, before the Traveler arrived, Old Australia had an out of control problem with an invasive species known as rabbits, rabbits, I...I don't know if you know, breed rapidly and plentifully and at an incredible pace and ate a lot of the local flora and farmed vegetables. So much so that they almost destroyed the very delicate balance in the eco system if it wasn't for serious and drastic measures being put into place, very much so with the problem we're facing right now."

Eris paused for a moment, "yes, I guess you could say that, after all in the end it is a nasty vermin problem we're facing."

"Score one for Eris, creeping out our young General so early in the day, bravo!" Cayde-6 comes down the stairs and walks toward his side of the table. "Alright, tell me what we're up against, give me some names, numbers. What's the plan?"

Zavala looked at him, "you're late, but I've gotten word from our general here that you helped with suppression fire up north of center until backup arrived, good work."

"Ha, well well, getting praises from Zavala? I'm starting to like you General," Cayde-6 said cheerfully.

Zavala merely coughed getting everyone's attention, "now we can start this meeting in earnest. There is still much we do not know of our enemy, but we do know they are severely less advanced than we are. General Hazama will fill us all with what his men are reporting in. General Hazama if you'd please."

General Hazama moved to the front of the table, "thank you Commander, from the various reports brought in by the Guardians close to the gate at the moment of the breach, we now know the enemy pouring from the wound at the very center of the Core are human and appear to possess the technological level of the Pre-Golden age era that was referred to as the Medieval age. They do not possess firearms, vehicles or even basic long distance communication. They rely on horses and carriages for transportation and their steel plate armor is no match for even the weakest firearm. Their long distance weapon however, the bow and arrow, has proven to be somewhat of a challenge, and is very dangerous and deadly against unarmed civilians. Regardless of our efforts to evacuate the Center, we were not able to save everyone. Estimates of civilian casualties are to be around 200-300. We have not received word of any FOTC casualties, but plenty of injured. The only advantage this opposing army has is their numbers, which continous to grow as more pour out from the gate."

There was a pause, 200-300 civilians dead? There hasn't been that many innocents taken since the Fallen Invasion.

Arach Jalaal was the first to speak up. "We must leave here! If an enemy force this weak can slip by and attack us at our very heart, how long till a stronger and more capable army does the same?!"

Ikora was the one to address Jalaal, "the Guardians and the FOTC are handling this, and the Warlocks already have plans to study the Gate to better understand how it works. Whatever threat the City faces we will deal with it."

Executive Hideo also spoke up, "don't try to use the dead to promote your faction Jalaal, don't disrespect them like that. I won't stand for it!"

Jalaal looked to him with venom in his eyes, " we wouldn't have any dead if you all would've just listened to us. We could have devoted the entirety of the City's resources to a large grand fleet so that we could've finally left this... Dead Orbit."

Hideo started again, "and how many would have died fleeing? That is the talk of cowards and I'll be...!" At that moment Lakshmi-2 stopped Executive Hideo in the right middle of his rant.

"Gentlemen, war and death are a constant in all timelines, in all universes. They follow wherever you go. It is not something that can be out runned. For now let us focus at the battle in front of us, and the war that will surely come from it." Lakshmi-2 said with a nod.

General Hazama spoke once more. This was no time for bickering. "Regardless for right now, like Commander Zavala said earlier, we should focus on directing the boots on the ground."

General Hazama motioned to the Hologram map. "May I?"

Ikora nodded, "it's all yours General."

"Wait hold on this is my map," Cayde-6 protested. "On that note, go ahead young General!"

I'm not that young, the general thought to himself. But compared to a good majority of the people within the room he might as well be a child.

Ikora merely rolled her eyes. "This is no time to be playing power games, Cayde."

"I'm not playing games. This is my map. My map. I say who gets to use it and I say the General may use my map." Cayde-6 emphasizing by placing a single finger on the table.

"Well, uh, thank you Representative Cayde-6," general Hazama begins to move around the hologram and placing points in various sections and highlighting different districts.

"Right here, in this red zone is where the main forces of the enemy is. It's a large wide circle coming all the way from the very Core of the City to here," Hazama pointed towards where the red circle ends, "encompassing everything in between. We had a few FOTC soldiers and a few Guardians here before the breach, but we didn't know what exactly what we were preparing for. Live and painfully learn as my father would say... this yellow zone," Hazama now pointing towards a marginally thinner outer yellow circle surrounding the inner red circle, "is where our forces meets theirs. The good news is that with every new wave of reinforcement we are able to push back the red zone and the yellow zone and therefore increasing the green 'safe' area."

Cayde-6 noticed something weird about the map. Small flashing red dots popping in and out around the yellow and near the edge of the green zones. "What are these red dots, boss?"

Zavala flashed him a look, "please address the general by his proper rank, Cayde."

"It's quite alright Commander. The red are the flying targets, from what I've heard you've already had a bit of a run in with them, yes? They are being sensor monitored. Anything not marked as a City ship flying within the City is marked red. Turns out those 'dragons' are large enough to trip the sensors. The reason why they're blinking is because they're being shot down. Most likely by the Guardian squad sent out by Zavala before you came or by the City's own anti aircraft defense system."

Before anyone could ask another question a bespectacled man came through and whispered something to the general and handed him over a glass tablet. Hazama nodded, "thank you lieutenant Yanagida."

Commander Zavala spoke up, "more intel?"

General Hazama nodded and placed the glass tablet on a docking station and pulled up several bipedal humanoid holograms.

"More information on the enemy, it seems to be an army mixed with various different intelligent species. These creatures range from half the size of an average human male to approximately the size of a Cabal centurion, maybe even as big as a Vex minotaur." General Hazama stared at the images in front of him and it vaguely reminded him of something...

"Those look a lot like ogres, orcs and goblins," Cayde-6 blurted out.

"Ogres don't have 'eyes', and don't wear a loincloth. I also don't see a Vex goblin in this line up either," Ikora affirmed.

"No no no that's not what I meant! General, you're with me right? Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Anyone? Those Pre-Golden Age films and literature we all probably saw and read? We call our enemies after things we use to fear. The Hive don't call the Ogres 'Ogres' and the Vex probably don't even have names for their little robot soldiers, but we call them 'Goblins', 'Hobgoblins' and 'Minotaurs' after monsters of our ancient mythos. Well, here they are! The original goblins, hobgoblins and ogres! This is vanilla DnD right here!" Cayde-6 exclaimed excitingly.

"Do you expect me to believe that Earth's ancient myths and legends are pouring into our City?" Zavala asked skeptically.

Ikora thought for a moment. "No he might be onto something."

"Thank you!" Cayde exclaimed.

Ikora continued, "that would explain their primitive weapons and the fact that they are human... what if early humans weren't simply creating stories to scare their children to go to bed? What if they were truly retelling the things they truly saw? Every story has a grain of truth after all. The gate obviously leads to somewhere not on Earth, no settlement could survive a Fallen attack with only swords and bows."

Zavala thought for a moment, "that would mean that a gate has already opened before in Earth's history. That would be plausible..." Zavala trailed off.

Ikora paced back and forth, "we simply do not have enough information." Ikora raised her eyes to meet the general's. "General Hazama, could you issue an order for your men to take prisoners? We will need as many as we can for interrogation. The more dressed up the better."

Commander Zavala turned towards Ikora, "prisoners? Do we even have enough space for prisoners?"

"Yeah, I'm wondering about that, too. Guardians aren't the one to take prisoners, the few they bring in always end up causing problems. Heh, remember when that one member of fireteam The Bad Guy Don't Care What We Call Ourselves brought in those 3 Cabal soldiers?" Cayde-6 reminisced.

"Right now the prisons are rather empty, we could possibly stuff around 8,100 prisoners of the 9,000 cells we have." General Hazama confirmed. Thanks to the high level of education provided by the City, crime rates are rather low even in the poorest areas. It also helps to spread the rumor that thieves are automatically kick out into the wild beyond the safety of the wall. That's not to say crimes don't happen, the occasional domestic violence, murders and pickpocketing are rare, but not outside the realm of possibility. Even when there are so few of us, thought Hazama.

"4,000 will do," Ikora confirmed.

General Hazama nodded. "Lieutenant Yanagida, give out the order to all FOTC soldiers to take as many prisoners, and in pristine condition if possible."

"Yes sir," Lieutenant Yanagida said with a salute and began issuing orders into the mic on his shirt.

Ikora began to do the same and asked her Ghost to send the message to all Guardians in the City.

Zavala walked away from the table and looked out the window. This war will be different from the one he's fought in. There was no discussing with the Fallen, Hive, Vex or even the Cabal. These were humans, people. Would he be able to broker for peace? As much as he wanted justice for the innocent lost he would rather have this end quickly so that he could devote himself to the real threat that looms within the rings of Saturn. Oryx must be dealt with quickly. We do not have the luxury of time or distractions. Perhaps with the help of the young general the burden could be shared.

Lord Shaxx is right, we need more leadership in the non-Guardian population. Zavala looked backed to Hazama sending out orders and monitoring the defense lines. I hope the fires of this ordeal temper you, so that you will be able to help forge a new age of warriors.