Another day, another chapter. Thanks to Withengar and Yolo Right for the follow you guys are awesome! Please drop a review if you like this or have anything positive (or negative) to say about this latest chapter and enjoy.
Chapter Two
Two Days after the Titan, Jacob, had rescued her from the wreck of a Fallen Ketch, a Consensus was called, a gathering of the Towers most prominent orders and factions met to discuss what the she had found in deepest reaches of space. What Keera had found had gotten every faction interested, and rightly so. She had found a lost human space-ship from the Golden Age. Intact and untouched by the Darkness and its followers.
During the initial talks everyone made it clear what they'd want to do with the ship. The Warlocks wanted it to study the weaponry and technology, hopefully the study would lead to them being able to replicate the technology, the Titan's push forward with an argument that the ship should be stripped down and its weapons and materials be added to the Wall.
New Monarchy had surprised everyone by keeping their motives to themselves during the Consensus only adding their voice to stop the bickering between factions. The Future War Cult left midway through the Consensus saying that the ship was of no interest to them. Dead Orbit tried to cement their claim to the ship, saying that one of their own discovered it there for it is their property.
Hours were wasted and no one could agree on how to handle the situation. Dead Orbit stood firmly on their claim to the ship, while the Warlock Orders countered them saying that the ship belongs to all and it needed to be studied. New Monarchy called out Dead Orbit, saying that the discovery was made illegally by the faction, to which Dead Orbit denied, contentiously.
It was all pointless. The ship was out there and it belonged to Dead Orbit.
In the end The Speaker was forced to convene the Consensus after a full scale argument broke out between Dead Orbit and the representative of the Warlock Orders. New Monarchy showed their hand at this point, using this to prove that the Consensus was flawed, and pushed forwards the abolishment of the Consensus, sparking another row between representatives.
The need for such a Consensus was ebbing away, no one would form a consensus at all. The factions were out for their own ends, they each had their own agenda that conflicted with another factions plan.
New Monarchy was right to be dissatisfied about the factionalism within the City, Keera shared that dissatisfaction not that she would admit it in public.
After the Consensus was over talk about the ship quickly spread between the Towers Guardians. Commander Zavala ordered that all information about the discovery of the ship be suppressed, no Guardian was allowed to talk about it in the Tower.
That pissed off Keera.
The ship was the salvation of all those who lived in the City. The galaxy was a big place, planets untouched by the Darkness, a safe world existed out there and the ship she discovered would lead them all there. No one could agree on who owned the ship, and no one could agree on what was to be done with her, so the Vanguard placed her in her apartment under guard.
In her apartment she looked over old documents and schematics hoping to find the hidden clue to the origins of the ship. The ships name was Convergence. It was larger than any Ketch or pre-Golden Age ship she'd seen in the archives. According to her Ghost initially readings Convergences power was still partially active.
Her Ghost.
In all the excitement she'd forgotten that her Ghost had gone missing.
Her memory of being on the Ketch was fuzzy, but she did remember her Ghost saying something before the crash. "Goodbye, Guardian."
What did that mean? Was it dead? If it wasn't where is it now?
She'd hoped to gain permission from Dead Orbit to go looking for her Ghost, but she'd fallen from their good graces. She was supposed to transmit an encrypted message to them on any discovery she had made. Instead she told them over an unsecure channel.
Her own ship was lost somewhere in space and the Vanguard had assigned two watchers to make sure she didn't leave the confines of her apartment complex.
She felt like a prisoner. She was a prisoner. But she was also valuable. She alone knew the location of the ship, the Vanguard had confined her to keep her away from the other factions so they wouldn't be able to manipulate her or bribe her. They wanted her to tell everyone its location.
Dead Orbit had broken communication with her. That meant that they'd severed all ties with her. They could have used what political clout they had to have her released from custody but they didn't. She tried sending encoded messages but she had no response. The silence from them only made her isolation from them that more unbearable.
It pissed her off greatly that they left her here at the Vanguards mercy.
Dead Orbit was a secretive faction, even to those who followed them. It was – among other things – what made the other factions mistrust them so. Locked away, looking through old documents from the Golden Age, she felt like she had been thrown to the wolves.
She came to understand why Dead Orbit had severed their ties with her.
Her discovery had tipped the peace within the Tower many Guardians that supported any of the three factions normally would have kept their own opinion to themselves, but now they were arguing amongst each other. It was quickly spiraling out of control. Crucible matches became battle grounds for faction wars amongst Guardians.
It was amazing how quickly chaos sewed itself within their ranks. Keera felt some regret over her part in causing such chaos.
She had no time for regret, she had to find more information on Convergence.
A week after her discovery she was still stuck in her apartment with the occasional visitor, friends from the Warlock Order, who used their connections to gather what information they had on pre-Golden Age ship and schematics for her.
She pawed over every schematic, every ship name in the resister. She couldn't find any records of Convergence anywhere. It's like the ship didn't even exist.
Keera yawned loudly, sat up and stretched.
She looked out the window of her apartment, the sun was beginning to set. How long have I been at this? Hours? She thought looking at the papers and datapads scattered across her desk.
Outside her window The Traveler hovered as it always had done, over the City, protecting all those who lived underneath it. The celestial body was damaged from the Darkness from when it sacrificed itself during the Collapse to save humanity from being wiped out. The survivors grew up in the shadow of its protection were safe from the Darkness, then the Titan's built the Wall to surrounded the City and protect the City from the wilderness beyond. The City was safe, it allowed humanity to survive and strive.
But Keera never felt safe.
Since her revival by her Ghost she always felt a looming sense of dreed whenever she was near the Traveler, she couldn't explain it, but she felt like if humanity keep clinging to the Traveler all those underneath its shadow will die.
She returned to her desk, fighting the urge to sleep. She had yet to find anything relating to Convergence. There has to be something, she thought. There had to be a record of the ship someplace.
Keera sighed, her body was giving into to the lack of sleep. Defeated by sleep? That's a first. She listlessly crossed the apartment to her bed. She dropped onto the bed and as the comforting embrace of the bed greeted her, she'd fallen asleep.
She awoke late into the night, she had a nightmare but quickly had forgotten what it was about. The nightmare had left her feeling hollow, empty. Shaking her head she made her way to sink to splash water over her face. The water was cold making her shiver, she reached for a towel and wiped her face.
A buzzing from the door made her jump slightly, she was not expecting anyone, especially at this time. Hurriedly, she put on some clothes, a tawny coloured workers jacket over her tank-top and some jeans, not the most fashionable of clothes, but they would do.
She pressed the button next to the door to see who was outside. When the screen came to life she was surprise to see Arach Jalaal, Dead Orbits representative and the one who recruited her into the faction. He was an Awoken, like her, many of Dead Orbits Arach were Awoken.
Jalaal didn't look pleased, two Titans were at his flank, neither of them were Dead Orbit supporters. She opened the door, and Arach quickly, and without hesitation, stepped in.
"Don't take too long." Warned one of the Titans as they took their place either side of the door.
The anger on his face was plain for anyone to see. Keera found herself flinching waiting for him to raise his voice.
"Do you know how much trouble you've caused? How much Glimmer Dead Orbit expended just to get me this meeting?" It had begun,
"I am sorry, but without my Gho-"
He cut her off with a raised finger. Jalaal paced for a moment and sat down on her desk chair. "That ship is ours by rights. But we went behind New Monarchy's back to sanction your expedition to Venus. Since the convening of the Consensus they've been using all their political might to keep us from leaving Earth. They believe that you've already given us the coordinates for the ship. Which you haven't."
"I will only give them when the ship is legally ours. We already have enough problems with how we conduct ourselves in regards of our encrypted missions." She replied, tapping her fingers against her arms.
"That's been your problem. Legality. Do you really believe the City has survived the centuries by following a law book? No, sacrifices were made to ensure the survival of this pitiful city. We will not wait for some bureaucrat to say when we can have the ship! We shall take it with or without your help." The Arachs have no time for sentiment in their eyes legality be dammed, according them, New Monarchy's "legal system" only hindered Dead Orbits search for Golden Age vaults and technology.
Though, Keera had encountered a few of these hindrances while scavenging through the ruins of Golden Age cities, mainly what tech could be taken and scanned. Markers would be placed at the site of interesting finds so that either the Vanguard could retrieve in in the future or another one of the faction. She didn't like it, it did hinder Dead Orbits efforts. If they could take what they wanted Dead Orbit would have a fleet by now.
"So you intend to find the ship without me?" Keera asked indignantly
"You always lacked a certain, temerity during your missions for Dead Orbit. The rest of the Arachs believe that you do not fully believe in our cause. I defended you for years, and now you show them to be right about you. I cannot defend you if you do not help us!"
Jalaal's mind was a veritable maze of the inner workings of the political battlefield that was the Towers factions. If anyone could navigate through the political landmines with the other factions and from within his own faction and come out the other side it was Jalaal. But now that the other Arachs were putting the pressure on him he was in no mood to expend the effort to help her out. They'd backed him into a corner, he never liked being backed into a corner.
Keera felt a bit sorry for him, but only a little.
"What will Dead Orbit do with the ship? I want the truth Jalaal or you'll never get your greedy hands on those coordinates." Keera demanded.
"I was wrong about you." He said, his voice shaking with anger. "You are abysmally foolish. You already know what we'll do with that ship. Leave the Earth and its Traveler behind and seek out a new world away from the Darkness."
Jalaal stood up and strode sharply towards the door. "I had such high hopes for you, Keera. I hoped that you'd be a champion of Dead Orbit. You doubt us, we cannot have you in our faction anymore. There is no room to doubt. We can find Convergence without your help. We have already found your ship, the Little Light."
"Wait, you've found my ship? Where?" asked Keera, aghast.
"You don't need to know. You are no longer a member of Dead Orbit, we shall do what we want with our ship." Jalaal opened the door and stepped out, the two Titans flocked to his side and guided him away. Keera stood in her apartment unsure of what had transpired.
It was clear to her now that Jalaal was here to confirm her loyalty to Dead Orbit, and she had failed to pass his test. If she'd given him the coordinates to the ship she would still be a part of Dead Orbit. It was too late now, trapped in her apartment she couldn't give chase to Jalaal, not that she was in the mood to anyways.
As she was no longer a member of Dead Orbit, she lost access to her contacts within, though she speculated a few that owed her a favour or two would help only once. Though she sometimes didn't agree with what Dead Orbit had done she did believe that humanity needed to leave Earth. She believed that more than anything.
Now she was alone.
Ghost, were are you?
#
Executor Hideo sat in his office reviewing a particular bounty report. A group of Guardians had defeated the Fallen forces that had been committed to occupying the Skywatch at the Cosmodrone in Old Russia. He was pleased, with a few taps onto his computer he had sent a reasonably sum of Glimmer to each of the Guardians accounts. He was pleased with himself.
He'd out maneuvered Arach Jalaal.
The Lunar Complex held the information that New Monarchy sought.
The location of Convergence.
He had some of Cryptarchs who owed New Monarchy come through the data of the recently discovered Archives on Venus under the Ishtar Academy.
He relaxed back into his chair reviling in his victory. There was data on Convergence in the archives, it was a joint effort between the Ishtar Collective and another group to build a massive ship with the latest technology of the time. The data was still being decrypted though, info was sketchy on what it was built for and why. The size of the vessel was immense. Bigger than any colony ship that was built during the Golden Age.
And to add to his victory the destination of the ship was logged on a terminal in a hidden bunker under the Lunar Complex. Once he secured access to the hidden bunker New Monarchy would learn of the ships location.
Once a monarchy was established, Convergence would be the first ship in the monarchy's fleet. New Monarchy would lead the City and the Guardians against the coming Darkness and win.
Hideo owed it to the City to help defeat the Darkness. He spend too much time wasting away his money in his youth. When he realized he could do more at New Monarchy than he could ever do in the streets of the City, so he jumped at the chance to join when the time came. In the years since joining he'd helped expand New Monarchy, he felt like he was making a difference, something that mattered.
A buzzing made him sit back up.
"Executor Hideo, the Guardian you requested an audience with has arrived." A female voice spoke.
Hideo pushed a button on his intercom. "Send him in."
His plasteel doors slid open in a blink of an eye, A Titan with white Vanir armour stepped into the room and stood at attention as the doors behind him slid closed. Hideo was pleased that the Guardian had accepted his invitation.
"It's been a long time, Jacob. We have much to discuss." Hideo smiled, clasping his hands together.