It was just a day in the Tower.

Just another day humanity was huddling underneath it's broken god and behind its walls of Guardians. It was not the current turn on the sun though, no this was before Cayde-6 had taken on the Vanguard Dare.

The younger Guardian was just exiting his ship after a very long scouting mission on the Moon. There had been strange happenings with the Hive hunkering down in the crevices of its dust. However that was the least thing on Cayde's mind. First he wanted to shower all of the dust from between his joints and get into a new set of clothes. Moon dirt was a lot more course than Earth's so it really grinded in his exposed gears. He'd been hearing that crinkle in his ears for days now and just wanted to get rid of it.

"Heads up!"

Cayde turned and caught a package just in time.

Tevis hopped down from his ship as it was swarmed by maintenance drones. His clothes were pale with silvery dust and Hive blood as well, "Take that to the Cryptarchy for me?"

The Exo promptly threw the bag back, "Why, so you can get a shower first? No no my friend, not likely." He grunted when the bag was tossed back into his face, "No, because I know he's the first person you meet when you get back with a haul. The Vanguard needs those Hive runes decrypted."

"Fine, but you get to do the report."

Tevis did a little salute on his way down the hall out of the ship yard. This particular tower was still partly under construction so several floors were still empty of tenants. A lot of the Guardians were housed amidst the people themselves but Cayde wasn't very good with sharing, so he'd quickly taken up residence at the base of the Tower like some. At least the elevator worked.

Engrams and runes dropped off, refreshed and cleansed of celestial dust, the sun was just beginning to dip low on the horizon. Cayde wasn't going to sleep for a while yet since the days were not standard on the Moon. He sat in the main courtyard with a cup of his favorite drink and simply watched the activity in the tower wind down, the night shift workers were starting to file in and exchange details for the work to be done.

He saw out of the corner of his eye a familiar cloak wisp its way across the concrete floor toward him.

"Boy you don't waste any time." Cayde muttered as he took another sip of his drink, "Can't even be here a day without you giving me something to do."

Andal Brask, the current Hunter Vanguard chuckled, "It's because I know you would get bored sitting too long between missions."

The Exo rolled his eyes but didn't disagree, "So what muddy hole are you gonna send me into time? Can it not be the Hive this time? They're the hardest to get out of your armor when they explode. Plus they smell fishy."

Andal cocked a smile, "I think you'll appreciate the fact that you don't even have to leave Earth for this one... At least not yet." He motioned for Cayde to follow before gliding back toward the hall that would eventually be the Vanguard's main meeting place. Cayde gulped down the last of his drink before tossing it over the railing.

Upon entering the makeshift meeting room he was greeted with a peculiar sight. They did not glow like a Guardian even though their eyes smoldered in the dim light. With a human shape, but the heaviness of the shadows on their shoulders. It was a small group of Awoken that stood before them, all dressed in scholarly attire. One stood apart from them, talking quietly with the Speaker. He could tell from years of being around his fully organic friends that she was easy on the eyes, soft features against Raven black hair. Green eyes, not a color that was very common anymore, and a small tattoo around her eyes just dark enough to see, if she did wear make-up he couldn't tell, not that it mattered to him. Her gray skin shimmered like the silver beneath ocean waves.

This assumed leader was looking down at the Speaker's ghost who seemed happy to hover just above her palm while they talked. It's light refracted in her glimmering eyes as she saw only what Awoken could see. Whatever that was.

"Ah, Cayde-6 welcome. Apologies for reassigning you so quickly." The Speaker said when he approached. He gestured to the female beside him, "This is Ellana, an Awoken scientist from the Reef."

"Pleasure to meet you." She smiled more with her eyes than her mouth.

Cayde raised an eye ridge, "Pleasure's all yours... What does the Queen want?"

Now she smirked with her lips, "This is not at her Majesty's bidding I'm afraid"

The Exo looked at Andal who continued with, "Ellana and her group have offered their knowledge and services in helping us to wake up the Traveler." He looked at his charge, "You and Tevis will escort them as they go about their business in the Cosmodrome."

"I didn't know Awoken needed baby sitting."

Ellana pushed off the Speaker's ghost who returned to the high priests' shoulder, "It's less that we need baby sitting and more... We are not familiar with the area. Some Awoken are old enough to remember being on Earth. We are not some of those people." She clasped her hands gently in front of her.

"So you're young punks." Cayde folded his arms.

"Not as... Full of life as you it seems." She winked at him. Cayde felt a twinge of annoyance.

The meeting went on long enough for Tevis to show up and get introduced. Ellana and her team seemed eager to get to work so they would leave at the end of the week once supplies and equipment were sorted out. It seemed despite Ellana's soft demeanor, her compatriots followed her word like she was a captain of a military squad. Cayde would've wondered why a good ol human mercenary guard wouldn't do but it seemed the group of Awoken wanted or perhaps needed, to go to certain areas that were just thick with either Fallen or Hive.

"What are they going after again?" Cayde asked as he walked to the ship yard to do final check ups.

"I got lost around when they started talking about different waves and such... I just understood that they can't be directly under the Traveler because despite its inert state... It's still pumping out too much power for some of the instruments to read accurately."

"Ah." The EXO grunted, baby sitting was not his idea of an exciting time, but this meant he could have the time to do other things... Like actually take time to practice sniping, it was difficult to just practice on a casual level when you were crawling through Luna's dust trying to find Hive.

Cayde's interactions with the Awoken had been limited to their planning sessions and they'd kept to themselves the rest of the time. Any questions directed at them were carefully pushed aside with well practiced words. The Awoken who decided to leave the Reef behind usually never went back, and they all seemed to have an unspoken agreement to never discuss their history with anyone.

The day arrived when they finally were ready to launch the expedition. It was early, the sun was barely starting to light the horizon. In the cool hours of pre-dawn it was the best time to launch the majority of ships, the air easier to climb until the ships could break orbit.

As they were doing final checks with the Shipwright, Cayde couldn't help but notice that Ellana was the only one of her group to not have some sort of weapon, not even a side arm.

"Ellana... What are you doing?"

"What?"

"Tell me you've got a gun somewhere on you."

The Awoken parted her coat to reveal none, "I'm confident you and Tevis will be enough for protection."

"Well sure but... We're not always going to be chasing your tail around every single moment of this mission."

"I will be fine without a fire arm." Ellana paused when he continued to just look at her like she was an inside out Vex, "Not all of us Awoken are 'space Pirates'... As you seem to like to call us." She quoted with her fingers. Cayde felt a twinge of embarrassment, the term had been in a conversation after one of their briefings, he hadn't realized she'd still been within ear shot.

"Who isn't armed to the teeth in this soar system... Why haven't you been killed already?"

"Yes, Cayde, why haven't I been killed already." she smiled pleasantly before entering her ship without another comment on the subject.

OOO

The bullet flew wide causing the side of the target to explode. Ella released the scout rifle ungracefully, sweat rolling down her forehead and her heart beating in her throat.

"You're predicting the sound of the shot, you need to breath before you put your finger on the trigger." The instructor said.

"I know!" Ella rubbed her face for a moment before staring helplessly down at the tool. Things had not stopped since she'd met the Vanguard. A series of tests had started and as the Hunter, Cayde had said, she'd revealed the most aptitude with the Warlocks. A majority of them were mostly researchers and scholars of information, but that information came at at the cost of going beyond the walls where the Hunters and Titans were the strongest. Yet Ella had seen Warlocks come back from the outside world and even in the Crucible arenas that simply dominated both mind and body.

"Take a break, Ella, nobody masters anything overnight."

Ella followed their instructions and put away the gun as she'd been shown. Outside of the shooting range she found a bench off in a quiet corner. The young Guardian observed the activity happening in the courtyard, several cliques laughing and swapping war stories or arena matches. She felt tears start to sting her eyes and quickly turned away from everyone, instead looking out over the City.

A flit of light appeared in the corner of her vision, "What's wrong, Ella?"

"Everyone seems to be better at this fighting thing than me..."

"That's not a terrible thing, knowledge is just as important as muscle." The Ghost watched as her new charge turned a shade darker and looked down at her hands, they seemed to be still shaking from trying to use the guns. Ghost didn't mention that she'd never seen a Guardian so nervous and worried before. The instincts the Traveler had them weave were to ensure confidence in any and everything.

Ella took a deep shaky breath, "Ok."

"Ok what?" The ghost floated after Ella as she got back up.

"I'm going to practice more before I go to Ikora's lesson."

The results after weren't much better, however the Guardian took her frustration out on her lessons as to try and control the Void. She'd learned a lot about the different elements they could potentially control. Yet the more time Ella spent in the libraries the more frustrated she became with the fact that she simply was just afraid of using guns. Anger started to flower in her mind as she struggled to figure out why she was afraid of something she knew wasn't going to get up and bite her... Short of the Crucible. Her performance there wasn't great and she had to put up with the disappointment of the Crucible Handler, while he was never rude he certainly didn't hide how he felt, especially when it came to Warlocks. Her ghost never said it, but Ella could tell the mechanical ball was at a slight loss at her ineptitude to fight.

Her bullet swung wide of the target again.

Ella took another shaky breath and aimed down the scope again, right when she squeezed the trigger her shoulders bunched up and her arm muscle twitched, causing her to jerk when the explosion of the bullet finally came. In a fit she slammed the gun down on the table in front of her and hid her face in her hands.

"It's not a shame to be bad at something."

Ella jumped at the new voice and turned to see a large black and white Exo with a star on one side of his cranium. She wondered how long he'd been standing there watching.

"I know it's not, that's not what's bugging me." She turned away from the Exo. Ella busied herself with reloading the clip. Her fingers slipped and she cut her hand.

She noticed the Exo was still standing there, a slightly amused look on his face, "Can I help you? Or are you going to just stand there and mock me." She could tell by the flag on his hip that he was a Titan.

"Sorry, I don't mean to imply that I'm mocking... Laughing at you yes... But not mocking."

"Then go away... Please." Ella held her ghost as she healed her cut.

"This is Aco-9, Ella." The ghost turned to the male, "He was apart of the fire team that killed Crota."

The Awoken glanced back at the Exo, now she looked at his armor, encrusted with course glittering minerals, made of the moon itself. She suddenly felt tiny with all of her dull training equipment.

"Do you want help?"

Ella looked at him, trying to see if he was just toying with her, "I have the instructors."

"But you're fighting an uphill battle, that's the problems with you Warlocks you always overthink the simplest things." He leaned around her and picked up the rifle, "You have to master yourself before you can master anything else." He loaded the clip with well practiced instinct and fired down range, hitting almost every single bullseye before handing the gun back to her, "A gun is only as deadly as its master. You are not deadly, you're just scared." He walked away.

Ella stared down at the piece of metal, "Why would a Guardian be afraid of... Anything?

"You tell me... What are you afraid of, chickling. You've hardly been outside of the City."

From one of the balconies above, Cayde watched the scenario play out. He'd been slipping away from his duties to watch her a little more often than he cared to admit. Ikora had been expressing concern about the Guardian. The human seemed concerned that the damage done during the resurrection process might be a permanent problem. She'd never seen a Guardian so timid before.

The expression recalled the first time he'd seen it, one of well controlled agony. It had been shortly after they'd set up in an area to do the first scan. A stray pack of Fallen with no banner had tried to strip them of their equipment and lives but Tevis and Cayde, true to their function, massacred the entire clan as the wave came rolling at them.

When the dust settled and everyone was accounted for, Cayde noticed Ellana standing over one of the Dregs, chest exploded from a high caliber round, fresh scars on its side from having its limbs constantly pulled off of them. Her eyes had been as empty as the other animal's chest cavity. She looked up and caught him watching her, him still covered in the Fallen's blood. Sadness welled up within her eyes. The Guardian didn't understand, was she sad that he'd killed them? They'd just tried to murder them first, why was she sad? Cayde grinded his his jaw in annoyance and wiped off some of the blood from his face. He had some scouting to do to keep the Fallen from sneaking up on them again.

Presently, Cayde watched Ella put the guns away and just stand there for a moment. She rubbed the tears her eyes before walking briskly out of the firing range.