Chapter 4
Preparations
It wasn't that far of a walk to the main plaza. After walking through a short tunnel, we arrived at the main plaza of the Tower. Stairs and small patches of greenery decorated a very open-feeling space. A series of pillars when what looked like computer screens a few feet from their base came out of the concrete. A good-sized slightly curved building with two openings was the only actual building set up. According to Ikora, that was a mail and special orders service
We then crossed the plaza to a stand with a hooded figure in front of it. Ikora did not explain his purpose, but since several armored figures I assumed to be Guardians much more powerful than me stood near him as he tapped away at a tablet, I assumed that his purpose would come to light in a short time.
Ikora actually stopped in front of a larger shop with an Exo keeper. Various guns occupied the table space as well as tasks behind the Exo. "Good morning Banshee-44," the warlock vanguard said.
"Hello Ikora. What can I do for you today? Do you need more Special Ammo Synthesis, I just got a fresh shipment this morning." Banshee said in a deep bass.
"I'm actually good for now, it's actually what you could do for Maximus here."
"You look like the person the Vanguard leaders just dragged through here. You must be new. Some Guardians have trouble with their new connections to the Traveler. I remember mine, had fits for weeks. But I highly doubt mine were as bad as yours." The Ghost floating near him seemed to snicker a bit.
"That's great Banshee, but as I said, he's new. You've done this long enough to know what that means."
"Alright. Sorry, just trying to be friendly. Since you're new, you most likely lack a weapon."
"I actually don't. We recovered something in the cosmodrome once known as Stalingrad when my Ghost revived me there. Ghost, if you don't mind."
My Ghost, who had been hovering just above my left shoulder this entire time, said "You got it." In flash of blue, the ancient rifle materialized on the table. Banshee picked up the black gun and examined it with amazement. Ikora Rey also seemed slightly taken aback.
"I have an ancient weapons collection, and I thought these were all but destroyed. I'll give you 6000 Glimmer for it."
"Deal," said the Ghost before I could speak. Despite having a metallic face that could not sore emotion, his eyes seemed to defy that logic and seemed to glow a bit brighter. He ducked underneath the table. There was some metallic clanging for a minute or so, and then the Exo gunsmith stood back up, four guns in his arms.
"Alright Maximus, you're going to need an ACTUAL gun to be an effective Guardian." He laid all four of them on the now-cleared table. He pointed to the first one that was very obviously an assault rifle of a slightly off-white color. "Here's an Auto-Rifle which is actually a more modern version of the Khvstov you just sold me. This one uses kinetic energy projectiles in a magazine with a mag capacity of 26. It fires quickly and fairly accurately and gets the job done right."
He now pointed to a gun that looked very similar to the assault rifle, but seemed a bit more sleek in its design as well as being rear-loaded. "This is a Pulse Rifle. It's very similar to the Auto-Rifle except that it is rear-loaded, fires in 3 shot bursts, and has more recoil than the Auto-Rifle. It's also made by SUROS, one of the most dependable brands." His hands now gestured to a gun that looked like a rifle, but had a hollow stock and a three-digit ammo counter; it was also rear-loaded with a slight slant towards the back side of the clip.
"This is a Scout Rifle. It's semi-automatic and rear-loaded. Very dependable Archeron gun. That's about all you need to know about it. Now we have a..."
"Revolver?" I interjected.
"Not quite, this is a Hand Cannon. The Duke Mk. 22 to be exact. Four shot capsule. It's slow, but when you hit a target, it will not be coming back up. Do not judge it by its small size."
I stood thinking about which I should choose for a couple minutes. My indecision clearly started to test the patience of Ikora Rey as surely she had more important things to do than show a newcomer what to do and where to go. I went ahead and picked up the Hand Cannon. "I'd like to go with this, but I want to know how to reload it as it is different from the others." I said putting it back down.
"Very good choice. And I agree; it probably would help. It's actually pretty simple though. Here take the gun. As well as a box of ammunition capsules." He handed me the gun.
I noticed that it was heavy, definitely a gun that required two hands to operate effectively. But, it was a comfortable weight.
"Alright, what you do is take your left hand from the gun and grab a capsule from the pocket, while you click your right hand to the left with a sight downward motion, but not too much. This should cause the cause chamber to come out. From there, tilt the gun upwards allowing the spent capsule to fall out. Finally, insert the new capsule with the larger flat side facing you, and sling your right hand to the right to lock the chamber in place and you're ready to fire again. Also, take this."
He handed me another white weapon. It had a short barrel with a partitioned tip. I hole with a trigger was in the rear part of the middle and a long black bar covered the bottom.
"This is a Trax Callum Fusion Rifle. It uses a battery good for 5 shots that have a modification to them, so void, fire, or lightning?"
Stunned by the question and holding a gun as well as a hand cannon without a place to put them, had nowhere to put the box of ammo capsules as well as one of the boxes of batteries he had set on the table. "Ok, is there a holster out something for this stuff? I can't hold all of this in two hands."
"That's why we catch Fallen!" Banshee laughed. "I'm kidding, there is a holster for the Hand Cannon and a sling for the Fusion Rifle. Hand the Rifle."
I have handed him the rifle and he handed me a holster. As he clipped the sling on it, I attached the holster to the back of my armor just above the waistline. The pistol fit snugly inside. I took the box of void batteries.
"I must warn you Guardian, the Fusion Rifle binds to that one type of ammunition when you attach the battery. Are you sure?"
"Yes," I said slinging the rifle over my head so that it hung on my back. I took the box of capsules and put them in one of them pouches on my left and put the box of batteries in the next pouch top the previous' right. I felt much heavier, but I had carried more as a soldier.
"Alright then Maximus, you're set for battle. Just remember to take care of that gun. It is your life after all," the gunsmith warned.
"Will do." I said walking with Ikora once more.
"Amanda Holliday, the shipwright and chief engineer will have your ship ready tomorrow. When she contacts you, I want you too report to the cosmodrome ASAP. Your orders are to patrol it with the two other Guardians we currently have stationed there." The Warlock Vanguard said. She suddenly handed me a large silver case. "This is your Warlock armor. Go to your suite and get out of that Titan garbage."
"Will do ma'am."
I stood in front of the mirror in my room. The Warlock about didn't actually have much armor to it. There was a thin layer of body armor along with heavier pants and boots. I threw the cloak over my armor. It was a light brown color along with the rest of my armor. The cloak extended nearly to the toes of my boots. It was parted in the front so as not to restrict movement.
The holster had to go underneath the cloak, but it was a minor hindrance. I slung the Fusion Rifle over me. Just to check that out would not fail on me, I reached back and grabbed the butt of the small rifle and pulled it forward to a firing position. The sling moved smoothly across the cloak allowing the advanced gun to prepare to fire rather quickly.
It was then that I noticed the white gun had no battery on the bottom. "Hey Ghost, how exactly do I load this thing?" I asked as it floated around the room.
"Take one of the batteries, positive-side forward and hold it to the bottom. A small button should extend and light up on the left side showing a color coordinated with the type of battery you're using. Since you picked Void, it will be purple."
I took battery from one of the pockets in the covered armor. The heavy battery was a little longer than my hand and was completely black. I brought the ammunition close to the bottom of the gun horizontally. Without expectation, the battery kept from my hand and clicked into place. 'Ah, it's a magnet.' I thought. The purple, rectangular button popped out just as the Ghost said. I attempted to just push it in, but it wouldn't budge. I slammed my hand against the button much harder and it clicked in.
"Now, it's live. Just don't hold the trigger," the Ghost's robotic voice warned. "Ready to go?"
"Sure. Where's the hangar?" I inquired
"Follow me."
I followed the Ghost to the main elevator that took us to Tower North. After stepping out, we proceeded through a large gate that opened up into a smaller area. Without looking at what it had to offer, we continued through a hall into the central plaza and through yet another corridor into an extremely large hangar area. Various ships lined the walls on the actual floor probably a hundred feet or so before us. I continued to follow the Ghost along the balcony. A set of stairs led down to a some sort of shop space with a robotic clerk in the right, and a group clad almost entirely in black and white congregated to the left near since crates. We pressed by then without a further glance and ascended a flight of steps to a similar shop area with a uniformed man working on something underneath a table.
A short-haired, blonde woman sat on top of a desk in the to left corner of the office. "Good morning Guardian. How can I help you?" She called.
"Uh, yes. I'm looking for Amanda Holliday. I was told I had a ship prepared for me?" I said. I could hear my Ghost chuckle a bit from my right shoulder, obviously amused by something.
"Well, I'm not sure I can see her around," the woman started looking with her hand on her forehead similar to that of an ancient lookout. She stopped and spoke once again, "That might be because she's right in front of you!" The lady, now introduced as Amanda Holliday, extended a hand. "You must be Maximus then. My apologies if I seem a bit disorganized. I stayed up all night working on that ARCADIA your Ghost brought me last night. Boy was it in rough shape."
"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking the extended hand.
"So, you've got patrol duty at the cosmodrome according to Ikora Rey," Holliday continued without missing a beat. She stepped towards a gate and opened it. "Right through here."
We descended down the stairs beyond a gate nearby. The spiraling steps led to the hangar's floor where I could see dozens of ships lining the wall. As we went, a brown ship flew into the hangar and landed on a large rectangular space. The space disappeared almost immediately after the landing gear touched it. 'So the ships are stored underneath,' I thought. 'Interesting...'
We soon stopped at a blue and orange colored ship with two engines sitting on the sides of the rear area on it. Their position made the cockpit seen to jut out extensively. It was in much better condition than when Ghost and I found it. The paint shined much more, and it looked like it was fit for interplanetary travel.
"You do know how to fly this thing right?" Holliday interrupted.
"I've got it," Ghost said before I could respond.
"Alright then. Maximus, you've got yourself a ship. Here are the keys..." she tossed insert a remote with the buttons on it. "...and good luck."
"Thanks," I said as she walked away.
I looked at the palm-sized remote. It had three buttons on it. A large, red, and circular button occupied the middle with the word "DISTRESS" marked on it. The other two were white and surrounded the circular one. The left button said "SUMMON" and the other had "LOWER/RAISE RAMP" marked on it. I pressed the latter, and a ramp lowered behind it, closer to the engines. We ascended the ramp into the ship.
The cockpit was not all that big, but it still had a professional feeling to it. Multiple bars were attached to different places. I sat in the lone chair behind the multiple screens that show the status of the systems onboard.
The Ghost floated around the cabin for a few moments, but then hovered next to my shoulder. "Let's get this thing started," Ghost said.
Suddenly,I could hear the engines begin to warm up. The screens lit up on my left and right, all showing success next to the diagnostic tests the ship had automatically when it was activated.
A few moments later, multiple metallic clicks sounded. "Locks disengaged, engines at optimal temperature, comms link successful, and...lift off!" the Ghost said.
I felt the ship lurch forward a bit and then turn to the left towards the opening of the hangar. A dull whine started behind me. When it reached its highest pitch, the ship shot forward and through the opening. Once out, Ghost pulled the ship into a steep climb. Although, I wasn't focused on the sky steadily turning into the white-twinkled blackness of space; I was staring at the white surface of the Traveler, the astronomical heavenly body that had forged a connection with me. Only when Ghost leveled off the ship did I realize that we were in a low-orbit and quickly heading for whatever dangers were ahead.