The Dark Beyond

"Hey Aro, we're waiting on alive?" Asura asked. He and Crona had already returned to orbit.

"Yeah I'm done here." Aro responded, still in the Breach. He had planted himself in the large hole in the wall with one leg lazily dangling over the edge. The Archon, along with its merry band of Fallen, lay dead at his feet.

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

"Calm down, I'm coming." He dropped to his feet, stretching and yawning before walking over to the Archon. Under its crimson cloak, he noticed a small sphere. As he got closer, it started to glow a bright green. He picked it up for a closer look.

"An engram. Haven't found one of these in a while. Kain, can you tell what type?"

"Seems like weapon engram. Primary."

"Could be something good. Or completely useless."

"No such thing as a useless engram." Kain said. The engram disappeared as Kain sent it back to the ship. Aro ripped off the Archon's House Banner and looked around the other corpses for anything useful that might have dropped. Finding nothing else, he said, "Alright, let's head out."

Not even a second later was he inside his ship. He could drop into his seat and set their course but before he could finish, Kain alerted, "I'm receiving an emergency transmission from the Tower."

"I'm receiving one too." Sol added.

"So am I." Spirit said.

Ikora Rey's voice came through, more urgent than they've ever heard before. "Set a course for the Moon, you three. Archer's Line, Ocean of Storms."

"The Moon? Already?" Asura asked as they all began inputting the coordinates. The computers took a few seconds to reroute away from its original destination of the City. The ships' engines fired up, pushing the ships away from Earth. Once a certain distance had been reached, the warp drives activated, pushing the ships even faster. The scenery outside went from a starry black to a formless blue tunnel as they hurtled towards Earth's Moon.

"Now that you're on your way, listen up Guardians." Ikora commanded. "Approximately 6 hours ago, Rasputin detected unusual activity coming from one of the many Hive temples on the Moon. We sent a team to check it out but we lost communications with them almost 15 minutes ago, with the last transmission being a high ranking distress signal. There were already several Guardians, mostly Hunters, scouting the area that they disappeared in but none have seen them."

"Who was the team that went missing?" Crona asked.

"The team that went missing was Team Katrina."

"Wait what?" Aro exclaimed. The usually warm ship suddenly became very cold.

Her tone became solemn, "We are hoping for the best but expecting the worst. If by some miracle they are alive, get them out." She paused and then said, "But if not, find out what happened. So we can give their families and friends peace of mind."

Anger replaced her sadness, "And, if possible, end the wretched existence of whatever monster took them from us. Your Ghosts have the full details of their mission and now yours. Good luck Guardians."

The three ships broke out of hyperspace, Earth's Moon entering into full view. It was just like it looked from Earth on a clear night. The only extremely noticeable feature on the silver sphere, was the massive scar along its north western sector. Almost as if someone took a knife and roughly carved into the rock. It was honestly a hypnotizing sight.

Aro paid it no mind.

"Kain this was supposed to be a routine patrol mission. What the fuck could have possibly gone so wrong?!"

"With the Hive, there are an infinite number of things that could go wrong."

"Damn it." He whispered out loud. Nothing was making sense. "I have another question." he started.

"Yes?"

"Did Rasputin specifically request us?"

Kain was silent for a while before saying, "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? If they did, Ikora should have put that into the report."

"Well she didn't. So I guess the answer is no. Get ready. I'm dropping us off."

The three ships dropped to the ground and released its occupants before shooting back into orbit. They landed in what appeared to be the bottom of a large hill that led up into an even larger crater. To their left, Earth could be seen in its entirety.

"Hey! You can see Mars from here." Asura said. Aro turned around to see him looking through his Sniper scope at what appeared to be a red star. Again, Aro paid it no mind.

"Let's go." He commanded, placing his Hand Cannon at the base of his back and started trudging up the hill. Crona silently followed and after another second, Asura did as well.

Once at the top of the hill, they paused to look around. Multiple wrecked bases littered the surface but by far the most attention catching sight was the massive accelerator that stretched across the entirety of the Archer's line. At the far left end appeared to another lab. They began moving towards it.

"Team Katrina's last report said captured they this old accelerator from a Fallen House." Sol said.

"The House of Exiles?" Crona assumed.

"Well they're the only ones stupid enough to try and attack the Hive where they're strongest."

"What do we have on the House of Exiles?" Aro asked, a bit impatiently. They needed to get a move on.

"A minor house. Built up of the nastiest outcasts and traitors of the other inner system Fallen Houses."

"The Devils, Kings and Winters?"

"Right." Sol affirmed. "They have no Kell, Archon or Prime Servitor. And they are incredibly desperate to prove themselves a true House without them."

"Good to know." Asura said dryly. They cautiously walked into the accelerator base, guns up. There were few lights on and none of them made the area any less dark.

"Some of this equipment shows recent activity. Had to be the Guardian's Ghost. Let us out." They opened their palms and let the Ghosts float out. They began working on the computer caused it to start lighting up. Asura ran to the entrance, "The accelerator is turning on."

"It's fine. I had to trip the start mechanism. Alright, they were looking for the remains of an old colony base. Not too far. I can track them better from-" Sol paused and then it's voice became urgent, "Fallen Exiles. We're being hunted!"

"Sol, wrap it up and Crona stay close by." Aro ordered, "Asura, take the left entrance." Aro grabbed his Hand Cannon from where he placed it and moved towards the right entrance, taking cover behind the wall. A familiar Fallen Skiff floated over and the familiar Fallen dropped from its base. Instead of the usual red armor of the Devils, the Exiles were covered in a bright green. There was something feral about them. Much more than usual at least.

Aro shot down a Shank, grabbing their attention. The Exiles began advancing on the Guardians. "We're gonna need to clear them out. They're sending two more Skiffs down so be ready." Kain said to all of them.

"Crona, is Sol done?" Aro asked, force pushing a Dreg away. A glowing sphere flew from behind them and exploded, killing multiple Fallen and disorienting whoever wasn't at the center of the blast.

As Kain predicted, two more Skiffs dropped from the dark sky, releasing its soldiers, which included several Servitors and Captains.

Aro's head wasn't in the battle. He couldn't stop thinking about Katrina and her team. What the fuck could have happened?!

A Dreg swiped at him with its knife, earning several shots to the head. The Fallen forces were dwindling fast.

Guardians don't just disappear off the grid. Did the Fallen have something to do with it? The Hive?

A sword bearing Captain jumped at him, breaking him out of his storm of thoughts. He jumped back quickly to avoid what would have been a devastating blow. His back hit a wall and the Captain struck again. It's blades ran across his chest, rending the armor and probably opening the skin underneath.

Reacting purely in pain and fury, Aro aimed and shot at the Captain's knee, forcing its head down to waist level. He kneed the monster in the face, knocking it to its back and shattering his kneecap in the process. In his rage, he felt nothing. He unloaded his clip in the Captain's head. It was dead by the first bullet but that didn't stop him from emptying the clip. Nor did it stop him from crushing it's throat under the boot of his uninjured leg.

Breathing hard, he fell against the wall to take weight off the leg while Kain repaired it. A hand dropped gently onto his shoulder. He turned to see Asura looking at him, head cocked in concern. Neither said anything before Aro shook him off and started walking out from under the accelerator and into open space. His walk was interrupted by a red dot on his radar, moving closer. A lone Dreg popped from behind a wall and raised its knife to cut at Aro's throat.

He knocked the Dreg backwards, dazed but still on its feet. The Dreg looked up to see Aro place his open palm a few inches from its face. Both paused, the Fallen frozen in place.

A glowing orb manifested into Aro's open palm and released, point blank into the Fallen's face. The attack annihilated the Fallen, much too quickly for it to feel the pain. The blast from the attack created a yet another large smoking crater on the Moon's surface, marking where the Dreg last stood.

The others said nothing, obviously unsettled by the Warlock's sudden brutality.

Aro stared down for a few more seconds, his anger never seeming to wear off before he demanded, "Kain, is my Sparrow ready?"

His answer appeared right in front of him. He got on and without further hesitation or a look back, took off. Crona and Asura took a short worried look at each other and soon followed behind.