Four days later, morning
Crucible, Banner fall
After getting back from their trip to the city the fire team had decided to participate in the crucible once again. Pekis was most eager to master his new powerful blade dancer super. At first it proved difficult for him to both activate and maintain in battle. In the beginning he could only use it in short intervals and it used up a lot of his stamina. As time progressed the he was able to use for longer durations of time with less of a toll on him. Eventually Pekis was able to use it with ease and whenever he activated his power it felt as natural to him as he did without it. Due to this major improvement the number of wins his team was getting skyrocketed.
Pekis, Kelly, and Bitsine were currently in a mayhem clash match in the crucible. They were fighting in the Banner fall tower arena and so far Pekis and the rest of alpha team had a huge league. The score was alpha 94 Bravo 70. Right now Bitsine and two other guardians on their team were moving across the open yard with the large tree by the railing on the edge of the tower. As they were moving two members of bravo team started firing at them from the balcony. The bullets fired managed to hit Bitsine shields a few times but she managed to take cover behind the mohawk in the middle of the yard with the warlock she was with.
Unfortunately the two opposing guardians manage to kill the other titan that was with them. They continued to fire keeping them pinned down as the warlock spoke to Bitsine "I'll jump over and hit them with a nova bomb. You run around the side and shoot them while they are distracted."
Bitsine noded in response "Sounds like a plan." she finished as she was getting ready to run. Bitsine looked back the warlock signaling him to proceed. The warlock then jump on top of the mohawk then jump again getting several feet higher the the opposing guardians on the balcony catching their attention. They immediately began shooting as the warlock fired his nova bomb causing the his opponents to try to jump out of the way. When the bomb mad contact it manage to kill the enemy titan but missed the hunter who activated his golden gun in mid air and shot the warlock in the head. The hunter then began looking around for bitsine who had prepared a arc grenade and threw it at him. The grenade stuck to his chest then exploded destroying the hunter.
With the enemy dead for now Bitsine radioed to the rest of alpha team. "It's clear on my end. What about your's?"
Pekis responded "We're working on It!" he said under fire. Pekis was taking cover behind one of the large doors on the opposite end of the tower as the other four members of bravo were shooting. Pekis returned fire with his new For The People auto rifle he got from the crucible quartermaster. As he was distracting them Kelly and other hunter with them ran around through the cubby next to the door to flank them. They ran into the building on the other side, up the stair case inside, and saw an enemy warlock standing on the other side of the window on the perch outside.
Kelly aimed her new future war cult The Conduit pulse rifle and shot sending a burst of rounds to the warlock. The first burst took out his shields then a second burst pierced his helmet killing him and causing his body to fall off the perch catching the attention of his teammates. After they saw his body drop the rest of bravo jump up onto the perch and made their way inside. As soon as they saw Kelly and the hunter they sent a volley of fusion rifle rounds at them forcing them to head back down the stairs.
Pekis realized the situation they were in and moved out of cover to follow the opponents. He then focus his light and activated his blade dancer his auto rifle replaced with duel arc swords as he blinked himself onto the perch. With incredible speed he ran inside where the opposing guardians notice his presence. They tried to turn around to shot but Pekis was far too fast for them as he immediately impaled the closest one with one of his swords. Pekis then spun a 360 degree turn on his foot and brought down his other sword cutting the second guardian in half. The Third managed to aim his fusion rifle at him and fire sending balls of solar energy at him. Before they made contact Pekis blinked behind the titan and before he realized what had happen Pekis impaled him in the back causing the sword to come out through his chest. Pekis then used his second sword to decapitating the surprised titan ending the match.
"The winner is Alpha team." Shaxx announced on the radio. After the announcement Pekis deactivated his super and he along with all the other participants had their ghosts send them back to their ships.
Few minutes later
Fire team's ships, on route to tower
"God damn we are on a roll!" Bitsine shouted over the radio with pride over their streak of victories. "Thanks to Pekis we got plenty of marks to buy better equipment."
"Good thing you been practicing your blade dancer so much lately." Kelly said still sitting in the seat behind Pekis. While Kelly still did not have her own ship yet It didn't bother her or Pekis as they both secretly enjoyed their arrangement.
Pekis turn his head around to face her "Yes it is. Before it put my body under a lot of stress but now I only feel stronger with it."
"Well if you keep this up they'll have to ban us from the crucible." Bitsine stated
"Maybe they'll have to or else no one else will want to participate." Kelly replied chuckling
After several more minutes the guardians had returned to the tower. Pekis and Bitsine went to talk to Lakshmi about buying new weapons while Kelly went to the warlock libraries. While she was there Kelly studied the hive and their claim on the moon. She was always interested and disgusted by the hive and how they go from world to world destroying any life they came across. Despite all the information at the libraries there was really no information on how the hive came to be the undead light devouring race they are now.
As she was reading her ghost materialized "You really like reading about the hive." the ghost stated breaking Kelly's concentration.
Kelly turned to her ghost "Well I figured it was best to learn all I can about our enemies." she said. "I'm surprise that a race that pledge its allegiance to the darkness isn't as strong as I would have thought."
"Well you've only seen the lesser hive in action." Ikora said startling Kelly causing her stand up out of her chair.
She turned around and saw the warlock vanguard Ikora standing in front of her. "Ikora what can I do for you." Kelly said surprised.
Ikora noticed that her presence had caught her by surprised. "Calm yourself. I just came here to get information for some of our field scouts and I saw you here."
Kelly took her advice and calmed down. She then focus her attention back to Ikora "Well I just been doing research on the hive."
"I see." Ikora replied. "And to your earlier statement the hive you and your team have already faced are only lesser hive. The ascendant hive have much stronger connection to the darkness and are the ones that even veteran guardians like my self must be wary of."
Kelly was intrigued by the mention of ascendant hive. "Are their any ascendant hive on earth?"
"No they mainly stay in their underground fortresses on the moon. No ones ever seen one since the great disaster years ago." Ikora finished remembering the massacre on the moon.
Kelly had read about the disaster before. The army of guardians sent to reclaim the moon but were destroyed by the hive champion Crota. "The hive responsible for it was Crota wasn't it."
"Yes it was. Crota is one of the gods of the hive. The ones that stand above all other members of their race." Ikora replied.
"Well while I've been reading I noticed that our information on them is somewhat limited." Kelly stated.
"That because we only have what our scout have been able to record from field missions." Ikora replied reminded that the libraries Intel on the hive was lacking. "The hive may have databases on the moon but the vanguard have declared it off limits after the great disaster."
While Kelly was enjoying their conversation she thought it would be best to let Ikora continue with her business. "Well thank you for your input Ikora. I should let you get back to your business."
"Very well. Its been a pleasure speaking with you Kelly." Ikora said. She then bowed her head and was about to walk away when her ghost suddenly appeared.
"Ikora I'm receiving a distress beacon." the ghost said stopping Ikora in her tracks.
Kelly's ghost then spoke "I picking up the signal as well."
Ikora turned to her ghost "Where is the signal coming from?" she asked concerned.
After a few moment her ghost replied "It seems to be coming from the moon."
This caught Kelly and Ikora by surprise. "I thought the moon was off limits?" Kelly asked confused.
Ikora turned back to Kelly "It is." she stated. "This guardian must of went on his own accord."
Kelly thought for a few moments 'If their is a guardian in trouble then we should try to help him. After a few more moments Kelly spoke "Ma'am let me and my team rescue the guardian."
Ikora was surprised by her request. She didn't want her team to go. After their recent success in the cosmodrome it would be a huge loss to loss them but she knew she couldn't stop them if that is they wanted. "You team can go if you wish. I can't stop any of you but if you get in trouble the vanguard won't send support."
Kelly considered her words carefully before responding "Very well. I have to go ask Bitsine and Pekis first." Kelly then left the library to look for her friends. As she left Ikora prayed to the traveler that they would come back successful.
Tower, courtyard
Pekis and Bitsine had finished their trading with Lakshmi and were now conversating in the courtyard. "You know now that were better armed we could probable start fighting on other worlds now." Bitsine said as she was looking over her new future war cult crash shotgun. Pekis was examining his new Calling scout rifle when he heard her. He knew that they were getting stronger with all the battles they had been in recently but he was unsure of going to other planets.
Pekis turned away from his gun and looked back at her "Maybe but I'm not sure. Their are a lot more powerful enemies in the rest of the system then on earth." Pekis had read about the other hostile fractions in the solar system. From the time traveling vex on venus to the war hungry cabal on mars.
Bitsine understood his concerns but with fallen on earth now crippled she believed that they should try to gain ground in the rest of the system. "You might be right but now that the fallen have been pushed back we should use this opportunity to start focusing our efforts elsewhere." Bitsine was hoping she could get Pekis to come around on the issue. "Plus with that old array that one fire team managed to activate Rasputin now has access to orbital defense grids on earth and the rest of the system so it won't be like were completely alone out their."
Pekis thought for a moment as he had remembered hearing about the array's activation. 'With Rasputin's aid in the rest of the system it should be safer to do missions off world' he thought. After a minute he responded "I suppose your right." Bitsine felt a smile beginning to creep up on her metallic face. "But even if we did go where would we start?" Pekis asked causing Bitsine to wonder herself.
Right on cue both their ghosts materialized. Pekis' ghost was the first to speak "I'm picking up a distress beacon coming from the moon."
"Me too." Bitsine ghost stated.
This turn of event surprised both guardians. "Talk about timing!" Bitsine exclaimed happy that they had their starting point.
"Indeed." Pekis responded while confused about the beacon. "What is a guardian doing on the Earth's moon? I thought it was off limits by order of the vanguard."
Pekis' ghost answered "Guardians are allowed to travel there if they want but won't have any support from the city if they get in trouble."
Soon after the ghost's response Kelly arrived running. Pekis and Bitsine turned to her surprised by her sudden arrival. Kelly stopped to catch her breath then spoke to them "Guys my ghost just picked up a distress call from a guardian on the moon."
Pekis eyes widened after hearing her "Our ghosts picked up the signal has well." he said catching Kelly by surprise.
"Well I think we should go help whoever sent it." Kelly stated not wanting to just abandon the guardian.
Bitsine smiled and place a hand on Kelly's shoulder "Well your in luck. Me and Pekis were just talking about fighting beyond earth." She then turned back to Pekis "So what to you say. How's this for a starting point?"
"It's the best one we got." Pekis replied. He saw the look on Kelly face and saw that this rescue mission meant a lot to her. "So lets get to it."
His answer cause Kelly's face to brighten up. She was glad to know she wasn't alone for this. "Thanks you guys."
"Of course that's what friends are for." Bitsine said. "Plus it's our job as guardians."
With that the guardians set out to prepare for their mission.
One hour later
Earth's moon
After making necessary preparations the fire team boarded their their jump ships and made their way to luna. As they approached they got a closer look at the moon's surface. The surface was grey, barren, covered in rocks and craters. In the distance they could see a large fracture in the surface witch pushed large parts of the surface up creating a massive chasm with huge amounts of smoke rising from it.
The journey was silent as the guardians drew closer to Archer's Line. The silence was broken when Pekis' ghost spoke up "I used to look up here at night and wonder what the Hive were doing, but the only activity I could ever pick up was hazy. Like it was blocked or buried." After a few more moments their ship dipped towards the ground and finally the guardians were transmated to the outskirts of Archer's Line.
After touching down on the surface the guardians took a moment to examine their surroundings. As they looked towards the distant wasteland behind them they knew that this planet was dead. They saw abandoned equipment and crates close to them. Kelly looked up to the sky and her eyes widen as she saw the clear view of the stars witch blanketed the sky as well as the Earth shinning bright in the light of the sun. 'Beautiful' she thought as she took in the marvelous site.
After they were finished taking in the sights they made their way up the hill as Pekis ghost spoke over the comms "The Guardian came here, searching for a way into the Hive Fortress. Let's pick up his trail. His last known coordinates are up ahead."
After a few seconds of jogging they made it to the top of the hill were they were greeted by the sight of an abandoned facility. The facility was one large rectangular shape held up by several support columns with a long metallic rod extending out from the font and stretching into the far distance wasteland beyond. Bitsine took a moment to examine it "What is this place?"
Bitsine ghost responded "This is an old particle accelerator. The guardian's last report stated that he captured it from an unknown fallen house."
The last thing the ghost said caught Kelly's attention. 'Is it a new house?' she thought to herself. Her train of thought was broken by Pekis "Lets head inside. There might be a lead we can use."
As they proceed they ran past several smaller buildings filled with degraded computer equipment that had been built underneath the length of the accelerator. The guardians ran through the the support columns passing more abandoned equipment on the way until finally making it inside. The interior was dark as their was no power being sent to the lights and the floor was covered by surface debris.
As they looked around the room Pekis' ghost spoke again "Some of this equipment show recent activity. Had to be the Guardian's Ghost."
"Which computer?" Pekis asked. His ghost then materialized and floated over to a console. The fire team followed and upon getting closer they saw several ancient corpses half buried in the dirt close by. "Something bad did happen a long time ago."
The ghost began hacking into the computer. After a few seconds the computer sprung to life as the lights began to flicker on and the sounds of machines being turned on were heard. "Alright, he was looking for the remains of an old colony base Not to far from here. Maybe he's still there."
"Alright, lets get moving." Pekis said. The guardians then made their way out to the building and upon getting outside they were ambushed. several fallen wearing green styled armor dropped down from the support columns armed with shock rifles and swords. "Shit ambush!" Pekis yelled as he drew his For The people auto rifle.
The fallen scattered after Pekis killed a vandal that charged him. Bitsine readied her crash shotgun as a another cloaked vandal was about to pounce on her from the side. Before he could swing his bland he slipped on the loose gravel on the floor catching Bitsine's attentions. The last thing he saw was the barrel end of Bitsine's gun before having a hole blown threw his chest.
Pekis and Kelly finished the last of the fallen as a few skiffs appeared and dropped more fallen. The guardians spread out to deal the squads of fallen. Kelly was making quick work of them with her Conduit pulse rifle while Pekis and Bitsine move closer to deal with the fallen on their end. Pekis exchanged fire with a fallen captain while Bitsine was dealing with a group of dregs protected by a servitor.
The ether field the servitor was emitting was making the dregs around it stronger and more resilient for Bitsine's gun fire. "Screw this!" Bitsine said as she put her gun away and began charging them. Bitsine dodged the arc bullets shot at her and jump high in the air. She then focused her light and dropped a fist of havoc landing right on top of the servitor unleashing a shock wave killing the surrounding dregs.
Pekis finished the captain and saw that Bitsine and Kelly were clear on their end. "Okay, were done here lets-" Pekis was cut off as he was shot in his back. "What the fuck!" Pekis turned around and saw several dregs riding pikes. The dregs fired arc projectiles from the front of their pikes as they sped towards the guardians.
One of the dregs saw Pekis and sped up in an attempt to run him over. Pekis realized his intention and at the last moment jumped out of the way. Kelly and Bitsine opened fire on the pikes but they were to fast for them to get a decent shot.
"Fuck this!" Bitsine yelled angrily as she put her dealbreaker auto rifle away and brought out her warpath launcher. She took aim, locked on to one of the pikes, and fired. By the time the dreg noticed what was coming it was too late as the missile hit and destroyed the pike. The missile left behind a series of cluster bombs as a second pike drove past the debris. The bombs exploded damaging the pike and causing it to crash into a boulder killing the driver.
The last pike made a 360 degree turn to make another attempt at running Pekis over but this time he was ready. As the pike approached Pekis readied himself to jump again. when the pike drew closer Pekis jump slightly to the side. when the pike was about to pass him he reached out and grab onto the pike as it drove by taking him with it.
Pekis immediately latched all four of his arms onto it as the driver turned his head to him and realized the mistake he just made. Pekis looked at the driver "Nice pike." he told the dreg as he pulled out his shock knife. In one quick move he stabbed the dreg in the back of his neck and pushed him off. Pekis then positioned him onto the seat and took the controls.
Bitsine and Kelly looked around for Pekis but they couldn't see him. As they searched Bitsine saw another pike headed their way. "Damn it." she said as she prepared to fire her launcher. Before she could Kelly rushed over to her and pushed the barrel up.
"Wait!" Kelly said as the pike got closer. After a few seconds the pike slowed down and turned to the side as it stopped revealing Pekis to be the driver.
Pekis turned to them "Hello ladies. Can I give you a lift?"
Bitsine was surprised by this turn of events. "Fuck Pekis I almost blew you up."
Kelly was slightly stunned "You actually captured one of the pikes. How?"
"When that dick tried to run me over again I jumped on and pushed him off."
Bitsine cursed to herself "Damn it! Why didn't I think of that."
Kelly moved closer to examine Pekis' new ride. "Well your just full of surprises." she said smiling behind her helmet.
Pekis smiled back behind his helmet "Well I figured a ride with mounted guns was a need to get." Kelly and Bitsine mounted their sparrows as they began their trip to the colony base with Pekis leading them on his new pike. After a few minutes of riding they finally arrived at the colony base Anchor of Light. As they looked around they were surrounded by the abandoned ruins of the colony.
"That building there. That were he was headed." Pekis' ghost said sending the guardian's way point to a large structure standing on one support column in the middle of an intersection. As they approached a group of fallen patrolling the area spotted them. Pekis was able to make quick work of them using his pike's guns. They disembarked their rides and made it up to the inside of the base.
Upon reaching the inside Pekis' ghost materialized made his way towards a computer console in the middle of the room. "Looks like he set up camp here. Let's see what he left behind." the ghost said as he began scanning the console. A few moments later the ghost spoke again "His notes. They're all about a place called the Temple of Crota."
The mention of Crota's name caused Kelly to flinch. Pekis noticed Kelly's reaction "Are you okay." he asked concerned.
Kelly hesitated before responding "uh yeah i'm okay. It's just that I talked to Ikora about Crota earlier."
Reassured Pekis turned back to his ghost "The temple is not far from here. We can get there on foot. I'm sending you the coordinates."
With the ghost finished the guardians exited the building and made their way to the temple. The ghost was correct about it not being far away. In a few minutes they made it to the edge of the base, passed through a small canyon, and finally they were standing on a hilltop overlooking the temple entrance.
"I think we found the temple." Bitsine ghost said.
"You think?" Bitsine replied.
They guardians made there way down the down the hill passing small boulders and ruble along the way. As they approached they saw a body laying down a few yards away from the door. Pekis knelled down next to it to examine it "Looks like like a titan. Shit were to late."
Pekis ghost materialized to begin scanning the body. "There's nothing left. Not even the light." The ghost turned away from the body and began looking around "Where's his ghost?"
Kelly and Bitsine turned their heads towards the temple doors. They began to walk towards it as Pekis ghost was also doing the same. Pekis took one last look at the body then stood up to follow them. Before he could take a step he heard something behind him and turned around.
Pekis looked around and saw someone standing on one of the mountains surrounding them. He narrowed his eyes to see the the hooded figure that was staring back at him while holding a strange rifle. Suddenly he heard a noise coming from the door and turned back.
Pekis looked back at the door as his friends started to back away from it and the locks keeping it closed started to vaporize. The fire team brought out their weapons as the doors began to open. Upon opening a hoard of thrall and acolytes started to flood from the entrance.
The guardians began gunning down every hive that came their way. After most of the thrall had been reduced to dust Pekis motioned for his friends to move in. As they advanced on the temple they pick off several more acolytes that were still standing. When they reached the entrance a hive knight appeared.
The knight roared swung his sword causing the guardians to back away. It then began to charge Kelly who focused her light into her hand. Once the Knight was an arms length away Kelly reached out and struck the knight with a incinerate attack. The knight then caught on fire causing it to wail as Pekis follow up with a incendiary grenade destroying it.
With the bulk of the hive forces dead the fire team made their way inside the temple as a wizard from one of the corridors above them. The wizard fired energy blasts at the intruders making them take cover. Pekis ran around to catwalk on the side of the room to flank it as his friends distracted it with gunfire. He activated his golden gun and took aim.
Pekis fire the first shot but missed as the wizard moved to dodge the bullets coming from the others. The second pierced its shield, took off one of its arms causing it the shriek and turn its attention to Pekis. As the wizard was about to fire the last shot fired taking off its head killing it. With the hive defeated the guardians regroup at the alter that the hive were defending.
As they approached the guardian saw a ghost place in the middle of the alter. Kelly picked up the ghost as her own ghost began looking at it. "The ghost is dead, but I can still read some of its memories. The hive are raising an army here, preparing to invade earth. We need to stop them."
Pekis made a loud sigh "Well this complicates things."
Kelly turned to him "Great first we failed to save the guardian, and now we have to deal with a hive invasion." she said with a disappointed tone.
"We can take them." Bitsine stated trying to boost her friend's morale.
Pekis spoke up "Witch ever the case lets recover the titan's bodies and head back to the tower." After he finished speaking the guardians returned back outside. Pekis picked up the body as their ghosts transmated them back to their ships and they began the journey back to the city.
