Chapter 6 - Strange Bedfellows


Three Days Later


The flight to the Reef had been as smooth as anyone could hope for. In fact, Coyote-3 was somewhat surprised by how normal it all was. The Thunder Child took to slipstream with the same enthusiasm as any ship he'd ever ridden in, and it was almost disappointing how mundane it all was. He mentioned this while they were disembarking onto the Reef. Walker-17 had laughed at him.

"When it comes to ships, I'll take a nice, safe boring," he said, "and save the dangerous 'interesting' for... everything else, more or less." Walker-17 paused to take in their surroundings and, with a decisive nod, turned to Coyote-3. "All right. I called ahead and Virna said she'd be free by now, so I'm going to meet her. We'll all gather at the plaza before we go."

"Gotcha." Coyote-3 gave him a thumbs-up. "I'll go see if I can't hunt down my guy."

"Best of luck, Coyote," Walker-17 said with a nod, taking his first steps away.

"Thanks. I might need it. Just be sure you don't forget, and leave without me, yeah?" he called after Walker-17.

Walker-17 briefly spun on one heel to face him with a hand draped dramatically over his chest. "Perish the thought."

Coyote-3 didn't have any means of contacting Evoksis, and certainly hadn't made any arrangements, so his search was much more prolonged and less businesslike that Walker-17's. His only strategy was to simply ask around.

His wandering brought him into one of the primary marketplaces in that particular region of the Vestian Outpost. Once Guardians had been granted full access to the Reef, it hadn't taken long for the various merchants of the Reef to creep as close as they could to their typical point of arrival. The Outpost had been made from the gutted remains of a Ketch, and as such, broad, open-air areas were few and far-between, so every inch of the available space had been used.

Coyote-3 couldn't tell what the atrium had once been used for, but it had been gutted of most of its interior structures, the better to make room for the somewhat ramshackle stalls and storefronts now packed inside of it. It might have been an alien Outpost, but there was something innately familiar about the marketplace. The market itself wasn't too far removed from the ones that were scattered throughout the City: all bright awnings, glittering wares, and the occasional flare of flame from a grill. The sounds of merchants and customers bartering and the distant smell of cooking food was just as familiar here as it was anywhere else.

The way the walls magnified the sounds of the market made it seem somehow more crowded and expansive that it actually was. All in all, for all its comfortable familiarity, it was somewhat of a daunting place to look for someone. Coyote-3 still held hope that a Dreg in Exile colors, relatively fresh from the moon, would be distinctive enough for people to remember.

Luckily, it was; an Awoken woman running a tailor stall ended up pointing Coyote-3 in the right direction, and it wasn't long before he spotted Evoksis through the gaps in the crowd. He was standing next to a kebob stand, eyeing its wares critically. Coyote-3 slowed to an easy stroll as he drew up beside the Dreg. "I was wondering if you could help me, sir. Looking for a fella about your height. Wears green. Got a face only a mother could love, and a stylish mohawk."

Evoksis blinked and looked over his shoulder. He'd recognized the voice as soon as he'd heard it, even if he'd probably only vaguely grasped the entirety of what was being said. "It's you," he said bluntly, turning to face Coyote-3. "And already you are saying words that make no sense. Mohawk?"

Coyote-3 laughed. "It's the thing you've got. That crest. When humans wear their hair like that, it's called a 'mohawk.'"

"I see." Evoksis deadpanned. "Enjoy it while it lasts. Will clip it, maybe." He glanced to the side, nodding to Flicker in greeting.

The Ghost bobbed cheerfully back. "Good to see you again!"

Evoksis stared back for a long moment, and Coyote-3 wondered what he must have been thinking. It was profoundly odd to be standing in his company again, but a good kind of odd. "And you, as well," he finally concluded, his eyes flicking between them both. At length, he began to walk, and gestured for them to come with him.

Coyote-3 felt something like a tiny spark of triumph, and he followed.


He was being watched. They both were, actually. Virna had been off and on accompanying Evoksis for the past three days, and for the most part she was content to give him space every now and then. She simply observed him, unseen, as he inspected the Reef on his own. She'd always believed you could learn more about a person based on what they did when no-one was watching.

Thus far, she firmly knew two things about Evoksis: first and foremost, she highly doubted he was a danger to the Reef. He was almost certainly telling the truth when he'd said he came from the House of Exile. He looked like an Exile. Evoksis was skinny to the point of being nearly malnourished, and Virna had spotted the tell-tale signs of Ether deprivation in the way his hands shook from time to time, and from the darkened skin around his eyes.

All in all, he was not the most intimidating person she'd ever seen.

He also seemed, above all, to be a pragmatic fellow. Virna saw the way he carefully observed everything around him and listened to the chatter of the denizens as they walked by. When he was with her, he asked many questions, mostly about the minutiae of live on the Reef. He was also particularly keen on expanding his vocabulary. Everything about him seemed to suggest he wasn't just trying to smuggle away important details for someone else's ears. Evoksis was trying to learn from his environment.

The other fact had come to her had been a little harder to pin down. Evoksis was quieter and more thoughtful than most Dregs she'd come across (either as an enemy or a temporary ally), and some of this she chalked up to simply being his disposition. Anyone who had survived the things he had couldn't be stupid. Evoksis was also prone to staring into space for long periods of time. She'd not yet seen him show a spark of amusement, or anger: nothing but a still seriousness that bordered on somberness.

She eventually recognized it as something very simple. The second thing she knew for sure about Evoksis was that he was grieving. It was an uncomfortably familiar feeling.

No time for thinking like that, she told herself firmly, I'm here to meet someone. It wasn't hard to spot Walker-17 moving through the crowd of the marketplace, as he stood almost a head taller than almost anyone else. Virna slipped away from the shadows and moved towards him, slinking easily through the crowd and appearing at his side. "There you are. You're certainly punctual."

Walker-17 jumped, and then gave a little laugh at his own skittishness. He regarded her with that squint in his eyes that was the Exo version of a smile. "I've made you wait three days. I figure that's long enough."

She grinned and waved for him to follow. "C'mon. I've got us a place to sit down." She led him to her old vantage point and swung up onto a cargo crate that had been draped in fabric, which gave them both a decent view of the marketplace. She briefly scanned the crowd, noting Evoksis's position, and said, "So, what've you found so far?"

"Not a whole lot. Not yet, anyway." Walker-17 relayed the information about the Thunder Child's redundant systems. Virna narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at this, but said nothing, and simply let him run through the entirety of his explanation. "Another Guardian came here with me, too," Walker-17 said, when he'd finished delivering the news to her, "He might be able to lend a hand if we need one."

"He's a friend," Matthias clarified.

Virna suddenly sat up straighter, peering into the crowd. "Is your friend kind of short? Dressed all in orange? Wearing a helmet even though we're indoors?"

"Er… yes?" Walker-17 seemed both surprised and a little worried. "Why?"

"Well, he's walking off with my Dreg." Walker-17 only blinked slowly, clearly more confused by this statement than anything else. Virna couldn't resist another little chuckle. "C'mon, we'll catch up with them. If your friend is in on this, he might as well hear it too, right?"

Walker-17 shrugged and stood. "Works for me. Want me to call for him?"

"No, no. Not yet." She followed the Hunter's progress through the crowd. He was very clearly walking with her charge, not just near him. They seemed to be talking. It was interesting, and she didn't want to break it up immediately, not when she could watch and possibly learn something new. "It won't take us long to catch up to them. Besides, they wouldn't hear us yelling in here, anyway."


Evoksis still walked with a stoop, which made him seem generally smaller than he actually was. Flicker had lowered himself down to be at a more comfortable eye-level with him. "How've you been adjusting to the Reef?"

"Well enough," Evoksis replied. "Crows sent me a liaison. Helping me adjust. She is nearby." He looked away from them, back to the bustle of the market. "A lot to do here. I know how to do almost none of it."

Coyote-3 tilted his head sympathetically, but didn't speak. Evoksis didn't know if the Guardian could personally understand how he felt. After all, Coyote-3 had been resurrected with for a reason, given a purpose. Even with Virna's assistance, Evoksis still felt helplessly aimless in his new home. He wanted to be doing something. At the very least, he wanted to be pursuing his revenge, but he also understood why he would have to wait before his new handlers would trust him with such matters.

It was frustrating, but ultimately he couldn't be too annoyed that his new allies were acting sensibly. That was a good thing. Evoksis could at least console himself with the knowledge that it was all better than the prospect of going back to the moon. "Docking caps removed, though," he went on, "and that is good."

"Your what got what, now?"

Evoksis stepped back and lifted the stumps of his lower arms. They'd been bandaged up to protect them and promote healing, but the caps that had been surgically affixed to the ends were gone. "Docking caps. Used to keep Dregs' arms from growing. No splicers in my troop, on the moon. Rare in House Exile. Some here."

The Guardian had stepped back to get a better look at Evoksis's arms. "Nice! Looks like you're well on your way to a promotion, eh?"

Evoksis narrowed his eyes and gave his head a short, decisive shake. His arms might one day regrow—at the moment the Ether he scrounged up was not quite enough to make this happen—but with four arms or two, he was still a Dreg for now. He would be, until he earned the right to call himself something else. The thought that he might have been handed a promotion he didn't deserve was insulting enough that a low, clicking rumble worked its way from his throat.

"Oops. I said something stupid, didn't I?" Coyote-3 asked, holding up one hand in a gesture of surrender. "Sorry, pal. My bad."

His immediate and somewhat comical backpedaling stayed Evoksis's annoyance somewhat. He held his silence for a moment longer before he gave an exasperated trill and said, "You are not Eliksni. You do not understand us." It wasn't a condemnation. It was just an explanation.

"You're absolutely right," Coyote-3 replied. His honest contrition surprised Evoksis somewhat. "So… sorry in advance if I screw something else up. Just let me know, so I only do that sort of thing once, yeah?" He spoke as if he were confident that they'd be talking again sometime soon, which piqued Evoksis's curiosity, but before he could say anything, Coyote-3 abruptly jerked upright, snapping his fingers. "Oh! Right, I didn't even—I came here, specifically, to give you this." He reached around, pulling something out from where it'd been sheathed against his thigh, and presented it to Evoksis. "It got left in my ship, in the shuffle."

It was his shock-dagger. Evoksis blinked and reached up to take it. He'd thought it had gotten left behind in the battlefield where he'd fled from his former troop. "Ah." He'd never thought he would see it again. It wasn't a particularly valuable piece of equipment, at the end of the day. Shock-daggers were highly useful and thus ubiquitous. Even considering the fact that Eliksni were now vanishingly rare on the Reef, after the rebellion, he was sure he'd have been able to find a replacement eventually.

But he did appreciate the gesture. It was startlingly kind. But, then again, this wasn't the first unexpectedly thoughtful thing this Guardian had done. Evoksis sheathed his dagger back in its proper place and looked up, nodding at Coyote-3. "Thank you."

"No sweat."

Evoksis stared blankly at him.

"Uh, it means 'you're welcome.' Sorta." After a pause, he began to chatter on, explaining the meaning of the metaphor "no sweat," which only confirmed Evoksis's growing suspicion that humans and their ilk were in some way obsessed with using bodily functions in their slang.

They wandered through the market, and Evoksis, having resigned himself to his new shadow's attentions, allowed Coyote-3 to coax him into talking about his time on the Reef. Every now and then they stopped at stalls, where bored-looking shopkeepers paid them, more often than not, little attention.

"So, you had a crash-course in system politics yet?" Coyote-3 asked, turning an object that looked for all the world like a simple brass compass over in his hand. The light chased itself over the compass's brassy surface in an eye-catching and very fetching manner.

"Fill in gaps, mainly. My troop…" He faltered briefly. "My troop came from many places. Lots of news." He turned away from the stall, and so did Coyote-3, strolling along beside him. Before Evoksis could allow himself to sink further into his melancholy, he spotted the flash of brass out of the corner of his eye. "You will pay for this?"

"Huh?"

Evoksis gestured to the compass in his hand.

"Oh! Oh, shit, I'm so sorry," Coyote-3 said, turning on his heel and returning the compass to the countertop. The shopkeeper spared him a cursory glance, but very quickly went back to reading something on a hand-held data-pad instead, apparently uninterested in her own wares. A poorly-paid employee, Evoksis thought to himself, or perhaps family who doesn't want to be there.

He looked up to Coyote-3, a vague hint of amusement in his voice. "She'lot. You really are a thief."

"I am not a thief. I just very clearly did the opposite of thieving, right in front of you. And furthermore..." Coyote-3 tipped his head to one side, and the amusement in his voice was anything but vague. "What the hell did you just call me?"

"She'lot. Our word for you, for Guardians," Evoksis replied, "'Thief of Light,' it means."

"How flattering." Before they could explore this latest revelation, movement out of the corner of his eye drew Coyote-3's attention to his surroundings. He seemed quite surprised to see another Guardian approaching them, with Virna in tow. "That was fast. How'd you find me so fast?"

Evoksis offered an answer to his question. "Virna is my liaison."

This required a bit of explaining, which Virna did, after a brisk handshake and greetings that were exchanged all around. The four of them walked together away from the hustle-and-bustle of the shopping district, seeking a quieter place to speak. Evoksis paused, considering his options, but eventually concluded that he didn't have anything more pressing to do, and trotted along with them. Nobody initially remarked on his presence, and nobody protested it.

They ended up heading at a slow stroll toward the visitor's plaza. They were in no hurry to reach the plaza itself, as the walk through the corridors offered more relative privacy than the broad open space itself.

Walker-17 caught Coyote-3 up in what he and Virna had discussed. Evoksis saw the Guardian glancing to him on occasion, and sensed a slight uncertainty in his mannerisms. He doesn't trust me, which isn't terribly surprising. Clearly, he's more discerning about his company than Coyote. Despite this, though, his presence continued to be tolerated as the three of them chattered on about this mysterious ship of theirs.

Matthias took the lead in the conversation when it came to what they did know about the ship. "So, as far as what I was able to salvage on the Thunder Child… frankly, it's not much, but I was able to pull some flight logs. Most of the data's been lost. Deliberately erased, and all. But I was able to put together some coordinates that this ship visited shortly before it got locked away. From what I can tell, the last stop was an old research facility on Venus—Ishtar Collective, of course."

"Is it even still standing?" Virna asked.

"The best I could say to that is probably. The last records I have of the place are nearly a hundred years old. More likely than not, the jungle's swallowed it. There haven't been skirmishes in the area for a long time, so if the Vex or the Fallen have been there, it's not something we know about."

Walker-17 nodded decisively. "Well. It's a start." He looked to Coyote-3, who gave him a thumbs-up, and then to Virna. "Do you think you'll be allowed to come?"

"I think they'll let me travel to a secret research facility to investigate an active piece of Golden Age technology that was possibly put together by the Ishtar Collective," Virna replied, a glint of sly humor in her eye. "That tends to be the sort of thing intelligence networks become interested in. But… I should say, Walker, that if you bring me along, I'm getting all of this info back to the Reef. Back to the Crows."

Her expression grew somewhat more serious. "Especially if it could benefit the Reef. The Taken War's been harder on us than anyone else. You have to understand that I can't walk away from any kind of technological advantage we can secure against Oryx or the Fallen."

Evoksis watched this all silently. He could see Virna's loyalty: fierce, unwavering. If everything he'd heard about what had happened to the Awoken when they attacked Oryx was true, it was likely a loyalty tempered by the fires of loss. She wielded it like a weapon.

Walker-17 nodded. "Of course, Virna."

Now, at last, Virna turned her attention to Evoksis. "Investigating this is my primary assignment, Evoksis. Odds are, you'll be reassigned when I leave. Are you comfortable with that?"

Evoksis opened his mouth to reply, but then paused as a thought struck him. "No need. I'll go."

"Wait—you want to come along?"

"Born on Venus," he went on, "can guide you through the jungle." He paused to look at each of them in turn. "Good warriors, maybe, but the jungle is not something you can fight with guns. You, at least—" Here he gestured to the Guardians. "—are not pathfinders."

Impulsive? Perhaps. Evoksis knew that such a proposal would be a long shot, but there was a slight chance that he would be allowed to prove himself on the field, and if he was allowed to go, at least he would be doing something.

Virna put her head to one side, her eyes narrowing slightly in thought. Evoksis could see the wheels turning in her head. "I'll ask permission," she finally said, slowly. "Makes enough sense, though. That's one less mouth to feed here, if you're out there, anyway." And the worst that Evoksis could do if he was taken on this assignment was run off. He wasn't likely to get far with two Guardians in tow. He didn't, however, intend to run off.

Evoksis nodded and then looked to the Guardians, his head tilted questioningly. Walker-17 stared blankly back at him, apparently unsure of what he wanted, but Coyote-3 quickly chimed in, "Yeah, of course you can come!" A pause. "As long as it's okay with you, Walker."

Walker-17 turned his vaguely suspicious attention back to Evoksis for a few moments. Finally, he nodded. "I'll take all the help we can get."

"Well, all right then." Virna picked up the pace. "Let me check in with the boss. See what the verdict is."

"I'll prep the ship for launch." Walker-17 looked between Virna and Evoksis. "I don't carry food with me, of course, so we'll only have what you bring. Do you need to pick up any other supplies? Either of you?"

As it turned out, they did, so the group agreed to split up, and arranged to meet back at the plaza.


Walker-17 was the first to come back. Rather than sit, he ambled over to the railing that looked out upon the vast purple gulf beyond the Ketch, his arms folded neatly behind his back. He'd checked and re-checked the coordinates with Matthias, hoping that something would come to him the more he spoke about them, but at the end of the day they were just a handful of possible coordinates, numbers that stirred no memory.

Matthias glanced to him, sensing his uneasiness. "Maybe it'll come to you when we get there."

"Maybe."

"And if it doesn't, well, I guess no harm done. We'll still have the ship, I suppose." He trailed off, and they stood for a while in comfortable, companionable silence. "Walker?" Matthias finally asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?" Walker didn't respond verbally, but simply inclined his head while Matthias examined the emotions filtering through their link.

He was nervous, to be sure, but there was also a sense of obligation. It hadn't been a mere whim that brought him to the Thunder Child. He was remembering something, and even now, he was unsure whether or not he should remember it. Regardless of anything else he felt, under it all was a sense of obligation. There was an undeniable link between him and the ship.

"I don't know if what I'm doing," Walker-17 finally said, "is selfless, or selfish. On the one hand, we might find something at the end of this road that helps the City and the Reef. Information, or lost research, or, if we're very lucky, Golden Age technology. So many things were lost to us in the Collapse... to bring even a fraction of it back to the City would be tremendous. On the other hand, I still don't know whether or not trying to remember these things is… safe." He was a little afraid. He didn't say so. He didn't need to. "Especially after…"

"The dream," Matthias replied softly.

"Yes. The dream." Exo were not supposed to dream, as a rule. Walker-17 had heard Banshee-44 mention dreaming before, but the one he'd experienced nearly a week ago had been his first, his only, and he wasn't sure what to make of it.

He'd looked into the experiences of some of his companions, and most of them said that the majority of dreams were fragile things which tended to fade, sometimes even immediately upon waking. Walker-17's remained starkly vivid, down to the last detail, and one thing had become very clear: it felt like a memory. And the memory was of an argument over someone else's well-being.

Nestled deep within Walker-17's mind, next to a tiny spark of fear, was a suspicion of who that "someone else" was.

Walker-17 went on, "And on the other hand, I have to admit I am curious. I want to know why I have these memories. Even though some part of me feels that I shouldn't want to know these things, I still do. If I chase them down—what if something dangerous is waiting? What if this is all a mistake? Am I sacrificing my own comfort for the sake of those I fight for, or am I putting my home and my allies in danger to satisfy my questions about myself?"

He fell silent for a few long moments, lowering his head further. "I don't know the answer. I don't even know which of these is the question I should be asking."

Matthias floated closer, silently offering comfort. "We can find out together. You're not alone in this."

"No," Walker-17 agreed, lifting his chin and regarding Matthias warmly. "I'm not."

Amusement filtered through the bond. "Well, I also meant our new entourage, of course. But of course you're never alone." The Ghost floated closer and nudged his shoulder affectionately.

Walker-17 nodded, and took a moment to consider his other companions. He'd traveled extensively with Coyote-3 before, and he already knew they worked well together. His first adventure with Virna seemed promising, too, and Walker-17 was curious about what sorts of things a Crow might do to make it out there in the unforgiving and Darkness-drenched world. That curiosity extended to Virna herself. Walker-17 was interested in what she could do, but he was also interested in what she was. Who she was.

As for Evoksis, he wasn't sure how to feel. Coyote-3 seemed quite taken with his new friend, but that was hardly surprising, as he was a very gregarious Exo. Walker-17 knew better than to judge one individual for the crimes of an entire race, but as of yet, he didn't quite trust Evoksis. Virna had an obligation to him, though, and Walker-17 figured she would likely be watching her charge closely enough. In the end, it was Evoksis's harmlessness that made the whole situation tenable. Evoksis wouldn't be hard to dispatch if he tried to turn on them. He was just a Dreg, after all.

Before Walker-17 could reflect on those matters too deeply, his companions began to filter back in. Coyote-3 was first, followed shortly by Evoksis. After short, customary greetings were exchanged, the three of them stood in silence for a while, admiring the view with Walker-17. Evoksis was the first to look away, and Walker-17 followed his gaze. He was staring across the plaza at the alcove one would normally find Variks lurking about in. He was staring at the banner of House Judgment.

Walker-17 mulled over whether or not he should say anything. Part of him was reluctant to engage Evoksis at all, but if he was going to get to know him on better terms, he might as well make the first overtures of camaraderie. If his distrust turned out to be founded, at least he could say he tried. "Normally he's out and about." Both Coyote-3 and Evoksis looked to him. "Variks, I mean. Must be busy."

Evoksis nodded slowly. Silence lingered, and Walker-17 was about to turn back to the view when the Dreg asked, quite suddenly, "What is he like?"

Coyote-3 responded, this time. "Variks the Loyal? He's something else. He'll hold one hand out to help you and rob you blind with the other if you give him half the chance. Even then, you'd best not let your guard down, because he's got two other hands and God only knows what he could do with those. He's shady as hell—I'm pretty sure everything in the Crystal Barrows is stolen—and he's as clever as a fox and twice as resilient. In short…" Coyote-3 crossed his arms. "I like him."

Walker-17 chuckled softly, wondering how much of that went over Evoksis's head. He seemed to get the gist of it, and made a low burbling noise, possibly his own approximation of a laugh. "Variks leads the Crows now," Walker-17 chimed in. "I'm not sure if Virna told you? She works for him. He and Commander Venj have been holding the Reef together since we lost the Queen. They're a good team." He nodded. "He's a good ally. Loyal as his name says he is."

"I, personally," Coyote-3 added, "always thought that nickname was meant to be ironic. Y'know, considering what he did to Skolas."

Evoksis tore his gaze away from the banner and looked at the Guardians. "Maybe not Loyal to the Kell of Wolves, but Variks is not a Wolf. Loyal to his own House. Judges his deeds by Judgment's creed. That is a deeper loyalty."

Neither of them could really argue with that. After a few moments of contemplation, Coyote-3 finally said, "Point."

"You should see him, sometime," Walker-17 added. "If you're interested in House Judgment."

Evoksis very quickly shook his head. "No. I could not look at him." And with that cryptic statement, he fell quiet, leaving Walker-17 wondering what he could have possibly meant by that.

"Oh, by the way, um, I meant to ask—you need Ether, right?" Coyote-3 asked, "I don't have any of the stuff with me, but I've got some Ether seeds in storage. Can those, be… y'know, processed? Somehow? Can you still use them?"

"I can," Evoksis replied.

"All right. Next chance I get, I'll snag 'em for you. My ship's at the City, so it might be a bit."

Walker-17 watched Evoksis's reaction closely. He was no expert on Eliksni expressions, but he seemed to be both somewhat surprised and… exasperated? Had Coyote-3 made some kind of faux pas? Evoksis finally simply nodded. "Generous."

"Well, it's not like I can use it," Coyote-3 said with a shrug.

"Still generous. Complicated." Evoksis waved a hand, dismissing further conversation and leaving Walker-17 to wonder what that meant. The barest spark of curiosity welled up, dispelling a trace of his suspicion.

It wasn't much longer before Virna re-appeared, nodding at the group before they were in earshot. "We're good to go," she said as she approached. She wasn't alone, either. Perched on her shoulder was what looked like a black bird, with sleek, gleaming feathers and a heavy, pitted beak. It tilted its head and regarded the others with a single, unblinking eye.

Flicker glided forward, his optic bright and curious. "That's-! ...not a real bird," he said, realization gradually entering his voice.

"Nope. There are two kinds of Crows on the Reef. The agents themselves, and these guys." Virna gestured to her feathered companion. "Very elegantly made surveillance devices. They can pipe visual data back to the Reef, bring word of anything they might see on their own, and get back here faster than we could. If the worst should happen, this little guy can pop back home with its warp core."

"Well, good to have you aboard," Flicker said. The crow stared back at him blankly.

"The older models had AI built-in, but they all disappeared. After… after the Prince did." Virna paused briefly, just for a beat, but Walker-17 noticed the verbal stumble. "This little fella's new. It's just a basic drone."

"Maybe he'll pick up the art of conversation on the way?" Flicker asked.

"Hope springs eternal, right?" Virna shrugged with a half-smile and returned her attention to the rest of the group. "And you've been cleared, Evoksis. Consider this an evaluation. If you do well on this mission, it'll go a long way towards getting you established. So, that's the long and short of it. I might be recalled if there's an emergency—so I'll be bringing my own ship, just in case—but otherwise, I'm in."

"Well, if there's an emergency, we'll help you," Coyote-3 volunteered, apparently not feeling that the permission of his fellows was necessary.

It wasn't. At least, not for Walker-17. He nodded at her, and Evoksis blinked slowly in a manner that seemed to suggest acquiescence. "If you like," Matthias piped up, "we can have your ship follow us. There's plenty of room on the Thunder Child, after all."

Virna took a deep breath, and for a moment Walker-17 got the impression that she was preparing to launch into some form of explanation… but instead she stopped, closed her mouth, and then nodded. "Well. Why not?"

"Might as well travel in style, right?" Coyote-3 asked.

She grinned at him. "Might as well."


Virna had been inside of the Thunder Child before, of course, but she'd not had a chance to properly appreciate its intricate and eccentric design. The walls were covered in wood-mimic panels, all of which had been carefully molded to the contours of the spaceship. The entire configuration gave the illusion of great planks and beams curving over their head. She ducked into one of the unclaimed quarters, which was mostly bare. One of the walls was dominated by an expansive viewscreen which was trimmed in copper. Everything around them glowed in shades of brown and gold. There was a sense of ancient luxury to it that she couldn't quite place.

"I can't get over how cleverly this wood effect was done," the Hunter's Ghost babbled enthusiastically, zipping around the interior. He was sporadically activating his scanner, temporarily bathing sections of the curved interior walls in blue. "It's all high-density polymers and alloys, but it looks like wood, doesn't it?"

"Smells like wood," Evoksis agreed.

"Really?" This seemed to only push Flicker to further heights of excitement. "That's so interesting! A lot of work went into making this ship look a certain way. I wonder if it was some wealthy person's pet project? Or a luxury transport for high-ranking officials?"

"Well, hey, that's what we're here to find out, right?" Coyote-3 asked, watching his Ghost. He still hadn't taken his helmet off, but amusement and affection were plain enough in his voice.

Between her day's travel with Walker-17 and her few days' worth of work with Evoksis, Virna felt she had a solid beginning as far as understanding the temperaments of her companions went, but Coyote-3 was a new and wholly unknown quantity. So far, her knee-jerk analysis of him would amount to "relatively harmless."

The whole "immortal, nigh-unkillable warrior of the Light" aspect notwithstanding.

Walker-17 was moving towards the bow of the ship, stepping between the soft brown leather chairs and looking down over the instrumentation. Behind them, in the hall, Matthias, Coyote-3, and Evoksis were staring at Flicker, who was enthusing about the ship's old-fashioned interior and comparing it to that of several fictional vessels, none of which were familiar to her. Judging by the squint of Evoksis's eyes, they weren't familiar to him, either.

Virna turned away from the display and took the few steps into the cockpit with a slight smile. "You keep some interesting company, Walker-17," she said, propping her elbow up on the headrest of the copilot's chair. The crow hopped from her shoulder to the top of the chair and stood there, taking in its surroundings with sharp little movements of its head.

"I can't argue that," he said, glancing up as his gloved fingers moved over the controls. "And... thank you, Virna. For coming along. I know that running off after such a nebulous lead can't be standard procedure. I hope it doesn't negatively impact your standing…?"

She stepped around the chair and shook her head as she sat in it. "Guardians aren't the only ones touched by powers greater than themselves, remember?" she said. "When an Awoken has a vision, it's taken seriously. This isn't so different."

Walker-17 raised his head to meet her gaze. The luminous purple of his eyes cut through the comfortable dimness of the ship. "Have you ever had a vision?"

She shook her head. "No. The Void's only barely touched me. Just a brush of its fingertips," she added with faint amusement. "But in all honesty, my job is usually harrowing enough without throwing visions of the future into the mix. I prefer things this way."

He nodded slightly, pausing for a moment. "Regardless," he went on, "thank you. I mean it."

"You're welcome," she replied simply.

Walker-17 smiled softly, holding her gaze for a moment longer before he looked back to the instrumentation, and she felt a faint lurch go through the ship. "Best take a seat, everyone," he called, sliding into the pilot's chair. Matthias floated out of the wall and hurried to his side. Coyote-3 and Evoksis entered shortly thereafter.

There were enough seats in the expanded cockpit for all of them (plus one). Virna took a moment to look the scene over. Before them, the viewscreen was still showing her the familiar vista of her home: wrecks drifting in violet-dusted desolation. The cabin exuded a quaint, antique charm, an ochre warmth that permeated the entire space like a bulwark against the cold of space. Her new companions were arrayed all around, seated in their chairs or floating next to their charges.

She couldn't shake the indelible feeling that something was beginning in that moment, something more important than the casual air that permeated the cabin suggested. Maybe the void is giving me a goodbye gift, she thought, with wry amusement. A bit of prophecy before I go.

"So," she said, looking to Walker17, "to Venus?"

"To Venus," he confirmed. "And after that…" Walker-17 glanced to his companions, and then to his Ghost. "After that, we'll have to see."


AN: This marks the end of part one! If you've gotten this far, first of all, let me thank you for reading. By now you probably have an idea of what to expect as far as what Parts 2 and 3 will entail, and they'll probably be comparable in length to this one. Keep your eyes peeled for: group bonding, some pre-Collapse corporate skulduggery, and general shenanigans. Now, for some mini-acknowledgements.

The Eliksni language translations I've been using were deciphered and compiled by the Bungie/Youtube user Sarsion! They have a great video up on their channel that's definitely worth a look to get a peek at Eliksni grammar structure and vocabulary.

Obviously I'm diving into the Grimoire to pull the lore for all of this, and the next two parts will get even deeper in there. If you want to get caught up on your lore game, I highly recommend Youtube user Myelin Games's channel, which has been indispensable to me as I was refreshing my knowledge. It's a great round-up of facts about each subject, as well as a source of some interesting speculations.

And, last but certainly not least, shout-out to you, SpecterXCove, for your consistent reviews! I'm always delighted to hear from you.

There will probably be a break of one week, maybe two, before Part 2 starts, as I want to have all of it written in the rough before I begin to post chapters. See you then!