ALLIANCE

The group left the ruins without further complications, returning to the camp base, where the remaining fallen greeted the baron and the captain, offering them ether and a place to sit down and relax while they waited for the skiff to come and pick them up. Not much attention was gave to the guardians, who just roamed outside the tent where Hereks was telling everyone of his heroic deeds: he exaggerated some detail to make the story even more interesting, and Vaksir knew it, but the captain kept his mouth shut and played along; he didn't certainly want to have his arms docked once more.

"...Alright commander...I apologize for the delay of my reply..." Said meekly Sansone, talking through the comm. of his helmet. He had finally had the ability to explain his superior what had happened after he left Earth.

Of course, he omitted most of the crucial details like Holly crazy idea and him aiding the fallen even if reluctantly. He needed more time to convince himself this alliance could work, and even more time to find the right words to convince his superiors, and nearly everyone at the Tower, that this House could be of enormous help; he had quite a status among the guardians and was well known for his merciless approach to the fallen race: but, how would they react if they would find out he had worked alongside them?

"What did the bald man say?" Asked Jaquimo, who sat on a crate and dangled his feet out of boredom, Holly sitting beside him.

The titan sighed deeply: "Not much: he just wanted to know where were we and why I hadn't replied to his transmission earlier..." He replied.

"And you justified ourselves telling him that...?" Asked Holly with a hint of worry.

"That we were on Venus because Jaquimo needed new samples of Vex cores and I was too busy pummeling them to reply." Said the Titan; rubbing the back of his neck; at his reply, the Hunter let out a sigh of relief.

"So you changed your mind about this truce between us and a House?" She asked full of hopes.

"I am still ready to add 'Archon' to the list of things I've killed." Snorted the titan. Holly and Jaquimo chuckled nervously.

"Speaking of which," added Sansone "How will you introduce it and the Kell to the Guardian's Council?".

Holly bit her lips and scratched the back of her neck: she was still thinking about it, trying to come up with the most pacific looking way to introduce Aliksis and Teriks to the Council.

"I'm still trying to come up with something..." She replied, looking up. The titan gave her a blank stare and sighed.

"If you bring them to the Tower they will most likely charge us of treason, you know it?" Asked Sansone crossing his arms.

"You mean they banish us as soon as we get to the Tower?" Asked back the warlock.

"Nah, they first restrain the two fallen, then ask you what the hell is going on and then lock you up with , they charge you of treason and banish you." Explained the exo.

His teammates exchanged a worried look at each other. The Guardian's Council was formed by the three Vanguard, Lord Shaxx, the three factions' leaders and nine guardians with high merits, one for each subclass; at the head of the assembly there was the Speaker, which has the last word on any matter: generally, his decisions get along with the others wishes, however, if he disagrees with them, his decision is the final one an must be respected.

Holly thought a moment, remaining silent and holding her chin.

"Jaqui, you return to the Tower." She said seriously. The warlock blinked surprised.

"What? Why?" He asked, his tone letting understand he found her decision unfair.

"You are the youngest of us: do you want to throw away your career because of a bad decision of mine?" Asked worried the hunter.

"But we are a team, girl! Beside it would be worst if you two, which are two old and experienced guardians, got banished!" He countered, jumping down from the crate.

"Do as the 'older guardian' says, half pint." Added the titan.

"You too, Sansone." Continued the woman "You have a status to defend."

"Sorry, but I'm not leaving you with a bunch of overgrown tarantulas."

"Go. I'll be a lawyer if they charge me of treason and you are one of the most influential guardians at the Tower." Said her, placing one hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, no! I'm following your ideas since yesterday; for once I'd like to do things my way!"

"Sans, Zavala has surely an eye on you, if they see you with me and a pack of still living fallen there will be no one to justify us," explained her calmly "They'll never listen to Jaqui! "

"She's right, tin man." Added the awoken, nudging his friend

The titan gave her a slightly worried look, sighing deeply.

"Alright... but, ring me up when you are coming to the City." He said, mimicking the headset of a telephone with his hand. Holly chuckled briefly and nodded to him.

"Don't worry Sans, we'll be alright." She reassured.

"Yeah! Just, try to not throw a party without us." Huffed sarcastic the titan.

Shortly after, Vaksir and Here's joined the trio.

"Are you ready to give Aliksis the good news?" Asked the captain, clapping together his upper pair of hands.

"Well, we decided to split up for now: I'm the only one coming back with you." Replied Holly.

"Why?" Asked Hereks suspicious.

"Because Sansone and Jaquimo have to psychologically prepare the Vanguard and everyone else to the meeting with your Kell." Explained her. Hereks was still skeptical.

"Yeah! They might flip some shit if they'd saw a fallen in human territory." Added the warlock. The two fallen exchanged a confused and slightly disgusted look at each other.

"They will throw feces in the air?!" asked shocked Vaksir.

The titan started laughing loudly, holding his forehead, the awoken blinking dumbstruck at the captain's question.

" It means that they could freak out: it's a colloquial expression." Explained Holly.

"...You humans have a strange tongue..." replied Hereks, slightly shaking his head.

"Well, we head back to the Tower now, don't do anything funny with Holly!" Said Jaquimo, pointing at the captain.

"How can we be sure you will not organize an attack against us?" Asked the baron.

"How can we be sure you won't use Holly to gain informations to infiltrate the Last City?" Asked back Sansone. The two stared at each other, eyes narrowed and aggressive stance. Vaksir cleaned his throat and gained his superior's attention.

"Baron, with all due respect, but we have to start to have some faith in these guardians, if we want this alliance to work..." He observed meekly. "...And the guardians have to put some faith in us too." He continued, his words less meek and more intimidating as his gaze fell on the titan.

A short moment of silence passed, before Jaquimo summoned his Ghost with one hand.

"Alright, tin man! Let's go home!" He said, pointing at the sky. Sansone gave a last glare at the captain, pointing two fingers at his optics and then at him, before vanishing in a cloud of particles like Jaquimo, trans mattered back to orbit.

"So, is the skiff ready?" Asked Holly, turning toward the two fallen.


After a short flight, the two guardians returned to the Tower, trans mattered by the central plaza by their Ghosts; the atmosphere was the usual like many other times: guardians who ran around the place from one wing to the other, getting everything ready for their next mission, vendors who cheerfully chatted with their costumers, the sound of guardian's curses when Rahool gave them ascendant shards after they gave him a legendary, heavy engram. It was like every day indeed.

"So, what are you going to do while we wait for Holly?" Asked Jaquimo.

"Writing the report of our last mission, omitting the entire 'spider thing', trying to come out with a good speech to promote this alliance and with a beat I made with Shaxx." Sansone replied, rubbing his faceplates tiredly. "And you?" He then asked.

"Oh, you know, usual stuff: training in the Crucible, burying myself in the tomes of the library learning about the great heroes of the Gap..." he said indifferent, tucking his hands in the pockets of his trousers and shrugging his shoulders.

"You are spending the evening locked up in your room playing some pre Golden Age virtual game, aren't you? " asked 'smirking' Sansone: if he had had eyebrows, one of them would have certainly be raised.

"Nah! What makes you suspect this?" Replied chuckling the awoken, walking away from the railing near which he and the titan had been materialized.

"Just remember that Ikora is having concentration exercises with the Praxic Order at eight sharp!" reminded him Sansone, cupping his hands like a megaphone. The warlock waved in acknowledgement and kept walking, as the titan headed to the Hall of the Guardians.


Jaquimo made his way toward his quarters located by the mid-section of the Tower body, where most of the apartments assigned to the guardians were. He shared the flat with other three guardians, two hunters and another warlock, which now were all on duty, leaving the entire house just for him.

He quickly opened the door and slammed it back close before rushing toward his room, which was the study: it was full of junk, pre Golden Age crafts were scattered around the floor and on the shelves, silken codex and wax idols littered the room along with the House Banners that were messily folded on his bed.

He took off his robe and tossed it on the pillow, the 'bulletproof vest' followed and he remained with a black shirt with the words "Mastah race" printed in bright yellow. He rush sat down to the desk completely submerged by Ghost's shells pieces, rivets, electronic pieces and old, torn blueprints and addressed to his Ghost.

"Wisp! The Gate lord's eye, please!" He said, snapping his fingers, an anxious smile on his face.

"/Are you sure it's a good idea?/" asked slightly worried Wisp, materializing the spherical object in front of its guardian.

"Ohoho! Of course it is!" Replied excited him, grabbing a screwdriver like harness "This thing may hold the key to definitely destroy the Vex, I have to decode this thing as .Possible-" he continued, forcing open the red lent, still bright red: beneath the glass, little cybernetic terminals shimmered under the light of the lamp, with little ports located in the rear part of the bulb.

The warlock grabbed a cable and plugged it into the power delicately.

"Wisp, could you kindly plug this into your frame? I need a rapid way to translate the informations." He said, handing over the other end of the cable. The little Ghost gave a skeptical look at the eye, before glancing to its guardian's face, which bore the pleading expression of a child. It sighed and rolled its eye, before leaning toward the guardian's hand.

As soon as he plugged ta cable, a static discharge ran from the Ghost to Jaquimo's grand, making then both gasp in surprise and slight pain.

"Ouch-Sorry Wisp," he apologized, sucking his slightly burned finger "I'll use the data pad to download the codes...".

The warlock then rummaged through one of the piles of junk under the desk, placing on the table another cable and a data pad. He plugged one cable to link the eye and the pad, the other to link the pad to a power cell of the size of a night table to power booth devices up. The pad display lighted up and a cascade of numbers and codes filled it.

"And now we sit back and relax for about... six hours." Commented the awoken, looking at the alarm clock placed on a shelf. Or at least this was his plan, but Jaquimo was not able to stay with his hands in his pockets: after a couple of seconds of silence, he stood up with a grumble and buckled up his robe once again.

"/Rift?/" chirped excited Wisp.

"Rift!" Replied enthusiastic Jaquimo, slamming close the door of his room.


Sansone stepped into the Guardian's Hall, where his commander and the other Vanguards stood around a table, plotting the City's defenses.

"Look who's payin' us a visit!" Commented smirking Cayde, rising his optics from the map to the shirt stairway from which Sansone descended. He nodded to Ikora and the other exo, before stopping in front of Zavala and snapping a salute to him.

"At ease, Sansone 13-16." said the awoken calmly, tipping his head to the other titan. "I gave read your reports and there was a note saying you wanted to talk: what is it?"

Sansone cleaned his throat and started talking very calmly, despite not knowing the reaction his superior could have.

"Yes, commander... I was chatting with a fire team member, some time ago, and, they came up with the idea of...trying to find an ally outside the City's walls," he started slightly tilting his head to the sides as he talked.

"They thought the fallen could be a suitable asset in our war against the Darkness!" He continued, faking a laughter. "I told them they were just a bunch of bloodthirsty scavengers, but they insisted, so I asked myself: what if one day we'll find a group, or even a House, willing to help us?".

The titan's question made his commander frown slightly, his eyes blinking rapidly in confusion.

"It sounds like one of your hunters took your little tale too seriously, Cayde." Commented the awoken, turning toward the blue exo.

"But you have to admit this could be a great opportunity for us, Zavala." Commented Ikora, holding her chin and contemplating the possibility "We wouldn't only gain an ally but a valuable resource of informations!"

"Ikora is right, blue giant: they are part of the Darkness, and they could know things we don't about it!" Commented Cayde.

"Yeah, and maybe they want to ally with us to share informations in return of a safe place away from the coldness of this world full of Darkness! Come on! We all know what they are capable of!..." he paused a moment, looking firmly at his exo soldier "A fallen will have to save my life, before I could even start to ponder about speaking to them in a civil manner." He concluded coldly, tipping his head to dismiss Sansone.

The golden plated exo snapped another salute to all three Vanguards and walked back to the plaza: the three Vanguards talked to each others like he and his friends had talked earlyer.


New chapter at the TTK's eve guys! Are you hyped? Ready to wear Oryx's butt as a Jackolyte? I hope you all will have fun tomorrow, while I patiently wait for the digital download to be available in the Bel Paese.

Anyway, we hit over 2k views! You guys are awesome, thanks for reading and supporting!