Meridian Bay.

Vast dunes arched throughout the ancient city of Mars, ever-shifting.

The Cabal had built fortifications throughout it, digging up every bit of research humanity had left behind following the Collapse, all the while fighting the Vex that kept popping up, despite their Legionnaires' best efforts.

In the recent weeks, Vex incursions had slowed down noticeably, and swathes of the vast Martian city had fallen under the Cabal's control, and they'd taken to combing through the ancient skyscrapers with gusto.

How much further, Ghost? Jennifer spoke, soaring through the sandy streets, astride her Sparrow, alert for any would-be ambushers.

A little under a kilometre. The signal's as strong as before, thought I do sense some Vex in the area.

Figures. The Titan gunned her vehicle's throttle, sending the nimble machine hurtling forwards – immediately, she grinned, enjoying the thrill of speed. She was, self-admittedly, an adrenaline junkie. That's why she took regular excursions to the Last City's outer districts to race across crumbling buildings. To escape death by the skin of her teeth was a primeval high that even the occasional resurrection by her Ghost didn't dull.

Still here, thank you.


Just so you know, we're about to drive straight into a firefight. There's a bunch of Cabal and Vex going at it ahead.

I'm going to take a blind stab in the dark and say that both were drawn there by the beacon.

Seems to be the case.

Do I get a prize for guessing correctly?

If you don't keep quiet, I'll transmat your Sparrow out from under you.

Touché.

A moment later, she came upon the sight of half a dozen Cabal Legionnaires pinned down by a number of Vex Goblins. Upon seeing her, the infernal machines warbled, immediately turning to face her en masse,which made sense. She had, after all, destroyed the Heart of the Black Garden. In a sense, it was flattering to know the Vex thought of her as the bigger threat. Grinning with excitement, she leaped off her Sparrow, letting it careen off to the side as she brought Invective to bear, charging straight at the Vex, eager to obliterate them.

The first Goblin she reached didn't get much of a chance as she caved its head in, the built-up Arc energies within her disintegrating the machine as she blasted another one with her shotgun, the weapon ripping a hole in the Vex's torso. She aimed again, terminating yet another one of the machines. A blaring Minotaur attempted to bludgeon her, but fared just as its comrades had when Jennifer unloaded the last two shots into its face. Tossing a grenade to distract the Vex for a moment, she turned her back to the Vex, so as not to blind herself when the projectile blew, and took the moment to reload, safe in the knowledge that her armour would protect her. It was, after all, meticulously reinforced with relic iron and ascendant shards she'd salvaged during her travels.

With Invective reloaded, she tore into the disoriented Vex again, punching and shooting her way through the machines, her armour stained with the radiolarian fluids of their cores.

You keep punching any longer and you'll be swinging at nothing but thin air.

Ghost's words snapped her out of the close-quarters combat-induced frenzy as the last Vex crumpled at her feet. Remembering the group of Cabal, she turned to face them, blinking in mild confusion, her bloodlust mitigated by the fact that none of them seemed inclined to shoot her.

Well, this is awkward.

A moment later, the Centurion who seemed to be in charge, stepped forward, the projection rifle in his hands held at ease as he spoke in that guttural, rumbling language of theirs.

I think he's trying to talk to us.

Seeing that Jennifer didn't understand his words, the Centurion tried again, after typing something into a wrist-mounted device on his arm.

"You are the one who struck down Fleet Commander Valus Ta'aurc, yes?"

The Centurion just spoke to her. Not shot, tried to bludgeon her to death, or bellowed something inane at her.

"Uh... yeah. That's me." The Centurion slowly cocked his head to one side as she spoke.

"Hmm. Thought you'd be taller." Before she could protest, the Centurion continued, blissfully unaware of the Titan's indignation. "There is one rule that all of Cabal respect – times have changed, but the cardinal rule of our military, no, society, has not changed. And not that long ago, you gave that particular rule a good shake, rattling it to the very foundations."

"And what, pray tell, is this rule?" She questioned, trying to suppress her ire at being – vaguely – called a midget.

"You keep what you kill."

At first, for a confused moment, she thought she was the proud owner of Ta'aurc's corpse. It wasn't until the Legionnaires got down on one knee, bowing their helmeted heads that she understood, with shocking clarity, what the Centurion meant.

No.

No, no, no.

No, a million times no.

NO, GOD, PLEASE NO.

A human Guardian as a Cabal Fleet Commander... now what would be the odds of that?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-


"Ta'aurc was a respected and venerated commander. But he was old, and so were his ideas. However, few had the courage to try and jockey for the position of Fleet Commander, and those who tried to challenge his claim did not last long, despite being mighty warriors themselves. Thus, it seemed his position was cemented, his seat of power unchallenged."

"Until I did him in." The Centurion, who'd introduced himself as Terun, was silent for a moment as his translator deciphered the meaning of her words before nodding once.

"Indeed. Like I said before, this has thrown our commanders into disarray. Many now question the strength of our troops and warships, while the ambitious ones try to jockey for the Fleet Commander's position, firmly believing only a Caballite can lead the Fleet. Others, however, are convinced your display is proof enough of your right to rule."

"And what do you think?"

"As long as unity is restored among the rank-and-file, I do not really care what you do."

Guardian, I suggest you accept. If what Terun says is true, we'll have the Cabal's manpower and resources at our disposal! Think of what we could accomplish with it!

I never asked for this.

Would you rather let someone worse than Ta'aurc be in control and decide to lay waste to the Last City in revenge for us ending Ta'aurc?

Uuurgh... Steeling herself, she spoke up, hardly able to believe she was saying what she was saying.

"I accept." The Caballite let out a rumbling chuckle at her words.

"Excellent..." Terun pulled a small datachip from one of the many pouches on his armour, passing it to Jennifer. "Meet me at the coordinates on this chip, in one week. There, we will see about bringing this to a close."

"Uh... great, I guess."

"Be calm. If I wanted you dead, I'd at least have the courtesy to let you know beforehand."

"That makes it so much better, thank you." Her sarcasm fell on deaf ears as Terun nodded once.

"Glad to be of help, Fleet Commander."

Is this some kind of cosmic joke?

Probably.


A week later, as she'd promised, she arrived at Terun's given coordinates, leaving her trusty jumpship a small ways off from the collection of Cabal Interceptors and Harvesters that also sat nearby, arranged in a circle. From this close, she could see the bulky forms of Cabal soldiers trudging about.

"Ah, Fleet Commander! Good to see you." A synthesized voice reached out to her across the distance between the Guardian and the meeting place. "The meeting is almost prepared, all we need is for you to take part in it. This is a momentous occasion, as you can imagine."

I'll say. Jennifer mentally groused, but didn't voice her discomfort as she walked on, to what she felt would possibly be the worst mistake in her life.


Numerous helmeted heads turned to look at the Titan, and she could barely resist the urge to start punching everything in sight. The voices of Cabal soldiers, though muted, reached her ears through her helmet's audio filters – some seemed in awe, others were indifferent, or indignant. Her anxiety was somewhat assuaged as she noticed Terun approach her – much to her chagrin, he bowed to her before speaking.

"Are you ready to make history, Fleet Commander?"

"I guess it's now or never." The Centurion nodded before turning to address the other Cabal commanders. Immediately, the hubbub of suppressed conversations died off as Terun spoke.

"We all know why we are gathered here. Several weeks ago, Fleet Commander Valus Ta'aurc was killed. But it was not by one of our more... ambitious sub-commanders. Neither are the Vex at fault here." Some of the seemingly less-informed Cabal began to mutter quietly, confused.

"Valus Ta'aurc was defeated by a Guardian from Earth." He gestured to the Titan standing at his side. "As far as our rules are concerned, she is now the Fleet Commander."

"Is this some sort of a twisted joke, Centurion?" An irate voice rose above Terun's as one of the commanders stepped forward, trembling in anger. "I do not appreciate being made a fool of! We all know how much damage these 'Guardians' have cause to our operations, so why should we let one of their ilk be in charge?"

"Need I remind you that the late Fleet Commander's rise to power was no less bloody? You forget your place, Khairal." Another Caballite spoke, his voice magnitudes less hostile, and held a tone of hard-learned experience. "You keep what you kill. That is how it's been since the very inception of Cabal." Having finished berating his peer, he turned to regard Jennifer. "What is your name, Guardian?"

"Jennifer Irons."

"And you say that you ended Ta'aurc?"

"I had help, but it was anything but easy. He gave as good as he got."

"Hmm. How many of your kind were there?"

"Just me and two other Guardians." The words caused an excited murmur arise again from the other Caballites.

"You still doubt her strength, Khairal? Three Guardians accomplished what the Vex never could." He turned to address Jennifer once more, inclining his head slightly. "I am Valefor T'narr, and I, for one, am interested to see what you can accomplish."

Khairal did not approve.

"SHE IS NOT CABAL! SHE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT STRENGTH!"

Perhaps it was the Caballite's attitude, or the suddenness of being thrust into a position of power that set her off. In either case, she'd reached her boiling point, and was quite ready to bust some heads.

"You want to fucking go?" She all but shouted at Khairal, who froze mid-rant.

"WHAT?!" Undeterred, the angry Titan continued her profanity-laden rant.

"Just you fucking try me, I'll fucking lay you the fuck out, motherfucker!"

If Wei Ning was still alive, she'd be crying tears of joy right now.

Howling with anger, Khairal charged right at her, arms outstretched, and she followed suit, left arm pulled back, fingers clenched in a fist.

As the distance between the two shortened, she leapt, soaring through air as she thrust her arm forward, her lightning-wreathed fist connecting with the Caballite's faceplate with a thunderous crack, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, his ill-conceived one-Cabal charge cut abruptly short.

Her greaves digging into the ground, Jennifer killed her momentum, turning to regard the unconscious Khairal, then the other Cabal commanders, all of whom were looking at her with rapt attention as she addressed them.

"Now, here's what's going to happen – you can either fall in line, or I will personally kick all of you down a ravine filled with rusty razor wire, salt, chainsaws and rabid bears, all the while forced to listen to nails being scraped on a chalkboard. If any of you have anything to object to, this is your last opportunity. Is that clear?"

The Cabal soldiers looked at each other silently before kneeling down in unison, bowing their heads.

"Good to know." Jennifer sighed softly, glad to know something was going her way for once. "Now, I'll be laying down some ground rules for the foreseeable future..."


The last time she'd beheld Ta'aurc's massive tank was when she'd arrived with her fireteam to end his life. Now, it was hers.

It was all hers – the Cabal warships in orbit above Mars, the infantry legions, their tanks and aircraft... She held power absolute.

Careful, Guardian. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

But it rocks absolutely, too.

Eh, a fair point, I suppose.

The trip to the command centre took a while, seeing as the size of the tank beggared belief, quite frankly. She still was half-convinced this was some sort of a fever dream, as she brought up the databanks of what the Cabal had recovered from Freehold.

Thoughtfully, she reached towards the control panel, Ghost manifesting in her palm as it interfaced with the systems, causing various holographic screens to pop up around them.

"You know this could cause, as some would put it, a shitstorm, right?"

Jennifer merely chuckled in return.


"Silence, still?" The Speaker sighed heavily, looking away from the inert form of the Traveller. It had healed noticeably since the destruction of Black Garden's heart, yet it still remained stubbornly dormant.

The communications device on his desk chirped – a welcome distraction from his morose train of thought, despite raising some questions in his mind. It was more often that he contacted others, not the other way around. His communications code was not common knowledge.

Ascending the staircase, he approached his desk, powering up the device's holoprojector. It didn't take long before the flickers of blue light resolved into a solid image, but when it did, he almost did a double take, certain that this was a prank of the tasteless variety.

"Good day to you, Speaker." The Titan's voice came through the speakers. "Forgive the intrusion, but I think you'll want to hear what I have to say." The sagely man blinked, glad he had his mask and robes to conceal his surprise. His mouth, however, turned out to be a traitor this time.

"I swear, I haven't had that many..."