A Soldier of the Light

Chapter 12 – No sacrifice, no Victory

Near Old Moscow…

Sorric rode his Pike towards Old Moscow at a furious pace. Finally, one of the prisoners had broken. In the end, it had been the one who was deprived of all sense of living and sleep. This had initially surprised Sorric, as he hadn't expected the sleep deprivation to be enough, but he had remained sceptical. When he had told another of the Cavalier prisoners the co-ordinates, its eyes had widened in shock, ever so slightly. This told Sorric all he needed to know, and had killed all of the Cavaliers in a flurry of movement.

Now, he was eager to take down his mark and return to the House who had organised the Bounty. Nothing could stop him from his reward.

Nothing.

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Old Moscow, near the Cavalier Ketch…

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Entity surveyed the landscape through the scope of his high-powered sniper-rifle. He'd been lying in the grass of a high-up rooftop for the last four or so hours. He was to provide cover for Ferrum and Perses whilst they infiltrated the Ketch to reach its main reactor port, near its engine room. There, they would place multiple explosive charges in various strategic points that Ferrum had worked out along the main heat dispersion system. If destroyed, the engine would overheat within a matter of minutes, causing an explosion that would destroy the ship, killing their Archon… Kell, whatever.

Simple, right?

Well, not so much, seeing as there was over half of the main Cavalier force on-board the Ketch. Despite such things, Ferrum had insisted that he and Perses go alone, as a large group would be easier to spot. Entity saw the wisdom in such an action and had retreated to his new sniping post, waiting for some sign from the pair of Exo's that he could open fire and draw attention to himself so they could escape unnoticed. Then, they would all run for the hills whilst the Ketch, and the 'Kell', crashed and burned.

Well, that was the plan at least.

Entity sighed, and felt boredom creeping in as the sun began to set beside the ancient ruins of the derelict Kremlin, bathing the landscape in a sunset-orange glazing. Erebus had opted to stay with the Exo, her own sniper-rifle poised and ready. Of course she wouldn't be able to hit as many targets as he would, especially from this distance. She was nowhere near as talented as Entity with the long-rifle. Even from this distance, she probably wouldn't have been able to hit a barn-door. Well, that and the fact that she was fast asleep would prevent her from hitting her mark.

Entity chuckled lightly to himself, and then went back to looking through his scope.

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Ferrum watched diligently as another Fallen patrol passed his hiding spot in the shadows. He looked to his left slightly, to see Perses crouched in a similar position to him directly behind him, carefully eyeing the Fallen patrol as well. Letting them turn the corner, Ferrum made a signal with his left hand for the pair to move forward. Moving slowly and carefully, the pair proceeded to their next hiding spot, near a Fallen checkpoint.

The Sun was setting in the Moscow sky, and Ferrum rationalised that there wasn't very long to wait until nightfall. He looked over to Perses and signalled for him to make himself comfortable; they were going to wait for the cover of darkness before infiltrating the Ketch. He didn't want to chance being spotted before getting inside, and he wanted to be seen even less when actually inside.

They would wait an hour before making their move.

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They were like two ships passing in the night.

Neither aware of the others existence, let alone their proximity to each other. Two enemies, set on eliminating the same target. Neither of them knew each other's wishes, neither cared. Individually, they only wanted the same thing – the death of a Kell.

Sorric was also making his way to the Ketch. Only, he was going at it in a much less restrained way, but no less stealthily. Moving like a shadow of malevolence, Sorric' Tai swept over the landscape as a ghost of death.

Unseen, unheard, but not unfelt.

Like a wraith with ominous intentions, he moved from hiding-place to hiding-place, cutting down any Fallen Cavalier unlucky enough to be in the way. Remorselessly, he killed every patrol that was in his approach. He was going about his objective very differently to the Guardians, as he wished to go to the throne-room of the Ketch, facing the Kell in principled combat. He did not believe in honourless killing. A killer should look his victim in the eye as the life leaves his gaze. It would be swift, it would be merciless…

… it would be soon.

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Sorric reached the entrance of the Ketch in record time. Unluckily for him, though, bodies of dead Cavaliers had been found and the alarm had been raised. This way, the Kell would be notified and would likely prepare for the intruder to show his face.

It was all going according to plan.

Sorric knew that the Kell would call all of his forces to him to guard the lower floors of the Ketch whilst the Kell himself locked himself in a safe room at the far aft of the ship – right next to the engines that Ferrum and Perses would be targeting. Though this last fact was unknown to the Fallen Elder Captain, and he had planned to infiltrate the Ketch using its aft cooling tube system that would systematically dump excess heat to keep the machine from overheating. Now that the ship was simply hovering in place, it was more than likely that it wouldn't need to dump its cargo. Sorric rationalised that it would take the Kell a couple of minutes to reach the safe-room, allowing Sorric just enough time to get close enough to make his way up the shaft and into the ship. It would take him longer to reach the safe-room though, but he had an over-ride code that would unlock the door for him, allowing him easy access to the Kell.

Waiting for a few minutes to allow the Cavaliers to truly soil themselves, he made his move and started towards the aft end of the Ketch.

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Perses woke with a start. He'd been enjoying a light sleep for a decent half-an-hour before he was rudely awakened by a gentle punch on the shoulder from Ferrum.

Immediately, his eyes shot open and he surveyed his surroundings in alarm, looking for any source of danger. But he was greeted by a sight of his Exo friend, his Warlock robes swishing in the steady wind. He had finger to his lips, indicating that he should be quiet. Perses nodded, understanding the gesture and Ferrum drew away slowly. Removing his finger from his mouth he told Perses how the Fallen at the nearest checkpoint had suddenly gotten wind of some kind of intrusion to the Ketch and had immediately scurried off. Ferrum had notified Entity, and they were accelerating the plan's time window. They would hit sooner, without the cover of darkness to shroud their movements.

Perses nodded again, understanding the issue and the result the pair would need to employ. Standing up, they made their way from hiding-place to hiding-place behind the derelict remains of ancient cars and alleyways, wary of anyone who would spot them. No such thing happened.

Instead, they stumbled onto the dead body of a Fallen Cavalier Vandal. His throat had been swiftly sliced open, leaving the Vandal to suffocate and die. Pints of luminescent blood stained the ground around the Cavalier's neck. And the Vandal was face-down in the dirt.

"What could have done this?" Perses questioned, looking at the body with sad eyes. It wasn't a nice way to go. He'd always thought of himself as a merciful man… well – Exo. Killing enemies in the least painful way possible, thus sparing them from the agony of dying gradually.

"I assume that it was our mystery man that attracted so much attention…" Ferrum mused, more to himself than anyone else.

Ferrum walked over, crouched and inspected the body for a few seconds, flipping the corpse and probing the wound thoroughly. Removing his fingers from the deep laceration, he brought it up to his optics, scanning it for metal residue – a signature of sorts that would tell him what weapon killed the Fallen. His eyes widened slightly in realisation, as the perpetrators weapon was identified.

"Shock-spear," he said with worry, "There are only a few Fallen I've known that use such weapons."

"Go on." Perses pressed.

"Well…" Ferrum said, standing up, "From the evidence, I'd say that it's either Retas Va'kuum, a Baron for the House of Spies, but intel on him suggests that he's more of an observer than a fighter – and he's in Old London right now. Or it could be Sorric 'Tai, bounty hunter for the House of Venom - very deadly, very efficient."

Perses thought for a moment.

"I'm gonna go with door number two." Perses said, cocking his large shot-gun.

"We'd best get moving - we don't want him to get there first…" Ferrum told him, thinking about how volatile this particular Fallen was and how he may take the Ketch as spoils of war.

"Let's get going." Ferrum almost ordered, and the pair set off again, this time at a faster pace.

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Entity sighed for the second time in as many minutes.

About ten minutes ago there had been some activity near the Ketch that attracted some attention, resulting in the majority of Cavalier forces in rallying to the entrance to the Ketch. It had been at this point that Entity had woken Erebus up, ordering her to be ready to open fire if Ferrum gave the word.

No such request had been demanded yet, but Entity had a feeling that it would come sooner or later. That Ketch was locked up tighter than the screws in his head.

Entity chuckled to himself at his own idiotic joke, earning an odd look from Erebus.

"What's so funny?" She asked, curious to the Exo's sudden sense of humour.

"Oh, nothing really. I was just thinking abou-" Entity began, but was cut off by Ferrum's voice interrupting his.

"Fenrir-1, come in. This is Fenrir-3." It said over the white noise and crackling of the radio he had mounted on his Red Eclipse cloak. Entity's hard stare returned to his scope, looking for any sign of trouble.

"Go ahead, Fenrir-3, what's the problem?" He asked.

"Fenrir-4 and I need to get a move on, and I doubt we'll be able to get to the objective with these guys guarding the entrance. Is there anything you can do?" Ferrum replied.

Instead of responding, he merely took aim at the head of a Cavalier Vandal and pulled the trigger. Immediately, the space where its skull had once been was replaced with the ethereal white light that accompanied the death of a Fallen soldier.

The other Fallen were slow to react, and Entity had blown the head off two other Vandals before they all scrambled for cover - the dozen or so Cavaliers soldiers seeking out places to hide whilst searching for the source of the shooting. Subsequently, the entrance to the Ketch was left unattended, its guards far more concerned with their own lives than the safety of their Kell.

"Fenrir-3, the way is clear. Happy hunting." Entity 'smiled' as he took a pot-shot at a Dreg stupid enough to poke its head out of cover, scaring it back into hiding place.

"Thanks, Fenrir-1, over and out." Ferrum said before Entity spotted two distant figures sprint into the Ketch, unheeded by enemy or obstacle.

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Sorric had reached the deck that the Kell's safe room was on. Reaching it hadn't been a problem, as only two-dozen-or-so guards had blocked his path. Now they laid dead or dying on the ground around his feet. Sorric smirked at his own skill at battle – no-one could best him. Surely, after the Kell for the Cavaliers had been bested, his Kell would see how powerful he truly was and promote him? Sorric could hardly wait for his turn to challenge and defeat the fool who sat on the throne and commanded his House. He laughed darkly as he approached the large steel bulk-head that prevented him from entering the room the Kell was no doubt cowering in.

Not for much longer: he thought to himself, already picturing the Kell's head mounted on the tip of his shock-spear.

He took out his data-pad and inserted it into the terminal next to the door of the safe-room, looking around for any sign of reinforcements. A progress bar appeared on the screen, moving achingly slowly towards the right-hand side. As it filled, Sorric could hear the gears and cogs turning in the bulk-head, gradually unlocking it. No doubt the Kell heard it too, and was more-than-likely preparing himself for intrusion now. Sorric estimated that he had a few minutes to wait before the door opened…

… then he could claim his prize.

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Ferrum and Perses moved at a break-neck pace towards the engine room. They'd encountered little resistance so far, presumably due to Entity's incredible job at distracting them, and any force they did come across was far too small to prove anything close to a challenge.

Arriving at the engine room, Ferrum jogged over to his pre-arranged points, bringing out some explosive remote detonators to place on the struts and supports of the pipeline that carried some cooling liquid inside them. Perses continuously looked in both directions of the corridor, keeping a watchful eye for any sign of more Cavalier's.

After a few minutes, Ferrum had finished his strategic placing of the explosive charges. He had the detonator in one hand, and his fusion rifle in the other. Perses saw him coming, and together they jogged a little ways down the corridor to enter another room. It was here that they took cover behind some relatively safe places like bed-frames and arranged tables.

Nodding to Perses and counting down from three, Ferrum triggered the detonator.

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Nothing happened.

Perses looked over to Ferrum in confusion, silently asking for an explanation as to why the charges hadn't exploded. Ferrum felt like he knew the answer already. Swearing, he threw the detonator at a wall, where it shattered on impact.

"Those fucking Fallen! They must have jammed the detonation frequency! God-dammit!"

Perses lowered his head in defeat; he didn't have any other ideas. Suddenly, the ship began to rumble and growl. Then slowly, it began to move forward and begin an ascent to the clouds.

Ferrum looked over at Perses, realising what was happening.

"They're leaving! They know what we just tried to do… get ready, Perses, we're gonna have some company."

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20 minutes earlier…

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Unbeknownst to the pair of Exo's, Sorric had managed to gain access to the safe-room, ready to face the Kell of the House of Cavaliers.

The Kell had been tougher than Sorric had expected, expertly wielding a pair of electrically-charged shock-swords. It had been a furious battle, one that left neither warrior unscathed, but no less well-versed in the art of combat. The Kell, Ra'ghul, had fought with knowledge and strength that nearly overcame the bounty-hunter.

Nearly.

Sorric knew what he was doing. Ra'ghul was much larger than him, and Sorric used that to his advantage. As he knew that in most cases; bigger meant slower. Using his comparatively smaller size to his benefit, Sorric skirted around the room, dodging and returning blows as he proceeded to jab and parry with the large Kell. He took no shortage of blows himself, and soon his armour was cracking under the unrelenting hail of hits. Sorric feigned left, the Kell fell for it and Sorric took the opportunity to cut Ra'ghul's right thigh. He roared in anger and pain, the red mist leading him to resume his barbaric assault on Sorric, who couldn't help but cry out when the Kell impaled his abdomen with the tip of his blade, sending electricity surging through it. Withdrawing the blade, the Kell backpedalled a little, taking a moment to breathe.

This was when Sorric struck.

Ignoring the intense pain in his abdomen, he rushed the Kell and ducked under the swords that sliced the air mere centimetres above his helmet. Sorric proceeded to shove his shock-spear deep into the Kell's second leg, causing the large Fallen to fall onto his knees, his injured legs unable to hold up his massive weight. Sorric now saw that this was the time to strike.

Swish!

His shock-spear sliced clean through the front of the Kell's neck, through arteries and cartilage. A fountain of blood and gore spewed from the large warrior's throat that now knelt before his superior. Immediately, the Kell's hands went to his neck, trying desperately to stop the flow of blood to no avail.

But Sorric wasn't done.

Taking his back-up machete from its holster on the small of his back, Sorric went to work. Impaling the Kell's chest, through the dented and broken armour and through the muscle and sinew of his chest, he caused enormous damage to the vital organs and body-parts inside the Kell's chest. He stabbed the Kell - again and again and again.

He stabbed him at least a dozen times, occasionally twisting the blade for his own pleasure. The Kell groaned in protest, but was unable to stop Sorric's viscous assault on his chest, too busy trying to cease the unending fountain of blood and gore that dribbled from his neck in disgusting rivers. Soon, though the light of life left the Kell's eyes. With a final rasping sigh, accompanied by rivers of blood pouring out of his mouth, the Kell flopped onto his chest and died.

Sorric stood there for a moment before letting out a roar of triumph that reverberated around the small room. Then, he bent down and hacked off the Kell's head from his lukewarm corpse and hung it from his belt, as a trophy of battle and set off in the direction of the bridge, he wanted to do something before leaving.

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He strolled casually into the main bridge, which was currently being occupied by a number of Cavalier Vandals and Dregs sitting in front of consoles and flight controls, no doubt preparing for an imminent take-off, as the alarm had been set off a little while ago. His entrance did not go unnoticed, as it attracted the attention of the Fallen scattered around the room. Immediately, they stood up and drew shock-pistols and daggers, only to hesitate when they saw the head of their leader swinging from Sorric's belt like some kind of great medal of honour or power. The Cavaliers exchanged looks between each other, deciding on what to do, when all of a sudden, some of the Dregs began to kneel down before him. They were closely followed by the others, and soon, the whole room was bowing reverently to Sorric, who only chuckled as he brought out his shock-spear, already lunging at the first Cavalier to slice his throat.

It was over in a matter of moments, though the pain he experienced as he lunged was immense, he used the element of surprise to kill all of the Fallen Cavalier's in the room. He thought to himself how no newly-anointed Kell of a Fallen House probably hadn't sliced up his subjects seconds after being named their leader.

He chuckled quietly to himself at that as he walked over to the main command-console and input the instructions for the Ketch's automated flight-path. Locking in the co-ordinates, he placed an un-armed grenade on the terminal controls. Then, he turned and walked away as soon as the ship began to move, only briefly pausing to pick up a Shock-Pistol to turn and shoot the grenade, causing it to explode and destroy the terminal, rendering the controls useless – there was no turning it around now.

Sorric calmly walked to the hangar bay of the Ketch, just near its belly. Anything more would've made his chest wound even more painful. Walking in, he saw that there were no guards around.

They must be doing something else; he thought to himself.

Shaking his head, he continued to one of the un-occupied Skiff's that littered the hangar. There was no floor to the large room, only the whistling wind accompanying the long drop to the surface of the planet. Walkways allowed people to stride around without fear of falling. At some point or another, the walkways stemmed off into smaller jetties. Some of which were occupied by Skiff's, others were not. Entering one of the Skiff's through its side-hatch, he seated himself in front of the ship's controls, searching for the controls that would allow him to pilot the small troop-transport vehicle. Its cargo bay was currently stocked full of supplies and weapons, and its under-side currently had a Walker attached to it. Spoils of war for his efforts Sorric rationalised. Buckling himself in, he punched the button that would detach the magnetic clamps that kept the Skiff stationary. Presently, the Skiff suddenly plummeted down into oblivion. Activating the throttle and ascenders, Sorric managed to level out the vehicle in the air. He breathed a sigh of relief and, taking one last look at the ill-fated Ketch on course to its final destination, he headed home.

Entity, meanwhile, had been watching the ship as it rumbled and took off into the air, climbing higher and higher as it went into the clouds. Narrowing his eyes at the enormous craft and wondering if it was his two Exo friends that had driven the ship to do such a thing, he tracked its trajectory, his on-board systems estimating where and when it would land. His eyes widened again in shock and horror and he knew that his friends were not the ones to blame for the ship taking off.

The Ketch was heading on a crash-course for the City.

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The pair of Exo's were standing in the coolant chamber, wondering what to do about their current predicament when Ferrum's radio suddenly crackled to life, carrying Entity's voice with it.

"Ferrum, Perses, can you hear me?" he said, a sense of urgency embedded into his voice. Perses looked at Ferrum, confused. The other Exo only shrugged in reply before responding to the initial question.

"We read you, Entity, loud and clear. Guess what? The Ketch just took off – with us inside of it!" Ferrum said sarcastically into the mouth-piece embedded into his helmet.

"Yeah, we know. It looks as if the ship is on a crash-course for the City," Ferrum and Perses looked at each other in alarm, "Why haven't you destroyed the coolant system yet?" Entity said, just as sarcastically.

"We tried, but it looks like the Fallen jammed the signal, so remote detonation doesn't work." Perses answered.

A moment went by as Entity thought on what to do.

"Is there a manual overload?" he asked.

"Nope. These explosives didn't come with any option to detonate manually. So that's not an option either." Ferrum responded.

Another moment went by.

"Well, we've got to think of something! If we do nothing, thousands of innocent people will die, and the City will crumble into chaos." Erebus cut in. "Do you think that you could maybe turn the ship around, or in literally any other direction?" she asked hopefully.

The pair of Exo's looked at each other and nodded. They set off towards the bridge. A few minutes later they entered the nerve-centre for the entire ship.

It was a place of slaughter.

Dead bodies were strewn over the floor in odd rag-doll positions. Others were seated at their stations, slumped over the controls, their life-blood covering their surfaces. Worse than that though, was what Ferrum saw next. The controls had been shredded, meaning that they were completely despondent – unable to be repaired in time too. They only had a mere twenty minutes before the Ketch reached its destination.

Ferrum sighed as he gently stroked what remained of the controls.

"Entity, I know what I have to do – and you're not going to like it any more than I already do." Ferrum said, before he reached up to his ear-piece embedded in his helmet and switched it off.

He turned to look at Perses, who was out of ideas. The Exo looked at him, his face hidden behind his polarised Titan helmet. Ferrum had no idea what he was thinking.

"I have an idea." Ferrum said, "I don't like it… but I know that I have to do it. So, just let me do this one thing Perses. Please."

Perses nodded.

"What are you going to do?" He probed. Ferrum shrugged.

"Something stupid."

And with that, he tore off his chest armour and ripped apart his metal torso, exposing his insides. Gears and cogs and blinking lights were cramped into the small space, working in unison to power the Exo, who now delved his hands inside and started re-routing wires and batteries into other places inside him.

Perses watched in horror as Ferrum slowly managed to alter his innards, changing his core workings that enabled him to live. He didn't do anything to stop him though, because he knew that Ferrum did everything for some reason or other – even something as strange and disturbing as this.

Just then, projectiles of arc energy wheeled into the room, spiralling slowly towards the pair of Exo's. Perses immediately realised what was happening and stepped in front of the projectiles, protecting the tinkering form of Ferrum. The shot pinged off of Perses' Titan armour, and he looked towards the origin of the shot, seeing its source. The door was occupied by a Cavalier Vandal who was squawking into its communicator, presumably calling for back-up. Perses quickly shot the Vandal in the chest, downing it instantly. But it wasn't close enough, and soon Perses could hear reinforcements approaching.

"We're gonna have some company." He announced, Ferrum nodded as he kept tinkering with his chest.

"You should probably get out of here. Once I activate myself, there'll be a minimum-safe-distance if you're going to survive. So you need to go. Now." Ferrum warned.

"What do you mean?" Perses asked, already putting the pieces together, switching on his helmets communicator to connect to Entity and Erebus before Ferrum conformed his suspicions.

Ferrum paused his tampering, looking up at Perses in a serious manner. All the while, Perses could make out the echoes of Cavalier soldiers coming down the corridors towards them.

"I'm turning myself into a thermo-nuclear bomb." He spoke quietly.

"Well, then. I guess you're stuck with me for the time-being. You can't defend yourself and kill yourself at the same time – you have to at least let me do one."

Ferrum smiled and went back to his work and Perses faced the doorway, ready for the coming siege.

On the other end of the line, Entity's hard stare turned to the Ketch, full of defeat and no small amount of shock. Erebus audibly gasped in astonishment.

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"Ferrum, listen to me," Entity spoke clearly into the microphone of his communicator, "Don't do this – it's insane. We'll find another way!"

Ferrum looked down in disappointment but never ceased his constant fiddling.

"I'm sorry, Entity, but there isn't any other way. If there were, trust me, I'd have thought of it." Ferrum replied in a sad tone. Strange, seeing as Exo's had no emotion and were unable to do anything but simulate a feeling.

"Ferrum, please. You mustn't. You'll be killed – you and your Ghost, there'll be no way to get you back." Erebus struck in, attempting to dissuade the Exo from his suicidal action.

"It's me or the City, and thousands of people die. One Guardian, or one-hundred-thousand innocent civilians. The choice is yours." Ferrum said, a steely resolve clear in his mechanical voice.

Everybody was silent at that. It was true. Ferrum could sacrifice himself or he could let thousands upon thousands of innocent die. The choice was obvious – but it didn't make it any easier to lose a beloved team-mate.

"Ferrum, it's been an honour." Entity spoke quietly into his communicator before turning his ship to head towards a safe distance to watch his friend go up in flames. Erebus did likewise and quickly followed suit.

"Likewise, boss." Ferrum responded, sounding a little too… cheerful.

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Perses looked at his friend in understanding, having defeated the Cavalier reinforcements; he now had a choice to make.

Run like a coward, or stay with his greatest friend in a show of defiance to the Fallen and their terrible schemes.

In the end, the choice was simple.

"I'm staying." Perses spoke confidently. Ferrum glanced up, anger written onto his usually stoic features.

"No. I won't let you. One of us has to survive – and it isn't gonna be me." Ferrum retorted.

Perses walked up to Ferrum, the Exo in question took something out from his back-pocket and hid it behind his back.

"Sorry, buddy. But you're not going to get rid of me that easily." Perses said in a firm tone. Ferrum looked to the floor in sadness.

"I know," he said, "And I'm sorry about this." Ferrum whispered. His respect for his greatest friend evident in his voice.

"Sorry about wha-" Perses began, but was suddenly cut off by Ferrum placing the item he'd gotten from out of his pocket onto Perses' chest. It was a small hemi-spherical device that magnetised and latched onto his armour with a 'thunk'. No sooner had it made contact, did Perses suddenly get trans-matted to his ship. As soon as he touched down, the device beeped – locking down his ships transmit abilities.

Perses roared and shouted, enraged by his friends actions. When he calmed down, he looked out of the port-hole window. Through the thick glass he saw the Ketch, still inching towards its final destination – the Last City.

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On the other end of the transmat, Ferrum looked at the spot where Perses had been mere moments beforehand. He chuckled lightly at how the Titan would fume at him due to his actions. He wasted no time in running back to the command console to check the count-down to impact.

11:36… 11:35… 11:34…

The seconds ticked away as the Ketch crept forever closer to the City. Logging the count-down into his HUD, Ferrum ran in the direction of the centre of the ship, where his detonation would have the most effect. His core still needed some finishing touches before he'd become a living bomb. Still tinkering, Ferrum reached the central atrium, just above the Cargo Bay and Hangar. Just as he reached his destination, Ferrum heard the voice of his fire-team leader over his communicator.

"We're in the safe zone, Ferrum. It's up to you now." Entity spoke, calming the Exo's worries regarding his friends' safety.

Nodding rather than responding, he crouched down and made a note of the count-down.

8:48… 8:47… 8:46…

His inner core suddenly beeped and flashed a deep shade of red. A warning suddenly flashed on his HUD, informing him about his new condition.

'WARNING: SYSTEM COMPRIMISED - DEVICE ARMED'

Ferrum sighed heavily.

So that's what we were for. We were weapons, nothing more; he thought, his intrigue as to his original purpose now settled, if disappointed.

He opened a comm-link to the rest of Fenrir, to his three friends, but muted their voices, so they wouldn't be able to dissuade him at the last second. Finally, he brought out two sparking wires in front of him. If they were connected, he would… die.

"There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater. But sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, bearing the work of every day, all to get to the slow walk toward a better life. That is the sort of bravery that you must have now."

Everything was quiet. The silence reigned. The whole world seemed to hold its breath. No sound was heard but the quiet, intermittent sparking and crackling of the two wires. The silence was deafening.

Ferrum 'smiled' one last time and closed his eyes.

He connected the wires.

And the silence was ruined.

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The explosion erupted in the centre of the ship and expanded outwards, engulfing a large part of the vessel in flame and ruin. There was very little of the ship left from the enormous eruption. The front section was almost utterly destroyed, with only a small section of its large nose-cone intact, which almost immediately fell to Earth. The back section wasn't much further behind, as it soon followed the front piece into fast descent to the ground. The explosion was visible from the Last City, and a number of Guardians and civilians had massed to the left-hand side of the City to witness the malevolent Ketch inch towards their last safe haven. When it ignited, the shockwave was felt for miles around as the detonation rocked the buildings of the City themselves. And the ships of fire-team Fenrir were sent careening for a few moments.

Their faces each described a different emotion. Entity was shocked at such a bold action, and Erebus showed nothing but sorrow and began to cry at the loss of her team-mate. Perses looked at the explosion and its emerging mushroom cloud with anger, but his anger was soon eclipsed by his sorrow at losing his greatest friend… no, more than that. He'd lost his brother. Only now did he realise his bond with the Exo, and he wished he could see him one last time.

"Let's… get back to the, er…" Entity cleared his throat, trying to assemble some of his authority again, "Let's get to the Lair of the House of Shadows, Vixera has a right to know what happened here."

Instead of responding, the remaining members of fire-team Fenrir nodded and directed their ships to return to Old Russia.

The smoke was beginning to rise from the crash-site, as was the Sun beginning to dawn over the ruined landscape that the human race called home. Perses made a silent promise to return here at some point and find whatever remained of Ferrum.

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A few moments after the explosion, a beacon pinged on a certain frequency. The frequency was in a direct link with the Lair of the House of Knights, the original House that the Ketch had belonged to. A Dreg technician sat at his terminal, monitoring the frequencies. If a patrol or Knight squad called in for reinforcements or a medical team, he was the one to pass on their demands to a Skiff or another team in the area. It was a boring role. But it had its perks.

Such as right now.

The beacon suddenly drew his attention, and when the Dreg read it, his eyes widened and he passed on word to his Vandal supervisor, who also widened his eyes and made his way to his way to one of the Kell's Guards. The Kell's Guard then went directly to the Kell, as he had to be the one to break the news. It was part of his job to defend his Kell and approach him when it was required.

Such as right now.

"My Kell," he said, kneeling respectfully in front of the large warrior, "We have received word on the whereabouts of our stolen Ketch."

At this, the Kell's eyes widened. He leaned closer to the Guard.

"It has been destroyed, by Guardians." The Kell's Guard said quietly, already knowing how the Kell would react.

The Kell roared in anger.

"What of the Archon, that treacherous Ra'Ghul?" He replied angrily.

"He has been slain, my lord. What should we do?"

The Guard looked up at his Kell, who paused to think for a moment.

"Contact Sorric, we have need of his… services. Those Guardians will pay." The Kell spoke in a malevolent tone.

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Author's Note:

I felt pretty terrible writing this chapter – I really liked Ferrum!

Wow, I can't believe that we're at Chapter 12! It feels like yesterday that I posted the first chapter, and you guys have done nothing but support me, and I thank you for that! I've just got a couple of announcements to make before I leave you all. Here goes…

My exams officially begin on the 11th May, and don't end until June 19th; so unfortunately, I won't be posting anytime soon. Sorry guys. Don't worry; I will be back, and so will Fenrir. Which brings me to my next point.

Ferrum's death wasn't in vain, and I'd like to personally thank C.J. Robbins for allowing me to use his OC. That said, it looks like I have a spot on Entity's fire-team that needs filling up, and so I'm happy to announce that OC Submissions have re-opened! Please send everything you can, and I'll decide who makes the cut. It's likely that pretty much every OC will be crow-barred into the story one way or another, so don't be a stranger! (btw, OC's that are less descriptive are less likely to be chosen, so please give as much detail as you can!)

Lastly, what happened to the reviews guys? I don't know if you guys like what I'm doing or not, but I read every review and your opinion goes a loooonngg way – trust me. I'm not one to ball-ache, but I do feel a little bit put out and unappreciated for all the hard work I've been putting in for you guys. At the end of the day, YOU guys are the people I'm doing this for – so please, just tell me how I'm doing, okay?

Anyway, that's about it. Another big thank you to C.J. Robbins for Ferrum!

See you all star-side!

And as always - stand firm, Guardians.