11: Reconnaissance
There was a still a thin layer of dew on every surface when Kahlee stepped outside the door to her quarters. The sun had risen, but it was still fairly early in the morning. A fresh cup of tea in her hand, she took a stroll through the Tower, breathing in the fresh air. She reached the main plaza, and leaned on the railing at the edge. She looked off to the East, watching the sunlight dance over the mountain range as clouds moved in the high altitude wind.
As she took in the view, her eyes drifted down to the steam rising off her tea. She hefted the plain steel cup to lips and sipped again. Behind her, she listened in on the various conversations taking place around her. Banshee-44 rambling on about how much he hated the temperamental nature of the power cells in fusion rifle he was working on. A very bored Titan nodding along, desperate for an excuse to rescue his weapon, and leave the old Exo to his other projects. The booming laughter of Lord Shaxx as he welcomed a new Hunter into the Crucible. The robotic frame in charge of bounty tracking, and the fireteam of Guardians picking up targets from it. A new voice entered the mix behind her, a very familiar one.
"Kahlee, good morning." She turned to see Bill approaching, in full armor, minus his helmet. A warm smile was across his face.
"Hi, Bill. Same to you." She leaned back against the railing, a cool breeze running across the back of her neck. "Something tells me you're not just here to take in the view with me."
He snickered. "What gave me away?"
She gestured to the datapad in his left hand. "That has the Vanguard's seal on the back. My guess says it contains orders for the two of us."
"Close. This is a datapad from the Vanguard with orders for the three of us." He tossed her the pad, and she caught it with one hand.
"Three of us? What are you talking about?"
"Zavala likes the way you and I work together. He also likes the way Dak and I work together, and would like to continue that partnership. But you and he don't have much experience together. And with Tana gone, Dak is a solo Hunter, and the Commander knows he works best in a team. The logical step is to merge the three of us into a Fireteam."
Her white eyes skimmed over the info in the datapad, and her heart began to beat faster. Her name lay underneath Bill and Dak's, and above that, two words: "Fireteam Orion."
Below the personnel list, she read the orders detailed inside. "Venus?" she asked, looking up.
"The Daggers and Devils aren't our only problems when it comes to the Fallen. The House of Winter is stirring up trouble in the Ishtar Sink, and Zavala wants us to investigate. Dak is already on the scene, running recon. We tried to get Xanthe and Xeres to back us up, but Cayde has them back in the Cosmodrome, keeping an eye on the Devils."
Bill leaned up against the railing next to her. He paused for a moment to listen in on Banshee's fusion rifle rant. The old gunsmith had just become frustrated with something in the gun's inner workings, and had taken a quite sizable hammer to the weapon to vent his anger. The Titan pleaded for the Exo to relent, but it was no use. The fusion rifle was destroyed, and Banshee was now recommending a shotgun as a replacement.
"The hell were you doing with a fusion rifle in the first place? Garbage weapons, all of 'em." The gunsmith fumed.
Bill laughed out loud, shaking his head as he turned to his left to look back at Kahlee. "I'm sorry, I just love it when he gets angry. It's comedy gold."
Kahlee joined in on the laughter. "I have to admit, it's pretty entertaining." She looked up into Bill's eyes, and both of their expressions sobered. Even with the scars on his face, and the bad eye, she found his features to be striking. Bill seemed to notice she was staring, and broke the silence.
"You… wanna take a picture, or something?" he asked.
Her blue cheeks turned purple as she blushed and turned away, knocking her teacup off of the railing and over the side, causing it to fall several hundred feet to the base of the Tower. Kahlee could care less, frantically apologizing for what could only be considered gawking. "I'm sorry. It's just… you've been a huge help since I got here, and an even better friend. It's just that, I never noticed… I'm sorry, I… guess I'm just getting a little ahead of myself."
Bill put a hand on her chin, and gently guided her gaze back to him. "It's alright." He gave her the same warm smile he had given her the day they met. Then the two Guardians moved closer to one another, and for one brief moment, they kissed.
And then Kahlee put her guard back up, breaking away from him. "I'm sorry, Bill. I know this may not be what you want to hear, but this isn't the time or place for… us."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "As much as it pains me, I have to agree. We have bigger things to worry about. Just… a moment of weakness."
Kahlee realized his hands were still holding hers. She released her grip. "Maybe someday in the future, the time will be right, but we can't let our feelings get in the way."
"Well, for now… friends?" Bill extended his hand. She shook it.
"Friends." She replied. "Now then… um… where were we?"
"Right." Bill stepped away from the railing, walking towards the hangar, motioning for her to follow. She jogged two steps to match his pace, summoning Val to have her armor and weapons brought to her. Once they had reached their ships, Bill continued the briefing.
"Like I said, Dak is already planetside, so we're on our way to meet him." He said as the hangar frames signaled their launch clearance. The two ships roared to life, and burst out of the hangar in formation. They cleared the upper atmosphere and laid in their coordinates for FTL travel.
"As not to give ourselves away, we're going to drop in a couple clicks away and leg it out the rest of the way."
"We can't use our Sparrows?" She asked.
"I wouldn't. The engines might give us away. On foot will be easiest for avoiding detection."
"Kahlee, we're ready to engage warp drive." Val said, nestled in his cradle between her control yokes.
"Then let's do it. See you planetside, Bill."
The stars ahead of her stretched into long rods of light, and she felt the entire ship hum as it jumped into faster-than-light travel.
/
"Knock knock."
"Please… not this again." Vera said, annoyed.
"Come on V, I'm bored." Dak muttered, not taking his eye away from the sniper scope. His sights were trained on the head of a Vandal scout, on a guard post a few meters away from the rest of the camp. The Vandal, like the rest of the Fallen on Venus, was garbed in a vibrant blue, unlike the Daggers on Earth, who wore a blue so faded and drab, it was almost grey. That color provided the Daggers with excellent camouflage in the dull, rocky mountain range they called their home. And against the yellows, greens and greys of the Venetian terrain, that bright blue had the opposite effect for the Winter House.
"The least you could do is humor me."
"I've been humoring you. All afternoon." She shook herself from side to side, her shell forming around her "eye" in a disapproving look.
"Is it still the afternoon? I can never tell here. The day/night cycle is all kinds of fucked up here."
"Language." Vera scolded. Dak turned away from his scope, and stared at his floating companion.
"Seriously? Did you really just say that?" He shook his head and turned back to his rifle. He soon became bored of following the Vandal back and forth on his pathetic little two-meter wide tower, and began scanning the landscape, taking in the view while keeping an eye out for enemy snipers, an old force-of-habit. His makeshift hunting blind was nestled in between two strange blueish-green trees, which bore little to no resemblance to flora found on Earth. The alloy baseplate that spanned from one tree to the other was covered in netting that had been coated in moss, foliage, and a little Venetian mud. Several layers of vines were strewn over the top of the netting, hanging in front of Dak, and masking his presence, while still leaving him a pair of small openings to look through with his sniper rifle, which had also been camouflaged. The entire blind was almost two hundred meters away from the Winter base, but he was only about five meters off the ground in his trees.
His rifle's muzzle scanned the mountain ridge behind the base again. It was an exceptionally well-crafted weapon christened "Stillpiercer", a gift from Banshee several years ago. It was based on a Hakke design, painted a drab green, and had an integral suppressor. The scope also linked to his helmet's motion tracker, and it would display in the corner of the scope when he was aiming. The top of the scope was netted, and the glass that made the final lens was coated in a special resin that reduced any glint in the distance, should he be facing the sun. All in all, it was perfect for this situation.
"Like I was saying, V… Knock knock."
The Ghost slumped, showing defeat. "Fine… who's there?"
"Interrupting Fallen."
"Interrupting Falle-"
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He yelled at full volume, though no audio actually escaped his helmet.
"Gah, I knew it! I knew it was coming!" Vera fumed, but Dak barely heard her over the sound of his own laughter. Suddenly, his radio crackled in his ear. Bill's voice soon followed. "Need some company, buddy?"
He chuckled. "That depends. You like knock-knock jokes?"
Bill's laughter filled his helmet. "Only the good ones."
Vera jumped onto the comm. "Then you're out of luck."
Dak transmitted his coordinates to Bill. "Come on over. The party's just getting started."
"Copy that. Just touched down, we're on foot, ETA 10 minutes, if we hurry." Bill said.
"Stay safe, there were a few Pike scouts that left a few minutes ago. I'd try to avoid them rather than fight. The Fallen might get suspicious if they don't return or check in."
"Noted. Kahlee, let's move."
/
Bill closed the comm channel. "He's not that far. Let's take things slow, and keep your eyes and ears open for those Pike scouts." Bill crouched briefly, examining the ground beneath them. Less than a meter away, a pool of blue, bubbling liquid belched and spewed its contents around the area, and more steam rose from the epicenter. Kahlee instinctively took a few steps back, but Bill didn't move. Several small globs of the liquid spattered his armor, sizzling lightly. He still paid it no mind.
"Doesn't look like this path is taken too often by repulsor craft, so we should be in the clear."
"How can you tell?" She cocked her head at him quizzically.
"All the dirt and debris in the center of the trail is still very much undisturbed, except for maybe some fauna or insect life. That means Pikes or Sparrows haven't been through here in a while. If this was a more traveled patrol route, all this loose crap would be displaced in a wake-like pattern." He stood, wiping the dirt from his gloved hands, and swiping away some of the blue liquid that splashed on him.
"Where did you learn that?"
"Dak and Tana. Well, mostly Tana. Recon isn't my strong suite, so she offered to teach me a few things, in case I ever needed it. One of the many things I'm thankful for, when it came to our friendship." As the two of them started walking again, Bill reached into one of the pouches on his sash belt, and produced the same coin Kahlee had seen him fiddle with in the Tower hangar before their Rumble game. He held it up so she could get a better look at it.
"She actually gave me this when I was a Newborn. She and Dak have been Guardians much longer than I have, and they kind of took me under their wing when I first got to the City. Cee and I had been on our own for almost two months at that point, so I was exhausted, broken, and quite terrified by the time I saw the Traveler."
"Really?" She asked.
"Really. Cee found me in the ruins of North America, in the Northeastern region. We were so far from the City, with no ship, I didn't even think it was real for a long time. I had begun thinking this little robot was taking me for a ride, you know?"
"I guess I should consider myself lucky." Kahlee said as she took her shotgun off her back. "I was relatively close to the City when Val found me."
"Compared to where I was, you were right by the front door." Bill also took his weapon in hand, checking the safety and fire mode switches. "But that's something I'd rather not go into."
She looked at him, wondering why he had put up his defenses so abruptly. "It must be hard to talk about. Your past life, I mean."
He looked to his left, to face her. "Do you remember anything about yourself before all this?"
"It's still not very clear. I definitely died during the Collapse. I remember panic, people screaming and running for their lives. I… I think I was some kind of fighter. There was a rifle nearby when Val discovered me. Broken beyond repair." She paused, her memory of the incident fleeting.
"That's… all I can remember." Her voice trailed off. Bill put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright. Most of us can't remember much about our pre-Guardian days. Exos can't remember anything at all, as a matter of fact. Because of all the memory wipes."
"I see. Is that why Banshee is so…" She twirled a finger around her ear, miming "crazy."
"That would be it. See, you are catching on." A blip suddenly appeared on their motion trackers, and the faint hum of an engine loomed in the distance.
"Patrol! Get out of the road!" Bill snapped, as he and Kahlee jumped in opposite directions, Bill dove behind a crop of rocks, Kahlee behind some dense foliage, crawling with Venetian insect life. Soon, the massive hoverbike, painted the same in the same vibrant blue as the garb of its rider, came swooping around the bend, closely followed by two wingmen. The Pikes slowed down and came to a stop not far from them. Kahlee peered through the bushes at Bill, who was doing the same through a gap in the rocks. He held one finger up to the chin of his helmet, signaling her to keep quiet.
The lead Pike rider stepped off his vehicle, and unshouldered his rifle, a sleek, menacing design. She heard the sound of the rifle powering up. The pilot was not a Dreg, like the first scout she encountered, he was a Vandal. She noticed his lower right hand was wrapped around a knife, and the creature's head moved on a swivel as it scanned the area, looking for any signs of trouble.
The alien barked a few phrases to his wingmen, and the two bikes sped off, leaving their comrade behind. The Vandal began to walk around the area, not looking too carefully for anything, it seemed more of just a cursory search, than an actual suspicion. After what felt like an eternity, the Pike rider shrugged its upper arms, replaced its weapon on its back, and mounted up. The Pike sped off into the distance, and the two Guardians emerged from their hiding places.
"Do you think he made us?" She asked, brushing the mud from her knees.
"Unlikely, he wouldn't have sent away his buddies if he had suspected he was being watched. But the Winters have upped their patrol frequency, it seems. We should get to Dak before those riders return to base. Come on, we're not far." He and Kahlee broke into a jog, eager to reach their friend.
/
After a few dull minutes of watching and waiting, the silence broken only by more terrible jokes, Dak rolled over onto his side at the sound of rustling behind him. Bill climbed up the log that he had set up earlier as a makeshift ladder up to his stand, followed closely by Kahlee.
"What kept you?" He asked. Bill laid his rifle down next to Dak and took a similar prone position.
"Sorry. Pike patrol almost intercepted us. Had to evade."
"That's tactical speak for 'we hid for a while.'" Kahlee smirked behind her visor, sitting cross-legged behind the two elder Guardians. Bill started talking, but she didn't hear what he was saying. She was taking in what scenery she could see from the few gaps in their concealment. Apart from the Fallen infesting it, the area they were in was quite beautiful, given the chaos distance. Far off behind the Fallen camp, a volcano was in the midst of a minor eruption, spewing a similar blue substance they had encountered on the way over to Dak. Several small meteors streaked across the sky, leaving orange contrails that almost blended in to the yellow sky behind them.
The sound of snapping fingers drew her attention back to the task at hand. "Kahlee, are you listening?" Bill said, motioning for her to lie down next to them.
"Hmm? Yes, sorry. I got carried away. I never got to visit Venus before the Collapse."
"It's alright. Now come on, we've got notes to take."
She took up position next to him, lying flat on her stomach. Since her weapons relied on iron sights rather than scopes, she used her eyes to execute a series of commands on her visor's HUD, increasing the optical zoom. She brought her magnification up to 4x, the max allowed by her helmet systems. It wasn't the best, but it gave her a much better view of what was going on. She assumed Bill was doing the same, and having his auto rifle trained on the camp was more for show than anything else. His weapon was deadly, but only effective up to 75 meters. And the distance between them and the Fallen camp was almost triple that distance. Dak's sniper rifle, however, could easily reach the base, and most likely anything beyond it.
"So, what do we do now?" She asked.
"We wait for our opportunity." Bill replied.
"For what?"
"To complete our mission." Dak said, rising from his prone position.
"That's why I wanted you to pay attention. We're waiting for dusk, when the Fallen crawl back into their holes for the night, and the guards will be minimal." Bill ran over the plan while Cee sprung to life beside him.
"Do you remember the drive Cee mentioned he was cracking the first day we met?" Bill asked her as a disk materialized in his hand.
"Vaguely."
"Well, he finished on the flight over here. It contains detailed blueprints of the base, as well as the guard shift rotations. Dak will need to know this when he sneaks in."
"Sneaks in?"
"Yep. It's a heist, baby!" Dak said, leaving his normal weapons behind, in favor of a semi-auto rifle, and small pistol, both outfitted with suppressors. He also had more than the usual compliment of throwing knives on his belt. He checked over the new guns, sitting on the back end of the stand, his legs over the side.
"What about us?" She asked.
"You're my covering fire." He replied. Bill had also risen from his prone stance, as Cee also made a black Omolon sniper rifle appear out of thin air. Bill caught it as it fell, and handed it to her.
"I rented this from Banshee for you. I'm going to take Dak's rifle and move to another location nearby. You'll stay here. Once we're both in position, we take out the night guards, and watch for any signs of trouble on the exterior of the camp." Bill picked up Dak's rifle and attached it to his back. Dak had taken off the Cloud Walker cloak he had recovered from Tana, and Vera had given him a matte black cloak to replace it with.
Kahlee felt the weight of the rifle in her hand, and stammered a bit as she looked up at Bill. "I-I've never shot one of these before."
"It's easy, just point-and-click." Dak said as he fastened the stealth cloak around his neck. "That model of rifle has smart-targeting built into the scope, so it'll compensate for wind, elevation and operator movement. Doesn't guarantee a hit, just takes most of the guesswork out of aiming." He dropped the full five meters off the perch, and landed without a sound. "Normally, I'd be the one doing the cover fire, but I can move faster and quieter than you two, so we just have to roll with it."
Kahlee looked through the vines at the sky. The sun was just barely above the volcano in the distance, and they were losing light fast. "Well, then I guess we should get started." She looked over the rifle, noticing there was a half-orb of orange liquid swishing around on the left side of the weapon's frame. As Val gave her a rundown of the specifications, she realized it was the ammunition. Omolon weapons relied on liquid metal, called ferrofluid, which was forced out of the barrel into a hard projectile each time the trigger was pulled. And she had learned that several varieties of weapons used by Guardians had been programmed to cause damage analogous to the elements of Light used by their operators. This particular weapon caused Solar damage, as indicated by the color of the ferrofluid.
Bill was beginning his descent down the makeshift ladder. She engaged the rifle's bipod, and then turned back to look at him.
"Wait, what are we here to retrieve?" She asked him.
"A data drive stolen from a Guardian outpost some time back. We've been planning to get it back for some time, but we were waiting on the data Cee just provided."
"Well, then why did we launch this mission before we had the info we needed?"
"Because we got wind the Fallen were close to cracking our drive. So, we had to come here ASAP and hope that Cee could finish his work before tonight."
Cee shook with a bit of pride. "I'd like to think I came through in the clutch. No need to thank me. Being awesome is just what I do."
"Yes, it is." Bill turned toward Dak and extended his hand. Dak reached out and shook his hand by the wrist, a show of comradery between the two. Bill turned back to Kahlee and threw her a two-fingered salute off the edge of his V-shaped visor. She waved back, and swallowed the lump in her throat as she put herself prone again, and nestled the sniper rifle against her shoulder. She put her eye behind the scope, and began watching.