That bitch!
That Darkness-damned human whore!
It was her fault that he had now ended up sweeping floors, along with dozens of other Awoken men, in the Fallen quarters where their Dregs and Vandals resided. There was a difference between Haakon and them, however.
At the end of their shift, the other men would go back to their homes and families.
He'd crawl into a makeshift hovel and seethe in an angry solitude, feeding on whatever he could steal.
He had nothing left – no influence, no allies, and no riches. The Queen took it all away from him. No one respected him, not even the lowliest of low-lifes of the Reef. Everyone knew what he'd tried to do.
He continued to growl as he pushed the cart, loaded with Ether canisters, to dole out the Wolves' daily rations throughout their quarters. To everyone, he was just another lowly serf, mindlessly toiling away.
To the supervisors, he was just a nobody.
A nobody.
...he could work with that.
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey."
"I'm vegetarian..." The half-awake Titan mumbled the first thing that came to her mind.
"Wakey, wakey, vegetables and sadness." Ghost continued on, and Jennifer groaned, resigned to the fact that she'd have to wake sooner or later – promptly, she rolled out of the bed, hitting the carpet-covered floor with a soft thump.
Five minutes later found her sitting cross-legged on her backyard porch, holding a cup of coffee in her hands. It had rained recently, and she could hear the storm clouds rumbling in the distance, dousing another section of Last City with rain. Deeply, she inhaled the air, enjoying the petrichorous scent as Ghost hovered near her – he'd noticed something was bothering his Guardian, but elected to wait patiently until she voiced her concerns herself.
"Am I really cut out for this?"
"Do you want to become Dredgen Yor Junior? Because that's how you become like him."
"You know what I mean, Ghost."
"To answer your question, yes, you are."
"But-"
"Be quiet and let me finish. Just because you are a Titan doesn't make you any less capable a diplomat."
"But there's a big difference between an alliance with Reef and making friends with Cabal. There's no precedent for something like that happening."
"Hey, no-one could've predicted you'd accomplish all the things you've done since your resurrection. The Traveller clearly is looking out for you. I daresay it's your destiny to change the course of history. I believe you were chosen for a reason, whatever it may be."
"But I never asked to be brought back, Ghost."
"You're not the only one, trust me. Everyone was shocked to see what had happened to humanity after their deaths. But they shook it off and forged onwards, refusing to be laid low by the Collapse. That's what makes humanity special – their perseverance. Cockroaches at least have the sense to die eventually. But humans are made of much sterner stuff."
Dumbly, she nodded, eliciting a hum of approval from her erstwhile companion.
"When you had to destroy Crota's sword, you went into his temple without hesitation. Just think of this as another battle to win. I should get you to read Sun Tzu's Art of War someday. I think you'd benefit from it."
"Duly noted." Jennifer finished off her coffee before looking up at Ghost. "So, what's on our agenda for this day?"
"Let's take a look, then..." Ghost went momentarily silent before speaking again. "Well, the Vanguard want to debrief you in person, first of all. After that is the information exchange between our Cryptarchs and Cabal Archivists. We get whatever they've recovered from Freehold, and they get what we know on Vex."
"Sounds good. I hope that Master Rahool won't find anything to object to."
"Hah. Knowing him, he'll study the data for days, and will end up consuming the Tower's entire stock of coffee while doing so."
"I wouldn't be surprised. Anything else?"
"Well, there's spam..."
"Huh?" The Titan cocked an eyebrow at her Ghost.
"Spam. Lots of it. From Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, and New Monarchy. They're all literally begging for you to join them. What am I, a mailbox?"
"A floating, talking Swiss Army knife, more like."
"Har har har. Anyways, what do I do with all this spam mail?"
"What do you think?"
"...oh no, I seem to have accidentally deleted it all." Ghost's apathic tone served only to make Jennifer laugh with delight. "Well, let's not waste any more time. We've got a couple of very busy days before us!"
"I hear that."
Word had apparently spread of her accomplishments among the inhabitants of the Tower. Every step of the way towards her meeting with the Vanguard, she heard subdued whispers from nearby bystanders.
Guess you're a celebrity now.
You stop that.
Shaxx, Ikora, Cayde, and Zavala all turned to look at her once she stepped into the Hall of Guardians.
"You wanted to see me?"
Cayde, who had pockets filled with Glimmer chips – ones that registered in her HUD as belonging to the other Vanguards and Shaxx – responded first.
"Yo."
His veteran compatriots all bore a look of suppressed bemusement, save for Shaxx, who was almost always wearing his helmet.
Looks like Cayde's been cleaning house again.
"It has been a very eventful time in these past few weeks, Guardian." Zavala spoke, the broad-shouldered Titan eyeing Jennifer with no small amount of scrutiny.
"To put it lightly." Ikora added her two cents.
"With all that has happened recently, everyone has kind of been willing to accept that yes, things are looking up for us all." Cayde continued. "However, brokering a peace treaty with the Cabal is testing even my suspension of disbelief. When the Speaker relayed to us what you'd told him, I was half-certain he'd gotten hold of Holliday's still-"
clank
"Are we really doing this, Shaxx?" Cayde sighed, a pen sticking out of his forehead.
The Crucible Handler grumbled something incomprehensible in return, causing Jennifer to cock an eyebrow.
"Am I missing something here?"
"He's just being salty about losing yet another bet. Speaking of which, I'll be cashing it in now."
"..."
"Time's a-wasting, Shaxx."
...polyethylenetetraphthalate, eeeeeh, macarena..." The surly Titan mumbled out, sounding like an off-tune cello.
"Yesssss..." Cayde hissed out victoriously, while both Zavala and Ikora facepalmed, their body language simply screaming 'I am a Vanguard, I shouldn't have to put up with this'.
"Could we get back to the topic at hand, please?" Ikora snapped irritably, both annoyed and embarrassed at her peers' childlike behaviour. The Guardians were given considerable leeway about how they went about their business, that much was true. Some of their kin had let it go to their heads on occasion, even if a large fraction of them were a chivalrous and noble kind.
And some, like Cayde, pushed the limits whenever he thought he could get away with it, much to others' consternation.
"I'd like that." Jennifer voiced her assent, eager to get this over with. "We've got a lot of details to hash out today."
"Fair enough." Cayde coughed softly, turning to look at the Titan. "So, Fleet Commander-"
"Don't."
"Heheh, sorry. Couldn't resist. Anyways, the City Consensus should be contacting us soon. They're very impatient to talk to you, Guardian."
Jennifer sighed, mentally preparing herself for what was coming. Politicking was always a taxing affair for her. Unless it was with Cabal – a lot of the issues could be solved with an impressing display of strength.
Politicians were like sheep – stupid, stubborn, near-sighted sheep. No matter how many times she'd said that the Cabal would follow her orders without question, the fools who had, against all common sense, control of the Consensus, always found something to nitpick at.
It was maddening, really, and when the meeting finally ended, she couldn't help but sigh in relief. It could've gone better, that much was certain. Few among the Consensus agreed with her. Then again, she was a Guardian. She had the approval of the Vanguard, at the very least. It wasn't like the Consensus could stop her or them. All they could do was express their disapproval. Unfortunately, they were vocal about it. It tended to grate on one's nerves.
As the holographic representations of Consensus members faded away, everyone let out a sigh of relief – Cayde was first to speak.
"Seriously, though, Guardian – are the Cabal willing to cooperate with us?"
"Some might complain, but they'll follow my orders. If any of them think they can do a better job, they're welcome to try removing me from my position."
"I guess that's all we can ask for."
"Don't worry, I'll keep them in line." Jennifer promised. "Now, onto the next agenda..."
It took a while, but combined patrols of Cabal and Guardians were eventually agreed upon, as was the information exchange between the Cryptarchs and the Cabal – their Legionnaires had retrieved some information from what remained of Charlemagne's databanks, seeing as the Warmind of Mars wasn't as lucky as Rasputin, and didn't endure the Darkness' assault. Of course, after Rasputin had reconnected to the defensive weaponries that were scattered through out the solar system, it'd overtaken Charlemagne as well, locking the Cabal out for good.
The plan to encourage cooperation between Guardians and Caballites was a good idea on paper. It was another thing entirely to make it work as intended.
Jennifer merely hoped that there would be as few 'accidents' as possible.
Harvesters constantly dropped in and out of the assembly zone, ferrying the Legionnaires waiting there to the troopships waiting in low orbit. Bigger landers, laden with Cabal machines of war, ponderously followed after the smaller transports, and clouds of rust-red sand were constantly being stirred up by the constant activity, of a newly-prepared Legion that would make planetfall on Earth.
Jennifer beheld all this from her tank, seated in the oversized chair Ta'aurc once occupied. Silently, the Titan gazed through the thick pane of armoured glass as sun slowly sunk beneath the red planet's horizon. Numerous Cabal soldiers operated various consoles, while several junior Cryptarchs were conversing with the prime authority on Cabal's accumulated knowledge – Loremaster Valandor.
A Loremaster was usually ancient beyond his years, devoting his time to scrutinising every scrap of information that came in his possession, and ensuring no details were lost in the process. Every Cabal Legion assembled, every soldier or vehicle, everything the Cabal did – it was all archived by the Loremaster and his Archivists. They held a bewildering amount of knowledge, some of which Jennifer had browsed through, curious to learn something of substance about the Cabal.
The Cabal Legions were made up by exceptionally tightly-knit units, a trait carried over from their equivalent of humanity's Stone Age, when they had to contend with all manners of predators that threatened their tribes' safety.
Vicious, voracious creatures they were, forming wolfpacks to take down Caballites one by one. It became necessary to have utter trust of the soldier at one's side, to know he'd be watching their back at all times. This unshakeable sense of loyalty spread fast, and remained a cornerstone of their empire when they took to stars.
Compared to the Guardians, they did not have the technological edge, or the scalpel-sharp prowess of Guardians. What they did have, however, was iron discipline and trust in their fellows that was borderline fanatical.
And against an enemy like the Vex, that goes a long way, the Titan silently reasoned, looking around her. Suddenly, an image that flashed on one of the bridge ensigns' screens drew her attention.
"Hey, you! Yeah, you." She clarified as the Caballite turned to look at her, and stood at attention.
"Yes, Fleet Commander?"
"What's that you have on your screen there?" She gestured to the glowing hologram of a curious-looking, four-legged machine. The Cabal soldier went to work, turning the image into a slowly-spinning 3D hologram.
"This is a Vanjervalis-class heavy tactical assault chassis, or H-TAC for short."
"Why haven't we seen any of them in field?"
"It is but a mass-produced prototype, Fleet Commander, and this planet's weather does not agree with it. Too much sand. According to the Psions operating them, it gets into everything. As a result, they spent more time in maintenance than in combat. Goliath Tanks and Interceptors have much less moving parts, and thus were deemed more suited to this climate, and the Vanjervalis units were repackaged and left in storage barges."
"Huh. You'd think that with a Legion named Sand Eaters, it wouldn't be a problem."
"The irony is not lost upon the soldiers, Fleet Commander."
Guardian, I know what you're thinking. No.
"Would they perform better in a more temperate climate? Like that of Earth?"
NO.
"I believe so, yes."
"Then attach a squadron of them to the Earthbound Legion. And outfit one for my personal use, if that's not too much trouble."
"As you say, Fleet Commander."
You're horrible.
Why, thank you.
It didn't take long for Old Chicago to become a warzone.
Cabal Harvesters dropped from low orbit continuously, disgorging scores of Legionnaires, companies of them led by Guardians as they pushed the Fallen out from the once-grand city. Skiffs tried to ferry the Fallen footsoldiers away, but were always shot down by Goliaths when they decloaked – eventually, the Fallen vessels bugged out, leaving the Dregs and Vandals to fend for themselves.
It was a beautiful sight, really, Jennifer reflected as she excitedly waited to be deployed in the thick of it.
"Ah, I love the smell of kicked ass in the morning." She let out a wistful sigh, and the Legionnaires sharing the dropship with her bellowed in agreement.
Damn jarheads.
All these flavours and you chose to be salty... The Titan grinned as the Harvester shuddered to a halt, its hatches rapidly swinging open. Without a doubt, she charged into the fray.