"The wind wiped away our footprints. When the storm had passed, we found something shining beneath the sand." - Grimoire of Mars

The Sun was in the process of beginning its arc across the sky when Harley's ship exited the Hangar and broke through Earth's atmosphere. "Setting a trajectory for Mars," said Harley as they entered warp space. "Y'know, I was thinking of naming this ship…"

"Really?" said Prism, "What are you going to call it?"

"No idea. But it'd be nice for her to have a name. After all, she's been with us since Mercury."

"How about 'The Wandering Star?' Or just 'Star' for short?"

"I wasn't talking about a romantic name, Prism."

"It's poetic, and I think it fits. What were you going to name it? Fly-Fast McGee?"

"Please. I have more creativity than that… Doesn't matter though. You've already named her anyway."

Prism did a flip. "You mean you're actually going to let me name it The Wandering Star?"

"Sure. It's good for your self-esteem if I let you win sometimes." Prism was about to retort when Harley stopped her. "Hold that thought. We're about to make entry."

Sure enough, the ship exited warp space and their eyes were met with the sight of a dusky reddish-orange planet. The newly christened 'Star' entered the atmosphere and they glided over the Martian surface, weaving through desolate buildings littering the surface.

"So where do jerkwad's coordinates lead?" Harley asked.

"Just a second… They seem to put the gate to the Black Garden near the lost city of Freehold."

"Cities on Mars? The more I learn, the crazier everything seems."

"Not so much anymore. Freehold's been buried in the sands since the Collapse. Also, the Cabal occupy most of the planet and no one gets through their Exclusion Zone."

'Good luck! ...Getting through the Exclusion Zone.' Harley's jaw set in determination. "We will."

The Star hovered over an empty area as Harley and Prism transmatted out. Then the ship took off. "Great. The gate is miles from here and the Cabal have a lock on orbital communication. That means if you want your Sparrow, we'll have to break into one of their bunkers and disable the system."

"Off to a nice start, then."

"Yep… There should be a bunker just up ahead."

Harley started walking. "So who are the Cabal?"

"They arrived on Mars at some point in the Dark Age. They're said to be 800 pounds and highly militarized. Apparently, they blow up planets and moons for getting in their way… Just so you know."

"Seeing as I'm neither a planet or a moon, I reckon I'll be just fine."

Prism sighed exasperatedly. Harley chuckled as he came upon the bunker, which had a door that locked electronically. Prism appeared next to him, scanning it. The lock opened with no resistance.

"Hmm. That was easier than I thought it would be." She vanished again.

Harley took a tentative step forward. "Are there any in here?"

"Yep. You'd better avoid them until we know more about them."

"You want me to avoid them? No problem." He entered the bunker. "Looks empty."

"Looks can be deceiving. Just be careful."

Harley headed down the hallway, making a couple turns. Then, they walked into a room with an active computer terminal.

"Good. We found one." Prism appeared again and began to hack it, muttering to herself as she went. "Access key? I don't need an access key. DOS is more complicated."

Harley jumped as an alarm began to blare. Red lights flashed along the walls.

"Uh-oh," said Prism.

"What happened?!"

"I may have initiated a failsafe?"

Harley groaned, drawing his hand cannon. The huge door to the side of the terminal began to open and Harley saw a ship drop off several heavily armored looking Cabal. Prism had disappeared once again as they began to fire.

"Talk about a failsafe… The ones with shields are Phalanxes. The others are called Legionnaires."

"Wonderful. Now I can send them a postcard! Any tips?"

"Aim for the head? That usually works."

"Great."

Harley began shooting. To his surprise, headshots brought them down almost instantly. The hardest ones to hit were the Phalanxes, who spent most of their time behind their shields. My knife would be completely useless against those. Finally, he found a way to circumvent the shields by firing at their legs, causing them to drop. Then it was simple enough to take them out with a headshot. Soon, the ground was littered with dead Cabal. Prism reappeared to neutralize the alarm and link the Sparrow. 'Vehicle Link Enabled.'

"Thanks, Prism."

The Ghost vanished. "You're welcome."

Harley exited the bunker and mounted his Sparrow, sending it hurtling in the direction of the Gate's coordinates. Along the way, he passed several battles between the Cabal and the Vex. I guess it makes sense that the Vex want to protect the Black Garden. Prism seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"The Cabal appear to be fighting the Vex… Maybe they know something about the Gate."

Harley hadn't thought of that. "How would we find out?"

"There are a few outposts nearby that we can check out. One should be up ahead. I can get into their systems, see if they know anything."

They came upon the outposts, manned by a large group of Cabal. With a bit of luck, as well as help from several mines nearby, Harley was able to clear them out relatively quickly. They located the access post, but unfortunately, a key was needed to get in. Harley spun around as a ship dropped off more Cabal.

"What should I do?"

"Find who's in charge and take their key!"

He nodded. "Simple and to the point."

He hurled his grenade, taking out a large cluster of Phalanxes before using his Bladedancer ability to kill the commander, finding an access key on his corpse.

"There's another outpost near the Gate," said Prism.

"This key better work."

Harley got back on his Sparrow and soon found himself at a much larger Cabal outpost. With Prism's help, he located a terminal with a holographic image of the Gate.

"Let's see what they know…" Prism came out and made short work of analyzing the data. "Hmm. It seems the Cabal managed to penetrate the Vex cognition mesh."

Harley looked across to the Gate, starting with surprise when it surged with electricity, attempting to open. However, the portal seemed to collapse, making a thunderous crash that echoed across the canyon. None of that helped Harley's nerves.

"Did you find anything?"

"A lot, actually. I don't think they know what the Gate is… But if we're going to wake the Gate Lord's eye and get into the Garden, it looks like we'll have to go through the Cabal."

"And here I thought it couldn't get any better."

A/N: Another part done with! I'm hoping to get Part Twenty-One out tomorrow since I have a bit more time on my hands. Thank you to WinterNovaBurst and A Revanchist for the favorite and follow. Not to mention all who reviewed!

ConnorPerson: Well, you've done a lot more than I've done! Also, major props for always responding to my questions. Real MVP :D

DoomDragon2: Thank you! Always happy to put out more chapters! Another part tomorrow ;)

Cf96: Much thank. Very appreciate :3

My question for this part is: Who has Destiny 2 and if so, how far have you gotten?

See you guys tomorrow on Part Twenty-One!

- TheWolfParadox