AN: I restructured the chapter list into actual numbers for cleanliness.
(1) UPDATE December 11, 2020: added extra pieces of dialogue to fix a potential plot hole. Details in the post-chapter author note.
Chapter 7: "6EQUJ5"
— ALDEN ARIAS —
Mare Imbrium, Luna
2763
.
The moon was quiet for the first time after a short few weeks of unending warfare. There was nothing but short gusts, scattered moon dust, growling acolytes, and screeching wizards in the distance. Not a single Guardian could scream for help anymore. Ghosts that attempted to send an SOS were promptly silenced. Violently. The operation was a massive failure that showed just how weak the Light is, or rather how strong the Darkness truly was.
Alden died so many times. Too many times. He'd never been so exhausted in his life.
It's dark. Where was he right now?
"…den."
"…up."
He felt so dizzy that he could vomit.
"Alden?"
"Alden!"
His eyes cleared up of debris as he slowly opened it. A chasm loaded with Hive gore, slime, and creatures as far as he can see. He couldn't move—he was pinned down from his upper back all the way down to his ankles, with his hands firmly locked behind him. He tried to struggle free, but every bit of movement caused a sharp, intense pain to his stressed joints and crushed muscles. He resigned himself to his predicament and looked up at ground-level. Three other Guardians lined up next to him were in the same position, pinned by knights in the same way. The Warlock directly in front of him had stopped struggling while the other Guardians still futilely wriggled to get free from the tight clasp of the knights.
Alden turned his gaze towards the Warlock calling his name. "Mila! Where's everyone else?"
"Xenovia's dead. Crota got her." She grunted.
"And Zhou?"
"He threw him into the Hellmouth. No word from his Ghost."
He and Mila were the last two Guardians left in his team, and both of them were in Hive hands. Xenovia and Zhou were the most relentless and ferocious Titan-Hunter pair he knew—if the Hive killed them, neither Alden nor Mila would have any chance at all to return home. Especially not like this. Speaking of which, why the hell were they pinned down like this?
"Grover… he's gone…" She realized that her connection to her Ghost has been severed. He was dead; her next death would be final, but an ample charge of Light still flowed in her body.
rumble…
rumble…
The roaming acolytes stopped in their tracks and got on one knee, bowing their heads as low as they can. The knights did so as well—Alden could practically feel its breath on his neck and the crushing force on his body tighten.
"Jesus." Mila muttered as she looked to her right.
Alden turned to his left and saw Darkness embodied. Gigantic, glowing green, growling deep like a lion, each footstep shaking the ground and threatening to tear into the surface.
"Fucking freak…" Alden snarled silently.
Crota stopped in front of a pinned-down Titan, who was lifting his head as high as he can, trying to stare the devil straight into its eyes.
hggrrr…
He seemed to lock eyes with the Titan for a second before grunting in what sounded like disappointment. He raised his leg up.
GRAAAAAH!
BRROOOMM!
Crota dropped his foot right on the Titan's head. When he pulled back, all that was left of the Titan was everything below his midline with half of his spine and pelvic girdle sticking out of the visceral gorge left behind. All of his insides came pouring out like a landslide and his blood in a fountain. The knight on top of him stood up, picked his remains up, and threw him into a small chasm of liquid helium off to the side. His Ghost never showed itself.
Alden could only look on in stunned paralysis. A Titan, galvanized by honor and personifies courage with every centimeter of their body, was crushed underfoot as inconsequentially as an ant. Crota didn't even give the honor of at least a shred of effort to kill him.
The God set his sights on the next one over—a Hunter. He was feistier, struggling as hard as he can to free himself from the knight, to no avail. Like the Titan, the Hunter no longer had a Ghost.
"Kythera." Alden mentally called out. She was still alive—he could feel her connection.
The Hunter shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice muddled with fear and rage as Crota stared him down. "You better watch your back, you fuckin' cocksucker! I'll fucking kill you! I'll fuckin—"
BOOOM!
Crota plunged his sword right through the Hunter's torso, splitting it vertically in half while still connected to his waist. Blood, bones, and his mangled organs came pouring out of his cleaved cavities. He, too, was disposed into the chasm.
"Kythera!"
The God was now facing Mila with the same scrutinizing gaze.
"Not like this." She muttered in anger.
"Kythera, can you hear me?! I know you're still alive!"
Alas, Crota raised his sword again.
Mila's voice was quiet, but oddly invigorated. "Alden, I want you to run. You hear me?"
"What?!"
SHING!
Before Crota could slam his sword down and with every bit of her life and what remained of her Light on the line, Mila incarnated into the perfect Sunsinger; her body flashed blindingly bright in concentrated, unadulterated solar radiance. The knight on top of her was incinerated and the one above Alden was stunned enough to loosen its grip on him. He wasted no time loading solar energy into his palm and blasting his knight off of him.
"This is the end of the line for me, Alden. Go!" Mila called out as she hurled firebolt grenades all over the surface as she dodged Crota's sword-slams.
"WAIT, NO!"
"Kythera! Get him outta here NOW!" She shouted again.
Alden's Ghost grumbled to life in his headset. "Alden, can you hear me?! The ship is inbound!"
The loud whir of his jumpship came soaring in from behind.
"Ky—"
"Transmat in five, four…"
"Kythera, wait!"
"Two… one!"
Alden's vision fizzled into white for a quick second before he found himself sitting at the cockpit of his jumpship, already kicking itself into full throttle to break out of the Moon's weak orbit. He rushed to the rear camera on the console, watching the chasm on the Moon with a bright, orange light zipping around in its center.
"Tell 'em what I did here, yeah?" Mila resignedly said through the comms between exhausted breaths.
Alden was silent for a second before hesitantly accepting her fate. "I will."
"Thanks. You were the best, Alden. See ya."
…
A sudden flare of solar energy bursted from the small chasm, leaving behind smoke that released itself into the vacuum of space just as quickly. The surface that was once white with moon dust was left black and charred.
Formal Palace war room, Italica
17:00, present-day, 2947 Earth year
.
"My Light has been exhausted at that point and Kythera was rendered ineffective by Crota's presence, but as you can see, we're just fine." Alden said, turning off the holographic display.
"What killed her?" Piña asked.
"She forced all of her remaining Light into one point and launched herself at Crota. Unfortunately, he survived it. He wouldn't die from something like that outside of his realm anyway—he couldn't, even if there were a million of her. But knowing she was going to die anyway, her last act saved my life."
The Rose-Order knights bowed their heads, paying their respects to Mila and the Guardians that fell in the massacre. Piña in particular kept an attentive gaze on him, looking into his vibrant blue eyes with sympathetic warmth.
"And as you already know," he continued after taking a sip of his tea. "a Vanguard expedition into the Hellmouth avenged those thousands of Guardians who fell on the Moon. The falling dominos that brought Oryx and Ghaul to our home started with Crota."
"Your history is fascinating." She said.
"Would you like to visit the City?"
The knights shot their heads at him from hearing such an offer. And they weren't of fear or nerve, but of complete excitement and anticipation.
"I- you- really?" Piña stammered.
"Of course. But for security's sake, I'll only be able to bring two of you. I'm afraid we've already taken in more persons of interest than we expected."
Hamilton raised an eyebrow. "I hope you treated them properly."
"Of course—we took them in with their consent. You may know one Rory Mercury among them."
"What?!" Norma blurted out.
"R-Rory M-Mercury?" Hamilton joined in.
Alden raised his hands to calm them down. He can't say these reactions were unexpected. "It's alright. We know entirely what she's capable of. In fact, she actively chooses to participate in observations. She and the others are being treated with the utmost courtesy, I promise you."
Piña shuffled in her seat. "She's… she's dangerous. I would be remiss if I didn't warn you of the violent tendencies of an Apostle."
"Miss Mercury has been very transparent and cooperative with us, and likewise, we provide more than enough compensation for her troubles. We're wary, though. I promise you that."
knock-knock-knock…
Alden reached for his cup to take a sip as the door to the war room slowly swung open.
"Princess," the steward bowed just outside the door. "The Rose-Order Knights have arrived to Italica. Lady Palesti and Lady Kalgi are here."
The steward stepped to the side, revealing two women clad in the same ornamented white armor Hamilton wore. And dare Alden thinks that they were gorgeous. It only took them two steps to enter the room for him to immediately recognize their skills as warriors, what with the way they carried themselves with such knightly prestige, decorum, and razor-sharp focus.
The last point was really driven home as they were glaring nuclear missiles at him.
"Princess, there is a blue man sitting on your couch." The blonde knight said.
Piña's face screamed demurral at those words. "Bozes!"
"It's alright, Princess." Alden gently put his teacup down and stood up, giving a bow to the two knights. Before he could speak, Piña placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"This is Alden Arias. He comes from beyond the Gate and he's here to visit us. Before he arrived, a soldier like him arrived and singlehandedly saved Italica from an invasion we wouldn't have been able to fight. I'd stop thinking about reaching for a sword, Bozes." She introduced Alden with a friendly smile.
The knight behind Bozes chuckled and shook her head. "Mister Arias," she bowed. "My name is Panache Fure Kalgi and she is Bozes Co Palesti. She apologizes for her lack of couth."
"I'm sorry, but do you not see him?" Bozes asked.
Panache straightened herself and looked Alden directly in his eyes with amiability. "If the Princess trusts you, so will I."
Alden had to take a step back—he didn't expect her to be incredibly quick to trust him. Loyalty works wonders.
"Thank you, Lady Kalgi."
She smiled and walked with the still-wary Bozes to Hamilton's side of the table.
"We were just discussing their intentions here, among other things," Piña said. "Before we get into it, do you have any news from Sadera?"
beep. beep.
As the knights spoke, Kythera privately relayed a message to Alden.
"Hey. The others just finished surveying the city and would like to convene with you at your earliest convenience."
"Perfect," Alden responded. "Tell them to meet me at the courtyard."
"Done."
"Also, establish a line with Lee. I'll see if I can get clearance to take these folks to the City."
"Sure. Now?"
"Outside."
…
"Princess, I need to step out and make a call."
Piña excused him by gesturing to the side door. While the knights were talking amongst themselves, Alden walked out of the war room and into the courtyard. He appreciated all the makings of a calm autumn night: the cool breeze danced across his face, the surroundings of ornamented horticulture and cobblestone were illuminated by the warm hues of lanterns, and the loud, yet calming songs of crickets. He took a deep breath to purge the monotonous historical excesses from his mind as he awaited Lee's response on the comms.
"Arias. I was just about to contact you."
"What do you need, sir?"
"Did you draw up any treaties or stipulations with Italica?"
He hadn't planned on doing such a thing and neither did he want to. Building up a rapport is his game; getting into intergovernmental politics was not.
"No, sir."
"Good. Keep it that way. Since you were conversing with the knights, the Vanguard doesn't want you negotiating on behalf of the Last City. That's to be left for more critical political operations."
"What if they initiate it?"
"Tell them to hold off on it for now."
"Yes sir."
"Anyway, that's all I had for you. Now, what did you need?"
Alden cleared his throat. "I would like permission to bring a Princess Piña Co Lada and another knight of her choosing with me to the Last City as part of this diplomatic operation. It would help to have Special Region natives be familiarized with the City as our representatives, especially one with as much clout as a princess."
"I'm sorry, what was this princess's name?"
"Piña Co Lada, sir." Alden clarified, stifling a smile.
"So Mercury wasn't lying about that. Okay. I'll pass that along to the Vanguard. Considering you'll be bringing her straight to them, I'm sure they'll approve it."
"Thank you, sir. No further to report."
"Hold on."
"Yes?"
Lee was silent for a short few seconds before responding. "This will be off the record—I'd like for you to speak with me frankly."
Alden raised an eyebrow. "Of course."
"The Guardian that defended that city. Was it the CSO who was just there?"
The Warlock perked up at the question. Lee sounded… sincere. All of the authoritativeness in his voice was nowhere to be found, like he had put down his armor and rank and spoke to him as a peer.
"I don't think I'm allowed to confirm nor deny their actions."
"It's okay. You're in my jurisdiction before the Hidden."
Alden thought about it for a second. He didn't know what would happen to a Guardian who revealed a Combat Surveyor's operations; if anything, it'd be the wrath of Ikora Rey herself. But something about the way Lee asked for this was uncharacteristic of him. It wasn't a demand or an order from a colonel, but a question of genuine concern from a friend. And if anyone would take the fall, it'd be him.
"Yes, I believe it was her, though I arrived long after the incident."
Lee audibly sighed through the comms. "Thank you, Arias."
Alden was curious now. If they were speaking disregarding rank, he figured that he could pry a little into this concern. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking…"
Lee chuckled. "Go for it."
"Is there history between you and the CSO?"
"I guess I owe you that much, huh? She's a walking time bomb. Keep that in mind the next time you see her. Out of respect for her, that's all you need to know for now. Thank you, again."
"Of course, sir. Arias out."
…
He didn't expect Lee to answer so candidly. The man tried to keep it vague, yet still clear enough to reveal a few pieces to a puzzle he had no business solving. Alden wasn't lying to himself though—his interest in the matter was piqued, anyone's would, but he wasn't planning to dig into it on his own accord. He'd prefer to stay out of it, but he wouldn't mind if Lee happened to bring the topic back up again.
The three Guardians in his fireteam walked into the courtyard through the gatehouse in front of him, bearing bags of various foodstuffs and miscellaneous paraphernalia they gathered from their time around the city. He greeted them and prepared to debrief and analyze the mounds of minute data they could get. Language samples, foodstuffs, metals, rare trinkets, garbage baubles, the Scribes got them all.
"Pranav, what the hell?" Alden eyed the thick rack of lamb the Titan brought with him.
"Research, right?"
One of the Scribes sighed. "I'm betting he catches something like salmonella. If he's lucky, it'll just be the shits."
"If we're lucky, he'll catch something unknown and end up pioneering a vaccination program for these people." Another Scribe said.
"Man, fuck both of you. I was gonna get this roasted at the pub."
"Oh yeah, speaking of which," a Scribe turned to Alden. "we found a pretty nice pub in the east end. Cafeteria food back at the FOB just doesn't cut it for dinner. Wanna come with us?"
Alden waved his hand. "I'm good, Ger. Not that hungry."
"No sweat. We'll bring you something."
"Thanks."
The team presented their findings to each other, and as time would have it, the Vanguard had approved his earlier request.
…
Forty-five minutes later
Alden returned to the war room where only Piña and Hamilton remained.
"There you are," the Princess waved. "I was contemplating coming over to you much earlier but you seemed to be dealing with important matters."
"Yes. I was reporting to my team and my commander of the situation."
"The rest have retired to their homes to rest. Is there anything else I could help you with, or shall we continue our discussion?"
"Princess, aren't you tired as well?"
At that, she yawned loudly and stretched out her back. "Goodness. I think I am."
The woman just led the defense against a couple invasions just today and had to sit through a long lecture on the Golden and Dark Ages of Earth. Granted, it was fascinating, but long nevertheless. Not to mention that she might've been running on less sleep than Alden.
"It's okay, I won't talk your ear out anymore. But I do have news for you."
"Go ahead."
"An excursion to the City has been approved by the higher-ups. I will only be able to bring you and another of your choosing."
The women's jaws dropped. Alden would be lying if he said he wasn't suppressing a grin.
"Is something wrong? I believe I mentioned this before."
"Y-yes, indeed," Piña calmed herself down. "It is just… the thought of going to a different, unknown land is…"
"Daunting, I know." Alden said. "But if it makes you feel better, nobody in our City knows of the existence of this place. If you look like it, you will blend in and nobody will be a threat to you."
Hamilton chuckled. "I doubt the Princess is worried about personal threats."
"I see." Alden knew what she meant. It was more of a broad fear of the unknown, not assassination attempts. Who knows what dystopian hellscape awaits beyond the Gate that can produce soldiers like him?
"I would love to visit." Piña said with a smile. "Hamilton, would you like to come with me?"
"M-me?!" the knight blurted out. "Wh-why me?! Why not Bozes or Grey?"
"Bozes? Why would I bring her? She will make a mess of everything, and Grey will take my place as the Rose-Order's head for the time being. I believe it is fitting for my page to accompany me on an important excursion. Unless you really do not want to, then I will respect your wishes, Hamilton."
Hamilton, still visibly in a panic, took subtle, deep breaths. "N-no. I'd like to accompany you, Princess."
Piña relaxed against the arm of the couch. "That settles it, then. When shall we make our preparations, Alden?"
"Any time you'd like."
"Very well. Will two days from now be alright?"
He nodded. "I'll return in two days with transport to take you to the base."
As if by an uncontrolled reflex, she took a quick step forward. "Will you be leaving us tonight? We can continue more of your stories over dinner."
Alden's stomach silently rumbled to him, fortunately out of earshot from the knights just a few yards away. As it turns out, he was hungry. A brief pang of regret told him that his fireteam is probably grubbing on local delicacies right now.
"I wouldn't want to impose, Princess."
"Please. It's no trouble at all for us; I'd like you to stay." Piña smiled softly.
There was nothing malicious in her eyes. They were sincere and kind; he'd hoped his were the same to her. In an act of betrayal, his stomach growled louder, this time it was much more apparent and elicited cheeky grins and smirks from them.
Alden feigned a dejected resignation and laughed. "I guess I'll stay."
He never noticed it, but the exhaustion on Piña's face was wiped away entirely.
"Is it safe to assume that you have never tried Alguna lamb before?"
.
.
.
FOB Valiance Research & Development Dome, Alnus Hill
17:30, the next day
.
Alden looked through the glass observation deck into the R&D dome's vast testing grounds. To their left was the locally-coveted Rory Mercury crouched behind a stone-brick wall, taking cover from an unending barrage from a mounted machine gun two hundred yards across a simulated no-man's-land littered with metal debris and mock structures. Most of all, the bullets did serious damage to the walls around it.
Live rounds. The Scribes sure weren't pulling their punches tonight.
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what is she wearing?" Alden gazed at Rory's red-and-black gothic dress that seemed miles more restrictive and over-encumbering than a Stormdancer's Brace. He'd never seen anything like that outside of the Festival of the Lost.
Lee rolled his eyes with a chuckle at the absurd reality. "She says it brings her the 'power of Emroy,' whatever that means. I'm pretty sure she just wants to wear it."
When the machine gun stopped firing for only a single second, Rory shot out of her position and zig-zagged across the no-man's-land in incredible speed even as the machine gun tracked her with deadly accuracy. She moved quickly from cover to cover, her short-range dashing speed outmaneuvering the trajectory of the bullets whenever she chose to break cover. She was making remarkable progress through the field—her goal is to get to the base of the machine gun nest and press a button.
Alden was beyond impressed. With her sheer dynamics and fluidity of movement, he can't be blamed if he thought she was a newly-risen Hunter.
Rory peeked her head out for half a second to survey a specific spot on the field just less than twenty yards away from her. In the middle of an empty patch of land was the red, oversized halberd everyone's been talking about, lying dead-center in front a clear sightline for the machine gun. She assumed a sprinter stance. The instant the gun stopped its volley, she made a mad dash out of cover and towards the halberd. Before Alden could even blink, she had already rolled over the halberd and as the gun began another deadly volley, she deflected its bullets by spinning her weapon so fast it blurred like a helicopter's rotors.
She arduously inched slowly towards the nearest cover, clearly compensating for the sheer forces the bullets were slamming onto her. Alden could hear a squeaky noise behind all the gunfire and the clanging of spent shells as they hit the ground.
Her grin stretched from ear to ear. Was she… laughing?
Once again, the fire stopped, amplifying her crazed laughter even more throughout the empty hangar. This time, Rory took to the offensive. Instead of finding cover, she shot straight ahead at the machine gun, carrying her halberd straight behind her to minimize drag. But she wasn't fast enough—the gun spun up again and before she could react, blood spurted from her upper right thigh and her left waist as two rounds punched through her. Rory didn't flinch, instead her laugh grew louder and louder as she zig-zagged closer to her target. She caught more bullets the closer she got—this time, her left forearm, left shoulder, right chest, and her foot were penetrated and immediately covered in blood. Through all this, she kept laughing as if the gaping holes in her body merely tickled her.
BOOOM!
Within fifteen yards of the gun, she launched her halberd at it with a visceral shout, slicing it in half. It exploded in a bright fireball, leaving behind a mushroom plume of gunpowder and smoke. With the gun out of commission, she calmly sauntered up to the button and slammed on it with a closed fist.
BZZZZZT!
Rory raised her arms and waved her body side to side as if stretching out after a long slumber. Just as quickly as she dropped her arms, the grisly bullet holes all over her body began closing by themselves.
Understandably, Alden was more than taken aback by that performance. "What was the point of going cover-to-cover if she could just do that?"
"She can heal major wounds almost as soon as she gets them, but it seems that her body can only take so much punishment. We can't directly test those theories for obvious reasons, but enough damage all at once would seriously hinder her."
"But she can take just enough to disregard herself."
"It reminds me of someone."
…
"Jin, isn't disregarding yourself your literal job?"
Alden and Lee turned around to find none other than the Combat Surveyor walking up to them with her arms crossed. Like them, she was in her partial combat gear, without a helmet and unarmed save for a white-and-gold hand cannon in her hip holster.
"False equivalency, Evelyn. A .50 wouldn't go through me." The Titan turned back around to face the now-empty testing ground.
"And enough of it will. And then you'll die."
Lee looked at her with a face that by itself shouted an unspeakable number of insults at her.
"Anyway!" Evelyn directed her attention to Alden and gave him a friendly nod. "Good to see you again, Alden. I heard you're taking some of the knights to the City tomorrow."
"That's right. I figured the princess would be an important card to have if we're trying to navigate through Saderan politics." Alden said.
"Speaking of which," She turned to Lee. "when are we gonna go over there?"
"Whenever the Vanguard wants us to. If I had to guess, probably when Arias returns with the knights."
"That won't look good. If you guys rolled up on Sadera with Piña, they'll think you coerced her."
"I know. When we cross that bridge, we'll send her in a few days in advance," Alden pondered. "she'll warm them up for us."
"You make it sound like you own her." She gave a cheeky grin.
"He's right. Let's face it, Evelyn. A person like that who's never heard of electricity suddenly goes to the Last City? She's moldable." Lee said.
"Moldable? That's awfully cynical of you, Jin."
That last point made Alden cringe. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but something about calling Piña 'moldable' seemed particularly distasteful for him. This wasn't the dark side of politics—it was just politics. You use others and try your best not to get used; acting decent and taking the high ground will only get you so far. It's especially trickier considering the ancient politics in Falmart likely takes to violence and subjugation before conversation.
"Yeah, that was wrong," Lee sighed and shook his head. "you've been rubbing off on me."
"It wasn't wrong. It was just the last thing I thought I'd hear from you, mister morals."
"What do you know about morals?"
She raised an eyebrow. "I feel attacked all of a sudden."
The Warlock among them felt his heart sink. Lee just pounced on the first opportunity to scrutinize the question he had asked Alden over the radio, and the latter was beyond unsettled. The same couldn't be said for Evelyn, who somehow maintained the liveliness she wore as her poker face.
"…"
"Damn it, this is about Italica, huh?" Her smile faded.
Lee frowned. "Blade Barrage? On civilians? Was that on purpose?"
"Okay, for the record, those guys were not civilians. Second, if I said yes, you'd be pissed; if I said no, you'd be concerned."
"Go on."
Evelyn sighed and looked back to the window. "Then yes. It was on purpose."
"What was it really?"
"It was on purpose. Believe it or not, Jin, a person can grow."
"Old habits die hard, Evie."
Her eye twitched at that nickname. She glared a knife through him. "Was that on purpose?"
Truthfully, Alden hasn't felt this uncomfortable since he first met Petra decades ago. Distant sounds of construction and even a hint of gunfire from the range filled the air with a light white noise; the tension between these two was faint, yet it still screamed louder than any humanly noise.
When he noticed Evelyn had actually turned her attention to him, he snapped out of this trance and realized that he was physically here. Even both she and the Colonel had forgotten that he was in the peanut gallery. "I'm sorry. I'll excuse myself, sir, Miss Hawkins."
"Comms is looking for Warlocks. Lend them a hand if you can." Lee said softly.
Alden bid farewell with a salute, to which both Lee and Evelyn responded with a light nod. He calmly, yet briskly walked down the nearest stairs until they began walking away to the secluded office wing of the dome. He leaned against the stairwell's railing and summoned Kythera in his hands.
He breathed a sigh of relief. There was no chance of anyone losing their cool earlier; one was a model Titan and the other a Combat Surveyor. But maybe that's why it was more terrifying than awkward; even Zavala would've broken a sweat from the sheer heat those two Guardians were stewing up. Never in his life has he seen someone grill a CSO, either because their actions don't warrant any scolding or whoever does the scolding is usually silenced in one way or another. Lee spoke to her so intimately and surprisingly, Evelyn actually looked apologetic rather than offended or smug like a typical Hunter would be. But with the way the conversation was going, the question of whether she directed that remorse to herself and her actions or to him and his concerns hung uncomfortably in the air around Alden like a worm to a fish.
"I know what you're thinking," she spoke quickly. "I have no clue."
Alden pondered on the situation in silence for a quick moment before turning back to the Ghost. "What Evelyn did was absolutely within protocols. Italica is just way too important and high-profile for reckless behavior; if the Vanguard didn't allow what she did, Ikora probably would've killed her Ghost by now."
Kythera perked up at the thought. "Uh, is that true?"
Alden sighed. "I'm sure the Colonel got the memo."
"I don't think he did. CSG activities are known only to the Vanguard."
"But he's the commanding officer of this planet. That doesn't make sense to hide such an important development from him. Just out of curiosity, who gave the order?"
"How would I know?"
"Well, hiding Evelyn's objective from him is a strategic disservice. Ikora knows it and certainly, the Commander does too."
Kythera 'frowned.' "And Cayde has a knack for meddling. But he's not dumb, either."
"Yeah."
Alden thought it best not to entertain that theory. If he did, it would be a rabbit hole that he wouldn't be able to get out of, much less one that would result in the Vanguard, the Colonel, and the CSO collectively tearing him apart.
"…"
"Kythera? What the hell are you doing?"
She was pointed right in the direction of the office sections where Lee and the CSO currently were. Her nosiness knows no bounds.
"Neither of them are shouting at each other."
"They- hey, stop."
"Actually, they both look pretty depress- ow!"
"Kythera, stop it!" Alden ordered, lightly slapping her shell with his free hand.
When she turned back to him, he gave her a viciously admonishing look. "Don't ever do that again without my permission."
"Sorry. But I hope what I told you helps."
As much as it pained him to admit it, she certainly narrowed the issue down for him by a lot. But he wouldn't stoop so low so as to spy on their personal matters. He's not like that. If they needed his counsel—probably due to the fact that he was present—they'll come to him. At least nobody was getting chewed out as he'd initially expected; a pleasant surprise, for sure.
…
"Mister Arias?"
The sudden voice startled him, but it was neither the Colonel nor Evelyn, thank God. It was a voice that he was actually relieved to hear.
"Hey, Lelei. Are they treating you alright?" He lowered his arm to stow Kythera and turned his attention to the kid walking up the stairs.
"Yes. I had just eaten these fried balls made of octopus. Tacos, I believe." She said as she ascended the stairs, slightly lifting her staff so as to not slam against the steps.
"Takoyaki." Alden corrected her. He pointed at her staff with an upward nod. "They let you keep that thing?"
She twisted the staff in her hand as she looked over it. "Yes. Why wouldn't they?"
"Can you kill someone with it?"
"Highly likely with enough force. But I'm nowhere near strong enough to cause something beyond dislocating a joint or possibly breaking fingers."
"Was that your own evaluation?"
"Yes. I am quite conscious of my own strengths and weaknesses, Mister Arias."
"I- yeah, of course." Alden scratched the back of his head. A more considerable part of him than he'd like to admit was relieved that the Scribes left the kid alone. They've got that Apostle to play with, after all. And if Lelei was any threat, he'd have personally picked up on it in Coda.
"If you're talking about magic, I assured them that I will not do any harm."
"That's it?"
"Yes."
Figures. When someone like Rory Mercury is around stinking up the place with her darkened aura, the more 'natural' energy signature of someone like Lelei was probably a breath of fresh air for the Scribes. Besides, between her and Cato, they'd rather run "tests" on him considering his affinity for their kind of magic.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Comms room. Apparently, they need Scribes."
"That sounds wonderful; a room to meditate or otherwise reflect on oneself in peaceful silence. I'm sure you Scribes need to clear your heads often."
Alden almost let out a clownish grin. "Comms as in communications, Lelei."
She stood firm and her eyes and mouth slightly widened. "I understand now. Where is this communications room?"
"You can come with me, if you want."
…
Communications center
Ten minutes later
.
Alden and Lelei stepped through the double-doors into the busy room filled with monitors, consoles, volunteer communications officers and four Warlocks congregated around a nondescript console controlled by one officer.
"What is it?" Alden asked as he walked towards them, Lelei in tow.
"Look at this," another one pointed at the screen. It showed an arbitrary string of numbers with no discernible pattern, rhythm, or rhyme, and next to it were series of symbols and glyphs that vaguely looked Cabal, yet nothing was familiar at all.
"We received a deep-space radio signal a little over half an hour ago. It's encrypted beyond anything we know of, so it's certainly not from the Red Legion."
The Vanguard has completely cracked the unique codes of every Cabal legion they've encountered since they showed up in the System. The Red Legion, Dust Giants, Siege Dancers, every single one of them. But this one was completely foreign.
"How tight's the encryption?"
"We only have the lexicons of the other legions to refer to. Right now, pretty tight."
Alden closed his eyes in thought. The Cloudbreakers are entirely new players in this game. Nobody knows a thing about them—they've never made themselves known...
Until just last week.
Alden looked at the officer manning the console. "The Titans from Contingency Hercules intercepted and successfully read an open-source message from the Cloudbreakers. Can you pull it up?"
"Yes, sir."
The officer revealed a digitalized format of the message.
"Strip its signature and see if we can compare it with that and the Red Legion's SOS. If they can talk to the Cloudbreakers, we should be able to decipher part of their code with their lexicon."
The other Warlocks stepped in to break down the code and volunteered their Ghosts to run lightning-fast computations. Alden, truthfully, didn't want to bother them. This was their territory—he was a Field Scribe. Naturally, with four Warlocks and four Ghosts, the decryption took no time at all using the resources Alden had put on the table. For the sake of speed, it was translated into Red Legion code, which was then translated to English, which unfortunately spared no accuracy.
"ENBNRROUTEEFJJIFGPARSECSEUHDXSCOUTSHIPCCEBHFVARRIVEDDNCUNFURLSIGNEUNVIOMICRON—BADJCNNDWQOUTFGBJCGHAUL"
The Warlocks stood in awe, though this was far from unexpected. Reading through the gibberish was no issue—it was what would have to come next.
"Clean it up and relay it to the Colonel and the Vanguard. Whatever happens next is up to them." Alden said.
"EN-ROUTE-PARSECS-SCOUTSHIP-ARRIVE-UNFURL-SIGN-OMICRON-BAD-OUT-GHAUL"
When the time comes, Alden wanted to be the first to volunteer for a potential outer-space skirmish. Once he can get his hands in a scout ship, the sheer treasure trove of Cloudbreaker intel will be magnificent. He had hoped to answer the questions that casted a dark shadow on this planet. Who are they? Why are they here? What is their connection to Ghaul? Why did the Red Legion come here in the first place?
The message wasn't clear on when they'll come. But whether it's tomorrow or next week, Valiance will absolutely be ready by then. First orders of business: figure out what this 'sign omicron' is and prepare an airborne QRF for the assault.
"What does that mean?" Lelei asked.
"The enemy we came here to fight just told us they're coming."
She held her staff firmly across her body with her face scrunched in seriousness. "I wish to volunteer myself for anything I can do in your support."
Alden smiled and patted her on the head. She closed her eyes at the sudden contact, yet still maintained that austere look. The girl is incredibly smart and observant; he seriously considered assigning her a supportive role from the rear, away from the real fighting. "Thanks, Lelei. When the time comes, I'll see about asking you for help."
.
.
.
Formal Palace courtyard, Italica
07:00, the next day
"Five seconds to touchdown." The flight computer announced.
The VTOL rocked as its landing pads compensated for and made contact with the uneven ground off to the side of the entrance. With a whir, the rear ramp lowered, with Alden walking down its steps to greet the palace staff and the accompanying knights.
In front of the stairs, a tiny army of housekeepers created a path for the two guests of honor, clad in lavish blue and cream regalia fit for esteemed knights and aristocrats. But all sign of sophistication that those clothes tried so hard to amplify were completely wiped by the collective look of bewilderment on everyone's faces. Hamilton's jaw could carve a hole into the ground, Piña couldn't help but let out a crazed, awestruck smile, and even the most stoic and disciplined of the palace staff were quite visibly dumbfounded.
After all, Alden just landed an aircraft in a city where wagon wheel technology was in vogue.
"Princess. Lady Hamilton." He lightly bowed his head.
"A-Alden. Good… good morning," Piña stammered, still staring at the ship in awe. "Are we riding that?"
Alden nodded. "During our trip to the City, we will have you wear a local outfit so as to not raise suspicion. I apologize for not warning you sooner."
"Oh, it's quite alright. We are to meet your commanders, after all."
"That's a good point," he raised a hand towards the ship. "we can go whenever you're ready."
"Safe travels." Panache said and bowed, followed by Grey, Norma, and Bozes.
Piña and Hamilton went down the stairs to the bows of their housekeepers before following Alden into the VTOL. It wasn't anything special—it was just a basic Hawk troop carrier model he borrowed from Holliday for this, but to the unaccustomed eyes of the two of them, everything from the seat cushions to the fact that it was a vehicle one can walk around in was astonishing. They've seen these kinds of aircraft during Alden's presentations days ago, but like anything, it was an entirely new experience to actually be inside one.
"Take a seat. We'll be lifting off from the ground at any second." Alden said.
The look on their faces and the restlessness all over their bodies exhumed excitement that even Alden could feel. He activated the cruising-speed autonav in the Director so he can stay in the cabin with them.
whirrr…
"Takeoff in five, four, three, two, one."
The Hawk's engines whirred louder and gradually lifted off from the ground, ascending until they've at least cleared well over the palace's high roof. Piña was relaxed for the most part albeit glued to the window. Next to her, Hamilton was a bit more flush with nerves but was still captivated by the view.
"You two are taking this quite well." Alden noted.
"We've ridden wyverns, but I will admit I was much more focused on staying on those creatures more than enjoying the view." Hamilton said.
"I suggest you keep your minds as open as it can possibly be. Once we enter through the Gate, this ship is nothing compared to what you'll get to see."
…
Twenty minutes later
By horse, this trip would've taken a week. By sparrow, two hours. By conventional aircraft, ten minutes, with most of that time spent during the procedures to take off and then carefully landing. Alden slowed down their speed considerably to give the knights a quick exposure to flight and a chance to see FOB Valiance from the sky.
He'd only ever seen a bird's eye view of the continent from satellite imagery, but no matter how painstakingly detailed the models are, the feelings of serenity from a personal look with one's own two eyes will always be unparalleled. With breathable air, temperate oceans, and a surprisingly stable ecosystem, this planet is merely one among a million different habitable planets from a million different systems all over the galaxy.
Such circumstances for picturesque scenery and livable conditions can be explained, but the presence of an exact replica of human society so far away from Earth. Not all habitable planets looked the same; maybe if the environment were Earth-like, intelligent life would evolve to be human-like? The similarities are extremely uncanny—downright supernatural—for it to be a coincidence. Was it the Traveler's work? The Darkness? There is a paracausal entity in this planet and they've made themselves known through the Apostle, but it's neither of the forces Guardians are familiar with.
Questions for another time, perhaps.
Both Piña and Hamilton loudly gasped. They must've been over FOB Valiance by now.
"That's… that's a base?!" The princess exasperated.
FOB Valiance wasn't anything particularly extravagant. It was a perfect circle with a relatively modest 2-mile radius around the domed Gate at the center. Heavy machinery like cranes and construction APCs roamed desiccated patches of land being prepped for new air defense infrastructure. The walls surrounding the base were thick and apparent—eight feet thick and sixty feet high throughout the circumference, manned by a small division of Stoneborn Titans. Two miles from the wall is the patrol area for Titans, while a further four miles out is Hunter country.
The only real threat was the fire dragon, but satellites quickly tracked its whereabouts and is being closely monitored by VALCOM. It seemed to be actively avoiding the base, but if it comes anywhere close, an anti-aircraft battery built to punch a hole through a Cabal frigate eagerly awaits it.
Inside the walls, FOB Valiance's central command building looked more like a curvy modernistic research university complex, five stories high, vaguely resembling that of the many BrayTech facilities lying in abandon around the System. It was more beautiful by miles though, what with the beautiful Earthly backdrop and the neoteric City Age architecture and construction of immaculate steel, reinforced concrete, and glass. Built around the Gate, this central complex is the hub of VALCOM, hosting and managing any and all communications, operations, and administration that goes on in the Special Region.
To the east were systems maintenance and logistics: a line of hangars, jumpship construction and ports, and stores for glimmer, spare parts, and munitions. To the south was a large dome for the research and development team to conduct various experiments and analyses, and is where Rory Mercury spends most of her day in. The dormitories for civilian contractors and the Guardians' barracks were on the north-west side, linked together by a larger common building for basic necessities, recreation, and hydroponics. Anti-aircraft towers and radars uniformly dotted the base, both inside and beyond the walls, vigilantly on the lookout for unnatural anomalies in space. They've been on high alert after the Cloudbreakers announced themselves just yesterday.
The sight was overwhelming to Piña and Hamilton, who only ever recognized this patch of Alnus as an empty grassland with the Gate standing tall in the middle.
"They… were here for only a week." The Princess muttered in awe.
"Could the Empire even penetrate those walls?" Hamilton asked silently.
"Hamilton!" Piña snarled. "Keep that out of your mouth!"
The Warlock pretended he couldn't hear them, out of courtesy. To answer her question: an invading party that poses any danger would be collectively atomized before they can even see the walls, but that's probably the last thing VALCOM wants to do.
The Director signaled an alert to the cabin. "Thirty seconds to touchdown."
Alden held on to to a railing to catch his balance while the knights were still stuck to the window, now that the base was becoming larger and larger.
"Fifteen seconds."
They could feel the Hawk vibrate as its landing pads were slowly released.
"Five seconds."
The hydraulics hissed as the cabin slightly rocked upon landing. The rear ramp lowered, introducing the faint noises of construction from across the base. Alden gestured for the knights to follow him as he walked down the steps. He was immediately greeted by Lee.
"Colonel." Alden gave him a rigid salute.
Next to him were Piña and Hamilton graciously giving the colossal Titan a deep bow.
"Your Highness, Lady Hamilton, it's good to finally meet you." Lee greeted the two of them with a bow of his own, then a quick salute to the Warlock.
"Thank you for having us, Colonel Lee."
"Come, let's get you situated. I'm sure you're eager to see what's beyond the Gate."
"I assure you, 'eager' is quite an understatement."
As Lee stepped away, Piña turned to look up at Alden beside her in fervor. Only a few things can captivate him, but when he noticed her deep red eyes sparkle so infectiously, a warm gleam of violet lingered in the reflection on his irises.
.
AN: Let me know what you thought about the pacing in this chapter. It's something I'm definitely looking to improve.
(1) In the anime after the Siege of Italica, the JSDF negotiated requests that the Rose-Order would carry out, such as tax exemption and the taking prisoners home. Here, Alden was not meant to make such stipulations, but I failed to make that clear in the chapter. Extra dialogue to clarify this is in the scene when Alden contacts Jin after the introduction of Bozes and Panache.