Wren and Kiran touched down on the Cosmodrone near and old overpass. The broken concrete fell off in small chunks, clinking off exposed rebar to the dusty ground below. They stayed in the shadows of the road, vultures circling overhead. Wren watched the flight of one as she snapped a new clip into the Better Devils.

"So, why are we here?" She asked, breaking the hours long silence between herself and Cayde. Holliday had her ship ready to go when she got to the hanger, but Cayde had been nowhere to be seen and as she flew toward the coordinates Sundance had provided for Kiran, she wasn't even sure he was on the comms at all.

He cleared his throat and began to explain.

"Well, turns out Crota has a father named Oryx who uh… well, he's come a long way to kill you."

Wren paused. "What?"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna let that happen. Bad thing is, you're the only Hunter willing to do this and keep it hush hush."

"I don't even know what I'm here for."

"A stealth drive. They're hard to come by but lucky for us, I have one stashed away at the top of an old colony ship. Managed to squirrel it away before I got roped into the Vanguard."

"That was a long time ago," Kiran said. "How do we know it's still there?"

"You won't survive the Dreadnaught without it. We just gotta hope it's still up there or we'll have to resort to plan B."

"And what is plan B?"

"Better not to ask questions you don't want the answer to, Kiran."

"And what exactly am I sneaking into?" Wren asked

Cayde went quiet for a moment and Wren was made uneasy by his hesitation.

"Oryx controls the Taken from a ship called the Dreadnaught. It's in the outer rings of Saturn. I'll be sending someone in, I'm just not sure who yet."

"Why not me?"

"Because he's here to kill you. I can't leave the Tower right now, kid, so it's safer if you hang back with me."

"And let someone else risk their life because some Hive monster has decided to come after me? I can't do that and you know it. You just said I was the only one to carry out this mission without running my mouth, what about when you go finding someone to carry out the rest of this plan? Then what—"

"Hey, calm down. I need you to have a level head right now. This place is dangerous."

Wren clenched her jaw and moved toward the coordinates for the ship he'd mentioned before. Overhead and close to the delipidated buildings on the ridge ahead were two gigantic portals like the Hive used to move their ships, but these were obviously Taken. Their black and white surfaces swirled before exploding into shards of black that scattered into the sky before dissipating, Taken appearing on the ground below.

"We have a problem," Kiran said as Wren went for cover to scope out the situation. She missed her team. Wished she had Rorick to guide her, Sisre and Beorn to back her up… Franz to cause chaos with.

"Let me guess, four arms, wear cloaks… smell real bad?"

"Not Fallen, Taken," Kiran said.

"Already? I thought we'd have more time."

"Can't you view my feed?"

"Look, this mission ain't exactly approved by Zavala. There's only so much I can do and trust me, if I wasn't bein' watched like a hawk, I'd do all this myself."

"Why are you being watched?" Wren asked as she holstered the Better Devils in favor of a scout rifle where she could stay back from the hoard and pick them off one by one. Without her team, she didn't feel confident pushing too hard into the enemy numbers.

"It's uh… complicated. Just know I wouldn't have brought you into this if I had another option."

"Yeah, good to know I'm your last resort," Wren said flatly.

"Don't be like that. That's not what I meant."

"She knows," Kiran said.

Wren couldn't get a handle on the Taken. The more she killed, the more that spawned. She threw a grenade as a distraction and ran for the nearest door which had been rolled up so long ago that it was rusted on its tracks. The interior of the building was much the same as she'd seen all over the Cosmodrone. Rusted, rotten, falling apart. Dirt covered the floor, where there was flooring left and it hadn't crumbled to dust and rebar.

The only difference was the addition of the Taken anomalies which leant a soft glow to the already flickering lights in the halls. She passed one and a human skull hovered in the field above it, rotating gently as if it were on display. It wasn't the only one. As she ascended the stairs there were more blights, more anomalies, and human bones hovering above them.

"How bad is it?" Cayde asked, his voice soft.

"There's Taken everywhere," Kiran reported.

"They're locked in battle with the Fallen," Wren said, turning a corner to go up a set of stairs with crushed bone and shards of metal piled near the bottom. Two Fallen lantern rods stuck out of the pile, casting a harsh orange glow on a skull whose eyeless sockets seemed to stare at her.

"Earth'll look a lot like Phobos if you don't find that stealth drive."

A floor to ceiling Fallen banner painted the end of the hall red and white, then it opened up into a long area with platforms on either side with ramps leading down to what might have once been a floor but under the open sky it was now nothing more than rock and dirt with water at the lowest edge on the wall opposite her. All around the high walls surrounding the open space were the same red and white Fallen banners she'd seen at the end of the hall.

She fought her way through a few Taken but they weren't nearly as bad here as they were in the landing zone. The broken bridge that was supposed to span from the platforms to a doorway over the water lay half submerged, the grating destroyed in some places.

Wren walked as far as she could, until she was ankle deep in water, then she jumped into the doorway.

"How are you holdin' up?" he asked.

"We're fine. What next?" Wren said.

"You're gonna find a vault door. There's a trick to getting into it so let me know when you get there."

Wren avoided puddles of Taken liquid as she approached an open vault door.

"Well, we have a problem. The vault door is already open."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. I'm standing inside."

"And the flux grenades didn't detonate? Man, I gotta get out of this Tower."

When she took a look around she stepped back into the doorway. Lines on the walls indicated possible water level and her blood ran cold. She clutched her weapon close and looked down through the grating to the black water below. Sweat prickled her forehead and her helmet was too much to deal with and she pulled it off, tucking it under her arm as she braced her back against the frame of the vault.

"Cayde?"

"I'm here. I know what you're seein' but I promise that place doesn't fill with water anymore. If it did, I never would have sent you okay?"

"Yeah," she said weakly. "You could have given me a warning."

"I'm sorry. Take a minute if you need too but I promise it's okay."

She nodded, knowing full well he couldn't see, then put on her helmet and took a few deep breaths. The grating around the right side of the room seemed sturdy enough but Wren took it slow, terrified she'd be plunged into the water.

"We're out of there," Kiran said as Wren hopped into the next door into a low, wide room with elevators on the far end.

"Good," Cayde said.

Some Taken spawned in, giving Wren something to focus on other than the tank they'd come from. The small Psions fell easily, only a few of them splitting before she could clear them.

"I wonder if these elevators still work," Kiran mused as Wren stepped into the middle one.

The sides were just about completely open with only thick metal cables to keep someone from falling out. The door slid closed before the elevator began to ascend, passing rusted cables in the other two shafts that made Wren nervous to even move for fear the one she was in would snap.

"Cayde?" Wren asked, "When was the last time you were on this elevator?"

"Relax, it's fine," he said, his tone too sure for Wren's taste. "But uh, stand by for rez, Kiran."

"That's not funny."

"Aw, I'm just kiddin'. You know, keep the mood light."

Through the rusted holes in the walls Wren caught glimpses of the world outside and felt a sudden chill from cold air blowing in through the gaps. They rose higher and higher until the walls were gone and they were in open air, heavy wind rattling the elevator against its shaft and Wren's legs tensed.

They were high above the ground now and still climbing. In the distance sunlight gleamed off the surface of a lake just outside of the wall.

"From this height I can get clear readings on Taken all across the Cosmodrone," Kiran said. "I was here, looking for you when the first Fallen invaded. There was only one Skiff in the beginning but over the course of the next few months they'd completely taken over. The Taken have managed to do it in a fraction of that time."

"There are so many ships," Wren said, staring around at the Cosmodrone and getting the realization that those ships might be filled with corpses. Or by now, bones.

"Yeah… the stasis pods were at full capacity, supplies were loaded, and yet not a one of them made it off planet. They didn't even launch and sometimes I wonder why."

Wren contemplated where Kiran had found her. Had she been one of the ones that tried to flee and just… didn't make it? There was no memory of it. No matter how hard she tried, there was nothing beyond that point and she struggled with deciding whether or not she'd even want to know who she was before.

The elevator stopped at the top of the tower and the doors slid open. Wren was happy to have her feet back on a sturdier surface but it wasn't much better than before. The body of a Fallen Vandal lay motionless near a door that opened to nothing but a small platform. From here she could see the colony ship nearby and wind whipped her cloak around her legs.

"Okay," Kiran said, "how do we find this stealth drive?"

"There's a bridge between the tower and the ship," Cayde explained. "It took me days to get it in position and it's a little unstable so be careful as you cross."

"Hate to tell you, but the bridge has been moved," Wren said, peering over the edge at the drop. "Looks like this dead Vandal here might have done it and destroyed the controls too."

"Damn Fallen," Cayde sighed. "They're probably trying to keep the Taken off their backs so you'll have to find a way to reroute the power."

"There are some active lines overhead," Kiran said and Wren started up the several flights of stairs to the top of the tower.

"Don't get blown off," Cayde joked, but then he faltered and cleared his throat. "Uh…. Yeah that came out wrong. Just uh.. when the power is back on you'll find the stealth drive in the ball on top of the ship."

The comm went silent and Wren shook her head. They'd gotten this far without thinking about what had happened when they were sparring but one little comment put her right back to pressing against him and this wasn't the place for it.

Kiran appeared and shifted in his shell before gliding up to a transformer box overhead. Wren jumped up to the platform it was on and nearly fell off the other side. She looked down at the ground so far below that Taken moving around the base looked like ants and shuddered at the thought of falling that far. Though, it wasn't nearly as tall as the Tower, it still didn't seem a fun way to die. She sat on the platform, cautious that the high winds might knock her off, while Kiran did his work on the power supply. Smoke poured from the box but Wren kept out of the way, watching the bridge below for movement.

Ikora's voice could be heard in the background of Cayde's comm.

"We still haven't heard details of this plan of yours," she said.

"Yeah! Uh... I'll be right there," Cayde said, then in a whisper he said, "I'll be right back, kid."

"Sounds like Ikora didn't sanction this little field trip either," Wren said.

"There we go," Kiran said as the bridge began to move.

Wren slid off the platform and started down the stairs when Cayde returned.

"I'm back."

"Good, because the bridge is almost in position."

"Alright, head on in and find my stash. And remember, be careful on that bridge."

Wren jumped from the upper railing onto the metal braces of the bridge before it was completely in place and dropped onto the catwalk section below. The grating creaked and groaned under her weight and nearly halfway across it began to pop and buckle.

"Run!" Kiran said and Wren sprinted toward the other side, jumping the distance to the opposite section of the bridge as the part she was standing on collapsed and fell to the earth below.

She didn't wait to see how long it would take it to hit. She moved on into the ship.

"You made it. Nice work. Now, go up," Cayde said.

"I swear, you put me in the worst positions," Wren grumbled.

"If I put you in good positions you'd be spoiled."

They both paused and the silence was deafening. She didn't get a chance to figure out how to respond when Taken Thrall spawned all over the room. As soon as she began to fire the Better Devils Cayde asked if she was alright.

"Yeah, just some Taken," Wren replied, running left toward where the wall had been destroyed and a section led up like a ramp toward open sky.

The Taken Thrall were easy enough to kill and Wren looked around for the next step in pushing farther up the ship. Or what was left of it. She circled around the outside edge, to a lip outside of an open door. The instant she landed she heard the familiar sound of a Taken Phalanx shield charging and gasped as she dropped right before the shot rushed over her head.

She scrambled between its feet and rolled to her back firing the Better Devils several times into where its spine would be if it were flesh and bone. It jerked back and nearly stepped on her head, its foot pinning her hood to the floor before it vanished entirely.

"What's goin' on out there?" Cayde asked.

"Still moving up."

Wren fought her way through Fallen and Taken, circling around and around as she climbed the ship.

"There's Fallen in here too," she said. "I don't understand why there are so many of them."

"Don't. Look. Down," Kiran said as Wren crouched low and crawled across an I beam. They were so high up it was dizzying but Wren did her best to keep focused on where she was going.

Ever upward, through groups of Fallen and Taken enemies, catching many by surprise as they fought against one another. She passed several Fallen bodies, remnants of battles and Wren was certain most of them would soon be Taken too.

"Hey, what's that?" Kiran said and Wren looked to the left, near a grav-lift, to a hatch that was partially open.

"What is it?" Cayde asked.

"Looks like a hatch in the wall." Wren pried it open and looked inside.

"That's one of my secret rooms. Good times…"

"It's a bunch of Fallen crates," Wren said, walking along the length of the room.

"They took my loot? It's like there's no rules."

"A Jack of Spades?" Kiran asked. "I'm guessing this one is yours?"

"Yeah, I had a whole system to keep track of things. The royal cards stood for weapons. Spades meant Häkke, clubs for Crux/Lomar, diamonds for Omolon, and hearts... huh, well hearts were for this girl I knew.

Wren felt her heart drop a little and she turned her back on the cache without opening it. She made her way back to the lift but Kiran kept talking.

"A girl? What was her name?"

"Don't you have a stealth drive to find? I'll go back for that cache later."

Kiran muttered an apology, but Wren was glad Cayde didn't answer. She didn't care to know the woman he'd designated the heart cards too or what those caches might hold.

When she reached the top, the ball part Cayde had described, it was full of Fallen. She threw a grenade and hit them hard with her hand cannon during their confusion. She slid out of the way of a shot and as she did a cracking sound filled the air and the Fallen dropped dead where they stood. The shadowy form of a creature hovered in the middle of the room, leathery black wings outstretched.

"An Echo of Oryx," Kiran said.

"My will be done! Vengeance for Crota!" the thing said, then teleported to a nearby crate, shooting bolts of Taken energy toward her.

Wren dodged out of the way and ran behind the crates, taking shots where she could move but still be partially under cover from the Taken that were spawning all around. One of their rounds hit her side and she went down, tangling in her cloak as she slid across the floor. The feeling of hot water on icy flesh sent flashes of pain through her body. She cried out as she pulled herself behind a crate and reloaded the Better Devils, unwilling to miss too many shots as Kiran healed her.

"You alright, kid?" Cayde asked.

"Yeah," she said through gritted teeth. "You owe me big time."

"You pull this off and I'll give you anything you want. Just… just get outta there in one piece."

"Aww, sounds like you're worried about me," she teased through the pain of another shot that hit her upper thigh as she dodged to another crate.

"Don't get cocky."

"Wren, the Echo is in mid, get it with your Golden Gun," Kiran urged and Wren forced herself up and around the corner of the crate, letting the warmth of Solar energy flood her.

She rapid fired the Golden Gun toward the Echo as it shot another blast at her, catching her square in the chest and knocking her to her back. The room spun and the icy, burning sensation from the Taken bolt ripped the air from her lungs. Pain wracked her body and she found that she couldn't roll over. Panic crept up her spine as the realization hit that the Echo could still be alive and coming for her.

"Shh, hold still," Kiran urged. "It's gone. Let me heal you."

Wren tried to relax and catch her breath but the ache in her chest made her entire body stiff. Cayde was talking to her but she couldn't make out what he was saying. She wished he'd stop. Give her a moment to sort out her thoughts.

Once the pain subsided she sat up, slowly, and looked around. There was no sign of the Taken or of the Echo. It was as if nothing had happened at all and it was just a bad dream. She rubbed her hand over the chest piece that had saved her.

"I guess Oryx is angry about what we did to his son," Kiran said.

"You still standing?" Cayde asked and Wren rose to her feet.

"Yeah. Where's this stealth drive so I can get out of here?"

"Kiran, enter frequency 5982."

Wren walked around the crate to the center of the room as Kiran floated around, finally settling on a Fallen device Wren didn't recognize. It shimmered, then vanished, leaving a pile of stealth drives in its place.

"Clever," Wren said.

"The best hiding places are in plain sight," Cayde replied. "Go ahead and transmat it out of there and I'll get to work on it. You get back here too. And get some rest on the way. You're going to need to be in tip top shape for the next step."

"What did you tell Ikora we were doing?"

"Ah… don't you worry about that. I'll be ready for you when you get here."

"Can you have some dumplings ready too?"

"What? What do I look like, a catering company?"

"You said anything."

Cayde sighed but she could tell he was smiling. "Sure thing."

"Interesting tech ya go there, Cayde," Holliday said, raising a brow at him as he approached.

Behind her was a ship and a crew of maintenance bots carrying equipment to it. Sparks fell like rain where they welded the stealth drives in place and Cayde put his hands on his hips, admiring Holliday's handiwork.

"Isn't this Eris Morn's ship?" she asked, jabbing her thumb at the spacecraft.

Cayde tilted his head and stared at Eris' symbol clearly emblazoned on the hull of the ship. "Is it? Huh… You're a true artist. Can't even see the join."

"Cute. But Zavala has sign-off on all launches. I'll need to know why I'm lettin' it go."

Cayde knew Zavala would wise up to something going on but he wasn't anticipating it being so fast. He grabbed a wrench from Holliday's cart and tapped it against his palm.

"Stargazing tour?"

"Not a chance cowboy."

"Ok well... how about… an unsanctioned op using modified stealth tech…. to infiltrate the Dreadnaught above Saturn's rings so we can knock out its weapons, create a transmat zone, and send in the cavalry!" he said, striking a pose, wrench outstretched.

Holliday chuckled and rolled her eyes before taking the wrench out of his hand and returning it to her cart.

"How about, test flight?"

"That'll work."

"I'll have it ready when you are."

"Ah, see, I won't be flying it."

"And why not?"

"Zavala and Ikora have their eye on me. Why do you think we've got these flight restrictions in the first place?"

"Is that why Wren's been hangin' around here eatin' dumpings?" Holliday crossed her arms.

"What? I can't let her go back to the Tower. She's gotta lay low until the ship's ready."

"Frankly I'm surprised you're sendin' her in. It's gonna be dangerous."

Cayde nodded slowly. "Trust me, if I had another choice, I'd take it. I'll go let the kid know we're all set. You get that launch clearance."

He winked at her and flashed her a smile but it faded the moment he turned his back to her. This was a bad idea. He knew it was and yet… he was right. Zavala and Ikora were still figuring out what to do and in the meantime, danger was growing. They didn't have time to sit around and wait, something had to be done and Wren…

She was sitting at his area when he came up, legs swinging off his stool as she happily munched away at some dumplings. For a moment he watched her as she spoke to Kiran, their voices lost in the clanging and yelling of mechanics between them.

"It'll turn out alright," Sundance said. "C'mon."

"And if it doesn't?" he raised a brow at her, but she was staring at Kiran. She didn't have to reply. He felt it too. And he hated it.