Ether Hunt
Dubbed "the Rocketyard," the ruins near the House of Devils' and House of Kings' lairs were crawling with Fallen scavengers. For the moment, the Hive were quiet and out of sight, which was only good luck for Morik. He crept up to the corner of the decrepit building he'd landed next to and looked around. There were a few patrolling Dregs and Vandals, but most of them seemed to just be going through the motions. All the others were nose deep in snow or rust, looking for salvageable parts. When none were looking his way, Morik slipped forward. The thudding of his feet was muted by the dirt and snow until he came to stand on a grate over a shallow puddle. He heard a Dreg chatter about having heard something. Light splashing and the red slice of his Ghost's motion tracker signalled it was drawing closer. It sounded like only one, so Morik slung his auto rifle over his shoulder, drew his shock blades quickly, and lunged around the corner. With his lower arms he grabbed the Dreg's head and squeezed as his upper arms sliced across its chest. The Dreg was cut in half faster than it could react, and just as quickly its body was left in the shallow water as Morik darted forward to take advantage of the opening it created…
Stealth held until Morik approached the marker his Ghost had set. He was supposed to be entering a building, and the area in front of the door had been clear. As Morik approached, however, away from cover large enough to hide him, several Vandals emerged from nearby doors. They trilled at the sight of him, an unknown Fallen.
"Devil! Intruder!" they shrieked, drawing their weapons and taking aim.
Morik drew his auto rifle and fired in bursts at two of the Vandals as he dove behind a crate. Two shock rifle rounds burned his shields, but caused him no harm.
"Just the other two," said Mork's Ghost, "and you can run inside! If we stay here, the Kings in the yard will flank!"
"Goes without saying," Morik said, pausing to look over the crate for a split second, "Yes?!"
He lowered one of his upper arms, palming a ball that wasn't there. His Ghost drew on his light, forming a flash-bang grenade in that hand. Morik felt the new weight and lobbed it over the crate blind, then quickly reloaded. Startled trilling from the other two Vandals signalled his success, followed by the detonation. Morik clambered over the crate and fired at the Vandals, sprinting for the doors. He got inside, spotted a door in the back right corner and ran for it. His shields had since recharged, but he took another three hits from behind before he could reach the door. His shields barely held until a wire rifle shot punched through. The shot punctured his shield, was slowed by the impact, and struck Morik's right shoulder. It threw him off balance for a few steps, but he was through the door and around the corner before anything else could hit home. Up a short set of stairs and through another door, and Morik finally slowed and took time to reload. As he walked, his Ghost reported more information.
"Previous data shows we should be proceeding through some ruins to another staircase. From there, we should be in the Kings' lair. It's not very big, but we should avoid the main room toward the far end of the building. There should be quarters and storage nearby. Best guess is either off to one side or in the overhangs."
Motion tracking was clear for the moment, but Morik knew the Kings outside wouldn't just let him go. He continued at a jog, rifle ready.
"I'm scanning the area up ahead. I'll let you know if I get any strong ether readings. I should warn you, your own ether is running low. At Vandal-like levels and dropping. My storage is mostly empty, so I'll be able to transmat plenty of sups… There's got to be another way…"
"Fallen receive ether from Servitor. Prime Servitor feeds Kell, feeds Archon, rations to lesser Servitors. Servitors commune with ships, bigger machines. Much better than crew all scrambling about, yes? Better soldier, more ether. One Kell, master of House; one Archon, to commune with Prime."
"The Devils' Prime was recently destroyed, and their Archon was killed. House Winter, on Venus, is missing a Kell and an Archon. They tried to steal one from the Prison of Elders, but a few Guardians took it out before it could become a problem."
"Devils will need new Prime. May be an opportunity for…"
Morik reached the glass doors to the Kings' lair.
"Talk more later."
The Kings inside had been scrambling about, thinking an attack from the House of Devils was incoming. There had been a lot of chatter wondering why no communications had been picked up if that were the case. In the confusion, Morik had snuck in, sticking to the outer walls and slipping from cover to cover. He quickly found their storage, but had to wait until six or so Dregs had finished carrying out bundles of sups to prepare for combat. As soon as it was clear, Morik snuck inside and released his Ghost.
"I'll start storing these bundles. Motion tracking is still active, so I'd suggest filling up while you can."
Morik picked up a bundle of the tubes filled with ether, holding them by the wire binding them together. As he did, several signs of danger appeared at once. Morik smelled more Kings drawing near, heard heavier footsteps than he was comfortable with, and his Ghost immediately stopped transmat processes.
"I'm getting some very strong ether readings outside. Is it too late to close that door?"
Morik peeked around the corner and saw nothing quite yet. He quickly reached over and closed the metal door to the room. With the other clattering and skittering of the Kings, the door squeaking closed was easily missed. Barely after the door was closed, Morik could hear the deep voice of an Archon or Kell growling orders and moving closer to the door. The storage room was too small for him to fit through, but he'd have to walk past to get toward the gate Morik had used to enter the lair. Its voice and footsteps moved away without incident and Morik started breathing again.
"I've got seven bundles. Should I round out the ten, or should we go?"
"Finish. We sneak out the back. Kings still think I am Devil Baron. They expect incursion that will not come."
The Ghost hurriedly began transmatting the remaining sups. There was still quite a store in the room, so it was unlikely the ten bundles they'd stolen would be missed much.
"Kings well established. Would be very tough to bring them down."
"The City only just found this lair during the conflict with Skolas. He was a Wolf who called himself Kell of Kells, and he tried to subvert the other Fallen Houses. The Guardians were able to capture him only a few weeks ago."
"Kell of Kells, he said? Then fell in combat? No true Kell of Kells could lose, or not Kell of Kells at all. Invincible is Kell of Kells. Fallen know only power, and only kneel to greater power than their own. Some understand better, but that is culture. Kell of Kells must be stronger, wiser, braver than all other Fallen. Must defeat all Houses, appoint wise low-Kells, must be ready to expose weakness for unity."
"Skolas was powerful, so I've heard. But he wasn't very wise, and he frequently ran away from engagements. Though, if that was fear or planning, I can't say."
Morik just snorted in response, skeptical.
"Got all ten and ready to go," said the Ghost.
"One more," said Morik, holding up the bundle under his arm.
The Ghost floated over and quickly stored it.
"Now we leave. You mentioned big room. Big windows?"
"Based on the previous Guardians who passed through, yes."
"Our way out. Prepare Kestral, and set waypoint."
Morik slid open the door and drew his auto rifle as his Ghost merged with him. He sprinted down a few halls, following his Ghost's marker until he came to a full stop just before another turn. The chatter of Kings was much louder suddenly, and his motion tracker lit up several slices. Around the corner, a few steps, another corner, and it would be a straight shot to the only hallway into the larger room. Morik readied a flash-bang, tossed it, and felt his stomach flip at the sound before the bang. Dozens of Fallen, only the closest ones blinded.
"Now or never!" yelled his Ghost in his head. Even as it spoke, Morik was dashing around the corner, firing wildly with his rifle. For a few seconds, nothing struck his shields. Several near misses hit the wall beside him until the shock rifle bullets travelled the same distance. The homing plasma of the charges curved well, but most of them still couldn't keep up with Morik's speed. Four struck his shield and they popped, another two burned his armor, and finally he made it around a corner.
"That was an Archon back there, that passed us by earlier. The Kell might still be nearby. The previous strike on this lair resulted in two Barons being killed, but they may have been replaced."
Morik rounded the last corner to the large room and stopped dead. Standing in the room, at a huge display, was the Kell and a Baron. They looked over and saw Morik, drawing their weapons and snarling. With the other Fallen no doubt chasing from behind, Morik had no choice but to try and pass them. Once he was outside, his Ghost could transport him into his ship for escape.
"Your Light should be strong enough for Fist of Havoc now. Channel it like you would for a grenade or Stormfist and strike the ground. Be warned, though, something like that won't even make a Kell flinch."
Morik sprinted forward, reloading and firing his auto rifle at the Baron. Both the Kell and Baron rushed forward, but the Baron suddenly blinked to the side while the Kell blinked forward. Morik just kept sprinting forward, completely passing the Kell as it reappeared. The Baron, its shields low, was trying to hide behind a pillar when Morik rushed around the corner to tackle it. He'd slung his empty auto rifle over his shoulder. One solid Stormfist and the Baron's shields shattered completely. All four palms and mask to mask, the panicked Baron and Morik slammed together. Morik channeled his Light, shoving back and letting go of the Baron's hands. It reached for its shrapnel launcher. Morik reached for the sky… And slammed his fists down on the ground, releasing a massive shockwave of lightning; the Titan super ability, Fist of Havoc. The force of the attack threw the Baron backwards, vaporizing it before it ever hit the wall. Nothing but a dust shadow remained, but Morik took no time to inspect his handiwork. He whirled for the window and ran… But was intercepted by the Kell blinking into his path and leveling its large shrapnel launcher.
A high caliber bullet punched into the launcher from the side and glass shattered. Human voices sounded in Morik's head, transmissions picked up by his Ghost.
"Get away from it!" yelled a familiar voice.
Void light flashed from the left, in the direction of the hallway leading into the room. Blytz appeared in the doorway, a burst fire rifle in his hands and pulsing out rounds at the Kell. The other voice had to be Azariah.
"The Archon's coming! We don't have time to take down the Kell!" she yelled again.
"Aww, come on! When are we gonna get another chance like this?!" responded Blytz.
"You wanna die in there?! Or lose Morik?! Lets. Go!"
"Agreed," said Morik, shooting at the Kell's mask, blinding it with sparks and forcing it to stagger. He sprinted past it before it could recover and jumped through one of the large windows, letting his shields and armor protect him from the shattering glass. A huge explosion of Void energy hit the panel of windows, blowing out a large section near the center. Blytz flew from the opening backwards, still firing at the Kell.
"Morik! We joined on you, so you're leader! Get us outta here!"
"Ghost!" barked Morik.
There was a familiar sense of weightlessness and Morik felt himself slip away from the snowy yard outside the Kings' lair. Seconds later he was in his Kestral as it turned toward the city and its engines roared to life.
"Morik," said Commander Zavala, both greeting him and calling the other three Vanguard handlers' attention to him, "We heard your Ghost's report and analysis. We're already planning a Strike on the Devils, and a Hunter high in our ranks volunteered to scout the situation. Well done, Titan."
"And you two," said Ikora, "Excellent initiative, dropping in. Without your quick response, we may have lost this opportunity before we ever had it. You'll both receive commendations."
"I'll work with our Hunter," said Cayde, "We should have several plans of action prepared for whatever she reports. For now… Get some rest, and head back out tomorrow. We'll send word to your fireteam when we know more."
The Vanguard Hunter disengaged her stealth field. She hid, barely peeking around a corner, her visual receptors bright teal behind her helmet's visor.
"You see anything, Kaara?" came the transmission. Her fireteam leader, waiting on her report.
"They're definitely gathering parts for something big. I can't tell yet if it's for a new Prime."
The Vanguard Titan on the other end of the comms, Enki-0, was outside the lair of Devils, ready to rush in to aid Kaara-0 if something went wrong.
"Is it all where Sepiks was?" asked Enki.
"The pile of scrap is. Looks like a Baron is directing the sorting of parts. Some Dregs keep showing up to carry away smaller piles. I'm going to tail one of them. That should give us some proof."
"Just be careful. Try to get some scans of the rest of the lair, if you can. I'm still standing by outside, so call if you need help. I'll relay this to the Tower in the mean time."
"Thanks. Going dark again," said Kaara, reactivating her stealth and moving in…
Tower Prime coming soon...