Terror Kell

Almost an hour in the tunnels, path ahead lit up by three Ghosts, and the three Guardians finally reached the transport. It was empty and dark, sitting on the ground and inactive. Blytz spotted the line map and hopped onto the platform, inspecting it.

"Looks like we're at the complete opposite end of the line, 7th Street. The Cabal's major occupation and the Vex confluxes are at the other end, near Tharsis Junction."

He called up his Ghost and was silent for a second.

"Guys… We have zero signal down here. This is worse than the city center; we're under even more sand than before. Those huge dunes in the distance we saw are now right over our heads. I'm surprised these tunnels aren't caved in."

"Golden Age stuff?" offered Azariah, shrugging.

"That's the only possibility I can think of. Whatever. The point is that if we want to leave, we've gotta walk. No Sparrows, no transmat, no backup. Unless we find another skyscraper, climb to the top inside the dune and use a beacon, no signal."

"We only need scans. We tail Exiles, find their goal, leave. Tunnels are cramped, little cover, no side path. They charge, we show them the Light."

Morik clenched a fist and it cracked with lightning.

"Yeah, let's just focus on getting out of here."

Facing the hallway going forward, the team's Ghosts swiveled lights around. They were the same curved-ceiling hallways from Tharsis Junction. By unspoken consensus, they started walking.

"Hey, Enki?"

"What is it, Soren?" responded Enki-0, speeding over the Earth on his Sparrow.

"Azariah's fireteam's signal has been out for over an hour. You sure we shouldn't check in on them?"

"I'll call for a replacement patrol. You're right. We should go. Kaara?"

"Yessir?"

"I'm pulling us out. Get ready…"

Blue light shone around the next curve in the hallway.

"Ether readings, just around that corner. Fallen spotlights," said Morik.

"Hang back," said Azariah, crouching down. She activated a limited friend-or-foe indicator so Morik and Blytz could track her and she moved forward, stepping lightly. No muffling the sound she made. Her tag went around the bend, lingered a moment, then began bobbing back toward them.

"It's, uhh, it's clear. But you guys aren't gonna like what's around that corner."

"What is it?" asked Blytz.

"The prow of a Ketch." She turned off the IFF.

"What?!"

The team rounded the corner. Sure enough, the pointed nose of a Ketch had slammed into the ground and was cut neatly open to allow entry. Being almost at the tip of the narrow fore, the entry was limited to a single service tunnel. Morik would only fit if he dropped to the ground and walked on his hands and knees. His weapons would be unusable.

"See? Told you."

"Ether leaking from the ship. Exiles are inside. Their scent leads here."

"I'd say this is enough information," said Azariah. "We need to get out. N-... Shh!"

In the silence, heavy footsteps could be made out.

Blytz pointed furiously toward the Ketch, taking a few steps toward it.

Azariah shook her head violently, obviously freaked out by the possibility of a trap.

Blytz motioned with an open hand toward the Ketch, insisting.

Morik bent over, head right near Azariah. He jerked his head toward the Ketch.

She looked at him for a moment, expression hidden by her helmet, then stepped reluctantly toward the opening. Blytz went in first, faint Void light around his feet to help him stick to the sharply slanted floor. Azariah started climbing after Blytz, using the grated floor like a ladder. Morik squeezed in, his Ghost storing his Siegfried. The team started climbing together. Morik left his lower arms free, using his powerful upper arms alone to crawl up after Azariah and Blytz. Blytz pointed his pulse rifle forward in his right hand, his Ghost hovering in his left.

"I'm taking scans of the ship," reported the Ghost. "It's heavily damaged, very old. It must have crashed here in some battle during The Collapse. There's ether running throughout the ship, so there must be a Pilot Servitor active, but this thing isn't going anywhere. It's completely buried by the sands, and a lot of the outer sections are stuffed full. As far as I can tell, this is the only way in and out of here."

"And we just climbed up here with more Fallen on our tail. They're gonna see us!" said Azariah.

"Correction," said Blytz. "They'll see Morik from below. And farther away. They might mistake him for one of their own. Just keep climbing."

"There are several openings up ahead. Motion tracking is still clean."

"Spotlights are out," reported Morik, looking over his shoulder. "None following."

"Was it just a clean-up crew?" asked Azariah.

"Can't tell."

"So our way out is clearer," said Blytz. "Good. Let's follow the ether flow. If we can confirm a Pilot Servitor, we'll have more than enough excuse to report this to the Vanguard."

His Ghost set a marker for the highest ether reading.

"Guys, the service tunnel is ending. No more grated floor. I'll try to stick Azariah to the floor like I am, but Morik, you're too big. You'll have to stick to crawling."

Blytz reached the end of the tunnel, stepping out of a small hatch. The hatch itself was swung all the way open with a huge dent on the inside, like a captain had punched it open. Azariah followed, a bit off balance for a second while she got used to her feet sticking to a slanted floor. Morik emerged head first, his four arms set down at the four corners of the hatch, pulling him out. He was crouched low on the wall, slanted about thirty degrees, as opposed to the floor at about sixty like the service tunnel. Either way, the hallway wasn't made for a Kell. It was littered with dead Dregs, their colors of an unknown House.

"The reading isn't too far. Let's find it and get out of here," said Blytz leading the way.

Azariah and Morik followed, Morik using all four arms on the wall, floor and ceiling to stay steady and move forward behind them. His helmet's glowing eyes in shadow behind them, Morik could make out the smell of the Exiles faintly throughout the hallway. The team passed a few side doors and hallways which Morik had to leap over, making loud banging sounds as his armored bulk hit the wall, before reaching the way they had to go.

"There's a ladder here. The Exiles obviously made it. It'd hold us, but you're gonna have to stay here," said Blytz, looking back at Morik.

"Go. I will wait, and scan. Exiles' scent everywhere. Be watchful, yes?"

His teammates nodded and started down, still sticking to the floor rather than using the ladder. Morik laid down on the wall, his lower arms with their palms ready to lift him up, upper arms free. His left arm called up his Ghost to start mapping the ship as much as possible, storing data for the team's report.

"Morik… Our way out is still clear, right?" said Azariah over comms after a few minutes.

"Still clear."

"Good. Because the Exiles have a Pilot Servitor. And an Archon. The squad we tailed in here is gathering a bunch of ether sups from the Servitor. They must have already gotten ether themselves. They've set up everything on the walls of the main control room, scrapped the ship's command consoles and everything. They don't want to move the ship, they want to repurpose it into a base."

"We need to go," said Blytz. "They'll be moving out soon, and I don't wanna be spotted."

Morik heard a loud clattering over the comms, echoed seconds later up the hallway.

"Blyts?! Asariah?!"

"Get out! Morik! Get. Out. They spotted us," said Azariah, oddly calm.

"Blyts?"

"I'm here! Listen to her, go. Her rifle caught on a door handle and it swung open into the wall. They're gonna investigate, but it isn't obviously us. We're coming to you."

As Blytz said the last sentence, Morik saw them run on the slanted floor around the corner, coming back up toward him.

"I'm serious, Morik. Go ahead of us. Make sure the service tunnel out is clear. Please?" said Azariah.

Morik had to curl up and shift around, but he managed to turn back the way they'd come. He started clambering back toward the entrance, leaping back over the openings like before.

"Dregs! Coming up the ladder! They definitely know we're here now," said Blytz.

"Tunnel is clear," reported Morik. He heard footsteps behind him and green dots appeared on his motion tracker.

"Cool," said Azariah, right behind him now. "You first, big guy. Time for a ride."

Morik slid his legs into the gap, holding himself up on his arms. He raised his arms over his head and dropped, sliding down the tunnel over the grate, his armor sparking on the floor. Azariah followed a few seconds after, while Blytz fired a few bursts from his pulse rifle.

"Just Dregs for now, but the bigger guns gotta be on the way. Tell me when you hit the bottom."

Morik reached out to the walls, grabbing thick pipes to try and slow his descent. He popped braces keeping some of the pipes pinned in place, but he slowed down enough to stop before he reached the opening on the hull. Azariah landed on his shoulders feet first. Morik put the sides of his boots to the wall, using the friction and lowering them toward the gap hand over hand on each side. Azariah shifted to sitting on his left shoulder, then slid down over him. A pulse of air and she redirected out the opening using a Hunter skill.

"Blytz, we made it," she said.

"I'm already coming down! Captains are right behind me!"

Morik finished climbing down and awkwardly swung himself out of the opening in the ship, breathing hard and flexing his hands. He looked up the service tunnel at the sound of gunfire, seeing Blytz Gliding down the tunnel shooting upward at his pursuers. Azariah drew her hand cannon, Morik's Ghost transmatted a shrapnel launcher, and they waited. They were so preoccupied with it, they didn't notice their motion trackers, and the presence behind them until it was too close. Heavy footsteps bounded toward them and stopped. Both Azariah and Morik spun to face the source…

"Enki, I found their beacon. And their trail leads into the marked building," reported Kaara.

"Soren and I are heading there. You hang back. Maintain contact with the tower. If we find something wrong, we'll radio."

"Yessir."

"KELL!" yelled Azariah. She jumped back and fired several shots from her hand cannon.

The Exiles' Kell's glowing eyes in the dark shifted, its form revealed by the sparking of her bullets hitting its armor.

"I thought they didn't have a Kell!" said Blytz. "Keep away from the Ketch! Nova Bomb!"

Blytz drew his hands back, floating just inside the opening, firing a Lance up the tunnel. Everything dumb enough to try and follow, or curious enough to be looking into the tunnel was vaporized by the rush of Void energy. The Bomb exploded against the opposite wall and dissipated.

At the same time, Morik fired with his shrapnel launcher as the Kell shifted around and charged him, dodging the bursts of heated metal. It could hardly be called a Kell, more of a malnourished Archon, but it was fast and loosely wore a Kell's armor. It tackled Morik to the floor, climbed over him instantly and grabbed up Azariah, slamming her into the side of the wall. Her chest collapsed, her eyes widened, and her Ghost separated from her, drawing out her light and moving away from her body and the Kell.

"Azariah!"

Morik rolled over, roared in fury, and jumped up. He grabbed the Exile Kell by the shoulders, spinning it and slamming a Stormfist into it's face-plate. It faked a stagger, ducked his next blow, and slipped past him, running for Blytz. Blytz saw it coming and blinked behind it. The Kell ignored him and started climbing into the Ketch, snarling.

"It runs!"

"Forget it! Help me revive her!"

Morik and Blytz focused their light on Azariah's Ghost. Blytz was still recovering from his Nova Bomb and couldn't do much, but Morik had power to spare. The Ghost glowed a bright blue and rushed back to Azariah, disappearing within her again. A bright light flashed and Azariah inhaled, coughed, and scrambled to her feet. She was healed, alive.

"Thanks, sorry. We need to go."

A loud roar drowned out any answer. The Kell, his Archon, and two Barons wielding shock blades crawled out of the Ketch head first.

"See?!"

Morik stepped back, swapping for the Siegfried.

"Move," he said, spinning it up.

Blytz and Azariah jumped to the sides of the hallway and Morik started shooting. Electrical crackling filled the air, along with the lingering trails of each bullet. Morik sprayed with the Siegfried, backing away down the hallway. The bullets suddenly stopped flying and Morik looked down. The gun was dancing with static, malfunctioning. The brief salvo had been enough to stagger the Kell, pierce the Archon's abdomen between a gap in its armor, and kill one of the Barons despite their shields.

"Morik!?" said Azariah in confusion.

"Broken! Go!"

They ran.

"These Exiles have been busy… No train cars, no tracks, not even light fixtures," said Soren, directing his Ghost's light around the train tunnel.

"You didn't expect different, did you?" asked Enki.

"I guess not. What worries me isn't so much the lack of salvage, but the lack of resistance."

"It either means they don't expect any attacks-"

"- Or they've already been attacked," finished Soren.

They all heard thudding noises start to echo down the tunnel.

"That has to be a Walker!" said Soren.

"Agreed. Kaara! You go on ahead. Report as much as you can, but of course prioritize helping those Guardians! If they're still down here…"

"Yessir."

Kaara slung her scout rifle onto her back and sprinted ahead, cloaking once she was out of sight.

"You're charged and good to go, right?"

Soren nodded.

"No way…" said Azariah. The Walker they'd seen earlier was climbing onto the platform from the train tunnel.

"I can't use another Nova Bomb that soon."

"Golden Gun shots probably won't do too much either. I could use it to slow down the other Fallen…"

The Kell, Archon, and remaining Baron rounded the last bend, slowing to a stop behind them. The Kell spoke, its voice more a snarl than usual speech. Moreso than other Kell.

"You are far from the Light, Morik. And you have many things that will help us. You and your pets will make excellent trophies, and your equipment great salvage!" It laughed hatefully.

"What did he say?" asked Blytz, aiming at one of the Walker's legs.

"He mocks us. Thinks us beaten."

"He might be right," said Azariah. "There's no one here to revive us. They take our Ghosts and we're back to being long dead failures."

Morik responded to the Kell. "We bring the Light with us. And your Walker is poorly programmed, to come so close. It is just as likely to hit you as us."

The Kell laughed again. "It means you have no escape. You go through us, there is only the Ketch, and the Walker can shoot. You go for the Walker, we stab you in the back, or it shoots you in the back as you run. No win."

Morik had no response.

"Skoksis," said the Kell to his Archon, "Capture the Kell of Light."

The Archon took several steps forward and wavered.

"That pathetic wound?! You weakl-...!"

A figure appeared on the Archon's back, a stealth field fading from left to right, static gathering in the hand of the figure and forming an Arc Blade. The blade flashed and ether and blood vented from the Archon's throat. The figure kicked off the Archon's back and vanished. Not a second later, the same figure appeared from thin air and sliced the Baron's chest several times, shearing through its shields and armor, gutting it.

Through the shock, Azariah charged her hand cannon with Solar light and fired three rounds, aiming for center mass on the Exile's Kell. It stumbled and roared, swatting at the Bladedancer, the nearest threat. It hopped back, out of reach, and its Arc Blade faded. The Hunter drew a scout rifle and started firing.

"Now!" yelled Kaara.

A light machine gun could be heard ripping through the quiet tunnels, denting the armor on the left legs of the Walker. A bright light flashed and a Warlock, Soren, mounted the Walker and started throwing fireballs at the Kell over Morik's head, glowing with Radiance. Blytz ran to the Walker's right, his pulse rifle emptying in seconds. Morik sprinted forward, shoulder charged the Exile Kell as it began to chase Kaara, kicked it in the chest, and raised his arms for a Fist of Havoc, directly onto it. Before he could slam his arms down, several wire rifle rounds slammed into his chest and helmet, puncturing his shields and almost knocking him over. Fallen reinforcements from the Ketch.

"I've got the hallway," yelled Enki-0, running right over the Kell, stepping on its chest for a step. "You all stop that Walker!"

Once he was a few steps beyond the Kell, Enki began to glow with Void light, throwing his hands out. A Ward of Dawn, a sphere of protective Void energy, snapped into place, blocking all incoming fire from the approaching Fallen.

The Exile's Kell tried to kick at Morik's legs, unable to get up fast enough. Morik prepared his Fist of Havoc again, jumping over the kick and slamming his fists onto the Kell's chest. It howled in pain and Arc light invaded its body, frying it in its own armor. Morik turned and froze for a second, his vision completely red. He realized it was the targeting laser of the Walker and dove to the side. The huge round fired a split second later, slamming into Enki's Ward and exploding, sending Morik rolling into the wall. Inside the Ward, Enki was a beast of war, limbs flashing, bodies of any Fallen foolish enough to challenge him inside it flying out as he crushed their bodies and cleared them out for the next ones brave enough.

"Morik! We need help with this thing!" yelled Blytz.

Morik struggled to his feet, his Ghost producing the Siegfried.

"Siegfried, firing," he choked out, aiming and spinning it up.

"OH, SH-" yelled Soren as he realized, jumping away from his perch on top of the Walker's turret.

The Siegfried tore into the Walker's front set of legs, ripping away the armor and shocking the internal system. The Walker crashed to the ground, it's head sliding forward to vent the core. The four Guardians that had been shooting at it all tossed grenades at the core as it slid shut, recovering from the error. A few seconds and the plating on the Walker's head shot forward into Enki's Ward, the core ruined. Enki spun, stopping the plate with his bare hands, empowered while inside the Ward. He turned and threw the plate at the Fallen running around the corner, stepped out of the Ward, tossed a Spike grenade at the wall, turned and ran.

"Now's our chance!" he said. "Go, go, go!"

The Guardians broke and ran into the subway tunnel.

"That Spike's only going to last a few seconds. It's all the head start we're gonna get, and that entire Ketch is gonna come after us. We kicked the hornets' nest on this one."

"How'd you find us?!" asked Blytz as they ran.

"You left a beacon, and the Tower lost your signal anyway. We came as soon as we could. Soren's the one who noticed. If he hadn't been checking on you guys, we wouldn't be here at all."

"I saw the disturbed sand and footprints from where your beacon was," said Kaara, running in Enki's shadow.

"Exiles will not give up so easily," said Morik, easily keeping pace with the others with bounding strides, heedless of the noise now. "Kell was weak, his Archon as well. Barons were the only ones well fed."

"Why would a Kell take better care of Barons than himself?" asked Azariah.

"Didn't. Wanted power, yes? The name of Kell. He sacrificed much of his strength for growth, bluffed his entire House."

"... Or they chose him," offered Soren.

"Equally worrying possibilities," said Enki. "This isn't over. I'm going to request a Raid on this place."

"We have full scans of the ship, reports on major targets, everything," said Azariah with confidence.

"That's what I was counting on," said Enki. "Excellent work, you three. Not a little reckless, but we can talk about that later."

Blytz and Azariah chuckled nervously at that.

Soon, the two fireteams reached the staircase and began transmitting reports. As soon as they were close enough to the surface, their ships started closing in, and before the sun rose on Freehold, Mars was behind them…

Buried City, Buried Ketch coming soon...