Buried Ketch, Buried Machine
(A/N: Sorry for the late updates, and slight lack of them. Roy came to Sm4sh, and I got sick…)
"Cabal in target area," reported Kaara. A screen on the heads-up display of each Guardian showed what she saw, scouting ahead. A district of Freehold, mostly buried by the Martian dust, with Cabal filing into the very same building Azariah, Blytz, and Morik had used to access the underground Ketch. They were approaching to clear them out, all on Sparrows but Morik who had to use a modified Pike because of his size.
"What would they want with the Fallen?" asked Soren.
"I don't think they want anything from them. I think they just want the Fallen dead and gone," provided Azariah.
"This just complicates things to an unnecessary degree…" said Soren.
"A Titan is more than a match for a legion of Cabal. And we have two," said Enki.
"Oh, we don't just have two Titans," said Blytz with a chuckle, "We have a Titan Kell and an old Vanguard Defender who's probably killed more things than I've seen alive."
Enki chuckled with him. "Yeah, well, they keep telling me to accept the system reset. Kaara too. The rumor is that too long without one will cause major errors similar to insanity in humans. That was supposed to manifest after seven years. It's been, well, let's just say holding the Wall wasn't that much fun."
"Perhaps for you," said Kaara.
"We're closing in, Kaara. Anything in the way?" asked Enki.
"Clear to the building. Cabal are mostly inside. A few are manning some simple quick-made cover points."
"How many?"
"Not enough. I'll clear them before you get here."
"Roger that. You heard her, everyone. Triple check your gear. It's been awhile since we've been here, so the Fallen have certainly had time to set up real defenses. This won't be like last time where we could take a nice walk through the subway - they expect us, and they aren't happy with us."
The Raid fireteam received a broadcast when they were a minute away from Kaara. Commander Zavala's voice reached all six of them at the same time.
"I'll confirm your mission one last time. As before, once you are inside the subway tunnels we won't have your signal. Your mission is to take out that Pilot Servitor, any Barons still alive, and drive the House of Exiles out. We have enough to deal with on Mars without any Fallen moving in. The Cabal in the way don't change the mission, though having them attacking first will mean the Fallen are already on guard. Watch for traps, stick together, and you'll be fine. As Raids go, this should be simple. Good luck in there, and Light go with you."
Once the fireteam was back together outside the building, they started moving together down the stairs. There were dead Fallen and Cabal littered every so often down on the way down, but many more Fallen than Cabal.
"Looks like the Cabal didn't appreciate anyone digging into the city before them," said Azariah.
"Maybe they want the Ketch down here?" said Blytz.
"How could they without knowing its down here?" said Soren.
"I don't see how it matters either way," said Enki. "It doesn't change that we're here to wipe out anything not willing to be reasonable. If the Cabal want to surrender the mission to us, they can drop their weapons and run. Maybe if they move fast enough, I won't change my mind and shoot them in the back. But the Fallen are the target. They don't get a choice."
"Like the Cabal would surrender," said Azariah.
"Sucks to be them, then," said Blytz.
"Stairwell clear," reported Kaara, waiting at the bottom. "Enemy forces engaged in combat inside the tunnel. More Cabal are approaching from the other end of the subway line. The force we met above may have been to close off any potential escape."
"Ahh, the Cabal. Only invading race that doesn't fall to pieces with a single punch," said Enki with mock admiration.
Morik snorted, as if to say he should speak for himself.
"Oh," said Enki, laughing a bit, "I forgot about you. I guess one punch from you would be enough."
"Kell must be strong. Kell of Light must be stronger."
Blytz thought about the other Kell they'd fought, and remembered the recordings of Skolas, the King Archon Aksor, Riksis, Draksis, and realized something. "Morik?" he said.
"Hmm?"
"Please don't ever turn on us…" said Blytz, with mock worry.
That got a laugh out of several of the Guardians. They reached the bottom of the stairs.
"If we move in now, we'll have Cabal advancing on our backs. We've got to find a way to stop them from coming in," said Soren, peeking around the corner.
A loud explosion followed his statement and he back away from the corner.
"That, my friends, is the sound of the Exiles getting sick of the Cabal. They've got a Walker moving up the tunnel to counterattack. It's got Wolf colors, though. I can't tell if that means that it's still under the Wolves' command and they're helping the Exiles, or if it's just stolen."
"Ok. We wait for that Walker to move past us, then we rush for the target. It'll have to choose between six of us and an advancing Cabal invasion," said Enki.
"Oh, well," said Soren. "Knowing the Fallen, they're gonna make the wrong choice of who to stop…"
All according to plan, the Walker pushed up the tunnel and Fallen reinforcements followed it, defending it and picking off survivors. The Guardians burst from cover as soon as Kaara reported the Walker moving far enough into the dark tunnels, heading for the end of the line. Aside from some scavenging teams, they didn't have much to deal with. The last major force had followed the Walker into combat. They were about halfway to their destination when the transport platform they'd seen the first time flew past.
"That's bad news," said Enki.
"We won't make it in time if they use that thing to get the Walker back," said Soren.
"That's assuming it survived against the Cabal," said Azariah.
With no way to stop it either way, the fireteam continued forward. Enki stayed behind, at the edge of natural sight in the dark, his visual receptors tuned for night vision. Kaara scouted ahead as always. When they were less than two minutes from reaching the end of the line, Enki reported the transport returning. The fireteam all moved to the right side of the tunnel, letting the transport pass them by on the left and drop off the Walker. It was banged up, but functional, and the remaining Fallen from the attack were with it.
"If we hit it hard right now, we should be able to take it out before they realize we're here," said Blytz.
"I'd rather save my strength for the Ketch full of Fallen," said Soren.
"Morik and I can handle it," said Azariah, volunteering and looking over her shoulder at Morik.
"Fist of Havoc will make short work of the Walker. Cripple its legs and it will fall, yes?"
"As good a plan as any. Kaara, how's the tunnel inside?" asked Enki.
"About to be crawling with Fallen."
"Warlocks, save your energy. We'll need you to make any big strategy work if things go south. Kaara and I will clear the hallway. Azariah and Morik will end that Walker. We all clear on the plan?"
"Sounds good to me," said Soren.
"Kaara, when you hear them hit the Walker, assume I'm right behind you. That's your signal."
"Yessir."
"Start moving, Morik, I'll line up my shots," said Azariah. She climbed up on the opposite side of the platform, aiming her hand cannon.
Morik dashed forward, blinking from the stripped concrete onto the platform in an instant. He jumped, landing on the Walker and causing it to stumble.
"Here goes!" said Azariah over comms.
Her first shot burned through two legs on the right, as they were lacking armor. The next two shots dented the armor on the back left leg then burned through it. Unable to balance, the Walker collapsed onto the platform and tried to turn its turret to fire at Azariah. With his lower arms, Morik held it in place, using his grip as leverage to pull his legs onto the Walker. He let go, raised his fists and slammed them down. The turret collapsed in on itself, lightning arced from its broken legs, and its head slid forward. The core slowly burned out, dimming to black.
As that went on, Kaara activated her Arc Blade, deactivating her stealth field. She slashed from her thigh over her head, creating a wave of Arc light that vaporized a line of Fallen. The surprise attack was over in that instant, when all the Fallen in the tunnel turned on her. They started to open fire when Enki started shoving Fallen out of the way, rushing into the Tunnel to reach Kaara. She repeatedly used her Arc Blade's "Razor's Edge" down the opposite end of the hallway until Enki reached her and used his Ward of Dawn. Soren stayed in the subway tunnel, standing on the platform and shooting at the Fallen on the transport with his hand cannon. Blytz cleared out the Fallen going from the platform into the tunnel with a well placed Scatter blast.
With the Fallen on the platform clear and Enki's Ward keeping any from leaving, the fireteam advanced to the Ward and prepared to continue their assault. Unsurprisingly, the Fallen retreated, knowing the Guardians' assault was too strong without proper backup.
"Alright. Last breath of fresh air. Reload if you have to, check over yourselves, and let's get into that Ketch," said Enki.
The Fallen set trip mines up the service tunnel used to enter the ship and barricaded the door at the top. Blytz, sticking to the floor like last time, was able to shoot the mines well before the rest of the team reached them. It filled the tunnel with smoke and blew open the pipes, but in the end it didn't even slow down the fireteam. With Morik bringing up the rear, Enki was the closest one who could bash open the door. He climbed up after Blytz, who stepped aside, and focused his light. He slammed his fist into the door and punched right through it, Void light eating away at the door, the Defender's Disintegrate ability. One by one, the fireteam piled out of the tunnel to once again find the cramped corridor it led to empty. This time, however, there weren't even dead Dregs around.
"I can't stick everyone to the floor, just one other person at a time. When we get to each gap, I'll have to bring you across one by one," said Blytz.
A wire rifle shot whizzed past his head as he finished, causing him to duck. Azariah dashed forward and slid onto her stomach, drawing her sniper rifle.
"Everyone down," she said. "They've deployed a lot of Shanks. And the Shanks don't seem to mind that this whole Ketch is tilted. That was an interceptor."
She started firing back until she saw Kaara's IFF bobbing down the hallway close to the ceiling on the right. Azariah shifted a bit to have a better shot past Kaara and kept firing after she reloaded. Just as her second clip ran dry, Kaara reached the group of Shanks. She drew her knife, stabbed through the top of one and used it to smash the others into the wall/floor. Right next to her was the first gap. She deactivated her stealth field and waved the others over. The fireteam proceeded quickly, again with Kaara up ahead, leaping nimbly over the side paths and reporting packs of Shanks before they appeared. In just a few minutes they reached the side path that lead to the Pilot Servitor.
"I can bring down one person at a time, and the ladder should hold one or two of us… But that leaves Morik," said Blytz.
"What if you used the ladder and just focused on keeping him stuck to the wall?" suggested Azariah.
"He's a lot heavier than two of us put together, and I can barely do that."
"Even if we get him down, how would he get back up?" said Soren.
Everyone went quiet to think. Blink was too short range, transmat required the proper uplink and had a set distance and location, one Voidwalker alone couldn't hold his weight and if Soren repolarized it would take time before he was battle ready again.
"Forget up, then," said Morik. "After the battle, Soren goes Voidwalker and helps Blytz. They use the ladder and lift me out."
"And down?" said Azariah.
"Oh, don't worry about that," said Enki. "Ever seen a Striker jump out of a ship before? They can fall pretty far if they've got enough power for Fist of Havoc. Speaking of…?"
"Ghost shows it will be ready again soon."
"Then we should start down now. Jump after us when you can," said Enki.
"I'll take Enki down first. He's the most likely to survive an attack on his own, and he's also the heaviest. I'd rather get him out of the way first. Soren's next."
"We'll use the ladder," said Kaara, lowering herself as she spoke. Azariah crouched above the ladder, aiming down in case any Fallen got curious.
Soren, Azariah, and Morik waited at the top and watched their team mates as they made their way down.
"Anyone notice," said Soren, "That it's been a little too quiet a little too long?"
Blytz, Enki, and Kaara reached the correct hallway and moved into it, out of sight.
"I'm coming back up," said Blytz, reappearing.
Azariah started down the ladder, meeting Blytz halfway. Blytz reached the top again, stuck Soren to the floor and they started down. Once everyone was in the proper hallway except Morik, they moved away from the opening and let him know it was safe to come down. Kaara moved ahead, peeking into the Pilot Servitor's room. Only the Servitor itself was in the room.
"Something's off," said Kaara, as Morik jumped.
He waited a few seconds, until he could see the right opening, falling down the hallway for a few seconds. He focused his light and rocketed toward it, slamming into the tilted wall and holding still a second.
After the racket he made, Kaara continued. "It's only the Servitor. And we've only seen Shanks thus far. I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Our objective was to clear out the Fallen and kill that Servitor. If the Fallen are already gone, less trouble for us," said Soren.
"But they aren't gone," said Azariah. "Why would they defend this place from the Cabal and us so desperately if it wasn't valuable to them?"
"Azariah's right," said Enki. "Before we attack that Servitor, let's take a few more scans of the ship. All of us. Maybe we'll find something we didn't notice before. Two of us should focus on mapping, two of us should focus on ether signatures, and two of us should focus on motion scans."
Everyone manifested their Ghost and paced the short hallway, careful to avoid detection by the Servitor.
"Ether readings aren't gonna help," said Azariah. "That Servitor, the pipes we busted earlier, it's all too diffuse now. No definitive readings."
"Mapping hasn't changed either," said Soren.
"Mine match the old scans too," said Enki.
"Motion is clean on my end," said Blytz.
"Here too," said Kaara.
"Well that was a bust," said Blytz.
"We've got no choice, then," said Enki. "Let's hit that Servitor as hard as we can without using our light. That means heavy weapons. If you've got rockets, use em. If we can blow that thing open, Morik should be able to use the Siegfried to rip it to pieces. Try to aim for the projector. That's usually a structurally weak spot."
Everyone swapped for a rocket launcher, using synthesis packages for their Ghosts for ammunition. The five with rocket launchers stepped forward, waited for Morik to ready the Siegfried and his signal. His right upper arm on the top handle, lower right on the trigger, and lower left on the left handle to help stabilize, he stepped up behind them. His upper left arm cut through the air sharply, the signal to rush in. The second they appeared, the Servitor started charging a shot to fire at them, but the barrage of rockets disrupted it, denting its frame. The next volley partially ripped open its plating, further stunning it. Not everyone had three rockets in their launcher, so the next volley was just two rockets. When the smoke cleared, there was an obvious rent in the Servitor where its projector had been pushed in and its plating torn up. Morik opened fire, adjusting his aim and trying to focus on the rent. The storm of bullets ripped through the inside of the Servitor, causing ether to jet from the rent and the seams in its plating. It pitched forward, dimming, and crashed to the floor.
Everything went silent for a few seconds. Kaara manifested her Ghost and scanned long range for motion again. Nothing.
"We… Should go…" said Blytz.
As if waiting for him to say so, all the dim blue lights on the ship went out. Metallic groaning filled the air. The entire ship shifted several meters further into the ground, knocking everyone off balance.
"Soren, repolarize!" said Blytz, running for the hallway they came down and lighting it up with his Ghost's spotlight.
"Way ahead of you. Just give me a minute."
"I'll take Enki back up while we wait. Kaara, Azariah, you both should be fine to use the ladder at the same time. Fallen chased Azariah and I up it last time. We need to move, like, right now!"
The two Hunters mounted the ladder and climbed as fast as they could. Blytz and Enki ran up the highly tilted floor. Morik and Soren could do nothing but keep watch and wait until Blytz got back.
"Alright," said Blytz. "Us on the ladder, him on the floor. Ready Morik? It'll be a bit disorienting."
"Ready."
His sense of gravity shifted and he ducked out of the side path into the main hallway. With his senses off, it almost seemed odd to see Blytz and Soren crawling on the floor to keep up with him. But they were hanging off the ladder and climbing. Morik tried to put it out of his mind and just run up the hallway. When they reached the top, the two Warlocks transferred him back to the wall and Soren repolarized again.
"Get to the service tunnel! Go!" said Enki, already sprinting forward. With a sense of urgency, the Guardian's opted to make risky jumps and use their abilities to clear the gaps instead of going one at a time with Blytz. Kaara blinked over them, Azariah had to wait until she was waist level with the lip of the gap before pulsing her light to jump again in the air, Blytz just ran past on the floor, Soren Glided over them, Enki used his Lift ability, and Morik bounded over them like before. They reached the tunnel and Blytz stopped them.
"Let me go ahead before any of you even think about dropping down there. There might not be a way out anymore…"
"Kinda wish you'd check before saying stuff like that," said Soren.
Blytz ran down the service tunnel, his boots over the grated floor the only sound echoing through the ship. He was halfway down when the ship shifted again, causing everyone but him to fall over again. Enki almost fell into the service tunnel but caught himself and temporarily stretched over the doorway until Morik crawled over and picked him up.
"Thanks," said Enki, "That was close. Doubt Lift would've been able to get me back up here."
"Guys…! The exit's gone! You want the bad news next?"
"What'd'ya mean, bad news?! How is that not the bad news?!" said Azariah.
"Bad news is… There's a Vex construct in the way. Like, the ship crashed into the construct nose first or something. It's falling into this huge cavern down here. Like the Vault on Venus, or the surface of Mercury. If we go this way, we'll have to find a way out from inside it. If we head through the ship, at least we might get close enough to the surface for our ships… Or to report the situation."
"And what if the ship sinks too far before we get to the other end?!" said Soren.
The ship rumbled, throwing Enki to the floor like everyone else who'd decided to stay there.
"See?!" said Soren.
"Not much of a choice to make. Can't we try blasting through the hull again?" said Azariah.
"Our scans didn't account for the cavern," said Blytz, "and we don't know how far down the ship has shifted. Without that, we'd have to just start trying to blow holes down the entire service tunnel. If we did that, we might cause the entire ship to fall into the cavern. It'd certainly fit… About twenty times over."
"Then where'd all the Fallen go? There's gotta be another way out!" said Azariah.
"Same mapping… No motion… Anyone notice any Vex gates on the ship?" suggested Blytz.
They all manifested their Ghosts again and started checked the mapping data.
Kaara's Ghost set a waypoint down the same hallway they were near, but far above them and into the ship.
"Looks like they extracted an entire structure and put it in the docking bay," said Kaara. "It's lower on the ship. That means we'd have to climb into a main hallway, climb higher through that, then run lower into the ship and drop into the docking bay. Mapping shows that the gate is resting on the docking bay's closed doors. But we don't know if it's active or not."
"It's either that," said Enki, "Or go down with the ship. Let's take the chance. The problem is getting Morik up there too."
"Side rooms. Doors!" said Morik. "Blyts goes first, opens doors down the hallway. Everyone else, use jumps to go from door to door. If close enough, I can use blink to go from room to room. If not, climb out of the door and jump."
"And if you can't jump?" said Enki.
Morik stayed quiet.
Enki sighed into the comms. "Best idea we've got. Let's move, everyone. Blytz, forget that and get up here. We need your help."
"We aren't fighting, so I'll repolarize again. We're gonna need more than one person shifting gravity," said Soren.
The plan worked for the most part. Soren and Blytz had to carry Morik a few times from a distance. It was a stretch, and very draining, but the fireteam reached the docking bay door in under an hour. There was white flickering light coming from below when they busted open the door into the bay.
"Nothing to do but jump," said Soren.
"Just try not to crash into the gate. If we break it, there goes our strategy," said Azariah.
They all jumped, each using their respective abilities to slow their fall. Morik had to use Fist of Havoc again, landing farther away. When he hit, his fists punched through the docking bay main door. He scrambled backwards away from the opening, but it didn't get any larger. The ship had been shifting more and more often, always preceded by the same metallic groaning.
"Ok, everyone, into the portal! Guns and eyes up!" said Enki. He rushed through first, vanishing, followed by the entire fireteam…
Vault of Enders coming soon...