Chapter 5(again)

"You...You have a ship? Here?" Edward asked, impressed.

"Yeah. It's not done yet though. It was only a third of the way finished when I died." Ana said, shutting the vault door and locking it. "I don't know why it's so impossible to you guys. In my past life I was a scavenger. The guardians were a thing already but we didn't know much about them, being as far away as we were. We viewed them as a threat so whenever one of their ships came to our planet, we shot them down and would use their ship for parts." Ana said as she walked over to one of the large crates and began rummaging through it. "I have about 20 years worth of food and water down here and enough weapons and ammo to weaponize an entire planet."

"Why?" Ryan asked as he went to pick something up.

"Don't touch that!" Ana snapped, causing Ryan to jerk his hand back. "The reason I have all this done here is because this was our base that we used to plot against the Hive. If you try to touch another thing I'm going to cut your fingers off." Ryan pulled his hand away from another piece of tech that he'd been about to touch and moved away from the shelves.

"Why are you being so protective of the shelves? It's just tech." Ryan grumbled.

"Because 99% of the stuff on these shelves will kill you if you touch it. Especially the power cores you were going to touch." Ana growled. Ana moved over to the wall and pulled on a thick pair of gloves and grabbed a wheeled tub. Ana began walking among the shelves, grabbing seemingly random pieces of tech and placing them in the tub. "Take off your armor and set it over there," Ana instructed, waving her hand in the direction of a large circular table, "Please keep your armor separate from the others and sit with your armor. I'm going to make some much needed modifications to your armor and weapons."

The other 5 guardians did as she said, and the process of modification began. Several weeks went by in the blink of an eye, all of them ate and slept in the same room, but thankfully there were several different bathrooms around. It took them a month to fully modify the first set of armor, which belonged to Ryan. Ana instructed him that he was not to touch it till they were all finished. Next they moved on to Shannon's armor. The modifications to Shannon's armor only took a few days because Shannon didn't really need anything big. Jace and Baris-7 already wore heavily modded armor so nothing needed to be done to theirs but Edward's armor was still untouched. Edward and Ana set about modding his armor the same way Ryan's had been modded, enhanced sensors, stronger metals and fabric, more channeling ability, a gauntlet like hers, better shields, better fitting, and a better visor. As with the others, he made a few personal modifications as well. With the both of them working on it, it only took 2 weeks to modify. Ana checked her calendar and realised that they'd been down in her base with no contact to the outside world for close to 2 months. Ana went into one of the bathrooms and removed her chestplate and helmet and stared in the mirror. In the past 2 months, Ana had managed to put on a significant amount of weight and was getting worried that she was eating too much.

"Something bothering you?" Ana's ghost asked as it materialized in front of her.

"I'm gaining weight and I don't know why. I know I'm not eating too much, I haven't eaten much lately. I'm always hungry though, and I always have to go to the bathroom. It's annoying." Ana groaned. Ana's ghost floated down and began scanning her stomach for irregularities. After a few seconds it floated back up to Ana's eye level and made a sighing sound.

"I have good news and bad news for you, but I'm not sure which is which. So, I'll give them to you in the way they'd fall in our current position." Ana's ghost sighed. "Good news, you aren't getting overweight. Bad news, you are four months pregnant."

"WHAT?!" Ana gasped, nearly falling over.

"I've run DNA tests already, it's Edward's." Her ghost continued.

"Shit, shit, shit. I can't let them know that." Ana hissed. "Can you adjust my armor to hide it?"

"Yes." Her ghost answered. Quickly, Ana's ghost widened the armor with it's strange abilities. Ana thanked her ghost and re donned her armor and went back into the common room to discuss their next steps. In the common room, standing around the table was Ryan and Shannon on one side, and Jace and Baris-7 on the other, arguing about something with Edward standing a few feet away, shaking his head.

"I don't care what you think, I say that you should do it." Ryan snarled.

"And I say that you should do it cause you're the one that wants it done." Jace growled back.

"You two are better suited to carry it out." Ryan yelled.

"Are you saying that we're only good for manual labor?" Baris-7 snapped.

"NO! I'm saying that you're better at it than us." Ryan yelled back, getting more frustrated.

"AND I SAY THAT ALL OF YOU BETTER SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Ana shouted angrily. Immediately, the 4 of them shut up and stared at Ana. Ana walked up to the table and leaned forward, supporting herself with her arms. "Edward, what the fuck are they arguing about?"

"We were arguing about…" Ryan began.

"WAS I TALKING TO YOU?!" Ana roared at Ryan. Ryan shrank back a little and Ana turned back to Edward. "Now, what were they arguing about."

"They were talking about recon. Ryan was saying that we hadn't been outside in awhile so we should send a team of two up to the surface to recon. Ryan said that Jace and Baris-7 should do it, and they said that Ryan and Shannon should do it. I think that me and Ryan would be better suited since we are Hunters." Edward explained. Ana raised an eyebrow and Edward added quickly, "I'm not saying you couldn't do it, just saying that we need you here to regulate things."

"Lucky for you all, we don't need to do recon. The ship is complete." Ana growled.

"HOW?!" Everyone but Edward shouted at Ana.

"There are robots that have been building the ship for us. They finished installing the final pieces a few hours ago. I want all of you ready to go in 10 minutes." Ana ordered.

"How are we all gonna fit in the ship in the vault? It is barely big enough for a single person." Shannon asked.

"The ship in the vault? That is only a scale model. The ship is MUCH bigger than that. Why aren't you moving, get ready to go. I want every piece of tech in here ready for transport in 10 minutes. Get to work." The six of them scattered and began loading up the storage crates with the tech and finished with 3 minutes to spare. Ana checked and double checked that they'd gotten everything and then walked over to one of the walls and pushed in several of the wall panels, and the wall began to shake. After a few seconds, the wall opened up to reveal a large elevator that was big enough to hold all the crates and the guardians. Ana motioned them forward and the six of them began loading the 9, 6ft crates onto the elevator, 2 people to a crate. Once everything was on the elevator, Ana hit a switch and the elevator began to slowly descend. No spoke a word as the elevator descended into the dark depths. Several minutes passed before they entered the hanger. Ana heard the other 5 of them gasp as the hanger lights came on and they saw the massiveness that it was. They were still several hundred feet from the ground and they could see the entire hanger.

"We're looking at one of ten rooms in the hanger" Ana informed them. "Each room is about 4 square miles. This is the entry room, which is smaller than the rest by about a mile or so. The ship we're using is in the room on our right." After several more minutes, the elevator stopped on the ground and Ana stepped out and hit a button next to the elevator. Out of nowhere, 20 odd robotic creatures showed up and started grabbing the crates and carrying them, 2 to a crate. Ana hit another button and six more creatures showed up, these with saddles. "Pick a robot and hop on. If we go on foot, it'll take us around 2 hours to get there." Ana said. The six of them jumped onto the robot creatures and they took off at a scary speed and managed to reach their destination in only 5 minutes. The six of them dismounted and Ana opened the door and allowed the robots carrying the crates to go through first and then they followed. Ana marveled at how big the place was, it was hard to believe that the hive had carved this out in only a few weeks.

"Who built this place?" Baris-7 asked.

"Technically, the Hive carved all of this out. We just killed all the hive down here and transformed it into a ship hangar." Ana responded. The ship sat in the middle of the room, and seemed to take up half the room, but in reality, it only took up about a third of the 4 sq mile room.

"That thing is fucking huge." Ryan said incredulously. "How long did it take to build?"

"Well, it was started around 600 years ago and the worker bots have been working on it since then, and they just finished loading the thing up for travel a few days ago, so roughly 600 years or so." Ana said, drawing a slight gasp from them. "The ship is about a mile long by half a mile wide. If the engines exploded, this planet would probably never be able to support life again." calm as could be, Ana walked up the giant ramp and entered the cargo bay of the ship where a bunch of robots were organizing and tying down loose cargo. Ana waved for the others to follow and they did. The six of them entered a side door and walked for several minutes through seemingly endless hallways till they came upon a room about the size of a normal classroom. Along the walls were panels with buttons, levers, switches and all manner of other things. In front of each of the three panels of stuff was a monitor.

"Alright, we're a little understaffed right now, but we can fly this ship with only 3 people. So we'll have 4 people in here, and 2 in the engine room." Ana said, walking up to the panel against the center wall. "This is the cockpit of the ship. The walls in this room are monitors used for observation of space as we fly and the small monitors are to monitor ship systems. Shannon, Baris-7, you two will be in the engine room since I know you are good with things like that. Ryan, Jace, you two will be in charge of weapons, each of those side panels controls the weapons on either side of the ship. Edward will be my co-pilot since he's the best flyer out of you." Ana took a breath before continuing, "I have sent a message to all of you containing a map of the entire ship. Use it." Shannon and Baris-7 opened the map on the visors of their helmets and set off for the engine room. Gleefully, Ryan and Jace dashed to their panels and somehow found the button that pulled up the chairs which they quickly sat down in before examining their panels. Ana and Edward pulled up the chairs for the main control panel, which controlled flight and monitored everything. Ana went to show Edward what things did, and found that he had found a manual, which had probably been stashed under the console. After a few seconds, Ana and Edward had the ship activated, but the engines had not started yet. Ana switched on her radio comms that came with all Guardians helms, and tuned it to the right frequency.

"How's the engine doing?" Ana asked Shannon and Baris-7.

"It's in tip top shape." Shannon responded.

"Needs a little tuning though, I'm almost done with it though. Aaaaand done." Baris-7 said proudly, "Engines and hyperdrive are ready to go. Just wondering how we're getting this thing outta here." Ana just smiled and hit a switch that was only on her side of the panel. The six of them heard a large blaring alarm and then the walls and ceiling in the cockpit lit up and revealed what was going on. The massive cave roof above them was slowly opening up to reveal the outside world. Ana laughed at the stunned look on Edward's face and hit the switch to activate the engines. Ana felt the rumbles as the engines started up and the ship began to rise out of the cavern. The ship continued to rise, and after several seconds, they had reached several hundred feet above sea level.

"Engaging forward thrusters, hold on to something." Ana chuckled over comms as she hit the button to activate the main thrusters, which launched them at .05% the speed of light, out of the atmosphere. Ana heard a beep come from her monitor and checked what it was. "Prepare for battle, we are being pursued by 20 Hive battleships. They are larger than the normal ones we see, and don't carry very many Hive. The ship is mainly Engine and Guns. So, we have to outgun them since we can't outrun them." Ana watched on her monitor as the weapons came to life and oriented in the direction of the Hive. The second the Hive were in range, Ryan and Jace locked on to the Hive ships, which quickly cut speed and ducked right back out of range. Ana continued hitting switches and buttons, until the Hyperdrive activated, and they shot off through space.

"Uh, Ana, the Engines aren't appreciating whatever it is you're doing up there." Shannon said worriedly. Shannon continued doing her scan of the engines while she listened in to comms, waiting for a response from Ana, but all she got was static.

"Having issues with Comms?" Baris-7 asked from his position across the room. "It may have something to do with the Hyperdrive. It is giving off strange energy spikes that it should not be. If my analysis is correct, then the Hyperdrive is not stable, meaning we are about to have a VERY bad day." Just as Baris-7 finished speaking, they heard a loud boom and the whole ship shook, and then the engines and Hyperdrive shut off.

"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!" Ana screamed through comms.

"Well, good news is that Comms work again." Baris-7 said to Shannon before switching on his comm mic. "Well, the engines and Hyperdrive are unresponsive, our monitoring equipment says that everything is active, but it clearly isn't. We think that the Hyperdrive wasn't as stable as we thought it was. So, where are we?"

"Truthfully, I don't know. What I do know, is that there is a large Fallen ketch coming straight for us, with weapons engaged. And we look very suspicious, a giant ship made from hive, fallen, and Guardian pieces. So, no one do anything stupid." Ana sighed.

"Ana, the engines are turning themselves back on. I can't stop it, the Hyperdrive seems to be coming online as well." Baris-7 held through the comms over the sound of the engines revving up.

Ana scrambled back into her seat after trying to to engage a system restart with no effect. Through the ship communication ships, Ana heard a faint hiss of static and a message from the Ketch came through right as the engines and Hyperdrive activated and they began their journey once again. Ana reached over and hit the button to play the sent message.

"This is Guardian Ana. We request that you disengage weapons and allow us to board. If you resist, we will have to take your ship by force. Stand down."

Ana and Edward stared at each other for a few seconds before looking at Ryan and Jace. Ryan looked confused and Jace had gone stark white.

"Was that…" Jace began.

"Yes it was." Ana said, at a strange look from Ryan, Ana explained. "When we on our way back from our meeting with Zeph, we had stolen a Fallen ketch and were running low on fuel. Moments after we had slowed, a massive ship appeared out of nowhere. This ship. I sent a message to the ship, and then it shot away and disappeared. Didn't even leave a trail. That message we just listened to, is the one I sent to the ship."

"Meaning what?" Ryan asked, scared.

"Meaning, we just broke all the laws of time and space by traveling back in time." Edward answered, mystified. Shannon and Baris-7 walked into the cockpit and gave Ana a look. The six of them turned to the front wall monitor as they finally reached their Destination, Earth. Immediately, someone began hailing them on comms and Ana hit the button to connect.

"This is Commander Zavala of the Vanguard. State your business or be gone." Zavala snarled.

"Well damn Zavala, thanks for the warm welcome." Ana snapped back into the microphone.

"Who is this? Why are you descending into Guardian airspace with your, thing." Zavala growled as all the sensors on the ship went off, indicating that the Tower defenses were locked onto the ship.

"Damn you Zavala, you know exactly who we are. You are just trying to find a reason to blow us out of the sky aren't you? Well, sadly for you, we have 20,000 times the firepower and shields that Tower defenses won't even dent. We are going to land a few miles from the city, and we expect you to send a team to retrieve us. Ana out." Ana snarled.

"Fine." Zavala growled back, and then Ana disconnected comms. Ana steered the ship and landed it 2 miles from the City and activated the defense bots. Any Hive or Fallen that seeked to take the ship would be instantly eliminated, that is, if they could make it through the ever active shields. As they walked off the ship through the cargo bay, which closed behind them, a transport ship landed and the side doors opened. A Guardian on the inside waved them over and the six of them got in the transport ship and they went back to the Tower. Once safely landed, the six of them got out of the Transport ship and headed down to the Vanguard room, where Zavala and Cayde were waiting for them. Ana picked up her pace until she reached Cayde, and then she punched Cayde as hard as she could in face. Ana grimaced in pain and held her hand while giving Cayde a vicious look. Cayde just laughed at her and shrugged.

"Guess I deserved that one. I knew you'd do that. We did send you back to the place of your nightmares, but it was Eris' idea, not mine." Cayde chuckled. "Good job guys, the fact that you're all here and alive means that you'll make a perfect team, dismissed."

"I have something I want to say, Edward, you stay here to. The rest of you can leave." Ana mumbled. Edward walked up to Ana and gave her an odd look.

"What is it?" Edward asked in his typical emotionless tone.

"I… good god this is hard to say." Ana began nervously, "Edward…. I'm…."

"Yes?" Edward asked teasingly.

"I'm…. pregnant with your child." Ana blurted out. Edward rocked back on his heels a little and Cayde whistled. Ana felt her face turning beet red behind her helmet, so she was glad they couldn't see it.

"You do know that you are going to be pulled from your fireteam now right? Both of you. No more missions, no leaving the Tower, until you have your child." Cayde said. Both Ana and Edward nodded and Cayde sighed. Cayde began walking towards Ikora's office and motioned for Ana and Edward to follow.

3 days later….

"Alright. Change of plans." Cayde said to Ryan and Shannon who were standing before him. "You two are being sent out to the Dreadnaught in 1 week to find Oryx. You need to get rested and ready for your trip. Dismissed."

Ryan and Shannon looked at each other and sighed. It'd only been 3 days since they were told about the fireteam being disbanded. Jace and Baris-7 had been deployed to the cosmodrome to do recon and they were going to the Dreadnaught. Yay. Ryan held out his hand and Shannon laced his fingers with hers and they went off to the dorm they shared to spend some quality time with each other.

Alright. Chapter 6 is the start of everything. All the pieces are in place, one slight nudge, and everything will tumble. You won't see much of Ana and Edward in the next few chapters, they have other things to worry about right now. Ryan and Shannon will be the main focus of the next few chapters, and I'll develop them more from there. Zeph and Nissa will be making more appearances as well, and neither of them will be helpful. If you want updates on my progress in the chapters, follow me on twitter HiveKingCrota.