A/N:

Apologies, meant to post this on Wednesday, but we had a couple days with no power, internet, or cable. It's back now. Next Destiny chapter should arrive on schedule next Wednesday.

Enjoy!


Min went through the door first, edging carefully into the gloom with her rifle ready. The size of the doors had led her to expect a room as big as a cathedral, but instead what greeted her was barely larger than a jump ship.

Weak light shone from every direction from what appeared to be tiny, pod like fungus, but there were more shadows than shapes. Lev coalesced over her shoulder, switching his light on and panning it about.

There was no sign of any Hive, though a large hole seemed to be in the middle of the floor. Near it, a single crumpled form lay.

Minerva stepped to the right to allow the others to enter, and Gen immediately headed toward the left, Poet adding his light to further chase away the shadows. Min went to cover the hole as Kalina headed for the body on the floor.

Min moved with care. The floor looked like it was made out of some kind of formed stone, or even tile, but she didn't want to take bets on how firm it was. Getting to the edge of the hole she looked downward.

It was like the mouth of a well. Smooth walls sailed down into the gloom, but whatever lay at the bottom was lost to dark and distance.

Satisfied another swarm of Hive wasn't about to surge up from below, she turned back and went over to Kalina.

Tychon looked like he'd been dead for at least a day. He lay in a veritable lake of blood. Several gouges had been torn in his armor, but the fatal blow appeared to be a large hole in his neck. His helmet had been ripped open like a tin can, the metal and glass literally peeled away from his face in a fan. As Min looked, Kalina gently took his chin and tried to turn his head. It went stiffly, with effort.

"They ripped his ear off," she said in a low voice. "Took his data tag."

"His Ghost may have hidden in it when he went down. Else they took it to keep him from doing so," Gen told them as he stepped to Min's side.

"Can he still be brought back?" Min asked softly.

"If we can find his Ghost before he decomposes too far, yes," Gen said.

"Problem is, where's his Ghost?" Kalina asked, straightening back to her feet. "They took the tag to keep it from hiding there, but it's not answering, and if it were able it would have come back here long before now to heal him."

"Maybe it couldn't," Lev said tentatively. "Those Hive we just killed; if they were here with the body his Ghost may not have been able to risk it. Now that we've cleared them out, it can come out of hiding."

"Then why isn't it answering?" Binky asked sadly, playing her light around.

"We need to find it," Kalina said, going over to the hole herself and looking downward. "And this is the only way out of this room, except the way we came in."

"Lev, scan it," Minerva said, and as the Ghost started past her and toward the hole she added, "Be very careful."

"I will."

Min watched protectively as the small Ghost descended into the shaft, his light growing smaller and smaller as he panned it around the smooth walls.

She felt sucker punched, and even less prepared for this now. Her earlier 'prayer' kept ringing through her mind.

I should never have brought them. I should have insisted on coming alone. I should never have brought them…

Facing her own death- one without the hope of her Ghost bringing her back- was one thing. Facing Gen's, or Kalina's? All because that creepy Eris had some twisted ideas about Min? She couldn't handle that happening to even one of them, and here it could very likely happen to both.

You're the Titan. It's your job to get between them and the big bad nasties. It's your job to make sure that if something horrible happens, it happens to you, and not them.

Lev's light vanished for a moment, just a moment, but it felt like an eternity. Min's finger kept finding the trigger of her rifle and then sliding off it again. Then the light was back, and Lev was rapidly coming up the shaft.

"It's about thirty feet," he said as he reached them. "There's another room, not much bigger than this, but it leads down into tunnels."

"Hive?" Kalina asked.

"A lot," he said. "None that I could see, but there are a lot of life signatures down there, and the walls…"

Minerva never before would have said that a Ghost could shudder, but Lev did.

"What's wrong with the walls?"

"They're…well, you'll see. I don't think it's dangerous. I also picked up that signal again, a bit stronger than it was before but still very weak. I think it may be Tychon's Ghost."

"Then we need to hurry," Kalina said. "If we can get it back there's still time to save him."

The Hunter started forward with intent but Min reached out and caught her arm, startling her. "No. I'm first."

"I'm the scout," Kalina said, sounding surprised.

"Not in here, you're not. I go first."

"You're being a Titan again, Mini," Kalina said with exasperation.

"I am a Titan, Kalina. I go first. Or you two go home."

"That's adorable," Gen said dryly. "She thinks she can actually order us to leave."

Minerva fixed him with a tense look. "I don't think I can order you to do anything, Gen. Either of you. But I'm going first."

"Mini," Kalina started, but it was already too late. Without waiting for further argument, Min turned and stepped off the edge of the hole, dropping down through the darkness.


Lev had been right about the walls. More of those glowing pods from the anteroom lined the walls and vanished down along several tunnels, branching off in almost every direction. Some of the pods were still very small, but others had grown or swelled to the size of large cats. They seemed to be connected by some kind of dark and oily vine. Slime slowly dripped off of one or two, and a faint wet sound surrounded them.

No Hive were in sight, but she had little chance to actually look around before Kalina and Gen were dropping down behind her.

"Eew," Kalina said almost immediately. "That sound is disgusting. It's so…"

"Juicy," Gen said, and she nodded.

"Yeah, juicy. Ugh. Gives me the willies."

"The signal is coming from down there," Lev said, floating over to one of the tunnels.

"Can you map where we go?" Minerva asked him, moving up to the tunnel mouth before Kalina could get any more ideas on going first. "I don't want to get lost in some Hive maze, especially if we have to beat feet to get back here."

"We all can," Binky said, moving up to Lev with a little bobbing nod. "Just in case."

Min looked at Gen and Kalina. "We get the Ghost, get Tychon, and get out," she said.

"I don't know, it's kind of homey here," Kalina joked, pretending to take an appreciative glance around. "I was thinking of setting up house."

"This isn't funny," Min told her.

"Which is exactly why you need to laugh at it," Kalina said coolly. "C'mon, Mini. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Min said defensively, and Gen shook his head.

"You're right," he said, and then gripped Minerva's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid for us, afraid to be here. I mean, when it comes down to it, we're toddlers playing in a busy street- a street where well-seasoned adults have already been mown down. There's nothing wrong with wanting your fire team safe."

Min looked at him silently for a long moment. "We shouldn't any of us be here. None of us is ready for this. If something happens to…either of you, I would just…"

"I get it," Kalina said. "It's ok. And I joke about you being a Titan but well…you are a Titan. And we are a fireteam. You have your job, and we have ours, and part of a Titan's job is to go first in situations like this, be a meat shield. It's an instinct, part of how you're built; just like it's my instinct to scout around and be all dashing and mysterious, and Gen's instinct to- "

She broke off, and looked at the Exo. "What exactly is it that you do again?"

"Actively wait for my problems to go away?" he replied, with a meaningful gesture to the two of them.

Kalina giggled and Min let out a breath, feeling some of her tension drain away. She shook her head.

"You two are impossible," she said with a smile.

"Impossibly gorgeous," Kalina replied immediately.

"Impossibly dashing," Gen added with a nod.

"Impossibly bone-headed," Min finished. "Just…let me go first, ok?"

"As you wish," Kalina said, a smile clear in her voice. Min hesitated a moment, looking at her, but as usual nothing could be seen past her opaque helmet.

"Ok."

As she headed toward the tunnel, Lev turned to Binky and Poet. "Guardians," he said in an exasperated tone.


The tunnels wound and looped, branched and bent back on themselves until all three of them felt hopelessly lost. Minerva had not shown signs of claustrophobia since being Lightborn, but that constant, wet, drip-chew sound of the walls had gone from merely gross to skin-crawling intolerability.

Eris Morn was trapped down here for years, she thought, and found a new sympathy for the woman. This would have driven anyone mad.

Every few hundred yards, it seemed, the Ghosts would warn them of life signs heading their way, and a group of the smaller Hive would rush upon them. Hive like the big one who had cut her in half had not yet appeared again, but for the last hour they could dimly hear a horrific screeching sound that seemed to sing along their bones like nails over a chalkboard.

Min didn't know what that thing was, but just the sound of it- she already hated it. That it kept getting louder the further they went on was doing very little to comfort her.

"We're getting close," Lev finally said. They had been moving downward for so long it felt like they must soon reach the very center of the moon. "The signal is just up ahead."

"So is whatever is screaming like that," Kalina said.

"Of course it is," Gen said, shaking his head.

"And several more life signs," Binky said.

"Looks like it's going to be a fight." Minerva looked at them. "Thoughts?"

"We're sure the source of the signal is a Ghost?" Gen asked.

"Pretty positive," Binky told him. "It is extremely weak, but distinct. It's either a Ghost or something doing a very good job imitating one."

"Run in, shoot anything not us, grab the Ghost, run out and beat our asses back to Tychon," Kalina said, and Min nodded.

"Seconded."

"I agree," Gen said.

"We'll project the fastest route back onto your HUDS," Lev said, as the three Ghosts vanished into their respective tags.

"No rocket launchers in here," Minerva said, mostly to herself. Without being certain how structurally sound the tunnels were, she didn't want to bring half the moon down on their heads.

She readied her rifle, taking a few deep and even breaths. When the other two signaled they were ready, she started forward at a fast walk, her rifle up on her shoulder and ready for anything.

They rounded the final corner and ducked through a doorway, Min already picking up speed- and then her footsteps nearly faltered.

At most, she had been expecting another small antechamber, like the one they had entered when they'd come through the Gate. Instead, a cavernous room sailed away in all directions. Odd structures, like the ribs of some long-fossilized monstrosity, grew out of the floor at random. A ring of low walls formed a circular area in the center of the cavern that was itself about four times as large as the antechamber had been. Everywhere, that sickening green light shimmered, and Min felt as if she were under a deep and vast radioactive ocean.

And everywhere…everywhere…there were Hive.

She could not see the floor for the throng. Hundreds, if not thousands, of the smaller Hive stood and swayed, their motions making ripples across their number like wind in tall grass. For every hundred or so of these smaller ones, there was one of the same tall, three eyed behemoths that had cut Min in half, each with a boney sword or a nasty looking weapon over its shoulder.

Even this wasn't the worst of it. Here and there, hovering over the crowd, were strange apparitions. They had triangular, blind heads and clawed hands, but were draped in robes. It was the first real clothing they had seen on any of the Hive. By some power or means Min could not fathom, they were hovering over the crowd below, turning this way and that as if trying to mind errant children.

One of these was in the center of the room, over that great circular area where the light was the strongest. A large white shard of what looked like rock was trapped in this pulsing light, rotating slowly.

This hovering thing over the shard was larger than the others, with what looked like horns on either side of its face. Lights burned white and bright in that face; burned with such an intense fire it was impossible to tell their number.

Behind this creature there was yet another that nearly stole the breath from Min's chest.

The creature that had cut her in half had been at least eight feet tall, but that was a dwarf compared to this. It had to crest at least twenty or twenty-five feet in height. It was a hunched monstrosity, ropes of muscle encircling legs and arms as thick around as tree trunks. It was impossible to tell at such a distance, but she could see no face on the beast save a slavering mouth. The entire front of its head was a domed growth that looked like a pustulant blister about to burst, shifting and undulating with its motion in a way that made her stomach lurch.

Eris had claimed the Hive was breeding an army, and this was an army if Min had ever seen one.

As she felt her footsteps falter, she heard Kalina gasp slightly behind her. Almost as one, the entire congregation of Hive turned to face them. The hovering one over the shard let out a shriek, and the smaller ones scattered around echoed it with a joined shriek of their own. The sound sang like bandsaws on the violin strings of Min's nerves.

She didn't think. There was no time to think, no time to consider alternatives. Flames lit over her body and her muscles screamed at her as she turned their falter into a charge. The green light and shadows in the room shrank back as the Titan's fire grew in strength, flared brighter and brighter. She pulled as much of the Sol flame in as she could, more than she'd ever drawn before, and at its apex it was almost too bright to see. The shadows of every beast and monster before her was cast as sharp as black daggers on the floor.

With a roar of effort, Minerva sent a tidal wave of fire ahead of her through the room. It belled, looming and parting the Hive like waves before the prow of a ship.

She was only dimly aware that Gen and Kalina were shouting to each other, shouting to her. She could make out none of their words in the roar of fire and the screaming of the Hive. She saw a small white dot flashing on her HUD, marking some point of the room, and understood that Lev was showing her where the Ghost lay, but she could do nothing about it. This was their only chance; it'd be up to Gen or Kalina to grab it.

Onward she charged, onward she pushed the wall of flame, but it was getting harder and harder with every step she took. Soon, she was straining every muscle in her legs to get another step, as if she were Sisyphus, rolling a rock the size of a house uphill.

Trails of smoke sailed past her on either side as she faltered, dropping to her knees and nearly folding on her face. The rockets exploded as the wall of flame died, cutting swaths through the confused monsters, many of which were now ablaze.

Even as her hands touched the ground Lev's voice broke through. "Get up! Get up Min, you have to run!"

With an effort, she got her feet back underneath her and turned, running with every ounce of will left to her.

How did the door get so far away?

The blue smudge that was Gen, and the purple smudge that was Kalina, flanked the black smudge of the tunnel. Gray lines sailed from both of them again as they sent more rockets into the crowd, trying to keep them back from her as she ran toward them.

A roar shook the cavern, the very rock underfoot trembling with it. A great beam of light, almost as wide as a house, tore through the crowd of Hive to her right. Gen saw it coming and he leapt out of the way, into the tunnel as it chewed through the rock over his head. The Exo regained his feet, grabbed Kalina, and hauled her toward the tunnel.

Everything was shaking. Something exploded further above the tunnel but Min was too close now to see what it was. Huge chunks of black rock and great grey sifts of dust fell down, and Kalina ducked back and finally turned to run with Gen. A boulder the size of a sparrow hit the ground where she'd been standing only a moment later.

Then Min was running past it, back into the tunnels. She could see her two friends only a few feet ahead now. A glowing path lit Min's HUD as Lev marked the way.

We only have to get outside, kept repeating in her mind. Her legs felt like cables that were beginning to fray, come unwound. She could hear snarls on her heels.

They bolted around a corner and the Hive came pouring out of side tunnels, slashing and biting. One of Gen's machine pistols barked. Min twisted, laying rifle fire. She saw a saw-toothed bone blade sailing for her and ducked, throwing a fist forward, intending to cast the beast back with a ball of fire-but fire did not come. At best, a weak flare of light was her only reward.

Her fist instead crunched into the monster's breadbasket. She felt armor (his) and fingers (hers) crack under the blow. The sword crashed into the wall and sent a spray of broken stone whizzing into the dark. Not daring to stop she got under the thing's arm and ran. She'd already gone several dozen feet before she realized she'd gone the wrong way, heading down one of the side tunnels instead of after her fireteam.

Something rumbled, an explosion. A grenade or another rocket, she couldn't be sure.

"Lev!" she gasped, not daring to slow.

"Right! Take a right at the next…that should get us back!" The Ghost sounded as out of breath as she was, almost excited with fear.

A darker space in the gloom opened to her right and she darted for it. The tunnel ended and she charged out onto a bridge over a deep chasm. Something else, more distant now, exploded again.

Then a shriek. This wasn't distant, or muffled by rock. This was right behind her. Halfway across the bridge she spun around and opened fire. One of those blind hovering things, had come out of the tunnel behind her. Her rifle fire caught it across the face and it flung up long, clawed hands with another scream as pits opened up in its face and shoulders. A scrap of red cloth, torn away by her bullets, looped and lazed in slow drifts down into the chasm.

Min turned and ran as the thing tried to recover itself. She lunged for the solid stone and cover of the tunnel on the far end when something hit her in the back. It was like being hit with a bowling ball made of teeth. The blow drove her forward, and her feet didn't hit the ground as she left the bridge. She hit the floor just inside the tunnel. Gasping for breath, she hauled herself up and glanced back, just as the shrieking thing sent another barrage. Balls of black and green flame broke upon the rock sides of the tunnel. Min managed to avoid them but when she looked back again, the tunnel around her came apart and she fell one last time, dropping her rifle and throwing her arms around her head as dark descended.