"Aww, did ums get a boo boo?" Kalina asked. "I could kiss it and make it better."

Minerva gave her a baleful look and struggled back up to her feet, rubbing at her elbow. Kalina popped up to her feet, then turned to the balcony doors, which were almost as huge as the front doors had been- and which looked just as sealed. Kalina tried them anyway, then slammed a fist ineffectually against them. "Bantha puduu!"

Min wasn't watching her, however. As she'd gotten back to her feet a motion caught her attention. As Kalina was trying the doors, Min went to the other side of the balcony. The landscape far below them was still and serene, and there was no sign of motion.

"Well, you were right," Kalina said as she crossed over to her friend. "He's sealed this place up good and proper. At least here. I'll have to get higher to-"

Realizing the motion must have been her imagination, Min gave Kalina a long-suffering smirk. "Did you ever consider just asking Saladin to let you in?"

"You really have no concept of fun, do you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm the most fun person you'll ever meet."

"That's kind of depressing," Kalina said, then laughed as Minerva lightly buffed her shoulder. Leaning on the stone railing, the Hunter looked out over the night. "It's just amazing here, isn't it? It looks like everything in the world is made of metal and spun glass."

"It's beautiful," Minerva agreed. "Looks more beautiful from up here than it probably does up close."

"What do you mean?"

"Saladin was telling me about the Plaguelands, and SIVA-"

"Ah. How 'bout we make a deal, Mini?"

"What's that?"

"No talking shop. Not tonight, ok? Not with a view like this."

"Sure," Minerva replied, and they fell silent for a bit.

"Are you doing ok?" Kalina finally asked. Lost in her own thoughts, Minerva blinked at her as if coming out of a doze.

"Hmm? I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I don't know," Kalina said. "The mission on the moon, and what happened with that…Verok, was it? And then Nara?"

"I thought you didn't want to talk shop."

"This isn't 'shop'," Kalina said. "This is about how you're doing. You play things so close to the chest sometimes, Mini. I hardly ever know what you're thinking. Or feeling."

"I'm all right," Minerva told her.

"See?" Kalina shook her head. "Maybe it's just me. I know I'd be a mess after all that. And Nara-…I can't believe she put her hands on you like that! Not even her. And hurting Lev? It wasn't your fault we got sent up to the moon and she didn't!"

Kalina's anger was plain. Her grip on the stone railing had notably tightened in the few moments before she straightened up and folded her arms, subconsciously defensive at any mention of the nasty half of the Twins. Her eyes were flashing at the landscape, as if the serene view had affronted her.

"She's not right in the head," Minerva told her, then reached out and put a hand on Kalina's arm.

Some of the fury went out of Kalina's face as she looked at Minerva. She seemed to search a moment for something to say. "I just never know what you're thinking, that's all."

"The problem is mutual," Minerva said, and Kalina laughed incredulously.

"You have to be talking about Gen, because I say what I'm thinking all the time. I'm like a faucet-"

Minerva shook her head a little, regarding her seriously. "You're not. You talk all the time but you rarely ever say what you're actually thinking. You joke about things. And I get it. Like you said, it's important to laugh at terrible things sometimes- if you want to keep your sanity, I mean. But you almost never say what's actually on your mind."

Kalina looked at her, mouth opening and closing a little as if wrestling with herself to not make a joke and prove Min's hunch right.

"The moon was hard on all three of us," Minerva said, when Kalina seemed stuck in silence. "Not just me. You got hurt too. You, and Gen. You were trapped in those tunnels, same as I was. What happened to Tychon hit you just as hard as it did us- probably more. You knew him more than we did. He was a fellow Hunter. And you've been dealing with Nara far longer than I've even been Lightborn."

Kalina gave a faint forward tilt of her head, probably the closest she could come to an acknowledgement that this was true. "Do you think it's just something that comes with the territory? Being a Guardian, I mean? They teach you how not to fear death or injury, and that's good and all- but all the rest of the bullshit…"

"All the rest of the bullshit is still there," Minerva agreed. "Maybe more. There's a lot expected of us. A lot we have to give."

Kalina lowered her head slightly, giving Min a wry little smile. "All the more reason you should let your fireteam know what you're thinking," she said.

Min gave her the same look right back. "Yes. Exactly why you should let your fireteam know what you're thinking."

Kalina laughed. "Fair, fair. Dirty pool, but fair."

The Hunter leaned forward, that wry smile turning into a slightly wicked look as she said, "So, in the interests of letting the fireteam know exactly what I'm thin-"

"Would you look at that moon?"

Minerva and Kalina looked around to see Gen standing on the same rock outcrop they'd used to jump over. With almost careless efficiency, he stepped off, lit his jump jets, and landed neatly on the balcony.

"Well, of course," Kalina said, exasperated. When Min looked at her questioningly, she gestured at the Warlock. "I mean, I'm the Hunter, but of course he would land without slipping."

"We thought you were in the observatory," Minerva said to the Exo as he reached the railing, looking out at the view much as they had been doing.

"Was. Decided I should probably call it a night when I saw your footprints heading this way. Don't blame you. The observatory is great for looking at the stars, but there's a big ruddy mountain in the way if you want to see anything else."

"We were trying to break in to the Temple," Kalina told him, stepping away from Min and looking forlornly at the balcony doors again. "But it's sealed good and proper."

Gen looked surprised. "Why didn't you just ask Saladin to-"

"Spoilsports. Both of you. No fun at all," Kalina told him with a grin.

"Ah. Well, in the interests of 'fun', why don't you just go through the Observatory?"

Kalina's grin grew as she zeroed in on him. "The Observatory? Are you telling me there's a way through there?"

He spread his hands and nodded, guileless. "I mean, there's a locked door, and you have to cross a bridge whose sturdiness is rather dubious, but-"

"Ooh, locked door," Kalina wound Gen's arm through hers and beamed at him. "Dubious bridge. Gen, if you keep talking dirty to me-"

She broke off as Minerva slapped her arm lightly. She was looking outward at the Plaguelands again, and seeing the look on her face both Hunter and Warlock turned and followed her gaze.

A distant shadow, only visible for a moment as the moonlight winked off an edge of metal, lowered to behind a far ridge.

"Skiff," Gen said.

"I saw movement earlier, when we first came up here, but then I thought I was imagining things," Min told him.

"If you're imagining it, we all are," Kalina said. "The Fallen are landing in the Plaguelands."

"We need to get Saladin," Minerva said, already tapping her ear to wake Lev up, and started back the way they'd come.


The sun was rising when the Iron Lord's jumpship lowered itself to the edge of the Plaguelands. Four forms shimmered with the energy of a transmat before resolving themselves into Forge, Min, Kalina, and Gen.

Kalina immediately broke west, soon lost from view among the tangled ridges of stone and tormented, twisted thorn trees.

Minerva watched her go worriedly. As much as it was her job as a Titan to go first in close quarters like the Hive nest on the moon, she knew it was the Hunter's job to scout open-terrain situations like this. That didn't mean she liked it, not with an unknown number of Fallen out there, and SIVA to concern herself with.

She kept thinking about what Kalina had been about to say, before Gen had shown up. Knowing the Hunter, it would likely only have been a joke, but for some reason it kept sticking in Min's head.

"I'm not detecting SIVA anywhere close," Fenris said, and Saladin nodded.

"If any remains out here in the Plaguelands I will be very surprised. We were pretty thorough, but there was always a chance. All Ghosts, keep your scans open. It doesn't take much for that shit to ruin your day, and I don't want it anywhere near us without ten alerts going off half an hour before."

Saladin looked at Min and Gen as the Ghosts murmured their assent. "Site Six is where we destroyed the replication chamber and sealed SIVA in," he told her. "It's a sure bet the House Devils are heading that direction. I want you two to go to their landing site with Kalina. Take out any Fallen you see- they may not know exactly where they're going but I don't want a single Devil coming within three miles of that place."

"You?" Gen asked.

"I'm heading to Site Six myself. Hopefully none have gotten that far but if they have, I'll insure they go no further. I don't want any of you three anywhere near Site Six. Rasputin and SIVA took out the Iron Lords- men and women with centuries of experience and talent. I'll be damned if that place takes another Guardian life. We'll stay in contact through the Ghosts. Fortune with you."

After Saladin had gone, as Gen and Minerva made their way after Kalina toward where they had seen the skiff landing, Minerva said, "This is the second time we've been somewhere that has killed Guardians far older and more experienced than we. I hope this isn't becoming a trend."

"We came back alive from the first one," Gen said. "I wouldn't mind that becoming a trend."

{At least this time it's not just us newbies on our own,} Kalina said, her voice coming through Lev who was safely hiding in Min's tag. {No sign of the skiffs, but I do see a party guarding what looks to be their camp. The bulk of the Devils, if I had to guess, are heading north.}

"That's toward Site Six," Gen said. "Saladin-"

{I heard. Take care of their camp, then come up behind them and wipe them out as you can. I'm sending you some coordinates. I don't want you coming any closer to Site Six than those. When you get there, hunker down and wait for me.}

Gen and Minerva quickly caught up with Kalina as she surveyed the Devil's camp. The Fallen had used the wreck of what appeared to be an old fishing boat, though how it had gotten here, miles from any body of water, was a mystery. It had mostly gone red with rust, the side of its hull cracked open in a wide gap, providing shelter for a goodly amount of the camp.

"There's only about seven of them to guard the camp," Kalina told them as they crouched down beside her. "Normal weapons crates, sundries; usual stuff. If they brought a servitor with them it's gone off with the others."

Kalina had destroyed a servitor back in Akron just before Min and Gen had caught up with her, back on Min's first field mission. The Titan had since learned what a servitor was. Apparently, Fallen fed on something called ether, which the servitors produced. They also provided shielding protection for Fallen in the field as well as ether, and some servitors were worshipped by them as almost Gods.

Min had yet to see one, but from what the others had described, they looked like miniature mock-ups of the Traveler.

The three of them quickly descended down the hill and took out the Fallen around the camp. While Gen and Kalina poked around some of the gear the Fallen had brought, Min ducked into the ship to make sure no one was hiding inside.

"I'm not seeing any life signs," Lev said, returning from a quick scan as Min reached a leaning set of steps that let out on the foredeck. "I think we're clear, but there seems to be something odd up on the deck."

"Something odd?" Min asked. She'd been about to turn away from the steps to rejoin her companions, but at this she continued upward to the hatch.

"I'm not entirely sure what it is. Some kind of transceiver, I believe. There is a faint energy signal coming from it, but unless I can scan it more closely, I can't tell you more than that."

Min emerged onto the deck and saw the 'transceiver' right away. From the appearance of it and the scuffing drag marks in the powdered rust on the ground, it was clear it was something the Fallen had put there. Lev zipped over to it and began scanning.

"Ah, it's a transreceptive landing beacon. It acts as kind of a target for their skiffs. Stealth is great, but their navigation is seriously hindered while in that mode. This is like a flashlight in the dark so they can see where they're going."

"Can you disable it?"

"Already on it," he said. She walked closer, watching him work a moment. Then, she froze.

When she'd come out on deck, her eyes had gone right to the beacon and she hadn't really looked around. As she lifted her eyes from Lev and focused on her surroundings, she was shocked to find her chest tightening again, her heart rate raising as her breath seemed to cut off.

The bow cut through the cold in ice-rimed waves, thin mists still clinging to the dark surface of the water. Her breath billowed out in white around her. Behind her, people laughed.

Min pressed her eyes shut, struggling to keep her breathing deep and even and resisting the urge to hold it. The panic attack- if that's what it was- was not nearly as strong as it had been that day when Eris Morn had reached for her, but the image that came with it was new.

"Min?" Lev, having deactivated the beacon, seemed to have sensed something was wrong. As he turned toward her, she shook her head.

"I'm fine," she said.

"Your heart rate-"

"It's ok, I'm fine," she said. "Come on. We need to get back down and on the trail of those Fallen before-"

The beacon made a sudden, faintly staticky sound. As the pair turned to look at it again, surprised, the thin strains of music began to spill out of it and float almost lazily into the air.