Chapter 21: The Ishtar Collective
So, the Queen seemed nice enough, right? Her brother, though…
-Ghost
The machine had wings and feathers, sleek and black as its body. But the feathers were eyes, too, sharp and delicate, and ears that pricked at every sound. The prince considered the machine, considered its purpose, and his own. And then he called to it. "I have a task for you."
Obedience was woven into its workings, and so it stopped. "Master of Crows?"
"Mind the Black Garden's gate. Follow anyone who passes through."
"In the name of your sister," the machine vowed. And it went to find its warp capsule, just as another came in. But this one flew skittishly, as if to evade its master. The prince caught it from the air. "You avoid me?"
"I am tasked by the Queen."
"But you serve me." He let it tremble in displeasure for a moment. "Tell me your news."
The machine flicked its wings. The prince stroked them flat with slow, assured motions. "Tell me your news," he said again. "What's the harm?"
"The Heart is growing stronger," the crow said. "The Vex transformation has begun, and the Progeny are stirring."
The prince considered this in silence for a moment and then he wrapped the crow up in his fist and folded its wings around it so that it could not move or fly. He did all this swiftly, and with purpose. Why now, he wondered. How could the guardian have known? Could she have caused it?
Carrying the machine, he went to see his sister.
She was alone with her Fallen guards, sitting before a window into infinity. Her eyes did not leave the universe; but sensing her brother she said "Yes. What is it?"
"There's news to share," he said, and offered the crow in his fist. "And I think I have earned the right to share it."
…
Lord Shaxx nodded in satisfaction as he looked down at the scene of destruction. The lunar surface was covered in the bodies of Fallen and the sputtering green sparks of burned-out Hive. They hadn't gone alone, however—he'd lost something like twenty frames blown to pieces in the assault.
But it was worth it.
"Arcite, get those turrets deployed. That will teach our enemies not to come back, and will make for an interesting obstacle for guardians to overcome." The frame trundled off to get the job done, and he once more surveyed the battered buildings of Earth's old and unassuming exobotany laboratory complex that had so unexpectedly gotten ringside seats to the Collapse. Around it, immense fissures in the moon's crust spread sickly yellow miasma, hinting at the utter destruction going on deep beneath the surface.
At his side a talented hunter twitched, bored now that the action was over. "Patience, Ain. The matches will start soon enough. You know, there used to be an ancient theory that the moon was made of Swiss cheese."
"Swiss cheese?"
"Yes, full of holes."
Ain Suhu-ässä looked out over the ravaged landscape. "Sure that was a theory? Sounds more like a prophecy."
Shaxx chuckled. "It may have been. Then let this arena's name also be a prophecy. We'll call it First Light, the first of many to return on this planet."
…
To Whisper's surprise, a steady stream of jumpships raced back and forth between Earth and Luna as they made their own descent towards the Last City. Radio traffic mentioned a new Crucible site, which was another reason to the pile to stay away from the moon. They touched down, showed their hangar assignment, and transmatted down as the Regulus eased its way into the hangar. They chatted with Amanda for a few minutes, thanking her for the Regulus and sharing just how comfortable of a ride it had been, then headed to Vanguard headquarters to look for Ikora.
"Ah, I've been expecting you," came the voice of the warlock in question the moment she crossed the threshold.
Whisper paused. "That's ominous… and a pretty good trick. Did Amanda tip you off?"
"No, the hangar pinged me when your jumpship docked," she admitted with a smile. "Don't tell Cayde though—he still thinks I can read his mind. So, take a seat and tell me what you learned."
Whisper accepted the invitation and sat at the table and relayed her experiences on Venus and the Reef, meeting the Exo Stranger, Queen Mara Sov, Prince Uldren, and their talk of a Vex gate lord. Ikora sat quietly as she finished, thinking.
"Fascinating… and troubling. This is not the first we have heard of this Exo Stranger, but it is the most solid information on her we've learned."
Whisper leaned forward. "What else do you know about her?"
"Little, unfortunately. The first rumors of her surfaced around the time Cayde-6 became the Hunter Vanguard. The stories are… let's call them vague. Whispers of an exo without a ghost walking in the darkness around the system, elusive, dissolving in and out of reality with ominous intent. Others say she is the last of an ancient exo squadron fighting a long-forgotten war. Still others say she is a hallucination caused by exposure to Vex technology. She's taken on something of a trickster figure, easily dismissed, except for those who swear she saved them or abruptly intervened to avert unspeakable catastrophes."
"So?" prompted Whisper. "What do you think?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing. You've spoken with her."
Whisper looked away, staring at the wood grain through the worn-down protective plastic coating of the table while she thought. She sighed. "I don't know what to think. She didn't seem like a hallucination. She wasn't interested in the Traveler, but she was concerned about the Vex and the Darkness as shared enemies. I think it's worth following up on."
The warlock Vanguard nodded. "I agree. And that brings us to your little adventure on the Reef. It has been some time since we've communicated with them. It doesn't sound like she has changed much."
"I've shared what I know. What does the Vanguard know about the awoken and the Reef?"
Ikora sat back and steepled her fingers thoughtfully. "In some ways we know much, but in others, we know little. In practical terms, Queen Mara Sov is the absolute, unquestioned ruler of the Reef. Militarily, their armed forces are led by seven Paladins that report directly to her. Four command the Royal Armada, including their Corsairs, which are a combination of scouts and pilots, and the Vestian Guard, that are stationed on the Vestian Outpost you visited. Two Paladins command the Royal Army. And the last commands the Royal Guard, which are both bodyguards and secret police, looking out for the Reef as a whole. Diplomatically, we know less. In foreign policy, Queen Mara Sov often handles it herself." As for the Queen's brother, Prince Uldren, he is her spymaster called the Master of Crows, wields enormous power for a male in their culture, and is one of her deadliest enforcers. Recent reports suggest he has started to differ from the Queen on key strategy, but this may be a ruse on her part. You can never be too sure with Mara Sov."
Whisper frowned. "But who are the awoken? Where did they come from? And why aren't we allies with them? And why does she have pet Fallen?"
"These are excellent questions, Whisper. However, I don't have unlimited time, and in some ways, I think it would be more helpful for you to learn for yourself, and we can compare our findings. However, I can point you in the right direction. Speak with the Queen's emissary to the City, Petra Venj. She lives here, though she mostly hides away. In fact, she may be more willing than usual to speak with you, as you are the first from the City to make the trip to the Reef since she killed nine guardians. I understand she doesn't get much news from home."
"That's the Reef's emissary?"
"I understand it's mostly considered an exile that also benefits the Reef, but yes, that is Mara Sov's emissary. And if that doesn't give you insight into how Mara Sov thinks of the City, then nothing ever will." Ikora stood to leave.
"Before I go," cut in Whisper quickly, "do you know anything about a Vex gate lord, or how to find it?"
Ikora winced. "Warlock scholars believe that gate lords regulate traffic between vex gates, and that their minds contain codes of some kind. Beyond that we have only speculation, and I won't subject you to the enormous amounts of hope and anger expended on debating whether a vex gate could open into a place and time before the Collapse and somehow stop it. For a more practical answer, you should speak with the Tower's resident Cryptarch, Master Rahool. He may know something that can help."
…
Petra Venj wasn't hard to find – the Emissary answered a VanNet message within minutes and set up a meeting in the Tower courtyard on the balcony overlooking the mountains. Whisper arrived early and for a moment wondered whether she would recognize the Emissary, but that worry died as she saw the crowd part for an awoken marching implacably forward in the full battle armor of a Royal Guard. She came to a precise halt in front of Whisper.
"You are Whisper," she said firmly. It wasn't a question.
"You are the Queen's Emissary," retorted Whisper.
"What do you want?"
"To learn about the Reef and the awoken."
Petra stared at her flatly, eyes hidden behind her helmet. "I am Petra Venj, once Corsair, now member of the Royal Guard, and Emissary to the City. I represent the interests of Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken. This information is on my introduction from the Queen to the City. Why should I tell you one word more?"
Whisper shrugged uneasily. "I just returned from speaking with your Queen, but I would like to have some more… context for the conversation."
Petra's neck twitched ever so slightly at this news. So, she hadn't been told of her visit. "The Queen speaks for herself, guardian. If you have nothing further to discuss, I have other matters to attend to." The awoken strode off instantly, walking even more briskly than before.
That went well. Hopefully the Cryptarch has more for me.
The Tower's resident Cryptarch stood across the courtyard and studiously ignored Petra as she stormed past. He was an awoken man not quite as tall as Commander Zavala, but still towered over Whisper. He stood casually at a wooden vendor stand illuminated by faux candle lanterns, leaning against the counter and reading a datapad. He wore a large robe, gently rippling in the afternoon breeze, that put would put a warlock to shame with its asymmetrical, jarring contrasts of solid mustard yellow, complex patterns stitched in white, thick textured quadrants. He topped off the brazen outfit with a black garment somewhere between a scarf and a hood.
Whisper approached cautiously and the man looked up at her with a benign curiosity, not intimidated in the slightest by her status as a guardian. "Greetings, guardian. I am Master Rahool. Do you have an engram to be decrypted?"
"No. I do have some questions for you, though."
"Oh." Rahool sighed, eyes creeping back towards his data pad. "I supposed I can spare a few moments."
"So… what are Cryptarchs?"
Master Rahool's face shifted between enthusiasm about his work and irritation at the level of ignorance before him, until enthusiasm won out. "To begin, Cryptarch is a contraction of Crypto-Archeologist. Cryptarchs decode the past and our enemies, seeking new discoveries in matter engrams and artifacts returned by guardians. I also happen to be a historian and linguist."
Whisper nodded appreciatively, hoping to keep him talking. "Interesting. I've heard Cryptarchs are the people to talk to about data questions."
Rahool perked up. "What kind of data questions?"
"I spoke with the awoken in the Reef about locating something called the Black Garden. They told me I need to bring them the head of a Vex gate lord, but the head itself is not necessary. So it must have something to do with Vex data, but I don't know how to extract it or locate a gate lord."
Rahool stared at her appraisingly for a moment. "I can't decide if you are brave or foolish. Hmmm… but I may have a way to help us both. The Vex are difficult to study without powerful technical support equipment rare outside the City, and the Vanguard prohibit bringing Vex into the City. However, there is adequate processing power located in the ancient research station of the Ishtar Collective on Venus. You need that research, and the Cryptarchy needs that research station secured. It could house invaluable research."
"What would I need to do?"
"Secure the facility itself and restore its power. Then destroy a large Vex construct and run it through an analysis in the central laboratory. Your ghost can take care of the machinery itself."
Whisper nodded once more. "That sounds feasible."
"Yes, well, good luck. Let me know if you survive. Oh, and if you happen upon any Axiomatic Beads while engaging the Vex, the Cryptarchy is always interested in studying them." He turned back to his datapad and proceeded to mutter to himself, ignoring her completely. "Hmm… Brazilian from the morning of the Golden Age. What a hopeful text…"
…
Whisper dropped smoothly from her jumpship and looked out over Venus's surface at the roiling mass of violent storms rushing over vibrant and drippingly humid jungles. No immediate danger. Blabber hummed to himself as she started the long walk to the Ishtar Academy, sniper rifle in her hands and hand cannon at her hip. She was taking no chances and had landed well away from the structure itself.
But she may not have needed to—Fallen patrols had been cut back since her last visit, probably due to the excitement with the Vex recently. They were approaching the Academy itself, still without sighting a single Fallen or Vex, when Blabber's resolve gave out.
I wish you would check with me before making insane promises. We don't know anything at all about the Vex, and now you're promising to take down something we've never even heard of.
"What? I though you'd be excited to get back in the action."
I am, but the Vex are dangerous… we know almost nothing about them.
"Whis is why we're here, Blabber. For all the Vanguard's power and all the Cryptarchy's history, after hundreds of years we know almost nothing about anything. And that… bothers me. And if nobody else is going to bother with finding out anything beyond how many bullets it takes to break something, then I guess it's up to us."
I'm in favor of learning more, but does it… wait, I'm picking something up. Above us, a guardian jumpship just orbited. There may be another guardian on Venus.
"Any signal from them?"
No. Whoever they are, they're keeping a very low profile. If our own jumpship hadn't come close enough to detect it, we would never have known they were here.
"Hmm…" mused Whisper. "Maybe they are the reason the Fallen aren't around?"
No way to know. Okay, we're close enough that I can tap into the Vex sensors we reactivated last time. Scanning… there is a bit of Vex signature just up the coast. I guess you kill it—whatever it is—and bring its mind core to one of the Academy's research labs.
Whisper noted the direction on her HUD and kept walking. It wasn't long before they had left the Academy and the surrounding buildings behind and entered the jungle proper. Lightning crackled above, followed immediately by a rolling peal of thunder that reverberated in her metal bones as a large storm rolled in. With shocking abruptness, rain dumped from the sky, sending the jungle canopy into a shaking frenzy. She kept moving, sparing a moment of gratitude that the rain streaming down the back of her neck and soaking her armor didn't bother her exo body. Unless I rust?
She tromped through dirty brown puddles as the ground quickly churned to mud around them.
Not far now. There's a ridiculously large Vex emission up ahead. Sounds like what we're looking for. Wonderful.
Whisper stepped off the narrow trail through the trees that had once been a road and into the tangle of vines, undergrowth, and twisting trees, and crept forward. True to Blabber's word, it took only a few minutes to reach a clearing. Standing around, oblivious to the rain, was a contingent of Vex goblins. They walked in a complex geometric pattern around a much larger Vex construct. It was a stationary machine on a pivoting central pole with a large main body built around a purple lens at its center over a container of white Vex fluid, with two wide arms. It looked like an ancient satellite dish.
"That must be it," she whispered. "Do we have anything on it?"
Searching. Yes… well, sort of. Someone has encountered them before, because I am seeing references to Cyclops that match. But nothing more than that.
"This is ridiculous!" hissed Whisper. "Hundreds of years! Hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge and experience, to say nothing of recovered Golden Age knowledge, and they send guardians out into the field that know nothing beyond gun and shoot, and expect them to die a thousand deaths just to begin to approach the base level of knowledge other guardians take for granted. It is unbelievably petty and stupid when we're fighting multiple existential threats at once!"
Furious, she leveled her sniper rifle. "It is just bangsuch a colossal bang waste of time and resources bang.
Can we maybe discuss this later?
Whisper glanced at Blabber, who quickly transmatted away, then looked back at the Vex. The goblins were down under her fire, but the Cyclops hurled a massive blob of void energy at her, smashing through the trees.
"A turret," she spat sarcastically. "If only someone could have tol—"
…
Personality match. New designation assigned: Whisper-0. New directive assigned.
…
Whisper flickered back into being, refocused. If it's a turret, then move quickly and get in close. She traded the rifle for the heavy bullets of The Devil You Know hand cannon and charged forward, firing as she ran.
The Cyclops returned fire, and once again she was struck by how makeshift the Vex fighting was. The Vex construct was jam-packed with complex equipment clearly designed to detect something, but whatever it was, it clearly wasn't human-sized moving targets. The Cyclops struggled to lock onto her while she rained fire down on it, and when it finally did get her squarely in its sights, she blinked out of the way.
Without goblins to protect it, the Cyclops fell quickly. Blabber emerged from hiding and set about dissecting the remains. Fascinating. Okay, I've isolated and transmatted its mind core… I think. From my initial analysis, the Vex mind core is actually biological. Not related to any known life forms recorded. Maybe the Collectives' research can tell us more. Let's head for that research station.
"Then that's where we're headed." Whisper holstered the hand cannon and pulled out the Calcutta-LR2 once more and started walking deeper into the jungle. "At least it's not hard to find," she added, gesturing towards the towering Vex structure in the distance. "But while we're walking, I want you to do a search, Blabber. Someone, someone, has to have realized how stupid this all is and put together some sort of guide or handbook or something.
Blabber hummed as he searched. I've found… something. I'm not sure it's what you're looking for, though.
Whisper hopped over a puddle. "Tell me."
Well, there is a hunter handbook called the Handbook of (Un)Controversial Advice.
"Well? What does it say?"
Let's see. "Play with the fit and the sensors of your boots until it feels like going barefoot."
"That's… sort of useful. What else does it say?"
"First, check your cloak for damage. Second, inspect yourself for major wounds."
"Next."
Here's another one. It's called Aphorisms to Anger Warlocks, a Hunter Handbook. "Learning without application is like drinking without thirst."
Whisper groaned. "Is there anything useful in it?"
Well, it does say that bladedancer hunters learned how to blink from warlocks, but instructs not to admit this under any circumstances.
"And that's all there is? From the entire library? There's nothing that talks about the mission of hunters at all?"
Okay, that turned up one that looks promising. It's called the Pahanin Errata, with the collected sayings, quips, and observations of the legendary hunter Pahanin. I'll read a few entries here. "Your missions: protect the City. Look better than the Warlocks. But don't look like you're trying." "Always look up when you enter a room. People will think you're strange, but I'd rather be strange than have my head bitten off." "Mission goal four, keep your boots clean. Five, keep your gun clean. Six, make friends with a Titan. Never know when one will come in handy." "If you need help from a warlock, tell them it's too complex. If you need help from a Titan, tell them only a madman would go." "If human extinction seems imminent, try to relax. You're just giving cephalopods a shot." "The black gloves of Snakeline armor are tough, menacing, and—I swear—make you unbeatable at Go." "Cephalopods are the best because—"
"Enough, Blabber. The best the entire City has to offer is the ramblings of a moron on how to look good while shooting things. Just like everything else, I guess we'll have to do it ourselves. Alright, record this. First entry: Cyclops. The Cyclops is a huge, stationary Vex construct with a powerful void weapon. Tactically it operates like a gun platform providing fire support, but because it is highly advanced and not very good at fire support, its weapon systems are probably secondary. We don't know what its primary purpose is. There, done. Not that hard. Friggin' guardians…" She trailed off in grumbles, and Blabber wisely stayed silent as they continued deeper into the jungle towards the giant Vex structure on the horizon.
Thirty minutes later they approached the Vex structure, winding their way through ancient stone barricades as dragonflies buzzed past. You know, these dragonflies were named after mythical dragonflies on Earth. We're not sure if they ever existed or not.
"That's interesting, Blabber, and normally I'd like to hear more. But I'm still annoyed, so let's try to focus on what's in front of us for the moment. Can you tell me anything about that giant Vex building?"
They predate humanity by a few billion years, and Vex are coursing through them. The Ishtar Collective was obviously studying them, but I doubt the structure was active when they did.
Just beyond the passage opened up to reveal several squat, bunker-like buildings on the side of a cliff, nestled in the shadow of the towering Vex structure. Movement caught her eye—a Fallen patrol. More House of Witner climbed over the research station's overgrown buildings, pulling back vines and tearing open access panels to rip out the wiring within. Dregs, bowed down by the weight, staggered back to deliver loads of materials to shanks to ferry back to a ketch hidden away somewhere in the jungle.
Whisper's sniper rifle thundered, taking down the captain overseeing the operation, then again to cut through a vandal, and the rest of the patrol scattered, fleeing in every direction. Nice work. There's got to be a central terminal around here. Found one. Let's see if I can get it to work.
Whisper followed Blabber's guidance and located a big computer console. Parts of it had already been worked over by the Fallen, but they hadn't had time to finish the job. Even mostly intact, it wasn't in great shape—enough dirt had accumulated that grass was growing on the filthy floor all around it. Blabber bobbed up and down in the air as he scanned the system, alternately repairing parts and pumping power into it. The main display flickered to life, showing a scan of a Vex goblin. It's revivable. Ill see what they discovered here.
The Vex share one mind across a million units! That's why they react so fast! Amazing. They can warp across star systems in an instant. I'm almost done. Wait – Vex, they're coming! They must have detected this console powering up.
Sure enough, blinding white lights flickered in the air as goblins teleported in. Whisper hurled a void grenade, crumping three of them, and dropped the rest with her hand cannon. The lights flickered again as another, larger wave of Vex teleported in. "Blabber?"
Done! He raced back to Whisper, who threw another grenade and took off sprinting into the trees while Blabber spoke excitedly in her head. I know how to find a gate lord! Each Vex is part of a giant network that spreads through the mantle of the entire planet. If I can just get into their system, we can draw a gate lord out.
"Great," replied Whisper as bolts of solar energy burst leaves into flames around them, "time to get back to the City."
…
Master Rahool looked up with mild surprise as Whisper approached once again, but his eyes narrowed as Blabber passed over his gathered information. "Fascinating. This greatly expands our understanding of the Vex. As for the encryption, it is difficult, but not for those of the Cryptarchy." He entered a command into his datapad. "Your ghost should not have the codes he needs to summon this 'gate lord' of yours. Do feel free to return with any amusing puzzles like this in the future. Assuming you survive, of course."
…
Whisper was heading back to the hangars when she received a message from the Speaker requesting a meeting. She exchanged a glance with Blabber and changed course, heading for the Speaker's office. She was quickly ushered in and found not just the Speaker, but the Cayde-6 as well.
"Welcome back, Whisper. It seems you lead a busy life. We are all short on time, so I will keep this brief. Ikora has told me if your encounter with the Queen of the Reef, and your intentions to defeat a Vex gate lord to learn more of the Black Garden. While defeat of any champion of the Dark is cause for celebration, be leery of the promises of the Queen. The awoken play both sides of this battle, and a debt to her is potentially ruinous. But if it gets you into the Black Garden, you have the City's full support."
Whisper's eyes flicked back and forth between the two. Was he trying to make clear that the deal was strictly between her and the Queen? Or was he saying that the City would back her up if this deal got out of hand? "Thank you, Speaker."
"Excellent. Best of luck, now."
She allowed herself to be ushered out just as quickly as she'd gone in, but Cayde-6 followed her out. "Hey, I wanted to throw in my bit. You're doing good out there, Whisper, real good. But the Speaker was right. The Vex have us all worried, so you keep doing you, but just… be careful when you make deals with the awoken, would you? The Queen always collects. Now, off you go, and good luck!"
"And what will you all be doing while I'm out there fighting this gate lord?"
"Oh," answered Cayde with a grin, "you have the easy part. They're declaring an emergency session of the Consensus so they can have a collective freak-out over the Hive ritual you put a stop to. We're trying to keep this thing about impending doom and the Black Garden on the down low, if you catch my drift. Gotta run!"
Lore Referenced:
D1 Grimoire:
First Light (D1 Grimoire)
The Exo Stranger (D1 Grimoire)
The Royal Awoken Guard (D1 Grimoire)
The Queen's Brother (D1 Grimoire)
Zydron, Gate Lord (D1 Grimoire)
Petra Venj, Queen's Wrath (D1 Grimoire)
Cyclops (D1 Grimoire)
Venus (D1 Grimoire)
Eye of a Gate Lord (D1 Grimoire)
Ishtar Collective (D1 Grimoire)
Ghost Fragments:
Ghost Fragment: Queen's Brother
Ghost Fragment: First Light (Note: the hunter is not named, but Ain is a hunter devoted to the Crucible).
D1 Quest Descriptions:
Talk to Cayde-6
Talk to Cayde
Ishtar Collective
Lore Books:
The Dark Future; Chapter 9: The Return
Items:
Oathkeeper
Imperial Needle
Tracker 1.0.1 and Tracker 1.1b
Grinder's Cloak
"Blind Evoke"
Nemesis Plane IV
The Pahanin Errata
Dynamo Cloak
Cloak of Hidden Agendas
Octopus Cloak
Snakeline 4.5.2
Dragonfly Regalia Mask
Materials:
Axiomatic Beads
Hangar Assignment
Other:
Petra Venj is not clearly stated to be a member of the Royal Guard, but she wears their distinct armor in D1.
Cryptarch in-game description
Two instances of Master Rahool idle dialogue in D1
