Chapter 32: The Garden's Spire

"I wish I could walk the halls of Clovis Bray. Losing their machines to Rasputin is unfortunate, but we still have access to so much we thought we'd lost. This is the dawn of a new era for us." -Master Rahool

Officially, the small bar just outside of visual range of the Last City did not exist. Officially, there were no humans outside the Last City at all.

It was a lie, of course. There had always been people outside the wall. Settlements all over, from the very beginning. Many were destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again, like Palamon, but they were out there, if you cared to look.

In the darkest corner of the bar, two men sat in the shadows, their faces hidden behind deep hoods. One turned to the other. "Our time is coming. Can you feel it?"

The other stared down into his glass, as if looking for answers. "Yes. Something is changing."

"The malaise of the last century is fading. Some new hand is at play."

"But is it of the Light or the Dark?"

"Does it matter?"

"… No. No, I don't suppose it does. Tell the others. Whatever direction this goes, our time is coming again. I'll see you in the Crucible."

The luxurious Consensus chambers built directly beneath the Traveler were empty at this late hour, aside from a side-chamber where a single overhead light was burning. Executor Hideo, head of the New Monarchy faction, forced himself to sit straight and proper, giving no sign of the nagging tiredness behind his eyes. To his left at the round conference table, Arach Jalaal, head of the perpetually pessimists at Dead Orbit, didn't bother to hide his yawn as he slouched down in his chair. And to his right, completing the party, was the Future War Cult's Lakshmi-2, who he very privately wondered if the machine was even capable of being tired.

"So, you've all seen the reports. A huge upswing in Guardian activity and energy. Reactivating the Array, giving Rasputin access to much of the system. The Speaker browbeating us into ending the interdiction on Luna, and this supposed Hive ritual draining the Traveler. Raids on Venus and a new guardian outpost there. And now a planned assault on the Cabal on Mars chasing some wild legend. What do you make of it?"

"Be fair, Hideo," retorted Jalaal, hiding a yawn behind his hand. "It's hardly a base – more like a listening post. If you want to complain about guardian expansion, you'd do better to take a look at the rapid expansion of the Crucible across what seems like half of the system." The Arach leaned forward, eyes intent despite. "But your point stands. This is a major policy shift from the Vanguard. Maybe they're responding to threats, and maybe they aren't, but either way, they're stirring up trouble. I'd rather Dead Orbit was ready to make our departure before the consequences arrived."

"The Black Garden is real enough," added Lakshmi-2 thoughtfully. "But I do wonder about the Vanguard. This is all very… abrupt for them. They are usually so thoughtful, so… deliberate. Now they act rashly, almost desperately. They are enjoying an upswing in support from the Consensus, the people, and the guardians alike. I wonder what they intend to do with it."

Hideo looked at her sharply. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not suggesting anything, Executor. The actions of the guardians are as inscrutable as ever. However, I suggest we find ways to… mitigate the political consequences, shall we say."

Hideo's eyes lit up, his thoughts moving quickly. "I see."

Arach yawned again. "I'm as suspicious as the next guy, but I don't get your paranoia when it comes to the Vanguard, Lakshmi. Get to the point. You want to make sure they can't turn their recent successes into more power here in the City. Now, what did you have in mind?"

"Nothing so crass as to undermine the Vanguard. But perhaps a little association with their success is in order."

"Make it look like we're pushing instead of being dragged along, you mean?"

The exo nodded at her awoken companion. "Precisely. This newest strike on Mars – perhaps it is aimed at triggering a response from the Cabal and forcing us to grant emergency powers to the Vanguard." Jalaal rolled his eyes. "Perhaps it is truly seeking this Black Garden. Whatever the case, from Zavala's description of it, they are attacking the center of a Cabal Legion's positions. There is a fair chance that their leadership will defend it."

"Ah," cut in Hideo with a nod. "If we were to sanction the assassination of their Primus, and they killed him, it would certainly look like we were directing their best guardians beyond the walls of the City—" "and," finished Lakshmi, "associate the Consensus with the victories."

Jalaal nodded. "Seems simple enough. I'm on board."

"Then we're agreed. The Consensus will officially, but quietly, sanction the assassination of this Primus Sha'aull."

Reed-7 turned to go when a Harbinger crashed into the skyscraper, sending all of Fireteam Axis stumbling to the ground. He regained his feet quickly and saw a new gaping hole in the wall and a ruined Harbinger trailing smoke. But from that smoke emerged an enormous Cabal sporting the finned flight guidance veins and sensor system of a Centurion. And he wasn't alone. Around him emerged a squad of smaller Cabal, just under the size of a human, with a single glowing eye.

The fireteam spread out into cover immediately, falling back. "Talk to me."

"On it," replied Aisha. "The first translated data is getting uploaded into the system," she explained almost casually over the thunder of the Centurion's grenade launcher spitting solar fury that was as effective as a flash-bang as it was a high explosive.

"Got a match. This is Bracus Tha'aurn. He seems to be the Cabal most interested in tearing up our Golden Age tech."

Reed-7 picked off one of the little ones. "Any idea what those smaller ones are?"

"Someone added a report recently. Seems like they—gaah!" Aisha cut off as a blue glow enveloped her, launching her helplessly into the air. Tha'aurn charged her with a rocket-assisted leap and slammed down a combat knife as big as her forearm, impaling her to the ground. The Cabal resumed firing while she gurgled, choking on her own blood.

Something flashed bright purple and an enormous orb of Void Light soared past Reed almost gracefully. The Bracus hit the jets again, leaping backwards, but the Light followed him and detonated directly center mass. The Light ravaged his armor, ripping out entire plates and pulverizing the delicate atmospheric controls beneath, but the Bracus didn't go down.

Reed-7 leaned out and unloaded an entire clip of auto-rifle into the gap and finally, finally the thing went down.

Aisha's ghost rezzed her as the surviving Cabal fled down the stairs.

"You were saying?"

The hunter coughed once experimentally and nodded. "Bad way to go. I was saying, it looks like the warlock research weenies back at the Tower decided to call them Psions and said something about telepathic powers. Apparently, they like to lift you out of cover for their friends."

Reed chuckled softly. "Do they now?"

Aisha made a rude gesture as Shayura rejoined them. "Maybe skip to the telepathic powers part before reading out their names and battle honors in the future. Now, let's get out of here before more of them show up."

"Explain to me again the plan here, Whisper," asked Vistrek as they lay hidden on the back side of a sand dune outside Freehold.

Whisper frowned. "We need to charge the Gate Lord's Eye to open a portal to the Black Garden. To do that, we need a Vex Spire, and the only one available is in that Cabal base over there."

"No, I get that. I meant big picture. Why are we doing this now? Why is it so urgent?"

The hunter paused. She hadn't really considered this. "It's just… right, I guess. The Exo Stranger made it sound really urgent. Then with the Hive ritual on the moon, and jumpship overflights show that an entire Cabal Blind Legion, is overextended, the furthest forward point of the Exclusion Zone, to sit right on top of the Vex Spire. Are they experimenting with it? Trying to adapt Vex technology? We don't know." She shrugged helplessly. "It feels like we're in a race, Vistrek. A race that we're losing."

Vistrek nodded. "We're putting a lot of trust in the Exo Stranger."

Alice, keeping lookout at the edge of the dune, interrupted. "It's nearly time. Fighting has broken out."

Whisper crept over to the edge of the dune, careful not to skyline herself, and peeked out. Explosions rocked Freehold, louder than the typical exchanges between Vex and Cabal. Fire exploded from the top of the Dust Palace, as the biggest skyscraper had been nicknamed, and she winced as a fully loaded Harbinger crashed into the top floor.

A huge flight of Harbingers lifted off from the heaviest fortifications in the Exclusion zone and swarmed by overhead. "Let's go."

Fireteam Guardian fell back and mounted their sparrows, humming off into the evening light. They kept as low as they could while moving quickly, trying to keep between the heaviest fortifications in the dividing lines between legions. It didn't take them long to reach the outermost fortifications of the Blind Legion.

The fortifications themselves were enormous. An outer temporary wall of erected barricades similar to concrete and topped with parapets where Blind Legion patrols marched. The elite Cabal troops wore black and white armor, marked with a white skull, but marched with the same exacting, predictable manner as the rest of the Cabal.

The second line was something like fifty feet high and thick enough to rival the Wall of the Last City, easily enough to withstand heavy artillery strikes. And atop these were massive fortification towers that stretched another hundred or so feet up firing slits and even old-fashioned murder holes. Those towers were adorned with search lights which started humming to life as evening fell.

The fireteam transmatted away their sparrows, waited for a patrol to pass, then called on the Light to leap over the outermost wall of Firebase Rubicon as more detonations in Freehold kept the Cabals' eyes drifting in that direction.

They moved quickly, getting off the road and into the rocky terrain inside the walls to regroup. "There, I see an observation post. That should have an active link to their network."

Whisper nodded her thanks to Alice and took a look. It was a tall, black structure that stuck out against the red and tan rocks around it. "Let's see if we can take it quietly. Don't shoot unless you have to." The others nodded and she led the way inside. There was only a single Psion on duty there, and he never even saw them before Whisper's knife ended him.

Whisper kept watch while Blabber did his thing on the terminal. Evening was falling now, but in the dim light she could still see something big on the far side of Firebase Rubicon. Was that… was that a tank? It couldn't be… could it? If it was, it was the most stupidly enormous thing she had ever seen.

Blabber mumbled to himself as he searched. Come on, where is it… ? I got it! Oh… it's on the other side of another defensive line.

Whisper nodded. No reason to expect this would be easy. She pulled up a map on her HUD. "Okay team, like we expected, it's right at the center of the Blind Legions' fortifications. It's behind an inner perimeter called the Iron Line that's mostly underground. It will be ugly no matter what we do, but we can't afford to get pinned down and surrounded, so we'll have to go fast."

Vistrek grunted. "Any idea why this Blind Legion is acting so differently on this?"

She skimmed through the data. "Looks like he's called Primus Sha'aull. The translation software put together by the Cryptarchs is still a work in progress, but from what I'm seeing, not even the other Primarchs know why he's so obsessed with Vex technology."

"Alright, let's get to the Iron Line as quietly as we can, and then hit it as hard as we can."

Alice glanced at Whisper. "Not your most detailed plan."

"Sometimes speed is the most important thing. But if you're worried about it, I just had an idea. You see this small outpost here, roughly on the way? If we hit that spot first on the way, then…"

Cabal Colossus Cri'iux started his 994th patrol guarding the entrance to the Iron Line, the Blind Legion's inner fortress. He was looking forward to hitting 1,000. There was no reward, no rank or battle honor for it, but it had a… a sense of completion to it.

He was still pondering why this was when a squad of three Interceptors rounded the rocky outcrop on his left flank. He looked over them with pride. Though they lacked the speed of the Fallen's Pike and the maneuverability of the humans' Sparrow, the Interceptor made up for it in the thing that mattered most – firepower. Those low-velocity, high-yield anti-personnel/anti-armor cannons had been the bane of many a ground armor over the centuries. The vehicles skated over the dunes, but their formation was ragged, unpracticed.

He had just started to wonder what the unscheduled patrol was doing when the flight turned and rained down fire on his position, wiping out his entire patrol in a rain of fire.

"That went better than expected," said Whisper as she disembarked from the Interceptor.

Alice nodded. "They really are an unimaginative bunch. And not much for disguise. That," she said, pointing to the dark tunnel headed down into the ground, "must be the way in."

Vistrek took point as they descended before more reinforcements could arrive. The tunnel wound down and around, with side passages to other areas of the front sealed off. As they walked, a single heavy airlock suddenly buckled and slid open with a hiss.

Uh… I think they just invited us in?

"A trap. Unimaginative, I believe you called them, Alice?"

The warlock gestured to the wide-open area filled with barricades and firing positions. "I stand by my point."

At the far end of the room was an even more massive airlock. Vistrek shrugged and started walking in the direction. After just a few steps, floodlights flicked on, blinding them, and a warning klaxon erupted in a keening wail. "Here they come!"

Cabal Legionaries flooded out of hiding, leaping over the barricades on their jumpjets as Centurions rushed into a compact formation. Vistrek rushed forward to meet them before they formed up, lightning gathering around him as he launched into their midst. Alice watched his back, her pulse rifle flaming as it tore into anything threatening to flank Vistrek.

For her part, Whisper hung back, picking off long-range targets.

Facing three prepared guardians, the battle was one-sided. As the last Cabal fell, Whisper approached the airlock. Okay, I'll get to work on this door. Blabber paused, spinning anxiously. Get ready. You know what happens when I open doors.

"He's got a point," agreed Alice as Blabber got to work.

"Okay. Alice, you take the right, I'll take the left. Vistrek, you take the center. We'll assume that they've got a squad just on the other side of this waiting to pounce. Hit them with grenades as soon as you see them."

The airlock ground open to the sides, and sure enough, a squad of especially heavily armored Legionaries were in position and immediately started firing. One explosion of Light later, and the way was clear.

They moved forward briskly, following the tunnels that now stretched upwards towards the center of the Blind Legion's Keep. Finally, the emerged into the night sky on the inside of the massive perimeter walls. A large bridge loomed ahead towards a towering piece of Vex architecture. Why is everything so big? "That must be the Spire, straight across the bridge!" shouted Alice.

They raced forward as alarms spread across the entire fortress and flights of Harvesters lifted off the landing pads. "Speed is everything," Whisper said into their comms channel as explosions erupted around them from long-range Harvester fire. "Keep moving forwards – don't stop!"

The battle turned chaotic as they charged ahead, Light and gunpowder flashing in the dark. They raced forward, pausing only to cover each other as their ghosts revived them, until they reached the Spire. Blabber emerged from hiding and started examining the Vex structure while Fireteam Guardian turned to hold the bridge against a flood of Legionaries, Centurions, Psions, and everything else the Cabal could throw at them. You handle the Cabal, I'll wake the Eye.

It seemed to go on forever, but after just a few minutes Blabber spoke again. I have no idea what's about to happen. Watch out!

The Vex Spire began to glow, its matter rearranging itself around the dead Eye, shining like a beacon in the dark. Even the Cabal seemed impressed, as they hesitated in their assault. The Spire glowed even brighter, then much of it seemed to merge into the Eye itself, which started to shine. I… I think that did it. The ghost transmatted away the Eye as the glow faded and quickly returned to Whisper, who turned back to the Cabal.

Whisper discovered she was wrong about the Cabal. They hadn't been taken aback by the Eye. They had been regrouping. Now the biggest Cabal she had ever seen was leading a charge towards them, made to look even bigger by huge decorative fringes framing its massive helmet. "Primus!" shouted Vistrek.

That must be Primus Sha'aull. It's a good thing so many of his troops are out in Freehold right now, or we would be so dead. Even so, he'd managed to borrow some Dust Giants from the look of things and was ready to defend his territory.

The Primus bounded ahead, Project Launcher firing grenades rapidly, and the battle was on.

On open ground at close range, it was devastating. Even the heavily armored Cabal fell quickly, and the guardians went down one after another, only to revive again and again. It didn't take long until the Primus was the only one left standing, but his armor was so thick they couldn't get through it. Vistrek's auto-rifle thundered on full auto as Sha'aull picked him up and hurled him off the bridge without a flinch. Even the Devil You Know's heavy rounds bounced off the armor. Vistrek launched up onto the bridge, crackling with power once again, but the wily Primus launched backwards on his jumpjets, staying out of reach as his grenades blew the titan apart.

"To me!" shouted Alice, and she slammed her fist to the ground. A well of Light poured out of her in a circle, flooding the very air. Whisper didn't pause to ask, instead jumping into it. The surge of energy was immediate, and even her weapon began to glow with the all-consuming energy.

The hand cannon hit with more power, finally starting to penetrate, and Alice pulled out a new weapon. It was bizarre in appearance, covered in Vex technology, and it glowed with a combination of energy from both the Light and the Vex tower. The warlock pulled the trigger and an explosion of energy leaped forward to crash into the mighty Cabal, tearing through its armor to the vulnerable flesh beneath.

Alice cried out, holding onto the Light as long as she could as the Cabal stumbled, but she held out longer and the Cabal fell. Alice dropped to a knee, gasping for breath, as the Vistrek revived. "What is that thing?"

She smiled. "It's called the Pocket Infinity. The last fireteam on Venus died finding the designs and making the prototype for this thing."
"Can you make more?" demanded the titan.

"Banshee said so much of it is captured Vex-tech that replicating it is impossible. Vistrek nodded, disappointed.

"We'll worry about that later. For now, the Eye is charged. Let's get out of here. Head back to the tunnels."

LORE REFERENCED

Grimoire Cards:

The Buried City

Projection Rifle

Bracus Ta'aurn

Cerberus Vae III (referencing the Imperial Land Tank outside Firebase Rubicon)

Primus Sha'aull

Interceptor

Bounty Descriptions:

TARGET: Primus Sha'aull

TARGET: Primus Sha'aull (there are two different versions)