Chapter 33: A Rising Tide
"When fighting Cabal, armor penetration capability is key. The most effective tactic is to combine heavy weapons with the Light in combination." -Whisper's Guide for Guardians
Ikora Rey sat at her desk listening to the report from a clearly disturbed warlock. "Take a deep breath. Now, again. Slower."
The warlock nodded, took a breath, and spoke. "I signed up to do a Crucible match in one of the new locations, The Cauldron, on the dark side of the moon. A good story to share over beers, fighting out there in Hive territory. We were facing a full squad. I recognized a couple of them – Orsa, Teben—but they were different. Decked out in dark gear and set to intimidate. I took it as an attempt at psychological warfare—up the creep factor in a creepy place, right? But it was more than that. They had changed."
Ikora nodded. "Thank you for your report. You have given me a lot to think about."
Yes, she thought as the warlock departed, a lot to think about. The mysterious Zyre Orsa decides to make a reappearance. Why now? And what are they up to?
…
Fireteam Guardian were surprised to find the leaders of the Consensus there to greet them in the Tower hangar. Executor Hideo strode forward, his arms wide. "Your fireteam truly is a guardian to us all! Primus Shau'ull's death is a great victory for the City. Well done, Fireteam Guardian. Accept these rewards as a token of the City's appreciation."
Whisper awkwardly accepted the nicely wrapped package of glimmer, puzzled by what was going on and wondering just how involved the Consensus was in all of this if they couldn't even pronounce the Cabal's name right. Fortunately, the meeting was short, a few photos and handshakes and they were free of each other, which seemed to please everyone involved.
They split the glimmer and parted ways for a short break. Vistrek headed back to report in with the Firebreak Order and discuss the recent mission. Alice went to report to the Praxic Order, and Whisper headed off to find Cayde, if just to fit in.
Cayde was practically giggling when she found him. "No one's ever penetrated the Blind Legion perimeter and made it into that Warbase. Until now. I'm going to tell everyone you took out an admiral and seized the Spire, and they won't believe me, and then I will win so very many bets. Speaking of, I have a thousand Glimmer down on your death in the Black Garden. Nothing personal!"
…
Vistrek paused for a much-needed drink on his way to report to the Firebreak Order. He'd just opened the bottle when he heard excited voices from the next booth over.
"You're back? How was it?"
"It was wild. The Vanguard sent a bunch of strike teams out to Mars to hit a bunch of locations at once. Those Cabal, they're tough, I'll give them that. And they're weapons hit hard. We took a beating, lost two good hunters."
"Damn, sorry to hear that. Did you, uh, find anything good at least?"
"Good? I don't know. Weird, definitely. We picked some software code, looks kind of like a butterfly. I showed it to the Cryptarchs, and they can't decide if it was Golden Age or Vex tech – seemed to be somewhere in the middle."
"Crazy."
"Yeah, and that wasn't even the strangest thing. Listen, I don't plan on heading back to Mars anytime soon. Fighting Fallen here on Earth is more than enough for me, so I'll tell you a secret. When everything went to hell, I got separated from the team and stumbled on an old supply cache. And I mean old. The strangest thing though, I could have sworn I heard a voice coming from inside it. If any of you are interested, it's free game. Here are the coordinates. Starting from…"
Vistrek jotted down the coordinate quickly. The hunters couldn't have all the fun. And maybe Whisper and Alice seemed to be pulling all the weight recently, which wouldn't do at all.
…
Ikora looked preoccupied when Whisper found her in the Tower, but she looked up as Whisper approached. "Congratulations on taking the Spire and activating the Eye. I understand Zavala would like to meet with you before you return to Mars, but how can I help in the meantime?"
Whisper sat down. "I'm not sure what we're going to find in the Black Garden, but it seems to be connected to the Vex. Last time I asked, you told me they were builders and may have buried structures on every celestial body linked by a teleportation network that is effectively instantaneous. Is there anything else you know about them that might help?"
The warlock considered for a moment. "There may be one thing. This is not secret, exactly, but I ask that you don't spread it around." Ikora stood and walked towards the window, Whisper in tow, to make sure no prying ears could hear them, then spoke quietly. "We understand the Vex as a network of thoughts, unified and vast. But not all Vex are the same. The one we encounter most we call the Sol Collective. It's descriptive more than anything, but it works. But there are others. The Hezen Corrective is one example of a Vex subtype, set apart from other Vex by distinct behaviors and objectives."
"Where are these Hezen Corrective? What makes them different?"
"You've already encountered them, to an extent. They swarm across the Ishtar Sink, aggressively seeking out and attacking the Fallen House of Winter, performing inscrutable operations around shining Confluxes, and even showing interest in the Golden Age ruins left by the Ishtar Collective. The bulk of our contact with Vex forces on Venus has involved the Corrective. Those few scholars willing to risk their reputations speculating about the Vex often assert that the Corrective is an agent of change, designed to solve problems and remake the world in a form suitable to the Vex. Others contend that the Corrective is simply a strategic distraction – meant to draw attention away from the actions of the Hezen Protective."
Whisper shrugged. "Who or what are the Hezen Protective?"
"They are the second major Vex behavioral unit on Venus. Concentrated around what we believe to be the entrance to the legendary Vault of Glass and the Endless Steps, at the site of the massive Vex gate and access point to the Citadel. They seem primarily defensive, but their behavior is always a process, active and purposeful. They are engaged in a project of colossal scope, but it is not clear what the ultimate purpose is. They may even be trying to react to an event that has yet to occur, or be working towards a goal that, to us, has already happened."
"Now that you mention it," added Whisper, "the Vex on Mars seemed different. Their paint was darker, more gray than the gold I saw on Venus."
"Precisely. They are the Virgo Prohibition, aggressively and relentlessly testing the Cabal Exclusion Zone, apparently heedless of losses. I have to wonder what their strategy is. With their vast computational power, it seems impossible they could have accidentally fallen into a losing war of attrition. Are they trying to draw out the Cabal strength? Or serve as a distraction from another vital strategic interest? We don't know. What I am trying to say, Whisper, is do not think of the Vex as entirely monolithic. They are more akin to algorithms – each a unique mapping of inputs to behavioral responses. Perhaps the Virgo Prohibition is simply the wrong algorithm for its environment, and its failure will drive the greater Vex network to adapt and improve. But if you encounter Vex in the Black Garden, do not assume they will operate in the same way as the other Vex you have seen."
…
Zavala put his foot down when the full fireteam arrived at the Vanguard meeting. "I can't let you make a run at the Black Garden, not yet."
Vistrek frowned. "Why is that, sir?"
"There is too much happening right now, and making a run at that gate at the moment is a suicide mission. Look at this." He tapped a command into the Vanguard's conference desk and a small holographic display popped up showing a map of Mars around the Meridian Bay. Whisper was taken aback by what she saw. Zavala wasn't kidding. It looked like everything had changed in the short time since they left.
"The Vex are responding, taking advantage of the cracks in the Cabal lines and moving in force in what seems to be a direct effort to protect the entrance to the Black Garden. Thousands of Vex are pouring onto Mars from across the system every hour. The planet could soon be worse than Venus. We've got to find out where they're coming from."
Ikora stepped forward. "As you saw on Venus, the Vex use Confluxes to travel. You must locate their primary Conflux in the area and destroy it. If you fail, the Cabal will be overrun and it will only be a matter of time before the Mars becomes one of their machines. But that's only part of the problem. Cayde?"
The exo took the floor. "This part's my job. See, the Cabal didn't take kindly to your taking out a Primus. We've seen signs that their Skyburners fleet on Phobos is starting to mobilize and ready a counter-offensive. We're going to need to hit them hard, probably going right for the leaders, to muck up their attack plans."
Zavala nodded gravely. "This was exactly what I was worried about allowing you to pursue this Black Garden, and especially when I learned that the Cabal have no word for retreat." The situation was grave enough that Whisper managed not to roll her eyes as Vistrek nodded seriously. "But we're here now, and we must stand fast against them, or perish in their wake. So get down there and stop the Vex from taking another planet from us."
…
Zyre Orsa took a certain pleasure in the reticence the other Crucible fighters showed when he stepped into the Shaxx's latest arena on Mars. They had to cut their way through a patrol of Cabal to get there, which took him way back. A warlock lined up beside him caught herself before inching away. She glanced at his hip to the twisted, ominously green-tinted hand cannon at his side. He patted it comfortingly, an effective tool for his purposes, and the warlock looked away.
No promise, but not a threat, either. A good old plain Guardian, committed to the Light. Like his gun, useful, as far as they went. But there was room for so much more. And more was what he desperately needed.
"Fighters!" shouted Shaxx from his Post in the City, the signal bouncing from satellite to satellite, then down to the central Mars network and out through the patrol beacons to the Blind Watch outpost. "Your Light is a flame, Guardian. Kindle it, and hear it roar."
Orsa snorted in his blackened helmet and drew his weapon which glowed with a sickly green, twisted Light.
"One path to victory, Guardians! Fight!"
Orsa flowed forward, his companions at his back. It did not take long for the screaming to start.
…
Siegfried stood in Ikora's library, helmet respectfully doffed. The Vanguard warlock looked concerned. "I'm assuming you're aware of the events on Mars."
Siegfried frowned. "The results from Blind Watch?"
"Yes. It may be starting again. We need to keep an eye on any who would seek to retrace Yor's path while my attention is on the developing situation elsewhere on Mars."
The titan nodded emphatically. "Agreed. We can't have them sneaking up on us. But Orsa and his friends do seem to have contained what Yor could not."
"If you wish to join the Praxic Order, you cannot be so quick to make dangerous assumptions. The pestilence of those Thorns of theirs is becoming more commonplace. They are recruiting again, and not every guardian will be as… resilient as they are."
"I will keep watch over them."
"Good. And thank you, Siegfried."
…
Fireteam Guardian transmatted down to the surface of Mars and into a war zone. Vistrek grunted as he took down a Vex Goblin. "Commander Zavala was right. The Vex are taking control of the surface to protect the Black Garden. We must find where they're coming from."
Alice pinged their comm system. "I think I've got it. Passing the signal."
A fireball detonated over Freehold. "We need speed," said Whisper, and they transmatted in their Sparrows and sped off.
It was a hazardous journey. The Vex were absolutely everywhere, boiling out of every nook and cranny in the ground. Cabal Harvesters choked the sky, dropping off Squads and Maniples to overwhelm the Vex with superior firepower, but everywhere they weren't, the Vex were advancing. They were thousands of them, more than Whisper had imagined could be hidden away.
They raced through firefight after firefight, dodging around explosions and out into the dunes outside the City where the fighting was a little less intense. Out in the Scablands the Cabal patrols were complete gone as they withdrew into the protection of their bunkers and outposts as firepower was consolidated at the fiercest fighting near the city. Outside the range of their guns it was just Vex swarming in a horde towards Meridian Bay.
"There!" Whisper pointed to her friends at a glowing white lattice out in the distance. They raced towards it, dodging so close between Vex that Vistrek actually crushed a Goblin beneath his Sparrow. They leaped off as they approached and engaged the Vex guarding the scene in a short, vicious firefight. Once the last Minotaur went down Vistrek took up overwatch while Alice and Whisper approached the glowing white Vex Conflux.
I can shut this down, but it's part of an even bigger network across the surface. Most of them seem to be connected to a large surge coming from below the Buried City.
Whisper nodded to Blabber as the Conflux winked out. "Thanks. How do you manipulate Vex technology like that?"
The ghost bounced in the air. It's a lot easier to press the off switch then to figure out how it works.
"That must be the main entrance," added Vistrek. "Taking down the smaller ones won't stop this. We need to go to the source."
"Agreed. Let's go."
The trip back was perilous blowing past Vex, but they were aided by more fireteams setting down across the Buried City. Whisper's HUD glowed with green icons as they came into range. Fireteam Axis held the heart of the city, Reed-7, Shayura, and Aisha taking on all comers, Vex and Cabal alike. Fireteam Family were forted up in the Clovis Bray skyscraper, and Fireteam DX7 had taken to the relative safety of an overrun Cabal bunker where the less experienced Amelia and Stella could fight under Ash-2's watchful eye. Their Light forced pockets of free space in the choked city.
"How do get below all this?" shouted Vistrek over the shriek of a Harvester's mortar fire.
"Subway!" shouted back Whisper. "Underground transport network!" She pointed to a small structure out in the street which read in stylized blue script "Off World Transmit, M Line."
Vistrek gave her a thumbs up and lead the way, shoulder-checking a Goblin aside and blasting a Hobgoblin apart. Alice and Whisper followed, diving down the ramp to the dark beneath the sand.
It was quieter below the City, with tons of sand and concrete muffling the sound of explosions from above. It was also dark. There was no power, and her helmet lamp's beam was the only light in the pitch black.
"Dark," muttered Vistrek.
Alice shrugged. "Aim for any red eye you see."
They descended a staircase that hadn't been touched by human feet in centuries, where once thousands passed every day on their way to and from work. The silence was eerie. They pressed on into Freehold Station, where the atmosphere grew even more oppressive, the Light more distant.
"Darkness zone," Whisper said quietly into comms. "Watch yourselves."
Her light slid past a tiled wall as something crackled in the dark. She turned back, and a half-dozen red eyes glinted as they marched forwards. Some seemed to be swimming through the air. "Vex!"
A furious firefight erupted. Whisper had no idea how her companions could see anything, as even her artificial eyes struggled with the transition from blinding light to complete darkness. Her hand cannon blasted through two Goblins when she staggered back under fire, pieces of her armor and shoulders melting away.
She landed hard on her back and looked up to see a floating Vex above them, a strange machine that barely seemed to hold together into a single construct. Like all Vex, it was centered around a single red eye, but its triangular-shaped shell seemed to detach and swirl around it. It was faster and mobile than anything else she'd seen.
Whisper rolled out of the way as it sent another sizzling bolt of solar energy into the ground and fired up her hand cannon directly into its red eye, which exploded in a shower of sparks.
The Vex fought hard, sending heavily armored Minotaurs, Goblins, Hobgoblins and more of those flying ones at them. Whisper had a hard time sorting through the chaos in the darkness, but soon only the Guardians were still moving.
Vistrek led the way around an ancient coffee shop and down a broken escalator, then over the railing and down onto the subway tracks themselves heading towards a big energy signature. They must have been headed in the right direction, because as they jumped up at the next station even more Vex teleported in to stop them.
They blasted their way through them, before getting delayed for nearly five minutes by a massive, heavily armored Hydra. As they past it and moved from Freehold Station into Tharsis Junction, the energy signature grew even stronger.
More Vex teleported in as they hit the junction, bursting into reality between rusted-out train cars. And now they were throwing things. Whisper leaped clear as a Hobgoblin through something glowing violently in her direction. Whatever it was, it didn't explode like a grenade. It flashed like a Vex teleporting in, but instead of a Vex, it was an explosion of Void energy. Where are they teleporting that in from?
The irrelevant thought flashed through her mind as they fought onwards. Dozens of Vex were teleporting in at a time, but Whisper caught sight of a glowing circular gate. "There!"
"Whisper, go!" Vistrek launched outwards, wreathed in lightning, and Vex tumbled away from him in all directions. Whisper unloaded on the gate, which exploded in a violent flash of Vex energy. Vistrek went down and Whisper left the smoking gate, pulling in Arc Light herself. She blinked into the fray, her knife flashing as she ripped apart the Vex while Whisper pooled Solar Light around them and her ghost pumped Light into Vistrek's ghost to help revive him under the pall of Darkness.
One, larger Vex teleported in, a supercharged, oversized Minotaur. It aimed at Whisper and a half-dozen Hobgoblins turned towards her as one. "Axis Mind on the field!" she shouted as she blinked away from the tide of incoming fire.
They fought on in a hurricane of madness, blowing apart Vex and being cut down in turn, all the while chipping away at the Vex gateways until, finally, the Axis Mind went down, significantly lowering resistance until the last gate exploded in a flash of Alice's Solar Light.
Blabber repaired a half-dozen holes in Whisper, pumping Light into her with effort, before turning to the glowing Vex Conflux in the middle of the station. The ghost approached it with his two companions reluctantly. The three ghosts together scanned the unfathomable amounts of information and energy channeling into and out of reality before reaching consensus. Alice's ghost Lilith was the one to finally report. "This isn't an invasion," she said reluctantly. "The Vex are returning… home. Something is calling them back to the Black Garden."
Vistrek frowned behind his helmet. "Can we destroy this?" Alice shook her head. "I don't think so. It's not a gate, it's… hard to explain. It's information and energy. It doesn't do anything, and it's hard to say if it goes anywhere. It just… is. But the Vex aren't teleporting through it."
"Then we've succeeded."
"For now," agreed Whisper. "We've at least slowed down the Vex invasion. But the Cabal are still getting ready to hit Earth."
Alice's head tilted slightly to the side. "You know, Whisper, life was so much simpler before you came along. Something big happened only every century or so. Now it's just one thing after another."
The big titan chuckled and waived. "Come on, let's go find out what new crisis has exploded. It's been hours since the last threat to life on Earth as we know it."
Whisper looked between the two helplessly, then followed in their wake.
Lore Referenced:
D1 Grimoire:
The Garden's Spire
Ghost Fragment: The Cauldron
Hezen Corrective
Hezen Protective
Virgo Prohibition
Ghost Fragment: Blind Watch
Harpy
Slap Grenade
Items:
Cinder Pinion Plate / Cinder Pinion Vest / Cinder Pinion Robe
Quests/Bounties:
Primus Sha'aull
TARGET: Primus Sha'aull
A Voice in the Wilderness
Armor Breaker
Do It Again
Miscellaneous:
Butterfly Code
