"Good morning, fireteam, I hope you all are ready for your first mission as a team, and Coeniks where did you ever get such a creative helmet design from?" Ikora's voice betrayed that she knew far more than she was letting on about our last 12 hours.
"Atalanta showed me footage of her attack upon the devil Splicer, Ikorakel; I simply took after the interesting designs of the Archon Prime's helm." I hoped my lie might hold her over until we could get this mission underway. "It is the mantle of an Eliksni becoming more than they ever thought possible."
"SIVA was a danger to us all, however; Lord Saladin's vigil in the Cosmodrome is a blessing for us." She looks now directly at Atlalana. "I hope that each and every guardian learns to respect its danger."
"I fought it myself ma'am I understand both the dangers and uses of the nanomachines." Her helmet hid any expression.
Ikora smiled at this. "I'm glad Young Wolf, now to the main matter at hand. You all have already received your Splicer gauntlet from the servitor downstairs, and it's time to learn how to use it. I entrust that to Mithraxkel."
The Kell appeared from downstairs and approached the War Table. "Greetings you three, it is time to teach you how to weave and twist networks. The light is a powerful thing, and to simply limit your understanding of it to force and fire is limiting. I want you each to reach out with the gauntlet and feel the air while feeding light into the nodes on it."
I extended my upper right hand and pressed my light into the gauntlet. A grid of small white lines appeared around it and I began to pluck my fingers along each strand, as I did a small streak of blue lighting bounced between the fingers of the gauntlets and the strands of light.
I felt more confident and began to pullllll.
The lighting grew stronger and stronger in my hand, and I grabbed at these strands with my other hands. It felt crisp and tingled under my grip; I weaved and spun and twisted this light until it formed a small web of lighting under my arms.
"Coeniks, you can let go at any time." Ikora reminded me kindly.
I snapped back to reality and saw my fireteam's attempts. Crow had managed to make a simple square upon his strands, and Atalanta had simply ripped at the network.
"I am impressed with your work Coeniks, are you adept in arc light?" Mithrax looked my web up and down as I released it into the air.
"No sir, I have only wielded solar fire."
"Plenty of time to learn young one, plenty of time. The gauntlet pulls at any data in the air; the vex network is mightiest right now, but know that any network can be pulled at, and with enough work, entered." He reached out with his own gauntlet and pulled an image of the Last City from an aircraft with this statement.
"Your goal is to breach the network and defeat the mind securing the data we require. Our entry point is on Europa near where you found Mithrax-kel, Atalanta The breech is primed, and your light will be able to collect vex data and overload that tear into an entrance to the network. Go in and slay the mind once it's open" Ikora's ghost presented the drop site in visual form as she spoke.
"Get in, make a door, break a mind? Sounds simple enough, anything to worry about?" Atalanta spoke with a clarity of purpose I hadn't seen before.
"Know that the mind will be well defended, and pushing your light into the splice may make things a little dicey for your abilities, be safe first and foremost." The Warlock turned to look at each of us over again. "You three are more than capable, but we cannot risk losing anyone right now; pull out of the network the minute you feel at real risk."
"Yes Ikora-kel"
"Yes ma'am"
"Understood"
"May the Great Machine keep you all safe" Mithrax gave us all a bow before leaving.
-scene change-
I feel the soft crunch of the Europan snow beneath my feet; my first time touching another celestial body. It is far too familiar to be an alien world; I know I've seen it before. The truth hits me like the monster from my dreams: this is the site of my nightly crusade to the tower in the field.
The world around me is a mixture of deep blues, cold cold whites, and the unusual shine of the brass of vex structures being devoured by the elements. My dreams never contained them, but everything else, even the sky, was the same.
Atalanta's voice cut through the silence.
"Remember guys, kill vex and their stuff, steal data, make a door."
She ran forward and activated the construct left by the Splicer with a quick slap, and a deep fog crossed by lightning appeared across the ice. Giant bronze machines appeared within the fog and red eyes blinked to life before they began to march at us.
We all broke into a run and met the machines with light and lead.
I devoured a ball of light and wielded the Maul with my upper arms and my rifle with the lower pair. Firing a grenade into the swarm I saw two frames drop as five more fired wildly at the lack of sight; my pulse rifle took out two before they had realized what hit them. Another grenade left the Maul before I stored it and ran forward to collect both the data and SIVA nanites, striking the closest frames with fire-cloaked claws before firing at the farther ones from behind them.
A large, tri-winged form flew from farther across the snow towards me before it collapsed; a hammer had been thrown at its back and had melted the delicate systems within. "Welcome to the Vex kid! Aim for the juice box where you see it, and don't break the head, ever."
"Understood" I call back and glance at the spire next to her, it is calm around it now and I take the chance to run over and deposit my data. The structure stirs and dances as it is fed information.
Another storm of Vex appears at this and from it descends larger forms; they stand at about 3 meters to the shoulder with a wide form to match. The machines guide their subordinates with an odd cry as they rush towards the splice.
Trusting Atalanta with the crowd of machines I bound over them and attempt to plant my feet upon the chassis of the large machine. A shield of void fire meets my boots instead of metal, and the barrier causes me to slow down enough to be swatted down by its left arm. Its rifle pointed at my face and purple fire filled my vision before everything went black.
The world turned back to white and blue as my Little Great Machine returned me next to Crow.
He fired a shot at my murderer and cut its shield and core with 1 quick sniper round. "Saw how it took you down, clever plan though. I can keep you safe from snipers as long as you nab data for me."
"Deal, I can't stand fighting with snipers." I rush back into the fray and retrieve the data from the chassis. I began to set into a rhythm of firing pulse rounds and swapping to my secondary grenade launcher for large crowds. SIVA and data coursed through my armor as I kill and kill and kill.
Depositing more data, the tower changes shape into a thinner rail-like form. The Vex-storm appears, thicker than before, and large constructs drop upon us. Two 4 meter tall frames with large wings appear and begin to fire upon me and Atalanta.
I pull out my drum grenade launcher and send a volley of rounds towards the closer of the two, catching several smaller frames around its legs in the blasts. The machine beast recoiled at the explosions before straightening up to counter with attacks of its own. I throw a small ball of solar light that turns to a miniature sun upon its chassis; the beast melts under its heat and ceases movement.
I turn to Atalanta and see her standing, shotgun in hand, over her own adversary's corpse. We make eye contact and look towards the spire. It now had a swarm of red boxes floating around it with one white box flickering between them.
The comms system cracked to life. "Young Crow, fire upon the white oracle to breach this layer of security!" Mithrax-kel's worried voice came through. "We cannot lose the splice!"
A BANG cut the air as the oracle exploded and the tower gained platforms. I saw a broken weave at the top of the tower and leaped up to repair it with my gauntlet. The fragmented tower mended under my light in small knots before returning to its original shape.
"Well done Coeniks, keep it up you three!" The voice of Ikora-kel carried through the radio now.
We continued to fight the coming waves of machines off and depositing data until, at last, one last weave created our portal into the network.
I drop to the ground next to our compatriots and they both dive into the data stream. I look around the icey surface one last time and see 4 blue eyes peer at me from under a distant ridge. The head of the Eliksni appears and it's an exo like me. I stop myself from running to them and dive into the network towards my fireteam.
An island of blue, green, and purple cubes suspended in a similar void meets my eyes as I float onto the network breach we formed. Sliding down several slanted platforms I bound forward and use that momentum to meet my fireteam at a bend in our path.
"Glad you could join us, let's get this mind down." Crow's voice betrayed his annoyance at this situation. "I died hitting the wall back there and want out of here."
Atlanta laughed. "You ate it so hard! I think I saw your gun fly through the back of your chest."
"Let's. Go."
We ran forward and dodged a laser grid set before finally heading through a vex gate into the mind's network center.
A massive version of the bronze birds we fought outside stands upon a raised dais in the center of the room, and with a final twist of the net weave, I force it out of its cage.
The mind screams and charges us with its void cannons firing upon us. Atalanta fires a rocket into its left cannon and causes it to malfunction as I place rounds into its faceplate.
The machine jumps into the air and dives upon us as Atalanta and Crow dive away.
I, however, get my torso crushed for my troubles.
Reviving next to Atalanta I shake off the sensation of getting my cheat caved in. "Not. A. Word."
She turns to me smugly. "They can kick for future notice."
"I don't believe it." I pull out my heavy grenade launcher and place a few rounds into its face as I tread backward.
Crow takes this opportunity to get behind it and fire his linear fusion rifle into its back. The machine stumbles forward as its core swaps sides, and Atalanta charges forward to introduce its chest to her shotgun.
She fires 1 round before it transports back up to its platform and begins buzzing with calculations and simulations. A powerful machine with a flat skull appears near Atalanta and me with vines of energy wrapping its body.
"That's a champion, specific rounds or overwhelming firepower are needed to break it, I got this." She surrounds herself with arc light and flies into it with all the force of a lightning bolt.
The mind's security drops again and she retrieves a data core from the corpse of the champion. "Mine nowwwww"
The mind turns to fire at Crow as it descends to our level, and I take this time to fire at its now backwards-facing core. The glass chips slightly at my pulse rifle's fire before the bronze bird turns to face me.
I run behind the pillar from it now to force its pursuit and the beast takes the bait, giving my fireteam free rein to put round after round into its core.
The machine jumps towards me, but knowing now how much that hurts to get hit by, I jump out of the way the minute it begins to move towards me. I fire a few more shots into its face as Crow puts 1 more shot in its back.
The machine returns to its platform as the network buzzes to life around us, the world hums with rage as the mind takes full control back.
Mithraks-kel's voice crosses strained mandibles to meet us. "Their light is dim Ikora! I am struggling to hold the splice with how far into the network they are!"
"Guardians! Hold on, the mind is fighting us!"
Cubes of the vex weave surround us and ties upon itself any time I attempt to twist it; the network itself is attempting to drown our light under layer upon layer of security.
Atalanta strains at her cage as Crow attempts to cut himself out. I see that they are making the same amount of progress, and the network is spinning like a cocoon around us.
They fade from view and I rush through my options, the world goes silent besides the whispers of my helmet.
My helmet.
My helmet containing an infectious nanomachine network.
I release my many-armed form and tear at the network with a force and hunger born of light and nanomachine. The SIVA devours any strand it touches and travels along the threads of the network towards my compatriots, freeing them as well. The mind drops all signs of containing us as it recoils; I latch onto its shield directly.
Six SIVA-infused arms devour its protections before I dive into it and my world burns orange.
-scene change-
I awaken back on the Europan ice, Atalanta and Crow beside me with my Little-great Machine peering into my eyes.
"You let the helmet do what SIVA does. It was contained by your Super and only expanded as far as your flames, but the vex mind was wholly destroyed." My Little-great machine says as he scans me.
Crow is crouched beside me inspecting my body.
I stand slowly and turn to face Atalanta. "What is so wrong with letting it do what it does then?"
"It ate everything your light touched and turned it to energy, you aren't in the same body you were when you cast your super." Crow says as he stands up as well.
"It ate you alive and turned you into energy to fuel your own light, your ghost made it out as soon as it began to eat at you." She looks me up and down. "Promise me you won't lose yourself to it again, I know it worked but we can't risk it like that."
"I promise to try." I choke out through my fear.
"Good, Ikora wants to debrief with us all. Let's get back home." She calls in her ship and I transmat aboard.