Of Spirits of Fire and Light

by HFY299

Two branches of humanity under the threat of extinction. Can they join together and prevail? Or will they be snuffed out by the onslaught of their foes? I've always enjoyed the Destiny/Halo crossovers but I thought that it'd be nice to see something other than just spartan revived as guardian stories. Up for adoption- college is more challenging than I thought it would be.

9. Chapter 9

Hi Author here! Lots of feedback, I've decided to take some advice from some of it. First off I'll be doing longer chapters now, probably not going to immediately jump to 10K chapters but I'm going to try and make each chapter a little bit longer at least. The SoF WILL be getting a refit/repair/upgrade from the kind folks in the city, haven't decided exactly WHAT those upgrades will be yet but it'll happen. In the meantime, with the longer chapters, I'm thinking this first arc of the story will be the struggle to get the SoF back to the UNSC. I'm planning a strike or two in order to steal vex gate blueprints and gather materials needed to build new ones hint hint. To top it all off though will be a VANGUARD EXPEDITION, the first since the expediation to the moon that resulted in THE GREAT DISASTER. This is going to be epic. Still, before we can get to that excitement we need to set a premise for it. Now Cutter gets to be the one thing no Captain ever wants to be, a diplomat.

Dialogue Chart

"Person speaking"

|Ghost Speaking|

"Alien speaking"

{AI Speaking}

Adding [ ] before any of these means the being in question is thinking

'Something being referred to with air quotations'

Anything else

Date 0/05/4522

Location: Alternate Earth- The Last City

Persons of interest

Serina: 2nd Gen Smart AI

Captain James Cutter: Cpt of the SoF

Doctor Ellen Anders: Scientific Consultant

Jerome-092

Alice-130

Douglas-042

Dr. Ander's POV

As I stood in my lab and looked out into the open air, I was dumbstruck. The City? Impressive, it was looked like it was comparable to certain megacities back in the UEG, nothing compared to the stuff on my version of Earth, but still something. The walls? THAT was something. They looked like they had to be hundreds of meters tall! However all of it paled in comparison to the… object floating above the city. If it were in pristine condition, it would've been a pale white orb, with silver lines cutting across the surface, it was not in pristine condition however. Cracks and entire sections looked to have fallen and broken off, exposing mysterious inner working I couldn't begin to fathom. Yet rather than fall to the ground and potentially crush countless civilians, the shards… orbited around their origin! Like electrons orbiting a nucleus they stubbornly refused to leave. As I sat and watched I realized that the shards were slowly lowering to the surface of the orb in some places, laying themselves down on the surface with utmost delicacy. ["It's repairing itself."] I thought in a moment of realization. I shuddered at the thought of what could damage something like that. The SoF's sensors did NOT like the orb, spitting impossible readings and unknown radiation signatures like crazy. Yet they all seemed to agree on one thing, the orb had an insane amount of energy in it. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. ["We're not here for the mega orb of unspeakable power. We're here to talk with these people, get the ship fixed up and maybe a new FTL drive. Maybe a tech exchange… right. I need to tell the Captain what to expect."] With that I hit the intercom and said, "Serina, get me the Captain.

Cutter's POV

BEEP

The chime of an incoming message cut off my crew and my own deliberating on the giant object hovering above the city. Custos had notified me some time ago that he was going to go down to the City and arrange us a meeting with the Vanguard as well as the City Consensus. Serina, being quite the help, informed me that Anders had been studying the City leadership in preparation for this. "Doctor Anders, I've hear that you have some information that could be helpful for our upcoming meeting?" I ask, already knowing the answer. "Yes Captain, there are many individuals that could be important but I'm going to keep this brief. We don't know exactly how long it'll take them to prepare down there so we need to be ready." She says quickly. I agree, but hopefully there will be less politicking than I'd expect. Considering how small there population appeared to be, there might be less political insanity.

"Alright Captain, the most important group we'll be dealing with on military aspects is the Vanguard." Anders begins. "Vanguard… isn't that the group our guest said he belonged to?" I ask I return. "Yes sir, our initially assessment of them was only partially correct. There are three leaders in the Vanguard, one for each type of Guardian. We initially assumed them to be a scouting branch of their military, but that falls into the domain of the Hunters, which is only one division of the Vanguard." Anders explains. "How about the others, anything to be concerned about?" I ask, Custos was a formidable soldier. He managed to keep up with the Spartans the entire time while cleaning out the Vex. If all of them were like that it would be incredible.

"Actually there's a lot of things to be concerned about, but for now we need to focus on their leadership." The doctor advises. I ponder it a moment before approving, we could examine the minute details later. "The first is Commander Zavala, the Titan Vanguard." With that a hologram of a massive individual in heavy armor appears on the bridge. He easily looked like he could go into a slugging match with a Spartan, maybe not win but he'd hold his own. There was one issue though. "Serina I think the hologram is misaligned, his face is… blue." I say, slightly annoyed. {Apologies sir, but that hologram is working perfectly fine, it's just that Commander Zavala is blue.} Serina says in a rather jovial tone. That threw me for a loop, what could cause a person to dye themselves blue? "If you're thinking it's ink Captain, you're wrong. Apparently the Commander is an Awoken, a type of human subspecies that exists here. There's mention of what I interpret to be an incident with exotic radiation exposure to a colony ship that caused them. Moving on, he is considered to be a massive stickler to military discipline. Favoring fortified installations and heavy firepower to win engagements." As Anders explained what kind of person the Commander was, I began to find a form of appreciation for the hardened soldier. He appeared to have an exemplary service record as far as what we've been given says. That brought on another question though. "It says that he's been in service for over a thousand years." I say incredulously. {Also correct sir, Guardians, do not age. The oldest one in service is one Lord Saladin, records say he's been active for over 1500 years.} Serina curtly said. The bridge stared frazzled until a techie said, "DAMN, I wish I'd look that good at 1000!" I groaned a bit and asked "Moving on, what about the next two leaders?"

"Next up, we have the Warlock Vanguard. The Warlocks are apparently combat engineers/intellectuals among the Vanguard. Considering the shattered state of human civilization in this universe. Many wonders and important tech from their history have been lost. The Warlocks are tasked with travelling throughout the system and recovering said tech. The current Warlock Vanguard is one Ikora Rey." With that brief description a hologram of a bald, African American woman in red robes appeared. She looked calm and collected, with a glint in her eye that said she knew everything before you did. For some reason she reminded me of a slightly nicer ONI agent. "Anything else to add?" I ask, feeling that there was something more to this one. {One of her titles is 'Master of the Hidden,' she has her own information agent network spread throughout the system, a Vanguard ONI if you will. She would be Parangovsky, if only far, far less ruthless and evil.} Serina interjected. That one I'd be cautious about dealing with. If only on principle, she might not be an ONI spook but a spook's a spook. That left one more. "Alright Doctor, you mentioned the 'Hunters' earlier, what do you have on them?" I ask.

"Hunters are scouts and assassins. They roam the wilds, finding lost resources killing enemy leaders and disrupt supply chains. Unfortunately, the position of Hunter Vanguard is currently empty." Dr. Anders said. That was a bit of a shock. "I see, what happened?" I question. "The previous Hunter Vanguard was Cayde-6. He died in attempt to pacify a prison riot in The Prison of Elders in the Reef." Seeing my utterly confused expression, the doctor continued. {Long story short, this prison was pretty much a place where they locked up high ranking Elites, Brutes and Hunters… with the occasional Scarab thrown in for good measure.} Serina interjected in a snarky manner. The marines in the bridge shuddered at the description. A prison filled with only the beefiest and meanest aliens? That wasn't a place they'd want to be guarding.

"Cayde-6 was an Exo, which is quite pertinent so we don't get confused." With that a hologram of an android of some kind appeared onscreen. It had movable plated on its head to mimic expressions, color highlight and a blue horn for some reason. {Or jealous in my opinion. They are essentially Smart AI, however they have their own mobile platform and possess far more memories of the person they were patterned off of than UNSC S-AI. This does however lead to some issues. The shock of being in a metal body is too much for a human mind to comprehend so they often go into shock. To overcome this issue, they incorporated as many 'human' functions into their platforms as possible.} New holograms appeared of both male and female models of Exos. {Both male and female models were made. They can eat, drink and of course taste that food and drink like humans can. Despite being machines, they also included methods for… other desires.} Serina said looking mildly disgusted by the option. {Finally, all of this, while it helped, was not enough. As such, typically an Exo must be 'reset' a couple time by having their minds wiped, in order to fully adapt to their new body. The methods to produce them have been lost to time, and only the Ghosts, Guardian companion AI are advanced enough to understand their inner working and repair them. It is my opinion that Exo technology would be very useful to the UNSC. Even just using Exo based limbs as prosthetic limbs would be a massive leap over our current tech.} Serina finished.

That was a lot to process. Awoken, Exos, Hunters, Titans and Warlocks. Still, Dr. Anders said that the Vanguard was the most important in MILITARY matters. That still left civilian groups. "What about the civilian groups?" I ask, there is never only one civilian group. "Fortunately they are much more simple, shockingly. There are three groups of which only two are of consequence at the moment. They are Dead Orbit, the Future War Cult and the New Monarchy. The Monarchy has lost a significant amount power lately and won't be able to affect us in any large fashion. The FWC is essentially calling for a military run government. However Dead Orbit is essentially calling for the abandonment of Earth." Anders said in a conflicted tone. Based on the muttering from the bridge I knew that the crew didn't like the idea, even if this wasn't OUR Earth, the idea of abandoning Earth was abhorrent.

{It's a rather conflicting viewpoint. Most of the enemies of the city throughout the system are content to leave them here as long as they don't grow too big. As it stands, their enemies fight each other more than them. Yet the great fear is that their enemies, any one of them, DO possess the resources to destroy The City and with it, this humanity. They're just focused on other stuff or can't be bothered with eradicating the pathetic remnants of the natives to the system. Dead Orbit, preaches abandoning Earth, but not permanently. They need to leave in order to regain their strength and retake the Earth in force.} Serina explained the tenets behind Dead Orbit.

The bridge was quiet with contemplation after that. While abandoning Earth still seemed wrong, they could see that the people of the city had no-where to go. No-where to grow in this system. The second it looked like they were becoming a valid threat, their enemies would come down upon them and crush what they had left. A depressing fate. "Is that all you two?" I ask Serina and Anders. "One more Captain, an individual with extraordinary sway, but doesn't really use it. In fact, I'd say that both the Spartans and you have done an excellent job representing us to him!" Anders said proudly. "Custos?" I ask bewildered. He was the only person we had interaction with since our arrival. Was he someone important? {According to the records, he is one of the most decorated heroes of the Vanguard in history. A veteran of at least 32 official Strike operations, potentially more if unofficially and 10 Raids. For the record, based on their importance, Strike operations would be like assassinating a Sangheilii Fleet-Master. Raids would be like killing a king of a race.} Serina said, sounding mildly shocked. Even the Spartans, who had been quietly listening seemed somewhat impressed. "That's not all, most of, no, ALL of the alien factions The City is enemies with follows the same bizarre pattern for choosing leaders. The strongest, and smartest beings are in charge. It's be like if we elected a Spartan as president of the UEG or as a High-Admiral." Anders added somewhat warily. That tidbit got the Spartans as from their body language they looked rather disturbed. Whether it was from the notion of the beings Custos had been killing or the idea of a Spartan president was unknown.

{Alright Captain, this has been an enlightening discussion for all of us, but I have received a message from Custos. The City Consensus has come to an agreement about our situation. They will be helping us. However, they have sent coordinates for a meeting. Our talks with them will determine whether or not 'help' is a new FTL drive and a pat on the back or energy shields, weapons AND an FTL drive.} Serina listed the stakes. "Well, you heard her, prep a Pelican to take us to Serina's coordinates. Spartan Red Team, Professor Anders and myself will be going. Keep an ODST team prepped for hot drop aimed directly at the meeting site in case things go sour, not move it! Double time!" I bark orders at my crew, hoping that I'm making the right choice.

Location: The Tower- Vanguard Headquarters

Date: 03/05/4522

Persons of interest

Serina: 2nd Gen Smart AI

Captain James Cutter: Cpt of the SoF

Doctor Ellen Anders: Scientific Consultant

Jerome-092

Alice-130

Douglas-042

St-14: Legendary Titan

Raz-22: Nightstalker Hunter

Custos: Dawnblade Warlock

Cogito: Custos's Ghost

Jerome's POV

The subtle shaking of the Pelican as we land is almost imperceptible. Captain Cutter and Doctor Anders were silent throughout the short flight to 'The Tower' the Vanguards' headquarters. It was a rather peaceful looking place. It was however undergoing repairs, while the Captain had been discussing the influential figures of 'The City,' the Spartans had been discussing the abilities of the Guardians. According to all sources, the 'Ghosts' that accompanied them, made them functionally immortal. Not just in age, but in that if they were killed, the Ghosts had the ability to revive them, save for in extraordinary circumstances. It was either an utterly insane Media Campaign, make their defenders seem invincible to the inhabitants of this City, or it was true. If it was true, then if things turned sour, then the Spartans would have to fight their way out of an undying army to escape. Fun. On the other hand, reading about all the different festivities and the like that the Guardians participated in made a lot of sense, yet still itched at his nerves. It made sense in that, outside or relaxation, Guardians are almost always working on something, be it combat, running supplies to the many fronts they had decoding artifacts and more. On top of that they were immortal. In the personal profile of Commander Zavala for example, it said that the Commander had been the Titan Vanguard for hundreds of years. During that time, for a break, he would take one hour to eat a fine dinner and read a month. That last time he had taken more time off than that was a victory celebration for the Battle of Twilight Gap.

That level of dedication would cause even the most dedicated to utterly break down and that was without factoring in the immortality. Yet the Commander was apparently in perfect mental health. The only reason Vanguard members would change, is either the Vanguard retiring or with the death of the Vanguard leader. Even the 'retired' members, only step down from a command position. They often go right back out into the field and work to train new Guardians.

Whirrr

With a subtle groan the troop bay door of the pelican opened. As Alice, Douglas and myself stepped out of the Pelican we saw two Guardian's awaiting us. They were the two that had come to join Custos in 'investigating' us out at that centaur. The tall, armored Guardian stepped forward. "Hello my friends!" he said jovially with a rough, russian accent. He steps forward and claps me on the shoulder. I barely manage to suppress an instinctual body slam, that poor marine helped me learn the difference between a friendly pat and one with ill intent. "Come then, the Vanguard is waiting." He says, waving for us to follow. I send the green light for the Captain and Anders to follow. As we walk through the Tower, we see many Guardians stopping to stare at us. A few seem to start approaching us, only to be shooed off by the jovial Titan that was leading the way, with the Hunter bringing up the rear. We passed by several interesting characters along the way, there was a Titan wearing a helm with one horn, an Exo selling guns and more. Finally after what seemed like ages (but was more likely just a few minutes) we arrive before a large room overlooking the outside of the City walls. (Imagine the Vanguard room from Destiny 1) There were six individuals standing around a large holo-table. On the left side of the table was the Warlock and Titan Vanguard leaders, Custos standing between the two. Then there were the three leaders of the civilian faction in the City.

At the far right of the table was Executor Hideo, the ruler of New Monarchy. He seemed incredibly sullen for some reason, like someone who'd just had their life shattered before their eyes. Then, seated next to his left was Lakshimi-2, the leader of the Future War Cult. She seemed contemplative, though he could somehow sense a degree of approval as she seemed to scan each of the UNSC personnel for weaknesses. Finally, seated closest to the entrance was Arach Jalaal, the coordinator for Dead Orbit. Contrary to Hideo, the awoken man appeared to full of barely suppressed joy. Wonder what made him so happy.

I step off to the side and allow the Captain as well as Doctor Anders to take the stage. Before they could begin however, Commander Zavala steps forward and begins to speak. "Captain Cutter, I'm certain that as a military man you will appreciate my bluntness. We are fully willing to give you a decommissioned FTL drive from an old colony ship. The drive can reach up to 50 light years per day and should work for your ship, we will give it to you free of charge. However, if you agree to do one thing, we will not only give you a better FTL engine, but a full combat refit for your ship and all the military and technological aid we can offer for the UNSC's war on the 'Covenant,' as long as we draw breath." With that offer the Captain and Anders froze. It was generous, way too generous. What was the catch? Did they want the UNSC to clean out their system? Impossible, we'd seen the charts. Their enemies had been digging in for centuries. We wouldn't be able to remove them without massive casualties, casualties we could ill afford with the Covenant breathing down our necks. "What would you like us to do?" The Captain asked. Even if we didn't agree to it in the end, an offer like that was too good to not even consider.

Arach Jalaal stepped forward and with a flourish he bowed and asked. "We, the people of the Last City, formally request asylum within UNSC space."