To be a test subject of the technology known simply as the device by the Future War Cult is one of the greatest honors for its most devout members. Despite this, nearly half of the subjects of these tests lose their sanity and are trapped in the world the device projects on them. There are infinite lines of possibilities projected by the device. Nearly all of them show the Darkness, destroying everything. Every so often, however, not everything the device shows is pain.
Excerpt taken from The Speakers Journal
Rand knew from the moment 72 asked him to go, he was going to get stabbed. Why were Guardian weapons always the most painful?
After the Warlock had rematerialized, he glared at the Hunter who attacked him. "What the hell! What did I do this time!"
"I warned you that raising your weapon against me wasn't in your best interest, and that the next one would go in your eye the last time we met," Kaleb spat, going back to work on his ship, A Quite Content Damsel.
"I didn't even try to grab my gun though!"
"Yeah, but I just really don't like your face," Kaleb sighed, turning to face Rand.
"You know what, I just- ARGH! THIS is why I hate having to deal with people like YOU!" Rand shouted, getting in Kaleb's stoic face.
"Is that racist?" Kaleb asked, directed at 72 over Rand's shoulder.
"No!" Rand shouted as 72 shrugged. "I don't care if you're not human! I just hate that you're a stupidly aggressive asshole!"
"You're the one being aggressive."
"You shot me with a hand cannon and threw a knife in my eye! How is that not aggressive?"
"I was defending myself."
"From what? I wasn't even drawing my weapon!"
"Your oppressive regime."
Rand's eye starts twitching and he reaches for his pulse rifle on his back but as he grabs it, he feels the barrel of a hand cannon under his chin.
"Go ahead, Jester. Make my day," Kaleb growled, his eyes taking on a feral quality.
"Kaleb, stop," 72 said, pushing the two apart. "You can haze him later. Right now, we need your help."
"Are you sure we need his help?" Rand asked. "You said we were coming to him because he had some info we might need. So far, all he seems to know is how to hurt me."
"What can I say, you make me see red," Kaleb interjected.
As Rand glared at Kaleb, 72 replied, "Yes, unless he can tell us about someone else who can and will give us the information."
"What information would that be?"
"The way to the Leviathan."
Kaleb blanched. "Why are you chasing that thing?"
"It's the source of the Vex anomalies and-"
"I know what it is!" Kaleb barked. "I know what it is. And I know that there are a lot of idiots out there that would love to throw themselves at it like lemings off a cliff. The Guardians are too few to allow such a suicide mission, especially to the extent that we would go to, seeking revenge for fallen comrades." After a moment of deep silence, Kaleb added, "Trust me."
"So you know how to get to it?" Rand asked. "You said you wouldn't allow a mission like that, so you can stop it. But you can also start it."
"Yes, I can because yes, I do," Kaleb said, glaring at Rand. "But I will not just let good Guardians die for whatever hare-brained scheme a Court Jester like you has planned."
"Will you quit calling me a Court Jester! What does that even mean!" Rand shouted.
"I call you a Court Jester because you are a New Monarchy stooge who will gladly do anything that a person higher up in your little hierarchy tells you, all for the sake of self-advancement. It's an idiotic quest for power considering it will not last beyond this life. A quest shared by all of you Court Jesters."
"Really? You think I'm an idiot for following something that wants to protect people?"
"No, I think you're an idiot for shackling yourself to the smoothest talker to be his tool for advancement," Kaleb said, getting angry.
"At least we have the courage to stand and fight for what we believe in! All you Dead Orbit cowards do is look for new places to run and hide from the Darkness! Newsflash; it's here and so are we! What is the point of being a Guardian if all you do is run from what you're supposed to be fighting!"
"You think we're cowards, that all we do is run?" Kaleb hissed. "I don't see you scouting out uncharted areas of planets and moons full of potential hostiles, looking for places to send refugees and civilians on your own. I don't see you fighting to make sure that we have a place to fall back to in case we lose Earth. I don't see you trying to reclaim the systems that the Darkness stole from us every day, diving deeper and deeper into the lifeblood of the enemy to kill them at the source!" As Kaleb ranted, he got louder and louder until he was shouting right in Rand's face. "I don't see you fighting to bring back the Guardians you lost because of faulty intelligence!" Kaleb pushed Rand away before transmatting into his ship, a look of anger and helplessness on his face.
"What the hell was that about?" Rand questioned after a few moments.
"I don't really know," 72 replied. "I heard that he had started soloing trips into the Hellmouth a few years ago, but never why. He's probably got more high threat Hive kills to his name than most Guardians combined have seen in recent years. He spends whole weeks combing the Hellmouth, only leaving for important missions where he's asked for specifically, or when he snags a comm from Guardian frequencies or the Queen." 72 thought for a moment before continuing, "We met in a random Crucible encounter. He had decided that he needed to interact with a few Guardians more than he was."
"How'd that go? He try to fill you with more bullets than you have circuits?"
"No, we were on a team in a Control scenario. Aside from the initial team assembly, the only times I saw him were when bullets from his rifle flew over my shoulder into a shotgun whore. I would look over my shoulder and see the glint from his scope and a wave. He held zones from across maps against the entire enemy team, and they were no rookies. I felt the need to talk to him after that, pay him my respect for a fight well done."
"And was he a douchebag about it? All 'Damn right I'm good. You better get on my level if you're gonna call yourself a Hunter,' or something like that?"
"No, he just said that he doesn't let his team die if he can. Something about a policy of his."
"Oh," Rand said simply. Before he could continue, Kaleb materialized under his ship holding an Achlyophage Symbiote under his arm.
"I don't like it, but I'm going to give you the map. I just need to go retrieve it. I'll be back in a week. And then we will go find this Leviathan." Kaleb put on his helmet before adding, "You're coming with me, Sunsinger."
72 Glanced at Rand.
"Told you he liked you,"
Fisch and Ja-119 walked through the hangar and into the Future War Cult's meeting space. They saw Lakshmi-2 in her usual location, staring out the window at the ships coming in.
"Is there some way I can assist the two of you?" she asked, turning around. "You are not members of the Future War Cult as far as I am aware."
"We're assembling a team," Ja replied. "We were told to come ask you for a Vera person. By Rand."
"Ah, yes. Vera. She is one of my favorites, you know. Rand's too. Though that might be for other reasons." Lakshmi giggled a little before adding, "Don't tell either of them I said that."
"How do you know Rand so well? He's a member of the Monarchy."
"Oh, the War Cult doesn't care who you align yourselves with outwardly, Guardians. We just wish to help the Guardians defeat the Darkness. We have many friends in all of the Factions, foundries, and armorers."
"That still doesn't explain how you know so much about Rand."
"Oh, yes. He received a package from us one day on accident. He came to return it and we told him he could keep the weapon he found. This happened a few times actually, and I think he started to believe it was on purpose, his receiving our packages."
"Was it?" Ja asked.
"Perhaps, though I am not in charge of that. I cannot say I particularly minded it, though. He was very polite and he humored my desire for conversation every time he came by."
"Oh, will you just call for the girl already?" Fisch groaned out loudly. "This is so fucking boring!"
"I see you lack patience. Very well," Lakshmi sighed. "I shall call for her."
"Thank you!" Fisch barked. "God, you couldn't just do that in the first place?"
A blue haired Awoken woman walked up behind Fisch and hit his head with a shotgun in a homerun swing. Fisch vaporized and was replaced by his ghost shell. The Awoken looked to Ja with a challenge in her eyes.
"Vera, was that really necessary?" Lakshmi asked.
Vera looked to Lakshmi and replied, "Yes. He was being a disrespectful asshole. I didn't appreciate it."
Fisch rematerialized and stared coldly at the opposing Titan, though inwardly he felt more than a little bit of respect for Vera's strength.
Vera was anything but bothered by the other Titan's stare as she addressed Lakshmi.
"What is it you require Lakshmi? " she asked, "Is there a new assignment for me? It has been awhile."
"That depends on you, Vera. This isn't a sponsored Future War Cult mission. However these guardians have come seeking our help and have asked specifically for you."
Vera turned and let her eyes glance between the two different guardians before settling on the Warlock.
"Well?" she questioned.
"Erm" stuttered Ja in confusion.
"This mission you've come about?"
"Oh, um, alright so we discovered a group of Vex appearing on Venus. Well not like normal. Cloud thing. They just appeared from nothing. And they appeared to be- were the same ones each every time. Fuck!" That last word was just in Ja's head. He didn't know what it was about this girls hard stare but he couldn't talk. He was thankful he still had his helmet on unlike Fisch.
"And the mission?" she prompted,
"Ok, so we were into looking what caused it and Rand-"
"Rand? He's involved with-" interrupted Vera with her cold stare momentarily changing to an eager smile. "I mean, why didn't he come here to ask for me personally instead of sending others? He has a reputation here after all."
"He went to get the last member of the fireteam we are assembling. An Awoken named Kaleb."
"Wait, the Dead Orbit Kaleb?"
"Um, yes?"
"That's not going to end well... The guardian named Kaleb, well his opinions of the New Monarchy aren't exactly a secret. I've never met him myself but, well I don't think that sending Rand to get him was the best idea." she said coldly.
"It wasn't just him that went," said Ja.
"The Hunter that took him can handle himself and Rand. Don't worry," added Fisch.
"Alright, but those two guardians really shouldn't be left alone, for both their sakes."
"Alright, so," continued Ja "We are going into the center of Mercury to stop the teleportation. It's going to be a maze inside there and that's why we need Kaleb. Somewhere or another he stashed a map through the tunnels. No idea where or how he got it."
"So we navigate these tunnels and then what? How do we stop this?"
"We know what is controlling things, well, we think we do at least. Something called the Leviathan."
Vera tensed up at the word Leviathan and her face melted into a distant stare. Her eyes filled with fear at what she was seeing. Lakshmi hurriedly took the other two guardians and led them out of the room and leaving Vera standing there frozen.
"What is she-" started Fisch.
"Silence," demanded Lakshmi in a hushed whisper as she led them down the stairs. "Vera will accompany you on your mission and the Future War Cult will provide every member with supplies to help accomplish this mission. I expect all of you will be able to meet in the Tower hangar next Tuesday, am I mistaken?"
"No we will be there."
"Good," said Lakshmi "And Guardians, be safe. Many a thing lurks inside of Mercury. I don't think all of it is… Well, I suppose you will understand soon enough."
"You promised Lakshmi that you would be competent enough to meet in the Hangar today." said Vera as Fisch and Ja walked up to her.
"And here we are," said Fisch in retort. As always, he was ready for a challenge no matter who it was with.
"Here we go again," mumbled Ja. Why was every Awoken he knew such a hard ass?
"Yes, here are the two of you. But that means only half of this group are here. Where are the rest?"
"You don't even have any supplies for us. And it's still Tuesday isn't it?"
"Easy, Fisch," said Ja. "As much as I would love to see you get vaporized again, now isn't the time to act like an idiot."
"You are a wise Warlock," Vera said looking at Ja. She walked across the hangar to a pile of crates and lifted off the lid.
"Oh my light," said Ja walking over to the crates. Dozens of heavy ammo synthesis were stacked up filling the crate to the brim. Either the gunsmith had gotten a LOT of glimmer, or Xur's coin purse was a bit heavier.
"Heavy ammo cakes, get 'em while they're hot," Vera said smiling with a look of I told you so at Fisch.
'So she does have a sense of humor' thought Ja. He looked out the hangar and saw a ship incoming. It was blue. Ja was pretty sure it was the NS22 High Water. It was a pretty rare ship so he was fairly certain it was Rand's.
Moments later Ja was proven correct as the ship landed and Rand materialized outside of his ship. The ship was peppered in scorch marks from shock weapons and shrapnel chunks suggesting a run in with the Fallen. Rand took off his Light Beyond Nemesis and threw it across the room in frustration. He walked over to the others, fuming.
"God I hate him so much!" Rand yelled over to them, "He acts like he knows everything but he still nearly got us both killed! If I could I'd- Vera is that you?" he said his voice filled with a happy surprise.
As Rand got to the others his eyes fell on to the heavy ammo glowing in the crates. "Holy Traveler!" His eyes fell on Vera. "I knew mentioning your name to Lakshmi would do something, but I certainly wasn't expecting this."
"Well it wasn't just that. I suppose it's time I tell you all- wait, where are the other two you were with?"
"After we got the map and I stopped drowning he made a copy of it and said he was going to go clear out our landing zone. He managed to leave just before a Fallen Patrol showed up."
Vera laughed at him and said, "He's a hunter, there's no way he didn't know about the Fallen. I guess he felt like you could handle them on your own."
"Yea or he was trying to get me killed."
"Come on. A golden gun shot and you'd have been dead with two more to take care of your self revive."
Ja stared back and forth between the two of them thinking. They were acting like they were old friends. They had to know each other from when Rand was the poster boy for the New Monarchy. Strange though because she was Future War Cult. A lot of joint missions?
Vera turned her attention to Ja, "So, Warlock, Ja is it? Didn't you mention that Rand would be with someone else besides just Kaleb?" she said with more than just a questioning tone.
"Well, um, uh- you see-"
Ja was interrupted by a ship slamming into the hangar and crashing against the floor, splitting into the large fragments. What appeared to be the chunk with the cockpit kept sliding across the floor sparking and throwing fragments of metal. It came to rest right in front of the guardians and the other chunks lay in a flaming heap. Even Ja's processors couldn't make sense of what the ship had been before the crash.
Fisch looked at the ship sternly, as if he was offended it hadn't tried to crash into him. Vera stared at it calmly, though inwardly was tense and prepared to throw down her bubble at the drop of, well any other flying ships that decided they didn't feel like flying anymore. Ja just stared blankly replaying the events in his head trying to make sense of what had happened. Rand shook his head in disbelief, swallowed, then started forward to check the wreckage.
Thats when the closest part of the ship exploded.
Three things happened; Vera threw down her bubble absorbing the blast and protecting nearly everyone, Rand ducked as a piece of metal sliced open his cheek, and a Exo Hunter fell out of the sky and thudded into the hangar floor. His left leg was a mangled mess underneath him, his right leg missing entirely.
A scratchy metalic voice called out, "A little help here, Laz?" A ghost appeared floating next to the broken Exo's body and rematerialized it, fixing its broken pieces.
"God that was unpleasant," coughed 72
"What the hell was that!" yelled Rand holding a hand up to the cut on his face.
72 caught his breath, "What? I'm a dancer not a flyer."
"No, I mean what the hell, why are you coughing? You don't have lungs."
"Alrighty then. Hey, you got a little something on your face. You might want to have your ghost look at that."
"72! Is that you?" yelled Vera from inside the bubble. She always hated how it muffled noise a little.
"Hey Vera. Been awhile, hasn't it?"
"You're telling me. No one mentioned that you were the missing team member," she said looking around at the other people.
"Wait, you know him?" asked Rand.
"Yeah, we've known each other a while I suppose."
"As long as I remember," said 72.
Ja stared at 72. He looked happy to see everyone, but there was something else there, hidden deeper. He might not have known 72 long but he had been an Exo his whole life. He knew how to read 72's face better than most. Regret? Fear? Definitely sorrow, buried deep in his face. Glancing towards the wreckage of the ship he noticed something else. The ship was covered in marks from Fallen shots. If Rand's ship had been peppered in fire, this ship looked like it was lathered in it. He thought about this for a moment but then his thoughts drifted to a bigger question on his mind. "Not to interrupt the reunion, but what had you been about to say Vera?"
"Oh," she said. The smile on her face vanishing instantly to her serious expression. "This mission, and the support from the Cult isn't just from the kindness of our hearts. The most dedicated members of the Future War Cult undergo a test to attempt to see into the future. To find different ways to defeat the darkness. A lot of the test subjects die. Most of them, though, go crazy. Nearly everyone sees the darkness destroying the light. Me though, I saw," she paused and took a deep breath, "I saw the inside of the the Labyrinth. The path to get through it safely. The, the um," she paused and breathed in again. "The last room and the leviathan. The Future War Cult sees this as an opportunity to make all of the failed tests worth it. To beat the darkness." She looked down breathing slowly.
72 walked over to her and put an arm on her shoulder, "Hey, we will beat the nightmares, alright? We've done it before."
She looked up at him and smiled faintly as the rest of the guardians looked at them.
Vera coughed, "Everyone, load up on the Heavy Ammo Synths, alright?"
"Hey I'll catch up to you guys, I got to go talk to Holiday about getting a new ship," 72 said and ran off
Rand walked up to Vera and helped unload the ammunition. "He didn't wait for me to give him the
coordinates we are headed too, how is he even going to find us,"
"Oh, he has his ways, trust me on that Rand," she said with a smile and handed him a stack of weapons parts from one of the other crates.
"Let's just hope he doesn't smash his ship into any of us there."
All of the guardians in the tower suddenly turned to look up towards the docking bay, where Amanda Holiday had just screamed at the top of her lungs "Again!"