Another chapter. Man these are taking way to long.
What really kicked me in to action to write this chapter was listening to Paul Mcartney's "Hope for the Future" which was written for Destiny. I absolutely love that song. It gets me every time, almost as bad as "Finish the Fight" from Halo 3(game soundtracks are super powerful). I guess you can officially declare that these two's ship song XD
Anyway, hope this was worth the wait Gaurdians :)
It was a long flight to Mars, and an even longer wait while Li used their ship's geospatial scanners to scan the area around the Black Garden for any indication a Colony Ship had landed near there.
After sifting through a landscape dotted by Vex constructs and Cabal fortifications, the scan finally came up positive in an area a few kilometers west of the Black Garden's entrance. The image of a Colony Ship's crash site was grainy, and to the Guardians it looked rather nondescript, but Li's ghost was positive that the image they were looking at was of a crashed starship.
Without hesitation the Guardians transmated to the surface and mounted their sparrows, dashing off over the dusty fields of Mars towards their destination.
When they rounded the final dune and the crash sight came into view, however, their plans changed.
None of them expected to find the ship half sunken in sand with only the rusted and wilting rocket exhausts poking out from under the dunes. To add insult to injury, it was being assaulted by the cabal on all sides with Hive streaming out like a river of decay from inside the ship, determined to push the Cabal back.
The three Guardians immediately stopped, dismounted their sparrows, and laid down on a ridge overlooking the scene. Derrick pulled out his sniper rifle and began to scan the area while the other two Guardians watched the Cabal fire slug after slug of explosive rounds at a seemingly endless stream of energy firing Hive monstrosities.
"Well this couldn't possibly get any worse," deadpanned Li.
Derrick grumbled in agreement as he continued to scan the battlefield.
"The hell are the hive doing on Here?" He questioned, resisting the urge to take shots at the group of enemies laid before him like fish in a barrel.
"Are they not usually on Mars?" Asked Mark, more or less oblivious to any knowledge of how the planet was supposed to look.
Li laughed in amusement before sliding to the reverse slope of the hill and beginning to check her weapon and ready herself.
"Nah, the Hive usually stay the hell outta here," said Derrick, "They only really seem concerned about Earth and the Moon these days. You think they're here for the same reason as us?"
Mark looked back to the battle. He noted the way the Hive fought desperately to defend the doomed ship while the Cabal struggled to push them out, and nodded.
"I think it's better we work under that assumption regardless."
Li laughed and jumped to her feet, already moving towards the battle.
"Then let's not waste time," she said cheerily, "give us some support buddy," she said, tapping Derrick on the shoulder.
He nodded, and Mark took off after her.
Mark and Li took cover behind a low rock about a hundred yards in front of Derrick, pausing for only a moment before they both opened up on the hive: Mark with his rifle and Li with her golden gun.
Derrick took the hint and began firing, drooping a couple of Cabal that stood too close to Mark and Li for comfort.
It wasn't long before the Cabal realized what was happening and reacted. They turned around with heavy, hulking steps and began to concentrate their fire on Mark and Li, slowly eating away at their cover.
When Li's golden gun ran dry, Mark took cover and handed his rifle off to Li, taking her sidearm from her.
He took the weapon in one hand and dashed towards the group of Cabal, firing off only a few rounds before jumping high into the air, his fists crackling with electricity as he concentrated and held them in tight before bring them down hard on the ground and igniting it with electricity, shooting sparks and bolts of lightning through the group of Cabal and dropping a number of them in one, fell swoop.
He limped to cover behind a nearby rock. The shock of using his ability was still new to him, and he needed a moment to recover from using it so suddenly.
Li covered him, firing off his rifle wildly at a group of hive before taking cover behind the same piece of rock and handing it back to him.
"What's the matter?" She said with a laugh, "we wearing you out old man?"
Mark let himself laugh at the comment before using the stock of his rifle as a crutch and standing to face the enemy. Derrick had sniped the remained Cabal by time he stood, and then set his rifle aside, hefting his heavy machine gun into position before giving Mark and Li the signal to move forward.
As soon as Mark saw the green light appear on his HUD he dashed forward and into the Cabal bunker. As he ducked down behind the fortification, however, he began to realize how little good it would do him. With the Cabal taken out, little was standing in the way of the Hive that were trying to exit the ship. The other two Cabal positions were giving them hell, but now that the Hive were on to the newly arrived Guardians, they seemed more intent on taking them out.
A wave of thrall bigger than anything Mark had ever seen was surging towards their position, and if Mark and Li didn't do something quick, neither of them would survive.
Mark drew his heavy machine gun and Li pulled out her side arm. Both of them then vaulted over the top of the metal lined trench, setting their feet in the red sand before unleashing a torrent of rounds upon the incoming Hive. Combined with Derrick's fire, they seemed to be able to stem the flow of thrall for the moment.
Slowly, however, they began to build up, and the horde began to become too much for the Guardians to handle. The waves of thrall closed on Mark and Li like an all consuming landslide.
A hundred feet, fifty feet, twenty feet, ten feet, and then they were right on top of them.
Li was the first to get hit. A Hive thrall, leaping through the air, dove for her and tackled her, ramming its head into her chest and knocking her back.
She cried out in agony as it dug it's claw into her side. Her blood began to spill onto the sand, staining the grains of rust blood red.
"No!" Cried Mark.
Memories began to flash before his eyes, memories of other wars he had fought in. He remembered watching as a soldier lay in a similar position, drenched in mud and screaming as blood slowly leaked from a wound in his side onto the dirt, the life seaming to drain from his pained eyes.
He drew his knife from his sheath on his chest and leapt at the thrall as more began to close on Li. He felt his hands begin to charge with that unexplainable, white fire electricity he had been scared of before, but now he welcomed it. As he slammed his knife again and again and again into more and more thrall, he felt the electrical discharge build up inside his hands. It began to burn, but he held on, building up as much electricity as he could until he couldn't take it any longer.
When he could no longer hold the electricity inside of him, he slammed his fists into the ground in a powerful fist of havoc, unleashing a torrent of lightning that electrified the ground and sent sparks shooting in every direction. Some of the thrall tried to flee, but it was no use. The crowd of twisted Hive denizens was electrified and consumed by the light Mark had unleashed.
He collapsed to the ground, exhausted and panting from exertion. The air around him smell like ozone and burnt flesh. He was sweating an unbelievable amount and could hardly keep his eyes open. That burst had taken every last bit of energy he had from him.
As he rolled over into his side, however, what he saw made it all worth it. Li was laying next to him, bleeding, but very much alive. She was crying out in pain from the wound she had suffered, but the light had spared her the effects of his discharge. He had prevented the Hive from claiming another life.
He saw someone else come into his view, snapping off quick shots from his sniper rifle as he moved toward them.
Derrick, he thought with a sigh of relief.
The red and gold clad Warlock grabbed Li by the back of her cloak and dragged her back into the Cabal trench. Moments later, he felt himself grabbed from behind as well, and dragged over the side of the trench. He took a hard fall as he hit its cold, metal floor, but at least he was out of the line of fire.
Derrick reached down and slammed a syringe loaded with adrenaline into the infusion tube on his armor, and almost instantly Mark felt his eyes snap open and his senses return to normal. It did nothing for the splitting headache he had, but at least he was alive and alert.
"Help Li," snapped Derrick before he threw a tube of biogenetic coagulant his way.
Mark caught it out of mid air and nodded. Derrick began taking pot shots at the remaining Hive, who had now fallen back to the inside of the ship, while Mark moved to help her.
He knelt down and readied the syringe, but noticed Li's Ghost was already hard at work on diagnosing her. She let out a blood curdling scream and gulped in air as the Ghost used a beam of hard light to touch her wound. The Ghost backed off quickly, and turned to face Mark, it's eerie, glowing eye piercing him straight through the heart.
"Your coagulant won't work Guardian," it said flatly.
It highlighted Li's wound with the beam of its eye, and before long Mark began to notice the dripping green matter that was pouring out from her wound.
"The thrall's fingertips must have been laced with some sort of poison. It's stopping her from bleeding out, but it's also eating her slowly from the inside out. She won't die for another day, but if we don't get her back to the tower she'll die a very slow death."
The Ghost's utter bluntness crushed him. He had done this to her. He and put her in danger, and now it might cost her his life. He would come back for whatever was on that colony ship another day. Right now he needed to save his ally. No, his friend.
He looked up to Derrick, who had ceased firing by now. The remaining Hive looked to have pulled back into the Colony Ship, and other than a few thrall that wee hardly worth a round anyway, all was quiet. Mark tapped Derrick on the shoulder, tearing him away from his rifle's scope, and shook his head.
"We've got to get out of here," he said somberly, "the Hive poisoned Li with something. It's not good. She needs to get back to the tower."
Mark didn't expect the reaction he received from Derrick at all. He snapped around and depolarizer his visor, a glare that could cut plasteel was aimed right into Mark's eyes. Mark saw a little bit of himself in that glare. He imagined Derrick was digging up long forgotten memories right now, but while Mark had welcomed every memory he had been able to retain, Derrick was hurt by the very thought of what had happened in the past.
Was he thinking of that female Guardian? The one Li had mentioned. Was he remembering her dying in his arms? Mark moved to ask, but before he could Derrick grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back. Derrick tore off his helmet in a violent rage as Mark slammed up against the other side of trench. Derrick's eyes blazed with furry as he stared him down. The forgiveness that Derrick had given to Mark was gone, now he was just as scared and infuriated as he had been when Mark had first met him.
"You son of a bitch," he cried out, "I fucking knew it from the moment I laid eyes on you. You're green, you get people killed, and you don't belong here."
Mark instinctively raised his hands in front of his face, expecting Derrick to throw a punch. Adrenaline was clearly coursing through him, and Mark knew that could make anyone unpredictable. Mark didn't want to hit him though. From the look in his eyes Mark could tell he was already in a lot of pain. This loss had ripped him apart from the inside out. He did a good job of hiding it, but all that anger was nothing but a cover for fear and sorrow.
Before he could do anything stupid, however, a shot rang out from nearby in the trench.
Both Mark and Derrick looked over to see Li propped up against the side of the trench. She held her smoking sidearm in the air, her hand shaking from the effort it took to keep it there. The moment she could she let her hand clatter back to the ground, a groan of pain escaping her as her hand brushed her side.
"Will both of you get a grip," she said through clenched teeth, "I'm not dead yet."
She muffled another cry of pain as she stood and braced herself against the side of the trench, looking Derrick in the eyes. Normally her expression was dead calm and unyielding, showing little of what she was thinking, but now she let herself be read like an open book.
She looked hurt: as hurt as Derrick was at least, maybe more. She kept her eyes locked on his, not ready to let this go until she was ready.
"Derrick, I know you miss her," she said more gently than usual, "she was good. Good to you, good to me, good to everyone, but now she's gone...and I'm sorry about that, but she wouldn't want you to sit here and be angry while we have an objective to complete."
Derrick looked like he was trying to form a response, but nothing came out. He dropped his fists and backed up against the wall of the trench. He took a deep breath and reached down, picking up his helmet and putting it on.
Li smiled at him, if only briefly, before turning to Mark. She dropped her smile and sat back down against the side of the trench, groaning loudly in pain.
"We'll cover you Mark," she said through gritted teeth, "you get over there and figure out what the hell the Hive is hiding."
Mark wanted to protest, to say that she came first and that they could come back another time, but before he could even open his mouth she gave him a glare that told him she wasn't about to take no for an answer.
Mark nodded, and looked to Derrick, who had already set up with his sniper rifle on the side of the trench, giving him a nod and letting him know he should get going. Mark picked up his rifle, and vaulted over the top.