Ch. 7
We sped off on our sparrows for several minutes, everyone but Celeste mostly silent. She made enough noise for all of us, laughing and yelling back at the Vex long past the point where they could have heard her. We stopped once we reached what felt like a safe distance from the compound. Celeste, Scott-20, and I dismounted while Zillah remained seated on her sparrow. Scott-20 stepped away, skimming through the data the two Warlocks had gathered.
"Ha," Celeste burst out, pulling off her helmet, "that was great! Four Guardians against the Vex, guns and light blazing, and then that escape... I'd say they'd sing songs about it for years to come, but I can't sing, you two," this directed to the Warlocks, "don't seem the singing type, and I know the old man never sings in public."
"Yes, wonderful," Zillah replied sarcastically. "Who doesn't love a good near-death experience." Turning to me, she added, "I see why you two get along."
"Are you ever not grumpy," Celeste asked the Warlock, then stuck her tongue out at her.
"I am not...," Zillah started to respond, when she was suddenly interrupted by our Ghosts all materializing at the same time.
"Urgent message on all channels, from the Tower," they said in unison.
Zillah stopped talking and Celeste quickly put her helmet back on. The message from the Tower started almost immediately.
"This is Commander Zavala of the Vanguard," a familiar voice rumbled, "speaking to all Guardians. There is a quarantine in effect. As you may or may not know by now, fireteams on Mars have encountered self-replicating technological mites of currently unknown origin. These mites can override armor systems and strongly affect the behavior and disposition of Guardians. All teams currently in the field are urged to remain there so long as you are able to find a safe refuge. All Guardians are forbidden from entering the City or any other civilian stronghold. No response yet from the Reef as to whether they will give unaffected Guardians safe passage. If you see an infected Guardian, avoid them if possible. Stay safe out there. We will provide updates when available. Zavala out."
Following that, each member of the Vanguard sent a specific message to their respective classes of Guardians.
"Titans," Zavala stated calmly, "we do not yet know what kind of danger this mite may present. So far, the adverse affects have been negligible, but we may not have seen the extent of it. Shield your brothers and sisters in the field. Be the wall that protects them from whatever this contagion is. Ikorra has agents working around the clock to find out what is infecting our ranks, and what we can do about it. Until then, all we can say is avoid it if possible. May the Traveler's Light protect you."
After that, the messages repeated. When Zavala was finished speaking, I removed my helmet and stared at the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Celeste did the same. The Warlocks were silent for longer, before also uncovering. If I had to guess, I would say Ikorra Rey's message to them was much longer than Zavala or Cayde-6. I'd actually be surprised if Cayde's message was anything more than, "Watch your back and tell me all about it later." Glancing around the group, the four of us stood quietly in shock for several moments, trying to process what we had just heard.
"Elgan," I said, addressing my Ghost, "find out everything you can about the situation. We need to know what is going on."
"Of course," he said, then dematerialized.
I heard the Warlocks give similar orders to their Ghosts, as well as Scott instructing his Ghost to try sending the data from the Ishtar Facility to Executor Hideo.
"What do we do now?" Scott asked. "If we are not permitted to return to the Tower, where do we seek refuge? We are in hostile territory after all."
"I know a place where we can go," Celeste replied. "There is a cave where Hunters sometimes gather when they've been spending an extended time here on Venus. It's been outfitted with previsions and some simple defensive measures. I can take us there."
"Very good," I said, slipping my helm back over my head.
"A Hunter camp?" Zillah groaned.
"If you'd prefer, I could leave you out here with the Vex."
Zillah seemed to actually consider that option for a moment, her glowing eyes glancing around the surroundings.
"Fine, let's go to your cave," she finally replied, putting her Keeper's Mind helmet back on.
Celeste glared at her for a moment, before covering her head again as well. Scott scrambled to do the same.
"Whisper," Celeste called out to her Ghost, "bring the ship."
Her Ghost bobbed an affirmation, then dematerialized as well. A few moments later, a Phaeton class ship swooped down from the sky and hovered overhead. One-by-one we transmatted aboard. Celeste settled into the pilot seat to set course, while the rest of us arranged ourselves. Once we were settled in, the ship rocketed up to a sub-orbital position, making its way through the upper atmosphere of Venus. Once we were fully on our way, I turned to face Zillah and had Elgan open up a private comm channel.
"Listen up," I said, "I don't know what it is going on with you, but something needs to change right now. You have been acting out since I met you in the City. You were dismissive of me, which I can live with. I don't have some burning need for everyone in the universe to like me so long as we get the job done. However, that has now turned into some sort of openly antagonistic relationship between you and Celeste."
She made a sound to interject and I stopped her.
"No. You will let me say my piece, and then you can have your say. Again, I don't know where this is coming from, but it needs to stop. When it was going to be a quick mission, in and out, I was willing to put up with it. When things went a little sideways and we had to extend the excursion, it was still tolerable. Now, we're going to be stuck together for however long this quarantine lasts. We need to be able to function together as a group and not be at each other like bickering children. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," she replied after a moment of hesitation.
"Good. Look, I know how Celeste can be. I've known her for years and she can try my patience beyond belief at times. Push past it. I'll have a talk with her as well. Now, I believe you had something you wanted to say?"
"No," she replied after another pause, "I have nothing to say right now."
I held out my hand toward her, palm outward, and she reluctantly took it and shook. Releasing her hand, I made my way toward the front of the ship and knelt behind the pilot seat, placing hand on Celeste's shoulder.
"Celeste," I said over another private line.
"Uh oh. You only start with my name if there's a problem."
"Really? I've have to mix that up a bit then, don't want to be too predictable," I replied. She let out a noise that could only be described as an audible smirk. "But you are correct, there is a problem. You and Zillah."
"Oh, come on," she groaned, but I cut her off.
"No, I'm serious. Look, I know she has come across as a little... prickly. I don't know what that is about, and I don't really care at the moment. What I do know is that we are going to be around each other for a while longer than planned, and I need you to attempt to get along. Don't go starting arguments or picking at her. Don't do or say things to try to rile her up. Understood?"
"But she..."
"No. I've already talked with her about it too. This ends now."
"Fine," she said with a sigh.
I patted her shoulder, then returned to my seat for the remainder of the trip. Zillah was still sittingly silently, her arms crossed over her chest and head turned away from us. Scott-20 was pouring over the download from the Ishtar facility again, trying to sort through reams of data. The remainder of the trip was a quiet affair. Eventually we felt the ship decelerate and start to descend toward the planet surface.
"End of the line, ladies and gentlemen. Please remain seated until the ride has come to a complete stop. Or, you know, I transmat you off my ship," Celeste announced.
The three of us in the back stood, and were simultaneously transmatted to the surface. Celeste followed a moment later, and then Whisper sent the ship back into orbit. From the ruins I could see poking over the foliage, I figured we were near the main patrol region for Guardians, but I did not recognize the exact layout. Must be one of those areas just off the main trail highlighted on Celeste's map. The cave we were looking for wasn't immediately apparent.
"Come on," Celeste waved for us to follow and then led us about 100 meters from the transmat zone. Whisper materialized and scanned a rock formation, which revealed itself to be a cloaked console. Taking off her glove, Celeste input a code, and a small section of cliff nearby rolled away, revealing a massive opening. A cacophony of voices could be heard coming from inside.
"It sounds as though we were far from the only ones to consider this refuge," Scott commented, and the four of us stepped inside.
The cave was impressive, I'll admit to that. The natural structure had been hollowed out and expanded even more, giving it a wide open feel. Plasteel beams reinforced the walls and ceiling. There were a number of seating areas arranged, and it looked as though beds were being brought in from somewhere to make extra sleeping accomodations. A large view screen dominated the eastern wall, though right now it was only showing the text of the general quarantine announcement.
Guardians of all classes milled about, some still in full gear, some dressed down to body suits for comfort. Everywhere the conversation was about the technological mites and what they could be. Drawing near one of the larger groups, I could hear they were all listening to one Hunter who said he saw infected Guardians. He was describing colorful little beads of light dancing around the heads of infected fireteams. Guardians that didn't seem to touch the ground. Guardians acting, for all intents and purposes, like drunken fools, laughing at nothing or shouting at the air.
Celeste caught sight of someone she recognized and waved, striding over to a dark skinned human Hunter. They embraced briefly, and he said something that made her laugh. Zillah had noticed the same crowd I had and was standing near me listening with rapt attention, her Ghost out likely to record every word. Scott-20 had moved off on his own, and I'd lost him in the crowd.
"Hey!" someone shouted in the crowd. "Hey, something happened in the Crucible, and it's being broadcast on one of the City stations. See if we can bring it up on the screen."
An Exo Hunter near the screen held out his hand and his Ghost appeared, scanning the bottom right corner of the screen. There was a burst of static as the message went away, then a signal came through. An attractive newscaster appeared, her face struggling to conceal the worry she was feeling.
"As we all know, the Vanguard issued a quarantine order for all Guardians today. Many of you have probably been wondering what was happening. Well, we have what might be a first look at the contagion that is plaguing the Guardians. This is from a Clash match earlier today in the Crucible. This is exclusive footage."
The image of the newscaster was replaced by the familiar sight of the Bannerfall arena. Lord Shaxx's voice boomed through the speakers, announcing the teams. Two members of Bravo team transmatted in late, and it was clear from the start that something was amiss.
They were Hunters, female, and both had little specks of multicolored light buzzing around their heads. The match began, and they both sat down rather than engage. The newscaster's voice came back in over the match audio for a moment.
"As you know, all Guardian audio is recorded and later added to replays of matches. This adds to the value of rebroadcasts of certain matches and helps censor any unsuitable material. We were able to get the audio recording as well as a transcript for these Guardians and will play it over the video footage."
At first, all that could be heard was quiet laughter, then the voices chimed in.
"Hey, Jenny?" the Hunter in the blue shader began.
"Yes, Ginny?" replied the Hunter in red.
"Did I tell you about the new book I was reading?" Blue continued. "It's about labyrinths. I got lost in it."
"Labyrinths are a-mazing," said Red, and the two laughed again.
"Oh, I think the match started," Blue said after a moment. "Let's go shoot some people."
"Or, better yet," Red opined, "we could shoot them."
"Yes, that is better."
The two of them rose to their feet and started to move, working together shockingly well, providing cover for each other and moving with surprising agility.
"Hey, Jenny, don't go up there," Red called out to Blue as that skirted along the railing and moving to the outer heavy ammo drop, "those stairs are up to something."
"Right, right. And when I get up top they'll just bring me down."
Two members of team Alpha came around the corner, a Titan and another Hunter. The two women took them down with lethal efficiency, dealing the final blows with strikes. A picture in picture showed the two Guardians revive a few moments later, and when they did they had the same lights flickering around their heads as the two Hunters. The Titan stuck his arms straight out from his sides and started running in a figure eight pattern, making airplane noises. The Hunter looked at his feet.
"I can fly," he shouted, then started to sprint. The camera zoomed in to show that his feet were ten centimeters above the ground.
Cutting back to the two women Hunters, the camera zoomed in as Blue pulled off her helmet, revealing short red hair. She stood staring at the lights flickering around it for a moment. Red tried flicking a few of the lights and then removed her own helmet, revealing she also had red hair cut short.
"Did you know that the nose is the scenter of your face?" Blue asked Red, then turned suddenly, flinging her helmet violently the direction they had come. It struck a member of team Alpha just as they emerged from a doorway, knocking the poor Warlock down. As he stood, the mites slowly began spreading over him as well, and he swatted at them wildly. He was so busy flailing at the little lights, he failed to watch where he was going and tumbled over the railing, falling off the tower.
Everyone in the cave watched in silence. After the Warlock fell, the feed cut back to the reporter who made a few comments about it being hard to watch, then segued into an advertisement. The screen switched back over to the quarantine announcement. I turned and slowly walked to a chair and dropped into it, trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.
…
AN:
Last time I mentioned the end of the Venus excursion. Then, things happened in the world of Destiny. Sparkly lights everywhere, and the release of Rise of Iron, so I decided to change tracks a little bit.
As for RoI... I found it slightly underwhelming. I have always been fascinated with the Iron Banner/Iron Lords, a lot of which has to do with the wolves. The first piece of armor I deliberately set out to get was the first Iron Banner legs with the wolf heads on the thighs. So all that of their story was great, I think I was just expecting something in the same scope of The Taken King, rather than a Dark Below/House of Wolves level of expansion. I love everything that's there, I just wish there was more of it.
So, we had another delay. This one was not of my choosing. Things went awry, and... well... I'm no longer in the same situation I was, so I will no longer be writing between tasks. Meaning that if I want to work on these stories, I have to deliberately set aside time to do it. Makes it a little bit more of a challenge, so updates will be slower than they were when I first got going, most likely.
Jayfeattheris Awesome– Yes, yes it was. Good to know the mockery wasn't aimed my direction.
Bladed Raptor – As always, you are too kind. I'll try not to let it go to my head.
Amberstar of Thunderclan – Well, I already have two redheads in my story (Claney and Celeste). I don't know if one story could handle that much awesomeness if we up the number to four, but… challenge accepted.
Order and Chaos – Qui Iudicant – Appreciate the feedback. Already responded about the grenade thing, will just chalk this one up as "It's Destiny".
Guest (Mac) – Thanks for the review, glad you're enjoying it. Yes, it has been somewhat action heavy. See the previous reply about grenades. Upcoming chapters will have varied content depending on need. These last few (which probably could have been condensed a bit) were just mission oriented. If you want something with a little different flavor (cheap plug time), be sure to check out my other story, "Tales We'll Tell" if you haven't already. The first story there is mission/action oriented, but the others vary widely.