Part 13: Ambition
Venko didn't know he got separated from the others. He follows the same route they plan and had to take in order to follow the two Guardians. But now, he far away, crawling on all three limbs. His Ghost was destroyed in the fight against the Vex. The group was horrible outnumbered and completely outmatched. He barely remembers the fight, only that he got away while the others were pounded by plasma fire. Venko himself was badly wounded. His entire right arm was blown off its socket. A good third of his ribs was broken. Every time he took a breath of air, he vomits blood. He crawled to his back faced a rocky wall. Venko closed his eyes and began to reminiscence on his life.
His thoughts went back when he first woke up as a Guardian. His Ghost discovered him deep in the Mumbai Push, inside a crashed transport. He doesn't remember much. The Ghost tried to explain that legend states the Darkness created the Awoken, his people. Venko, who had just been reborn did not care. Even now, as his dying does not care about his own origins. He remembers how he searches the city for the way to the Last City and banded together with other newly awoken Guardians to capture a Fallen Skiff. They manage, though with the loss of a few others in the process. He had long since forgotten the newborns' names that died that day, but their deaths allowed him and others make it safe in the city.
Thinking deeper now, maybe it was here where Venko lost faith in the City. Guardians are borne out in wild with no way home. To him, it seems like the City was condemning him to die again. Maybe it was here where he started to curse at the Traveler for picking him. The great God known as the Traveler gave them all the same power but few would die. What was the point in this power if he could not protect those he called comrades. Venko remembers the days he spent listening to Dead Orbits' various speeches. Like him, they cursed the Traveler. They wanted nothing more than to leave the City. Seeing it as nothing more than a graveyard.
Venko, possibly out of guilt or impulse, joined the Dead Orbit. He wanted to get away from the Traveler. To get away from the City. To get away from dead newborns that cling to his mind. He quickly rose through the ranks. Venko took up any mission that would benefit Orbit's cause, going so far as to insert in Reef territory. He stops counting how many deep expeditions into Reef he took. His mind says a little over three dozen but it was probably more. A part of him wanted to always see a Corsair face when he sneaked in and out of Reef without them knowing.
Venko mind was fading, his thoughts travel to recent events. The group followed the two Guardians down via another elevator shaft. The FWC warlock tried to track their Light but, as Venko felt the minute they got down there, the place was filled with the Darkness' energy. Nether the less, they continue until there was no road left to follow. The group bickered for a bit before deciding to search for another route. But as they turned to look around, the Vex warped in. They threw everything they had at the machines but at last, as Venko mind continue to wonder about.
This was death. He thought to himself. This was where the road ends. A pity, he truly wanted to see life beyond this system. Beyond the confines of the City Walls. Beyond the scope of what the Dead Orbit had planned and build. He was not afraid of death. He had already accepted its grace once before. Venko took his last breath and welcome death with open arms.