"Hey kid, come here a second."
Kendrix had been making his way towards the hangar when he heard the voice call out to him. He glanced over, and saw Banshee waving him over. He hesitated for a moment, then made his way towards the Exo's stall, deciding that Banshee probably wouldn't initiate social interaction if it wasn't important.
As Kendrix made his way over, he noticed that the gunsmith's normally cluttered workstation had been swept clean to make room for a hulking form half-concealed by a worn tarp. Kendrix's eyes widened slightly as he realized he recognized the shape.
"Is that..?"
"I finished it," Banshee replied with a nod, something approaching a smile ghosting across his face as he reached out and pulled the tarp away.
The scorch cannon was almost unrecognizable. Its frame, while still large and bulky, had been streamlined significantly, giving it a sleek, almost ornamental appearance. Its brackish Fallen colors had been darkened to an almost charcoal-black shade of bronze, inlaid in places with pale yellow designs resembling branches and circuits.
"That Vex head you brought me turned out to come quite in handy," the Exo explained as Kendrix hefted the weapon into place on his shoulder. It was heavy, though not so much as when he'd first wielded it, and certainly more well-balanced. "Managed to salvage most of the Hobgoblin's regeneration matrix, then wired it into the cannon's Solar core. With some fine-tuning and plenty of glimmer, it completely repaired and reformatted the weapon." Kendrix raised the cannon into a firing position, and noticed that its sight now glinted the unmistakable ruby-red of a Vex optic. "A Fallen prototype, improved by Vex technology and perfected by me."
"This is incredible," Kendrix breathed, enraptured by the weapon's miraculous transformation. He imagined bringing it to bear against the Vex, Bludgeon, the Fallen-
Kendrix lowered the cannon from his shoulder.
"What do you call it?" he quickly continued, lest his silence be mistaken for ingratitude.
"Hard to designate a weapon that doesn't have a proper analog in our standard armory, but I ultimately settled on 'Promethean Inferno'. I think that'll get any prospective buyer's attention, if I decide to try and replicate this little experiment."
The Exo's tone didn't insinuate anything, but Kendrix recognized what the name implied easily enough.
"Well, thanks for doing this," Kendrix said. And, surprisingly, he meant it. "How much do I owe you?" Banshee shook his head.
"The glimmer you gave me to even attempt it was more than enough. Just have your Ghost send me its performance data. Want to make sure I iron out any kinks before I try and get the design distributed. Now unless you have anything else to sell, leave me be."
Kendrix nodded, feeling the Inferno's weight vanishing from his shoulder as Proxima whisked it away into transmat. "Thanks again," he said as he moved to leave. Banshee just grunted, already tinkering with a half-assembled pulse rifle.
Well, that should come in handy. Proxima mused as Kendrix continued on his original path to the hangar.
We'll see. he replied noncommittally.
By the time he reached Nova's bay and climbed inside the Cybertronian's jumpship mode, Kendrix had refocused on the task at hand.
"So, where exactly are the Awoken?" he asked aloud.
"They live out in the Reef," Proxima explained, appearing over his shoulder. "It's a portion of Sol's asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. A massive assortment of asteroids, habitats, and debris. Easy to find, hard to navigate. And the Awoken know how to make use of that."
"Why would they live all the way out there?" Kendrix said with a frown as Nova's thrusters engaged, carrying them out into the morning sunlight.
"The Awoken have a complicated history." Proxima began. "At the very beginning of the Collapse, Rasputin initiated something called the Exodus Program. Originally a Golden Age project designed to send human colonists outside of Sol on generation ships, Rasputin repurposed it into an evacuation order, trying to save some portion of humanity from the Darkness. Some of the ships made it. Most… didn't.
"One such ship was designated the Exodus Green, and while it managed to escape the inner system, it didn't escape the battle. Caught between the forces of Light and Dark, the colonists on board were transformed by those paracausal energies into the first Awoken. A new human subspecies, caught in a balance of Light and Dark.
"Somehow, the Awoken survived the Collapse, and once it ended and the dust settled, most of them stayed away from the inner system, keeping their distance from Earth and the Risen that were appearing there. The Reef is the closest major settlement to Earth, ruled over by their Queen, Mara Sov."
"Do you think they'll hear us out?" Kendrix asked, growing more nervous by the minute. "About the Black Garden?"
Proxima gave an imitated shrug. "In theory, the City and the Reef are on good terms right now. If we act politely and respectfully, I don't think they'll do anything to harm us. Whether or not they help us is something else entirely…"
Some time later, after sailing through the kaleidoscopic realm of near-light speed travel, they arrived at their destination. The space before them was not the black gulf Kendrix had grown accustomed to. Instead, the view from Nova's cockpit was a vast cloud of luminescent gas, glowing in various hues of blue and purple. The stars shining through from behind them gave the realm the ethereal air of some strange nebula, not that of part of the solar system. Kendrix would almost have called it beautiful, if not for what the cloud contained.
Illuminated in the ghostly light was the wreckage of hundreds, possibly thousands of ships. The word "graveyard" came to Kendrix's mind. Nova's flight slowed, carefully steering around the debris as he mapped a route further in. Kendrix didn't observe the scene too closely, not wanting to see if he could spot anything more than metal and glass drifting in the weightlessness.
He was forced to focus, however, when Nova's scanner began to suddenly beep out a warning. Two of the ships they had just flown past had suddenly flared to life, their thrusters flickering a sharp orange as they engaged in a tight pursuit. The comms crackled to life, and a woman's voice began to speak in perfect, accentless English.
"Intruder bearing 127. You have crossed into the realm of the Awoken. State your business, or be fired on by order of the Queen."
Kendrix glanced at Proxima, who just started at him expectantly. Sighing, he activated the comms to reply.
"We're from Earth. We're here to seek the counsel of the Awoken," he replied, hoping the formality of his words didn't sound forced.
For a moment, there was silence. Kendrix found himself gripping the armrests of his seat, bracing for whatever weapons these people could wield against him.
Then, the voice returned. "Conform to my trajectory. Any deviation will be taken as an act of aggression."
Nova's voice beeped worriedly from the console.
"Do what they say," Kendrix murmured. "We need to keep things cool for now."
The robot was clearly uncomfortable, but he fell in line with the other ships all the same.
Now that they were leading the way, Kendrix was surprised to find he recognized the ships. They were the same design as the three-winged fighter he'd seen Oroa flying. One even had the same purple and gold color scheme of her jumpship, while the other was colored purple, teal, and black.
"The database calls them Galliots," Proxima said, picking up on Kendrix's thoughts. Underneath his apprehension Kendrix dimly wondered if Orora had obtained her ship after becoming a Guardian, or if it was somehow a holdover from her first life as an Awoken.
Eventually, the pair of Galliots lead them to a massive asteroid hanging amidst the wreckage of the Reef. As they approached, Kendrix saw that the rock was criss-crossed with various artificial installations. Some he recognized, like radio towers or artillery, while for others he could only guess at their purpose. Nova followed the ships down toward one such structure, which opened at their approach, revealing a pristine hangar dug into the side of the asteroid. Nova landed where the woman's voice directed him, and Kendrix emerged from the cockpit when instructed to do so.
"Stay here. Don't move, don't give any indication that you're alive," Kendrix whispered into the console as he left. "Radio us if there's trouble, not before; they might jump to the wrong conclusions if they see us transmitting to each other."
Proxima remained in realspace at his shoulder, explaining that it showed respect and trust to leave one's Ghost vulnerable. Kendrix didn't like it, but then he didn't like the thought of offending the Awoken either.
As he stepped down onto the hangar floor, its artificial gravity keeping him in place, Kendrix looked to their escorts. The two Galliots had landed on either side of Nova, their thrusters powering down as they came to a stop. The cockpit of the purple and gold ship slid open, and a humanoid figure climbed out with almost unnatural grace. They were clad in black and blue fatigues with a violet banner at their waist, embroidered with a golden symbol Kendrix didn't recognize. The person's eyes and mouth were hidden behind their black helmet, but the middle of their faceplate was open, betraying the pale blue skin beneath.
"Follow," the Awoken said curtly, in the same female voice as the one who'd guided them here. Kendrix did as the woman asked, sneaking a glance at the other Galliot. But no pilot emerged from the purple-and-teal craft.
The Awoken woman led him into a small, dim corridor that quickly turned into a maze. She kept him moving at a brisk pace, choosing turns and passing through doorways seemingly at random. Kendrix quickly lost any sense of direction, and hoped that Proxima was keeping track of things in case they had to make a run for it. Though the deeper they ventured, the less he was certain they'd be able to escape at all.
Eventually though, the pilot came to a stop outside a door with another woman in identical garb barring their path. The new woman nodded to Kendrix's escort, then proceeded to pat him down. Kendrix felt uncomfortable at the contact, but didn't complain. Once she was satisfied, the new woman stepped back, and Kendrix's escort spoke up once more.
"Within the chamber, any attempts at initiating transmat will be identified and suppressed. Try to pull in a weapon, and you and your Ghost will both be dead before you notice you have failed. Understood?"
Kendrix nodded. Then, as a last-minute thought, he removed his helmet and allowed Proxima to transmat it away. The door before him opened, and Kendrix stepped beyond its threshold.
What was waiting for him was a massive hollowed-out chamber. The walls were supported by giant arches of metal, and high-tension wires criss-crossed the space like a half-finished spiderweb. Orange poles of light hung from the ceiling, alongside massive tapestries of wine-colored cloth.
The path before him stretched out into a railingless walkway, suspended above the chamber's half-lit bowels. Kendrix walked out onto the walkway, Proxima at his shoulder and the Awoken guards flanking him on either side.
The walkway terminated in a large circular platform, with a red carpet leading up onto a large metal dias. Suspended above the dias was a large throne, and standing before it was a man with blue skin, orange eyes, and hair like a crow's feathers. He was clearly an Awoken, but beyond that Kendrix did not recognize him. As he drew near, the man spoke, his voice a self-assured sneer.
"So these are the trespassers demanding an audience?" the man asked, his eyes bright with mockery. Kendrix did not recall demanding anything, but decided not to voice his objection.
"We didn't mean to trespass," Proxima answered, apologetic yet firm.
"The Queen herself judges who may or may not enter the realm. Me?" The man laughed. "I see no reason she should be available for whatever washes up at the Reef. But here we are." The man reminded Kendrix somewhat of Apollo, and had to suppress a grimace at the thought.
"We've come to ask for help," Kendrix continued, doing his best to ignore the barb and keep his voice even.
Suddenly, there was movement behind the man, behind the throne. Kendrix recognized it almost immediately. There was no mistaking their glowing blue eyes, their spider-like gait, their pale horned helms.
"Fallen!" Proxima cried, shrinking back in fear.
Kendrix reached out and snatched Proxima out of the air with one hand while the Void roared to life in his other, then Blinked straight backwards, reappearing behind the Awoken guards.
Just in time for them to turn on their heels and level their pistols at him, in an impossibly smooth and fast movement.
Kendrix didn't dare move, didn't dare breathe. For an eternal instant, he did nothing besides hold Proxima behind his back and compel the Void to wait, to hold until the moment to strike came. But it never did. The two Fallen Vandals simply stood at either side of the empty throne, their eyes bright, spears at the ready, but unmoving.
Then, there came a voice.
"It is afraid of the Fallen." It was a woman's voice, smooth, collected, and perceptive. But there was a silence behind it, deep and black and impassive as night. It was the silence of the onyx gulfs between galaxies, of the infinite nothing at the bottom of singularities, of dead stars that had breathed their last before time even began.
Kendrix's eyes were drawn yet further back, to the figure who approached from behind the throne, to whom the Vandal bowed and stepped aside. She appeared as an Awoken woman, her skin a blue that was somehow both pale and dark, her short hair a stark silvery-white, her eyes aglow with a blue near as bright as the Fallen at her sides.
"It does not understand these ones are mine."
As her voice came again, and with it that impossible silence, Kendrix was for the briefest of moments reminded of his encounter with Rasputin. And he knew, in the deepest part of himself, in that very place from which the Void howled for release, that the Queen of the Awoken was no more a woman than Rasputin was an image on a screen.
When he was certain the guards had decided not to shoot him, Kendrix let the Void ebb out of his hand, and released Proxima so that she could return to her place at his side. Then he slowly straightened and put his hands behind his back, and the guards slowly lowered and then holstered their weapons.
"I apologize if my… actions, have caused offense, Your Grace." Kendrix said, bowing his head. "I am not accustomed to Fallen being so well-mannered."
"Perhaps a change of garb would improve your relations," the Awoken man sneered in reply. Kendrix barely heard him. His words felt so weightless now, compared to those of the one who now sat the throne behind him.
"I am a Guardian, from Earth." Kendrix continued, ignoring him. "We're searching for the Black Garden."
For the first time the man's expression changed, his venomous sneer suddenly replaced with an almost affronted look of confusion. "Why?" was all he managed to ask.
"We seek to destroy the Darkness at its heart."
"You want to turn it into a battleground?" the man surmised, a ghost of his sneer returning. "How unimaginative."
"Do you know where it is?" Kendrix asked, trying to keep his patience from wearing too thin.
"Everyone knows where it is," the man spat. "The hard part is getting in."
"Can you help us?" Kendrix asked, his distaste for the man and his half-answers growing every moment. The man looked positively outraged.
"And why would we do that?" he asked as he stalked towards Kendrix. The man came so close that Kendrix could see the violet light flaring in his irises reflected in the man's own eyes.
"The Queen requests council with her brother," came the voice. The man hesitated for the briefest of moments, but it was clear that the Queen's words were no request, so he turned and moved to her side atop the dias. He knelt beside her, and they looked at one another. If they spoke, Kendrix did not hear them, nor did he see their lips move.
Nonetheless, a few moments later a laugh hissed out from the man. "Yes, that's good. That's good." He stood and turned to Kendrix, his smile fully returned. "Why not? We'll make you a key! How's that?" He took a step down from the dias, and his eyes nearly flashed with glee. "All we need is the head of a Vex Gate Lord…"
Kendrix felt Proxima's thoughts tense across their mental link, but she said nothing.
"Why do you want a Vex head?" Kendrix inquired.
"Oh, we don't," the man snidely assured him. "And I doubt we'll get one either. But it's your only hope of getting into the Black Garden."
Kendrix's eyes wandered back at the Queen. She was looking at him with an expression of curiosity and disinterest in perfect superposition.
"We will return," he promised.
"Or die on Venus," the man cheerily agreed. "Either way."
When the Queen said nothing more, Kendrix turned and followed the guards back out of the chamber, Proxima gliding after him. As soon as they were back out in the hall, Proxima returned Kendrix's helmet. He took a deep breath, finding a strange sort of comfort in the familiarity of his suit's stale recycled air.
One of the guards stayed at the door, while the other led him back into the asteroid's labyrinthine halls. Whether the woman guiding him was the same one who had brought him in, he could only guess. The two Awoken's garb was entirely identical, at least as far as he could discern without being impolitely thorough.
In a short enough time, they reached the hangar, and Kendrix was relieved to see Nova exactly where they'd left him, seemingly undisturbed. His relief vanished, however, when he noticed that something else was waiting for him within the hangar.
The Fallen in the throne room had been different from those Kendrix had encountered across Sol thus far. They had worn long fur cloaks, and their armor had been marked with deep blues instead of the reds of the Cosmodrome or the blues of the Moon. But the Fallen that stood between him and Nova was something else entirely.
It was taller than a Vandal, but not so tall as a captain, and not nearly so hulking. Its form seemed almost lanky beneath its armor. A mane of fur ringed its neck, but its body was largely covered with an emerald robe woven from tattered cloth. Most strikingly of all, however, were the creature's arms. It possessed four as most Fallen did, but its two upper arms were entirely mechanical, their struts and coils exposed for all the world to see. With one such robotic appendage, the Fallen clutched a long staff topped with some sort of ovoid work of metal.
Kendrix tried to avoid the creature's piercing gaze, but unfortunately his escort led him right to the Fallen, and even stopped when they reached it. The Fallen was even more intimidating up close, standing nearly a foot taller than Kendrix. He had to fight the instinct to whip out his Duke or Blink away as the creature's four eyes roved over him.
"Archon-slayer wears his colors well, yesss?"
Kendrix nearly jumped as the chittering voice emanated from the creature, and for a moment he wasn't even sure that it was what had spoken.
"Uh, thanks, I guess?" Kendrix eventually stammered out. "Sorry, I- I didn't know Fallen could speak English."
"It is rare among my people, yes," the Fallen agreed. "But Variks is a Scribe. It is my duty to know many tongues, yesss?"
"I… wouldn't know." Kendrix admitted. He considered the Fallen's words about his 'colors', and felt a sudden rush of discomfort. "I'm sorry if my robes… upset you."
Variks, as the Fallen had named himself, made a clacking noise that sounded almost curious to Kendrix.
"Riksis was not of Variks' House," the Scribe uttered, seemingly confused. "That Fallen was not known to me, only tales of his madness and cruelty. I am no Devil; I do not weep for him."
"I… see," Kendrix said, more than a little confused himself. Something in particular about Variks' words tugged at his mind, but it took Kendrix a moment to identify the source of his disconnect. Then, realization came. "You call your own kind Fallen? I thought that was just what humans call you."
"Does the name not satisfy you?" Variks queried.
"No, it's just…" Kendrix hesitated, trying to put his thoughts into words. "...I don't like it when people decide their own names for me. It feels… strange, to call you something that is not your own word."
For a long moment, there was silence, and Kendrix began to worry that he'd upset Variks, or that the Scribe hadn't understood his words. Finally though, he spoke.
"Eliksni."
"Sorry?" Kendrix asked, thinking he'd misheard.
"We call ourselves Eliksni."
"Eliksni," Kendrix repeated, doing his best to render the alien term with his human mouth.
Variks stared at him for a moment. Then he suddenly swept past Kendrix, stalking off into the maze of the asteroid's interior. Kendrix watched him go, more lost than ever.
"It's time to go," his escort uttered, seemingly uninterested in Kendrix's confusion. Kendrix reluctantly followed her the rest of the way into the hangar. He climbed back into Nova's cockpit as the woman returned to her own purple-and-gold craft. Nova's voice came in a flurry of concerned beeps and whistles.
"I know buddy, we're ok. We'll fill you in once we're outta this place."
Nova activated his thrusters, more than eager to be underway, and Kendrix saw his escort's Galliot do the same, along with the purple-and-teal Galliot on Nova's other side. Kendrix disinterestedly assumed that its pilot had been waiting for them to return inside the ship.
With that, Nova rose into the sky and matched the two Galliots' trajectory as the guided him back through the Reef and out into the starry abyss of space.
Variks watched the jumpship vanish from where he stood by the hangar's exit. A moment later, the door slid open behind him, and Mara Sov looked at him expectantly.
"It is as we expected, highness," Variks said, giving a humble bow. "Our Splicers confirmed the ship's true nature while it waited here."
The Queen of the Awoken simply nodded, then turned to watch as the escort Galliots returned to the hangar once more. They each landed in their appropriate berth, and the Corsair departed from her ship's cockpit. The purple-and-teal Galliot simply sat on its landing gear, motionless.
"Variks tells me you were right," the Queen called out. "For now, you will proceed as you have thus far. Track their movements, but do not engage. The longer they remain unaware of your presence, the easier it will be to strike, should such action become necessary."
When her words elicited no response, the Queen spoke again.
"Do I make myself clear, Slipstream?"
At the Queen's word, the purple-and-teal Galliot's thrusters blazed once more into life, and the ship hovered up slightly into the air. Then, it shattered into a thousand pieces.
The Galliot's cockpit suddenly angled down towards the floor, pressing itself back into the ship's main body, forming something like a torso. The ship's two upper wings rotated around to rest at the body's back like an angel's wings, just as two arms erupted from either side of the cockpit, their taloned hands flexing with mechanical life. The Galliot's third wing split down the middle, each half mirroring the other as they twisted into a pair of sleek, whipcord legs. Finally, a sharp-featured head bound in a black, blocky helm emerged from the top of the torso, its eyes bright with rubidic intelligence.
The robot landed with enough force to shake the hangar.
"Yes, Your Grace," it said obediently, pressing a closed fist into its chest in firm salute.
Just below where a gleaming purple symbol was inscribed in its metal flesh.
0000000000
AN: A chapter coming out less than three months since the last? Pinch me I must be dreaming. In all seriousness, it was a pleasure to visit the Awoken and relive some more of those D1 moments I hold so dear. It's really annoying to write about a character when you don't know their name, though. When do we even learn Uldren's name anyway?
Oh and I guess there's more at play on the Cyber side of things than Nova and Bludgeon's feud. Hope you all continue to enjoy my work!
