DRAC-0, MARS, EXCLUSION ZONE.
"It's bad enough I have to watch over a young Titan, as per orders, but babysitting you too? How'd I get so lucky..." groaned the Exo from behind his cover, which was only a solid piece of rock that jutted up from the surface of the desert planet, trying to save himself from the incoming fire from a Sand Eater patrol they had decided to stroll by.
Strolling really wasn't the correct word, if to be correct; was more like chasing down Raven the warlock as she laughed and giggled like a child while running wild through the canyon, giving the Exo the machine version of a headache he didn't want. The young Titan, Thyra now had concealed herself behind another stone with her new scout rifle. DRAC-0 knew he didn't have much time before the woman engaged the Cabal with some return fire. Which meant he had to take action before she attempted to charge into combat as was her habit.
"Thyra!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Do not move from your position!"
"Why not!?"
"The enemy firepower will focus on you and you won't last long. What if they snatch your Ghost before you can be revived? We cannot afford to lose Guardians to carelessness!" Barked the Exo sternly. "Think before you shoot! What is the best course of action here?"
"I don't know! I know I trust my fists! And that's what I'm good at!" The woman cried back, leaning forward despite orders as she prepared to assault the patrol.
"Thyra! Stay. PUT!" Growled DRAC-0.
Thyra launched herself from the shelter of the rocks and charged straight forward towards the Cabal head first and shoulders down! She wasn't even bothering to try to provide herself with cover fire as she ran at them, forcing DRAC-0 to do so for her with his Bad Juju, slowly advancing after her as he fired. He honed down the weapon's sights and landed several bullets into the skull of a Legionary that had advanced its position through the air with its jump-pack, leaving it to fall into the sand now, no longer a threat.
The young Titan, as scrawny build as she was, made the perfect fit for running through the enemy grenade launcher like fire without taking much damage to her armor. She dove back, sliding feet first through the sand and into the dead center of the patrol, discarding her Scout rifle without care and brought both fists into the air. Suddenly both fists crackling with power arc energy a briefly before she brought her fists down into the ground around her, causing the cabal around her to go flying off their massive feet as it looked like lightening had just struck the ground, blinding the Exo for a moment.
The next thing his visual sensors picked up was a thick smoke around the area that had been struck, with several of the patrol smoking and dead at Thyra's feet. While those who had just barely gotten out of range, were now recovering from the reckless strike and turning their weapons onto the Guardian. DRAC-0 had seconds to close the distance with an all-out dead run straight through the sand to get to Thyra before they all opened fire, including a very pissed off Centurion now with its gun aimed at her. Just as the alien was pulling the trigger, DRAC-0 reached his destination and glowed with a purple Void light before extending that energy outward; creating a Ward of Dawn just in the nick of time while all the Cabal concentrated their fire onto the pair of Titans. All of their heavy fire round absorbing into the Ward's shield and protecting them both.
DRAC-0 sighed with relief, not that he needed air or held air at all, more of a programming thing to seem more alive to the flesh and blood around them. They had a few moments before either the Shield gave out or the Cabal realized that emptying their magazines weren't having the effect they desired. He took the time to reload his weapon wordlessly, and then glare back at the Titan behind him.
"You defied orders Titan!" He barked as he got to his feet. "Get your Shotgun ready! On my count we hit the Captain of this patrol before aiming for the grunts!"
"I couldn't help it! I got most of them, didn't I, doesn't that count for something?" Thyra commented back as she retrieved her Shotgun from her back and pumped a round into the chamber; ready to go.
"Three! Two!... One!" Roared DRAC-0 and he charged out of the bubble with a ready-to-fire machine gun trained on the Centurion.
Pop... pop... pop...pop... pop. .pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop! Rang out from the machine gun's slow but increasingly steady rate of fire right into the Centurion's shield. The beast bellowed in rage and fired back while the rest of the patrol that remained were just beginning to react to the sudden direct assault. Thyra thankfully listened this time and charged in behind him, but she had instead begun going after the smaller troops instead of the head of them. She fired her shotgun into the chest of another legionary, forcing it backward into the ground, and then she popped another round into the nearest Psion, killing it instantly.
DRAC-0 focused on the Centurion in front of him and continued his massive fire onto the alien until his mag ran empty, and then quickly switching to his Pulse Rifle to finish the job, spraying it with bullets until the large Centurion fell into the sand alongside the rest of its patrol... When DRAC-0 looked around... the patrol was defeated and Thyra looked quite pleased with herself, as much as the Exo could tell through her Helmet.
"Great... That's no longer a threat. Now. Where did that damned Warlock run off to?" He growled irritably. They wouldn't have had to engage the patrol if Raven hadn't taken off. Now he had no idea where she was, and he was very much tempted to leave her here on this planet. He had his own disobedient Titan to attend to without wasting time and energy tracking down the mischievous Awoken if it wasn't for her Visions she had on occasion he would just leave... It made her very important to them. And very key not to lose to anyone. Not the Cabal. Not the Vex. And especially not the Hive.
DRAC-0 was surprised when his Ghost suddenly appeared before him, watching him silently. His ghost wasn't much for talk, or maybe it had received damage prior to reviving him, the Exo never knew. It spoke only when it had to and that was still scarce.
"Transmission incoming... from Hunter Shadow."
"Thank you Ghost." He answered. "Yes?"
"Hey you guys need to get back here ASAP. Remember that favor we owe the Queen? Well she wants us to cough up, I'll explain when you guys return to the Tower."
"Understood. However, there is a complication."
"Aaaaaah. Shit... What'd she do this time..."
"She took off; alerting a patrol to our presence, and resulted in us losing her while we fought them off."
"Son of a bitch! Well she's not far off I bet. Find her. Get your metal ass back here so we can gear up and get some rest."
"Roger. DRAC-0 out."
Thyra approached him, apparently having found her Scout Rifle while he had been talking.
"What's going on?" She asked curiously.
"We are needed. Shadow, Raven, and I owe the Queen a favor in return for helping us get into the Black Garden. Subsequently that means you are going too. I will also assume the Fallen Vandal will also be with us as well. We must find Raven, quickly, and return to the Tower for more detail." DRAC-0 replied, looking at the barren battlefield around them, and calculating the most likely route the Vision- Crazed Warlock would have taken. Finally he rolled his robotic shoulders and picked the route due Northeast and proceeded to march his way through the canyon while he kept out on alert. A few moments later Thyra's footsteps could be heard following behind him. When the Hunter was involved Thyra always seemed a little more eager without questioning him as often.
The Exo sighed and shook his head, returning his full attention outside of his mind to the task at hand. They could not waste time with him lost in the pools of his own thoughts. He picked up the march, focusing on the rocks in the landscape around him for any traces of the missing Warlock.
Thyra the long-legged Guardian that she was had no problem keeping the pace with him. Her build had surprised him when he had been first tasked with overseeing her training and growth as a Titan, normally Titans were thicker builds than her, even Exos like himself tended to be on the bulkier side. She reminded him of a Birch tree on Earth that swayed with the wind instead of holding her own against it. Thyra could have easily turned out as a Hunter or Warlock, but apparently the twiggish woman had a preference for close quarters combat that the other two classes could not have supported.
And again the Exo shook his head from thought... It was going to be one of those days...
Thankfully there didn't seem to be another Cabal patrol in the area to be a more of a problem than they already had, trying to locate their missing comrade. Though he had to wonder how long it would be before the enemy realized one of their patrols were down and decide to send reinforcements. The Cabal were a very strict military force and DRAC-0 didn't think they'd allow patrols out without frequent comm checks to make sure the area was secure. For all he knew one of the last patrol had managed to alert their Command that there was a problem and reinforcements were already on the way to them as they wasted time.
The stubborn Exo picked up his pace with more urgency as he scanned the rocky walls of the Canyon. The longer they spent out here the more they risked heavier forces dropping in on their location like the Dust Giant regimen or worse the Siege Dancers if they considered the threat of possible Guardians in the area high enough.
Just their luck; DRAC-0 heard a ship slowly getting louder, and from the sound it was a Cabal Harvester.
` "Thyra! Get down, quickly!"
"I can hear it too!"
The pair quickly ran to the side wall of the canyon, DRAC-0 pressed his back up against the rock wall and with a large slab of stone above their heads in hopes that would be enough to prevent the Cabal from spotting them. Thyra followed his example and pressed up against the rock as well, holding her breath in silence to avoid their foe….
They both watched in silence the ship flew on by slowly, obviously searching for something as it headed toward the direction of their fallen comrades. It would only be a matter of time before they landed and began to search of foot this way.
Once DRAC-0 could no longer hear the ship he growled to himself and began moving even faster stride while looking for the missing Warlock.
"Um... Draco?"
"Errrrrmmmm?"
"I think she may have gone into that cave over there. It seems like a place she would hide." The Titan pointed out to a cave he had passed over up closer to the top of the canyon wall.
Of course he had missed it too, thanks to his mind's tendency to wander off and the threat of the Cabal ship.
"Good work. Cover me. I'll take point to investigate."
DRAC-0 put his weapon on his back; he wouldn't be able to use it while he climbed the stone wall up. The Exo looked up from the bottom of the canyon and grumbled low to himself, swearing he was going to smack that Warlock upside the head when he found her. Then without wasting another moment he placed his hands on the next ledge above him and slowly began his free-style climb. Each step he took care to find a foot hold before pushing himself up so he wouldn't fall back and possibly kill himself in the process. When he made it to the ledge for the edge of the cave he made a quick look at the Titan below that kept looking for trouble; and then pushed himself up onto the ledge one he was sure there was no cause to worry. Without missing a beat he was back on his feet and taking a peek into the cave with Juju's sights.
He slowly made his way into the cave and looked around, while his Ghost provided him with the light he needed that his vision sensors couldn't see without it. In the back he saw the shape of the missing Warlock in the back of the cave with her Ghost hovering over her. DRAC-0 immediately back tracked out of the cave and waved down to the Titan waiting below for her to come out, and then returned into the belly of the cave to the Warlock.
The Exo looked at Raven's Ghost. "What's happened?"
"She had a Vision. It took its toll on her body."
"Damn." Growled DRAC-0, kneeling down to Raven's level and reaching out a cold hand to her cheek. "Raven, can you hear me? RAVEN! RAVEN, WAKE UP!" He barked at her sternly while he shook her gently, trying to get the warlock to respond.
Thyra came up behind him and got down to his level. "She doesn't look good. Are you sure you should be waking her up?"
"Fine. Let's just get her to the Tower. Ghost, pull us into my ship. We need to get her back to the Tower for some rest. She is not aware of it yet, but we have work to do. "
"Yes sir, pulling into ship in three, two, one..."
DRAC-0 found himself in the cockpit of his ship and his ship already preparing for the trip home. He hated the feeling in his circuits that came with being pulled onto by his Ghost; feel like they were being pulled apart... The good news is now he had a little while to relax as the ship jumped back to Earth.
"Ghost, send word to Shadow, we are headed to her now."
"Yes, sir."
I see you out there, comment! Do it! Also a special thanks to my first followers to this story, you make me feel awesome! I will write on!