Chapter 4

Dark

Suddenly, the figure darted out of the alcove with me in tow, holding tight to the arm. The figure expertly navigated the paths in the engine room despite the darkness, showing some sort of familiarity with it with every left and right turn. I had a pretty good idea who but not why. I tried to resist, pulling with all my might against the hand essentially holding me captive, but for every time I struggled, any sensation in my arm drifted away as the choking grip only tightened. We eventually found a dead end that was quite literally just outside the booster and surrounding void. The lights continued to remain inactive, leaving only the icy blue eyes that wordlessly looked back at me every once in awhile.

After being stopped by the wall between space and ship, the death grip loosened around my forearm. Everything was still pitch black, the timer probably close to 8 or 9 minutes by this point and Starco probably considering whether or not he should cancel the test and contact the Tower. I needed to reach him, but I need to see why she was here first.

The noise would have been unbearable without the sound dampening system in my helmet, but still quite a bit leaked in. The sounds of various machines being tested and put back to work ricocheted off other machines and the metal walls that only amplified itself as it traveled up and down the corridor, collecting more sounds and rattling them off the walls as well. I tried to shout above the noise to get some sort of an answer. "Okay! You've got me Dea! Now what do you want?!" I could scarcely hear my own voice over the sound that bled through the dampening system. Dea shook her head and held up one finger, the slim form barely recognizable through the night vision. Not sure of what she was about to do, I stepped back to give her some space, facing her the entire time with my hands up and palms out to show I wasn't planning on doing anything. I couldn't run or blink because there was nowhere to go that would make sense and not run me back into her. Besides, I had no reason to run from Dea, but I did have a few suspicions as to how she got on my ship, why she's on it in the first place, and why she took me to the very rear of the engine room where if we wanted to talk, we couldn't hear each other anyway.

Unexpectedly, the sound diminished to almost nothing, the grinds and whirrs of machinery melting away almost instantaneously. The decrescendo was negligible at first but became rather effective within a few seconds. Something blinked in my peripherals as I watched Dea fiddle with something at her belt. I looked at our feet and saw two pinpricks of light in the center of a layered cylindrical device. It looked heavy, but I couldn't precisely tell what it did.

Dea must have somehow noticed my confusion behind the helmet because she answered my silent question with, "Discretion field." Her voice was just as I remembered, straight-forward and serious that testified to the amount of experience she had. Each word was clear and crisp without any interference. "Something the Nine recently developed. And this…" I could barely see a small oblong shape clinched vertically between her forefinger and thumb. "...is classified." She shifted the device in her fingers so it was horizontal with the fingers gripping and pushed down until there was an audible pop. At which point, she carefully set it down next to the discretion field generator. The item glowed faintly for a moment before going completely dark. "Dud?" I asked, pointing out the obvious. Once again, she held up a finger.

Just as she did so, the room erupted in a bright light, blinding the infrared sensors and me. I immediately threw a hand over the visor and quickly switched off the night vision, trying to not hurt myself any further with this sudden brightness. "A little bright don't you think?" I commented, my voice doing me zero favors in disguising the discomfort. I waited a few seconds before opening my eyes again and facing that obnoxiously bright light. Things were a bit blurry for a moment after I opened them, but everything came into focus rather quickly. Dea remained quiet.

This rear section of the engine room was bathed in a bright light that was nowhere nearly as harsh as it was with the night vision. A couple feet in front of me, stood a female Exo with white paint, Dea. She wore some sort of blue and white suit beneath a navy blue and gold hooded shawl. At first glance she was unarmed, and while that was of some relief, she could probably had something on her person. However, we ought to be far past that holding each other at gun point by now. After all, she'd helped Arla and me fight through the Black Garden at the expense of her own injury. She'd disappeared, claiming that her path was her own, but now she was here, and that worried me because it was so soon.

"I thought we were past all the cloak and dagger," I grunted, somewhat annoyed, straightening my posture and looking her in the eye. Our eyes met only briefly before she looked away and folded her arms. She sighed. "We are," she stated sternly. "However, you have a guest onboard, so I couldn't just come aboard in the usual way. I assume that's a new Guardian?"

"It is," I replied with a nod. "Now why exactly are you on my ship? I didn't exactly extend an invitation."

"I need to ask you a few questions," she answered, folding her arms.

"So you almost literally dragged me from a diagnostic test to ask me a few questions?"

"Well, I would've waited until it finished, but you found me before then. But yes, I need to ask you a few questions."

I threw my hands up in surrender. "Alright, seeing as I'm back here and you've gone through all this trouble, fire away."

"You sound upset," she commented. I was upset. I had a feeling that we'd ultimately cross paths again, but I didn't think that she would be doing all of this secretive stuff again. It was rather annoying that she couldn't just say what she needed to say, so we could both move on with it. No lying, no deception.

"I'm...it's nothing. What did you need to ask me?" I tried to swallow any signs of being annoyed or frustrated.

Dea crossed her arms and turned her gaze back at me. "What do you know about me?"

I took a step back, floored by the question. Why would she ask me anything like that? She knows who she is, and I only know what she's, which has likely been a mix of inseparable lies and truth. That thought sparked a bit of anger. I didn't demand much of people, but I did have a thing against lying and living the lie. "Why are you asking me this?"

"If you don't mind Maximus, I'll be the one asking the questions from here-on-out."

I decided to assert myself this time. She was not going to start the mind games again, but I tried to keep the inner flames at bay and not let her response stoke them. "No. I need you to answer this one first. Every time you show up, something bad usually happens shortly after. So answer this: is anything bad going to happen?" It was true. So far, she'd been nothing but a harbinger. The Moon, the warehouse, Mars, Venus, the Reef. She'd been there just before everything went south. I'd survived it all somehow with several calls much too close for comfort. I needed to know this for Charli, for Arla, and for myself.

The air was empty of words for several long seconds. "I...I don't know," she ultimately relinquished. "There's a lot I do know, but I honestly can't give you a reason why those things happened…"

I held out a pointed finger. "Cut the crap," I ordered, anger starting to move into my voice. "I can tell that you're going to start being cryptic again. If you're going to be like that, I'm going to kindly ask you to leave once. Anything after that I cannot guarantee will carry that descriptor."

It was her turn to hold her hands up in surrender, but hers was a little less sarcastic than mine. We both knew that it was a fair fight between us, but I'd truly thought we were above fighting each other. "Look, I'm not here to cause you any trouble. You need to calm down and answer the question. It could save your life." Dea walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Please, the last thing we need to do is turn on each other."

I didn't want to admit it, but she was right. She'd led us right into danger, even getting captured by the Cabal at one point, but it was also her that had gotten us out of some sticky situations multiple times. Whatever she had to say, it was probably important and could potentially save my life, even if it put it in danger first. Only time would tell. "Fine," I relented. The lights suddenly came back on.

"How convenient," Dea responded. "So, let's start over. How are you doing Maximus?"

"Okay, I know you did not come out here just to ask me how I'm doing." She glowered at me. "I've been doing fine. Getting lost in the City is leaps and bounds better than getting lost in the Garden. Done a few odd jobs for the Vanguard. Recon, sweeping and clearing an area of Fallen, Cabal, Hive, or even the few Vex that remain. What about you?"

"Very similar, but I'm not necessarily at liberty to discuss details. Just know I've been busy as well. Back to the original question, what do you know about me?"

"Your name is Dea-01..." I recited, stating the few facts I knew from what she's told me and what Uldren used for his mockery during our brief visit. She circled around me in our small space in the engine room. One of the arms crossed about her chest had a clenched fist, obviously holding something. A recording device possibly? "...and you are an Agent of the Nine. In the past you had a tendency of helping Guardians but ultimately got them killed. You have allegedly changed your ways, but proof is scarce. You, along with myself and Arla, went into the Black Garden and slayed the Heart, but you refused to be named in the Vanguard's after action report for reasons still unknown to me."

"And have you told the Vanguard about my existence?"

"No," I stated flatly. As far as I could remember, I'd never told them about Dea in any way, even leaving any mention of her in the debriefing unsaid. She deserved at least part of the credit, but refused it as though to say she'd never existed

"Good, and that's the way it's going to stay."

"So, what do you know about me?"

Dea chortled. "Much more than you'd be comfortable with me knowing."

I was suspicious. I hadn't told her much about myself if anything at all. Yes, we'd spoken, and yes she'd gotten into the Tower before, but surely she would have been spotted by some onlooking Guardian if she dared spy there. The City was another thing that would prove much easier, but it's not like I go there often. "Hmm…" I said. "Part of me believes you, but the other part doesn't."

"Let's just say I've got very credible sources."

Call it a gut feeling, but I could tell that this conversation was coming to a close quickly. "Of course you do. Now, before you disappear into the unknown again, I need to know. Has something happened? Something changed that probably should not have?"

Dea looked at me with her blue eyes, maintaining contact as she spoke. "Maximus, things are always changing, some for the better and some for the worse. We can't afford to let them bother us unless they threaten the things we stand for."

There was something she wasn't telling me. I could tell she was using her cryptic ways to make it seem like there was nothing behind her words, but Dea was always more than a mere first glance. "And why's this relevant?"

Dea's head dipped for a moment, probably thinking of the right way to phrase her words. After a few tense seconds, she said, "The Nine suspect that something big is about to happen. A test against a foe that the City has not yet had to deal with."

"If it's another invasion, I can almost assure you that they won't even get close to the City before the Vanguard sniff out their plot and destroy them. We're not having another incident with the Wall. I mean, Guardians are on watch 24/7 and scout teams are sent into the mountains and forest every six hours to keep ground intel as accurate as possible."

"This isn't something you can outright prepare for."

"What do you mean? If we can't kill it ourselves, I'm sure the Awoken would help us with some convincing, and the Nine would surely lend some sort of a hand." I was sure we wouldn't need the help with as advanced, trained, and numerous as our ranks were. A single Guardian was a rough equivalent to a few dozen Fallen at the very least, even one in Charli's condition and with so little experience.

Dea though again. "I'm not sure either will be able to help in any way."

"And why would that be?"

"The Nine can be rather fickle. They sometimes question sending Xur to the City to sell his wares. They say it makes the Tower look too dependent on their weaponry rather than the items the foundries produce."

"Well, I can name plenty of Exotic-class weapons the City has produced…"

Dea interrupted me. "...Using tech modified from Exotics developed by the Nine and its assets."

"That's probably true," I said. "But what about the Awoken. Why wouldn't they help?"

"You haven't heard?" Dea asked, surprised. "The House of Wolves mounted a full-scale rebellion led by some Kell who's in way over his head."

Arla had told me about how the Awoken had taken the Wolves as protectorates a long time ago. She'd told me about how they'd rebelled a couple times but ultimately granted amnesty because they were corrupted by the Servitors that had since been terminated. This revolt sounded different, now led by an actual person many of the Fallen underlings actually looked up to. I had no doubt that very few of them would go against such a powerful being's orders, even if it meant abandoning their homes and sacrificing their lives to free themselves of those they now see as ruthless oppressors. My mind drifted back to the phone call I'd seen Arla dealing with that one time a few months ago. She'd said something about how she wouldn't come back. She deserted their army and became a Guardian after dying in the ensuing chase. If they were that desperate, I could only imagine which way the fight was going. "I haven't. Do you know why haven't they reached out to the Tower then? I'm sure the Vanguard would jump at the chance to connect the City to the Reef." I asked, disregarding the possibility Dea wouldn't know.

"I have a few ideas, but they're just theories at this point. My guess is that their perverse vision of honor has held them back from asking for help. They probably think that they can take on them on and win easily."

"How long has this revolt been going?"

"A little over five months or so," Dea responded. "It's been bloody from what I've heard, the slave killing the master and vice versa. It hasn't looked very good for that Variks character they keep around, so I anticipate that he's on a short leash."

"Who exactly is Variks?"

"Variks is a House of Judgment scribe, historian, you name it because he's pretty much the last of that House, period. He serves the Queen of the Awoken as an advisor, and now as an information source on all things Fallen." The sound of a door opening bounced off the machinery and cut audibly cut through the discretion field. Dea's head snapped down the hallway. "I have to go," she said in a sudden rush. She stooped down to grab the redundant light source and generator.

"What about your other ideas?" I protested. Dea paused for a second with her hand on the switch of the generator. She kept it on just long enough to finish her statement. Her voice came out more like a warning. "No time. Keep your eyes peeled, never accept things for the way they are." There was a flash of light, and she was gone, vanishing instantaneously like a phantom, no evidence of her ever being there except in my memory.

Charli turned the corner quickly but carefully so as not to crash into anything. She stopped and steadied herself when I turned around. "Everything alright?" she asked, sounding a bit worried. "Starco and I tried to contact you several times."

"Yeah, yeah. Just got caught up in a repair," I lied. "I found what was making those sparks. Loose wire tapping against the metal." I didn't like lying to people, but I couldn't let Charli know about people like Dea because she was nowhere near as acclimated to this world as she would readily admit. There were several things she didn't know and were probably better off not even having an inkling they existed.

"Well, why didn't you respond then?" her voice said in an accusatory tone.

"I was listening to music. Guess the machinery and music drowned out your transmission." I knew I was taking full advantage of her not knowing how a Guardian's suit of armor worked, but it was necessary.

Charli pondered this explanation for a moment. I could only hope she didn't sense and spoil my lie. Finally, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just try and turn it down next time I guess."

I was relieved she didn't pick up the lie or didn't want to call out the one person who knew she was alive. "Will do," I responded with a nod. I clapped my gloved hands together. "Ready to get this show on the road? Start a new life?"

Something in her changed. The abundant confidence in her seemingly collapsed. Her straight posture slumped a little almost as if someone, me, cast a heavy burden upon her back. Charli remained silent for a moment, turning her head away from me and staring at a blinking green light ingrained into a the metal wall. The dented and visorless helmet she wore may have hidden her face, but it was like she could see her past behind her like it was a physical entity occupying that walk back to her seat. It was almost as if she were in some sort of human limbo that I probably could never understand, caught between embracing this new present and leaving her past far behind her as time did, or choosing to linger in that past just a little while longer. If that was indeed what was going through her head, which I was fairly certain was the case, I would tell her it was good to remember the past, but in our line of work, the line of work she was about to bear for the rest of her life, whether that be only the next few days or several decades, we had to put the present in front of our past to protect the lives we're responsible for and ensure safety for the ones that are to come.

Both of us were in a position to countless others who continued to be Guardians or ones that had been long ago. We were soldiers, so the choice should have been elementary, but during those beginning weeks of my newfound life, my past popped up in surprise places and left me vulnerable to those past wounds. These next couple of days would prove bittersweet to a new Guardian as their distant past still feels so fresh in memory.

I walked up to her, slightly apologetic for causing those feelings to suddenly rise to the surface regardless of if she'd previously suppressed them or not, and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "I think I know what's going through your mind. It's tough knowing that everything and everyone you know and loved is almost certainly dead by now, but that's why you gain a new one here. One that will continue with you indefinitely no matter what. Take your time. I'll be in the cockpit when you're ready to go." I took a couple steps forward before I my right shoulder jerked backwards, an armored glove with a death grip clutching it. "Maximus," Charli said earnestly. "Do you have any regrets from your past life?"

"I wish I could've saved more people," I said. I started walking again and stopped when I reached the control panel. It only took a few swipes and looks at a couple screens to see that the diagnostic had been completely successful, no glitches anywhere which made the delay in the lighting system all the more confusing. Dea likely had something to do with that, but she was gone and probably wouldn't tell me anyways.

I exited the engine room and started taking off the pieces of armor I'd put on to go inside, placing them back where they'd been beforehand. Opening a comms link with the Tower, I sat down and waited for Charli to come out of the engine room. She'd probably do so very soon, but I needed to take the time to contact Ikora and tell her about Charli, so they can arrange a test as soon as we get there, a courtesy that I was not given upon my arrival. Instead, I was given a night off and a nightmare to sort through while I was quite literally carried to the Speaker. While we waited the call to go through, Starco floated over by me and started talking. "Everything go alright in there? Took you awhile." His paint job, intentionally made to look like the night sky, almost blended in with the void outside the cockpit.

"Yeah. Lights took forever to come back on, and you know me. Have to stick around in case I can do any fixes or at least patch something long enough to get back to the Tower."

"You do realize how dangerous that is right? Y'know, repairs in space?"

"Relax, didn't have to do anything this time around, so we didn't have to fully shut down the ship."

"So then what really took you so long. The sub-computer sent a notification when the lights came on and signaled the end of the test. After that, you were in there a few more minutes while Charli came right out."

I didn't want to have this conversation at the moment, but the Tower was taking forever to pick up. "Fine, you caught me. There was a small repair that I had to make," I lied. This could not be a habit.

"Okay, we both know that isn't true. You can't hide anything from your Ghost."

"So shouldn't you know exactly what happened then?"

"Again, you and I both know that's not exactly how it works. Your comms signal was being interfered with, and that was most certainly not the engine." Something seemed to click inside him. "Please don't tell me it was…" he pleaded gravely.

I nodded. "I don't know how she got there, but she was back there."

"Well, what did she say?"

"What did who say?" a new voice asked sternly. I quickly looked up to the screen and saw Ikora's dark-skinned face. I hadn't noticed anyone pick up; I just hoped she hadn't heard anything from the beginning. Ikora had a very serious nature to her, but that was solely because of the things she'd seen while she was on various missions. I'd read a few of her after action reports and saw that she'd taken several daring operations that had killed several of her teammates but also gained her a reputation as one of the most capable Guardians alive. Her hair was kept short and expression stone-faced, showing experience and limited emotion. Right now however, dark spots ringed beneath bloodshot eyes that screamed for sleep. I had no idea if I'd just woken her up, or she was just that sleep deprived.

"Oh, nobody. Just talking about a friend of ours back in the City," I said with a laugh. "We were just recounting something funny that happened recently on one of our recent trips to the City."

"Fine then," Ikora said flatly. "I presume your mission went well."

"It did. The information the Ghost gave us was correct, but we did a little reconnaissance per Zavala's request. We found a Cabal base near Olympus Mons. Starco will send you the details when we return. We weren't able to get in before the Cabal found us, but chances are it's fairly large and heavily defended because of the firepower we ran into."

"What kind of firepower?" Ikora asked.

"They sent a tank after us."

"Is the new Guardian alright? I don't see him or her behind you."

"It's a she ma'am. We did a quick diagnostic test because the ship took some fire when it came in for an airstrike. We just wanted to make sure nothing catastrophic would happen while we returned. Charli's just looking over a few things before we get underway."

Starco whispered, "Let's try not to tempt fate, please."

"I look forward to meeting this Charli. What's your first impression of her?"

"She's a little disoriented…" I began.

"That's understandable. You sure were on your first full day," the Warlock Vanguard interrupted. I waited a second before I continued to ensure she was done.

When nothing came out, I continued. "As I was saying, Charli told me she did a little bit of everything while she was a part of the Martian Federation Navy. She said she was primarily a pilot, so I trust she knows her way around these complex engines far better than I do. However, her capabilities on the ground are above what I exceeded, most notably in hand to hand. I will say that the armor she was given is pretty much toast at this point. I could repair the damage to the helmet, but it frankly is not worth the time and effort. You will be doing the test when we get there correct?"

"We certainly can. Not sure if the Speaker and Zavala have gone off to bed yet, but we can certainly check. We'll have an analyst do a full debrief the two of you during the test." I looked behind Ikora and could make out the window behind the Vanguard and odd statue. It was dark out, so it may have to be delayed until tomorrow.

"Understood, but with all due respect Ikora, I'd like to be present for the test. I know it's a Vanguard-Speaker sort of arrangement, but I'm rather curious. Besides, I'm sure Starco can do the enough talking for the both of us. After all, he is a Ghost who records basically everything."

Ikora's face fidgeted a little, the straight face she usually kept breaking twitching into a momentary yet noticeable half-smile. "So you'll give us the footage from the Black Garden?" she asked. I remained silent. I couldn't let her or anyone in the Vanguard see the record of that because of Dea's presence. Until she gave me explicit permission to let her be known to the Vanguard, I wasn't going to allow them to see any record that may link to my involvement with her. "I see you're still reluctant about sharing that information. Since that's the case, I'm going to have to deny your request because we'll need to get your word as well. To be honest Maximus, we're beginning to think you're hiding something from us."

I needed to diffuse this quickly. "Unfortunately, I think some things are best left unseen," I responded.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we could handle it, but we're not going to force you to give up the footage. Not yet at least." She motioned to someone off screen and told him to see if the Speaker was in his observatory and another to find Zavala. There was the shuffle of footsteps in the background as the two people set about their assigned tasks. "Is there anything else Maximus?"

I shifted in my seat. "Uh yeah. One last thing. Kind of random, but do you know anything about how today's baseball game is going?" Ikora would know as she harbored an affinity for the ancient sport and one of the things that both bonded and divided the City as its many teams took on each other frequently. She was one of the main reasons the Tower actually had a team, the Sunsingers, aptly named after one of the Warlock subclasses.

Ikora turned away for a second and tapped something into a datapad that she always had somewhere close by, though it was offscreen this time around. "It seems as though the game just got underway, scoreless and hitless at the bottom of the second. Apparently Arla is pitching tonight. Three strikeouts in two innings. Didn't know she could do that." I didn't feel like breaking the news to Ikora, but she beat Cayde in a knife throwing contest, so throwing a baseball was a piece of cake compared to that. Generally speaking though, she was at third base or short stop.

"Didn't know that either. What about Heksis?"

Something glinted in Ikora's eye. Pride perhaps? I couldn't tell. "Heksis? He's playing catcher tonight. Never knew he had a knack for baseball until Arla showed him the game." She set the datapad down and turned her eyes back to me. "Just got word that we'll conduct the test immediately. We await your arrival," she said before cutting off the communications link.

Charli came out a few minutes later calm and collected, her composure regained after I accidentally brought up or brought back a few thoughts she would ultimately have to contend with over the next couple days perhaps even a week. "Ready to go?" I asked.

"Yeah," she responded, taking off her helmet and taking a seat. "New life, new adventure. Let's get it underway."

I turned my head over the top of the chair. "Good to see the enthusiasm," I said. I pushed a few buttons and primed the warp drive with our destination input. The engine's sound increased in volume and pitch until it became only a faint noise in the background. I gave the engines a few more seconds before pulling back the thrust and pressing the button on the side of its horizontal handle.

The ship launched forward, suddenly being cloaked by a tunnel of blues, greens, yellows, and oranges as we sped through space-time and towards Earth.