Chapter 17
Set Up
Titan Charli Hendricks
45 Minutes after Vestian Outpost
Charli simultaneously felt much better and much worse. After sleeping for the better part of a couple days, both while Maximus was out and as well as after he got up, she was finally getting some of her energy back. She'd finally hauled herself out of bed and was able to make her way to the Plaza, specifically the overlook that watched the City. Charli marveled at its beauty, but also thought of what it could have been, letting her mind wander alongside the wind. Since getting here and becoming acquainted to her new surroundings, she brushed up on some of the history. She wished she could have seen the City in its heyday.
Sure it was still extremely successful, but over the last year it'd been marred and scarred almost irreparably. She read the reports and saw some footage from the battle that crumbled a section of the Wall, saw Maximus lead a final push that pushed those putrid Fallen back into the Stone Age. To her, death was a luxury for them, considering how many Guardians they'd killed, how many they'd killed since then, and how many of her friends they had killed before and after she perished. She found it unacceptable that they continued to exist, but there wasn't much she could do to change that because they were so scattered, a fact that continued to frustrate her since she awoke in the medical area. Since then and over that week while they were "suspended," she'd created numerous plans to squeeze the Fallen into submission and kill them off once and for all. Most of her plans though were, admittedly, far-fetched and near impossible. Several involved her nuking them off the face of the galaxy, but the closest those got to reality was by playing them out in her imagination. It was gratifying though. Watching their stupid forms try to run from an all-encompassing blast.
Now Charli was faced with a new reality, one in which her new home was being infested and destroyed by these insects, and there was very little she could do about it because she couldn't see them, and you can't kill what you can't see unless you get lucky. Thus far, she didn't necessarily consider herself lucky,
Charli read over her notes over what Maximus had said several times over, and she'd made several conclusions, the foremost was that they were powerless to stop them without a way to "see the invisible" and see past their disguises. They had the invisible part of the equation at two of the foundries, but Charli was skeptical of whether or not they had been infiltrated by the Illusion just as Suros had. There was no telling who was real and who was fake without the technology, and she was certain that the Vanguard wouldn't let her access it at least in her current, exhausted state. She couldn't shake the feeling that they didn't trust her, that they had sneaking suspicions about her. Charli tried to internally figure out the source but failed to come up with anything. Perhaps that's how it was for all of the Guardians…
...or perhaps the ones they put around Maximus. He kept secrets from them, and she doubted that he had told her all of them when he confessed about Dea.
Arla was equally guilty. Her backstory seemed to differ from person to person whenever she tried to get a feel for them from other Guardians around the Tower, and while she could've blindly accepted that people forget things about other people, these tales were completely different, which raised her suspicions. Charli couldn't fathom the things in her mind as she'd been a Guardian far longer than Maximus.
Given what she's seen of them in the field and the kindness they'd shown to her, Charli trusted them for the most part. She'd get the truth out of them eventually. Her question was why the Vanguard seemed distant, almost unsupportive of any action against an enemy that could topple everything they know, drag everyone in the City into a war they'd been fighting for decades, perhaps centuries. Their hesitation was most definitely not a PR problem. If it was, then those three do not deserve to hold their positions. The side that hesitates first usually ends up dead. Charli had died once, experienced its fear and unforgiving grip and wanted no more of it. The Vanguard were worried about something else.
Suddenly, a strong hand yanked the collar of her armor. Startled she spun around ready to punch but stopped herself when she saw Zavala keeping her from going over the railing. "A dangerous place to take a nap wouldn't you agree Miss Hendricks?"
"Uh, uh, uh yes sir," she stammered, still in surprise. "It won't happen again."
Zavala let go and crossed his arms on the railing. "You needn't worry. This isn't the MFN. It's a little more relaxed here despite what you've seen. All we ask of that you get along with the others and do what we ask of you. Otherwise, you're just fine. Of course, we also not recommend falling asleep on the railings."
Charli looked over the railing at the seemingly bottomless pit between the Tower and the City and shuddered. "Of course," she replied, turning her attention back to the Titan Vanguard. "So what do you need? Shouldn't you be working on something with the other two?"
Zavala took a deep breath and rubbed his bald head. "I should be, but I needed some fresh air. We've been debating this whole ordeal with the Illusion. What's your take? You've seen them in action."
Charli shook her head. "I wouldn't quite say in action. I've only gotten there after the fact. Two times."
"What about Suros?" he inquired, looking in the direction the foundry had once been.
"I don't count that," she says sternly. "I was a puppet doing what the master said. I'd hardly call that knowing how they work, especially since we can't tell who is and who isn't part of them.
"But it could be a hint." Zavala looked at her, seemingly studying her reaction. "Speaking of, have the others spoken to Variks yet?"
"Nothing yet," she lied. "There was an issue with a pipe on the engine, so they were delayed a little bit." Zavala nodded slowly in response. "I'm sure we'll hear from them soon. Then, we'll know what we're up against."
The Titan Vanguard pushed off of the railing. "Indeed we will. Indeed we will. Rest well Miss Hendricks. Heaven knows we're gonna need it these next few days." With that, Zavala turned on his heel and retreated back into the stairs at the center of the plaza. Charli waited for his head to disappear before turning back to the City.
Late afternoon was falling, and the air traffic began to clog the skies in the distance. Far below, gray walkways crawled with insect-sized people, scurrying from work to whatever destination. She watched them for several more minutes, wondering what was going through their minds, what they did for a living, possibly even what family members they had.
As she theorized, she couldn't help but reflect on the one she left behind years ago. Her mother had never been there as far as she knew, but her father never left her side. A short man with a big personality, yet a life equal to his stature. He'd been an engineer for as long as she could remember, mainly being in charge of developing and building weapons for the Martian Federation Military. Until that one day that defined everything…when the Fallen came
"Hey Charli," Vern interrupted. "I don't mean to interrupt your thoughts, but the postmaster just notified me you have a package."
"Odd," she thought aloud.
"I wouldn't think anything of it. Could be a love note."
"Shut up," Charli said jokingly, gently knocking the Ghost to the side. "I barely know anybody."
"That's why you gotta get out more. Not stay cooped up in the Tower when you're not afield." Charli turned around and started walking towards the robot at the post station.
"Or suspended," she added.
"No one really needs to know about that. That was not your fault."
"True." She quietly approached the robot at the counter. Most of it was sharp edges on a body frame, far too clunky for an Exo but more advanced than a simple program. "Good afternoon Guardian," it said in a mechanical, female voice. "How can I help you today?"
Charli shifted her footing and looked beyond at the sparsely decorated wall behind it. "My Ghost said I had a package."
"Authenticating. Scan complete. Titan Charli Hendricks has one package from...unknown. Your package has been delivered to your Ghost."
"Thanks," Charli said with a nod, turning back to the City. It said something after that, but Charli disregarded it. Her mind was on who could've sent the package. She'd met plenty of people these last couple weeks, but never really got on with any of them, just passing acquaintances. There were a couple she knew a little better and recognized them in passing, but she had no stable friendships aside from Maximus and Arla. That's what made this package so odd to her.
She returned to her spot on the fence and continued watching the City grow a bright reddish-orange that made it seem almost angry. A few silent minutes passed as she absorbed herself in thought. She silently wondered what errand the Awoken needed the others to do and hoped that it wouldn't get them in too much trouble. She also cursed herself for trying too hard in that simulation. She didn't remember feeling that tired, but just after she put up that shield, she felt a surge of power that dragged her down as it waned. She ultimately decided that she'd do it again and see if it happens.
Vern suddenly piped up, startling Charli and nearly sending her over the railing. "Hey Charli," he had said before she had to catch herself on the railing.
Still catching her breath from the surprise and calming her rapid heartbeat, she said, "Don't scare me like that. That could've been bad."
"Sorry," he said rather unapologetically. "Thought I should tell you I can't detect what's in the package. It's just a black box as far as I'm concerned."
"You think we're making a mountain out of a molehill?"
"Probably. We should head back to the room, open it, then get some rest."
Charli could imagine falling asleep again but this time in her bed, not on a railing. "Can't argue with that," she responded, sending one last look at the City draped in a blanket of ever-deepening orange. Very possibly, a City of the dead.
Back in her room, Vern materialized the box on her bed. As he had said, it was completely black, but it was a shiny black sheen that reflected some of the lights overhead. The box was made of a sturdy plastic with no discernible top or bottom, just a smooth surface. It was longer than it was wide by a very slight amount, giving a cubical impression when in fact its reality was different. Charli lifted it to see if there was a perforated edge or something on it but found it near impossible to pick up. With a vast amount of difficulty, she lifted it a few inches above the crumpled bed sheets with a grunt. Just as she lifted it, her grip failed and it fell back onto her bed much lighter than she would've expected for such a heavy box. "The heck is in this thing?" she thought aloud. She pressed her ear to its surface and heard nothing. It was too heavy to shake, and it was too ridiculous to smell. Charli had to find some way to open it otherwise her curiosity was going to kill her. No way it was a box she wasn't meant to open.
"Let me try something," Vern requested, floating to the box and hovering over it.
"Be my guest." Charli took a step back. Vern's shell spread out a bit as he backed a little further from the box, emitting a cone of blue, gridded light onto its surface. Every few seconds the front or back of the shell would rotate, shifting the light. Suddenly, the grid seemed to spread onto the box itself, cyan light beginning to peek out until it enveloped the box and disappeared. "No way," Charli gasped in disbelief.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Voidwalker Maximus
90 minutes after the Vestian Outpost
"Another direct hit!" Starco announced as the ship lurched to the right and began to push against the stabilizers. "Shields at fifty-eight percent. A couple more hits like that, and we're toast."
"I know!" I shouted back to my Ghost, swerving beneath more fire from one of the Skiffs. So far, the battle hadn't been going too terribly, but it was certainly proving difficult. I'd never taken the Fallen for aces, but the way they had been maneuvering their ships was quite impressive, at least for someone who hadn't really participated in a space fight like this before. For the most part, I was flying, but Starco still kept his wary eye on my movements to make sure I didn't do anything too risky or stupid. However, Cosay shortchanged the Fallen's forces as well as how ready they would be. As soon as they picked us up on their scanners, all three Skiffs, not just two opened a volley of fire that seemed more like a warning than anything, the projectiles sliding past each ship much to our surprise, but that didn't last long. The squadron remained its full six, but each one had to duck out at one point or another to let their shields recharge a serviceable amount.
These Skiffs were different from the ones we'd seen traversing the surface of various places. These still had the basic form: bulbous front, engines just behind it, and a thin tail, but these had much thicker armor and a challenging overshield that seemed nearly impenetrable, comparable to that of the technology of, say, the Awoken. Guns manned by, likely, Dregs and Vandals lined the surfaces as we engaged from various angles though there were far less of them on the bottoms of the ships. The main concentration of fire came from the swivel turrets of varying strengths that lined the tail. Severing it from the ship would all but eliminate the heaviest part of the flak, but again, we'd have to punch through the shields first.
The Awoken's ships were sleek and fast, y-shaped prongs surrounding a cockpit and nose, nothing but speeding darts to the untrained eye, but they lacked a heavy amount of armor. From what I gathered, these were new pilots, or at least ones without much experience. I could tell because one let her shields go all the way to zero and nearly died because of it. From then on, twenty percent was the bare minimum. Anything below was too risky, especially against this kind of firepower. This had been a game of chess where neither side had taken a huge amount of risks yet, waiting for the other to fall for their trap.
I looked back at Arla and Heksis, both looking at consoles that connected their seats to the omni-directional destroyer cannons (ODDs). The lasers weren't the most powerful of weapons, and it certainly showed against the robust shielding the Fallen had, but they were proving effective at centralized damage to a gun on their ship or something that was relatively uncovered. At first, I'd been balancing shooting with the main cannon and given them open looks, but since the cannon needed time to recharge, I'd been attempting to strafe or fly by in order to give them the best shot possible. That was where I'd taken the majority of my flak. "How are you both holding up?"
Arla and I had both put on our helmets in case of an unlucky breach as well as the assists our suit would give us to targeting. Heksis always had his, a fact that bothered me still. Heksis growled in response and squeezed the trigger next to his seat to fire off a few more shots. "A little jostled, but fine," Arla replied for both of them. "You think you could keep the sharp cuts to a minimum?"
"I can try, but I'm trying to keep us alive too." I spotted something out of the corner of my eye and immediately slammed the thrust into reverse, throwing us all against our restraints as the ship slowed down just barely enough for one of the Awoken ship's missiles to go screaming past us and bury itself into a skiff's gun. "Awoken ships! Check your targets!" I shouted into the comms. There was no response, but I was sure they got the message. My eyes turned to the Ketch sitting behind its trio of guards. It hadn't fired or moved since we got here which meant that it had to be coordinating everything and had at least one trick up its sleeve.
I dodged several pieces of debris and lined the pair behind me for another shot between two of the skiffs. Once they got in range, they opened up, peppering each with laser fire that left redhot scorch on the shield-blanketed metal with nothing more than a black mark beneath it. The marks were steadily getting darker, a good sign against their shielding, but not good enough. I checked the main cannon's status on the screen: 68%, still recharging, but it was coming back fast.
The ship shook and lurched to the right once more, yet another direct hit that knocked the shields down below fifty. "Max!" Arla called out.
"I'm working on it," I sounded back. I pulled the stick back and threw the thrusters forward. Just as I engaged the thrusters, the cockpit went red and an alarm bleeped only for a second before the lock was broken, a flicker really that prompted another "Max!" out of Arla, this one a little harsher, and a stern look from Heksis. I rolled away from more fire and yanked back on the stick until I had flipped over. Once more, I threw the thrusters into maximum and narrowly missed more incoming fire. This rinse and repeat was starting to get on my nerves; something had to change if we were going to destroy this ships without losing any of the Awoken's. I had an idea, but it was radical, and I wasn't too sure how he'd like it. That would have to become phase 1, and phase 2 would have to happen when the main cannon was ready. I decided to ask, continuing to dodge fire. "Heksis, you up for a space walk?"
"Wait what?" the two said in unison.
"Look, we need to tip the scales in our favor." Another volley of fire slammed into my shielding. One of the engines shuddered for a moment but quickly returned. "And obviously, I'm not Charli. Heksis, are you up for something crazy or not?"
Silence pervaded long enough for more fire to go streaking in front of the ship. "Explain it to me first." he asked, sending off a few more shots from his ODD.
I pulled the ship left and made another pass between the Skiffs who were beginning to reposition themselves farther from the Ketch. "We're going to make a close flyby, and you're going to jump on and commandeer one of the Skiffs. I'll let you know what else you need to do after that. Hopefully by then, we'll have the situation a little under control." That was the barebones of phase 1, or at least his half. We would still need a way to punch through the shields, but distracting the crew on one of the Skiffs would help us that much more. The House of Wolves wouldn't dare man an entire ship to its capacity when it has to fight the Awoken in more ways than one. The Ketch would be different, but I'd be willing to bet money that these Skiffs had skeleton crews or close to it.
"Alright," Heksis said after a few seconds of contemplation and shooting. "Count me in." I honestly thought I was going to have to convince him.
"Good because we're about to get this party started. Starco, secure all doors and loose items, prepare to go vacuum." I dodged some more fire and began to make my way to the Skiff furthest to the right of the skiff (relative to me). Starco highlighted the place Heksis would have to jump to hit the hatch Starco found was the stealthiest way in. "Syncing a schematic to your HUD, Heksis. Starco will tell you when to jump. Just get to the hatch, open it, and do your thing. We'll be watching over you from here." Doors behind me locked, and I could feel a magnetic pull holding my feet to the floor. "Everything's set," Starco announced. "Going vacuum." The ramp dropped behind me. I could feel myself being yanked backward, the rushing air attempting to take me with it, but thankfully my restraints held until it all stopped, and the unsealed parts of the ship were near total vacuum. "Alright Heksis, we're getting close," I said through the comms. I glanced behind me to see him get up and begin making his way to the edge of the ramp, unsteady in the zero g, but he looked confident if nothing else. Something I had to applaud him for when facing this much uncertainty. We were approaching at a brisk pace at its stern, and the mark on my HUD was quickly coming up, situated just past the engines. I tossed a glance back again. Arla had set aside her targeting device and was watching with bated breath as the leap neared. I inverted the ship, and Starco came back over the radio. "Jumping in three...two...one…" Heksis hesitated for a fraction of a second before pushing off and colliding with the body of the Skiff a short time later.
"Do we have a feed from him?" I asked.
"I'm monitoring him until he gets inside," Starco answered. "He's a little shaken from the impact, but otherwise he's making good progress…..Alright, he sees the hatch." I swerved from more fire and struggled to keep the ship close enough to maintain a stable connection. "What the…? Keep me at a good distance, almost lost the connection."
"What happened? You got it back?"
"...aaaaaaaaand, he's in. He's in. Connection severed. Let's pull away." Music to my ears because just then, the lock alarm sounded again and was swiftly followed by a large bolt from another Skiff, one I narrowly missed. Now to handle the situation a little more. I connected to the open comms we shared with the fighters. "All fighters, do NOT shoot this vessel. We have a Guardian aboard dealing with all hostiles." There was no confirmation, but that was the least of my worries. If they hadn't heard it, I doubted they would get through the shields. I checked the main cannon's status. "READY" lettered in boldface decorated the word cannon at the bottom left of my ship's HUD. Still avoiding heavy fire from the three ships, I switched the main cannon from energy to EMP. I only had six shots, three for each of the remaining ships. I could only hope three was enough because two definitely wouldn't do it, and the engines wouldn't be able to draw up enough power to charge the cells in time, unless the fight lasted another forty five minutes that is. I announced my intentions to the fighters. "All pilots, form up on me and prepare to make strafing. Use heavy weapons but wait for the EMPs to take effect. Odd callsigns take the first Skiff. Evens take the second." Wordlessly, the fighters flanked my left and right in an arrow pattern. Starco confirmed their readiness, and we started our runs on the Skiffs.
The first was approaching fast, and Starco designated three areas for maximum effect: the tip of the tail, the engines, and the red area of the bow. Going head on with a Skiff wasn't the smartest of tactics, but it would have to do. I fired the first directly into the red "mouth" of the Skiff and dipped below the ship, the odd callsigns on my right breaking off and beginning to engage it. I then threw the engines into reverse and angled myself upward to deposit a shot right in the center of its engines as I completed the loop and accelerated hard toward the tip of the tail, disabling the guns there with the final blast for that ship. As I sped away, the energy signature on the ship went practically nonexistent, the steering losing all power, and the ship began to drift with a slight roll. Explosions ripped across its hull as its space defenses collapsed, and the backup surface-based defenses couldn't withstand any of the incoming fire before a large explosion in the engines chained smaller ones across the length of the ship, tearing it to pieces. Meanwhile, the other Skiff had gone just as swimmingly, the second wing of fighters going to work on it while the first was working on joining them. Then, an explosion similar to the first ripped the Skiff to pieces and sent its pieces flying in all directions. I pulled the ship out of range of the Ketch, put the ship in standby, and leaned back in my seat, tossing my helmet to the side. There was a second thud behind me as Arla did the same. "Nice flying." she said out of breath, taking a knee beside my seat and sending an approving look my direction.
"Nice shooting. I think you dented their shields," I joked.
"Shut up," she laughed, playfully punching my shoulder. "You just need better guns."
"Actually, I'm quite proud of my main cannon. Aside from having to charge forever, it made quick work of those Skiffs." I looked away from Arla's sweat-drenched face and hair to the remaining Fallen ships. "Anyway, it ain't over yet. Still gotta take out that Ketch down there." I pointed to the heavily armed Fallen ship far in the distance, its hulking frame looming over everything else.
"So you're going to have Heksis crash the ship?" she asked.
"It'll be effective, but I prefer calling it a tactical ram."
She chuckled. "That's for sure," she added.
I brought up a general map of the battle, the destroyed ships grayed out with white X's over them. I hit the tactical map button and moved the ships around to my leisure. "I was going to have Heksis take the ship and reposition it...here." I moved his ship to the broadside of the Ketch, a straight shot to the engines from his spot. "Then begin firing all the guns remotely and ram the ship. We'll have to draw fire from the Ketch, but our main priority between now and then is getting those engines offline. Last thing we want is for the ship to move out of the way at any point, especially if Heksis is too close to adjust his angle."
"You sure ramming it will kill it?"
"If nothing else, the shields will collapse, and it won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Then it won't be able to defend itself from a final assault."
"What about Heksis?"
"He's going to take an escape pod out of there, and his Ghost will send his position to Starco. Then, we'll pick him up. Plain and simple."
"Sounds good." She opened a comms channel with Heksis. "Hey Hek, what's your status?" There was some static in response at first, so Arla replied, "Say again?"
"I'm...confused," Heksis said, much clearer this time. "There's nobody else here except me."
"Have you made it to the bridge yet?" I asked.
"The doors literally opened for me. Nobody is onboard." There was silence for a second. "I'm going to the brig. That's the best place they could hide.
"Affirmative. Proceed with caution." The link remained open, but it was muted on Heksis' end. I understood the move, but I didn't like it. If they were hiding, he needed to be quiet. Strange that the Wolves would run and hide. "Arla, is it strange for the Wolves to run and hide?"
Her eyes were squinted and her thoughts elsewhere. "Very. They don't run from a fight. They can be stealthy, but not like this."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yes, but it could also be a trap. I can't see why they'd want to control the Reef or the Wolves."
"Agreed."
No sooner had I said that when Starco piped up. "Maximus, I'm detecting another ship nearby. It's Awoken." His voice sounded surprised at the end of that.
"Are they reinforcements?" I asked.
"I doubt it. It's just sitting there...wait a minute. Let me see something. Tell Heksis he'll have to hack into the ship's controls to commandeer it. The Ketch is controlling it remotely."
"Didn't think that was possible," I said. "Heksis, we're reading an Awoken ship nearby. We're investigating. In the meantime, we need you to hack into the ship's systems on the bridge. We believe the Ketch is controlling it remotely."
The channel unmuted long enough for him to say, "Roger," before it went back to its silent state. Suddenly, it sprang right back to life. "Maximus! Arlah! I...I...I found the crew!" His voice sounded angered and panicked.
Thank goodness. This might actually work. "Have they been dealt with?"
"Th-they're dead, but I didn't kill them." His voice lost the panic but gained a certain ferocity to it. "This has the Awoken written all over it. Has to be. Handcuffed and shot like animals. I think we've been set up."
"Uh, Maximus." Starco interrupted, alarmed. "The Awoken ship just went weapons red. They say, finish the mission." Arla took over the conversation. "Heksis there's no time. There's an Awoken ship that's threatening to gun us down if we don't finish this."
Starco spoke up again. "Multiple fighter locks, holding back the siren. If we hesitate much longer, we may not…"
"I know!" Arla shouted and then turned back to the front view. "Heksis, there's no time. We're all dead if you don't get up there and finish this." The channel abruptly cut off to all of our frustrations. We couldn't afford for this to happen right now.
The cockpit fell deathly quiet as we helplessly watched the sole remaining Skiff sit lifelessly in place, unmoving. We could only hope that Heksis was hacking in, but we had no way of being sure. Worry plastered itself on Arla's face, and I couldn't tell if it was because of looming death or Heksis' inaction. I thought I saw a singular tear gather in her eye but it could have also been sweat. I didn't understand his hesitation. They're Fallen, traitorous ones from what little I know about the Wolves, and for someone with such a ruthless reputation, this was an oddly conservative course of action. Whatever he's thinking better not tick off the Awoken because we could not fight a war with everybody in the solar system. Finally, I said, "Hail the ship."
"Which one?" Starco asked, surprised by the sudden decision.
"The Awoken ship. We need to get them to turn off their weapons. Ask why in the world they're here."
Arla joined in. "Maximus, you can't seriously think they're going to do that."
"I know," I responded, shrugging that off. "But we need to buy Heksis time. Whatever he's planning, the Awoken don't want to wait around for." Arla crossed her arms and silently tapped her foot, looking at something other than space for the first time in several minutes
"Y'know…" a new voice said. My gaze shot over to a new box on the glass, one of a gold-eyed Awoken with jet black hair and a perpetual look of disgust on his face. A wry smirk accompanied this look as his chilling voice filled the ship. "...if I knew you were going to finish the mission halfway, we wouldn't have helped you." He shrugged his arms.
"What do you want Uldren?" Arla ordered through gritted teeth.
"Oh no no, traitor, you have weight no here. You and your robot friend have quite the debt to us, so how about paying in full before we discuss anything further."
"We're Guardians, not executioners. This isn't our war."
"Rhyn'iks," he stated.
"What?" I asked, confused by the suddenness.
"Rhyn'iks," he repeated. That name rung a bell, one of my first kills spread from the Reef. I distinctly remember the team I sent after her reporting a new Guardian struck her down and used unnecessary violent maneuvers to finish her, like an executioner, those three words boldfaced in the report. Like. An. Executioner." There was a stern silence as Arla threw daggers at him with her eyes. "Rather dark for someone serving the light," he mused. "And I scarcely believe that was the last time. I'm sure if I had my people do some more digging, we'd find more dirty laundry in your closet." That disgusting smirk returned to his face. "Rhyn'iks, a Gatekeeper, the Black Garden, countless Fallen, Vex, Hive, and Cabal. And Arla, haha, your rap sheet's even worse. Face it, you're no more Guardians than I am a saint."
"Even angels have shadows," I retorted.
"Only the corrupt ones. Now, finish the mission and make your shadows that much darker, or allow me the honor of making a traitor and a pile of scrap nothing more than a part of this debris field." There was a stunned silence for several seconds before he momentarily disappeared from the box and returned with that trademark look. "A wise choice," he said with a curt nod, closing the channel." My eyes immediately turned to the Skiff, but it wasn't there, far from it in fact. All I saw was the engines angry glow as it shot towards the Ketch in the distance. "Maximus," Starco called out. "The fighters are returning to Uldren's ship, and all locks have been broken."
"Get Heksis on the line." I re-engaged the engines and started making my way to the Ketch, powering up the main cannon. We had to take out the engines if we were going to get the Skiff anywhere close. The good thing about Ketches was that their massive engines weren't shielded as heavily as the main part of the ship, so if we could disable the shields and get a shot into the main fuel line. That would likely disable the ship further than just...wait a minute.
The ship hadn't even reacted. Both of us were well into their weapons range, but no one had begun firing as of yet. Starco still hadn't been able to raise Heksis on the comms, said they were being jammed. Setting the ship on a straight course and decreasing the throttle a little, I grabbed Heksis' ODD targeting pad and let Starco take over the controls. I panned the gun back towards the Awoken ship, and, just as I had expected, it had moved up a significant amount, on overwatch in case we decided to bolt. "I've got Heksis on the line. Audio only due to the interference." A small black box with a white line through it appeared in the top right of the ship's HUD. As Heksis spoke, the line dashed up and down in triangular shapes, nestling back at the resting line when he finished. Though, the conversation was rather short. "I hope you know what you're doing," he warned as soon as the link was stable enough to connect us.
"I'm preventing a war Heksis."
"And escalating another," he asserted. A true statement. The Wolves almost certainly knew of the war atrocities the Awoken were committing or, at least, the ones Prince Uldren sponsored. If there was one thing I'd picked up on him, it's that he liked to make examples out of people, especially those who stepped out of line, and he almost always did that personally, our...interactions being a prime example. He just didn't like getting shown up, again our...interactions being prime examples. "If the Wolves catch wind that we did this, they'll declare war on us." I thought back to the Rhyn'iks example Uldren gave, thought back to what I felt in that moment: rage, wonder, a thirst to kill...things from my military days when we needed to make a point, especially the first.
"We might as well already be at war with them. The Fallen aren't necessarily on our side."
There was silence for a moment followed by some metal clanging. "I'm in the escape pod," He relayed. "Both of you better catch me."
"We're on our way," Arla jumped in. I zoomed part of the HUD in on the Skiff. It was extremely close to the still-silent Ketch, only a few thousand meters before a high-speed impact would cripple and destroy both of them. However, I never saw any blast from it that would indicate an escape pod launched. "Escape pod away," Heksis announced. The two ships collided in a brilliant display of debris and explosions as each collapsed and released the gases inside. As expected, the Skiff was the first to destruct completely, its bow buried deep within the Ketch. The explosions opened up more of the Ketch's inside and ignited it, debris spewing out as it too exploded into large chunks of burned out husk and piercing shards.
I looked to the scanner to see if it was picking up Heksis' pod. Nothing useful. The screen was bombarded with dots of varying size crowding around us as we approached the former ships.
Suddenly, a solid thud echoed throughout the silent cockpit. "The heck was that?" Arla thought aloud.
"Probably just deris," I responded, curious myself. Wouldn't surprise me because of all the screws, shards, and other pieces floating around in the wake of the explosions, not to mention what all was floating already in the Reef. I was more surprised we hadn't noticed it before, but that was when the ship went dark, illuminated only by the ghostly glow of the Reef. "Starco?" I asked
"I'm not reading any major damage," he reported. "There's some sort of blockage in a fuel line it seems. Pressure backed up enough to cause the system to automatically shut down. It's an external access panel."
"I'll take a look," I volunteered. I glanced at my pulse rifle, thinking of take it with me, but decided against it. Instead, I grabbed my helmet and slipped it over my head, blinking into the void around my ship and grabbing hold of the ladder on the side. The chill of near absolute zero seeped through my armor. While I didn't need as much air, I was especially sensitive to temperature, and the suit's atmosphere regulation would last only so long at temperatures this low. "Anyone else notice how fast we're moving?" I asked over the radio, noticing how quickly the destroyed ships were shrinking. The space ahead of us was empty, save for a few asteroids, and the joystick would do nothing while everything was shut off. I was mostly concerned Heksis thought we were ditching him though. Hopefully he'd notice the lack of light from the engines but who knows.
"You thought we stopped?" Arla asked, amused.
"For a moment." I pulled myself up the ladder and activated the magnetic grips on my boots. "Where's this panel?"
"It's near the rear thrusters," Starco replied.
"On it." Trying to avoid getting knocked off by a stray piece of debris, I stayed low as I slid my way towards the center of the stern. After narrowly missing a brush with a stray piece of rock, I found a square panel. It had a circular lock with a handle stretched across its diameter. I grabbed it, pulling up and twisting clockwise. The panel hissed and opened about an inch to the right. Adding to those in my feet, I activated the magnetic grip in my left glove and planted it on the ship. Using it and my legs for leverage, I slid the panel open with my right. The innards now exposed, I shined a light on the black tubing that occupied this panel. Uniform and about two inches thick, these were the lifelines of the ship, fuel lines, and this was the only parts of them that could be exposed to space, mainly for maintenance in places not space, but circumstances change. Most likely, fuel had frozen in them and backed up the rest of the line, the pressure then causing a system wide shutdown. "Alright," I announced. "I'm here."
"You'll have to massage each one, break up any pieces,' Starco directed. "We'll probably feel the chunks getting burned, but we'll stop helplessly careening towards certain doom."
"On it." I pinched the first cable and met an unresponsive push back, unmoving like metal. I pinched harder until it finally gave way and continued up and down the first line, feeling the crunch of each break until everything was smooth up and down the tube. Suddenly, the ship burst to life, nearly throwing me off the back at first and the the front as Starco slammed the brakes. "Sorry about that," he apologized, but his tone then turned into a warning. "May want to pull back the thrusters before it restarts in the future."
I sighed, choosing to hold my tongue about how that wasn't supposed to happen, saying instead, "Is that it then?"
"If you want, I'd check the other two in my professional opinion, but we have at least enough power to get us turned around and headed home."
"Any luck with Heksis?"
"Nothing but static," Arla jumped in. "Crap…"
"What?"
"I forgot Heksis brought his cat," she replied, slightly exasperated.
I laughed silently at the randomness of the comment in addition to the thought of how it felt after all that fancy flying. It's probably stumbling around and bumping into things. Stifling the urge to laugh, I asked, "That's a problem because…?"
"I'm allergic...but I'll live. Just won't be taking off the helmet for now. Anyway, you almost done?" I stared down at the third cable, the second having been barely frozen at all to my surprise. This one was close to as bad as the first but gave significantly less resistance.
"Close enough but not quite. These things are like rocks. Starco, makes sure you redirect some heat to this part of the ship to keep these from refreezing." Finally, the third line was finished, and I locked the panel back in place, making sure it was sealed so that they wouldn't refreeze, the initial state probably resulting from us being stationary for so long earlier. "Hey Max…" Arla's voice sounded concerned. "...Did you just stomp near the cockpit?"
"No," I replied curious and suspicious. "Still at the back. Probably another piece of debris, but I'll go make sure." Staying flat against the ship, I pushed and pulled on ledges, clawing for grip as I floated towards the front. I crested over the center of the ship, and saw what had hit us: a blocky shank that had a piece of itself dug into the armor or hooked on something. A few sparks shot out from my right as another shank smacked into the right engine, sticking to it like the one in front of me. "I've got a pair of shanks out here," I relayed. "They seem to be snagged on something. Strange they got so far out here."
Arla seemed equally confused but had one more theory than I did. "Probably got sucked out in the blast and tried to attack our ship when we floated by."
"They're probably just as frozen as the fuel lines were," Starco added.
"I'll pry them off then," I decided. The suit still had a while before the atmosphere regulation would need a break.
"Roger," Arla affirmed.
I pushed toward the front and stood up a few feet from the crashed sank. A few orange sparks flicked out of its frame as I approached. For the most part, it had landed right-side up, either the frame was slightly bent or it had landed with just the slightest amount of angle not to be completely straight. Just as I got within a few feet, something jetted out from its side, a gun. Sizzling bolts of energy narrowly whizzed by my head as I leaned out of the way just in time. I reached for my rifle instinctively and grabbed nothing but void, taking a pair of hits while I struggled to realize I'd left my weapon inside. Crap! "Starco! Gun now!" Without question, the yellow rifle flashed into my hands, just in time for my shields to collapse and send a sharp ripple of pain to symbolize it. Wasting no time, I unloaded two volleys of three into its frame and kicked it as hard as I could, sending the now-dead shank spinning into the endless expanse.
I had nearly holstered my weapon when I remembered the second. I turned around with the gun at the ready. Not only had that shank started digging in, three more dotted the bright green paint, and their weapons were swiveled in my direction. I dove under a pair of shots, dispatching two of them and grabbing cover by the raised portion of the ship's center. I tossed away the spent magazine, loaded another, and quickly dispatched the other two. I looked back out towards the front and noticed two things: we'd drifted back to the twisted scraps of the ships, and there were swarms of those shanks everywhere. Dozens swirled amongst the wreckage above my head, but oddly none to my left and right, sae for those far in the distance
"Arla!" I called out. "Get on your ODD! These shanks are active! Repeat, the shanks are active and are trying to compromise the ship. Focus fire above and below."
"They're shanks though. No stress needed. They're no closer to breaching the ship than we are to being executioners." It almost sounded like a laugh, especially the part where she mocked Uldren.
"Two of them have partially drilled into the ship already, and I'm praying they didn't do any lasting damage."
"Alright, ODD active." After a moment, she asked, "Aren't you going to come in?"
With a thought, Starco flashed Crush into my arms, and I quickly slammed a casket of ammunition into it. "Someone's gotta get rid of the ones that smash into the ship." I pulled the lever on the gun, slamming the first bullet into the chamber.
"Maximus that's crazy! You'll get cut to ribbons! More importantly, I can't revive you if they get you."
I knew that, a risk I had factored into my decision. Was this really what I wanted to die for? No, but someone had to stay out here from what I figured, and if Arla died, that was it for her. Starco would fly the ship as well as shoot the other ODD, Arla would shoot, and then I'd be holding down the fort up top. I shook my head and looked back up at the hordes of shanks weaving between the wreckage, edging closer by the second. "It's not ideal, no, but we need to find Heksis. These things are cluttering up the radar too much for Starco to get a read, so I'm eyeballing this."
"While fighting off hordes of Shanks?"
"Never said it was gonna be easy. If things go south and I get killed out here, I want you to get out of here Starco, with or without Heksis. Head straight for Earth."
"Maximus, that's stupid! We can EMP these fools into next week and book it. How long before it's charged?"
Starco was quiet for a moment, running numbers. "If we're going to make a dent in their forces, a half hour at the least. There's been a break in the main line about where you knocked off that Shank, and the charge isn't as strong in the peripheral circuits, so we're looking at a longer charge time." Exactly what I wasn't hoping for. Great…
Looking at the swarm, I said, "I definitely don't think we have a half hour. Can I get the engineer ladder up?" A ladder of separated rungs appeared on the central portion of the ship. Working my left arm into the rungs, I grew an orb of energy in my right hand whilst Crush floated just off to the side. "You guys ready?"
Arla sucked in a deep breath. "If we get through this, I'm going to kill you."
"What about your 'code of honor'?" I teased.
"Wouldn't be a violation. You made an error that nearly killed us all. Doesn't bother me to kill a reckless teammate at that point."
"We'll deal with that later." I looked at the gathering purple energy in my hand, feeling it surge through my being. "Nova Bomb away in 3...2...1…" I heaved a massive ball of purple energy directly into the swarm of Shanks, watching them helplessly fly into the exploding orb and disintegrating into an outline in the remaining translucent field barely a dozen meters above my head. "Punch it!" I yelled, grabbing Crush, placing the gun on my back and bracing for the sudden acceleration.
Let's just say, I'm infinitely grateful for magnets because as soon as I said that, the ship shot forward much harder than I had anticipated and would have ripped my grip clean free if I hadn't activated the magnetic grip. They held their own though, allowing me to stay connected and on board as we pushed away from the swarm in the general direction of where Starco thought Heksis' pod would have gone. The Shanks immediately took notice of our new route and shifted their pattern in our way.
The ODDs blasted holes in multiple Shanks at a time, and I sprayed entire baskets of machine gun ammo at the time, red streaks of laser and solar-attuned bullets streaking against the purple and ripping through the weak armor of the Fallen robots, but for every one down, two seemed to replace them as their lines inched ever closer to the ship. Every now and again, Starco would throw the ship left or right or rotate it without warning to evade any coming directly at the front, but suddenly, everything went south. Without any warning I heard, the right engine exploded into a pile of shrapnel with enough power to negate the mag grips and send me spiraling off the ship, helplessly flying without Crush or a way back on. A fiery sensation beyond any pain I'd felt before shot up the left side of my body and blurred my vision. Trying to see through the blur and failing miserably, I searched around for something, anything, to slow down, but there wasn't any debris big enough. The biggest things closest to me were the shanks that had noticed I had flown off, and their laser fire was only encouraging me to find something. There was nothing though, and an alarm reporting a suit breach pounded my head repeatedly, a sound I'd been ignoring for good reason, but reality set in. We'd failed.
I decided to turn away from the onslaught of Shanks rapidly closing in on me, and immediately found what I'd been searching for amidst the chaos: Heksis' pod, or at least what remained of it. Even from here with my blurry vision, I could tell that it had been breached, and there was a dark, humanoid form floating helplessly just outside of it. That's when everything went black.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Arla Nublier
Arla's world was spinning at a sickening pace. The lights in the ship flickered as she tried to piece together what had just happened, the last few seconds being nothing but a black spot. There'd been an explosion, and the ship got tossed like a wad of paper in a gale. There-ther-th-th...an explosion. Holes...shanks...explosions. Then...something else, another...impact... Her mind struggled to piece together a functioning thought. Heavy boots stomped on top of the ship from seemingly every direction.
Fighting unconsciousness, Arla unceremoniously undid her restraints, and fell hard against the metal floor. "Starco? What happened?" she struggled to say, fighting the sleepiness still trying to come over her. Her vision continued to swim in front of her. "Starco? Maximus?" She pushed herself onto her hands and knees and then her unsteady feet. Something stopped whirring to her right, and suddenly, she was floating. That was almost a relief because she could move without as much effort, but that also meant there was no power in the ship. "Maximus? Starco? Are any of you there. Adrenaline took over, wiping away her nausea and unsteadiness. Arla drew her custom pistol and worked her way to the pilot's chair.
Arla grabbed her knife and channeled a massive amount of charge into it. Using it like a battery, she plugged it into a slot beneath the main console of the ship and was able to open the HUD for just a few seconds. Massive amounts of damage were spread across the entire ship. The right engine was toast, and the left had massive amounts of damage. The shields were completely gone, and most of the hull armor had been beaten to a pulp by a massive amount of shanks digging their way in. It was only a matter of time before...Arla saw a flicker of shadow across the front and made sure her helmet was on all the way. She also secured the straps over her pistol. Just as she thought, a shank charged, spiral drill first, into the front, sending cracks through all of the glass and digging until it shattered. Instinctively grabbing her knife, Arla rushed forward as the air escaped and buried it deep within the shank. Spinning quickly and satisfied she'd at least tried, Arla sheathed her knife and pushed off the shank, waiting for the void to take her.
Arla silently laughed that her final end was coming in the Reef, almost exactly like the first time. "Fate truly is undeniable," she whispered to herself, closing her eyes and basking in the pink-purple of the place she had loved and forsaken.