Chapter 9: Through the Dark
The last time the Speaker had taken the podium, he had announced that the Black Garden had been destroyed by the brave efforts of the Guardians. He could only wish that it was good news that brought him out onto that Traveler-damned stage now. Thousands of hopeful eyes staring at him, boring through his soul beneath normally statuesque helmets only made what he had to say that much harder.
"Yesterday, we few who fight for the Light against the encroachment of the Darkness have suffered a great and terrible loss. One among many that we have endured with all the strength that the Traveler has imbued in us, to be sure, but today's defeat resulted in the destruction of the Crucible arena in the Burning Shrine and the Lighthouse, with it a total concession of Mercury to the Vex, and, most dire, the deaths of hundreds of Guardians, lost to the Void."
The hushed murmurs amongst themselves ate away at Alex's bones in a way that he hadn't felt in years. And yet he managed to summon just enough strength to raise his hand, and with that simple gesture silence the crowd.
"The worst threat of all, however, comes from what we discovered just hours ago. That is why you are all here now."
Alex sighed as he remembered how dozens of Guardians had been laughing and playing Intergalactic Death Ball on the lawn. He would've liked to thank the Hunter named Tikva and her friends for inventing that game and bringing a little bit of humor back to the Tower, if he hadn't already known that they were on the Reef, safe after evacuating Mercury, some of the few Guardians to make it off alive.
"We knew that the Fallen Archon Vokuna, self proclaimed Emperor of a New Empire, has been seeking a mythical way to destroy the Traveler called the Causeway. Some had thought it to be a myth. I am here to tell you that unfortunately, this critical weakness in our defenses is all too real. When the Black Garden was destroyed, a large amount of Light that had been siphoned away from the Traveler was suddenly returned to it. As you know, this allowed us to create more Ghosts and recruit more Guardians.
"However, the Traveler was too badly damaged to return to its full operating power even with all of this new strength. I have done much research these past few weeks and I now believe that deep within the Traveler lies the blueprints to the Interplanetary Hypergate System. This was a series of portals, of which this Causeway was a part, that were created which would have made travel within the Solar System instantaneous, and helped expand the reach of humanity all over the galaxy. Before it could be completed, however, the armies of the Darkness attacked and ended the Golden Age.
"The new Light that the Traveler was restored with overwhelmed many of its core systems and consequently created a memory leak which, when the same Light was used to create new Guardians, embedded their minds with copies of the blueprints for the Hypergates. Somehow Vokuna was able to find something out about the Causeway and the other portals and wants to use it to attack the City, perhaps even circumventing the series of storms and walls that are our last defenses and directly attacking us.
"We only know," he added gravely, "that whenever Vokuna captures Guardians he attempts to use whatever means he can to extract this information from their minds.
"Until we figure out the location of the Causeway and how to destroy it for good, we cannot be sure if he has captured any Guardians, how close he is to finding out where it is, and what. From now on, all Guardians with non-Veteran status must receive dispensation directly from their Vanguards to leave their currently assigned duty locations, and all Guardians' Ghosts will be required to report their location every ten minutes. This is for the protection of yourselves and everyone in the City. Dismissed."
Some of the Guardians grumbled about all these restrictions as they dispersed, but the Speaker didn't care. Alex, however, could barely hold himself together in time to walk from the podium to his bed.
At least, he thought, at least the worst threat that the Guardians would ever face had ended.
How wrong the Speaker was.
VVVVVV
Two months after the Battle of the Burning Shrine...
Tikva awoke with a yawn, stretching her pale arms to the heavens as her robe and blankets hung loosely around her body. It had been two months since her, Ayiana, Calore-14, Dakar, Misraj, and Sarti had arrived at the Reef and been formed the Queen and Petra Venj with the approval of the Speaker as the Queen's Spear, a special joint force of the City and the Reef dedicated to policing the Reef and defending the interests of both forces there.
Fortunately, other than dying over and over again in the Crucible arena named the Ghost Ship and dealing with drunk Guardians, Tikva hadn't seen much action since the lockdown order on new Guardians. Things had been quiet while Vokuna's Imperial forces were held at a standstill. Plus, they'd been allowed to stay in a luxurious house near the Palace free of charge and, she thought to herself, the sheets were just divine.
It was a little weird that her Ghost was sitting there, watching her with one unblinking eye, but that was something she'd mostly gotten used to. Besides, Tikva and her Ghost had an understanding that the latter would cover for her by reporting fake locations during...more private moments. It had done so willingly nearly every night since they'd been here, so she couldn't ask it to shut off at other times.
Instead she decided to focus her attention on Ayiana, whose arms were wrapped around the smaller woman's stomach as she served as Tikva's big spoon. Tikva sighed to herself as she spun around and faced Ayiana, wondering while the Warlock's serene and beautiful blue face softly breathed on her own what she'd had done to deserve her Awoken girlfriend.
VVVVVV
That first night on the Reef had been magical, but Tikva told herself that she would understand if Ayiana wanted to keep things professional between them after that point.
It would hurt, sure, but she'd heard plenty of gossip about Guardians who relieved their stress with each other only to act like nothing had happened. After all, with the threat of death hanging over them constantly, any romantic connections had to be ephemeral at most, or else youthful love one day could lead to soul destroying grief the next.
Soon, though, they saw each other often enough that every night Tikva would lie awake in nervous anticipation that turned to relief whenever her angel visited, gliding through her room like the wind before enfolding her with all the warmth of the sun taking all of her troubles and petty concerns away with a simple kiss.
And then, a month ago, something amazing happened.
While she was playing soccer with a Servitor's head with a half dozen other Guardians, someone had snuck up on her and clapped her hands over the Hunter's helmet. Tikva had just gotten out of another disappointing defeat during her daily dose of the Crucible, so her first instinct was to whirl back and punch whoever it was.
"It's me, stranger. Sorry to startle you."
"Ha ha, very funny, Ay," Tikva replied while the other snickered behind her. "What's this all about?"
"Just come with to your ship and you'll see."
"Wait, why are you blindfolding me?" Now they were guffawing at her.
"It's a surprise. Trust me."
"Alright," the human said as her Ghost whirred just above her head while her fellow Guardian led her by the hand. Clearly the devious little robot was in on whatever Ayiana had planned, otherwise it would have told her what was going on.
Later, over the radio between their ships, Tikva said, "This seems like it's a long ways away from the Reef. You know we've been ordered by the Speaker not to leave our posts, right? What's so important that..."
"Like I said, Tickie, it's. A. Surprise. If I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it? Besides, since when did YOU become so concerned about following the rules?"
"Maybe I'm a bad influence and I've rubbed off on you."
"Yes, you have, literally!"
"Oh! I walked right into that one, didn't I?"
"Yep, yep you did."
"Walked right into what?" Tikva's puzzled Ghost wondered as the two women laughed their heads off until their ships landed.
"Humans," Ayiana's Ghost replied.
Once Tikva tentatively stepped out of the ship, the sandy ground beneath her felt very familiar, and she deployed an uncontrollable grin.
"OK, you can take off the blindfold now," dulcet tones encouraged her.
"Oh wow!" Tikva gasped as her eyes confirmed her suspicions and she jumped up and down like a maniac. "We're on the Moon again! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!"
"I take it my surprise worked," Ayiana grinned.
"Oh, I'm definitely surprised," Tikva said as she jumped up into her taller Fireteam companion's embrace, her legs popping up to her back as thighs as Ayiana hugged her. "But what are we doing here?"
"Well, I remember a certain beautiful woman eyeing something delicious in the market and asking me what that strange creature was," Ayiana smiled.
Tikva blushed as she remembered her mouth watering when Ayiana described the rare time she'd eaten it. Then Ayiana continued, "I had to pull a few strings and take some bounties for the Reef, but I managed to get this specially ordered."
Tikva frowned at the basket that Ayiana held in her free hand, so the Awoken woman said, "This just arrived today, fresh from the American Dead Zone and prepared by Jai's." The latter being the name of the restaurant that
"A whole lobster?! Really, you didn't have to do all this for me!"
"Oh, it was no trouble at all."
"You're the best!" the Hunter giggled before taking off both their helmets and kissing Ayiana.
"Much as I'm enjoying tasting you"- this earned another blush from Tikva- "let's eat our food before it gets cold. Think you can help me set up our spread?"
Then the two Guardians headed into an abandoned building, and other than the occasional Fallen or Hive they had to shoot, they were able to enjoy each other's company and laugh about their shared frustration while trying get any actual meat from the lobster's many segmented armored shell.
"That was delicious. Thank you for this, and for the trip, but I'm almost too full to stand. Not sure how we're going to get back here"
"Well, that's too bad, because I was going to ask you to dance with me."
"OK, stomach break over," Tikva said and shot up like a rocket.
Ayiana almost fell over in her chair laughing, but she composed herself enough to stand and say to her Ghost, "Hit it."
"Oh, ahem- yo, DJ Ghost here, and I be dropping these phat beats, motherfuckers," Ayiana's Ghost said in its usual robotic tone.
While Tikva laughed, Ayiana wrapped her arms around her smaller lover's waist. The Ghost turned on the music, digitally copied from a recording of one of the last surviving pre-Golden Age songs stored in the Library.
Then the two of them touched foreheads before Ayiana, whilst slowly swaying to the beat with Tikva looking up at her with that smile that made her heart flutter, began to sing-
"Don't know much about history
Don't know much about biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took
"But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be"
At that part, Tikva forgot how to think of anything but the way Ayiana touched her face as she was serenaded, her own hot breath against the Awoken's slender neck, and her tears at the incomprehensible joy she felt at this moment.
"Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for
But I do know that one and one is two
And if this one could be with you
What a wonderful world this would be"
During the words "could be with you," Ayiana tilted Tikva's chin up to look directly into her brown eyes, almost as if... Even though Tikva always felt good when Ayiana was near her, never did she actually think... No, it wasn't possible. Tikva felt she was nowhere near good enough to be there for her in the ways she'd thought of.
"Now I don't claim to be an A student
But I'm trying to be
So maybe by being an A student baby
I can win your love for me"
The way Ayiana said "baby" while holding her as tightly as possible couldn't have been a coincidence.
"Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took
"But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be-"
Ayiana's and the music came to a stop once Tikva kissed her.
"This has been wonderful, my dear Ayiana. Thank you."
"It has, but I suppose I've been beating around the bush a little bit. I was going to say something a little bit more romantic..."
"More romantic than all of this?" was Tikva's immediate thought.
"But I suppose I'll just come out and say it. I love you with all my heart, Tikva, and I want you to be my girlfriend."
"Right back atcha, babe," Tikva had replied and then winked, her brain short circuiting from what Ayiana had just said. At first she thought that was the furthest thing from smooth, but her reply made Ayiana laugh again, and then they were both happy.
Tikva decided then and there that, even if she wasn't the strongest or the bravest or the smartest Guardian, even if no one else would remember her for her actions, she would do everything in her power to be the one to always make Ayiana smile like this.
VVVVV
That same happiness was etched on Ayiana's face just like it had been every day since they'd officially gotten together when she closed her eyes.
Of course, just like any couple, they were the last ones to figure it out. The only one who hadn't been happy about this development was Misraj, since she'd lost a lot of Glimmer to Dakar in the bet they'd had going.
And Tikva was completely lost in studying every inch of her face, chin, nose...that was until her lips started trembling beneath their purple chapstick. Tikva knew what that meant and sprang into action, straddling her and pinning her arms and legs.
Both of their nightmares were somewhat less frequent now that time had gone by since their last battle. Still, they each woke each other up in the middle of the night at least once a week. They had a system now, though. They'd agreed that if one of them woke up, they should restrain the other until they calmed down.
"No, no, please! I don't want to know any more! Don't make me! I don't want to knoooow!" Ayiana yelled. She repeated this phrase over and over, just like she had every day for a week, and it was starting to bother Tikva.
This had worked out so far, and much as Tikva hated to see Ayiana in agony like this, it gave her some time to say everything she wanted, no matter her fear of tripping over her words.
"Hey, hey, wake up, babe. It's just me. I'm here. Shhhh," Tikva started to say as Ayiana started to thrash her arms and legs even harder.
Like she'd done many times before, Tikva brought the blankets over both their heads and brought out the big guns with a kiss.
She kept kissing her while whispering, "Whatever's haunting you in this dream" (neither of them liked to talk about what they dreamt) "you have no reason to be afraid, my love."
Tikva stroked her face tenderly before saying, "Not while I'm here. I realize now that I was brought back to this world by the Traveler so that I could be by your side, be the one to try to keep you safe. And you know what? I get the strength to stand up to any foe when you're smiling, so please, wake up and smile for me, and we'll drive back the Darkness."
"As you wish," Ayiana cooed when she woke up and traced a finger down Tikva's back. Tikva wondered if she really heard all that.
Both things made her gasp, and then she said, "Morning. You look a little..." Tikva was going to say frazzled, but then just said, "Tired. You should try to get some sleep."
"With this heavenly view?" Ayiana chuckled and glanced down at Tikva. "I don't want to ever sleep again."
Tikva pretended to be offended as she slapped Ayiana's face with a pillow. "You know, comments like that merit a severe punishment."
"Oh? Of what kind?" Ayiana grinned, her breath hitching while her beloved traced a finger on her collarbone.
"Well, it might be counterproductive of me since maybe you'll like it, and if I remember correctly, the point of a punishment ISN'T to make one feel good...but I have a few things in mind," Tikva purred.
Just as Tikva kissed her neck and was about to enact her sentence, her Ghost said, "There's a message for you."
"Can it wait?"
The Ghost ignored her and said, "It's from Petra Venj. She says that everyone in the Queen's Spear is needed urgently."
"Why, what happened?" Tikva trembled. Whenever they were summoned, it was never good.
"Reports are very scattered, but Oryx, father of Crota, invaded our solar system a few hours ago, while you both were asleep. Apparently, without consulting anyone, the Queen and the Prince led part of the Awoken fleet in a secret strike against his colossal ship, the Dreadnought, but they were wiped out. The Queen is presumed missing, and Oryx has used his power to possess the majority of the forces of the Fallen, Hive, Vex, and even the Cabal and convert into an army called the Taken."
"You want us to find the Queen and face Oryx and his...Taken on the Dreadnought?" Ayiana said grimly while they started getting dressed. From the legends she'd read of Oryx, that wouldn't be easy. Especially if even Vokuna could not withstand his might.
"Some Veteran Guardians have already defeated him," said Ayiana's ghost. "And search parties have already been sent to look for the Queen, although you may need to help them later. Instead...instead..."
"Instead, what?" Tikva wondered.
"Instead, you'll have to help defend the Reef. Meet up with Petra at her vendor's station. The Taken army will be here in less than an hour."
VVVVVV
"Some Emperor you are," Brian spat through the blood that had recently been forced from his mouth by a Captain's punch. "All you rule is this broken ship that's been drifting through space for the past five hours, with barely a skeleton crew keeping it afloat while an entire Hive fleet is hounding your pathetic asses."
"I AM THE EPIC WAFFLE!" yelled the other Guardian next to him.
"Would you both be quiet?! For the last time, where is the Causeway?" Vokuna demanded and then injected the mixture into Brian's veins again. As much as he hated the insolence of the Guardian ever since they'd captured him on Mercury, he was correct. Oryx had come, enslaved half his forces, and destroyed the other half. His Empire had crumbled in a matter of hours. But he could yet outshine the legend of Skolas among the few Fallen who remained. All he had to do was get this Bri-An person to tell him what he knew.
A young Dreg keeping guard over the Guardians seemed to wince for some reason. He had had his suspicions...but no matter. Now all he could do was wait.
"You really thought that would work on me? You've tried this for two months and I haven't broken. I'll never betray the Travel-Serdce možet byt' dostignuto čerez dolgij put' čerez temnyj, Serdce možet byt' dostignuto čerez dolgij put' čerez temnyj, Serdce možet byt' dostignuto čerez dolgij put' čerez temnyj, Serdce možet byt' dostignuto čerez dolgij put' čerez temnyj."
Vokuna turned to his Captain and said, "Tell that- Ahamkara, was it?- who lent his scales today that I have him to thank. I knew I needed diluted Light from the blood of Guardians like I used to bend the Hive, but until today I didn't realize that the missing ingredient was this creature's skin."
"But sir," the Captain said, "he's speaking nonsense. How will we find the Causeway?"
"It's better than the nonsense he was speaking before. I've heard that dialect of the human language before. Take me to the Cosmodrome. We're going to try and get the information we need from another source."
With the Taken about to attack, it was a desperate gamble and he knew it. But sometimes gambles won wars, and if he harnessed the power of the Causeway and destroyed the Traveler, he could use its spoils to drive back this Oryx once and for all.
Just then, however, an explosion rocked the side of the ship. He could barely see them outside the viewport, but a Taken ship three times the size of his had just materialized in front of him with a hundred fighters supporting it and was about to open fire.
"Your Majesty, we're under attack again! Should we ready the main cannons and attempt to drive them back, or engage the sublight engines and try to flee?" someone asked Vokuna over the comms.
"No, make the jump to the Cosmodrome through darkspace, and don't delay! Meanwhile, draw all power to the forward shields. We cannot afford to let what we've obtained fall into the wrong hands."
"This futile alliance with your 'Empire' has brought doom about all our heads!" cried the emissary from the Cabal Empire as he lumbered his 800 pounds of armor and muscle forward and roared in the Archon's face. "Take me back to Mars to speak with MY Emperor- an actual Emperor- to establish why the Cabal command is unresponsive, or I will rip your puny head off where you stand."
"The only trip I'll be taking you on is to the Void," Vokuna snarled and blasted his head off with a shotgun. The other Cabal on the ship opened fire, and then the hungry, tired and outnumbered Fallen soldiers uncaged the enslaved Hive they'd trapped.
"Tell that Dreg to get to the bridge and tell them to get a move on!"
"He's not here, and neither are the Guardians."
"Well, don't just stand there, you idiot! FIND THEM before the Taken do!"
Too late, Vokuna realized that a small fighter had disappeared into darkspace, likely carrying the traitorous Dreg and the prisoners. But before he could try to track them, his ship vanished as well, headed for the original coordinates.
VVVVVV
The Taken Minotaur rushed up to the bridge of his master's ship and panted, "Sir, the Fallen ship that we were about to attack has just warped away."
"Good. Have your fighters put the Vex tracking probes on them as I instructed?"
"Yes. They're headed for the Cosmodrome. One ship, however, got away before we could mark them and is currently unaccounted for. Should we pursue them?"
"Pay neither of them any heed. This was a little side project. I was entrusted by Oryx himself with destroying the stubborn thorn in his side that is the Darkstriders, and that is what I shall do, but we will still endeavor to keep track of them."
Darkstrider was the Taken name for the Awoken, referring to the fact that their allegiance lay neither with the Light nor the Darkness. And he meant to assault the Reef. Soon.
"About Oryx."
"What do you mean, about Oryx?"
"Something happened."
"What. Happened?"
"Oryx has been killed."
"WHAT?! How dare you bring such blasphemy in my court!" Then Thu-Rakal, Lieutenant of Oryx, stepped forward into the light, revealed his true form as an Ogre, and used his laser eye to burn the Minotaur to a crisp.
"He was, sir," a Goblin said as it nervously looked at the charred corpse of the Minotaur. "During a surprise attack on the Dreadnought. By a Guardian, or perhaps Guardians, unknown."
"IMPOSSIBLE."
"Well, the reports are unconfirmed, so I'll be sure to get you more information."
"You do that. In the meantime, inform the crew that the assault on the Darkstrider hideout will continue on schedule."
VVVVVV
Kolee sighed as his ship arrived safely in the Reef's airspace, both unconscious Guardians in tow. If he ever got out of here alive, the tired, bruised, and war-weary Dreg decided he would kill Variks for even suggesting infiltrating Vokuna's capital ship.
But when he looked outside the window and saw the enormous Taken ship from earlier on his tail, he screamed into the console and realized he only had himself to blame for getting in this particular mess as he attempted to get inside the Vestian Outpost as quickly as possible.