Dellander knew as soon as he laid down that he wouldn't be able to sleep.
In theory, he should have drifted right off to la-la land. He still felt the after-effects of losing his light. On top of that, he had spent the day trudging across the African savannah, followed by an nerve-wracking spaceflight past fleets of Cabal ships that would have blown him out of the sky if they'd detected him.
And yet his brain refused to turn off. He could feel that strange block in the back of his head, a wall separating him from sleep. He'd learned insomnia wasn't unusual among Guardians, especially Hunters. Some nights it was better than others.
Tonight was clearly not one of those.
Eventually, he sat up and swung his legs off the narrow aluminum cot. He needed to clear his head. A nice walk should do the trick.
There was an electric lantern on the floor beside the bed, but he didn't reach for it. He crossed the boxy room in the darkness. It wasn't his room per se, just a place to spend the night. They probably wouldn't be staying here too long. At least he hoped they didn't.
The corridor outside was open to the chill night sky. He was in the front part of the ruins, where some of the rooms were open to the sky. To his right, the horizontal shaft plunged deeper into the mountain, vanishing in thick shadows. He went that way.
The darkness quickly enveloped him. It was broken only by the occasional glowing filament. They splashed orange light across the darkness like paint on a canvas.
For a while, he just wandered aimlessly in the darkness. He wasn't sure exactly which way he was going. He probably should have been worried about getting lost. With the Vex, he could accidentally trip on a step and stumble through three centuries. Not two months ago, he'd stepped through a gate and ended up 500 years in the past.
These ruins though, they didn't feel that kind of creepy. Granted, they were still a bunch of dark spooky tunnels, but for some reason, he wasn't afraid of slipping through some mind breaking Vex trip. This place was far more solid, grounded in the here and now. Strange.
He paused when he noticed a more substantial glow ahead. Warm light spilt out of an opening on the left side of the corridor. He approached it and peaked into the room.
The light came from a lantern and a sheet of orange glowey stuff on the right-hand wall. The lantern belonged to Elva, who sat hunched over a workbench against the far wall. Dozens of metal parts were scattered across the bench. The parts looked like…pieces of the walls and ceiling?
What was she working on anyways? He was a Hunter, so insomnia was par for the course for him, but what would pique a Warlock's interest enough to ignore sleep altogether? He could come up a dozen reasons, but he wasn't sure any of them applied to Elva. Come to think of it, he actually didn't know Elva all that well. She spent most of her time apart from the team, clambering across Vex ruins or sequestering herself in some stuffy library.
For an extended moment, he just stared at Elva, who was engrossed in whatever she was doing. He could just slip away, vanish unnoticed into the night. Finally, curiosity got the better of him.
"Don't you robots ever sleep?" he asked, stepping into full view.
Elva looked up from her workbench and blinked several times.
"You're one to talk," she said, "It's three in the morning."
Dellander shrugged. "Eh, sleeplessness comes with being a Hunter I guess."
"That doesn't surprise me," she muttered, turning back to her tinkering, "Hunters do need an inordinately large number of waking hours to groom their massive egos."
He chuckled at that and leaned in the doorway. Those were little pieces of Vex architecture. He could see the places where she'd ripped them out of the walls.
"Can I come in?" he asked after a moment. She motioned for him to enter without looking up.
Dellander stepped into the room and casually glanced over Elva's shoulder. Two jagged crystals sat on the bench before her, one dark orange, and the other murky blue. She was using a welding pen to attach a plate of metal to the thick wires wrapped around orange crystal. The blue one already had a similar construct attached. Her Ghost hovered over the bench, projecting a page of text.
"Isn't that the thing we ripped out of the Incendiary Mind?" Dellander asked, pointing at the orange crystal.
"Yep," she said, "And this one Linvana and Telysa found in the caves further up the valley."
She scrolled down the page displayed by her Ghost, peered at a diagram for a moment, and selected a small disc form her collection of parts. The welding pen sparked as she fused the piece to the rest of the metal.
"So if you don't mind my asking…" he began. Elva didn't object, so he continued. "What exactly is the deal with you and sleep? I know I've seen you do it, so that means you get tired like the rest of us. How are you awake right now?"
"Well," Elva said, setting down her tool and cocking her head in thought, "I suppose you could say I reprogram myself. I tell myself I don't need to sleep and then…I don't need to sleep."
"That's interesting. You can just decide not to sleep?"
Elva nodded.
Dellander sighed. "I wish I could do that the other way. Tell myself to just close my eyes already. Especially for nights like this…
"This reprogramming thing," he added after a moment, "How come I've never heard Brontis or Mariel talk about it."
Elva chewed on her lip, a peculiar expression on her metal face. "Truth be told, I'm not entirely sure they have the ability."
"Why's that?"
She hesitated. "If you asked a historian, they would probably tell you that my frame was a prototype, an advanced test platform that engineers were using to develop new technologies before the Collapse."
"And what if I asked you?"
Her eyes flickered for a moment, then she looked up and met his gaze. "I would tell you I'm not like the others."
"Okay then…I have another question for you, while we're discussing all this Exo-ey stuff."
Elva raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."
"You say that, uh, Exo bodies are supposed to be, um, what's the word, proxies for normal bodies? Imitations, right?"
"Mm-hmm."
"So does that mean you can uh, get intimate with other people?"
She frowned. "Are these the kinds of thoughts that usually keep you awake at night?"
"I'm serious," he insisted, flushing slightly, "It's been bugging me for a while. I actually want to know."
"Well," she said, turning to face him and resting her hands on her lap, "I've felt pain, discomfort, joy, anything that a normal human should be able to experience. What do you think?"
She sat there facing him, with her slender figure, warm amber eyes, polished bronze skin, her face so close to his…
He leaned in and kissed her.
She stiffened for a moment, then she melted into it, reaching up and caressing his neck. Her lips were warm and smooth and surprisingly gentle to the touch.
He slowly pulled away when they finished, breath caught in his throat. Where the hell did that come from?
She leaned back and smiled a little, her breathing light and excited.
They continued to stare into each other's eyes. For some reason, his insides suddenly felt warm and fuzzy.
"Welp," he said abruptly, standing up, "I should probably try to get at least a little sleep before morning." He crossed to the door.
"Dellander," Elva called after him.
He paused in the doorway. "Yeah?"
"Do you still have those parts you took from the Incendiary Mind's arm?"
"Uh, I think they're in my belt. In fact, I'm pretty sure I left all my other souvenirs, uh, in my room at the Tower."
"Good. Bring them to me tomorrow, along with your gun. I have an idea that you might like."
"Okay…just, whatever it is, try not to hurt the pistol. I've had it for a long time."
"I'll do my best."
He nodded and started walking again.
"Oh and Dellander?"
"Yeah?"
"I'll see you in the morning?"
Dellander smiled.
"See you in the morning."
Brontis eased the dented and scorched interceptor through the bend of the rocky canyon. The broad, wedge shaped craft was heavy and durable. Unfortunately, that meant they maneuvered like a boulder. With visibility so low in the early morning light, he'd nearly crashed half a dozen times.
It didn't help that there were two Guardians dozing on the hood of the vehicle. It couldn't have been comfortable, and it sure as hell wasn't safe, but apparently, Cannard and Ulaina were just that tired.
Not that Brontis wasn't tired of course. He just preferred to ignore it at the moment.
He approached the next bend slowly, putting the slightest pressure on the controls. The thrusters flared, and he just barely avoided clipping the wall. The vehicle was used by psions, the spindly Cabal slaves, but it was just as brutish as everything else Cabal.
The narrow canyon opened up past the bend, depositing them in a long, rocky valley. Shoulders of brown stone rose on either side, and he could just make out three dark shapes towards the far end. Unfortunately, he couldn't distinguish any details in the half-light. He pointed the interceptor towards them and eased forward on the throttle.
The thrusters throbbed, and the little armored craft took off across the stony ground. Jutting stones and dead trees flew past. They skimmed across the valley in no time at all, and the dark shapes resolved into a trio of jumpships.
Brontis let the interceptor decelerate as they drew near the parked ships. The battered orange and blue Arcadia was Captain Linvana's. The dull orange one was Elva's, and the gray and dirty green one belonged to Dellander.
The interceptor came to a stop. For a moment, the only sound was the quiet hum of the craft's engines.
He examined the two Guardians sleeping on the hood. Cannard's face was scrunched up, his gray Awoken skin ghostly in the predawn pall. Even though he was asleep, the Titan's hands were clutched tightly around a gray auto-rifle. He looked calm, serene even. Ulaina on the other hand, looked like crap. An ugly bruise on her cheek discolored her tan skin, and her dark hair was a mess, most of it having come out of the braid she kept it in. Her dusty purple trench coat was covered with scuffs and dust.
Once again, his teammates had ended up relying on him. No matter how fast he ran from responsibility, it always caught up with him. Oh well. If he didn't do it, who else would?
Brontis cut the power to the interceptor, and Ulaina and Cannard were immediately awake. They stiffly sat up, blinking sleep from their eyes.
"Are we there?" Cannard asked. He frowned when he noticed the parked jumpships.
"We're close," Brontis answered, "The Captain's coordinates are just to the east."
"I guess that means we go up the canyon," Ulaina said, nodding towards the narrow gap in the cliff a short distance away.
Ulaina rolled off the hood of the interceptor and landed awkwardly on her right foot. She yelped in pain, then muttered a string of Spanish curses under her breath. She grabbed the antique wood and brass rifle they'd found in the Cabal base, and started limping towards the canyon.
Cannard exited much more carefully, supporting his weight on his arms and lowering himself to the ground. He took a moment to steady himself, then followed Ulaina.
Brontis yawned and rubbed his eyes. Almost. No time for that yet. He dragged his plasma grenade launcher off the interceptor, checked the shotgun on his back, and followed his companions.
The canyon was exactly what you'd expect to find on Mars. Dry gravel bottom, smooth walls with layered colors, and the occasional dead tree trunk wedged in the corner.
However, what he did not expect to hear was the sound of rushing water.
Ulaina and Cannard were waiting around the next corner. The canyon floor had crumbled a short distance ahead, diverting the gushing stream down into the bowels of the planet. Moss and climbing plants grew all over the walls of the sinkhole. The water came from up the canyon, where shrubs and grass grew along the edges.
A narrow lip of stone ran along the far side of the sinkhole. They made their way across it and continued. There were even a few trees in places. Thin and spindly, not broad and squat like the ancient, dead stumps.
The sun crested the distant horizon as they wound through the ravine. The rocks along the top of the walls glowed with bright orange light, though the bottom remained in shadow.
Then finally, the canyon deposited them in a narrow valley. The ground exploded with desert life. Groves of thorn bushes grew from the remains of huge, hollow stumps that had almost completely rotted away. Tall, coarse brown grass waved in the breeze. The fresh sunlight shone through the spiky tree leaves, casting dappled shadows across the stone and dusty ground.
It reminded Brontis of a grotto on the slopes of Elysium Mons. He hadn't been there in twelve years, but he remembered it like yesterday. He had, after all, been brought back to life there.
"Well," Cannard said, "I'm guessing this is the place."
"They have to be around here somewhere," Ulaina noted, "Come on."
The valley was nice. Idyllic was the word. It was exactly the kind of place you could relax and frolic the day away. Yuck.
A short time later, they found the stand of Vex ruins built into the back wall of the valley, right next to a clear little pond. There was noise and movement inside. Captain and her girlfriend stepped out. He still hadn't figured how to spell the Hunter's name.
Wait a sec, didn't they get married two months back? When half the team was on patrol?
Captain crossed her arms and grinned. "Well I'm glad to see the three of you alive, what the hell happened to you? You look like shit."
"Violence," Brontis said, "Violence and explosions."
"I believe it," Talizza said.
"We were in the middle of a strike when we lost our Light," Cannard explained.
"Got caught in a firebase like a bunch of gilipollas," Ulaina muttered, her expression hardening.
"Well, you can give us the details later," Captain said, "Come in. Rest and freshen up. Get some sleep if you need it."
Captain and Tellesa turned around and led them into the Vex building. The front room was low and broad, with narrow gaps in the walls. That was good. It would be easy to defend.
"With the three of you, we're just missing Mariel and Daimen," Tel noted. He would go with Tel for now. He was too tired to keep trying.
Ulaina hesitated. "They were on the Dreadnaught. Cristo, we were in a jam in that firebase, but that festering tomb is the last place I would want to be without my Light."
"They'll show up," Cannard said quietly, "They always do."
For a moment, everyone was silent.
"So," Captain said, "There's a small shard of the Traveler up the valley. Your Ghosts can use it to get their capabilities back. Though…you still won't have your powers. Or resurrections."
"A Shard?" Ulaina asked, "Here on Mars? If one landed all the way out here…our whole timeline for the Collapse could be wrong."
"Well we think it might have something to do with the Vex that built this place," Tel explained, "Elva might be able to…"
They kept on chitchatting. Brontis ignored them and walked over to the back left corner of the room. The floor there was pretty flat. He set his grenade launcher down and slipped the shotgun off his back.
He laid down on the hard metal floor, closed his eyes, and was out in moments.
"What do you think?" Elva asked?
"Give me a minute," Dellander murmured, trying to ignore her voice. He closed his eyes and adjusted the hand-cannon in his grip. It was different.
The carved wooden handle still fit his hands perfectly. The brass chamber and hammer were the same as before, oiled and polished for quick operation. The difference was further away, in the barrel.
The previously unadorned frame now bore a pair of narrow bronze strips, attached on the rail supporting the sights. The gun underneath was still the same, but the twin pieces of Vex metal made all the difference.
Dellander fidgeted and eyed the targets thirty feet away, glinting in the midday sun. They consisted of eight palm sized metal plates Elva had wedged in into the side of a downed log. He still wasn't sure why he'd just let Elva tinker around with his hand-cannon, but well, life was short. Now more than ever.
He raised his gun and let his body to loosen. You couldn't be tense in a firefight. Tension made your movements sharp and jerky. Relax. Your body knows what to do.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang.
Dellander inhaled and lowered the pistol. Five of the metal plates now had dents in them. He had missed the other three. In a fight, that meant death.
"Well?" Elva asked.
"It's close," Dellander answered, "but something's off."
"Is it the weight? Maybe we could shave some of the metal from underneath the circuits…"
"I don't mind the extra weight…"
Dellander glanced at Elva and trailed off. She stood underneath a nearby tree, bare bronze arms folded across her chest. She wore her under-layer, a simple sleeveless tunic and leggings, and smiled when he looked at her.
Something warm and fuzzy bloomed in his chest.
Damnit! What was wrong with him? It was just Elva. He'd never thought of her that way before. Hell, she was a robot!
So why couldn't he stop thinking about that kiss last night?
He forced his attention back to his pistol. The metal strips glinted in the barrel. There wasn't much to the strips, but…
He twirled it around his finger a few times then snapped it into a ready stance. Sure enough, his aim was too low.
"It's the balance," he said, "You put the metal on the barrel, and you didn't add anything to counterweight it."
Elva sagged. "Of course. I should have thought of that."
"Eh, you're not a gunsmith," Dellander said. He holstered the pistol and started walking back to the ruins.
"No, but I'm trying to learn," Elva said, trailing after him, "Osiris's notes contain descriptions of almost every piece of Vex technology. If I can learn to understand the machines as he did, I could build anything. I'm starting with weapons, but one day, we could build portals to the other side of the galaxy!"
"Well that sounds fun," Dellander said. "So what exactly did you do to my gun?"
Elva bit her lip. "I uh, I actually don't know."
"Wait. You messed around with my gun, and you didn't even know what you did to it?"
"Well," Elva explained, "I found a concept in Osiris's notes for a sort of neural network based of the architecture of Vex circuits. The parts don't do anything for now, but in theory, as you use the pistol, they will adapt and develop new functions to better suit the gun's function."
"So…you gave my gun a brain, as an experiment."
"I wouldn't exactly say that. The radioloria is the actual cognitive substrate of the Vex. Everything else is just architecture to enable the mind fluid. You could say I gave your gun a…signal booster. Though I have no idea what a gun's 'signal' looks like."
Dellander grunted. Wasn't sure if any of that would help them fight the Cabal. As long as it didn't hurt though.
It was actually kinda nice in this valley. He hadn't been able to appreciate its beauty in the darkness. Walking between the trees, dappled sunlight through the leaves, a faint breeze taking the edge off the dry heat. It was peaceful and calming, and completely at odds to their desperate situation.
He found himself glancing at Elva as they walked. She inspected the forest as they passed, taking particular note of the occasional Vex column sticking up out of the ground. She bore a slight smile.
Her face was so different from a human's, but it was still somehow beautiful. The lines and curves were sculpted with a perfection that bone and flesh could never achieve. And he couldn't help but notice her body. Slender and perfectly proportioned. What else would you expect from a robot?
Damnit. Where the hell was this coming from?
They entered the front room of the ruins. Brontis was no longer snoring in the corner, as Linvana was taking him, Cannard, and Ulaina to the shard in the caves. The entered the corridor leading into the ruins proper and made their way towards Elva's room.
"So this place," Dellander said as they made their way to Elva's room. "Was it built by those weird blue Vex in the caves?"
"It's hard to say where anything related to the Vex begins or ends," Elva said, "But those Vex were the ones that removed this place from the greater Vex networks."
"I've seen those networks," Dellander said, "I touched them back on Mercury. They have no beginning or end."
"And yet you survived," Elva said, "It's a small miracle you're not a raving lunatic."
Elva paused to pull aside the curtain she'd hung across her room door. Apparently Dellander's visit last night reminded her of the need for privacy.
There were three crystals on her workbench now. The new one was long, cylindrical and smoky purple. The orange and blue ones now had handles attached, and the purple one looked like it was the handle.
"Where'd the third crystal come from?" Dellander asked.
"Ulaina found it in a firebase in Ares Channel," Elva explained as she sorted through the rest of the parts on the bench. "Apparently the Cabal raided a nearby Vex site."
"Huh. What are you doing with them?"
"Eventually? I hope to build swords. It will take me time to finish them." She set a half-dozen parts in front of Dellander. "Alright. I can remove the circuits and shave some of the metal off underneath. Or, I can weld one of these onto the bottom of the grip."
Dellander examined the parts. He picked up a oval shaped plate about two inches long and tested its weight. "Try this one," he said, handing the plate and his pistol to Elva.
Elva took the pistol and unloaded the chamber, then carefully set it on the table. "This is a diode of sorts," she said as she picked up her welding pen and started fusing the plate to the metal center of the grip. "It draws a current from the surrounding network."
"What does that mean for my gun?" Dellander asked.
"No clue," Elva said. She handed the pistol back.
Dellander twirled it a few times, holstered it, then drew and snapped it into a stance. Perfect. "Yep. That did it."
"Excelent. You should have no trouble blowing various aliens' brains out," Elva said. She smiled, and something melted inside him.
Crap.
"So were finished here?" Dellander asked, suddenly eager to leave. He walked to the door.
"Well I've done all I can for your pistol," Elva said, standing up and trailing after him. "But don't you want to talk about something else…?"
Dellander paused in the doorway. "Like what?"
Elva stepped in front of him and stared at him with her fiery golden eyes. "Like last night…"
Dellander swallowed. She was standing very close to him. "Well, I uh-"
Elva lunged and kissed him. His breath caught in his throat as she pushed him against the wall and pressed her body against his. The kiss was passionate and savory, and when she finally puled back, they were both breathing hard.
"I, uh, I should go and…" he stammered.
"Oh Dellander," Elva whispered. She drew the curtain closed and peeled off her tunic. "You're exactly where you need to be."
Elva lay on the cot beside Dellander, watching his chest slowly rise and fall. His body was lean and firm. Not bulky and rippling with muscles like a Titan, but still very fit. She still didn't quite understand exercising and staying in shape. Her body didn't change. She was exactly the same weight she was when she woke up on the shores of Venus. Her mechanical limbs were no stronger or weaker than they were a month, or a year ago.
They both barely fit on the little cot. Dellander, flat on his back, took up most of the space. She lay on her side, perched on the edge, with one arm and leg draped over Dellander.
Elva sighed and smiled. Her insides were warm and happy, in a way she'd never quite felt before. What else had she missed out on these last seven years, without even realizing it?
She looked up at Dellander's face. He noticed her and smiled back.
"Thank you," she said, "That was nice. I should have tried it sooner?"
Dellander frowned. "Wait. You're not saying that was your first time, are you?"
"Well, I mean…" she mumbled. Her face suddenly felt warm.
He eyed her. "This was really the first time you've had sex."
Elva nodded. "I mean, I tried it a few times on my own, but I haven't had time for a relationship. We uh, not everyone sleeps around like you do."
"Hey that's not fair," he complained with a mock pout. "You're only the…" He counted out fingers on his hand. "-fifth women I've slept with. Besides, I'm sure you had some experience in your past life. You seemed to know what you were doing."
"Only five huh," Elva mumbled, self-consciously glancing away. How could she explain it to him? She didn't have a past life. Her body was created by the Vex, and brought to life, for the first time, by her Ghost, seven years ago. What would he even think, what would any of her teammates think, if she told them the truth?
No. No! She would not dwell on that. Her teammates were her friends. She trusted them, more than anything else in this life of constant strife. She had to believe that when the time came to tell, they would accept it as a part of who she was, just as she was finally beginning to.
She sighed again and rested her head on Dellander's shoulder. Her fingers idly traced patterns of circuit boards across his chest as her thoughts wandered.
It was only two months since Praedyth revealed her true nature. So much had changed since that day, yet so many things were the same. She'd always known she was different, now she just knew why.
The other Exos she knew often spoke of scattered memories, fragmented flashes of their past lives. She had none of that. She'd woken up with the basic knowledge of life, but no specific memories. Her mind was created as a blank slate. Where did her personality even come from?
Most days, she almost forgot her idiosyncrasies. She could almost pretend she was normal. Then days like today came along and smacked her in the face. How could she have gone without such a wonderful thing as sex for seven years?
She pushed those thoughts away, and just let herself enjoy the moment. She wanted it to last forever. Just lay here on the bed, feeling the warmth of Dellander's skin, forgotten by the world outside…
Unfortunately, the world outside still remembered them.
Only a few minutes later, a knock came from the door.
"Coming!" Elva called. She moved to get up and half rolled, half fell off the cot. "Ow," she muttered, rubbing her shoulder as she stood up. Beside her, Dellander watched with a twinkle in his eye.
She crossed to the door and pulled the curtain aside. Telysa leaned against the opposite wall. The Hunter looked Elva up and down and frowned. She stepped forward and peered in to the room, noting Dellander getting dressed beside the bed.
"Why are you…" Elva trailed off and looked down, realizing she'd neglected to put clothes on, and was in fact naked. "Oh."
"Well," Telysa said, folding her arms.
Elva cleared her throat. "Did you need something, Tel?"
"Oh, right," Telysa said, smiling. "Mariel and Damien just turned up. I told them to get some rest, but they're insisting on meeting now. So we're meeting in the courtyard as soon as Lin and the others get back from the shard."
She turned away with a flourish and strode down the hall, her boots clomping on the metal.
Elva groaned and leaned her forehead against the wall. "That was embarrassing."
Dellander simply laughed.
Mariel-3 paced in the shadows, her cloak clinging to her shoulders like a funeral pall.
The courtyard wasn't much. Walls on three sides, the fourth open to let the light spill in as the sun sank to its inevitable death. A row of uneven pillars lined the sides of the courtyard, separating it from the covered walkway. Damien sat at the base of one of those pillars, his salmon red robes vivid in the late afternoon.
She paused at the edge of the sunlight. The folds of her cloak swirled around her, pulled by an unseen current. The dark un-cloth was a comforting presence, an anchor to something deeper.
The Martian sun felt intense, searing even, after spending four long months patrolling the Dreadnaught. She and Damien were so close to discovering the source of the perturbations in the Ascendant Realm. And now their discoveries would have to wait, put on hold by a Cabal invasion.
Mariel started pacing again. She'd thought that after a more than a century in this life, nothing could surprise her. Well, she probably should have been used to being wrong by now.
Other members of the team trickled in. Telysa first. The Bladedancer leaned against one of the pillars and basked in the sunlight, a smile on her lips. Elva came next, wringing her hands, a distant expression on her face. Then Dellander, his shirt rumpled, but his expression unreadable.
Finally, Linvana emerged from one of the entrances, Ulaina, Cannard, and Brontis trailing behind her. The team was complete.
Perhaps calling themselves a team was a bit of a stretch, considering this was the first time they'd all been in one place since the SIVA crisis ten months ago. Nothing like the threat of pending extinction to bring friends together.
"Right," Linvana said, clasping her hands before her, "We're all here, and by some miracle, we're all still alive. The attack on the City was…just as devastating as you can imagine. It's been three days now, and as it stands, we don't know what's happened since."
"Zavala evacuated Earth," Dellander said, "It's all over the radio, but he didn't say where he was going."
"I have no doubt this Red Legion would hunt them down if he had," Damien said.
"Where would they even go?" Ulaina asked, "Everywhere else is crawling with Fallen, Hive, Vex, or more Cabal."
"Nevermind that," Elva interjected, "The battle lasted only a few hours. That wasn't nearly enough time to get everyone on Dead Orbit's ships. If Zavala ordered the Forces of the City to retreat from Earth, that means there's still thousands trapped there."
"Elva," Linvana said, "You said there was a Cabal fleet near Mercury too?"
The Sunsinger nodded. "They were scanning for something in the mantle."
Linvana rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Whatever they're after, we can probably assume the inner system is locked down. Getting back to Earth is going to be difficult."
"What are we going to do once we get there?" Cannard asked, "We have no Light, and barely a handful of weapons between all of us."
"I met a Titan in Old Kenya," Dellander piped up, "She gave me the coordinates to some sort of refugee camp in Europe. I figure there would be as good of a place to start as any."
"I'm inclined to agree with Dellander," Linvana declared, "Any objections?"
A thick silence settled over the courtyard.
"Uh, captain?" Brontis said, "I'm always up for a good fight, but how much do you expect us to do? We're not invincible anymore. We're just nine ordinary people with a bunch of guns. You can't seriously expect us to fight an entire army of these overgrown turtles."
A quick glance at everyone else showed they were thinking the same thing.
Linvana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I honestly wish I had an answer for you." She looked around at the Guardians assembled in the courtyard. "We've fought monsters together, killed gods. The universe threw some of its worst at us, and by some miracle, we survived. Yes, it's different this time. The Cabal stole our Light. I still can barely believe it.
"But as Guardians, we're more than our Light. We're protectors, of the City, and of humanity. Right now, we're facing extinction. It might not be a lot, but we can still fight. And there are people out there who need us. If we don't at least try to help them, then we don't deserve to be called Guardians in the first place."
For a moment, nobody said anything. Then Brontis shrugged. "Eh, what the hell. Not like we got much left to lose. Who knows. Maybe we're meant to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good. I can live with that. At least I'll shake this damn dream I've been having."
Telysa snorted. "Dying heroically so you stop having bad dreams? Only you would consider that a favorable deal Brontis."
"Hey," Brontis complained, "It's an annoying dream. It's been the same one, every time I close my eyes since we lost our Light."
Across the courtyard, Ulaina straightened, a puzzled expression on her face. "You've been having a reoccurring dream since the attack?"
"Uh, yeah?" Brontis said, confused.
"Describe it," Ulaina ordered.
"Well uh, when it starts, I'm flying, around the Traveler I think. There's this bird with me, and then I'm falling. I hit the water, and then I sink past a bunch of weird shit, until I'm floating above a forest with something big and white jutting out of it. Why do you want to know?"
Mariel froze, an icy sensation shooting down her spine. Impossible.
Ulaina stepped forward, looking like someone stepped on her grave. "I've been having that exact same dream."
"So have I," Telysa said.
"Me too," Cannard added.
A quick look at the rest of their faces told Mariel everything she needed to know.
She closed her eyes as they all began talking about the dream. Flying around the Traveler, then sinking past bodies, pyramids, and celestial implements of war, before finally arriving at the broken Shard of a sleeping god.
Why couldn't it have been her nightmare alone? Why did the past insist on haunting her so?
"It's not a dream," Mariel whispered.
The courtyard went silent, and all eyes turned to her.
"It's not a dream," Mariel repeated, "It's a vision."
"A vision," Linvana said slowly, "Like, a Thanatonaut's vision?"
"Exactly like that," Mariel answered. She hesitated. What came next, she wouldn't be able to take back. She'd tried so hard to move on from her past. And now they all had to go back.
"That place you see at the end of the dream," Mariel continued, making a decision, "It's a real place in Europe, deep inside the Dead Zone. There lies a Shard of the Traveler, the largest known. In fact, this camp Dellander speaks of is only a short ways away."
Linvana frowned. "And how are you sure it's the same shard? Have you been there before?"
"I…yes." Best to just leave it at that. They did not need to go into the details right now.
Mariel rubbed her forehead. This was going to be difficult. "Look. I thought that it was just me having a bad dream, but if we've all been seeing the Shard, it has to mean something. We all have residual traces of Light in our bodies, and they're resonating with the Shard. For some reason, it wants us to go seek it out. And if we want any chance of fighting the Red Legion, we'd better listen."