Cayde looked over at the Vangaurd commander and sighed slightly. "You know the rules. What happens on the ice stays on the ice. Besides, we made it back." he paused before elaborating. "Yeah, things went a little sideways, but it's all good. We made it back, right?"
Zavala didn't answer, but gave him a look. Kalara paused as Cayde headed to his usual spot, and he motioned her over. "come on." her face lit up and she hurried around the table to stand next to him. He grabbed a mini-console and slid it over in front of her, setting it up. Kalara grabbed the earpiece, turning it on to linkup to the tablet-console.
She noticed the commander was staring. He asked "What do you think you are doing?"
Kalara looked up quickly. She looked to her left at Cayde. He glanced at Kalara before looking at Zavala. He continued."If you want a place at this table, you have to prove it; And not just to Cayde."
Kalara's thoughts whirled for a second before a smile crept across her features "What do you have in mind?"
"Go speak with Lord Shaxx."
Kalara chuckled and set down the earpeice, jogged out of the room, opening the envelope as she walked back in. "I'll see you three later." she turned and walked out. "And the answer is yes, by the way."
Later that day, in the in-tower crucible arena, Kalara transmatted in on the balcony. She could see the traveler floating over the city, and behind her the arena stretched out in the abandoned part of the habitation portion of the tower. She wondered just where it was, she could see open sky, but some of the buildings were open as well. She eyed the nearby tree, wondering if she could climb up into it.
She didn't need to, plus sniping wasn't much of a defense with such small spaces and sharp corners. "Three versus one" she muttered. "Not great odds..." she grinned before adding "for them." she chuckled. Lord Shaxx's voice rang out over the intercom "Beta team. Survival match."
She leaned against the tree and waited. After a minute or two, the same voice announced "Alpha Team. Survival match. fight! Survive! Win!" Kalara chuckled and bounced a grenade in one hand.
Suddenly there was a whoosh and a swirl of dark-colored mist. Kalara jumped up away from it to catch a glimpse of Ikora Rey before the Warlock hurled an orb of void energy at her.
Kalara reappeared, stunned. She commed "Wait-you can TELEPORT!? That's so awesome!"
"Thank you. You didn't know we Warlocks can teleport?"
"No, I never got to be a high enough level to... I was a rookie when, you know." Kalara shrugged.
"And you never learned how? Even as a transcendant?"
"No." Kalara sounded suprised.
Lord Shaxx announced "Round Two. New teams."
Kalara looked around. The invite had mentioned a series of unique rounds, but not what type of challenges they would be. Or how many. She announced to the air "Wow. That was dissapointing." The whoosh of a transmat sounded next to her and she glanced over. Then she groaned. "oh no."
"Nice to see you, too. Rookie."
Kalara rolled her eyes. It had to be Cayde. She really expected it to be her versus all three leaders. She wondered if they just felt sorry for her, or if they had something else in mind. she commed them "So, two versus two then?"
Ikora answered "Not exactly." Lavender's voice sounded now. "Hiya boss."
"Please don't call me that."
Lavender chuckled.
The voice over the loudspeaker boomed "Round two begins. Fight!"
Cayde darted forward, ducking right behind the corner of the nearby building. Kalara went left, looking down the abandoned street. It was still empty and Cayde started forward. Lavender rippled into view practically from thin air, and landed a shot that sent Cayde flying backward. Kalara's mind flashed back to the arctic and her eyes narrowed. She could see Lavender's teammates walking up.
Kalara backed off to her fallen teammate and threw her hands out to either side, a dome shield appeared. Then her right hand angled down behind her. Lavender barely heard her mutter. "Hell no." before the lightning-infused staff appeared in it as Cayde dissapeared. Lavender backed off a few feet and ducked behind a naerby corner. She commmed "Arctic flashback?"
Kalara jumped up as she replied "Yathink!?" and swung as she came down. Ikora teleported toward her with a whirl of purple energy, and Kalara double-jumped, phasing as she jumped to avoid the void attack. She swung, missed as Ikora teleported again, and rippled out of sight. Kalara swore, then spotted the familiar form of a towering Titan, running toward her.
The Hunter backed into her protective bubble, listening with her mnind, sensing where her adversaries were. Zavala reached her bubble the same time Ikora teleported in again. Kalara had pulled her arms inward, channeling energy. She threw it outward in an explosive force. The two diaapeaared.
"Round Three. Tied Match" came the announcement. Kalara ran back toward their 'spawn point' and waited. Cayde appeared a second later, looking around for the other team.
Lavender said over the comm "Wanna tell me what happened out there?"
"I can't talk about it."
"Even if there's a dangerous new weapon that there could be more than one of that can take out Gaurdians?"
"we put up warning beacons."
"Yeah, and you how many Gaurdians do you think are going to heed that warning? or will they see it as a challenge?"
Kalara stopped to consider it. If she told them what happened, any of it, she would basically forfeit her end of the wager, the same as losing. But if she kept that secret, other Gaurdians, if they found that spot (and if the Fallen DID have more of those weapons), things could turn out disastrously wrong. They needed to go back and investigate.
"You're right."
She could see the trio walking toward them. Kalara looked over at Cayde "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
She commed them "Hold your fire. We need to talk about what happened out there. It can't wait, it's too important."
"And there you go, ruining my fun." Kalara gave Cayde a look, though it went unseen for her helmet. The trio walked up, and she started to explain.
"The Fallen have a new more powerful weapon. And yes, know that if I tell the story of what happened on the ice, I forfeit my end of the wager." She glanced at Cayde. "I'm sorry, but this is more important than my own personal gain."
Zavala shouldered his own weapon and Kalara took a deep breath before continuing. "It's powerful enough to take out a Gaurdian's Ghost. We saw it in the Arctic. That's why we were two days late coming. back." She shook her head. "I think the Fallen somehow got their hands on the Hive replicates of thorn and combined it with our own EMP pistol that they stole in the Cosmodrome. They must have scanned it and gotten it's schematics, then combined it with the Hive replicate."
Ikora looked to her right at Zavala. "I think we just got out answer."
Kalara's focus snapped to Lavender "Wait, what!? you told them?" Kalara paused then added "I told you guys if you told anyone it would be the same as my losing. You weren't..." she stopped short "Nevermind." she realised it *was* too important to ignore, and just looked at the ground. "Guess I lost the wager. Sorry boss."
It was Commander Zavala who answered "On the contrary, Gaurdian. You may have just saved countless Gaurdians."
Kalara nodded, and after a moment realised by losing, she had actually proven herself by losing. He added "I expect to see you tomorrow morning at 0700 hours."
She couldn't help the grin that formed. "Yes sir!"