Chapter 2 – Relentless
As Beta followed the rogue Guardian's ship out of Mars' orbit, he began to notice that he and Alpha were not alone in the Harvester.
"Alpha, keep it going on course to follow that … thing." instructed Beta, before standing up and turning around to face the creature now standing before him. It was a Legionnaire, holding him at gun-point. The Legionnaire held his rifle at Beta's face, but Beta simply pushed it aside and said, "Look, I'm not your enemy. There's a rogue Guardian under what seems to be the command of Oryx fleeing in a jumpship, and so I needed a ship to pursue him. You understand?" The beast then just nodded its head to that and lowered its weapon.
"You wanna help?" asked Beta.
The Legionnaire once again nodded its head in agreement, signifying that they were now allies.
"Alright then, well, we're tracking him right now. Big clue to him working for Oryx is his shroud of light and dark. There's so much of both. We –" Beta said, before getting cut off.
"Beta, I've just intercepted a transmission! It's Oryx, alright!" exclaimed Alpha, with a hint of fear in his voice, "I'm playing it now…"
Unknown: 'I've taken a Harpy for you, my lord.'
Oryx(?): 'Good, my disciple. Have it taken to Phobos for examination.'
Unknown: 'Yes, my lord.'
Oryx(?): 'Have you anything else to report, my disciple?'
Unknown: 'Well, my lord, the Prison still seems to be in good condition, however, still easy to slice into. Variks never even knew I was there.'
Oryx(?) 'Excellent. You've done well.'
Unknown: 'Thank you, my lord.'
Oryx(?) 'I must go, just get to Phobos.'
Unknown: 'Yes, my lord, good-bye.'
Alpha exclaimed once again, "This is big! We have to stop him!"
Alpha then altered the ship's course and rerouted it to Phobos. Alpha planned to stop that rogue Guardian. That disciple of Oryx. Beta immediately understood his plan without even needing it said, and then asked aloud, "Isn't there a Cabal outpost on Phobos?"
Much to Beta's surprise, the Legionnaire responded in broken English, with a deep and croaky voice, "Yes. There is communication base on Phobos. But we not gotten anything from them in long time, we think they probably dead." Saying this gave the Legionnaire a face which looked… sad. "Many friends we had there may be gone."
Beta was slightly shocked at first. The Cabal were the largest and most powerful military force in the solar system, and their soldiers were feeling grief. They had families. I guess we aren't that different, he thought. After being quiet for a few minutes, Beta spoke up and asked, "Do… do you have a name?"
"Name? Name Val Arun. Part of Dust Giants. What you are?" the Legionnaire, Val Arun, replied and asked.
"Well, Val, my name is Beta-5, but just call me Beta. I'm an Exo, and I serve with the Hunter force and under the Dead Orbit banner. And, my little buddy here, my Ghost, I call him Alpha." Beta replied to Val.
"Beta… Alpha… I think got it." Val replied once again in broken English, which was still astonishing to Beta.
Then, Beta thought to ask something else, seeing as he hadn't noticed Val originally, "Hey Val, you got anyone else stowed away on this ship? 'Cause I'm not making another introduction."
"No, just me." replied Val, much to Beta's liking.
Beta knew this was gonna be a long ride, so he let Alpha take care of the piloting and he dozed off to sleep.
/
Transmission Type: Encoded
Recipient: Oryx
Sender: [redacted]
Message: My lord, against what you said, I shall take the Harpy to the examination zone aboard your ship. I was being followed by another Guardian, and we don't yet need the rest of humanity or the Fallen, Hive, Cabal, any of them. Although, the Vex is a different matter… anyways, they are still headed for Phobos, and that is where they shall think I am.
..
END MESSAGE
/
Hours later, Beta awoke to see Val wandering around the interior of the ship, seemingly bored out of his mind.
"Why don't you get some rest, Val?" said Beta, hoping to calm his new friend.
"Beta! You awake! We land at Phobos, but nothing there! We still here, but only because other Cabal are here. But they not normal Cabal. They white and black, and look dangerous. We don't want leave until we sure they won't shoot us down." exclaimed Val.
This made Beta jump right up, and he ran over to Alpha and asked to bring up his inventory. Beta then un-equipped Fatebringer and equipped his Scout Rifle, Fang of Ir Yût. He also un-equipped his EXODUS Plan RS/1 and equipped his Gjallarhorn. He left his Found Verdict Shotgun equipped as his special weapon, as he knew he'd probably need it. Beta then walked over to the open bays in the Harvester and said, "Well, let's go see what their problem is." before jumping out through the pod hole.
Beta landed on solid rock that looked just like on Luna (the moon). He looked upwards, however, and was met face-to-face with a black and white covered Vex Goblin looking directly at him. It's definitely the Taken, he thought, it's begun. What the Goblin lacked was any type of gun. Instead, in its right hand was a sword. Said sword strangely resembled the Sword of Crota. He switched to his Found Verdict, and brought it up right into the Goblin's eye. The Taken Goblin took a step back, and Beta fired 3 shells into its body. But, this merely aggravated the Goblin, and it charged at him and swung the sword down, just barely missing Beta right as he dodged. He put another shell into the Goblin's eye, and that caused some damage. The Goblin dropped the sword, and began cradling its eye. Beta took this opportunity and grabbed the sword off the ground and brought it down right on top of the Goblin.
With the Goblin now destroyed, Beta only had a second's moment of respite as he then turned around and saw what looked to be a Taken Dreg. The Dreg was unarmed – no knives or pistol – but did have seemingly infinite grenades strapped around its body. It began throwing them, and Beta soon realized that they were no ordinary shock grenades – they were that of a Gunslinger Hunter's Swarm Grenades. He quickly scrambled back, with around 30 Swarm Grenades locked onto him and following.
"Hey, Val, I could use a little help out here!" Beta shouted, hoping his new friend would give him some assistance.
As Beta kept running, he heard a classic Cabal battle cry, and turned around to see the Swarm Grenades had worn off and deactivated, and Val had dropped out of the Harvester and started assaulting the Dreg. The Dreg turned to throw another grenade at Val, but Beta took that brief time of him not being attacked to switch back to his Fang and started firing on the Dreg. The Dreg once again turned to Beta, now being shot at by Val.
"Okay, back in the Harvester, back in the Harvester! We're getting out of here!" exclaimed Beta.
Beta and Val ran back to the Harvester, and jumped aboard, with Beta screaming "Punch it, Alpha!"
And with that, the Harvester flew away from Phobos, all the while being shot by numerous Taken soldiers.