Chapter 5 - Black and white with shades of grey
Cayde 6's horn showed from under his hood as he didn't look up from the map his hands were dancing across. His servitors twitched from under his hood as his facial expressions seemed to be having a tough time showing exactly how the Exo was feeling. The map he peered over had seen better days, tears and fading had begun to show hard on the corners of the map as certain key locations over Old Russia had been marked over to show the changes in the environment. The red pins greatly out numbered the white pins, green pins where scattered in small colonies along the Sky Watch and Rocket yard. The sheer number of pins were in the hundreds meaning Cayde-6 had spent hours if not days looking over the map with Zavala and Ikora.
Zavala turned to face Hume and Kant as they passed into the overview, his bulky armor taking up the view of the outlook, leaving him as a vast shadow across the chamber. Zavala's huge tower-like pauldron shielded half of his face from the light, only his grey luminescent eyes the only defining characteristic for that half of his face. Zavala's face showed the face of a knight, a well defined face that was perfectly symmetrical down the the bags under his eyes. The marks of age and grief rode his brow through the ages of dealing with issues, slight raises in the age marks showed that they had not been from just nervousness, but from the fierce rage of combat as well. Zavala had been one of the Hero's of Twilight Gap and been deemed the strongest Titan in the Vanguard order. Zavala's eyes quickly darted to the map and then at Cayde-6.
"Make the change Cayde, they are being over run from the Skywatch, but the Hive is growing a foothold in the Jovian Complex."
"Already done, we can discuss that problem later, seems we have business to attend to," joked Cayde-6 as he looked up at Kant and Hume with a grin.
"Greetings Guardians, It has been a while since you have graced us with your presence," said Zavala Stoically.
"You mean a first Commander Zavala," Said Ikora as she stepped into the light away from the consoles around the wall.
Kant grasped by the way Ikora Rey held herself that all the stories of her seriousness and special requests upon patrols were all true. Rey's whole persona could be easily summed up as Survival of the fittest. A female Human who had started as a Guardian border lining what could be seen as heresy all for the ability to understand and gain knowledge of what she was up against. Even at the top, her area of operation was littered with test tubes of fibers, filaments and what seemed to be pieces of bone from a unnamed subject.
Kant couldn't help, but think Ikora would have him jump on top of a Ogre if it meant she could piece together what made Ogre's tick or that angry for the matter. Kant couldn't help, but feel awed standing in the presence of the Vanguard, the living legends of past conflicts and hero's of the Light themselves. Kant smiled as he bowed in front of them, looking over Kant saw Hume had the same amount of respect for the order.
"Before we get to business may I say what a great honor it is to be in the presence of such-"
"Wow, what a kiss ass." said a quick adolescent voice as he heard some rummaging behind them.
Kant swung around to face the insult as he saw the smaller Hunter from earlier who was being followed by the huge Grey Titan that had kept Hume at bay regardless of Hume's anger. Kant was use to being poked at by Hume, but from a Hunter who had never bled with him, experienced hardship or triumph didn't have the right to disrespect him.
"Wow, did it just get awkward in here or what?"Cayde-6 said as he looked up with surprise as he watched the two parties size each other up.
"Meet part of your operations team. I know it may take you some getting use to and there may be problems that you must face in yourselves as you must face adversity in others, but with dedication one can overcome all. One victory is not enough. Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the Darkness," said Zavala sternly as he eyed the Hunter who had just walked through the over view.
"I would regard them as my brothers, but it is hard to do that when they have already threatened me and wished to inflict harm on me in the open grounds of the Tower we all know as home," said the Hunter sarcastically as he took off his helmet.
The hunter was young, his face shining bright with youth, his pale white skin showed, if it hadn't been for his eyes, you could have easily mistaken him for a Awoken. His blonde hair cast shadows over his brown eyes as his mouth seemed to be in a permanent smirk. His counter part didn't remove his helmet as he stood in the door as if he was unsure if he should hold his ground or advance before the young hunter.
"Alright let's skip the my light is bigger than your light speel, You are going to work together, that is a order," said Ikora as she glared at the Titan.
"And if we refuse?" Hume blurted out causing Kant to snap to attention on him, he faced Ikora with a unwavering stare as if set in his ways. It seemed so out of character that a New Monarch Warlock was thinking about rebelling against his own Warlock superior, in class and Vanguard Faction.
"Then we will find someone who will suit our needs and we will find something better suited for you two," said Ikora Rey, her patience starting to wear then. The metallic armlet on her bicep seemed to shine even in the absence of direct light. Rey's statement had been facts laced with a deep threat that Kant recognized in a instant, he hoped that Hume had caught the trap she had laid before him.
"Hey, hey, hey, there is no reason to be like this guys, can't we all just get along? You haven't even met the rest of your crew to hate yet," Cayde-6 said sarcastically, trying to de-escalate the situation.
"Well, where are they then sir?" Said the young Hunter.
"They are currently running drills in the Crucible, now how about you actually go stand with the rest of your team and introduce yourselves," said Shaxx as he placed a hard gauntlet on the pauldron of the grey titan before giving him a shove that would have sent any less of a man flying, it barely nudged his shoulder persuading him to stand next to the small Hunter.
"Thank you for that Shaxx, you seem to always come to the Vanguards aid," said Cayde-6, he was being as playful as ever.
Shaxx gave cayde-6 a glare before heading back to the hall.
"Perhaps these four should train as diligently as the other two, or has the vanguard turned a eye to those who are not lighting the way for others to travel." Shaxx said as he left the room before a remark could be made. Cayde-6 shook his head and sighed.
The grey titan kneel before Zavala before standing immediately.
"I am Stern."said Stern with a voice of gravel before taking a step back towards the small Hunter. He gave the hunter a nudge as if to tell him to follow suit.
"I am the one, the only Gavric, the youngest hunter to bless those who wish to bathe in the light," said Gavric as he did a front flip landing in a kneel before the three, before rolling back to ready position.
"Ahem," said Ikora clearing her throat after such a grandeur introduction," You know Titan, it is customary to remove one's battle ready helmet as a sign of peace."
"I do know the customs, yet we have not been at peace in a long time and I am charged with the over watch of Gavric ," said Stern, his voice seemed long gone of emotion, like he was just going through the motions of formality and explanation.
Ikora let out a sigh at his avoidance of removing his helmet.
"So who charged you with such a job Titan?" Zavala questioned.
"I am not entitled to say, it is my burden and my privilege." said Stern as he looked about.
"So now that we all know each other here and the other two have been briefed, I guess it's time to get down to the facts. So there is a highly top secret archive that has roughly seen a few hundred err... hundred thousand guardians. We need you to do what they haven't done, for one, eliminate all hostiles, two we need you to extract all of the data from the archive directly to the Vanguard through up link." said Cayde-6.
"Sounds super top secret and hard, is that all?" Gavric smarted off, his eyes seemed to have started shining with purpose.
"It is top secret in a old secure sector which means you may run into Guardians in the area who are not to know what your business for being in the area is, and no, it is not all. You all will be briefed on the next portion of the mission once we have confirmation that the data was not corrupted on our end here at the Vanguard," Ikora Rey stated, her temper beginning to get the better of her tone as her face began to show with grimace.
"That is all for the briefing, here are the details on the archive as well as Venus where the archive will be at. You may come across all sorts of enemies in this operation, trust no one, but the Vanguard," Zavala said as he handed them all a dossier," I suggest you make your preparations quickly and be right in the Light of the Traveler and the eyes of the Speaker before reporting to Shaxx for training. The Traveler weakens while we remain idle, so go forth into the Darkness and anoint it in Light."