Ch13

Note from authors: ColetteJH: Due to me feeling the fanfic has slow pacing, we've decided that until all the missions on Earth are done that there won't be anything but missions. We have some good stuff coming so look forward to it! ^-^

Eltyr: We'll still have some non-mission stuff, but as Colette said we're currently focusing on wrapping up the Earth arc. Also, you guys seen the Taken King E3 reveal yet?

*"The Vanguard's reporting that Fallen are tearing into machines all over the Cosmodrome."* Luden said as the jumpships flew to the destination. *"I'm starting to think they aren't just looting the place. Whatever they're look for we should probably find it first."*

Ocena couldn't agree more with that as she landed on solid ground her friends coming up around her.

*"I'm picking up heavy Fallen activity near the Forgotten Shore. But that's miles from here. Guardians have set up a vehicle grid here. We sync to that, we can summon ground transport from our ship. Let's go."*

"Alright Luden show us the way." Ocena took the lead making sure to stay close to her friends. She was better with her grenades now; she didn't want a repeat from the last mission… that just hadn't been good.

"Hey, you know how to ride a Sparrow yet?" Atom asked as their group made for a small shed nearby. "If not, no worries: it's kinda hard not to pick it up pretty quick."

"Guess we'll find out huh?" Ocena said as they went inside.

*"Here's the Sparrow link!" Luden said as Ocena sent him over to the machine box.

*"Encoding superimposed states... Entangling ket vectors and - We're linked. Alright, if you want to get your Sparrow, we can be in the Forgotten Shore in seconds."*

"Er okay… do I summon it about the same way I would a ship?"

*"Close... yes like that; there you go."*

Ocena jumped when she was suddenly off the ground and on an odd hovering machine.

"Uh… how do I mov-" Ocena gripped something and ended up smacking into a rock not a foot away and ended up flat on the ground. Her friends immediately rushed over to see if she was okay.

"Sorry," Victor said as he helped Ocena to her feet. "We should have warned you about the acceleration." He held out Idea and summoned his own Sparrow, which had a blue paint job streaked with orange flame patterns while Ocena's was olive green. "Here, we'll teach you how to ride. Get back in the seat and lean forward on your stomach a little."

Ocena carefully got back on her sparrow and did as Victor instructed while Thane and Atom called their Sparrows. "Okay," Ocena said as she gently gripped the handlebars. "Now what?"

"See that small button on the side of the right handle?" Ocena looked and located said button. "That switches the direction of acceleration: one setting has you moving forward, the other setting allows you to move backwards. To move, just twist the handle, but keep in mind that the more you twist it the faster you'll go." Victor smiled and waited patiently as Ocena practiced moving back and forth a few times.

Ocena smiled: this was kind of fun! "Okay, what's next?"

Atom pulled up alongside her. "See those levers above the handle bars? Those are the throttle: pull and hold those and you'll really take off." He pulled off to the side a little ways and demonstrated a small burst of acceleration to show Ocena how it was done. Ocena wheeled her Sparrow around and imitated him, nearly giggling from how good the wind blowing around her felt when she accelerated.

"Okay I think I got this now. I think off duty I'll have to just ride this thing around; it's fun!" Ocena would greatly enjoy that.

"How does that one old-earth saying go?" Thane wondered out loud. "'Practice makes perfect?'"

"That's the one," Atom confirmed. "You're absolutely right though: it is fun," he added with a chuckle.

"Well now that we've got our bearings… last one to the Forgotten Shore is a Dreg!" Victor called out as he accelerated forward. Ocena and the others quickly tore off after him, weaving around rocks and rusted vehicles as they raced each other. There was no doubt in Oceana's mind: this was the most fun she'd ever had traveling. At one point she observed Victor flying off a natural ramp, his Sparrow sailing through the air before Victor manipulated a control and it began to corkscrew in mid-air, rolling twice before Victor landed. Ocena briefly wondered how he'd done that and whether or not he could teach her.

*"We're approaching the Shore. The Fallen are using some sort of signal amplifiers. Let's see what they're transmitting."*

"Whoa… ships. Well this is the Forgotten Shore." Ocena said as she hopped off theSparrow. "Well let's get rid of these Fallen and get what we came for."

Thankfully Ocena was more than used to fighting at this point so she no longer had trouble, not to mention that the others had her covered from all angles. Scanning both amplifiers hadn't been too hard. Ocena sadly couldn't make anything out thanks to static. Victor, on the other hand, could.

"Hmm… it's largely garbled, but I think… yes, I can hear a voice. I think it's speaking in Russian, but I can't really make out what it's saying."

"You speak Russian?" Ocena asked.

"No, but I recognize many sounds and words heard in the Russian language. Idea's running it through a translator, but nothing meaningful so far, just some broken words and phrases."

*"They're both linked to something in Skywatch. Let's check it out."*

"The Skywatch? Huh, guess we didn't explore as much as I thought." She turned around. "Should be quick with the Sparrows."

Ocena was quickly loving the Sparrows. Back up to the Skywatch they went. Ocena was so sure nothing the Fallen did would surprise her anymore… so sure until a Stealth Vandal slashed her several times before she fell back. Yup a new surprise nearly every mission… fun.

"Ow…"

"Directly ahead," Thane suddenly said: immediately Atom fired his shotgun in the direction indicated, and a dead Vandal seemed to materialize out of thin air. "Victor, at three o'clock." Victor responded with a burst from his pulse rifle, dropping another cloaked Vandal.

"How..? Oh right, Hunters are probably better with stealth cloaking than most Fallen," Ocena said as her wounds finished healing.

Thane shrugged. "Some of them are reasonably skilled, but I have gone up against some of my more stealthy brethren in the Crucible, so I know what to look for."

"Good to know. Any advice on how to catch them before they hit me?"

"Their stealth cloaks use a device that bends the light around them to make them appear transparent. As they move, the device has to work harder to keep the user hidden, and this creates a sort of 'shimmer' in the air as the field of bent light moves. We Hunters have a similar technique using the Light within us, but our stealth cloaks are more subtle and harder to detect." Thane paused in thought for a moment. "Also, most of the Fallen stealth cloaks require constant maintenance to keep from falling into disrepair, and since the Fallen cannot always find resources to use in repairs, most of the stealth cloaks are not functioning in top condition; they spark from time to time, which can give them away."

"I see. Okay I know what to look for now. Let's get in there." They ran up a set of stairs like the first time they had come here.

*"The Fallen are tapped into something in the back of the room!"* Luden said as they got near the broken windows.

"Back of the room- Ack!" Ocena saw the Stealth Vandal coming in time and got a lucky shot to its head. "Oh I got it in the head!" She almost never managed that; she'd have to tell Avi later.

"That's great!" Victor praised as he hurled a fusion bolt grenade at a group of Dregs. "Don't forget to keep moving as you shoot: a moving target is better than a stationary one."

Ocena nodded and followed Victor's advice, bringing down more Fallen while Thane and Atom swung around and took the others from the sides. They took out a few more Stealth Vandals before entering the room. They saw a captain and several Fallen around it standing near some sort of data terminal.

"They would be guarding it. Anyone feel like tossing a few grenades?" She asked getting one ready. Ocena figured if they could take out a Wizard with three grenades why not a captain? It would likely still take a few bullets in the end because of the shield.

"Ready," Thane assured her as he crouched down just out of the captain's line of sight and detached a small sphere from his belt. Across from him in similar cover Atom detached a magnet grenade from his pouch and nodded to show that he was ready. Victor was still recharging his grenade skill, so instead he pulled out an impressive looking fusion rifle and gave them a nod.

"Okay… throw!"

The grenades flew through the air and fell right at the captain taking the shield and a good amount of its life. The rest of the captain's retinue were forced to scatter, disoriented by the sudden destructive blasts while Victor quickly moved in for the kill, his fusion rifle quickly charging and atomizing the captain with a burst of arc energy. The remaining Fallen were quickly put down by a few well-placed shots from the others.

"That's about it for the small fry," Ocena said as they did a quick sweep of the room for any stragglers. Ocena didn't see Dregs as a big threat: one blast from her hand and they went down, which was good for saving ammo. It was only when they were in large groups that she paid them any worry, harkening back to the old adage of quality and quantity. Once the room was clear the Guardians gathered around the terminal in the back. "Okay Luden, over here."

Luden hovered over to the tall object and started scanning it. *"The Fallen are trying to access these machines. But something is fighting back? This will take some time."*

Ocena made a face under her helmet. "How long are we talking?" She asked hearing the sounds of incoming Fallen.

*"A few minutes. Just bear with me."*

"This'll be fun…"

"It always is," Atom joked as the senior Guardians spread out in a triangle formation in front of Ocena. Thane was in the back readying a sleek looking sniper rifle, while Atom and Victor took point with their shotgun and fusion rifle respectively. Ocena just took a deep breath to steady her nerves and readied her pulse rifle.

Fun wasn't the best word… well maybe for Atom, he could never shoot enough Fallen. Thorn proved rather useful too, Ocena just wished the gun didn't feel so… she wasn't sure what it felt like but the more Fallen it took the more the feeling went away so it was fine, and Thane didn't seem bothered by it. As the Fallen continued to pour in Ocena noticed a strange object approaching.

"Uh what's- Ahh! What the Hell is that!?" Ocena cried as a large purple and black smoky glowing sphere shot at her.

"It's a Servitor!" Atom exclaimed as he ducked behind a crate to avoid the aforementioned Servitor's blast of violet energy. "They feed the Fallen Ether and make them more effective in battle! We've gotta bring it down fast before they rally!"

"You know I hate the Fallen but I have an all new hate for them… shoot, my main and secondary are nearly out! Cover me while I loot a Fallen, guys?"

In response she heard two thunderous cracks as Thane fired twice in quick succession with his sniper rifle, both shots striking the Servitor dead-center in its eye-like camera and causing a series of deep cracks to spread along it. The Fallen nearest the Servitor shrieked with outrage and turned their attention towards Thane… only to find that he had vanished. Ocena couldn't help but giggle despite the situation as she quickly scavenged some extra ammo; a lot of Guardians complained about Hunters trained for stealth abruptly vanishing at the end of conversations, but out here in the field it was mightily handy.

"Luden I love you but could you do that a little bit faster?" Ocena called to her Ghost as Atom popped out of hiding to deliver the coup de grace to the Servitor with his shotgun, causing it to explode in a shower of fire and molten slag.

*"Rushing never helps anything."* Luden replied tersely as he continued to break into the terminal node by node, shutting off old firewalls and anti-intrusion protocols.

"Luden dear I hear we're looking at rain tonight I'd hate it if my Ghost got stuck to a tree!"

*"... I'm almost done…"* He replied meekly.

Right as he was about to conjure up a fusion bolt grenade Victor suddenly face (helmet?) palmed himself. "Ugh, why didn't we think of this before?! Idea, please go help Luden!"

The other Guardians actually paused in the middle of the firefight as Idea floated over to the console and began to hack in as well. "...Why didn't we think of that before?" Thane asked no-one in particular as the fight resumed. Ocena just groaned and shook her head slowly.

"We need some crowd control here," Atom observed as a fresh wave of Vandals charged into the room. "Anyone feel like being a hero?"

"Allow me," Thane said as he slung his sniper rifle over his back and… holstered Thorn? Ocena blinked; what was he doing? Then Thane drew his knife, raised it over his head and… his entire body crackled with arc energy! What happened next happened so fast that Ocena almost didn't see it: Thane seemed to glide across the floor towards the incoming Fallen, and as soon as he was close he lashed out with his knife, reducing a Vandal to a headless charred husk crackling with residual bolts of lightning as Thane moved onto another target. Thane darted from Vandal to Vandal without pause, every movement precise and lethal as he cut them all down. Then Ocena blinked and it was over: the Fallen were dead and the last of the lightning had faded from Thane's body and grounded itself in the metal floor. A half-dozen orbs of Light winked into existence around Thane's feet as he sheathed his knife and swept the area with Thorn in search of stragglers.

"Whoa…" Ocena honestly couldn't think of anything else to say.

*"Ok. I've pulled out everything they managed to steal. We should destroy this thing."* Luden said as the few remaining Fallen retreated.

"Thank goodness… you know," Ocena started looking at her friends as they walked over to destroy the object. "Avi once told me she argued with Peter about scanning things. Didn't understand why until now."

"Guardians can sometimes take their Ghosts' work for granted," Victor said as he reloaded. "Every now and then we have to remind ourselves that their job is just as hard as ours is- harder, in some cases."

After they shot the thing a few dozen times it started smoking and the blue light went out.

*"They didn't get much, kept hitting an active firewall. Old Earth, Russian."* Luden paused trying not to hear Oceana's muttered threats and the others laughing softly… or rather trying not to.

Then he caught something: the electronic equivalent of a whisper within the lingering data streams. Curiosity getting the better of him, Luden ran a rapid trace to find the source. Almost immediately he ran into the same firewall that had stymied the Fallen's attempts to extract data from the Skywatch systems, but this time he detected another intelligence within the system, watching him from beyond the firewall. Luden cautiously cut off any unnecessary nodes leading back to his access point to limit the chances of the foreign intelligence launching a cyber-attack against him, but all it did was observe him.

Luden could sense it assessing him, studying him even. Whatever it was, it was old and vast, breathtakingly intelligent and powerful. It didn't feel like a Vex consciousness: he'd viewed the recordings of their digital signatures, and this thing definitely wasn't Vex. That left only one other thing that could possibly be that old and intelligent...

*"The legends are true."* Luden finally said out loud, his voice filled with awe. *"A Warmind did survive the Collapse. Rasputin, an AI built to defend Earth. He faced the Darkness, and survived. And he's protecting something here in the Cosmodrome. We have to find a way to reach him."*

"Warmind?" Ocena asked. "What is that?" She realized that her friends had gone completely quiet. Turning around, she saw that all three of them were staring at Luden.

"Idea, confirm this immediately," Victor commanded, stone serious all of a sudden as his Ghost materialized and tapped into the remains of the wireless network.

"Rasputin…" Atom muttered. "All of this time he was still around? The hell has he been up to all these centuries?"

"Umm, guys?" Ocena spoke up. "I'm still here, and you're kinda ignoring me, which is rude." Her friends blinked at her a bit surprised.

"Apologies," Thane said. "What we've just found is quite shocking to say the least."

*"It's him alright,"* Idea said as he severed his connection to the network. *"Rasputin is still online and operating within the Cosmodrome's systems. I don't detect any sign of him being connected to networks beyond the Cosmodrome… of course, he could just be hiding his broadcast and access points extremely well. Always a possibility with a Warmind. Either way…"*

"We need to inform the Speaker and the Vanguard right away," Atom said. "The Tower needs to know that Rasputin's back on the board."

"Guys? You're starting to do it again." Ocena huffed.

"We'll explain back at the Tower," Victor said as they began to head back outside. "We need to let everyone know what we've found. This has the potential to tip the scales and end the stalemate that's been going on for centuries." Ocena wasn't really satisfied with Victor's explanation, but she knew that asking now wouldn't get her anywhere, so she just kept quiet and tried to be patient.

*"Sorry, never thought she'd get like this out here…"* Luden spoke up as they summoned their ships. *"She got this way when she wasn't understanding something she was studying. Let her cool off, get a shower at home and change and she'll be all better then we can talk about Rasputin."*

"I think we'll need an hour or so to give our report to the Vanguard and Speaker anyway," Thane said. "We'll meet up in the lounge on deck E-47 once we're done."

A few hours later. The Tower, deck E-47...

"Hey guys," Ocena greeted the others, taking her seat at the table with them. "Sorry about earlier."

*"Can you guys tell her she looks nice? She won't listen to me."*

"Luden!" Ocena hissed flushing softly. All she had done was take a shower brush her hair and put a dress on! She didn't like dresses that much but she felt like wearing one, since Guardians tended to wear casual clothing rather than their gear in the lounges.

The dress was a lovely shade of red and had gold around the shoulder length collar that pointed the same was at her long sleeves and the end of her dress. It reached down to just over her knees. She wore black pumps and simple short white socks. But the newest items was her necklace: a small cube of Glimmer encased in gold. Her ensemble was as practical as it was beautiful, allowing her to move around easily and comfortably.

It was Victor who finally broke the silence. "My goodness Ocena, I didn't know they still made outfits like that! You look very nice," he finished with a sincere smile.

"Sorry, I've never been able to see the appeal of wearin' clothes instead of armor," Atom said with a neutral shrug. "Seeing as I'm an Exo, my gear is as comfortable as clothing."

"Says the Exo wearing jeans and a turtle-neck," Victor pointed out with an amused smile. Atom turned to give him the stink eye for a moment before turning back to Ocena.

"Like I was sayin', I'm the wrong guy to ask, but I think it looks good on you kid."

Thane was silent as per the norm, however… Ocena was sure she saw a bit of red in his cheeks. "...The color suits you," was all the Hunter said when he finally found his voice.

"Okay thanks for the compliments… now about Rasputin?" Ocena asked blushing deeper and redder than she ever had.

"Rasputin is one of the Warminds," Victor said, launching into his lecture voice. "During the Golden Age, the brightest minds of the time created several AIs that were more sophisticated and more powerful than anything ever designed before. They could create and analyze thousands of simulations at once to determine possible outcomes, responses, consequences that might arise due to individual actions, strategies, you name it. They were designed as weapons of war in a sense, as they were networked into a vast grid of doomsday weapons and defensive systems all throughout our colonies in the solar system. Fortunately, their purpose was to safeguard humanity: during the Golden Age they never did anything other than watch, learn, and create emergency contingencies."

"Then came the Darkness, and the Collapse," Thane cut in. Ocena shivered a little.

"That's when they proved their mettle," Victor said with a grim nod. "The Warminds fought against the Darkness and did everything within their power to protect humanity. They ordered covert strikes on Fallen skiffs out in orbit, tapped into satellites to spy on the Hive, and launched all manner of missiles, laser strikes, and bombardments on the servants of the Darkness. They coordinated efforts to evacuate the colonies on Mercury, Venus and Mars, and controlled automated fighter drones to protect convoys of refugees fleeing the destruction. If not for them, well… it's hard to know if we would have survived the Collapse at all."

Oceana's eyes were wide with awe. "So they were our allies in the Collapse?"

"Our most valuable allies," Atom affirmed with a nod. "They made a lot of tough calls to try to ensure that as many humans could survive as possible: they're the ones who created the suicide mission that my squad and I carried out."

Ocena frowned at that. "They sent you to die?"

"They sent us to give our lives so that thousands would live," Atom replied. "I don't resent them for it: being chosen for a mission by a Warmind meant that it had considered every single option, and then it determined that you were the only one fit for the job. Might not make sense, but that was kinda comforting, knowing an all-powerful AI picked you specifically. Gives you a helluva lot of confidence."

Ocena was silent for a minute as she took all of the information in. "So what happened to them?"

"The Darkness recognized how valuable the Warminds were to humanity," Victor said. "It had its minions hunt them down and destroy them. For centuries the Warminds managed to elude the agents of the Darkness, but eventually they were all found, and after costly battles they were all destroyed… or so we thought."

"That Rasputin has survived is a miracle we did not believe was possible," Thane said. "If he managed to survive all this time, then perhaps there are other Warminds still intact out there. And Rasputin will not have been idle during his centuries of hiding from the Darkness: he will have been watching our enemies, looking for weaknesses, creating strategies and plans of attack. If we can get Rasputin as our ally once again…"

Silence. "Wow…" Ocena muttered. "I can see why this is such a big deal now. But I don't understand: If Rasputin's been watching us, doesn't he know that we Guardians are the good guys? So why didn't he contact us in the Cosmodrome?"

"That's a very good question," Victor said with a deep frown. "The Warminds don't answer to a higher chain of command, they're completely independent. Their guiding purpose is to protect humanity, but they recognize that not all battles can be won, and winning one battle might expose them and later lead to their downfall. I've already told a few of our fellow Warlocks that Rasputin is still around, and now there is a theory floating around: that Rasputin stopped fighting during the Collapse and hid himself so that the Darkness would think him dead. It's possible that he's been waiting until just the right moment to return. There's just no way of knowing for now."

Atom shook his head. "We can scratch our heads over this later, besides I'm sure most of the other Warlocks already have a head-start on that. I say that we have a little fun: I hear that a new café opened up down in the City. Why don't we drop in and see how business is?"

Oceana's expression brightened. "That's a great idea! Let me call Avi real quick and we can go!"