*Author's Notes*

Hello everyone. I'm here with another instillation of Light from Another Place. Sorry for the long wait and stuff but now I'm back. I was on winter brake and stuff for a couple weeks and I had no motivation to do anything at all. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and commented and critiqued the previse chapters. Without any further delay here is the next chapter…

*End Author's Notes*

Three times now. Three times I have woken up in this strange new world that I find myself in. The first was when I awoke in the Cosmodrome and ended fighting for my life against droves of aliens in a reenactment of the Alamo. The second was when I was saved by Lily an Alicia of Fire Team Sundown. The third and latest time was when I was put under with gas to undergo an operation to replace my left arm, the one that I lost to the Covenant in orbit above Reach.

The surgery went off without a hitch, or so they tell me. I woke up a few hours after slipping into a gas induced sleep and the Doc made me to a few hand eye coordination tests and such. At first it was weird having an extremity that you can't feel but can move. It would definitely take me awhile to get used to it. The Doc told me that if I forgot that I had a left arm from time to time then it was perfectly normal, said it was natural for the brain to automatically ignore the prosthesis since it wasn't a flesh and blood limb.

I had given the Doc my thanks for helping me, telling him I owed him one. He just laughed and shook his head saying "You're fighting off the Darkness to save our sorry asses; the least I can do is patch you up when you need it." I nodded, offering a small smile as he left the room, and I began to replace my armor. I stripped off the hospital pants and slipped into the gel layer of the suit. God did it feel good to be back in the suit.

If a Spartan feels uncomfortable without their armor, then a Spartan really feels uncomfortable without their armor and only wearing a pair of hospital pants. I started placing plates and pieces in their proper places, only taking about five minutes. I had everything on and my suit was showing green lights across the board. My left arm was replaced with an advanced cybernetic prosthesis and my armor was repaired aside from the cosmetic damage. I was as combat ready as I ever was. Only problem was, was that I was fighting in a war that wasn't my own.

I stopped on my way out of the room and removed my helmet to look at myself in the full body mirror that hung on a wall to examine my appearance with the new arm. The arm itself blended in with my armor rather nicely. The matt black color matching my armor, and the occupation of the wearer was obviously taken into account when built as it was made with reinforced armor plating. Honestly, at a first glance, it looked almost exactly like my old arm when in the suit, so you probably wouldn't be able to tell that it was a replacement for the real thing if you didn't know what to look for. With a huff I replaced my helmet on my head, the internal clock telling me it was six 'o clock, and left the room after double checking that I had grabbed my weapons.

Ten minutes later I find myself trying to find Alicia and Lily after I had been cleared to leave the hospital wing of the Tower. Glancing around I found myself in one of the many hallways in the Tower. After leaving the hospital wing I tried to find my way back to the elevator that would lead me back up to the shipwright. However I must have taken a wrong turn and ended up in the wrong hallway. I tried to double back to the Hospital wing but I lost my way again and here I now stood in another set of hallways completely lost. It wasn't until five minutes later that the nurse from earlier had happened by that I relinquished my dignity and asked her for directions to the elevator that lead to the shipwright.

"Miss, can you direct me to the shipwright?" I asked.

She at first seemed startled to see me still in the Hospital wing but recovered quickly with a smile.

"Certainly, you'll want to take that hallway there all the way down until you reach a sign on your left that says stairwell. Take the hallway to the right and then take the two lefts and you should be there. Do you need anything else?" She asked still giving off her smile.

"No mam, thanks for the directions." I replied and started off at a light jog, my mission to find the elevator renewed.

After following the directions given to me, I finally found the elevator that would take me to the shipwright. I pressed the call button and the elevator doors dinged open, revealing the space to be void of passengers. I quickly stepped in, not wanting to spend any more time in the Hospital wing than I had to. Spartans weren't supposed to have their wounds tended to anyways, they were supposed to be impervious to bodily harm, and even if they do get wounded they tended to it themselves on their own time. And I am a Spartan…a Spartan who got lost and had to ask for directions.

The elevator dinged as it came to a stop and the doors slid open to reveal the noisy interior of the shipwright. Thank god, I finally made it out, that place was a maze. Maybe they did that so that patients couldn't try and escape before they were cleared to leave. Wouldn't surprise me.

I stepped out into the shipwright, the elevator doors closing behind me. Glancing around, I noticed a lack of a certain Chief Engineer. I was about to leave the shipwright and look for Alicia and Lily when I was called over by a man who was leaning against a stack of containers with a few others wearing civilian clothes. I, at first wanted to leave and look for Lily and Alicia, but then reconsidered. He might know where the two Exos are.

The man wore all black and grey clothing. He wore black pants and boots, his shirt was an oddly patterned mix of grey and black. And he wore a tattered ash colored cloth around his neck that draped over his shoulders a bit. His face was a grey pale blue mix that almost seemed to glow when you looked at it a certain angle. His hair was neatly kept and came down to his jaw line, also in black. I was starting to sense a pattern with this one.

When finally within conversational distance, he started off with, "Are you member of Dead Orbit?"

The question was simple enough I suppose, and the answer even simpler; no.

"No, what's Dead Orbit?" I asked. It sounded like a faction, but what kind of faction would call itself Dead Orbit.

"You dress like us, yet you do not know of us. How strange. Dead Orbit is an organization, a faction if you will, that wishes to help Humanity reclaim the stars. Do you wish to join and help our cause?" He asked in a monotone voice.

"No thank you. Um, you wouldn't happen to know where I can find Lily and Alicia of Fire Team Sun Down?" I must have sounded desperate because he gave me an apologetic look.

"Sadly I do not, they are not members of Dead Orbit so we don't keep tabs on their where abouts. If you want to find them, may I suggest talking to the vendors in the plaza, they would have a better idea on where to find them then I."

"Thank you, and good luck to your faction. It seems like a noble cause." With that I left the man and wandered my way outside. I first made my way over to Banshee, hoping to learn of my team's latest whereabouts.

"Hello Six, I see you have a replacement for your arm." Banshee started when he was me approach his stand.

"The Doctor didn't do too bad a job. Anyways, I need to restock my ammo." He nodded and produced two boxes of ammo from under the counter while I placed my weapons and clips on the table. I ejected the clip from the pistol first and began to load bullets into it, finding it much easier to do with two hands then one.

While idly loading the weapons I asked Banshee if he knew where Alicia and Lily where.

"Ya, they said something about meeting a friend at a bar out in the City, I think they called it 'The Inn of Light' or something; supposed to be a bar strictly for Guardians."

I nodded my thanks and replaced the clips in their respective guns, not chambering a round, and left for the Vanguard War Room. Lily and Alicia are somewhere down in the city at a bar. I can barely find my way out of the Hospital wing without having to ask for directions. Heading into the city blind would be a bad idea. However, if I could get a map of the City and the Tower's layout, then I could use my suit to plot a waypoint to the bar. After that, it's as simple as following the suit's directions.

I walked down the steps and past Shaxx, into the Vanguard War Room to see Zavala, Cayde, and Ikora sitting around the central table. Ikora was holding a conversation with her Ghost on something called the Void and understanding it. Zavala was looking down at a report, a scowl attached to his face. And Cayde seemed to be bored out of his mind, reclining in a chair with his feet up on the table, idly tossing his knife end over end into the air, despite his Ghost's insistent warnings about it being a safety hazard. However, once he saw me his interest seemed to peak a little.

"Hey Zavala, your new Titan is here AND with a new arm." He said putting extra emphiasis on the 'and'. I was beginning to think that he was the joker of this little group of commanders.

Zavala glanced up from his report and looked intently at my arm.

"I take it the surgery was a success. You seem to be fine at least." He said, pointing out the obvious.

I nodded.

"So what brings you here, do you need something?" He asked.

"Actually, I need to find Alicia and Lily, but they went some bar called the 'Inn of Light' to meet someone. I was wondering if I could have a map of the Tower and the City to find my way there." I asked.

"Did you say 'Inn of Light', I love that place. Tell you what, forget the map I'll personally take you there myself, eh?" Cayde said immediately after he sprang from his seat. I didn't have the option to answer as he just pulled me along out of the War Room before anyone could raise an objection.

Once outside he started to head for the shipwright elevator while still pulling me along.

"Thanks for showing me where this bar is." I stated once we were inside the elevator.

"It really should be me thanking you. You provided the perfect way to not ONLY get out of the accursed room but also have a viable excuse to go to one of the best bars in the City. So ya, I guess, thank you."

"I'm sorry sir?" I asked, I've never heard a superior officer act like that. The closest thing that I had seen was when Noble One had complemented my handy work after a one on one with an elite.

"Enough with that sir crap. Let me tell you something. I'm a Hunter, and Hunters hunt in the wild. We scout out hostile terrain and assassinate key targets deep in enemy territory. We don't belong in a War Room planning out attacks and missions. It goes against our nature, and I'm no different."

At this point the elevator doors opened to a motor pool of sorts, actually it was a motor pool that also doubled as a bus station for the Tower's occupants seeking a ride into the City.

"C'mon, we can catch a bus to the bar." Cayde said as he began to pull me along with him and onto a bus.

About ten minutes later the bus came to a stop in front of a colorful looking place. It was a two story building with neon lights lighting up the front of the building, most of it red. But a sign above the double set doors said in neon bubble lettering, 'Inn of Light'. This was the bar where I would supposedly find Alicia and Lily at. And it would be a challenge because it seemed really busy. There was a line of at least twenty people trying to get in past the bouncer but weren't successful. Even more people where waiting around chatting with each other waiting for the line to die down.

Cayde nudged me, forcing my attention away from the building and onto him.

"C'mon, this is our stop."

We departed the bus and where allowed inside since Cayde was a commander in the Vanguard. One of the few perks to the job he called it.

The bar was definitely colorful. There where neon lights all over the place, outlining the walls and bartender tables alike. All accented by low lighting. In the middle of the establishment was an inset dance floor; people where packed together dancing to some kind of techno music that was blaring through speakers set up around the room. And it wasn't just there, but there where people everywhere. The place was packed.

Cayde walked up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder in sympathy for my plight.

"We'll, good luck trying to find your friends in this mess." He said.

"You're not going to help me?"

"Nope, my job ended when we got inside. Good luck, you're going to need it." He shouted out over the music as he walked away and into the crowd. I lost track of him almost immediately.

Having never been in a bar before or had reason to up until now, I really didn't know where to begin looking for the two Exo's.

"I guess the bar's as good as any place to start looking." I muttered to myself, lowering my head and resigning myself to my fate of trying to find the two Exo's.

I started to push my way through the crowd towards what I hoped was the bar. After finally getting through the crowd, I was able to get a clear look at it and those who were sitting at it. It took me a moment but I finally managed to spot the tow of them. They were sitting on stools at the far end of the bar. They were talking to someone sitting in between them, another female at first glance.

As I walked closer I began to make out finer details about this person.

Whoever this was it was obviously a female if their feminine figure and neck length silver hair was anything to go by. While they did have their helmet off the rest of them was still garbed in an armor configuration similar to that of Alicia's; probably another Hunter.

I walked up behind them and grabbed their attention by tapping Lily on the shoulder.

"Yes?" Lily said while turning around to see who had tapped her on the shoulder. "Six, about time you showed up. We've been waiting for you for about an hour now." She said.

The other two turned to greet me when they had heard my name.

"Hey, how'd the operation go?" Alicia asked while taking a sip from her drink.

In response I held up my new arm and flexed my fingers around, showing that it was fully operational.

"No problems and a new arm. I'd say it went well." I said.

"Oh, nice. You managed to kill a Fallen elitist with only one arm, I wanna see what you can do with two arms."

I nodded.

"This is our friend Jaguar by the way." Alicia chimed in.

The lady with the silver hair swiveled around in her bar stool and reclined back against the bar. She definitely had a unique look to her. Silver hair adorned her head while a grey bandanna kept the lower half of her face from the nose down hidden from view. Her eyes were a grey blue color and from the expression on what parts of her face that weren't hidden, I'd say that she was smiling, or frowning, it was kind of hard to tell.

"Jaguar, that's unique." I said while raising an eyebrow even though they couldn't see it past my helmet.

"You're one to talk, Six." She responded.

"Fair enough."

After that an awkward silence reigned supreme for a couple of minutes, none of us knowing what to do at this point. Finally Lily broke the silence.

"Six, come have a drink, after all that you've been through you could probably use one."

I would have rejected the thought normally, Spartans weren't allowed to drink. Something about a super soldier going on a drunk rampage seemed like a bad idea; but she did have a point. I decided that one couldn't hurt and even if I did decline the offer, what the hell would I do. I sure as shit didn't know my way back to the Tower, and I doubt that Cayde would be so eager to show me the back after he finally got out of the War Room; that left me with standing around awkwardly while waiting for the others to finish their drinks. How does that saying go, if you can't beat them, join them. While not exactly true for a Spartan, it fit this situation.

With a shrug I removed my helmet and set it down on the table while taking a seat next to Alicia.

"So what's your poison?" Alicia asked.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know, what do you want to drink?" Lily chimed in.

"I've never drank before."

"Oh, well why didn't you say so. Bartender!" Lily called the bartender, another Exo, over.

"What'd ya need." He asked.

"My friend here need's a drink, and it's his first one." Lily kept up.

He nodded and grabbed a glass from under the counter and grabbed a glass. Turing around, he selected a, glass bottle with a blue label from one of the shelves that lined the wall and pored a small amount of the contents into the glass, filling only half way.

"Drink up buddy." He said while replacing the bottle cap.

"What is it?" I simply asked. Whatever it was, it was clear like water, but it wasn't.

"It's vodka. Strong stuff, but given your size, you should be alright."

"Should be?" I asked while raising an eyebrow. This time, without my helmet, they could see it.

He laughed at my question like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world…which it could have been for all I knew. I've never so much as had a whiff of alcohol.

"The worst thing that will happen to ya from one drink is you hate the stuff."

I decided to take his word for and grabbed the glass from the table and downed the contents in one gulp. And sadly to say, this 'vodka' did not go down easy nor did it taste very well. It left a tingly sensation on my tongue and a burning sensation in my throat, yet a warmth when it settled in my stomach. What the hell is this shit?

I started coughing from the sensations the liquid left while the others erupted into laughter. Guess it was funny to see a Spartan brought to his knees from a little drink; absurd yet funny.

"That is some nasty stuff! I've known MRE's to taste better!" I coughed out, still reeling from the effects of the drink.

"It's a bit of an acquired taste. Besides, you don't really drink it for the taste anyways. You drink it to get drunk." Jaguar explained while trying to hold back her own laughter through her scarf.

"And why would anyone do that?" I asked, completely shocked that anyone would drink such a foul liquid voluntarily.

"That's a good question; I'll get back to you when I have a good answer." She said while turning her attention back to her own drink.

I was still trying to get the horrible taste out of my mouth when Cayde pushed his way through the crowd to get to us.

"Fire Team Sundown, Commander Zavala needs you to…what's with Six?" He asked while giving me a funny look while I was trying to scratch the offended taste buds off my tongue.

"First time drinking, we started him off with a shot of vodka." Alicia chimed in.

"That's evil, and you know it. Anyways, Zavala needs you to report in for mission assignment. Something about a large scale Fallen mobilization in the area." He explained.

I immediately stopped making a fool of myself and went into mission mode.

"Alright, we'll head over to the Tower. What about you Jaguar? You want to tag along?" Alicia asked.

"Why not, beets drinking alone, so ya; I'm in." She said whilst standing up and grabbing her helmet.

"Alright then, let's go." Lily said while jogging out of the bar, the others following suit.

I grabbed my helmet and shot a dirty look at the little glass that had the vodka before I jogged after the others.

Once outside we were able to catch a ride on one of the busses. The driver had been really nice about taking us strait to the Tower. Usually they would run a set route and there were a few stops in between the bar and the Tower. When I asked him about it he said that it wasn't uncommon for Guardians to need a trip strait to the Tower, and when the drivers had to make a special trip over there like this they got paid extra for 'civic duty' or something.

We took the elevator all the way to the top of the Tower. No one said a word the entire way up.

We were either not in the mood for talking or were thinking about the mission.

The elevator doors dinged open and we stepped out into the shipwright. Even at late in the evening, it seemed like the Tower was still as busy as it was in the day. They must have Fire Teams alternate day and night missions. Makes for an effective war strategy as long as you don't run your people into the ground with constant work.

We half jogged half ran over to the Vanguard War Room taking the steps two at a time, or in my case three. When we entered the War Room, we were treated the sight of Ikora in a deep argument with Zavala over something or another.
"I don't care what it takes; we can't let the Fallen mobilize; a force that size will stand a significant threat to the City." Zavala growled out.

"But we do not have enogh Guardians to take on that force in a stand up gunfight." Ikora retorted.

"Well we have to do something and I don't think waiting is the smart thing to do."

Jaguar broke up the argument with a clearing of her throat. The two commanders looked over in our direction. Upon seeing us, Ikora waved us over.

"Good, you are here." She said as we approached.

"What's the mission?" Alicia asked.

"The mission has yet to be decided, but once we find a solution to this problem, we'll need your team to move out immediately." Zavala spoke.

"And what's this problem?" Jaguar asked.

"This."

With that one word, the inset object in the middle of the table projected an image a few inches off the table's surface. The image in question was somewhere in the Cosmodrome. It looked like it was outside the wall that spanned the interior of the Cosmodrome. There were wrecked and rusted cars all piled up in an ancient traffic jam, all trying to force their way into what looked like a sealed up entrance to a parking garage. Beyond the cars, was what was really interesting. A large open plain of sorts was in a flurry of activity. Fallen teams and variations of the species were everywhere, anding craft were flying in and dropping off infantry as well as vehicles of varying sizes and even a couple of these giant ball things that floated off the ground by a couple of feet.

"This is a live image of outside the Cosmodrome. The Fallen are mobilizing for something big. They've got hundreds elite teams, walker tanks, pikes, and skiffs crawling all over the area. We don't know what they're doing, but we assume that they're going to try and make another push against the City." Zavala explained.

"Wait, I thought that the Fallen were defeated in the Battle of The Twilight Gap. They shouldn't even have the resources to make an army of half that size. What house is it?" Alicia chimed in.

"That's just it, we don't know. This out of this entire amassing of Fallen and not one House marking. We think that this may be a conglomeration of Fallen that were exiled from the other Fallen Houses. As to how they got this amount of equipment, your guess is as good as mine." Zavala explained.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Lily spoke up.

"We haven't decided that yet. Zavala wants to lead a pre-emptive attack against them with everything we've got. I feel that we should wait for a more opportune time to strike." Ikora said.

"What more opportunity could you ask for? They don't have their army organized and on the ground yet, we have the element of surprise, and we can hit them with artillery from the City's defenses before they can even get inside the wall." Zavala explained.

I stepped up and leaned over the map, and after a few seconds to double check things, spoke up.

"I might have a suggestion."

"Go ahead Six." Ikora spoke.

"They don't know were coming and their not organized yet. Zavala's right, we won't have a more opportune time to attack then now."

Zavala gave a nod in appreciation.

"But going in guns blazing will only get us killed. While not at full force yet, that's still a lot of firepower, and it probably won't take long to get it trained on us; however, what if we send in a small team, to say, sabotage key weapons and equipment before the main attack. If successful, then they'll take longer to get organized and they'll be out a couple of their bigger toys." I finished.

"That might just work." Ikora spoke.

"Alright, Fire Team Sundown, your mission is to infiltrate the enemy encampment and place explosives on key targets, you have to move fast if we want to eliminate the threat before it gets bigger. Pick your targets carefully, you'll need to move fast, but you'll only have a set amount of explosives. Identify and eliminate targets at your own discretion; just be quiet about it, if they find out your there before we attack, this mission will be over even before it begins." Zavala briefed us.

"Talk to Shaxx for the explosives and the get yourselves mission ready. You'll deploy as soon as you're ready. Get out to the target area, set the explosives, but don't blow them until I give the signal to. Good luck." Zavala said as we turned around and went up the way we came down.

We stopped over at Shaxx's set up; he was busy tinkering with a gun when we stopped in front of him.

"Hello, what brings you hear; finally joining in on the Crucible?" He asked.

"No, we need to get some explosives for our mission." Alicia explained.

"I'll need Zavala to authorize…Give them the dam explosives!" Yelled out Zavala from the War Room, interrupting Shaxx.

"Right then, give me a moment." Shaxx said while he tapped a few times on his terminal.

"Okay, the explosives are ready for you, but since we can't have Guardians running around the City with high explosives, they'll be waiting for you in the shipwright when you're ready to leave. Good luck on your mission."

"Thanks Shaxx." Replied Lily.

We left the room and went up the steps to the top of the Tower.

"Me and Alicia still need to run back to our room and grab our weapons, what about you?" Alicia asked Jaguar. I still had my weapons 'strapped' to my person, fully loaded and mission ready.

"I'm good, I have a spare load out on my ship." She replied.

"Okay, take Six and head out for the usual transmatt zone. We'll meet you there." Alicia said.

With that we all headed to the shipwright, Alicia and Lily taking the elevator down while Jaguar and I grabbed the explosives from one of the Tower's requisition robots, and headed out for her ship, and by extension the Cosmodrome.

*Author's notes*

Hello faithful readers and people who thought that I wasn't updating this anymore. (No one actually said that, but I did have someone actually ask me if I was still alive) Sorry for the extremely long wait for an update, I don't have an excuse for you guys; I never do. I respect fanfiction to much for that. But seriously, sorry about that. On a better note, this fic has gained some extremely high popularity, not really when you compare it to some of the other ones out there, but it's still big for me. I also got an OC from OpticSniper(sorry if I butcher the name) Thank you. Hopefully you won't have to wait as long as you did for the next chapter. Anyways, Read and Review(flame if you want) and submit and OC if you want, also please vote for who the paring should be for Six, or tell me that he shouldn't be paired with someone if you want. I don't have anything final yet but I do have a couple of suggestions. If you have found some of the information in this chapter of other chapters let me KNOW. I hate myself when I use wrong information for stuff like this. Please let me know. I stopped playing the Destiny game a few months after Oryx came out so I probably won't do anything past that point in the story line. Demonicalfox777 signing off…s