He shot forwards, heart racing, breathing fast.

"Matt? Are you alright?"

He reached forwards, hugging his knee, his breathing rate slowing. He slumped backwards, head hitting the pillow. His hands shook.

"Yeah." He croaked, "Just about." He beckoned Nova over, holding a hand out for her to settle in.

"No you're not." She said, "Why are you shaking?"

He felt his heart rate return to normal, "Nothing important." Matt tapped his terminal on, quickly searching for Akiva, Aleeza, Carina, Aria and their ghosts. The pad showed them all alive and well.

He breathed a massive sigh of relief, glancing at the time as he put the terminal down.

5:55

He shrugged, swinging himself out of bed. His armour materialised around him, the systems in the room detecting he had stood up.

"Where are we going?" Nova asked, curiosity expressed though one raised shell part.

"A run. Around the wall." Matt replied, opening the door to his room, "I need some air."

He picked up his helmet, staring at it for a second, before putting it down, pulling the hood of his cloak up to cover his head. He stepped out into the corridor, flicking the door closed with his heel as he left.

Transmission 0-Alpha97-Siera79

Item: Guardian [Des:Hunter1]

Item: Hunter1 leaves Tower at 6:01 local time, target destination unknown.

Item: Hunter1 has broken from schedule. Usually leaves the tower at 6:30 or later.

Filepath closed. Connection terminated.

/Monarch_ \\

-X-

"You ready?" Jenny tilted her shell sideways.

Aria nodded, "Just about." She grabbed her boot, tugging at it hard to test the seal, "Yup, good to go." She smiled, grabbing her helmet from by the door, "Where are we meeting Matt?"

Nova's voice came though her comms, "Just meet us in the hanger, Wei's briefed us Hunters already."

"OK. We'll see you in 5."

-X-

"Not bad hunter. Not bad." The titan spun away, backing up slightly, "How new did you say you were?"

Matt shrugged, "About a year. Just over, actually, uh, like a year and a week..."

The titan lunged forwards, aiming to tackle him to the ground. Matt jumped straight up, using the titans back as a springboard to flip over and rotate to face him. The titan stumbled forwards, the kick almost knocking him over. He whipped his head around, snarling.

The titan charged forwards, arc energy building , forming a cone of air around him as he ran. Matt tensed, waiting until the last possible moment to dive to the side. He heard a crack as the titan turned his shoulder to hit him, missing by centimetres. Matt rolled to his feet, as the titan, who had turned around with lightning agility, kicked him hard.

"Slippery bastard." He growled, jumping forwards, "My turn." He landed, punching down hard into Matt stomach. He felt arc light discharge, his whole body spasming as the energy arc though him. The second punch whipped down, Matt arm barely deflecting it over his head. He heard a shout, barely having time to react before someone cannoned into the Titan, knocking him a good 20 metres across the hanger.

He sat up, watching as the second titan dropped into a low fighting stance as the first one climbed to his feet, "Watch it, Rezyl. I need every Guardian I've got." The second titan growled. The first one, Rezyl, stood his ground for a second, before nodding curtly and walking away, his faction mark vanishing as he left.

The second titan turned to him as he pushed himself up to standing, "Sorry about him, he's been a bit odd since he got back from the moon last time."

Matt smiled under his helmet, "Ah, its fine. Thanks though."

"No problem. You fought well, I've not seen many hunters jump over the shoulder charge." The titan punching him gently on the shoulder, "I'll look out for you in the Crucible when we get back."

Matt smiled underneath his helmet, "I'll keep my distance then." He stepped backwards, nodding at the titan once more.

"Matt!" Aria shouted across the hanger, waving at him, "Come on, I wanna race you around the city before we go."

Matt laughed, "Sure. How much head start should I give you?"

He jumped, landing on the cockpit cover. Kicking it forwards, he slipped into the pilots seat.

"Well, I guess, GO!" Aria shouted into the mic, shooting out of the hanger, pitching over almost immediately.

Matt shook his head, grinning under his helmet, "She never changes." The ship shuddered, engines igniting. They shot forwards, flipping and diving in one smooth motion.

He plummeted towards the ground, pulling up with barely 100 metres to go. The ship shuddered, the roar of the engines ramping up as he gave chase to Aria.

"Nova, can you split the engine output? I'm gonna need to take some shortcuts."

Nova laughed, "Nothing too dangerous, I hope. Yeah, it's done." A pair of controls pulsed on the holographic display, "Left and right, respectively."

"Cheers." Matt pushed both of the controls to full, the acceleration pushing him into the pilots seat.

The two jets spiralled and jinked along the wall, Aria flying about 100 metres above the wall, about a kilometre ahead of him. She slowed down, airbrakes deploying as she screamed around one of the tighter corners.

Matt grinned, cutting power to the left engine completely. He felt the right engine shove the jet, causing it to start spinning to the left, rotating as it did.

He saw the corner, he was flying at about 45 degrees to his current path, waiting, 50 degrees, NOW.

Nova whooped as they screamed around the corner, left engine reigniting with a growl. The ship was straight to the track, having retained most of the speed they had beforehand. He saw Aria up ahead, spiralling to avoid an artillery position. He pulled up, rotating though 360 degrees to avoid the same obstacle.

The final corner in the test course was a long sweeping right. Matt pushed the craft, the engines scream rising into ultrasonic.

They banked, both craft tipping to the same angle. Matt slipped into the slipstream, the ship accelerating in the area of decreased resistance, he flipped out, spiralling up and over Aria, who swore vigorously as she saw the shadow cover her cockpit.

He slowed in the increased resistance after moving out of slipstream, the Matt flying upside barely a metre above Aria.

The shot though the finishing gate, Aria a thousandth of a second ahead. Matt slowed down, letting Aria pull ahead, following her though a tight turn and rotation. She had slowed down to a more sensible speed, at least according to whoever was working ATC. He pulled up alongside her, pulling off his helmet to grin across at her.

-X-

Aleeza sighed, "Where are they?"

Lena shrugged, "Nova said they got board, so they probably had a race. Knowing them, they'll have managed to annoy ATC quite a bit."

Two ships rose from below the lip of the tower hanger, both of them growing larger at an almost alarming rate. One of them fell backwards, the other flipped as a burst of orange was seen at the nose. The flipped craft cut engines, the nozzles glowing red hot. The craft wobbled, light fluttering in the engine nozzles as it approached.

She heard the roar of the engines, loud even though her helmet. Flames shot out, licking around the ship as it slowed down. Landing jets ignited, catching the craft as its speed dropped. The craft slowed fast, engines disengaging as it entered the hanger, the exhaust licking the floor. It barely settled down on its now deployed landing legs before Matt had leapt out onto the body of the craft, running along it to jump off the back.

His helmet was off, his short hair being ruffled by the idle engines.

-X-

/Transmision_Starts

Guardian assault on {entity}Luna confirmed, estimated numbers over 2,000 [two thousand][ ]

Units appear to be planning a strike on {location}Anomally1-2[ ], intent (presumably) wiping out Hive in region.

Strike point is {location}Mare Imbrium [{ }32.8oN15.6oW][ ]

Strike verified though Guardian channels [ ]

Transmission_Ends/

...

...

.Burst

...

Unpacking files.

Instructions received, run.11.23.13

Antenna_ShutDown-Init/

-X-

They rose on a pillar of fire, the unified mass of craft looking more like one massive whole rather than a collection of 2000 odd individual ships.

Cayde looked up after them, his optics zooming in on them as they left. He saw the leaders, all of them hunters, pull away, their craft seeming to warp and flex as they accelerated to near light speed to the short trip to Luna.

"Godspeed Guardians. And Travellers light." He turned away, his voice cracking slightly, mostly in pride, but partially in fear. He turned to Ikora, who had similarly turned away from the ships.

"Do you wonder if we are sending them to their deaths at the hands of a race that worships the Dark?" She asked. He looked at her hands, void energy coiling around them.

"Yes," he replied, his voice slightly hoarse, "Every time I see a ship fly out." He sighed, "There's not a day goes by when I don't see some new Guardian and Ghost arrive, that I don't think "how long till I read a report of their death? How long till I stand by one of my hunters as they breathe their last, their ghost lying shattered next to them? How long before the influx of Guardians slows, stops, and we have to accept there will be no more new. Just the old, growing wary of their eternal fight. How long before I see," He stalled, refreshing his core processes, "How long before I see you, or Zavala lying with a dead ghost in your hand." He stopped, a great wash of static signifying a long shuddering breath, "How long must I stand at that damn table, watching, waiting for reports, reading reports. Giving orders based on the reports. How much more can this old Exo take?"

Ikora smiled thinly, "More than the rest of us, I'd bet. They aren't being sent to their deaths Cayde, and even if they are, I'm sure they will give a good show before the end." She punched him lightly on the shoulder, "I would expect nothing less from your Hunters, or my Warlocks."

Cayde smiled, forcing some joy into his voice, "Yeah, I guess."

A tower tech sprinted up the stairs, "Sirs." He gulped down air, "It's, uh, the guy says his name is Pahanin."

Cayde and Ikora both looked at each other, disbelief written all over their faces. Cayde took the offered datapad, his ghost routing it though into his earpiece, as well as Ikoras'.

"Guardian."

"Cayde. Oh thank the traveller." A male voice could be heard though the connection, "Oh my god, you're alive." The sound of someone slumping down against something, followed by crying, then laughter, "I made it. Right place. Right where, right whe..." he trailed off, "I need help. Please tell me there is a Guardian who can come and pick me up. My ship is lost. Please, send anyone." He voice quivered, emotion tearing though, "Just get me off this machine. Please."

Cayde nodded, contacting Holiday, "Yes, I said Pahanin. No I don't think he's dead. Yes, he sounds real and alive." He switched back to Pahanin's channel, "I'm sending Holiday over, she'll be there in half an hour, 45 minutes max. Stay safe."

-X-

"Main, this is scout one. We've landed." The Exo's voice rumbled, "Locking down the LZ."

"Yep, on our way." The group received from Wei, her ship diving towards the surface.

"LZ secure." The Exo reported, "Scout 2-10, sweep and clear."

Wei pulled up, ship shaking as she decelerated. Matt flipped over, punching the engines to maximum plummeting towards the Luna surface. All around him, guardian ships dove in similar fashion, pulling up at the last second to deposit their guardian via transmit before flying up again.

He landed, turning his head to see Earth.

Earth. The planet. Here he was, on the Moon, looking up at the Earth as it rose above the horizon. To say he was overly happy was an understatement.

The shriek of Hive snapped him out of his thoughts.

"You ready?" Aria nodded at him, her rifle raised in the direction of the sound.

"Yeah, you?" He answered, the screeches getting louder.

The first row or guardians dropped to one knee, the row behind them aiming between their shoulders from the same position. Matt and Aria stood in the row behind, all of whom were aim over the heads of the first and second rows.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, "You ready? Nervous?" Akiva asked.

"Little bit. I think it's just..." he stopped, a mass of creatures swarming over the low hill. Thousands of thrall charged the guardian line, screaming for blood and light.

"Weapons free." Wei barked down the comm, two thousand guardians answering.

The rapid report of two thousand weapons drowned out all other noise. It was sustained for a good minute before the thrall started to retreat, scrambling over each other to flee the guardian line.

An unspoken order caused the front line to break, charging up the hill to slaughter the thrall as they ran. The first line reached the summit, thrall lying dead in heaps. Purple bolts threw up puffs of moon dust, the guardians ducking left and right as they descended the other side of the hill, slaughtering the Acolytes as they descended.

Matt dashed forwards, knife flashing in the Earthshine as his gun ran dry, an acolyte within metres of him. He stabbed downwards, knife embedding itself in the Acolytes skull. He ripped it out, the Acolyte turning to dust as he did.

-X-

The light burns its way through your thrall, your acolytes.

A giant hand waves the creature away, Why would I care?

A pause.

Tell me if they get through the knights.

-X-

Matt grinned, Aria charging next to him as the strike team slaughtered their way through the knights. He danced left, the sword missing by mere centimetres, before shooting the creature twice in the head.

Behind him, Aleeza opened fire, bullets sparking off another knights armour. Whilst it was distracted, Aria closed the distance, ducking under its rushed swing, her fist crackling with energy as she slammed it into the knights chin.

Its head snapped backwards, energy dissolving its body as it fell dead. Aria spun flashing a quick wave at Aleeza before unloading into the chest of a knight with strange orange markings.

She saw it flinch, its scream of pain piercingly loud. It drew a sword, the edge glowing a sickly green. The creature roared, planting the sword in the ground.

An ethereal green glow surrounded it, Aria charged forwards, lightning rippling around her as she ran. The green light exploded outwards, the shockwave knocking Aria off her feet.

-X-

Your knights are dead.

The creature stood, a sword the size of the knight held in one giant fist.

They will pay in blood and light.

The creature paused, a deep booming in the knights head signifying his liege was laughing.

Take me to them.

It paused again, hatred dripping from its voice, They will taste my blade

-X-

"Woah. What the hell?" A guardian came though the command line clearly, human by the sound of his voice, "Did anyone else just see that green flash?"

Matt flinched as a colossal roar assaulted his ears, seeming coming from both sides of his current position. Guardians stopped as knights turned and ran, their brethren armed with long range weapons covering their retreat.

"I repeat, one knight with orange markings just appeared.

LIGHT

The voice boomed, low and menacing, rocks scraping against one another.

"What the fuck is that?"

"Fall back, fall ba..." static slammed though the channel before it was cut off.

Wei yelled down the command line, "Everyone, transmat out, now."

Another guardian, one who had been helping Wei a lot cut in, "Transmat is blocked. Fall back to the LZ, have your ghost fly down and pick you up. GO!"

The guardians turned, sprinting back towards the edge of Mare Imbrium.

Matt knocked the blade of a knight away, driving his knife into its skull as the creature stood to its full height. It towered above the knights, green chitinous armour glowing with the same ethereal light.

It roared, raising its sword in the direction of the retreating guardians. The knights charged, sprinting into the retreating line of guardians.

Crota sprinted forwards, sword slapping all types of ordnance away. He grabbed a warlock, smashing them into the ground. Their armour, not designed for anywhere near that amount of force ruptured, Crotas hand sinking into his chest. The ghost materialised, absorbing the light from his fallen guardian.

They all heard the god laugh, many of them turning to see the ghost melt away into nothing, burnt away by green fire.

The knights hit them, the line crumpling.

Guardians went down, dying to Knights or Crota has he stomped though their numbers. His sword flashed out, the one swing scything though 10 titans as they turned to hold off the knights.

Fire, green fire burned along the ground, ghosts and guardians alike melting into nothing as he marched forwards. Matt was still running, Akiva having fallen behind to grab something, a ghost maybe.

He looked over his shoulder, the titan sprinting away from the monstrosity. He saw him stagger, as if punched as Lex appeared for a second, before vanishing, seeming to fall down towards the ground.

Weight build up on his shoulders, pushing him down, making each step harder. He ran on, forcing his light outwards to push against whatever was trying to crush him. He saw all the other guardians doing the same, glowing gold, suddenly being surrounded by void energy or lightning arcing from their body.

"Matt. I'm landed. Hurry." Nova practically begged. He didn't respond, not wanting to waste breath.

They crested the final rise, a field of dead thrall and guardian ships came into view.

He jumped forwards, throwing himself over the rise, landing and sliding down the other side.

Titans leapt forwards, their light carrying them towards ships floating in the sky. Some of them boarded before the ship rose, others shooting upwards the moment the guardian landed on the hull.

A wave of green fire chased them, lighting up the sky and ground in its sickly tint. He heard the cries of guardians as they were consumed by the fire. He blocked it out, focusing on his ship, which had landed near the back of the group.

-X-

Crota laughed. This was the best of the light?

He saw a ghost, lying half dead on the barren surface. He picked it up, staring into its single eye as he started to burn it, the yellow and white paint sloughing off it as the metal turned to putty in his hand.

He paused, laughing at the irony of the idea in his head. He quickly smacked the ghost against his blade, watching the core crack, ensuring it was still alive.

The metal shell was still malleable. He squashed it down, forming a rough dagger, watching the core rotate weakly. It stopped, focusing on one guardian.

It's guardian.

He flicked his hand forwards, sending the ghost cannoning forwards almost too fast to track.

-X-

No, no, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no. The impact on the armour caused the ghost to cycle all power as its core was shook, causing further damage to its components.

-X-

Matt lunged towards the cockpit, his hand brushing over the engine ignition as he jumped into the pilots seat. He saw Aria take off, rotating almost 90 degrees to shoot away. Akiva took off next, wobbling slightly as he did. Aleeza and Carina took off within milliseconds of each other, shooting off towards earth.

Matt engaged the engines, rotating and pulling up as he did so, the ship falling briefly as the main engines spun up. Impacts shook the ship as he rose, lining himself up with the horizon.

Something punched though the centre of the ship, throwing him up in his seat.

"Motherfucker." He yelled, glancing over his shoulder to assess the damage.

"You alright?" Aria sounded worried, and shaken.

"No, some bastard just put a hole though my ship." He yelled, locking his course into the computer. He stood, staggering as another shot smashed into the craft.

"MATT!" Aleeza yelled, panicky, "COOLENT LEAK!"

"Oh shit, shit shit shit shit shit." He lunged towards the reactor shutdown, smacking the button to dump the fuel.

He felt his feet leave the deck as the acceleration dropped to zero.

"Shit." He navigated around to the pilots seat, looking across the various screens to find any power left.

"Matt." Novas voice was barely a whisper, "Matt, the first shot blew out the energy storage." She sighed, resignation creeping into her voice, "We've got nothing."

"What?" Aria yelled, "I'm coming back for a tow, now."

Matt glanced at the working commlink and nav system, they had their own power, but it was nowhere near enough to stop him plummeting into the moon, "There's no point. You don't have time. I'll crash, if you try and give me a tug, you'll crash too. Go. I'll be fine, I've survived harder landings in sim." He muted his mic, Nova looking at him with one shell part raised, "I have, honestly."

Aria could be heard talking to Jenny, background noise as he thought.

How to survive an impact at almost orbital speeds? How?

He sat there, mulling over his options, before unmuting his mic, setting the commlink to record then send.

"Aria, Aleeza, Carina, Akiva." He paused, swallowing to try and clear the lump in his throat, "Honestly, I can only see one solution to this." He smiled thinly, his commlink recording his face inside his helmet, "I need power to slow down. And my reactor is, well, fucked is the technical term." He chuckled, with a mirthless smile, "I've got my suit power plant, but it would only get me enough if I divert power from all of my systems, including life support and my commlink. It will still be a hard landing, Nova's done the maths, initial impact will be about 100 metres per second."

He paused again, listening to them over the commlink, arguing over who should go back for the tug, "I'll live, but it's going to hurt. As soon as I can after landing, I'll make contact. Somehow. So, I guess thank you for putting up with me, thank you for training me. Tell Cayde he still owes me glimmer. And, well, if I don't make it, give me half a year to contact you at any rate, Aria, you can have my stuff. I don't care what you do with it. Burn it if you want too." He laughed again, another mirthless smile, "Though I'll haunt you from the grave if you do. Guardian 16452, Matt, out."

He paused, cutting the recording, "You sure about this?" Nova asked, floating closer to him.

He looked at the ghost, holding out a palm for her to land on, "Honestly? No." He sighed, taking a deep breath, leaning forwards.

His hand floated above the transmit button, shaking slightly.

Would I regret it, sending it, not sending it? Was it worth telling them my plan? Getting their hopes up that I might live?

Well, if I don't send it, will I ever be found?

He pressed the transmit button, the packet sending.

Packet_in_transit

...

25%

...

50%

...

75%

...

100% send complete

He disabled the commlink, rerouting the power to the engines, "Nova, take it."

He heard the fans whine to a halt, his suit cooling rapidly, to about freezing.

He willed his light into his chest, letting it warm him up.

He slowed his breathing, moving as little as possible. The Luna surface approached, fast.

"Nova?" the ghost sat in his palm, staring at him.

"Yeah?" she whispered in reply.

"Talk to you soon." His vision started to go grey around the edges, his brain failing as his blood oxygen levels dropped. He curled his arms, hugging the ghost close to his chest, his vision darkening, static filling his ears.

-X-

Nova sighed, "Will do." She hit the engines, the thrust pushing Matt against the seat. They slowed, speed dropping slowly, 500 metres per second, 490, 480, 470...

Altitude fell faster, 10km, 9.5, 9, 8.5, 8...

She overrode his power plants safety lockouts, pushing the unit far past its tested limits. She could hear the whine from it though her shell, watching its temperature rise rapidly.

450, 430, 410, 390...

7.6, 7.2, 6.8, 6.4...

Terrain analysis, her own package, nothing good enough to tell her anything really useful, put their impact on the edge of a crater. She sighed in relief, they would hit it with less force. Odd of surviving went up a good 5%.

370, 350, 330, 310...

6, 5.7, 5.4, 5.1...

290...

4.8...

270...

4.5...

250...

The power fluttered, engines dropping thrust for half a second.

She stopped worrying about speed, started trying to finesse the power usage, keep the engines running.

4...

Power dropped again, engine thrust dropping for a full second.

Power cell overheating, 30 seconds to critical failure.

3...

Just 25 seconds till impact. Give or take 3 seconds.

2...

She closed her optic, leaving all the controls locked in position. The power plant screaming in protest to the energy being requested, she flinched when the she registered the sound.

1...

The ship jolted, Nova activating her AG as soon as she could. The ship shook as it skidded down the crater, engines powering down. She quickly diverted power back to Matt's life support unit, watching oxygen levels in the suit rise quickly.

She watched suit biometric report no major damage to bodily function, despite the high levels of CO2.

-X-

He woke, his vision fuzzy, sight blurred. He blinked, breathing quickly to clear his head.

He groaned, looking up to see grey rocks.

"Well," he croaked, "I'm not dead."

-X-

"Tower, this is Luna strike, we need assis..." the voice cut off, static tearing though the comm.

Ikora stopped in her tracks, her blood turning to ice, "Tell me that's not..."

Cayde had already sprinted over to the comm unit, arc energy dispersing as he skidded to a halt next to it. He grabbed the send-receive, "Guardian?"

"Losses," static washed out the guardians words, "at least ... ships are go ... hive leader ... knife though ... don't know ... many will return." The guardian was out of breath, the static not helping the clarity of his voice, "We need ... evac ... ships are ... send ... pickup."

The guardian screamed, the sound causing everyone in the room to stop.

Cayde looked stunned, "Guardian?"

He looked at Ikora, shaking his head, leaning back against the console, "Nothing. He's gone."

-X-

Aria listened to Matt, his voice sounding somewhat resigned, as if he had already worked out what was going to happen. She didn't see the packet terminate, opening up a commlink to him immediately.

"Matt." She started, barely registering the static wash that signified no connection.

"Aria." Carina said, "He won't hear you."

She watched his ship drop back, falling towards the surface, engines burning a gentle red-orange instead of their normal white.

"Aria." Jenny nudged her helmet, snapping her out of her thoughts, "They've shut down comms. They needed the power for the engines. He'll contact us as soon as possible." The ghost turned, the holographic controls shifting, "Let's get home."

-X-

He looked up, the first ships hitting the atmosphere, ionisation rolling off their shields as they fell. He counted a hundred, maybe 2, shooting down towards the tower.

Half a hundred lines opened in the tower comm network, "Guardian 13324, requesting immediate medical assistace on landing." "Ghost 09741, guardian down." "Come on Fin, stay with me." "Shit, I just lost an engine, going for late landing."

Cayde blocked them out, focusing on counting the number of ships currently diving towards the tower. He counted 214. Out of over 2,000. He felt hollow. 2,000 guardians dead.

"Whats the count?" Ikora placed a hand on his shoulder.

He looked at her, the look in his eyes scared her. She hadn't seen him like this, hollow, almost looking dead, "214." Was is anger?

She stopped, everything seeming to freeze, "214? Out of over 2,000?" That couldn't be right.

"It means that even if there are wounded, we can't expect more the 400 returning." Cayde paused for a whole second.

"Wounded." He sprinted towards the hanger, his voice booming though the tower PA, "Hanger is offlimits to civilians, Guardians returning. All medical staff are required to be in the hanger."

Ikora sighed, her light wrapping around her hand, "All warlocks, medical assistance is required in the hanger for guardians returning from Luna."

-X-

"Matt, you should stop."

"No. We can't be near the crashsite, it'll be a magnet for Fallen and Hive." He sighed, jumping towards the lip of the crater, "And it's not like I've got anything to defend myself with." He held up his handcannon, the barrel had split in the crash.

He hauled himself up over the lip, grunting with the effort. The battlefield spread out before him, guardians still fighting in pockets, those pockets slowly dwindling against the swarm of hive that threw themselves at the guardians.

They fell, one after the other. Falling, over and over again, each time one fell, another rushed to revive him or her. One by one, he saw the ghosts fall, grabbed and shattered by Knights, or ripped apart by armies of thrall.

Light flaired, lightning arcing though a wave of thrall, all of them disintegrating. He saw a titan charge forwards, their armour surrounded in purple energy, the void flicking out to absorb shots as they hit them. He pulled his sniper scope off the magnetic strip on his back, looking down it, aiming at the titan.

She leapt forwards, lightning ripping though Acolytes and Knights with ease. Matt watched, stunned that any guardians were still alive, let alone fighting with such energy.

"Nova, who is that?"

Nova didn't reply for a good 5 seconds, "That is Wei Ning."

Matt watched as the titan methodically tore her way though knights, dodging every single attack any of them could throw, seeming to have a perfect awareness of what was around her at all times. She ducked under a horizontal swipe, her fist finding the bottom of the knights head, ripping it off.

The large knight, glowing with a sickly green, stepped forwards, sword swinging incredibly fast towards her. He didn't see her move, but the sword smashed into her armoured gauntlet, void light flashing as the layer surrounding her shattered.

The titan, Wei, didn't stagger, her punch smashing into the creature, pushing it back a pace. It barely seemed to care, the sword flashing down as it backed away, forcing Wei to drop to the floor to avoid it. She sprung back to her feet, energy coiling around her as she punched, the shockwave knocking the creature back as it swung down. Both of them staggered back, the creature falling to one knee, the green glow dinning and almost going out entirely.

Wei slumped backwards, collapsing against a rock. She stood, staggering slightly. Matt could see the blood on the rock that she had fallen against. She staggered again, falling to one knee. Her armour had been destroyed, a gash from shoulder to hip bleeding heavily. She charged forwards, limping heavily as she ran towards the creature, light lancing from her to any Hive that tried to get close. A knight swung, aiming for her midsection. The void lashed out, shattering the sword feet away from her. Lightning chased it, the knight evaporating. She leapt forwards, the knight starting to rise as she did so.

The kick happened faster than Matt thought was possible, sending her flying backwards, her light dissipating into nothing.

YOU DARE CHALLENCE ME

The voice was easily audible, even over such massive distances.

LIGHT. LIGHT IS A PLAGUE.

It kicked her again, she landed in a heap, convulsing in pain.

The creature bent down, picking up a ghost.

YOU DO NOT CONTROL DEATH, LIGHT. YOU SPREAD YOUR DISEASE AMONST THE STARS. YOU COULD NEVER FACE ME AND LIVE.

Its hand closed, the ghost sparking as the shell and core were destroyed.

WHERE IS YOU GOD NOW?

Wei shook, struggling to stand. The creature cocked its head sideways.

YOU DON'T GIVE UP.

It laughed, the sword flying though the air. Wei jumped, spinning in the air to avoid the blade. Her light, the lightning, barely controlled, lanced though her body, propelling her towards the creature with incredible speed. It spun to the side, snatching her out of the air as she shot past it.

Its hand lit up, green fire running down its arm. The fire covered her armour, the void shattering in its presence. The creature dropped her, she crumpled to the ground, broken.

-X-

Aria landed, Jenny transmating them out of the cockpit. Her gaze passed around the hanger, ships dropping in, hunters rushing towards those who didn't transmat out. The count of those returned was looking grim, she'd barely passed 200 when the flow slowed to an almost halt.

Aleeza rushed towards a hunter, dried blood caking his armour. Carina was kneeling next to a ghost, its guardian appearing in a burst of light as she assisted in the revival.

"Aria? Where's Matt?" an exo's voice caused her to turn away from the hanger entrance. She saw Cayde, midway though jumping over the barrier that kept people from falling onto the hanger floor.

Matt.

She shook her head, "Still up there."

"What do you mean still up there?" Cayde sounded worried, his gaze darting around the hanger, presumably counting the hunters that had returned.

"Something took out his engines." She paused, the truth of what had happened slowly setting in, "He crashed back onto Luna."

Cayde blinked several times, smiling weakly, "He'll be fine. I've not seem many hunters as resilient as him. Now, could you give someone a hand, it looks like we're going to need it."

-X-

The guardian stood, a piece of shrapnel stuck in its back. Blood seeped out around the edges, staining the green cloak. It stood, taking 5 steps before staggering, falling presumably from blood loss.

Ekolzyn stood, sprinting towards the first chance he'd had in weeks to plan an escape attempt. If the Guardian co-operated, they could help each other.

Judgement would be passed, as was his duty to his house and people.

He just hoped he'd be able to help the guardian.

Hi. Sorry for this being late again, I rewrote quite a few parts before feeling OK with them.
I'm away for the next 2 weeks, so workload will drop a bunch. I'll try to get some stuff done tho.
Please tell me if there is something you like/I could do to improve. It means I'll improve my writing, and so you all get better writing to read, win win.
Until next time.