"The Fallen have been keeping the old Skywatch under tight hold. Which is great, because that's where we're headed," Megaera's Ghost said as the jumpship dropped into the atmosphere. "Reports from the last Guardian to go down there to investigate why the Fallen were so active in the area say there are a huge number of Hive. He never reported back."
"He's probably dead," Megaera said, staring pointedly at Tisiphone. "Permanently. The System's not an easy place anymore." Tis quirked an eyebrow in response. "I haven't spent a lot of time on Luna, but what the Hive have done there..." The Awoken shook her head. "They're dangerous, and I don't want you going in unprepared. That's how you don't come back out. And I will be coming back out." Her dark eyes were sharp, and Tis shifted in discomfort as the jumpship shook with turbulence. The rumbling continued for several minutes before Megaera's Ghost made another announcement.
"We're here," it said, its own mechanical voice fairly feminine in tone.
"Put us down," Megaera said without pause. "Outside Skywatch."
Without another pause, the Ghost transported them down to the surface, and with an abrupt drop of six inches or so, the pair were back on the surface of Earth, surrounded by snow, rust, and Fallen. The steppes were marked by uneven terrain, jagged and frozen and peppered here and there with the same rotting industrial buildings familiar to the Cosmodrome, with freight containers scattered about as well.
"It's the building with the large dish on top," Tis' Ghost offered. "The Hive are underground."
"Fantastic," Tis said, eyeing the building. It jutted up three stories into the sky, it's old satellite dish waiting for signals that would never resume.
The pair approached the building, rifles at the ready. The place was oddly quiet, only a few Dregs guarding the inside. Most of its guards were outside, it would seem, not wanting to risk being inside and closer to the Hive nest. Large piles of putrid black pustules coated the walls in some areas, lumping up in the corners, some spewing black smoke. All things indicative of a Hive infestation, Tis' Ghost informed her. Approaching a segmented door, Megaera's ghost phased out from her helmet and hovered over to a panel on the wall. "The Fallen sealed it tight," she said. "They must have sealed it after that other Guardian didn't come back out. I can get it open." Short blue beams of light began to pass from the Ghost to the panel as she began to unlock the door.
"I don't know what we're going to find," Megaera said, her tone frank. "Keep your eyes up and your ears open. These guys like to shriek. They'll let you know when they're coming."
"What about the other Guardian?"
"He's dead. Ghost was probably destroyed, too." Megaera's eyes took on a hard note again. She had no intentions of wasting time looking for their lost fellow. "If we can clear the nest, your Ghost can look for him."
"I'll keep a scanner running. It won't find dead Ghosts, but if they're alive, we'll find them," Tis' Ghost offered from within the woman's helmet. Tis gave a slight nod of acknowledgement.
Several more minutes passed before the door jerked and then started upward, rolling into itself toward the ceiling. The next room was dark; apparently it had been dug into the side of the cliff, and there weren't any windows to let in the natural light. Probably why the hive had picked it. Megaera lifted her auto rifle to her shoulder as she stepped forward, her Ghost producing a small patch of light. "Eyes up," she repeated, crossing the threshold.
Lifting her own rifle, Tis' own Ghost produced another small area of light, which was little comfort in the dead silence of the facility. The room was large, and mostly open with a long walkway wrapping around from the left. "I'm sensing lots of movement up ahead," he warned, his mechanical voice quiet.
A soft shuffling noise could be heard, which quickly grew until distant shrieks could be heard. Alien and off-key, it caused Tis to shudder in the dark. There was no warning before Megaera's weapon went off, bullets biting into a ghastly pale humanoid shape, leaping out at her from the darkness. Tis had only a trio of glowing green eyes to alert her to the monster sneaking toward her. Assuming the glow was a head, she opened fire herself only to dodge to the side as a flurry of blue bolts came out of the darkness toward her. Ducking behind a pillar, she took a breath, only to be greeted with another of the freakish monstrosities jumping forward, its long fingers forming wickedly pointed claws. A knife to the chest ended the issue, but she was moving again, aiming for any pinpricks of green light, as the Hive seemed to be smart enough to stay just out of the range of her Ghost's light before leaping out at her.
Once the room was clear, she looked to see Megaera ending the life of one last alien with a wicked twist of her boot. "This was only their preliminary force. Let's keep moving," the Awoken said, reloading her weapon with steady fingers. Tis did the same, keeping it at her shoulder.
They moved up a flight of rickety metal stairs deeper into the compound, moving as quickly as silence would allow. More debris indicative of abandonment had piled up at every possible place, and more black pustules coated the walls and parts of the floors. The Ghosts were even silent, as far as Tis could tell as they passed sharp crystal casting a sickly green light. The rest of the facility's lights seemed to be functional, a fact Tis was quite thankful for.
They came to another room, this one alive with the sound of movement. As they approached a wall with shot-out windows, they were noticed, and once again, the ghastly creatures with bony head plates and dagger-like fingers launched themselves toward the Guardians.
"There's a Wizard! We have to kill it!" Tis' Ghost warned as they entered the room proper. From an upper level of the room, she watched another monstrosity drift out from behind what looked to be some kind of generator. Its body hovered a few feet off the ground, and was draped in what she really hoped were red robes with ragged, filthy edges, and the whole body was surrounded by an odd orange aura. Thinking quickly, Megaera threw a grenade in its direction, the explosion causing it to rock unsteadily and let out a violent hiss. Its clawed hands raised as the pair let loose their magazines. Eventually its aura faded, apparently it had been acting as some kind of shielding. Another set of three-eyed monsters shuffled out from some back corridor, screeching with their peculiar weapons raised as well. They were made short work of, the Guardians' own shieldings holding up well enough that they came away with minimal damage to their armor.
They searched, despite the silence, for more, hiding in the dark corners. Finally satisfied, they took stock of the filthy facility. A large cylindrical pillar stood in the center of the room, surrounded by a circle of ancient displays. Everywhere was refuse, piles of junk, and the black goo that infested the rest of the facility. A generator sat in the back, and a handful of Fallen weapons lay about. "Run another scan," Tis said to her Ghost, which promptly phased out from her helmet.
She watched as Megaera turned to her, her face unreadable, save the sharpness of her eyes. She still didn't think they would find his Ghost, a body. Tis' Ghost flittered around anyway, a green light scanning area after area. He moved about, working his way through the area, checking the corners, the crevices. Megaera fidgeted, fussing with her rifle.
"He must have gotten overwhelmed," she said. "He took a good number out before they got him, though, by the looks of how few were here when we showed up."
Tis nodded, trying not to imagine the terror of being overwhelmed by such a horrendous enemy, with tearing claws, gnashing teeth and horrible, glowing green eyes.
"Here!" The Ghost announced, proud of itself. "I found a Ghost. It's in standby, that must be why the Hive didn't notice it." Tis stepped over to him, slinging her rifle over her shoulder before pushing some of the trash out of the way to reveal a small, white machine. She plucked it out of the refuse, wiping off what she could. "Now, let me see..." her own red Ghost hovered closer to her, a blue light connecting the two Ghosts.
Slowly, a flickering light appeared in the center, mirroring her own Ghosts. As it stabilized, the new Ghost began to hover above her hands. Finally, its parts shifted, spinning in a pattern Tis had see her own preform. It shook slightly, as if finishing its reboot. "Good morning," it said, mechanical voice quiet. "I'm so glad you've come for us, I had almost begun to lose hope. Now, let me just find him." Just as Tis' own Ghost had, it began to scan the room, green light again scanning every surface, every corner.
It took a moment before the machine let out an exclamation of excitement. "I found him!" It was a shout of relief as it went to work, restoring its Guardian's body. Tis' own ghost flew over, lending some of his energy to the stranger's. Given the state of decay and damage done by the Hive, it took several minutes before the man was restored, his form suddenly synthesized several inches above the floor. His armor had been restored too, and he stood head and shoulders over Tis. He was a broad man, with heavy armor. He looked like it would have taken a veritable army of Hive to have killed him.
He took a moment, examining his arms and looking around the room, staring at Tis, and then at Megaera for several seconds before he spoke. "You came for me."
"No," Megaera cut him off. "We came for the Hive. She insisted that we look for you." She indicated to Tis with a tilt of her head.
"Thank you," he said, nodding his head. "I didn't think there would be so many."
"We wiped out what we could find. A Wizard, and some Acolytes, a pack of Thralls..." Tis' Ghost flared his panels in pride as he explained. "And then we revived your Ghost."
"Thank you, again. My name is Alecto. How long have I been dead?"
"A few weeks," Megaera shrugged. "You have a ship?"
"Not anymore," his Ghost offered. "I had to sever my connection when I went into standby. I was trying to save as much power as I could, so as to not die while waiting for another Guardian."
"We have one," Tis spoke up. "We can get you back to the City."
"I have a ship," Megaera corrected, "but yes, we can get you back to the city. First, are there any other sections of this facility where there might be Hive waiting us out? We came here to wipe them off the map, and I won't be leaving any behind."
"I am not finding any more signs of movement, except for us," Megaera's Ghost said. "But it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to double check. It's been so long since I've faced Hive. They may have evolved since then."
"Let's go," Megaera tilted her head, indicating that they should follow.
The new trio moved through the facility, checking every room, every crevice in which a Hive monstrosity might be hiding, but found only a few scattered Thralls. Their Ghosts could not make sense of the black slime or smoke, however, and once Megaera was satisfied, the three beamed back up to her ship, which had been waiting in orbit.
"We need to go see the Speaker," Alekto said as they all removed their helmets. His face was sharp, with a Roman nose, and light eyes. His head was shaved, or perhaps his Ghost hadn't bothered to synthesize his hair again, and his skin was a dark golden brown. "I don't know what that black crap was, but he might know. Might want to send a cleanup crew incase it's some kind of weird... Egg sac or something." Megaera frowned at him, but gave a nod.
"Then we can find out what he wants us to do next," Tis said.
"Right," Megaera continued to frown, appearing uncertain that it was necessary for them to remain a team. "Take us back to the City," she instructed her Ghost, taking up her seat on the cockpit.