"Cayde?"

The gangly Exo turned around from the map table he stood in front of, and grinned. I grimaced, causing his expression to fall flat.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Kiddo?" he asked cautiously, glancing suspiciously at Arthur (who was standing at a console at the other side of the room performing what looked to be a video call with a fireteam in the field). "There something on my face?"

I shifted from one foot to another, trying to say it in a way that wouldn't A: offend my Dad, and B: Offend my superior officer, and commander. I decided to just say it, regardless of the consequences:

"Yes, Someone's put lipstick on your teeth. It's kinda disturbing."

Cayde frantically patted his metal jaw, realised that he (in fact) did not have teeth. Through quick deduction (I assume), he rapidly realised that I had been stringing him along, and that he did not have any such substance on his face. His face transitioned from overexaggerated outrage (exaggeration of expressions was really the only way Exo could display emotions, as I had discovered from talking with Cayde and other Exo in the Tower), to cold fury, to mild amusement, before doing a double take and running back to outrage. Once his expression settled on outrage, it decided to take some of the stress off, and add a touch of humour to the recipe. I watched bemused as his face rapidly spasmed between various expressions, before Cayde stilled his face.

"Well. I would laugh, but I'm slightly miffed. You…wanted to talk about something else that ISN'T a practical joke?"

I nodded. "The speaker has sent me to the moon. Apparently the Darkness has captured a fragment of the Traveller, and might be using it to damage the entity. I just wanted to say…that I'm glad I found you after so long."

Cayde made a choking sound, followed by a sniff. I realised he was trying to cry, but was hindered by his lack of tear ducts. I walked over, and hugged him. He gripped me tight, something that I probably wouldn't have survived if it weren't for my enhanced durability as a guardian. We separated after some time, when Ghost appeared to tell me that my ship was ready for departure. I walked back out, and climbed into my cockpit. Ghost appeared, and looked at me quizzically, his blocks clicking and whirring around him.

"Ace…are you sure that this is the way you want to go? There's other stuff that could be done on Earth at this time that could also…"

"Ghost," I said sternly. "While I appreciate your concern, what matters now is not my own safety. What matters is the safety of the last humans, and that of our injured protector. If the traveller was willing to lay down it's life, so must I. In any case, how bad can the moon be?"

Thirty minutes later, the Moon…

"THIS IS PRETTY BAD, GHOST!" I yelled. I was huddled behind a pile of sealed cargo crates in the ruins of a golden-age moonbase. On the other side, separated by about three meters of dusty grey moonrock were around twenty dregs, ten vandals and two of the massive commander Fallen. All of ten were firing a barrage of plasma fire into the crates- crates that were quickly being chewed apart by the barrage of destructive fire. I dove behind a intact section of a domed building just as the crates exploded into fragments of metal and plastic. I returned fire, my Imago Loop blowing the heads of three Dregs apart in quick succession. The enemy returned fire, making me duck behind the cracked eggshell-white exterior of the building I cowered behind. Taking a deep breath, I assessed my situation. I was down to three rounds in my shotgun, and my Imago Loop had only ten shots left before running out completely. My rocket launcher had two rockets in it, but had been damaged and was providing a error message when the trigger was pulled. My light had not fully regenerated my single solar grenade, and my knife was missing, yet to be recreated. As for my golden gun…I had it, but I hadn't had a chance to use it yet. I needed a opening. Suddenly, a thought came to me. I pulled out my rocket launcher, and removed the ammunition magazine. Pulling out my other knife (I had purchased it as a backup melee weapon that I could use when my main knife hadn't fully recharged), I pried open the sealed container, and pulled out the two missiles inside. Hoping my plan would work, I tossed each of the grenades in the direction of the two groups of enemies, while firing my shotgun over their heads. Thankfully, the enemies ducked the shells from my shotgun, but failed to notice the rockets. Pulling out my Imago Loop, I fired a shot at each of the rockets. With a noticeable bang, each exploded, sending a plume of dust into the air. While the moon had been previously terraformed during the golden age and provided with a breathable atmosphere, the air was still quite thin, resulting in the dust staying aloft for shorter than than usual. While this meant that my desired effect of a smokescreen was ineffective, it still surprised the fallen long enough for me to duck out from cover and begin my attack. I now only had my Imago Loop, and only eight rounds left. I began by firing off two rounds into the head of one of the commanders, followed by a stab with my knife. This bought his shields down enough for me to then kick him backwards with my boot, and shoot him again with my remaining rounds to finish him off. I quickly scooped up a ammunition engram for my primary weapon, and proceeded to reload my weapon, which now had twenty rounds, good for two full reloads. I proceeded to fire off one round for each of the remaining six Dregs, aiming for the head each time. I hit most of them, but spend two rounds killing another one, bringing my ammo down to twelve rounds. With my grenade now recharged, I jumped towards a nearby wall, the lower gravity allowing me to glide through the air, before kicking off and leaping towards the last commander. I slammed into him, tackling him to the ground. I attached my grenade to his chest, before kicking off him, backflipping and twisting in mid air to face the other way, and landing as the grenade went off. The blast was far enough away that it did minimal damage to my shields, but the vandals nearby were not as lucky. They were sent flying, their bodies limp, before gracefully crumpling to the ground, sending up small clouds of dust into the artificial atmosphere of the moon. I then pulled my golden gun to finish off the remaining six Vandals. My rounds exploded in-between the aliens, killing two of the aliens each time. With all my targets down, I spun the golden gun around my finger, before dispelling it into nothingness.

"Good shooting Tex!" quipped Ghost. "Now, let's get back on mission. We have a lot of ground to cover. While you were…preoccupied with the house guests…I managed to repair the local transmat station. We're good to summon a sparrow and get to the target coordinates."

"Thanks Ghost. Oh, and please: no backseat sparrow driving!"

"Bleep!"

I flew the sparrow through the cratered expanse that was the Moon's surface, passing countless ruins along the way. When I was little, the Moon had been colonised by humans for nearly a century. The Traveller had been responsible for the terraforming of the satellite, and the moon had become a important research outpost, as well as a training ground for planned exosolar missions. Back then, humans had such high hopes for our mutual destiny. We thought we'd be out among the stars. My brief visit to the libraries of the Tower had told me that the leaders of Earth had known otherwise. Back then, the Traveller had been active, even talking to humans via a form of telepathy. From what out limited records of the time told us, the sphere had told select members of Earth's leadership about the threat that it had been fleeing from. It didn't specify the details, but the politicians and governments of Earth decided that if the people knew, it could wreck any chance that Humanity had against the darkness. So, they prepared. They hid their defences in plain sight of the public, creating the Warminds as a defence for the entire solar system. They build stockpiles of weapons, armour and equipment all over the planet. They prepared for massive space battles. All that, and only enough people to barely fill a small city survived. Over time, we have built our numbers. But we are only a fraction of what once was.

"Ghost?" I queried. "Are you there?"

"Always, Ace. What do you need?" replied the small machine.

"Do you know why the Traveller created you and the Ghosts? Other than to assist the Guardians?"

"Ace…all I know is that I was born from the Traveller's light, and bonded to your soul. As I've said, all I knew was that you were the right person for me, even though I had never met or seen you. I didn't exist until the final day of the War, and even then, that was a long time ago. I've forgotten a lot of my early existence, and the Traveller's motives are among that knowledge. It is rather unusual for you to have almost full recollection of your past life. Many guardians spend years gathering small fragments. I would hazard a guess that your soul, your very being, contained a much larger portion of your being than others would."

"So you're saying I have lots of Soul. Well, that's nice. I always wanted a nice new pair of boots. Some soles will help with making them."

"…I have no words for this. Just keep driving."

Eventually, we reached a crater, where a group of hive lingered around. I rappelled down silently, using mid-air jumps to safely descend into the hole. At the bottom, large monolithic stones sprouted from the ground like the teeth of some prehistoric animal. I took cover behind one as a large hulking alien moved past. The rank scent of rot and death filled my nasal receptors before my helmet sealed off the scent from the outside. Just as the alien rounded the corner, I put my pistol under it's chin, and blew it's brains out of the top of it's head.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

The other hive were now alerted to my presence, and came rushing to the spot where I had previously been. All they found was a active solar grenade, and a sign saying:

"Smoke me a kipper: I'll be back for breakfast"

I laughed as the perplexed aliens were blasted into nothingness. I jumped off the top of a nearby stone, and walked over to a massive door set into the crater wall. It was made from a blackish green stone, and inset with glowing green slits. I looked up at the door, built for a being almost four times my height. I let ghost scan the sealed portal, and stood back. Just then, a stone plinked off the wall of the crater. When I looked up, a female Exo looked back.

Author's note: Well, I finally managed to type up this chapter. Thanks to everyone who has given such positive feedback so far. I'm sorry this story hasn't been updated for a few months: I've had terrible writers block, and I've been busy IRL with other things. A few things here as some administrative things: I'm breaking my hiatus as I have had some time openings to work on my fanfiction lately. I'll be updating semi-regularly for now. This may increase in due time. Secondly, when I said I was going to redo Depths of the Night -my SubNautica fanfiction- I was slightly unprepared for the amount of work I had to do IRL at the time, and as such that project is on pause until I can fully untangle the rewrite. Thirdly: Thanks to everyone who has followed me while I've been mostly inactive. I can't list the names right now, but there is plenty of people to thank. You can get a mostly-complete list (still have to add the latest person) on my Fanfiction profile. Again, thanks guys, and I'll see you in chapter ten of Outbound Hopes.