Chapter 3: Winter

Ishtar Archives, Venus

Skanas was forced to put his team behind cover. The Wolves had gotten the upper hand twice: surprise and the high ground. Now they had cut the Winter guards off from the Ishtar Archives. The dregs kept them from firing back while the raiders began their work.

The Winter Captain was well-known for his cleverness and care for those under his command, the latter something usually unheard of about Captains. Skanas heard a low hum over the loud shots from the shock pistols. Great. They've got tripmines set up, he thought. A full-out assault to the building's second level would be suicide for his men. Reinforcements would most likely never come before the raiders completed their task. Winter just didn't have the manpower anymore.

The trio of ships dropped down outside the broken city of Ishtar, deposited their occupants, and rose to standard orbit. Firewing, usually one for uniform colors, had switched his Artic Proxy shader for the squad's. His whole body was covered in midnight black with red lightning strikes. The cloak that adorned his back had the sigil of Winter instead of Wolves. Fire always made sure to wear that whenever they landed on Venus.

"Off to the Archives, then," Lucks jingled from his helmet. He already brought out his sparrow and dashed to the ruins. His team quickly followed after him.

"We need to get there ASAP. Winter's pinned by those raiders." Firewing clearly had a no-nonsense attitude when he said that. Fortunately, Lucks slowed down enough so the Hunter could take the lead. They were doubly fortunate that the switch was complete before entering the city. Upon eyeing his cloak, the Fallen patrolling the safest way in immediately dashed to the sides, allowing the Fireteam through with no trouble.

When they got to the Archives, Triton saw the Wolves had been here for a good while. Tripmine lasers could be seen on the second floor. Scattered along the opposite side of the path were the Winter guards. A captain, two vandals, and two dregs were left. The rest were lying in front of the vault, dead.

"About time someone came," the captain shouted, anger in his deep voice.

"How many?" Triton asked.

"At least six of the dogs. Only saw four dregs and two vandals."

With pinpoint precision, Fire threw a tripmine of his own. The stick landed on a second floor pillar with a dreg already in its laser. It let out a signature beep before exploding, blasting the dreg out of its position and onto the ground below.

"Lucks, you're up," Firewing said. Lucks immediately dashed out of their cover and up the stairs. He saw the look of shock on the Eliksni's faces before activating his Fist of Havoc.

All but one of the dregs were vaporized in the arc blast. Two vandals were wounded but still alive. Triton tossed a solar grenade at the survivors. The flare burst out of its containment and burned the dreg and a vandal to ashes. The last intruder had no time to react when Lucks slammed him into a wall and followed with a powerful right hook. The now dead Wolf tumbled down the stairs to land next to a doorway.

Ten minutes after the fight, the dead were cleared and Fireteam Death set up for guard duty. Before the fallen Winters were disposed of, Skanas knelt beside each comrade and bowed his head in respect. Unlike most other captains, he gave respect towards his underlings, who in turn gave him theirs. House Winter was much smaller than it once was, and they couldn't afford to have their numbers drop.

Skanas looked over to the Guardians that saved his team. The robed one, Warlock if his memory served him right, was obviously the leader. They were talking underneath those helmets, and the one that had the Winter cloak immediately brought his hand up. Body language told Skanas that he volunteered for something.

That was further supported as the man went over to an overlook position. The heavily armored Guardian disappeared as the Warlock came over to him. "What do you want?" Skanas asked, failing to hide the bitterness about his dead men in his voice. His brows were furrowed with anger.

"Just wanted to tell you Firewing, our Hunter, will be staying for a while to help cover your losses."

Skanas' eyes burned with the mentioning of the dead. "Fine." He growled. Calm down, he thought. This is not you. "As long as he stays out of my way. For now."

"All right, Captain." Triton felt now would be the best time to end this conversation. As they walked away from each other, the Warlock switched to his fireteam's comm channel. "Can you stay for an hour, Fire?"

"Yup. I need to get to the Prison later on. Promised Variks I'd be there before the day was out."

"All right. I'll be on the moon or at the Tower if you need me. Oh, and be careful."

"10-4 and out."

It had been half an hour since Triton left. Firewing had spent the first half of that time organizing his gear, the second half cleaning his weapons while keeping an eye out on the way into the Archives' entrance. Feeling some fatigue in his right arm, the Hunter started its maitenance.

He got his Ghost, Sundial, to remove his right guantlet. In place of the normal human arm people would expect was an Exo arm. Unlike Firewing's tan body, this prosthetic was as black as his squad shader, with the signature red lightning bolts traveling down to his hand. He removed a panel from the lower arm, followed by a dimmed, sky blue crystal. Putting that into a pouch, he pulled out one that was exactly like its predeccesor, except it had a sparkling energy to it.

He had placed it in when a Winter vandal came up behind him. Firewing wasn't startled; he saw the Eliksni pop up on his radar earlier. "Do you mind if I join you?" The Fallen asked.

"Feel free." The Hunter mentally asked Sundial to translate his words while pressing the panel back into place. "Did your Captain send you up here?"

"Yes. After he calmed down, Skanas told me to go to the overlook and relieve you." The vandal propped his wire rifle on his lower arms as he watched the entrance. "A question before you leave. You sound like a human, but your arm is metal. Explanation?"

Firewing grunted as he rose. "Nothing much, really. Knight came out of nowhere and chopped my arm clean off. Knocked out when he backhanded my face. When I came to, I told Sundial here," he pointed at his Ghost, "to give an Exo arm."

"Why would you want that? Surely it would have been better to regenerate your flesh and blood arm." The vandal inquired with a curious look in his left eyes.

"Yeah, but this thing has much more uses. Mods, tracking, energy storage, the works."

The vandal gave an acknowledging glance. "Very well, then. Good luck, Hunter. If you come across House Wolves, tell them Kanisk says hello." Kanisk formed a devious smile under his mask.

Firewing laughed as he went. "I'll do that, Kanisk. Safe times." He spoke as he waved a salute. After he exited the area and turned left, Sundial dissolved into his head. "I think that went well. What about you, Sun?"

"Agreed. Winter is fortunate to have Skanas and his team." The AI replied.

"They are. When we get home, can you try to bring up his profile?"

"Why?"

"Respect, worry, and hope in that order. Now let's get out here. I got a promise to keep." Firewing ordered as he was transmatted into his ship. Prison of Elders, here I come.
(AN) So Skanas and Kanisk have entered the story. If you're interested in them, don't worry. They'll be back.