Chapter 5: Dragons of Mars
The Buried City, Mars
It had been a tough fight, but they managed to get the stolen Interceptor through Firebase Rubicon and into Freehold. Once the Vex inside were cleared, the vehicle was slowly directed to a workshop. The group sealed the doors and went to work.
"You sure you can get that thing upgraded, Hurricane?" Dmitri asked.
The Awoken gruffly responded, "Upgrade, yes. How much depends on what you want."
"Goliath," Krayt immediately offered.
"I'm not a miracle worker."
Dmitri and 20 chuckled at their fireteam. The gray Titan went outside to get an Axis bounty completed. He managed to drop a few Vex inside the OWT building with his Geo-D6 before turning right to kill a patrolling hobgoblin. Once the Hollows were emptied of Axis Vex, 20/20 returned to the workshop.
Although he'd been gone for fifteen minutes, Hurricane was cleaning up whatever spare parts he hadn't used yet. The Interceptor hovering before the team no longer had its rocket tubes. Instead, heavy bolt cannons were in their place. Somehow, the Awoken mechanic and pilot managed to get the original rocket launchers into the vehicle's front.
"You did a fine job, Hurricane," Krayt complemented, "as always."
"This is nothing, and you know that," the Hunter said.
"How many did Colossi did I have to take down just to get enough parts to repair two bolt cannons?" Dmitri asked out loud.
"Three, brother. Don't try to increase that number," 20 pointed out.
Dmitri smiled at his squad when Krayt spoke, "Yeah, that is nothing compared to this. Time for a test drive." The green titan walked over to the Interceptor.
"Nope. I do the honors," Hurricane said as he stopped Krayt, "unless you think you can squeeze into the pilot's seat with that Colossus armor on." The Awoken jumped onto the seat and started up the miniature tank. "We're going to have fun with this."
Tower, Earth
The sun was setting when Firewing and Lucks landed. Everything was bathed in a golden orange light. Some Guardians were around, looking at the bounty board or getting Master Rahool to decrypt engrams. Whoever wasn't doing that was relaxing or talking with the different faction leaders.
"Where is Triton?" Firewing asked as he looked for their team's Warlock.
"Hangar lounge," Marcus spoke up. The two made their way to the hangar.
Triton was seated on the couch with a datapad in his hands. "Evening, team," he evenly said when the Hunter and Titan arrived. The Warlock offered the device. Firewing took it and scanned through it before giving it to Lucks. "New mission."
"Mars. What a coincidence," Fire stated. They all knew the Dragons were there.
"Wouldn't Dmitri be able to do it?" Lucks asked, thinking the same thing as the Hunter.
"This is for Winter, which is why this is off the records," Triton answered. "They've already documented almost everything in the Ishtar Archives. Freehold is the one information hub they can't get to."
"'Cuz of the Cabal," Firewing interrupted.
Triton nodded his head in response. "Yes. Clovis Bray should have a few things Winter can use to get their defenses back up."
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Tri?" Lucks asked again.
"As long as we stay away from Charlemagne, we should be good. Any more questions? No? Then let's move."
Fireteam Death got to their ships and went to orbit. Why do I have a bad feeling about this, Lucks thought to himself. Triton put in the coordinates for Mars and gave the order to jump.
When they landed, Death took a few minutes to set up. Firewing switched back to his squad shader, but replaced his Winter cloak with a Dead Orbit one. Choosing Zero Point LOTP, the Hunter made sure Invective and his Pax Totalus were full of ammo. Along with his PoE boots and chestplate, he had his Dead Light Covers and Khepri's Sting on.
Lucks did the same, making sure he was flying Dead Orbit colors. He had Silmar's Wrath equipped, with Her Benevolence on his back and Against All Odds on standby. Helm of Inmost Light was on his head, with Prison gear covering the rest.
Triton donned his black and silver dotted colors. Bad Juju was by his side with Techeun Force. The Culling was ready to be summoned by Keith. He wore Obsidian Mind with armor augmenting his Intellect and Strength.
"Everyone set?" he asked. The two others gave a firm "Yes, sir." They pulled out their Sparrows and set off for Freehold.
Krayt was laughing heartily as the Dragons assaulted the Giant's Pass. His personal grenade rifle and their Interceptor's bolt cannons kept the remaining Cabal behind what cover they had. Unfortunately for the alien military, there were only four Psions, a Phalanx, and a Legionnaire left.
The fireteam worked in perfect unison. When the green Titan had to reload, 20 and Dmitri put down suppressive fire. They stopped as soon as Krayt began firing again. The bolt cannons never stopped firing.
Five minutes into the slaughter, two Harvesters came in, rocket launchers already firing. Krayt moved to Hurricane and erected a Ward of Dawn around his Interceptor. Missiles still blazing, the dropships deployed their troops.
Normally, the sight of not one, but four Imperial Colossi with heavy support to boot would have Guardians either retreating or calling in backup. Fireteam Dragon only laughed at the amount of troops that were thrown against them.
Krayt spoke between laughs, "Seriously? I thought we were worth more than four Colossi, five Centurions, twenty Legionnaires and Phalanxes, and ten Psions."
20 merely stated, "Last time they threw a Goliath at us. But that only had two colossi and twenty other units."
"So? We still went through them like a knife through butter," Dmitri claimed. "We can take on a Goliath with this crowd."
As if to challenge him on that claim, two more Harvesters came in, each carrying a Goliath tank. One was deployed with the reinforcements on the high ground, while the other was dropped at the pass entrance. The Dragons were completely boxed in.
Hurricane slowly exhaled before looking at his leader. "You just had to say that. Krayt, how much longer will this thing stay up?"
He answered, "Another twelve seconds."
20 stared at Dmitri. "Sir, you have the honors."
The white and red Titan merely cracked his knuckles and flexed his fingers. He took a view of the Cabal army before pushing his right hand up into the air. Just as the shield went down, he dropped it onto the sandy terrain with all his power.
The ground around the team rose up and spread like a tidal wave. As it went farther and farther from the epicenter, the quake increased in strength and sent multiple Cabal flying. The Imperial Colossi were just far enough away to not get hurt, although one stumbled. A few seconds later and the pass went to hell as fire was exchanged from three points.
Death had gotten off their sparrows when the ground shook. Sand shifted from the buildings as they looked at each other in bewilderment.
Lucks was the first to speak, "What was that?"
"Either one of two things," Triton answered, "The Cabal just tested a new weapon or that was Dragon."
Firewing chimed in, "Or it was both. Anyways, let's get to the Cortex."
They entered the Dust Palace and fought their way to the top. When they got to the Cortex, Keith, Marcus, and Sundial went to work. "Try not to get too close to Rasputin and Charlemagne, Keith," Sundial advised.
Keith retorted, "Worry about yourself, Sun."
Firewing and Triton listened as their Ghosts argued. "This is why I hate this collecting," the former said.
"At least Marcus knows not to join in," Triton replied before hearing said AI trying to stop his friends. "I stand corrected."
Firewing groaned. This was going to take a long while.
Hurricane was beyond mad when his Interceptor was blown out from underneath him. He avenged its destruction with multiple throwing knives, all of them hitting their marks. The very angry Hunter pulled out his golden gun and shot a Goliath. Already severely damaged, the tank exploded and pushed the three remaining Colossi forward. A few Phalanxes fell, shrapnel embedded into their suits.
20 had vaporized a group of Legionnaires and Phalanxes with a Fist of Havoc. There were now three Imperial... Bang. Two Imperial Colossi left with a Centurion, a Legionnaire, two Phalanxes, a lone Psion, and an immobilized Goliath. Krayt set his personal shield into the ground while his squadmates tackled the Goliath. He protected them from the Colossi; they protected him from the tank.
The Awoken Hunter launched a tripmine grenade at the two Phalanxes. Their corpses were launched into the air shortly after. Dmitri cut through the tank with a normal Fist of Havoc, thankfully. Krayt shot down the retreating Legionnaire and subsequently hunted down the Psion. The Colossi slowly moved back, quickly chattering.
A loud BOOM erupted from somewhere in the distance. 20 heard the roar and yelled out, "Move! Move!"
The artillery shell landed in the center of Giants' Pass and exploded. Krayt managed to join his friends in the closest bunker available, but not before he was pushed forward by the blast. When the dust settled, Dmitri popped his head out to survey the damage. A massive crater spanned the pass from the overlook positions to a few meters behind where the forward Phalanxes would be.
"Get off of me!" a muffled voice yelled behind him. Hurricane was pinned underneath Krayt, who slowly managed to roll off the Hunter with a groan.
20/20 checked everyone for injuries. Krayt said he was fine, but a shot of pain went through his back when he tried to get up. "Me, the Dragon's Scales, knocked out of the fight with a back injury," he complained.
"Just shut up and let me administer the painkiller," the medic responded.
Hurricane came out and walked to Dmitri. "No more races through here anymore. People may just have to start going through Rubicon to get to the Valley of the Kings."
"And we all know how much everyone hates that spot," Dimitri answered. He found the bodies of the two Colossi that called in the shot. The cracks in the rock face told him all their bones broke from the impact. "Ghost."
The AI came out, "Yes?"
"I need you to put a sign over those cracks."
His Ghost immediately knew what Dmitri was doing. "What do you want it to say?"
"Here lies two brave soldiers of the Dust Giants. They sacrificed themselves to stop us. We live, but we respect these warriors. I am proud to have fought against them." Dmitri bowed his head to honor the fallen.
"Done. I started a Guardian distress signal on the Cabal communications channels only."
Hurricane moved forward as 20 and Krayt joined him. They read the tribute and followed their commander. They gave a quick salute before going back to the Scablands. The Dragons walked out, not getting on their sparrows until they passed the nearby Vex conflux.
Fifteen minutes passed after the signal was sent. The Siege Dancers' dropship lowered towards the ground and deployed its passengers. The Squad leader, Bracus Ta'aan, ran over to the the signal's origin. There were no Guardians around, but a message was scrawled over two fallen Imperial Colossi.
Sto'org and R'han. Ta'aan knew these brothers while they were stationed in his Primus' base. An accompanying Psion translated the words. The Bracus already knew who did the carnage before the brothers ordered the artillery shot. The four-man Guardian team known as the Dragons. The Destroyers of Mars.
"Alright, I've got everything," Sundial said before disappearing.
Firewing woke up and stretched while saying, "About dang time."
Lucks made a quip at the Hunter's expense, "How did you sleep through that artillery blast?"
"What blast?"
"Come on, brothers, let's go," Triton ordered. "The Dragons deserve a visit after what I think they've been through today."
(AN) - Sorry about the wait, guys. Had this chapter saved on another device. Besides that mishap, hope you liked this chapter. Yes, Ta'aan won't be a random character, he does serve as an interesting... rival, shall I say.
For any of you fellow Destiny fanfictioners, please feel free to use my OCs in my stories (As long as they are credited as mine).
Keep on keepin' on and stay strong.