Chapter 8: Preemptive Strike
BAM! BAM! BAM! "Fire, get up." Triton pounded on the door.
Firewing groaned and buried his face in his pillow. "Five more minutes..."
"We've got a bounty and now is the best time to do it."
"Ugh. Let me sleep. Yesterday was a busy-"
"Xyor." The Warlock breathed. From outside, he heard a THUMP and the door opened a few seconds later. If their Hunter was still tired, he wasn't showing it.
"When?" The question was serious in tone.
Triton quickly replied, "A few hours ago."
The door closed. When it reopened, he was dressed in his gear, a hand cannon strapped on his thigh and Invective in his hands. "What are we waiting for?" Firewing asked. Triton didn't reply before his brother pushed past him and brought out Sundial.
Keith appeared. "Time to leave." The Exo readied Bad Juju and nodded.
He met Lucks and Fire in orbit. Lucks was getting impatient. As soon as the coordinates were chosen, the Titan blasted off to the moon. The others can catch up.
The Buried City, Freehold
Knowing that there was almost no such thing as overkill, Qe'bre brought two Sand Eater squads with him. It was a good choice. The extra firepower brought down the nearby Vex forces quickly.
But it still took them an hour to find the hideout. A heavily locked door was the first clue. Two legionnaires from Squad-2 spent three minutes trying to blast through the barrier before the Squad-1 psion hacked a nearby console. The embarrassed soldiers glared at the psion while the others chuckled.
"This is definitely the Destroyers' Lair," one Cabal said as they filed through the wide corridors. Squad-1 took the right side; Squad-2 had the left.
"Really? What gave you that idea?" The Squad-2 psion deadpanned.
The Squad-1 psion from earlier spoke up, "Was it the massive door from earlier? Or is it these hallways?"
"Shut it." The Squad-2 centurion ordered.
They reached another barrier after several turns. Remon reprised his role as the hacker. "Great. Randomizing encryption. This will take a while." The psion immediately set to work.
Toncu laughed at his compatriot. "So you can take on any panel, as long is it doesn't switch every minute?"
"Just be quiet and let me work." He nodded at the others. "Might as well get comfy."
Qe'bre growled, "Defensive positions. Phalanxes in front." A shieldbearer muttered something. "What was that?"
"Nothing, sir."
The legionnaire huffed. "That's what I thought."
The group of knights was blasted into oblivion by a nova bomb. Triton's kill streak lengthened when he scored multiple precision shots on the supporting acolytes. Lucks was punching any Hive that was close enough. Firewing kept the upper levels clear with Invective.
"Almost there." Sundial reported.
The third and final wave of Hive washed onto the Guardians. The Hunter spotted Mormu, Xol Spawn being accompanied by her entourage of two hallowed wizards. He dropped onto the first floor, bringing out his Golden Gun along the way. "Always delighted to burn you, witch."
Mormu screamed as the single shot tore through her. Firewing's Celestial Nighthawk poured his power into one shot. That one shot could almost drop any opponent; any survivors were dropped with a rocket or a burst of machine gun fire.
This time, it was Thorn that made the finishing shot. Firewing smirked for a second before focusing on the other hive. Going back to Invective, he killed the remaining wizards.
"Done," Sundial said. He transmatted into his Guardian.
The chamber below was quickly cleared of its inhabitants. Lucks, having kept his Striker class from yesterday, steamrolled the massive ogre. The fireteam didn't even flinch at Phogoth's roar. They have heard it so many times it was expected.
They burst through the Circle of Bones, cleansing it of everything. Triton drained one of the hallowed knights, allowing Firewing to carve it up. Lucks slammed the other through the barrier and into the endless pit below.
The Warlock stepped in front of the door and turned to his brothers-in-arms. "This is what we've been waiting for. This time, we will finally put our brother's soul to rest. This time, we will finally have our vengeance. You know the plan: draw Xyor out and kill her." He brought his hand out, palm down, towards Lucks and Firewing. "For Samson."
"For Samson," Lucks returned and placed his hand on Triton's.
"For Samson." Firewing put his hand on the Titan's.
"Through battle," The Warlock chanted.
"Through fire," The other Exo continued.
"Through ice," Red Lightning said.
"Through death!" They shouted and ran to end Xyor, the Unwed.
"Is he done yet?" A Squad-1 legionnaire asked for the tenth time in four minutes.
"Shut up." The soldier next to him, S'iaan, deadpanned.
The first legionnaire didn't say anything. Finally, some actual peace an-
"Is he done yet?"
S'iaan growled in anger and stomped off to Remon and Toncu. "Please tell me you cracked it."
"Almost got it," Remon voiced with anticipation. "And... Oh come ON!" The psion smacked the panel. "Blasted reset."
S'iaan chuckled. "Let me help." He shoved Remon away and... smashed the panel with his rifle.
"You idiot." The psion got back up. "You moroni-"
The door slid open to reveal the Destroyers' Lair. Toncu smirked at the stunned psion. "You were about to say something?"
Qe'bre pushed past the group. "You all know what to do. Tear it up or blow it up!" Half the force went in and began crushing the equipment.
The trio took cover behind a large rock in the back of the Summoning Pits. Now that Phogoth couldn't touch them, their focus shifted to the Hive soldiers encamped across the pit. A tombship came out of a portal and moved to the landing pad.
"Please tell me this is the third one." Firewing complained. "I am getting tired of these..." BLAM! "flipping..." BLAM! "knights!" BLAM! Said knight disintegrated from the third bullet.
Lucks popped his head out to look. "Nope. Don't see her- WHOAA!" A thrall jumped on top of him and clawed at his back. The Titan threw it off and crushed its chest. He then put a few rounds through its head.
"Always make sure its dead," Triton spoke. Five bursts of fire later, Phogoth was alone once again. Three, two, one. He jumped over the rock and unleashed another nova bomb.
"That didn't do anything," The Hunter growled. "Let me show you how it's done, Voidwalker." He pulled out his golden gun and twisted into the open. The shot hit Phogoth's heart. The mutated ogre dropped to one knee, roaring in pain. Firewing turned to his teammates and boasted, "That is how it i-"
While the Guardian was distracted, Phogoth shot him with his eye beam. The Hunter was launched into the rock face and fell unconscious. He didn't wake up before he was vaporized. Sundial floated back to Triton and Lucks to revive Firewing.
"You were saying?" Lucks chuckled. His revived brother growled and reopened fire.
Another portal cut through space, a tombship arriving and deploying its passengers. Three wizards also came to join the new wave of acolytes, knights, and thralls. Two were ascendants, the third...
"SHE'S HERE!" The Hunter yelled. He switched targets to Xyor as Lucks did the same. They were pulled back behind the rock by the Warlock just before a volley of darkness blasts screamed over their heads.
"Focus on the Hive, then her." He switched to a fusion rifle, got up and torched a hallowed knight. One of Xyor's escorts was burned to ashes two shots later. Triton ducked his head, a sword swinging through now empty air.
Said knight was blasted away by Firewing's shotgun. The current force was less than a quarter of its original size. Two knights, three -BANG- two acolytes, and two wizards still had yet to fall.
Lucks jumped up onto the pillars gracing the Pit. Phogoth fired at the redeploying Guardian, but failed to kill him before he got behind cover. The Titan ambushed Xyor's remaining wizard, crushing it with a downward punch. Without stopping, he reentered the air and let his Fist of Havoc loose on the group of knights close by.
When Xyor was the sole Hive left, excluding Phogoth, Death charged at her. She released a barrage at the Exo Warlock, but he slid underneath all the shots. The wizard looked at the approaching Titan in time to feel three points of intense pain. The last thing she saw was a shoulder ramming into her face.
A legionnaire jumped to a better position. What came down was a helmetless corpse. S'iaan roared in fury and popped out to release a bolt salvo. His target retaliated by shooting the rifle out his hands. The Sand Eater immediately corrected his mistake and pulled back.
Two more soldiers fell around him. Qe'bre called out to Remon. "Get us a way out of here!"
"Yes sir!" Remon acknowledged. "Toncu, Fi'eeh with me!" The psions and the legionnaire ran out of their cover, their comrades stepping up on the suppressing fire.
A window spanned the upper portion of the back wall, twenty feet above them. Fi'eeh threw a demolition pack at the glass. Once it hit, the trigger went off and an opening was created.
"You sure you aren't a Siege Dancer, Fi?" Toncu questioned. Not waiting for a reply, he switched channels to his commander. "Sir, we have an exit."
"Roger. All units, pull back. Repeat, pull back."
Remon was already on top of the exit, ready to cover his colleagues. S'iaan was the first to come up, followed by a phalanx. "Leave the shield! You'll get a new one when we get back!" the psion yelled.
Qe'bre was covering two more legionnaires, but a flux grenade connected with one and went off. His last two men dead, the lieutenant turned tail and sprinted (jogged) to the window. Remon opened fire when a Hunter moved from behind a wall.
Once they cleared the building, Toncu whipped out a detonator and pressed the button. Shards of glass and shrapnel shot out into the sand-covered streets. Smoke and flame rose out of the many openings.
"Did we finally get them?" the phalanx from earlier asked.
S'iaan growled. "No, we just slowed them down."
A harvester dropped in to pick up the survivors. As they sped off to Epsilon, everyone heard the call of an ahamkara dragon. The Destroyers of Mars will be back. And this time... they won't be playing.