S1-51
The Dark Beyond
2:51 PM
02/16/3201
Approaching the moon
Music
none
With Jeeves fully repaired, a customized carrier was constructed for his transport.
City Hawk 723's next mission was on the moon. "{We gave up the moon to keep the Hive away from Earth. We hoped that would be enough for them.}"
"[I've got a bad feeling about this.]" Within seconds, they came in orbit.
Earth's moon - Ocean of Storms
Archer's Line
Music
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Phaaze
"{I used to look up here at night and wonder what the Hive were doing, but the only activity I could ever pick up was hazy. Like it was blocked or buried.}"
"[That's actually pretty strange, Ghost.]"
"{Oh, right! Jeeves, while I was repairing your chassis, I went ahead and infused it with Light. You'll now find your capabilities significantly enhanced.}"
"[Well, you're right about that. So my Plasma Railgun's infused with... let me guess... Void Light?]"
"{Yup. Void Light.}"
"[Cool.]" Jeeves chuckled. The Fireteam then landed, with Jeeves landing behind them. "[Brief us in on the mission, Ghost.]"
"{A Guardian came here, searching for a way into the Hive fortress. But he just disappeared. Let's pick up his trail. His last known coordinates are up ahead.}"
"Alright, let's move." Michael ordered.
The Fireteam advanced a bit before coming to a massive structure. "[Ghost, what have you got on this?]"
"{The Guardian's last report said he captured this old accelerator from an unknown Fallen House.}"
"Jeeves, it looks like you can't fit inside. Think you can secure the area out here?" Mark-18 asked.
"[Alright, but I normally take my orders from my Pilot or a superior officer.]"
With that, Michael made the command. "Jeeves, Guard-Mode."
"[Standing guard as instructed.]" With Jeeves keeping an optic on the entrance to the accelerator, Michael and his Fireteam went inside to get some information.
"{Some of this equipment shows recent activity. Had to be the Guardian's Ghost.}"
"Go take a look." Samus's Ghost floated to the colony equipment to interface with it and see what it could find.
"{Alright, he was looking for the remains of an old colony base. Not too far. Maybe he's still there.}" Just then, the Ghost detected something.
Music
Destiny - The Fallen
"{Fallen. We're being hunted.}"
"[Team, hostiles inbound. My targeting systems have identified them as the Fallen House of Exile.]"
"Copy that, Jeeves. We're coming out." Michael replied as Jeeves transmitted scan data to his helmet.
RECEIVING FILES...
NEW ENTRIES
1: House of Exile
As they ran outside, Jeeves crushed a Vandal under his foot and destroyed a Servitor within one shot from his Plasma Railgun before unleashing a Rocket Salvo payload on a bunch of Dregs and Shanks. "Titans are incredible if Jeeves can do that." Mark-18 mused.
As Jeeves wiped out the Fallen, a single Dreg climbed on his back and pulled out a Titan Battery Pack. Before the Dreg could do any more damage, Samus killed it with her R-97 Compact SMG.
Mark-18 walked over to the Battery, picked it up, climbed on Jeeves's back, and reinstalled it.
Two Ketches appeared, ready to release more Fallen, but Michael had other plans as he embarked. Jeeves went down to one knee and caught Michael as he slid between the Titan's legs before placing him in the cockpit. "[Welcome back. Pilot-Mode online.]" Michael shot one Ketch, making it lose its equilibrium, and allowing him to grab it by the rear thrusters and send it hurdling into the other Ketch, killing the Fallen on both of them.
Music
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Phaaze
"{You can grab your Sparrow now. We're linked.}"
"Ghost, I got-"
"[Michael doesn't need his Sparrow right now, Ghost. He's got me for transport at the moment.]"
"Jeeves, how did you hear my Ghost?"
"[The neural link, remember?]"
"{Nice. Now, the colony base he was looking for should be on the other side of the ridge.}" They were ready to continue on with the mission.
"Michael, you OK in there?" Mark-18 asked.
Michael's voice was heard from the speakers built into Jeeves's chassis. "Alright, get your Sparrows, and follow me!" Samus and Mark-18 got on their Sparrows as they appeared. With Michael running in Jeeves's chassis, his teammates followed him to the objective.
Along the way, the Fireteam encountered two Dregs riding Fallen vehicles. Pikes.
Mark-18 jumped off his Sparrow, landed on one, killed the Dreg, and took the Pike while Michael destroyed the other one with a Rocket Salvo payload.
Earth's moon - Ocean of Storms
Anchor of Light
"{This is where he was headed.}" There were a few Fallen in the area, but they were easy to kill off. Once the area was secure, Samus hopped off her Sparrow and Mark-18 got off the Pike, sticking something on the side; a sticker that said 'Mark-18's Pike'.
"I'll give you guys a lift inside." Samus and Mark-18 climbed into the Titan's hands as Michael brought them up to the entrance to the central structure before disembarking, his Ghost appearing.
"{Looks like he set up camp here. Let's see what he left behind.}"
"Go for it." Michael's Ghost went over to the terminal in the middle of the chamber that was the entire building.
"{His notes; they're all about a place called the 'Temple of Crota'. It's not far from here. Sounds like a death trap.}"
"Death trap or not, we still have to find this Guardian and bring him to safety!" Samus stated.
The Fireteam jumped out of the structure, Michael going back into Jeeves's cockpit, Mark-18 getting back on his Pike, and Samus getting her Sparrow back out.
They were on their way to the marked location, coming upon a deformation of the terrain, the ground jutting up into a crumbled blockade. "{The ground here is hollowed out for miles. Who knows what happening under your feet?}"
Michael took a hold of Samus's Sparrow and Mark-18's Pike, while they were still onboard, and placed them over the blockade before stepping over it in Jeeves's chassis. "Yeah, I don't know, but I have a feeling we're gonna find out."
Earth's moon - Ocean of Storms
Temple of Crota
"{I think we found the Temple.}"
"No kidding. I've got a bad feeling about this." A massive temple was seemingly built into the surface of the moon.
"{Up ahead. Guardian down.}" Michael disembarked as his Ghost appeared and went over to the Guardian's corpse.
Music
Destiny - The Stranger
"There's nothing left..."
"{Not even the Light... Where's his Ghost?}" Michael's Ghost wondered.
As they began searching the area for the dead Guardian's Ghost, Michael heard a strange sound. "[I'm picking up a very bizarre energy signature nearby.]"
Michael looked back, seeing what appeared to be a female Exo standing quite a ways away, overlooking them from a cliffside.
Before he could get the rest of his Fireteam to look, a new strange sound got Michael's attention. He turned back, seeing odd symbols begin to appear on the front of the Temple of Crota, illuminating the chains covering the door. Michael looked over his shoulder, seeing that the Exo was gone.
"{We may want to move back.}" Following his Ghost's advice, Michael and his Fireteam backed up and readied their weapons. The chains and symbols on the large door vanished out of existence, allowing the door to slowly open.
Earth's moon - Ocean of Storms
Temple of Crota
(!) Darkness Zone (!)
Music
Destiny - The Hive
"{We've woken the Hive!}" A massive load of Thralls started pouring out of the door.
SCANNING...
NEW ENTRIES
1: The Hidden Swarm
Mark-18 lunged into the air and prepared a Super. "WELCOME TO OBLIVION!" The Exo launched a Nova Bomb at the Hive eradicating a lot of them, leaving the rest of the Thralls, along with Acolytes and a Knight, to Michael and Samus.
"{I'm picking up the dying Light of a Ghost. Inside.}"
"That's not good." Michael was right. A dead Ghost was NEVER good.
As they got inside, with the door being more than big enough for a Titan to go through, a Wizard appeared.
SCANNING...
NEW ENTRIES
1: Vurok
Eir Spawn
With a well-aimed shot, Michael annihilated it.
Michael (X)-[Amped Plasma Railgun] Vurok, Eir Spawn (The Hidden Swarm)
Earth's moon - Ocean of Storms
Temple of Crota
Music
none
Michael disembarked and went over to the dead Ghost in the back of the chamber. "Mark, you can revive dead Ghosts, right?"
"Yeah, I've done it multiple times. Leave it to me." Mark-18 then began focusing his Light into the dead Ghost, but could not revive it. "Oh no..."
"What's wrong?" Samus asked.
"The Ghost... Just like the dead Guardian outside, this Ghost's Light is gone, drained by the Hive, and it's permanently dead."
"{The Ghost is dead, but I can still read some of its memories. The Hive are raising an army here, preparing to invade Earth. We need to stop them.}"
3:26 PM
02/16/3201
Planet Earth - The last City
Tower Plaza
Music
Destiny - The Tower
They arrived back at the City, and Kadi 55-30 had a message for someone. "Hey, Kadi. Who's the message for?" Mark-18 asked the Frame.
"According to the label, it is for... Michael W Johnson. And it is from an ancient humanoid construct known as a 'Simulacrum', going by the name of-"
"Falco."
"Yes. Falco." The Frame then handed Michael the envelope.
Inside was a picture of Falco... and VH-9571?! They were both facing the camera with thumbs up. "Well, what do you know... He found his Titan."
As if reading Mark-18's confused look, Samus briefly explained it to him. "VH-9571 is a reverse engineered variant of one of the new G2 Titans."
"Yeah, Falco's partner, VH-9571, is a Monarch-class Titan."
"That certainly is something."
Just then, a ship flew in, with a heavily damaged machine riding on top. A Simulacrum appeared in a burst of energy along with a Ghost. "Looks like Falco's here."
They went over, meeting up with Falco. "Good to see you guys. Hey hey, Michael. Did you get the pic I sent ya?" Michael held it up for the Simulacrum to see.
"Hi. The name's Mark-18, I'm an Exo, and part of Michael's Fireteam."
"I'm Falco, a Simulacrum, and part of Michael's IMC squadron, Eagle-Eye 9-1."
"I remember my squadron, Falco. We're all here."
"{Guardian, I think you should go to the Speaker.}" Michael's Ghost stated.
"Well, alright."
Planet Earth - The last City
Tower North
Once he arrived, Michael headed to the Speaker's study. "Speaker, we've lost a Guardian, and a Ghost..." Michael handed the dead Ghost to the Speaker.
"Thank you for bringing it to me. Take this." The Speaker held out a slip of paper to the Pilot.
"That's an order for armaments. I don't need it."
"Hmm." The Speaker put away the paper. "Very well."
"I wish we could have saved that Guardian..."
The Speaker nodded in understanding. "You wish to help us all; an act of devotion to humanity. Perhaps there is something we can do for you and the other Pilots that have arrived."
"There is. Ghost?"
"{During the Collapse, the Pilots were separated from their Titans. Lately, we've seen reunions between Pilot and Titan. I'll give you a list of Titan chassis numbers for Guardians to be on the lookout for.}" A list of Titan numbers appeared in the Speaker's hands.
"Very well. Are there any clues as to their locations?"
"They're all on Earth." Michael replied. "That's the best we can do."
The Speaker nodded. "We will do what we can."
Well now, Falco got his Titan back, and now VH-9571 will be infused with Light.
See you next time.