S1-93
Riptide

3:37 PM
03/18/3251

Saturn's moon, Titan - New Pacific Arcology
Siren's Watch

Music
Destiny 2 - Titan

City Hawk 723 were stationed on Saturn's largest moon of Titan, and five members went out to restore power to the facility.

"Alright, we're not out of this yet." Sloane transmitted. "Now that we've reached the control center, we still need to power up the place before we can take care of our fleet. Commander Zavala tells me you've volunteered."

"Yeah, we did." Hayden-10 stated.

"I'll run tactical. Shipwright Holliday here will provide tech support. It's a straightforward op: get in, flip a switch, get out."

Just then, Amanda was heard on the line. "Heh... Sloane's got a way of making things sound easy, doesn't she?"

"Correct." Spyglass replied.

They went through the station, encountering no Hive on the way to the next sector.

Saturn's moon, Titan - New Pacific Arcology
The Rig

Nearby, a battle could be heard. Michael activated his Cloak and turned the corner, seeing some Hive fighting against... Fallen?!

"{Did we lead the Fallen here?}"

"No. Those vultures have been following us since we evacuated Earth." Sloane transmitted.

Michael took off the black piece of the Yin Yang Switch, then tossed it between the Fallen and Hive as the Shadow began to form. "Looks like we've got some new recruits, don't you think?"

"⊬⟒⏃⊑. ⍙⟒⌰ ⍜⋔⟒ ⏁⍜ ⏁⊑⟒ ⏁⏃ ⟒⋏!" Taken rifts appeared and pulled the Fallen and Hive out of reality. With the momentary silence, the Shadow lifted a hand up to feel the rain, despite being physically literally nothing but bones. "⊑⟒⊑... ⟟ ⌰⟟ ⟒ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⌿⌰⏃ ⟒. ⏁⊑⟒ ⍙⟒⏃⏁⊑⟒⍀ ⊑⟒⍀⟒ ⟟⌇... ⌇⍜⍜⏁⊑⟟⋏ ."

As the Shadow sat down to... be at peace, City Hawk 723 went further along and killed off some Fallen and Hive. There was a Shrieker up above the bridge, and it was letting loose Void blasts everywhere like crazy. One rocket from Tanner-21, and it was 'disassembled'.

They continued on, and the room ahead was covered in Hive biomass. "{Sloane, Amanda, the Hive have infected everything.}"

"Holliday, we gotta get you back in the air. We'll need ongoing aerial threat assessments to keep our perimeter secure."

"Oh. Uh... Yeah. You know my ship took a beating during the evacuation."

"I'll bump you to the front of the line for repairs once the lights are back on."

"Great." Amanda sighed. "Great."

Saturn's moon, Titan - New Pacific Arcology
Tidal Anchor

More Fallen and Hive were up ahead, brawling it out, when the Shadow caught up with the Fireteam.

Once the Fallen and Hive were dead, the Shadow spoke up. "⟟ ⏁⊑⟟⋏ ⌇⍜⋔⟒⏁⊑⟟⋏ '⌇ ⊑⏃⋏ ⟒⎅ ⟟⋏ ⍜⎍⍀ ⊬⟟⋏ ⏃⋏⎅ ⊬⏃⋏ ⍜⋏⋏⟒ ⏁⟟⍜⋏."

"What do you mean?" Michael asked.

"⟒⎐⟒⍀ ⌇⟟⋏ ⟒ ⊬⍜⎍ ⍜⏁ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⌰⟟ ⊑⏁ ⏚⏃ , ⟟'⎐⟒ ⋏⍜⏁⟟ ⟒⎅ ⌇⍜⋔⟒⏁⊑⟟⋏ ⌇⏁⍀⏃⋏ ⟒. ⌇⟒⌿⏃⍀⏃⏁⟟⋏ ⋏⍜ ⌰⍜⋏ ⟒⍀ ⎍⏁⌇ ⍜⎍⍀ ⌇⏁⍀⟒⋏ ⏁⊑ ⟟⋏ ⊑⏃⌰⎎. ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⌰⟟ ⊑⏁ ⏃⋏⎅ ⋔⊬ ⎅⏃⍀ ⋏⟒⌇⌇ ⏃⍀⟒ ⌇⟒⟒⋔⟟⋏ ⌰⊬ ⎎⟒⟒⎅⟟⋏ ⍜⎎⎎ ⟒⏃ ⊑ ⍜⎎ ⍜⏁⊑⟒⍀, ⌇⏁⍀⟒⋏ ⏁⊑⟒⋏⟟⋏ ⎍⌇ ⏚⍜⏁⊑." Michael's Light was stronger than ever, and separating from the Shadow didn't split his power clean in half like it normally did.

With that, the Fireteam continued forward, killing off a Fallen ambush. The console was nearby, and a large window showed the power generators for the station. "{We can see the wave energy converters from here.}"

"Sweet. Now just flip the switch and turn 'em on."

Michael flipped the switch on the console as his Ghost interfaced with the systems. "{Accessing systems now.}"

"Ugh... Some of the pistons are moving, but we're still sitting in the dark." Amanda groaned.

Just then, an alarm could be heard. The screens displayed four green pistons and two red ones, along with a blinking caution sign. "Something went wrong. Pistons must be jammed." Mark-18 reported.

"Sorry, pals, but you're gonna have to go out there, rig a workaround."

A nearby door opened, and there were Fallen traps on the ground. Hayden-10's Ghost came out. "{Hang on. I have an idea. We'll use these traps against the Fallen.}" The Fallen traps vanished, picked up by Hayden-10's Ghost.

After continuing onward, and killing more Fallen, trudging through more Hive biomass, a room filled with Fallen tripmines blocked their progress... until the Hunter Exo's Ghost gathered them for later use.

Down at the bottom of the station were more Fallen, which were killed off relatively easily.

After crossing a bridge, City Hawk 723 witnessed some Hive catch the Fallen by surprise. The Fallen were surrounded. The Fireteam on one side, the Hive on the other.
First, the Fallen were killed off, then the Hive were destroyed from collateral damage caused by the Cursed Thralls, and City Hawk 723 continued.

Another bridge, and a screech was heard. "{Did you hear that?}"

Michael took off his helmet for a bit to clear out his left ear. "I heard it. Hard to miss."

"It can't be..."

"What's going on, Hayden?" Michael asked.

Hayden-10 yelled out loud. "OMNIGUL, I SILENCED YOUR SCREAMS TWICE NOW! I CAN DO IT A THIRD TIME!"

Cursed Thralls appeared on the bridge, and their explosions were avoided, but the regular Thralls that were rushing in from the other side of the gap were not so fortunate.

A few Acolytes down, not to mention a Knight as well, and the path was clear. "{We made it to the converter platforms.}"

"OK. Get to the stalled pistons. See what's jammin 'em. Once they're all movin, we're in business." Amanda said.

They entered the first offline wave energy converter, seeing it filled with more Hive biomass... and not-even-God-knows-what. "Oh yeah, found the problem. The Hive have gunked up the pistons." Michael reported.

"Then let's find a fix." Sloane transmitted.

"Are the internal pistons of the wave energy converters resistant to explosives?"

"Yeah, what did you have in mind?"

Instead of replying verbally, Spyglass took out a Frag Grenade and grabbed the pin. Michael pulled out a disc-like device and placed it on the ground, causing a small particle barrier to form from it as Spyglass armed the explosive and slammed it into the gunk.

The Frag Grenade detonated, clearing the piston, while the A-Wall protected the Fireteam from the explosion. The wave energy converter was undamaged.

Michael pressed a button on the A-Wall projector, making the device deactivate as his Ghost picked it up to recharge it for future use. "{First piston's good to go. We gave it a power-scrubbing.}"

"That's great and all, but, uh... it's still pretty dark on this end." Amanda transmitted.

Sloane was heard. "Sounds like you got more scrubbing to do, Guardians."

As they traveled to the one remaining offline converter, that screech was heard again, and more Hive were up ahead... but not for long.

More gunk, and Spyglass brought out another Frag Grenade. Michael's Ghost transmatted in the A-Wall projector, and it formed the protective barrier as the explosive detonated, clearing out the piston. "Final piston is clear."

"Control center's still dark, so it's gotta be more than a piston problem. Gonna have to get in n' futs with the circuit breakers." Holliday said.

"Try the central platform." Sloane suggested. "Everything routes through there."

Eventually, City Hawk 723 made it to the central platform, and that screech was heard once again.

"Ship priority status update: Engaging Hive targets." Samus's Gunship was flying overhead, and it was blasting away at a few Wizards, as well as a quite a bit more Hive, destroying them as the Fireteam got up there.

Music
none

"Circuit breaker's going to be around there somewhere. Find it, and flip the switch, just like I said." Behind more Hive gunk was the circuit breaker, with the screen display highlighting all six wave energy converters in green, with a 100% at the side.

Samus flipped the switch, and the station began coming back online. "Yeah! Power's back!" Amanda cheered.

"Exemplary work, everyone." Sloane commended. "But we still have to deal with these intercepted enemy transmissions."

"I think it'll be relatively easy compared to what we've been through. You've heard of Oryx, right?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, I've heard of him." Sloane replied. "Taken King, right?"

"Gone, because of us. We defeated him."

Sloane chuckled. "Then you'll be the best Guardians to ask for this next assignment. C'mon back and I'll brief you in."

When I went through that story mission myself, I also thought I was going to face Omnigul. Turns out I was wrong... Lucky her.

See you next time.