Flying to Titan with their jumpships, our heroes were ready to help Commander Zavala with whatever he needed. They felt badly for leaving the farm and for Hawthorne. They could all tell she felt like the Zavala abandoned her and the survivors. They knew it was complicated but they really couldn't blame her for feeling that way. If they stayed, maybe they could save the few at the farm, but if Zavala was indeed making a counter-offensive, they could save everyone and take back the City. Once they saw the moon of Saturn in view, Light Hope went on the comms.
"Vanguard Fleet: Guardian Ship seven-two-three is on approach. We received your beacon, and we're ready to join the fight."
"Guardian Ship, this is Zavala. It's too late. The Hive have overrun Titan. I was wrong to bring us here…"
As they landed, they all heard the emptiness in Zavala's voice. In all the time they had known him, he had never sounded any less than a standing wall, a protector that would never quit for anything, a Guardian that would never lose hope. But now they were starting to think not even the great Zavala was infallible and that thought put a bit of worry in them. Not for their cause, but for their friend.
"Commander, we're here to help." Adora said over the coms as she led her fireteam through what was left of the ancient Golden Age Arcology.
"No! We've already lost too many Lightless Guardians to the Hive. We can't secure this moon."
"We have our light back."
"What? Impossible."
"Commander, if I may? Guardians, this is Deputy Commander Sloane. We have a counter-offensive to plan. To do that, we need to get this station up and running. There's a fleet to prep, Guardians to arm, and a trove of intercepted Red Legion transmissions to decrypt. It's critical we gain access to the stations Control Center. That's where you come in. If the Light really is with you, send the Hive back to hell."
"And Guardians… Please be careful."
"Don't worry Zavala. We're not going to fail or fall. We promise." Adora said wholeheartedly. She knew it didn't do much to raise Zavala's hope, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to keep her promise, she NEVER breaks her promises.
As they continued to run through the station, they had to make their way to a perilous set of walkways over the giant waves of Neptune. Trying to get his mind off of the crashing waves that could easily crush their entire bodies like they were made of twigs, Bow decided to ask a question.
"So, since I'm not seeing any Hive or their growths, I gotta ask, what was this place?" he asked the Commander.
"The Golden Age cities of Titan were once the pride of humanity. We thought they were abandoned. I was a fool to think the Hive would not spread this far."
"Hey now, don't beat yourself up sir. There's no way you could have known the Hive were here. I mean when you think of a giant ocean moon, you don't think the Hive are going to find ways to burrow into it without drowning." Bow said, trying his best to lift Zavala's spirits but to no avail.
"That may be, Bow, but I still expected this facility to be empty. I should have prepared for some sort of resistance and yet I didn't. Whoever we lost here is due to me."
"No, it's due to the Hive, and we're gonna make sure they pay for it," Adora said as she cocked her gun, ready to bring the hurt.
Once they crossed the walkways, they saw the chitinous growth created by the Hive. Of all of Humanities enemies, it was universally agreed by all races that the Hive were pure monsters. They had sadistic rituals, destroying not out of survival but pure pleasure, and even killing their own family members out of love so that they could grow stronger. Suffice to say, the three eyed aliens were screwed up in the head, and Adora and her friends were going to take them down a peg.
Once inside they were attacked by hordes of Thralls, the Hive's blind and ferocious foot soldiers. They attacked like animals and were far more relentless. Thanks to the Light and a few well placed bullets they went down quickly but not easily. Hive never go down without a fight, it was their Sword Logic: the strong survive and the weak perish. As they continued to move through the facility, they were able to stop a small ritual a few Hive were attempting.
"I shudder to think what spell the Hive were casting back there. We should talk with Eris Morn. She would know which Hive God they were communing with." Light Hope stated.
"No one has seen Eris – or Ikora or Cayde – since the City fell." Zavala said with a heavy sigh over the comms. They could all tell that not knowing if his friends were even alive was killing him.
They soon made it up to the Control Center and took out any Hive they could find. They even found a Hive breeding ground, filled with giant yellow sacs fused to the walls and floor. Glimmer constantly gagged during that bit and was very close to throwing up in her helmet. Once the Hive were all blown up, burnt, electrocuted and, whatever it was that goes for being killed with the Void, they found the landing zone. They saw Zavala and a large woman with enormous shoulder pads, whom they assumed was Deputy Commander Sloane. After a quick nod to Sloane, they met up with the Commander.
"I didn't dare believe, if the Light can find its way back to you, then perhaps there is hope for us all. Our numbers will continue to dwindle. We can no longer protect ourselves, much less the survivors." Zavala said as he turned away from our heroes and looked on to the Hive growth of the Arcology, then slowly looked at his own hand, trying to call upon the light with every ounce of his will but still failing to do so. "And without the Light… are we even Guardians anymore?"
The trio looked at their Commander with concern. He sounded only slightly better than he did when they arrived. Now was not the time for a full-blown existential crisis. Zavala needed a win, something to get it through his head that they would survive. And the three of them were ready to do what they could.
"Commander." Adora called out to her friend and leader.
Zavala turned back to the fireteam with a look that read he was ready to get to work. "We won't last long with dead generators. Wave Energy Converters power this station. But thanks to the Hive, they're in need of… attention."
"We can take care of it." Adora said enthusiastically.
"Yes… I believe you can." Zavala said with the faintest look of a smile adorning his face.
As all of this was happening the survivors of the City were doing their best to get by. Right now, though, a certain heterochromia hunter was having some near constant annoying dreams. It was about a portal in the EDZ that would lead to a Shard of the Traveler but she was doing her best to ignore it. She wasn't going out there to get killed just because of some dream. Unlike Adora, Catra was more of a realist and didn't fully trust these dreams to actually be useful. She thought they were just her stressed brain trying to fool her with false hope. After a while, she just got out of sleeping bag and tried to find her friends.
She found them in the barn. Scorpia was leaning against the wall taking a little nap while Entrapta-6 hadn't even moved from where she was since they got here and was continuously fixing both bot and whatever machine she was given.
"Hey guys." Catra said with the laziest of waves.
Scropia almost fell from sleeping upright when she heard Catra but was able to catch herself, albeit a little awkwardly while Entrapta didn't even notice. Noticing their Exo friend was in the zone she went next to her and lightly tapped her head. With the feeling of something tapping her head, Entrapta-6 turned to her friend.
"Oh hey Catra! When did you get here?" Entrapta genuinely asked as she just registered her presence.
"Eh, just now. What have you guys been up to?"
"Oh not much really. Entrapta's fixing stuff and I'm just waiting to hit stuff." Scorpia said in slight embarrassment at her lack of activity.
Catra hummed in acknowledgment and took a seat near them. Her Ghost Melog suddenly materialized in front of her.
"So are we going to talk about it or are you just gonna ignore it and pretend like it doesn't exist like everything you don't like?" they said with a bit of sass.
"Don't know what you're talking about." Catra said as she turned her head away with full knowledge of the subject her Ghost was referring to.
"Oh come on. We both know that thanks to our paracausal link I know what you're thinking. These dreams of yours aren't stopping anytime soon. Maybe if we go to investigate it you can at least get a goodnight's rest." Melog implored.
"What's this about dreams?" Scorpia asked, gaining the attention of Entrapta and her Ghost Emily.
"Nothing."
"Come one wildcat. You can't lie to me. What's up? Do you need first aid? Do you need a hug?"
"No and definitely not. Don't think I would survive one of your hugs without the Light." Catra said jokingly, trying to avoid the conversation but this only resulted in her teammates to look at her with concern. She sighed with a sense of regret. "Okay, ever since Adora left I've been getting these weird dreams about a portal heading towards a Shard. I don't really trust it since without the Light, it's most likely just stress related."
"That makes sense … unless the Traveler is trying to tell you something." Entrapta said nonchalantly, getting puzzled looks from her friends.
"I'm sorry, what!?!" Catra asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah, from what we've learned it seems like the only way the Traveler can really communicate with us is through dreams."
"What?!? Why didn't you tell us this?" Catra screamed.
"Didn't you read the grimoire entries?" Entrapta asked, met only with silence. "Did either of you?"
Scorpia just put her hands behind her back and whistled while Catra was rubbing her head.
"Starting to think I should have, yeah."
"Oh! If we ever find loremaster Byf we can have him teach you guys! Oh, maybe even ask for a private session!" Entrapta said as she twirled in her swivel chair. It was no secret Entrapta was a lore nerd or that she had a not-so-secret crush on the fan named 'Lore Daddy'.
"Really? You sure it's not just to get you alone with Mr. Silky Smooth Voice?" Catra teased
"Oh that would be a bonus, but the main priority would be to teach you guys some of the most important history of our galaxy." Entrapta exclaimed, not really understanding that Catra was trying to tease her.
Rolling her eyes Catra continued, "So you think the Traveler, the big sleeping ball that has been dormant for years, is trying to tell me something . Why me? Why now?"
"Maybe because of the Red Legion, the fact that more Guardians are needed right now, or the fact that something is heading towards that Shard you saw and it needs someone to stop it from being corrupted and/taken. Who can say?" Entrapta said with an enormous amount of excitement in her voice.
Catra sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. So the big white ball was calling her huh? She never really trusted the thing. She gets that it's the reason she's alive right now but that doesn't mean she blindly worshiped it like a lot of other Guardians. No, she always asks questions and never gets any real answers.
"Sooooo…. We're going to find that Shard right?" Scorpia asked.
"I… I don't know. Maybe it's real. Maybe I'm hallucinating. Or maybe the darkness is getting in my head and trying to trick me. Is risking our lives for something that's probably not even there really worth it?"
"Catra, if that Shard is there we could help all these people survive. I get that you're skeptical of this but isn't it worth checking it out at least? If we don't find anything, we'll head right back." Scropia said.
Catra took a moment to think about the situation. It was risky but if that Shard was there it could do a lot for the survivors. She looked towards Scorpia, who was giving her a serious case of puppy dog eyes, complete with a quivering lip. Entrapta was just bouncing up and down in excitement of whatever would transpire, but she knew it would be amazing!
"Alright we'll go." Both her teammates squealed in joy. "But you have to tell Hawthorne what we're doing." Catra pointed to Scorpia who immediately deflated and tried to think of an excuse to not talk to the pretty but intimidating lady.
"Uh yeah ok. Um Kyle." Scorpia Ghost appears. "Go tell Hawthorne what we're about to do."
Her Ghost looks around and says, "Oh was that my job?" He asks, not really paying attention the last few minutes.
"Really Kyle?"
Her Ghost headed to Hawthorne and explained their plan. Obviously she didn't like it but she knew that if that Shard was real they could get a serious advantage. So she let them off with their own ships and some guns they were able to scrounge up. Once they got close to the area in Catra's dream, they entered a small opening that lead deeper into forest. Thankfully they were far better at stealth than their off planet friends so they easily avoided any conflict. Once inside, they saw a strange portal hover around.
"Huh, well what do you know? It is real, let's hope that Shard is too. You guys ready?" Catra turned to her fireteam and they both nodded yes with extreme vigor. Catra entered the portal and came out to some strange part of the forest but she was alone. It looked like the Light and Darkness kind of meshed here. It was really weird.
"Gotta love the ambiance." Melog mumbled. "Hey! Do you see that? Over there. The Light."
Melog was referring to the multiple wells of Light across the area. As Catra got near to them she noticed they took the form of a Hunter. Some even took the form of her friend Cayde-6. When she got even closer to them she could hear Cayde's voice coming from some of them.
"All I can think is, 'if Rasputin had all those mighty tools, and it lost, what did it learn? What's it gonna try this time around? When I hear about the Dust Palace, and those Psion Flayers getting into Rasputin's mind, I wonder, 'what would they talk about, Rasputin, and those creatures? Because I was a servant too. I was an instrument of war, bound to the will of a lesser master. But I learned to be something more."
"I think these projections might be lessons." Melog deduced as they made it further onto the forest. She heard stories about Hunter antics, the Warmind AI Rasputin, even some about Cayde himself. She wondered how the hell the stories were being told in these voices but just chalked it up to "Guardian stuff" and left it at that. Eventually she made it to the end and found another portal, she walked through with a bit of hesitation. Once she was through she saw the Shard she was after, as well as her friends who exited their respective portals not long after her. She ran towards them to try to get some answers.
"Guys are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just saw a bunch of weird light things in the shapes of Zavala and Shaxx tell some stories." Scorpia explained.
"Me too! Except it was more Ikora and some Warlocks I couldn't make out." Entrapta said.
Turning to their prize they slowly walked towards the Shard. Once they all got close enough their Ghosts appeared and imbued them with the Light.
"So we got our powers again. What do we do now?" Scorpia asked.
"Well knowing Adora, she's going to try and please everyone so that'll leave a few loose ends. Right now let's go help that Devrim guy. We can deal with whatever problems Adora didn't notice when we're done. Let's make sure our 'heroes' don't fail miserably, huh?" Catra said as she and her team transmatted to their ships and went straight to Devrim Kay.
Back with our heroes, the group had fixed the generators and had even found a Golden Age CPU to decrypt the Red Legion Intel they had intercepted. Things we're supposed to be great but what they learned from the encryption was nothing short of devastating.
"They call it… The Almighty. The crown jewel of the Red Legion and life's work of their leader, Dominus Ghaul. Ghaul has subjugated hundreds of worlds. Those that resisted, no longer exist. You see, the Almighty annihilates stars. Nothing-and no one-survives Ghaul's ambition. What he wants is the Traveler. And it's Light. As for the Almighty, it's now pointed at our sun. In short, sir, the war's over. And we lost." Sloane said grimly, though no one could truly blame her.
Everyone stood in silence at this new information. They could barley comprehend it. A weapon capable of destroying their star was here and with the flip of a switch, nothing short of system wide extinction would be inevitable. Adora was shook. Bow was trying his best to conceal his anger but he was more focused on trying to comfort a scared Glimmer who sat down on the nearby stairs. All turned to Zavala, who stayed extremely quiet during this whole situation, and waited for him to say something, anything.
"We built our home under the protection of the Traveler. When our enemies attacked, we built a wall that stood for centuries. But now, walls mean nothing. This enemy has taken our home. Taken our Light. And now they threaten our very existence! We're going all in on this… Almighty. How long before the Fleet's combat-ready?"
"Zavala wait…" Sloane tried to continue but was stopped by the Commander slamming his fist into the table with so much force it was a miracle it didn't break.
"If we wait, we die. But if we attack together, we can take back our home, our Light… our hope. Or we die trying. Now, I need my fireteam. I need Ikora and Cayde."