Cayde put a round in the knight's head, the explosive bullet detonating half a second later and blowing the head clean off. With his other hand, he drew a throwing knife and plunged it straight into another knight's throat, Solar flames burning it to ash.

A horde of thralls poured into the room as Andal planted the sixth of eight thermite grenades around the power source for the big gun. Cayde reached in deep as he stored the Ace of Spades, leaping high into the air as his Light roared out, flash forging throwing knives roaring with Solar light. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty knives drove home into the thralls and turned them to ash. Landing, he turned in time to see Andal plant the last charge and fall back with the detonator in hand. Pulling the trigger on it, Andal set off the charges, briefly lighting up the gloomy room like a sun had gone off.

The chitin dried out and crumbled, the energy beam between the two layers flickering before it died.

"Alright," Cayde said, "We got the gun down, time to find a place to set up Transmat."

"Good to hear," Ruby said, voice sounding hollow.

"Ruby?" Andal asked, "Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine-"

"Tevis Larsen is dead," Eris cut in, and Cayde sucked in a breath at the same time as Andal.

"Eris!" Ruby snapped.

"You aren't going to be entirely with us, Ruby," Eris said, sounding as detached as ever, "They deserve to know why, and you deserve to be able to mourn."

"How'd he die?" Cayde asked as he and Andal exited the room they had been in.

"Vex," Ruby said, "We're bringing him home. I already scheduled out some time at the bar for everyone who knew him to say goodbye, then… the show off wants to be launched into the sun."

"Of course he does," Cayde said, "Sundance, can you track Cabal emissions? I think we should set up the Transmat beacon where they are. Hive'll be busy dealing with them."

Andal Brask walked into the tavern to the sound of laughter, five people sitting around a card table. He approached it, and one woman looked up from her cards. She had dusty skin and short, cornrowed hair, wearing a brown leather coat, "Ho? Who are you?"

"Andal Brask," he said.

"Ah, the one Micah warned me about," the woman said.

"Warn you about what?" Andal protested, "I was just raised, all I've done with my life is vomit into the Pacific!"

The woman laughed, slapping Andal on the back so hard he swore he died. His legs definitely buckled, and he was left on his knees in front of the group.

"I am Tallulah Fairwind," the woman said, before gesturing around the table, "this is Caliban-8-"

The robot raised a shot glass in greeting, red eyes staring into Andals, "Nice to meet ya."

"-Tevis Larsen-"

The bear of a man with brown messy hair and an unruly beard grunted, throwing a few chips into the center of the table.

"-Jaren Ward-"

The young man with dark, windswept hair and eyes like embers nodded, offering Andal a thin smile.

"-And Ruby Rose," the short girl with silver eyes raised a beer bottle in a clear toast before tossing in her own chips, a red cloak with wolf skull shaped clasps wrapped around her and sheathed knives bristling under it, "Last round, I have a job for the Wolfpack."

"What's that, Tallu?" Ruby asked.

"That House of Devils' Jumpship is still around?"

"The one I've been tracking? Yeah, it should be, why?"

"Our new friend needs a Jumpship," Tallulah said.

"We don't need the whole Wolfpack for that," Ruby said, "I'll take the kid and we'll get it."

"Kid?" Andal said, "I'm not a kid."

"You are compared to me," Ruby said, standing up and stretching.

"Don't take it personally, Andal," Tallulah laughed, "We are all kids compared to Ruby, she saw the Dark Age."

"Come on over here," Ruby said, walking and grabbing Andal by the back of his shirt and dragging him to a bin near the door. Various guns and a bow hung off it. Ruby drew a pistol from the holster and held it out towards Andal, "Here, take this. You don't have a gun, right?"

"Right," Andal said.

"Keep your finger off the trigger," Ruby ordered, handing it to him, "it's a FAMAE FN-750, not the best gun I've ever used, but what I could scavenge recently. Suppressed, so you won't make as much noise as you could, but they'll still be able to track you if you fire at the wrong time. I'll be offering fire support from a ridge near where they're set up. Come on, let's go be bandits."

Ruby loaded the Häkke sniper rifle she had been using recently, wishing, not for the first time, that she hadn't designed Crescent Rose to use ammo that had become so rare in the Collapse. She could only use her baby for sniping on the rare occasions she could justify .50 BMG… she should make her own Foundry. Tex was close to Dark Age reliability, but they didn't quite make it there, and then she could afford to produce ammo for Crescent Rose.

"Alright," Ruby said, Blossom appearing next to her to act as her spotter as she closed her non-dominant eye, bringing her other eye to the scope as she did. Finding Andal, she spoke, "I got you."

Adjusting her aim to the nearest Fallen to him, a vandel berating two dregs, she said, "I'm taking out the vandal, that's the four armed one. You should be able to handle the dregs."

Breathing out a long, calm breath, Ruby pulled the trigger, watching blue blood explode out the back of the vandal's head. Andal came out of the shadows as the dregs jerked in surprise. The first was gunned down before it had time to respond, while the other drew a shock pistol and dagger, lunging for Andal.

He dodged the dagger strike, grabbing the hand and twisting it wide, he shoved the pistol under the dreg's chin and pulled the trigger, the dreg collapsing dead. Ruby swung her rifle towards two approaching vandals, breathing in and then blowing one's brains out across the Chilean sands.

Andal dodged the stab from the dreg, grabbing the arm and shoving it so it was wide out from them both before shoving the pistol Ruby had given him under the chin and pulling the trigger. The gun gave a dull bang, and the dreg collapsed dead, Andal reaching down and grabbing the knife.

As he stood up, he saw two vandals making their way through the camp towards him. As Andal raised the gun and knife, a loud bang came from the cliff behind him and one of the two collapsed in a burst of blue blood and white gas. A few seconds later, the other joined the first in the same spray.

"Thanks!" He said, and Ruby hummed over the comms as he made his way closer to the jumpship, a lopsided thing with one wing and a red and white color scheme. Before he got any further, a loud whipping crack went overhead and he dove for cover. Ruby's voice came a second later.

"Don't worry, that wasn't aimed at you," Ruby said, voice casual, "They're trying to find me. I see them, three vandals with wire rifles right below the jumpship. They have a tied up Exo, I'll draw them away, you get him and take out the captain, ok Andal?"

"Yeah," Andal said, nodding. The next shot that went off over his head crackled with blue energy, hitting one of the vandals. The other two scattered, and rushed forwards, over the dead vandal and to the roughed up Exo, a blue and gray robot with a horn and white eyes. Before he could do anything, the robot stood up from where it was kneeling, spinning a shard of metal in between his fingers.

"Hey there," they said, "Thanks for the assist, wasn't looking forwards to taking those three out myself, but your sniper friend'll keep 'em busy, I'll guess. Cayde-6."

"Andal Brask," Andal said, watching Cayde walk over to a pile of equipment and pull out a revolver, "What're you doing here."

"Figured I could sell this ship for a good price at the Last City, space authorized Guardians are pretty rare, you know?" Cayde said, "What about you, Brask."

"Stealing the ship," Andal admitted, "I think they want me to be a space authorized Guardian."

"Ah, damn. Well, we gonna take out the Captain then? She's got my Ghost.*

Before Andal could respond, a sharp pain blossomed across his back and a loud bang echoed across the pit. The next thing he knew he was being raised in a flash of Light, Cayde trading shots with a giant Fallen holding a shotgun. Andal lay there as the Fallen got closer, hand wrapping around his weapons, waiting. Waiting… now!

Andal surged upwards, driving the dagger into the Fallen Captain's throat and unloading the magazine into their head. Blue blood leaked from the holes, but it didn't fall, instead grabbing Andal's arms with its lower pair and began to pull. Before it got too far in the process of tearing Andal's arms off, six bangs came from behind them and holes blew in the captain's head, dropping it.

"And that, is why we carry something with stopping power," Cayde said with a grin, "come on, let's check out our new ship."

"Firebreak," Blitz-21 sat straight up as the hollow voice came from the console above his head, "This is Vanguard Rose, you are go for insertion, I repeat, you are go for insertion. The main gun is down and the Transmat zone will be open by the time you reach them. Zavala, we've got teams coming onto the Dreadnaught, take over for me would you?"

"Ruby," Commander Zavala said, his deep baritone voice hesitating, "I read the report. Take some time off, you did a lot today. I'll take over from here."

"Thanks," Ruby said, voice tight.

"This is Commander Zavala," Zavala said after a second, "Team commanders, report in."

"This is Deputy Commander Sloane."

"Blitz-21," Blitz said, turning on his Calisto Lancer's thrusters.

"Elriq."

"Callisto Yin."

"Siegfried," the first Praxic order Fireteam called in.

"Shayura," the other said.

"Even you, Sloane?" Zavala said, though he didn't sound nearly as offended as he should have.

"We need a beachhead on that ship, Commander, I believed that when I saw its picture, and I think that even more now that I've seen it up close," Sloane said.

"Transmat Zone up in 3, 2, 1," Zavala counted down, then a glowing light appeared on the dashboard, "Parxic, in first. Bring the Void."

"Understood," Siegfried said, even though the Titan obviously wasn't the member being directed towards. Through the giant hole in the ship, Blitz watched four Nova Bombs go off, giant explosions of Void energy swallowing dozens of the hundreds of teaming Hive.

"Firebreak, now," Zavala ordered, and Blitz punched the button on his console, vanishing in a flash of blue light and appearing in the Transmat zone below. The teal and white Exo landed next to Cayde-6, who was blowing the head off a knight with his white and black hand cannon.

"Glad you could join us!" Cayde called, shooting another knight and causing it to explode into fire.

"Glad to be here!" Blitz called back, swinging Sweet Business off his back and grabbing the grip as he pulled the trigger. The rotary gun spun up, 7.62x51mm rounds spraying left, right and center as the Exo swept it across the gigantic room. Knights, acolytes, thralls were all torn to shreds by Sweet Business. Finally, the gun ran empty, and Blitz swung it open to grab the canister magazine and throw it aside. Before he could have his Ghost create another, a knight lunged out of cover, sword bared for his neck.

Sloane stepped between them, Crown-Splitter clashing with the cleaver. She wielded the massive sword one handed, the other bringing up an Annual Skate, a white and red SUROS-make revolver, and blasted off the head of the knight before kicking the body away. Blitz finished reloading, laying down suppressing fire on a coven of wizards that flew into the room. At the same time, slug rifle shots went off from the Cabal ship, legionnaires charging out and firing with their explosive payloads.

The war on the Dreadnaught had begun, and by god was Blitz gonna enjoy it.