Chapter 11: Ferryman: Carolina, Dakota and Hikari
Review Replies
edboy4926: Awesome chapter. As for my clone baby thing, I was watching 'The Creator' when I read the last chapter, and the idea came to me after remembering how Halsey made Cortana and the Weapon. As for the Doctor here, how about telling him that the Hive are nothing more than a parasite species and it's his duty as a doctor to purge parasites. Hell, how about asking him to create something that kills the worms inside the Hive?
ThermalsniperN7: Okay, thanks for elaborating on the clone baby thing. And as for what to do about Doc… That is actually a good idea. Thanks.
Dragon Emperor0: I'll be sure to write that down…
Guest: The reds and blues back together. How have they not blown up the tower yet?
ThermalsniperN7: Bold of you to assume their antics have begun to unfold.
Dragon Emperor0: I'll be the first to admit that the Reds and Blues are acting… uncharacteristically well behaved—but let's not forget the preamble to the Chorus Fiasco. The calm usually underscores a bigger fustercluck to come.
-The Tower, Last City, Earth-
A day had gone by since Doc was brought to the City and had his memories restored by Anakrisi. He was still a pacifist and refused to fight… But then Tucker told him that the Hive were a parasitic species. After that, it was like a switch was flipped, and he was now researching a way to kill the Worms the Hive relied on for their immortality.
"… Well that was certainly a heel turn." Tex noted, her body now starting to show signs of her clutch developing.
"Yeah…" Noble nodded, both of them in the Tower library as they watched Doc study anything and everything related to Hive biology. "We should probably go." He added, his lover nodding in agreement as they left.
"So, where to today?" The Eliksni woman asked.
"We're heading to Io to pick up Beta and her Guardian." Epsilon replied.
"Hey, got room for one more?" Tucker called as he jogged up to them.
"If you think you're ready for the field, sure." The Titan shrugged. "Why the interest in Io, though?" He asked.
"Well for starters, I wanna see what else there is in the system." The Hunter shrugged in reply. "Second… While I was sleeping last night, I had a weird dream." He continued with a frown, causing Noble and Tex to stop walking and look at him
"Weird dream?" Noble parroted with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah." Tucker nodded as he started recalling the dream's details. "Io was where it took place, and it seemed to head into some kind of canyon before ending at some kind of silver tree, where a cocoon was situated. There was a silhouette in it, but I couldn't make out any details to it since it was all blurry." He explained.
Tex frowned under her mask at this. That was too detailed to be a simple dream.
"I don't think that was a dream." She told him. "That sounds more like a vision telling you to go to a specific place." She added.
"You're sure about that?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah. Some Eliksni have had such visions in my previous Houses. Typically it was House Rain who had the most members capable of experiencing them." Tex replied with a nod. "One vision was the inspiration for the Kell of Kells prophecy." She added.
"If that is a vision, then you're more than welcome to join us so you can investigate it." Noble told the Blue Hunter.
"Alright! Let's go." Tucker smiled as he ran to get his own ship—Caesar the War Beast bounding behind him.
"... 425 glimmer that Caesar gets blessed by the Traveler's light." Noble smirked after a beat passed.
"You're on." His girlfriend smirked back before they made their way to the Prowler.
(Later)
"So how exactly are we going to find this particular sibling of yours?" Noble asked Epsilon as they flew to Io.
"It shouldn't be too hard, but Io can be unpredictable at times, so I'm not entirely sure this time." Epsilon replied. "That can happen when a planet is half terraformed." He added with a sigh.
"Here's hoping the weather is decent enough for us in the meantime." Tucker chimed in as he flew next to them in a javelin-class jumpship.
"Well let's try to not blow the planet up while we're there, okay, Lavernius?" Tex stated teasingly.
"First of all, that wasn't me, it was my friend Church. And second: How fucking dare you?" The Hunter retorted.
"Can we not have that when we're in the field?" Noble deadpanned as the two ships dropped out of lightspeed and flew to the surface of Io.
(Elsewhere)
EOn Io's surface, the Vex were trying to fight back against something that was practically tearing them apart. Nowhere near as badly as Caboose did in the Infinite Forest, but still.
That someone was Carolina, who was using her super… That looked more powerful than normal.
It also looked quite different.
She was an Arcstrider Hunter, so her body was completely covered in Arc lightning, but unlike a lot of Arc Hunters, she had the appearance of having on thigh high boots, elbow length gloves and her cloak now seemed more like a veil, rather than, well… a cloak.
It was like she had a wedding dress on, almost.
With a grunt of effort, the Hunter slammed her Arcstaff into a Minotaur and reduced it to sparks of lightning. Then her super dropped and she was back to normal.
"Impressive. It's still hard to believe you're an Arcstrider." Beta remarked as she came out and had a look around at the destruction her Guardian had caused.
"That's not all that's impressive, it seems." Carolina replied as she placed her hand on a spiderweb crater brimming with the Traveler's Energy and started absorbing it through her body, recharging herself.
"Absorbing the Traveler's energy like that is a shock, too. I haven't heard of anyone else capable of doing that." The Ghost commented.
It was true. Guardians were capable of doing a lot of things, but absorbing the Traveler's energy wasn't one of them. It might be that Carolina was the first with this ability—at least on record.
"But what I can't figure out why my super gives me the appearance of a wedding dress." The Hunter mused as she sat on a rock.
"Yeah, I can't give you an answer for that one, either." Beta admitted, her tone one of confusion.
"I guess I'll carry that as my big mystery." Carolina sighed as she looked at the sky.
"Well I managed to get a message to my siblings. So assuming we can get to the City after they pick us up, maybe we can ask around about it." Her Ghost stated.
"Here's hoping." The redhead shrugged.
(Elsewhere)
The Prowler and Tucker's javelin flew over Io as they neared the region where Beta transmitted from. Upon arrival, they found a cliff that would serve as a decent landing zone for them and transmatted to the surface. Once they were on the ground, Tucker gazed off into the distance, seeing the canyon from his vision.
It was also the last place the Traveler touched.
"Hey, you good?" Noble asked, shaking the Hunter out of his trance.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Tucker nodded as he shook his head clear. "But that formation out there, in the pit… That's where my vision was directing me." He added, pointing to the canyon.
"Go on and check it out, we'll start looking for Beta." Tex told him.
"Alright." The Blue Team member nodded before calling his jumpship back and transmatting back into it before flying off to his destination.
"Okay, let's mount up and get moving." Noble said as he summoned his Sparrow while Tex summoned her Pike, and then the two sped off.
(Later)
"Xi, you picking up any energy signals that we could track to get to where my vision showed?" Tucker asked his Ghost.
"Yes, and oddly enough, one life sign, though it's rather faint." The Ghost of Love replied in confusion. "But there shouldn't be anything out here." He added.
"Let's get down there and find out what's up." Tucker said as he positioned the ship just half a mile from the center of the canyon and transmatted onto stable ground.
First, the Hunter slid down the side of the canyon to where the crater that the Traveler created was and started noticing that the closer he got, the more he noticed that there were a lot of… Odd looking trees and plants growing wildly all over the place.
"Okay, this is a little odd…" Xi muttered as he looked around.
"You're telling me. I know every world across the universe has a different idea of life, but this is just weird." The energy sword user commented as he jumped from platform to platform toward the center of the canyon.
"No, I mean it's weird because these plants are usually the result of the Traveler firing its last resort Terraforming blast in self defense." The Ghost replied. "These trees, vines, brambles, flowers and bushes… they're all constructs of the Traveler's light and the purest expression of its power outside of us Ghosts." She added.
"So this is, what? Where it's last stand took place?" The Hunter asked.
"No, that was on earth." Xi replied, scanning a tree that looped around a rock like a serpent's coils. "I think this is where the Traveler first started fighting back." He stated.
"Then let's see what was left behind." Tucker said as the two finally arrived at the center of the canyon, where the tree from the Hunter's vision stood tall. "Yeah… This is definitely the tree I saw." He nodded as he approached it.
It had a hollow inside that he could enter from in the base, and upon entering, he found the cocoon from his vision as well sitting on the ground. The silhouette was inside, lying still.
"Xi, is this what you detected?" Tucker asked his Ghost, who scanned it.
"Yeah, this is it, alright." He confirmed.
Then Tucker approached, and whatever was in the cocoon seemed to react to his approach since it began to stir, like it was waking up. This made Tucker more and more curious about what was inside as he placed his hand against the soft material of the cocoon… Where human fingers tore through and clasped his hand, much to his shock.
"What the…? Wait…" He started to say before he felt a sense of… Peace. "I don't think we have anything to worry about, actually." He uttered.
Taking a breath, he pulled on the hand that clasped his, and out came what was probably the most beautiful humanoid woman Tucker had ever laid his eyes on.
Her skin was dark gray and her hair was an absolutely gorgeous shade of white, like the gentle clouds. When she opened her eyes, they were gray at first… Before they suddenly became alight with Solar, Arc and Void light.
Her body was currently covered in slime from her cocoon, but it was obvious she was naked, and her figure was worthy of a true goddess. As she got out with Tucker's help, she looked at him… And smiled lovingly.
"Thank you… Lavernius." She uttered, and the Hunter took a step back at the otherworldly echo in her voice.
"Wh-Who… Who are you? A-And how do you know who I am?" He questioned in surprise, even as this mysterious woman took his helmet off so she could look him in the eye.
The Hunter was revealed to be an African American male presumably physically in his late twenties with dark dreadlocked hair that was swept back, a scar going across the bridge of his nose from when Texas decked him back when she was still around as a robot, blue eyes—and a single gold earring on his left ear.
"That is simple." The woman replied as she got rid of the slime on her body and conjured a robe to clothe herself with just a flick of her wrist. "I am Hikari, the Gardener, but to the rest of the Last City, I am… The Traveler." She continued with a smile, causing Tucker to take several steps back in monumental shock.
"Wh-WHAT?!" He shouted, his eyes wide. "How is that possible?! If you're really the Traveler, why are you here and not in your body hovering over the Last City?!" He questioned.
"I spent several centuries transferring my consciousness to a body that I slowly grew from my own life giving energies, Vex Radiolaria and the genetic material of Humans and Awoken." The woman explained. "Ever since the Collapse." She added.
"Th-That's why you've been dormant for so long?" Xi uttered as he floated up to his mother, shocked that he was hearing her voice again.
"It is, my child." Hikari nodded, holding the Ghost of Love to her chest in a manner not unlike how any mother would with their own child. That made Xi feel more bliss than he ever had in his whole life.
"Why reach out to me, though?" Tucker wondered, feeling confused about that.
"Oh, that's simple." The primordial woman said as she released Xi and walked up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, causing the Hunter to blush since he could feel her admittedly ample and soft rack pressing against him. "I choose you to be my husband." She purred before kissing him on the lips.
That pretty much did it for Tucker. The instant she did that, he immediately passed out, much to Hikari's amusement as she laid him on the ground, letting him rest his head on her lap.
"I think you came off a little too strong." The Ghost of Love sweatdropped, chuckling despite himself.
"I've seen glimpses of his past life. This is practically Tuesday for him." Hikari told him with a giggle.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile in a completely different part of Io, Noble and his Eliksni lover were still looking for Carolina and Beta, when Epsilon felt the Traveler's consciousness re-emerging.
"What the–? That shouldn't be possible…!" The Ghost of Memory uttered in shock.
"What's wrong?" The Eliksni woman asked, looking at some destroyed Vex frames.
"The Traveler, I just felt its consciousness wake up!" Epsilon exclaimed, getting the attention of the couple.
"Okay, we'll have to ask Tucker about that. See if you can raise Xi while we're searching for Beta and her Guardian." Noble told his Ghost.
"On… it." The memory Ghost nodded before he noticed something. "Wait, okay this makes even less sense." He said. "The Traveler's consciousness isn't in its main planetoid form… it's in a smaller vessel, a human sized one." He added, sensing a small outline through his connection to Xi's developing current memories—as the memory ghost, he could do that.
"... I think we should shelve that for now and focus on what we came here to do primarily." Tex commented after a beat passed.
"Agreed." Noble nodded as they carried on in search of Beta and Carolina.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile with said duo, Beta too was alerted to the Traveler's new state of being at pretty much the same time as her little brother.
"The hell…?" Beta uttered, looking at the crater as Carolina went to town on the Vex.
"What's wrong?" The Hunter asked as she dispatched the last Vex of that particular squad.
"I don't know why, but it feels like the Traveler just woke up." The second eldest Ghost replied with an audible frown of confusion.
Before Carolina could say anything, she heard the telltale noise of Vex appearing behind her, and sure enough, another squad came out. This one was led by a Hydra.
"Oh good, I was wondering why things were more quiet than normal." Carolina quipped as she activated her super again.
"Hang on! They've been quiet for a while now! If they're coming out now, that means it could be a—!" Beta tried to warn her guardian, right before a pyramidal digital glass cage formed around Carolina, trapping her inside. "Trap." She finished.
"Well… Shit." The Hunter sighed as her super ran out of energy.
Before the Vex that trapped her could do anything, however, something flew into their numbers and blew most of them apart via gravity blast. Upon closer inspection, Carolina saw that it was a hammer, which flew to her left and revealed another guardian along with an Eliksni.
"Alright you sorry excuses for toaster ovens, back off!" The Guardian's Ghost exclaimed, its optic blinking.
The Titan flicked his wrist, forming a Void shield as a Minotaur slammed its hand on the cage trapping Carolina, causing Vex data lasers to blast her.
"AAAAAAAGH!" The Hunter screamed as a data column formed outside the cage, and a feminine looking Vex version of her started to construct itself.
"Shit!" Beta yelled. "Epsilon, my Guardian needs help!" She called out to her younger sibling in alarm.
Epsilon quickly went to try and help her hack the cage, while Noble and Tex tried to get the Vex to get away from said cage—all while the vex copy of Carolina was rapidly coming into being.
A feminine moan could be heard as metal and soft membrane flesh formed the copy's body, showing that it could feel pleasure, and possibly pain by proxy.
Meanwhile, Noble and Tex were busy smashing and shooting up the Vex around the cage to give the two Ghosts breathing room to work.
Carolina, meanwhile, saw the body finish construction and it looked just like her under her armor, but with Vex metal and color palettes, wire for hair, jiggly ballistic gel for flesh and radiolaria for blood with a core in her chest as a heart.
The copy was also quite sexy, and her eyes flickered between blue and red as she tried to awaken, but since she had no programmed personality, it didn't happen.
That was when the beams fired directly at Carolina's head, attempting to copy her personality—which caused the copy to start moaning in bliss again.
'They're trying to copy my personality?!' Carolina thought as she grit her teeth.
"Come on guys, we're running out of time!" Epsilon called.
"Alright, screw this!" Tex growled as she broke away from the Vex she was fighting. "Noble! Toss me your hammer and raise your shield!" She called.
"On it!" The Spartan replied as he tossed his hammer to his lover and raised his shield. Tex immediately slammed the weapon on the cage holding Carolina, causing it to falter and collapse immediately after another swing.
This caused Carolina to be sent flying backwards and the copy to drop to the ground… but it was too late, it was fully formed and even if its personality wasn't fully uploaded, it was enough to make it wake up.
The female vex slowly got up, moaning in pleasure as her soft and supple flesh was tickled by the wind, as her eyes fluttered open, revealing them to be glowing a bright blue.
Noble, who had joined Tex by her side, looked at the She-Vex copy with a raised eyebrow under his helmet. Carolina, meanwhile, got up and walked up to said copy, who turned to look at her.
"… What am I going to do with you?" She wondered aloud as her copy touched a crack filled with the Traveler's energy—and it started to form around her and make the earth below her weave particles of sand, fragments of bone, blades of grass, shards of crystal and even the energy itself… Into a wedding dress around her.
"What the…?" Epsilon uttered in confusion and interest as he floated around the unnamed copy.
"What's your designation?" Tex questioned, still apprehensive. "Vex minds typically have those." She added.
The copy only shook her head, not understanding the question.
"I don't think she's going to know." Noble told her. "She honestly seems more like a more humanized Exo than a Vex, so I think she's not part of their hive mind." He continued. "The radiolaria isn't acting like it usually does. It's kinda acting like the fluid of those Exo corpses we found on Mars." He added.
"So what are we going to do with her?" The Eliksni woman wondered.
"She feels more like a newborn that just entered the world, which isn't that big of a stretch." Carolina chimed in. "I won't say no to basically adopting her." She added, wrapping her arms around the copy and pulling her into a gentle hug.
The copy seemed to understand the gesture and returned it, letting out a peaceful hum.
"You're going to need a name, though." The redhead noted, causing her surrogate daughter to look at her. "Hmmm, okay, how about Georgia or Dakota?" She suggested.
The Exo-Vex construct mulled the names over before holding up two fingers, basically saying she liked the second name more.
"Alright, Dakota it is." Carolina nodded.
"Well then, welcome to the world, Dakota. Sorry that it wasn't under better circumstances." Noble chuckled nervously as Epsilon tried to call Tucker.
"Why is he not responding?" He asked himself as he kept trying to get a response.
Eventually…
"Hey, Epsilon. Sorry about the radio silence; Tucker found what his vision led him to, and… Well, it made him pass out." Xi apologized as he answered his sibling's call.
"The Traveler's new body?" Epsilon asked.
"Yeah. Apparently she'd been gestating and transferring her consciousness into this new body ever since the Collapse—and it's only just now finished after we managed to remove those Hive relics from the equation." Xi replied. "But she's still very weak, so she can't start regaining her full power and finishing her unfinished work until she fully recovers." He added.
"Anything else I should be aware of?" The Ghost of Memory asked.
"... She wants Tucker to be her husband." Xi replied awkwardly.
"... What?" Epsilon uttered flatly.
"Long story. He's still out like a log, so if you wanna swing by, here's our coordinates." The Ghost of Love told his sibling before sending him coordinates for where to go.
"Can't call your ship?" His brother asked.
"Tried, Io's constantly fluctuating energy levels—especially where we are—is messing with the homing system." Xi replied.
"Okay, sit tight. We'll be right there." Epsilon nodded as he hung up. "… Grove of Ulantan? What?" He muttered, reading the coordinates.
"What's wrong?" Noble asked, looking at his Ghost.
"He's in a section of Io thought to have been wiped out by the Praxic Order during the Dark Age: The Grove of Ulantan." His ghost replied.
"Ulantan? Who's that?" Carolina asked, Dakota also seemingly confused.
"Ulantan was a Warlock who proposed the thesis that Light and Dark weren't opposites, but two sides of the same coin pitted against each other in an eternal struggle that made up existence itself. That one could not exist without the other without everything falling into chaos on either side of the scale. That light needs dark to temper itself and vice versa. That balance is the ultimate goal. And that Darkness and Light can be used for good or evil, making the powers themselves more aemoral." Tex replied, getting surprised looks. "What? I read in the library during my spare time." She defended, four arms crossed.
"Ulantan was definitely philosophical." Carolina remarked.
"I'd even describe him as Daoist." Noble nodded.
"That's one way of putting it." Epsilon commented. "Anyway, let's swing by the Grove and pick up Xi and Tucker… And the Traveler, I guess?" He added, his tone turning confused even as the Prowler arrived.
"Don't think too hard about it; You'll go insane." Tex told him as the group transmatted aboard and flew toward the center of the crater.
(Elsewhere)
Hikari continued to stroke Tucker's hair as he slept on in her lap, while Xi scanned the grove around him.
"It doesn't make any sense. The Praxic Order said they burned this place centuries ago. Why is it still here?" He muttered.
"Because they lied about it." Hikari told him, getting his attention. "I was still gestating when they found this place, and some of them realized what was happening, and I was able to send a mental message to them to lie about this place so I could continue undisturbed." She explained. "Granted, they didn't know I was growing a body here, but still, I needed to have no interruptions." She added.
"That's going to be difficult to explain to the Speaker." The ghost sighed.
That's when Tucker groaned as he started waking up again, his eyes opening while Hikari looked down at him with a smile.
"... I guess I wasn't dreaming…" He groaned as he sat up.
"No, you weren't." The woman smiled, holding his face in her hands as she leaned down. "My husband." She smiled, kissing him.
This time, Tucker's body moved on its own, pulling the primordial woman into his lap as he kissed back.
Before his first death, he had no luck with the ladies—despite his best efforts and Carolina and Sister even telling him that he's actually great boyfriend material when he isn't being an absolute goof.
Now? Now he had too much luck… But that honestly wasn't a bad thing in this case.
It honestly sounded like things turning around for him.
As the two continued to make out, the sound of the Prowler soon began to get nearer and nearer to the grove, getting their attention.
"I was wondering when they'd show up." Xi remarked as the trio got transmatted aboard the UNSC vessel and flew off into space.
(A short while later)
"So you're saying that this is the Traveler's consciousness in a humanoid body?" Noble asked as he looked at Hikari.
"That's basically what the evidence is pointing to." Xi nodded.
"Kinda hard to dispute something that's literally staring you in the face." Tucker noted.
"It really is." Epsilon admitted.
Tex, meanwhile, was silent as she looked at Hikari. Never, in all her life, had she expected something so incredible to happen. She was honestly trying to sort through her thoughts on the matter, and there were a lot of thoughts.
The cosmic woman noticed the Eliksni woman's gaze and got up from her seat, walking up to Tex and looking her in two of her eyes.
"Your thoughts are in flux." She stated more than asked.
"Talking to the embodiment of the Great Machine that abandoned us, causing the Whirlwind that turned my people into who we are now does that." The Eliksni woman nodded.
"I didn't do that by choice." Hikari sighed sadly.
"What do you mean?" Tex asked with a frown of confusion under her mask.
"It was a decision of necessity. At the time, I was not yet strong enough to stand up to my enemies and grant the Eliksni the powers that the Guardians now possess. So if I were to stand and fight, I would have been crushed, and your people along with me—and later the entire universe." The woman explained. "So out of pure instinct, I did the only thing I could do—I ran." She added.
"That couldn't have been easy." Noble commented as Tucker walked up to the entity and pulled her into a hug.
"It was not." The woman replied. "I know that one of your people has a deep hatred of me." She mused. "I would like to meet her." She offered. "If only to give her some form of closure." She added.
"She's in the Prison of Elders." Tex told her, knowing exactly who Hikari was talking about.
"I see." The woman nodded.
Carolina, meanwhile, wasn't really paying attention, and was more focused on her adopted/technically biological daughter, Dakota, who was sleeping in her lap.
"You have so much to learn, sweetie." She said softly as her daughter instinctively snuggled into her. "So much to see and experience. I'll make sure you stay safe." She vowed.
"So why did you pick the name Dakota?" Beta asked Carolina.
"I dunno. Something about it just clicked." The Hunter replied, trying and failing to figure out why that was as it was.
Dakota only hummed as she snuggled into her mother's embrace, content and happy.
(Later)
Once the gang arrived back at the City, Carolina was quick to get her memories jogged by Sheila and soon was able to recall why she named her daughter Dakota.
It was after two of her friends, a brother and sister duo who were torn apart by Project Freelancer pitting them against each other.
Something that in her past life—she later regretted not doing more to stop.
She vowed that she wouldn't let something like that happen to her Dakota, no matter the cost.
Hikari, meanwhile…
"Are you fucking serious?!" Cayde shouted in shock, something that Ikora and Zavala shared as they stared at Hikari with wide eyes.
"This is…" Zavala uttered.
"Inconceivable." Ikora finished.
"But undeniable." A voice said, causing everyone to turn and see the Speaker entering the room.
"My Speaker." Hikari nodded. "Thank you for keeping the peoples I once called my children safe, human, Awoken, Exo, Ghost and Eliksni." She smiled.
"It has been a stressful endeavor, but it was also richly rewarding." The Speaker nodded humbly. "I will admit, your arrival today was unexpected, but your presence here will make everyone in the Last City feel that much safer and happier." He continued.
"That is what I aspire to bring back to them." Hikari nodded with a smile. "But you cannot be lax, not yet. I am still in a weakened state, so you must continue your efforts to combat the darkness, so that I may regain my power." She continued.
"Understood." The Titan Vanguard nodded.
"You got it." Cayde nodded as well.
"We'll hold the line." Ikora nodded firmly.
"Good." Hikari nodded before she turned to take her leave. "I would like to address all of the City if possible soon, and send a message to the Like-minded Eliksni Aphrodityss mentioned to invite them under our protection. Can you arrange that?" She asked.
"If you're willing to make formal introductions to the Consensus, I can make sure such an address is arranged." The speaker nodded.
"Very well, then." Hikari nodded as she walked away.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, in the place collectively known as the Reef, the sat a bar on a stretch of mangled ship parts and asteroids known as the Tangled Shore. The Bar's name was the Ketch, and the owner of the establishment was known as the Spider.
In this bar, sat a number of Eliksni and Awoken, but some stood out rather notably.
One was a Baroness from the House of Exiles on Luna, who Tex/Aphrodityss knew as Sapphirix. She was now a part of the House of Freedom, retaining her Baroness status.
The other was Tex herself, accompanied by her lover and husband Noble, and the other three were Alison, Petra and an Eliksni male Captain.
Said captain was dressed in purple and gold armor and very technical attire spliced to himself similar to Helix, but much more sophisticated. He also wore a red cloak.
And slung across this Captain's chest, was a small, possibly still fragile nearly one year old hatchling, a little female, who's carapace had developed in a much softer and non threatening manner than most Eliksni her age. Clearly her father wanted her nowhere near combat.
"I do hope you have a good reason for calling us here." Sapphirix commented.
"I was merely responding to your summons, Sapphirix." The captain replied.
"You couldn't have picked a less cutthroat place to discuss things?" The female Eliksni asked.
"The Reef is a place where Guardians are not allowed to kill Eliksni. It seemed a necessary precaution until I was sure your comrades were trustworthy." The Captain replied, looking at Noble and Alison as Tex leaned on her husband. "Though perhaps my assumptions were premature." He mused.
"No one is faulting you for being cautious, Misraaks." Petra told him.
"Yeah. I can't really do anything without offending Tex over here." Noble remarked. "But let's get down to business, shall we?" He added.
"Yes." Misraaks nodded, his daughter chirping happily.
Tex silently took a sip of her drink before she set it down. All four eyes were on the Sacred Splicer. "Simply put, House Exiles has been absorbed into Randal the Red's newer house, House Freedom." She began. "And both are now residing in a section of the Last City that we constructed ourselves." She continued.
"And the humans just accepted their presence?" Sapphirix questioned skeptically.
"Not all of them, but doing our part in fortifying it has helped our case so far." Tex replied.
"What we offer is a similar arrangement." Noble continued. "Join the city as another allied Eliksni house, and you and your house will be allowed to live there so long as you're able to help us as well." He elaborated.
"A 'you scratch our backs, we scratch yours' situation, at least until we get fully settled in." Tex amended.
Misraaks looked down in thought, considering everything he could think of. The silence was tense, but when he looked at the City dwellers again…
"I accept. It has been some time since I attained anything that was truly good." The Splicer nodded. "As a father, I must think of my daughter." He added, gesturing to the hatchling on his chest.
Noble nodded in understanding, as he was soon going to be a father himself, so he understood what the Eliksni man meant.
"We'll make sure you're able to enter the Last City unimpeded." Noble told him, letting the hatchling grab his finger. "You and your daughter." He nodded.
"Thank you." Misraaks nodded.
Things were really starting to look up, for everyone.
ThermalsniperN7: Sorry for the long wait. Having multiple stories to work on coupled with my previous PC crapping out on me made updating difficult. But the chapter is here, now.
Dragon Emperor0: It was a pain. But now with Carolina finally here, we can focus on the last character to need retrieval: Franklin Delano Donut. Then we'll be having Maine and Chief come in as well—but then it's onto the Black Garden and VoG arcs.
ThermalsniperN7: We also had new ideas pop up that has led to the "birth" of Dakota, Carolina's Exo-Vex hybrid daughter whom was made with data the Io Vex had on the Defiant Initiative, Exos, We also have Hikari, who is actually the Traveler in human form. I can already hear the angry reviews now; *Clears throat* "Dude, that's not why the Traveler was dormant! She was exhausted and weak after driving off the Witness and the Black Fleet!" I'm gonna have to stop you right there. Fiction is meant to express creativity, and we're practicing that extensively.
Dragon Emperor0: Let's also keep in mind that Dakota, despite being considerably young, will likely mature rather quickly over the course of the story. So if you're dreading the idea of seeing a child in a grown woman's body—that likely won't be the case.
ThermalsniperN7: Right. I refuse to let that happen here. Anyway, yes, Hikari is being shipped with Tucker since this was the plan we had in mind for him. Also, for those who may be worrying about Caesar, don't bother. Xi had the javelin jumpship Tucker took follow the Prowler back to the City, since the little guy was still aboard it and never went planetside. Anyway, see you guys next time.