Ghost and I were on our way back to the Cosmodrome for the third time. At this point, it's becoming routine. The views of the mountains and the ocean zipped by us as I looked at myself in my new armor.
"Hey, Ghost." I called out. "I've got a question to ask."
"Ask away, Hana. What's on your mind?" he asked.
"Well, right now we're just exploring and doing missions in the Cosmodrome, right? Are there any other places that we're going to do missions?"
"As of right now, since you're a new light, we are restricted to just Earth based missions, but don't fret, Hana! Soon enough, we'll be able to venture out to Venus and Mars!"
It's still very weird to hear how casually everyone talks about going to places like that. In my time, there was no way we could have even gone forth and stepped foot on Mars, let along Venus. The future must have some serious technology to have been able to do all of this.
And it makes me wonder what really happened during the collapse. It was something that I really wanted to learn from Ghost, but it seems as if it's a touchy subject, much like talking about my past was. Whenever I feel the time is right to ask him, I will.
"..." Ghost was staring at me. Not in a concerned way, but more of a 'I know you have something on your mind. Spill it.' sort of way. I wont lie, it looked kind of cute.
"Alright, you got me. But can we talk about it afterwards? I don't want to dampen the mood on the mission." I say.
"No worries, Hana. We can talk all you want when we get back to The Tower. Right now, I'm planning our strategy for picking up the trail of those lost Guardians. We'll be landing near The Sky Watch, right where we landed the first time when we went to the place."
Ghost was incredibly handy when it came to things like this.
After a few more minutes of scenic flying, we finally arrived at the Cosmodrome. Being transmatted onto the ground, I readied my scout rifle and awaited Ghost's waypoints.
"The downed Guardians last know location is over by The Sky Watch. Let's go check it out, Hana!"
"Right on it!" I transmat my sparrow and ease into a steady but fast pace. I don't ever think I'll get used to this thing, but it definitely beats walking all the way over to that place.
As we sped on our way, I saw several Fallen already shooting, but they weren't shooting at us. I couldn't see at who they were shooting at, but after getting into The Sky Watch, Ghost let me in on some vanguard reports.
"We're heading back through the Hive breeding grounds. Vanguard reports say they're spilling up onto the surface, keeping the Fallen busy."
"That ain't good. But at least that'll keep our path a bit clear. Ghost, where is the last known location?"
"Just up ahead, Hana." Going through the same building where we fought the Hive Wizard, more Fallen blocked our path. It was a rough shoot out, emptying two magazines before the room was clear.
"The Ghosts... They are in a clearing not far from here. Let's go, Hana!" Ghost said in a hurried tone.
"On it!" I hurried out of the building, finding myself in an open clearing with more rusted buildings and toppled over vehicles.
"The Ghosts are still here!" Ghost said with enthusiasm. But immediately after, his voice got serious. "The Fallen have them..."
"Can't their Guardians save them? What's going on?" I asked.
"They went dark, Hana. Last we heard of them, it seemed like they were in a serious firefight..."
"Firefight...?"
"Yes. Hang on... I'm picking up the signal over by that group over there!" Hurrying over to where Ghost signaled me towards, I began my fight with the Fallen.
Dregs and Vandals swarmed me, shooting their bullets towards me. I began to figure just how much damage I could take before I had to get back into cover and I was slowly warming up to the idea of being in a more chaotic fight if I needed to be.
Once I killed a Vandal, he dropped something on the floor. It was a shell, similar to the one that Ghost wore. Pale white in color.
I picked it up and held it in my hand. "Thank goodness! Hey, Ghost. We're here for you. Ghost? Hey, Ghost...?"
"It's dead, Hana... Keep hunting." Ghost said somberly.
"I..." I didn't know what to do. The Ghost shell in my hand felt so heavy, like a body. Well, that's because it was a body. A Ghost's body... Similar to my own-
"HANA! It's dead! Keep looking!" Ghost shouted into my ear.
"R-right!" I didn't waste anymore time. Following Ghost's shouting, I began to kill the Fallen left and right, finding another shell...
I couldn't believe it. I knew these Fallen and Ghosts were all just ones and zeroes, but it still had a heavy weight on my mind. The rumble and pain from the recoil of my scout rifle as a bullet whizzed past the head of another dreg. The weight of a shell falling to the ground, making a large thumping noise. The heat and panic of my own sweat in my brow from running all over the place.
I felt like I was not in my element. It was a game. It was just a game... A game I didn't want to play anymore.
"This one still holds the codes! Let's find the Array!"
I pocketed the shell, heading towards where Ghost told me to go. Fallen were blocking the way, but they fell quickly to well placed shots from my scout rifle. Well, they were well placed shots, but my hands were shaking. From anger or from remorse, I couldn't tell but the shots landed true.
We arrived at a large terminal, its screens still having a static image on them. "There's the controls. I'll see if these codes still work." Ghost said.
Just then, two vandals came out of nowhere and ambushed me. They pinned me to the ground with their weight and attempted to stab my head off. "Hana!" Ghost shouted.
I barely managed to dodge the first attack and kick the vandal off of me. Rolling back, I readied my scout rifle, but it was knocked out of my hand from the second vandal.
"Argh!" A swift attack from the first vandal managed to graze my side, reducing my overshield in half. I kept backing up, trying desperately to make space between us but my back touched the wall.
Thinking quickly, I ducked and lunged for my scout rifle, only for it to be kicked away from my reach. I was beginning to get frustrated. So much so that I felt the solar light within me swell up.
Thinking I was about to toss a grenade, a knife emblazoned with solar light appeared. I didn't think much of it. Instead, I tossed it at the vandal and it landed right between its eyes.
A spurt of liquid erupted from its neck as well a hissing sound of what appeared to be blue mist.
The other vandal looked over at my direction and lunged at me. Thinking quickly, I managed to grab the knife from the dead vandal's head and as he lunged at me, my knife was plunged deep into the vandal as the light left his eyes.
I pushed him off me, trying to compose myself. "Hana, are you alright?" Ghost asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" I said with a little more venom than I intended. "How's the array going?"
"It's about to go. Negotiating cryptosystems. Shor-resistant security lattice verified. It's working!" Ghost said.
Suddenly, I hear a loud rumble. "Outside! The Array! It's opening!" I went outside and saw a cloud of rust and dust erupting from across the way. "Amazing, it's activating!" Ghost said.
It was looking amazing, seeing how the Array was slowly opening it's way outward. Just then, a ghastly green smoke appeared. It grew larger and more sinister in appearance. "Hive Tombships! Cutting through!" Ghost said.
"Oh no... We gotta get out of here!" I called out.
"That's a negative, Hana. I have to stay here and decode all of this junk to get The Array fully functional. You're going to have to stand guard!"
"Wait, what?" I looked back and saw the Tombships stopping. There were three in total. "Oh no... No no no..."
I looked around, trying to find a solid foundation to mount a defense. Lying on the ground, I saw a hexagonal object on the floor. It was green and was glowing. I grabbed it and immediately in the top right of my HUD was a 'SG-Scattercast'.
I didn't think anything of it and immediately swapped to it. "Great, a shotgun?" The memories from Banshee's firing range came back, but I had to suppress them. Right now, this, my scout, and my rocket launcher were all I had to defend against the Hive. That and my light. "Wish me luck, Ghost." I called out.
If Ghost said anything, I didn't hear him. Instead I heard the screeching of a bunch of those husks came running at me.
In the vanguard reports, they were labeled as 'Thrall' and although they were basically fodder by themselves, in groups like these they were a menace. I quickly did my best to shoot them down one by one.
A few managed to get close to me, but the shotgun made quick work of them at the cost of sending me back reeling and almost knocking my on my butt. "Damn this thing kicks so hard!"
Another wave of thrall were coming at me, this time accompanied by something called an 'Acolyte'. I had to change my tactics a bit and ducked behind cover to avoid their fire. I still shot down the thrall, but the acolytes were quickly forcing me to maneuver in and out of cover.
"How's the Array going?"
"It's complicated! Keep fighting!" Ghost called out.
I gritted my teeth and did my job. I kept shooting thrall and acolytes down until my heart sank. "Another wizard?"
The wizard didn't lunge at me this time. Instead, it was acting as some sort of commander, ordering thrall and acolytes towards me. Annoyed, I tossed a grenade, giving me some breathing room to see that two large Hive were coming my way.
"Knights..." These knights had larger cannons for weapons and quickly decimated my cover. I backed up further and further into the building, hoping that I could find some way out of this.
The thrall and acolytes were closing in on me. The knights were shredding away what little overshield I had left. I took out my rocket and shot a large chunk of the Hive away.
All that remained was a lone knight and the wizard, but that was soon to change. I focused on making the knife again, infusing it with my light and tossed it at the wizard. In a burst of solar light, it's shield was broken and it dropped to the floor, dead. I didn't have time to praise the toss because the knight was gaining distance on me.
He lunged at me, trying to slam the canon on top of me. Although I managed to dodge it, the blast that connected next to me sent me flying and I hit the wall. "Augh!"
The knight aimed his canon at me. With how deep in the red I was with my overshield, this was going to be painful. I grabbed my shotgun and barely managed to dodge it's attack. Slamming the barrel into the knight's head, I pulled the trigger and the body simply fell over.
It's remains turned into dust and when I turned back towards The Array, it seemed like all of the Hive turned like that. I barely managed to catch my breath before I heard Ghost chime up. "You need to see this!"
I walked over to Ghost and saw a map of the solar system, complete with connections going out towards Venus, the moon, and Mars. "What is all this, Ghost?" I asked.
"This Array is controlled by The last Warmind, Rasputin. It's connecting to defense constructs all across the system! There could be something out there to help us survive the Darkness!" Ghost flew over to me and was clearly in a good mood. But something was on my mind.
"That's good news, Ghost... But can we talk about something?" I asked.
"Sure! Is it from earlier? What you wanted to talk to me about on the ship?"
"No it... Well I want to talk about that too, but that can wait. This is something else..." I pulled out the shells from the Ghosts we found the codes from. Almost immediately, Ghost's expression fell into a more somber one.
"Oh..."
"Are they... Are they actually dead?"
"Yes, they are, Hana. Their bodies can't be fixed. They lost the connection to the light."
"B-but how? I-I mean, how did that happen?"
"Let's talk more about it on the way back to the Tower. It seems there's a lot you don't actually know about us." Ghost said.
We transmatted out of there and back onto our ship. On the way back, Ghost explained the mechanics of a Ghost.
"When we hide in your backpacks, Ghosts can be safe from harm. But, should a Guardian die, the Ghost is immediately ejected out as we can't hide inside of you while the Guardian is dead. And should the Ghost get caught or killed, well..."
"The Guardian stays dead..." I said somberly.
"Right. It all happens so fast in a firefight. Those Ghosts were unlucky and their time ran out... The vanguard will more than likely try to find the missing Guardian's bodies. In the meantime, we have to hand over the shells of their Ghosts. It's the least we can do."
"I see." I couldn't say anything. Those Guardians... I was under the impression that it was going to be a search and rescue mission. It wasn't. It was a reconnaissance operation first and a retrieval mission second.
"Ghost..." I said.
"Yes Hana?"
I grabbed Ghost and held him tight. I held him tighter than I ever did before and made sure not to let go of him. "Don't leave me."
"I would never, Hana. You and I are a team, remember? Where you go, I go."
The ride back to the Tower was a quiet one. Neither of us wanted to stop this close embrace, but all things come to an end. Our ship transmatted us on the top of the Tower and it went to the hangar.
Ghost and I trudged to the Vanguard headquarters, shells in hand. Some of the Guardians that looked our way wore happy expressions on their face, seeing a new light coming back from one of their first missions. It wasn't until they saw what I was carrying that they grew somber.
I arrived at the headquarters and presented Ikora, Cayde, and Zavala with the shells of the fallen Ghosts. Zaval was the first to speak. "Thank you for recovering their Ghosts, Guardian. You did an excellent job today. Your findings today are nothing short of impressive, and the devotion to carry back their Ghosts will help us remember those who have fallen in hopes to further humanity."
"Yes, Hana. The work you did today with the Array is remarkable. You actually managed to touch the Warmind and provoke a response from it... This is invaluable to humanity, Hana." Ikora said. "This will be a very important mission, but for now, the Commander has something to request of you."
I looked at Zavala with worry. "Is everything okay, Commander?" I asked.
"No, Hana. There is something that has come to my attention that needs to be dealt with swiftly and with precision." Zavala said with a stern voice.
"What do you need of us, Commander?" Ghost asked.
"I have a new task for you, one that will test you to the limit. Sepkis Prime is the machine-god of the House of Devils, and its cold calculations are behind everything the House does in the Cosmodrome. I want it destroyed."
"M-machine-god?" I was really only familiar with one god and although I haven't prayed to him in a while, I hadn't hear of anything nearly close to a 'machine-god'.
"A servitor, Hana. The Fallen devout themselves to these machines, praising them and revering them as gods. Sepiks Prime is the god of the House of Devils."
"Wait, what's a 'House'?" I asked.
"Most Fallen are divided into distinct houses of Nobility, some of which are as hostile towards each other as they are to The City." Ghost said. "The House of Devils is the scourge of the City, being the most prevalent cause of fighting here on Earth."
"And you want me... to kill their god?" I asked dumb founded.
"Yes." Was all I got from Zavala.
"Wait, how? I barely managed to kill an Archon, and that went absolutely terrible! I can't take on an entire GOD by myself!"
"You aren't going to kill Sepiks Prime by yourself, Hana." Ikora said.
"Yeah, kid. You think we'd just send you out there solo without any backup? What do you take us for?" Cayde said with a slight chuckle.
"I don't know, it does seem like we Guardians do have a high standard of doing stuff alone a lot of the time." I said with a deadpan voice.
"Not this time. For this mission, you will need a fireteam to strike at the Devils with extreme force." Zavala motioned towards the entrance. "And these two will be your guides."
I turned around and saw two Guardians standing at the entry way with their Ghosts hovering over them. The one on the left was an Exo, like Cayde but had similar and bulky armor like Zavala. His Ghost was encased in a blue and gold shell, just like it's Guardian's armor.
To the right of him was a human with blonde hair. She had sharp eyes and a cunning smile. Her Ghost was wrapped in a dark pink shell, again matching it's Guardian's armor. Her armor was similar to my own, just a lot more shiny.
"Commander." The Exo said. "We're here 'bout the strike mission. This our third?" He asked, coming towards me.
"She's awfully small..." The woman said. "And... Cayde, this some sick joke?" She asked.
"Nah, everyone's had the same reaction, JC." Cayde said.
JC smirked and rubbed her hand on top of my head. "Ow! Quit that!" I said with an embarrassingly loud pitched voice.
"Oh my goodness, she's adorable! Don't you think so, Country?" She turned and asked the Exo.
"Ain't about her cuteness, Jesse. S'bout if she's got what it takes to take on this here servitor." Country said.
His Ghost flew over to me and began to scan me. Right away, Ghost bumped into them to stop them. "Hey, back off my Guardian! That is a very rude violation of her privacy!"
The blue and gold Ghost chuckled. "Oh, don't get yer wires in a twist, hon! Ah jus' was wondering what she's been up to, s'all. Let's see here... Cosmodrome revival... Found a warpdrive from... Does this here say an Archon?" The Ghost asked.
"Yes, I killed an Archon, and yes, I was revived in the Cosmodrome." I said annoyingly.
"Says here you were revived quite literally only yesterday. Commander this some sort of a joke?" She asked.
Zavala rubbed his temples. He nodded over to Cayde and he swaggered over to me. He put his hand around me and gestured Country and JC. "Kid, this is your fireteam. JC and Country-01."
"And don't forget us!" The pink ghost pipped up.
"Oh right, forgot y'all love your attention. This is Tulip."
Tulip zoomed around me as she nodded up and down. "Pleasure to meet you, kid!"
"And this is Lasso." Cayde said, gesturing the blue and gold Ghost.
"Howdy." she simply said.
I stared at them for a moment before Cayde patted me on my back. "Well don't be shy, kid. Introduce yourself!"
I stammered a bit before I gathered myself to give my introduction. "M-my name is Hanabi Valiente... And this is my Ghost."
Ghost zoomed out to my hand as I held it out for him. "I just prefer 'Ghost'."
JC, Country, Lasso, and Tulip all stared at me as if I had something wrong with my face.
"Again, yer seriously sayin' this ain't a joke, commander?" Lasso asked.
Author's note: Thank you very much for reading! A follow and a favorite would be amazing and a review would be immensely appreciated!
Edit: Sorry this is being uploaded so late, but I had internet problems and did not realize it was not uploaded correctly! I apologize for the discrepancy!