Warning! Witch Queen Spoilers!
Warning! Witch Queen Spoilers!
Warning! Witch Queen Spoilers!
The two warlocks stood in a secret room accessible only to Hidden agents and authorized Vanguard staff, staring at the corpse within the force containment field. They had just finished viewing the after-action report submitted by the Young Wolf not long ago and were now in silent contemplation.
"I want to hear your thoughts, Indra."
He shrugged. "It's...incredible, though not surprising. Considering it's the Queen of Deceit, expectations should've been abandoned. To think the Hive were supposed to be Chosen..."
Ikora let out a small laugh. "Indeed. Though I doubt we've seen the last of Savathun's influence. Her Ghost, Immaru, is still out there. I have Hidden agents tracking his whereabouts."
"And her worm?"
"The same fate as one of their gods."
"I bet Flux will have a field day. I'm curious to see how the worm will react when face to face with The Whisper."
They both turned back to the container, observing the sharp features of the Witch Queen.
"So, what are you going to do when word gets out?" He asked suddenly.
Ikora continued to observe. "It will not get out. At least not yet."
He snorted. "With something this big? Word will get out, Ikora; and the Drifter isn't the only one who has access to classified Hidden intel."
She turned to face him, faster than she intended. "What do you mean?"
"Guardians can get resourceful when rumors start circulating. Some go to great lengths to uncover the truth. Some have many connections, including to the Hidden.
"The Hidden is one of the most secure organizations under the Vanguard, members are conditioned to-"
He held up a hand, interrupting her. "As I'm sure they are. But if I remember correctly, you dispatched Sierra not too long ago to hunt down a rogue guardian that potentially had classified intel. This tells me the Hidden may not be as secure as you let on. The information will get leaked somehow and guardians will start investigating. Once that happens…some won't handle it well."
"You're referring to the Praxic Order."
"Only certain members."
"Aunor and Shayura."
Precisely. Disregarding their zealous devotion to a frankly extreme ideology, how do you think they'll react? Two warlocks who have remarkable ferocity at…subduing other guardians, 'betrayed' by the very thing they so staunchly worship."
"Your concern is noted, I have some precautions planned though nothing concrete as of right now."
"As long as it doesn't go ignored. We wouldn't want to put Tonitrus' Order on damage control, again."
She eyed him cautiously. "How do you know about The Echelon?"
He waved his hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter. All you need to know is that, and I'm sure you're aware, the morale and unity between the guardians is needed now more than ever. Especially since we know this 'Witness' will be coming. The Echelon has been working overtime to maintain unity within the City. I advise you to do the same with the guardians."
"Your consultation is always appreciated, Indra… I'll talk to Zavala about the matter."
They turned back to the container once again, a million thoughts swirling in their minds about the events to come.
"So, how's our guest doing?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.
"She's more… cooperative than expected. It turns out, pain is one of the first things they experience when being inducted into the Lucent Brood, so I had to take a different approach." He turned to look at her, eyes wide with excitement. "It's incredible how alike we are, Ikora. Just like us, the offer of new knowledge got her talking."
"You held back I hope?"
"Of course, I didn't give her anything classified, I can send you my initial findings later today."
She smiled lightly. "I look forward to your report." A small beep sounded from a near-by console, indicating a new breakthrough from the Hidden agents dispatched at the Enclave. "In the meantime, I should get back to work."
"Till next time Ikora"
Ikora,
Contained in this report are my initial findings regarding the Light bearing Wizard Ezo'tah, the Seventh Sister, following eight days of research.
I initially used self-generated Arc pulses to extract information. However, this eventually turned out to be ineffective as each light-bearing member of the Lucent Brood is subject to certain 'conditioning' to ensure loyalty to the Witch Queen. When pressed for further details regarding this 'conditioning' she wasn't willing to tell me, simply describing the experiences as harrowing. Back to the matter at hand, this loyalty appears to be blind as unlike previous Wizards we have encountered, she has no prior knowledge of Hive lore or rituals, her only goal being to carry out the will of Savathun. I offered to teach her basic history of the Hive as well as common knowledge regarding our own history if she were to answer my questions. Just like we warlocks, she was ecstatic about obtaining new information regarding an unexplored subject.
She belongs to a subsect of the Lucent Brood called the Lucent Eyes. Their main purpose being an internal security force, monitoring the activities of other Brood members, exactly like our Praxic Order. Curiously, members all have an affinity for solar light, again similar to the Praxic Order. Their secondary objective is being dispatched in pairs throughout the Sol system to secure as much unclaimed Hive lore as possible. Their main destinations of interest being the Hellmouth, the Dreaming City, and of course the Dreadnaught which is where we first encountered her and her partner. I would advise reinforcing patrol routes in those areas.
I would like to point out that the information above was not obtained on the first day. I had to keep escalating the amount of knowledge I was willing to impart. At one point I consulted Eris about the matter to see what appropriate Hive lore I could offer.
Lastly, I was able to scan her ghost's light spectrum. It is very similar to our own ghosts with some notable distinctions. As seen with our own, each Hive ghost has its own unique light spectrum signature. My hypothesis is that if we can somehow replicate that signature and make the proper differentiations, we could potentially track an individual Hive ghost. However, based on my current notes, I would only be able track down an unpaired ghost as once it's paired, the signature is altered drastically.
I will update you once my experiments are complete. Attached to this message are the scans of her ghost, mine, and a ghost from the Spectral Network as the control group.
Best regards,
Indra, Gensym Scribe