A/N:
Apologies on the lateness!
It didn't exactly feel like he was on anything more than a commercial aircraft, the occasional turbulence, and the initial burst of speed were the only signs that they were moving at all. Back where he sat there were no windows, the only window being the massive one at the front that was currently occupied by Osiris and his Ghost, Sagira. Not that it bothered him at all, actually it gave him less of a distraction while he tried to process everything that had happened so far.
They had an hour, and he used that hour well. Mentally taking notes of everything that occurred, the people he met and the new names that he had given both to himself and to his Ghost. If there was one thing that had come back from the dead with him, it was being meticulous with documenting anything and everything that had occurred that should be of importance. Just as he was finishing up his internal thoughts, Khepri fades into view just inches away from Mehki's face.
"We've arrived at the Tower. Osiris has created a bit of a checklist for us and I currently have it stored in my database. Please prepare yourself for transmat."
Mehki merely nods to the Ghost in response but holds up a finger as if to tell the Ghost to wait briefly. The Ghost gives him a questioning look but watches as Mehki moves to stand from the Cot. Which was likely a good idea, considering the fact that Mehki would more than likely end up on his ass if he stayed sitting. Upon Mehki straightening himself, the Ghost quickly initiates the transmat to drop Mehki into the Tower.
This time the Warlock prepares himself, and while there is still a bend in his knee as his weight shifts back into existence, he doesn't stumble or even stagger upon his arrival. The first thing he notices upon his arrival is the many people who run to and fro. Each visiting a specific or stand to have a brief conversation before moving to the next. Some walked toward the railing where he stood and disappeared, transmatted away into what he could only assume was their own aircraft, while others lazily stroll into elevators to take them down into the belly of the tower.
Next came the different areas. Directly in front of him were several stairs to bring one up onto a larger platform. To his left stood a building with three spots for a vendor. Two of those spots were currently occupied, one with a blue-skinned woman and the other with what he could only explain as a humanoid machine. To his right, three towering objects lay nestled in the ground. Each object almost cylinder in shape with three terminals on each.
"Those are Vaults. Once you get some gear, you can store your unwanted items there. The rest you can toss in your ship for ease of access out on the field." Khepri chimes in, appearing just over Mehki's shoulder and eying his guardian from the corner of his optic.
"And what of the blue chick, and the robot?" Mehki asks curiously, shifting his gaze back over to the two vendors.
"Ah. The bot is Kadi 55-30. She's the Tower's Postmaster. Deliveries and messages can be processed through her whenever your travels bring you back home. As for the 'blue chick', as you put it, that's Tess Everis. She's an Awoken, you should find that context easily. She sells special items that are worth quite a bit more than your glimmer." The Ghost pauses briefly, eyeing his Guardian fully now before running through the list that Osiris had given them. "We need to speak with Banshee-44 before anything. He's the Tower Gunsmith and will get you outfitted with our starting weapons. They'll be terrible quality, but once we start making some glimmer we can easily get you something better to start you off with."
The Ghost begins to drift forward, taking a slight detour through the vaults and up a second set of stairs. Mehki is quick to follow, not wanting to get left behind in the mass of unknown people.
"Ah, Awoken. Something about that blue skin throws me off, but shes kinda hot at the same time. Weird, I know." Mehki mutters, taking the steps carefully so that he didn't end up tripping over his feet. "So, this is kinda new to me. I see a lot of Guardians wandering in groups, is it recommended that I too find a group? If so, how do I do that without being a burden to the more experienced ones?"
"You have a strange taste, then again I'm a small floating robot that lives in your backpack so I can't really say much. Anyways, Osiris will set you up with a mentor, and that mentor and his or her group will walk you through some things and show you the ropes. Once your mentor deems you good enough to operate on your own, you'll be free to find your own group. Or, if you prefer to work alone that can be arranged as well."
"Oh, makes sense. Let's hope they're at least friendly I guess. I'd hate to be paired up with a group of assholes who make the learning experience painful instead of enjoyable."
By this time, the two had approached the workbench of Banshee-44, and Khepri could tell he would have to explain a bit about Banshee to Mehki later. Just by the way Mehki ceased all communication and stared at the Exo with a confused look when the man uttered strange nonsense about the gun he had been working on at the moment. That's just how Banshee was.
"He's an Exo. Humanoid robotic, self-aware machines. They were initially created as War machines in Humanity's Golden Age for a long forgotten war. Basically built to protect their creators. Unfortunately, when the Collapse happened, they were shut down and rebooted with no memory of their original function. You'll notice that his full name is Banshee-44. That number at the end of his name typically signifies how many times his memory has been wiped. He speaks of it sometimes, he's also a bit out there. Quite forgetful. You'll get used to it. Just walk up and talk, I'll open the ventilation so that you can speak to him normally without removing your helmet."
"That's gotta be miserable. I'd like to do some research on that, though I'm sure there's tons of it that has been done. Even if, I'll probably read the manifestos on the topic to quench my curiosity." Mehki muses to himself, before wandering up to the table to catch the attention of the Gunsmith. "Banshee-44 is it? I'm Mehki. I was told by Osiris to come and see about getting my first weapons?"
"You've come to the right place." Is the Exo's response, his hands carefully setting down an oiled gun barrel that he had been working and picking up a towel to wipe off the grease as he took a step to the side. "New shipment's just come in. Take your pick. One primary, one secondary and one heavy. Anything extra you gotta pay for."
"Oh, alright. Uhm, I'll let you know if anything stands out." Mehki offers, his tone obviously hinting at his confusion for a moment, but Khepri is quick to step in and help.
"Watch your heads-up display. I'll ping the primary weapons, you chose one, and I'll do the same for each weapon type. I'll leave a brighter ping on the weapons I recommend for you, but as I'm obviously not you, you can choose whichever ones you like."
"Thanks, Khepri."
"Not a problem. The first three I three I have highlighted will be your primary choice. I have you looking at either a Pulse rifle, Auto rifle, or Scout rifle. I have the feeling you'd be more suited with a Pulse rifle but pick whichever you feel more comfortable with. Pulse rifles are three to four round burst rifles, Auto rifles are fully automatic rifles, and Scout rifles are semi-automatic rifles."
"The pulse rifle seems like an in-between kind of thing. I'll start off with one of those. Burst weapons are generally pretty nice to have anyways." Mehki shrugs, pointing it out so that the Ghost could keep tabs on which he had chosen.
"Next is the secondary. I've highlighted another three. This time you have the choice between a shotgun, a sniper rifle, or a fusion rifle. The first two are pretty self-explanatory, however, the fusion rifle is fairly new. Its much like a shotgun, but instead of a slug or pellets, it shoots a burst of hot plasma. Pretty bad wounds usually, but you won't see the bad end of one of these unless you take part of the crucible."
"Crucible?" Mehki loses his train of thought over the weapons at the word, curious to know what it was.
"Basically a pit where Guardians fight one another. I'll explain it better when we're not holding up the line here. Anyways, back to the weapon choice. I'd recommend a shotgun for now. Pulse rifle gives you both medium and close range, the shotgun will win any fight with anything in close quarters."
"I'm not much of a sniper anyway. I'll go ahead and nab that shotgun, but I guess we'll see if I change my mind in the future."
"And finally, the heavy artillery. I probably won't recommend the sword at all, as it's mostly for those a little bit more experienced. So, for now, we'll keep you between a rocket launcher and a heavy machine gun. They're both pretty self-explanatory. I'd recommend the launcher, but that's only because you could potentially run into something that needs a bigger bang to drop."
"Sure. I'll do that too."
"Well don't tell me, tell Banshee." Khepri huffs, sending the Exo an apologetic look for his Guardian's noob like behavior.
"Right. I'll take the pulse rifle there, the shotgun here, and the launcher right there." Mehki lifts his hand to point out each item for the vendor, ensuring he pulled the correct one.
The Exo mulls over the pile for a moment, his optics shifting between the Guardian and Ghost for a moment before giving a brief nod. "Hm, why not? That'll work. This is all I can do for you for now, but come back with some glimmer and we'll get you set up with some better things. Best of luck Guardian. Oh, and keep that thing oiled, it leaks radiation like a sieve."
"Riiight, thanks Banshee. I'll come back with some form of payment next time." Hazel gaze watches as the three weapons disappear, and his eyes shift to Khepri who is the likely culprit in their disappearance.
"I'll remember you next time... maybe." Is the Exo's response, his gaze shifting back to the bolt he had been working on prior to Mehki's arrival.
Boots carry the Warlock back down the stairs, and onto the platform with the vaults once more. His gaze pans the area briefly, studying this busy social area with keen eyes while he runs over his thoughts. What all was on this list that Osiris had given them, he could only hope that he wouldn't be running around all day trying to appease everyone.
"
Next is Amanda Holliday, the Shipwright. Whatever you do, do not bring up the leg. Don't even look at it or you'll get a wrench wedged in your skull."
"I-.. er uh okay. Sound's like she takes offense to curiosity."
"More like, she doesn't need people prying into her past. Just let it lie, let's go get a ship and get the rest of this done."
"Makes sense." Mehki mumbles, obviously curious as to what all the fuss was about this ladies leg. He wouldn't ask about it, let alone look at it if he could help it. He had more important things to be processing anyways, such as where Osiris was camped out and who his mentor was going to be.
Hazel gaze follows his ghost as it drifts straight past the last vault and takes a hard left into a hall. Mehki has to trot just to keep up, squeezing by many Guardians who smelled absolutely rancid as they arrived back from the field. From what he could gather, the hangar was back this way. Especially if this is where the shipwright resided. A small set of stairs leads him slightly down before a larger set brings him fully into the hangar. Eyes dart quickly to an approaching ship and he's stunned to see that it looked nothing like what he had imagined. These were not just jets, these were also outfitted for space travel!
"Mehki, Holliday is this way."
Khepri's words shatter Mehki's thought process, and he has to pry himself away from the gate and take an immediate left. The stairs bring him down a bit more, before opening up into a slightly more open room. Eyes shift right, but he's aware of Khepri heading up a set of stairs not too far away. Pushing forward, Mehki takes the stairs one at a time, eyes immediately gravitating toward a blonde haired woman dressed in a grey jumpsuit with some sort of red shoulder shawl. He couldn't find the proper term for it just then, but it didn't really matter.
"Hey, Guardian." The woman calls half bent over with a wrench working against a stubborn bolt on a half-dismantled sparrow.
"Good afternoon, Holliday." Is Mehki's response, his head tilting just a tad to see what she was working at when it suddenly broke loose with a grunt of effort on her end. She was strong, he'd give her that. Definitely made him not want to pry about the leg, because that wrench wouldn't feel good to start, let alone with a strong arm behind it.
"Ya need a ship?" She asks curiously, stuffing the wrench into one of her back pockets as she examines the rusted bolt. Slowly she stands, taking care not to smack her head off of anything low hanging.
"We do if that's alright. We don't exactly have any glimmer to spare at the moment, so whatever you can spare would be a great help." Khepri offers from Mehki's shoulder, eyeing the woman with curiosity as she pauses to give them a good long look.
"Well with that dirt cheap armor, I can already tell you's a new Guardian. I can prolly get you set up with one of the Arcadia class jump ships I have lyin' around here. She's nothin' special, prolly won't be able to get ya off-world, but it's better than nothin'." She rolls her shoulders and shifts to the back of her workstation to pick up a data-pad. "I'll send its command link to yer Ghost, once you get enough glimmer to pick up a better ship, I want her back. So take good care of that ship Guardian." The data-pad lowers after a few commands are entered, and she shifts to let it rest back on the desk.
"Thank you, ma'am. We'll take excellent care of it. " Mehki offers with a very slight bow of his head to show his appreciation. Carefully he takes a few steps back, visor immediately whipping around so that it didn't seem as though he were staring at her just before he would turn away.
"
Where to next, Khepri?"
"Osiris suggests we visit the speaker, however, it's only a recommendation. Not a requirement. Osiris.. doesn't exactly trust the Speaker, nor does the Speaker trust Osiris. The only reason Osiris has a seat at the Vanguard table is because Saint-14 put in a good word for him. The two have never seen eye to eye on anything, and Osiris never pressures new Warlocks into visiting him." The Ghost begins, hovering Mehki's shoulder as he moves back down the stairs and begins to make his way to the main plaza. "if you don't want to visit the Speaker, we can head back to Osiris in the Hall of Guardians. By now, he should have found us a mentor to train us up. You'll make Glimmer quickly, especially if your mentor allows you to run bounties while we train. We can get better gear the more glimmer we save. Not to mention that you should probably eat something."
"Just a moment actually." The Ghost pauses, severely cutting Mehki off from even responding to anything he had just said. "I have a few pieces of glimmer that I've kept saved in my travels to find you. I can get you something small. Would an apple, or orange suffice?"
"Alright, let me answer everything you just babbled on about." Mehki chuckles with a half grin, boots already carrying him up the final set of stairs that would bring him back to the main plaza. "If it's not recommended, and I can get into the thick of it, I'd prefer to skip meeting the Speaker. From what I gather from my memories, he speaks for the Traveler. Though, if these memories are up to date, the Traveler has been silent for far too long. I'm sure the man tires of speaking to new guardians every day." Mehki pauses, catching his breath for a moment just as he hits the last step. Before continuing, he wanders into the hall and takes a step out into the plaza.
"An apple will be fine. Can you stow this helmet again so that I can actually eat it?" He asks, visor shifting slightly to view the Ghost, but instead, he is captivated by the large orb in the sky. The Traveler hovers just over The Last City. There it took its final stand against the Darkness in order to save Humanity. It was... much larger than he expected it to be. It was an off-white color all around aside from the bottom. Black scars stretched up its body, and Mehki silently wonders what sort of firepower was used to do so much damage.
"I'll stow the helmet, I've already made the purchase of the apple from the market in the Tower North district." Khepri quickly obliges with the task, transmatting the helmet away. "Put out your hand, so that the apple doesn't fall and bruise on the ground." The Ghost waits patiently for Mehki to do so before bringing the apple in and depositing it easily in his hands. "Now eat and walk. Osiris is likely already waiting for us with our mentor."
Mehki inspects the apple curiously, noting the red green hues mixing with one another. Interesting, but food was food. Eyes trail after Khepri as he floats back through the vaults and heads for a central set of stairs that goes down. With a shrug of his shoulders, he lifts the apple to his mouth and lets his teeth break through the crisp flesh as he follows his guide. The apple was delicious, and Mehki hadn't exactly realized how hungry he was until he had taken a second bite. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, he had finished half of the apple.
"To your right is Lord Shaxx. He's the crucible handler. You'll speak with him if you want to get into some matches, but be wary. You'll be fighting experienced Guardians. You'll be dying quite a bit." Khepri shifts his gaze back to his Guardian before continuing on. "To the left is the Crucible Quartermaster, Arcite 99-40. He sells some top-notch gear that bears the mark of the crucible. Mostly stuff you wanna show off to others so that they don't pick an unnecessary fight over who leads the fireteam. Dead ahead, you'll find the Vanguard. I already see someone at the table with Osiris, so be prepared for a potential mentor."
Mehki checks out the two Crucible related individuals but mostly keeps an eye on Shaxx. That guy had to be a Titan. Mehki would rue the day that he had to stand against him and silently prayed to whatever gods that were out there that he didn't need to. He hadn't realized that he had been walking and staring until he realized that the Titan's head was following him as well. If the shocked look that Mehki presented didn't give the Titan a laugh, the lengthier strides he took to get away would have.
"Remind me to never challenge him, Khepri." He whispers to the ghost as he takes those final few steps into the Hall of Guardians and approaches the table that housed the workings of the three Vanguard.
"You'd be a fool to even need reminding."
Hazel gaze drifts over the different members surrounding the table. A lanky man with a hooded cloak that swayed with his movements was studying over a data-pad, while a brute of a man stood at the head of it all. Across from the lanky man stood Osiris, with two other Guardians on either side of him. Upon his intrusion, all eyes turn to face Mehki, with Osiris being the only one to offer a welcoming smile.
"Ah, Mehki. We were just speaking of you." Osiris chimes, waving the Warlock over to the group. "I take it you've gotten your list finished up? Otherwise, you wouldn't be here." The Vanguard eyes the apple in Mehki's hand with slight amusement.
"I've finished up the mandatory items on the list. I've been outfitted with suitable weapons and transportation, however, I will not be able to leave planet until I have a better ship. At least, that's what Holliday recommended, and I'd rather not find out if the ship is spaceworthy or not." Mehki replies cooly, dropping the hint to Osiris that he hadn't gone to visit the Speaker.
"Ah, smart one you are. If I wasn't already mentoring Ikora, I would have jumped at the chance to mentor you myself. Alas, that is not the case. I have Jericho and his fireteam member Lanna here to show you the ropes. Jericho is a Titan, but Lanna is a fellow Warlock like yourself. She'll be able to assist you the most, whereas Jericho is here to ensure you two can train in peace without interruptions from the enemy. Seeing as its a bit too late in the day to send you out on a patrol, I'm going to leave you three to formulate your plans for tomorrow. Jericho mentioned that you can rest at his place if need be, and I'll be giving you a sort of allowance to get yourself some real food to keep your energy up."
"Your kindness is almost overwhelming, Osiris." Mehki perks a brow at the Warlock Vanguard, his lips twitching up in a slight smile before his gaze shifts over to the two people who would be showing him the ropes. Lanna is the first one he takes note of, golden hair pulled up into a tight bun that gave her eyes a bit of a slant. She seems slightly eager to be off finishing up the rest of her tasks for the day by the way she shifts her weight from one foot to the other on a constant. Next comes Jericho, and while he wasn't as intimidating as Shaxx down the hall, this man was seriously well built. Mehki had no doubt that this guy would make any enemy shit its pants and run off to whatever pit it called home screaming for its mother if they had such a thing. The man reckoned that the Titan could easily pick him up and bend him until he shattered, and made a mental note not to get on this one's bad side as his gaze drifts back to Osiris.
"Real food would be nice. This apple tied me over for a bit, so I'd like to spend a few moments getting to know my mentors if you do not mind."
"Understandable. I'll send over the glimmer to your Ghost, from there he can assist you in ordering a meal. I want you three back here first thing in the morning to go over your assignment for the day. Dismissed."