So, This is my first attempt at really writing anything. It's probably bad, and I'm sure nobody will read it, but if you're reading this, thanks, I guess. I meant to start getting this out before Beyond Light, but that ... didn't turn out very well, as you can see. The story here starts before the defeat of Nokris in Season of Arrivals on the Destiny side of things, and between volumes 3 and 4 on the RWBY side of things. There will be one major change to the events of the Battle of Beacon, which will be laid out clearly at the beginning of chapter 2. This isn't going to be the normal "guardian lands on remnant at the beginning of Vol. 1 and joins Beacon" story, so don't be expecting that. With that out of the way, lets get going on this (likely-shitshow of a) story.
Sol System, a Week before the Defeat of Nokris
ACCESS: RESTRICTED
DECRYPTION KEY: 73XK5V2PG1$AUN-326
REP #: 1287-FALLEN-DEV
AGENT(S): RAN-187/nSUBJ: Countercultural intelligence update
Fallen presence on RZ-724 (cf. "Niflheim") has surged since the lunar incident. There is no clear indication of a cause, beyond increased enemy activity since the incident. Records indicate the presence of a highly dangerous artifact or entity on RZ-724, but all primary source field reports are so heavily corrupted as to be useless for investigation (cf. report #324-ANOM-AI/COM). As an extra Reef territory, RZ-724 has been historically considered an NFZ. Until the Dreaming City crisis, viable in-bound flight paths were strictly controlled by the Awoken. Their misfortune has opened new horizons for our intelligence efforts.
Further, if the Awoken are aware of the Fallen activity, they have yet to act, and we cannot rely on the initiative of unpredictable allies.
The faction swarming RZ-724 is led by VIP #2029, with a contingent of other Fallen VIPs: #5340, #5341, and #5342. The unnamed faction appears to be an amalgamation of former House Devils, House Wolves, and House Dusk members, though VIP #2029 seems to have unexpectedly abandoned the banner of House Devils.
Unverifiable reports indicate that VIP #1121 is among the group, though whether as a co-conspirator or a prisoner, this agent does not know.
I am recommending immediate action. Several well-outfitted fireteams should be sent to RZ-724 for further reconnaissance and retaliation. This may take resources away from the current containment efforts on afflicted planets, but swift action will stop a Fallen insurrection before it happens. Whatever is buried on RZ-724 must be kept out of enemy hands at all costs.
Talos looked up from his screen after reading the report. Eramis was on Europa? He considered this for a moment. Despite the recommendation from the Hidden agent, the Warlock knew that there was unlikely to be a full vanguard-sanctioned operation to Europa in the immediate future.
Not that he could blame them, necessarily. After all, they had bigger priorities. He looked up at the imposing obsidian tetrahedron hovering over the cradle, and sighed.
"Tal?" A feminine voice asked. "What are you going to do?"
Tal looked at his Ghost. "Well, Esper, I'm going to go after her. Try to end her before she takes any more from our City. Or find out what she's up to and report back, at the very least." He paused. "I'd like to leave as soon as possible. Are you with me?"
Esper's light blue shell spun with indignation. "Of course I am. You're my guardian, and I chose you for a reason. I trust you, and there's little you could do short of murdering the city's civilians for fun that would make me leave your side," She paused. "But I think you should really stop and ask yourself whether you're doing this because you think it's the right thing, or because you have a Vendetta against that Fallen Baroness."
"Why can't it be both?"
Esper gave a light Chuckle. "That's a good enough answer for me. Should I bring the ship around?"
"Yes, but prep Transmat for the Cradle first. I'd like to tell them that I'm leaving, at least."
"I think she and Eris are in the middle of something, i don't know if it's the best idea to -"
"I know, but I have to at least let them know," Tal stood up.
"Okay. Transmat Firing!" Esper said, using her best impression of the Drifter.
Tal rolled his eyes as he materialized inside the center of the so-called Cradle. He looked around, admiring the scenery. The area really was quite beautiful - the Cradle was the last place that the Traveller had touched this world. Io, the volcanic moon of Jupiter, had been in the middle of a terraforming process jumpstarted by the Traveller's Light, but during the Collapse, it had left the moon and made a beeline straight for Earth. The terraforming process was never fully finished, and as such the moon was brimming with paracausal energies. The Cradle itself was the focus of this energy, which, of course was why the massive, ominous pyramid was hovering over it. At its center was a massive tree of Silver Wings that was practically overflowing with the power of the Light, and now, following the arrival of the Black Fleet, Darkness. Under the tree were two figures, one hunched over, deciphering a message from the Darkness itself, the other patiently listening. Tal waited for the conversation to end, then called out to the Titan.
"Guardian? I need to talk to you." Eris Morn glared at him for just a moment., then gestured at the other woman, indicating that she needed no further assistance at the moment. Tal was pretty sure that she didn't like him very much. He had no idea why; He'd barely interacted with her.
Tal sighed. "Listen, You know that I respect you, and that I fully support this investigation and everything it's trying to accomplish here, and I think we've accomplished a lot as part of the same fire team the last year or so, though I'm able to admit that was more your doing than mine. But, there's somewhere I have to go, and I don't expect nor do I need you to go with me."
The other guardian's Ghost appeared over her shoulder. "It's Eramis, isn't it?" He said knowingly. "We've seen the report, and I know you have something of a history."
"Yes. I'm going to Europa, going after her. I know you need to stay here, help Eris get rid of this interference, and assist Zavala with the evacuation of the affected worlds. But I wanted to let you know where I was going. I'll be leaving shortly."
The Titan nodded. "I understand, Tal. You have to go after her, just like I had to go after Uldren." Her face hardened at that comment. "Good luck, and be brave, my friend," she said.
A great sense of relief washed through Talos, knowing that the leader of his fireteam was fine with his departure. "Thank you. Good luck, not that I think you'll need it. I almost pity the ones responsible for this interference. Almost." Tal smiled before he turned to walk away.
"Guardian? I've brought the ship around and set course for the neighboring moon. It shouldn't take but 2 minutes for us to arrive. Is now a good time to board?"
"Sounds good Esper." Tal looked back. "Farewell, my friends," he said as he dematerialized.
The flight to the neighboring moon took only a minute or two, but to Tal, it felt like an hour. He couldn't figure it out. Why were the Fallen flocking to Europa, and why now? There were theories that the Deep Stone Crypt, the birthplace of the Exo, was there; but he doubted that was the reason. The Fallen wouldn't know about that, and even if they did, the only reason he could think of for them wanting control of it would be to turn themselves into Exos, leaving behind their reliance on Ether. However, nobody had seen any fully converted, mechanical Eliksni, so if that was their plan, they had hidden it very well.
Then there was the timing. The fallen had gathered on the icy moon only when the tetrahedral ships that heralded the presence of the Darkness had arrived in the system. It could have been a coincidence, but there was another possibility as well: that Humanity was not the only species in Sol that the mysterious ships were attempting to communicate with.
As his ship entered the icy swirl of Europa's lower atmosphere and swept over a plateau, he saw it. A black triangular structure loomed over the landscape, glowing faintly orange and shifting subtly. A Pyramid had landed on Europa, and it was fully active. "This has to be the reason that they're here," Esper expressed, awe and a bit of dread clearly creeping into her voice.
"Esper, run a scan for Darkness outside the ship's structure, and for any Ketches Eramis and her Fallen might be on." As the ship drifted over the icy terrain, Tal also saw blocky, fractal silicon structures jutting out of the snow. The Vex were here too.
Talos's jumpship had been outfitted with some light and simple stealth codes obtained from Rasputin's bunkers a few months ago that hid him from most passive scanning tech, and he maneuvered his ship behind an outcropping nearby so the ketch didn't have line of sight on him.
The scan completed, and a screen in front of Tal flashed. A few Ketches, Fallen cruisers, were hovering close to the ground around the pyramid, mostly near some concentrated areas of Darkness. One, which was landed on the ground, carried a source of tremendous Darkness inside of it. It bore house banners that Tal had never seen or heard of before.
"I'm guessing that that's hers," Esper's shell twirled as she spoke. "So, what's the pla- Wait, I'm picking up a faint signal on a Vanguard channel. It's… It's a ghost. Unpaired, and here as part of the Hidden's network."
"Where?"
"Skulking around the main Ketch. She says that she's been trying to send more reports to Ikora, but that the immense Darkness in the area has choked off transmissions."
"Her info could help us. I want her with us and in my ear. Tell her we're here to take out Eramis and those four she's chosen to be her lieutenants."
"Done. But, uh, sending that transmission means there's a high chance they know we're here now, even though it's encrypted so they don't know the contents."
Tal cursed and flared all systems to full power, and the jumpship responded by speeding towards Eramis's Ketch, with a speed that guaranteed its detection, if it hadn't been spotted already. The ship's weapons swiveled and fired lances of Arc energy at Talos, but he spun and banked, and narrowly avoided the crackling blue bursts of charged plasma streaking past his ship.
A voice from an unfamiliar ghost sounded a transmission. "I thought this was supposed to be a subtle assassination? Was I mistaken, or are you just one of those headstrong and reckless Guardians?"
Talos was a bit too preoccupied to respond, so Esper did so for him. "Yup. Reckless. Even more so than you probably think."
"Oh? And how's that?"
"Let's just say that this isn't exactly a vanguard-sanctioned operation."
"I… See. Well, I'm still going to help you."
"Huh. Being a part of Ikora's network, I expected you to be a bit more…"
"Uptight? Letter-of-the-law? Well, I wasn't exactly part of the Hidden network originally. I came here looking for a Guardian, probably an Exo seeing as the Crypt is rumored to be here-"
"Girls, this is a nice conversation and all, but I'm transmatting in shortly. New Ghost, to the location indicated -" his hand tapped across a display "-on my mark. And… Now!"
Next thing Talos knew, he was in a long hallway, with two Ghosts hovering over his shoulders. He heard an explosion overhead, and winced. Damn. Guess I'm going to have to wait for an official operation for extraction. That ship wasn't cheap, either, he thought.
Looking around, he saw a few fallen dregs around, quite confused and frightened at his sudden appearance. His hand cannon materialized, his fingers wrapping around the grip and guiding the barrel in line with one of the dreg's heads. The gun snapped back, and the first Fallen fell dead, it's ether tanks bursting explosively. The cannon fired again, and again, and two more corpses were left on the ground. Talos sprinted down the corridor, shooting at Fallen climbing out of the turrets they were manning as he went. As he rounded a corner, a Captain roared at him, it's arc-powered shield shining a blue color. Tal's hand shot out, and he willed a bolt of nuclear fire into existence, then launched it at the unfortunate captain. It tore straight through the thing's shields and melted it's faceplate into the skin. A quick shot from Tal's revolver followed a split-second behind for good measure. He continued past the disfigured form, and stepped through a door into a lift.
The new ghost that he had picked up tapped into the ship's systems, and ordered the elevator to bring them to the bridge. "I hope you know what you're doing, Warlock," she said, "Though I will acknowledge that fight back there was quite the performance."
"I hope so too," Talos muttered, "And thanks."
The doors snapped open, and inside the ship's bridge was a humongous gathering of Fallen, and most of them had their weapons drawn. Eramis and a few others were standing on a ledge at the top of the room, presiding over the group. At the center of the strange scene was a large prism-like structure, clearly of Dark origin.
Tal sprung into motion, his sniper rifle squeezing off a quick shot at Eramis. Her shields absorbed it, and she howled to her subordinates, obviously ordering them to kill the intruder. Tal fired another shot, which Eramis managed to barely evade, and dashed behind a nearby structure for cover. As he went, his palm stretched out in front of him, and his mind sent a pulse of immense heat through his fingers, killing the two Vandals in front of him and vaporizing most of their torsos. Arc energy sailed past his hiding spot and into his cover as he gathered his light, and he became a flaming emissary of the sun itself. Bright wings of flame stretched from his back, and a fiery sword materialized in his hands. He bursted up into the air, raining death upon groups of fallen.
"Be careful not to get to close to that structure in the middle of the room. It might drain your Light!" Esper told him.
Keeping that in mind, Tal maneuvered expertly around the room, dodging bursts of crackling blue plasma and orange shards of superheated shrapnel, his Light bringing destruction to all his foes. As he felt his wings shrinking, Tal plunged his blade through the chest of one last Captain, who burst into bright flames, then promptly vaporized and disappeared, along with Tal's Dawnblade. His burst of Light had faded, but he had cleared out around two thirds of the Fallen in the room, and he had more than enough Light and Ammunition left for the rest.
Then, he heard it: Eramis was laughing.
The Ketch had taken off by now. The navigators, most of whom had been out of Tal's path of destruction, had set in a course, then had drawn their weapons and moved out to protect Eramis. Talos looked at her, and seethed with rage and Solar Light.
She raised her arm, her claws grasping a black, triangular shape. Tal could feel its cold, Dark presence, as if it wished to devour everything in the room. He looked up, and it clicked in his mind; she was holding a piece of this structure that she had taken into her Ketch.
He had to take it.
A burst of sunfire lit up the room in a bright flash, and Tal was launched forward at blinding speeds. His sword materialized in his hands, and he swung it, his momentum causing it to slice forward with ridiculous force. He decapitated a Captain, it's armor depressurizing with a loud hiss, and sliced through a vandal's chest, landing a few yards away from Eramis. She held out the Dark artifact, and gathered paracausal energy. Then, she smashed her upper pair of hands onto the floor. Tal was barely able to dive out of the way before a crystalline structure that seemed to be draining all the heat around it sprouted from the ground below where he had once stood. He tossed an orb of Solar Light at Eramis, a grenade that burned and melted the metal platform upon contact, then expanded into a sphere of ignited gas. Eramis wasted no time removing herself from the grande's sphere of influence, but her armor was singed from the nuclear release of energy. She turned and unleashed a dark projectile at Tal, and it caught him right in the arm.
The attack sucked all the energy from Talos' shields, and froze his right forearm solid. He screamed in pain and dropped his sword.
"I've killed lightbearers before, and that was before I was granted the power of Stasis. You were an arrogant fool to think you could walk into MY ketch and take me on, alone!" Eramis gloated as she approached him. She drew a shock blade, which was coursing not with Arc, but with another, Darker type of energy Tal hadn't seen before. "Fortunately, you are the perfect test subject to test my new powers on!"
Tal could feel Esper working to try and heal his arm, but it had been frozen through, armor, flesh, and all. Tal focused, and Solar light flood into him. It was still there, but the Darkness of whatever Solar attack Eramis had hit him with had weakened it. He directed the heat into his arm,thawing it quickly as Esper worked to repair the damage created by the immense temperature differential. Tal made sure not to unfreeze his armor, so he would still appear helpless.
Eramis grabbed hold of his left arm, and his throat, and lifted him off of the ground. In her other two arms, she held her blade and the dark artifact.
Perfect.
Tal's right and thoroughly unfrozen arm extended, palm outwards, and sent a burst of energy at Eramis's hand holding the Dark shard. It flew from her grasp, and she gave out a strange noise in surprise, and turned quickly. In one fluid motion, Talos grabbed his sword, send a burst of Solar energy behind him, and lunged towards the fragment, scooping it up and gliding to maintain his forward momentum.
Eramis and the fallen around her screamed in rage, and Talos darted towards the front viewport, two intangible Ghosts with him. The ketch was heading straight towards some sort of disturbance, but he didn't care; he just needed off this ship. He couldn't fight this many Fallen with weakened Light, and he needed to find out what this fragment he was holding was.
He slammed into the viewport, sword out, and channeling his Light, and it broke under his weight and fury. He fell downwards, hurtling towards the jovian moon's icy surface - and travelled right through the Vex portal that the Ketch had been heading straight into. With all the commotion, neither Tal nor the Fallen navigators and helmsman noticed in time. Tal's vision shifted from pure icy white to a green, plant-filled landscape. He tried to use the Light to soften his landing, but his earlier exertion, the interference from Eramis's Dark attack, and his confusion from the sudden change in scenery made that a difficult task. One that he failed.
Tal hit the ground, and died instantly.
Alright, that's my first chapter. Obviously the RWBY stuff hasn't started yet, but it will next chapter. I really have no idea if this is any good at all, or if anyone will want to read this. Reviews are appreciated, but I don't really care. If even one or two people read and enjoy it, then this was a success in my view. As for updates, I'll try and get them out weekly, but don't expect them on a consistent basis. I have College work to do and Beyond Light to play, after all.