Chapter 6: Advisement

"That'll never stop freaking me out…." Cayde muttered as he walked past.

Clea was holding out her hand, and a pencil was levitating above it.

Ikora's eyes were intently focused on the object; she held out her hand, trying to sense the energy around it.

Eventually, the warlock vanguard gave a sigh of frustration and said, "whatever you're doing…it's not the light…."

Clea stopped hovering the pencil and placed it on Ikora's desk, saying, "what do you mean? You said void light can control gravity."

Ikora nodded and said, "yes, but that's not void light; whatever you're doing isn't lightly based. If you were using void light, this is what it would look like."

Ikora's hand glowed purple, and the pencil levitated, but the was a noticeable purple hue around the object as it floated.

"Has any other powers like this manifested?" Ikora questioned.

Clea shook her head and said, "no, not really, but I have been having strange dreams…."

"Define strange," Ikora pressed.

Clea then pulled a scrap of paper out of her trench coat, and the image looked like it was drawn by a masterful artist. The ship was three-pronged, with two slanted wings and a long central body, forming a trident profile. There were subtle details like a few scratches on the bubble cockpit, but the most striking were the symbols on the wings, being a circle with eight spikes surrounding it, three long gem shapes, and two triangles.

Polari then appeared and said, "she woke up one morning and drew that freehand; she had a dream about that ship," earning a nod from Clea.

"Ever since I used my first super, and the more I practice my light, the more these powers manifest, first this, then the dreams. They're becoming more and more vivid." Clea admitted

"Has anything else appeared in these dreams? The speaker sometimes receives visions from the Traveler when he sleeps. Maybe you could talk to him?" Ikora suggested.

Clea nodded and said, "I'll talk to him; maybe there's been ships like this?"

Ikora took the paper from Clea and said, " I'll look into my archives on the ship and the symbol, report to vanguard command; Zavala has a fireteam in need of a warlock."

Clea nodded and left the private Vanguard floor. As soon as the elevator closed, Ikora's ghost appeared and stared at the drawing, particularly the symbol on the wings.

Ikora barely acknowledged the ghost's presence as she said, "this is far too detailed…wait, I've seen that symbol before…."

Ophiuchus flew over to Ikora's bookshelf and highlighted a book with a blue beam of light, which the warlock vanguard then pulled out and flipped through the pages until she found the same symbol.

Ikora shook her head in disbelief and said, "how could she have dreamed about this so precisely….unless she was…."

Clea entered the Vanguard Command to see Fireteam Cobalt waiting, though there was a notable absence.

"Where's Bela?" Clea questioned.

Ash shook his head and replied, "she's on an assignment for Ikora, and we only have one Warlock for two Hunters and two Titans, so Zavala selected you."

Clea then took in the other members of the fireteam. Rand-7, the Exo was staring intently at a hologram his ghost was projecting, clearly going over the briefing before Zavala arrived.

Cassie was balancing a knife on her finger to pass the time. She had recently repainted her armor. Where it had originally been yellow and grey, her chest plate, boots, and body glove were black, while her gauntlets, knee pads, and shoulder guards were dark green, and she had dyed her hair to match. Peering under her chair, Clea saw she had also acquired a new helmet, which had three lenses in the front, but was black and had two noticeable grates on the cheeks of the helmet for air purification.

The other Titan was a gruff woman with grey hair, but the sheer amount of muscle present on her exposed arms made it clear that she was a force to be reckoned with

Clea noticed there were only four teammates, and asked, "where's the other warlock?"

On cue, Zavala entered with another guardian. He was tall, and his face was clean and free of scars. He had blond hair and silver eyes. His trench coat and armor was silver as well.

"Trying to get the jump on being leader Tyzon?" Cassie joked.

Tyzon shook his head and replied, "no, Rand is leading the fireteam."

Clea stared at Tyzon as he sat down beside her, as the warlock turned to her and said, "you're Clea, right? I wanted to thank you for saving Bela. She was my mentor too, and she talked a lot about you."

Clea's blue skin barely hid her blush as she smiled and turned to face Zavala, who pulled up an image on the holo-table. Everyone stared at the image that was projected, a round machine with spikes and metal braces around its shell.

Ash spoke first by saying, "that's not a normal servitor…."

"Servitor?" Clea whispered under her breath.

"Round machines the fallen created to worship instead of the Traveler. The Traveler once lived with the fallen, and once it left, they followed it to the solar system. They create ether, the substance that the fallen consume to survive and grow larger," Polari explained.

"Correct, Ash, this is Sepiks Prime. The prime servitor that fuels all of the servitors in the house of devils. Ever since the Archon was killed, the House of Devils operations have ceased, and Vanguard agents tracked several fallen squads to the ruins of a colony ship. We believe this is their primary base, and they're gathering for an assault. Your mission is to infiltrate the base and destroy Sepiks Prime. Without their Archon and their prime servitor, the house of devils won't survive long." Zavala finished.

"Fallen Leaders maintain control by rationing ether and limiting the amount given to the Vandals and Dregs. Without the Archon, one of the oldest Vandals is likely in charge. No ether, nothing to eat, the house falls apart," Polari explained.

"Finally, I know you're working with a new face, but Bella personally recommended her, so I expect you to treat her as an equal teammate. This is a dangerous mission, so look out for each other. You leave at sunrise tomorrow," Zavala finished before walking away.

Everyone nodded and filed out of the room, but then Rand pulled Clea aside and said, "look, this mission is a big step up from anything you've done…if you mess up, you could jeopardize the entire team, so follow my lead, and don't do anything risky, Understand!"

Clea noticed the Exo's harsh tone and nodded repeatedly. As soon as he left, the other Titan came up and offered her hand.

Clea shook her hand as the Titan said, "Rand may seem mean, but he's just trying to look out for ya; the name's Slone!"

Clea nodded and said, "thanks…he's just a little intimidating."

Slone laughed and said, "yea, but when all hell's breaking loose, he'll have your back."

Cela's next stop was the gunsmith, as she put all three of her weapons on the counter and said, "I need you to give them all a once over; big mission tomorrow."

The Exo gunsmith, Banshee-44, nodded and replied, "no problem, come back in a few hours."

Finally, Clea made her way up to the speaker's tower, but just as she reached the final set of stairs, she froze in place.

Polari appeared and said, "what's wrong?"

"I'm just concerned…should I really be bothering the speaker over some dreams?" Clea questioned.

Polari once again gave her guardian a reassuring look and said, "Clea, I've known the speaker for centuries, and he's always willing to give guardians advice, don't be shy!"

Clea gave Polari a smile and walked up the stairs, where the Speaker was looking over one of his orbs. Within was a map of the earth that he was surveying.

The awoken waited a moment, before speaking softly with "can I speak with you?"

The Speaker chuckled and said, "you seem to think I would have a reason to turn you away?"

Clea rubbed the back of her head and replied, "sorry, I just don't know if I have a good enough reason to bother you."

The Speaker motioned for her to follow, and as they headed up to the top of the floor, where his telescope was, he said "I am the one who speaks for the Traveler, and while that always will be my greatest duty, guardians are the ones who defend humanity now that the Traveler cannot. I am honored to help each and every one of them when they seek counsel."

The Speaker then opened a door to his living quarters, a room with simple white furniture and a few books on tables.

Clea sat down while the speaker sat down across from her and asked, "what troubles you? From what I have observed, your first three months here have been going well, you completed your first mission with flying colors, and all of the other missions you've taken on were completed without issue."

Clea nodded and replied, "yes, but ever since I casted my first super, I've had strange dreams, and a new power that Ikora can't explain."

"What power?" The Speaker questioned.

Clea then held out her hand and levitated the magnifying glass on a nearby table into the air, before dropping it in the Speaker's hand.

The Speaker then sat the magnifying glass back on the side table and said, "and the dreams?"

"They're more vivid every time; I see different things, a ship, flying through asteroid fields…other times I see a house….a girl, an awoken child I don't recognize…."

The Speaker nodded and replied, "I have heard of such things…such powers…but they've never manifested in a guardian before."

"Where?" Clea questioned.

"When the Awoken Queen returned from her new world with a select group of awoken who chose to follow her, she brought technology, but she also knew that science couldn't explain everything. Thus she created an order of mystics, known as Techuens, to study and control paracausal forces," The Speaker explained.

Clea shuffled in place before saying, "so…could I have been a Techeun in my past life?"

The Speaker sighed and said, "perhaps, perhaps not, moving things with their minds and dreams telling the past and future are among their talents but Techuns never serve as pilots. All Awoken have the capacity to learn certain paracausal abilities, but the most powerful Techuns come from a select few bloodlines, and the Queen would never let a potentially powerful Techun become a pilot. Then again, I haven't ever spoken to the Queen, so my knowledge of the Awoken as they are now is limited. As you know, it is taboo to search for information regarding your past, but maybe someday, the answers will come to you. I suggest focusing on the here and now. Your mission tomorrow, should you succeed, could save the lives of hundreds of guardians and civilians in the future."

Clea nodded and replied, "your right…take things one day at a time. Thanks, I just needed someone to talk to.."

"I'm always here too," Polari added.

The Speaker nodded and replied, "I am always happy to assist you. The House of Devils will fight to the end to protect their Servitor, trust yourself, and trust your fireteam."

Ash's room was the same as any other guardian's standard living quarters, except that it was a complete mess.

Aside from the bed, and the bathroom, the entire room was covered in various wires and machine parts. The hunter was sitting on the floor, fiddling with a holographic display Orion was projecting. He was trying to retrofit some weapons onto his Sparrow, but one issue kept cropping up.

"But how do I make them strong enough to justify having them without reducing the speed…." Ash muttered.

The hunter had already been banned from tinkering on his projects in the hangar, as they often cluttered the area or exploded. More importantly, parts often went missing from every conceivable device. When the hunter set his mind to finishing something, he would do nothing else for hours, and in his frantic thinking sessions, he would often grab something nearby without thinking. On one occasion, Amanda had left for twenty minutes to get the cowl cover on a jumpship's engine, and returned to find the entire engine expertly disassembled and laid on the floor, missing the one heavy-duty spark plug that Ash needed for his new Sparrow engine.

Orion had been projecting for over three hours before he finally chimed in with, "what about the magnetic barrel sniper's energy capacitor?"

Ash snapped his fingers as he realized what Orion was implying and said, "that's it!"

The hunter went over to one of the piles and found the sniper that he had taken the Magnetic barrel off of for the DARCI; the energy capacitor was hanging limply from the receiver.

Ash disconnected the capacitor and pulled out a screwdriver. He popped it open and retrieved the circuit board along with the coils that the energy flowed through when the sniper fired. Orion then materialized the battery from his sparrow. Amanda would have taken five minutes just to get the battery out of the sparrow, but Orion knew how to materialize the parts Ash wanted and integrate them back into others. Ash popped the casing open and took out the battery's energy cells in one pull. Most people took them out one at a time, but Ash knew the exact section of wire to pull on, removing them in one fell swoop without damaging them as his other hand held the battery casing.

The capacitor slotted in, and Ash reconnected the wires faster than Orion could blink his eye, finishing the upgrade in less than a minute before it dissolved.

"Good call, buddy…thanks!" Ash said to Orion

The ghost rolled his eye and said, "you were overthinking the problem.."

Ash nodded and said, "yea, yea, but I usually find a solution on my own!"

"Yes, but 23 percent of the time, you think in circles while I slow down and observe, eventually finding the solution," Orion reminded him.

Ash smiled and said, "and that's why you're the best ghost out there…oh crap, Banshee said it would be ready soon; what time is it"

"It is exactly 26 minutes, and 14 seconds after the time he told you to arrive," Orion stated bluntly.

The hunter instantly put on his helmet and ran out the door, not even bothering to close it. Orion once again rolled his eye and nudged the door shut before dematerializing and teleporting after his guardian.

Ash headed straight to Banshee, and then to the shooting range. The bounty for the Archon was enough to buy a guardian an entire set of new armor, and any three weapons, along with a brand new ship and sparrow. However, Bela had given her cut to Clea, and Clea had only taken enough to commission her own ship.

That left Ash enough glimmer to upgrade his existing armor, which now had a more fortified chest plate and gauntlets. With that, he had just enough glimmer to buy a brand-new hand cannon.

Ash had ordered top-of-the-line parts from several different hand cannons, and then given them to banshee. The result was the Austringer, or hawk hunter. The gun was chambered 40 cal, the preferred caliber of experienced hunters. It had a long barrel with metal vents on the side for cooling and recoil control, along with a laser sight on the bottom and the red and black paint scheme Ash requested.

Not only that, but Ash had bought the ammo fabricator for both him and Clea, as Bela had her own already. The ammo fabricator was simply a machine the size of a book that proportioned the perfect amount of glimmer or materials to make each bullet, which a ghost then scanned and downloaded into themselves. The modification also allowed ghosts to dissolve raw materials directly into ammo, rather than having to convert it to glimmer, and then to ammo. A ghost could turn a pound of metal into 100 glimmer, and then into 10 bullets for Ash's hand cannon, which were stored in 9 round tubes. With the fabricator mod, a ghost could make 50 rounds from the same amount. Ghosts stored spare magazines for their guardians and materialized them on command.

Ash shot four bullets cleanly through a target without the laser sight, but the fifth left about an inch of paper hanging inside the bullseye.

Just then, another shot rang out and hit the target perfectly to sever the remaining inch without making the hole bigger.

Ash looked to the station beside him and saw Cayde, the smoke still emanating from the barrel of his hand cannon.

"Ikora has me doing so much paperwork, I just thought I'd finish yours too," Cayde joked.

Ash laughed and said, "thanks; any other reason that the great hunter vanguard has decided to visit me?"

"Saw that order you placed to Banshee; you've got good taste in guns. Case and point, I'm bored, and I need an excuse to get out of the tower. So after your big mission tomorrow, I'm gonna say that I'm gonna take you on a tour of my favorite ramen shops around the city the next day to celebrate. You will tell everyone you want to do things alone, and then I'm gonna remotely summon my jumpship…and go to a particular place so I can teach ya a few things…and then do it again any time I get bored…interested?" Cayde questioned.

Ash smiled behind his helmet and said, "what time?"

Author's note- Clea's first strike is up next!

1. As you no doubt realized, I am dropping more hints to Clea's past...and while it may seem way too soon for this, there is a reason...

2. Two new characters, one from the games and one of my own creation, Id be impressed if anyone knows Tyzon's inspiration without google searching it...

3. Clea having these powers following her rebirth in the light doesn't contridict anything. Paracasual forces are often linked more to the soul than body, and given that Guardians clearly retain their apperence and DNA, such powers returning when they have a new body makes sense, especilly since Taken are remade molocule by molocule and yet Techuns surived with their abilites restored.

4. As Ikora's ghost theorized, each ghost has a personality meant to complement their chosen guardian, and I hope I explained Ash and Orion's relationship without being too heavy-handed...

5. So it doesn't come out of nowhere, Id like to announce that I will be switching up the events regarding the first two expansions of Destiny. House of Wolves will be before the Dark Below. Before anyone becomes disappointed, rest assured that my version of House of Wolves will be far more interesting than what it was in Destiny 1

Thanks so much for the reviews! Keep them up!