Chapter 8: Luna
Clea walked into Vanguard command, feeling more confident than she ever had before. Bela had returned a few weeks after the strike on the Devil's lair, and had been giving Clea some extra training. While Bela was mainly voidwalker, she was more than capable of giving solar training as well, and over the course of the last five months, Clea's abilites were progressing far faster than Bela or Ikora had imagined. As the doors opened, all three of the Vanguard leaders gave her a smile before Zavala said, "Welcome, Clea; thank you for coming in so early."
"No problem, so what mission do you have for me this time?" Clea questioned.
Ikora held out her hand, causing the table to project a map of Earth's moon, and said, "A scouting mission on the moon"
Polari materialized instantly and said, "I don't think she's ready for that…."
Clea gave her ghost a confused look and said "What? We can do this!"
"Ummm, I don't know…" Polari began, only for Zavala to interject and say "your concern is understandable, but this is strictly a scouting mission; your only objective is to land on the moon and secure a safe landing site for future use. Once you have cleared the area of hostile presence, your mission will be complete, and you can return to base or scout further. Should things become too dangerous at any point, you are free to retreat at your own discretion."
"See, nothing to worry about! Let's wing up!" Clea said as she left the room with Polari in hot pursuit.
After a brief walk to the hanger, Clea gave a small wave to Amanda before climbing in her ship and taking off, as soon as they left Earth's atmosphere. The Castillo lancer had received some minor upgrades since the strike on the Devil's Lair five months ago. t was now stocked with missiles, as well as a long range warp drive that allowed for travel anywhere in the solar system. Finally, it had received a sleek orange and black paint job. Once they were in orbit, Clea cut straight to the point. The Castillo Lancer could get to the moon in less than five minutes at top speed, but Clea held the throttle back and set a course for low orbit.
"We're gonna take this slow, ten minutes before we make our descent, so tell me, what's the deal? We've been doing missions for almost nine months now, and yet you think I'm not ready for some scouting mission to the moon?" Clea questioned over internal comms.
"I didn't mean to insult you…you're my guardian…I believe you can do this…but the moon…well…let's just say it's got some bad history when it comes to guardians," Polari began. The frequent pauses in her words made it clear she was struggling to avoid a certain topic, without offending her guardian.
Clea frowned at her ghost's cryptic warning and said, "please just tell me…"
"Fine….around 300 years ago, a group of guardians encountered a new species of aliens in the cosmodrome, near a lake. The aliens in question were far stronger, far faster, and far more durable than the fallen. These aliens, known as the hive, were living underground in an old industrial complex near a lake. They were strong, but they were clearly weak to solar light. It took a large contingent of solar specialist guardians to clear them out, and they literally had to burn the entire area to the ground, along with burning out every tunnel they found. This came to be known as the battle of burning lake…." Polari began,
"I still don't see how this is related to the moon…" Clea pressed.
"I'm getting there…after burning lake, the Consensus, the civilian council that governs the last city, voted to launch an attack on the hive's base on the moon. Shaxx believed that it was too soon, and we didn't know enough to launch a full-scale assault on the hive, but the Consensus decided to go ahead and order the assault. The Vanguard assembled a force of over 5,000 guardians to exterminate the hive, and at first, things went well. The hive were routed, and all of the surviving hive fell back to their central base…the Hellmouth, a giant hole bored into the moon's surface where the hive constructed an underground fortress. Just as the guardians reached the Hellmouth, a new foe rose to meet them. A hive so powerful, and so ancient that the other hive worshiped him as a god, Crota." Polari continued.
Clea's face began to harden as the story continued, it was clear where this was going.
"A single slash from Crota's blade could drain a guardian's light, and kill them permanently. He slaughtered every guardian in his way, including Wei Ning, who was the most powerful guardian in the city's history until that point, she was even more powerful than Zavala and Ikora combined at the time. The guardians were forced to retreat, and this catastrophe became known as the great disaster. Of over 5,000 guardians that arrived on the moon, less than three hundred returned. From then on out the moon was off limits to all guardians. Today many people believe that Crota is a myth, and that the operation failed simply due to poor planning and inadequate understanding of the hive, but I can assure you that he existed." Polari stated firmly
"And how can you be sure of that? Also, what stopped him from just conquering Earth if he was so unstoppable?" Clea questioned, not even bothering to use internal comms.
"Because I was there…searching for my guardian, and I saw the bodies, with wounds that no ordinary hive could create, wounds that had drained the light from guardians with a single slash, and their ghosts split in half within their bodies from the slash. And as for your second question…no one is sure. Of all the guardians who faced Crota, only one lived to tell the tale. Merrick, the Thunder Wolf." Polari revealed.
Clea paused for a moment, remembering her conversation with Tyzonn and Rand a few months ago, before saying, "That's why you were so curious about him, right?"
"Yes…I always wanted to know what happened. All that I know is that when the last ships were evacuating the moon, Merrick arrived with his armor battered and scarred, missing his gauntlets, part of his chest plate, and half of his helmet. He was badly wounded with his powers and ammunition completely spent. He made sure everyone left was on board, and as soon as the ship took off, he collapsed. He was in a coma for months before his light had regenerated enough to heal him, and he has never said a word about it since. Some people say Merrick managed to single-handedly slay Crota and that the hive ran from him in fear as their god fell, others say he only wounded Crota and retreated due to the advancing hive army, and some believe that he never faced Crota, to begin with and merely held off the hive forces so others could escape" Polari finished.
Clea's attention turned to landing the ship, and soon enough, she disembarked onto the lunar surface. However, as soon as her feet touched the ground, she held her hands to her face, and realized she wasn't wearing a helmet.
Polari materialized it in her hands and said, "Guardians don't need to breathe oxygen remember? Besides, the traveler gave every planet in the system a breathable atmosphere during the golden age"
"Right, alright…let's get going," Clea said as she put her helmet on, trying to shove past the idea of an ancient, all-powerful hive god waiting around to end her existence.
Clea arrived at a large flat area, with only a few large boulders surrounding her. Immediately Polari said, "I'm detecting two heat signatures". The warlock instantly drew her shotgun, asking, "What do they look like? The hive?"
"Umm, depends on the type of hive…kinda like the fallen, but two arms, and a lot less colorful," Polari tried to explain.
Right on cue, two small creatures ran around the corner, they were a few inches shorter than Clea, and she was only around 5 foot 8. They were fast, and lanky, almost like living skeletons. Most distinctly were their large claws and their rounded head, which had no eyes.
Clea unloaded two shotgun blasts and blew them both apart. However, as they came apart, two small worms crawled out of their bodies, only for Clea to blast them as well.
Her hands were shaking, causing her to drop one of the shotgun shells as she reloaded. Polari transmatted the shell back into her hand and said, "Breath…those were the only two…i didn't mean to scare you with that story"
Clea did as instructed, and after a deep breath, she loaded the last shell saying, "I'm good….im good; what were those worms?"
"Those worms live inside the hive and are what give some of the stronger hive their powers. The hive has to kill living things to feed their worms. They don't feed in a traditional sense, the act of killing something is what gives them strength to feed their worm, thus why they attack everyone and why fallen outposts on the moon tend to not last very long," Polari explained.
Clea nodded and began to walk forward, only to fall flat on her face. She got up, and turned around to see a thin piece of metal hidden in the dirt. She shook her head and continued on; just then, a slight gust of wind blew a bit of the dust away and revealed the writing on the plaque. The moon's new atmosphere had given it very weak winds that only blew at certain times every year, and this time they had revealed an ancient artifact, thrown in a pile of junk and buried by fallen scavengers only to be forgotten when the hive had attacked. On the plaque were the words, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."
After another hour of scattered fighting, Clea had cleared the designated area of the hive. It's was nothing but a few thralls hiding in craters here and there, along with a select few glowing thralls that exploded when they got close. Now, Clea was sitting on a small bolder as Polari patched up the holes in her outfit along with her wounds.
"You weren't kidding about the cursed thralls" Clea joked sarcastically as Polari ran a beam of light over her. Wherever the beam hit, her clothes were mended and any wounds were healed. Obviously, Polari could do this dematerialized, but it was much faster to do it this way.
Polari finished her work and dematerialized, saying, "yea, they hurt…and they just plain disgusting"
Just as Clea was about to ask Polari to call her ship, static-filled her helmet via an official vanguard frequency contacting her.
"This frequency hasn't been used in over 400 years; how on earth could they be…" Polari was cut off by a new voice. It was cold, nearly emotionless, but clearly a human voice, and a female voice at that.
"Guardian, you're not supposed to be here yet, and that makes you interesting," the voice said.
Clea looked around frantically, trying to figure out where she was being watched from, since the voice clearly knew her location.
The voice then continued with, "if you want to save lives, you need to go to a hive temple nearby, three kilometers to the north, and find someone there who needs to be brought back to the vanguard, as well as an artifact the hive cannot be allowed to keep. Her life is in your hands, as well as the lives of everyone in the solar system. Tell no one of this conversation, or all hope will be lost. If you survive, I'll be waiting for you on Venus"
Clea stood up and said, "Scan the area, chart a path to the temple"
"You're not actually considering this are you!" Polari objected.
The warlock shook her head and said, "No, I'm not considering this; I've already decided. If someone's life is in danger, then I'm going to go help them"
"I'm just trying to look out for…I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?" Polari asked.
"No, no, your not," Clea confirmed.
Polari summoned her Sparrow, and Clea blasted off towards the temple. It was only a five-minute ride, and soon enough, they had arrived.
The temple was massive, at least five stories tall, and given the hive's history, there was undoubtedly more underground.
"Well, here we are; now how do we open the door?" Clea asked.
Just then, Clea heard a whooshing sound above her, and standing at the top of the temple was a figure. It clearly wasn't a hive, as it was thin and humanoid in shape, and clearly feminine. The woman was wearing a blue bodysuit, but her face wasn't visible. She was hiding her face under a tan and blue cloth that covered her head like a hood and flowed down one side of her body.
Clea began to open her mouth to shout up to her, but she was interrupted by a rumbling sound coming from the temple, and the door began to open up in three segments. The warlock looked at the door and looked up again, and the woman was gone.
"We've awoken the hive!" Polari realized as dozens of thralls poured out of the opening.
Clea jumped back instinctively, gliding through the air as she summoned light in her hand. After channeling enough light, she threw the ball of light at the ground. The initial detonation killed the first wave, and then the solar grenade exploded into a lingering ball of fire that suck to the ground, the orb was five feet across and created searing heat that vaporized every enemy that came near it.
Soon enough, the thralls were dispatched, and from the door came three more opponents. Two of the hive were slightly taller than the thralls and had three glowing green eyes along with a more fortified frame. Each of the two hive acolytes was holding a small gun akin to an SMG.
However, more imposing was the hive standing between the two acolytes; he was seven feet tall, and clad in a heavily armored carapace. He was holding a massive sword that was half of his own height.
Clea acted without thinking and summoned her rocket launcher, firing straight toward the knight. The knight tried to charge forward, but got blown apart, along with the two hive acolytes.
"So that's what you meant by different types of hive…. let's get going," Clea said as she reloaded her rocket launcher and allowed it to dissolve back into storage.
After entering the doorway, Clea took in the sight of a massive temple, with multiple platforms and plates. It was clear this location was very important to the hive. There was a tunnel at the far end of the room, and Clea ran down it without hesitation.
Soon enough, she arrived at a massive room, with a strange device in the center. The device was a massive metal sphere sitting in a large, bowl-like structure. There were metal arms circling around the device in a sun pattern. There was a small opening in the device, and what appeared to be a console hidden within.
The other standout of the room were three hive hovering in the center, in a glowing symbol lined with runes. The three hive had no visible legs, and instead of being heavily armored like knights, they looked to be wearing long robes around their bodies like dresses. Their hands ended in three-fingered, glowing claws, and their eyes were two long green slits running down the front of their face.
"What are they?" Clea questioned over internal coms, trying to keep her presence secret as she peeked around the corner.
"Hive wizards, think of them as a hive equivalent to a warlock. They're known for casting spells to create clouds of poison, potent blasts of energy, and draining the light from guardians," Polari warned.
Clea's heart rate spiked at her ghost's warning, as she said, "Do they have shields?"
"Hold on, scanning….no, not yet, they seem to be concentrating on a spell for something else…that ritual circle," Polari admitted.
Clea once again drew her rocket launcher, but then the three hive spread out, and green energy began flowing from their hands. They were funneling their power into a large black rock in the center of the ritual circle.
Clea aimed her sight directly at the nearest wizard and prepared to fire, but Polari stopped her by saying, "Clea, don't. You won't get all three of them from this angle, and we don't know if they're alone…."
The warlock tightened her hand on her rocket launcher's grip and responded with "Remember what that lady said? The hive had an artifact that they cannot be allowed to keep?"
Polari scoffed at her guardian's impulsiveness and said, "you are risking your final death for an unknown voice? If you're killed here, those wizards could suck my light dry! Do you notice that the supposed person we're here for isn't here"
As if the universe had heard her, a door on the other end of the room opened, and a massive hive knight entered. He was over 10 feet tall, with glowing green patches all over his armor. In one hand, he was holding a massive cleaver, and in the other hand, he was holding a human woman. Clea couldn't see her face, as she was slung over the knight's shoulder, and was clad in black robes, but she was clearly a human.
The three wizards turned their attention to the new arrival and flew over to the knight, who tossed her on the floor.
The woman got to her knees as the three wizards hovered over her, and clearly laughing. Green energy pooled in their claws as they prepared to finish her off
Clea couldn't standby any longer and dashed out of hiding, yelling, "OVER HERE"
The three wizards turned around to see the voice, only for Clea to fire her rocket launcher at them. Luckily the woman was paying attention, and she managed to dive away to safety just as Clea fired the rocket.
The three wizards tried to put up their shields, but they simply weren't ready, and were blown apart by the hothead's rocket. However, the massive knight was still alive, and clearly very angry at the intruder.
Polari then used one of a ghosts more unique abilities, scanning an opponent for weakness, and identification. Thus a ghost could essentially create a readout of an enemy and project an image over their guardian's eyes, like a head's up display, but directly to their brain.
Clea jumpred away from the slash as Polari finished the scan, and revealed her opponent's name, Sardok, Eye of Oryx, and a yellow bar above his head representing his remaining stamina.
Sardok swung at Clea again and again, but the nimble warlock managed to stay out of range and load her hothead again. She fired, but Sardok was unphased by a direct hit and rushed foreward, grabbing her out of the air and slamming her down.
Clea struggled against the knight's herculean strength, but before the knight could crush her ribs, a small green orb bounced into his head.
The knight turned only to get hit right in the eyes and stagger back, dropping his prey.
Clea took the opportunity and summoned her dawn blade, unleashing slash after slash. The knight staggered backward from each hit, until he backed into the large metal orb.
"Destroy it NOW!" the woman shouted.
Clea channeled all her remaining light and flung her dawn blade straight toward Sardoc. The blade impaled straight into his chest, and detonated in a massive blast of solar light, vaporizing the hive knight from the inside out and destroying the device with it.
As the smoke cleared, Clea fell to the ground, summoning her sword again to use it like a crutch as she struggled from the energy drain. She had never used her super to that extent before, but it had worked.
The warlock managed to stand and dissolved her sword. Finally, she turned and looked at the woman, only to immediately gasp.
As the green orb, which actually contacted a small black shard resembling a rock or bone, returned to her hand, Clea took in her appearance. She was wearing black robes with a chest plate, and shoulder pads that ended in sharp points, and a strange symbol was painted in white on her chest. Most striking was her face, which had a deathly white complexion. Her eyes were covered by a black cloth, and they were glowing green, two where a normal human's eyes should be, and a third above the other two, just like a hive acolyte. Black smoke was pouring from her eyes, almost like tears.
Clea stumbled back and fell down, desperately trying to reach for the pulse rifle on her back, only for the woman to stop and hold out her hand, offering to help her up.
"I mean you no harm…please, let me help you." the woman assured her.
Clea accepted the hand up, and the woman then walked over to the hive ritual circle. Black smoke began to emanate from the massive black rock, and when it cleared, Clea gasped.
It was a brilliant white shard, that looked exactly like the traveler's hull.
The woman stared at the shard as it dissolved into white light and vanished, saying, "Your eyes do not deceive you…that was a shard of the Traveler, that the hive was going to drain the light from and send it through this shrine"
Clea then looked at the massive, smoking remains of the device and asked, "What did this shrine do?"
"It was the hive's means of communicating with other swarms beyond the solar system and what they would use to channel the light to others, signaling that they had found the Traveler. Luckily you stopped them before they could send the message," the woman explained.
Clea gave a sigh of relief, and then Polari materialized, saying "Who are you….there's something familiar about you…"
"I'm not surprised you don't recognize me…you and I haven't spoken since we left for the Hellmouth" the woman admitted.
Polari's eyes squirted for a moment, before widening as she realized, "Wait…Eris!"
The woman nodded and said, "Yes, it's me...or at least what's left of me"
Clea turned to her ghost for an explanation as she said, "Eris Morn was the leader of a six man fireteam that descended into the hell mouth a few years after the great disaster to find and kill Crota…she was one of the greatest hunters in the city's history."
"You're a guardian?" Clea questioned.
"I was a guardian…I was one of only three members of my fireteam that made it to Crota's throne room; Eriana died just as we arrived, while Toland and Sai fell to one of the wizards. My eyes were taken from me by Crota's strongest Knight and my ghost…Brya teleported me away just before she was killed. I was forced to stumble around the Hellmouth for years; I learned many of the hive's secrets and had to take drastic measures to survive," Eris explained as she rubbed the side of her face, motioning to her three eyes.
Clea was taken aback by Eris's story; the idea that the woman standing before her had survived nearly three centuries on the moon without her light was mind-boggling, especially considering she spent at least some of that time blind, and given what she was implying with her eyes, it was clear the woman's will to live was unbreakable.
Eris gave a very small smile and said, "thank you for saving my life. Now then, young Warlock, let us return to the city before more Hive arrive…I believe I am finally ready to speak with the vanguard about my findings"
The two quickly exited the room and headed to the surface, with Clea escorting Eris to a small ship she had been slowly cobbling together over the years. It was in no condition for long-range travel, but it was sufficient to return her to Earth, and that was all that mattered.
As Clea slowly escorted Eris's ship back towards Earth, she noticed a small notification on her ship's screen, and after pressing it, a set of coordinates appeared. The coordinates had been beamed to the ship by the same outdated vanguard frequency.
The stranger's voice echoed in her head as Clea stated at the coordinates.
"Tell no one of this conversation, or all hope will be lost. If you survive, I'll be waiting for you on Venus"
Author's note- IM BACK!
1. Writer's block is a pain...but you may be able to tell why this chapter took so long; it was hard to figure out.
2. Ah, the joys of compartmentalization, three boring missions to the moon combined into one more interesting mission. I will be skipping the Sword of Crota mission, since it really makes no sense once the Dark Below rolls around...
3. A proper introduction to Eris honestly should have been in the base game, so I added it. A common theme of this story will be Clea having various mentors, and Eris will be one of them.
4. A reviewer mentioned how he was having trouble keeping up with the timeline of events, and since this chapter started after another, I'll clarify below
Chapters 1-5 take place over the course of about a week, chapter 6 takes place three months later, chapter 7 is the day after Chapter six, and this chapter is five months after chapter 7. Essentially I'm skipping the filler missions.
Leave a review, be it what you liked, didn't like, or simply what you think of the story so far!