File 1: Scourge of the Cosmodrome
1. Survivor
Fire was the only thing Ashley could see from under the ruined wagon as the four armed monsters looted the remains of her parent’s cart. She was only five years old when the aliens came from nowhere and took the refugees by complete surprise. By the time they could ready their crude, handmade weapons to defend themselves, half of their number had been gunned down by the Fallen coming from the walls of the canyon. After a sickeningly short firefight, everyone in the caravan was dead. The scavengers, satisfied that they had been thorough in their attack, gathered all the loot they could carry and piled the rest of the scraps on the dregs and shanks. They moved on shortly after, leaving the smoldering ruin behind, completely unaware of the tiny girl emerging from the burning pile.
A normal person would have returned from whence they came or resumed their journey to the massive, white ball in the sky and the gathering of tents huddled under it. But the child, against all reason, seemed fascinated by the alien scavengers and decided to follow them from a distance. Ash intently watched from a ruined car as one of the smaller aliens carrying a box of looted weapons tripped over a rock and plummeted into the ditch below. The group squabbled for a bit before gathering the scattered weapons and leaving the body behind. In the scramble, the scavengers failed to notice the child creep over to the remains of the body and take the armor and rags from the corpse. Neither did they notice her as she continued to follow them away from the great sphere hanging in the void above the few remnants of humanity.
2. Kinship
Ashley, now eight years old, found herself wandering a swampy region while trailing after a group of nomads when she spotted a ragged scrap of yellow cloth bearing an unfamiliar symbol. Upon taking the rag from the windowsill of a ruined house, she noticed it was different from the red banners she had seen from the aliens earlier in her journey. In the span of three years, she had become unhealthily fascinated by the four armed scavengers that many had dubbed “The Fallen”. They, however, did not share her sentiment, as the deep, arc-burned, scar along her back prominently stated. Though she was not always greeted with violence, as some unarmed groups would often hiss at her in an attempt to scare her away. She had learned to identify armed and unarmed fallen from a distance, namely by the tatters they wore. Those who wore simple rags were, more-often-than-not, unarmed.
The sounds of shouting and gunfire snapped Ash back to reality. She dove instinctively into a nearby alley and peeked from inside a trash can. A group of Fallen emerged from the side of a building, one of whom carried a bundle of hatchlings. Several of the elders were bleeding a glowing blue liquid. Gunshot wounds. They piled into the abandoned house and shut the door as the sounds of combat grew closer. Not long after, a towering figure disembarked from a hover bike in front of the dilapidated building. His armor gleamed a bright blue, white and orange as the evening sun caught on the myriad scratches and dents that peppered his frame. What drew Ash’s attention was not the armor, but his helmet, which bore a stoic face of carved stone. He stood at least five feet taller than the trash can in which Ash was cloistered. She cowered in her hiding place as a small drone materialized at his side and hovered at his shoulder, it’s angled shell spinning and readjusting in place as it’s bright blue eye scanned it’s surroundings.
The man drew a scoped rifle from his back before checking it’s kitbashed sights and adjusting the magazine. “Damn.” the giant grunted. “Would’ve gotten that last one if my gun didn’t jam. Galleon, how many rounds I got? “Think she’s due for another.” The drone floated toward the weapon as its blue gaze caught the imperfections and tallies on the magazine. “Don’t you think this a bit much?”, it asked in a concerned tone. “You know, the tracking and stuff? Isn’t it better to just…let them go?”. Ash had heard other humans speak many times before, but had never learned to do so herself. In the years she spent trailing the scavengers that killed her family, Ash had learned the meaning behind their clicks, hissing, and shrill cries. She deciphered their signs from a transcript she found on the body of a dead scribe. As the words this armored man and his drone spoke were unfamiliar, she found it difficult to understand them, but she could detect the signs of trouble regardless of tongue or species.
The man scoffed at the drone’s suggestion as he cleaned the muzzle of his rifle. “Galleon, if we let even one bug get away they’ll turn around and kill more innocent people. If they go unpunished, they’ll get brave enough to attack the last city and kill us all! But not if we wipe them out first!”. The man checked his weapon and screwed in a new priming bolt as Galleon circled around his partner’s head. He scanned the weapon before replying. “I know how you feel, and, yes, the Fallen are monsters that need to be kept under control but my scans show that these are unarmed. We shouldn’t be doing this, Dreven. We should go back to the others and-.”. The man turned to glare at his companion, his voice flaring with a righteous anger. “Oh for Traveler’s sake- I’m doing this so that people won’t have to sleep with a gun in their arms every night! So children can play without fear!”. Galleon recoiled at each harsh growl. “I do this because no one else will. We are guardians, the defenders of humanity! Understand?”. The Guardian, recognizing the discomfort in Galleon, turned away before carrying on. “I’m tired of watching everyone around me lose hope. It’s time we gave them a future to look forward to. I thought you of all people would get that?”. Galleon folded his shell inward looking away from his guardian. “I'-I’m sorry. I understand.”. Without another word between them, the man approached the house and broke down the door with the butt of his rifle.
Ash, meanwhile, had crawled into a window behind the house. She was no stranger to these “Guardians”, the strange people raised from the dead by the Ghosts, creations of the Great Machine that bestow powers and immortality to their chosen dead. She once watched one of them get blown to bits by a walker tank only for them to get up without a scratch and dust themselves off seconds later. However, she also learned that these Guardians were far from immortal, as was evidenced during an encounter with a nest of boney, three-eyed monsters. One of the creatures used a jagged blade to cleave the robed guardian’s helmet in half. When their Ghost tried to flee, it was torn apart by a screeching horde. She learned that the source of the Guardians’ power was also their greatest weakness. Sever the Ghost, sever the Guardian. Carefully, she crept quietly towards the room where the Fallen were hiding but froze when the towering man passed by, unaware of her presence, and opened fire.
3. Shattered
When Ash peered into the room, it took everything she had to not to run away. Four bullet ridden bodies lay on the ground, bleeding blue ichor, their eyes empty and lifeless. She spotted the armored hulk as he walked into a separate room where another bang shook the house. She carefully crept into the derelict kitchen where the voices of the Ghost and his Guardian could be heard. “That’s that. Another group of fiends put down, another family avenged.” said Dreven, clearly proud of his butchery. His Ghost Galleon was less optimistic. “Perhaps…But what of this family? The hatchlings that last one had won’t survive without proper nourishment. If we-”. The man interrupted by raising his hand before dismissing Galleon. “Leave em. They’re not worth the ammo.” Taken aback, Galleon sputtered, ”Not worth the ammo!? Do you hear yourself right now?! They’re just children! Infants! Even as a warlord you were cruel, but never this inhumane! This is not what being a guardian is about! Even if they’re Fallen, they are still innocent!”. Dreven blithely ignored his Ghost’s protest as he holstered his rifle, his fists crackling with arc energy. “You want me to do something about it? Fine. This won’t take long- Hold on…did you hear that?”.
Ash slunk back into the corner and froze. The man turned toward direction of the sound as his Ghost scanned the room. “More Fallen?”, Dreven asked, energy crackling along his arms. Eventually the Ghost chirped a confirmation that the sign was not Fallen, but human. Slowly, the man relaxed a little, the energy in his hands sparking faintly out as he peered around the corner to find a terrified, half-starved girl dressed in ill-fitting, scavenged rags. Assuming her to be a prisoner, he fully extinguished his arc light and knelt to her level speaking to her in a softer tone “Hey kid, what are you doing all the way out here? Did they hurt you? Don’t worry, I’m here to help.” But this only caused Ash to recoil away as the towering man continued to approach. “Hey, don’t be scared.”, cooed the brute. “The bugs are dead now. Did you lose your family? Come with me we can-”.
As he reached for her, Ash stabbed his hand with a nearby piece of sharp glass. Ashley scrambled towards an old refrigerator to hide in as he grasped his bleeding hand. Before she could make it inside, the man grabbed her by the arm and slammed her into the fridge, blood splashing her face as sharp pain jolted down her pinned arm. All she could see though her blood-stained vision was the Guardian’s silhouette illuminated by the arc light coursing through his other arm. “You ungrateful little brat. Come here!”. Before he could raise his fist, his Ghost flew in front of his helmet’s stony visage. “What are you doing?!”. Dreven swatted him aside, resuming with lethal intent. “My job. This kid’s been brainwashed by those damned bugs! I should teach this little shi-”. Ashley spat on his helmet giving him a mocking, toothy grin.
He wiped away the spittle before repeatedly slamming her into the fridge. Ash began choking and coughing up blood. Once again, his Ghost sped in front of him. Galleon screamed at him to stop, even going so far as to push himself against the Guardian’s helm. This time, he stopped his brutal beating long enough to grab his Ghost out of the air and hold it in a crushing grip. This gave Ash enough time to grab the glass splinter and plunge it deep into the guardian’s throat with her remaining strength. The glass sliced clean through the soft armor covering his neck and breached the other side. The giant dropped to his knees and released Ash, grasping at his throat and struggling to breath. With his final breaths, Dreven unholstered his rifle and aimed at her, his agonized wheezing denoting blind rage. Before a shot was fired, the heavily-battered refrigerator slid forward and crushed him as it severed his arm from his body, blood pooling at the stump of the detached limb. His rifle clattered to the floor in front of Ashley who collapsed into the corner. The Guardian’s muffled chokes and gasps lingered for what felt like forever before the room finally went silent.
Galleon hovered silently to where Dreven lay dead, hesitating a moment before turning toward the child who killed his Guardian. She was clutching her bloody, purplish arm. Swiftly the Ghost worked a healing beam over the afflicted area, as the bone and skin mended and moved into place. She stared astonished before looking up at the benevolent drone, his blue eye shining down at her as he spoke. “I am so sorry about his behavior. I-I had to do it. The way he handled you…it just wasn’t right.”. The Ghost looked away ashamedly before resuming eye-contact. “What is your name?”. For the first time in eight years, she spoke with what little she knew of the human language. “I…a-m Ash-leee.” She smiled warm and brightly at the Ghost. Galleon gave a cheerful chirp in return before flying towards his fallen Guardian. He paused before resurrecting him. The Ghost stared back at the little girl before giving an electronic sigh. He flew towards the window, turning to her saying, “Would you like to come with me? I could take you to the Last City and find you a family! And maybe, just maybe…you could be my Guardian instead? I wouldn’t mind at all and I’m pretty sure that-”.
The Ghost suddenly exploded in a flash of light as a black flechette embedded both itself and the Ghost into the wall above Ash. The child hid herself behind the toppled fridge just in time for a new figure to peer into the window. His robes were a sooty back and he hefted a spiked hand cannon whose black barrel glowed a sickly green. His white, featureless mask seemed to belie a cold intellect as it scanned the kitchen. Ashley crammed herself further into the corner as the creaking footsteps grew closer. His shadow slowly consumed the portion of the wall where the Ghost remained pinned as he got closer. She almost let out a yelp as his gloved hand reached out and plucked the dart from the wall and caught the Ghost as it fell. Ash peered out from behind the refrigerator as he turned to leave, but slipped on the blood-slick boards. In a panic, she picked herself from the floor only to see the specter already staring her down. Terrified, she pushed her back against the wall as he stalked toward her. Ash closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she waited for the end to come.
Instead, the footsteps stopped just in front of her. Confused, she opened her eyes to find him picking up the Guardian’s severed arm. His blank mask met her gaze before he silently turned and left. Ashley hid behind the refrigerator while she heard the stranger talking to a woman outside. Once the two left, she got up and knelt by the bodies of the Fallen. After burying them, she tore off the dead guardian’s loin-cloth and used it to bundle the remaining hatchlings into a makeshift swaddle. With little ones in tow, she grabbed the oversized scout rifle and ran into the night.
4. Devils
(10 years later, on the night before the battle of Twilight Gap)
The sounds of Zeksis’s footsteps woke her from her sleep as he stumbled into her room, “Baroness! today is the day of our battle to retake the Great Machine! come! come! you must not miss the big speech!” He said in Eliksni before apologetically bowing for the sudden intrusion. Ashley, dressed in nothing but wraps all over her body stretched from her makeshift bed stifling a yawn, a strange gesture to her roommate but he decided not to inquire. “I am awake, alright…how many?” Zeksis cocked his head in confusion “How many of what?” he asked. Ashley sighed and brought two fingers up to the bridge of her human nose shaking her head, another strange gesture to her Eliksni friend. “How many are gathered at this meeting? I want to know who’s going to be there.” Zeksis adjusted the ether pipes on his helmet “Well, the Kells from all the other houses around Sol will be gathering including some of our own like Draksis of House Winter, Craask of the Kings, Solkis of our own house, Eramis the Shipstealer, Archon priest Riksis, Phylaks the warrior and Taniks the Scarred, House Wolves has not arrived yet but the council has agreed to begin the assault without them.” Ashley’s eyes lit up at the mention of the mercenary “Taniks? he agreed to fight with us? how much did they pay him?” Before he could answer her question a alarm blared outside, “I am sorry Ashlis, I must go, please promise me you will wear your mask this time.” Ashley got up and picked up a makeshift mask from a nearby table and fastened it to her face “You worry too much Zeksis! I will be fine.” she nodded as she watched him exit in a hurry out of her room. Ashley took a moment to compose herself, donning her baroness armor, fitting the custom made helmet over her head and wrapping the massive red cape over her shoulders she finished by placing the two most important items in her possession, a dusty old journal and a core of a dead ghost into a custom scrap built pink shank with a matching scavenged pink child’s backpack with the picture of a cutesy white cartoon cat with a bow strapped to it’s bottom. “Come on Avarii, today is the day we retake the Great Machine from the humans!” she said connecting a wire to the back of the shank sparking it to life, it chirped in agreement as it followed her out the door.
Ashley had grown up since her encounter in the swamps ten years ago, now eighteen years old she had traveled to the rusted shipyard the humans had called the Cosmodrome after being given a map to the House of Devils lair by some Eliksni civilians in exchange for the rescued hatchlings from before. When she reached the Devils lair after a months worth of travel she found it was not only a perfect place to call home but also a great place to scavenge for herself. With many guardians passing through shooting at things, dancing, patrolling on their vehicles, dancing, shooting at a cave in the skywatch for hours, dancing at each other, talking abot the loot they got, dancing some more and in general strange things. They often left behind lots of unwanted armor and weapons when they finished whatever were doing leaving the scraps for the fallen to pick through her included. At first the Devils were hostile towards her unless she wore wraps around her body and a mask that kept her face concealed which made her look like a malnourished dreg, the lowest of fallen society which they barely tolerated, to eventually being somewhat accepted when she began actively stealing from guardians in the field by pretending to be a ‘lost little girl looking for her parents’ to lead them into traps to kill them and loot their bodies and occasionally…kill their ghosts. She finally became respected and even granted the title of ‘Baroness of dregs’ when a fallen baron challenged her to combat at the age of seventeen claiming that a human has no place among them. She would walk away after tearing the cloak off of his body after she docked his arms off. Stories began to circulate around guardian circles about a fallen baroness who would hunt new lights and lure them into the dark caves outside the wall never be seen again, they called her ‘The Scourge of the Cosmodrome’ and although many requested for the Vanguard to put a bounty on her they never did, not believing the stories to be true and dismissing it as a fariy tale to keep new lights in line “Don’t venture outside the walls of the Cosmodrome or else the Scourge will get ya!”
Ashley the Baroness of Dregs walked on the catwalk over the Devils Lair, below her Sepiks Prime was granting it’s followers the life giving ether they would need for the upcoming battle they would need all the strength to stand against the city's defenders. The voices of the Kells dispute could be heard from the chamber ahead “But what of House Wolves? with their strength and tactics we could easily crush the humans!” “Virixas had his chance to join us but he chose to waste his troops on those awoken filth on the outer edges and paid the price for it.” Ash sighed a grin cracking the edges of her lips she never liked the wolves anyways good riddance. She found a place among familiar red cloaks next to Zeksis who wore new vandal armor, his recent promotion shown by his new set of arms under his old ones. When he noticed Ashley he cocked his head to the side “ Velask Ashlis, where have you been? the Kells have just finished discussing the terms of battle and are about to begin the assault!” his eyes glowed a bright blue from his recent ether rations his lower arms fidgeting with anticipation, he had not grown accustomed to them yet ”Aren’t you afraid of throwing away your life like this? you just got your lower arms back…I can’t even grow new arms like you, i’m stuck with just these two.” Ash looked down at her exposed fingers then at everyone else’s four arms. Zeksis placed one of his upper hands on her shoulder “One cannot reach across the Black to claim dominion over ten thousand stars with ten thousand arms if they die here and now with only two, once the great machine is ours we will never have to fear losing limbs ever again.” His words brought comfort too her when the three Kells emerged and began their big speech. Standing tall amongst the crowd were Eramis the Shipstealer who stood beside Phylaks the Warrior and Kridis Devil Priestess. Taniks the Scarred the undying mercenary with so many cybernetic enhancements that he might as well be a machine himself having cheated death twice. Ashley had only heard about Taniks from rare sightings and overheard conversations this was her first time seeing him up close. gazing in awe at her role model and hero she never noticed Avarri bump into one of the vandals next to her who hissed in irritation and shoved the drone into Zeksis knocking the wire rifle out of hands where it hit the floor and misfired, missing Eramis’s head by an inch. The crowd went silent as the furious Baroness marched over to Zeksis’s cowering form and hefted him up by his throat “Watch were you aim next time or I’ll dock your lower arms off myself!” she snarled grabbing one of his lower arms giving it a tight squeeze. “Pick on someone else your own size Shipstealer!” Ashley snapped getting Eramis’s attention “Your one to talk ‘Baroness of Dregs’ lets see you try to fight with only two arms!” Ash laughed, a low and grating sound to the onlookers “I don’t need four arms to pleasure my mate, two eyes!” she shot back, a collective gasp following. The Shipstealer growled, dropping Zeksis and raised her shrapnel launcher when Kridis came between the both of them “Please! not here! save your rage for the battle ahead, Eramis please we need everyone for this effort what would Arthrys think if she saw you like this.” Eramis stared daggers at the small baroness before stalking away without another word. "Kridis turned to Ashley with a apologetic expression “Forgive her child, she has had…a rough day her mind has been focused on the battle ahead, I know it was just an accident but please be more mindful next time.” Ash nodded bowing her head, Kridis unsheathed her blades performing a ireliis bow towards her before disappearing into the crowd.
Later that night after the announcement, Zeksis awkwardly shuffled his way towards Ashley’s room, nervously tugging on his cape and rubbing his lower arm where Eramis had squeezed. when he entered he found her writing in her journal like she did every day, Avarii lay on the table next to her charging, “Why? why did you defend me? my weapon went off and I almost got docked a second time.” Ashley closed her journal and turned to her old friend “Do you remember five years ago when a group of guardians surrounded me and you, you with only two arms back then got them to chase you on your pike through a web mine field and off a cliff? you saved my life once I think it’s time I repaid you and saved yours, your my best and only friend and that’s what friends do.” She shuffled a bit on her crate she sat on “Besides, it was my fault really, I should have left Avarii outside, sorry.” Zeksis eyed the dead ghost core on her table with curious intent before he asked “Do you…do you think we will win? regain the Great Machine’s grace for our race when it has already blessed another?” Ash lowered her writing tool and gave him a toothy grin “I know so old friend nothing can go wrong…”
5. The Final Attempt
“Everything has gone wrong!” Ashley shouted over the sounds of battle. Beside her in the makeshift barricade several fellow eliksni and Zeksis sat firing and throwing shock grenades while on her right the walker emplacement was taking heavy damage the repair shanks desperately attempting to repair it were being shot down one by one until the core of the tank caught fire “Get down! Zeksis shouted as he, Ash and four of the dregs dove out of their cover down the hill. The remaining five were not so lucky as they were disintegrated by the walker’s detonation, All around them they were sustaining heavy casualties, They watched a entire group of vandals led by a captain charged a robed guardian, the captain’s warcry dying in his throat as he and his platoon were vaporized by a large violet ball of void energy. a nearby captain was being beaten to death with his own arms by a massive armored behemoth of a guardian with a crested helmet, one that Ashley and the others recognized as The Saint, his amethyst divider gleaming through the smoke. Running through the war torn battle field they passed by Warlocks hovering above the battlefield hurling solar grenades and nova bombs down below, Ash briefly wondered if they would bump into the faceless robed guardian from long ago, but thankfully he was nowhere to be seen. Two of the dregs tripped and fell behind and were trampled by a trio of arc charged Titans charging through, the remaining four had no time to look back when a flash of a knife zipped past Zeksis and embedded itself into the head of a dreg behind him. A Hunter hopped into view in front of the group and charged firing his hand cannon at them. While Ashley and Zeksis managed to hide from the gunfire the remaining dreg was not so quick. the two hid behind a flaming wreck of a pike as a flaming skiff overhead spiraled downward onto the ground below exploding into a inferno killing guardian and eliksni alike. They barely had time to observe the aftermath when a nearby ghost finished resurrecting it’s guardian, the revived hunter spotted the pair and took aim with his sniper rifle. A loud booming sound followed by Zeksis’s screams as a high caliber bullet pierced through his chest causing Ashley to turn around just in time to spot the guardian reloading his rifle and aiming at her.
With Quick reflexes she picked up a piece of scrap metal nearby using it to block the shot, while it knocked the wind out of her it withstood the shot. The Hunter aimed his rifle again when his rifle clicked empty, frustrated he threw aside the rifle taking out his auto rifle and opened fire. Ash charged at the guardian with the scrap shield soaking up damage until she reached the Hunter and tossed the plate at him. However the hunter deftly dodged the projectile and flipped out a knife throwing it at a arc where it passed by her, ricocheted off a rock and stuck the back of her leg. As she lay there screaming bloody murder clutching her bleeding leg with the knife sticking out the hunter raised his hand to the sky seemingly pulling a golden gun from the sun itself, slowly he aimed the barrel of his fiery weapon at Ash’s head and pulled the trigger…when he exploded into flaming pieces of body parts and shrapnel. in the distance Ashley could spot the looming shadow of Taniks with his scorch cannon in the distance looking her way before a shower of bullets got his attention and he teleported away. With rapid breaths she grabbed onto the knife and ripped it free.After taking a moment to remove her blood and ether soaked helmet she turned her gaze on the downed guardian’s ghost. In one swift move she grabbed the drone from the air and pinned it to the ground, picking up a rock and raising it over the ghost before it spoke “Your a human? why? why would you betray your own kind to fight with those monsters? I hope you die out here alone you traitor! scum like you deserve it!” In blind rage Ashley brought the rock down on the ghost over and over again, when the rock broke she tore apart it’s shell, and when it weakly gazed up at her she took the hunter’s knife and drove it right into it’s eye, screaming the whole time. The destruction bathed her and the battlefield in a burst of light, strangely it reminded her of that kind ghost’s healing beam from long back it felt pleasant and soothing then it faded into nothing. Silently Ash hobbled over to Zeksis’s lifeless body, kneeling over and cradling him in her arms quietly weeping and whispering his name.
She didn’t move from that spot even when the Eliksni forces broke into retreat…even when a colossal orange and white colored titan with fur covered shoulder armor and blank helmet with a single horn charged towards them, leapt into the air and in a flash of blinding brilliant arc energy came crashing down on top of-
6. Renewal (Avarri is the name of the ghost, Avarii is the name of the shank) (Avarri has a brooklyn accent, Ashley uses broken english)
(a century after the battle of Twilight gap)
“This one? no… how about…no maybe…nah…c’mon it’s gotta be one of these.” Avarri cursed his horrible luck, finding a guardian was suppose to be easy right? “Why does it have to be a specific body? can’t I just pick any of these?” He murmured to no one in particular, Avarri was a ghost who had been part of a much larger group of ghosts looking for their guardians, he had joined because he had found no luck in finding a guardian to call his own. But his time spent with the twenty five at the time had proven fruitless, Frustration grew as he watched his fellow ghosts find guardians of their own and parting ways with the group. Between Vulcan’s nagging to try harder and Vesper’s constant helpful but annoying optimistic encouragement he had enough. unfortunately for him, splitting ways had not improved his chances. his travels had taken him to a long forgotten crater from the battle of Twilight Gap. The whole area was quarantined since the battle due to it being a popular area for fallen scavengers and raiding parties. Avarri gazed over the expanse pit “Oh screw it what do I have to lose?” he said flying over the crude metal fence and into the pit below.
Down in the dark crater Avarri darted from skeleton to skeleton scanning for compatibility while avoiding a nearby fallen raiding party, it only consisted of three dregs, a vandal and strangest of all, a pink shank with a backpack? leading the party to somewhere in the crater. somewhere where Avarri needed to go, a faint spark of light shining in the direction the fallen were headed.
As the spark grew closer so did the bloody sights of war, numerous fallen skeletons lay about, seems the city only cleaned up the bodies of their own and left the fallen bodies to rot. Finally, among the remains of a ruined skiff and several piles of scorched armor and weapons, a lone human skeleton sat in the shadow of the derelict ship clutching a fallen skeleton in it’s arms, strange still the human remains were clad in a high ranking captain’s armor or what wasn’t burned or looted off of the corpse. “This…this is my guardian?! well can’t say I’ve seen stranger things but who am I to nitpick now that it’s right in front of me!” Avarri immediately began his work on reconstructing the body from the ground up, carefully lacing back sinew and bone into place “Years of searching finally paying off! now i’ll just finish this here and…done!” He floated back to admire his work, the woman’s body was thin and slender yet muscular, her facial features looked soft and pale yet it carried a weathered complexion along with a large red X painted across her face and thick black spiky hair covering her eyes. Next he formed her armor from the remains of the set she was wearing beforehand into something a little less…imposing. now it was time to wake his guardian. “Wake up buddy! it’s time to see the world.”
Ashley breathed in her first breath in over a hundred years, her eyes wide in shock and confusion. “welcome to the world or what’s left of it.” she looked over at the ghost, for some reason she wanted to tear it apart but why? she tried to speak but all that came out was a low gurgling grating sound. “Ah crap, must’ve forgotten to heal your voice box, anyways allow me to introduce myself the names Avarri kid, and i’m your ghost, hold still for a sec.” Avarri ran a healing beam over Ash’s chest fixing the voice box. Ashley cleared her thoat and spoke “You…you ghost? what I?…who I?” she managed to croak out of her newly healed throat, something felt strange and alien about the sounds coming out of her mouth, another unanswered question “Alright, since that’s set lets get you outta-” a bright light filled the sky for a second before a massive ship with a giant engine on one side and a wing on the other took it’s place soaring overhead and casting a ominous shadow on the ground as it passed overhead “Oh come on! really? Kid I need you to listen to me look me in the eye, no! not the spaceship! look at me! there are things out here that want to kill us unless we kill them so I need you to find us a weapon so we don’t end up looking like the rest of this place!”Ash found a shock pistol that was still working under a pile of bodies, Avarri instructed her on how to use the weapon and proper safety…after she shot herself in the foot. Soon several four armed aliens emerged over the horizon followed by that strange pink shank. The scavengers immediately opened fire on the two lone figures. Ash and Avarri dove into a nearby hole to take cover, while Avarri thought of a plan to escape his guardian looked out at the fallen. “Why…shoot? ali-en bad?” Ashley asked, Avarri ignored her continuing to think of a plan, “Ghost…watch…out!” but he was too preoccupied with his plan that he never noticed the pink shank slip under cover and fly behind them. Immediately the newly rezed guardian raised her pistol and shot a hole through one of the shank’s propulsion jets, as the shank dropped to the ground and shut down. Avarri floated by her head “By the Traveler’s light kid, you almost shot me there! watch your aim next time, at least you got that thing before it could zap me, good job.” The duo inspected the downed shank’s backpack, the cartoon cat was well faded beyond recognition and the pink had faded to a dull white, inside the backpack was a ancient scout rifle, a dead ghost core with some shell parts (Much to Avarri’s disgust) and a dusty old journal, two of which Avarri place in his storage. Once they checked the rifle and found it was still working, Ashley took the rifle and aimed at the first dreg in her sights…
'“Ashley breathed in, her head hurt and she didn’t know why only when her new friend was staring down from above her and she felt something wet and sticky behind her head did she realize…”You died…again, come on the we got a long way to go before we make it to the city.” as she got up she noticed that the rifle was gone, taken off of her body when she died and a blood stain on the ground where she had gotten up. slowly she found her footing and followed the little drone out of the crater into the fields outside of the wall.
7. Cosmodrome stories
“Ghost?” Ash asked, getting up after another untimely death from a pit trap “Yeah? what is it?” Ashley fidgeted her makeshift cloak “alien? what they?” Avarri shook a bit of dirt from his shell “Those things back there? they’re the Fallen, a race of pirates scavenging in the ruins of our Golden Age, this ol wall here keeps them out of the last city witch is where we’re going.” Avarri scanned a nearby crate “Hey, I think another guardian has been here before, left some armor and weapons behind looks like they left it in a hurry, eh waste not want not.” The guardian and ghost wasted no time setting up camp for the night, the silence occasionally broken by distant gunfire and explosions. Ashley stared at her companion the more she looked the less that made sense to her, why did those aliens seem so familiar? and why did she feel pity for that drone she shot earlier, then she remembered a journal inside of the thing’s backpack “Ghost…can… you read?” she asked out of curiosity wondering if the ghost could read the journal to her, her speech was at least improving with every resurrection. Avarri was preoccupied with keeping watch for trouble he had left the journal and the other contents on the ground next to him so she snatched up the journal while he wasn’t looking, he seemed pretty busy so she had a peek inside. To her disappointment it was in some sort of strange language she couldn’t understand. “Ghost…” “Yeah bud?” she showed him the journal’s cover “Read?” the ghost eyed the cover of the journal then at his guardian’s expectant expression “Eh sure what’s the harm one little book could do…oh, this is written in Fallen Dialect, huh just give me a second and I’ll translate all this…and done lets see.”
Day 1
“Today I found this old journal in some guardian’s backpack it had a bunch of weird scribbles on it like a circle and a upside down star or something with some squiggly things on it so I tore those pages out, anyways I wanted to write in here so that I keep track of my progress I want to join the House of Devils, and you might be wondering “Is this kid stupid or something? why would the Devils take in a human of all things?” well I’ll tell you that I’m not that stupid I know I’m a human, (but what has humanity ever done for me other than try to exploit or kill me?) and I have a plan, the other day I overheard a conversation from one of those caped guardians about how he has a Eliksni girlfriend or something, weirdo…but then it hit me if this guy can be friends with them just by being nice then so can I! I write some more when I make progress.”
Avarii seemed interested about this entry, he would read more by himself once they reached the tower. “Alright kid we should get going, there’s got to be a jumpship intact somewhere.” the journal’s contents still perplexed him, who was this girl and her obsession with the fallen? was there really a guardian out there with a fallen for a girlfriend? and what of the girl’s fate? maybe after he was done he might send it to the Cryptarchy to make sense of it, or maybe better yet he could pass it on to a friend of his to write a book about it…might be a best seller. his thoughts were quickly put to the side when Ashley stopped at the entrance to a room where some kind of fight had happened recently, corpses of fallen and guardian alike on the wall several black flechettes lined stuck out like thorns. the ghost went to scan one of them while Ash held one in her hand it seemed familiar somehow, Avarii’s scans through his database on the flechettes matched nothing, not even with entries about Dredgen Yor and his infamous Thorn, these were something else entirely. “Whatever the case might be it might be best to leave those things alone, kid c’mon drop the spikes but leave one for me to store the city needs to know about this.” Avarii and Ashley wandered through the complex until they reached a opening containing a single jumpship, battered but still fixable, While Avarii got to work fixing the jumpship Ash sat on a crate examining the spike, until the sounds of voices and footsteps approaching the hanger could be heard. Her ghost was too absorbed in the repairs to notice the approaching group. Ashley, with nowhere to hide got up from her seat and stood still hoping that they wouldn’t see her, two guardians rounded the corner one was a warlock in a bright red robe and the other a hunter with blue and purple armor “Did you see that titan come crashing through here today? I swear he looked pissed when those fallen took his sparrow apart, you could hear his bellowing from here.” “Tell me about it…did you see that room back there, what happened?” I dunno I didn’t think that guy had it in hi- oh hey there!” Ashley stiffly shuffled backwards but the other two closed the distance before she could run away “Are you a new light? oh my stars I haven’t seen one in forever! your ghost trying to repair that old ship back there?” “Melody give the blueberry some space please, your making them uncomfortable.” the hunter coolly leaned against a wall balancing a knife on a finger “My name is Lawrence and my energetic partner here, who I must remind that we are here for an investigation, is Melody...sorry she’s a little excitable.” the warlock stepped back sheepishly before the hunter brought out one of the flechettes from earlier “now I know your new and all but you couldn’t have passed through the room behind us without seeing the mess so I’m going to ask, have you seen any of these? small spikes capable of killing a ghost in a single shot very dangerous, like the one you have there.” Before Ash could blink the spike was snatched out of her hand, before she could get it back the warlock incinerated it in a blaze of solar light “Sorry new girl, but we can’t have you playing with those.” Ash was about to protest when the ship roared to life behind her Avarii transmatted outside “Ha ha! success! kiddo were going- oh hey you’ve already made some friends nice! but we really gotta get going your chariot awaits!” When the jumpship was well out of range Lawrence brought out his ghost to send a message “This is Fireteam Needlemouse to the Praxic Order, we’ve found another incident, related to the rumors of mass produced Weapons of Sorrow I repeat the rumors of Weapons of Sorrow are being mass produced are confirmed.”
8. Home sweet Tower
(4 days later)
“Please…no…hurt.” Ashley cried out as the titan kicked her in the stomach again. Ashley had been minding her own business in the City looking for a place to eat when a group of three guardians cornered her in a secluded alleyway and began to accuse her of being the ‘Scourge’ of course she had no idea what they were talking about and when she tried to leave things became violent.
File 2; The Guiding Flame in the Dark Night
1. Reefborn
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
YPE:transcript
DESCRIPTION:recording
PARTIES:Three[3]. Two [2] ghost designate Vesper. One [1] guardian designate Iris. One [1] unidentified
ASSOCIATIONS:reef;awoken;guardian;[redacted];thorn;light [Ghost] dreaming city;[Error]Divalian mists
//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS…//
log number 400 (Rheasilvia)
V:”“Hello it’s me again Vesper and today I just found my guardian! yay! isn’t that exciting? if I had hands I would be clapping them! Iris could you come out and say hi to the recorder? oh don’t be shy it won’t bite. yes right there just say hi.
I:”U-u-um h-hello? my n-name i-is Iris…”
V:”She’s my new guardian, I found her in some old crypt behind a heavily locked door, there were a lot of bodies in there but I think yours was special because it was in the middle of the room.”
I:”I don’t t-think we s-should be here.”
V:”Why not?”
I:”I-I think I can m-make this w-writing o-out…it says “Memorial for those who fought in the Battle of Saturn.”
V:”Oh…oh whoopsie daisy, would explain why it was locked in the first place lets get out of here before we get in trouble!”
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————
log number 406 Blind Well
I:”I’m a-a…w-what?”
V:”Your a warlock! don’t worry it means your cool! you can do space magic, you can float um…you can do space magic?”
I:”Y-you already said space magic…”
V:”I’m sorry I don’t know a whole lot about warlocks really, I always thought my guardian was going to be a titan or a hunter but I’m happy for you either way.”
I:”T-thanks, where are we? It doesn’t l-look like a exit.”
V:”V:”Let me check the map…oh this is the Blind Well!”
I:”The Blind Well?”
V:”It’s a place the Awoken built to store light, you see this place suffered a terrible nasty curse a long time ago and it’s been looping over and over again, so the guardians use their light to store it inside of the well so it can be used to open a portal below us to enter the ascendant plane and break the curse.”
I:”…What?”
V:”It’s a place the Awoken built to sto-”
I:”No no! do y-you know how crazy that sounds? curse? light powered portals? ascendant plane? none of this makes any sense! could you put it in simple terms?”
V:”The Well opens a portal.”
I:”Ok thank you, now let’s leave those corsairs are giving me weird looks.”
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log number 409
I:”Are t-those guardians?”
V:”Uhhh, yeah they are! we should go say hi!”
I:”But but I’m not r-r-ready!”
V:”You’ll be ok they’ll love you, we’ll fit in in no time!”
I:”What’s happening down there? why are they shooting at the guy in the black robes?”
V:”Uh… (this isn’t a Crucible match is it?) hold on let me get a peek at what they are doing and…”
(“What are you doing? we had a deal! you take us to this secret you were talking about and I spot you killing Jesper and his ghost! what is wrong with you?)
(“There was no deal.”)
{audible crack}
[thud]
(Light signature)
(“I gotta get outta here! to anyone listening leave this area at once it’s not sa-)
{audible crack followed by silence}
(“Enough.”)
V:”Oh…no.”
I:”Did he just kill that guy? I think he’s looking this way we should leave immediately.”
V:”Agreed.”
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2.Off world
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
YPE:transcript
DESCRIPTION:recording
PARTIES:FIVE[5]
ASSOCIATIONS:Last city;awoken;light [ghost];
///TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS…///
log number 413 (Pallas Galiot)
I:”Will T-the Awoken people be ok with the fact that we just stole one of their ships?”
V:”We just ‘Borrowed’ it for a while until we can get to the city, I’ve hotwired the autopilot to return back once we reach our destination, also I contacted the local commander in the area Petra Venj about it and she was ok with us taking it as long as we returned it.”
I:”O-oh, that’s…convenient, don’t want to be shot down.”
V:”Your stutter is getting better.”
I:”I-i-it’s not a s-stutter! I just get nervous! I wake up in a tomb not remembering anything and I watch a man kill someone, why wouldn’t I be nervous?”
V:”Well lets not think about what happened back there (I think it’s for the best) and lets think about where we’re going instead, we are heading to the Last City on earth!”
I:”The Last City? what’s that?
V:”Only the safest and best place on the planet earth! it’s where ghosts like me and guardians like you can have a place to call home.”
I:”That’s nice…when do we get there?
(“This is tower air control to incoming vestian aircraft we’ve received your ghost’s message about a galiot from the reef carrying a guardian coming this way, you are clear for landing, over.”
V:”That’s our stop, let’s get you introduced to everyone.”
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log number 415
"V:”…And this is where factions Dead Orbit and the Future War Cult are in the hanger, if you need new equipment our Vanguard Quartermaster can give you what you need.”
I:”You…mean guns right?”
V:”Yes oh course, every guardian needs those! how else are we suppose to defend the people of the last city?”
I:”It’s just…can’t I be a…doctor instead? you know… help people get better instead of hurting them.”
V:”Oh Iris, I didn’t ressurect you to just sit in a boring office all day, you could be out there doing some good like those two over there.”
(“PICK A DAMN GUN ALREADY SOLDIER! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU COMPROMISING OUR MISSION WITH YOUR SLACKING!)
“Ok just give me a sec Carm, I think I want this sidear-”
(“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING MAGGOT?! PICK A REAL GUN! NOT A FREAKING WATER PISTOL THIS IS NOT A BIRTHDAY PARTY YOU NUMBSKULL!!”)
(“But it is a birthday party, chill out your gonna scare the kids...”)
(“…IF I HAD HANDS I WOULD BE STRANGLING YOU RIGHT NOW…”)
(“I’ll let you pick out the pinata as long as it’s not a fallen one.”)
(…Fine…I will allow this insubordination, as long as you get of those big cabal ones you can beat the crap out of.)
V:”…Ok not the best example but it does give me an idea.”
I:”What kind of idea?”
V:”So…The Vanguard, our leadership here has set up a program for guardians to go around the city and socialize with people, so we can show them that we people are just like them, i think you might fit in.”
I:”Really? so I don’t have to get a gun?”
V:”Sorry sweetheart, your still gonna have to buy a gun.”
I:”(Sigh)
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log number 419
(audible whispering)
(Door opens)
I:”Hey who’s the b-birthday kid?”
1:”Hey I thought we only invited one guardian?”
F:”Huh? you here for the kids birthday party too? well
V:”Oh well this is awkward…uh let me introdu-
C:”WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO EXPLAIN WHY YOU ARE HERE BEFORE I-”
F:”Woah woah! Carmine your scaring the kids, cool it man she’s just lost, besides I could really use a extra set of hands.”
C:”Fine, but I still reserve the right to cut the cake afterwards.”
F:”Sorry about that, he’s just a little excitable, you got invited for a birthday party too?”
I:”S-so it’s ok if I stay here? I-I followed the address and came here, I hope I r-read it right.”
F:”Lemme see that for a sec…hmm…yep! this is the right place! like I said extra hands always appreciated, names Flint by the ways, yours?”
I:” I-Iris my name is Iris…”
V:”And I’m Vesper her ghost! I see Carmine still hasn’t changed after eight years?”
F:”You two know each other?”
C:”
V:”
I:”
File 3; Forging a Future
1. Blindsided (p.s Vulcan is scottish)
The Ghosts had been searching Mars for their Guardians for ages to no avail. From planet to planet, skeleton to metal corpse Vulcan, a ghost with a pointed grey and white dented shell was tired and losing hope, his companion Vesper a optimistic ghost in a yellow and bronze shell had kept him going encouraging him to stay true to the Traveler’s will. But after watching his friends find their guardians over the years he had been ready to just give up and revive the first body he came across. These Ghosts were once a much larger group all searching for their guardians, Vulcan was the eldest of the group of initially twenty-five eager young ghosts, over the course of the last five months had dropped to thirteen then eight and finally just the two of them when Avarri had given up to go search on his own back on earth. “So Vulcan, what will you name your guardian when we find him?” Vesper asked twirling her bright shell around as it gleamed in the Martian sun. Vulcan let the top part of his grey and white shell droop in front of his eye as he turned to her “Ay lass that I can't say, been searchin for a very long time nev’er thought a one but if yea really wan ta know I looked into one of them Clovis Bray terminals and found somethin abou a “Hephaestus project” though that be a good name an the like,an maybe jus maybe we’ll fin me mate there.” Vesper lit up and bobbed in the air excitedly ”Oh Vulcan I knew you wouldn’t give up!” Vulcan stopped and turned to her lower his voice in a more serious tone “Vesper? do yah remember Spriggs?” She stopped to answer “Yes, he found his guardian a week ago in that old water treatment facility back on earth why?” Vulcan sighed and continued floating through the sand swept city of Freehold “Well it’s not about when I find me guardian it’s what he’ll be like, what if I don do a good job keepin him straight? what if he turns into one’a them Dredgens? you heard tha reports abou that crazy hunter who thinks she’s a bloody fallen!, or that rumor goin aroun the Reef of some hulkin unkillable monster raisin hell aroun those parts! I don want to raise a monster! I would probably be better goin back to tha Traveler…” Vesper was taken aback back Vulcan’s outburst but straightened her shell out before replying “Vulcan…I just want you to know that even if we never find your guardian,even if I find mine first, I will never stop trying to help you and if it kills me I will always be there to help yo-”
Suddenly Vesper was ensnared in a translucent bubble of psychic energy when a several psions, a race of psychically sensitive aliens enslaved by a much larger species called the Cabal. These ones wearing black and white armor engraved with white skulls emerged from the shadows. They spoke to each other in their native language before confirming to the Cabal battle network of their catch, One by one they transmatted into the harvester dropship above. Vulcan, enraged charged froward with the pointed tip of his shell lowered like a lance shouting “Release her ya twisted cyclopes!” His war cry caught the attention of the last psion in the room who turned around just as Vulcan rammed the pointed tip of his shell into it’s single eye. The psion screamed as black blood gushed from where it’s eye had once been before it tore the ghost from it’s face and threw it blindly across the room. Vulcan’s blood soaked shell cracked as it hit the wall but he recovered and continued his assault, the psion now completely blind fired violently as Vulcan ducked and weaved poking holes in the weak points in it’s armor until in a final effort the psychic creature gathered all of it’s remaining energy to release a final blast. The explosion of arc energy blew open a hole in the floor where both it and Vulcan plummeted into the depths of the building into darkness.
2. The Bunker (p.s Hephaestus has a french accent)
Vulcan awoke to find himself face first in a pile of sand “O bloody hell! why couldn’t it been snow or dirt? oh it had to a been sand! oh I hate it! it’s gonna take forever ta…” He stopped mid rant when he notice that the top his shell was missing, the psion’s blood had made the sand stick to the rest of his shell making it hard to readjust when he realized that his eye lens was cracked right through the middle. “O for the love a…How could this get any bloody worse?” he shouted to no one in particular his voice echoing down the empty chamber. Vulcan decided to explore the newly discovered cavern drifting over the still twitching body of the psion who had died reaching for his slug rifle. the ghost transmatted the weapon into it’s storage before continuing it’s investigation.
Aside from the constant cursing from Vulcan as he bumped into walls due to his impaired vision he could make out a massive angular door like the ones seen in Warmind bunkers. The last thing Vulcan wanted was to trigger Rasputin’s defenses, cautiously he hacked into the nearby terminal and was surprised to find that the bunker’s door was already unlocked. As Vulcan ventured further into the long abandoned bunker He began to feel something that he believed he would never feel; a spark, his guardian was near…it took everything he had to keep himself from rushing towards the spark, gathering himself he checked the terminals on any information about it but could only find fragmented logs, a password and a map of the place. Eventually he found the source of the spark behind the only locked door in the facility which required a password to unlock on a keypad. Remembering the password from earlier he used the bottom of his shell to type in the passphrase '[Maître de forge]. The ancient locks clicked open as the door slowly began to open into a preserved dimly lit circular room with various tables full of armor and weapons, in the center of it was a chair with a lone inactive Exo strapped to it, a strange warped and charred piece of metal with a barely distinguishable symbol of a hand was fused to his right arm as it hung off the side of the seat. The Ghost drew closer to the Exo gazing into it’s empty eyes and taking note of the strange symbols lining various parts of it’s bare chest, the spark was coming from this body Vulcan could barely hold in his excitement when the loud sounds of footsteps and alien chatter echoed behind him.
Back through the doorway massive lumbering shadows cast themselves on the walls of the bunker, the first to show up were several psions sent ahead to extract knowledge from the terminals, soon five Cabal legionaries came into view led by a centurion who spotted the ghost, roaring guttural war cry the larger cabal officer ordered the rest of his men to capture the little drone. Vulcan quickly scanned the terminal closing the doors just as they rounded the corner, He could hear the aliens outside of the door pounding on it when he flew over to his soon to be guardian. “C’mon work with me please work with me.” Vulcan pleaded as he opened up his shell and cast his light over the body repairing the damage and forming armor from the scraps he could find as fast as he could. When he finished giving life to the body he flew back to the door and waited anxiously, the sounds of the psions using their psychic powers to hack the door while the legionaries had set up a scorpius turret fire to open fire on the door, and it didn’t sound like the door was going to hold much longer. The Exo’s eyes flickered to life illuminating the room as he slowly got up from the chair shakily finding his footing and standing up straight to turn to his Ghost “Qu'es-tu? qui suis je?”
3. Hephaestus
“Ay listen up lad I’m gonna make this quick for ya, your me guardian, an I’m yer ghost, I would love to explain everythin but we got a buncha nasty war turtles outside this door an…” Vulcan stops mid sentence and realizes he forgot to arm his guardian “Ah cripes I forgot to give ya a weapon!” Hastily checking through his storage he produced the psion’s slug rifle, handing it to the confused guardian. “Eh…take this just pull tha trigger here and…” The guardian stared at the alien weapon before tossing the gun on a nearby empty table and began to study it, Vulcan stared in disbelief “Are you daft lad?! now’s not the time to be tinkerin on stuff!” The newly revived guardian ignored him and began to disassemble the slug rifle at a alarming speed, in only a few seconds the rifle and all it’s internal components had been neatly organized ammo of to one side and bolts and screws on the other. “Patience nouvel ami, we shall not perish in here.” He said plainly. Vulcan could not help but be impressed as the guardian grabbed several weapon frames off of the surrounding tables and fitting them together with the parts from the slug rifle. In a matter of moments the guardian was holding a massive machine gun built from the surrounding parts and the slug rifle, The guardian beamed at his new weapon before Vulcan spoke marveling at the machine gun. “Sweet mother a- h-how did you do that? your a brilliant genius lad! now lets go show those potato heads outside real firepower!” floating at the guardian’s shoulder “Je suis désolé, what is a ‘potato?”
The scorpius turret had finally broken down the door just as the psions had figured out the password to get through. The legionaries cheered in victory as they received commendations from their commander while the smaller aliens grumbled at them for taking all the credit. The centurion barked orders to send a single legionary through the door to the dark room, The lone cabal trudged into the room activating his weapon’s flashlight spotting a pair of bright yellow eyes staring back. Before the soldier could raise his weapon he was mowed down by a hail of bullets that tore through his armor like wet paper, black liquid sprayed out from his body as he collapsed backwards from the barrage, gurgling on his own blood. The remaining Cabal outside raised their weapons and fired into the dark room when a grenade flew out from the doorway landing underneath the turret before it exploded, taking it and two psions with it in a solar explosion. The remaining survivors took cover when a lone figure stepped out from the dark. on his side was the machine gun, barrel smoking and glowing a fiery red, at his side Vulcan floated nearby examining the scene. “Aye you did good lad keep up that buildin stuff and you’ll be surpassin’ even the likes a them Suros folk back home.” The centurion leapt over his cover and roared a challenge to the guardian tossing his half melted rifle aside to brandish a large cleaver before charging. the Exo raised his weapon to fire but it was tossed aside by a legionary flanking from the side and he found himself being thrown to the ground and pinned. Vulcan flew a distance away when his guardian suddenly erupted in a blaze of solar light, burning the legionary off of him. He slowly turned towards the centurion who had been briefly blinded by his radiance. Forming a flaming hammer in one hand the guardian Exo wound back and hurled the hammer with all his might into the Cabal officer’s chest where it exploded engulfing the centurion and the rest of the legionaries and psions in a bright orange burst of light. The room became silent for what seemed like a eternity when Vulcan zipped to his side. “Aha! me guardian’s a titan! I knew ah wasn’t wrong ta choose ya! Me scans show no other life signs but more’al be comin soon, we best be gettin ta hell outta ere.“ His guardian looked over at him with a concerned expression “Do we have to leave so soon amie? and leave perfectly good weapons behind?” he gestured at the Cabal squadron’s scattered weaponry, Vulcan groaned “Why should I…fine but I swear if ye ask ta stop for every wee scrap we come across…” A thought crossed the guardians face “petit, I cannot remember my name, who am I?” Vulcan turned to his guardian remembering what he told Vesper earlier “Hows about…Hephaestus.”
4.Le grand sauvetage
“Vulcan? what happened to this city? Hephaestus asked dragging a bundle of salvaged cabal weapons on a scavenged phalanx shield through the martian sands. “Well…tha collapse happened, darkness came, many good folk died and left this city abandoned, an since then, these bloody turtles moved in build’in bases and war machines fightin with those milk robots tha be wanderin out an abou, otherwise tha city’s been really quiet since the Red War…wonder what be goin on with those potatoes, Tha Blind Legion isn’t usually this active.” Hephaestus glanced over at a cabal ship flying overhead towards a row of spotlights illuminating a large base in the distance “Mon Dieu, what were those things? I have never seen anything so large.” he remarked glancing back at the array of oversized weapons behind him. “Tha Cabal? City records say they be a war lovin race that conquer and blow up planets, o course we usually beat em back but these one I be talkin abou? they took me friend an we’re going to er back!” Hephaestus winced at his ghost’s shouting “Pardon ami, but do you have a…plan to get inside their base?” Vulcan stopped ranting for a second to think about it before answering “Aye I didn think a that, yah got ane ideas?” When he turned around his guardian was assembling a small engine of some kind out of a colossus’ slug thrower, but was having trouble securing a grip in place due to his right hand still being encased in scrap. “Aye lad I could remove tha piece o junk off a ya if ye want me to.” Vulcan said scanning the scrap metal on his hand, before Hephaestus moved it away from him “Laddie…ya can’t fight with one free hand let alone a whole damn army, let me at least take it off a ya arm.” The Exo stared at the wrapped metal “Je suis désolé, but I can’t part from it until I find out what it means please understand.” Vulcan groaned,”It means it’s trash just let it go lad! I-” he flinched in pain leaning lopsided from his damaged shell “Petit ami! you are hurt! let me help you-” the ghost flew up to his guardian’s face tightening his shell inward “On le if ya let me remove that thing from ya, I’ll let ye touch me shell, alright?” Hephaestus grace down at the symbol of the hand on his arm then back at the ghost taking in a deep breath of cold Martian air and breathing out a electronic sigh “Very well…ami you have a accord.”
“Oh you meanie brutes let me out of here!” Vesper cried from her transmit proof cage as several psions carried it to a large control room. in the far end of the room a massive Red Legion Centurion clad in golden armor stood looking out at a window to another room with five surgical tables each with a dead Cabal soldier stripped of their armor and preserved under thick glass to prevent decay. The lead psion approached his commander activating a translator device on his helmet, Vesper was able to translate what they were discussing and it horrified her; They were trying to create Cabal lightbearers by capturing and forcing Ghosts to resurrect their dead, to succeed where Ghaul had failed, with a army of immortal soldiers under command they could conquer all of sol and retake the traveler. “You can’t make a ghost resurrect someone they don’t want to! they have to have a spark otherwise it won’t work! and even if it did I would never make a cabal into a guardian! you can’t make me!” The leader guffawed at her claim dismissing the psions to take her to the chamber below.
Deep in the base, two centurions from different legions were having a contest on who could shoot the most targets in the shooting range. A small crowd was gathered around taking bets and cheering for their favored officer when from the barrage of gunfire one of the targets fired back, a fast moving fireball blasting one of the competing legionaries to ash, the rest of the crowd armed themselves in a uproar and opened fire down the firing range. By the time crowd ran out of ammunition after seven minutes of nonstop firing, the firing range was completely obliterated the only sounds heard were the shuffling of the legionaries through the shell littered ground. a pair of eyes peered back at them from the dark soon the silence would broken by the sound of a minigun revving up…followed a sound that muffled the screams of the Cabal behind sealed doors. Do ya hear that?” Vulcan whispered stopping in front of Hephaestus. his now fixed eye scanning the dark corridor ahead “Somthin knocked these lights, I’d tread careful if I be you.” Both guardian and ghost stepped carefully through the hall until Hephaestus stepped in something wet, when he looked down he saw a massive puddle of black fluid that covered the walls and ceiling leaking down on them. When Vulcan scanned the substance he said it was Organogel, a substance used in powering Cabal technology from their armor to the warships above. A loud banging was heard from the locked door on the left of the hallway, something was trying to get out. A static filled voice entered the ghost comms channel “You need to leave.” the voice said clearly in distress, “What? who is this are you friendly?” Hephaestus responded “My name’s not important right now, you don’t un(*static*)derstand you need to go it’s not safe for you here, (*bzzt*) if he finds you(*crackle*) and he will find you if you don’t get out of here…I won’t stop him, please just go.” The pair looked at each other with concern “Vulcan where is the voice coming from?” The ghost traced the signal for a second before freezing “Lad…it’s comin from tha other side of that door…” Said door’s red lights suddenly turned green and began to slowly open into a fiery inferno coming from the other side casting a bulky shadow of something vaguely human.
The pair took cover behind a wall eyeing the charred figure as it stepped out of the burning room like a demon from the depths of hell itself. following behind was a ghost, but it’s shell was pieced together with parts from other ghosts shells, her eye flickered and sparked as she limped behind his guardian. “Alright we have what we came here for now let’s just leave (*static*) before more of them show up.” His guardian however had other ideas, he slowly walked over to a nearby corpse of a psion and knelt over it’s body. Spotting the gun in it’s hand he silently reached over grasping the barrel of the slug rifle and tore it and the psion’s hand from the body. Hephaestus leaned a little closer from his hiding spot to get a better look at the other guardian despite Vulcan’s whispered protests. His cracked and oil covered armor was welded together with scrap metal and bolts from various different places around the solar system and beyond giving him a uneven shape, the other titan’s arms were massive compared to his own he watched him take the rifle in both hands snapping the gun in half like it was a stick and not a rifle. After tossing the unwanted remains of the slug rifle and the severed alien hand aside he un-holstered a shotgun that looked more like a jumble of metal than a weapon and smashed a stock from the cabal weapon into the back of it with a audible crack. The larger titan who from first impressions was four times bigger than Hephaestus, his odds fighting and someone like that and surviving were very very slim. The scrap titan’s ghost watched the scene in grim silence as her guardian admired his newest work like it was a fine piece of Golden Age art. “Hellion…I’m reading a unusual light signature (*bzzztt*) directly below us, and some ki(*sizzle*)nd of distress call, I’ll play it (*Crackle*) now.” Soon a familiar voice echoed around the empty room. “Someone please help me! they’re trying to make Cabal Guardians down here! they threatened to lock me in a light suppression cage if I don’t cooperate! I’m stalling as much I can but they (Angry Roar and the sound of a table being slammed followed by more angry alien chatter) uh oh I think I should stop here I- hey! don’t touch tha-” ~END TRANSMISSION~ “Tha sounded like Vesper! wha ar they doin to er down there?” Vulcan whispered, Hephaestus adjusted his armor and peered around the corner but found himself looking straight into the chunky barrel of a scrap shotgun. Behind it Hellion stared down at the smaller titan with laser focus, “Mon dieu! please camarade, I mean you no harm I just-” He was silenced by the loud bark of the shotgun blasting a hidden psion operative behind him, blowing the alien’s head to pieces. Hephaestus turned around to see the smoldering corpse of a psion that was about to shoot him in the back, however it was significantly different from the others he had seen. It wore more advanced armor and had red and grey highlights now spattered in black blood or was it oil? he didn’t want to think about it. When he turn back the other titan was gone other than a set of bloody footprints and a handwritten note in a puddle of black oil picking it up Vulcan translated through the crude and near illegible handwriting. “Meet me down below the base, I want to talk to you, you know where to go.’ huh di-nt take im to be tha writin type, come on laddie let’s get goin, she aint savin herself, an I don think this ‘Hellion’ has tha same intentions as we.” Without another word the two roamed down the halls following the trail of destruction left behind."