By the time we’ve come back to the tower, both Ghost and Winona immediately had us go directly from the plaza over to the area called Tower North. I was still trying to get my head wrapped around the names for the particular areas in the Tower, but Ghost was trying to help simplify things for me. As we made our way over, he explained that where Twilight and the rest of the Vanguard were stationed was called the ‘Hall of Guardians’, Applejack was in the Tower Hangar (which was the easiest name to remember out of all four of them if I were to be honest), the main plaza where we first arrived was called ‘Tower Watch’ and finally, where we were going was called Tower North. Which was also hope to the person that we were going to meet.
The Speaker… and from what Ghost told me, he seemed to be some kind of knowledgeable scholar. Almost like Clover the Clever back in Equestria. As Mac and I entered what looked like a huge personal study with a makeshift model of our current solar system, that was when we heard him speak for the first time. “There was a time… when we were much more powerful… but that was long ago,” We heard him say as both Mac and I turned around and watched him come down the staircase that was along the wall. “Until it wakes and finds its voice, I am the one who speaks for the traveler.”
“You’re… the Speaker?” Mac asked, almost in disbelief.
“That I am… and I presume that both of you have numerous questions to ask me,” He replied back. “I believe both of you know of the story with the Traveler already…”
I nodded at that, recalling what Twilight told me before… but I still had one question that I was unsure about. “Yeah… but I’m confused on something… The enemy of the Traveler. I believed Twilight called it ‘The Darkness’. What is that?”
The Speaker sighed for a moment, before turning and proceeding to walk towards one of the spheres that was in the room. “I could tell you about the battle that the Traveler had against its ancient enemy. I can tell you of the numerous tales that have been said to frighten children… Those tales have ceased… but the children are frightened anyway.”
Turning back to us… he then told us something else. “But what I can say for sure is this… The Darkness is coming back. And we will not be able to survive it this time.”
“Those Fallen are just the start,” Winona then appeared and began to speak. “That Archon you two took down is just the beginning.” From body language alone, it looked like the Speaker was surprised to hear what Winona said about us taking down the Archon.
Which lead to me asking the Speaker something now. “What can we do to help?”
“Both of you must be able to push back the Darkness any way you can,” He told us, now walking back towards the two of us. “Many guardians like you are fighting on Earth and beyond. So join them. Your Ghost’s will guide you while you are on your journey. I only hope that they chose wisely.” Afterwards, the Speaker just turned around and walked back up the stairs, leaving us to turn around and walk back towards Tower Watch.
Though, on the way, that was when Winona said something that caught my attention. “I’m sure both of us made the right decision… Hey Ghost, since our guardians work rather well together in the field, why don’t we form a fireteam?”
That… had me be a bit confused since that was the first time I’ve ever heard of that term before. While Mac looked like he was a bit surprised. “Ghost, what’s a fireteam?” I asked, just as he floated around to my right hand side and in between both Mac and I.
“Fireteams are small squads that can consist of two to six guardians at a time, depending on the circumstances,” He informed me. “The Vanguard keeps track of these Fireteams and sends them into the field to take on tasks that no single guardian can be able to accomplish on their own. There much different from Clans though, which are large groups of Guardians that are big enough to take on multiple activities at once.”
“Ah think that setting up a fireteam might work out,” Mac spoke up. “Ah mean… both of you saw how Sunset helped me out in a pinch with the Archon, so ah think we work well as a team.” That I can agree with. We did work extremely well as a team out there and we were able to take down more fallen out there together than on our own.
Though, it was while hearing this that I also heard Mac deeply sigh for a moment before looking back at me. “I think it would be a great idea… Is something wrong Mac?”
“Nah, ah just remembered that ah needed to go back to the hangar to see if my ship is fixed…” The Titan told me. “And ah think mah sister’s gonna chew me out for earlier.”
Tower Hangar
“What the hell were you thinking?!” Applejack snapped, almost hitting her brother with a wrench that she was using to repair his ship. “Ah told you that you shouldn’t go overboard with tasks for the vanguard, but just after ya promised me that ya wouldn’t, I overhear on comms that your ship got shot down and no one could reach ya!” The shipwright right now was… well, showing multiple different emotions right now. She may be relieved to see that he was okay, but she was definitely not happy with the fact that he made her worry about him. “For all ah knew, you could’ve been a goner!”
“AJ, please. Ah’m okay…” The titan assured her. “Sunset was able to find me before anything bad happened.”
“And the reason why she found you was because ah was the one who told Commander Sentry to contact any Guardians out in the area to go find you,” She deeply sighed, before looking at her. “You may be a Guardian, but you’re not invincible Mac. If the Fallen get their claws on Winona, you’re toast.”
“Ah know… And it’s why I’m going to be in a team for any future operations,” he told her, shortly before looking to me. “After our last encounter with the Fallen earlier and talking to the Speaker, Winona suggested that Sunset and Ah should set up a Fireteam. That was we have each others backs for if the Vanguard need us for anything else.” Shortly after he finished, that was when Applejack looked back at me… before taking a deep breath and then smiling a bit.
“Well, that makes me worry about ya a little bit less… but that still doesn’t mean your out of the woods for this,” She stated. “Ah had to work overtime in order to get your ship functioning again. And that was alongside installing the warp drive that Sunset’s Ghost happened to bring back.”
Ah right, I almost forgot about that. “How did that go?”
“It’s a thing of beauty alright. Works like a charm,” I heard her tell me while she was using a cloth to wipe what looked like some grease off of some of the tools she was cleaning, before looking at Mac. “As for you, you’re lucky that the damage to your ship was minimal. If it was totaled, ya wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, even if you are ah guardian.” Well, that at least told us that we were ready for whatever the Vanguard needed us to do next. Only question was… what were we going to do next?
“Hey AJ, you got a sec-?” Wait… I know that voice. But why does it sound… synthetic?
“Rainbow, what are ya doing here?” Applejack then spoke up, immediately catching my attention. “Commander Sentry’s gonna get on your case for slacking off right now. Aren’t ya supposed to be paying attention to Vanguard Scout Operations?”
“I am… and because of something we found, I was told about a pair of guardians that could help.” That had me turn around and face the person that was speaking. She clearly sounded like Rainbow Dash, but when I actually saw her… what I saw definitely threw me off guard. For one thing, Rainbow wasn’t human. She was what Twilight called an Exo. Just like the Gunsmith in the tower. Her gear was mostly light blue and navy, while it was tailored far differently than that of a Warlock and Titan. But she had the three colored lightning bolt and cloud that I remembered her for on the side of her left shoulder pad. “Oh? Is this a new guardian?”
Wait… she… doesn’t remember me? How in the world does she not remember who I am-?
“Sunset here is one of the newer guardians at the tower Rainbow. She’s someone that Twilight and Flash remembered from before the Golden Age. Same with me,” Applejack spoke up, to which, had Rainbow look like she seemed a bit surprised… If Exo’s were somehow able to express emotion that is.
“Oh… I get it now. Still, welcome to the Vanguard then. I do hope that Flash isn’t making things too difficult for you since you just started. He and Lord Thunderlane tend to do that with the new recruits a lot,” Wait, Lord who now? “Still… Flash wanted me to be able to meet you guys because the Vanguard’s scouting operation is picking up some… unusual fallen activity right now.”
“Define ‘unusual’.” Mac stated, folding his arms and looking back at the Exo. All she did though was take out a circular pad and pressed a button on it… before a holographic projection of the Cosmodrome was shown.
“The Fallen have been known for smashing and grabbing everything that they could find whether it’s tied down or not,” Rainbow told us, before taking an outstretched hand and moving to a particular location on her map as she zoomed in. “However, most recently, our scouts have been sending reports of the fallen tearing into all of the machines that are in the cosmodrome… specifically by the Forgotten Shore. And from the sounds of it, they’re not just looking it for kicks.”
“You mean… they’re after something?” Ghost asked, now appearing next to me. “If that’s the case, then we should find whatever they’re after first before they do.”
“Heh… I’m liking you two already,” Rainbow chuckled, before moving the map for a moment as she looked at Mac and I. “Now, the only catch is that the closest place you can be dropped off without getting shot down by the Fallen is in this area over here…”
That though… caused Mac to look at Rainbow with a surprised expression. “Wait… The Steppes? That’s miles from the Forgotten Shore! How are we going to get there quick enough in order to find whatever the Fallen are looking for before they do.”
“That is a very good question… and it just so happens that I might have a solution for you two.” Despite Rainbow not remembering who I am… I have known how she acts long enough to know where this is going. “Applejack, how’s your handiwork when it comes to Vehicle Grids?”
“Is that a redundant question?” The shipwright asked. “All Guardians ships are equipped with the necessary functions that allow their ghost to sync their ship with one to bring out their Sparrows.” Wait, Sparrows? What the heck is that supposed to be, some kind of bird?
“Well, what I think we can do is have them sync up their ships to a vehicle grid in The Steppes,” Rainbow told us as she motioned her hands a bit while she was speaking. “If we get the link set up, these two can get to the Forgotten Shore in no time flat.” Well, that sounded simple enough. “And don’t worry… Riding a Sparrow is just like riding a hoverbike.”
Wait… we have hoverbikes?
Some time later…
“Encoding superposed states… Entangling key vectors… and there we go.” It took some time for both Mac and I to reach the grid we needed to go to before we could be able to get anywhere. But luckily, since Ghost and Winona were both working on the same thing together, we were able to get this done much faster than I originally predicted. And shortly after I heard Ghost tell us about the link, Winona was the next one to speak. “Alright. Now that you two are linked with the network, you can pull up a Sparrow and get over to the Forgotten Shore in seconds.”
“And we can summon one… like how we summon ya?” Big Mac then asked.
“The exact same way,” Ghost replied, before both him and Winona summoned one of the ‘Sparrows’ that they were talking about. And upon looking at it, it reminded me of two things. One, for some reason, it made me think of the time I was horseback riding back on Applejack’s farm. Secondly, the handles and setup to how I get on it reminded me of a motorcycle. Especially with the grips that my hands were on. “Now come on. The Fallen aren’t going to stop themselves now.”
“She’s got a point.” Thanks for the reminder, Ghost. Now… which one is the brake-?
WHOOSH!!!
Okay, we’re DRIVING NOW!!!
“Wow, you’re a natural at this…” Oh wow… Ghost is somehow being calm about this. And this is technically my first time actually driving this thing. Though, a few seconds, the mood all changed. “Alright, we’re approaching the Shore… Hey Winona, are you getting the same thing I’m getting right now?”
“Yes I am,” She replied, before elaborating a bit on what they were talking about. “The Fallen are using a series of signal amplifiers to transmit something… It could be a message to the rest of their house. Let’s hurry over and intercept it first.”
“How many are there?” Big Mac then asked as he slowed down and hopped off his Sparrow… shortly before I did the same thing just mere inches from hitting a broken down ship.
“There seems to be two of them within the vicinity of the shore,” Winona then replied. “Hey Ghost? How about you and Sunset tap into the one closest to you two while we check out this other one over here?” That… made sense. Beforehand, I thought the two of us were going to be ‘sticking together’, but this can allow for us to cover more ground. And, according to Ghost, if it was possible that the signal amplifiers were somehow similar in nature… then the linked signals could lead us to where the original signal was coming from.
So, on that note, I left Ghost to analyze the contraption while also paying close attention to any Fallen that could be within the vicinity. Of course, since the signal amplifier was on a wrecked boat, there were some fallen in the destroyed compartments that were trying to salvage what they could. But upon turning their attention to me, that was when I shot them before they could have a chance to call for backup.
A few moments after I left Ghost to scan the amplifier though, he was done… but what he found was… well, something that he did not expect. “Hunh… this is some kind of distorted signal… but it’s not Fallen.”
Wait… not Fallen? That… doesn’t sound reassuring. Who knows if that signal could be from another enemy entirely. “Is it a signal from the Vanguard?”
“No. This signal is something that’s not like any Fallen or Vanguard one we have encountered… Winona, are you getting the same thing over there?” Ghost asked, just as I was making my way over to where Mac was. Just in case if he needed extra help.
“Yes actually… but I think we got a location to investigate now that we scanned these amplifiers. It’s coming from the Skywatch up on the hill.” Winona informed us, causing me to turn around and look up on the hill that she was talking about. And at first glance, I was… really unsure about what could possibly be going on up there. The building that was there looked like an abandoned observatory… so what would the fallen want that’s in there?
Whatever the reason is though… we needed to hurry before they accomplish whatever they were trying to do. And as I was thinking that though, Mac was already one step ahead and summoning his Sparrow. Waiting on me to do the same before both of us quickly darted over to the end of the road and what looked like the remains of an old underground parking garage for the facility. When we got there, both of us noticed that the Fallen had already set up shop with several dregs, shanks and vandals inside of the Skywatch alongside a captain giving them orders to shoot at us.
Of course, we were ready for when they did attack us. Proceeding to take down the dregs and the vandals first before eliminating the shanks and the captain last. The captain was the trickier one to take down given his short range dash and also the arc shield that was equipped on it. But with them out of the picture, we could finally proceed through this… ‘terrestrial complex’, according to the map.
However, just as we got into the heart of the building, our ghosts began to pick up something. “Over there!” Winona first spoke up. Shortly before Ghost followed suite. “The Fallen are tapped into something at the back of the room. Get me over there so I can figure out what it is!”
Without even questioning why, I summoned Ghost and let him begin to inspect this… contraption that the Fallen are somehow using that’s attached to a rather big computer console. Which, to me, looks way too complex for me to even try and figure out how it works on my own… so I guess Ghost is the best option we got right now.
That and someone needed to figure out what the Fallen were doing while we tried to crack into this thing. Leaving Mac and I having to protect him while Fallen were beginning to flood into the room. But it was as we were shooting them that the two of us could overhear a conversation between him and Winona. “The Fallen are trying to access these machines but… something is fighting them back…”
“Wait… Something’s fighting back?” Winona asked, sounding surprised as I shot another two Dregs in the face while Big Mac shot a Vandal down with his Fusion rifle. “What is it?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out, but it’s going to take some time.” Ghost said to her. Which, to me, means holding off the Fallen for as long as we could until he was able to get what he needed-. Wait… what the hell is that floating sphere in the back-?
“Move!!” When I heard that, it was when I felt Mac push me out of the way as that same floating sphere shot out an energy blast at both of us that scorched the ground. While also… wait… is that thing somehow-? “That’s a fallen Servitor! The longer they’re here, the more that they can strengthen the fallen here!”
Okay, that was definitely bad news. But… there was one thing that I was confused about. “How do you take it out?”
“Aim for the eye. That’s their weak point! Be careful though,” I heard Winona instruct me. “They’ll try to move out of the way and conceal their eye! So keep track of where they are and don’t lose sight of them!” Listening to what she told me, I redirected my focus to the servitor. Aiming directly at the Servitor’s eye and beginning to open fire. Mac himself threw out one of his grenades to defeat the fallen that the Servitor was trying to power up before joining me in attacking the Servitor itself. All that while we were having to move out of the way of it’s incoming eye blasts.
Eventually though, we were able to take it down. However, it was when it blew up that more of the Fallen in the room were beginning to retaliate against us. Not to mention… Ghost had a progress update for us. “Okay. I got everything that the fallen managed to steal. We should destroy it while we have the chance.”
“And how are we going to do something like that?”
“The Fallen tap is embedded in this computer’s power core. Destroy the core, destroy the tap.” Okay… that actually made a lot of sense if I were to tell you the truth. But before I could say anything, that was when the top part of the computer began to move up and leave the power core visible for us to shoot. Since I wanted to spare my Auto Rifle rounds for if there were more fallen to shoot at, I decided to pull out my shotgun this time and fire a few rounds from that instead. Which… seemed to do the trick.
And just as I was going to turn back around and ready myself to fight more Fallen… that was when we were seeing them retreat and scurry away. “Wow… that’s the first time ah’ve seen them run off in a hurry like that…” Mac replied, before turning to my Ghost as he was floating right next to me. “So… are we good now?”
“Yes we are,” Ghost nodded in confirmation. “They didn’t get much though… Kept on hitting an active firewall.”
Now though was when Big Mac brought out Winona and she began to ask Ghost something. “What kind of Firewall?”
“Old Earth, Russian…” Even though that response seemed simple… it still took Winona by surprise. Especially with what we heard Ghost say next. “The legends are true… a Warmind did survive the collapse.”
“A war-what?” I asked, a bit puzzled by what I was hearing.
“A Warmind,” Big Mac told me. “Warminds were AI that were built during the Golden Age in order to fight against the Darkness… but there was only one specific one that was on Earth.”
“That’s right,” I heard Ghost respond to him. “Rasputin. He was built to defend Earth and from what I can gather, he’s trying to protect something here in the Cosmodrome.” Not before long though, that was when he turned back to me. “We have to find a way to reach him somehow.”
“Hold your horses there, Ghost,” I told him in response. “We should at least report back to command first before going off anywhere on our own-” That was when we heard what sounded like a… beeping sound from my helmet as I looked back at him. Wondering what was going on.
“Incoming message from the Tower…” Ghost told me, before analyzing it and telling us what it was. “It’s from the Speaker.”
That had Mac and I look back at one another with a confused expression on both of our faces as we wondered what exactly was going on. “The Speaker? What does it say?”
“He’s… asking us to look into something that the Fallen in the Cosmodrome are keeping a pretty tight hold on from the sounds of it. And it’s on the other side of the Skywatch,” I heard him tell us. “It could be possible that it’s one of their leaders… or something of rare value to the fallen.”
Looking back at Mac, all I did was take a deep sigh and look back at him. “Well… we aren’t exactly far from it. Let’s go take a look while we’re here.”