The four Guardians of Odium stared at the skeleton with varying looks of disbelief. They had rushed into the room with Kervis when his Ghost had called for them, but no words had been spoken since they arrived.
“So… we weren’t the first?” Procor muttered, finally breaking the silence.
“Seems so.” Exodus started, “What worries me, however, is what was able to kill them.”
Kervis’ Ghost was taking a closer look at the dusty shell of the dead Guardians Ghost. After looking over it for a few minutes, he scanned it, the dead machine rising up into the air and disappearing in a cloud of light. With the new data recovered, he returned to his Titan.
“I have the final logs from their Ghost, but with how old this body is, I can’t be sure anything in it will be usable.” He said.
“Play it anyway, even a broken log could tell us something about what happened.” Exodus responded.
The Ghost nodded, displaying a video feed on the floor in front of them. It showed the view of the once alive Ghost, flying beside a male Hunter. They were slowly moving through the same room they were in, sweeping it without a word.
As they reached the back wall where the hole was, a sound drew the Hunter and his Ghost’s attention around. There was a cloud of darkness there near the entrance to the room, two blue eyes watching them from it.
The Hunter wasted no time in taking aim at it, backing up and keeping his Ghost behind him.
“Who’s there?” He called out, getting no reply from the cloud, “I swear I’ll kill you if you don’t tell me who you are, so speak up.”
Silence continued to reign as they stared at each other, the Hunter’s weapon still pointed at the cloud. A minute passed before the Guardian took a shot at it, the round passing straight through its eye and hitting the door behind it.
But the cloud didn’t seem to react to it, instead slowly moving towards him. Seeing his shots had little effect, the Hunter resorted to his light, throwing void grenades in the hopes of slowing it.
Yet again, the Hunter’s attempts to destroy the cloud were met with no reaction. The Guardian had to start backing into the hole as the distance between them both closed.
“Ghost? Any ideas?” He called out, reloading his weapon.
“No… I’ve never seen anything like this!”
The final moments of the log were silent, apparently being too corrupted to retain its audio. The cloud eventually pushed the Guardian to the back of the hole, preventing his escape. Hoping to at least save his companion, the Hunter grabbed the Ghost and held it behind him, stopping any usable video from being recorded.
It ended with the cloud engulfing the Guardian and his Ghost, fading and corrupting as they quickly died.
The room was quiet as Kervis’ Ghost cut off the display, looking up at them, “What now?” He asked.
“While this is bad, we need to focus on what we know.” Exodus said, “Right now, the Cabal pose more of a threat than this cloud does. We take them down, then we figure out what exactly killed that Guardian.”
The others nodded in understanding, Elana and Procor walking from the room, taking one last look at the skeletal remains of the Guardian.
“It’s odd...” Kervis muttered.
“What is?” Exodus asked in response.
“Normally we can detect a dead Ghost’s light from miles away, so why didn’t we see this one?”
“Probably a number of reasons. The big one would be we weren’t searching for a dead Ghost, we were searching for live Guardians, or a way home.”
Kervis nodded slowly, “We should bury him. It’s not right to leave his remains here.”
“I have to agree, but first we have to get the bunker sorted. This would be a perfect place to house our more important ponies, as well as ourselves.”
Exodus gave him a pat on the shoulder, “C’mon, can’t let those two get the best bunks.”
The Titan managed a smile, turning to him, “Yeah, I guess we can’t.”
- - -
Night had fallen completely as the Guardians rested. Procor and Elana were sleeping in a couple of bunks, and Kervis had left shortly after they finished moving the ponies inside, leaving Exodus alone to wander the halls.
The bunker was fairly large, easily able to support the ponies they needed to protect, as well as many of the workers that helped excavate it in the first place. The food rations left within it had long expired, leaving them with no choice but to burn them, for fear of rodents getting in.
He seemed to be the only one still awake, as him being a machine removed the need for sleep. The bunker’s lights were easily able to keep the halls lit, even after their centuries of being off, allowing him to travel in ease.
His walking eventually brought him by the bunker entrance, the doors opened slightly. They had come to the decision to leave them open until the keypad could be fixed so they wouldn’t have to keep contacting Elizabeth when they wanted to come back in.
Shrugging, he walked over and took a look out. The fields and hills around the bunker were calm, the night sky shining with masses of stars. Off in the distance, a fire could be seen with a lone figure standing beside it. Exodus quickly matched the shape of the figure to Kervis, and began walking out towards him. As he closed in, he began to see a shimmer of something in the Titan’s hands.
His approach was eventually noticed by the human, who turned to look at him. He made no effort to hide what he was holding, a small white engram normally used to house less bulky items.
“Hey” Kervis said as the Warlock got close enough for him to be heard, making no movements as his friend stood by his side.
“You’re out late.” The Exo commented, looking at the Titan’s glowing helmet.
“Yeah, I needed some time.”
“Want to talk about it?”
Kervis sighed, looking at the little engram, “It’s the Festival of the Lost back home. Would have been her first.”
“Ah, right. With everything that has been going on, I had forgotten.”
The light from the fire illuminated them both, Kervis’ Chroma shining out in the areas that were not touched by its light, giving the Warlock a good view of his faceplate. His eyes were still locked on the engram as he spoke once more.
“I was planning on giving her this. One of those multi-coloured Jackolytes from last year.”
“I’m sure she would have liked it.”
“Yeah, I thought she would.”
They stood in silence for a few minutes after that, watching the flames flicker. It was Exodus who spoke up as he threw a small amount of Solar light on the fire, re-igniting the diminishing flames.
“Kervis. I know this is hard for you, but… I feel it may be best for you to let her go.”
The Titan gave a shaky sigh, still clutching the engram, “I know. I want to, but every time she is brought up it makes it just that little harder to move on.”
“Listen. Her passing hit me just as hard. We fought gods together, learned and grew as friends and partners, but death is inevitable in our work. Guardians die, and it happens far more than I would like to admit. Many of those Guardians have Fireteams they had been in since rebirth, some died alone, but it is our job to keep their fight going, no matter the cost.”
Kervis looked up at him as he finished speaking, looking at the Warlock’s faceplate. He seemed to be deep in thought for a minute, before responding in a faint voice, “Thanks, Exodus. It’s going to be a while before I get past this, but I won’t let it stop me from doing my job. For Kalis, if nobody else.”
Exodus placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a little pat, “That’s all we ask.”
They stood once more in silence, though their conversation had made it a comfortable silence. It was another hour before Exodus sighed, re-lighting the fire once more, “You have friends that can help you, Kervis. If you aren’t comfortable speaking with Procor and Elana, you are always welcome to come to me.”
Kervis nodded, “Thanks, but I don’t want to weigh my problems on you. You already have enough to deal with.”
The Warlock chuckled at that, “We’re Guardians, it’s what we do. But if you don’t want to talk with me, why not Lemon?”
The human looked at him, his head tilted a little, “Lemon? Why her?”
“You two have gotten fairly close as it is, I think it would help you both bond more if she was able to help you through this.”
“Yeah. I guess I could talk to her about it, not sure if she would understand though.”
The Exo turned and looked into the fire, “I doubt she has never experienced death, Kervis. I don’t know anything about her family, but the Cabal have killed so many ponies that I wouldn’t be surprised if she has also lost someone.”
Kervis gave a slow nod, “It hadn’t even crossed my mind...”
“Talk with her, I think you both may have more in common than you might think.”
With that said, Exodus turned and walked away, back towards the entrance of the bunker. Kervis remained standing beside the fire, looking deep into the shining engram, as if hoping to find answers there.
As the sun started to rise, he shook his head and stowed the engram, putting the fire out and looking over the green fields around him. In the far distance, large towns could just be made out against the grass and hills, their lights turning off with the coming of the morning.
“For Kalis.”
- - -
Celestia walked slowly through the rubble of Canterlot, her horn alight as she raised the sun. She hadn’t been able to sleep within the bunker, and had decided to take a trip back, half in the hopes of survivors, and half to long that it wasn’t true.
But as she moved by the cold corpses of the ponies that didn’t make it out, her fears were set true. Her home, the only one she had known for her long life, was now gone. In just a single day, everything she knew had been shattered, much like her state of mind.
She had managed to keep her regal look plastered on when she was near her subjects, but here, in the wreckage of the once great capital she ruled, it fell easily. Tears streaked down her face as the many colours of the ponies passed her eyes, each bringing memories of times she had seen them on the streets.
Her trek through the rubble eventually brought her to a different sort of wreckage. There, under a massive chunk of stone, was the remnants of a black and orange craft. Sparks and liquids poured from the destroyed metal, covering the ground in a black puddle.
Not even the Guardians, a highly advanced alien race, were able to fight against their foe, and yet they kept going. Even with the loss of one of their own, they pushed forward, not for themselves, but for Equestria, and the ponies that resided there.
These four aliens were fighting and dying for a race they had never even seen before, and she was mulling around, trying to bear the loss of her subjects.
The sight of the decimated ship filled her with a sense of determination she hadn’t felt in a long time. She wouldn’t allow another pony to die at the hands of these monsters, even if she died preventing it.
Her mind set straight, she turned, looking one last time over the ruined city, and the dead that littered it, and with a nod, she teleported back to the bunker, her will resolved.
- - -
It was around ten o’clock when the Guardians and important ponies convened in one of the dorms. Kervis had come back and had gone straight to the dorm, being the first there when the others joined him.
“Alright. We have the Warmind, and we have the beacons. What now?” He asked as everyone took their seats around a table.
“The first thing would be to make sure the Warmind is loaded,” Exodus said, “When he is ready, we should move on to attempting a counter attack, maybe even trying to take back Manehattan.”
“Which we have made no plans for,” Procor pointed out.
“That’s why we’re here,” Kervis said, “Firstly, we need a method of planting a beacon in each of the carriers, something easier said than done.”
“Actually, I may have an idea,” Celestia said, bringing the attention of the Guardians to her, “These monsters are capturing unicorns, yes?”
“That’s right. They are keeping them in every carrier except for the one the Primus is on.”
“What if we sent a unicorn to each of them? We could have them go up, plant this beacon and leave. If we sent them to the prison blocks, I doubt the monsters would even notice.”
Exodus shook his head, “I’m afraid that wouldn’t work. In order for this plan to work, we can’t just hope the Cabal don’t notice the beacons. We will need them set up in key locations that the Warmind can use to destroy them in a single round. Plus, we still need to evacuate the ponies on board, and having a beacon set on each of the prisons likely won’t end well for us.”
“Then we need to figure out how we are going to get the thousands of ponies out of there,” Kervis said, leaning back.
“Yes. With all of these problems coming together, I am beginning to feel that destroying these ships should be a last resort, and not our primary goal,” Exodus said.
The others gave him confused looks, prompting him to elaborate, “Destroying them outright brings up too many issues. If there weren’t P.O.W’s on them, we wouldn’t even need to think about it, just let the Warmind take them out, but thanks to them basically using the ponies as living shields, firing on them may not work.”
“So how do we proceed?” Luna asked.
“I think our best bet is to take control of the carriers and free the ponies like that. In doing so, we eliminate the Cabal within them, and get the ponies out, without losing any of them.”
“Launching an assault on every single one of those carriers won’t be easy. You got an idea for how we get enough soldiers?” Procor questioned.
“The Frames. Elizabeth has been deploying them as the Warmind came online, and a large force of them came by here during the night. They have set up not too far away, within a little cluster of trees,” The Warlock explained.
“Alright, we have soldiers, and we have guns, so where now?”
“The main target would be the bridge. If we take that, we could turn the carrier’s inner defences on the Cabal, allowing us to take each ship without using all that many organic soldiers.”
At this, Elana spoke up, “But without Ghosts, they would have to activate the defences themselves.”
“And that is why Thovog being with us is such a great thing,” Exodus responded, “He will likely know how the consoles work, and can teach the ponies how to use them. We could have fifty ponies ready to go by the time we need them.”
“Then we need to start preparing,” Procor surmised, “We can’t make any plans unless our forces are ready.”
Exodus nodded, “We’ll get Thovog to teach as many ponies as he can on how to use the consoles. While he is doing that, we will need to gather all the Frames we can and have them ready to deploy.” He turned to Celestia and Luna, “We will also need a method of moving them up into the ships. Since we lost almost all of the War Mages in the last fight, you will have to find new ponies.”
“That will not be necessary,” The Solar Princess said, drawing an odd look from Luna, “We can teleport all of them on board easily, and can assist in fighting. You show us where we need to be, and we will be there.”
“I’m not really comfortable having royalty in a fight, but if this is something you want, I won’t turn down the extra help.” The Warlock said, “So. Do we all know what we are doing?”
The others gave their agreements, some leaving to follow out their new tasks. Eventually, only Kervis and Exodus were left.
“So this is it, huh?” Kervis asked, looking at the Exo.
“Yeah. Feels like we’ve been going for months, but if this works, it should end the fight in one attack.” Exodus said.
“Hey, we might even get back for the Dawning.” The Titan said with an audible smile.
“If we do, you. Me. Sparrow race.”
Kervis laughed, standing up and walking from the room, “You’re on.”
- - -
Elana sat upon a hill, some distance from the bunker. She had finished telling the ponies that stayed there that they could go home, and had come out to think on things.
She had only been alive for a few weeks, and already she had been in large-scale conflicts, watching civilians and Guardians die. She knew she should have been grateful for what she had already been given, receiving training from an experienced Hunter, and even being given a rifle far stronger than the one the Vanguard had given her, but there was something lying in the back of her mind, something she wasn’t sure upon.
Her train of thought came to a halt as a bronze and steel Titan sat down beside her, looking out across the hills.
“Something on your mind?” Procor asked.
“Yeah, but I’m not really sure on how to take it,” The young Hunter replied.
“Well you can always talk about it, I find that normally helps when your mind gets stuck on something.”
Elana looked down at the grass, “I’m not sure if I want to go back.”
Procor turned and looked at her, “What do you mean?”
“These ponies need our help, maybe even more than the City. Who says something like this won’t happen again when we are gone?”
The Titan gave a hum of thought, “I think I know what you mean. While my lack of connection to the Traveller has been gnawing at me, these ponies are fairly defenceless when it comes to advanced races, and I wouldn’t want to leave them alone if they were still in danger.” He looked her in the eyes as he continued, “But you should do what you believe is right. When the time comes, and we are all given the option to leave, I doubt anyone will judge you for the decision you make.”
The Hunter smiled, “Thanks, Procor. This has been one hell of a ride, huh?”
“Well for me and Odium, this is pretty average stuff. I certainly wouldn’t have thought a newly reborn Guardian would ever be able to make it through something like this though. You’ve been doing well, especially for someone as young as you. Keep it up.”
She gave a thankful nod and went back to looking out over the fields, the sun shining down on them.
“So how do you know Odium?” She asked after a few minutes.
“We met a while back. I flew solo for about two years before I came to a bit of a standstill. Thanks to me turning down the more difficult jobs that required fireteams because I didn’t have one, I lacked the knowledge necessary to progress further. So, I had a look around, and it just so happened that a certain Fireteam was looking for a few more guardians to take down a Hive god called Crota.”
“So you helped defeat a god, and that’s how you met them?”
“Yup. As I became stronger, they helped me out from time to time, and I helped them. They were quite a bit stronger when I first met them, but with their help, I soon caught up.”
She sighed, “Sounds pretty fun.”
The Titan laughed, “Sometimes it was, most of the time it was a nightmare. The most recent job I took with them was helping to deal with the SIVA crisis, and holy hell was that awful.”
“I heard a little about that while I was staying in the Tower. What made it difficult?”
“Other than the running around? It would have to be that god damn machine Aksis. Every time we tried something, he would counter it. We got him in the end, but it took a solid two hours of fighting just to bring him down.”
Elana chuckled, turning her gaze up to the sky, “I guess a Guardian like me wouldn’t have even needed to think about work like that for a long time.”
“Nah, you would have been sent on recon stuff, maybe sent to kill a few high value targets until you learned how to properly wield your light.”
“Speaking of which, how am I going to learn now? Kalis was the only other Hunter here.”
Procor smiled behind his helmet, “Speak with Kervis. He trained both Exodus and Kalis, and I’m sure he would be happy to teach you as well. I would do it myself, but I don’t think you want to blow stuff up like a Titan.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s something a Hunter normally does. I’ll speak with him when he’s free, I can only hope he still knows how to teach Nightstalkers, since I haven’t the faintest idea how to use the Shadow Shot.”
“Learning how to wield light isn’t too complicated. Hell, the ponies managed it, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it no problem.”
The Hunter laughed, standing up and putting her sniper on her back, “We should probably head back, I think we both have work to do.”
Procor grunted, standing up and walking alongside her towards the bunker, “At least it’s easier than Aksis.”
- - -
Zavala trudged over the corpses of the Vex Odium had killed when they had arrived at their objective. The room was filled with signs of combat, but no Guardian bodies or signatures could be detected, even by Ikora.
“Looks like we missed the fun...” Cayde commented, poking a dead Goblin.
“Focus on why we are here. Ikora, anything?” Zavala said, turning to the Warlock.
“I can feel something, but it’s faint.” She muttered, looking over at a large crack on one of the walls, “I feel it might be what we are looking for.”
Zavala followed her gaze and drew his rifle, pointing it at the crack, “Cayde, this feels like a trap, can you tell if there is something in there?”
“Yeah, there’s a massive Hydra, but that’s about it.” Cayde said, still poking the Goblin.
“What? And how do you know that?” Ikora questioned.
“Ikora, I’m a Hunter, ominous cracks are the first things we look at.” He said, looking over at her, “Eh, there’s a joke in there somewhere.”
“Well, we keep away from it, and observe from a distance.” Zavala said, his rifle still pointed at the crack.
“And how are we going to figure anything out without first learning the source of the problem?” Ikora asked.
“We wait. We can’t afford to lose more Guardians, as I told you earlier.”
Cayde shrugged, sitting down on the now heavily poked Goblin, “And then what? We can’t just sit around and hope that Hydra just magically disappears.”
“When we figure out how to remove it, we will work on working this out.” The Titan said, looking back at the hole, “I just hope they are alright.”