With their preparations completed, the three dark warriors made their way to Variks outpost in Cadmus Ridge, as a howling blizzard concealed them from any possible prying eyes. The trio took in the dilapidated relay station as the automatic doors slowly closed behind them, an automatic whir sounding as it sealed itself once more from the brutal Europan weather. The station that Variks now called home had not been treated kindly by the ravages of time or ice, it’s systems barely functioned anymore with additional splicing by Variks and other Fallen refugees but it was sufficient for a temporary home and Variks had been in far worse accommodations before after his House... disbanded.
For Elsie it was a sort of strange reunion. She had seen this station both in its prime and its present state numerous times across numerous timelines. She could recall how the consoles buzzed with noise as they communicated with the Morning Star in orbit, and how now many of those same consoles lay eerily silent. Seeing all this after the Collapse never got any easier, in no small part due to the already tainted memories of what Clovis did here with her aid, and what he might have done had the Collapse not brought an end to almost everything.
Variks stood by the large bay window, his back hunched and staff in hand. His soft wheezes and the buzzing of machines was all that could be heard for a while as he welcomed his new “friends” with a bow. The Trio simply looked at him expectantly, the time for talking and theatrics was over and time was short. With a little flourish Variks produced the map he had promised saying,
“Variks suggests using the Storm to move without detection, yes? It will allow for more destruction of the wretched ships”. Elsie took the map with a nod and turned to walk back into the freezing cold, her two companions following after. As the door once more unlocked and slid open Variks called out,
“Wait! Variks asks one more favor, one that will help us both!” He paused as they turned their heads tk acknowledge him before continuing “Many Eliksni still seek refuge from House Salvation, they seek out Mithrax, Kell of House Light.” A series of clicks followed as Cariks showed the three a torn piece of cloth with a symbol on it.
“This is how you can tell who is friend and who is foe, this symbol or any red cloth is a symbol of House Light. Please help them escape from this doomed place.” Variks wheezed his plea out as the three seemed to stare through him. He knew no one trusted him, and they had every right not to, but he would do anything to help save his people from extinction. Even if that meant more Eliksni deaths, it would be worth it in the end. At least, he hoped it would.
Elsie and the others nodded, her blue hood bobbing as she did, before once more disappearing into the Storm with her fireteam. It was time to put an end to this fleet once and for all.
The visibility in Eventide was just as abysmal, perfect for allowing three humanoid figures to slowly make their way to a nearby service hatch. The Fallen had been clever in using the ruins of The once sprawling city as a type of foundation for the new Riis-Reborn, allowing them to safely secure the large domed towers and factories that House Salvation now utilized for their own. nefarious purpose. Even though Eramis was little more than a frozen statue, her forces continued to follow her will in laying siege to the Traveler and all who followed it from this nearly impenetrable fortress. Nearly impenetrable.
The three interlopers silently moved across the snowy ruins, ducking into the shadows and avoiding lone guards patrolling the various pathways. Eris’s mind and body still had the grace and timing of the hunter she had once been, even if her Light had faded away with time. Drifter meanwhile chose to stay up high, when the opportunity allowed it. He seemed to have a knack for keeping out of sight when he wanted to, despite his boisterous personality. As the two slowly crept up to the hatch that would serve as their entry point, They began to scan for their last member through the raging snowstorm around them.
Elsie soon materialized in front of them, nodding as Drifter slowly undid the locks with aid from his red eyed ghost, which was quick to make itself scarce with the glare from the paranoid gunslinger. Howling wind and piercing cold soon have way to humid vents and the smell of blood from countless battles, a lasting testament to Cyrell and many other Guardians efforts to curb the dark armies quest for conquest and revenge. Drifter chuckled softly as he looked down at a group of Fallen that had recently been payed low from a Sunbreaker Titan, large hammer shaped burns visible even from their vantage point inside the large ventilation shaft.
They quickly began following the vents, occasionally checking Variks map to make their way towards the factory that housed their target. Within a few minutes they had made it to the central hub that housed the teleport they needed to use to make it to the distant factory. They just needed to get rid of the squad that had decided to camp out in the room without raising the alarm now.
Elsie seemed to fade away, almost like a transmat, as Drifter and Eris took positions by the large grate. The gunslinger held up his left hand, his hand cannon held firmly in the other, and silently counted down.
3…
2….
….
….
1!
In the blink of an eye the two of them burst from the grate and began to make short work of the squad. Drifter managed to reach two dregs in one lunge, smashing the closest in the face with his fist before using a stasis grenade to freeze the second. Quickly turning around he slammed his boot into the frozen dreg causing it to shatter and finish off its wounded companion. He spun around ready to unleash further devastation to any more Fallen he came across.
At the same time Eris had brained one more dreg using her mysterious rock before an arc sidearm to collapse the line captain's shields. It staggered with a Yelp as Eris quickly took advantage of the situation to lay into it with both her magic rock and a rune covered knife. Grabbing the captain and plunging the knife into its neck and causing ether to begin rapidly pouring out. It collapsed to its knees as Eris calmly brought her orb up above her head. The captain had time to frantically look up as she slammed the mystic object right into its temple, killing it.
The four remaining fallen, two dregs and candela, where unceremoniously frozen not long after as Elsie re emerged from the ether, cold stasis power coating the hand she had used to launch her grenade before slamming it into the ground, causing the poor frozen fools to shatter instantly.
The three quickly scanned the room, making sure they had eliminated all the fallen that had been there, before immediately jogging into the teleporter without a single word. There was still more ground left to cover, and from here on out the element of surprise was a quickly disappearing commodity.
The echoes of metal being hammered onto metal rang like a chorus throughout the Technocrats Forge, as Fallen Engineers put the finishing modifications onto the fleet of Skiffs locked in their maintenance bays. A young vandal sized worker put down the arc torch they had been using to weld on extra armor plating to one of the elongated ships hulls, before standing up and stretching its four arms.
All around them other members of House Salvation operated under the watchful eyes of their newest replacement for Eramiskell. An old veteran of the House of Kings, called Suriks the Light Killer. Many claimed he had earned this title during what the humans called “The Battle of Six Fronts”, for the way he slew the Guardian monsters. With Eramiskell and her leutinants now slain he had gained control of the House and its remnants and he had plans to ensure the humans were made to suffer for what their light loving abominations had done, an ethos fleet would be the key.
The Fallen looked back to the skiff they were monitoring, a sense of pride rising within them as the cold metal and the cacophonous sounds of forge-work dulled and they imagined what awaited them once they had accomplished their goal of rebuking humanity and returning Eramiskell from her frozen slumber.
As it closed its eyes it failed to notice in the distance, as a pulse rifle was aimed at them. They had only a second to turn in terror as it fired a single burst and killed him instantly.
Elsie quickly turned and began firing on other members of the closest crew as she barreled through the entryway to the force’s heart. In seconds the Fallen were in a frenzy as combatants returned fire and engineers scrambled for cover.
Drifter launched himself up into a track, running along as his hand cannon fired into a mass of dregs that were firing at him with their shock pistols. She watched as fragments of ice formed in his left hand before he tossed it into another grouping of fallen, freezing them in a matter of seconds in a dome of faintly shimmering cold energy. He nodded to her as he made his way towards the upper bays, reaching into his back satchel for the demolition charges he would need to destroy the skiffs.
Elsie returned to mopping up the last of this bays crew and guards, before sliding underneath the main hull and securing a charge herself. It quickly latched to the metal hull, as a red light began to slowly blink in time with a soft beep. Quickly getting back to her feet she ran to the edge of the platform and jumped into the next closest bay, shouldering her pulse rifle as she unleashed another barrage onto the waiting fallen.
In the corner of her eye she could see Eris, methodically taking down for after for on the lower bays, her movements fluid and graceful as she seemed to dance across the battlefield. Her strange relic was no longer encased in hive soul flame, but in an icy sphere of Stasis. It richotcheed from one Fallen to another with blinding speed, returning to her after bludgeoning its target.
Elsie looked back to the skiff as a large captain with a scorch cannon began bearing down on her. She dodged behind a set of large metal canisters covered in a House Salvation tarp before slipping into time. She always thought it odd that neither the Guardian or her companions questioned how she did this, but was thankful for not needing to explain the… complicated nature of her abilities. While she may not be forged in Light, she had more than just Stasis up her sleeve.
She reappeared behind the captain, using a stasis grenade to freeze it and the unfortunate vandals that were with it, before slamming a fist down to shatter them. She then ran up to the next two skiffs locked in place for repairs and placed her charges on them as well.
As she scanned the room she could see at least half of the room had been covered, though she also saw that some of the skiffs were beginning to slowly drift out of the large domed room.
“We need to move faster, they are launching the skiffs!” She shouted to the others, before rushing back to continue the sabotage run. She saw Drifter briefly forced to take cover from a squad of Fallen, before he pulled out a rocket launcher and eradicated them in an explosion of void energy. His mad cackling reverberated around the large domed room.
Soon she was back in another standoff, as more and more Fallen had begun to reorganize and launch a guided defense of the skiffs. Their strange guttural language filled the air as the captains barked orders to their subordinates, though one voice stood out amongst them. She saw a large Fallen, easily the size of a Kell, hanging on to a skiff as it readied to leave the hangar and escape onto Europa’s freezing sky.
More skiffs were soon behind, and Elsie knew that they had to do something to stop that Fallen from escaping. She quickly called to Eris, who had finished with the lower decks.
“Eris, on me! We have to stop those skiffs from escaping no matter what” her voice was slowly beginning to grow desperate, they were so close now. Eris deftly managed to launch herself from one platform to another, running alongside Elsie and brandishing a small sidearm covered in runes. They ran towards the bay edge, leaping on top of a skiff that had been slowly rising to meet with the other escapees, Eris planted another charge before nodding towards Elsie as they jumped up into another skiff. Drifter had pulled out a sniper rifle, taking aim at Fallen that were likewise following the pair as they tried to reach the large fallen leading the skiffs away.
The air rushed past them as they struggled to remain upright and the bulbous chassis of the Fallen ships, which would have been difficult enough without the barrage of arc bolts constantly raining down and up at them.
Along the ridges more Fallen dregs and vandals had gathered to open fire on the two women jumping along the squadron of skiffs. They continued to dodge the blasts of arc energy, replying with weapons fire of their own when they could, claiming more kills as dregs fell lifeless into the abyss.
The large Kell-Like Fallen shouted out, its masked face hissing with anger and ether. It’s two right arms lifted up what looked like a shrapnel launcher with the markings of the House of Kings faintly scratched off and replaced by the emblem of House Salvation. Elsie quickly realized however that the cosmetics weren’t the only recent change as she and Eris slammed themselves down onto the top of the skiff they were currently on, narrowly dodging a large stasis projectile.
More guttural fallen speech was shouted out at them as the large Kell began opening fire on them again and again. Elsie and Eris quickly jump onto separate skiffs before responding in kind. It’s shields continued to hold though under their collective fire. Another salvo managed to graze Elsie on the left leg, the tell tale sign of stasis crystals slowly forming across it. Eris had been pinned down by a set of shanks that had joined the airborne fight. From below they could hear the Drifter shouting out for them to bail, before they were too high up.
“Unless you two wanna be paste, I’d start making my way to solid ground” his words accompanied by his right hand waving the detonator for the demolition charges. He then pulled out a hand cannon and scattered the skanks that were hounding Eris. Eris quickly jumped down to join Elsie, before the two linked arms and jumped off, plummeting down before Elsie used her abilities to shift them closer to the ground at a less disastrous angle. Crashing and rolling on the cobbled together metal floor, they looked back in time to see some of the skiffs in flight explode as the Drifter began to boot and holler.
The large Fallen fired blindly at them as its rage burned at the loss of over half its fleet. Shot after shot of stasis impacted around them, forming large crystals of stasis ice. Dodging and weaving the deadly pillars of icy Darkness, they ran towards the opposite end of the hangar, ducking into a doorway as Drifter used his hand cannon to shoot the door controls, sealing it.
Elsie, despite not needing to breathe, was panting heavily as she slowly pulled out the map Variks had given them. While they hadn’t managed to destroy all the skiffs, or even find the Ketch, she felt confident that any plans involving that fleet would be temporarily halted. Long enough for them to inform the Vanguard to form a strike to finish the job.
She looked towards Drifter, a large crooked smile firmly planted on his features as he leaned forward on his knees, swapping between chuckling and gasping for breath. Once he had recovered he said, with a mirthful undertone.
“Haven’t had a gun fight like that in a few hundred years Sister, you sure you haven’t done this sorta thing before” he slowly leaned back and stood as his body recovered from the rush of adrenaline.
Eris for her part remained as posies and restricted as usual, though the exertion was clearly visible on her face as well. Her normally pale cheeks flushed from all the acrobatics she was not accustomed to doing anymore. It was good of them to train for this beforehand.
Silence refined once again as the three recovered and reoriented themselves. All that was left now was the splinter and maybe save a few refugees if they came across them.
The trio were soon jogging down circular halls as they searched for the storeroom Variks had listed on his map. Every now and then they would encounter small duos of shanks or the odd vandal squad, but they were easy to dispatch with little effort. Soon enough they made it to a larger hallway, with a discolored wall. Along it were sets of supply crates from various factions, along with a small blinking light that was just above Elsie’s head. She placed a small pad I. Front of it, waiting as it chimes and whirred, edite glowing a steady green and opening up to reveal The hidden cache. It opened up to reveal a long hallway lined with shelves that then opened into a larger circular room. The Shelves were lined with weapons, armor, grenades, rebreather masks and parts. They walked into the larger room, and saw floating in an energy field their prize, a lone splinter of darkness.
Eris quickly used her orb to shatter the control panel disrupting the energy barrier while Elsie grabbed their prize. The Drifter had slowly made his way back to the entrance during their recovery of the dark artifact, had cannon and eyes sweeping the halls for any Fallen attempting to stop them. But none showed themselves.
The trio looked to one another, a simultaneous feeling of success and failure mixed into a bittersweet cocktail of emotions as they made their way towards another open portion of the Fallen city and onto the Drifters drop ship. But before they could, a door opened revealing a small dreg with a rate of supply’s walking into the hall.
The dregs eyes widened in fear at the sight of the three, its legs trembled and it began to slowly back up away from them. Drifter immediately pointed his piece at the dreg and put a finger to his lips.
“Shhh… no need for this to get messy now. Why don’t you just step aside and we can all pretend we didn’t see each other, ok” he said.
Eris quickly searched the Fallen over, her eyes taking in its dated armor and scraggly cloth before landing on a red piece of cloth tied to its leg. She slowly put a hand on Drifter's gun and lowered it as she gestured to the cloth. “This one seems to be a friend, if what Variks told us is true” she muttered, her three eyes returning the gaze of the dregs.
The dreg seemed to understand what she said, as it began nodding rapidly, before then readjusting its crate and motioning them to follow. The trio simply shared a glance and did as requested. The dreg lead then through the halls with confidence, winding through passages and up stairs before finally reaching a large door. The dregs slowly reforming secondary arms twitched as it readjusted the rate to enter a code onto the doors digital pad.
With a hiss the doors opened and revealed numerous other Fallen, all in armed and even holding hatchlings. The sight of the three humans cause them to all gasp and murder in fright, some scrambling to the edges of the room or cowering behind their four arms. It was a truly pitiful sight for the three.
The dreg with the crate slowly walked inside and began to speak, as it did it made gestures to them and to the room, no doubt explaining what it thought they were here to do. Eris leaned towards Drifter and asked,
“Can you fit all of us on that scrap heap you call a drop ship Rat?” She muttered as the fallen continued to speak with its kin. Drifter gave her a sideways glance, before nodding his head, though she did hear him grumbl something about ‘three eyes’ and a few choice words. She would remember that for later.
Elsie watched as the Fallen slowly began to grow less fearful and inch closer to them, with the dreg and its crate having finished its speech it began to try and speak in broken English.
“You say Variks, friend? Send to help, yes? Go to Misraakskell yes” there was the faintest bit of hope in the four beady eyes that looked back at her. She turned to the Drifter and Eris, before slowly nodding to the Fallen and gesturing for them to follow them.
Quickly the group had fallen in line and were slowly sneaking their way through the corridors once again. They dodged patrols with the supply dregs help and the use of the map Variks had given them, reaching a large outdoor walkway that Drifters drop ship was hovering near. They climbed aboard, a tight fit given how many there were now in their party, but they were faced now.
Using stolen cloaking tech allowed them to slip safely past the air defenses and back into orbit towards the Derelict. A message was sent to Variks, confirming the refugees rescue and that they would be sent to Mithrax soon.
The three dark warriors breathed a sigh of relief. They were now one step closer to saving their lost friend, and hopefully he could help stop the new threat that had just been released into the Sol System.
Variks watched as a House Salvation Ketch and five skiffs rapidly fled from Rios-Reborn and into the inky blackness of space. He felt his entire soul shudder as the realization of what had been unleashed dawned on him. He quickly went towards his console and began typing in the clearance codes given to him by Zavala during their brief meeting. Soft electronic beeps and whistles sounded as the golden age technology connected to the distant city, the baritone voice of the Commander filling the room with a rumble.
“Variks… did you have something to report?” Came Zavala’s measured response to the unscheduled correspondence. The question weighed on Variks for a moment, swallowing his fear as he begins to recount the events of the day, saying.
“Variks has… news. Dire news that will affect us all...”.
Europa was quickly becoming nothing more than a speck on the astral horizon as Suriks and his fleet raced away. His anger burned like the poisonous ether that the Scorn consumed. He had seen what it did to living Eliksni in the Prison, the desperate suffocation gas the Eliksni unfortunate enough to inhale the foul substance felt their lungs burning from the inside out.
His upper right hand slammed down onto his command seat, the metal denting under his rage. He quickly turned his attention to the ketch’s crew, as they were working to get the newly installed drives powered up and ready for their first real use. Finally after some adjusting and recalibration the lead splicer looked towards the mighty warrior
“It is ready Surikskell, just as you requested” the smaller Fallen bowed its head towards Suriks before stepping away from the controls. The burning rage in Suriks began to morph into sadistic satisfaction. He quickly strood towards the controls, his armor shifting as he took his place in front of the console. But first, he needed to stir the troops, prepare them for a crusade that would put the last uniting of the Houses to shame.
“Eliksni of House Salvation, listen to me and take heart!” He bellowed as he activated his comms link, his rumbling voice reaching every Eliksni in the fleet.
“Today we lost many fine warriors dedicated to the ideals of our House, to our people, and to our survival! They fought to keep the abominations of the Once Great Machine at bay so that we may begin our righteous crusade of Vengeance” his voice began to rise as he continued to speak, Eliksni all around him began nodding along as heartache and anger rose in their hearts in a unified dance.
“But we are still here! We are still breathing and we are still ready to bring our righteous fury down upon the peons of the traitor that left us in ruins!” He could hear members of the crew shouting out cheers as he continued his speech, his voice now booming with fire and charisma.
“We shall show them the error of their faith! We will be the ones to reveal the machines cowardice and show them the truth of this universe! In light there is weakness, there is pain and death.” He paused, letting the cheers and applause across the fleet build up to a fever pitch.
“But in Darkness, there is Strength! There is Power! There is Salvation! Let us show them what a true gods power looks like” he punctuated his speech by activating the new Stasis powered Drive propelling them forward into darkness and towards revenge.
Or so they thought.
Cyrell looked around at the tiny village around him taking in the strange and quaint visage. The thatched roofs and groups on multicolored ponies were like something from a Golden Age fairytale, like the ones from the old archives. He stood out rather obviously, and thought how easily a panic might have overcome the small little town had he not been accompanied by the two princesses and their entourage.
He glanced back to a trio of mares that had fallen unconscious near a cute little flower stand, mumblings of nonsense ambling in the air as a group of ponies helped them recover from their little panic attack. So perhaps they hadn’t avoided ANY panic but three mares out of at least a few hundred wasn’t so bad he supposed.
His ship rested off in the distance, in a lot that was adjacent to the large crystal castle he stood at the entrance of. Foals had cautiously approached it, daring one another to try and touch it and prove their bravery. It reminded him of the times he would go into the city and run into the little gangs of children as they stared slack-jawed at the massive Titan before them. It was a comforting familiarity that helped him to miss home just a little less. But only just.
“Y’all sure do like playing up the strong silent act dont’cha” inquired the melodic twang of Applejack, as she slowly made her way next to him, sitting on her haunches watching the foals trying to one up each other. She turned her brilliant green eyes towards him, shades from the afternoon sun by her wide brimmed hat.
“That thang ain’t gonna up and spook’em right “ she questions, eyes narrowing slightly. Cyrell chuckled and shook his head, he had made sure the ship was locked tight and wouldn’t let the little ones get into anything dangerous or important. Applejack smiled back, giving the Titan a playful punch to his armoured leg.
The two stood in silence as they watched the town slowly acclimate to his presence, the others having gone inside the castle to prepare for the trip to Canterlot or to their respective homes. Finally Cyrell spoke after what felt like hours.
“This is what I love about my home, seeing the people live in peace and without fear…” silence resumed as he took in everything as much as he could, from the smiles and laughter to the distant sounds of neighbors chatting and songs being sung. “I hope one day it will be like this for a long time, once all the threats on our doorstep have. Even dealt with.” He said with finality.
Applejack slowly reached around the towering warrior, bringing him into a small hug as they watched life run its course around them. She had often worried about little Applebloom and what may happen if she and the girls didn’t stop the various baddies that had tried to bring Equestria to its knees. Wondered what might happen to her or Big Mac if they failed, and it dawned on her just how tired the Titan sounded. So they stayed there in quiet, but comfortable silence and watched the peaceful everyday lives of the ponies of Ponyville play out.
It served as a remainder to both what they were fighting to preserve, and what one of them desperately wished to return to.