CHAPTER EIGHT
Once upon a time, what was now known as the Forgotten Shores had been a small harbor, used by the Russian Federal Bureau of Aeronautics to supply the various Skywatch complexes that maintained contact with the offworld colonies. Now, it was nothing more than a collection of rusted hulks that had washed ashore, along with the remains of an old administration building that seemed to be racing the hillside underneath it to see which of them could collapse faster. It had little left of real interest, making it the perfect location to come ashore unnoticed, then follow a small stream south to the Mothyards.
That plan, simple as it was, didn’t even last until we landed. We were just close enough to start making out details along the shoreline when Ghost twitched back in alarm. “Guardian, I think I’m detecting a firefight,” she reported, floating down closer to the controls. “Yes, there’s a lot of Arc energy events. I think it’s the Fallen.”
“Any idea who they’re shooting at?” I asked, hoping that maybe, just maybe, we could fly back out to sea and not get involved.
“I’m not sure.. Aha! Just picked up a void energy pulse, looks like a Vortex grenade going off. There’s a Warlock down there.”
Taking a breath, I summoned my helmet out of storage, transmatting it straight onto my head. A simple convenience I was beginning to suspect I’d be using a lot. “Alright, find somewhere to drop us off. If we can trap them between us and the Warlock, even better.” Sighing, I readied my gun. “I was hoping to go at least a day before killing someone.”
“Or getting killed ourselves,” Ghost added.
“You’re not helping.”
Whatever my opinion of her humor might be, her piloting was perfect. We came in low and fast, swinging around over the remains of a boat that had broken in half, before passing over a tugboat at the bottom of the hill. I had just enough time to catch sight of Arc bolts flickering towards the administration building, and then I felt the sudden chill of the transmat, followed a moment later by the impact of my boots hitting the dirt.
“Ship AI has the controls,” Ghost said, even as the jumpship banked hard left and headed back out over the sea. I didn’t really pay much attention, moving to the edge of the boat and leaning out, rifle raised and ready. I saw the Fallen easily enough, most of them firing at either the administration building, or the rapidly vanishing form of my jumpship. Dregs mostly, although I could see the distinctive shapes of a few Vandals among the pack. Before any of them turned their attention towards me, I raised my rifle and took aim at the nearest Vandal.
Banshee had said the rifle he’d given me was a marksman's weapon. As that first Vandal fell, that strange milky white light Ghost had called Ether leaking from where his head had been, it was clear the Exo knew what he was talking about.
While my arrival might have caused some confusion, it certainly didn’t take whoever was in charge long to get their minions in order. About half of them continued to focus their attention on the building above us, while the rest made their way down the hill towards me. And they were fast. Faster than I’d expected, after the ones I’d fought the previous day. It took two missed shots before I stopped trying to be fancy and take their heads off, and went for the center of mass like one should.
A Dreg fell, screaming as it rolled down the slope. Concrete shattered next to a Vandal as it vanished from my sight. Ducking back behind my cover, I barely avoided an Arc bolt taking my head off. The motion sensor in my helmets HUD flashed red, and I looked up to see a rather fast Dreg scrambling over the top of the tugboats cabin. His flanking maneuver came to a sudden and violent end, before I made my way towards the other end of the boat. With a thought, the Light raced through me, brilliant, burning confidence gathering in the palm of my hand. Stepping into the open, I threw the incendiary grenade, sending it bouncing up the hill into the pack. The explosion briefly drowned out the sound of gunfire from further up the hill, but it wasn’t in time to spare me the sudden pain of a wire rifle bolt burning across my left thigh.
Gasping in pain, I stumbled forward, turning it into something of a roll that let me reach another rock and take cover. This time, I could feel the Light within me, gathering in my leg and dulling the pain. Waiting a moment, I leaned out, chose another Dreg, and clipped it in the shoulder before ducking back. Then, confident my leg could handle it, I went on the offensive again, climbing up and over the rock, firing at the first thing I saw.
The Fallen tried to regroup, but that was when the Guardian at the top of the hill decided to follow my example, emerging from cover and going on the offensive. Her auto rifle stuttered, scattering bullets across the hill and taking out two more Dregs. The shifting action pulled my attention away from her, but I could still feel it as the Light flowed around her. When I called upon it, it was like fire. Passionate, seemingly unstoppable, flowing into the world as I willed.
This was very different. It was cold, almost angry, and it felt like it had to be dragged into the world, almost against its will. Then, while I was dealing with a Vandal that had decided to try retreating to a safe distance and sniping us while we were distracted, that power passed the point of no return, and the world seemed to explode in a storm of purple energy, washing out over the hillside and everything on it. It only lasted a moment, before the Void energy faded away to wherever it had come from, and the other Guardian and I were the only ones left alive on the hillside. A hillside, I realized after a moment, that had less Fallen corpses than it should have. The rest were gone, wisps of the Void blowing away with the wind as I watched. Shuddering at the implications of that, I took a breath and made one more sweep of the area.
Satisfied nothing else was going to jump out and try to kill us, I turned my attention towards the Guardian. Noticing my attention, she waved slightly, before lowering her rifle and leaning back against a fragment of wall, shoulders slumped. “You alright?” I asked, moving closer.
She looked up at me, her face hidden behind the large, dark face-plate that seemed to be common in the curved helmets popular with Warlocks. “I. Yes. Sorry. It’s just, before you got here, they managed to kill me. Twice.” She shrugged, still taking deep breaths. “I’m not really used to that just yet.” Maybe a Guardian that had been doing this sort of thing for more than a day would have some idea of the right response. All I could manage was a weak nod. As the silence lingered, I took the opportunity to take a closer look at the other woman. After a moment, I realized that there was a very good chance she was as new to the entire ‘reincarnated warriors of the Traveler’ as I was. The rifle she was holding was as simple and bland as mine, and the only touch of individuality in her clothes was the light blue tunic she wore over her bodysuit.
Eventually, time and our situation overcame my unease, and I placed a hand on her shoulder. “We should probably put some distance between these guys and us,” I commented, nodding towards one of the Dregs. Glancing over at it, she nodded in agreement, standing up straighter and taking a breath. “I’m heading south, towards an old airport graveyard. What about you?”
“Ah yes, the Mothyards. I’m going in the same direction, actually.” She sounded much calmer now, as she reloaded her rifle, an act that reminded me to do the same thing. “I heard some interesting rumors about the Lunar Complex not far from there, so I decided to investigate.” She sighed, shaking her head in frustration. “My first time out of the City since I reached it, and I have the misfortune of encountering the Eliksni almost as soon as I make landfall.”
Making my way down the hill, I frowned slightly. “Eliksni?” I whispered.
“It’s what the Fallen call themselves,” Ghost replied.
“Well, that makes sense,” I muttered. If nothing else, I doubted aliens would use a human word to describe themselves, much less one with the sort of implications ‘Fallen’ implied. “Well, if we’re both going the same way,” I continued in a louder voice, “I don’t suppose you’d complain if we backed each other up?”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” she said as she followed me down the hillside. “Even without the concern of more combat, I have to admit it would be rather welcome to have someone to talk to.” Giggling softly, she shook her head. “I do love my Ghost, but he isn’t really a conversational type.” Appearing next to her for a moment, the drone in question gave her a mild glare before vanishing again.
Chuckling, I held out a hand. “I’m Rose, by the way.”
“Eliza-4,” she replied, returning the handshake.
***
We managed to leave the Forgotten Shores without further incident. According to Eliza, the Fallen pack she’d had the misfortune to run into had come from the east, following the shoreline. We made our way south, away from that potential problem, past the rusted corpses of long forgotten boats, and into a gully that had formed around a small river whose name was lost to history. Once, the river had been much larger, likely taking up most of the gully. The industrial developments in the area had clearly cut off most of the water supply, leaving only a shallow stream that barely looked deep enough to reach our knees. Of course, considering this made it possible for us to follow the river safely, I certainly wasn’t going to complain. “So, what’re you looking for in the Lunar Complex anyway?” I asked as we started making our way upstream.
“I’m hoping to use the communications systems there to make contact with certain orbital facilities,” Eliza replied. “At the height of the Golden Age, there was a vast network of satellites and probes in the region of space surrounding Earth. Their purposes varied. Communication, navigation, military… Supposedly, there were even automated vessels dedicated to sweeping the region for any loose material that might pose a safety hazard.” Pausing in her explanation, she turned to check behind us. “Almost all of that network was destroyed in the Collapse, but some fragments survived.”
Thinking back to the brief history lesson Rebecca and Ghost had given me the night before, I nodded. “Right. The City tends to keep a look out for that sort of thing. If it’s completely broken, they salvage it, if it still works, they re-purpose it?”
Ghost appeared above my shoulder, nodding. “When people say the Golden Age was an era of wonders, they weren’t kidding. Even a mostly broken Golden Age system defense platform is way beyond anything the City could hope to create.” Turning, she gave Eliza a thoughtful look. “So, what was it in particular you were trying to contact?”
“My mentor has found a number of references to a system of satellites in lunar orbit, put in place by the Russian Federal Bureau of Aeronautics. He believes that their purpose was to perform covert surveillance on surface facilities operated by rival nations.” She waved a hand in what I assumed was the general direction of the Lunar Complex. “If any part of the network remains functional, this would be the most logical location to make contact from.”
“I’ve heard a bit about the moon since I came back,” I said, pausing to look up at the sky. “After the Collapse, it was taken over by, what’d you call them, the Hive? Death worshiping alien monsters?” Ghost nodded, and I sighed as I started walking again. “Yeah, because the Fallen weren’t unpleasant enough… Apparently the City tried to take it back once. Once.” Remembering the look on Rebecca's face when she’d told me about it, I had to suppress a shiver. “They call it the Great Disaster.”
“And ever since that day, the Vanguard have listed the moon as a Restricted Zone,” Eliza said, her voice barely above a whisper. “While Guardians are free to travel there, they have no support or assistance from the City. And while the official records of Guardians lost on lunar expeditions is thus very incomplete…” She paused, then shrugged as I looked over at her. “Well, very few make it back to Earth.”
“Yeah. Anything that helps there, that’s… yeah.” Sighing, I rubbed at the back of my neck, looking up at the sky again. At this time of day, there was no sign of the moon, but I still glared in the general direction regardless. “Christ, what a time to be reborn in,” I muttered, getting a laugh from Eliza. “Oh don’t pretend you haven’t thought the exact same thing.”
Still laughing, she knelt down to pick up a small rock. “At least once a day since my Ghost found me,” she said, standing up and throwing the rock at the water. It was a decent shot, skimming across the surface three times before sinking, and she nodded in mild approval. “Usually while witnessing my fellow Guardians doing something of questionable sanity.”
I couldn’t help but groan in understanding, even as I knelt down to pick up a rock of my own. “Oh my god, I know, right? I’m actually a little worried if immortality does something to your mind.” Turning the rock over in my hand, I noted it was smooth enough for my needs, and sent it skimming across the water with a flick of my wrist. It did better than Eliza’s shot, managing to skip five times before dropping under the surface, and I grinned with mild triumph. “I mean, Cayde says it was a method of stress relief so they take it seriously when they have to, but competitive Tower jumping just seems like a bad idea all around.”
My comment drew a snort from the other woman, the sort that had the shoulders and chest jump slightly. “I’ve seen worse. The university I’m attending has a department dedicated to Thanatonautics. The art of exploring beyond the boundaries of death, seeking memories and knowledge of past lives.” Her voice was incredibly flat, and not for the first time, I wished our helmets let us see each others faces. “The job involves a handgun, your Ghost, and a notepad to write down what you saw.”
With a flicker of light, her Ghost appeared next to her, staring at us. “She’s not exaggerating,” he commented. “By the way. They like hiring new Guardians.” He vanished again before we could reply.
Ghost and I looked at each other. She spoke first, the tone of her voice suggesting she’d heard of the concept before, but still didn’t like to think about it too much. “I don’t care what they’re paying, or how desperate for glimmer we get. I really don’t want to take the offer.”
“Yeah, I think you’re safe there…” Groaning, I shook my head and started walking again. “Yeah. I’m really hoping that kind of Crazy isn’t contagious.” Laughing softly, Eliza followed us along the riverside.
***
Following the river to the end of the gully only took us about half an hour, and thankfully the trip was uneventful. If the Fallen had found the patrol we’d killed, they either hadn’t found our trail, or simply hadn’t caught up to us yet. It was rather peaceful actually, especially since the sides of the gully hid the rest of the Cosmodrome from sight. For a little while, I could try and ignore the armour we wore, the guns we carried, and just enjoy being out in the countryside.
Eventually though, as we made our way around a bend, we saw the gully open up before us. In the distance, we could see the massive Cosmodrome wall, standing battered but still unbroken. On our right was the hillside the river originated from, an old road curving up its steep slope to the Skywatch facilities at the top. Even from this angle, we could see the massive satellite dish that sat on top of the main Lunar Complex building, still looking remarkably intact. With a little luck, it might even still be able to connect to the satellites Eliza-4 was seeking.
And to the left, I could see my destination, the Mothyards. The remains of dozens of airplanes, some of them dating back to before the Golden Age, cut up into pieces and left to rust in a rocky field. From what Ghost had been able to find in the historical databases, this aircraft graveyard had once been much larger, spreading over the Steppes to the east, along with the region now claimed by the Skywatch. When the Cosmodrome had expanded to meet the demands of the colony ships, the graveyard had slowly shrunk, the wrecks removed to make space as needed. Now, there was only this one tiny patch of scrap left, a monument to a long gone age of aviation, surrounded by the ruins of the civilisation they helped build. There was something incredibly depressing about the whole thing. Pushing that thought aside, I tried to focus on the present, turning to where Ghost was floating. “So, this transmat relay Cayde wants us to fix. Where exactly is it?” Her panels rotated in thought, before she vanished, and a small diamond appeared on my visors HUD. Looking in the direction it indicated, I couldn’t help but sigh. “On the other side of the Mothyards.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Eliza said, turning away from where she’d been studying the Lunar Complex. “I had hoped we would not need to make such a detour. And I’m not exactly eager about moving through somewhere so… cluttered.”
Considering that, I looked over the Mothyards with a more paranoid eye. The maze of plane wrecks and storage crates took on a much more worrying appearance as I thought about what could be hiding in there. “That’s a fair point.” Rubbing at the back of my neck, I glanced over at her. “You still sure we should do it first?”
Not looking away from the mess ahead of us, Eliza nodded. “Reestablishing the local transmat networks connection to the City first is the logical option.” She gestured at the hill and the buildings at its peak. “Besides, I doubt my goal will be any safer.”
“This isn’t the safest job out there, is it?” I said, earning a soft laugh from the other woman. “Okay then, transmat it is.” Leaving the gully behind, we made our way into the Mothyards, maneuvering around the scrap as best we could. There was actually a lot more of it than we’d realized, with all sorts of things hidden in the long grass. Steel panels, fencing wire, entire seats that looked like they’d come out of a passenger plane, the list went on.
Glancing up into an opening on the side of an old cargo plane, I grinned at the sight of a black kite perched up there, watching the two of us with the kind of cautious curiosity one would expect from an animal that didn’t see humans often. “Well, if nothing else, at least this place isn’t going entirely to waste,” Ghost commented.
“First rule of the animal kingdom,” I replied. “Life can survive damn near anywhere.” After watching us for a moment longer, the kite seemed to conclude we either weren’t a threat, or simply weren’t interesting enough, and took to the sky again. As I watched it fly away, I wondered how many other species had survived the Collapse. Were there still bears and wolves out there in the wild, continuing on as they always had, now humans weren’t there to make more problems for them? And what about domesticated species, like cats and dogs? Not to mention things like sheep and cows, which we’d bred to be dependent on humans for survival. What had happened to them?
Questions for later, I decided, before moving to catch up to Eliza, who was carefully checking a path that led through a fragment of a passenger liner. I hesitated for a moment, half expecting to see the remains of long dead passengers inside, before the sight of empty seats reminded me that this was a scrapyard, not a crash site.
“No sign of trouble so far,” she said.
“Don’t jinx us,” I muttered.
“I think I already did that.” I couldn’t help but grin, feeling just a little bit silly. Really, if we looked at it logically, there was no real reason to be as paranoid for trouble as we were right now. It wasn’t like our situation had drastically changed from a few minutes ago, but here we were, trying to stick to the shadows and checking every corner. Just because our surroundings looked a little different.
That still didn’t stop me from keeping a careful eye on my motion sensor, just in case.
Eventually, as we passed the remains of a small, single seat plane that had been abandoned at the edge of the field, I caught sight of the destination Ghost had given me. Coming to a halt next to the planes ruined propeller blades, I took a moment to consider the tiny shack perched on the top of a hill, half its tin walls missing. “Well, that’s not a good sign. God only knows how long it’s been exposed to the elements.”
“It might not be that bad,” Ghost said. “Most of the transmat network is actually deep underground. This is just an access point.” She appeared next to me as I stepped through one of the gaps in the wall, running her scanners over the collection of rusted pipes and fuse boxes, before coming to a stop in front of one of the boxes. “This one here.” Slinging my rifle on my back, I drew a knife from my belt, then stepped around Ghost and slid it into the shackle of the padlock. With a thought, Solar Light flowed into the blade, and it sliced through the old metal instantly.
Unhooking the remains of the lock, I flipped the latch and opened the door. I then promptly swore and pulled my hand back, as what seemed like several thousand spiders started scurrying around, clearly furious at my intrusion into their lair. Behind me, Ghost managed some sort of strangled yelp, and by the time I turned to check on her, she was on the other side of the shack, hiding behind Eliza. “Really? I’m the one that needs to worry about getting bitten!”
“It’s not about the biting,” Ghost replied, outer panels spinning around. “I’ve got moving parts. Exposed moving parts. Do you know what happens when bugs get in there? They get stuck, then they get crushed, and then you’ve got dead insects stuck inside you, going rotten, and you can’t get them out…” She visibly shuddered, and I nodded, conceding the point.
“Okay, I’ll allow it.” Laughing, I channeled more Solar Light into the knife, watching flames ignite from nothing along the edge of the the blade, before waving it over the cobwebs filling the fuse box. After a minute or so, it was clear enough that Ghost was willing to move in for a closer look. Eliza’s Ghost joined her, and I stepped back to let the pair work. As the pair floated around the circuit boards and fuses, scanner lights and repair lasers flickering, I glanced over at Eliza-4, noticing she was still standing just outside the building. “You’re not afraid of bugs too, are you?” I asked the exo.
“Well, I would argue that afraid is too strong a term. Uncomfortable might be more accurate.” I tilted my head to the side, and she giggled lightly. “I have seams and joints, much like our Ghosts,” she noted. “The thought of organic matter being trapped in there is…” When her voice trailed off, I expected a comedic shudder of some sort. Instead, she walked through the shack, coming to a stop by a hole in the far wall. “I think I saw something.”
Standing next to her, I looked out over the landscape to the east. The view wasn’t that different from anything I’d seen before. A river to the south east, wide than the one we’d followed earlier, hills, old abandoned buildings, and the Wall in the distance. Then, it looked like a part of the Wall changed color, becoming a familiar ugly brown. “Fallen Skiff,” I muttered. I’d been told about the small craft that made up most of the Fallen fleet. A combination of gunboat and transport, they usually hid behind stealth fields, only emerging to attack or drop off troops or equipment. “Before we left the City, the updates we got said those were mostly appearing around the Rocketyards. Nowhere near this far west.”
Eliza nodded, even as we watched the tiny brown blur of another Skiff appear. “Indeed. And considering that pack I was unfortunate enough to encounter earlier, it would appear they’re spreading out across the Cosmodrome rather quickly.” Tapping her fingers against the side of her helmet, she considered the matter, then nodded again. “I think we should take a closer look.”
Turning towards her, I waved a hand in the direction of the Lunar Complex. “If we do, we probably won’t have time to make it back to the reason you came out here before it gets dark,” I pointed out.
“True, but it isn’t going anywhere. They are.”
Thinking it over, I turned to where our Ghosts were still working on the fuse box. “What about you two?”
“Troop movements. Always a priority,” Elizas Ghost said as he manipulated a piece of Glimmer floating in front of him, transmuting it from its usual crystal form into a long, thin cable that vanished with the flicker of transmat.
“And once we get this working, we should be able to get a stable comm link to our ships and the City,” my Ghost added as she ran her scanner lights over the fuses again. “So if it’s too big for us, we can kick it upstairs and the Vanguard can throw someone heavier at it.”
Tossing my knife up into the air, I watched it spin, then caught it and put it back in its sheathe. “So we’re all in agreement. East it is.”
***
Once upon a time, what was now known as the Forgotten Shores had been a small harbor, used by the Russian Federal Bureau of Aeronautics to supply the various Skywatch complexes that maintained contact with the offworld colonies. Now, it was nothing more than a collection of rusted hulks that had washed ashore, along with the remains of an old administration building that seemed to be racing the hillside underneath it to see which of them could collapse faster. It had little left of real interest, making it the perfect location to come ashore unnoticed, then follow a small stream south to the Mothyards.
That plan, simple as it was, didn’t even last until we landed. We were just close enough to start making out details along the shoreline when Ghost twitched back in alarm. “Guardian, I think I’m detecting a firefight,” she reported, floating down closer to the controls. “Yes, there’s a lot of Arc energy events. I think it’s the Fallen.”
“Any idea who they’re shooting at?” I asked, hoping that maybe, just maybe, we could fly back out to sea and not get involved.
“I’m not sure.. Aha! Just picked up a void energy pulse, looks like a Vortex grenade going off. There’s a Warlock down there.”
Taking a breath, I summoned my helmet out of storage, transmatting it straight onto my head. A simple convenience I was beginning to suspect I’d be using a lot. “Alright, find somewhere to drop us off. If we can trap them between us and the Warlock, even better.” Sighing, I readied my gun. “I was hoping to go at least a day before killing someone.”
“Or getting killed ourselves,” Ghost added.
“You’re not helping.”
Whatever my opinion of her humor might be, her piloting was perfect. We came in low and fast, swinging around over the remains of a boat that had broken in half, before passing over a tugboat at the bottom of the hill. I had just enough time to catch sight of Arc bolts flickering towards the administration building, and then I felt the sudden chill of the transmat, followed a moment later by the impact of my boots hitting the dirt.
“Ship AI has the controls,” Ghost said, even as the jumpship banked hard left and headed back out over the sea. I didn’t really pay much attention, moving to the edge of the boat and leaning out, rifle raised and ready. I saw the Fallen easily enough, most of them firing at either the administration building, or the rapidly vanishing form of my jumpship. Dregs mostly, although I could see the distinctive shapes of a few Vandals among the pack. Before any of them turned their attention towards me, I raised my rifle and took aim at the nearest Vandal.
Banshee had said the rifle he’d given me was a marksman's weapon. As that first Vandal fell, that strange milky white light Ghost had called Ether leaking from where his head had been, it was clear the Exo knew what he was talking about.
While my arrival might have caused some confusion, it certainly didn’t take whoever was in charge long to get their minions in order. About half of them continued to focus their attention on the building above us, while the rest made their way down the hill towards me. And they were fast. Faster than I’d expected, after the ones I’d fought the previous day. It took two missed shots before I stopped trying to be fancy and take their heads off, and went for the center of mass like one should.
A Dreg fell, screaming as it rolled down the slope. Concrete shattered next to a Vandal as it vanished from my sight. Ducking back behind my cover, I barely avoided an Arc bolt taking my head off. The motion sensor in my helmets HUD flashed red, and I looked up to see a rather fast Dreg scrambling over the top of the tugboats cabin. His flanking maneuver came to a sudden and violent end, before I made my way towards the other end of the boat. With a thought, the Light raced through me, brilliant, burning confidence gathering in the palm of my hand. Stepping into the open, I threw the incendiary grenade, sending it bouncing up the hill into the pack. The explosion briefly drowned out the sound of gunfire from further up the hill, but it wasn’t in time to spare me the sudden pain of a wire rifle bolt burning across my left thigh.
Gasping in pain, I stumbled forward, turning it into something of a roll that let me reach another rock and take cover. This time, I could feel the Light within me, gathering in my leg and dulling the pain. Waiting a moment, I leaned out, chose another Dreg, and clipped it in the shoulder before ducking back. Then, confident my leg could handle it, I went on the offensive again, climbing up and over the rock, firing at the first thing I saw.
The Fallen tried to regroup, but that was when the Guardian at the top of the hill decided to follow my example, emerging from cover and going on the offensive. Her auto rifle stuttered, scattering bullets across the hill and taking out two more Dregs. The shifting action pulled my attention away from her, but I could still feel it as the Light flowed around her. When I called upon it, it was like fire. Passionate, seemingly unstoppable, flowing into the world as I willed.
This was very different. It was cold, almost angry, and it felt like it had to be dragged into the world, almost against its will. Then, while I was dealing with a Vandal that had decided to try retreating to a safe distance and sniping us while we were distracted, that power passed the point of no return, and the world seemed to explode in a storm of purple energy, washing out over the hillside and everything on it. It only lasted a moment, before the Void energy faded away to wherever it had come from, and the other Guardian and I were the only ones left alive on the hillside. A hillside, I realized after a moment, that had less Fallen corpses than it should have. The rest were gone, wisps of the Void blowing away with the wind as I watched. Shuddering at the implications of that, I took a breath and made one more sweep of the area.
Satisfied nothing else was going to jump out and try to kill us, I turned my attention towards the Guardian. Noticing my attention, she waved slightly, before lowering her rifle and leaning back against a fragment of wall, shoulders slumped. “You alright?” I asked, moving closer.
She looked up at me, her face hidden behind the large, dark face-plate that seemed to be common in the curved helmets popular with Warlocks. “I. Yes. Sorry. It’s just, before you got here, they managed to kill me. Twice.” She shrugged, still taking deep breaths. “I’m not really used to that just yet.” Maybe a Guardian that had been doing this sort of thing for more than a day would have some idea of the right response. All I could manage was a weak nod. As the silence lingered, I took the opportunity to take a closer look at the other woman. After a moment, I realized that there was a very good chance she was as new to the entire ‘reincarnated warriors of the Traveler’ as I was. The rifle she was holding was as simple and bland as mine, and the only touch of individuality in her clothes was the light blue tunic she wore over her bodysuit.
Eventually, time and our situation overcame my unease, and I placed a hand on her shoulder. “We should probably put some distance between these guys and us,” I commented, nodding towards one of the Dregs. Glancing over at it, she nodded in agreement, standing up straighter and taking a breath. “I’m heading south, towards an old airport graveyard. What about you?”
“Ah yes, the Mothyards. I’m going in the same direction, actually.” She sounded much calmer now, as she reloaded her rifle, an act that reminded me to do the same thing. “I heard some interesting rumors about the Lunar Complex not far from there, so I decided to investigate.” She sighed, shaking her head in frustration. “My first time out of the City since I reached it, and I have the misfortune of encountering the Eliksni almost as soon as I make landfall.”
Making my way down the hill, I frowned slightly. “Eliksni?” I whispered.
“It’s what the Fallen call themselves,” Ghost replied.
“Well, that makes sense,” I muttered. If nothing else, I doubted aliens would use a human word to describe themselves, much less one with the sort of implications ‘Fallen’ implied. “Well, if we’re both going the same way,” I continued in a louder voice, “I don’t suppose you’d complain if we backed each other up?”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” she said as she followed me down the hillside. “Even without the concern of more combat, I have to admit it would be rather welcome to have someone to talk to.” Giggling softly, she shook her head. “I do love my Ghost, but he isn’t really a conversational type.” Appearing next to her for a moment, the drone in question gave her a mild glare before vanishing again.
Chuckling, I held out a hand. “I’m Rose, by the way.”
“Eliza-4,” she replied, returning the handshake.
***
We managed to leave the Forgotten Shores without further incident. According to Eliza, the Fallen pack she’d had the misfortune to run into had come from the east, following the shoreline. We made our way south, away from that potential problem, past the rusted corpses of long forgotten boats, and into a gully that had formed around a small river whose name was lost to history. Once, the river had been much larger, likely taking up most of the gully. The industrial developments in the area had clearly cut off most of the water supply, leaving only a shallow stream that barely looked deep enough to reach our knees. Of course, considering this made it possible for us to follow the river safely, I certainly wasn’t going to complain. “So, what’re you looking for in the Lunar Complex anyway?” I asked as we started making our way upstream.
“I’m hoping to use the communications systems there to make contact with certain orbital facilities,” Eliza replied. “At the height of the Golden Age, there was a vast network of satellites and probes in the region of space surrounding Earth. Their purposes varied. Communication, navigation, military… Supposedly, there were even automated vessels dedicated to sweeping the region for any loose material that might pose a safety hazard.” Pausing in her explanation, she turned to check behind us. “Almost all of that network was destroyed in the Collapse, but some fragments survived.”
Thinking back to the brief history lesson Rebecca and Ghost had given me the night before, I nodded. “Right. The City tends to keep a look out for that sort of thing. If it’s completely broken, they salvage it, if it still works, they re-purpose it?”
Ghost appeared above my shoulder, nodding. “When people say the Golden Age was an era of wonders, they weren’t kidding. Even a mostly broken Golden Age system defense platform is way beyond anything the City could hope to create.” Turning, she gave Eliza a thoughtful look. “So, what was it in particular you were trying to contact?”
“My mentor has found a number of references to a system of satellites in lunar orbit, put in place by the Russian Federal Bureau of Aeronautics. He believes that their purpose was to perform covert surveillance on surface facilities operated by rival nations.” She waved a hand in what I assumed was the general direction of the Lunar Complex. “If any part of the network remains functional, this would be the most logical location to make contact from.”
“I’ve heard a bit about the moon since I came back,” I said, pausing to look up at the sky. “After the Collapse, it was taken over by, what’d you call them, the Hive? Death worshiping alien monsters?” Ghost nodded, and I sighed as I started walking again. “Yeah, because the Fallen weren’t unpleasant enough… Apparently the City tried to take it back once. Once.” Remembering the look on Rebecca's face when she’d told me about it, I had to suppress a shiver. “They call it the Great Disaster.”
“And ever since that day, the Vanguard have listed the moon as a Restricted Zone,” Eliza said, her voice barely above a whisper. “While Guardians are free to travel there, they have no support or assistance from the City. And while the official records of Guardians lost on lunar expeditions is thus very incomplete…” She paused, then shrugged as I looked over at her. “Well, very few make it back to Earth.”
“Yeah. Anything that helps there, that’s… yeah.” Sighing, I rubbed at the back of my neck, looking up at the sky again. At this time of day, there was no sign of the moon, but I still glared in the general direction regardless. “Christ, what a time to be reborn in,” I muttered, getting a laugh from Eliza. “Oh don’t pretend you haven’t thought the exact same thing.”
Still laughing, she knelt down to pick up a small rock. “At least once a day since my Ghost found me,” she said, standing up and throwing the rock at the water. It was a decent shot, skimming across the surface three times before sinking, and she nodded in mild approval. “Usually while witnessing my fellow Guardians doing something of questionable sanity.”
I couldn’t help but groan in understanding, even as I knelt down to pick up a rock of my own. “Oh my god, I know, right? I’m actually a little worried if immortality does something to your mind.” Turning the rock over in my hand, I noted it was smooth enough for my needs, and sent it skimming across the water with a flick of my wrist. It did better than Eliza’s shot, managing to skip five times before dropping under the surface, and I grinned with mild triumph. “I mean, Cayde says it was a method of stress relief so they take it seriously when they have to, but competitive Tower jumping just seems like a bad idea all around.”
My comment drew a snort from the other woman, the sort that had the shoulders and chest jump slightly. “I’ve seen worse. The university I’m attending has a department dedicated to Thanatonautics. The art of exploring beyond the boundaries of death, seeking memories and knowledge of past lives.” Her voice was incredibly flat, and not for the first time, I wished our helmets let us see each others faces. “The job involves a handgun, your Ghost, and a notepad to write down what you saw.”
With a flicker of light, her Ghost appeared next to her, staring at us. “She’s not exaggerating,” he commented. “By the way. They like hiring new Guardians.” He vanished again before we could reply.
Ghost and I looked at each other. She spoke first, the tone of her voice suggesting she’d heard of the concept before, but still didn’t like to think about it too much. “I don’t care what they’re paying, or how desperate for glimmer we get. I really don’t want to take the offer.”
“Yeah, I think you’re safe there…” Groaning, I shook my head and started walking again. “Yeah. I’m really hoping that kind of Crazy isn’t contagious.” Laughing softly, Eliza followed us along the riverside.
***
Following the river to the end of the gully only took us about half an hour, and thankfully the trip was uneventful. If the Fallen had found the patrol we’d killed, they either hadn’t found our trail, or simply hadn’t caught up to us yet. It was rather peaceful actually, especially since the sides of the gully hid the rest of the Cosmodrome from sight. For a little while, I could try and ignore the armour we wore, the guns we carried, and just enjoy being out in the countryside.
Eventually though, as we made our way around a bend, we saw the gully open up before us. In the distance, we could see the massive Cosmodrome wall, standing battered but still unbroken. On our right was the hillside the river originated from, an old road curving up its steep slope to the Skywatch facilities at the top. Even from this angle, we could see the massive satellite dish that sat on top of the main Lunar Complex building, still looking remarkably intact. With a little luck, it might even still be able to connect to the satellites Eliza-4 was seeking.
And to the left, I could see my destination, the Mothyards. The remains of dozens of airplanes, some of them dating back to before the Golden Age, cut up into pieces and left to rust in a rocky field. From what Ghost had been able to find in the historical databases, this aircraft graveyard had once been much larger, spreading over the Steppes to the east, along with the region now claimed by the Skywatch. When the Cosmodrome had expanded to meet the demands of the colony ships, the graveyard had slowly shrunk, the wrecks removed to make space as needed. Now, there was only this one tiny patch of scrap left, a monument to a long gone age of aviation, surrounded by the ruins of the civilisation they helped build. There was something incredibly depressing about the whole thing. Pushing that thought aside, I tried to focus on the present, turning to where Ghost was floating. “So, this transmat relay Cayde wants us to fix. Where exactly is it?” Her panels rotated in thought, before she vanished, and a small diamond appeared on my visors HUD. Looking in the direction it indicated, I couldn’t help but sigh. “On the other side of the Mothyards.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Eliza said, turning away from where she’d been studying the Lunar Complex. “I had hoped we would not need to make such a detour. And I’m not exactly eager about moving through somewhere so… cluttered.”
Considering that, I looked over the Mothyards with a more paranoid eye. The maze of plane wrecks and storage crates took on a much more worrying appearance as I thought about what could be hiding in there. “That’s a fair point.” Rubbing at the back of my neck, I glanced over at her. “You still sure we should do it first?”
Not looking away from the mess ahead of us, Eliza nodded. “Reestablishing the local transmat networks connection to the City first is the logical option.” She gestured at the hill and the buildings at its peak. “Besides, I doubt my goal will be any safer.”
“This isn’t the safest job out there, is it?” I said, earning a soft laugh from the other woman. “Okay then, transmat it is.” Leaving the gully behind, we made our way into the Mothyards, maneuvering around the scrap as best we could. There was actually a lot more of it than we’d realized, with all sorts of things hidden in the long grass. Steel panels, fencing wire, entire seats that looked like they’d come out of a passenger plane, the list went on.
Glancing up into an opening on the side of an old cargo plane, I grinned at the sight of a black kite perched up there, watching the two of us with the kind of cautious curiosity one would expect from an animal that didn’t see humans often. “Well, if nothing else, at least this place isn’t going entirely to waste,” Ghost commented.
“First rule of the animal kingdom,” I replied. “Life can survive damn near anywhere.” After watching us for a moment longer, the kite seemed to conclude we either weren’t a threat, or simply weren’t interesting enough, and took to the sky again. As I watched it fly away, I wondered how many other species had survived the Collapse. Were there still bears and wolves out there in the wild, continuing on as they always had, now humans weren’t there to make more problems for them? And what about domesticated species, like cats and dogs? Not to mention things like sheep and cows, which we’d bred to be dependent on humans for survival. What had happened to them?
Questions for later, I decided, before moving to catch up to Eliza, who was carefully checking a path that led through a fragment of a passenger liner. I hesitated for a moment, half expecting to see the remains of long dead passengers inside, before the sight of empty seats reminded me that this was a scrapyard, not a crash site.
“No sign of trouble so far,” she said.
“Don’t jinx us,” I muttered.
“I think I already did that.” I couldn’t help but grin, feeling just a little bit silly. Really, if we looked at it logically, there was no real reason to be as paranoid for trouble as we were right now. It wasn’t like our situation had drastically changed from a few minutes ago, but here we were, trying to stick to the shadows and checking every corner. Just because our surroundings looked a little different.
That still didn’t stop me from keeping a careful eye on my motion sensor, just in case.
Eventually, as we passed the remains of a small, single seat plane that had been abandoned at the edge of the field, I caught sight of the destination Ghost had given me. Coming to a halt next to the planes ruined propeller blades, I took a moment to consider the tiny shack perched on the top of a hill, half its tin walls missing. “Well, that’s not a good sign. God only knows how long it’s been exposed to the elements.”
“It might not be that bad,” Ghost said. “Most of the transmat network is actually deep underground. This is just an access point.” She appeared next to me as I stepped through one of the gaps in the wall, running her scanners over the collection of rusted pipes and fuse boxes, before coming to a stop in front of one of the boxes. “This one here.” Slinging my rifle on my back, I drew a knife from my belt, then stepped around Ghost and slid it into the shackle of the padlock. With a thought, Solar Light flowed into the blade, and it sliced through the old metal instantly.
Unhooking the remains of the lock, I flipped the latch and opened the door. I then promptly swore and pulled my hand back, as what seemed like several thousand spiders started scurrying around, clearly furious at my intrusion into their lair. Behind me, Ghost managed some sort of strangled yelp, and by the time I turned to check on her, she was on the other side of the shack, hiding behind Eliza. “Really? I’m the one that needs to worry about getting bitten!”
“It’s not about the biting,” Ghost replied, outer panels spinning around. “I’ve got moving parts. Exposed moving parts. Do you know what happens when bugs get in there? They get stuck, then they get crushed, and then you’ve got dead insects stuck inside you, going rotten, and you can’t get them out…” She visibly shuddered, and I nodded, conceding the point.
“Okay, I’ll allow it.” Laughing, I channeled more Solar Light into the knife, watching flames ignite from nothing along the edge of the the blade, before waving it over the cobwebs filling the fuse box. After a minute or so, it was clear enough that Ghost was willing to move in for a closer look. Eliza’s Ghost joined her, and I stepped back to let the pair work. As the pair floated around the circuit boards and fuses, scanner lights and repair lasers flickering, I glanced over at Eliza-4, noticing she was still standing just outside the building. “You’re not afraid of bugs too, are you?” I asked the exo.
“Well, I would argue that afraid is too strong a term. Uncomfortable might be more accurate.” I tilted my head to the side, and she giggled lightly. “I have seams and joints, much like our Ghosts,” she noted. “The thought of organic matter being trapped in there is…” When her voice trailed off, I expected a comedic shudder of some sort. Instead, she walked through the shack, coming to a stop by a hole in the far wall. “I think I saw something.”
Standing next to her, I looked out over the landscape to the east. The view wasn’t that different from anything I’d seen before. A river to the south east, wide than the one we’d followed earlier, hills, old abandoned buildings, and the Wall in the distance. Then, it looked like a part of the Wall changed color, becoming a familiar ugly brown. “Fallen Skiff,” I muttered. I’d been told about the small craft that made up most of the Fallen fleet. A combination of gunboat and transport, they usually hid behind stealth fields, only emerging to attack or drop off troops or equipment. “Before we left the City, the updates we got said those were mostly appearing around the Rocketyards. Nowhere near this far west.”
Eliza nodded, even as we watched the tiny brown blur of another Skiff appear. “Indeed. And considering that pack I was unfortunate enough to encounter earlier, it would appear they’re spreading out across the Cosmodrome rather quickly.” Tapping her fingers against the side of her helmet, she considered the matter, then nodded again. “I think we should take a closer look.”
Turning towards her, I waved a hand in the direction of the Lunar Complex. “If we do, we probably won’t have time to make it back to the reason you came out here before it gets dark,” I pointed out.
“True, but it isn’t going anywhere. They are.”
Thinking it over, I turned to where our Ghosts were still working on the fuse box. “What about you two?”
“Troop movements. Always a priority,” Elizas Ghost said as he manipulated a piece of Glimmer floating in front of him, transmuting it from its usual crystal form into a long, thin cable that vanished with the flicker of transmat.
“And once we get this working, we should be able to get a stable comm link to our ships and the City,” my Ghost added as she ran her scanner lights over the fuses again. “So if it’s too big for us, we can kick it upstairs and the Vanguard can throw someone heavier at it.”
Tossing my knife up into the air, I watched it spin, then caught it and put it back in its sheathe. “So we’re all in agreement. East it is.”
***