Laughter was his answer as the guardian slammed his fist against the docking bay doors panel. As the heavy plasteel doors began to close inexorably he could see the team fixing on their helmets and his heart felt heavy as he longed to be out in the field again. “You shouldn’t have lost the Dare Cayde!!” came the muffled distant shout, leaving him no time to reply as the doors swung shut and sealed with an audible hiss. ‘Tell me about it kid’ he grumbled to himself as he adjusted the strap across his chest and swung away from the transport as it glided out into the skies beyond and began his weary trudge through the commotion to find himself a viewport in order to see whether or not he’d gambled away a small fortune or won a considerable one. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The journey had been a solitary one so far and he’d been left with his thoughts for the most part, half buried beneath the rattling of the ships hyper drive and the exaggerated mumbling of the clan as they talked amongst each other. He’d been with them for a small amount of time, a few days in fact and he was still unsure of what to make of them, or where he fit in amongst their number. His first week since his rebirth had been largely confusing and disorienting. He’d managed to come to terms with the fact that he’d been resurrected from the light of a celestial being and granted access to strange new powers as a result of this in order to fight against the rising tide of darkness that threatened to engulf their galaxy, and the universe beyond if it had not done so already. His companion, a sliver of the travellers light channelled into a robotic shell known as Ghosts, had brought him up to speed with most of the current affairs of the strange new world he’d found himself reborn in and had suggested finding a clan of guardians that could help him acclimate to his new surroundings and to get used to his newfound abilities. The Warlock trainer, Ikora Ray had been an invaluable source of assistance to him in the first few days, teaching him how to control the powers of the void, to bend and shape them to his will. A lot of what she’d said had went over his head although she’d insisted that as time wore on his mental acuity would expand and increase in order to facilitate the demands of processing information at a higher level, such was the requirement of the Warlocks complex cerebral matrix. A sudden shift in the ships momentum saw them lurch to a halt in a matter of seconds which snapped his attention back to the present. As the noise from the ships engine died so too had the inaudible chatter amongst the guardians that had accompanied it. Strangely he found the silence uncomfortable and was about to speak when he saw the Hunter, Lan, ease out of his straps and stand from his seat. All helmeted eyes turned to him then. “I’ve been known to make pretty with words on occasion but there’s no point in bandying words with this one. We’re up against the Vipers today.” His tone was authoritative and confident as he glanced around, taking in each of the five other guardians in turn. One of them, a large surly looking Titan in heavy plasteel armour let out a profanity. “That thought crossed my mind as well Jin. But we are the Crimson Blades. We are the 2140. We fight on ‘till the Blades stain crimson…” he began. “…then we fight some more!” came the chanted reply in unison. “New war game today lads. Shaxx calls it the Rift. Apparently it started as a brain child of the Warlocks, they used something like it in their training and Shaxx decided he wanted it for the Crucible. I won’t bore you with the long and short of it but basically in the arena there will be a bomb. The first time to secure the bomb and detonate it in the enemy base wins. It’s a single life contest today boys, elimination style. So try not to die.” Lan looked directly at him now and he felt a strange pressure as he came under the mans’ gaze. “Don’t worry Rook. Stick with me, don’t shoot me and we’ll be fine.” He heard himself give a nervous chuckle as all attention turned to him. “Any questions before we dive in? We’ll break atmo in a few so now’s the time.” “Just one.” He heard himself say. “What’s 2140?” Lan looked away for a moment, then turned to the Titan that he was sitting beside. “Did you tell him nothing at orientation?” he asked incredulously, but was met by a wall of silence. “Of course not. Listen up Rook. I’m not one for waxing lyrical so I’m only going to say this once. 2140 represents the time of night at the pinnacle of summer in Old Earth that the sun would set, you follow?” “We…are the sunset?” he asked tentatively. “Yes Rook, exactly. I knew there was more going on under the hood than it looked like. We are 2140. We are the sunset. We are the last glimmer of light, the last bastion of the hope that shines, proud and determined as we stand as the last line of defence, the beauty of the dying day before the inexorable, endless, cold darkness of night.” For a moment there was silence as the words sunk in. In that moment he saw through the façade, the charade of bravado and braggadocio that they were often wrapped in. He saw the guardians for what they were then, there in that silence. Protectors. Defenders. Until the end. “That was almost touching.” The last of the trio of titans piped up from the back of the ship. The moment passed and Lan reached for an auto rifle. He threw the Suros Regime weapon at the Titan who caught it deftly and doffed his strappings. “Basically we’re heroes.” The Titan added as he stood. He could see ‘Mick2140’ scratched into the chestplate of his armour. The ship began to rumble again, vibrating gently as the ship began to break atmo. “Yes we are Mick, yes we are.” The hunter turned back to him then. “Ready to be a hero, Rook?”