Omg, this story is now over 25k words and 139 pages long! Back at last. I watched the Tower draw ever closer through the cockpit windshield. I stood up, slung my rifle over my back and waited for echo to transmat me down. It was good to breath fresh air after so long off world. They say that Wallen, the city’s lorekeeper, an old, grey haired warlock said that before the golden age, you couldn’t see the stars at night and the air was almost too thick to breath. It was hard to imagine, even though I, like most other guardians had lived through that time. However, like other guardians, I had no memory of that past. It bothered me sometimes. What had my old life been like? Could I ever possibly find out? Eventually the thoughts wandered their way out of my head as I stared out over the city, and breathed the clean mountain air. Sierra was leaning backwards against the same railing I rested my arms on, looking at me with her glowing blue green eyes and a warm smile. Reluctantly I pulled myself back into reality and stood up. “Right to business I guess.” I said to her with a smile of my own, seeing Cayde watching us from a shadow on the upper floor of Tower North over her shoulder. I gave Rahool a nod and started off towards Cayde’s hiding place. Sierra waved to another guardian, a female human hunter clad in black and green modified crucible armor and a cape with the emblem of the Iron Banner on it. She had short red hair and walked with purpose. Her name was Reyna, a long-time friend of Sierra’s. She gave us a grin kept on her way. Reyna was another top tier Crucible competitor, and went by the name Artemis, being one of the few master nightstalkers still in the field. She almost never visited the Tower, except for the occasional visit to Shaxx. “I guess Saladin’s in town.” Sierra noted as we kept walking. “That’d sure explain the extra traffic.” I added, seeing all the other guardians wandering around with shiny, new guns. Neither of us said it, but we both knew the real reason everyone was getting an upgrade in firepower. Side by side, we climbed up the stairs to where Cayde stood. When we reached the top, he was gone. He didn’t do field work anymore, at least, not officially, but he sure hadn’t lost his touch. “Good to see you alive lightning brains,” Came the Vanguard’s voice from behind us. “you too Sierra.” We turned to face the hunter, who stood leaning against a wall, hood up. “Your timing always seem to be perfect,” he said, “you sure you Atheon didn’t rub off on you a little when he died?” Alright, that was clever, I have to admit. “Seriously, though, the Speaker called a meeting of the Vanguard today, and Saladin’s here for a while.” He waited for another guardian to pass, before he continued in a hushed tone. “It’s not looking good. Consensus still hasn’t reached a decision, and everyone’s getting pretty fed up. Dead Orbit techs are prepping the fleet for an exodus. Zvalla’s pulling resources away from the front to shore up our defenses, titans seem to think you can stop anything with a big enough wall…” he muttered the end under his breath. “The rest of the Vanguard’s annoyed we aren’t doing anything. Future War Cult’s calling doomsday and New Monarchy’s holding their cards for now. Everyone’s saying that everyone else is making the wrong move. All in all, nothing productive’s really getting done.” He sighed. “Worst of it is,” he sounded a little uneasy, “I think they’re onto our little project. But then again, we’re not actually doing anything, are we?” I nodded, “What about the Speaker, anything from him?” “Eris’s rock has better ideas than he does. Also, fireteam Midnight’s working “black ops” on this with you. They’re doing what they can to slow down the Taken and buy you some time. I’ll send you their mission objectives and comm frequency clearance. You should touch vase with them. Anyways, meeting’s in command HQ on 248 at thirteen hundred, so you’ve got some time.” He walked off, leaving us alone once again. “Let’s keep quiet, don’t want to let anything slip by accident.” I suggested. “Will do.” She said as we parted ways to deal with our own business. “Meet me at the dorm at eleven, we’ll grab lunch in the City. The Tower’s bounty board was covered in reports of Taken all across the system, locations of lieutenants and zealots along with a scrolling list of casualties. No one I recognized thankfully. I strode over to Banshee who was tinkering with a Pompeii sniper rifle, probably jammed up by some rookie. He looked up as I approached, setting down the gun and his tools. “What can I do for ya Grant?” he asked. “How’s that fusion core coming along?” “Ah, that. I think I’ve got it sorted actually, that silver wire you brought back seems to be doing just the trick. I can get it fitted now if you wanna bring that gun by.” He replied. “Echo?” “On it.” The Ghost responded, transmatting my fusion rifle onto the table in front of us. “I’ll get right on it. What you been up to anyways? Before I could start telling a lie, Echo blurted out, “We’re hunting down Oryx’s… err, Vex, we’re studying Vex movement patterns.” Banshee gave me a questioning look, not convinced by Echo’s explanation. “We’re looking into how the Vex move in relation to a target in order to gain a tactical advantage against them. So far it’s been mostly unpredictable.” “Right,” Banshee looked more reassured now, “well, good luck with that. Every piece of information we can get about those tin cans is useful knowledge.” “Indeed it is.” I agreed, “Thanks again for getting that core working Banshee. I’ll see you.” I walked off, still some time to kill before meeting up with Sierra. “Maybe Saladin has information we can use. Or hardware” I said to Echo, who idly floated next to me. “Likely, I’m sure the Iron Lords keep up to date on what’s going on… Well, everywhere.” “Alright, let’s see what we can get.” Prologue/directory [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139146382/0/0[/url]