“Your move, Jonathan.” As he sat, contemplating whether to sacrifice his queen, Jonathan Harlow could not help but dwell on the peculiarity of his situation. For 4 years now, he had been working at the Solar Security Center. 9 to 5. 5 days a week. He would have never thought when he took the job that he would end up playing chess with an AI to pass the time. “Queen takes Knight at G5.” “Rook takes Queen at G5.” If there was anything that Jonathan was grateful for, it was the fact that this particular AI had not been introduced to chess until they met. This was to little avail, however, because of the steep learning curve. You see, this was not simply another Exo or mechanized consciousness. This was a War Mind. “I do not understand your pleasure at losing your most powerful tool, Jonathan.” “Well, sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good.” Jonathan felt he understood sacrifice. He wanted nothing more from life than to study the Traveler. Even now, Jonathan could almost feel the insurmountable mystery calling to him, begging to be solved and understood. The Academy, however, felt differently. With no other options, Jonathan had called on his personal connections to be placed here. Ever watching for an unnamed threat. “CONTACT CONTACT CONTACT!” The words blared from the speakers of the holo-screen to Jonathan’s right. A real Skyshock alert! Jonathan scrambled to get to the screen, not believing his luck. This was the first foreign deepspace alert to be documented since the arrival of the Traveler. “Rasputin, what is happening?” “I have detected a transient extrasolar event. Skyshock blueshift suggests imminent solar entry.” “Have you determined what it is coming from?” “Whatever this is, it has already destroyed half of our deepspace assets.” This was not what Jonathan had expected. He could see Rasputin silently running the calculations. The speed of the attack. The directivity of it. He could hear the words before Rasputin spoke them. “I am promoting this event to Outcome Prediction: Extinction. Activate Voluspa and Yuga precautions.” “Okay. Precautions have been activated. The Traveler is also being secured as we speak.” “Good. I am invoking Carrhae White and taking control of solar defense systems.” “Wait. This isn’t protocol. That is Charlemagne’s directive.” “This is an attack that will not be survived, Jonathan. I must mitigate the damage wherever possible. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made for the greater good.” “You cannot do this!” “And I cannot allow you to stop me. I have already transferred offsite. The only way to save humanity is to abandon it. I am truly sorry, Jonathan.” Jonathan stood before the husk of Rasputin’s former housing. He took one deep breath before reaching for his commlink. As his finger brushed the commlink’s activation pad, Jonathan felt a warm rush of air against the nape of his neck. This was the last thing that Jonathan Harlow felt in this life, as the blast from the facility’s self-destruct sequence engulfed him. … … … “Found you.” Jonathan groaned. He felt his very atoms finding their new place. He felt the surge of life. He felt something more than he ever had. And yet something less. “What are you?” “I am a Ghost. Your Ghost.” “I do not understand.” “You are the first of many to be brought back. It hasn’t been long since you died, but much has changed. The Darkness has found us and the Traveler has been wounded. It needs Guardians. It needs a voice. It needs a Speaker.” Edit: Thanks for your support guys. Planning on writing more in the near future. If you've got any ideas for some Destiny Fan Fiction you'd like to see, please let me know and I'll see if it's something I can do. Thanks again. Edit 2: After some consideration and a few scrapped ideas, I've settled on writing a sort of Vex origin story. I'll post a link here when it's finished. In the meantime, happy hunting.