Hey all the hunt for Aksor begins with a twist. Enjoy! The Queen’s throne room was vast. Purple, gold, and crimson banners hung from the ceiling and blue light illuminated the hall. A Kell’s command chair sat high in the center of the room, the apex of attention. Mara Sov sat in her chair, her head resting on her knuckles and her legs crossed off to the side. Her powerful eyes looked down on the fire team. The Prince stood at her side, arms folded, teeth clenched and weight on one leg. Alexander, disheveled, bruised and bleeding, stood tall and straight faced. Ophelia clutched what remained of her unitard, long but very shallow incisions across her back and sides. Raven yawned, slightly irritated. “Release their balls,” The Queen waved. A Vandal holding three arc containment jars tossed them on the ground at the fire team’s feet. The arc energy dissipated releasing Luka, Ila, and Oliver. “Are we free to go since there was no Ketch?” Alexander said smugly. “How dare you!” the Prince barked. The Queen waved him down. “Guardian, you were found trespassing into Awoken territory. That crime, I am willing to forgive if you do something for me.” “Why?” “So you don’t get thrown into the Prison of Elders yourselves guardian!” the Prince barked again ignoring the Queen’s hand. “You lost what ever that Ketch wanted, you can go find it.” “Insolent…” The Queen turned her gaze to her brother silencing him with a glare that would petrify medusa. “The Reef’s age of isolation is coming to an end. Guardians are inching their way into my territory every day. While it is not my desire to worship your… Traveler, the dead god, I am open to opportunity. I see this as a possibility of future interaction between the Reef and the City.” “What did you have in mind?” Alexander raised an eyebrow. “Go to Venus, eliminate Aksor, and return to me.” Raven’s heart stopped at the mention of Venus, her eyes widened pupils dilating, she shivered for a moment. Ophelia put her arms around Raven as her knees gave in. The Queen rose, turned, and left, her Vandal guard and red in the face brother. “Oh,” she paused for a moment. “A guard will escort you to the Vestian Outpost. You will find your armor and ships there.” “Alexander help me!” Ophelia cried out. Raven had gone into complete shock. She quivered and shook her head. “No, no, no,” she kept whispering. “We need to get her to her ship. Bring her home for now.” “I don’t think we can.” “It’s way to early for her… for us to go back to Venus.” “Let’s back to our ships and decide from there.” The bulkhead door to the Vestian Outpost rolled open with a metal clink. Awoken chatter and whispers echoed along the empty hull. A beautiful view into deep space appeared before them as they walked onto the platform. Blue and black melded with white light to paint a canvas of the asteroid belt. Debris floated in and out from enormous colony ships destroyed in the collapse darkening the image, a constant reminder of the past. To their left, stairs led down to a lower level, a man in a hood stood surrounded by candles, the eye of Osiris painted below his feet. Bulkhead doors leading to other parts of the outpost lined the far wall. A tarp covered a good section of the deck, two robots monitoring terminals and a desk marked post master. A strange Fallen stood with a staff in its hand. It was ornamented with strange metals and armor. Two of its four arms were bionic and an unknown house symbol was painted on its chest plate. In the far corner Petra Venj stood, holopad in hand directing guards and other Awoken. They walking out onto the pad, huge generators and turbines created the atmosphere around them allowing them to breathe. Alexander supported Raven as they walked. She had calmed down slightly but was still uneasy. They approached Petra who looked down on them and grinned when she saw Ophelia. “I had a lot of fun Aphrodite,” she said. “Where are our armor and ships?” Ophelia shot back. “Still feisty, lovely,” Petra flipped the knife in her hand and licked the blade. A beacon went off on her holopad and three ships flew into the hangar one by one. “And this one is angry,” Petra grinned eying Alexander. “Your boyfriend?” “Lay off,” Alexander said. “He’s not but wants to be,” Petra took a step closer and narrowed her eye. She ran a finger down his chest sending chills up his spine. “Aphrodite is mine,” she whispered. “So could you if you want.” This time the blade point punctured the outer layer of his unitard. “That’s just a taste.” The fire team could not be transmatted into their ships quick enough. Venus turned as the guardian’s ships descended into the storm above the jungle. Luka put Raven’s ship on autopilot as she shook in the cockpit. “Luka,” she said. “Yes,” she responded. “Make me smile please.” “How would you like me to do that?” “I don’t know, talk with me?” “Of course,” Luka’s voice was calming and warm. “I am always here for you. Do you know about the dragons on Venus?” Raven’s ship shook as it passed the atmosphere into the clouds. “No…” “Well rumor has it that there are creatures that appear seldom across Venus. They are winged and reports say they have razor sharp teeth and scales. Mists of the distant land and in the depths of the ocean these mysterious creatures lurk around. They are as enigmatic as they are illusive.” “That’s actually pretty cool,” Raven almost broke into a smile. “I think so. But that isn’t the best part. There is a legend of an alien race that was found when the Hisperos first landed on Venus. As it goes, ancient warriors were trained since infancy to become fierce fighters. They struggled against the elements and the formidable competition. Every year a single fighter was chosen to be the village protector. Their test was to find and kill one of these dragons.” Raven’s face began to light up. “There is a hidden waterfall somewhere on Venus, thought to be lost in the collapse, where these warriors would stand for days and let the crashing waves of water pass through their bodies. They would harden themselves and develop stamina that would rival any guardian today. The dragons were said to appear at the bottom of the waterfall and when they did, the warrior would strike. They would fling themselves from the pinnacle of the waterfall and overtake the dragon. They would claim the dragon’s spine and climb up the waterfall. Only then would they be named protector of the village.” Raven smiled as her ship steadied itself over the rocks below. “Thank you,” she said. “You’re welcome.” “When we finish this, would you look for the dragons with me?” “Of course.” Raven and Luka were transmatted to the planet surface along with Alexander and Ophelia. “Hi there!” an enthusiastic guardian called from across the small ravine. She was a warlock and came bounding over to the fire team. The smile quickly faded from Raven’s face as Luka produced the guardian’s Vanguard file in her HUD. She sprinted to the guardian and tackled her to the ground and pulled her hand cannon. “Who. The. -blam!-. Are you!” she demanded “Uh, uh, uh,” the guardian fumbled as Raven pulled the hammer back on the handcannon. “Who are you!” “Holly!” the guardian screamed, her voice cracking on the verge of tears, “My name is Holly Shim!”