This installment was too long to have as one post so I had to break it into two parts. This is Part 4a. Check out the other posts here: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/214044178[/url] Part 4b is linked at the bottom. <Begin Recording> [i]Audio Log 00135[/i] [i]Cassandra Vasquez[/i] Venus was an enigma. I could sense it as soon as we broke through the hazy atmosphere. The jagged mountains clung to the surface like hostile growths. Draped in between them and across the seas were sprawling ruins, mere husks of the Golden Age cities they once were. Buried beneath those ravaged carcasses must be incredible secrets. Our Ghosts told us stories of Venus not a week earlier, our boots muddied and wet as we traversed the rubble of Pre-Collapse Europe. They said that there were dragons here, once. I didn’t think much of it until I saw another Warlock in the Tower with a dragon skull as his helmet. I imagined regretfully the knowledge and secrets I might have gained were I alive while the Ahamkara still lived. But there weren’t any dragons now, not since the Vanguard ordered their extinction. Now Venus was just another mass grave, another monument to the weakness of humanity. Fallen prowled the sky and scavenged the cities. They took treasures that weren’t theirs to possess, while all the while Vex legions carried out their inscrutable motives under the surface. The Vex erected spires of their own and spun an odd geometry across the land. I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt the danger and suspense the planet gave off like a beacon. Solm shifted uncomfortably, gazing at the jungles with intense focus. Their eyes were a burning orange that beautifully contrasted their lavender skin. Those eyes that usually burned with some kind of alert energy were now dark and tense. I wanted to offer Solm some kind of comfort. I caught myself staring and my eyes quickly darted back to the ship’s viewscreen. My face felt hot and I glanced at Vera to see if she noticed. Fortunately for my dignity, she was wrapped in her own thoughts and thankfully was uncharacteristically silent. Perhaps it had something to do with the new weapon she had somehow come into possession of. The night we arrived in the Tower she had disappeared somewhere. I awoke as she entered our room but I gave no indication of it. She fell asleep quickly. I wondered if Exos dreamed, but I didn’t want to offend her by asking. I never knew how to act around her. I loved her, though. Not in the way that I loved, ahem. Well… What I mean to say is that it was more of a familial love than romantic. I bit the inside of my lip and admonished myself internally. I was thinking about love when we had a mission at hand. Ikora wouldn’t distract herself with this kind of frivolity and so neither would I. “[i]There will always be paths to tread and methods to try[/i],” I thought. That’s a mantra I picked up during our trek through the Dead Zone. I saw it on a half-functioning advertising board flickering on the back of a bus. I couldn’t see what the ad was for, but the words refused to leave my head. So I decided to take shelter in them. I liked to remind myself that the outcome of any situation is variable. “[i]Roll with it[/i].” That type of thinking helped me focus on bending without breaking. I must be fluid Light. I landed the Toaster in a conveniently half-broken building. The crumbling roof would camouflage the bright red paint job our bulky ship sported. We didn’t want to leave the Toaster in orbit for as long as we would be on the surface in case it was spotted by any Fallen vessels. We disembarked and double-checked the area for Fallen. We found no signs. “Let’s get that transmat uplink active,” Solm said. “Hell yeah,” Vera added unnecessarily. “I’m not walking.” “You are for now,” I said, shoving her playfully. “Now walk.” My Ghost chirped in our comm system. “I’m detecting a viable uplink source just a few hundred meters from here. Just across the street, really.” “You heard him,” I said. The waypoint was marked on our HUDs and we jogged quickly across the ruined streetway. Broken down and rusted out cars were strewn about the road like insect skeletons. The buildings across the way must have been sleek towers in their heyday, but now I could see the rest of the city through their broken frames. “Got it,” Solm called from the interior. They had boosted ahead of me and Vera with their Lift ability. Vera turned to me pointed after Solm. “That’s why I don’t like Titans.” I laughed. “Can it, Vera. You don’t even know any other Titans.” “I’m sure Saint-14 was just as obnoxious,” she quipped. I shook my head, exasperated. Say what you will about Vera-2, but that Hunter’s wit was is sharp as her blade. “Uplink active,” Solm’s Ghost notified us. “Finally!” Vera exclaimed. She immediately hopped onto her Sparrow as it materialized beneath her. I was impressed by how quickly she figured out how to look stylish as she rode. By the time I was situated alongside Solm on our Sparrows, Vera was already doing flips over us. “Calm down, Vera,” I said. “We have work to do.” “Fine,” she groaned, pulling her Sparrow alongside mine. “Let’s go.” We boosted off through the Venusian ruins. Vera took point while I stayed level with Solm. We rode at full speed towards the suspected site of the Davenpool Foundation. The ruins flashed by in a blur. I did not initiate any conversation, and neither did my companions. “Eyes up, Guardians,” Vera’s Ghost chimed. “Fallen activity ahead, air support detected.” “Thanks, Ghost,” Vera said, slowing down. We all gradually slowed to a halt and dismounted under an intact overpass. The road curved to the right ahead of us and the land beyond dropped sharply into the sea. We edged along the pavement, keeping low. Vera dropped to one knee and signalled a full stop. Solm and I looked at each other and crouched low. I couldn’t hear or see any signs of Fallen, but I trusted Vera’s scouting ability. I watched as she winked out of sight, her invisibility activating. Solm and I waited in tense silence. Waves washed at the cliffs ahead. Wind rustled through leaves of the plants pushing up through the broken pavement. The loudest noise was my breathing, and although I knew it was muffled by my helmet I still slowed my breath. [i]There will always be paths to tread and methods to try. Roll with it.[/i] Vera suddenly uncloaked in front of us. I raised my auto rifle instinctively before sighing with relief. “Okay, here’s the situation,” Vera said quietly. “I got eyes on at least twenty enemies. House Winter, as expected. One Captain with Shock Blades, a few snipers, several Shanks, a few of your run-of-the-mill Vandals, and then a handful of Dregs. Their skiff is parked and it looks like they’re running some kind of salvage operation here. Ghost, show em the footage.” Vera’s Ghost flew into the air and broadcast a recording of the scene. Around the corner the road sloped downwards into a tunnel. On the right side of the road a Fallen skiff sat powered down. The Captain was lounging on a stack of crates piled next to the skiff while Shanks hovered on guard. A few Vandals were entering the tunnel as some Dregs exited, arms full of old and most likely useless tech. The feed zoomed in to show Vandal snipers sitting over where the road dipped into the ground. They were taking cover behind a large sign. It read, “DA E PO L FOU.” I smiled. “We’re in the right place.” “And those Fallen are in the wrong place,” Solm said. I could practically hear their wide grin. They lightly swung their MIDA Multi-Tool to bear. “I’m ready when you guys are.” Vera spun the Ace of Hearts like some irreverent cowboy and nodded. I lifted my auto rifle. “Take the lead, Solm,” I said. “Okay,” they replied. “Vera, you’re on the Captain. I’ll handle the snipers and then help Cass with clean-up duty.” I nodded. Vera cloaked. “Go,” Solm whispered into the comms. We sprung into action. Two and a half weeks of surviving together made our movements were synchronized. I charged around the corner and hurled a scatter grenade at the feet of two vandals, immediately switching focus to the Shanks as I pounded them with gunfire. Solm hurled themselves into the air behind me, MIDA firing at breakneck pace. I heard the screams of the sniper vandals as the ether erupted from their heads. The Dregs dropped their tech and immediately opened fire with their shock pistols. I dove behind some crates and opened fire from behind cover. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Vera locked in hand to hand combat with the Captain. Its shields were down, probably thanks to a flux grenade, and Vera was dancing around the creature’s furious slashes. I was forced out of cover by a shock grenade and took a flurry of rifle fire to the chest. My shields dropped as I returned fire to the Vandal who dared fire on me. Solm threw a fusion grenade high into the air, which stuck with a whirr to a Dreg’s face as it emerged from the tunnel. Its scream was cut short. “Vera!” I yelled. “The skiff!” The skiff was powering up. We didn’t need that kind of pressure on us as we fought the multitudes of Fallen still emerging from the tunnel. Continued here in part 4b: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/213715646?showBanned=0&path=0[/url]