[spoiler]I recommend that you read one of my fanfics, "Errands", which you can find on my main page (linked in the spoiler down below), before reading this one, as this is a direct sequel to it. [/spoiler] ERA DRAKKA [i]Echo[/i] A lone Warlock, bearing red and dark grey robes, was walking, slightly limping, across an abandoned battlefield. But this was no ordinary Warlock. This was Echo, leader of the Syndicate, who defeated Primus Sha'aull, and with him the rest of the Blind Legion, and the Guardian who led two Fireteams on a quest which resulted in... death. The lifeless body of a Legionary, laying next to an irrecognizable Vex chassis, almost covered by the red sand, caught his attention. Two enemies, resting in peace for eternity, side by side. Large pieces of wretched metal, impossible to know what their purpose once was, were the only reminders of the Cabal complex here. It had only been a month, but the Martian elements were already retaking this ruin. The indicator on his HUD showed [i]Firebase Argus[/i], but the Warlock knew better. This once proud base, home to the Blind Legion, was no more. Nothing left but ashes, ruin and death. Besides the large Vex structure a bit further, there was nothing here. That is, if you're not counting the dead, he thought. Echo almost laughed at his own grim joke. Almost. He looked up to the Vex Conflux again, although Echo wasn't sure if it even could be called a Conflux. Even a month after the disastrous raid, he still wasn't sure what this structure's purpose was. Of course, this wasn't the first time he didn't understand something immediately, but he usually figured it out soon enough. Yet, incomprehensible to him or anyone else he had asked in the past month, the Vex Conflux stood there, in the middle of this destruction, almost proving that it was foolish to even try to attack the Vex, or even time itself. A Fallen roar echoed over the desolate landscape, pulling Echo out of his dark thoughts. It was about time that they showed up. Bloody scavengers. Always there when you didn't need them. He quickened his pace, and was soon moving as fast as it was possible with his aching left leg. Echo was confident that the Fallen wouldn't find him, but he'd rather not take the risk. The alien screams quieted down, and he assumed that the pirates had found something of interest. They probably wouldn't venture further into the ruins of Firebase Argus, scared of potential remaining Cabal or Vex, he reasoned. Feeling a little bit more comfortable, he dared to slow down a bit, giving his leg some rest. He was following a device emitting a beeping sound which became more and more frequent until climaxing in one continous beep. The Warlock stopped in his tracks, and looked down. With his feet, he pushed aside the corpse of a Centurion, clad in the white and gold of the Blind Legion and crouched down. He started digging in the scorched ground and soon found what he was looking for. He pulled his hand out of the hot sand, revealing what he had found. A dead Ghost laid in his hand, it's Generalist shell scorched and dented by an unknown cause. Not that it mattered how the Ghost died. It was dead, and as far as Echo knew, it'd stay that way. He closed his hand again, and commenced the long, tiring walk towards his ship. [i]Ava-3[/i] Ava-3 stood in a Tower hallway, not far from where Lord Shaxx's vendor stall is, leaning casually against a wall, watching the people walk by. This was a habit she had since long, and she had quickly passed it to Echo when they met. This had made for some interesting dates, where the couple sat, side by side, observing the daily business, having long discussions about... well, basically everything. Their friends had never understood how they could keep up such a relation. But they did. Somehow. Ava-3 smiled slightly at the thought of Echo, the curl of her mouth splitting open her metal face. She was interrupted by the strong voice of Commander Zavala. "Ava-3? Your turn" She adjusted her cloak and walked towards the Awoken Titan, while playing with a small object in her pocket. Once she was in, the heavy doors closed behind her. The three members of the Tower Vanguard stood behind a table in silence, staring at her. Cayde-6 started looking through some papers, and after a while, he said: "Sooo... If I understand this correctly, you say you have information about a Cabal invasion, led by some dude called Gary? Gill?" Ava-3 helped him out. "Ghaul. Dominus Ghaul. The Cabal want reinforcements for what happened on Mars. We intercepted a Cabal message which stated that they-" "Hoooold your horses, Ava. That's a lot of things your saying right there. What happened on Mars? We still don't know that, even after a MONTH. Are we this irrelevant? Does nobody ever tell us anything? What am I still doing he-" Cayde-6 quieted down and started mumbling about 'escaping this Tower'. Ikora Rey took over. "Cayde's right. What happened on Mars? Who is 'we'? Can you show us the Cabal message? We really have no clue about what you're talking about, other than that you come from Mars, a forbidden zone, as declared by Vanguard edict nr. A467" Ava-3 remained silent for a few seconds, thinking about what to say. "As you already know, Mars was declared a forbidden zone because of heavy Vex activity. Well, I accidentally was on Mars before it was a crime to be there, and couldn't leave because the atmosphere was impenetrable. I met Fireteam Ashen-" Ava-3 noticed that the Vanguard recognized that name, and continued. "-and together we witnessed how the two sides eliminated eachother. Yet, the Cabal are sending reinforcements" Just as Echo told her to, she didn't say a word about Fireteam Nemesis or the fact that Virgo Prohibition was more powerful than ever. Ikora thought for a bit, and then asked: "Can we see the message? You must have it stored somewhere" "I used to have a memory disk, but it got destroyed. My Ghost h-" Zavala walked towards her. "Perfect! Where's your Ghost?" "I don't have one", Ava-3 admitted. "What?", Zavala shouted. "You don't have one?!? And you're not in the Guardian database! Where did you get that armor? Who are you?!?" "Guys, let's not get overly aggressive. I can explain..." She slowly started walking backwards, as Ikora called the guards. When Cayde-6 pulled out his hand cannon, Ava-3 started running, past the startled guards. A few seconds later, she vanished, transmatted to her ship. As she left Earth's armosphere, she muttered to herself: "Well, that went about as well as expected" [i]Validus[/i] A small space station was drifting through the vast emptiness that was space. Its design clearly dated from the early Golden Age, and the entire hull was painted white, having a pink shine because of the nearby Reef. Large solar panels made the structure appear larger than it actually was. Inside, Validus was floating through one of the cramped up hallways, when he suddenly opened a door, and entered a room with a single object in it. A picture of him and two friends, Avesk and Cosmo, standing in front of a downed Prime Servitor. It seemed like a century ago. He had already seen this picture a thousand times, but he didn't care. They were both gone, but he wouldn't forget them. He had failed as a friend, as a team member, as a Guardian, to protect them. Was he even worth the name Guardian, without Ghost? A loud noise followed by an impact made Validus look up. He sighed, and pulled himself out of the room. He quickly navigated through the space station, and grabbed a helmet on the way. As he arrived at the only airlock of the ship, he readied his weapon, a scout rifle. When the airlock finally opened, a group of Fallen Vandals immediately floated, through the weightless hallway, towards the Titan. Validus, still an experienced warrior, had no trouble shooting them down, and soon enough, the first pirates was defeated. Ether was now filling the space station, creating a white cloud, which hid the next Fallen wave. Validus pushed himself forward, carefully floating through the hallway. He dove under a corpse, but then heard a familiar crackling sound behind him. The large Titan made a grab behind him, and made contact with an arm. Spinning around, he saw the mask of a Stealth Vandal. Validus rammed him into the wall, then immediately shot another one. The recoil of his weapon drove him towards the airlock, and Validus instantly pulled out a grenade. He removed the pin, waited two seconds before throwing it outside, into the boarded Skiff, exploding it. He then pressed the red button next to the airlock, and the ejection system booted up, catapulting the Skiff away. The Titan quickly activated his magnetic boots, because the removal of the Skiff created a hole, and the vacuum sucked out the Ether clouds, Fallen corpses and everything that wasn't tightened well in the space station. Some bodies were stuck, and Validus started to throw out the dead, bearing blue clothes. Blue, House Wolves' color. Validus released the last dead Vandal, and was about to close the airlock, but then saw a Legendary Engram stuck in the doorway. He grabbed it, and stared at its purple glow. [i]Guardian[/i] Validus would have kept it. This Validus didn't, and he threw it out as well. The airlock closed, and Validus pulled off his helmet, and threw it away. He grabbed a pencil from his pocket, moved towards a wall with a line of scores and added one. One month. Thirty-one days. Thirty-one assaults. Thirty-one scores. TO BE CONTINUED [spoiler]More stories will be added onto the main page, which I will link here. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/226647634?sort=0[/spoiler]