[b]Chapter 18: Sand Land[/b] Part Two “Rush, do we have records on their language?” l asked quietly. “Yeah, but they’re incomplete,” Rush answered. “Good enough, turn on the translator,” l requested. After a moment my HUD started displaying the speech frequency readings and the human translation. There were some missing patches, but after a minute it became clear that they were discussing some break in. Something else had trespassed here recently. l pulled my head back before any of them could turn and see me, then looked at Drew and Sierra. “There’s a terminal in there, but those Cabal don’t look like they’re leaving soon. We can’t sneak in,” l described. “Don’t worry Will, they’re not that tough,” Drew assured me, “Walls hit harder than these guys do.” l gave him the best critical look l could with my helmet on, not understanding what he meant. “It’s a long story,” Sally said quietly. l decided not to ask. “Rush, you stay here with Sierra and Drew, I’m gonna distract them. If they start shooting, you guys jump in,” l ordered. Rush appeared next to me, rolling his eye. “Will, they’re not gonna be nice, the Cabal have always fought the Guardians, and anything else they see that’s not part of their army,” he understood that l wanted to try a diplomatic approach. “Well at the very least I️ can confuse them,” l dismissed Rush’s argument. “You’re so stubborn,” Sierra shook her head. “Isn’t it a great quality?” l nudged her jokingly before turning my attention back to the Cabal. Putting my rifle on my back, l stepped around the corner and began strolling towards the Cabal slowly with my hands raised. After a moment one noticed me and shoved one of the others to get its attention. They all went silent for a moment before raising their weapons and advancing on me slowly. My translator came in handy once they started barking orders at each other. One asked its comrades what I️ was doing, and was answered by another saying it didn’t matter, l just needed to be killed. “Well, you are great diplomats,” l sighed disappointedly, then balled up some Light in my hand and flung out a Magnetic Grenade at the closest Legionary. As the explosive disintegrated the Cabal in a flash of violet, the other aliens opened fire on me. l dove behind one of the small barriers just in time to avoid a flurry of red projectiles, pulling out my pulse rifle and preparing to fight. A couple moments later l saw Sierra and Drew run out in front of the giant doorway and start firing at the Cabal. Before l could flip around my cover to start shooting, l heard the roar of some kind of engine or fuel pack and was surprised by a Legionary suddenly dropping down right in front of me, flames from an opening in the armor on its back warming me as it landed facing my teammates. “Jet packs, great,” l muttered, then shot the giant in the back, making it stumble under the impact of a three-round burst. It spun around angrily, but that just gave me a clear shot at its head. A couple trigger pulls later, the alien fell with black oil spewing out of the holes in its helmet. Some of it splattered my armor and l tried wiping it off. “What is this stuff?” My nose crinkled at the strong smell. “Cabal pressure gel,” John answered over the channel. “So they’re not comfortable in our gravity,” I️ pieced together, “Probably can’t breathe our air either then.” “Nope, they don’t like oxygen,” John informed me. “We’re fighting here, not reading in a library!” Sierra reminded. “Right, sorry,” I️ apologized, then peeked out of cover and started shooting. l still hated killing, but l couldn’t deny it was a necessity at this point; my only fear was that l may one day stop feeling uncomfortable with war and slaughter. Before long the last of the Cabal were lying on the ground, dead, so we all moved up towards the terminal together and Rush paired back up with me. l stopped at one of the Legionaries and started trying to pry off its helmet. “What now?” Sierra tapped her foot impatiently. “No one else wants to see what they look like?” l questioned. “l do!” Drew raised his hand excitedly. “Fine, but I’m standing back in case that thing spews everywhere from the gravity or whatever you were talking about,” Sierra waved her hand dismissively and took a step away from the alien’s head. With a hard knock to the helmet l finally managed to break whatever was keeping it sealed airtight, and it flew off with a spray of pressure gel, exposing a pale face with a large mouth like an upside down “v”, little sharp teeth, and beady eyes. “That’s gross,” Sierra put a hand over where her mouth was. “Ugh! It looks like an ugly shriveled turtle and a naked mole rat had a mutated monster baby!” Drew exclaimed. “Oh come on guys, he could be the best looking guy in the entire Cabal army for all we know,” l tried to quiet their insults. Honestly, it was like they had never seen an alien before. “Sure Will, and maybe you’re the best looking Guardian in the world,” Sierra snorted. “Matter of opinion,” l chuckled. “Let’s just get out of here before this guy starts to smell as bad as he looks,” Sierra began walking over to the terminal in the corner. While Rush and John both set to work on the Cabal console and Sierra stood guard, Drew and I️ tried and failed to pull off the one Psion’s helmet. “They really don’t care about people getting in,” John observed, “No serious firewalls or anything, just an easy-to-trigger alarm system. Looks like their failsafe is just to send troops to kill the intruder.” “Can’t find anything besides a few basic deployment orders,” Rush mused, “Wait…records of other bases and their assets.” “Found it,” John replied, “Says right here there’s a site nearby next to a giant Vex gate.” “That’s it,” l clapped my hands together for finality. “Got the coordinates, putting it on your HUD,” Rush announced as a little grey marker appeared on my visor screen to show me where to go. “Is there a Sparrow link system on Mars?” l inquired, considering that we would probably have to cover a lot of distance. “Yep, we’ll hook you all up,” John responded, “Get outside so you all have room to summon them, this is gonna take a second.” We walked outside and stood around awkwardly for a few moments, kicking at the sand, before someone spoke. “So Sally, you found Drew around here?” l questioned. “Yeah she did!” Drew answered quickly, not giving his Ghost a chance to speak for herself, “You should’ve seen her then! All angry and sassy and talkative!” Sierra and l gave Drew confused looks, doubting that Sally had ever behaved like that. “l had just found my Guardian; it was an emotional and…difficult day,” Sally admitted. “Sally? Talkative? Angry? That’s not possible,” Rush still didn’t believe. “It’s true,” Drew butted in again, “She kept getting all offended too. Thought l was some kind of perv at first for some reason.” “Now that l can believe,” Sierra snickered. “He didn’t make the best first impression,” Sally seemed flustered and avoided mentioning why she had thought that about Drew, “But he won me over.” “l learned so much that day,” Drew reminisced, “Like that I️ was dead, and that I’m totally shredded, and that the nerds came to Sand Land for gold…” “Nerds and gold? What the-?” Rush began. “…and most importantly, that l love fighting and wearing cool clothes,” Drew didn’t notice Rush’s interruption. “Please tell me you didn’t start him off on his colorful wardrobe Sally,” Sierra eyed Drew’s bright FWC armor. “Oh no the stuff she gave me was so bland and gross,” Drew assured Sierra “Hey! l worked hard to get those for you!” Sally uncharacteristically complained, granting more stares from the rest of us. “Never thought I’d hear you raise your voice at anyone,” John commented. “No, l di-didn’t…oh look, Sparrow link has been established,” Sally diverted the subject away from herself. Link to Ch18 Pt1: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/242226578/0/0 Link to Ch18 Pt3: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/242227441/0/0 Link to ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0