[spoiler]This is a crossover chapter with TheMuzzy's Fireteam Ashen. The story will continue to be a crossover.[/spoiler] [u]ERRANDS[/u] Echo slowly dragged himself forward, sun burning on his back, the dull sand holding him back. Seven hours had passed since he had left the war zone at Firebase Chora, and Echo hadn't paused yet, and he wasn't planning to either. He HAD to keep moving, away from that hell. "Caesar", Echo said, with a rasping voice. "Any idea where my jump ship is?" The Ghost didn't need to scan to answer his question, which he had already asked several times now. "I told you, although our ship is in orbit, some kind of static storm is holding back any transmat technology" "I understand, but I'm not a robot. I need water to survive, or at least shelter. I will not hold out for much longer" Caesar remained silent. He was fully aware of Echo's problems, yet he couldn't do anything about them. They continued in silence, until Echo spoke again. "What even is it, besides a 'static storm'?" "It appears to be related to Vex warping clouds" Echo simply nodded. He had to save energy for the coming walk. Another hour passed. Suddenly, Caesar started talking, startling Echo "I've picked up a strong Guardian signal up ahead. Just a few miles away, behind that dune ridge" Echo stopped and sighed. "Are you sure your systems aren't just overriding because of the heat? Because that wouldn't surprise me, it's like an oven out here. Even my built-in airconditioning has given up!" "The 'unfailable' system you built? Anyways, I don't care if you believe me, but there will be water there, and you're clearly dehydrated, so..." Echo started moving and asked: "I wonder, if you revive me, I should be in perfect condition, yeah?" "Yeah...", Caesar hesitantly said. "Well, if I were to commit suicide, and you would revive me, I won't be thirsty anymore... And maybe I'll experience another vision!" Caesar didn't say anything out loud, but grumbled something about 'bloody Thanatonauts' and 'reviving a cute Huntress' Echo walked for another half hour, and then finally heard the chatter of people. He quickly crouched and crawled towards the top of the dune, to see what was on the other side. A Titan was cleaning a rifle, trying to get the red sand out of it. A few meters further, a Hunter was leaning against a tent pole, resting. It was a small encampment, but at least the inhabitants weren't killed by the Virgo Prohibition. Echo then noticed the little white sign, printed on one of the grey tents. They had found Guardians. "That's the Ashen Conflux's logo", Echo realized. Caesar, who had materialized, turned towards him. "What?" "The Ashen Conflux. A knowledge-based group, independent from the Vanguard, although they work closely together with them. They send expeditions to solve problems in another way than the Vanguard likes to do, which is basically shoot-and-loot. These guys actually use their brains" "Sounds like a group you would join", Caesar said. "Not exactly, because I-" Echo was interrupted by a familiar voice. "That'll be for another time, Echo" Echo looked behind him, and saw the bony armor of Alzer. Echo smiled nervously, as he saw the Ashen badge on Alzer's shoulder. "Hey there, Alzer! How's it going? I didn't know you joined the Ashen Conflux!" "Only recently. Now get up, the others will want to meet you" A few minutes later, Echo was sitting in the middle of three Guardians, drinking from a bottle of water. The Hunter, whose name appeared to be Avesk, was casually aiming a high caliber sniper rifle at Echo, despite the fact that he had already asked numerous times to 'not aim the big gun at him'. After a little stare contest, it was the large Titan who started talking. "Well, Guardian, I'm Validus, from Fireteam Ashen. You can just call me Val. This is Avesk-" Validus looked towards the Hunter, whilst simultaneously taking the rifle out of his hands. "-and you apparently already know Alzer. Now, by the Traveler, who are you?" "I'm Echo", he simply said. Validus frowned. "That's all? You do realize that you shouldn't be here, besides the fact that you were spying on us. The Vanguard has called all Guardians back. Mars is a forbidden zone" Echo looked at him in disbelief. "Am I illegal now?" He grinned. "Who cares anyways. What about you guys?" 'We were sent here to investigate reports of heavy Vex activity. We arrived a couple of days ago, and we were planning to check out Firebase... let me check...-" "Chora?", Echo interrupted. "Look no further, you've got an eye witness here" Avesk chuckled. "Yeah, sure!" "Well, if you don't believe me..." Echo pulled out a memory card. "This chip contains terrabytes of Cabal status reports, including an analysis. You don't even want to know what I've been through to get this. Caesar, start the recording. And show them some of the beautiful pictures you took" The message started playing, repeating its deadly content. A hologram was showing some images of the ruined Cabal bases, and the dead within. As time passed, and the message progressed, shocked expressions could be seen on the members of Fireteam Ashen's faces. The message ended, and a heavy silence followed. Finally, Echo stood up. "I'm sure you will all agree that we have a problem here" Nobody showed a reaction, as it was clearly a rhetorical question. Echo walked towards one of the portable consoles and booted it up. "Well, I still have some research to do, mainly about this 'RL', so if you'll excuse m-" He was interrupted by Validus. "That won't be necessary. I happen to know someone who tried to explain the Cabal hierarchy to me. From what I understood from his banter, the RL, or better the Red Legion is an elite ground force under the command of a certain Ghaul, with the title of... " Validus grabbed a data pad. "Ah! He is known as Dominus Ghaul" Echo thought for a bit, and then opened his mouth. "I assume that Dominus is a higher rank than Primus, which means we're in for a lot of trouble, as even a Primus is extremely hard to take down" Alzer stepped out of the shadows, in which he had been during the entire conversation. "I second that. I was the designated leader of the Fireteam which was supposed to take down Primus Ta'aun. Unfortunately, we received reports from a lone Guardian that he had been Taken. By then, we were already on the Dreadnaught. We tried to get back to the Hull Breach, but we got ambushed. I was the sole survivor" Avesk, who was spinning the magazine of a hand cannon, said: "I guess those are the kind of things they don't tell you at the Tower" Echo nodded. There was another silence, until Echo broke it once again. "You know, we aren't going to accomplish anything by just sitting here. We need to act!" "We'll need to ask the Vanguard about further instructions", Validus immediately said. "We don't have any connection here, and the ships won't get through either. We need to do this alone" Echo finally sat back down again, after shutting down the monitor he was working on. Avesk smirked. "Really? Do you have any suggestions then, [i]Braveheart?[/i]" Echo grabbed a drink from the center of the circle. "Glad you asked, Avesk. I [i]suggest[/i] we leave a communication signal here, in case something gets through. Next, we head for the northwestern part of the Augusta Chasm and-" He got interrupted by Avesk. "What might be there?" "Firebase Argus, the headquarters of the Blind Legion. I suspect that Primus Sha'aull will be there. Along with that, there's a large conflux over there, so we might be able to find something about the Virgo Prohibition", Echo replied. Avesk finally stopped playing with the hand cannon. "Are you saying Primus Sha'aull is still alive? I thought he got killed during a Vanguard mission" Validus stood up. "No. The Guardian got intercepted. Anyways, I think we should follow Echo's plan. Everybody, get some sleep, you'll need it. I'll take the first watch" The others nodded in agreement, and walked towards their beds. Echo summoned Caesar and started giving him instructions with a muffled tone. Validus didn't notice them, as he was already walking outside. 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]