[i]*Fanfiction. Unfortunately chapter two was a little too long. I've split it into two parts with the second part posted as a reply. Sorry for the inconvenience. As usual, comments and criticisms are welcome and as always... Enjoy!*[/i] [url=http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/87862826/0/0/1]Chapter One[/url] [url=http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/92397763]Next Chapter[/url] [i]“I can see the sky…. Like white flame… Falling away from me.”[/i] [b]--- Chapter Two or The Plan of Escape ---[/b] The prison. A cluster of twisted metal and empty shells from a forgotten age. These ghosts float precariously among the millions of asteroids in the belt, their broken forms wrapping around one of the largest.The rock was carved into long ago and transformed into a structure that held empty chambers and hundreds of tunnels. It was in one of these chambers Lock found himself, surrounded by a few very interested members. [b][i]Several Months Before…[/i][/b] Lock peered at the ceiling far above him. The walls of the room some fifty yards away in every direction stretched up and over his head to meet each other. Lights dotted the surface, outlining invisible borders and gazed back down at him… taunting him. He simply wanted to drown out the stupidity that seemed to fill the air but even that he found impossible to do. A place far away was calling to him but he was stuck on a rock surrounded by idiots. [b]”They’re insane. There’s no way to get out of here.”[/b] [b]”Insane. Incredibly stupid. Suicidal... It’s why they fell to the Queen.”[/b] [b]”House of Winter dumbass. They’re not the same as the ones imprisoned here.”[/b] [b]”Da -blam!- did you just call me?”[/b] Lock was frustrated. His glowing eyes bounced from one man to the next, studying each character in attendance and hoping that somehow the group before him would change. For a good minute he watched them bicker. Randar was first. Skittish as always. Frail and pale. For some reason the human had decided to fly into Awoken space thinking that they’d welcome him with open arms. He was apparently looking for something among the wreckage of the numerous colony ships that dotted the belt. They were only too happy to greet him. Randar was imprisoned immediately, partially for trespassing and mostly for his own idiocy. They’d tried to flag him down as they did with all those that wander into their territory but he failed to heed their warnings and his ship was quickly disabled and boarded. Lock could only imagine the things he had to do to survive in the hell that was the Prison of Elders. It was the bounty on the man’s head that was his ultimate saving grace. Lock, being formerly of a guild of Bounty Hunters had been privately hired to break him out. The tab was high but only just so. The minute he’d met the man, he immediately regretted the decision. There was no way he was going to be able to get him out in one piece. Korbal Irsk. A fairly heavy set Awoken who found other prisons akin to a retirement home. He’d been moved to the Prison of Elders when the city finally realized that he was still running things from behind bars. The move changed nothing. As leader of one of the largest and one of the only criminal factions in both the City and the Reef, he held influence and invaluable knowledge of much of the underworld. What vile plans bore fruit was likely seeded by him… the father of Red Ravens. [i]...The Red Raven’s Tell…[/i] It was a phrase he repeated often to others who shared in his struggle. [i]...Can you see it?...[/i] Lock didn’t. He saw crazy but he also saw information bank written across the man’s head and a ragtag army of half the prison’s population behind his back. Unfortunately the man also had an air of ignorance about him that seemed to manifest when it was least appropriate. [b]”All those idiot Fallen are the same to me.”[/b] An interesting remark to make when there were two sitting beside him. Sky was one. Lock and the denounced captain had made acquaintances before. It wasn’t a mystery as to why she’d been imprisoned. The Fallen House of Wolves had long ago fell to the Queen’s power and many of their peoples had been locked away. Captains lost their rank and had their limbs removed to signify their defeat. The Archon was moved to the tip with their Prime Servitor. The lesser servitors served as Ether banks with which to syphon precious Fallen life force and distribute it among their imprisoned population. Sky had since learned that adaptation was they key to survival. She had to become part of the people that had once hunted her own or risk dying along with the rest. Ether had to be rationed and ties to her former comrades was integral. Vahn was almost always by her side. As the other fallen captain in attendance, Vahn had somehow managed to keep all four of his arms intact. In this way, even if it the difference was slight, he held power over the other fallen. Vandals littered most of the halls of the prison, musing about on their own or in small insignificant groups when outside their containers. When addressed by Vahn, they answered and moved as directed. Even other captains did well to mind their behaviour around him. He had early on elected Sky to be at his right side doubling has both guard and friend. Her skill and heroics in past conflicts put her ahead of peers. Lock wasn’t going to get one without the other… and he didn’t mind. The man commanded what was left of the House of Wolves… at least at this level of imprisonment. Finally, there was Cypher. Another fallen imprisoned with the rest of his brethren. The only difference between himself and the others were his crimes. They weren’t petty. There was no simple carrying out of radical ideas from those above him. No theft of government ships or forging of illegal documents. No manufacturing and trading of Asstroids. Cypher was something of a trained killer. Much like bounty hunters, he accepted money not for the capture of criminals, but for snuffing the life out of anything… including guardians. What made the man a complicated character was the way he carried himself. His tone of voice, the way he greeted others and conversed with them regularly. He went about his daily life just like anyone else would… until someone hired him for another job. Eventually he was linked to almost a dozen murders around the Reef and various other locations around the inner system. The City refused to take him and so he was ferried to the Prison of Elders. He’s held the same smile and careless attitude since day one The rest of those around the table were either acquaintances of the others or too unimportant for Lock to care. [b]”Hm… better watch what you say. You might piss off the wrong person.”[/b] Cypher and Korbal had been going at it the entire time and while the former was teasing, it was Korbal who was becoming visibly irritated, even more so than Lock. The other Fallen, although annoyed at the irrelevant nature of the the pairs conversation, seemed poised to join in themselves. Randar sat in the center of it all confused, his dreary eyes finally settling on Lock when he had nowhere else to look. [b]”You’re starting to piss me off!”[/b] [b]”Oooh. What are you going to do?... Punish me?”[/b] Fallen gibberish. [b]”I swear by the Traveller himself I will have you killed!... and you shut up!”[/b] More gibberish. Lock rubbed at his temple… and felt no relief from the action. It seemed his predecessors added reactions to outside stimulus that provided absolutely nothing to him. He immediately dropped his hand and began to scratch away at the rock in the center of them all. [b]”Uh… hey… hey guys.”[/b] Randar’s meek voice did little to get the attention of the others at the table. He opened his mouth to speak again when a large Fallen hand slammed against the rock directly in front of him. A scream tumbled from his mouth and others immediately stopped. [b]”Thank you Vahn…”[/b] Lock straightened himself out and pointed at the perfect outline of the prison. The borders of the large asteroid they were all tethered too along with indents and dots to signify colony ships and containers were all there. To the left and right of the prison were reference points: the sun and the edge of the reef. [b]”Wow… you ever thought about doing art… instead of prison breaks.”[/b] Cypher leaned forward under the guise of admiring Lock’s work. Lock pushed him back into his seat. [b]”No.Here’s the plan… The Fallen will most likely approach from here.”[/b] He tapped on the empty space between the Prison and the sun. [b]”Cloak will be up to prevent the defense system of the Prison from picking them off before they can get close.”[/b] [b]”We talking one ship… a whole fleet?”[/b] Korbal pressed a stubby finger against the inside of his palm… for whatever reason. [b]”At the very least two. It’s quickest with a smaller group as opposed to a full on assault on the Prison. Something like that would be an open declaration of war against the Queen and I think the Fallen have had enough of that for a while.”[/b] Lock turned to the two captains, both of whom were giving him an odd look. [b]”No offense.”[/b] [b]”So what happens when they drop their cloaks? I imagine they get blown to shit?”[/b] [b]”Not entirely sure. Somehow they’re going to cut the power to the Prison. Maybe not the whole Prison but to get Aksor out… they need to cut power… at the very least to the tip.”[/b] [i]*Continued below.*[/i]