[u]ERRANDS[/u] The four Guardians arrived at a small complex, almost hidden under the sand. Echo dismounted his Pike, and jumped on the ground. As the sun was setting, he looked towards the huge red plains, stretched out below him. It would've been a been a beautiful sight, if there wasn't a huge base in the middle of it, whose walls were reflecting the sunlight. Echo noticed a large dome in the middle of the Cabal structure, before turning around, facing the small entrance of the building, which could have been a weather station in the Golden Age. Echo walked towards the door, and saw Validus walking towards him. The Titan looked at the red dune sea. "The Augusta Chasm, I presume?" "Indeed. And were it not for Firebase Argus, it would've been quite the sight" Validus nodded, and recommenced his walk towards the entrance, but this time he was intercepted by Avesk, who was finally finished dusting off his cloak. "Are we going in there, Val? Are you sure we should trust this Echo guy? After all, he has been spying on us. This could very well be a trap", the Hunter said, as he nervously watched the dark hole that used to be the weather station's door. "You're right, but I suppose we don't really have a choice if we want to take down the Vex threat. Stay alert" Validus pulled out his shotgun. Avesk was about to protest, but then Echo waved from inside the building. The Warlock started laughing. "Are you going to say out there? There's no need to be scared! The dark is not going to hurt you, but the Cabal will!" Hesitantly, Fireteam Ashen followed Echo inside. For a while, the Guardians continued in silence, as they were searching for Fireteam Nemesis. They decided to split up, and Echo and Validus were checking out the east wing. As he was pushing away some century-old debris, the Titan grumbled: "This complex is larger than I thought. I still can't believe you didn't ask for their exact location by the way. How are we ever going to find Fireteam Nemesis in this mess?" "It'll be fine, Val. We'll find them... it can't be that large down here. And they told me that they marked the entrance" Validus opened a door. "I doubt that we'll ever find that sign. It seems like this was also a shelter against the Martian sand storms, and those bunkers can be quite big. We should've tried to contact them by radio before they turned it off. We're losing time with this, Echo!" "Why don't we use that 'lost time' then? We could have a little chat, clear up some things between us, such as the fact that you guys don't trust me" Echo said those words as if he was just talking about whether he wanted milk in his coffee or not. "Why would you think that?", Validus said, feeling a little bit uneasy. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe you, constantly talking through a private channel with your Fireteam, worry me a little bit? And you literally agreed with Avesk when he said he didn't trust me" The Titan started walking down some stairs, which lead to one of the lower levels. "Well, how would you act in our situation? Out of the blue, a Guardian gets caught spying on us in the middle of a forbidden zone. You would be as suspicious as we are, Echo" Echo thought for a bit. "Maybe you're right, I would act exactly the same" But the Titan didn't hear that because he was already looking in the left hallway. Echo mumbled a bit before turning right. After a few minutes, Validus and Echo returned to the center ready to descend again. Unfortunately, the way down was blocked, and Validus immediately started to push against the larges pieces of rusted metal. Whilst he was half-heartedly helping, Echo said: "I've been wondering, Val. The guy who lectured you about the Cabal, and who knew about this Ghaul, could he be called Fal Chavam?" The Titan grunted as he pulled at a metal beam. "Mr. Chavam? Yes... yes, I think it was him. Do you know him?" "Well, we both were amongst the most active visitors of the Tower Library. We once researched the origins of Fallen Ether together, and we experimented a bit. After I went a little bit too far with an experiment*, he didn't want to talk to me anymore" Validus chuckled, and removed the last piece of debris blocking their way. When he looked up, he saw the barrel of a hand cannon, pointing at his forehead. "Oh, it's just you guys", Avesk sighed. "I thought I had stumbled upon some lost Psions or something" Validus pushed aside Avesk's gun and stepped through the hole he had made, followed by Echo. Once Alzer had joined them, Validus started talking, once again claiming a leading role. "We've searched through most of the complex, and we can't find any sign of Fireteam Nemesis. Echo and I tried to contact them via radio multiple times, but it seems that they still haven't turned it on in fear of Cabal scanners. We'll try to get back to the surf-" Validus was interrupted by Echo. "Returning to the surface won't be necessary. Caesar's scans show that there are a few more levels, but we'll have to cross the old generator room" "Better dan nothing, I suppose. Lead the way, Echo" A few minutes later, the group was crawling through the maintenance shaft, a cramped up space, about half a meter high. As they slowly progressed through the dark, Avesk said: "If I find one oil stain on my new cloak, Echo, I assure you, you will pay!" "Typical Hunter", Echo mumbled. "Hey, I heard that!", Avesk shouted from the back. "Seriously, I just bought this cloak, it can't let it- I LOST MY KNIFE!" As Avesk frantically started searching, the whole team was laughing, and even Validus chuckled a bit. Suddenly Echo tumbled out of the shaft, and fell on the ground, soon followed by Validus and the rest. Cursing, Echo stood up, and offered a hand to Validus. The Titan got up as well, and followed by the other two Guardians. "We found them", Echo said as he stepped through a door. They entered a hallway, and saw a Titan with red and dark grey armor sitting on a box, holding a rocket launcher. When the Titan noticed them, he stood up, revealing his bulky posture, and shouted towards the room behind him: "Ava, they're here!" He then ran towards Echo and pulled him into a bear hug, almost crushing the poor Warlock. "You're... kind of... kiling... me, Colin", he just managed to bring out, and luckily the Titan, who apparently was called Colin, quickly released him. He then started a complicated series of high-fives and fist-bumps, and Echo engaged in this 'ritual'. It appeared that this was a habit between them. "BOOM! That was AWESOME!", Colin shouted, after they had finished with a double fist-bump. The enthousiastic Titan then noticed Validus, standing behind Echo "But, what do I see, on the horizon? THAT'S RIGHT! A fellow Titan!" He started to run towards Validus to give him the same treatment as Echo. Then a Huntress, clothed in the same red and dark grey armor, who stood at the end of the hallway, leaning against a door post, said: "Stop it, Colin. The poor guy probably doesn't even know your... what was it called... 'Colin's Supertron Fist-Bumping Ritual'..." She gestured the others to enter the room. Whilst passing her, Validus muttered a quiet 'thank you'. CONTINUED IN COMMENTS (https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/228413256/0/0/1) [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] [spoiler]*Read The Lord Of Echoes || Main Page[/spoiler] [spoiler]As a writer, I really liked this chapter, to be honest[/spoiler]