ERA DRAKKA [i]Validus[/i] [b]Bannerfall Tower, The Last City, Old Russia - 11 hours remaining[/b] After landing in the hangar, which was almost an exact copy of the Tower hangar, Validus walked through a small hallway, towards a door with the Ashen sign painted on it. He could hear the sounds of an ongoing Crucible match above him, and he heard the typical sound of Thorn firing. Or better, a Thorn replica. Validus knew where the original was, buried under a layer of metal on Mars. The guns Guardians were using were not nearly as impactful as the real weapon was. It was better that Echo wasn't here, Validus thought. It would have ended bad for the Thorn-using Guardian if Echo found out about it. It brought up unpleasant memories. Luckily, the Warlock disgusted the Crucible. Validus opened the small door, and stepped on a gallery, overlooking an enormous library. Several Guardians were busy on computers, but the hall was mostly empty. As always, most of the Ashen Conflux was on expedtions and patrols, trying to increase their own knowledge. The Ashen HQ was mostly used for saving gathered information, reading about other members' discoveries, discussing with other people and running small experiments. The group was the completely opposite of the Syndicate, which was more of a paramilitar organisation. Nonetheless, the Ashen Conflux housed some of the best warriors in the system. People recognized Validus, but he simply waved and moved on. He didn't have much time to talk with everyone, and he didn't really want to either. They would only start asking difficult questions on why he had been away, and to be honest, Validus wasn't ready for that. After walking past full lounges and side rooms, he found an empty niche, and sat down on a small chair. He immediately contacted a few of his friends. It took them a couple of hours  before they were all there. Validus looked at the group of two standing in front of him. On the left was William, a Guardian, wearing blue and gold armor, which looked like a Warlock and a Titan hada bit too much fun together. Validus wasn't a fan of William's armor combination, but hidden underneath it was a skilled Guardian and a good friend. William was different from the other Guardians, as he didn't switch between subclasses, but changed his class as a whole, depending on his mood. Strangely enough, he could only wield Void Light. When Validus called him, William didn't need much convincing to join a 'cooperative expedition'. In all his positivity and always ready to help out his friends, William, had agreed before Validus could even finish his second sentence. Standing on the right was Fal Chavam, called Mr. Chavam by most of the Ashen Conflux. He was the smartest man Validus knew of, and he could be a valuable asset to this expedition. Validus had doubted Chavam's usefullness at first, but Fal had convinced him. Apparently, Fal Chavam had been a scout before he joined the Conflux, something Validus didn't know. They already knew the basic plan, but Validus still thought it was necessary to explain some things. "Alright, now we're all here, I've got some things to say", Validus began. "First of all, William, Echo doesn't want Guardians in his team, but I'm taking you with me anyways. That means, no use of Light unless it's absolutely unavoidable. I know you don't like the Syndicate, and neither do I. But we need them if we wish to complete this mission. You'll see some extremely shady stuff, but try to ignore it. From what I understood, we will be briefed in the Syndicate's HQ" That concluded Validus' little briefing. He suddenly stood up and walked towards the hangar. William and Fal hastily grabbed their stuff and joined the tall Titan. A few minutes later, a small shuttle was launched from the hangar, making the fighting Guardians on the Bannerfall Crucible map cease fire for a few seconds. Then, Shaxx yelled some insult through the comms, and everyone started shooting again. [b]Syndicate HQ, Kennedy Warmind Bunker [KND-9], Old Alaska - 7 hours remaining[/b] The Ashen ship exited the clouds, revealing the airspace directly above of the Syndicate HQ. It was filled with all sorts of vehicles, ranging from small Guardian ships to large battleships and even a Ketch, floating in the background. Ozon trails and the heat from exhaust ports made it hard to clearly see what was going on down there, and they decided to go fly a little bit higher, trying to get an overview of this mess. Distracted by the chaos around the landing bays, Validus suddenly noticed, directly in front of them, the large Syndicate battleship, which was probably on course to enter low orbit. He immediately slowed dow and performed a sharp left turn, barely avoiding the carrier. As their small freighter flew past the long grey hull, the words SS Cherokee painted in red on the side, they felt small compared to this... this space monster. Finally, after gaining enough altitude, Validus opened a radio channel to the Syndicate control tower, and the metallic voice he recognized could be heard. The man who was in charge of controlling the airspace sounded tired. Validus could hear him sigh before starting the procedure. "Intruder bearing code Echo Bravo Zulu eight-five-two point zero-nine point seven-three-six-four, you are entering Syndicate airspace, claimed for various purposes" The poor traffic controller sighed again before continuing. "Any and all trespassers will be seen as performing an act of agression, and treated as such. Make yourself known" Validus' response came almost immediately "This is Validus from the ACS Arachnid, I'm currently sending the security codes. We're here to... err... support the Syndicate, I guess" It was silent for a few seconds before the other started talking again. "We currently don't hav-" The man seemingly got interrupted, and a little bit later, Validus heard him distantly yelling to an unknown other controller: "Are you -blam!-ing kidding me?!? I told you to not -blam!-ing do that. Look at what you've done, -blam!-ing retard! The Nunavut is going to -blam!-ing land at Delta four. Now, I need to -blam!-ing stop the -blam!-ing Algonquin from landing and that messes up the whole -blam!-ing order. -blam!-ing hell. Damn those -blam!-ing Awoken. -blam!-ing blue-faces" The man returned, seemingly calmed down. "Alright. As I was saying, there is currently no space here. Wait half hour and return to land at Alpha two" Validus shut off the radio and started flying a wide circle, taking a look at the landscape surrounding the Syndicate base. After ten minutes of flying over the vast Alaskan mountains, an unusual sight could be seen from the Arachnid, which also interested William and Chavam in the back. A battlefield, long abandoned, was displayed in front of what seemed to be entrance for ground vehicles to get into the base. The snowy mountain sides were littered with old, burned out tanks which looked incredibly outdated in these times. Nature had even taken back a bit of these remains of man-made destruction, little plants covering the rusted vehicles. This field of death continued until the three line, several kilometers away. The three Ashen members could only speculate on why these men would have fought eachother, in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. He would have to ask Echo about it, Validus thought. The thirty minutes were faster over than they had expected, and the Ashen ship initiated the landing. 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]