Story of the Guardian Elders: Part Four

You've waited. Some even begged. Well, here it is! Enjoy! Guardian Elders Log 4: The Rescue It seems that we were finally going to make a move against the Hive, just not a, eh, “public” one. Sergeant, Predakae, and I were flying across Old Russia’s terrain to a destination unknown to me until my questions broke the silence that had been maintained since they barged into my quarters. “Where exactly are we going?” I asked. “We’re heading towards a damaged Hive shipped that was found a few hours ago. If our intel is correct then it was transporting captured Guardians, fellow Elders, to Old Chicago, but their ship was shot down by the Fallen as soon as it broke atmosphere, and crash landed here” Predakae answered. “You still haven’t told us the plan yet.” I stated. “We go in, find the captured Guardians, kill every Fallen and Hive until we find Goddess, then get out and become the big heroes. Right Pred?” Sergeant said. “I, um, sure. Whatever you say.” Pred responded while Sergeant threw out a light chuckle. Shortly after our brief moment of conversation, we were met by the sight of Fallen and Hive foot soldiers engaging in open conflict, with some of their fire directed towards our jumpships. We quickly materialized on the ground and took cover behind broken cars and large rocks and loaded our rifles as our ships flew back into the atmosphere. “We’ll never make it through all this fire!” I stated as I fired at Hive Thralls charging our position. “Then we’ll make a path ourselves!” Predakae exclaimed, as he let loose the light of the Traveler, and summoned his Golden Gun. He quickly dispatched two Hive Knights and a Fallen Captain, then moved up to another rock formation, where he then threw his knife into the skull of a Fallen Dreg, causing it’s soul to shoot out of it’s body. After seeing such a display of skill and power, I was quickly reminded of how we fended off the Hive forces on the moon. I grasped my fusion rifle and charged forward. Fallen Dregs and Vandals quickly disintegrated as my rifle’s shots pierced their flesh, while Hive Thralls and Acolytes were reduced to ash and dust when I channeled my own light to unleash a Fist of Havoc. I looked past the carnage to see the Sergeant, calmly but elegantly bringing down Hive and Fallen forces alike with the power of the Void, tossing Nova Bombs and Vortex Grenades across the field, causing an untold amount of enemy casualties. We eventually made our way inside the wretched ship, only to have the entrance close behind us. “Oh, joy, isn’t this familiar…” I muttered to myself. We nervously awaited a horde of Hive, or a small team of Vandals to pop out from a corridor, but the ship was empty. “It seems that the brunt of their forces were outside the ship.” Predakae noted as we began to move throughout the ship. “If that’s the case then why aren’t we seeing any Guardians?” Sergeant questioned. “They’re probably in the back of the ship.” I said, my Ghost materializing beside me. “Why don’t you pull up a waypoint? Hive ships aren’t easy to maneuver through.” “On it.” My Ghost said, pulling up the waypoint which lead us through the darkened corridors to the back of the ship, and what we found was both shocking and maddening. We found both Hive and Guardian corpses spread across the room, with many Guardians still chained to the walls or set in cages. In one corner a pile of already decomposing corpses, bearing the faces of Human and Awoken Guardians alike. Predakae shook is head in disgust and pity, while Sergeant had a more… active response. “This is what our intel brought us?! Piles of broken bodies and no signs of our comrade!” Sergeant kicked a Hive Acolyte’s corpse, while Pred tried to comfort the distraught Guardian. “Peace, Sarge. The intel was good, though I believe that they were killed in the crash. Though…” Predakae paused, looking back to the corpses. “There’s no way that some weren’t executed before the crash.” “Even then, there’s still no sign of Goddess.” I added. “Which is why we should continue to look around the ship. Maybe they esca-” I was cut off by the sound of an auto rifle, echoing throughout the ship. “Auto rifle. Shigen-C.” Predakae examined. “It’s somewhere nearby.” “Then let’s go!” Sergeant exclaimed as he ran out of the room and toward the sound of gunfire, followed by Predakae and I. We marched through those halls once more, our boots pounding against the metal floor, until we were met by the sight of Goddess and an unnamed Hunter fending off Hive Knights and Wizards in a broken portion of the ship. “Is that the best you got, you walking corpses?!” The unnamed Hunter yelled. “Come at me!” His taunting was cut short by our fire, which connected with the shields and armor of the Hive forces. Two Knights started charging at us, but were quickly put down by Sergeant’s Hand cannon and Predakae’s Sniper Rifle. I charged past all of them, and let loose a Fist of Havoc, bringing down the shields of the Hive Wizards, but not eliminating the threat. Goddess and the other Hunter finished them off with their throwing knives. I approached the two afterwards, clasping Goddess’ hand in my own and bringing her in for a quick hug. “Goddess! It’s so good to see you, after everything that happened on the moon…” I said. “It’s good to see you too, Steel.” She said, then gestured toward the other Hunter. “I met him when everything on the ship went to hell.” He walked towards me and took off his helm and lowered his hood,, revealing his metallic features. “Hello there. Steel, was it?” He said. “The name’s Pit. Goddess and I shared a cell together.” Predakae and Sergeant quickly walked over to us, holstering their weapons. “Why don’t you tell us what happened to all those Guardians back there?” Sergeant urged. Goddess took off her helmet and wore a face of sadness and anger. “After Pred and I were separated on the moon, I was taken to this Hive ship to be transported somewhere else along with dozens of other Guardians, some Elders. They destroyed many of our Ghost’s, so that the ‘disciplining’ would last… but like Pit said, we shared a cell together, so when the ship broke down we broke out and started a riot, killing as many as those walking corpses as we could. Some didn’t make it, but the rest of us made it out here and held out for as long as we could…” Goddess clenched her hand into a fist. “If you look behind that barricade, you can find the rest of them…” I shook my head in sorrow. “Well, we can’t help the dead, but we can help you. And trust me, you need it. You two look like crap.” Sergeant joked. All of us laughed, but then moved out, mounted Pikes and Sparrows and drove until we were within a safe enough distance to call in our jumpships. Then, we flew to the Tower where Goddess and Pit recovered, while Sergeant, Pred and I got a rather long lecture in Deeedz’s personal chambers… “What were you three thinking?!” Deeedz yelled. “Steel, if you weren’t careful you could’ve permanently damaged yourself. And you two, why did you disobey a direct order?!” All of us looked between each other, then back at Deeedz. “But… I’m glad you brought Goddess and Pit back in one piece. We’ll need them soon…” “Need them for what? We have a pretty good hold on the home front.” I remarked. “No Steel, you’ll all find out soon enough. You’re dismissed.” And with that, we parted ways and walked to our respective quarters, pondering what Deeedz was referring to. Well, we did find out a week later. But only when the Guardian Elders were called to the Iron Banner by Lord Saladin himself.