[i][b]Heya everyone! This chapter is short but it’s a bridge into the next story arc, the first chapter of it coming out (hopefully) within a week or so. ToC for new readers:[/i][/b]https://www.bungie.net/en/Groups/Post?groupId=1371758&postId=229013597&sort=0&page=0&path=0&showBanned=0 UNNAMED KETCH, EARLY DARK AGE AT EARTH ... A very muffled voice nipped at my consciousness. Slowly, feeling slipped back into me, and eventually I became aware of my cryopod. A voice said, “...ger is in healthy condition. Opening container.” in Eliksni. Then a bright light appeared and I averted my eyes, albeit I quickly got used to it, and stepped out of my cryopod. I looked around, breathing in the fresh Ether. I went to my chambers and equipped myself, before heading to the bridge. As I walked, I saw that there were less Eliksni than before and absolutely no House Winter. I would have to question whoever was there about it. Once I reached the bridge, I saw that Rajiks was in the captain’s chair, and he turned around to face me. His face brightened, likely with both surprise and a bit of happiness in my awakening. He said to me, “Koriks! You are done with your little nap, I would presume?” I answered, “Of course! But... what has happened? Why are there less Eliksni?” He explained, “Some Eliksni have taken skiffs to find suitable planets to rebuild. We thought House Winter would stay, but… they found another Ketch and appear to have abandoned us. The rest of us are now houseless.” I was shocked, and questioned, “Another Ketch? How?!” Rajiks replied, “As we warped through various systems, we found a ketch which had been abandoned. The general consensus after a scouting mission was that they likely ran out of ether and went to another planet, however did not return. They took it, at first saying they were going to ‘restore it to working order’ but then leaving as soon as they fixed it, along with much of our ether.” “Then let us keep searching, even if it takes a million years. We must rebuild,” I said, walking up to the window. We had found a system, but it didn’t look like any planets were inhabitable, so I joined him in preparing to warp across systems. As the bright colors of hyperspace passed, I wrote in my journal about what I was thinking - what would our new home, if we found one, be like? A cold wasteland? A scorching desert? Or would we find something like our home? An extravagant landscape with many different places? That question would soon be answered as we exited our warp and arrived at a different system. A bit after, another Ketch appeared, likely one that had followed our warp. “That must be House Winter. I suppose they have been staying with us for longer than I thought,” Rajiks noticed. The Ketch quickly went a different way through the system. This system had multiple planets. We had arrived near a small grey one, and a large, dark blue one, and I could see a light blue one in the distance. Farther away I could see a tan colored one with rings, and even further, a small dot that seemed to be a darker tan. The sun was much farther away, it seemed. “This system is interesting. Let us keep going,” Rajiks decided, looking at the ringed planet in awe. I took pictures on my datapad in case this system didn’t have anything worthwhile, and because of how amazing that planet appeared. We warped again to move further into the system. When we finished, I saw a red-orange planet, a yellow-greenish one, a grey one, and a white, blue, and green one. “Towards that green one. It looks extremely promising.” I commanded, pointing to the white-green-blue one. And wouldn’t you know, fate made it so. As we approached, Rajiks suddenly leaped up from his chair and cried, “IT’S HERE!” “What is here? I don’t see-” I stopped, then said, “No…” in disbelief, as I saw it. Rajiks turned looked at me, his eyes wide, and exclaimed, “The Great Machine!” And sure enough, on the planet, was the Great Machine in all of its glory.