ERA DRAKKA [i]William[/i] The 24 hours were over. One day and one night had passed, and the Syndicate was ready for battle. William looked outside of the small freighter he was in, and watched enormous battleships floating next to tiny Skiffs, all flying in one direction. Then, perhaps the largest ship of them all caught his attention. Rows upon rows of high-caliber turrets were aiming towards the enemy to come. It was the ultimate symbol of power, and probably the Syndicate's flagship, William thought. If they even had one. He felt that someone joined him, standing to his left, and in the corner of his eye William saw that it was Echo, leader of both the Syndicate and this expedition. "She's a beauty, isn't she?", Echo suddenly said. "She's called the Navajo. The SS Navajo, of course. We found her at the old Kriegsmarine docks in what used to be Germany. The proud of the Syndicate" For a while, the two looked in silence, the Syndicate's fleet slowly floating by. William took his time to read all the ships' names, and he recognized some from a book he had read a long time ago. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the name. Not that it really mattered, but as a semi-Warlock he was always eager to learn more. William shrugged. He'd remember it eventually. The ships' intercom suddenly came to life, and William suddenly noticed that Echo didn't stand next to him anymore. The Guardian quickly returned to his seat and listened to the voice that came out of the small intercom speaker. "Welcome on the SS Hawkeye. As most of you already know, I'm Echo, leader of the Syndicate. If you look around you, you'll notice that these nine men -and women- are quite the bunch. But each and every single one of you has their own qualities and skills. What are we supposed to do, you might ask. Well, to be honest, that huge fleet out there is a mere distraction for now. We're the ones who will try to solve the Prohibition crisis. Information about that can be found on your datapads. Anyways, we're going to track down and investigate the cause of this problem, which is the Vex and their new ability to predict Guardians, and then let the cavalry, the Syndicate military, come in. We'll be dividing you ragtag lot into three Fireteams. First of all, Ava, Val and I. We are the official leaders of this expedition. If you have any questions, we're there for you. Next, Mr. Chavam, Dr. Nguye and Reksis. You're tasked with researching anything we encounter. Then we have Ghetti, Lee and William. You're our forward strike force, scouting ahead. Last but definitely not least, nine of our best Syndicate warriors will provide support. I'm warning you: this isn't going to be pretty. People will die. Not all twenty of us will return. But I have faith that we can defeat the Vex and put an end to this madness. That was it. In a couple of hours, we'll make the jump for Venus. I suggest you get some sleep" With a clicking sound the intercom died, and William saw Echo coming out of the cockpit, walking towards Validus and an unkown Exo girl, which probably was this 'Ava' he had talked about. He watched as Echo and Ava-3 hugged eachother, when someone suddenly turned him around. Standing in front of him was an Italian-looking girl, quite pretty if he was being honest, and a man in a wide overcoat sat in the back, a hat hiding his face. The smoke of a cigarette slowly came from under the wide, CSA-tagged hat. The Italian woman, wearing a black jumpsuit, started talking. "Alright, I'm supposed to work together with you lot. Name's Cereghetti, Ghetti for friends. I like guns, knifes and killing. Especially killing. It's simple: be a good fighter, I respect you. Be a coward, and I leave you behind. Oh, and one final thing: don't ever call me 'Spaghetti', if you'd like to still have children. And that still counts for you, Lee" William smiled a bit, as he thought of calling the dangerous Italian girl 'Spaghetti'. The group went silent, until the man in the back threw away his cigarette and came closer to William. "Listen up, kid", the man began with a strong Southern accent. "Ya best hope that ya can defend yerself, 'cuz I ain't gonna rescue ya when ya get yerself in trouble. Spaghetti and I have worked together before, and she's a damn good fighter" The man blocked Cereghetti's punch, and continued. "I dunno if I can say the same 'bout ya. I know ya kind. Always hidin' behind yer helmets, too afraid to do anythin' without yer armor. Ya can't imagine bein' without it. Ya ain't worth nothin' without it. Well, lemme tell ya this, kid: when yer out there, no armor, no ammo, no nothin', that's when ya see the true men bein' born. Ya new kids nev'r gonna understand that" With those words, the man, who had to be Lee, returned to his seat. William could barely hear him mumbling. "Probably one o' those damn Yankees too" He lowered his hat, and opened another bottle of whiskey. "Don't worry about him. He may seem like a madman at first, but when you're out in the wild, he's got your back", Cereghetti said, playing with a razor-sharp knife. After that, she shut up, and started cleaning a weapon, whose foundry William didn't recognize. The Guardian concluded that she wasn't very talkative, but he liked her, how unfriendly she might have sounded at first. Lee, he wasn't as much fond of. However, William didn't have a choice but to trust him, so he hoped that Cereghetti had been right. Well, at least I'm not a bad fighter, William thought, and decided to not pay the large Southerner too much attention. He didn't want to get a personal vendetta with one of his team members. He looked around, and saw Mr. Chavam have a lengthy discussion with a Syndicate scientist, their whispered barely hearable. The other one was Dr. Nguye, William remembered. Further away, a Fallen Vandal was busy assembling a small device, which looked like a bomb. He was probably a Splicer, but William didn't recognize the colors of the Vandal's cloak. A row of Syndicate soldiers were sleeping while sitting, their weapons within their reach. Their faces were painted in camouflaged colors, and the only sign that they were brothers of the Syndicate, were a couple of thin red lines on their grey and green uniforms. Large backpacks stood at their feet, slightly moving because of the ship's vibrations, and heavy equipment was strapped on the ship's walls with long chains. Validus and Echo were sleeping, and the Exo girl he knew to be Ava-3 was silently watching the Syndicate fleet warping to Venus. She was playing with something in her pocket, but what it was could not be seen from William's position. Cereghetti went to sleep as well, and after reading the Prohibition reports on his datapad, William chose to do that as well. He suddenly heard Lee's low voice softly starting a song. [i]Ohh, I'm a good ol' Rebel, now that's just what I am. And for this Yankee nation, I do not give a damn. I'm glad I fought again' her, I only wish we'd won. I ain't askin' any pardon, for anythin' I've done. I hate the Yankee nation, and ev'rything they do. I hate the Declaration, and Independence too. I hate the glorious Union, 'tis drippin' with our blood. I hate the..."[/i] The rest of Lee's bitter hateful song was lost to William, as he slowly closed his eyes, finally falling asleep. 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]