Enjoy! [spoiler]and to the person who down votes hate :) ![/spoiler]
Four Years Ago
“I still have no idea what’s going on,” I said over the coms.
“Neither do I,” Lance responded.
I sat back in my cockpit, thinking, doing that usual thing I do, twisting my hair. It seemed odd to me, that the moon of all places would have any activity recently. Crota died, Oryx died, and most of the highest-ranking Hive went with them.
“Alice,” I asked. “Did you finish those scans?”
“Yeah, it appears the guardian last hailed from the Temple of Crota.”
What on Earth is going on? I shook it off as we landed just up the hill from the silent Hive structure. Lance and I slowly walked down the hill, the ambiance was ominous to say the least. Shadows stretched over everything, the silence so thick the sound of my breathing felt too loud. The metal, if you could call it that, tore into the rocks and dug deep into the moon. The door to the temple was open and we pretty much just jumped right in. I loved how Lance took point, it’s cute he thinks he’s protecting me. Honestly, Truth and his scythe will only do so much. I chuckled to myself as I kept my finger on Red Death’s trigger.
Lance stopped, and I felt my heart skip a beat as he held his hand up. I brought up Red Death, training the iron sights at the strange markings all over the ground into the depths of the temple. Glowing emerald cuts scarred the ground and walls.
“What is this?” I asked Alice as she floated to one of the groupings.
“I don’t know, they don’t match anything I’ve seen before. Let me check the Warlock archives.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Lance said slowly advancing.
“So do I,” I said back. As we moved through the downward spiral curving around the inactive Hive seeder. The silence creeped me out, it’s not like the Hive to simply let someone walk through the front door. Another dormant Hive seeder sat untouched in the next chamber. There were of the same cuts along the rock and metal. A deep whisper echoed through the caverns of the moon stopping us in our tracks. It quaked the entire temple shaking loose dirt from pocket clusters along the ceiling.
“That sounded like it came from further down,” Alice whispered.
“Come for me light,” the whisper challenged.
***
Lorelei let her legs dangle over the Trenchway. The haze that floated throughout the Dreadnaught slowly circulated behind her. Deep shades of icy darkness cast shadows around the better portion of Saturn. Its grimy yellow gases swirled around a tilted axis. The sun is so far away, she thought. A small blip on her HUD blinked for a moment before disappearing again. Looking down into
the vast expanse below her, she cocked her head to the side. Would I float if I jumped?
“Over here,” Echo said over the coms.
Lorelei shook off the thought and picked herself back up. Echo had floated over to a large bulge of bone that had melded to the chiton plating of the ship. She carefully jumped onto the bulge maintaining her balance as she landed. A blue, shimmering, crystalline rock sat nestled gently into the bone.
“What is it,” Lorelei asked.
“I’m not sure,” Echo responded. “Atlas explained that it is what we are looking for though.”
“Interesting,” Lorelei let her voice trail as she picked up the rock. It began to glow and warmed her hand. There was a quick and sharp screech as the rock twisted on itself. An eye lit up and then died out. “It was a ghost.”
“Couldn’t be,” Echo whispered. “We didn’t exist before the Traveler died.”
“Let’s be honest,” Lorelei held her hand up as the fragment disappeared into a flurry of data, relaying a final content message to her HUD. “There is a lot we actually don’t know about the Traveler. Whatever this was, it relayed a part of a story I think.”
“Atlas is picking up another signal,” Echo floated up and over the ledge, scouting ahead.
Lorelei jumped up when Echo gave the all clear. It was quiet, her every step echoing through the massive ship. On the far end of the Trenchway there was an open door. The opening was huge, easily over twenty feet high. Nestled in the corner of the hallway, there was another blue fragment. She picked this one up to the same effect. It twisted to life briefly to transfer a small bit of data before disappearing.
“These relays are ancient,” Lorelei summoned both Echo and Atlas. “Extremely ancient. They talk about living clouds and hint at some sort of far off world.”
“It seems to be a gas giant if I am allowed to infer,” Atlas flashed.
“Guardian,” Cayde spoke over the coms. “Guardian, can you hear me?”
“Yeah,” Lorelei rolled her eyes.
“Good, I need you to go to the moon.”
“What? Why?”
“Well some guardians went dark and we need you to find out why.”
Present Day
“Crimson Warden!” Variks bowed as Lorelei approached. “Come to challenge prison yeeessss?”
“No,” Lorelei shook her head.
“Disappointing,” Variks crossed his arms. “Fresh guard could use… motivation.”
“Sorry, not this time,” she looked around, the Vestian Outpost was bustling about. “What’s going on?”
“Strange transmission,” Variks leaned in. “From Dreadnaught. Hated is back, I think, yeeessss?”
“That’s probably why the Queen wants to see me.”
Among the commotion, there was a dull thud as doors to the Queen’s throne room slowly creaked open. Lance stormed out, red in the face.
“Guardian not pleased,” Variks chuckled leaning in slightly.
“Why the hell is he here?” she responded flatly.
“Lord Pendragon owes the Queen a favor,” Petra ran her hand down the small of Lorelei’s back.
“Oh, I hate it when you do that,” she shivered.
“I could just eat you up,” Petra grinned. “But, I was asked to take you to the Queen.”
Lorelei bowed to Variks before she was led into the throne room.
“Welcome, Crimson Warden,” The Queen announced.
“Your grace,” she bowed.
Charlemagne hovered around the Queen for a moment, as she caressed his metal chassis. The ghost shivered in the air, its blue eye turning a bright pink. He slowly floated down into the Queen’s lap.
“I have a job for you,” the Queen smiled.