“That’s what we’re up against?” I yelled at Toland, “Why the hell wouldn’t you warn us?” I was furious. Toland damn near got us killed. “There’s nothing stronger than a man standing against his fear,” Toland began, calm as ever, “Oryx saw that strength in you. You scared him off. You bought us time.” “You’re lying,” I growled, “you wanted us to die there.” “No I didn’t, Oryx is the one with a vendetta against you. Not me. Although, your encounter with him was… entertaining.” I could hear his smirk, even through the comm. “So where is he now?” asked Sierra before I could yell at him anymore. “His dreadnaught, by the rings of Saturn. He’ll be back soon.” Toland answered as if rolling his eyes, like we should’ve known this, “His strength is growing…and so is his army.” “Where?” I questioned him. “The Reef, right about now.” “Damn it! We need to know these things sooner!” I yelled again, but there was no reply. “Get us there now!” I called to Echo. Within seconds, we were well on our way to what was likely a death trap The instant we warped to the Reef, Sierra and I got on the ground. There were several Awoken guards at the back of the hangar fighting off Taken Cabal at the doors. We drew our weapons and ran towards them. I fired two bursts at one Cabal, and one at the next. Sierra threw a smoke grenade at the remaining Cabal to stun them. Meanwhile, I glided up into the air and focused all my energy into a Nova Bomb which I hurled at the Taken, disintegrating them. I landed just in front of the Awoken guards, Sierra right behind me. One of them nodded and they opened the doors, closing them behind us immediately. Petra was waiting behind the doors with another group of guards. She ran up to me and said simply, “What are they?” “Taken,” I answered “Oryx’s army.” “They look like Cabal though.” “They were…” I answered “How-” I just shook my head. She really didn’t want to know how. “We can’t stop Oryx ourselves, what do we do? How can we fight an army?” I looked at her, but I had no answer. “We have to leave, don’t we…” She understood. There was nothing we could do here. This place couldn’t be saved “I’ll miss this place.” She looked down, as if recalling all the time she had spent in this place. She looked back up, then turned around, “Alert the Queen,” she said to her lieutenant, “Tell her to secure the palace. Go into hiding.” “Come to the Tower. It’s the only safe place as long as Oryx is here.” Sierra suggested. The Speaker wouldn’t be happy about refugees, especially not a follower of Osiris and some Fallen. “Alright.” Petra replied after a moment of contemplation. Again she turned, “Everyone onto the shuttles.” She called through the large, semi crowded room. “Variks, take the Skiff, rendezvous with us before we arrive at the Tower. Don’t want them shooting you down. Squads three through five get ready to launch fighters as cover for the transports. Squads one and two, come with me. We’re taking that hangar.” She finished with a steely determination. I ran across the room to see Variks while Sierra stayed with Petra.He was standing amongst his several Fallen vandals and a captain and seemed to be hurt, favoring his staff more than usual. As I approached the group of Fallen, two vandals turned to face me, staffs raised, growling. I stepped back, hands raised. I drew the knife Variks had given me, and showed it to them, it bore the emblem of the house of judgement. They lowered their staffs and let me pass. Variks nodded to me as I approached. I nodded in return and said, “You’re hurt?” as I gestured at his leg. “Only a shot,” he answered, “I haven’t been shot in long time… It will heal soon…” “Good to hear.” I said. Again he nodded, “Good luck against the Taken… We will speak soon…” I ran back to the doors where Petra and Sierra stood with a dozen or so Awoken guards. Two explosions could be heard outside the door, accompanied by several screams. Then a third explosion, this one much closer. Petra waived for the doors to be opened and we all readied our weapons, Sierra and I at the front. The doors swung apart to the sight of the guards dead. Their corpses bloody or burnt. There was a Taken Cabal colossus wielding a flamethrower in the center of the hangar with a Taken wizard and two Taken knights. The colossus roared loudly as Sierra and I charged towards them, stopping just short of the top of the steps to take cover. The two groups of Awoken quietly took flanking positions, directed by Petra. “Think you’re ready to try that Shadow Shot?” I asked Sierra. “Might as well try right?” she replied. “Not if-” I tried to say as she ran up the rest of the stairs and leapt into the air. The Cabal looked up at her as she summoned a bow of void light and fired an arrow straight at it. As soon as the arrow made contact, it shot tendrils of light in all directions seeking out other Taken. They grabbed hold of the wizard and the knight and held them in place. The Awoken guards sprung from their hiding places and opened fire on the colossus. The monstrous Cabal roared again and fell, dropping its weapon. The wizard broke free of the tendrils and flew towards some of the Awoken. It threw an orb of darkness, much like the ones on Phobos, which made contact with an Awoken, who disappeared instantly, leaving only a pained scream. The other Awoken guards scattered in terror of what they had just witnessed. I fired a few shots at the wizard to get its attention. It turned my direction just in time to see me unleash a barrage of arc light into it. I dropped back to the ground from my Storm Trance, and looked up to see the tendrils of void light vanish as Sierra ran at one of the Knights. “Sierra!” I screamed as the towering Taken swatted her away with its massive sword. I sprinted onto the central platform as the Awoken guards opened fire on the knights. Sierra lay on the ground across the hangar, motionless. I threw bolt after bolt of arc energy into the knight as it staggered backward and eventually vaporised into energy. The second knight caught me off guard and knocked me to the ground. I looked around, dazed from the hit. My rifle slid away from me, not that it mattered, the knight had its huge hoot on my chest and its sword raised. Well then, I thought, so this is how I die. A knife, flew towards the knight, hitting it in the right side of the head. It merely bounced off but the knight looked over to where it had come from. It got hit again, this time, by a rocket. The knight’s body flew off of me, falling limp and crumbling into bones as it slid across the hangar. I looked to my right to see Sierra standing there, reloading her launcher. I ran over to her and hugged her, more relieved than I can even explain. “Ow, ow, ow” she said. I let go and looked at her, “Let’s keep our distance from them from now on.” I said, smiling under my helmet. “Deal.” She responded. “Shuttles and fighters, now!” Petra called to everyone in the hangar. “Echo, Scarlet,” said through my comm to the Ghosts, “Let’s go.” “Alright,” Echo replied, “situation’s not much better out here though.” He noted as we teleported back to our ships. I climbed into the cockpit and looked out the window. Echo was right. It certainly wasn’t much better. Prologue/directory [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139146382/0/0[/url]