[b]Note #1:[/b] hello, dear reader. This is my first fan fiction ever, so I would like to personally thank you for taking a short time to read what I hope can develop into a fully-fledged storyline. Please express any thoughts in the comments. Thanks! [b]Note #2:[/b] I already posted this in that fan fiction group, but since it isn't public, you can't see it. Here you go, rest of the forums! [b]KASKA[/b] Kaska sneezed, the dust of Jupiter entering her lungs. Her and her escort had been walking along the Red Desert for days, the heat and dust blinding the Fallen. Her escort consisted of three Dregs, including herself, a Vandal, her cousin Trevis, and a Captain, Baron of Storms Oxis. They were all that remained of House Rain. Kaska was born after the Whirlwind, her mother, wife of the Kell, dying giving birth. Trevis and Oxis had found her on her mother's deathbed, and fled to an outpost on a dwarf planet not far outside the Milky Way. House Rain, and Kaska's father, fell to the Darkness. Kaska and the remnants of her House remained silent and moved quietly, trailing the tail of the Eliksni fleet. Unfortunately, when the Fallen followed the Great Machine to Earth, Kaska's group was caught in the onslaught of the darkness and the cataclysm that wrecked the system. Her Skiff had crash landed on Jupiter, and they had been moving from Jovian outpost to outpost for months. Kaska's legs dragged on, eventually getting stuck in the sand. She fell to her knees, and all looked back in shock. "Hah... Huff..." Her gown that she had stolen from a dead Jovian at the last outpost was strewn with dust, it's soft feel gone, replaced with a sandpaper-like uncomfortableness. "Are you alright, my Kell?" Oxis asked, kneeling in the sand. His only weapons, a shock blade and pistol, glowed with energy. "I am fine, Oxis. Thank you." She took his hand, and stood back up. "How much farther? I cannot handle the heat." "Perhaps several miles. Jovian outposts tend to be quite distant from each other," said a Dreg, Grekos. He had only a knife and a keg of Ether. Trevis gazed into the sky, as though waiting for a signal from someone or something. "Look," he spoke softly, "a Cabal ship." He pointed into the sky, as a Harvester pulled into orbit from one of the moons, blowing up a large dust storm. It flew over them, seemingly taking no notice, and went off in the distance. "Should we follow it?" asked another Dreg, Bhetus. "Yes." Oxis answered. They headed off, not knowing what would happen. Soon they reached a large crater, and peered over the edge of the sand dune. Kaska gasped as dust blew up over them, blinding her from her allies. She heard shouts and screams, and saw Ether rise from an unknown source. She screamed as a large hand grasped her arm and pulled her down the hill, her mind racing as she saw Oxis' and Bhetus' decapitated bodies. [i]I am the storm,[/i] Kaska thought, but she couldn't shake the fear. The arm swung at her head. With a swift blow, she was out.