[i]Edit: I decided to change the format and navigation of my current story to that of the other stories I have written. Basically, at the bottom of each chapter, you'll find the link to the proceeding chapter as well as the link to the chapter index. The chapter index will have all of the links to all of the chapters and their subsequent parts for easier navigation and less confusion. If anybody has any difficulty jumping from chapter to chapter or navigating backwards to previous chapters, please let me know. Thanks in advance, and I hope you all enjoy.[/i] The preparation of Greer’s ship took only half of a day; his crew’s prep time was even less. He had a sum of 144 highly skilled and highly trained aeronautical space engineers, technicians, maintenance personnel, medical professionals, and a handful of the deadliest Guardians the Academy had to offer; and they were all handpicked by him. However, despite being surrounded by plenty of humans, and Exos alike, Greer felt alone. He stood on the bridge of his ship, [i]Nibiru[/i], looking out at the humongous screen that projected the vast emptiness of the voids of space as they traversed through the uncharted territory. Greer wore his standard issue black and white checkered BDU with a black beret and a black vest while his crew wore their standard Blues. “Captain?” The voice came off to his left. Greer’s XO (or second in command) approached him with a mechanically fluid like motion. Greer would always get a chuckle out of the irony that his XO was actually an Exo in race; he loved to confuse people with it whenever the opportunity presented itself. “Yes, Q?” The Exo’s full given title was QX-1, but it made it simpler for everyone to just address him by his first letter. “I’ve just received notification from our CommSec division that we have just lost our secure connection with the Tower, and that we are finding no other waves or transmissions of any kind out here.” Q stood like any good robot would; arms by his sides, like a statue. “Thank you, but I am quite aware of that. And I honestly wouldn’t expect anything different.” Greer was quick to dismiss his XO as he rubbed the temples of his head with his fingers. “I would also like to bring to your attention that we are in the exact location to where the distress signal was broadcasted from, as per the Tower. As you can see,” Q turned and looked at the blank screen that showed nothing but space, “there is nothing here.” “Again…,” Greer replied quite angrily. Then, he said, “Information that I am already aware of.” His hands squeezed the pulsating veins located on his skull as he closed his eyes. “Shall I set the course for the Tower, sir? There is clearly nothing out here. So, it doesn’t make sense for us to stay any longer.” “Obviously there is something out here.” Greer’s hands moved back to grip the railing, his eyes moving to meet the red gaze of Q. “Emergency broadcasts aren’t just emitted to the galaxy for fun. I want you to set a two-parsec perimeter around this location. I want this ship to make one full loop of said perimeter; every scanner, every sensor, everything we’ve got I want on and searching for anything.” Q would have slumped his shoulders in dismay if he could. “But, sir, all we did along the way here was scan. Radar pings, sonar pings, and everything in between. We’ve already exhausted most of our resources in this exhibition, and we’ve found nothing. I strongly advise that we change course and return back to base. The fact that we’ve lost communication with the Tower is already a red flag that we should not proceed any further.” “Maybe you didn’t hear me,” the anger in Greer’s voice rising. “We are going to patrol this area, we are going to search this area until I deem it 100% devoid of any lifeform. I give a shit about protocols, I don’t give a shit about regulations, and I especially don’t give a shit about the Tower. We didn’t travel all this way to turn around and go back home empty handed.” A long moment of awkward silence passed before Q said, “You can’t have her, Greer.” It was said it such a way, such a human way, as if Q had stuck his tongue out and made a juvenile farting noise. “I don’t want [i]Her[/i], Q. I am fulfilling my duties and carrying out my orders...that’s it.” “She isn’t out here...and even if she were, do you really think that by ‘saving’ her, she would collapse at your feet and pledge her undying love for you?” After Q had spoken, nothing but more silence followed. A burning redness began to creep up into Greer’s neck and into his face. His jaws clenched tight as his eyes blazed with fury. “Mind your f*cking tongue, robot.” But as Q was about to reply, the lights on the main deck began to flicker. Then, they went out completely, and not even the emergency lights kicked on. That’s when Greer heard the main engines to his ship die out to nothing. The pistons and gears no longer turning, the giant ship floating helplessly through space. “I want everyone to start running diagnostics, reboot every station, every mainframe, every system. Check hard drives, cables, PLCs, chips. I want a full status report in 60 seconds.” But Greer’s orders weren’t carried out. Every screen, every monitor, including the large projection screen that was on the bridge, began to flash, flicker, and blink. First white, then black, then back to white, then back to black. Deafening screeches and squeals of white noise crackling through their speakers. They were being sharply cut off and restarted, the static burbled and popped. Suddenly, everything stopped. Just as soon as it all had started, it had all ended. All of the monitors were pitch black, but the symbol of the Guardians burned white in the dead center of the all of the screens...encased in a large red circle with a slash running through it. [i]Death to the Wolves: Contact...(Chapter 2: Part 2)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/167838642/0/0 [i]Death to the Wolves: Chapter Index[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/184038227/0/0