The projectile came hurtling through space in a fiery burst of radiant oranges and exorbitant reds; the detonation upon impact was debilitating. It shook Greer’s vessel and all of his crew to their very cores, and—for a fleeting moment—Greer, himself. It rocked the ship to and fro, not unlike angry waves thrashing around a tiny boat lost at sea, and, just like the captain of a tiny boat, Greer felt sick to his stomach. Sparks exploded out of the silver paneling on the main console and went skittering across the floor; bodies were forcefully flung from their seats; head trauma cases were in abundance; pure chaos ensued...and Greer was helpless to stop it. Greer had always heard stories of captains going down with their ships in a valiant display of heroism, honor, and integrity. They would stand on their main decks, heads held high while giving the salute of the Guardians, but hearing about these chivalrous tales of courage, and actually experiencing the moment of death for himself were two separate matters entirely. Fear and panic ran rampant inside of him, and as the proton torpedos and whatever other artillery peppered his ship, all he could think of was saving himself; that’s exactly what he did. “Sir! Our ship has no power! We cannot activate our shields or thrusters or engines or anything! We are sitting ducks!” It was his XO, QX-1, who was screaming at him. “We do not have the capabilities to withstand much more of this! We have to do something!” As the Exo yelled at Greer, more missiles bombarded the ship. Fires were erupting on the bridge, corpses were lining the floor, more were dead than alive; this was the end. “Do something!” “And what would you have me do, Q? What miracle would you like me to perform for you? Would you like me to get down on one knee and say a prayer to the Heavens? For a savior to transcend down to us and save us from this fate?” Greer’s answer was too poetic for QX-1 and only fueled the robot’s rage. “F*ck you, Greer! You always were a cowardice piece of shit, and now you’re finally getting what you deserve. My only remorse is that you have taken the lives of your crew with you when it should be you, and only you, who pays for their deeds with blood.” The next explosion knocked Greer and Q to the floor in a tangle of limbs. Q continued to spout obscenities and curses at his captain. “Everything I did, Q, I did for the good of the Commonwealth. I did it for the people of Earth, I did it to protect them.” “Bullshit! You did it for your own vanity. Time and time again you’ve spat in the face of authority, blatantly ignored direct orders from The Speaker himself, and now that all the cards are beginning to fall, you say whatever you [i]think[/i] will soothe your guilty conscience. Well, I say to you, sir, that it’s too late for that. And you will pay for your sins with your life.” It was with that, that Greer began to laugh. “Maybe you will, robot, but as for me, I’m going to live to see another day. And I promise you that whoever is behind this attack will pay dearly. But as for you and I, this is where it ends.” It was without another word that Greer stood up on shaky legs and quickly began to navigate his way through the bodies and carnage that bestrew his ship’s main bridge. “Greer! God damn you, Greer! Damn you to Hell!” But Greer’s ears were too far out of reach to hear. And it was a manual override lever that was his salvation, because the lever controlled a heavy metallic door that led to an emergency escape pod deep in the bowels of his ship. He heaved and groaned, and with a mighty shove, the door screeched against metal bearings and gears as it slid open. Once inside, he immediately began working on restoring power to the tiny pod. He had to manually prime the charge to the pod’s mainframe and engines. It was a red-handled lever that he had to pump from side to side until he generated enough wattage for the main power to kick on and supply energy to the rest of the pod’s functions. The pod shook furiously as the rest of Greer’s ship shook and began to fall to pieces. He frantically pumped, while the temperature of the interior began to rise to alarming levels. The last conscious thought Greer had was of Mara Sov; the love of his life. [i]Death to the Wolves: Run...(Chapter 3: Part II)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/184089919/0/0 [i]Death to the Wolves: Chapter Index[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/184038227/0/0