Delta opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He didn’t have the heart to say the words. And he didn’t have to. The ghost watched his expression turn grim, and she understood. “No… Not her. Not my sweet Alex! My guardian!” “I… I’m sorry,” Delta managed. The ghost began to flail about in distraught and disbelief. “Y-You have her body, don’t you? I can still bring her back if-” She stopped as Delta just shook his head. “Her body was lost to the Hive swarms of the moon’s core.” “NOOOO!” she screamed. “I have FAILED!” The little ghost began to wander the room aimlessly as she began to emit strange wailing noises in grief. Delta moved in front of her and wrapped both his hands around her shell, pulling her in close to his chest. “I’m so, so sorry…” he whispered. The Warlock and ghost stayed there as the rest of the guardians watched solemnly from outside of the doorway, save for Solomon, who was busy at the central console. The station shook again, more violently that time, and red lights began to flash. Solomon punch a few buttons and pulled down on a nearby lever. “Reentry in thirty seconds!” he called. “Get ready!” The guardians immediately scrambled to find something to hold onto. Delta brought Alex’s ghost to eye level. “I want you to stay with me until this is over.” The ghost just dipped her shell in agreement and disappeared into his armor matrices. Then the exo dove into the corner of the room behind a counter and braced as the station collided with the atmosphere. There were several jerks and explosions as the centuries old facility struggled to keep itself together. Fire consumed the station’s exterior as it fell further to the planet’s surface, bathing the control deck in a haunting orange light. Amazingly, the bulk of the station and spire managed to hold together for several minutes. “We are nearly there!” yelled Solomon. “Brace for impact!” Delta shoved his feet forward against the counter in preparation and got ready for the crash, when a voice sounded in his head. “Guardian!” his ghost warned. “What’s wrong?” pressed the Warlock, trying hard to resist the building g-forces. “The station! It’s beginning to tilt on its axis! At this current rate, it will tear itself apart before we can reach the ground!” Delta grew worried. “Can we stop it?!” The ghost hesitated for a split second. “We can’t… but I can.” Delta’s optics widened. “What? No! We can do this!” “It’s too far, and Solomon won’t be able to reach the necessary thruster controls. Please. Let me do this. Or we could all die.” Before Delta could say another word, his ghost materialized and flew off into the next room. “I just need to find that control panel,” it said. “I can do this. I can do this.” Another explosion rocked the station as the guardians struggled against the speed of freefall. Delta’s ghost zoomed across the deck, arriving at last at the correct console, and began to zap away at it. “Ghost, how are we doing?!” Delta called over the comms. “I’ve almost got it!” Another explosion rang out from beneath them. “Oh no. I’m losing control of the trajectory!” yelled Solomon. “Ghost?!” “I know!” it shouted. “Almost there…” BOOM! The control deck collapsed as one last explosion tore through its base. “Ghost!” The blast sent a wave of billowing flames in all directions, consuming the spire. Then everything went black. ………… Delta woke to the calm sound of smoldering flames. He allowed a minute or two for his optics to focus, his sight slowly becoming clear. He was surprised to be looking up at the night sky, but something was different about it. There were no stars. There was only smoke. Alarmed, the exo tried to sit up, only to be met with a sharp pain in his left arm. He looked over to see a massive piece of scrap metal crushing his arm. Instinctively, he reached out with the void in an attempt to disintegrate the metal. Nothing happened. He tried again, but no power came to him. “Ghost!” he called out. There was no answer. “Ghost!” The night was silent except for the faint crackle of burning wreckage. “Ross?! Adriar!” Nothing. “Fireteam Shiloh, come in! Does anyone copy?!” “Delta…” The exo perked up at the sound of his name, then lightly gasped as he realized that it came from within his own helmet. Above him materialized a familiar maroon shell. Alex’s ghost hovered low above him, as if she were barely able to keep herself afloat. “Delta, something’s… wrong. The light… It’s gone.” Delta gaped in shock. That would explain why he couldn’t summon the void. But how was that even possible? He closed his eyes. He had no other choice now. He took a few deep breaths, bracing for the pain, then pulled on his arm as hard as he possibly could. He screamed as it groaned and snapped. There was an ugly metallic sound as his arm was suddenly torn from its socket. The pain was brutal, but Delta found he could now sit up, the space beneath his left shoulder sparking. Delta evaluated the rest of his body. He had some serious scratches and scorch marks all over, but everything remained functional. He noticed Alex’s ghost struggle to stay in the air, and placed a hand beneath her so she could rest. “Thanks,” she managed. Delta nodded and carefully rose to his feet. He was caught off guard by the soft feeling of grass beneath him. He was surrounded by some burning remains of the space station, but not as much as he initially expected. He probably had been ejected from the deck when it exploded. “So… where am I?” he muttered to himself. “There is a light just over the hill,” squirmed the ghost in his hand. “It is likely the wreckage of the rest of the station.” Delta immediately broke into a limping run. If their light was gone, his friends could be seriously injured, or worse. The hill was steep, and it put a lot of strain on his weakened legs, but he didn’t let that stop him. He reached the top of the hill, only to be met with a horrific sight. The fiery light did not belong to the space station, but rather the Last City. The crumbling walls were dark against the fires that raged within, filling the sky with black smoke. Above the City, Cabal ships amassed around the great Traveler. An enormous, strange device was attached the sphere’s surface, covering it in a shield of suppressive energy. The exo dropped to his knees. He did not know where his friends were, or if they had survived. His ghost was likely dead. The light was gone. The Cabal had won. Delta just stared in disbelief at the utter devastation. Using his only arm, he held Alex’s ghost close to him as reality settled upon his world. It was over. The Last City had fallen. [b]Author's Note:[/b] This marks the end of Delta Book 1. It took many months to finish this thing, and I appreciate those of you that waited around to finally see it end. Thank you so much for reading! [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/224417569?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=1]The Hub[/url]