“Where's Lord Gideon?” Laurel Heron asked from the copilot seat. She spun the cylinder of her Last Word, making sure it was loaded.     “No idea, he’s not responding,” Matson Murdock replied. “But there's no way the Red Legion hasn't gotten here yet.” The ship cut through the stormcloud and was met with the occupation and destruction of the City. Fire deformed the faces of skyscrapers, smoke reached as high as the Traveler, death lingered in the air.     “My god…” Laurel gawked before swallowing the lump out of her throat. “What are they doing to the Traveler?!” the warlock exclaimed after seeing the star-shaped device adhered to the shell of the savior of Earth.     “I… I don't know,” Matson replied. The hunter scanned the warzone, looking for something. “There!” he screamed. “There's the command-ship! The Primus must still be aboard!”     “Good,” Laurel said to her partner. She turned to her ghost, Crimson, to transmit a message. “Tower Vanguard, this is Fireteam Ares. We are assaulting the Primus’ ship. Are any Vanguard personnel on board?” Only static was played back. “I'm not getting a reply, Mat.”     “All right, buddy, give me a scan of the ship,” Matson said to his gold ghost, Panoptes.     After a moment Panoptes said, “The ship has no Guardians; just Cabal.”     “Laurel, prepare the arc charges. I'll make a sweep over the ship,” Matson declared. The starship banked sharply to the right and flew over the top of the ship, designated as the [i]Immortal[/i]. He warmed up the chain gun and pelted the Cabal cruiser with heavy fire; its shields deflected the oncoming bullets. “All right… Let ‘em go!” Matson shouted.     Laurel pressed a button on her dash, then dozens of bombs dropped from the ship. They carpeted the [i]Immortal[/i] but the only thing that happened was the ship's shields recycled. However, the heavy attack was enough to get the attention of all of the batteries aboard the ship. The Guardians began taking return fire; it took everything Matson had to dodge the anti-aircraft turrets.     “We pissed them off now,” Panoptes declared.     “Not helping!” Crimson screamed.     BANG! The Guardians’ ship exploded after taking a shell right through the fuselage. Crimson revived Laurel on the hull of the ship, and Panoptes revived Matson. The hunter peered off over the edge and watched the rooftops pass by. The City looked so helpless and feeble from up there; the Cabal had a way of making their foes seem weak.     Matson turned around then wondered at the rings of energy; he carefully studied the technology, then in the blink of an eye, his head was gone and his body fell over like a cut tree. Laurel screamed and covered her mouth, which was purely instinctual since she was wearing a helmet. The warlock ran over and channeled her Light into Panoptes and revived Matson again; this time she dragged him away from the channel. They both stood back and watched as pods were being propelled forward by the rings; electromagnetic propulsion.     “Incoming!” Crimson screamed. The Guardians spun around to see a centurion escorted by psion engineers. Laurel focused Light into her hand, then cast it onto the ground as a rift of regeneration. Matson took his No Land Beyond sniper rifle from his back and caused one of the psion’s heads to explode. The centurion lobbed a void blast their way; even though it was short, the void radiation still ate the Guardians. Had Laurel not planted the rift, they would have been consumed.     Matson chambered a new bullet and shot at the centurion; its shields absorbed the shot and left the Cabal unphased. “Laurel, could you bring down its shields?” He asked.     The warlock conjured a solar grenade and threw it into the center of the Cabal; the remaining psions were scorched and killed instantly, but the centurion was able to escape. Matson fired a shell of lead into its body, killing it, before he and Laurel disappeared in the inner-workings of the [i]Immortal[/i].     Laurel and Matson ran along the multiple tiers of the ship, fighting wave after wave of Cabal troops. Eventually they they found themselves at an airlock that Panoptes said hid the shield generator; the ghost opened the lock and the team was met by an incendior, a Cabal flametrooper. The beast ignited the floor in fire and Matson was quick to dodge out of the way, but Laurel embraced the flame. Matson shot the Cabal with void-infused shotgun lead and broke its shields; Laurel then plastered a solar grenade to it. The grenade melted through the armor, ignited the oil, charred the flesh, [i]then[/i] it exploded.     The duo of Guardians continued through the doors then saw the massive piece of technology that powered the ship. Two arms spun clockwise while another pair spun counterclockwise, making it an intimidating system to navigate. Nonetheless, Matson jumped down and found a turbine, which powered the coolant system. He pulled out his knife and imbued it with arc Light. He held the knife at the edge of the turbine and let the plasma slice through the turbine blades.     Laurel reached a second turbine and riddled the gears with bullets, causing it to fall apart. She jumped up and ran to the third turbine; Crimson warned her that one of the arms was coming around, so the warlock ran as fast as she could. She was almost at the next socket, but the arm rolled over her and crushed her.     “Laurel!” Matson screamed.     Laurel exploded and sprouted glorious, flaming wings from her back. She slid to the third turbine and cast several solar grenades into the gears and welded the pieces together. With two of the turbines destroyed, and the third jammed, the shield generator ignited into flames and the shields deactivated. All that was left to do was escape and call in a bombing run.     The Guardians reached the surface of the [i]Immortal[/i] and called for an airlift, but their signals were jammed. Laurel looked around and watched as ships exploded and crashed, then she turned to the Traveler. “Oh god…” she muttered. The star-shaped device had sprouted arms that wrapped around the Traveler.     “What are they doing?” Matson asked.     “It's the beginning,” a voice said from behind them. Laurel and Matson turned around to see a massive Cabal in white armor. “of a new Golden Age of the Red Legion… and of your demise.”     “It's the Primus,” Matson declared as he channeled arc Light into his knife again. He ran forward and launched a wave of arc energy toward the Cabal. The Primus deployed an energy shield and absorbed the shockwave. In turn, Matson was stunned. He tried again, trying to force his blade through the barrier, but the shield resisted.     The knife, hot from the electricity around it, was misshapen by the seemingly solid wall it tried to pass through. Matson took a step back and looked at his mangled piece of metal. “Behold,” the Primus said as he gestured to the Traveler. An energy projection was emitted from the massive device and it completely surrounded the Traveler.     Crimson’s eye flickered then faded, and the ghost fell into Laurel’s hand. “Mat?” the warlock said as she felt her head; she felt extremely weak, and soon collapsed. Next, Panoptes fell to the ground, then Matson felt the effects; his fingers felt numb and he dropped the knife, then he fell to his hands and knees. Matson looked around as the fighting seemed to stop; Guardian ships began nose-diving into buildings and exploding, killing the Guardians, and any Cabal and civilians below; and Cabal harvesters turned back and made way for the carriers to deploy troops.     “I am Ghaul,” the beast said to Matson as he reached for Panoptes. “and your Light is mine!” Ghaul backhanded the hunter, launching him across the hull of the ship and over the edge.     “Matson!” Laurel screamed as she looked over the edge; the hunter already disappeared beneath the cover of smoke. She clenched Crimson and held her close, and before Ghaul could reach her, she shut her eyes and descended to the City.