Ep. 4 - A Plan, and a Tower

As MoonRay was plotting the course and, well, checking that we didn't crash into a fucking planet or asteroid, I was currently in the pilot seat staring into the air.

'Now that I am here, I realise that I miscalculated a little. From my memories, it seems things are a little different from what they were in the game. This being an actual real universe 'I' changed some parts of the campaign. First and most important: Cayde is alive! Yeah, so, I got to him on time. He was still shot and lost his Ghost, but I managed to preserve his mind. All I needed to do after that was to build a new body for him and voila Cayde-6 v.2. Maybe I should say Cayde-7. Good thing I preserved his entire being, personality, memory and all. His Ghost was lost and I could do nothing about it. Either way, onto the next point: I fucked up.

I wanted an exciting adventure so I chose this universe, but in order to 'spawn in' in a safe environment I decided to regain control of this body after the story. I did experience everything but it was like watching a movie through my memories. A damn good movie and it was still very exciting, but now I am either left with lazing around or killing low-level mobs that still plague the solar system. I should have asked to be sent after Destiny 1. While the options are few, that is limited to this universe. And I am NOT limited to this universe. We are currently experiencing peace and post-war reconstruction, so the Vanguard is more lenient about the Guardians' activities. This leaves me with two possibilities of which only one is viable: inventing some lame ass excuse, or a decent one (depends on what I can come up with), and jumping to another universe, hopefully something nice.'

Reaching a conclusion and formulating a plan, I talked with MoonRay: "Hey, MoonRay. Do you remember all of those Exodus missions? We encountered Exodus Black on Nessus."

"Yeah, there was also Exodus Green, I think, that led to the Awoken and all that super complicated stuff. Do you want to know about a specific mission?" MoonRay responded, already knowing where I was going with that question.

"Exactly. Was there any mission leading outside the Solar system? Maybe another galaxy?" I asked, already seeing a possible excuse to leave this universe temporarily.

"There were some. From the records we know that most were destroyed, but there are a couple that were never heard of again. Do you want to go and 'search' for them?"

"Oh, MoonRay, you know me so well. I am touched! And, yes, we will go and 'search' for these Exodus program 'survivors'." faking a little tear, I began finalising this plan. 'Ok, excuse secured. Now I need to convince the vanguard. Theoretically, I am a warlock, so Ikora is my representative. She should agree as this is a good chance to scout the rest of the universe's threats. Plus knowledge, so yeah. If needed, Cayde wouldn't be too hard to convince. Although I would like to bring him with me I can't. We need to be on the same ship as my wish was to be able to jump universes with my ship. Asking another Guardian to ride on the same ship would be too suspicious. Lastly, Zavala. If he does not agree with Ikora I will have to slap him with my results as a Guardian and convince him that nothing would happen and will be beneficial. Now that I think about it, the Universe Jump Drive (UJD) on the ship distorts space to look like an anomaly. I can attribute my long absence to this 'anomaly' and do whatever the fuck I want.' I thought, getting sidetracked by the new gimmick on the ship, 'This leaves me with preparations. My body does not need food, as it uses the Light as an energy source and I am quite literally a Light generator. The ship and sparrow do not need fuel, so that is fine. I do not need repairs as everything is in perfect condition. I might want to stock up on ammo, even though I can just create the materials and then make it myself. This leaves me with getting myself used to my abilities.'

"MoonRay, I have a pretty good idea about what to do. The ship is in perfect condition, my equipment as well. Everything I will actually use is virtually indestructible thanks to Xad'el's slip-up, and I do not need food or energy. We will do a quick stop at the Tower, get the green light for our 'mission', get some ammo just in case I can't craft it myself, spend a day so that I can do some tests, and then get the fuck out of this boring universe. Now that I have knowledge on space folding, ascendant realms, and dimensional jump devices I can make an interdimensional communicator and a 'waypoint' so that we can always return here. I also want to make some adjustments to the ship and sparrow." Tula communicated to his partner.

"Sure, I'll leave the ship in the hangar. We will leave tomorrow. you should also get some other supplies. It would be strange for a Guardian to go on probably the longest mission to date without a lot of stuff." She answered.

"Good point. How much time till Earth?"

"53 minutes remaining." MoonRay stated.

After exactly 48 minutes, the ship arrived near Earth, then slowed down, reaching the Tower in a few more minutes.

Being trasmated was a new yet familiar experience, as I remember the numerous times 'I' was trasmated yet never experienced it myself. After a few milliseconds to regain my composure, I went through my usual 'Tower routine': checked the Postmaster for any communication or news I missed, went to Banshee-44 to get my gear serviced, bought some supplies I 'needed' and a lot of ammo of all kinds, then went to Ikora.

Once I reached Ikora, I explained to her my mission, stating that it would be mainly a recon mission, potentially a rescue mission if the survivors were found. Convincing her took some time but she relented in the end, saying to not overdo it 'as usual'.

'Nice, I don't even need the other representatives' OK. Now, onwards to my provisional quarters. I will do some tests there.'

On my way to the quarters, I passed through the 'plaza'. There, I decided to go onto the higher level to look at the scenery.

'Man… This was pretty well done in the game but now… Now it's on a completely new level. I must take a photo.'

With that thought, I quickly saved this view in my memory. Perks of being an Exo. I then continued to make my way to the lower levels of the Tower. There were quarters for thousands of people, if one person took one room each. Once I reached the quarter with the code 'TA-28', MoonRay opened the door. All of my fireteam was currently on solo infiltration missions. I usually coordinated with 5 other great Guardians, so we basically reserved an entire floor of the Tower as our HQ. Zavala kinda wanted to protest, but clearing a few sectors of enemies in a single day shut him up. Contrary to what happened in the game, missions take a long time to complete, in particular infiltration, defense, and scouting missions. They can possibly take days up to years in some extreme cases.

'Getting lost in thought. I should send the others a communication before going away.'

With that thought, I entered my quarters, ready to experiment a little to prepare for my first trip.