Military Occupation
The nurse entered the X-ray room and assisted the doctor there. Just then, the real Dr. Harko walks into the room, "Justin, can you deliver this diagnosis to Dr. Dimmesdale for me?"
"Sure, Dr. Harko. Did you deliver my forms to Dr. Bray?"
Harko looked confused, "What forms?"
"The forms I gave you in the elevator?"
Dr. Harko craned his neck, "What elevator?"
Justin widened his eyes, shit! "The 5th floor! We need to find Leviathan!"
Dr. Harko and Justin rushed up the stairs to the fifth floor and barged into Leviathan's old room. Nothing looked different, except the sheet covered an entire body. Justin carefully walked in and removed the sheet from the bed. "Oh my Traveler!" He rushed to the bathroom just to throw up.
Dr. Harko-7 stared at the body with wide eyes, "That's Dr. Bray!" Justin was too busy vomiting at the sight of the bloodied naked corpse. Dr. Harko examined the corpse further, specifically at the neck. Decapitated, the worst way to die. He lifted the head just to see how bad her neck was cleaved, until he saw the spine still attached to her skull. "Oh Traveler!" Justin came back into the room just to see the spine outside of the body, then rushed back into the bathroom to vomit. Dr. Harko lowered the spine into the body, "Justin, summon a stretcher and 3 other nurses, and get Dr. Bray into the morgue! I'll contact the Vanguard!"
Leviathan-3 lurked in the City alleys at night, listening to the telespeakers spitting out news of his escape. I must warn Crota! The Rogue Titan produced a small hologram of Crota on his palm. "Master," he said, bowing, "I have escaped, but the Vanguard are searching for me. I need a more effective disguise."
"Patience, my Dredgen Bane. Your actions will be remembered as beneficial by many of your kind."
"I know I'll be a hero in the future, but what about now?"
"Disciple, not hero," Crota corrected, "As for your disguise, try to blend in. My powers are not enough to grant you this directly, but you can wipe their memories."
"How?"
"Plant a shard into their throat, and I will take care of the rest."
"I will do as you say."
"BUT!" Crota warned, "You can't hand out shards left and right. Conserve them, use them on stronger targets. Kill everyone else."
"Thy will be done, my lord."
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Max and Lilli zoomed towards Mars in their Jumpship. While Max's Ghost was busy piloting, Max and Lilli sat across from each other, conversing about their plan to take the Black Garden by storm when they land. Max eyed the hand cannon made of thorns holstered parallel to Lilli's leg, "Say, did Eris ever tell you what to do next with that thing?"
The Hunter shook her head, "No, she didn't." She didn't mention anything about the whispers emanating from the weapon, nor did she mention what the whispers told her about the World-breaker. For all she knew, the whispers were getting louder and louder with each kill she made.
The ship beeped and the Ghost said, "We're here!" The three of them touched down on the surface of Mars, far enough so that no one would see them. Mars used to be a planet of financial prosperity, with the city of Freehold and the Clovis Bray corporation as its crown jewels. Now, it was just a red desert, with small rocks, large cliffs, dunes, and plateaus peeking through every once in awhile, all under the iron grip of a heavily militaristic race known as the Cabal.
"Well that's just great," Max's Ghost briefed the pair, "The Cabal have a lock on our orbital comms, which means we have no way of going back to our ship, summoning our Sparrows, or even contacting the Vanguard."
"So," Lilli said, "We'll break into one of their bunkers, disable their systems, and head over to the Black Garden."
The Ghost shook his head. "Have you ever tried breaking into a Cabal mainframe? It is covered in firewalls. No one can get past it."
"No one?" Max eyed suspiciously.
"Yeah, the last Guardians that were here barely survived the Cabal alone. They tripped the alarms looking for Golden Age tech, and almost died from a Sand Eater battalion. They only survived because they revived each other and refused to die permenantly."
"So don't trip any alarms? Got it!"
The Cabal build outposts out of a mixture of the plainest and most common alloys in the Universe. When mixed correctly, and under specific conditions, the new metal is strong enough to withstand 7 Hydrogen bombs. The outposts are plain and simple: large spaces for soldiers, equipment, and tanks. Their Firebases, on the other hand, are so huge that it takes up a square Megameter just for the stockpiles, and the other 999 to store equipment, tanks, dropships, and their troops. Within their forts, there are checkpoints at every gate, all run by a single computer.
After breaking into a nearby outpost and walking through a tunnel, the Guardians took a right and arrived in a large room with one terminal about 30 degrees to the left. "There!" Max declared, "We could-"
"Hack it?" Lilli scoffed, "Your Ghost already said it's too difficult!"
"And we'll get caught!" added the Ghost.
"Come on, guys!" The Warlock said, "We have to at least try."
Reluctantly, the Ghost floated over to the terminal, "Um, why won't you guys help me?"
Max and Lilli followed and began typing, while the Ghost scanned every line of code. Everything was going well, up until Lilli shouted, "SON OF A -! IT JUST ASKED FOR AN ACCESS KEY!" Then the alarms blared, and so too did the Cabal from all corners.
800 pounds, 7 feet tall, hulking frames, decked out on weapons and armor with jet packs, the Cabal blew up planets and moons just for getting in their way, if they were seen as worthless. A typical Cabal footsoldier is the Legionary, equipped with a traditional Slug Rifle. The Phalanx is like the Legionary, except that they held shields that could take an infinite amount of punishment, made from the same materials as their bases. Centurions are equipped with Projection Rifles that lob mini missiles, and have a solar shield as defense; and Colossi are heavy hitters with heavy armor, their weapon of choice is the Heavy Slug Rifle, capable of firing 120 shots per minute. The only exceptions to the description were the Psions: small, hyper-intelligent, wielded Slug Rifles, and capable of throwing you into a wall with their minds.
20 Legionaries, 10 Phalanxes, and 5 Centurions hopped out of a dropship. The Hunter threw two of her traditional grenades at the cluster, killing the soldiers and leaving 4 Centurions still breathing. Max shot at their helmets, popping them off and exposing them to the fresh Martian air. Another ship, dropping twice as much as before. "Man alive!" Max said, "No wonder everyone was afraid of Mars. These guys just won't quit!"
"But neither will we!" said Lillianna, and she charged at the Cabal, jumping away from slug rifle bullets, firing back at the Legionaires, and stabbing every Phalanx that came from the second ship. After slicing, dicing, and shooting through her foes, another Cabal dropship came, carrying 4 times the amount of the first ship, and Max blew all of them away with one Nova Bomb. A Centurion, gasping for air from his helmet started moving towards his own Slug Rifle, until Lilli stabbed him in the neck and pickpocketed his keycard. She jammed it into the console and the alarms died. The Exclusion Zone was finally overridden.
"Phew!" The Warlock was relieved, "That was a close one! Let's go!" The Guardians pulled out their Sparrows, and raced each other through the valley, past the Scablands, and into Giant's Pass.
Another dropship came into the Pass, dropped 40 Psions, their Bracus, and left. The Psions, given their mental abilities, proved to be a greater challenge than we thought. We fired upon some of them, but they kept projecting their psionic blasts against us. "Ok," Max said, "Plan B?"
The Hunter shot down 10 Psions with her Hand Cannon, another 10 with her new Void-infused Sniper, and placed 3 Golden shots into the Bracus. Then she took the keycard, pointed to the dead Bracus, said, "That is Plan B!" and she rode off in her Sparrow. Max followed her to the Valley of the Kings
Valley of the Kings was enormous compared to the Barrens or Scablands. On the left was a large Vex gate shaped like a ring, standing on its own and backed by nothing at all. On the right was a Cabal watchtower, standing against a big alcove in the rock. Straight ahead was a path that led to a Cabal tank, parked into the rock. Lilli used the security card in the watchtower to access the Cabal's database. "Oookaayyy," she said, "This is bad."
Max asked, "What is it?"
"Well," Lilli continued, "the Gate is locked by a confluence trapped in Firebase Rubicon."
"And that's a problem because?"
"Rubicon is commanded by Primus Sha'aull, and overseen by Valus Ta'aurc. They are two of the toughest Cabal commanders in this system, the other three being Valui Mua'aul and Tlu'urn, and Primus Ta'aun on Phobos."
Max widened his eyes, "5 commanders in control of Mars, a Vex army brewing to convert this planet, and now we're on the run from our own City!? How can this day become any worse!?"
"Exactly!" Lilli exclaimed, "So why don't we make it a tad easier?" and she rushed off to the Cabal tank.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Max called after her.
On the inside, the tank could hold 2 battalions, but was mostly filled with tunnels. The only two rooms on the tank were the sleeping quarters for the soldiers, and the other was the Valus's office and bedroom. The pair powered through the Legionaries and Centurions, and reached the Valus's room, which was a huge room with lots of metal pillars, almost resembling a closed Roman Temple. The Valus was a huge Colossus, wearing the Siege Dancer banners on a 'T' shaped rod strapped to his back. He greeted his 'guests' with a Heavy Slug Rifle and a volley of missiles.
Max and Lilli immediately took cover, but the Valus wouldn't stop firing. Max ran from giant pillar to small cover, advancing himself until he could easily hit Ta'aurc with a Nova Bomb, denting his back armor. Ta'aurc retaliated with a volley of missiles at Max, killing him. Lilli quickly picked up his Ghost and revived him behind cover. Max shook off the confusion, "Oof! That really smarts!"
Legionaries came out of nowhere, and Lilli decided to throw everything she had on the Valus; grenades, knives, and bullets included. Max launched another Nova Bomb and Vortex Grenade, almost exhausting himself in the process. Lilli drew him back into cover before he could be killed again. Ta'aurc's Heavy Slug Rifle and missiles began to tear into the pillars, desperate to find a viable target. Then Lilli got an idea, "Max, how fast can you run?"
"Very. Why do you ask?"
"Because I want you to run from pillar to pillar, avoiding the gunfire."
Max eyed her suspiciously, "Why?"
"The only way to kill a tank is to bury it," and Lilli began to run away. Max ran in the opposite direction, each drawing the Valus's gunfire into the pillars. Ta'aurc growled in rage and launched 20 missiles at the Guardians, all 20 missed and hit the pillars instead. Lilli threw another hand-made grenade at the Valus, prompting him to destroy the pillar she hid behind, the last pillar in the room. The roof rumbled, she cried out, "RUN!" They ran as fast as they could, Lilli led the way out, Max lobbed Nova Bombs at the remaining supports in the tank, effectively and literally bringing the house down on top of Valus Ta'aurc.
Max and Lilli panted outside the ruined tank, "Phew! One Valus down, one Primus and one Vex Confluence to go."
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Cayde stood over his maps, trying to look like he's planning another assault into the Cosmodrome. In reality, he was actually listening to his Ghost give her whispered report on Mars. "Cayde," Sundance informed, "Your protege and her partner have taken down the Cabal Exclusion Zone on Mars, and from Lilli's news, they've killed a Cabal Valus."
Cayde smirked, "Good job, Lilli! And thanks Sundance!"
"Just don't tell Zavala," she warned.
"Why would I?" Cayde returned to his maps contentedly. Zavala stared at him for a minute, suspicious of his whispering, then went back to his own plans. The Commander ordered, "Fireteam Arbiter, I'm authorizing you to go to Mars and take out the Psion Flayers."