A/N: Can I PLEASE get a review? We've been at 210 for almost A MONTH.
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[Sanctuary, Ocean of Storms]
The six guardians walked through the gate, and an invisible weight came off their shoulders. Levi dropped from his Sparrow first and walked the last few metres towards the tent. Bandit and Cory coasted in behind him, their engines throttled cold. Tevis killed his engines and ground to a stop. Void cruised on his sparrow, Pahanin lifting the Hive sword he had torn from Garok's hands. The sparrow came to an abrupt stop as Void flared the sonic brakes.
All six guardians ducked into the nearest tent.
The four Nightstalkers went down in a controlled collapse onto the ground. Tevis sat but did not slacken all the way, the posture of a man whose rest was a calculation. Pahanin was still too absorbed; he lowered to one knee and laid the sword across his lap, quietly observing its patterns.
Void still stood in the entrance. He heaved a breath and glanced at the five, "I'll go to the Vanguard. Considering we only took down one, the rest still need to be handled."
Tevis rolled a shoulder and lifted his head. "And the plan?"
Void's mouth tipped a fraction. "Don't worry, I've got ideas." He shrugged then added, "It definitely won't be as easy as this."
Bandit groaned and flopped an arm over his eyes. Cory dragged both palms down his face, wishing he could rub it out of his eyes like a bad dream, and Levi half-raised a hand without looking. "You're a crazy bastard," he muttered, and flicked his fingers toward the flap as if shooing a stray dog.
Pahanin said nothing. He turned the Hive blade a fraction, sighted along the edge, and watched how lamplight rode its surface. Something in his shoulders did not relax.
Void nodded once and left them to relax.
Outside, the Sanctuary moved with the low insistence of survival. Runners ferried messages, a Titan patiently hammered an armour plate, a warlock mouthed out runes etched into a dusty scroll, and a few Hunters gathered around a fire to brood. Void looked around and then crossed to the long tent that served as the Vanguard's room.
Ikorra stood with her back to the flap, eyeing the map stretched over the wooden tables. Zavala held a slate in one hand and printed mission reports in the other, flicking from one page to the next. Cayde leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing.
"You're back already?" Cayde asked, genuine surprise in his tone.
"Just got back now," Void said, walking to the table and summoning Obsidian. "I've got good news, and I've got bad news. What do you want first?"
Zavala's gaze sharpened. "I'd much rather hear something pleasant. Moon's got quite the monopoly on the negatives."
Void held out his palm, and Obsidian's eye pulsed as he projected what went down. "We killed one of the Swarm Princes," he spoke up.
Ikorra did not let composure crack, but the breath she drew wavered. "That is.....incredible...How?"
"Well, I'll be damned. Ruthless bunch, you six. But...Slight question, what the hell is the bad news?" Cayde hummed.
Void grimaced. "The sword princes are also being tracked by hellmouth. Whatever happens, the Hive immediately find out." He continued, projecting the bell that echoed. "That's what happened here. Something rang when we killed it. On the climb out, Crota tried to reach us with dark fissures, cracks in the surface that tried to swallow us whole."
Ikorra's eyes went to the map without leaving him. "So the link they have to the sword isn't just one way.."
"That's what I think too," Void replied
"Which means," Cayde drummed the wooden table, his eyes flickering, "if you take the princes down one at a time, the Hive will definitely stop you."
Ikorra clicked her tongue, "Then we need to get the remaining sword princes at the same time."
Void chimed in, "That's exactly the plan, I already have a way to do it."
Zavala's jaw tightened, calculations ran in his mind, "What do you require?"
"Numbers," Void said. "New Lights. Guardians who can move through the moon unhindered. They did it once, did they not? Came all the way to Hellmouth to find me. They can do it again." He held Zavala's eye. "Get the New Lights here, use them to take out the princes—and while they do that, I go in to their Lair and distract them. It's the safest way."
Zavala did not answer at once. A heavy silence spread through the tent. "Risking New Lights in that place is a line we do not draw lightly," he said at last.
"You should've thought of that before you sent them to check on me." Void frowned, his voice lowered. "If we give the Hive the time to think, we'll lose. They're not foolish, they're not savages. The Hive are conquerors, perhaps even the greatest conquerors this universe has known. Underestimate them, and we'll end up another scroll in their archives."
Zavala sighed, his hand bracing his forehead.
Cayde tapped his foot, his eyes shifted to Void. "That aside, you want to go into hellmouth...alone?" His eyes slowly drifted to the sword at Void's side, "I don't know if you're brave, or idiotic. You feeling safe deep in there—that's the wish-dragon metal doing its trick?"
Void inclined his head. "It helps."
Ikorra's voice softened without losing steel. "Void, you're already doing a lot for the City. You paid for that help with something. I will ask this once more: are you certain you can afford to keep paying?"
"I already told you," Void said, not looking away. "I didn't." He let out a small breath. "It's nothing for you to worry about."
Cayde's mouth twitched like he wanted to argue and decided he didn't have the right. Zavala just silently accepted the deflection; eventually, he pressed both hands to the table. "Fine, get the New Lights here, but give me the details first."
" I go in first and loud. Outside the gate, Nightstalkers run the ribs with decoys and pressure—classic smoke and mirrors. Pahanin will keep most of them at bay with the Nightstalkers." Void pointed towards the paper map, circling the inverted fortress with his finger.
He traced a line to the perimeter of Hellmouth, "Then, through the Veil, squads of New Lights will move. They have a simple mission, while we busy the Hive, they'll need to locate and kill the remaining Princes."
Zavala closed his hand around the slate and set it down as if pressing the plan into the wood. "I'll pull every New Light in range. We'll brief them as fast as possible."
"For now, see to your team," Zavala said. "Get everything you need ready, and be prepared to strike."
Void nodded, turning towards the exit, but then Zavala's voice rang out again, this time softer and sombre. "Void," Zavala pursed his lips, "Stay sharp in there."
A faint smirk lined Void's lips. He waved a two-finger salute, "I always do."
[The Tower, City]
In the long shade of the Tower's north arcade, eight players sprawled across benches and crate-stacks—Waffles, TheOneWhoKnocks, Undecided, Gandalf, ThunderClappin, ILoveLoot, IEatPaint, and BearSpray. Their voices braided with the courtyard's general music—the hustle and bustle of vendors, worker droids, and the occasional scream as a guardian jumped off the ledge.
The players talked, sharing what had happened to them this week. Gandalf messing up his school assignment, Waffles getting chewed out by her boss. ThunderClappin crashing his car. The conversation chaotically jumped from one person to the next, each adding a flair of their own.
Ahead, glimmer flickered, Dumbledore ran up the steps and stumbled to a stop in front of them, hands on knees, panting for breaths. "OPEN the forums, NOW!"
Everyone stopped and raised a brow.
"Just do it," Dumbledore said, and the urgency in his voice stripped away the reflex to tease.
They all switched to the community tab swiftly. Scrolling through the pages until they finally reached the trending section. At the top of the feed was a single clip: A Moon mission clear with a Ketch hurdling through dust and sand as it waded through the lunar atmosphere. Right at the bottom of the clip, a small player tag could be seen.
[BearSpray]
"What the..." Gandalf hastily scrolled down to the comments.
He was flabbergasted. Comments were stacked like a landslide. The shock at the mission's graphics, at the way the mission moved, at the fact that a pirate ship had shown up. Lines upon lines of comments that argued excitement about the campaign, and the last few comments even questioned how BearSpray managed to reach this mission so fast.
All eyes flicked toward the same man, and an unnatural silence followed. BearSpray scratched the back of his neck, awkward. "I did stream it," he said. "Didn't think it would… you know...get this big."
Waffles leaned to see his screen. "How many?"
BearSpray tapped the profile, anticipation bubbling. The number steadied as it climbed past ten thousand. He stared and sucked in a breath... "It's....It's over 9000!"
ThunderClappin shoved his shoulder. "Keep it rolling," he said, "Did you get some subscribers??"
Gandalf raised his hand, "Wait, did you record the entire mission?."
"Yup." BearSpray replied, eyes glued to the numbers.
"Shi*, this might just be worth continuing." Waffles chimed in.
"As long as I get my share," ILoveLoot said, perfectly pleased.
BearSpray nodded and shot him a thumbs up, "I'll tag you on the new post."
"Wait! Tag me too." Undecided crept closer.
"Me too." TheOneWhoKnocks quickly spoke up.
"OK, ok relax I'll just tag everyone." BearSpray shifted the settings in his post on the screen and began typing out usernames.
Just then, the air around them changed. Their HUDs flickered with a bright pulse. Icons jittered and resettled. All eight quieted, flinching in surprise. A moment later, the map icon began to glow.
"What..." Waffles clicked it open.
The cosmic grid unfolded, and the map stretched in front of her eyes. The Moon's marker blinked, drawing them closer. Waffles pressed it, and the map shifted. A new node pushed into being on the southern rim of the Moon—"The Sanctuary," the text said, and beside it, a new icon for the Campaign etched itself onto the map.
Undecided whistled under his breath. "That's new."
TheOneWhoKnocks examined it closer, "Looks like you got your next stream ready." He glanced at BearSpray
BearSpray didn't answer. He didn't need to. All the players quickly set up their fireteams, and they marked the node, and for a moment, the courtyard felt like it had drawn a breath, as if it was the calm before the storm.
"Grab your stuff," Waffles said.
"Already got it," IEatPaint replied, grinning.
"Sanctuary," Gandalf said, contemplating.
A moment later, the fireteams vanished, scattering into glimmer. Eight Jumpships tore through the horizon, warping towards the barren plains of the moon.
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