[The Tower]
Waffles stood with her arms folded as she looked through the Director for any new quests. TheOneWhoKnocks hovered beside her, bouncing on his heels like he had too much caffeine.
IEatPaint squinted at the updated Director as if the letters might change if he stared hard enough.
"Okay," he said slowly. "This is new."
Waffles jabbed a finger at the prompt. "Mars? Damn, we finally got a new location."
Dumbledore yawned, "Finally, it's been months since we had an update. The devs are lazy man."
"More so, we're just rerunning the same content. Don't we have another game?" Gandalf yawned as well, his voice creaking.
"Dude, it's like 3 am. Just play the damn mission." Undecided replied.
"What are we even grinding for?" Gandalf groaned.
"Say whatever you want, but 90% of players quit before they get good loot." TheOneWhoKncosk quipped.
"You're the last person to be talking about loot. You've got like, two legendary engrams this last week." Waffles shook her head.
"You think I don't know that?" TheOneWhoKnocks replied with a leaden voice. "I am not giving up!"
IEatPaint closed his eyes and gave his psychotic friend a silent prayer.
BearSpray pointed at the blinking marker in the Director. "Apparently, the loot's not bad."
[MISSION: The Bigger They Are]
[LOCATION: MARS]
[OBJECTIVE: ATTACK THE CABAL OUTPOST AND FORCE A RELAY DIVERT]
[REWARD: FACTION CREDIT + Legendary Engrams]
Waffles blinked. "Cabal?"
TheOneWhoKnocks grinned. "New enemy type."
IEatPaint nodded. "Dude, didn't you check that one update video? It's these Big guys. Weird armour. Probably explode. Not sure though."
Waffles looked around at the others gathering, all of them smelling blood the moment a new map opened. "We're really doing this."
TheOneWhoKnocks slapped his hands together as he read through the loot. "Best kind of loot is guaranteed loot."
They all shared one last glance and immediately clicked to launch the mission.
A second later, the courtyard erupted in engine flare.
Jumpships thumped into life. Fireteams sprinted, laughing and swearing, already arguing about who was going to get the first Cabal kill.
—
[Mars, Meridian Bay Outskirts]
The sky over Mars was colored a strange maroon.
It wasn't just red. It was red like old rust, red like dried blood. The wind pushed sand across broken metal, and everything smelled like heat and dust and something stale.
The players transmatted down into a low ridge.
Ahead, the Cabal outpost squatted in the sand like a bunker that had grown teeth.
And the Cabal were worse.
Not Fallen. Not Hive.
These things stood like walking tanks, armour-plated thick, helmets sealed.
Waffles took one look and whistled. "Yeah. They're huge."
TheOneWhoKnocks raised his gun like he couldn't wait any longer. "Hitbox is huge, bro. This must be easy."
IEatPaint took in a breath and aimed at a Cabal Legionary from the side with a sniper rifle. As he pulled the trigger, the shot bounced off the Legionary's chest, its health bar dropping just a smidge.
The Legionary turned its head.
Slow.
And at that moment, IEatPaint's eyes widened as he seemed to realise the key factor that all of them had forgotten.
"Wait. Wait a goddamn second." He aimed down sight again. "That's a red bar!"
"What's the level requirements for this shi*?" Waffles chimed in.
"F*ck if I know, I just started it." TheOneWhoKnocks shrugged.
"Son of a b-. THEY'RE ALL RED BARS!" Undecided screamed.
As the Legionary located the shot's trajectory. Its eyes finally snapped towards the players huddled in a small bush at the outskirts of their outpost.
The Legionary grunted, then it roared, and the outpost woke up.
Floodlights snapped on. Turrets whined. A line of Cabal rushed the ridge, boots hitting sand like drumbeats.
BearSpray's laugh cracked through comms. "Oh, we're so f*cked."
Waffles didn't hesitate. "Push. Don't get boxed in."
They surged down the slope.
The first clash was messy. Cabal rounds hit like hammers. Shields flared. Dirt exploded. The players went flying and got back up.
Waffles slid behind a broken pipe, popped up, and dumped a full mag into a Cabal Psion's head. It stumbled back, helmet sparking, and dropped.
TheOneWhoKnocks charged a pulse rifle, energy flaring around its frame as he aimed right at the Cabal's back plate, triggering an explosion as the hunkering legionary fell.
IEatPaint screamed something incoherent and threw a grenade that bounced off a wall and landed perfectly at a Centurion's feet. The explosion rocked the whole entrance. The Centurion went down hard.
"Damn. This shi*t is difficult!" He cursed.
BearSpray chuckled, "Don't worry about that, chief. I already called in reinforcements."
"Reinforcements? The f*ck?" Undecided raised a brow.
But before he could finish his words.
More Guardians arrived.
Not just one fireteam. But a wave.
Sparrows tore in from every direction, engines screaming. Fireteams slid into cover, popped supers, and started ripping the frontline apart.
"Holy shi*" TheOneWhoKnocks read the new post under BearSpray's channel. "You called in your viewers?"
"Gotta make use of them somehow!" BearSpray cackled and continued firing.
Mars turned into a storm of light and gunfire.
Waffles saw it and felt a grin crawl on her lips. "Okay," she breathed. "This is kind of sick."
Cabal comms spiked. The outpost's internal alarms started wailing.
[OBJECTIVE UPDATED: FORCE CABAL RELAY DIVERT]
[PROGRESS: 41%]
Waffles opened fire again. "Keep pushing!"
—
[Orbit, Phobos]
Void, Taeko-3 and Alemyr sat in their own Jumpships hovering over the edge of Phobo's outer orbit.
Void's system window flashed.
[MARS RELAY NETWORK: DIVERTING]
[PHOBOS RELAY: RESPONSE DELAYED]
Void watched the status of the mission. As he saw the progress bar slowly climb up, he smirked.
Taeko's voice cut in. "Wait, I see the Phobos relay responding. Something's really going on, on Mars."
Void didn't blink. "I told you."
Alemyr responded immediately. "Cabal don't just ignore attacks. They react. Fast. If anything, it'll turn into a complete war right here, right now."
"That's why we moved first, don't worry, there won't be a war yet," Void said.
Obsidian spun, projecting a thin route line that curved toward Phobos. "Phobos relays are dropping. Their net is prioritising Mars."
Taeko-3 asked again, "You really trusted them to start a war as a distraction?"
Void sighed and shrugged. "I trusted them to be themselves. All I said was a distraction, the war part? That was just them."
He pushed the ship forward.
"But, since it's already done, we can't waste anymore time. Let's go."
Stars smeared. Space folded.
Phobos swelled in the viewport. Cabal structures clung to it, thick and ugly, floodlights staining the rock in harsh stripes.
Void, Taeko and Alemyr brought their ships down behind a ridge, engines whispering low.
The hatch opened.
"We need to locate the relay. I think I can do it. Till then, don't get spotted." Void gave out the order.
"I've got a better idea." Alemyr chimed in.
"Huh?" Void raised a brow. "What would that be?"
"You lead, we follow. We're more likely to be spotted here than in there. Of course, we can keep quiet." Alemyr muttered.
"Suit yourself." Void gave a small finger salute, stepped out and vanished, light bending around him.
Taeko-3 muttered, "I hate that."
Alemyr's tone stayed flat. "Just keep on alert."
Void slipped into the outpost.
The inside of Cabal territory always felt like pressure. Like the air was thicker because the Cabal expected it to be.
Void was silent and precise as he led Alemyr and Taeko-3 inside.
As the three passed a petrol.
Alemyr lifted two fingers, and the Legionary's body jerked into the shadow as it got yanked by the throat. No sound.
Void deftly slipped a dagger into the Legionary's throat and slit through its neck. "That...How did you do that?"
"Hmm?" Alemyr shot him a look, "There's more to warlock magic than Nova bombs. We can be stealthy too."
"Interesting." Void nodded.
Void led them deeper into the outpost till a gate and a machine turret blocked their way.
Taeko flicked her wrist, and a turret's sensor sweep slowed just enough for them to slip past it and inside a long hallway.
"That's quite convenient, won't lie." Void hummed in thought.
"Takes a bit of practice." Taeko-3 smiled.
Void raised a hand and forced them to a stop. His eyes flickered with energy as he detected the Cabal forces in the room at the end of the hallway. "Ten, no, about eleven of them."
Alemyr and Taeko-3 shared a glance, "We can slow them down."
"No, I've got a better idea." Void shook his head and clipped a smoke grenade from his belt.
He crept closer to the end of the hall, gently rolling the smoke grenade over the corner. Before the Cabal could react, a violent plume of smoke sprayed out and covered their senses.
Void flickered forward, akin to a spectre. Two dagger conjuring in his hands as he deftly slit the throats of the closest two enemies.
Taeko-3 and Alemyr didn't miss their chance.
The two warlocks stormed the room. Tendrils of light grabbed the Cabal underfoot, and a tide of spikes punctured their bodies. By the end, the smoke had cleared. Only the bodies of the Cabal lay on the floor.
"Damn, this went faster than I thought. Way easier too." Void mumbled to himself.
"How does it usually go?" Taeko-3 tilted her head.
"Uh, a lot more spontaneously. More gunfire, just everything on a larger scale." Void sighed.
"What are you even doing for all that to happen? Aren't you a hunter who prefers stealth?" Alemyr cut in.
"Good point." Void narrowed his eyes.
Taeko-3, Alemyr and Void walked to the end of the room and located a heavy door with a thick lock
"This is the relay room?" Void questioned.
"Looks like it." Taeko-3 nodded.
"How's that?"
"I mean, it's got a big lock on it and everything?" Taeko-3 rubbed her chin.
"Right."
Obsidian flittered above Void's palm, eye flaring, and the panel sparked once, then steadied.
The door thudded open.
Inside, red light washed over rows of consoles. A central core hummed like a heart made of metal.
Taeko stepped up, hands already moving. "Alright. Don't touch the wrong thing."
Alemyr nodded. "We rewrite recognition tables. We plant a friendly code. We leave."
Void stood at the doorway, listening to distant boots.
The relay pulsed as they worked.
Obsidian fed them data, quick and clipped.
"Reroute acknowledgement."
"Ship signature mask in place."
"Copying access patterns."
Minutes felt thin.
Then the relay steadied.
Obsidian's eye flashed bright. "Done."
Void's voice sharpened. "Copy it."
Alemyr slotted a drive in, cloned the code, and handed Taeko a small chip set.
Taeko tucked them away. "That's our key. Cabal scans should read our ships as friendly now."
Void nodded. "For a while."
A sharp ping hit Obsidian.
Then another.
Then three at once.
Obsidian's voice dropped. "Incoming calls. City channel. Zavala. Ikorra. Cayde."
Void sighed. "Of course."
Alemyr didn't pause. "We leave now."
They slipped out the same way they came in, shadows and timing and quiet kills. Back to the landing zone. Back into the ship.
Only once they cleared Phobos, only once the outpost lights became a distant smear, did Void finally tap the comms.
"Void, I'm getting a lot of calls from the Vanguard. What's going on?" Taeko-3 called in.
"Me too," Alemyr added.
"Relax, looks like they found out that you're with me. That new system really is working wonders for them." Void chuckled and tapped his comms to switch to the City's channels.
Obsidian adjusted his transponder.
The channel opened.
Ikorra's voice hit him clean, controlled, and sharp enough to cut stone.
"Void," she said. "Why the hell are hundreds of New Lights fighting Cabal on Mars?"
Void leaned back in his seat, already building the lie with a calm face.
"What?" Void heaved a dramatic breath.
There was a beat of silence. The kind that meant nobody believed him, but everyone was deciding what to do about it.
Cayde's voice slid in, amused but not laughing. "Calm down, I am sure you're just as shocked as we are. But enough about that. What the hell did you ask them to do?"
"See, what I asked was for them to scout out the area. I never expected them to start any fight." Void crossed his arms and replied.
"I'm supposed to believe that?" Ikorra frowned.
"I mean, that's nothing but the truth. They might listen to me here and there, but not even I can control that much chaos. Those guys are just crazy" Void immediately shifted the blame back on the New Lights.
"Do you really think I've got that much influence?" Void played into the act further, "Please, if anything, those guys are the loose cannons here."
Finally, Void sighed with a dogged breath, "Listen, I don't know what they did, but I'll try to see what I can do to fix it."
Zavala didn't shout. He didn't need to. "Where are you, Void?"
He kept his tone easy. "Near enough to handle it. I'll go clean up the mess."
Ikorra didn't answer for a second.
Then, "Go."
The call cut.
Taeko stared at him. "You're going to Mars?"
Void nodded once. "I have to. If the Vanguard thinks this is bigger than it is, they'll lock the whole system down."
Alemyr folded his arms. "And the chips."
Void pointed at Taeko. "You two go back to Venus. Get those codes to Campus-9. Lock them in. If we lose them, Phobos was pointless."
Taeko-3's eyes narrowed. "You sure you'll be fine?"
Void's mouth twitched. "Don't you worry about that."
Alemyr snorted. "But still, how did you move hundreds of those new lights?"
"As I said, I didn't." Void shrugged again.
But Alemyr just replied with a shake of his head, as if he didn't believe him.
"Will the City be fine though? I thought they were trying to settle in and not do anything major right now?" Taeko-3 asked.
"They'll be fine. Besides, I am not crazy enough to invade their outpost and start skirmishes with the Cabal for no reason."
Taeko-3 pressed her lips together, and a certain doubt filled her eyes.
"What? I'm not. Really." Void groaned. "Look. Believe it or not, we would've run into this anyway. Just let me handle the Cabal stuff."
"Got it." She answered.
The ships split.
Two jumpships peeled away into separate lines of stars.
Though Void hadn't lied about the Cabal, it was hard to trust his words. After all, only he knew that once he started to locate the Black Garden, the Cabal would take it as an invasion and fight him anyway.
In his eyes, it was best to start earlier and secure an advantage, rather than be forced to react to the Cabal.
"Obsidian, reroute to Mars," Void called out, "Looks like we'll have to check out what they're doing by ourselves."