rekindledtitan | Excerpt 001: Enquiring Minds

rekindledtitan

TYPE: Patrol log

LOCATION: Ishtar Sink, Venus

PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Ghost-type, [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [

rekindledtitan ], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Aran, Samus [

onemorebounty ]

ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Samus Aran; Chozo; Ishtar Sink; Hezen Protective; Pelsor; House of Winter; Drevis; Blaze-37; Ishtar Academy

They land in a clearing on the city outskirts with grass under their boots and a heavy overcast above. The breeze that greets them is hot and humid, a little acidic. Around them is a densely-grown treeline, with broad leaves that are near-luminescent shades of green. Their rustle is echoed by the distant wash of waves from beyond the ruins.

Blaze turns to scan the area, hopeful of opposition even though her Ghost already checked the site. The broken towers and city blocks are quiet within the overgrowth. But then it’s not the human ruins which really stand out. To the north a massive volcano takes up much of the sky, belching out a noxious plume of ash and gas. Small wonder that each shift in the breeze makes the scent of the air waver between sulfurous and salty. Over the hills to both south and east loom dark geometric structures. Look at them with anything other than the optical spectrum, and they emit some very peculiar readings.

“At last,” the Exo remarks, feeling a thrill that doesn’t break her readiness. Her head’s turned up to check the skyline as she speaks. Then she's moving for the buildings. “We’re in Guardian territory, more or less. Doesn’t stretch too far yet. Won’t take long to find some trouble.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

From:

onemorebounty

*Samus is being quite careful in that regard--each component she takes is sterilized, both digitally and literally. Blaze's vocalization does catch a bit of her attention, however.*

What is it?

From:

rekindledtitan

"Not sure. Thought we might have a cloaked Fallen. Could be distortion from the Citadel's fields, but I don't see it now." She peers around the rocks and half-buried structures. Come out, come out, little scouts. "Maybe they want to know where their bikes went."

From:

onemorebounty

Airborne, on the ground?

*Samus glances up from her work, cycling her visor through a variety of wavelengths.*

From:

rekindledtitan

"Ground. You know the way a stealth cloak can ripple? Easier to spot them against the skyline but Fallen climb like geckos."

And they also shield themselves from more wavelengths than a human - or Exo - optical range. The cloaks are imperfect, still: look very carefully, and among the broken outlines of the rocks and the odd energies of the Citadel Samus might spot a hunched outline. A spot where the infrared radiation from the sun-warmed stones bends in a suspicious way...

From:

onemorebounty

I've seen some therm-optic cloaks, yeah. This one's new.

*Still, Samus is a hunter--patient, and attentive to detail. When she's spotted the likely culprit, she takes aim and gives her new void beam a test-shot.*

From:

rekindledtitan

She gives Blaze quite a start when that weapon starts up behind her. The bolts it fires are on the slow side, but they make a nice steady boom when they explode on the rocks, splashing fire everywhere.

The scout above must be very surprised: it doesn't even manage to cry out before he's blown back against the cliffs. There's just a tumbling, burning outline: roughly human size, four-armed, a short cape fluttering to ash behind it.

"Hah! You picked that up fast!" Blaze glances at the cannon, but quickly her focus is back on scouring the cliffs. "Wonder if that'll scare her friends off." They're not attacking, anyway...

From:

onemorebounty

Thank you.

*Samus gives a fiercely pleased smile inside her helmet; some of it is audible in her voice.*

It's given them something to think about, at least. Let's see about getting the door open, and park the pikes inside. I've got an idea about securing our exit.

From:

rekindledtitan

Blaze is, at this point, very well-disposed toward Samus' ideas. She eyes the rocks a little more, just in case she can catch any retreating cloaks, but nothing stirs and she marches over to the entrance. At least, there's an indented segment in the wall which might indicate an entrance. It fits seamlessly to the walls around it, but when she lets her Ghost out to look it claims it's found an accessible point in the network.

Leaving it to work, she gives Samus a thumbs-up and drops back off the platform to retrieve her stashed Pike.

//They didn't touch my Pike at all. I guess once we dismounted they didn'tconider the vehicles a threat.//

From:

onemorebounty

The more fools, they.

*Samus, too, is retrieving her pike, coaxing it through the debris of battle with care.*

I propose we leave a remote charge on the pikes, to secure our exit. When we're ready to leave, we blow the charge and everything goes up with it; the fuel, the mines, all of it.

From:

rekindledtitan

//I like it. When we're clear of the Citadel again we can hit the transmat.// She fires up the engine, driving up as far as the bridge before swinging off again. With a grunt, she hefts the bike onto her shoulder and carries it through the debris.

"I don't know if you brought any charges, but I've got some rockets we can convert."

From:

onemorebounty

Transmat?

*Samus pats her arm cannon fondly.*

I've got micro-factories in here. They can quick-build missiles, or a few other things I've got the specs for, including remote demo charges.

From:

rekindledtitan

"Matter-transport system. How we usually get things in and out of our ships. My Ghost linked that PINpoint you gave me to it so we can get between there and the Nexus."

The cannon gets a nod. "Heh, it's not as friendly as a Ghost, but I'm starting to see the charm. I'll leave the charges to you.//

From:

onemorebounty

Oh, nice. Simpler than finding a portal, I'd imagine.

*She's rightly proud of her people's handiwork, and takes a moment to create and withdraw a couple of cylindrical devices, tucking one into some crevice of each pike.*

From:

rekindledtitan

"Better on all counts. The Traveler wouldn't allow a portal inside the City walls. And securing one would get interesting." She chuckles, considering some of her bosses' methods for that.

They're only waiting on the Ghost now. It spins gently, murmuring to itself. "Interesting. It's not a lock, it's a-"

With a tearing sound, the door fades to a glowing outline, a mesh of white lines, and then vanishes. Behind it lies a narrow passage that jerks immediately to the right, forbidding a clear sight of the interior.

"-schedule."

"Whatever gets us in." Blaze moves up alongside it, letting it rejoin her as she checks her sensors, then takes a look round the corner.

From:

onemorebounty

That is interesting. How long until it was scheduled to open next?

*Samus coaxes her pike inside the gate, glancing around for someplace to stash it near the gatewall-thing. Once it's settled, she sets about taking a look into what she can see of the citadel interior.*

From:

rekindledtitan

At the earliest projection, seventeen days, Earth standard. The schedule seemed to be tied to several hundred variables, however.

//

The passage stays narrow as it curls around, creating an s-bend before it starts running straight toward the interior. There are irregular alcoves and oddly placed blocks near the entrance, but further in no side-corridors or doors break the smooth walls. Up ahead, the passage opens out into a larger room, but the Vex have placed a monolithic stone block shortly before the doorway, as they have a prejudice against strange snipers.

There is no ceiling, but the walls rise far too high for sunlight to filter down. Cold white light shines from panels bedded in the walls, from deep grooves in stone cubes that lie discarded with apparent carelessness. They throw harsh black shadows over the stone and metal.

The moment she's over the threshold Blaze can feel the gathered Darkness in this fortress. It presses in on her senses for a minute, promising malice, promising no escape for any Guardian who falls here. It's as good as a welcome. She shrugs at the empty corridor and fetches in her Pike. //Entrance passage is easy to block. Leave them there?//

From:

onemorebounty

Near the door, yes. Seventeen days... shouldn't be anyone through here before we come back, if we go out this way.

*She frowns in thought, mulling things over as she positions her own Pike close to the door and peeks ahead. As she does, she thinks out loud, tacitly inviting her companions to check her mental math.*

This gate makes for some interesting questions. If your soldiers can teleport, why do you need a gate at all? First guess is, to move the things too massive to teleport, but these blockages argue against that idea. Is there some other flaw in the teleporters, something they can't move that way but might need to bring in and out of the citadel periodically? Does it damage organics? Destabilize high-energy isotopes? Or are they just putting a deliberate weak spot in their defenses so they know ahead of time where all the would-be invaders will go?

From:

rekindledtitan

//Organic Guardians have used their warp gates without a hitch, so scratch that theory. I’d go with your last option, or something close.// Manipulative fortifications are something Blaze can appreciate the use of.

//

With the Vex, it’s possible its function cannot be discerned within our time frame. Perhaps accommodating their warp networks at other space-time points restricts the feasible teleportation methods in others. I would point out that if the door materializes when the Vex require its presence, the same might be true for the walls around us. It’s possible this is merely the configuration that suits them for the moment.

//

//Still implies they want us in. Trap.// This really shouldn't be said so cheerfully.

//Research, I suspect.//

From:

onemorebounty

That would be interesting. We'll have to see if we can't find some evidence to support one of these theories.

*Visor scanning for possible trouble, or any points of interest, Samus creeps further into the citadel, peeking out from behind that big block into the space beyond.*

If they plan to trap us, though, I wonder why they gave us so much cover.

From:

rekindledtitan

//...Huh. Good question. We should find a bigger Mind and ask it.//

Blaze takes the other side automatically as they advance, pulse rifle readied. The room beyond has a few more of the cube lamps scattered about, illuminating a space large enough for half a dozen hydras to move comfortably. But the only motion comes from two raised stone platforms flanking the door at the far end. Each bears a familiar lean, horned form.

Twin points of red light flare. Then Blaze and Samus each get a sniper beam twanging toward them. Blaze takes hers in the chest with a painful grunt, lining up a a burst of fire for the Vex opposite her.

From:

onemorebounty

*Samus opts to evade, ducking under the beam by curling into her morph ball and zooming ahead, charging and firing the boost rhythmically. She hops as she goes, boosting to carom off of some of the cube-lamps, ricocheting unpredictably as she works her way closer. If she can get a decent slope to ramp off of, she'll close in much faster.*

I really have to admire your confidence.

From:

rekindledtitan

The architects left the floor unhelpfully flat, but Samus' erratic path keeps the Vex shooting at her from landing a hit unless by chance. The other has curled into stasis under Blaze's fire. The Guardian keeps her sights locked on it as she moves in, waiting for it to come out.

//Yeah, they ought to know by now these two won't slow us down.//

From:

onemorebounty

They may have been counting on attrition to soften us up.

*When she's within grapple line range, Samus uncurls, casting her line in the same motion and yanking the sniper from its perch. Her right arm is cocked back, ready to deliver a pulverizing blow when the arc of the sniper's fall brings it into reach.*

Ghost, any idea how far that teleport blackout you set up will extend? Or how long it'll last?

From:

rekindledtitan

The amused sound Blaze makes gives her opinion of that approach, just as Samus turns the her opponent's chassis into scrap metal. The second sniper manages to get off another round as it staggers under fire. But the shot goes wild and the Vex erupts with sparks and milky fluid as Blaze pumps more rounds into it.

//

It was holding steady when we left. I don't know how long it'll take the Vex to reactivate the conflux, but I'm not sure if they need it in here.

//

Blaze pauses by the foot of the platform to reload and check for movement. There's another long passage up ahead, this one a bit wider then the last but clear of visible cover. It ends in a sharp turn to the left, with a suggestion of daylight spilling from that direction.

From:

onemorebounty

So we could have reinforcements in our laps at any time. At least we know.

*Samus takes care to look up as they start down the next passage, in case of more snipers or some ambush-combatant. The daylight up ahead seems worth investigating, though, if no threats present themselves.*