Destiny: Steadfast Seraph

2 - A Breathing Shadow

Frost looks down at his watch. He liked seeing it automatically change as they flew over the Earth.

"Doesn't seem like a good time to, well, check the time." Jackson tells Frost, who was sitting next to him in the large cargo hold, where most of the army sat during flights.

"It was just...flickering that's all." Frost taps his watch, keeping his not so secret secret.

As Flares, their fireteam leader, approaches, they both stand up.

"Sit down. I'm not the Commander." Flares tells them.

"Were you just talking to her?"

"I was. There's two commanders now, in fact. A Warlock named Lynch. Bad fella."

"How is he bad?" Frost asks.

"I knew him from when the Union started. I would keep a close eye on him..but that doesn't mean you don't follow his orders, understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Yes sir."

The ship comes to a halt, causing some of the soldiers to fall over.

On the bridge, Camille and Echo look out at Praeditus. Lynch walks in shortly after.

"So this is Praditus huh? Looks..dirtier than I remember."

Echo looks back at Lynch, giving him a glare.

"We should go down there. The planet's shields are open too." Camille speaks.

"What if it's a trap?"

"Who the hell would be wanting to hunt us down there?" Lynch asks.

"No reason not to be cautious."

"Lynch has a point. We don't really have any other choice. This planet has to be destroyed from the inside."

"So we just bring the whole Union into this thing? Seems like a foolish idea to me."

"No, no. I'll send in three fireteams to the ground to scout ahead, then we'll all head down."

Three smaller droppods fire out of the Union Flagship, and fall like bullets towards Praeditus' surface.

The ground was fleshy, sometimes sticky on the bottom of their boots.

Flares, Frost, and Jackson jump from their pods, bearing oxygen masks and high powered rifles.

"Commander Lynch, we're on the ground, where to?" Flares speaks into his comm.

Frost looks around. The whole planet looked charred and burned, and strange plants stood strong.

Lynch, Camille, and Echo stand at the command center, looking over the mission and vitals.

"This is Lynch. We need you to secure a solid route to the core of the planet. Good chance we can end this clean and fast. With your remote explosives."

Camille mutes their comm.

"What? That wasn't my plan."

"Trust me, darling."

Echo stands back, uneasy.

The three fireteams move down the hills and towards a large cave.

The Second Fireteam activates their comm.

"This is Fireteam Dagger, we've reached a large sinkhole, copy."

"Noted, Fireteam Stone is moving towards you. Lt. Flares, you coming?"

"Affirmative Storm."

Flares and his team slide down the fleshy hill, towards the sinkhole. They regroup with Storm and Dagger.