Trials of Glass

Chapter 2- The Mission

     Zavala turned off the radio transmitter, stopping the scratchy sound of a lost signal. Cayde-6 and Ikora Rey sat before him.

     "Is that it?" asked Cayde-6.

     "Yes," replied Zavala, "Just garbled Vex sounds after that."

     "Are you sure it isn't an encrypted message?" Ikora asked doubtfully.

     "Well, no, we don't. Good idea, Ikora. I'll get Master Rahool on it immediately."

    "God, that guy?" asked Cayde skeptically, "He can't decode anything!"

     "Cayde," said Ikora, "He's decoded more than a few mysteries of the Dark. He's vital to the Tower's research."

     "Fine, if you say so. But next time he finds some Ether seeds from my killing a damn Kell I'll be coming to you."

•     •     •    

     Ikora, holding the radio in her arms, approached the booth of the Cryptarch, Master Rahool. A row of complex machines lined the counter, and behind it stood a pile of crates and shiny dodecahedrons. The Cryptarch eyed the transmitter as Ikora handed it to him.

     "What is this?" he asked.

     "A radio transmitter," replied Ikora.

     "I can see that. Date? Condition? Fill out this form." Rahool handed Ikora a slip of paper. On it were numerous questions asking for all of the object's details. Ikora handed the form back to him.

     "That won't be necessary, Cryptarch. All we need is an analysis of these sounds-" Ikora pressed a button and the screeching, mechanical noises started. Rahool nodded.

     "Sounds alright to me," he said, taking the radio. "I'll get this back by tomorrow evening." Ikora nodded and walked away.

•     •     •

Master Rahool set the damaged radio under a scanner. Flipping a switch, a loud hum issued from the scanner. He flipped some more dials, raising and lowering the pitch of the hum. Suddenly, the scanner dinged, and he pulled the radio from underneath it.

The machine puttered and beeped some more as two long sheets of paper slid out of a slot.  Rahool held one of the the papers up to his eyes and squinted.

"Hmmm..." A sound wave reading lay on the top, with bars and bars of text below it. Tiny icons dotted the sides of the paper. This was the data sheet. The other showed advanced sound wave readings. It would appear that... hmm. Well, I'd better get Ikora."

•     •     •

     Ikora looked up from her Venus map. Master Rahool was walking towards her with the paper.

     "Ah, Ms. Rey. I have the readout. I think what you'll find is rather interesting..."

     Ikora took and scanned the paper. Nothing but a dark red zigzag bottom to top.

     "And this means...?" She handed the paper back. Rahool chuckled.

     "Oh, how foolish of me. Why, those are the sound waves! Being a Cryptarch sure has-"

     "You know you're a dandy, right?" yelled Cayde-6 from beyond the room.

     "Cayde!" said Ikora. "Remember, you wouldn't have even seen your cannon if Rahool hadn't been here." Cayde glanced down at his prized weapon, the Ace of Spades. He thought for a second. His most favorite weapon, supplied to him by a cheapskate...

     "Sorry about that, Master." said Ikora. "Cayde can be a little- well, reckless may not be the right term." Rahool sighed.

     "Don't worry. Here, you want this." He gave her the data sheet. Ikora studied it closely.

     "Thanks. Now get back to your post, Rahool. There are Guardians waiting."

     "Anytime, Ms. Rey." And with that Master Rahool left the Hall of Guardians.

•     •     •

     Ikora and Zavala sat on a bench in the center in a circular room, surrounded by spotless windows. This was the topmost point of the entire city- the "Watchtower", as it was called. It was meant to be a lookout area for civilians (and Guardians) to appreciate the magnificent area around the Last City. But today the room was restricted and used as conference room.

In front of the two Vanguard members lay a holographic projector, projecting a translucent orange-tinted Cayde-6 slumped against an obsidian slab, most likely part of a damaged Hive ship, holding a thin disc- his own holo-projector. On that disc, on the other end of the holo, tiny versions of Zavala and Ikora showed up to the Hunter Vanguard out in the field.

Cayde was out in the field, traveling with a group of recruits on a research mission to an abandoned Hive Seeder. Ambient sounds of footsteps, chatter, and occasional cries of discovery could be heard even through the hologram.

"So, Cayde, how's the outing going?" asked Ikora.

"Could be better," replied the Exo. Cayde lowered his voice a tad. "These recruits are kinda annoying. In fact-" A Hunter dressed in standard recruit fatigues dashed into the hologram holding a pile of glowing green material. Her short hair looked quite dirty and frazzled, as if she'd been digging for a while.

"Captain," said the recruit excitedly, "Look what I found! Appears to be a class-4 discovery, higher value." Cayde's Ghost appeared and began to scan the mass of glowing material.

Cayde put on an inquisitive tone. "Interesting," he said, "I'm intrigued. Hey, Slaine- Sloane? why don't you go set it beside that patch of dirt over there; I'll be there in a sec."

"Okay," said the recruit excitedly. She jumped back out of the hologram. Cayde lowered his voice again.

"That'll keep her away for a good, say, five minutes. So, what's the occasion?"

"You know, Cayde. We're here to discuss the Venus incident," said Zavala. "Whatever it was it was serious. Fireteam Revenant was tough. They'd near completely cleared a Fallen Ketch before we sent the Doctrine of Hope to rescue them, which means if they were killed that quickly it would require a great force to finish them off."

"I'm following you," relied Cayde. "Go on."

Ikora cleared her throat. "We thought, considering the potential threat, sending a recon team is suicide. We've decided we're going to send a combat squad to go and find them. A considerably strong one."

     "Excalibur Squadron," said Cayde-6. Zavala cut in.

     "No, probably not," he said, "There's been no exact threat analysis; we're looking for-"

     "Excalibur Squadron."

     "Ugh. Fine," said Ikora. "Excalibur Squadron."