Destiny: Fireteam Euphrati

Chapter Five

The Stormcaller leaned back, the chair in her Kestrel reclining with her.

She held her helmet in her lap, the unadorned, black piece of armor gazing back at her blankly. Obsidian Mind, the name other Guardians coined, fit it well.

She wore a high collared coat, the original version of the Cormorant Line. Her boots were a Samsara product, her gloves created in the likeness of Toland the Shattered's Bindcasters.

That's not to say she didn't bring anything else. Her impressive weapon collection was arrayed on the back panel behind her chair, and two other sets of robes and armor were at her feet.

She grudgingly brought the Voidfang, knowing that at some point she may need the rage. Shuddering at the memory of the sensation, Victus looked to the other helmet she brought.

The Stag. She grinned, enjoying the macabre look of it. Xür had given it to her in exchange for a countless number of those odd coins. Not only that, but he had given her a thing he called the Alchemist's Raiment.

The Armor looked more like robes than armor, but she had accepted it graciously, knowing full well that Xür was probably not someone you wanted to disrespect.

"So," The Thunderer's perpetually-jolly voice tore her from her thoughts. "Steven's caught a new one, eh?"

The Warlock smirked, the edges of her lips curling up. "Aye, he did." The smile left her. "I'm not sure I like her though."

The Titan chuckled over their private channel. "That's pretty obvious. You two were staring daggers when I showed up." She had a heavy accent, hailing from the remnants of the what was once known as Norway.

The Stormcaller frowned, ashamed that her distaste of the woman was so obvious. "S'all right," the Titan continued. "I'm not too fuzzy about her either. Too nosy, and not very good at obscuring it."

Vae let out a pent up breath, relieved that she wasn't the only one supsicious of the Hunter. She looked out the cockpit to Amalia's ship, a heavy, hulking thing hurtling through the blur of space.

"We're approaching the atmosphere," The Warlock's Ghost spoke up from behind her shoulder.

Nodding, her right hand loosely held the ship's controls.

"Tighten up," she issued out over both fireteam's channels. "We're going in quick, and I don't any stragglers. The Cabal may not be fast, but you're damned if they catch you."

Five green acknowledgement lights flickered to life along the control panel of her ship, and Vae ran a hand through her hair, pulling the Obsidian Mind over her head. The helmet sealed to undersuit with a quiet hiss.

Taking a deep breath as she and her fireteams plunged into the atmosphere, she was acutely aware at how likely it would be that her plan was a flunk. Shaking the dread in the pit of her stomach, her brow furrowed in determination as the autopilot took over and the Kestrel deposited her onto the warm red sands of her destination.

Bending her knees to absorb the impact, she rose as the rest of the Guardians dropped in around her.

For a moment, she had a vision of old bones and dead Ghosts lying under the dunes, but it disappeared with the readying of her Auto Rifle, and she headed down the slope.