#fireteam ranger

[bajarangers]

[Echo team struts in right after him looking like soldiers of the death korps of krieg.]

“Well, we made it, with no help from you Exodus.”

[Exodus shrugs]

”Didn’t expect the general wanted to come, Cypress. Can’t blame us for not having foresight. Let’s go get a drink, you look like you need one. [Cypress, and Exodus head to the bar while the rest of the fireteam separate to go look at what interests them.]

Alice goes around the lobby of the Lucky 38 casino as she preps for her party that’s happening tonight. Humming along to the radio as she’s already in costume.

@june-fallout @a-fellow-courier @galileo-of-the-legion @legions-top-dog @thinktankbigmt @doctorrrmobius @okaybooner @fly-vertibirds-everyday @freedoms-per-eagle @bajarangers @mojave-express2287

[mild-crusader]

Somewhere in the North Atlantic...

Once upon a windy early morning on the cavernous clifftop of some abandoned island a heretic crew of slavers has unearthed 5 stone idols inscribed in the glyphs of some lost alphabet of Europe's heathen antiquity, two anointed emissaries from hell oversee malnourished wretched slaves erecting the engraved stones in arrangement with forgotten constellations, while a heretic priest burns sage over a padlocked coffin stained with blood slowly sinking into the center of an old muddy battlefield...

Satisfied with their preparation the congregation of hell marches back to shore. They hope to be a safe at sea by midnight when the stars would hang in alignment above the odious carvings and Crom Cruach awakens. Reborn, full of hate and hunger...

how unhappy must they be to see that a cruiser typical of the Eire Rangers, Faithful soldiers of the Church, have laid anchor. And worse yet! Boot tracks headed straight to the site of their ritual!!!

Will the devoted Rangers cleanse the Island of idolatry before it's too late??? Can the servants of Evil thwart the pesky interpose of the pious??? Stay tuned dear reader, you're about to FIND OUT!

BATTLE REPORT

This was a game played at 700 ducats and 0 glory using the 1.5 playtest rules for Trench Crusade. Using the Scenario "Sabotage" on a 4 foot by 4 foot board. The Attackers were the Eire Rangers sub faction of New Antioch and the Defenders were the Heretic Legion without any sub faction. Lists are posted below.

EIRE RANGERS:

Trench Cleric with Standard Armour, Grenades and Pistol

Berserker Lieutenant with Trench Shield, Sword, Grenades and Shotgun

Shocktrooper Bard Fianna with Carnyx, Sword and Standard Armour

Shocktrooper Fianna with Submachine Gun, Two Swords and Standard Armour

Shocktrooper Fianna with Submachine Gun, Two Swords and Standard Armour

Shocktrooper Fianna with Semi Automatic Rifle, Two Swords and Standard Armour

Shocktrooper Fianna with Semi Automatic Rifle, Two Swords and Standard Armour

[ EXPLORATION MODIFIERS ] Reroll

HERETIC LEGION:

Heretic Priest with Silenced Pistol

Heretic Death Commando with Tartarus Claws

Anointed Heavy Infantry with Great Sword

Anointed Heavy Infantry with Great Sword and musical instrument

Heretic Legionnaire with Gas Mask Shovel Semi-Automatic Rifle and Unholy Trinket

Heretic Trooper with Gas Mask Shovel Semi-Automatic Rifle

Heretic Trooper with Gas Mask Shovel Semi-Automatic Rifle

Wretched with Sword

Wretched with knife

Wretched with knife

Turn 0 setting up the board,

After the Trench and ruins were on the table we took turns placing the point scoring relics the attackers are meant to destroy, represented by 5 upright Stones scattered around the board and a coffin in the middle. Now time to deploy the troops.

All but one of the Ranger team were skirmishers, while my Heretic's only skirmisher was Death Commando so I placed all my wretched, my Legionnaire, and my Musical Anointed Heavy Infantry on the front edge of their Deployment Zone, clear of any obstacles ready to climb the trench and rush into no-man's land,

Death Commando would sulk inside a ruined building near the middle edge of the board. According to the rules for this mission I had to leave 4 guys in reserve so Heretic Priest, Troopers, and the un-musical Anointed Heavy Infantry, sit on the bench for the time being.

The Rangers set up more spread out, one fireteam of 2 Shocktrooper Fiannas hiding in a separate room of the metal ruined building ready to charge the commando, one Shock Trooper at the top of the cliff One at the Base of the Cliff behind some scaffolding, and the rest behind their own trench.

Now, time to let the blood flow!

Turn 1 Crusading this Trench!

First unit to activate was the humble Wretched with knife dashing up into no man's land hoping to shank the Shocktrooper at the base of the cliff.

However, he was not able to reach the Enemy before the end of his turn so it's on to the Rangers.

The Ranger fireteam get to act as one unit so it's both of their turns and it's Open Season on Death Commando,

After the first hit left him with a blood token the second killed him completely, and that marks the first casualty of our trench crusade careers! The second member of the fire team ends the turn by moving out of the ruined building into no mans land eager to get a head start on idol smashing in the next turn.

Now Wretched with Sword is dispatched against the Fireteam to get revenge! Because of his proximity to the Music of the Anointed Heavy Infantry his movement gets a boost

he scrambles up into no man's land and lunges his sword at the Fianna.

Complete miss.

Back to the Rangers it's the Trench Cleric and he moves right up the support beam of the trench and shouts something about snakes

resulting in my wretched feeling a sudden compulsion to lie down in the dirt, snake-like.

Then he turns to face a nearby stone idol and lifts his holy crozier off the ground...

Before drawing his pistol and shooting it to bits and pieces!

+1 point to the Rangers

Heretic Legionaire activates and climbs on top of a pile of cargo to get a line of sight on the Rangers

He fires one shot and misses, Then hides under the trench convincing himself to charge over into closer range next turn.

Continuing our story, the Ranger under the scaffolding at the base of the cliff counter charges the humble wretched with knife

Sliding right up behind him and in front of another stone idol, he bloodies the wretched...

and transforms the heretical stone into a patch of gravel.

the last reluctant wretched prepares his journey over the trench walls

Luckily for him, I've reached the image limit on this site so he'll have until Part 2 to steady his nerves.

End of Part 1...

[thewinter-eden]

almost summer | kim seungmin (00)

00 : PROLOGUE

Pairings: KIM SEUNGMIN x OC | YANG JEONGIN x OC

Rating: mature

cross posted on AO3 under the_winter_eden and wattpad under alone-at-last.

Warnings: post-breakup emotions, angst.

almost summer masterlist

next chapter >

 

glossary:

VALOR: Variant Association of Logistics Operations and Reconnaissance, a military-adjacent special warfare group.

Hot tea scalded Maven Spanaway's mouth, leaving a terrible sensation on her tongue, which she endured with the same deadened expression she'd woken up with. Exhaustion weighed on her shoulders and back, sleep pulling at her eyelids. She could already hear the screaming of the instructors down the hall. The noise ramped up like an approaching siren as they made their way from room to room. They'd be at her end of the hall, flinging her door open in a matter of minutes.

Maven and her platoon were halfway through their second week of experimental special forces training, with thirteen weeks remaining—or fewer, for those who rang the daunting bell that hung on the deck, symbolizing their self-termination of training. Her platoon, comprised of twenty-three women, had initiated the training course with fifty-seven.

Maven poured her tea onto a plate, held it to her mouth, and carefully tipped it back; still hot but no longer boiling. With the instructors only a hall away, she ran both the mug and the plate under the faucet, dragged a paper towel over them, and stacked them haphazardly in the cabinet.

Her turn had come. The commander's entrance was emphasized by the crash of the door against the wall.

Maven snapped to attention, eyes focused on some spot over his shoulder, feeling her brain kick back into survival mode as it had been doing over the past ten days. The commander tore around her room, wordlessly tossing her bedding off of its frame and pulling her clothes out of her dresser. Her room had been cleaned to regulation, organized exactly the way they'd been instructed, but it made no difference.

She had let go of the reactive frustration during the first week, electing to accept the aggressive barrage and save her emotional energy for the rest of the day.

Every morning she and the other women faced the loud and throat-stripping routine of hearing questions screamed in their faces and screaming answers back. The process had broken three of them on the first day.

The commander finished his affront on her property and swept out of her room just as abruptly as he'd come in. His instructors were charging the barracks after him, rallying the women and rushing them out to the deck. Maven made her bed again, heart racing as the instructors grew closer, barking like dogs. It didn't matter if the job was done or not—they'd grab her in the middle of cleaning and throw her out the door, but she had better be cleaning when they came in.

The experimental special forces training program was conducted by VALOR, assisted by special forces military operators serving as instructors. Commander Jung Hoseok was a former SEAL, and his co-instructors came out of Green Berets, Delta, Raiders, Paratroopers, and Rangers. Most of them had prior experience with VALOR, though none of them had previously interacted with any of the women who had been selected for the program.

The purpose of the program was not to create an all-women team of elite operators, nor to integrate women into full SEAL or Ranger teams. The idea was to create highly effective operators who could form fireteams and complete small, intimate assignments for the agency.

The instructors of the program included Commander Jung Hoseok, Captain Kim Namjoon, Captain Park Jimin, Lieutenant Seo Changbin, and MCPO Jeon Jungkook. Flown in from military bases around the country, the junior and enlisted officers had been pouring their strength into their assault on the platoon's minds and bodies. Mornings during the first few weeks of recruit training consisted of command after command after command of grueling exercises designed to make them quit. There was no such thing as doing anything right. A job well done did not exist.

Experienced people had warned Maven that recruit training would be as such, but the realization hadn't set in until she'd finished the first week. 

By no means unfamiliar with strength training and fight training and military life, Maven had expected to breeze through the first phase of training without issue. The physical extremes of it were manageable; she ached until she felt she couldn't walk and her mind had to cling to the brief seconds between each task, but she could withstand the difficulty and complete the job. 

The real challenge lay in the fact that nobody was asking if she could finish. They were telling her she couldn't and asking her how she handled failure.

There was no right answer, there was no good form, she never did enough, she never said it right. There was no pat on the back at the end of the day, no 'good job, you did it!' The training experiment was designed to make experienced soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen quit. Phase one wasn't to make them better—it was to make them quit.

So, when Maven found herself on the deck—which served more as a sandbox than a deck—in gridline with the rest of her platoon, doing sit-ups with the commander in her face, she could only fix her mind on the only truth she had to work with: 'you don't have to do it right; you just can't quit.' Sand flew in every direction, kicked over their shaking bodies by the instructors. Maven spat it out of her mouth, struggling to breathe. The muscles in her core and back burned like she'd taken a boot to the gut. Tension clenched at her neck and skull, the strain of holding her head up more difficult than the sit-up evolution.

The commander had dropped to his knees next to her, pounding his fists into the sand, forcing his face only inches from hers, screaming until all she could hear past the mantra and the counting in her head was the grating, sandpaper voice of Commander Jung. His voice and her required responses distracting her from the pain became the only mercy. That and the fact that his mouth was too dry to spit on her.

Sand in her hair, sand in her pants, in her shirt, trapped between her belt and her skin, already leaving the angry, painful red rashes in its wake. She clenched her eyes shut, resisting the urge to rub sand away from them. If she could control anything during training, it inarguably had to be escaping pink eye.

They spent an hour and a half on the deck before the instructors sent them in for food. With no time to appear civilized or polite, the chow hall quickly filled with twenty-three exhausted, starving women receiving their portions, finding their seats, and wolfing down food like they'd never eat again. The instructors circled the room, yelling without a minute of reprieve. Every few seconds one would stop at a recruit, bend down low and get so close to her face that he was practically nose to ear.

She couldn't look away, she couldn't back him off, she couldn't ignore his address.

Maven forced the food down so fast she felt sick while at the same time feeling unsatisfied and hungry. The portions were based on body weight and BMI. There was no eating until full, no choosing how much you wanted. Maven wasn't underweight, like some of the others who were forced to eat more, nor was she overweight and given a smaller portion. The food hit her stomach like gravel, but her mind was stuck on the pushups and the sit-ups and the planks and the burpees. She could still hear the rhythmic counting of the platoon.

The part of her brain trying to survive, the part repressing the urge to quit told her to stop thinking about the deck. Every morning, forget the deck, forget the deck, forget the deck. It's over, forget about it. The part of her mind still stuck on it faltered. It made her want to quit, it made her want to cry, it made her think about doing more all over again.

Back on the deck, the instructors looked for mistakes. They looked for form mistakes, for weakness, for uniform inconsistencies, anything that was definitely wrong. They took those mistakes and they called them out and they made the rest of the platoon pay for them. They stoked bitterness against each other, inviting more mistakes.

It was an unceasing mental attack, the instructors' hands digging deep into the recruits' thoughts, reaching around to see whose brain they could turn inside out.

The platoon spent the day doing belly crawls through mud and water, log PT, and cardio for minutes at a time.

Maven's focus wasn't on the evolutions. Her body went through the commands along with everyone else, but her eyes were searching, watching the platoon and the instructors. The way to win wasn't to do the evolutions flawlessly, it was to either escape the attention of the instructors or to do what they liked to see. She had to forget about being hated for being exalted once or twice. Too much confidence invited the heaviest load. Not enough confidence gave the instructors their opening to attack.

On the belly crawl, Maven watched women go too slow, crawl too high, and be afraid of getting their faces muddy. Maven got down in the trench, pinned her hips to the ground, put her head down and crawled. Face down, under board, head up, breathe. Mud seeped into her eyes, sliding down her face, in her mouth, in her nose. It couldn't bother her. There was no enemy fire, it wasn't a battlefield simulation, she didn't have to be able to see.

Every evolution had nothing to do with the ability of the body, and everything to do with the ability of the mind. None of the work was in preparation of the future; the pushups didn't serve the purpose of teaching the soldiers to pull body weight; the cardio didn't tell the instructors whether or not a marine could keep up energy and stamina. The log PT wouldn't help a Navy SEAL carry equipment or a partner on the job. Day after day after day of physical evolutions didn't build the body up. It broke the body down.

It was damaging and strenuous and forceful; the human body doesn't grow under those conditions; it breaks; and ninety percent of the time, the mind breaks first. That was Phase One.

He left her.

He destroyed everything and left.

She didn't really know why he disappeared last year. He never really told her why he blew everything off. She figured it was probably the commitment that they were approaching, and the fact that she had wanted to apply to be a VALOR Special Agent, which made no sense because he was the one who said she should.

If she knew that he'd been testing her, she never would have listened to him. They were both VALOR agents, he a Special Agent and she an analyst, and he'd been talking about her applying for the active duty role for two years. He'd been pushing her to consider applying for the advancement because he thought she "needed" it to feel fulfilled in her job. He kept saying they would make it work.

Liar.

The lying became a pattern—she couldn't take him at his word. She couldn't believe him on first decision. She would double check with him over and over and over. "Do you really want to?" "is this really ok?"

And he still came back around later and said "I didn't want to." "that bothered me."

He gave false affirmations and let her think that things were okay.

Maybe she messed up too much.

Maybe in time they could come back.

She gave up where she wanted to live and what she wanted to do and her reservations about having kids. She gave up a lot for the wedding. She did it all for him and it was difficult but she was so much more than willing to build something of their own together. And while she was trying to make plans within the new parameters, he was taking all of her difficulties as personal insult against him, no matter how many times she went blue in the face trying to convince him that it was a process to shift her entire outlook on her future but that she was excited about it.

"I feel like you don't really want to live in Texas."

"I feel like you don't want kids."

"You always wanted to be a Special Agent."

It was all personal insult against him.

He never thanked her for the 180-degree shift she adopted. It was hard to adjust to but she was quickly getting more and more excited for it. It was an adjustment, but she was trying so hard—so many nights crying, trying to make herself put her former plans aside so that he wouldn't see her struggle. But he saw some of it and some of the knee-jerk bitterness that accidentally slipped through and he took it as "you don't really want me."

Maven changed everything she wanted because she wanted him more, but every time a little difficulty showed through, he would see it as a major setback to them being together.

He never showed appreciation for what she was trying to do. All he would do (if he thought about it) was say "I think I'm asking too much of you" and then she'd have to comfort him and love on him and get him back on track because it wasn't too much.

But he never was appreciative or understanding and it made her feel like she was doing something wrong.

She was trying so hard.

Of course VALOR was still important to her. Of course it still mattered. But she wouldn't have chosen it over him.

She didn't know that was the choice she was making.

She wished she was better at communicating excitement, but she thought that she had been. She knew the wedding had been a sore point, but she laid that out at the beginning. She didn't like weddings. She hated weddings. She hated commercial events.

He said "I understand that, but I would like a wedding."

She said "I knew you would, and because it's important to you, we're going to have one."

And his response was "Can you at least make it nice?"

And he hit her with it when he called to break up with her. "You don't even want a wedding."

She did make requests about their wedding. She wanted it in Georgia. He said he didn't care to get married in Georgia. She said she hated lifeless church building weddings. She wanted it outdoors, at least, and he asked if they could consider the church building. She wanted a small, intimate wedding, he put 300 people on the guest list. She said she didn't want a lot of exposition, and he wanted a first dance.

But it was her fault that she had a hard time being enthusiastic about the event. She wanted to give him everything. She just thought he would give her grace when she had a hard time with it. And she should have been more mature about it, but it did suck. Nothing about the wedding appealed to her except for what she was wearing and the fact that she was allowed to have cheesecake and coffee.

And the closer they got to it, the more she wished she could have made it more her own.

She hated having 6 bridesmaids.

It bothered her that his family was 90% of the wedding party. He asked her to ask his own sisters to be bridesmaids, and he didn't even tell her that he was switching out his groomsmen and using his uncles instead of his friends.

And then he just called everything off and left.

She offered a delay on the wedding and counseling in the meantime. She offered a tangible solution.

But nothing they had experienced together was worth solving? He was so convinced they wanted different things. Nothing she could say would change his mind.

She's not getting married anymore. After spending 2 years investing in a future that no longer exists.

I don't know where it went.

It's just gone out of nowhere.

I had a fiancé and now I have nothing.

What am I supposed to do?

He left me.

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

International Women's Day key art by 343

From left to right:

Spartan Sigrid Eklund - Former Army Ranger turned Spartan IV, was also part of Fireteam Crimson.

Spartan Rosenda-A344 - Former member of Noble Team. Spartan III from Alpha Company.

Spartan Laurette Agryna - Spartan Commander of the Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science.

Spartan Vedrana Makovich - Former member of the UNSC Air Force. Spartan IV that fought on Zeta Halo, killed by Jega 'Rdomnai after a fierce fight.

[theclaravita]

DESTINY OC LORE: Everyone Else?

This is just going to be a list of all my other Destiny OCs with basic blurbs about who they are. Nothing special for any of them... Not even Clancy. Who is a fuckboy but also a time traveler. DON'T. ASK. QUESTIONS.

CONTENT WARNINGS spoilers | suicide

THE ORDER

DESTIN --------

NAME: Destin Tsurugi AGE: 500+ (First-wave Risen) GENDER: Male RACE: Human CLASS: Lightshaper SPEC: Paladin LORE: Destin Tsurugi is a Human Risen, one of the very first. Before the Iron Lords, there was the Order. Destin founded the Order of Orbis Vitae after seeing Risen Warlords destroying each other and their mortal charges in needless battles. He felt that the core reason these warlords were so violent was that they were simply wielding the Light instead of truly becoming one with it. The Order taught Risen to shape the Light DIRECTLY, instead of via elemental aspects. The act of doing so severely damages one's body and psyche, so limiters were used to train. Order Lightshapers came in four distinct variants: Paladins, Clerics, Sorcerers, and Rangers. Similar to Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters, each had their own ways of shaping the Light, though they were treated more like how Guardians use elements for subclasses; they were specializations. Destin himself headed the Paladin clan, whereas three of his trusted allies headed the other clans. Destin also wielded a large katana called the Sol Blade. He never unsheathed it, for to do so would be to invite ruin to the Sol System... Or so he said. The Order of Orbis Vitae fell to ruin during a particularly violent raid by the Fallen House of Devils, leaving only two of the four heads of the clans alive, and nearly every adherent to the Order's ways permanently dead. Destin and the head of the Cleric clan retreated to the mountains near the growing Last Safe City, where Destin meditated on the Traveler and made prophecies of future events. When the Traveler fled to the skies above Earth, Destin's Ghost was found shattered at his cabin by his fellow Order survivor, with footsteps leading into the wilderness being the only indication that Destin was still alive. The Sol Blade was brought to Ikora Rey to be analyzed and possibly used in the coming war. STATUS: Unknown; presumed severed from the Light.

ANNA --------

NAME: Anna Vita AGE: 500+ (First-wave Risen) GENDER: Female RACE: Human CLASS: Lightshaper SPEC: Cleric LORE: Anna Vita was raised around the time Destin founded the Order of Orbis Vitae. She encountered Destin as he was defending a group of New Lights from wandering Warlords who had accosted them. She saw the way he shaped the Light and knew she wanted to learn those arts. The two quickly became friends and Anna helped establish the Order's base of operations in Old Russia. When the Order was destroyed, Anna joined Destin in his meditations on the Traveler, though she quickly discovered that these meditations were driving her mad. She wondered if Destin was already mad and decided to wander the wilds, plying aid to those in need. She regularly works with Ikora Rey's Hidden, helping them upkeep safehouses across the Sol System. When the Traveler fled to the skies above Earth, Anna was the one to discover Destin's shattered Ghost and the Sol Blade, both of which she delivered to Ikora Rey in the Tower. STATUS: Waiting for the End To Come

FIRETEAM LUCID

BENN --------

NAME: Benn Moore AGE: 9 (Destiny Year 1) GENDER: Male RACE: Human CLASS: Titan SPEC: Sentinel LORE: Benn Moore was risen around the same time as Claros and Clara, marking the beginning of an era where the Cosmodrome became a rich crop of New Lights. He is part of Fireteam Lucid and regularly takes assignments in new frontiers discovered by Fireteam Vitalia. Benn and his fireteam usually help fill out assignments that require multiple fireteams to complete, such as the delve into the Vault of Glass and the raid on Oryx's Dreadnaught. In fact, every single raid operation that Fireteam Vitalia has taken part in, Fireteam Lucid has been right there with them. Everything from the Vault of Glass on Venus to the Disciple's Bog on Savathun's Throne World, Fireteam Lucid has seen just as much action as their more famous counterparts... A fact that Benn never lets them forget. Benn was one of the first Guardians to follow in Adri-8's footsteps and learn the power of Stasis from Elsie Bray. He and the rest of Fireteam Lucid took to the dark arts quite readily and are now commonly viewed as the go-to experts on Stasis, Deepsight, and Pyramid technology. STATUS: training in preparation for war

LIZZY --------

NAME: Elizabeth Moore AGE: 9 (Destiny Year 1) GENDER: Female RACE: Awoken CLASS: Hunter SPEC: Nightstalker LORE: Elizabeth Moore, (prefers Lizzy), is one of the many New Lights from the Cosmodrome that were raised at the beginning of the Age of Legends. She quickly teamed up and created Fireteam Lucid once she arrived at the Tower. As the preeminent stealth expert for both Fireteams Lucid and Vitalia, Lizzy has seen things that no other Guardian has. When Adri-8 began learning the power of Stasis from Elsie Bray, Lizzy was the first to know. She reported Adri's dark experiments to the Vanguard, worried for her Exo friend's safety. However, as Adri mastered the dark arts, and Benn followed suit, Lizzy dove headlong into the study of Deepsight. She recognized it as a keen tool for uncovering more secrets, particularly those that were intentionally hidden... STATUS: itching to get to Neptune to uncover its secrets

NERO --------

NAME: Nero Nix AGE: 216 (Just before The Great Disaster) GENDER: Non-Binary (He/They) RACE: Exo CLASS: Warlock SPEC: Voidwalker LORE: Nero Nix was raised around the same time as Adri-8, and her identity is known to him. Although he was not aware that she had been raised, he followed almost the exact same path she had taken: he remained on Europa for a time, researching his past self. He uncovered extremely verbose records that he had left himself before he had become an Exo, reeling at the unethical and outright monstrous things he had done. He also discovered his own files regarding a Seraph operative he had cared for when their original self had been found nearly dead in the Europan wastes. As he researched himself, a security alert sounded: someone had breached the hangar in Eventide. Upon viewing security footage, Nero saw that it was the Seraph operative that he had read about in his own file. Feeling that he owed this fellow Exo recompense for turning them into a monster like himself, he discretely followed her to the Last City. After some time, he approached her and told her who he was. She was nonchalant about it, telling him that they'd been given a new life to live. If he felt it was best served repaying her for what he'd done, it was up to him. He could do what he wanted, though. So Nero formed Fireteam Lucid with Benn and Lizzy, secretly vowing to always keep Adri safe. When Lizzy reported Adri's experiments with Stasis on Europa, Nero knew that she would succeed. After the Vanguard lifted the ban on Europa, Nero traveled there and met with Elsie Bray. They recognized each other and had a very terse conversation to break the ice. They reconciled, agreeing that it was all in the past and that Clovis Bray I's research was definitely helpful now so... From then on, Elsie and Nero worked together to unravel the secrets of the Europan Pyramid, providing invaluable data to the Vanguard and for their own purposes. STATUS: equally eager and terrified to see the Black Fleet in action

ROGUES

CLANCY --------

NAME: Clancy Villanova AGE: ??? GENDER: Male RACE: Human CLASS: Hunter SPEC: Arcstrider LORE: Clancy Villanova is a strange case. He looks like a Human version of Claros, and regularly seeks Claros out to pick fights with him -- fights he usually wins by beating Claros to death with his Arc-infused brawling style and his Liar's Handshake gloves. He is extremely annoying to talk to because it's very clear that he knows things that he shouldn't. He also continually makes references to Claros's past life before becoming even an Awoken. He seems to wildly fear Mara Sov and Petra Venj, going so far as to take a suicidal leap off the Tower when confronted by Petra during the hunt for Skolas. In general, he bunks wherever he can in the City, typically within quick travel distance to the Tower so he can torment Claros. Clara on multiple occasions could SWEAR that she's crushed his Ghost out of pure rage, but he always seems to come back regardless. His infuriating demeanor has even tested the patience of Ikora Rey, who once commented that he "clearly doesn't belong on this timeline". During her time watching Fireteam Vitalia during the Age of Legends, Elsie Bray was regularly accosted by Clancy. She has yet to tell anyone, but he has been a common fixture in almost every timeline she has crossed, and never in a good way. Mara Sov has placed a sizeable bounty on Clancy's Ghost, but over a dozen Guardians have turned in the remains of what they swear was the Ghost that appeared when they eviscerated the Hunter, including Clara, and every time it is utterly devoid of Light -- impossible that it was actually Clancy's Ghost. After learning the power of Stasis, Fireteam Lucid has attempted to lock Clancy in Stasis matter for interrogation but he always somehow gives them the slip. He is an utter mystery and a dangerous one at that. Interact with extreme caution. STATUS: h̷̰͝ȃ̷̺h̷̪̉a̵̘̍ ̵̿͜w̶̛͚ŏ̸̱u̷͉̅l̸̞͋d̴̙͋n̷̠͛'̷̣̽t̶̨͠ ̷̳͂ÿ̸̝́ȏ̷̭ũ̵̹ ̶͎̕l̴͇̂i̴̟̊k̷͓̈è̷͚ ̵̣̏t̴̥̽ô̸̪ ̶̖̈́k̴̢̔n̵̯̒o̸̟̔w̷͇͆?̷̖̃

[ladyborealiswrites]

Current Hunter Exotic Armor Changes - I'll be detailing the changes I'd like to see with current Hunter exotic armor pieces, without adapting them for the proposed changes I suggested in my previous Hunter or subclass post.

Casques) 

Assassin's Cowl - Vanishing Execution: Activating your dodge ability immediately after landing an ability kill, or a precision kill with a weapon that has a damage type matching your super grants you health and makes you invisible. Final blows against more powerful combatants increases the effects. 

Blight Ranger - Voltaic Mirror: Guarding with your Arc Staff does not consume extra Super energy. Attacks you redirect with your Arc Staff deal +400% damage, track toward combatants, generate Orb of Power for your allies, and extend the duration of your super. 

Celestial Nighthawk - Hawkeye Hack: Precision final blows reduce the cooldown of your Super. Modifies Golden Gun to fire a single, high-damage shot (+650% damage). Defeating a target with this shot restores 33% super energy and causes the target to explode. 

Cyrtarachne's Façade - Weaver’s Focus: Gain increased flinch resistance while you have Woven Mail. Activating your Grapple grenade, or rapidly defeating 3 targets with Threaded Spike grants you Woven Mail. Your Strand weapons gain +20 Airborne effectiveness. 

Foetracer - Relentless Tracker: Damaging a powerful combatant or Guardian with rapid weapon precision hits visually marks the target and disrupts them. Your abilities with a damage type matching the weapon that applied the mark are increased by 80% against the marked target. Defeating the marked target with matching ability damage, or precision final blows with matching damage types increases the damage of your weapons that match your abilities by 30% and their accuracy by 10%. 

  Graviton Forfeit - Darkened Shadows: The duration of invisibility applied to you is increased by 50%. While you are Invisible, you gain 30% damage resistance, maximized weapon reload speed and character Recovery; your abilities gain +400% recharge rates and +100% damage while you are Invisible. 

Knucklehead Radar - Upgraded Sensor Pack: Your radar is enhanced; it remains visible while aiming down sights with weapons, and gains massively increased range and resolution upon landing a precision final blow. Damaging combatants with precision damage visually marks them for 10 seconds; you deal 50% increased precision damage and have +20% accuracy against marked targets. Your Kinetic weapons gain +20 Airborne Effectiveness. 

Mask of Bakris - Light Shift: While you have a Stasis or Arc super equipped, your dodge becomes a longer ranged, faster moving teleport that partially cloaks you during use. After activating this, your Stasis and Arc weapons deal increased damage for a short time (+25%). Your class ability does not recharge while this damage bonus is active. Your Stasis and Arc weapon gain +30 Airborne Effectiveness while Light Shift is active. 

Wormhusk Crown - Burning Souls: Applying an elemental debuff to a target increases the ability regeneration of those abilities which match that debuff. Defeating elementally debuffed targets with weapons or abilities that match that debuff increases the damage of those weapons or abilities by 15%. 

Grips) 

Aeon Swift - Aeon Energy: This Exotic has three selectable perks; 

Sect of Force: Aeon's Wrath- Ability final blows increase the damage of your weapons that match that ability’s damage type by 10%. Weapon precision final blows increase the damage of your abilities that match that weapon’s damage type by 10%, 

Foebreaker Chant- When you stun a Champion or defeat a boss/miniboss, you and your nearby fireteam members gain a burst of grenade and melee energy. Aeon allies who do not have the Sect of Force role equipped also gain a burst of Super energy.

Sect of Insight: Aeon's Inspiration – Rapid weapon precision hits have a chance to drop an Orb of Power for you and your allies.

Armsbearer Chant – When you use a finisher on an Elite, you generate Special ammo for your fireteam; when you use a finisher on a boss or miniboss, you generate Heavy ammo for your fireteam. Nearby Aeon allies who do not have the Sect of Insight role equipped also gain a bonus to weapon damage for a short time.

Sect of Vigor: Aeon's Vow – Rapid precision weapon take downs heal nearby allies. When nearby allies become critically wounded, you gain a +20% bonus to weapon damage until your next weapon takedown. 

Lightgiver Chant – Activating an ability grants your nearby allies 10% damage resistance. Casting your super grants nearby allies 20% damage resistance. Aeon allies who do not have the Sect of Vigor role equipped also gain a burst of healing.

Athrys's Embrace - Skitter Stinger: Your Weighted Throwing Knife melee gains a second bounce. Rapid precision hits with your weapon grant Strengthened Throwing Knife for 5 seconds, up to 20 seconds, which grants benefits to your Weighted Throwing Knife. Those are +200% damage, greatly increased tracking after ricocheting, +50 character Strength, and can Stagger Unstoppable Champions. 

Caliban's Hand - Roast ‘Em: Your Proximity Explosive Knife Scorches combatants damaged by its explosion, and gains increased tracking; your other throwing knives deal +50% damage to Scorched combatants. Final blows with Proximity Explosive Knife trigger an Ignition. After defeating a combatant with Proximity Knife, you gain +100% increased melee regeneration. 

Khepri's Sting - Touch of Venom: While you have the Smoke Bomb melee equipped, landing an uncharged melee attack spends 10% melee energy, Weakens the target and grants you 5 seconds of Truesight. While you have Truesight, your charged and uncharged melee attacks deal +250% damage and your Smoke Bomb regenerates +500% faster. Damaging a combatant with Smoke Bomb or Trapper’s Ambush increases the damage over time effect by +50% and grants you 15 seconds of Truesight. 

Liar's Handshake - Cross Counter: Using your Arc melee ability, or being hit by a melee attack, allows you to follow up with an uncharged melee attack that deals 200% increased damage and heals you. 

Mechaneer's Tricksleeves - Spring-Loaded Mounting: Maximizes Sidearm handling, ready, and reload speeds. Becoming critically wounded immediately reloads and overflows the magazine, up to +50%, and grants +150% damage for 5 seconds. Sidearm final blows while this effect is active reload the magazine and extend the duration of the damage buff. Your Sidearms gain +20 Airborne Effectiveness passively, and +40 Airborne Effectiveness while Spring-Loaded Mounting is active. 

Mothkeeper's Wraps - Winged Eclipse: Your equipped grenade is converted into a grenade that creates a cage of 6 Arc Loyal Moths that seek out combatants, detonating and Blinding them on contact. If an ally is within 10 meters of this grenade on impact, one moth becomes a Void Loyal Moth, which seeks out that ally and grants a Void Overshield on contact; more Loyal Moths are created in proportion to the number of allies in range. 

Oathkeeper - Adamantine Brace: fully drawn Bows can be held indefinitely. Gain a bonus to your Bow’s damage when released, based on how long the charge was held shortly after coming to a full draw. (Grants +37.5% damage to Bow damage for every half second held after coming to a full draw, up to a maximum of 4 seconds and +150%. This damage increase expires 4.5 seconds after holding a full draw.) Your Bows gain +20 Airborne Effectiveness passively, and +40 Airborne Effectiveness while Adamantine Brace is active. 

Renewal Grasps - Depths of Dusksfield: You gain a second Duskfield grenade charge, and your Duskfield grenades have a much larger effect radius. Slowing combatants grants grenade energy, and Freezing with your Duskfield grenade extends its duration. Allies inside the Duskfield are gradually granted stacks of Frost Armor, up to 5x, and enemies inside the Duskfield have 50% reduced outgoing damage. 

Sealed Ahamkara Grasps - Nightmare Fuel: Dealing damage with a melee Frightens the target; Frightened combatants deal 50% less damage to you and are 30% less accurate while targeting you; these effects are increased when landing an Uncharged melee attack. Damaging a combatant with melees grants you 50% increased movement speed, jump height, and maximizes weapon reload stats for 10 seconds. Your wepons gain +10 Airborne Effectiveness passively, and +25 Airborne Effectiveness while Nightmare Fuel is active. 

 Shards of Galanor - Sharp Edges: Throwing knife final blows decrease the cooldown of your super. Your Blade Barrage super gains strengthened tracking and each explosion Scorches combatants shortly after landing a Throwing Knife final blow. Hits and Final blows with Blade Barrage return up to 50% super energy upon your super ending. 

 Shinobu's Vow - New Tricks: Gain an additional Skip grenade charge. Skip grenades gain increased grenade throw speed, increase projectile tracking and range, and spawn 6 projectiles. Damaging a combatant with a Skip grenade projectile returns grenade energy and Jolts them. 

Triton Vice - Halverdier’s Reach:  Glaive’s gain +50 reload speed. While you are near two or more combatants, Glaives gain +150% melee damage. Final blows with a Glaive melee loads one round into the magazine, can overflow the magazine to up to double capacity, and increases Glaive projectile damage by 50%. Glaive projectile final blows detonate and apply an elemental debuff matching the Glaive’s damage (Arc - Jolt, Solar - Scorch, Void - Suppression, Stasis - Freeze, Strand - Unravel). Your Glaives gain +30 Airborne Effectiveness. 

Young Ahamkara's Spine - Wish-Dragon’s Teeth: Gain an additional Tripmine grenade chsrge. Increases Tripmine grenade throw speed, duration, health and blast radius. You gain grenade energy from Solar weapon precision final blows, ability hits, and ability final blows while you are Radiant. (2-10% on precision final blows, based on combatant difficulty; 20% on non-lethal ability hits; and 10% on ability final blows) 

Cuirasses) 

Gifted Conviction - The Gift of Certainty: Activating your class ability, Ascension, or Tempest Strike throws out 3 bouncing explosives that damage and Jolt combatants. These projectiles track and deal 25% increased damage while you are Amplified. Being near a Jolted combatant grants 15% damage resistance. Your Arc weapon gain +40 Airborne Effectiveness. 

Gwisin Vest - Gwisin Vest: Modified Spectral Blades to throw out Void blades that make enemies Volatile when attacking. Final blows with this super extend the duration of this super when you go into Stealth, with more super energy being restored for more final blows before going into Stealth. 

Gyrfalcon's Hauberk - Volatile Entrance: Emerging from Invisibility grants 15% increased Void weapon damage and Volatile Rounds to your Void weapons for 10 seconds; enemies nearby when you emerge from being Invisible become Volatile. When you are Invisible and use a finisher, all of your weapons gain +35% damage for 6 seconds; while also granting you and your allies a Void Overshield. Your Void weapons gain +40 Airborne Effectiveness while they have Volatile Rounds. 

Lucky Raspberry - Probability Matrix: Arcbolt grenades gain the following benefits; a second charge, increased radius, chaining capabilities, an escalating damage in proportion to combatants inside the radius, and Jolt combatants. Defeating enemies with Jolt lighting and collecting Ionic Traces grant grenade energy. 

Omnioculus - Beyond the Veil: You gain a second Smoke Bomb charge. Making allies Invisible grants a Void Overshield, and returns melee energy; both effects are strengthened depending on the amount of allies you make Invisible. 

Ophidia Spathe - Scissor Fingers: Gain a second Knife Trick charge. Knife Trick projectiles gain tracking capabilities. Landing a final blow with Knife Trick grants a stacking +30% damage bonus to Knife Trick for 5 seconds. Casting Gambler’s Dodge refreshes this timer. Landing a Knife Trick final blow increases the Airborne Effectiveness of your Solar weapons by 25. 

Raiden Flux - Synapse Junctions: Landing hits with Arc Staff increases the damage of the next attack, up to 3x and +50% (12.5% at 1x, 25% at 2x, and 50% at 3x), . Hits and final blows with Arc Staff return up to 50% super energy upon your super ending. Arc final blows have a chance to increase Arc weapon damage, up to 4x and 30%, gain the highest-tier damage bonus upon landing an Arc melee final blow. 

 Raiju's Harness - Mobius Conduit: Your Storms Edge super is enhanced; The damage of your Storm’s Edge super increases by up to 50% based on the distance traveled before attacking, each attack Blinds combatants. Hits with your Disorienting Blow melee grant super energy and increase the damage and regeneration of your Disorienting Melee. 

The Dragon's Shadow - Wraithmetal Mail: Landing a final blow with a weapon matching your Super grant increased weapon reload speed and handling by 15%  for 5 seconds, up to 3x. Dodging grants 3x immediately and reloads all weapons. Your Kinetic weapons gain +11 Airborne Effectiveness for every stack of Wraithmetal Mail. 

 The Sixth Coyote - Gain an additional Dodge charge; your dodge increases ally melee regeneration rate or reload speed, depending on your equipped dodge. Shortly after Dodging, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power. 

Strides) 

Balance of Power - Double Down: Your Threaded Specter has increased duration, health, and draws more attention. When damaged, additional Threadlings are created; up to two total. For a short time after creating your Threaded Specter, you are removed from Radar, are granted Woven Mail and increased movement speed. Threadling final blows grant class ability energy. 

Fr0st-EE5 - While you have Frost Armor, your Stasis abilities apply 50% more Slow stacks. Causing a combatant to become Slowed or Frozen, or while you have Frost Armor, your movement and sprint speed is increased. Sprinting while this effect is active increases the regeneration rate by 100%. 

Gemini Jester - Misdirection: Dodging Blinds nearby enemies. Blinding enemies makes you Amplified and grants you 10% damage resistance. 

Lucky Pants - Illegally Modded Holster: When you ready a fully loaded Hand Cannon that deals Kinetic damage, or has a damage type matching your equipped super, each shot grants a stacking 60% damage bonus for 5.5 seconds, maxing out at +600% damage. Hand Cannons ready faster, are more accurate shortly after swapping to them, and are steadily reloaded while stowed. Your Hand Cannons gain +30 Airborne Effectiveness while Illegally Modded Hoster is active. 

Orpheus Rig - Uncanny Arrows: your Shadow Shot supers are enhanced; Deadfall lasts 25% longer, increases the damage shared by tethered combatants, and provides super energy, up to 50%, for each target tethered by Deadfall anchors; Moebius Quiver gains a tighter spread, increased tracking, gains an additional shot, and grants 50% damage to the next shot. 

Radiant Dance Machines - The Dance: Activating your dodge ability while near opponents makes you Radiant. Defeating combatants with Kinetic weapons while Radiant increases Kinetic weapon damage, up to 4x and 30%, and reduces your class ability cooldown. 

Speedloader Slacks - Quicker Together - Activating your dodge ability grants its effects to all nearby allies, while also granting a stacking 10% bonus to weapon reload speeds and handling for you and nearby allies for 10 seconds; maxing out at 5x. While you are near allies, you gain 10% increased dodge regeneration rate for each ally, up to +50%. Landing rapid precision hits with a weapon matching your Super element increases the reload speed of those weapons by 20%. 

St0mp-EE5 - Increases sprint speed and slide distance, while improving the distance traveled with your Jump. You take 10% less damage while you are airborne; and landing final blows while airborne grants 15% damage resistance for 5 seconds. Landing an airborne precision final blow grants 20% damage resistance for 10 seconds. Your weapons gain +15 Airborne Effectiveness. 

Star-Eater Scales - Feast of Light: You gain additional super energy from collecting Orbs of Power. While your super energy is full, collecting two Orbs of Power grants one stack of Feast of Light, up to 6 stacks. Casting your super consumes all stacks of Feast of Light, which increases the damage of your super when cast by 15% per stack. Casting your super with 6 stacks grants you an Overshield and +10% damage resistance while your super is active. 

The Bombardiers - Parting Gift: Casting your class ability leaves behind an explosive that detonates shortly after, which deals damage matching your equipped Super and applies a matching elemental effect. (Arc - Blind, Solar - Scorch, Void - Suppress, Stasis - Slow, Strand - Sever). Applying an elemental debuff with this explosive grants 10% class ability energy for each combatant affected; final blows with this explosive increase matching weapon damage by 30%. 

Cloak) 

Relativism - Exotic Spirit: This exotic can have two exotic perks, of which carry the Spirit of the original perk; carrying a weaker version of the original Exotic perk. 

First Column

Spirit of the Armamentarium: Gain an additional grenade charge. 

Spirit of the Coyote: Gain an additional class ability charge. 

Spirit of the Claw: Gain an additional melee charge.

Spirit of Caliban: Melee final blows trigger an Ignition. 

Spirit of the Dragon: Landing a final blow with a weapon matching your equipped super grants increased reload speed and handling for those weapons by 10% for 5 seconds. 

Spirit of the Foetracer: Damaging a powerful combatant or Guardian with rapid weapon precision hits visually marks the target. Your abilities with a damage type matching the weapon that applied the mark are increased by 60% against the marked target. 

Spirit of Galanor: Hits and final blows with your super restore up to 35% super energy upon your super ending. 

Spirit of The Liar: Taking melee damage allows you to follow up with a counter-melee that deals 150% increased damage. 

Second Column 

Spirit of the Star-Eater: While your Super energy is full, picking up two Orbs of Power grants up to 6 stacks of Feast of Light, which grants +8.2% bonus damage per stack.

Spirit of Synthoceps: Improves melee damage while surrounded by 100%.

Spirit of Verity: Weapon final blows with a damage type matching your grenade have a chance to grant a 10% stacking grenade damage bonus, up to 5x.

Spirit of Balance: your Threaded Specter has increased duration and releases up to two total additional Threadlings as it takes damage or is destroyed. Threadling final blows grant class ability energy. 

Spirit of the Cyrtarachne: Activating your Grapple grenade grants you 10 seconds of Woven Mail. 

Spirit of the Gyrfalcon: Emerging from Invisibility grants Volatile or Unraveling rounds to your Strand and Void weapons for 5 seconds. 

Spirit of Nightmares: Dealing damage with a melee ability Frightens the target; Frightened targets deal 35% less damage to you and are 20% less accurate while targeting you. 

Spirit of Renewal: When inside your Duskfield grenade; you and allies gradually gain Frost Armor, and enemies deal 35% less damage.

[dragongirlclawtoes]

CHIMERA HEART

[This post is subject to change, both additively and subtractively, at any time in the future]

Chimera Heart, a combination mercenary corp/research and development/medical organization, (specifically, the detachment operating in the Polaris region of space) relies on a small but elite crew of operators known as VIXEN.

Each member of VIXEN is an android created by digitizing an organic brain. The exact process of this is unknown since the technology is from the rival organization, ABYSS, but destroys organic components, so is only used if absolutely necessary.

WHITEFOX, also known as Yuki White Tsukinokyu, is specialized in using medium to short range firearms and blasters. Trans woman (on account of how the digitization works; showing an 'ideal' model plucked from the mind of the scanned), lesbian and polyamorous (mostly for fellow VIXEN operators WILDCAT and DRACO but also at least 2 ABYSS agents: EXCARETAKER and [REDACTED]). Has a strong code of honor, and dislikes anyone who would force her to abandon it. Unconfirmed, but she might have gained the ability to use magic at some point, and in the light of an irregular moon gains 8 phantasmal tails.

<art by Star>

WILDCAT, a tiger girl proficient in beam sabers and other melee weapons. Also a trans woman who is lesbian and polyam. Fierce, like her namesake, but will not allow bystanders to die, even if it means using advanced technology to make them a VIXEN unit (despite the technology being incredibly expensive to run).

DRACO, a drakyr girl whose primary purposes are electronic warfare and boosting morale. Trans woman, asexual, panromantic and polyam. Has had 30 denied requests to transfer to an updated body, despite her claims that overall morale could be further improved by the changes she wants (and the expected usage of the prior model via the CREA system for any willing staff member to 'pilot' the unused android body).

Fireteam ONI (named after the stylization of their head antenna attachments), 5 separate heavily equipped operators, only ever deployed together, only ever when the only option is absolute carnage: CHX-MA37 "Checkmate", a wolf-type RAZIA-inspired unit. Command-spec modified OS. Puts on a calm and collected front, but finds it hard to focus around those she has a crush on.

CHX-M6C "Mixer", a dragon-type RAZIA-inspired unit. Built for hit-and-run tactics, with rocket boosters incorporated into her wingpack and feet. When not focused on something like a mission or videogame, she can be difficult to keep in one place.

CHX-ARC920 "Rail", a leviathan-type RAZIA-inspired unit. Too heavy to submerge, despite her desire to swim. Confident and a little bit of a showoff.

CHX-BR85 "Ranger", a cat-type RAZIA-inspired unit. Acts as Rail's spotter on missions. Hard to read, but enjoys sitting in the room doing her own thing with the rest of ONI. Responsible for the most accurate relationship chart hosted on the detachments' intranet portal.

CHX-M247 "Terminator", a dragon-type RAZIA-inspired unit. Heavily armored chassis. Acts battle-eager and bloodthirsty, but (not so) secretly craves hugs, pets and getting called "good girl". Surprisingly good at fashion advice, despite all her armor modifications rendering her unable to wear clothes.

(The total number of VIXEN units available to any given detachment is roughly in the 20 to 30 region, though the majority of operators amongst the detachment did not wish to be named in this document.)

[fireteam-ranger]

"I heard a rumor. That you were leaving the tower?"

Ada-1 barely glanced up from her station, only because she recognized the voice of Felix. "Yes. Because of the... impending crisis, I have work that needs doing. Work that I cannot do from here."

Felix let out a light sigh as his helmet disappeared, in order to talk to Ada face-to-face. "The Forges are still dangerous. I'm all for reclaiming the family legacy, but... Maybe I should go with you, let my team handle the other things for a while."

She fully turned to him, sharply, in response. "Not necessary. You and your team are needed in the system right now. Besides, you and the other Guardians have done more than enough to help reclaim the Forges. I can take it from here."

"I don't suppose there's any way I can convince you otherwise?"

Shifting once again, Ada returned her gaze to her station. "I'm sorry. But there's not. We started this, but this is my mission."

"Then I won't stand in your way. I have faith in you, cousin. But if you need any help, you call me, I'm there." He paused for a second. "Hey, how about a picture? One for the road?"

She looked back to him. Felix could swear she was smiling.

"Okay. But just one."

[echosong971]

“We lose so much in this life. Any life. All lives, really…

But this life… This Last-Safe-City, end-of-all-things kinda life…?

Even when we win, it seems like all we do is lose.”

- Cayde-6

guess who’s been thinking about the Nightstalker Quest from Taken King againnnn

[agentannakelso]

Think of space-time as a tapestry on a loom. This weapon is the needle. “So wait, that thing you found does… what?” “It fires black holes.” “No it doesn't.” “Oh yeah. It does. Actual, tiny, bullet-sized black holes.” “Did you tell the others?” “Only that I found some weird gun in some overgrown tunnel back on Old Chicago. And that my Ghost was all, “THIS is why we were led here...'” “Yours talks that way too?” “What do you think?” “OK, OK, but the gun—are you going to tell them?” "Yeah, definitely." "When?" "Crucible." "Oh no." "Oh, yes."

Destiny 2, Graviton Lance Item description

[wufflibrary]

Patrol

Serengeti National Park 2042

3 Humvees, 2 armed with .72 cal bolters and 1 without, drive through the savanna, kicking up a dust cloud behind them as they barrel through the grasslands. In the center vehicle, CPL Grey sits in the passenger seat, playing with a gps tablet, zooming out and in, looking around the area.

(below pictures is one of the type 9 bolter mounted to the roof)

"Having fun there bud?" His driver, Snr Rifleman James Duncan, a male Caucasian human, asks having glanced over to look at Grey messing around.

"Hmm, yeah," Grey responds idly, putting his legs up on the dashboard, "how much longer are we gonna be on patrol?"

"Just halfway through now I'm pretty sure, and feet off the dash," James answers.

"Oh there's no fucking air bag, so it's not like doing this puts me in any more risk than I already am in this thing" Grey snaps back, his ears folding down in annoyance.

"You'll go through the window," James says, in a sort of parenting tone.

"What through this... bullet... proof... glass..." Grey says as he kicks the front window as hard as he can, doing nothing to it other then putting smudges in it. James sighs and puts his focus back on driving. "Hey Misha" Grey calls up to the turret of the vehicle.

"Yes sir?" Specialist Misha, an androgynous looking snow leopard, responds.

"E4 to E4, should I try get promoted?" Grey asks.

"You say that like you have a chance," Rifleman Eric Kirasake, a male east asian looking human, quips.

"Shut the fuck up Kirasake," Grey orders.

Misha takes some time to think, resting on their bolter, before looking into the cab to answer, "nah, it's just more responsibility."

"Thank you Misha," Grey looks up and Misha before looking back at his gps. Suddenly, the lead vehicle pulls off into a small abandoned looking settlement and James followed parking next to it, with the rear vehicle parking next to them.

"Alright everyone dismount," Grey ordered as he puts his feet down and grabs his type-23 rifle (pictured below, but with solid tan camo instead of white winter)

The rest of the men get out of the humvees as well with their rifles. Misha pulls out a few pins from the mount and detaches the bolter, setting it down before getting out of the turret standing by the door as Eric hands them their gunner assist arm, which Misha attaches to the rest of the rig before attaching the gun to it and joining the others.

Grey walks up to the squad lead.

"Corporal Dreemurr," he acknowledges.

"Commander Jackson," Grey responds with a light salute.

"What's up Grey," the commander asks.

"Oh not much Sean, just wondering why we stopped halfway through our patrol to stop at some run down ranger station that's been abandoned long ago," Grey asked, his voice full of annoyance.

"Well you see my good sir, the ranger station is empty, there are no ranger working out here, which means, we have to do their job," Sean explained, disregarding Grey's annoyed tone, "that's why we've been doing these patrols, on top of looking for enemy activity in the Serengeti."

"Wait what, that's why we've been doing these stupid fucking patrols?" Grey is now very annoyed that he's be getting up before the fucking sun, to be fancy fucking park rangers.

"Yes, I thought you knew."

"No!?"

"Huh, well, anyways, see that tree out there, gather you men, take them out there and patrol east through that tree line, once you get back in the open, head back here," Cmdr Jackson ordered.

"Sir yes sir," Grey said with poison on his tongue as his walks back to his fireteam.

"What's up sir?" Rifleman Jessie Hansen asks, a female golden retriever with a pink stripe going down the back of her head, noting her fireteam lead's sour demeanor.

Grey gives a heavy sigh, "apparently we're just fancy park rangers, guess they couldn't find anything better to do with us marines, and they don't want us just sitting on boats," He explained.

"Why, isn't that what we normally do during peace time, why does it change when we're in conflict," Eric asked.

"Numbers, there are more marines deployed during conflict, and there's not enough boats, even in peacetime a good amount of marines were on base duty, just chilling out in foreign military bases," Grey explained.

"Yeah, I got stuck at Fort Polk for a good bit on joint training with the US marines," James added.

"Fuck yeah I was with you for that, I was still a Senior Rifleman, the best part was the war games, and that's only because you don't have to deal with the brain-dead leadership there. I got shouted at by a Staff Sargent because I parked in 'his' parking spot, dispite most other parking spots around being empty, and there not being any indication that the spot is reserved," Grey sat down to rant.

"Did you move?" Misha asked, looking up from they're bolter, having been inspecting it and it's mounting arm to make sure it works.

"Nah my commander came along and chewed him out for it, then I came back to the car keyed, but it was an army rental and they know he did it," Grey said, before getting up and checking the chamber of his rifle for a round," alright, let's get going, we're heading south to that tree over there, then moving east through that small forest until we hit the clearing on the other side, I'm guessing that area is a fairly common hiding spot for poachers, there's concealment, and the rangers wouldn't think that the poachers would be ballsy to hang out this close to a Ranger station, got it."

"Sir yes sir!" The fireteam responded and they all got up and formed up in 2 staggered lines as they moved out in a march.

After half an hour of walking they reached the tree.

"Hold here for a bit, Duncan, can you give us a scan of the horizon, just a quick one while we're still in the open," Grey ordered.

"Yes sir, scanning now," James flips down his scout view finder, which is just a fancy set of nvgs that you can zoom in to see long distance. With it down James starts scanning the horizon, mostly giving it a quick look over for anything out of the ordenary.

"You think there'd actually be poachers out here, it's a warzone," Jessie asked.

"It's not that active, and honestly, best time for it, any animal killed can be written off as collateral damage, and everyone wou be too focused on the enemy, they won't be looking out for the animals," Misha explained.

"Except for us, cause they literally don't have anything better to do with us," Grey added in complaining.

"It's something, I was getting bored sitting at the base," Misha retorted.

"Hey guys, MRAP, bearing 137, south east, about 3.5 clicks out heading north west, looks Russian," James reported.

"Those can't be friendly, everyone hit the deck, James you take a knee, keep them in your sights," Grey ordered reaching up to a button on his shoulder to transmit through his radio, "This is bravo lead to squad lead, Russian MRAP spotted moving northwest of our position."

"Sir the MRAP has changed bearing, it's heading north, straight to our position," James updated.

"Update MRAP is moving to our position, please advise over," Grey updated.

"Roger that Bravo lead, presume MRAP is hostile, you're weapons free, fall back to the station if you can, over," command responded.

"Roger that, over and out," Grey raised his rifle and took it off safety, "Misha, what are you set at with that belt"

"500," Misha responded.

"James?"

"Roger that, marking at 500," James acknowledged.

"Alright, everyone ambush positions, Misha will start it up, when they dismount, gun them down," Grey ordered. There was a stressful quiet as several clicks of safeties being turned off.

"1 click," James reported.

"900"

"800"

"700"

"600"

"Mark! Mark! Mark!"

With the mark Misha opened fire, sending armour piecing bolts through the engine deck, disabling the vic. The drivers door swung open and he was dead before his foot could reach the ground, return fire came from behind of the MRAP, shots were traded as the men dismounting tried to get into a combat position, giving covering fire for eachother, but the fireteam was already set up and in a more advantageous position. The co-driver fired from behind the engine block, taking a few shots before backing into cover.

"Misha, engine," Grey pointed out.

"Roger," Misha acknowledges and lights him up the moment he pokes out again taking him out by disintegrating his upper body with explosive .72 cal bolts.

Eric moves up from a prone to a crouch to better see over the grass, but immediately falls back down to the deck folding his ears down as a round of 6.5mm wizzes past his head, followed closely by a scream of pain from behind as James goes down.

"Duncan's been hit," Eric reports.

"I got it, cover me," Grey orders as he moves up to James, running up crouched and sliding to a kneel next to him as he starts pulling out his field dressings and working to stop the bleeding, first taking off the hard armour case of the breastplate, then getting the softer Kevlar body armour aside to dress up the wound, stopping the bleeding and bandaging it up, luckily the shot went straight through and didn't really hit anything vital.

"Stay down Duncan you'll be alright, I'll get a medic here," Grey reassured, before pressing on the button on his shoulder to transmit, "This is bravo lead to squad lead, we have a man down, we need a medic here stat, over."

"Roger that Bravo lead, I'm sending Alpha team to back you up, hold tight, over."

"Roger, over and out," Grey acknowledged, "alright, Alpha team is coming to back us up, there a defilade behind the tree, so we're moving there till they get here."

"Wilco," Jessie says, getting up from her position and moving back to the tree quickly, then laying down covering fire for the others.

"Roger," Eric lays down some fire before reloading and moving back to the defilade. Misha is just laying down constant fire, shooting on the move as they move back to where there others are, staying just above the lip to continue laying down fire. Grey gets James up and moves him to cover, laying him down.

"Easy, stay here," Grey continues to reassure, then turning to the rest with his usual authoritative voice, "Guys report, where we at for ammo?"

"3 mags left," Jessie reports having just switched out her mag.

"2 left for me," Eric adds in.

"I'm at 3 as well, Misha?" Grey turns to the snow leopard, who looks at a screen on their wrist.

"Plenty," They respond.

The field had become quiet, a gunshot hadn't been exchanged in awhile, Eric started crawling up to peek over the ridge, then immediately ducked under again as a bullet whizzed over. Jessie then took a turn to peek and saw them moving up, taking a few shots and taking one down before crawling back down as return fire comes from the rest.

The stalemate continued for awhile until the silence was broken by the sound of an engine.

"About fucking time," Grey muttered as the one of the armed Humvees showed up driving up to the tree. Jessie took this time to peek over back at their assailants.

"Sir, they're surrendering," She reports, Grey joined her over the lip with Eric, and even James willed himself to movement to peek over. She wasn't lying, 4 men, rifles on the ground, hands in the air.

"Move up, James you stay here, they'll take care of you," Grey ordered.

"I know I know, it was hard enough getting up here," He responded.

The rest of the fireteam walked over to the surrendered men, using zip tie cuffs to detain them and taking their rifles.

"Christ these guys were Chinese special forces, that's why they're so far behind the frontline," Eric noted, "I'm surprised we managed to take so many out."

"We didn't," Grey corrected him, pointing out the other men on the ground, out, but definitely not dead, their body armour somehow strong enough to stop 6.8mm. The commander walks over to check up on the situation.

"Good job Sargent," He starts, having given him a battlefield promotion.

"No thanks," Grey responds, turning him down.

"Yeah you don't get a say in it," He states.

"Fuck," Grey mutters.

"0900 tomorrow, you better be on time, oh and search that MRAP, if these guys are special forces there has to be some good intel in there," He commands before walking off.

Grey sighs heavily with pain and condemnation, "Sir yes sir."

End.

(Yeah I kinda went overboard with this, uhhh, this counts as 2 stories, fuck you I make the rules. I wanted to kinda show the military side of my world and show what it was like for Grey when he served. I had fin writing it, wish I did it quicker, hope you enjoyed it <3)

[am-i-right-marines]

Prompt: Reinforcements

“Get to cover!”

Sergeant Major Elliot Reynolds dove behind a partially collapsed wall and reloaded his MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System.

Jul’Mdama and his Storm Covenant had thought it a good idea to attack a UNSC colony.

It was the Great War all over again.

Peeking over his cover, he let loose three five round bursts into an Elite and watched it collapse on a puddle of blood.

“Where the hell is our air cover?!” Corporal Harper barked.

“Army dropped the ball again!”

“Is now really the best time for this?!” Captain Bryan White, an Army Ranger, yelled over the din.

Elliot snorted. These two really knew how to lighten the mood even in a firefight.

Then came a magical sound.

The whump of helicopter blades.

The Sergeant Major turned towards the sound, and was greeted with a flight of three UH-144 Falcons swooping low over the hills. As they reached the battlefield, the two door gunners on each aircraft opened up, along with the mounted nose gun. Any Covenant troops that had been in the open were nothing but corpses now.

“Talon 2-Leader to Bravo 2-7, ready for tasking.”

Elliot blinked into the comm channel. “2-Leader, Actual. Call for—“

“Look out!”

Elliot’s eyes shot towards the person who shouted, and followed their gesture to see a Fuel Rod-wielding Elite take aim at the Falcons.

“Talon! Evade! Evade!”

The Elite fired.

“Shit-!”

The lead Falcon’s cockpit detonated in a wash of green radiation and flame and it plummeted towards the ground. “Clear out!”

The wreck slammed into the hillside with the force of a train, sending dirt and bodies flying in every direction. “Watch the blades!”

The two helicopter blades snapped off from their mounts and went flying.

“We need those long range transmitters to reach something! Anything!” Captain White yelled over the din.

“Cover me!” Elliot barked, then dropped his rifle and vaulted his cover.

“Covering fire!” Harper shouted, and a staccato of rifle fire sounded in response.

Elliot sidestepped a plasma bolt and dove into a crater made by a plasma-mortar to dodge a shot from a focus-rifle. Climbing out, the Sergeant Major made the finally sprint to the downed Falcon and made a grab for its long-range transmitter.

Funnily enough, the E-BAND lit up right as he did.

“Any and all UNSC forces receiving heed and standby, this is Infinity-Actual. Standby by for hot-drop of Spartan fireteams at Point Uppeecut, Point Turnbuckle, and Point Knockout. ETA ninety seconds.”

Knowing if he stayed out here much longer he’d be dead, the Sergeant hightailed it back to cover and retrieved his weapon. “Reinforcements incoming!”

“Where the hell from?!”

And then came the pods.

Hundreds of SOEIVs fell through the high cloud layer like hundreds of meteors, and slammed down all around the field.

Doors blew off with explosive bolts, and Spartans leaped out with weapons raised.

“Hell yeah! The calvary’s here now you bastards!”

—————————

Commander Sarah Palmer was a very calm person.

Unless someone pissed her off.

Today that someone was Jul’Mdama.

The Spartan leaped out of her droppod as the door blew off and raised her dual M6H Magnums, quickly downing an Elite with a trio of Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive rounds and diving into cover.

To her left, she watched DeMarco shoot the energy sword out of another’s hand before running it through with his own stolen one.

Boomboom

There was Madsen’s SRS, which was usually-

Boomboom, boomboom

-followed by Crimson-2’s, one-upping Majestic at every turn. Turning to her right, Sarah spotted the local marine CO and darted over to him. “Sergeant Reynolds?”

The redhead nodded. “All day. Glad you arrived when you did Spartan. Any longer and we were done for.”

Sarah was still used to the bravado of ODSTs. Sometimes the honesty of the rank-and-file surprised her. “Don’t thank us just yet. Let’s ge—“

“Grenades!”

The Spartan’s gaze shot skyward, and found half a dozen blazing plasma grenades flying towards them. She heard Elliot dash for cover, but she was focused on the Marine who just caught a plasma blast in the chest and was stood frozen between fear and pain.

Spartan Time kicked in.

The commander let her magnums, well... magnetize to her mag-mounts and sprinted towards the frozen Marine. Everything else seemed to go almost grey, while her target and the dangers to it remained colored. She watched in slow-motion as the faces on marines she passed morphed into surprise and awe. She even saw DeMarco’s helmet turn towards her.

Sarah had heard about Spartan Time from the Master Chief once, but never experienced it herself. Hell before today she wasn’t even sure IVs could experience it.

“Get down!”

Two hundred forty pounds of Spartan slammed into the marine at speeds most wouldn’t even want to think about, pressing him into the dirt and covering him as much as possible, knowing her Kit could take the brunt of a plasma grenade. His couldn’t.

Fweee-BOOM

Heat washed over her, and she watched her shield bar drop, then break, followed by more heat. It must’ve been closer than she thought.

As she stood, the marine’s panicked breathing in the back of her mind, she saw another get stuck with a plasma grenade.

She didn’t even try and take off her armor, as it had stuck to her chest-plate. She threw her rifle and charged the Elite that threw it. “Come on you son of a bitch! Come on!”

The Elite and Marine disappeared into a crater, followed by another fweee-boom and a wash of plasma.

“Harper!” She heard one of the Marines shout in distress.

Sarah blinked into TEAMCOM. “Majestic, Crimson, on me!”

The commander vaulted a collapsed wall and sprinted down the hill, the audible bootsteps of the other two fireteams behind her. Then came the marines with a battle cry.

“Semper Fi! Do or die!”

—————————

And here it is! Reinforcements!

Sarah included, @cmdrsarahpalmer !

[eventiderookery]

because i can, i present you the fireteam as dnd/fantasy characters

Vesta-3, warforged battle mage

Artemis, human wild magic sorcerer/rogue multiclass

Zorya, half-drow half-orc eldritch knight fighter

Freya, drow ranger

Daedalus-4, warforged gunslinger because you just can't beat that

[spacexmagicxandxsheepxbleats]

Updates - Round One

Expect to see a number of updates through out the week as I f i n a l l y reboot and rebuild this account.

- - Round One Below The Cut - -

T A G S (I will add as they pop up ~)

//: <-- still indicates IRL or Mun posts ~

Lore Lock <-- Means that this is a time period that is Lore Locked due to Personal Lore or Lore I’ve written myself that can not (or should not) involve other Muses. Often times it will be combined with another tag, IE Lore Lock The Ram or Lore Lock The Antlered One.

Thread Lock <-- Thread Lock + ‘other tag’ (Thread Lock The Antlered One or Thread Lock The Ram etc) indicates that this period in time is Lore Locked with another Muse or PC.

The Antlered One <-- Basically anything from the beginning of the ‘Dark Ages’ up until Saint 14′s Crusade.

According to the Destinypedia timeline this would be Dark Ages until Mid City Age.

The Ram <-- Saint 14′s Crusade up until The New Golden Age.

Again, according to Destinypedia, Mid City Age until The New Golden Age or even Curse of Osiris.

A Ram In Wolves Clothing <-- This is a ‘sub tag’ under The Ram, referring to Ezra’s tenure in The House of Wolves (This will be elaborated on at a later time).

At this time there is no tag for threads that take place after The New Golden Age because I’m not certain of how I want Ezra’s Lore to play out. I know that after the Red War everything involving the murders of her team and Outlaw’s involvement in the incident comes to light and Ezra is ultimately absolved of her crimes.

H O W E V E R I Do have some ideas I’ve been exploring and would love to see planned or played out - In Other Words, if one of these tickles a fancy p l e a s e drop me a line ~

- Once absolved, Ezra becomes the new Speaker.

- Rather than filling Cayde’s place with a Hunter, the Vanguard ask Ezra to stand with them (more or less out of a need for someone to support them as well as offering the ability for Zavala and Ikora to keep tabs on her).

- Ezra revives a version of the Takanome Rangers that consists of both Civilians, Kinder-guardians, Veteran Guardians as well as her Fallen (This will be elaborated on at a later time).

- Ezra usurps Mara Sov and takes the throne of The Reef (This will be elaborated on at a later time bc, honestly, I like the idea of this~).

^ I am literally open to exploring any of these and or entertaining suggestions!

On the Subject of Timelines ~

I am slowly refining the timeline from when she was rezed to the time she’s absolved. There Will Be Areas That Will Be Unavailable For Interaction. - mainly because these have established Lore, whether its personally established or rooted in a thread. Example - there are a number of years during the Dark Ages where Ezra will be ‘unavailable’ for threads outside of @drexodthegunslinger. This wont always be the case, some of it is personally written lore, some of it is ‘Thread Locked’. M U S E S (preview)

I will be adding an update that details the addition of Side Muses or Characters who will be present in most threads who are integral to Ezra’s Lore. These will range from her R E A L family, Fireteam members, Eliksni, an Ahamkara assorted Guardians, a horde of Ghosts and some other surprises ~ I’m also working on a different Starter Style.

I will still be doing Open Starters and Starter Calls, Prompt Starters and the like but I also want to try POV starters - something shorter than my previous starters that, hopefully, provide enough to elaborate on while remaining respectfully vague to a partner muse ~ That’s all from Update Round One ~

[littleshebear]

Gang's all here.

So the amazingly talented, amazingly lovely @spookgeist has now painted all three of my original fireteam:

Sasha, Takanome Ranger turned Guardian.

Hypatia-9, nerd and Singer of Suns.

Krios, protector of puppies.

Bloody amazing work, commission her yesterday.

[carp0nastick]

The Secret Clanstone Pt.5

He was not ready!  As soon as the zero G infantry reported that they had secured the gravity generators on the ship, their pod had launched.  The ride was swift, noisy, and ended with much too much impact for Fuzi’s comfort.  As he was recovering from the jolt, Hector was already hitting the explosive seals on the door.  A few screams and quick shots from Hector and Dragomir signaled that the pirates on the other side of the door had been unshielded from the spray of shrapnel the door discharged.  Seeing Michelle slide out the door, Fuzi gulped some air as he racked the slide on his weapon and scurried after him.  Mr. Dross and Shizuka fell in easily behind him as Hector and Dragomir’s weapons sounded off at their position across the hall.  

It was safe to say that Fuzi had never seen so much blood in his life.  The pirates had been a mix of Human and Chorak scum, with a sprinkling of Dubachi mixed in.  Now they were smears on the rusting walls of the ship as the two human soldiers in front advanced with brutal efficiency.  As the fourth trooper in line, Fuzi was expected to help clear rooms, but in the hallway his job was to check the downed pirates.  Checking, in this violent context, meant putting a few rounds into any that were still moving.  Later on, Fuzi would marvel at how he felt absolutely nothing as he had put three rounds into the back of a crawling Chorak.  He would lose sleep over it that night, but for now, his training proved it’s worth as he dispatched a human thug trying to reach his pistol.  Not breaking stride so as to keep up with the group, he calmly checked his magazine and gave a suspiciously twitching Dubachi another two rounds before reloading.  A shower of sparks made the two humans in front duck for cover.

“They’ve got a PP1G!”  Hector shouted from his sparse cover across the hall.  Dragomir was already chucking a grenade down the space as the stream of bullets kept the younger man pinned and isolated.

“No good.”  Dragomir commented on his attempt.  He was using a small camera in his wrist to peek around the corner without exposing himself.  “They’re in defilade.”  Michelle somehow looked frustrated through his armor as he began to pull up a map, presumably to find another route to the package.

“Vent.”  Shizuka said behind Fuzi.  Looking back to where the marksman covered the rear, Fuzi saw the grate of one of the ships air vents.  He wouldn’t be able to take his primary weapon, but his sidearm and knife would fit just fine.  Without further discussion, Fuzi passed Mr. Dross his weapon as he climbed up the man’s arm.  With the unitool in his wrist pouch he had the cover off in moments and squirmed into the duct.

“Knew I liked him.”  He heard Mr. Dross say as he walked on all fours through the airway.  

The others must have intentionally tried to draw fire and keep the gunner distracted, because the loud sounds and flashes of the aged, but still effective PP1G squad suppression gun left no question as to which vent to come out of.

Fuzi paused at the grate, taking a quick look at his opponents.  He didn’t carry grenades, as his limbs were unsuitable for throwing them.  He would have to rely on his speed and agility to take out the gunner and his two compatriots.  Fuzi’s heart hammered in his chest as his instincts told him to get away.  Killing already dying pirates had been one thing, charging into a close quarters fight with two larger predators was quite another.

It was a funny thing, teaching a herbivore species to act aggressively for combat.  Galaxy wide, herbivores trended towards getting away from danger instead of creating it.  This had been a problem for the Systems League as the Mutilax wars had escalated.  While adding Humans to supplement Chorak and Ca’rizn forces had provided a boost to Systems League combat strength, the growing cost of blood was beginning to undermine the Systems League’s basic tenet of species equality under the law.  As the necessity for a draft drew near, government psychologists scrambled to find a training regimen that could turn the more sedate members of the league’s populace into contributing fighters.  Common herding and pack instincts allowed the first interspecies units to function.  Getting the violence challenged members of society to follow orders, and even kill was easy when they were grouped with those that killed on instinct.  Eventually a more functional method was found to make aggressors of the whole Systems League population.  Furka, Dubachi, and Lesuri didn’t have adrenaline or predatory instincts to rely on, but all species had one evolutionary commonality that could be exploited.  Mating competition.  The result was a rather peculiar combat mantra for Fuzi to mentally chant as he prepared to make his first ever attack.

“Belly fur, belly fur, belly fur…”  Fuzi recited in his mind, until he made his move.  Now he was yelling it at the top of his lungs as he jumped down on the back of Human pirate bent over the large suppression weapon.  “BELLY FUR!” was the last word the scum heard as Fuzi plunged his combat knife into the back of the buccaneer’s neck.  The Chorak loader recoiled in surprise, and Fuzi reacted with precision.  Lifting his pistol, the Furka ranger put two into the chest of the pirate, and a third bullet through the fanged maw of the dying Chorak.  Another pirate came around the corner with a weapon drawn, but before Fuzi could even react a bullet cored the skull of the corsair.  Fuzi turned to cover the hall with his pistol as Hector vaulted over the barricade.  

“Nice kill, Fuzz!”  The human said without breaking stride.  Dragomir and Michelle gave nods of approval as they passed.  The momentary burst of aggression Fuzi had felt was wearing off by the time the humans were shooting again.

“Well done.”  Mr. Dross said, passing Fuzi back his weapon.  Fuzi took the weapon automatically, his eyes fixed on the blood pulsing from the dead human onto the corridor floor.  Before he could actually form a thought about what he had just done, Shizuka tapped him on the shoulder.  Training once again took hold, and Fuzi checked his weapon to ensure it was still live before taking his place in line.

His heartbeat was already calm as he stacked up with the others on the door Michelle directed them to.

“Our guy is in this room, I’m sharing his beacon with you now.”  Mr. Dross said as the whole team saw a new point of reference appear on their augmented reality combat displays.  “Do. Not. Shoot. Him.”

Mr. Dross didn’t wait for anyone to become confused by his insistence on the obvious, but instead motioned to breach.  The charges Hector and Dragomir had placed neatly holed the bulkhead door, and the fireteam charged into the room.  The were only a few pirates in the room.  Those that were armed and ready were quickly dispatched, Fuzi once again killing along with his pack of humans by simple imitation.  Scanning for another target after putting a burst into a Dubachi, Fuzi’s training made him zero in on a very familiar silhouette.  A shape he had been practicing to put bullets into for years filled his sights, and only Mr. Dross’ warning made Fuzi’s finger hesitate on the trigger.  In the center of the room, tied to a chair, was a Mutilaxian.

Gritting his teeth, Fuzi confirmed that the beacon was coming from the bound Mutilaxian’s pocket before moving automatically to his next target.  He kicked the pistol away from a Chorak trying to rize from the floor, cowing the reptile at gunpoint.

“Clear!” Hector called loudly across the room.

“Clear!”  Came Shizuka’s response from the rear.

Dragomir and Michelle were busily cuffing the cowed pirates that had survived the assault as Mr. Dross moved to the Mutilaxian and cautiously issued a challenge.

“Crawdads…”  Mr. Dross said.

“Poutine.”  The Mutilaxian answered.  Dross immediately moved to cut the bonds on the creature.

“Objective secured.  All forces RTB.  Captain, we have been compromised, I’m afraid it’s plan B after all…”  Mr. Dross listened to the response patiently, but his voice came out clear and cold as he responded to the captain of the warship.  “I’m aware you don’t like it, Captain, but it’s not your call…  5 minutes, confirmed.”  Finished with his communication, Mr. Dross looked to Michelle.  “Agombi, plan B if you please.”

“You’ll be sorry!”  One of the pirate’s began.  Fuzi was shocked that Mr. Dross had used Agombi’s name so openly.  The pirate gangs were notorious for their revenge hits, and the prisons leaked buccaneers like water in a wicker basket.  For his part, Michelle didn’t seem bothered as he drew his sidearm.  “We’ll get you ba…”

The pirate’s sentence was abruptly cut off as Michelle shot him in the face.  Without even pausing, the human methodically shot each of the pirate captives fatally.  Fuzi’s tail bristled at the callous and very criminal act.  Hector and Shizuka flinched, while Dragomir watched without a single twitch to betray how he felt.  Finished with his execution, Michelle holstered his pistol and turned to the Mutilax.

“You had better be worth it.”  The spook said icily.

“Sorry for the inconvenience.”  The Mutilaxian said as it rubbed its wrists.  Fuzi wasn’t an expert on Mutilaxian expression and inflection, but he felt like the creature was smiling at all of this.