69Chapter 2: Darkness's Doorstep
Accessing File: Prison of Elders
The Prison of Elders is a space station located on the outskirts of Eliksni space within an asteroid belt built to house the Eliksni's worst criminals. Whether they be war criminals from other races in the universe or Eliksni criminals that are too dangerous to dock or to execute. Since becoming a member of the United Stellar Alliance, the Alliance themselves have been trying to get the Eliksni to shut down the prison and send the inmates to the Null Void or Incarcecon, because of the Prison of Elders rather inhumane purpose.
The prison itself is based on the House of Judgment's traditions for settling disputes between Eliksni through trial by combat. But the prison itself took the old traditions and turned them into a blood sport. The prisoners are often put against each other in fights to the death and sometimes outsiders can enter the prison and fight selected inmates for the chance to be given treasure and other rewards the Eliksni are willing to offer them.
The Prison was shut down ten months ago when a prison break happened within it during the start of the Eliksni schism. Many prisoners were killed and many more managed to escape. Bounties have been put on the heads of the escaped prisoners by the Kells of the Eliksni loyalist Houses, the Kells of the revolutionary Houses, criminal syndicates, and the Alliance itself.
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Accessing File: Variks, the Loyal
Variks is an old scribe from the Eliksni House of Judgement (the only ruling House to join the Eliksni revolutionaries) and was the warden for the Prison of Elders. Before he was the warden for the Prison of Elders House Judgement sent him to the House of Wolves to serve as a scribe for its new Kell Skolas.
He did not like Skolas and found him to be vicious, even for an Eliksni Kell. At some point he had a disagreement with Skolas and the Kell ripped off Variks' upper arms forcing the old scribe to replace them cybernetic arms. Sometime after this Variks was named as the new warden for the Prison of Elders. He was assisted by Eliksni stationed there from the House of Wolves and a special Servitor he had with him known as the Warden Servitor.
Variks was regarded with disdain by the inmates as a torturer and an executioner for sending the inmates to their deaths. And because of Skolas ripping off his upper arms many Eliksni have regarded Variks as being 'Less-Than-Dreg'.
When the schism between the loyalists and revolutionaries began Variks began running simulations in the prison before giving his Warden Servitor full control of the prison. At the end of the day the prison break occurred, the Warden had sent a message through the speakers announcing a malfunction in the security system and began a shutdown and reboot, which resulted in all of the prison cells and cryopods opening.
Variks was nowhere to be found that day and his intentions for causing the breakout are unknown. Some believe he did it to make sure that the loyalists did not try to recruit any of the prisoners within it to their side whether they be Eliksni or any other xeno lifeform. Whatever his intentions were a warrant for his arrest by the United Stellar Alliance has been issued for allowing some of the most dangerous criminals in the universe to run free and cause mayhem.
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Xxx
Charon's Crossing, Europa
On the frozen tundra of Europa an Eliksni walked along a ridge to communication center of human design. The Eliksni himself was a Vandal, he had two cybernetic upper arms, wore a fur collar, a helmet that was predominately blue, a chainmail mask that covered his respirator, he had green banners draped on his torso displaying a symbol representing the House of Judgment. Holstered on his leg was a side arm, in his upper left hand, he held a staff, and clutched in his upper right and lower left hands was a small container.
As he approaches the communication center, he hears a sound behind him causing him to turn around. He could not tell if it was someone after him or just the sounds of the blizzard hitting the area. After not finding the source of the sound he returns to walking to the relay center.
He approaches the door, and it slides open for him. He walks through the door and places the container on a nearby crate. The Eliksni sees a console and approaches it. Using his lower hands, he types on the console hoping to activate it but when nothing happens, he bangs on the console with his upper right hand and the screen activates.
He then presses a key and speaks. "My friends. We are all in great danger. Earth, the galaxy, and…everything."
Unbeknownst to the Eliksni a woman teleports into the room. This woman is an Exo and looks just like Elsie Bray. She quietly walks to the container the Eliksni had placed on the crate and opens to see what it was inside. The container held a black tetrahedral shaped object with markings on it and it seemed to give off a dark blue glow.
As this happened the Eliksni continues with his message. "Darkness walks among us. We are all in great danger. My kind must survive. Please…send help… There is not much time."
Suddenly the Eliksni hears what sounds like a radio piece receiving a transmission behind him and turns around. The Exo woman was gone but she took the container as well.
"What?" The Eliksni says as he looks around the room. "Where…"
He did not have much time to process the situation as he heard the roar of a ship's engine outside. And through the blinds of the windows, he saw shadows falling onto the ground. This could only mean one thing.
"Oh no!" The Ekiksni said as he backed away from the windows and saw the shadows stand up. "She's already here."
The Eliksni then hurries back to the console as he hears her call out his name.
"Variks!"
"Please! Anyone!" Variks says into the console as he hears the door open.
Xxx
Earlier…
Europan orbit.
The trip from Earth to Europa did not take that long as the jumpships created by Clovis Bray were much more advanced and faster than Earth's current spacecrafts. However, Clovis Bray II made these ships when he had a deal with the U.S. military's Black Ops group in Area 49-B. They supplied him with alien technology he used to improve the YoRHa androids, but he managed to secure other technology from them and used it improve some of company's technology and one of that were his spacecrafts. These jumpships are capable of faster than light travel with the farthest they have gone being the planet in the Epsilon Eridani system to house the Warmind Rasputin called Reach. After he was arrested, and Ana became head of the company she believed that telling the public about the jumpships now was not a good idea and decided until the right time came. Anyone else that became aware of them was sworn to secrecy and the two most recent are Cayde-6 and Banshee-44.
Ana looked back at her two passengers and saw that Banshee was still glaring at Cayde. Every now and then she heard Banshee tell Cayde not to sing, apparently the last time these were flying together Cayde kept sing and Banshee was annoyed by it.
"We are entering Europa's atmosphere now." Ana said getting Cayde and Banshee's attention.
"So where is the signal coming from?" Cayde asked.
The tracker places the signal in the Rathmore Chaos region." Ana said. "If this signal really is of Clovis Bray origin than finding it will be tricky, if there is a facility down there than it will have to be well hidden as passing satellites have taken pictures of the area."
As they entered the skies of the area what they saw was surprising. They saw a city in the area and most of the buildings were skyscrapers. Judging by the ice on the buildings and their broken windows it appears that the city was abandoned.
"Okay I was not expecting this." Ana said as she was dumbfounded by what she saw.
"Hey what's that?" Banshee said as he pointed to a particular structure in the city. It was a large dome atop some of the buildings and it looked newer than the skyscrapers.
"I don't know." Ana said as she pressed a button on a gauntlet worn on her left arm. "Jinju can access any records here?"
"Yes Dr. Bray I've managed to access some of the records here, but I can't access all of them as some of them are too well encrypted and some of them have been corrupted." Said a female electronic voice. "From what I can tell this city was called Eventide and it was built by your grandfather Clovis Bray I for research. Though that dome is not on record."
"Do you know what he was researching?" Ana asked.
"Yes, apparently he detected a signal coming here from an unknown entity." Jinju said. "It's located south of Eventide; I can take control and bring you to an area that gives you a view of the entity."
"Okay take us there and then bring the ship into orbit." Ana said as she pushed a button on her gauntlet and a helmet that resembled a golden and white helmet materialized around her head. Ana then pulls up her suit's white hood over the helmet. "As soon as were on the ground give us a link to Rasputin's warsate network so I can summon some sparrows for us."
"Understood."
The jumpship flies away from Eventide's airspace and makes its way to the top of a ridge.
"Engaging transmat."
Ana, Banshee, and Cayde materialized outside of the ship and as it goes up into the atmosphere the three of them see what it was that Clovis Bray I was studying.
"Well, there's something you don't see every day." Cayde said as the group saw several hundred miles away hovering over the ice fields of the moon was a black tetrahedral pyramid. Its hull was covered in segmented panels that vary in pattern, with some having vertical lines and other with patterns resembling circuitry and its surfaces seem to be composed of some form of rock-like material, occasionally having an uneven or chiseled appearance, giving it an almost handcrafted quality.
Ana saw that the pyramid was the same as the one in her sisters' drawing while Banshee-44 looked at the pyramid with a sense of familiarity.
'Where did I see this thing before?' Banshee-44 thought to himself as a memory of someone talking came back to him.
"With this entity we shall find the answer to mankind's greatest question." Said a voice that sounded cold and megalomaniacal.
"So, what now?" Cayde asked.
"We figure out what that thing is, what my grandfather did here, and how he-" Ana said before being cut off by a transmission on everyone's radio.
"My friends. We are all in great danger."
Ana and Banshee did not who that voice belonged too but Cayde did as he silently said that person's name to himself. "Variks."
He has a memory flashback to ten months ago back when he was still human. He saw himself coming to a space station with several other people, some were bounty hunters, some were soldiers, and the rest were Plumber agents. Together they fought escaping prisoners from several different races; Eliksni, Cabal, Incurseans, Irkens, and even a few Gems.
"I said! Back! In! Your! Cages!" Said Cayde's past self as he channeled his Semblance into his gun and fired several molten shots that incinerated a couple of the prisoners.
'That's right. Ten months ago, I left Earth to help quell a prison break. I told my buddies here on Earth that I was going to visit my wife and son, though I did do that after the breakout in the Prison of Elders.' Cayde thought to himself as he remembered the recollected memory. 'I've worked with Variks before. Before I came to Earth five years ago to learn about Aura and Semblances, he gave me the identity of the Eliksni that killed my friend Andal Brask. That armless coward Taniks, the Scarred, I killed him to avenge Andal, then a month after I became an Exo, I learned that he was still alive. I had enough memory to know that I wanted that killer dead, so I left Earth and killed him again. I burned a hole into his chest with those concentrated molten blasts and then I jettisoned his corpse out the airlock. But Variks, he was the warden for the Prison of Elders and all evidence shows that he caused the breakout and if I remember correctly the Alliance wants him brought to justice.'
"CAYDE!" Ana shouted.
"What!? What I'm here." Cayde after being snapped out of his thoughts.
"Jinju locked onto that signal beyond this ridge." Ana said as Banshee started to walk down the frozen pathway.
The group made their way through the ridge, occasionally they would come across large gaps that required them to make use of thruster packs that Ana brought for them to get them through any tough obstacles. Once they were through the ridge, they found themselves at a snow plain. To their right they saw ice mesas and what looked like a campsite.
"We're close to the origin point of that distress signal." Ana said as she typed in a command on her gauntlet. "I'll summon some Sparrow bikes to help us move fas-"
"Wait, what's that?" Banshee said as pointed to an orange light that appeared in the sky.
The light then disappeared as a distortion in the sky appeared and from it came a large starship. Its sudden appearance caused the wind to hit the group, but they managed to stay standing. When they looked at the ship, they saw that its design was similar to that of the dome they saw. It flew close to the surface and turned toward their right. While Ana and Banshee-44 did not recognize it Cayde-6 was able to recognize it as a Ketch, a starship made by the Eliksni.
"Come on we're wasting time." Ana said as she summoned the Sparrows. Suddenly three hoverbikes appeared in front of the group.
With the Sparrows the group managed to make it to the campsite, but they encountered Eliksni wearing white and indigo armor and capes. While Ana and Banshee and never seen them before Cayde knew of their race but the symbol on their banners was something he did not recognize. Among the Eliksni present were Vandals, Dregs, a Captain and small flying robotic drones.
As the group got off their Sparrows, which dematerialized, Cayde got the Eliksni's attention. "Hey what are you doing in the Sol system and what is your House!?" Cayde demanded from them.
"Cayde, you know what these things are?" Banshee-44 asked.
"Their called Eliksni and let's just say I have my own secrets." Cayde replied. "I'll tell you once we get to Variks, the guy on the radio."
The Captain steps forward, he looks at the Terrans with his four squinting glowing blue eyes and says only a single word in a deep guttural voice. "Salvation."
The two groups continue to stare silently at each other before the Captain raises his gun and fires at Cayde who barely manages to dodge and fires back at the Captain. The shots are absorbed by his energy shield and he continues firing along with assistance from his men. Ana, Cayde, and Banshee move into cover behind some ice boulders.
"Well, they seem nice." Ana said as she unstrapped her scout rifle Polaris Lance from her back.
"Not the word I'd use…I think." Banshee said as he brought out a submachine gun and a cylindrical shaped object. "But right now, we need to take these guys out."
"We go on three. Ready? One…two…THREE!" Cayde said as his team made their move.
Banshee leapt over his boulder and three the cylindrical object at the drones and it caught onto one of them. The object beeped for a few seconds before exploding destroying it and the other drones and he started firing at the Dregs. Ana shot her rifle at Vandals armed with what appeared to be rifles that shot Arc energy. A type of energy source that Clovis Bray has been developing and from what Ana could tell her father had secretly acquired some Arc cores from Area 49-B and figured out how to reverse engineer them, something that Colonel Kubritz was never able to figure out before her death.
A few Vandals Ana killed with headshots seem to have left a white gaseous afterimage upon death. She did not know the significance of what it was, but she figured she would have to ask Cayde later of what that was about.
Cayde on the other hand got up close with the Eliksni and the way he fought was rather unusual. He walked into the crowd and the Dregs would recklessly charge at him, but he would casually sidestep around them and take a shot from his hand cannon the Ace of Spades. Occasionally, he would have to reload his gun while dodging the aliens and go back to shooting.
RAWWR!
Cayde hears something roar at him and he turns to see the Captain with two cutlasses radiating with Arc energy charge at him. The Captain swings his swords at hits Cayde, his Aura protects him from a serious injury, but he gets knocked down into the snow. The Captain tries to finish him off, but he hears something run toward him and turns around to see Ana with her weapon converted into its staff mode with its energy glaive active. The Captain blocks a few jabs, but Ana then twirls around allowing her next swing to have added momentum that allows her to knock away the Shock Cutlasses. Ana then presses her left hand into the ground and channeled dark energy into it that reached the spot where the Captain was standing and blasted him into the air. Before he could do anything Cayde had gotten back up and channeled his Semblance into his gun allowing him to fire molten shots that incinerated the Eliksni.
"You know I could've handled that myself." Cayde said confidently as he reloaded him gun.
"Obviously." Ana said as she returned her staff to gun mode and looked at the results of the battle.
The Eliksni they fought are dead and she looks at the shelter in the area. It was obviously of human design but seemed a little too advanced. She noticed that behind its doors the light inside it was on.
"Come on, let's see if there's anything useful inside." Ana said as she motioned Cayde and Banshee to enter the shelter.
Inside they find a few bunks with what appear to be sleeping bags designed to handle Europa's cold temperature. To the side seemed to be a stove and a sink, and in the center of the room was a table with a terminal on it.
"Someone's been staying here." Banshee said as he looked around.
"Whoever it was it can't be the Eliksni." Cayde said as he looked at the sleeping bags. "The Eliksni are a hardy species but they don't need sleeping bags this insulated to stay warm on this moon."
"Whoever they are they must've been tracking that distress signal too." Ana said as she accessed the terminal. "They must have intercepted it before we did. Jinju must have locked onto this terminal by mistake when he heard the signal. Okay, I've got the signal's true origin point now. It's not far. Let's hurry!"
They move outside of the building and Ana summoned the Sparrows again. They quickly got on them and made their way for a cave.
Xxx
Meanwhile…
Variks stood on the roof of the comms building surrounded by many Eliksni with their weapons drawn just waiting to kill him. But they did not make a move cause someone else wanted to speak with him and it will not be pleasant. An Eliksni captain approaches Variks and the crowd quiets down. This captain was 12 feet tall, she wore a black body suit and cape, her right two eyes had a metal patch covering them, obviously those eyes had been badly wounded. Around her neck she had dark-blue ice crystals worn around it and on her upper left arm was an unusual gauntlet with a black tetrahedral shaped object on it, just like the one Variks had with him before it was taken.
The captain stares at Variks before she raises her upper left hand and hits him with it knocking him to the ground and making him drop his staff.
"Not only a traitor, but a thief." The captain says as she points at Variks accusingly. "Now where is it?!"
"Safe from you, yes?" Variks says to the larger Eliksni as he climbs back onto his feet.
The captain turns toward her soldiers. "Search the buildings. Find it."
The captain then turns her attention toward Variks and raises her upper left hand, channeling energy from the black object in her gauntlet. Dark blue energy appears in the palm of her hand and she fires it at Variks feet. From the ground up dark blue ice starts to encase Variks and the old scribe starts to panic.
"WAIT!" Variks shouts out and the captain stops freezing him with the ice now at Variks waist.
"Eramis… Old friend…These powers… they create chaos." Variks reasoned to her. "They are changing you. This…"
Though Variks words only fall on deaf ears as Eramis only scoffs at his words. "Ha! Cling to your failing beliefs. With this power…" Eramis says as she presents her hand, summoning a shard of the dark blue ice. "…we make our own fate. And once the artifact is found the galaxy will belong to the Eliksni."
Eramis turns around and begins to walk away and Variks grabs her with his prosthetic upper right arm. In response Eramis reaches back and rips off Variks' prosthetic.
"Always playing pretend. Living in the past." Eramis says as she looks at Variks prosthetic. "I should have seen it."
Eramis crushes the detached prosthetic and drops it to ground and walks away.
"Make an example of him." Eramis says to the Dregs and Vandals as she transmats back to the Ketch above them.
Xxx
Meanwhile…
The fireteam exits the cave and finds themselves at the bottom of a hill along a cliff. They get of their sparrows and as the vehicles dematerialize, they see that the steps up the cliff are rather large.
"Variks should be just ahead." Ana said as she pointed up the path. "Come on. We can get their faster if we use our jump jets to clear these steps."
As they made their way to the top of the hill, they hear they sound of a large engine above them. They took a glance up and they saw the Ketch above them flying away. Not sure where the cruiser was heading to the group chose to worry about that later and made it to the top of the hill.
Before them they see an old communication station and two Eliksni on the ground near the station. The Eliksni notice the group and one of them seems to howl to the roof of the station were more howling was made from. Banshee guns down the two Eliksni and him, Ana, and Cayde use their jump jets to get on the roof of the comms station. Before them they saw Variks halfway frozen and a large group of Eliksni.
"Help Variks, yes?!" Variks says to the fireteam.
The fireteam then charges at the Eliksni soldiers. Ana shoots a few of them before she changes her rifle to its staff form and starts slashing Eliksni with its energy glaive. Two Dregs armed with spears radiating with Arc energy charge at her. She sees them charge at her, they manage to hit her a few times but thanks to her Aura she was able to shrug them off. She uses her staff to sweep them off their feet and then she turned her weapon back to its rifle form and uses it to finish them off.
Banshee-44 meanwhile was firing his firing his submachine gun left and right at any Eliksni that got near him. A Vandal then manages to knock his gun away and then tries to punch him. But Banshee uses his left arm to catch the arm the Eliksni was using to punch the Exo. With the arm caught under his own Banshee then uses his free hand to break ELiksni's trapped arm causing it to howl in pain. Banshee then lets go of the alien and takes out his sword The Lament and slashes the Eliksni with it. And considering the blades width and size the Eliksni was cut in two by the blade.
Cayde charged in with the Ace of Spades in one hand and a combat knife in the other, blasting and stabbing any Eliksni he saw. He took a few hits, but it was nothing that he couldn't just shrug off. He then sees a couple of Vandals charge at him with Shock Cutlasses drawn. Cayde then puts away his knife and takes out something that he sticks into the ground and moves away from it. The Eliksni get to the spot where he planted to object and then it suddenly explodes killing the Eliksni and sending their corpses flying.
"Sorry." Cayde casually says as he reloads his gun. "Not sorry."
Cayde looks around with Ana and Banshee and they see that all the enemy Eliksni are dead. Suddenly Ana picks up something on her gauntlet.
"Guys Jinju's picking up chatter on the Eliksni's comms." Ana says as she presses a few buttons on her gauntlet to let everyone hear the message.
"Phylaks, send in a Brig to their location. The snake does not leave here alive." Eramis ordered her subordinate.
"It will be done, Eramiskel." Said a female Eliksni, no doubt Phylaks.
"Saviors, hurry! You must free me!" Variks pleaded to the group.
Cayde approaches Variks and conjures up a dagger made of molten fire and stabs it into the ice encasing Variks legs. After a few moments, the ice shatters freeing Variks. The group notices that there was an unusual pattern were the ice was, but it fades away. Variks wheezes in pain after being freed but he manages to bend down and picks up his staff.
"Variks thanks you. [insect-like chattering]" Variks says to the group.
"Do you remember who I am?" Cayde says to Variks in a calm tone that showed annoyance towards Variks. "Last time we met I was still human."
"You are Cayde Reynolds, but now you are called Cayde-6." Variks says in response. "But now I must hide."
"Not so fast. We heard your message: 'Darkness walks among us.' What do you mean?" Banshee asks as he recovers his submachine.
"There is no time. They are coming! Variks asks for your protection once more." Variks pleads with the group as a Eliksni Skiff appears and drops a two-legged mech that was predominantly blue and had the symbol of House Salvation on its head in white. It was 18 feet tall, on the sides of its head were two mounted Arc turrets, and on its right side was an arm mounted cannon. The machine activated and began to approach the comms station.
"I will take shelter inside. Succeed, and Variks will reveal all." Variks says as he enters the building through a hatch on the roof.
"Well let's get to work." Ana says but as she was about to get off the roof Banshee puts his arm in front of her.
"Wait." He says to both her and Cayde.
"What is it?" Ana asked.
"I'm using my Semblance to understand this things design." Banshee says to them. "Got it. That thing is well armored but behind its face plate is its engine core. Hit that spot with a lot of force and you can expose it."
"You got it." Cayde says.
"Here use these sticky grenades." Banshee says to them as he hands them grenades. "Do not get hit by it unless you want to get blown sky high."
The three of them jump onto the ground and approach the Brig. The mech sees them and starts firing repeater blasts from its Arc turrets. The fireteam moves around fires at the Brig, hoping that that at least one of them will draw its attention. The Brig looks around and aims at Cayde-6 and fires a purple blast from its arm cannon. Cayde rolls out of the way but manages to throw a grenade at its faceplate before the shockwave of the energy blasts explosion pushes him away. The grenade's detonation makes the Brig recoil and make a few sounds but while it was distracted Ana charges at it and then activates her jump jets to get on top of the mech while its back is turned to her. After managing to grab on to it she plants the sticky grenade on its faceplate. She jumps back and lands on the ground. The Brig turns around to blast her, but the grenade detonates and knocks off its faceplate. The blast causes the mech to stagger back as it seemed to have caused some internal damage to its engine core. Cayde and Banshee regroup with Ana to see the Brig stagger and the three of them raises their weapons, though Cayde activated his Semblance covering himself in a molten fire that he channels into his hand cannon.
"Let 'em have it!" Cayde says as the three of them fire on the Brigs' engine core.
After firing on the core, the Brig starts staggering as small explosions begin to emerge from the mech. It starts making sounds before it finally explodes in a blaze of fire.
"Success, savior! Variks is truly grateful. [insect-like chattering]" Variks says to the fireteam over the comms.
"Then prove it. We expect answers." Cayde says to the old scribe.
"Come to Variks, and you will have them. [insect-like chattering] But know that our work here has only just begun." Variks says in response.
Cayde starts to walk toward the comms station but Banshee puts his arm in front of him and says, "That Variks guy isn't the only person who owes us answers."
"Banshee's right. If we're going to work together here, we all need to trust each other." Ana says. "And that starts with you telling us who you really are Cayde."
Cayde sighs and then says, "Alright, you both deserve answers and I'll tell you inside."
With that the two Exos and the human walk inside of the comms relay.
Name: Cayde Reynolds
Species: Exo
Aura: Gold
Semblance: Sundance
Description: Can conjure molten fire as hot as the sun. Can be channeled into his revolver to fire molten shots at his enemies or used to form exploding daggers.
Weapon-Ace of Spades: A revolver that is capable of firing twelve rounds.
Name: Banshee-44
Species: Exo
Aura: Blue
Semblance: Examination
Description: Allows him to understand an object's structure letting him know how strong it is and helps him find any flaws in its design.
Weapon-The Lament: A large sword that appears to be made from circuit boards and inside it is a crystal that coats that sword in fire.
Name: Anastasia Bray
Species: Human
Aura: Purple
Semblance: Void Dancer
Description: Ana Bray can manipulate gravity and dark energy. She can also use her Semblance to create tethers that slow down and weakens anyone that isn't her or she can use it to accelerate her movement and vaporize her targets.
Weapon-Polaris Lance: A modified rifle that can change into a staff. It has an energy glaive that can block or deflect shots from weapons advanced as the Glorft's own futuristic technology. The Polaris Lance was originally a broken rifle Elsie gave Ana for her thirteenth birthday. She spent days turning it into her personal weapon.