Chapter Text
Negotiations were always a touchy thing. Especially with the Cabal. Especially with a Cabal arms dealer, when you were much smaller, and significantly lower in station even among your own people. Who also had a bounty on his head What Sariisks really didn’t need were further complications, especially not with the goods on the line with this deal.
Unfortunately, further complications tend to crop up whether or not you need them to.
Before the Brachus’s body had even hit the ground, the arc bolt lancing through both sides of his helmet like molten iron through ice, Sariisks had kicked on his camo. He’d been on edge while he was talking, thanks to not only the Ma’sor, but his two bodyguards who’d not taken their guns off him the entire time. Expecting to be blamed if anything went south, he’d rather be blamed by someone who would at least have the decency to talk with him before tearing his arms off. Even as he shimmered out of view, he was on the move. It was sloppy - any observer could’ve followed his direction of movement through the half-activated stealth - but it was his best chance of escaping the bodyguards, by his estimation.
He couldn’t account for the two bursts of gunfire in his plans, however.
Hearing the shots, and the heavy weight of two more falling bodies, the Marauder glanced back, saw the casualties. Swore under his breath in Eliksni, and got to running faster, dropping to all-sixes for just a little bit more speed as he keyed into his transmitter, sending the ping for emergency extraction even as he tried to hail his Captain on the comms.
「Captain, the trade was interrupted! Snipers took out the Brachus, I escaped before they could get me too, but-」
「Understood, Sariisks. Clear comms, I’m bringing the skiff around.」
Unable to understand how she was so calm sounding, Sariisks killed his transponder, leaving only the telltale IFF ping they’d need to locate him for transmat, as he scuttled towards the Vex fortress, the enormous Pyramidion. Not someplace he’d willingly approach, but at least the Vex didn’t care who was affiliated with who. If they weren’t a Vex, they got shot. And he was willing to play the odds that, from the use of kinetic weaponry, the “Guardians” had been responsible. They’d keep the Vex occupied much longer and more effectively than he could, if they showed their faces searching for him. Not that the Vex were, really, the least of his worries at this point.
「... Sariisks, the Archon will be requiring your presence when you return.」
Oh... oh no.
「K-... Does Karaskis know already?」
「If he found out, it wasn’t from me. He was scant with his details... I wish you luck, Sariisks.」
He’d been fairly lucky already, he reflected. Captain Ekaviis was one of the more understanding. Knew there were outliers, unforseen circumstances. Snipers, for instance. But it didn’t change the command hers fell under. The Archon Priest Karaskis was not so kind. Not understanding. Karaskis understood only three things: Technology, the sanctity of the Servitor, and that his orders could not fail - they could only be disobeyed. He would’ve dreaded his return regardless, thanks to that outcome, but now...
Sariisks found himself almost wishing he could run all over again as the skiff hovered in overhead, and the transmat took him up.
Flanked on either side by Ekaviis and one of her Vandals, a Fallen by the name of Nekavik, Sariisks marched obediently to the Archon’s chambers. He was not in shackles, for which he counted his blessings, but he wasn’t going to be able to escape whatever fate awaited him at the end of that hallway. Quietly, he murmured a prayer to the Great Machine under his breath. Prayed whatever end came for him would be quick. A prayer he’d been making a lot as of late.
「Did you see the sniper, Sariisks?」Looking back at his Captain, Sariisks shook his head.「I didn’t... but I think there was more than one... and I think they were Guardians.」
「You didn’t see the sniper... but you think there was more than one, and they were Guardians? I hope you have a very good story to go with that, or the Archon will never buy it.」Fidgeting with his hands for a moment, Sariisks eventually swallowed the bundle of nerves in his throat and explained himself.「The Brachus went down with a single shot to the head... arc lance. Could have been a Wire Rifle, could have been a Guardian weapon, Linear Fusion Rifle... then his guards were shot by ballistic weaponry. Burst fire. No signs of Cabal slugs or shrapnel from one of our cannons. So... the odds seem to favor a Guardian pulse rifle.」He could see her eyes narrow, but she seemed to be thinking, over doubting. It was an expression she tended to adopt after one of her scouts returned. And unfortunately, she didn’t have time to share her thoughts.
Sliding open with a heavy chachunk, the door to the Archon’s chambers opened. And almost immediately, Sariisks’ worries were replaced entirely. The Archon stood before a Prime Servitor, one he recognized had been deployed in the field. Bullet holes pockmarked its shell, ballistic in origin, along with burns, scorch marks, signs of short-circuits and unmaking. He could already tell the Guardians got to this one too. Karaskis didn’t have time to turn before Sariisks was fetching the tools he’d been assigned, withdrawing some engrams for raw materials and setting them aside as he got to work on his triage. 「Sariisks, finally... I’m glad to see you’re not dead. And that you seem to know what to do without my instruction.」He could feel the holes being bored into him by the Archon’s gaze, but he didn’t stop working. 「I apologize, Archon, but it seemed time was of the-」The sudden, sharp crack of his exoskeleton under the Archon’s staff as it hit his wrist forced him to drop one of his tools, but it didn’t stop him working. 「W-with all due respect... you took me as an apprent-tice for the expert-tise I already had, Archon... I h-have only seen two Servitors survive this level of damage, and I am applying the s-same techniques I saw used there. I just wish to see it survive.」
Preparing for another sharp crack, Sariisks didn’t take his eyes off his work, but when the expected punishment didn’t come, he spared the Archon a glance. He was glowering, fuming... but returned to work himself shortly. 「We will discuss your insubordination later. And if this Servitor does not survive... you will be the one who faces the consequences. The mission, Captain?」
「A failure, sir. Snipers had eliminated the target before we arrived.」It took everything in Sariisks’ power not to gawk back at his Captain. It was one thing to wish him luck - it was another entirely to lie for the sake of keeping him alive. To an Archon Priest, of all Eliksni.「We caught sight of a team of Guardians leaving the area, but the Brachus himself seems to have been the victim of a shot from a Wire Rifle... someone after his bounty, perhaps. I’ve sent my scouts to investigate-」
「Call them back. Set them on the trail of the arms dealer’s trove, instead. I’ve no time to deal with the petty politics and squabbles of the warring mammals right now. Just get me those materials.」
He really must’ve been under a lot of pressure to get this one fixed, to be so dismissive of such failure.