Chapter Text
When the first breath in centuries filled her lungs, the Awoken didn’t yet know what any of those things were.
Dragging herself from the rotted wood of a collapsed shelf, she sat bolt upright, panting heavily as her eyes shot around the room. Where was she? What was she? Shelves. There were shelves. Shelves seemed familiar, despite having never seen them. They held things. Held knowledge ... Was that why she was here?
[ / Hi! / ]
The Awoken about jumped out of her skin as the little light hovering rather suddenly in her face greeted her in that warbly little electronic voice. It (she?) seemed to pick up on her alarm fast enough, though. [ / OH! Sorry, sorry, I just got excited, I’ve been looking for you for a long time. / ] Hovering back a few feet, the light gave the woman in her stiff, rotted robes time to appraise her, and herself, and her surroundings to boot. Roaming from shelf to shelf, balcony to floor, robot rubble (What was a robot? Was this little floating thing a robot) to her own clothes. Centuries of neglect had them feeling just a touch uncomfortable, but as if the light could read her mind, she chirped, [ / You need something less ancient to wear, right? I found these in a market back at the city... felt like they’d fit you perfectly. Even though I didn’t know you yet. Lovely woman, she just gave them to me... Can’t believe that was six years ago. / ] The Awoken found herself smiling. This little ball was rambling on and on, it was oddly endearing... As the light produced the bundle of cloth, she made to stand up, and start pulling away the old rags, but before she could blink they’d been replaced, soft cotton in purples and grays and just a few touches of red and blue to trim it in some places.
“... Thank you. What’s... Who are we? Where are we?”
There was a small, crystalline thunk.
“... And what’s that?”
As the little light disappeared her old clothes, a little golden isohedron fell from the bundle onto the floor. Glowing softly from within, and seemingly containing some of itself... Stooping to pick it up, the little light flinched backwards for a moment, before zooming in close. Giving the Awoken little pause to jump, they roamed the surface of it, seemingly scanning it with a little beam from within their pointed shell. [ / An engram! And... a rare one at that. How’d this stay on you all these years I wonder...? Well, that can wait. / ] Floating back to eye level, the light chirped softly, spinning in a little circle. [ / So, first! Who. You are a Guardian. And I’m your Ghost. I’ve been looking for you since... for a long time. As for where, we’re in- / ] Seeming to ‘blink’ as the Awoken held her hand up, the Ghost tilted in place. [ / What’s up? / ]
Shaking her head slowly and settling into the divot she’d crawled out of to get off her feet for a second, the newly christened Guardian rubbed the bridge of her nose between a thumb and forefinger. “Just... need some time to process. Okay... You’re a Ghost, I’m a Guardian... I feel like there’s a lot that needs unpacking there, but I’ll... figure that out when I know what half of what I just said means.” She couldn’t put a finger on where the words were coming from, but at least they felt okay. Like they belonged in her speech. “... Wait do we have names? ‘Ghost’ and ‘Guardian’ are just regular words, aren’t they?” The back half of the Ghost’s shell spun while they thought, chirping to themself for a moment before replying, [ / I don’t really have a name! They just call a lot of us ‘Ghost’. And as for you, I doubt you remember what your old name was, I’ve heard a lot of you forget pretty much everything. And... judging from that look, that includes you. So... If you wanna figure out names for us, that’d be neat! / ] There was somehow a smile in that little angular eye. It forced another chuckle out of the Guardian as she nodded. “Fair enough... I’ll think on that while you tell me where we are.”
[ / Oh, that’s easy, we’re in the Ish-... okay keep low, and back up behind that shelf, we’ve got company and I don’t have a gun for you. / ] Halfway through their response, the Ghost flew quickly back, towards a row of less-destroyed bookcases. There was a noise filling the room... it sounded like mechanical clanking. The Awoken wasn’t eager to find out what those sounds belonged to, and followed the Ghost, ducking into the space between some tipped shelving and a support column. And waiting.
Thickening with the taste of ozone and seawater, a crackling sound announced the arrival of more of... whatever was clunking around. Quiet, synthetic sounds that almost sounded whooping echoed through the area, and as she peered around the corner, the woman could see the source of some of it. Bronze constructs, a little taller than she was, spindly, curved and angular all at once. Carrying... something told her it was a weapon. She didn’t recognize it at all.
[ / Vex... Mechanical creatures that’ve been raiding and terraforming planets for years. If you’re not one of them, they either make you one or don’t have use for you. Just stay down... with any luck they’ll move on soon and we can try and flag down some hel- / ]
The bolt of heated energy winging by their hiding spot shut the Ghost up quickly as the Awoken broke for new cover, almost instinctively ramming the shelf with her shoulder on the way by. She didn’t need to look to know that at least three of the constructs had missed the action and gotten pinned. The rest, not so lucky, and they wouldn’t be low on numbers for long. Making for a staircase, the Awoken was cut off by a bolt of searing energy, immediately cutting back into another set of stacks. Pausing around the corner, she appraised the engram in her hands and glanced back to her Ghost. “... What is this? What’s it do? You said it was rare, but..." Pausing, the Little Light glanced down at it, before replying hastily, [ / It’s like... a password for matter. You can encrypt things into them, store them in little compact balls of oddstate matter. That one’s... it’s a weapon of some kind, but- / ]
“Can you get it out?” She held it out quickly at the very notion of something to arm herself. [ / I... No, probably not, especially not here! Not in time- Duck! / ]
It wasn’t often the Baroness allowed herself the indulgence of joining the fray. Normally, it took something exceptional. Some hurdle even her best could not overcome alone, or a great threat to their position.
The current Vex advance on their territory certainly qualified.
It was little surprise of course - the Vex weren’t apt to stop for much. Especially not Eliksni. But it was a rough battle. The constructs gave little, and their cursed calculative foresight made any sort of counteroffensive tricky at best. They mostly had to hold what territory they had. Or hope for some sort of unexpected variable. Something in short supply with organic robots occupying a computative hivemind dedicated to predicting the future.
Luckily, Kaleska had found one such variable.
Half an hour prior, her scouts had spotted one of the Traveler’s Ghosts searching the ruins... getting excited. She’d seen similar behavior before. Whoever it was meant to find was nearby. The Vex, they could not bargain with... but a Guardian? With a gentle hand... at least a Guardian may listen. And Guardians seemed to confound these synthetic creatures. The enemy of one’s enemy... the Solarians had that saying. So they bought time for the Ghost, drew the Vex away with strategic hits on certain areas. Skirted the edges of their push back into Eliksni territory. It was an effort not without cost. Hopefully she could count on this Guardian to follow through on their species’ wishful sentiment.
Stowed away in the rafters of the Ishtar Archives, the Baroness carefully watched the Ghost flit through the stacks... then saw the act. It was the first time she’d seen a Guardian’s rising. Their first rising. It was... an odd sort of thing. Calmly frantic. Inquisitive.
And cut short.
「Kaleska, they’ve bypassed the line!」
Were she the sort, Kaleska might’ve sworn aloud. Instead, she dropped from the rafters as the portal storms coalesced between her and the Risen Awoken. From one balcony to the next, until she was just one level off the ground, she watched from beneath her cloak as the woman took cover behind a bookshelf. That cover wasn’t going to last. The constructs were already turning, splitting off to follow her frantic dodge out of the line of fire. It was now or never. Never meant losing a possible asset.
She hated being forced into “now”.
Hurdling the railing, Kaleska put all of her weight into shoulder tackling a Minotaur into the bank of shelving.
“... You okay?”
[ / Yeah... yeah! I’m okay! You’ve got good reflexes. / ]
Clutching her Ghost against her chest, the Awoken found herself lying prone beneath a half-toppled shelf, the shelves beyond her having stuck halfway up thanks to the eventual wall, and left a pocket for her to hide in. The sounds of weapons fire from beyond indicated there was a fight going on - but with whom? Grabbing the mysterious weapon-gram, and letting the little construct go so she could float along of her own accord, the woman began to squirm her way free, eventually managing to get her head out far enough to see...
Well. Quite a sight.
An enormous, four-armed figure in a heavily pointed, finned helmet, ringed by an almost-pristine white fur collar and pale blue cloak, drove broadswords lancing with Arc energy through the constructs that had been chasing her, heavy armor adorning their form beneath that cloak, and aiding them as they shoulder the robotic creatures aside to disassemble them, a heavy knife being drawn into each of their lower hands to help them pin and stab at their common enemies. The Awoken was transfixed, the pure poetry of motion in each devastating strike drawing her in like a moth to flame.
[ / Hey, get back in here! Quick! / ]
Blinking as she hears the hissed words, the woman looks down, then back, searching for the source, only to find her Ghost now tucked back beneath the shelves. Giving her a quizzical look, the Risen woman doesn’t have to ask - as she pulls back in, the construct floats over to explain. [ / That’s a Baroness of the Fallen House of Winter... the Fallen were another client race of the Traveler’s a loooong time ago, but they got separated... I don’t really know exactly how. They’re bad news, though. They’re fanatics for machines, and they’ve become pirates and thieves as time went on... / ] The primer deflated the Awoken somewhat, having hoped to have made two new friends in five minutes of new life, but as the sounds of combat died down, and the Baroness’ footfalls could still be heard, she whispered, “I’ll stay hidden here then, until she moves on... maybe then we can sneak out? ... though I don’t really know where I’d go.”
Before she could think about where she’d go, the shelf let out a shuddering crackle.
Wiping radiolaria from her blades, the Baroness glanced towards the entrance, spotting a pair of fearful looking Vandals. The sentries who’d let the Vex slip by, afraid of retribution no doubt.
As if a pair of vandals could do anything to stop the Vex from stepping freely through time.
Waving them back to their posts, Kaleska could hear the sounds of muffled speech and rustling cloth from beneath the shelving a few rows down. The shelving against the wall hadn’t been able to fall very far, and as a result the shelving units closest by certainly didn’t have as far to go as they could’ve either. Plenty of space for a Guardian to hide out in. Taking a few steps closer, triangulating the noise, Kaleska eventually curled all four of her hands around one of the shelving units, tensing with its weight and testing its structural fortitude before hurling it back the way it came, reversing the fallen shelves like odd dominoes, and revealing the woman and her Ghost.
「... Hello there.」
Well, she wasn’t crushed. That was a plus. Shot or stabbed either. Came back to life, avoided being murdered... Should be a pretty successful day for the books.
Of course, she still had to figure out what this hulking figure wanted, standing over her with a regal stature that almost covered the roughed up state of her armor with poise alone. Slowly moving to her feet, the Awoken scooped her engram up, holding it just a touch behind one leg. The motion wasn’t enough to hide it, though, and the Baroness’ eyes followed it curiously. More clicking chatter followed her apparent greeting, and as she followed the Fallen’s gaze, the Risen nervously spun it in her grip. There was something important about this engram... she couldn’t place what it was, but it’d been nagging at her since she found it. It was hers... but she didn’t know what it was. Never had.
The enormous claw curling around her hand snapped her out of her reverie, blue eyes fixing on blue eyes as her hand was gently pulled up.
“... I suppose you likely cannot understand Eliksni high speech, can you?”
No. No she could not. Shaking her head, the woman swallowed nervously, which seemed to amuse the much taller figure... At least, judging from what limited context clues she had. Do aliens laugh? Questions for later.
“Quite a find... Yours?” A nod, this time. “Hm... I have a proposition for you, Guardian, if you’d take the time to listen.”
[ / I don’t... think a Baroness could want anything good to do with you. We have to find a ship and get off Venus... this place isn’t safe anymore. Not like it was. / ] The Ghost’s concerns reverberated through the woman’s head, her eyes threatening to roll back a touch as the unfamiliar sensation of someone else’s voice in her head ran her over, but adjusting quickly enough, she (hopefully) shot back, ”I don’t see a way out of here without cutting some kind of deal..." Swallowing nervously, she nodded. From how her eyes wrinkled... the Baroness seemed to approve.
“We both, presently, face a problem. You, a Guardian, are surrounded by hostile forces, me included, according to your little friend there.” Gesturing to her Ghost with the blade, the Fallen seemed rather blase about that admission. As it was, the realization was somewhat muted by the Awoken’s instinct to step between the little light and the alien. “Doesn’t mean we have to be. You need to get out of here safely... and I need a new foothold on this rock. Those robots? The Vex? They can predict every last move me and my nest will make. All we can do is forestall the inevitable, force them to cede in seeking some inscrutable goal later. They cannot, however... predict you.” The point of the blade came to rest just underneath the woman’s chin, and while she didn’t flinch, the tip rising, light arcs of energy threatening to brush against her bare skin, almost carried her head with it, now fully meeting the Baroness’ gaze. Finding her next nervous swallow was less nervous than the last, the woman urged, “Go on.”
The blade stayed where it was. “You odd little Solarians... with your Little Lights. You defy them... somehow. So. You turn that odd little defiance into something me and mine can use to wipe these mites out. And I will give you a ship. It won’t be a good ship, but it should get you to Earth... to your people. And perhaps, in the process, I may ply my skills to help you get... whatever it is you’re holding onto in that little golden engram.” Arc energy slowly petered out as the metal tip came to brush directly on her skin. “... How about it?”
As it turns out, it’s rather hard to nod with a blade under your chin, and yet...
“... Fine. If it gets me out of he-”
The tang of ozone and seawater abruptly filled the air.
They were breaking through again.
Lunging forward, hefting the Solarian under her arm, Kaleska found herself actually swearing in High Speech as she ducked into cover, scuttling into a stairwell and pressing her cargo into the wall as she pulled a wire rifle from her back. The woman had taken it strikingly well, still clinging to that Engram. That human oddity... though, odder still, she’d suddenly descended on it, like the past had taken her hands for its own. “Is now really the best time?”
Without looking up, the Solarian shot back, “It’s a weapon. It’s a weapon, if I can get it out-”
What a time to perform such a delicate task. “If you slip, you will destroy it. Give it to me.”
Kneeling down, briefly barking orders to her crew as the constructs dropped out of the air around the corner, the Baroness turned her attention to the fractal polyhedral in the woman’s hands. While she didn’t give it up, she held it out, and the construct moved in too. She could see it eyeing her warily... she could not blame it. But it would not stop her from helping. Tracing her own fingertips across the surface, she manipulated the data, contributing what she could. Taking her motions in stride, and syncing up with them, the Guardian began to work her own magic, Light sparking from her fingertips in lieu of proper tools or precise knowledge, popping metaphysical puzzle pieces into place as the Ghost corrected minor errors from the both of them, and guided their hands to one or two points neither quite reached on their own. One push on the right place would do it now. Kaleska reached for the golden artefact… only for the woman to pull it back.
“No, not there! It said... The algorithms are off, it has to be-”
Something in the Solarian snapped into place, a puzzle piece of its own, and as the Guardian twisted one of the internal faces of the construct, a blinding golden flash filled the room.
When Kaleska’s eyes cleared, it was to the sound of thunder.
Climbing atop the mountain of construct corpses she left behind with that first magazine, the Guardian hefted the Thunderlord over her shoulder, the barrel still crackling, smoking from its furious discharge. She could hear the Baroness moving behind her, closing the distance. Slowly. But not stealthily. Turning her head over her shoulder, her messy blue hair almost hid the smirk from the Fallen.
“Told you it was a weapon.”
She could see more of them, smaller, less impressively adorned, crowding the balconies, weapons drawn. But held at a skyward ready. Not one pointed towards her. “... They’re disciplined, I’ll give ‘em that. I’m supposed to be your enemy, right? Do they really trust me with this thing?”
“It is no longer loaded.”
That caught her somewhat aback, the woman checking the weapon only to find the belt that had fed ammunition into the side was gone, littered in pieces among the spent brass from the machine gun. “... The point stands.” This time, it wasn’t a trick of her ears. The Baroness was laughing.
“I will give you your spine... for you do not lack in it at all. I am Baroness Kaleska, of House Winter. Who are you, Guardian?”
Name. What was her name? She didn’t have a name. She looked down to her Ghost, who seemed to shrug a little. [ / All I know is, my favorite names are in this old dead language... / ] Listening for a moment, the woman nodded, smirking slightly.
“Caela. My name is Caela.”