Work Text:
TYPE: Transcript.
DESCRIPTION: Conversation.
PARTIES: Two [2]. One [1] Guardian-type, Class [WARLOCK] Identity [REDACTED] [u.1], One [1] Guardian-type, Class [TITAN] Identity [REDACTED] [u.2]
ASSOCIATIONS: [REDACTED]; Vex; Hezen Corrective; Hezen Protective; Vault of Glass; [REDACTED]
//AUDIO UNAVAILABLE//
//VIDEO FOOTAGE CLASSIFIED//
//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS.../
[u.1:0.1] Opening video feed now
[u.2:0.1] -gone for five missed patrols, three missed strikes on high value targets-
[u.1:0.2] There you are titan.
[u.2:0.2] Warlock.
[u.1:0.3] Allow me to explain-
[u.2:0.3] Explain? You abandoned the fireteam a week ago and went radio silent. I've had to assist our third's ghost revive her three times on our last patrol. We need to be able to reach you for support! You're the most experienced one on our team and yet you insist on leaving-
[u.1:0.4] I went back there again.
[silence]
[u.2:0.4] The Vault then.
[u.1:0.5] Of Glass, yes. Sorry to worry you.
[u.2:0.5] I called your ship because I was angry. And now I'm terrified. This is what, your third trip down there?
[u.1:0.6] Fifteenth, I'm afraid. There is much to learn from down here. More than either of us will ever know.
[u.2:0.6] And you abandoned your team without a word to run off with your fellow warlocks. Shit, it must be the will of the Traveler.
[u.1:0.7] Please calm down. I will return to my position on the fireteam with the two of you. But not yet. After the team that destroyed Atheon we have gained the opportunity to gleam a great deal from our enemies.
[u.2:0.7] You think you're time is better spent there? You think you're helping the city digging through Vex ruins?
[u.1:0.8] I do. I have been running experiments with the tech down here. What tech I understand here anyway. We have all been running experiments actually.
[u.2:0.8] Still terrified. Not helping, warlock.
[u.1:0.9] Apologies.
[u.2:0.9] When can I expect to see your ship in the tower?
[u.1:1.0] Two weeks, maximum.
[u.2:1.0] And if you learn nothing? Will you still come back?
[u.1:1.1] Of course. But don't be surprised when I make my sixteenth trip to the Vault.
[u.2:1.1] I swear I will never understand your obsession with the machines.
[u.1:1.2] I am not obsessed with the Vex. I'm terrified of them.
[silence]
[u.2:1.2] I know I'm going to regret this. Explain.
[u.1:1.3] I will explain as briefly as I can. You know that since I was reforged from the traveler's light I have studied under the Voidwalkers. I know the functionalities of a singularity and how to create micro-instances of them in a fight. And really, once the mechanics of opening the space-time pocket are parsed weaponizing it is trivial, as is opening a short range wormhole for blink. It's just a matter of firing two singularities at once really, easy enough for some of the hunters to manage a few meters of--
[u.2:1.3] Stop. Stop you're doing the warlock thing again I don't need a dissertation please. Just get to the point.
[u.1:1.4] Please. I need you to understand. The point is that as far as manipulating space-time is concerned, I am a charlatan compared to the Vex. As are all my fellow Voidwalkers. As are any of us. Sure, we can put a core inside a bullet that can open a micro-singularity to destroy armor and tissue and pull it into the void. A Titan can open the void to pull matter out of nothingness and arrange it into a defensive barrier. And that is where our understanding and application of space-time manipulation ends. And then there is the work that the Vex did. Understandings and usages of space and time beyond just breaking it down into void. Ontological weapons. They can't work outside the vault, as far as we can tell the rules are different here. House rules, made by the Vex. They decide what is and isn't real in this place. What has existed and what will never exist. I want to know where they came from. How they were built. And how they do the things that they are able to.
[u.2:1.4] Osiris was exiled for asking questions about the Vex. You know that right?
[u.1:1.5] Oh Please. As I told you I am but a charlatan. Osiris was banished for knowing the answers to every question I have ever asked and asking questions I could not dream of. But novice Vex researcher or not, I have made some strides of my own.
[u.2:1.5] Show me.
[u.1:1.6] Excuse me? My projects here are hardly final.
[u.2:1.6] I said show me. If you want your two weeks off the fireteam I need to know what you and your fellow warlocks are working on underneath Venus.
[silence]
[u.1:1.7] Understood. Adjusting my camera feed. You should be able to see through my helmet now. Confirm?
[u.2:1.7] Confirmed. It's working. One, two, three....there are five other warlocks on this expedition of yours? Do you have enough books there for all of you?
[u.1:1.8] Seven, two are further below. And no. Moving to the section of the vault I've cordoned off for myself.
[u.2:1.8] Is there a reason that your research station is two rooms and a crystal-filled cave away from the others?
[u.1:1.9] Safety reasons. I would rather not set my fellow warlocks on fire. Here we are. I'm going to remove my helmet for this.
[muffled sounds]
[intelligible]
[u.1:2.0] There, you should be able to see from that angle, looking out from my helmet.
[u.2:1.9] Is there a reason you have me pointed at what looks like a body under a tarp sitting on that stone block?
[u.1:2.1] Yes. Can you see my hands?
[u.2:2.0] Yes why- No. Tell me you did not do that. Are you seriously wearing vex parts on your armor?
[u.1:2.2] I have integrated them to my fieldweave, yes. Gauntlets and boots, forged with salvageable pieces of Hezen axis minds.
[u.2:2.1] You tell me you're terrified of the Vex and you're wearing their parts? Are you serious?
[u.1:2.3] This gear is experimental. If I want to know how Vex technology is used I need to use it. I need to know our enemy, titan. I will only stop fearing them when I can beat them.
[u.2:2.2] And how exactly do you plan on using your new armor? Are you just going to walk out of the Vault wearing Vex parts and let yourself get shot? Because that's honestly the safest thing I can see you doing right now.
[u.1:2.4] You asked to see my experiments and so I will show you. Let me lift the tarp.
[u.2:2.3] What. What?
[High pitched wailing in audio matching Vex soundwaves]
[u.1:2.5] Recording this for research purposes. Day five of expedition fifteen. Testing abilities of armor infused with Vex qualities on captured Vex subject. Praetorian class specimen. Arms and legs of subject have been forcibly removed by shotgun for the safety of lab materials.
[u.2:2.4] You kept a living Vex under there what are you doing what are you doing--
[u.1:2.6] Initiating energy drain.
[Vex soundwave spikes]
[audible crack]
[Electrical distortion detected in room]
[20.16 degree drop in room temperature, lasts 2.401 seconds]
[FEED ENDS]