[b]Hello Guardians, and welcome to the tenth installment of my story. If you've missed ay previous chapters, here is the link to the Chapter Index:[/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/128755126/0/0 Also, DarkFang_007's character is in this one (thank you to him for writing up that part) and ViridStream84337's character is in this as well. [u]Chapter 10: [i]New Intel[/i][/u] The desert was beginning to impress itself on Lyzel, he felt the weight of his own feet with every step. The soft sand below shifted, throwing off his balance whenever he moved. The hot sun struck down on his shoulders. Lyzel had heard tales of how harsh the deserts of Earth could be, but now he felt it for himself. He was beginning to close in on his targets. He had seen them from a distance a few times. A captain, four vandals and five dregs, all hailing from the wretched House of Ash. Not even a challenge for him. The problem was that Lyzel needed a few alive. His goal was for information, and he needed to find a Ketch. They would eventually tell him, one way or another. Lyzel summoned his ghost, who he had simply called Ghost since he was brought back. He now summoned a Sniper. It was white and red, and printed on the side was the trademarked Suros emblem. In the distance, Lyzel spotted the Captain leading his nine troops. His first shot would take away their leadership. He centered in the top of the Captain's head. He smiled as he pulled the trigger. A stream of ether exploded from the now half blown off head as the body went limp and the other fallen fell over in terror. The vandals were quicker to recover than the dregs. They dropped to the sand as low as possible. The dregs were soon to follow. One Vandal made the mistake of peeking to locate Lyzel. His precious ether now escaped from the empty space where his head used to be. Deciding to take his chances, Lyzel now slung the Suros Sniper across his back and summoned his sparrow. He was on top of the fallen before they knew it. Quick firing his hand cannon, Lyzel killed all except for two dregs and a Vandal, who now cowered in fear from his rain of fire. He strode up to the vandal and delivered a brutal kick to it's masked face, sending it sprawling across the desert sand. Grabbing the Vandal by it's throat, Lyzel lifted the terrified alien into the air. It attempted to claw its way out of Lyzel's iron grip, but Lyzel simply tightened his grip on the Vandals throat, cutting off its supply of Ether. Lyzel spoke, "You have ten seconds to tell me where your Ketch is or the first Dreg dies," He aimed his hand cannon at the Dreg, who cowered in fear. "After that, you have five seconds before the second dies, and after that, you have three seconds before you die.... Now, TELL ME!" The Vandal broke Lyzel's grip and fell to the sand. It spoke quickly clicking a garbled english, "No, no. No shoot! I don't know-" a gunshot rang out as the first Dreg's head exploded. The other one put its hands over its head and seemed to sob. "Five seconds," Lyzel said, counting down on his fingers. Words flew from the Vandal's mouth now as he spoke without hesitation. "The Jungle! The tall trees! I swear! I know not the name humans call it! But it's in the jungle!" The Vandal cowered away and placed its hands over its head after it spoke. Lyzel seemed to contemplate the Vandal's words. He looked over at the Fallen. "Thank you," he said as a shot rang out from his gun. The Vandal fell lifelessly to the sand. Lyzel began to walk south. He glanced side ways at the Dreg and pointed his gun at its face. He smiled as he pulled the trigger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rorschach stared silently at the blackened plains of Venus. Bodies lay on the ground, Ether and blood coagulating on the ground. They were from House Winter, but it felt horrible nonetheless. These were his people, his race, no matter the difference between House and Banner. Greevis walked up to the Dreg, placing one of his hands on Rorschach's shoulder, "We should not dwell on the lost, yes? Ventryx is and the others have found the other crew we will be fighting with., yes. Come now." The Vandal led Rorschach to a bombed out building, an Ash Walker guarded the entrance. The building used to be a library, as hundreds of books could be seen scattered on the floor. Shelves were toppled onto one another but in the center of the library was a small display, Ventryx and the others gathered around it, along with some unfamiliar Fallen faces. "More of yours Baroness?" A Captain asked, he was as tall as an Archon, and spoke in a deep growling voice. His gray armor showed signs of battle, with scorch marks and dents in it. "Yes, Sir, they are." She grunted. The Captain, grunted and looked at Greevis, not even acknowledging the Dreg, "I am Maddox, your new superior. You will now fight and win alongside me, and I expect nothing but the best from you." Rorschach and Greevis nodded. Looking over Maddox, his new Captain, Rorschach noticed that he had a strange trinket on his waist, it was a robot of some sort, it's shell was a dull white with a tips being orange. He studied the item, but stopped when he noticed that one of Maddox's Vandals was glaring at him. Rorschach then walked around the library, looking at the various books on the floor. He even stopped to read some of them but gave up when he couldn't decipher the strange letters that were printed within their pages. He then stepped out onto the library's roof and overlooked the burnt plains. He studied the smoke spewing volcanoes in the distance, and the mysterious Vex structure that towered above everything. He looked up into the sky at the Ketches that hovered above him, their charcoal colored hulls bearing his House's symbol. He turned to see Taliks and Grash clattering through the door, knocking over crates and such. He turned back around as they walked up to him, taking in the scenery. "What did Maddox have to say?" he asked to Taliks. "Nothing much, just where we're going, a place called the Ember Caves. Winter plans to attack them tomorrow and guess we are supposed to stop that force." She replied. "Oh." Rorschach turned back to the scenery. A long pause of silence passed. "It's a shame we have to see the planet like this," Taliks finally clicked Grash sighed, "Yeah, but that's what happens when two powerful Houses get too greedy." Rorschach looked at them both, "This isn't our war, yet we have to fight it. I'm tired of being a Dreg guys, always getting looked down on, and pushed around. I can't wait until I'm finally a Vandal." he sighed. Taliks grabbed Rorschach's hand, "I know...it'll come eventually." she looked at Grash, "but for now, we'll just have to make it through today." Chapter 11: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/142971874