Chapter four of my story Origin. A shout out to Commandocandle for the awesome artwork. As always, hit that survey, leave a comment, and enjoy the read. Part two will be listed below. Chapter 4, Part 1 They teleported back to the small cave entrance Velox had first met Azrix in. It was getting later in the day and the temperature had started to drop. They crept to the cave entrance and peered out at the base camp that was almost a hundred meters away. She had activated her thermal vision again and could see the camp fairly clearly but she didn’t know how Azrix could see it. Usually only hunters were equipped with thermal vision so she was unsure of how he had come across a thermal camera. “Looks quite.” He said crouching at the edge of the entrance. “Alright go ahead and set up here. Nymph and I will go down to the ship and start the repairs. Make sure you don’t do any scans or make any attempts at communication. I’m pretty sure that’s how they track us. If you see any sign of them just open fire. I will get the hint. If the plan goes to hell, we meet back here and then teleport back to the safe house.” “Got it.” She said unfolding her bipod and sighting in. She watched him slide down the short cliff just in front of the entrance and start running towards the camp. In mere seconds, he was at the camp scrounging through the crates looking for the plasteel plating. She scanned the area nervous that at any moment a dark cloud would start forming near Azrix. He had set the gattling gun next to the ship so he could work but still have quick access to it. After a few seconds of opening the snow covered crates, he ran back to the ship with a bundle of silver plates under his arm. He reached the ship, began slapping the plates on the hull, and bent them to form to its shape while Nymph began welding them on. They had been working for five minutes when Gaia called out to Velox. “Vex teleportation detected!” She zoomed in and just to the left of the ship a dark cloud began to form. Suddenly Nymph popped over the top of the ship and expanded as if he was scanning. The cloud however remained the same. He had stopped the Vex from teleporting. Suddenly Azrix voice came over her short range headset in a distorted and static filled tone. “Velox, I need Gaia over here now to finish up the last few welds. Nymph has the Vex at bay for the time being.” “Go!” she shouted at Gaia who flew towards the ship with surprising speed. Once there, she could see the heat signature from the ghost welding as well as Azrix and the vex cloud of energy. After another thirty seconds, Azrix grabbed his gatling gun and started sprinting back towards the cave followed by Gaia. Nymph returned to his normal form and was fast enough to catch up to Azrix and Gaia. A few seconds later, the Vex cloud pulsed and dropped ten goblins on the ground. Velox squeezed the trigger catching the closest one in its abdomen. Its purple shields flared and failed as the fifteen millimeter round tore through it at nearly five thousand feet per second. Its torso jumped in the air lifeless and then crashed into the ground. Before the others knew where the fire was coming from, she had killed two more in a similar manner. Azrix jumped and rocketed to the cave entrance where he immediately spun and took aim at the vex. The barrels on the gun started rotating slow but gained speed quickly. A pressure wave hit Velox as the weapon began spewing rounds down on the Vex. Within seconds, the remaining seven were riddled with holes lying motionless on the ground. “Not bad. The repairs should be complete. Nymph, teleport us back to the safe house.” “Standby, that time freeze took a lot out of me. I need to run a scan of my systems and make sure they are still intact.” The ghost floated motionless for a few seconds and then snapped back to life. “My systems are stable. If I held that freeze for another couple seconds, I might not have made it out. I estimate I can hold a time freeze for no longer than thirty five seconds. Teleporting now.” Their vision went white and they re-emerged in the cavern. The ball of light Azrix had put up was still glowing and brightened when it detected movement illuminating the cave. Azrix walked over to the sleeping bag and put his weapon down. “Well I hate to say it, but Veera is out of ammo. Unfortunately I forgot to pack twenty millimeter ammo synths so I think she has done all she can do. Not to worry though. Still have my auto rifle.” He said having Nymph materialize it in his hands. It looked absolutely ancient. It was modeled after a pre golden age weapon. The metal was scuffed and scratched. Basically none of the bluing remained. Newer parts and pieces were welded, bolted, and even taped onto it. The weapon looked like it might fall apart at any moment. “What is that….. Thing?” Velox asked amazed that he would even consider it a weapon. “Now it might look a little rough, but I assure you it will kill Vex just as good as your scout rifle will. I have a little taste for antiques and I love weapons. This was my first rifle I used after Nymph revived me. After we got to the tower I was feeling a little sentimental so I started pulling pieces off of all the other weapons I got and eventually this beauty emerged. I call it Frankenstein. ” he said beaming with pride. “Frankenstein? I don’t even know what that means.” Velox said. “It was a book written back before the golden age where a mad scientist….. you know what never mind. I will just have you read it when we get back to the tower.” He said letting Nymph dematerialize the rifle. He sat on the small plateau, took off his helmet, and reached down to unbuckle his shin armor. “What are you doing?” “Well we are done for today, there is no way for the Vex to get to us, and I don’t know about you, but I could use a bath.” He said looking over towards the steaming pool at the other end of the cavern. Velox blushed under her mask. He continued unbuckling and dismantling his armor carefully placing it on the ground next to his bed. Soon he was just wearing his padded suit. He walked over to her. “Can you unzip me?” he asked turning around revealing a zipper running from the back of his neck to his waist. She almost laughed at the question but held in her giggle. She grabbed the zipper and did as he asked. He thanked her and walked over to the pool. She looked away knowing that he was about to take the suit off, but peaked over her shoulder when the suit hit the ground. He wore only shorts but his back was exposed. Large deep scars littered his back some bullet wounds others had to be cuts. She couldn’t believe that he had survived the injuries he sustained. He dipped his foot in the water, then jumped towards the pool tucking his legs to his chest and screamed “CANNON BALL!” He broke the surface of the water sending waves cascading over the edge of the pool. Velox was puzzled by why he had said cannon ball and wondered what it meant. He emerged from the water and exhaled. “It looks like you want to come in? The water is fine.” He said lying on his back and floating. “Im…. Im fine.” She said turning away realizing she was watching a half naked man. “Alright suit yourself. The water is incredible though.” She took her mask off and started refilling her magazine. After that, she checked her sniper and scout rifle. Bother were still nearly spotless. She had only put five rounds through her sniper and only one mag through her scout. She checked her armor for damage and couldn’t find any. She let herself relax a little and thought about the debrief she had been through only that morning. She could have just stayed in the tower. She could be sleeping in a bunk bed right now or sitting at the bar trying to forget what had happened to her fireteam. Chapter 4, Part 2 can be found here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/99219844 Chapter Index can be found here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/101226805/0/0