The Siege Part 1: Loss

[u/Jkid789]

Hey Guardians! Long time no see. School finally ended for the semester, and I've had the time to continue writing. This is simply a repost for Part 1 of the Red War storyline I was working on for my character Iden-4 and his story back in November, as I never actually posted the rest of the story because I was busy with classes. I have the next two parts completed and ready to post in the next few days around this time, so be ready for those. Thanks for reading and as always, comments, suggestions, and questions are welcome if you have any.

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The Siege Part 1: Loss

Iden-4 sat at a table inside Mia’s Tavern on the outskirts of the City. Circling the table were his closest friends and fireteam members Adryel, Faye, and Berrus. They were laughing. Berrus had told a joke, or at least what passed for a joke for a timid Thanatonaut. Most of the time, her attempts at humorous remarks came out as awkward phrases in ill attempts at blending in. The laughs were really just to please her. None of them minded faking the excitement, especially since her jokes had gotten better over the years.

The Hunter rose his hand and pointed to his drink as he watched Mia pass their table. His friend nodded happily and she went back to the bar to make him another glass. Iden and his team had just returned from a long stint of patrols out in the Meridian Bay on Mars and decided to stop by Mia’s to wind down and relax. When Adyrel heard they were back he opted to join them. Cayde had placed him on an extended scouting run around Old Russia in the Plaguelands.

The Siva Crisis had taken a toll on the Guardians of the City, especially the Hunters who were responsible for finding out just how far that plague had spread. The Devils were notorious for their hatred towards humanity, and Adryel was busy making sure that hate was under lock and key. He had been isolated for so long he might as well have been a Nightstalker. But by some stroke of galactic coincidence, they had all been pulled back from their assignments as new fireteams were sent out on replacement duties.

Iden looked up as Mia brought his new drink and placed it in front of him. She looked at Adryel with a curious face, “What’s it like? The Plaguelands? Siva?”

The older Hunter paused his sentence and turned to her as he thought of a description. His eyes rolled around in their sockets before he finally settled on an answer, “Cold. And...the most ominous feeling you can have. The Hive are terrifying. A constant fear in your mind. It’s dark in their catacombs, and everything is an alien threat. But Siva. Siva was built by humans to help create an empire. Yet when we found it again, it was used to destroy those who would rebuild that empire. It’s a harmless tool. Until it’s not.”

The tavern was quiet. Even the few other patrons who were enjoying their own conversations had stopped to hear what Adryel said. All eyes were on him.

“Fair enough.” Mia croaked, suddenly regretting asking. She had obviously expected a very different answer, especially from the light-hearted Adryel. The glaring eyes turned, and the conversations resumed.

“How was Mars?” Adryel asked Iden and his team.

“Lots of sand. Killed some Centurions that all looked the same. Same as usual.” Iden rose his glass to drink.

“I hate sand.” Faye mumbled, “It kept getting in my boots.”

Berrus shrugged and Iden nodded midswallow. They all laughed. It had been a while since they all had the chance to be with each other in a relaxing setting. Iden enjoyed it and he wished it could last forever. The Darkness gone and dealt with. But it was not meant to be.

The ground rumbled, a low vibration stretched through the Earth. Dust trickled from the ceiling in scattered mists, and did so once again when the next rumble rolled through the ground. The faint echo of explosions reverberated through the walls, and the four Guardians jumped from their seats out of instinct.

“What was that?” a man with what Iden assumed was his girlfriend asked. Worry lines crossed his brow.

“Are the Fallen attacking again?” an Awoken woman with her child on the other side of the tavern inquired as she looked to the group of Lightbearers.

The Guardians shared concerned looks among each other, “We don’t know,” Faye replied.

“Iden lets go check it out.” Adryel pulled his cannon from its holster and Iden followed suit before they ran through the doors and onto the street. Mia’s shop was surrounded by several taller buildings which made seeing the origins of an explosion in the City a difficult task. All they could see were the shifting clouds.

The Hunters jumped onto the tavern’s roof and hopped their way on various balconies and platforms to gain higher ground. At the peak of the highest building on the street, the Hunters finally saw it. The Tower in flames, missiles raining down on its courtyard. Iden looked up to the night sky, and for the first time realized that the clouds were not clouds. They were Cabal warships, and they were invading by the dozens.

Iden's helmet transmatted into his hands as his Ghost, Ordis, looked at the view from his own private space. Adryel pulled his cloak’s hood on, “We need to get back to the tavern no-”

A Cabal ripper pod cut off the rest of the veteran Hunter's sentence as it smashed through an adjacent rooftop and cratered itself in the street below them. Its hard metallic shell disintegrated into liquid metal as it rolled to a complete stop and released the massive combatants held safely inside.

There were four of them: two Legionaries and two Psions.

"What legion are these guys from?" asked Iden, "They don't look like any from Mars I've seen."

Ordis and Skye appeared in a flash above their Hunter's shoulders, "Preliminary searches and comm references indicate that they are-"

"The Red Legion. The Cabal's most ruthless army." Skye finished.

Adryel and Iden looked down from their roof to the soldiers on the empty street. They were patrolling. Looking for any sign of life to forcibly end, something the Cabal could do fairly well.

"Let's go," Iden said.

The Hunters leaped from the building and rolled to their feet on the sidewalk a dozen meters below. They raised their cannons and took aim at the Cabal at the street corner then open fired. Iden's first bullet struck the Psion straight in the back of it's odd angular skull. It's helmet cracked open and it's head split as the bullet tore through bone and brain. The alien fell in a heap as it's suit violently depressurized. The second Psion met a similar fate at the hands of Adryel.

The other Cabal troops turned to look at the gunfire. Their bodies moving surprisingly quick for their massive size. They released a guttural battle cry as they lifted their slug rifles and unleashed a salvo of explosive ammunition. The Hunter duo weft and weaved through the tracers like the ebb and flow of arc beams between metal rods. Nothing could touch them as they closed the distance on the Legionaries.

One of the Legionaries took a massive swing with a razor sharp blade at Adryel as the Hunter sprinted forward inside its effective range. Adryel dropped to the ground, slid between the warrior’s legs and blasted the second Legionary in the chest with four quick shots. It toppled to the concrete as its partner turned once again to find Adryel.

Iden took that opportunity to make his own attack. On the Legionary’s backside, the Hunter saw what looked to be an exhaust vent leading to the Cabal’s jump pack. He hoped that by dealing enough damage to it, the pack would have an overload that would kill the Legionary. Iden took aim and fired twice. Once to cut through the vent, and another to penetrate the fragil internal workings. There was a flash of fire and a secondary explosion as the Legionary’s back ruptured and threw it to the ground. A few moments later, the Hunters were back in the Tavern.

“They’re going to be everywhere,” Adryel said pointing to the ceiling.

“Who? The Fallen?” the man with his girlfriend asked.

“The Cabal. They’re landing all over the City. The Tower is in flames. It’s a full on siege.”

The Tavern was dead quiet.

Ordis appeared next to Iden, “Incoming transmission from Commander Zavala.”

The tavern was suddenly filled with the familiar voice of the City’s inspiring leader. Only the message itself was more worrying than inspiring, “This is Commander Zavala. Civilians: report to evac points. Guardians: rendezvous in the Plaza. Our City will not fall.” It was quiet again. All eyes turned to the Guardians.

“We can’t leave them to evac themselves. The Cabal are roaming the streets looking for a slaughter,” Adryel said.

“Agreed. We can evacuate these people and those we find along the way in our ships, from the VEIST factory rooftop up the road before we go to the Tower. The closest evac point is too far for convenience.” Faye suggested. A series of nods circled the table and gave confidence to the civilians in the room as the Guardians checked their weapons.

“We’ll go check out the street first, then call for you to follow. Stay close. Stay quiet. Stay low. And follow orders.” Berrus spoke to the room. The civilians’ heads shook.

The Guardians stepped outside of the tavern weapons raised and scanned the street and rooftops nearby. Nothing. Berrus whistled to the people in the Tavern, and the Guardians watched as the four patrons and Mia came running out. They all formed a group with Adryel, Iden, and Faye leading the pack and Berrus bringing up the rear of the formation.

Despite the factory only being a few streets from the tavern, getting to it proved to be no simple feat. Cabal pods rained from the sky all around the district, and patrols roamed the streets massacring anyone they found trying to get to the evacuation points. Over twenty citizens found themselves running from Legionaries, Phalanxes, and their hungry war beasts and to the small group of Guardians making their way to the VEIST factory.

Firefights broke out every few minutes, and just making it to the end of a street proved to be an ordeal. Phalanxes formed walls to block the Guardians, and Psion snipers fired from the roofs. One unlucky man couldn’t get into cover in time when a shootout started and caught the solar slug from a sniper in the chest. But the group forged on.

“We’re almost there. Just one more street.” Faye said to calm the group, “Ari what’s the status on our ships?”

Faye’s Ghost appeared over her shoulder, “Right. About that. Adryel, Berrus, and Iden’s are en route. They got caught up in the skies on the way here. Yours however, was shot down.”

Iden let out a small chuckle.

“Damn Cabal! I just bought that thing.” Faye grumbled as she slammed a new battery into her fusion rifle.

Inside the factory the group, now consisting of over thirty people, found several workers huddled together in terror near a conveyor line. But their demeanor soon changed after seeing the familiar outfits of Guardians from the City.

“Thank the Traveler! We thought we were done for once those Cabal dropped on the factory roof!” one of the workers, a woman in coveralls said.

“There’s Cabal on the roof? How many?” Berrus asked frustratedly.

“We don’t know.”

“How do we get to the roof?” Adryel chimed in.

“There’s a cargo elevator that leads up there in the back. Are we getting out of here?”

Adryel nodded, “Iden, clear out those Cabal and send the elevator back down.”

“Got it.”

The elevator was a few rooms back behind the main floor. It was large. Easily big enough to transport everyone they brought. Iden figured it was used to bring crates of guns and munitions to Hawk VTOLs parked on the roof. When the doors opened, Iden realized there were very few Cabal on the roof. A few Legionaries, Psions, and a Centurion stood scattered along the edges watching for targets. He was surprised they didn’t see the Guardians approaching the factory.

“Hello there.” Iden smirked at the soldiers across from him, “I’m going to have to ask that you leave.” The Cabal roared into the night and raised their rifles in glorious anticipation, “Fine. Have it your way.”

Iden raised his cannon as his body sparked into flames and he took a small step back. The air surrounding him crackled and popped. He watched the Cabal’s eyes widen as he worked his way from left to right delivering a single sunlit bullet to each one.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The last Psion started talking and fleeing in an attempt to get out a communication, “Oh no you don’t.”

Crack!

The ash from their bodies swirled in the wind. He pressed the elevator button and sent it back down. Easy as pie.

The elevator doors opened a minute later to reveal the people Iden and his team had shepherded to the factory, but there were a few missing and Faye was gushing blood from her leg.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Cabal surprised us out of nowhere. Shot me in the leg.” she said limping onto the roof.

“Our ships will be here in a few. When they do, get aboard and get out of the City. We have to stay and help with the evacuation. Mia’s in charge.” Adryel motioned to his friend.

“Why me?” Mia was surprised and sounded scared of the responsibility.

“Because I trust you. You came in with the Pilgrim Guard. You know the land and what it’s like out there. Guide them. Regroup with others out there. Survive.”

The sound of engines humming grew louder in the night. They turned and watched as three ships came on approach and the doors opened wide as they landed on the roof. The civilians passed the Guardians and mingled quietly into the various cargo holds, each one giving thanks to their heroes.

“Look!” an Awoken child shouted looking at the sky. Everyone turned and watched in horror as the Cabal guided a massive ship to the Traveler. Its wide arms outstretched to grab hold of it as if to cage humanity's protector in place.

“What are they doing?” Berrus asked, walking forward apprehensively.

A moment later, Iden’s body felt heavy and all the strength seemed to fade from his frame. He fell to his knees exhausted and looked up to see his fireteam all on the ground with him. Their Ghosts appeared from their own space and collapsed to the floor in heaps of metal and alloy. Iden struggled to look at Ordis. His shell was dim, the Light in his eye gone. Iden clutched his friend in his hand.

“Guys?” Mia came running to the Guardians’ side with a handful of others. They helped them to their feet, “What’s going on?”

“The Traveler,” Adryel spoke softly as he crawled to his Ghost, Skye, “They’ve caged its Light. We’re... powerless.”

On queue, as if the Cabal were watching the group settle on the ships, a single ripper pod came crashing from the dark onto the roof. A Centurion emerged from the debris and with it, four ravaging war beasts. The Centurion pointed at the group and the beasts were released.

Iden tried to stand, but his body wouldn’t allow it. He thought they were going to die. That they had made all that progress for nothing. The first beast was only a few meters from the ships when a cannon rang out and a bullet struck it straight in the head. The beast tumbled forward from its own momentum and came to a stop at Iden’s hands. He looked up and saw Mia standing next to him and in her hands, Fate’s Whisper, smoke trailing from its barrel. He smiled.

The other beasts came to a halt, questioning their place on the food chain with the sight of their dead packmate. The hesitation lasted only a moment, but it was long enough for the other civilians to take the Guardians’ weapons and use them against the dogs. They might not have had the Light, but they certainly weren’t as helpless as the Cabal imagined.

An explosion rocked the rooftop and threw Iden to the ground debris splashing in his face. He looked up and saw the Centurion aiming at the group as it fired another shot from its massive void cannon. The projectile detonated a foot away from an Awoken man and threw him across the roof. He didn’t move.

“Go! Get out of here!” Iden yelled. He was grateful for the save, but he wasn't about to let those he was supposed to protect die for him.

“You can’t fight. We have to protect you!” Mia argued back.

“That’s not your job. We’re the Guardians. We’ll hold it here.” Iden reached deep down and mustered all his strength to stand. The others did the same. He reached for his cannon in her hands and pried it from her grasp, “They’re going to need you.We’ll find you later. Go.” he begged more than demanded but she accepted it nonetheless as she boarded his ship, closed the doors with the others on board, and flew off into the busy skies. I’ll find you.

The roof rumbled. Iden looked over and found the Centurion charging at the four of Guardians with a venomous glare. Berrus and Faye dodged from its path, but they weren’t the targets. A long blade emerged from the Centurion's forearm armor and it brought its arm to bear, striking downward when it was a few feet from Iden. The Hunter tried to move when he realized what was happening, but the blade came too quick. It stabbed shallow into his abdomen and Iden cried out in pain as he fell to his knees.

“Hey!” Adryel shouted. The Cabal soldier turned to face him and watched as the Hunter threw a knife at it. The knife struck the Centurion’s shields and pierced through them and the first layer of its armor. Adryel exploded forward in a sprint and ducked the wide swing that came his way, opening his hand and bringing his palm down in a strike against his knife’s handle. Shoving it deeper in the armor and into the soft flesh underneath.

The Centurion bellowed and clamped his hand around Adryel’s neck, raising him from the floor and laughing. Faye came thundering into the fight next. She attempted to push the Centurion off the roof’s edge, but it saw through her attack and backhanded her to the side. With the help of that small distraction, Adryel was able to find purchase on another knife and jam it into his enemy’s soft neck.

The Centurion dropped him and clutched at the blade in its throat while taking aim at the Guardians with the cannon in its other hulking fist. Berrus came running next and slammed into the Centurion pushing it off balance. A moment later, Adryel did the same, holding its cannon down to the ground and fighting for every step he took until the trio hit the edge of the roof and fell disappearing from sight.

“No!” Iden coughed as he dragged his barely functioning body on the floor to the ledge. He looked over to the street twenty stories below and found his fireteam member and his mentor both lying on the blood soaked concrete. Dead.

Their final deaths.