From Dusk to Dust (Destiny Fan Fiction)

31- Without Stars

Venus never ceased to amaze the fireteam. The green and yellow hues of the jungle shined in the reflection of light bouncing off of the buildings of the Academy. Red clouds slowly rolled into the area, threatening to cut off the radiated beauty. Trees swayed in the warm breeze. The cobblestone courtyard had been cleared half an hour earlier, setting up a clear open shooting range for Alaura to patrol. She kept her assault rifle comfortably close to her, ready to shoot at anything that stepped out of the jungle. "How does it look from up there, Malachi?"

An inch to the left. Malachi calculated as he judged the breeze. All of his shots would have to be placed an inch to the left in order to get it on target. He looked up from his sniper scope and watched his surroundings. The greatest vantage point came from the top of the mountain behind the campus, where he laid in wait. His brown eyes wandered in search of any signs of enemy life, and ended up on the other side of the jungle. He waited a second, then peered down his scope to get a better look. "You want the good news, or the bad news?"

Never a dull moment, that's for sure. "Bad."

"Vex are coming in hot from the right. I'd say five minutes if they keep marching. Less if they teleport," he reported as he stopped staring down the scope.

Jarvis scanned the area in front of them, revealing no life forms. This part of the front deemed clear. He questioned skeptically, "What could possibly be the good news?"

"Most of the city will be out of here by then."

Alaura scrunched her forehead and raised a curious eyebrow. Tanis didn't reply to any of that, so her thoughts drifted onto him. The words left her mouth with a hint of laughter, "Is it bad that I expected to hear something inappropriate be the good news?"

"No. Not at all." The question sparked a half grin to form on Malachi's lips. He maintained watch on the enemies, who seemed to multiply three-fold in the passed minute. "Would you like to hear one?"

A snort escaped from Alaura's nose as she smiled. No surprise there. This man seemed like such a hard-ass at first. Alaura never thought she would ever think otherwise. But now, he's a predictable softie hiding behind his strong exterior. It was a welcome change. She replied in a half amused manner, "Save it for later. Right now we have to focus. I'm heading in that direction." She turned on her heels and headed for the oncoming enemies. "Tanis, how's your end looking?"

No answer.

They knew Tanis had a hard time coping with everything, but this? Blatantly ignoring them seemed to be a whole new level of anger. Alaura called out once more onto communications, "Tanis?"

"I heard you." His blue optics watched as civilians in the city rushed to the hangars for safe transport off of the planet. Children clung to their parents and sobbed for their lost toys. Items littered the streets from dropped luggage, yet no one stopped to retrieve them. Their safety was on the line. That's all that mattered. Tanis reported back sharply, "The citizens are freaking out, but they're following directions."

In this situation, Tanis' attitude interpreted as unfocused and unprofessional. Alaura completely understood why he got upset. To let him die when the entire universe needed him would have been far worse than the situation they are in now. He needed to accept that. Alaura bit her tongue for a short second before asking, "How much of the city has gone already?"

"More than half. As expected."

Staring down the scope at a certain Vex, Malachi hesitated to actually shoot. Alerting the enemies would only send them into a murderous frenzy. He relaxed his finger off of the trigger. The Vex continued to march onto the city and the Academy as the sky darkened. Malachi looked up, curious to see how dark the red clouds were. "Uh..." His hand curled up into a fist slowly, refraining himself from getting too nervous. "Before you say anything positive, we got something big incoming."