Eyes Up, Guardian

Chapter 21

     Damian frowned. "Estella's here?" He asked into the radio.

    "Not your here, Damian, but yes." Tessa didn't recognize the female voice that spoke up.

     "You're acting as a consultant?" Damian asked.

     "Yep." The woman said, "I was the one that got you the crystal and the codes for your stealth tech. Though I heard that didn't go too well, huh?" She asked.

     "It worked great," Tessa chimed in, her voice only slightly laced with sarcasm. "Until we were filling the crystal with Crota's soul and Oryx released an ambush." She explained. "I'm Tessa, by the way."

     "Tough luck, I guess." Estella said, "I'm Stella. I worked with Damian while he was taking down Crota."

    Cayde coughed loudly before Tessa could respond. "I'm all for pleasantries, but maybe after we kill the taken King." He suggested.

     "Says the man with the checklist." Eris grumbled.

     "As I was saying," Cayde continued, "We have the consultant, check, and the guardians, check. If I haven't left anything out, I'd say we're ready to kill a king."

     "It's motivational, Eris." Tessa heard Cayde tell Eris as they made to transmat out.

     They landed easily in the hull breach, guns loaded and ready. Around them, Hive and Cabal battled, the Hive spread out on their side of the enormous space, across from the cabal ship. The Cabal were still defending their ship, holding the line, but they clearly had not made any headway into the dreadnought in this section.

     "Push back the dark." Eris told them as they gathered their bearings. "End it." She told them. Tessa decided not to mention that the dark consisted of much more than Oryx and the Taken.

     "She's right guardian." Cayde said, and Tessa shot Damian an overly shocked look. Cayde agreeing with Eris? Unheard of. "There's no doubt in my mind this could possibly work. Now, get to that rupture." He told them.

     "That's very motivational." Damian remarked. "It's nice to know you have so much faith in us."

     Even still, they did what they were asked. They headed towards the shallow ravine that divided the two races, Damian took the right side, spending a magazine worth of ammo shooting at the Hive, while Tessa simply tossed a grenade at the Cabal and ran, knowing they'd finish each other off. Damian followed her example and darted after her. 

     They headed down the misshapen tunnel made from the debris the cabal ship had left behind in its crash into the hull, reaching the Maulsolum in a matter of moments. The rupture was just ahead of them, the only problems being, Tessa had no idea how to get it open, and their way was blocked by a small group of Hive. These wouldn't have been such a problem, except as they neared the rupture, a swarm of taken descended around them.

     "Okay," Echo said, "That's where the rupture should be." He told them as they neared the large archway

"Get it open." Cayde told them, "Once you're through, send your coordinates. We'll lock down your location and send in reinforcements." 

     They split up as the Taken descended upon them. Tessa took the back half of the crumbling bridge that led to the rupture, and Damian took the ground below it. With grenades and a hail of bullets, they quickly cleared out the taken. She moved towards the rupture as it opened.

    "The rupture can sense the soul you hold." Eris told her as she studied it at a distance. "You are ascendant." 

     Tessa shook her head as she tried to look into the rupture. "Crota is ascendant." She told Eris. "I am merely a thief with a crystal."