Tale of the Phantom

Chapter 12: Entry Log 34 - 00:22:32

"You should stop pacing." The voice echoes right on the mic as the camera turns on. It's sharply female, almost commanding and it moment is recognized as Cayde's own ghost, rendering the volume understandable.

The screen shows the Exo walking back and forth in front of the table the vanguard stays close to. The carpet, old and dirty, shows a more recent wear line of about five feet. At the ghost's words, he stops and looks at the camera and sighs. Slowly, after a look from Zavala, he saunters back over to his maps, where layers upon layers of Venus layouts and blueprints lay there.

"They've been gone for a while now," he muttered off hand, drawing a finger over one map, tracing a section of open space. "Over a week." As he speaks the camera gets closer, peering at the maps before looking back to the Hunter Leader.

"It's not that surprising, a raid like this hasn't happened in a long time, and no one has been in the Vault for centuries."

"Yeah, I know." He gathers up the maps into a pile, stacking them off to the side and replacing them with RAP sheets. He lays them out, looking them over once again and the ghost does the same, camera focusing on the words. "They're a solid team. Haar-2, Z and Sky have worked together long enough that they hardly need to speak anymore. Ikora sent Winter with them, and Zavala had two more Titans go for backup power. Noble is good at what he does but I don't know much about the other one..." He sighs again. "Just wish I could be there with them."

The papers show what Cayde grumbles: two hunters, three Titans, and a warlock. Skylar's fireteam is among them and Cayde runs a hand over his rookie's sheet as if reading over her stats again.

Blade Dancer – enemy clean-up, stealth, and critical shot expert. Specializes in blades, sniper rifles, hand cannons and pulse rifles. Mid to Back Guard position.

A beeping sound is heard and the camera swings around in time to see Zavala answer his comm with authority. After a few moments, the Awoken nods to himself and speaks, "Good, send them over once they've been checked over." He hangs up, his hand falling from the comm in his ear and turns to his fellow leaders. "The Vault of Glass team just landed, it appears that they have been successful."

"Were there any problems?" Ikora's voice asks off-screen and Zavala glances to her and then Cayde.

"One of the Hunters apparently took a hard hit as well as the newer Titan, everyone is being looked over in the medical bay."

At his words, Cayde stands up straight and after a moment he turns and heads out of the room.

"I'll go meet them," he says easily before the Awoken can continue, walking from the room swiftly enough the camera blurs for a moment as his ghost goes after him. Somewhere behind them off-screen Zavala shouts at him, but it's cut off by Ikora.

"Let him go, he's been nearly short-circuiting lately. Never would admit it but..." Her voice fades off as Sundance follows her partner out of the Vanguard and towards the docking bay.

Cayde is muttering under his breath as he walks, passing by Amanda without a word and making a beeline towards the Medical bay. His mouth is formed into a frown, metal brows pulled down as he walks. Near the door, a few of the mission Guardians are lingering, Haar2 has his helmet off – showing the blue and white metal of the exo – and is conversing with Noble and Winter. All three of them look a bit scuffed up and dirty and they all pause when Cayde passes them pushing through the door. Winter calls after him but doesn't follow.

He finds both hunters in one of the examination rooms, and there's a sigh of relief from Cayde when he spots that it's Z on the table with Skylar standing nearby. There's an Exo doctor looking over Z's left leg, the boot nearly in ribbons and burned black in areas. His helmet is off showing the short black hair of the human and a grimace on his tanned skin as the doctor cuts the boot off with a medical laser.

Skylar watches intently, silently supporting her friend. Her helmet is laying on a chair behind her, and it has a crack in the lower face plate. Fresh stitches match on the girl's cheek where it must have been cut. She's all dirty again, the purple in her cloak almost brown, but the camera picks up no real injuries on her. When Cayde stops at the door, both hunters look up and Skylar raises an eyebrow, but Cayde's face has changed back to a normal calm.

"Heard you guys had a rough go about. They sent me up to check on you," he states easily and his rookie's lips twitch in amusement as if she knows he's not telling the truth. Z snorts, about to say something and then is cut off by a winces as shrapnel is plucked from a wound.

"Mr. Showoff here got a little too close to a Hydra to kill it," Skylar informs him, ignoring Z's protest. "Didn't quite get out of the explosion radius in time." She walks closer brushing back her cloak as if to show her mentor that she's fine. "Quite a place, the Vault, had my ghost do some recordings of what we saw." She smiles knowingly and Cayde chuckles.

"Thanks, Skylar, I appreciate it."

"No problem, and hey," Skylar holds out her hand and moments later a gun appears in it thanks to Sterling. Not just a gun, a sniper rifle. It's green and gray with ghillie net over the large scope. Cayde stares at her for a moment and the bright-haired hunter smirks. "Look what I found in a stone chest out there. So, you going to buy me that drink?"

Cayde laughs and peers at her new weapon. "The Patience and Time. Damn, rookie, looks like it's another night out on the town," he muses and clasps a hand on her shoulder. She tilts her head and Cayde sighs. "I'm glad you're all okay."

Skylar smiles, and it's pretty clear to everyone in the room those words are more for her than the rest.