Venus.
Among the endless void of space, a lone
dropship hovers above the atmosphere of Venus. Silence lies behind the cockpit, but unwavering eyes literally burn like the sun looking upon the planet. Her hand shifts forward and the ship accelerates into the mass of the terrestrial marvel. The gaseous orange clouds become replaces with storms and turquoise rain as the ship gets filled with elements of the lost colonized location. The ship descends into the sediment and jagged landscape, the silence almost empowering from behind the vehicle. It lands over the hills of the Headlands, a place that covers the apex of the colonized section of Venus. She tethers her ship towards a cliff, and shuts down the operating engine. The front hull slides up, as a pale woman emerged. Her skin was as cold as ice, yet softer than the finest woven cloth to the touch. Her body delicate but hardened with underlying muscle and rigor. Solar orange eyes looked to and fro the land without a word, a hand cannon at her hip. She turned her head to the west, where a long trail of dust could be seen leading to a valley underneath. She begins her trek slowly towards the valley, her hands balled in a fist. Her posture was upright and disciplined, almost graceful in her steps. She knew they were here, The Crows had done their usual exceptional work of scouting the movements of the Fallen, the wretched and vile race of beings that come to do nothing but pillage and destroy in their benefit. Why were they here? They'd never ventured past Earth and the Cosmodrome before, and according to Crow intel, there was a Baron here, the most cunning and skilled of Fallen leaders, even among Kells. Why out here? This planet was deserted some time ago, nothing but ruins and ruins of ruins. Either way, she was going to find out. The Sword of the Queen, The Fabled, Swara Nov.
[fieldbox="Swara Nov, purple, dashed, 10, Tahoma"]
The aurora skies fall with dark and smoldering clouds of blue and orange. Light precipitation drops on her shoulders. Swara walks along the edge of the cliffs, high up from the valley where those below would not see her. She jumps from jagged edge to another, silently stepping on the stone as if they were the lush green scenery of the Venusian jungles. She reaches the convergence of the valley and the ember caves, an area that seemed to be filled with Fallen infantry. From high upon the rock she looks down, watching the simple dregs and some vandals patrolling about. With this many Fallen, there must be a Baron here, something royal at least.
"Hmph."
Swara moves her hands behind her back and scouts while looking down. Studying their movements. The Dreg were the weakest and most shamed of all the Fallen, used for simply infantry. They had their back arms cut off as a mark of low class and shame to their race, so they only have two arms total. So now they fight for worth and honor, at least that's what Variks told her. Swara peers in trying to catch a glimpse of what house these Fallen were from, but it was too far to tell.
"Petra, they're here..."
Petra: Good, see what you can sniff out. Find out why they are there.
Swara trails along the upper cliffs of the caves and crouches down to spy among the Fallen intruders. She remains silent and resilient as the Dregs and Vandals all watch out around the vicinity. They seemed to be looking for something, but what is it that they could be looking for? Swara contemplates as she watches on. Venus was formally inhabited by the Ishtar, speculated to be a group of individuals tasked with collecting data and information on all known people, races, events, and places. Maybe they were searching for that, but even that was finding a needle in a volcano. No one had seen anything of such evidence thus far. But if the Fallen believed it to be real, then they must act on it before it's too late. There were also the Vex constructs, pillars of light made from a highly and seemingly infinite race of organic-robotic beings capable of transmuting space and time. Perhaps they were looking to study this technology, or even garner it for themselves.
Swara spots a Fallen Captain among the top of the platform leading into the main caves, if he's guarding there then the Baron must be that way. It was time for her to infiltrate further. She draws her Arc Edge sword and drops down dozens of feet speeding into the ground, and just before she hits the platform she blink teleports herself beside the Captain and slices his head off with extreme force and precision. His head rolls the feet of a vandal whom looks up and is met by the surging end of the sword. Fallen chatter begins to immerse as the shots of shock pistols whiz by her head. Swara remains calm and unmoving, the stream of shots whizzing by her head. She blocks the next ones with the sword, but takes shock damage since their energy shots are arc. Swara growls in annoyance and sticks out her hand, as the life force from the Dregs are sapped into a purple energy and they dissipate into nothingness, her Energy Drain being effective. Vandals in the far distance shoot, but a quick Swara dives inside the cave and starts to sprint deeper into the cave. The whirring of Fallen Shanks can be heard behind her, the small and portable robotic drones created by the Fallen used to scout and deter. Swara runs hastily, blinking over jagged rocks and steep drops. Her feet plant in teal colored water and after a splash she's already meters ahead. She tosses a small ball of void energy, as it splits into two and explodes the two shanks into bits.
"Axion Bolt always wins.."
She runs deeper into the caves, the sound of Fallen infantry behind her. She runs along the tunnels of the caves and stops to a halt at the sight of Vandals on the upper ridges in front of her, with a few shanks patrolling in front of her. She runs and slides behind a rock, drawing her hand cannon now. She takes a deep breath as time slows for her and her mind clears. Her orange eyes dilate mildly and she arises with two precise shots, one of each taking off the head of a Vandal. The shanks turn and shoot, but are rapidly downed by the impact of the hand cannon. More Fallen chatter from among the upper ridge, Vandals and Dregs look down and start to fire, with Swara moving towards cover on the west side of the cavern. From where she came in, the rest of the Fallen have caught up with her and now have her pinned in. A Fallen Captain arises from the top cliff and fires tracer shots at her, the bullets curving towards her but hitting the rock in front of her. The vandals above look on through their sniper scopes, as the dregs close in on her from the top and the entrance sides. The Captain lies in wait as his legion converges on her location.
"Just a bit closer.."
The Fallen privates all close in with their shock pistols and start to surround the rock. Swara braces herself, and then suddenly smirks. She blinks in the air, and delivers an essence of void energy into three giant balls of force and death. She shoots them among the crowd of Fallen dreg, instantly dissipating the dozen or so aliens into purple dust. The vandals on the top and near the entry way immediately start to shoot. Swara takes on the closest ones first near the entrance. She blinks as their shots miss, and appears feet away from them. She delivers an almost unseen chop to the throat of one with her speed, taking the others' weapon and shooting the incapacitated foe in the chest with it, before smacking the other with the end of its own weapon, and delivering a hand cannon round to the head while it fell. Like lightning her head darted towards the upper ridges, moments later she was up there among three sniper Fallen and the Captain. The Captain speaks in his tongue aggressively at Swara.
"Fallen scum. It's time you eat that tongue."
The Captain shoots right for her
Voidfang Vestments, But she slides out of the way, taking cover behind a rock and piercing one vandals' head with the hand cannon. She lifts over the rock and blasts away at the Captain, each shot taking a hit on its shields. It fires back with the tracer shots, Swara blinks right before they hit her and lands on a small platform. Sniper fire streams around her as she constantly moves. She jumps mid air and tosses a grenade that splits into three projectiles this time, with two hitting and blasting away each of the vandals, and one hitting the Captain, staggering him and leaving him
reeling, before hitting him with a few rounds from the cannon as he falls lifeless to the ground. Swara sighs and looks onward towards the higher caverns. She was halfway there.
Petra: Status?
"Fallen are patrolling, like they're looking for something. I'm getting close."
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