"The Vex insurgence on Mercury wasn't a lie. Captain mentioned it last time. That he couldn't leave Skywatch incase another insurgence occurred." Void spoke up.
"Tevis did mention his concerns of the insurgence coming back to earth. But to think Shin Malphur took care of it alone. He's become closer to a one-man army." Eriana replied.
"There's no need to doubt her words. You and I both know, Sunbreakers don't lie. We can take whatever Ouros said to face value. Their order stands firm on their path, unflinching and unwavering against any enemy. They find it beneath them to stray from the truth." Wei spoke up.
" If Ouros didn't lie about Shin taking care of it alone." Sai frowned.
"We need to raise the stakes of the mission." Eriana continued.
All members were in agreement as they nodded.
"Our scout remains the same. However, to match this newfound intelligence, it's better if all three of us take part in the mission too." Eriana pointed towards Sai and Wei.
One could barely tell but there were slight sighs of relief around the room as Eriana announced the fireteam members for the mission.
"If I'm still on the mission, I have some conditions." Void interrupted the momentum as all eyes fell on him.
Naturally, his words were enough to earn him gazes from across the room, but he didn't quite care. After all, he was the one risking his life. Shouldn't he get some benefit?
"I will hear them out first." Eriana replied swiftly.
Void was surprised that his demand worked, but he knew that he wasn't through yet.
"Quite simple. First, I need more information about this whole operation. Don't leave anything out. Second, I don't think the gear I got is worth risking my life, so I'm hoping for something decent in return for this mission. Lastly, if anything goes wrong, I hope you'll consider saving my life." Void smiled calmly, putting his conditions forward as he held up three fingers.
He felt that they weren't unreasonable. However, it was still up to the Praxic Fire to accept or deny them.
Eriana contemplated, hundreds of thoughts scrambled across her mind as she snapped out of her trance.
"You're really picking up the hunter code of arms by demanding more loot. That won't be an issue, we were going to compensate you adequately. For the information, well...We can tell you what you need to know. But that's all. As for your life, I can't give guarantees. However, if things do go south, I will put my life on the line for yours." Eriana replied.
"That works for me." Void said, astonished that all his requests were fulfilled.
"Alright, since the teams are decided, let's continue to the briefing. Pull up the records." Eriana said.
The team of warlocks stationed in the room immediately returned to their stations and began displaying several records on the hologram projector.
"The data represents our tuner picking up signals of the light near King's Watch. You can see that most of them coincide near the graveyard's ravine. It could be a hideout, or a safehouse." Sai voiced out, gesturing towards the blobs of energy appearing on the holographic grid.
"As for it's authenticity... I collected it myself." She concluded.
Void observed the map, in his mind he could easily relate it to the Cosmodrome's geographical outline.
"Our Target is likely in the North East of the Graveyard. This, it used to be a golden age mining hotbed, now it's taken over by fallen glimmer scavengers." Sai pointed towards the ragged hills tucked in at the top right of the map.
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"The location isn't exactly suitable for us, Devil's Lair is quite volatile Fallen satellites dominate that airspace, we cannot take Jumpships. The gunslinger will probably be monitoring fallen comms. It's likely that we'll have to travel by sparrow, starting from the edge of The Divide. Through the old Rocketyard quarries, traversing by mining tunnels until we reach northern plains of King's watch." Sai elaborated, her fingers tracing a faint route on the hologram.
"But, once we're there, the slightest energy signature could throw us off and reveal our location. Our target is a veteran at locating and engaging guardians his senses can cover ten's of kilometers, he won't miss a beat at picking up massive energy fluctuations near his location. At best, he will make himself, scarce." Sai paused.
"At worse, it will be us." Her eyes carried a solemn look.
"That is where you come in." She replied glancing at Void.
Void raised his brows, waiting to hear his role fully.
"We call you a scout, but in reality you're more so a beacon. A beacon to constantly ping his location to. You'll be carrying a tuning device as you venture out on foot, that will determine his exact coordinates. Once his spatial coordinates are quantified, Eriana can blink us in. Naturally, we'll then engage him and you are free to fall back." She ended.
Void frowned, although at first the mission seemed smooth in planning. One word irked him.
"A beacon can ping his location, but relaying signals works both ways. If he's really that proficient in tracking guardians, won't he track me too?" Void replied.
"You're thorough, and it's true. Theoretically, every signal can be relayed both ways. But you have something he doesn't. A Nightstalker's stealth and camouflage doesn't just mask one's appearance but also the energy signal emitted. For all he's concerned, you could be an occasional fluctuation of energy, simply, background radiation." Eriana chimed in.
"And what's the chance he doesn't buy it?" Void asked.
"Calculating all probabilities would be difficult. In my experience, nothing is certain. This mission imposes a risk to each and every member. In the end, we'll all have to risk something." She replied.
"The tuner we designed will begin working once you're within 1.5 Km of the target. You'll need to hold out for thirty seconds. As a gunslinger he might try to eliminate you, from a distance where he holds the advantage. Your stealth should help you stay safe, however, the possibility of him detecting you isn't low." Sai added.
"Half a second, that's how much time we need to engage him in close range combat. Sai and I can travel at extreme speeds once we get warped in by Eriana. Even if you are to die, as long as your ghost is safe, we can bring you back." Wei replied.
Void contemplated and found that he couldn't complain. The real reason he was doing the mission was to unlock the System's store. It's true that he was taking a risk, but there was never anything to gain without risking his life.
"Alright, when do we leave?" Void responded, as he began checking his gear.
" Sixteen hours till mission starts. You should rest up while you can. Both physically and mentally." Eriana suggested.
"I will take you up on that offer. Obsidian access my personal room and let the droid clean it up, we'll rest in the city tonight." Void turned to look at his palm, as Obsidian appeared.
"Alright, I've notified house keeping. It will be clean by the time we get there." The ghost replied, it's eye flashing once.
"Use your Jumpship tomorrow and meet us at The Divide, I will forward the co-ordinates to your Ghost." Sai reminded as Void left the room waving his hand.
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[Residential Complex]
A click was heard as the steel door opened, Void stepped into the room, he glanced around observing the surroundings.
"They really did a good job at cleaning this place up. It looks exactly like the day I walked in here", He bemused.
Obsidian appeared flying over his left shoulder, the ghost swayed in the air as he slowly adjusted the rooms appliances to function. The holographic projector turned on, the lights dimmed and the ac unit began blasting a cold jet of air.
"The tower's service droids are programmed to cater to all household needs. I don't find it surprising that they can maintain this level of consistency in their cleaning. I heard that the old warlocks stole the designs of Vex hiveminds to figure out the neural network, but officially there's no record of it in the city's archives. " Obsidian replied guilelessly.
"At least the warlocks got back something useful from their Vex obsessions." Void yawned as he jumped on his fluffed bed, sinking deep into the soft cushions as the blanket caressed him.
He looked towards the ceiling, as his drifted towards his system. He could see the quest.
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{Legendary Guardian System}
+New Mission:
* Praxic Order's Plea: Scout the mysterious man responsible for the incident. Maintain a maximum distance of 1.5 Km with the target! (A/N: Corrected a small mistake here, the distance should be maximum of 1.5 Km, not minimum as in Chapter 14.)
Rewards: System Lv 3. (Store Unlocked!) , +++Xp, Praxic Fire Seal
------------------------------------
Void's eyes turned drowsy as he stared at the prompt, as the exhaustion of the last few weeks set in at once. For the first time since he came to this world, he truly felt....tired. Perhaps, actively using his powers pushed him to the point where he required some rest mentally.
"Obsidian, set an alarm for ten hours." He mumbled as his mind finally gave in to the temptation of rest.