well with the cabal, I did state that after the embarrassing defeat at the twilight gap, T'cun fled to London before The vex ever became a problem to the cabal as for the machinist, wasn't Kabr from the VOG corrupted by the VEX before he "killed" himself to make the relic. The machinist is the end result of The Vex Getting their way with useful hosts which could have happened to kabr well for the new enemy...i was thinking about eventually you have to face off The Fang, to force him to help you.