[u]Chapter Eleven: One Small Step for William, a Giant Tumble for Drew[/u] Part Five She stood by the beacon with her arms crossed and Sparrow waiting next to her. Drew and I summoned our own Sparrows and climbed on, Sierra getting on hers once we were ready. Rush wordlessly put a waypoint to the next beacon on all of our visor displays, and we all began to cruise towards the path turning to the left out of the area that it pointed to. But as we came to the turn, the roar of engines could be heard moving towards us, and after a moment a Dreg came around on a vehicle that resembled a large and armored Sparrow. Rush's scan identified it as a Pike, used for scouting and quick over-land transportation. "Ugh, one thing after another," Sierra moaned. "I've got it!" Drew exclaimed, leaping off of his Sparrow and racing into the Pike's path. "Is he...?" Sierra began. "Yes," I answered her unfinished question, "He's going to let it hit him." The Dreg saw Drew run out and opened the thrusters on the Pike, speeding towards him with the intent to ram. Drew braced himself, squatting low to the ground so he wouldn't be carried up into the air and spreading his arms so he could rap around the vehicle. It hit him with a solid thunk and Drew slid backwards several meters before the Pike slowed to a stop. But the Pike was halted, and the Titan lifted it into the air as the Dreg tried turning the Pike and shooting him, a barrage of Arc shots scorching the ground to Drew's sides. After a second it looked like the Dreg was about to bail out, so Drew spun in a circle with the Pike and threw it away, sending it rolling across the ground. The Dreg held on for a short time, but was flung out of its seat and rolled across the ground right behind the Pike. As it began to push itself up, a shot from Sierra's hand cannon finished it off and it fell back to the ground. While Sierra reloaded and fussed at Drew to get on his Sparrow, I climbed off of mine and ran up to the Pike. Wrapping my arms around the best purchase I could find, I tried lifting it as Drew had. It barely budged and ended up dragging on the ground a bit. Readjusting my grip, I tapped into the Void for a boost of strength and managed to slowly raise the vehicle, but dropped it after a few moments and released the energy. Turning back around, I saw Drew and Sierra watching curiously on their Sparrows. "When I saw Drew pick it up I just had to try for myself," I explained sheepishly, "How are you so strong Drew?" "I guess my body was made to be as awesome as my personality," Drew said confidently. I shook my head and got back in my Sparrow, but noticing a dead Captain right next to me, I leaned over and pulled its green cape off of its shoulders before we moved on. All these Fallen wore green, and I noted that most had rather patchy and threadbare cloth underneath their armor compared to that of what I had seen the Devils and Kings wearing. I inspected the banner that had been worn by the Captain for a moment as we rode down the path before tucking it away in my pouch. "What House is this?" I asked the others, "The color and symbol is different from those on Earth." "These Fallen are of House Exile," John answered, "They are mostly Dreg, and the few higher ranking Fallen do not actually have any control over the lower ranking. No leaders. So Dreg don't have to listen to Captains, but they typically do out of fear or respect." "We believe the members of this House were all Fallen who weren't in a House anymore or didn't want to stay in their previous House," Rush added, "So they just grouped together and set up camp where no one else would." "The Moon?" I questioned. "It is completely under Hive control," Sally chimed in quietly, "No other House would try taking territory in such a place. House Exile is fighting a battle that it can never win." "Almost makes me feel sorry for those little bugs," Sierra said. Drew chuckled at that, but I remained quiet as we went straight down the path and turned left into a new area. The path forward was home to a several large buildings and a tower-like structure with a ramp leading up to it. To our right lay what looked like the scattered remains of shuttles and rockets, and to our right the path curved off. It was all built against ridges of rock that almost made the area look like a bunch of small valleys. "This place is the Anchor of Light," John told us, "The actual Anchor of Light station is just around that turn on our left." We stopped just at the left turn next to a little platform at the corner. I climbed off my Sparrow and followed the waypoint right up to the platform, placing a beacon directly in front of it before remounting my Sparrow. Wordlessly we followed the waypoint down the path to the left, curving around the right turn and taking in the large station and platform that came into view. We could already see Fallen patrolling both levels and the platforms all over it and around its base. We slowed down so our engines quieted and I shoved a beacon into the ground right next to a boulder pressed against a small structure at the station's base as I drifted up to it, keeping my eyes up to the station in case one of the Vandals looked down and spotted us. But of course, the waypoint for the next beacon marked a spot on top of a small building on the opposite side of the station. Sierra and I both sighed with annoyance, but I heard a small chuckle from Drew. With a wave of Sierra's hand, we opened our thrusters in sync and shot forward across the area. Every one of the Fallen there turned towards us at the sound of the engines flaring, and Arc shots from the Fallen's weapons began streaking down around us, most of them hitting the ground harmlessly. Several Dreg ran out of the Anchor of Light to block our path, but Drew curved around and barreled straight at them, shooting across my and Sierra's paths and running over a few of the Dreg. He used an evasive action to slam sideways into another Dreg as Sierra and I passed, sending it tumbling to the ground, then followed close behind us as we approached the platform. A Captain emerged from the crates littered across the platform and small structure, shooting a few volleys of molten shrapnel at my Sparrow once I was in range. A few pieces of plating flew off my vehicle and fire spouted out through them from the engine, and I kept off just short of where the Captain stood. It used its teleporter to get out of the way of my Sparrow, moving several feet to the side. I landed in a roll and ran past the Captain as I came up, already holding a beacon in hand. The Captain began to turn after me, but a knife lodged itself in its back and it looked over its shoulder to see Sierra climbing off of her Sparrow. Drew jumped off of his Sparrow as I had and barreled straight into the Captain, slamming it up against a crate and wrangling it down as Sierra fired at it over his shoulder. Following the waypoint, I ran up a ramp, swatting Dreg out of my way to get on top of the small structure. At the top I was knocked over as a Vandal slashed my back with Shock Blades, but I quickly rolled over and put a bullet into its skull. As I got up I saw that Rush was marking the ground right next to me with the circle indicating where the beacon should be placed, so as I came to my feet I planted the beacon into the ground of the rocky cliff that the structure was built into. After making sure the green light turned on, I looked down to see the Captain's lifeless body laying in the ground behind Drew and Sierra as they fired at a Servitor and some Vandals. "Time to move on guys!" I called. They acknowledged my call and jumped up to where I was, then we ran down the opposite side together and over a hill back into the first area of the Anchor of Light we had entered at. The first beacon we had placed here and the tower structure lay to our right, while another large two story building lay almost directly ahead. A small path past the structure curved away behind a wall of rocks, and from it surged waves of Thrall and Acolytes. Fallen were cluttered all over the station, locked in battle with the Hive and keeping them from swarming out. The Hive couldn't get past the Fallen even if they did see us, and the Fallen were too busy keeping the Hive suppressed to notice us, so we stayed on foot and ran around to the back end of the building, where a slope of rock led up to the second level. The beacon was placed up there, and we kept our guns ready as we began to climb back down the slope. "Should we do anything about those Hive and Fallen?" I asked. "Yes!" Drew exclaimed quietly. "Nah, they'll tear each other apart on their own," Sierra responded, smacking Drew in the back of the head. __________________________________ Link to Chpt 11 Pt 4:https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/219174660/0/0 Link to Chpt 11 Pt 6:https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/219175052/0/0 Link to ToC:https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0