Due to length, this story has been split into two parts. Here is the link to [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/255686252/0/0]Part 1[/url] This short story us a prequel to a prior story of mine titled [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/220869273/0/0]Ten Thousand Arms[/url] You can find more of my fanfiction and my lore posts at my [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0]Archive[/url] “Drixaas,” I greeted. “Vasik,” I was surprised he remembered my name. Drixaas was Silent Fang, and had been on our ship by matter of circumstance when the Scatter happened. He was young, he was ambitious, and he was…violent. “Your Baron awaits us,” he was already walking towards the bridge, heavy shoulders swinging with his powerful stride. I had no choice but to follow. Drixaas and I didn’t speak to each other during the walk. There was nothing to say and I was bothered by the angry fires of his pride he had already demonstrated in the short time he had been aboard. Before long we were entering the bridge, surrounded by some of my fellow crew with the Baron standing by the Servitor helm. I was one of the very few Vandals amongst a convening of what must have been all the remaining Captains serving under my Baron. My role as arm-maker gave me a high status. “Silence,” the Baron barked after noticing Drixaas and I enter, and the already hushed room fell totally silent, “The Wolves rally.” Some relieved sounds rose around the room. Some eager for blood. Some worried. “Silence,” he repeated, not budging from the firmly planted stance he had taken to address us, “We rally to decide our Kell.” Confusion spread, and the Baron had to wait a moment before being able to be heard over the noise. “Three Barons have claimed the title Kell,” that shut everyone up, “Skolas, the Rabid. Irxis, Baroness. Parixas, the Howling. We are siding with Irxis.” No one spoke this time. He was Baron of this ship, so his word was final. “Drixaas,” the Baron identified the Silent Fang Vandal standing near me, and all eyes in the room fell upon him. He didn’t seem bothered at all by the attention. “I understand Drevis and the Silent Fang are siding with Skolas. We will return you to them on a Skiff. No shameless preemptive fighting will take place aboard my Ketch.” “I am grateful,” Drixaas nodded his head in thanks for the promise of protection. But I could see his eyes. I had seen many eyes over my long years of life, and his were searching for a way to kill us all and escape alive. I hoped he wouldn’t discover a way because I was sure he would be willing to try it. “My crew,” the Baron called for attention once more, “We will settle the matter of our Kell, we will take the Reef from those who robbed us, and we will be reunited with the Great Machine.” Growls and roars made the room suddenly fill with life and the raging lust for revenge and violence. I did not cheer or bellow. Thinking of my own House turning against itself just after we had tried uniting with our entire species did not settle well within my mind. We should be turning our weapons on the Awoken, not ourselves. I looked to my Baron through the waving arms and shifting bodies in front of me. He was closer to the piloting Servitor now, his gaze focused outside the ship as if trying to see stars through the mess of rock and shattered metal that drifted around us. But I could see that same rage inside his eyes as in everyone else’s, uncaring of who it was turned against. I would be docked if I spoke out against the Baron or tried to defect and join the side of Parixas, who I believed would be a Kell better suited for these times of pain and division amongst our people. But…if I had to choose between dishonoring myself by denying my own beliefs or dishonoring myself by disobeying my superior… Then I was ready to accept having only two arms.