8) Becoming a Guardian : Part 3

   Guardianship, what is it? Why would one being be a guardian of others, why be responsible for others? What makes it necessary, what makes it right? Why does being chosen by some alien, some invader suddenly make an individual responsible for others? Where does a moral obligation begin and why? Perhaps these are valid questions, I would suppose if we were students in a philosophy class in some lyceum of old we would have time to indulge ourselves in such reflection and reverie. But the truth is, we inherently know and feel this obligation from the moment we are aware of our own abundance of talent and other people's lack. From a practical sense, we can see and understand the need for society - individuals have need of other individuals at the basest level to propagate the species, but also for higher needs, psychological, production of food, water, and shelter. And on top of everything, defense of self and species is reliant upon having the numbers to defend with.

   Those that can, do. And by some whim, luck, chance, or plan, I had the ability. I had the ability and there was something else - there was a fire inside that I did not fully comprehend, but it motivated me. Self-preservation was there of course, but beyond that there was a sort of tribal pride, but larger. Human-kind was my people, this was my family, my home, my guardianship. No pirates, no cults, no militias of any alien kind were going to exterminate my people.

   And so taking up the mantle that so many others before me had, Ghost and took our ship back to Earth one more time. Of course, one more time would become many more times, but our goal at this point was to be able to make it to the outer regions of the galaxy, and a warp drive was necessary.

   "Well, here we go." Ghost transmatted us to the surface at the Cosmodrome. We were back in Fallen territory - Guardians patrolled here, but the House of Devils along with some other Fallen factions had entrenched themselves in various parts of the Cosmodrome. Humanity wasn't close to driving them out yet. How I hated them.

   "I set a marker on your HUD - A guardian ship was knocked down during the battles for this place. It may have what we need." Ghost did not sound confident.

   "Your enthusiasm is underwhelming." I chirped "Why so glum, chum?" I looked at my HUD again and the answer glowed red at me. "Oh, that looks great, how many do you count?"

   "I see a half-dozen now, but how many more will come when we disturb the hornet's nest is beyond me. My scanners only see so far and so deep. This facility is honeycombed with bunkers and tunnels. And I am getting some confusing readings."

   The ground was broken and rugged, large stone formations jutted out of the ground right and left. I could see caves in some of the formations, and as Ghost had pointed out, I could see what appeared to be maintenance buildings and bunkers scattered around the main complex. A three-day old dusting of snow painted the ground in splotches giving the ragged tufts of horse-grasses that somehow grew here ugly white crowns. The constant flurries were an annoyance. We were fighting over this ugly patch of land, but it was our patch of land, and no overgrown armored space locusts could have it.

   I looked high and low for a spot to set up. "Ghost I need you as a spotter, and I need some sort of high ground." I could see a Fallen patrol at the main building, very close to where we had transmatted in. "I think it is time to see what range Stillpiercer has." She came into my hands like at the thought. "We'll see if she is the heartbreaker Banshee says she is."

   "Over there, I marked it on your HUD, you should be able to set up and take down the patrol before they know where you are. We can then move to the building, and if Banshee is right about the range, we can clear the patrol guarding the ship. That third patrol over to the left, well, judging by their patterns, we should be able to sneak past and scan the ship."

   "Tactics 101 - eh, Ghost." I suppressed a laugh, "Maybe we will have to make some friends so we can nullify even greater numbers."

   "Hunters making friends?" Ghost seemed incredulous, "You may be breaking ground on a new world."

   I backed up then slowly climbed the rocks behind me. There was a cliff on the other side. The rocky valley below looked like a very nasty fall waiting to happen. "I don't imagine that would be a fun trip." I whispered to Ghost.

   "I've been down there once, searching, and the climb back is not something I would recommend for anyone with vertigo." Ghost muttered back. "I've taken the liberty of adjusting to the most practical optics for the shots you will need to make here."

   "Thanks," I grunted as I arranged myself on the ledge. I lined up my shot on the Fallen scout closest to me and least likely to alert the others in the patrol then promptly missed the shot. Ghost and I both muttered some ancient curses about taking untested rifles into the field before we realized, nothing had reacted to the shot, and I hadn't missed that badly either. "First shot jitters." I grumbled, "Dumb, dumb, dumb." Ghost calculated the corrections and adjusted my optics. The spitting sound of the shot was followed by a muffled thud as the Dreg hit the ground without a peep, the next two went down nearly as quickly, but by that time the fourth member of the patrol had realized what was going on and was coming my way.

   "Vandal, and he has figured out where we are." Ghost called.

   "Jam his comms." I scrambled down with a bounce, there was no time to waste. I reached for my pistol as I hit bottom and fired all at once. I hit him, low on the legs then high in the arms but he kept coming. "Stubborn space-bug." A shot to his snout stopped him explosively  - turning his body to ash. "That was cool." Ghost and I rummaged the bodies for ammo and glimmer.

   "Do you ever feel weird about taking stuff from dead aliens?" I queried Ghost.

   "Nope, always been too worried about survival." Ghost replied.

   "Good, I was beginning to think there was something wrong with my conscience." I muttered.

   "That is good - you're not just some sociopathic killer." Ghost said brightly

   "And you just had to go there." I sighed and reloaded. I set up in the ragged and run-down entrance of the building for the next shots. "This is a longer distance, change my scope." From what remained of the roof, I could see over three outcroppings of rock, a small building, and the remains of an old service truck. There it was, the old ship and another Fallen patrol. "Ghost, there's a captain. The cycle-time is too long on that rifle, he will call others for help."

   "Not if his pride goes before his fall." Ghost spoke in proverb. "Captains want to be archons, archons want to be Kells." He paused, "Killing guardians and taking trophies is second only to killing the heads of opposing houses. He will come after you."

  "If you say so." I was not amused.

   But Ghost was wiser, and when I hammered the Captain's shield with a round from Stillpiercer he went nuts, stomping the ground and running my way before he had even seen me.  "Bad move for you buddy." The image of the grenade formed in my head before it formed in my hand. 

**BOOM**

   It was louder than I would have liked, but immediately effective. No more captain.

   "That was effective." Ghost was impressed, "Let's hope the neighbors don't come running."

   I dashed from outcropping to outcropping, hid behind building walls, then ran to another outcropping of rock. "There they are."  The third patrol was alert, but they hadn't moved closer to the ship. I crept over to the ship so Ghost could scan it.

   "It's gone, they've taken it." Ghost was alarmed, "The Fallen grabbed it."

   "Where did they take it?" I spit.

   "I don't know, but perhaps the security systems here picked up something... maybe Rasputin..." Ghost trailed off.

   "Rasputin who, or what?" I asked

   "Nevermind, there's a computer complex underground beneath some of these buildings we passed. Take out the patrol here and a few downstairs and perhaps we can find it. We can forego any pretense of stealth now, speed is what we need, speed and firepower."

   "Good thing I am fast." My determination was grim, and the patrol bore the brunt of my anger. The shanks I killed with my blades, the Vandal lost his head to an explosive round. Downstairs was a different challenge. Four arms, four swords, and cloaked in stealth, a trio of vandals and a dozen dregs came at me in waves from every direction as I went room to room. And then I smelled something new, or rather something different. It was the stench of ancient death, walking death.

   "Hive? HERE?" Ghost was nearly out of his shell in shock. "Move, now!" he shouted as heavy mass rounds landed around me. They were bright like stars and massive. The shockwave of them falling around me knocked me off my feet.

   "Anonymous!" I yelled and the rocket launcher appeared. I lept, and promptly smashed my head on the low ceiling. I dove back from the strange fusillade and fired a rocket blindly into the dark. The shriek I heard chilled my spine. I tossed in a grenade at the hellish voice. That explosion was followed only by silence. "What was that?"

   "That was a Knight of death itself, and a fairly high level one. Let's see if he dropped anything good for us." Ghost was excited, strangely so.

   He had left us some presents - there were plans for a ship and weapons, plans stolen from golden-age earth, forgotten to all but the computers. Glimmer coated the ground. "Well, at least I will be able to pay Holliday and Banshee now."

   We ventured into an adjacent room. There were computers and a pair of large hologram panels. It was a situation room - defenses for old earth had been planned and implemented here time and time again.

   "This is the place." Ghost proclaimed. He began scanning the computers, "Hive on earth.." he muttered and trailed off. "An Archon, guarding the drive. As if things weren't bad..." A klaxon sounded. "Son of a hive witch. They had the file triggered. We're going to have company - quickly, let's get to the surface and back to the main building." 

   We ran; I shot, a lot. We made quite a ruckus getting out of the building, up the stairs, back to the surface and back to the main Cosmodrome complex.

   "Ghost, something has changed. I feel... strong. It is like when I first learned how to make the grenades but different." I looked at my hands and at Ghost.

   "It is the an effect of the light. Hunters call this particular one the golden gun. As your powers mature, you will gain more abilities. I am glad you gained this ability now, we have a bit of a task ahead of us. The warp drive is being held by an Archon in the same place where we found your ship.

   "Well, we aren't going to get it by standing here flapping our gums... or whatever it is you use to talk with Ghost." 

   "Very funny. Let's go." Ghost snipped.

   We ran through the building. Ok, I ran, Ghost floated. I lept broken floors, dead computers and fallen walls. The faded murals and state of disrepair brought home the staggering fall that had happened to humanity. How far we had climbed to the pinnacle, further still was the fall.

   Soon we were in that room again. The huge circulating fan had been removed from the west wall. "That's new." I quipped. "I wonder why that..."

   I didn't get a chance to finish. Like some mammoth insect, the Archon pulled himself into the room through the hole. Suddenly they were everywhere, Dregs, Vandals, and a couple Captains. But none seemed important upon seeing the Archon. He was nearly three meters of ugly and anger with six legs and a gun the size of an artillery piece.

   From there, the details of the fight get muddy. Even Ghost isn't really sure how we got through, other than he remembers yelling "Run!" a whole lot, and that he had to keep maintaining my shields and healing. I remember doing a whole lot of diving behind cover, using side rooms as ambush points to rid myself of trash. and a lot of explosions. When it was clear that the Archon was both weakened and losing its temper, I realized the time was right. I lept into the air and released the energy that was stored in me. It was visually stunning, even from my perspective - I was surrounded in golden flame and a giant revolver was in my hand - it too was golden with a stunning death's head seemingly engraved upon it. When I fired, it was as if the whole world exploded. The giant devil disintegrated in a shower of gold sparks, leaving me with a pile of glimmer, loot, and my warp drive to pick up.

   "Time to go, Ghost?"

   "Yes please."

   And so we did.