10) The Sepiks Prime War, part 1
"Ghost, how many times have you had to re-integrate my body?" Patrols had netted us weapon upgrades, new vehicles, and even new skills, but it had come with a price as well.
"One hundred forty six times." Somehow this wasn't surprising, just a little depressing.
"What about how many times other guardians have saved us from the dark?"
"Forty seven."
Since the Speaker had called for an all out assault on Sepiks Prime's stronghold in the Cosmodrome, the Devil's Lair, guardians had been going out in larger and larger groups. Our patrols had been skirmishing against their patrols for years, but now things had escalated. Where we had been running three and four man fire teams, now we were running platoons. The area known as the Rocket Yard was crawling with Fallen. Redoubts and entrenchments had been constructed and were reinforced constantly by air and orbital drop. Aside from the large drop ships, even a giant Ketch could be seen from time to time. Fallen field artillery bristled from vantage points overlooking wide fields of fire. And as if the Fallen weren't enough of a problem, sightings of Knight-led Hive patrols were pouring in from around the battlefield.
"Who can we depend on? You know me Ghost... You know, I'm tired of calling you 'Ghost.' Everyone calls their Ghost, 'Ghost.' I really think you are more of a 'Steve.' That's it, I'm calling you Steve." Ghost looked mortified. For some reason, that made me happy. "Steve, who do we work best with? I mean, I know who I have the most fun with, but this is different - this isn't a training exercise or quest for treasure. I need to know we can make the assault and succeed."
"For the record, I hate my new name." Steve was not a happy ghost. "It looks like the best chance of success comes when you run with Ferras, Kiera Black, Glorung, Mirris Gage, and Borys Ameltovik to name five."
"Glorung is such a downer, but I've never seen anyone move so stealthily as him. he seems to be one with the shadow." I frowned. "Do you think a six-man team is enough?"
"As long as you get support from air and artillery. I trust you will pitch your mission to the Vanguard before going."
"Good thinking Steve. We will be the tip of the sword - or scalpel if you will. We can let the larger forces bludgeon and distract while we insert danger close in the Rocket Yard - adjacent to Sepiks' stronghold." I think I was a bit hasty, but we needed victory so badly.
Steve contacted my desired team and we presented the idea to the Vanguard Trio. Zavala and Ikora were leery, but they were also feeling the pressure of the continued stalemate. Cayde just seemed to be sad he wasn't going with us.
"Once you get past the Rocket Yard and into the Refinery, we will be cut off from contact. Between the old structures, the Fallen tech, and who knows what else our signals and sensors are not penetrating past that point. Understand, you are on your own after that point." Zavala's tone was palpably heavy.
But I wasn't about to be deterred. "Just get us inserted and give us cover. We will do the rest." I was a little full of myself, besides, I had the best team around me a guy could get. I busied myself prepping weapons and discussing strategy with the team. Ferras was the best at planning small-team ops, so I left him with the task of preparing how the teams would move, Kiera was a logistics magician - I left it to her to set up our ammo and supply drops. Borys and Mirris went over everyone's weapons to make sure everything was in order. Glorung and I went over armor and camoflage. Reactive armor always needed tweaking, power-supply maintenance, and tuning - our armors all needed some serious upgrades before going down. Once we finished, we played cards and waited for our launch time.
I hate waiting...