Void piloted the Jumpship, steering into Orbit. He put down his route, planning to head back towards the Workshop.
Obsidian chimed in Void's ear. "Incoming from Gallida Tuyet."
His brows furled, "Patch her through."
Her face cracked onto the tiny holo above his cuff, green cast from cockpit lights. "Ghostsword."
"Didn't think you'd actually pick up." Gallida smiled.
"Let's just say I am eager to hear what you have to say." Void chuckled.
"Then I've got good news. We talked," Gallida said. "We're in. All of us. But you'll need to come in person. My fireteam wants to meet you and take part."
Void blinked. "All of you?"
"Campus-9. Ishtar Sink." Her feed stuttered, voice breaking into static. "When you reach the site, send me a message I wil—" The rest turned to noise. The line died.
Void tensed, he frowned at the empty holo. "That didn't sound like a planned hang-up."
"Agreed," Obsidian said. "Signal degradation wasn't on our side. Highly likely that she ran into some trouble."
"Got it. Trigger hyperjump, route us to Campus-9 on Venus." Void swiftly pulled the throttle back and engaged the ship's thrusters to the max.
An instant later, space tore. The jumpship blinked through the wormhole and disappeared.
-
[Some time Later...]
[Campus-9, Ishtar Sink]
Void hurriedly transmatted to the ground, eyes darting side to side as he stood at the edge of the abandoned complex half-digested by jungle. Vines crawled over collapsed walkways. Wind howled at loose panels.
In the middle of it all, a giant broken dish lay like a fallen coin.
"Scan," Void said.
Obsidian's laser sight swept across the ruins, iris pulsing. "Thermal: negative. No energy fluctuation, background only. No people. No lights. No power. And yet…" He hesitated. "My scanner...it's not working fully. It's like...something is stopping it.."
"Fallen EMP?" Void said under his breath.
"No. This is different. The signal's being sent, but nothing's being reflected. It's almost like the signal itself got swallowed whole."
Void immediately remembered Gallida's last words. He peered down at his wrist and took in a breath.
"Let's hope this works."
Void tapped and sent a single message to Gallida's transponder.
He waited a second, two seconds. Almost a minute. But there was no response. Gallida's transponder wasn't even active anymore. As if she wasn't even on Venus.
Just as doubt crept on his thoughts. Void felt his hair stand on end.
He looked ahead.
The world blinked.
The air in front of him pixelated, then pulled apart, not like mist but like a grid being peeled back from glass. Lines folded. Corners bent. The dead station fizzed and fell through itself in neat slices.
Now, in front of him was a door.
Void's instincts flared.
'That door. '
It was a door that had always been there, but was ever unseen, lingering at the corner of his eyes. Always at the corner of his eyes. As if his mind had refused to recognise it the first time over.
But something had changed.
The door budged, and then it slowly creaked open, revealing a thin shimmer. Akin to a crack in space.
Gallida stepped half out of that threshold, hair tucked back, eyes bright. "Sorry for the scare, we don't really get a good signal around here."
She hastily looked around, "Get in. We don't have time to hold the door."
Void was perplexed. But he knew better than to argue. The moment Gallida beckoned him, he walked straight through the door without a second thought.
Just as he did, it closed behind them, slowly sealing itself and fading away.
-
[Campus-9 Subspace, Interior]
A faint pressure evened out across his skin.
Void glanced down at his boots. The floor was not quite a floor, more like the idea of one. It still took his weight. It hummed, steady and low.
«Interesting, very interesting, O brother mine,» Zamyr murmured, almost pleased. «We are beside the world, not in it.»
Gallida walked at an easy pace, letting him feel it settle. "You feeling the dip?" she said, reading his face.
"Yup." Void heaved.
"Good. It'll only happen once, just so your body can get used to it." Gallida tapped him on the shoulder.
Void nodded softly and slowly regained his bearings. He looked up, and his eyes widened.
There was space. Endlessly stretching space that seemed to blend into itself. Like a hallway that never ended.
"Welcome to the Aeon." Gallida crossed her arms. "A subspace made from magic and Vex tech."
"How did you even.." Void trailed off, admiring the work in front of him. He'd never heard of anything like this made by the guardians.
Sure, he'd seen the Vex subspace and even their network from the inside. But that was nothing compared to what this 'Aeon' was.
Essentially, it was a subspace that was made by guardians. But it was entirely hidden. He couldn't detect it. Not until Gallida had opened the 'door' to let him in. In a sense, it was the perfect secret base. A place no one could find, not even if it was in front of them.
"We built it out of what we learned about the Vex networks throughout the decades," Gallida said. "And what we learned to fake. From the outside, we are an empty campus. Think of it like a mirror. A one-way, very expensive mirror."
"The only problem is that opening the door costs power and time. We only do it when we must." Gallida shrugged, "Which means it's super hard to connect calls or even gather resources."
"How do you guys even keep it up? The energy cost alone must be astronomical." Void said.
"You got that right", Gallida chuckled and walked forward, signalling him to follow along, "In a sense, we siphon some power from the Vex. The rest, we just use discrete generators that run on glimmer."
"Who pays the bill?"
"Everyone who wants us to make it home," Gallida said.
Gallida led him into a long gallery strung with cables like harp strings. At the far end, five figures waited by a small translucent gap, one that was akin to a window into the real world, that looked out into the same dead ruins he had just walked through.
Gallida cleared her throat, voice carrying without effort. "Everyone. He's here."
The room froze.
A hunter with a soft smile tipped two fingers. "Uzoma Vale," He said.
A Titan stood next to him, Armour scored and neatly repaired. "Isidel Brandor," she said, deep and even.
A warlock with a string of strange metal tokens woven at his belt glanced up from a slate. "Alemyr," he said.
Taeko-3 waved politely, "You already know me."
Void's gaze snagged on the last one.
The warlock stood a half step away from the rest, posture rigid, presence quiet. His robes flowed with a certain serenity. Had they not, Void would've guessed he was a statue.
As their eyes met, the man silently stared back at him.
A heartbeat later, Gallida chimed in. "Don't mind him....He's not one to talk."
"That so." Void replied with a nod.
Taeko-3 cut in, "Everyone calls him The Stoic. I am sure you can guess why."
A jolt ran through Void. His eyes lingered on the warlock. He hadn't ever expected to run into someone he was looking for.
The Stoic inclined their head as if acknowledging his gaze, but there were no words spoken.
"How do you all even know each other?" Void asked.
"Well, when you work on the Vex for this long, you're bound to encounter people that are...similar. Gallida said.
Taeko-3 leaned on a table, "After a few decades of finding each other in the same places, we just built Campus-9 as sort of a getaway. A hub of Vex research. One that none except us know of. "
Uzoma grinned and shot Void a glance, "Of course, that has now changed."
Isidel crossed her arms.
Alemyr set his slate down and gave Void his full attention. "So. Gallida said you are hiring Vex specialists."
"I am." Void looked out at the fake outside, then his eyes drifted back to the faces turned toward him. He kept his words clean. "It is a bit complicated."
"Don't worry. We've got time." Uzoma waved him off, "However strange it is, we'll hear you out."
"Not what I meant," Void said. "What I will ask will be difficult. Perhaps, the most difficult thing you've all done. And I have no way of knowing if it's even possible."
"Ghostsword. You might be the authority on the Hive right now." Isidel scoffed, "But don't look down on us. We've dedicated our lives to learning the Vex. Speak plainly."
Void sucked in a breath and pursed his lips.
"A gate lord."
Uzoma's eyes widened. The faces of the rest broke into strange expressions. Some were confused, some seemed annoyed. Only The Stoic seemed unresponsive. That was until he walked forward.
No, rather, he had taken a step. A single step towards Void the moment he'd heard the words.
Void judged their faces and continued. "There's more. The Gate Lord holds info. An encrypted key that I need to break into a Vex space. I'll need your help in extracting and cracking that, too. "
Alemyr's hands stilled. "A bold request. Do you even have an idea how rare a Gate Lord is?"
Void did not answer.
The Stoic watched him without unkindness. He could feel the measure.
Isidel sighed. "You're asking us to help you with something impossible."
"And here I thought you guys had dedicated your lives to this?" Void raised a brow.
"Please." Isidel groaned, "A gate lord? It's not hard to kill one. But to encounter one in the first place? In all my years, I've only ever heard of one. In fact, among all the guardians alive, maybe only one has ever faced one and lived to tell the tale."
"And who'd that be?"
Uzoma's mouth curved. "He's standing right there," he pointed towards The Stoic.
Gallida nodded, "Despite his weird behaviour. Stoic's one of the oldest warlocks. He's been around studying Vex since... forever."
"I understand that. But this must be done." Void shook his head. "I am not asking for this for no reason. If I don't find a Gate Lord soon, we'll all be in big trouble."
"Elaborate." Alemyr frowned.
Void pinched the bridge of his nose.
"It's a ritual. Not a Hive ritual. A Vex one. That's what I am trying to find. Apparently, it's in a place that can only be accessed by a Gate Lord's key. Without it, there's no way for me to reach there, let alone stop it."
"This ritual." Isidel replied with a low voice, "What is it?"
"I can't say much. All I know is that if it's complete, the Traveller's light will dim and slowly, perhaps even fade away."
The Stoic's eyes tensed a degree, and a silence gripped the room.
-
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