Hey guys! I'm back! I'm not dead! This story isn't dead! :D

On a more serious notes, I need to apologize for not posting since, well, a really, really long time. In all honesty, I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the story anymore. I didn't feel motivated to write, either, and the combination of the two factors really led me to abandon writing Destiny stories for a long time.

So, why am I back? Well, I watched the Destiny 2 campaign (don't have money to get the game, so I just watched it on YT instead), and by the Traveler that story is horrendous. It tossed a lot of lore out the window, it disregarded a lot of the finer details of the game, and overall just kinda pissed me off. It reminded me why I wrote Destiny stories in the first place: because apparently Bungie can't. And I realized, for the first time since the end of the school year, that I wanted to write. And that brought me back to this story.

Now I'm going to continue talking after the chapter ends, because I want to discuss some spoilers for the chapter as well as the future of this series as a whole. Enjoy!

It was only a few months since Christophsis had been brought into Republic hands. The Separatists had long since been forced from the planet, and the citizens of Christophsis themselves had only begun to pick up the pieces. Minimal Republic forces were left as most were pulled from the planet to fight in other warzones across the galaxy. All in all, it made for the launching pad for a galaxy wide invasion.

Valus T'lak had been placed in command of the Force Razers, the newest addition to the Cabal Armies. The force was massive and well equipped, able to bring the toughest of species to their knees in a mere matter of months. That would not be the case with this war, unfortunately, and T'lak knew this. As they did when they found new empires, they began a lengthy information-gathering campaign in order to further understand their enemies. When T'lak had heard of the Jedi, he immediately was reminded of the power of the Guardians.

The Cabal would have waited decades to develop tech to counter the Jedi's abilities with the Force, yet a unique opportunity appeared. When the Galactic Civil War began, the Cabal knew they would have only have a limited time to capitalize. In his years of conquering and destroying civilizations, T'lak had never been able to bear witness to war on this scale. Not only did it leave their galaxy in complete disarray, but it was also an enticing opportunity to test his tactical prowess against those of equal skill. And so, they began to shore up enough forces to gain a small foothold into their galaxy.

The Valus spent much time planning with his lieutenants, selecting the perfect planet to target. With Christophsis now chosen, another few months had been devoted to studying the tactics of the Republic and Separatist forces as they slowly finished battling on the planet's surface. After analysis, Valus T'lak realized that this war could be easier to win than he thought. This was due to the weaponry both sides of the war used, as well as how their strategies to heavily relied on the Jedi.

For one, there was the issue that their armor was developed to counter attacks from energy-based weaponry. That was all that they used, other than the occasional ballistic weaponry such as grenades that were a given wars such this. The Cabal, of course, did not use energy based weaponry. All of the weaponry that they used relied on explosives to do damage, tearing through shielding and armor with relative ease.

Secondly, there was a heavy reliance on Jedi to lead their forces into battle. Every time the Jedi fought in a battle, the Republic was risking one of its generals. It was an extremely risky tactic. Further study showed these Jedi unable to wield the light, meaning that they also couldn't be brought back from death. This meant that tactics used against Guardians, such as heavy aerial bombardment, would be extremely effective.

With all of this knowledge, the Valus had prepared accordingly. And now, finally, it was time to strike.

"…and then he says, 'Roger, roger' and blasts the droid straight in the face!"

The clone smiled as his comrades laughed. He raised his drink to his mouth, chugging the entire thing before smashing it on the floor.

His squad had been stationed upon one of the few undamaged buildings in Christophsis, with the single purpose of watching for any signs of Separatist invasion. Of course, the Separatists had been pushed back months ago, so for their squad every day had become more boring than the last.

"And let me tell you what else, that was after he had killed a giant worm not a few feet from the listening post itself!" he exclaimed.

"No!" another clone said in shock.

"I highly doubt," one clone spoke up, "That they would place possibly the most important listening post in the entire Republic, right next to the nest of a giant worm creature!"

"Shut up, will you?"

There was one clone in the squad who took his job very seriously. His name was Nudge, one of the most dedicated clones you could find in all of the Grand Army of the Republic. And as such, the rest of the squad hated and ignored him. As they continued to talk, Nudge spoke up again.

"Shut up! There's ships inbound!" Nudge said, leaning slightly forward to get a better view. He saw a stream of bright lights erupt from the ships in the distance. They adjusted their trajectory, heading for…

"SOUND THE ALARM! ROCKETS ARE INBOUND!"

It was too late. A serious of explosions erupted through the streets, the screams of innocent people echoing through the Emerald City. A rocket smashed through the building they were on, causing it to collapse onto the building next to it.

With little time to react, Nudge jumped towards the nearby building with his gun in hand. He managed to land on a balcony, his momentum slamming him through a window. Inside, a family was He quickly got up and grabbed his blaster, making sure that he wasn't hurt too badly. He only had a moment before the building shook, having been heavily damaged by the collapse of the other building. Nudge moved quickly.

He ran out of his room, coming out into a long hallway. He could hear the sound of explosions coming from below and quickly moved to help. He ran down the hall, looking for a stairwell to take him to the ground floor.

He spotted a door all the way at the end of the hall. Perfect! He quickly rushed towards it, when a loud alien roar came from the other end. The door exploded open, and two large beasts came charging out. Nudge quickly got into the cover of a nearby doorway, firing at the strange creatures as he tried to open the door with his other hand.

The beasts themselves were terrifying. They wielded large rifles that launched powerful explosives and armor that seemed to just absorb his blaster bolts. The suits they wore made it look like a giant turtle, with a large shell and a small head sticking out. The helmets, which had filters sticking out the front, seemed latched onto the entire suit itself. This indicated that the entire outfit was pressurized, which meant that if he could just pierce the suit itself…

Nudge fell backwards as the door finally opened behind him. He quickly backed up, making sure that he wouldn't get immediately shot. The doorway itself was slightly detached from the room, meaning that anyone entering could be easily ambushed.

The heavy footfalls came closer and closer to the door, and the occasionally explosion being heard as they busted down another door. As they continued, it became apparent to Nudge that they were trying to kill anyone they could find. No witnesses, no one to report their arrival to the Republic…

The building shook again. He had to be quick or else none of them were going to make it. He heard them reach the doorway, beginning to move into the room themselves. As the two entered, Nudge quickly made his move. He jumped onto the back of one of the beasts, wrapping his arm around its neck and pulling upwards.

The creature roared in anger, trying to use its arms' limited range of movement to get the clone of its back. Nudge kept pulling upwards, feeling the creature's helmet move slightly upwards. The beast, realizing what Nudge was trying to do, stopped panicking and slammed it's back straight into one of the walls. Nudge felt a lot of pain as the creature moved forwards again, ready to slam Nudge into the wall again. Nudge only pulled harder, until there was a long BANG. The suit immediately depressurized, leaving the beast to suffocate.

Nudge quickly grabbed the now-dead beast's weapon, turning towards the second and launching several rounds into its head. It fell dead, right next to the second.

With no time to waste, Nudge moved. He reached the stairwell, quickly moving down. The building shook again as dust rained down from above. Nudge looked upwards, and saw a large crack in the building. It was going to fall in on itself.

He began to run, skipping as many steps as he could. A loud crash from above signaled his time was almost up. Only one more floor…and he was out!

He made it out into another hallway, where he could see the exit from across the way. He began to dash, the heavy alien weapon beginning to slow him down. The building rumbled a final time, before the roof began to collapse in on itself.

He quickly threw himself into the doors, smashing through them and barely avoiding being crushed. Unfortunately, his troubles didn't end there. He had just thrown himself into a warzone. Clones were getting slaughtered left and right as a massive army of the beasts marched through the city with relative ease. He had to contact the Republic, and fast.

Hey guys! I'd first like to say thank you for reading through this particular chapter. Whether you liked it or you hated, any criticism is welcome. Seriously, I haven't written anything in a long while and any advice would be super helpful.

Anyways, let's discuss this chapter, starting with the Cabal. They've been introduced as a new villain for a few reasons: the first being that one of the early reviewers of this story pointed out how strong the Cabal would be against the Republic. The concept of the Galactic War turning into something even more chaotic between now three different sides was very appealing to me. I also felt like the Vex couldn't carry on as the only villain for the story. There needed to be a faction that could go to war on a scale similar to that of the Galactic Civil War, and the Cabal perfectly fit the bill.

As for the future of this story, I've really been thinking about starting over. There's a lot of unnecessary bits and pieces to this story, and I feel like the quality ranges from either really good or really bad or even just plain unnecessary. But I also really want all of your input on the matter: should I continue writing the story from here, or should War has Come just get a hard reboot?

Anyways, that is all. See you guys in the next chapter/story!