The Discovery

A small siren wailed as the large, metallic doors slowly lifted. The gears were shrieking and dust filled the air. The hanger had not been opened in centuries. Just as light began to creep inside, a small, glowing orb flew in under the hanger doors.

The ghost, assigned to search for a worthy Guardian candidate, immediately began a scan of the room. The hanger was massive, and still held several golden age warships. The ghost knew this was an opportunity to find a Guardian with fantastic qualities for battle. Warship pilots were fearless, cunning, and adaptable.

There was no time to waste. The ghost went right to work opening each warship and scanning the inside for bodies. The first was completely clean without a single sign of anyone having been inside. The second turned out to be the same. By the time the third was scanned the ghost had gotten frustrated. It was clear now that these ships had never been deployed and they were unlikely to contain any bodies, much less a future Guardian. Annoyed, the ghost made his way to the control room off to the right. It was standard protocol to recover any golden age data logs whether a Guardian was raised or not.

The complex the ghost had made his way through was part of an advanced United States military base stationed in what was left of the Arabian Union in the Middle East, long before the collapse. It was a testing ground for some of the world's greatest technologies, including security systems, but that was no match for a ghost. No system is. Created by the Traveler itself, ghosts were designed to have technological capabilities unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

The ghost was through the firewall in a matter of seconds and an immediate download of all data began. While the download progressed, the ghost sifted through the data to flag any files of interest. The base was already a gold mine as it was. Intact golden age warships were hard to come by and there was no doubt that Amanda Holliday would send some Guardians to retrieve them. The ghost made sure to mark all files related to the construction and operation of the warships.

The download was nearly complete when a message appeared on the screen, accompanied by a flashing red light. Surprised, the ghost halted the download. The screen read "WARNING: BLACK DRIVE COMPROMISED / AUTO DATA DESTRUCTION INITIATED".

Alarmed, the ghost immediately began an encryption breakdown of the hard drive. Whatever the failsafe was trying to destroy had to be saved. After a few seconds the ghost located a phantom file. It was disguised as a flight program but could not be opened from the outside. After a few more seconds the ghost was able to break through and view the file. There was a long list of data logs designated as classified, and one by one they were disappearing.

The ghost quickly inserted a time-stop virus, designed to force a system to halt all ongoing activity. Half of the logs were gone now and it kept going. The ghost could only watch while the virus did its job.

Just when it seemed that nothing would be recovered, a green indicator popped up on the screen. The virus had gotten through.

Only one data log was left in the file, which the ghost opened right away. It read:

CLASSIFIED: PROJECT DELTA

Vault B-7

Designation: Robotics / Advanced

Clearance Level - 9

Model Number: [REDACTED]

Deployment Status: [REDACTED]

Supervisor: Dr. Yazan Sayyed

Nothing was clear in the log but a name was the perfect lead. The ghost immediately sent a request to the Tower's database for information on Dr. Yazan Sayyed while completing the initial download. The download had finished right as the ghost received all of the Vanguard's files connected to Sayyed.

From what was given, Dr. Sayyed was a brilliant Arabic robotics engineer, responsible for the creation of the Frames. Frames were simple automata designed for tasks such as maintenance and service, but their potential was never realized until long after Sayyed's death and the Collapse. They are now used throughout the Last City, often taking the role of a vendor, janitor, or mechanic.

To the ghost it appeared that Sayyed was a prominent figure, until the last few files were opened. Apparently Sayyed's final days were some of his worst. He was arrested for conspiring against the Traveler and building weapons for an anti-alien group simply named "The Defense". Unfortunately the weapons were never found.

"Until today", the ghost said to himself. Whatever Project Delta was, it was located in vault B-7. The ghost brought up a map of the complex. Sure enough, there was an entire wing dedicated to "vaults", or labs. Vault 7, section B, lay at the end of a long hallway on the other side of the complex.

Without any delay, the ghost made his way through the corridors that led to the central hub where all the wings of the complex connected. The hub was circular, enormous in size, and covered with a giant glass dome. The space was full of old technology and bodies, all of which the ghost had already investigated before reaching the hanger.

The ghost was about to make his way into the northwest wing where the vaults were located, when an energized explosion came from far above the dome, illuminating the hub in a violet-red light. The ghost flew for cover behind a broken flower pot and slowly took a peek around it.

There, just above the complex, hovered a massive Fallen ketch flying the banners of the House of Devils. This was bad. There was a whole wealth of golden age technology in there free for the taking. The ghost wasted no time sending an emergency report to the Tower before heading towards the northwest wing again. The House of Devils was notorious for raiding any and all facilities that might give them the upper hand against their enemies, and they were about to hit the mother-load.

The ghost had gotten out of sight right as a Fallen dropship descended on the dome. The sound of glass breaking could be heard throughout the complex. If nothing else, Project Delta had to be secured from the Fallen.

The ghost reached section B in no time and went straight to the door of vault 7. It was protected by several locks and encryptions, but it was nothing that couldn't be broken. One by one, the ghost passed all the security measures and the door opened with a loud click.

He flew in fast and ordered the door to close. He considered his options as the lights gradually came on. The Fallen would most likely sweep the complex one wing after another, which gave him some time. Even if they reached the vault wing, they would have to blow the doors open one by one. The sound of explosions was as good a warning as any.

The ghost turned his attention to the lab before him. The entry room was bare, with nothing but a few tables and empty storage containers. Behind that, though, was an old wooden door with a padlock on it. With no trouble at all, the ghost cut a hole through the door with a laser.

The inside was musty, and full of rows upon rows of crates that stacked to the ceiling. In one corner of the room, a crate laid open, and the ghost went to check it out.

Inside was a rifle, not unlike a scout rifle that Guardians use, but many parts were majorly outdated. There was one word printed on the side of the weapon: MIDA.

Curious, the ghost made his way down the isles of crates that no doubt contained all kinds of weapons. There seemed to be an assortment of all forms of firearms from pistols, to assault rifles, to sniper rifles. The ghost turned at the next corner, and was surprised to find yet another door.

This door was metallic, and on it was painted the word "DELTA". The door was protected by a keypad which the ghost easily bypassed with a simple hack. There was a short beep and the door swung open.

When the ghost looked inside, he jumped back in astonishment. Before him was a small, square room that contained nothing but a leather chair, and a humanoid figure sitting in it.

It took a couple seconds for the ghost to realize that this being wasn't alive, or even human. It was a machine. An exo. Excitement swelled within the ghost. Could this be his lucky break? He scanned the silver, metallic figure over and formed the results. To the ghost's amazement, this exo contained the power of light unlike anything he had ever seen.

"At last!" exclaimed the ghost to himself. "Welcome to the ranks, Guardian." With that the ghost expanded into a sphere of light and called upon the Traveler-given power of resurrection.

A flash of light shot out of the ghost, and the exo suddenly writhed into existence. It had a short spasm in the chair, and then fell to the floor on its hands and knees.

"Incredible." said the ghost in amazement. "Welcome to the land of the living!"

The silver exo slowly stood up and focused its glowing blue eyes. Before him hovered a white, pointed orb with a royal blue stripe down the middle towards its single glowing eye.

"I know you must have many questions, guardian, and all will be answered in due time." The ghost prepared his material generation system and quickly initiated a transmat to form armor and cloth around the exo. "Congratulations, Guardian. You have been classified as a warlock!"

The exo looked down at his newly formed armor and flinched as a helmet materialized around his head. "The Fallen are here and they will kill us." said the ghost. "We need to get out of here fast. Do you remember anything about this facility?"

The exo surveyed his surroundings with a blank expression. "Do you remember anything at all?" tried the ghost.

Finally the exo opened his mouth and in a deep, smokey voice said, "My name."

"That's a start! What is it?" said the ghost.

The exo straightened to his full height as he retrieved his only personal memory. "I... I am Delta."