Aberrant Action

Baron Kalliks looked down on Nessus from the command deck of his Ketch, watching with suspicion. "There is something down there," Kalliks said darkly. "The Vex respond to it. The entire planet responds to it." The Vandal at his side looked at him, expecting a command. Kalliks narrowed his eyes, then turned to the console beside him. He had heard the older Eliksni of his House speak of the "Great Machine," their voices full of hissed venom at its mention. Something had erupted from it, and House Dusk scavengers had seen the arc of light that trailed down to Nessus. How, then, to proceed? The Vanguard's comms were near-impenetrable, but the Eliksni had scraped one word from them: "anomaly." Kalliks drew one claw over the surface of the console's screen, over the strings of data flashing across it. Orbital changes. Seismic disturbances. And worse, a surge of Guardians crawling through the Vex tunnels, likely stealing vital information. That pathetic AI in its broken body of a ship had begun sending teams of those machine-spawn on tactical operations. It had jammed House comms and disrupted their scavenging, wasting lives and resources. The Eliksni Baron turned sharply. The Dregs behind him jumped to attention under his gaze, then bowed with their two remaining arms outstretched, clacking their mandibles nervously. "Ready the cages," Kalliks called out. "Arm the mines!" The Dregs scurried out of the room to obey his command. "What is your plan?" the Vandal at his side asked. Kalliks put one hand on the barrel of his scorch cannon. "Capture Vex, break apart their minds, and find out what they know. Look for the ones with rounded heads, or with the light around their necks. They'll have what we need. This thing, this 'anomaly'… We will find it first."