The jump ship hovered in the hangar bay, its engines humming with restrained impatience. Weiss stood before it, helmet tucked places beside her and Spark circling her like an excited firefly.
"Are you certain this is wise?" she asked.
Spark bobbed enthusiastically. "Absolutely! Your cognitive response time is above average, your reflexes are improving, and statistically speaking, only one in twelve new Guardians crash during solo practice."
"… That's not comforting."
"Oh! Then ignore the statistic."
Weiss exhaled, climbed into the cockpit, and sealed the hatch. The interior smelled faintly of metal and ozone. Her hands hovered uncertainly over the controls.
"Alright," she whispered. "Let's… try not to die again."
The ship lifted, wobbled, then steadied as she gripped the yoke. The hangar doors opened, revealing open sky and endless drifting clouds. Weiss pushed the throttle gently—too gently.
"More power," Spark advised. "You are not coaxing a frightened animal. Ships respond best to confidence."
She pushed harder.
The ship shot forward like a loose arrow.
"TOO MUCH—TOO MUCH!" Weiss yelped as the craft lurched upward, nearly clipping a tower pylon.
"Marvelous!" Spark cheered. "Rapid acceleration tests complete!"
Weiss gritted her teeth, pulling the ship back into a stable glide. Slowly, so slowly, she gained control. The wind rolled past. Below her, the Traveler gleamed like a silent moon.
After a minute, she felt the panic drain from her chest.
"This… isn't so bad," she murmured, easing into a gentle turn.
"Excellent! Shall we attempt barrel rolls?"
"No."
"A loop?"
"No!"
"A mild spiral descent?"
"… Maybe."
The ship dipped, curved, and smoothed into a graceful arc. Weiss felt a spark of pride ignite in her chest—quiet, warm, fragile but real. She smiled happily as she flew around the Last City.
Above the Last City, wings of sunlight catching her hull, Weiss soared for the first time.
Tower Barracks - Night
The Tower was quieter at night.
Warm lanterns glowed along the walkways, casting soft gold across stone and steel. The sky above was a blanket of deep blue punctured by stars—and the great white orb of the Traveler floating like a watchful moon over the Last City below.
Weiss followed Spark down a quieter corridor of the residential wing, still feeling a faint buzz of awe. Guardians passed her wearing armor of every shape and color, some laughing, some exhausted, some silent. It was strange—she didn't know any of them, yet they all felt… connected. As if they shared something she was just beginning to learn.
Spark floated ahead, illuminating the hallway with his pale blue glow.
"Room B-17 is yours. Temporarily, of course—assuming you do not accidentally destroy it, which, admittedly, is within the realm of possibility."
Weiss groaned. "Spark, please. I haven't broken everything today."
"Not everything," Spark agreed. "Just a statistically significant portion of it."
The door to B-17 slid open with a soft chime. Weiss stepped inside.
The room was small but comfortable: a simple bed with crisp white sheets, a small desk, a locker for armor, and a tall mirror across from the door. The window overlooked the expanse of the City, thousands of lights glittering like fallen stars.
"Oh…" Weiss breathed. "It's beautiful."
Spark drifted beside her shoulder. "Yes. Humanity's last major civilization. Fascinating collection of architectural possibilities. Quite flammable, though."
"Spark!"
"Just stating facts."
Weiss walked deeper into the room, her boots soft against the metal floor. She placed her blade on the bed, she should probably give a name soon, its faint electric hum filling the silence.
But it was the mirror that held her attention. She approached it slowly.
Her reflection stared back at her—a young human woman with tan skin and blue eyes that still trembled around the edges, framed by white hair with blackened ends. Her armor was scraped and dented, still bearing the dried black scorch where the Captain had severed her arm. The regenerated limb flexed faintly, still tingling with new light.
"… That's me," she whispered.
Spark hovered beside her reflection, turning slowly. "Indeed! Or at least, your latest incarnation. Past iterations are currently inaccessible. Likely irrelevant."
"I look…" She tried to find the right word. "…different from what I expected."
Spark tilted in mild curiosity. "What did you expect?"
"I don't know," Weiss murmured. "But seeing myself… I guess it feels real now. All of it."
Spark hummed softly, for once lowering his voice.
"You are Weiss—my Guardian. Whatever fate you carried before, whatever history you've lost, your path begins now, with choice and with Light."
She looked at her reflection again and released a small breath. "Okay… I can do this."
Spark brightened. "Marvelous! Confidence level rising! Also, please hydrate before your next mission. Statistically beneficial."
Weiss sat on the edge of the bed, boots dangling over the floor, and for the first time since she woke in that snowy graveyard, she felt something like calm.
Not safety—she doubted that she would ever fully return.
But… felt a steadiness a feeling of belonging, and a new beginning.
She lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling as Spark settled on the pillow beside her head and dimmed his glow so she could rest.
"Goodnight, Weiss."
"… Goodnight, Spark."
Even as she slipped into sleep, she swore she could still feel the City's distant heartbeat below—alive, hopeful, waiting for her to rise again.
Tower Barracks - Morning
Light streamed through the window when Weiss woke. She pulled her armor back on and strapped her blade to her back as Spark zipped around the room gathering her gear.
"Come, come! We've been called by the Vanguard for amission!"Spark exclaimed in excitement.
Weiss smiled faintly. "I'm up, Spark."
Hall Of Guardians - Morning
The Hall of the Vanguard hummed with quiet purpose—Guardians coming and going, datapads flickering, armor clinking as fire teams discussed deployments. Weiss stood at attention on the central platform, Spark hovering proudly at her shoulder like a smug, metallic lantern.
Cayde spotted Weiss first and waves at her like a child seeing his best friend. Ikora notices her next and sends a warm smile her way before Zavala stands up from the table staring at her.
"Guardian Weiss. Your ship is functional, but incomplete. To leave Earth's atmosphere reliably, let alone reach the outer system, you'll require a working warp drive." Zavala said greeting her with a new mission.
Weiss nodded, palms sweaty but posture straight. "Understood."
Spark chimed in brightly. "Yes! Our current drive is, to put it mildly, an asthmatic antique. A superior unit would greatly reduce the likelihood of catastrophic spatial disintegration!"
Cayde flicked his coin, caught it, and pointed at Weiss. "There's a Fallen House crawling all over the cosmodrome. Nasty bunch, but they've got tech, tech we can use. More specifically, there's a warp drive in one of the old shipyards that should work if it isn't… you know… stolen, disassembled, worshiped, or eaten."
Weiss blinked, thinking she heard wrong. "… Eaten?"
Spark rotated sympathetically. "They are surprisingly resourceful."
Ikora folded her hands. "Your task is simple in objective, if not execution: locate a functioning warp drive somewhere in the cosmodrome. Recover it intact and bring it back to the Tower."
Zavala leaned forward slightly. "We're sending you alone to evaluate your capability to operate independently in the field. Your Ghost will support you, but the decisions will be yours."
Weiss felt her heart quicken—fear, excitement, purpose blending into something new and sharp inside her chest. She nodded again.
"I won't fail."
"Oh, splendid confidence!" Spark chirped. "Though the odds of failure remain—"
Cayde cut him off with a raised hand. "Please don't finish that sentence. Anyway, Guardian, head to your ship. I'll transmit the coordinates once you're in the air."
Ikora's gaze softened just a touch. "Trust your Light, Weiss. You're still learning, but it's already responding to you."
And Zavala, in a rare moment of gentleness, gave a single approving nod.
"Go help us reclaim our world."
Weiss bowed her head, then turned on her heel. Spark hummed excitedly and followed, whispering: "Ooooh, our first official assignment! How thrilling. Potentially fatal, but thrilling!"
"I'm trying to focus," Weiss muttered—but she couldn't hide her smile.
A few minutes later, the jump ship rose from the Tower, thrusters flaring. Weiss settled into the pilot's seat, shoulders stiff but steady—while Spark activated navigation.
"Destination locked," he said. "Earth, Old Russia, The Cosmodrome. Again. Do try not to crash this time."
"I didn't crash," Weiss protested.
"We landed at terminal velocity."
"It was still a landing!"
The ship angled downward toward the battered Earth, clouds parting around them. Ahead, the familiar rusted expanse of the cosmodrome returned to view—vast, ancient, and dangerous.
Weiss transmatted out of her ship and onto the snow covered ground, the thrusters from the ship kicking up a plume of snow.
Weiss pulled her hand cannon close, checked her blade at her hip, and inhaled slowly.
"Alright," she said to Spark. "Let's find this warp drive."
The hunt began.