The clouds split as Weiss's jump ship descended toward the cosmodrome. Rusted gantries and collapsed hangars stretched across the earth like the bones of a giant long dead.
Spark projected the waypoint in front of her visor.
"Excellent! The shipyard is our first destination. A perfectly straightforward task… assuming the Fallen haven't converted it into a ritual hunting ground since our last visit."
Weiss tightened her grip on the yoke. "… Why would you even say that?"
"Transparency!"
The ship touched down in a swirl of dust and snow. Weiss stepped out into the bitter wind, her stolen blade humming softly at her hip and the hand cannon Cayde insisted she'd "definitely bond with" holstered at her side. Spark floated ahead, eyes glowing with a curious, eager light.
"Cayde transmitted the last known coordinates of a working warp drive," Spark said. "It should be inside one of the old ship assembly buildings—if the Fallen haven't dismantled it for furniture."
"Do they… sit on warp drive?" Weiss asked, brows knitting.
"Only once."
Weiss chose not to follow up.
—————————
The narrow tunnel leading toward the Divide echoed with dripping water and distant chittering. Weiss paused at the entrance, pulling her sword from her back. The Fallen weapon shimmered with contained electricity, the ghostly blue light reflecting off the walls.
Spark hummed. "A splendid choice using that occasionally! It pairs beautifully with your dexterity. Be mindful: improper activation may result in catastrophic self-electrocution."
"… You really know how to keep morale high," Weiss muttered.
She slipped through the broken doorway and emerged into the Divide—wide, open, and crawling with the Fallen.
Dregs crouched on ledges. Vandals patrolled with glowing rifles. A pair of Shanks floated lazily in the air, scanning the rusted debris fields.
Weiss crouched behind a heap of collapsed metal beams as Spark dimmed his glow.
"Remember," Spark whispered with genuine excitement, "Stealth is your ally until it inevitably fails!"
Weiss inhaled, steadied her nerves, and looked around the field, her eyes light up when she spots a canister with the flammable warning label on the side next to a few Dregs.
She fired her hand cannon at the canister and it erupted in a beautiful explosion, completely eviscerating the Dregs standing by. Quickly aiming at a Shank she shot again taking the enemy down in a shower of sparks. A Vandal shrieked and charged at her, but Weiss darted forward, Arc Blade flashing. The electric strike split through its body in a single motion.
More Fallen turned, chittering and firing. Weiss ducked behind cover and peeked over the rusted platework. Her heartbeat synced with the pulse of light thrumming through her limbs.
"Careful!" Spark zipped beside her. "They are attempting a pincer maneuver. Quite clever of them, really."
Weiss switched to her hand cannon and leaned out. A vandal dropped with a crack of kinetic energy. Another attempted to flank her—she spun, parrying its blade with her Arc Blade and slicing through its arm.
"Ha—!" Weiss felt a surge of exhilaration.
"You see?" Spark trilled. "Already preposterously lethal! How delightful."
When the last Fallen collapsed, Weiss exhaled, wiping sweat from her brow. "Is every mission like this?"
"Hopefully not," Spark answered cheerfully. "For both our sakes."
——————
Spark floated ahead and pulsed their next direction. "Up through the ruins. Follow the catwalk—careful, it is structurally unsound and has a seventy-eight percent chance of collapsing under pressure."
Weiss stepped onto it.
It groaned ominously.
"You could have said that sooner!" she hissed.
"Oh, but then you might not have stepped on it!" The ghost said upset.
They climbed through the broken remains of the wall, pushing deeper into the forgotten manufacturing yards. The buildings swelled larger, darker, and older around them—massive frames that once held colony ships are now abandoned to Fallen scavengers.
Weiss paused at a doorway sparkling with loose snow and a faint blue glow of Fallen tech.
Spark hovered beside her, voice suddenly quiet.
"The warp drive is close," he said. "Prepare yourself, Weiss. If the Fallen found it first, they would not give it up willingly."
Weiss drew a slow breath, lifted her hand cannon, and stepped through.
——————————
Snow drifted through the shattered ceiling of the shipyard's outer hall, carrying with it the rhythmic clicking of Fallen speech. Weiss pressed herself against a corroded support beam, Spark dimming to a faint blue glow beside her.
"The warp drive is inside this structure," Spark whispered. "And it appears the Fallen have… heavily redecorated."
Weiss peeked around the corner.
The once-orderly assembly hall had been transformed into a scavenger den. Metal scaffolding had been torn apart and reconstructed into crude platforms. Fallen banners swayed in the cold wind. And energy crates hummed with stolen Arc power.
Guarding the inner chamber were two vandals, a cluster of dregs, and a Shank with an oversized rifle barrel strapped to it.
Weiss swallowed. "That's… a lot."
"Yes! Quite an excessive number of hostiles for an outdated propulsion component. Their dedication is almost admirable." Spark paused, then added brightly, "But not admirable enough to stop you!"
Weiss touched her Arc Blade, but Spark suddenly nudged her helmet.
"Wait. Something is happening. Your Light is… fluctuating."
"Fluctuating?"
"Yes! The amount of light you are able to draw out is increasing!" Spark exclaimed in excitement.
Weiss frowned confused. "And that means?"
Spark zipped back with prideful excitement. "Allow me to rephrase. You are about to unlock something new. Something volatile, ideally not self-destructive."
Weiss felt it—the crackle in her fingertips, the electricity under her skin, like the hum of the Arc Blade but coming from her instead of the Fallen weapon. The air prickled around her.
"Is this… the Light?" she whispered.
"Indeed! Specifically, a subclass ability. A rudimentary manifestation of Arc volatility—the grenade."
Weiss blinked dumbly. " Can I throw lightning?"
"Correct! Try not to drop it."
A sphere of crackling energy formed in Weiss's palm, arcs of blue crawling over her fingers. She gasped at the sensation—cold, solid and wild.
"Just… throw it?" she asked.
"With enthusiasm!"
Weiss inhaled deeply, stepped out of cover, aimed at the cluster of Dregs—and hurled the grenade.
The explosion lit the chamber with blinding brilliance. Electricity surged outward in a wide burst, frying two Dregs instantly and sending the others scrambling. The Shank's rifle whined as it was overwhelmed by the pulse, falling from the sky in smoking pieces.
Weiss stared, awestruck.
"I did that," she breathed.
"Yes," Spark preened, "and you didn't explode! Which is always a delightful bonus."
The vandals recovered quickly, shouting warnings. Weiss dashed forward, Arc Blade igniting with a ferocious crackle. Her steps felt lighter, the residual light still clinging to her limbs.
One vandal leaped towards her while swinging it's Arc spear but Weiss rolled aside, the movement instinctual now. She surged upward, the blade slicing across its chest plate. It staggered, sparks bleeding from its torso.
The second Vandal leaped at her.
Weiss sidestepped and fired her hand cannon point-blank. The force sent it tumbling from the platform, its body clattering loudly against the metal floor below. Weiss spun around throwing her blade at the injured Vandal that just sat up and impaled it in the head.
Silence.
Then Spark darted in circles around Weiss. "Marvelous! Efficient! Messy, but in a celebratory sort of way."
Weiss grabbed the blade from the Vandal's corpse and cleaned the blood off with the Vandal's cape before sheathing it. "The Light… it's incredible."
"And you have barely begun to comprehend it," Spark said softly.
Together they approached the final chamber.
A massive, partially disassembled ship engine sat atop the platform. Fallen welders had been working on it—until Weiss's grenade made them reconsider their life choices. Tools lay scattered across the floor, crackling with leftover Arc charge.
Spark floated over the warp drive and scanned it, humming to himself like a delighted librarian.
"Oh my! This is far better than I expected. It's intact, compatible with your ship, and not covered in corrosive saliva. The Fallen must have had plans for it."
Weiss tilted her head. "What plans?"
"Nothing we need to worry about! Unless they return, in which case we should flee."
A deep metallic growl echoed from the far hallway.
Weiss froze. "That sounded big."
Spark's eye brightened. "Ah. That would be the Fallen Captain overseeing this facility. A significantly largerspecimen."
Weiss raised her weapon. "Spark—"
The door burst open in a blaze of blue light.
A towering Captain entered, nearly scraping the rusted ceiling. Its cloak shimmered in electric arcs, and it held an Arc spear in each hand, crackling with raw, unstable energy.
It let out a roar that vibrated the floor.