“Your Light wasn’t strong enough, Guardian. Get ‘em next time.” The words rang in William’s comms as he stared out from his Ghost at the Titan gloating over him with a shotgun. “Haha scrub! Shouldn’t have ended my streak earlier.” William bit his lip from commenting as his vision went blank and the scoreboard appeared before him. His name was in the last slot with a measly score of 1 out of 24 kill to death ratio. That one point was only because he landed a Nova Bomb on the Titan who happened to be in first and what a mistake that was. He sighed heavily as he was forced up to orbit. His body grew heavy as he plopped into the cockpit seat of his clunky little ship as it hung lazily over the rusted landscape of Mars. He tapped a hologram by the controls, backing out of the que for the next match and leaned back, taking off his helmet and rubbing his face. His brown bangs stuck slightly to his forehead as he ran a hand through his sweaty hair. He closed his eyes and tried to relax as a female voice piped up near him. “Well… that went as well as it could have.” William glanced over as his Ghost, Tesla, spun ‘his’ electric blue shell in emphasis. “Yea… sure…” “Oh come on Will, it’s not so bad. At least you got a kill this time around unlike the last, what? Three games?” “That’s not helping my self-esteem at all Tes…” William sighed heavily, pressing a button on his arm rest, causing the chair to spin in place to allow him towards the back end of the ship. He slowly got up and walked towards the dirty kitchen, grabbing a clean glass from a rack. “Again it’s a fact, not a confidence booster.” Tesla said, hitting a beam of energy against the fridge to open it. “You should move past your ‘Oh whoa as me’ crap.” William pulled out a small bottle of whiskey and poured a small shot. He downed the glass in a single gulp as he set the container back down. He coughed pitifully and rubbed his throat. Tesla sighed heavily. “How the hell can you stand that stuff? Your throat is messed up and raw as is.” “It makes me… feel a little better… by not feeling what I am currently.” He coughed again and plopped on the makeshift bed bolted to the wall. Tesla sighed and beamed the bottle back into the fridge, closed it, and set the glass in the sink. “And that’s how you are in this mess. By avoiding your problems, you don’t change anything so people continue to treat you like the same person!” “Yes, because cussing Zavalla out and calling him an a**hole, makes us seem less like b****es…” “I'm a dick, a**hole. I am nobody’s b****.” “Yes, yes I know…” William rubbed his face again. “Equality and all that good jazz…” “Must I keep preaching on my soapbox? Or do you even listen anymore?” Tesla gave a disapproving grunt and hovered towards the front of the ship. William sighed and closed his eyes, slowly letting the harsh buzz from the alcohol become a faint numbness across his body. His mind wandered aimlessly across the vast expanse of his thoughts, settling out on a Crucible match. He ducked behind a bit of cover as a grenade sailed over his head. He tossed his own over the edge and landed a kill. Without skipping a beat, he moved forward and pulled out his hand cannon, firing off three shots ending a person coming towards him. He laughed and jumped in the air as a Hammer of Sol crashed beside him and he effortlessly chucked a Nova Bomb towards the assailant. With the winning point, he saw the score board; 25 to 0, a perfect record. He felt the crowd cheer his name as he returned to Orbit. "William! William! William!" "William!.." "William!...." “WILLIAM!” His eyes jolted open as hesat up quickly, ramming his head against a support bar. He clutched his head as Tesla continued to bark at him. “WILLIAM, GET UP! You are receiving a call from a Vanguard source! Get your drunk a** up!” He turned from William and barked at someone over the comms. “No, he is not up yet, give him a moment!” William grumbled as his head throbbed in pain from the hit and the hangover. He slowly got up and waved at Tesla. “Hook me up to the chat…” He blinked as a blue holographic screen spread across his eyes before turning clear to match the interior of his ship. A white Ghost shell with small lightning bolts etched into the corners appeared in the upper right and began to move as if speaking with the title ‘Ariadon Parrison IV & I/II’ underneath it. “I am being patient Tesla dear, but please be quick, I have very dire research to c…” “Don’t call me dear d***it!” Tesla yelled. “You two quit it…” William groaned as he massaged his temples. “William, my chap!” Ariadon’s voice perked up in happiness. “So good to hear you are finally out of Sleep’s gentle embrace.” “Yes Don… A very nice nap until someone woke me up…” “Oh, I’m terribly sorry to hear about that chap. I must have butted in on another conversation you were having again haven’t I?” Poor Ariadon. Blissfully unaware as usual. “It’s fine Don… What did you need?” “Hm? What are you…” Another Ghost shell, identical to the first, popped up in the corner with the title ‘Edison.’ “He means the quest, Ariadon…” “Oh yes! Of course, excuse my memory. Must be a bit fuzzy today.” “As it always is…” Tesla mumbled off the comms as he wandered off to warm up the ship’s engines. “Well, as you may know." Ariadon said without a hitch. "With the sudden outbreak of the nanite virus known as SIVA and the Devil’s Splicers running amuck across the Cosmodrome and what not, our best agents are rather… preoccupied containing this ghastly plague. And something has popped up under our attention.” “So what you are saying is, I’m the last resort for your scouting back-up?” William said as he stood up to stretch gingerly. “Quite the opposite dear boy, you are the first on my replacement list to draw from.” “That still doesn’t make me feel any better…” “Oh come come now, I asked for you personally for a reason. Besides the logically persuasive arguments of: you are close by to the intended destination, you could do something better besides the recreational slaughter of your fellow Guardians, and you have been feeling, dare I say it, ‘Down in the Reef’s scrap’ recently. This is a personal invitation for you to get up and be productive for a change! Isn’t that a marvelous opportunity?” “I don’t know Don… I don’t think I’m qualified.” William rubbed his neck as he rolled it gently. “Oh come now William!” Ariadon’s voice grew louder as if he was presenting a grandiose speech. “It’s a simple quest really. I seriously doubt anyone could muddle this up, unless they were of the illogical type such as a Striker. This is something you can do, dear boy, please. From Warlock to Warlock. Void connoisseur to Void user.” William sighed heavily. He glanced over at Tesla, who was sitting on the dash, staring at him. “Don’t look at me, I’m not going to be dealing with him if you don’t say yes. He won’t let you hear the end of it.” William nodded slowly. “Alright Don… What do I got to do...?” “Splendid!” Ariadon laughed loudly. “I knew I could count on you, old boy!” “Yes, yes. Thanks Do…” “Winston-0089 betted you wouldn’t even have the audacity to accept with all your losses! A whopping 400 Glimmer! But you, sir, YOU proved him wrong and you are 200 Glimmer richer as am I, old pal!” Ariadon laughed as he clapped with excitement. Tesla laughed to himself as William sighed and rubbed his eyes out of sheer frustration. “What do you mean I wasn’t supposed to tell him?” Ariadon shouted at someone away from his radio. “It was supposed to be a secret? You never spoke of this in conversation with me, Winston…! You did…? At what point in time…?! I’m fairly positive it was never mentioned… I’m in fact, almost certain you didn’t…! Bah, no matter, it shouldn’t dampen his spirits.” His voice became clearer as he turned back to the radio. “Sorry about not being able to speak, old boy, my co-worker needed to speak so I removed myself from our interaction.” William hid his face in his hands. “Its fine… Just fine Don… No issue.” “Except your pride and whatever dangly bits that aren’t bruised from that low blow.” Tesla giggled as William shot him a glare. “Excellent.” Ariadon continued his speech without skipping a beat. “Now, our ‘Ghost in the Air’ suggests that there is a peculiar reading in the bowels of a Clovis Bray facility on the lower backlands of the Martian surface.” A small box with coordinates popped up in the upper right corner of William’s display. “There is something within that confined area, give or receive a few kilometers for error purposes, that even the research team here within the Tower walls have not even the slightest assumption as to what this could potentially be. And this, is where you enter the scene.” “Alright… Just send the information to Tes and I will head for the coordinates.” “Righto. Contact me personally if the situation gets eerie or over-exerting.” “Sure Don.” William tapped his ear and the display flashed once and disappeared. He got up and sat back down in the cockpit chair, checking the ship for launch. “Shall we go reclaim your broken pride?” Tesla said with a snicker. “Shut up…” William eased the ship into orbit and coasted down into the atmosphere, following the coordinates he was given. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/213891799?sort=0&page=0&path=1 link to The Crown Jewel