A.N. Apologies in advance for the section with the Vanguard. Aside from Cayde, I've never really gotten a good read on their personalities and I don't think I did well with their dialogue.

"What do you mean you don't know!? You're supposed to know everything!"

"It might surprise you, Guardian, but I am not all-knowing."

"Yeah, but I'd thought you'd have at least realized the problem," Omni says, taking his helmet off and slumping in his seat.

The jumpship, an ancient Arcadia-class that really shouldn't be able to fly, cruises through the clouds as it makes its way towards the Last City.

"Why do you assume that?" Archive asks, floating over the flight controls.

"'Cause you're supposed to be the one that comes up with the plans," Omni says.

Archive rolls his optic, "Just because I usually come up with the plans, does not mean I am the only one that I have to."

"Still, what am I supposed to do? Keep my helmet on?" Omni suggests.

"That would only be a temporary solution. Eventually, someone will catch you with your helmet off, and then what?" Archive points out.

"Improvise," Omni answers.

"So, the usual strategy when our plans fail," Archive summarizes.

Omni nods.

"Well, at least we have experience in that department," Archive mutters.

The rest of the trip is spent in silence, aside from Omni trying to fix his shotgun using the few tools on hand. After some time, the Guardian hums to himself as he falls into the familiar routine of weapon maintenance. He's so absorbed in his work, that the Wolf Faunus lets out a yelp of surprise when a comm suddenly crackles to life.

"Unknown vessel, this is Vanguard Air Command. Respond or be fired upon," a male voice says over the comm.

Omni's eyes widen and he looks to Archive panicked. Archive sighs and tunes into the comm channel, "This is Ghost 743261. I am taking a New Light to the Tower."

There's a few seconds of silence before a response is heard, "You're clear to proceed, Ghost. Welcome home, Guardian."

The comm cuts out and Archive syncs with the jumpship, taking manual control.

"Are you ready, Omni?" Archive asks.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Omni says, before he looks out the window and gapes, "Whoa."

Archive chuckles as Omni stares out the window of the cockpit at the towering mountains that partially surround the Last City. The Ghost carefully maneuvers around the peaks and descends below the cloud cover.

If he could, Archive would smile when Omni gasps as the Last City comes into view. The large city, surrounded by its towering walls, is illuminated in all its brilliance in the noonday sun. Buildings, short and tall, fill the area within the walls, separated by grids of streets. The Tower, the home of the Guardians, sits atop the walls, towering over everything else. Everything but the gigantic, white, slightly cracked sphere that hovers over the Last City; the Traveler.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Archive asks, knowingly.

"Yeah," Omni agrees, awestruck.

"Ghost 742361 on approach," Archive relays to the Tower.

The Wolf Faunus is knocked out of his awestruck state when the jumpship banks to the left, turning toward the Tower. Archive takes a wide turn over the city to guide the Arcadia-class into the hangar since the old jumpship isn't capable of near-hovering and fast landings usually used by Guardians when landing their ships.

The jumpship slows to a crawl as it enters the Tower's hangar, shaking slightly when it finally lands.

Omni looks around within the cockpit, "So, what no-whoa!"

The ship jolts as something latches onto it and lifts it off the ground. The crane slowly carries the old jumpship across the hangar, setting it down in an open spot which causes it to jolt again.

"What just happened!?" Omni exclaims.

"They were merely moving the jumpship into a different area of the hangar so that it is not in the way," Archive explains.

"Oh, okay," Omni says, calmer, before he jumps again when something climbs onto the ship.

"Put your helmet on, I'm going to transmat us out of the ship since the hatch won't open," Archive says, and Omni quickly complies.

A flash and a second later Omni is struggling to regain his balance as he goes from sitting to standing in an instant. A strong hand grabs his shoulder, stabilizing Omni, "Whoa, easy there."

Omni shakes his head, reorienting himself, and takes a hurried step back when he realizes someone is standing before him. He blinks, staring at the person in front of him. Standing a couple of inches taller than Omni is a muscular human woman with blonde hair and green eyes.

"Hey, you good?" the woman asks, looking down at the new Guardian.

"Y-yeah," Omni stutters, any and all confidence leaving him in the face of a stranger in an unknown environment.

"Please excuse my Guardian," Archive says, appearing over Omni's shoulder, "He tends to be... shy."

"Hey!" Omni exclaims, turning to Archive, "I am not!"

Archive rolls his optic, "Manners, Guardian. Should you not introduce yourself?"

"Oh, uh, right," Omni says, turning back to the woman, "I'm Omni."

"You remember your name, you're lucky. Some don't even remember that," the woman says, "Anyway, I'm Amanda Holliday, shipwright. I'm the one in charge 'round here. You need repairs, mods, a new ship or sparrow, you come to me. Speaking of which..."

Amanda walks past Omni, looking over the old Arcadia class with a low whistle, "You must be really lucky, Guardian. It's a miracle this thing hasn't fallen apart."

"Tell me about it," Omni sighs, "The thing can't even break the atmosphere, and half the thrusters are barely working."

Both shipwright and Ghost give Omni an odd look.

"What? You think I spent the entire time tinkering with the shotgun?" Omni asks Archive, not having noticed Amanda's stare, "I managed to pull up the manual and read up on it. No use having something if you don't know how it works."

Amanda smirks and claps Omni on the shoulder, "Y'know, I like you. Most of the new blood refuse to even look at a weapon maintenance guide."

"Uh, thanks?" Omni says, confused.

"We should be going, the Vanguard is expecting us," Archive jumps in.

"Right, you should get going. See ya 'round, Guardian," Amanda says, "Your ship will be good as new in no time."

"Thank you, miss," Omni says, before taking off to follow the directions Archive gave him.

"Miss?" Amanda mutters, turning back to face the Arcadia class, "I ain't no miss."

Omni double jumps, landing in a crouch on the catwalk in front of the exit. Going into a jog, Omni runs through a short hallway before skidding to a stop as he comes to a large courtyard.

Men and women, donning many different armors and colors, mill about. A few stand at the pillars of some sort that dot the right side of the plaza. Some talk with the vendors standing along the edge of the open area. While others wander around in small groups. And they're all Guardians.

"Are you going to stand there and gape all day or what?" a voice takes Omni back to the present.

He turns to his left to see a Guardian walking to him from a robed man standing outside a tent. The Guardian wears a set of Knight Type 1 armor, with a color set of primarily purple with a gold secondary. The Defender's Mark hanging from her hip shows the Guardian to be a Titan. Her helmet is off and under one arm, revealing her to be a human with short red hair and blue eyes.

She looks Omni up and down, "New Guardian?"

"How can you tell?" Omni asks.

"Almost every newbie shows up wearing something like that. A Guardian's first set of armor is always the thing their Ghost throws together," the Titan explains, turning to face the plaza, "So, what's your story?"

After taking a moment to figure out what she is asking, Omni answers, "Woke up in a place my Ghost calls the Cosmodrome. Had to fight through a bunch of Fallen, nearly died to a Captain, before flying here on a jumpship that was held together with rusty metal and luck."

"Captain on your first day, nice," the Titan compliments, "You'll have to tell me that one in more detail."

"I'll be sure to do that," Omni replies.

"Guardian. The Vanguard," Archive interrupts.

"Right," Omni nods, looking towards the female Titan, "Sorry, gotta run!"

Arc Light flickers down Omni's limbs and he's off, weaving around Guardians and nearly running over a Warlock, who merely complains to himself about "new Hunters". Omni only slows down briefly when descending the two staircases, sprinting through a hall where a large Titan shouts at a robot about something called the "Crucible", and coming to a stop at the end of a table long within a large room.

The three people standing around the table all turn to face Omni, who freezes, suddenly very nervous. At the opposite end of the table is an Awoken man wearing Titan armor. On the left side of the table is an Exo Hunter with a large map spread across the table before him. And to Omni's immediate right is a human Warlock, collection of tomes in front of her on the table. Zavala, Cayde-6, and Ikora Rey; the Titan, Hunter, and Warlock Vanguards.

"Can we help you, Guardian?" Ikora asks, closing the book in her hands.

"Um, my Ghost said I need to talk to the Vanguard?" Omni says, looking as if he's trying to make himself smaller.

"Let me guess, you're the new Guardian that just flew in?" Cayde guesses.

Omni nods.

"So what are you? Hunter? Titan? Warlock? Please don't be a Warlock, they've always got their nose in a book," Cayde complains, prompting a glare from Ikora.

"I... don't know," Omni admits.

"Well, that's easy to figure out-think fast!" Cayde suddenly pulls out a handcannon and fires.

Omni instinctively throws up his left arm, deploying a Void barrier.

"Cayde!" Zavala shouts, "We do not shoot our own Guardians!"

"Relax. If he did die, his Ghost would've revived him," Cayde says, waving his free hand dismissively as he holsters his handcannon, "Besides, we got our answer. With that barrier, he's a Titan."

Omni, meanwhile, condenses the Void Light into a bow, drawing back the string with his right hand. Under the mindset that he's under attack, Omni loosens the Void arrow at Cayde. The Exo lets out a startled yelp, ducking to avoid the arrow. The action is unnecessary, however, as the arrow splits and flies around where Cayde was standing to eventually hit the wall. The moment they impact, tethers of Void Light fly from the arrows, snag Cayde, and chain him to the wall by his arms.

"Hey, what gives!?" the Exo Hunter shouts, tugging at the tethers to no avail.

The other two Vanguard turn to Omni, who is now floating slightly with Arc Light sparking off of him and occasionally striking the floor. Ikora pauses, taken aback by the sheer power of the Stormtrance, while Zavala prepares to confront the clearly unstable Guardian.

The Stormtrance suddenly cuts out and Omni falls to the floor, unconscious, when something strikes the back of his neck. Lord Shaxx sighs, shaking his half-horned-helmeted head as he looks down at Omni. The man behind the Crucible then looks up and glares at Cayde from under his helmet, "A new Guardian walks in, clearly afraid and nervous... and the first thing you do is SHOOT HIM!?"

Cayde winces and stands, the Void tethers having faded when Omni went unconscious. Archive, meanwhile, appears over Omni and begins looking over him worriedly.

With a disappointed shake of his head, Shaxx reaches down to lift Omni.

Archive's optic "widens" in panic, "No, wait!"

Shaxx stops mid-lift and Omni's helmet slips off, hitting the floor with a thud. The three Vanguard and Lord Shaxx have mixed shows of surprise when Omni's silver hair and wolf ears are exposed for all to see.

"Well... that's something you don't see every day," Cayde comments.

Archive looks between the four conscious Guardians, silently wondering how he and Omni are going to improvise their way out of this mess.