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| |prev= [[Battleground: Conduit]] | | |prev= [[Battleground: Conduit]] |
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| |campaign= | | |campaign= |
| |name= Battleground: Core | | |name= Battleground: Core |
| |image=[[File:Battleground Core.jpg|350px]] | | |image= |
| |player=1-3 | | |player=1-3 |
| |races=[[Vex]]<br>[[Taken]]
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| |factions=[[Nessian Schism]]
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| |light= | | |light= |
| |place=[[Nessus]] | | |place=[[Nessus]] |
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| ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
| '''(Mission Begins)'''
| | {{Expand-section}} |
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| *'''[[Failsafe]] (Depressed):''' Hey, Captain? You've heading into the deepest parts of the planet. Those nanobots could only tell me so much.
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| *'''Failsafe (Depressed):''' You'll need to get down there yourself if I'm going to get any useful data.
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| *'''[[Saint-14]]:''' You are in unknown territory now, Guardian. Be ready.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' We are closer to the Conductor, Guardian. But we must first remove their Vex.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' The Conductor has made her domain deep inside Nessus. We must cut a path through her Vex.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' The Vex still defend their tunnels within Nessus. Destroy them, Guardian. It will only strengthen our position.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Failsafe (Cheery):''' Greetings, Captain! We are nearing the planet's core. How exciting!
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Failsafe (Cheery):''' All of this was hollowed out by the Vex over a period of centuries! I find that quite interesting. (Depressed): And annoying.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Failsafe (Cheery):''' There is still much to discover beneath the planet's crust! Please continue your spelunking. (Depressed): It's honestly super fun for me.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''[[Osiris]]:''' We've made a great deal of progress here, but we aren't finished. Descend further, Guardian. We'll see what awaits us.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' Sundaresh has accelerated the Vex's reclamation of the planet's resources. Delve deeper, and destroy her forces.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' Nessus has been completely hollowed out by Vex activity. Proceed to its core. We must hold the line against further destabilization.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''[[Ikora Rey|Ikora]]:''' You're deep beneath the planet's crust. There's no telling what's down there. Keep moving, Guardian.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' Exploring the Vex structures beneath Nessus will give us intel on Maya's plans… and destroying her Vex will weaken her hold.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' Vex are still amassing inside Nessus. Get down there and destroy what remains of Maya's forces.
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| ''Entering a Vex portal to go deeper into Nessus's core, the Guardians continue further until they encounter Taken forces. Defeating the swarms of Taken and destroying the Blights, the fireteam vanquishes a Taken barrier blocking an entrance. They then enter into a Vex tractor beam which takes them deeper into the structure.''
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| *'''Osiris:''' What do the Taken want? Why are they here?
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| *'''Ikora:''' Taken are drawn to paracausal forces and those with immense strength of will, but they're leaderless now.
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| *'''Ikora:''' No King and no Witness… and Xivu Arath either doesn't possess the power, or doesn't have the inclination.
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| *'''Ikora:''' All we can speculate is that they're drawn to the Conductor.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' All this space. All this architecture.
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| *'''Ikora:''' Even Failsafe didn't anticipate Nessus being hollowed out to this extent.
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| *'''Osiris:''' Is it more worrying to consider that this is the Conductor's doing… or the Vex's?
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' Osiris, you worked with Lakshmi before I did. What was your impression?
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| *'''Osiris:''' I found the Consensus universally difficult. Lakshmi did not stand out among them.
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| *'''Osiris:''' As far back as I can reach… No. I cannot picture her in the Conductor's place.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' Vex activity on Nessus still hasn't tapered off. Failsafe will maintain her monitoring.
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| *'''Ikora:''' Between her nanobots and your work on the ground, the Conductor's next move will not escape us.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' Radiolarian fluid is alkaline. We have not yet learned how the Vex keep it from reacting to acids in the environment.
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| *'''Osiris:''' Or… chemical reactions could be a tool they use in the terraforming process.
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| *'''Osiris:''' Hmm. I must look into this… Later.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' This vast chamber was once filled with radiolaria. Billions of Vex minds working in concert.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Now they work in concert under the Conductor's direction.
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| *'''Osiris:''' Not for long.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' This hall has the look of the Infinite Forest. The emptiness, the pillars
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Ah, no matter. It is not worth thinking of. The Guardian will uncover the Vex's plans.
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| *'''Osiris:''' And we will bring these pillars down around them.
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| ''Navigating across Vex structures, the Guardian defeats hordes of Vex units to lower the barrier leading further into the planet.''
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| *'''Failsafe (Cheery):''' Since you released those nanobots into the radiolaria, I can track their movement through Nessus!
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| *'''Failsafe (Depressed):''' I couldn't have done it without you. Y'know, since I'm all the way up on the planet's surface.
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| *'''Failsafe (Depressed):''' It's fun looking at this place through your eyes, though. Exploring. Sightseeiing.
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| *'''Failsafe (Depressed):''' Even after all these centuries, there's a lot of this planet I haven't seen. Thanks, Captain.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' I am reminded of your reports from within the Pyramidion, Guardian.
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| *'''Ikora:''' I wish I could ask Asher Mir how much of this is familiar to him.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' The Vex don't want you here.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' A signal that you are exactly where you should be.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' These barriers are powered by radiolaria.
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| *'''Osiris:''' Living Vex, who made the choice to… [mumbles] spin endlessly in tubes.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' Vex defences are increasing in hostility.
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| *'''Ikora:''' We're getting close to whatever it is they most want to protect.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' The Vex will defend their machinery to the end.
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| *'''Osiris:''' An end you will assist them towards, Guardian.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' What are these moving bars? Pah, a children's game!
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| *'''Saint-14:''' It would take more than that to stop my friend, the Guardian!
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| ''Delving deeper into the planet, the fireteam encounter Antioptes, Hypogean Sentinel.''
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| *'''Osiris:''' A Vex Mind has raised a line of defence. Take it down.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Failsafe (Cheery):''' Vex defences halt your progress! Go get 'em, Captain.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' The Vex Mind is mounting a counterattack!
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' The Vex have established their defences. Remove them.
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| ''Upon destroying the Vex Oracle, the fireteam engage with Antioptes who activates rotating detainment walls.''
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| *'''Ikora:''' Use Failsafe's countermeasures to their shielding!
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' Failsafe has accessed a network backdoor. Bring down their barrier!
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Failsafe (Cheery):''' I have initiated a security bypass! Your welcome!
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Failsafe has hacked their security. Bring down that Vex, Guardian!
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| ''Despite the Cyclops's power and the overwhelming amount of Vex forces, the Guardians destroy Antioptes.''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' This was here the whole time? Failsafe did not know?
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| *'''Ikora:''' Failsafe's sensors couldn't reach this far beneath the surface of the planet.
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| *'''Failsafe (Cheery):''' Now they can! Assimilating data…
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| *'''Failsafe (Depressed):''' Wow… wow. WOW.
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| *'''Failsafe (Depressed):''' This was here the whole time?
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| *'''Ikora:''' Maybe. Or it could be something new. Something the Conductor built when they grasped the Echo's power.
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| *'''Failsafe (Depressed):''' So, uh… speaking of? Those nanobots aren't responding to my signals. There's a pretty high chance that the Conductor hijacted them.
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| *'''Failsafe (Depressed):''' It ends here, Captain. Sorry.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' It's all right, Failsafe. We can figure out another plan.
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| *'''Ikora:''' Return to the H.E.L.M., Guardian. Failsafe and I will coordinate and find out our next steps.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' Maya Sundaresh's obsession was not born from love.
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| *'''Osiris:''' It is the same impulse that, with the Echo's power, reconstituted her from the Nessus radiolaria… control.
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| *'''Osiris:''' She didn't really want the Chioma from her own timeline. That Chioma was a real person with feelings and desires contrary to Sundaresh's own.
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| *'''Osiris:''' No, no. She wanted a Chioma she could control. And there is no version of Chioma in the VexNet that would have followed that Sundaresh.
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| *'''Osiris:''' Not any she could find, and never the one she remembered.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' I… I know how you feel, Saint. Being puppeted. I know what that can do to one's mind.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' No, Osiris, it is not the same. It is not how you talked about it before. It was not another presence in my mind. It…
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| *'''Saint-14:''' It was a-a voice in my ear… It made me want to do what it wanted me to do. I was not raging against it, like you told me you raged against Savathûn.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Inside your head you were still yourself. But I… I don't know if I am as I was.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' I told Geppetto what I saw in my tomb. That together we destroyed many Vex.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' I told her, how she was brave, at the end. As I was… And, when she fell, she was proud that I tried to avenge her.
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| '''Saint-14:''' For a moment I knew, what it was like to lose her, and the Light. It was… lonely.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' I understand now, Osiris. I am sorry.
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| *'''Osiris:''' Sometimes I call for Sagira. I put out my palm and she's... not there. I do it less and less, but…
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| *'''Saint-14:''' I know I'm not alone in my grief. Eris understands, and now she and I can help Zavala through his own loss.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' We have not talked much about your search for me, Osiris. But the Sundial must have been a sight!
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| *'''Osiris:''' Yes. It was. An impossible marvel. But without the Drifter and the Guardian it would not have been able to find you.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Drifter? Hah! After helping you and Sloane, it seems the basement man is not so basement after all.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' I have two lifetimes of memories now. Twice the man I was, hahaha! So much to be thankful for. So much to look back on with joy.
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| *'''Osiris:''' So now you remember the first time I told you I loved you?
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Ah, yes. It was very... formal.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' That, alongside what I remember before? I am lucky to be so loved, across all simulations.
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| *'''Osiris:''' I count myself lucky, too.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Osiris… Maya believed that your search for me in the corridors of time was the same as her search for Chioma in the Vex Simulation Network.
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| *'''Osiris:''' No. There's a crucial difference. When I failed, I stopped looking. I would have caused damage to time itself if I had fallen into obsession.
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| *'''Osiris:''' And when I did find you, with the Guardian's help, I did not keep searching for some perfect version of you.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' There are hundreds of copies of Maya Sundaresh in the Vex Network. Which one was this?
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| *'''Osiris:''' We can't know. Perhaps one, perhaps a dozen merged into one mind.
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| *'''Osiris:''' But my theory is that the Sundaresh who reached out for the Echo and reformed herself into the Conductor, was the one who died on Neomuna.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Ah, during her experiments with the Veil, after the Collapse.
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| *'''Osiris:''' Yes. We cannot know for certain, but that drive to experiment an iterate without any regard for the lives of others…
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| *'''Osiris:''' Hmph, I recognize it from Chioma Esi's logs.
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| *'''Osiris:''' There was no one to stop Sundaresh then… but, at least we have done so now.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' It is a terrible question, but… Why did Maya not use the Echo of Command on Chioma, as she did to me?
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| *'''Osiris:''' Beyond a destructive desire for authenticity? Hmm… I imagine that refusal was born from Sundaresh's vanity.
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| *'''Osiris:''' In her view, the real Chioma would not need to be commanded. To do so would be to admit a profound defeat.
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| *'''Osiris:''' And that would have been unacceptable to her narcissism.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' [sighs] I-Ikora, why do you trust me? After what the Conductor did, how do you know I am who I say I am?
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| *'''Ikora:''' Because we learned from Osiris, and from Eris. We can't be frightened into inaction, or into throwing away our allies.
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| *'''Ikora:''' You aren't comprised, Saint. Your essential. Remember that.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Ikora, I am a liability against the Conductor. They could command me again… and, I don't know if I can resist.
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| *'''Ikora:''' No. Whatever obstacles we face, we can't let the Conductor distract or confuse us. You're stronger than that, Saint.
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| *'''Ikora:''' We have a task to complete. We have a mission. And you're critical to our success.
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| *'''Ikora:''' So eyes up, Guardian. The Conductor can't take our purpose away, and I know you won't let this stop you.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' No, Ikora. I will not.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' Our plan in your tomb was a risky one. I almost didn't propose it. I knew Osiris wouldn't like it, and you…
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| *'''Saint-14:''' It had to be done. And I thought, maybe... in that moment, I-I thought that I would become him, instead.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Be the Saint that our Osiris remembered... Lose who I was.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' I-I hoped for that. But it was a wish that came from my despair. I wanted to be the man Osiris loved. The man he lost.
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| *'''Ikora:''' You always were.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Yes… I know that now.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' Osiris briefed me on your experience in your tomb. Reliving a lifetime of your own memories… I can't imagine it.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' Ah, was not so bad. Besides my death, it was not unpleasant. I was, who I am. Strong, feared, and loved. I was reminded of this.
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| *'''Saint-14:''' The Conductor cannot make me forget that again.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Osiris:''' We've descended as far as we are able. Still more to tread, but… we are closer to the Conductor, and the plans they have for this place.
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| *'''Ikora:''' A whole Vex city buried beneath Nessus. All built for the Conductor?
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| *'''Osiris:''' Perhaps. Or they have co-opted existing Vex architecture. We can't know without further exploration.
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| *'''Ikora:''' What lies at the heart of this place…
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| *'''Osiris:''' I have no doubt we will soon discover the answer to that question.
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| ''Or alternatively''
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| *'''Ikora:''' We've received no more transmissions from Maya Sundaresh. Her facility inside Nessus is empty. Has she reentered the VexNet?
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| *'''Osiris:''' More than likely. We can search for her, but she is well versed in hiding among the simulations. Our efforts will not bear fruit.
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| *'''Ikora:''' She escaped with the Echo. We've failed.
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| *'''Osiris:''' No. No, we put an end to her plan, and saved Chioma Esi from continued destruction at Sundaresh's hands.
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| *'''Ikora:''' That might be enough.
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| '''(Mission Ends)'''
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| ==Enemies== | | ==Enemies== |
| ;[[Vex]] - [[Nessian Schism]] | | ;[[Vex]] - [[Compelled Collective]] |
| *Precursor Goblin | | *Precursor Goblin |
| *[[Choral Goblin]] | | *[[Choral Goblin]] |
