We entered the great beast
of a ship in search of he who controlled it. The extravagance on display was
beyond comparison. The walls of this so called Leviathan (it must have been
named after the ancient massive creature the Hive fought against with the same
name) seemed to be made of Gold at every turn. Mud baths, Gardens for their
animals, gladiator style arena games… it all felt very disconnected to the
purpose of this massive ship. Was not this ship intended to destroy planets as
it sucked them into its gaping maw? Calus taunted us over the ship's loud
speaker inviting us to be tried against a variety of challenges, but rather
than participate in the silly games that Calus intended for us, we managed to
find our way into a service corridor. Well jumphish kept falling off the edge
of the ship and couldn't find the corridor, but that's another matter. We
received an encrypted message from the IT department of a mysterious group
called "Radegast's Extra Detailed Data." I'd received good anonymous
advice from this group before when fighting the Hive general Crota.
They'd informed me
previously about the details in which the Hive's Ascendant Realm was linked to
our own. Between our dimension and the Hive's, there is a link of sort. As a
Warlock, I was familiar with the concepts of Hive Sword Logic and how these
dimensions were connected. Referencing Stijn's 3rd Law of Quantum Entanglement,
actions in one dimension have a direct link to at least one or more other
dimensions. Depending on nature of the particular quantum connection, results
may appear psychic in nature or could have real physical manifestations. In the
case of the Hive Ascendant Realms, the Hive's thought processes and physical forms
are dependent on this link existing. Even when the Hive are destroyed in our
world and retreat physically to the Ascendant Realm, their mental link remains.
Normally the Hive's mental link cannot be severed, and any attempt to do so
would just reconnect via other paths piggybacking on our own mental link
between dimensions. I believe this might have what led to Eris Morn being so….
well never mind. The advice I'd received from Radegast's IT department was that
if this mental psychic link between our realm and Crota's Ascended Realm was
severed at just the right moment when Crota was at his most vulnerable, he'd be
torn between dimensions and his mind would no longer function to control his
body correctly. The dangerous part was that I'd need to also sever my own link
between the dimensions and risk being lost forever. However, the risk was worth
it. After destroying Crota's protective barrier and he knelt to recharge, I
severed the link between our worlds just briefly including my own, the pain was
unbearable, but only lasted a short time. With effort I was able to
re-establish my own link across dimensions, but he was unable to re-establish
his psychic link. He was unable to move. It was from this experience I learned
to trust the Radegast's IT department.
Anyway, they'd provided me
a six digit code (much like they'd provided me the codes to decrypt SIVA
clusters in the past) to gain access to underground tunnels for the Leviathan.
After a few hours of wandering aimlessly in the bowels of the ship (I'll never
be able to get the soot stains off my favorite vestments…), we finally found
his "Throne Room." The floors were made of what appeared to
crystalized wine. We found Shadow continually trying to lick the floors, which…
ugh… I just can't. Anyway, as we began to do battle with the Cabal forces that
this Emperor Calus sent at us, we were all of a sudden transported to another
dimension. He must be proficient in the art of Hive Sword Logic as well! This
made me recall my experiences for being torn during my fights with Crota. If
this Calus had a psychic link to another dimension… there must also be a way to
manipulate this link between worlds to effectively sabotage his control on this
world.
Indeed there was! Radegast's Extra Detailed Data's IT department
came through again! Our fireteam would distract Calus with various awful
dancing techniques right at his feet. This would cause Calus to become angry
and destroy my companions, and while it would be painful for them I'd be
burning myself alive… so it's all fair play. As our Ghosts worked on bringing
us back from the brink, I'd utilize my knowledge of the link between
dimensions… the burning myself alive created an interesting scenario in which
my mental link was inserted into Calus's psychic link in which he'd control his
troops. I found that if I transmatted myself out of his chamber at just the
right second, the link to his troops would dissipate and as we'd confront him
the next time, he would have no reinforcements. This was a major boon for us.
Unfortunately he was still able to transport our team to his other realm. This
other realm seemed to defy all physics as we know it. It did not abide the laws
of the Hive Ascendant Realms as I knew it. It seemed to be only a shadow of the
other dimensions we'd visited before. This caused much confusion in
communication as well as movement patterns that prevented us from destroying
Calus. We decided we needed to regroup to understand Calus's other realm.