Skyburners

"The second fleet will wait no longer. Commencement will begin on their arrival."

- Cryptarch translation of Skyburner chatter

The Skyburners are the "celestial demolitions" fleet of the Cabal. They are mainly based around Phobos, seeing limited deployment on Mars, as their full strength has not yet arrived into the system. In the base game, they are only encountered during the final phase of the Cerberus Vae III and Dust Palace strikes.

History
Initially the Skyburners are fought sparingly in the base game, only found guarding high value Cabal Commanders. It is likely that the units encountered are an advance force under the command of Valus Ta'aurc as when Ta'aurc dispatched the elite Ice Reapers to hunt down Rasputin the Skyburners accompanied them as well. The Valus himself even used Skyburner soldiers as his personal guard until his assassination. In both cases however the Skyburners suffer total casualties.The Skyburners play a larger role in The Taken King as they are found on Phobos and the Dreadnaught.The Skyburners are one of the first Cabal units to encounter the Taken and are routed utterly within hours, being forced to evacuate Fleetbase Korus.

They were originally led by Primus Ta'aun and his bond brothers before he was Taken and his lieutenants slain. The Skyburners were ordered by the Emperor himself to board the Dreadnaught and kill Oryx, the Taken King, by any means necessary. They crashed their warship into the Dreadnaught's hull, and are fighting a protracted war of attrition deep behind enemy lines. Guardians have noted that their normally robust military engine has become hopelessly bogged down against the Hive.

Appearance
They can be identified by their light red/blue armor. Their most unique feature though is the brush on their helmets.

Notable Members

 * Primus Ta'aun (formerly)
 * Valus Tlu'urn
 * Valus Mau'ual
 * Valus Tau'ugh
 * Valus Gho'ourn
 * Bracus Thra'aurg
 * Ve'egth (Centurion)

Trivia

 * Before Oryx's arrival, it was rumored the Skyburners were to be part of a "second fleet" meant to attack Earth. However with the Taken War, this campaign was put on hold as they were redeployed to attack the Dreadnaught.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Taken King