[Ic] Of Ash And Fire V2.0 - Roleplaying Thread

[Pyjamalama]

Dakkacube's Dakka Day.

-a few days before-

 

DAKKACUBE hovered in place, wired into the Aequitas dojo’s systems. He was viewing over and over again the puny Nova’s attempt to usurp maximum Dakka from him. This would not do. He had to reach ultimate Dakka, no other ambition was enough.

 

Part one of ultimate Dakka would obviously be to visit the dojo’s foundry. An upgrade or two wouldn’t hurt. He had a deal going on with the foundry AI just for this purpose.

 

 

---now--

 

 

“Where is that sentinel’s owner, and why has it been going in and out of the foundry the last few days? What’s it doing in there?” Aigloblam wondered as he looked through the dojo’s security videos, focusing on the foundry’s entrance. “And why is it always checking first to see if Quinn is not in before going in there?” The questions were wracking his mind. Why wasn’t there a security camera inside the foundry? He did not want to think of a sentient sentinel malfunctioning and becoming a danger to the initiates, there were so few of those…

 

----

 

DAKKACUBE entered the foundry, having seen Quinn leave for lunch.

This was the last upgrade he needed, the foundry AI had just finished building it for him.

He hovered into the foundry and sat himself down onto the ‘operation table’, as the AI called it.

Strangely, it was silent today, as if concentrating immensely as robotic mandibles secured DAKKACUBE in place and opened him up.

Then they brought up the modification: A miniature Void-reactor, designed in a way, in theory, so that each and every piece of ammunition fired from the Deth machine rifle would be sent through the boundless energy generated, and they would take a miniscule piece of it with them as they’d soar towards the target, creating an ‘echo’ of the initial shot each time, effectively making his gatling gun into two gatling guns.

 

The Foundry AI closed him up, and secured every part of his body in place, before releasing the clamps, letting him hover into the air. “Now go, and beat that Nova at what you do, with this design.” It sent him that message in text.

DAKKACUBE responded promptly in text as well, with “THE NOVA WILL REGRET THE DAY SHE SOUGHT AFTER MAXIMUM DAKKA!! YOU WILL BE CREDITED FOR ME REACHING ULTIMATE DAKKA AND CRUSHING THE PUNY NOVA’S ATTEMPT TO OUTDO ME!!”

 

 

-----

 

 

A few of the initiates were more than slightly concerned about the reappearance of the crazy Deathcube at the firing range, and some even hesitated to respond to his roaring request to be hooked up to the live ammo feed of the dojo, even if every bullet was salvageable.

 

In the end they did what he called at them to do, and initiated the hard-light holographs of the firing range to come online, creating an army of Grineer and Corpus soldiers.

 

The moment the targets went online, DAKKACUBE had already revved his gun up, but kept the void-core offline. The firing speed at startup was faster than ever before, with a Corpus/Grineer target shredding down to photons in seconds, but that was just the beginning.

 

Over the course of a minute, stunned initiates watched as the holograms were torn apart in droves, three-four at a time, most of them simple collateral as DAKKACUBE was aiming at the target in front of them.

And with every shot, the time needed to disintegrate a target was reduced, with five disappearing every second, the rate was getting ridiculous and the number of targets was getting alarmingly low, even with the firing range constantly making new holograms to replace the destroyed ones.

 

Then came the moment that the VI system (Virtual Intelligence.) started conjuring up and tossing imitations of ancient infested, Heavy troops, Corpus robots, and so on, all to be torn apart by the oppressive gunfire that never seemed to cease, and only now looked like it had reached its climax.

 

Any of the initiates that had witnessed DAKKACUBE’s first go at maximum dakka, followed by Nova-Quinn’s go at it, would have guessed this one to be at the very least on par with the Tenno’s go at it

.

But now the VI system changed its decision. As a few more heavily condensed hard-light hologram warriors were created to die, the firing room started forming something much bigger, and much more resilient.

 

 

The Lephantis.

 

 

DAKKACUBE couldn’t hear the words many initiates gasped as they saw the firing range create an imitation of the nigh-invulnerable beast of legend.

 

This was what he had been waiting for.

 

DAKKACUBE shouted “ULTIMATE DAKKA!!” as he activated the void-core, multiplying the amount of shredded white-hot metal being shot out of him, and the difference in sound and effect was clear: 

 

Firstly, there were A LOT more hard-light fragments being torn off the imitation.

 

Secondly, the noise, if it wasn’t unbearable before, it completely deafened anyone in the room now because of two reasons: 1. There were now literally dozens of bullets being fired each second. 2. Each and every time DAKKACUBE had ever fired a bullet there, he shouted DAKKA. Every. Single. *******. Time.

 

 

--

 

 

It was over in seconds. The shooting range’s creation just couldn’t stand the concentrated firepower for long, and got torn to bits.

 

The initiates watched slack-jawed as DAKKACUBE revved down, the whole chassis of the sentinel steaming from contact with oxygen, and he plopped himself down on a corner to cool down, warping the walls and floor from the heat alone.

 

After a good half-an-hour, the sentinel roared back to life, hovering out of the hot-zone and into the air, significantly colder and more relaxed.

“ULTIMATE DAKKA!!” it roared again, as it flew off from the firing range, and to the foundry for maintenance.

 

DAKKACUBE may have been crude, but he wasn’t stupid. If the heat warped the floor, then he could need some serious maintenance after that achievement, but it was worth it.

 

Aaaand for something completely different.

The Silver Rhino sat patiently at one of the tables in one of the Station’s bars, waiting for someone.

He had been very unusual, refusing any food or drink and not even taking his helmet off.

The patrons of the bar felt that there was something unusual about him… something unusual and disturbing, and it was not only the red-painted word on his shoulder, or was it built into his warframe?, a series of ancient high-Orokin letters formed into a single symbol: “Danger”.

However, this formation of the letters was a rarely seen formation of the symbol, only ever used by the old Tenno’s masters to mark something for everyone to avoid, a form of excommunication from their society.

 

Whatever reason there was for his branding, the Rhino just sat there patiently, his training keeping himself from fidgeting or twitching.

He had to vent out.

He had made it very clear to the lotus, and she had finally complied. He’d be going out on the hunting grounds once more.

 

Unfortunately, she would not let him go out there alone, and he was waiting for the other person to show up, a white-and-blue Trinity, someone she would choose appropriately to watch over him.

 

Finally, he heard a sound, the telltale sound of a Trinity’s footsteps. His head turned towards the entrance, and there was a white-and-blue Trinity, holding her helmet as she scanned the crowd of the bar.

This would be the first and only test she would get to earn a sliver of his respect, the Rhino thought as he turned his head back, waiting for her to come to him.

 

 

--

 

 

Kairy walked into the bar, holding her helmet.

She ran an armoured hand through her short hair and looked through the crowd. ‘A rhino… waiting for me with a sensitive mission…’ she thought as she searched for Rhinos. Unfortunately, today there were quite a few Rhino-users amongst the bar’s patrons, and they all looked like they were busy…

 

 

Ah! There was one not interacting with someone! A silver Rhino…. odd… but she then confirmed that none of the other Rhinos there were doing anything to notice her arrival.

This one wasn’t either, but he was also the only one sitting alone.

 

She walked towards him, but when she was only one table away from him her hand was grabbed and her butt mildly groped as a drunk Excalibur sitting there bid her to join them.

“Hello miss lobster butt.” He began, his three friends roaring with laughter. “I hope you aren’t in too much of a hurry to say hello.”

 

“ehm… Sorry, but no, I’m kind of going to meet a Rhino here-” She began, but she was cut short by the Excalibur. “What a coincidence! That’s what the ladies call me! Or maybe if you’re the type who isn’t satisfied by just one, then my friend over here is also called the little Rhino!” He bragged, pointing at the grinning Ash on the other side of the table.

 

“No, really, I have to go talk to him and-” Again, Kairy was cut short as the Excalibur stood up and was almost dragging her towards his vacant seat. “Come on, just a drink and a friendly talk then!”

He started, looking as if he was going to make more sex-jokes and keep going with his general $&*^y-ness.

 

 

At that moment, a hand pressed itself onto the Excalibur’s shoulder, a silver Rhino’s hand.

“Let go of me man.” The Excalibur went, looking a bit peeved towards the unmoving and non-responding Rhino.

 

“Dude, seriously, let go!” The Excalibur said more urgently, this time letting go off Kairy and turning partly towards the Rhino.

 

Again, the Rhino didn’t respond, but this time it was noticeable that the Excalibur was for some reason in pain.

Then, when he tried to command him to let go the third time, Kairy and the trio that had been with the Excalibur heard the creaking of plates reaching their breaking point, and they could see that the flexible armor of his shoulder was starting to visibly bend inwards, followed by an eerie sound as the Rhino applied more pressure on his shoulder.

 

The Excalibur screamed as a couple of loud snaps could be heard, and he dropped down to his knee as the Rhino pressed him downwards, forcing him to give in to the pain as he applied even more pressure on the bones he had just broken in him.

 

The Ash stood up, but was stopped dead in his tracks by the Rhino’s gaze, followed by a loud series of snaps from the Excalibur’s shoulder. It was obvious he was struggling, but the quick snaps, followed by the grinding, had done their job and more or less incapacitated him, something that shouldn’t have been possible to do to a Tenno.

 

The Rhino then simply let go.

 

He let go and looked at the Trinity, uttering a single muffled word, “Come”, as if the voice communication system of his frame was offline.

He then simply proceeded to walk away, as if he hadn’t just broken another Tenno’s bones a few seconds before.

 

 

Kairy swallowed nervously as she walked past the injured Excalibur and his buddies that were checking up on him, and followed the Rhino out of the bar.

 

“ehm… y-you’re the one Lotus told me to find?” She asked the Rhino, partly hoping to hear a no.

The Rhino didn’t respond, just kept walking.

“W-what’s your name?” She then asked him, hoping for more than just silence, which was all she got.

“Ehm… back there… how did you bring him down by holding him?- I mean… eh.. how did you break his collarbone… you know… just by holding it?” She then asked him, looking for a response.

 

“I didn’t break his bones, I pulverized them.” The Rhino’s gruff, muffled voice finally responded, as he looked towards Kairy for once. She had failed the test. “You stutter too much, and my name is Zack.”

 

 

----------------------

 

 

Kairy couldn’t help but fidget a bit in the Lisette on their way to the mission.

For some reason, the Lotus had only granted them a single Lisette, to be used by both of them.

The AI of the ship, Arion, had been programmed not to say anything unnecessary, which left this a very, very silent and awkward trip.

 

“So…” She started, looking over to the Silver Rhino, Zack, as he sat opposite to her in the boarding corridor.

 

“No.” He grunted, not even looking towards her. “I don’t know who you are, and you’re clearly new at this, you lack all confidence. Please tell me that our overhyped warden didn’t assign an initiate with me.”

 

Kairy swallowed some saliva as she built up her nerve. “D-Don’t just sign off the idea of working with someone just because they’re inexperienced! And don’t look down on them either!”

 

Zack turned his head curiously, the only sign that he was even listening to her. “She didn’t tell you who she was putting you with either?” he asked, curious.

 

If it hadn’t been for their frames, Kairy’s expression of pure embarrassment would have been visible, but thankfully for her it was not. “No…. not really… And it’s true, I’m new at this whole Tenno thing… I’ve only been a full-fledged Tenno for a week now…”

 

“You know what we’re here to do?” Zack asked her, standing up as Arion signalled that they were at the drop zone.

“To kill the Grineer.” Kairy responded, with a sudden burst of determination.

“Hmm….” Zack noted her renewed determination, strapping his Scindo onto its magnetic sheath on his back, not arming himself further.

 

Kairy stood up as well, placing her inactive Ether Blade onto the magnetic sheath on her back, picking up her Latron rifle as well, wondering why he hadn’t brought more weapons.

 

 

---------------

 

 

Zack jumped out of the Lisette first, crashing down into the ground with a deep thunk, followed by the agile tip-toeing sound of a trinity landing gracefully besides him.

He felt the relief of some of the warframe’s safeguards deactivating. ‘She really wants me to vent out? Very well, enjoy the show Lotus.’ He thought, looking towards the Trinity with a hidden grin on his face.

 

“Stand back.” He simply said to Kairy, his voice still gruff, but not muffled, as if the comm systems in his frame had been activated there and then.

“You’ll want to avoid crossfire.” He then added, as his frame was coated in the void-forged armor coating simply called an Iron Skin, even though it was neither iron nor skin.

 

Kairy raced after the surprisingly fast Rhino, as he got to a door to the facility.

“It’s locked, lets find another way in.” She suggested, looking around them.

“You do that, use a different path.” He replied bluntly, raising his Scindo and jamming it into the crevice between the two door-panels. He then pulled it out and did it again, and again, and again.

 

Kairy could hear the grinding and pounding noise five more times before she heard a different one. The sound of a sliding door opening.

 

She looked over to where Zack had been, and saw that he had hacked through the locks in the center of the door, and then used brute force to force the door open.

 

She walked hesitantly through the opening, one of the panels significantly skewed in order to keep them open, and that’s when she heard gunfire. She raced towards him, something was very wrong about this mission and it was not anything regarding the Grineer they were about to face.

 

 

--

 

 

Old instincts filled Zack’s mind. A whole different mindset overtook him.

On the ride there he had been Zachary, a Tenno warrior, but here it was different. He was now on the hunting grounds, here he was a predator, and in the minds of the stationed Grineer, he would be nothing short of a perfect predator.

 

The first to spot him was a Trooper, a simple Grineer clone who was going up against something way out of his league.

And he understood that, as he fired the warning shot for his allies towards the Red Rhino….. except the color was the blood of the same allies he was calling for, and desperation crept onto his face in realization of that, only a moment before a scindo’s blade drove itself through the same face.

 

This wasn’t a mission to drive the Grineer out of an outpost, this wasn’t a mission to protect the nearest colony, no, this mission was a straight-out massacre, and the Lotus was going to understand that when Zack would show her the fruit of his labor, the hunt he had been itching for. And this message would arrive in the form of Grineer blood.

 

Another patrol, another straggler torn apart silently, before his friends would follow his fate, each stroke of the axe equal to an artist’s brush, painting the walls in beautiful artwork as the guard’s numbers dwindled.

 

 

---

 

 

Kairy felt sick, and had to fight back her nausea more than once.

Sure, she hated the Grineer a bit more than the average Tenno, but not even a genocidal maniac or the cruellest sadistical killer deserved what these had suffered, or at least how much of it she could tell from the remains.

 

They were everywhere, across the walls, the floors, the ceilings!! Every room that had once contained a patrol group was eerily painted red, red and yellow-ish. A quick examination showed her that the yellow liquid was hydraulic fluid, probably once used for the cybernetic augments of the soldiers.

 

 

This was her first real mission, and the lotus had sent her on with that….. thing.

The Rhino wasn’t a monster, that word would never describe him well enough. A monster could be beaten or fought off, his work showed signs of his enemy’s despair and fear of just the sight of him… no, enemy would not be the right word:

 

Victims.

 

 

She stopped in a corridor to think, Zack had only a minute’s head-start on her… which meant this… creature… was performing all of that in under a minute per room, keeping up his pace to stay ahead.

She gulped and seriously second-guessed going in further… He clearly didn’t need any help and would not slow down.

She, however, questioned how much more of his… work… she could stomach to witness.

What she had seen already made her feel like she had been a child before this mission, blissfully ignorant of what the world could truly withhold… not knowing of what kind of monsters there existed within their own ranks.

 

 

No, she would not go further. She could hear screams of agony and hesitant gunfire further down, the wielders of said guns already breaking into a run to escape from the nightmare in flesh that had come here…. that she had come with.

 

She turned away and walked back down the corridor, choosing to go past the massacre she had already seen, rather than to witness whatever there was up ahead, as she watched the number of guards registered in her heads-up-display lower at an alarming rate.

 

She had made the right choice not to continue. She wasn’t ready for something like this…. and any being that truly was, was probably a monster themselves.

 

 

---

 

 

The Silver Rhino roared in silent laughter, silently jumping from shadow to shadow, evading the aims of the degenerate cattle as he tore them apart, one by one, through strikes aimed to incapacitate, not to kill.

 

He tore those who fought apart, taking his time converting them into masterpieces as their friends routed and took off.

None escaped, not when his void-given powers as a wielder of a Rhino enabled him to close the gap between him and the fleeing cattle in an instant, spilling their insides, outsides, and all other sides everywhere around the room.

 

Only once the number on the heads-up-display showed 0, did he stop.

He looked over what he had done, and cackled in glee. “An ’elite’ facility, you said, Lotus!” He roared, laughing.

“Something a veteran would be hard-pressed against? Your estimates have never been so far off since the day I awoke!”

 

He kept laughing as he felt the support systems of the Rhino shut down. Then the communications was cut off. Finally the rest of the non-vital systems were closed off, and Zack was left with carrying the warframe through his own strength.

No cybernetic or void-granted assistance was given anymore, not that it hampered his movement as he walked back through the hallways of the compound, smiling and admiring his own work the whole way back to the Lisette.

 

 

--

 

 

The Lotus looked through the feed, and was reminded of why the Old Ones had left the Tenno in the ship he had been found in.

Derelict X-450au, Y-20au, Z-13au.

A prison vessel that had been abandoned.

 

Was it lost by accident, or forgotten on purpose?

 

Every time she saw the aftermath of this Tenno’s missions, she always felt inclined to believe the latter.

But he was Tenno, and she would guide them… even if that meant just pointing out a direction and watch them hunt down and slaughter everything in the said direction.

 

[khimera]

Holy crap I'm actually back, and with continuation.

 

Ein was hesitant to enter his Sensei's room when he heard shouting coming from inside. A lover's quarrel? Certainly not, Khimera and Canis loved each other to the point it was almost sickening to some of the other Tenno when they got affectionate with each other. They had never fought or argued in anger, a damn near perfect couple really. Leaning closer to the door to listen Ein forgot about proximity detection and fell down in the doorway as the metal barrier slid away, Zen chirruping and leaving the desk in the room to sit in front of Ein's flattened face. "Hello Zen, it's good to see you too." The young Tenno sighed and picked himself up, shaking his head a bit before he saw what Khimera was arguing with; a Cephalon projection.

 

"Don't give me that crap Ordis who the hell is he?! He's been at every spot Crowley's been seen at and he's definitely hunting!" Khimera snarled at the flickering projection of his personal Ordis Cephalon. The AI, which was in fact part of the basis of Ein's own intellect and evolving personality at root code, seemed intimidated by its master's anger.

 

"Don't hurt Ordis, Ordis is only the messenger here! There is speculation this is you, Master, after all you have a tendency to change color when you do things on your own." It tried to explain, the cubic hologram shrinking back as it 'saw' Khimera's face twist into fury, one eye twitching a bit.

 

"Why in the HELL would I be hunting one of my best friends!?" Slamming his hands on the desk Khimera couldn't stop the hoarseness from showing in his voice. He'd been shouting a lot lately and it was taking his ability to speak here and there, and he was feeling the soreness of his throat today.

 

Ordis made a clearing of the throat noise, the cube shaking back and forth. This cephalon in particular had quite a personality. "Master, the evidence is only in circumstance. After all, there are recordings of this Oberon using your technique as well."

Furrowing his brow the helmetless Oberon stood more upright and folded his arms. "Elaborate, cephalon, before I rewrite you into a pong machine." An idle threat, Khimera wouldn't do his cephalon harm and his cephalon knew it, but it was still a good motivator.

 

"You pioneered the infusion technique, Master. Data shows and mentions your name several times when it comes with infusing warframe energy into blows and particularly through ranged weaponry." The cephalon brought up a screen showing a feed from a hiding Tenno marked as a few days ago on a Grineer ship showing the bone-colored Oberon holding his Sybaris one-handed, firing a bullet made of the same blood red energy as emanated from his warframe. "Ordis has done comparisons, and while Master hasn't been using his technique lately there is a good chance this 'Hunter' has studied it and is making use of it to hunt down the Grand Master?" The cephalon was hoping it was being useful, it didn't want to become an arcade machine.

 

"Damnit...god motherfu-" Turning around Khimera saw Einherjar standing there and dropped his arms. "O-oh...hello Ein. Did you need something?" He asked, feeling slightly embarrassed to have done such outbursts around Ein, even though he'd let his anger boil over when speaking with the Crusaders.

Nodding, Ein reached back to his neck and moved to the desk, forming a connection with the terminal there. "Apologies, Sensei's Ordis, I need this for a moment." Before the cephalon could protest the terminal was taken over by Ein's impossibly more powerful systems, bringing up the folder filled with the files he'd gathered a few minutes ago. "Sensei...these are coordinates I didn't have in my files before. I think father may be sending these to me when I 'sleep' so I can find him...so WE can find him. You are the only Tenno I know who can decode something like this. Father doesn't want anyone to go after him alone." Having sent a copy to Khimera's personal terminal, Ein detached himself and turned to look at his teacher.

The older Tenno had a hand over his mouth, looking at the files and their encryptions. They were amazingly complex, but he could decode them one at a time. It would take a while, but he could decode all of them, and any new ones Ein might receive soon. "What makes you think he wants anyone but us two to find him?" He asked softly, rubbing over his throat as his face changed to concern.

"Because..." Ein seemed to smile as Zen clambered onto his shoulder, nuzzling him affectionately like a truly loyal pet. "...because he's becoming something that we can't stop by ourselves. We can fix him...we have to be able to fix my father!" Looking into Khimera's eyes, Ein's ocular lights shifted from red to blue, taking on a sorrowful feel. "I don't want him to die."

Biting his lower lip Khi could feel the emotion behind Einherjar's words and nodded. None of them wanted Crowley to die...but how long did they have before the changes were irreversible? There were also the Crusaders, the Hunter, and those hounding after Crowley to think about. It was too much to do on their own; Ein was right. Snapping his head back toward the screen filled with encrypted files the Oberon let out a shaky sigh. "Okay...just...I need some time, all right? Do everything you can to slow down the hunt. Take everyone we can trust out there to stop everyone from going after Crowley, okay? Even if you have to fight other Tenno, at the least you can stop them, just don't kill them, okay? I don't want you of all people to end up like a Stalker..."

Nodding, Einherjar bowed low and left his sensei's room, determined to do just as had been asked of him. No one would get to his father before they did. All of Aequitas would fall before they let Crowley become a trophy on the wall of the Council's wretched hideaway.

[QuinnsWing]

Hello again, maybe some old stories for you all to remember?

 

Sorry for the jump around with them, but just some copy and paste, i couldn't put it all here right?  :)

 

Quinn had almost dropped his unopened bottle of vodka at the sight which lay before him. So much Orokin technology was laid out, so much old and forgotten things. This red haired, one eyed excalibur had brought him these things, why? 

 

“Kris.......how in the hell......no no....no.....” Quinn said mostly to himself as he looked at the grinning man who stood before him. letting his helmet retract and his hair fall around his face, Quinn opened the bottle. 

 

“I think the first sip should be for you.” He said handing the bottle to Kris, who promptly took a small swig. His face flushed slightly because of the strong brew, but this only made the Foundry Master grin. 

 

“Acantha?” Quinn asked taking the bottle and holding it out for her. She hesitantly took the bottle and sniffed it. Shrugging because she couldn't smell anything took a very small sip. The result, was her coughing and trying to sip out the flaming drink. Quinn and Kris were now laughing and almost rolling on the ground at her reaction. Ein of course did not know what was going on but decided to head out, saying bye. 

 

“Of course Ein you have stuff to do.” Quinn said wiping a tear from his eye, “Im sorry Acantha, so sorry, how do you like your weapons?”

 

“They look like new.” She said excitedly, “Except there are still scratches and marks on them.”

 

“I know, i left them like that intentionally, a weapon has to have its history right?”  Shrugging, Quinn continued to stare and almost drool at the Orokin tech which was laying about his room. Along with few sips of vodka.

 

----

 

Her voice cut through his clouded mind.

 

“I’ll be going now. Perhaps we can talk later about what i owe you for repairing my weapons?”

 

Nodding distractedly, he listened to her leave. Slowly his head fell into his hands as memories flooded his mind again. 

 

“Why do you have eyes like her?” He asked the air. “, with so much life? why?” With hands sliding down his face, Quinn looked up at the Orokin artifacts laid out before him. 

 

Sorting them into some boxes he set them in the elevator and sent them down. Looking about his room, Quinn grabbed the semi full bottle of vodka. Looking at it, he shook his head and set it aside. 

 

“I just need to sleep.” He said to himself as he felt the weeks of exhaustion creep up to him and into his bones. They felt like lead as he walked to his bed and sat down. His warframe retracted and the suit beneath it was skin tight. It showed the old scars which had puckers and never healed properly. Sighing deeply, Quinn laid down and covered himself with a sheet.

 

A swan necklace shone in the dyeing light as Quinn fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

 

-----

 

The fight had left no one untouched. The dojo was in chaos, the halls, the rooms, the memorial, in wreckage. Quinn just stood and looked on, empty. He stood in the middle of the memorial hall, looking at the floor where the head of the statue lay. Looking up slowly, Quinn surveyed the whole room, at those running around, those sitting, those screaming, those crying. Letting his helmet retract, his hair black fell in a mess around his face. He was empty, he could feel nothing, this was so familiar, so cruelly familiar. The destruction and pain. Falling to his knees, Quinn picked up what was left of the statue. No one was looking at him, but he was crying, holding the head of the statue to his chest. He could feel the pain of everyone, he had felt it once before. He had never wanted to feel it again, but it was inevitable, sadly. He cried, no one noticed, his tears, streaming from tortured grey eyes. 

 

It took him a long time to gain what little composer he could. Standing shakily to his feet, Quinn still held the head of the statue. He wanted to blame someone anyone, Kris. Thats who he wanted to blame, but he could not bring himself to blame that scarred Tenno. They where all scarred, broken, tortured by their past. That is who they are, bound by their broken body and souls. This was how they lived, they thrived, helping each other, healing each other. This clan was a home for the crushed, the pained, the sad. This place was a home for anyone and everyone, no matter who you are, what you had been through. A past held no standing in this clan, you are one of them, even if you weren't, accepted no matter what.

 

Aequitas dojo, a home to the fallen, the broken, the crippled, a home to all.

 

 

----

 

He traveled for a few hours, into the darkness, with only Juliet keeping him company. 

 

“What do i think i will find?” Quinn asked himself, Juliet turned to him. Floating around his head, Juliet closed and opened his wing multiple times. Letting the silence fill the snub again, Quinn lost himself in the past and those beautiful green eyes. A few more hours passed when the planet came into view. It was grey and brown, no color graced this planet. Looking out the window, Quinn grew saddened. Juliet, sensing the mood, got closer to his master and made some noises. 

 

The dust which was stirred up from the snub’s landing, left the air clouded as Quinn exited the snub. Juliet, whirled about, looking at the barren planet. Quinn’s face was filled with pain and sadness. Taking a few slow steps from the ship, Quinn quickly picked up his pace heading towards ruins. The shone at its apex, fulling exposing the barren and destroyed city. Quinn weaved his way through the broken streets, Juliet close on his heals.

----------

 

He had not walked more than 20 feet until he could see the memories of people running around, smiling laughing, enjoying “life”. Turning away, Quinn kept on walking. Pushing his way deeper into the crumbling ruins, he came upon the Square. It was empty, the building stood in shadows and the dark corners seem to be alive, moving on their own accord. But Quinn payed them no heed, he stood watching the old bakery. The sun filtered through the dark clouds, lighting the dreary Square, lighting the doorway to the bakery. The shadow “people” danced about, their soundless conversations filling the Square.

 

Shaking off the feeling of oppression, Quinn opened the door. Dust rolled out of the old room, billowing around his feet. Looking down sadly, he continued onward. Juliet, noticing it was dark, turned his light on, give the room an eerie glow. Letting his helmet retract, Quinn continued into the bakery, past decaying tables and chairs and up the stairs. The stairwell creaked and groaned under his weight, but Quinn ignored the sounds, his mind was filled with those memories. 

 

“I love you” A voice echoed through the room. Looking about, Quinn was shocked, Juliet did not notice anything though. Shaking off the feeling of dread, Quinn made his way up to her bedroom. The smell of decay and mildew filled the room as he entered. The bed was empty and the room was full of dust. Simply walking over and picking up a candle from a table, Quinn lit it with a match, sat it back down then sat on the floor. 

 

A few hours passed, nothing happened, Quinn sat quietly in the depressing room. Remembering the memories, the fear, the pain, the sorrow, the anger. Along with love, happiness, enjoyment. With a rueful smile, Quinn rested his head against the wall, drifting into a light sleep, full of memories. 

 

A soft, warm hand caressed his cheek, opening his eyes, Quinn saw her. Joanna, her smiling face, her beautiful hair. She smiled at him, bringing tears to his eyes.

 

A warm laugh woke him. Opening his eyes, Quinn felt something warm leave his cheek. Reaching up slowly, Quinn felt his cheek. It was warm. Tears began to fall from his cheeks as he looked about desperately. Wiping tears away, Quinn stood and looked at the bed.

 

“I will always love you.” Turning away, Quinn left the bakery, the square, the ruins, back to his ship, with Juliet on his heals. 

 

-----

 

The ceremony had left Quinn exhausted for some reason but he had no time to rest, Crowley had contacted him, and it was important. 

 

Crowley had deemed Ein worthy of an upgrade. The design took them awhile but with help of Ein, though somewhat childish at parts, helped them greatly. 

 

A week or so passed before Quinn could actually take a break and sit. Ein was in his new “body”, Crowley was off again somewhere, and Quinn was behind in the foundry, the new guys couldn't do much more than clean weapons. With a promise of Vodka, Ein was off to greet everyone with his new body. Quinn wanted to rest, but something weighted on his mind, the way Crowley presented himself, he seemed tired, worn, old. This had Quinn worrying, he knew Crowley rather well, he had never been like this before something was up. With a sigh, Quinn sat up and opened up some communications, sending a message to Ein and Crowley. 

 

“Ein, Drop by sometime so i can check on you new “body” also if you need any new weapons or gear, just drop by anytime, the doors are always open to you.”

 

Now on to Crowley, Quinn really didn't know how to approach this subject, so he jumped right in. 

 

“Crowley, How should i word this? .........What the hell is wrong? You have never been this tired, or even worn out to me, if we get a chance i would like to talk to you, just us, even if it takes a mission i have to talk, if you have no time make time old friend, and you know, if i can help you i will do all that i can.”

 

With a sigh, Quinn put his feet on a desk and leaned back. He awoke to a loud sound, he had fallen out of his chair. With a small laugh Quinn got up and sat back down in his chair. He needed something to do, boredom had set in like a rat plague of the old age. Standing Quinn knew what he would build. A weapon of great skill, and a prime at that. Maybe someone would want it, for its beauty, power, or grace. 

 

Walking to the back room, Quinn got to work building the perfect Orthos Prime. 

 

Time passed with no reply from either Ein or Crowley, Quinn was content though, making weapons and losing himself in work. Until a message reached him, it was Crowley. 

 

“I have been....indisposed, at least until Ein’s recent situation. I have....I am.....” A pause for a moment. “ You must swear upon your soul you will not reveal this until the appointed time.” Another pause, causing a gap in the message. “....There is no hope for my recovery...and i do not seek a recovery. I have lived too long, too many lifetimes......” 

 

Quinn listened to the rest in silence. Bowing his head, he somehow knew this. He could feel tears, but they were not allowed to flow. Lifting his head, Quinn walked out of the foundry. 

 

Muttering under his breath Quinn strode past some apprentices. 

 

All they heard was, 

 

“That stupid Old Crow.”

 

---------

I think you all remember this story though

-------------

 Taking off the “gloves” of his frame and most of the arm sections, Quinn walked back to the room he had cleared earlier. The large white slab of granite was old and weathered, but it was ancient, from the time of the fall. Looking the slab over Quinn knew that Aj would be proud to see it, and to see what it would have become. 

 

“Let this become my final tribute to you.” Taking up the tools which he had specially made, Quinn began carving. Hours passed and the snow like dust clogged the air constantly. Quinn ignored time, space, and pain. The pictures which he referenced were bringing tears to his eyes everytime he had to glance at them. The white granite slowly began to take shape as the hours passed. Breaks were passed even when he knew he needed them.

 

 Ignoring the alarm for his 20th break, Quinn continued his carving, his hands were swollen and the blisters began to bleed. Taking his only break in many hours, Quinn only went and wrapped his hands in some cloth so that his blood would not soil the white granite. After some time, Quinn almost ripped off his helmet so he could do the detailed work. Almost a whole day passed since he started and he was almost done. 

 

Wiping sweat from his brow, the grey eyes looked upon something that would rival the most dedicated artist and craftsmen of all time. A long tear rolled down a dust covered cheek. An exact replica of Ajkrumen stood before the Vauban, with an arm extended, like he was holding onto something, a trophy. Walking back to his des, Quinn picked up the stalkers helmet. Placing the empty trophy in the hand, Quinn looked back, wiping the tear from his face.

 

“Almost done….” He said quietly. Kneeling down he began to chisel away at the bottom of the slab where he had left a large space. Finishing his work Quinn left the granite to sit, and went to clean up. After washing away the blood and bandaging the blisters and cuts, Quinn went and activated some mannequins to carry the granite out into the dojo. The Grand Hall was mostly empty of Tenno only a few remained to meditate or talk amongst themselves. Quinn walked through the doors and with his precession of mannequins close behind entered the hall. The granite carving was placed softly to the floor, and with some help was positioned so that all who would enter the dojo would see the late Ajkrumen’s likeness before them. The final piece was placed in the palm of the statute and with that Quinn walked back to his foundry with his mannequins, head bowed and tears streaming down his face. 

 

The Tenno in the Grand Hall circled the masterpiece, Ajkrumen stood before them, almost life like with the stalkers helmet held in his hand. One kneeled down to read the inscription at the bottom.

 

“So long as there is air in my lungs, and blood in my veins, no ally shall fall. We will never know defeat, never taste despair, for failure is not an option.” The Tenno read out loud for all of them to hear. 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2014 by QuinnsWing

[Achaix]

Disclaimer: Weird organization that is not in Lore. Then again, DE will probably add an Infested Syndicate... so why fight it?

Also, RETCON! And MG references.

One pill, two pill, three pill. Three. Cubic root of 27, square root of 9, second prime number. Or was it third?

No time for those questions, now. Down, down the hatch they go. Wash them down with saliva. Five seconds of anxiety, and-

With another gulp, Dirge vanished, and only Gabriel remained. It was getting a bit cramped in the ventilation ducts, but he wasn't complaining. Blood dripped from a cut over his right eye.

Keep him safe.

The stealthy Nekros traversed the remaining distance without much difficulty, waiting at the right times to convince the crew that nothing was over them.

The Grigori was a combat dreadnought designed for stealth, and served as the nerve center for TRUESONG Operations.

That idiot, Gabriel thought. He really believed he could infiltrate it on his own. Good thing your big brother is still alive, Anthem.

A Riot MOA trudged below, making the floor shake under it's weight. Damn. They aren't taking any chances with the f*cker.

He kept going forward, then dropped down onto a PMC guard, cleaving him in half with his Wailing Dark - his Dragon Nikana.

He didn't like guns. They didn't offer as much satisfa-

No. Stop that.

He found that the distance between the escape pods and the prisoner cells wasn't so large. Good.

After taking down the hulking guards by himself, he brought them back to life to cover his escape route.

Alarms blared and guns roared, but Gabriel found his brother; starving, dirty and scarred, but still his brother.

"Your lucky day." He lifted the comatose Oberon and ran, dodging bullets and leaping over the dumbfounded soldiers. "The exception that proves the rule, eh?"

He kept talking, hoping that the words would stay with the former captive. "We never got along, did we?" Something exploded behind, but he paid it no heed.

"You were so pure and incorruptible... look where it got you. We got the Conductor, alright, but not the Composer." A humorless laugh. "Proxies behind proxies. Insidious little f*ckers. But we sure ripped the Conductor a new one."

He entered the escape pod and prepped the systems, gently laying Anthem down on the floor. "We have to do it again. You... have to do it again. I'm giving you a chance, Anthem. You're the only lifeline I've got."

He closed the door, and raised his hand to the EJECT button. "You're my legacy now. You're my brother."

"You are... my revengeance."

He pressed the button with all his strength. "Take back everything we lost!"

-+-

Not long after, the Grigori imploded, the vaccum of space triumphing against the metal construction.

A lone pod, it's destination a mystery, left the wreckage.

[khimera]

Something relatively light...for now

 

 

"How in the bloody hell am I supposed to NOT fly into walls?" Faust grumbled as he rammed into a wall of a corpus ship for the fifteenth time during this mission, his shields always holding up but the impact still jarring...and increasingly annoying. The Odonata was a balanced Archwing, and it would be an asset in the search for Crowley, but Faust was finding it impossible to aim himself.

 

Einherjar, on the other hand, was a natural. He was rolling around in space, taking his time in the more open area speeding around unlike his mission companion. "Really? It's not that hard if you watch the obstacles. The Archwing systems automatically alert us to enemies so we can slow down and take them out. Sensei's husband said this would be easy for us." Ein commented, bringing out his Imperator, shooting down an attack drone so it wouldn't bring back reinforcements. Ein was equipped with an Odonata as well, though his systems were far more integrated with the Archwing than a normal Tenno's Warframe might.

 

Shaking his head the bone-colored Nekros began to accelerate again, not used to the extra axis of movement. He wondered if Ein had some sort of extra gyroscope to keep him balanced. For the life of him Faust could not keep himself angled correctly. "It's like having extra limbs you didn't have before, what part of this is easy?!" He complained, consigning himself to hovering behind the much faster, younger Tenno. "I don't understand how some people get this so easily."

"Hey, at least when you pinball it makes for a good laugh!" Sandalphon chuckled as he whizzed past Faust, saluting the Nekros as he went after Ein. Sandals had been given leave from Aequitas member registration so he could work on his combat skills again, something that had been lacking of late. The Excalibur Prime-wearing Tenno was certainly much more chipper than when he'd last gone out in public ages ago. However, true to form he refused to use fire arms even when equipped with an Archwing. Sandalphon came with an Onorix and Veritux and had made more than a few attempts to dual-wield the massive weapons to no avail. It was a challenge he embraced as much as one-handing a Galatine.

 

With a sigh Faust continued on behind his friends, wondering where their leader had gone off to. Canis had agreed to the mission mainly because Khimera was busy, though only Canis and Ein were privy as to why. Khimera would normally spearhead a mission such as this, but had dismissed it as a simple sabotage mission and requested his husband serve as mission leader this time. It was odd, but not necessarily out of the ordinary since Khi had something computer-y to do. Tilting his head, nearly bumping into another wall, Faust was also considering how annoying the Cephalons could be when one was working. Who knows, maybe Khimera would have a solution for his Archwing issues when he got back!

 

[Sayfog]

I am back! And with a story!

'Screw that S#&$' Aero muttered as she overrode the safety precautions installed on the Liset's software. Opening up the throttle to max. The Liset rocketed out like a bat outta hell. Escaping the Formorians tractor beam. Once she got back to the Dojo she went to her room and proceeded to fall over onto her bed while Cyanide closed the door behind Aero.

'Right as I was just going to ask her a question.' Muttered the annoyed Cyanide.

The next day when Aero woke up she saw one waiting message. Drearily rubbing her eyes she opened it to see that it was from Cyanide and that she needed her help with something.

'Heck, why not? I'll help her out.' thought Aero as she started to walk towards Cyanide's room.

'Good! You're here weren't expecting you to come here. Now, to business, what I need you're help with is this.' Cyanide said as she passed Aero the blueprints for an in atmosphere guided acid bomb.

'This, this won't work in it's current state. What you need is a more aerodynamic outer-shell with the manoeuvring thrusters built in to the outer shell. I'll whip up a ROUGH mockup for you overnight.' Aero said upon seeing

'Really? Thank you! That's the biggest act of kindness someone has done for me in a looooooong as time.' replied a shocked Cyanide to Aero.

'No problem, it's my speciality.'

Later that night, Aero took the rough plans that Cyanide gave her and made the shell sleeker, put the thrusters inside the housing and finally made a quick rough model of it. On the way back Aero saw a Nyx sitting in the observatory looking out, almost longingly, although Aero couldn't be sure because the Nyx had her helmet on. So Aero walked up to the Nyx and sat down next to her.

As Aero was about to say hi when a voice pierced into her mind, past her feeble barriers. "I am Ghost. What is your name?" Said the voice.

"My name is Aero. How are you today?" Replied Aero.

"I am fine. Might I inquire about the pod that you are holding?"

"Oh. Yeah this, this Ghost is my rough model of an airborne poison delivery system originally thought of by my dear friend Cyanide a Saryn."

"That is interesting to say the least. Seeing as you asked me, I'll ask you. How are you today?"

"Oh, me, well I'm fine. Just a bit annoyed at how tiring manipulating air is."

"I can imagine! Though in my opinion, manipulating minds is more tiring. Getting into multiples peoples brain, effectively rewiring all of them all with in a few seconds. Or redirecting bullets using only your mind."

"I'm sure that's more tiring than manipulating air all day. So I won't try it, especially because I can't do it."

"Since you're not a Nyx, I certainly wouldn't reccomend it" Ghost said, her amusement apparent in her tone.

"Heh. Anyway, I've got to show this to my friend Cyanide now. It was nice talking/telepathing to you."

"The pleasure was mine! Farewell~"

With that Aero walked off to go meet Cyanide, waving at the Nyx as she left the room.

When Aero got to Cyanide's room Cyanide was asleep on her bed with diagrams around her which had failed designs on them. Being careful not to disturb her she placed the prototype on her bench along with the blueprints.

The next day when Cyanide got up she saw the prototype and diagram and squeed then proceeded to pass out from joy. Cyanide immediately went to work on designing different types. Like an explosive version, a poison version and a smoke version. To test the four versions out she put on her Odonata Archwing and took the four versions with her. To test them she one by one fired them at a passing Corpus ship. The acid one went straight through causing a breach, the explosive one hit a window and totally destroyed it, the poison one was shot into the bridge where it poisoned all of the occupants and the smoke version filled the hallway obscuring everyone. When Cyanide got back she couldn't stop thanking Aero.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Sayfog

[bejuizb]

This is a sort of pick-me-up chapter I've meant to happen a ways down the plotline for my characters. Hope people don't mind the fluff and abstract nature of the chapter. Feedback is much appreciated.

 

Oath

 

His battered body ached for respite, his breathing was slow and shallow; he wanted to just stop. End it right then and there. He was curled up against the wall of the ship, knees drawn up to his chin, matted hair masking his expression. The mission had been a success, but losses were inevitable. He'd seen the eyes of the soldiers he was working with. Their pain resonated with him, possibly even more so. Twice...two lifetimes full of failures.

 

Four hundred and twenty six.

 

Four hundred and twenty six people were unaccounted for in that crash. Unaccounted was an easier way to say that they were lost. Today had made him sacrifice the lives of a few to spare the lives of many. The lesser of two evils, he was told. Complete bullS#&$.

 

Aiden gritted his teeth and reined in a snarl of frustration. Why did he decide to jump into cryostasis? Why didn't he just give up then and there, and bide his time with the rest of the solar system? Why did he decide to continue living with his failures?

 

Why?

 

Because you were afraid.

 

The voice stunned him. He raised his head and looked to his side.

 

There she was. Jet black hair, with purple streaks; pale, tender skin, angelic features, a heartwarming smile. Beautiful pearls gazed upon him, twinkling in the diffused light of the small room.

 

No...

 

It can't be...

 

She smiled. The woman from his past. The woman that was his past. I'm here, Aiden.

 

You're not real. You...no. You're not here. He glared at the floor of the ship. She died long ago.

 

A soft hand pressed against his, familiar fingers fitting into the gaps of his own. You're not alone. Not anymore.

 

He let loose a mirthless laugh. “I'm losing my mind.” A pained expression flitted across her face as his own fists slammed against his forehead. “@(*()$ end already!” he seethed, spittle flying from his gritted teeth.

 

Baleful eyes bored into his very being. I'll die as well then.

 

What...?

 

If you end this now, I die as well. I don't want you to suffer any more because of me.

 

F***...Cathy...why now? Why after so many years?

 

A gentle smile. You need me now more than ever. He felt her arms wrap around his shoulder as her head rested against his shoulders. She was warm. I don't like seeing you this way.

 

You're just a figment of my imagination. You're not real. Cathy...she's not here any more. Damien made sure of that.

 

You still want me gone?

 

...No.

 

She smiled knowingly. This...delusion, whatever it was; it acted exactly like her. He calmed slightly after looking at her features for a few silent, precious moments.

 

She laughed. Something on my face?

 

No. I haven't seen you for so long.

 

I miss you too.

 

“Why are you here?” he asked out loud, not continuing down that path. He was already in enough pain.

 

She peeled herself away from him and sat cross legged in front of him, raven locks hiding her features. “A part of you wants to end all of this. Just...off yourself. Another part of you doesn't. The part of you that is scared.” White teeth glinted in the light of the room. “I'm that part.”

 

“So you acknowledge that you're not real?”

 

“Yup. I don't exist anywhere but inside your head, Aiden.”

 

He clenched his fists. “Go away. Don't push me by using her as a tool.”

 

“I am Cathy, sweetheart. I'm the Cathy inside your head.” She reached for his clenched fists and pried them open gently. As her fingers laced between his once again, she spoke.

 

“Why do you want to end this now?”

 

He scoffed, holding on to her hands a bit more forcefully. “Why not? I've served my purpose. I formed a clan, I helped with the transformation of Earth, I played a role in the Collapse. I've slain hundreds, thousands maybe, for the sake of the innocent. I found the perfect woman, I found the perfect friend. I could have stayed behind, died away from old age, and still live without regrets.”

 

“But you do have them?”

 

He looked down at the fabric of his pants. “What?”
 

Regrets.

 

Yeah...I do.

 

What regrets, Aiden?

“I regret being unable to remember the names of my parents. I regret being unable to remember their faces. I regret being unable to fulfill my biggest goal: keeping you alive, keeping you safe...keeping you happy. I regret being unable to sit right here next to the real you, speaking my heart out. I regret the things I did to Damien, how I tortured him before I spaced him. I regret getting into cryostasis and continuing this nightmare. I regret waking up again. I regret not dying when I had the chance a few months ago. I regret sacrificing all those colonists today. I regret having feelings for someone other than you. I regret...” He paused. His breath was coming in quick bursts, and his heart was pounding in his head.

 

I regret...everything. Every. Living. Breathing. Moment.

 

Warm hands cupped the sides of his face, raising them so that their eyes met. “Live, sweetheart. Don't be afraid of failing.”

 

“Easier said than done,” he said, averting his gaze.

 

She paused, but refused to let go of her hold. “You feel guilty about me?”

 

“No...I feel guilty about what happened to you. I feel guilty for being an evil @(*()$ bastard and feeling the same way about someone else.”

 

She smiled. “Who?”

 

He gritted his teeth. “Rakth.”

 

Her smiled only broadened. “Why do you feel guilty about liking her?”

 

“Because!” He sighed. “Because...it doesn't feel right. I don't want to betray you.”

 

“You're not betraying me, Aiden. I'm dead. Long gone. I would have wanted you to move on with your life.”

 

“Whatever you say. It's still not right. She doesn't deserve a guy like me. I'm unstable, she's unstable. She needs an anchor, something secure to hold on to. I'm not that guy.”

 

“You're still the same unstable idiot I fell for,” she laughed, rubbing her fingers over his. “Give it a shot. That's all I can say, sweetheart.”

 

She got up and pulled him to his feet as well. “Live. Don't regret your past. Cherish the good memories, and learn from the bad. Cathy would want you to move on. You are a warrior, one of the greatest this system has to offer. I believe in that. Keep fighting, and keep your memories alive. I might just be a fiction of your imagination, Aiden, but I am the last remaining relic of the woman called Cathy. If you go, I go.”

 

He blinked, she was gone.

 

Live.

 

-]|[-  

He didn't know how long it had been since he'd passed out, or when exactly he'd passed out, but when his eyelids separated, he was leaning against the far wall of his small room again. He felt a warm body leaning against him, and a quick glance told him that it was Rakth. She had gone to sleep sitting next to him, and now she was laying against him, brown hair doing little to hide the myriad of scars that stretched across her entire body.

 

Marks of a survivor, he thought absently, as he twirled a single lock of hair and enjoyed her warmth. He did not know when this had happened, but he wasn't too bothered about specifics. Somewhere along the line, he had fallen for this girl. This strange, quiet, unstable survivor. A troubled soul, just like him.

 

She looked peaceful in this position, slumped against his shoulder. Her breathing was gentle, and her expression was relaxed. He could almost say that she was smiling in her sleep, possibly from some pleasant dreams. Her arms were bandaged like his; fresh wounds from their recent struggle. Their Warframes were in the ship foundry, repairing themselves, and the Kubrows were resting in the hold. After last night...after his conversation with her, he couldn't recollect what happened. What led to them being in this position? Rakth was not one to let her guard down so easily. As he sat there, enjoying the warmth of another person, his wandering thoughts were interrupted by the blaring speech of the ship Cephalon.

 

“Operator, you have a new message awaiting your perusal.”

 

“Quieten down!” Aiden hissed, looking in panic at the woman next to him. She seemed to be in a deep slumber, fortunately.

 

“My apologies, Operator,” Ordis said, in a noticeably lower volume. “Your message has been deemed urgent by the sender. I advise reading it at once.”

 

“What is it about?” said Aiden, careful not to let his speech get too loud or high pitched.

 

“The message is from your contact at Steel Meridian. The contents seem to indicate a location and a name.”

 

Aiden sighed. This damned Cephalon and his roundabout ways. “Care to elucidate?”

 

“Of course, Operator. I aim to please. The location is a facility orbiting Eris, and the name associated with this message is a certain Karli Seekt.”

 

Karli. He looked at Rakth. The woman responsible for her being like this. She will pay, a part of him said, the emotional, protective side.

 

“Ordis, what is the condition of our weapons and Warframes?”

 

“Your Warframes are at 86% integrity, and all weapons have been passed for functionality. Ammunition reserves are full, and can be equipped once the Warframe repairs are complete. I assume you wish for me to plot a course for this facility?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Very well, Operator. Due to conflicts surrounding the nearest rail, calculations show our estimated time of arrival to be within four solar days.”

 

Aiden returned to his own thoughts. Four days. In four days, he would get closer to finding this woman. He had a purpose at last. Thanks to Cathy. He looked at the sleeping form leaning against him.

 

I won't let her down. I will keep her safe. I won't stop till she's had her pain avenged. Till my last dying breath, I will care for her.

 

I, Aiden Silverfang, make this oath to both her and myself.

 

To live.

 

[MetroFallout]

I'm sorta back. Long post, possible backstory, until reviewed by other members of this thread, this shall be considered non-canon and a one off.

In Memoria Fortuna

The Sacking of Fortuna

1 year ago from present day:

The Colony Defence cannons blazed into the darkness of space, guided by the desperate souls trying to defend their lives from the onslaught of the Grineer. The armor-piercing fire from the guns cut a large swath of destruction through the ranks of the Grineer gunships but it was to no avail. The flood of Grineer airpower overwhelmed the cannons and they managed to get a foothold on the Steel Meridian colony. Working from that foothold, the Grineer methodically cut the colony’s capability to prevent more Grineer troops from coming in and killed the cannon operators, destroying the controls in the process. One by one, the cannons ceased firing and the Grineer poured into the colony through the hangar. Fortuna’s finest fought valiantly to defend the the colony’s civilians but fell one by one. The last remaining battalion, the Ranger battalion of the Spartan regiment, had called for backup from the other allied forces in the area a day ago and fortified a medic bay and armory in between the Grineer and the safe rooms for the civilians. Digging themselves in for a siege, they set themselves up for a long fight to stall the Grineer long enough for their reinforcements to arrive.

“How are those turrets coming along?” asked Yves Lécuyer, an unmodified human and one of the Meridian's top field operatives, as he fired a burst from his Burston into the faceplate of a Grineer lancer.

"Almost have them up and running. We might be able to survive this sir!" Said Hakkan, a young Meridian tech with a grin.

"Keep at it. Nothing's ever certain with the Grineer."

Firing in bursts, the last defenders of Fortuna took out more Grineer than the other battalions did on their own. The various staggered barks from the different weapons of the motley crew of fighters drowned out the agonised screams of the Grineer.

"Turrets online, time to let them do their work while we pick off the survivors." Said Hakkan as the plasma turrets powered up and fired towards the Grineer, the plasma bolts burning through their thick armour.

“Alright, we’ll take turns to take a breather. It’d help us stay sharp. First up, 1st squad take a break. 2nd squad take their place but get ready for your break. 3rd squad, your turn will come after 2nd squad. We’ll get through this yet.” said Yves, nodding towards the squad 1 leader.

As the squad 1 leader brought his squad to the back to rest, Yves saw the Grineer pull back as well. Frowning, he had the other 2 squads watch their movements while he headed into the medical bay where their radio equipment was set up to listen in on what the Grineer were doing. Putting on the headset and tuning in, Yves closed his eyes in concentration to decipher the garbled transmission and translate what the Grineer were saying.

“Pull back, squad 1 from 3rd battalion is approaching.” growled a harsh Grineer voice over the radio. “Let them deal with the traitorous Steel Meridian dogs.”

Yanking the headset off, Yves leapt out of his chair and sprinted out towards the barricade shouting for the defenders to watch for Grineer backup. Arriving just in time to catch a glimpse of a large group of Lancers rushing the defences while a line of shield lancers started forming up behind the Lancers. Yves eyes widened when he saw the barrels of several Grineer Scorchs’ Ignis flamethrowers poke out from gaps in between the shields.

Thinking quickly, he picked up a captured penta grenade launcher and lobbed an entire magazine past the shield lancers, detonating the grenades just as the first jet of flames washed over the first line of defenders. Fortunately for them, the fire was easily put out by rolling and snuffing out the flames. However, this allowed the Grineer to seize the opportunity to push forwards. Their advance was slow and steady as they took cover behind the the dropped shields of their dead comrades. The turrets, incapable of penetrating the shields, fired fruitlessly at the advancing Grineer, the rounds bouncing off the tough alloy.

While the turrets' fire was diverted, 2 bombards took position and fired at the turrets, destroying them and killing several defenders in the process. Angered by the deaths of his comrades, Yves grabbed a grenade off of Hakkan and threw it over the shielded Grineer and killed them in the resulting explosion. Following this failed push, the remaining Grineer retreated temporarily.

"Sir! We cannot hold this position! Shall we evacuate with the colonists?" Asked Hakkan, firing one last burst from his Braton before reloading.

Thinking for a moment, Yves came to the conclusion that the colonists could be saved if they had someone buy them time.

"I need 11 men to hold the Grineer back with me, the rest need to be evacuated with the colonists to escort them." He said before sighing, looking at Hakkan with a grim expression. "Do not question my orders now. Just do it and gather the 11 of them."

In between the attacks, the 11 volunteers for the suicide mission lined themselves up and readied themselves for the final assault from the Grineer that would ultimately claim their lives all in the hopes of delaying the enemy enough for the colonists to escape without being detected. With a pair of snipers keeping the Grineer occupied and on their toes, Yves addressed the remaining 9.

"I'm sure you all know the score. The Grineer need to be stalled for a long enough time for the shuttles to leave. Normally, given our odds of 12 people against an uncountable amount of approaching Grineer, most people would say that we are crazy and abandon their posts to the wind. We will not. We will fight to the last man standing to protect those who cannot protect themselves. We will prevail and prove them wrong. We will hold the line." Said Yves before taking a deep breath and belting out a battlecry. "So tell me, are you having fun?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Are we going to hold the line?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Damn straight! Take your positions!" Shouted Yves as he took his position behind a mounted Supra.

The following 10 minute battle was an excruciating meatgrinder with massive amounts of casualties on the Grineer side despite there only being 12 defenders in total. As the counter for the numbers of shuttles left in the emergency hangar dwindled, the amount of defenders fell as well. One by one, the defenders fell despite their valiant efforts until it was just Yves and Hakkan.

"Sir! The last shuttle is having trouble with the extraction!" Shouted Hakkan in a panic as he fired a burst into the faceplate of the last lancer of the previous wave of attackers. "What are your orders?"

"Go help them and extract. I'll buy you more time before they mobilise, move it!" Shouted Yves, shoving him through the door to the emergency hangar and locking it on his side. "Get going!"

"I-it's been an honour serving with you sir." Said Hakkan through the radio as he ran.

"Likewise. Get them to safety and do me a favour. Remember us, tell them our story. Let our sacrifice be known even as we consign our battered corpses to the ravages of time, even as our lives are snuffed out." Said Yves, turning back and wiping the splattered blood from both the Grineer and his dead compatriots off of his armour. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed as much munitions as he could gather to his side and held his mounted Supra in his shaking hands.

"Attention Meridian commander. Attention. Lay down your arms and surrender. We have you surrounded. Comply and you shall be allowed to live." Blared out a translated voice from around a corner. "Resist and you shall die a pointless death."

"What do you mean pointless?" Asked Yves cautiously, checking his HUD feed to see what the status of the shuttles were. Thankfully, they seemed to be fine and the timer for the shuttle that Hakkan was helping to launch had counted down to 5 minutes remaining before launch.

"I'm sure you know that we are a much more numerically massive force. Do not throw your life away. Surrender and we shall be merciful."

"Let me think on that." Shouted Yves as he fired a burst into the exposed head of a lancer that was peeking around the corner. "How about no?"

Without a second word, the Grineer started to swarm Yves' position, trying to overrun him. Firing his Supra, he fought as hard as he could, overheating the circuits of the energy weapon as he did. Having to swap to his Burston, he fired in long bursts until a lancer caught him reloading and dumped a magazine into his left arm, mangling it from the amount of impacts. Howling in pain, Yves gritted his teeth and dropped the Burston as he couldn't hold on to it with just 1 hand. Drawing the Lex pistol that he carried as a sidearm, he took a few defiant shots to keep the Grineer on their toes while he tried to escape on a stasis life pod, intending on destroying Fortuna to take down the Grineer. The shots from the Grineer were akin to advancing walls of lead, battering his right and legs, rendering him unable to use both arms and reducing him to a hobble, forcing Yves to have to use vocal commands when he got to a stasis lifepod. Before the lifepod sealed and launched, shrapnel from a nearby grenade explosion blinded him in both eyes, causing him to thrash about in agony within the confines of the lifepod as it launched just before the colony self-destructed until the sedatives and the medical stasis field kicked in.

In his steel coffin lay Yves Lécuyer until the lifepod was picked up by a passing Red Veil shuttle after a week of drifting. Seeing the state he was in, the Veil saw it as an opportunity to experiment with his body, replacing his limbs with cybernetics. When it came to restoring his eyesight, the Veil did not have enough resources to make two cybernetic eye replacements and he had to make do with a single one where his left eye was, forcing him to have to wear an eyepatch over the empty socket.

6 Months ago from present day:

The time came for Yves to awake from his stasis-induced slumber. He awoke with pained groans, the residual amount of sedatives numbing the phantom pain from the injuries that cost him all of his limbs as well as his eyes. Trying to lift his arms with conscious thought, he slowly and shakily removed the sheet to reveal the rest of his body. His torso was mostly unmarked save for a few scars here and there but his limbs were indeed gone. In the place of his arms and legs, he had black prosthetics with a dull sheen. The limbs looked like they were mechanical versions of the arms and legs he had before, reinforced with extra bracing. He looked at his new hand in wonder, trying to turn and see every part of his arm and accidentally spinning it. Amused by what he could do now, he stopped and looked around the room around him. While he did so, he realised that there was something different with his vision. Reaching up to his face, he put his new hand over his left eye and found that he was missing his left eye, realising that he had an eye patch on.

“Could be worse. I could be dead.” he thought, scratching his head. “This feels weird… I know that I’m scratching my head and I can feel my scalp being scratched but I can’t feel my scalp with my fingers because my hands are gone but I still feel my hand moving… Still hurts but I think it doesn’t hurt as much because I’m still under the effects of the painkillers and they’re not expecting me to wake up this soon.”

Moving himself to sit properly, he fiddled with his prosthetics further, twiddling his fingers and thumbs. As he was preoccupied with regaining his motor senses, the nurse that was taking care of him for the past few months came in to check on him and was surprised to see him awake and experimenting with his own body.

“Captain Lécuyer, you’re awake! Please stay still, the doctor will be with you shortly.” Exclaimed the Meridian nurse, paging for the doctor in charge of the surgery. “Doctor, he's awake!"

A minute later, the doctor arrived to check on Yves, performing all the routine checks. Nodding and checking off items on his list, he looked at the cybernetic warrior before him and pulled a chair over to sit down next to him. “How are you feeling?” he asked gently, looking up from his list.

“Considering I’ve lost all of my limbs and both eyes and have to make do with cybernetics, I’m doing better than I’d think, given the situation.” said Yves with a forced smile before returning to a somber expression. “How long have I been out?”

“Six months Captain.”

“Right… Are the survivors all safe? The survivors of Fortuna?”

“...Captain. I must urge you to remain calm regarding what I am about to tell you.”

“What, what is it?”

“Please understand that you must remain calm. You are still recovering.”

“Just tell me already!”

“Only one shuttle made it and that shuttle is still missing according to our reports. The rest were captured. Your brothers in arms save for one lone survivor on that shuttle were all executed or shot down.”

For a good 10 minutes, a silence descended on the room. Neither the doctor nor the nurse dared to speak up. Wordlessly, the two of them left the room in the silence, leaving him to his thoughts. Sitting on the bed, he slumped into a sitting slouch. A single tear dripped from his eyes onto the white sheet followed by more. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a handheld mirror on the chair that the doctor left behind. With a trembling hand, he took the mirror and looked at himself. A scarred, eye-patched version of himself stared back at him with an intense expression on his face. His new cybernetic eye glowing dimly red, tears streaking from his eye. Wiping it away with his free hand, he clutched the mirror tightly enough to shatter the glass before throwing it into the wall to his right. Balling his fingers into a pair of shaking fists, he howled in anguish.

1 week ago from present day

Yves had finished his physiotherapy and gotten used to his prosthetic replacement limbs. He was surprised at his physical improvements despite the phantom pain, the various movements in the rigours of combat were not as exhausting as they were back when he was wholly flesh and blood. His new strength took some getting used to for the tasks that required more delicate handling but otherwise, he was pleased with the overall improvement of his physical capabilities. He was surprised at first that it was the Veil that rescued him instead of the Meridian before he remembered that they were allied. When he asked whether or not the Meridian knew of his survival, the answer was always no. He had been left for dead by the Meridian and cast aside, forgotten by the very people he fought and bled for. When told of this betrayal, Yves wasn’t surprised. He knew it was bound to happen and had already made the decision to join the Veil. After all, his old life as a defender of the weak and innocent is over. It was time to take back everything he had lost to the Grineer and it was best that he stopped living in the shadows of his past.

After one of his runs, the Veil summoned him to a briefing room and gave him his orders, a list of targets to be eliminated for their involvement in invading Fortuna. Yves’ lips curled into a sinister grin the entire briefing. The brass knew of his anger and his plans for revenge against the Grineer and they are actually actively letting him indulge in his darkest fantasies of vengeance. Accepting immediately, he set off with the Veil’s orders and the manifest for his available resources. The manhunt has begun.

Edited November 14, 2014 by MetroFallout

[Tyranthius]

Servitude

 

The jungles steamed with the breath of genetically modified life. The view had at first been scenic from the warship's windows. Beautiful, even. But as Arda Krom stood in formation and listened to his commander issue final instructions, he found no other word to describe it but ominous. It perturbed him, though he could not mention this without being mocked, and he couldn't help but feel that the jungle swallowed more than light.

 

Relax. The Grineer operate here, don't they?

 

He mused on just how his life had changed. He had been a criminal, implicated in the embezzlement of so many Credits in so many underhanded ways over the years that Alad V himself might have found him immoral. His failing was an excess of pride and celebration. Flush with the funding from a new and illicitly-gotten grant, he had thrown a fete best described as indecently extravagant, and therein drank himself into stupor. As it turned out, the entire acquisition was a ploy by the authorities, and they closed on him while he was unconscious. He had then woken up in a cell surrounded by armed guards, awaiting interrogation. By lunchtime both the interrogator and twelve armed guards were dead, and Arda was set to leave via a diplomatic ship in the hangar.

 

Of course, the Tenno arrived. He had seen them from the edge of the hangar. One took aim with what appeared to be a Grineer rocket launcher and obliterated the very ship he was about to board. Without looking back, Arda sprinted further into the hangar, not heading for any ships. They would be shot down faster than he could initiate takeoff. He ran under an inactive Gox, felt it explode behind him, and cursed. They're supposed to be two per room. Damned cost-cutting! Just as he thought this, he had found what he had been looking for. An escape pod. A Tenno appeared from above, blocking his way. Without missing a beat, Arda had thrown up a flash grenade, stepped around the incapacitated Tenno into the pod, and took off just before a shell destroyed the launcher tube. His escape complete, Arda yelled for joy and celebration that twenty years of active combat duty had not failed him. Then, he realized that all pods were directed irrevocably to the nearest Capital Ship. Either the Corpus got him, or the Tenno did in their Lisets.

 

As it turned out, he did reach the Capital Ship. He was humiliated, threatened, mistreated, and eventually given an option. Re-calibration, or to enter once more into active duty, in missions appropriate to his storied career. Which is how he found himself in here, dressed as a Crewman, on a ship hovering in the Earth's atmosphere.

 

Certain researchers had been able to make great advancements in both cloaking and warp technology, supposedly derived from Cryopod acquisiton. Far more than either the Grineer or the Tenno had ever faced in the field. With the advent of the Balor Formorians, and the Tenno's rediscovery of Archwing technology, the Board was more than glad for anything that could equalize the situation, and possibly turn it in their favor.

 

This new technology might have been exactly that. Tentatively called Octo by its creators, it was an exceptionally effective cloaking device that could cover a gigantic area; just about enough for a warship. The Board wanted to end a war quickly, but no amount of cloaking could defeat the Fomorians. However, if they could destroy certain installations, they could impair Hek's warmachines into a standstill. If they could do this invisibly on the Grineer home planet, they could demoralize the enemy. They would then have enough breathing room to comfortably create something powerful enough to destroy any operational Fomorians. The Tenno might not even need to be bribed.

 

This operation, of course, was of an absolutely clandestine nature. He had only found out the nature of his transport during transit. There were no standing forces, only some funneled out of the reserve and other departments, which was why he was here. The warship was not only not supposed to be here, it didn't exist officially. There was no electronic record, for fear of the Lotus, and any hard-copies were tracked keenly and disintegrated often. They also, as the commander was no explaining, not attacking a priority outpost. This was a test in a long series of tests, to see how well they conduct raids on Earth and how the Grineer would receive such an attack.

 

The ship touched down as the commander finished his speech, and they waited. Nothing. So the ship was soundless as well as invisible. The Grineer detection scanners were fooled; the device, instead of blocking the waves,it somehow made it as though the waves passed right through it. Even its progenitors did not entirely understand how it worked. 

 

The ship would only be a back-up in today's test. They wanted no evidence of warship-level artillery being used. So today, the ground forces would engage, while staying inside the ship's field of invisibility. The Grineer would have no way of fighting back. It was set to be a slaughter.

 

*****

 

The patrols went as they always did, until someone suddenly disintegrated. This outpost wasn't very important. It provided an extender to communications, stockpiles of supplies, and a stop-over on longer journeys, but so did others. It held a minimal crew, most of whom were not very experienced at fighting anything more threatening than lesser Kubrows, and were usually there because they were not deemed suitable for much else. So when one of a pair of Grineer was suddenly atomized, it can be forgiven if his companion did not immediately sound the alarm and instead voided his bowels. He died soon later.

 

The rest immediately noticed the storm of plasma being emitted from nowhere, and they did sound the alarm. Dozens of Grineer went down in the first two minutes, as without a visible target they could not return fire. One had the presence of mind to call the nearest hub for reinforcements. He found communications jammed, and any attempts to boost the signal could only manage a five kilometer radius. Given how far away they were from the nearest base, he found it unlikely anyone heard the distress call.

 

He came back to find his comrades taking cover, occasionally trying to fire back at the source of the gunfire. Many were throwing grenades at random, and some were spraying bullets wantonly. Most failed. He ran behind a wall where some of the Ballistae were hiding.

 

"Any news?" one asked in between shots.

 

"Nothing. They're jamming us. Unless there's anyone withing five kilometers or so, no one's heard us.

 

"Then we're dead."

 

*****

 

Arda had led the left. In truth, there had been no great leadership involved, nor had it been required. It was a massacre. Even standing still they were taking next to no casualties, and any they had were probably accidental. Arda would have laughed, but it was strangely sobering, what he was doing. Today, this outpost. Then, their Fomorian plants.

 

It had admittedly been quite the surprise when everyone was suddenly green and mildly translucent, but he adjusted quickly. He had asked what type of warp technology they had used to travel so quickly; he didn't understand the nervous researcher all that well, but he grasped that the ship was literally flitting in between planes of existence, choosing one over the other when it was convenient. You can barely see it, you can't hurt it, and we're apparently invisible. We cannot be stopped. He could see that. If those researchers managed to create these in mass quantity, he wasn't sure if even the Tenno had an answer to it. So why did he feel so nervous?

 

*****

 

The air was punctuated with the sounds of of gunfire, plasma, and screams of dying Grineer. Many hid behind any cover they could find, some only to be followed by invisible enemies. Some chose to run screaming into the crossfire and die with live gun in hand. All expected only ignoble death and would have surrendered if they didn't know that to be a slower way to die. The last thing anyone expected was a Corpus Crewman to suddenly turn visible mid-shot. The Crewman continued until he realized he could see himself again, until the equally shocked Grineer shot him in the face. The Corpus stopped firing in unison. Then, another Crewman became visible. Then another.

 

*****

Everyone around Arda was in panic. Whether the device was failing or it had unexpected anomalies, the fact was that the fight was swiftly becoming much more fair. Calm down. You've an entire ship's crew with you. They're already down in numbers, and not all of us are visible yet. So focused was he on his shooting that he noticed it a half second later than everyone else.

 

It was a slender figure, of black and silver, that had suddenly leaped into the center of the battle. It stood up slowly, its head swiveling as if to take in everything around it. Arda had seen twenty years of combat before retiring, and knew what it was when he saw it. A warframe. It could not be anything else. Admittedly, he'd been out of combat for some time now, but he did not recognize this one. It seemed to exude energy, a ghostly, almost insubstantial film that resemble vapor and liquid at once. It took part of its head in one hand and swept it before him in a graceful manner, unmistakably a bow. Is that a... hat? Before he could ponder this any further, the warframe straightened and pointed a finger at him. Suddenly, color came rushing back.

 

Oh S#&$. And before he could think anything else, a bullet took him in the eye.

 

It was not done. It waved both hands in a grand gesture, and now Arda and all his fellows were blinking, trying to figure out what had happened. The figure raised a sword, and charged alone. The Grineer, taking this new turn of events well in stride, came up to join him.

 

*****

 

It moved through the battle as if in a dance, with waves of its arms sending Crewmen down and oddly turning them green and translucent. All Corpus guns were focused on it now, but oddly most never seemed to hit, usually passing right through it. At times some Grineer would find themselves in danger of being killed, only to themselves become green and translucent, and immune to harm, but very confused.

 

It strode through the battle in a haze of death, dealing it with every stroke of his red sword. The last Crewman fell with a Grineer cheer, and the figure looked up. The Grineer followed its gaze and saw nothing, until they made out a silhouette of what might have been a ship. The figure pointed at it, and it came into vision, apparently charging its systems. Whether or not it was for jump or for weaponry was never certain, because the warframe floated a few centimeters off the ground, swept both its arms inward, and the ship imploded into nothingness.

 

The Grineer had no words. There had been no notice that Tenno were being paid, and besides that, this wasn't a regular invasion. No one had time to pay anybody. It's as if it had responded to the distress call.

 

*****

 

The Tenno looked around itself. It was done. It cocked its ear to the side, as it heard a voice ringing in its head, as if speaking to his mind.

 

Field test successful, Forty-two. We saw everything. Return to nearest hub for debriefing. came the raspy voice of a Grineer.

 

In a flat monotone, the Tenno replied.

 

"Understood."

 

Edited November 15, 2014 by Tyranthius

[RazielsDarkness]

I am gonna try posting a little more. I hope this one does ok, I feel it might not but that is up to you guys to decide. Thanks for taking your time to read this.

 

I sat at the front of my Liset, remembering old memories, remembering nightmares of the clan that I was once in. The clan that I was raised in destroyed. The clan that was once, greatly respected and highly feared, now reduced to nothing but a whisper. Only two of us survived, me and an old friend who left before the clans destruction. A voice calls out to me, constantly calling my name, the name that I took for the clan. Razielim.

 

“Razielim” The synthetic voice called out.

 

I open my eyes and look out to the stars that dot the black canvas of space. Letting my eyes reactivate to full function. I stand from my kneeling position an turn around to head towards the back of the ship.

 

“I am guessing you have found the location we needed Soul?” I asked the voice.

 

Soul, a special cephalon that was once widely used by the clan, now she is the only one left in existence. Her unique programming allows her to use more complex stealth tactics and stealth equipment.  She also has the unique ability to communicate with her operator while on ground to provide information, though only limited to outside areas. These Lisets are made mainly for stealth so their armour is much weaker than a normal suited Liset.

 

“Yes, we will arrive at the location in approximately two minutes” Soul responded, but I felt that she wanted to say something more.

 

“Is there something you wish to ask Soul?” I asked.

 

“You have not told me your purpose for this mission, you have even asked me to not alert the Lotus of this mission, I ask, what you are deciding to do here?” Soul asked, while I made my way towards the armoury to prepare myself for this mission.

 

“What I am doing here is this” I take hold of a Vasto revolver and attach it to its magnetic holster on my right leg.

 

“The Grineer ship here holds information on the attack of the clan hall. I intend to take it and hope that I get one step closer to those who destroyed the clan” I take a Dark Dagger and fasten it to the magnetic holster on my lower back.

 

“I need this under the radar because this sector doesn’t need the attention of the Tenno, me being here could spark something that is not necessarily needed, it will be a quick pick up then I am out”  I made my way to the deployment bay.

 

“If all goes well, no one would be any the wiser, then we can resume to what we do best” I attach myself to the deployment pod.

 

“Once I have dropped in I want you to get a safe distance away from the ship, we can’t take any chances with this mission, understand?” I ask Soul as I prepare for the drop.

 

“Yes, I have sent a frequency for you to use for only when you need immediate pick up. Good luck with the mission Razielim.” With a nod the deployment door opens to a hull door of the ship. This would most likely be used for maintenance. I drop out of the deployment pod and float towards the hull door, entering the Grineer ship.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

As I close the door, the airlock shuts its self, allowing air to flow again. I take a quick look around and survey the small space I am in. Just as I suspected, these are maintenance vents, areas that allow engineers get to the more tight areas of the ship, a perfect entrance for a silent Tenno. I make my way down the vent and allow my sensors to start mapping out the area. After a short while I come to an opening in the vent that opened up to a room. Looked like one of the cooling areas for the engines. I made my way slowly out of the vent and into the room. I took my time to check the area for Grineer. It seemed clear, but that was what disturbed me a little. There were no Grineer around this area. Usually they have Grineer in every corner, but not for this ship it seems. As I gave the room a second look over, my map was done and my objective had been marked. It seemed that the information was a few rooms away. To that thought I began to move with care.

 

As I moved through tight passages and hid in the dark areas to avoid the odd Grineer patrol, I took note on how there is so little Grineer on this ship. I continued to move towards my objective, using the noise that was generated by the heavy machinery that operated the ship. Finally I came to the door to the room that contained the ships database, where the information that I desired was held. It was locked so I moved over to the terminal that opens the door.

 

Damn it requires a password

 

I open up the terminals back-up password system and starting hacking. Connecting different phrases and combinations to find the back-up password took around three minutes. Finally, I got the password and unlocked the terminal. Luckily, this terminal had a new feature that was being installed to the newer Grineer ship designs. It allowed me to see what was inside the room through the cameras. I opened them up and immediately saw that there were two Grineer sitting in there relaxed, their weapons were on the opposite side of the room.

 

This ship must be low priority then, maybe I didn’t need to be so careful.

 

I closed the cameras and drew my Vasto. As I unlocked the door I walked up and as the door was opening I immediately point the Vast towards the two Grineer. The Grineer turned and were surprised to see that there was a Tenno.

 

“Stay where you are and there won’t be any trouble” I say to them in a clam manner.

 

The Grineer seemed to go back to their relaxed state. I wondered why they seemed so relaxed. That thought was interrupted as one of the Grineer decided to speak.

 

“Worry not Tenno we do not wish to fight you. I assume you are here to kill us?” The one on the right asked.

No I wasn’t here to kill them, I was here on a mission on my own, should I tell them that so that nothing sparks from the incident?

 

“No I am here on my own mission, I have come for some personal information that this database holds” I still hold the Vasto, aimed at them. The Grineer on the right turns towards the console that he was sitting next to and starts typing.

 

“What is it you are looking for?” The Grineer asked, still looking at the screen as he typed.

 

Why have they decided to help me? Could they be rebelling against the Grineer?

 

“An incident with a clan called the Razielim” I tell him, lowering my Vasto and I approach with caution.

 

“How come you are helping me here?” I asked the Grineer as I was slightly confused by their actions so far.

 

“We are rejects, we have been thrown out here to survey different areas, they don’t care what happens to us as they can just collect the information from the wreck anyway.” He responds.

 

I see, that’s why there were so little Grineer, they are just a survey ship.  A ship full of rejects and traitors, sent to their death to gather information on areas they have no control over or have not be explored. I move closer so that I can see the screen and relax my grip on my Vasto.

 

“How come you have not rebelled yet?” I asked the Grineer.

 

“We can’t do much with the amount that we have here, it would be a pointless charge” He said, he stopped typing and hung his head low.

 

“We do wish to rise against them, but it would just be impossible with our numbers” He stayed like this for a while, I then decided to speak up.

 

“There is a group for Grineer like you; they are called The Steel Meridian, they are allied with the Red Veil and are helping to protect the weak against all threats” I say to the Grineer.

 

He looked up, with hope in his eyes, as he looked up to me the information that I needed was presented on screen.

“Can you tell us where The Steel Meridian is based?” He asked.

 

As I connected my warframe to the database and started to download the information I turned to him.

 

“I will upload the coordinates to their location to the database, follow them, I will let them know that you are heading their way, so that they don’t shoot you on sight” I smile under my helmet and disconnect my warframe from the database.

 

“Thanks for letting me have this information, also I took the schematics for the Grinlok, I hope you don’t mind” I say to the Grineer before walking way.

 

“It’s fine, by the way what is your name?” The Grineer asks. Without turning around I respond.

 

“I go by the name of my clan, Razielim, so that they remain with me” I say while standing at the door.

 

“Krath, my names Krath, I hope we meet again Razielim” He says. I give him a nod and head out towards and exit point.

 

I sent out the signal for a pickup to Soul. She arrived in a very timely manner as I attach myself to the deployment pod Soul asks me.

 

“Was the mission successful?”

 

“Yes, I also made some new friends” Another smile grew under my helmet as the deployment pods doors closed and the Liset shot off into space.

Edited November 18, 2014 by RazielsDarkness

[Spikey844]

So I have no idea what you will think of this, I'm going slightly out on a limb with this, and I have never done something like this before, so some feedback would be nice.

Anyway, here we go.

The room was dark. More than dark, it was black, the black of a cave underground, where the sun has never been seen. Slowly, reluctantly, a light begins to glow sullenly. By its pale light, the contents of the room appear. Its walls are smooth metal, with a single door in one wall. In the centre of the room rests a large black armchair. In the chair, a figure slumps. A man, armoured in an Excalibur Prime warframe. His left hand is curled around the grip of a Vasto revolver. His right hand rests on the arm of the chair, next to a second Vasto. Both revolvers are a pale grey, with ivory grips and yellow-orange energy lines.

The light brightens, picking out the gold on the warframe, and on the golden hoop on the helmet. The hoop is split in two, a great scar across the front of the helmet, deeper on the left than right. The man seems dead, the only sign of life being the slow rise and fall of his chest. His right hand reaches up, and with a hiss of air, removes the damaged helmet.

It was Kylar.

His brown hair fell across his forehead. His eyes were hidden by shadows still, but scars stretched from either side, across his face to his temple, and across the bridge of his nose. His face is covered with lines that make him look twice as old as he actually is. Most of them are new.

Kylar shifts in the chair, then opens his mouth to speak. His voice sounds ragged, aged by pain and sorrow.

"I read a series of books once in which four words kept repeating. They would come up in at least once in every book. 'Wyrd bið ful aræd'. Fate is wholly inexorable. What the words mean is that you cannot escape your fate, not matter how hard you may try."

Kylar sighed, "Sometimes I think that may be true." He flicks the cylinder of the Vasto in his left hand, spinning it for moment before it stops. "Its the only reasonable explanation I can think of for why I have all my happiness taken away."

He leans forwards slightly, and holds up four fingers on his right hand.

"My parents, only really caring about money."

One finger folds down.

"My unborn child, ripped from my wife and crushed on the floor."

A second finger drops.

"My wife, brutally killed by someone I thought was my best friend a few days after."

The third finger.

"And then.... my sister, who is all kinds of problems."

The last finger drops.

"Oh yeah, actually, there is one more." Kylar's voice became bitter and sad. "Its to do with that last one. My sister.... WAS all kinds of problems." Kylar leant all the way forwards, revealing his eyes. Or rather, his eye. One was a deep green, but sad, and filled with grief. The other was slashed clean in half, the scar travelling clean through it. "She cost me my eye. I returned the favour," he leant back in the chair, "when I made the same cut across her neck."

"That's right, I'm a f***ing traitor. I killed another Tenno. Someone I loved, someone who I was supposed to rescue from the clutches of Alad V. I ignored the advice of my squadmates, two of whom I had fought the Sentients besides, hell, I ignored a direct order from the Lotus, and I f**ing killed her. Then I threw her into the sun."

Kylar waved the revolver in his left hand slightly, "So, why the hell did I do that? That's what you are wondering, isn't it? Why didn't I bring her back?" Kylar gazed at the arm of his chair. "The reasons are simple, yet complex. Sophia... had a split personality. The other half of her was a sadistic, cruel, and insane version of my sister. That half, called itself Venefica, enjoyed the pain of others. It used to tie Grinner to a rack and stretch them until they snapped in half. All you would hear was screaming, and insane laughter." Kylar ran a hand through his hair. "It got so bad that no Tenno would run missions with her, and the Lotus even gave me a kill protocol if Venefica ever went too far." Kylar hurumped. "Can you even begin to imagine what that was like for me? Knowing that at any moment, I would get an order that would be my sisters death sentence? Do you have any f***ing idea what that did to my mentality?" Kylar sighed, and twirled the Vasto around his hand. "I have always been good at hiding things from others, even other Nyxs. Having one as a sister meant I got plenty of practise protecting my mind and thoughts. She would try and find out what I had been doing, in a big sister nosiness way that was really irritating."

Kylar folded his arms. "So by now, you are probably thinking that Venefica had taken her over and she was about to completely lose control. Well, you would be wrong. Venefica was gone before Alad V captured her. I won't go into details, that would take too long. So then, why did I kill my sister if Venefica is out the picture? What I told you before was the simple part. The complex part.... arrgh, I'm not sure I can do a good job explaining."

He steepled his fingers, and rested his forehead on them. "I think.... the best way I can describe it is that my sister has been a stain on my family's honour. On our reputation. I did grow distant from my parents, but we shared a distaste towards my sister, and a fear of Venefica. Venefica was around before we went into cryo sleep, I remember that. In the war against the Sentients, you knew when Venefica was in control. You would hear a laugh that made your skin crawl, and you would know who was in charge of the Nyx warframe in front of you. After we woke up, when I remembered what hid in my sister, I decided to see if I could make things better. I failed. So I guess it was a way of cleansing the shame from my family."

Kylar stood, the pair of Vasto's resting easy in his hands. "How you judge me on this, I don't care. Whether you will hunt me or not, as a traitor, I don't care. If you can find me, I won't show remorse for what is now behind me. If it is my fate to die at the blade of someone who thinks me a traitor, then so be it."

Kylar turned, and stepped out of the light. His silhouette shows by the door, the scared helmet locking over his head. The door opens, revealing a Liset. Kylar turned to the door.

"After all, fate is wholly inexorable."

[DraikoHunter]

HOLY S#&$ I POSTED SOMETHING

 

                                                                                                            Routine

 

Aktos drew breath and held his Vectis steady, a lone Grineer Bombard in pristine white armor patrolled the catwalk, oblivious to the intrusive Tenno. With his sights trained on the Bombards head, Aktos pulled the trigger and heard a loud thud as the body hit the floor.

 

“One down.”

 

He checked his HUD and sighed. “Two hundred and three to go, might as well get it over with.”

He reloaded his rifle and silently crept through the rest of the galleon, silently ending the lives of any Grineer he saw. Soon, what was once two hundred and three trickled down to a measly two Grineer, and he found them each covering a door.

 

“Too easy.”

 

He unsheathed his Dual Ichors and slit one’s throat, then he took aim and threw one of the blades at the other one. It lodged in his head and he fell over.

 

*sigh* “So…..unexciting, everything is to routine and basic. Some excitement would be nice once and a while.”

He went and picked up his Ichor, then slowly walked towards the extraction point, opening lockers and containers and liberating them of their goodies. Soon, he found himself stepping into his ship and flying back to the dojo. All in routine.

Edited November 21, 2014 by DraikoHunter

[bejuizb]

Chapter 8 of Crimson

 

Against the Clock

 

The Mag threw up a barrier almost entirely on instinct; the drain on her energy reserves increased as she lengthened the field preemptively. The twelve Corpus soldiers immediately opened fire on spotting her, scores of plasma bolts lancing towards her only to be deflected away from her. She gritted her teeth as she focused on the electromagnetic field, using the other arm to haphazardly raise her rifle and return fire. Unlike her pistol, the Soma was not silenced, and soon the high pitched whines of the plasma repeaters was drowned out by the roar of the Tenno assault rifle. Three of the soldiers fell almost instantly, and the others scattered to cover.

 

 

Rin quickly dissipated the field and hefted the rifle with both hands. The short burst had thrown her aim completely off, and she felt a mild stinging sensation as the brutal kick of the rifle had dug into her ribs. She crouched down behind the terminal as a small burst of plasma bolts pinged against it, and quickly let loose another burst. A gurgling sound followed by a thump let her know that there were only eight left. Taking a deep breath, she began to formulate a plan. Once out in the main chamber, there were three passageways, and each one was guarded by a Warden. She had very strong shields, but she had no way to judge the strength of her enemies. The normal troops, like the one pinning her down now were easy enough to handle; her rifle was specifically designed to use magnetic ammunition, and the rounds themselves could easily pierce through armoured helmets and synthetic limbs. Maximum damage against Corpus personnel.

 

 

She channeled energy into her left arm, the magnetic coils humming from their newfound fuel. She focused on the magnetic signatures she felt at the entrance of the chamber and heard herself think.

 

Pull.

 

Several loud thuds were heard as the barrage of plasma bolts were cut off. She grinned in satisfaction as she felt the signatures yanked towards her helplessly. She immediately began to channel energy to her legs, letting the bionic driven servos get as much energy as possible. She leapt out of cover and barreled towards the entrance, deciding to not waste her time trying to combat each and every single one of them. The remaining troops were slumped against the ground in various states of disarray; thee of them were unmoving, so they were either dead or unconscious from the sudden jerk, and the other five were slowly getting back up on their feet. She prayed to the spirits that her shields would absorb any shots fired at her, and focused single-mindedly on getting back to the reactor room. She swerved around the corner just as the first burst of plasma bolts were fired at her.

 

 

She saw one of the Wardens leap down from his pedestal, the tri-barreled Supra aimed right at her. Rin gritted her teeth and decided to exploit the only true weakness of the Corpus machine gun: it’s abysmal travel time. She ran right into the oncoming fire of the gun, and ducked at the very last possible instant, sliding against the metallic floor. Grunting mightily, she steered her body’s momentum behind a pillar as the Warden adjusted his aim. Without wasting an instant, she quickly turned to the other side of the pillar and spat out a volley of bullets at the general direction of the Warden before ducking back into cover; the Corpus had expected her to continue from the other side of the pillar, and had continued dragging his fire across the pillar. Noticing this, she quickly turned towards her original direction and ran forwards, spraying lead at the hulking Corpus soldier. The tough shields held against a few shots from the Soma, but they stood no match for the sheer rate of fire of the weapon. Rin forced energy back into her shields as they recharged from the hits they had taken from the Supra. The only reason she had survived that encounter was because of the weight of the Supra working against the sheer speed of the Tenno.

 

 

She barreled down the elevated walkway, occasionally dodging a whizzing bolt of plasma as the Corpus behind her tried in vain to catch up to her. She managed to avoid any other patrols; either that, or she simply outran them. The Mag lurched to a halt as she reach a dead end. The only way to go up would be via an elevator.

 

 

Nope. Not going through that.

 

Almost on cue, the voice of the Lotus chimed in through her comms.

 

 

“Tenno, it is safe to use the elevator. Your allies are at the other end. Hurry, enemy forces are on their way.”

 

She nodded to herself and stepped in. She was forced to bypass a minor firewall to access the elevator controls, but the cipher module she brought along did the deed for her. She could hear the myriad thuds of approaching enemies just as the doors closed. As the elevator lurched up, she quickly checked her systems, and her weapons. Minor scuffs were all the damage she had sustained, and her rifle still had a sizeable amount of rounds in its magazine. Despite the Lotus’ reassurance about her allies being there, she held her rifle defensively, and positioned herself above the floor of the elevator by perching along a corner railing. The small vantage point would hopefully catch any hostiles by surprise. For an added measure, she maintained a heavy flow of energy in the coils wrapped around her arms.

 

 

The narrow platform jerked to a halt as the elevator reached the next floor. Her fingers tensed around the trigger of the Soma as the doors opened. She almost fired off a shot in surprise when she was met with the still corpse of a Crewman. The body was encased in ice and steaming ever so slightly. The room was quiet, and there were a few hunks of ice scattered around the floor. She hopped down from her perch and walked cautiously forward, training her rifle around the corner of the hallway. She was met with a familiar sight: a lumbering giant of a Frost, shrouded in an aura of mist and snow. The warrior had encased the entrance of the hallway with a swirling vortex of snow, creating a protective barrier for the occupants inside. Namely her.

 

He merely nodded to her as he turned around, raising his shotgun. The ornate gold filigree that adorned the Boar went well with the almost alien bands of gold on the Frost himself.

 

 

“Didn’t take you too long,” he said, dissipating the barrier as he trudged forwards, Rin following his confident gait.

 

 

“I didn’t fight them off,” she said. “Whatever the hell that explosion was, I was a bit too worried.”

 

The Frost chuckled as the duo passed by several dozen frozen and maimed bodies. “The explosion was us disabling the facility’s assembly line and power sources. They’re running on reserve power, which means no more bloody Moa reinforcements.”

 

“Hey Crusher,” Rin said as she stepped into a flooded hallway. “This facility’s floating on air, you know that right?”

 

He simply nodded. “All the motivation I need to find our sister and get out of here. Come on, this way.” The duo jogged through a series of corridors, which seemed to have been cleared by the Frost beforehand.

 

 

“If the area is secure,” Rin asked, “why did you have a Snowglobe up around the door to the elevator room?”

 

“Don reported some weird quadruped proxy running around the facility, looking for something or someone. He saw it through security feeds, and from the looks of it, it seems to be one mobile son of a *@##$. I was just taking precautions.”

 

She nodded as they rounded a corner. A sign above the door read: Medical Ward, in the rigid, almost mechanical font that the Corpus used. In the several months of being awakened, she had used her time to learn to read the languages used by the system’s two major factions. A basic grasp of the fundamental dialect allowed her to understand signs and markers easily.

 

 

“This seems to be the place. Where is Don?”

 

“Looking for our mark.”

 

“But isn’t our sister the mark?”

 

“Just yours”, Crusher rumbled. “Don was tasked with taking out the head researcher of this facility. That son of a *@##$ is responsible to the torture of our sister, and countless others.”

 

As the door to the facility opened, the Frost slowed down, and proceeded to walk forwards, holding the massive shotgun in front of him. Rin followed likewise.

 

 

They passed through a network of hallways, weapons held at the ready. Each narrow corridor looked identical to the next, with a dozen doors leading into several rooms.

 

Or holding cells, Rin thought grimly. The Corpus were infamous for their ruthless pursuits in acquiring knowledge and profits, even more so than the rebellious splinter faction called the Perrin Sequence. The Mag scowled momentarily as she remembered their clan’s dealings with the money minded syndicate. The fools had demanded for a monthly tithe for their services, and had the gall to call the blatant exploitation a means to secure profits for services rendered.

 

 

“The Sequence is as bad as the Corpus,” she said quietly, more to herself than anyone else. The Frost’s sharp hearing caught her statement nonetheless, and he grunted in agreement. “No point in ruining your mood any further child. Let’s get our sister, and go back home.”

 

She grinned inside her helmet. “Why? You miss your pond?” Her grin merely broadened when the Frost nodded, equally amused.

 

 

“Oh yeah. That pond is the essence of my being!” he said in a dramatic voice, making a mystical gesture with one arm.” The Mag chuckled quietly. Crusher was known to be a master with words, with very few coming close to match his wit. He was constantly chided by his clan for being too attached to the thinking pool their dojo had, and by now he had grown used to it.

 

 

“Careful,” he said, stopping a few feet in front of a branch in the hallway. He pressed himself against the wall, the Mag following suit. Without uttering a single word, the duo channeled energy into their limbs and simultaneously leapt forwards, catching the two walking soldier by surprise.

 

Before they could utter a single word, a combined wave of ice and magnetic energy drained their shields and froze the very cells in their bodies. The corpses crumbled under their own weight, breaking into fine chunks of ice. Crusher merely nodded and trudged onwards, Rin in tow.

 

“Tenno,” chimed the voice of the Lotus. “Scans indicate a node in the system being accessed from two separate locations simultaneously, one of which was provided by your squad. I believe the second source might lead you to your target.”

 

Rin nodded. “Doesn’t hurt to check it out. Where is the second access point?”

 

“Room 42M. Medical Ward.”

 

A quick look at the plaques over the doors gave Rin a general idea of where to go. “We’ll head there now.”

 

“Advice caution Tenno. We do not know the condition of our target, nor do we know if she is alone.”

 

“Understood.”

 

Crusher suddenly threw up a wall of ice, which began to splinter as a barrage of plasma bolts thudded against it. “We’ve got company!” he bellowed, hefting his shotgun and firing it wildly down the narrow corridor. Rin crouched behind the wall, quickly observing the battlefield ahead of her. They needed to head down the same way if they intended to reach room 42M. The Frost bellowed and charged forwards, the resounding blasts from the Boar echoing menacingly down the corridor. Rin followed right behind him, both Tenno relying on their extremely strong kinetic barriers to deflect any stray shots. The seven crewmen firing at them panicked at the suddenly charging Tenno and their aim faltered for just a moment.

 

A moment was all they needed.

 

Two of them fell to the Frost’s shotgun; bodies thrown backwards by the force of the blast, while another fell to the Soma; his head replaced by a bloody mist as the heavy caliber rounds blazed right through his helmet. The remaining troops balked and turned tail as the two reached the end of the corridor, continuing to fire at them. Two of them made it out alive, disappearing into an adjacent corridor. Crusher swore mightily as he quickly checked the still bodies for any survivors. One of the soldiers still had a pulse. Without a moment’s hesitation, the Frost aimed his shotgun for centre mass and fired. Rin checked their surroundings quickly, looking for any other ambushes. They were in the clear for now.
 

“Backup should be here soon,” said Crusher. “I’ll stay here and hold them off. You go on ahead and get our sister.” He pointed his shotgun to three other corridors. “The Lotus’ schematics show that this is quite the large chokepoint. I’ll camp here and greet the boxheads. You should find the room three hallways down, to the right. My radar’s not detecting any hostiles within a fifty metre radius, apart from the two who managed to get away.”

She trotted forwards, rifle held in a more relaxed position thanks to Crusher’s intel. She turned her hear around when the Frost spoke up again.”

“Oh, and Rin. This facility’s reserves should run out in forty five minutes. Hurry up.”

-]|[- 

[QuinnsWing]

For you all again, the Legacy begins.

 

The Foundry lay quiet. No lights flickered, nothing moved. No shadows moved upon the wall. The Foundry was empty. The darkness was its own thing, weighing heavily on anyone who entered.

 

Most of the things that everyone was familiar with, the bottles of vodka, the random prime things laying about, Juliet, were gone. The place was clean and in working order, the A.I. was that there, working on some weapons and gear for the random tenno. It made no snarky comment, it knew what was happening.

 

He walked to his cargo ship, quietly, no one was about, most tenno were sleeping, no one knew what was happening. Stopping, Quinn walked back to the statue he made. Taking his helmet off he kneeled down and lowered his head. As the tears began to fall he tried to stand, but could not, falling back onto his knees he cried his heart out. It was a few minutes before he regained his composure. Even then his legs still shook, and  his eyes still watered. But he pushed away those weaknesses, he had a plan, he needed to do things, he was making a legacy for those to follow.  

 

Sitting in the large cargo ship full of prime gear, weapons, blueprints, and many other things, Quinn typed in coordinates.

 

“Home I go again.”

 

--------

 

As the barren planet loomed ahead, Quinn looked out into space. He needed a planet something to hide away his glorious creations, a place nigh impossible to get to.

 

“Where do I go?” Shaking his head he waited for the small landing ship to touch down. Walking out into the sand and dead earth, Quinn looked upon the old city. Black and burned buildings, broken and destroyed lives. Walking towards the center of the district, he rolled an object within his hands. It was a large rectangle, black as night, with a small light on top. Reaching the center of the district, Quinn slammed the rectangle into the dirt, about 2 inches. Leaning down he pressed the button and let a large display flicker to life.

 

As the large cargo ship float within the gravity well of the barren planet, Quinn was busy working upon its surface, making another memorial. It was simple but full of heart. The names of those who drew him out of his shell, those who were close to his heart, and those who knew him too well, they were all engraved upon a stone wall, forever immortalized, and at the bottom of the wall he wrote his message to who ever may read it.

 

“This is for those who i love, Those who were my closest friends, Those who knew me for who I was, Those who drew me from my shell, and those who kept me going this whole time. I thank you all for being in my life, for being there for it all, the good and the bad, I thank you all, for you are my lifeblood, you are my family. May your lives forever be interesting.”

 

Standing, Quinn walked slowly back to the smaller ship. Lifting off and flying to his cargo ship, Quinn felt the small pull of something, it was warm and full of love, a smile crept onto his face as he took a final look at his home. Turning away he let the smile fade, he needed to make plans. Typing in coordinates to a location, Quinn left the data to be processed as he was docked into the cargo ship. Walking to the bridge took some time, but he was able to look over all of his achievements, the prime frames which have never been used, the gear which was brand new and fully modded to be fully effective and lethal, the materials and blueprints to make any weapon or frame, everything someone could imagine. As he entered the bridge Quinn opened the shutters to expose the black expanses of space. Looking out into the inky blackness, he could not help but smile, he knew someone, someday would find this, and they would flourish beyond his expectations.

Edited December 4, 2014 by QuinnsWing

[Achaix]

No lorebreaking, but some 4th wall probing.

"So then this crazy f*cker decided to just run at the Phorid with nothing but his heat cleaver! Just how $&*&*#(%& is that?"

"Eh, what did you expect from a Butcher? They're constantly doped up on pain inhibitors injecting morphine into what's left of their body. Don't expect them to sum numbers correctly, much less employ common sense."

"Speaking of the Phorid, what's up with that? How the hell can metal be infected?"

"You can't infect metal, you idiot. Technocyte simply feeds on it, assimilates with it. We've got iron in our blood too, just lower quantities."

"All I'm saying is that whoever made that plague was out of his/her/its mind."

"Maybe, but he/she/it (let's call that xe) and most of the Orokin kings thought it was a good weapon."

"Yeah, right. Xe's gonna get xer &#! kicked if I ever find xer."

"Fat chance. I don't recall you being a metaphysical god."

"One can dream, right? We are war gods of a sort -"

"Shut the hells up. Don't ever say that again, or I will end you."

"Take a chill pill, man."

"Shove it up yours."

"My, how rude. What would mama Lotus say?"

"His thoughts are not without logic. Please refrain from irritating him."

"... Okay, I wasn't expecting that."

[Tyranthius]

Demonstration

 

 

In a room hidden deep within the jungles of Earth, a stately figure whirled and danced. Moving as smooth as glass, the figure stepped, spun, and slashed in a formidable display of martial prowess. Silently, it conducted its assault against empty air, for those who watched still feared it, though they were almost certain of their control.

 

In an adjacent room behind walls and windows no less than a third of a meter thick, an audience of the degraded and disfigured watched in apprehension and satisfaction. Each one looked nearly identical, with differences in apparel to indicate rank and station. Each one's nostrils flared and whistled with barely-suppressed bloodlust in the humid air. It was quite the uncommon sight: An entire platoon of Grineer and a complement of their technicians, watching a lone Tenno demonstrating its abilities without immediately fatal results.

 

The Orokin Empire was the mightiest civilization the human race had ever produced, boasting mastery over nature itself, among other accomplishments. In the years that followed their fall the Earth, without the guiding hand to shape and prune its growth, began swift and efficient reclamation of its domain, the forests overwhelming the golden palaces and absorbing their bio-metal. Not even the Tenno, bastard children of the Orokin, were safe - those who slumbered, anyway. Cryopods were consumed with the palaces, but fortunately preserved.

 

The Lotus constantly seeks these pods, both to prevent malfactors from discovering them and to add another rank to the cause. Most of the time, she succeeds. But the Lotus is not perfect. Sometimes, the Grineer will discover the Tenno before she does. Sometimes, the Tenno dies in the escape attempt. And in very rare cases, only one now known, the Lotus never discovers the Tenno at all, and he is left without a guiding voice upon his awakening.

 

At the last cut, the Tenno traced a finger along the curve of his blade, and sheathed it on his hip. Many in the audience clapped. A grizzled clone with a stern expression, however, spoke up.

 

"Yes, yes. Very impressive. But having a captive Tenno aside, blade work isn't enough to justify the effort put into the project. What about his abilities?"

 

"We've already demonstrated that", came the suppressed indignation of a researcher. "But, if you so wish it." Here, he touched his hand to his temple, eyes closed in concentration. In moments the Warframe seemed to vanish, visible only on inspection, phased into a different plane of reality. More applause followed, the officer deigned to grunt, and the researcher managed an indulgent smile.

 

"So Vor wasn't an idiot after all", said a different voice. "But we've made numerous attempts to do this. Why hasn't it succeeded before?" The researcher's smirk grew oilier as he said, "As you know, cryopod purging is a delicate process even for the Tenno. We have reason to believe that improperly thawing Tenno has the same effect as improperly thawing out clones: Memory loss."

 

"But surely the Lotus would have intervened by now. Whose to say we aren't due for ignominious deaths?"

 

"Our research has shown us that each Tenno is intrinsically connected to the Lotus. Upon inspection of this one, however, it appears that the connection has been severed somehow, We suspect it had something to do with the transplanar nature of his powers and possibly a hurried cryofreezing, maybe in the middle of a transplanar jump. In any case, it could offer no resistance, and the Ascaris took hold in hours."

 

"So we are in complete control?" inquired another. The researcher nodded his assent. "I am not convinced. Up to now we have made it do things only within its nature. Fighting armed enemy combatants on the field of battle. The Tenno, curse them, claim some semblance of their so-called honor. Would your new pet go against that, Tak Makloz?"

 

Makloz flashed his widest smile yet. "I had a feeling you'd ask that. Certainly, combat is within their code. The killing of enemies, sure. But never cold-blooded butchery. Unarmed, unarmored civilians to be executed while bound, that would never cross a Tenno's mind." He gestured to some of his guards and they left, coming back shortly after dragging several men and women, and at one child. Colonists, looking quite worse for wear, dressed only in rags and fear. "Line them up. On their knees."

 

The colonists faced their executions in varying states of fearful resignation. As the last one was put into place, Makloz said "Now." The Warframe stepped back into material reality. The colonists all emitted sounds of surprise and hope. Here was a Tenno, protectors of balance and enemies of the Grineer, come to save them, He walked up to the nearest one, and with his unsheathing strike took the man's head from his neck.

 

The sounds turned to screams as the colonists realized no salvation was upon them. They strained against their bonds, but it was no use. The Tenno stabbed a woman through the back, the blade exiting through her sternum. On and on it walked, and again and again the crimson blade flashed, reaping lives at each stroke. One old man clung to the Tenno, murmuring "Please, no. Oh, please, please no, please no."

 

With a savage kick, the Tenno laid him flat on his back and disemboweled him with a series of backhanded stabs. The audience was in shock at the display, the remaining colonists were weeping, and Makloz was clearly enjoying himself. At last the Warframe stepped in front of a little girl. She looked up, and for a moment no one moved. Then the blade was put through her eye socket.

 

"Butchery would never enter a Tenno's mind. But it would mine, and right now my mind is the only one that matters." The audience howled in approval and fear. Makloz's face threatened to split in half, and the Warframe swept its hat over its head and bowed.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2014 by Tyranthius

[khimera]

The Clock Runs Dry

 

 

It had been so long since the messages had stopped coming, and still all Khimera had been able to decipher from the files were what seemed like randomized coordinates. He'd taken to using the Observatory like his personal lab at this point, requiring the multiple terminals and enormous solar map to complete his work. Unfair to the rest of the tenno in Aequitas, true, but he'd opened up the Automatic Steel's Dojo for use, and he had all the rooms they could possibly need in there. Flicking his fingers in annoyance, the Oberon couldn't help but get distracted by the red marks denoting Fomorians attacking Relays. First the Mutalists and now this. At this rate Crowley would become impossible to save! His fingers were like spiders jumping across the terminal keys, bringing up coordinates, all of them marked in Crowley's pale blue so he could tell them apart from the alerts and various other markings that he couldn't make vanish from the enormous map.

 

Staring at what seemed a sea of azure stars Khimera felt himself getting lost. Almost like when he'd been subject to Protocol Indra's effects; losing himself to his own abilities and becoming an efficient and deadly creature of destruction. He longed to once more don a Volt and wield his elemental powers with impunity, but still it seemed it would never be so. As he briefly reminisced a thought came to mind. A few more key-taps and the nods linked themselves, starting with the first coordinates and moving down the list to the very last one, the coordinate that made no sense. The line slowly snaked around the map, going to places that Khimera remembered clearly. Missions...raids...memories of time with his 'Lost Cell'. Then the line passed Pluto outside the Solar Map. If the last coordinates were true Crowley was headed to...or was already waiting at a place outside the Solar Map...outside the reconstructed Solar Rails. "No..." Shaking his head, Khimera brought his hand up to his mouth, eyes growing wide behind his helmet. "The Lisets won't be able to...but how...how can he then..." His mind raced and then the obvious conclusion pressed forward: Archwing.

 

Unbeknownst to Khimera Crowley had originally left the place he was headed for using a form of portal device, for without a Solar Rail it was unaccessable through normal means, particularly the Lisets would find it nigh impossible to get to the coordinates even with the information in their Cephalons. Outside the Solar Map was a black sea, the edge of the map that said 'here there be dragons' to put it lightly. Already in his mind the prospect of leaving the Solar Map was terrifying for Khi, but necessary if it meant they were going to find and save the Grand Master. There was a banging on the Observatory door, the triumphant hacker finally undoing the lock, several Tenno pouring in to see what he'd been doing, including Ein, Faust, Fenrik, and of course Canis.

 

Silently Khimera pointed to the line that fizzled out at the edge of the Solar Map and without needing to speak he knew that those that needed to understand could already see what they had to do. There were no other options, no alternatives.

 

~~~~

 

How long had it been? Time irrelevant. Time had run out already. It had run out...how long? Too much thought, the Hive Minds deafening, focus only on becoming more than what one once was. Take....take and destroy, large ships...destroy...so far away...encroaching...encroaching. Death.

 

Slowly Crowley...what once had been Crowley perhaps, opened his eyes. Four pale blue eyes that scoured the barren landscape of the dark world Vis before turning to the ocean of light motes and void, sensing the massive Fomorians attacking Relays, attacking once-friends. Help them? No...no he could not, not anymore. Any beneficence left in Crowley could do them no good, not in his current form. The Nekros Warframe had...mutated for lack of a better word, changed and twisted into something far more terrifying. Both legs were fused with Mutalist flesh like rotted bandages and synaptic chains. The torso now encased in hardening chitin almost like a casket, both arms crossed like pharaohs from the most ancient eras, Lunasos still held in one hand firmly though not for its immense weight, the invigorated strength of the corrupted Tenno was what allowed him to continue to hold the weapon that denied his title of Grand Master. Along his back like a patchwork spine coated in new tissue and sinew were Archwings that kept the deformed body constantly afloat, powered by an insidious crimson energy that ran in vein-like lines along the entirety of the new creature. From top to bottom most there were three Archwings attached to this new 'Crowley': Elytron, Odonata, Itzal. All acquired...where take them from? From whence were they obtained? Other Tenno...yes...scavenge the corpses...take their strength...wings...wings of strength...power to destroy. The four eyes focused upon the closest of the Fomorians slowly beginning to fall at Pluto's Orcus Relay. Sickening cracks sounded across the barren realm of Vis, echoes of a terrible might awakening. The arms of this new being pulled from their chitinous casing, attached by stretching Mutalist Flesh, holding Lunasos high, the circle at the end aimed up at the Fomorian, encasing it like a corona of tarnished gold and Orokin metals. Fall.

 

The stakes in the artifact-weapon's mechanism activated despite Crowley's current state, and the Fomorian began to explode, rent by some unseen force that punctured the core within to deal the finishing blow. It would be the last charitable act Crowley would be able to perform, the last of his Raknis helm engulfed in changing corruption, turning his visage into an all the more terrifying image, into a new, six-eyed monster of death, the newest pair opening and all of them flaring into a thick, viscous red light. The hourglass was spent, the clock had run dry of time. An intense psychic wave engulfed Vis, temple and all, signalling the birth of a new Hive Lord. The Crusaders did not miss the battle call.

 

Andere...forgive us...

 

[KittyShark]

NOT CANNON. LIKE NOT EVEN A GOSH DARN LITTLE

 

Phoenix Rises

Chapter 1.

 

The charred corpse of an Infested Charger thumped against the ground, joining the dozens of other creatures that met their end at the hands of the fiery vixen. A cloak of brilliant fire swirled around her, radiating an intense heat that burnt all approaching Infested that tried to attack her, in vain.

 

Underneath the black and orange helmet, Lily grinned maniacally. It had been too long since she’d had the opportunity to stretch her limbs and unleash a firestorm, and now that she had, it felt good.

 

Really good.

 

A bellow of crimson flames rocketed forwards, knocking back a charging monstrosity, making the horrid creature keen in agony as the crackling heat signed its fate. All around the battlefield were the corpses of dozens of such vile creatures, offspring to the madness of Alad V. The deranged Corpus executive had bombarded several colonies with entire ships full of his so called “Mutalists”, sacrificing hundreds, thousands of lives to merely show that he meant business. Luckily for this colony on Deimos, a cell of Tenno was dispatched to intercept and help fight against the incursion.

 

To her left, hunkered down behind a series of rocks and ruined buildings, were the remaining members of the colony’s security force, numbering well below a score. All the others had fallen to the Mutalist horde minutes after being attacked. The soldiers had stuck to the high ground, peppering the battlefield with covering fire for the Tenno, who stayed in the thick of combat to prevent the horde from reaching the remaining colonists.
 

As she ducked underneath the flailing limbs of a misshapen Mutalist, she responded with a vicious swipe, dismembering the beast with a glowing weapon held in her right hand. The ornate Glaive was glowing from the intense heat being channeled into it, allowing the mistress of fire to lance through scores of Infested with impunity. The creature didn’t seem fazed with the mutilation though; it lashed out at her again, catching her by the feet and knocking her to the rocky ground. She swore in frustration, immediately bringing up the Glaive to point, ready to defend herself against the next hit. But there was no follow through.

 

A massive golden form slammed into the beast above her, forcing it to unleash a savage scream that nearly deafened her. The golden brute slammed into the creature again, pushing it away from the Ember, giving her room to recover. The still struggling monstrosity tried in vain to penetrate the golden armour of the warrior attacking it, but it soon met its end when the remains of its upper body exploded in a gory spray of crimson and green ichor, followed by the smoke from the shotgun held against the now dead creature. With the threat eliminated, the golden warrior immediately went to the next quarry, double barreled shotgun booming between reloads as he charged fearlessly into the dwindling horde of Infested creatures.

 

Aiden.

 

As the lumbering giant cannoned into several other creatures, Lily heard the distinct whine that preluded imminent devastation. Just as she guessed, a thunderous boom left a Mutalist several yards ahead careening back, towards the very ship it came from. Massive gouts of ichor poured out of the gaping wound in it’s torso. A quick glance behind her showed the source of the devastation.

 

A Nyx. A badass Nyx. This Nyx with light blue colors highlighted in blood red wielding a black Lanka. There was a blue and red Dragon Nikana at her side as the Nyx gave Lily a quick nod. Ghost. That was her name, Aiden had invited her along to join their trio. An old ally of his apparently, she thought. Ghost charged up another bolt, blasting the wounded Mutalist again, this time in it’s lower torso, twin shots of purple energy tearing through it’s flesh. Down it went, the wounds smoking from the searing hot energy that killed it. Ghost flung out a hand, Mind Controlling an approaching Tar Moa before it could attack, turning it on it’s allies. The infested swarmed the Mutalist, giving them a few seconds of reprieve.

 

A few seconds was all that was needed for a piercing scream to echo across the battlefield. Almost instinctively, Lily’s gaze snapped to the direction of the scream, where a lone black form was tearing through nearly a score of smaller Mutalists. Crimson claws lanced through several of the monstrosities at once, and despite her substantial experience in warfare, Lily couldn’t help but feel bile rise up her throat. She was still clueless as to why Aiden would take such a...broken person under his wing. Rakth was everything they fought against, tormented, anguished, husks of once undoubtedly wonderful people.

 

Maybe that’s why he cares, she thought with a grimace, charging ahead, dual pistols spitting lead at any hostiles that ran towards her.

 

With the aid of the security force of the colony, the once mighty horde of monstrosities was left to a miniscule trickle, of a few monsters at a time. Each of the wretched creatures met it’s end in a violent way, be it claw, sword or shotgun.

 

The battle had lasted 2 hours, and they had suffered a total of seven casualties. Not bad.

 

As the four alien beings gathered near the base of the ship, shooting any twitching Infested, they all unanimously heard the digitized voice of the Lotus, their sole guide in the war torn system.

 

“Excellent work, Tenno. I detect no Infested biosignatures in the area. I have relayed information to the colony with regards to clean-up operations. I need your cell to sweep the ship, and gather any possible intel you can find. Make it thorough.”

 

“Aye aye mon Capitan!” chimed in Lily, casually holstering her pistols and waltzing into the giant hole created by the ship crashing into the ground. With a faint chuckle, Aiden followed his sister. Ghost let loose a mental chuckle of her own, the thrums akin to music. She glanced at the silent Valkyr to her left, caked in blood. Rakth was eerily silent, and she was sorely tempted to ask her if she was okay. An overwhelming sense of pity seized her as she noticed the black clad Tenno continuously clench and unclench her fists, as if in confusion as to what she needed to do. The four Tenno patrolled the ship, making sure everything was safe. The empty, blood soaked rooms were terrible to view, riddled with limbs and corpses. However They would noticed every so often there would be bodies that were completely untouched by the infestation. Some were even still in the experiment vats.

 

Crouching down next to an enviro-suit clad corpse, Aiden contacted the Lotus.

 

“What is it, Tenno?”

 

In his gruff voice, he replied. “No anomalies so far, except a few corpses we discovered across the main floor of the ship. They seem to have been unaffected by whatever caused the plague.”

 

“Is there any evidence to indicate that these crewmen were not part of a later boarding process?”

 

Before Aiden could respond, Lily chimed in from a terminal across the small room they were currently in. “The boarding manifest seems to indicate no other entries apart from a hull breach, three hours ago. That was from the crash. This means that these people were all inside when S#&$ hit the fan.”

 

“Very well. I’ll need you to collect samples from a few of these unaffected victims. Perhaps we can learn valuable information which would aid in halting Alad V’s endeavours.”

 

“Will do,” said Lily. “Whatever it takes to stop Salad from being a #$&(% to everyone in the system.”

 

The giant Rhino shook with mirth as he proceeded to prod at the mangled corpse, finding a good spot to obtain tissue samples. Ghost and Lily proceeded to search the ship logs together, splitting work between two terminals that were not affected by the damage caused by the Mutalists. A few members of the security force joined them, bringing with them several metal containers and cables.

 

“We brought some battery packs,” one of them shouted unnecessarily, the wheezy voice echoing throughout the ship, making Ghost’s ears ring. The man stopped being as loud following a particularly deep growl emanating from Rakth. “Sorry,” he muttered, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “These should help you access any other terminals that may have been damaged or removed from the power grid on the ship. Our surface scans show that the core’s still producing a piddly amount of power, but just in case it goes kaput, these should help.”

 

“Thanks,” nodded Aiden, collecting his sample and storing it in one of his ammo pouches. “Take your men and get out quick. I don’t want your men to turn. My shotgun’s seen enough death for today, don’t you think?”

 

The man blanched, and you could clearly see the magnitude of his stupidity at that very instant. “I...um..I didn’t think of that when I brought the men in.”

 

“Clearly.”

 

“I...I should go now.”

 

Aiden merely nodded. The man quickly ushered the others out, him leading the charge to no surprise. After all, walking into a contaminated ship with no gasmask was a pretty unintelligent thing to do.

 

Once the Tenno were left to their own devices once again, silence echoed through the ruined ship once again, apart from the sound of groaning metal and the crackle of live wires still letting loose showers of sparks amidst the flickering lights of the ship. The four made their way further into the ship, passing several rooms and decks that seemed to indicate the vessel’s true purpose.

 

“This ship was a research vessel,” Lily surmised, after they passed what seemed to be the remains of a wet lab, broken tanks and vats everywhere.  

 

“Explains why Alad V used it as a starting point to try and get his plague spreading further.”  Ghost said as she looked around cautiously. She knew better than to assume places like these were safe. Labs always made her a little edgy anyway.

 

“Check to see if any of these terminals still have useful data in them. The staff might not have had the time to erase anything, especially knowing that they didn’t exactly volunteer to become those things out there,” said Aiden, ushering Rakth to a corner. The Valkyr was shuddering and constantly clenching and unclenching her fists, sucking in deep breaths. Lily took note of her worsening state, but stayed quiet. Ghost accompanied the Ember as the duo managed to power up a semi-functioning terminal with some energy from the battery packs. They silently scoured through hundreds of files, while Lily began to write all the data she could find onto a datadisk. As soon as the write was complete, she turned off the terminal and cracked her knuckles. Today had been a hell of a long day. She’d probably sleep like a rock tonight.

 

Ghost let loose a thought that seemed to indicate humour; Lily still seemed to struggle with the concept of the Nyx using her mind to sense others’ emotions and thoughts, while simultaneously projecting her own.

 

They stepped out of the room onto a hallways that was tilted on it’s axis, leaving them in a weird state of balance. They quickly traversed the confusing ruins and made their way to where Aiden was currently cradling Rakth, gently swaying as he muttered consolations to the broken Valkyr.

 

Lily crouched next to Aiden, placing a gauntleted hand on his shoulder. “She okay?” she whispered. He merely nodded. “For now. Got what you could?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Then let’s get going.”

 

He carried Rakth with him, leaving Ghost to lead them out of the ruined ship. On stepping outside, they were met with another squad of Tenno, who had brought along with them a Cascade bomb. The device would undoubtedly be calibrated and detonated within the ruined ship, unleashing Void energy and destroying every organic object it encompasses. That would make the ship safe for disassembly and salvage runs, while making the colony safe to populate as well. The damage was already done though, as the people of Deimos were now clearly aware of the horrors brought along by Technocyte.

 

As their individual Lisets flew down from orbit, Lily glanced at Ghost.

 

“Can...can you hear me?” she thought.

 

“Yes, I can.”  Ghost replied with a mental chuckle. “How may I help you?”

 

“This is @(*()$ weird as F***!” Lily swore. “Sorry for saying F*** so many times. Happens when I’m fu- I mean when I’m nervous.”

 

“It’s no bother. I can understand it being off setting for you. Very few see eye to eye with my ah method of communication easily. It will take getting used to.”

 

“Okay, so now that we got the awkward S#&$ out of the way, I’m curious.”

 

“Ooooh~ Curious eh? Well then tell me fiery one. What are you curious about?”

 

“Fiery one huh? I love the sound of that. I wanted to know more about you. The big guy didn’t say much when he said that you’re tagging along.” she thought, nodding towards Aiden, who was currently securing Rakth into her Liset. The Orbiter’s Cephalon would guide the ships back to it on it’s own, leaving them to reflect upon the day’s successes or horrors at their own discretion.

“Mhm. Well you know my chosen moniker of Ghost. I’m going to assume you want to know how exactly I met Aiden yes?”

 

“Yeah. Preferably after I’ve gotten a shower. And some food. And some sleep. Preferably with some booze involved.”

 

“Ohoho. Is that a date you’re asking me out on?” Ghost asked teasingly, a lot of humor evident in her voice.

 

“ Nope, just a strictly casual drink outing. I don’t get frisky unless I get to know the other person,” said Lily, in an equally teasing manner, securing herself into her shuttle. As the airlock sealed, she heard the faint echo of Ghost’s voice, just before they left the ground.

 

“Heh. If you want to call it that~ But alright. Message me the time and place later then. I’ll happily see you there!” Ghost said, her own Liset taking off and heading back up into space, soon to be back home at Aequitas.

 

The colonists of Deimos saw the energy trails of the four ships rocketing into the sky, leaving them to deal with the husk of the ship that, a few hours ago, spelled their inevitable demise. But fortunately for them, they were saved by four mysterious warriors, who bore guns and swords against the monstrosities, providing them with sanctuary yet again.

 

As the three shuttles carrying the members of the Silver Fang docked with their Orbiter, Lily browsed through the datadisk she created during their sweep with an idle glance.

 

I wonder what interesting implications this will have…

 

END OF CHAPTER ONE.

Edited April 1, 2015 by KittyShark

[bejuizb]

Arranging the Dominoes

 

The crimson haired warrior awoke with a yawn, stretching muscled limbs into the air as her body began to start up after a long, restful sleep. Brown eyes blearily looked across the room, scanning to see if everything was in order. She was in a small cubbyhole, in a narrow suspended mesh structure that served as her bunk. With a mighty oath, she toppled off the bunk, landing on the balls of her feet soundlessly. Around here was the sound of humming machinery as Calliope, their ship’s Cephalon, kept things in order. Before she passed out last “night”, she vaguely remembered the ship headed towards the Vesper Relay orbiting the general vicinity of Venus. The large station was freshly rebuilt following the onslaught spearheaded by Vay Hek’s Balor Fomorians, but this time with a small armada of Tenno ships, ready to deploy Archwing reinforcements to ward off any future attempts at destruction.

 

Lily padded down the narrow halls of the ship, occasionally scurrying up ladders with graceful movements as she made her way from the bowels of the ship to the orbiter compartment, where most of the ship’s “on demand” processes took place. As the redhead walked up the ramp, a brilliant light lanced down, forcing her to squint as her pupils contracted. A few moments later, she saw Rakth standing there, silently glancing out towards space and the vast tapestry of stars that it was made of. Lily was not surprised to find the Valkyr up here all alone, so early into the day cycle. Sleep was something hard to come by when you’ve spent almost every waking moment of your memory being tortured and hurt.

 

“Morning Rakth,” Lily said softly, making sure to maintain a comfortable distance from her, so as to keep her calm. Sad eyes looked back at her, struggling to eke out a crooked smile from those scarred features.

 

“Morning,” she heard Rakth mumble, her husky voice faint but barely audible enough to hear.

 

“Did you get any sleep?” Lily asked, staring out into space alongside her friend. The brunette merely shook her head, displacing shaggy locks of hair as she did.

 

“Are you okay? After last week?”

 

There was no response, for quite a while. Lily remained patient, waiting for the Valkyr to respond.

 

“Yes.”

 

She nodded. That was more than enough. “Good, I’m glad!” she smiled warmly, reaching out and laying a hand on her shoulder, which unsurprisingly garnered no response. Rakth was not too keen on displaying emotions; Lily doubted she knew how to handle anything but pain and misery.

 

“Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to join me and Ghost today? We’re meeting up and talking about stuff. It might be fun, you could see new stuff instead of this rickety old ship all the time,” she gestured. Their ship was by no means an expensive cruiser. Aiden kept things running by profiting off of salvage operations and missions given by the Steel Meridian and the Lotus, both of whom were in somewhat of an alliance, especially considering the beneficial intelligence possessed by the former.

 

Rakth flexed her fingers experimentally, a gentler version of the harsher hand clenches she made during their defense of the settlement on Deimos. “Is...is he coming?”

 

Lily raised her eyebrows. “Who? The big guy?” Rakth nodded, eyes returning to the gigantic starfield racing past them.

 

The redhead shook her head. “I don’t think so. He’s planning to make his way down to the market plaza. The Void Trader’s set up shop there, and he’s aiming to make some money off our salvage operations from a month ago.”

 

Rakth took a minute to digest all the information. Lily was far more excitable than Rin or any of the others in her old life. It was both exciting and frightening to be so close, so friendly with anyone after…

 

Don’t think about it.

 

“I’ll go with him,” she said softly, looking down at her own splayed toes. Lily had encouraged her to colour her toenails, some of which were fused together due to her own genetics as a Tenno. Bright red paint glinted off the starlight and brought a faint smile to her face. It looks nice.

 

“That’s alright then. I’ll go ahead and keep Ghost entertained with stories of Aiden when he was...less Aiden-y,” she blabbered, flailing her arms to compensate for her lack of verbal progress.

 

“What do you mean?” asked Rakth.

 

“Well, for starters, Aiden wasn’t this @(*()$ massive back in the days of yore. When I first met him, the bastard barely had a beard! Can you believe it? Aiden Silvefang, minus a beard. Aiden. No beard!” This was apparently an impossibility at least in Lily’s mind, considering how massive her grin was right now.

 

“I’d go on and tell you about all the crazy S#&$ he did when we first met, but that would take forever, and none of us would get things done.” Seeing the disappointed glance from Rakth, she quickly added, “ when I get back from the high priority alcohol consuming missions, I’ll tell you all about him, provided I’m not S#&$faced.”
 

“What?”

 

“Oh, um. S#&$faced. Drunk. Drunk enough that I should be dead. My liver anyways. Basically, whenever I visit a bar, my liver decides to commit suicide in advance. This girl loves herself some booze.”

 

Rakth nodded and walked down the ramp, tracing a hand faintly across a few cables that ran down the ramp into the bowels of the ship. Lily swore inwardly; her penchant for using expletives at any given chance must have scared Rakth off. Then again, it’s @(*()$ Rakth, she giggled inwardly.

 

With a huff, she stretched her back once again, smiling as her back released several satisfying pops and cracks. “Calliope,” she addressed the ship’s cephalon, “How far away are we from Vesper?”

 

“Good morning Queen Lily!” trilled the cephalon, using the title Lily had programmed into her. “We are currently four hours away from the newly rebuilt Vesper Relay. To prevent any possible future confusion while you travel, I must remind you that the Relay is now called Vesper Beta.”

 

“That’s a @(*()$ S#&$ty name!” Lily pouted.

 

“What name would Queen Lily have chosen instead? Calliope is curious.”

 

“Vesper...is back *@##$ES!” she shouted, laughing at her own idiocy. Morning hours made her a little kid. Well, a little-r kid than what she already was.

 

“No offense Queen Lily, but that name does not possess any characteristics of a good name. Might I suggest rethinking your name choice for the Relay.”

 

“I was joking Calliope,” she chuckled, opening up her navigation panel. She interfaced with the ship’s computers with several fast keystrokes, taking her to the comms division. “Connect me with the Tenno named Ghost if you can.”

 

“One moment...Calliope has found one Ghost in her records. Last conversation, dated eight months from today. Is this the person you wish to contact, my Queen?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Very well. Beginning comm broadcast.”
 

A few seconds later, Lily was greeted by a string of text. Wait...why the F*** is” she typing? Her sleep addled mind was trying to put two and two together, in vain. Suddenly the lightbulb lit up. She’s mute, you dumbfuck that’s why!

 

“Greetings Lily! I assume this morning finds you well?”

 

She flexed her fingers, the ghost of a smile already on her face. “Yeah. I fell off my bunk, walked like an undead monster for a few minutes, was blinded by the sun, and scared a torture victim away with consecutive swearing. My day’s been damn @(*()$ spiffy so far!”

 

“Um… I am unsure if you are using sarcasm or not. I do hope that it wasn’t as bad as it sounds.”

 

“Nah, it was fine. I slept like a brick. Managed to pop a tight joint in my back, so I feel light and bouncy on my feet. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be in Vesper...or Vesper Beta as it’s called nowadays, in approximately four hours. Wanted to meet you for a few drinks and learn more about what exactly happened in the year before I was awakened.”

 

“Vesper Beta? Hm… I believe I can be there in a few hours as well. I have plenty of Stories to tell~”

 

“Sweet. I shall meet you then. By the way, do you agree with how @(*()$ STUPID Vesper Beta sounds?”

 

“I might~ You’ll have to wait till we meet to get my opinion fully!”

 

“Ugh. Fine. I’ll go do some other S#&$ till we dock then.”

 

“Hehe. Alrighty! I have some things I need to take care of as well during the travel time. I’ll send a message when I get close to Vesper Beta.”

 

“Okay. Ciao.”

 

Lily turned off the comms unit, whistling a random tune as she padded back down into the bowels of the ship. “Calliope?” she called out to the cephalon, waiting for the female voice to respond.

 

“Yes, my Queen?”

 

“Your queen needs even more beauty sleep. I’m gonna hit the sack for a while. Wake me up when we land.”

 

“Very well. Sleep well, Queen Lily!”

 

She nodded, mumbling incomprehensible gibberish to herself as she threw herself onto her bunk, sighing as she found herself back at her warm cubbyhole. Beauty sleep? Pft. Like I need any…

 

-]|[-

 

                                                                         

Ghost smirked as she leaned back after her little chat with Lily. She had already been up for at least two hours, the suit-bound Tenno never needed to sleep much thanks to the warframe. It did get a little annoying though since that left her with more time to be bored if she couldn’t stay busy. Luckily she had a nice digital novella to read during the wait, since she really didn’t have anything else to do with her time currently.

She’d have to thank her cute little apprentice for finding this during a data extraction mission, who knew the Corpus liked to archive books alongside research data! This would easily keep her occupied for the four hour flight to the Relay. Her Cephalon; known as Lucien spoke about as much as she did, but luckily she had a remote text input device for it she could carry with her, otherwise giving it instructions would be far too much of a hassle. If anything happened he would break the comfortable silence but until then, it was relaxin’ time~

 

 

A/N: Chapter 2 for my collab with Kitty. More to come next week. Any constructive feedback is appreciated. 

[Spikey844]

A new arc. Knowing me there may be areas which bend/break canon, but I will do my best to minimise those. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

The Hunt Begins

 

The doors slid open as the Frost stepped in. He was the last to answer the summons, having been returning from a mission at the time. His grey and green bulk knelt as he nodded to the other three in the room. He knew all of them, having fought beside them many times. A Volt, a Zephyr and a Trinity. The lights in the room dimmed as a figure detached itself from the wall. An Ash activated a holo projector, then stepped back.

 

“This is your most dangerous mission yet,” he said, his voice holding a slightly gravelly tone. “You have to track down and kill or capture a rouge Tenno.” This prompted a hiss from the Zephyr.

 

“What crime?” She asked. The Ash levelled a stare at her.

 

“He is charged with the murder of a sister.” Soft noises of outrage echoed from all the Tenno. There were few enough Tenno to keep the balance in the system as it was. The death of one of their kin was the worst crime possible.

 

“What is the name of our target? And who did he kill?” This came from the Volt. The Ash shifted his gaze.

 

“His name is Kylar. He killed his blood sister, Sophia.” The Frost visibly recoiled in shock. The other glanced at him. “Are you ok Milamber?” This was from the Volt again.

 

Milamber shook slightly with rage and shock, his massive warframe quivering. “No Lauire, I am not ok. I knew Sophia.” A hint of a wry smile entered his voice. “She was the Nyx you tried to get me to hook up with right before she trashed the bar.” Laurie started at him, then shook his head.

 

The Ash coughed, and whatever Laurie was going to say died on his lips. He focused on the holo projector as a warframe appeared above it. It was an Excalibur Prime, coloured dark red and grey. He carried a Dakra Prime in his right hand. There was a deep cut across the helmet, right across the cradle built into the helmet. Gesturing at the sword, the Ash spoke again. “Kylar is an extremely dangerous opponent. Under no circumstances should you attempt to engage him in melee combat. He can and will take you apart of you do. Not even you Laurie would be able to beat him.” The Volt did not visible react, but he paled under his helmet. He was considered an expert by Tenno standards in melee combat. That he was being advised against it…

 

“You are recommended to try and disable him from mid to long range. Kylar is still good with rifles, but far less so in comparison to his sword. Don’t try to provoke him either. The first team we sent after him tried, and he disabled their warframes with his sword before leaving them dangling over a waste outlet on Ceres.”

 

“Wait, the first team?” This was from the Trinity. “How many teams have you sent after him?”

 

“You are the fourth.” The words were soft, but they caused all the warframes to shift nervously. “He hasn’t killed anyone, but all of the Tenno we sent will not be out of hospital for several months. They will live.” This was only of slight reassurance to the kneeling Tenno.

 

“So what do we know of his movements?” Milamber asked, trying to focus on the task at hand. Making a motion with his hand, the Ash changed the holo projector to show a system map. “From all appearances, he seems to only appear in sectors under the control of the Corpus or Eris. We suspect that is in part due to the events of the Gradivus Dilemma. He hates Alad V for the Zanuka project, and apparently spent a long time hunting for him across Jupiter. Since the Mutalist infested are also his work…” The Ash shrugged. “Tracking him has been hard. He still has his Liset and all its systems are active. We only know where he has been due to void signatures matching his warframe appearing in the areas I mentioned before.”

 

“Where was he last?” Milamber asked. “We should head there to see if we can pick up his trail.” The Ash consulted a small display screen next to the holo projector.

 

“He was last seen the Neptunian moon of Neso. There is a small research facility there. We have been unable to find a pattern to his attacks. He seems to be on a one man crusade to wipe out the Corpus.”

 

“Then that’s where we will head. May we depart?” The Ash nodded. The four kneeling Tenno rose, bowed, then filed out.

 

Laurie glanced at the Zephyr as they walking out, then glanced at his friend. On a private channel he asked, “Bets on how long Katala will last before she hits something?” As if on cue, the Tenno is questioned spun and smashed her fist into the wall, hard enough to leave a head sized dent. She stalked on, ignoring questioning looks from other Tenno.

 

“You lose,” Milamber said in reply, then chuckled. Laurie turned to him in astonishment. “We didn’t even make the bet!” Milamber just laughed. When he subsided he said, a smile plain in voice, “I know, I was kidding.” Laurie grumbled something, then glanced behind them at the Trinity. She was shaking her head.

 

“One day she is going to break her hand, and I will stand back and tell her ‘I told you so’.” She strode past, heading towards the retreating back of the angry Zephyr. Milamber shook his head.

 

“Do you have any idea why Izzie even bothers?”

 

“Not a clue.”

 

Milamber sighed. “Whatever. Get to your Liset. We are quite a way from Neptune.” The Volt nodded and jogged off to the hanger. Milamber followed at a slower pace. He was thinking, as well as fighting off his worry. He knew he had seen only a small amount of power that Sophia wielded when she had trashed the bar, but that was still a lot of power. That Kylar had been able to kill her spoke of this own prowess. That it was his sister by blood made the Frost worry even more. Kylar had either hated his sister with an almost unimaginable passion, or had gone mad. Seeing as he was now trying to destroy the Corpus singlehandedly, the latter was not too distant a possibility.

 

Pushing aside his thoughts, he stepped into his Liset, allowing it to spin him inside if it. He could feel it moving away as he was righted and stepped out of the airlock. Turning, he activated the navigation console, manipulating it until he had selected the Neso sector.

 

“Operator, would you like me to head to the Orbiter so you may select your weapons first, or are the weapons aboard the Liset adequate for  ­–utter annihilation- the mission?” His ships cephalon, Sarmis.

 

“Return to the Orbiter Sarmis,” Milamber ordered after a moment. The weapons he had were designed to fight off infested, not Corpus, and certainly not another Tenno. With a mental flick, he opened a com channel to his squad mates. “Are you three going via your Orbiters or heading straight to Neso?”

 

“I’m heading straight there. I’ll scout the area from afar.” Katala had an edge to her voice that made the Frost clad Tenno shudder. It suggested an unquenchable thirst for blood, and was not one he had heard before. As if she had read his mind, she added, “I won’t go in until you arrive.” She disconnected from the channel as her Liset shot off. There was a not quite inaudible sight of relief that echoed from three remaining voices on the channel.

 

“I don’t think I have ever heard her that angry,” Izzie said quietly. Milamber made an incomprehensible noise of agreement.

 

“Let us hope she saves it for the enemy.” Laurie said, a quiet note of worry in his voice.

 

But who is the enemy he speaks of? Milamber asked himself. The rogue Tenno, or those who stand unwittingly between us and him?

[bejuizb]

Person and Puppet

 

 

“Tenno Aiden I presume?” the garbled voice of the man asked, his features thick and curious. His attire was unique, of a high quality, indicative of a merchant, a particularly prosperous one at that. Across from him, stood a trio of warriors, clad in the biomechanical armour of the Tenno.

 

Brilliant blue eyes stared back at the merchant, gauging him, trying to see through him. “I am,” the central Tenno replied. He stood a head taller than his companions, and he seemed to exude an aura of power. An aura that commanded respect. “You’re Darvo.” Not a question.

 

He nodded. “Yes, that is me.” He waved his arms around their surroundings, which happened to be the rickety cargo hold of a large cargo ship. “My apologies for the unsavoury location for our meeting. Times are rough, you understand?”

 

Aiden nodded, visibly relaxing, easing his hand away from the holstered pistol near his armoured thigh. “Is this location secure?”

 

Before he could respond, the female to his left replied, her voice gentle and firm. “No bugs in the area. It’s just us.”

 

Aiden nodded again. “Given your heritage, I’d wish to exercise caution. No offense intended of course.”

 

Darvo chuckled, a raspy rumble. “Of course, of course! If I were you, even I wouldn’t trust my heritage! My father you see, is a very one dimensional fellow. Loyalty to the Board, loyalty to his Corpus. Others be damned. Now I,” he said with a mild flourish, “I am a man with more dimension. I value connections and the profits one can undoubtedly garner from said connections. I believe our meeting would aid both parties in getting what we want?”

 

“Yes, we’re here for some information and with a request for assistance.” Waiting to gauge Darvo’s reaction, Aiden continued. “Karli Turhk. Recognize the name?”

 

Darvo smiled. “Maybe.”

 

“I need to know where she is.” While Darvo was maintaining an aura of neutrality, he couldn’t help but wonder what about Karli brought about the fierce glow to the Tenno’s eyes. Perhaps it’s time to test the waters.

 

“Why, might I ask? What is it you seek from Karli?”

 

Silence. The tension in the air was almost palpable. The merchant could see the pulsing vein in the Tenno’s neck, and the grim expression he carried.

 

“I seek revenge.”

 

He quirked an eyebrow. “Revenge?” How interesting.

 

“She hurt someone close to me. Hurt her a lot. I want her to know that pain. A thousand times over.”

 

“My my, Tenno. I do not presume to know your kind’s code, but wouldn’t that be in violation of your beliefs?”

 

“What is the difference between a person and a puppet?” he asked, his voice struggling to control rage.

 

“I’m sorry, what?”

 

“A person and a puppet. What’s the difference?”

 

Darvo paused, tracing his bracer with an idle finger. This Tenno was too blunt for his question to be laced with an ulterior meaning. Perhaps being equally as frank would be the best option.

 

“A person bears their own free will, a desire to follow their own goals and feelings. A puppet is nothing but a tool to display emotions or to act on someone’s behalf.”

 

Aiden nodded. “You should know what I am then.”

 

Darvo’s lips quirked into a smile yet again. “Well said. Very well said indeed. A man of free will, dead set on making his goals come to fruition. A person I can respect.” He folded his arms, nodding towards the closed door of the room. “I will share what I know, but only in your company. Your allies needs to leave your side for but a moment.”

 

Without hesitation, Aiden nodded. Wordlessly his two companions walked outside, leaving only the giant of a man and the pale merchant inside.

 

Darvo clapped his hands with a flourish. “So! To business. Karli Turhk. A brilliant mind, a good associate of my father, actually. She was in charge of aiding Alad V with his Zanuka monstrosity, back when the fellow was sane. She was his lackey, but from what I’ve gathered from my sources, she wasn’t particularly fond of the job.”

 

Blue eyes looked at him, once again devoid of emotion. Darvo could see the fury in it’s depths nonetheless, and a part of him told him to pick up the pace. “She tricked Alad into being assassinated by a Tenno cell, for which she was guaranteed a spot on the Corpus Board by my father. Funnily enough, it was the spot reserved for the very man she helped assassinate. She used her newfound authority and funding from the board to begin conducting illicit experiments and research, constantly shifting vessels and facilities. My sources have been unable to decipher the exact contents of her research, but I assume it must be of high significance, considering the lengths she’s gone to to keep it secret.”

 

He coughed, clearing his throat. “The last we heard of her, she was on Earth, in a covert ops facility right in the heart of the Grineer Empire. The Board has grown tired of her constant unaccounted drain on resources, and are contemplating a hit on the woman. To scare her into line most likely.”

 

“It won’t work,” Aiden said.

 

Darvo grinned. “The Board was never full of intuitive people, you see. They stick to their protocols, even if it ends up choking them in the end. Yes, they plan to assault the facility by the end of the week. I doubt they will gain much from it. The woman’s too cunning to be stopped by brute force.” The last part of the sentence was intended to be a jab at Aiden, once again testing the silent and angry Tenno.

 

If he understood Darvo’s intent, Aiden took it in his stride without so much and glaring at the merchant. “The Corpus aren’t particularly known to be the forefront of brute force. Most of the men panic and shoot themselves if their suits experience a tear. It’s to be expected that they won’t be effective.”

 

So he did understand, Darvo smiled inwardly. And he immediately proceeds to jab right back. “Fair point, Aiden. What will you do different, once I give you the location of the facility?”

 

“ I won’t be relying on protocols. Let’s leave it at that.”

 

Darvo chuckled. “You’re different from your kind, you know? It’s quite the rare sight to interact with the masked warriors of old, yet alone meet someone so…”

 

“Reckless.”

 

“I was going to say straightforward, but reckless will suffice as well.” He turned around, walking to a terminal by the wall. From a pocket, he withdrew a small datadisk, inserting it into the terminal and perusing it’s contents. All he could hear apart from the beeps of the terminal was the deep, rumbling breaths of the Tenno behind him. He transferred all the information he had on Karli to the disk, securing it with a virus of his own. If Aiden was untrustworthy, and proceeded to share the information with his opposition, the data would deconstruct automatically. He doubted that the virus would ever be put to use, but in his line of profession, it was better to be safer than to be dead.

 

“Here you go,” he said, reaching out his hand. Aiden extended his own, grabbing the datadisk and securing it in one of his armoured leg plates. “That is all the information I have on the woman. Hopefully it will aid you in your mission.”

The Tenno nodded. “What do you want in return?”

 

“I beg your pardon?” Darvo feinted.

 

“You’re not the sort of person who’d broker information without recompense. What do you want in return?”

 

He chuckled. “Your associate is part of a syndicate. Suda’s if I correct?” he asked. Aiden nodded. “Good, good. I thought I recognized the sigil she had on her helmet. Now, all I ask from you is for a meeting with Suda. At a location she desires.”

 

“I expected more.”

 

“Normally, I would be asking for more. Much more. But I know of what Alad did to the friend of yours. The one to the right of you. That’s her, am I correct?”

 

His blue eyes burned with an icy fire. “Yes. How did you know?”

 

Darvo steepled his fingers. “I’m a good judge of character. Let’s leave it at that.”

 

Aiden frowned, but nodded after a pause. “Very well. Thank you for the information. I’ll let Suda know of your desire to meet her. I assume she’ll be the one contacting you, and not us.”

 

“Of course, of course.”

 

The Tenno looked at the merchant for yet another time, before securing his horned helmet, the harsh lights of the cargo room bouncing off the alien features which now hid the furious man underneath. Without a word, Aiden walked out of the room, leaving Darvo to his own thoughts.

 

Outside, Aiden walked up to his two allies, both of whom were standing by the wall to the shuttle bay. He placed an armoured hand on the Valkyr’s shoulder. “You alright?” he asked softly, waiting for her to respond.

 

“Yeah,” she responded raspily, still unused to speaking. Lily clasped Rakth’s hand, gently pulling her towards their home. “Let’s go.”

 

The trio walked down the ramp, past several gawking workers and machinery, to the back of the ship. There hovered their ship, a silver and black Liset, filling the bay with a humming sound.

 

As they walked to the ship, a ramp opened up near the rear of the ship, presumably lowered after Calliope, the ship’s Cephalon detected them.

 

Lily led Rakth to the front of the ship, to pilot the vessel back to their main ship, while Aiden leaned against a wall to the rear of the ship, letting the rumble and vibrations of the ship pass through him.

That woman will pay in blood. I’ll make sure of that.

 

 

It's time to start bringing things to a close. This is a continuation of my own arc, featuring Aiden, Lily and Rakth, several, several months after we last saw them. 

[(PSN)AbyssalNevermore]

(silver can i join i want casual rp not this arc thing ok)

[Jeahanne]

(This should probably be in OOC, here: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/221310-ooc-of-ash-and-fire-v20-faq-and-discussion/, but for the sake of convenience I'm just going to reply here for now.)
 

 

Sorry for the late reply btw, I'm on forums irregularly anymore. I don't know about SilverBones and the others, but I certainly don't mind new people joining in, although I don't know how much say I get in that kind of thing anymore considering I haven't posted anything in a really long time lol

[Tyranthius]

I've written from Corpus and Tenno points of view. This time, we look through the eyes of the Grineer. I hope to do a colonist story next, then continue my Limbo arc. 

 

Forgotten Gods

 

 

ATX-262-03. His squadmates called him "Three". He wasn't important enough for even a generic name; none of them were, and none of them ever would be. He tried not to feel too dejected about it. Dejection was not an emotion that the podminders, the army officers, or the politicians approved of. Almost all of them were, except rage and elation at crushing the enemies of the glorious Empire.

 

He'd always felt different, though he tried not to think too much about that either; he'd seen what happened to those who were different. Any combination and order of execution, torture, or being given to Regor. He'd once asked what happened to those who were given to Regor. No one could give an answer, but some went away with looks of what might have been fear (another forbidden emotion) in their eyes. He'd decided that whatever happened to those who were given to Regor was something he didn't want to know.

 

So it was that when Commander Thrak (a named Grineer, but Generic; there were countless Thraks) told them they'd be investigating a galleon that had gone mysteriously silent for some reason, he fought down his fear. The assignment might have been routine, except that even the lapses in Grineer technology could not account for a three-Earth-day communication blackout. Something had befallen the galleon and its crew

 

*****

Hours later, suited up in power armor with Hind in hand, what that something was became unnervingly apparent. Entire teams of Lancers, or what was left of them, were strewn about on the ground like so many leaves. Most were in various states of evisceration and exsanguination. Some were barely identifiable as having been Grineer at all, their power armor nearly shredded, their bodies sliced into pieces. 

 

Commander Thrak bent down, inspecting one of the corpses. It was smoking where it had been cut. He grunted and stood up. "High-frequency cutters. No plasma involved, and minimal heat. The cuts are neat and cauterized. Spread out and search through the galleon. We might have some survivors somewhere." His tone implied that he doubted this.

 

"Sir," said Four, who was their Scorch trooper and was armed accordingly. "What did this to the men?"

 

"I don't know. Whatever it is, call for backup if you see it, then engage to kill."

 

The men seemed elated at this, something Three would have found amusing on another day. Whatever had done this, he had as much enthusiasm about meeting them as he did Regor. Maybe he should introduce them to each other.

 

Stop, he told himself with force. He focused, thinking about the men who had died, letting the Rage build. The results of years and years of selective eugenics did not fail him, and in seconds he was full to brim with controlled hatred. He was ready.

 

Then, it was upon them. It walked languidly, making no sound on the metal floor the galleon's dockyard. It was an unnatural shade of gray, it seemed to be encased in a full-body armor suit, and the helmet had no eyes.

 

"No," came the commander's voice, sounding rather distant. "No. No! Open fire!"

 

Three didn't even see the creature move, but suddenly it was behind them, and six of his squad fell, bisected at the waist. He did the only thing that came to mind - he fired. 

 

His squad had the same idea, and soon the air was filled with bullets flying in all directions. The creature ran with purpose and elegance, each of the bullets missing narrowly, or having been slashed out of the air. The creature didn't even look armed, but when it swung its arms Three could make out a sword of light flickering into existence, then out. The Ballistae, more ocularly competent than their fellows, took aim and fired, and the creature just vanished.

 

No. It was here again, its spectral blade driven through the gut of one of the Ballistae, before it vanished again. It took Three a few moments before he realized that the creature was jumping; performing impressive leaps and falling blade-first on the Grineer armed with Vulkars. As the last Ballista fell dead, the creature stopped for a moment, and seemed to look at them with its strange eyeless gaze. Mere moments had passed, and already a full third of the troops were down. This was especially impressive, since the Grineer believed that quantity was a quality all to itself.

 

And to the surprise of all who were watching, it went into a kneeling position, brilliant sword manifesting and lodging in the floor. Maybe it was tired? Three realized, along with the rest of his squad, that they had stopped firing. They all leveled guns, took aim, and the dockyard exploded. A burst of light and sound rendered Three insensate for a moment, and he lost consciousness.

 

*****

He came to perhaps a few seconds later. Shaking off his nausea, he noticed he was still standing up. He also noticed that he seemed to be impaled through a wall, a spear of the same substance as that monster's sword rammed through his chest. He looked around, feeling more faint by the moment, and saw that his squad were all in similar states, though none were moving. Commander Thrak, made from a sturdier template from the rest of them, wearing armor so thick Three would not be able to stand in it, was seen on a wall twenty meters from where he last stood, one of the spears in his skull.

 

In the center of all the carnage was the creature, looking around as if admiring its work. How does it even see? Three coughed up blood, then felt a spasm of fear as the eyeless helmet turned his way. It had noticed him. It walked toward him now, in the same relaxed manner it had before assaulting his squad. His Hind was destroyed - when the spear went through it, it seemed - so Three drew his Kraken from his side and fired, aiming at the creature. It didn't dodge. The bullet struck it, and seemed to bounce away.

 

Three fired again, and again, and again, and he might as well have been firing blanks for all that the creature noticed. It was in front of him now, and Three noticed that the spear in his chest was gone, having dissolved into cloudy light before. Only residual Rage and his locked power armor kept him standing. He fired the last burst of his pistol straight into where the eyes might have been in any other helmet. The bullets bounced away again, a flash of blue around where they had hit.

 

He realized how little chance they'd had, all this time. This was not something you opposed, something you threw soldiers at, like most of the Empire's problems. The creature nodded, turned around, and walked away. Three looked up and coughed in surprise. Then his Rage failed him, and all went dark.

 

[Jeahanne]

Hey, so... I wrote a thing! I don't know how much of a thing it's going to turn into, but hey! It's a thing! It may or may not connect to another thing I wrote a long time ago... Maybe. Perhaps. Perhaps not. *insert shifty eyes here*

 

Anyway, here's the thing. I hope it's an ok thing.

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

Aequitas’s Mess Hall was large and bustling with activity. Tenno came and went among the tables filled with their clan-mates and visitors who conversed loudly among one another. There were few in the clan who secluded themselves anymore. The members had an uncanny way of drawing out even the most reticent souls, and Acantha was no exception.

 

Where once she would have chosen a far corner table and sat alone with her thoughts, she now sat near the center of the room at the far end of a rectangular table that had enough seats for a dozen people. Across from her sat an unlikely companion, who, like herself, was slowly being changed by the inexorable force that was clan Aequitas. Stubborn as he was, he was no immovable object, and the clan’s unstoppable force was gradually wearing away at the arrogant and grating personality that had landed him in the Clan’s care. Although, perhaps it wasn’t changing him quite fast enough.

 

“I don’t get it,” the man grumbled, glowering murderously at his food while he prodded one piece with a fork particularly viciously, “Why do I have to train without weapons still. I’ve been here months. How have I still not managed to get back those privileges at least?”

 

Acantha smirked, “Because the last time they were granted back to you on a trial basis you cheated and beat the crap out of an initiate because she called you soulless. Heus didn’t take that well, if you remember.”

 

Cain’s scowl deepened, and he winced. Nothing had been quite so brutal as his “welcome” into the clan from his probation officer, but that incident had been close. He rubbed his shoulder in remembered pain at the beating he’d taken that day. “Still,” he muttered, “no judge, no jury, how is this justice? I mean, even before cryosleep no-one would have given me a punishment like this.”

 

The Nova raised an eyebrow. “You remember?”

 

The former Ash raised his shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. “Remembering is pointless. What’s gone is gone, no point in mooning over it and letting it screw up life. Well, screw it up more.” He snorted derisively, still staring morosely down at his plate of food as he mutilated it further. “I’ve got enough bad luck now, why would I, or anyone else for that matter, care about remembering even bigger screw-ups from a long time ago? Certainly not me.” He stabbed a vegetable with his knife and shoved it in his mouth, chewing it with a certain amount of unnecessary aggression.

 

The table was quite for several long moments, as both Tenno mulled over their own thoughts. “Perhaps because,” Acantha ventured, “the past isn’t all bad. Didn’t you have family or other people you cared about before? Before all this I mean,” she gestured widely, indicating the clan and everything else around it.

 

Cain just grunted.

 

She tapped his shin under the table with a light kick from her booted foot. “Stop being so morose, that comment was almost wise. Why clam up now? Besides, I’m sure there was someone.”

 

He muttered something unintelligible around another bite of food.

 

“What did you say?” He muttered again, slightly louder but still not understandably. She kicked him again, harder. “Speak up!”

 

“Ow! Damn it woman!” He leaned down and rubbed his now bruised leg, “I said no. Now &!$$ off.” He shoveled more food into his mouth, hoping that his inability to talk would discourage further questioning down this line of thought. He didn’t like dwelling on it, it made him feel strange. He wasn’t the kind of person who looked back, but rather looked towards the future like a starving wolf, eager to rip from it the things he wanted. However…

 

Guilt, a rather unfamiliar emotion for him but coming to him in increasing amounts since being stuck in Aequitas, started gnawing at him. “Sorry…” He muttered quietly after awhile, for once looking honestly apologetic.

 

The female Tenno looked at him and smiled, although it contained a hint of sadness. “It’s alright.” She seemed about to say more when her Djinn sailed through the mess hall doorway and straight towards the pair, bearing news.

 

“Mistress,” he said, sounding rather excited, “A transmission has been received from the Lotus. It is a request for you and any squad members of your choice to clear a Grineer stronghold that has been making dangerous advances upon various small refugee colonies. She wishes this threat to be removed quickly. She has classified this as a ‘Nightmare’ class mission and advises the utmost caution. Would you like me to send her a reply? It sounds very exciting!”

 

She raised an eyebrow, her gaze wandering over to the Tenno she sat next to. “Hey, don’t look at me,” Cain cut in. “I’m not going. It sounds dangerous and I still don’t have my warframe back.” For once he sounded relieved at the fact that his restrictions kept him in the Dojo. It was an interesting change from his usual sulky irritation when his forced limitations were mentioned.

 

“Who said I was going to ask you anyway?” she teased. “Qarin, tell the Lotus I’ll be on my way as soon as I’m able. I only need time to gather my equipment and a squad.”

 

“Of course, Mistress.” The sentinel buzzed off happily ahead of her, presumably to make his own preparations.

 

She looked over at the former Ash before leaving, grinned impishly, and patted him on the head. He flinched and hunched his shoulders, scowling. “Good talk, Cain. Same time next week?”

 

He swatted at her hand, “What makes you my therapist anyway? Some kind of cruel joke?”

 

His voice contained far less venom than it once had, however, and Acantha just laughed. “No one ever said I was, but someone has to keep you in line in ways other than beatings.” She waved over her shoulder as she walked off. “Be good Cain!”

 

She just laughed more as he hurled half-hearted insults at her while she walked away. He was making progress, and she was glad of it. It might be infinitesimal progress, but at least it was something. She stopped at a terminal on her way to her Liset, still grinning, and opened a list of available Clan members that had at least a passing interest in joining a mission. There were few names she found familiar, and even fewer that she had any idea could handle a mission of this difficulty. She spent several minutes scanning through the long directory before seeing Aigloblam’s name towards the end. She hesitated.

 

He was one of the most skilled Tenno in the clan, but he was also generally busy running large portions of the clan’s workings behind the scenes. She doubted he could join, even with his name on the list, but he would be ideal for the job… She pressed the button to send him an invitation to the mission anyway, including a brief message outlining the mission, figuring that if he was too busy he could simply decline. Glancing at the time she closed the terminal and made her way to her Liset. She needed to get moving. If more help was required she could find it from there.

 

A brisk trot brought her to the hangar quickly, and it wasn’t long after that that she was donning her warframe and otherwise preparing for the mission ahead. It promised to be a challenge.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Jeahanne