Riptide [Closed]

[BladeAngel]

Ether flew by the soaring liset in a dazzling display of pinks, blues, and purples, the streams mixing with the wash of the screaming engines to produce a fantastic swirl of every color imaginable. Truly there was beauty lurking everywhere, even the dark void of space. Ari Maruyama saw none of this however, her eyes closed in the calm of meditation during the trip to Earth. She often found that reflecting on her mission during transit helped her focus on the here and now.

 

What images did float to the forefront of her mind were saddening: the oldest of historical holos showed that Earth had once been a lush, vibrant planet. A jewel in the rough of the Origin System. Before the Empire. Before the Grineer.

 

Ari did not open her eyes, but a faint scowl flitted across her features as her thoughts turned to the genetically-degrading monsters. Creatures filled with only the lust of conquest and glory. How many of her fellow Tenno had fallen before the Grineer's deranged crusade against the galaxy? Too many, to be sure, and if the tales of her recently-awoken brethren were to be believed, Captain Vor had even more sinister machinations for the warriors of the Lotus. It was a mystery that could only lead to further bloodshed, of that much she was certain.

 

Pardon me, Operator. A soft, musical voice broke into the Tenno's dark musings. We will be entering Earth space in approximately ten standard minutes. Preliminary scans show typical Grineer planetary defense network formations.

 

Ari nodded, opening her eyes and rising from her kneeling position.

 

"Thank you Umi," the young woman replied to her cephalon. "Set coordinates for the location we received earlier. Maintain orbit in proximity. Oh... and engage cloaking," she added with a smile.

 

Understood, the AI responded as the liset altered course and increased speed. I will await further instruction.

 

Satisfied, Ari turned and strode into the depths of her small ship, the entry ramp lowering with a pneumatic hiss of pressurized air. While she had no doubt this mission would involve aquatic operations, she and her imminent companions would first need to find the general whereabouts of the remote outpost. Obviously, the most direct way to do this would be to obtain coordinates from the Grineer themselves: infiltration of the nearest base to the supposed oceanic stretch that concealed their target.

 

Shrugging her shoulders, the Tenno slipped from her comfortable outer robe to reveal her skin-tight interface wear, a dull black covering that amplified her body's nerve impulses for natural movement of her chosen warframe. Obviously today, it was going to be her typical Hydroid. The suit itself floated gently in her arsenal module's suspension field, waiting to be plucked like ripe fruit.

 

The motions were routine, practiced. The small electrical prickles as pieces communicated with her interface wear and connected were so familiar that Ari hardly noticed them. For her, wearing the Hydroid warframe was like a second skin. In no time at all she was completely encased in the protective blue and green shell aside from her head. Holding the helmet in her hands, she slowly turned it over and around, looking at the slightly unsettling visage that she would don. It was good, the Grineer would learn to fear this face. 

 

There was a slight jolt as her liset's compensators kicked in, and Umi's lyrical voice chimed once again.

 

Orbit achieved over preset coordinates, Operator.

 

Ari turned the Hydroid helmet over and slipped it over her head, her vision temporarily blinded by the lifeless inside of the armor. There was a snap and tingle that ran through her entire body as the neural uplink came online, completing the network between her physical self and the sacred outfitting she now wore. Teal energy coursed through the circuits of her warframe, and her vision was restored through optics so clear that she might as well have been wearing nothing at all.

 

"Excellent. Let's wait for our companions to make contact then," she answered, clenching a fist that could now dent permasteel. "We'll make the Lotus proud."

Edited August 10, 2014 by BladeAngel

[Blackout751]

A single liset, alone amongst the debris and the pollution, lay in the orbit of the Earth as little more than a passing shadow in the night sky. Silent and enveloped in shadow as it was, inside - kneeling, zen-like, with a bowed head - sat a Tenno deep within the recesses of his own thoughts. Within, it was tranquil and light - the calm before the storm as what little memory he had played out there.

 

Opening his eyes, he recalled his name  - "Keitel" - to himself quietly as the blue-tinted lights of his ship dulled in their intensity. With a mental awakening to ready himself, he stood and watched the view outside. Something about watching everything go by while he remained the same was tranquil, in a way. And yet, there was work to be done.

Tearing his gaze from the endless sights that surrounded the rejection that was Earth after the Grineer violated it, he silently walked to the back of his ship and, with the ghost of a smile, started attaching his Ash warframe chassis to his undersuit. As each piece seamlessly magnetised, a voice - the voice of the ship - spoke.

 

Operator, an allied liset has entered nearby airspace over the location - should I link communications?

"That would be helpful," came his reply as he drew on his Scorpion helmet, the interface lighting up and vision restored after momentary darkness. While he mused to himself that he modified armour felt so much better, his ship's AI - by the name of Vox - requested Umi to add a voice link between Keitel's and Ari's comms.

"Thank you," he let himself murmur whilst he attached his weapons to his frame - to which his ship replied with a humming vibration of acknowledgement within its engine.

[jatida]

 

"It has been awhile since this eye last acted like this..." Ahm thought to himself in the morning while getting his treatment in Grineer special facility in Earth. Just a few hours back, Ahm was out training with his handpicked elite team to make themselves adept in underwater maneuver when suddenly his right eye ached uncontrollably. He was unconscious for a few seconds because of the pain when his fellow soldier acted quickly and brought Ahm out of the water and send him to the nearest medical segment.

 

Ahm himself still had vision from it eventhough the sight was slightly blurred and different in color. The grineer top medics weirdly had not been able to repair the damage on Ahm's eye nor identified the cause of color change. As Ahm's case was undiagnosable, they did a full body scan on top of giving pain killer. Waiting for the scan to finish and the medicine to wear off, Ahm could not move and needed to wait patiently in the medical tube.

[Verdha603]

Entering Earth's orbit, a lone Liset space vessel made its way into the atmosphere, its occupant calmly scanning a digital document reader as he looked over the few details he could glean for the mission beforehand.

 

The inside of the Liset was slightly warm, a small bonsai garden resting on a metal desk to one side giving a slight gurgle of moving water as the Tenno within the craft focused on the words before him.

 

Sitting cross-legged on the deck of the Liset, Geoffrey Kuribayashi gave a slightly calm sigh after rereading the document for the umpteenth time. A hand rested on a Vasto revolver in his lap, his fingers spinning the weapon in a continuous circle up and down, the only sign of him showing nervousness.

 

Getting to his feet, the Tenno stretched his muscles by rolling his tanned shoulders back a little before hearing them crack, cracking his neck immediately after and curling his toes from within his slick but armored bodysuit. Turning around, he headed down to his arsenal, where his frame of choice awaited him.

 

As he reached his equipment a mechanical voice piped up around him, his shuttle coming alive as the voice spoke to him in the voice of an older male.

 

"Your weaponry have been previously scanned and are at full combat efficiency. Initial scans show predictable Grineer defense formations and three other Liset-class vessels in the vicinity, two of them in close proximity to each other. Is there anything else you wish to know, pilgrim, I mean, Operator?"

 

"No thanks, Duke, but feel free to make sure I have spare ammo if I need it, and to keep me updated on the locations of the other Liset vessels. If you can, put me on the same communications frequency as the other Liset operators."

 

The Tenno let his arsenal snap his Frost-class Warframe into position across his body, the pieces seamlessly melting into one fluid mass of armor before he finally had his Squall-class helmet lowered onto his head, the object sealing to the rest of his armor and displaying a familiar heads-up display before the temperature of his body immediately started cooling, the armor adjusting to bring him into the environment his abilities worked best at; cold.

 

"Sure thing, pilgrim." the artificial intelligence responded, this time without calling him Operator, which actually made him feel relieved, because he much preferred the blunt version of his AI over the more respectful version of him.

 

Attending to his weapons, he yanked the strap tight to one of his hip holsters, which had loosened over time, before checking that both of his leather holsters were in a good position. Satisfied by them, he slipped his twin Vasto revolvers into the old pieces of technology, the feeling of the leather on his armor making him quite happy before he grabbed a worn and beat-up Braton assault rifle off the side of the arsenal machine, checking to make sure it was not in poor condition out of habit before magnetizing the rifle to his back. Finally, he picked up twin Zoren axes, the weapons giving a faint blue glow as he noticed their ice modifications were growing more potent as he used them more. Strapping the weapons onto his bodice, he was satisfied as his HUD informed him that the frame had a full combat loadout already, and thus required no further modification.

 

Resting his hands on his twin Vasto revolvers, Geoffrey informed his AI of what he wished to do.

"Duke, get me into close proximity to the other two Liset vessels nearby and prepare for my departure."

 

"Time to saddle up and kill some Grineer, pilgrim, I mean, Operator." the AI responded to him, and the Frost shook his head, knowing that his AI still had a long ways to go.

[AutobotRaven]

"Operator, you have not yet established a comm link with the other vessels in the area, shall I create a link with them?"

 

"Not yet Eris, I wish to first modify my loadout for maximum efficiency in the environment we will be fighting in."

 

EAmorr stepped to her armory where she had her vast inventory of warframes and weapons. She added mods that would not only allow her to use her Ember Prime in water, it was devastating on land. "Eris, mirror please." a small mirror protruded from the wall behind her and EAmorr began to pin her long dark hair to the back of her head befor turning back to her warframe. She extended her hand and touched her Ember, immediately the armor began to melt and wrap itself around her body where she had touched it. As her helmet closed her systems began to come online and the familiar heat began to fill her suit and the air around her. She gave a grin that made her look insane behind her helmet and began to equip her weapons.

 

"Eris, establish comm link."

[BladeAngel]

Ari stood silently, arms crossed as she watched the brown and grey oceans of Earth. Toxic, polluted waters. It was sickening how deeply the Grineer had exploited their own home planet. Thankfully she didn't have long to glower however, as Umi broke the quiet once more.

 

Operator, she intoned silently. Three comm requests have been received. Their encryption codes are valid. Shall I establish the link?

 

"Please do," the woman agreed, keying a few commands into her communications station and watching the orange-red band that monitored the links flare to life. 

 

In short order, her viewport was filled with three framed holos of her new companions: a Frost user, an Ash, and an Ember. A well-balanced cell to be sure.

 

"Good evening," Ari began once the frequencies were synced, bowing respectfully to her fellow Tenno. "I am Ari Maruyama. I presume that you, my friends, are to be my comrades-in-arms down upon the surface. It is a true pleasure to make your acquaintance."

 

With a gloved hand indicating the entirety of her ship, she spoke directly to each of the masked faces in turn.

 

"All that I have here is of course at your disposal should you require it. And with whom do I have the honor of speaking?"

 

As the pilot spoke, Umi lowered the liset into the smoky, dismal atmosphere of Earth and began slowly making headway to the large Grineer compound that would be their first target. With careful countermeasures in place to avoid scans and sightings, the ship glided gracefully closer and closer to Ari's brethren... and sworn enemies.

[Blackout751]

His Liset followed suite, re-activating itself and flying into the diseased atmosphere of Earth and heading straight for their co-ordinates. Fire grew as a sheet over the front of the ship during entry - nothing to fear - and formed a blinding, incandescent glow on the window that illuminated the slightly dark insides. To any on Earth who watched the skies, he would appear as little more than a meteor overhead - a beautiful, dangerous spectacle.

 

"As it is with you, it is my pleasure to meet the three of you on this mission," he acknowledged each of them with a slight nod through the video feed, saying the words with a faint air of hesitation. "I... I am Keitel."

 

Separate from the shared link of the four Tenno came a voice - on a private call that he switched to - from his AI. Operator, you understand I cannot come with you on this mission. Vox sounded a touch upset by this, with an implied tone of (over)protectiveness. Just as he was distant from emotion, she was close - maybe too close for an artificial sentience - to it.

"If I could, I would bring you with me through a sentinel - but this is an environment one wouldn't be able to survive long in," he sighed a little internally, unwilling to face her irritation at that sort of response. Still, he was sincere when he said "I'll be fine, Vox."

 

If you dare not to be, I will come for you no matter how deep into this place you go. I won't ever leave you to die, no matter what.

"You wouldn't be you if you did," came his finishing remark as he switched back to the channel his squad were conversing on and prepared to exit the ship from the sky.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Blackout751

[AutobotRaven]

EAmorr stood quietly as the other tenno talked over the mission. Soon she felt something lean on her leg, looking down she saw that her kubrow pup had found its way up the ramp and over to her. She gave a smile and her helmet retracted exposing her face, she picked up the puppy and gave it a scratch behind the ears. "Eris, would you keep Zamara in stasis until i return." "Of course operator." EAmorr took her pup back to the incubator and gave it one more loving scratch before setting it down and returning to the video transmission.

 

"what exactly is the objective of our mission?" She spoke quietly but with firmness in her voice

[Verdha603]

Geoffrey stared at the other three Tenno that would form the team on this operation. An Ash, an Ember, and a Hydroid frame for backup. Inside, he felt slightly content that they had a combination of opposites and complementary frames. Fire and Ice, Water and Shadows. It would certainly seem poetic, if he had the ability to make poetry that is.

 

The Frost user looked over his armaments one more time before he spoke. "I am Geoffrey Kuribayashi. It is a pleasure to get to know all of you, and I am happy to see we seem to have a large variety of talents at the table."

 

Pausing to check the readouts on his Liset craft briefly, he continued. "I hope to see you all on the surface, and hopefully our talents will prove most useful in achieving our objective and annihilating some Grineer along the way."

 

He heard a whirring sound from below, and so the Tenno checked his HUD and noticed that his stasis pod below was stirring slightly. His Raksha Kubrow, Banzai, had taken some serious injuries from his last mission, and even after performing immediate treatment the Kubrow was still moderately injured, enough for him to decide it would be best for his companion to recuperate in stasis, even if he resisted and tried to get out. Sighing at recognizing that the kubrow refused to stay still, he returned his attention to the conversation, briefly ordering his AI to pilot the Liset on a similar flight course to Ms. Maruyama's.

[Psychotoxin]

Klara was on a ship with a detachment of other Ballistas. They were more talkative than she was, and she didn't really care about the other Ballistas bragging about their accomplishments. They were nothing special. One had taken out a minor Corpus merchant, another one had killed a Tenno sympathizer on a meeting with the Red Veil agent. The agent had escaped, and so she had been put on a reserve squadron for a while, but that didn't  stop her from bragging.

 

But most of these Ballistas were fresh out of the tube, and by the looks of it, some of them were about to collapse dead on their own.

 

Klara sighed. The one who killed the Corpus merchant turned to her and asked in a disdainful voice:"You think you're better? You barely speak, and don't even wear the proper armor." The Ballista nodded at Klara's suit. It was mostly black, due to the lack of light in the ship. Klara ignored her.

 

"This one must be very damaged. No wonder they are sending her to a secret base. There should be no conflict here, so rejects can enjoy their spot in "the field" too." She said with a snicker to the other Ballistas. Klara still didn't react.

 

The ship landed in the surface docking bay. They would have to descend through a handful of elevators and staircases, to get to the base proper. But first...

 

They all got out in single file, with Klara being the last, and her mocker right before her. As soon as they stepped down from the ship, Klara put her hand on the Ballista's shoulder, and held her tight.

 

"What is it, reject? Finally decided to ta-..." She was cut short by Klara's fist striking her face. While she was still slightly dazed by the punch, Klara grabbed her with the other hand, and flung the Ballista into the water. She stared at the confused sniper with a cold stare, and spat out a single word. "Rejected." Her voice was more melodic than the standard semi-mechanical screech of a common Ballista. Then she turned around and went into the base, not reacting to the curses that came from behind her.

[BladeAngel]

With an inclination of her head toward each Tenno in turn, Ari smiled unseen behind her helmet's passive surface.

 

"An excellently rounded squad to be sure," she agreed. "I will be landing in the marshlands south of the base, anywhere closer and I think Umi would have trouble avoiding detection."

 

She cut the video feed, but left the comm channel open in her Hydroid's localized network. Switching the controls to manual, she guided her liset in a swooping dive over the gnarled and blackened trees that dominated the stagnant landscape below. The cloaking field would keep her safe from casual and lower powered sweeps, but it didn't silence the rush of engines or make the ship invisible to someone who knew where to look.

 

With ripples of mossy water roiling away from the small craft's descent to the ground, Ari settled on her back into the lauch port's familiar outline after the panel slid open. There was a swift rolling sensation, and her vision was suddenly filled with the sights and sounds of Earth's swamps as she hung magnetized from her ship. With a quick series of clangs, the anchors released and she fell twenty feet to the wet mud below to land with a heavy squish.

 

As various readouts came to life in the edges of her HUD, she shifted her gaze to the movement sensors. Nothing major, at least nothing Grineer in the immediate area.

 

"This is Ari," she said calmly into the comm channel. "I've made landfall."

 

Knowing its role was to standby, Umi fired the landing thrusters and lifted into the dusky sky, soaring into the lower atmosphere to await further instruction. 

[Blackout751]

As his ship flew low over the landscape, Keitel hung from the underside of his ship in position to drop. He and Vox silently agreed to keep a distance from the target area and readied themselves in their own, separate way - this was going to be a long mission and it wasn't certain anyone would survive it. It never was certain. This wandering thought was quickly back in line as their departure was imminent and he had no time to contemplate the mysteries of fate and time.

 

Slowing down to single miles per second, he glanced past his shoulder to the liset and said his goodbye as the ship disengaged the magnetic locks holding him in place, letting him fall as it pulled away into vertical take-off. One second of screaming air, disoriented vision and freefall before he landed on a metallic platform, overtaken by jungle weeds and vines - as good a sign as any that he was close. He landed on all fours, almost cat-like, and stood before cutting out any video feed and glancing around him. The distant dark of the jungle held more than Kubrow or Grineer, after all.

 

"West-northwest of the target, two miles out. ETA 8 minutes. See you all there."

[AutobotRaven]

EAmorr dropped out of orbit and began her decent toward the swamps of the once beautiful planet of Earth. "Eris, should i not return with the others i want you to find him and tell him that i love him." EAmorr stared at an image of the Tenno that she married long before the sleep. She had forgotten almost all of the time that the two of them had shared, that is why she had accepted this mission. She had discovered that there was an old abandoned Tenno base that held records and memories of a few hundred tenno, she had a slight hope that her memories were locked away inside this base.

 

As she dropped from her ship and onto the soft mud she began to scan the area for hostiles out of habit.

 

"EAmorr reporting in, i'm on the ground."

[Verdha603]

Geoffrey slipped into the open capsule on the bottom of the Liset, the machine pinning his limbs in place magnetically as he prepared to be dropped, the vessel slowing down to almost a hover before releasing him ten meters off the ground, allowing the Frost user to pull off a spin forward before landing with one hand on a knee.

 

Unslinging his Braton rifle from his back, he kept the rifle raised to his shoulder, still scanning the swampland around him visually even after hearing his sensors say the area was clear.

 

"This is Geoff. Three klicks south-southwest from the target. ETA ten minutes. Hope to meet up with all of you without encountering any hostiles along the way."

 

Pushing off into the marshland, he felt comforted by the fact that his war frame was keeping the swamp water and smell out, or else he would most likely have the urge to vomit.

[jatida]

"Okay, now since the test has been finished, you can get out of the tube. How are you feeling? Is the pain still there?" the medic said to Ahm while removing the scanning equipments from Ahm's body.

 

Before waiting for Ahm's response, he quickly continued, "our team will do some more thorough analysis from the scan result. Meanwhile, why don't you take some rest? Do you need us to assist you to your chamber?"

 

"I will go to my room now. Thank you for the medication." Ahm said while looking at the mirror, blinking his right eye a few times to check if it is hurting. He did not want to stay any longer in that room, even though he was having a hard time concentrating because of a pain on his head.

 

"Should I get back to Ceres and report this to Liutenant Lech Kril?" Ahm thought. Without thinking any further, Ahm quickly moved to his ship. On the way, he noticed that there were a group of soldiers going out from a ship, witnessing the end of the line where two Ballistas were having a quarrel. Ahm did not do anything and observed the pair from afar, remembering how both of them looked like.

 

Ahm then quickly entered his ship on the dock and check his safe on a corner of the ship.

 

"It's been awhile since then... " Ahm memories flew back in after seeing a weapon he looted, a Penta. He then took the gun and sat on the corner, trying to replay the scene a war that he considered as his most memorable fight.

Edited August 22, 2014 by jatida

[Psychotoxin]

Klara's armor transitioned to a saturated version of the common Ballista armor, once she came out of the shadow. She had noticed a Bombard observing her and the other Ballista. Something about his look seemed off.

 

As Klara pushed the other Ballista into the water, the Bombard moved to the side, heading to one of the docked ships.

 

'Hmm... seems like someone really likes you...' she thought. Not everyone had their own personal ship, and those who did were usually envied by others.

She had once requested a small cruiser. It would be less noticeable than the common transport ships, and since Klara was usually sent on missions that required a degree of subtlety she would only benefit from her personal craft.

Keela said that the Council will see about this, and Klara would be informed if her request was granted.

 

'Informed... heh... yeah right... I'll see a friendly Kubrow, before i get a ship...' she laughed in her mind. Her right leg felt a bit lagging behind, so she headed to the med-bay. Her armor shifted to a deep dark blue as she entered the med-bay.

 

"Ah... Another new arrival. How can i help you?" the medic said, looking at Klara.

 

"My right leg. It's slower and not as smooth as the left one." Klara said to the medic.

 

"Okay. Well you are not the first Ballista today. Seems like your detachment is slightly defective." the medic said. Something in his voice sounded like he'd be mocking her.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Psychotoxin

[BladeAngel]

Ari listened to her fellow Tenno call in, it seemed like they weren't that far off from the base. Arriving together in one landing zone would have been too conspicious; the female smiled in recognition that her squadmates had an innate sense for stealth about them. That, or they simply realized the brevity of their mission. Either one was fine by her.

 

"I'll see you all there," the Hydroid responded, lifting her codex scanner from her waist and holding it up for viewing. 

 

Nothing out of the ordinary caught her eye, it was as she had expected during landing: nothing was in her immediate vicinity. Farther off in the direction of the Grineer facility there were several small hits, but she wouldn't be anywhere near them for at least another ten minutes. Satisfied, she called up her hand holo and accessed all of the topographical maps she had downloaded while in transit to Earth. Color-coded terrain and flora densities coalesced over her hand, with a faint scanner overlay provided by Umi in orbit above. 

 

The scanner would have a slight delay, and was a bit weaker than a codex sweep due to distance, but it was still useful to know when she would need to start being extremely cautious. She made the move to upload the data in real-time to the other Tenno.

 

"This is all the information I have about the surrounding area," Ari explained, closing out her own holo and instead highlighting it in a free space of her HUD for easy viewing. "I believe the southern entrance to the complex would prove the least difficult, bio-signatures seem to be consistently weaker there. Perhaps it's the sparse vegetation, they would more easily see an approach?"

 

Leaving her pondering for her own time, she began trudging through the muck toward her destination with only the buzzing of insects and the gurgling of trapped methane escaping its aqueous prison accompanying her. She would know more when she reached the base.

 

Or so she thought. Several minutes later Ari stood in the exact expanse of soggy soil that her holo had shown her, and as she had expected it was almost devoid of plant-life. In fact, compared to the rest of the swamp it almost had the look of a field of some sort.

 

"Staging grounds?" Ari wondered to herself, tugging down a pesky frond of some sickly fern to get a better view.

 

Either way, the best idea was for her to wait for her comrades before attempting a blatant approach in clear view, regardless of how few Grineer her codex was picking up on this end.

[AutobotRaven]

EAmorr began to make her way through the mud and narrowly avoided a patch of quicksand. As she ventured deeper into the swamp she scanned the mini map in her hud for the location she had marked that only she could see. She gave a hiss when she noticed how far away from the meeting location the purple blip was. if she were to share her knowledge of the ancient base that held the memories of only a few hundred tenno she would have a better chance of getting in.' but what if the facility did not hold her memories?' she wondered, then what would the others think of her? This desire to get her memories back was selfish, and she knew it, but she wanted to remember. She longed to remember everything about her and the one she loved.

[Blackout751]

"I hate the jungle."

 

Those were Keitel's first words since landing and he was already stained with green marks from sprinting through the humid environment, avoiding the watchful eyes of feral Kubrows and any possible Grineer patrols. Orokin-enhanced weeds snaked their way through the forest, often requiring him to artfully take any opening available whether it was to slide underneath or to find a way over. Thorns - with barbs that would puncture through the minimal body covering of a regular Ash - snagged his extra torso armour every so often, which required him to stop and untangle them with his daggers. Soon he couldn't bear to be in this accursed place much longer.

 

Eventually the light of day pierced through the veil of the endless canopy as the trees became sparse and quickly gone from all sight. This looked to him as more of a marshland or swamp, which - thanks to Ari's map she'd sent, which he was silently glad to accept - meant he was close to the area she'd chosen to enter from. It only took him a minute to find her location and approach from behind to ensure he wasn't seen. No greeting from him, as anyone would expect.

[Verdha603]

Geoffrey hustled through the brush, well aware that his frame was not exactly designed for stealth, but at least he was able to muffle his noises enough for them to not be heard above the noises of the marshes around him.

 

Following the beacon, he started to slow down once he was a couple hundred yards from the rendezvous point, and noticed the Hydroid and Ash were already there. Deciding to give some sort of announcement to his presence, he let his HUD send a ping to his teammates and paused for a few seconds before moving in.

 

"Didn't see any Grineer on the way here. Hopefully resistance will be minimal provided we use a bit of surprise, which should no doubt be easy with an Ash available for the job."

 

Looking around, he hoped his Braton would be enough to put down whatever got thrown their way, especially since he knew that the further into missions he got, the harder it was to call his current primary weapon "sufficient to get the job done."

[Psychotoxin]

"Okay. We've tweaked your leg. Should be as smooth now." the medic said to Klara.

 

"Mhm..." She nodded, and got of the table, heading out of the med-bay. Her armor slowly flushed with color, as she walked out of the shadow.

 

'Well... I better get to the commander of this base...' She thought to herself.

 

---

 

After a while she found the commanding officer's room, and although most of the Grineer wore Ruk's emblem, he himself was not in the office. There were 3 Grineer commanders who were bickering about something. Klara didn't pay attention and waited for them to notice her.

 

"What do you want, soldier?" One of the commanders called to her, after a while.

 

"I would like to know my duties, and where am i exactly to be posted." Klara said, straightening and saluting the commander.

 

"You a Scorpion? Well-" He started,  but was interrupted by Klara.

 

"Actually I'm a Ballista. I've got experimental armor, that reacts to light. So it turns black whenever i'm in darkness." She said, averting her eyes, but otherwise retaining her pose.

 

"Oh, is that so... Well then. To the upper levels, and keep an eye out for any Corpus machines. Or those Tenno skoom..." The Commander barked and laughed at the end with his comrades.

 

Klara silently nodded, and headed towards the stairs, to head to the roof of the facility.

[AutobotRaven]

As she pushed through the thick underbrush she began to regret taking a heat based warframe, the air around her was hot and dry instead of warm and muggy. The budding hope of finding something at the abandoned tenno building kept gnawing at the back of her mind, she wanted to tell the others but if she did would it put their mission in danger. if the grineer knew about it then it could be used as bait to trap them.

 

She gave a heavy sigh and made her mind up "Everyone, there is something other than the grineer base in this area." she shared the blip on her mini map that showed the location of the tenno  base. "I found this while researching the area for the mission, it holds the memories of a few hundred tenno. I do not know if the grineer are aware of its presence in the area but if they do they could use it as bait. I want to know if you are willing to come with me to retrieve the memories inside and return them to the tenno they belong to." She waited holding her breath for the answers the others would give. 

[Owlrrex]

It was a gentle buzz humming through the backside room of the liset. An unnatural, but not unpleasant sound, choosen wisely to awake someone from dreams vivid and sometimes twisted.

As if that had helped anything. Being awakened, the sleeping person lashed out with a hand to strike whoever dared to interrupt the slumber she had been enjoying. And thus, triggered the motion responsive sensors.

"Good morning, operator. The recharging has reached designated values and we are preparing to voidjump to your next target area."

If anything had been wrong, the AI would have told it right away. So without sparing more than a half ear, the Tenno rose and flexed. Felt her uneven bodyparts spring to life, one side slower than the other. Everything the same here, too. Time to get her outside a little bit more civilized, even if it was just to remind herself of something she has been a long time ago, and kept clinging to. Meanwhile, the even, synthetic voice kept talking.

"Jump destination will be selected to standard parameters. MDRF are preconfigured and awaiting normspace-adjustments."

Boring talk. Necessary, but boring. What should have gone wrong? The lisets and their technology were reliable, at least for their destined operators. Still, even this sometimes exceptionally bullheaded Tenno had not put up a fight of stubbornness against an AI. Let it talk, enjoying shower and morning rituals was a good distraction.

 

Soon, the Liset left the void and dived into cold, dark space, illuminated by earth, moon and sun. Still, this view stirred the Tenno more than she would like to admit - but less than she hoped. The AI started to specify the data on location and situation it had collected: Area, Terrain, Assessments stated by the local grineer, local time and weather.

"Controller, I'm late!" gnarled the Tenno, blaming the AI. Sure, the void was a tricky thing, but it felt better. Did the computer even care, anyways?

"Move the drop point in by 40%. I won't give up the advantage of taking the trail of the other squad sent in by the Lotus!" She never understood this habit of limiting the Tenno-cells to 4 people. Sure, in most cases that was enough. Still, she never liked being rejected. Lotus didn't bother, the mysterious figure didn't consider single one's fates, as it seemed. Well, and so the Tenno going by the simple alias of 'Valkyr' didn't care about the rules. She wanted to go here, and so she did.

"Perimeter adjusted. Void Trails of the spearhead-squad found at 74% dissipation." Valkyr saw the scattered droppoints on the terrain-simulation, and could guess the rest. "Alright, pack it up, I'm preparing to leave. Ride the trails closest to the meeting area, and then proceed by 'tadpole'." The old codewords, engraved in her mind like ancient scriptures in stone. The AI had learned them fast, they used them casually now. Just as casually, as the Controller released the dressing chamber, as Valkyr called it. The place where her warframe was kept, well hidden and preserved. It didn't take long to engage the symbiosis. It awaited her fervently every time their bodies engaged in the bonds their minds shared - the warframe, and everything attached to it.

 

When returning to the cockpit, the exit-hatch was already prepared to be entered. The AI did its part, like the well-oiled machine it was. Valkyr smiled beneath her helmet. While establishing the mission link to the ships systems and preparing the data for immediate access, her hands checked everything for a last time: The Kronen-twinblades 'Wings' on her shoulders, the silenced Vectis-rifle 'Hush' in between, right next to the tail-like crest expanding from her warframe's spine. And the strange bulge on her thigh, 'Sybill', her loyal companion on every mission. Everything was as it should be. Why did she even bother to check? She just did. Every time.

"Shall I establish communications with the spearhead-squad?" The Liset shook a minimal bit while entering the atmosphere, through the same trail of air that one of the other lisets had passed just a short while ago. "Notify them, if they're accessible. If not - they will play their part either way, knowingly or not." answered the Tenno, getting herself locked into position in the dropout-mold.

As the Warframe dropped from just beneath the treetops towards the ground, the fifth liset sent a no-reply-message via usual Tenno-links to the to the four lisets that already had deployed their operators: "'Valkyr' deployed, prepared for silent range combat. Estimated arrival in 5 minutes." Appended were coordinates where Valkyr estimated the meeting point for the four Tenno to be, calculated from the flight paths of their lisets still traceable in the atmosphere, and the situation at the base. Further, the fifth Tenno was kind enough to not encrypt her link, so she could be contacted by the squad if they wished to cooperate. Screw the Lotus, this was her own way.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Drandko

[Aegia-]

Mother paced back and forth in her Liset, her cephalon: Wistfiel had decided to play the only music that they had been able to pick up through the ship's onboard radio, Grineer Elevator Music. Calming as it was, she could only pace through the small stealth ship for so long. She let out a slight sigh and waved her bodysuit-covered hand dismissively, silencing the radio to a barely audible volume.

 

"Wist, unlock the Arsenal for me please."

 

"Of course, Operator. Right away." He spoke in one of a traditional high-class butler that would have existed many years ago. "Arsenal unlocked, proceed at your leisure."

 

The lithe, scarlet-haired woman stepped towards the platform, lowering as the ship's sensors detected her presence. She stepped onto the slanted platform and slid down it. It seemed like such a trivial little action, but as beautiful as the cosmos was, it got a bit... Boring in the Liset, so these small quirks were bred out of boredom. The mechanical whirring of the foundry was a constant source of background noise that didn't bother Mother as much as it did when she first acquired this ship. Stepping into the arsenal, the process of attaching her into her Warframe was a relatively quick one. and soon enough she was right at home in her Trinity frame, her HUD flickering to life in her Meridian helmet, and her communications channel always set to "Open" to pick up on any important signals. And speaking of important signals, one she happened to pick on was one that happened to have a squad of Tenno already on the ground on Earth. After listening to said radio chatter for a bit, she thought it rude to not offer her assistance. Coincidentally, she happened to be not very far away from the giant blue and green planet that was home to the Grineer. 

 

"Wist, set us on a course for this signal, we're going to meet our new friends."

 

"Shall I activate stealth mode, Operator?"

 

"Of course, keep us off the radar."

 

She touched her index and middle finger to a space on her helmet reserved for the comms, then quickly slid them off and to the front of her, bringing up a holographic projection of said Tenno. On their end they would see the image of her within the Liset. Making sure she was on the right channel once more, she began to speak.

 

"Hello hello? Hopefully you fellow Tenno on the ground can hear me. I'm currently on course to your location, and should be there within... 10 minutes. You all look like you could use a bit of support on your side," she remarked at their highly offensive frames. "I'll be dropping in close to your location, so be sure not to shoot me on sight if any of you have itchy trigger fingers. Mother out." With that, she wiped her hand down, clearing the image projection away and cutting her transmission, but making sure to leave the channel open for their reply.

 

Taking a step back to her arsenal, she grabbed a Soma from the rack that it was locked into, taking spare ammo and making sure it was loaded with the unreasonably large clip that it always sported. She took the two holsters that held her Hikou shurikens and held them to her thighs, letting them magnetically attach themselves to her frame. And last but not least, her prized Silva and Aegis, taking it and letting it snap neatly onto her left arm, unsheathing the blade and giving it an experimental swing, then clipping it back under the shield once more. She glanced at the strange apparatus that once hung around her waist, vaguely reminiscent of a skirt, and waved her hand once more, closing the arsenal back and locking it. She looked at the rapidly approaching waypoint on her HUD, at this rate she would be there faster than she anticipated. "Oh well," she thought. "Early is better I guess."

 

As her Liset entered Earth's atmosphere, she made her way down into the bay where she locked herself into the slot made especially for Tenno. She closed her eyes as she felt herself lock into place, listening to the sounds the Liset made is it approached its destination.

 

"Operator, we are above the specified drop point. Are you ready to drop?"

 

"Go ahead Wist, keep the ship in one piece while I'm down there."

 

"Of course Operator. Dropping in 3...2...1..."

 

Mother felt her position change as the Liset rotated its pod that she resided in. Upon opening her eyes, she saw what looked to be a bog. "Humid" and "damp" were the first words that came to mind. She felt herself unlock from the pod and begin her descent towards terra firma. She aimed for a tree, slanted in its path to find the Sun. Upon landing on it, she slid down its trunk, slicked with grime and moss from the swamp, and landed in the low-lying water with a barely audible splash. She righted herself and hefted her Soma, looking around to track the waypoint she had set on the Tenno from earlier. Quickly beginning a silent sprint towards their location, trying to avoid making as much noise as possible, as she had no idea what else was out here other than Grineer.

[CupcakeBomber]

Loke rubbed the back of his head. Sleeping on a hard, metal floor isn't exactly what he would call comfortable, but when you're in a cramped stealth ship, you have to give up certain luxuries. As he slowly sat up, his cephalon brought him up to speed with his surroundings. "Operator, while you were away I took the courtesy of hiding the Liset behind a nearby asteroid." Loke pondered this for a moment, and replied, "Vladimir, couldn't you have just cloaked the ship?"

 

"I suppose that would have worked too, Operator."

 

Loke was sick of this ship, and made plans to scrap it for a newer one at the next possible point in time. With that out of the way, it was time to see what his mission was. He stopped using his mind, and started using his mouth, "Vladimir, any missions pop up while I was asleep?" Vladimir chirped and began to print out a piece of paper from the foundry. On it was the most recent mission assigned for a Mr. Loke Polinsk, except printed in primitive Wingdings font. Loke gritted his teeth, and and punched out each of his syllables clearly. "Vladimir, you know I plan to scrap you at this point, don't you?"

 

"Oh yes, Operator, it's crossed my circuits many times."

 

"Oh good," Loke suddenly did not feel safe in this ship. "You know what Vladimir, just take me to the mission. I'm sure I can figure it out from there." As the ship jolted into motion, Loke stumbled over to his gear and picked up his helmet. After wiping the horns a little bit to make them shine, he donned the mask of his warframe and linked up his systems. The Liset zoomed down towards a small, aquatic looking planet, and few words were exchanged between it and its Operator. The atmosphere soon enough enveloped the ship and aerobraked it towards the mission node. Having done it countless times before, Loke positioned himself into the passenger compartment and prepared for insertion. "Okay, Vladimir, just put me down easy."

 

"Of course, Operator. What good would a ship be if it purposely put its Operator into danger?"

 

Loke felt himself rotate and release from the Liset several meters higher from the ground than he would have liked. The landing pad coming in fast, Loke kicked his legs out to try and get into a rolling position. His legs touched the ground and his knees shot toward his chest. With all of his strength, he pushed out with his legs and rolled through the momentum slamming him into the ground. There was a bit of pain in his legs from having to cooperate on such short notice, but it wasn't anything that would slow him down. He took a view of his surroundings, tried to pick out any useful landmarks, and thought, "Well, as enjoyable as that experience wasn't, at least I'm not in that ship anymore."