[Ic] Operation: Aquam Epsilon

[X3Evanescence]

"What's taking Aegia so long?"

Azrael had been waiting for a while now, but still there is no sign of his comrade arriving. Frustrated with the delays, Azrael closed his eyes to soothe the tension in his chest, taking a few deep breaths to speed up the process. With each exhalation he relaxed a little, before being able to restore his calm demeanor and in the right frame of mind to think.

"Operator, it appears that Ante and Mia has already touched ground and are about to begin with their objective. Will you follow suit?"

Azrael considered the fact that he must have at least one Tenno to accompany him in case he got careless. Just as he was thinking of what to do next, his train of thought was interrupted by Nez speaking once more.

"Operator, I have detected a friendly Liset within close proximity of our current location. I have received a comm request, and the encryption code is valid. Shall I establish the link?"

"Please do so."

Heading over to a small terminal near the navigation systems, Azrael pressed a button and watched as it flickered to life, projecting a hologram of a familiar face. Azrael was surprised.

"Azrael, long time no see. How have you been? I heard this mission got quite the hefty reward. How 'bout you and I partner up and kick some Grineer butt?"

"Hmph, just don't be a hindrance, Jonas."

"Cool as ever aren't ya. Lets go then."

Edited October 3, 2014 by X3Evanescence

[souldrive11]

Out in space, a lone Liset is blazing towards the planet in a manner that would make even the most hardened Grineer screaming in terror. If it wasn't for the cloaking systems, every single sensor within the system, (and the next one over) would have already caught sight of what can only be described as a flying deathtrap.

 

"Operator Excelia, Operator Mia's location has been found. Might I suggest lessening our speed to avoid-"

 

"Can it, Ord! Mia's down there and it'll be a snowy day on Mercury before I leave her by herself! Ready my weapons and prepare for an aerial drop. If I see even so much as a smudge on her, there will be a lot the Grineer will have to answer for."

 

The armory slots out her arsenal of Boltor Prime and Lex Prme, still smoldering from her latest excursion, while her Raksa kubrow Rathian chews on the handle of her Scindo Prime. Excelia quickly holsters both weapons, while tugging at the Scindo for a few seconds before Rathian finally relents and lets go. Excelia scatches between Rathian's ears while feeding her a Kubrow-tailored MRE, while she finishes attaching her Scindo onto her back.

 

"Are we close?"

 

"We are within 2km of Mia's last known location and closing fast."

 

"Close enough Ord, open the hatch. As soon as Rathian and I head out, find Mia's ship and stay out of sight with it. I'm sure none of us wants to have to pry you out of the ground like last time."

 

"If I remember correctly, that was only because you refused to apply the breaks until you the enemy was within shouting distance."

 

"I said I was sorry didn't I? Just stay safe. I've got enough to worry about without you getting filled with air vents."

 

As the lower hatched opened, Excelia took a sniff of the air. Even at this distance she had long learned how to find Mia even with her penchant for staying cloaked all the time. As Rathian walked up beside her, she took a deep breath, then jumped out of the Liset and skydived straight for Mia, with Rathian right behind her.

Edited October 4, 2014 by souldrive11

[NanoVega]

Halcyon looked at Val with concern,

"What's that about?" He asked, standing to reveal small latches where he had his warframe hooked into the chair.

Natalia, still waiting on Mia to come over, looked up as she heard something strange. A faint whistling, almost like what was heard when an excavator dropped, but quieter, she followed it trajectory,

"Mia, your two 'o clock, straight up." She called to Mia, unable to identify exactly what it was, but not wanting to shoot it in case it was benevolent.

Edited October 4, 2014 by ultimatumcore

[IceDragonofAmber]

Val injected the liquid into herself, working to put the equipment back into the container as she spoke to Halcyon. "I have a special condition, so I have to take this medicine every hour or so, sometimes sooner if it gets knocked out of my system." She worked to attach the compartment back to where it was before.

[souldrive11]

Sensing upwards while taking a position beside Natalia, Mia realized that her earlier wish for companionship was about be fulfilled, at terminal velocity. Half sighing, half smiling, she quickly threw up an absorb while mentally whispering to Natalia. "It`s friendly, but brace yourself for shockwave. There`s a storm approaching and she's coming down fas-

 

Her thoughts were interrupted with what can only be described as the planet`s hardest glomp. Both Excelia and Mia go flying into the snow, stirring up a burst of snow and ice. A smaller hole appears beside the impact point, going much deeper.

 

"Mia! Are you alright?! You're not hurt anywhere are you? What's the big idea leaving heading off by yourself without me?!Don't you know how worried I was?!" Excelia half shakes, half hugs a flickering visage of Mia who's still in the floating lotus position.

 

"I am glad to see you too Excel, but couldn't you have greeted me with a little more restraint?"

 

"Not a chance, you're not getting away from me that easily! I'm not leaving you alone where you can get hurt or dissected or experimented on! No tenno goes it alone, not now, not ever!"

 

"Iam glad you're here Excel, but calm yourself. We are not alone, both in enemies, and in fellow Tenno."

 

Just becoming aware of the Mirage and Mag alongside them, Excelia; still hugging the flickering Mia who`s now dropped out of Absorb finally greets the other two Tenno.

 

"Hi, Im Excelia! Mia is my partner, friend, and soulmate. I heard on the way down we are going to Tharsis to tear some Grineer apart. Great, I am looking forward to send some Grineer flying."

Edited October 6, 2014 by souldrive11

[NanoVega]

Natalia gawped at the new addition to their squad,

"You just fell from the sky, and... Nevermind, I'm Natalia, pleased to meet you." She said, recovering her thought process and giving a wave.

[Kamal965]

Tdala'at jerked back in his seat, abruptly snapping back into the waking world as the screen in front of him blared red, a concentric circle expanding out in a lighter red color from a location on the map; right outside the Tharsis headquarters.

 

Cursing, Tdala'at forwarded the warning to his superiors while examining the details. A magnitude 5.0 earthquake had hit them without any warning. Frowning and leaning back into his seat once more, Tdala'at was dumbstruck. Where the hell did that come from?

 

His monitor beeped as a reply was received from his superiors: 'Send two squads to check the surrounding area. Begin an energy residue test.'

 

Tdala'at sighed, standing up out of his seat and turning around to pass on the orders. One thing was certain - his day was about to get a lot more interesting.

[souldrive11]

Sensing that the ocean of Grineer minds has begun to agitate, Mia realized that Excelia's hug has shook more than just her heart, and Natalia's frame.

 

"We should make haste inside the base immediately.", mentally whispered Mia as she finally pried herself off Excelia's hug and fully cloaked back to the shadows."I do not think the Grineer know we are here, but their minds are beginning to head toward this position."

 

"Perfect, I can't wait to paint another masterpiece with their blood! I heard a flimsy grate on the edge of the base hidden between some rock spires on the way down. We can try using that to get in." Whistling to Rathian, who finally dug her way out of the snow, they began sprinting towards the fortress.

 

"While you were freefalling through the atmosphere? Your senses never cease to amaze me." Drawing her Latron Prime, Mia and Raviente quickly followed suit behind Excelia.

 

(ooc: waiting on ultimatumcore's Natalia and Twilight053's Ante)

Edited October 9, 2014 by souldrive11

[IceDragonofAmber]

Val sat, as if waiting for something, taking slow, deep breaths, exist by the rising and falling of her chest. The ship slowed as it neared it's destination, activating it's stealth features a safe distance away from the islands so they wouldn't be detected. Vasto left the ship to hover and put Nium in autopilot, although restricting his control so he wouldn't do anything rash to punish Vasto for putting him on mute.

Vasto entered the second compartment, immediately giving Halcyon a glare from under his helmet as he saw the ice chair attached to the wall of his ship. He turned to Val, to ask something along the lines of "why did you let him do that?" When he noticed the way she was sitting and apparently waiting, his expression softened, and he slowly moved next to her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Val barely had time to turn to him when she suddenly began screaming in pain.

(OOC: Whenever I post I wait for your post Ultimatumcorn, just so you know)

[NanoVega]

Halcyon looked at Vasto, shrugging,

"Chillax, it'll subliminate afte-"

He heard Val scream and jumped up, Omega appearing at his side at his request.

"Omega, high intensity scan, I want to know what's hurting her."

"Immediately, sir." Omega responded, doing so quickly."

Halcyon looked at Vasto,

"Is she gonna be ok? She injected something into herself a minute or two ago as if it was normal."

[IceDragonofAmber]

Val continued her screaming, one hand physically bending the metal of the chair she was on, and the other squashing Vasto's wrist so tightly that his shielding began to flash. She began spazzing out in her seat, kicking it her legs as she continued her break less scream. Vasto stood by her side, trying to calm and comfort her, not taking time to answer to Halcyon.

The Cephalon's voice spoke out over the screaming, the Cephalon speaking in a sympathetic, but calm tone that he rarely used. "The medicine Valerie takes for her condition goes straight to her brain, messing with her pain reception, causing every one of her nerve sensors to sear up in white hot pain at once. She isn't being harmed, and will be fine within the space of a minute."

(OOC: Vasto unmuted Nium via his HUD)

[NanoVega]

"What the hell? Why would anyone take a medicine that does this to you?" Halcyon asked, watching Val's pain in pain.

"You'd have thought her pain tolerance would go up to extreme lengths, she having to evidently go through this every hour." Omega reasoned, and Halcyon shook his head,

"With your pain receptors being fiddled with, I'd imagine every hit is worse than the previous. She can't build up a pain tolerance to it because it's always worse." He hypothesized,

[IceDragonofAmber]

"It is the only medicine that exists for her condition, and she has gotten a tolerance to the pain. She only receives this kind of hit once every second day, normally just receiving a pain that lingers for as long as the medicine remains in her system. Through natural adaption and other outside strategies, such as meditation, this general lingering pain has become barely noticeable. There is, however, no way for her to get used to or otherwise prevent the pain she is getting now, even anesthetics don't work"

Vasto's shielding glowed brighter and brighter as it got more damaged. Due to his preference of speed and resulting paper armour, there was a good chance Valerie was going to breech his shields and break his wrist. Regardless, he made no attempt to remove his hand from her grip. Valerie's Warframe began glowing with bright energy as it began channeling through out her Warframe, although no attempt to activate Hysteria was made.

[Kamal965]

Within five minutes of Tdala'at's report, two Grineer detachments from the closest patrols were sent out to the epicenter of the earthquake in a flanking formation from the left and right respectively for each squad. Each squad consisting of Karak-wielding Elite Lancers, including a Heavy Gunner at the head of each squad. As the location of the earthquake began to appear on the horizon, both squad's earpieces relayed the messages from HQ, "The results of the energy residue tests are in: Faint, short-lived, traces of Magnetic energy were found. Closest match to our database has been the Nyx Warframe. Proceed with caution, as always."

 

If possible, the wary Grineer became even more wary - some even expanding their attention to their allies in case of any sudden Tenno-caused betrayal.

[souldrive11]

As Excelia jiggled the grate open, Mia took stock of the Grineer patrols. They are alert, and wary of everything including their own allies; which is all the better for her. While direct intervention would draw unwanted attention, there's nothing stopping her from applying an unseen nudge on the troops. An armed grenade on their belts while it's still attached, a locked a gun or six without them noticing, enough that should they take notice of the four tenno around them, there will be chaos amongst their ranks.

 

"There, got it open. Good thing these guys never think of building smaller ducts."

 

"You scout ahead. I want to make sure Natalia and Ante get out safely."

 

While Excelia begins crawling into the vent in a surprisingly quiet manner unfitting for an air vent, Mia finishes preperations by creating a myriad of psychic bolts under the snow and around the platoons, all facing the Grineer in the opposite direction of the vent. When a limb gets close enough to one, it will fly out, dealing damage and sending a message into their minds to make it think it was from a Karak or Gorgon round.

 

(ooc: as a point, unless stated otherwise, Mia will always be communicating telepathically)

(ooc: waiting on ultimatumcore's Natalia and Twilight053's Ante)

Edited October 10, 2014 by souldrive11

[NanoVega]

"Omega?" Halcyon said quickly, noticing Vasto's shields dropping, "Shield Polarize." He said, and Omega complied, restoring  90% of Vasto's shields,"Cool huh? Built it myself," He chuckled, suddenly picking up on the seriousness of the situation and looking at a speck on his boots as Val screamed again.

 

 

 

 

Natalia blinked, facepalming after holding still for so long and walking forward, smiling at Mia and stepping into the ducts.

 

 

"Sorry, spaced out a lil' bit." She said, heading straight forward afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

((Sorry all, I think about posting in this thread and then I'm like "Oh hey! A butterfly!"))

[IceDragonofAmber]

Vasto saw his shields go up and heard Halcyon. He didn't more or say anything, but instead gave him a small thumbs up with his not occupied arm. Val continued her screaming, although it was slowly becoming less and less intense, her grip lessening as her screaming did. Eventually, her screaming was replaced by moaning as she doubled over with her hands on her helmeted face. She then leaned back, her hands still on her face as her helmet retracted.

"Awww... f*** that was a bad one." She removed her hands as she, impossibly, let out a small chuckle. She possessed flawless, natural skin, she had dark, raven hair, bundled up as at it's natural length it would escape her helmet. Her eyes however, we're a mixture of black and a deep, pulsating red. Technocyte. She looked over to Vasto, who still stood over her, unmoving. She pouted her lips and looked up to him, puppy eyes style.

"Oooh, did I scare you Vasto?"

Vasto looked visibly shocked. "Scare me? Of course your scared me! You know how long it would have taken me to find a new brawler if you died? A full two, three minutes!" They both laughed, Vasto having removed his hand from her shoulder.

[NanoVega]

Halcyon looked at the two, about to sit down in his ice chair before remembering it had already gone straight from a solid to a gas, he looked at Val,

"You might wanna put your helmet on, there's some nitrogen gas somewhere in the room, and I don't know about you, but that's not all that great for me to breath in without my Helmet."

Natalia laughed silently, looking at the grineer, stopping beside Excelia and grinning with anticipation.

[IceDragonofAmber]

Vasto looked at Halcyon, and scowled at him under his helmet. "Well, maybe you should have just used one of the seats I installed instead of making your own, I got them for a reason. Or are they just not good enough for you Primes?" He titled his head upwards, looking at the ceiling.

"Nium, ventilate the air so it's safe to breath again"

"Will do, don't you worry. I will make sure your romantic reunion is not ended too soon."

"Nium, I swear I will download a program just so I can shank your digital @$$"

Val rolled her eyes, and left the two to bicker like children as she turned to Halcyon. "So, I'm pretty sure that we're where we are supposed to be, what's the plan?"

[NanoVega]

Halcyon thought for a moment at Val's question,

"Vasto asked me to stay out of his way, and the best way to do that is follow his path of destruction, so that makes him leader, and from that, I can either gather that the plan is 'get in there and break stuff' or 'watch Vasto break all the stuff'"

[X3Evanescence]

Having scanned the landscape of Kasei thoroughly within his cloaked Liset for over an hour, Azrael noted that the area is surrounded by the enormous sea that makes up the majority of the planet. Deep underneath the region was a network of underwater tunnels that leads to several places where the water met the surface, which he presumed is how the marine troops will be deployed. That proved to be an overwhelming advantage for Jonas though, as Azrael relayed this information to his HUD, Jonas was pleased.

"Yeah, so I'm gonna lay down support fire from the various potholes while you carry out your mission. I trust ya."

Hovering down to an unguarded perimeter of this region, Azrael and Jonas prepared for touchdown. Heading to the ever familiar launch port, they lay on their back within the outline as their limbs magnetized into place. The panel closed, and a swift rolling sensation replaced the Tenno's view with the landscape of Kasei. The area seemed to be constantly raining, with various whirring sounds audible from within. A series of clangs as the anchors de-magnetized, and the Tenno found themselves freefalling onto the ground below. With a somersault, Azrael righted himself before landing on the mud with a heavy squish, followed by Jonah.

Azrael's HUD flickered to life as it began drawing data relayed from his Liset, which is still cloaked and was scanning the area overhead. An objective marker appeared within the Minimap, directing the two Tenno. Azrael materialized a gadget from his internal storage device and attached it right over his visor, with Jonas looking at Azrael with a puzzled expression behind his helmet.

"What's that? Why will you bring a Codex Scanner in this kinda mission?"

"The codex scanner allows me to see hostiles that are even behind walls by highlighting them with an orange tint. Remember that we are supposed to try to delay the Grineer from knowing of our presence for as long as possible. With this we are taking a stealth approach. Well, Jonas, you know what to do."

"Heh, you can never be too careful, huh? Leave support fire to me. Just help to relay the hostile's locations to my HUD. Good luck."

With that, Jonas dived into the nearest body of water that served as the entrance to the network of underwater tunnels. Once inside, Jonas' body immediately liquefied and became one with the fluid, disappearing into the depths. Azrael advanced cautiously, his Codex Scanner picking up traces of nearby hostiles. Now he will wait. Wait for the signal to attack.

[IceDragonofAmber]

Val laughed. "Do you have a Nyx under that frost, or do you just know Vasto longer than I give you credit for?" Speaking do the devil, Val looked over to Vasto, who by now had moved over to the cockpit, still locked Ina heated b***hing contest with Nium. Val leaned in closer to halcyon, and looked him at where his eyes would have been, were it not for his helmet. Due to the infestation in her eyes, her pupils were a deep red, and the white of her eyes was black with red streaks leading to the pupil.

"The thing is, Vasto's "plan" won't get anything done. We'll either be there until we get shot down or until this moon runs out of troops, and I'm not good with plans either, so that's why I'm asking you."

Edited October 11, 2014 by IceDragonofAmber

[X3Evanescence]

((Currently my partner is nowhere to be seen, so Azrael and Jonas will be advancing with the mission at my own pace.))

"Commence mission."

Azrael allowed Void Energy to course within himself, bending the surrounding light rays and effectively blending in perfectly with his surroundings. He advanced deeper into the Grineer facility that were building the detection systems. Azrael hid with his back against the wall, a few meters away from two hulking Grineer Lancers guarding the doorstep.

"Jonas, take the right one. The left is mine."

Using the Codex Scanner to ensure no other enemies were within close proximity, he highlighted one of the targets and signalled Jonas to take aim, from a safe distance on the water surface. On Azrael's signal, Jonas fired his Latron Wraith, its bullet piercing right into the Lancer's skull, killing him instantly. The gunshot sound was nothing more than a muffled cough, as he had silenced his Latron Wraith with the Hush module for stealth purposes. The left Grineer was already dead, being stabbed through the throat from behind by the invisible Loki Prime. The kills were timed perfectly, and both bodies fell limp to the floor almost at the same time.

Azrael lowered his dead victim to the floor and stuck out a leg to cushion the other Grineer's fall to prevent a thud sound which may attract attention. He then decided to drag both bodies into the nearest water body to be disposed of without a trace. With the two guards taken care of, Azrael advanced further. From his readings, there are about 4 detection systems being built within the facility and his task lay in destroying them all. Having sorted things out, he detected another squad of 5 similarly built Grineer Lancers and one Trooper. They were yelling in their crude language to each other, for that was their method of speech; Grineer aren't the pleasant type anyway.

Highlighting their locations to Jonas, Azrael retrieved the Boltor Prime from his back, taking aim from a safe distance. He aimed in such a way that his targets, once impaled by the bolts, will be pinned above the water surface nearby where Jonas can retrieve and hide them. The signal. Barely audible, muffled gunshots. 6 targets killed. Jonas materialized a hand made out of water and retrieved the impaled bodies, sinking them to the depths to rot.

Killing a lone Lancer with his Dakra Prime, Azrael dragged it to a hidden corner as he looted the soldier's plasma grenades, three of them. It will come in handy lest they get discovered. Azrael, having previously scanned the next room, has already detected a large number of hostiles within. Entering it will blow his cover for sure, but he was already equipped, in position and ready. He will not blow his cover now; he will do it once all the others have taken action. These multiple attacks in different regions will cause the Grineer confusion on where they should send reinforcements to, which will buy him more time. Now he waits.