[Ic] Lotus In Bloom (Invite Only)

[Achaix]

"Saved her!" Arthur hissed through gritted teeth, now feeling more rage than before he had punched her. "You kept firing an area effect weapon while knowing that people were close to the target. Did you even aim for the mark?! Her shields were out because of you! It's a miracle that you didn't kill her and you claim that you SAVED her!"

Then those words, words which cut deeper than anything he could imagine. "You're just like the Stalker" and all he did was standing there staring back at the Mirage. Rage and anger still filled him though now he wasn’t entirely sure where to direct it all. He wanted to break the Mirage’s arm to prevent her from using her weapon again. He wanted to crack that grineer looking mask of hers. All this swirling inside him, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it, he wanted to make her suffer, yet something stopped him.

And as she went to Temperance’s aid and summoned her hardlight copies, all he could do was stare in silence. She spoke again, and he answered, his voice almost a hiss “You think I care about a copy? You think I can’t tell which one of you is real Mirage? This isn’t over.”

"That's not what I..." She had taken too long to speak. Arthur stormed off, the sight making her feel as though an iron grip was twisting her guts. Taking a short and difficult breath, Kate readjusted her own and her copy's hold of Temperance and kept walking towards Tacis, taking care not to step or drag her Boss on any smoking, corrosive puddles.

One such Tenno, if not two that she had spotted were Kate and Temperance. Lusith quickly strode up to the otherside, following Kate's - what she thought anyway - hard light copy from her Hall of Mirrors.

"Kate, do you need help moving Captain Temperance? Save your frame's energy. No need to use it here, now."

She was ready to get herself at Temperance's side at a moment's notice should Kate drop the Hall of Mirrors copy.

She wasn't exactly happy when the Valkyr neared, but having her close by lessened that coiling sensation within her.

"Thanks, but no thanks. There may not be much of a need, but... Anyway," Kate's unoccupied hand went up to her helmet, carefully tracing the thin cracks. Her actual face was messed up too, if the coppery taste in her mouth was any indication. She looked at Lusith. "How bad do I look?"

[WingedCrusade]

Without a clue as to what really happened, Lusith just assumed Kate received the damage from the Colossus. Looking over the crack quickly, she'd just give a short reply.

"Well, you are alive and uninjured, so all things considered? ... I can't stop to chat, however. If you don't need help with Captain Temperance, I'm going to be making sure I'm doing what I can to help out here. We can talk later when this is all done with and behind us, okay Kate?

Spotting Lancelot and Jinx, she figured she'd see if she could make herself useful and check up on them at least.

"Tenno Lancelot, Jinx. Do you need any help getting her to Medical?"

[Temperance000]

Once he had shaken free of his congratulators, Alaric made a beeline for the airlocks with the intent of swinging by the Armory for some replacement power cells before returning his borrowed Opticor to Atlanta in Engineering.  Near the top of the stairs, however, he found Sema seated on the ground, her Vecits forgotten beside her.  One hand clutched the side of her helmet while the other arm kept her CPID shakily level before her eyes.

 

“Sema?” the Volt inquired as he approached.  “Are you hurt?”

 

The Mesa shook her head, but took a moment longer to marshal words to reply.  “No.  But Alaric…I shot the Captain.  Shot him in the back with my Regulators.  Alaric, I’m the Manifold’s Range Master.  I wear a warframe devoted to the perfection of gunplay.  And I shot my own Captain in the back.  I didn’t mean to, I swear, it just happened.  A Mesa’s gunslinger trance doesn’t make mistakes like that does it?  Does it?”

 

“Sema, Sema,” Alaric knelt at her side, slinging the Opticor and grasping her shoulders in an effort to calm her.  “It’s alright, he survived.  Someone will get him to Medical and Cordia will take care of him.  In the meantime, let’s get you back to the Armory.  We’ll take your warframe apart down to the firmware if we need to, but we’ll find out what went wrong.  Alright?”

 

Sema nodded mutely, picked herself up, retrieved her Vectis, and set off towards the Armory with Alaric.  As they walked, all she could think was, What am I going to tell Temperance when he wakes up?

 

+++

 

“Your apology is unnecessary, Tenno Omen,” Tacis told the chasten scientist.  “You have a point; there is much we could learn from studying this creature.  However, Tenno Abra and Tenno Jinx are correct.  We cannot allow any trace of it to contaminate the ship, or Lotus forbid, accompany us back to the Origin system.”  Briefly, Tacis allowed his gaze to drift over the massive corpse, which was already beginning to show signs of the rapid decomposition peculiar to creatures of Technocyte.  “Set up whatever equipment you need here,” he instructed.  “Learn what you can in the time available.  When we depart, we will immolate every cell.”

 

Tacis bowed and took his leave of the group surrounding the Colossus, heading back up the stairs towards the airlocks.  At the top, he found a familiar Zephyr seated off to the side, watching the post-battle mop-up.

 

“Tenno Alise,” the Grandmaster addressed her.  “You contradicted my orders in the course of battle.  That is a clear violation of the chain of command.  Under different circumstances, you could have endangered the success of the battle or the safety of your shipmates.  However,” his tone softened an infinitesimal fraction, “you contributed to the fight’s timely resolution by disabling the Colossus before it could assault our backlines.  In this case, your quick thinking and willingness to take risks provided us with the edge we needed to emerge victorious.  Officially, I must discourage you from identical conduct in the future, and log this incident in your permanent record.  Unofficially however, I can say, ‘well done.’”

 

From above came the quiet hum of repulsor cells as Manifold drones descended on the area to accompany the wounded back to Medical.

 

+++

 

Temperance let out a shocked exclamation when Arthur dropped him, which almost covered the sound of something breaking inside his warframe. 

Fresh agony blossomed in his side, flaring anew when Kate knelt to help him up.  He grit his teeth beneath his helmet to keep from crying out.

“Thank you, Kate,” he managed to gasp.  “I think….I can stand.”  He attempted to do just that, and nearly fell again.  The pain and nausea were so intense that he barely registered Lusith’s arrival and departure.  He leaned heavily on the Mirage as they made their way towards Tacis and the airlocks.

 

Will you be alright, Temperance?

 

In time, Cardina.  Loathe though I am to say it, a few of those consequences could be counted as blessings.

 

They had just crested the top of the stairs when Annabelle caught up with them.

 

“Captain!” the Trinity exclaimed, rushing up with her scanner in hand.  In his pain-addled state, Temperance could barely muster up the energy to be alarmed as she ran the device over his body.

 

“This can’t be right.”  Annabelle’s confusion was evident in her voice.  She adjusted the settings on her scanner and ran it over Temperance again.  “Captain, this scanner must be malfunctioning.  It…”

 

Her words cut off in a yelp as a hand came down on her shoulder.  The hand of an Excalibur Prime.

 

“I trust you have not forgotten Healer Cordia’s express prohibition against scanning or performing any form of medical procedure on the Captain without notifying her first, Tenno Annabelle,” Tacis said.  “There are plenty of other wounded who require your attention; tend to them.  Tenno Kate, please take Captain Temperance directly to Medical.  The drones will accompany you.”

 

Annabelle bowed her head and hurried off.  On cue, a pair of Osprey proxies floated down to hover over Kate’s shoulders, their position at once solicitous and vaguely cautionary.

 

+++

 

In Medical, Cordia had finally gotten Dalimir and Setebos settled in their beds and was about to turn her attention to the unconscious Sahjey. 

 

“You should be ambulatory soon, Setebos,” she told the woozy Oberon.  “Certainly sooner than this one.”  She jerked her head over her shoulder to indicate the unconscious Dalimir.  “A day of bedrest should be enough for your warframe and basic medication to treat your broken ribs, but I would prefer that you didn’t return to work for at least another three days, and no heavy lifting, sparring, or bow practice for at least a week.  I’ve had far too many injuries on this voyage as it is.”

 

She left the Oberon to his rest and went over to the Mesa who had risked herself attempting to save Temperance from the Colossus’ maw.  The polymer sheath over the stump of Sahjey’s left arm was holding cleanly, and a number of IV lines ran from a floating med-station directly into her warframe, pumping in synthetic plasma to replace her lost blood and a light mix of sedatives and anesthetics to keep her under.

 

Cordia ghosted her fingers over her CPID, bringing up patient diagnostics, and slid the dosage regulator on Sahjey’s sedative down to zero.  In moments, the Mesa began to stir.

 

“Tenno Sahjey,” the Healer said gently.  “How are you feeling?”

Edited November 8, 2015 by Temperance000

[Astralin]

Sah'jey's head was filled with clouded thoughts, jumbled pieces of memory and strange images of what her brain had tried to make of everything that had happened recently. Everything felt sluggish yet fast at the same time much like when one found themselves very drunk. Her brain processed the sounds around her and just placed them to images that didn't make sense soft footsteps matched with what should have been a stampeding demon of shadows. A constant beep shadowed by words replacing the flash of light from weapons, tainted words seeping from the back of her mind into her more forward thoughts.

 

"Tenno Sahjey," under her helmet her eyes flickered to many warnings about her condition but she couldn't see straight enough to read them. "How are you feeling?" She tried to respond but thanks to the drugs and the lack of coherence in her brain at the moment the most she could muster was a weak and short lived groan.

[psychicandroid]

It took Alise a few moments to realize that Tacis was nearby, much less speaking to her. When she realize such, she scrambled up. Some part of her hearing was starting to return but the ringing was still prominent. She finally heard him as he said, "Officially, I must discourage you from identical conduct in the future, and log this incident in your permanent record.  Unofficially however, I can say, ‘well done.’"

 

Even this little bit took her a few moments to understand. It might have been easier if she could read his lips but she was sure no one would be taking off their warframe in this area for quite a while. Once she was relatively certain of what she'd heard, she bowed, respectfully.

 

"It will not happen again, Grand Master," she said in reply, far too loudly. She stood up straight once more. "Please, pardon me. I should go to medical and have my ears checked."

 

Well, Alise was relatively sure that it would not happen again, at least not on this trip. She was hopeful that there were not going to be any more battles of this nature that would drag on in such a manner. Once Tacis was otherwise occupied with the captain and his helpers, she whistled once for Shortcake, who came running, and headed back onto the ship toward medical.

[Owlrrex]

After the beast had roared its last howl and had twitched and stomped for the last time, Souna loaded a new set of bolts into her Attica, then engaged the safety and holstered the weapon. With a deep breath, her mind recaps this bloody mess of a battle: The sudden orders to assemble their emplacements, just to be met by waves after waves of ancients. Souna remembers the slight detachedness filling her standing among Tenno and Specters, firing volley after volley of heavy steel bolts into the masses of writhing flesh. She also remembers Tacis' strict orders to stay in formation, how she felt her feet practically glued to the ground in the most uncomfortable fashion, her mind soaring about the battlefield, spying Healers and weak spots in the ancient's distribution, but her body not allowed to follow.

 

With the advent of the Colossus, the flow of battle shifted drastically. Commands being shouted, shots reflected by its powerful shields and Tenno retreating. By a hair's breadth, things could have fallen into chaos. The white-bronze Zephyr remembers engulfing her surroundings in a turbulence to be somewhat-safe against ancient's grabs, spit or whatever they might throw at the Tenno, and switching her weapons constantly when the Colossus started jumping about, moving too fast to hit him reliably on that distance with the slow-flying bolts. Her Dex Furis might have lacked the impact to pierce the shield, but firing one while reloading the other had contributed a constant pressure to the hail of death flung towards the monstrosity.

 

Souna walks about the place, collecting emptied magazines, lost weapons as well as weapons of the lost. It's not her intent to be pillaging, but some might miss their weapons, want them as memento of the departed, or simply repurpose them. After all, out here, supplies are too limited to be sentimental, if she has a word to put in. Meanwhile, she remembers the distant sensation of terror that had long eluded her grasp. Until she had heard and felt the beast's oppressing screaming, and seing it charge in giant leaps towards the assault line. Had it taken just a few more steps up the stairs, Souna had ignored Tacis' orders and taken flight, escaping towards the ceiling where the beast could not reach her immediately.

But the beast had crashed sideways, open to a final torrent of steel and energy. It was thanks to her turbulence, which distorted and interfered with the physical part of its deathcry, that her hearing was not damaged as harshly as many other's. However, the headache will stay for a few hours, there's an echo in her ears when there's silence around and her mind still feels like tumbling from the blast, her concentration shaken.

 

Folding the hands in a ritual way before her chest, feeling the tension in her arms and upper body had been all she could do to regain her inner composure. It had only helped a little. That was when she started roaming about, drowning the pondering in thoughts about what she was doing right now. Below her arm was a collection of all kinds of weaponry: Guns, pistols, swords, throwing knifes and arrows which were still usable, and so forth. Her clawlike toes clicking on the metal and stained in what remaind of the slaughter, she heads back to the Manifold's entry: Her colors matching the orokin's around her, and due to her backline-duty on the outside mostly unscathed. She's aware of her luck with that, but also sees it as a possibility to be of guidance to the less fortunate: A beacon of gleaming victory, not clad in the distant authority of the Primes, but equally graceful. At least she's trying.

 

On her way upwards, a Kubrow passes by her on its way to its owner: A Zephyr, like her, who recently had conversated with the Grandmaster. With long strides, Souna catches up to her, wishing she could unfurl the Uru Syandana that currently rests on her back, the segments slid inside each other neatly. It would have emphasized her movements wonderfully. But with its lenght, it would have trailed through all the soil on the floor, and Souna really does not like to spend hours cleaning the fine joints of blood and infested bodyfluids. That's definitely not worth it. 

When stepping besides Alise, Souna raises her free hand as a greeting. The gesture, just like her general bodylanguage, has a very calm, collected way of movement, as if Souna had carefully thought about how to move and practiced it many, many times.

"Good work. I can hardly imagine how your Kubrow managed to survive that turmoil." Her voice fits her outwards appearence. Thoughtful words, spoken with intent and purpose. However, that does not mean her praise is fake. Neither is her joy of seeing another uninjured Tenno. Only her phrase about the Kubrow sounds a bit too polite to be spoken from heart. Probably because Souna never owned a pet herself.

Edited November 9, 2015 by ArrexDrandko

[Aegia-]

The sound of muffled gunfire and the sparse roaring that usually followed was all that was keeping Null from slipping into a near trance-like state of being. He would be going through the motions of fabricating ammo during his sleep at this rate. Though when the gunfire stopped and the roars tapered off into a low, almost pitiful croak of what could most certainly be classified as a "death throe" Null wasn't glad he could stop making all this ammunition, he was just angry... Okay, well not angry per sè, mostly just frustrated that all of this mind numbing work would go to waste. Around... He couldn't even remember how much time had passed, time just seemed to sort of bleed into itself while he worked. To top it all off, it was all of this tedium that he was going to have to sort and put away now that it seemed the rest of the crew didn't need it.

 

At this point he couldn't even remember who had told him to stay here and do so.

 

He really needed to calm down and tear himself away from his new best friend The Foundry, and what better way to do so than by sorting out all of this stuff into storage? The thought of actually being able to move away from the embrace of The Foundry and do some walking around down here actually made him nearly giddy with excitement, the realization of this however made him stop for a moment.

 

"...I'm... Getting excited about organization and sorting?" Under his helmet, a look of disbelief, mixed with horror was spreading across his face. "Does this mean I'm boring?" He spoke out loud to himself, generally 92% sure that no one could hear him. But in a display of either hypocrisy or an extreme case of missing the point, he would immediately grab his CPID from off his shoulder and contact the Tricephalon... Or one aspect of them at least. "Cephalon Ancilla, does this room have audio transmission built into it? If so, it wouldn't be too much to ask for a bit of calming ambiance in here... Would it?" Of the three Cephalons in this ship, he found it easiest to converse with her rather than the other two. Ancilla was far more pleasant to both listen to and speak with.

 

Despite having been on the ship from its initial outset from the Origin System, Null hadn't actually interacted with many of his crewmates, if at all. He even struggled to remember if he'd actually left Manufacturing at all since they set off. He thought to himself silently as he paced around to get the blood circulating in his legs again. 'Of course I have, right? I couldn't actually have stayed down here the entire time... I had to have eaten at some point.'

 

 

Whilst he waited for the Cephalon to answer, the rather stylish Limbo would begin the task of sorting through the containers of ammunition and placing them in storage as designated. Surely there would be many a Tenno coming here to get themselves restocked on ammunition after... Whatever it was went on out there. He was sure he could ask someone about it whenever he was finished with this.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Starnsy_Warnsy

[Lady_Viper]

“Hurt? Me? I don’t know what you’re talking about, I feel peachy!” Jinx replied to Lancelot as she walked besides him with stiff, slow and carefully placed steps. A whimper escaped her lips however as they closed in on the stairs and she realized she’d have to walk them.

 

The fact that another one closed in on them, probably wanting to help too, did not help Jinx in her attempt at salvage her pride. Something which would have made her sigh in something close to resignation and complaint, but instead she now got annoyed. The Valkyr, which she just now recognized as Lusith, was basically talking over her head. She was talking about her as if she wasn’t there.

 

“I’m standing right here you know” She said with a strained combination of annoyance and pain.

 

 

Arthur just kept walking, nether stopping or taking time to look at anyone he might pass, never giving anyone as much as a glance. Thinking about what that Mirage had said just made him even angrier. And that built up anger which had not gotten its outlet on Kate now exploded, making him for the first time since he began his long-stride march, stop in his racks. Only to in the same moment punch the closest bulkhead.

 

Removing his tightly clenched fist from it, Arthur could see the dent his blow had caused. And he had just done the same to Kate, a fellow tenno.

 

He then quickly resumed his march and despite his still lingering anger managed to double-check his map to make sure he hadn’t taken a wrong turn because of not having paid enough attention as to where he went. Right now, he just wanted to be alone. Or else he’d risk breaking something or someone. 

[Drakeardian]

"I'm sure you are" replied Lancelot as he shook his head, at least she hadn't lost her sense of humour in light of the fight. He tried to keep his paces as slow as he could to not hurt Jinx as they walked up the stairs, saying in advance as they got up near the top "Almost there, c'mon." when they had arrived to the Top, Lusith had greeted them both.

 

"She's not unconscious Lusith as you just heard" replied Lancelot, he looked to Jinx then said to Lusith "Just let Cordia know to have a bed ready for Jinx here."

[MasterDread]

Omen couldn't believe Tacis had actually given him the green light to study the Colossus' corpse. Not in the way he had wished but there was no time to complain. Time was short, Infested corpses decompose at an alarmingly high rate, this one was no different. Omen bowed to Tacis. "A thousand gratitudes Grandmaster!" Omen quickly got on his comm line with his lab on the Manifold. "This is Omen to research. I need drones down here stat, have them bring all of my research equipment."

 

It would only take a few moments for a drove of carrier drones to arrive, a few Helios drones in tow for scanning. Each of them carrying what Omen needed to conduct what research he had time for. The Helios drones were already sweeping over the Colossus' corpse for scans, this data would be stored for Omen to review back at the lab. As he started to collect tissue samples to perform quick tests on he couldn't help but wonder just how much time he had before the body would be too decomposed to salvage any data from. Due to the Colossus' massive size and density. Omen approximated that he had about a day to study it.

 

He began performing elemental effectiveness tests on the samples he collected. The Tenno's ability to augment their weapons with elemental effects has been a very vital part of the work that they do. Blades laced with toxics to cause slow death or weaken their enemy. Bullets that set an enemy a blaze on contact. Mixing elements also made new elemental effects. Explosive bullets, Corrosive daggers that could erode enemy armor. Though these methods are not effective on everyone. Fire is the Infested's greatest enemy, but would do little against a  Corpus Crewman. Corrosive would be a great way to deal with thick Grineer armor, but would not do much against most Infested.

 

Omen wanted to figure out what would work against the Colossus should they ever encounter another one. Through the first test it already became clear that like most Infested the Colossus was vulnerable to fire. The sample Omen had taken burnt to a pile of ash in mere seconds. Should they have had an Ember when the beast's shield went down it may have been much easier to take down.

 

The second test was electricity. Electricity was not the best way to deal with Infested, but its effect on the Colossus was very unexpected. Rather then the electrical current simply passing through the Infested flesh it was absorbed. "Immunity to electricity... No... It absorbs it? For what purpose would it store electricity?" Omen repeated the electric test once more just to be sure, and sure enough got a similar result. "Hmmmmmmmmm.... Fascinating."

Edited November 9, 2015 by MasterDread

[psychicandroid]

 

After the beast had roared its last howl and had twitched and stomped for the last time, Souna loaded a new set of bolts into her Attica, then engaged the safety and holstered the weapon. With a deep breath, her mind recaps this bloody mess of a battle: The sudden orders to assemble their emplacements, just to be met by waves after waves of ancients. Souna remembers the slight detachedness filling her standing among Tenno and Specters, firing volley after volley of heavy steel bolts into the masses of writhing flesh. She also remembers Tacis' strict orders to stay in formation, how she felt her feet practically glued to the ground in the most uncomfortable fashion, her mind soaring about the battlefield, spying Healers and weak spots in the ancient's distribution, but her body not allowed to follow.

 

With the advent of the Colossus, the flow of battle shifted drastically. Commands being shouted, shots reflected by its powerful shields and Tenno retreating. By a hair's breadth, things could have fallen into chaos. The white-bronze Zephyr remembers engulfing her surroundings in a turbulence to be somewhat-safe against ancient's grabs, spit or whatever they might throw at the Tenno, and switching her weapons constantly when the Colossus started jumping about, moving too fast to hit him reliably on that distance with the slow-flying bolts. Her Dex Furis might have lacked the impact to pierce the shield, but firing one while reloading the other had contributed a constant pressure to the hail of death flung towards the monstrosity.

 

Souna walks about the place, collecting emptied magazines, lost weapons as well as weapons of the lost. It's not her intent to be pillaging, but some might miss their weapons, want them as memento of the departed, or simply repurpose them. After all, out here, supplies are too limited to be sentimental, if she has a word to put in. Meanwhile, she remembers the distant sensation of terror that had long eluded her grasp. Until she had heard and felt the beast's oppressing screaming, and seing it charge in giant leaps towards the assault line. Had it taken just a few more steps up the stairs, Souna had ignored Tacis' orders and taken flight, escaping towards the ceiling where the beast could not reach her immediately.

But the beast had crashed sideways, open to a final torrent of steel and energy. It was thanks to her turbulence, which distorted and interfered with the physical part of its deathcry, that her hearing was not damaged as harshly as many other's. However, the headache will stay for a few hours, there's an echo in her ears when there's silence around and her mind still feels like tumbling from the blast, her concentration shaken.

 

Folding the hands in a ritual way before her chest, feeling the tension in her arms and upper body had been all she could do to regain her inner composure. It had only helped a little. That was when she started roaming about, drowning the pondering in thoughts about what she was doing right now. Below her arm was a collection of all kinds of weaponry: Guns, pistols, swords, throwing knifes and arrows which were still usable, and so forth. Her clawlike toes clicking on the metal and stained in what remaind of the slaughter, she heads back to the Manifold's entry: Her colors matching the orokin's around her, and due to her backline-duty on the outside mostly unscathed. She's aware of her luck with that, but also sees it as a possibility to be of guidance to the less fortunate: A beacon of gleaming victory, not clad in the distant authority of the Primes, but equally graceful. At least she's trying.

 

On her way upwards, a Kubrow passes by her on its way to its owner: A Zephyr, like her, who recently had conversated with the Grandmaster. With long strides, Souna catches up to her, wishing she could unfurl the Uru Syandana that currently rests on her back, the segments slid inside each other neatly. It would have emphasized her movements wonderfully. But with its lenght, it would have trailed through all the soil on the floor, and Souna really does not like to spend hours cleaning the fine joints of blood and infested bodyfluids. That's definitely not worth it. 

When stepping besides Alise, Souna raises her free hand as a greeting. The gesture, just like her general bodylanguage, has a very calm, collected way of movement, as if Souna had carefully thought about how to move and practiced it many, many times.

"Good work. I can hardly imagine how your Kubrow managed to survive that turmoil." Her voice fits her outwards appearence. Thoughtful words, spoken with intent and purpose. However, that does not mean her praise is fake. Neither is her joy of seeing another uninjured Tenno. Only her phrase about the Kubrow sounds a bit too polite to be spoken from heart. Probably because Souna never owned a pet herself.

 

 

Alise looked over toward the other Zephyr and waved back, smiling. Though when she spoke, Alise had to repeat what she'd heard to herself quietly before asking, "My Kubrow? Shortcake is pretty tough, aren't you girl?"

 

The Kubrow barked back and wagged her stumpy tail before sniffing at Souna. Souna will note that Alise is talking far too loudly for the conversation. Alise takes a moment to shake her head before she adds, "I might be shouting, I'm sorry. I can't hear very well right now. I have a very loud ringing in my ears and am on the way to medical. How did you fair during the fight?"

[Wolfheart297]

The first thing Katherine heard when she woke up were the noises of the Medical Wing being filled with the wounded from the recent fight. She saw, through her drug-clouded vision, an Oberon and a Nekros being brought in and set down close to a Mesa. She squinted her eyes and saw that said Mesa appeared to be missing an arm. As she tried to move, her forearms seemed to tinggle and shake, almost as if Maggots were crawling underneath her skin. She looked down, her eyes still somewhat out of focus, and saw her forearm covered in what looked like a polymer cocoon, with IV lives coming from them. Her fingers moved without any problem, but the forearms themselves seemed sluggish, the crawling sensation only becoming stronger.

 

Finaly, when the Trinity was standing by the Mesa, Kat's mind cleared up and she sat up in a jolt. The fight!! Infested crawling at the steps of the Manifold, a massive roar echoing through the whole ship. She looked at her forearms and frowned. "Right... That..." She laid back down. "Fan-fuckin'-tastic...". She remembered. She had tried to remove her Corpus restrictions. When the technology of the ship had failed, she tried to forcefuly pull them out, only leading to her flesh being torn. She recalled a small puddle of her blood taking shape at her feet, before the restrictions themselves delivered an electrical jolt that knocked her out. Now, here she was, unable to use her arms, which were, for all effects, her main melee weapons.

 

She looked at the Trinity. "Hey, uh, hello? Sorry to bother, but, how long 'till i can use my arms again? Is the fight already over?"

[Temperance000]

The sound of muffled gunfire and the sparse roaring that usually followed was all that was keeping Null from slipping into a near trance-like state of being. He would be going through the motions of fabricating ammo during his sleep at this rate. Though when the gunfire stopped and the roars tapered off into a low, almost pitiful croak of what could most certainly be classified as a "death throe" Null wasn't glad he could stop making all this ammunition, he was just angry... Okay, well not angry per sè, mostly just frustrated that all of this mind numbing work would go to waste. Around... He couldn't even remember how much time had passed, time just seemed to sort of bleed into itself while he worked. To top it all off, it was all of this tedium that he was going to have to sort and put away now that it seemed the rest of the crew didn't need it.

 

At this point he couldn't even remember who had told him to stay here and do so.

 

He really needed to calm down and tear himself away from his new best friend The Foundry, and what better way to do so than by sorting out all of this stuff into storage? The thought of actually being able to move away from the embrace of The Foundry and do some walking around down here actually made him nearly giddy with excitement, the realization of this however made him stop for a moment.

 

"...I'm... Getting excited about organization and sorting?" Under his helmet, a look of disbelief, mixed with horror was spreading across his face. "Does this mean I'm boring?" He spoke out loud to himself, generally 92% sure that no one could hear him. But in a display of either hypocrisy or an extreme case of missing the point, he would immediately grab his CPID from off his shoulder and contact the Tricephalon... Or one aspect of them at least. "Cephalon Ancilla, does this room have audio transmission built into it? If so, it wouldn't be too much to ask for a bit of calming ambiance in here... Would it?" Of the three Cephalons in this ship, he found it easiest to converse with her rather than the other two. Ancilla was far more pleasant to both listen to and speak with.

 

Despite having been on the ship from its initial outset from the Origin System, Null hadn't actually interacted with many of his crewmates, if at all. He even struggled to remember if he'd actually left Manufacturing at all since they set off. He thought to himself silently as he paced around to get the blood circulating in his legs again. 'Of course I have, right? I couldn't actually have stayed down here the entire time... I had to have eaten at some point.'

 

 

Whilst he waited for the Cephalon to answer, the rather stylish Limbo would begin the task of sorting through the containers of ammunition and placing them in storage as designated. Surely there would be many a Tenno coming here to get themselves restocked on ammunition after... Whatever it was went on out there. He was sure he could ask someone about it whenever he was finished with this.

 

"If it makes you feel any better, Tenno Null, I don't think you're boring in the least," Ancilla's voice came from the Limbo's CPID.  "While I don't believe Master Alaric or Primary Cephalon Iudicium would appreciate it if I jacked the Foundry's PA system, I can stream an audio feed through your CPID directly to your warframe's comm net.  One moment please..."

 

Almost half a minute ticked by while the Tertiary Cephalon sifted through the Manifold's copious data library, searching for any musical compositions that might qualify as "calming ambiance."

 

"This is most aggravating," she remarked when her awareness returned to Null's CPID.  "This ship's library is primarily limited to Post-Collapse compositions, which seem to have a marked predilection for military marches and dignified ceremonial pieces.  I did, however, find a few Pre-Orokin compositions in a storage folder belonging to Captain Temperance.  It is technically public data; I don't think he would mind sharing."

 

There was another momentary pause while Ancilla browsed the tiny collection of ancient music.  "Verona, by Geographer," she finally pronounced.  "Please let me know if this song pleases you, Tenno Null."

 

An audiograph window opened on Null's CPID screen, and music began to pulse over his warframe comms.  The lyrics were a language older than Orokin itself; the strange mongrel tongue that had been known in ages past as English.  From what little could be understood, the singer wove a curious tale of attachment, separation, and falsehood.  It seemed that Captain Temperance had peculiar musical tastes indeed.

 

You call me all the right words but the right words sound so wrong

You say that I am changing, I guess I will before too long

Will you give me a way out or a past to live down?

Either way it couldn't be worse than it is now

 

I'm watching while a wild dog makes ripples round and round

Is every single whisper a life that we should know by now

Or is it just a sound?

Something keeps a river from sinking into the ground.

Was I ever any different?  It's the simplest ones, the simplest ones.

 

White lies in the night

If I could be yours and you could be mine

As long as it rhymes

It's all that I'll ever need

I hear white lies in the night

If I could be yours and you could be mine

We keep what we hide

And you told such simple lies

 

 

For you, Achaix.

 

((Lyrics to Verona by Geographer))

((Terribly sorry Starnsy, but I rarely pass up an opportunity for exposition.  This is/was Temp's first theme.  Hint: it's important.))

 

The first thing Katherine heard when she woke up were the noises of the Medical Wing being filled with the wounded from the recent fight. She saw, through her drug-clouded vision, an Oberon and a Nekros being brought in and set down close to a Mesa. She squinted her eyes and saw that said Mesa appeared to be missing an arm. As she tried to move, her forearms seemed to tinggle and shake, almost as if Maggots were crawling underneath her skin. She looked down, her eyes still somewhat out of focus, and saw her forearm covered in what looked like a polymer cocoon, with IV lives coming from them. Her fingers moved without any problem, but the forearms themselves seemed sluggish, the crawling sensation only becoming stronger.

 

Finaly, when the Trinity was standing by the Mesa, Kat's mind cleared up and she sat up in a jolt. The fight!! Infested crawling at the steps of the Manifold, a massive roar echoing through the whole ship. She looked at her forearms and frowned. "Right... That..." She laid back down. "Fan-fuckin'-tastic...". She remembered. She had tried to remove her Corpus restrictions. When the technology of the ship had failed, she tried to forcefuly pull them out, only leading to her flesh being torn. She recalled a small puddle of her blood taking shape at her feet, before the restrictions themselves delivered an electrical jolt that knocked her out. Now, here she was, unable to use her arms, which were, for all effects, her main melee weapons.

 

She looked at the Trinity. "Hey, uh, hello? Sorry to bother, but, how long 'till i can use my arms again? Is the fight already over?"

 

Sah'jey's head was filled with clouded thoughts, jumbled pieces of memory and strange images of what her brain had tried to make of everything that had happened recently. Everything felt sluggish yet fast at the same time much like when one found themselves very drunk. Her brain processed the sounds around her and just placed them to images that didn't make sense soft footsteps matched with what should have been a stampeding demon of shadows. A constant beep shadowed by words replacing the flash of light from weapons, tainted words seeping from the back of her mind into her more forward thoughts.

 

"Tenno Sahjey," under her helmet her eyes flickered to many warnings about her condition but she couldn't see straight enough to read them. "How are you feeling?" She tried to respond but thanks to the drugs and the lack of coherence in her brain at the moment the most she could muster was a weak and short lived groan.

 

Cordia's attention was momentarily drawn away from the stirring Mesa by the awakening of the Valkyr in one of the adjacent beds.  She quickly pulled up a new diagnostics window and checked the Tenno's admission notes: tearing of the warframe and underlying flesh from attempts to rip out embedded Corpus tech, plus nerved damage due to the nature of the restraints and the punitive electrical shock that had accompanied the attempt at forceful removal.

 

"The battle concluded a few minutes ago, Tenno Katherine," Cordia informed her.  "Rest assured that aside from Praetor's Specters, our losses were fairly minor.  Please lie down and try to relax; your attempt to remove your old Corpus restraints caused some minor nerve damage in your lower arms.  Your warframe and the restraints themselves, combined with a bit of nanotech, should have you back to full functionality in twenty hours, give or take.  Next time you feel inclined to meddle with this technology, however, would you mind consulting me first?  Those restraints will be far easier to remove with a scalpel rather than with claws."

 

Sahjey stirred again, and the Trinity turned back to her, laying a hand on the wounded Mesa's shoulder.

 

"Take your time, Tenno," the Healer soothed.  "Take your time."

Edited November 11, 2015 by Temperance000

[Astralin]

Sah'jey's eyes opened underneath her visor her eyes had an almost sunken appearance due to the rapid loss of blood earlier and she still had troubles opening them with everything feeling blurry and bright. Her entire body ached despite the anesthetic, though it was more of a tired ache than a painful hey i was just crushed pain. She let out another groan and moved her uninjured hand slightly.

[Owlrrex]

Alise looked over toward the other Zephyr and waved back, smiling. Though when she spoke, Alise had to repeat what she'd heard to herself quietly before asking, "My Kubrow? Shortcake is pretty tough, aren't you girl?"

 

The Kubrow barked back and wagged her stumpy tail before sniffing at Souna. Souna will note that Alise is talking far too loudly for the conversation. Alise takes a moment to shake her head before she adds, "I might be shouting, I'm sorry. I can't hear very well right now. I have a very loud ringing in my ears and am on the way to medical. How did you fair during the fight?"

 

After hearing the loud voice of Alise, Souna immediately wonders if the Kubrow might have sustained even worse hearing damage. A Tenno will recover soon from this, but does the medical wing also have the equipment to treat a Kubrow's ears? Considering how Alise sat here alone, it might not be very smart to speak those dark thoughts about her only companion, so Souna just lets the topic slide for the sake of conversation.

Actually, the loud speaking is not that bad for her, either. Were Alise's voice a quiet, scared one, it might have been muffled by the buzzing that filled Souna's ears as well. But like this, she can understand every word clearly. 

Souna halfheartedly extends one hand for the Kubrow to sniff, her whole posture figuratively screaming at Alise that Souna is not a pet-person. Her posture is just too upright, the air around her to rigid too be accompanied by one of the vivid canines. Raising her voice a little bit to improve Alise's understanding, she answers without any hint of annoyance, remaining her calm and elegant image: 

"Yes, you are, but it is okay. It is a battle wound just like any other, nothing to be sorry about. Many of those who were close to the beast share your ailment. As for me, I managed to keep my distance and avoid the brunt of the damage. Considering the beast's size and power, the frontline held out surprisingly well."

 Even though she is well aware of the fact that she barely did more than act as a living bolt-spitting turret, she carefully choses her words to not make it sound as if she were reaping other's harvest. Which never was her intent. And would be bad for the morale of the wounded.

 

Feeling the weight under her left arm shift, Souna tightens the grip around the big, loose bundle of weapons she is carrying.

"Feel free to join me then. I intend to bring these to the foundry, the medical station is just one deck above from there." Souna did not even need to consult her CPID for this. The first few days onboard she had spent with memorizing the ship's general layout and important stations, just as everyone should have done in her opinion.

With a wave of her free hand - the one the Kubrow had its chance to sniff - she invites Alise to follow her.

[Aegia-]

"If it makes you feel any better, Tenno Null, I don't think you're boring in the least," Ancilla's voice came from the Limbo's CPID.  "While I don't believe Master Alaric or Primary Cephalon Iudicium would appreciate it if I jacked the Foundry's PA system, I can stream an audio feed through your CPID directly to your warframe's comm net.  One moment please..."

 

Almost half a minute ticked by while the Tertiary Cephalon sifted through the Manifold's copious data library, searching for any musical compositions that might qualify as "calming ambiance."

 

"This is most aggravating," she remarked when her awareness returned to Null's CPID.  "This ship's library is primarily limited to Post-Collapse compositions, which seem to have a marked predilection for military marches and dignified ceremonial pieces.  I did, however, find a few Pre-Orokin compositions in a storage folder belonging to Captain Temperance.  It is technically public data; I don't think he would mind sharing."

 

There was another momentary pause while Ancilla browsed the tiny collection of ancient music.  "Verona, by Geographer," she finally pronounced.  "Please let me know if this song pleases you, Tenno Null."

 

An audiograph window opened on Null's CPID screen, and music began to pulse over his warframe comms.  The lyrics were a language older than Orokin itself; the strange mongrel tongue that had been known in ages past as English.  From what little could be understood, the singer wove a curious tale of attachment, separation, and falsehood.  It seemed that Captain Temperance had peculiar musical tastes indeed.

 

You call me all the right words but the right words sound so wrong

You say that I am changing, I guess I will before too long

Will you give me a way out or a past to live down?

Either way it couldn't be worse than it is now

 

I'm watching while a wild dog makes ripples round and round

Is every single whisper a life that we should know by now

Or is it just a sound?

Something keeps a river from sinking into the ground.

Was I ever any different?  It's the simplest ones, the simplest ones.

 

White lies in the night

If I could be yours and you could be mine

As long as it rhymes

It's all that I'll ever need

I hear white lies in the night

If I could be yours and you could be mine

We keep what we hide

And you told such simple lies

"Thank you, Ancilla. Oh, and please, there's no need for the formality, you can simply refer to me as Null, if you'd like." The passing compliment brought a small smile to the Limbo's face beneath his helm. As the Cephalon combed through the data, Null was still going to work loading the ammo into their respective bins, then those bins would go into an even larger bin that he would eventually have to transport down to the Armory... But not right now.

 

Right now came the smaller bins. Null hummed along with the song, as he didn't know the lyrics of course, stopping to speak to Ancilla as he worked. "I like it, didn't know this was what I wanted to listen to 'til just now. Thank you." He paused for a moment, his hand holding onto a rather large box of munitions, mostly for explosive weaponry.

 

"How are you today, Ancilla?" He would ask, returning to the task at hand, placing the volatile rounds in the bin he'd marked for them and repeating the process. "Have you been busy?" Some may have thought it strange for the Tenno to be making idle conversation with the Cephalon, though Null didn't see it that way. "I'm sure it can be a hassle to manage the crew of a ship as large as this one." He quite enjoyed speaking with the tertiary Cephalon, and would often lose track of time doing so, much to his chagrin when he found out he had something important to attend to.

[Achaix]

“Your apology is unnecessary, Tenno Omen,” Tacis told the chasten scientist. “You have a point; there is much we could learn from studying this creature. However, Tenno Abra and Tenno Jinx are correct. We cannot allow any trace of it to contaminate the ship, or Lotus forbid, accompany us back to the Origin system.” Briefly, Tacis allowed his gaze to drift over the massive corpse, which was already beginning to show signs of the rapid decomposition peculiar to creatures of Technocyte. “Set up whatever equipment you need here,” he instructed. “Learn what you can in the time available. When we depart, we will immolate every cell.”

Relieved that Tacis was of like mind with him and Jinx, Abra felt confident enough to leave the Nekros with the decaying carcass. Still, he couldn't help but glance at Omen as he walked into the Manifold.

-+-

Temperance let out a shocked exclamation when Arthur dropped him, which almost covered the sound of something breaking inside his warframe.

Fresh agony blossomed in his side, flaring anew when Kate knelt to help him up. He grit his teeth beneath his helmet to keep from crying out.

“Thank you, Kate,” he managed to gasp. “I think….I can stand.”

On any other occasion, she would've made a witty precautionary comment about Temperance actively abusing himself for drama, but she stayed quiet. Now wasn't the time for jokes.

He attempted to do just that, and nearly fell again. The pain and nausea were so intense that he barely registered Lusith’s arrival and departure. He leaned heavily on the Mirage as they made their way towards Tacis and the airlocks.

They had just crested the top of the stairs when Annabelle caught up with them.

“Captain!” the Trinity exclaimed, rushing up with her scanner in hand. In his pain-addled state, Temperance could barely muster up the energy to be alarmed as she ran the device over his body.

“This can’t be right.” Annabelle’s confusion was evident in her voice. She adjusted the settings on her scanner and ran it over Temperance again. “Captain, this scanner must be malfunctioning. It…”

Her words cut off in a yelp as a hand came down on her shoulder. The hand of an Excalibur Prime.

“I trust you have not forgotten Healer Cordia’s express prohibition against scanning or performing any form of medical procedure on the Captain

without notifying her first, Tenno Annabelle,” Tacis said. “There are plenty of other wounded who require your attention; tend to them. Tenno Kate, please take Captain Temperance directly to Medical. The drones will accompany you.”

Annabelle bowed her head and hurried off. On cue, a pair of Osprey proxies floated down to hover over Kate’s shoulders, their position at once solicitous and vaguely cautionary.

Kate looked at both Ospreys, briefly reminded of wild skua circling above her, waiting for the chance to swoop down and snatch their prize. She held onto Temperance just a little bit more firmly.

"So..." She spoke quietly as she carried him up the rest of the stairs. "You're not exactly human... you're not exactly Tenno, to be accurate. Am I right?"

Knowing there would be no answers yet, Kate kept talking. "The Colossus was fascinated by you, and was enraged when that Nekros shot you. Now, that could just mean that your connection to the Technocyte Hivemind is stronger than most... but just having a strong mental link isn't enough to completely confuse medical equipment and shock a Trinity, is it?"

They kept walking, her eyes slightly narrowed as she glared at him. Kate was quiet before talking again. "You know, I don't like you all that much, Boss. You literally lifted me up by the neck that one time, remember?"

"A while ago, I probably would've tried to "accidentally" drop you. But..." They kept walking, her gaze softening slightly. "I guess I understand what it feels like to be frustrated."

They entered the Medical Bay, and with the help of the Ospreys Kate eased Temperance into one of the beds. A brief moment of consideration, and she leant to his ear and whispered. "Keep an eye out, Boss. I don't think we're in the clear... not yet, not for a while."

[Drakeardian]

After a short second of speaking to Lusith, Lancelot glanced to Jinx and decided to say "Never mind, Just keep guard here" to the Valkyr before walking on towards the medical bay slowly to not hurt Jinx, contacting Cordia himself via CPID.

 

< Lancelot to Cordia, Need one bed prepared in medical, I'm bringing in Tenno Jinx for medical Diagnosis and treatment. >

 

He hoped in some small way Jinx'll be alright as he arrived at the med-bay with Jinx, hoping that bed was prepared for her. "And we're here." he said to Jinx, helping her onto one of the beds that was avaliable.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Drakeardian

[Lady_Viper]

It was with great effort that Jinx moved over to the beds. She hissed in pain when trying to sit on it and made a grimace when trying to lie down, quickly deciding to lie on her side instead of back. She hoped that the Trinities could get rid of this pain so she could be fully back in action again. Limping around like a cripple wasn’t something she enjoyed.

 

Also, waiting for your turn was boring, so she started to look over her surroundings. Jinx hadn’t been to medical before. She had simply passed it when taking her walk about the ship to learn the map and what was where. Actually entering it was something she hadn’t found the need too.

 

It didn’t take long before she spotted the Mirage with Temeprance. By the looks of it, she was talking to him and judging by her body language it was a private conversation, whatever it was. Curiosity took overhand and Jinx reached out with her mind, a light presence lingering over the heads of the people present. Before doing any actual prodding she wanted to pick up anything that might be worth the added effort of it and risk of someone actually noticing and getting pissy about it.

 

Again, intruding someone’s mind was a rude act but Kate was acting a bit suspiciously to her. She had done something to upset Arthur to the point where she felt it and he had stormed off and she was now talking to Temperance. The Nyx, face still hidden under her helmet, narrowed her eyes as she concentrated and tried to pick something up.

 

 

If you had been able to slam the doors on the ship, Arthur would have done it. Instead the door just closed itself behind him, sliding shut with a soft sound as he entered the room he shared with Jinx. Now pacing back and forth he still felt like hitting something, and considered another bulkhead but managed to decide against it.

 

That Mirage didn’t seem to be able to think. Why bring such an idiotic weapon and use it when there were allies in the proximity? She could at least acknowledge that she had acted wrong. But had she? No, instead she had defended her action. Idiot. She could have killed her and she didn’t even seem to realise that. Instead she had been insulting him and compared him with that monster.

 

Arthur stopped as he once again passed the image Jinx had put up on the wall before and looked at it. Two excaliburs and a Nyx, looking proud and happy, stared back at him. Bringing pain and memories of better times. 

[WingedCrusade]

"I know you are right here, but Lancelot is the one carrying you, Jinx. That is why I am asking him. Nothing disrespectful meant by that. Apologies."

Lusith listened to first, Jinx's frustration and pained speaking, then Lancelot's humor being thrown in the mix. It seemed like Jinx was really trying to keep her composure around everyone else. Still seemed the worse for wear, although.

'She's not unconscious Lusith, as you just heard. Just let Cordia know to have a bed ready for Jinx here.'

Registering his words, she was ready to rush off and do as asked, but he stopped here a mere few seconds with a change in thought. When he had told her that he'd bring her himself, Lusith just hushed up and watched the two walk past her. With a huff, Lusith looked over the carnage. All the Tenno pretty much had it handled here. It was moreover just clean-up at this point that needed to be done, now.

Having had enough of the tower, and her help not really necessary at this point, the Valkyr decided to just carry herself back to her own room aboard The Manifold's crew deck and slink into her bed, letting her helmet cascade back into the small hip-plate to be attached at just that location. Lusith's Iliac syandana sprawled along her back as she lay on her belly, and her eyes closing momentarily as she decided to take a quick rest.

Hopefully that was the end of that for now.

[Darkshifter98]

In Medical, Cordia had finally gotten Dalimir and Setebos settled in their beds and was about to turn her attention to the unconscious Sahjey. 

 

“You should be ambulatory soon, Setebos,” she told the woozy Oberon.  “Certainly sooner than this one.”  She jerked her head over her shoulder to indicate the unconscious Dalimir.  “A day of bedrest should be enough for your warframe and basic medication to treat your broken ribs, but I would prefer that you didn’t return to work for at least another three days, and no heavy lifting, sparring, or bow practice for at least a week.  I’ve had far too many injuries on this voyage as it is.”

 

She left the Oberon to his rest and went over to the Mesa who had risked herself attempting to save Temperance from the Colossus’ maw.  The polymer sheath over the stump of Sahjey’s left arm was holding cleanly, and a number of IV lines ran from a floating med-station directly into her warframe, pumping in synthetic plasma to replace her lost blood and a light mix of sedatives and anesthetics to keep her under.

 

Cordia ghosted her fingers over her CPID, bringing up patient diagnostics, and slid the dosage regulator on Sahjey’s sedative down to zero.  In moments, the Mesa began to stir.

 

“Tenno Sahjey,” the Healer said gently.  “How are you feeling?”

 

 

Cordia's attention was momentarily drawn away from the stirring Mesa by the awakening of the Valkyr in one of the adjacent beds.  She quickly pulled up a new diagnostics window and checked the Tenno's admission notes: tearing of the warframe and underlying flesh from attempts to rip out embedded Corpus tech, plus nerved damage due to the nature of the restraints and the punitive electrical shock that had accompanied the attempt at forceful removal.

 

"The battle concluded a few minutes ago, Tenno Katherine," Cordia informed her.  "Rest assured that aside from Praetor's Specters, our losses were fairly minor.  Please lie down and try to relax; your attempt to remove your old Corpus restraints caused some minor nerve damage in your lower arms.  Your warframe and the restraints themselves, combined with a bit of nanotech, should have you back to full functionality in twenty hours, give or take.  Next time you feel inclined to meddle with this technology, however, would you mind consulting me first?  Those restraints will be far easier to remove with a scalpel rather than with claws."

 

Sahjey stirred again, and the Trinity turned back to her, laying a hand on the wounded Mesa's shoulder.

 

"Take your time, Tenno," the Healer soothed.  "Take your time."

 

 

They entered the Medical Bay, and with the help of the Ospreys Kate eased Temperance into one of the beds. A brief moment of consideration, and she leant to his ear and whispered. "Keep an eye out, Boss. I don't think we're in the clear... not yet, not for a while."

 

 

After a short second of speaking to Lusith, Lancelot glanced to Jinx and decided to say "Never mind, Just keep guard here" to the Valkyr before walking on towards the medical bay slowly to not hurt Jinx, contacting Cordia himself via CPID.

 

< Lancelot to Cordia, Need one bed prepared in medical, I'm bringing in Tenno Jinx for medical Diagnosis and treatment. >

 

He hoped in some small way Jinx'll be alright as he arrived at the med-bay with Jinx, hoping that bed was prepared for her. "And we're here." he said to Jinx, helping her onto one of the beds that was avaliable.

 

 

It was with great effort that Jinx moved over to the beds. She hissed in pain when trying to sit on it and made a grimace when trying to lie down, quickly deciding to lie on her side instead of back. She hoped that the Trinities could get rid of this pain so she could be fully back in action again. Limping around like a cripple wasn’t something she enjoyed.

 

Also, waiting for your turn was boring, so she started to look over her surroundings. Jinx hadn’t been to medical before. She had simply passed it when taking her walk about the ship to learn the map and what was where. Actually entering it was something she hadn’t found the need too.

 

It didn’t take long before she spotted the Mirage with Temeprance. By the looks of it, she was talking to him and judging by her body language it was a private conversation, whatever it was. Curiosity took overhand and Jinx reached out with her mind, a light presence lingering over the heads of the people present. Before doing any actual prodding she wanted to pick up anything that might be worth the added effort of it and risk of someone actually noticing and getting pissy about it.

 

Again, intruding someone’s mind was a rude act but Kate was acting a bit suspiciously to her. She had done something to upset Arthur to the point where she felt it and he had stormed off and she was now talking to Temperance. The Nyx, face still hidden under her helmet, narrowed her eyes as she concentrated and tried to pick something up.

 

Setebos wasn't quite sure how much time had passed between him being attended to outside the Manifold to being within it's medical bay. Everything between those two points blurred into colors of gold and chrome to various colors of blues and grays, occasionally splashes of color would invade his vision that seemed to match the color scheme of Cordia's and Annabelle's Warframes. The room around him tilted ever so carefully and slowly, just enough for him to feel his stomach churn and his head throb every time he so much as turned his head. He tried basic and small movements first as he lay there on his back, tapping his fingers softly and rhythmically against his bed was certainly a start.

 

Squinting, Cordia's blurry figure suddenly became clear as she approached, her distinctive voice reached his ears and felt as if it were coming miles away. Setebos did his best to concentrate as she spoke, and soon her voice became more understandable. "-nly sooner than this one." Cordia said with a jerk of her head to someone behind her. With a careful tilt of his head, he looked past her to see Dalimir, unconscious, but based on Cordia's words, alive. "A day of bedrest should be enough for your warframe and basic medication to treat your broken ribs, but I would prefer that you didn't return to work for atleast three days, and no heavy lifting, sparring, or bow practice for atleast a week. I've had too many voyages as it is." She turned to leave, and as she did so, Setebos managed to choke out a "Thank you, Healer Cordia, Lotus' blessing." before she got too far out of ear shot. Three days without work and a week without heavy physical activity. Setebos frowned underneath his helmet, stifling a frustrated sigh at the lack of activity in his future.

 

He glanced over to Cordia's next patient, a Mesa, a stump where her left arm should be, multiple IV's connected to her warframe. Her warframe reminded him of Temperance, struck down by a shot only coming from a Regulator. Perhaps the issue was already solved on who the perpetrator was, but if it wasn't, Setebos would be sure whoever took the shot would be held responsible for their actions.

 

...After of course he could be mobile again.

 

He shifted his head over to Dalimir, still unconscious, still just as battered as before. At least he was alive, and would likely make a full recovery, unlike the Mesa. Still, Setebos would have to be sure to ask how well he fared, and how the fight ended. Atleast, hopefully ended. The sudden thought that the Colossus was still alive caused his chest to tighten, that it could smash through the medical bay at any given moment! Setebos stirred, pushing himself halfway into a sitting position before crumpling back onto his back with a soft, fatigued grunt. The medical bay spun and twirled around him, Setebos had to bring his hand up to where his forehead would be on his helmet just to give himself some support. Faintly, he heard Cordia's voice again, traveling from across the room. "-tle concluded a fe..-" was all Setebos got before he laid his head back in relief, staring up at the ceiling.

 

From that point onward, Setebos practiced regaining control of his body without the consequence of nausea. By the time he took his eyes off the ceiling a few minutes later, he could move most of his limbs with little nauseating consequences. By this time, more Tenno had filled the medical bay, Temperance, a Mirage, the Stalker Nyx, and the Excalibur that assisted him earlier. Setebos focused on Temperance, trying to gauge just how much he was in rough shape. At the same time, he continued to subtly continue conditioning his body to function again.

[Temperance000]

Cordia noted the growing number of patients with a small flutter of despair, quietly wishing she had access to more staff besides Setebos, Annabelle, and Ancilla’s medical drones.

 

“I’ll be back in just a moment, Sahjey,” she told the semi-conscious Mesa.  “Try to relax and let the sedatives wear off.”

 

She headed over to where Lancelot had just finished helping Jinx onto a bed, briefly noting Kate whispering to Temperance as she passed.  A swipe across her CPID queued the Captain for transfer to a more private – and secure – room once the general bustle had died down.

 

“Tenno Lancelot, Tenno Jinx,” she greeted the pair.  “This will just take a moment.”  Her scanner whirred expertly over the Nyx’s body.

“You must have taken quite a tumble, Tenno Jinx,” the Trinity remarked.  “You have severe bruising to your spine and lower back.  Fortunately, it seems you avoided any broken bones.  I’ll have Ancilla give you some nanoserum to speed the healing process.  You should be fine in a day or so.”

 

Faintly, Cordia felt the whisper of the Nyx’s inquisitive mind drifting over her, and slipped automatically into the thoughtless grace of her clarity-defense as she moved back towards Sahjey.

 

+++

 

“I am well, thank you Null,” Ancilla replied.  “Actually, the crew is far less of a hassle than you might imagine.  Tenno are very self-sufficient, and the CPIDs’ ability to interface directly with warframe systems allows me to delegate active monitoring duties to automated subroutines while most of my processing power is directed elsewhere.  For instance, I have been attempting to adjust the plants in Hydroponics 1 for the optimal balance between oxygen exchange, water and nutrient consumption, and aesthetic beauty.”

 

There was the Cephalon’s equivalent of a thoughtful pause.  “If you have time between your duties in the Foundry, Null, perhaps you would like to assist me?  As a Cephalon, I have been told that my concept of aesthetic beauty is underdeveloped.  I have been meaning to raise the subject with Tenno Abra as well, but it is my understanding that greater results may be derived from multiple opinion sets.  If the Manifold is to be our permanent residence for the duration of this mission, I believe it would have a positive impact on crew morale for…”

 

She broke off.  “Oh dear.  I’m blabbering again, aren’t I?”

 

+++

 

Temperance made no effort to deny Kate’s insinuations as she helped him to Medical.  Perhaps they did not register through the haze of pain and nausea, or he simply lacked the energy to respond.  Or perhaps he decided that under the circumstances, keeping quiet was the best option.

 

When the Mirage left his bedside, Temperance followed her with his eyes until she was out the door.  Only when she was gone did the last of the tension finally ebb from his battered limbs.

 

That one is more observant than I realized he thought.  Frustrated, suspicious, but still possibly willing to take my side for reasons of sympathy. What a fascinating Tenno.

 

Temperance.  Cardina’s thought carried a note of reproach.

 

In the silence of his mind, Temperance sighed.  I’m sorry, carissima.  It’s getting harder to keep the thoughts out.  I won’t give in, but I can feel the change accelerating.  Cardina, if I go…what will happen to you?

 

I don’t know Temperance the other thought back.  I don’t know.

 

They embraced without words, and lost themselves in the soothing rhythm of healing and sleep.

 

+++

 

The last of the wounded straggled into Medical, some on their own two feet, others assisted by drones or fellow Tenno.  Annabelle brought up the rear, clutching her portable scanner nervously to her chest.  She cast a quick glance around the room for Healer Cordia, then hurried to Setebos’ bedside.

 

“Setebos,” she whispered, bending close to the Oberon.  “Setebos, are you awake?  I need to tell you something.  I think there’s something wrong with Captain Temperance.”

Edited November 19, 2015 by Temperance000

[Drakeardian]

Lancelot gave a quick bow of his head to Cordia as she arrived to check over Jinx, Placing his hand over a fist and sharply bowing to her. The Diagnosis was fortunate as well as how long she would have to stay in bed although Lancelot had a theory that Jinx would get bored very easily. He quickly joked "Well, You are not going to be kicking that Nekros's arse if he screws up in the next half an hour or so with that corpse, Don't worry, Me and Tenno Abra will add a few more reckonings for you." He then looked over to Sahjey and nodded to Jinx "I'll see you around" he said to her before approaching Sahjey, putting the thought of "Where's Jinx's brother?" and "Maybe I could ask Ancilla to contact him" to one side in his head.

 

He sighed as he saw the damage, shaking his head as he pulled a seat up and sat next to Sahjey. He recalled back to one time a fellow Tenno, a Volt who had lost both his right arm and leg to a Bombard's warhead. The poor man wasn't quite the same after the phantom pain kicked in. He leaned back on the chair and watched Sahjey, keeping her company while she regains her conciousness of reality.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Drakeardian

[Astralin]

Sah'jey's breath was short and shallow her body was still getting used to the reapplication of blood. Her suit's functions as well as the cocktail of drugs from Cordia and her drones had worked wonders on replenishing her though it would still take plenty of time for it to feel 'good' again. It was becoming a bit easier to show responsiveness though a sharp tingling was still felt along her limbs Sah'jey moved her good arm slightly as if trying to reach for something nearby.

 

Inside her helmet visor warnings had subsided and the suit registered that she was stable and recovering. Sah'jey's suit gave a slight hiss as the helmet began to flicker off in a hexagonal grid into digital storage, revealing the battered Tenno. Her lip was busted and had bled a bit down her face onto her neck and possibly down into her suit but it had stopped bleeding thanks to the healing mist. Eyes sunken slightly from the recent blood-loss and recuperation and fairly pale skin, her orange-red hair cut just past her shoulders lay spread in a mess on the bed.

 

Sah'jeys eyes flickered open but shut again due to the odd intensity of the lights, her head lulling to the side in an attempt to look away from them. Now looking at Lancelot she opened her eyes once again slowly this time managing to keep them in narrow slits as she looked at him, her lips parted and mouthed a word with no sound a few times before her voice finally came to her. "Bvvr"

[Drakeardian]

Sah'jey's breath was short and shallow her body was still getting used to the reapplication of blood. Her suit's functions as well as the cocktail of drugs from Cordia and her drones had worked wonders on replenishing her though it would still take plenty of time for it to feel 'good' again. It was becoming a bit easier to show responsiveness though a sharp tingling was still felt along her limbs Sah'jey moved her good arm slightly as if trying to reach for something nearby.

 

Inside her helmet visor warnings had subsided and the suit registered that she was stable and recovering. Sah'jey's suit gave a slight hiss as the helmet began to flicker off in a hexagonal grid into digital storage, revealing the battered Tenno. Her lip was busted and had bled a bit down her face onto her neck and possibly down into her suit but it had stopped bleeding thanks to the healing mist. Eyes sunken slightly from the recent blood-loss and recuperation and fairly pale skin, her orange-red hair cut just past her shoulders lay spread in a mess on the bed.

 

Sah'jeys eyes flickered open but shut again due to the odd intensity of the lights, her head lulling to the side in an attempt to look away from them. Now looking at Lancelot she opened her eyes once again slowly this time managing to keep them in narrow slits as she looked at him, her lips parted and mouthed a word with no sound a few times before her voice finally came to her. "Bvvr"

Lancelot looked to Sahjey for a moment as she tried to speak something, ignoring her bloodied face for a moment, he leaned over and said to Sahjey "I didn't quite catch that Sahjey." he replied to her, trying to hear her better as best as he can.