[Archive] Of Ash And Fire - Original Thread

[bejuizb]

Who is arina, and where did she come from? She just sorta seemed to show up. Is she some kind of mental coping mechanism?

She's a Trinity who works in the clinic at Aequitas. She meets Aiden just after he wakes up and then decides to stick along for the ride. Edited March 12, 2014 by bejuizb

[Entari0]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up

[bejuizb]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up

No worries

[QuinnsWing]

Why is the AI an assh0le?  Good stuff Bej

oh the Ai, it has its times like all of us, though it can be a little to blunt at times 

[BRad_Skirata]

Okey dokey

[DraikoHunter]

A follow-up to my earlier story. Enjoy guys!

 

The Search

 

It had been a week since Aktos, had been discharged, Vulcana had also been discharged, but unlike Aktos, she hadn’t been cleared to leave the dojo. The second Aktos had been cleared to leave, he ran to his room, and grabbed his weapons, an ammo restore disk, and some provisions. He wasn’t sure how long he was going to be gone, but it would be good to be prepared. Then, the door opened and Vulcana limped in.

 

“Oh, Aktos, good I was just looking for you, listen I’ve gotten a message about a-”

 

“No time for that now, I am going to look for someone, someone I haven’t seen since the Tenno were put into cryosleep.”

 

“Who? Do you want me to come with you?”

 

“You can’t, you aren’t cleared to leave the dojo yet. Besides, this is something I need to do alone, as for who I am looking for, I am looking for my sister. Quite possibly my only family.”

 

“A sister? How long have you been planning this?”

 

“ I found out a few days ago when I was in meditation, a suppressed memory resurfaced somehow. However, I don’t know what Warframe she uses, I do have a name to work with: Eeva.”

 

“I’ll ask around to see if there’s anyone here with that name.”

 

“You do that, I’ll most likely be all over the system. I don’t know when I will be back, but i WILL come back, so don’t worry about me.”

 

With those words, Aktos walked out of the room, into his snub, and set coordinates for the jungles of Earth.

 

“If anywhere is a good place to start, it’s Earth, there’s always SOMETHING there.”

 

And so Aktos flew across the stars to Earth, searching for who most likely would be his only living family.

 

MEANWHILE, ON AN INFESTED DERELICT

 

A lone Tenno rushed through the corridors and the various vegetative growths of the Derelict, the guttural roars of the Infested not too far behind her. She occasionally turned around and slowed them down with bursts from her Gorgon, they didn’t serve much purpose as many of her rounds missed and the ones that found their marks barely slowed the wailing mass of Infected flesh.

 

“Thank Orokin I installed that speed mod on this thing, I would have been a goner for sure! I need to get these things off my back…...there!”

 

The Tenno, wearing a Saryn Warframe, put on a quick burst of speed and ran up a wall and onto a ledge that even the Infested Ancients couldn’t reach. She began to channel power through her Warframe, building up a myriad of toxins to bombard the infested. A few seconds later, she thrust her arms outward and a wave of poison washed over the Infested, melting the infected mob and thinning out their numbers. She promptly took out the rest of the mob with her Gorgon, and she dropped down from the ledge. Worn out from her Miasma attack, she walked the rest of the way to extraction.

 

“Phew, now I can get out of here and-SMACK!”

 

The Tenno was suddenly flat on her face, dazed and confused. She attempted to get up but she was forced down by another attack, but this one left her on the edge of consciousness, as if all of her energy had been drained with that one attack. But then again, that is the purpose of an Ancient of the Disruptor strain of the Infested.

 

“*pant-pant-pant-gasp-cough-cough*, I can’t stay*-cough-cough*, conscious.”

 

She pressed two fingers to where her ears would be, and sent out a distress call, hoping that any Tenno within range would hear, and come to her aid.

 

“Please…...someone”

 

She rolled onto her back and pulled out her Magnus pistol, and started shooting at her Infested attackers. The high caliber rounds of the revolver ripped holes through their flesh, putting them out of their misery and buying her, and her rescuer, that is if anyone was coming, more time.

 

“Please…..someone…..help me.”

 

MEANWHILE

 

Aktos, came to attention as an urgent beeping sound came from his ship’s computer.

 

“A distress call? I guess my sister will have to wait, I can’t find her knowing that I left a fellow Tenno to die. Hmm, the derelict region? Good thing I have a key laying around.”

 

But little did Aktos, know. He would meet his sister very soon.

[khimera]

Slinking around the Aequitas dojo, a particular yellow Valkyr wearing a Bastet helmet was looking around for her ally. Emerald had come here because of the pistols, those creepy things that seemed to talk to her in her head. Tilting her head, the tiger-like Tenno pondered if she should just end Emerald now and finish her suffering? That would be difficult, given she was prone to thought to avoid using her soundboard. It was getting hard to find appropriate clips and none of them with anything sounding remotely like her name. At least it was pronounced like a vicious animal but the soundboard lacked any references to it.

 

Finding herself stopped by a Loki that had been invisible until she'd bumped into him Searc lowered into a more feral stance, wanting to growl like an animal though nothing came out. Finding a clip instead she blurted it out seemingly at random. "DANCING is NOT SCIENCE!" A female voice this time, she preferred the female voice. She tended to have the best results in getting people to go away.

 

"Huh?" The Loki rubbed the back of his head, looking at the Valkyr strangely. "You're...new around here aren't you? I've never seen a yellow Valkyr around the dojo...at least lately. Somehow the poor stealthster found himself cringing under the glare of the semi-silent Valkyr. "Uhm...helloooo?" Waving his hand dangerously close to Searc's face the Loki was really testing his luck.

 

Searching for the right response...searching...searching...screw this bastard waving his hand...searching. Perfect. "You're not just a regular moron. You were DESIGNED to be a moron." Again, the female voice, and this one caused Searc to grin as the Loki stepped back, looking a bit unnerved by the robotic voice she was projecting at a somewhat loud volume. Easing her stance, the Valkyr put her hands on her hips, tilting her head.

 

"Uhm...okay...not the response I expected. Do you...have a name?"

 

Oh goddamnit...HAD to ask for the freaking name didn't he? This is why she hated most Loki users...idiots, morons, pranksters, completely inept at reading the mood. "Here come the test results...you are a horrible person." Searc snapped, folding her arms looking more than a little pissed as she shifted her weight more toward one leg. Rather than letting the Loki just stand there stunned she grabbed a banner and started to mark it up in yellow marker, writing S-E-A-R-C on it and pointing to her name on the fabric.

 

"Search? See-arc? Serc?" The Loki was dangerously close to having a lemon-shaped Penta grenade shoved where the sun didn't shine.

 

"Did you guess 'Sharks'? Because that's wrong. The correct answer is Nobody. Nobody but you is this pointlessly cruel." Close enough, it was the correct pronunciation of her name, plus a plural s at the end. This idiot wouldn't get it so she brought out a can of orange spray paint, moving to an open wall. There was disconcerting feminine robotic laughter as she shook the can before she wrote her name on the wall, then an equals sign after it and after that a picture of a crude cartoon shark. Whirling around and starting to spray paint the Loki orange until her can ran dry Searc tossed it aside and walked away with one last comment. "BURN HIS HOUSE DOWN!"

[DraikoHunter]

XD I lost it when she took out the spray paint. My sides! XD!!!

[NyghttheClassy]

Okay, I may have gotten a little carried away last night when my net went down, and made my part2 rather long. Enjoy!

 

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

A deep thunderous cracking from below was the only indication to the shifting glacier below his feet.

 

Ripples of packed white snow sifted away as the Ice below parted and crumbled, a gaping crevasse yawning by Nyght’s feet. More and more of the ice shelf fractured and slid, rapidly leaving him nothing to stand upon and sweeping him down the sheer drop into the dark hungry maw of the slumbering crevasse.

 

Deep below the surface, in a cold, silent cavern of deep blue, a pile of broken ice and disturbed snow shifted slightly in the gloom, revealing the waking Tenno. Propping himself up on his arms, it pouring quietly from his helm & shoulders, adding again to the debris across the cavern floor. He had fallen an unknowable distance, along an indistinguishable route, from the precipice of the opening crevasse in the furious howling storm, to a cavern so deep & sheltered that neither the rage of that same storm, nor the light of day could pierce the walls of dark glimmering ice.

 

Coming to his feet, Nyght mentally activated the small backup flashlight built into his helmet besides the aqua green lights. The beam glared out into the gloom, revealing the cavern that now held him;

Dark blue & icy white walls of solid ice, impenetrable to even heavy mining equipment. Long, twisted stalactites, too large to be called icicles, hung from overheard threateningly, glimmering from their needle points. In the side of the walls ahead, amongst a variety of crooked ice formations and the frozen form of what seemed to be a corpus excavator, a narrow tunnel nestled. Further gloom seemed to emanate from its opening, but it was the only visible route, so that’s the way he set off.

 

For what seemed to be an eternity, he picked his way through the narrow network of passages, under creaking ceilings and cracking ledges. Eventually, something caught his attention; a glimmer of gold amidst the gloom of blue & black.

Approaching closer, aqua green & azure iris’s enlightened with a joy not meant for such a cold or dark place, for a trickle of hope seeped through them and into his mind. Tracing and following the gold lines, his fingers eventually happened across a small panel sealed with ice. Quickly cracking it open, Nyght muttered an amalgamation of curses and prayers to himself, as he flipped switches & rewired circuits before punching a series of old, preserved symbols from a keypad inside. He was rewarded with a crackle of ice & a hiss of pressurisation to his side, an old maintenance airlock jarring open for the first time in over millennia.

 

With a heave of renewed vigour, the door parted open enough for Nyght to slip his straining form through, into the access shaft. Following the passage along its length, until he emerged in a new cavern, one of high, white walls, glittering gold pillars within the gloom and frozen pools of once flowing water. Again, the only light present seemed to be his flashlight; however a few very dim green glows hummed from doorways, showing faint life within them. Prying one of these open, Nyght unlocked a small cache, a storeroom of various supplies, to which he began rifling through.

 

Nyght stalked through the darkened corridors, rejuvenated from his find; a simple naked flame torch cackled from one side, a simple wooden handle in hand with a wrapped cloth soaked various oils. A fine old coat, if a bit musky and stiff from frost, draped over his frame.

The coat was more of a tunic with a long tail, made from a thick fabric, tough and weatherproof, with a dense yet soft layer some creatures fur lining the inside and protruding from the folded collar and short sleeves. Despite his frame, the cold within this secluded environment was still draining him, so he wasn’t about to waste the extra warmth. Besides this, all he had found so far amounted to some food and, if he made it out alive, a small cache of normally quick rare resources & components, possibly enough to barter or build a new set of firearms.

The naked flame of the torch reflected in an almost eerie way with the golden buttresses of the old Orokin halls through the gloom, faint burnished shimmers in a fog of dark stillness. Shadows danced & flittered across the edges of his vision, products of freely flickering flame at his side. The stale air of the cavern mixed with the scent of incense from the meditation oils burning. They weren’t the best fuel for a flame, but there was only a small amount of ‘proper’ fuelling oil, given that most of that kind of oil would likely be somewhere closer to an engineering quarter or engine bay, instead of an auxiliary maintenance port.

Deeper into the derelict he pushed, murkier through his memories looking for directions, guidance. Scenes of quiet ship bound routine & blaring battle action played through his head, the silent, scarred halls seemingly reaching into his mind to pull them forth. Upon reaching a large, reinforced blast door, he didn’t even need to read the engraved signs to know where he had found himself; the memories played across his eyes, his own hands sealing the door to protect the rooms behind it. The Tenno armoury, and more importantly, one of the huge Cryo-pod chambers.

 

A faint whirring clicking snapped him from his reverie, drawing his eyes up to the inconspicuous embellishment over the door. Three synthetic eyes, arranged in a tight cluster, had swivelled down to glare at him. The clicking came from a second mechanism embedded beside them, a robotic sentry turret, desperately striving to bring itself to bear upon the new life form, but hopelessly jammed from an age of disrepair.

 

‘I-I-Identif-f-fy.’

 

Nyght could only look up in bewilderment. The construct should have little to no power left, let alone still be able to ‘function’. He was in no threat regardless of his delay, given the jammed gun, and so his shocked stupor was only released when the AI demanded a response again.

 

‘You will I-Identi-fy Immedi-ia-iately. Failure to re-espond will be met with secur-rity action-n, as dec-creed by the-e last ac-ting C-c-captain’

 

Nyght drew out the pendant from around his neck, nestling it into a small alcove at the doors side. The machinery retorted with a bout of whirs, clicks & bleeps, before the lenses above receded into their own liars. The massive doors groaned slightly, massive mechanical engines within the walls winching them open. Somehow, through a combination of Orokin technology and the frozen nature of the planet, the machinery within this ship had not completely eroded to the will of time.

 

‘Acc-cess granted, Honour guard Hunter. Payload status available on request.’

 

Nyght slipped through the doors grating open, gawping under his helm as he soaked in the sight before him. To his side, a small chamber, housing lockers and shelves of Orokin era weaponry & munitions, all belonging to the Tenno who had been present. In that same chamber, several ornate cryopods rested against the walls, wired into interfaces with the ship. Directly before him, an effective warehouse of similar pods, worked into a network of power conduits in organised rows. The prized payload of the Ark: Humanity.

 

“Give payload status. Report damages.”

 

‘500 Cryogenic stasis pods present. Querying pod status.19 pods reading Human/civilian life signs. 2 pods reading Tenno life signs. Warning: 479 Pods failing to respond to query. 21 pods reading critical support functions. Power supplies are at 1.35%. Pods using minimal power- failure to provide power during thaw may result in damages.’

 

Twenty one lives, frozen under the ice for this long... seemed unthinkable, untrue. But possible. Had he not done the same?

And two of which were Tenno. Could it be others of his clan had really survived? Would they remember him or the clan? Would they even be able to wake? He doubted it, especially with so little power here. He set about scanning the lockers, searching for equipment, whilst questioning the surviving AI.

 

“Identity of Tennos in stasis?”

 

‘Two Tennos present in stasis. Alert, two Tenno registries detected in inactive pods. Identifying:

Angela- Alive, Critical levels.

Chloe- Alive, Critical levels.

Jenna- Deceased.

Vae- Deceased.

‘Recommend immediate medical attention to pods.’

 

Angela, Chloe, Jenna & Vae...

The names buzzed within his head, ricocheting through his blurred mind. Vae didn’t bring much to mind, only one of the Tenno that had been put in stasis to go with the Ark, but never awake during the voyage. Angela & Jenna, they did come forth in his memory; Twins, both trinities. They were almost exact opposites in their appearance, always mirroring yet inverting the other. Where one had a frame of white with red, the other had red with white. Practically inseparable. Both had worked as active crew for the voyage, fulfilling medical positions as and when needed. It was hard for him to think that one of them had gone, poor Jenna. If she woke, Angela would be broken... Both had already thought their older sister was lost for good.

Chloe. Something panged inside his head. Inside his heart too. It felt like something was trying to surface, but the pain... it was crippling. Blurred images, slurred words and gut-retching hurt. He would have to try later, he couldn’t afford the time now.

 

“AI, is there an intact hangar bay on this level? One with any ships?”

 

‘Affirmative. Hangar bay C-x, two corridors down, reads as functional. Doors read operable. Scan of inventory indicates three ships docked- Two courier shuttles & One ‘Snarb’ variant Snub ship. Snarb is reading as fuelled, both couriers read 50% fuel.’

 

A Snarb? He hadn’t seen one of those since... well, since he was last on the Ark whilst it was working. A bit of a project for the engineers of his clan, taking the classic Snub used widely by Tenno operatives as personal shuttles or for insertions, and ‘modifying’ it. Sleeker, longer, bigger engines and a potent set of weapons, they had created a ship to initially be used for long range armed patrol, hunting pirates or intercepting sentient fighters.  Eventually ended up being used to help against the infestation, to little avail.

 Command had given a few to the Ark, help it fend for itself and scout for potential settling lands. Its only real drawbacks were it was slightly worse at turning than a common Snub, and held less cargo capacity. Not a huge issue for scouting or intercepting. But it meant his plan was going to become a little... awkward.

 

With the help of what systems the AI still had operating, Nyght ferried the small number of the live pods to the located hangar. Opening the cargo doors, overhead lights glimmered to life, illuminating the hull of frosted old ancient ship.

A body of Icy white, with streaking markings of midnight blue, and trimmings of gold regular in Orokin craft, she sat beautifully, despite the grime and dust collecting over her. Truth be told, the hull colouring seemed reminiscent of a ‘standard’ Excalibur Primes patterning, using colours roughly inverted of his own... It almost seemed, fitting.

Dropping the ramp on the ship, he hauled the two live Tenno pods aboard, securing them into the ships hold and hooking their support to the ships power. It would be enough to keep them alive, for now.  Continuing, Nyght was able to secure two more pods, housing civilians in the most critical states, within the Snarb. The rest of the pods he loaded into the couriers, praying that their power supplies would be able to hold long enough. He could only fly a single ship, the autopilots no longer functioning reliably. Add that to the fact they were a lot bulkier than the snarb... they likely wouldn’t work for his madness...

 

According to the ship’s AI, the huge glacial activity that had forced him into the crevasse had also unblocked access to the outer doors of the hangar. And by ‘unblocked’, it had meant room enough for a snarb, just. So now he was going to fly a several thousand year old fighter, with no maintenance or regular care, out of hangar into a canyon of ice, with only a few inches either side of the ship, and fly it out to get more help... And he wasn’t even a damn pilot.

Brilliant. How could this possibly go well?

 

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

 

Quick check; I am okay with having a 'variant' of a snub, right? That can be stretched to from the lore basis we use, correct?

[Jeahanne]

Variants have been done before so I don't see why not.

[NyghttheClassy]

Actually plan on doing a couple of sketches, however I want to get a hold of the existing concept art for ships (the stuff in the codex for example).

Gotta hit mastery 10 first though. Unless someone knows somewhere else I can sneak a peak at it from?

[bejuizb]

Latest devstream had a picture of concept art for the cockpit of a Tenno ship, dunno if that will help.

Edited March 13, 2014 by bejuizb

[Jeahanne]

They said that may or may not actually end up in the game though.

[bejuizb]

Carcass of the Past

Their destination could soon be seen from the port observation window: the large wreck of the Fang. In the dark vacuum of space, the corpse of the once great vessel floated with an eerie beauty, fragments and broken components gracefully moving around the main hull of the craft. Aiden remembered reading about what happened to the ship in almost shocking detail, after he himself had recovered a data recorder from within the depths of the crew hold.

 

The Sentients had attacked the ship, immediately disabling all thrusters and cooling systems for the guns. This had left the crew unable to do anything but fire a few bursts from their respective guns before the systems failed completely. High ordinance rounds were fired at key points, perforating the hull and exposing crew members to the hostile nothingness of space. A particle beam had then been fired through the hull, aimed straight at the small reactor that powered the Fang. The explosion, coupled with the strategic perforations had ripped the ship nearly in half, killing almost everyone in it. A few people had survived the initial onslaught by hiding under heavily reinforced storage rooms, wearing environmental suits to protect themselves from the vacuum, but with no supplies and rescuers in sight, they soon perished out of sheer starvation.

 

He steered the nimble craft around the field of debris, trying his best to get as close as he could before putting Arina and himself into harm's way. He had to stop 100 metres away from the main hull of the ship, clamping it to an extremely large panel that had come off the ship during the explosion. Sighing, he got off the pilot's seat, stretching his legs as he nodded at Arina. She had remained particularly silent throughout the trip, which was quite strange considering her demeanor normally. She got up from her chair and they both stepped into the airlock of the ship with their gear. After carefully speaking to specific people, Arina had managed to procure a ship and gear for the mission. She said that they needed to return them as soon as possible to a vendor on the Station.

 

Wordlessly, Aiden donned the environmental suit Quinn had provided him with. According to the Foundry Master, it was a heavily modified variant of the suits the Corpus wear. It had a 300 minute oxygen supply, and magnetic seals for holding weapons. He had also provided him and Arina with high density cables, to move around faster. The Trinity had decided to don her Warframe, seeing that it was essentially an extremely advanced version of his own suit. She had blatantly refused to leave his side, even though she knew that this was for a personal reason. He was grateful for her support, but would've preferred the silence nonetheless.

 

Maybe she's afraid I might hurt myself if I go alone, he thought dejectedly, questioning his own motives for wanting solitude. I'd just like some solitude.

 

Checking his seals for the final time and nodding at an equally ready Arina, Aiden opened the airlock and jumped out of the shuttle. The strange weightlessness took hold of him as he floated serenely across the debris field, his initial kick moving him from the shuttle at a steady pace. The corpse of the ship loomed in front of him, and this brought back memories for Aiden.

 

The Collapse had been a success, and they were all given two months to stay with their families and end any unfinished businesses they might have had. He had decided to go back to the wreck of his parents' ship and recover all the bodies from it. They all deserved to rest in an appropriate space, not just left out in the nothingness of space. With the help of Lily and a salvaging crew, they had recovered all the bodies, and Aiden had finally seen the body of his mother. From the crew logs and the data recorders, his father was in the engine room when the Sentients attacked. There was no way that his body survived the explosion. She was buried alongside Cathy and Damien.

 

He gave a quick burst from his thruster pack as he navigated around the jagged chunks of metal that were clumped up near the rupture.

 

“Arina, everything okay?” he asked into the comms unit, worried about his friend.

 

“Right behind you. I've never done this before, so its is a strange feeling.”

 

“That's what make it fun,” he chuckled. “You have no idea what you're supposed to feel.”

 

He heard her grunt noncommittally as he focused on navigating through the narrow corridors of the ship. They had carefully entered the inside of the ship, slowly making their way to the bridge of the ship. It was strange to slowly float through the narrow passages of the ship, watching the stars through the few portholes in the walls.

 

“How much further do we have to go?” asked Arina.

 

“Not too far. The bridge is straight ahead.”

 

They soon reached their destination. The bridge of the Fang was massive, spanning the entire width of the ship, with a central command terminal from where everything could be controlled. The pilots of the ship also navigated it from the Bridge instead of the cockpit. It was a unique quirk that was only found in a small line of Tenno ships. In the middle of the room was a large container, safely strapped to the floor.

 

Aiden silently floated towards the container, switching on his flashlight to be able to see clearly in the darkness of the bridge. Arina moved tot he other side of the ship, clearly engrossed in the Tenno architecture.

 

“How many people worked here?” she asked as she helped Aiden undo the clamps.

 

“During the last run, the Fang had a full crew of 250. No survivors.”

 

She cursed violently. So many lives, just snuffed out of existence. It was a horrible reminder of the sheer amount of lives that were lost to ensure peace and balance.

 

“They didn't die in vain. Just before they were attacked, the fang managed to send out a detailed report about Sentient activities outside the Jupiter Rail. It was crucial to keeping them at bay.”

 

She nodded as the container came loose. Aiden quickly attached a cable to the front of the container. Quickly ensuring that the container was secured, he turned around and began powering his way back out.

 

“Time to go. Let's not stay here more than required.”

 

“Yeah, let's go.”

 

-oOo-

 

They reached the ship within the next ten minutes. Aiden kep the thruster pack powered constantly so that he could considerably speed up their return to the ship. Arina simply held on to the container and steered it with a thruster pack of her own. Even though he didn't believe in ghosts, he felt strange moving through the corridors of the long lost ship. He never wanted to come back here.

 

After loading the container into the ship, they went through a decontamination and removed their suits. Aiden was wearing a jumpsuit in preparation to wear his Warframe and Arina decided to stay in her Trinity.

 

They just stood in front of the container for a few minutes, with only the sounds of their breathing in the cabin.

 

“Well,” started Arina.

 

“I'll open it now.”

 

He snapped the latches open and let the door to the metal container swing open. Inside, Arina could see several cases and boxes along with the two halves of a shotgun. Aiden calmly picked up all the boxes and laid them out on the weapon bench in the ship. Opening it revealed several components of armour that Arina realized were the components of a Prime.

 

Aiden slowly and calmly assembled his Warframe, his almost robotic motions showing that his mind was elsewhere. He tunred aorund to look at Arina, who was leaned against the wall of the ship, engrossed with his work. “Do you want to plot a course for Neptune? We can let the ship go on autopilot and you can catch some shuteye.”

 

She nodded, and went to fiddle with the ship's navigational controls. He checked the ship's control feed and found out that he could play some music while he worked on reassembling his Warframe. Setting the volume really low, Aiden worked on, slowly building up the black and gold Warframe from the massive torso segments.

 

Within five hours, he was done. He stepped back from his station to look at the massive suit that would serve as his armour. It was completely black, with stripes of gold that glinted in the diffused light of the ship. Compared to his old Warframe, the Rhino Prime was builkier, and perhaps the greatest change would have to be the helmet. It looked alien, completely unsuited to the massive body, but Aiden didn't care. He calmly stepped inside the Warframe, nervous for a second as the suit closed around him.

 

Blinding pain seared through his head as the Warframe linked with his nervous system for the very first time. He couldn't help but shout out and spasm from the brutal agony. He clenched his teeth and grunted audibly, knowing that it would only be this once. Arina had woken up from hearing his shout and she stood in front of him with a worried look on her face.

 

Two minutes. That was how long the pain lasted. He breathed deeply as the link was stabilized, seing an overlay over his own vision. He could see his own shields, energy and vitals laid out in fancy gold script, a far cry better than his old Warframe. Where the pain once was, was now replaced by a sense of lightness, a feeling of complete freedom. He looked down and flexed his fingers. It didn't seem like he was wearing a suit at hall. He looked up at Arina's concerned expression.

 

“That was painful.” he said. Understatement of the year.

 

She nodded. “Everything's functioning alright?”

 

He nodded, testing his flexibility. The Prime seemed bulkier than what he was used to but it was somehow much more flexible. He felt the strength of the suit, and he realized that this was the right decision.

 

“This feels the same, but it feels different at the same time.”

 

She linked to his suit to run diagnostics of the frame itself. “It might be because the Prime is trying to recreate the exact same neural patterns and connections of your old Warframe. Probably for your comfort.”

 

He sighed and leaned against the wall. “I'm not complaining.”

 

She grinned, much to Aiden's confusion. “What?”

 

“You look like a blinged out beetle, especially with that gold brick on your face.”

 

To his complete surprise, Aiden chuckled, which soon became a stream of laughter as they both shook with mirth.

 

They soon say the Neptune Rail in the distance. “We're almost there.”

 

Aiden nodded, looking at his shotgun laying on the table. Things were only going to get better from now.

Edited March 13, 2014 by bejuizb

[Spikey844]

Nice story Bej, I'm interested to see where this goes.

[Jeahanne]

Another random thing from my mad Zephyr...

 

 

____________________________

 

 

 

She was on a cliff top again, relishing the stiff and bitterly cold breeze that careened around her. She wanted to take off her helmet and let it rush in her ears and whip her hair into a mat of tangles, but she couldn’t. Not yet. Instead, she heard the twin dangling metal pieces of her helm chime madly in her ears as the wind played with them. A Grineer base sprawled below her, spewing its foul fumes into the air as it sat, parasite-like, in the valley, its inhabitants sucking the very earth dry of resources and spitting the waste into the atmosphere around it. Her lip curled in disgust. The clones thought the place was sheltered from the fierce winds that assaulted the high mountains and plateaus above the tangled green jungle. She grinned widely as she thought about how wrong they were.

 

Holding out a hand, she let the wind caress her. Closing her eyes in contentedness, she listened and felt. The moving air seemed to almost cling to her warframe as it writhed around her, making a keening moan as it whistled by the rocks and stony cliffs she was surrounded by. It was begging; begging to be freed of the yoke and grime of those who wished to enslave and defile it. She didn’t speak. She didn’t need to. This place belonged only to itself, and she would be guardian for it for as long as she was able. The wind died down a moment, then seeming to sense her intentions, shifted directions. Once blowing from her right to her left, it changed to pushing against her back, as if to guide her down to the hated structures below. With a feral smile, the Zephyr assented and launched herself down; she and the wind would dance again, and kill anything that dared to get in their way. With the wind at her back she fell faster than should have been possible, rocketing forward far faster than terminal velocity.

 

With seconds, she flipped around, aiming her feet at the ground and impacting it with a force that would kill any creature less than Tenno, she hurtled the unlucky clones around her in all directions, outright killing everything but a lone heavy gunner. The sudden, almost explosive impact sent a deafening reverberation throughout the facility, triggering the alarms and drawing in every Grineer soldier nearby that hadn’t been knocked senseless by her entrance. As sirens wailed, Peregrine began her dance by unleashing the ravaging fury of a storm, redirecting the air that had fueled her descent into a buffer that turned every shot aimed her way. Laughing euphorically, she felt the changes in the trajectory of the enemy’s pitiful defense as she sent everything that was shot at her spinning away, causing havoc as the soldiers attempted to avoid their own fire.

 

Leaping high into the air, she perched herself atop a nearby structure above the milling mass of cloned soldiers. Spreading her arms, she drew in the wind from all directions, and feeling it respond to her, laughed gleefully as she sent it back out, this time spinning in several miniature tornadoes that lifted up anything they came across and spitting them out high in the air. She could hear the screams as those that didn’t immediately die from flying debris struggled against their fate. The disturbances their futile struggling caused disrupted the graceful whirling of the winds they were caught up in. Feeling their movements and those of others nearby, she hefted her Soma rifle and sprayed fire at anything that moved as she danced from rooftop to rooftop, giving extra attention to those Grineer arrogant enough to try to assault her from the air. Didn’t they realize that the air was her partner? Idiots.

 

Positively humming to herself as she finished off the last of her nearby targets, she shot across a space that divided the Grineer installation into two and continued her rampage. Once there, one particularly lucky Scorpion managed to throw a hook that caught the Zephyr’s foot, pulling her backwards out of the sky and into a seethe of Grineer troops. With a growl, the Tenno pulled out her secondary, a Lex pistol, and fired of a shot that, unfortunately, caused the weapon to jam. Her good mood souring at her dance’s interruption, she allowed herself to hit the ground just long enough to brace herself for another high leap into the air, the wind boosting her so that her jump was far higher than any Tenno could manage unaided and powerful enough to drag the female enemy screaming along with her. With an inventive curse, The Tenno lobbed the useless hunk of metal at the offending Scorpion, which hit its helm hard enough to dislodge it and send it to fall to its death, before she Dive-bombed the rest of the group. When she’d assured herself that her attack had been sufficient and she could feel none of the disgusting creatures still breathing, she kicked the Lex, which had ended up near where she had landed, and sent it tumbling away.

 

Stalking off deeper into the base, she reflexively checked that her Soma was loaded with a full clip. Once she’d assured herself that it was, she turned a corner where she could feel several Grineer taking cover, breathing heavily with fear and muttering to themselves, and filled them with a spray of lead. Their cries of alarm made her smile, and the reverberations of the sound that she could feel against her skin gave her goose-bumps. As the last body slumped to the floor, a low tone emanated from her helm, informing her that the base was clean.

 

With the ease borne of long practice she slung the large weapon across her back and walked to the nearest open area within the installation. The breeze that wafted past her felt joyful and free and she grinned. She’d return to the cliff top for awhile and enjoy the atmosphere, newly cleaned as it was from this particular blight. Then, she’d have to make use of the information she’d learned about a smith. It was earlier than she’s planned, but there wasn’t much choice. She’d perhaps not go immediately though… she hummed tunelessly as she leapt back into the air, not quite flying as she made her way back to her seat atop the imposing wall of cliffs that the Grineer had foolishly thought to be a defense.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Jeahanne

[Spikey844]

A sneak peak for you on a story I'm writing. It will look back on Kylar's past, and on one time in particular.

 

Tenno are almost all loyal to their cause.

 

Almost all…

 

Some turn from the path, using their powers to gain riches and power. These renegades didn’t care for the rest of the galaxy, only for themselves and their goals.

 

No matter what they may be…

 

Once…

 

Kylar had someone he loved like no other.

 

Once…

 

Kylar had someone who completed his life, made him whole.

 

Once…

 

Kylar had someone to whom he had sworn undying love, and had accepted the same oath in return.

 

That person was taken from him by the blackest treachery...

 

By someone he cared for…

[Sayfog]

nice spikey

[bejuizb]

Nice story Bej, I'm interested to see where this goes.

Thanks Spikey.

 

Very nice job Jea and Spikey.

[Jeahanne]

Thank you

[EDeN153]

For stuff.

 

 Alane let out a torrent of bullets from her soma rifle, the group of enemies soon reduced to just bleeding bodies in seconds. Karina herself was on the other side of the large expanse of cleared-out forest, enjoying the screams of pain with a sadistic joy. Her ether reaper seemingly crying for blood, the bodies piled around her.

 

The two sisters diverged on their own and became seemingly invincible, two blood-sisters and the enemy. Just them.

 

But, with every passing minute the call to arms became more urgent. The call to arms brought forth higher-ranking troops: napalms, bombards, heavy gunners and more armored variants of the common grunts.

 

The two, as strong as they were, were beginning to become somewhat swarmed. They backed up onto higher ground and exploded into full-force combat. Miasmas and chaos, all unleashed upon the enemy. Flesh sizzled from Karina's attacks and others collapsed from sheer mental overload. The small lull in the battle gave either a chance to reload and and rest. The welcome reprieve did not go waste, when the Grineer came back they came in large numbers and ranks. A platoon made entirely of gunners here, a battalion of napalms there and a horde of lancers in the middle of it all.

 

The sisters exchanged a glance, images and thoughts instantly translating over a mental link. The two jumped off of their raised position and into the fray. Both hacking and slashing at the Grineer. Once enough space was created in the crowd, they began to mow down the opposing force. They concentrated on the horde of more nuisance enemies. Karina's barrage of shotgun blasts tore through troop upon troop, gore littered the ground and blood painted it.

 

Then something happened in the middle of it all.

 

Karina's hud flickered. A feeling of dread confirmed that Alane's had too. They were going to face either the Stalker, Harvester or the Grustrag...All formidable opponents, especially with a small army of Grineer troops bearing down on them.

 

An animated message forced itself into Karina's hud on the second flicker. It was the Stalker.

 

“Did you really think there would be no repercussions?! The blood of Kril is on your hands!”

 

Alane sent an inquisitive emotion to her younger sister.

 

“Stalker.” Was all she said.

 

For Quinn.

Darius was ecstatic. After what seemed like aeons waiting, he had come back and Darius was able to edge in a request. Of course, he had been told to wait for his working on the extensive backlog that had accumulated in his absence.

 

Darius was, at the moment, pacing the room, he had been for the past hour. Quinn had sent him message ahead of time to alert Darius that he was nearly done with the last set of weapons.

 

Stephen, meanwhile, was watching Darius pace and couldn't help but break out into a grin. The guy was practically foaming at the mouth out of sheer eagerness.

 

The interface beeped suddenly, Darius didn't even glance at it. He merely looked at Stephen and smiled.

 

“So, Stephen, mind to join me in case I get lost again?” Darius jokingly asked.

 

 

Once at the foundry, the ai greeted the two with a dismissive grunt-like tone.

 

Two Tenno were already there ahead of them, presumably the two to reclaim their newly built weapons. Quinn came out the back of a room, carrying two packages in two plain boxes. The Tenno offered a thanks and were on their way. Quinn turned to Darius and spoke.

 

“So, as you've told me before, you want a Warframe. Care to tell me what model?” Inquired Quinn.

 

“An Ash warframe, if that wouldn't be any trouble, Master Quinn.” Responded Darius.

Edited March 15, 2014 by EDeN153

[Divinity112]

The Skana.

 

It was a simple yet deadly blade that every Tenno was required to master. Each Tenno handcrafted his own blade and honed their skills with it. Long after one had chosen other weapons the Skana was still there. For most it was a link to times barely remembered, and a pinnacle of Tenno culture in and of itself.

 

Kevin held his in both hands as he faced down Rorken on the opposite side of the dueling hall. The Raknis helmet the other Tenno wore was extremely intimidating, even more so since Rorken was a top notch swordsman equal to Adam and even John. He swallowed nervously as Rorken calmly stepped towards the right, sword point down. Kevin took the opposite direction keeping his eye on Rorken's legs and arms trying to figure out an angle to attack or defend against.

 

"Focus."

 

Rorken hardly seemed to move as he went in low, bringing his Skana towards Kevin's hip. The other Nekros parried, then counterattacked with a sweeping blow towards Rorken's shoulder but the other Tenno rolled to the side with an agile movement, Kevin's blade barely missing his leg. Rorken went back on his feet, waving his sword menacingly as he charged Kevin. Blades sparked in the room, each Tenno feeling martial pride as blades missed their targets by a fraction of a centimeter. The room had a special energy mechanism that kept strikes from being lethal. Still, even getting in a good hit stung so one had to be careful.

 

Rorken was all about efficiency. It was one of his more obvious quirks. Wasting time, in peace or in war, was annoying for him. It was seen in his fighting style. No showy or flashy moves, just simple and straightforward strikes. His wrist guided the sword, not the other way around. That didn't mean he was static, he changed it up to keep his foe on their toes, going for a killing strike when he had the opening. Kevin, in a way, was similar but more amateurish seeing that he was more used to using his Ether Reaper. But the length of the weapon was hindering when in close quarters. He swung his blade at Rorken's head. The Tenno parried the blade aside and moved with a single, flat thrust forcing Kevin to twist his body to the side to avoid getting hit countering with a sweeping slash that Rorken simply stepped back to avoid.

 

"Good, good." Rorken said. "You're improving."

 

"Hardly, I still haven't won yet." Kevin replied. He struck without warning, Rorken blocked and forced Kevin back with a vertical swipe. He then took a stance, his sword still pointing downwards. Again Kevin had to remind himself to focus. Rorken was just as sneaky as he was efficient.

 

"Then let us see if victory smiles upon you this day." Rorken mused. "Brandish your blade!"

[Spikey844]

On an unrelated note from my sneak peek, Martin's punishment is nearly over...

___________________________________________________________

 

Martin hunched over, trying to focus on the board in front of him. He raised the chalk in his right hand, and continued, in his scrawling handwriting, to write out his punishment lines.

 

‘I must not hack the Lotus’ systems’

 

He sighed as he reached the end of the line. He was, 923,212,647 (9 hundred and 23 million, 2 hundred and 12 thousand, 6 hundred and 47) lines, regretting pulling his little prank on the Lotus, but only just. He got bored easily, and it was fun to exasperate the Lotus. The time he had used Phorid as a horse, and then ridden off and killed Lephantis, still on Phorid’s back and singing Uptown Girl, had produced a particularly spectacular reaction from her. He had slightly regretted it later when the Lotus had him locked in a psyche ward for a year, only getting released when he pranked the doctors and other inmates enough times that they let him out to prevent the other inmates from killing him.

 

The counter to his right clicked up, adding another to the total lines done. There was still a long way to go.

 

Several Days later…

 

Martin nearly collapsed with relief and exhaustion as the counter clicked up to 1 billion. He had been starting to lose his mind with the monotony of the situation. His hand hurt from holding the chalk for the past few weeks. He stretched properly for the first time in a few days. He had been aloud breaks for a few minutes every few days, to prevent him from going completely insane.

 

“Are you going to behave now?” A voice came from behind him. He turned to see Nyx standing there. She had been the one to start off her punishment, but he had not seen her since. He nodded, his head feeling like so much cotton wool. It had not been easy to avoid despair. He had tried to escape this virtual world, but it had been… painful. Nyx raised her hand, the world around him shimmered and flickered, and he was back in his room, lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He groaned as he rolled off his bed, and staggered up right. He realised he was starving, and went into the kitchen, pulled a readymade chicken tikka masala, a rarity in these times, out of the fridge, and slotted it into the Aga. The Aga was based on a 20^th-21^st century oven, and cooked food far better than most electric cookers that were installed in the other parts of the station. An old friend of his had found the plans for one, replaced some parts with more modern tech and had sold him one at a discount. He had a good business and found a surprising number of buyers for it. Last Martin had heard, he was considering constructing a personal space station.

 

Martin’s stomach rumbled as he put the rice, another rarity, on the top, the smells from the curry wafting up from the Aga. He thought for a moment, then programmed his armoury to prepare his equipment. He needed to get out, but not before his curry. Flicking on some music, Martin relaxed as Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol came from the kitchen speakers

[Jeahanne]

Ok, Kal's universe occasionally intersects the thread's universe, but IT IS NOT THE SAME, nor is it CANNON. (Kal has freaking BOLO'S AND WALKING MECHS in his universe... that is so far from cannon that it's another universe. An AWESOME universe, but not cannon at ALL. Sorry.)

 

I mean, "The time he had used Phorid as a horse, and then ridden off and killed Lephantis, still on Phorid’s back and singing Uptown Girl..."

 

What the actual F***? That's not  cannon. Like at all. And that's all ENTIRELY beside the fact we all had a long conversation a long time ago about avoiding making our characters ridiculously OP and suchlike (you remember that convo?).

 

Seriously Spikey, I don't have problems with humor, but this is frustrating me.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Jeahanne

[EDeN153]

I've gotta agree with Jeah...

 

That was an outright canon bish-slap.