Project // Gawaine // 01

[Crimzunn]

“ There is a large platoon of Grineer Marines stationed here. Leave no one standing. There is a person of interest here as well, bri....”

 

The message was cut short and went to static before she could finish. I’ve done this type of mission before anyways, I know she wants them brought in for questioning. Pulling out my scanner, I slowly combed over the area for any signs of a patrol. Two Lancers posted at the door across the room were the only ones here. Moving quickly, I leapt out of the air vent and clung to the pillar in the center of the room before circling to the other side. Drawing my pistol, I dropped down and quickly dispatched one of the Lancers. His body fell to the ground as I uncloaked in front of the other and ran my blade into his face. With a quick motion, I sheathed the blade as the body dropped to the floor with a thud. Walking through the door, I came to an open room with an elevator platform in the center and a few assorted containers. The screen on the elevator platform was flashing with Grineer text.

" Wrong? No... False? No... Um.. Error? Yeah, error. No elevator down then."

From below I heard the noise of Grineer soldiers talking. I understood some of the mumbling from studying the codex but the rest was gibberish. I saw my chance.

" Might as well."

Stepping away from the edge I ran towards it before jumping down. Landing on the edge of the shaft, I latched on and pulled out my scanner.

" One... Two... Three? Three. No problem."

Going to the right I made my way around the elevator shaft before dropping down from above. Three shots in rapid succession took them out before I landed on the platform below. As the cloaking wore off, the door opened and an Eviscerator soldier walked through. By the time he noticed, I already had my sword through his chest. His body sizzled from the heat of the Exalted Blade before it flickered out and he fell to the ground. Moving the bodies, I threw them into the area at the bottom of shaft and called the elevator. Moving on to the next room and checking my map, I could see I wasn't too far from where the POI should be.

" Strange, I thought that there would be more grunts, she did mention a large platoon."

Suddenly, the door ahead of me opened. Quickly taking cover behind a wall, I heard two Grineer soldiers enter in the middle of what sounded like a heated conversation.

" Can't let them see the mess out there."

Just as they passed I emerged from behind and snapped one of their necks. As he fell, his friend turned around to a gun in his face.

" Tenno skoom."

With a bang I sent his head rolling across the floor. I waited for my sentinel to cloak me again before anxiously moving on to the next room.

" Just a little further, thats...7 down, barely put a dent in their forces here."

Walking through, I came to an open room with multiple tall containers and pipes leading to a large pair of doors. A slope led down to the two doors, and two pathways were at either side of the room. Checking my map, I could see they both lead to dead ends.

" Through here then."

Walking to the door, I could hear muffled noises coming from behind. Looking at the panel to my right I tried to call in some help from Ordis.

 

“ No answer huh, probably the asteroid blocking the signal. Guess I'll have to do it myself.”

Barely managing to avoid setting off the alarms, I hacked the console.

" Surprise, I have something for you guys."

After the hack was finished, I drew my blade as the doors slowly began to move apart. Opening to a dark room, lights flickered on one after the other revealing a small army of Grineer in what looked like a hangar bay.

" There they are."

A volley of bullets came my way, reflexively using my sword I began to deflect the bullets around me. At my side I heard a small pop as a stray bullet knocked my sentinel to the floor.

Sigh.

As more bullets poured on, I drew my Exalted Blade and leapt into the fray. Cutting through the horde with waves of energy, they sizzled as the light seared their bodies and split them in half. From the far back I heard the sound of rockets

" Bombards huh."

 

Narrowly avoid one of the rockets, jumped back against a wall. A loud boom rang throughout the hangar bay as I sliced through a group of rockets with a flick of my blade. The explosion threw smoke into the air giving me a chance to go on the offensive. Leaping through the cloud of smoke, I unleashed a blinding flash of light stunning the soldiers, and began to cut a swathe through their ranks.

" Now."

My body froze mid-air, and became unresponsive, I looked around, trapped within my warframe unable to move. My Warframe fell to the ground, and I began to feel us drifting apart. I could still see soldiers swarming it's body before completely losing the connection. Something grabbed me, forcefully ripping my body from the chair. They shoved me to the ground, and as I tried to get up, I could hear voices talking over me. It sounded like Grineer, their speech grainy and slurred as they talked amongst themselves. The familiar whirring of the engines was silent, inside the ship was pitch black, the only light coming from their guns. One blurry figure turned to face me, he snapped his fingers and a drone behind him illuminated the ship. To the right there was a large hole, with metal clamps around the perimeter, probably how they got in.

" We are not going to hurt you, Tenno, the Doctor needs you alive.”

There was not an ounce of reassurance in his voice. As my vision cleared, I looked up to see three soldiers all fitted in sleek black and grey armor standing above me. They had bone white masks and various cybernetic implants. The one talking had three horizontal white lines on his shoulder in a column. They had ranks. Guns I've never seen before, accompanied by a Lancer and Heavy Gunner of the same design, each possessing two stripes. The Lancer took aim and shot me in the neck.

" W..wha..."

My mind went blank and I collapsed to the floor. The sound of someone talking woke me up. I have no idea how long I was out.

" You damaged them... *sigh* I thought we agreed that, should, **not**, happen Commander Argo. Now, it's going to take extra work for the project to succeed, if it succeeds. We already have limited resources here, and I do not need to spend any more than I should. Understood?"

A few moments passed before there was a reply. I recognized the voice, it was the soldier who knocked me out in my orbiter. His confidence was gone, he was hesitant, scared even.

" A...Apologies Doctor, it was either us or them you know that. The Tenno are incredibly dangerous. Please forgive..."

She cut him off.

" Fine, go."

Doors slid open, and someone walked in, the whirr of overworked computers filled the silence between each step. I opened my eyes, and could barely see anything, the whole room was a brown and yellow blob. My arms and legs wouldn't budge at all, my whole body probably restrained.

 

“ Poor thing, I'm sorry for what they did to you."

I squinted, trying to see who it was but everything was still a blur. Soon, they were right in front of me, but I still couldn't see a thing. I felt their hands hold my face before a sharp pain went through my head. Lurching away from their grasp, my vision cleared up immediately. There was a mirror in front of me. One of my eyes was completely gone, replaced by a cybernetic. It's sleek black material copied the structure of my face perfectly. The eyeball itself made of the same material, with a small yellow glow in the center. Opening my mouth, I tried to speak, but my voice came out dry and raspy, it was a whisper at best.

" Save your strength, the sedative will wear off soon, couldn't have you waking up mid-transport. It took a lot of work to find you,and I didn't want our efforts to go to waste. You must want to know why you're here Tenno. Well, this is for the both of us really. The Queens are losing their grip. They kept the fight going on to hide the death of the Elder Queen, but I saw past it. They are losing their grip, failing to maintain the control they once had. I've grown tired of the Queens and this pointless war over the origin system. Once, I saw my chance, I defected from the Fortress.”
 

They had their back to me, standing at the other end of the room interacting with one of the consoles. Burgundy hair fell to their shoulders, and they wore a long coat made of a white cloth like material. There was something written in Grineer on the back, in stylized large red text. With one final push of a button, my restraints loosened themselves causing me to fall to the ground. I could barely get up, my body still so weak and tired. They turned to face me. A Grineer woman with dark red circles around her bright blue eyes started to walk towards me. She barely showed signs of the degenerative condition, but still sported cybernetic hands and legs. Underneath the white coat, she wore a baggy black skin suit with a few pockets containing various small devices. She took a small bow before introducing herself.

" I am Dr. Vey Ylfort, former head scientist at the Kuva Fortress, and current leader here at the Asteroid Installation, Nery Von. And you are?"

She asked while pulling out a chair.

" Vator."

With a smile she sat down and crossed her legs.

" Splendid to meet you Vator. I'm sorry for the eye, but, you can never be too specific with instructions can you? I made sure to give you the best prosthetic possible, I even designed it myself. You shouldn't notice it too much. You're probably feeling very weak, it should wear off soon. The sedative I used had to be potent, void demon and all that. Now, I have a preposition."

I tried to move my body and escape, to leap into action but I could barely stand. All I managed to do was turn my head away.

" I want nothing to do with you or the Grineer."

Vey got up from her chair and walked towards me. She held my chin, raising my face up, and looked me in the eyes.

" I am not the Grineer."
 

She backed away and started to pace back and forth.

" It has been several years now since the Tenno awakened. The Lotus has told you to keep balance in the system but it's as chaotic as ever. We have the Infested, Grineer and Corpus as well as the other usual splinter cells all running rampant throughout the system. If anything, she has been making the situation worse. What I want, is to protect my own, there's nothing for us out there but death and fighting  in the name of this war. Hundreds of thousands of Grineer, who would have been fodder for their enemies, now inhabit the asteroid we are on right now. They have all defected with me to the safety of our base here ,and if I let you go back, this would be for nothing. You were sent here to murder them all and capture me for the Lotus. but what end? Do you why you fight Tenno?"

I tried to answer but words still failed me.

" You have no idea, do you? I could see it in your face. You're not aware of the truth. She calls you her children, but uses you, all of you, as her personal army. What kind of mother would do that to precious children like you?"

I shook my head.

"N..no, you're lying. "

Vey stooped down, now face to face with me.

"Then tell me, Tenno, what is the end goal here? What are you fighting for? Balance? The system is worse now that the Tenno are awake. There is an arms race between the Corpus and Grineer because of your very existence. Where do you think they get the resources to keep up? How many slaves and clones are used to fabricate the weapons, robotics and everything you’ve ever fought against? Has the thought never occurred to you? Trust me, you don’t want to think about it. All I want is to keep my people here safe from the war, from the danger of being mowed down by Tenno blades and Corpus proxies or being infected, a fate worse than death. They didn't ask to be brought into this world to fight, they didn't ask to be expendable, and they too don’t want to die. So I decided to risk everything to save them. Is that wrong? Does our will to live not matter so long as the Lotus says we should die? Almost half a million lives are in your hands now. Can we make our own way here? Or does mommy need to give us permission?"

I tried to reason with her.

"Then why not join the Steel Meridian, they... they are defectors just like you. They would surely help.”

 

She winced

 

“If you haven’t already noticed, I am here to protect my fellow Grinner first and foremost. Cressa Tal, is more concerned with human colonies, and human lies, placing her own kind second. She is even allied with the Red Veil, who have no reservations about culling Grinner, despite their allegiances. She is the last person I would go to, too public and too compromised.”

Vey turned to one of the consoles and touched the screen, various mechanisms sprung to life as something below the floor started to whir. The walls pulled away as the room started to descend.

"Wh...where are we going?!"

There was no response. We moved down the shaft slowly, coming to a halt on a long mechanized railway. The platform we stood on moved forward shakily through a dimly lit tunnel with multiple tubes and vents along it's walls.

"Where does this lead? Are you going to throw me into some prison?"

She remained silent until we reached the end of the tunnel. Two large doors slowly opened up into another room. It was massive within, some kind of laboratory. Piles of scrap metal were everywhere, accompanied by various parts of weapons, cybernetics and other crude mechanisms.

"I'm sorry for the poor decour, this entire place was a previously retired mining facility, abandoned when it's reserves ran dry. The whole thing proved too expensive to keep around for anything else or to remove, and it was left here drifting in space."

Looking up, I could see my Mantis hanging from the ceiling. At the center of the room a large metal canister rose from the floor.

"I have a preposition for you Vator."

The room filled with a yellow mist as it's sides retracted. Inside was my Warframe surrounded by a clear yellowish liquid, it floated motionlessly as small robots worked around it’s body.

 

“ The containment chamber will prevent transference, but all you have to do is ask.”

 

She turned to face me

“ I can turn this Warframe into something that is truly your own, it would be above the mass produced husks, something to truly channel your immense power. However, it is nothing without you Vator, you know that. You can join us here on Nery Von, and forge your own path, be your own person.”

Vey stepped back, allowing me to take it all in.

"It's your decision now."

I walked around on the platform looking at my warframe.

" What’s to keep me from leaving and telling the Lotus about your operation here?”

She walked forward putting her hand on my shoulder.

" You can leave and go back to her, I wouldn’t, no, couldn’t stop you. The decision you make here will be your own entirely, you can return to serving her with the rest of the Tenno. Or be your own person, here, liberated like the rest of us on Nery Von.”

I looked down at the floor, uncertain what to do.
 

"What about the soldiers I killed when I came? I thought no one was to be harmed."

From the ceiling a hole opened up and a Grinner soldier dropped down. It stood in front of me motionless with a blank expression on it's wrinkled face. It's body slowly opened up revealing strange and intricate cybernetics surrounded by what looked like infected tissue.

"I would never put anyone here in harm's way, nor would ever I need to."

More soldiers dropped down from other openings in the ceiling.

"I have made leaps and bounds in advancements with robotics and infected tissue in my time here. Learning from the Orokin, I have devices implanted within each android. These emit a special type of radiation that keeps the virus complacent, in small amounts of course."

With a wave of her hand, the soldier stepped back and reassembled itself.

"They aren’t perfect, and aren’t as effective as normal soldiers, but they manage to deter most that accidentally venture in. The transference jam has been lifted, I’ve kept my promise. Now, as I said before, it is your decision, will you stay with us Tenno? To realize your own destiny?"

I thought for a moment, thinking about what I stood to gain.

 

“Do I really have anything to return to? Kill, rinse and repeat? And I don't even know why. This is the same thing I did under the Orokin,and, is she really that different? I know I could be so much more, do so much more, and here I can actually see the difference I make.  She's been completely honest so far, more than I can say for the Lotus. I’ve dreamed of going off into the unknown, on my own but now, the chance has presented itself to me. Will I regret this if I go back? Is this...my one chance?“

I took a deep breath, and looked at my Warframe floating there in front of me. The connection was there again, she wasn’t lying. I saw my reflection in the glass, I looked worried and afraid, but why? This was entirely my decision ,and I felt anxious, scared even, about that kind of agency. What I decided here could change the course of my life forever. However, it is mine and mine alone, so I could do whatever I wanted with it. Vey held my shoulders and looked at me earnestly,

 

“What do you want, Tenno?”

 

I looked down at the floor, uncertain, before closing my eyes and losing consciousness

[HitsuyonaKurarento]

Wow! looks like you've already piqued my interest here!

Keep up the intriguing work! I cant wait to see more of what you got planned for this Fan Concept!