The Pardon

[(PSN)scorched_lungs]

 

The Pardon

Bre'Van had taken the last shot. The kill shot. The Tenno lay in the middle of the passageway. The trap had worked. Weeks of false radio signals and communications that their ship was carrying rare cashes of orokin materials. An open invitation to pirates, mercenaries or scavengers. But who they had really wanted was the Tenno. It had wreaked havoc on transports in this sector for months and Bre'Van had been tasked by command to hunt it down and kill it. 

The hallway was confined. An excellent location for an ambush. Dark and easily cut off from escape. The Tenno had no chance he had thought. How wrong he had been. When he gave the order his trooper's had opened fire, emerging from the hides his engineering team had worked weeks on. Specially designed to mask the life signs of his infiltration units. It had been very costly but worth it. They blasted at the Tenno who had been caught unaware and Bre'Van thought the battle over before it had begun. 

The tenno had lost it's footing and went down to it's knees. Melee units rushed in to finish it off. But before they could the air around the Tenno hissed and popped and in an instant it was gone. Bre'Van clutched his grinlock tightly. He was still in his hide near the end of the hallway. Nooooo! He thought. Not after weeks of work and prep. It couldn't be gone. What would command do to him for this failure? That was when his trooper's began to die.

They fell one by one. Confusion across the faces told their last story. Like an old charge lamp unplugged, their lights just went dark.
He finally was able to make out the movement his trooper's had no hope of seeing. His range from the battle afforded him that much. Microseconds apart he could see the Tenno appear and vanish. Blades in hand he moved from soldier to soldier executing them. Always near the neck or head. No motion wasted. Then as quickly as it had started it was finished. 

The Tenno fully appeared, one last pop of air. His arm length blades gone now replaced with a curved wicked looking sword. It was covered in blood, unmindful of the wounds it had received. One of Bre'Van's trooper's moaned and rolled over. Not quite dead from the tenno's onslaught. Casually it crossed the bodies intent on finishing the work it had began.

 The curved sword raised above the tenno's head. It would be quick and painless he thought. Merciful even. But Bre'Van had taken his time while the Tenno was busy. His shot echoed through the hall and struck it squarely in the head. Just like he had been instructed. 

The blade fell first. Clanging off the floor, useless. But the Tenno stood there for long seconds. Bre'Van charged another round and prepared to fire again but finally it fell also. On it's side it struck and coming to rest flat on it's back. Staring straight up as if praying for salvation.

Bre'Van exited his hide confident it was over. Nothing could have survived that shot. The special ammunition he was give by command could bring down a raging Jovak. Surely this Tenno was gone. Reinforcements had begun to arrive as he moved closer to the fallen killer. His trooper's gathering in a loose circle around it. He walked close enough to see the gapping hole in the Tenno's helm. Fluids of different color oozed out from the wound. Yes he thought. Just a puppet like command had said. A toy with no soul used to murder his people. Then something caught his eye.

Skin. Was that skin he saw? Amid the fluids and wrecked helmet he thought he saw skin. No that couldn't be right. These things were mere constructs. No living material inside, it couldn't be. He kneeled beside the Tenno laying his rifle down. The trooper's looking back and forth at each other. Confused as to what their Commander was doing. He used his fingers to brush away fragments of helm and other kinds of tech. Then pulling his cloak around began to wipe away at the fluid flowing from the wound.

Then he saw it. An eye. Open but dead. The skin around it scarred and pale. My queens have mercy he thought. It was a child he could tell. The structure was smallish. Unlike his trooper's who were bulky and heavy. A girl...yes a young girl. He could see tufts of hair. Blonde maybe. She would have been lovely. But no one would ever get to see her. She lay there dead by his hand. Her open eye staring up at him accusingly. 

The air around him charged and a red surge of energy flashed blinding him and set him reeling across the floor. When he could see again another child stood before him. A boy no more than an early teen. Frail and weak looking. A grinner would be recirculated if he had the build this young man had. He would be useless. But there he stood clad in an ancient leather suit. Older than ship he was on now. But the eyes, yes the eyes were different. Black and gold ringed they held power and age his small frame hide. He lifted his hand towards Bre'Van and a blast crashed towards him. Knocking him back he could feel his ferrite armor melting and tearing away from his body. He thought himself dead and closed his eyes when a voice boomed in his ears. Not from his communicator but in his very mind. "Enough! There has been enough blood drawn today my child. Take your sister home and leave them as witnesses to the queens lies.". The pulse that was killing him stopped, just mere moments from ending him. The young child turned and walked to the fallen tenno. Raising his hands the tenno lifted off the floor and floated behind him as he rounded the corner. 

The voice cracked in his helm one last time.  "You were lucky today Bre'Van, he would have killed you and all your men. But enough is sometimes enough. Tend to your wounds and your fallen. But remember what you saw today. The lies your queens have told you over and over again. There is another way" And then it was gone. He pulled himself to his feet. His chest burning still from the blast. He gathered his rifle and checked it for damage, none. Good he thought. Looking to his trooper's he saw the same confusion he felt. For the first time in his life he didn't know what to do.

Whatever he was going to do Bre'Van knew one thing absolutely. His life had just became far more complicated.

"Come with me Bre, I want to show you where I live." Not again he thought. Not this dream. Grinner never dreamed or if they did they never remembered. Long taken away from them was the solace of dreams. Only the endless mantra of loyalty. But now he dreamed, every night. The same dream. The broken dream. But he couldn't wake, so he went forward.

It had been weeks since the incident. Command had been swift and brutal in their actions. Pain lashings for him and his second, Ka'Vas. Lowered rations for his trooper's. The lashings lasted hours. He could still hear Ka'Vas screams. But, Bre'Van never screamed. The whole time all he could see even through the oceans of pain was her eye. Blank and dry. A corpses eye. The skin as pale as snow. Scarred from some early trauma. Staring up at him. Killer! Murderer! He would have preferred a lifetime of lashings.

But now he dreamt. He was aboard his first ship again. A low guard. Nothing more than fetching this or cleaning that for his superiors. A hard few years all grinner go through. To prove their worth and loyalty. But there were some moments of peace. Wandering down corridors unseen before. Exploring unwalked paths. His time for peace away from the barking鈥檚 and strikes of his master's.

He was alone rounding a corner. The solitude was mesmerizing. But suddenly he was somewhere different. This was not his ship. It was wholly different. Old... older than lifetimes he thought. The crafting and materials used we're ancient compared to what he knew. He was in a cargo hold. Stacks upon stacks of pods surrounded him almost touching the ceiling. Then the smell of char and blood. Of the newly dead. He was on guard, his head on a swivel. A glimpse of a dress, small and floral flicking around a stack of pods. Gone in an instant. "Come Bre, I want to show you where I live."

He ran to the edge of the pods instinctively reaching for his sidearm, nothing. He slowly peered around and was greeted by a sight of terror. The passageway was full of the dead. Burnt and charred beyond recognition. Smoke still lazily drifting up from them. Most of them were laying flat on the ground arms outreached as if trying to grab ahold of something.  As he moved among them he could see some we're torn apart. Like paper ripped up and tossed away. All we're burnt horribly. Skin pulled from the bones. Eye sockets hollow from being heat bursted. What hair was left shriveled and stinking. He slowly made his way thru them till he saw a door. Above it was some lettering he could make out "Ten-zero".

"Come in Bre, this is where I live" the voice beckons him ever forward. Bre'Van moved to the door. No power. But before he could finish the thought it began to open. A large dark room greeted him. A few chairs scattered around. Small toys littered the floor. A few books torn and shredded. And there in the corner she was. Impossibly small and frail. A simple dress stained and torn in places. Blonde hair halfway down her back tangled and dirty. But it was the eyes he remembered. Blank and unmoving. Her lips never move but he hears her anyway. "This is where I live Bre." He moves toward her, some unused psychology working. He feels as if he must get her out from this dark dead place. His hands touch hers and the pulse began anew. "They couldn't help it Bre, they were sick" her voice a whisper. "Who was sick child? Who?" Is the only words he can mutter. "The adults were sick. They wanted to hurt us but the speakers wouldn't let them." "They hid us away so they couldn't find us. They tricked them. Made them look elsewhere. They fooled them good"

"But the adults kept looking and one day they found us." Her voice tightened. "And my brother said we should fight them." "I didn't want to, they were sick but when a speaker demands of you....." She trailed off. She began to whimper softly even though her lips never moved, her body sat upright. Not even a twitch. "We had to." She carried on. "The speakers lined at the back their eyes turning inward." "What then dear?" He asked her. Knowing all along the answer. "We, the conduits felt the surge as the energy passed to us. Thru us they moved, I remember the door opening and seeing their faces. It was terrible. They never stopped coming.....even when they began to burn......." She ebbed again and began to cry. Her small body showing no signs of movement. Eyes still blank and dry. But he hugged her anyway. "I'm sorry" he whispered. "You were too young to have to go through that."

Then around him the air grew heavy. The viewport darkened. The creaks and moans of the ship became louder as if some giant was walking it's halls. "You should leave now Bre. My brother is coming and he is angry, he is always angry. He won't like it if you are here" Bre'Van thought he could talk to him, make him understand that he didn't know. "No Bre you can't. Not now. Even here in this place. This place of dreams, he is a creature that can harm you."

The door creaked and he turned to see it begin to bulge inward. He looked back but the small girl was gone. The Tenno lay before him now on the floor. The cold dead eye staring up at him. "There is another way." He heard before the door exploded behind him. "KILLER!!!!!" The brother screamed......

He awoke suddenly, grabbing his chest. His heart racing. He was drenched in sweat. Even his synth skin was pouring. "There is another way" he whispered. "Commander?" He heard the voice of his second Ka'Vas. He looked to her. She stood near the doorway. The marks from her lashings still fresh. She had been there every time he woke from the dream. His sentinel while he slept. "What are your orders Commander?" She asked. Bre'Van considered her question. He was tired, but he knew now what he must do.

"We take the ship."

"Sitrep Ka'Vas?" Bre'Van barked over his communicator. It had been ten cycles since he had put his plan in motion. The plan that would more than likely end in his death. "All teams accounted for Commander. Delta and gamma teams standing by for feint attacks and I and Bravo are in transport room 3." It had been his order to have her in the transport room. Part of gamma would feint there to provoke the security teams. Ka'Vas and bravo would blend with them pushing the feint back. When asked for reinforcements Ka'Vas would answer that it was under control. Then they would take the room and prep the ships if the plan went awry. "Good work Ka." He spoke low into his comm unit. "Remember the way, radio silence until the first strike." His comm squelched twice, a sign of the affirmative. "If this were to go wrong at least she and some of the others would make it out." He whispered to himself. There were other rebels he thought, right? He had heard rumors of them. Maybe they would find their way there and make some life for themselves.

He and his team made their way through the corridors. Their target was the command deck. When the feint attacks came it would draw guards away from the command room, making it accessible for him and alpha. Any stragglers they would handle. Unfortunate but needed. His teams were made of mostly infiltration specialists. Excellent at hit and run but would wither under sustained combat. He would have to hit hard and fast ensuring no counter attack. He was running the plan over in his mind one final time as the last door opened before entering the target zone. It hissed as steam kicked up at the hinges. He already had units in play here. Using the the tactical hides the engineering team provided him for the confrontation with the Tenno. A cycle earlier they had entered them and lay in wait for his signal. They would exit and take their targets by surprise. He moved thru the steam and took the scene in before him.

Soldiers mulled around the area. Low guard duty. He remembered it all too well. But something felt wrong, seemed off. There were too many here he thought. His eyes drifted to the upper deck. Two gunners were near lifts. Melee units walked about near railings. His hair began to stand up. A flame unit barely visible looking out through a porthole leading to a storage room. He wasn't about to spring a trap he thought. He was walking into one. Then the speakers boomed above him "Bre'Van, traitor skoom, lower your weapons and stand down. You will be judged by the queens herald"

He clinched his rifle tightly. A herald, if a herald was here then that meant the elite Corp was here also. One of the gunners aimed his weapon over the railing at his team. The barrels spinning promising a quick death. On the third level a door opened. The door leading to the command room. A queens guardian walked out. His red and black armor standing in stark contrast to the dull colors adorning the ship. It was tall even for a grinner. A Keshig in his hand. The weapon of a true queens guardian. He had only seen them a couple times in his life. Always at some ceremonial event and from a distance. It moved to the railing looking down on him. Bre'Van knew now what it felt like to be played with. Like a Kavat toying with it's prey. "Lay your weapons down Bre'Van. I will not ask you again. Your treachery is known to us. There is no escape. Even now our elite are moving in on your rebellious trooper's. You will know more pain I think than most but if you surren....." The blast from his grinlock silenced the guardian. The round struck the gunner high on the temple. As it fell back it's heavy weapon fired, spewing death across the second level. Grinner evaporated under the heavy weapon fire then tearing chunks out of the ferrite ceiling. "No mercy!" He screamed as his team moved and fired. "Remember the way!" He added as he took aim and as the flame unit made his way from the storage room he fired. His round struck the propellant tank on the soldier's side and it exploded. The blast rocked the level as melee units were covered with the napalm that was in the container. Their screams echoing as he opened his comm unit. "Ka'Vas Ka'Vas it is a trap! Take the transport room now." He was almost screaming into his communicator as rounds peppered around him. His team having moved into defensive positions and returning fire on the elite corp. "Roger Commander." She replied. "We are already in contact here. Holding now.". Good he thought. There was still a chance. Then the queens guardian joined the battle and his trooper's began to die again.

It leapt from the third level. Impossibly agile for it's bulk and size. Landing nimbly it spun towards one of his trooper's who was firing from behind a column. The guardian's Keshig slicing thru him almost cutting him in two. Bre'Van took aim and fired at it but the round just seemed to splatter on it's armor. "You think traitor that we would give you the means to kill us?" The guardian laughed as it ran another soldier thru with it's weapon. " You are a fool! And you will die a fool Bre'Van skoom!" His team was being pushed back now. The fire had intensified from the second level taking down more men. The enemy had the advantage. They would die here today. "No Bre, you will not fall." The small voice of the girl said. "Bring the beast to the door, we will fool it good." He glanced back at the door they had just entered and it hissed and steamed as it opened again. "Over here monster!" He screamed at the guardian. "Come to me you worthless spew!" The guardian changed it's course saving two trooper's life's in the process. Bre'Van moved quickly to the door as he heard the elite scream behind him. Just as he crossed the threshold and turned the  young brother stood there. The speaker, yes he thought the speaker. Before he could grasp it the boy vanished before him like thin smoke and almost at the same time the hilt of the guardians Keshig struck him in the back. Knocking him to the floor and sending his rifle sliding just out of reach. "Turn over dog, I want to look at you as you die." It hissed at him. He obliged the guardian and rolled over. His back screaming at the pain the staff had inflicted. The elite raised the staff above his head preparing to end Bre'Van's rebellion when from behind him the boy appeared. His gold rimmed eyes flashing as he raised his hand. A blast struck the guardian and bent it over. The boy slipped from sight again and Bre'Van could feel the energy build around him. The air sucked away as a bolt of pure energy shot thru the guardian. His hand finally finding the stock of his rifle.

The Keshig fell to the floor broken. The elite screaming and holding it's head. Enraged and blinded by the surge of energy. "Now Bre! Now....before it regains itself." The voiced urged him. He pulled his rifle to his shoulder and aimed. One last god killer round. One last chance to make his wrongs right he thought. "No No Nooooo!!!!" The guardian screamed as Bre'Van fired. The round stuck him center forehead. A small hole blinked into existence and for a moment the elite looked baffeled. Then the round exited the back of it's head painting the wall behind it with a crimson spray.

The battle stopped almost instantly as the elite queens guard fell. It thudded on it's back shaking the floor when it hit. Elite guardsmen looked around confused as to what happened. They had never seen one of their champions fall before. "Press forward!" Bre'Van shouted. The elite guardsmen were off center and he intended to take advantage of the weakness. "Commander we have breach pods impacting the hull. Unknown origins." Ka'Vas told him in her calm manner. "What?" He replied. If it was elite reinforcements they were done. They had gained an upper hand against the guardian but more would take that away and doom his trooper's. "Pardon the intrusion Commander." A electronic voice chimed in his comm unit. "But General Cressia Tal would like to join you and your fine mutiny today." "Who the hell is this?" Bre'Van snarled. "How did you get my comm channel?" "Oh my dear. It was quite easy you see. A few tweaks and a million or so equations and presto.....yes yes...sorry Commander I was told a prolonged conversation at this time would be ill advised. Prepare for breaching parties." His comm channel went dead as impacts rocked the hull of the ship almost causing it to list. Dull red circles began to form as the battle had started to heat up again.

The circles grew in size as the ferrite hull composite began to melt under the extreme heat. Then the blasts. Elite guardsmen knocked to their backs as the hull finally buckled and blew away. Gouts of flame erupted from the openings as heavy flame units slowly made their way out. Covering everything around in a glue of burning hell. Elite's screamed as they burned within their armor. Falling over railings to their death. Those that survived started to retreat toward the command room. Only to be cut off by Bre'Van's units coming out from their hides. Exact sniper rounds ending the retreat that had just started. More soldier's started exiting the breach pods all bearing the symbol of the Steel Merridan. Finally a female grinner appeared. Cast in grey and white armor with a flowing cloak trailing behind her.

She walked amid what was left of this battle. Her rifle casually slung over her shoulder. Rounds popping and hissing around her. One actually punching a hole thru her cloak. All of this she paid no mind. "Commander." She said. " I hope our intrusion has not bothered you too much." A sly smile appeared on her lips. "No general, it has not." Bre'Van answered. "But I must ask. How did you know? I thought all was lost. Who sent you?" She looked behind Bre'Van slowly. "Oh we have a mutual friend you and I. One that has been here the entire time." Bre'Van turned and what he saw made him fall to his knees.

The Tenno stood before him. The same Tenno he had shot weeks prior. The one he thought dead. Now it stood there arms crossed. It's sword hanging by it's side. "We owed a favor Commander. You see when the Steel Merridan owes, we pay." General Tal said but he barely heard her. He was focused on the Tenno. It slowly uncrossed it's arms and moved to him. It wasn't enough he thought. How could it be? He was a killer of children after all. He bent his head down ready for the killing blow. But it never came. Instead he felt hands on his shoulders. Then her voice. "Bre no, we are here to help. My brother isn't mad anymore." "But after all I've done. How could you or he forgive me?" He began to sob. Something he had never done. "You have earned you right to stand with us Bre'Van. Commander no more of the empire. You are Bre'Vek the stalwart of the open eye." 
"Now rise stalwart and stand with us." He slowly rose to his feet, still shaking from the never used emotion flowing from him. The Tenno pulled his sword from his scabbard and offered it to him. Beautifully made it was cast from the finest materials. Gold laced and razor sharp. He took it by the pommel. It was incredibly light. Like holding air. "We have one last thing to do Bre'Vek and you know what it is." The girl's voice had an edge to it to match the sword he held in his hands. "Yes I do child, we must cut out the cancer that still lingers here. We must kill the herald."

Bre'Vek had moved toward the command door entrance. The Tenno sword tucked away in his utility belt. He had picked up a pair of light auto guns. The dead wouldn't mind. The Tenno stalked behind him, brandishing his arm length blades. Those executioner blades he had seen his men cut down with. They took the lift to the third level moving thru the dead and injured paying them no mind. He was focused on the task at hand.

Heralds were the second only to the queens. Their word was law and they were brutal in it's enforcement. Genetically modified beyond any other grinner they were nightmares come to life. With abilities to match even the mighty Tenno. 
The command deck door opened before him. Bre'Vek looked behind him only to find the Tenno gone.  Panic slipped in for a moment before the reassuring voice echoed in his mind. "Do not fear Bre, we stand with you."  He raised his weapons and walked into the curtain of darkness.

The room was dimly lit. Ceremonial candles placed around the perimeter. The officers tables and other non essential pieces removed to afford some level of comfort for the creature that now dwelled within. Only the view screens remained. Incense pots placed around in some sort of arrangement. The smell reminded him of burning tar. And in the center of the room a circular pad pulsing with energy. He could feel it from where he stood. And on top of that a chair, no a throne. What hubris, he thought. What utter arrogance of these creatures.  Some container filled with dark fluid sat beside it. Thick and viscous appearing. 

"Come forward Bre'Van." A voice cooed. His head snapped to toward the sound. She walked from behind one of the banners that hung in the room. Sleek and lith she moved with the gracefulness of a Kavat. Her skin was ebon. Her armor matched that with splashes of red. Her face smooth as silk stone with eyes the color of burning embers. He immediately raised his guns. "Please Commander, don't fire. I am unarmed. Helpless before you." She raised her hands as she made her way to the center. "You have bested my guardian and now I lay myself at your mercy." Her voice trembled somewhat, full of promise and surrender. The tips of her fingers extending into talons. He took two steps forward and felt her energy grow even stronger. "It's ok Bre, you can come closer. I am you prisoner now. Yours to punish and control." His feet betrayed him as he stumbled forward another step. Far away he heard a voice, it felt so familiar. "No Bre no! She is tricking you. Do not go any closer." The voice pleaded with him but all he could feel was the females energy pulling him forward. "Come closer Bre, we have much to talk about." His feet shuffled another step. "Tell me where your friend is Commander. We should all talk. I can feel it near." His feet took another step and then another. He was focused on her, the eyes warm and inviting. She casually reached down and collected the container, brought it slowly to her lips and drank. "Now you Bre, drink this and your future is secure. Be by my side. Be my new guardian. You have proven yourself today." The container moved towards his lips. He was ready and eager to drink. To be her willing slave. 
It touched his mouth and she slowly brought the container up, the fluid slowly flowing forwards. For a second his eyes drifted from hers. Her lips opened and he saw it. Her tounge. It was forked and blistered. Cancerous looking it lolled inside her mouth like a serpent ready to strike. "No Bre! Nooooo!" The voice of the child came screaming back into his mind.

His body became his again. He batted the container away from him mouth. It struck the floor and the fluid hissed and burned wherever it touched. Poison he thought, or worse. His other hand came around and fired point blank into her face. The gun bucking and spewing lead, but something stopped the bullets from finding her flesh. Some shield surrounded her giving her a red hue whenever one of his rounds struck it. "FOOL!" She screamed her left hand stuck him squarely in his abdomen bowing him over. Her other hand swung around and bashed his helmet. The impact turning him head over heels. He heard his armor crack where she had struck. Such strength he thought. Her taloned hand shot forward and he could feel his armor being torn and ripped from him. "I will line the walls with your blood." She hissed "and wear your bones as jewerly."

Something flashed over her head and Bre'Vek could hear the air popping around him. The form of the Tenno appearing over her, blades extended and aimed for her neck. They struck lighting fast but could not penetrate the shielding around her. She laughed and swung backhanded at the Tenno. Her fist impacting on the Tenno's side he could hear the exosuit creak and moan from the strike. The force of it throwing the Tenno across the room and slamming it into the wall. "No!" He bellowed, not again. He brought both guns up and fired at her. The rounds hitting the shield and popping into molten. She spun around with both arms and ripped the weapons from him. "You and your useless toy's. Be a good dog and fetch me that worm lying there."  She pointed at the Tenno, who lay there unmoving.

A long braid snaked from the ceiling and attached itself to her back. Her eyes flashed bright as she lifted off the floor. A sword appearing in her hand that had been behind her throne. "Now you traitorous maggot!" She screamed. "Or I will leave you alive long enough to see me skin all your trooper's alive." He was hurting, his side aching from her strike. He lowered his head and moved toward the downed Tenno. "Bre. Bre". The little girls voice said. "Cut her braid. Her shield blinds us." He focused his eyes on the still form and could see the fingers moving.

He stopped beside the hearld. Turning to face her she spun on him almost raging. "What are you waiting for dog? You have no choice!" She shook as she spoke. "Do it now or everything you know dies here, there is no other way." He smiled at her. A true smile, genuine. "There is always another way." He leapt up drawing the Tenno sword. His gaze focused on where the braid ended in the ceiling. "Nooooo!" The herald wailed. He drew the sword behind his head ready to strike and felt her blade enter his lower abdomen. Punching upwards thru his internals. He swung the sword at the protrusion and he felt her twist her blade inside of him. A death blow, but his strike hit home and the Tenno sword sliced thru the power coupler. Her sword ripped from his body showering the floor with blood and gore. "Nooooo! Damn you worthless dog! Damn youuuu!" But he continued to smile even as he fell. The Tenno blade still held tightly in his hand. And as he struck the floor. Blood pouring from his armor plates the air popped around the beast that stood there and before the
 wall of darkness swallowed him. He saw her head fall from her body. It was a good day he thought as he retreated away from the pain. "There is always another way." The words that he carried with him.

in darkness, but he felt no fear. It was comforting almost. The Herald was dead, he knew that much. And so was he. The dark blanket had swept him away and took him far from the pain. The Herald's blade stroke had been as effective as his on. And he drifted away with the words "There is always another way."

Then somewhere from ahead. He guessed. What was direction here? He saw a pinprick of light. A beacon he felt he should follow. He glided across the ocean of black towards the quark. As it grew in size he could hear voices, children's voices. They were at play. 
Soon the bright halo surrounded him and pulled him from the dark embrace, reluctantly releasing him back to the light.

The vision was blurry at first, full of static and smears. The sounds of the children pulling him ever forward. Their voices becoming more distinct as he regained his awareness. "Will he live mother?" One of the small voices questioned. "That I cannot answer small one, we have done all we can for him.  The return is up to him." He remembered that voice, the same voice. The voice from the ship. The one who told him there was another way. Who had pardoned him from his crimes.

"Look mother look!" One of the small voices ringed with excitement said. "He is moving, I saw it.".  "You always see what isn't there!" an older male answered. "For real, I swear." She responded. "Come Bre, I want to show you where we live." His vision cleared then he saw her, the face, the hair. All the same except the scars we're gone. Her eyes dead no more but blue and full of life. She was holding his hand and looking at him. "I knew you would come back Bre, I told everyone you would".  He tried to sit up but couldn't, his body not strong enough yet. "Let your strength come back Stalwart". The other voice, feminine and motherly. "You have time.". She added as he finally gazed upon her. 

Her eyes covered by some sort of sensory tech, the armor of a warrior adorning her frame. Cast of the deepest violet and fringed with gold. Her dark hair flowing out from her helm. Her voice soothing and reassuring. "You have acted bravely Bre'Vek, your actions have halted the grinner from further incursion in this part of the system." "The Tenno?" He croaked out, his voice still weak. "Alive because of you, your selflessness saved many life's." Her hand rested on his chest and he could feel the power flowing from her.  Warrior or angel he wondered. Both? 

"I remember Bre"Vek. I remember the old ways of yesterday. We are still in need of you and though it is selfish to ask I must. Will you still stand? Stand for the children?" Her voice a whisper but as hard as steel.  "Yes ..yes milady, I will stand, for the light." He answered without thought. "Then rise Bre'Vek, Stalwart of the open eye and receive your charter." This time he found it easy to stand. A new purpose, a new reason. He rose to his feet noticing his armor. No longer the drab colors of the empire. He had been remade. His armor pearl white with black and gold accents. He had been reformed inside as well. The pains of old, the decay and withering gone. He was strong and vital again. 

A figure approached clad in silken robes. It carried with it the charter, his sigil. The figure bowed before him offering him the pledge and Bre'Vek accepted. The robed figure clipping it to his shoulder where it pulsed with energy, with purpose. Afterwards the figure pulled back the hood. It was the brother. The one who had almost killed him. The one with the gold ringed eyes. "Bre'Vek, Stalwart of the open eye, sentinel of the conduits. Your charter is as follows. To stand guard over the weak. To protect the children of the void. To ensure they can prosper as all should.  Do you agree Stalwart?". His voice flat but filled with purpose. "I accept this charter". Bre'Vek answered.  "By life or death I will follow it.". The young brother bowed and walked beside the mother and stood.

"Come Bre," the little one had his hand again and this time she would not be denied. "I want to show you where we live".  She ushered him passed the two as they made the way toward a door. Gold and gleaming it opened and beyond the children had gathered. To see their new guardian, their new stalwart. As Bre'Vek and the sister passed thru the brother asked aloud. "Do you think we can trust him lotus?" She smiled and glanced at the young boy. "I feel a bit of sympathy for any who would try to come here and test that my child." She answered. "We have given him a new propose, a new way. We have his trust and he has ours."
 

---