Warframe
Origins - Chapter 8.2 – The Princess and The Oracle
Section 1
The large doors leading to the
inner cloister swung tremendously slow yet quiet. Darvo has been to other
meditation gardens within the Corpus, but the hanging gardens in Neptune always
impressed him on every visit. Those visits though, were always of a business
nature, and this one was no different.
Though technically Darvo is grossly
beneath the High Priestess in rank, Priestess Bavita had always had his contact
configuration on speed dial. Darvo only shook his head with a smile as he
recounted her most recent call two cycles earlier.
The alert tone had frantically been
ringing on his communicator while he was discussing matters with Lotus and her
chosen team members for a certain mission. Apparently, Lotus’ favoured
attendant, Yanmei, had been caught in a daring Tenno hunt by one of Alad V’s
forces. Fortunately, Alad V has yet to find out Yanmei’s importance as she held
in knowledge the coordinates of some the Dojo’s and Void Towers in Lotus’
possession.
Lotus personally was hard pressed
about Yanmei’s abduction, as she also knows Lotus’ true identity. She had
assembled a team of some of her most skilled Tenno to infiltrate and rescue
Yanmei from the Martian settlement of War, and Darvo was called upon to give
intelligence and battle supplies in exchange for platinum.
The Tenno audience, especially Lotus,
was growing annoyed at the incessant ringing of his communicator. Darvo merely
smiled wide and excused himself as he stepped outside of the briefing room,
feeling the annoyed stare of Lotus on his back. As soon as his communicator
rang again, he immediately pulled it out and answered it.
“Calypso, how many times have I
told you to call me on this frequency only on emergencies? I’m here with your
Au-,” Darvo closed his eyes to correct himself, not only his connection to
Lotus a secret, but knowledge of Calypso’s parentage would be a disaster in
itself. “I’m on a business meeting with my preferred
client.”
“Uncle’s in trouble”. The voice on
the other line sobbingly spoke.
“I’m always in some sort of trouble.
So what’s new? Honestly, Calypso, so what now?” Darvo spoke, a tone of sarcasm
in his voice.
“Not you Uncle Darvo. Alad V is in
trouble he-”
Darvo interceded, “I know. This
time he just went too far. And now the Lotus has issued an order to him down. I
can’t give you any more information, but-”
“You don’t understand!” a hint of
concern obvious in her voice. “Alad has been disavowed by the Board. The Corpus
itself is hunting him down.”
Darvo lowers the communicator down
and paces around while rubbing his face. Alad V had been his immediate
supervisor, and he knew the man would not gamble on something as risky as
Project Zanuka, unless he had an ulterior motive. Knowing the man, Alad would
have stashed himself away to work on a project alone on some secret base. He
licked his lips and calmed himself down.
“Calypso, make a reservation. I’ll
be visiting you ASAP. I’ll just wrap things up here.” Darvo hastily said going
back to the briefing room.
“But Uncle Darv-“ Darvo already
turned off the device.
He hastily entered the briefing
room, motioning a wave to Lotus for her to wait. He went up the middle of the
room and turned off the hologram projector showcasing the Martian landscape.
After a deep sigh he spoke, “My
esteemed Tenno, we have a change of plans.”
Section 2
Lotus, being as she is, needed an
attendant that would serve to be her personal guard and assistant, especially
when she had to go under maintenance. When Yanova Mensik-Eindar was chosen, not
only was she ecstatic, she rolled around on her bed giggling from excitement
after the selection ceremony.
As a descendant of Yargo Mensik
herself, she had grown up always being compared to their cousins, the
Hemlockes. Even after the great betrayal of Medea Hemlocke, the next generation
Tenno of today still looked up to the Hemlocke bloodline, especially for their
exotic beauty and battle prowess, inferior only to the now lost Royal Family.
Yanova herself had always dreamt of
becoming a Tenno Princess, wed to the brilliant Tenno Prince Lotus Vadjura. But
now that the Three Siblings are no more, all she could hope for was to be
acknowledged by their mother, Tenno Lotus. Still, Yanova keeps a holographic
representation of Prince Vadjura in her quarters.
The selection ceremony was held a
full year after the failed rescue attempt for Princess Agni, and Lotus returned
donning her new purple frame called Nelumbi. Darvo, the Tenno’s main supplier
for intelligence and supplies, was present at the ceremony regardless of his
Corpus association. Yanova had always been bewildered by the Corpus merchant,
deeming him not trustworthy and a mere money-grubber, and ever conscious of his
presence.
She had always questioned her
mistresses’ trust upon the merchant, but she had complete faith in the wisdom
of her mistress. She had always accompanied her on business meetings and
mission briefings, but she was both surprised and excited when she was finally
allowed to assist in Lotus’ maintenance procedures. All she knew back then was
that she was heavily injured during the failed rescue attempt and has had
several organ replacements.
But when the day came that she was
allowed into the maintenance room, she was proven wrong. Seeing Darvo himself
standing by a control panel, the darkened room suddenly illuminated itself as
soon as the blast doors behind her sealed itself shut. The imagery in front of
her merely stopped her in her place.
“Well? What are you waiting for?
Would you familiarize yourself with the controls and start already?” questioned
Darvo.
“What is the meaning of this?! Did
you mean that all this time, YOU were controlling the Tenno?” shouted Yanova as
she pointed to the cybernetic body suspended in the air via magnetic vectors,
taken apart piece by piece, though it was obvious that it was the Nelumbi frame
and its wearer.
Darvo rubs his face and talks to
the suspended torso, “Apparently, you haven’t told her have you?”
*No I have not* replies a robotic female voice. *I have deemed it unnecessary until this
moment*
“What are you talking about?! Let
me out of here! I must warn the others!” Shouted Yanova as she suddenly
activated her frame and lifted Darvo off his feet. Darvo just sports a face of
disappointment and scowls, “Why is it always me?” before he is thrown unto several equipment.
Yanova turns around to open the
blast doors with her magnetic powers, and it cracks inch by inch from the pressure.
She was already seeing light through the cracks when suddenly Lotus appears in
her Communicator.
*Cease this folly. We need you. Darvo cannot be here always.* the
unfamiliar robotic voice says.
Alarms suddenly started blaring as
Yanova was close to tearing open the blast doors. She was pushing her energy
reserves to the fullest, when suddenly she feels several wires pierce the back
of her helmet. She suddenly loses energy and slumps to the floor.
Several other Nelumbi tendrils
suddenly handle her and turn her around, bringing her into the center of the
room. Trained to not fear death, Yanova struggles with all her might, but
cannot release herself from the vice like grip of the tendrils. The suspended
body energizes and sends a firefly towards the knocked out person of Darvo.
Darvo is awoken by the buzzing and
the probing of the firefly, and reels back in surprise at seeing the volatile
creature near his face. He stands up and dusts himself off before going near
Yanova and addressing the torso.
“You know, you should me tell these
things. I always get caught up and hurt by your, uhh, decisions. And I always suffer the full blow of the consequences.” Darvo referring to the repeated
physical abuse he takes.
Yanova is now left clueless as she
had thought that the torso was merely Darvo’s puppet. The torso, still
connected to her helmet, read her thoughts and hovered itself nearer. Upon
stopping a mere meter from the startled Mag frame wearer, the torso rescinds
its head gear to show its face.
“It’s me Yanova. I’m sorry I
haven’t told you.”
Yanova’s eyes wide opened, she
first stuttered some unintelligible words, but as the tendrils loosened their
grip and allowed her to calmly stand on her own, she started to talk. She bowed
down in respect and continued “P-Princess Agni. If I had known it was you, I
would have not reacted that way. Please excuse my impertinence.”
Agni merely scoffs it off and turns
towards Darvo. “I told you it would work.”
Darvo retorted, “I wish it would
work without me getting hurt.”
“Well you deserved it. Hmph.”
Yanova shot while glaring at him. “Princess Agni,” Yanova, now addressing Agni
again, “What has happened? I thought that your rescue mission failed. Looking
at your body now, it is grievous what the Grineer have done to you, but what is
this facility? And more importantly,” Yanova paused, “Where is Mistress Lotus?”
Agni merely showed a pained face at
the memory of her mother and sighed, and then turned to Darvo again. “I think
it is better that you show her, brother.”
Yanova got confused again at Agni’s
mentioning the word “brother”, but as she turned towards Darvo, the merchant
had already touched her forehead with his hand. A sudden flood of memories
fills her head and afterwards, she loses consciousness.
Section 3
“What are you doing here? You’re
not needed here anymore” snapped Yanova as she performed the maintenance on the
Nelumbi frame. Darvo’s entry into the room made the Mag wearer suddenly
activate her frame.
Darvo merely shrugged his shoulders
and looked innocently at the laughing torso across the room. He ignored the
negative remarks the Mag frame made while working and made his way across the
room to speak with the Tenno leader.
“We have a problem.” Darvo starts.
“Yes, we have a Corpus merchant
inside our confines. Who knows what kind of intelligence about us he is selling
to our enemies?” snapped Yanova again, still minding the control panels.
“She hates you, you know? She feels
that you violated her back then.” Agni chuckles.
“Under your orders. Honestly.” Darvo sighs and shakes his head. “Anyways,
as I said, we have a problem. The Corpus forces on Mars are bolstering their
strength.”
“What of it?” asked Agni. “Nef Anyo
is a nuisance at best. He may claim to be a smuggler, but we always have dealt
with him easily.”
Darvo raises his index finger to
motion a correction, “Sergeant Nef Anyo and his son are currently increasing
their efforts to find and trade Warframe Cryopods. They have aggressively
tripled their manpower and have also lobbied to the Corpus Board for additional
shipments of MOA proxies.”
“Wait, wait, back up there. Anyo
has a son? That greedy, spineless sniper wannabe has a son?” Agni jokingly
asks.
Donning a disapproving face Darvo
replies, “Yes, he has a son. Derf Anyo. To be honest, the name sounds like a
joke from the 21st century. But yes, he has a son.”
Agni stifles her laughter, but then
Yanova speaks, “Mistress, please stay still, we have yet to calibrate the
neurode relay systems.”
“Ah yes, I apologize Yanmei.”
“Pardon me, my Mistress? What did
you call me?” Yanova turning around.
“She said Yanmei. Your name, though
prestigious in itself, is too long.” Darvo interceded. “So one time, while I
was talking to her, she mentioned that you wanted to have an old Chinese or
Korean name like her mother, Lotus.”
“I wasn’t asking you, merchant.”
Yanmei snapped again.
“Well he was the one who came up
with it. Yanova Mensik-Eindar, Yanmei. I think it suits you well, seeing that
you have a beautiful Asian look upon you.” Agni defends Darvo.
“Well, uhm, thank you my Mistress.”
Yanmei bowed in gratitude.
“Don’t mention it. Besides it’s
true anyways.” Darvo replies instead.
“What do you mean? And again, I was
not talking to you.” Yanmei looking coldy at Darvo.
“It was me who mentioned that you
were an Asian beauty. So I called you Yanmei.” Darvo paused as he crossed his
arms and tilted his head. “In old Chinese it meant ‘swallow plum’, a flower just like Mistress Lotus. It can also be
read as ‘flattering and seductive’ in
another version.” Darvo ended his statement with a slight grin.
Yanmei stood still for moments on
end, up until she realized that she was blushing. Forgetting that she still had
her frame helmet on, she became conscious of her face and ran off. “Uhm, I’m
sorry my Mistress, I have uhh, urgent stuff, uhh, business to attend to. Please
excuse me.” Yanmei said as she shut the blast doors to the room.
Agni merely looked at Darvo coldly.
Darvo, feeling the insidious look
from Agni, merely asked, “Whaaat?!” while shrugging his shoulders.
Section 4
The mission to the Martian facility
of War started without problems. Intelligence provided by Darvo three cycles
ago proved accurate, and Corpus forces on the smuggling facility have
quadrupled in size.
On top of that, though it was yet
to be proven, Derf Anyo was rumoured to be sporting a Corpus made Warframe
Exoskeleton prototype, the first of its kind to be made by the Corpus. Nef Anyo
had always evaded death from assassinations by deploying a clone double, who
would then resume his smuggling activities, which was barely tolerable, but a
new frame prototype in the hands of Corpus would disrupt the balance of power
in the Origin System too much.
Yanmei was regretting her rash
decision to volunteer for the special operation to take down the new prototype
frame, but she was just too embarrassed to withdraw. When Lotus was briefing
the Tenno and was asking for volunteers, Yanmei had haphazardly volunteered
herself just to get away from the presence of the Corpus merchant. Everybody
suddenly put their gazes on her as she quickly raised her hand as soon as Lotus
ended her request.
“Haaaaah. I just wish this loser
Derf Anyo would kick the bucket easy enough.” Yanmei spoke.
“Hahaha. Don’t worry about it. When
did an Anyo put up a decent fight anyway?” said Calhoun, the Excalibur
volunteer that sported a Pendragon helmet.
“You two keep it together and focus
on the mission.” ordered Shyelle, a Trinity wearer, and the one serving as team
lead for the mission. Afterwards, Shyelle then motions to her silent brother,
Shinook, who was scouting ahead with his Ash frame.
Shinnok simply nods and vanishes
into thin smoke as they hide from atop a hill overlooking the War facility.
Yanmei shakes off the memory and the feeling that came with, all the while
calibrating the scope on her Snipetron. From behind cover she surveys the
facility back entrance below them.
Yanmei carefully traces Shinook’s
scout path from afar and tallies his confirmed kills on her communicator. She
is impressed by the Ash’s stealth assassination skills and she smiles as she
shakes her head. She also laughs a little while noticing the sound of the
clattering sound of Calhoun’s incessant checking of his Soma. She thought that
the Excalibur sure was fidgety and impatient, without failing to track Shinook.
Shinook was finishing up on taking
out the perimeter guards and Yanmei prepared to holster her Snipetron. As she
was about to take out her Hikou, she notices the lights near Shinook flicker.
She pause momentarily to look at it, but by then, all the lights in the area of
Shinook flickered a second time. Yanmei’s eyes widened in horror as she
realized that The Stalker was about to attack Shinook alone.
“Team! Condition Sierra Lima Bravo!”
quickly shouted Yanmei into her communicator as she took out her Snipetron
again. She kicks Calhoun into attention and the Excalibur accidentally executes
a Super Jump from the surprise. Yanmei just shakes her head as she runs towards
Shinook’s direction.
“Yanmei, take point midway. Seal
his movements using cover fire.” Shyelle’s voice came out loud and clear from
the communicator. As Yanmei nodded to the Trinity running from across twenty
meters from her, Calhoun suddenly flew by Yanmei from above using a zip-line,
and Yanmei chuckled for a moment while still running down the slopes. “Calhoun,
support Shinook mid-range. Take point on Yanmei’s 10’o Clock. Leave the CQC to
Shinook.”
“Affirmative” was the only reply
Calhoun gave, showing sincerity.
“Shinook handle that scythe from Yanmei’s
2’o Clock. Avoid crossing her sights. I will provide close support from your
12.” Shyelle gave out orders and ended in a tone knowing that Shinook will
follow.
The air suddenly got tense. A
moment earlier the Excalibur was joking beside her, and now they are rushing
towards the facility to confront the dreaded Stalker. And it was for good
measure too. The Stalker has ended the lives of hundreds of Tenno, young and
old alike. He has been known to wipe out entire cells completely. The question
of why another Tenno would go against the Lotus is beyond the beliefs of most
Tenno, but Yanmei has her doubts, for she has seen more than the usual. Still,
the moment does not require such idle thoughts and shook it from her head.
She finally reached her cover spot;
a small ledge from an 8 meter giant rock jutting from the ground. She takes
point and sets up her Snipetron. After checking the batteries again and
checking the charge gauge, she interfaces with the scope and begins another
scan of the area. She calls out a “clear” on her communicator to inform Shyelle
of her findings.
Her sights see Calhoun drop from
the zip line and take point on a large crate on her 10’o Clock. He checks his
clip and cocks his Soma. Another “clear” is heard from the communicator with
Calhoun’s voice. The back entrance of the facility was a large open ship dock,
yet the place was dead silent due to Shinook’s doing. Shinook did not report on
the communicator, but Shyelle instead reported the all of them in position
while Shyelle took point near Calhoun at Yanmei’s 11’o Clock
It seemed odd to Yanmei that there
were no communications from the Stalker himself, but then she thought maybe
Shinook was just being silent about it. Still, she cannot shake the feeling
that there was something amiss and that she feared for her team. As she sighed
deep and prayed that it was just a fluke, the lights flickered a third time,
and in the middle of the area near the blast door a patch of smoke suddenly
emerged violently.
Section 5
Yanmei thought that smoke acted
oddly and differed from the reports that came back from the debriefing of
survivors of Stalker attacks. Instead of a spherical smoke encircling a small
area where the Stalker would appear, the smoke appears to be being pumped out
from the ground. Dismissing the odd difference, she steadied her hands and
compensated for windage. The cold temperature did not help with the situation,
but that was to be expected.
“Guys, isn’t this taking a bit too
long?” Calhoun asked on his communicator, noting that the smoke has been
spewing out for more than a few seconds already.
“I know.” replied Shyelle. “I’m a
survivor, and he’s never late. Still, stand your ground. We don’t what tricks
he might have.”
“Affirmative” said Yanmei. Yanmei
then kept a close watch on the smoke patch when she suddenly caught sight of a
glint of metal from afar. Already at odds with the eccentric events around her,
she then reports to Shyelle. “Possible enemy sighting from above. Checking.”
“Affirmative. Proceed.” Yanmei
heard Shyelle’s response.
Yanmei then proceeded to point and
zoom in on the source of the metallic glint quickly approaching them. At first
she thought that it might be a simple drone that she can shoot down, but then
she was taken aback to see that it was the prototype Raptor, carrying something
like an innocuous package.
Yanmei then shouted again on her
communicator, “Alert, Raptor proxy sighted! Again, Raptor proxy sighted!”
“Shit.” Calhoun merely cursed at
their situation.
“When they said they’ve been
reinforcing this place, they weren’t joking.” Shyelle finally spoke. “This is
unprecedented, and we can’t handle this many threats. We’re aborting this
mission. Go to extraction point Delta.”
As Yanmei was about to align her
sights again to provide cover fire for her teammates on the ground, the Raptor
suddenly sped up and dropped its cargo on the ground, aiming at the patch of
smoke. She thought to herself what were the Corpus thinking of, trying to
meddle with the Stalker. But then the base went on full alert.
Lotus came on the communicator,
“You’ve been seen. Ready your weapons.”
“Lotus, we’re aborting. The Stalker
and the Raptor are here. We need to re-assess our position.” Shyelle replied
while running backwards with her Strun on the ready.
“Affirmative. Sending dropship to
extraction point Foxtrot.” Lotus responded.
“Foxtrot?! That’s too far.” Shyelle
exclaimed.
“Extraction points within a
2-kilometer radius of the facility has been swept and is being guarded by
airborne gunships. Only extraction point Foxtrot is viable as it has not been
found.” Lotus informs Shyelle.
“It’s a trap. Dammit! We fell for
this Corp-” Shyelle’s statement was cut short but the abrupt crash of the
package that the Raptor dropped on the smoke patch. After the loud crash, the
smoke receded and fireworks blew up towards all directions. Then suddenly, a
large Corpus crewman sporting a weird armor was blown upwards out of the smoke.
“AAAAAAAAARGGGHH!” The crewman
shouted while in the air. “Ugh-” The crewman’s shouting was cut short by his
face hitting the ground flat. The metal helmet’s flat face gave off sparks as
it skidded forwards, and his momentum was stopped when his flat top banged the
flat side of a crate.
After a few awkward seconds, the
crewman stood up in a flash and placed his hands on his waist. Realizing his
mistake, he then scampered back to the smoke patch and kneeled like a Tenno.
Yanmei’s head tilted sideward from witnessing the odd scene, as she was too
stupefied to say anything.
Section 6
“I AM YOUR SUNDERING!” blasted the
audio speakers from within the facility. A faint whisper was then heard, “Hmm,
did I get that right? Oh, yes, reckoning, it was reckoning. Damn.” Apparently,
the oversized crewman donning a strange exoskeleton was whispering to himself.
Yanmei readies her Snipetron and checks
on the strange Corpus. Standing up from his kneeling position, the man shakes
his feet as if to invigorate them from getting asleep. He then shouts again on
the speakers, “You Tenno shall pay for your past crimes! I, Derf Anyo, am your
reckoning!” And the man signals a victory pose.
“Your past transgressions against
my father, uhh, I mean Nef Anyo will not go unpunished!” and Derf Anyo then
proceeds to draw an electrified scythe-like weapon. “This is Anger, and I shall
smite th-” Derf Anyo was thrown aback as a bullet hit his helmet. Yanmei had
had enough of the foolish man and fired to shut him up.
Derf Anyo stands up with a flip and
shouts “You dare strike m-” Derf Anyo was sent flying again to the ground with
a head shot.
“Yanmei, stop it. You know Corpus
helmets withstand bullet fire.” Shyelle said through the communicator.
“I know perfectly well.” Yanmei
replied, “I just wanted to shut the man up before we beat him to death.” Yanmei
cocks her rifle again. Her Snipetron, specifically modified to deliver additional
Impact damage, sent Derf Anyo flying several more times as Yanmei emptied her
clip.
Calhoun and Shinook approach the
dazed Derf Anyo and check for vitals. The man has survived, mainly due to his
helmet and Yanmei’s accuracy, but the helmet was horribly deformed and the man
wearing it was obviously vomiting from dizziness.
Calhoun retorts, “Remind me not to
piss you off later eh?”
Shyelle nods to them as a signal to
withdraw, and they holster their weapons as they run towards Yanmei’s
direction. Yanmei keeps her position so as to provide cover for the team.
Suddenly, a transmission hacks into
the communicators of the Tenno squad. After some static noises, the
communicator indicated the IFF of Alad V.
“So it seems the Betrayers have met
Derf Anyo. Such an investment wasted on a talentless boy. And here I thought
that Zankoku would be of some use today. Ahh, nevermind. But thank you dear
Tenno, for donating to my latest venture. Zanuka, fetch!”
A high pitched machine roar then
echoed through the air. Shyelle and the others were halfway up the hill where
Yanmei took post when suddenly a shadow quickly burst forth from behind Yanmei.
Sensing danger from behind, Yanmei immediately abandoned her Snipetron and drew
her Hikou. She turned around, all the while throwing her blades towards the
shadow creeping from behind.
The metallic implements merely
bounced off the armor of the shadow as it sped towards the group. Yanmei
holsters her Snipetron and instead falls back towards her team. The Tenno
regroup and Shyelle checks their status. The shadow finally walks slowly into
the daylight, and reveals a quadruped proxy pulsing with Tenno energy.
“Two new prototypes using Tenno
technology. We must do everything to get back and report.” Shyelle comments. “Considering
the other prototype is not much of a threat, we’ll fall back into the facility
instead and use extraction point Beta, the escape pods in the facility itself.
That way, we can extract while avoiding conflict with the Raptor proxy and this
other prototype. Go.” Shyelle ordered while still eyeing the still prowling
quadruped.
The quadruped named Zanuka suddenly
pounces towards the group, but then Shinook uses a smoke bomb. Zanuka lands on
empty space and howls in frustration. It scans its surroundings and sees the
team enter the facility. Yanmei gives the still downed Derf Anyo a kick before
disappearing into the facility.
