Warframe - Chapter 4 - The Beginnings Of A War

Warframe - Chapter 4 - The Beginnings Of A War

Prologue

Mikado rescinded his frame as he walked towards the end of the only balcony still left intact. Allowing his human eyes to adjust to the darkness, he sighs and takes a moment to think. He opens his eyes to look at the burning city beneath him and at the multitude of Infested trying to flee from the Tenno reinforcements.

Mikado, slightly shifts his head as he hears footsteps from behind. He senses no ill intent and deduces it is a Tenno.

The Nekros addresses Mikado with a raspy voice while bowing, and reports that council and the civilians are now out of harms way. Mikado approves of the report. He issues orders to completely raze the city to the ground prevent further infections from spreading. The Nekros receives the order and vanishes.

After waiting and making sure that the soldier's presence is no longer felt, he continued to ponder about his next plans while gazing beyond the city walls. After sighing for a second time, he scowls and mocks the darkness to reveal who has been spying on him. The Hemlocke sisters, Medea and Psyche stumble out and addresses him informally as they were childhood playmates.

After reprimanding them and telling him to address him by his formal title, Mikado orders Psyche to relay a message to the various colonies and towers to reinforce their defenses. He also tells Psyche to assemble the Council as he needs to ask them for approval for a specific research. He then turns to Medea and orders her to find Osiris, the leader of the Nekros regimen and tell him to make squad divisions for the upcoming battles. He then takes a step on the balcony railings and reactivates his Rhino Prime frame. He looks down and thinks for a moment then steps off into the chaos below.

Section 1

Lotus warily stepped off the evacuation shuttle. She was forcibly separated from her two children when the Royal Guards prioritized the evacuation of the Council Members. Her twins, Vadjura and Agni, were barely out of their thirties and the they had no guide with them. Lotus immediately confronted the nearest  Royal Guard officer for information. The officer told Lotus not to worry as the children were part of the succeeding evacuation shuttle set for the adjoining Orokin tower they were on.

Lotus wanted to be relieved, but the mere thought of being separated from her twins set her on edge. As she was convincing herself to calm down and make use of the personal communicator she gave the twins, a great rush of Royal Guards suddenly stormed the port area of the Tower. She then asked around again what had happened. An officer then tells to the council that the First was not among passengers of the shuttle craft she just departed from. Before Lotus could further panic, the communicator she held suddenly connected.

Vadjura, her eldest, had contacted her to inform them that the First was with them. The First had the foresight to anticipate an attack by Cain on the evacuees so He slid past security and made sure the civilians and the twins were safe. Lotus was overly confused at what to feel right now when suddenly the First came on the communicator. The First asked to be put on speaker phone so that he can issue orders.

The First recounts that as he was wearing a basic Excalibur frame, he was able to mingle with civilians and find the twins. He had spotted from afar a Trade Union ship that was in high orbit but at first took no heed of its presence. But after noticing that most of the lighting and life support systems on the ship was offline, and that several windows showed breach and damage, the First doubted that the orbiting Trade Union ship was nowhere safe and revealed himself to the Officers in the escape shuttle. He ordered that the ships  change course and travel towards the opposite direction.

As the First expected, the Trade Union ship was Infested when the ship Officers made a thorough scan with the First's calibrations. The First orders the Council to evacuate as soon as possible, as he noticed that the Infested Trade Union ship changed its course upon being unable to catch up to the civilian ships. He last saw it going towards the tower the Council was on. The First then tells Lotus to be at ease as he will be taking care of his grandchildren and that she should evacuate soon. The first was about to go out of range of the communicator and the twins said their goodbyes.

After feeling relieved finally, Lotus then gave orders for another evacuation order. Instead of using the shuttles they used to get to the tower, the Royal Guards were to expressly escort the Council members and the other civilians they had to the escape pods on the tower. The shuttles they just used needed refuelling and that would not guarantee them the time they needed.

Just as they were abandoning the shuttle bay and was en route to the escape pod chambers, the tower shook violently as if it was hit by something large from the outside. Emergency lights suddenly came on and announcement came on the speakers that a Trade Union ship had suddenly crashed on the tower. Several sections of the tower were now inaccessible and that the Orokin engineers were now being deployed to assess and repair the damage. Before the announcer was able to finish her announcement, loud screams were heard in the background then the announcer herself began screaming in pain. Another voice came on the speakers and it was a voice that Lotus heard just a few hours ago; it was Cain.

Section 2

Cain was maddeningly furious at being driven away. Not only was he able to reach his Father, Mikado was now donning technology that he originally worked on. He had only intended to wound his Father to gain acknowledgement, but Mikado again stood in his way. To make matters worse, he had not expected there to be a new frame that could make use of the residual energies of dead bodies to create shadows that cannot be infect by his soldiers.

As he withdrew his forces, Cain boarded a shuttle craft that he commandeered. Due to the large size of his mount, Merihem, he is only able to ferry off-world the creature and himself. Shrugging off what happened at the ceremony, he calms down his beast with a mental command and pilots the shuttle to meet with his forces waiting onboard a camouflaged Trade Union ship. As the shuttle was nearing escape velocity and entering space, Cain patted his mount on the head.

Expecting to attack the civilian evacuees to gain more Tenno materials for his research and war efforts, Cain had planned beforehand to target the fleeing civilians as they travel off world from the panic. Cains gentle pat turned into a painful grip as he saw that the civilian ships were fleeing towards another direction and that the debilitated Trade Union ship was unable to catch up due to its damaged engines. Cain let go of the howling creature and plot a course to board the Trade Union ship himself.

Section 3

Lotus sighed a breathe of relief as she caught sight of the doors leading to the bridge-way that led to the end of the Tower. They have had numerous delays and difficulties along the way since many of the Tower's systems were going down one by one from the damage it took from the collision. As they finally opened the hallway doors of the bridge-way, the Royal Guards who were escorting them stopped in their tracks and took positions.

Lotus went back to question them and ordered them to escape with them, but the Royal Guard squad leader, Mordecai, approached her and told her that their last action was going to be insubordination. They intend to hold the place while the Council members escaped. Lotus was hesitating when suddenly Mordecai jokingly told Lotus to have this one chance to have his good friend Mikado from military academy compliment him as Mikado rarely complimented people. Lotus tearfully nodded and kissed him on the cheek.

As the doors closed behind Lotus, Mordecai asked himself why did he not get a woman like her while he still had the chance. His men jokingly answered that Mordecai would have miserably failed even with his most earnest efforts. The whole room resounded with laughter. Mordecai then told his men that at this moment, he was no longer their superior officer, but their fellow Tenno warrior only. He told them that it was an honor serving with them. The men only laughed at the sentiment and said that it did not match his attitude nor his unusual accent. They then proceeded to salute him for the last time.

Mordecai smiled and nodded before he heard a screeching sound from beyond the doors they came from. He signaled his men to check their weapons as he checked his own Braton Prime.

Section 4

Cain had to change plans. Seething with anger at his successive failures, he himself charted a course for the derelict ship to collide with the Tower that housed the Tenno Council. As soon as he found an entry point in the hull breaches, he issued a telepathic order for his soldiers to prepare for attack. He mounted Merihem and charged blindly towards the breach point to lead his soldiers, but as he entered the tower they were greeted with lasers and force fields deployed by the Tower's Neural Sentry.

Even so, he charged blindly and cut through flesh and metal alike. Even though he was a Tenno himself, Cain was unfamiliar with the layout and facilities of the Tower as he had been withdrawn for a long time. As he was running through the halls, he noted that structural outlays and aesthetics were likely Lotus' design.

As he rampaged inside for what seemed like an eternity, he finally came upon a high security room. He smiled when he read the room label and had his mount tear the door down. He slaughtered the administrators inside and ordered the rest of his soldiers to eat the rest of what was left in the ship. He noticed another door at the end of the room and dismounted to enter it. He kicked it open and killed the female announcer in a split second. He smiled and laughed at what he saw on the monitors; it was the Council led by Lotus and several Royal Guards. His laughter was easily replaced with frustration as he realized where the Council was heading. He pulled up a map of the tower, went out of the room and mounted Merihem again. He then ordered Merihem to run with reckless abandon.

Section 5

Tears almost ran down Lotus' cheeks as Mordecai asked one final request of her. This was the actual reason that Lotus was grief-ridden from withdrawing from the Royal Guards. Mordecai handed her several explosive charges for her to plant on the structural supports of the bridge-way. Lotus was to seal the Orokin Vault doors installed on the escape pod chamber, and Mordecai was to detonate the charges so as to destroy the bridge-way and secure the safety of the Council from the Infested.

Lotus hesitantly and secretly received the charges but Mordecai broke off using his unusual accent saying jokingly that at lwast he would receive praise from his military academy friend, the compliment-stingy Mikado. He jokingly adds that Mikado would kill him anyway if anything was to happen to Lotus. Lotus held back her tears and kissed Mordecai on the cheeks. She then proceeded to catch up to the Council members towards the Vault doors.

Section 6

Cain finally smiled again as he finally saw the doors to the bridge-way. He ordered Merihem to charge through the weak looking doors, but as they passed through the doorway, the beast stopped mid-way from a hail of burning bullets. Although the bullets did not penetrate further than its hide, the multitude of burning metal embedded on its skin made it howl in pain.

As Cain tried to regain his bearings, he sensed something come at him at a great speed and he held up his disfigured left arm to defend himself. He was surprised to see an arrow bolt pierce his reinforced arm and stop an inch away from his face. He tucked away his sword and pulled the bolt with his right hand.

When he checked to see where the bolt had come from, he was laughing to see his old Military Academy classmate Mordecai holster his Paris Prime and check his Braton Prime again. He mocks Mordecai saying that he should keep his bow, since he was never did well on rifle exams. Mordecai replies that that was a long time ago, and that things have changed.

Mordecai suddenly shoots and sinks a single bullet into Merihem's largest eye. The creature reels in pain and Cain has had to issue it mental commands for it to calm down. Cain acknowledges that a lot of time have passed, and tells Mordecai that he too has changed. He picks up his sword again and pats the head of his mount. Mordecai readies himself when suddenly he feels something go through his waist. He sees himself fly tumbling away, and he sees the other half of his body collapse as he slams into a wall.

Section 7

Lotus had a dilemma. The power source for the vault has been cut off due to the damage done to the tower. Worse, launch controls for each pod needed to be bypassed manually as they have malfunctioned. Because most of the reserve energy was used to close the Vault door, she needed to redirect what remaining reserves they had to each pod as it launched. This meant that in the end, one of them had to stay behind.

After much coercion, Lotus convinced the elder Council members to go first as she manually launched each pod into space. As she was preparing to launch the last member to safety, she heard a thump on the Vault door. She felt relieved that maybe the Royal Guards have had everything under control after all. As the escape pod docked into position, she instead heard clawing sounds that scraped off or bent the metals of the doors. She was then ashamed to expect to hear the sound of an explosion from behind the door. As the escape pod finally launched, she took hold of her resolve and activated her Mag Prime frame.

Section 8

The master and his mount finally reached the Orokin Vault door at the end of the bridge-way. Cain immediately ordered his mount to kick it open, but the creature merely reeled back with thump. Angry at this new contraption, Cain orders his mount to do everything to open the door. Merihem then proceeds to claw, gnaw and throw acid bolts at the door.

After a moment, Cain, feeling a sense of achievement, dismounted and walked through the doorway into the darkened room. He was slowly walking only to be met by a large flying metal bar aimed directly at his head. Purely by reflex, he uses his sword and cuts the metal bar in half and readies himself. He adjusts his eyes to dark and sees an unfamiliar frame in front of him. With his heightened senses, he figures out it is Lotus herself donning the new Prime frame from her scent.

Laughing out loud, Cain taunts Lotus by telling her to be more affectionate to her adoptive brother. Lotus retorts that Cain is no brother of hers and that he will have to wait before he can kill her. Cain confidently points out that his plans have changed and that he does not plan to kill Lotus, only to make Mikado suffer.

Lotus, sensing the malice from Cain, eyes the last escape pod available. She hatches a plan to use the escape pod and forego the bypass, using only her magnetic powers to propel her pod into space by herself. She steadily stares down Cain, then bolts for the last pod, only to be cut off by the large mount that Cain had raised. Lotus then jumps back and readies for the worst.

Section 9

Lotus' purple eyes no longer showed life in them. She no longer had the will to move, resist or cry out. All that was left was her capacity to bring forth tears from her eyes. She was disgusted at the beast painfully clamping down on her hands with its teeth. She was further disgusted with the man he once called brother that was on top of her. But ultimately, she was most disgusted with herself for being weak and now unclean to touch her family any more.

Although Cain had promised to not kill nor infect her, it made no difference to Lotus as Cain had already taken away everything she had. Her frame now ripped from her and her energy exhausted from the fight, she was now a lifeless doll that Cain was playing with.

Finally satisfied, Cain stood up and admired his work. Although he had intentionally played with Lotus to spite Mikado, he was now considering taking her completely. The thought of having her by his side excited him again. He bent down and asked Lotus to join him instead of her husband, his brother. Lotus suddenly snapped out of stupor and screamed obscenities at Cain's name. She struggles with her remaining strength and starts to cut her arms that were being bitten down by the large beast.

Cain motions for the beast to release Lotus, and then asks again the she join him. Now that Cain has had a taste, he now wants Lotus all for himself. Lotus spat blood on his face and this enraged him. He reactivates his Infested frame and tells Lotus that if he cannot have her, then Mikado cannot also. He points the blades he had for fingers on his left hand at Lotus' throat.

As he was to lunge at Lotus, a voice from the doorway tells Lotus to close her eyes. She unwittingly obeys quickly and senses that a bright light flooded the room. As she opened her eyes and saw that Cain and his beast was stunned and blinded, she quickly gathered her remaining strength and forced herself to run for the last escape pod. As she closed the escape pod around her, she was at a loss for what to do since the pod had no redirected energy to it and that her own energy has been drained completely. Still, she thought to herself that perishing in space was better than to spend more time with Cain.

As Cain regained his footing and eyesight, he immediately caught sight of Lotus escaping in the last pod. He roared while trying to chase her but had to stop as he evaded an arrow bolt from hitting his temple. He then laughs as he turns towards Mordecai, seeing that he had painfully crawled with only half a body only to miss his chance at hitting him. Mordecai painfully laughs that Cain was right all along, Mordecai was always better with a bow rather than a rifle. At this sentiment, Cain immediately looks at the direction where the bolt struck and found that it had activated the control panel for Lotus' escape pod.

Lotus burst into tears as the pod docked itself into position, but found herself losing consciousness from exhaustion. The pod she was in finally entered launching position, closed all hatches and launched itself. Mordecai was happy telling himself that Mikado would finally owe him a favor after all this time. Though he regretted what had happened to Lotus, Mordecai promised to make it up to his friend.

By this time Cain turned his attention to the dying body that is Mordecai. He rescinded his frame and kicked Mordecai's body so that he was now lying on his back. Cain cursed Mordecai for meddling too far and mocked him that now that he is just a lifeless corpse, there was no way Mordecai could make it up to Mikado. Mordecai, with his eyes losing light, put out a smile and ultimately said that although Mikado was his friend, he never did take a liking to Cain. Mordecai finally says a coughed up whisper of a farewell, smiles and activates the detonator for the explosive charges Lotus setup. All Cain felt afterwards was a searing pain that melted his human skin away.

Epilogue

It had only been hours since the attack on the Council and Cain's declaration of war, but there had already been several incursions of Infested on other Tenno settlements but Cain was yet to be sighted. The Council has retreated itself to their home planet of earth as it houses the greatest planetary fortifications.

Mikado was the one who personally recovered Lotus' escape pod. She was immediately sent to a medical facility and was screened for infections. Fortunately, the results turned out completely negative but she was still unconscious from exhaustion. Mikado was in a war council when news of Lotus' reawakening reached him. He excused himself and departed quickly for Lotus' side.

When Mikado arrived at the medical facility, he found his children sleeping in the waiting quarters. He put a blanket over each of them and proceeded to walk to his wife. When he finally reached the room, he found the bed empty and the various apparatus disconnected. He was concerned about the situation when he heard the splashing of water in the nearby bathroom.

He entered and saw Lotus naked in the shower constantly scrubbing herself raw. He suddenly rushed to stop her and she cried when she saw Mikado. She tried to push him away saying she is now dirty and that he is not to touch her anymore. Mikado begged her to calm herself but she would not be swayed. He finally kissed her on the lips to calm her down. She accepted him but tears still ran down her cheeks. He vows never to leave her side again, and says that no matter what happens, Lotus would always be beautiful to him. Lotus cries some more but manages to kiss Mikado back. Right there and then, Mikado slowly took off his clothes.

It was only four months later that Lotus found out she was pregnant.