Warframe - Chapter 8.1 – Seeds Sown in the Dark

Warframe - Chapter 8.1 – Seeds Sown in the Dark

Section 1

The young Tenno nods as he was motioned dismissed by his father. He stands up, bows and uses his Master’s signature teleport technique. He had teleported outside his father’s room up to the rooftops. He ran along walls and ledges and teleported whenever a camera or a guard showed up. With relative ease, he reaches the exhaust pipes that led to where he left his small craft.

Once he reaches his destination, he readily starts up his stealth ship and plots a course for his own quarters. He had just come from his master before going into his recent mission and his master also had to rest. He thought to himself that he himself needed to rest. He disengaged the locks on the ship and went on his way.

Upon getting within Neptune airspace, Orzhov disengages the cloak on his ship and flips a switch on his dashboard. The stealth ship suddenly transforms some of its features and dons Corpus IFF signals. Neptune, the new home planet of the Corpus after the Dubai Incident, was where he put up his own Dojo. It was ingenious to put a Dojo right under noses of the cryopod greedy Corpus, and it was his own uncle Darvo who conceived the idea.

As he docked and disembarked from his ship, he remembers that his uncle Darvo should have seen him leave Earth airspace since he passed by his ship on the way out. He brushed the idea off since he knew he could trust Darvo with his secret. In fact, Orzhov himself was one of Darvo’s secrets. The fact that his mother is still ignorant of his existence proves this matter.

What bothers Orzhov was the fact that his uncle Darvo himself has too many secrets. Though Corpus individuals do carry secrets more than the average humanoid, Darvo’s secrets is only matched by those secrets carried by his own father. He cannot help but doubt Darvo even though he seems to be only helping his siblings. He rubs his temple with the thought of one day going against his elders especially his own mother as he walks in the dark

Orzhov finally rescinded his frame and walked into the elevator that led to his Corpus home. Emerging from behind a sliding wall in his bedchambers, he directly walks into the bathroom for a quick warm shower. Ordering the domestic proxies to prepare him some refreshments while he bathes, he disrobes his bodysuit and steps into the steaming shower. Still fazed by seeing his mother and great grandfather in one single day, he combs his dark red hair as he let the water splash on his face.

After bathing and taking in some fluids, he puts on several loose fit clothing and decided he would train a little to clear his mind of his troubles. He walks into the far room of his house, and enters into a spacious room ridden with wooden floors, walls and support beams. Though it was a Corpus house, he took pains to at least have one room acknowledge his Tenno heritage, and it was this training room that he himself designed and secretly built.

Starting off with some breathing exercises, Orzhov tries to cleanse mind of idle thoughts and continues. Feeling further motivated, he starts several of the kata taught to him of his other uncle, Dahaka. Though he was biologically the son of Alad V, Orzhov looked up to Dahaka as his true father as he was the one who raised him from childhood to adolescence. Alad V merely sent Darvo to pick up his son when the time to use him came.

After several katas, Orzhov then proceeded to start energizing his movements to emulate charged attacks. Always training and fighting in darkened rooms, Orzhov did not mind the dazzling red energies that emanated from his hands since he always moved with eyes closed. Dahaka merely taught him that the trick to evading most Tenno attacks was not to fight with one’s eyes, but with one’s instinct. Dahaka broke concentration and chuckled as he always took it easy with his prey, “pretending” to dispense justice, all in accordance to his father’s plans.

His whole body then burst in energy as the thought of fighting seriously entered his mind. He had been labelled as a mere “nuisance” by the older, more powerful Tenno, and he just pretended to escape. He had voiced this complaint to both his father and his uncles, but they had a plan and that he was to continue this farce. The room was already brightly lit with his energy emanations when he sensed that he broke off in anger. He rubs his temple again and shook his head as he chuckled at the notion of being ill tempered just like his mother.

After restarting with several breathing exercises, Orzhov maintains his focus yet again with better results. Dahaka had trained him to the bone to better utilize his chimera heritage, and Dahaka was more than ample to be his teacher regarding his powers. Though he had never asked his master why he was going along with someone like his father, Orzhov always of thought of asking the question one day soon. But for now, he had to set the thought aside, for he had to concentrate on his movements, and that he had to avoid a whip like weapon coming at him at sonic speed.

Section 2

Trusting his instincts, just as he was taught to do by Dahaka, Orzhov gracefully evades the flurry of attacks aimed at his person. Knowing that the attacks are aimed at either his head or neck, he thought it easy to evade such attacks even as he kept his kata form and stances. Although sensing that the attacks have ceased, he does not change the pace of his breathing and keeps a defensive stance. Still with eyes closed, a familiar scent enters his nose and he sighs as he lowers his guard.

He releases his stance and stands upright as he speaks aloud into the darkness. Unsurprisingly to him, two lithe arms come from behind him yet he does not struggle. The arms gently embrace him from behind and the body that came with it rubs itself on his back. He then hears the gentle purring of a woman cuddling him.

He issues a verbal command for the lights to come back, and as it does he opens his eyes to allow them to adjust. He did not turn to look at his attacker, for he knows who it is already. He addresses the woman sister Bavita and bids her to let him go. The woman merely gets annoyed by the way she is addressed and presses her body further on the man. She listlessly whispers that Orzhov knows that they are not really siblings.

Orzhov, annoyed at this point, sets himself free of the woman’s embrace and proceeds to get a towel from a rack. He rubs his face with the cloth all the while stating the fact that they are adopted together as a pair by his father still stands. The woman, with her long slender and taut body outlined in her tight apparel, approaches lovingly towards Orzhov and offers to wipe his adoptive brother with the towel.

With a sigh, Orzhov relents and hands over the towel, cautioning Bavita to act properly as expected of a priestess of the temples. The woman merely grumbles as she proceeds to wipe the sweat from the young man’s neck. She then proceeds to undress Orzhov of his upper garments and wipes his back. Though donning a disapproving look at the inappropriate action, Orzhov relents to the woman pouting as she wipes him clean.

Unable to withstand the awkward silence and the angry motion by which he is being scrubbed, Orzhov finally relents and calls her Calypso, her Tenno name. The woman suddenly jumps on his back and embraces him again, this time taking a piggyback ride on the man while giggling. Her reddish hair flowing in the air as it came untangled by her actions, Orzhov begs her to calm down and get off him.

As she calms down and sits like a giddy little girl, Orzhov rubs his temple and tells her to act her age, now that she is seventy-nine and almost in legal non-cryostasis Tenno age. Calypso pouts again at being scolded but this time bites her lips after instead and says that she is happy to see her cousin after a long time. She adds that the temple duties she assigned are quite tiresome and that she was envious of him being able to wander the Origin system.

Rolling his eyes at the sentiment, Orzhov calmly puts on his robes again, throws the towel in a bin and motions Calypso to follow him out of the training room. The girl takes his arm as she caught up to him and rubs herself against his side. She maintains the action while Orzhov orders the proxies to prepare dinner for them and giggles whenever she can. Orzhov shakes his head while reciting her full Tenno name in his head, Hemlocke Calypso. All the while withstanding her giggles, Orzhov tells himself that she really is descended from the Hemlocke bloodline.

Section 3

Orzhov was hoping to have a quiet rest after his last mission, but Calypso made short of that advent. Though he did resent the loneliness of the empty house, Calypso’s incessant demands and flirting made his head hurt. Gone were the days when “little” Calypso was just a small playmate to him.

Though returned by Rasputin as foetuses to Alad V, Orzhov was transplanted unto a corpus servant priestess decades before Calypso was. The resulting age gap made Orzhov look like an older brother to Calypso. Though still an adolescent himself by Tenno standards, Orzhov has been battle hardened and trained rigorously by his uncle Dahaka, and so Orzhov was more mature than his adoptive sister.

Finally coming back to his bedchambers to get another shower, he had already taken off his upper garments when he surprised to hear someone getting undressed behind him. He turns around to see Calypso humming as she was undressing herself. Panicking, he shouts at her demanding to know what she was doing.

She nonchalantly replies that she will accompany him bathe and scrub his back just like when they were kids, as she tried to loosen her undergarments with a giggle. With horror filled eyes, Orzhov teleports inside the bathroom and seals it shut. He shouts to Calypso she can take a bath in the adjacent guest room as it has complete facilities also. Calypso bangs on the door and lovingly demands to be let in. Orzhov merely states that if her father should know of her intentions, her father may very well kill him.

Calypso, still banging on the door, states that Alad V will do no such thing. Orzhov corrects her that he was referring her father and not his. He also states that they are blood related cousins, and that it is inappropriate for them to be together like that. Orzhov suddenly remembers and reminds Calypso of her secret Grineer lover Agnus.

Calypso’s mood was obviously swayed by the mention of the name. Calypso states that Agnus was merely a tool, and she was a pawn being played by Alad V by trying to get information from the young Ruk clan prospect Agnus Ruk. She really found her work tiresome and despicable, and that Orzhov was the only person he could trust.

As she started to gently knock on the door again, she was angered by what she heard; Orzhov was taking a bath. Seething with anger at his apathy at her story and disregard for her plight, she was emanating energy from body. She kicked the metal door open only to see the naked back of Orzhov, with his glistening crystalline spine, alternating with red and black colours with each vertebrate piece.

Orzhov, having been found out bathing secretly, hurriedly teleports outside the bathroom; still naked, he tries to grab some clothes. He fails as Calypso suddenly pulls out her whip and rips his hanging clothes. Covering his privates with his hands only, he teleports into outside the bedchambers and into the lobby while running from Calypso. Calypso, still in her underwear and emanating energy, tries to catch Orzhov with her whip but manages to fail every time as Orzhov teleports randomly.

After half an hour of running around and destroying the house, a communications alert makes Orzhov ask for a ceasefire with one hand. He tries to approach a secured line communicator piece while still wary of Calypso’s whip weapon, especially now that her underwear has almost come loose. He swallows hard as he maintains eye contact with Calypso while answering the call.

It was Dahaka himself, his master and uncle, calling him back to his lair. Dahaka felt a different chill this time as it was the worst timing ever. He urged Calypso to stay silent as he talked to his master. Dahaka himself had a mission for him and that he was to present himself immediately in his lair. Orzhov gave an affirmative and turned off the communicator.

Orzhov calms down, and tells Calypso to stay and fix the mess in the house while he was away. Calypso begrudgingly agrees but asks that they take a bath together once he gets back. Orzhov was lost in thought at his masters orders and he mindlessly agreed. Calypso was ecstatic and began cleaning the house immediately, her underwear finally falling off unnoticed in her excitement. Orzhov rubs his temple as he imagines that his master Dahaka will kill him if he ever finds out that his daughter is naked in front of him.

Section 4

Finally free of Calypso’s incessant demands, Orzhov managed to get dressed and suited up and was now walking towards his ship. He had forgone taking a third bath in risk of having Calypso mugging him again. He starts up his ship, mindful of the task that his master has in store for him.

Dahaka rarely gave him missions of his own, and they were particularly difficult. He was consigned to keep the infested in check so that they would not attack civilians, so as much as possible he sends Orzhov on missions instead. He always took missions from his master seriously as they were transparently important unlike the frequent missions he receives from his father. Now having cleared Neptune space, he activates the stealth mechanisms on his ship and engages the solar rails on maximum velocity.

He arrives on Earth in good time and plots a re-entry course towards his master’s den. Re-entry on Earth atmosphere was admittedly difficult due to the dense atmosphere; he had to concentrate further while piloting his craft. As soon as he finished re-entry procedures, he plotted a course directly to the island that housed his master’s den.

Dahaka was waiting on the makeshift cave hole landing bay with his frame rescinded and he watched Orzhov disembark from his ship. Orzhov himself rescinds his frame and bows before his master. His master bows in return and motions him to follow.

They walk through the darkened hallways and the Infested they encounter bow politely as they approach. He had gone accustomed to the odd behaviour of the Infested in this particular lair as he had spent his youth training here. Then, out of nowhere, a small infested comes crawling up and rubs its head against his calf. It was his pet Infested Cadmus. Cadmus was special was that he was the first Infested that learned to read and write, by Orzhov’s own instruction. Orzhov picked up the small creature and petted it like a big cat.

Dahaka then retorts that it was ingenious of him to give his own mother some water using his pet when she was visiting last time. Dahaka had thought that he would show himself but was also proud of his protégé’s hiding prowess. They continued their walk as Orzhov put down Cadmus. The small creature followed them around until they came into a functional briefing room, and the small creature whimpered as it was not allowed in the room.

It sat beside the door and Orzhov patted it on the head before entering the briefing room. After the sliding doors closed shut, Dahaka and Orzhov sat kneeling and the briefing room sprang to life. Showing holographic projections of the Origin system, Dahaka then made a stern face as he started to talk. Orzhov breathed deeply as he anticipated the mission he was to be given.

Dahaka started by reiterating that he was not as strong as a Patriarch like his predecessor, Cain the traitor. Donning only the title of Baphomet the Betrayer, Dahaka could only completely influence the Infested in the inner planets. Ever since the true demise of Cain, or the real Baphomet, the other Infested Generals have exerted their own control over their domains and Dahaka could only stop them from going against each other and involving billions of civilians.

Without the original power the Tenno held during the Orokin age, the Infested would easily devour the Origin system if not for Dahaka’s meddling. He was already hard pressed with the advent of Phorid and Lephantis’ incursions into civilian space, but now a fourth power was now growing near Mercury.

He had sensed before already that there was a fourth power hiding beyond mercury, but had ignored due to the more pressing matters that Phorid and Lephantis offered. But through centuries of unchecked growth, he now has to take measures that Tartarus is under control also. Tartarus, Dahaka senses, has been devouring and growing at an alarming rate lately and is now a clear and present danger to the Mercury system as it stands.

Orzhov nods and asks how he shall engage this particular General. Dahaka corrects him that he cannot engage Tartarus directly, for Tartarus is a whole mass of ships and cruisers bonded together by Infested growth. Dahaka motions at the holographic projection to zoom in on Sol and tells Orzhov that Tartarus itself is the whole asteroid sized mass that is currently orbiting the star.

Section 5

Still in disbelief at his master’s revelation, Orzhov disengages the autopilot on his ship as he manually gets off the solar rails ending at the Terminus station at Mercury, now directly en route to the coordinates that his Master told him.

His master only gave a vague range of coordinates since he only used his senses to discern Tartarus’ current location, and Orzhov readjusted his shields to protect the ship from the additional radiation from being too near the star.

While searching the supposed orbit of Tartarus, Orzhov tries to remember his mission; to obtain the core node of Tartarus. To do this, he must dock on a side of Tartarus facing the star as Tartarus is actually tide locked for now, and insert himself on the original ship that houses Tartarus’ core node.

Replaying the mission objectives in his head, he smiles as he remembers his master allowing him to fight seriously and without a mask this time. He was ordered to use all his faculties and abilities as possible since Dahaka says he would need it. He was also given permission to use the technique that he was taught just recently. Though facing fatal danger, Orzhov was ultimately happy to be able fight in earnest but then he was distracted by a small dot that very noticeable against the illuminated background that was Sol.

He was genuinely relieved to finally find that what his master said was true, but his satisfaction was cut short when he spots that there were several Tenno ships docked on the mass. Knowing that his mission just got more complicated, he engages the stealth cloak on his ship and engages the ship to go faster.

Finally finding a suitable area to do a forced docking, Orzhov was relieved that the Tenno were docked on the dark side of Tartarus. Thinking that at least he did not have to contend with pretend fighting the Tenno, he was also actually happy that the Tenno would serve as a suitable diversion while he did his own mission. By his count, there were three Tenno ships docked meaning there were three Tenno cells inside, but the knowledge that they had docked on the darks side put him at ease.

As he finally inserted himself into the heavily hidden and dilapidated cargo ship that was dwarfed by the battle cruisers that bonded to it, he immediately sensed an ill feeling as his feet touched the inside floors of Tartarus. He thought immediately that the whole mass was sentient and could feel the Infested Control signal it radiated. Thanking the training that his master gave him against such mind control, he then checks his equipment.

Taking his signature Stalker Gear he always brought Dread, Despair and Hate, the personal weapons donned by Dahaka himself. He checked his Dread, and it made a good vibrating sound. He then shouldered the Dread to check his Despair, and his reserves were full. Finally checking his Hate, He has recently sharpened it and modified it with heat based nodes. Orzhov donned another helmet this time, and it was particularly different with his Stalker mask.

Though the Stalker mask gave him the ability to hack into the communicators of Tenno he hunted, the mask he donned now was his own original head gear. It was a cross between an Excalibur Prime helmet and a Thrak Rhino Helmet, and when he wears it, his suit becomes ridden with golden linings. He was born a Prime, Orzhov thought, and again thoughts of his mother flooded his mind.

He snapped out of his stupor and ordered Cadmus to engage their cloaks. Cadmus has been trained and modified not only to be his pet, but also to be able to transform into his own personal sentinel on serious missions like this. Cadmus could emulate the Cloak abilities of a Shade and the Crowd Dispersion of a Wyrm, but would shoot acid bolts like a Djinn sentinel. After checking all of his equipment, he then closes the insertion hatch from his ship and proceeds into the ship with Cadmus flying right behind.

Section 6

Upon a lengthy and difficult road into a spacious room by which Orzhov found by sensing the source of the Infested Control signals, he climbs the nearest wall structures to get a better view of the area. Seeing that the center of the place has some sort of a large circular formation similar to stage or a coliseum, he drops down suddenly from his perch and silently approaches the formation.

Deciding not to use the main hallway leading inside, he again climbs the walls of the coliseum and stops momentarily at the top to survey its insides. He was at the right moment as an Infested bone and flesh like Tenno pull out a chipped Galatine out of the body of a Frost frame. Looking around, he finds the corpses of a Mag with its face shattered, a Trinity split in half and a body of a Loki frame missing a leg and its head.

He was thinking that these Tenno were most likely one of the cells that he saw earlier, but what bothered him was that there were also four Infested Tennos that he had to deal with. Just as he was thinking up of a plan to possibly bypass them while looking at the node at the ceiling, he missed noticing that the Ash like Infested Tenno turn its head towards him and use pull. He was confident at Cadmus’ cloaking abilities, but he was suddenly jerked towards the center of the coliseum.

Though landing safely successfully, he has now been uncloaked and facing the Infested Tenno with the Galatine. Having jumped a backflip right in time to evade the enormous sword swung at him, he readies his Despair but a voice resonates in his head. It was Tartarus itself speaking to him telepathically and introducing its so-called Favoured Revenants. Tartarus was displeased with the previous group’s performance and was now glad there is another challenger that might present entertainment for it.

The ship suddenly quakes as Orzhov hears Tartarus scream. He thought that the other Tenno might be more successful in their mission and that he sees the other infested rush outside of the coliseum, apparently to chase after the Tenno. Smiling that there would not be a mob after him, he holsters his Despair, and readies his Dread.

The one known as the Ghoul in front of him readies his sword and coats it in poison like a Saryn. He draws his bow, but instead shoots it at the node above them. The arrow explodes on impact and the node shatters just like glass. A maddening scream can be heard on the whole ship, and Orzhov was thankful he was accustomed to such outbursts.

Tartarus angrily orders all of the revenants to kill the intruder and they come down from their respected seats. Once they have all assembled at the stage, Orzhov take a step back, looks at his enemies, then suddenly picks up eight Dread pieces at once and hurls them at the group. The Storm Revenant called Specter steps forward and deploys an energy shield that immediately stops the projectiles.

Unknown to them, Orzhov has taken flight to their right side and has let three arrow bolts loose simultaneously at them. Ghoul then launches what seems like an Ice wave but with rocks to counteract the arrow bolts. Orzhov jumps away from the rock wave but suddenly finds the one called Wraith behind him. Wraith has probably teleported to his back and is now about to stab him with his Fang blades when Cadmus activates his Crows Dispersion, sending Wraith and Ghoul tumbling away.

Landing on his feet, Orzhov suddenly feels his shields drain. He looks up and sees the one called Lich cast Shield Polarize on him but then he is distracted as a small ball of lightning is tossed near him. The ball, a Tesla, suddenly discharges electricity and he is suddenly jolted with electrifying pain. Thinking fast, he remembers Dahaka’s lesson of switching energy reserves that only chimaera Tenno can only do to counteract electrical stun.

He switches energy reserves and his suit colour polarizes in its opposite form, freeing him from paralysis, just in time to avoid the Vectis shot to his head and deflects the Kunai thrown at him with his Hate. He breathes slowly as Cadmus regenerates his shields and watches as the four enemies gather again.

Orzhov simply smiles at finally having a challenging and serious fight. He tells Cadmus that since their opponents are serious, they should fight seriously too. And with a motion, Cadmus engages the cloak again just as Wraith missed them with his Pull ability. Lich, knowing that they are in for hard battle, Roars to boost his comrades and Specter throws several Tesla in the coliseum.  Lich then tries to cast Blessing on his comrades, but is cut short by an arrow bolt shot at them. Thinking that the bolt would explode, the four disband into separate directions, but the bolt merely strikes ground.

Knowing that they had been tricked, Specter casts a large Sonic Boom to the direction of the Arrow bolt source and sees a shadowy figure fly away. Readying his Vectis to shoot the cloaked intruder, he finds his left arm suddenly melting away. Cadmus had shot Specter with an acid bolt while he was casting Sonic Boom and is now being melted away. Ghoul steps in to cut off the melting arm and save his comrade while Lich tries to cast Blessing again.

This time though, Orzhov suddenly materializes behind him with his Hate already charged. He then changed his spell to summon Infested Ancients to aid him, but Orzhov’s blade glided through his neck. As Lich’s head flew in the air, Orzhov jumped high in the air and made another backflip just in time to avoid Wraith’s daggers. Orzhov knew that once he was visible that Wraith would try to stab him in the back again, but this time he jumped high and readied his Hate, bringing down the blade on another neck.

As Orzhov landed on his feet, the heads of Lich and Ghoul made a thumping sound as they bounced and rolled on the stage floor. Ghoul screamed in anger and threw several Null Stars at Orzhov’s location, but Orzhov was no longer in the area before it was decimated. Ghoul activated his Battle Fury, but only found himself melting as he found an acid bolt on his chest. Orzhov was now just standing in the middle of the stage as he had ordered Cadmus to shoot a bolt while they were evading the Null Stars.

Ghoul, still melting, had lost energy to maintain Battle Fury but was now running with his Galatine in hand. Orzhov merely slammed the ground and released the Ember skill World-On-Fire that he inherited from his mother. He stood up as he watched Ghoul melt quickly into a small pile of melted debris. Right after he rescinded the skill, he felt a hand grasp his right foot. It was Specter on the ground, holding his foot and laughing. Specter screeched something unintelligible, but Orzhov understood the Infested language, and Specter activated his Cloud Fury, obscuring everything with a tornado of electricity and apparently burning Orzhov alive.

Specter had already risen and was walking painfully when the smoke faded, only to show a metallic figure standing. Orzhov activated his Iron Skin skill that Dahaka taught, shielding him from the electrical damage of Cloud Fury. Specter, sporting a horrified look, hurriedly tries to drag his body away, only to feel a blade run through his body as he saw Orzhov pass by him using a Slash Dash.

Section 7

Orzhov has managed to climb up to the whole that was once sealed by what others assumed to be a node, but was really a crystalline seal to an entrance to heart core of Tartarus. Easily destroying thousands of poisonous and spiked tendrils along the way, he finally comes upon a large, twenty feet tall grayish and red pulsating crystalline orb. Seeing the millions of root like structures emanating from the colossal orb, Orzhov deduces that this is the objective of his mission.

He approaches the orb but he is then quickly approached and bound by long roots. Though immobile, he orders Cadmus to go on standby and not help him, since he was expecting this response. Cadmus whimpers and maintains his position while still vigilantly looking at its master. Orzhov readies himself as the roots drag him closer to the middle of the orb.

To his surprise, a face emerges from the orb, and much later the outline of a body. Though the image of the person was of the same colour of the orb, it was definitely a female, and definitely someone he was familiar with. Shocked at the face he was staring at, he could not believe that it was Hemlocke Psyche, Calypso’s own mother. His stupor was broken by the sudden movement of several smaller roots that seem to be probing his body.

After probing him, the face started to speak, but not of a neutral voice of the Infested General Tartarus, but with a voice of a woman. The woman noted that he smelled of Baphomet, the Patriarch and thus demanded what his relationship was with Baphomet. Orzhov merely replied that Baphomet was his master and mentor, and that Baphomet himself sent him.

Sensing no lies in his statement, the woman then asks what master Baphomet demands of her. Orzhov again replies calmly, saying that Baphomet only demands her heart. The woman, as if to cry, tells Orzhov that Baphomet already has her heart, as she loved him dearly, and even bore him three sons. Puzzled by the statement, Orzhov inquires about the three sons, knowing and seeing that Calypso is definitely a girl.

The woman’s tone suddenly changes into a happy one and tells that she had named her triplets Lephantis, in honour of her late father, Lephantis Mensik. Orzhov’s eyes widen at the revelation that the Infested General Lephantis the Golem was this woman’s child. Looking closer, the orb actually shared the same colour of a Golem’s activated state.

Psyche, sensing something wrong with the emotions being felt by the young Tenno, demands to know where her beloved Baphomet at once. Knowing that she would not like what she would find out, and that she clearly is a great danger to all living things in the Origin system just as his master said, he readied himself to finish his mission.

He apologized to the woman, saying that he is forbidden to talk about his master. Psyche-Golem makes the whole place quake with anger and she draws herself out of the core to touch the young Tenno. Orzhov, knowing that she is part Golem, already knows that she will assimilate him to get the information he holds. But this was part of the plan, for his master said that he needed to draw out the person out of the core, for it was invincible as long as it was touching the core.

Waiting for the right moment, Orzhov orders Cadmus to shoot and melt his bindings. Cadmus responds and Orzhov, now freed, uses the latest technique taught to him. He melds the two energy sources he has and uses all of his reserves as he executes a Rhino Stomp, sending Psyche into stasis. He then proceeds to use his Hate to cut up her chest and grab her heart. Successful in taking the still beating Infested Golem Heart Core, he readies for his escape while Psyche-Golem was still in stasis.

He rushes with several uses of Slash Dash, and as he drops down into the coliseum below the whole, he hears the screams of Psyche-Golem. He then motions for Cadmus to engage the cloak and follow him back to the ship.

Section 8

He arrives at his master’s den physically exhausted and drained of most of his energy reserves. His master was waiting for him again as he disembarked from the ship, and caught him as he almost collapsed. Cadmus in turn reverts to his Infested form and looks for a den to rest in.

Dahaka was basically carrying him already as he was already dragging feet across the floor. On the way out of Tartarus, Orzhov and Cadmus must have at least killed two thousand Infested creatures, knowing that Tartarus will rip them apart personally if they were not to escape. Dahaka merely shakes his head and notes that Orzhov has lot of training to do if he were to catch up to his predecessors. Dahaka also notes that Orzhov most likely used the Rhino Stomp haphazardly, and that a non-Rhino like him would have energy reserves completely depleted and his frame fall apart if only he was not a chimaera.

They come back into the Briefing Room, and Dahaka sets him down against the wall while giving him something to drink. The doors slide closed and the holographic projection comes to life in the darkness. Orzhov notices that several stations in mercury are being attacked right now by unfamiliar Infested, and deduces that Tartarus must be looking for its core.

Dahaka points out correctly what he was thinking and asks for the heart core immediately. Orzhov painfully hands over the container and slinks back into his slumped position against the wall. Dahaka carefully opens the container and pulls out the still beating almost crystalline heart.

Orzhov demands to see what Dahaka will do to it, saying that Dahaka had bid him look away the times that he retrieved Phorid and Lephantis’ heart cores. This battle was particularly hard, and he deserved to know what had happened to his efforts. Dahaka nods silently and proceeds.

Dahaka then activates his frame, and slowly and frightfully opens his mouth. It was horrifyingly and morbidly large, lined with razor sharp teeth and a long, blood red salivating tongue. The tongue merely wrapped itself around the heart the Dahaka held and pulled it into its mouth. Dahaka, no, Baphomet suddenly crunched on the heart and chewed on it as juices poured from the sides of his mouth. He swallowed his prize and the frame brightly shone in the dark.

The frame grew in size and began to grow more spikes and glowing orbs. Finally, horns grew on its head and the energy colour finally became blood red. Baphomet speaks that his transformation is finally complete, having regained much of the lost powers of the Infested Patriarch. Dahaka rescinds the frame, and reminds the wide-eyed Orzhov that he means no harm. Dahaka had planned on regaining the lost powers of Cain to finally implement his plan.

Orzhov, finally snapped out of his shock, finally asks Dahaka if that was the reason why Dahaka cooperated with his father, Alad V. Dahaka only nodded, saying that Alad V had once come upon him on the Island one time to propose a deal. Swayed by Darvo not to kill the man on the spot, he listened to Alad V’s plan to finally take over the Corpus and dispense with the Grineer. As a sign of good will and insurance, he took out the infant Orzhov as a hostage for Dahaka.

Dahaka states that even though that was how he came to be Orzhov’s custodian, he had always thought of Orzhov as family, and even as a son. Orzhov nods and smiles, but then Dahaka suddenly speaks that Alad V has a hostage himself that prevents him from attacking the Corpus directly for now. Sparked by curiosity, Orzhov asks who the hostage was.

Dahaka merely states that his daughter Calypso had apparently survived and is held captive by Alad V. Orzhov’s face suddenly shows disapproval and he rolls his eyes as he remembered his last meeting with Calypso. He was tempted to tell Dahaka that he can get Calypso to him, but then Dahaka sadly says that he regrets not being a good father to his own child like his father, Tenno Mikado, and his grandfather, Hayden Tenno was. Dahaka had dreamed of raising his daughter ever since Psyche told him she was pregnant, and that he had wished for ages to raise his daughter to be prim and proper like her mother Psyche and grandmother Yeon.

Knowing that Calypso was now a merciless Tenno murderer and high priestess in the Corpus hierarchy, Orzhov did not want to disappoint hi adoptive father. Orzhov merely says that he will one day help Dahaka find his daughter, and Dahaka thanks the young man.

Orzhov did ask why Psyche was the core of Tartarus if she was killed by Alad V back then. Dahaka merely explained that Calypso’s mother, Hemlocke-Tenno Psyche, was originally Hemlocke Medea, Psyche’s identical twin. Medea, in remorse for the betrayal and infection of her sister Psyche, took over her name and life and devoted herself to the Tenno cause. Though she was centuries older than Dahaka, and was actually their caretaker as children, Dahaka eventually won Medea’s heart, and the result was Calypso.

Orzhov merely nods in understanding and finally stands up as he was able to already. He chuckles at the thought of Calypso’s girlish flirting, now knowing that it actually came from her mother and not her aunt. But then he reels at the thought of Calypso always rubbing her body against him. He had a preference for redhead girls because of his inclination towards women resembling his mother, but Calypso was his first cousin and thus a shiver ran down his metallic spine at the thought of Calypso waiting at his house.

Dahaka breathes hard and bows at his master, while noticing that the holographic projection no longer shows any attacks on Mercury. Dahaka stands up also and asks Orzhov to stay for dinner. Orzhov politely declines, saying that there is someone waiting for him at his place. Dahaka laughs aloud and slaps Orzhov at the back with a beaming smile.

He teases the young Tenno who the lucky girl is, and Orzhov panics. Dahaka then remembers and reminds Orzhov that marriage to cousins were allowed in Tenno culture and that Calypso might turn out to be a good match for Orzhov. Orzhov’s eyes widen in horror and he teleports to his ship. He hurriedly starts up the ship while hearing the beaming laughter of Dahaka within the halls. He makes a haphazard lift off and tells Dahaka by communicator that he still wants to enjoy his bachelor life. Orzhov was already clear of the cave opening but Dahaka’s laughter was still audible as he sped away.

Final Section

Finally in Neptune space again and bound for his house, Orzhov rescinds his frame early while wishing for a bath. Though he had gone through the decontamination procedure with his on-board equipment, he still felt dirty himself after cleaving through so much Tartarus Infested.

He had remembered that Calypso was in his house only halfway in his elevator trip, and he checked his bedchamber first before stepping out. He was relieved to see and hear that only the proxies are working hard to clean his place.

Finally making a full check of all the rooms in the house, especially the training room, he returns to his bedchambers satisfied, thinking that Calypso may have been bored and went out. He checks his home communicator and is relieved to see that no messages have been left for him by his father or by Darvo. After feeling content about the house and his recent mission, he felt exasperated and opted for another shower. Weary of the events of the past time cycle, he disrobes and throws his dirty clothing into a bin. He turns on the hot water for his shower and begins cleansing himself.

As he had finished cleaning his face and hair, he holds his face again against the splashing water, all the while reminiscing all that he learned recently. He then told himself aloud laughingly that his uncle Dahaka was willing to marry his daughter, his own cousin, to him. As he was laughing aloud while the water was splashing on him, two lithe arms came from behind him and wrapped around him. A naked female body suddenly pressed against his back and told him lovingly in his ear that marriage to him would be “nice”.