Still alive?

Yep. Thank you for taking the time to check.

Been swamped with, uhhh, personal stuff and couldn't find the time to write. To be honest, most of the hoopla is just my kid having just started kindergarten, and everything's been crazy because of the big change.

I still intend to finish with WF Zero and WF Origins side stories though. It's always on my mind and I write down ideas anytime I have them, even while I'm talking to my kid's teacher. Things change, but that doesn't mean you have to lose yourself, right?

Anyways, just to give you guys some preview of WF Origins 8.2, here's section 1, 2 and 3. It's slated for 15, and it's still moving forward when I find time. Enjoy!

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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 21^st 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.