Surprise! (And Happy Birthday!)

Well it's not my birthday, it's my friend Sam. I promised her the next installment, so here it is.

I don't have any pending promises anymore, nor is this an indicator of me writing WF again, but at least I'm writing again.

Hope you enjoy!

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, what is it  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 take 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 because of Zanuka. 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.

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 it, 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 know 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 that the other prototype is not much of a threat, we’ll fall back into the facility instead and use extraction point Beta, using 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.

Section 7

The alarms kept on blaring as the Tenno squad carved themselves a path. Though Darvo provided a good amount of intelligence about the new facility, there were various inconsistencies and enemies were pouring from every hole.

“Reloading!” Yanmei shouted as she took out the clip from her Snipetron. The Fusion MOA she was preventing to get close took more shots than it regularly needed. Apparently, even the MOA’s deployed in the facility were reinforced.

Shinook suddenly appeared in front of Yanmei and covered her. Normally, Yanmei would be surprised, but they had been shooting down Corpus crewmen and MOA’s for well over an hour now and Shinook has covered her multiple times already. Shinook threw several shurikens to down two Rail MOA’s energizing their shots.

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but are we there yet?” asked Calhoun, as he shot through the droves of Mine Ospreys descending on them. “I’m getting low on ammo here.”

Yanmei knew that Calhoun’s small jest had a hint of sincerity in it, mostly since she agreed with the notion. They have been advancing much slower than anticipated, and the escape pod bay seems to be too far from the area designated from the intelligence they got.

Shyelle was lunging a Kama into a downed Corpus Technician when she answered. “No, we aren’t there yet. We are supposed to be there.” Shyelle’s usually cool demeanor absent, “It’s either Darvo sold us out, or this was an elaborate trap. I don’t trust Darvo, but I trust his greed.” Shyelle suddenly pulled out her Kama from the technician’s corpse and threw it into Yanmei’s direction. Yanmei simply held her sniping position while the Kama passed by the back of her head and sinks into a Fusion MOA jumping down for an ambush. Yanmei stood up as the MOA fell out a window and into a cliff below.

“Yanmei, you’re the best in hacking here and we’re being flooded by Corpus MOA’s, stop sniping and get to a terminal. Locate the nearest docking bay. I don’t care what ship you find, just find us one.” Shyelle then casts blessing to rejuvenate the team. Yanmei throws her Snipetron over to Shyelle with a nod and runs to find a terminal.

Minutes pass and Yanmei reports on the communicator. “Shyelle, I found a small maintenance craft. It’s located in Maintenance Bay 4, eight blocks south from where you stand.”

Feeling a wave of relief, Shyelle breathes easy and notions to his brother. Shinook was over the next corridor reviving Calhoun and nodded back. “Come back Yanmei, we’re getting out of here.”

“No.”

Shyelle was surprised by the abrupt and sudden reply. It was unusual for Yanmei to be stubborn. “Yanmei, this isn’t the time for one of your mood swings. Let’s go.”

There was a small sigh heard over the communicator before Yanmei spoke. “I can’t. The craft is only a maintenance craft, the one’s we see hovering over Corpus facilities like worker bees. It’s small and unmanned.” There was a brief pause. “It has no controls on-board and only has a cramped cargo bay that will fit about three Tenno at most. You were right that it was a trap from the beginning. There are no ships in the base whatsoever. None at all. They were even jamming our connection to Lotus. You have to go and report this.”

“And what about you?! The hell I’m going to leave you here!” Shyelle shouted.

“I have to control the craft remotely from here. I’m actually in the maintenance control room. I’ve checked the terminals first, but there were no ships so I went to the nearest control room I could find. Fortunately, I found this place. Looking over the base schematics, the base was designed for something else. It definitely isn’t for mining or trade, since there are no docking bays, much less ships. You have to go, now.” Yanmei cut-off slowly.

Shyelle was about to collapse to her knees after Yanmei’s last words, but then Shinook caught her by the arm. Calhoun was up and providing cover, but remained silent. Shyelle nodded to her brother and walked towards the objective marker coordinates Yanmei sent.

After a few minutes, Shyelle and her two escorts walked down the corridor connecting to the maintenance bay. Shyelle suddenly felt a terrible foreboding as they walked, but she was more concerned about what would happen to Yanmei. Calhoun took point at the side of the blast doors as Shinook readied to open them.

What Shyelle saw then as they opened the door shocked her. The maintenance bay was flooded to the brim with heavily armored MOA’s. It was as if it were a wriggling, deafening sea of robotics that suddenly turned its gaze towards them. At the far back were several small crafts lined up on standby.

Shyelle closed her eyes for a moment, and then cast Blessing on her teammates. Yanmei’s voice crackled up from the communicator, “I’ve already disabled some of them, I still working on some, but they’ve really pulled out all the stops for us this time.”

Calhoun suddenly chuckled, “And I thought you didn’t have a sense of humor. Well, boss,” Calhoun turned to Shyelle, “what do we do?”

Suddenly, Shinook executed a Blade Storm and decimated as many Corpus as he can. Shyelle ran while saying “Well you saw what he did, we do that. If you get downed, I’m leaving you behind.” Shyelle then took out Yanmei’s Snipetron as her own primary weapon had given out.

Calhoun sighs and shakes his head. “Great. Everybody’s a comedian now. Oh well.” Calhoun starts by executing a Radial Blind then jumps into the fray. Yanmei only smiles as she watched from the Maintenance Control Room monitors, ignoring the pounding sounds on the blast doors behind her.

Only a few meters away from the maintenance craft Yanmei prepped, the rest of the Tenno squad was now low on energy and no longer had ammunition. As the three regrouped on top of the littered robotic parts, a whole wave of Fusion MOA’s suddenly lined up in front of them and prepared to attack.

“Well they certainly don’t want us to leave, huh?” Calhoun joked.

“I think they like seeing you on the floor, hence the Fusion MOA’s.” All eyes were on Shinook, when he suddenly spoke. “Let me guess, you guys thought I’m mute or something huh?”

Yanmei spoke on the communicator, “Well yeah, I mean, it’s the first time I heard you talk. Never thought you’d joke too.”

“Oh he’s talkative actually.” Shyelle responded. “And he’s got a better sense of humor than someone who’s always flooring it.” Chuckled Shyelle, as she teased Calhoun.

“Well anyways, this maybe our last time talking while standing, so I thought-” Shinook was laughing when he got cut off by Calhoun.

“Okay, okay, enough already. It was only twice anyway.” Calhoun’s voice hinted irritation. “What about that?” Calhoun referred to the defensive line the Fusion MOA’s made. But before Shyelle could say anything, Calhoun sped into action. “To hell with it! My father was a Rhino, and I always kept this one thing secret. Shyelle, Shinook, get ready.” Shyelle and Shinook was laughing, but then shrugged their shoulders and followed suit.

Calhoun stood in front of the defensive line. As soon as the siblings were beside him, he let out a shout, and then executed what seems to be Slash Dash. Shyelle tried to stop him, but then Shinook pointed something out. “Sister, he’s not holding a sword.”

As Calhoun was speeding up towards the defensive line, the Fusion MOA’s readied to stomp the ground with their Impact attack, expecting to knock back the Excalibur. The Fusion MOA’s simultaneously initiate their attack, but the Excalibur was unaffected, and tore the defensive line instead. Calhoun had executed a Rhino skill, the Rhino Charge.

Shyelle was shocked at first, but was then motioned by Shinook to quickly follow the path that Calhoun opened. They ran as fast as they could behind Calhoun as the Excalibur expended what remained of his energy reserves. They had cleared more than half of the defensive line when Calhoun collapsed and exhausted, Shyelle and picked him up while Shinook provided cover.

“Well that was impressive. I think I might have changed my opinion of you, Calhoun.”

“Then I guess it is mission complete for me. I finally got your attention.”

Shyelle was suddenly embarrassed and was about to say something when Shinook spoke out loud, “In your dreams floor wipe.” After an awkward moment of silence, everybody was laughing. Yanmei’s laugh resounded on the communicator.

The defensive line was suddenly reforming and was instead circling them. Shinook was taking hits and Shyelle quickly rose to her feet. Before she could do anything, Calhoun’s hands shoved her towards Shinook.

“Go, you two. Let’s pick this up when you come back for us.” Calhoun said as he raised his melee weapon. “Shyelle, I volunteered for this mission when I saw you sign up. It was well worth it.” Calhoun nodded to Shinook, and then executed Radial Javelin by draining all of his suit energy. The skill decimated the defensive line for a second time, but by the time Shyelle fell into Shinook’s hands, Shinook had teleported the two of them unto the maintenance craft.

*Initiating maintenance override. Granted. Craft emergency evacuation procedures engaged*

“We’ll be waiting you guys.” Yanmei’s cheerful voice resounded in the communicator, but was then followed by the sound of a loud crash. Shyelle stopped herself from crying and instead tried closed the cargo bay doors of the launching craft as Shinook fell exhausted from overextending his teleport. She took a last look at Calhoun being tossed around in the air by the multiple Impact attacks, and smiled as she saw Calhoun still managed to wave goodbye before disappearing into the mass of enemies surrounding him.

The craft had cleared the Maintenance Bay doors when suddenly it rocked as if something landed on it, followed by a high pitched machine roar. It was certainly the quadruped they encountered earlier, and Shyelle looked at his collapsed brother. She tried to stand up and managed to open the cargo bay doors, but it was slammed shut on her face and she thrown back. The craft suddenly began flying straight and a pained screeching noise was heard from the outside, falling down farther and farther from the ship. Shyelle turned around only to horridly find out that she was alone in the ship.

Section 8

Darvo managed a smile, but his left cheek was still hurting. Shyelle’s punch sent him flying, but then he sighed, knowing that it was always that way with his dealings with the Tenno. He was rubbing his cheeks when he finally reached the secluded meditation garden that Bavita was waiting in.

He stood by the large doors and let the camera sensor scan him. The sensors beeped and switched colors to green before opening the doors. The doors were then wide open, but due to procedure, he dared not enter immediately.

“Identify yourself.” A chorus of corpus voices resounded from within the garden. Darvo rolled his eyes, thinking that the camera had already scanned him yet the garden guards still question him. He sighs as he prepares himself.

“I am Darvo La Jutus. Merchant designation under the previous President.  Reporting to the summons of the Reverend Priestess.” Darvo responded.

“Let him in. I summoned him.” A soft voice spoke.

“Yes, your Reverence.” The voices respond.

“Leave us. I wish to test the merchant.” The soft voice demanded.

“Yes, your Reverence.” The voices respond and fade away.

Darvo walks in and shakes his head while avoiding the closing doors behind him. He never had any liking towards these Corpus procedures. Though thoroughly disciplined in his past life, Darvo comments to himself that the Corpus procedures lacked purpose.

He had walked the pathways in this garden often, but has always been captivated by the only organic material that the Corpus made. He made way for the center of the garden, and as he expected, the priestess sat on a pillow with her eyes closed.

“You called, your Reverence?” Darvo calls out with sarcasm.

“Darvo.” The priestess spoke.

“Yes, your Reverence?”

“Uncle Darvo!” The woman clad in white robes suddenly stands up and hugs Darvo, all the while sobbing like a child. Darvo rolls his eyes for a second time.

“Come on, Calypso. How old are you again? And besides, it’s unsightly for a priestess. Hush. Tell me about it.”

Calypso looks at him and pouts. Darvo rolls his eyes a third time. “Okay, okay. Fine. You do this every single time.” Darvo sighs and starts over. “Okay Calypso, tell Uncle Darvo what happened.”

Calypso lightens up and breaks away from her embrace. She walks away from Darvo and pulls away her robe, only to reveal her naked body. Darvo is unhinged and stands impatiently. Calypso then quickly activates her semi-frame and sits down like a child on her pillow.

“Could you, like, stop doing that?” Darvo spoke donning a disapproving look.

“Aww, Uncle Darvo, am I finally getting to you? I’m taken you know.” Calypso giggles.

“And here you are giggling right after crying like a child. Can we stop that? Ahhh.” Darvo rubs his eyes. “Besides, you’re my niece. My actual niece. Your father is my youngest sibling. How many times do I have to tell you? Do that to your fiancé, and perhaps it’ll work.”

“You mean Orzhov? I can’t find him lately.” Calypso starts sobbing again.

“Orzhov? What do you mean by Orzhov? He’s your cousin and adopted brother for crying out loud. You’re engaged to Agnus Ruk if I recall correctly.” Darvo always had headaches when talking to his niece.

“That’s just for show you know.  And besides, Agnus is boring. Grineer glory this. Grineer power that. Ugh, all he talks about are his glorious parents and the Grineer.” Calypso blows air through her nose.

“Well, all Grineer are like that. What’d you expect?” Darvo raised an eyebrow.

“I know. But it, I mean, he, is just-” Calypso shivered “I dunno, icky?”

“An icky Grineer? That’s my first time hearing that. I don’t think they use normal body fluids anymore.” Darvo looks aside in thought.

“And good riddance for that. I’d never sleep with, with, that. Eww.” Calypso crossed her arms.

Darvo rubbed his face multiple times. “Well technically, he’s your step-cousin.” Darvo blurted out while rubbing his temples.

“My what?” Calypso’s eyebrows met.

Darvo noticed his mistake, as he remembered that it was a secret that Agni was previously the consort of the Ruk Clan head. “Nothing. Forget about it. And what was that you said about Orzhov?” Darvo tried to change the topic.

“Oh that. Hihihi.” Calypso giggled like a little girl. Darvo was immediately reminded of her late mother. “I recently found out that my father, my real one, was planning to have me marry Orzhov.” Calypso then hummed a tune.

“Dahaka found out about you? We’re in deep trouble then. Why didn’t you tell-”

“No. Relax uncle.” Calypso frowned. “You’re such a worrier, despite your pretentious mask of being a Corpus Merchant. I just, you know, heard Orzhov talk to himself in the bath.”

“And what were you doing in Orzhov’s bath?” Darvo crossed his arms.

“Well…” Calypso blushed.

“Well, what?” Darvo demanded.

“I’m still a virgin. Don’t ask those questions of a girl, Uncle Darvo!” Calypso covered her face.

“I didn’t ask that!” Darvo wrenched his hands out and shouted. He paced around and tried to calm down. Darvo always regretted talking his only niece. It was a headache to handle her, and wondered how Alad V kept up with her antics. He then felt sorry for Orzhov.

“Enough of this. I’m already taking up too much time.” Darvo finally found a bench and sat down. “What of Alad V? I heard through the lines that he’s gone missing. Ran away with a lot of resources and went into hiding. What do you have?”

Calypso, still red faced, tried to talk. “I don’t have the specifics, but it seems he has taken all of the ‘harvest’ from Zanuka and left off to sell them on his own. I know he has other connections, but the board has had enough of his off the book transactions, so they replaced him.”

“With Frohd Ber?” Darvo followed up.

“Yes. With the fat bastard.” Calypso pouted to the side.

Darvo chuckled at her insult, but then resumed his serious tone. “Well this is a problem. I’m currently registered as your eldest adoptive brother. As such, I am part of the assets owned by Alad V. If Frohd Ber takes over Alad V’s accounts, I become Frohd’s adoptive son.”

“But I’m not. I only care about Uncle Alad and Orzhov though, no offense to you of course.” Calypso retorted.

“And how is that not offensive? Haaah” Darvo breathes low, “Anyways, even if Orzhov is exempt, Frohd Ber will gain access to all of our data, including our DNA profiles. Orzhov, you and I will be exposed as-”

“Orzhov will be exposed?! Then I won’t be able to marry him? Can I still marry Uncle Alad?” Calypso suddenly shot off questions.

Darvo replied with a frown, “You really don’t care about me huh?” Darvo shakes his head, “Anyways, you should know this things, you’re a priestess.” Darvo paused, “But yes, Orzhov will be found out and will be chased out. As will I, but that doesn’t matter, right?”

“Oh uncle Darvo, I know your preferred client will keep you. Hihihihi.”

“I should have known better to care about you. You are your mother’s daughter.” Darvo stood up from the bench he was sitting on and headed for the door.

“Where are you going Uncle?” Calypso asked, “I’m just joking you know.”

“I know. But I already have a headache. And besides, I have to track down where Alad V is. I don’t suppose you know where he is really.”

“No, not really. I swear. But I know where to get the information.”

“Oh really?” Darvo turns back to face her gain. “Please indulge me, your Reverence, but where do you propose to acquire such evasive information?” Darvo sarcastically bows.

“This for that, Uncle Darvo. We are Corpus aren’t we? We trade.” Calypso smiles.

“Very well,” Darvo smiles in return, “what are your terms, your Reverence?”

“I’ll get you the information on Alad V, on the terms that you save him?” Calypso maintains a straight face.

“Very well, your Reverence, I accept those terms.” Darvo replies.

“That’s it?! No retorts? No complaints? No, no, ‘I have a headache’ from you?” Calypso was surprised by the prompt reply.

“My dear Priestess, business is business. A Corpus merchant is always serious about profit.”

Section 9

“Could you tell me again why the Ruk are you tagging along?!” Darvo asked as he started the engines of his ship.

“Well we’re going to my contact, and besides, you’re depowered now, I have to protect you Uncle Vadju-, sorry, I meant Uncle Darvo.” Calypso giggled at teasing the merchant.

Darvo merely squinted his eyes and grumbled as he punched the codes for clearing his take off. After  a few moments from clearing Neptune airspace, Darvo engaged the locking mechanism for his ship to connect to the Solar Rails.

“Run this plan over me again. You plan to personally escort me on a rescue mission on Jupiter, right? And this rescue target is your contact.” Darvo asked while punching several buttons on his overhead panel.

“Hmmm, more or less.” Calypso replied.

“What do you mean more or less? This is Jupiter we’re talking about. It’s run over by the Infested, and worse, it’s close to Earth. Do you want your father finding you out?” Darvo exclaimed while still calibrating his ship.

“It’s a, what do you call it, ‘a need to know basis’ stuff. Yeah, that’s right” Calypso replied while checking her whip and cleaning it. She then put it aside and stood up. Darvo found the odd sounds from behind him curious and looked back, only to see Calypso fully naked again.

“If you wanted to peek, you should have just asked you know.” Calypso placed her hands on her waist.

Darvo closed his eyes and shook his head. “I gave you baths as a baby you know. And I remember those awful times fully since Alad V could not take care of you.” Darvo then turned his gaze back to his console, “I know you’ve heard this a lot, but why are you naked again?”

“I’m reversing the polarity on my frame. I maybe a chimaera like my father and my dear Orzhov, but I’ve only received partial instruction from my dear, dear brother. Teehee!” Calypso giggled.

Darvo retorted, “I imagine you only peeped on Orzhov as he practiced at his place, am I right?”

“Hmph.” Darvo could feel the anger from the energy emanations behind him.

“Well anyways, what does getting naked have to do with changing polarities? I’ve seen Dahaka and Orzhov change polarities on their own.” Darvo sarcastically added.

Calypso, with eyes closed, took some time to herself first before giving a response. She then reactivated her frame that sported a blue and purple energy tone. It was only after finally materializing her helmet did she respond to Darvo’s inquiry.

“Well, I’m not really used to controlling two energy sources at once. So I have to rescind one frame first, reverse my polarity, then materialize the new frame.” Calypso explained nonchalantly. “Father and Orzhov are accustomed to handling both their energy sources, so they can reverse their energy polarities while the Frame is out.”

“So basically you’re saying you don’t have the focus to multi-task, right?” Darvo stifled a laugh.

“You’re getting back at me, aren’t you, Uncle?” Calypso spoke in an angry voice.

Darvo could not help but chuckle. “I would never imagine such a thing, your Reverence.” Darvo then quickly pushed the button to engage the boosters on his ship. Caught by surprise, Calypso stumbled down unto a seat in the passenger bay. With Calypso cursing under her breath, Darvo enjoyed the rest of the drive to Jupiter.

Section 10

Darvo spent of the time on the Corpus ship cowering behind cover. Calypso seemed to be enjoying herself butchering the hundreds of Infested coming at them, and she was also laughing on the communicator, apparently at the defenceless status Darvo is in. The tables have turned, and Darvo was the one muttering curses under his breath.

Calypso had instructed him to dock unto a Corpus ship not informing him it was being overrun by the Infested. As soon as the two stepped off in the docking bay, the Infested immediately ran after them. Darvo, depowered, had no choice but to depend on Calypso.

“I’m willing to bet a whole Orokin Vault that she’s enjoying this.” Darvo whispered to himself. Darvo then contacted Calypso via communicator, since Warframes do not exude any vocal sounds. “Well, we’re here now. So who is this contact that you’re talking about? Care to tell me why I’m risking my neck here?”

“You’re an excuse, Uncle. Nothing more than an alibi.”

“An alibi?” Darvo himself was puzzled. “Care to explain?”

“No need. We’re about to meet my contact. He’s the owner of this ship” Calypso refused.

Darvo immediately pondered about the Corpus ship. I was a Cruiser Class, and one of the bigger ones at that. It could only mean that the person would be a high executive. Darvo stepped out when he no longer heard any Infested screams around him and followed Calypso, but was then surprised as he beheld the door that Calypso led him to. He knew the insignia on the door, and as Darvo angrily turned around to question her, Calypso was nowhere to be found.

As he was to retrace his steps, the thickened security doors of the Bridge opened, with Frohd Ber himself stepping out first. Darvo immediately took poise and bowed.

Frohd Ber walked up to him and started with a pained voice. From the looks of it, Frohd Ber had suffered an attack on his person, for he was showing damage on his suit and bandages on his throat.

“Darvo, you worm, what are you doing here? Can’t Alad V come himself and face me?” Frohd Ber strained to speak.

Before Darvo could think of an excuse, Calypso’s soft voice echoed from behind him. Darvo instantly figured out what Calypso was planning. Calypso planned to come to Frohd Ber herself and use Darvo as an alibi for getting this far with the Infested around. Darvo tried to hide his smile while maintaining his bowing stance.

“Hush, Executive Frohd Ber. I commissioned Darvo to take me here.” The priestess alter ego of Calypso explained.

Frohd Ber was taken aback and bowed in return. “Your Reverence! An honor it is to meet with you. Please excuse my words.”

The priestess spoke while continuing to walk towards the insides of the bridge, passing Darvo and Frohd Ber by outside the door. “You are not at fault, Executive. I came here of my accord, regardless of the dangers. Come let us inside, where is safe.” She entered the bridge and sat on the Captain’s seat.

Frohd Ber gave Darvo a menacing look before following inside. Darvo followed suit as the last person to enter the room. After Darvo enters, the Priestess herself pushes the button on the Captain’s panel to seal the room. After a moment of awkward silence, Frohd Ber breaks the silence with a question.

“You Reverence,” Frohd Ber touching his neck, “this might be inappropriate to ask, but I must inquire as to what your business is with me. This area is far from safe, and a manhunt does not suit a Priestess of the Temples.”

The priestess smiled in his direction but did not look him in the eye. “You are correct, Executive. And I gather that you are also curious as to how I got here, am I correct?”

“Yes, your Reverence.” Frohd Ber answers.

“It is simple, Executive. My able guard, not that flimsy merchant over there,” the Priestess motioned to the still bowed Darvo, “escorted me here. The merchant merely provided the means of stealthy transport. My guard is still out there, cleaning the ship.”

“A Tenno, your Reverence?” Frohd Ber hesitatingly asked.

“Are you insinuating that I have a Betrayer in my fold, Executive?” quickly demanded the Priestess, her voice slightly menacing yet still soft.

“Ah no, no, your Reverence. It is just that, our sensors picked up several energy readings.” Frohd Ber was clearly panicked and bowed again.

“I have my ways, Executive, as you have yours. It would not be wise to inquire about it.” The Priestess stood up from the chair and paced around, “But let us not be bothered by these trifle matters, Executive. I have a commission for you.”

Frohd Ber looks up sheepishly and answers, “A-Anything, your Reverence.”

“Indeed.” The priestess smiled again. “Again, it is quite simple, Executive. So simple that this merchant here can do it.” She walked towards Darvo, and Darvo bit his lips. “But I need someone with, expertise. That is why, I come to you, Executive.”

Frohd Ber struggles with his injured neck. “I am honoured, your Reverence. Please enlighten me further.”

“I shall. But first, open your communicators to the Betrayers. We have work for the dogs.” And the Priestess sat on the Captain’s seat again.

Section 11

“Your Reverence, I do not comprehend.” Frohd Ber comments.

“Understandable.” The Priestess sighed, “I shall then enlighten you first. Darvo, fetch us some tea. You are capable of that, am I correct?”

“Yes, your Reverence. Please excuse me.” Darvo left, thinking of how to get back at Calypso later on.

“Now that the worm is away,” the Priestess paused, “we can talk business. Take a seat, Executive.” Frohd Ber takes a seat promptly and listens to the woman in charge. “The forces you brought are insufficient, Executive. You do not fight two factions at once, remember this. You let them fight each other. Alad V has anticipated your arrival and set the Infested upon you.”

Frohd Ber merely nods, and she continues “In retaliation, and to prevent further loss, we bring another faction to do the work for us. The Betrayers are especially adept at handling the Infested garbage, are they not? Contact them, and dangle a small reward in their face, that seems to be effective on them. These Betrayers also have interest in regaining some of their comrades from Alad V, but we shall let them lose some of their numbers in the process.”

“A brilliant plan, your Reverence!” Frohd Ber exclaims.

“We know of the Betrayers’ barbaric ways, and I see that it is only fit to let loose such barbarism on Alad V, is it not? Let the Betrayers deal with a traitor.” The Priestess smiles while tilting her head to the side.

“I understand now, your Reverence! I thank you for enlightening me!”

“It is of no consequence, Executive. I only ask that you hasten to your task. If you do, you shall have my support in the upcoming election.” She looks at Frohd Ber directly.

“That, that is great news, your Reverence! I am honoured to be at your service. But if I may be bold, I would like to-” Frohd Ber cut short his statement when he saw the Priestess’ hand rise to stop.

“Curious as to why I am going against my adoptive father? Your curiosity is well placed. Let us say, he holds several assets that I do not want to fall unto, unscrupulous hands. You do understand that a family head holds all relevant data over all his children. If you take over his assets, well, I suppose I can trust you?”

“Uhh, y-yes, of course, your Reverence! Say no more of the matter.” Frohd Ber suddenly chokes because of his neck injury.

“Good. Very well then, plot a course outside Jupiter territory and get me out of the presence of these dreadful Infested.” The Priestess turns the chair she was on around, before mentioning a last question, “Where is that worm Darvo? I require my tea.” Calypso then laughed to herself.

Section 12

“Frohd Ber had some juicy information for us. Why didn’t you get this information beforehand, brother?” Agni questioned Darvo.

“I was there when he found out. I had problems sneaking out of his ship, if you can imagine that.” Darvo responded while being busy on the calibration panels.

“Do you think Derald has found out that I’m still alive?” Agni asks again.

“And what? Are you going to go back to your ex? Please spare me. And don’t call him Derald, it’s Alad V now. Derald is dead.” Darvo noted.

Agni was silenced by the remark. She then thought about Yanmei and tried to talk, but Darvo already anticipated the question.

“I don’t know. If you’re asking if she’s alive, I honestly don’t know. But it would be an indication that Yanova might be alive if your secret was suddenly disseminated.” Darvo still worked efficiently on the panels.

“You’re worried aren’t you?” Agni teases.

“And why would I be worried? The woman has done everything to spite me.” Darvo finally looks at Agni. Agni was surprised to see that Darvo could manipulate the panels without looking at it. Darvo resumed his work quietly.

“Well you always purse your lips when you worry, like what you’re doing right now.” Agni points out to her brother.

Darvo takes notice of his mouth, stops, and looks away. “So what’s the plan? Your Tenno have already finished clearing out Frohd Ber’s ships. Any ideas how to infiltrate the base?” Darvo finally presses the last button for the calibration procedure.

Agni shakes her head as she reassembles her body into the Nelumbi frame. After a moment, she completes taking her complete form and speaks in Lotus’ voice. “Well Frohd Ber has held up his part of the bargain. He has given us the location of the Gas City, well, cities to be exact. And this time, I’m sending some of my best to handle the mission.”

“Is that so?” Darvo retorted, but the idea of sending Orzhov himself popped up again. Unfortunately, he thought, that Orzhov had been missing also, following the disappearance of Alad V. He could only hope that Orzhov himself would not interfere with this operation. He had tried to question Dahaka himself what became of his pupil, but Dahaka was unresponsive to his summons in his lair. It occurred to Darvo that Dahaka himself might have plans of his own.

He was so absorbed in self-thought that he did not notice the woman waiting outside the blast doors of the maintenance room. He was caught by surprise, but before he could do or say anything, Lotus spoke up beside him.

“Shyelle, what is your business with me?” Lotus asked.

“Mistress Lotus, I humbly ask to participate in the rescue mission we are about to launch.” Shyelle bowed and kneeled before Lotus.

Darvo merely raised his hands and walked away from the conversation. Lotus turned her attention to the Tenno and motioned her to stand up. “Walk with me.” Was her only reply.

After moments later, Lotus stopped by a window and began to talk. “Is this about your brother, Shyelle? I cannot risk sending a Tenno with a clouded mind on a mission, especially a mission of this importance.”

“I understand, my Mistress. But I have meditated about it, and concluded it is not vengeance that I seek, but redemption. Not only for our comrades, but for myself. If anything else, my Mistress, I am determined.” Answered Shyelle.

Lotus looked at her for a long time, and yielded. “Very well. But know this, you are not in lead this time as you usually am. The Mordecai siblings, Bilshan’s sons, Kargadan and Farsi will be with you, as well as Eindar Tosen, Yanmei’s own cousin.”

“Thank you, my Mistress.” Shyelle bows again.

“No need. I had already considered you as a part of the team since we would obviously need an experienced Trinity bearer in the team. Take heed that Farsi, the elder of the brothers, will take lead. The two are renowned for their ability to wreak havoc, especially on the Corpus.” Lotus pointed out.

“Yes, my Mistress. I know of them. Farsi is the current leading Volt bearer, while Kargadan is one of the most brutal Rhino’s in record.” Shyelle agrees.

“Correct. I am not reserving anything to chance for this mission.”

“As for Tosen, I believe she is one of the best Banshee pathfinders, if I remember correctly.”

“Yes.” Lotus nods, “I chose her specifically for this task. You and Tosen are to provide support to the brothers. Tosen will provide logistics and mapping, you will provide medical and communications support. You are to report to mission briefing immediately. Dismissed.”

Shyelle merely bows and runs to the briefing room. Lotus watches her walk away, and then walks by herself towards her communications hub.

Section 13

After only a few minutes of successfully infiltrating the Gas City, the Tenno Squad immediately finds a section that is heavily guarded by the Corpus. On radio silence, Farsi motions that he will initiate an attack. This due to the fact that the succeeding portions of the city is no longer accessible by stealth. He asks the team to make one final check of their gear, and once everybody was finished, Farsi draws out his Kunai.

He spots two corpus crewmen and throws a Kunai each on their heads. The two fall down quick and Farsi speeds into action. Within two seconds, he had killed several Corpus without drawing his rifle. Shyelle did not want to fall behind the veterans and quickly dispatched a handful of Corpus with her new Orthos double headed spear. Tosen quickly climbs a wall post and dispatches a wave of Corpus crewmen on the second floor of the hallway they were in.

Shyelle turns around, only to be surprised by seeing Kargadan dispose of the Corpus with his bare hands. As Kargadan clears the remaining Corpus in the final hallway, the alarms finally blare and Farsi motions them to move. They reach the end of the final corridor and Farsi disables a whole wave of MOA’s with a single instance of Shock.

“Of course, the Lotus sends her mute peasants to disrupt my business.” Alad V spoke as revealed himself to the squad with a Mag bearer at his mercy. “So please, come closer. Let me introduce my latest line of robotics.” Farsi looked to Tosen for information about the Mag that was being held by Alad V at the time, and Tosen confirmed that it was Yanmei.

Alad V continued as he started to engage the strange apparatus on his neck, “Hybridized, with Warframe components.” The apparatus folds out and beeps, all the while the shadowy figure that Shyelle remembers stands up. Alad V’s voice resounds through the hall, “Zanuka, kill!”

The shadowy figure wakes up and jumps into the light, revealing a sleek quadruped that had strange attachments on its front shoulders. Moments after it lands, its tail shoots what it seems to be an Anti-Matter Drop from a Nova. The Squad is taken by surprise and is blasted away from each other.

As Shyelle was forced on the floor by the blast, Zanuka suddenly jumps on top of her. Fortunately, Zanuka is repelled by shots from Kargadan’s shotgun Hek before it could do any damage to Shyelle. Farsi immediately covered his brother with his Soma while he reloaded his shotgun. Zanuka merely evaded the shots, climbed up a column, and executed a ground attack that pushed the brothers back.

Farsi anticipated that the robot would execute a ranged attack and so he put up an Electric Shield while Kargadan activated his Iron Skin. The actions though had little effect, as the ranged energy attack Zanuka made only cancelled the abilities of the brothers. Alad V was giggling at the hardship of the Tenno while he anxiously anticipated the activation of the dismembering device that held Yanmei in place.

Shyelle immediately pulled out the Snipetron that Yanmei gave to her and started shooting at Zanuka. The quadruped proved to be too agile to hit, and Tosen joined the fight. In spite of the two Tennos shooting at it, Zanuka evaded the attacks and lunged at Shyelle. Shyelle barely managed to fend it off using a charged attack of her Orthos.

After careful examination, Tosen deduced the weakspot of Zanuka and drew out her throwing glaive. She hurled it towards Zanuka, and the quadruped evaded it with ease, not knowing that it was aimed originally at the device on Alad V’s neck. The glaive deactivates the apparatus and Zaunka powers down.

Not missing the opportunity, Kargadan lets out a Roar then executes a Rhino Stomp. Disabled and vulnerable in mid-air, Shyelle casts Energy Vampire on the quadruped to replenish her team’s energy reserves. Fully recovered, Farsi draws most of his energy and executes Overload, completely shutting down Zanuka and releasing Yanmei from her bonds. Finally down on the floor, Kargadan jumps on the quadruped, pounds and rips it apart using his bare hands, splitting the robot what was left in half.

Alad V recovers himself with disgust for the Tenno, “Ugh, you savages! By my own hand, the Void will devour you! Aghk-”

The former Corpus executive suddenly found himself unable to move and hovering in the air. The Mag bearer he held captive was up on its feet and had used its magnetic powers on him. Yanmei, finally able to fight, used Pull and sent Alad V crashing into the large glass window behind them.

“Aghh. No…” Alad V screamed as fell down to the gas planet below.

Afterwards, Yanmei merely looked at the shattered window, and then to her rescuers.

Section 14

Darvo stealthily approached the Gas City with his own ship. He had just finished the calibrations on Agni and sped through the Solar Rails to accomplish his side of the operation. He lied to his sister, or rather, he did not answer her question thoroughly. He merely said the truth that he acquired the coordinates at the same time as Frohd Ber.

He now awaited the Tenno Squad that was to storm the place and he lay in wait. He had only been waiting for a few minutes when he was surprised to hear the alarms blaring in the facility. He immediately rushed for the coordinates where Yanmei was most likely being held and tried to get a hold of her communicator frequency.

“Hello? Hello?!” Darvo shouted. The line connected, but there was no response. Darvo thought that Yanmei was most likely under the effects of an energy drain. “Yanova, respond. Just grunt or something if you can hear me.”

Darvo positioned his craft below the Gas City, with Yanmei’s signal directly above him. Finally, after a few more attempts, a light groan was heard on the communicator. Darvo’s heart skipped a beat and he felt relieved that Yanmei was still alive.

“Yanova, look, you’re under the effects of energy drain. You have to listen to me. Respond if you understand.” Darvo shouted.

“Stop, shouting.” Yanmei managed to talk.

Darvo smiled. “Good, you can still joke. At least you can think.”

“Jerk.” Yanmei replied.

Darvo rolled his eyes. Yanmei was dying, but was still able to insult him. “Thank you. Now listen, the Energy Siphon is generally set to a broad frequency spectrum. If you can focus on charging your energy outside the spectrum, you could at least conserve some of it. Do you understand?”

There was no response.

“Yanmei!” Darvo was growing nervous.

“Dammit, I said don’t shout. My head hurts! Give me a moment!” Yanmei screamed.

Darvo rubbed his face. “Honestly.” He said to himself.

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Yanmei’s begrudged voice responded. “I’ll try.”

“Great.” Darvo sighed, “Stay put, help is on the way.”

“Stay put huh? As if I could get out. And honestly, this guys is your boss? And what help? You? I must be dying already to dream up stuff.” Yanova comments.

“Yes, stay put, pretend to be asleep. Yes he is my boss. Yes there is help coming. Unfortunately, no, I’m not going there to die and rescue the damsel in distress. And…” Darvo cut off.

Yanmei was curious, her consciousness slowly coming back. “And what?”

“And you dream of me? I’m flattered.” Darvo joked.

“The gall on this Corpus merchant!” Yanmei’s angry voice echoed through the communicator.

Darvo laughed heartily to his content, but then crashing sounds began echoing from the communicator. He hacks into the security cameras only to watch the intense fight between Zanuka and the Tenno.

“Uhh, Yanmei, get ready.” Darvo notes, “You’ll have your energy reserves back once you’re free of those bonds. And one just note.”

“What? They’re already finishing up here.”

“He is my boss. Could you, like, not massacre him like you do with me and throw him around like a doll? Make it quick I guess.” Darvo asks.

“You wish.” Yanmei refused.

Darvo merely smiles secretly.

A moment later, he hears the screaming of Alad V through the communicator. He had used reverse psychology on Yanmei and tricked her into throwing Alad V out the window. Darvo sped into action to open up the passenger bay of his ship and caught Alad V safely with an installed safety net.

“Well, hello, boss. How are we doing today?” Darvo joked as he closed the bay doors and plugged in coordinates for the ship’s auto-pilot.

“Huh? Darvo? What are you doing here?” Alad V was still smoking from his encounter with the Tenno. Darvo thought they must have roughed him up, as there was still glass embedded on his forehead. Darvo laughed at Yanmei.

“No questions. Personally, I would have left you to die. But a trade’s a trade.” Darvo replied. “Just thank Bavita later. Oh and yeah…”

Alad V, still confused asked “What?”

“I quit.” Darvo punches Alad V unconscious and sets him on a stretcher, then drives away.

Final Section

“Aaaaah, it’s finally over.” Frohd Ber’s pained voice rasped, “Zanuka and Zankoku are finally mine.” He laughs in his pained voice as his eyes focus on the numbers running through his monitor screen. Standing in his office overlooking Neptune, the once friend of Alad V is now happily rubbing his hands together as the numbers on his monitor keeps on growing.

Still laughing in his raspy voice, a voice from the door surprises him. “I’m sure you’re quite happy with the results, eh, Director Frohd Ber?” The Oracle’s sultry voice, seemingly innocuous, was coming from the white robed woman across the room.

She stepped forward for a few meters when the lights in the room suddenly flickered. “The Oracle tilts her head and notes, “You might want to get that checked, but I believe you no longer have the time anymore.” The Oracle smiled.

“My Mistress,” Frohd Ber stood from his chair in respect. “I must thank you for your, guidance. Without your advice, I might have not reached my goal.” Frohd Ber bowed his head. He hated the woman, thinking that women are below men, as is within Corpus culture, but he merely smiled to himself thinking that she would be his next target. “I must say this though, my Mistress, I never thought that you would go against your own fath-” Frohd Ber corrected himself, “I apologize, I meant I never thought that you would advise untoward Alad V. I had thought the man had your, well, faith.”

“Faith is a fickle thing, as are women, Director.” The Oracle replies coldly. The lights flickered a second time. The Oracle merely looked up to the sides of her eyes without moving an inch. “Well, Director, I just passed by to congratulate you. I have business to attend to, and I just wanted to see you before you go your way.” She then turns slowly around towards the door.

Frohd Ber, with his head still bowed, mutters, “Thank you my Mistress. Farewell.”

“Farewell, indeed.” says The Oracle as she turns her head while walking under the archway of the door. She continues walking and disappears.

Alone to himself again, Frohd Ber sits down and laughs. “That bitch. Acting like she owns the place. I’ll finish taking Alad V’s assets in order, and then-” the lights flickered a third time, but Frohd Ber ignored it and continued, “and then, I’ll pay attention to her afterwards, when I have the time.” He then laughed heartily again.

But he did not have the time to notice the Tenno with the poised scythe behind him.

Darvo was calibrating the Nelumbi maintenance equipment when Yanmei walked in.

“You’re early. Lotus hasn’t finished her meeting yet. I’m just-” Darvo was surprised then as he was lifted up by Yanmei using her powers. “Okaaaay, what did I do this time, Yanova?” Darvo asked while struggling to get down.

“It’s Yanmei. Call me Yanmei.” Yanmei demanded.

“Okay. Yanmei it is. I thought you hated the name. Still, could you put me down? I don’t want any trouble. Whatever it is, I’m sorry already.” Darvo raised his hands in surrender.

Yanmei withdrew her helmet and let loose her long hair. She maintained her frame and crossed her arms. “I just realized something,” Yanmei’s eyes were narrowing, “back then in Jupiter while I was being held you knew how to counteract the energy siphon. How did you get that information?”

Darvo looked away, “Uhhh, Alad V, he is, well, I mean, he was my boss. So, I know stuff.”

“Hmm, a valid excuse.” Yanmei nodded. “Still, for a merchant, how would you know the exact calibrations for a frame?” Yanmei paused, “And it’s been bothering me for a while, but back then, during my first visit here, Mistress Agni named you ‘brother’. You seem to know too much for a mere human, since studying all that knowledge alone would take up the whole lifetime of a normal human, even if he were a Corpus elite.”

Darvo paused for a moment, “I, uhm, have my sources?”

Yanmei raised a brow and smiled. She walked towards the floating merchant and looked him in the eye. Their faces mere inches apart, Yanmei spoke again, “Did you know? Ever since I was small, ever since I first saw Prince Vadjura, I had a thing for him. It devastated me when I learned that they were betrayed and taken away by Alad V.” Darvo was looking away.

Yanmei moved closer. “The first time I saw you, I hated you. I hated the Corpus who took my prince away. But when Mistress Agni said you were her brother, I assumed you were Prince Dahaka due to your attitude and behaviour. But ever since you said that you knew how the energy siphon was built,” Yanmei raised her hand to the immobilized Darvo and made him look at her, “I realized something.”

“Aaaaand, what would that be?” Darvo asked sheepishly.

“I realized you also had the ability to pass memories, like what you did to me before.” Yanmei was now holding Darvo’s face with both hands. Darvo was pouring cold sweat. “Only Prince Vadjura, the first Volt Prime, had the innate ability to pass memories.” She was inching her face closer and closer to Darvo’s. She was merely whispering by this time, “Honestly, Darvo La Jutus, couldn’t you think of a better anagram for your name, Lotus Vadjura?”

Darvo was at a loss for words, but then again, Yanmei was already hugging and kissing him passionately. But before he could reciprocate, the blast doors opened, and came in the wearer of the Nelumbi frame.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Lotus Agni shouted as she extended all her battle tendrils. She then speedily grabbed one of Darvo’s feet with a tendril and flung him around.

“Why is it always me?” Darvo noted on his oft misfortune before being flung and going through the windows.  A loud crash was heard from the observation room. Yanmei immediately went towards the window to search.

“Yanmei, are you well? What was my brother doing to you?” Lotus approached while asking with all concern.

“I must apologize my Mistress, but you are mistaken. He wasn’t doing anything wrong.” She paused with a giggle, “He was actually doing good.” Yanmei lifted some debris and threw them away with her powers. “I’m sorry my mistress, I was, uhm, playing with your brother.”

“Oh. Okay then. These things happen.” Agni blinked “Tell him I’m sorry, uhhh, again. I have to go under maintenance now. Please do take care of my brother.” Agni turns and proceeds to her post.

“Yes my Mistress!” Yanmei accidentally shouted out of happiness, apparently misunderstanding the meaning of Agni’s words. After a few moments of lifting and throwing away metallic debris, Yanmei finally finds some crawl space and then proceeds on all fours. After a few meters, she appears out of a hole just beside where Darvo was resting while dazed. Darvo looks at her with a grin as she says, “Found you…”