Warframe Short Story Contest

A man was laying down on a cot style bed. A slim but muscular arm over the eyes under the black and red pearlescent hair. It was not till  a few minutes later that Ordis spoke over the ship's intercom. "Operator. We are arriving at the designated sector. As per your instructions I have awoken you fifteen minutes before we exit the slip stream." The young man sat up and moved his arm. Small scale like growths around his crimson and red eyes. One of the children sent into the void all those years ago. Tenno but older. Old Orokin ear buds on his lobe and ears edge. To communicate with his team or the lotus if he didn't have the volume turned down listening to old earth music. Looking around the chambers of the Transference chamber. Oddly the void seemed to try to sing to him hear as he was in the pod or in the cot that Ordis had retracted into the wall. Walking from the chamber he went up the left ramp and turned to his right staring at the armory . He walked to the armory and started to suite up in his Warframe. The eater of fear. King of Phobos. Inaros.  
Inaros was latching the Anubis style helm. Speeding across the sector as fast as he could on his way to a Grineer Prison/Interrogation ship. On the ship His Chesa kubrow Tigress was sitting in its pod whimpering a bit as only the sounds of a low growl could be heard coming from the Warframe. This time it was much more than a empty shell. The operator was inside of it ready to do what he was about to himself rather than by remote control.
When he arrived at the ship there was a crash as he was dropped from the cephalon. Another crash as the vent was kicked out of his way. A mostly black opticor with red battery pack on his back, A Sonicor and War. was all he brought to this ship. A few seconds to cast his scarab swarm and bring out his full armor. Tigress jumped from the vent and walked up to him and looked up at her owner. A split second later Inaros was running through the ship. When he found the first Grineer  He stomped on the back of his knee and brought the huge sword to cut the man in half. With a life strike mod on his weapon he was back up to full health in a split second as his blade "Sings" its song as the blood trails down.
After that Inaros was running as fast as he could. Spring boarding off consoles and landing on Grineer with his War and plunging blade in deep before ripping it out and continuing his sprint. The ones he missed triggered the alarms and set the ship on alert. It wasn't long before the one he was here for would be interrogated. Like him she had manually piloted the warframe of her choice and the attarax the interrogators used to whip their own traitors to death would be used. This thought made his let out a rage filled scream as half the ship turned to him to fire all at once. The pain of the flames and bullets hitting him only added to his energy reserve as he grabbed one Grineer by the arm and stabbed him in the gut. Pulling the trigger and sending the body flying at its allies to break the firing squad. Any other time he would slow down and kill them all. Feast on there flesh just to trap there souls in a sand copy and make them kill there own friends for the hell of it. But today he was in a rush and had no time to indulge himself on feeding on the fear he would cause.
He had plenty of ammo for both guns but was saving them for the upcoming part. When he got to a hallway just before the prison chambers he locked the doors down so someone could call for reinforcements on this side but they could only pile up behind the doors waiting for it to be hacked and unlocked.
Standing at the edge he saw the people holding his target captive. He looked at the huge sword before he put it on his back he kneeled down and pulled his opticor from his back. Taking aim and waiting. Two wardens lined up just right and in a second there was a hole in both of there chests where a beating heart once was. Looking to the left he took aim again. Full charge. No holding back he fired another blast into the back of the wardens skull. Looking to his right he saw something that made his heart skip a beat. A warden running for the control panel. Time seemed to slow down as the opticor charged its red beam as the Warden ran to the panel. But to late. The blast was fired but at the last second he dodged to the left. The projectile fired at light speed only grazed the shoulder. Still causing damage but the Warden was still alive and punched a button. The alarms raised and Inaros let another enraged scream out. This time yelling. "Noooooo!." With a point The chesa kubrow ran for the warden and pounced on him as Inaros shot out the turret pelting him with bullets as the warden hit the ground only for its face to be crushed in the Beast's mouth. Not what the kubrow was breed for it took longer then it would have if he would have brought Cerberus.
Reaching the panel Inaros started to type rapidly on the keys till the large blast door opened slightly. More than enough for him. With a sliding jump he spin in the air and grazed the armor on the metal causing sparks. Running to the first panel with a green light he typed as fast as he could. When the door opened there was nothing but the sound of Inaros's heart racing. Going to the second panel he typed fast again. This time when the door opened up there was a Ancient infested healer. With a desiccation thrown at the infested the cursed sands landed in its eyes. Kicking it into the cell before he spin the blade in the air and brought it down with enough force to cut the creature in half. In the skeletal and organ structure leaking and falling from the corpse you could tell it was once human. He heard a very weak banging on the door and ground to the final cell. Running to it he looked at the panel. The display for the purging timer on display. Ten seconds left. He ran to the finale cell and started typing. This one was much more heavily fortified. the seconds ticked down. Nine, Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four . Three . Two. One.
At the very last second the doors opened and there she was. A bloodied Mesa. He ran to her and took her into his arms and held her thinking she was dead. Only for her to punch his shoulder and lightly push his chest. "I told you not to come." Inaros just looked down at her. The atterax marks easy to see. "And I told you I would kill every Grineer and Corpus in my way to find you." Tigress came in a few seconds later dragging a still very much alive warden to the two before barking and pouncing on Mesa. Licking her face before stopping and sitting. Mesa looked at Inaros and smiled softly. "You brought her? My two favorite people here to save me." Inaros held a hand out and as from the void a Mesa helm formed before he gave it to her. Casting devour on the warden as Mesa geared up. Taking Inaros's Sonicor and checking the clip before she chuckled and started to drink the blood from the sands that were slowly grinding the warden to death. "Not a single shot missing. My hero" She joked as Inaros looked down at her and chuckled. "Try not to get cocky this time. We have a whole ship to fight to get you out of here." Mesa looked to Inaros and grinned a bit. "Does lotus know you came?" Inaros grinned in the helm as the doors unlocked and the pair bolted at the firing squad. Clearing the group in seconds as they ran to the extraction. "She doesn't. No one does. They are still arguing about how to get to you.". They both made it to extraction easy. Jumping, vaulting and rolling past everything in the way. But when they got to the extraction point there was no extraction pod. Not even a hint that ordis had started making it. Inaros looked around before turning back to the grineer pouring into the room. Mesa toke up point and flipped her peacemakers up. Firing rapidly at the group putting them down almost as fast as they were coming in. Inaros got on the coms to yell. “ORDIS Where the hell are you.” It was 10 long seconds of the two firing at the group. He had switched back to his Opticor and was hitting a grineer and putting one down with every shot. Ordis finally responded. “I'm sorry operator they had tighter security drones than expected. I had to dispatch them. Extraction will be ready in 5 minutes. “ There was a zapping sound coming from behind them. Inaros turned his head to see it and look at ordis cutting the hull to fit the recovery pod. Inaros looked to Mesa and figured she was about to run out of energy. Quickly he threw down a energy pod right at her feet. Mesa looked to Inaros with a soft smile and gave him a flirty wink under the helm before Inaros join the 2 man firing squad again. Mesa chuckled a bit as she looked to him. “Oh my. You sure know what a lady wants!” Inaros fired a full charged shot into a Elite Prosecutors head. “Make all the jokes you want when we get out of here!” The group had finally started make there way into the room before Inaros grabbed her waist and pulled her into the pod. A split second from a butcher's knife coming to the pair the pod swung and locked tight before ordis pulled away. The two were brought up to the navigator’s room where they both laid on the pad that connected to the swiveling drop/extraction pod. The two laid there in each other's arms for a few minutes panting before they burst into laughter and threw the helms off. Mesa even tho she had a bruised face with a black eye was still a beautiful looking woman and the two held each other in the embrace before they locked lips and kissed for a long time. When they finally broke the passionate kiss Inaros looked at Mesa and grinned. “You're never doing another mission without me. That was to close.” Mesa blushed a bit before looking to him. “Oh so im always going to have the King of Phobos watching my back? Haha! Im a gunslinging Queen now!” Inaros glared at her for a second before the two laughed again. “Yea yea your the Queen of Phobos now.” Off to the side of the Pair on the ground. The Shadow Stalkers sword was on the ground. A small light coming from the middle of the blade where Hunhow had once spoke to the Tenno Assassin. Growing slightly brighter in what could be called hate before the light faded. Something could have been watching the two. And now it knew where there was Mesa or Inaros. The other was in the area covering them.

Alright guys, here's my submission titled "Extraction":
I screamed.  I screamed as I ran through the mass of Corpus soldiers coming towards me.  Two shots of my Tonkor grenade launcher fired ahead of me, clearing the path through their ranks so I can make it to the other side.  My Nikana primed and crackling with electricty held backwards in my hand, I slash twice severing the heads of the two rangers next to me, dashing forward and slicing through the enemies in front of me I push further into their ranks as they close in behind me.  I turn around and look as they close in around me, my shields are malfunctioning and I'm on the last of my energy and I know  what's going to happen.  I slam my sword point down into the ground as I pull out my Primed Lex, locked and ready to go but nowhere near enough bullets to slay them all.  I pull the trigger as fast as I can and toss the gun to the side as a line of the Corpus soldiers fall to the ground crying out for 'the Great Alad' to save them.  I grab my Nikana from the ground as I jump over the MOA in front of me and liberate its metal brain from the rest of it's cold body.  They're closing in around me, I'm moving slower now, I'm giving it everything I have but it's not enough, there are just too many.  Two of the rangers come up behind me as I dice 3 of the wardens in front of me.  And that's when it happened, everything started to fade...
A Few hours earlier.
The Lotus sent us on this mission herself, told us it was vital to 'the mission,' that to fail was to damn all Tenno around the universe and thus the destruction of everything. Our mission was supposed to be simple, how could it all go so terribly wrong?  We were going to infiltrate the building with stealth, searching for the data stored on the computers, grab the data and capture a high priority target for interrogation and then extract.  But I never made it to the extraction point.
It started off like any other mission, we landed and Connor scouted ahead cloaked in invisibility taking out the scouts so our prescence wouldn't be known, No alarms.  We made it into the base without a problem, moving together in a group we slaughtered(quietly) all who crossed our path.  There were four of us, Connor Loki leading the way, myself and Mary Ember in the middle, and Reginald Frost riding drogue.  We made it to the first computer without a problem, the Corpus showing no resistance as we killed them silently.  Mary was up on the first computer, she touched the terminal with grace and hacked in and retrieved the data with ease, making us all appear as if we had the grace of an infested crawler.  The second terminal was close by, and I started to make my way to it when it a cipher appeared in the machine and then Connor appeared out of thin air, data in hand, as he chuckled and whispered "Should've left it all to me..."  Reggie turned to him and gave him a disgusted look "Ahhh brother Loki, How you love your tricks..." Mary laughed at the two of them as she hurled a bright pink fireball at the ranger who just walked through the door.  "What was that?!" I asked, having seen his partner fleeing down the hallway.  The Alarm starts ringing as we hear the masses of the corpus offensive start to stir, sounding like a wasps nest about to explode. "Shit... it's about to get messy in here." I say as I pull out my shiny golden Soma and pull the bolt back on it.  
Locked.  Loaded.  Ready to go.
We turn to each other and I see they all have their weapons out, now is no longer the time for silence and deceit.  We run through the corridors unleashing a special kind of hell on the corpus roaming the halls.  We run, slaughtering everything in our path, nothing escapes our fury.  Not a single bullet goes stray as we lay waste to the machine and men alike in front of us without discrimination.  We make our way down a corridor and find the last terminal.  "Quick!  Get the data out!" Connor screamed as he sliced the throat of the crewmen he snuck behind.  Reggie walks to the terminal and fumbles with it, making the alarms go off louder and annoucing our position to the entire base.  "Reggie hurry up!" I scream to him as I liberate another crewmens limbs from his torso.  Reggie smiles as he turns to me, taking his Fragor Prime off his back and says "It's hammer time," and slams it down on the machine.  I rush over and punch him in the face as I fire two rounds from my Tonkor over my shoulder, the rounds splitting and devouring the horde forming outside the door.  He starts to laugh and that's when I notice  he cipher Connor had handed him in his hand, the data intact and a laugh starts to escape my body.  "Men, do they ever take anything seriously?" Mary says as she gives us all a disapproving glance as she holds the ring of fire around us preventing the Corvus from getting through.  With a guilty look on my face I give the command to move out.
Mary unleashes her ring, knocking the enemie combatants down as we run past them.  Death and destruction trail in our wake.  Nothing is left living behind us as we make our way to the next target, Sergeant Nef Anyo, the man we were sent to capture.  No doubt in our minds that when we finally find him he'll be protected but we came prepared for that eventuality.  We follow the radio isotope tracking device that the Lotus gave to us to a large room that looks like a warehouse.  As we enter the doors immediately slam shut behind us and we here a maniacal laugh.  Mary looks at me with a nervous look,  the look I give her let's her know to be ready, it's almost time...  We walk forward as troops start to file in, guns pointed, from all sides of the room. Up above us The Sergeant looks down from the cat walk "You think you can capture ME!? Your friends almost had me on Mars but they didn't finish the job Tenno.  And now with the corpus technology and the help of Alad I am whole again and stronger then ever.  Surrender to me now and I will show mercy, don't and you shall die.  What say you?"  I look at my squad, my friends, my family and I stare The Sergeant in the eye "You're coming with us dead or alive.  Mary NOW!"  Reggie rushes to grab Connor and myself and slams the ground with his hammer, creating a protective globe of ice around us as Mary lifts into the air and bursts into flames.  She yells to The Sergeant "Surrender or BURN!"  The sergeant started to run and that's when Mary unleashed the powewr within her.  All the years of hate, of being treated like she was less then, of watching her family die was unleashed in that one moment the fire reached out and spread through the enormous room reaching the farther corners, stopping the Corpus in their tracks and burning their bodies, man and machine alike.  The heat, so intense, started to crack the globe we were in as the Corpus soldiers fell to the ground around us.  "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up" Reggie screamed.  Mary caught his eye, letting her passion burst through and accelerating the fire to a melting point.  She noticed the beams starting to fall around us and with a well aimed fireball made a beam fall on top of the fleeing(and flaming) Sergeant. The rage and energy left her and she collapsed to the ground with a literal version of hell swirling around us.  Connor ran to The Sergeant, seeing he was dying, and severed his head and put it into his backpack as myself and Reggie helped Mary as she struggled to get up.  "It was too much Ari, I don't think I can go on from here" she said to me.  "Reggie, you have to carry her!   Connor, you protect them.  I'll take the front and lead us out of this place!"  We formaed up and started to run.
I'm no longer thinking about how the fate of the universe is relying on this single botched mission, that my family and friends, what's left of them, are counting on me to come back and lead them forward in this war,  I think of nothing, but I see Red, bloody red.  I run in front, my Lex firing from my left hand as I hold my Nikana backwards in my right hand, the blade burning with my rage.  The blood is rushing to my head, the body count is rising as I crush their organs and put the pressure on all of their vitals.  I know I can't keep this up for too much longer but I don't have a choice anymore.  It's fight, or die.  I carve a path through the horde in front of us as we race down the hallways trying to escape but they just keep coming, and they just keep falling before my blade.  The surge from the battle feeds me on as I ravage the enemies in front of me, heads roll as the bodies hit the floor.  Finally we see the light streaming through at the end of a dark pathway and as we push forward out into bright sunlight I trip over a rolling machine.  I look up to see the others pass me and then a strange robot jumps across the path, setting it on fire, and seperates me from my team.  "GO ON!" I yelled.  "There are other worlds then this!"  I saw them run as fast as they could.  I knew it was my turn like so many before me.  It was finally my time to shine.  
I got up and turned around, blocking the exit from the base.  I took several steps forward and made my stand, "This is where I will defend."  I could hear them in front of me before I could see them.  They had regrouped and now they came with reinforcements to face me and me alone for none of them would pass while I still drew breath.  "I will save my friends.  I will save you Mary!"  A beam of pure white energy started to pulse around me as a rock of light rose from the ground in front of me with a glowing bright sword sticking out of it.  I reached down and pulled my exalted blade from it as a screamed ripped from my body.  I slashed the first crewman to get close to me, the shockwave of my swing severing his head and that of the next 10 behind him.  On and on I went, swinging my exalted blade as the Corpus ran towards me without fear.  Their bodies falling around me as the battle lust fills my vision I slaughter countless of their numbers.  But they keep on coming. I can feel myself starting to run out of energy.  The bodies are piling up around me and it's getting harder to keep my footing.
I get a message on coms from the Lotus
"Tenno, the others have made it to the ship. They have the head of the sergeant and Daedulus Nekros is summoning his spirit and interrogating him as we speak.
We've got the information we needed."
"Tenno, I'm sending others to extract you..."

"No Natah...  There's no time for that.  It's over, I've done what I've come here to do.  Don't waste any others on me.  Move forward and help protect the other Tenno no matter what!"

"Arigoth, Thank you."  The coms disconnected.

I screamed.  I screamed as I ran through the mass of Corpus soldiers coming towards me.
The End!
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it!
Arigoth

I spend all day writing this....if it's too long...Oh well. I'm posting it anyway too much time invested not to.It's a bit rushed and unedited but i'm too tired to care and since tomorrows the judging i don't really have time to rewrite it anyway. It is what it is.....Enjoy.



I had a feeling about this.....

It's another routine flight, or so he'd like to believe, but Zane can't shake the feeling something is horribly wrong.  He kept fidgeting anxiously as he looked at the faux viewport. It wasn't a real window, the shuttles weren't durable enough to safely have windows but instead had screens that played camera feeds back so it was close enough to the real thing. It's that sinking feeling one gets in the pit of their stomach when you know something terrible has happened or you've made a horrible mistake. He can't find any particular reason for it but something nagging at him tells him he shouldn't be here.   The shuttle is mostly empty, besides himself, there's only a 5 others not counting the pilot.
A woman giggling to herself as she stares intently at a datapad carelessly tapping away at buttons two seats in front of him, long red hair hangs down over half of her face obscuring most his vision of her facial features but her voice is almost childlike and judging from her reactions she appears to be playing some sort of game.
Across the isle from her another woman sits quietly reading old fashioned paper printouts. Zane can't imagine what possessed her to waste money on actual paper in this day and age but she looks quite content sipping some drink as she reads her brow occasionally furrowing whenever the noise of the redhead reaches too high a decibal. Sat next to her in another sit is a case of some sort which she occassionally glances at as if afraid it'll get up and walk away.
The remaining two are their escorts, sat at the back and front of the shuttle respectively,each sporting a black envirosuit and those unsettling box helmets. Both unlike standard crewmen they seem to have been equipped with what appeared to be a modified Flux rifle, and each seems to have been given a  customized personal drone. Currently idle and attached to their belts.
Belatedly it occurs to Zane this might not be about a job at all, he along with these two others could've displeased someone somehow with their developments or cost expenditures and consequently this trip could be for termination but it's far too late to do anything about that now. Well he could but panic would certainly get him shot. His own nondescript black case was propped up against the seat.
A monitor strategically placed along at the front of the compartment pops on to announce they're  now about 10 minutes from arrival at their destination. He misses the odd flicker of the 'windows' as his attention is drawn away or the briefly visible hand in the corner of the frame just before it.
Unexpectedly the red head gets up as if the announcement were her cue and strolls back to sit directly next to Zane. "Hi there names' Meagan, explosives expert, I already know who ms serious business over there is but you're new....What do you do?"
Zane's caught off guard but the sudden and very forward introduction now that he has a better look at her Meagan is definitely not wearing the Corpus company standard suit....at least not any publicly approved variant he's aware of. She's got some kind of utility belt with an untold number of gadgets on it. Her long hair still covers most of one side of her face, but he can see she has soft features making her look young, perhaps somewhere in her 20's ,and she lacks the common facial markings nearly all corpus adorn themselves with making her green eyes stand out all the more. Her suit is more form fitting than the norm, and has a faux flesh colored V neckline which is more than enough to draw attention to her modest bosom. Corpus don't get to see bare skin much given the constant requirement for full body suits when operating most equipment so even the brief moment of belief that it's bare skin is enough to hold Zanes attention longer than is appropriate.
She giggles "You like my suit?" She leans in a bit to give him a better view "It's a custom job."
"I uh..." Zane can't seem to find words but notices there's a Grenade patch on her sholda with the word penta along the edges. "I couldn't help but notice your penta patch....you worked on that?"
"Hm? Oh yeah more accurately the Secura Penta those perrin guys ended up buying up. But I'm not here to talk about me...tell me what do you do?"
Suddenly it's clear why she's taken a sudden interest she just wants to know about her competition is willing to flirt a bit to get information. "Well not much to tell really I'm a tech, who had a few bright ideas about improving the supra....next thing I know they're telling me to get on a shuttle and come to....wherever we're going."
"Ah. The Supra, that's a interesting choice....Horribly ineffecient weapon but surprisingly effective, lots of room for improvement to make it a truely fearsome weapon.....geez picking that is almost like cheating. Why didn't I think of it." She folds her arms in irritation. "Uh...probably because you're an explosives girl?" Zane offers.
A scoff from the other woman on the flight cuts off any reply "More like because she's an idiot who can't think of anything that doesn't explode as a weapon."
"Excuse me?" Meagan stands and approaches the still unnamed woman. "Look Riba, just because you've gotten some attention lately don't go thinking you're better than me! Explosives are still the ideal solution to our growing number of enemies. Especially with the infestation making a comeback."
"Yes, tell me again how effective those pentas were against the tenno? Oh I'm sorry that's right your impotent grenade launcher didn't even get cleared for regular usage so it's doing absolutely nothing to deal with the tenno problem. My weapons will." Riba speaks with a surety and confidence that almost has Zane believing she's right.
"What exactly are your weapons?" He asks seeing as he's the only one clearly ignorant of what the others do.
"I make potent precision weaponry. There's no need for a wasteful hail of bullets if the first shot kills your target and the target standing behind him. I've adapted a design based on a recovered Tenno weapon..."  Riba pauses glances at her case once more and clams apparently feeling she's said too much.
"Oh come on don't keep us in suspense now. It's not like we can steal your design copy and fabricate it on the way there to claim as our own." Meagan tries to press the subject but Riba pointedly looks away "I've said all I'm going to about my weapon design. Clearly we're all going to be competing with one another so it's foolish to reveal the capabilities of my work."
"Aww" meagan pouts "You're never any fun. Always rules and by the book and other company nonsense." She turns back to Zane "Say, you'll keep me entertained for the next 10 minutes or so right?"
"Huh? I uh...." Before he can reply the shuttle lurches to one side then recoveres. "What the Void was that?"

On the hull of the shuttle
"Ugh I can't believe you. How can you accidentally hack the engine instead of the security protocols?" Banshee was sure the Corpus would realize they had hitchhikers after that, fortunately there wouldn't be anything they could do about it till the shuttle landed. Banshee was armed with a Cernos bow, a 'borrowed' Detron, and a Dark Dagger.
"Ok, firstly, I've never hacked a Corpus shuttle before I don't know these system routines. Second I have no idea how that happened the power surged or something and nearly fried a few systems, third, who was it who slipped and let their hand dip in front of a external camera before I could finish hacking the feed to set it on a loop so we had to go through this extra hacking step to be sure they wouldn't know we were here?" Oberon retorted. He had opted for a black paintscheme for this mission to stand out less and was carring a Latron, Castanas, and a Galatine. Silence for a  moment and then "Look it's not my fault this frame was designed with flipper slippers, or whatever these are supposed to be for feet. Not exactly ideal for hanging on to a moving shuttlecraft going at cruising speed."
"just saying don't bust my chops and i won't bust yours." He shut the panel and looked around "I don't think they'll be able to do much till we land either way.....So how about we finish this smash and grab mid flight?"
"And crash the shuttle and probably kill our target in the process? We're here to recover the scientist alive and probably intact. I don't think a scientist is much good with a broken body." She replied shifting her weight off those god awful feet and using more of her grip to maintain her position on the shuttle, she really didn't want to slip again.
Now was that moment where the awkward silence fell, where there was nothing to do but wait for their time to strike but Oberon seemed intent on talking.
"Hey....Shee..."
"I told you to stop calling me that. Banshee isn't that hard to say is it?"
"....No. But it's not really your name either. We don't really have names. It's been bothering me how do we know what to call ourselves? Does Lotus have data on us? Codenames? Our real names?"
Banshee sighed " Is there a point to this?"
"Sometimes.....I dream, I'm me....but not.....a different me from....I dunno..before I guess?"
"Before? Before what?" Banshee asked now curious
"Before the Orokin.....I think....I think they took me. Took us all of us." Oberon replied.
"If you're remembering something you should talk to Lotus about it....she's the only one who'd have any idea what it is you're experiencing I have no such memories...dream or otherwise." Her tone was harsh perhaps she was a little jealous he remembered anything at all.
"That's what I'm afraid of.....Sometimes....I don't think she wants us to remember who we were...or what we did....Any of it. It all seems to have been very purposefully erased. How were our memories even erased?" As he talked Oberon grew increasingly agitated, this obvious was something he thought about often and Banshee realized she needed to nip this conversation in the bud before he got carried away.
"Look...the only thing that matters is Lotus sided with us, she's still looking out for us anything else, from however many years ago doesn't matter. What we do now does and right now we're on a mission, so get focused the shuttles going to be landing soon. Mag and Valkyr will be waiting for our signal...assuming Valkyr hasn't had an 'episode' already."
Back inside the ship
Everyone but the two guards looked worried though Zane was sure behind those helmets they were concerned. A chime rang out and an snythetic voice came over the speaker " Do not be alarmed, we have suffered a temporary system failure, the failure was corrected and all systems are operational. Arrival time will be delayed by 60 seconds."
"Oh is that all? just a temporary system failure Not even a cause or investigation no diagnostic to confirm?." Zane mocked the robotic voice.  "This is why proxies shouldn't be pilots. They can't do anything but trust the instruments."
Riba was busy checking on her prototype, which Zane caught a glimpse of, seeing an opportunity he strolled over "Your weapon ok?" She hurridly closed the case but he got a good look at and it had a surprisingly familiar design. "Calm down" He began holding up his hands " I'm not out to steal your work, I'm curious sure, but I really just wanna see a nice gun. Actually you might like what I made....being a precision weapons specialist and all."
Riba scoffed "I doubt that if your basis was really the notoriously innacurate supra."
"Ah but that's exactly the point I set out to fix with my Super Supra." Her unimpressed stare made Zane shift uncomfortably "Ok the name's a work in progress but I'm more than happy to let you get a look at it. But I gotta know did you really adapt a tenno weapon with Corpus tech?"
Riba grinned "Something like that....Perhaps you're familiar with the weapon they call the Latron?"
"The Latron?! How'd you get your hands on one of those?!" Meagan who had been lurking behind a nearby seat listening in sprang out of hiding rabid with questions.
"Ugh...Nevermind I'd rather not say anymore now." Riba finished and returned to her papers.
"Attention passengers the Shuttle will now be landing, repeat the shuttle will now be landing please be sure to be seated and strapped in during the landing proceedure."
Outside the ship
"Alright get ready. I'll silence the room and we'll spring on the target as soon as they exit the shuttle. If things go wrong we call in mag and Valkyr for cleanup. I'd really rather not bring her anywhere near our target though."
"Uh...yeah banshee...quick question.....Do you know which one Lotus wanted? Cuz my sensors definitely show multiple bodies in there. How will we know which ones we can take down?" Banshee didn't have an answer for that.
"If they're heavily armed they're probably not a scientist. Beyond that we'll just have to capture them all."
The tenno were laying prone on the top of the shuttle to avoid being seen by any random passerby when the shuttle doors finally opened and Banshee unleashed her silence, fortunately there weren't any other occupants besides proxies. So when the room went almost absolutely silent, there was no one to notice the difference as Oberon sprung up from his position dropped down on the first man exiting the shuttle which was one of the black clad escorts. His galatine went clean through the unprepared man's chest.
Riba who had been closest following the leading guard screamed, but was even more horrified when her own screaming came out as a muffled whimper rather than a scream. She whirled around in panic trying to warn the others even as Oberon withdrew his blade from the dead guard's body, Riba frantically grabbed at Zane who was about to come out the door after her and he saw what had happened. He tried to yell "It's the tenno!" But all that came was a muffled warbling while banshee's silence was in effect. Seeing something was clearly wrong the second guard pushed through his flux rifle at the ready, Oberon didn't bother reacting to him sheating his blade in indifference as Banshee fired an arrow from her Cernos and dropping the second guard like a sack of bricks.
The scientists fled back into the shuttle desperate to get away even though they had nowhere to go.  Meagan aware they were trapped began fiddling with her utility belt apparently looking for something, Riba however fled to the rear of the compartment using the seats for cover as she opened her case apparently intending to use her prototype to fight.
Zane froze for a moment, disbelief this was really happening, that sinking feeling in his gut earlier had been right, had there been some sign? Something he'd noticed subconciously he didn't conciously recognize?
Oberon was pointing at Zane, and the action snapped him back to reality in a frenzy he darted back past Maegan who was pulling something off her belt by now and though her mouth was moving he couldn't hear what she was saying, as he sunk down to open his case containing his modified supra.
By now Oberon was crossing the threshold and out of the corner of his eye Zane saw Maegan throw something at the tenno, who reflexively darted back out of the compartment as the object bounced then lifted off the ground and Zane realized what it was: A sapper mine. Well sapper grenade now.
Sound returned to the room as the modified energy weapon began to pulse forcing the tenno to wait outside till it expired. "I can stall them a little while but I can't use any of my main explosives....not as long as we're trapped in this shuttle anyway, I'd just kill us faster."
"Don't worry about it" Zane called out as he hefted his Super Supra up using the top of the seats as a makeshift bipod as he directed the weapon at the door, the weapon was a heavily modified supra, it's barrels replaced with focusing lenses and mounting a more powerful power supply, it fired concentrated beams in an oscilating pattern to prevent excess heat build up preserving the rapid fire functionality of the original while solving the accuracy problem. "I got this."
"Yeah sure you do and when you miss with that thing I'll kill the one that kills you." Riba chimed in, her gun was clearly a rifle, judging by it's long barrel. But it was otherwise pretty nondescript, a simple optical scope was on the top of it,  but it's most noticable feature was the lack of any obvious magazine.


"Well....this was unexpected they all seem to be pretty well armed. What now?" Oberon  asked as he and Banshee awaited the sapper mine's expiration, the only reason they hadn't gone in guns blazing was they were supposed to take their target alive, but now they had 3 of them. "I hate to say it but we might have to call in Valkyr."
".......I don't think they quite deserve that fate yet. Besides valkyr would certainly brutally maim if not kill them all. If at all possible I'd like to keep her out of this mission." Oberon didn't much like Valkyr's tactics. He understood her suffering at the hands of Alad had changed her but the things she did to people were just cruel.
"Clean up any stray proxies, I'll secure the perimeter and ensure we're not interrupted,we'll let mag handle this."


"What're they waiting for?" Zane wondered aloud
"I don't know....how many did you see?" Riba asked
"At least 2 but I wouldn't be surprised if there's more."
They were all getting anxious no one wanted to go to the door and look to see if the tenno were still out there but no one wanted to stay in the ship just waiting for them to come in either.
Then it happened silence fell again and their ability to speak to one another was gone. They knew then that the tenno were coming.
Mag came in like a shot bounding off the far wall and leaping for Zane who was a few moments too slow on the trigger his Supra's shots went too low to hit the leaping mag as she tackled him and rolled through the impact Riba brought her rifle to bear only to have it snatched out of her hands by an unseen force. Bewildered she gaped open mouthed at her now empty hands as mag made a pulling motion in the air and both her and Maegan were brought to the floor "Situation under control. Targets secured." Mag reported.
Oberon and Banshee entered then, "Good stuff Maggie, only took you seconds. I mean we could've done it but there'd have been blood and stuff."
Mag turned sharply toward Oberon and though her helmet was an indecipherable swiling mass where the face should be it was clear she was angry as she jabbed a finger in his direction. "What is it with you and nick names? Mag is shorter than Maggie, it's not my name and it's not cute. Cut it out."
Oberon straighted up into a mock salute "Yes ma'am whatever you say ma'am."
"Ugh i hate working with you. Why do you have to be so childish?" She stood arms flailing about a mere nudge away from throwing a childish tantrum herself.
To the corpus this conversation was unhearable, the tenno were communicating on their own coms so to them it looked like the Tenno were a bunch of crazy people wildly gesticulating at one another for no apparent reason. Zane considered going for one of the guns but Riba shook her head warning him off it. If they weren't dead yet it was because the tenno didn't want them to be. No reason to go changing their minds.
Rather than speak like normal people Banshee decided to further terorize the Corpus with a display of her ability, she vibrated the room generating a faux voice "Corpus scientists.The Lotus has requested your presence, declining is not an option. You will be taken to her resist and you will be taken to her in a broken body. Comply and you will not be harmed. In fact you will have our protection from all dangers until your business with the Lotus is complete."
"Welp I'm sold" Maegan said quickly. "Creepy tenno just made the room talk rather than using her voice, acrobat tenno can either move things with her mind or manipulate metal...not sure which....and I still have no idea what the third one does but unless one of you secretly has super powers I'd say we better see a lotus about a business proposition and hopefully come away with some profit instead of ya know ending up dead."
Zane looked at Riba who nodded. "We really don't have a choice. This wasn't even a fight and we had the advantage of knowing where they would come from. I'd hate to find out what would happen now that they're this close."
Zane sighed "I knew today was going to be a horrible day. Alright....take us to your Lotus."

The End?

This my submission for the Short Story Contest called 'Sabotage'. I hope you enjoy.

"The enemy have breached the Void portal in this Orokin structure, you are here to cut off their access and stop them from coming back,” the Lotus had instructed.
“You heard her! Let’s move!”, shouted Rhino as we jumped from the vents.  There were Corrupted soldiers all over the place. Grineer, Corpus, hell, even some Infested.  We were all highly trained in the ways of Tenno combat.  On my left, Rhino charged down a few of the soldiers, while on my right was Mesa, ripping the enemy to shreds with her Regulators. Such a badass, that girl, I thought.
“Volt! Come on! The portal is this way!”, shouted Mesa to me.  I had only realized that I was daydreaming for the past minute.
“I’m coming!”, I yelled back.
We reached the portal room to find the Infested had killed all the Grineer in the area. So something was waiting on the other side.
“Alright, the polarity of the portal has been reversed. Let’s go!”, declared Rhino as he stepped through the portal.  When we got through, the Lotus told us to find the key in order to sabotage the Torsion Beam Device.  We searched the place to find a bigger version of a charger, codenamed Phorid.
The beast was monstrous, but nonetheless a piece of cake to kill. I picked up the key and we ran back to the Torsion Beam Device.  I put it in and waited for Rhino and Mesa to catch up. Rhino went in front of we and instructed us to get through the portal immediately.  Then Mesa tripped.
I went over to her to help her out. Her foot was stuck on some vines on the ground.
“Volt, I’m stuck! You gotta go! Now!”, yelled Mesa.
“No! I’m not leaving you!”, I shouted back.
“It’s okay. You have to let go. Better that I die than the both of us,” Mesa told me nervously. At that moment, an arm grabbed me by the waste. It was Rhino.
“We have to go! The portal will collapse any second!”, angrily exclaimed Rhino as he pulled me onto his shoulder.  I looked back at Mesa, who was still stuck, to see a group of Infested start to crowd around her. She looked at me and said something that almost paralyzed me.
“I love you,” stated Mesa as Rhino pulled me through the portal. She was gone.
“You bastard! How could you do that?!”, I angrily cried at Rhino.
“I didn’t want to. She was one of the best we had. But she was willing to make a sacrifice for us.  A sacrifice for the Tenno,” Rhino sadly replied.
A transmission started to come in, so I answered.
“Lotus, Mesa is gone, but the objective is complete, we’re headi-,” I was interrupted by a familiar voice.
“We thank you for your donation to the new empire. This will help make the system a better place. I guarantee it.”
It was Alad V.

Some slight contribution, perhaps to this rather charming affair, late though it may be. I must say, that page limit proved to be rather challenging.

Zarik strode purposefully down the well-lit corridors of Venus XII, making his way toward the central chamber. Behind him marched two dozen heavily armed and grim-faced guards, all men whom Zarik had personally selected from the guard regiments of the Corpus facility. Engineers and patrols hurriedly moved out of their way as they went through the facility. The engineers stood gawking, and the patrols saluted crisply. Zarik ignored all of them. There was, after all, much better things that he had to do.

He arrived at a service elevator only ten minutes later, placing his palm upon a slate at its side. The device beeped and booped and made an annoying tinkling sound, and, far above him, there was a muffled clatter as the elevator started down. Zarik paced impatiently before the silver door of the elevator, flicking an occasional frustrated gaze toward one of the unoffending guards standing behind him. After what seemed like hours, the lights on the silver door flashed green. It was a little cramped inside the elevator, but Zarik and his guards managed. The ride was a little bumpy and noisy, but Zarik and his guards were used to such discomforts anyway.

“You’d think that one of our most well-funded facilities could afford better elevators,” Zarik observed mildly. Nervous laughter rippled through the ranks of the guards behind him. “Come, now, gentlemen,” Zarik said expansively. “This would not do at all. You are now the personal guard of Director Roseff, fearless warriors of legendary skill whose combat prowess is unparalleled. Lighten up! This is the biggest day of your lives, and nerves simply would not do.” The guards shifted uncomfortably, wondering if what Zarik said was a jest or rebuke. Zarik sighed. “Straighten yourselves!” he barked. “Act like you actually know what you are doing!”

The guards understood that, and, as one, they straightened, pulling their rifles crisply toward them.

“Much better,” Zarik approved.

The elevator clattered upward for a few more seconds, then it came to a sudden stop. The chamber beyond was just as well-lit as any in the facility. There were stained windows high above, allowing rainbow light to filter into the room. Banners softened its stark walls, and the floor had been cleared of everything save for a single crimson carpet that stretched from the elevator to an imposing chair – almost a throne – at the far end of the room. Zarik stepped out of the elevator and, with a few short gestures, dispatched the guards to opposite walls of the room. He went across the floor, circled around the throne, and slipped through a small door into an antechamber behind it.

Director Roseff sat primly before a mirror, practicing a look of stern regality. She was a slight woman, and her gown, a thing of massive frills and stiff brocade, gave her an appealingly petite look. A silver circlet was placed atop her head, and she looked stunningly regal. “What is it?” she asked absently as Zarik strode in.

“Your honor guard is here, Roseff,” Zarik replied.

“Oh, good. I was just getting worried. The Grineer delegation would arrive in a couple of hours.” She turned to look at him. “Is everything ready, then?”

“We will just need to scan the chamber one more time, and post some more robots in patrol routes.”

A look of exasperation flashed across her face. “You’ve done that three times already.”

“A little precaution would not hurt,” he said reasonably.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her mirror. “Let me know when you have finished fussing about.”

“As my lady commands,” he said a little mockingly, turning and walking out of the antechamber.

***

Roseff was still in front of her mirror when he returned an hour later, and she was still practicing. “You’ve done that a hundred times already,” Zarik told her flatly.

“Stop that,” she said.

“Stop what?”

“Don’t use my words against me. This is an important event, Zarik.” A sly smile touched her lips. “A little precaution would not hurt.”

“And your life is more important, Roseff,” Zarik replied floridly.

Roseff smoothed the front of her gown and stood. “Let’s go, then. I want to settle in before the delegation gets here.”

Plump cushions had been placed on the throne, and they gave when Roseff sat upon them, their seams looking almost as though they would burst. She wiggled around until she was comfortable, then sat there primly, her face drawn in an artful display of regal boredom. Then she seemed almost to grow still, unmoving as she waited.

Zarik did not grow still. He had a datapad in his hand, and he studied it intently, looking over feeds of surveillance in the chamber and its immediate vicinity.

Then his radio crackled. “The delegation is here, sir,” a voice spoke.

Zarik gestured crisply. “Look sharp!” he roared, and the honor guard moved to stand imposingly along the walls.

After some time, the elevator door rattled open, and a score of Grineer marched out. The carpet muffled some of their heavy footfalls, but the rhythmic beat of their lockstep march was clearly audible. At their front was one in black armor. His elaborate headwear concealed much of his mottled head, but the splotchy complexion customary of all Grineer was much in evidence in his exposed face.

He crashed to a halt some distance before the throne. “The Queens send their greetings,” he announced in a pompous voice, “and the Senate also. I am Vorskar, royal emissary and faithful servant of General Torvin, who graces you with this opportunity for a truce.”

“Cut it out,” Roseff snapped. “I have much better things to do. Say what you came here to say and leave.”

Vorskar’s expression became cold. “You dare speak to me that way?”

“I dare,” Roseff replied coolly. “You need the aid of the Corpus. I control a sizeable portion of the armies and trade of the Corpus. I can speak to you however I want.”

Vorskar’s face mottled with rage, and he struggled to get his expressions back under control. Zarik resisted the urge to smirk. The Grineer were poor diplomats. “Very well,” Vorskar said after a moment. “I will be brief, then. The Tenno are starting to bring harm to both of us. Their constant interference is problematic. General Torvin proposes an alliance of mutual benefit between those Corpus under your control and those Grineer under his command. Together we shall put an end to this pest.” The last he said with an exultant finality.

“No.”

Vorskar’s expression became one of disbelief. “No?" he asked incredulously. "No?”

“You heard me. We do not fight unprofitable battles. What do we gain from this?”

“Surely the disruption the Tenno cause you are problematic!”

“An inconvenience, yes. A problem? Not quite. Any business venture must needs have its risks. We can view this matter philosophically.” She gave him an amused look. “You are a military man. You must understand this.” Then she slapped her forehead exaggeratingly. “Oh, of course. But you cannot, could you? Such setbacks are less forgiving on a military operation than they are on a business one. Well, unlucky you.”

“If it’s profit you want,” Vorskar spat, “we are prepared to offer devices. Orokin salvage.”

Roseff fixed him with a flat stare. “We have that in abundance,” she said dismissively.

"How about Orokin relics?"

"Do you really have Orokin relics?" Roseff asked him archly. She buffed her nails on the front of her dress. "You need our aid, but you do not need our aid that badly. Please don't waste my time offering things you don't have."

“What do you want?” he asked bluntly.

“Nothing that you can offer, apparently. I would settle for trade, but I am making a handsome profit off arming insurgents fighting against the tyranny of your empire.” She smiled smugly at him.

“Blueprints for our Formorian ships, then,” he said, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.

“That’s an interesting offer,” she said archly. “You have my interest, messenger. The blueprints come before we provide any help, and my engineers will verify it with an inspection of one of your Formorians.”

“Unthinkable,” Vorskar said flatly.

“Then we have nothing to talk about. You are desperate. I am not. In case it needs to be said, this puts me in a position of strength.”

Vorskar stared at her with a look bordering on open hatred, but he mutely nodded.

“Very good,” Roseff said. “I will send my-”

From somewhere outside the facility, there was a deep toned rumble. Zarik glanced quickly at his datapad, and he stared at the footage in horror. The shuttles that the Grineer had arrived on were on fire. And there, attacking the Grineer soldiers hunkering down behind the wreckage of their shuttles, were Corpus bursas.

“What is it?” Roseff asked in concern. Mutely, Zarik showed her the footage, and the color drained out of Roseff’s face.

Vorskar’s update of the situation took a little longer, and he looked up in anger. “Treachery!” he cried. “Treachery!” His soldiers moved quickly to form up around him, their weapons levelled at Roseff. Zarik moved without thinking. He hit a button in the side of her throne, and a blue shield shimmered in front of her. The Grineer fire struck the barrier. Then the lights went out.

Cursing, Zarik pulled on his helmet, activating the night vision in its visor. “Security,” he shouted into his radio. “What are those bursas doing?”

“No idea, sir,” came the reply. “They went dark and started attacking the Grineer.”

“Solve the problem!” Zarik roared at them.

The Corpus guard had moved, and they were busy trading fire with the Grineer across the sparsely furnished room. The Grineer hid behind their makeshift inflatable cover, and the Corpus behind shimmering walls of energy. The Grineer appeared to be contained, and Zarik turned his attention back to Roseff.

“This is disastrous!” she wailed despairingly. “Torvin isn’t going to let this one go.”

“There’s no help for it now,” Zarvik said quickly. “We need to get you out of here.” He glanced at the datapad. “The backup generators should be online in half a minute.”

Then there was a flash of silver, dropping in among the Grineer troops. Zarik heard Voskar cry out once, and there was the whine of a plasma gun, then the emissary fell silent. The plasma gun whined again, and the Grineer soldiers grew panicky. There was another flash, a movement so quick that Zarik did not see much of anything. A gun thundered. A Grineer gun. One of Roseff’s honor guard cried out and fell heavily. The rest turned their attention away from the Grineer. Then their attacker was among them, guns roaring. A bolt of plasma flashed, caught the figure on the side. It stumbled, flipped, and riddled the offending guard with bullets.

Then there was silence.

The lights came on, and Zarik saw only corpses. The Grineer lay in a pile at one end of the chamber, their bodies smoking, cut down by weapons of Corpus design. Roseff’s honor guard lay closer to the throne, ripped apart by the solid slug weapons that the Grineer customarily used.

Then Zarik was yanked off his feet. He drew his sidearm, panic rising despite his training, saw something flash above him, and fired the weapon, hearing a satisfactory hiss as the plasma bolts struck home.

“Run!” he shouted at Roseff, and saw her move quickly to comply.

Then something struck his arm, his gun fell from suddenly numb fingers, and he gazed up. And he stared into the face of his attacker. Its mask was polished, intricately wrought, and he noted absently that there was neither visor nor visible external cameras. And he knew instantly that he was dead, and hoped that Roseff could escape, unlikely though it was. And the demigod of war gazed at the quickly disappearing director, but it made no move to pursue. A moment of confusion crossed his mind, and then in a flash of insight, he understood. There could be no grudge between Roseff and Torvin if one of them was dead. That thought comforted Zarik, and he struggled weakly to smile.

He pulled a plasma dagger from his hip, swinging at the figure before him, aimed at its belly. It bit deep. He felt a slight tremor run down the hilt. Pain. He had hurt it. But it made not a single sound.

The creature stumbled back, raising a Grineer rifle, levelled it at his chest. He stared defiantly back. It was the best that he could do. He tried to smirk. Roseff was safe, at least. These Tenno would not hunt her down. It was a small victory, but it was something. Then an errant thought crossed his mind. He would not be there to guard her from the forces of General Torvin. It was such a shame, really. His thoughts clouded for a small instant, and he did not see the flash as the Tenno fired.

Hopefully this doesn't come too late. I saw in the guild MotD that the deadline was on the 10th, but a post earlier up seemed to suggest that it was the 6th. Oh well, too late to turn back now.

Here's my own take on a faction that probably doesn't get too many stories from its viewpoint. I swear it fits in 4 pages!


How many months, how many years have passed since I’d last been awake? I’ve drifted for so long, lost and forgotten as I slept in the Void. But at long last, someone has found me. I can feel his feet padding softly over the ship’s outer hull. No, not his feet, their feet. There are four of them. Why have they come?

Slowly, achingly, my body begins to respond to my will once more. Thought replaces instinct, and as the intruders enter my home only one feeling fills me. Curiosity. Keeping to the shadows I move in closer. They haven’t noticed me yet and I’d rather not startle them. After all, they are my guests and I should treat them accordingly. For now, I will watch and listen. And once I know what they want, I'll know how to deal with them.

These four though are different from the others I’ve helped in the past. They move with utter confidence and betray nothing of their intentions. And something about them tickles my mind as an old memory wells up from within. Lithe and supple, their stance is one I’ve not seen since…

Steel flashes and flesh parts. I try to speak but no voice comes forth. Weakness overcomes me, and as I fall to the ground I see blood pooling beneath my prone form. “What did I do wrong?” I scream silently.

“That’s it. That’s the last one. The source,” says my killer as he wipes his blade against my back.

“Such a pity,” mutters another voice. “So much promise, and yet in the end, just another failed experiment. Many of us will now fall to the enemy.”

Rough hands pick me up and drag me towards a sealed doorway. They dump me unceremoniously before it, and with the push of a button the hatch opens. They’ve taken me to the airlock I realize even as I am ripped out of the ship and thrown into the cold abyss. As I tumble away, the blade wielder's shoulder’s slump momentarily. Is he ashamed of what he has done to me? But as my vision begins to fade I see him one last time, standing strong once more like the hunter he is.

...Since the Old Masters forsook me. Are these their servants? Their descendants? Whatever monsters the Old Masters had once been, whatever they had done to me in the past, they have since paid for in full and more. From the sidelines I watched as the enemy swept them aside and destroyed them. I alone could perhaps have saved them, but they never gave me the chance. Yet strangely, I find myself regretting their deaths. So if I can aid the heirs of their legacy, I think I will do so.

Finally, one of them speaks. "If that weapon exists, we can't let it fall into Corpus or Grineer hands. Let's get it and get out. And be careful; we've got unknown bio-signs all around."

The others nod silently, as do I. So they've come for the same reason as everyone else. They're following the rumors. Wanting power for themselves. That's disappointing. It's also a relief, as I know exactly how to help them find what they seek. Stepping out into the flickering light, I reveal myself to them. Instantly, their weapons jump to their hands and they drop into a battle stance. I'm not here to fight though, and I simply extend one hand in greeting.

The closest of them to me suddenly moves, faster than I can follow. And with a dull thud as it falls to the ground, my hand is riven from me. They must not have understood that I mean them no harm. No matter. They'll see soon enough that I just want to help, and hands I've got plenty of. I bring out another from the concealing darkness, shuffling forward slowly to indicate my peaceful intentions. But it too is struck down.

"Go! Go!" yells the one I believe is their leader. "I'll hold them off. Just find what we're looking for."

The other three break off and rush into a narrow passageway to their right. That way lies danger, though they cannot know it. I will not allow them to hurt themselves, even if I must catch and stop them forcefully. But in the meantime, I must try to get through to the leader. Even as I lope through the ancient ship's twisted passageways to save her three wayward friends, more of my forms confronts her.

I haven't spoken in a long long time, but for their sake, I will try again. Even if the last time caused  nothing but pain...

Three long days have passed since the incident. The Masters have kept me locked up in a box. They've barely given me enough room to sit, and just enough food and water to keep me quiet. For three days I have faithfully waited in the dark, wondering why I am being punished. Why have they done this? Have I failed them in some way? Only a few of the questions which torment me. Suddenly, I hear something; a sign from the outside world. Two of them are close by speaking to each other. Loudly. And as I hear what they say, everything changes.

"Your creation is an abomination that you can't even control. The Arbiters were right to shut you down."

"That weapon is our only chance! We have to use it, or the enemy will wipe us out."

Clearly, they are arguing about something. And both voices reek of desperation and outrage. Whatever that creation is, it sounds like bad news. I wonder what has happened to make the Masters so upset.

"You said it was a weapon. What kind of weapon asks you 'What am I?' in testing? Not to mention what happened to the first group of peacekeepers who tried to capture it after you foolishly let it escape. Or did you not hear? By the time it was done with them, it took nearly an entire squad to contain the things they'd become. No. It ends here. We have to destroy it."

It's... me they're talking about. Am I nothing more than a tool? A weapon to be used and discarded? That can't be. And if that's what the Masters think, they're no better than the enemy. Channeling all of my strength, I stand up, shattering my cage's hinges and forcing open its lid. I take one step towards them, but as they cower before me I feel my heart breaking. They're so weak and helpless that I can't bring myself to hurt them. Instead, I will make them strong so that they may stand against this enemy of theirs. Then they'll see that I only wish to help.

Of course, back then I had been mistaken about the Old Masters and they had killed me for it. What if I am wrong now as well? It's a chance I'll just have to take. I fill my lungs with air. It feels unnatural, but it's necessary if I wish to talk.

"Please. I just want to help you. I know where to find the weapon you seek," I say, my voice coarse and rasping from disuse.

My words seem to confuse her but she does not drop her guard. Cautiously, she asks, "Alright, where is it?"

"You are the weapon. Right now you are dull, but I can reforge you."

"Uh huh," she replies, although her eyes clearly betray her disbelief. "I'm not falling for your tricks. There's no way I'm letting you touch me."

Why must they always choose to do things the hard way? With a sad shake of my head, I move in towards her as more of my hands reach out.

"Stay back, monster!" she yells as her body erupts into flame.

I'm burning, I'm dying all around her. Yet even as the closest of my bodies turn to ash as her power flows outwards, countless more press in towards her. I struggle to hold on to my thoughts, to keep my instincts at bay. I am not a monster. I AM NOT A MONSTER! But only one thing fills my mind. Death may mean little to me. The same cannot be said about pain, and being burnt alive is positively excruciating. I have to make it stop.

The rational part of me knows that she's channeling the Void to spawn her fires. A fascinating talent, actually. And a dangerous one at that. Fortunately, I know how to stop her before she loses control. One of my stronger selves drops from the ceiling behind her even as I rush in from her sides. My diversion is successful, and as she incinerates me a dozen more times, I grab her around the neck and siphon away the Void energies coursing through her form. In an instant, the fires die down and I know I've won.

Her head lolls limply in my grip, and I wonder if I was too rough. I can be clumsy at times, and it's easy for me to accidentally break others when I mean only to restrain them. Well, it's nothing I can't fix anyways. Gently cradling her prone body, I lay her down before me and get ready to begin my work. Somewhere deep within the ship, I can hear her companions retreating. "Those things are everywhere! We have to extract," they yell. But I have no time for them. Right now, the entirety of my mind is focused on the task at hand.

Under my touch, flesh and metal twist and flow. The process is ugly, and I know that it is painful. Even unconscious, she tries to resist. Firmly, I use more hands to restrain her. "This is for your own good," I whisper softly. "You came here seeking to protect your people, and I will grant you what you need to do so."

Slowly but surely, her new form begins to take shape. I can already feel the strength coursing through her. She hadn't been weak to begin with. Not by a long shot, and I am at my best when I already have something to work with. Yes, this will perhaps be my greatest work yet. And I am glad to be able to assist the Old Masters once again...

Warmth. Light. Life. Things I had almost forgotten. They all come flooding back to me in an instant. Along with crippling agony along my midsection. I've by chance drifted into one of the Masters' great towers, but it appears that my time is also coming to an end. Slowly I drag myself in, cradling my wound as it begins to bleed once more.

Shakily, I call out to for the Masters but only silence answers me. As my eyes adjust to the darkness, the reason quickly becomes clear. Bodies are strewn all around. A few belong to the enemy but most of them are from the Masters. And the emotions I see in their faces are mirrored within me. Pain, yes. Both physical and mental. Why did they kill me? I hate them. But also sorrow. Deep down, I love them. I wish they hadn't died. They may not have been good parents but I am still sad to be alone now.

Kneeling at the side of the nearest corpse I try to bring it back with the last of my strength. And at last, it begins to move.

"Are you happy now?" I ask, exhausted. But once again I receive no answer. It seems that I can only save those who are still alive. I have managed only to create an empty shell. A puppet. As my own body fails it will serve me well, but in truth it is no success. The Masters are still dead.

I wander the empty tower, kneeling before each body in turn. Each time, it is the same. I bring it back, but my question goes unanswered. The number of hands I have at my disposal grows, but that is not what I seek. They are all me, and I wish for another.

It is done. Standing back, I look down and admire my handiwork. She is beautiful. And more than that, she is powerful. Perhaps almost as strong as I am.

"Are you happy now?" I ask as she stands up once more.

And as I knew she would, she smiles and nods. Just like the countless others I've helped since learning from my first failure with the Old Masters who refused my gifts.

"What will you do now?" I ask. She will not fade away and become a part of me. That much I know already. And I am curious to see how she will use what I have given her.

She looks down at her hands and flexes them once. A spark flickers to life between her fingers, and she answers, "By now, my companions will have escaped. They don't know what they're missing. I will seek them out and share what you have shared with me. I will make them strong."

I felt this was pretty appropriate, so the stories will be judged as such - out of 20 points. If there's a tie, then whichever story the judges felt better will, of course, win the placement. I'll have my notes up here in a bit.




Warlord LuvEvol
Shadow Remnants / Alliance Dominion

Congrats to
ReginaDea, who came in 1st place with the entry
"For Them It Was Tuesday",
Kalisalos with his entry,
''Gifts Ungiven'', and
Arigoth, with the entry
"Extraction".




I'm also extremely displeased to announce that Dekallis' entry, although memorable and appreciated, was disqualified due exceeding contest parameters. This is *with* altering the rules at the last minute to accepting 9.7 font, which is the font that appears to display on this website, as opposed to 12 point, which would've gotten pretty much everyone disqualified. I apologize for setting such high standards, but by the time I had realized my mistake, too many entries were in.

I am, however, extremely pleased to see this many submissions. I was searching for talented writers in the clan, and I've found them; so once again, congratulations to the winners, and good job for the participants.

ReginaDea has won a free Warframe of his choosing, Kalisalos has won a skin/ skin bundle '', and Arigoth has won a color palette ''. Everyone else will be receiving a potato, even Dekallis.


_________________________________Notes_______________________________________________________

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