Prologue : Raid Mission

-"Hello everyTenno! And everypony! This is co-author Srey. "

-"Along with author Necromarc presenting to you this wild idea of mine."

-"After many years of lurking and just reading fanfics, we've decided to contribute our own! "

-"Took us lots of time, painful re-writing and editing and a whole lot of duct tape, but heck in the end good things can come out of it."

-"I still don't know why you needed so much duct tape... Anyways, knowledge of Warframe and MLP isn't mandatory for this fic, though it is recommended."

-"Describing the suits of armor they wear isn't easy."

-"That's because you're lazy… Moving on, I'd like to thank Green Moriyama and Pike713 for their efforts with reviewing and improving this chapter!"

-"Comments and feedback would be truly appreciated, along with any errors you feel need to be fixed."

-"Before I let you into the story, a small warning, the prologue will get a little dark, nothing too much, but that's because of the Warframe side of things. Things should turn around when the MC arrives in Equestria"

-"Yeah well ponies will arrive soon, just not today."

-"Indeed. Though the ponies aren't going anywhere, it's the Main Character who will arrive in Equestria (I know, not the most original idea, though I'd like to think this MC is different enough to make this interesting). Just give him a chapter or two to get ready. He's still searching for the best flight and a good hotel!"

-*Insert maniacal laughter* "That'd be the last of his worries."

-"And lastly, DISCLAIMERS!"

Both Warframe and MLP FIM are owned by DE and Hasbro respectively.

*First Person POV*

I continued to run through the corridors, empty save for the occasional control pad, ice patches forming from the extreme cold and men in space combinations and rectangular helmets attempting to halt my progress. The latter was largely predominant, to my pleasure. Their methods were confined to attacking me with laser weapons or electrified batons, all mixed with them shouting insults. There was probably over a hundred of them, as well as countless hovering drones and bipedal robots called MOAs, all with one goal: to turn me into a lifeless corpse for them to study.

They didn't stand a chance.

"Kill the damn Tenno!" One of the men ahead of me shouted, aiming his rifle in my direction.

Barely slowing down, I grabbed his face between my Warframe's clawed hands, and within a second, his helmet had crumpled as his now crushed brain oozed out. Throwing the corpse at his squad, I drew my favorite weapon: the massive jet powered hammer, Jat Kittag. With it I dashed at the group that was distracted by the flying body. My own strength enhanced by the jet allowed me to easily smash through their ranks. Corpus bodies impacted the walls and the sound of bones cracking and organs being crushed resonated as blood trickled out from their suits. To think that after all this time they still haven't been able to ring the alarms. Not that I ever let them, from the beginning I had been sprinting throughout the ship, dispatching them before they even had time to get close to any control panel to warn the rest of the ship.

Reaching the end of the corridor, I entered what seemed to be a locker room, complete with another squad waiting in ambush. Seemed like that Corpus that was trying to use his radio managed to at least open a connection before I broke it up, his head with it. Gunfire erupted and my already damaged shields finally gave in, but my armor easily weathered their shots. I spotted the control panel on the opposite wall, a Corpus crewman attempting to interact with it. I rushed the first man and propelled him into the crewman next to the panel, killing them both, then used my hammer to block incoming fire. That bought me a few seconds to analyse their movement.

This room had three accesses; one from which I came and the other two to my left and right, each facing two groups of lockers. The enemy forces were regrouping towards the right locker group, using it as cover. By themselves they would have had better chances if they had stayed spread out and attempted to take me down with overlapping fire. They must have wanted me to take cover behind the left group of lockers, which would conveniently leave my back turned to the left door. Not a bad plan, but poor execution.

A powerful jump allowed me to reach the ceiling, from which I dived towards the center of the group. I channeled the Void into my Jat Kittag as I brought it down onto the ground, causing a massive shockwave that sent their bodies flying into the walls and ceiling. I quickly stepped behind a locker and took a stance as I winded my hammer, just as the left door predictably opened and a group of MOAs and drones burst through. I gave a yell as I swung the Jat Kittag into the locker, sending it speeding like a giant bullet into the enemy robots, effectively neutralizing them into nothing more than metal scraps and electric wires. I jumped through an air vent and dropped to the lower levels.

Unfortunately, the room I landed in was empty, and so was the next corridor ahead. No sign of life or robotics. It felt rather disappointing really. But the sound of a Corpus shouting "Die Traitor!" accompanied with gunfire reassured me as a large group of corpus came guns blazing out from the only door into the room, escorted by more MOAs and a few shield drones. One of the soldiers was a Nullifier, his shield bubble surrounding him and his friends. It also had the nasty side effect of nullifying any Void powers within his shield, something that I really detest. As the Corpus fired their guns at me, I rolled out of the way, dodging their fire with ease. Noticing how Corpus troops huddled around the nullifier, I had an idea. I drew my repeating crossbow, the Attica, to start my counterattack. Although a crossbow as mentioned, the rate the explosive tipped bolts spewed out of it could match most machine guns. Thus, the nullifier bubble quickly shrank then vanished as explosions replaced the sight of the Corpus.

A few survivors had the idea to spread out, but a few more precise shots ended their measly resistance as well. I looked around to find complete destruction. Blood spewed from broken bodies, pooling in holes here and there while fire consumed whatever was left. The alarms began resounding and I found a nearly dead Corpus lying next to a console, his helmet torn off, showing terror-filled eyes that gazed up at me while his bloody arm rested on the console. His other hand clutched a destroyed pistol of which he desperately tried pulling the non-existent trigger. I groaned as I took a look at the mission status. It took them almost eight minutes, sixty-three Crewmen, two hundred and thirty-four MOAs and ninety-seven drones to successfully ring the alarm. Not a bad performance, but it wouldn't earn me any bragging rights back at the clan dojo. At least it was only my third mission today; I still had plenty of opportunities to break a record.

"Why… W-why won't it just die?" I heard him whisper as he gasped for air. I've heard this line from so many that I knew on the fly how to answer to it.

"Because you're all too weak" I answered him, followed with a wicked laugh as I struck his body with my Jat Kittag. The impact easily crushed his abdomen as a shockwave reverberated throughout his body, liquefying his innards as they gushed out of his now lifeless corpse, repainting the floor and walls. The alarms continued to wail, and I heard multiple voices coming from different rooms around. No doubt the Corpus were now on the active hunt. Well, because the alarms were now on, I wouldn't need to go hunting for them either. But I did not stay afoot in the same room, since my ultimate objective was not to kill as many Corpus as I wanted. At least not this time.

After a couple more skirmishes as I sprinted through the rooms of this ship, I ended up in a massive room. Four tall pillars stood halfway to the center, forming a square shape. At the edge of the room were deep ditches that led to electrifying circuits below. As I glanced upwards and around, I saw more doorways on separate stories. Suddenly, a massive mechanical door opened to reveal a huge quadrupedal robotic creature standing six meters tall. With its yellow exo-skeleton and high-pitched screeching, it stomped as if to intimidate me. On the side, an escort of crewmen with a Nullifier and drones followed it. Finally, I had reached my target: the Corpus proxy codenamed the Jackal.

It wouldn't go down easily and my armor wouldn't hold out against their combined firepower. Attempting to find cover would be an exercise in futility as well. Mobility was key for this battle. Aside from the Jackal, the others would be simple to take care of. But first, I needed to remove that nullifier bubble else I won't be able to use my Void powers freely.

All hell broke loose as everyone opened fire. The Jackal stood behind its lackeys and fired a hail of rockets. I charged at maximum speed towards the Nullifier, using my Jat Kittag to block most of the incoming fire. As I passed the edge of the bubble, I felt my link to the Void vanish, disabling my powers. The first of the rockets had already reached my position, but it splashed against the bubble, taking a nearby crewman in the blast. I knew however that bubble wouldn't survive the full volley, so I hurriedly smashed the Nullifier. Immediately I felt my powers returning, as well as the incoming rockets. I unleashed the Void and activated Ripline. My power condensed into a rope shape, stretching from my hand to the top of the nearest pillar. Immediately the Ripline pulled me towards it with great speed, narrowly avoiding the rocket volley which instead took out several crewmen and MOAs.

I landed on the side of the pillar and latched myself onto it. From this vantage view, I could easily pick off the drones one by one. Sheathing my Jat Kittag, I gripped my dual rapid firing pistols Akzani and started destroying anything that hovered above the enemy, taking out a couple of Corpus men here and there.

However, my shields were struggling against their retaliation fire, and the Jackal shot another rocket volley at my position. Just before they would hit, I propelled myself from the pillar towards the densest group of enemies. Holstering my pistols, I brought my hammer down to the ground, creating a Void enhanced shockwave that sent the newly made enemy corpses flying. At that moment, I released my fury with a Warcry that shook the whole room. Void energy increased my strength dramatically as my armor doubled in resilience. With my melee weapon in one hand and one of my Akzani in the other, I unleashed a spray of fire while blocking incoming fire with the Jat Kittag. The Jackal was now moving towards me in an attempt to pummel me down as I was taking out its escort.

Only a handful of Corpus crewmen remained, though they were scattered across the room. I thought for a moment to use Ripline towards a column and dispatch them from above with the Attica, but I was pretty sure using that tactic again would only end up with a face full of rockets. Still, my shields had begun regenerating, so I had another option. I used Ripline on the Jackal, and as soon as I got within range, I discharged my shields outwards in a wave of paralyzing energy. It only lasted a few seconds, but that's all it took me to finish off the last few Crewmen. Now, nothing was standing between me and my prey.

The quadruped raised one of its legs as I charged at it. With the strength of a truck, my Jat Kittag collided with the Jackal's right front leg as it was stomping back down to the ground.

The room was filled with the deafening sound of screeching metal while the ground beneath me shook from the resisted stomp. Although my body flew to the opposite side of the room, I braced myself as I crashed feet-first into the wall, causing my feet to burrow deep into the metallic wall as my hands prevented me from going any further than knee deep. Meanwhile, the Jackal stumbled, although it regained back its balance after a few seconds. I tore my feet out of the wall and threw myself towards one of the pillars with my Jat Kittag ready to take it down. I Shattered it, sending pieces flying towards the lumbering hunk of metal. The Jackal easily tanked the damage inflicted. It attempted to throw another attack at me with one of its legs but I deflected it with a downward swing, burying that leg in the floor.

While it tried to get its member back out of the ground, another hail of missiles flew out of its back. In an attempt to flee from the incoming barrage, I sidestepped and jumped to the wall, running along it with the missiles hot on my tail. The missiles eventually died on their chase, exploding behind me. But the Jackal had sent two more volleys on their way towards me, one to my left and another to my right. I knew I couldn't dodge them all. I slammed one hand into the wall under my feet, halting me halfway between the two missile volleys, timing a jump as they were about to reach me. As I leapt off the wall, the damage from the explosions was almost unbearable, dropping my shields and impacting my armor. But the explosions also became a boost to my jump, sending me at near supersonic speeds towards the Corpus proxy as I readied my massive hammer to strike. With a solid impact, I caused an enormous hole in its side and sent it flying at the other wall. A cloud of dust erupted from the then-created debris, coating the surroundings. I walked into it with a calm composure.

I searched for the massive droid within the dust mist, trying to confirm my kill. Suddenly, a massive mechanical arm flew from the gloom. I barely had a chance to bring my weapon to block the blow, but for all my efforts I was sent flying into a column. The Jackal brought up its chest and fired a laser, its power kicking me through the column, destroying it and causing debris to fall around me. It didn't have that weapon before, and there were no reports of any upgraded models made by the Corpus. I must be the first to face one then.

Gladly, the debris did not rain on the area where I had fell. Even then, as my body dropped to the floor, the Jat Kittag somehow still in my hands, the sound of alarms resonated inside my suit as my barely recovered shields were taken out and my armor was badly damaged in numerous places, some of them bleeding. I had only so much strength left in me as I kneeled on the ground, struggling to stand. But something within me began to boil and a feral growl escaped me.

If this guy wanted to play bad, I'd play bad.

I sheathed my weapon at my back. I unleashed a deafening roar, channeling my powers into the Hysteria ability. The air around me thickened as two sets of claws comprised of pure green Void energy encompassed my hands. My body started glowing with the same energy as my veins felt spirited.

"Now I'm pissed!"

The creature screeched, and with one of its limbs, sent out another great shockwave that shook the entire room. But the wave splashed harmlessly against the green energy surrounding me. The Jackal then brought its huge foreleg up into the air. While anyone would flinch at the massive momentum the Jackal was attempting to pack in this attack, it did not faze me at all.

Nothing was getting past my energy field. Nothing could break it. I was invincible.

I grabbed the leg with one of my claws as it was descending, halting it. As I channeled energy into my claws, causing them to shine brighter than ever, my grip on the leg tightened, crushing it. After releasing another cry, it tried to fire its laser at me. But before it had the chance to aim I leaped onto its right foreleg, digging my hand into the joints of the leg.

*SCREEEEEEECH*

The sound of metal tearing reverberated about the chamber as I severed the connection between its leg to the rest of its body. The creature, reaming on its hind legs, tumbled down. I brought up its broken leg and used it to batter the Jackal's body like a war drum. Its other legs broke, but the Jackal did not give up. It tried to fire another series of rockets, but they were no more effective than everything else it had tried. Rather, as the rockets exploded on impact with me, they had damaged the Jackal itself. I jumped on top it and began clawing at the exterior of the machine, ripping it apart piece by piece until I had dug through most of its body. Every hit from my claws also drained it of its energy, feeding my Warframe, healing it.

It could barely do anything as I brought its head up, and with a swift motion, ripped it from its body. Within seconds, the sound of its engines died as the light within its machine dimmed into nothingness. As I stood on its body, its head in my hand, I looked around the battlefield, noting that the whole place was destroyed. Parts of the ceiling were beginning to fall, as the remaining pillars were incapable of holding the ceiling's weight alone. The ground was littered with corpses, organic and mechanical alike. Limbs, blood, liquefied organs and lubricants mixed together in puddles throughout.

The alarms were still on, however no one answered the call. I released my power, the green glow vanishing as I dropped the Jackal's head. I picked up my equipment and made my way to the extraction point where my landing craft, the Liset, was waiting.

As I entered my landing craft, the comms crackled to life.

"Target down, assassination contract complete. Great work Tenno." The disembodied voice of the Lotus was heard in my comms, her face appearing in the corner of my vision. A mask in the shape of the eponymous flower covered her eyes and the top of her head.

"I lowered my guard at the end. I could have ended it without Hysteria if hadn't been careless!" I replied tersely. Indeed, if it wasn't for that last second block and my Warframe's considerable armor, I would have taken a mortal blow. All because of a trainee's mistake.

Her voice remained neutral. "That is true. Your carelessness also allowed the enemy to raise the alarms. I trust this will serve as a reminder never to let your guard down." Her tone then softened, a small smile appearing on her lips. "Still, you have successfully remained undetected for a period while clearing the ship at record speeds and your fighting prowess was without flaw. I am proud of you, my child."

Her smile and unexpected praise did wonders to improve my mood.

"Thank you, Mother. I will perform with greater skill next time." I answered, my tone much lighter.

"I know you will"

The mission was completed, I would remember my lesson, and the Lotus was pleased with my performance. Indeed there was no reason to be disappointed. I looked outside the windshield, the sight of outer space greeting me as the Liset sped toward my Orbiter.

*Scene Break*

ASSASSINATION MISSION SUCCESSFUL

ITEM REWARDS:

10,000 MISSION CREDITS

5032 CREDITS

534 POLYMER BUNDLE

1326 ALLOY PLATES

634 CIRCUITS

MOD REWARDS:

NONE

I watched my latest mission report in the navigation room of the Orbiter, a semicircular room with two large consoles located at the back of the chamber and two smaller ones flanking the navigation unit. The latter consisted of a circular plate placed in the middle of the cockpit with a holographic screen projected above it, displaying available missions.

A windshield gave way to scenery of space, a now lifeless Corpus spaceship floating in the abyss high above the rings of Saturn. The gas giant's atmosphere shined as rays from the sun fell on its stratosphere.

"Operator, I'm so glad to see you back –covered in blood- safe and sound." I heard my ship's AI, the Cephalon Ordis, greet me. Despite being an AI, Ordis had a clearly male robotic voice, one which allowed a surprisingly large range of emotions, even compared to other Cephalons.

"Yeah, I can't say that I have any other places to go." I joked, turning and heading downstairs via the ramp located at the back of the cockpit.

On my right hovered a sentinel, resting in sleep mode: my Helios, a small hovering robot designed to find weak points in enemies and collect data during my missions. On my left, my faithful Slobber, a Sahasa Kubrow, happily snoring in his statis unit, occasionally barking or whimpering. Not only my closest companion, Slobber was also a skilled reconnaissance operative who was able to recover necessary items on the field of battle.

"Hunt that Grineer and bring me back his credits" I smiled, reaching down to scratch his ears. He awoke, tackling me to the ground and the both of us began to play rough. After a couple of minutes, I decided to head downstairs, Slobber following me with a wagging tail.

I found myself in the operator room, a large room where at the back of it white roots came down from the ceiling into other parts of the ship. In front of those roots was my Somatic Link. Slowly opening, it revealed a boy, with white hair, tanned skin and a white piece of metal on his forehead, wearing a complete black suit covering everything from the neck downwards. That was the real me, Charles, the Operator, the Tenno.

Even after all this time, it was still both an entrancing and disturbing sight. It wasn't until the incident with the Moon, which came to be known as the Second Dream, that I, or any Tenno for that matter, learned we used to be human children. A few decades ago we Tenno have begun awakening from cryosleep as two factions, the Corpus and the Grineer, scoured the system for dormant Tenno, with the goal of slaying or experimenting on us. Unfortunately no Tenno had retained their memory from before cryosleep, so we knew nothing of why we were hunted and why we were placed in cryosleep. The only clue to our past was that every single Tenno had one set of memories still intact, our knowledge of warfare, and the Void powers we could unleash through the bodies we awoke in, the Warframes.

The first being almost every Tenno saw and heard upon awakening was the Lotus. She comforted us, guided us, kept us united against the threats that would seek to enslave or destroy us. However, as we progressed, we uncovered more of our past and rediscovered the art of crafting Warframes and switch them, we came to realize those were not our real bodies. Whether we even had a body, or were we beings of energy, needing a Warframe to exist and walk upon the world, no Tenno knew.

It wasn't until many years after we had awoken, when we had to save our "power source" in the Moon from an old foe, that we discovered what we were: the result of experiments by the now extinct Orokin Empire to create super soldiers, children empowered by their link to a dimension known as the Void. The Warframes were an organic and technological body for us to control remotely and channel our Void powers safely.

Maybe to others the Lotus's actions were not justified. She did make world changing decisions behind our backs, decisions that directly affected us Tenno. And she kept us in the dark until events forced her hand. But did I even care? Did the other Tenno care? She is the only one that looked after us. All her actions have been to keep us safe. Anybody else that kept the truth about my identity for so long would have been shredded, their remains burned to ashes, but I knew The Lotus would never turn her back on us. During every crisis she did her best to fix the problem, not for her sake but for ours. She never ordered us into action, only advised us and let each of us decide how to proceed, coordinating our efforts when necessary. Each Tenno could decide which missions and which factions he would deal with. No one else wanted to be called our Mother, but that didn't matter, because no one else deserved it.

Charles' silver eyes looked back at my Warframe with a calm expression.

*Brzzzt*

Static filled my mind and I felt myself leaving my Warframe.

*Brzzzt*

Ceasing to be Valkyr.

*Brzzzt*

Becoming Charles again.

*Brzzzt*

Like waking from a dream, I found myself once again in my real body. It was a strange sensation. My body's senses were far duller than those of a Warframe, and yet the world felt more... real. Sounds seemed to resonate more, colors felt more vibrant, and even smell was more distinct. Well, the latter mostly consisted of Slobber's odor. It was easy to spot in the otherwise sanitized air of the Orbiter, a smell I had come to associate with home and safety.

My Valkyr frame fell on the floor as I cut the Transference signal, my senses instantly dulled by the numbness all across my body. After all, I did stay in this seat all day long, doing nothing while my mind is elsewhere. The Somatic Link did keep my body alive and safe, but that's all it did. I sometimes wondered if it also stopped me from aging, seeing as my features have stayed the exact same over the course of the few decades since I'd found my real body. Slowly, I walked out of my seat, stumbling. Slobber caught me and looked at me with a happy face, licking my hands. With his support, I started walking around the room. This time, I managed to keep going for a whole twenty minutes before exhaustion forced me back into my seat. Slobber celebrated my superhuman accomplishment with a few loud, short barks.

"Good boy. I couldn't have done it without you," I smiled at him.

"How can I be of –why care about me- assistance operator?"

"Oh, come now, Ordis. You know you'll always be there to catch me," I chuckled. Ordis was a strange Cephalon. He had served me for as long as I could remember, though some event in the distant past had stripped him of many of his memories and given him some sort of split personality. I always enjoyed that second part of him: never ceased to amuse me.

I looked over my Warframe, a black clad Gersemi Valkyr with her Jat Kittag and Attica strapped on her back, and at the sides, the dual Akzani. Her wing-shaped cape with matching colors completed the picture. In my opinion, Valkyr was one of the most powerful Warframes. She specialized in brute melee, with her high armor allowing her to tank far more extensive damage than other suits, but she remained agile, almost feline. Her Ripline was great for pulling enemies or allies, to swing around objects, or simply jump from place to place. Warcry heightened speed and armor further and since I never relied on Valkyr's energy shields thanks to her massive armor, I could easily discharge part of the shields to paralyze and damage enemies around. Last but not least, Hysteria gave her a nigh invulnerable energy barrier and manifested claws, deadly energy blades that rip the enemy apart and drain their life-force, at the cost of a constant drain on her energy.

The story of how the Tenno came to rediscover her however, is a dark one. The first Valkyr Warframe was found in Corpus laboratories, where it was revealed they hqd found her and experimented on her for decades, to understand Warframe technology. This came before the Second Dream event, so the poor Tenno couldn't even know to disconnect from the Warframe and suffered every second of torture his Warframe went through. Every Warframe has some remnants inside; emotions, fragmented memories, and an attitude, from the Tenno who used the original Frame. Now, Valkyr had the additional emotional and physical scars left by the Corpus experiments, carried on in her blueprints. Those make Valkyr difficult to master, as to wield a Warframe, Tenno project a part of themselves that will then take all the Warframe's self, creating a persona of that Warframe. This process is a required part of the Transference, the process of wielding a Warframe, the persona serving to preserve the Tenno's sense of self. If the Warframe is slain, the persona will share its fate. While it does protect the Tenno, it also means part of oneself will die if the Warframe dies.

Enough reminiscing. Time to decide the most effective use of my next few hours. Doing missions was good training, but a Tenno is not only brawns. If my ciphers are not up to date with the Corpus and Grineer's latest encryption technology I'd risk failing to bypass a security lockdown and fail a mission. I could also go visit Cephalon Simaris, he has the most extensive database of every life form and proxy in the Sol system, perfect to study each being's strengths and weaknesses. Plus his simulation room allows to train against varied groups to improve my tactics and situational awareness. I should send him the update on the Jackal's arsenal, even though I know the Lotus does brief us everytime we take on stronger foes.

Then I remembered I hadn't been to my own clan for a while. There was this new Warframe model that had been discovered, and the blueprints were available in the clan dojos. Plus it had been awhile since we had shared a good story. I smiled, imagining their laughing faces when I told them about how that Corpus was splashed all over the room with just one hit fro-

"Operator, your presence is required at the Kronia relay. You have been asked to meet with Hayden. I suggest you –hurry up- when ready." The disembodied voice of Ordis interrupted my musings.

"Wait, Hayden?" I did a spit take on hearing that name "As in the Excalibur Prime Hayden? The leader of the Zariman clan and one of the first Tenno to be awakened?" Sure, I always did consider myself one of the stronger Tenno out there, but he was a living legend among us.

"Error, I do not seem to have that information. Perhaps going there should provide it to you."

"Right, I'll be on my way." I chuckled. Giving one last hug to Slobber, I strapped myself on the Somatic Link. Looks like I had found how to kill my boredom for the next few hours. As I turned it on, my mind left the waking world and returned to my dreamscape.

I arrived in a dark room of spartan decoration, only the navy blue floor visible. The room was empty and silent. I called it a room, but there were no walls, merely an abyss covered by clouds around the edges of the floor. The only light came from above me, radiating from the countless stars that dotted the sky.

I wasn't alone for long. My Warframes appeared in front of me, in seiza position, all waiting for me to choose which one I would project myself as this time, but the one I wanted was not among them. Valkyr was a few meters to my right, standing tall and looking at me. I smiled.

*Brzzzt*

I walked up back to the navigation unit and input the coordinates for the Saturn Relay.

*Scene break*

The doors opened, letting way to six more Warframes, standing in a small circular room with a holo-display placed at the center. Next to the device was a dark grey Excalibur Prime with gold lining, obviously Hayden, with a pink and white Trinity Prime sitting to his left. Facing them, a black and blue Nyx Prime and a crimson red Nekros were deep in conversation, while an Equinox, with his standard black and white patterns reversed was listening with interest. A green and yellow Banshee hung further back, a codex scanner in her hands.

Their colors, and the patterns on their helmets, I recognized some of them: they were high ranking Tenno, each masters of their Warframes. I was almost awed to be in their company, but was mostly excited. There would be a very interesting mission ahead.

"Well, color me curious. What poor fool angered the Lotus enough to deserve this kind of attention?" I asked.

"Be patient, we shall begin the briefing as soon as our last member arrives." Hayden answered, turning to face me, his voice calm yet carrying a strong air of authority.

"Maybe we'll finally pay a visit to those Syndicates, teach them to think they could mess with us!" The Banshee's voice was loud and reaching despite her clearly attempting to whisper, a side effect of her Warframe.

"That I strongly doubt: they're useful, and it's not like their little infighting is causing us any harm." replied the Nyx Prime, amused. She drew a heat dagger and started playing with it, levitating it with her power.

"Didn't the Arbiters' Eximus squadron attempt to kill me last mission?! They even attacked you despite you and Sarah being allied with them, just for being in the same squad!" The Banshee was clearly upset by the lack of reaction her point made. She made it clear by grabbing the Nyx Prime's dagger away. "It's not like their little faction conflicts make any sense to us Tenno!"

I guess the Banshee Tenno was still dreaming in a way. I won't blame Tenno like that, but the Sol system has been in conflict for as long as we could remember. First it was the Orokin, making us fight the Sentients, self-aware machines they created that turned against them. Now the Corpus and the Grineer were at war over control of the system, not to mention the Infested constantly seeking to overwhelm us in a tsunami of mutated flesh. And even the Syndicates, factions who supposedly promoted peace and the betterment of humanity, whatever that word meant anymore; seemed to spend more time fighting over how to do it than actually doing it. And despite our skill, us Tenno are so hopelessly outnumbered that the best we could do was keep the balance so that no side can win the war and focus on us. Grineer cloned millions of troops a day on average, and Corpus could churn out similar numbers of drones and MOAs, making it trivial for them to recoup from any loses. We barely reached the ten million Tenno in total, and we had no means to increase our numbers.

"You don't have to be such a spoilsport!" The Nekros sided with the Nyx Prime, retrieving her dagger from the Banshee while he spoke. "I remember you laughing as well when Sarah took over the minds of their leader and made him kill his lieutenants with his bare hands"

The Nyx Prime added to her partner: "Not to mention their surprise when you revived said dead lieutenants and set them on the rest of their squad!" She proceeded to resume her dagger levitation trick.

"Excuse me" came the soft voice of the Trinity Prime. She waited until she was sure we could all hear her but made no effort to raise her voice. "I believe that we are all here now. Shall we begin with the mission briefing?" I looked at her in surprise, as did every other Tenno aside from Hayden, to realize we now had an extra member. A Loki Prime in his formal white and gold colors was standing in between Hayden and the Trinity Prime.

"Certainly. We can continue our banter after we complete the mission" declared the Excalibur Prime. He stood to address us.

"I have received information about a new threat that requires our best elements to deal with. The Lotus, our Mother, tasked me with forming a team, and you are the candidates I have selected". At these words, the room became so quiet you could hear a Tenno meditate. It was an honor to be recognized by one of the highest ranking Tenno in existence.

Hayden continued, pointing towards the Equinox "This here is Jean. Despite being one of the more recently awakened ones, he has shown great skill and dedication to the way of the Tenno. He is also one of the first to discover and make the Equinox Frame and the best one in the system" The Equinox simply bowed his head.

"Here we have Sarah, master of Nyx. She has managed to manipulate multiple enemies with ease and spread chaos within armies." Hayden continued.

"Glad to join you guys for this show." Sarah nodded enthusiastically. Clearly she enjoyed being the center of attention.

"Bluebeard here will join us. He is a brother who has aided me several times, and who has achieved the highest count of successful assassination and extermination missions." He gestured to the Nekros.

"The enemy will regret earning our attention!" Answered the Nekros, his hand caressing the handle of the Scindo Prime battle axe at his side.

"Urza is not only the most famous Banshee Master, and probably the most accurate sharpshooter to boot, but also the quickest hacker that we may ever find."

"For the glory of the Tenno." She responded simply.

"Joining us as well will be Silva and Aegis, co-leaders of one of the largest and strongest clans, The Black Lotus. They have valuable experience leading squads and have saved many missions from certain failure." Hayden looked directly at the Loki Prime. "I heard you were going to use a Mirage, Silva?"

"For the mission, yes. I prefer moving around with my Loki Prime. The other frames lack his… freedom of movement."

"Pleasure to be helping you brothers." Aegis followed in that same barely audible voice, ignoring his partner's comment. I still couldn't say whether he was shy or did so to force others to pay attention to listen to him when he spoke.

"And finally we have Charles, considered to be the most brutal and efficient Valkyr. He has managed to do solo missions where entire squads of Tenno would fail, yet has always been an efficient team member when he did join a squad. Stories of his Jat Kittag are famous in every Relay." He finished, pointing at me.

"I still wonder who deserves such attention: this team is as subtle as a berserk Valkyr." I was exaggerating of course; any Tenno worth his Orbiter could infiltrate nearly anyplace with any Warframe or equipment. But one did not make an eight-man team with some of the highest ranking Tenno, and place a berserker like me, unless there was a grave threat dangerous enough that sending multiple Tenno squads was too risky. And that scenario happened a grand total of two times since the Tenno began awakening.

A small hiss came from the holo-display and the image of our Mother, the Lotus appeared. The top half of her head was hidden from view by her eponymous flower shaped helmet, wires protruding from it. We all gathered around and sat in seiza position, facing her.

"Tenno, I am afraid I bear bad news." Her voice was unusually troubled. "We have received a report of an unknown ship of alien design on its way to the Sol system. Scout teams dispatched to investigate have all gone silent, and even a team of Tenno oriented towards stealth suffered the same fate. They are all dead."

"Wait, why don't those Tenno join us to partake in the briefing? Surely they have recovered from the deaths of their Warframes by now?" Asked Silva.

"No" The Lotus' voice became hesitant. The entire room was deathly quiet as everyone waited for her next words. "By death, I mean the Tenno themselves died. While still in their Orbiters."

The room was silent, as everybody tried to wrap their minds around that fact. And failed. There were few absolute truths since as far as we could remember. War is eternal, Corpus will always have more machines, Grineer will always have more clones, Infested will never stop swarming, and Tenno cannot die. The Somatic Link kept our bodies healthy and safe from the battlefield. Losing a persona was a traumatic experience, but it would heal just like all wounds. Kubrows could die. Agents from the Syndicates could die. Warframes themselves could be destroyed. Our enemies were slain by the hundreds of thousands each day. But never had a Tenno been eliminated for good.

The Second Dream was the closest we came to that happening, but every Tenno had come as one and fought until we recovered our real bodies to the last. A great many Warframes were lost then, but we prevailed. We wouldn't subject any more children to the Void to create more Tenno, but there has never been a Tenno death as far as we could remember.

"It doesn't make sense." Urza muttered, "It's impossible". That brought me from my thoughts. As I looked around, I saw every Tenno in the room was hesitating. For the first time since I could remember, we felt fear, because there was now a chance that some of us wouldn't come back anymore. Suddenly we had to stare death in the face, and it was terrifying.

Soon however, another feeling rose up. I didn't want to run. Not away at least. I wanted to charge at whoever did this. To sink my claws into their bodies, crush their innards with my hammer. I wanted to hear the screams of agony of whoever did this. If death wanted a staring contest, I'd gouge its eyes out and smash its skull into powder.

"I agree, my child. This heresy should never have happened." The Lotus was feeling the same way, judging from the anger in her tone. She took a pause, visibly calming herself. "However, we must focus on the mission. The Tenno that investigated the ship arrived to find it empty. After several hours of searching, they came across a massive chamber. As they continued their search we detected strange readings and then a laser was fired. I lost contact with them soon after. Their Orbiters came back, but the Cephalons reported that the Operators were dead. The most likely suspects are the Sentients, as th-"

*THUD*

Everyone turned to see me burying my fist in the wall. All thoughts left my mind except for finding whoever or whatever did this and painting that ship with his body parts, be they flesh or mechanical.

Jean came up and put his hand on my shoulder, attempting to calm me down. "Don't worry, we will avenge our fallen." He said softly. I stared at him, thinking of a reply, but my rage was not so easily subdued, so I hit the wall a few more times, my claws tearing through the reinforced material. Without turning, I asked:

"Where is that ship? When does the mission start?"

"As soon as this briefing is over" Answered the Lotus showing us the coordinates to the ship.

"It is currently located within the Oort cloud." Urza downloaded a copy of the Intel on her personal codex and began analyzing it.

"Must have been hard locating it." Sarah muttered.

"Surprisingly, it was not. The vessel is gigantic, approximately equivalent in size to the moon." Collective gasps were made and several Tenno whispered to each other, I couldn't care less. It just meant more bodies would be needed to repaint it.

"What about our other factions? How have the Corpus and the Grineer reacted?" Aegis inquired.

"As of now, they are not aware of its presence. We were extremely lucky even to have discovered it before it reached the Sol system."

"Yes, you were lucky" A raspy voice came from behind the door. That voice… "Lucky that it was me who found th-"

Before I even realized it, I was standing up at the entrance of the room, my clawed hand around the intruder's throat. Hayden stopped the others from reacting as well then stepped towards me, eyes on my prey, Alad V.

"Release him Charles! Remember, we are in a Relay!" For a moment, I stopped being Valkyr as Charles stirred inside, forcibly relaxing my Warframe. Alad V, one of the Corpus leaders, loved capturing Warframes and experimenting on them, reconstructing them into his so called 'pet' Zanuka. He was directly responsible for the capture of the original Valkyr and for the experiments done on her. I could understand why I would want to take my revenge on him, my being a Valkyr, but a Tenno must always be the master of his emotions and his Warframe.

"Tenno, calm yourselves. Alad V is here under my authority." The Lotus explained.

He was sprawled on the ground, greedily gasping for air. He lifted one of his hands to ask help from the Excalibur Prime, but Hayden simply stared at him, then walked back to the Lotus.

"You Tenno... are... the worst... when it comes to… hospitality." He wheezed, getting back on his feet.

"He is here because he has also detected the strange readings, and has decided to contact us about it."

"Yes of course. After all, it's not every day you find a moon sized space station trying to enter the Sol system undetected." Alad V said. "I tried to infiltrate the place myself you see, however it has been… problematic, as your dear Lotus has explained."

"So, he will be guiding us?" Urza said to the Lotus, obviously not pleased at all.

"He will. He knows the ship's loca-" The Lotus began, before Alad V rudely interrupted her.

"I believe the proper term would be space station for a vessel this size." Alad V was practically jubilating. The fact that every Tenno tensed upon his interruption only further cheered him.

"... space station's" The Lotus corrected herself, "location and has the most complete layout of the inside, including the reactor room."

"I don't trust him one bit." I rasped.

"I was there, helping the Lotus save your Warframe's reservoir during the incident with Hunhow. What more will it take to prove my loyalty? Not that it ever mattered to me." He kept his mocking tone.

"This Frame has never forgotten your… loyalty to the Tenno, as you call it."

"Oh come now, still going on about that old story? I've let go of that a long time ago. You should do the same."

"That's enough Alad V, Tenno." The Lotus ordered. "This briefing is over. Good hunting." With that she cut the communication. We looked at one another then at the Corpus.

"Well… looks like we are finished here." He said, looking at each of us as he exited the briefing room.

Hayden looked around and placed his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me down. "You heard the Lotus, let's move." He ordered.

All the others left, but I remained in the room, staring at the now lifeless holo-display.

We were working with Alad V… again, and we had what could be Sentient enemies, capable of killing us for good. I held back a scream and forced myself to walk out of the room without damaging anything else along the way. No matter how hard we fought, the world remained a messed up place.