Councils of...many things
"This is... not good." Eliza, current Empress of the feeble remnants of what had once been the proud Orokin Empire sat at her desk and sighed deeply. "Do we have any idea how much information they got from Mishka?"
"No." The Tenno known as Karl stood as he always did when reporting to her. In the middle of the room. No one had even suggested he disarm. He wouldn't have let them. But they knew him. He was honorable to a fault. And while he was angry... He was not angry with Eliza. This time anyway. "Mishka's memory is a mess." Eliza winced and Karl nodded. "The docs are not sure how much was the damage from the poison and how much was to cover tracks. She was tampered with. That is clear. She resisted as best she could... But.." He shrugged.
"She is not a Warrior." Eliza said with a sigh. "You lot are trained far harder in resisting such. She didn't have a chance." Karl shook his head. "Okay... that is our situation. The Clergy at the very least, knows we exist. Options?"
A rustle of trepidation followed her words. Her tiny council was not always united under her rule, but they did have the best for her people in mind. Most of the time. Most of them were human so they were not perfect, but they tried. Add to that... most of them knew Iriana's daughter Mishka and liked her. To hear about her being abducted, left in the care of the Corpus Clergy of all people (the Corpus secret police force) and then poisoned by Red Veil fanatics would have infuriated any of them. But this...
Avalon had once been a secret hideaway for Orokin rulers who wished to get away for a time from their lives. To rest or relax or whatever. It was very well hidden in the huge corona that circled the Sun, protected by insanely powerful shields. The only way in and out of the tiny outpost was via quantum entanglement transportation portals. Solar accumulators provided more power than even Avalon could ever use, so the enormous energy costs of using said method of travel were meaningless to Avalon's inhabitants. But...
"Can they track the portals?" Michelle asked quietly from where she stood behind her mother. The Princess was not normally a reserved sort, but now? She was angry. She had been Tenno before giving up the Code to serve Avalon and she knew Mishka well. She loved Mishka and the thought of the girl in such straits...
"That is our fear." Karl said with a nod. "They are going to be looking now. They cannot hope to pick up the energy discharges when you portal out..." Any such stray energy would be scattered in seconds by the radiation of the stellar corona. "But coming back?" A murmur of worry swept the room. "They know the Nexi. They will be watching."
"Will you give the Guard who are out shelter if needed?" Eliza asked quietly. She had been rotating members of the Royal Guard out to serve the Lotus on activities around the system. Karl nodded. "The portal from your dojo to here is probably secure." She looked at her chief tech who looked a bit sour but nodded dubiously. "Tech, your thoughts?"
"We made sure to keep it as low power and directional as we could. Mainly to hide it from Tenno we do not know." The chief tech looked decidedly uneasy to be in such a gathering of important people. He was much more at home with machines. "There will always be some leakage, but it should be minimal." He shook his head. "But... Empress... Portal nexi always had records of the guide pulses. Anywhere that our portals have gone... if we crossed a nexus, someone could get a trace from that."
"Except the portal Sara took." Eliza mused and the tech nodded.
"It had no guide pulse." He said with a wince the others shared. That had... not been fun. For anyone. "But the other nexi... The records are stored. They are designed to be difficult to access, but they cannot be removed or altered."
"At all?" Eliza asked, concerned.
"At times, the network was a traffic control nightmare." The tech said with a grimace. "They wanted records available in case of... problems. So, the records are permanently encoded in the portal nexi's basic structure. If the Corpus Clergy can access them..."
"Then they can find their way here." Eliza said softly. "And if they do..."
"They won't stop until they take control." Karl said just as quietly. "They may not be as profit driven as the regular Corpus, but that makes them more dangerous, not less." He shook his head. "They are as dedicated to their own goals as the Corpus Board is to profit. The question has always been... What are their goals?"
"The only person who would be likely to know that we can trust would be Janet." Eliza said thoughtfully. "We have not heard from her except in passing. The Lotus is... quiet about her dealings with Janet."
"Janet takes her duties as an Oracle very seriously." Karl agreed. "She has flatly refused to aid any of the various groups who have importuned her for aid. She remains neutral. She aids all or none."
"She did warn us." Eliza said with a sigh. "I can ask the Lotus to speak to her, but... I do not know if she can help or will."
"If she can, she will."Karl said with a grunt. "But we both know how power constrains a person."
"Yeah." Eliza said sourly. "When I was a kid, I thought Emperors and Empresses were all powerful. Silly." She smiled ruefully, but then it faded. "If worst comes to worst and they attack here... Can we hold them out?" This was to Petra, Michelle's chief guard and leader of the Royal Guard on Avalon.
"For a time." Petra's voice was calm, but tension underlay it. "We have at best, two hundred Royal Guard, if all were recalled from the field. We have one Company of Orokin Marines."She nodded to another person in the room. Gunnery Sergeant Miguel Smith hadn't spoken, he had just listened, but he too was tense. Small wonder. "Two platoons of them are out in the field currently. Recalling them from where they are will be... difficult." Miguel nodded, but remained silent.
"I thought any attacker would need a crushing numeri-" Eliza broke off and snorted at herself. Of course the Corpus had a crushing numerical superiority over the inhabitants of Avalon. Like millions to one type of numerical superiority. They had the entire solar system to draw from, despite the predations of the Grineer. "Never mind, that was dumb. We can't hold them if they attack in force, can we?"
"We can for a time." Petra said quietly. "But with portals coming in steadily, we would not be able to get reinforcements or even call for assistance. We do not know how many portal chambers are on this station, as was recently shown by what happened to Sara and Lis." Having the two of them simply vanish had not been fun. What had come after had been even less fun. But both had been rescued eventually and both were recovering.
"Then that has to be our first priority then." Eliza frowned. "We need to know how many portals we have and where they are."
"My clan stands ready, Empress." Karl said quietly.
"Your clan is needed in the field." Eliza countered. "This is a job for the Royal Guard, the Marines and for the technicians. We will have to go over every centimeter of the station." More than one face twisted at that, but no one commented. All knew what was at stake. "Even if the portals are hidden in scanner and com proof alcoves like the one Sara activated accidentally, with enough time, we can find them all. Ward them all."
"We can only hope we have the time." Michelle said softly and everyone agreed. Eliza nodded and then shook herself and changed the subject.
"How is Mishka?" Eliza asked quietly. "And Iriana? You told us... But I still find it hard to believe." The revelation of who Mishka's father was... had been a shock. To lots of people. Not Mishka or Iriana's fault, although Eliza knew people would blame them. Humans were inherently illogical and unfortunately, some Tenno took after their hereditary forebears a bit too much.
"Me too." Karl said sourly. "Iriana is... taking a well deserved vacation. Mishka has started regen therapy and the Caretakers are optimistic about most of her nerves. The leg remains problematic, but the rest of her nerves they should be able to repair or regrow." He shrugged. "Time will tell, but she is coping."
"Good." Eliza said with smile. "I like that scamp. And on the subject of scamps... How is Serene handling this?"
"She seems to have found a niche..."
Across the system
"...and furthermore." The voice was calm, but the subject of so many people's attention flushed. "Getting drunk is not a crime. What you did...was."
Chief Administrator Vina's face was severe as she looked down at the face of the perpetrator who had been brought to her attention. She could have done without this part of the job, but she wasn't about to delegate it either.
"But... It looked like a..." A hand on his arm had the man freezing. He turned his head to see Serene standing there, her face stern.
"You are in enough trouble as it is." Serene said with a shake of her head. "Don't add disrespecting the Chief Executive to the list." The subject of her scrutiny wilted and she indicated the Executive. Vina nodded.
"For defacing property of the Relay... Even with the... quality of the graffiti..." Vina said sternly. "The penalty is a week of community service. And if you ever excrete on my decks in public again, I will have you tossed out the airlock." She drew herself up and glared. She had a very good glare. She practiced. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Administrator Vina." The young man said with a gulp.
"Then get out, go home, take a shower!" Vina said with a snarl. He stank. "Your mother will want to talk to you, I bet." The fourteen year old in front of her wilted.
"Can't you keep me in jail?" The young man asked.
"No." Vina snapped and the boy was escorted from the room by one of the security troops. Only after the door was closed did Vina turned to Serene and shake her head. "Of all the things I expected on taking this job... That was not on the list. An underage drunk graffiti artist."
"He is bored in his classes." Serene said with a shrug. "The graffiti is just his way of relieving the boredom. I am far more worried about the alcohol myself."
"Agreed." Vina said with a sigh. "Any idea where it came from?"
"No." Serene said with a growl. "And that really worries me. Humans have always managed to find or make ways to ferment things. It is part of human nature I think, to find ways to poison themselves." Vina grimaced, but did not object. "But that... He found a container full of clear liquid, so he had to take a taste. Idiot. It could have been anything. At least it wasn't as strong as it could have been."
"My worry is that he was unlikely to be alone in that." Vina said with a shrug. "How many teenage boys drink alone?"
"Or girls." Serene agreed. "And if we get boys... drinking with girls..." She made a face and Vina grunted in agreement. "I notified the medics. If we get any... odd things, we will be the first to know."
"You have settled in nicely." Vina commented. "Any problems?"
"This is not what I thought I was going to do with my life." Serene said with a smirk. "But it is good work. I get to help keep the peace and every so often see you scare the bejeebers out of some poor fool."
"Serene..." Vina was obviously trying hard not to laugh. "I have never had a chief of security who used the word 'bejeebers'. I can guess what it means, but..." She shook her head. "Anything else?" She asked, only a little plaintive.
"The nightmares are not getting any better, are they?" Serene asked quietly. Vina shook her head and Serene sighed. "All of the...refugees are having nightmares. Even Sheila."
"How is she coping?" Vina asked carefully. Serene had essentially adopted Sheila. Sort of. It was odd, but no one was complaining. Not when Sheila was still a better medic than most of the rest of the staff put together. The difference? Here she didn't have to hide who she was, and she was well respected by the medical staff. Not that anyone would dare to disrespect her anywhere near their chief of security.
"Good days and bad." Serene said softly. "Like everybody. When Horatius left... we all expected him to come back immediately. I am worried."
The Special Forces Commander had gone to turn in his key at the tower he had helped reclaim from a mad neural sentry. Said tower was reforming itself, the new AI working slowly to rebuild what had been a madness inducing maze of shifting rooms and corridors. The Void was not a safe place for humans without lots of work. And sometimes even with it.
"So am I." Vina agreed. "So is Mercedes. She buries herself in her work so she won't worry." She shook her head. "Is there anything we can do?"
"I can ask if one of the others can swing by the tower, check it out." Serene said with a shrug. "No telling when they will be able to, or when they will be able to get back to me." She sighed. "I feel... wrong. You know?"
"You miss Rocky." Vina said with soft smile. Serene nodded. "I thank you for staying. I don't know if I could do this without the Tenno's support. It... It is getting harder. To focus."
"I know." Serene said sadly. She liked Vina, but she could not truth the woman totally. She adored Mercedes and she could not trust that woman either. Sad really. The Clergy's mental programming techniques were far more refined than the Corpus'. She shuddered a bit. If they had managed to capture her instead of the perverted nutcase who had... She reached out and patted Vina's arm. "I need sleep. If anything changes..." She paused as Vina scoffed.
"If anything happens, you will know before I do. Asleep or no, Miss 'Eyes In Every Corner'." Serene had to laugh at Vina's joke, but it wasn't really funny.
This relay had been quietly retrofitted from a relic of the Orokin. During the Empire, such communications relays had spanned the Solar System, allowing for near instantaneous transmission of information through the colossal network. The coming of the Sentients had wrecked most of communications system, either battles or deliberate sabotage on the parts of desperate Orokin technicians, trying to keep Sentient AIs from taking control. The Tenno had quickly refurbished it, but it remained at very low power. No active sensors scanned the heavens around it. Those would be a bright red sign announcing to everyone that someone was there. Grinneer would investigate, the Corpus likewise. With them, without fail, would come the Infestation after that idiot Grineer scientist had tried to use it as a weapon. If the Orokin hadn't managed to control it, the Grineer certainly couldn't. But like boneheaded scientists throughout recorded history, he had insisted on seeing for himself. And it was costing. Oh, it was costing.
The internal security systems were top of the line, state of the art. Serene had them all keyed to her. If a cockroach farted almost anywhere on the station, she knew about it. Hence why she had caught the graffiti artist so easily. Not that he had been capable of fleeing or anything. But...
"I am going to check where he found the alcohol one more time. It is not quite in the pickups of the cameras." Serene said with a sigh. "Then I am for bed."
"Didn't think Tenno got tired." Vina commented as she sat at her desk and sighed at her stack of paperwork. "I will get this done and then make sure Mercedes sleeps."
"Get some sleep tonight." Serene said with a smirk as Vina's cheeks flushed. It was actually fairly cute. The adorable secretary, the hard bitten soldier and the ruthless, tough as nails executive turned into love struck teenagers around each other. Who would have thought they would have formed a good threesome? "And remember, she is delicate now. Be careful."
"I won't forget." Vina promised as she focused on her paperwork. "Rest well."
"Soon enough." Serene said with a smile as she strode through the halls that were slowly beginning to feel like 'hers'.
She hadn't been sure about this at all. This place... felt like a trap. She didn't like traps. She didn't remember a lot of her life, her memory had become unstable and the medics had been forced to wipe her back to when she left cryo. When the Lotus had called her. She was musing over her odd life as she found the place the boy had found the alcohol and sure enough... another bottle lay on the floor. That was odd. She mentally reoriented a camera to cover it and left it where it was. Whoever had put it in place would come back to check it. She turned to go to her quarters.
"It would have been much easier if you had picked it up. The contact anesthesia was tailored for you." Serene went still at the voice. She knew the voice, although she had only heard it once. There was no one around. She keyed her alert, but was not surprised to get no response. "Don't do anything dumb, Serene! I just want to talk!"
"Like you talked with Mishka?" Serene snarled as she turned slowly and yes, there she was. The Reverend Mother of the Corpus Clergy. "I have nothing to say to you, you lying bitch." Her hand hovered near her bolto.
"I know..." The old nun said sadly. "But... I have a lot I need to say to you."
"First and foremost, I need your help."