Choices

He hated this feeling. Of everything he had ever encountered –and remembered- this feeling of powerlessness was the absolute worst. It was not normal. He was Tenno, a living weapon. Born and bred, trained and tested, he had survived horrors unimaginable to get to where he was. But now… Now he was powerless. His Ash warframe was fully powered, his Latron rifle and Bronco pistol were fully loaded with ammunition. His Ether sword was as sharp as the day it had been created. But… he was powerless.

He had been full of hope. Having the two greatest enemies of the Tenno –and the few remnants of humanity- fighting each other was a gift. The Grineer Empire and the Corpus did not like the Tenno at all, but they detested each other even more. The swift escalation of hostilities between Grineer general Sargas Ruk and Corpus executive Alad V had taken many by surprise. The Grineer were powerful and arrogant, no question, but all out invasion? Just the thought of the two massive superpowers that had been causing so much harm across the Solar System duking it out with each other instead of wreaking havoc with those who could not fight back had raised a lot of spirits. Spirits that had been quickly dashed.

The cause of the conflict was a group of sleeping Tenno! The Corpus had located them and were working to exploit them for something called the 'Zanuka Project'. While the actual truth of the project was unknown at the time, knowing the Corpus, that could not be anything good, but then the Grineer had moved in to counter the Corpus gaining a significant advantage. The resulting conflict had spread across the whole of Mars local space. First the Grineer had the advantage, then the Corpus had. As bad as the conflicts between Grineer and Corpus had normally been, this had been far, far worse. Both sides had known they could not win on their own, both sides had reached out to the Tenno to aid their war efforts. Many Tenno had simply refused to aid either group, knowing that if they did, they consequences could be devastating. He had chosen to aid the Corpus to keep the Grineer's massive empire from growing even further. He had known going in that his kin might pay a hefty price for his support of the religious fanatics, but… he hadn't had a clue.

The conflict had resolved itself when both sides had tired themselves out, used up all available resources and essentially paused to regroup. Fighting still erupted in fits and starts in many places as local commanders took advantage of perceived enemy weaknesses. The downside to that was that not all of the weaknesses were real. Some of the attacks made headway, others were repulsed. That was the nature of warfare. The major problem though was not the Corpus or the Grineer. Both had seemingly forgotten that there was another powerful mass of foes in the system. Now, the Infested were in the move.

The Ash watched in silence from his high perch on a mountainside as yet another small human outpost was overrun by Infested. He was too far away to hear the screams as the humans ran, hid and in a few cases fought. It made no difference. The few humans who were armed were largely untrained with the weapons that they had managed to hide from the Grineer slavers who had swept through the area. Any weapon found was grounds for immediate execution. Any hint of rebellion was grounds for the eradication of entire villages. The Grineer considered normal humans to be inferior and declined to even leave garrisons in most human settlements. This left the humans woefully unprepared for any kind of attack, let alone the Infested.

Infested were… hard to categorize. Some of them acted with animalistic savagery. Others acted with some kind of semi-sentience. Still others seemed to be hyper intelligent. All were linked somehow through the Technocyte virus into a huge group mind. What one saw, all knew. All might not comprehend what was seen, but all would see it. The Ash maintained his vigil as a pack of Chargers dashed into the midst of the few humans who were still firing and knocked them down. The fire stopped, the rest of the Infested moved up and the battle quickly became a slaughter as the few armed defenders were slain. It was odd though. Infested did not actually kill their enemies. What they did was far, far worse. They disabled and then infected them. No one was immune to the horrible disease. Grineer, Corpus, human, Tenno… Any who were infected were lost to the horrors of the virus. Mental capacity fell away in most cases, leaving a bestial half awareness. He had heard of some who had either recovered from the virus or been treated somehow, but he had never seen any actual proof.

The Ash shook his head as the infested below started to scour the houses for any hidden remnants. There was nothing he could do against an entire horde. Once he would have charged in anyway, just to do something. But things had changed.

The town has fallen. He said in his mind. They fought as well as they could, but none escaped. The Infested are nesting.

Any sign of your quarry? The voice of his minder asked. Her tone was cold and remote. It hadn't always been that way. But then again, he had given lots of people cause to dislike and distrust him.

No. The Ash said with a sigh. I might have been able to save a few of them. He said quietly.

You have your orders Tenno. The Lotus snapped. Carry them out. Then her voice vanished.

He couldn't really blame her for her attitude. He had believed. He had obeyed. He had done something far, far beyond the pale. What was worse? He hadn't had cause like the one who had taken his honor. At least now, maybe he had a chance to do something right. Maybe. He hoped so.

It had been so hard. Surrendering to the judgment of the Elders without a fight had been hard. He wouldn't have been able to win. The other Tenno who had been all around him had been ready for resistance. But he was no renegade. He never had been. He followed orders. Even when the orders hadn't made sense, he was a soldier. He served. He obeyed. It was what he did. He hadn't like the idea of sneaking into another clan's dojo to snatch a prisoner from it. He certainly hadn't liked what had happened. What should have been a simple in and out mission had wound up with him carrying two struggling girls while the other Tenno with him had mind controlled two others to follow. The names they called him… 'Traitor', 'Renegade', 'Fool'… All of that had hurt. What had hurt worse was the knowledge that he was. He was party to an attack on another clan of Tenno. It was only by some miracle that none of the prisoners had been hurt or died. Then the realization that he and his small group had transgressed for nothing. That their great plan wouldn't have worked at all. That hurt even more.

Part of him had almost hoped that he would die during the fighting that had erupted when the Grineer had come. At least then he wouldn't have had to face the scorn of his peers. The looks. The mutters. The knowledge that he was renegade. Not by his own choice, but by his commander's. It made no difference. Tenno were supposed to be smart and he hadn't been.

The Ash shook off the past and started down the mountain away from where the Infested were nesting. Making more of themselves from the bodies of the fallen humans. He couldn't do anything for the humans even if he hadn't been ordered not to interfere. He shook himself and his Latron came to hand as he sprinted silently away from the horrors. He had a mission.

After the Grineer and Corpus had exhausted themselves at Mars, there had been a quiet but clear order to find out more about the Corpus latest brainchild. The words 'Zanuka Project' had been bandied about by Alad V during the fighting but little had been discovered. The success of much of the Grineer invasion had allowed the Tenno to rescue many of their kin from the Corpus labs, but horror stories had percolated through the ranks, followed by what little information was available. Zanuka was a new breed of Corpus proxy. One built with warframe components. And the way that those components were gathered… He hadn't believed until he and a team had entered a Corpus lab and run into Alad V and his abomination himself. The… ghastly bits of one of his brothers hanging on a rack to be used to build that horrible four legged thing had awakened his rage. The team had destroyed the proxy after a tough fight and tried to terminate Alad V. But the human form they had killed –torn limb from limb- had wound up being a decoy, a hapless Corpus goon who had been dressed up like that fat executive and left for the Tenno to slaughter. Other Tenno teams reported that Alad V was still operating, using captured Tenno as guinea pigs and spare parts to build new and improved versions of his monstrosity. They kept killing him, but it was always decoys.

The Tenno would not stop. Alad V knew this. So his 'Zanuka Project' was likely only the tip of the iceberg. So, Tenno had been sent to find out all that could be discovered about the project. Data raids, prisoner interrogations, smash and grab of technology, all of this had helped paint a picture. A gruesome picture. But… there was an oddity. An anomaly near the beginning of the project that none of the Tenno intelligence specialists had been able to figure out. One of the labs that Alad V had frequented had suffered some kind of calamity. All of the Corpus personnel present had died, and the lab itself had been destroyed by a reactor meltdown. But… According to the Lotus, no Tenno had been anywhere near that lab. And, even more oddly, the only clue was a door to a cell that had been broken open from the inside.

The Ash had been part of the recon team sent to investigate the Corpus ruins. He had found… something. An odd footprint. One that did not match any known boot used by Grineer, Corpus, Tenno or human. It looked sort of like a boot with claws. The recon team, baffled but satisfied that the lab itself held no more secrets, had departed. He had remained. He had wanted to investigate and had made arguments both to the Lotus and to the recon team commander. The recon team had left him in silence. They hadn't even acknowledged his arguments. The Lotus had told him to search and remain covert. He got the hint. Out of sight, out of mind. No one wanted to associate with a traitor even if he hadn't really been one.

He had spent the last week searching this planetoid. For such a small body, it held a great deal of terraformed area. The Grineer had invaded and taken over, but his search had continued. And now… The Infested had come.

The Ash shook his head slowly as he ran across the landscape. Then he froze in midstep and stared at the ground. On a sandy patch was a footprint almost exactly like the one he had seen in the facility. He thought for a moment, then called it in.

Lotus? I have found another footprint. He placed himself with his map and nodded. It looks like it was going away from the facility. There was no response. Orders? He nearly pleaded. Still no response.

The Ash shook himself a little. This was getting ridiculous. Yes, he had messed up. More than once. But sheesh. He had proof, some kind of oddity that might lead to a break against Alad V and his horrors. Why treat him like an outcast now?

What do I have to do to prove myself, Lotus? He demanded silently. What do I have to say? I was wrong! I know that. I… I believed Grina. That was wrong. I understand why none of my kin trust me, but please, Lotus. I want to do something right! The echoes in his head were deafening, but there was still no response.

The Ash slumped and looked at the footprint. It was heading towards a line of low hills in the distance. The area ahead was mostly rocky. Few footprints would be left. But he had time. He had all the time in the universe now. As an outcast, he had nowhere to go, nothing to do. Immortal in his warframe, he had all the time in the universe to remember his stupidity, his impatience and his arrogance. He started off again, his warframe sensors scanning at their most sensitive. The last thing he needed was to be blindsided by Grineer or Corpus while hunting this mystery. Then he paused.

Tracks led up one of the hills. The same odd tracks he had been following. Now that he could see them, they looked almost like Tenno boot prints. Almost. Where the toes of a Tenno boot would have been, claws raked the ground in places. And to each side, odd marks shone where something had trailed on the ground at times. What was he following? From the tracks, it was humanoid. Two legs anyway. He shook his head again and followed the tracks until they came to a stream and then his eyes went wide under his helmet. Someone had knelt down at the stream, probably to drink. The water ran clear and fast along this hill. The knee prints looked… wrong. Then he looked further and found more tracks leading up the hill. He shook his head again. He had to know what was going on.

His Latron was sweeping the area as he stepped across the stream, his steps slow and careful. He was no tracker by trade, but Tenno picked up a lot of skills in their long lifetimes. The cryo-nesia might have dampened some, diluted others, but somehow he knew that the tracks that he was following now were fresher than the ones leading up to the stream. Whoever or whatever had made the tracks had been coming to the stream for water. The question was… Why? Warframes did not need water. They were self-contained, self-sustaining. So… What?

It happened with no warning at all. One moment, he was walking carefully up the hill, his rifle sweeping, then he was flying through the air. He had a moment to realize that something had grabbed him and hauled him into the air, then he hit and pain eclipsed everything. He lost his rifle and scrabbled to his feet, hand sweeping down to grab his pistol only to freeze at what met his eyes.

The female Tenno stood in an aggressive posture. She was unarmed. Her warframe was a mess of bio-mechanical flesh and metal fused in what looked to be painful fashions. Her helmet had two wing like protrusions. Her wrists had some kind of metal things on them that had some kind of cables hanging from them, cables that thrashed as she readied herself to charge.

"Wait!" He called. "I am not your enemy!" He pleaded, his hands coming up empty. She ignored his words and charged.

He didn't want to hurt her, but she had no such compunctions. He quickly found himself on the defensive, her blows coming faster and faster as she snarled and spat. He dodged and evaded for all he was worth.

"Sister! Please!" He begged her as he backpedaled. "I am not…" His foot caught empty air and he was falling. The last thing he saw as the ground came up to meet him was her warframe silhouetted against the sky. Then worse pain slammed all other thoughts from Olim's mind and darkness followed.