Chapter One
And Everything Went Black
Cold. So cold. Telko ran his hand over the cold metallic motors of his left arm, examining the various wires and pistons. It had been only three days since his original arm of flesh and blood had been replaced by this cold, mechanical one. He reached up to his left shoulder and felt the raw, pink flesh where metal and flesh met. It was very crudely done, and wires could be clearly seen snaking under his skin. He sighed, dropping his right arm back to his side, feeling the smooth, cold, metal floor he was sitting on. The reason he was here, with a new mechanical arm still brought him a feeling of immense dread. A week ago, a distant relative of his had been confirmed missing, and due to Corpus law, deemed dead. Because of this, all of their supposed debt had been transferred over to him. He was now being transported to a debt colony somewhere on Venus, where he would supposedly work off his debt with the help of his cybernetic arm. He could hardly believe the situation he was in, and the injustice of it all made his blood boil with anger. Why should he have to pay off debts he had nothing to do with?
He didn't really believe that his relative was dead, despite what the authorities said. It was very common for the Corpus to ignore evidence, and he doubted they had even searched thoroughly. It was possible, of course, with the solar system in such a state of turmoil. In recent years, tension had been increasing between the Corpus, the Grineer, and the Tenno. He had never seen a Tenno, but he had heard many, many, stories. He wondered if it was because of a Tenno that his relative had gone missing.
With a jolt, his thoughts snapped back to the present as the floor shook, tremors running through the cargo hold of the carrier he was being transported in. He wondered what had caused it. It was likely something had merely malfunctioned somewhere. It was a very large ship after all.
With another sigh, he glanced around at his surroundings. his was sitting on the floor, slouched against the wall of his empty containment cell. It was a rather plain room, apart from the energy barrier blocking the exit.
On the other side of the barrier stood one of the ship's many crewman, who was currently acting as a guard, with a standard issue Flux rifle clutched in his gloved hands. The crewman was wearing the standard uniform of the Corpus; a simple grey-blue jumpsuit of plasteel weave, complete with a blocky and rectangular helmet, which obscured the crewman's face. At the crewman's side stood a Moa, a mechanical construct that made up the majority of the Corpus army. It was a simple thing. It had the look of something organic, like a bird, that had been converted into metal. It was essentially a pair of legs with a battery pack strapped to the top, alongside a heavy-duty energy cannon.
The room shook again, stronger this time, and the crewman glanced around uneasily. It seemed the crewman knew no more than Telko did about the unknown tremors.
Suddenly, the entire room shook violently, and Telko was thrown across the room where he hit the wall painfully. The crewman looked extremely uneasy, he had his handheld communications device in his hand, but it seemed to be unresponsive. As Telko picked himself up off of the floor, the ship gave a final, small tremor. Then, without warning, the lights went out, leaving the room lit by nothing except the turquoise glow of the energy barrier. In the weak light of the barrier, Telko saw the crewman tighten his grip on his rifle, staring fearfully out into the inky darkness of the now-dark cargo hold. Then, the emergency lights flickered on, one by one, illuminating the cargo hold with their dim red light.
It was then, that Telko saw something that made his blood run cold. There, silhouetted in the red light, was a figure. It stood perfectly still, completely silent.
With a horrified gasp, the crewman reached for his communications device, but the figure was faster. Telko heard the metallic whisper of a blade moving through the air, and, with the distinct glint of metal, the crewman was suddenly staggering backwards. Telko heard the communications device hit the floor with a clatter, followed by the the thump of a body.
The Moa reacted with a mechanical screech, aiming it's energy cannon at the intruder, but, once again, the figure was faster. Telko glimpsed another metallic flash, once, twice, until the Moa crashed to the ground, sparks flying from its severed battery pack.
The figure approached the energy barrier, and, for the first time, Telko was able to see it in full detail. At first glance, it had the body of a woman, but it was clear, that this was no woman, human or otherwise. It's skin appeared to be made of metal, yet it moved smoothly and soundlessy with the figure's movements, gleaming with an iridescent shine. Looking up, Telko saw that it had no face, but rather a boxy, grey rectangle covering where the eyes should have been. At it's side, was a sword, hidden away in a sheath. The sword was slightly curved, and appeared to be around three feet long. But the strangest feature of all, were the cables. There were cables dangling from the back of its head, elbows and from a boxy shape that seemed fused to the figure's back. There was no doubt in Telko's mind. This, was a Tenno.
For a moment the Tenno seemed to look at Telko through the energy barrier, as if it was considering him. Then, with yet another flash of movement, the Tenno lashed out with it's sword. The barrier flickered momentarily before fizzling out completely, leaving the room lit by nothing but the emergency lights. The Tenno stepped forward, and before he could react, it seized him roughly by the scruff of his neck. To his immense discomfort, Telko found himself being dragged down a dark corridor by the Tenno. He struggled against it's grip, but it was no use. It was unnaturally strong, and pulled him along easily. They rounded a corner and the Tenno froze, dropping Telko to the ground.
He began to climb to his feet, but froze in a crouch. At the end of the hallway stood dozens of Corpus crewmen and Moa. However, these crewmen, unlike the guards that had been assigned to Telko's containment cell, were armored and carrying heavy-duty plasma rifles. A security team.
The Tenno broke into a sprint down the hallway towards the group. As it ran, it let loose a short, ear-piercing scream. The sound reverberated off the metal walls, and pounded in Telko's eardrums. As he watched, the security team stumbled backwards. Telko realized that it was not a scream, but a battle cry. Suddenly, the Tenno slid into a crouch, and jumped over the heads of the security team. Landing behind them, the Tenno reached down towards it's hip, where what appeared to be an energy pistol materialized in it's hand. One after another, the enemy hit the ground, felled by the Tenno's gunfire. As Telko watched, the Tenno hit each target with laser precision. In seconds, the entire security team had been defeated.
Striding forward through the remains of the crewman, the Tenno once again grabbed Telko by the scruff of his neck. Within seconds, the Tenno had resumed its normal pace. As they ran, the ship began to shake violently once more. Unlike before, Telko could clearly hear explosions echoing distantly. Suddenly, they burst through a door, and Telko glimpsed a massive, cavernous hangar as well as a considerable amount of crewman. Before he could react, the room was suddenly ablaze with light of a massive explosion. The shockwave causing even the Tenno to stagger backwards. The smoke began to clear, but bizzarrely, the debris didn't. It simply hung there, floating in midair, along with the bodies of the incinerated crewmen.
The Tenno seemed wholly unbothered by the destruction, and simply stood there, as if it was waiting for something. Then, off in the distance, Telko glimpsed a flicker of movement. There, weaving through the wreckage like a serpent, was a ship. But it was unlike any ship Telko had ever seen before.
It was shimmering, distorting its surroundings, misleading the eye, and impossible to focus on. Through the ringing in his ears from the explosion, Telko could hear more crewmen behind them. As the ship began to descend upon their position, the Tenno began to sprint, dragging Telko in its wake. As he half-stumbled, half-ran, Telko glimpsed a gap in the ship's underside opening.
With a great heave, the Tenno grabbed Telko around his midsection, and threw him bodily into the hatch, before jumping in after him. Telko staggered to his feet, but, dizzy and disoriented from the explosion, he stumbled and fell. His head connected with the hard metal floor, and everything went black.