*I fully acknowledge that there is more that one of each type of Warframe armour, as there are thousands of people that play Warframe. This piece of fanfiction, while taking inspiration and bits and pieces from other games and movies such as Halo, Star Wars and Digital Extreme's game Dark Sector, as well as a tiny bit of inspiration from the anime Maria the Virgin Witch, is completely my own work, throughout this piece of writing I will refer to each Warframe as an individual Tenno with their own personalities, as they are in my mind* *Spoilers Ahead: and for those who are curious I have completed the Second Dream quest in Warframe and know what the Tenno/Warframes are. In this story the Tenno/Operator have significantly upgraded their Warframes allowing them to be operated as a Suit of armour AND through the Somatic Link system implemented at the end of the Second Dream quest. In this story the Tenno mostly use their Warframes as a suit of armour. Only using the Somatic Link if they're severely injured*
Prologue
There has been a dramatic shift in the way the Tenno operate, Lotus still guides the Tenno on their missions, but the clans have been dissolved. The Tenno have been "United" under the leadership of the Primes. The Primes have created a new Tenno order, with regulations more severe than those of the Orokin era, the main one is that having children or a relationship is strictly forbidden, the punishment for breaking this regulation is death. Over the past few months more and more Tenno have disappeared, the Primes say that it is due to them falling in battle but the disappearances are becoming more and more suspicious.
Chapter 1: Revelations
Her heart pounded and her head swam as she stared in complete disbelief at the results, No, no, no, no this can't be real, this can't be happening, I'm...pregnant? Mag couldn't think straight, she knew she should be shocked, but she wasn't, she was...happy, if anything she was overjoyed. "I need to tell someone about this, I know I'll give Nyx a call." Mag headed over to the communication panel but the panel wouldn't open.
"Operator what's wrong, your anxiety levels just skyrocketed?" Ordis said with a worried tone.
"It's nothing Ordis; I just need to make a call, could you open the comm panel now?" Mag asked as politely as she could. Ordis wasn't wrong, after seeing the results of the test the initial shock had made her anxiety levels skyrocket.
"Of course Operator, there we go the comm panel is open and ready for you to use." Ordis said as he opened the communications panel.
"Thank you Ordis," Mag replied. "Nyx, come in Nyx, this is Mag do copy?" Mag waited to hear Nyx's reply.
"Hello? Mag do you have any idea what time it is?" Nyx sounded slightly irritated. Mag checked her chrono it was 2:30 am S.E.T (Standard Earth Time)
"Ohh sorry Nyx, didn't mean to wake you, I thought you were on a mission?" Mag replied.
"I was, but don't worry about waking me, what's wrong you sound distracted?" Nyx replied, now taking full interest. Damn it, Nyx always can pick up on the slightest ques. Mag thought.
"Nyx I need to talk to you about something..." Mag said, but she was cut short by Nyx.
"Okay talk." Nyx said.
"Not here, not over an open channel like this, you never know who may be listening." Mag said.
"If you sound this concerned then it must be important, where should we meet?" Nyx asked.
"Tyl Regor's underwater cloning facility on Uranus. It's been abandoned for months now so we shouldn't run into anyone, meet me there in 20 minutes." Mag said.
"Okay see you soon, out." Nyx ended the call from her end, Mag closed down the comm panel with a sigh.
"Operator, sorry for eavesdropping, but would you like me to set a course to Tyl Regor's labs?" Ordis asked.
"Yes Ordis that would be very helpful, thank you." Mag said.
"Shall I detach the orbiter compartment?" Ordis enquired.
"No, leave the orbiter attached Ordis." Mag said.
"Very well, activating void cloak, setting course for Tyl Regor's labs." Ordis responded.
"Thank you Ordis." Mag said with a sigh of relief, there was a slight jolt as Ordis began to pilot the ship towards Uranus. Mag headed down into the orbiter compartment. The compartment was quite bare, with just the standard Liset colours. I really need to do some decorating in here, Mag thought to herself, but that can wait until I've got this all sorted out. She hit a button and a bed slid out of the wall, Mag sat down on the bed and began to think. Well being pregnant explains why I have been feeling nauseous and been unable to concentrate properly. Mag thought to herself, she began to fall deeper into thought. Mag was snapped back to reality as her thoughts were interrupted by Ordis' voice. "Operator we are 5 minutes away from Tyl Regor's labs."
"Thank you Ordis, once you drop me off retreat to a safe distance, stay cloaked and await my signal." Mag said to Ordis.
"Of course Operator...wait Operator I am picking up another ship signal." Ordis responded.
"Don't worry Ordis Its just Nyx." Mag said as she prepared to drop. After 5 minutes of searching for Nyx, who had landed on the other side of the complex, Mag finally met up with Nyx, both Tenno removed their helmets. Mag's long golden blonde hair, slightly glowing the light, flowed down to her waist; she was relieved that she could finally let her hair down. The only problem with having long hair is that it makes wearing a helmet very uncomfortable. She thought to herself.
"Mag, you wanted to meet me here and talk, well I am here so what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Nyx asked.
"Nyx, I-I..." Mag began but she was, again, cut short by Nyx.
"You're pregnant, I know, I sensed it when I walked in the room, and this explains why you have been out of character for the past few weeks. So what are you going to do about it? Having children or even a relationship is forbidden by our order." Nyx said. It was at this point that Mag broke down, she slumped to the floor and began crying, tears streaming down her face, huge sobs racking her thin frame, Nyx knelt beside her friend.
"I know having children is forbidden, I know what happens if you brake this rule. I'm scared Nyx, I don't know what to do." Mag sobbed. This wasn't the first time Nyx had seen Mag cry, but this was the first time she had seen Mag have a complete emotional breakdown.
"First off, who's the father?" Nyx asked with a sigh as she cradled Mag. Despite being a psychic Tenno, and seeming cold, detached, and constantly irritated to most, Nyx cared very deeply for those she considered a friend and Mag had been her best friend since training all those years ago after returning from the Void when they were sent there by the Orokin.
"It's Frost, He's the father." Mag managed to say between sobs.
"Well, He'll be pleased, but you need to tell the council about this, maybe they will be lenient on you. I would feel much safer if you told them rather than Lotus." Nyx said.
"Don't you trust Lotus?" Mag asked.
"It's not that I don't trust Lotus, I just think the council will be more lenient on you if you tell them in person." Nyx replied.
"I'll tell the council, but I would you mind coming along with me?" Mag asked, her pleading tone told Nyx that she was truly scared, not just for her safety, but for the safety of her child.
"Of course I will come with you," Nyx opened her communicator "Ordis, its Nyx, I need you to pick both me and Mag up on the south side of the complex." she said into the microphone.
"As you wish Operator, I am at the south side of the complex, awaiting your arrival." Ordis' voice came through the speaker.
"Thank you Ordis, Come on let's get going." Nyx finished as she helped Mag to her feet and closed down her comm. Mag and Nyx headed to Ordis' location. Once aboard Nyx set a course for the Terminus, after the 50 minute flight they arrived. The hangar of the Terminus is a colossal cavern of white and gleaming gold, with glowing blue energy lights, and space for thousands of ships, but today it was practically empty making the hanger seam even more cavernous. Mag and Nyx disembarked and headed through the gleaming halls of the Terminus towards the council chambers, the whole Terminus is styled in exactly the same way as the hangar. "I'll be up in the gallery, okay." Nyx said as she gave Mag another hug.
"Okay." Mag replied, and with that Mag headed into the chamber with Nyx up in the gallery to watch. The council was made up of the Primes, they would rotate out the different Primes every month but today the council was made up of Excalibur Prime, councillor of justice, Mag Prime, councillor of fairness, Nyx Prime, councillor of truth and Nova Prime, councillor of mercy.
"What is it you seek child, speak now and we will listen." came the booming voice of Excalibur Prime, his words echoed around the chamber.
"Noble counsellors, I come before you today with a predicament of the greatest concern for me." Mag said, her voice echoing around the chamber, she stared at each of the council members.
"She is pregnant!" came the voice of Nyx Prime. Damn it if Nyx could sense that I'm pregnant, it would have been no problem for a Prime to sense it. Mag though to herself.
"Young Mag, Is this true?" Excalibur Prime asked
"It is true noble councillors, I am pregnant." Mag said, her voice beginning to wobble as she spoke.
"Young Mag, you do know that having children is forbidden in our order?" It was Nova Prime who spoke next
"Yes I do, and I'm truly sorry for it." Mag began to sob again; she fell to the floor and began crying as the councillors began to argue amongst themselves about the best course of action to take. It was Excalibur Prime who broke the argument.
"Young Mag, you have broken the faith that we have put in you, but as you are one of the Lotus's best agents you punishment will not be as severe, instead of death your child will be terminated, and you will be imprisoned along with the farther of the child for 1 year, during the year your powers will be negated." Hearing this just caused Mag to become even more distraught. Nyx was horrified at what Excalibur Prime was saying when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned around to see Trinity.
"Trinity!? I thought you were dead, the Primes said you were dead." Nyx said astounded.
"Shhhhh, don't worry about me, it's Mag you should be worried about." Trinity said in a hushed voice, as she said this she pointed to Mag, who was on the floor bawling her eyes out as the terms of her punishment were said.
"Damn it Trinity we have to help her!" Nyx said as she rushed to the balcony.
"Don't worry we have a plan, Mirage, Nekros, Valkyr, are you in position?" Trinity said into her commlink.
"In position." came the chilling, ethereal voice of Nekros.
"Copy that, I am right across from you." came the playful voice of Mirage.
"I'm in position and awaiting the signal." came the stern, slightly rage filled voice of Valkyr.
"See we have a plan." Trinity said to reassure Nyx.
"Those are the terms of your punishment, GUARDS seize her; take her to cell block 112378." the guards stepped towards Mag, weapons at the ready, not that they would need them as Mag was too distraught to even look up at them.
"NOOOOO!" Nyx yelled as she vaulted the railing and landed between Mag and the guards, activating psychic bolts she sent the guards flying in separate directions, Nyx turned and knelt beside Mag, she was completely distraught. "YOU HEARTLESS MONSTERS, HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO HER!" Nyx yelled up to the Primes.
"Now move in! Mag, Nyx, Cover your eyes!" Trinity yelled, suddenly Mirage activated her prism ability and produced a ball of light with lasers all different colours protruding from it, the prism flew towards the Primes and exploded in a blinding flash "Valkyr, Nekros, Now!" came Trinity's yell, Valkyr leapt in front of Nyx and unleashed her paralysis, stunning the already blinded Primes. Then Nekros stepped out of the shadows, using soul punch he knocked the Primes off their feet, all except one, Nova Prime, "Come on Nova, let's go, Nyx get Mag out of here, head for the hanger, Everyone else, form up, we need to create a distraction for Nyx and Mag to reach the hanger!" Trinity yelled as she leapt from the balcony and landed near Mag and Nyx.
"Come on Mag lets go!" Nyx said as she helped Mag to her feet, she was still distraught. Once out of the council chamber Nyx and Mag broke into a sprint towards the hanger, they passed other Tenno and operatives as they ran, this drew some strange back looks and murmurs from some of those they passed but Nyx and Mag didn't pay that much attention to them. They rounded the corner into the hanger when Mag fell to the ground.
"Damn it Magnetic damage, shields down!" Mag grunted as she got back to her feet. She and Nyx made a mad dash to her Liset; Nyx was three meters ahead of Mag when she heard Mag cry out in pain, Nyx crouched down and took out the sniper with a well placed shot from her Magnus, she ran over to Mag and noticed the blood begin to stain her Warframe, the shot had hit her in the abdomen.
"TRINITY! MAG'S BEEN HIT!" Nyx shouted into her commlink.
"I'm on the opposite end of the Terminus, just get her out of here!" came Trinity's response over the gunfire. Alarms began to blare as Nyx grabbed Mag and lifted her up, this caused Mag to cry out in pain and clutch at the wound.
"If I could put you down I would, but we need to get out of here!" Nyx grunted as she carried Mag over to her Liset, the rotating drum slid open and Nyx secured Mag into the harness, she turned to see more guards entering the hanger, drawing her Boltor Nyx opened fire, causing the guards to duck for cover, Nyx banged on the hull of the Liset with her elbow as the drum rotated "ORDIS!, GET HER OUT OF HERE!" Nyx yelled to the Liset's cephalon as she fired on the guards. Without another word the Liset detached from its docking clamp and took off at full speed out of the hanger; Nyx punched a few keys on her commlink, signalling her own ship to deploy archwing. As the guards approached she leapt off the platform as the archwing flew past, latching into the harness Nyx engaged the boost on her archwing and took off after Mag's Liset, the gunfire from the guards bouncing harmlessly off the archwing's shields. As it turns out Trinity had done the same thing and was busy climbing in to Mag's Liset to assess Mag's injuries.
After entering her own ship Nyx rushed over to her comm panel and contacted Mag's Liset only to be confronted by Mag, on the floor, screaming in pain with Trinity, kneeling beside Mag, trying to heal her "Trinity, what's wrong with her?" Nyx asked, her voice betraying all of the panic that she felt .
"She's stabilising, slowly, but she's lost a lot of blood. Nyx I...I can't stop the bleeding." Trinity's words hit Nyx like a blow from a fragor
"Is she going to make it?" Nyx asked her voice shaking as she fought to control the massive wave of panic that suddenly washed over her.
"I didn't want to have to do this, the ships weapon systems are not fully operational, but Mag's injury has forced my hand." Trinity said as she opened her commlink "Hydroid, bring the ship out of the Void, we need help." Trinity said into the mic. The stars in front of the two ships began to shimmer, dim and then disappear all together as a medium sized Orokin derelict emerged from the Void "Ordis take us into the starboard hanger!" Trinity yelled. The derelict's shields began to glow under a withering assault of fire coming from the Terminus' guns, but they did not fall "Hydroid, I need a med team to meet me down in hanger 3 as soon as I land, Ordis take us down!" Trinity yelled again. Mag's Liset shot forward towards hanger three, Nyx's ship followed suit, only then did Nyx realise the three other Lisets in tight formation behind her Liset. The other Lisets belonged to Mirage, Nekros, and Valkyr. As her ship flew along the starboard hull of the ship Nyx noticed the name of the ship, The Trident, printed on the side of the hull. The medic team was waiting in hanger three for the Liset team. As Nyx stepped out of her ship she noticed Mag being loaded onto an anti-grav stretcher, Nyx rushed over to her, but was stopped by one of the Synthetic med team.
"Step back please, let her though." the medic said. As the stretcher passed by Nyx caught a glimpse of Mag, the wound on her left side was covered with a heavily blood soaked bandage, a small pool of blood beginning to form on the stretcher that was growing bigger by the second, her long blonde hair was streaked with blood, and yet even though she was unconscious her face was contorted with pain, Mag let out a cry causing the med team to move faster, soon Mag and the med team disappeared towards the medbay.
Chapter 2: Reunions
Nyx went to go after Mag, but a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her from going any further, she turned to see who the hand belonged to but her vision was blurring because of the tears welling in her eyes "Come on, I'll show you to your quarters, you can stow your gear and change out of your Warframe there." Trinity said as she led Nyx to the door leading out of the hangar, Nyx wiped the tears from her eyes so that she could see straight. As they reached the door The Trident was rocked by an explosion large enough that Trinity and Nyx had to steady themselves against the doorframe, Trinity punched the comm on the wall "Hydroid, get us out of here" she said into the speaker.
"Where to?" came the gruff reply from Hydroid.
"Anywhere but here." Trinity responded, the comm clicked off and Trinity lead the way to the dorm. "This one's yours." she said as she punched the 3 digit pin, 728, the door slid open with a snap-hiss. Inside the lights flickered on, illuminating the room in a soft white glow, the room was fairly barren just two beds, each with a bedside table, one large table with two chairs, one foundry, and two Orokin lockers, there was a chamber in the far left hand corner for disassembling Warframes, the room colours were the standard, just like all Orokin ships and structures it was white with gleaming gold and glowing blue energy lights defining the corners of the room and along the skirting board. "I took the liberty of adding a polychrome system so that you can change the room colours if you want." Trinity said.
"Trinity, there are two beds and two lockers, who's the other one for?" Nyx asked.
"That will be reviled in time, but I assure you every room is like this, Now I will leave you to change out of your Warframe and stow your gear, I have to go debrief in the medbay, and operate on Mag, there's a PDA for you, it contains a map of the entire ship as well as some information you may find useful, it's on the table." Trinity said and with that she spun on her heels and hurried off to the medbay. Nyx closed the door and stowed her gear in her locker, she walked over to the disassembly chamber. The door closed behind her with a soft swish and locked with a click, she reached out and pressed the holographic 'Remove Warframe' button and the machine went to work removing her Warframe with a soft hum. After about a minute she stepped out of the machine in her jump suit, every Tenno wore the exact same black jumpsuit with Orokin script woven in gold all over it, the only difference was Nyx's name embroided on the left shoulder. With a sigh Nyx untied her hair; her silky brunet hair flowed down to about the middle of her back. She walked over to the table and picked up the PDA, at her touch the screen lit up. Okay I need to find the map. she thought as she flipped through the options on the screen, she found and accessed the map then she left her room and headed to the medbay glancing at the screen every now and then to make sure she was on the right path. As she entered the medbay she noticed Mag lying on a recovery bed with Trinity standing over her, watching the monitors.
"Ahh, Nyx there you are." Trinity said with a meek smile, her voice betraying all the exhaustion she felt.
"How is she?" Nyx asked softly as she walked over to the bed.
"She'll be fine; the shot passed clean through, causing minimal internal damage. She's going to be out for a few days..." Trinity began, but she was cut short.
"And the baby?" Nyx said.
"Baby?" this time it as Trinity's turn to be surprised.
"Mag's pregnant, that's why we were at the Terminus today. That's why I was so worried when she was shot." Nyx said as Trinity checked one of her readouts.
"Well I'll be a low level Corpus technician, you're right she is pregnant. Don't worry though; she's very, very lucky. Had the shot been three centimetres to the left, it would have pierced her womb, the baby's fine." Trinity said. Nyx let out a sigh of relief as Mag stirred and began to mumble something "Sounds like she is saying 'Frost', any idea what she means?" Trinity asked.
"Frost is the father and he's in danger, we need to get him. Lotus can you pinpoint Frost's exact location for me?" Nyx said to Trinity and to Lotus.
"Frost is on Europa, on a mission for Darvo, he is with three others, Chroma, Excalibur, and Ember. Hold on, they're under attack. By another Tenno team. Banshee, Limbo, Ash, and Nova." Lotus responded.
"The Primes personal hit team." Nyx said disgusted.
"Limbo's an informant, an inside man. We have to get him out as well as Frost and the others." Trinity said as she walked over to the intercom, "Hydroid, make for Europa, we got some guys to rescue." Trinity said into the speaker.
"Nav coordinates set. Void jumping in 3-2-1." Hydroids gruff reply came, the ship gave a shudder as they jumped into the Void. Trinity headed for the door, she turned looking back at Nyx.
"You can stay here with Mag, I'm going to the front left MAC (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) bay, it's the only one operational and the latest telemetry report shows that the space around Europa is swarming with Corpus ships. We may have to blast a path for Frost and his team." then she disappeared through the doorway leaving Nyx alone with Mag. The soft beeping of one of the medical machines that Mag was hooked up to and Mag's soft, shallow breathing were the only sounds.
"At least the bleeding has stopped," Nyx murmured, mostly to herself, "The baby's alright, and you're healing." Nyx said as she laid a hand on Mag's face, Mag winced at her touch. She was cold, but that was to be expected, she has lost a lot of blood, Nyx sat there just looking at Mag, her mouth and nose are cover by an oxygen mask helping her breath. Your hair's still streaked with blood and you're still in a lot of pain, but at least you're safe now. Nyx thought as Mag winced again.
Down on the Corpus ship orbiting Europa, Frost and his team, Chroma, Excalibur and Ember are pinned down by heavy fire, fire directed on them by their fellow Tenno, Banshee, Limbo, Ash and Nova. "Frost, Frost can you hear me?" It was Lotus.
"Yea Lotus, loud and clear!" Frost said as a rocket exploded nearby.
"Frost listen to me, you need to get you and your team to extraction now, what's the situation?" Lotus asked.
"Situation is FUBAR Lotus but we can't get out we are taking too much fire, FALL BACK, FALL BACK TO THE HANGAR!" Frost yelled as he began running followed by the rest of his team, as Chroma rounded the corner into the hangar Frost shut the door and shot the lock, disabling the door.
"Frost we need to get out of here, Frost!? Are you listening?" It was Ember who was yelling at Frost.
"The door won't hold them forever." Chroma was the one who spoke next, his Irish accent echoing around the room, but Frost wasn't paying attention to either of them; something caught his attention beyond the blockade as he wandered over to the hangar entrance that was sealed from the vacuum of space by an energy field. A portal opened behind Excalibur who fell to the ground with a crash as Limbo stepped through it causing everyone except Frost to point their guns at him.
"Ohh, terribly sorry old boy, here let me give you a hand." Limbo said as he helped Excalibur to his feet "If you all would be so kind as to lower you weapons, I assure you I mean you no harm." Limbo said again, his British accent diffusing the tension a little.
"Hey guys come over here." Frost said as the others, including Limbo, ran over to see what he was pointing at. Out in the distance, beyond the blockade, the stars began to dim as The Trident emerged from the Void.
"There they are, I was wondering when the rest of them were going to get here, Hydroid I have set the beacon, ready when you are. You all might want to brace yourselves." Limbo said as he grabbed onto something sturdy. There was a bright flash from the derelict as it fired a single MAC round, the round destroyed three Corpus ships and blasted a massive hole in the hanger. Over the howling of the depressurisation and the warning sirens blaring across the ship Limbo yelled out to the others "If you want to get out of here, you may want to follow me chaps!" and with that he ran and jumped into the hole in the side of the ship and was vented into space. Without saying anything Chroma followed suit, then Ember, then Excalibur, then Frost. As Frost jumped into the hole he felt the tremendous pull as the artificial atmosphere was vented into space, He shot forth like a rocket and soon he caught up to the others who were slotting their way through the wreckage field towards The Trident. As they got close to The Trident a shuttle approached the group, who by now had lost momentum and were floating in space. The bay door to the shuttle opened, Valkyr was standing in the door way, using ripline she pulled them into the shuttle. As the bay door closed the shuttle began to move back towards The Trident.
"You lot are lucky we got to you before the Primes did, nice job Limbo." Valkyr said.
"Thank you madam." Limbo said as he took a bow.
"Valkyr, I have a transmission coming from Trinity." the pilot's voice came through the loud speaker
"Patch it through." Valkyr said.
"Valkyr, good to see that you picked them all up. Frost, good to see that you're in one piece, I'll brief you personally when you land, the rest of you will follow Valkyr to the bridge where you will be briefed." the transmission ended without another word.
Back in the Medbay Mag began to stir, this caused Nyx who had fallen asleep, to wake with a shock "Ugh, what happened? Where am I?" she asked, she tried to sit up but cried out in pain Nyx gently pushed Mag back onto the bed.
"Easy, easy, you're going to have to stay here. Trinity's orders, she also said that you would be out for a few days, and yet you're awake." Nyx said softly.
"I remember being shot, is the baby alright!?" Mag asked, her eyes going wide in fright.
"Don't worry, the baby's just fine, the shot missed your womb, your very lucky." Nyx said reassuringly as Mag calmed down. There was a faint sound of magnetic clamps sealing in the hangar "Ahh that will be the shuttle, just stay calm." Nyx said to Mag.
Back in the hanger the magnetic clamps had locked the shuttle in place, the bay door opened and Frost looked out to see Trinity standing at the bottom of the ramp. "Frost, follow me." she called out as she began to walk off with Frost hurrying after her.
"What's going on Trinity, Valkyr said something about the Primes?" Frost enquired.
"The Primes have betrayed us; I was in the Terminus today when I rescued Mag and Nyx from them. They're in the medbay. There are other things that will be told later in the big debrief..." Trinity was cut short by Frost.
"Mag!? Is she okay, what's wrong with her!?" his voice was full of panic.
"She's okay, but you can see that for yourself," Trinity opened the door to the medbay, "She's right over there." Trinity said as she pointed to where Nyx was sitting.
Frost removed his helmet and walked over to the bed. "Mag?" was the only thing he managed to say.
"Hey Frost, I'm fine, but there is something I need to tell you." Mag said, her voice was tired and strained.
"What is it Mag?" Frost asked.
"Frost, I'm pregnant; you're going to be a father." Mag said as a meek, yet radiant smile covered her face; Frost on the other hand was absolutely speechless, he just stared with a blank expression on his face as he processed what was just said. Slowly a smile began to appear on his face.
"A baby, that's wonderful honey." Frost said as he knelt down beside Mag.
"I'll give you two sometime alone." Nyx said as she got up and gave her seat to Frost. She walked back to her room to find the door already open. She walked in to see Excalibur stowing his gear in the other locker, he turned around to see Nyx standing in the doorway.
"Nyx!? I didn't know this was your room, Trinity just told me to come here." Excalibur said. Nyx just ran over to him and embraced him warmly; they stood there for about 3 minutes, neither saying anything.
Chapter 3: Debrief
There was a chime as the as the intercom started, "Would everyone please meet in the medbay for debriefing." the VI's voice came through the speaker, the intercom turned off with another chime. Without saying anything Nyx and Excalibur left the room and headed to the medbay. Along the way they were joined by Ember and Chroma. Both of them had removed their Warframe armour, Ember had let her fiery red hair down, it swayed as she walked, and Chroma was humming something to himself. He was always either humming or singing to himself or those around him, after about a minute they were all in the medbay.
"There you all are." Frost said as they entered, He was sitting beside Mag's bed, he had removed his Warframe and so had Mag, but instead of her Tenno jumpsuit she was wearing a standard hospital robe.
Nyx rushed over to Mag while the others took their seats. "Mag, how are you feeling?" She asked.
"I feel like I've been hit by a truck and my abdomen feels like it's on fire, but aside from that I'm fine, and happy that the baby's fine, I can go to my room after this but unfortunately Trinity said that I'll have to stay in bed for another 2 weeks before I can start moving around, and I'm grounded from doing missions for another few months after that." Mag said with a sigh.
"Well if you can't go on missions then I won't either." Nyx replied.
"And neither will I." Frost commented as he held Mag's hand.
"You guys, Just because I am stuck in bed as I heal doesn't mean that you don't have to do missions, Nyx you're one of Lotus' top agents and Frost you're skills are second to none in defence missions." Mag said, she cringed a little bit. It was apparent that the pain was still intense and even though she was doing her best to hide it, it was still showing.
"Nonsense, I'm going to look after you until you're better, I can't or rather won't go on missions knowing that you are like this, I couldn't live with myself is something happened to you and I wasn't there." Frost said as he looked into Mag's eyes.
"Thank you, both of you." Mag replied softly, she was tired, that was also apparent.
"Alright listen up." Trinity began, to her left sat Mirage and Nova Prime, to her right sat Nekros and Valkyr, Limbo was leaning against the far wall. "Mag and Nyx, you two already know what's going on in the Terminus, but for the rest of you, it's time you knew the truth." She paused for effect before continuing "The truth is, the Primes have betrayed us, all of us, as you know their main regulation is that having children, even having a relationship is strictly forbidden, punishably by death, earlier today, my team," She motioned to Mirage, Valkyr and Nekros, "Entered the Terminus with the intent of eliminating the Primes and restoring things to the way they were, until we found Mag and Nyx," she gestured to Mag's bed, "Mag, as Frost now knows as well as Nyx and Myself, is pregnant, Frost is the father, so on behalf of my team, congratulations you two." there was a chorus of congratulations from everyone in the room, "We haven't heard anything from the Terminus, until two minutes ago when we intercepted this transmission." Trinity pushed a button on her lectern that began to play the transmission.
"Gooood moooorning Tenno across the Origin system, an unwarranted assault on the Primes by a group identified as Trinity, Mirage, Nekros, and Valkyr led to the disorientation of Excalibur Prime, Nyx Prime, and Mag Prime, as well as the escape of the two fugitives Mag, and Nyx, and the kidnap of Nova Prime. These traitors are to be captured alive and delivered to the Primes. The Primes have also issued a warrant for the arrest of Frost, Ember, Excalibur, Chroma, and Limbo for connections to the two fugitives and the rejection of the Primes regulations. Reports are coming in that a Corpus convoy was attacked by an unidentified ship in the space surrounding the planet Europa, as of now Tenno investigators are at the scene trying to identify the origin of the ship and its current whereabouts. An eye witness described the events which unfolded..." Trinity stopped the transmission.
"Frost, Ember, Excalibur, Chroma, I am sorry for dragging you all into this, but as you just heard, you are wanted by the Primes, if captured you will probably be publicly executed. We can protect you as long as you are willing to join us, so what's your decision?" Trinity asked, but she was met with silence.
"Well since we don't have much of a choice, and now that I'm a soon to be father, and I'll be looking after Mag, I'll stay. But I can't speak for the rest of my team." Frost said.
"Count me in boss." it was Excalibur who spoke next.
"We'll stay." Chroma and Ember said in union. There's something about those two, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Mag thought to herself.
"Very well, welcome to the team, dismissed." Trinity said. Trinity called over an anti-grav stretcher as the rest of the team left the room "Mag, I just need to do a final examination then you can go back to your room." Trinity said as she picked up a data pad and sensor equipment. As she ran the sensor equipment over Mag it made a soft beeping sound, the light stayed green, indicating that everything was all right. "Okay, everything checks out, I just need to do an ultrasound to make sure the baby's all right." Trinity said as she sat the data pad down on a nearby table and retrieved the ultrasound machine, "Mag, lift your shirt up please." Trinity asked as Mag lifted her shirt up to reveal the bandage covering her wound. It was slightly bloodstained, but not as bad as what the first one was. She cringed as the gel was applied; Trinity turned the machine on and lightly placed the sensor on Mag's stomach. The screen on the machine lit up and began to display various readings that made absolutely no sense to either Mag or Frost, but to Trinity the fuzzy image and various readings meant that it was as she had hoped.
"Well Trinity, what's the verdict is the baby alright?" Mag asked.
"I'm pleased to say that the baby is fine and healthy, it appears to have taken no trauma when you were injured earlier today." Trinity said as she turned off the machine with a click. "Frost, would you give me a hand transferring Mag to the stretcher?" Trinity asked as she pulled the stretcher to the side of the bed.
"Sure, Mag I'll try and be gentle." Frost said as he placed his arms under Mag's neck and back, Trinity supported Mag's legs.
"On three. One, two, three." Trinity said as she and Frost lifted Mag simultaneously, Mag gave a sharp yelp of pain as she was lifted from the bed and placed on the stretcher. "Okay Frost, you can take Mag back to your room now, I have to file these results." Trinity told Frost as she walked over to her desk.
"Trinity, I don't know if I told you this but Thank you, for saving my life, and the life of my baby. I guess I was lucky that you were at the Terminus earlier this morning." Mag said, her voice was tired and laced with pain.
"No problem Mag, it's what I trained to do; now I don't want to see you walking around for two weeks, just to be on the safe side." Trinity responded. The only problem with medics is that they're too modest, Trinity did an amazing thing today, she not only saved my life but the life of my child and she managed to save Frost and his team from execution. Sure she had some help, still she deserves more credit. Mag thought to herself as Frost began to guide the stretcher back to their room. "Frost, Mag, hold on a minute, I forgot to give you these." Trinity said just as Frost was pushing the stretcher out of the Medbay, she handed a container to Mag.
"What are these?" Mag asked as she looked over the container.
"Painkillers, it's clear that you're still in a lot of pain, and will be for some time, so these will help. I took them from the Primes personal store in the Terminus earlier today, so you can guarantee that they are going to help lots, take one in the morning, one in the evening that should keep the pain at bay, if you need anything give me a call." Trinity told Mag and Frost.
"Thanks Trinity, I'll get Mag back to our room now." Frost said as he continued to push Mag back to their room. There wasn't a lot of talking between Mag and Frost as they walked back to their room; this was due to the fact that Mag was absolutely exhausted. Along the way they were meet by Nyx
"Hey guys, how are you feeling Mag?" Nyx asked as she walked beside Mag's stretcher.
"Tired, sore, glad to be alive." Mag said to Nyx with a yawn.
"Same here Nyx, it's not the first time I've been shot at but there is something different about being shot at by people that you trained with, it takes a lot out of you." Frost said with a sigh, the three walked in silence the rest of the way to Mag and Frost's room. As they reached the door they were met by Limbo.
"Good evening Chaps and is everyone feeling alright?" Limbo said as he took another bow, though his jumpsuit is still visible he was wearing a leather overcoat over his jumpsuit, Limbo reached into his pocket and pulled out a very ornate golden pocket watch. He opened the top and looked at the time. He closed the top with a click. "Sorry to run chaps but I'm having dinner with Nova Prime, Trinity and Hydroid, so I'll see you later, cheerio." Limbo said as he walked off. Nyx checked her own chrono.
"Jeeze is that the time already, it's 1:30 am S.E.T, I'll let you guys get to bed. I'll catch you later, Bye." Nyx said as she waved goodnight and walked off towards her room. Frost keyed in the 3 digit pin and the door slid open with a snap-hiss, the lights flickered on illuminating the room in a soft glow, revealing the standard room. Frost pushed the stretcher inside and shut the door.
"These stretchers aren't very comfy, would you mind helping me into bed honey?" Mag asked Frost.
"Sure, I'll be gentle." Frost replied as he put his right arm under Mag's legs and hooked her right arm around his neck and supported her back with his left arm, "Ready? On three, two, one." Frost lifted Mag from the stretcher, Mag gave a sharp yelp in pain as Frost lifted her from the stretcher and carried her over to her bed, his muscles straining as he tried to keep Mag as level as possible. Gently he laid her down on her bed; Mag cringed as Frost removed his arm that was supporting her back.
"Thank you." Mag said as she settled down in her blanket, Frost was about to reply, but Mag was already sound asleep.
"Sleep tight honey." Frost said softly he turned on the lamp on the bedside table, turned off the main lights, sat down in his bed, turned off the lamp and went to sleep.
Chapter 4: Raid on Azani
Limbo walked into the bridge to find Trinity, Hydroid, and Nova prime already there, they were standing over the holotable looking over the data gathered from the Terminus by Nekros.
"Limbo, there you are I was wondering if you had gotten lost." Hydroid said as he looked up.
"Evening all, so what are we looking at here?" Limbo asked politely.
Trinity pushed a few keys to bring up a map. "This is a map of the Terminus; the rest of the data is to do with the recent disappearances of more than one hundred Tenno. The downside is that we have no idea where they are or if they're even still alive, and this data is so heavily encrypted that it will take weeks to decrypt. Hydroid where are we now?" it was Hydroid who spoke next.
"Currently we are sitting in the Void, the navcomputer said that we're somewhere around Earth. The good news is that the Primes can't track us if we are in the Void; the bad news is that we are running low on resources, food, water, meds, that sort of stuff. We need to find a place to restock, and since most of the Origin system and half the bounty hunters in the galaxy are out looking for us I'm out of ideas." Hydroid shrugged.
"I might have a solution to that." Limbo punched a few keys on his terminal, bringing up a 3d hologram of Azani Station, "This is Azani Station, it's an old Grineer outpost that has been converted into a Tenno way station, not only that it also functions as neutral ground between the Tenno, the UNSC, and the New Republic, Azani Station is the only place where the three territories intersect. I have a contact in Azani and she has confirmed my one fear. The Primes influence has reached Azani, the guards have been reinforced in triplicate and the outer defences are being manned. So here is my plan, though The Trident's shields can withstand the fire from Azani's guns there's no place to dock and since we can't use our Lisets, due to the fact that we will be blown clean out of the sky if we get within one kilometre of Azani Station, we use archwing," This got some interested looks from the group, "By their very nature archwing are invisible to radar; we bypass Azani's outer defences, and land in this unused airlock." Limbo paused to let his plan be thought over by the others.
"I see no flaw in this plan, aside from when we get inside the station, then what?" Trinity asked with a questioning look on her face.
"Simple, we avoid the guards on the Tenno side of Azani, we make our way to the concourse, there are shops and stores from the UNSC, the New Republic and the Tenno there, the guards have no jurisdiction in either the New Republic on UNSC areas of Azani." Limbo replied it was clear that he had put a lot of thought into this.
"Right, well as we have no other option, all in favour?" Trinity asked the group, everyone nodded except for Hydroid.
"Well since we don't 'av much of a choice in the matter." Hydroid said as he keyed in the nav-coordinates for Azani Station, "There nav is set." He responded as he took the helm and began to steer The Trident towards Azani Station.
Chroma awoke with a start, he reached over and turned on the lamp on his bedside table, at first the room was hazy but everything soon became clear as his eyes adjusted to the low light. "No, No stay away from me, No, NOOOOO!" The voice was all too familiar, it was Ember, and she was crying out in her sleep.
Chroma leapt out of bed and ran over to her. "Ember, Ember! Snap out of it, you safe, it's just a dream." He said sternly as he grabbed her arms, lightly shaking her to wake her up. At the sound of Chroma's voice Ember's eyes sprang open, they were wide with fright. It was clear that whatever dream she was having had completely terrified her, without saying anything she embraced Chroma and began to cry. "It's okay, your safe now, nothing can hurt you it was only a dream." Chroma cooed softly as he cradled Ember.
"It was the same nightmare, the one where I was trapped in the Zanuka lab, it was horrible. Alad V said he was going to dissect me and use my parts to build more of those dreaded Zanuka, I was so scared." Ember was saying as she wept in Chroma's arms.
"I know Ember, this is exactly how we found you, scared, frightened, alone, and strapped that god-forsaken dissection table. You were so distraught that I had to carry you out of there, remember?" Chroma said as he looked into Ember's eyes.
"Yea, I do." Ember replied as she wiped the tears from her face. Chroma looked over at the chrono.
"5:35am, come on, let's go to the mess hall, they should be open about now." Chroma said as he got up held out his hand to help Ember up; they both changed into their respective Warframes and headed off down to the mess hall. They walked in silence, Chroma had his arm around Ember, and she took comfort in this knowing that he still cared deeply about her.
Along the way they met Nekros, he was just staring out into the Void. "Chroma, Ember, what are you two doing up so early?" His voice was like that of a phantom.
"I suppose we could say the same about you Nekros." Chroma retorted; Nekros gave him a cold glare.
"I couldn't sleep, too much to think about." Nekros' voice sent a chill down Ember's spine, she wasn't afraid of Nekros but she'll never get used to that voice of his.
"Ember and I are going to the mess hall to get a bite; you're welcome to join us if you want." Chroma said as he began to walk away.
"Thank you for the offer, but no thanks." Nekros shot as he turned back to the Void. Ember and Chroma sat down in the mess hall after a few minutes.
"He seemed sad, Nekros I mean. He seemed lonely." Ember began as the synthetic waiter came over. Most of The Trident's crew were Synthetics. Robots covered by a layer of synthetic skin giving them a human appearance. Most Orokin synthetics had to be linked to a central intelligence core in order to function properly however those onboard The Trident are different. They all possess fully functional AI. They know they're Synthetics but they prefer to be considered Human due to the fact that every single one of them can learn every task necessary to repair and maintain The Trident.
"Can I help you this morning?" He began.
"Just coffee for me, Ember do you want anything?" Chroma asked as the waiter began to jot down the order.
"Tea if that's not too much trouble." Ember replied.
"Okay so one coffee and one tea, coming right up." the waiter said; he turned around and walked back towards the kitchen.
"Now, you were saying that Nekros seemed lonely, how do you figure?" Chroma looked at Ember as he said this.
"Well it was the way he looked at you and the way he spoke to us, he seemed sad, I can't quite put my finger on it but something's defiantly bugging him." Ember said as the waiter brought their order over and sat it down on the table.
"Maybe it has something to do with the disappearance of Saryn, she's Nekros' partner. They were...very close to say the least. She disappeared about 3 months ago and we haven't heard anything since, not even an 'official' death report, not that we can trust anything that comes out of the Terminus anymore." Chroma told Ember as she took a sip of her tea. Ember and Chroma finished their drinks and headed back to their room just as the mess started to get busy; Chroma entered the 3 digit pin and stepped aside. "After you." He said politely to Ember, she smiled and entered their room followed by Chroma. Frost awoke when the intercom chimed.
"Would all available Tenno please report to the archwing bay for briefing, thank you." the all too cheery voice of the Cephalon said as the intercom chimed off.
"You should go and see what they want." Mag said with a yawn as she turned on her lamp.
"No, not this time. I said I was going to stay and take care of you and I will." Frost replied sleepily as he stood up and stretched. Down in the archwing bay the rest of the team had gathered, minus Mag, Frost, and Nyx.
"Okay settle down we have a mission to do." Trinity began, she was already strapped into her archwing. She pushed a few buttons, the rest of the teams archwings dropped down from the ceiling of the bay. As the rest of the team strapped in to the harnesses of their archwings Trinity continued "This is Azani Station," Trinity keyed up a 3d hologram of Azani Station, "We need food, water, and medicine that's why we're here, we'll split into three teams once inside, the teams are as follows, team one is Limbo, Excalibur, and Mirage will handle the water, team two is Myself, Chroma and Ember will handle the medicine and finally team three is Nekros and Valkyr will handle the food, any questions?"
Excalibur raised his hand "How are we going to get inside? The place is going to be swarming with guards." he asked, this got some nods of agreement from the others, Limbo highlighted the unused airlock.
"That's how we are getting inside old boy." Limbo said as he put his helmet on and signalled for the others to do the same.
"Once we drop out of the Void I'll release the bay doors, depressurizing now." Hydroid said over the loudspeaker, everyone's shields glowed as the bay depressurized and their archwings life-support systems activated, Hydroid's voice came over the loudspeaker "Dropping out of the Void in Five...Four...Three...Two...One." the bay doors opened up and the group dropped from the bay into the vacuum of space, they engaged boost and headed for the tiny blip that was Azan Station in the distance, from the bridge Hydroid saw the energy trails from the archwings fly out from under the nose of The Trident.
"Sorry I couldn't get closer." He said to Trinity, she was at the front of the group going at full speed, and like Limbo, Valkyr, Nekros and Mirage she was strapped into her Itzal.
"It's okay Hydroid, hang back and wait for our signal." Trinity responded, she glanced over her shoulder to see The Trident slip back into the Void, she turned on her commlink. "Okay we're approaching the outer defences, tighten formation, even spacing go twenty meters apart" She said to the group.
"Corpus cruiser straight ahead moving out of the main terminal." Chroma's voice came through the headset.
"Ignore it, head for the radar tower on the left, cut down by the base. They won't be able to track us at this speed." Limbo replied. One by one the group shot through the blind spot at the base of the radar tower, as they neared the airlock Limbo remotely entered the code and the hatch opened. One at a time they disengaged from their archwings and flew into the airlock, they used their feet to stop themselves from smashing headlong into the wall. Once they were all inside Mirage entered the code, sealing the outer hatch and restoring the artificial gravity and atmosphere. She popped the door and the group slipped inside unnoticed, they split into their separate teams and made their way to the concourse. For most of the time it was uneventful, teams one and three had very little trouble getting the food and water, but team two was finding it very difficult to get the meds, they had the right number of credits but were having a hard time justifying why they needed so much, The Trident was critically low on meds.
"I'm sorry but I cannot permit you to buy so much, you have basically got two thirds of my total inventory." the store manager was telling Trinity.
"I know this is a lot of stuff but all of it is needed." Trinity continued as she tried to bargain with the store manager, Chroma who by now was getting frustrated at the lack of movement in the bargaining went over to the store manager, activating effigy he turned his pelt into a dragon that hovered above his head, its fiery eyes glaring down at the manager, who shrunk in terror as soon as he saw it.
"You know what, I just remembered that I have a full shipment on back order, I can give my supplier a call and see if they can fast track it for me, let me cash that stuff up for you." the manager responded with a nervous laugh, he hurried over to the register and cashed up the stuff, a nervous smile on his face as he glanced between Chroma, who had retrieved his effigy, and Ember who was standing against the counter making sure that the manager was doing what he said he was doing, her harkonar cloak swaying softly. "There you go, all cashed up, would you like a discount?" he said with a nervous laugh.
"No that's fine, we can pay in full." Trinity replied, she handed over the 250,000 credits and motioned for the others to grab some bags, each person had four bags to carry. Once out of the store Trinity signalled to the other teams to regroup and turned to Chroma. "Did you really have to do that, we are lucky that there wasn't anyone else in the store." she scolded.
"Well kinda, the bargaining wasn't going anywhere and we couldn't just walk out of there with the stuff." he said defensively, as they neared the airlock they found the others sitting inside.
"Took you lot long enough, let me help you with those." Limbo said as he produced a storage cube from his hat and tossed it to Trinity. "It's a rift storage cube, it can hold up to three tons of stuff, without taking up that much space." he said proudly.
Trinity opened the box and placed each bag into the rift portal that appeared at the mouth of the box, she place the box in her pocket, "Alright, we need to get as far away from the station as possible before calling in archwing" she said to the group, Limbo walked over to the emergency release button on the wall.
"Brace yourselves Three...Two...One" he began, he hit the button, the hatch blew open and the group was vented into space, they signalled to their archwings, who self piloted over to them. The group latched into the harness' and flew off towards the outer defences.
"Time to cause some confusion." Chroma said to the group. rather than going single file they went into a line one beside the other, about 20 meters apart, they blasted past the outer defensive line. Inside the gun batteries and radar towers men and women scrambled to check what had just blasted past them.
"It's them, all guns open fire!" the commander said to the defensive line over the inter comm.
"Sir they're out of range for guns going to missiles." One of the gunners responded. The defensive line fired a salvo of missiles after the fleeing group; Chroma looked over his shoulder to see the salvo rocketing towards them.
"Looks like they fell for it ha-ha" he said into the mic in his headset.
"Hydroid we have missiles on our six; we need a quick pick up now." Trinity said, The Trident emerged from the Void. The missiles slammed into the shields and detonated, Chroma and Ember howled with laughter as they followed the group into the archwing bay.
Excalibur went to Frost and Mag's room, "Hey boss, we're back the mission was a success, we got a large haul of stuff." He said as he slouched against the doorframe.
"That's good to hear Excalibur, you can leave now." Frost really wasn't that interested in how the mission had gone, Excalibur saluted and left.
Chapter 5: Battle in orbit
The next couple of weeks were relatively uneventful, Mag was up on her feet again, but she couldn't walk more than a few meters at a time, so she was still stuck in her room, but she didn't mind it because it gave her time to relax, something that was quite rare when she was an active Tenno agent. She was still in pain, but it was mildly less than what it was, she had rearranged the furniture to better suit her new life, instead of two beds on separate sides of the room there was a single large double bed on the far side of the room. The Trident was, for the most part, sitting in the Void, the group was trying to lay low. No doubt that the events at Azani Station had reached the Primes at the Terminus, various reports and sensor data has been coming in from the probes that Trinity has sent out. The door to Mag's room opened with a snap-hiss causing Mag to glance over at the door, silhouetted by the lights in the hallway stood Trinity.
"Trinity what are you doing here? I don't remember giving you a call." Mag said, she was a little startled to see Trinity.
"Good to see that you're up and about Mag, hows the wound?" Trinity began as she placed a data pad down on the table, the door closed as Trinity sat down at the table with a flop, the lights in the room illuminated her face, and Mag could see that she was absolutely exhausted. She wasn't quite sure what Trinity has been doing, but Frost has said that Trinity has kept herself locked in her office working on something that she would not tell anyone about.
"The wounds healing slowly, I still can't walk more than a few meters at a time, but I'm getting better, anyway how about you, you look absolutely exhausted." Mag said as she sat down slowly in the other chair, she winced as she got settled in, Trinity, saying nothing, tapped the data pad "What's that?" Mag continued.
"Latest probe report from Earth, there's something in there that you have more experience on then I do, so I brought it to you to have a look over it." Trinity responded with a yawn, it was clear that she hadn't slept for a few days; she keyed up the report that she was talking about and handed the data pad to Mag.
"Okay, let's see what we have here." Mag mumbled as she began to read. Slowly her eyes lit up with interest. "While it is no surprise that Earth has been re-colonised and that the Grineer and Corpus are still fighting the UNSC for control over the planet...wait a minute." Mag paused, as her brow furrowed in thought.
"What is it?" Trinity asked.
"These readings, I have seen them before." Mag began as she got up out of the chair, but she got up too fast and collapsed in pain, Trinity got up and rushed to Mag's side "I'm fine Trinity; this happens from time to time, mostly if I get up too fast." Mag said as Trinity helped her to her feet, Mag walked over to her locker retrieved her data pad and returned to the table, she opened a document on her data pad and sat it beside the one Trinity had brought with her. "I knew it, look these readings are the same." she turned the data pads around so that Trinity could see what she was on about.
"Your right, but whom or rather what could have that kind of power?" Trinity asked as she handed the data pads back to Mag.
"There's only one person I know or rather knew that has that kind of power. I thought she was dead, but this probe report has proved that she still lives." Mag began; a smile began to cross her face.
"Who?" Trinity began; she was even more puzzled than when she first looked over the probe report.
"Is it not obvious Trinity? It's Saryn." Mag finished her thought with a laugh Trinity on the other hand was just stunned.
"Saryn, are you sure? I saw her die with my own eyes, saw her Warframe disintegrate, how can you be sure that it's her?" Trinity began to ask.
"Trinity I'm going to level with you and tell you something that only a small number of people know, the people that know this are myself, Lotus, and Nekros, Saryn is not just a Tenno, She is also a witch. Believe me I've seen her abilities first hand, aside from her Tenno abilities, it's apparent that she faked her death, a tricky feat, even for a witch of her calibre and that she has taken refuge on Earth," Mag replied as she got up slowly.
Trinity opened her commlink, "Hydroid make for Earth" she said into the mic, before the response came she closed down the commlink, the ship gave a shudder as Hydroid began piloting the ship towards Earth "I hope you are right about this Mag" Trinity said to Mag.
Down on Earth a battle raged around the planes of what was the Nevada desert. During the Old war, Earth and 90% of the planet's surface was reduced to an uninhabitable wasteland, which caused Earth to be abandoned in the first place, but since that time the planet has recovered. The once barren and empty deserts are now lush life filled forests, while the Corpus were trying to conquer the planet through merchant and political means the Grineer were trying to take the planet by force, the UNSC, who has laid claim to the planet as the rightful home of humanity, was desperately under prepared and the battle had quickly turned in the Grineer's favour. High above a raging conflict Saryn floated, she was wearing a striped down version of her Warframe, she lacked her helmet and only wore the arm bands and shin guards and boots, she was wearing a massive fur overcoat and a wore a tight fitting leather tunic and a short skirt, it was clear that she had fully embraced her witch side, and that she had neglected the Tenno and the Primes. Slowly she descended so that she was standing on top of a tree, there was a fluttering behind her as her familiar Yvian flew in and transformed from his hawk form onto his human form. "What new do you bring me Yvian?" Saryn asked him as she surveyed the battle.
"Master, I have flown over the UNSC encampment, they have managed to push the Grineer back to the river, causing the Grineer to regroup. While the UNSC's vehicles have won this skirmish they are running low on ammunition and the ground forces have taken to many casualties. If we do not intervene now this battle will be lost and the Grineer will gain another foot hold on the planet." Yvian informed Saryn of his discovery Saryn pointed her staff at the river.
"Very well, FORCES OF THIS WORLD HEAR MY VOICE AND RESPOND, COME FORTH THE WINDS OF OLD AND BLOW DOWN THESE GRINEER DEFENCES!"Saryn called out. Suddenly a massive windstorm erupted and battered the Grineer encampment, crates and vehicles were tossed high into the air. Lancers and Troopers were flung around like ragdolls, Saryn continued, "HEAR MY CALL, THOR, SON OF ODIN, YOU CLAIM TO BE THE PROTECTOR OF MANKIND, THESE GRINEER ARE NOT MAN BUT DEGRADING CLONES, COME FORTH DEFEND THE UNSC AND OPEN A CHASM SO LARGE THAT THE GRINEER WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CROSS!" Saryn raised her staff high into the air and pointed it towards the ground. There was a massive wall of dust and debris that erupted in front of the advancing Grineer, the wall was so high that for those that were on the ground it blotted out the sun. When the dust cleared there was a two mile wide chasm, so deep that it looked bottomless. With most of their gear completely wreaked the Grineer angrily turned and walked away Saryn flew over to the UNSC camp, as she touched down she was meet by the only surviving commander.
"Another fine intervention lady Saryn, if it were not for you watching over us we certainly would have perished this day." The commander said as he knelt before Saryn, He was French that much was apparent by his accent, but he was also quite young, no more than 17.
"Do not over think this commander, though I was watching over you and your men, My actions were not in you defence for I despise the Grineer and the destruction they cause, personally I was hoping to catch more of them in the chasm, go now call for reinforcements or evacuation for the wounded I do not care." Saryn responded harshly, without waiting for a response she flew away.
The Trident was now in orbit above Earth. Everyone was now on the bridge aside from Mag, Nyx and Frost. "Trinity the orbit is swarming with Corpus and Grineer ships; I don't see any UNSC ships though. They must be planet side, what are you orders?" Hydroids gruff voice came from the helm.
"Hydroid take us planet side, Ember, Chroma, forward MAC bays, Nekros navigation, Excalibur point defence guns." Trinity began saying orders and those that were given orders hurried to their posts. Hydroid brought the ship into a slight dive, the guns of the Corpus and Grineer ships lit up as The Trident approached, the shields began to glow as the flak increased the closer they got the blockade.
"Corpus heavy curser 11 o'clock, range 2000 yards!" Ember yelled from the targeting station of the left MAC battery.
"Grineer galleon 2 0'clock, range 4000 yards!" Chroma called from the right MAC battery targeting station, on the overhead displays the two ships lit up with a red outline.
"Targets locked; fire when ready!" Trinity called from the command platform.
"Going wide!" Ember yelled as she stood on the trigger, the left MAC flashed as the shot left the barrel heading straight for the Corpus ship. Trinity looked out the window and tracked the shot right to the mark, the round hit the Corpus ship in the reactor core, the ship exploded in a bright flash, causing the Grineer galleon to increase its fire.
"Shot out!" Chroma yelled as the right MAC fired and obliterated the Grineer ship. "Their ships are just like their ground troops, they look menacing but they fall to bits in one hit!" Chroma hollered with glee, the flak became more intense the closer The Trident got to the planet. Suddenly an alarm started to blare.
"Limbo what's happening!?" Trinity yelled into the intercom.
"One round got through the shields madam, it hit down here in the hangar. Nothing got hit though it only slammed into the wall" Limbo's reply came as the alarm shut off suddenly the overhead display lit up with multiple targets.
"Damn it the Grineer and Corpus have called a truce, they are focussing their efforts on destroying us, Trinity what shell we do?" Hydroid asked.
"Redirect 75% of power to the forward, port and starboard shields, we're within Earth's gravitational field, the size of the planet will pull is down, redirect half the remaining power to the forward guns, Chroma, Ember, Excalibur, fire at will. We'll ram the larger ships if we have to." Trinity told the rest of them, as all the guns in the front of The Trident opened up on the mass of Corpus EVA troopers and Grineer fighters The Trident began to shudder with each shot fired in rapid succession from the forward MAC batteries.
Saryn looked up into the sky to see the battle erupt in orbit above her. "There they go again, will they ever get tired of destroying each other I wonder?" She said aloud.
"Probably not master." Yvian replied, he was in his hawk form perched on a branch of a nearby tree.
"Grineer galleon straight ahead moving in on an intercept course." Nekros called from the nav console.
"Hydroid, full speed ahead, ram that son-of-bitch!" Trinity called down to Hydroid.
"Aye-Aye Trinity!" he responded, the ship gave a lurch as it accelerated forwards, the Grineer galleon tried to turn but at the speed The Trident moving it was caught broadside.
"Direct hit, take that you Grineer scum!" Ember yelled out.
"We're through the blockade divert power from forward shields to aft shields, Hydroid make for New Phoenix it's the biggest spaceport on the planet!" Trinity called out, the impact threw the galleon out of orbit and into the atmosphere, not designed to enter atmosphere sideways the galleon quickly began to disintegrate.
"What the hell or who the hell did that?" Saryn gasped as she saw the flaming galleon plummet towards the ground.
Chapter 6: Contact with the UNSC
By now The Trident was heading to New Phoenix when they were hailed by the UNSC.
"Hail unknown vessel, this is Captain Tomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity, you are in restricted airspace. Identify yourselves at once or prepare to be destroyed." The voice came over the intercom.
"Hail UNSC Infinity this is Trinity, I guess you could call me Captain of The Trident." Trinity responded.
"Trident we are reading full weapons ready, if you do not power down your weapons systems we will be forced to take this as a hostile threat and fire on you." Lasky's voice came over the speaker.
"Chroma, Ember, Excalibur, situation green power down the weapon systems." Trinity called out to the rest.
"Left MAC battery powered down." Ember responded.
"Right MAC battery powered down." Chroma replied.
"Point defence guns powered down." Excalibur said.
"Infinity, all weapon systems powered down" Trinity said into the mic.
"Affirmative Trident, we are reading full weapon shut down. Now if you don't mind me asking, but who are you? You show up as an unaffiliated contact on our scopes?" Lasky asked.
"Capitan Lasky, we are Tenno..." Trinity began but she was cut short.
"Trident, you are in direct violation of the Jotunheim treaty established by your Primes..." Lasky began but Mag cut him off.
"We're not affiliated with them, not anymore" Mag informed Lasky, Trinity, in surprise, turned around to see Mag, who was leaning heavily against Frost.
"What she speaks is the truth Captain Lasky; the Primes have betrayed us, not just our group aboard The Trident, but all of us. It's true that most of our fellow Tenno remain loyal to the Primes, but we're not." Frost said to Lasky through the intercom.
"Captain Lasky, My name is Mag, I fear that the Primes may try to..." halfway through her sentence Mag passed out, Frost caught her as she fell and laid her gently on the deck.
"Captain Lasky, I'm sorry to cut this short, but we have injured aboard. Hydroid, land us now!" Trinity yelled out as she rushed over to Mag.
Aboard the UNSC infinity Tomas Lasky stared out of the bridge as he watched The Trident slowly descend to the ground. "Roland, alert fire team Majestic. Tell them to meet me down in the hangar, Prepare a condor and have a medic team meet me there as well, Commander Palmer with me." he said to the ships AI and Palmer as he hurried down towards the hangar
"Tom, it's only a small group of Tenno, why do we need Majestic?" Palmer asked Lasky as they hurried towards the condor.
"I've seen a single Tenno take down an entire platoon of Spartans backed up by marines and ODSTs, I am not going to take any chances Sarah." Lasky responded as he climbed into the condor, fire team Majestic and the medic team were already aboard, Lasky signalled for the pilots to lift off and head for The Trident.
"Trident, this is UNSC condor A-320 requesting permission to come aboard, we have a full team of medics with us." the condor pilot's voice came over the speaker.
"Permission granted A-320. Limbo, escort them to the bridge." Trinity called into the speaker. Five minutes later Lasky and his team knocked on the door to the bridge, the door slid open and fire team Majestic entered the bridge, their weapons raised and at the ready, Spartan Hoya walked over to Frost, who was kneeling beside a semi conscious Mag. Hoya pointed his shotgun at Frost.
"Don't move Tenno." he sneered at Frost, Slowly Frost got to his feet.
"If I was you I would do the smart thing and point that somewhere else solider boy." Frost responded as he gave Hoya a cold glare, Frost stood about a foot taller than Hoya. Ember rushed up the stairs to see how the situation with Mag is, and surprised Spartan Grant, who smacked Ember in the stomach with her rifle as she spun around, knocking the wind out of Ember who fell to the deck with a crash.
"Don't you touch her!" Chroma yelled as he rushed to Ember's aid. Grant raised her rifle level with Chroma's head
"Hoya, Grant. Stand down we're not here to pick a fight. Captain Lasky, the bridge is clear, you can come in now." Spartan Thorne called out. The Spartans stood to attention as Lasky and Palmer entered the bridge noticing Mag lying on the floor Lasky rushed over to her.
"Medics, over here." Lasky called out as the team of medics entered the bridge. Hoya, not entirely trusting of the Tenno, had lowered his shotgun but was keeping a close eye on Frost who was back to kneeling beside Mag.
"What's the situation with her?" the lead medic asked, gesturing to Mag.
"She's fading in and out of consciousness, her pulse is elevated and her breathing is shallow and rapid." Trinity told him one of the medics passed a scanner over Mag; the readings were displayed on the lead medic's visor.
"Her vital signs are slowly dropping. Ahh shit she's haemorrhaging, she's losing blood fast!" the medic said as he lifted Mag's shirt to revile the bandage, it was a deep shade of crimson. "Spartan Madsen I need you to put pressure on the wound." the medic yelled out, Madsen came rushing over and placed his hand on the wound and began to apply pressure to it, Mag screamed in pain. "I'll have to induce a coma, it's the only thing that can save her life..." the medic began but he was cut short by Trinity.
"Let me, Spartan Madsen could you release your hand." Madsen released his hand and Trinity knelt beside the wound, her hands hovered over the wound and she began to concentrate. Her hands began to glow as did the wound, slowly Trinity's healing powers began to work as energy flowed from her hands into Mag wound, and the whole bridge fell silent. Slowly Trinity stood up and as she did Mag began to levitate as the energy flowed around Mag covering her in a green aura. After about a minute Mag slowly floated to the ground, the aura disappeared and Trinity slumped to the floor. "There, check your readings now." Trinity said, she was exhausted. The medic passed his sensor over Mag once more and the readings were transmitted to the lead medics HUD.
"What's the results chief?" Frost asked the lead medic.
"It...It's a miracle she's stabilising!" The medic said with a smile, Frost laid his hand on the medics shoulder.
"HEY! I told you don't move!" Hoya yelled as he chambered a round in his shotgun and pointed it at Frost.
"And I told you to point that thing somewhere else." Frost said as he got up and stormed over to Hoya. "You really want to start something tin-man!?" Frost glared at Hoya, and as usual Hoya lost his temper the fired his shotgun at Frost, who deflected the shot with an ice shield. Frost punched Hoya in the chest plate, which froze solid and shattered, startling everyone except the Tenno. Frost grabbed Hoya's shotgun and froze it solid, then he grabbed Hoya with one hand and lifted him clean off the deck.
"Okay Boss, I think you've proven a point." Chroma said as he started to laugh, Frost dropped Hoya and walked back over and knelt beside Mag. Once Mag was in the medbay the others gathered in the mess hall, everyone except Frost who was sitting beside Mag's bed watching her.
"Sorry for the inconvenience in all this Trinity" Lasky began as Hoya was escorted by Madsen and Grant back to the condor.
"Hoya has a temper on him; we can't seem to control him when he gets like this." Thorne said, apologising once again for Hoya's actions earlier.
"It doesn't matter, I think Frost proved a point before. What that point was exactly I don't know but as you see, Frost is very protective of Mag especially after the news that he got a few weeks ago." Trinity responded, the Tenno were lounging around in the mess hall, Chroma and Ember were drinking and Nekros was sitting in the far corner, a solemn expression on his face.
"Trinity, don't take offence at this, but we would like to transfer Mag to a clinic in New Phoenix. That way our medical teams can have better care over her, you and your team can stay as long as you want." Lasky asked.
"No, I don't take offence at that Captain Lasky. Of course there is the problem of The Trident just flying into New Phoenix, which would cause some up roar and probably get us shot down. Due to the battle going on over head." Trinity replied, getting nods of agreement from the others.
"We, well the UNSC Infinity, will escort you to a landing zone inside New Phoenix; you have my word that no harm will come to you, your ship, or your crew." Lasky said.
"Very well Captain Lasky, lead the way." Trinity responded and with that Lasky and the rest of his team returned to Infinity and escorted The Trident to the landing zone. After about 30 minutes The Trident was settled down on the landing platform outside the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) building in the centre of town, Mag was transferred to the medical wing of the building with only those of The Trident, as well as Tomas Lasky and the UNSC medics allowed to see her, Frost for the most part never left her side, Spartans Grant, Madsen and Thorne were stationed on guard duty by Lasky, inside the room was quite bare, in the centre was Mag's bed, situated under the window with a chair that was occupied by Frost, the rest of the room was just standard hospital stuff, machines displaying various readings, a bench with a sink, a couch, and a bunch of other things. The slat blinds were lowered letting only a little light in. Mag began to stir which woke Frost, who had dozed off. He hadn't slept in a few days.
"Hey Honey, how are you feeling?" Frost asked as Mag looked sleepily at him.
"I feel like I have been shot, again, Where am I?" Mag responded her oxygen mask fogging up as she talked.
"We're in the medical wing of the ONI building in New Phoenix; you passed out in the bridge of The Trident. Your wound opened up and you were losing blood. I thought I'd lost you for good, the baby's fine though, it looks like you have a guardian angel watching over you." Frost cooed softly as he held Mag's hand.
"Remind me again why we're on guard duty Thorne, a couple of marines could do this." Grant asked, she was leaning against the window in the hall.
"Captain Lasky wanted us to do this because he trusts us Grant." Thorne replied.
"Spartan Thorne your team can stand down." Master Chief called as he strode down the hall towards Grant, Madsen and Thorne.
"Fire team Majestic, commander on deck." Thorne replied as he stood to attention, saluting the four Spartans as they walked past.
Madsen inched closer to Grant. "Gant I recognise Master Chief, but who are the other three?" He asked.
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Frederic-104, Petty Officer Second Class Kelly-087, and Petty Office Second Class Linda-058, the other members of Spartan Blue Team and some of the last surviving Spartan II's" Grant replied in awe, she moved to block the door to Mag's room as Chief approached. "I'm sorry sir but I can't let you enter, restricted access I'm afraid." She said to Chief.
"Spartan Grant, if I were you I would move out of the way." Chief responded coldly, even though he had his helmet on Grant could tell he was glaring at her, the tone in his voice was enough to get the point across that they were meant to be there, the door opened behind Grant.
"Ahh Chief there you are, and I see that you brought friends. Kelly, Linda, Fred. Good to see you all again." Frost said as he stood in the door way, he let out a big yawn.
"Wait Frost you know Spartan Blue Team." Madsen questioned, his face showing just how dumbstruck he really was.
"Well of course I do, I've worked with them on many occasions, everyone onboard The Trident was part of JSOC." Frost replied behind another yawn.
"JSOC?" Grant asked.
"Joint Special Operations Command. Spartan Blue Team and other surviving Spartan-II teams were working alongside the Tenno. Before the Primes took over and disbanded it." Kelly told Grant as Frost motioned for them to enter, Chief and the rest of Blue Team pushed past Grant and Madsen who stayed outside along with Thorne.
Chapter 7: The Arrangement
Inside Mag's room Fred, Kelly, and Linda removed their helmets as Frost sat back down in the chair beside Mag's bed. "Hey Mag, how are you feeling?" Kelly asked as she stood at the end of the bed.
"About as good as I look Kelly, how about you?" Mag responded sleepily, a faint smile crossed her face, but it faded after a few seconds.
"I'm going to step outside and get some air honey." Frost said, he kissed Mag and headed out onto the balcony. Muffled voices wafted outside as Frost lent against the railing. He was staring down at the bustle of people moving about their daily live most were completely oblivious to the Orokin derelict that was sitting on the landing platform below but a small crowd had gathered at the base of the landing pad. From this height Frost couldn't make out what they were doing but he didn't really care, Trinity had raised the protective barrier around The Trident and set it so that only the crew could pass through the barrier.
"I always knew you and Mag had a thing Frost." Chief said as joined Frost out on the balcony.
"Why are you here John, last time we met it didn't end very well, for either of us." Frost asked as he gave Chief a quick glance before returning his gaze to the cityscape.
"Times have changed Frost, what happened all those years ago it's in the past. I came to see some old friends. Ohh and by the way: Congratulations." Chief replied.
"So you know about Mag being pregnant?" Frost responded without glancing over at Chief.
"Nope, but now I do." Chief said with a chuckle. Trinity's voice came from inside the room, Chief and Frost headed back inside to find Trinity standing in the middle of the room.
"Listen up Captain Lasky has a proposition for us; He wants us to meet him in the conference room on level 5." Trinity began but was cut short by Nyx raising her hand.
"Trinity I respect Captain Lasky wanting us to meet in a conference room on level 5, but Mag can't even get out of bed and she's just as important as the rest of us, any decisions made should involve her as well. If Captain Lasky wants to talk to us, all of us, then he is going to have to come here, in person with no press or cameras." Nyx said defensively, her statement got some nods of agreement.
"Okay, okay I fully understand where you're coming from Nyx, Spartan Thorne take this message to Captain Lasky. Tell him that if he wants to talk to all of us than he's going to have to come here in person with no press or cameras." Trinity told Thorne.
"No, Thorne, Captain Lasky put you on guard duty, I'll deliver the message to him. Fred, Kelly, Linda, form up we're moving out." Chief responded as he left the room followed by Fred, Kelly, and Linda. Twenty minutes later Captain Lasky was standing in the middle of Mag's room, no cameras, no press, not even a Spartan escort; the blinds had been closed to stop any news drones from spying on them, the crew of The Trident was gathered in the room. Frost was sitting in his usual chair holding Mag's hand with Nyx standing on the other side of the bed. Trinity was standing by the door to the balcony, blocking the windows from any news drones. Limbo was leaning against the blinds. Ember and Chroma are sitting on the couch; Ember was cuddled up to Chroma. The rest were scattered around the room.
"Okay, I've been talking with the New Republic Senate and the head of the UNSC. They're willing to offer you amnesty." Lasky began but was cut short by Chroma.
"What are you on about Captain?" He asked.
"The UNSC and New Republic are willing to parlay. They're willing to forgive and forget any and all past and future actions caused by your group so long as you're willing to share any information you've gathered about the Primes and their activities." Lasky continued. The room fell silent as what Lasky just said sunk in, after about three minutes Mag spoke up.
"Having allies in a situation like this is much needed, and taking into account the considerable power held by both the UNSC and the New Republic. I would say that having them as allies would give us a considerable advantage over the Primes. I'm willing to stay, given my current condition I don't really have much of a choice in the matter, but I can't speak for the rest of us." Mag said with a heavy, sleepy sigh.
"Count me in honey, if you're staying than so am I." Frost said, Nyx nodded in agreement signalling that she is staying as well. A chorus of agreement rose from the rest of the group.
"That makes eleven out of twelve, it's your choice Trinity. You're our captain so ultimately you have final say in the matter." Mag responded as all eyes fell on Trinity.
"Then the decision is unanimous. Captain Lasky, we will ally with the UNSC and the New Republic, on two conditions." Trinity said to those that were gathered in the room.
"Name your conditions Trinity." Lasky responded.
"Number one: We are notified of any new developments as soon as they appear and number two: We are treated as allies and friends, not refugees, by BOTH the UNSC AND the New Republic. Know that we will not defect back to the Primes, but if we feel that we are not getting treated as we should it will hamper us working together Captain." Trinity replied followed by nods of agreement from those gathered in the room.
"I'll set up a meeting with the New Republic Senate and the heads of the UNSC to finalise the agreement." Captain Lasky said as he hurried from the room.
Chapter 8: The Meeting
"Can we trust them?" Chroma asked a few moments after Lasky had left the room.
"It's not like we have a choice Chroma, I fell much better knowing that I can call on the UNSC and New Republic if we need help and besides if we're confronted by one of the Primes Orokin Dreadnaughts what would you rather have to help you escape, nothing or a Venator class star destroyer and an infinity class cruiser?" Frost responded Chroma went to respond but thought better of it and shut his mouth; one of the alarms on the machines went off as Mag went into a seizure "MEDIC!" Frost yelled as he hit the emergency comm on the wall. The medic team came and filed everyone out of the room apart from Trinity.
"Come on chaps; let's go get something to eat. I don't know about you but I'm famished." Limbo said as he started to walk towards the cafe.
"You lot go on ahead, I'm going to stay here." Frost mumbled as he sat down in the bench beside the door.
"Okay Frost but do you want us to bring you back anything?" Ember asked.
"No thank you Ember I'm fine." Frost responded as he waved them off. A couple minutes after the group had disappeared down the hall the door flew open as the medics pushed Mag's bed out of her room and rushed down the hall towards the operating theatre.
"Trinity what's going on is she alright!?" Frost asked as he ran beside Trinity.
"She went into cardiac and respiratory arrest, we have to operate on her now Frost. Follow me, Sergeant take Frost to the observation deck of O.R. 3." Trinity said as she rushed towards O.R. 3. Frost followed the lead medic to the observation deck, the operation took thirty minutes but by the time Trinity began to push Mag's bed out of the operating theatre Frost was pacing back and forth in front of the door.
"How did it go Trinity, tell me she's going to be fine?" Frost asked frantically as Trinity heaved a massive sigh.
"We completely closed her wound, so it won't open again, and I increased her healing rate. The baby's fine but we placed her into an induced coma so she won't move to give her body time to heal; she will be out for several days Frost." Trinity pushed Mag's bed into the recovery room. "We'll keep her here under observation for several days, then we'll bring her out of the coma." she continued.
"But if she's in a coma what about the baby?" Frost asked; he was concerned for the safety of his child. "Mag's breathing on her own so the baby's fine, I'll put an oxygen mask on her just to be on the safe side Frost, now if you don't mind I'm going to the bar. I need a drink." Trinity responded as she placed an oxygen mask on Mag's face and pulled up a chair for Frost to sit in.
"Thanks Trinity, I don't know what I would do if you weren't here." Frost said to Trinity as she walked out the door.
After about twenty minutes Chroma and Ember rounded the corner and headed towards Mag's room. Chroma was humming something out loud, Ember entered the pin code to open the door but rather than the flashing green light that usually shows that the door is open, there was a flashing red light. "That's odd did you enter the right code?" Chroma asked Ember.
"Yea I entered the right code." Ember said again as she re-entered the code, the same red flashing light. The lead medic came down the hall.
"HEY! sergeant, where's Mag and Frost?" Chroma asked him.
"Sir. Mag and Frost are in recovery room 5" the medic said calmly.
"Ohh no, come on Ember!" Chroma yelled as he began to sprint down the hall towards recovery room 3, Ember wasn't far behind him she nearly knocked over the medic as she ran past him; Frost looked up as they entered.
"Hey Ember, hey Chroma. I was wondering how long it was going to take someone to get here." Frost said softly as he returned his gaze to Mag.
"What happened to her Frost?" Chroma asked as he and Ember walked up to Mag's bed.
"I don't know myself. Trinity said something about cardiac and respiratory arrest when she and the medics wheeled her out of the room and rushed her to the O.R." Frost responded softly, he didn't make eye contact with either of them he was focused on Mag, the soft rise and fall of her chest gave him ever increasing hope that she was going to be alright.
"Mag!" an unknown voice blurted from the doorway causing Chroma and Ember to jump to their feet and draw their weapons.
"Who are you? State your business here!" Chroma said to the figure that was silhouetted by the sun shining in from one of the windows in the hallway.
"Easy, I'm just a friend no need to start shooting." the figure said again.
"Stand down, both of you." Frost said recognising the voice. "Saryn? I thought you were dead." he continued with a laugh.
"Faking ones death is a tricky thing to pull off, even for a witch of my calibre. What happened to her Frost?" Saryn said as she took the seat opposite Frost.
"I would rather not talk about it, but the Primes have betrayed us Saryn, all of us. Ember, Chroma, go and get the others." Frost responded, Chroma and Ember nodded and walked off.
"She's pregnant, and I take it your the farther Frost." Saryn continued after Chroma and Ember had left.
"You're correct Saryn. I'm the farther and I'm worried, about losing her and the baby so we've allied with the UNSC and the New Republic because it's safer to be allied with two of the most powerful militaries in the known universe," Frost responded, glancing up at Saryn, "What happened to your Warframe?" he continued.
"I got rid of it, well not all of it; I kept the boots and a few other bits of it. You know at heart I've always been a witch, I never really felt like part of the Tenno. I always felt like an outsider and I was planning to leave the Tenno anyway and when the Primes took over during that battle on Phobos it gave me an opportunity to disappear. I don't regret leaving the order if that's what you're implying Frost, the Tenno were holding me back, forcing me to hide my witchcraft. When I disappeared I finally got a chance to be me. To advance my witchcraft beyond my Tenno abilities, but the one thing I do regret is never being able say good bye to..." Saryn's eyes began to well with tears as she began to remember back to when she faked her death and she was cut off.
"S-S-Saryn?" a voice stammered from the doorway, Saryn turned around to see Nekros standing in the doorway, a look of complete disbelief on his face. Without saying anything Saryn sprang from the seat and rushed over to Nekros, who embraced her warmly, "I thought you were dead." Nekros choked as Saryn began to weep. After a minute Nekros turned his attention to the comatose Mag "Ember and Chroma informed us of Mag's condition down in the cafe, Chroma told me to go on ahead the rest will be here shortly." Nekros said as he stood at the end of Mag's bed, the others arrived shortly, there was much surprise and many hugs when they met Saryn but the main focus was Mag.
"She's going to be out for several days so that her body can heal, I've increased her natural healing factor so that by the time we bring her out of the coma her wound will be fully healed. But she won't be going on missions for some time, not until the baby's born." Trinity glanced at Mag there was a lot of murmuring until Ember spoke up.
"Frost you can bunk with me and Chroma if you need a place to stay." Ember said softly.
"That's kind of you Ember, but I'll have to decline the offer. I'll stay here with Mag just so that I know she is alright." Frost responded with a meek smile.
The next few days were relatively uneventful; Frost was in his usual spot, sitting in the chair beside Mag's bed in the recovery room. Trinity had met with Leia Organa-Solo, the Chancellor of the New Republic, and Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood, the Commander-In-Chief of the UNSC, to sign the formal declaration that the crew of The Trident will join the UNSC and New Republic but aside from that nothing had happened that was particularly interesting. Trinity walked into the recovery room followed by a team of medics who took up various positions around Mag's bed early in the evening on the seventh day since Mag was put in the coma.
"Frost we're going to bring Mag out of her coma. The readings show that her wound is fully healed." Trinity said to Frost.
"Go ahead Trinity." Frost responded. Trinity started saying orders to the team of medics who went to work doing their various things.
"Trinity we're all set, awaiting your go." the lead medic said after a few moments.
Trinity stepped over to the control console. "On my go," she began, "Bringing Mag out of her coma in Five...Four...Three...Two...One." one by one each machine powered down and turned off. Slowly Mag's eyes fluttered open; they took a moment to focus but then she looked slowly around the room, her eyes resting on Frost.
"Frost, w-where am I? What happened?" Mag asked.
"You're in recovery room 3; you went into cardiac and respiratory arrest, how do you feel honey?" Frost asked a slight smile stretching across his face.
"I feel...better than I have in a few months." Mag responded she flexed her left hand to test her strength. She lifted up her shit to revile only a slight scar; she glanced in disbelief at her healed wound. "But how? Last time I checked my wound there was still a hole but now it's fully healed?" Mag asked sleepily.
"I fully sealed your wound and increased your natural healing abilities. But we had to put you into an induced coma to prevent you from moving and reopening the wound while your body healed and adjusted." Trinity replied. Mag smiled and placed her hand on her gut and a smile crossed her face as she felt her child stir in her womb.
"The baby's fine honey." Frost said as his smile grew even wider and tears began to well up in his eyes.
"Thank you Trinity, you said that my wound is fully healed. Would it be possible for me to try and stand up?" Mag continued.
"Go ahead Mag." Trinity responded. Mag slowly swung her legs over the edge of the bed and slowly slid off so that she was standing on the floor but was supporting herself on the bed, Frost stood beside her. Slowly Mag took her first step in a few weeks; her legs wobbled and gave out, Mag toppled forward, Frost, as quick as lightning, caught her before she fell to the ground.
"Your ability to walk will return in a few hours Mag, until then take it easy." the lead medic said.
"Let's go back to our room Honey" Mag said to Frost.
"You can lean on me, I won't carry you of you don't want me to." Frost continued, Mag lent on him as they walked back to their room her left arm was resting on her baby bump while her right arm was hooked around Frost for support. Along the way they spotted Chroma and Ember, they were sitting out on the balcony. Ember was leaning on Chroma, singing softly as Chroma played a guitar. Both of them were bathed in the rich golden light of the setting sun. "I never knew you could play guitar Chroma." Frost said from the doorway leading out onto the balcony.
"One of my many talents Frost." Chroma responded.
"You have such a lovely voice Ember" Mag said with a smile, causing Chroma and Ember to spin around to see who was talking, Ember sprang up and ran over to Mag.
"Mag your awake!" Ember said with glee as she gave Mag a hug being careful not to squeeze Mag to tightly.
"Good to see you're alright lass." Chroma continued as he slung his guitar over his shoulder and walked over to them. "Good to see you're up too Frost, you know lass Frost here never left your bedside for more than a few moments." Chroma continued as he slapped Frost on the back.
"Mag and I are heading back to our room Chroma. Could you not tell anyone that Mag's awake until the morning?" Frost continued on as he started back to his room with Mag supported at his right side.
"No problem Frost. Mind if we walk with you?" Chroma responded tailing after Frost and Mag. About five minutes later, without running into anyone else, Frost and Mag arrived at the door to their room. They turned and said goodnight to Chroma and Ember then they entered their room, and curled up into bed. Mag cuddled up to Frost, both were asleep within a minute.
"When are we going to let the others know that Mag's awake and fully healed?" Ember asked as Chroma placed a cup of Tenno tea (normal camomile tea with kubrow milk) on her night stand, sometimes he needed to put Embers fiery nature to sleep before Ember would actually fall asleep.
"Not until tomorrow morning Ember. Frost and Mag are probably asleep now and the last thing they need is a bunch of us knocking on their door." Chroma replied as Ember drained the last of her tea.
"Okay Okay we'll tell the others tomorrow morning" Ember said with a yawn, it took a couple of seconds for the tea to take effect, but when it did Ember was asleep within minutes. Chroma tucked Ember into bed and the curled into his own bed and fell asleep.
Chapter 9: The Orokin's Might
Frost and Mag awoke early the next morning; both of them stood on the balcony and watched the sunrise, it was one of the things they both enjoyed. As the sun slowly peaked over the mountains its first fingers of light shone off the many windows of the surrounding buildings casting patterns rich in gold and milky pink onto the surrounding cityscape. A distant alarm started to blare somewhere in the building, followed by the faint sound of running. Mag and Frost began to wonder what could be going on when a rapid and hurried banging sounded from their doorway. Frost ran over and opened the door to find Ember standing there, she was fully kitted out in the Warframe, her Harkonar cloak flowing slightly, her soma and heat sword were slung over her back with her Telos Akbolto hanging on her hips. "Ember what's going on?" Frost asked casually.
"The Corpus and Grineer fleets have retreated, and Captain Lasky has put the Infinity fleet into high alert. They've gone into defensive formation around the planet, he wants us, all of us, to report to the command centre on alpha deck, the others are already there come on!" Ember explained. She began to run down the hall towards the elevator with Frost and Mag following close behind.
Five minutes later they arrived in the command centre the rest were already gathered there, along with Spartan Blue Team and Fire team Majestic.
"Mag, Frost, Ember, there you are." Lasky said as he looked up from his holo-table everyone else looked over at the new arrivals.
"LISTEN UP, there's no time to focus on Mag, we have a distressing situation at hand." Trinity yelled as the excited murmurs increased in volume.
"What's the situation?" Mag asked as she and Frost made their way through the crowd to the holo-table.
"This is a view of Earth's orbit; the Infinity fleet is in position amongst the debris field..." Captain Lasky began, but was cut off by Mag.
"Debris field? I thought the Corpus and Grineer fleets retreated?" Mag said.
"They did, well what was left of them. Over the course of the last twelve hours ninety present of both Corpus and Grineer fleets were reduced to nothing more than a floating scrap yard. We intercepted this message from one of the fleeing Corpus flagships." Lasky continued he pushed a button on his console and the message began to play.
"This is Merchants Pride to all remaining ships! Retreat! Retreat! We can't withstand that fire power! Even the Grineer dogs scatter like roaches in the light! Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!" the message stopped playing and the room fell silent Frost glanced at Mag her face was grim.
"What or rather who could have the fire power to reduce the majority of two entire fleets to nothing more than a floating scrap yard and cause what remained to scatter like embers over sand?" Chroma asked from the back of the room.
"The Orokin's Might!" Mag blurted out this got some strange looks from the rest, including Trinity.
"Honey are you sure it's The Orokin's Might?" Frost asked his expression just as grim as Mag's.
"Positive, Captain Lasky is there any footage of the battle?" Mag continued; Lasky punched a few keys to bring up the footage, the scene was absolute chaos. Ships being torn to shreds by cannon fire from an unknown source, "Quick pause it!" Mag shouted; Lasky paused the video, "Computer pan to the right forty five degrees." Mag said aloud as the camera shifted forty five degrees to the right and stopped. "Zoom in fifty percent." Mag continued the camera zoomed in. "Zoom in another twenty percent." Mag said again the camera zoomed in another twenty percent. "Enhance image." Mag continued, as the image was enhanced her expression darkened. "Computer, project image as an enlarged 3D representation through the holo-projector in the centre of the room." Mag continued slowly. The image of a ship began to appear in the centre of the room.
"No, it can't be..." Ember said from beside Chroma; her hand was over her mouth, trying to shield the gasp that escaped her.
"The Orokin's Might." Frost said solemnly, his eyes fell to the floor as the realisation of what had happened set in. "Captain Lasky, recall your fleet." He continued as he turned to Lasky.
"What are you talking about Frost?" Lasky asked questioningly.
"Captain your fleet is in danger, The Orokin's Might is the most powerful ship possessed by the Primes. It has firepower that rivals that of a Death Star battle station, with none of the Death Star's weaknesses." Frost said darkly Lasky looked on in shock.
"It's true Captain, I've seen The Orokin's Might obliterate entire planetoids." Mag said backing up Frost.
"Very well then. This is Captain Tomas Lasky to all ships, fall back, return to the Infinity." Lasky said into the speaker there was a chorus of affirmatives that responded as each ship returned to the Infinity "Now what?" Lasky asked.
"Well first off we need to confirm The Orokin's Might is still within striking distance of Earth. That ship has the power to level mountains even entire continents. If it is within striking distance none of the planet is safe." Chroma responded.
"Okay, everyone that's on The Trident follow me, we'll identify if The Orokin's Might is within attack range let's go." Trinity said then she turned to Mag, Frost and Nyx. "Nyx, Frost, I know you said that you won't be doing missions as long as Mag can't but if The Orokin's Might is within striking range we're going to need all hands on deck to sabotage it." She began, as they walked down to the landing pad Trinity's commlink beeped.
"Trinity pre- flight checks have been completed, we are one hundred percent flight worthy and are waiting for you guys." Hydroid's voice came through the speaker Trinity, Mag, Frost and Nyx ran towards The Trident. A few moments later they were standing in the bridge.
"The Trident this is tower control, the sky is yours, you are clear for lift off." the control tower operators voice came through the speaker.
"Acknowledged tower control. Hydroid take us up." Trinity responded.
Chapter 10: Hunted
Five minutes later they were in orbit, Mag and Frost stared solemnly out at the debris field "Trinity I have a fix on The Orokin's Might's engine signature," Mirage said from one of the consoles Trinity walked over to stand behind Mirage "Heading 058, that puts it just behind..." she began but was cut off by Saryn.
"Mars, they're hiding behind Mars." Saryn said softly.
"Nekros, Valkyr go and have a look behind Mars." Trinity said into the speaker.
"Heading out now, we'll report back as soon as we find something." Nekros replied as the energy trails of his and Valkyr's archwings flew out from under the nose of The Trident and off towards Mars.
"What do we do if they do find The Orokin's Might?" Chroma asked from the MAC bay. Nekros' voice came over the speakers.
"Trinity, it's Nekros, I'm afraid I have some news, the good news is that The Orokin's Might is hiding behind Mars, the bad news is that they are at full weapons ready." He said as he and Valkyr flew under the nose of the Trident.
"Does that answer your question Chroma? Okay listen up all of you, The Trident doesn't have enough fire power to destroy The Orokin's Might so we have to sabotage the ship." Trinity brought up a hologram for The Orokin's Might "Spartan blue team will be assisting in the sabotage, they have been given seven small scale excavation grade Havoc tactical nuclear mines. Everyone head to the archwing bay." Trinity continued once everyone was in the archwing bay and strapped into their archwings, aside from Spartan blue team who were strapped into their EVA booster frames. "Spartan blue team will place their three Havocs under the two main heavy gun emplacements and under the forward hangar. The rest of us will place the remaining Havocs under the port and starboard hangars and the remaining two heavy gun emplacements any questions?" Trinity continued nobody had any questions so Hydroid opened the bay doors and the team shot towards The Orokin's Might. On the bridge Mag, Nyx, and Frost stood by the view port watching the team blast out from under the nose towards Mars. The crew of The Orokin's Might did not pay much attention to the four blips on the radar that represented the EVA booster frames. The radar had completely missed the archwings. Not a shot was fired at the advancing team, within two hundred yards the team split up. Spartan Blue team headed for the front of The Orokin's Might while the others headed for the stern of the ship. Trinity and the rest found little difficulty placing and priming the Havocs on their assigned targets, Spartan Blue team had a little trouble from Magnetic interference but all Havocs were placed and primed. The team regrouped and headed back to The Trident. "Mag, it's Trinity all Havocs placed and primed we're clear of the blast radius you may fire when ready." Trinity's voice came over the speaker.
"Acknowledged Trinity." Mag said as she and Frost walked over to the detonator.
"On three one two three." Frost said, when he reached three he placed his hand over Mag's and pushed the detonator. There were several blinding flashes as each Havoc detonated one after the other. The effects were immediate, the gun positions disintegrated and the hangars erupted into flames. Chroma and Ember howled with glee as The Orokin's Might started to limp away, a portal opened in front of it as The Orokin's Might began to pitch as the right engines began to die, slowly it slipped through the portal and disappeared, the group returned to The Trident.
"Infinity command, this is The Trident do you read?" Trinity said into the mic.
"Loud and clear Trident what's the status?" Lasky's voice came over the loud speaker.
"The Orokin's Might is limping away; I doubt that we'll be seeing it again anytime soon, you can redeploy your fleet Captain." Trinity responded with a smile.
"Acknowledged Trident, hang on...Trident be advised that we have just received a distress call coming in from a Tenno relay on mercury." Lasky replied.
"Patch it though Captain." Trinity said.
"This is Hayden Tenno, leader of the free Tenno. We have come under attack from the Primes fleet. Attempted evacuation of the larunda relay has ended in complete failure. Death toll, far too many. I'm currently holed up Darvo's store with a group of 12 survivors. If anyone is receiving please help us..." the rest of the distress call is drowned out by intense gunfire.
"Hydroid full speed ahead for the Larunda relay!" Trinity yelled to Hydroid. The Trident blasted past the Infinity.
"Trinity we have deployed fire teams Venom, Rhino, Domino, Ivy, and Crimson to assist." Lasky said as The Trident blasted into the Void. It didn't take long for The Trident to reach the relay. Outside there were only a few light cruisers that let The Trident pass, inside however was a completely different story. The once pristine, gleaming walls were now smeared with blood. Corpses of those who tried to flee littered the corridors, hangars and the concourse. It was all hands on deck as everyone onboard The Trident was fighting to get to Hayden's position. They made quick and short work of the Primes forces; they met up with fire teams Venom, Rhino, Domino, Ivy, and Crimson in the concourse.
"Alright Venom, Rhino, Domino, Ivy, and Crimson you secure the rest of the relay and check for any remaining survivors we'll go and retrieve Hayden and his group." Trinity ordered, leading the rest away as the fire teams went off to combat the remaining forces. Ember and Chroma were on point as the group left the elevator. The area outside Darvo's shop was littered with the lifeless corpses of the fallen. "Hayden, its Trinity you can open up." Trinity said, banging on the door to Darvo's shop. The door slid open with a clank to show a battered and bruised Hayden Tenno along with Rhino, Loki, Mesa, Zephyr, Oberon, three operatives and three civilians. A man, a woman and a child. A family. Poor bastards must be scared out of their minds. Mag thought to herself as she lowered her Karak Wraith. Hayden rushed out to embrace Trinity as everyone removed their helmets.
"Something's not right." Frost murmured under his breath.
"What?" Mag asked.
"Something feels off here, very off." Frost continued a dark tone in his voice and a grave expression on his face. Suddenly the light began to flicker and dim, a ghostly voice like a phantom from the long distant past echoed around the room.
"You are, all of you, Traitors, you may have forgotten those dark sins you cast long ago, but I have not," everyone raised their weapons, they scanned the room franticly searching for the source of the voice more chilling than that of Nekros, the voice continued, "For during the eons you slept your memory has faded and you forgot that you, Tenno, destroyed an Empire, but you shall not destroy another!" the lights flickered once more before returning to normal. That is when the flood gates to hell opened wide. Gunfire erupted as the distant cries sounded from the various areas of the relay.
Where is he? Where the hell is he! Does anyone have a visual on him?
Where the hell did he come from!?
Shoot him! Shoot him!
Those were some of the cries that sounded as each of the fire teams was cut down one after the other. "Hayden, we have to get out of here!" Trinity responded, a look of sheer terror in her eyes. Everyone put their helmets back on and headed towards the hanger where The Trident was docked. Silently they moved through the relay, by now all noise had stopped; they reached the concourse and were in the process of crossing it when Mag and Ember cried in pain simultaneously, Chroma and Frost both spun on their heels and rushed to their respected partners. Mag had a throwing dagger lodged in her right leg while Ember had one lodged in her left shoulder and one in her right side. A shadowy figure appeared in a cloud of black smoke his scythe, easily identifiable as Hate, in one hand and menacingly palming another throwing dagger.
"Stalker!" Frost said his voice full of hatred and malice.
"Ohh dear looks like my aim was off, I guess I'm a little rusty." Stalker cooed mockingly, he eyed each individual, sizing them up identifying their weak points. Chroma, his eyes burning with a fiery hatred, grabbed his Jat kittag and charged towards Stalker, who simply laughed and activated Smite, one of the ability he copied from an Oberon some millennia ago. The blast hit Chroma square in the chest and sent him flying, he slammed into the wall behind the group and was rendered unconscious. Valkyr and Limbo both rushed Stalker together, but they suffered similarly to Chroma. Stalker stood there laughing to himself.
"THAT'S ENOUGH BROTHER!" Nekros yelled; drawing his Ether Reaper he charged towards Stalker, catching him off guard. Stalker managed to react in time, bringing Hate up to block Nekros' attack, sparks flew and metal sang as the two scythes collided again and again.
"You have improved greatly brother, but I have more tricks up my sleeve." Stalker said menacingly, he teleported away and used Soul Punch on Nekros, sending him flying and putting him into critical health. Frost changed towards Stalker and punched him in the side of the head, once he had recovered from the attack he swung Hate and carved a shallow gash across the front of Frost's Warframe. Frost toppled to the ground with the Stalker standing over him, scythe raised high in the air ready to deliver the killing blow but he was stopped mid swing, the tip of the blade mere millimetres from Frost's neck.
"NOOOO!" came the desperate cry from Mag; she was on her feet, the dagger still lodged in her right leg, tears streaming down her face. "Please stop this, don't kill him please." Mag pleaded with him, she slumped to the floor and began sobbing. The sight of Mag bawling her eyes out moved something within Stalker. A wave of emotions, feelings and memories from long ago came flooding out of the mental vaults they had been locked away in for centuries as a raging torrent. These memories flashed before Stalkers eyes, He dropped Hate which landed with a loud clang, tore off his helmet and clutched his hands to his head.
"Gahh...The...Pain...Make It Stop...Memories and...Feelings from...Long Ago...Resurfacing...My head...Feels Like...It's Going...To Explode!" Stalker began. Something change within Stalker as he recovered, a side of him that was buried long ago had awoken and forced itself to the surface and had taken control, he stared at the group, more specifically at Mag. "You're pregnant." he said, his voice had changed as well, no longer was it chilling and ghostly, it was deep and soothing with a natural echo, as he retrieved Hate and clipped it onto his back, "Forgive me, I did not know." He continued as he knelt in front of the group.
"What are you on about Stalker?" Frost asked warily as he slowly got to his feet.
"I now see the error of my transgressions, I cannot begin to repent for the damage I have caused but know that I was only doing this because of the Primes. They duped me into helping them, saying that their goals were to reunite the Tenno under one flag." Stalker continued slowly, his head bowed in shame Mag stopped crying when Stalker began talking differently.
"The Primes have betrayed us Stalker, they do not seek to reunite the Tenno; they seek to create an army with which to conquer the known universe." Trinity said slowly, lowering her gun.
"Wait a sec, why are you acting like this?" Nyx questioned.
"This is who I was, as a low guard before the Orokin Empire fell." Stalker continued keeping his head bowed and not making eye contact, "The sight of Mag, crying, released me from their hold." he said again, slowly rising to his feet.
"You said 'their hold' what do you mean?" Chroma asked, regaining consciousness.
"I...Do not know; it is possible that they were controlling me, manipulating my actions to better serve their agenda." Stalker said again looking up at Mag. Staring back at him she realised that all the hatred and malice had truly left him. Whatever dark, corrupting force that had control over him for all these eons has finally relinquished its hold on him and receded back into the deepest pit in his mind. Would it return again Mag was not sure.
"It...Has been a while...since you talked like that, brother." Nekros said causing the others to glance over at him; he was on his feet, barely he was standing in the middle of the corridor leaning on his Ether Reaper for support. Stalker's eyes darted to Nekros and began to fill with tears.
"Forgive me Brother, my mind was not it a right space." Stalker said as he began to sob Nekros hobbled over and placed a hand on Stalkers shoulder, causing Stalker to look up.
"All is forgiven Brother, the past is the past, and this is no place to dwell on those events for the Primes fleet is advancing as we speak, they will destroy this relay and us along with it. Come join us, join our fight against the Primes and reclaim the honour that you lost long ago." Nekros said, a warm smile spread across his face. Stalker nodded and stood up.
"Trinity, lead the way." Nekros said. A few minute later they were all back on The Trident, Frost carried Mag and Chroma carried Ember to the Medbay, Trinity removed the throwing daggers and began the healing process. The wounds were minor and were easily healed; Hydroid began to pilot the ship out of the hangar. Sure enough the Primes fleet had arrived and began the process of destroying the Relay. They completely missed The Trident as it slipped out of the hangar and disappeared through a rift into the Void.
Chapter 11: The Bonds of Friendship
The Trident arrived within Earth's orbit to find the Infinity fleet and the UNSC Home fleet, in defence formation around the planet, had been reinforced by elements of the Coruscant Defence Fleet 3rd battle group. Amongst the collection of Strident-class and Paris-class heavy frigates, Halcyon-class light cruisers, out dated Charon-class light frigates and Valiant-class super heavy cruisers that made up the Infinity fleet and the UNSC home fleet were twelve Venator-class star destroyers, three Victory II-class destroyers, and one Bellator-class Dreadnought. In the centre of the combined fleets sat the UNSC Infinity along with Negotiator II. Both flagships were docked to Watcher, a pre-fabricated space station. "Ahh Trident, there you are you have executive permission to dock with Watcher." Lasky's voice came over the speakers when The Trident was within range.
"Acknowledged Lasky, we're coming into dock now." Trinity replied. The Trident gave a shudder as Watcher's tractor beams locked on and began guiding it in towards the docking ring, there was a clang and a whine as the extendable docking tunnel locked into place with The Tridents port docking ring and pressurised. As the hatch opened they were met by fire team Crimson. "Crimson! You survived!" Trinity blurted out.
"Barely, we lost Anders and Shelly. Lasky wants to see you." the team leader said bitterly; he turned around and walked away without making eye contact. Chroma and Frost sat beside Mag's and Ember's beds in the med bay, the soft breathing of Mag and Ember as they slept was the only sound.
"We need a vacation." Chroma commented softly.
"You're not wrong there Chroma, but we're going to be hunted as long as the Primes remain in control of our fellow Tenno." Frost replied; his eyes locked on Mag. She's been in here or some other Medbay so much lately. She's lucky that Stalkers aim was off, that dagger just missed her artery. He thought to himself.
"I don't want to lose her Frost, I can't lose Ember." Chroma whispered. Frost glanced over his shoulder; Chroma had his hand resting on Ember's arm.
"I know Chroma I'm the same with Mag. Those times where her wound reopened and when she was put into that coma, I thought I was going to lose her and that was the scariest thing I've ever experienced, so I know exactly how you feel." Frost replied, Chroma said nothing he just stared at the soft rise and fall of Ember's chest. "I always knew that you had a thing for her Chroma." Frost continued, a sly smile spreading across his face.
"What?" Chroma asked. He was caught off guard by the statement.
"When we found her during our mission to destroy the Zanuka production facility, the way you comforted her, the way she clung to you after you broke the dissection table. When you were assigned to my squad as a full time member Ember insisted that she be assigned here as well." Frost continued the smile fading slightly as Mag rolled over so that she was facing Frost, she was still asleep. Chroma again said nothing. "After that mission in the Charybdis sector I started to notice more and more that you had a thing for her. You did a good job of keeping it a secret for a while; any other squad leader would have turned you both into the Primes as soon as they figured it out." Frost said again.
"So why didn't you?" Chroma growled.
"Because of her, because of Mag. If I were to have exposed you and Ember then it would have put my relationship with Mag at risk of exposure and I couldn't do that. In my opinion, having a relationship with someone improves your fighting ability during combat." Frost replied softly.
"How do you figure?" Chroma questioned.
"Well it gives you someone to fight for. If you have someone to fight for it makes you more determined to see the mission through safely, it makes you less likely to do something stupid that could end badly." Frost continued as he turned around to face Chroma. "Before you and Ember were assigned, my squad had the highest rate of operatives in intensive care than any other squad, but since you two joined, the squad has become one of the top squads with the lowest rate of operatives in intensive care. That's because we all have someone that we fight for. Someone that gives us the strength to push through even the toughest engagements. For me it's Mag, for you its Ember, with Ember it's you and with Excalibur its Nyx. We all have someone to fight for, someone more important than the directives and objectives of any mission. That's why I didn't turn you two into the Primes." Frost responded softly placing a hand on Chroma's shoulder. Both Ember and Mag woke up simultaneously.
"Ember, how do you feel Em?" Chroma asked softly as he helped Ember to sit up.
"Not as bad as you would think, Stalker's aim was off so he missed my arteries." Ember said with a sigh as she felt her wounds.
"How do you feel honey?" Frost asked Mag.
"Tired of being stabbed, or shot, or losing consciousness." Mag responded as Frost helped her to sit up.
"We definately need a vacation." Frost replied, giving Mag a loving hug. Back in the command centre onboard Watcher, Trinity was having an argument with Lasky.
"Look Lasky, I didn't ask for you to send those fire teams, we could have handled it on our own!" Trinity shouted at Lasky.
"You sent them so their deaths are on your head Captain." Hayden commented backing up Trinity.
"Stalker was the one who slaughtered them; he should be put on trial for his crimes against us!" Palmer replied, defending Lasky. Her hand was hovering near the pistol on her right thigh, all the Tenno in the room were aware that this could turn ugly at any moment. The UNSC personnel outnumbered them three to one.
"And why should one of us pay for the judgmental blunder of a ranking officer of the UNSC navy!" Excalibur shouted, slamming his fist into the table and leaving a sizable dent in its surface, everyone in the room jumped except the Tenno. The Spartans drew their weapons and aimed them at the Tenno, the Tenno followed exactly. Mag, Frost, Chroma, and Ember began walking to the command centre. Ember was cuddled up next to Chroma, and Mag was walking alongside Frost when they ran into Saryn.
"Good to see that you two are alright" She said hugging Mag and Ember.
"We're going to the Command centre to meet up with the others, care to tag along?" Frost commented Saryn nodded and the group walked towards the command centre. As the door opened they were met by a sight of a standoff between the Spartans of the UNSC and the Tenno, Trinity and Hayden were in an argument with Lasky and Palmer.
Ember rushed up to Trinity "What the hell is going on here!?" She asked, Palmer pointed her magnum at Embers head.
"Stay out of this Tenno!" Palmer yelled. Without warning all the UNSC weapons went flying out of the hands of those that held them to land with a clatter at Mag's feet, Saryn cast a spell and sent them flying to the ceiling and Frost froze them there.
"STAND DOWN THE LOT OF YOU! THIS IS NO PLACE TO HAVE A SHOOT OUT!" Chroma yelled in a commanding tone, while the Spartans and UNSC personnel looked on in complete shock the Tenno sheathed their weapons.
"Well, now that the situation has been resolved would someone kindly tell me just what the hell is happening!?" Frost said giving everyone in the room a cold stare that made them shrink in fear as his eyes fell upon them.
"Captain Lasky wants Stalker to stand trial for the slaughter of Fire teams Rhino, Venom, Domino, and Ivy" Nekros said.
"Captain Lasky, you of all people should know that your rules only apply to the UNSC, Not the Tenno. While the moral thing would be for Stalker to stand trial for his actions, he is a Tenno. Even in his state of rampancy we have always regarded him as a one of us. Putting him on trial in either a UNSC court or a New Republic court will break the Treaty, which will cause the ENTIRE Tenno armada to wage war against you. Even with our assistance you won't last very long. One Tenno, as you know, is equal to that of an entire squad of Spartans or two Jedi Masters, not even Grand Master Luke Skywalker would stand against the Tenno if you remember, he did put his foot dawn if they got out of line but he never faced them in combat during the most recent war between the three factions that lead to the signing of the Jotunheim treaty. Neither the UNSC or the New Republic has the strength or the forces to combat an entire army of highly trained Tenno warriors." Frost said authoritatively.
"Let it go Palmer." Lasky said after a few minutes of thinking over what Frost had just said.
"Tom!" Palmer began but she was cut off.
"He's right Palmer. We can't stand up to them if it comes to war, not in our current state. Hell we can barely stop the Grineer." Lasky responded sternly. He checked the clock "1:30 am, everyone go back to your quarters and get some rest. Dismissed." he said again, everyone started to file out of the room the Tenno headed back to The Trident. Mag and Frost were behind the others, Frost walked with his arm around Mag, Mag was cuddled up to Frost, Ember and Chroma was a few feet in front of them. Ember was humming softly to herself.
"She really does have a beautiful voice." Frost said softly to Mag.
"Yea, if she wasn't a Tenno she would have made a good singer." Mag replied with a smile, once onboard The Trident they said goodnight to each other and each went to their assigned rooms. Once Frost had entered the pin the door slid open with a snap-hiss and the lights flickered on, illuminating the room. Both of them removed their Warframes, curled into bed and fell asleep.
Chapter 12: The Citadel falls
Early the next morning Trinity called a meeting in the conference room up by the bridge. Mag and Frost were the last to arrive; Trinity looked utterly shattered she was up all night looking over the latest probe reports, once they were seated Trinity began. "Listen up everyone," She started with a yawn, "Latest probe reports are in and something of interest has come up." She keyed up an image of The Citadel, the Primes base of operations.
"Trinity, we already know of The Citadel." Chroma said; this was followed by nods and murmurs of agreement.
"Look closely at the centre tower." Trinity continued as she zoomed in on the centre spire.
"A transmitter array?" Mag asked.
"Precisely, now why would there be a transmitter array on The Citadel I ask?" Trinity said with a yawn that was significantly larger that the last one.
"A mind control device, that's how they duped the others into joining them. They're using this device to control them." Nyx responded, she was disgusted. There was a soft knock on the door, Frost stood up and opened it, in the doorway stood Luke Skywalker, Grand Master of the New Jedi Order "Luke, this is unexpected" Frost said shocked.
"Forgive the intrusion Frost, but I have some information I wish to share with you all." Luke said softly.
"Let him in Frost." Trinity said from the head of the table.
"Morning all, as I said before I have some information that I think you should know." Luke said once the door was closed, he was undaunted but the eyes of the group. "What I am about to tell you is in violation of the Jotunheim treaty," he paused for effect, "For the past few years, well actually since the treaty was established, I've had agents implemented in The Citadel, but before you interrupt me I had Lotus' consent." he continued.
"Lotus is this true?" Ember asked.
"Yes it is, I gave Master Skywalker my consent to implement 3 agents in The Citadel, his reasoning was so that he could keep a track of what the Primes were up to." Lotus said.
"I just received word that the Primes are planning to launch an attack on Earth with all their forces sometime in the next few months. I do not know when, only that they intend to reclaim Earth as the home of the Tenno and centre of their empire, they've already taken some of the outlaying planets in the Outer Rim." Luke finished speaking and stood silent as the rest thought over what was just said.
"Well, looks like we've reached an ultimatum. We have two options here number one is that we assault The Citadel, destroy the device and the transmitter array, free the rest of our fellow Tenno and prevent a war, or number two we tell Lasky about the planned assault. Luke is the information from your agents reliable?" Trinity said an expression that was a mixture of thoughtfulness and sleepiness spread across her face.
"One hundred percent, all three agents heard it straight from the mouth of Excalibur Prime." Luke responded. The room fell into silence as the group fell into thought it was Mag who broke the silence.
"I do not want to fight anymore, I can't fight anymore. I vote we take out the mind control device." She said softly, just loud enough that Frost could hear her.
"I can't stand the thought of having to kill my fellow Tenno. My vote goes with Mag's. Let's take out that device." Frost responded.
"Make that three." Chroma commented.
"Four." Ember replied, a smile on her face. Excalibur, Nyx, Nekros, Saryn and Stalker all sided with Mag bringing the total votes to destroy the mind control device to nine all eyes fell to Trinity as Trinity's team would side with whatever she said.
"It's on you Trinity, what do we do. Take out The Citadel or tell Lasky?" Mag asked.
"Enough hiding. Tonight we take the fight straight to them, tonight The Citadel falls." Trinity said. She stood up and turned to face Luke. "Master Skywalker, tonight we attack The Citadel. Tt's up to you whether you help or not but any help would be greatly appreciated." She said.
"I will follow with the Negotiator II, I will not take an active role in the fight but I will be on station to provide support." Luke said and with that he left the room and walked back to the Negotiator II. After a few hours of preparation The Trident and the Negotiator II detached from Watcher and began moving through the fleets towards open space.
"Captain Lasky both The Trident and Negotiator II have detached and are moving away, it seems that Negotiator II is following The Trident." one of the UNSC officers said.
"This is Captain Lasky to Trinity, What the hell are you doing!?" Lasky shouted into the microphone.
"Preventing a war." Trinity's response came over the speaker. The transmission died as The Trident and Negotiator II slipped into the Void.
"Sir, they're gone their exit path puts them on heading for the heart of Tenno space." the officer said again.
"We can't track them while they're in transit, Trinity said "Preventing a war" What could she mean by that?" Lasky keyed his personal comm. "Infinity Bridge this is Captain Lasky I'm coming aboard." Lasky said as he walked out of the command centre and headed towards the Infinity. It took a few minutes but Lasky soon entered the bridge of the UNSC Infinity.
"Sir we've plotted The Trident's and Negotiator II's suspected course, shall we pursue?" The navigation officer said as soon as he saw Lasky enter the bridge.
"No, wait for my orders. Last thing we need is to be the spark in this powder keg." Lasky said to the crew on the bridge as he lent over the holo-table in the centre of the bridge studying the data.
On The Trident everyone was gathered on the bridge, outside the shimmering and twisting colours of the Void blasted past as The Trident thundered at full throttle towards The Citadel. "Once we drop out of the Void our target, our only target is The Citadel. Negotiator II stay back we'll call you in for support if we need it." Trinity said everyone was fully decked out in their Warframes; weapons were slung over their backs or being shouldered.
"Affirmative Trinity, I've tasked Rouge Squadron to run interference once we drop out of the Void." Luke's voice came over the speaker.
"FIVE MINUTES!" Hydroid called from the helm.
"Everyone to the archwing bay!" Trinity yelled, 3 minutes latter they were all suited up in their individual archwings.
"THIRTY SECONDS!" Hydroids voice came over the speakers.
"Hydroid, count us down." Trinity called back Hydroid began the countdown.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. GO, GO, GO!" When he reached one the bay doors opened and all of them dropped into the vacuum of space and blasted off towards The Citadel.
"Listen up, we move as a team we fight as a team. No heroics, I don't want to be carrying anyone out of here on a stretcher. Our targets are the broadcast station and the mind control device, HYDROID BRING DOWN THE ARRAY!" Trinity yelled into the mic.
"Shot out!" Hydroid replied. A bright flash streaked past the advancing group and impacted the array destroying it in one hit causing the blast doors over the main hangar to shut firmly.
"Negotiator II knockdown the door!" Trinity yelled again, a heavy proton torpedo streaked overhead and slammed into the blast doors of the main hangar blowing a massive hole clean through it. A swarm of fighters flew out from The Citadel.
"Trinity, this is Rouge leader we're moving to intercept those fighters." Luke said. he and the rest of Rouge squadron blasted past.
"Rouge squadron those fighters are drones, good hunting." Mag called back.
"Affirmative Mag. Good hunting Tenno be sure to give the Primes our regards." Luke said. The space in front of the group lit up as Rouge Squadron engaged the drone fighters the group bunched up and formed a massive energy shield around them. Laser bolts and cannon fire bouncing harmlessly off the energy shield with sharp pings. They continued at full speed until they hit the hole in the hangars blast doors where they disengaged from their archwings and begun the fight.
"Remember the array is down so most of the Tenno will be incapacitated so we only have to worry about security bots." Trinity said to the group.
Chapter 13: Ashes to Ashes
For the most part the group moved quickly through The Citadel, any security bots that were encountered were dispatched with ease. About half way they split into two teams Trinity, Frost, Mag, Nyx, Nekros, Rhino, Mesa, Excalibur, and Hayden were on team one the rest were on team two. Team two focused on finding the broadcast station and team one went straight for the mind control device. All hell broke loose soon after they split up. Chroma and Ember became separated from team two and were under heavy fire from a squad of thirteen LCT-143 Enforcers.
"Damn it these guys are tough!" Chroma called through gritted teeth as he took out three Enforcers with his gorgon. Two more fell to Embers fireballs and the rest fell soon after.
"Is that it, are they done?" Ember asked lowering her soma.
"I think so, come on lets regroup with the others." Chroma responded breaking into a sprint as they rushed to regroup with team two, Ember wasn't far behind. As it turns out team two had taken the broadcast station and we in the process of figuring out how the controls work.
"What took you two so long?" Limbo asked after they entered the room.
"We got pinned down by LCT-143's. Tough bastards they are. Took most of my ammo to bring them down." Chroma replied with a grunt.
"Mirage this is Trinity, where are you we're pinned down by defence turrets and Enforcers." The rest of what Trinity was saying was drowned out by gunfire.
"Trinity we're in the broadcast station, we're trying to figure out how these controls work." Mirage called back.
"Look for a small blue and red switch that's the kill switch." Mag called back. Ember glanced around the control consoles and found the switch she flipped it and the security drones all shut down, the turrets ceased firing.
"Thanks Ember." Mag's reply came through Embers headset, with the security drones disabled team one advanced unchallenged towards the mind control device.
"It's quiet, too quiet." Frost said softly as they walked down the hallway.
"I know, something doesn't feel right here" Mag responded, they were on point and a few meters in front of team one. A few minutes later they entered the chamber containing the mind control device and we met by a horrifying sight. Infested and flood biomass covered the walls; it squirmed and pulsed as they passed by. The device was a few meters away when two figures dropped from the roof and landed in their path. The shockwave threw the group to the ground as the unknown duo stood up straight, revealing who they were. Excalibur Prime and Nyx Prime. They were partially taken over by a hybrid of the infestation and the flood.
"SO you have come to destroy our machine? It is foolish to face us." Excalibur prime laughed menacingly his face was twisted into a horrifying apparition of contentment. Rhino let out a roar and charged towards Excalibur Prime, intent on ending his reign and his life once and for all but to no avail. While he was focused on killing Excalibur Prime he missed Nyx Prime and the attack she unleashed unto him. With one precise stab she impaled him; she removed her blade, turned and walked awa.y Excalibur Prime began to laugh again. Rhino slumped to his knees and stared at the hole in his chest, just to the right of his heart. With his strength fading fast he drew his Rakta Ballistica and aimed at Nyx Prime, he fired once. The bolt left the gun and impacted Nyx Prime dead centre of the chest and embedded itself, a look of horror crossed her face as the bolt detonated, completely destroying her.
"Gotcha." Rhino said aloud. The last of his strength left him and he slumped over to the side and died. Excalibur Prime was enraged; he let out a blood chilling howl and glared down at the group.
"You monsters!" he shouted, shaking the walls of the chamber. Out of the darkness an arrow slammed into his shoulder.
"You call us monsters, yet you are the real monster, look at yourself. A twisted mass of infested and flood biomass. You're more infected than you are Tenno; you have betrayed the title of Prime. During the Orokin era the Primes were leaders on the battle field they fought with valour, honour, and dignity but you do not. You seek to rebuild an empire from the ashes of one that died long ago." Nekros said from the shadows. Another arrow was fired into Excalibur Prime, causing him to drop to his knees.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust you are nothing but dust, and to the dust you shall return as we reap your tainted soul and wipe the universe clean of your corruption." Stalker continued as he appeared beside his older brother. They both drew their scythes and advanced towards Excalibur Prime.
"You...will never win!" Excalibur Prime shouted. The blades of both scythes were placed on either side of his neck.
"Hold your tongue the infected do not speak." Nekros glared at him.
"What are you orders Mag, do we let this twisted mass of flesh and corruption stand trial, or end his life here and now?" Stalker asked. Frost glanced over at Mag; she was becoming more and more distressed as she tried to decide Excalibur Primes fate.
"That's enough both of you, can't you see that you are stressing her out?" Frost responded placing his arm around Mag to comfort her. Mesa pushed her way through the group and made her way towards Excalibur Prime; drawing her Regulator pistols she unleashed a barrage of gunfire into Excalibur Prime.
"That was for Rhino and for everyone else that you've killed, but don't worry you're not dying I have not pierced your heart. I will leave your fate for these two too decide." she snarled, then turned around and walked over to kneel beside Rhino's corpse and began to sob.
"Nekros, Stalker. End his life, this corrupted bastard does not deserve a trial." Trinity said as she walked over to Rhino's corpse.
"At least give me a clean death, a soldier's death." Excalibur Prime pleaded.
"No, you do not deserve a soldier's death." Nekros responded, he signalled to Stalker. As one they brought the blades of their scythes together decapitating Excalibur Prime, silencing him and ending his life. Frost walked up and froze the body, which shattered into oblivion Trinity knelt beside Rhino's lifeless body.
"Is there anything you can do?" Mesa asked between sobs.
"I'm sorry Mesa. He's gone, there's nothing I can do. What I can do is heal his wound and fix his armour, but I can't bring him back. I'm sorry." Trinity said softly laying her right hand on Mesa's shoulder and healing Rhino's wound with the other.
"I may be of assistance in this area of things." Nekros said softly.
"What are you talking about Nekros?" Mesa asked.
"He died not too long ago, so his sprit has not fully crossed over, in fact I can sense him even now." Nekros continued softly kneeling beside Mesa.
"You mean you can bring him back?" Mesa replied her voice full of hope.
"In theory yes, Necromancers can raise the dead, but some can retrieve the soul of one that has recently died from the land of the dead and return them to the land of the living." Nekros responded.
"Can you at least try?" Mesa pleaded.
"Okay, you may want to stand back for this. Trinity I'm going to need your help with this." Nekros said hovering his hands over Rhino's heart.
"What do you need me to do?" Trinity asked.
"Start the revive process just as if Rhino was downed in combat, but start off slow." Nekros continued as he stood up. Mag was standing beside Mesa watching as Nekros set about his dark work, slowly his hands began to glow with energy as Trinity began the revive process. A column of energy flowed from his hands and began to cover Rhino in an aura; Nekros began mumbling in a language long forgotten by time. The lights in the room began to flicker and go out, casting the room into darkness so that the only light was coming from Nekros himself, a testament to how powerful he truly was. Slowly a ghost began to appear in front of Mesa and Mag.
"Rh...Rhino" Mesa stammered.
"Hi Mesa, yea it's me I have to go now, but I will see you soon" the ghost of Rhino said, slowly fading away as it was pulled towards Rhino's body. A few minutes later Nekros dropped onto all fours, breathing heavily, Trinity finished the reviving process just as the lights turned back on. Mesa ran over to him.
"Did it work?" she asked.
"Give...Give it a minute." Nekros said between breaths. Trinity removed Rhino's helmet and slowly he began to stir, he sat up straight and looked around.
"I'm...I'm back, I'm alive." he stammered in a confused tone. Mesa burst into tears and rushed over to him and embraced him.
"I thought I had lost you." she sobbed.
"I thought I was gone as well, Mesa." Rhino responded causing Mesa to look up at him.
"Yea?" she asked.
"I love you, I've always loved you." Rhino said aloud as he cradled Mesa.
"I love you too." Mesa replied; she cuddled up to Rhino.
"I can't help but feel like we're forgetting something." Trinity said slowly.
"The mind control device." Mag and Frost both said at the same time, they walked over to the device and each laid a hand on the kill switch.
"Together?" Frost asked.
"Together." Mag said softly, as one they pulled the kill switch and turned off the machine.
"It's over, it's done." Trinity said.
"Not yet, there's one more thing that we need to do." Mag said, she placed her hand in the device and released a controlled EMP into it, disabling it. "Now we can be sure it won't back on turn on by itself." Mag continued. There was a loud crash and everyone turned around to face the machine, Stalker was standing there scythe embedded into the machine and holding onto the power core, with a single squeeze he crushed the power core.
"Now it's well and truly destroyed" he said with a sigh.
Chapter 14: Celebrations
As the group began to head down a hallway that to the broadcast station to relay a message to Negotiator II and The Trident there was a loud and unexpected banging from a door at the far end. Causing everyone to draw their weapons.
"Who do you think could be making that all that racket?" Mag asked as the group cautiously approached the door. Frost hit the opening panel on the wall beside the door, which opened rapidly into the wall causing the three people inside to tumble out with a crash. Much to the groups surprise it was none other than Mag Prime, Volt Prime and Ember Prime.
"Damn it Mag Prime, why didn't you just fry the lock or something to get us out." Volt Prime grumbled as he sat up stiffly.
"I kept telling you that would only work if I had direct contact with the opening switch, but because we were stuck inside the supply closet I couldn't reach it." Mag Prime retorted. It was clear she was annoyed.
"Uhh guys I think you may want to stop arguing and address the people that opened the door and let us out." Ember Prime said, finally noticing team one. Mag Prime and Volt Prime stopped their arguing.
"Mag!?" Mag Prime blurted out.
"Why aren't you attacking us?" Mag asked lowering her weapon.
"Because the effects of the mind control device have worn off. I'm glad to see that you weren't captured; sorry if I was harsh on you in the council chambers Nyx Prime and Excalibur Prime were manipulating us; how far along are you in your pregnancy?" Mag Prime asked as she stood up and stretched.
"About seven and a half months." Mag replied; sheathing her weapon and resting her arms on her baby bump.
"That's good to hear, Frost good to see that you didn't get caught either and the rest of you as well." Mag Prime continued Trinity signalled for everyone to sheath their weapons.
"Well it wasn't exactly difficult with Trinity's help." Frost responded. Trinity's commlink beeped.
"Trinity what's going on, we heard a crash." Mirage's voice came through the speaker.
"We're fine Mirage; all of us are just fine, send the all clear to Hydroid aboard The Trident and Luke aboard Negotiator II and then bring everyone to the great hall." Trinity responded with a sigh.
"Done, we'll be there in five; I've let Luke know where to meet us." Mirage's response came.
"Hey little sis, it's been a while since I've heard you voice." Volt Prime shouted.
"Volt!? No way; you're alive!?" Mirage's response came back.
"Yea, I'll see you in the five" Volt Prime responded. Five minutes later everyone was gathered in the great hall, all across The Citadel, Tenno were starting to wake up, many of them were wondering around dazed and confused.
"So both Excalibur Prime and Nyx Prime are dead, that doesn't surprise me." Ember Prime said with a sigh. "The Tenno lost two fine warriors, they could have been good leaders if they didn't go mad with power." she continued solemnly. The door at the far end of the great hall opened up to revile Luke; he made his way to the group.
"Glad to see that you all survived and you must be what remains of the Primes." He said, taking a seat beside Trinity.
"Actually we're what's left of the Primes that were hear at the time of the raid, the rest of them are off on some mission that was given to them by Lotus, something about a new Prime awakening." Ember Prime commented.
"I guess with Excalibur Prime and Nyx Prime dead that leaves you in charge Mag Prime." Trinity said to Mag Prime.
"You're right, and I've decided that there's something I need to do first off." Mag Prime replied and walked over off towards the broadcast station. A few moments later her voice came over the speakers. "This is Mag Prime to all Tenno forces across the known universe. Excalibur Prime, Nyx Prime and the mind control device that has enslaved us to their will have been destroyed. I hereby formally disband the New Tenno Order. I hereby state that all regulations set by the council of the Primes during the rule of Excalibur Prime and Nyx Prime are no longer and the clans are reinstated effective immediately. The Council of the Primes will remain in effect but only as a group that Tenno can come and talk to about various matters. Though the Tenno are no longer united under a single flag know that we are still one, we are no longer part of an empire but we are still one. Do not regard you fellow Tenno differently if they are from different clans because we are all Tenno. And know that one day we may be reunited under a single banner but until that time let us fight for not only the good of the galaxy but also for the good of ourselves and our fellow Tenno." The speakers shut off the moment she concluded her speech. This was met by thunderous applause and cheers of joy that echoed around The Citadel, moments later Mag Prime was back at the group.
"That was nicely done Mag Prime; it took guts to set things back to the way they were. I would be more than pleased to take part in a formal meeting to disband the Jotunheim treaty." Luke said as he stood up to shake hands with Mag Prime.
"I would be honoured to set up a meeting to disband the treaty Master Skywalker, but I'm not too sure how the UNSC is going to take to this though." Mag Prime replied shaking Luke's hand. The group returned to The Trident to stow their gear and change out of their Warframes, then they headed to the Primes personal mess to have dinner with the Mag Prime, Ember Prime and Volt Prime and discuss disbanding the treaty. It was mostly talk between the Primes, Luke, Trinity, and Hayden about political stuff that made absolutely no sense to Mag or Frost so they found a quiet four person table and sat down for their meal. Chroma and Ember had the same idea and walked over the table and joined them. Towards the end of the meal Frost stood up and clicked his glass.
"Attention everyone, can I have your attention please." He started, everyone in the room quietened down. "Thank you, I know we have all had an exciting day, hell an existing few weeks. And I know that we are all shattered and ready for bed, but there's one more thing I have to do before that." Frost continued, "Now I've been working up the courage to do this for the past few days, but with all that was going on I never found the right time. Now seems like a good time so I'm just going to come out with it. Mag, we've been through some tough times lately but we stuck together, and I know that there are going to be more along the way. I'm willing to stick by you for better or for worse, no matter what the universe throws at us, so will you make me the happiest man alive." as he paused Frost felt the weight of the situation bearing down on him of a sack of bricks.
"What are you saying honey?" Mag asked as Frost led her into the centre of the room.
"Mag, will you marry me?" Frost continued as he knelt down on one knee and produced a gleaming white gold engagement ring with a small emerald as the jewel. The room fell silent as everyone waited, with baited breath to hear Mag's.
"Yes! Of course I'll marry you!" Mag cried with glee, her face bursting into a massive, radiant smile as she hugged Frost warmly. The entire room erupted with cheers of joy and applause as Frost slipped the ring over Mag's finger.
"Mag, Frost, I would like to preside over your wedding, as a way of repaying my past transgressions against you two." Mag Prime said two them.
"We would be honoured to have you preside over the ceremony Mag Prime." Mag and Frost responded with glee.
"May your wedding signal the start of a new era for the Tenno." Mag Prime continued, she turned around and walked away. The rest of the night was taken up by celebrations, to any who walked past the door it must have sounded like a massive party was going on and they wouldn't have been wrong. Mag called Nyx over
"Congrats you two." She said as she pulled a chair over and sat down.
"Nyx we've been best friends since training all those years ago and I was wondering; would you be my maid of honour?" Mag asked.
"I would be honoured Mag," Nyx responded with a smile, "So whose your best man Frost?" Nyx continued.
"Chroma, as I said I was working up the courage for a while, it was Chroma who got the ring for me, it was a bit of loot he found during a Void run and he didn't have much use for it so he gave it to me. So when I told him I was going to ask Mag to marry me he wanted to know who the best man was going to be if she said yes and I just asked him if he wanted to be the best man and he said yes." Frost responded.
"Well it seems that we have a wedding to plan." Mag continued with a sigh. Mag Prime over heard this and walked over to them.
"Say no more, I'll have the whole thing sorted out." she said.
Chapter 15: The Ceremony
Within a matter of weeks The Citadel was transformed from the dark, ominous tower of oppression when The Rule, as people had come to call the 'unification' under the Primes, was still in effect to the gleaming, golden spires of its former glory during the Orokin era. The wedding went off without a hitch, as she had said Mag Prime planed the whole thing. It was a traditional Orokin wedding, held in the heart of The Citadel. Mag Prime presided over the ceremony, Mag was dressed in a traditional Tenno wedding garment, which consisted of her Warframe armour with a golden lace bridal gown overtop. Frost was dressed in his Warframe, which he had hand polished to a gleaming shine for the occasion. Everyone was in high spirits especially the bride and groom. The Citadel itself was decorated specifically for the ceremony, with golden flowers and banners hung all over the place. Not for many eons had the place looked so spectacular or seen such high spirits. The Council of the Primes dismantled The Orokin's Might; using the majority its parts to build a ship that they decided to give to the newly wed Mag and Frost as a symbol of good faith. The ship, named PRIDE OF THE LOTUS, was in outer appearance a scaled down version of The Trident, roughly seven times larger than a Liset, but on the inside it was all custom built. Hand crafted by the finest Tenno artisans, the PRIDE OF THE LOTUS was divided into four main sections, the Bridge, the living quarters, the docking bay and the engine bay.
The Bridge was in essence a scaled up version of the front compartment of a Liset it was also a first since the Orokin era. A combination; it was designed to be able to be flown either manually by Mag or Frost, or could be flown automatically by Ordis. The living quarters consisted of a circular, large open room with a cooking area, furniture, a foundry, two Mod stations, two arsenals, two incubators and two Warframe removing chambers. Along the wall are six doorways seven including the one that leads to the bridge, the main one leads to a passage that connects the port and starboard docking rings which allow the PRIDE OF THE LOTUS to dock with larger ships, such as The Trident or stations such as The Citadel and the Relays and leads to the docking bay, the passage also links to the Liset docks in the centre of the ship and the engine bay. The other doors lead to the Master bedroom for Mag and Frost, three guest rooms and a fully equipped Medbay. The docking bay has enough space to dock a total of six Lisets; the two docking ports on top of the PRIDE OF THE LOTUS are occupied and reserved for Mag's and Frost's Lisets; the other four spots remain unoccupied unless a fellow Tenno comes over for a visit or meeting . At the nose of the ship is a boarding ramp that lowers when the ship has landed or docked inside a larger ship for maintenance. Unlike most vessels of Orokin design the PRIDE OF THE LOTUS does poses both landing gear and anti-grav landing pods. Just in front of the Liset docking bay is a small hangar for archwings. When both Mag and Frost have their Lisets docked both Ordis' integrate with the systems aboard the PRIDE OF THE LOTUS. The Ordis in Mag's Liset handles the primary functions of the ship, such as piloting when Mag or Frost is not flying with the manual controls while Ordo, Ordis in Frost's Liset handles the auxiliary functions, such as radar and monitoring the status of the various systems. Both of them get on well with each other mostly because they have someone to talk to that isn't their respective operator or Lotus. The ship possesses all the capabilities of The Trident including the Void jump technology while still being small enough to have Void cloak technology, it lacks some of the heavier armament of The Trident with only two forward facing cannons. The engine bay contains the main engines, the Void Jump engine, a class 2 Hyperdrive, curtsey of Grand Master Luke Skywalker and Chancellor Leia Organa-Solo and a small Shaw-Fujikawa translight engine, curtsey of Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood.
Mag Prime guided Mag and Frost down the hall towards where the PRIDE OF THE LOTUS was docked; it was sitting inside the largest hangar of The Citadel. She paused before opening the door to the hangar and turned to Mag and Frost "Now before I open the door I want you two to know something, what's sitting in the hangar is a gift from the Council to you as a symbol of good faith between us. We do not expect anything in return for it." She said softly as she rested her hand on the handle, the sounds of the celebrations echoed down the hallway behind them. Mag Prime opened the door, reviling the Pride of the Lotus and led Mag and Frost through the door. "There she is; that's our gift to you, the PRIDE OF THE LOTUS." she said again, gesturing to the ship. Mag was speechless; she just stood there and stared in awe at the ship as it gleamed under the lights of hangar. Frost turned to Mag Prime.
"This is too much. We can't accept this, and you've already done far more than we would have asked you to do." He said to her, Mag turned around and backed up Frost.
"He's right we can't possible begin to accept this, it's too much." she said.
"Nonsense, as I said before this is our gift to you, you have done far more for the good of the galaxy than you realise and have asked for nothing in return, so the council decided, unanimously, to dismantle The Orokin's Might, Nova Prime was the one who brought up the idea of using the salvageable parts to build another smaller ship and I was the one who suggested we give that ship to you as a gift to thank you for all that you have done for us and the galaxy. The council agreed and so here it is." Mag Prime responded.
"What about the rest of the parts? Don't tell us that all the parts from the Orokin's Might went into building that ship?" Frost asked.
"Some of them we used to do some repairs on The Trident and the rest we put into storage." Mag Prime reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out two small data masses "Here." she said handing them to Mag and Frost.
"What are these?" Mag asked.
"Those are the master keys for that ship, each one is tuned to your unique biometric imprint, they will give you access to every system aboard that ship, it's your ship after all so it only seems right for you to have them, now would you like to see inside?" Mag Prime replied.
"Yes." Mag and Frost both said at once.
Mag Prime led the way into the ship, "Welcome aboard operator." Ordis chimed as they entered the living quarters.
"Ordis, I thought I noticed my Liset docked on top." Mag said with a smile.
"Don't forget about me." Ordo rumbled.
"Ordo? You're here too?" Frost called, he had been tinkering with his Lisets Ordis and had managed to make his voice deeper so that he could distinguish him from the other Ordis models. Mag and Frost were both awe struck at the shear majesty of the craftsmanship, after giving them a tour she lead them to a console on the bridge. The consol had two slots in it.
"What does this do?" Mag asked.
"Insert those two keys into each slot and turn them." Mag Prime said Mag and Frost both inserted their keys and turned them at once. The ship roared into life, all across the bridge lights light up and screens flashed to life displaying various readouts.
"I'm reading full power across the board, all systems green operator." Ordis chimed in Mag turned to Mag Prime.
"Thank you Mag Prime, for everything." she said as she began to tear up.
"You're very welcome, now let's get back to the party, If I'm not mistaken it's time to cut the cake." Mag Prime said with a laugh as Mag and Frost powered down the ship and followed her back to the party.
Mag and Frost remained in The Citadel for the next couple of months while everything was sorted out. Three days after the wedding Mag Prime, now High Councillor, met with Grand Master Luke Skywalker of the new Jedi Order, Chancellor Leia Organa-Solo of the New Republic and Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood of the UNSC as well as a few high ranking senators from both the New Republic and UNSC to sign a document formally disbanding the Jotunheim treaty, lifting all restrictions on trade and travel between the UNSC, New Republic and the Tenno. The economies of each faction began to boom as trade began to flow freely across all boarders. One day Mag and Frost were sitting in the living quarters aboard the PRIDE OF THE LOTUS talking with Nyx, Chroma and Ember.
"So where are you two going for your honeymoon?" Ember cooed as she cuddled up with Chroma, they were on the couch opposite the one Mag and Frost were on. Mag was lying down, cuddled up to Frost while they talked; Nyx was sitting at one of the viewports. She was gazing out at the stars thinking about stuff, mostly Excalibur as he was away on an assignment. The Grineer had begun an incursion into New Republic space, they claimed it was looking for resources that might help to finding a cure for cloning decay syndrome but the Tenno knew better, and he was assigned to help the New Republic fight them, she glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Four thirty in the afternoon, I wonder how Excalibur's doing." she muttered.
"Not sure yet. Coruscant maybe Luke's invited us to visit the ruins of the old temple or maybe Naboo..." Frost was cut short as Mag suddenly bolted upright and clutched at her baby bump causing Ember and Chroma to become very concerned "What is it honey, are you okay?" Frost asked softly.
"It's happening, the baby's coming." Mag grunted as her breathing became heavy.
"Are you sure? We've had some false alarms over the past couple of weeks." Frost said again
"She's not kidding Frost! It's really happening this time!" Nyx said urgently as she rushed over from the view port, sensing what was going on.
"Ember, contact Trinity, and tell her we need her ASAP! Chroma, give me a hand with her, let's get her to the Medbay! Nyx, get the door!" Frost yelled as he grabbed Mag under her arms and Chroma grabbed her legs, the lifted her up and carried over to the Medbay, Nyx punched the button to open the door as Frost and Chroma carried Mag inside. Ember opened her Commlink and called Trinity.
"Hello?" Trinity asked.
"Trinity, Mag's gone into labour she needs you, now." Ember said into the speaker.
"I'm five minutes out." Trinity responded and shut down her commlink. Ember ran over to the Medbay, nearly tripping over the couch in the process.
"Trinity's five minutes out." She said to Frost he was sitting in a chair beside the bed holding onto Mag's hand.
"Gotcha." Frost replied he turned his attention back to Mag. "Helps coming honey, just keep breathing." he said softly.
Five minute latter Trinity arrived with a team of medics, Ember guided them to the medbay. "Okay, I'm going to need everyone except Frost to leave while we work." She said to the group.
"Understood, come on lets go." Nyx replied leading Ember and Chroma away. Ember stayed behind to clean up the mess left behind when Mag's water broke. Mag was in labour all night; Frost didn't get any sleep. Around ten the next morning Chroma and Ember retuned to check on them. Nyx had overslept; she had been up all night thinking, well worrying would be a more accurate term. Ember walked over to the medbay to find nobody in there.
"Anyone home?" she called out.
"We're in here guys." Frost called back from the master bedroom, Ember rushed over followed by Chroma. Frost beside the bed, he was sitting in a chair he had pulled in from the lounge; Mag was resting in the bed. She was propped up on the cushions, in her arms she was cradling a baby girl, and she smiled weakly as she saw Ember enter the room.
"Hey Ember hey Chroma." she said softly.
"Try and keep it down you guys." Frost said with a smile.
"You look shattered boss. Did ya get any sleep last night?" Chroma asked.
"Heh not a wink." Frost replied with a sigh as Ember sat down on the bed.
"What's her name?" Ember asked softly.
"It's May, Frost and I both decided on May." Mag cooed softly, she gazed lovingly at the sleeping baby girl she cradled in her arms "Our sweet little May." She cooed softly as she lifted May up and kissed her on the forehead. May let out a cute little yawn, which made both Frost and Mag smile broadly. Chroma placed his hand on Embers shoulder.
"I think we should leave them to rest, don't you think Ember?" He said softly.
"He's right Ember, we need to rest, I was in labour all night and Frost, was right there by, my side for every second of it, so would you mind letting us rest for a few hours?" Mag said weakly.
"No problem, we'll let you rest." Ember said as she got up to leave, just as they reached the door Frost walked up to them.
"Ember, Chroma before you go would you mind not telling anyone about this, Trinity already knows and won't tell anyone. Last thing we need is everyone coming over and stressing Mag and May out, just give us a few hours until we're rested and I'll contact you when you can let everyone know, and tell Nyx the same thing." Frost said softly.
"Sure thing Frost, We won't tell anyone until you're rested." Ember said she turned around and walked away as Frost closed the door and walked back over to the bed.
"Did you tell her to let us rest?" Mag asked as Frost climbed into bed beside her.
"I did, and I told her we'll contact her when she can tell the others." Frost replied as Mag cuddled up to him.
"Do you think she'll listen?" she continued with a sigh.
"Hard to say, Chroma is pretty good at stopping her from telling people things, but we'll have to wait and see. Anyway let's just rest for however long we may be able to." Frost cooed softly, wrapping his right arm around Mag. Both of them were asleep within seconds. A few minute later Ember and Chroma were back in their room; Ember was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.
"So when are we going to tell everyone?" Ember asked Chroma.
"We're not, not until Frost contacts us." Chroma said as he opened his commlink.
"Ohh come on Chroma, you can't tell me you don't want to tell people the exciting news!?" Ember continued jumping to her feet.
"We gave him our word Ember, I'm going to stick by what I said, now quieten down I'm giving Nyx a call to tell her not to tell anyone." Chroma responded sternly as his commlink beeped "Good to hear that you're up Nyx." He said into the speaker.
"What do you want Chroma?" Nyx shot back, a slight sting to her words.
"We just got back from visiting Mag and Frost." Chroma continued unfazed.
"How are they? I should go and see them." Nyx replied.
"You might want to hold off on that for a while Nyx." Chroma said sternly.
"And why is that?" Nyx shot back.
"They're resting they had a long night and they both looked absolutely shattered when we were talking, Mag could hardly keep her head up." Chroma continued.
"I see anything else?" Nyx replied thoughtfully.
"Yea, Frost told us not to tell anyone and to tell you the same thing, he also said that he would contact us and let us know when we can tell everyone, so don't tell anyone until I contact you, okay?" Chroma said.
"Yep, no problem, talk later" Nyx ended the call, Chroma closed down his commlink and glanced over at Ember, she was staring at him.
"Now we wait." He told her.
Frost and Mag woke around eight that night, they are both fully rested. They walked out into the lounge. "So are you going to contact Chroma and Ember?" Mag asked.
"Nahh, they can wait until tomorrow I'm sure a few more hours won't hurt and beside how long has it been since we have had some 'us' time?" Frost said wrapping an arm around Mag's waist and pulling her close so they embraced each other.
"You're right. It has been a while since we have had some 'us' time" Mag said as she sat down in the couch beside Frost. "I see Ember has cleaned up my little 'accident' from earlier." Mag joked.
"Looks like it." Frost laughed, at that moment May started crying. Without another word Mag sprang up and bolted for the bedroom she came back cradling May, who had stopped crying and was sound asleep. "Something tells me she's going to be a priority for a long time to come." Frost said as he walked over to embrace Mag, he gazed lovingly down at May who let out another cute little yawn, smiling he said to Mag. "You're going to make a great mother." He leant over and kissed her
"And you're going to make a great father" Mag replied softly as she started to hum a song.
The next morning Mag, Frost, and baby May headed to the great hall to meet up with everyone for breakfast. Frost walked with his arm around Mag, Mag was cradled May who was wrapped up in an Orokin blanket, the blanket was made of a luxurious white fabric that was lined with soft fur on the inside and gold trim on the outside. The hall fell silent as they entered; everyone was surprised to see them, Mag Prime walked up to them. "I was not expecting to see you here this morning, and who's this little bundle of joy here?" She asked.
"This is May, our sweet little May." Mag cooed softly, a radiant smile on her face as she gazed lovingly at her infant daughter. There was only a small group gathered in the hall, it was the crew of The Trident and the council. Only there was one place empty, the seat on Nyx's left that was usually taken up by Excalibur. Mag Prime offered them a seat at the council table but they politely declined and took their normal seats beside Nyx. Mag glanced at Nyx, her face was plastered with a worried expression, and she stared into nothing as she ate. She didn't even notice Mag sit down beside her until Mag tapped her on the shoulder and spoke to her. "Still no word from Excalibur?" Mag asked.
"No, not yet and he's too far away to try and attempt a mind link, so I can't even sense if he's okay or not." Nyx replied her voice wobbling as she fought to control a wave of panic. She glanced over at Mag "And who's this little girl?" She asked locking eyes with Mag, Nyx's eyes are puffy and swollen. She's been crying, and she never cries unless it's something really distressing. This whole thing with Excalibur must have gotten her pretty worried. Mag thought.
"This is May, our sweet little May." Mag replied, that same radiant smile as before bursting across her face. After they had finished eating there was a LOT of gushing over Mag, Frost, and May. This went on for hours until it came time to part ways when Lotus contacted them.
"Tenno, we have a situation." she began.
"What is it Lotus?" Chroma asked.
"I have just received word that the Grineer have uncovered an Orokin cache containing multiple Tenno cryopods and a vast stockpile of Orokin tech. Your mission is to eliminate all Grineer and hold down the area until extraction can be achieved; whatever the cost. Due to the stockpile containing weapons you will be able to set up turrets to help defend the area and there will be no shortage on ammo. Mag and Frost you are excused from this mission due to the recent birth of your daughter and you planned honeymoon. For the rest of you, Go now quickly before it's too late." Lotus concluded. The crew of The Trident scrambled to get back to the ship Nyx walked up to Mag and Frost.
"Yesterday I overheard you talking about going to Coruscant or Naboo, if you head out that way see if Excalibur is alright, please?" Nyx pleaded.
"Of course, now you better get going, be safe." Mag replied giving Nyx a hug.
"You too." Nyx said and sprinted off to catch up to the rest of them. Frost and Mag returned to their ship. Frost and Mag walked into the bridge, using the manual controls Frost began to pilot the ship alongside The Trident.
"Good luck on you mission you guys and stay safe, we will be in regular contact." Frost said into the comm.
"Acknowledged Frost, you two have fun; we'll see you in a few weeks." Trinity's response came through the speaker. The signal went dead as The Trident entered the Void and disappeared. Frost altered the heading and started imputing co-ordinates into the nav console.
"Where are we going?" Mag asked as she sat behind him.
"Coruscant, I want to take Luke up on his offer of a visit to the ruins of the old Temple and maybe Leia might have some info on finding Excalibur." Frost said as he finished inputting the last of the co-ordinates.
"Smart, getting two things out of the way at once so that we have more time to relax later on." Mag said with a smile.
"Ordis I'm handing control over to you, I've already input the nav co-ordinates, and all you need to do is follow them." Frost said as he handed control of the ship to Ordis.
"Affirmative operator, hyperdrive engaged estimated time to destination seven hours." Ordis replied as Frost and Mag left the bridge.
"Now to sit back and enjoy the ride." Frost said as he stood beside Mag in front of one of the view ports. Outside the star field stretched and warped into a swirling, shimmering mass of energy.
Epilogue: Just the beginning
There they stood, side by side. Frost with his arm around Mag, Mag cradling baby May, staring out at the shimmering, swirling mass of hyperspace. Listening to the distant hum of the engines. Contemplating what the future might hold. Mag turned to look at Frost, "So is this the end of a journey?" she asked softly.
"No, I don't think it's the end of one," Frost hooked his arm around Mag's waist, drawing her in closer, he bent down and kissed his infant daughter on the forehead, he then straightened up and kissed his wife lovingly, after a few seconds he drew back and turned back to the viewport and continued "Just the beginning".
