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In the distance, the Warframe knelt next to the Heavy Grineer and presumably gave it a once over, before straightening up to its full height again. It made to move, but a shimmering form materialized next to the being as a gentle voice rang out.
"Tenno, there is a survivor."
Slowly, the faceless warrior totem of the ancient Orokin turned towards Yaruk, who froze. In a flash, the legends of the Tenno bounded through his mind, these empty beings of no mercy or feeling.
Yaruk stood shakily and began backing away, but was startled by the booming engines of a ship rocketing back towards them. The hologram of the Lotus materialized before Yaruk, and knelt.
"We will take you to safety. Come with us." She said, her commanding tone somehow soothing Yaruk slightly. Behind her, the Oberon was bringing his ship down to the bloodied and flattened marketplace that Yaruk knew so well.
"My mother," Breathed the young boy, more to himself than anything. He walked through the Lotus projection and back into his town.
Oberon and Lotus watched in silence as Yaruk wandered about the bloodied town, tears pouring relentlessly. In shock, the boy could do or say nothing of the townsfolk, his neighbors. His family. Bloodied bodies lay strewn like confetti against buildings, in doorways, all around him. Behind Oberon's now landed ship, his home and others were ablaze, the fire crackling peaceful in the silence of night.
Yaruk stared down at the blank mask of a dead Grineer soldier, those cruel, dark eye holes boring into him like murderous drills.
"It's time to go," Came a new and harsher voice. Yaruk turned as he heard an otherworldly sound, something like the cross of the rippling of waves and flapping of a flag. A boy a little bit older than him, with tan skin and metallic eyes walked towards him, black and gold waistcoat flapping in the wind. Behind him, Oberon stood stiff and lifeless, like a statue.
"Get in the ship, there isn't much room but Lotus will take you to my orbiter. Cephalon Shegga will make sure you're taken care of." The Tenno walked towards him, jaw set but eyes soft.
"But I,-"Yaruk protested.
"The Grineer will be back. Once this squad doesn't report in they'll send more in greater numbers."
Yaruk broke even more, prompting Lotus to appear next to him again.
"Trust us, and these people will not have died for nothing." Lotus consoled the young survivor. Gritting his teeth and taking a breath, Yaruk nodded once.
Lotus materialized over by a ramp that was lowered from the black and gold ship, and the Tenno rejoined with his Warframe, Yaruk watched in awe as the stranger began to shimmer and float, before disappearing backwards through Oberon's chest.
"Do you have a name?" the Tenno asked, his voice slightly garbled from within the druid king.
"They called me Yaruk," the boy answered, lump in his throat. He walked with Oberon to the ramp.
"You can call me Jho, and this is the Lotus." Oberon responded, and Lotus beckoned to Yaruk, motioning for him to go up the ramp.
A few moments passed while Yaruk boarded the Xiphos, Lotus showed him to the small cargo area where he would be safe and secure for his ride to the orbiter. Oberon watched the area, before he turned and watched his ship rocket up and out of the atmosphere.
In his vision, the familiar small portrait of Lotus appeared.
"Tragic," she said simply, and Oberon nodded as he shouldered his shotgun.
"If I had been minutes quicker," Jho responded.
"There's nothing we can do now aside from getting the boy safely to Cetus, Konzu will see he's taken care of. I will focus on that, you need to find Vor." Lotus responded, settling into her usual role of director.
"Get him for me." Jho said shortly and a visible smirk appeared on the hidden face of the Lotus.
"Get moving, Tenno. I'll fill him in on the details."
With that, Oberon stored his shotgun and bullet jumped into the woods and away from the war torn and blood soaked lost village that was Yaruk's former home.
The angular metallic and claw shaped feet of the once great Captain Vor clanked on the metallic landing platform of a small Grineer outpost on Venus, a private outpost he had claimed far from the view of Orb Vallis, which lay to the far south on the greenhouse planet. Vor was flanked by the few of his last remaining truly loyal soldiers, but their numbers were dwindling each day.
Casting his dark eyes to the orange sky, Vor could just see the floating ringlets of the derelict Orokin planetary defense system, and beyond them, one of Nef Anyo's capital ships. With a curled lip, the Captain strode into the outpost, heading for his command room. Deep into the former Corpus foundation his most loyal soldiers were waiting for him, poring over documents on various terminals. These few Grineer were among the most highly engineered, even beyond some of Regor's maniacal experiments.
After a formal greeting, Vor addressed his most trusted confidant; Gob. Gob wasn't an especially fantastic name for a Grineer, but then, they were lucky to make it out of the cloning tube at all in some cases.
"How many of the Tenno have we taken, these past weeks?" Vor asked, and Gob shuffled about a centerpiece projector in their octagonal auditorium. He brought up a couple of holographic panels that flashed up in tasteless Corpus blue; various video feeds showing Tenno operations across numerous facilities. The other Grineer in the room turned their attention to their ranking officers, as Vor grimaced at the sight of his hated enemies.
"Their numbers are growing since your failu-" Gob stopped himself short, "since your miscalculation with the Ascaris device three Earth months ago. It seems there are just over a hundred active Tenno, that's an estimate."
Captain Vor grimaced at the number. Just the first 8 Tenno that made themselves known - for the first time in centuries no less - were able to create massive issues for the Grineer queens and their operations system-wide. As a side-note, the Corpus weren't doing much better dealing with the growing Tenno threat, though this thought didn't do much to calm Vor down about the issue.
Gob continued;
"However, we have managed to locate more base-model Warframe stasis devices. Unfortunately, we haven't had much luck locating some of the other models, and more new ones are being seen daily. As far as how the Tenno are operating, it doesn't seem to have much of a pattern. Some of them are seen frequently in the same groups, some are seen alone, some aren't seen at all outside of robbing trade secrets from the Corpus, and of course our own files."
Gob took a breath, and Captain Vor held up a hand.
"A few weeks ago one of them managed to kill our Queen, and this is all you have for me? Movement patterns?!" Vor demanded, indignant.
"One of our Queens," Gob corrected, as Vor's eyes narrowed. "Either way, since the Moon re-appeared, yes. They have been getting more bold. I don't have an answer as to why that is, but, it is. Our remaining Queen has been moved off of the Kuva Fortress, as you know. But, as to why you're here well, if you head into the back room your transponder is ready."
Vor let out a short breath of impatience as he cast one last glance at the screens showing the Tenno in various operations; his eyes lingering on one feed wherein a group of Corpus were shuffling about in a panic - covered in bright pink pustules; spores- amidst a group of their poisoned and melting allies. Captain Vor shoved past his lackeys and into the back room, where there was naught but a large display, as large as the back wall and leaning down slightly towards the floor. Upon the counter at waist height below the screen was a blinking blue button, which Vor pressed.
The screen fizzled into life and focused on the shape in the center of the screen; a pale, gold adorned person, with glowing golden eyes and one long right arm. A smirk crossed the face of Vor's correspondent.
"Well then, Captain Vor," said the Orokin Ballas, his voice sending chills down even Vor's crooked spine, "I take it that we can talk business?"
